Digital Marketing News: Google’s Attempt to Fight Fake News, Snapchat’s Bid to Earn More Ad Revenue and More

We’re well into the first year of 2018. How is your year going so far? I hope you’re making good progress in your digital marketing plans this year.

This week’s news column brings you a couple of statistics, changes in Google search, and a great tool for logo design.

The Latest Trends in Social, Search, and Everything Digital

1. Google’s New “Rich Results” Structured Data Testing Tool

“Rich results” is a catchphrase that includes rich snippets, rich cards, and other types of structured data such as JSON, RDFa, and Microdata.

Google’s new tool can help you test the rich results on your website, but only for the following content:

• Movies
• Jobs
• Recipes
• Courses

Google plans to add more types content soon. To use the testing tool, just enter the URL of the site and review the results. It will show you which codes aren’t working so you don’t have to sift through a page of code to find the problem.

2. Facebook Lists Page Posting Frequency

Facebook now lists the number of times a page publishes content on a day to day basis on the platform’s search results. There are two possible benefits of this new feature:

• To set the expectations of users
• To help other marketers understand how frequently similar pages post content
  

Facebook social media marketing tips often advise users to post no more than two times a day. You don’t want to overwhelm your audience, after all. But the many changes to the newsfeed and the spread of sponsor ads mean it’s now harder for page owners to reach their audience. Posting two to five times a day may no longer be enough lol.

Facebook’s certificate program for Journalists even advocates posting frequently. They suggest page owners to stop worrying about over posting, noting that some pages post up to 80 times a day. “The goal of News Feed is to show each person the most relevant story, so not all of your posts are guaranteed to show in their Feeds.”

3. Snapchat May Implement New Measures to Boost Ad Revenue

Snapchat, a social media platform popular among the younger generation, is considering its stand against imposing ads on users. Snapchat users normally skip ads within the first few seconds of it appearing on their screen.

So in a bid to encourage more advertisers and increase revenue, they’re thinking of implementing a no-skip function that forces viewers to watch an ad for a predetermined period before they’re allowed to skip it. It’s not clear yet which videos will be affected by this change, or how they will insert the ads in the video.

They might do something similar to the force-viewed ads on Facebook where a video ad is inserted somewhere in the original video’s timeline, and viewers are forced to watch it for a few seconds before the original video continues playing.

Snapchat may also try YouTube’s strategy where users need to watch the advertisement for a few seconds before the “Skip ad” button shows up on their screen.

4. Google Removing News Sites that Hide their Location

Google recently announced that they will no longer show articles from news sites that hide or try to manipulate their location. News sites from foreign countries can no longer claim to be from the USA or any other country, and vice versa.

5. Americans Tied to their Inbox

Whoever said email marketing and email as a form of communication is dead clearly didn’t read this survey. Fluent’s 2018 Inbox report shows that 78% out of 2,667 Americans surveyed check their inbox several times a day.

This is not just good news for open rates, but also for overall engagement and conversion. The same study found that 26% of participants clicked on a link to the sender’s website, while 26% made a purchase.

6. Social Media Affects E-Commerce

PwC’s Total Retail Survey showed that 78% of more than 22,000 consumers surveyed are influenced by what they see on social media when shopping online.

Millennials 18 to 24 years old are 30% likely to purchase items directly on Facebook, 20% on Twitter, and 27% on Instagram according to Marketing Week. But consumers age 25 to 34 don’t share their enthusiasm for social media shopping, as only 30% of them buy directly on Facebook, while 54 to 65-year-olds hardly buy anything via the platform.

The 2017 version of the survey paints a similar picture with 39% of participants saying they use social media to draw inspiration for their purchases.

7. Tool of the Month: LogoJoy

Online logo makers offer an affordable solution for solopreneurs and small businesses in need of a logo, but can’t afford the services of a designer. Unlike Canva, Picmonkey, or the other DIY logo makers out there, Logojoy uses artificial intelligence to help users create a logo that represents their brand.

They don’t have templates and all their logos are unique, so you don’t run the risk of finding a business with a similar looking logo.

How does it work?

First, they show you a couple of logo styles to choose from. What you pick will serve as their AI’s inspiration for generating your options. After that, you’ll pick from their wide selection of color pallet, and their software will then use this to design your logo.

You’ll then answer a few questions about your business, such as your business name, slogan, or the industry you’re in. Your answers will give their AI a clue on what kind of designs best work for you, and of course your slogan or business name may be included in the logo design options you’ll get. You’ll also be asked to choose a couple of icons that represent your brand.

When all that’s done, Logojoy will present you with tons of options based on your selections. You can then edit your chosen image as you see fit.

For me, this type of service works best for people with no background in design. With Canva, they give you the tools and templates you need to create a logo for yourself. But that means you’ll still need to experiment with layout and color pairings. Logojoy does that work for you, and also shows you other options for icons, font, layout, and color schemes you wouldn’t have otherwise thought of.

My father’s ad agency once got 900k for a logo / rebranding project and we have done some great branding work but these days, for small businesses, some of these tools may be worth a try.

Facebook Big Changes for Publishers

Last but not least in this week’s news column is Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement to change Facebook’s Newsfeed again. He mentioned prioritizing posts from families and friends in the Newsfeed, and this sent publishers and advertisers in a state of panic.

We’re hearing conflicting opinions about this. Some people are thinking of just closing their Facebook page and re-enabling the comments section of their website, so they can control their own traffic and not pay for Facebook ads. Others are saying business owners should learn to adapt to these changes, claiming that a business that relies on Facebook too much doesn’t have a proper marketing strategy.

What do you think?