Advertising options come to Pinterest, a year after it launched 'Buy it Buttons' on Pins to get e-commerce traffic
Importance: [rating=4] (For Advertisers, particularly for B2C brands).
Recommended source: Pinterest's blog
Brands can now pay to increase the reach of their Pins, or to target a specific audience via Pinterest, much like 'boosting' or promoting a post via Facebook. This move has been some time in the making, as Pinterest launched 'Buyable Pins' back at the end of June 2015. These let users buy products straight from Pinterest, and were seen as a great way for Pinterest to monetize by facilitating e-commerce transactions. Pinterest decided not to take any commission on sales from Buyable Pins, so that prices on Pinterest could be the exact same as on the retailers site. Now that they've built up plenty of e-commerce traffic, Pinterest have taken the logical next step of monetizing the platform via an ad product…
It’s been known for a little while that Mr Zuckerberg is incredibly excited about live video on Facebook and the newest update “Facebook Live” is a clear indication of this.
Importance: [rating=3] (If you use or manage Social Media Accounts)
Recommended source: Social Media Management Checklist
He sees it as the next step in social media and clearly isn’t the only one, Twitter have also dabbled by developing their own Standalone streaming service, whilst Snapchat have recently updated their software to include a live chat function.
Zuckerberg began pooling a lot of his internal resources to help build this new feature and has clearly put a lot of effort behind this. So what will stop this feature becoming an overhyped, semi-flop, much like Meerkat and Periscope?
And what does it mean for us marketers?
What is Facebook Live?
It's likely you've already seen a Facebook live broadcast,…
8 factors to consider when investing in your first mobile app
From a marketing and branding perspective, launching a mobile app can yield very positive results. However, you’ll also notice that many businesses launch an app, only to see it flop. How can you ensure that your investment in a mobile app is high returning and not wasteful? Well, you need a firm understanding of the process.
The Value of Mobile Apps
It’s challenging to hone in on the specific and tangible value of mobile apps. The trouble is that apps are valued differently in certain industries. Furthermore, an app may work for one business but flop for the closest competitor. Since a mobile app can be such a costly and time-intensive investment for a business, it’s imperative that you understand the value and risks in advance.
You should only consider a mobile app if you know the penetration of smartphones within your target…
Measure your brand's growth rate on social against the industry average
That social networks are still growing rapidly should come as no surprise. In 2014 a quarter of the world's population was active on social media, but by 2018 it is predicted a third of the world will be active. That is a massive increase of almost a billion new people in just 4 years.
The term 'fastest growing' can be defined in a number of ways. If you calculate it in percentage terms, then it will be the newer, smaller social networks that come out on top. For example, if the new social network 'Peach' went from having 10,000 to 100,000 followers in a year then it would have grown at 900%. By this measure, it would be faster growing than a more established network which had growth of 10 million users in a year, even though it had…
Everything you wanted to know about automation, but were too afraid to ask
Despite an impressive pedigree, many companies are still reluctant to go near automation. We examine what makes this powerful tool so misunderstood, and explain how even small steps can start a journey towards big results.
If you’re reading this because you’re unsure whether automation is right for you, then let’s begin by putting your mind at rest. You’re not alone.
Many marketers shy away from the technology due to concerns over affordability, resources and time, or even a worry that it may make a business seem disingenuous.
But as with many fears, the best way to face it is to understand it.
The good news is that automation doesn’t need to be an all or-nothing scenario. There’s no need to dive in at the deep end, as you can easily test…
3 SEO techniques not to use and 3 recommended techniques to take advantage of Google's RankBrain
Ever since Google unveiled RankBrain as the latest leap in their search algorithm’s efficiency just a day after Christmas last year, the ripples it created in the SEO universe have refused to settle down. That’s saying a lot. because RankBrain isn’t really even an algorithm update, it is actually a part of the current version of the algorithm named “Hummingbird” which dates back to a 2013 launch.
With Hummingbird, Google started paying a lot more attention to an entire search query rather than just the keywords. The mission of Hummingbird is to understand the overall context of a sentence and not just specific words. RankBrain takes this effort several steps forward.
Why is RankBrain creating such a noise? The answer is partly because…
The results of our survey on Content Marketing in Europe
In recent years, Content Marketing has been rated by marketers as one of the most effective marketing techniques. Indeed, our survey of Smart Insights readers asking about managing digital marketing in Europe has shown that in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 it was rated as THE most important marketing technique in terms of generating incremental online leads or sales in the year ahead. This has been confirmed in our new piece of research on Content Marketing in Europe in collaboration with HubSpot.
This is now the third consecutive year that we have partnered with HubSpot to gather the opinions of professional content marketers about the key trends affecting the industry and the big challenges they face in…
Google have released a revised version of their Search Quality Raters Guidelines, 5 months after their first (official) incarnation.
Importance [rating=5] (Webmasters & SEO Consultants)
Recommended Source: Google Quality Rater Guidelines
Google released the very first "official" Search Quality Raters Guidelines back in November 2015 and they have just updated it again. To find out a little more about the first official release, check out the post we wrote.
It was suggested that Google would continue to update this document periodically, as Mimi Underwood, Senior Programme Manager for Search Growth & Analysis (which is quite the mouthful) stated...
“The guidelines will continue to evolve as search, and how people use it, changes. We won’t be updating the public document with every change, but we will try to publish big changes to the guidelines periodically.”
However, I don't think it was expected to…
Email has never been so important to marketers
Email marketing is a key part of any digital marketing strategy, and often is one of the most powerful tools for delivering ROI. New research on the chalenges of email marketing from the DMA shows that, increasingly, it is being conducted in-house, rather than left to an agency. However, marketers continue to struggle with measuring ROI and often suffer from a lack of useful data on customers. Take a look at this new infographic from the DMA to see the results of their recent results of their email marketing research.
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The best time to send depends on the content as well as the audience
As a product and/or service provider, one way of reaching your customers is through email. It is one of the least expensive methods of connecting with your clients. You create a well-crafted message and simply send them to your recipients. Then, you sit tight and wait for your recipients to respond back.
Sounds easy right?
Well, it’s not that simple. People get bombarded by a lot of emails every single day and most of them get overlooked. Your email message can be one of them.
Think about this; you’re not the only business sending emails to your clients. You might be competing with thousands of other businesses for a single person’s attention. Plus, you might be competing with your recipient’s family and friends for attention.
Then, how will you place…
