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Got a minute? Check out our marketing update from the week -- all about Instagram!
Instagram Stories
Instagram's latest feature allows users to pin their favorite Instagram Stories to their profile. Instead of saying good-bye to the content after 24-hours, you can now pin it to your Instagram page directly below your Instagram bio.
You may think having an outdated website is no big deal but, in some instances, it can be as worse as not having a website at all! Today's consumers are constantly using the web to search for products and services. Landing on your outdated website can send a message that your business isn't credible or legitimate.
We work with clients in a wide range of industries, so we understand how difficult it can be to prioritize a website update. Running a business, no matter the industry, is hard work! It's no wonder that 23% of small business websites get updated less than once a year and 97% of small business websites are basically ineffective. Finding the time to keep your website updated can be difficult. One way to remedy this is by hiring a company to manage your website for you.
Got a minute? Check out our quick update on what's new in the industry.
Instagram
Instagram is testing out a new function that would allow users to follow specific hashtags in addition to profiles. Related posts would appear in the home feed based on the hashtags a user follows. Instagram hasn’t announced yet when or if we’ll see this function rolled out to everyone.
Our Take:
- We think this feature is a great move for brands, particularly those with branded hashtags. Having your audience follow your hashtag directly could go a long way towards building community and engagement.
- The ability to follow hashtags could also be beneficial for brands and marketers to track certain industry-related hashtags and see how people are using them.
Got a minute? Check out our quick update on what’s new in the industry.
YouTube
Currently, YouTube creators have the option of promoting their other videos or livestreams through suggested links that pop up mid-clip, but not for long. YouTube announced they'll be getting rid of these links on December 14th and they were very straight-forward about the reason why: no one clicks on them. The company claims that cards and end-screen video links are much more effective.
As a business, you put time and thought into your website because you know potential buying decisions are influenced by its layout and call-to-action. You may even spend thousands of dollars in advertising because you know you can use that to influence a target market. While these are fine marketing initiatives, there’s a small (and free!) forum that holds great influence over how people perceive your business: online reviews. How much time and thought have you put into those lately?
An online review is essentially a word-of-mouth recommendation for or against your business. It’s a digital record of what people are saying about you, your products, or your services. And the worst thing you can do is ignore them. Why? Because they wield a surprisingly strong influence on potential customers.
Got a minute? Check out our quick update on what's new in the industry.
Instagram
Instagram quietly released a color-matching tool for Stories users recently. You may have noticed the teardrop-shaped tool appear the bottom left corner when you’re adding text to a Story. By dragging the tool around your image, you can pick out an existing color in your image to write or draw with. Sticking to the coordinating colors theme, Instagram also updated the look of the “Learn More” bar that appears at the bottom of Instagram ads. The bar now appears in a color that coordinates with the ad image. Unlike the Stories color-matching tool, though, users don’t yet have control of choosing which color will appear.
You hear all the time how important video is becoming for your business. Whether it is how-to’s, message from the president or other types of videos, it feels like everyone is doing them.
Well, it feels like that because everyone is doing video! Once you decide to dive into the world of video marketing there are a lot of factors to consider – what message to do you want to put out there, where will you shoot the video, and who is going to be in it?
Got a minute? Check out our quick update on what's happening in the industry.
Facebook
Facebook Ads Manager is rolling out split-test options to all advertisers this month. Facebook will give users the ability to run A/B testing on different creative formats and then provide data on the results. To further help pinpoint effective ads, they're also adding a new feature called "Test and Learn" which helps advertisers answer certain questions about their ads' effectiveness.
Here's what Facebook has to say about the function: "Test and Learn answers your toughest marketing questions and pinpoints the strategies that drive the best results for your business. Simply identify a question you want to answer, such as "Which campaign causes the lowest cost conversions to occur?" or "How many conversions are all of my Facebook ads causing?" and Test and Learn will determine which test you should run to answer your question."
As the holidays approach, we wanted to share a few social media do's and don'ts to remember during this time of the year. Social media is a great place to share the joy of the holidays with your customers, but it's also important to remain "on brand" throughout the season.
Got a minute? Check out our quick update on what's happening in the industry.
Facebook
Facebook is testing the idea of dividing its newsfeed in half, separating commercial posts from personal news. The test is currently being done in six countries across the world. Depending on how people respond, two newsfeeds could mean that they see fewer links to news stories.
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