Social Media
Back in June, at its 2020 Partner Summit, Snapchat previewed its upcoming ‘Snapchat Minis’, which are essentially micro-versions of full apps, built within Snapchat.
For the full article click here
TikTok Faces More Challenges, Pausing Expansion Plans in UK and Dealing with Penalties in South Korea
While there’s no doubting the popularity of TikTok, as reflected in the apps rapid, ongoing growth around the world, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to know what the future holds for the app, with various investigations and considerations in play that threaten to stop the platform in its tracks, and relegate it to the history books with various other short-term hits. And while questions over TikTok’s Chinese ownership, and its potential links to the Chinese Government, have always been present, they do seem to have gained momentum recently, with global tensions rising, and nations looking at ways in which they can hit back over economic sanctions, and even military incursions, putting TikTok, once again, in the firing line.
For the full article click here
While Facebook continues to up its efforts to remove COVID-19 misinformation, various reports in recent weeks have suggested that it’s not doing anywhere near as much to halt the spread of other types of misinformation across its network, raising questions as to the role Facebook plays in such, and what its motivations are, exactly, for taking a more ‘hands off’ approach in certain contexts. The latest report comes from Popular Information, which has today published an account of one specific piece of climate change denial literature which, despite being found by Facebook’s fact-checking partners to be ‘partly false’, and labeled as such as per Facebook’s policies, eventually had that tag removed, seemingly after intervention by Facebook management.
For the full article click here
Marketing
How to Use AI to Provide Seamless Email Journeys for Your Customers
You probably had your first dose of artificial intelligence (AI) through Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi films that depict robots coming to life and gaining control over the world. Though this is still a distant dream, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if such advancements actually came true in the near future. As the world is moving at breakneck speed, the concept of AI is receiving a mix of emotions from all around the world. Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates referred to AI as a “holy grail” in the realms of computer science and technology that would go a long way in making lives easier. Now looking beyond the scenario of robots taking over the world, AI has arrived in the business landscape transforming critical operations and processes for tons of businesses worldwide. Marketing, particularly email marketing, is one such practice that stands to receive the most out of artificial intelligence.
For the full article click here
Adapt or Die: 5 Predictions for the Workplace of the Future
In a matter of months, Covid-19 has caused an historic, radical transformation in how we think about the time-honored act of going to work. The CDC recently issued restrictive occupancy guidelines; companies like Twitter and Shopify have suggested their employees may work remotely forever; NYC is re-opening, yet only 10-15 percent of office workers have actually returned.
For the full article click here
When it comes to ad targeting and attribution, Connected TV (CTV) beats traditional TV in every way. From an advertiser perspective, however, the challenge has been one of scale. That now appears to be changing rapidly. CTV, including OTT (over the top streaming), has been growing steadily for years. But COVID-19 has accelerated everything significantly.
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – July 28, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Who Are the Most Influential Women on Instagram Right Now?
Nowadays, Instagram is one of the biggest and most successful social media networks in the world with more than 1 billion active monthly users online. The platform has also become a source of income for many users – if there could be one social media network called “the land of social media influencers”, it would be Instagram for sure. Not to say that influencers didn’t exist before the Instagram boom. There were a lot of influential people both in traditional and social media. However, Instagram gave people perhaps the most undemanding way to become famous.
For the full article click here
High-Profile Twitter Users Stage Boycott Over the Platform’s Failure to Address Anti-Semitic Content
For the full article click here
Concerns Around Data Access by Foreign Nations Should be Expanded Beyond the Current China Focus
Should the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) be allowed to access the data of citizens from other countries, and what are the risks of allowing such? This is the core question at the heart of calls to ban rising video app TikTok, which has come under increased scrutiny in several regions over its ties to the Chinese regime. To be clear, TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance is indeed beholden, under China’s cybersecurity laws, to share its data with the CCP, if so requested. We don’t know if such requests have been made in the past, but we do know that ByteDance has previously censored content and managed its platforms in line with CCP rule.
For the full article click here
Marketing
LinkedIn Publishes New Guide on Setting Your Business Up for Recovery Post COVID-19
For the full article click here
Google’s John Mueller: Use Images Instead of HTML to Display Charts
Google’s John Mueller speaks on whether it’s okay to publish charts as images, or if it’s more beneficial to use HTML. This topic came up during a Google Webmaster Central hangout held on July 24th. A site owner asked Mueller what’s the best way to go about displaying charts with data on a web page. Is it acceptable, in Google’s eyes, to publish the charts as images? Or would there be some benefit to re-creating the charts in HTML?
