On Our Radar | November 2023

The TwoSix team is here to share what’s On Our Radar for November so that you can stay ahead of the always-evolving digital marketing landscape. This month our team discusses the new ‘nearby’ Instagram feature, weather-based ad targeting, and much more! Keep reading to find out what we’re keeping On Our Radar for November 2023.

Three Key Strategies for Image Optimization

The surge in visual search tools like Google’s “Search by Image” has shifted how website images are optimized visually. And, search insights have noted that there has been a 72% increase in image-rich results, and 70% of images on SERPs were from the domain on which it was hosted.

Images have a huge impact on the world of travel and tourism. Organizations can now optimize their digital assets by following a tested 3-step strategy: optimizing images in conjunction with textual content, employing advanced SEO techniques on the pages where the images reside, and adapting to evolving visual search trends.

By following those three steps outlined in detail in the article from Search Engine Land, you can help improve brand visibility, website traffic, and engagement, and expand your overall digital footprint with a little bit of work on your images.

Dave SerinoFounder & Chief Strategist

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A New Way to Engage and Expand Your UGC

We’ve been seeing solid success in reach and engagement when using Carousel formats on Instagram. In fact, Carousels have quickly become the go-to post type instead of traditional single-image posts or time-consuming Reels. Hopefully, by now, you’ve started to lean into the Carousel format. If you have, you’re likely seeing improved engagement. Now there’s another reason to lean into the Carousel format. Meta recently rolled out an additional feature that could help make the Carousel format even more useful. Say hello to “Collaborative Carousels”. The new feature has been in testing for a few months and should be finding its way to your account soon. Collaborative Carousels will allow you to let other users add their photos to your Carousel. This helps to boost your content offering with your posts and can provide some additional exposure for contributors. Don’t worry, you get to approve any additions before they go live. Phew! This new feature could potentially be a great way to fortify your UGC assets if you provide clear directional language to your users to encourage them to share. Imagine putting together a Carousel post about a particular event, then asking your followers to add their photos! This could prove to be a great way to curate content and expand your digital assets over time! Plus, it could be a lot of fun and help you build connections with other content creators. Be on the lookout! Collaborative Carousels are here!

Brian MatsonSenior Director of Strategy and Education

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Intro Text: Make or Break for Reels & TikToks

It’s actually incredible how consistent it is: 95% of the time, the top Reels and TikToks of DMOs that we look at in our audits feature text at the beginning. For example, this TikTok from Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette says “Biggest cake ever! Boiler up!” right at the start.

Scroll through your own feeds, and you’ll see what I mean. It’s now expected on short form videos. Either there’s text or there’s a person telling you what you’re about to see. We all want to know if the video is worth us watching — and that intro is what helps us decide. Consequently, if the intro text is interesting, you’re likely to get a lot more people watching and for longer.

If you’re not already, try it out. It can make a big difference.

Nick DanowskiLead Content Strategist

Nearby? Check Us Out!

Instagram is currently testing a new feature that could prove to be very beneficial for businesses in the near future.

They are experimenting with a new nearby feed for stories. This would showcase content from businesses and users near your location. TikTok already has a similar feature, so it’s not surprising to see Instagram hopping on the bandwagon. If this takes hold, users may be able to see restaurants, shopping, food delivery, activities and more nearby them, possibly driving up interest and attendance.

This could be extremely beneficial for the tourism industry for showcasing nearby events or to boost takeout orders or reservations for restaurants in the vicinity. While this feature is still in the testing phase, this could be a great new addition. Instagram users will most likely need to update their privacy settings in order to use this feature so that Instagram can see their location and so that users content isn’t constantly going straight to their neighbors.

Ashley MaddixDigital Advertising Strategist

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How Weather-Based Targeting Can Help Your Seasonal Ads

It’s no secret that weather patterns are getting increasingly unpredictable. For advertisers, this poses a tricky challenge when planning seasonal content. Winter, in particular, hinges on tiny temperature shifts that can make or break snow-related activities. However, here’s the silver lining: programmatic ads are stepping up to tackle this issue.

Programmatic ads, including native, display, and connected TV, are becoming invaluable. They used to let you target areas recently hit by rain or snow. But now, they’ve upped their game by tapping into even more detailed weather data.

