AI is already significantly impacting the features of traditional search engines. However, at the end of the day, ChatGPT is best for informational queries, while Google is still the best place for transactional queries.
What Can ChatGPT Do?
One of the advantages of ChatGPT is that it can provide users with accurate and informative answers to their queries. Users can ask open-ended questions, and the model will respond with relevant and concise responses.
For example, a user may ask, “What is the capital of France?” or “What are the symptoms of COVID-19?” ChatGPT will provide a suitable answer.
This means that users can get all the information they need from ChatGPT without searching for information on different websites, saving them time and effort.
ChatGPT is extremely powerful when integrated with voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa. It has already been integrated into some smart home devices, allowing users to control their homes with their voice.
This technology has enormous potential as it can understand and respond to natural language queries.
Where ChatGPT Fails, And Google Succeeds
While ChatGPT is a powerful tool for answering informational queries, it is unsuitable for transactional queries.
Transactional queries are focused on taking action, such as “buy shoes online” or “book a flight to New York.”
For these queries, users are better off using Google or other search engines designed for this purpose.
For transactional queries, search engines like Google are the go-to option.
These search engines provide users with a list of websites where they can complete their desired action, whether purchasing a product, booking a service, or making a reservation.
Informational queries provide users with knowledge, while transactional queries focus on taking action.
To optimize for informational queries, webmasters should focus on creating content that answers common questions and provides valuable information to users. This content should be well-written, informative, and optimized for relevant keywords.
To optimize for transactional queries, webmasters should focus on creating landing pages designed to convert visitors into customers. These landing pages should have clear calls-to-action (CTAs), user-friendly design, and relevant information about the offered product or service.
There are plenty of articles here on SEJ with amazing advice on landing pages for transactional queries.
Informational queries don’t convert well on Google. In reality, most SEO pros need help to monetize informational queries.
I see a day when informational queries are handled completely by AI and transactional queries use a more traditional search engine model.
If your business model is to sell something, ChatGPT isn’t going to help you.
There are very few sales attributed to queries from ChatGPT.
What About The Other Stuff ChatGPT Does?
As AI technology evolves, ChatGPT will be used more frequently on websites.
This technology can provide users with an enhanced browsing experience by allowing them to interact with websites using natural language.
This will enable businesses to provide personalized customer service, automate customer support, and improve user engagement.
When you make ChatGPT or other AI services work with your website, the possibilities for increasing conversions are significant.
Another use case for ChatGPT is in chatbots.
Chatbots are computer programs that use AI technology to mimic human conversations. They can be used to answer customer queries, provide customer support, and assist with transactions.
Chatbots that use ChatGPT technology can provide more accurate and personalized responses to users, making them valuable business tools.
Will Webmasters Ever Get Credit In ChatGPT?
It’s unlikely that webmasters will ever be cited in ChatGPT.
This means the chances of getting a visitor to your site via ChatGPT are low.
Therefore, ChatGPT on the OpenAI website doesn’t make you any money.
Should I Optimize My Site For ChatGPT?
It’s still important to optimize content for this technology.
But you don’t need to do much more than is required by Google, Bing, or any other traditional search engine.
You optimize for ChatGPT by creating high-quality content.
Your content should convey experience, expertise, authority, and trust – or E-E-A-T.
By creating high-quality content that provides value to users, businesses can rest assured that their websites are optimized for ChatGPT and other AI technologies.
Integrating ChatGPT Into A Site To Increase Sales And Other Conversions
ChatGPT can also be used to improve customer engagement through personalized marketing. By understanding users’ interests and preferences, businesses can create targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with their audience.
This can lead to higher engagement rates and better conversion rates.
In addition, ChatGPT can also be used to provide real-time customer support.
By integrating ChatGPT into their websites, businesses can respond instantly to customer queries, reducing wait times and improving customer satisfaction.
This can also help businesses to identify common issues and improve their products and services based on customer feedback.
While ChatGPT is still in its early stages, it has enormous potential to revolutionize how we interact with technology.
As AI technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see more sophisticated language models that can understand and respond to human queries more nuanced and naturally.
This will open new business opportunities to provide personalized and engaging customer experiences.
Conclusion
In conclusion, ChatGPT is a powerful tool for delivering valuable information to users through conversational queries.
While it’s unsuitable for transactional queries, it can improve customer engagement, provide real-time customer support, and personalize marketing campaigns.
As AI technology evolves, we expect ChatGPT to be used more frequently on websites, allowing businesses to provide more personalized and engaging user experiences.
It’s important for digital marketers and SEO professionals to understand this technology’s potential and optimize their websites accordingly.
By doing so, they can ensure that their websites are at the forefront of the latest technological advances and provide the best possible user experience.
NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are becoming an increasingly popular way for individuals and brands to profit from their digital creations.
And it’s easy to see why.
You create a unique digital asset, like a piece of art, and then you tokenize it to prove your ownership of it.
More and more creators are turning to NFTs to help verify authenticity and minimize fraud. Non-fungible tokens have even become the currency of choice in the metaverse.
But what happens once an NFT is sold? Who actually owns the copyright – the original creator or the new owner? And how do copyright laws and IP rights apply?
Understanding NFTs
To find out where the discrepancies and confusion lie in NFT copyright, it’s helpful to go back to basics to understand what NFTs are.
NFTs are digital assets containing unique identification codes that verify ownership. These digital assets range from art, music, and photos to collectibles like comic books, trading cards, and in-game items.
While fungible assets like currency and cryptocurrency can be traded and exchanged, each NFT contains a unique digital signature.
This means that no two NFTs are alike, and so they can’t be replaced or interchanged with each other. That’s the difference between fungible and non-fungible.
Like cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens or NFTs are stored on blockchain technology – a public ledger that secures information in a way that makes it impossible to hack.
Thanks to the unique identification codes contained within each NFT, they can be easily verified and authenticated to prove ownership.
Even though NFTs have the technology for ownership, there is still confusion surrounding copyright law.
In November 2021, Hermès sued artist Mason Rothschild (real name Sonny Estival) for creating a faux fur line of NFTs inspired by its most famous and recognizable luxury bag: the Birkin.
Named the MetaBirkins, the line competed directly with Hermès and its own plans for NFTs. According to the company’s lawsuit, this confused its customers and diluted its brand.
Rothschild’s defense? That his work was social commentary and therefore protected by freedom of artistic expression.
The jury didn’t buy it and awarded the suit in favor of Hermès. Their judgment was that the NFTs were in breach of copyright law, including trademark dilution and infringement. All of which ended up costing $133,000 in damages.
An expensive lesson for Rothschild and an important legal precedent for NFTs and copyright law.
Who Owns The Intellectual Property Of An NFT?
It’s evident that many brands, including notable luxury brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Tiffany & Co., Gucci, and more, are beginning to explore the potential of non-fungible tokens.
This means that it’s becoming more important to understand where creativity ends, and copyright protection begins.
Because while buying an NFT gives the owner certain rights, complete creative control isn’t one of them – not unless the copyright holder takes active steps to ensure this, which is rarely done.
Understanding Copyright Protection
As the copyright owner, you have the exclusive right to reproduce and display your work – unless you choose to transfer the copyright or grant a license to the buyer.
But do these same laws apply to NFTs? These are the questions that are currently being asked.
If creating a non-fungible token is defined as copying or reproducing the original work in any way, then under copyright law (at least in the U.S.), the copyright holder is the only one who should legally be allowed to do so.
However, making copies of works now is much easier and cheaper than it was before the Internet existed. Today a simple right-click is all it takes, whereas previously, creating copies actually took time, money, and effort.
This is why copyright law used to be a serious consideration and, today, is barely given a second thought.
What Do You Own When You Buy NFTs?
It’s a good question.
Just because you buy a non-fungible token doesn’t mean you automatically own the copyright or even a license. The creator does.
That’s because when you buy NFTs, you’re actually purchasing a digital token – proof of ownership of something. And in some cases, you may only be the part owner of that thing.
Take The Merge, for example – an NFT artwork of 312,686 tokens purchased by 28,983 collectors for a total price of $91.8 million.
Now imagine each of those 28,983 collectors going off separately and reproducing their portion of the same art piece: nightmare.
While the various IP laws of trademark, patent, and copyright can be difficult to understand – particularly how they apply to NFTs – the rules are simple and grounded in common sense.
Don’t copy other people’s work, and always keep your own work safe, as Hermès has recently and powerfully demonstrated.
How Licenses And NFTs Work
Right now, copyright laws and guidelines are still being interrogated and debated.
But if you’re considering purchasing non-fungible tokens or are already an NFT owner, there are some workarounds when it comes to licensing:
Personal License
While you may not hold the copyright yourself, if you’re granted a personal license, you can use your NFT for non-commercial, non-profit means. This could include displaying your artwork in your home or using it as your social media profile picture.
Bear in mind, however, that you won’t be able to use your NFT for commercial gain in any way.
Commercial Rights
Here you will have some commercial rights to your NFT as given to you by the creator. It’s important to remember that they will still have copyright and IP ownership of the original work.
Depending on the specific rights transferred to you, you might be able to sell prints, create merchandise, or even create a TV show.
In the case of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, for example, owners have unrestricted commercial use of their NFT art. (However, there does seem to be some ongoing confusion about its copyright registration, which we’ll leave for another time.)
Aside from personal and commercial licenses, there are other structures in which the buyer of an NFT has to pay royalties to the original creator. So every time the NFT is sold, it generates a passive income for its owner.
William Shatner, for example, sold 125,000 digital photographs on the WAX Blockchain in just 9 minutes and now earns a secondary revenue from their trade.
On the other end of the spectrum, a royalty-free license can do away with needing to pay royalties to the creator. And other alternative licensing structures can grant or deny certain permissions to their owners.
So while copyright laws may have strict guidelines, licenses can help grant particular creative freedoms.
Brands Setting Precedence For NFTs & IP Rights
As we’ve discussed, the Hermès case sets an important legal precedent for luxury brands regarding the unauthorized sale of non-fungible tokens. And it’s more relevant now than ever.
Major brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, and more are starting to enter the NFT space, partnering with NFT marketplaces and creating digital collections. And why wouldn’t they?
NFTs allow them to authenticate limited-edition products, extend the lifecycle of their products, and build more sustainable business models.
It’s no wonder, then, that brands are optimistic about the potential of NFTs to transform the industry and create new opportunities for growth and innovation.
What Does This Mean For Anyone Creating NFTs?
While NFTs have the potential to change the market and make new opportunities possible, as a brand or a creator, you still need to know your IP rights.
