Daily Minute Master Series – August 5, 2019
Social Media
Pinterest Reaches 300 Million Users, Posts Better Than Expected Profit in Q2
Pinterest has provided an update on its performance, giving investors a look at how it’s tracking towards its broader growth goals. And the company is tracking pretty well – first off, on users, Pinterest is now up to 300 million monthly actives, a 30% increase on a year ago. Pinterest continues to boost its usage numbers, which is something that all brands should be taking note of – because, for one, you obviously want to reach as many people as possible, and Pinterest can increasingly help facilitate that. But the real strength of Pinterest is in driving purchase intent – according to research, some 90% of weekly Pinners use Pinterest to make purchase decisions, higher than any other social platform. Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann noted that it will be looking to bring more videos into Pinterest feeds to boost engagement, along with its evolving business tools. As we’ve noted in the past, Pinterest gets less recognition than other platforms, but as you can see, the numbers are comparable, if not better than some of the more hyped platforms.
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Facebook Adds Instagram Scheduling to Creator Studio
Instagram scheduling has long been a headache for social managers, leading to a range of alternative posting options, each of which has its own value and capacity. The new Instagram scheduling option has been rolling out to users over the past month, though it looks to have been expanded more broadly this week. This new option, provides increased capacity, in that you can better see exactly what your Insta posts will look like, which is similar to posting to a Facebook Page natively, as opposed to through a scheduling app. The option will no doubt make a lot of social media managers very happy, with full Instagram post and scheduling functionality built into an official app. That could make Instagram management much easier – though some have also questioned whether posts which come through this process will see less engagement, as has long been the concern with various third-party scheduling tools.
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Marketing
Google to offer mandated ‘search choice’ to EU Android users in 2020
Google is introducing a new search engine “choice screen” in Europe for Android users. It’s reminiscent of what Microsoft was compelled to do roughly a decade ago, to offer “browser choice” on the desktop in Europe. Starting in 2020, when Android users set up their devices they’ll be able to choose a search provider. Google says providers will potentially vary by country. The criteria for consideration include: being a general (and not vertical) search provider, support for the local language, and free availability in Google Play. Search providers will need to apply to Google by September 13. And by October 31, the list of search engines for each country will be confirmed. Beyond the application, Google will conduct an auction to determine which engines are included on the choice screen. Successful bidders will be presented at random and “pay each time a user selects them from the choice screen in the given country.” The European Commission may step in and prevent Google from charging rivals to participate in the search choice screen but that remains to be seen. Although Google is silent on this, it will appear as a choice in every country and is presumably not going to compete in the auction. Because of its brand strength and existing usage, Google is likely to “win” in most cases unless rival search engines aggressively market some differentiating feature (e.g, privacy). Thus it’s unlikely that Google’s mobile search reach or ad revenue will be impacted much, if at all, by this process.
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Advertising
Google tests carousel local pack with ads included
Google has been testing a new design for the “local pack,” the local results box in the search results. This new design shows the local results in a scrollable carousel format and now also includes an ad spot at the top. The local pack in this new carousel format is a lot more interactive and by default only highlights one-and-a-half local results on first glance. To see more results, you need to scroll through the listing and then when you click on a listing, you get other options.
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