Daily Minute Master Series – October 16, 2020

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Social Media

Facebook Releases New Insights on Groups Usage During COVID-19

Amid the COVID-19 lockdowns, people have been turning to social media to stay connected, and online groups, in particular, have seen significant increases in engagement as users look to maintain social activity while physically unable to get together. That’s lead to increased reliance on these digital communities and tools, which may set in place new trends and habits that will carry-on, even after the lockdowns are lifted. Which is important to understand, both for marketers and community managers, as it could dictate how to reach people, how to connect, and what people expect from online groups.

For the full article click here 

YouTube Toughens its Rules Around Dangerous Conspiracy Theories, with a Focus on QAnon Content

YouTube has announced a new update to its rules around hate speech, with a focus on reducing the distribution of conspiracy theories like QAnon, that have eventually branched into real-world violence.

For the full article click here 

Snapchat Adds ‘Sounds’ Option to Include Song Clips within Snaps

Snapchat has today announced a full launch of its new ‘Sounds’ functionality, which enables users to add song clips into their Snaps.

For the full article click here 

Marketing

3 Latest Google Patents of Interest

Welcome back to another week where we look at some of the more interesting search-related patents awarded to Google. If you didn’t catch last week’s post, we rounded up all of the patents of interest for the first half of 2020. In our weekly entries, we don’t go into a deep-dive of the patents, more of an overview so that you can decide if you want to dig deeper. Getting into Google patents is a great way to get a sense of how Google might be doing things out in the wild. That can help you better strategize your SEO efforts and just make you a better practitioner in general. Let’s get into some of the goodies from this week.

For the full article click here

How Marketers Should Plan for Implementing Automation

Google announced profound changes that will impact what sites Google ranks in the search results. Some changes impact 10% of searches, some impact 7%. The change to how BERT is used impacts nearly 100% of searches whereas last year it only impacted 10%. Some of the updates are coming by the end of the year. Others are already live in the search results.

For the full article click here

How Marketers Can Get the Highest ROI Out of Podcasts

The status of marketing automation in martech stacks varies depending on the business. Some marketers are going into their second decade of automation, but may be considering moving to a different solution, while others involved in digital transformation to get started now. Regardless, of the level of expertise with automation, some universal best practices have to be implemented.

For the full article click here

Daily Minute Master Series – October 15, 2020

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Social Media

TikTok Announces New Partnership with OpenSlate to Ensure Brand Safety in Ad Placement

TikTok has announced a new partnership with brand safety platform OpenSlate to ensure ads and branded content are not displayed alongside questionable material on the platform.

For the full article click here 

Twitter Updates Privacy and Safety Settings to Help Users Better Understand Their Options

Twitter has announced a new update to its Privacy and Safety settings, and new video overviews of the various options available, in order to help users better understand the information that they share, and how they can limit such to protect their account, and control their on-platform experience.

For the full article click here 

Snapchat Announces AR Support for Apple’s New LiDAR Capability for iPhone 12

The next stage of AR is coming, and Snapchat looks to remain at the forefront of the tech. This week, Apple announced the launch of its new iPhone 12, which, among other advances, includes a new LiDAR scanner, which will improve digital mapping of real-world scenes. LiDAR, which stands for ‘light detection and ranging’, measures how long it takes for light to reach an object and reflect back. In practical terms, this enables greater depth-mapping by establishing a better understanding of objects within a frame, and will facilitate the creation of AR tools that can better interact and respond to real-world cues and objects.

For the full article click here 

Marketing

Google Analytics Gets 4 Powerful New Features

Google Analytics is receiving a significant update with 4 new features designed to improve marketing decisions and get better ROI. The 4 key features available in the “new” Google Analytics are:

  • Smarter insights that use machine learning to identify trends.
  • Deeper integration with Google Ads.
  • Customer-centric data measurement.
  • More granular data controls.

For the full article click here

8 Major Google Algorithm Updates, Explained

Google claims to update its search algorithm several thousand times per year. In the absolute majority of cases, Google algorithm updates are too small to notice. But, every once in a while, Google introduces a change so fundamental, that it disrupts the way we do SEO forever. In this post, we will be counting down eight of the most critical search algorithm changes. We will look into why these updates were introduced, how they work and what adjustments we had to make to our SEO strategies in response.

For the full article click here

How Marketers Can Get the Highest ROI Out of Podcasts

The new at-home lifestyle brought about by the onset of COVID has driven a significant increase in the numbers of listeners and the numbers of programs in the podcasting and audio-streaming space, and where the channel was a secondary or tertiary option for most marketers, having a podcast strategy is now part of many marketing plans for 2021.