For the full article click here
The Importance of Valuing Latent Orders to Successful Amazon Sponsored Products Management
Sponsored Products is the most widely adopted Amazon search ad format, and typically accounts for more than six times as much ad spend as Sponsored Brands ads for the average Tinuiti (my employer) advertiser. As such, it’s incredibly important for advertisers to understand the full value that these ads drive. Part of this is understanding the click-to-order period between when a user clicks on an ad and when that user ends up converting. Given how Amazon attributes orders and sales, it’s crucial that advertisers have an idea of how quickly users convert in order to value traffic effectively in real time.
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – July 27, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Microsoft Taps into the Popularity of Snapchat Lenses for Major New Xbox Campaign
With Microsoft this week showing off its coming, next gen Xbox Series X gaming console at its Xbox Games Showcase event, the company has also partnered with Snapchat on a new AR campaign which will see a series of game-themed AR Lenses showcased within the app.
For the full article click here
Digiday Reveals 56% of Advertisers Paused Facebook Spend in July
For the full article click here
Twitter Shares New Insights into Key Topic Trends [Infographic]
Twitter has shared some new insights into trending topics of discussion on the platform, covering discussion shifts in the month of June – which, as Twitter notes, was largely dominated by the #BlackLivesMatter protests.
For the full article click here
Marketing
What Sellers Need to Know About the Amazon Brand Registry Program
Learn exactly how the Amazon Brand Registry program and its many benefits can help you successfully launch and market products on Amazon.
For the full article click here
How Marketing Can Build A Better Relationship With Sales
In most businesses, particularly B2B tech companies, marketing success is almost always benchmarked against lead generation. Marketing budgets live or die by marketing qualified leads (MQL), or even worse, sales qualified leads (SQL). But so often, marketing and sales teams seem to be working at odds with each other — particularly in SaaS businesses. Either marketing professionals feel they aren’t getting access to the existing customers they need to drive PR and marketing success, or sales teams feel they’re not getting enough support “filling the hopper.”
For the full article click here
25 Link-Building Stats for Your SEO Strategy [Infographic]
Are you investing in a link building campaign as part of your SEO strategy? Want to learn why links are so important when it comes to achieving higher Google rankings? The team from Red Website Design share 25 link building stats you need to know in this infographic.
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – July 24, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
TikTok Launches ‘Creator Fund’ to Pay Platform Influencer for Their Efforts
Amid rising speculation about the future of the app, with authorities in several regions calling for potential restrictions due to its links with the Chinese Government, TikTok is looking to deepen its economic roots, in order to make it harder to justify removing it from circulation. Earlier this week, TikTok announced that it plans to hire 10,000 staff in the U.S. over the next three years, as it looks to maximize its growth opportunities. And today, TikTok has unveiled a new TikTok Creator Fund, which will pay prominent creators for their videos on the platform.
For the full article click here
Twitter Adds More Users in Q2, but Sees Revenue Decline 19%
For the full article click here
Twitter Provides More Detail on Recent Hack, Says Hackers Accessed Private Messages
As Twitter looks to focus on its usage growth in its latest performance update, the platform has also posted some new information on the recent hack, which saw 130 accounts compromised, including various celebrity profiles. At around 1pm last Wednesday, a range of celebrity and brand accounts started tweeting out a message promoting a crypto giveaway, in which funds sent to a specified bitcoin wallet would return double the amount to the sender.
For the full article click here
Marketing
How to Use Natural Language Generation to Create Content for Ecommerce
Interested in scalable text generation? Learn how to programmatically generate copy for ecommerce category pages using a transformer-based language model.
For the full article click here
No In-Person Events Until 2nd Half of 2021, Marketers Say
Professional marketers are embracing online-only events as the unlikelihood that they would attend an in-person conference during the COVID-19 pandemic stretches deep into 2021. In this survey of over 300 marketers, respondents on average gave the prospect of attending an in-person event a 3 out of 10 chance through the end of the first half of 2021. That is the same as when we last fielded our Event Participation Index in June, but at that time we only asked about the likelihood that they would attend in-person events through the end of 2020. That suggests the surging number of cases, especially in the United States, as well as the absence of a vaccine for COVID-19, is making it difficult for people to envision a time when large-scale, in-person gatherings are safe.
