🎢 TikTok.

Bing and Spotify open the lid on user numbers and updates, TikTok announces a new ad channel, and more. March 10, 2023 [Read in browser]( [logo] [sponsor]( Howzit. You look confused. Is it because we said “howzit” instead of “hello”? Oh. Well, in yesterday’s intro, we shared a link to Vikki Ross’s Tweet urging marketers and copywriters to stop saying “hello” in headlines. Reader Karen Johnson says “howzit” is a casual greeting in South African, so we’re giving it a try. How’d we do, Karen? TIKTOK You’re next, search ads [article-image] Ever seen the claims about how people use TikTok as a search engine? Well, the app has been listening. And now, TikTok is putting on goggles and diving [into the search ad market](. Somewhere between Google and Microsoft: Advertisers will be able to bid to keywords and phrases just like on Bing or Google, but with a twist. Because you can already segment users based on their interests, behavior, and demographics, TikTok’s algorithm offers laser pointer potential. … And if you need more signs: TikTok [launched a Keyword Insights element]( in the Creative Center. This could help you browse relevant keywords by volume and click-through rate. It’s all coming together… One small problem: There’s still the issue of a potential US TikTok ban. Now [FBI Director Christopher Wray is raising the alarm](, claiming the app “screams” of security concerns. Meaning the further restrictions on the platform in the US could be possible – and soon. Why we care: TikTok’s ambitious jump into the search market is interesting, and could provide a completely new PPC experience compared to “traditional” search engines. There’s a ton of potential here for brands that need to reach younger demographics. … But if the US government decides to ban TikTok, it could also be too little, too late, especially if other nations follow suit. Build cautiously, and keep your eyes open. ADVERTISING Active Bing users spike, Spotify reaches half a billion listeners, debuts new tools Maybe it’s not enough to pop the champagne, but some important landmarks have been crossed. Came to see the GPT: Bing [reached 100M active users]( for the first time, just one month after releasing its AI-powered search engine. Of course, the company acknowledges that a million new Bing preview users “boosted” the road to 100M, but insists engagement is at an all time high. Bing also said Prometheus—its new search ranking model—increased “search quality to all-time high.” Sounds positive. That’s a lot of ears: Meanwhile, Spotify listeners [crossed the half a billion mark](. No big deal. And the app debuted [a few promotional tools]( for artists and podcasters. Now users will also be able to track and RSVP to events, while artists can send promotional merch and unique offers to listeners via email, and much, much more. Nice. Why we care: Bing’s numbers prove that users are interested in using, or at least testing, AI-powered search engines. … And that probably means SEOs and PPC buyers should maybe take it more seriously. And if you have a podcast or run ads, Spotify’s sticky new tools and incredible audience growth are good signs. Go where your people are! SPONSORED BY STACKED MARKETER PRO 16 marketing tasks AI can help you with right now [article-image]( Barely a day goes by without some new story about artificial intelligence, or AI. But here’s the thing: as annoying or even overwhelming as all this AI news might be… … Knowing how to use AI to your advantage can save you a lot of time and headache. If you want to meet ever-increasing content creation demands faster and easier, and avoid creative burnout… Our latest Pro Report "[A Marketer’s Complete Dive Into AI - Part 1](” is for you. Inside, you'll find hundreds of detailed examples of how to get AI to save you time by producing market research, blog post ideas, headlines, product descriptions, sales emails, social media, and more. How much time could AI save you? This might be the fastest way to find out… [Join Stacked Marketer Pro for $7 to unlock our entire report library.]( B2B MARKETING B2B brands, ignore these outdated trends [article-image] Here’s the bummer of a truth: When promoting brands, marketers often hang onto stuff that worked years ago—and are baffled when they see low returns. To prevent this happening to you, Ross Simonds [shared a few marketing trends]( you need to let go this year to be more profitable. Time to burst some bubbles… #1 – Pop-up ads. Maybe they were effective once, but pop-up ads now do more harm than good. They’re intrusive, aggressive, and annoy already ad-fatigued customers. To top it off, Google explicitly mentions “intrusive elements” as a de-ranking factor. Oh, and pop-ups also slow down your website. This all affects your rankings. #2 – Posting all the time. Don’t post for the sake of posting. Your audience has a hard time finding content that matters as it is. When you post for the sake of it, you cause visitors to bounce – and Google bumps your content down in the rankings. Bottom line: focus on quality content. #3 – Focusing too much on