Brian Meert's Blog, page 104

A Look inside US Shoppers’ Buying Journeys

October 10, 2018
Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebook ad agency
Andrew Le / Unsplash

What is the thought process of the average US shopper? Amazon wanted to answer this question to help brands better understand their audiences. Working with global measurement firm comScore, Amazon gathered in-depth insight about consumers who use the e-commerce platform for their shopping needs.

In a blog post the company shared recently, Amazon’s Dave Martin talks about the findings from comScore’s study of 609 US shoppers. In the study conducted via survey in April 2018, the participants were asked questions about their purchase of televisions within the last six months. Specifically, the study sought to learn the shoppers’ research methods, the important factors in their decision processes, and the channels they primarily used for their research.

The study unveiled three major findings:

Shoppers took their time and turned to multiple sources.
Shoppers researched multiple brands and reviews on Amazon.
Most shoppers made their final purchases in-store.

Here’s an in-depth look at each of these findings.

Shoppers Took Their Time and Turned to Multiple Sources

Shoppers in the study took their time to research before making the purchase. The shoppers didn’t purchase impulsively. Fifty-six percent of the participants researched their purchases for over one week. The time frame may be because the products the participants wanted to buy was expensive. Forty percent said they spent over $1,000 on their final purchase. They did their research to make sure they would not have buyer’s remorse.

The research involved multiple visits online or in-store, which were a big part of the participants’ shopping journey. Participants indicated that they visited an average of 3.9 retailers or retailer websites when looking for televisions. Seventy-six percent of the shoppers looked both online and offline. Sixty-two percent said they eventually bought their television at a physical store.

Shoppers Researched Multiple Brands and Reviews on Amazon

Unsurprisingly, shoppers used Amazon to aid them in their television research. Throughout their research, shoppers looked at multiple brands and customer reviews to determine product quality and durability. They also referred to the product pages to learn about the features of the televisions and compared prices between products and brands.

The study uncovered several statistics surrounding the use of Amazon as a research tool. According to Amazon, the shoppers visited the Amazon website or app an average of six times before making a purchase. During those visits, they researched an average total of 2.8 brands and read an average of 9.6 customer reviews throughout their shopping journey. Additionally, 65 percent of the study’s participants indicated that Amazon was their top choice for comparing prices between different models and brands.

Most Shoppers Made Their Final Purchases In-Store

As previously mentioned, 62 percent of shoppers said they bought their televisions in physical stores. However, while at the store where they bought their televisions, about two-thirds of the shoppers researched features, price comparisons, and customer reviews on their smartphones. Thirty-one percent of the 64 percent that did researched customer reviews to inform their purchase. Additionally, previous Amazon users who bought their televisions in-store used the site an average of 5.3 times to research the product before buying it.

Amazon Is a Big Part of Shoppers’ Buying Journeys

According to Amazon, the findings from this study show that the Amazon site is useful to customers, even to offline shoppers.

“Amazon is an important part of customer’s shopping journey across physical and online retailers, regardless of where the final purchases take place,” says Martin. “This is especially true for high-consideration items like TVs. Shoppers take their time and utilize Amazon for brand and product details and customer reviews, both online when they are starting the process and in store prior to completing a purchase.”

To help brands engage with shoppers throughout their shopping journey, Amazon recommends using Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, two of its ad formats, to drive product research and reach shoppers when they’re active on Amazon. Additionally, brands should remarket to audiences who have already visited their product detail page to tap into their interest in the product.

US shoppers trust Amazon, whether it’s to buy an item directly through the site or research a product to inform an in-store purchase. Brands can build trust with customers by reaching shoppers through the dependable site. They just need to know their audience and understand their shopping journeys.

Written by Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebook ad agency

The post A Look inside US Shoppers’ Buying Journeys appeared first on AdvertiseMint.

New Instagram Stories Feature Lets You Post Multiple Stories at Once

October 9, 2018
Anne Felicitas, editor at AdvertiseMint, Facebook advertising agency

Instagram Stories, as fun as it is, can be a little inconvenient at times. If you want to record a scene that lasts longer than Instagram’s 15-second limit, you would need to record multiple 15-second videos, posting them separately. That will change for everyone soon.

Instagram’s new multiple stories feature

Today, a feature that allows you to record multiple stories at once appears on Instagram. When you hold the capture button, multiple 15-second stories will record. The fully recorded 15-second stories will appear on your screen while you continue filming. You can record up to 10 stories at once. Once finished, you can post your stories either to your feed or as a private message to friends.

