townsend.bunksite.com

Tag: Facebook

5 for Friday: New Apple Gadgets, Net Neutrality, And Twitter Says Buy, Buy, Buy!

1. Apple’s Big Reveal
-Mashable

This week, it’s impossible to ignore Apple’s big unveilings. While the new iPhone 6 may come with some interesting upgrades, for me, “the big reveal” was all about the Apple Watch. The new gadget is very slick looking and appears to be packed with features. Apple aims to put our entire social networks on our wrists while combining a fitness tracker, texting and voice capabilities, as well as a ton of fun apps. Check out this article, which talks about the technology behind Apple Watch.

2. Twitter’s Advances Its E-Commerce Plans
-TechCrunch

As the ever growing competition between social media giants continues, Twitter explores alternative revenue options other than advertisements. The Nathan Hubbard, Twitter’s head of commerce, says of the microblogging platform, “[We] want to be a bridge between a consumer wanting something and getting it.” While still in the testing phase, the “Buy” button is a big step for Twitter in a series of initiatives built to generate more profit from its 271 million users. How do you feel about the option to buy goods from within Tweets?

3. Facebook Converts Higher Value Into Better Marketing Services
-Bloomberg

While on the subject of social media advertising, check out this article on Bloomberg, which talks about Facebook’s incremental improvements to its array of advertising services. Marketers today are willing to spend more money for better conversion tracking, innovative new promotion options (such as video ads), and improved mobile ads.

4. Social Networks for Net Neutrality
-TechHive

Over a dozen large websites, such as Netflix, Foursquare, and WordPress, joined “The Internet Slowdown Day” protest on Wednesday, looking to garner public support in the fight for net neutrality. Citing big Internet providers as the enemy, the websites simulated what the fast and slow lanes of the Internet would look like by displaying the loading page icons on their home pages. As September 15th approaches (the deadline for second-round comments on FCC proposed net neutrality rules), the conversation about Web traffic regulations is as pertinent as ever.

5. Are You Using All Possible Keyword Sources?
-Moz.com

This highly informative post by Neil Patel uncovers some of the potential sources for your keyword research that you may not have thought of previously. While you may already have a preferred tool, the author suggests several unorthodox ways to supplement your research and, ultimately, lead to a better SEO campaign.

Image Sources:

Save the Internet Image

Twitter Buy Now Button

App Filled Five Image

September 12, 2014
5 For Friday – Amazon Ad Challenge, Facebook Changes, Twitter Spam, & Google’s Snafu

1) Amazon Takes on Google Adwords – Wall Street Journal

The war for Internet supremacy rages on between Google and Amazon. The increasingly competitive relationship between the two giants has grown even more strained as of late, but their tenuous relationship has survived largely because Amazon is one of Google’s largest advertisers for text ads. But that may change.

Amazon is working on a competing in-house platform, and testing could commence as early as later this year. Using the plethora of shopping data the online retailer has amassed, the program could almost instantly become a major force against the search engine’s online ad dominance.

2) Despite More Ads, Facebook Promises, “We Will Not Show More Ads” – Digiday

Speaking of Internet giants, Facebook is in the news again. In a rather quiet update earlier this month, Facebook amended its advertising policy to allow marketers to show ads more frequently in users’ News Feeds.

The update allows advertisers to show the same ad twice a day, as opposed to the previous once a day restriction. The new update also allows advertisers to show users two News Feeds ads per day from a page that they did not explicitly “Like,” again up from just one.

Facebook emphasizes that you will not see more ads from various companies, just possibly more ads from the same company. A Facebook spokesperson said of the change, “This does not change ad load. We will not show more ads; rather, we are updating the spacing between ads, and relaxing some of the parameters around the insertion of ads.”

Hmmm… more ads is more ads, no matter who they are from.

3) More from Zuckerberg & Co: Facebook is Finally Cracking down in Upworthy-Style Click Bait – Gizmodo

We’ve all seen it – an annoying, attention-grabbing headline like “No One Would Help This Little Girl from Being Bullied. What She Did Next Will Shock and Amaze You.”

