Video posts on Instagram are now shared as Reels!
Kevin Mitchell
In a huge move to compete with short-form social video, Instagram is now sharing all new video posts under 15 minutes in length as Reels and will offer all Reels live editing tools and features to help you make your videos engaging.
Instagram Reels is aimed at offering a more immersive and entertaining way to watch and create videos and is Instagram’s response (clone) to the rising social powerhouse – TikTok. With TikTok’s growth and sentiment growing amongst users and businesses, this is the latest update by Meta, Instagram’s parent company in an attempt to pull users, creators and businesses back to Instagram and Facebook and create more videos on the platform.
“If you create a Reel that's under 90 seconds and have a public account, it will also be eligible to be recommended and seen by more people on Instagram.”
HypeAuditor recently reported the significance of video on Instagram and importantly that Reels were receiving the most amount of likes of any content on Instagram. Likes = engagement and positive platform sentiment and also an indication of how Instagram is prioritising Reels over other types of content. Keep in mind too that Reels are also shared on Facebook, making Reels a huge opportunity for reach and engagement.
Nice!
If this brings a little anxiety at the thought of learning new features, worry not. Instagram has created a great How To guide and you can get a copy right here!
New Google Search update is ALL about the quality of your content
Kevin Mitchell
Google has announced some important updates to its Search algorithms which will work to highlight ‘valuable results created for humans’ instead of pages that have been designed purely to rank high in search engines.
With so many low-quality aggregator-type websites with low-quality content designed to game the algorithm and appear higher in search results, Google is now working to show more quality content that has depth; content that was designed for you to read.
To put it another way – if you create shallow content that purely exists to match current trends or keywords in an attempt to rank in Search, you may see your Google Search results.
“This ranking update will help make sure that unoriginal, low-quality content doesn’t rank highly in Search, and our testing has found it will especially improve results related to online education, as well as arts and entertainment, shopping and tech-related content.”
Google has always been about delivering users high-quality results and previously has dominated in being the search engine of choice across the globe. But recently, with a combination of aggregator sites, the emergence of TikTok (yes, TikTok is a threat to Google for search and discovery), the Helpful Content Update is undoubtedly the first of many Google Search updates designed to improve the platform for users.
This means sites will have to review the type of content they create and ensure they do not fall into the category of poor/superficial content or poor SEO practices in the page (really bad) and get back to creating and providing quality content that’s of value to the reader.
If you already do this, and focus on providing quality, informative content on a page that is built with good practice SEO, you are in a great position. Keep this up, review your data and you should see an improvement in related search results.
Google has also announced new updates to its review ranking process which already helps surface quality, helpful reviews in search results.
“Last year, we kicked off a series of updates to show more helpful, in-depth reviews based on first-hand expertise in search results. We've continued to refine these systems, and in the coming weeks, we’ll roll out another update to make it even easier to find high-quality, original reviews.”
With user-generated content and authenticity a key factor in today’s social web, ensuring you are invested in reviews is also a good move. These changes suggest a greater investment in more in-depth information and not just quick-hitting quotes or clips from others is going to further promote your pages as relevant, quality results in Google Search.
In short, if you can provide quality, informative, authoritative content on your pages, the better your Search performance should theoretically be!
You can now create, schedule and publish your ‘Reels’ to Facebook!
Kevin Mitchell
In January, Facebook introduced the ability to upload and create videos directly from their Creator Studio. Now, Meta are taking it one step further by allowing you to schedule posts for your Reels—just like you would any other type of post in your Creator Studio!
With Reels being heavily pushed by Facebook and Instagram, this is is a huge step forward in helping content creators get their videos on Facebook and reach their audiences very quickly. Reels are a great way to engage with your audiences and a great way to increase reach, especially when you consider the fact that they’ll appear in mobile feeds as well as desktops.
This opens up a new world of possibilities for creators and marketers alike.