content. You’re on social media to be social, not to spam content to your audience all the time. Instead of worrying about content distribution, worry about whether or not you’re providing customer support on social media. That’s where your audience expects engagement and becomes loyal. #4 – Letting Google just “work it out.” You can’t assume Google will do SEO work for you, but that’s what most B2B businesses do. Ignoring the fine lines of SEO makes you miss out on traffic, conversions, and boosting the overall authority of your domain. #5 – Focusing on followers. We know firsthand that followers—or in The Crew’s case, subscribers—are a vanity metric. It’s not about the followers, it’s about the results. Focus on key metrics that will show if you’re doing a good job and if your followers are engaged – things like click-through-rates, responses, bounce rate, conversion rates, etc. Change is coming. Use the above tips as the starting point for tuning your 2023 marketing strategy and hopefully, you’ll see awesome results. SPONSORED BY DTCX 5 days and counting… [article-image]( How’d you like to soak up actionable tips, strategies, and lessons from the top leaders in DTC e-commerce? There's still time to reserve your [free ticket to DTCx5 Global, the largest virtual e-commerce event](. Join brands like Sharma Brands, Beardbrand, True Classic Tees, and OBVI, with Hint Water founder Kara Goldin headlining. These two days of top level strategic take-aways could help you thrive in 2023 while your competitors struggle, so… [Save your spot for free](. THE CREW’S INSIGHTS What to do when your advertising just isn’t converting [article-image] We’ve all been there. You just produced a campaign, ads are live, people are visiting the landing page for your product… But nobody’s buying. It all seemed so perfect in your head—until the sales numbers proved you wrong. What now? Much like a doctor asking you questions to diagnose a sickness, you want to narrow down the list of potential symptoms. To decide what to test, run potential changes through the ICE framework: - Impact: If this succeeds, how big of an impact will it have? - Confidence: How confident am I that this will succeed? - Effort: How much time is required to pull this off? Give each a score, then test changes to your offer in order of highest to lowest score. For example… - Rewriting your headline copy = A potentially high-impact, but low-effort, change. - Rebuilding your website entirely = Potentially high-impact, yes, but it requires lots of effort. Test this after you’ve tried other things. Testing potential changes in this way can help you find the most impactful, low-hanging fruit—and prevent you from wasting hours on something that doesn’t work. ROUNDING UP THE STACK [CUSTOMER ACQUISITION:]( Win at customer acquisition without burning through your entire marketing budget. Segment's latest guide reveals five effective campaigns with practical, proven templates. Get the free step-by-step guide to growing your customer base. [Download the free guide.](* [PAYMENTS:]( Must be inflation. Stripe is increasing prices for US businesses starting June 1, hiking the international payment card transaction fees from 1% to 1.5%. Also, it decided to cut the $15 dispute fee for successfully contested disputes. Good to know. [REDDIT:]( Remember Reddit Talk? It’s okay if you don’t… because it’s shutting down anyway on March 21. The supposed “Clubhouse clone” launched two years ago and never really took off. Kind of like the original. [META:]( If you had trouble accessing Instagram the past few days, you’re not the only one. Meta reported a technical issue preventing tens of thousands of users from accessing the platform at the peak of the outage. The issue has been fixed, according to Meta. Phew. *This is a sponsored post BRAIN TEASER A man rode out of town on Sunday, he stayed a whole night at a hotel and rode back to town the next day on Sunday. How is it possible? You can find [the answer here.]( [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT Why’s this fruit in the bathtub? [article-image] Personal question: when you shower, do you ever… like… bring an orange with you? No, no, just listen. There’s [this trend called Shower Orange](—on TikTok of course—where you peel the sweet, aromatic citrus while rinsing off the cares of the day. “Uh, why?” Health and wellness Tiktokers say peeling an orange in the steamy shower releases orange oil and “creates this aromatic experience” of: - Feeling like you’re in a spa. - Tingling your senses. - Refreshing and cooling your taste buds. - No sticky mess. Self care, indeed. Too bad we prefer peaches and apples. SHARING IS CARING Sobs. Loud, wet, grateful sobs. It seriously means a lot to us when you share our newsletter. So when you share Stacked Marketer with other marketers—and they subscribe—we reciprocate instantly with awesome content and merch, like: - The Crew’s Top 10 Insights (2 referrals) - The Marketer Mug (30 referrals). … And lots more. Hit the link below to get started! 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