For the full article click here

Daily Minute Master Series – October 14, 2020

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Social Media

Snapchat Shares New Research into Evolving Approaches to Education

Snapchat has published some new insights into how students feel about education, in light of COVID-19, and the impact that the pandemic has had on the school year. And while it’s impossible to estimate the full ramifications of the lockdowns and associated changes, the data does shine a light on some relevant trends relating to education and schooling.

For the full article click here 

Facebook Announces Ban on Anti-Vax Ads, Launches New Push to Promote Vaccine Use

It certainly seems like a week of re-consideration at Facebook. Following yesterday’s announcement of a ban on Holocaust denial content, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg had infamously said he would allow back in 2018, on the grounds of free speech, today, Facebook has announced a new policy which will prohibit ads that discourage people from getting vaccines.

For the full article click here 

Facebook Announces New Messenger Branding, Adds New Messaging Features

Facebook has announced a new look for Messenger, though most of the new features which are highlighted in the accompanying announcement had already been revealed previously as part of the integration of Instagram Direct and Messenger connection.

For the full article click here 

Marketing

4 Ways to Brainstorm Content Ideas From Old Posts

Your old content is a treasure trove of new ideas. But only a fraction of marketers take advantage of them. With every new piece of content you create, not only can you republish and repurpose it, you can mine it for additional ideas outside of the main topic to create sequels, spinoffs, and other related content.

For the full article click here

The Top 4 Enterprise SEO Platform Tools: An In-Depth Review

With millions of pages and keywords to manage and report on, enterprise SEO is increasingly more complicated and time-consuming. Using an enterprise SEO platform tool can increase efficiency and productivity for organic search marketing teams in a large organization that are managing organic search initiatives.

For the full article click here

How to Make Your Data Sing

It is amazing; the horrible job many digital marketers do when reporting their work to clients. This includes both internal and external clients. Just think about how many marketing presentations and reports you’ve seen that simply contain screenshots from Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Adwords, Google Console, or reports from a backend ecommerce system. This isn’t the way to influence people with your data.

For the full article click here

Daily Minute Master Series – October 13, 2020

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Social Media

Social Shorts: Facebook Attribution Change on Hold, Instagram Gets More Shoppable, Turns 10

In response to advertiser feedback, Facebook will not move forward with a test to remove the default 28-day attribution window for advertisers. Gil David of Run DMG shared the news on LinkedIn, commenting “Facebook demonstrates that they do actually listen to advertisers.” He cited the company’s decision not to mandate campaign budget optimization (CBO) as a previous example.

For the full article click here 

Facebook Provides Tips on Maximizing Closed Captions in Video Content

Over the past couple of months, Facebook has been publishing a series of weekly video interviews with internal experts on various aspects of its video tools, covering Creator Studio, Live Producer, broadcasting tools and more. The videos touch on all the key elements of each function, while they also provide some valuable pointers as to how to make the most of Facebook’s video tools, including what they were designed for and how they work. This week’s interview looks at closed captions, and how to ensure the best, most accurate captions for your video content.

For the full article click here 

Facebook Announces Full Ban on Holocaust Denial Content

Back in 2018, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sparked both concern and controversy when he noted in an interview that Facebook would not ban Holocaust deniers from the platform.

For the full article click here 

Marketing

Google Assistant Can Search Within Apps on Android

Google Assistant on Android is receiving an update which allows it to open and search within Android apps using voice commands. This is a significant change to how Google Assistant can be used going forward. Previously, Google Assistant could only interact with other Google apps, as well as the Android operating system itself. Assistant could be used to open third-party apps, but that was the extent of its capabilities. Now, Google Assistant can be used to search within any app installed on an Android phone.

For the full article click here

When to Use Nofollow on Links & When Not To

Nofollow was introduced back in 2005 and came about as a reaction to blog spam comments. Believe it or not, SEO professionals used to try and manipulate Google’s PageRank on their sites just as they try to manipulate… well, everything. Nofollow basically tells Google (or any other search engine that supports this attribute) to not vouch for the target link. Whereas it was previously used in the page-level meta tag (<meta name=”robots” content=”nofollow” />), it’s much more common to see it used on a per-link basis now.

For the full article click here

Twilio’s Acquisition of Segment Will Support Collection of Digital Data

In news which broke on Friday and is now confirmed, communication APIs vendor Twilio has entered into an agreement to acquire Segment for $3.2 billion in an all stock deal. Segment is a customer data infrastructure vendor, although it does describe itself as a CDP. Twilio is a cloud-based provider of developer tools which allow phone and messaging channels to be embedded in apps. Uber and Lyft, for example, have both used Twilio to build communications channels within their apps. Last year, Twilio completed the acquisition of SendGrid, which provided similar technology for emails.

