Into the Great Unknown: Understanding and Leveraging Dark Social Traffic

The term "Dark Social" was originally coined back in 2012 by Alexis C. Madrigal of The Atlantic, to describe "untrackable" social content sharing through means like email, instant messages and even mobile applications. Dark Social traffic represents the sharing activity via private digital communication channels exclusive of referral headers and as a result, cannot be tracked by analytics tools. Most web analytics tools categorize Dark Social traffic as Direct, meaning grouping these content sharers together with users who reached a webpage by typing an exact page URL. However, it is highly unlikely that any user at all would type in long and "unfriendly" URLs, rendering the above categorization as misleading. But any other categorization is equally misleading, as with the lack of referral data, analytics tools are "in the dark" as to the origination of this "Dark Social". However, Dark Social is too big to ignore. According to a 2014 Statista report, Dark Social accounts for the majority of all online shares. An additional hurdle to the tracking efforts is the increasing use of SSL by social media and community sites. By default, whenever someone is moving from a secure site to a non-secure site, no referrer data is recorded and transferred. And that's not all of it. Things get even more complicated on mobile; traffic just doesn't flow as track-ably. Most mobile applications, including Facebook or Gmail, do not pass referral data. In fact, mobile traffic from Facebook was recently claimed to be the number one reason for Dark Social. Besides the usual Direct visits (visitors who type a website address directly into the browser, or click on untagged links from favorites and bookmarks), there are legitimate reasons why browsers do not always report where visits have come from. For example:

Clicking on untagged links via non web documents (e.g.: PDF files, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.).Clicking on untagged links from desktop email clients (e.g.: Microsoft Outlook).Going through internal Meta Refresh and untrackable JavaScript redirects.Clicks on links from social media Mobile apps like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, as well as from QR code readers and many other applications.Clicking on untagged links which include the "rel=noreferrer" attribute.Some organic search traffic may also arrive with no referrer data (as recently reported by Gene McKenna of Groupon).Going to a non-secure (http) page from a link on a secure (https) page.

Luckily, as a marketer, there are several steps you can take to reveal the source of, and appropriately categorize, your Dark Social traffic:

Get smart with your URL tracking – Clean up some of your Direct traffic by properly tagging ALL of your marketing campaigns (this includes links in your email marketing campaigns, links posted on social media sites, links you can control on external sites, etc.) using custom campaign tracking parameters, such as the Google Analytics UTM tags.Take control of your links – Implement advanced tagging mechanisms throughout your site. Develop and use easy-to-click smart share buttons that automatically attach proper tracking tags on each shared URL. Implement auto-tagging on sharing buttons, RSS feeds and even bookmarked links.Use shortened tagged URLs – Wrap all branded sharing content using branded short links. Replace your long tagged links into short, branded and traceable links on your social media posts, email blasts, QR codes, offline campaigns, email signatures, text messages, etc.Segment Dark Social audiences – Group your Direct traffic into different audiences; separate direct visits from desktop (including tablets) and mobile, but exclude those visitors who landed on the home page. In addition, some apps (such as Twitter and Facebook) include metadata to the User-Agent string that can be used to identify and segment mobile app traffic (iPhone as well as Android).Eliminate analytics implementation errors and configuration issues – Make sure you're using server-side redirects (and not JavaScript and Meta Refresh redirects) and perform comprehensive tag audits and eliminate any tracking errors.Get creative and develop ad-hoc solutions – Such as LunaMetrics' opensource Directmonster.js solution (available on GitHub).

