By Mark Eting

Bullseye Strategy Special Correspondent

If you’re a digital marketing news junkie like I am, this week has delivered. Facebook has launched an act of desperation to appeal to younger audiences who currently only use the platform to communicate with their elderly (aka Millennial and Gen Z) relatives. (If at all). Google has given a shocking level of search power to PDF documents. Meanwhile, we’re riveted by a study done by Aki Technologies that looks at how impactful mobile ads are to people who are drifting off to sleep.

Facebook Gets “Cringey”

TechCrunch reported that Facebook has spent months building an app created for teens called LOL, which is a feed of GIFs, memes and funny videos about pranks and animals. TechCrunch also reported that test users of LOL called this experience “cringey.” With a less than enthusiastic response to Facebook’s previous attempts to win over the Gen Z crowd, including Lasso, Facebook Watch and IGTV, LOL is yet another attempt to compete with TikTok and SnapChat. Additionally, in a pivot we are admittedly a little more excited about, Facebook also added the ability to link to events from Facebook Stories; we think this move will increase the value of Facebook Stories as a tool for businesses.

Power to the PDF

Meanwhile, Google has changed its search engine optimization algorithm to pull content from PDFs into snippets. Previously only website content appeared in snippets. This move gives PDFs the ability to earn the coveted Google “position zero.” SEO nerds like me are excited to see how this changes ranking and how it might influence the strategy behind the creation of the PDF documents themselves.

How Mobile Ads are Part of our Bedtime Ritual

Now I lay me down to sleep, but wait, let me just check my iPhone one more time…Wellness experts might talk about powering off the devices an hour before bed and maybe reading or meditating before slipping into those REM waves, but most of us react to that with a, “Yeah. No.” And not only that, a recent study found that 51% of us are actually pretty receptive to ads we see on mobile that we view while in bed–as well as when we’re watching TV. Sorry, wellness experts–us digital marketing experts are happy to hear that consumers are falling asleep just moments after our artfully targeted ads crossed paths with their consciousness. “Mark Eting” is the pen name of the Bullseye Strategy team. Check back with us next week for more news on what’s buzzing in the digital marketing industry.]]>