For the full article click here

Daily Minute Master Series – October 9, 2020

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Social Media

Which Social Media Platforms Should Your Business Use in 2021? [Infographic]

Are you considering your social media plan of attack for 2021? Want to know the social networks you should spend your time and money on?

For the full article click here 

Facebook Provides Update on Actions Taken Against Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior

With the US Presidential Election now only 26 days away, Facebook’s efforts to remove instances of ‘coordinated inauthentic behavior’, and avoid a similar situation to 2016, are more pressing than ever. This week, Facebook has provided an update on its account removals as a result of its detection processes, which, late last month, saw the removal of three Russian-based networks, which were linked to Russia’s Internet Research Agency (IRA), the group responsible for seeking to manipulate US voters ahead of the 2016 poll.

For the full article click here 

Facebook Launches ‘Season of Support’ to Assist SMBs, Including New #BuyBlackFriday Push

Facebook has announced a new ‘Season of Support’ initiative to provide a boost SMBs in the last quarter of the year, which will include free resources, education and training to help small businesses make the most of the holiday season. The new initiative will also include a specific focus on black-owned businesses, with a new #BuyBlackFriday push in the US, focused on promoting black owned brands during the traditional Black Friday retail event.

For the full article click here 

Marketing

5 Fundamental Shifts That Are Shaping Search & Digital Marketing

The last six months have seen a climatic mix of chaos, uncertainty, empathy, challenge, and opportunity. All over the world, companies have had to adjust operations. They rapidly scale up or down, and rethink their entire business model as conditions continue to change. At the same time, the transformation to digital accelerated, with the demand for SEO at its core.

For the full article click here

Google Ads Intros Automated Insights, Performance Max Campaigns, to Release Video Action Out of Beta

Google introduced more automation features and campaign types as part of Advertising Week Tuesday. The announcements speak to what has been a years-long effort to use machine learning to serve campaigns across Google’s properties as well as to the moves it’s made in response to the pandemic. “We’ve now had a chance to take a step back and figure out what some of the long-term trends are, and we either create a new effort or accelerate existing efforts in order to try to play into those trends,” Jerry Dischler, vice president and GM of Ads at Google, said in an interview Friday.

For the full article click here

Google Shares Insights into Key Halloween Costume Trends

Google has published the latest edition of its annual ‘Frightgeist’ Halloween trends, which provide insight into the most popular costumes, based on Google search activity, for the event.

For the full article click here

Daily Minute Master Series – October 8, 2020

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Social Media

Facebook Strengthens its Stance Against QAnon, Banning All Pages, Groups and Accounts Linked to the Movement

In a move that many consider long overdue, on Tuesday, Facebook announced a full ban on QAnon, classifying the conspiracy theory group as a ‘militarized social movement’, which is capable of causing serious, real-world harm if left unaddressed.

For the full article click here 

Facebook Announces Election Notification Updates, Reiterates Efforts to Protect Poll Integrity

With the US Presidential Election only 27 days away, Facebook has provided what looks to be its final update on its election preparedness tools, including new prompts on the ballot counting process and the activation of its Elections Operations Center.

For the full article click here 

New Report Finds Snapchat, TikTok Outpace Instagram in Teen Popularity

While the ship seems to have sailed on Facebook being the top social platform among younger audiences, Facebook, of course, still has Instagram to maintain connection with the youth. Or ‘had’ – according to a new survey conducted by research firm Piper Sandler, Instagram, too, now seems to be losing ground, with Snapchat and TikTok seeing higher preference among teen users.

For the full article click here 

Marketing

A Rundown of Google Patents from the First Half of 2020

Learn the latest info on Google patents. Here’s a compilation of all the Google Search Patents of interest for the first six months of 2020.

For the full article click here

Microsoft’s Digital Marketing Center for Search and Social Management Adds Features, Opens Beta

The Microsoft Digital Marketing Center (DCM) is now available in open beta in the U.S. The company had been piloting the free platform designed for SMBs to manage automated search and social campaigns across Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram since June. With the move to beta, Microsoft has added several new features.

For the full article click here

A Few Interesting Brand Moves

In early March Beandchannel began reporting daily on how brands were dealing with Covid-19. But it’s become clear that the current climate is one of near-perpetual disruption, so they decided to keep on telling the stories of inspiring brand leadership and strategy amid the latest crises in an anxious world.