The best part? The feature works for the hands-free mode.

Not everyone has the update, so it’s either a test or a slow rollout. If it’s a test, let’s hope it rolls out officially—it makes Instagram Stories a more seamless experience.

Written by Anne Felicitas, editor at AdvertiseMint, Facebook advertising agency

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New to Facebook: Ads That Click to WhatsApp

October 9, 2018
By Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebook ads company

Facebook announced that all advertisers globally can now use ads users can click to open a chat in WhatsApp. Advertisers can access the new capability in Ads Manager. The update helps boost business exposure on WhatsApp.

How It Works

With this update, advertisers can create a News Feed ad with a call-to-action button users can select to open a WhatsApp chat with the business. When the chat opens, it displays a default message users can edit to their liking before sending to the business, establishing a WhatsApp relationship.

The call-to-action button appears at the bottom right of the ad creative, similar to the call-to-action ads can include to open a Facebook Messenger chat. The option can be found under the Messages objective in Ads Manager.

To create ads that direct users to WhatsApp, advertisers must have both a WhatsApp Business account and a Facebook Ads Manager account. The business’s WhatsApp account must also be connected to Ads Manager, which can be done under “Message Destination” in Ads Manager.

The Benefits

WhatsApp makes it easier for users to communicate with businesses, without the hassle of a phone call, through instant messaging and calling. A business with a WhatsApp Business app has access to multimedia messaging, free calls, free international messaging, and group chats, as well as customizable quick replies and user statistics. The new call-to-action that can direct users from News Feed to WhatsApp makes businesses more discoverable and accessible in a seamless experience.

With more than 300 million daily active users, WhatsApp also gives businesses a massive customer base to reach.

Written by Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebook ads company

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New to Facebook: A First-Party Cookie Option with Facebook Pixel

October 9, 2018
Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebook ads company

Recently, Facebook announced in an email that advertisers will receive a first-party cookie option for Facebook Pixel starting October 24. Up until this point, advertisers could only use third-party cookies with the pixel to acquire information for website analytics, ad targeting, and ad measurement.

Using the first-party option, in addition to the benefits of third-party cookies, advertisers, publishers, and developers can gather even more refined analytics related to their website traffic. First-party cookies are directly owned by the website a user is navigating at the moment, whereas third-party cookies are owned by a separate website. The new option will help advertisers learn more about audience behaviors in relation to their site and ultimately allow them to produce even more relevant ads.

In the email announcement, Facebook explained that it’s offering the new option because first-party cookies are becoming the preferable choice for browsers and other online platforms. Cookies are the advertiser’s key to serving relevant ads and understanding audiences. Offering first-party cookies is the next logical step.

If advertisers do not want to run with the first-party option, they can update their pixel settings in Events Manager.

What Is Facebook Pixel?

Facebook Pixel is a snippet of code that advertisers can use to collect data about their audiences for their advertising campaigns. The code is simply added to the backend of a website, allowing the pixel to generate signals about the website activity of both new and existing customers. Facebook Pixel is particularly helpful in engaging with audiences using relevant messages.

How the Update Affects Users

Facebook said users will continue to maintain the same control over which ads they see on Facebook using Ads Preferences. Additionally, businesses will still need to be fully transparent about their use of cookies and third-party (and first-party) data collection as stipulated in Facebook’s Business Tools Terms. All of Facebook’s rules about full transparency will still apply.

Why So Transparent

From clearly labeling electoral and issue ads to requiring page verification to adding an Info and Ads tab to all pages, Facebook has been rolling out a gamut of transparency measures. The company dived head-on into reactive and proactive mode after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the data firm deceptively collected user information to distribute politically motivated messages during the 2016 US Presidential Election. Add that to the Russian troll accounts that sent out divisive ads during the same election, Facebook was facing a lot of heat. Understandably, the company has been updating its expectations of advertisers as of late to ensure more positive experiences for users.

It isn’t just Facebook who has been holding advertisers to higher standards, however. According to a recent study, 81 percent of consumers believe brands should be transparent on social media. Additionally, the study found that only 71 percent of users hold themselves to the same standard of social media transparency.

Advertisers will be able to reap the full benefits of the first-party cookie option as long as they also adhere to Facebook’s transparency requirements.

Written by Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebook ads company

The post New to Facebook: A First-Party Cookie Option with Facebook Pixel appeared first on AdvertiseMint.