Now, once you're able to recognize and segment some of your Dark Social traffic, you can leverage this opportunity to get ahead of the game by engaging this audience with custom tailored optimization initiatives. Here are just a few ideas for you to follow:

Engage Dark Social traffic with highly relevant recommendation widgets – Social media has become the epicenter of "pull marketing", indirectly pulling and attracting natural visitors through interesting stories, deals, discounts and viral content. Leverage this "pull-mode" and reduce single page view visits by engaging Dark Social visits with targeted content recommendations. Turn the "pull-mode" into "push-mode" – by pushing highly engaging content towards people.Implement behavioral exit-intent messages – Prompt subscription offers and tailored promotions to recurring Dark Social visitors upon display of exit intent. Personalize your messages and calls-to-action based on user interest and past behavior.Retarget Dark Social visitors on Facebook and Twitter – Unlock new target audiences by utilizing programmatic media buying to retarget Dark Social visitors, directly on social media mobile applications.Optimize social sharing based on contextual and behavioral signals – Tap into visitors' natural desire to share popular and trending content by prompting sharing messages when a visitor views an article that is catching popularity.Encourage sharing – Embrace the characteristics of this audience by offering them additional sharing tools that automatically include tagged links.

Clearly, the prevalence of Dark Social requires digital marketers, publishers and web analysts to take three major steps: (1) identify Dark Social traffic, (2) analyze and segment behaviors, (3) discover opportunities to engage with this audience. Source: Dynamic Yield

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What You Think You Know About Advertising Online Is Wrong

There are few prevailing myths about advertising on the web that keep advertisers and marketers hamstrung. Do you count the number of people who view a page on your website? It turns out that counting clicks, though it may be one of the most common metrics, doesn't work that well if you want to know how many people you are truly reaching. Pageviews are out, folks. And real engagement is in. But how do you know that you are really engaging people? Here are three truths about advertising on the web. 

Truth 1: People don't necessarily read what they click on.

Social media marketers and publishers are always chasing pageviews. Counting clicks. It the metric that writers get paid for. And the metric that a lot of advertisers care about, too.

There is an assumption that people are reading the content that they click on. But in fact, 55% of views last fewer than 15 seconds. Those clicks really shouldn't count.

"The data gets even more interesting when you dig in a little. Editors pride themselves on knowing exactly what topics can consistently get someone to click through and read an article," writes Tony Haile of Chartbeat. He says that a lot of editors have posts that serve as "evergreen pageview boosters" that can be used to meet traffic goals. Unfortunately for editors, it turns out that if you are going for actual engagement (or reading) rather than clicks, these evergreen topics don't do as well as topical news content.

Articles about topics like Obamacare or Edward Snowden or Syria get read. Articles that have words like "Top, Best, Biggest" in the title tend to get clicks, but few reads.

So what is your strategy? To get clicks? Or to actually have people read your content?

Research shows that if you can hold a readers attention for 3 minutes, they are twice as likely to return to your site when compared to holding their attention for 1 minute. A returning audience is the most valuable one. "Those linkbait writers are having to start from scratch every day trying to find new ways to trick clicks from hicks with the 'Top Richest Fictional Public Companies," writes Haile. "Those writers living in the Attention Web are creating real stories and building an audience that comes back."

Truth 2: People who share more don't necessarily read more. Indeed, they read less.

If pageviews aren't a great metrics, what about social shares? Facebook likes? Retweets?

Social sharing suggests that someone has not only read the content but recommends it. People publicly recommending content has got to mean that people are reading and engaging with it, right?

"Caring about social sharing makes sense," writes Haile. "You're likely to get more traffic if you share something socially than if you did nothing at all: the more Facebook likes a story gets, the more people it reaches within Facebook and the greater the overall traffic. The same is true of Twitter, though Twitter drives less traffic to most sites."

It turns out though that people don't share that much. Indeed, for most content, there are only 9 social shares per 100 visitors to the content.

It also turns out that pieces of content that are widely socially shared, aren't necessarily read. Chartbeat looked at 10,000 socially-shared articles "and found that there is no relationship whatsoever between the amount a piece of content is shared and the amount of attention an average reader will give that content."

The articles that were actually read the most—and engaged with—tended to have fewer than 100 likes and fewer than 50 tweets. The stories that had the most shares only got about 20% of the reading time that the most read articles got.

Truth 3: Banner ads work. We know you thought they didn't.

The banner ad is dead, long live the banner ad! We've all heard the news that click-through rates for banner ads now averages less than 0.1%. You've heard of banner ad blindness.