For the full article click here
Buy on Google Goes Commission-Free, Will Enable Checkout via PayPal, Shopify
Earlier this year, Google surprised merchants by opening up the Google Shopping tab in its search results to free product listings. Now for the next phase of the shakeup: commission-free access to Buy on Google, the company’s native checkout from product listings.
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – July 23, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Facebook Is Launching a New Investigation into Potential Algorithmic Bias in its Systems
Facebook is launching a new investigation into potential bias within its algorithms, as it works to improve its systems in response to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and in light of its recent civil rights audit. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, both Facebook and Instagram will launch new examinations of their core algorithms.
For the full article click here
Twitter Bans 7,000 QAnon Accounts, Limits 150,000 Others as Part of Broad Crackdown
Twitter announced Tuesday that it has begun taking sweeping actions to limit the reach of QAnon content, banning many of the conspiracy theory’s followers because of problems with harassment and misinformation. Twitter will stop recommending accounts and content related to QAnon, including material in email and follow recommendations, and it will take steps to limit circulation of content in features like trends and search. The action will affect about 150,000 accounts, said a spokesperson, who asked to remain unnamed because of concerns about the targeted harassment of social media employees.
For the full article click here
Twitter Alerts Irish Privacy Regulator About Hacker Attack
Twitter Inc. has alerted a European Union data protection watchdog about the cyber-attack it fell victim to last week, days after the company said hackers had targeted just some 130 accounts and didn’t steal any passwords. The Irish Data Protection Commission is assessing Twitter’s notification about the incident, said Graham Doyle, a spokesman for the regulator. The agency is the lead authority in the EU for Twitter and other U.S. tech companies, which all have their EU headquarters in the country.
For the full article click here
Marketing
Slack Files EU Antitrust Complaint Against Microsoft for Bundling Teams with Office
Slack has filed an anticompetition complaint against Microsoft in Europe, arguing that the software giant “illegally” bundles Teams into its omnipresent Microsoft Office product. Microsoft launched its Slack-style enterprise communication Teams platform back in 2016, and the two companies have enjoyed some healthy rivalry. Slack even went so far as to take out a full-page ad in the New York Times telling Microsoft what it needs to do to succeed in the team communication sphere.
For the full article click here
The Update: How Google is Handling the Shift to Virtual Events
In this episode of our video series The Update, Natalie Zmuda, global executive editor of Think with Google, talks to Marcelo Alba, lead events and experiences strategist at Google, about the pitfalls and opportunities brands face as they take their events online.
For the full article click here
How and Where to Fight for Your Marketing Budget
Though digital marketers felt pressure before to justify their marketing spend, this is a whole new ballgame. Marketing is often an easy target for cost-cutting because of how frictionless it is to adjust course quickly. There’s often no contract or penalty for reducing ad spending, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences for doing so. Will cutting spend in top-of-funnel and brand marketing while maintaining only the areas of highest direct ROI help in the short term, but leave the business less competitive in the long term? If you’re finding yourself faced with the prospect of budget cuts, you aren’t alone. The majority of businesses are facing at least some impact from the coronavirus pandemic, and 65% of CMOs are expecting “moderate to significant” budget cuts still to come, according to a report published by Gartner. Clearly, marketers will face an influx of additional budgeting discussions in the coming months. Here’s how you can prepare to keep your business on track now, and be in position to power back during the recovery.
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – July 22, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Instagram Launches Personal Fundraisers to Provide Assistance for Businesses and Causes During COVID-19
Instagram is rolling out a new personal fundraisers option to help people and businesses raise money for selected causes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the full article click here
Snapchat Adds 9 Million More Daily Active Users in Q2, Reports 17% Increase in Revenue
For the full article click here
US Bans TikTok on All Government-Issued Devices Due to Concerns Around Connection with China
In another concerning sign for TikTok, the US House of Representatives voted on Monday to have the app banned from all Government-issued devices, due to concerns around data collection and potential spying by Chinese authorities.
For the full article click here
Marketing
Google Delays Mobile-first Index Rollout – 5 Reasons Why
Google announced that mobile first indexing will not be rolling out as promised. Mobile-first indexing is delayed by eight months. These are the reasons why.
