The New Shopify: More Self-Service, Fewer Humans

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In This Issue

🛠️ How to get your Meta account back if you’re hacked [Premium Exclusive]

🛍️ Shopify's leaked email reveals plans to cut benefits for top-tier merchants.

📹 TikTok Events API now connects to Shopify; introduces search ads.

🔗 X links will no longer show (checks notes) links?

📉 Twitter’s name change has tanked the app’s downloads.

💬 The Threads desktop verson is rolling out now.

🤖 Facebook will finally offer a non-personalized feed (for Europeans)

📊 Despite AI enhancements, Bing's market share sees a decline.

📦 Amazon Shipping is back, now offering delivery for external channels.

🐦 A bug affecting old tweets' links and images is reportedly being fixed.

🚀 Elon Musk's followers aren’t bots. Totally not. I SAID THEY’RE NOT!

🍟 A family's quest for ketchup chips turns into a p.r. opportunity overload.

PREMIUM EXCLUSIVE: How to Get Your Hacked Meta Account Back

Every Tuesday, exclusively here in the Premium Newsletter, we do a deep dive into the Meta marketing platform. This week, Shane Cicero joins us to talk about:

• Meta's new workflow for getting your hacked account back

• The new conversion objective for brands with mobile apps that's producing great results.

Shane Cicero is VP of Operations at the Foxwell Founders community of digital ad buyers, which also offers training in the digital ad space. [affiliate links]

Shopify Drops VIP Support

Bad news for brands that spend a lot on the Shopify platform. The company says it will soon remove direct access to merchant success managers, who are Shopify employees that advise Plus merchants on how to launch and run their online stores.

Plus merchants pay at least $2,000 a month for access to the premium platform, and include features — like tax services and wholesale tools — that sellers on cheaper plans do not have access to.

But according to an internal email obtained by Insider.com, that premium offering just got a little less premium.

The change will affect about 16,000 Plus merchants, who will have to use Shopify’s help center or general support teams for help instead. In typical p.r. doublespeak, the internal email told staff the goal was to provide a better merchant experience.

In terms of revenue categories, Plus merchants making less than $2 million in annual sales won't have any kind of human support. Brands making between $2M and $10M also won't have a specific rep, but they will get access to what Shopify is calling a "merchant success team."

The change was supposed to happen earlier this month, but was delayed due to workers’ concerns. A Shopify spokesperson confirmed the change to Insider, and said the company was investing in more self-serve success resources, and hiring third-party support contractors.

The change is part of a larger transformation plan called “Code Yellow”, which aims to put AI at the center of Shopify’s support division. The company revealed its road map for Code Yellow in a town hall in July.

Shopify Adds TikTok Events API Integration

Still with Shopify for a moment — merchants who advertise on TikTok will soon get more data on their campaign performance, thanks to a new integration with TikTok’s Events API. The API lets businesses share data from their website with TikTok, which helps them measure and optimize their work.

The integration should make it easier for Shopify merchants to track actions like page views, add to cart, purchases, and more, without needing to install any code on their website. This new system does not rely on cookie tracking.

TikTok says that this does not change the type of data that is shared between Shopify and TikTok, but it improves the accuracy and attribution of the data. According to TikTok, advertisers who use both the TikTok Pixel and Events API see 19% more events captured and 15% lower cost per action.

The integration is available for Shopify merchants who are already using the TikTok Pixel for Shopify. They can update their tracking parameters through the TikTok app in the Shopify dashboard.

TikTok's New "Search Ads" Aren't QUITE Their Own Format Yet

Speaking of TikTok, the company today launched a new way for brands to reach potential customers: ads that show up in the app’s search results. The new “Search Ads Toggle”, lets brands target users who are looking for new products or brands by typing queries into the app’s search box.

The ads will appear in the search results page, along with relevant content and hashtags. Brands can choose which keywords they want to bid on, and also add negative keywords to avoid showing their ads for unwanted queries. TikTok says this will ensure brand safety and relevance.