"However, for brand advertisers rumors of the banner ad's demise may be greatly exaggerated," writes Haile. "Research has consistently shown the importance of great ad creative in getting a visitor to see and remember a brand." And banner ads do that. They might not a clicks, but they do make an impression. If a viewer looks at a page with a banner ad for 20 seconds, they are are likely to recall that ad afterwards.

The recipe for an effective banner ad is simple. You need great images and text and you need to find a way to have them in front of a viewer for long enough to make an impression. Or long enough that a viewer can really see it.

Where on the page are people most likely to "really see" a banner ad? It turns out that 66% of attention on a normal media page is spent below the fold. "That leaderboard at the top of the page?" writes Haile. "People scroll right past that and spend their time where the content not the cruft is." So get your ad below the fold, folks!  

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Original source: What You Think You Know About Advertising Online Is Wrong.
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5 Unusual Tips to Improve Your SEO With Social Media

By Ana Gotter
Published June 23, 2015

Do you want to rank higher in search engines?

Interested in ways to use your social accounts to improve your SEO?

Social media has a significant impact on your search results, and a strong social presence can boost your search rankings.

In this article you'll discover five ways to use social media to improve your search rankings.

Discover five unusual tips to improve your SEO with social media.

Google used to put a high value on link building in their search rankings, no matter what quality of links you were building. When people figured this out and started manipulating rankings with fake or low-quality links to their site, Google started to focus on higher-quality links.

Links on social media are often considered higher-quality links, because social sites have a high web authority from the get-go. Even if your Facebook page is new, it's likely to rank highly (and maybe even surpass your website) thanks to Facebook's overall high authority.

It may sound obvious, but make sure that you include a working link to your website not only in your content, but also in every social profile you have. In addition to increasing traffic to your site, it's also highly valuable for link building.

Be sure to include a link to your website in your social profiles.

When it comes to link building within content, post content like new products or blog posts to your social profiles to encourage sharing. For example, you could create a relevant YouTube video for each blog post and embed it in the post, capitalizing on the high web authority to send traffic to your site and increase search rankings.

Pages with a lot of high-quality followers rank better in searches. High-quality followers are real followers on your social channels, and a large percentage of them engage or interact with you in some form.

This interaction might be repinning pins, retweeting your content or sending you a tweet, placing reviews on Google+ or engaging with your posts on Facebook.

Develop a solid base of followers on your social channels to boost your SEO.

Social signals are a very real factor when it comes to SEO. Search engines look at social signals to find out how often you're posting to your social media accounts, how many people interact with you and if there are social-sharing elements available to visitors to your site.

There's no point in trying to outsmart the algorithms with fake likes on Facebook. Low-quality followers are not good for you. Not only will Facebook penalize you for fake likes, search engines like Google will punish you with lower rankings, too.

So, make sure you're steadily gaining a solid base of followers that are interacting with you and your content, and encourage them to share, engage and interact with you.

Pinterest is a great example of a social platform that makes your content both searchable and sharable. Pinterest encourages sharing to a great extent. Users post pins they like to their boards, and share them with other Pinterest users.

Pinterest profiles can show up in Google search results.

Many social accounts give you the option of keeping your content private, or relatively so. On YouTube, you can have unlisted videos, and only people who have links to the videos can watch them. Pinterest allows secret boards, and Twitter gives you the option to have a private profile.

When it comes to your business, you want all of your social accounts to be public, and you want all of your content to be searchable.

For example, for your Facebook profile, you have the option to make your posts searchable in search engines. To do this, go to your Facebook privacy settings and enable the option Do You Want Other Search Engines to Link to Your Timeline?, shown here.

In your Facebook profile, enable the option to let search engines include your posts in search results.

The more people who see your posts, the more people who might share it. Encouraging sharing (including through methods like Facebook contests) is a great way to increase your search rankings.

Keywords are important for your website, blog and paid ad campaigns, so it should come as no surprise that keywords matter with your social content, too.

On Pinterest, a great way to rank higher in search engines is to use keywords in your pins or boards. Similarly, doing keyword research for YouTube videos can bring in traffic not only to your channel, but also to your website and blog if they're listed in your profile. Even using keywords in your posts on Facebook can pay off.

