B2B Marketing News: Podcast Downloads Climb, Social & Display Ad Spend Rising, Snapchat’s Brand Profiles, & Google’s Latest Ad Tools

‘The downloads are back’: Podcasting finishes the first half of 2020 strong
Podcast downloads have come back to pre-pandemic numbers, increasing from 625 million in March to 825 million over the past two months, while podcast advertising is still expected to increase by 15 percent for the year, according to recently-released report data. DigiDay

LinkedIn Revenue Up 10%, Sessions Up 27%, in Latest Performance Update
Double-digit quarterly revenue growth of 10 percent over the previous quarter has been reported from LinkedIn (client), accompanied by user platform session growth of 27 percent, the Microsoft-owned firm recently announced. Social Media Today

Programmatic Advertising Trends: Top Tactics, Challenges, and Metrics
61 percent of marketers view return on investment (ROI) as their top programmatic advertising metric, while 46 percent said that their top challenge in executing programmatic strategy is audience targeting, according to newly-released survey data. MarketingProfs

Facebook, Google and Apple Announce New Emoji Updates for World Emoji Day
Marketers now have access to new emoji to tell brand stories, as Apple, Facebook and Google each announced a selection of new emoji options including a magic wand, teapot, drum, and piñata, the firms recently announced in conjunction with World Emoji Day. Social Media Today

ANA Finds Content Marketing Budgets Rose Sharply Prior To COVID-19
Content marketing advertising budgets were up some 73 percent on average over the past two years before the pandemic, with 63 percent of content marketing services being conducted internally — two of several findings of interest to digital marketers contained in a recently-released Association of National Advertisers (ANA) report. MediaPost

Google Adds New Ad Tools, Including Updated Visual Options and Prompts for Search Ads
New responsive search advertising personalization and curation features have been rolling out in Google’s latest update, along with enhanced branding tools including new layouts and updated dynamic ads, the search giant recently announced. Social Media Today

65% of Americans think brands should take a stand against racism, study says
Some 65 percent of U.S. adults believe that brands ought to take a stand against racism, while 56 percent of consumers said that they are the most willing to purchase from those brands that speak out in opposition to racism — two findings of interest to digital marketers in recently-released survey data. Marketing Dive

Marketers to focus ad spend on regional, digital media in 2020’s 2nd half
During the second half of 2020 some 75 percent of marketers plan to use paid social and display ads, while budgets are expected to drop by 12 percent during the third quarter and 7.5 percent in the fourth, according to recently-released study data. Marketing Dive

Snapchat Adds Brand Profiles as it Looks to Expand its Business Appeal
Snapchat has launched new features targeted at brands utilizing the platform, with a pilot program that gives brands a selection of new showcase options including story posts and highlighted Snaps collections, the firm recently announced. Social Media Today

Why Video is the King of Content for Marketers – 2020 Survey
76 percent of marketers have attributed positive return on investment (ROI) from using video, and some 86 percent expect to use more video content in future marketing campaigns — two of several findings of interest to digital marketers in newly-released survey data. Business 2 Community

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at “customer experience management” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

Former StarCraft 2 Pro Has Highest Microsoft Excel APM in Office — The Hard Times

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Dell Technologies — B2B Marketers Get Down To Business With Digital During COVID-19 — AdExchanger
• Joshua Nite — What’s Trending: Get Proactive With Planning — LinkedIn (client)
• SAP — Marketers on Fire: SAP Global CMO Alicia Tillman — Chief Marketer
• TopRank Marketing — 23 Best Influencer Marketing Agencies That Can Help You Grow — Martech Cube
• Lee Odden — IABC Monthly Meeting July 16, 2020 [VIDEO] — IABC Minnesota
• Lee Odden — 125+ Powerful Marketing Quotes To Inspire Your Strategy — Apolline Adiju
• Lee Odden — 28 Social Media Experts to Learn From (Listed by Platform and Skill) — Social Agency Scout
• Dell Boomi — How employee buy-in drove results for a B2B marketing campaign — AdAge

Have you come across your own top B2B content marketing or digital advertising stories from the past week of news? Please let us know in the comments below.

Thank you for taking the time to join us, and we hope that you’ll return back next Friday for another collection of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news. Also, don’t miss the full video summary on our TopRank Marketing TV YouTube Channel.

The post B2B Marketing News: Podcast Downloads Climb, Social & Display Ad Spend Rising, Snapchat’s Brand Profiles, & Google’s Latest Ad Tools appeared first on Online Marketing Blog – TopRank®.