You also need to know about NFTs and understand that just because you’re purchasing one, doesn’t mean you own the underlying IP.
Unless, of course, you’re the original creator.
Instead, non-fungible tokens represent the ownership or rights to a particular underlying asset. And that means creators need to avoid infringing on the IP rights of others.
They also need to implement measures to protect their own IP at the same time.
Otherwise, what’s to stop someone from buying the copyright to an NFT artwork, and then suing the purchaser for making that same artwork their profile picture?
Or copying other works to create NFTs and then ensuring the purchaser has the rights to the work? All while blurring the lines of copyright infringement.
There are far too many grey areas to navigate already without playing fast and loose with the copyright legislation already in place.
So, while the terms of NFT copyright are still being defined, play it safe.
Protect your copyrighted work as a creator or a brand.
Claim resale royalties if the possibility exists for you.
Don’t use your NFTs for commercial gain without the proper licensing.
When tasked to write an article on Digital Marketing Trends, I thought it needed a fresh approach to represent the changes we are experiencing from generative AI.
So, in the spirit of current trends, I decided to create an A/B test of my insights versus the responses generated by ChatGPT.
I was curious to see what ChatGPT would produce when I asked it to “write an article about the top 10 digital marketing trends for 2023 in the style of Greg Jarboe.”
The answers it generated are below in italics, and my analysis and evaluation are in regular text.
Top 10 Digital Marketing Trends For 2023, Written by ChatGPT
Here’s ChatGPT’s opening paragraph:
“The world of digital marketing is constantly changing, and keeping up with the latest trends is crucial for businesses that want to stay ahead of the competition.
In 2023, we can expect to see a number of exciting developments in the world of digital marketing, and I’ve rounded up the top 10 trends that are set to dominate the scene this year.”
Not bad…for a chatbot. But this was its second shot at writing a lead.
The first time around, I asked ChatGPT to “write a story about the top 10 digital marketing trends for 2023.” And it produced,
“Once upon a time, in the year 2023, the world of digital marketing was buzzing with excitement as the industry was on the cusp of a revolution.
With new technologies emerging and consumer behavior changing rapidly, businesses were eager to stay ahead of the curve and adopt the latest marketing trends.”
That’s when I remembered that ChatGPT is sensitive to tweaks to the input phrasing.
So, when I asked for a “story,” it gave me something I could tell my grandkids. But, when I asked for an “article,” it gave me something I could submit to my editors.
At first, I thought that I was training the chatbot.
Then, I realized that ChatGPT was training me.
Finally, I concluded that the model had been optimized for dialogue – and I’d received exactly what I was looking for on the second try.
That is not bad at all…for a model that usually guesses what the user intended.
But the tougher part of my A/B test was still ahead.
Here’s the first digital marketing trend that ChatGPT generated in response to my revised question:
1. Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning
“AI and ML are transforming the way businesses operate, and they’re also revolutionizing the way we approach digital marketing.
By leveraging these technologies, businesses can deliver personalized experiences to their customers and automate tasks, freeing up time for marketers to focus on more strategic initiatives.”
Well, humans – especially ones who could demonstrate their E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) – shouldn’t try to select a different top trend.
Why? Because this is the right choice.
If you have doubts AI and ML are “revolutionizing the way we approach digital marketing,” Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, “declared a ‘code red,’ upending existing plans and jump-starting A.I. development.”
All I can add is an example.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has a set of features called Analytics Intelligence, which apply Google’s machine learning models to analyze your data and predict future actions end-users may take.
And 412 Food Rescue, a non-profit organization based in Pittsburgh, needed to recruit more volunteers to deliver food from retailers to people experiencing food insecurity.
Automated Insights showed them that weekends tended to be a little bit slower in terms of volunteers and engagement, so they adjusted the social media campaigns that were driving traffic to their website.
They’ve cut their reporting time by 50%, freeing up their already limited staff to grow their impact throughout the community and expand to new cities.
“With the rise of voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home, voice search is becoming increasingly popular.
To ensure that their products and services appear at the top of the results when consumers search using their voice, businesses are optimizing their content for voice search.”
I was still surprised that ChatGPT had selected voice search optimization as one of the top digital marketing trends. This prompted me to read a couple of recent articles on this topic, including:
After reading up on voice search, ChatGPT is spot on. And using the chatbot helped me to see around corners.
So, even if ChatGPT “may occasionally generate incorrect information,” I’d argue that this is not one of those occasions.
3. Interactive Content
“Interactive content, such as quizzes, surveys, and games, is becoming increasingly popular as a way for businesses to engage with their customers and gain valuable insights into their audience.
By providing a more interactive experience, businesses can build stronger relationships with consumers and create a more memorable brand experience.”
To answer this question, I’d need to conduct a multivariate test within this A/B test to determine if the chatbot has spotted a trend that we should focus on in 2023.
That’s doable.
Get City Dealz, SEO-PR, and Business Wire (disclaimer: I co-founded SEO-PR) won two awards in 2013 for an A/B/C test, which found a press release with a video got 55.4% more release views and 36.1% more link clicks – and a release with a photo had 4.6% more release views and 7.1% more link clicks – than a release with no multimedia.
In 2018, Business Wire launched Interactive Media news releases, which received 88 seconds of “active attention” compared to 30 seconds of “passive attention” for traditional news releases.
Business Wire also says the interactive format “engages audiences 30% – 50% more than traditional news releases.”
But I haven’t tested Interactive Media news releases yet. So, let’s just say the jury is still out on interactive content.
4. Micro-Moments
“As consumers are constantly on the go and using their mobile devices for quick information, businesses are focusing on micro-moments.
These are the moments when consumers need information immediately, and businesses are providing relevant and timely information at exactly the right moment.”
I was baffled by ChatGPT’s selection of micro-moments as one of the top digital marketing trends for 2023. It’s been a trend for more than a decade, so why should we refocus our attention on this now?
Well, ChatGPT’s knowledge of events after 2021 is limited. And back then, people were emerging from lockdowns during the global pandemic.
So, they suddenly started using their mobile devices again to search for “covid vaccine near me” or “Johnson and Johnson vaccine near me.”
Maybe these old micro-moments prompted the chatbot to select an outdated trend.
On the other hand, Think with Google has either published or updated 72 articles that mention “micro-moments” in the past year. (It’s worth noting that 55 of these articles were updated on Dec. 7, 2022, including The Basics of Micro-Moments, originally published in May 2015.)
So, does Google know something about micro-moments that we don’t know yet? Only time will tell.
5. Influencer Marketing
“Influencer marketing is becoming a staple in the digital marketing world, with businesses partnering with social media influencers to reach a wider audience and build brand awareness.
By tapping into the influence that these individuals have over their followers, businesses can reach new customers and drive conversions.”
I completely agree with ChatGPT’s selection of influencer marketing as one of the top digital marketing trends for 2023.
Over 82% of brand marketers plan to dedicate a budget to influencer marketing in 2023.
67% of marketers intend to increase their influencer marketing expenditures.
The influencer marketing industry is expected to be worth $21.1 billion in 2023 – a 29% growth YoY.
83% of marketers believe influence marketing is an effective form of marketing.
I recently commented “Worldwide interest in ‘influencer marketing’ passed ‘social media marketing’ in January 2018 and is now about two times greater.”
You can verify this for yourself by using Google Trends to compare web search interest in the topics “social media marketing” and “influencer marketing” in the U.S. from 2004 to the present. Here’s what you’ll see:
Screenshot from Google Trends, February 2023
So, I wouldn’t be shocked to find that brands have started shifting even more of their budgets out of organic social media marketing and into influencer marketing in 2023.
6. Video Marketing
“Video content is becoming the dominant form of content on the internet, and businesses are incorporating video into their marketing strategies to reach consumers in new and engaging ways.
Whether it’s through social media, video advertisements, or product demos, video is a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their customers.”
I wholeheartedly agree with ChatGPT’s selection of video marketing as one of the top digital marketing trends for 2023.
But I asked myself, “Why should we refocus our attention on it now?”
During Alphabet’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Feb. 2, 2023, CEO Sundar Pichai said that YouTube Shorts has surpassed 50 billion daily views, up from 30 billion a year ago.
A day earlier, YouTube enabled creators to share advertising revenue from short-form videos.
That’s a good reason to refocus our attention on video marketing.
So, while many industry analysts are focused on TikTok and Instagram Reels, YouTube has steadily (and stealthily) become a leader in short-form video. And that’s a trend worth refocusing on, too.
7. Chatbots
“Chatbots are becoming more sophisticated, providing instant and personalized customer service.
This technology is freeing up time for businesses to focus on other tasks, and it’s also making it easier for consumers to get the information they need quickly and efficiently.”
Are chatbots one of this year’s top digital marketing trends? Give me a break.
Even David Leonhardt of The New York Times listed ChatGPT as one of the Seven Surprises of the past few months. His colleague Kevin Roose says, “ChatGPT is still young – only 2 months old! – and yet we’re already getting a glimpse of the many ways these A.I. chatbots could change our lives.”
But riddle me this: If ChatGPT has a “limited knowledge of (the) world and events after 2021,” how could it predict that chatbots will be one of the top digital marketing trends for 2023?
Has ChatGPT become self-aware? Or is the chatbot guilty of shameless self-promotion?
There’s a serious answer to these whimsical questions.
“In 2021, we shared next-gen language + conversation capabilities powered by our Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA). Coming soon: Bard, a new experimental conversational #GoogleAI service powered by LaMDA.”
So, are chatbots one of this year’s top digital marketing trends? I’d call that a big yes.
8. Personalization
“With data becoming increasingly accessible, businesses are leveraging this information to deliver personalized experiences to their customers.
From targeted ads to customized content recommendations, personalization is key to delivering a unique and engaging customer experience.”
I strongly disagree with ChatGPT’s selection of this trend.
Personalization was one of the top digital marketing trends in the past.
But it’s now facing strong headwinds from consumers, who use ad blockers to avoid intrusive or repetitive ads; privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA; and privacy changes by key players, like Google and Apple.
With growing privacy concerns, consumers are rethinking what data they’re willing to give to brands, and this is forcing marketers to change their perception of personalization
In 2023, our attention should shift to “predictive audiences.”
What are these? In GA4, a predictive audience is a group of users with at least one condition based on a predictive metric.
For example, you can build an audience of “predicted 28-day top spenders” that includes users who are predicted to generate the most revenue in the next 28 days.