Of course, these headlines are designed only to generate clicks, but dang, am I intrigued. I mostly refuse to click them simply on principle, but even when I do succumb to the temptation, I am always disappointed.

Thankfully, Facebook is finally taking steps to eradicate this spammy click bait by looking at how long people actually read the articles they click on as well as comparing the click ratio to comments, “Likes,” and shares.

Facebook also announced that links should be posted in a “link format” instead of shared in the status update and captions of photos. Posts that have links in the captions will be given less priority in the News Feed.

4) Meet Twitter’s Spam-Fighting Tool – Marketing Land

And now, a word from that other social media juggernaut: Last week, Twitter gave an inside look at their super spam-killing system known as BotMaker. Since launching the system recently, spam metrics have dropped 40% overall.

BotMaker is designed to prevent spam content from being created, reduce the amount of time spam appears on Twitter, and reduce the reaction of new spam attacks. To accomplish this, Twitter uses a combination of systems that detect spam at various stages: Scarecrow (real time), Sniper (near real time), and Periodic (over extended periods of time). What makes it even more effective is its ability to adapt quickly with new models and rules to combat the ever-changing production and proliferation of spam.

To learn more about the creation of BotMaker and how it works, feel free to dig in deep over on the Twitter Engineering Blog.

5) Moving to HTTPS: Good or Bad? – Wall Street Journal

Google recently announced it would be giving a boost in search rankings to encrypted websites. But in an effort to push site owners to switch to HTTPS, Google overlooked the fact that many web components, including its own Trusted Stores and AdSense, are not completely compatible with those types of sites yet.

To protect sensitive info, sites were already required to have their checkout pages encrypted, but the announced rankings boost spurred many sites to try and convert all of their “non-sensitive” pages as well.

This caused a bit of a problem with user experience. Trusted Stores is not compatible with basic encryption, meaning that the required badge cannot be displayed. Without this badge, Google will not accept HTTPS sites into the Verified Stores program.

As for AdSense, Google now acknowledges that “if you convert your HTTP site to HTTPS, ads on your HTTPS pages might earn less than those on your HTTP pages.” This is because the HTTPS ads don’t compete in auctions with HTTP ads, which lowers rates. Whoops!

Image Sources:

Amazon in Browser

Do Not Push Button
“Oops my bad”

August 29, 2014
Five For Friday: Facebook Mobile Ad Tracking, Promoted Video Tweets, And More.
Facebook rolls out new way for advertisers to track engagement with mobile ad campaigns. User suspicion on the rise as updated Messenger app gains greater access to personal information stored on mobile devices. Twitter begins testing promoted video posts for brands. Yelp and Bing join forces in the name of breaking down international language barriers. New addition to Google guidelines marks the end of guest blogging. Get the scoop with this week’s Five For Friday.

1. Facebook introduces new ad data tool – Marketingland

Facebook announced on Wednesday that they would begin allowing advertisers to track the click through rate of promoted posts and sponsored ads on mobile devices. According to a white paper written for Facebook by Altimeter Group titled, “Why Mobile is Essential for Brand Marketing,” users spend an average of 40 minutes per day on the Facebook mobile app. The white paper also revealed that users check their mobile phone nearly 150 times per day, and that 51% of mobile users say they prioritize checking their notifications over other messages. Aside from confirming the fact that most people are more attached to their smartphones than their own shadows, the research reveals just how important it is for businesses to be able to reach their target audience with mobile ads.

Conversion tracking helps businesses measure the return on investment for their Facebook Ads. The conversion reports on the actions people take after viewing and interacting with an advertisement. Marketing Land discusses the implications of the new cross-device feature, including that it enables advertisers to closely track mobile browsing behavior and allows them to better understand how customers are reacting to their campaigns. While Facebook already allowed for advertisers to target specific users, the new cross-device report amplifies an advertiser’s ability to view more detailed metrics on mobile conversions.