This comes back to making sure that your content is searchable. This way, when users search for those keywords, your content will pop up.

Make sure your business has a local listing on Google+ and that you include your address and other pertinent information. This allows customers to review your company directly on Google. Also, Google recommends businesses with the highest reviews first.

Make sure that your business has a local listing on Google+.

Similarly, make sure that you have a list of locations or a map for your business on your Facebook page. Not only can it be helpful for social media, but it also makes it easier for customers to find you and check in. This is great for local SEO.

Include a map for your business location on your Facebook page.

Conclusion

Using social media as a marketing tool is highly valuable in its own right, but it can offer even more value when you leverage it to increase SEO.

While some changes to SEO algorithms make it challenging to keep up with best practices, one thing that is clear is that social media can make a big impact on your search rankings.

What do you think? Have you tried any of these tactics to increase SEO? What practices have helped you boost your rankings in search engines? Please share your experiences, thoughts, and knowledge in the comments below!

Tips for improving SEO with social media.

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Ana Gotter is a freelance writer specializing in social media marketing and content marketing. She is a staff writer for marketing expert Ryan Shaw. Ana can be contacted at ana.gotter@rhinowebconsulting.com. Other posts by Ana Gotter »

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Original source: 5 Unusual Tips to Improve Your SEO With Social Media.
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Study: 43% of Facebook Pages Use Paid Advertising

Welcome to the latest study in which Locowise looks at 5,000 Facebook pages and their growth, reach and engagement results in the month of May. 

Here are our main findings:

The average page likes growth was at only 0.2% in May. This is poor compared to 1.95% growth we see on Instagram. The smallest pages (those with less than 1,000 likes) had above average growth at 0.28% but there was actually a 0.21% decrease for pages with over 1,000,000 pages likes. 43.36% of pages we looked at in our study used Facebook advertising, buying 31.51% of their total reach. The larger the page, the higher the chance that the page is using ads. 48.28% of the largest pages used ads, while only 23.81% of the smallest pages did the same.The average reach per post for pages we looked at was at 8.34% of all page likes in the month of May. A very positive news for brands struggling to reach their audience organically. The larger the page the less organic reach there is per post though. For pages with over 1,000,000 likes the average reach was 6.62% while for the smallest pages the reach was 14.88% of their audience.The average engagement per post was at 6.61% of people reached. The largest pages (those with over 1 million likes) had an above-average engagement of 8.92% of people reached. This means that the average engagement per post is at 0.55% of all page likes, which again is poor compared to the 2.81% engagement of total following that we see on Instagram. Videos lead in organic reach with 11.86% of page likes seeing a video post. Links reach 9%, photos reach 7.86% and status updates 6.12% of the total audience. Photos lead in engagement with 7.06% of people reached engaging on average. Videos engage 6.61%, links engage 4.37%, while status updates engage 3.34% of people reached.

For more insights and takeaways take a look at the full study.

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Big Data Hype: Don’t Forget The Big Idea

Big data is very valuable, but it can't do everything. The numbers can only take you so far. Even as big data gets even bigger, don't forget the value of big ideas based on true human insight and how they can be what really drives social media content and engagement.

On Business 2 Community, author Jason Bowden stated that: 

"Digital marketing professionals declare big data as the next BIG thing in digital marketing … there's no way of stopping the surge of big data explosion upon the emergence of better online marketing analytic tools, mobile marketing schemes, internet technology and social media platforms."

I completely agree with this sentiment. A Google search of the term "Big Data" reveals 787 million results. In contrast, the search term "Big Idea" reveals only 335 million results. Is big data really deserving of nearly 50% more of our attention?

Big data is defined as extremely large data sets that may be analyzed, computationally, to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions. Big data requires new tools to handle the amount and complexity of data, but with investment comes valuable insight. On the other hand, a big idea is the driving, unifying force behind a brand's marketing efforts. Big ideas are also valuable. In a piece for Entrepreneur, Chris Wirthwein stated that big ideas provide ten valuable qualities: transformation, ownability, simplicity, originality, surprise, magnetism, infectiousness, contagiousness, egocentricity, and likability.