“McDonald’s Hong Kong met its goal of growing mobile orders using a predictive audience of ‘likely 7-day purchasers.’
They exported this audience to Google Ads – and increased their app orders more than six times. They also saw a 2.3 times stronger ROI, a 5.6 times increase in revenue, and a 63% reduction in cost per action.”
So, you should stop fighting the last war and start winning kudos from your CMO or clients by creating predictive audiences in 2023.
9. Social Media Advertising
“Social media advertising is continuing to grow, with businesses leveraging platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to reach their target audience and drive conversions.
Whether it’s through sponsored content, display ads, or influencer partnerships, social media advertising is an effective way for businesses to reach new customers and build brand awareness.”
I generally agree with ChatGPT about this trend – with a few caveats.
Social media advertising will continue to grow.
I believe advertisers should move some of their ad budgets out of Facebook and Twitter and into YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, Pinterest, and LinkedIn in 2023.
Advertisers should also move more of the ad budgets out of display ads and into social video ads.
In fact, Video now accounts for over half of all social network ad revenues, according to Evelyn Mitchell of Insider Intelligence.
And she acknowledged, “Previously, we didn’t expect video to hit the 50% milestone until after 2024. With advertisers preserving more of their social video budgets during the downturn, this trend was accelerated.”
There’s one other bit of critical data to digest: Social video ad spending is expected to grow 21.2% in 2023.
But the biggest growth driver in digital video ad spending is connected TV (CTV), which will grow 27.2% this year.
10. Virtual And Augmented Reality
“Virtual and augmented reality is becoming more widespread, allowing businesses to create immersive experiences for their customers.
From virtual product demonstrations to augmented reality shopping, these technologies are providing a new way for businesses to connect with their customers and create a more engaging brand experience.”
If personalization is an example of fighting the last war, then virtual and augmented reality is an example of a bridge too far.
VR and AR may become top trends in three to five years, but not in 2023.
Back in 2016, I said, “Sometimes you need to step back – way back – to get a different perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing marketers today.”
So, when virtual and augmented reality become top trends in 2026 to 2028, don’t be surprised if other formats – from short-form and long-form to stories and live streaming – continue to be popular on a variety of devices, from smartphones and laptops to smart TVs and gaming consoles, too.
The Verdict On ChatGPT?
Here’s ChatGPT’s closing paragraph:
“In conclusion, these are just a few of the digital marketing trends that are set to dominate the scene in 2023. By staying ahead of the curve and adopting these new technologies and strategies, businesses can reach new customers, build brand awareness, and stay ahead of the competition.”
Not bad, not bad at all…for a chatbot.
So, in an era of digital transformation, could you trust a list of trends from a large language model that suffers from artificial intelligence hallucination?
And, in a time when you need to understand the latest shifts in consumer behaviors, needs, and beliefs, should you believe a forecast created by a chatbot that admits it has a “limited knowledge of (the) world and events after 2021”?
Finally, would you prefer a thousand-word summary of digital marketing trends from an AI system or insights from a human with expertise on the topic?
But this hasn’t been a legendary timber-cutting contest nor an actual A/B test.
You don’t need to choose between ChatGPT’s answers and mine.
Heck, you can compare and contrast them, just as I have.
In fact, I plan to continue using OpenAI’s chatbot in 2023 – unless Google’s Bard turns out to be significantly better. (But I haven’t tested Bard yet.)
In Conclusion
Let me close this article by sharing the concluding paragraph of ChatGPT’s first response, which the chatbot gave me when I asked it to “write a story about the top 10 digital marketing trends for 2023.”
“In conclusion, the world of digital marketing was evolving at a rapid pace, and businesses were embracing these new trends to stay ahead of the competition and meet the changing needs of consumers.”
ChatGPT is a revolutionary technology that will significantly change how we work.
As a programmer, I initially didn’t believe it could solve advanced tasks, but I was surprised to see how helpful it can be in my daily life.
So, I started playing around with ChatGPT and discovered several ways it could help me – and I think SEO pros and marketers should master it and make it part of their daily working routing as an assistant tool.
Let’s break down examples by niches you can use, such as:
Analytics and Data.
Digital Marketing.
Productivity.
Technical SEO.
Keyword Research.
On-Page SEO.
But before we start, I would like to point out one caveat you have to remember: The data that ChatGPT was trained on is from the third quarter of 2021 and based on what is available on the internet, which may contain misinformation and outdated.
That means fact-checking and revising ChatGPT’s answers are mandatory, so you don’t fall into trap of errors made by the machine.
Examples Of ChatGPT For Analytics And Data
1. Compose Regular Expressions In Analytics Reporting
Regular expressions can be used in composing analytic reports such as Google Search Console (GSC) or Google Analytics (GA).
Regular expressions are one of the most boring tasks I know, and it may really slow down work. For marketers, it is even tougher, as they typically don’t have a technical background.
Let’s look at an example of GSC’s reporting, which supports filtering by regexp (regular expression).
Screenshot of GSC Query Filter by Regexp, January 2023
If you are a marketer with no technical background, you may find it hard to use this feature and limit yourself to the few basic regexps, which you can find by searching dev-related forums.
Now, you have ChatGPT at your disposal.
Just go to ChatGPT and ask: Compose regular expression which starts with “How To” or “What is” case insensitive using RE2 syntax.
Screenshot of ChatGPT response, January 2023
Yup!
(?i)^(?:How To|What is)
It got the job done instantly.
Copy and paste the pattern in GSC’s filter field, and you will have all the queries that are candidates to optimize for FAQ or HowTo schema.
Screenshot of GSC report, January 2023
Pretty easy, isn’t it?
You can use it to compose regexp for GA reports as well.
For example, let’s say you want to filter a report which has in the URL the words “Samsung” and “phone.”
Just ask ChatGPT: Compose regular expression which contains words “Samsung” and “phone” case insensitive using RE2 syntax.
Just to note, it is important to mention “RE2 syntax” in the command, as Google’s reporting dashboards support that syntax.
2. Compose Complex Spreadsheet Formulas
Everyone works with Excel or Google Sheets at some time.
Spreadsheets are a part of daily work life for many of us. But composing spreadsheet formulas can be arduous, as you must research to find the function name you need and then spend 10 to 15 minutes figuring out how to make it work.
Now, it just takes you a minute to ask ChatGPT with a command like: Google Sheet formula which copies all rows from sheet1 where column "A" contains word "iphone".
And it didn’t take long to get the solution.
Screenshot of Google Sheet Formula created by ChatGPT, January 2023
But, the formula it gave =QUERY(Sheet1!A:Z, "SELECT * WHERE A CONTAINS 'iphone'", "Sheet2!A1") has a small error.
Of course, ChatGPT doesn’t always provide 100% correct answers. You should always check its answers, as you may need to fix them manually.
The formula I got is 99% correct, except that the third parameter shouldn’t be there.
So, I removed it manually and now have =QUERY(Sheet1!A:Z, "SELECT * WHERE A CONTAINS 'iphone'") which works perfectly!
I always recommend using punctuation in ChatGPT to help it better understand the prompt.
For example, use a colon to end the prompt or quotes around any text that isn’t part of the prompt.
3. Composing SQL queries
With the introduction of GA4, marketers may often need to fetch data from BigQuery, as Google now offers a free connection of GA4 to BigQuery.
To query the dataset, you would need to learn SQL – or just ask ChatGPT to build a specific query for you to extract valuable data without sampling from the dataset.
Screenshot of an SQL sample using ChatGPT, January 2023
Examples Of ChatGPT For Digital Marketing
When using ChatGPT for market research and your brand marketing, always remember that it was trained on data up to the third quarter of 2021 and thus may not be the best tool for dealing with current trends.
But it is a handy tool for many other tasks you may have. Let’s take a look at some of them.
4. Generate Audience Personas
Let’s say you’ve launched a new SaaS company and want to know who your audience is so that you can build your marketing efforts around them.
You can ask ChatGPT to create audience personas.
The prompt I would use is Create audience personas for the "physical threat detection software."
Screenshot of an audience persona created by ChatGPT, January 2023
And the results are just a great place to start.
This doesn’t mean you should fire your marketing leader, but now, they have a tool that can 10x boost their performance and deliver faster results.
5. SWOT Analysis
This is a really cool prompt you can use for your brand or competitive analysis.
You can ask to do a SWOT analysis of any company.
For example, I used the prompt SWOT analysis of "Washington Post" , and the results were a very interesting starting point.
Screenshot of SWOT analysis by ChatGPT, January 2023
6. S.M.A.R.T. Goals
SMART goals are important because they provide a clear framework for setting and achieving objectives.
With ChatGPT, you can get ideas for your company using the prompt S.M.A.R.T. goals for SaaS "."
Screenshot of SMART Goals by ChatGPT, January 2023
7. Craft A Newsletter
You can use ChatGPT to craft an outline for the newsletter campaign you want to run.
Let’s say you have a sale on Black Friday and want to send a newsletter to promote your offer.
Just ask, Craft an email campaign newsletter on Black Friday for SaaS "" which offers 20% discount. Include a catchy call to action button at the end of the email.
Screenshot of an email newsletter generated by ChatGPT, January 2023
Examples Of ChatGPT For Productivity
8. Craft Pitch Emails
Again, if you are a SaaS startup, you definitely need to sell your software.
Your sales team needs to pitch prospective customers and respond to hundreds of emails, which is exhausting and can be a slow process.
Increasing the productivity of your sales team can help you sell more and increase your revenue.
The example prompt you can use here is Craft a pitch email for selling "physical threat detection software."
Screenshot of a pitch email example generated by ChatGPT, January 2023
Alternatively, there is a Chrome add-on that you may use.
9. Craft A Social Media Post
Let’s say you’ve published articles and want to push them to social media.
You would need a well-crafted and compelling text to post on social media so that users will click on your post.
Screenshot of social media posts crafted by ChatGPT, January 2023
I bet you would spend at least 15 minutes composing such a compelling social media post. But now, you can do it in one minute.
10. Write Ad Copy
If you are a PPC marketer, you deal a lot with creating ad copy – and having an extra resource to provide you with thought starters could save hundreds of hours a month for you.
The sample prompt I used is Write a Google ad text with a title of up to 30 characters and a description of up to 90 characters for SaaS "physical threat detection software."
Screenshot of an ad copy by ChatGPT, January 2023
You may also include blog post article text from which to generate the ad copy, which will be more specific to you.
The sample prompt would be: Write a Google ad text with a title of up to 30 characters and a description of up to 90 characters for SaaS "" from the text below.
