Hosted by Julie F Bacchini, this week’s PPCChat discussion has revolved around the futuristic announcement from Facebook last week. What were experts reactions & thoughts, what is the future of paid search ads will look like, what are they most concerned or excited about for the future of PPC and more were discussed. Here is the screencap of the session.
Q1: Did you see and/or read about Facebook’s big “we are now Meta and the metaverse is where it will be at” announcements last week? Thoughts/reactions?
My initial reaction is that FB is trying to make Ready Player One a reality. @dan_patterson
Nope. Seems no different than Google getting Alphabet in 2015. Nothing has actually changed beyond someone is playing musical chairs at fb. We keep hearing how bad they are from news articles and whistleblowers but little change has gone on. @duanebrown
Honestly, I think the name Meta will end up being like Google’s “rebrand” to Alphabet. Nobody will use it. @robert_brady
I watched the presentation. It was… something. Personally, I could not have less interest in the metaverse, as described. Which is interesting cause I’m smack in the middle of FB’s main cohort of users by age. @NeptuneMoon
Does not feel like it will change anything for most users. Too many folks have used the product as Facebook. I also felt like “why” and “meh” as my personal response to the whole thing. @lchasse
Corporate rebrands are generally a big yawn. But I am intrigued that there are some humans to whom Zuck’s “metaverse” doesn’t sound like a version of hell. @stevegibsonppc
Second Life was boring and difficult to monetize the first time. @ferkungamaboobo
I did see the announcement. I think using a different name to encapsulate their full line of products makes sense. Already seeing companies claiming the logo infringes upon theirs. The VR stuff is interesting, particularly the work related material they reviewed. @BrettBodofsky
Nope, tweeted a meme and that was it. Literally, the extent of how much I care until my work needs me to. @TheCopyTrail
Definitely saw it, hard to miss! not a huge fan of how vague the rebrand is, would have expected a more creative or unique name.. seems like a poor attempt at being the next “Apple” with a side of “we want to rule the world” thrown in. @sonika_chandra
I agree with @benedictevans that this is a dual rebranding: for FB and for VR – thus largely PR There *is* meat to the bone though: tech, commerce, and advertising will head in this direction. It just won’t look the way it looks right now. twitter.com/benedictevans/… @mikeryanretail
(Millennial): Don’t think much changes short-term, but I was actually somewhat intrigued by the general ideas of what the future of the Internet could look like, whether that’s created by FB/Meta or not. @_RileyDuncan
When you say “Instagram is owned by Facebook” to a Gen Z, they would have asked “Facebook, Who”? Now they would ask “Meta, Who?” @jithinsee
As usual, I show up 2 hours late. Honestly, this def has a bit of a “wag the dog” feel to it. @JonKagan
Is it a cheese? Is it a tag? No, it’s a verse. I was mostly looking for jokes about it. @soanders
Q1A: What generation to you belong to? Curious if attitudes toward the metaverse vary across generational lines?
I am Gen X. @NeptuneMoon
I’m 34. @ferkungamaboobo
I’m that in-between generation of “Xennial”… don’t quite identify with Gen X but am definitely not a Millennial. Born in ’81. @dan_patterson
I am Gen X. @lchasse
I’m on the old end of Millennial and I have no interest in the metaverse. I fundamentally question whether technology can or should replace real human interaction. @robert_brady
Elder millennial, I guess? Born in 1988. @TheCopyTrail
Old end of a millennial. @JonKagan
Millennial and just wanted to chime in on the metaverse. I have a friend that works at FB with the VR team. Zuck regularly talks about sitting at the dinner table with oculus on and eating dinner at the same table as your family that lives across the country. @markpgus
Q2: What do you think the future of paid search ads will look like?
