With May over and done with, we’re officially half-way through 2017! This month we’ve been blessed with gorgeous sunshine, long bank holiday weekends and Hurt Street was awash with the beautiful colours of the LGBT flag. The office was left with a sore head after we went to BYPY, and we welcomed our new PPC Manager, Marc to the team. May has been a turbulent month, especially as we’re in the build up to the upcoming snap election. That being said, NUS declared that 2 million millennials registered to vote in lieu of the impending election poll, the Exeter Chiefs were crowned the champions of England after winning the Rugby, and Pippa Middleton got married to James Matthews. Once again, May has been a pretty big month for the PPC, Digital Marketing, SEO and Social Media Marketing, and we don’t expect it to slow down anytime soon. So, grab a drink, put your feet up and have a look at 10 awesome things that happened in the Digital Marketing Industry this month.
1. Ricemedia Got the Key Highlights and Takeaways From Search Elite
On 10th May
2. Sprout Social Released Statistics Regarding Consumers and Their Expectations from Brands on Social Media
It’s no secret that everyone in the Digital Marketing World loves a statistic or two, and when Sprout Social released their Q2 2017 Social Index, our social media nerds found some pretty amazing statistics. For example, 86% of consumers want honesty from brands on social media, and 78% also prefer that brands give helpful advice to their customers. Want to get your hands on some statistics? Check it out here.
3. Google Optimize and Google Surveys 360 was Integrated into Google AdWords
Thanks to a new Google AdWords update, Google Optimize and Google Surveys 360 have now been integrated into Google AdWords. This means that we can now test landing pages created for specific campaigns, keywords and ad groups. The Surveys 360 and AdWords integration allows marketers to target surveys to their remarketing lists, so that they can learn more about why those consumers have reacted to their marketing efforts, including ads and landing pages. Have a look here for more information.
4. Search Engine Land Looked at how Google Assesses the Authority of Web Pages
We all know Google takes numerous things into consideration when it comes to determining the authority of a web page, but they’ve never disclosed a single authority metric that contributes to this. Search Engine Land discussed these potential metrics, alongside the fact that authority is primarily assesed on a per-page basis. We don’t think these metrics will ever become clear, but you can read more about it all here.
5. We Became a Sprout Social Silver Agency Partner
We got our celebratory tequila shots when we became one of 67 agencies worldwide to receive a Silver Agency Partnership status with Sprout Social. Becoming a founding member of a partner programme gave us even more support from the team at Sprout which we will later be able to pass on to our clients. In commemoration of our Silver Partner Status, we put together a quick guide on how to use Sprout Social. You can get all the knowledge here.
6. Moz Discussed How to Rank on Google Home
With search becoming increasingly dominated by voice, the competition to become the one and only answer on voice controlled virtual search engines is very challenging. Moz looked at the components required to rank on Google Home, Google’s latest digital assistant, and it requires a number of metrics. Voice search is really important because it is a single-result search device that will feature snippets and it looks like these snippets were designed for exactly this purpose. So, if you can get a featured snippet, that’s half of the battle. Check it out here.
7. Sherry Bonelli Looked at ways to Find the BestTraffic Generating Keywords on YouTube
Almost 5 billion videos are viewed on YouTube every single day, and it is thought that 1,300,000,000 people use YouTube. Obviously, YouTube is an excellent channel for brands to advertise their products and collaborate with influencers. But coming up with the concept, making the video and publishing it is only half of the challenge. You need to know how to optimise your videos for YouTubes sophisticated algorithm – remember, YouTube is basically a massive search engine for all things video after all. Here are the tips and tricks of the trade.
8. We Looked at the Five Most Important Features of Google Analytics
Google Analytics is an incredible free tool that offers businesses some really great insights regarding their website. This data is worth its weight in gold – especially when it comes to thinking of Digital Marketing and SEO strategies for your business. So, get yourself a free account, add your tracking code and look at these five features you really should be using.
9. A Discussion Regarding Digital Marketing Agencies and Social Media Occurred
Megan Henderson discussed the complex issues surrounding Digital Marketing Agencies and how some of them try and cut corners when it comes to providing social media services for their clients. When it comes to putting together the perfect social media strategy for a business, it shouldn’t ever be treated as a one size fits all process. From looking at the social media content to the social media integration on a website, every business will have different wants and needs – what works for one company won’t necessarily work for another; a good Digital Marketing Agency will create a tailor made social media plan. Find out how to spot a good Digital Marketing Agency here.
10. Ricemedia Were Mentioned on Birmingham Business Post
Okay, so here’s another shameless plug on our end – this month five of our new starters, Mali, Beth, Emma, Sana and Marc were all featured in the Birmingham Business Post. Since March we’ve welcomed these fantastic five, signed some amazing clients and started developing a few of our departments. Marc is our brand new PPC Executive and Mali our Digital PR specialist. Check out our bragging rights here.
