Rabbbits Weeekly: Unpacking Algorithms
You won't learn how to carve a turkey, but you will learn how to carve out a niche on Pinterest. Plus some other cool stuff.
The news feels pretty repetitive these days:
Tech companies are taking a beating
Advertising spend only forecast to grow a small amount next year
Agencies and marketing initiatives to be under increased scrutiny in 2023
You won’t believe what Elon just did!
Platforms trying to bank easy wins by finally releasing features users have wanted for a while
We’re also heading into the (presumed) holiday slow down period. So expect this space to be filled with less news and more tips and strategic thinking points, at least until the new year.
And really, that’s what the original idea for this was: take the stuff I share with clients and team members and put it in one spot.
This weeek: a peek into the TikTok algorithm, how to win at Pinterest, a Google Ads recap, the formula for sponsored videos, tips to sell better, and some headlines.
#Trending on The Trend Machine
Lidia Infante wrote a beefy post for Moz and visited the Today in Digital podcast to share everything she learned about the algorithm du jour from digging through TikTok’s various docs.
2 principles behind the ranking factors:
Surface content that’s interesting to you (the viewer) - give you more of what you like
Burst filter bubbles - mix it up and show you something entirely different
3 processes used to rank content:
Determine what the video is about and assign it to a topic
Determine the quality of the video
Determine your topic and interest profile
8 ranking factors:
Engagement: Lidia thinks the algorithm is like Facebook’s old EdgeRank. Likes are the least valuable and everything builds from there based on how much effort the action requires, especially if that action spreads the content or gets you following more accounts. And, of course, did you actually watch it?
Discover Tab: all the non-video engagements (searches, sounds, hashtag clicks, etc.) that help build those user interest profiles
That sweet, sweet content. These are the questions the system tries to answer:
What is in the video visually?
What is the message (text and/or spoken word) of the video?
What’s in the SEO fields (title and hashtags (these are getting spammy now so may be getting less emphasis))?
What sound does it use?
The language of that sweet, sweet content. Users provide their language preference, the algorithm only delivers content that matches.
Device suitability: The Clock App knows basically everything about the current state of your device when you’re using the app (network quality and battery level included), this may influence what content you see.
Location, location, location: The closer you physically are to the content creator, the higher the ranking score for that content.
That stuff they don’t want: Run afoul of content moderation and obviously that video isn’t going viral. But there are some other factors that prevent For You Page placements: the person who made the vid is under 16, there’s a QR code, begging for engagement, presence of watermarks, amateur Jackass stunts, tobacco.
Native content creation: Use TikTok’s tools, get TikTok’s love, adoration, and a rankings boost.
Speaking of hashtags, how many should you use? The official recommendation for advertisers is 3-4 hashtags
A few other TikTok tidbits:
The key to breaking out on TikTok is the For You Page. So, how do you get there? Rumor has it the keys are:
Use hashtags, but only relevant ones (and don’t use any#foryoupage style ones)
Keep it brief, 21-34 seconds is the sweet spot
Make sure your sound selection is trending
It released its Discover List of the top 50 creators on the platform according to what it cares about and values. A good peek under the hood and, maybe, a list of potential partners for marketing efforts.
New: audience insights, that should be handy.
PinTips
Pinterest expert Meagan Williamson shared some secrets on The Email Marketing Show podcast.
First, remember that Pinterest is a visual search engine. Because of this, your content gets indexed. It doesn’t get lost to the feed, so don’t just pin the same thing all the time. The platform favors new landing pages over existing.
The good news, using content you made for other platforms is fair game. In fact, it’s encouraged.
We want you to repurpose your content but with purpose on Pinterest.
-Alex, a real Pinterest employee
Let’s start with some of the technical underpinnings you should know about.
There is no magic post frequency number, the algorithm determines what is consistent for your account. Performance grows exponentially for you when you show up consistently with high-value content. Pick a cadence that is sustainable for you.
Saves (repins) are the key metric used by the algorithm to determine your content’s value. Is it good enough that people save it so they can revisit it later?
How does the algorithm determine who should see your post? It checks the quality level of where you’re sending clicks, analyzes the image for content and visual similarities, and crawls the pin copy in standard SEO fashion.
How do you make good pins?
Provide enough info that you close the loop on-platform. Make a promise with the image that you deliver on in the copy (or in the other Idea Pin slides, etc.)