I'm not advocating replacing big data with big ideas. In a recent survey more than three out of five companies (62 percent) have started investing in data marketing solutions. And almost half of brands (47 percent) are already seeing a positive return on data-related investments. What I am advocating is that in all the excitement over computer generated big data do not leave the human generated ideas and creativity behind. Big data cannot generate a big idea and big ideas can generate real feelings, big movements and real big results.

At the recent Advertising Week gathering of marketing communication professionals some professed this same sentiment. In a panel called "When Big Data Met Big Creativity" advertising agency executives were adamant that creativity goes hand-in-hand with data and should complement each other. Tham Khai Meng, worldwide chief creative officer and chairman of Ogilvy, cited the Dove "Campaign for Real Beauty," campaign as an example. The campaign won many creative awards and produced amazing business results but grew out of single data point: Only 4% of women considered themselves beautiful. Meng said: 

"Data is the orchestra, creative is the music. You need both."

John Hegarty, founder of Bartle Bogle Hegarity, said that data provides insights, but warned that: 

"Human beings are not a collection of algorithms."

Proctor & Gamble is the global package goods company that has built enormous brands based on enormous amounts of traditional and digital research data. Yet, even they know the value of big ideas. In 2012 they needed a global campaign to help reverse the brand Fabreze's sales decline. Research pointed them in the right direction, but the big leap came in a big idea based on a globally relevant universal human truth – something big data could not spit out of a data set. The big idea was to "Involve real people in visceral experiences to prove Febreze makes even the filthiest places smell nice, no matter what they look like." You can view how the campaign was set up in this behind the scenes YouTube video.

What were the results? It won an Effie award that explains how the effort reversed Febreze's sales trend, by increasing sales by 10% with 10 weeks of growth resulting in a 36% point turnaround. The Breathe Happy Campaign also received 511MM earned media impressions in high profile media publications and many bloggers developed rich content with their own Febreze experiment videos uploaded to YouTube. ?In addition, Febreze Facebook fans increased from 235k to 600k in 6 months.

In the end computer data and human ideas produced real business results. What's your view on the value of big data and big ideas?

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7 Ways to Use Video to Drive Traffic and Conversions

By Anton Eliasson
Published June 16, 2015

Are you using video effectively to market your business?

Want to discover the best kinds of videos to make and the best times to present them?

Different types of video should be used at different times to help your audience connect with your products and services. A new prospect has much different needs than an established customer.

In this article I'll share seven ways to use the right type of video at the right time to increase traffic and conversions throughout the sales cycle.

Discover seven ways to use video to drive traffic and conversions.

Since website visitors are anywhere from 64% to 85% more likely to buy a product after watching a video about it, create short promotional videos that show off the main benefits and features of your products and put them on your website.

For example, if you have an apparel store, instead of just posting photos, add a video of a model wearing your clothes. If you offer a service, use video to explain what problem your service solves and how it goes about doing so.

PadMapper created an animated video that explains the service well, and with a light and humorous tone.

Produce the video yourself, go with an agency or use tools such as Wideo or PowToon to create an animated video. Don't be afraid to be creative and take some risks.

Video doesn't necessarily mean setting up a shoot and filming. A lot of great videos are just repurposed product images. Just insert photos into a cool template with nice transitions and text, and add some background music or other audio.

How-to videos catch viewers with prime buyer intent. They have a problem they want to solve or something they want to learn. It is up to you to show them how to do it. In fact, nearly 1 in 3 Millennials say they purchased a product as a direct result of watching a tutorial or how-to video about it.

Come up with and share uses of your product. For example, explain to consumers how to tie a tie or show home cooks how to make certain recipes for your ingredient. Don't try to sell your product in this type of video, just focus on instructing your audience.

The Home Depot creates how-to videos for projects. Of course, after the video piques customers' interest, a shopping trip to get the supplies is in order.

Videos appear in 52% of Google keyword searches and 82% of them are from YouTube, so remember to optimize your video with keywords for SEO. Write detailed meta descriptions about your video and add transcripts of your voiceover. Just like with written works, produce great content that inspires people to engage with your videos.