What does this mean to you? Now, using this cross conversion report, businesses can track the success rate of their ad campaigns. Ads that were previously unsuccessful among PC users may be working well as a real-time mobile marketing tool. These ads can be tracked based on location as well, so get excited for better campaign analysis!

2. Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Messenger spy game – Mashable

You’ve probably noticed a recent influx of paranoia popping up on your news feed, this time about the “permissions granted” required to download the new Facebook Messenger app. The concern is based on suspicions that the app can access your smartphone camera and microphone along with a plethora of other private information stored on your device. Considering the PRISM program’s deal with Facebook, as revealed by Edward Snowden just one year ago, the public is beginning to feel more aware of apps having increased access to personal information. The origin of these suspicions seems to be based off a 2013 Huffington Post article. Some of the app’s new capabilities include:
- Facebook can read your phone’s call log, including info about incoming and outgoing calls. Who have you been calling? How long did you talk to them?
- Facebook can actively track your GPS location, approximate location, or precise location.
- Facebook can actively record video and audio from your phone and take pictures as well as view all files stored on your phone.
Mashable breaks it down for us in a different way, explaining that a lot of the permissions allow the app to have all of its convenient, user-friendly sharing capabilities:
- Facebook Messenger requests permission to access your camera and microphone so the user can share images and record videos right from the app.
- Facebook allows users to directly call people with the app. It needs permission to access your device’s call log so that it can identify who may be calling you via the Messenger app.
- Facebook requests permission to access your GPS location so that you can check-in and share your location with friends and in posts.
Now that we’ve walked through two perspectives on the issue, what do you think? Is this just a ploy to monitor the 250 million users on Facebook, or is it another step toward providing an optimal user-based experience?

3. Twitter introduces promoted video sharing – Mediabistro

Twitter has introduced a new nifty feature where businesses can better communicate with their followers using promoted video sharing. According to the Twitter blog, “by using Promoted Video, it’s easy for brands to upload and distribute video on Twitter, and to measure the reach and effectiveness of this content.”

What does this mean to you? As a business, you’ll have more options when it comes to competing for user attention and interaction. If your business is already actively using Twitter, statistics have shown that promoted videos gain more viewers than ever before. The cost-per-view ad model includes ample opportunity to see viewer analytics, including organic as well as paid posts. Overall, this means a much more engaging Twitter feed and increased opportunities for businesses to reach targeted audiences.

4. Yelp introduces Bing translation– Marketing Land

How nice would it be for everyone to communicate with each other as needed, especially about food? Well, that day seems to have arrived, as Yelp has now introduced a Bing translator capability, according to Marketing Land. Yelp can now translate up to 15 languages, which is sure to help travelers that can’t seem to navigate through restaurant menus, reviews, and directions that are posted in different languages. For international eateries looking to attract tourists with local customer reviews, this app update is perfect.

5. Google updates guideline violations – Search Engine Land

With the ongoing battle for good content, Google+ has now updated their listed standards for determining what is considered spam. Guest blogging, a common practice used for SEO purposes, is now on the Google radar. Search Engine Land reports that guest blogging has been used as an attempt to cut-corners around Google’s algorithm, so if you are using low-quality guest blogs to increase the results of your Google page search results, then it is definitely time to stop. Certain guest blogger sites have already been removed from the Google-ranking loop, as reported by Search Engine Land back in April.

This update is just another example of Google’s ongoing mission to deliver meaningful, authentic content to Internet users. If you haven’t already, take the time to review your business’s blog and website. The real moral of this update: Consider the ways your products and services cater to your audience’s needs by publishing content that is unique and informative!

Image Sources:

Red Five Image

They’re Trying To Read My Thoughts Gif

Tony Hawk Twitter Video Gif

Belle Tasting Food Gif
August 15, 2014
Five For Friday: Tweets Within Tweets, Foursquare Gets A Facelift, And More!