Just replace the prompt with the company type with your version.
11. Craft A Job Description
All companies need to hire, meaning they must write job descriptions.
Now, ChatGPT can help with that, too.
For example, Job description of Social Media Manager for real estate company.
Screenshot of a job description generated by ChatGPT, January 2023
Always remember you can finetune the prompt by adding more details to it, which will make the answer even better.
Examples Of ChatGPT For Technical SEO
12. Generate FAQ Schema
You can have ChatGPT generate FAQ schema code from a text you provide.
Screenshot of an FAQ schema generated by ChatGPT, January 2023
Of course, you may use a CMS plugin for that, too.
But what if you use Wix, for example, which doesn’t have a plugin? Should you copy and paste schema code into the editor? In this case, ChatGPT is a handy tool and assistant at your disposal.
You can generate any kind of schema by using a similar example.
13. Generate HowTo Schema
In the case of the HowTo schema, you can enter a similar prompt as we did for FAQ, and ChatGPT will do 99% of the job.
The prompt would be,Generate HowTo schema on how to bake a cake from the steps below and suggest images with each step.
Screenshot of a HowTo schema generated by ChatGPT, January 2023
Why 99% and not 100%? Simply because you need to replace sample image URLs.
It did, however, add HowTo schema steps with real images.
Just upload images in your CMS and replace the sample image path in the suggested schema.
14. Create Robots.txt Rules
SEO pros deal with robots.txt a lot.
Now you have a tool that can help you create any robots.txt rules with ease.
Below is an example of how to prevent Google from crawling your PPC campaign landing pages, which are located in directory /landing/but let Google ads bot in.
The prompt you can use is Robots.txt rule which blocks Google's access to directory /landing/ but allows Google ads bot.
Screenshot of a robots.txt rule created by ChatGPT, January 2023
After you’ve done edits, always test your robots.txt.
15. Generate htaccess Redirect Rules
SEO pros often deal with migrations and may need to redirect a lot of stuff, depending on what type of server one has.
You can now generate htaccess or Nginx redirect rules using ChatGPT.
The prompt I used is For redirecting folder1 to folder2 generate nxig and htaccess redirect rules,
The results are just neat.
Screenshot of a Python script generated by ChatGPT, January 2023
16. Connect To APIs And Coding
SEO pros often need to connect to various APIs and fetch data, but may lack programming skills.
Now you have ChatGPT at your disposal for basic tasks which require programming.
In the example below, I asked ChatGPT to get Google autosuggestion using the known “pytrends” library.
Screenshot of a Python script generated by ChatGPT, January 2023
You can basically use ChatGPT for coding in all programming languages.
The same prompt may be composed to ask the same, but in PHP: Get Google Keyword Suggestions using PHP.
For running PHP on your local machine, you may use the free environment XAMPP; for running Python, you may use Jupiter.
If you are a PPC marketer who wants to set up custom conversions when users perform certain actions on the website but don’t have a web developer’s help, it could be quite challenging in some situations.
Yes, you can use Google Tag Manager in many cases when users click on the link, but you could need something different, which is not a built-in feature of GTM.
For example, you need to send a conversion event when one lands on your landing page and scrolls through 35% of the page.
Now, you don’t need to hire a developer to get the job done.
Just go to ChatGPT and ask: Send Facebook pixel custom conversion event once as users scroll through 35% of the page using JavaScript, and it will do the magic!
Screenshot of JavaScript code firing custom Facebook pixel event, January 2023
You can copy and paste this code in your
tag of HTML, and you are done.
If you have a WordPress site, you can use plugins such WPCode to make the job easier.
Alternatively, you can use Google Tag Manager custom HTML tag to add your JavaScript code there.
It saves you the time of having to find a developer for small daily tasks. And even if you do have a dev team, you can significantly reduce their workload by doing it yourself.
Examples Of ChatGPT For Keyword Research
17. Get Keyword Ideas
Screenshot of long-tail keywords generated by ChatGPT, January 2023
An example prompt you can use is Generate a list of long and short tail keyword ideas on the topic “machine learning.”
Now SEO tools have a serious competitor that’s free to use.
The only caveat is that, as I’ve mentioned already, ChatGPT is trained on data up to the third quarter of 2021 and isn’t connected to the internet. Thus, it may fail to work in cases when you need more recent data.
For example, I asked who won Fifa 2022 World Cup, and it failed to answer.
Screenshot from ChatGPT, January 2023
18. Get The Search Intent Of The Search Query
You have a lot of data in your GSC, which now you can copy and paste into ChatGPT to get more insights.
For example, you can copy-paste a list of search queries and ask for the intent of the query using the prompt What is the user intent behind these queries?.
Screenshot of a search intent generated by ChatGPT, January 2023
19. Cluster Semantically Relevant Keywords
Again, you can use ChatGPT to organize the keywords you rank for – and not only those – into clusters: Cluster list of keywords based on their semantic relevance.
Screenshot of ChatGPT, January 2023
Another case is to identify pages that rank for semantically relevant queries and restructure your URLs under silos.
For example, bring all pages that are about social media or under /social-media/ silo, which can help you boost ranking and help Google better understand your website structure.
20. Generate Related Keywords And Synonyms
It is always good to mention your content-related keywords and synonyms.
You can do it at scale by using ChatGPT.
Just ask:Generate related keywords or the list of keywords below.
Screenshot from ChatGPT, January 2023
21. Generate Article Titles Based On Keywords
As you have keywords you want to write articles about, it is time to brainstorm titles for your articles.
The prompt I used is Suggest titles based on keywords list below.
Screenshot from ChatGPT, January 2023
Examples Of ChatGPT For On-Page SEO
22. Generate Meta Descriptions
You can copy and paste text into ChatGPT and ask it to create a meta description from it.
The prompt I used is Generate concise and compelling meta description of up to 200 characters from the provided text.
Screenshot of a meta description generated by ChatGPT, January 2023
23. Optimize For PAA Box And Featured Snippets
SEO professionals may need help getting related questions from users to optimize content for a specific keyword.
You can use ChatGPT to get these related questions to make your content more helpful.
If you have a travel blog, you may ask: Related questions regarding "cozy cities in Germany," and ChatGPT will draw many queries which really make sense.
Screenshot of ChatGPT performing keyword research, January 2023
Of course, there may be ones that don’t make sense – but they will do 90% of the job.
The questions it suggests may not have any search volume, but it is still worth going after them because zero search volume keywords may drive significant traffic.
24. Generate FAQ For The Product With Answers
If you have an ecommerce store and want to enhance your product pages with an FAQ section, you can ask ChatGPT to help you.
The example prompt I used is Generate FAQ for the Galaxy A23 5G with answers. Based on the results generate also FAQ schema.
Screenshot of ChatGPT generating FAQ for a product, January 2023
And you can shoot two rabbits with one shot, as you will also get an FAQ schema you can use.
Screenshot of ChatGPT generating an FAQ schema, January 2023
Pretty simple, isn’t it?
If you worry about being penalized by Google for AI-written content, I think you are okay as long as you fact-check and revise it for errors.
But I am strictly against generating full article copy using ChatGPT because you must fact-check it and likely spend more time revising it than writing from scratch. With the rise of AI detectors, Google may eventually be able to detect it.
Treat ChatGPT as an assistant that you can use wisely when you next an extra hand.
25. Suggest Heading Tags
Let’s say you have a big chunk of text and want to get ideas about what subheadings to add to make your content more structured.
You can ask ChatGPT to do that time-consuming editorial task for you just by asking, Suggest H2 subheadings to content below without modifying the text.
Screenshot of ChatGPT generating subheadings, January 2023
Of course, it might not always offer exactly what you wanted, but you may play with the prompt and add more context to it – or take ChatGPT hints and work from there by adding your edits to subheadings.
OpenAI announced a new subscription service to ChatGPT called ChatGPT Plus that offers several benefits over the free version. Fans of OpenAI were wildly enthusiastic about the prospect for a more reliable service.
Many users around the world were pleased to know that the free version will continue to be offered.
Looks like #ChatGPT’s free tier will be around a while.
ChatGPT is a useful AI tool for writing-related tasks, as well as for obtaining general information.
The free version is used by millions of users. Although it is hosted on Microsoft data centers the service falters during periods of peak usage and becomes unavailable.
OpenAI benefits from the usage because the feedback is useful for training the machine to become better.
The new subscription model is intended to subsidize the free users.
OpenAI Subscription Model
The new subscription version, called ChatGPT Plus, will cost $20/month.
Initially, ChatGPT will be available to users in the United States and will expand to other countries and regions “soon.”
There is no estimate or indication of how soon the service will be available outside of the United States.
But the fact that there’s a waitlist for United States users to subscribe might be an indication.
The Public Is Enthusiastic
To say that potential customers are enthusiastic about ChatGPT Plus is an understatement.
The response on Twitter could be boiled down to one phrase: Shut up and take my money.
One person applauded OpenAI for keeping a free version available:
Already signed up on the list 👍 $20 is very reasonable for what you guys are offering 👏 Also, huge props for also keeping the product free for others too so it can continue to learn & grow while helping out everyone else. AI is only as good as it’s prompts & dataset after all.
Multiple people asked about plans for non-profits and for students.
This tweet is representative of the requests for student plans:
How about a student plan? I am studying computer science and this tool is very useful, but also, slow… It is very hard for students like me to invest so much money, but I’d love to pay a subscription at a lower cost
ChatGPT will be launching a ChatGPT API waitlist soon, which will open up the service to new ways of interacting with it.
OpenAI also plans to learn more about user needs and how to best serve users during the course of the new subscription service.
Once they have more experience with it, OpenAI plans to offer additional plans, including lower cost versions.
They shared:
“…we are actively exploring options for lower-cost plans, business plans, and data packs for more availability.”
This could have been Google’s win.But OpenAI and Microsoft beat them with a useful product and have captured the fascination and admiration of users worldwide.
2023 is going to be an exciting year of AI driven innovation.
Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter last October 27, 2022, things at the social media company have gone from bad to worse.
You probably saw this coming from a mile away – especially if you had read about a study by Media Matters that was published on November 22, 2022, entitled, “In less than a month, Elon Musk has driven away half of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers.”
This mass exodus creates a challenge for digital advertising executives and their agencies. Where should they go long term?
And what should they do in the short term – with Super Bowl LVII coming up on Sunday, February 12, 2023?
Ideally, these advertisers would follow their audience. If they knew where Twitter users were going, their ad budgets could follow them.
