Don’t have the time to read all the marketing news, blog posts, announcements, and other content related to SEO/social media/online marketing published each week?
I’ve got you covered.
I sift through trillions (well, hundreds) of online publications to stay on top of marketing news that might affect your online business.
Here’s what was trending in marketing news this week.
SEO
Google Webmaster Tools Threatened By Lawyer
My first reaction was: what law school did he go to? – apparently not the one where they require you to coherently state your case or formulate full sentences.
This thread at GWT forum was apparently getting out of hand and was mostly deleted by now, but thanks to +Barry Schwartz for posting the original complaint and making my day.
Social Media
Beginners’ Guide to Social Media
Want to catch up on everything social media?
Moz.com just published a very visual Beginners’ Guide to Social Media.
New Social Search App (Social Network?): Jelly
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and former Twitter colleague Ben Finkel have launched Jelly, a social search app that uses your social networks to deliver results.
The idea behind it: users submit questions within the app which can then be answered by anyone in their existing social networks.
Might this be a great new way to extend your marketing reach? Let me know what you think.
Lowe’s seems to think so. They might be one of the first big brands to take to Jelly.
Now available on ITunes and Google Play.
Facebook Launches ‘Trending’
Facebook has introduced ‘Trending‘ - a new list of topics that have recently spiked in popularity on Facebook.
The list will appear to the right of your News Feed on the Web, and each list item will be accompanied by a headline that explains why it is trending.
Is Facebook now “Pay-To-Play”?
Sounds like in order to reach your fans on Facebook, you now really need to get your wallet out.
Just take a look at these numbers posted by Kimberly Castleberry:
- In 2009/2010, fan reach was 20+%.
- Two years ago, fan reach was about 16%.
- A year ago, fan reach was about 14%.
- 8 months ago, fan reach was about 12%.
- In the last 4 months, fan reach has dropped again to somewhere around 9%.
- Today, while some items do 9%, many posts do a sickening 3% reach.
Facebook makes it exceptionally clear to page owners in recent blog post that this downward trend – and push towards ads – is here to stay.
…Page owners should continue using the most effective strategy to reach the right people: a combination of engaging Page posts and advertising to promote your message more broadly.
So… can you get more reach with no budget? Yes, and Kimberly explains how (I am already putting into practice some of her suggestions):
Have Facebook Fan Page Benefits Gone As Extinct As The Woolly Mammoth? – just-ask-kim.com
YouTube’s New Comment Management Page
YouTube made an announcement of its new comment management page, which lets you see, respond to and moderate your comments all in one place.
So far, I am loving it – a definite time-saver. Go to youtube.com/comments to check it out.
2014 Super Bowl Advertisers To Follow On Twitter
If you are looking to follow all the big brands that are advertising during Super Bowl XLVIII, MarketingLand.com‘s got you covered with their latest twitter list, Super Bowl 2014 Advertisers on Twitter - just click on the link and subscribe in the top left corner.
Pinterest is making it impossible for us to ignore it
Sure most of us has tried Pinterest at one point or another. Of course, most of us have also abandoned it thinking it’s best suited for bacon recipes…
hmm… bacon… yum…
Yet again and again, I see numbers like in the infographic above that make me feel like I am missing out. (from the study by +ShareThis , published at +Marketing Land - see the full infographic here)
So I decided to put together a list of recent post to help us all decide if we need to give Pinterest another shot.
What Pinterest brings to the semantic web by +Stephan Hovnanian
How to Increase Your Pinterest Engagement by 275% by +Neil Patel
26 Ways to Make Pinterest Work for Your Business by +Debbie Hemley at +Social Media Examiner
Manly Pinterest Tips – Google+ Hangout hosted by Jeff Sieh with +Stephan Hovnanian and more.
So what’s your Pinterest story? Any real successes using Pinterest for marketing?
WordPress
New Google Publisher Plugin from Google
Google has just released Google Publisher Plugin for WordPress, which enables you to:
- Easily add AdSense ads to your site to make money from advertising.
- Verify your site with Webmaster Tools with just one click.
You can download the plugin from the WordPress directory.
With this official plugin, you will definitely be able to select higher optimized placements for your AdSense ads, unlike third-party plugins.
HT SearchEngineWatch.com
Marketing This & That
PayPal’s New In-Context Checkout
PayPal’s new In-Context Checkout lets shoppers pay using their PayPal account without being directed to an external PayPal site.
PayPal claims this will help retailers convert more customers.
Shoppers can expect to start seeing In-Context Checkout by June, though large retailers will be the only ones with initial access.
HT: Dashburst.com
Track Down Noisy Tabs on Google Chrome
Do you ever get distracted by a mysterious noise while working on Google Chrome? Since you have several tabs open, you have no idea which one is the noise polluter and that can get frustrating pretty quickly.
This week, Google announced on its Chrome blog that they’ll be rolling out a new feature to combat that: a noisy tab indicator.
The next Chrome update will bring a system of icons to all users that shows
- when a tab is making noises (indicated by a volume icon),
- when a tab is using your webcam (indicated by a red camera record icon),
- and when a tab is being cast to your TV (indicated by a blue screen icon).
Google Drive Adds Activity Stream
Google is adding a new activity stream to Google Drive that will make it easy to track changes made to files and folders – great if several people are working on the same document.
To access the new feature, click the round information button (ⓘ) at the top right corner to open the activity stream (as you can see in the GIF above).
HT: Dashburst.com
The Return of ’24′ and Jack Bauer May 5 on FOX
Big thumbs up from me – this show has always kept me on the edge of my seat.
Any other Jack Bauer fans out there? Or do you have anything better to do with your time (like maybe work on your business, lol)?
Thank You
To all of you who mentioned Traffic Generation Café in any share or form in the past week, my whole-hearted THANK YOU.
Traffic Generation Café would NOT be what it is today without you.
Here are just some of the mentions I came across in the past week:
The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up (Issue #26) – Kimberley Grabas at yourwriterplatform.com
Information Marketing Roundup Issue 1 – Bill Davis at internet-marketing-muscle.com
SEO Influences and Inspirations – Sean Patrick Si and Jayson Bagio at seoteky.com
Have I missed your mention? Let me know in the comments!
Want to see your name here? Mention Traffic Generation Café in your next blog post!
Subscribe to Stay Ahead
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To an even better next week,
