Digital Marketing Month in Review by Four Dots: August 2021

Hello and welcome to Digital Marketing Month in Review by Four Dots. This is our monthly column where we comb through some of the most relevant news and events that took place within the digital marketing landscape over the last month or so.

Let’s see what the August 2021 edition brings us:   

• Twitter Improves the Way of Informing Users About Trending Topics
• Google Ads Editor v1.7 is Now Available
• LinkedIn Rolled Out Native Video Meeting Option
• Facebook Messenger is Now 10 Years Old: New Features
• Adam Mosseri Gives Insight on Instagram’s Search Result Ranking
• Google’s Update for Link Spam is Completed
• TikTok to Add Shopify Shop Tab for Approved Merchant Profiles

Alrighty then, let’s dive right in! 

Twitter Improves the Way of Informing Users About Trending Topics

Asking yourself why some topic is trending on Twitter? Would you like to have more information about it and cannot find more context? Twitter users are now provided with more information thanks to Twitter’s collaboration with The Associated Press (AP) and Reuters. So far, Twitter has been explaining top trends by providing additional context to the trend such as a Twitter Moment, a single tweet, or a written description. Twitter’s curation team with a lack of experience in investigative journalism is currently in charge of attaching explanations to trending topics, but now the fact-checking will be raised to a higher level.

Image source: Unsplash.com

Twitters says their efforts will be focused on:

• Scale
• Speed
• Accuracy
• Trustworthiness

Besides, providing more information about the topic before it gets viral is one of Twitter’s aims. English language content will be the first one in a row to be improved in the initial phase of the program.

Google Ads Editor v1.7 is now available

Google Ads Editor v1.7 is now available, Google announced. What does this release include? Google Ads Editor v1.7 now includes support for Hotel Ads, Youtube audio Ads, and lead form extensions. Previous versions that were released in November 2020 (Google Ads Editor v1.5) and April 2021 (Google Ads Editor v1.6) introduced support for responsive video ads, asset-based promotion extensions, video lineups, image extensions, dynamic ads feeds, the ability to filter by various criteria and many more.

Image Source: Google

By managing Hotel Ads, it is easy to reach new customers and drive bookings. Google Ads Editor now supports lead form extensions, which make it easier for customers to contact as they search or watch relevant content. Also, it offers easier downloads for users who would prefer to work in their campaigns offline. Last but not least, Google Ads Editor is now supporting YouTube audio ads to help users drive brand awareness. 

LinkedIn Rolled Out Native Video Meeting Option

LinkedIn released a new, native video option within its messaging platform. It provides another way to connect with users, without the need to download a separate video app. 

LinkedIn points out that this Microsoft-powered native video meeting has three main goals:

• Members-first: Building a members-first feature for easy video conferencing
• Modular: Unlocking the power of video conferencing across the LinkedIn ecosystem
• Scalable and reliable: Enabling video conferencing that can scale to support hundreds of millions of members.

“With over 744 million members on LinkedIn, we want to make professional conversations more personal by helping members meet face-to-face over video, especially in this time of hybrid and remote work where many of us cannot meet in person,” LinkedIn says.

On new foundations of video conferencing, LinkedIn has also several features in plan to make video experience even better. When it comes to future plans, LinkedIn is willing to introduce a calendar integration so that a scheduled meeting sends an email with an ICS to both parties, simultaneously chatting while in a video conference, and screen sharing option.

Facebook Messenger is Now 10 Years Old: New Features

Facebook is adding four new features for its 10th anniversary to make communication better. These new features enable sending cash, creating polls in group chats, and playing games with friends. 

Let’s see what are the new capabilities of Facebook Messenger:

• Sending and receiving Cash gifts – Cash gifts are now allowed via Facebook Messenger for users from the US and they even come wrapped and decorated with virtual balloons.
• Group Chat Poll Games – Facebook users can now play “Most likely to” and entertain their friends in their group chats.
• Birthday-themed Tools – Facebook Messenger is celebrating its 10th birthday with a new birthday chat theme, specially selected stickers, background, birthday song soundmoji, AR effect, and confetti effect.
• An easier way to share contacts – Facebook users can now share their contacts directly to their friends by simply selecting the contact they want to share. They can easily access the chat settings and tap Share Contact under the More Actions section.

Facebook has also announced that it will release a new feature called Word Effects. It will work on the principle of pairing words and emojis, triggering the animation that corresponds to the word mentioned in the conversation.

Adam Mosseri Gives Insight on Instagram’s Search Result Ranking

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, offered some insights as to how the app ranks content and gave a few tips concerning SEO best practices. 

Mosseri previously revealed the inner workings of Instagram’s recommendation algorithms, which surface content in the main feed, stories, reels, and explore sections.

Because it relies on a user entering text to produce results, Instagram ranks search results differently. The explore tab, for example, automatically populates content.

He gave a very clear explanation:

“Let’s say you’re interested in finding pictures of space after seeing the blue moon. When you tap the search bar on the Explore page, the first thing you see is your recent searches. As you begin typing “space,” we show you accounts, audio, hashtags, and places that match the text of your search. In this case, results like @space and # space show up because “space” appears in their name.”

To put it visually:

Image credit: Instagram

As for ranking signals, we have listed them by importance:

• Your text: Instagram’s most crucial ranking signal is the words you type into the search bar. It will attempt to match the text with appropriate identities, profiles, captions, hashtags, and locations first.
  
• Your activity: Instagram prioritizes accounts and hashtags that you follow or frequent above those that you do not.
  
• User engagement: Instagram will look at engagement signals when there are a lot of potential results. For a specific account, hashtag, or location, these include the number of clicks, likes, shares, and followers.

Google’s Update for Link Spam is Completed

On August 24th, Google finally completed its Link Spam Update. As is the case with every algorithm update, there was an uproar on social media concerning the impact on the rankings as well as their fluctuation. As a sort of damage control, Google has been regularly informing the SEO community of any upcoming updates, whether it is confirming that an update has occurred or is planned. 

This new update shouldn’t have any influence on SEO results that were acquired in accordance with Google’s rules. The main purpose of this latest change is to right the wrongs of spammy or unethical link building practices that somehow still seemed to work.

Google’s team finishes the Link Spam Update blog post with:

“Focusing on producing high quality content and improving user experience always wins out compared to manipulating links.”

Final word: due to Google’s practice of announcing any major update in a timely manner, there is no excuse for idleness when it comes to fixing up your backlink portfolio.

TikTok to Add Shopify Shop Tab for Approved Merchant Profiles

It seems that the collaboration between TikTok and Shopify just keeps giving. TikTok has recently unveiled a plan for a new Shopify merchant profile expansion that, as the name implies, will add a new product display showcase to your in-app presence.

Image credit: SocialMediaToday

As the Shopify team explained:

“Shopify merchants with a TikTok For Business account will soon be able to add a shopping tab to their TikTok profiles and sync their product catalogues to create a mini-storefront that links directly to their online store for checkout.”

So it’s not in-app purchasing, but it’s a huge step forward in TikTok’s bigger eCommerce effort, allowing direct product marketing within a dedicated storefront space, much like Instagram’s in-app Shops option.

The Chinese equivalent of TikTok, known as ‘Douyin,’ has been a huge hit, with eCommerce transactions accounting for the majority of its earnings. According to sources, e-commerce transactions in Douyin tripled in the last year, showing both the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects and the increasing shift toward online buying.
  

Wrapping Up

That would be all for this installment of Digital Marketing Month in Review by Four Dots. See you next month, until then – feel free to check out our previous edition!