by admin | December 20, 2013 | Industry Trends, Uncategorized
Has your Twitter feed seemed a little different lately? If you’re seeing strange things, don’t worry, you’re not crazy! After several months of testing, Twitter has decided to let advertisers target its users via the use of cookies.
Twitter users have been in control of who they follow (and even who follows them, depending on privacy settings) since launching in 2006. Since 2010, users have been shown Promoted Tweets, Promoted Trends, and Promoted Accounts throughout their timelines, which are all forms of paid advertising on the social media platform. These promoted forms of media (whether it be Tweet, Trend, or Account) are only to be shown to the user if it is deemed highly interesting/relevant to the individual.
Twitter Announces Tailored Audiences
Users will now be served ads via Twitter’s “Tailored Audiences”. These audiences will give social media advertisers the ability to better target different groups with customized messaging. Audiences may be made up of preexisting customers, as well as potential new ones, and the advertiser is now able to serve the most relevant message to each audience.
(more…)
by admin | December 9, 2013 | Organic Search, SEO, Uncategorized
With a majority of web traffic coming from Google, many website owners tend to forget that Bing and Yahoo often round out that list in second and third place. While these numbers don’t (and maybe never will) match the traffic from Google, it’s important to keep in mind what’s on Bing’s radar.
Unlike Google, Bing does not officially announce algorithm updates. However, they do announce new features, such as the deep links directly in the search box, as seen below. This feature is similar to Google sitelinks, however Bing displays these results without even having to click the search button.
(more…)
by admin | November 25, 2013 | Organic Search, SEO
Although Schema.org was introduced several years back, structured data markup only started to gain great popularity with the rollout of Google’s Data Highlighter Tool late 2012/early 2013. The Data Highlighter tool makes it easy for non-technical people and people who don’t have direct access to their website CMS to easily markup their data for better search result visibility and rich snippet display. However, there are still many organizations not capitalizing on this opportunity because they are unsure about the benefits or what to do.
What are the Benefits of Schema, Structured Data, Markup, etc.?
Structured data provides search engines with rich snippets, which give the viewer relevant information before they even click on a result.
Is Marking Up Data Worth My Time?
In short, yes. The Data Highlighter was created to help Google learn about your website (vs. other search engines); therefore, markup created through Data Highlighter does not carry over through other search engines. For this reason – if resources allow — adding the Schema code directly to your website may be a better option as it is supported by Google, Bing, Yandex, and Yahoo.
That being said, if you do not have these capabilities or are not looking to spend a great deal of time marking up pages, the Data Highlighter tool can still be of great benefit to your website and your organic traffic. Tagging pages only requires you to highlight the phrase and select a tag. Google does the rest.
What Should I Mark Up?
Anything you think would be helpful! At the very minimum, it is recommended to markup your business details, such as phone number, address, hours, etc. The rest is dependent on your business. If you sell products, you can use Schema markup for pricing and reviews. If your business has events, markup the location, dates, and times. The more you markup, the easier it is for search engines to figure out your site structure.
Do I need to mark up EVERY page?
With Data Highlighter, you can tag a group of pages. When Google starts becoming more familiar with your website, it will attempt to automatically tag similar pages for you, although it is generally recommended to highlight and tag as much as you can for better accuracy. Keep in mind, just because you markup every page does not necessarily mean Google and other search engines will always show it. Often times, only the first few results will display rich snippets.
Helpful Tools for Marking up Content
Google offers a helpful Structured Data Tool Helper for more advanced users who wish to embed the structured data right onto their webpages. This feature works similar to Data Highlighter; however, instead of directly publishing you are given the HTML code with the markup to load to your website. You can check how Google sees your site by using the Structured Data Testing Tool. The Schema.org website also lists available markups and how to get started.
by admin | October 29, 2013 | Paid Social, PPC
The world is becoming more mobile every day. According to a national survey 92% of Americans own a cell phone, 58% of which own a smartphone. The result? We are constantly connected to one another and to the world.
One of the most popular ways we connect on mobile is via social networks. Over the past decade+ we’ve connected virtually on platforms from Friendster to MySpace to Facebook, the latter of which has arguably become a part of everyday life.
Instagram Used by Almost 20% of Cell Phone Users
Instagram is one of the latest in this social media landscape – and originated as an app. Since being introduced in 2010, it has grown in popularity. According to the Pew Research Center, one in five American adult cell phone owners use the app (roughly 18% of the population).
Like Facebook (Instagram’s parent company), Instagram is now serving ads in users’ feeds that appear “natural”, like a post from a friend or someone that you follow. When one of these sponsored images or videos appears, it will feature a “Sponsored” icon in the top right corner.
Instagram Ad Targeting
Instagram ads are targeted to users by combining data from personal Instagram and Facebook accounts. Ad content will depend on who you follow on Instagram as well as what you’ve already “Liked” on Facebook. If a user does not have a Facebook account (or have their Instagram linked to their Facebook), the ads shown will be less tailored.
Advertising on Instagram is in beta – currently not available to all advertisers – but will be slowly rolling out over the next few months. Large brands such as Adidas and Lexus have created Instagram accounts in the past few years and have already built quite a following. These types of brands can leverage both their natural presence, as well as the ability to advertise to engage users in multiple areas, with multiple messages.
Are Instagram Ads Right for You?
As with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles and advertising, not every social media channel will be right for every company. Pew Research Center has broken out some very significant data that will help us to determine whether or not Instagram ads are a good fit. One example is that 43% of cellphone owners age 18-29 currently use Instagram, but only 18% of the 30-49 age bracket does. If your brand targets Gen Y, Instagram could be very successful. If targeting anyone over 30, you may be wasting your ad dollars or may want to at least take a closer look at what appeals to this smaller segment.
CRI is very excited to have the opportunity to reach our audience via new PPC formats and services, and we look forward to testing and analyzing results in the months ahead. Stay tuned for what will definitely be an exciting time in the ever-changing world of online advertising.