But it isn’t clear where Twitter users are going – or if they’ve even left yet.
Fake Followers On Twitter And Brand Safety
According to the latest data from Similarweb, a digital intelligence platform, there were 6.9 billion monthly visits to Twitter worldwide during December 2022 – up slightly from 6.8 billion in November, and down slightly from7.0 billion in October.
So, if a high-profile user like Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has taken a step back from the frequent posts on her Twitter account, @wutrain, which has more than 152,000 followers, then it appears that other users have stepped up their monthly visits.
This includes several accounts that had been banned previously for spreading disinformation, which Musk unbanned.
(Disinformation is defined as “deliberately misleading or biased information,” while misinformation may be spread without the sender having harmful intentions.)
It’s also worth noting that SparkToro, which provides audience research software, also has a free tool called Fake Follower Audit, which analyzes Twitter accounts.
This tool defines “fake followers” as ones that are unreachable and will not see the account’s tweets either because they’re spam, bots, and propaganda, or because they’re no longer active on Twitter.
On Jan. 24, 2023, I used this tool and found that 70.2% of the 126.5 million followers of the @elonmusk account were fake.
According to the tool, accounts with a similar-sized following to @elonmusk have a median of 41% fake followers. So, Elon Musk’s account has more fake followers than most.
Screenshot from SparkToro, January 2023
By comparison, 20.6% of the followers of the @wutreain account were fake. So, Michelle Wu’s account has fewer fake followers than accounts with a similar-sized following.
Screenshot from SparkToro, January 2023
In fact, most Twitter accounts have significant numbers of fake followers.
This underlines the brand safety concerns that many advertisers and media buyers have, but it doesn’t give them any guidance on where they should move their ad dollars.
Who Are Twitter’s Top Competitors And What Are Their Monthly Visits?
So, I asked Similarweb if they had more data that might help. And they sent me the monthly visits from desktop and mobile devices worldwide for Twitter and its top competitors:
YouTube.com: 34.6 billion in December 2022, down 2.8% from 35.6 billion in December 2021.
Facebook.com: 18.1 billion in December 2022, down 14.2% from 21.1 billion in December 2021.
Twitter.com: 6.9 billion in December 2022, up 1.5% from 6.8 billion in December 2021.
Instagram.com: 6.3 billion in December 2022, down 3.1% from 6.5 billion in December 2021.
TikTok.com: 1.9 billion in December 2022, up 26.7% from 1.5 billion in December 2021.
Reddit.com: 1.8 billion in December 2022, down 5.3% from 1.9 billion in December 2021.
LinkedIn.com: 1.5 billion in December 2022, up 7.1% from 1.4 billion in December 2021.
Pinterest.com: 1.0 billion in December 2022, up 11.1% from 0.9 billion in December 2021.
The most significant trends worth noting are monthly visits to TikTok are up 26.7% year over year from a smaller base, while monthly visits to Facebook are down 14.2% from a bigger base.
So, the short-term events at Twitter over the past 90 days may have taken the spotlight off the long-term trends at TikTok and Facebook over the past year for some industry observers.
In a call with investors, Zuckerberg said back then:
“People have a lot of choices for how they want to spend their time, and apps like TikTok are growing very quickly. And this is why our focus on Reels is so important over the long term.”
Meanwhile, there were 91% more monthly visits to YouTube in December 2022 than there were to Facebook. And that only counts the visits that Similarweb tracks from mobile and desktop devices.
Similarweb doesn’t track visits from connected TVs (CTVs).
Measuring Data From Connected TVs (CTVs) And Co-Viewing
Why would I wish to draw your attention to CTVs?
First, global viewers watched a daily average of over 700 million hours of YouTube content on TV devices, according to YouTube internal data from January 2022.
And Insider Intelligence reported in 2022 that 36.4% of the U.S. share of average time spent per day with YouTube came from connected devices, including Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Roku, and Xfinity Flex, while 49.3% came from mobile devices, and 14.3% came from desktops or laptops.
Second, when people watch YouTube on a connected TV, they often watch it together with their friends, family, and colleagues – just like they did at Super Bowl parties before the pandemic.
There’s even a term for this behavior: Co-viewing.
This means Heineken and Marvel Studios can measure the co-viewing of their Super Bowl ad in more than 100 markets around the globe where Heineken 0.0 non-alcoholic beer is sold, and/or 26 countries where “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” is scheduled to be released three to five days after the Big Game.
It also enables Apple Music to measure the co-viewing of their Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show during Big Game parties worldwide (except Mainland China, Iran, North Korea, and Turkmenistan, where access to YouTube is currently blocked).
And, if FanDuel has already migrated to Google Analytics 4 (GA4), then the innovative sports-tech entertainment company can not only measure the co-viewing of their Big Game teasers on YouTube AdBlitz in 16 states where sports betting is legal, but also measure engaged-view conversions (EVCs) from YouTube within 3 days of viewing Rob Gronkowski’s attempt to kick a live field goal.
Advertisers couldn’t do that in 2022. But they could in a couple of weeks.
If advertisers want to follow their audience, then they should be moving some of their ad budgets out of Facebook, testing new tactics, and experimenting with new initiatives on YouTube in 2023.
Where should the advertisers leaving Twitter shift their budgets long term? And how will that change their Super Bowl strategies in the short term?
According to Similarweb, monthly visits to ads.twitter.com, the platform’s ad-buying portal dropped 15% worldwide from 2.5 million in December 2021 to 2.1 million in December 2022.
So, advertisers were heading for the exit weeks before they learned that 500 top advertisers had left the platform.
Where Did Their Ad Budgets Go?
Well, it’s hard to track YouTube advertising, which is buried in Google’s sprawling ad business.
And we can’t use business.facebook.com as a proxy for interest in advertising on that platform because it’s used by businesses for other purposes, such as managing organic content on their Facebook pages.
But monthly visits to ads.snapchat.com, that platform’s ad-buying portal, jumped 88.3% from 1.6 million in December 2021 to 3.0 million in December 2022.
Monthly visits to ads.tiktok.com are up 36.6% from 5.1 million in December 2021 to 7.0 million in December 2022.
Monthly visits to ads.pinterest.com are up 23.3% from 1.1 million in December 2021 to 1.4 million in December 2022.
And monthly visits to business.linkedin.com are up 14.6% from 5.7 million in December 2021 to 6.5 million in December 2022.
It appears that lots of advertisers are hedging their bets by spreading their money around.
How will advertisers leaving Twitter change their Super Bowl plan this year?
To double-check my analysis, I interviewed Joaquim Salguerio, who is the Paid Media Director at LINK Agency. He’s managed media budgets of over eight figures at multiple advertising agencies.
Below are my questions and his answers.
Greg Jarboe: “Which brands feel that Twitter has broken their trust since Musk bought the platform?”
Joaquim Salguerio: “I would say that several brands will have different reasonings for this break of trust.
First, if you’re an automaker, there’s suddenly a very tight relationship between Twitter and one of your competitors.
Second, advertisers that are quite averse to taking risks with their communications because of brand safety concerns might feel that they still need to be addressed.
Most of all, in a year where we’re seeing mass layoffs from several corporations, the Twitter troubles have given marketing teams a reason to re-evaluate its effectiveness during a time of budget cuts. That would be a more important factor than trust for most brands.
Obviously, there are some famous cases, such as the Lou Paskalis case, but it’s difficult to pinpoint a brand list that would have trust as their only concern.”
GJ: “Do you think it will be hard for Twitter to regain their trust before this year’s Super Bowl?”
JS: “It’s highly unlikely that any brand that has lost trust in Twitter will change its mind in the near future, and definitely not in time for the Super Bowl. Most marketing plans for the event will be finalized by now and recent communications by Twitter leadership haven’t signaled any change in direction.
Brand communications should still occur on Twitter during Super Bowl though – it will have a peak in usage. And advertising verticals that should dominate the advertising space on Twitter are not the ones crossing the platform from their plans.”
GJ: “How do you think advertisers will change their Super Bowl plans around Twitter this year?”
JS: “The main change for advertising plans will likely be for brand comms amplification. As an example, the betting industry will likely be heavily present on Twitter during the game and I would expect little to no change in plans.”
In the FCMG category, though, time sensitivity won’t be as important, which means that social media teams will likely be making an attempt at virality without relying as much on paid dollars.
If budgets are to diverge, they will likely be moved within the social space and toward platforms that will have user discussion/engagement from the Super Bowl (TikTok, Reddit, etc.)”
GJ: “What trends will we see in advertising budget allocation for this year’s Super Bowl?”
Joaquim Salguerio: “We should see budget planning much in line with previous years in all honesty. TV is still the most important media channel on Super Bowl day.
Digital spend will likely go towards social platforms, we predict a growth in TikTok and Reddit advertising around the big day for most brands.
Twitter should still have a strong advertising budget allocated to the platform by the verticals aiming to get actions from users during the game (food delivery/betting/etc.).”
GJ: “Which platforms will benefit from this shift?”
JS: “Likely, we will see TikTok as the biggest winner from a shift in advertising dollars, as the growth numbers are making it harder to ignore the platform as a placement that needs to be in the plan.
Reddit can also capture some of this budget as it has the right characteristics marketers are looking for around the Super Bowl – it’s relevant to what’s happening at the moment and similar demographics.”
GJ: “Do you think advertisers that step away from Twitter for this year’s Big Game will stay away long term?”
JS: “That is impossible to know, as it’s completely dependent on how the platform evolves and the advertising solutions it will provide. Twitter’s proposition was always centered around brand marketing (their performance offering was always known to be sub-par).
Unless brand safety concerns are addressed by brands that decided to step away, it’s hard to foresee a change.
I would say that overall, Super Bowl ad spend on Twitter should not be as affected as it’s been portrayed – it makes sense to reach audiences where audiences are.
Especially if you know the mindset. The bigger issue is what happens when there isn’t a Super Bowl or a World Cup.”
Science fiction becomes a reality! We can now interact and use things we were used to seeing in movies daily.
One of the recent revolutionary technologies is ChatGPT which will change how we work A LOT!
As a programmer, I initially didn’t believe that it could solve advanced tasks but was surprised by seeing how helpful it can be in my daily life. So I started playing around and found the ways I’ve found it useful and wanted to share.
Here are five ChatGPT examples and useful ways SEOs and marketers can use it for daily marketing tasks.
Compose Regular Expressions In Analytics Reporting
Regular expressions can be used in composing analytic reports such as Google Search Console or Google Analytics. Regular expressions are one of the most boring tasks I know, and it may really slow down work. For marketers, it is even tougher as they don’t have a technical background.
