Social Media
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 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
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 – August 5, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Facebook Launches ‘Black Business August’ to Support and Highlight Black-Owned Businesses
For the full article click here
Facebook’s Updated Chat Plugin for Websites Enables Messaging Without Logging onto Messenger
Facebook has launched a new update for its Messenger chat plug-in for websites, which enables businesses to prompt direct message conversations with visitors to their site via a pop-up chat window. Facebook has updated the design and format of the plug-in, and made it easier to integrate into your website code. But the biggest change is that website visitors will now be able to start a Messenger conversation with your business, from your website, without having to log on to Messenger to do so.
For the full article click here
Snapchat Updates Audience Reach insights with Regional Audience Counts
This could help provide more context for your Snapchat marketing approach. Last month, Snapchat shared its Q2 performance numbers, in which it reported a 17% year-on-year increase in daily active users to 238 million. Reflecting this increase, Snapchat has also updated its Snap Focus education module on Unique Audience Reach, which also includes more specific detail on Snap’s regional audience numbers.
For the full article click here
Marketing
Google’s Search Quality Raters Do Not Directly Influence Rankings
For the full article click here
SEO for Images: See What You’re Missing in Your Visual Search Strategy
The visual aspect of communication and marketing has become increasingly important. But why is SEO for images – and the general concept of visual search – still considered a little more than a marketing nice-to-have? In his SEJ eSummit session, Gianluca Fiorelli detailed all the visual search opportunities you might be missing out on that can increase your organic traffic through the correct usage and optimization of images. He also talked about how to get more and better organic traffic using Google Search, Images Search, Google Lens, Photo and Assistant. Here’s a recap of the presentation.
For the full article click here
How Search Data Can Inform Larger Online Business Decisions
As an SEO I’m constantly utilizing keyword search volume data to help make more informed decisions about clients’ online presence. But the reality is, this data has way more use cases than anyone gives it credit for. The role of a decision maker in any online business requires the ability to gather (or be presented with), understand, and forecast with all types of data. Simple yet effective methods for identifying trends in online searches can ensure you’re getting your product or services in front of the right people at the right time. This is particularly useful if you sell a variety of seasonal products online. But the same process can be leveraged for single-focus businesses, as well. This data can then trickle down to a variety of team members, from SEO and Paid Search Account Managers, to merchandisers and content strategists.
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – August 4, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
White House Gives TikTok Till September 15th to Sell its Business: Here’s What You Need to Know
For the full article click here
Snapchat’s Working on a New Option to Add Popular Music Clips to Your Snaps
Snapchat’s working on a new way to share music within Snaps, which could be seen as another nod towards the rising popularity of TikTok, though there are some variances in application.
For the full article click here
Facebook Will Look to Support New eCommerce Functionalities via its Accelerator Program
With Facebook looking to make eCommerce a bigger focus in order to assist businesses impacted by COVID-19, The Social Network has this week announced a new, specific eCommerce element within its startup accelerator program, which will provide training and support to “innovative commerce startups” that are looking to improve the online shopping experience.
For the full article click here
Marketing
Google Analytics Shifts More Data Privacy Control to Marketers
For the full article click here
Will Google’s Ad Disclosure Schema Catch On?
Google announced some updates to how it plans to inform users about the ads they see, including a new type of schema, as well as the latest on Privacy Sandbox proposals to manage ad serving, measurement and more without third-party cookies and cross-site tracking on Friday.
For the full article click here
WhatsApp Rolling Out Search the Web Functionality to Help Fact Check Viral Messages
WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, but that also means a lot of misinformation and rumors are shared on the platform. Separating fact from fiction is important, especially with everything this year has thrown at us. Now WhatsApp is starting to roll out a feature that lets users quickly search Google for frequently shared messages to see if there’s more info online.
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – August 3, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
TikTok Responds to Possible US Ban: “We’re Not Planning on Going Anywhere”
For the full article click here
Microsoft Mulls Purchase of TikTok as Trump Says That he is Banning the App in the US
Bloomberg reported that the US Government is planning to announce a decision which would essentially order China-based ByteDance to divest its ownership of short-form video app TikTok, or face a total ban on the app in the American market.
For the full article click here
FBI Announces Arrests Over Recent Twitter Hack
After Twitter yesterday provided an updated overview of how its recent high-profile, Bitcoin-scam hack occurred, in which various celebrity accounts were taken over by the hackers, the FBI has today announced that a man in Florida has been arrested over the incident, while two others have been charged with assisting the crime.
For the full article click here
Marketing
Doing More with Less: Automated, High-Quality Content Generation
For the full article click here
SaaS Marketing: How to Never Miss Your MQL Goal Again [Webinar]
Many marketers are struggling to find success during COVID-19. It’s no different in the SaaS industry. Digital marketers are working diligently but they are not seeing the marketing qualified lead (MQL) growth they’re striving for.
For the full article click here
Why SEOs Should Care About Brand
Brand is already affecting the performance we are held accountable for, so we can use the data we have as SEOs to benefit the whole company.
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – July 31, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Snapchat Publishes First-Ever ‘CitizenSnap’ Report Which Outlines its Contributions to Societal Improvement<
Snapchat has today published its first-ever CitizenSnap report, which provides an overview of the company’s efforts to address racial inequality, environmental responsibility and societal impact over the past year.
