Krista Neher

Feb 13 2019

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Facebook News Updates

• Facebook Q4 Results Release – Facebook released their Q4 results and shows over 2.3 billion monthly active users on Facebook alone. Aggregated users are closer to 2.7 billion across Facebook platforms. Ad revenue per user was also up significantly, which may suggest more competitive pricing in the Facebook Auction marketplace.
• Facebook Merges What’s App, Messenger and Instagram – The important news here is that this isn’t expected until 2020 and there will continue to be stand alone apps. This shows the importance of messenger and the merging may make the platforms an even more essential communication tool – rivaling email.
• Facebook Launches Privacy Checkups for Users – Facebook launched privacy checkups for users where they can review their privacy settings. As Facebook has been embroiled with privacy scandals, this is a nice effort to give people more control and awareness.
• Facebook Announces Content Oversight Board – As Facebook has been hit with questions about their content policies with Fake news, questionable content, hate speech and more they are planning to create an independent board to advise on their content approach and policies.
• Facebook Launches Page Quality Tab and Cracks Down on Questionable Content – Facebook has a Page Quality tab that will show the quality of the content of the page – specifically targeting areas like Fake News, Bullying, Hate Speech, etc. They have also updated a policy that when they remove one Page/Group for offensive content, they make remove ALL of the pages/groups associated with the account. Don’t do sketchy stuff!
• Facebook Brand Safety Tools for Mid-Stream Videos – As Facebook looks to roll out more mid-roll videos advertisers are requesting more control. Brands can currently block content/pages that they don’t want their ads around, but this must be done individually and they are limited in how many things they can block. Facebook is incorporating blocking into their API which may make it easier for advertisers.
• Check out the BuzzSumo Guide to Facebook Engagement – This research shows the content that gets the most engagements on Facebook.
• Facebook Adds New CTA for Page Stories – If you aren’t playing with stories yet you should be – BONUS Facebook launched new stickers like Shop Now with compelling CTAs for businesses.
• Facebook Will Change Campaign Budgets to Autooptimize – This is a BIG change that will take effect September 2019. The idea is that Facebook will autooptimize between adsets in a campaign. While this gives marketers less control it should result in a lower cost. This is another example of AI out-optimizing humans.

Instagram News Updates

• Instagram Reach Not Impacted – A “Fake News” tweet claimed that Instagram adjusted their algorithm to limit posts from pages to 7%. They didn’t.
• Instagram Allows Users to Share to Multiple Accounts – Rolling out soon to iOS Instagram will allow users to share the same post to multiple accounts. This will likely have negative implications for the quality of content, but make it easier for those managing multiple accounts.
• Instagram Allows Video to Publish Via Third Party Apps – This means Buffer and Hootsuite will now be able to allow users to post video to Instagram. The key to success for marketers will be to make sure that the videos have the right dimensions so they aren’t awkwardly cropped.
• Instagram Stories are Viewed by 500 Million People a Day – Start experimenting NOW if you aren’t yet!!!

Twitter News Updates

• Twitter Creates Standalone Beta App – Twitter will invite a handful of users to test new features in their Beta app. This is interesting and a totally different approach vs. what is used by Facebook and other networks. This could lead to a lot of speculation about developments before they happen.
• Twitter New Interface – Twitter has a new interface for desktop making it easier to see conversations and incorporate emojis into Tweets. While most power-users use mobile and third-party tools, the new features are designed to encourage conversation.
• Check out the Twitter Marketing Calendar – This is REALLY COOL – it is a calendar telling you what day it is (for example talk like a pirate day). If you want to incorporate pop culture or trending content in your strategy this is a great resource.

Snapchat News

• Snapchat Considers Permanent Posts – In a surprise move, Snapchat said they are considering allowing users to create posts that don’t disappear. This is only in the idea stage, so don’t worry about it yet, but it could make Snapchat more worthwhile for marketers who want to create lasting content.

LinkedIn News Updates

• LinkedIn Launches Pages Best Practices – This quick guide walks you through all the best practices for your LinkedIn Page.
• LinkedIn Launches Interest Based Targeting – While the LinkedIn ad platform lags other big social media players, their newest update can generate some interest – with interest based targeting. You can now target users based on their interest in addition to the other role-based targeting that already exists.
• Business Plan to Increase Spending on LinkedIn Ads – Spending on LinkedIn is relatively low – because of the high cost and less developed ad platform. That being said, as LinkedIn continues to launch new features, businesses are planning to shift their budgets.

YouTube News Updates

• YouTube Upgrades Voice Search on Android – This is interesting because we all know that voice is the future. Google has added more commands to their voice interface making it more powerful.

Search News Updates

• New Features for Service Area Businesses – If you have a business that services an area but you don’t have a physical address (like a food truck, landscaping business, etc) you can now create a Google My Business service listing to show the areas you service without a fixed address. This isn’t intended for B2B or businesses with offices.

Measurement News Updates

• Comscore and Neilson big Contenders for Cross Channel – If you want to manage cross-channel it isn’t easy and there are many measurement companies, methods and tools, but Comscore and Neilson are emerging as the big players.
• 4 Ways Google Uses Data and Automation – This is an interesting quick read about the 4 steps Google uses data and automation 1) Find the data that predicts results, 2) Optimize those data points, 3) Build templates that scale, 4) Use time to go beyond ads.

Industry News and Research

• How the Apps we Use Make us Feel – New research shows how different social networks make us feel – and it isn’t all positive.
• Site Speeds are Too Slow but Marketers Don’t Want to Fix Them – Site speeds are way too slow relative to the Google recommended 3 second load time. Still, site speed is at the bottom of marketers priority lists. The implications of a slow site are HUGE, so hopefully this will start to get the attention it deserves.
• Google Page Speed Insights can Change with No Change to the Site – As Google changes their calculations and the industry changes your speed score can change – even if you didn’t update your site.
• Legal Tips for Managing Influencers – Check out these legal tips for managing relationships with influencers.
• Buffer State of Social Report – Full of Goodies and Graphs about the state of social media.
• CPC and CMP Benchmarks for Digital Advertising – Checkout this report with benchmarks and averages for digital advertising costs by channel.

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