October 2017 News You Can Use

Ready or not, the busiest ecommerce season of the year is almost upon us. Are you ready?

In this issue of Stukent’s NYCU, we’re announcing new tools, considering the trends, and generally urging you to push ahead and be prepared.

Whether you’re ready for it or not… the holidays are soon upon us!

1. YOU CAN’T PUT THIS ON FACEBOOK ANY LONGER

Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Social Media Marketing | Online Advertising[/highlight]

Key Point: Check your personal Facebook profile, and you’ll find four categories no longer exist: your employer, your job title, your education, and your field of study. Facebook pulled those options, saying “As people fill in their education or employer on their profile, we have found a small percentage of people who have entered offensive responses, in violation of our policies.”

Not only did you lose your ability to designate those personal distinctions, advertisers can no longer use them for ad targeting. For some businesses, that’s a significant loss, but Facebook is looking for a work-around. The Facebook newsroom update said, “To help ensure that targeting is not used for discriminatory purposes, we are removing these self-reported targeting fields until we have the right processes in place to help prevent this issue.”

For now, though, you’ll find another way to reach custom audiences you could earlier reach via targeting jobs and schools.

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2. CHECK YOUR GOOGLE BUSINESS LISTINGS FOR THIS NEW FEATURE

Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Digital Marketing | Mobile Marketing[/highlight]

Key Point: Android users now have the ability to ask questions about a business via the Google Business listing. Business owners should be sure to claim their Google My Business listing and install the Google Maps app to manage the feature for their company.

The rollout is called “Ask a question.” To see it in action, use an Android smartphone to search for the name of a local business (using either Maps or your Chrome browser). Just below the hours, and above the reviews, you should see a “Questions and answers” box.  Anyone can ask a question and anyone can answer a question. Do you see why it’s important for the business to use Map settings to get notified when there’s “Questions and answers” activity?

Get the full scoop from Google support: Ask a question.

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3. TIS THE SEASON FOR… EMAIL!

Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Email Marketing[/highlight]

Key Point: If you’re not getting ready for the holidays yet, better get on it. To help you tune up your email-marketing aptitude, Constant Contact prepared a special report on how to write holiday emails effectively. Even if you’re an email master, going back over the basics regularly helps keep you sharp.

Here’s the link: How to Write an Effective Holiday Marketing Email.

And here’s a bonus: How to Grow Your Holiday Email List (Before It’s Too Late).

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4. VIDEO TOOLS FOR CONTENT MARKETERS

Topics: [highlight type=”dark”]Social Media Marketing | Digital Marketing[/highlight]

Key Point: Smart marketers know video is all the rage, and they’re leveraging that knowledge by including video in their ads, on their websites, and even on Twitter.

Looking for tools to make video marketing easier? Kayla Matthews heard your cry, so she did the research and selected 10 video tools content marketers should definitely check out.

No, these aren’t the same old rehash of the tools you already use. Chances are high you’ve never heard of some of them. Here’s where to take a look: 10 Incredibly Useful Video Tools for Content Marketers.

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5. IS FACEBOOK BEGINNING TO LAG FOR ADVERTISERS?

Topics: [highlight type=”dark”]Social Media Marketing | Online Advertising[/highlight]

Key Point: Some months, it seems like all the news is “Facebook did this” and “Facebook launched that.” Over the past several years, the platform’s targeting options have kept ad teams giddy with possibility. Digiday, though, says Facebook is ‘losing attention’ and publishers are ‘shifting focus to other platforms.’

Digiday senior editor, Lucia Moses, makes some strong points in this must-read article for advertisers who want to stay ahead of the curve. Check it out here: Facebook loses attention as publishers shift focus to other platforms.

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6. FOUR NEW TOOLS FOR YOUTUBE!

Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Online Advertising[/highlight]

Key Point: Google says viewers are 300% more likely to pay attention to a video ad than they are to watch a TV ad. Not only that, but they’re twice as likely to stay tuned-in to a YouTube ad than to a social media ad. Why? Because YouTubers are there to watch video, not to chat with friends. To help advertisers capitalize on that audience, the Big G announced four new tools:

  • Custom Affinity Audiences: to help you reach a more relevant audience
  • Director Mix: to simplify the process of tweaking creatives to the audience
  • Video Ad Sequencing: to help you build an unfolding story that reacts to the viewer’s preferences
  • Matched Panel Analysis: This Nielsen-based approach to measuring sales will help you match ads to sales.

Any marketer not leveraging YouTube for both SEO and sales is missing the boat. Period. Get the full scoop on these new Google developments right here: Know Their Intention, Get Their Attention: New Ways to Connect and Measure on YouTube.

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7. NEW TOOLS FOR MERCHANT CENTER

Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Online Advertising | Ecommerce[/highlight]

Key Point: Speaking of Google and the holidays, Google announced new Merchant Center tools to help you shore up product data. For instance, you’re not limited to a single feed now, Google rolled out supplemental feeds that will let you submit and modify your product data from multiple sources.

Other new tools include multi-country feeds, feed rules via API, and an Opportunities tab. Dive in now and make your holiday advertising easier. Here’s that link: Ring in the holidays with new Merchant Center tools.

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8. GOOGLE DATA STUDIO JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER

Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Analytics[/highlight]

Key Point: We covered the beta testing and the release, now it’s time to talk about the updates. If you’ve not yet checked out Google Data Studio, there’s no time like the present. It is one powerful tool. It’s FREE, and it’s available around everywhere.

The newest addition, just announced, is Data Studio Community Connections. You can now visualize data pulled from any source you choose. You can also embed those reports (fully-interactive) on your own website.

But wait, there’s more. Read all about the new updates to Data Studio here: Google Data Studio: quicker and broader access to data.

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Congratulations! You’re all caught up on your digital marketing news and updates for the month! Tweet your excitement!

Stukent News You Can Use – Here Comes Black Friday

You got it.  Black Friday is less than 60 days away.  This is the time of the year that gets the juices flowing.

See you in November!

 

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