Krista Neher

Aug 04 2017

August 2017 Digital Marketing News Updates

Boot Camp Digital’s August 2017 Digital Marketing Updates include the latest and greatest from Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, SnapChat, Google, and more. Don’t miss the section on innovation if you want to be on the cutting edge of what’s coming!

Facebook News

• Facebook is HUGE – Check out the Q2 results from Facebook with key stats on number of users and growth.
• Facebook launches new ad features for holiday shopping – Sure it is only summer but apparently it isn’t too early to be thinking about holiday shopping. Facebook rolled out a number of features to make digital holiday shopping easier with features that drive discovery. This includes adding videos and images to dynamic ads as well as household level targeting.
• Faccebook announces household level targeting – You can now target an entire house – which is great for gift-giving. Take your targeting beyond the purchaser and target the entire family.
• Facebook launches Spaces – Spaces is a new way to share VR with friends. It shows that Facebook remains committed to innovation in VR.
• Facebook Messenger ads are global – Now businesses can all send ads via Messenger. This can be an exciting new way to get in front of your target audience, although it will be interesting to see consumer feedback on these ads as some may find them intrusive.
• Facebook allows brands to create their own groups – Groups get much more visibility on Facebook compared to Pages and are a great way to build community and move away from one-way communications. Now brands can create groups to grow their audience on Facebook.
• Guide to using Facebook Groups for businesses – Businesses can now use Facebook groups – YAY!!! Check out this great guide for all the details on how it works and how you can take advantage of them. Groups are a great way to grow relevancy and visibility on Facebook.

LinkedIn News

• LinkedIn announces website demographics – Increasing its relevance with better data, LinkedIn will allow businesses to see the professional profiles of the people visiting their website. This can be extremely valuable for B2B marketers who want to know if their content strategy is working.
• LinkedIn allows multiple photos in status updates – We know that visuals work – especially images. LinkedIn now allows multiple images to be uploaded in a status update. This could be a great way to increase the engagement with your LinkedIn posts.
• LinkedIn allows native upload autoplay videos – Video is hot and LinkedIn is finally getting onboard. You can now upload videos directly to LinkedIn that will autoplay in the newsfeed. This is a great way to engage your audience more deeply.
• LinkedIn adds new notifications – To make LinkedIn more relevant they are trying to give you more relevant notifications. Check out the new Daily News Rundown and Search Data notifications. The goal of these notifications is probably to make LinkedIn more relevant and increase how many visits people make to the site.
• LinkedIn campaign manager gets a new look – If you run LinkedIn ads you can now get a better view of how your ads are performing.
• LinkedIn launches Windows app – LinkedIn is looking to integrate deeper into your life with their new app that integrates directly into Windows 10.

Instagram News

• Instagram allows photo and video replies to stories – Making stories even more fun and interactive. This shows Instagram wants to go head to head with Snapchat by continuing their emphasis on stories.
• Instagram expands API to include analytics – Instagram expanded their API to include analytics – you still can’t post to Instagram from a third party but you can now get better analytics.
• Facebook ads Instagram retargeting – Facebook is better connecting data between Facebook and Instagram to make their advertising even more relevant to businesses. Businesses can now retarget Instagram users with their Facebook ads.

YouTube News

• YouTube makes it easier to blog links and hashtags from comments – If spammy YouTube comments annoy you it is now easier to manage these comments. You can now more easily block these from comments on your video.

SnapChat News

• Snap launches Snap Inc – This takes Snapchat ads to a new level and allows brands with more flexibility and features in creating their Snapchat ads. Similar to other social networks, Snapchat can now be a major player in the advertising game.

Search News

• Google Image Search adds badges – Now image badges will show up in search results for images. These badges make it easy for viewers to understand the category of an image they are viewing (recipe, etc.) and can probably result in increased website traffic.
• Google Enables Autoplay Video in search results – NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! Google is now testing auto-playing videos directly in search results. This shows the importance of video as a part of your strategy.

Innovation News

• Ask questions and get answers in Google Analytics – New natural voice recognition allows users to ask questions and get answers from GA. Gone are the days of mining data – simply ask the questions on your mind and get an answer.
• Adobe announces the end of flash – YAY!!! Flash will officially be dead in 2020 (although most people have already stopped using it). With HTML5 Flash quickly became irrelevant and Adobe will stop supporting it in 2020.
• 42% of Americans call their Smart Speaker “essential” – This underscores the future of voice search and the future importance of devices like Alexa and Google Home.
• Amazon launches SPARK – Amazon launched their own “social network” Spark – which allows influencers to curate and recommend products. This creates a shoppable feed that Amazon hopes will convert to sales.
• Google News Machine Learning – Google tries to become even more relevant with machine learning for Google News. They will use algorithms to anticipate your interests and show you the most relevant content.
• Google Introduces HIRE the new recruiting app – Google spreads its reach even further with Hire – focusing on job searches and going head to head with LinkedIn.

If you’re interested in being among the first to receive this information each month, sign up for Boot Camp Digital’s All Access Pass where you’ll get access to an entire library of training videos, the opportunity to watch our LiveCast webinar live each month, PLUS the ability to have YOUR questions answered by Boot Camp Digital’s CEO, Krista Neher! Learn more here!

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