[Ep73/06Sep21] - Instagram Settles Debate Regarding Ideal Hashtag Placement & Other Digital Marketing Updates from the Week of Sep 06, 2021

#TWIMshow - This Week in Marketing

1. LinkedIn Page Now Has Competitor Analytics - From now LinkedIn Pages will have a new “competitors” option in the pages analytics section. Page admins will now be able to compare their page with their competitors’ pages. The comparison will be on the basis of the following: Total number of followers the company has on their page, Number of new followers that have followed them recently, the engagement level the two compared pages have received from their followers and the total posts that are present on the page.

2. Twitter Announces Communities: Build Your Own Tribe - Twitter announced the Communities feature, what some see as a challenge to Reddit and Facebook Groups. Communities are groups where like-minded people can discuss their shared interest. A Twitter Community is open and visible for anyone to read what is being discussed. Also, anyone outside of the community can report the community if the community is breaking rules. While anyone can read and report discussions in the Community, only the members of the community are able to participate in the discussions. Joining a community is currently by invitation only and creating a community is currently limited to approved accounts.

3. Microsoft Introduces Start - The Bing Version of Google Discover - Microsoft announced Microsoft Start, which looks and feels a lot like its own version of Google Discover. Microsoft describes it as a "personalized news feed and collection of informational content provides news from premium publishers, timely updates tailored to your interests, and is available when and where you want it."

It works on Chrome and Edge browsers at microsoftstart.com - so go give it a try. There are also iOS and Android apps for this, check that out as well. You can also access it via the News and Interests experience on the Windows 10 taskbar, and on the Widgets experience in Windows 11 and from the Microsoft Edge new tab page.

4. Microsoft Ads Announces Optimization Score - Optimization Score is now available on the Recommendations tab in Microsoft Ads, according to the latest announcement from the company. The new scoring system is meant to help improve advertisers’ account optimization status and potential, help advertisers spend their time more efficiently and to prioritize the optimization actions with higher impact, and track their optimization efforts over time.

“Along with the overall Optimization Score, you’ll see a list of recommendations tailored specifically for your account, to help you optimize each campaign. Each recommendation displays a score uplift percentage, showing how much your optimization score will be impacted when you apply or dismiss that recommendation. Optimization Score is available at Account and Campaign level, and is shown for active Search, Shopping and Audience campaigns,” said Jessica Cui, Principal Program Manager and Cristiano Ventura Sr. Product Marketing Manager.

5. Google Ads Search Terms Report Adds Historical Query Data for Impressions Without Clicks - Beginning Sep 9, 2021, Google Ads will show advertisers historical data for queries that received impressions but no clicks in the search terms report for Search and Dynamic Search Ads campaigns.

“Historically, the report only ever showed queries that resulted in a click,” according to Pallavi Naresh, senior product manager at Google. “Most advertisers will continue to see most of their queries prior to Sept 1, 2020,” Naresh said, reiterating, “We are only removing historical queries that did not meet the new thresholds for search query reporting that we established in September 2020. We are removing this data as part of our ongoing effort to make our privacy thresholds consistent across Google.”

And, on February 1, 2022, the company will remove historical query data collected before September 1, 2020 (the day before the company initially limited search terms reporting) that doesn’t meet its privacy thresholds.

6. Facebook Announced Its First-Generation Smart Glasses - They may not be fully functioning AR glasses, as such, but Facebook’s preparing to launch its first foray into wearables, with the initial iteration of its smart glasses set to be released, in partnership with Ray Ban. The functionality displayed looks very much like Snap’s Spectacles product, with the glasses able to capture your real world view, which you can then share, presumably to Facebook and Instagram direct.

Will Facebook’s smart glasses be a big statement, a marketing win, and a commercial failure? Listen to the podcast for our analysis.

7. New Verification Guidelines For Facebook And Instagram Accounts - There is one thing that Facebook evidently wanted to make perfectly clear – Verifications are not endorsements from the platform. Rather, it’s a signal of notability and authenticity. Facebook also stressed that getting your business or personal profile verified has no weighting on the system’s preferences, and will not be ‘favoured’.

To submit a verification application, brands and personalities must submit a form. The form now asks for the following:
a) Specification

b) Authenticity Confirmation

c) Notability Confirmation

d) Optional Extras

8. Instagram Settles Debate Regarding Ideal Hashtag Placement - Some people claim that putting the hashtag in the caption of your post is the best place for it to go whereas others are going to claim that the hashtag will end up being better placed in the comments with all things having been considered and taken into account. Instagram has now weighed in on this in an official capacity by announcing on its creators page that the best way to use a hashtag is to incorporate it into your caption rather than posting it in the first comment, second or so.