Growth of Interactive Content and the Adoption of Snapchat

Here’s our latest roundup of digital marketing tips.

Digital marketing: The ABC’s of digital marketing

Digital marketing is constantly evolving and the same goes for the complex vocabulary, acronyms, and jargon in the industry. Bonfire’s digital marketing glossary covers need-to-know terms from creative to metrics and SEM to social.

Client takeaway: Understanding key terminology is necessary when planning and executing your digital marketing strategy.

Suggested implementation: Create an ongoing terminology resource for internal and external use.

SEO: New study reveals top local SEO ranking factors for 2016

Top factors for ranking high in Google My Business (GMB) pages include links, website signals, GMB signals (such as reviews and photos), and toolbar PageRank. One of the most popular ranking factors is the presence of a keyword in the GMB page’s business name, contributing to a rank position of at least 1.5 spots higher. Citations and geo text on the site itself are less important ranking factors.

Client takeaway: Links are the dominate linking factor for GMB.

Suggested implementation: Invest in a backlink strategy to improve local SEO ranking.

Social media: Snapchat usage soars, attracting parents and weirding out teens

New data emerged about the growth and popularity of Snapchat showing a slow adoption by older generations. Sixty-eight percent of U.S. smartphone users ages 18–24 are using Snapchat; thirty-eight percent are ages 25–34, and 14 percent are 35 and older. Teens find this trend “bizarre,” but don’t expect to see teens become turned off by the platform, like what happened with Facebook.

Client takeaway: Snapchat’s growth provides an opportunity for brands to capture this important age demographic on another platform.

Suggested implementation: Snapchat takes a big time commitment because the content is in real time. Consider a conservative Snapchat strategy for your brand focused on events first.

Social media marketing: Facebook is changing its news feed algorithm to focus less on publishers’ content

Facebook announced an update to their news feed algorithm that will prioritize posts from friends and family, and help users see more posts relevant to their personal lives. The update will show less news and updates from publishers and brands. For publishers, this will hit their referral traffic from Facebook, which accounts for 41 percent of all referral traffic to publishers’ websites, slightly more than Google at 39.5 percent.

Client takeaway: This update will cause reach and referral traffic to drop for brands and publishers.

Suggested implementation: Facebook is becoming a pay-to-play platform. Dedicate budget to promoting posts in order to reach your audience.

Trends: Content Marketing Institute study reveals the effectiveness and momentum of interactive content

Content Marketing Institute released new research on the use and results of interactive content experiences. Seventy-five percent of content marketers surveyed plan to increase their use of interactive content. Eighty-one percent of respondents said interactive content is more effective in the engagement stage of the marketing funnel, and 79 percent agree that interactive content enhances retention of brand messaging.

Client takeaway: Interactive content experiences like 360 degree video and Facebook Canvas are growing in adoption and effectiveness.

Suggested implementation: Design an immersive brand experience for a Canvas ad.