How will marketers be affected by the move towards private messaging and away from big board social media?
What toll will the rising clamor in favor of ad-blocking tools take on internet advertisers? Or will other nations follow the EU’s lead and say ad blocking is a violation of net neutrality?
We’ll take a look at those topics, and more, in this month’s issue of the Stukent News You Can Use monthly report.
1. SHOULD AD BLOCKING BE ALLOWED?
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Online Advertising[/highlight]
Key Point: A mobile network’s plans to help their users block advertising messages prompted the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) to take a stand against ad blocking.
BEREC says all web traffic should be treated equally, advertisers included. But that agency, which speaks for all communications regulators in the EU, does not have final say.
Last month’s issue of NYCU covered Facebook’s move to force their users to see ads. Whose side are you on, and which way will the battle go?
We’ll be watching.
[line]2. TWITTER IS UP FOR SALE!
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Social Media Marketing[/highlight]
Key Point: The struggling team at Twitter appears to be giving up and selling out. Reports say the iconic social media platform hired third party help to solicit offers from the likes of Google and Salesforce. Motley Fool says Disney is thinking about placing a bid. Bloomberg says Twitter is worth $16.7 billion dollars.
What would a Twitter ownership change mean to digital marketers? That depends on who buys Twitter and what they decide to do with it. If the buyer isn’t Google, would they pull tweets from desktop search results? One thing for sure, it’s a story to watch.
[line]3. WILL DIRECT MESSAGING BECOME THE NETWORKING TOOL OF CHOICE?
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Social Media Marketing[/highlight]
Key Point: LinkedIn beefed up their direct messaging tool last summer, and they say that move helped boost usage of the service dramatically. Currently, over half the LinkedIn membership sends a direct message at least once per week.
There’s one more reason contributing to LinkedIn getting more member-to-member traffic, though. Mark Hull, LinkedIn senior director of product management says the platform is “not a medium that’s flooded with marketing messages.”
That’s one more slam for advertisers, and one more reason to keep your eye on the ball. The Catch-22 is that advertising is what enables social media platforms (LinkedIn is no exception) to offer free accounts. Cut the ads, and you cut your revenue options.
[line]4. THIS GUY PROVIDES EXCEPTIONAL MARKETING INSIGHT… FREE
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]SEO[/highlight]
Key Point: This addition to search engine auto-suggest aggregators claims to be different from and better than competitors like Ubersuggest and Keyword Tool. Answer The Public says their platform doesn’t just breeze through every letter of the alphabet. Instead, it appends terms like “near” or “versus” to add context to the search.
Should you add AnswerThePublic.com to your toolbox? It’s sure worth a look.
A couple of things to look out for, though. First, the default location is set for UK. You may want to change that to USA before running the search. And Long-tail keywords clog the machinery, so stick to single words for best results.
[line]5. STOP KILLING CONVERSIONS BY IMPLEMENTING THESE TACTICS
Topics: [highlight type=”dark”]Email Marketing[/highlight]
Key Point: Twitter says advertisers should expect to get access to the beta release of an upgraded ad management dashboard over the next few months. The new management tool will provide an expanded view of campaigns, ad groups, and ads. Custom filters, custom metrics, and custom data exportation – the announcement about the release sounds plenty exciting.
If you’re too anxious to wait for your Twitter Ads account to provide access, Twitter says to ask your rep about early access.
[line]6. EMAIL MARKETING TRENDS
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Email Marketing[/highlight]
Key Point: While we’re talking about email marketing, here’s an excellent infographic based on a study conducted in November of last year. 3,550 U.S. marketers were polled to determine how much emphasis is being placed on email in their company’s marketing strategy.
The research predicted that 71.8% of marketers plan to invest more time in email and 86.7% will devote more of the marketing budget to email. Almost a quarter of companies plan to broadcast two or more different messages per day.
You can find out more on the Marketing Profs website: Email Marketing Insights
[line]7. GOOGLE ANALYTICS KEEPS GETTING BETTER
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Analytics[/highlight]
Key Point: Wouldn’t it be great to get instant insights on your mobile marketing results? Would it be helpful to know at a glance whether conversions are heading north or south? Those tasks are now a possibility for users of Google Analytics.
Google is rolling out a new set of automated insights to help you stay current and focused. Says, Google, “This addition to Google Analytics lets you see in 5 minutes what might have taken hours to discover previously.”
[line]8. FACEBOOK NOW ALLOWS PAGES TO CROSS-POST VIDEOS
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Social Media Marketing[/highlight]
Key Point: Facebook has drawn considerable fire for its frequently changing, sometimes business-contrary regulations. One sanction has been lifted, though.
Facebook product manager, Anaid Gomez-Ortigoza, says brands are now free “to crosspost videos to Pages under the same Business Manager.”
Previously, Page owners had to upload the same video multiple times. Now, they can upload once and post in multiple locations quickly.
Kudos to Facebook for making the brands’ marketing efforts a little bit easier. It has often been said that “Time is money.” For marketers, that’s absolutely a true statement. Every minute is valuable.
[line]9. GOOGLE CHALLENGES SIRI
Topic: [highlight type=”dark”]Digital Marketing[/highlight]
Key Point: Remember the concern we raised about direct messaging and its effect on marketing? Everybody needs a virtual assistant these days, so Google developed an app to combine direct messaging with Google Assistant.
Talking with a friend, but you’re not sure where to meet up for a meal? Just invite Google Allo to the conversation and discover the best restaurants nearby. You’re arguing over which team won the Super Bowl in 2005? Ask Allo and get the dispute settled immediately.
We’ve a feeling marketing isn’t going away anytime soon. As long as people have problems, marketers will come up with unique ways to solve them.
[line]Congratulations! You’re all caught up on your digital marketing news and updates for the month! Tweet your excitement!
That’s it for the last 30 days or so. When you find news every digital marketer should hear about, let us know. If we include the story in the next month’s issue, we’ll give you a shout-out for suggesting it. Deal?
Hit us up on Twitter @StukentApp!