But to be clear, this is an extension of an advertiser’s TikTok video ad buy — and is not a standalone ad product.

Quoting Techcrunch:

"The addition of the ad slot could also pose a challenge to Google’s search ads business, given that the search giant even admitted that younger users today are now often starting their searches on social apps like TikTok and Instagram, not on Google."

Indeed, a Google VP at a conference last year said this:

“In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search. They go to TikTok or Instagram.”

X to Remove All Text from Link Posts Because Reasons

So you've decided to run an ad campaign on X — the former Twitter. You've got your body copy and the link to your store.

Except one problem — soon, that link will not show on the ad... at least, not the way it does now.

Links on X look like links everywhere else: An image at the top, pulled from that page's metadata, then the headline or page title below, and a bit of description text.

Yesterday, Elon Musk said he didn't like the way those looked and plans to remove almost everything. Your headline, your link copy, whatever call-to-action is there — everything except the image.

That will soon be the new link preview on X: No link, just an image, with the web site domain in tiny text in a corner.

Or maybe not — Musk has a habit of saying things, then backing away, or saying he was joking, or something.

This is apparently being done for two reasons:

1. Elon wants the timeline to fit more tweets in a single screenful

2. Something something rid the world of clickbait

That latter is a tiny bit disingenuous, since, as SocialMediaToday.com pointed out:

"People will still be able to write the same text manually, so it’s not entirely clear how this will help in negating bait clicks."

So how does this impact marketers — if this does happen, you may need to start inserting your headline or call-to-action into the image itself, if you want to use that space.

But that won't help your currently posted content, which will also apparently get the treatment, retroactively.

External links have a reach penalty now anyways — whether this will push even more brands to just give up on the platform entirely remains to be seen.

X is Tanking in the App Store

So how is X doing anyway? Some interesting new data found that the app's renaming from Twitter has all but tanked its ranking in the app store.

Media strategist Eric Seufert, writing on Threads, said this:

"Twitter built a ubiquitous, household-name brand over the course of nearly 2 decades and then simply abandoned it, leaving it to be exploited by competitors, unopposed, through the mobile platforms’ branded search ads.

My hypothesis is that, while the terminally-online are entirely aware of Twitter’s rebrand to X, most consumers aren’t, and their searches for “Twitter” on platform stores surface ads and genuine search results that are in no way redolent of Twitter.

So if you don’t know that Twitter changed its name to X, and search for “Twitter”, the top result is a paid ad from a competitor (Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, etc.), and the result for X doesn’t look anything like Twitter. It doesn’t have the name, doesn’t say “formerly Twitter”, and isn’t even blue. It’s just the ugly X icon and the insipid slogan “Blaze your glory!”

Currently, Threads is #2 on the Apple App Store’s top free downloads list. X is sitting at #51.

Over on Google's Play Store, Threads is #6 and X is #66.

Threads Rolls Out Desktop Version

One of X's many arch-nemeses is Meta's Threads app, which launched to much fanfare, then quickly dropped in engagement levels.

Well, expect those levels to tick up again — the company today launched its desktop web app, allowing users to post, view feeds, and interact via desktop.

This is big news for many marketers who prefer to do their social media work on the web, as opposed the mobile workaround of emailing themselves the post copy, then switching to their phone, copying the text, switching to Threads' mobile app, and pasting it.

So while this is welcome news to many content managers, the big feature that marketers rely on for their day-to-day work — an API — is still apparently out in the distant future. The company has talked about search enhancements coming, post enhancements, even a direct connection with federated networks like Mastodon, but has been mostly silent on creating an API which would let brands use third-party tools to post, reply, and analyze their channel's data.

The desktop version of Threads started to roll out this morning; it may take a few days to get to everyone.

Bing's AI Bump Isn't Lasting

Six months after the introduction of the AI-powered Bing with Bing Chat, the search engine's market share has seen a decline both globally and in the U.S.

When Microsoft launched this version of Bing, there were expectations that it might challenge Google's dominance in the search market.