According to Studies, Consumers Hold Brands to a Higher Standard of Transparency

October 9, 2018
Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebook ads company

It turns out that consumers want you to give it to them straight. A recent study found that consumers expect brands to be transparent on social media. Study participants said that brands have more responsibility to be open and honest than anyone else on social platforms.

A Sprout Social study found that 81 percent of consumers believe brands must be transparent on social media, according to the Emarketer article. The term “transparency” encompasses the characteristics of honesty, openness, clarity, and authenticity. Interestingly, only 71 percent of consumers hold themselves to the same standard, and only 57 percent said they also expect celebrities to be transparent.

According to the study, participants considered withholding information, ignoring customer questions, and ignoring employee questions as lack of transparency. More than 34 percent said dodging political or social issues also indicates a lack of transparency.

Topics participants want brands to be transparent about are the following:

Product/service changes: 53 percent
Company values: 53 percent
Business practices: 50 percent
Company policy changes: 49 percent
Employment practices: 46 percent
Pricing decisions: 43 percent
Marketing practices: 41 percent
Diversity and inclusion: 40 percent
Financial performance: 38 percent

Additional findings showed that consumers believe

A brand’s social media candor can positively influence future purchases: 53 percent
A brand’s social media candor can influence purchase frequency: 37 percent
They’d recommend a transparent brand to family and friends: 42 percent

These findings indicate that consumers see social media as a major representation of brands. So much so, in fact, that they believe brands should be beacons of transparency over individual users. It all boils down to trust. The more open and honest a brand, the more consumers are likely to trust it. Since brands are seen as incentivized by money, consumers want to know for certain that they can be trusted before buying from brands.

Transparency vs. Product Quality
Unsplash / Rawpixel

Despite the weight consumers place on transparency in this particular study, Emarketer says other studies suggest an attitude-behavior gap. Specifically, although consumers expect brands to be transparent at all times, product quality and cost are ultimately the biggest influences in purchase decisions. A Cone Communications and Porter Novelli survey revealed that 41 percent of participants considered product quality to be the primary influence in their purchase decisions. Thirty-nine percent said cost was the leading factor. Similarly, in a Morning Consult survey, 90 percent of the Millennial respondents said price and quality were top influencing factors.

Taking these conflicting findings into consideration, you may wonder where you should primarily focus your energy when maintaining your brand presence on social media. The answer is simple: offer high-quality products at decent prices while being fully transparent. In other words, focusing on product quality and price should not negate transparency. They are not mutually exclusive. It’s that simple.

You also want to take into account the ways social media platforms are increasing their measures to ensure brand transparency. For example, Facebook now offers an Info and Ads tab on business pages that allows users to view every active ad the page has published. Additionally, all electoral or issue ads are now labeled “Political Ad.” These types of measures help prevent platform abuse while also improving the overall user experience. If you fail to comply with a platform’s transparency measures, you are not going to fair well with your target audiences.

Don’t let the dog-eat-dog world of advertising get in the way of your ethics and integrity. If the people want transparency from your brand, there’s nothing to suggest they shouldn’t get it. To ensure you’re being fully transparent on social media, diligently manage your social media accounts so you don’t run the risk of becoming negligent. Otherwise, consumers may call you out on it.

Written by Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebook ads company

The post According to Studies, Consumers Hold Brands to a Higher Standard of Transparency appeared first on AdvertiseMint.

How to Organically Improve Your App Store Optimization

October 8, 2018
Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebook advertising agency

Both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store are highly competitive spaces where app developers struggle to stand out against competitors. According to Statista, the Apple store has more than two million apps and Google Play Store has 3.6 million apps. In both stores, app developers face the massive task of attracting users to not only click but to also download.

As a result of this app battleground, developers often turn to paid advertising to market their app within either app store. However, that can be expensive. What other alternative do you have, since organic reach is nearly impossible in such a competitive space?

Emarketer says there’s a disciplinary practice all app developers should be familiar with: app store optimization (ASO). This practice involves optimizing your app’s core assets. Core assets include your app’s icon (i.e. the main app visual that appears on users phones once they’ve downloaded your app), title, and description. By focusing on your ASO, according to Emarketer, you can organically market your app without dishing out the dollars on app store ads.

ASO Tips

Here are a few tips to help you improve your app store optimization and to make your app more visible and discoverable in any mobile app store.

Create short, searchable titles: Because both Apple and Google stipulate a maximum number of characters for your app’s title, create a title that succinctly describes your app’s purpose but also includes relevant keywords that will boost it in search.

