Another month has ended, which means we’re back with our monthly marketing review to inform you of all the latest digital marketing news. This month brought a core algorithm change from Google and a few announcements from both Facebook and Instagram. In this article, we have gone over the most important updates for you as business owners and how you can implement them into your marketing strategy.
Google Updates
Core Algorithm
This month did not see many changes from Google but there was one important new update website owners should know about. In an unusual turn of events, Google confirmed they have updated their core algorithm. These updates usually aren’t announced, which can leave many website owners confused by the sudden changes to their rankings.
If you’ve seen a drop in traffic, this core update may have something to do with it. However, this problem does not have a quick fix. Just keep producing high-quality content, enhancing your overall site, and implementing SEO best practices. If you keep doing this, over time, your rankings may bounce back to where they were before the update.
Mobile-First Indexing
Last month, Google announced they would migrate more websites that follow mobile-first indexing best practices. A few days ago, they announced this process is in full swing. Google’s ranking, crawling and indexing systems used to use the desktop version of websites. This created issues for people conducting searches on mobile devices since the desktop and mobile versions differ from one another. Since most searches done on Google are from mobile devices, they will now use the mobile version of websites for indexing. Remember, this is not a separate index and Google will continue to have just one index. Below is a chart to help website owners get ready for mobile-first indexing.
Google will notify website owners when their site is being migrated via Google Search Console. When your site is being migrated, you’ll see a significant increase in the crawl rate from the Smartphone Googlebot. Making sure your site is mobile-friendly and optimized for speed as it will still help your site perform better under the new mobile-first indexing.
Facebook Updates
She Means Business
Earlier in the month, we celebrated International Women’s Day, highlighting female business owners and their tips for being a successful woman in business. Sharing success stories, advice and tips is a great way for women all over the world to help each other get ahead in today’s competitive business world. In 2016, Facebook introduced a program called, #SheMeansBusiness, to support women business owners. Now Facebook is launching the Community Finder tool which gives female entrepreneurs and business owners the ability to reach out to their peers all over the world.
Women business owners can ask questions, give advice, and find valuable resources which will help them grow their business. With this tool, you select what country you’re in and what information you’re looking for, such as business advice or leadership and career advice. Facebook will then give you a list of online communities which best fit your needs. With this program, women business owners all over the world can easily connect with each other for advice and support.
3D Posts
With 3D content, you can create posts that jump off the page. It is a great way to increase engagement with your users and gives you more creative freedom when producing new content. Facebook is now supporting the glTF 2.0 file format. This is the industry standard for 3D posts and it will allow you to create and share even better 3D content.
This new file format will provide better support for textures, lighting and realistic rendering techniques. Developers will now be able to create seamless 3D sharing into an app which will make it easier to share interactive 3D content on Facebook. With the new Open Graph tag, 3D content on your site will also appear in 3D once you share it on Facebook. Use these new capabilities to get creative with your social media marketing.
Changes to Ad Targeting
Facebook has removed the ability to use “Interested In” targeting in their ads. This means Facebook advertisers can no longer use “Interested in Men”, “Interested in Women”, “Interested in Men and Women”, or “Interested in Unspecified” to build up their targeting list. Ads running with this targeting option will continue to do so until their end date but cannot be renewed. If you don’t change the “Interested In” option to “All” in step 3 of your campaign creation, then the campaign will fail to run. It is recommended to use the “Relationship Status” interest targeting as a replacement.
Instagram Updates
Bio Hashtags and Links
A few months ago, Instagram announced the ability to follow hashtags so users could stay connected to the things which interest them the most. Now in one of Instagram’s latest app updates, they introduced hashtag and profile links in bios. This gives users even more options for expressing and sharing what they’re interested in.
When you include a hashtag or an “@” in your bio, whatever it is will become a live link to that specific hashtag or profile page. It’s as easy as clicking on “edit profile” and typing in “#” or “@”. Once you do, a list of suggested hashtags or profiles will appear. Select whichever ones you want and they’ll become live links in your bio.
Replay Privacy
Snapchat was the first app to introduce the Stories feature. However, since then, Instagram has introduced their own Stories feature and has continuously made updates to make their Stories superior to Snapchat’s. For instance, when you send a direct message through Snapchat, you cannot control how many times the receiver can view your snap though they can only view the private message for a short amount of time. Instagram allows you to decide if the receiver can play the message just once or multiple times.
This month, Instagram released a new and original feature called the “keep in chat” option. When you select this option, the video or image you’re sending will remain in that person’s chat permanently as a thumbnail. For businesses that use direct messaging to send special offers or discount codes to their customers, this is a very beneficial feature.
Previous Updates Rolling Out
In last month’s marketing review, we mentioned a few Instagram updates that were being released but were not yet available to everyone. If you haven’t updated your Instagram app since then, do so now. A few of these features have been completely rolled out including API post scheduling through third-party scheduling apps, Type Mode for Stories, and the ability to share Stories with all different sizes and formats. Always keep an eye out for updates becoming available for your Instagram app so you can gain access to new features as soon as possible.
Potential Updates Coming
There are a few Instagram updates that are potentially in development right now. These potential updates include:
- A “Cinemagraph” feature for Stories. A cinemagraph is a still photo which has a part of the image in motion as seen by the many examples in the video below by Flixel. This feature will help you to create stunning visuals, which is what Instagram is all about.
- Portrait shutter options for Stories. If you have an iPhone X or you’ve seen the portrait mode they have, you know exactly what this means. This update will allow you to take stylized portraits within the Instagram app, enabling you to blur out the background and focus on the subject of the photo.
- Voice and Video Calling within direct messages. For businesses that interact with their customers on Instagram, this could be a great way to personalize your customer service.
Implement These Digital Marketing Updates Today
Google, Facebook, and Instagram are constantly updating, so implementing the latest updates as soon as they come out is very important. At Creative Click Media, we are always aware of the latest digital marketing news. You can let us worry about constant updates while you focus on your business. We provide a wide variety of services including social media marketing, web design, and local SEO. Our team works together so all these services are blended together perfectly to help grow your business. If you’re interested in improving the way you do business, contact us today.