1. Personal Preferences Killed The Check-In
-Mashable

Once upon a time, Foursquare made “checking in” at a location cool. But as of its latest update on Wednesday (8/6), the app has completely removed that feature. Now, those who want to broadcast their location to their social media spheres can do so with Swarm, Foursquare’s spin-off app that debuted in May.

So what does that mean for Foursquare 8.0? Well, the app has a completely remodeled user experience: new colors, new logo, new layout, and new functions. Once you login, the app asks about your preferences (Are you into Pho? What about Chai Lattes?), then uses those preferences to provide recommendations just for you about places nearby. The app also provides filters to help you narrow down your findings. By using these filters and profiling users’ tastes, Foursquare has successfully become a more personalized version of databases like Yelp, and could potentially change the way people explore their cities. Pretty epic.

2. Get Your Google Reviews On Your WordPress Blog
-Blumenthals

For those with WordPress blogs and websites, there is now a plugin that allows you to share your Google reviews on your page! Google Places Review lets WordPress sites embed Google reviews in two ways: The free, basic version provides a widget in the sidebar showing up to 3 of your most recent Google reviews. The pro version, which is available for $20, provides up to 5 reviews on any page using short codes. The pro version also allows you to filter by star ratings, offers optimized widget caching, and includes a customizable feature for collapsing and expanding reviews. Presumably, posting your reviews on your site can help boost consumer confidence, while providing easy exposure to your good reviews. A recent study by Dimensional Research found that 90% of consumers are influenced by positive online reviews, so get out there and show the interwebs how great you are!

3. #Tweetception
-MediaBistro

For those who feel that retweeting simply isn’t enough, there was an interesting update from Twitter this past week: you can now embed a tweet within another tweet! All you have to do is copy and paste the URL of the tweet you want to embed, and then Twitter takes the wheel. The embedded tweet acts as a link that takes you through to the full version of that tweet (you can see my own #tweetception example below). The best part of this feature is that embedded tweets only use up the same amount of characters as any other shortened link, so you have roughly 115 free characters still left at your disposal.

If you want to get really fancy, the tweet-ception can go even further: you can embed a tweet that includes an embedded tweet into a brand new tweet (!) – and they all link together in a chain. For now, this feature only functions on twitter.com and the official Twitter iOS and Android apps.

4. Facebook Goes Down, So Does News Site Traffic
-Marketing Land

Last Friday (8/1), there was a brief Facebook outage that led to some interesting information. Chartbeat, a service that produces analytics for web publishers in real-time, announced that the overall traffic on news sites fell 3% during the downtime, which was ultimately less than an hour. What’s even more interesting is that the entrances to news sites via mobile devices dropped 8.5% during the outage, further proving just how important Facebook is to driving mobile traffic to online publishers. Another interesting factoid provided by Chartbeat shows there was also a “9% increase in homepage direct traffic,” meaning people look at homepages more when they don’t have Facebook to tell them what they should be reading. While all this information may seem fairly expected, it highlights just how powerful Facebook is as a news source.

5. You Can Now Delete Google Analytics Properties
-SEO Round Table

This week (8/5), Google made a quiet announcement on its Google+ Page stating that you can now delete Google Analytics properties within your various accounts. In the announcement, Google explains that this was not previously allowed due to how the accounts, properties, and profiles were all associated with one another. According to Google, they are “excited to bring this additional flexibility and consistency to our users, which is the first in a series of improvements to managing deletions in Google Analytics.” If you want to delete a property, all you have to do is go to the property settings within admin view, then click “Delete Property” at the bottom right of the page.

August 8, 2014
Five For Friday – Get Your Workout On From Work, Weird Al Becomes Content King, and More!

1. Any Mac User Can Test OS X Yosemite Beta

For the first time in more than a decade, Apple will allow any Mac user to test OS X Yosemite before its full release. A public beta program will allow one million users to sign up and try the new features that come with Yosemite. The new OS is still under construction and will officially premiere in the fall. How can you be part of this beta test? Check out Mashable’s how-to for the one million curious Apple enthusiasts.

