Digital Marketing News 08/30/2022 – 09/05/2022

Social

Twitter Tests New Format for Tweeted Links

Twitter is testing a new format for published links called Twitter Tiles display. 

Twitter tiles lets developer extend the Tweet experience by facilitating new visual formats for tweeted links using larger images, variable fonts, and prominent CTAs to drive more clicks. 

https://twitter.com/ashevat/status/1562862418514288640

As explained by Amir Shevat, Head of Product Development at Twitter, “Right now, people on iOS and web may see and interact with Tweet Tiles that include text, images, videos, or other elements like a button from people in the initial test group. These formats are designed to easily engage with content and make your timeline more dynamic and visual.”

Twitter notes that this publisher link-preview format is part of Twitter’s new developer options and is only limited to certain partner publishers at this stage.

Social

New Report Shows Instagram Reels are Generating the Most Reach

New report provides insights showcasing Reels of Instagram drives the most estimated reach.

Instagram Platform Chief Adam Mosseri has repeatedly mentioned that video engagement is growing prompting many to lean into that trend to best serve users. 

An insight from HypeAuditor gives us a peak into some key insights based on their findings of 77.6 million Instagram posts throughout July 2022. 

Key insights include: 

• 42% of content posted are images, with Carousels coming in second at 26%.

• Reels are seeing the most reach on the platform with 33.8% estimated distribution. 

• Reels are also generating a lot more likes.

• Images on the other hand still rake more engagements.

These quick data show us a preview that Instagram is prioritizing short-form video content and that Reels content has a great potential for Reach and Likes, despite only being the third most popular content format.

Search

Search Engine DuckDuckGo Extends Beta Launch of Privacy-First Email Forwarding Service to Public

Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo extends beta launch of Email Protection service to the public.

Email Protection service is DuckDuckGo’s email forwarding service. Users with the duck.com email will forward emails to your existing email address. In the process, it’ll strip those emails from any trackers they may have, such as hose checking your location or whether you’ve opened the email or not.

DuckDuckGo launched a private beta of this service last year, and it seems like they’re opening it to the public for testing. 

This service lets you get both personal and private addresses. Personal addresses will have a name of your choosing and can act as an everyday email that you give out. Private addresses can be used for situations where you might not want to share your actual email addresses. It has a randomly-generated name and can be deactivated if you wish to. 

This new public beta includes additional features, including removing trackers that are also embedded in images or links within the email. 

Replying to emails using your duck.com address is also possible to conceal your real email.

Test out open beta by installing the DuckDuckGo extension in your browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge), or by installing the (also in beta) DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser on smartphones and Macs.

Search

Google Deprecates the International Targeting Report in Search Console 

Google announced that the International Targeting report will no longer work after September 22, 2022.

Started in 2014, the International Targeting Report was to monitor your hreflang errors, or to choose a country that should be prioritized for your search results. It also had a Language section that lets you monitor the usage and errors of the hreflang tags on your site as well as set a site-wide country target for your website.

Google has announced that International Targeting Report has been deprecated. Google wrote, "The International Targeting report has been deprecated, and will be removed from Search Console soon. We continue to support hreflang and our recommendations for managing multilingual and multiregional sites still stand."

In a screenshot shared by SEO Consultant Alexyda Solis, this announcement is now also visible to Console users.

Social

LinkedIn Now Lets You Pin Comments in a Post

Linked rolls out the option to pin comments in reply chains.

Highlighting the most relevant or informative response to is now possible with the new Pin Comment option on posts. Users and brands alike can now spark more engagements with this new feature.

In a Twitter post shared by Lindsey Gamble, you can pin (and unpin) comments through the three dots menu and keep a specific comment at the top of the chain. 

Brands can use this opportunity to acknowledge users which can help with maximizing engagements and interacting with your network in the app.

Social

Twitter Tests New Professional Account Options and Features

Twitter is slowly adding more options to the Professional Account tools

The Professional Account tools is being updated including a new variable link CTA being rolled out to business users in the app.

App researcher Nima Owji also posted an example showing a new profile Spotlight option with a customized Link display where you can choose various CTAs for a more prominent button on your profile page.

In April 2021, Twitter first began testing its Professional Profiles, with select brands taking part in the initial testing. March of this year, Twitter opened the option to all brands and creators with all businesses having the option to add various additional info panels, business category, location, and contact information.

https://twitter.com/TwitterBusiness/status/1555207046177366017

Twitter’s also developing its new shopping options, and Shop being another option for Professional profile spotlights.

Social

YouTube Report Show That More Viewers Watch Videos at Faster Speed

YouTube says that there’s an increase in the number of viewers who watch videos faster than normal speed.

YouTube’s recent blog post show that users save an average of over 900 years of video time per day because of watching videos at faster speed.

As explained by YouTube, “YouTube currently supports watching at 0.25x, 0.5x, 0.75x, Normal (the default), 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75x, and 2x. As you can imagine, most people watch on the default speed, but we found that when people use this feature, the vast majority of the time they choose to watch a little bit faster - in fact, this feature was used to speed up content more than 85% of the time.”

YouTube says that 1.5x speed is the most commonly used alternative, followed by 2x as a close second and 1.25x at third.

“And for the perfectionists who like custom speeds, 1.1x was the most used speed. Just a little faster, but not too much.”

YouTube also notes that the playback speed gets faster in general throughout the day. “In the morning, starting at 6am, playback speeds weren’t used as often, but users started to dabble with faster speeds as their day progressed. There was a slight dip in usage around dinnertime, between 7pm and 8pm, before picking up again later in the evening. Looking at usage of 1.5x speed, users watching videos on 1.5x started spiking between 9pm and 1am in their respective time zones.”

There’s only so much you can do as a brand to create content with speed variability in mind. However, there could be some creative ways to execute to lean into this behavioral shift.

What you can do next:

• Maximize Reels for Instagram and find ways on how your business can utilize this channel for awareness. 

• Acknowledge best responses and users who engaged with your posts on LinkedIn with the Pin Comment feature

• What’s the most important CTA to push to your customer? Time to add that to your Twitter business profile.

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