Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Zombies - Oh my!

Episode 29

(00:21) - Google officially announces rollout of mobile-first indexing

• It will only crawl and index the mobile version of a page, due to more searches being conducted on mobile devices compared to desktop browsers
• Even if there is no mobile-friendly version, Google will still crawl as is
• It began prior to the official announcement, but now they are acknowledging it
• They assure rankings won’t be affected (har har)
• They are notifying site owners
• What can you do? If you currently don't have a responsive website, now is the time to create one and move away from traditional desktop design. If you also have an old mobile website that was a very simplified version, you need to move away from that and create a website specifically for mobile. 

(02:28) - Verve published a study, stating that mobile advertising powered by location drives twice the amount of engagement

Verve have a mobile marketing platform, they like to say they ‘create experiences, not ads’, and they have an impressive list of clients. Recent study 2000 UK adults:

• Mobile creative powered by location drives 2x consumer engagement (34% vs 17%)
• Mobile ads related to consumer’s hobbies and interests drive more than 2x engagement than a generic ad. 56% think mobile ads are dull/boring

Examples of how this can be leveraged for Facebook ads:

• Location - select People Recently in this Location - this actually means their most recent location (mobile devices only), and customise the creative to reflect the surroundings and how your business services the locality. That will work better for some businesses than others, and Facebook’s targeting might not be precise enough for all ad concepts to make sense, but Perth has a few idiosyncrasies that lend itself to location-based ad creative - i.e. the great North v South debate, basically only two freeways, coastal versus inland, CBD versus outer suburbs.
• Hobbies & Interests - this is a good way to introduce yourself to a cold audience. If you catch their attention they’re more likely to take notice and remember your brand. To be effective, you’ll need to be pretty specific with your targeting. Create some buyer personas to find potential interests you feel are appropriate for your brand. The easy part is coming up with the messaging related to the interest group - i.e. a recent sporting result, something fishing-related, Holden vs Ford - whatever. The tricky part is finding a clever punchline to relate it back to your brand.

(18:07) - The latest on the Facebook data controversy 

• We discuss the hot water that Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook find themselves in following the Cambridge Analytica controversy
• The future of Facebook and how this will affect them (the answer is: not much)

(32:02) - Google is investing USD300 million in media projects over the next three years in an attempt to better support journalism

• Google investing US$300M in media projects over the next three years in an attempt to better support jounalism.
• Historically, Google has been known to blatantly plagiarise content creators by inserting excerpts of content from the likes of Wikipedia and other reputable/relevant sites, into their search results pages.
• Primary issue with this is the search engine goes from being a directory to a destination at the expense of publishers which originally produced the information.
• Several publishers have put their hand up for the fund which is in it’s 5th round.
• Google earned US$110B last year.

(44:51) - Ask Bam, a question from our client Dr Sue Bahn of Tap Into Safety: When I post our latest blog to LinkedIn, it asks for hash tags to alert my followers. How many hashtags should I use in my post?

• Hash tags on LinkedIn are a relatively new feature, but they are used differently on different social media platforms, so it's interesting to note how they are used differently on LinkedIn.
• Go for a single hash tag that is relevant to your content so it doesn't look spammy.
• You can integrate it into your content or at the end of your post.
• The primary feature of hash tags is so relevant hash tag content can be found throughout LinkedIn, rather than alerting your followers