Allison Chaney
Nov 06 2019
Members of our All Access Pass get the first look at the latest digital marketing news updates each month during a live webinar during which they can ask questions! Start your 14-day trial of our All Access Pass to get these updates, member-only Q&A sessions, and so much more!
Facebook News Updates
- Mark Zuckerberg Stands for Voice and Free Expression. You may have heard news this month about how Twitter has banned political ads while Facebook has decided not to. In a speech recently at Georgetown University, Zuckerberg commented: “I don’t think it’s right for a private company to censor politicians or the news in a democracy.” He also said, “As a principle, in a democracy, I believe people should decide what is credible, not tech companies.” The full speech can be found at this link, but the overall theme of it focuses on Facebook’s core belief that “giving everyone a voice empowers the powerless and pushes society to be better over time”.
- Facebook’s Plan to Help Protect the 2020 US Elections. Facebook recognizes their responsibility to stop abuse of the platform and election interference. In this month’s news, they announce new measures to help protect the democratic process, including: fighting foreign interference, increasing transparency, and reducing misinformation.
- New! Facebook News. Facebook is testing a new dedicated place for news on Facebook. Key features will be curated news chosen by a team of journalists, personalized news feeds based on user behavior and interests, topic sections, a section for your paid subscriptions, and control to hide the information you don’t want to see.
- Facebook Fights Domain Name Fraud. Facebook has filed suit against certain domain name registrars for registering domain names that appear to be affiliated with Facebook, such as facebook-mail.com. The use of Facebook in domain names can be misleading and Facebook’s suit aims to protect people from being deceived.
- Facebook Adds Messenger Options for Businesses. 60% of people in a recent survey said they wished they could message more businesses. So, Facebook has made some updates to make it easier for brands to communicate with their users. These features are: icebreakers for commonly asked questions, a click to Messenger feature, and more reply options for users.
Instagram News Updates
- New! Threads from Instagram, a messaging app that helps you stay connected to your close friends in a private message. Last year, Instagram introduced the Close Friends feature which allowed you to share moments with a select group of people. Threads can be used to message that group. Threads also has an auto-status feature that allows you to automatically share your status based on where you are. But don’t worry, exact details of your location are not shared and this data is currently not being used to deliver ad content to you.
- Instagram is Testing New Following List. We may soon see the ability to organize our Instagram content by creating categories for the accounts you follow. This could also allow us to see who we interact with the least, to aid in cleaning up our feed.
YouTube News Updates
- Super Stickers add fun and more interaction to YouTube Live Streams. Only available to certain users, but look for this feature to roll out in your account if you don’t have it yet. Users can buy and send a Super Chat, which highlights your message within a live chat feed. Super Stickers add an animated message that pops up during a live chat feed. An interesting use for this feature is by non-profits where users are encouraged to engage and gain visibility with Super Chat, and then donate the funds. If you are a non-profit, you should look into how non-profits can leverage Live Chat here.
- Are you confused by the rules on YouTube? If you’ve ever had a video removed by YouTube, or you are setting yourself up for long term success by aligning to the rules, then this series of videos is for you! YouTube’s Rules of the Road video series is a quick refresher on the guidelines you need to know to build and grow your channel.
- YouTube Studio is replacing Creator Studio and with that comes many changes and new features. You might have seen some of these features rolling out, including the video editing tool. With the changes, you might notice some new features so learn the latest features and how to navigate YouTube Studio here. Some of the new features rolling out include the ability to link to certain merchandise or crowdfunding sites from your video, and one place to manage all of your live streams.
Twitter News Updates
- Twitter to Ban All Political Ads. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stated: “While internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics, where it can be used to influence votes to affect the lives of millions.” This is a stark contrast to Facebook’s position on the matter, explaining that this is a matter of principle. It seems that Twitter is in support of new federal rules that hold digital ads to the same or similar standards as traditional.
LinkedIn News Updates
- New Events Feature on LinkedIn. Now you can create and promote events to your professional network on LinkedIn with this new feature. Just go to the left side of your newsfeed or click your profile image in the app, and you’ll see the option to add an event. If Facebook events felt too informal for your audience, this could be a great option for your organization!
- Notify Employees of LinkedIn Company Page Updates. When posting an update to your company page, you will see the option to “Notify employees of post” under the 3 dots in the top right corner. Admins can only notify employees once every 7 days, so this helps to protect against spam.
- New Company Page Completion Meter Lets Admins Know What’s Missing. LinkedIn says that completed company pages get 30% more page views per week than incomplete pages. The new page completion meter will tell admins what is missing from their page.
Search News Updates
- How Google’s BERT Algorithm Affects Your SEO. Google calls it “one of the biggest leaps forward in the history of Search.” It is used to help Google better understand the context of the keywords we search for, in order to produce more relevant results. If you’re wondering how to optimize for this big algorithm change, you’ll be happy to hear that there’s nothing to optimzie for with BERT! Google’s Danny Sullivan stated: “The fundamentals of us seeking to reward great content remain unchanged.” So, keep creating great, clear content for your users, and Google will continue to improve how they satisfy the user’s search intent with relevant results.
- Google Search Console Has New Video Reports. The new reports can help you understand how well your videos are performing in Google Search and fix any issues that may be affecting the visibility of your videos in search results.
- Change of Address Tool is Back in GSC. This tool was available in the old console, and finally has migrated to the new dashboard. If you change your domain name (web address) for your site, then you’ll want to use this tool to notify Google of the change. Google even provides useful reminders such as setting up 301 redirects to point the old site to the new site.
- New Ad Extension Could Generate More Leads. Google is testing a new lead extension that reminds us of lead ads in Facebook. The extension would add a clickable extension to an ad that pops open a lead form. It even delivers the data to your CRM! If your objective is to drive leads from your ads, check out this new extension.
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