2. And The Emmy Award Goes To…

In addition to announcing its nominations for the Primetime Emmy Awards, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences also released the nominations for Creative Arts Emmy Awards, with categories including Outstanding Commercial. Budweisers’ “Puppy Love” and GE’s “Childlike Imagination” lead the nominations. Check out the full list of nominees!

3. Here’s Why Weird Al Dominated Social Media This Week

Weird Al Yankovic’s latest songs are trending because of his partnership with different content studios (and, of course, for the content itself). Over the course of a week, he released a new music video, each produced with a different partnership or artist in order to promote his first album in three years, “Mandatory Fun.” Some of the partnerships include content portals such as College Humor, Funny or Die, and Nerdist.

4. Move Over Standing Desks, Cubii Is the Latest Office Must Have

Sitting can kill you! That’s why so many companies are investing in treadmill and standing desks. However, multifaceted office furniture can be extremely expensive and most companies are not willing to take in the extra overhead cost. Cue Cubii, the “Sitting Exerciser.” This pint-sized elliptical has been designed to fit under an office desk (you won’t bump your knees!) and also includes a companion app to track your workout.

5. Facebook Introduces “Save”

For those who hated endless scrolling in order to go back to that hilarious video on your NewsFeed, Facebook introduced their “Save” feature this week. Items saved by Facebook users will resurface on their NewsFeed. To learn more about this feature, visit Facebook’s official blog.

Image Sources:

RCA Records

facebook

July 25, 2014
Do Your Ads Belong on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a great advertising platform for business-to-business (B2B) companies. It helps these businesses increase brand awareness and allows them to connect with potential clients.

Should you be advertising on LinkedIn?

Unfortunately, if you’re an ice cream shop advertising on LinkedIn in the hopes of increasing your sales, there is a 110% chance that your time, effort, and financial resources are better off on another platform. (Hint: Facebook). This marketing approach is best for linking to other businesses.

LinkedIn Advertising is also extremely beneficial for companies looking to fill open positions. Users aren’t just on LinkedIn to see the latest baby pictures that their old high school friends are posting. They are mostly looking for professional development and networking opportunities.

Are you targeting the right audience?

So, you’ve decided that LinkedIn Advertising is a strategically advantageous move for your business. Now what? Figure out your target demographic.Do this before writing your ad copy and even before sponsoring your updates. It’s imperative that you do this before jumping onto this marketing battlefield with no precise aim.

Why is this so important?

LinkedIn offers a variety of demographic targeting options that can be combined to best fit the audience of your campaign. Strategically deciding on your audience will send your ads in the right direction for the best results.

Who are you speaking to? Do you know what that audience likes and dislikes? You won’t be able to write enticing, effective ads that achieve your goals without this knowledge.

When it comes to target options, the possibilities are vast! You can choose to target anything from specific locations, companies, and job titles to specific schools, groups, ages, and genders.

Once you decide that LinkedIn is the place for your business and you figure out who your target demographic is, you’ll be ready to start running ads and sponsoring your updates.

Image Source: https://flic.kr/p/3dTdUc

July 15, 2014
5 for Friday – G+ On Your Phone, Teens On Facebook, & Tips For Powerful Images

1) CNBC: This 17-Year-Old Website Devastated By Google’s Panda Update – Search Engine Roundtable

Once upon a time, there was a woman named Linda Stadley. Her recipes brought so much joy to her and those around her that she generously decided to share them with the Internet. So she created www.whatscookingamerica.net, and for 17 years her recipes reigned supreme. She lived happily ever after until Google unleashed its mighty Panda 4.0 paw and ended her domination of the search engine results page faster than you can say Jack Robinson. Users everywhere weep for her loss of traffic.

…that website though. The writer of this article says it all with his closing statement, “I feel bad but the site does need a facelift.” Well, yeah. This article speaks to the very nature of Google updates: even though they may not make everyone happy, the goal is to help all users find the best information first. Let’s be real here. This site lacks a lot of the features that make a website useful to users looking for recipes (like reviews, for example); therefore, more useful websites will get better rankings because they give people more of what they’re trying to find. Google would probably reply with something along the lines of “sorry we’re not sorry.”

