Our Top 3 Digital Marketing Articles | August 30

Being a marketer in this information age can be a challenge, to say the least. There’s always new trends, hot research, and new tactics to stay up to date with. Some weeks I feel like I spend hour upon hour reading new articles just to keep up with it all. Today I’m featuring a round-up of the top 3 articles that I’ve recently read. Some articles may be freshly written, whereas some may be a bit older. But all the information is relevant today. I would love to hear what you think about them as well!

How to Use Your Analytics for Smarter Content Decisions by Ann Gynn

In today’s world, we don’t have to guess about which marketing tactics worked and which ones didn’t quite make the impact we were hoping. The data we can glean from our customers and leads is seemingly limitless. As businesses, we are able to follow each digital interaction people have with our brand. But figuring out how to use all that data can be overwhelming. This article discusses some great tips including, looking at analytics over time so that they start to develop a narrative, investigate what people are searching for to land on your site, researching what people are searching for on your site, and utilizing surveys.

My reflections: If you didn’t already know, I’m a huge fan of Google Analytics and the resident expert for Meredith Communications. Basically, I love analytics and agree that utilizing the data that is available to you is key to developing content that clicks with your customers and leads. This article goes beyond some of the basics (such as just looking at age and gender) to give you some good pieces of information to look at, while still being easily digestible. It was also interesting to read the advice of many different professionals and how they utilize analytics in their business.

As advertisers pull back on Facebook, Instagram’s ad spend growth rate is booming by Amy Gesenhues

Results from Q2 were recently released and some may be surprised to learn that Facebook had a relatively slower user growth and less than expected revenue. Facebook’s CFO contributed this to Facebook’s recent focus on Stories and the new privacy controls Facebook allows. He mentioned that they are planning on growing the Facebook Stories function and currently this platform has a lower level of monetization available. Additionally, Facebook recently released new privacy settings for those who use their services. This could also have an impact on their revenue, he mentioned. However, Instagram continues to grow and seems to be the company’s bright spot (they are part of the same company). Spending on Instagram’s ads is growing at 4x the rate of spending on Facebook’s.

My reflections: I thought this was an insightful post that also provides some insight into the way that social media may be heading. Instagram is clearly growing and becoming more popular and if it makes sense for your company, it may just be the time to jump on board. But as the article points out, we must remember that Facebook is older and more established, so it also makes sense that the growth may be more stagnant compared to the newer Instagram platform. As always, I think it’s always important to stay up to date on social media platforms, especially if you’re planning on investing in advertisements.

Facebook Redesigns Pages as Reach Declines by Brian Peters

While this is technically Buffer’s podcast, they also provide a transcript if you would prefer to listen. They start off by discussing Facebook’s plan to redesign pages. Facebook recently took the initiative to redesign Facebook Pages as there are now more Pages out there and users are competing for limited News Feed availability. They mention that the reach for Pages has dropped by more than 50% on average in the last 1.5 years. Facebook is redesigning pages for small businesses – roughly 80 million pages. The change is to focus on the pages becoming more as a “destination” for those who land there. There will be a focus on reviews and recommendations as well as interactions (like making appointments, calling for reservations, seeing menus at the restaurant, etc.). One of the most controversial changes? You’ll now see related pages on your own business page.

My reflections: I’ll be releasing my own blog post on this topic, covering recent changes, in the upcoming days, but it was interesting to read Buffer’s perspective. This is one of the biggest changes that Facebook has made to the look of Pages in recent history. While some of these changes will make it easier for customers and leads to potentially find the information they are interested in (information like reviews, how to call a business, how to make a reservation, etc.) it will require a change on the business side of things. The strategy that businesses use to promote their content will have to change. It’s likely that businesses will need to focus a little less on promoting their own content through posts and instead work on acquiring recommendations and reviews and making sure their information is complete and thorough.

Meredith Oliver is a digital marketing expert, sales and marketing professional speaker, and author. If you’d like more information on speaking engagements or books, visit MeredithSpeaks.com For sales and marketing tips, you’re at the right spot! Take a look around Meredith Communications. Follow her on Twitter: @MeredithCSPand follow her killer shoe collection on Instagram: @MeredithsShoes22.

Categorised in: Digital Marketing