August Marketing Recap

Emily is a senior account manager at Affinity who specialises in paid social media and written content.

It’s been a roller coaster ride of a month, from big tech companies facing huge lawsuits to more platform changes than you can shake a stick at. For most though, it’s been tough as the economic climate remains uncertain, and paid accounts see more volatility across many verticals. 

In times like these, it’s more important than ever to take an objective look at your marketing efforts and go back to basics. Data is more readily available than ever before, so armed with industry updates and insights on your audience, not only can you weather the storm but leave your competitors for dust. 

Stay tuned as we give you all the crucial updates from the marketing world in August, and how to make them work for your business. 

1. Shopify releases State of Commerce Report

This isn’t really an update per se, but this month Shopify released a really lovely State of Commerce Report which I think is an essential read for any D2C/retail businesses. It’s a chunky document but well worth the read through, plus it’s UK-focused so the data has direct relevance – hurrah!

A few points I find particularly interesting:

• ‘Just one in six UK shoppers are optimistic about the economy and their personal situation, and shoppers are being more considered than ever in how and when they spend.’
• ‘Discretionary spending has reduced over the last 12 months for almost half (46%) of all UK consumers. Women in particular are more likely than men to say they have cut back (50% vs 43%).’
• ‘British shoppers are being more purposeful with what they spend and when, and are more careful in how and where they invest both their money and their time.’
• ‘Almost half (49%) of UK consumers say they’re after the best value they can find (peaking at 57% for 55-64s), so it’s imperative that they find ways to either reduce prices —or offer additional value.’
• ‘Nearly two-thirds (65%) of UK shoppers are telling us it’s important that brands offer a good integrated experience between online and offline. That figure rises to 74% of those who also told us they have increased their spend over the last twelve months, suggesting that the more channels available to a customer to buy from, the greater their potential lifetime value.’

It’s tough out there and there’s more pressure on retailers than ever before. But, knowing the stats can help your business arm itself; stand up for your brand’s purpose, demonstrate great value and give users what they want when it comes to interacting with your business. 

2. Google antitrust case

Google has lost an antitrust case after a US judge ruled they had built a monopoly in the search and advertising sphere, using various exclusive agreements with device manufacturers, and broke the law in doing so. 

Google says they didn’t do anything bad and shouldn’t be getting their wrists slapped for being mega-efficient. Search Engine Land have done a really good deep dive into the whole thing so have a read, if it floats your boat. 

So, how does this affect your business? Google may be forced by the courts to change. This could have a huge impact on how we all market our businesses, but in my opinion, diversification would be a breath of fresh air and would finally force tech companies to compete by improving both their offering and their service.  

Nothing is set in stone yet, and there will be a separate trial to determine what Google will need to do to remedy the situation, which could even include breaking up the company. Google has stated they will appeal and are preparing for a legal battle. 

3. Google search expands AI overviews 

Google AI overviews are back and I’m not feeling positive about it. We’re sort of back in the monopoly game of knowledge and then it’s not properly attributed to the humans that spent all the time considering and researching whatever subject it is. 

We spoke last month about AI giving some really dumb answers about eating glue or putting rocks on pizza or whatever, they scaled it back but now it’s starting to appear in the SERPs again…

So it has returned, in multiple countries (obviously now in the UK too), and there’ll be ads on it soon as well. There will be links to relevant sites and save functions amongst some other updates.

Thing is, Google needs websites to give it info to serve to users. If websites no longer have motivation to do so and stop submitting content, everything will just be a regurgitation and we’re further into dead internet theory. 

4. Core update

Google has rolled out another core update in August and they’re coming after content that was made deliberately to perform in search. We’re not going to talk about the irony with Google serving AI answers to search queries. 

Core updates often shake up the SERPs and it’s likely content marketers and SEO-ers will have a little wobble when looking at their rankings. Oh, they had a ranking bug in August as well. 

If you’re worried about fluctuations with all these core updates. SEJ has a couple of good articles here, and here that can help you navigate these changes, or you can get in touch with us and one of our lovely account managers can give you guidance with our SEO services. 

5. Meta 3rd party attribution

Done well, Meta ads can still crush it right now. ADV+ has come such a long way and media buyers can rely on the algorithm to deliver ads to the right people, assuming there is enough daily spend and campaigns are being fed effective creative. 

Many accounts are now able to integrate with Google Analytics and Northbeam, and next on the list is Triple Whale, along with an optional incremental attribution model which could be a gamechanger. 

The Common Thread Collective have made a very nice video on this and if you’ve got skin in the game, it’s a must-see. Incremental attribution deserves a whole article on its own, so we’ll come back to it in the coming months.

6. Instagram gives carousel posts a boost

Ever wished you could upload 20 photos to a carousel post as opposed to a measly 10 posts? Well, it’s your lucky day. Now you can upload up to 20 posts and videos in one go, and you can even assign a song to each picture. 

This is in line with the trend of ‘photo dumping’ where you release a series of posts as opposed to, say, individually posting each snap from your holiday. Or if you’re one of those people that posts photos of your dinner, you can now get 20 different angles of your spag bol. 

7. Businesses surprised to see display ads ending up on X (FKA Twitter)

You know how loads of businesses pulled out from advertising on X due to various concerns about brand safety amongst the post-Elon environment? Some businesses are surprised to see display ads ending up on the platform anyway. 

These ads are reportedly displaying quite badly with businesses concerned about how they are being portrayed without being aware. We’d recommend making it part of your regular checklist to explore what sort of sites your display placements end up on, and whether they align with your brand or not. 

8. TikTok group chats

Group chats are coming to TikTok. The company has recently announced it’s introducing group chats for users 16 and older, and you can have up to 32 people in one chat.

There are some limitations which will aid safety on the app – for example you can only join a chat if you’re invited by people you follow back, and you can turn off allowing messages altogether. 

TikTok will only benefit by having people stay within the app to share videos in messages, so for businesses and creators on the platform (and advertisers) it should result in a marginally more engaged audience. 

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As you can tell by this update and its predecessors, things are shifting in the marketing world at a rate that is truly teeth rattling and it can be tricky to keep up, so follow us on socials and we’ll keep you up to date.

Our team is always on hand for a chat too, so get in touch with us today if you want to talk about any of these updates, or how we can help you make the most of them. 

See you back here next month! 🫡