In the meantime, if you want to learn more about creating and scheduling Reels then check out our guide here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=387871223471067
LinkedIn leans into 'visual content creation'
Kevin Mitchell
LinkedIn is giving users a few more tools to make their profiles stand out by introducing templates for LinkedIn posts. The new feature will allow users to create “visual content customized to meet their needs,”.
The feature is designed with users who may not feel comfortable with design and video editing in mind. “Whether you’re a product manager, small business owner or photographer, we want to make it easy for you to customize and share your experiences on LinkedIn,” the company wrote. The templates are available across mobile and desktop platforms and can be used to share images, GIFs or videos. They can be added with just a few clicks from a smartphone or tablet.
The new feature allows you to create an entire post from scratch or select from one of five pre-made templates, which are meant to highlight the content of your post in some way.
The options include:
- Share your story
- Give kudos (or criticism)
- Ask a question or poll your followers
- Announce an event or product launch on LinkedIn
The feature is designed with users who may not feel comfortable with design and video editing in mind. With that in mind, the tool can be used to upload any image from an external source (like a stock photo or a screenshot), or one taken directly from your smartphone’s camera. Once uploaded, you can add text overlays and make changes to the background color of your image, all while keeping its original proportions intact.
The addition of more visual content options on LinkedIn could help users create more engaging posts that stand out among other professionals on the platform. The app already has several built-in features for adding professional photos and videos—but this new tool makes it even easier to share these types of visuals, which are key pieces of content for companies trying to attract talent online.
"Whether you're a product manager, small business owner or photographer, we want to make it easy for you to customize and share your experiences on LinkedIn,"
This update is part of LinkedIn’s ongoing effort to help its users increase engagement on their posts by adding visual content where appropriate. This strategy has already proven successful: according to LinkedIn’s own data, posts that include images receive twice as many clicks or likes than those without images
New on Instagram – Add 'Captions' to your videos!
New on Instagram – Add 'Captions' to your video stories!
Instagram have just launched a new feature and it’s one you definitely want to know about! How you can quickly and easily add ‘captions’ to you videos! Check out this video and find out more …
Captions not only make your videos more interesting, but the make them more accessible. This feature is definitely worth your attention, check it out!
What is Digital Health?
What is Digital Health?
We are working online, working remotely and relying on digital/online channels in ways like never before. Digital and online media hasn’t simply evolved from a tech headache to a key asset, but it’s now the cornerstone of an organisations visibility, operation, marketing, business development and growth in our sometimes distant yet connected world. With that, ‘digital health’ is more important than ever.
This isn’t new concept or buzzword, it’s a real requirement for organisations to be in a position online to not just be seen effectively, bur to compete and stand out ahead of local and national competitors across the web!
Digital Health?
With over 18 years working in the industry from web and app development to integrating online systems, creating content and social media marketing, I know first-hand the challenges and the opportunities available to business online and I know the how many push on and disregard the health of their setup and the huge benefits it brings.
Get your FREE Digital Health Score online now!
Digital Health is more than the use of online tools and services. It’s that they are connected, how they have been setup, how they work together with with your website, how prepared you and your business are with your online tools and how this all works together to work for your business and enable to you to really take advantage of todays intelligent, connected world.
Athletes cannot compete unless their mind and bodies are truly prepared, connected and working together.
THIS is Digital Health.
It affects and impacts everything for you business online from its visibility all the way to effective ability in converting prospects into customers no matter your business.
Your Digital Health
Performance
- Website speed
- Website integrations
- Social media channels
- External tools & properties
- Email marketing
- Analytics and reporting
- Team training and comfort
Discoverability
- SEO
- Search performance
- Local business search
- Online reviews
- Maps and location
Social media
- Social media ‘business’ setup
- Shop integration
- Social media usage
- Social media connectivity
- Content and creation
Conversion
- Social marketing pixels
- CRM
- Automation
- Social media messaging
- Website calls to action & Landing
With digital health, your presence and activities online support each other and all actively and passively work together and support your business goals.