For the full article click here
Two Things You Need to Turn PPC Campaigns into Winners
How do you set yourself apart in PPC when Google and Microsoft are continually adding more automated capabilities that effectively level the playing field? We believe there are a few critical factors that can tip the scales back to your advantage: Better strategy and better execution, tied together with an awesome process. On the surface, these factors may seem like common sense, “Business 101” tactics, but the real challenge comes into play when businesses attempt to build the processes that closely tie strategy to execution. We believe that companies with a great process will be the ones best positioned to deliver successful results. When your process enables you to be nimble and adapt to new strategies quickly, and you can quickly get your whole team to shift into execution mode on the new strategy without dropping balls left and right, that’s when you win.
For the full article click here
Martech Training Options Expand Under COVID
On June 30 Microsoft unveiled a new learning platform for Microsoft Teams, adding to the expanding list of software training courses available to a public that is dealing with the worst unemployment numbers in over a generation.
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – July 21, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Snapchat Launches Meditation Tool from HeadSpace, the First of its New Mini-Apps
Back in June, at its 2020 Partner Summit, Snapchat previewed its upcoming ‘Snapchat Minis’, which are essentially micro-versions of full apps, built within Snapchat.
For the full article click here
TikTok Faces More Challenges, Pausing Expansion Plans in UK and Dealing with Penalties in South Korea
For the full article click here
Investigation Finds Facebook has Removed Fact Check Markers on Some Climate Change Denial Posts
While Facebook continues to up its efforts to remove COVID-19 misinformation, various reports in recent weeks have suggested that it’s not doing anywhere near as much to halt the spread of other types of misinformation across its network, raising questions as to the role Facebook plays in such, and what its motivations are, exactly, for taking a more ‘hands off’ approach in certain contexts. The latest report comes from Popular Information, which has today published an account of one specific piece of climate change denial literature which, despite being found by Facebook’s fact-checking partners to be ‘partly false’, and labeled as such as per Facebook’s policies, eventually had that tag removed, seemingly after intervention by Facebook management.
For the full article click here
Marketing
How to Use AI to Provide Seamless Email Journeys for Your Customers
For the full article click here
Adapt or Die: 5 Predictions for the Workplace of the Future
In a matter of months, Covid-19 has caused an historic, radical transformation in how we think about the time-honored act of going to work. The CDC recently issued restrictive occupancy guidelines; companies like Twitter and Shopify have suggested their employees may work remotely forever; NYC is re-opening, yet only 10-15 percent of office workers have actually returned.
For the full article click here
COVID is Accelerating TV Advertising’s Transformation Into an Addressable Medium
When it comes to ad targeting and attribution, Connected TV (CTV) beats traditional TV in every way. From an advertiser perspective, however, the challenge has been one of scale. That now appears to be changing rapidly. CTV, including OTT (over the top streaming), has been growing steadily for years. But COVID-19 has accelerated everything significantly.
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – July 20, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Twitter Outlines Specific Detail of Recent Hack: 130 Accounts Impacted, Personal Information Compromised
As its investigation continues, on late Friday night, Twitter provided an update of the latest information about the recent hack which targeted the accounts of several high profile users. To recap the situation, at around 1pm on Wednesday, several celebrity accounts began tweeting out similar, odd messages regarding a Bitcoin giveaway.
For the full article click here
Facebook Shares New Insights into Effective Brand Messaging [Infographic]
For the full article click here
Top YouTube Searches This Year
The top 100 YouTube search queries of the year are revealed in a study examining the search volume of over 800 million keywords. YouTube does not provide this data officially, but Ahrefs compiles a report each year based on data in its Keyword Explorer tool. Top queries in the report are broken down by searches in the US and searches performed worldwide. First let’s take a look at top US searches.
For the full article click here
Marketing
How to Check for Duplicate Content During an SEO Audit
For the full article click here
Interactive Martech Supergraphics Have Arrived
For the full article click here
Four Digital Marketing Areas To Focus On During Crisis Recovery
Many business owners and marketers are finding themselves in a similar situation today. The pandemic has caused many challenges, put previous marketing ideas on hold and even changed the ways we operate. As we look to get our businesses back in gear, your target market needs to know you’re still there. Marketing is vital for getting the word out about your business and what you have to offer. It wasn’t an option prior to Covid-19, and it certainly isn’t now. With consumers taking to the internet to find what they need, the right digital marketing campaign can help you to reach your audience and draw people in. Most importantly, you can keep your customers informed about your latest status.