Inform users in your description: Include in your description the information you were unable to convey in your app title. Avoid jamming too much in your description because the description will primarily appeal to crawler bots rather than users. Use a balance of good copywriting and relevant keywords to accurately describe your app’s functionality.

Regularly update your keywords: To keep your app refreshed in search results, update the keywords within your app description regularly. You still want the keywords to be relevant, but a regular refresh helps prevent your app’s search visibility from going dry.

Offer incentives for ratings: When you’ve built up somewhat of a customer base, offer users who like your app incentives in exchange for rating your app. Positive ratings help boost your ASO, which increases the number of users who download your app, which also helps ASO (and the cycle goes round and round).

Make your app icon appealing. It’s very important to make your app’s icon look good because it’s the first thing users see. A boring icon won’t stand out, which means fewer clicks, fewer downloads, and overall poor ASO.

Pick the right category. Last but not least, place your app in the most relevant category. Consider your app’s functionality to figure out which category is best. If there is more than one category that’s relevant, Up Tech recommends looking at the number of competing apps already in each category and then choosing whichever one has the fewest number of apps.

The Importance of Improving Your Visibility in App Stores

A 2017 survey by Button and App Annie found that most US smartphone users find or install new apps through either the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. It came out on top of other sources at 59 percent, followed by trusted sources (20 percent). Clearly, your app stands a better chance at achieving downloads through marketing in either one of the two app stores than any other source.

App marketing success comes down to the users who visit an app store to download an app. The challenge is attracting their eyes and enticing them to download your app. Don’t forget the answer to increasing visibility: ASO.

Written by Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebook advertising agency

The post How to Organically Improve Your App Store Optimization appeared first on AdvertiseMint.

New to Instagram: A Personalizable Nametag Feature

October 8, 2018
Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, company for Facebook ads

Instagram announced a new feature called Nametag that serves as a customizable identification card. Nametag allows users to easily discover other user profiles with a simple camera scan. Each Nametag is unique to the individual user, almost like a fingerprint, and “makes it quick and fun to add people and accounts you discover in person,” Instagram announced.

How It Works

To customize your Nametag, complete the following steps:

Step 1: Navigate to your Instagram profile.

Step 2: Tap the three lines at the top to open the menu and select “Nametag.”

Step 3: Touch anywhere on the screen or tap the button at the top to personalize your Nametag.

To scan someone else’s Nametag:

Step 1: Open your Instagram camera.

Step 2: Hover over the other user’s Nametag with your camera.

Step 3: Press down on your camera screen to scan their Nametag.

To share your Nametag with other users, simply select the arrow at the top right when viewing your tag to send it via text message, Instagram, Facebook, or WhatsApp.

The Benefits of Nametag

The Nametag feature presents potential benefits for both users and businesses alike. It helps users easily connect with others, building on the initial face-to-face friendship right from the get go, setting the foundation for a long-term friendship. It will be especially fun for young users who want to connect with new friends at school.

Businesses can also enjoy the Nametag feature. They can share their own unique Nametag so users can easily scan it and start following the business’s Instagram account, staying up-to-date on the latest products, offers, or services the business posts about. Businesses may also be able to display Nametags on merchandise to encourage users to add them on Instagram, similar to how brands use Snapchat’s Snapcodes.

Written by Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, company for Facebook ads

The post appeared first on AdvertiseMint.

7 Automation Tools That Will Make Your Job a Lot Easier

October 5, 2018

Julian DiMico, guest writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebbook advertising agency
Rawpixel / Unsplash

Small and mid-size marketing is becoming increasingly complex as digital channels become larger and more important. Businesses are seeking ways to harness data, email clients, and close business with a budget and limited staff. For that reason, business owners are seeking ways to automate their outreach. Fortunately, there are now a number of automated marketing tools that make life much easier for these small business owners. Below are the automation tools that you could use.

MailChimp

MailChimp is a good starting place. Using MailChimp, you can create campaigns and test them. You can send a large volume of emails daily with an intuitive and automated interface. You could reach out to thousands of customers with a click of a mouse, testing which emails receive the best responses and which are opened and read.

ManyChat

Once a potential customer lands on the site from a MailChimp email, you could ideally engage them in conversation. However, you may be extremely busy, and you may not have time to engage every potential customer. Even members of the marketing team may not have time. ManyChat creates an automated Facebook chatbot that will engage with the clients on the site and gather information while answering basic questions. That allows a qualified person to follow-up and close the sale.