However, the numbers tell a different story.

• In July, Bing's U.S. market share stood at 6.56%, according to web analytics service StatCounter. This was a slight increase from February's 6.35% but a decline from March's peak of 6.61%.

• Notably, Bing's U.S. market share was consistently above 7% in 2022, reaching as high as 7.82% in November.

Microsoft challenges these figures, saying their internal data shows Bing is gaining on Google, though a VP quoted would not provide specific numbers.

Data from analytics firm comScore showed a 6% drop in Bing's unique visitors and total visits from February to July. Year on year, there was a 2% decline in July.

Facebook and Instagram Going Reverse-Chron (in Europe Only)

One of the things users frequently ask Meta for is a simple algorithm-free reverse chronological view of their Facebook feeds. Instagram relented, somewhat, by hiding that kind of feed under its logo.

But Facebook has resisted showing its users a simple non-personalized feed of people and brands they follow.

This week, Meta said it had a change of heart — though one forced on it by European regulators.

Meta today announced that users in the European Union will soon have the option to view non-personalized content feeds on Facebook and Instagram. This decision aligns with the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires larger platforms to offer users the choice to turn off AI-driven personalization.

European legislators say the DSA counters the pitfalls of AI-driven feeds, such as reduced user autonomy, filter bubbles, and risks of automated manipulation. Instead of AI-driven content, users can opt for feeds sorted chronologically or by local popularity.

While the exact date for the AI off switch's launch remains unclear, it is expected soon, given the DSA compliance deadline on August 25. Non-compliance could result in penalties up to 6% of global annual turnover.

This move by Meta follows a similar announcement by TikTok earlier this month. Their non-algorithmic feed option, too, will be exclusive to the European community — leaving the rest of the world without this choice.

In Brief

Google today began the rollout of its August core update. These updates change the search algorithm to account for new trends, to try to combat spam, and a bunch of tweaks. It often takes a few days to roll out fully, but if you have an SEO tool and notice some volatility in your rank position, that could be why.

Amazon has reintroduced its ground shipping service for sellers. This service offers U.S. delivery for packages up to 50 pounds within 2-5 business days, including weekends. Amazon had paused this service in 2020 due to the surge in e-commerce demand. read more

X says it's aware of the issue where tweets posted before December 2014 with images or links were broken. After a day-long silence on the issue, the company now says it was a bug, no actual images or data were lost, and it will be fixed soon.

And Elon Musk — the most followed user on X — has long railed against bots and fake users. But new research found that 42% of Musk's own followers have no followers of their own, 40% have never actually posted a tweet ever, and less than one-third of 1% subscribe of his followers pay for the platform's subscription service. read more

And finally...

A disabled American teenager and his father got some attention recently, when they posted on social media about ketchup chips.

For those non-Canadians out there, ketchup is a popular flavour of potato chips — right up there with salt and vinegar. But for some reason, ketchup chips have never made it into the U.S. Like other great things, like Coffee Crisp, poutine, and the free healthcare you'll need after eating poutine.

15-year-old Jacob, who is blind and deaf, loves ketchup chips. He and his dad went on a trip north to buy a bunch and posted about it on social media.

And that's when pretty much every social media manager for every potato chip company ran into their bosses office and yelled "Oh my god, we have to send him our chips!"

The No Frills grocery chain emailed the family to say they should expect a couple of packages. What arrived was a palette of nine huge cases of chips.

Then, the Old Dutch Foods company sent them a bunch.

Then Heinz sent boxes of bottled ketchup, along with custom printed bright red shirts with the words "Annual Lieberman Ketchup Crew Road Trip" on the front.

Then Lay's Chips said they'd be getting in on it too, but at this point Jacob's dad had to tell them — please, please don't. They have way too many bags and ketchup products to last a lifetime.

In fact now, they've started donating shipments to schools, soup kitchens — anywhere to just get them out of the damned house.

So, a lesson for us all I guess — jumping on the bandwagon... not always something to relish.

(Sorry.)

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