There’s nothing ‘buzzwordy’ about that – Digital health is serious stuff for any business today!
If you are unsure about the next steps to Digital Health or to get an indication of your organisations Digital Health, I have built a FREE online Q&A test where you can get an instant score right now.
If you want more, you can request your own Digital Health Report your organisation can take; an effective roadmap to focus attention where it matters, get healthy and drive results online.
Take the step towards Digital Health – Get your FREE Digital Health Score online now!
The New Facebook Pages Experience Is Here
The New Facebook Pages Experience is here!
Good news ahead … We’ve all had challenges using Facebook Pages, even me, where the simplest of tasks on regular Facebook seem a million miles away on Facebook Pages. Sometimes there’s a reason for that – Pages are not the same, but other times Facebook Pages is just a royal pain. It seems this is about to change with the launch of the new Facebook Pages experience by Facebook! Let’s see what this brings!
Facebook Pages Experience
The whole promise behind the redesigned Facebook Pages experience is that is makes is simpler for public figures and creators to build community and achieve business objectives, including:
- 'Likes' are going away and being replaced by 'Followers'
- A redesigned layout that's simpler and more intuitive
- A dedicated news feed to discover and join in on conversations, follow trends, interact with peers, pages and of course your fans
- A new text based Q&A format
- Makes it easier to navigate between your personal profile and Pages
- More relevant notifications with actionable insights
- A collection of safety and integrity features to detect spam content and impersonator accounts
- Improved Page management tools with varying levels of access to manage Page tasks securely.
Easier Page Management
On the face of it these updates certainly do sound like the are going to make things easier and going by the feedback from some admin users, these changes are great! A lot of these changes are being rolled out right now.
How do you get it?
You won’t need to do anything. This rollout is happening now and will be pushed to you in time automatically. I appreciate some may be a little nervous about change but do not worry – keep connected and I will update you as soon as I see it!
Don’t forget, if you are stuck or have any question, drop me a message or connect over on social media.
The Instagram redesign you need to know
The Instagram redesign you need to know
For the first time in years, Instagram are rolling out a redesign of its Home Screen. I wouldn’t normally have much to say about a design change like this but these changes relate to key content and business features that have been active for a while… This move is a loud call of their importance to Instagram and also for you!
This new change brings Reels and Shop tabs up front on the Home Screen and the Likes and Create tabs moving up next to the direct messages inbox. That’s right, the Reels and Shop tabs have been given prominent space up front in the Instagram app.
“We don’t take these changes lightly – we haven’t updated Instagram’s home screen in a big way for quite a while,” head of Instagram Adam Mosseri wrote in a blog post. “But how people create and enjoy culture has changed, and the biggest risk to Instagram is not that we change too fast, but that we don’t change and become irrelevant. We’re excited about the new design and believe it gives the app a much-needed refresh, while staying true to our core value of simplicity.”
This is why it’s a big deal. This is why it’s worth your attention. Let’s look at these in a little more detail.
Shop Tab
Instagram (and Facebook) have been working on its Shops product for some time now and launched it earlier this summer. Shops provides a dedicated page for you to list products and either link out to your e-commerce store or handle a transaction directly within Instagram/Facebook. You can even connect your ecommerce system (Shopify, BigCommerce, CommerceHub, Feedonomics, …) automatically update products in to Facebook/Instagram shops and reduce a huge amount of setup and admin.
Shops is a big deal. Having the ability to reach customers, showcase a product and convert that attention into a sale is the holy grail of social commerce.
Note: Shops is now on the Home Screen of Instagram!
Reels Tab
Reel is Instagrams answer to TikTok, a way of creating short, entertaining videos on Instagram and pull the TikTok generation back to Instagram. Having only been launched back in August, Reels being promoted to the Home Screen of the Instagram app strong signal. IGTV, Instagrams *long form* video feature was launched back in 2018, but has never featured as prominently. This is a clear signal that short, entertaining video on instagram is very much here to stay!