For the full article click here
Facebook Adds 100 Million More Users, Reports 11% Revenue Growth Amid COVID-19
For the full article click here
Twitter Provides New Detail on Recent Celebrity Account Hack
Twitter has today provided another update on the extent of the recent hack which saw the profiles of several high profile users, including Barack Obama, Joe Biden and more, taken over and used to promote a cryptocurrency scam.
For the full article click here
Marketing
3 Tips for Keyword Research & Content Localization Success
Keyword research and content localization are crucial for the SEO success of international websites. Learn proven tips to keep your campaigns in good shape.
For the full article click here
Google Maps Goes Social Giving Each User Their Own Profile
Google is turning Maps into a social network of sorts by giving each user their own profile filled with photos and reviews they’ve submitted. This is an extension of a pilot feature rolled out last year that allowed users to follow select Local Guides and get their latest updates. Following the success of the pilot launch, Google is expanding this functionality worldwide to all users.
For the full article click here
Feedback Optimization: A User-First Approach to SEO
Feedback optimization is the process of using readers’ comments to improve your content. See how this strategy can improve SEO performance while creating better search results for your audience.
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – July 30, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Snapchat Publishes New Study into Evolving Video Consumption Behaviors
Snapchat has published a new study which looks at evolving video consumption behaviors, particularly among younger audiences, and provides recommendations on how businesses can align their content efforts with these shifts. The report is based on research conducted by The National Research Group, and incorporates responses from over N=1,000 respondents aged 13-35 in the US – while Snap has also produced localized versions for the UK and Saudi Arabia as well.
For the full article click here
TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer Issues Challenge to Facebook in First Public Statement
For the full article click here
11 Facebook Ad Tactics for High-Converting Campaigns
Facebook Ads is easily one of my favorite platforms to run ads across the entire customer journey. There are so many targeting options and placements – the opportunities are endless. Done right, you can prospect, re-engage, and convert in a cost-efficient way. Here are 11 tips for driving more value with Facebook Ads.
For the full article click here
Marketing
Marketing Disrupted: 5 Ways AR & VR Are Reshaping Digital Marketing
For the full article click here
Google Advises Site Owners of Rise in ‘Work From Home’ Searches
Google is notifying site owners via Search Console of an increase in searches related to work from home jobs. The increase in searches is directly related COVID-19’s impact on businesses and employment. The purpose of alerting site owners is to make them aware of an opportunity to use remote job structured data markup.
For the full article click here
Search Competition: Who Are You Really Competing With?
Competition is constant. No matter what business you’re in, there will always be other people competing with you for customers, subscribers, viewers, partners, etc. Even Google technically has competition — maybe you found this article through Bing? The point is…you have competitors trying to beat you. Do you know who they are?
For the full article click here
Daily Minute Master Series – July 29, 2020
/by Corey PadveenSocial Media
Twitter Updates Hate Speech Policy to Include Links to ‘Hateful’ Content
Twitter has updated its policies to now include links to hateful content within its parameters to unacceptable activity.
For the full article click here
Facebook Offers Lucrative Deals to Prominent TikTok Creators Ahead of Wider Release of Instagram Reels
For the full article click here
5 Facebook Advertising Tips for Service Businesses
If you’re a service-based business, the right approach to advertising online can feel overwhelming and downright frustrating. Paid search works great for emergency-based services like HVAC repairs, plumbers, and doctors. But what if you don’t offer emergency services? You may not be getting the calls and leads you want from a PPC campaign in those cases. But, Facebook advertising can be an effective platform to help you generate the results you want. Let’s dive into why this is the case, and some best practices and suggestions for advertising your service business on Facebook.
For the full article click here
Marketing
10 Meta Tags That Will Help Your SEO
For the full article click here
Page Load Time: How Quickly Should a Page Load in 2020?
How quickly should a page load? “As quick as possible” is the short answer. But that isn’t always as easy as it sounds. For most websites, a lot of effort will have to be made to improve page speed, so it’s important to know at what point you can feel confident that you are in the green and ready to move on to other projects. You’ll always want to be monitoring your load times, so having a number in mind is key. In 2020, that number is 3 seconds or less. Now the fun part – how to get there and how to stay there.
For the full article click here
Social Distancing Prompts Cutting-Edge Marketing Strategies At Burger Chains
Burger chains are using innovative marketing strategies to help navigate social distancing guidelines and capitalize on food trends to boost sales. As stay-at-home orders forced burger joints across the country to close their dining rooms, quick-service chains had an advantage because they were able to keep selling food via drive-thrus. Even as dining rooms across the country reopen at limited capacity, burger chains are relying on unique marketing strategies designed to help them identify with customers, inform eaters about new products and services and alleviate safety concerns. Even if you aren’t in the food business, there’s a lot to learn from these smart marketing strategies that I’d urge you to implement in your own businesses.
For the full article click here
Here Are the 5 Ads Nominated for 2020’s Outstanding Commercial Emmy
Ads by Apple, Amazon, P&G, Jeep and the Sandy Hook Promise have been nominated in the Outstanding Commercial category of the 2020 Emmy Awards.
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