Krista Neher

Jan 03 2019

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Facebook News Updates

• Facebook Relaunches Search Ads – As competition between Facebook and Google heats up, Facebook relaunches search ads in Marketplace and search results. Facebook had tried sponsored results back in 2012 but shut it down in 2013. With marketplace and more social commerce, they are hoping that the limited ads will bring results for targeted businesses.
• Facebook Creative Inspiration – Facebook launched a new business resource where businesses can get inspired by viewing top performing creative across formats.
• Facebook Collection Sharing – You can now use Facebook in a Pinterest like way – to collect posts or ads and share them with your friends. This could be a big move to driving more commerce via Facebook and is also a helpful way for people to collect things they are interested in and share them with others.
• Group Stories Expands Globally – Group stories are now available around the globe. I added a story to the Digital Marketing Insiders Facebook group that you can check out (and add to!!!!) – play and have fun with them 😉 If you moderate a group you can manage settings and moderate stories as well.
• Better Business Manager Settings – Business manager now has more controls in the user settings so you can be even more specific about who can do what.

Instagram News Updates

• 25% have Instagrammed a Billboard – Integrated advertising means considering the digital/social reach your ads can generate. A study showed that 1 in 4 Americans had Instagrammed an outdoor ad – this can be a powerful strategy to extend the life of your traditional marketing.
• 70% of Marketers use Instagram (vs. 28% for Snapchat) – Instagram ads are continuing to grow, while Snapchat continues to struggle to attract ad dollars. Many studies show strong audience overlap between the two platforms, however since Instagram ads run via Facebook they are easier for most businesses.
• Instagram Launches Countdown Sticker – The new sticker for stories allows you to do a countdown until an event and gives users reminders. This can be a fun and engaging way to interact with your fans!
• Instagram Launches Walkie Talkie Voice Messaging – In the spirit of quick non-text communications, Instagram has launched a new way to share audio messages through private messaging.
• Share with Close Friends on Instagram Stories – To provide more privacy Instagram now lets users share stories only with those designated as close friends.

Twitter News

• Over 70% of Millenials have Commented on Twitter about Customer Service – While Twitter isn’t getting a lot of attention from marketers these days, a new study shows the importance for brands to connect with their younger consumers in the platform.

YouTube News Updates

• YouTube Expands Stories to Creators – Now accounts with over 10K followers can create Stories-like content on YouTube. Some users are skeptical about the format on YouTube as Stories delete after 7 days and comments can only be answered with videos/images – time will tell if this really takes off.
• YouTube Rolls out Autoplay (but silent) Homepage Videos – If you want to take advantage of this you’ll need to be sure that your videos capture attention – even without sound on YouTube.
• New Ad Experiences – YouTube is looking at trends and changing up their ads – now they have stacked ads (2 ads together) to reduce the number of ad breaks, there are more discovery ads as a result of self-directed discovery and as people watch YouTube from connected TVs they are launching TV ads.

Search News Updates

• Google Updates Lens Focusing on Visual Search – Recent improvements to Lens show the importance of visual search and images as an important tool in the process. The new Lens can better read text and automatically add business card contacts to your phone or recipe items to your list. It can also find items and provide shopping items, making it even more useful.
• Hulu introduces programmatic marketplace – The Marketplace is only available by invitation to advertisers, but allows for more automation and efficiency in buying their tv-like ad placements.
• Google introduces wordpress plugin – The new Plugin combines, analytics, search console, Adsense and Page Speed insights all-in-one and all in wordpress. This can make it easier to understand how your site is performing right in wordpress and all in one place.
• Google Shuts Down Google+ 4 Months Early – After a SECOND privacy issue, Google will shutdown Google+ early – it should be shut down in April.
• Google Offers Rich Results for Q&A – If you have Q&A on your site be sure that it is setup correctly for Google to read the questions and answers to take advantage of the new enhanced result.

Industry News and Research

• ROI top concern for marketers – A new study shows that delivering ROI is a top concern for marketers – this isn’t surprising as many businesses want to confirm that they are getting impact from their ad dollars.
• Social Media Outpaces Print for News in the US – More people go to social media to find news vs. newspapers, underscoring the shift in news consumption.

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