Note: Reels is now on the Home Screen of Instagram!
Read the Instagram Signs
Many “social media experts” will try and tell you the secrets to win on Instagram. Some advice can be really helpful but a lot of it is just generalised behaviours, hard work and consistency. This announcement and change from Instagram is something completely different – Instagram themselves have just told you where to focus your efforts in the year ahead!
Go create!
Hashtag on Facebook – Yes, it’s a thing
Hashtag on Facebook
Unless you have avoided Social Media of any sort, you will surely be aware of the humble #hashtag. Hashtags have been around since the dawn of social media and pretty much powered topic discovery and search for many, many years. Now, in 2020, including #hashtags in your Posts has become a must have for your Facebook Business Page!
Wait, what is a hashtag?
Hashtags are simply key words and phrases that are preceded by the ‘#’ character. Type any word or phrase with # at the beginning and #you #have #createdAHashtag.
“Hashtags turn topics and phrases into clickable links in posts on your profile or Page. When people click a hashtag or search for a hashtag, they’ll see a results that contain the hashtag so they can learn more about topics that interest them.”
By turning a word of phrase into a hashtag on your Post greatly increases visibility and discoverability of the Post – golden! This helps amplify your posts in search results and topical conversations all by simply adding in the # character.
Hashtags and your business
There are many tactics for the type of hashtags you may use for your business posts and ultimately they should fit your wider post and business strategy. They can include key #product words, #brand names, #location and even #topicalSentences where they are of relevance at any place or time. You can make up your own hashtag or join in on already active hashtags. There’s no _technical_ aspect required, just be relevant and don’t fill up the entire post with hashtags, as that can be annoying for users to read.
If you are a little stuck, just ask for some guidance.
Hashtags and Facebook Search
The big deal here is that Facebook quietly launched an update to Facebook Search which took into account any hashtags that were used on a post. This seemingly small and irrelevant update would pass some users by without a thought but in reality this humble hashtag update on Facebook adds a _huge_ amount of relevancy and weight to search results.
This means a well used hashtag can drive your organisations Facebook post up to the top of the search results!
And this isn’t just for _new_ Facebook posts. This works for ALL Facebook posts past and present. If you gave ever used hashtags in the past, those posts will already be set to take advantage of this.
If not, it’s certainly worth checking what keywords and terms already work online (check Google Analytics and Google My Business!) and invest a little time in updating old posts to include some hashtags!
On more thing...
Just remember not to add too many hashtags per post. A couple of well selected hashtags is all you need. Seriously. There’s plenty evidence that too many hashtags on a single post can damage reach and engagement.
Until then, there is no way I can talk about hashtags and not share one of my favourite videos on this topic from back in 2013! ?
Why Local SEO is critical to business in a #shopLocal world
Why Local SEO is critical to business in a #shopLocal world
All too often we talk about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), the methods used to be seen in search engines like Google and becoming the top search result when people type in relevant search terms, but little do we focus on how to achieve this at a local level. Strangely, it’s easier and a lot more important than some may realise, and can get your business #1 on Google at a local level!
Being seen, known and a choice is always a priority for local business but in our new world of online, #shopLocal and competition, Local SEO is an absolute must! With tools available to make a real difference to business on Google, Bing and other local search engines, it’s time to get your business optimised and reaching your local customers.
Local SEO
In 2020, 46% of all search in Google had a local intent. I could go on and talk about how this equates billions of searches but that doesn’t matter locally. But what does matter locally, to you, is that nearly 50% of searches that happen in your area are by people looking for results in your area. Additionally, these users have a higher typical intent to purchase and mobile users are 35% more likely to progress to an in-store visit!
Local search users are ideal for your attention making Local SEO paramount to your local business.