Google taking more control in the name of the automation. Small businesses with limited resources will be the scapegoat of this automation. @sonofgorkhali
I reckon it’ll be an ongoing battle between platforms that want to sell/create ad inventory, advertisers who don’t want most of that inventory, and users who don’t particularly want to see ads. @stevegibsonppc
Creative/copy and consumer psychology will be top. Must be part of a wider marketing mix that has to include brand plays. Cohorts/personas > individuals/actions. Attribution will be dead. @TheCopyTrail
It’s becoming more and more black box all the time. The general direction seems to be entering a credit card, a URL, and maybe a few text/image/video assets, then let the platform take it from there. @robert_brady
I think the future of search ads are going to be enter some basic criteria and the platform does the rest with minimal options for manual maneuvering. I think specific keywords days are numbered as an input. All automation, all the time will be the mantra. @NeptuneMoon
Automation is going to be more and more prevalent as the years go on. Advertisers will upload assets at some point only and the platforms will do the rest. @lchasse
The future of the keyword still seems uncertain. I used to have reps 2 years ago that claimed they were going completely away. Campaign types that do nearly all the lifting for you (performance max). More multimedia based ad formats. @BrettBodofsky
Audience based. Tons of automation and just a sprinkle human guiding the machines. @duanebrown
Less data and levers for marketers to use and see. Forced reliance on automation from platforms. Could be good for large brands but small companies will suffer. @selley2134
Liked the analogy I heard from @siliconvallaeys (I think!): Role of PPC manager becomes: 1) Doctors (Prevent bad interactions), 2) Pilots (Monitor/steer automations) & 3) Teachers (Feed info to machines) @_RileyDuncan
Paid search discovery ads Search as currently understood (text into a search engine) will broaden to encompass a much larger spectrum of user inputs (not only voice), behaviours, and ad inventory locations @mikeryanretail
Think the channel soup of Perf. Max meets the vast inventory Surfaces meets the power of combined image/voice meets the AI of Pathways. @mikeryanretail
Extract from my book “Search Engine Advertising”, chapter 5, Future of Search Marketing @soanders
Such a loaded question. But if it doesn’t involve 5G microchips being injected into me under the guise of a vaccine via the stinger of a murder hornet, i will very disappointed. @JonKagan
Q3: What do you think the future of paid social ads will look like?
Going down the drain if you have a small set of data & revenue is the only KPI. Already the expansion/acquisition campaign is driving horrible CVR. @sonofgorkhali
Honestly, I suspect it is going to be mainly micro consumable content (ie Reels/TikTok style) @JonKagan
I know what the future of paid social ads should be: completely gone. The current paradigm is wholly unethical and too rife with fraud to be trusted. Moving to a mass-media approach may be more valuable? @ferkungamaboobo
I think the future of paid social is less clear. It is not going away and has reach that traditional search does not. I think we are in for a bit of a reboot on expectations regarding targeting capabilities, but I don’t see a viable equivalent alternative, yet. @NeptuneMoon
Was rewatching Minority Report last night. I don’t think it will get to that version in my lifetime… but something along those lines with how AR and VR is moving. @duanebrown
Honestly, I feel like it’s reverting to TV advertising of yore. With privacy stripping out the targeting precision it’s basically just mass marketing for large budget advertisers. @robert_brady
Glib answer but – look to APAC for clues Also check out these great reads from @soanders / @InnovellSays 1) innovell.com/native-ecommer… 2) innovell.com/the-social-com… @mikeryanretail
Tougher question, then just paid search. Social media is changing so fast and with VR on the horizon, then after that…. For advertisers, we may get less audience granularity for targeting. @lchasse
I think the future is here and has worked for quite some time. Less targeting via audiences and more targeting through creatives. Creatives speaking to specific Personas inherently guide the machine to the audience. Qualify and target via the creative. @markpgus
Which brings into question my worth as a media buyer. I think it becomes much more of a creative direction skill set and I wonder how pricing that works. Probably more creative execution from the team. More creative hires for ad support etc. Seeing this already. @markpgus
I think the future of paid social looks like the past of lifestyle magazine full-page ads. @soanders
Q4: Is there an ad type that you think will become a big deal in the future that is not very well known or used right now?
I can see a big opportunity for Local Ads, but I only say this because they’re underutilized, not unknown. @TheCopyTrail
As best I can guess, anything that gets me to dance and laugh for 30 seconds @JonKagan
I don’t think ad type but using multimedia will be a big push. I can see google trying to add video as an ad extensions option in search ads @sonofgorkhali
Not necessarily ad type but my hope/thought is – as Google becomes more about the big business there will be a user & business revolt & another platform will pop up to go back to be old google that is more local/small business-friendly. Similar to like a next door? @selley2134
I think audio ads in these smart speakers will come up at some point. Video will still be strong, but video in the VR environment will also be big for the early adopters. Could be as simple as product placements inside the environment you are in. @lchasse
Minority Report-style @mikeryanretail
I really think it’s going to be upload all creative and target CPA and it’s off to the races. @markpgus
Whatever version 2.0 of shopping ads. Still seeing tons of brands not use shopping ads. Or worse think it’s an either or type situation when combined with search ads. @duanebrown
Q5: What are you most concerned about for the future of PPC?
