NYCU - January

January 2016 News You Can Use

Are you serious about your resolutions for 2016? The truth is, most people give up unless they want something badly enough.

Here’s hoping you resolve to do what you need to do to get you to where you need to go!

Here’s our monthly update on digital marketing news you don’t want to miss.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA SAVES LIVES

Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Social Media[/highlight]

Key Point: Let’s start off this issue with some good news – especially for Anthony Parella, a teenager with a failing liver. After several years on the organ-needed list, and no donor in sight, Anthony’s mother posted a plea for help on Facebook… and she was astounded by the number of responses.

Within months, a donor cleared the rigorous matching protocol. On December 14, Anthony received his life-giving transplant.

Said his mom, Kimberly, “No calls came and something one day just kind of popped in my head and said, ‘I think it’s time we start getting our search out for a living donor.”

What’s the take-away for marketing? How’s this: When you haves an important message to get out there, the right people will listen. Every time.

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2. EVERY NEW YEAR YOU CAN EXPECT IT TO HAPPEN

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

Key Point: It begins about November every year and finally lets up around March. “The Year in Review” posts will be hiding around every corner this month, so let’s hop right in with something a whole lot different from your typical report.

This one tracks the “temperature” of organic search during the year and how changes in the Google algorithm affect the search engine results page (SERP).

2015 saw the release of Penguin 3.0, the demise of authorship, Mobilegeddon, and a whole lot more. How big of a splash did those events make in the world of SEO? Find out here, in this MozCast project infographic. SEO 2015.

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3. WHAT IF YOU COULD SERVE ADS TO EVERYONE?

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

Key Point: Twitter is pulling out all the stops to increase advertising revenue. The little blue bird (slash social giant) is testing a program that will serve paid ads to people who aren’t logged in to a Twitter account.

Who are those people? Well, Google search accounts for a bunch of them. According to Twitter, half a billion visitors stop by every month without being logged in. Up until now, those people only see the tweet related to the link that took them there.

Not anymore.

Concerning the scope of the change, the Twitter Advertising Blog said, “Initially this test will support campaigns driving website clicks or conversions, or video views. To start, these Promoted Tweets and Videos will appear on profile pages and Tweet detail pages on desktop web only. We are rolling this out gradually with selected advertisers in the US, UK, Japan, and Australia with more geographies in the future.”

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4. FROM “WEB” TO “ALL” ON GOOGLE SEARCH

Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]INTERNET MARKETING[/highlight]  [highlight type=”dark”]SEO[/highlight]

Key Point: Maybe you noticed it. Maybe you didn’t. Plenty of SEO pros have, though, and it’s stirring up conversation in the Webmaster World Forum: Look to the header of your Google search results page, and the furthest caption to the left. If it says “All,” that’s the new term. Up until recently, that heading was “Web.”

Why should you care? Some say the move may impact search results… and could even signal a fundamental change coming to the world’s most popular search engine. Any way you cut it, if you’re looking for a conversation starter at the next web geek gathering you attend, bring up the change from “Web” to “All” and watch the conspiracists in the crowd start to glow.

Here’s how Search Engine Roundtable covered the story: It’s Official.

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5. YOUTUBE ADS OF THE YEAR

Topics: [highlight type=”dark”]Online Advertising[/highlight]  [highlight type=”dark”]SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING[/highlight]

Key Point: Here’s a look back at 2015 that’s not only educational – but fun!

YouTube partnered with the Webby Awards to recognize the five top YouTube ads from five different categories.

Watch Arnold Schwarzenegger prank fans, discover what happens when girls get serious, watch owls dance… and more.

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6. ARE YOU SIZING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA IMAGES CORRECTLY?

Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING[/highlight]

Key Point: When it comes to using images online, “one size fits all” is definitely not the way to make the right impression. Each channel and application hass its own specifications.

Get out your old cheat sheet, toss it in the trash, and download this 2016 Social Media Image Sizes infographic from Search Engine Journal. It gives you everything from the optimal size for your Facebook profile image to the best dimensions for a Twitter in-stream photo.

Keep it handy. Use it often.

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7. AUTOMATED SMART GOALS FOR ADWORDS

Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]ONLINE ADVERTISING[/highlight]

Key Point: Google provides some of the most powerful tools in the world, but figuring out how to set up and deploy those tools can be mind-boggling.

Try mastering Google Analytics, for example, or decide to get really good at boosting the bottom line with AdWords.

That’s why bewildered business owners welcomed Google’s recent decision to link the visitor activity monitoring data available from analytics with the message-delivering power of AdWords to get going fast.

Marketing Land has the scoop right here: Smart Goals.

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8. GOOGLE PAID AD TERRITORY MAY BE INCREASING

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

Key Point: The first page of a Google search is some of the most valuable territory in the world. Most of us have to either earn that space naturally or pay for it dearly.

Not so with Google. If they want a little more space, they go ahead and take it. Over the years, that’s meant more ads and better placement.

Watch closely and you may soon see unpaid (organic) results pushed down a little bit further: Google is testing to see what happens when they throw in one more AdWords ad to the top of the page – moving from a three-ad maximum delivery to four ads.

Will consumers complain? Advertisers sure aren’t opposing the idea. Their odds of getting an ad shown on top of the search results will immediately increase.

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9. GOOGLE LAUNCHES SPOTLIGHT STORIES ON YOUTUBE

Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]ONLINE ADVERTISING[/highlight]

Key Point: Google calls it “Interactive 360-degree storytelling.” We call one more in a long line of innovative ways to present digital content.

In “Special Delivery,” android users with supported devices can tilt and turn their devices to unlock “10 subplots, three potential ways to view the ending, and 60+ moments where you can decide to follow the story in different ways.”

It’s good, clean fun… and a special Google gift for Christmas. To join the story, sign in via the YouTube app and search for Special Delivery.

Here’s a link to the announcement on the Official Google Blog: Google Presents.

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10. KEY DESIGN TRENDS FOR 2016

Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]DIGITAL MARKETING[/highlight]

Key Point: Let’s get turn to the crystal ball before we go.

Will apps really (for all practical purposes) disappear?

Will employees take center stage?

Will luxurious possibilities trickle down to the masses?

Here’s a smart look at what may be coming to someone like you: Think About It.

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

May 2016 prove to be the most rewarding and personally successful year ever for you and yours!

That’s a wrap for this month. Did we miss something you think should have made the list? Let us know in the comments section below. The staff here at Stukent wishes you and yours the best Christmas ever!

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