Optimise your business SEO for the ultimate in local business results
Local Business Centre →
What is local search
This is a good question. It may sound like it’s something different to normal search, but it isn’t. Local SEO refers to the process and results of ‘optimising’ your business online presence to attract _more_ results for your business from local searches.
When someone uses Google to search, Google automatically checks their location and uses this as part of many, many factors to deliver relevant results. When the intent of that search is one that matches locally, they will show these in the Local Snack Pack; a special area at the top of the search results on desktop and on mobile.
As you can see, this means you can get your business at the top; front and centre, the TOP in Google Search for your local customers.
Optimising for local Search
Okay, you should now be thinking “We need this” and you’d be absolutely right! Local SEO is perhaps the singular most important thing you can do for your business to optimise organic results and attention for your business today. But how do you approach it?
Seek Support
Firstly, if this is something you may want help with, check out my Local Business Centre where I offer this and other services specifically for local business.
Business Listings
Search engines like Google and Bing have business listings within their product. These connect to their search results, map services and a lot more. Head to all these search engines and get your business listing officially updated. At the very least, check the name, address a phone number (NAP) and that any other visible citation is up to date!
Business Listing Posts
Some search engines will offer the ability to post on your business listing. This is FREE, hugely powerful and means you can post offers or updates that will appear alongside your local search results!
Map Services
If you just think being on Google Maps is enough, this is a wake-up call. People today seek directions and local information in a variety of ways including voice assistants on their phones (Hey Siri, Okay Google, Alexa …) or in their homes, social media, local directories, etc and your NAP or even full business information are displayed on these services from relevant sources. Ensure you have spent the time checking business citations and getting your business details updated across all relevant platforms where possible. Someone asking for a local business on Siri won’t display your details from Google!
Social Media
Users today access and engage on various channels to investigate, research and reach out to a business. For this reason, your business profile needs to be up to date and optimised to capture viewers and drive action towards your business.
Reviews
There’s nothing like some form of social proof to build authentic buyer confidence and boost SEO. Reviews also help build positive algorithmic relevance that your business is a top result. Google, Bing, Facebook and others all offer some form of a review or recommendation feature. For Google, your Reviews are displayed alongside your search result! To really power this, remember to ask customers to leave a review across your channels and do not forget to engage with their review!!!
Your Website
Traditional SEO comes from your own website; your on-page SEO and the same is true today only the effects are amplified for Local SEO. Depending on if your business has one location or several associated locations, you’ll want to ensure your website is built correctly and enabling you to manage the following:
Whilst some of the above works at a technical level to present, balance value and overall weight of the webpage to the search engine algorithms, others are designed to be positive, visual cues for users when they see your result online. There’s no point being #1 if the information is poor and/or uninteresting!
Website Content
Fundamentally, it can be really difficult to be found online for keywords, terms or phrases if you are not using them on your own website. The more quality content on your website around the words greatly increases your footprint and relevancy which in turn will help optimise your business results. This tip works for overall organic SEO but again it adds strength at a local level. When you compete for local search results against other businesses in your area, you want your details to be optimised and to appear ahead of everyone else!
The easiest way to approach this is to write content on a news or blog section on your website. Do this…
Get local, now
I cannot emphasise enough how beneficial Local SEO is to your business and how adopting the above will greatly improve your results in Google Search, Bing, social media and a lot more.
It may seem a lot, but these recommendations and actions should be part of the ongoing process for your business success online – even local businesses that do not sell online NEED success online.
Start slow or ask for help. Get your listings updated, at least your NAP and begin sharing more content, even small articles and updates. Just doing that is a huge start and can really help you on the path to Local SEO success!
More Local SEO
If you have any questions at all, drop me an email, reach out on my social media or signup to my email list for key updates.
If you would like support designed specifically for local businesses including Local SEO Search and Optimisation, check out the Local Business Centre for more.
Let’s optimise your business SEO and more for the ultimate in local business results
Local Business Centre →