Aro's 232 - April 2021

232 Quarterly Update - April

Kia Ora 👋

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Welcome to the April 2021 edition of 232. Aro’s quarterly update, where we chat about all things digital marketing in New Zealand.

Let’s crack into it!  

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Trends

1. iOS Updates & Tracking Implications

This is a biggie. The impending release of iOS 14.5 will result in a further clamp down in the ability to track digital marketing activity. The update will force users to decide whether or not they want to be tracked across websites and apps and we believe that around 80%+ will choose to ‘opt out’.

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What is the impact?

Ad Targeting: Many targeting types, including retargeting, will no longer work for users that have opted out of sharing their IDFA. e.g. creating a Facebook audience of users that have completed a certain action on your website that you want to remarket back to. Effectively managing exclusion audiences will one of the biggest challenges for advertisers.

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For the average internet user this can result in a more frustrating ad experience. Think of the nefarious pair of sunglasses you brought and the ad that won’t leave you alone, even though you’ve already made the purchase. This ad is no longer relevant to you. It happens because you’ve fallen into a retargeting audience, but the critical action (a purchase) hasn’t been recognised. If you 'opt out' of tracking, prepare for a less relevant ad experience.

Personalised Ads: Delivering personalised ads at the right frequency will be more difficult with users who have opted out of tracking.

Event Tracking: Reporting of events will be delayed for up to three days after an app is installed.

Again, for those that have opted out it doesn’t mean they won’t be served ads, just that they will no longer be relevant or personalised.

For businesses running campaigns on Facebook, making sure you add UTMs to the URLs of your ads is more important than ever if you still want to measure campaign performance.

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2. 0 Click Searches Increase

There’s been signs of an increase in 0 click searches year on year. This is important for anyone in the world of SEO, or anyone with a website.

A 0 click search is when someone makes a search - but doesn’t click through to any website.

This can be due to:

• Finding an answer in a FAQ box
• Re-searching with a different query
• Discovering the business info they need (eg: phone number / address)

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SparkToro’s research with Similarweb found that in 2020 around 65% of Google Searches ended without a click to a website - up from 50% in 2019.

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What does this mean for your website?

Google is pushing rich snippets hard.

You can either be in or out - so either using structured data on your website, or skipping it all together.

We reckon you’re better to be in than out for this, because if you use structured data, you’ll be more likely to show up for a FAQ or rich snippet - maybe you’ll get the click, maybe you won’t. But you’ll have a better chance than if you don’t optimise for it at all.

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Tools

1. Google Analytics 4

Google has introduced the new and improved Google Analytics 4 which has been in beta for a while. GA4 is designed to adapt to a future with stricter privacy regulations and a more data conscious society.

The entire data model has changed as well, moving away from being ‘session’ based, and instead relying solely on events and interactions. In addition, you can now track both apps and websites within the same Google Analytics property which provides a more holistic view of their business.

There’s also a suite of tools to make tracking and measurement of certain events easier (e.g. PDF downloads, scrolling behaviour and video views).

Your new property in GA4 won't have any of your historical data so the sooner it is set up the sooner it can start populating!

GA4 can run side-by-side with your current Google Analytics so your current data remains intact and accessible.

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What are the major changes?

• New User Interface
• Updated Metrics
• Improved Custom Reporting
• New Configuration & Setup

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If you want to find out more about GA4 and how you can get it up and running feel free to drop us a message at hi@aro.digital

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2. Google Fonts & Icons

Trying to find the right font for your website or document? Google fonts is a great place to start - with a massive library of free fonts.

Recently, they also released Google Icons - a huge database of icons you can use across anything you’re working on - for free!

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3. Wayback Machine

Ever wondered what a website looked like in the past? Chuck a website into the Wayback Machine to explore how the site looked over the years.

This is a super useful tool for internet transparency, as well as a history book for popular websites. Remember what Google used to look like in 1998?

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Inspiration

1. Ashley Bloomfield x Dubstep

We can’t look past the Covid song that was created for festival season. While it made the news for costing $40,000 - we reckon it was worth the $$. It must have reached hundreds of thousands of people - and was played numerous times at each festival.

Creating content that resonates with your ideal audience - something that they’ll actually enjoy, is an excellent marketing strategy.

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In fact, we love it so much - that you can type “aro” then press enter you can listen to it right here on our site.

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2. GeoNet Data

While it might not be the most obvious inspirational digital marketing campaign - GeoNet’s earthquake “Felt It” reports are a thing of beauty.

When the 5th of March earthquake hit, the GeoNet website received 52,000 survey responses in just 7 hours. This is a fantastic way of turning people looking for data (like the size of an earthquake) into a data point themselves.

Beyond that, it helps to drive additional education and awareness about earthquakes.

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For your website - have a think about simple ways you can capture your most important data. GeoNet makes it simple by using a simple visual and bullet-pointed description of the different severities - making it super easy for a user to answer.

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Aro Updates

Introducing Aro 236 - Aro’s 2nd Office

The Aro family has been growing like crazy, but we couldn’t bear to leave our iconic spot on Oriental. So we’ve begun our Oriental takeover with a new Aro campus a couple of doors down from our current spot.

This space will be used as an extra working space complete with a board room, and an additional meeting room. Most importantly, it will be dog-friendly.

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New Additions To The Aro Family

It’s been a big quarter for the Aro team and we’ve got some new faces around the office. We’d like to welcome Lulu as our newest superstar Client Strategy Manager! Paras, who is smashing it in his role as Senior Performance Specialist. And Nicole, who is making sure the office runs smoothly in the new role as Office Coordinator.

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That’s it from us! Feel free to share this to whoever you think it might be relevant to.

Thanks for reading,
Tim, Jonty & The Aro Digital Team 🤙

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