With a new school year ahead, digital marketing is heating up to give students and teachers a run for their money.
This issue of Stukent’s News You Can Use kicks off the fun with these stories:
- LinkedIn launched a new resource for gathering marketing insights
- Backlinko conducted a HUGE study on organic click-through rates
- Google told webmasters exactly how to weather core updates safely
Get the scoop on these stories and more, right here in Stukent’s News You Can Use.
THE NEW INSTAGRAM CREATOR ACCOUNT: IS IT FOR YOU?
Topic: Social Media Marketing
Key Point: The new Instagram Creator account option provides expanded capabilities and better insights, but it may not be the best choice for everyone. Covering the new option for Entrepreneur, Syed Balkhi says Creator can definitely help brands position themselves more effectively, but there are a few problems you should take into consideration.
There are two hoops to clear in order to qualify for Creator: Access requires a minimum number of followers and you must connect your Instagram account to a Facebook Business page.
Here’s where to find out more: What You Need to Know About Instagram’s New Creator Account.
FACEBOOK SEARCH RESULTS ADS EXPANDS TO MORE USERS
Topic: Online Advertising
Key Point: Facebook began testing search ads last year. Now, access to that capability is expanding to more advertisers. If the account you’re managing has access, the option will appear when you create a newsfeed campaign meaning you must advertise in both places — the newsfeed and search —simultaneously.
Currently, search ads don’t let you choose keywords to target. Instead, your ad will show on searches related to your business. Before testing Facebook search ads, be sure to check your Facebook page to make sure the terms you want the ad to show for are on the page.
Get the scoop here: What to Know About Facebook Search Ads.
FRESH INSIGHTS ON ORGANIC CLICK-THROUGH RATE
Topic: SEO | Ecommerce
Key Point: Backlinko released results of a massive Google search results study aimed at gaining insights on click-through rate (CTR). The team examined almost 875,000 pages and over 5 million queries to compile the data. Then they compared metadata factors to look for correlations.
Here are some of their findings:
- The average CTR gain from moving up one spot in search results is 30.8 percent
- Title tags 15–40 characters long get the best CTR
- “Power words” in the title can decrease CTR
That’s just for starters. If organic ranking is something you and your clients care about, don’t miss this study: Here’s What We Learned About Organic Click Through Rate.
SEO ADVICE FOR WEBMASTERS — STRAIGHT FROM GOOGLE
Topic: SEO
Key Point: Google released best-practice SEO advice for webmasters in a “What webmasters should know about Google’s core updates” blog post. After noting that updates take place regularly — some more noticeable than others — and that changes in rank after a core update are natural occurrences, not targeted hits on specific sites, the article turns to point-by-point advice.
Find out why you should focus on content (and what good content looks like), why you should get familiar with quality rater guidelines, and how to recover when a core update sends your site spiraling down the organic search engine results tube.
First check the raw copy of Google’s advice, then read Neil Patel’s article where he unpacks Google’s suggestions to tell you what they really mean.
NEW FOR LINKEDIN: INSIGHTS AND RESEARCH PAGE
Topic: Online Advertising | Ecommerce
Key Point: LinkedIn’s Success Hub for Marketers expanded to include a new feature: The Insights and Research Page is now open for business. The LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Blog says users will “be able to guide and substantiate your social media marketing strategy based on comprehensive insights concerning audiences, industry verticals, and the LinkedIn ad landscape.”
The new feature grants you a closer look at LinkedIn audiences to discover where they are, who they follow, and which topics resonate with them … and that’s just to get started. Industry insights provide data on B2B marketing trends, an assortment of verticals, and how to differentiate yourself from the competition.
Sounds like good stuff? Check it out here: New on LinkedIn: Your Centralized Hub for Actionable Marketing Insights.
ALSO SEE: Linkedin Launches New Insights Hub
TWITTER INTRODUCES 6-SECOND VIEW GUARANTEE
Topic: Social Media Marketing | Online Advertising
Key Point: Twitter unveiled a new way to bid on video ads, calling the launch a “flexible option for advertisers who care about the completed view metric, but are ready to lean into the mobile-first paradigm and develop short-form assets optimized for in-feed viewing.”
Advertisers who opt for Promoted Video, In-Stream Video Sponsorships, and In-Stream Video Ads (for videos 15 seconds or less) can now choose the 6-second option — if the viewer doesn’t view the ad for the full six seconds, there’s no charge. Here’s that announcement on the Twitter Marketing Blog: 6-second video bidding is now available.
ALSO SEE: Twitter’s 6-second Rule
THIS REPORT SAYS MOBILE IN-APP ADVERTISING IS UP 26% OVER 2018
Topic: Online Advertising
Key Point: PubMatic handles over 13 trillion advertising bids each month. Each quarter, the digital advertising tech company creates a report on trends observed in real-time. Among other marketing nuggets, the Q2 2019 PubMatic Quarterly Mobile Index data showed mobile in-app impressions up 26 percent over Q2 2018.
The same report also found that PMP (Private Marketplace) volume for mobile in-app ads are up 69 percent year-over-year. You can download the full report for free on the PubMatic website. Much of the discussion relates to enterprise businesses only, but any marketer who wants to keep up with trends will find this study well worth reading.
ALSO SEE: PubMatic Reports 26% Increase in Mobile In-App Advertising
JUST 35% OF MARKETERS SAY THEIR CONTENT PIPELINE IS EFFICIENT
Topic: Ecommerce | Content Marketing
Key Point: An Adobe survey covered on their CMO website says only 35 percent of survey participants (from a group of 1,000) said their content creation and delivery systems are “very well-coordinated.” On average, the companies represented create 21 to 30 new pieces of content each week —with short-form content taking about 17 hours to complete.
Challenges reported include how to dial in personalization, how to collaborate smoothly, and how to close the communication gap between creatives and customers. There’s plenty in this report to fuel discussions in the digital marketing bullpen.
Check it out here: The State Of Cross-Departmental Collaboration
ALSO SEE: Adobe: Just 35% of marketers think their content pipeline is efficient
STUDENTS PREPARE TO HEAD TO SCHOOL … AND SO DO THE SCAMMERS
We’ll close this issue of Stukent’s NYCU with a heads-up from the Better Business Bureau. Even internet-savvy digital marketers can fall for scammers and schemers. This report from the East Idaho News lists tricks students should be especially wary of:
- Roommate/rental scams
- Credit card offer rip-offs
- Bogus employment offers
- Scholarship-finding services
- Identity thefts
- Locksmith scams
Digital marketers work hard to earn money, but the scammers work just as hard to take it. Check out this article for the run-down.
The Stukent crew wishes you a power-packed term and more legitimate job offers than you can possibly accept.
Keep going. Don’t stop. You can do it.
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