🧀 Cheese.

Meta got so “small” it might help them avoid antitrust scrutiny. Our early lessons from our giveaway. February 10, 2022 [Read in browser]( [logo] [sponsor]( Good morning! Here’s a shower thought we had… Why do we even have so-called “shower thoughts”? Great ideas, epiphanies. Why do they happen in the shower so often? Well, turns out [there are some good reasons for that](. And yep, we did have a meta-shower-thought. Must be from writing all this news about Meta… SEO Use original photos in product reviews, according to Google [article-image] Every Google search update is similar to a mystery box. And Google rarely lets you see what's inside. Yesterday was one of those rare moments when Google uncovered something related to its [recent Product Reviews update](. The insight: [According to Google's John Mueller](, if you want to benefit from the product review algorithm update, you should focus on using original photos. The reason: The Product Review update rewards unique reviews that include your own experiences with your product. Uploading a photo from a manufacturer's site isn't really original. And nope, editing existing photos published on the web won’t do it either. SOCIAL MEDIA TikTok gets a head start on Meta in 2022 Meta is shrinking. So much so that their market cap has fallen to the point where [it can help them avoid new antitrust scrutiny](. TikTok, on the other hand, is once again at the top. According to a recent AppFigures report, [TikTok reclaimed the first place]( in the download charts from Instagram in January 2022. What this means for you: Short video has a promising future (even the founders of Facebook and Snap recently agreed on it). TikTok is also becoming a viable acquisition channel for verticals other than e-commerce ([such as SaaS](), which is something to keep an eye on. SPONSORED BY CAMPAIGN MONITOR This 100 billion emails analysis will show how you stack up against your competitors [article-image]( That’s a boatload of emails… maybe twenty Titanic-loads… Campaign Monitor is part of CM Group, which is one of the largest email marketing companies in the world. This means that they have enough data points to understand how businesses are performing across different industries. So, they’ve put together [The Ultimate Email Marketing Benchmarks for 2022.]( [It’s free to read, with no sign-ups or forms.]( Inside you’ll find data like the day of the week with the highest email open rates, and the day with the lowest. They also show the best and worst day of the week to send emails if you want a high click-through rate. Plus, if you want to understand if you’re outperforming your competitors, you’ll find stats for each industry so you can compare them. If you’re one of those marketers that rely on data to make decisions, [read this free report](. GOOGLE ADS The early pros and cons of Google’s new campaign type Performance Max [article-image] With the goal of making the lives of advertisers easier, Google lately launched a new goal-based campaign type, [Performance Max](. According to Google, “Performance Max helps you drive performance based on your specified conversion goals, delivering more conversions and value by optimizing performance in real-time and across channels using Smart Bidding.” Maybe you’re still on the fence about it. Well, Hillary Grillis highlighted the pros and cons of Google’s shiny new object. [As she says in this PPCHero post](, they tested Performance Max with their clients, with modest budgets and select markets, and here’s what came out: Pros: Since there are more channels to choose from (Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, or Discovery) the delivery system can optimize better than other ad formats. Therefore, giving more control to the advertising algorithm returns better performance. According to the data shared by Hillary Grillis shows, Performance Max campaigns outperformed Search, Display, Video and Discovery campaigns. Cons: The reporting dashboard is opaque. You can’t see where ads are shown or on which sites Display Ads appeared. Bottom line: Should you use it? If you don't care where your ads appear, then yes, test it, because Performance Max campaigns might deliver better results. SPONSORED BY TRENDS Lessons from Kickstarter's most successful company [article-image]( There have been 547,586 Kickstarters that have launched. But only 618 reached at least $1M in funding. This campaign we’re about to show you has been a class above, having raised over $34 million. [Discover how they did it in this Trends article.]