GetResponse

Similar to MailChimp, GetResponse allows you to build your own automated email marketing campaign. The difference is GetResponse allows you to build your own workflow. If you want certain customers directed to certain products or want to place an emphasis on certain services, that is possible. It is a little more hands-on and customized, but it results in a marketing campaign that is more tailored to your needs.

HubSpot

One of the most popular and easy-to-use solutions, Hubspot integrates the CRM, marketing automation software, and content generation into a set of tools. For example, the system could email customers through A/B testing, find the emails and content types that work best, then populate the CRM for salespeople to follow-up with potential clients.

IBM Watson

The AI technology behind IBM Watson is truly revolutionary. Now, it is being directed towards marketing with tremendous benefits. The tool helps companies digest all of their data across multiple channels and platforms. It then recommends campaign types, reveals trends, and enables personalized customer sales paths. Ordinarily, this type of work would require a team of analysts. However, IBM Watson can do it by crunching all of the data in one system.

MeetEdgar

One of the most popular forms of marketing is social media marketing. However, it is a 24/7 process that needs constant attention. Additionally, there are so many different content types and strategies to choose from. MeetEdgar helps automatically publish social media posts on the weekends and off hours to keep users interested. Additionally, it automates the content choices to apply those that have the largest impact and highest likelihood of engagement. For example, you might want to Tweet about some record-breaking business litigation lawsuit during the weekends when potential clients are leisurely scrolling for this type of information.

Marketo

Marketo, a tool by Adobe, has become one of the industry leaders because of its simple and intuitive interface, as well as its broad array of features and functions. It has similar automation tools as MeetEdgar. One unique function is the ability to initiate sales calls at exactly the right time based on when a lead comes in, so prospects who are ready to buy will be contacted at the right time. That results in many more sales.

Small and mid-sized business owners continue to have challenges optimizing their marketing processes. Fortunately, there are several automated tools that make life easier. Taking advantage of these software platforms helps businesses reduce hassles and improve marketing outcomes.

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Google Is Expanding Search-Based Advertising to YouTube

October 4, 2018
Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebook ads company

Google knows it’s already on top, but that doesn’t stop the company from finding even more growth opportunities. According to CNBC, Google is giving advertisers new ways to target audiences through YouTube search queries. The company recognizes that the video platform is widely used as a search engine and so it is carrying over the success of its search-based advertising to the viewing hub.

The opportunity is definitely there because YouTube is already a steadfast contributor to Google’s revenue. In 2017 alone, reports CNBC, YouTube generated approximately $12.8 billion in sales, with a projection of $22 billion by 2020. Google’s total 2017 ad revenue came out at $95.4 billion. The company’s overall success indicates that not only are consumers still choosing Google and YouTube as their primary search engines, but they’re also responding well to ads across both services.

How It Works

Let’s say users want to purchase a mobile video game. They search for a video review of the game on YouTube. Using their search queries to determine relevance, YouTube then displays a banner with a link the users can click to download the game directly below the video on their smartphones. The sponsored links would work similarly for showing banners with movie showtimes or trip bookings. The basic applies to any search query.

Making Video Work Better for Advertisers

The YouTube perks don’t stop there. According to CNBC, YouTube is also partnering with third-party market research company IRI to track ad campaign metrics. This partnership will help better inform the overall performance of campaigns on YouTube.

“What we’re announcing at Advertising Week is really a doubling down, really a solution to make a video more actionable and to allow advertisers to measure success,” Tara Walpert Levy, Google’s vice president of agency and brand solutions, said in the CNBC article.

By offering more performance metrics, YouTube will help advertisers further boost brand awareness and learn more about how they can adjust their campaigns as needed.

Although Google is consistently successful, both as a search engine and as an advertising platform, it still has competitors. Specifically, Amazon has been growing as a space for advertising, giving Google reason to re-examine its existing advertising options and tools. Recently, Amazon partnered with Snapchat to offer a visual search tool, which allows Snapchatters to point their camera at an object to then find it on Amazon. Lucky for Google, it has its own visual platform, YouTube, to expand.

“The advertising ecosystem has always been incredibly competitive,” Levy told CNBC. “The appeal of Amazon really validates what we are doing and talking about today, the importance of measurement, the importance of driving action on a platform.”