With lack of transparency comes huge potential for abuse. Google needs to hit their Q4 targets? Tweak the algo. FB wants to get a new ad type more love? Give it preference in the feeds. Machines do what people tell them, good or bad. @robert_brady
Google and Bing working hard to remove the human element of the work. @JonKagan
Platforms pushing automation that inherently prioritizes large businesses with large budgets and large data sets over small businesses. @selley2134
Opacity is my biggest concern. Just saw “Performance Max” from Google. They are handing us subpar GDN inventory to mix it up with the things we want. I would like to just do Google Maps for my local business, remove GDN and Search partners like in the old days. @soanders
Lack of transparency. If you can’t impact aspects of the account (keywords for example) why bother showing us any query data at all at some point? We already can see little w/ regard to RSAs and which combos work. Can’t see junk forced in among stuff you want. @NeptuneMoon
Not a concern as much as planning for the day we don’t have a job. @duanebrown
People’s livelihoods. Some advertisers will adapt to these changes in time, easily or otherwise. Others will not, esp ones with smaller budgets. I also worry for people who don’t see the writing and upskill if all they know is how to pull levers in GA/FB/etc. @TheCopyTrail
Nothing much. It’s been on the same path for years. In the end, the rules will always be the same: whoever can turn an impression into money better than their competitors will dominate their niche. @stevegibsonppc
Way too much grey area. Big businesses with large budgets and teams will thrive, while small mom-and-pop shops will get crushed. @sonofgorkhali
That the platforms become hermetically sealed, with minimal/no input beyond budget and not output beyond conversions. And businesses just depend on that. Like a drip feeder for a hamster. @mikeryanretail
Q6: What are you most excited about for the future of PPC?
Every time the rules change, the fastest learners will win. If you learn fast there will always be opportunities and $$$ to be made. @robert_brady
That nothing is consistent on it, and it remains dynamic, somehow. @JonKagan
I am excited that we might be moving off of such hyper attribution focused digital advertising (partly because I think attribution has always been part wishes and myth). There will be room for smart people with good ideas for how to reach people. @NeptuneMoon
The inevitable demise of shitty brands that employ questionable advertising practices when it will no longer be affordable for them to do so. Conversely, the return of creativity to ad text and creatives. Agencies, start hiring witty copywriters now. @TheCopyTrail
As much as I complain about changes that is part of the reason I love this industry – Have to stay on your toes and up to date. I am excited to see new ad types/targeting options as technology continues to advance. @selley2134
Really want to see that AI do something sensible on my campaigns one day. So far not impressed, but the future is bound to be bright @soanders
That the future is unwritten. If you asked me 10 or even 5 years ago,… if I thought this is where we would be… couldn’t have imagined it. @duanebrown
Q7: Bold prediction time! Share your most bold or wild future of PPC prediction.
New Google Ads program, where robots come over, punch us, steal my coffee and sit at a chair for 24 hours a day cursing lack of insight, but actually being ok with it. @JonKagan
Pay-per-conversion. @mikeryanretail
Not too wild: Fortune 100 running paid TikToks for hiring Really wild: Mark Zuckerberg will be elected president of the US as the country’s first winning independent. @TheCopyTrail
PPCChat Participants
- Dan Patterson @dan_patterson
- Duane Brown @duanebrown
- Robert Brady @robert_brady
- Julie F Bacchini @NeptuneMoon
- Lawrence Chasse @lchasse
- Steve Gibson @stevegibsonppc
- Doug R Thomas, Esq. @ferkungamaboobo
- Brett Bodofsky @BrettBodofsky
- Ashwin @TheCopyTrail
- Sonika @sonika_chandra
- Mike Ryan @mikeryanretail
- Riley Duncan @_RileyDuncan
- Jithin Chandrababu @jithinsee
- Jon Kagan @JonKagan
- Anders Hjorth @soanders
- Dave Galliguez @Galliguez
- Mark Gustafson @markpgus
- Roshan @sonofgorkhali
- Shaun Elley @selley2134
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