Ensure your users have a smooth, easy and fun onboarding process, and they are likely to stick with you long-term.

Before you get started, put yourself in the shoes of your first-time users. Choose the most common use cases of your product and do a screen recording. If you're on a Mac, you can easily do it in QuickTime. Windows users can download something like Screenrecorder.

BuzzSumo created a fantastic walkthrough video for new users to get acquainted with their product.

Go through the use case slowly and clearly, and narrate the process. Send out the link to your onboarding video in your welcome email or direct a new user to it from the sign-up page.

Onboarding is one of the most critical parts of your relationship with your users, so make the most of it.

Just as screencasts can help onboard your users, they may also be used to reduce the number of customer service calls you receive.

Rather than use text for FAQs, create videos with answers to your customers' most common questions. It's a way to establish trust and credibility. Plus, many people learn better visually.

These videos can be as long or short as they need to be. NatWest bank did a simple Vine video to explain how to change account preferences.

Upload these screencasts to your FAQ page and have the links ready to send to any customers who call or email for assistance. Don't worry too much about making it professional. Just be thorough and genuine, and your customers will thank you.

As P.T. Barnum once said, "Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd." Showcasing customer testimonials is one of the most powerful ways to communicate your value to a website visitor.

Ask some of your most loyal customers if they would be willing to record a testimonial for your business. If they are local, invite them to your store or office, or meet them with your camera gear. You can also set up a spot at an event and approach customers there. Have them describe their experience, as well as what problem your product or service solved.

This Becker Professional Education customer is heartfelt, professional and effective.

If recording testimonials from your customers is not an option, ask them to do a brief video on their smartphone and either upload it or send it to you.

Online video ads are currently the most effective online ad medium, and 72% of ad agencies say that online video ads are as, if not more, effective than TV advertising. Video has a click-through rate that beats normal ads by a factor of three.

Create video ads for your product and upload them to YouTube and Facebook. You can even do short videos for Vine and Instagram.

Dollar Shave Club received tremendous views and response from their ads.

Use video cards for extra emphasis on YouTube and promote your video ads on Facebook. Be sure to use the most precise targeting possible, so you don't waste your advertising money on views to the wrong audience.

One of the most powerful ways to use video marketing is for retargeting people who visited your website or YouTube channel, but for some reason did not convert.

On Facebook, create a custom audience for retargeting visitors from your front page or a specific product page. On YouTube, start a new campaign and create a video remarketing list. Then choose which YouTube video to promote, as you would when starting a video campaign.

Conclusion

Video is everywhere today and a lot of marketers are seeing great results.

There are many types of videos you can create for effective marketing that drive traffic and conversions for your business. Focus on your company's strengths, and find ways to showcase them via video to current and potential customers.

What do you think? Are you using videos as part of your marketing plan? What types get the best response? Have you had success with video ads? Please share your thoughts and experience in the comments.

Tips for using video to drive traffic and conversions.

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Anton Eliasson heads up editorial and content marketing at Shakr. Shakr is an innovative DIY video creation service, where SMBs and marketers can create amazing videos in minutes to boost their business. Other posts by Anton Eliasson »

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Original source: 7 Ways to Use Video to Drive Traffic and Conversions.
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Snapchat Native Video Ads: This Week in Social Media

By Cindy King
Published June 27, 2015

Welcome to our weekly edition of what's hot in social media news.

To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.

Snapchat Launches Native Video Ads: Snapchat's new native video ad product, 3V, is "built from the ground up for mobile, just like everything else on Snapchat."

Instagram Updates the Search and Explore Features: "The all-new Explore page, with trending Tags and Places, and more powerful search that makes it easier to find the people, places, and tags you're looking for."

"The new Explore now surfaces trends as they emerge in real-time, connecting you to events and conversations both near you and around the globe."

Periscope Now Enables Web Replays: Users can click the link to a Periscope stream and hit the play button to rewatch it on the web.

