A Smorgasbord of AdWords & Twitter Features

In admiration of International Talk Like a Pirate Day we’re giving you a smorgasbord of updates. Why? Because pirates love smorgasbords. Arg!

Google AdWords Removes Custom Shape Tool

We’ve been hearing about it for months now, but the custom shape tool is now gone from the targeting options in Google AdWords. However, the designated market areas (DMA) may actually help you define your target areas more easily. When I found out on Friday that I needed to remove the custom shaping or risk having clients’ campaigns paused, I was in panic mode. Shiver me timbers! However, after comparing the DMA’s to the custom shape, they matched up almost exactly. Plus, choosing the DMA is as easy as manning the crow’s nest. So, if you fell asleep on this one, take a look at the DMAs to see if they match close enough.

Weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen! We’re on to our next topic.

Google AdWords is Sharin’ the Budgetary Love

For me, budgets are like swabbing the deck. They need constant monitoring and cleaning to prevent mishaps. Take a little from this campaign and give to this one…..and do it again in two weeks. Well, in order to make budget sharing easier, Google now offers Shared Budgets– a new feature that lets advertisers allocate a single daily budget across multiple campaigns. According to Google this will make it easier to match your AdWords spending with how your business allocates its marketing budget.

To create a shared budget, click on the Shared Library link to the left of the user interface (under your campaign list). Give your budget a name and select the campaigns you want to share the budget across. You can choose standard or accelerated delivery, just like under your regular campaign settings.

While I’m very excited to test the shared budgets feature, I’m a bit skeptical. As with ad groups that can cannibalize a campaign budget, the same could be said for a campaign that cannibalizes the shared budget. I’ll let you know if we need to batten down the hatches on this one.

Now, for a joke:
Knock knock.
-Who’s there?
Interrupting pirate.
-Interrup–
ARRRRRRR!

Yo Ho Ho! Twitter’s Got a Brand New Look!

Ahoy, Twitter users and advertisers! If you’re currently an active Twitter user, you may have noticed some recent changes. For companies and businesses using Twitter Advertising, the new features are yet another way to promote your brand(s) and engage followers.

Here are the highlights of the new Twitter features (some advertiser-specific, some for all users):

1. The profile header photo. This is similar to the cover photo on Facebook and Google+ and can be viewed not only on computers, but on iPad, iPhone and Android devices as well. You can upload your own custom image that complements your background and profile images.Like most header or cover photos, the image should be relatively high quality, with minimum dimensions set at 1252px x 626px. To add your own, simply upload your selected image in the Design section of your account settings.According to the Twitter Advertising blog, the new header image will replace the banner on enhanced profile pages (EPPs).
2. Pinned Tweets. Advertisers can pin important Tweets to the top of their profiles. If more than one Tweet is pinned, Twitter automatically selects the one that is most popular.
3. The background image. Not technically a new feature, but it’s been changed slightly. Twitter users and marketers now also have the ability change the alignment of the background image (left, right or center), which provides a bit more flexibility when designing a creative, fun Twitter profile.
4. Finally, Twitter also moved users’ photos and personal bios to more prominent positions on profile pages, giving them more visual appeal.

So will you be taking the opportunity to design a more unique, creative Twitter profile or have you already? If you’ve created a masterpiece, feel free to share it with us!

A final word to the wise–if you haven’t added your own header image by November, you’ll automatically get upgraded to the gray default image of doom. So get your profile shipshape before then. Savvy?