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – July 17, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Instagram’s TikTok-Like ‘Reels’ Functionality will Be Launched in the US Next Month
In a move that will surprise no one, Instagram has confirmed that it will launch its TikTok-like ‘Reels’ functionality in more regions next month, including the US, as TikTok itself faces more questions over its future, and TikTok users seek out alternatives as a result.
For the full article click here
Facebook Rolls Out Screen-Sharing in the Messenger App
For the full article click here
Google Search Allegedly Boosts YouTube Results Ahead of Competitors
Google prefers ranking content from YouTube over other video sources, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal. When Facebook and other competitors host a video that also appears on YouTube, Google will allegedly push the YouTube result ahead of others in search results. The Wall Street Journal claims tests show YouTube ends up first in the Google Search video carousel more often than not. Further, YouTube results frequently take up most of the slots in Google’s video carousels.
For the full article click here
Marketing
5 Tips to Use Content Marketing During a Downturn
For the full article click here
Google’s John Mueller: “Search is Not a Science”
For the full article click here
Back to Basics: How to Manage Your Brand Through a Crisis
Managing a company’s brand, even during “normal” times, can be challenging depending upon your niche, your competition and the current circumstances. And of course, most of us have heard of (but hopefully, never experienced) instances in which a misstep by a business created serious reputation issues for the brand. When circumstances are severe, however, such as the tremendous upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a host of new pitfalls can present themselves. Let’s discuss some of the special risk factors you may be facing, the many things that can change both the company’s approach to business and that of its customers, and offer some possible opportunities to protect – and even greatly improve – the reputation of your business during a crisis.
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – July 16, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Several High Profile Twitter Accounts Hacked in Massive Security Breach
With the US Presidential election only months away, this is an especially concerning incident. From about 1pm on Wednesday, a range of celebrity and brand accounts started tweeting out a message promoting a crypto giveaway, in which funds sent to a specified bitcoin wallet would send back double the amount to the user.
For the full article click here
Snapchat Adds Brand Profiles as it Looks to Expand its Business Appeal
For the full article click here
Facebook’s Adding New Information Prompts to Dispel COVID-19 Myths
With COVID-19 cases spiking once again in several regions, Facebook is launching two new initiatives to help boost awareness of preventative measures, and dispel some of the pervading myths about the virus. First off, Facebook is expanding its top of feed alerts, in both Facebook and Instagram, which will remind people to wear masks when out in public.
For the full article click here
Marketing
Google Adds New Features to Responsive Search Ads
For the full article click here
Google Discover Now Shows Large Images for Non-AMP Pages
For the full article click here
How AI and Video Marketing Can Work Together in the Time of COVID
“While early adopters of AI are still bullish, their competitive advantage may be waning as barriers to adoption continue to fall and more creative use of the technology grows.” Those are the words of Deloitte AI Institute Principal Nitin Mittal in the “State of AI in the Enterprise” survey released yesterday.
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – July 15, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
LinkedIn Continues to Add More Quick Creation Option in the Post Composer
Over the past few months, you may have noticed LinkedIn’s post composer quick links growing, with more options to help guide what you post about on the platform.
For the full article click here
Facebook Publishes New Report on the Impacts of the COVID-19 Lockdowns on SMBs
For the full article click here
YouTube Adds Data on Other Videos Your Viewers Have Watched and New Audience Retention Metrics
Last week, YouTube previewed a coming addition to YouTube Studio which will provide creators with a listing of other videos that their viewers have watched on the platform, not created by them, adding a new level of context to their audience research efforts.
For the full article click here
Marketing
Over 25% of People Click the First Google Search Result
For the full article click here
Do We Have the Math to Truly Decode Google’s Algorithms?
This article shows how SEO studies that claim how to decode Google and other search engine algorithms are based on poor data and bad science.
For the full article click here
Agile Estimation Techniques Help Marketers Manage Workload
“After working with many teams in both software and marketing there’s a fundamental difference I’ve observed – most marketers don’t estimate their work. I’ve also noticed that marketers are more deadline-driven and over-stretched compared to their software counterparts. While estimating work can feel like an upfront drag, I’ve seen it drastically improve project completion predictability and workload that a team can take on. This is one area where marketers can learn a lot from software teams.”
For the full article click here