For the full article click here

Daily Minute Master Series – October 7, 2020

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Social Media

Twitter Tests New ‘Suggested Follows’ Listings on Android

Honestly, Twitter’s efforts on content discovery are difficult to understand at times. Back in 2015, then Twitter CFO Anthony Noto told investors in an earnings call that the platform had been struggling to grow because it lacked the mass market appeal that other platforms enjoyed. “Simply said, the product remains too difficult to use.” That became a key area of focus for Twitter, and since then, it’s put significant effort into making the app easier to understand for non-users, and for people to more easily be able to find profiles, and then topics, that they can follow in order to get the most out of the platform.

For the full article click here 

Facebook Announces New Emotional Health Resource Center

As if a global pandemic wasn’t hard enough in itself, COVID-19 has opened up the floodgates to mental health challenges around the world. With global mental health issues on the rise, medical experts are teaming up with social media platforms to raise awareness and provide helpful resources to those in need.

For the full article click here 

Instagram Tests New Processes to Limit Potentially Offensive Comments

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and in-line with the awareness push, Instagram’s adding some new tools to help reduce cyberbullying within its app, and protect, in particular, its younger, more susceptible, audience cohort. First off, Instagram is launching a new test of a feature that will automatically hide comments which are similar to those that have already been reported. The automatically hidden comments will then be accessible by tapping on a ‘View hidden comments’ prompt.

For the full article click here 

Marketing

5 Trends in MarTech for the Decade Ahead

“It’s been a crazy year.” With those words, Scott Brinker, Chief Martec and VP Platform Eco-System at HubSpot, kicked off the virtual MarTech conference today. This year, he said, organizational change finally started to keep pace with technological change. “The folks at Twilio did a study of 2,500 companies, and they found that 97% of them reported that COVID-19 had sped up their digital transformation,” he said. “On average, companies said that it accelerated it by six years.”

For the full article click here

10 Web Design Mistakes That Can Hurt Your SEO

Picture this. You’ve spent a ton of time designing your website. You’ve picked an attractive theme, added stunning images, and crafted compelling copy. You’re sure visitors will love it (and you). The only problem? You aren’t getting any visitors. In fact, your site is nowhere to be seen on Page 1 (or even #2 or #3) of Google. What’s going on?

For the full article click here

What Is a PPC Conversion & How to Determine Its Value

Once upon a time, a conversion in PPC was simple. It meant someone completed an action you wanted – which usually meant a sale. As marketing grew more sophisticated and measurement capabilities evolved though, the term “conversion” got more complex and nuanced.

For the full article click here

Daily Minute Master Series – October 6, 2020

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Social Media

LinkedIn Reports That It’s Helped 10 Million People Gain New Skills in 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic could be a pivotal event in the evolution of LinkedIn. The global pandemic, which has put millions out of work, and will impact many millions more, in varying ways, has also opened up new opportunities for online training, digital connection, fresh approaches to work, etc. And within that, LinkedIn may be best-placed to both facilitate increased need, and maximize engagement – and as the global economy slowly gets back on track in the wake of the pandemic, LinkedIn stands to see significant increases in usage among job seekers and professionals seeking out their next step.

For the full article click here 

Facebook’s Removing its 28-Day Attribution Model for Conversions from Ads

Facebook has announced that it’s removing its 28-day attribution window option for Facebook ads, which will mean that advertisers will no longer be able to track direct actions based on their campaigns over a longer period. Facebook’s attribution models enable advertisers to measure specific responses to their campaigns, based on rules set by the advertiser.

For the full article click here 

Facebook Provides Tips on Utilizing Video Playlists and Series Collections

Over the past couple of months, Facebook has been sharing a weekly series of insights into its various video tools via interviews with the Facebook staff who are working on them, which has provided some new and valuable perspective into why they’ve added each function and what needs it can serve.

For the full article click here 

Marketing

WordPress 5.6 Due December 2020 is Scaled Back

WordPress had intended to include the menu navigation screen in Gutenberg 9.1 and WordPress 5.6. Development fell behind and it was decided to remove it from WordPress 5.6 and focus on the Gutenberg widgets screen functionality instead.

For the full article click here

When Ad Platforms Control the Auction, Return, Data… & Now the Cookie

Platforms such as Google Ads are gaining more control over various aspects of paid search. Let’s take a look at what this means for PPC advertisers.

For the full article click here

A Closer Look at MarTech Role Types and T/I-Shaped Individuals

During Discover MarTech in April, I moderated a Birds of a Feather session about Scott Brinker’s new martech role types. One of the participants brought up an interesting idea of how martech practitioners relate to the four role types – maestro, marketer, modeler, and maker. They wondered how this could relate to the T/I-shape concepts from the Scrum framework of Agile project management.

