2013-2014 Digital Marketing Changes You Need To Know

The Fascination with the Short Video

In early 2013, Twitter launched Vine, a mobile service that lets you capture and share short looping videos. I still remember when my 17 year old niece introduced me to it mid 2013. She was addicted. 
Vine saw 403% growth between the first and third quarters of 2013, making it the fastest-growing app of the year. But then Instagram, a photo sharing service launched its video feature.

Facebook trailing behind in the game rolled out auto-play video ads in December 2013. According to Facebook, the social network began testing auto-play video ads in September and the changes resulted in a more than 10 percent increase in video views, likes, shares and comments. 


Advertisers are exploring with vine, one company in particular having major success. Dunkin Donuts scored social-media points all football season with its Vine-ESPN play  ( a series of instant reply vine videos with the company's signature cups as the players). Brilliant in that the advertising was inexpensive and likeable.

New "Rich" Pinning on Pinterest 

Pic.: Pinterest’s Rich Pins, business.pinterest.com/rich-pins

Pinterest launched Web Analytics by for verified business accounts in March answering the question  “What are people pinning from my websites?” The free Web Analytics platform helps marketers see Pinterest metrics in categories including Site Metrics, Most Recent, Most Pinned and Most Clicked.

Pinterest introduced Rich Pins in May 2013. Instead of linking back to the pin’s origin, each new Rich Pin provides users additional information about that item aimed to better put them in a position to make a purchase. 

There are three different types of Rich Pins:
Product (offers real time pricing, availability, and where to buy the item)
Recipes (provide information like cook time, ingredients, and servings to help foodies and food bloggers create new creations using branded pin)
Movies (content ratings, cast members, and more designed to provide a new layer of information about these movies)

LinkedIn Morphs from networking platform to content hub

LinkedIn expanded its services through the successful launch of Showcase Pages which are dedicated content hubs enabling businesses to extend their Company Page presence. The attraction of the Showcase Pages is that it effectively segments audiences and enables businesses to deliver relevant message to the targeted audiences. Showcase Pages enables companies, with multiple business units or brands, to create individual, segmented marketing channels on LinkedIn. Talk about zeroing in on your intended audience. 

Facebook messes with the News Feed...Again

Early March did you notice a change in how your News Feed shows postings? 
Well Facebook redesign and added larger visuals.
Why? It designed the feed with a mobile-first user interface in mind. 

The good and the bad for marketers:
The changes made good photos look even better in the News Feed, but also made bad photos look terrible forcing marketers to step up their visual quality. 

Facebook Focuses On Quality Images, Not Marketing Images

Facebook's 20% rule required text to appear on less than 20% of cover photos  and promoted posts. 
Facebook continues to roll out changes for design and ads. In 2013, 

Facebook’s 20% Rule required text to appear on less than 20% of Cover Photos (and Promoted Posts). This is their attempt to work with their new visual feature.

Facebook rolled out a series of ad changes in 2013, eliminating at least 13 ad units and increasing ad targeting opportunities. This move simplified the process of creating an ad for marketers. I kind of like this new change. 

pic: social fresh - Amit Lavi post on social fresh titled Face Book Ad Changes are Great for Small Business, But What About Large Advertisers?

Is SnapChat for Your Brand?

The question of the hour: Is SnapChat right for you and how they hell is it a marketing tool?

According to Hillary Frazier, Sr. Social Media Specialist for Michigan State, brands like Taco Bell, 16 Handles, Rebecca Minkoff, WetSeal, and even the Philadelphia Eagles are using Snapchat.

But for those who are familiar with the popular social media platform that has college aged youth by their phone wielding thumbs, you wouldn’t say that it is a tool for advertising or marketing like Facebook and Twitter. And you are right, its so not.

SnapChat is a tool that enables the brand to seem a little more human (approachable, like-minded and friendly). Once you see the tool as such, you will be able to understand its endless marketing potential for brands (who can be creative) and answer the question if its right for your brand.

An Easy Breakdown of the World's Most Popular Social Media Sites

Grow Your Club With Social Media: How to Show Up at the Top of Search Results

Last month I discussed the advantages of using social media tools effectively and encouraged your club to get online. Now that you are online, let’s talk about how to increase your website’s chances of getting found in search results.

April Tip:  Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s (Google, Bing, etc.) search results. Everyone wants to show up on the top of the results page but beware! It takes work. The search engines have algorithms that pick up on the keywords, tags, categories and links you use on your sites page and ranks pages accordingly. Make it easy for the algorithms to pick your site up by frequently and strategically using keywords. I am not suggesting to stuff your site with tons of keywords (search engine’s don’t like that) but do make sure to use them anytime it’s applicable. Use words that people would enter when looking for a resource to build speaking skills but don’t know Toastmasters exist i.e “improve presentation skills” or “public speaking in Los Angeles” or “learn communication skills in orange county”, etc. You have to think like the person searching and what keywords they would use.

The easiest way to organically move up to the top of the search results is to have quality content, strategic and frequent keyword placement, and backlinks. A backlink is any link received by a web node (web page, directory, website, or top level domain) from another web node. For some search engines, the number of backlinks is an indication of the popularity and will rank it highly. An easy way to increase backlinks is with a club blog. Make sure to link your website to ALL of your social media accounts and post on them frequently. If you need additional guidance please email krystal@growyoursocial.com or go to www.growyoursocial.com

Grow Your Club With Social Media: Why Use Social Media to Promote Your Club

As VP of Public Relations for Parsons Toastmasters, it is my responsibility to let the public know our club exists and entice them to check us out. I strive to use every resource available to attract new guests, share educational resources and keep members up to date with events. I successfully accomplish my goals through the utilization of several social media channels. Social media channels, such as blogging, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, present great marketing opportunities for your club. Through the appropriate channels you can effectively promote your club to your target audience, build and maintain relationships with club members and, more importantly, let prospects who seek to improve their speaking and presentation skills know you exist. Having an online presence is no longer debatable. If you want to be found, you need to put yourself out there.

Utilizing Social Media tools effectively offers the following advantages:

·            Local Reach - social media can reach people in specific locations (in and around your city)

·            Ability to Target particular groups - many forms of social media (e.g. Facebook, Foursquare, Meetup) allow businesses to target specific groups

·            Free or Low-Cost - many forms of social media are free or inexpensive to subscribe

·            Relationship Building - social media allows you to communicate on a personal  level and even on a daily basis with individual customers and groups

·            Fast Distribution – you can quickly distribute information to many people at one time at any time

March Tip: “If you are not online, now is the time.” Get started and get a website going. The easiest action you can take to tell the virtual world that “YOU ARE HERE” is creating a simple website with general information. You can get free website templates and hosting at FreeToastHost, Wordpress and Blogger. Your VP of PR or a member can volunteer to populate the website with QUALITY content. Let the world know who you (the club) are, what you offer, and how they can be a part of it. Make sure to have a Call to Action i.e. an email address, meeting location and point of contact.

Look for next months time in this series: How to Show Up at the Top of Search Results