Let’s look at an example of GSC’s reporting, which supports filtering by regexp.
Screenshot of GSC Query Filter by Regexp, January 2023
If you are a marketer with no technical background, you may find it hard to use this feature and limit yourself to the few basic regexps which you can find by searching dev-related forums.
Now you have ChatGPT at your disposal!
Just go to ChatGPT and ask: “compose regular expression which starts with “How To” or “What is” case insensitive using RE2 syntax ”
Screenshot of ChatGPT response, January 2023
Yup!
(?i)^(?:How To|What is)
It got the job done instantly. Just copy and paste in the GSC’s filter field, and you will have all the queries which are candidates to optimize for FAQ or HowTo schema.
Screenshot of GSC report, January 2023
Pretty easy, isn’t it?
You can use it to compose regexp for GA reports as well. For example, let’s say you want to filter a report which has in the URL words “Samsung” and “phone”. Just ask ChatGPT “compose regular expression which contains words “Samsung” and “phone” case insensitive using RE2 syntax ”.
Just to note, it is important to mention “RE2 syntax” in the command, as Google’s reporting dashboards support that syntax.
Compose Complex Spreadsheet Formulas
Everyone works with Excel or Google Sheets. It is in everyone’s daily work life, and you know how it is sometimes tough to compose spreadsheet formulas as you must do research to find the function name you need and then spend 10-15mins in figuring out how to make it work.
Now it just takes you to ask ChatGPT a command like: “Google Sheet formula which copies all rows from sheet1 where column "A" contains word "iphone"“.
And it didn’t take long to get the solution.
Screenshot of Google Sheet Formula created by ChatGPT, January 2023
But, the formula it gave =QUERY(Sheet1!A:Z, "SELECT * WHERE A CONTAINS 'iphone'", "Sheet2!A1") has a small error. Of course, ChatGPT is not always providing 100% correct answers, but you may be mistaken. You should check sometimes and fix it manually. The formula I got is 99% correct, except 3rd parameter shouldn’t be there. So I removed it manually and now have =QUERY(Sheet1!A:Z, "SELECT * WHERE A CONTAINS 'iphone'") which works perfectly!
Setup Custom Pixel Conversions
If you are a PPC marketer or just an SEO who wants to set up custom conversions when users perform certain actions on the website but don’t have a web developer’s help, it could be quite challenging in some situations. Yes, you can use Google Tag Manager in many cases when users click on the link, but you could need smth. different, which is not a built-in feature of GTM.
For example, you need to send a conversion event when one lands on your landing page and scrolls through 35% of the page. Now you don’t need to hire a developer to get the job done. Just go to ChatGPT and ask: “send Facebook pixel custom conversion event once as users scroll through 35% of the page using JavaScript” and it will do the magic!
Screenshot of JavaScript code firing custom Facebook pixel event, January 2023
You can copy and paste this code in your
tag of HTML, and you are done. If you have a WordPress site, you can use plugins such WPCode to make the job easier. Alternatively, you can use Google Tag Manager custom HTML tag to add your JavaScript code there.
It saves you time to find a developer for small daily tasks you have or even if you have a dev. team, you can significantly reduce their workload by doing it yourself.
Optimize FAQ and Featured Snippets
SEO professionals may need help getting related questions from users to optimize content for a specific keyword. You can use ChatGPT to get these related questions to make your content more helpful. If you have a travel blog, you may ask: related questions regarding "cozy cities in Germany" and ChatGPT will draw many queries which really make sense.
Screenshot of ChatGPT performing keyword research, January 2023
Of course, there may be ones that don’t make sense, but they will do 90% of the job. The questions it suggests may haven’t any search volume, but it is still worth going after them because zero-search volume keywords may drive significant traffic.
Fetch Data from APIs and Coding
Let’s say you have a WooCommerce Store and want to fetch all products you have with their prices into a Google Sheet. Now you can simply ask: “google app script which fetches all product names and prices from WooCommerce REST API and adds into a spreadsheet” and you are done.
It gave me a fully functional code:
function fetchProducts(){
var url = "https://yourshop.com/wp-json/wc/v3/products";
var options = {
"method": "get",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Basic " + Utilities.base64Encode("YOUR_CONSUMER_KEY:YOUR_CONSUMER_SECRET")
}
};
var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url, options);
var json = JSON.parse(response.getContentText());
for (var i = 0; i < json.length; i++) {
var name = json[i].name;
var price = json[i].price;
// Do something with the product name and price
}
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
for (var i = 0; i < json.length; i++) {
var name = json[i].name;
var price = json[i].price;
sheet.appendRow([name, price]);
}
}
It sometimes may give a code with a small error that you need to fix manually, like in the above example of the Google Spreadsheet formula. The coding ability of ChatGPT is going to be especially useful when working with Zapier. If you have ever used Zapier, you know it has a Zap called “code,” which is for advanced users. Now it isn’t. If you have data in a certain ugly format that needs to be fixed now, you can just ask ChatGPT to fix and use it in Zapier custom code to clean up the data.
Conclusion
There are talks that ChatGPT is going to replace humans, and many professions are just going to die out. In my personal opinion, it will not happen, but it will make life easier in different industry fields.
Social media usage is steadily growing, and we don’t see it slowing down anytime soon.
In 2021, over 4.26 billion people used social media worldwide. This figure is projected to increase to almost 6 billion in 2027.
With emerging technologies, never-ending feature updates, and ever-changing consumer behavior, digital marketers are constantly on their toes, anticipating what’s coming next.
The saying, knowing is half the battle, has never been more true.
That’s why we’ve reached out to the thought leaders in the social media sphere and asked what trends we can expect to see making waves in 2023.
From the rapid rise of short-form videos to leveraging the value of community building, here’s what they said that marketers should focus on.
TikTok’s Popularity Will Continue To Grow
Ilya Cherepakhin, Enterprise Consulting Lead At Media.Monks
Looking ahead to 2023, I predict that TikTok’s ascent as the go-to social media platform for both advertisers and consumers will accelerate.
Several trends are contributing to that, from what other social media players are going through to the way social media is increasingly embracing augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) formats – a space where TikTok is uniquely positioned to lead.
TikTok will continue to benefit from weaknesses across other digital media platforms.
While TikTok is a social media platform first, it has evolved its service offering, and now it competes head-on for ad budgets typically directed to a range of digital ad platforms.
Thus, it is effectively competing for budgets that would otherwise go to Google or Amazon, just as it is competing for ad dollars a brand may be considering for Meta, Snap, or Twitter.
Once considered default options, many of the historic advertising platforms are increasingly getting their roles questioned, with TikTok emerging as the beneficiary.
In early 2022, The Wall Street Journal wrote about Facebook’s $10 billion shortfall. Meta’s troubles continued throughout the year, with ad spending and their stock continuing to fall.
With Twitter in flux and other historic digital platforms also struggling, TikTok is standing to capitalize on brands who are eager to invest where there is most potential.
User growth and engagement are also on the side of TikTok. Besides the number of TikTok users going strong (projected to reach over 800 million in 2023), TikTok users are leveraging the app in new ways.
During the pandemic, TikTok has been a destination for many, but not just for entertainment. TikTok has thus evolved from a platform for distraction to a source of valuable information.
This is coupled with a growing comfort with AR and VR features that TikTok is uniquely positioned to leverage.
Yes, it is true that other social media platforms also have similar offerings, like Snap’s lenses. However, TikTok’s first-mover advantage in this space, overall platform premise and customer base expectations make it a much likelier platform where brands are comfortable testing these vehicles.
And speaking of testing, this year, AR- and VR-related ad formats have gone mainstream by no longer being considered new or emerging.
Brands increasingly understand their capabilities, how to align them with their marketing needs, and measure their impact – which (again) spells more optimism for TikTok at the expense of not only other paid social platforms, but also concerning digital advertising players more broadly.
Greg Jarboe, President & Co-Founder Of SEO-PR
Marketers need to “skate to where the puck is going” to be in 2023, not where it has been.
That means focusing more attention on TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, which are skating headlong in the right direction, and less attention on Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook, which seem to have played a little too much hockey without the benefit of helmets.
Marketers also need to focus more attention on the countries with the fastest growing economies, like the UAE, Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, and less attention on Russia, Italy, Germany, and the U.K., which are facing recessions in 2023.
Short-Form Vertical Videos Will Take Over The Content Game
Jacob Styler, Founder & Digital Marketing Director At Infinity Digital
I think that short-form video content will grow more in 2023.
With the rising star that is TikTok, it was quite clear that Instagram Reels, then YouTube Shorts took off, so no doubt the other platforms will follow.
I am already seeing Twitter prioritize short-form video content in the feed, so this will be a priority for brands to consider when producing content.
I also think the social media shopping experience will expand, so if you haven’t already got a shop feed setup on your socials, then get going with it and start experimenting with ads.
Bradley Thompson, Director Of Marketing At DigiHype Media
In 2023, we will continue to see a shift for content creators and businesses to focus on short vertical videos.
We already see the emerging popularity of short-duration vertical videos across the major social networks, and this is what marketers should be focussing on.
If you aren’t doubling down on vertical videos that are under 15 seconds in 2023, you are missing out on a huge opportunity.
Vertical videos are easy to produce and low cost, and the organic reach is superior to any other content type on the web, which makes it the best outlet for marketers and content creators.
If you want to grow your business or brand on social media in 2023, you should focus on creating content for the medium in which consumers spend most of their time.
Mari Smith, CEO At Mari Smith International, Inc.
One of the most important Facebook marketing trends is a short-form vertical video, which will continue to grow throughout 2023 and beyond.
On Facebook, marketers should try publishing in the Reels format and short vertical videos as regular feed posts. In some cases, the latter may perform better!
But, more importantly, it is the sea change I began to see throughout 2022 that will only grow stronger in 2023.
And that is the shift away from focusing on all the public-facing proxy or vanity metrics of more followers, more reach, more engagement, etc. And, instead, moving towards focusing on metrics that matter, quietly building relationships and growing our businesses without much fuss and fanfare.
Katie Lance, CEO & Founder Of Katie Lance Consulting
I think it will be more important than ever to focus on creating a content library that goes with you regardless of the platform.
There are no guarantees with social media. Social media is rented ground.
For everyone creating short-form vertical videos, make sure you are repurposing that to TikTok, Instagram and Facebook Reels, and YouTube Shorts. And for those platforms, I also think that it will be less about trends and music and more about creating original and unique content.
