9 Mistakes Most Businesses Make on Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC] – Getting into social is so easy, many business jump right in without a second though. Everyone is doing it, right? Check out these 9 mistakes many businesses are making on social and how you can make sure you aren’t making them. Social Media Today
Google Releases Penguin 3.0 — First Penguin Update In Over A Year – Google confirms that a new version of its Penguin filter aimed at fighting spam went live on Friday. Search Engine Land
Study: Marketers Increasingly Opting For Facebook Video Over YouTube – Facebook has been doing all it can to give marketers more of a reward for posting videos to the site. According to a study published recently by Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer Socialbakers, the number of videos Facebook admins directly upload to the site could soon surpass videos linked from YouTube. InsideFacebook
41% Of Shoppers Plan To Spend More Online This Holiday Season – Last week, the National Retail Federation predicted a 4.1% increase in holiday buying this year. I’d call that cautiously optimistic. This week, PwC and Strategy& released their holiday predictions and it’s not nearly as rosy. Find out why. Marketing Pilgrim
Call Gap: Survey Finds 54 Percent Of Search Marketers Don’t Track Phone Conversions From Search Campaigns – How important are offline phone calls to search marketers? Google has reported that 70 percent of mobile searchers have called a business directly from search results. BIA/Kelsey estimates inbound phone calls from mobile search will grow from roughly 40 billion this year to 70 billion in 2016. Search Engine Land
REPORT: Not Surprisingly, Brands’ Organic Reach Down, Paid Reach Up on Facebook – This is probably not going to come as a shock to brands on Facebook, but if you want to play, you pretty much have to pay, as a new report from Adobe found that impressions for organic posts on the social network by brands are down 50 percent in 2014 compared with 2013, while paid impressions are up 5 percent during the same time period. AllFacebook
B2B Content Marketing Trends for 2015 [INFOGRAPHIC] – Did you know that 92 percent of business to business (B2B) content marketers use social media? LinkedIn is their platform of choice, favoured by 94 percent of B2B brands, ahead of Twitter (88 percent), Facebook (84 percent), Google (72 percent) and Google+ (64 percent). Check the visual in this link for more insights, which comes courtesy of Uberflip. AllTwitter
Google’s Ad-Price Declines Continue for 12th Straight Quarter – The big question heading into Google’s quarterly earnings reports for the past couple years has been whether the company has finally gotten advertisers to pay more for each ad they buy. As of Thursday, the answer was: Still no. AdAge
One Third of Companies Fail to Measure Data Quality ROI – Two fifths of companies surveyed recently by Experian Data Quality spend more than $1 million annually on data quality technology, and another 22% spends at least $500,000, but a significant number of them do not calculate the return on their investment from data quality tools. Direct Marketing News
Survey: 77% Of B2C Marketers Use Content Marketing, But 21% Fail To Track Its ROI – In a follow up to its B2B Content Marketing survey results, the Content Marketing institute released its B2C Content Marketing report, revealing 77 percent of B2C marketers surveyed are using content marketing tactics. Marketing Land
4 in 5 Companies Report Steady or Increasing Costs-Per-Lead – A slim majority of marketers and salespeople from around the world say that their lead generation effectiveness is improving, while just 1 in 10 see it worsening, finds Ascend2 and its Research Partners in a new study [download page]. While that may be the case, respondents (chiefly B2B-focused) were more likely to say that their costs-per-lead are increasing (25%) than decreasing (19%). MarketingCharts
Google Analytics Rolls Out New Tag Manager Tools – Google analytics launched a new set of tools for Tag Manager users, including new APIs, third-party templates and a refreshed user interface. Search Engine Land
From our Online Marketing Community:
From 3 Ways to Optimize Your Brand’s Social Media Marketing Success, Ashwin Satyanarayana said, Now, “When someone shares your content, do social networks pick the right image?” That’s something I am still struggling with — not just for myself but also for my clients. Do you have a few tips on how to get that part right? So, I see that UX now brings in a fast-growing giant child called SUX. God bless the Internet 🙂 I still see a lot of folks ( and brands, and small businesses) on social with the “me me me” thing. I have to agree on the need to build a real community of people who actually know and respect each other.”
Christopher Watkins commented, “Really solid observations, thank you! Unquestionably UX is so critical (sorry, having trouble deploying SUX!), as is the balance of generative vs. curatorial content, and while I recognize there are legitimate ongoing debates around the real value of Influencer Marketing, I still maintain that a nuanced, sophisticated, and disciplined targeting strategy that incorporates intelligent influencer marketing tactics is invaluable. All in all, a fine piece of work, and a valuable one. A pleasure to share it …”
And on Online Marketing News: Safety Check Everyone, Content Marketing in 2015, Golden Triangle Downfall, Kostas Chiotis shared, “Hi Ben, great round up – the Facebook safety check is an interesting concept and I will be interested to see how that actually pans out in reality.”
What were the top online and digital marketing news stories for you this week?
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
Infographic: Social Media Today
