ROUND UP — More ASC, AI & TikTok

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MAKE THE MOST OF ASC

Yet another fantastic ASC thread from Yoni here! Outlining some best practices for ASC, Yoni Levy shared a few important details in a thread here:

1. The more different and distinct your ad creative is from one another, the better. I learned only recently that the algorithm will actually look at your ads before they are delivered, and if they aren’t different enough from one another in a meaningful way, the algorithm will effectively consider them ‘the same’ and deliver them accordingly. So, creative differentiation is important in helping to socket into different segments of your target audience.

2. Creative refreshing every two weeks is ideal. This might be more than most brands can handle regarding the scale of creative required to support it, so focus on this only if you have the means.

3. Yet to be confirmed, Yoni (as well as myself) has heard from several advertisers that a large number of ads is improving performance, even in the 20+ ads range. Likely related to the first point, the more ads, with creative differentiation, the more segments of an audience you can effectively ‘unlock.’

AI IS STILL COOL, OK

Usually, I’m not one to share too much about AI. I definitely think that AI is cool and has an important place in your tech stack, but there is far too much AI-related noise on the internet currently. That said, if you want to check out anything AI-related, let it be this thread. Here, Phillip Rivers does a great job of rounding up seven very thorough threads covering how to use the current AI tools available creatively, and practically. You can check out his thread here.

TIKTOK’S NEW SEARCH ADS

TikTok Ads get a new placement! With this update, you can now turn on Search Results in your placements section of Ads Manager. With that, the UI will also now report more thoroughly on your search terms, and allow you to add negative keywords. This is a great update, expanding inventory and the advertiser’s toolkit. You can check out the full update here on TikTok’s website for more info.

44-POINT SEO CHECKLIST

Semrush recently shared a 44-point checklist on their LinkedIn page that outlines the essential items you need to succeed with SEO. With everything from keyword research to on-page SEO and content, this guide covers pretty much everything you’ll need to start off on the right foot. You can see more info in their post here. 

THREADS IS COMING TO WEB

Finally! Threads, Meta’s new competitor to X, has recently announced that the platform will be coming to web this week. The exact day is yet to be announced, but we know it will be by the end of the week for sure. Threads, despite starting off extremely strong in user volume, has been dropping users at alarming rates due to a serious lack of features at launch. They’ve been hard at work adding more, and I think that this web version will be a game changer for the professionals who make X such a great resource. You can check out their promotional announcement video below.

• DELETE YOUR NEGATIVE COMMENTS: Hot take? Deleting bad comments on your ads can help combat what some people might otherwise consider ‘creative fatigue.’

• REDDIT’S NEW INTEREST TARGETING: Reddit has introduced a handful of new interest targeting options to help round out their most commonly used targeting method.

• TIKTOK’S 2023 HOLIDAY MARKETING GUIDE: Tiktok has dropped its official 2023 Holiday marketing guide, covering everything you need to know to prep for BFCM and beyond.

• BEREAL ADDS FRIENDS OF FRIENDS: In an interesting turn of events, BeReal has introduced ‘friends of friends’ to the Discover feed in an effort to get users more engaged.

A RANDOM SELECTION OF ADS

In a recent tweet, The Ad Professor shared ten ads they found inspiration in, and I thought they were cool enough to share! There are some cool ideas in here, for sure. Check out the thread below:

HEINZ — SPICY KETCHUP

Agency: Unknown

In an effort to combat the ‘spicy’ food craze, Heinz has put its foot down: spice should be used for flavour, not shock value. I tend to agree. In their new campaign designed around the launch of their new spicy ketchup, Heinz is running with the tagline ‘Stupid Good Not Stupid Spicy,’ stating that you’ll eat it for the taste, not the likes. I’m unsure how I feel about the ‘likes’ part because it feels somewhat niche in reference, but I get their point. Overall, this campaign isn’t too dramatic or shocking, but it feels natural to their brand and has something to say. You can learn more about the campaign here.

Have a great week,
Cory