Weekly Digital Breakdown – 7.24.20
Weekly Digital Breakdown
Jul 24 2020
Twitter Considers Subscriptions
As a result of declining ad revenue, Twitter is exploring the prospect of creating a subscription service that lets users access news publishers through the site. While still in discussion, Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, said the company has a high bar of quality required to ask consumers to pay for use of the platform. He also acknowledged that no decisions have been made yet but, any new revenue sources would need to be complementary to the advertising portion of the business.
The news comes as Twitter experienced record user growth in Q2 but saw ad revenue numbers decline year over year. Much of the trouble can be attributed to the lack of direct response ad options in combination with a decrease in ad spend due to the pandemic budget cuts.
In an effort to encourage more brand spending, Twitter expanded its direct response offerings in Q2 to include improved measurements and prediction, hoping this will help improve numbers in the coming months. They also have increased ad frequency for more promoted tweets in-stream to boost advertiser reach and awareness. Twitter plans to continue to investigate options that will be beneficial to users and advertisers moving forward.
Google Removes Commission Fees
In Google’s ongoing battle to take on more of the ecommerce market, they will no longer require sellers to pay a commission fee for using their services when using Buy on Google. This follows their other efforts to promote brands utilizing the platform for selling which included free product listing and ads with image extensions.
The move is aimed to remove the barrier of entry when working businesses want to sell directly on Google. Users will be able to purchase items while discovering them rather than be directed to the brand’s site. Google hopes the shift will enable brands to have more ability to choose their preferred inventory and order management vendors by incorporating Shopify and PayPal into the process.
The continued focus on shopping comes as Google faces mounting competition from Amazon’s selling platform and improving ad capabilities. However, Google plans to continue to not only improve the shopping experience but extra effort into supporting small and medium businesses as they continue to work to rebound from setbacks experienced from the pandemic.
https://www.adweek.com/digital/no-more-commission-fees-for-sellers-using-buy-on-google/?
Retailers See Social Boost
Social media usage increased during the beginning days of the pandemic and the good news for retailers is, it’s not showing signs of slowing down. Q2 finished with strong results showing a record increase in the number of daily number of inbound messages during comparable periods. Retailers have taken note and have increased their messaging across social platforms, reaching audiences during this always on and always shopping time.
The increased engagement highlights user reliance on social media to find relevant content to their needs. These patterns are likely to continue as they are now woven into shopping behaviors more than ever before.
While many are looking for products and services from retailers, a large percentage of consumers are also searching for how retailers are addressing personal safety and social distancing as more in-person shopping begins to resume. Response time and customer service ability through social media has proven to highly influence consumer’s perspective with 49% of shoppers admitting to unfollowing a brand due to a poor experience.
As a very uncertain back-to-school shopping season begins, brands must account for the importance of not only what their messages are saying but their ability to address concerns proactively. Shoppers are highly engaged online and will rely on those experiences as they choose how and where they shop.