Let’s say you’re promoting a destination for snowmobiling. Instead of only advertising when there’s snow on the ground, you can now refine your approach. Use information like temperature, humidity, and precipitation to be smarter about your timing, increasing ad spend when conditions are right and backing down when things start heating up.

In this era of unpredictable weather, having this data at your fingertips means you can spend your budget wisely, plan ahead, and reach your audience when it matters most.

So, as the weather keeps throwing curveballs, remember that programmatic ads are your secret weapon to adapt and get your message out there at just the right moment.

Scout DelicatoDigital Advertising Strategist

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New Features in Reminder Ads

Instagram just launched some new features for Reminder Ads in late October. Let’s dive in!

What Are Reminder Ads?

First things first, for those who might be new to this concept: Reminder ads assist advertisers in building awareness, anticipation, and consideration for upcoming events. Individuals will then have the option to opt into convenient reminders where they will receive three notifications leading up to the event: one day before, 15 minutes prior, and when the event is starting. You can read more about the original launch of Reminder Ads here.

The New Features: What’s in Store?

Now, let’s dive into the good stuff. Reminder ads have just received a fresh set of features designed to supercharge your ad campaigns. Here’s what you can look forward to:

Instagram Stories Integration: You can now feature your Reminder ads within Instagram Stories. This exciting addition is set to boost your ad’s visibility and efficiency, reaching your audience in a space where they’re already engaged.

Ads Manager Integration: Creating Reminder ads just got a whole lot easier. You’re no longer limited to using organic posts to set up a Reminder ad. Now, you can create them directly in Ads Manager, streamlining the process and giving you more control over your campaigns.

How to Get Started

Now, the most important part – how to dive in and get started with Reminder ads. It’s a breeze! Once these features become available for your business, here’s what you can do:

Boost an Organic Post: If you have a post that’s perfect for your Reminder ad, simply boost it. It’s a quick and effective way to get started.

Create a Reminder ad in Ads Manager: For even more control and customization, create your Reminder ad directly in Ads Manager. This option gives you the flexibility to fine-tune your campaign to perfection.

So, there you have it. The world of Reminder ads just got a whole lot more exciting with these new features. Make the most of this fantastic tool to engage your audience and make your upcoming events into highly anticipated moments!

Makenna SchmitzDigital & Social Media Director

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Keeping Audiences Engaged with Quizzes & Polls

Engagement has always been an important metric in marketing, but now, it’s really the metric. As you may have noticed, Google Analytics swapped all the metrics we had become accustomed to for engagement metrics in response to the growing emphasis on engagement. In similar fashion, social media companies are developing new methods of keeping users engaged.

Pinterest and Instagram both announced new tools for doing just this.

In September, Pinterest hosted its annual advertising summit, Pinterest Presents, during which the social media platform showcased a new advertising format: Quiz Ads. At the summit, Pinterest explained how these ads will work. First, advertisers must create three multiple-choice questions for the quiz. Then, advertisers can create different results based on quiz answers.

A quiz question could look something like:

“What does your ideal vacation look like?”

A thrilling adventure
Quiet and relaxing
Exploring new places and experiences

Based on users’ answers, you can guide them to a Pin or a landing page that matches their interests and needs. You can be sure with Quiz Ads that you’re showing resorts and spas to the “quiet and relaxing” types and mountain biking trails to the “thrilling adventure” types, just as an example.

Pinterest’s initial test run of Quiz Ads resulted in an astonishing 80% quiz completion rate, marking a significant achievement in engagement for an advertisement.

Pivoting away from Pinterest, Instagram embarked on a new testing phase for a unique comment feature, Polls. While polls have been an integral part of Instagram Stories and direct messages, they’ve been confined by the limitations of these channels. Stories only last for 24 hours, and DMs are private by nature. The test has been limited to a select few accounts, but Zuckerberg says the new polling feature will roll out to everyone soon, giving us the ability to create public and permanent polls.

These updates introduce fresh avenues for promoting audience engagement, providing marketers with powerful tools to interact with their audiences and gather valuable feedback. By taking advantage of these innovative features, you can not only connect with your audience more effectively but also gain insights that can shape your future marketing strategies.

Danny LynchDigital Advertising Strategist

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With the ever-changing digital marketing world, we are here to keep you informed of new digital trends and what we are keeping on our radar for November 2023. Have any questions? Contact us! We’re here to help.

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