The State of Social 2018 Report: Your Guide to Latest Social Media Marketing Research [New Data]. Buffer teamed up with Social Media Week to collect data from over 1,700 marketers and create a new report with insights ranging from huge opportunities with messaging apps to how successful marketers are measuring social media ROI. Buffer Blog
The IAB Offers Guidance to Publishers and Marketers Considering Partnering With Influencers. The wild west of influencer marketing gets some guidelines from the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s social media, native and content committee. The group has produced an in-depth guide for publishers considering new influencer marketing options as part of their branded advertising packages and for marketers and their agencies trying to figure out how to best leverage influencer marketing programs. AdWeek
Instagram now allows businesses to schedule their posts. The official support for post scheduling doesn’t extend to ads, nor is it directly available with the product itself. Instead, the support is being added to Instagram’s API – meaning that social media software applications like Hootsuite, Sprout Social or SocialFlow now have access to the functionality. TechCrunch
Twitter Is Working on a Snapchat-Style Video Sharing Tool. Hopefully the feature will have a better impact for Twitter than Snapchat’s run lately. Twitter shares gained as much as 1.4 percent early Thursday. Snap fell as much as 5.1 percent. Bloomberg
Survey: Siloed Data Stifling B2B Marketing Efforts. A new study from Harvard Business Review reports 55% of marketers say not being able to merge information from disparate silos in a timely manner is “hobbling” their initiatives. Lack of analytics skills and issues with data were also challenges. Chief Marketer
Research: 97% of B2B decision-makers know which vendor they want before selection process. The survey of 113 B2B global marketers also found that in 84% of cases, groups that make purchase decisions contain a ‘champion’, who lobbies on behalf of the winning vendor. Now more than ever, B2B marketers need to engage buyers emotionally as well as rationally. B2B Marketing
Facebook updates branded content policy to clarify what qualifies as content. Facebook will bar publishers and creators from using its branded content tagging tool to promote content that they were not involved in creating. MarketingLand
Marketers’ Top SEO Priorities for 2018. Marketers say social media, on-site optimization, and content creation are their top search engine optimization (SEO) priorities this year, according to recent research from Clutch, which surveyed 303 marketing decision makers in the U.S.. MarketingProfs
Digital Video Ad Revs Forecast To More Than Double On YouTube, Facebook. Advertising spend on YouTube and Facebook will hit $37 billion by 2022, up from an estimated $16 billion in 2017, according to Juniper Research. MediaPost
In a blow to marketers, Google will let users opt-out of remarketing ads. Google announced that it is expanding the number of places where its “Mute this Ad” functionality will be available. In addition, it will be applying “Mute this Ad” across devices. Once a user tells Google she doesn’t like an ad, Google will stop displaying it across all the devices that user is logged into. Econsultancy
Facebook starts polishing its privacy messaging ahead of GDPR. As the May 25 deadline for compliance with the EU’s updated privacy framework approaches, including fines that can scale as high as 4% of a company’s global turnover, Facebook is continuing to PR in the form of “privacy principles”, the changes it’s making to try to meet the new data protection standard. TechCrunch
Twitter will host its first-ever #BrandBowl to honor top Super Bowl campaigns. Twitter will recognize the brands that received the most attention on its social network during the NFL’s championship game. MarketingLand
On the Lighter Side, Super Bowl Edition:
Febreze Introduces a Man Whose ‘Bleep’ Doesn’t Smell for the Brand’s Second Super Bowl Appearance. This year, the brand created Dave—a man who can use the bathroom to his heart’s desire without leaving a single smell behind, or as Febreze so wonderfully puts it, his “bleep don’t stink.” AdWeek
5 Ads You Don’t Want to Miss During Super Bowl LII. From Dilly Dilly to celebrity rap battles: Bud Light, Doritos/Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Kia, and Skittles. AdWeek
TopRank Marketing In the News:
The TopRank Blog – The Ultimate Content Marketing Stack: 26 Essential Resources for Awesome Content. Articulate Marketing
Lee Odden – 13 SEO Myths That Are Probably Killing Your Ranks. Cognitive SEO
Lee Odden – B2B Trends for 2018. SquareDot
Lee Odden – Are Your Influencers Buying Their Followers? Onalytica
What was the top digital marketing news story for you this week?
We’ll see you next week when we’ll be sharing all new marketing news stories. Also, be sure to check out the full video summary on our TopRank Marketing TV YouTube Channel.
