The Digital Download: Facebook Reactions, Foursquare attributions

It was a busy week for tech companies, as they sped up the loading time for mobile pages, added attribution to ads, and got their own agency.

Facebook, Snapchat and Google made headlines this week, as usual, but some less-omnipresent names were in the news, as well. Foursquare announced a promising new product, while the Dentsu Aegis Network launched a new agency focused on B2B.

Google speeds up mobile load times with AMP project

One of the biggest news items in the digital marketing world this week was Google’s decision to remove right-hand side ads for desktop searches. We covered it on Monday and within two days, it became our second-most read post of 2016.

Google made more news the following day. The search giant launched its Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project a day earlier.

What does that mean? Mobile web pages will load anywhere from 15 to 85 percent faster, thanks to a reimagined version of HTML that strips out slowing agents like JavaScript and third-party scripts. Much like April’s Mobilegeddon, websites using AMP will be favored by the Google algorithm.

Facebook announces ad experience, expands reactionary repertoire

With mobile in mind, Facebook announced Canvas, new ad experience that incorporates different multimedia elements, such as video, still images, text and call-to-action buttons. When someone taps on an ad in their Facebook feed, Canvas will load almost instantaneously: as much as 10 times faster than a standard mobile web ad.

Also this week, Facebook rolled out the long-discussed, long-awaited additions to the Like button. The new emoticons – a heart for love, and four faces denoting hilarity, shock, sadness and anger – were initially unveiled back in October, but became available to all users on Wednesday.

One brand in particular has wasted no time in incorporating Reactions into its marketing strategy. Chevrolet’s “From Like to Love” points out how we Like any old thing, but that we’ll Love the new 2016 Malibu.

Foursquare links check-ins with shopping, dining

A new Foursquare product will help marketers link their digital ads and offline sales. In a really futuristic and really cool move called Attribution, Foursquare can integrate a pixel into a digital ad. Using its location data, Foursquare monitors how frequently its users visit the places from the ads.

Those people are then compared to Foursquare users who haven’t seen the ad. That discrepancy allows marketers refers to what Foursquare calls “incremental lift.”

“In plain English, that means we can measure how much advertising leads people to go shopping in stores or dining in restaurants,” Steven Rosenblatt, the platform’s president, wrote.

Snapchat adds DIY filters, performance data

Snapchat filters are a fun way to create engagement around specific locations, brands and even presidential candidates. Users can now create their own with an image editor and as little as $5, depending on the size and duration of the geofence, which can be active anywhere from an hour to a month.

 

 

Something tells us this is going to be a big hit with people, making Snapchat even more appealing for brands. And going forward, they’ll be able to see how their Snapchat ads perform.

Yesterday, Nielsen announced that it will offer advertisers third-party stats on their Snapchat ads, the absence of which has always been one of the platform’s pain points. Snapchat has reached two additional agreements, with Sizmek and Innovoid, that will further improve its campaign data capabilities.

Dentsu Aegis Network adds a B2B-only agency to its roster

The Dentsu Aegis Network contains some of the biggest names in advertising, such as Isobar and iProspect. It unveiled its latest agency Tuesday – Interprise – which was specifically for the B2B marketing sector.

Interprise will be merged with B2B-focused Carat Enterprise, the global managing director of which will lead the new agency. Its services will include creative, search, data, media planning and buying, and events, among others. There will be six locations – New York, San Francisco, Sydney, Singapore and Hong Kong, in addition to the London headquarters – to start, but that list will be expanded within the year.