Web Replays are here! ?? Just open a Periscope broadcast link in the browser & you'll be able to rewatch within 24 hrs pic.twitter.com/lYz6KfHWuj

— Periscope (@periscopeco) June 23, 2015

Facebook Account No Longer Needed to Access Messenger: "With this update, more people can enjoy all the features that are available on Messenger – including photos, videos, group chats, voice and video calling, stickers and more. All you need is a phone number."

"If you're in Canada, the United States, Peru or Venezuela, [Facebook is] starting to roll out a new way for you to sign up for Messenger – without a Facebook account."

More social media news worth noting:

Facebook Introduces Desktop and Mobile App Ad Updates: Facebook is "enabling a more consistent buying experience across mobile and desktop app ads, as well as launching a new carousel format that gives you more creative real estate for your mobile app install and mobile app engagement ads." "The carousel format gives you more creative real estate in News Feed to showcase compelling imagery for your mobile app ad."

Meerkat Updates Point System for Rewarding Engagement: With this latest update from Meerkat, "viewers and streamers now earn points for interacting with upcoming streams and participating when the content is live."

Other upcoming social media news worth following:

Facebook Tests a Simpler Way to Fill out Forms on Mobile: Facebook is "testing different versions of lead ads that would let people sign up for things like newsletters, price estimates, follow-up calls and business information".

"Lead ads make the mobile signup process easier by automatically populating contact information that people have given Facebook, like email addresses."

Twitter Tests Curated Product and Place Collections: Twitter is "beginning to test new ways for people and brands to create and share Twitter collections of products and places. You'll be able to browse rich collections from influencers you care about and get more information about the products or places you find interesting."

These updates will make it "easier for you to discover rich and relevant content about products and places on Twitter."

Here are a couple of cool social media tools worth checking out:

Google Tag Manager Fundamentals: This Analytics Academy course shows "how to use tools like Google Analytics and Google AdWords tags to improve your data collection process and advertising strategies."

News Lab: "A new effort at Google to empower innovation at the intersection of technology and media."

How to Use Facebook Insights to Spot Trends in Your Stats

2015 Online Trust Audit and Honor Roll: Each year, the Online Trust Alliance analyzes the security, privacy, and consumer protection of thousands of websites across a wide range of industries. Their report evaluates current standards, best practices, and leading causes of data breaches. For third consecutive year, Twitter is recognized at the top of this list for its security efforts.

B2B Social Media Case Study: Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc.: This case study examined how this leading diagnostic imaging company used video content and a thoughtful social media strategy at one of the largest medical industry trade shows of the year in order to double video views and increase interactions on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Survey: Americans' Attitudes About Privacy, Security, and Surveillance: This year, the Pew Research Center conducted two surveys on American attitudes towards privacy, security, and surveillance. The study found say that being in control of who has access to and the type of information being collected about them is "important" or "very important". Yet, very few feel a they gave any control over the data being collected about them. Trust is very low. For example, most are not confident that records maintained by the social media sites (69%) or online advertisers (76%) will remain private and secure.

Attitudes Towards Native Advertising: According new research conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 43% of news readers in the US and 33% of those in the UK have felt disappointed or deceived after reading native ad content that they later discovered was sponsored. However, in the US, a significant majority (62%) of respondents had neutral feelings toward publishers serving native ads and sentiment toward the brands who placed the native ads was 68% "neutral" and 22% merely "less positive".

2015 SMBs Planned Digital Services: According to a survey by Borrell Associates, more than 7 in 10 US small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are buying some type of digital services today. The services most commonly planned for purchase this year revolves around their websites: design and maintenance (39%), hosting and support (38%) and SEO (29%). Still, more than one-quarter of those surveyed plan to invest in social media management services. More than 1 in 10 plan to purchase mobile media management (12%) and online video production (11%) services.

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What do you think? Have you tried Instagram's New Search and Explore Features ? Please share your comments below.

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Cindy King is the director of editorial for Social Media Examiner. She spent 25 years abroad in international business development and then built her own international business from scratch by using social business networking. Other posts by Cindy King »

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Original source: Snapchat Native Video Ads: This Week in Social Media.
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