TopRank Marketing Editor

10 Types of Visual Content Your Brand Should Be Creating Right Now [Infographic] – Over the past few years, we’ve seen content become more visual. Marketers have experimented with infographics, videos, and more — and they’ve made plans to keep it up this year. To help narrow your focus, check on this infographic from Canva below. From quote cards to infographics, this helpful list is designed to inspire your next visual project. Canva

Facebook Now Tracks Call-to-Action Clicks via ‘Actions on Page’ Insights Tab – Facebook is giving page owners a deeper understanding into how active those call-to-action buttons are. SocialTimes

Top 16 Most Effective Search Engine Optimization Tips [Infographic] – SEO is a dynamic industry which requires keen observation and consideration in any kind of on-page changes, off-page activities or link-building strategies. The above infographic takes into account the “Top 16 effective Search Engine Optimization tips” recommended by Ahrefs. Social Media Today

Report: Retailers Missing Cross-Channel Personalization Opportunity – According to the 2016 Yesmail Channel Report, retailers are missing out on many opportunities for cross channel promotion and reactive marketing campaigns. SocialTimes

Google Announces “Real-Time Ads” So Marketers Can Jump On The Next Left Shark Moment – To help marketers take advantage of “micro-moments” — those events that everyone starts talking about — Google is today announcing online Real-Time Ads. Google

46 Expert Tips For Creating Addictive Content [INFOGRAPHIC & EBOOK] – This infographic provides tips from 46 content marketing and SEO experts, including Neil Patel, for how to create valuable, addictive content. Venngage

Facebook Ad Budgets Rose 11 Percent In Q4 On Higher ROAS [Study] – Advertisers spent more on Facebook video ads, dynamic product ads and carousel ads during the holiday shopping quarter. Marketing Land

Consumers Becoming More Relaxed About Their Data: Report – Only 1% of consumers trust advertisers to look after their data, yet 27% would be prepared to sell their data and 41% of those believe their data is worth more than £500 per year. This is according to our new report, Value Exchange from Data Exchange, produced in partnership with Acxiom.  Econsultancy

Top New Years Resolutions Of 2015 – The numbers are in and the people have spoken. People have been tweeting their New Years resolutions and Twitter has measured them with the hashtag #NewYearsResolution See the results above. Twitter

Amazon: Adoption Of Sponsored Products Ads Grew By 100 Percent in 2015 – Amazon released a flurry of performance stats for 2015 on Tuesday, including updates on just how popular sponsored product advertisements have become on the e-commerce platform. The company says global adoption of Sponsored Products grew by 100 percent among Amazon sellers in 2015. Marketing Land

U.S. Ad Spending Falls 3.9% in Third Quarter – Ad spending in the U.S. fell 3.9% in the third quarter compared with last year, totaling $36.4 billion, according to Kantar Media’s latest figures released today. Ad Age

[Note from Ashley: Greetings readers! On behalf of the team at TopRank Marketing I would like to wish you all a happy, healthy and safe start to 2016.]

18 Types of Backlinks Violating Google’s Guidelines [Infographic] – When doing SEO for your website, it’s vital to know what are the backlinks that are violating Google’s webmaster guidelines. Here’s a look at 18 types of backlinks that go against the Google guidelines. Monitor Backlinks

Google Shopping Policies Changing In February 2016 – Google posted a help document that discloses the upcoming changes to the Google Shopping Policy Center including changes to their shopping policies. Search Engine Roundtable

A Complete Guide to 2016 Content Marketing Trends [Infographic] – Take a look at this infographic, which reveals their expectations for content marketing budgets, benchmarks and the key trends for 2016. Social Media Today

Bing Reveals The Top US and UK Searches of 2015 – Bing says we’re done collating stuff in 2015, and now’s the time to rank it all in order. What else are you going to do in December? Work? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Search Engine Watch

Why Sponsored Social Is One Of 2015’s Most Effective Marketing Tactics [Study] – Digital marketing is everywhere, but new research shows that sponsored social posts are actually getting noticed, explaining their growing popularity. ClickZ

What Santa Can Teach You About Email Marketing [Infographic] – What can we learn from watching Santa and the way he organizes his work? A lot, actually. Every stage in the process that ends with a present under your Christmas tree has a parallel in email marketing. Let’s look at what Santa does and how we can apply those lessons to email marketing. FreshMail