For the full article click here

Daily Minute Master Series – October 5, 2020

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Social Media

Twitter Shares New Insights into Key Trends During COVID-19

It’s difficult to contemplate the various ways in which 2020 has changed the way we live, the way we think, and the way we might approach life moving forward. Of course, the most likely, long-term outcome will be much the same – people will eventually go back to doing things the way they always have, and that’ll become the norm once again. Eventually, we’re likely to move on, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and continue on with regular life. But there will be impacts, and those impacts could be significant, especially among younger, more impressionable people, for whom the virus has changed their perspective on the world and how they want to live in it.

For the full article click here 

Facebook Issues Official Response to Claims Made in Netflix Documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’

In a very uncharacteristic move, Facebook has today issued an official rebuke to claims made in the new Netflix documentary ‘The Social Dilemma‘, which aims to provide an overview of the various ways in which social media platforms have become increasingly divisive and dangerous as their usage has increased over time.

For the full article click here 

Twitter Reiterates Rules Against Wishing Harm on Others as Anti-Trump Tweets Flood the Platform

US President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis is one of the biggest stories in the world right now, and as you might expect given the divisive nature of US politics at present, many of the social media posts about Trump’s situation have not been sympathetic. That’s prompted Twitter to reiterate its rules around wishing harm against others, which it revised back in April to incorporate threats of serious bodily harm or fatal disease against anybody, including the President.

For the full article click here 

Marketing

Content Velocity: What It Is, How to Calculate It & Why You Should Care

It’s quality over quantity these days, right? While it is 100% true that you should always be creating the highest quality content for your users and the various search engines, there is also power in knowing where you stand against your competitors. It’s good to know the amount of quality content being created on both sides. Think of it this way, if you are creating very high-quality content on a weekly/monthly basis.

For the full article click here

10 Graphic Design Rules You Should Never Break [Infographic]

Do you create graphics for your website or social media profiles? Want to ensure you’re not making a mess of it? The team from Red Website Design share 10 graphic design rules you should stick to in this infographic.

For the full article click here

Why Journey Mapping is Important for Companies with Multiple Brands

Customer journey mapping is a key part of many marketing strategies, and it holds added value for companies that have multiple brands. “There is keen interest on how a customer moves from one brand to another,” said Pat Maigler, Senior Manager of Marketing Strategy and operations at Williams-Sonoma, in a recent MarTech Live session. “It all starts with data and there is a lot of data to get from a lot of sources.”

For the full article click here

Daily Minute Master Series – October 2, 2020

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Social Media

Pinterest Provides Cultural Context on Halloween Costumes, Shares Data on Halloween Search Trends

With searches for Halloween ideas ramping up on Pinterest, the platform has added some new informational prompts within Halloween-related searches which highlight the cultural significance of certain costumes, in order to help users avoid misusing common themes and ideas.

For the full article click here 

Facebook Further Clarifies Rules Around False Claims in Ads in Relation to Election Fraud

With US President Donald Trump still refusing to confirm that he will facilitate a peaceful transition of power, in the event of him losing the upcoming election, Facebook has this week updated its rules around false claims in political ads relating to both election fraud and election results.

For the full article click here 

Pinterest Announces Pinterest Creators Festival to Provide Insights into Building Your Pin Presence

Pinterest has announced a new ‘Pinterest Creators Festival’ event, which will feature a range of expert speakers who will provide advice and tips on how to build an effective Pin presence.

For the full article click here 

Marketing

3 Advanced SaaS SEO Strategies & Best Practices

The number of SaaS companies grew from 150 in 2011 to 8,000 in 2020 – a 5,000% growth, according to Scott Brinker’s annual Martech 5000 analysis. It’s getting crowded and competitive. As a result, basic SEO tactics don’t cut it.

For the full article click here

The Growing Importance of Content Analytics

Content is the main currency for marketers, no matter what their industry, but the overabundance of content available to consumers has left many marketers with the question: How do I analyze the performance of my content? The question is valid and pressing whether we’re talking about content aimed at producing an outcome like a conversion or form completion, or content which is part of customer service interaction, and whether the content is written or visual.

For the full article click here

Google ‘News Showcase’ Coming Soon to Search Results

Google is shining a spotlight on journalism in ‘News Showcase,’ an all-new experience coming soon to search results. News Showcase is an interactive set of story panels that will initially be rolled out to Google News on Android.

For the full article click here

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