2) Google My Business iPhone App Now Available – Blumenthals

Do you want Google all up in your business? You’re in luck. Google just released the My Business iOS app (as discussed by Mary Silva). The noteworthy features (for both the iOS and Android app) include the ability to edit your business listings and view local insights. Missing from this app is Google Analytics and Adwords Express. You can also access all the features of your Google Plus account. JUST WHAT WE’VE ALWAYS WANTED, said no one ever. The thought behind this was probably something along the lines of, “hey wait a minute, no one seems to be posting to their Google Plus account, maybe they would if they could do that on their phones?” We will see Google, we will see.

3) Wait A Minute. Facebook Is Still A Big Hit Among Teens? – Marketing Land

Facebook hasn’t been poisoned by moms and businesses? What?! As it turns out, Facebook is still popular with teenagers. Forrester Research released a report revealing that 75% of Facebook users ages 12 to 17 use Facebook once a month, with 28% of this age group claiming to use Facebook “all the time.” Of course, numbers don’t always give the whole story. Yeah, these kids are logging on, but are they actually using Facebook? Who’s to say these kids using Facebook everyday are not just scrolling through the newsfeed absentmindedly? Well, this may be the case, because a niche study reveals Facebook lost to Instagram for the most engaging platform.

There’s a lot to consider here. For one, how will this trend change in the future? Have teens just been classically conditioned to check their Facebooks like a hopeless romantic checks Craigslist missed connections? Do more engaging platforms have more of an advantage in retaining and attracting new users? Time will tell.

4) Net Neutrality Protesters Arrested At Google HQ – Techcrunch

Well, this is a fun one. A group of activists in favor of net neutrality were arrested for protesting outside Google Headquarters. What were they doing there, you ask? The group calls for Google to “stand with us in support of an Internet that is free from censorship, discrimination, and access fees.” The group asked Google, among other demands, to change their homepage for a day to include a link to the FCC petition. You may be thinking, ‘but Google isn’t exactly the bad guy here trying to end net neutrality for all, why are they protesting there anyway?’ And you would be thinking correctly. According to this article, Google declined to comment on the arrests. I can’t blame them, as it seems these protesters might have a classic case of misdirected rage.

5) The 8 Types of Images That Increase the Psychological Impact of Your Content – Copyblogger

Quality images matter because they increase user experience. Yes, we know this. The advice in this article seems rather obvious, but there’s something to take away here. Specifically, what makes an image useful? This article proposes eight different types of images that provide users with the information they need. The top eight being: stock photos, screenshots, charts and graphs, personal photos, still frames from popular movies and TV shows, infographics, custom art, and comics. I would like to point out that most of these (except stock photos) could and maybe should fall under #7 “custom images.” I feel this article missed out on the opportunity to highlight the way that custom images serve more of a functional purpose for marketing than non-custom images. An infographic, comic, or screenshot that is custom and directly relevant to your business would obviously be more useful to users than one that is not.

June 27, 2014
#Ibelievethatwewillwin #Ole! #WorldCup

As the world gathers in sport bars across the globe to watch the gorgeous and very talented FIFA team members, I’ve realized that the World Cup is kind of like the Super Bowl, just bigger, better, and hotter!

Besides the commercials and the fact that the Super Bowl is only something America partakes in, one distinguishing difference between the World Cup and the Super Bowl is the branding. While the Super Bowl has consistent branding and logos every year, the World Cup continuously changes. For example, the Super Bowl uses a consistent hashtag (#SB14) that is created by the NFL and encouraged by fans to use in the days leading up to the big night. With the World Cup, there is no consistent branding. Which is ironic since this is the one sport the world comes together to participate in and cheer on — the original football league. Which got me thinking, sports franchises should be treated just like any other business, as should the structure of their social media campaigns. The leagues should maintain a consistent brand, continue to publish content throughout the series, and encourage fans to get engaged.