Marketers Will Need To Diversify Their Content Strategy
Angie Nikoleychuk, Content Marketing Manager At SEJ
Social media in 2023 will have three main themes: diversification, risk, and investment.
Up until now, brands focused on a small handful of text-focused networks. Twitter’s instability is proving why this is such a bad idea.
That’s why, in 2023, anyone using social media for marketing, customer service, and PR should be making huge shifts if they haven’t already. Images and other alternative media are a driving force, but that’s just part of it.
Brands will need to move away from the idea that just being seen is enough since many of the newer networks on the scene don’t have the reach of Twitter. The newer networks are more focused and limited, but these smaller cliques are strong and engaged. Think of it like a pressure washer versus a lawn sprinkler.
Smart social media marketers will also make big changes to their strategies in 2023.
They will be choosing networks for a particular purpose and sharing specific content for that specific audience.
For example, this could include SlideShare for customer education and authority building, YouTube for product awareness and brand building, email marketing for customer retention, and Qwoted for media and journalist connections.
That’s a lot of work and a big investment, but here’s the thing: With so many new networks rising, big features being released, a recession on the horizon, and Twitter expected to continue stumbling from grace over the next year, the companies willing to invest, make a statement, and take risks right now will see huge payoffs.
Existing Social Trends Could Tip The Balance For B2B Marketers
Matt Mudra, VP Of Planning & Performance At SCHERMER
Regarding social media for B2B, here are just a few expectations for 2023.
LinkedIn will continue to be a B2B marketer’s go-to channel due to superior firmographic targeting options and its focus on workplace-related conversations. I doubt we’ll see LinkedIn’s dominant position for B2B marketers change in the next year.
We will also continue to see some major changes at Twitter in 2023 with Musk at the helm, hopefully including some new targeting solutions that will make the channel more attractive for B2B marketers.
Additionally, other social media channels that are traditionally used more for B2C marketing, like TikTok or Pinterest, will expand their offerings to include clean rooms and other targeting solutions that will open the doors for more B2B marketers. I expect Meta will be offering a clean room solution soon as well – first-party data activations on social will take off in 2023 and beyond.
As TikTok continues to surpass Google and Bing for Gen Z searches, B2B brands will also begin exploring using TikTok for search strategies.
Lastly, social commerce will continue to grow, and hopefully, we’ll start seeing some applications for larger B2B brands to tap into, but that may be a few more years out.
Viral Marketing Will Take The Lead In Powering Up Brand Engagement
Mike Dickerson, CEO At ClickDimensions
My prediction is that 2023 will be the year of viral marketing.
The era of the ‘handshake deal’ is well and truly over as B2B buyers and sellers fully adopt the digital-first approach to business.
For marketers to grow their brand in 2023, they need to reach customers online and adopt a more conversational and viral way of digitally marketing their company.
Social media, websites, and ads are great ways to garner interest and surface-level awareness for your brand, but with so many other companies doing the same thing, getting your business noticed and having an impact on potential customers has proven to be a bit more challenging over the past couple of years.
The solution is strategic viral marketing. Viral marketing pieces make the audience feel something. Whether they are entertained, educated, or engaged, customers leave feeling something that becomes a memorable interaction with your company.
By measuring digital engagement, such as the likes, shares, and comments the content garners, companies can see how successful and impactful a viral marketing piece is.
This lasting impression keeps your business in the minds of potential customers, increasing brand awareness and expanding your marketing reach through digital engagements.
Viral marketing will dominate the industry in the coming year. Marketers need to learn how to leverage it effectively across social media, webpages, and digital ads to have the greatest impact.
To begin structuring your viral marketing campaign, focus on using conversational tones and emotive tools, and always focus on what the audience is interested in rather than just what the company wants to say.
Brands Will Strive To Build And Maintain An Engaged Community
Alex Macura, Founder Of Your Digital Assembly
The phasing out of third-party cookies means brands will work harder to build closer relationships with customers and followers – in real life and on social networks.
Suppose the goal is meaningful user experiences to drive authentic connection and move the user through the funnel. In that case, marketers will double down on integrating online platforms with in-store experiences: omnichannel.
You will also see more brands involved in digital communities. While this is not new on Facebook, you will see an increase on platforms such as Mighty Networks, Circle, Slack, or Discord.
Sarah Goodall, CEO & Founder Of Tribal Impact
There is a huge opportunity for social media managers to look beyond paid and organic in 2023 and invest in the power of earned social.
It takes longer to cultivate, but empowering and enabling your employees with the confidence to talk about your brand on social media is more credible, scalable, and trustworthy.
But there are so many more benefits than just increasing your reach. Your employees become content generators, creating relatable and timely thought leadership that your customers prefer to engage with.
Your employees amplify the culture in a way that your employer branding team would thank you for – attracting talent through authentic advocacy.
Your employees will be more engaged – give them the training and confidence to build their professional brand, and they’ll connect more closely to your brand.
Your customers want more authentic relationships – they don’t want to be passed from department to department. They want trusted partnerships and relationships. The potential for social media to become embedded into the organization’s culture is huge, benefitting all parts of the customer and employee experience.
Social media managers that recognize this strategic advantage and opportunity will be the ones that can potentially lead quite a transformation for the organization.
Mari Smith, CEO At Mari Smith International, Inc.
As a ‘contingency plan’ for community development, you might check out non-Meta alternatives such as Mighty Networks (my favorite), Circle, and possibly Slack, Discord, or Telegram.
The popular online business platform, Kajabi, recently acquired a community platform for integrating into their product, which is great news. The online course platform, Thinkific, recently launched a community product as well.
Thankfully, we’re returning to our social media roots when connecting on the big social platforms was enjoyable, and we could easily create meaningful and lasting connections. Community is everything. Relationships are everything.
So, here’s the bottom line: If it’s a fit for your business, lean into establishing your own rock-solid community of raving fans who love you and love to buy from you. You can still use your public social media channels to get the word out about your new community.
A Renewed Focus On Adaption And Attribution Will Be Vital For Success
Heather Campbell, Director Of Marketing At SEJ
You’ve got your social strategy set for your “comfort” platforms (the ones you rely on and have been optimizing for years). But what about all these new platforms popping up?
To play in these new spaces, you will have to learn to adapt and try new things. What works on one platform will likely not work on a new platform. So, you’ll need to be flexible and test the waters.
But before you jump in with both feet, research, research, research.
Research isn’t exactly a new trend, but it should help you make the best choices for your goals. Don’t just jump on the bandwagon because it’s new, especially not because your competition is there.
Make sure it’s the right fit for your goals and that you have the time and resources to devote to managing another platform. Remember, spray-and-pray nor set-it-and-forget-it rarely work.
Let your research and your goals help guide you to a platform where your audience is and where they are actively open to engaging with your brand.
So, now that you’ve found the platform for you, the only way to know if it’s working is through proper attribution.
Sure, we can throw a UTM tag on there, but that only gives you a partial picture. It’s time for full attribution to take center stage for your social campaigns, too.
You’ll have an easier time getting buy-in from the boss if you can fully attribute performance back to social. This means really looking at how your social strategy is holistically impacting your marketing and your brand.
For example, showing how your social reach and engagement are driving brand awareness (something that’s difficult to track) can give you the leverage you need for additional budget or resources.
It will give your boss the peace of mind that these new tests you want to run will be monitored, analyzed, and optimized more quickly.
Editor’s note: All interviews have been lightly edited for clarity, brevity, and adherence to our Editorial Guidelines. The views expressed by the interviewees in this column are theirs alone and do not necessarily represent the view of Search Engine Journal.
Can you believe the end of the year is already upon us? With so many changes to the advertising ecosystem, it’s easy for time to fly by.
The year 2022 will be remembered for welcome (and unwelcome) changes to not only Google Ads and Microsoft Ads platforms but also to new features for up-and-coming channels.
With more PPC platforms available to advertisers, it’s hard to keep up with all the changes!
That’s why I’ve broken down my picks of the top 10 new PPC features and developments of 2022, encompassing as many PPC platforms and campaign types as possible.
1. Google Ads: No More Expanded Text Ads
While other platforms continue to add additional formats and options, Google continues to take away Search ad options slowly.
While it was announced back in 2021, Google officially sunset Expanded Text Ads on June 30, 2022. Search ads are now dominated by the Responsive Search Ads format.
Why is this a big deal?
For advertisers, the lack of control was a huge setback – especially for any regulated industry that needs legal approval on all copies. Additionally, many advertisers saw that their ETAs performed better than RSAs.
The bright side of ETAs being sunset is that marketers were forced to rethink their messaging strategy.
Because of the breadth of headline and description options, Google can mix and match to serve the right message, at the right time, for each user.
This meant removing the redundant copy from RSAs and shifting to an opportunity of creating more intentional messaging for each keyword theme.
Another benefit of moving to RSAs was the increased visibility of ads.
In a study done by Optmyzr in May 2022, it was found that RSAs showed 2.1x impressions compared to ETA-only ad groups.
Screenshot from Optmyzr, December 2022
2. Microsoft Ads: Video Ads Debut
Microsoft continues to make headway into the advertising marketing share in 2022.
With the expansion of the Microsoft Audience Network, they officially debuted Video Ads just last month. While Video Ads were beta tested in 2021, they are now generally available in the following areas:
United States.
Canada.
United Kingdom.
France.
Germany.
Australia.
New Zealand.
From a marketer’s perspective, this allows you to reach your audience where you may not have been able to reach them before.
39% of users watch videos on MSN but not on YouTube.
57% of users watch videos on MSN but not on Facebook.
Another benefit of expanding your video strategy to Microsoft Ads is that you don’t have to start from scratch.
Repurpose your current video ads on YouTube or other placements to save time and resources. Just be sure that the audience intent is similar if repurposing that content.
3. YouTube Ads: Audio Takes Center Stage
Officially out of beta testing, Google announced Audio ads available to all advertisers in October 2022.
This is a big win for advertisers trying to reach their target audience in a different way based on how they use YouTube.
Audio ads in Google are served to users who listen to music on YouTube specifically.
Marketers would want to utilize audio ads instead of video for music listeners because those users likely aren’t actually watching what’s on their YouTube screen.
Google rolled out this feature in October as well.
You may wonder, what does this have to do with YouTube ads?
The podcast placement on YouTube is available for audio and video ad formats.
4. Facebook Ads: New Tools For B2B And Small Businesses
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, Facebook (now known officially as Meta) has been in the news a LOT this year.
While the news around Meta has mainly been around consumer-facing issues such as privacy and content standards, Facebook has introduced new features to advertisers this year.