( Trends is a community of entrepreneurs providing vetted business ideas, and insights to implement them. [This article is just one of the ways to help you make it happen.]( THE CREW'S INSIGHTS Early lessons from our $25,000 giveaway with Flippa [article-image] If you’re not totally new to our newsletter, you know that on February 4th, 2021, our $25,000 giveaway in partnership with Flippa was wrapped up. Here are three early lessons from this experience. 1. People will try to cheat. Make sure you have clear rules in place against fraud, duplicates, misleading promos, and more. Most referral tools will have features to help you combat fraud. If you’re curious, we used SparkLoop. 2. Promoting the giveaway didn’t get new subs. Promos where we encouraged people to subscribe to our newsletter and take part in the giveaway were a failure. We got much better results when promoting our newsletter as usual, then adding a dedicated email 24 hours after people subscribed where we explain the giveaway. And of course, mentioning the giveaway in every newsletter. 3. Examples beat the generic prize amount. Showing business examples worth up to $25,000 and explaining their revenue, monthly profit, margins, traffic, and potential provided much better engagement for the giveaway. It made the prize more tangible and more appealing. We’re also doing a deeper analysis into this, and we might share some interesting stats (and more lessons!). ROUNDING UP THE STACK [YOUTUBE ADS:]( ThoughtLeaders’ Targeting gives you total control over the exact videos where your ads will be shown on YouTube. Match your ads to relevant content, get more engagement, and boost your conversion rates! [Power up your ads for just $30 in the first month](.* [GOOGLE:]( Local beats National. Google News will give more exposure to local news websites according to this update. [MARKETING:]( What are the most valuable digital marketing skills? LinkedIn has a data-driven answer. And before you ask, no, the most valuable skill is not writing the kind of posts that turned LinkedIn into a meme. [MICROSOFT:]( Cruise ads are here (on Microsoft advertising, that is). Does this mark the unofficial end of the pandemic in the marketing industry? We might have something for you at the bottom of this newsletter! [GOOGLE:]( Search Console messages are migrating to the message panel. Don’t miss them! [REDDIT:]( Will Reddit turn into Clubhouse? The social network has rolled out several interesting live audio features. [META:]( If there’s a new way to pay, there’s also a new way to sell. Messenger just launched split payments in the US. [SEO:]( Next time you ask your SEO friend if they’re doing well, be suspicious if their answer is “no” :) A recent survey found that the pandemic increased demand for SEO. *This is a sponsored post. BRAIN TEASER There is a common 9-letter word in the English language, such that if you keep removing its letters one by one, the resulting 8 words are still valid. What is this word? The removed letters do not need to be from the beginning or the end of the word. You can find the [answer here](. [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT Is cheese a drug? [article-image] Myths are powerful. So much so that [the Mayor of New York City]( was recently duped by one of them. [The myth that fooled the mayor:]( You can’t tell the difference between a person “hooked on cheese” and someone “hooked on heroin”. Apparently, this is a pretty popular myth based on a study from 2015 that mistakenly claimed that cheese is as addictive as drugs. Although some cheese lovers from our Crew might agree with this myth, it doesn't apply to most people. The moral of the story: Be careful what you believe. And while you’re here, here are some common myths [you probably thought were true](: - We only use 10% of our brains. - You swallow 8 spiders a year while sleeping - You need at least 8 glasses of water every day All those myths are busted. You’re welcome. SHARING IS CARING That news about cruise ads from Microsoft pretty much tells us that travel is back. Or at least it’s getting there. So, how about we give you an awesome laptop backpack you can use for all your travels? Or, if you’re ambitious, you can get our top prize - a trip to meet The Crew right here in Vienna, Austria. [article-image]( [CLICK TO SHARE]( Or copy your referral link: [ [SUBSCRIBE]( | [INSIGHTS]( | [ADVERTISE]( You are receiving this email because you want to know what is going on in digital marketing. If you aren't thrilled about our emails, reply and let us know why. Or you can unsubscribe from all daily updates by clicking [here.]( Our postal address: Spectrum IT Solutions GmbH, Canettistraße 1/Top0107, 1100 Wien, Austria