1) Consistent Branding

It’s funny how one word can change your branding so much!

#football vs. #soccer
#brazil vs. #brasil

Regardless of which country a team is from, the league should constantly present their branding on a worldwide scale. T-shirts, jersey logos, mugs, soccer balls (or footballs) and of course, hashtags. The most commonly used hashtags for the World Cup is #worldcup with a 71.8% of tweets containing #worldcup in content published on Twitter. Other popular hashtags include:

#brazil – 31.5%
#fifa – 17.22%
#football – 19.09%
#fifta2014 – 13.29%
#brazil2014 – 3.8%
#soccer – 3.8%
#brasil2014 -3.8%
#france – 3.5%
#fifawordcup – 3.5%
And my favorite #Ibelievethatwewillwin

Although the league has no control over what countrymen and women are going to post or which team they are going to support, encouraging a hashtag is one way to control the branding of your business.

2) Content is king

The biggest social network participating in the World Cup is Twitter

With 645,750,000 people on Twitter, fans are just waiting for the latest tweet by a team member or the team. Publishing content to keep fans informed is key to a successful social media campaign. Publishing updates to the team’s status such as posting superstitions of the game results, or posting pregame photos, is what the soccer fans want. Don’t forget that your employees — or team members! — are extensions of your brand too. Encouraging employees to publish content and post pictures is also important to the overall brand image, and its success.

3) Keep ‘em engaged!

In addition the informational content, make sure you are keeping your fans engaged with your brand. Many brands encourage engagement by asking fans to participate in poles, questions, or even contests. One of the biggest World Cup sponsor’s, McDonalds, jumped on this bandwagon in their offline “Peel, Play, Ole, Ole” campaign.

For those businesses that aren’t FIFA sponsors, engaging with fans on Instagram and Foursquare are great for brand awareness. Asking fans to post pictures with your product, or check-in specials at locations are easy ways to increase a brand’s presence while engaging with fans.

Regardless if your business is in a worldwide event that only comes around once every four years, or if it is the neighborhood corner grocery, these three tips can benefit any social media campaign.

So y’all get ready Russia! #fifa2018 #worldcup #fifarussia #USA #USA #USA

June 23, 2014
Five for Friday – Google Does the World Cup, Pinterest as the Next Big Search Engine, and Facebook Playing Catch Up!
Google revamps its algorithm, and its Doodles. Businesses are finding their audience on Pinterest more than ever before. Meanwhile, Facebook finally finds a way to mimic Snapchat, but with a catch.

1. World Cup Google Doodles – Google

If you haven’t noticed Google’s Doodles this week, here is a recap of the clever, funny, and sometimes interactive animations created by to promote the FIFA World Cup and the many countries trying for the title. Each Doodle changes several times during the day depending on the countries currently matched up. If you click on the Doodle you will also be taken to a live scoreboard of the current game. GO USA!

2. PayDay Loan 3.0 Algorithm Update – Search Engine Land

In other Google news, Matt Cutts has announced the rollout of another update to the ever-changing search engine algorithm that determines website rankings on the results page. This update is primarily focused on “very spammy queries,” which is an extension of the PayDay 2.0 update released couple of weeks ago. The types of queries and links that will be affected are pornography, payday loans, casinos, Viagra, and other similar topics most usually associated with “spammy” links and queries. It’s another great move by Google, an effort to clean up their search results and provide users with only the most relevant, and non-spam websites to choose from.