In May 2022, Facebook announced new tools specifically for B2B and small businesses. These tools include:
Messaging and Conversation Features.
Lead Generation and Customer Acquisition Tools.
In the messaging and conversation features comes a new ad form.
Facebook is creating ads that can be run on both Facebook and Instagram, made directly from a business’s WhatsApp Business app.
This ad type helps expand a business and consumer relationship by encouraging interaction via message.
To support this feature, Facebook identified that over 70% of consumers want the option to communicate with businesses in a more conversational way.
The lead generation and customer acquisition new features include:
Quote Requests on Instagram.
Lead filtering with Instant Forms.
Creative flexibility.
Gated content.
Partner integrations.
From an ad perspective, the most relevant come within the quote requests and gated content, in my opinion.
With the ongoing need for first-party data, creating a gated content ad is a great way to capture essential user information, such as email, to be able to engage with them in the future.
5. Instagram Ads: Introducing AI-Powered Ads
Some of Instagram’s most notable PPC features come from new ad formats.
As this platform has become more shoppable, Instagram released a new AI-powered ad called “Multi-advertiser ads.”
Screenshot from Business.Instagram.com, December 2022
This ad format will highlight different businesses’ ads based on a consumer’s behavior and engagement within the app.
While it’s not necessarily an ad format that marketers can set up, this AI-powered format takes your existing ads and uses its algorithm to get your brand in front of in-market shoppers.
6. TikTok Ads: New Ad Placements In Search
In March of 2022, users first identified a new “Sponsored” ad placement within the top 4 results of a user’s search:
Screenshot from TikTok, December 2022
It’s important to note that this Sponsored listing is still within Beta, and TikTok has not identified a timeline for general rollout to all advertisers.
So, why is this PPC feature big news?
TikTok has been a haven for users to discover content on countless topics.
Now with the search feature, advertisers will (hopefully soon) be able to target their ads more precisely based on a user search.
TikTok is, in a sense, becoming its own type of search engine. This placement is another reason to test out this ad platform if you haven’t already.
7. Pinterest Ads: Shoppable Product Pins With WooCommerce Extension
While Shoppable Pins aren’t new to 2022, a new feature added in July 2022 made it much easier for merchants to create ads. Over 3 million merchants, to be exact.
The Pinterest for WooCommerce extension simply makes selling your products on Pinterest easier to set up.
So, how does it work?
This new extension turns your entire product catalog into the Pinterest Shoppable Product Pin format. The catalog listings are automatically uploaded to Pinterest, removing the need for manual uploads.
If you use WooCommerce to run your online shopping website, you don’t want to miss this feature.
Like Meta (Facebook), while most of the hype has been around the management change and its residual effects, let’s not discount the new PPC features it brought to advertisers in 2022.
If you’re in ecommerce, these are for you.
Twitter introduced Dynamic Product Ads (DPA) and Collection Ads earlier this year.
DPAs for Twitter Ads work similarly to Facebook or other programmatic platforms. Advertisers who use an existing product feed management platform can integrate it with Twitter easily.
With DPAs, you can either retarget users based on engagement or prospect new customers with relevant product ads.
Collection Ads are also a form of product ads to showcase scrollable product images in an ad, accompanying a main static image.
Screenshot from Twitter, December 2022
10. Apple Ads: Expanded Ad Placement Inventory
Last but not least, Apple Ads.
It’s no secret that Apple has honed in on user-privacy standards and requirements over the past few years.
The restrictions on marketing measurement have made it difficult for advertisers to accurately prove campaigns’ success.
While measurement and visibility were top of mind for marketers, Apple officially announced its expansion of available ad placements in the Apple App Store in November 2022.
The new placements include inventory for:
Today Tab ads.
Product Page ad placements.
The expanded inventory in Apple Ads is important because it allows businesses to be discovered by users instead of being so “search” focused.
Many brands have been limited by Apple ad inventory in the past because user searches could only capture demand.
With Apple doubling its available ad inventory placements, marketers can expand awareness efforts specifically to its pool of iOS users.
What’s Next?
2022 was quite a year, wasn’t it? What does all this mean for the future of PPC?
2023 will surely bring just as many updates to PPC platforms, some for better or worse. Keep tuned in throughout the year for all the latest announcements and developments.
Have you embraced any of these 2022 PPC updates? What are your predictions for the top PPC features in 2023?
With so many new changes in the digital landscape, it’s essential to keep up with the latest trends and stay equipped with the latest tools for maximum efficiency.
Give your agency a competitive advantage next year by putting more emphasis on the technology your team uses.
For a complete breakdown of how digital marketing agencies are prioritizing for next year, read the full report.
2. Get Continued Agency Growth In 2023 By Refreshing Your Digital Marketing Service Offerings
According to CallRail’s survey, 98% of agencies agree that new offerings will be essential to growth next year. The report outlines the current state of agency offerings, as well as new services they plan to offer in 2023.
The most common services provided by today’s agencies include:
Full-Service Digital.
Branding Services.
Sales Training.
Creative Services.
Email Marketing.
Website Design And Development.
This is a major shift from 2021, in which agencies put the most emphasis on social media marketing.
There was also a significant focus on marketing automation last year, compared to 2022.
“While 90% of agencies said they are happy with their position in the market, that isn’t stopping them from adding new offerings. To help spur greater growth, 91% of agencies have added services in the past 12 months – most of them digital.”
The top new agency service offerings include:
Website Design And Development.
Paid Social.
Full-Service Digital.
SEM/Paid Search Advertising.
Creative Services.
If you’re looking to take your agency to the next level in 2023, now’s the time to start thinking about how you can expand your offerings and satisfy even more of your clients’ needs.
Want to learn more about how agencies are improving their service offerings next year? Download the full report for more detailed statistics and data.
3. Try These 5 Keys For Successful Client Acquisition & Customer Retention
According to CallRail’s report, 95% of agencies say that they met their growth goals for the year.
However, most agencies are only holding steady as it concerns client acquisition and retention – not getting ahead.
In 2022, agencies reported a 44% client retention rate on average, which is a decline from 2021’s rate of 53%.
Furthermore, 79% of agency marketers said that they think client acquisition will be more challenging in 2023 than it was this year, with 81% predicting the same for client retention.
So, how can marketers overcome these challenges for a fruitful 2023?
The report shows that agency-client relationships will be key for successful retention next year.
When it comes to retaining clients, agencies used numerous methods over the past year. The top methods used during the economic downturn were:
Increased communication/transparency with existing clients.
Added new service offerings.
Increased touchpoints with clients.
Increased reporting efforts.
Added flexible payment options.
If your goal is to increase your client retention rate moving forward, it’s crucial that your agency prioritizes client experience. The better your clients feel about working with you, the more likely they are to stick around.
Regarding client acquisition, the top sources where marketing agencies are finding clients are social media and tech partnerships, followed by conferences/industry events, referrals, and directories.
For more comprehensive data on how agencies are finding and keeping clients, get your copy of the report.
4. Report & Measure Marketing ROI To Prove Your Worth
Despite the many factors impacting marketing agencies over the past few years, such as pandemic conditions, economic stressors, and shifting technology trends, most agencies reported a strong 2022 and look to 2023 with optimism.
“However, to maintain this optimism and meet the goals they’ve set for themselves, agencies will need to keep up with new marketing trends and evolving channels while tackling challenges like client acquisition and retention, continued economic uncertainty, and proving ROI to their clients.”
Part of ensuring client satisfaction for higher retention is demonstrating your agency’s value and effectiveness – measuring the return on investment (ROI) for your marketing efforts is one of the best ways to do this.
Keeping track of success metrics and measuring campaign results are essential to maintaining transparency with your clients.
How else could you show your clients the extent of your agency’s impact?
Even when you’ve delivered the desired results, if you don’t provide the data to back it up, your clients may reconsider the value your agency generates.
According to CallRail, 80% of marketing agencies agree that reporting is essential to their client services, and 85% believe proving ROI to clients will be the key to growth in 2023.
The data also shows that 51% of agencies say they plan to adopt new tools and technologies to help prove campaign ROI next year.
Although 78% of marketers claim they’re satisfied with their agency’s tech stack, many agency professionals still see room for improvement and reasons to invest.
Technology clearly plays a central role in today’s agency marketing.
Not only is it essential to agency survival, but marketers also value technology to help support decision-making.
Not to mention, clients are more drawn to agencies that offer a comprehensive martech stack and competitive marketing analytics tools.
82% of agencies said they adopted new marketing tech in 2022 to track campaign ROI, as well as other metrics.
ROI isn’t the only important metric. Marketing analytics are also key to determining the success of a trend or tactic, according to 79% of agency marketers.
Download the full report to learn more about the benefits of reporting and measuring ROI for your clients.
5. Agency Predictions: What To Focus On Next Year
“Since much of their reputation is tied to keeping up with marketing trends, agencies put a lot of effort into learning about them.”
It’s important to track and learn from the latest trends to help plan your 2023 marketing strategy.
CallRail’s report shows that some of the most common ways agencies stay on top of trends include joining marketing associations, keeping up with competitor offerings, and attending industry events.
Many agencies also reported listening to marketing podcasts, reading industry blogs/newsletters/articles, and taking online courses to keep up with trends.
While some trends are considered fads by agency marketers, like AI, zero-click searches, localized SEO, and automation, there are certain trends that agencies think will be long-lasting, such as:
Metaverse Marketing.
Personalization.
Customer Communities.
Voice Search.
Visual Search.
Gamification.
Short-Form Video Content.
OTT (Over-The-Top/Streaming) Advertising.
According to the report, agencies are also planning to implement new marketing strategies in 2023, including:
Visual Search.
Customer Communities.
Metaverse Marketing.
Personalization.
Short-Form Video Content.
Having an awareness of what other agencies will be focusing on helps you stay competitive within the industry. Check out CallRail’s complete guide for an exclusive peek at what your peers are planning for next year.
Start Refining Your 2023 Strategy With These Marketing Insights
CallRail’s report has all the industry insights you need to inform your 2023 strategy. Find out what digital marketing agencies have in store for the coming year and get on the right track for success.
“As agencies predict big changes for marketing in the future, they’re also taking steps to adapt by investing in tools, technology, and marketing analytics.
If your agency is looking ahead, consider a platform like CallRail that will unify marketing efforts to make it easier to help your clients and show your agency’s value.”
Want to learn more about the direction in which agencies are headed next year? Download the ebook and get started making your business goals a reality.