AdSense Mobile Text Ads Get Another Facelift – Among several design updates, the newer version does away with the need to swipe in order to see the display URL. Marketing Land

Facebook Improves Their Name Process – This week, we will begin to test new tools that address two key goals. First, we want to reduce the number of people who are asked to verify their name on Facebook when they are already using the name people know them by. Second, we want to make it easier for people to confirm their name if necessary. Facebook

A Guide to Data-Driven Holiday Marketing Strategies [INFOGRAPHIC] – How can your business gain a piece of the $650 billion pie? This infographic from Pixel Road Designs (the company of our Chief Social Media Strategist, Brent Csutoras) shows you how to supercharge your marketing and improve your sales this holiday. Pixel Road Designs

Facebook Is Using Surveys to Better Understand Viral Stories – As we work to improve News Feed, we make updates to the algorithm that help make sure you are seeing the most relevant stories at the top of your feed. We want to make sure that everyone who uses News Feed can understand what updates we’re making and the thinking behind them. That’s why we continue to publish News Feed FYI blog posts to explain major updates and how we’re working to get better at showing you the stories that matter most to you. Facebook

Google’s On Page Ranking Factors: Are They Fact Or Myth? [Infographic] – If you’re a website owner, one of your primary goals will be to optimize your site to ensure it ranks high on Google in order to increase organic traffic. When it comes to optimising your website content and other on page factors, it’s important to not only understand what can positively affect your rankings, but also what can harm them. Social Media Today

Report: Fake User Accounts Cost Businesses Millions of Dollars a Year – A report released today from mobile identity solutions provider Telesign examines the impact of fake users on business, and notes the complex problem of finding solutions. SocialTimes

Google Reveals Black Friday In-Store Traffic Data to Help Improve Focus of Online Ads [Infographic] – Google has created a new infographic which looks at in-store traffic patterns over the holiday season, using anonymized Location History records. The stats offer some great insight and highlight where offline metrics are headed – and how they can be used to better target and focus online marketing content. Google

Snapchat Launches Story Explorer, A Swipeable Way To Get Different Visual Perspectives – With a quick swipe up, Snapchat users can now view a different angle on specific stories for a more robust story experience. Marketing Land

Study: Brands Finding Social Ads as Effective as Traditional Advertising – It appears the tide is changing. According to a recent study by IZEA, 52 percent of companies surveyed have a sponsored social budget and they find social ads to be in the top three most effective marketing investments they’ve made. SocialTimes

How Much are Marketers Spending on Millennials? A Lot! [INFOGRAPHIC] – According to the infographic, created by and based on data gathered from Turn, an advertising technology company, marketers are spending 500% more on millennials than every other group combined. As Swant puts it, “there are 75 million millennials in the U.S., and everyone knows advertisers are infatuated with the idea of winning over the biggest buying bloc.” Turn

Report: National Geographic Is the No. 1 Brand on Social Media – New data from Shareablee, shows which publishers fared best on social during Q3, and the impact of wider video adoption. SocialTimes

Study: Retailers Are Ignoring More Than 80% Of Customers’ Social Media Requests – Sprout Social finds most merchants fail to respond to consumer questions on Facebook and Twitter, a problem compounded during the holiday shopping season when the volume of requests increases. Marketing Land

How Social Media Impacts Communication at Work [INFOGRAPHIC] – Workplace technology is important to internal collaboration. This infographic from blogging4jobs.com looks at why many companies see the need for internal social media. It also goes through some of the challenges to the adoption of internal social. Blogging4Jobs

Twitter’s Organic Search Traffic up 20% Since Being Reindexed in Google – Twitter’s organic search traffic on desktop is up 20% in the six months since Google started reindexing tweets in real-time. According to the SimilarWeb study, that equates to an extra 35 million monthly visits. Search Engine Journal

Introducing Notify, a Notifications App from Facebook – Notifications are becoming one of the primary ways people first learn about things wherever they are. Today we are introducing Notify, a new app from Facebook that delivers timely notifications about the things that matter to you, from the sources you love, all in one place. Facebook