3. Four Pinterest Statistic you Need to Know – Search Engine Watch

As for any business or marketer, you should always know both where your customers or potential customers are, and how they are interacting with you online. Pinterest, one of the fastest growing and most influential sharing sites currently on the web, could give your business just the right insight about their target audiences. You should understand the following statistics before starting a Pinterest campaign:
1. Women are the primary Pinterest users, and they out-pin men every day by far.
2. What are these women pinning?
  -DIY projects, home decor, weddings, recipes, beauty, fashion, travel, fitness, photography, and many other topics.
3. Who is your competition on Pinterest?
  -Etsy, Urban Outfitters, West Elm, Brides.com., and Poketo among hundreds of other businesses.
4. When are these women pinning?
  -Between 4p.m. and 10p.m.
4. Bing Attempts to Predict the World Cup – Search Engine Land

Using their prediction technology (a combination of team stats, weather forecasts, player line up, and homefield advantage among other things) Bing is attempting to predict the FFIA World Cup! Although it is not a perfect system by any means, Bing is getting a lot of attention for their prediction technology, which certainly is the end goal. If you search for something along the lines of “world cup predictions group b” you can see for yourself how Bing thinks your favorite team will fare.

5. Facebook Launches Slingshot App – ABC News

Facebook has launched the anticipated Slingshot app, which is very similar to the already widely popular SnapChat application. The biggest difference between the two image sharing apps is that there is a “pay to play” incentive to Slingshot. In order to the see the image that someone shared with you, you must first share an image back. The reason behind this feature is so that everyone becomes an active creator of content and images instead of just viewing from the sidelines. It is a clever attempt to force engagement of its users and incentivize overall creativity. As a direct challenger of SnapChat, it will be interesting to see how Slingshot fares in this highly competitive genre of apps.
June 20, 2014
5 for Friday – Twitter and Facebook Duke it Out, Social Signals’ Effect on SEO, and the Power of Nofollow Links

1. Mobile Site Call Conversions Now Available in AdWords – PPC Hero

It’s finally here! Adwords now tracks click-to-call conversions on mobile devices. This can easily be added to a specific landing page with a little bit of coding. This feature will allow you to track calls through the same venues as your other performance metrics and customize the value of the incoming call. This blog post has step-by-step instructions on how to implement this new feature on your site!

2. Google Wallet’s 2-Click Instant Buy Checkout Comes To iOS – Tech Crunch

This week Google Wallet released its Instant Buy API for iOS apps. This was first released for Android apps a year ago. This free service can be accessed with your Google+ login and stores your shipping and credit card information. Merchants can then use the information to complete the transaction. Google Wallet aims to eliminate the frustration of mobile device shopping and decrease shopping cart abandonment.

3. Facebook and Twitter Want You to Talk About the #WorldCup on Their Field – Marketing Land

Facebook and Twitter are engaged in a Battle Royal almost as intense as the World Cups itself. With yesterday’s commencement of the Fifa World Cup, these two social media powerhouses pull no stops to be become the No. 1 platform for Fifa fans to electronically engage.

Facebook’s campaign provides fan with a Trending World Cup Page. Here fans can access the latest scores, view highlights and interact with a global map to pick their favorite teams

Use #WorldCup and #WorldCup2014 to access Twitter’s World Cup landing page. Here you can create a Fifa-specific profile and choose a cover photo and profile picture to support your team. Don’t forget to include your HashFlag. Introduced during the last World Cup, these three-letter hashtags can be used by fans to unlock an image of a country’s flag.

Which social media platform will reign supreme? Only trending numbers will tell. Let the games begin!

4. Social Signals and SEO – Blind Five Year Old

While the power of social media seems encompassing, Google is currently not using social signals, even from Google+, in its algorithm to calculate search results. You might be asking yourself why you’re putting so much effort into social now. Fear not! Maximizing the potential of a Google+ listing and other social outlets does have benefits. The Blind Five Year Old breaks down social media activity to explain that its not necessarily the activity itself, but the result of that activity that matters.

5. The Hidden Power of Nofollow Links – Moz Blog

Link building is an integral part of all SEO campaigns. They can help build your company’s brand, build public awareness, increase profit and, of course, lead to more links. Links can also help build your site’s authority in the eyes of search engines. But what about nofollow links? While they seem unfathomably dreadful, this blog posts offers a silver lining and techniques to utilize those nofollow links.

June 13, 2014