Google has been paying more attention to YouTube lately. A few weeks ago, Google released the new video version of Showcase Shopping format, which allows advertisers to incorporate YouTube videos into paid search ads. Before that, Google allowed all content creators to run non-skippable ads. And over the summer, Google introduced a new creative suite for YouTube storytellers, which includes tools like video experiments, video creative analytics, director mix, and video ad sequencing. The company, recognizing the popularity of video, is molding the YouTube universe so that advertisers can benefit from it even more.

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the US, CNBC reports. Approximately 60 percent of consumers turn to YouTube to learn more about a product they searched for on Google. It makes sense that Google would want to capitalize on its video search platform.

Consumers often forget that Google owns YouTube. Regardless of what other video platforms come out, YouTube has never faltered as users’ primary choice. But Google is smart enough to know it needs to continue improving the platform to keep advertisers interested so it can maintain its spot towards the top of the food chain. And certainly, advertisers will welcome whatever new products Google throws their way, ready to hop right on the train to success.

Written by Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebook ads company

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Google Is Lifting Part of Its Cryptocurrency Ad Ban

October 3, 2018
Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebook ads company

According to CNBC, Google will now allow regulated crypto exchanges to buy ads. The updated policy takes effect this month and only allows ads to run in the United States and Japan.

Cryptocurrency ad buyers first learned about Google’s ban on ads promoting initial coin offerings (ICOs), wallets, and trading advice back in March. Twitter and Facebook were also implementing bans for these types of ads. However, Facebook lifted its ban back in June, implementing new stipulations, such as submitting an application with public background information about the business. Google appears to be following a similar pattern, allowing some leeway while still keeping strict rules in place.

Under the updated policy, advertisers must apply for certification to deliver cryptocurrency ads to US and Japan audiences. Although the policy applies to all advertisers globally, ads can only run in these two countries.

Cryptocurrency Confusion

Social media platforms appear to be uncertain of their stances on cryptocurrency ads. While digital currency has demonstrated potential for great financial flourishing, there are also a lot of unknowns. People who are not entirely familiar with how the system works are susceptible to frauds and scams, which could result in devastating repercussions. Companies like Google need to be extra careful when dealing with cryptocurrency ads because if it allows a scam company to run ads, audiences could leave for a different platform where they feel safer.

“We don’t have a crystal ball to know where the future is going to go with cryptocurrencies, but we’ve seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it’s an area that we want to approach with extreme caution,” Scott Spencer, Google’s director of sustainable ads, told CNBC.

The new policy should not affect Google’s recent ban of crypto-mining apps on the Google Play Store. The company announced the developer policy update over the summer. Crypto-mining is the practice of using enormous amounts of processing power to quickly obtain virtual currencies or “digital coins.”

While Google and Facebook appear to be making adjustments to their policies on cryptocurrency, Twitter so far seems set in its ways.

“We are committed to ensuring the safety of the Twitter community,” Twitter told The Verge back in March when it announced the ban.

Since there is no clear answer to the future of cryptocurrency, the best option seems to lie in compromise. Companies like Google want to provide positive experiences not just for users but also for advertisers. Legitimate cryptocurrency companies do exist, so it doesn’t seem fair to cut them off entirely. In fact, according to Forbes, 70 percent of institutional finance executives say cryptocurrency is here for the long haul.

Greenwich Associates conducted the survey of the institutional finance executives that discovered the findings. “We’ve had a terrible market for crypto this year, but people are still coming out with a lot of great innovation and a lot of great ideas,” Richard Johnson, a vice president in Greenwich Associates’ Market Structure and Technology group, told Forbes.

In other words, honest advertisers who want to promote cryptocurrency should have the opportunity to do so, and they shouldn’t be punished for the unethical and illegal behaviors of dishonest advertisers. Legitimate advertisers should take comfort in the fact that Google and Facebook are taking the necessary measures that will allow them to advertise on their platforms.

That being said, Google and Facebook should continue to proceed with caution. Facebook has already been in the hot seat one time too many for breaches to users’ online security. Recently, Facebook was hacked, forcing 90 million users to log back into their accounts. The dust hasn’t even quite settled yet from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, when users discovered their data were used to create manipulated messages during the 2016 US Presidential Election. It only makes sense that online security be a number one priority for all major platforms.

Luckily, Google has not been an accidental player in any massive data breaches like Facebook as of yet. As long as the company continues to be alert and proactive as it has been, both advertisers and users alike will be protected.

Written by Anna Hubbel, writer at AdvertiseMint, Facebook ads company

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