With Black Friday right in front of us and the Christmas season coming, it’s time for serious students of digital marketing to pay close attention.
There’s much to be learned from the campaigns the season will generate. Don’t just act like a kid in a candy store, though, pick a niche and the top marketers within that niche. Subscribe to everything they generate, then perform your own case study of the tactics you see them use.
Black Friday, Facebook rankings, super shoppers, and more… you’ll find them all in this month’s wrap-up of the digital marketing stories we think are most significant.
Let’s get going.
1. SHOP TIL YOU DROP – LOOKING AHEAD TO A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Online Advertising[/highlight]
Key Point: Google says this is the “Year of the Supershopper.” That sentiment has nothing to do with the economy, though, but plenty to say about technology.
Because we can “instantly discover, research, and purchase,” says Google, nothing can stop us from finding those perfect gifts.
What constitutes a super shopper and how do you become one? Find out all about it in this AdWords blog article: The Year of the Supershopper.
[line]2. FACEBOOK AT WORK – BUT THIS ONE MAKES THE BOSS HAPPY
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Social Media Marketing[/highlight]
Key Point: Facebook launched the enterprise version of the world’s most popular social media platform this month. Workplace gives organizations their own private Facebook features. It’s not yet known how Facebook will monetize the new service beyond the entry pricing, which will adjust to the number of active users.
Subscribers will get a team news feed, groups, chat messaging, video, translation, and more. The program tested out in a 20-month beta launch, and it’s now available to qualifying businesses. This is a “totally separate build” from the parent. Find out more here: Workplace.
[line]3. GOOGLE MAY SOON GIVE YOU PUBLICITY YOU DON’T WANT
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]SEO[/highlight]
Key Point: Google not only plans to grant favor to sites that prove themselves secure but now says those that aren’t will soon get flagged. Beginning January 2017, if you don’t use HTTPS protocol to transmit sensitive data, Chrome browsers will plainly mark your website as unsafe.
Astute users already know to look for the lock icon when shopping online and entering credit card data, but most shoppers fail to check. The new Google warning will amplify the alarm.
In a previous issue of NYCU, we noted that Google is taking HTTPS (or the lack of) into consideration as a ranking signal. If you and your clients have yet to heed that warning, now would be a good time to get going.
[line]4. THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO HOLIDAY MARKETING SUCCESS
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Online Advertising[/highlight]
Key Point: Google says it’s time to get ready for the holidays in the 2016 release of their official holiday shopping season guide.
Key areas covered include planning ahead, building your digital storefront, and capturing more holiday shoppers. It’s a concise document, and it’s loaded with tips on how you can get more business and earn more money before 2016 fades into the past.
Check it out here: Google Best Practices.
[line]5. EMAIL OR SOCIAL MEDIA – WHICH WORKS BEST FOR MARKETING?
Topics: [highlight type=”dark”]Email Marketing[/highlight]
Key Point: It’s an ongoing argument that isn’t likely to die soon, but the stats still favor email marketing as the most effective means of reaching your audience. Of course, the best answer to the question about which is better goes like this: “Both.”
This look at current performance levels, though, provides some zingers. For instance, when asked which place they go first to get the day started, 58% say it’s email, while just 11% say Facebook. Which channel do you use daily? 91% say email and 57% say Facebook.
There are many more revelations to ponder in this digital marketing slap-down by OptinMonster: Email Marketing vs Social Media.
[line]6. CAN YOU OPTIMIZE FOR VOICE-CONTROLLED VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS?
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]SEO[/highlight]
Key Point: Google Home, Amazon Echo, Apple Home – the smart home technology market is booming, and those little interactive, voice-controlled gadgets are becoming commonplace.
How will your organic search reach be impacted by those devices? That’s a tough question, but SEO analyst, John Alexander, dives right into the fray in this provocative article: Optimize for Google Home NOW!
[line]7. CUSTOMER SERVICE PAYS… LITERALLY
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Social Media Marketing[/highlight]
Key Point: It seems obvious – businesses that maintain a Twitter presence and respond to customer complaints or inquiries quickly not only get kudos, but they get more business. A recent study, though, qualifies that idea and provides some interesting data.
Twitter and Applied Marketing Research teamed up to find out how much bottom line benefit accrues to businesses with a strong customer service presence on Twitter. They found that customers are apt to spend up to 20% more in future business with those who pay attention to their tweets. Get the entire scoop here: Twitter and Customer Care.
[line]8. CHANGES COMING TO THE GOOGLE ANALYTICS UI
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Analytics[/highlight]
Key Point: Google told users this month to watch the Google Analytics interface for changes now underway. The aim is to keep the power of the tool, but simplify user access to it.
Improvements mentioned include simplified navigation, grouped navigation for customization elements, simplified view switching, login flows to the last view, users can now set their own default date range and more.
Read all about it on the Google Analytics Solutions blog here: Google Analytics Improvements.
[line]Congratulations! You’re all caught up on your digital marketing news and updates for the month! Tweet your excitement!
Black Friday through Christmas is the world series of marketing. Stukent wishes you great success, whether you’ll be working on the front line or watching and learning.
Did we miss a story you think should have made the cut this month? We can’t print them if we don’t see them, so the next time you come across a digital marketing news you think should be here, be sure to let us know.
Hit us up on Twitter @StukentApp!