You can still provide extra value off-platform, just use a CTA
Make sure that next step is very clear
Your landing page needs to do the converting, these visitors don’t know who you are
Remember, Pin sizing is different from other platforms: 2:3 ratio, 1000x1500px recommended.
What should you use each format for?
Use Idea Pins to grow your audience and create visibility by offering free value
Use Standard Pins to drive traffic to your new content pieces (blog, podcast, etc.)
Wait, what about video pins? At some point, video pins will be removed with the intention of shifting that content format over to Idea Pins exclusively.
Recommended wholistic plan from the episode:
1-2 Standard Pins per day, everyday using a mix of old and new content, but as much new as possible
3 Idea Pins per week (if the format fits), this is the perfect place to repurpose (with purpose) Reels and TikToks or other vertical videos (looking at you, Shorts)
A Google Carol
Google Ads expert (seriously, she trains their employees) Jyll Saskin Gales joined the Today in Digital podcast (again) to talk Google Ads past and present.
How has Google Ads changed recently?
Performance Max everything (hello automation)
All match types are broadening (hello automation, hello more monetized searches)
Short from, vertical video everywhere (hello TikTokification)
What’s (probably) next?
More Shorts!
More automation
More features in and control over PerfMax
More focus on the core business
Speaking of Shorts…
Now you can shop in Shorts on YouTube. It's early days so access is limited, but it sounds similar to product tagging on social platforms. And after that, affiliate features.
How to Win Awareness & Influencer People
Want that next sponsored video to hit? Here’s what the (gated) research says:
It’s about authenticity. Viewers expect influencers to be honest, and this can give your brand a halo effect.
Disclose the sponsorship.
The less customized to the brand the better, stick with shoutouts
Get that shoutout later in the video
Viewers don’t want subjective info, so keep it objective (just the facts, ma’am)
To maximize engagement: keep the production values low (sorry, authentic), save the brand shoutout for the end, and steer clear of opinions.
This research was done for longer form videos like YouTube (average duration of 7 minutes).
ABC
Some sales tips from the Nudge podcast:
Before the sales moment, don’t just tell yourself you’re going to do it, ask yourself how you’re going to do it. This starts priming your brain to figure it out. In digital, this could mean asking yourself how you’re going to make an ad people will click on or how you’re going to layout the product page for maximum appeal.
Adopt the perspective of the other party, this results in more win-win outcomes for both sides (and more sales)
Combine the two above to ask yourself how your potential customers will interact with your ads, how your site will answer their questions, and how they will feel about the shopping experience.
People value potential more than reality. For example, an ad for a comedian got more clicks when it said they “could be the next big thing” instead of “are the next big thing.” I think this plays into people’s desire to have good taste and be recognized for it.
Headlines
Ads
Video ads for everyone (using Microsoft Ads (in certain countries)).
Internet cookies 101 from the Planet Money podcast.
A quick listen on using PPC to help SEO:
Dynamic search campaigns for keyword and audience prospecting
Ad copy performance data to inform on-page content and meta tags
Audience observation to see which in-market and affinity audiences perform the best to mimic on other platforms
Algorithms
Intel has developed a real-time deepfake detector that uses blood flow patterns to catch fakes 96% of the time. Which, of course, means the next wave of AI video generation will include blood flow modeling.
Microsoft and Nvidia are teaming up to build an AI supercomputer, for business!
Retail Tea Leaves
Network effects: they apply to fake reviews too. A team of researchers were able to identify products likely to have a large number of fake reviews based on the network of reviewers. A common way to get these reviews is through Facebook groups. Find one product that farmed Facebook for verified reviews and map the reviewers against other products.
Æconomy
Starting a business is so hot right now. Ecomm is driving part of that. I wonder if we'll see another spike as laid off tech workers think about their next move(s).
Analytics
WebKit, a browser underpinning for Safari (amongst others), updated JavaScript cookie handling so cookies will now expire after 7 days of browser use if the site isn't meaningfully interacted with (click, keyboard input, etc.). In some cases, like the presence of URL parameters, this maximum drops to 1 day. Post-cookie analytics keeps getting trickier.
Here’s a list of Google Analytics 4’s Suggested Audiences, should you be interested.
Attack Vectors
The Digital Services Act is in effect in the EU now, which means, come February, we'll know which companies are "Very Large Online Platforms" or "Very Large Online Search Engines" and subject to extra regulation.
Google is paying almost $400M to settle a lawsuit about sketchy location data handling.