The current state of the world has had a massive ripple effect that is changing how businesses are marketing, advertising, connecting, selling and being run, in general. Because of this, Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and all of the other digital marketing platforms are pivoting to accommodate these changes, and some exciting stuff is happening.

To read about these updates and more, check out this month’s digital marketing round-up.

—

Google’s May 2020 update: what you need to know

On May 4th, Google started to roll out a major update to its algorithm. They call it a “core” update because it’s a large change to their algorithm, which means it impacts a lot of sites.

Google announces new “Search Off the Record” podcast

Take a peek behind the scenes of Google Search and its inner workings with the folks from the Search Relations team! In each episode, the three hosts will give you background info on the decision-making behind launches, feature prioritization in Search Console, and the projects Google Search teams are working on. They will share fun stories from the many conferences they attend as well as from their day-to-day working life at Google. They will also dive into the currently trending conversations in the SEO community at large. Stay tuned and follow us for the latest episode!

Google’s Core Web Vitals to become incorporated into ranking criteria

Earlier this month, the Chrome team announced Core Web Vitals, a set of metrics related to speed, responsiveness and visual stability, to help site owners measure user experience on the web. Now, Google is building on this work and providing an early look at an upcoming Search ranking change that incorporates these page experience metrics. They will introduce a new signal that combines Core Web Vitals with existing signals for page experience to provide a holistic picture of the quality of a user’s experience on a web page.

Google announces web.dev live 3-day conference

Over three days (June 3 – July 2, 2020), Google’s Web Platform team will share quick tips on aspects of modern web development. Each day, they’ll “travel” to a new timezone to cover a couple aspects in short 10-20 min sessions and answer your questions.

Google rolls out 3 new attributes for GMB listings

Google is letting businesses highlight more types of service offerings by adding three new attributes to Google My Business profiles, which appear in Search and Maps:

• “curbside pickup”
• “no contact delivery”
• “dine-in”

YouTube announces YouTube Select for the TV screen

YouTube is announcing a new global content solution called YouTube Select—a reimagination and unification of solutions like Google Preferred and prime packs. It offers more flexibility to reach the audiences you can’t find elsewhere in the content and places they choose to watch—with the confidence that your buy is brand-safe.

Introducing Facebook Shops

Facebook Shops make it easy for businesses to set up a single online store for customers to access on both Facebook and Instagram. Creating a Facebook Shop is free and simple. Businesses can choose the products they want to feature from their catalog and then customize the look and feel of their shop with a cover image and accent colors that showcase their brand. This means any seller, no matter their size or budget, can bring their business online and connect with customers wherever and whenever it’s convenient for them.

Facebook acquires Giphy

Facebook is acquiring Giphy, one of the most popular GIF-sharing sites on the web, in a deal that’s reportedly valued at $400 million. In Facebook’s official announcement, the company reveals Giphy will be joining the Instagram team.

Facebook Messenger Rooms now accessible from Instagram 

Instagram now allows users to create Messenger Rooms through the Instagram Direct page in the app. With this, up to 50 people can group video chat even if they don’t have Facebook accounts. Using the feature is pretty easy as well, here’s what you need to do.

Instagram announces next stage of IGTV monetization, and new revenue options for Instagram Live

Instagram has announced the next stage of monetization for IGTV, while it’s also adding new digital ‘badges’ for IG Live, which will enable viewers to donate money to their favorite broadcasters.

Instagram to let users pin comments to the top of posts

Instagram is testing pinned comments on posts as part of a larger effort to combat bullying on the platform. This feature allows users to highlight positive sentiments and, hopefully, encourage more of the same.

Pinned comments will soon be rolled out as a test, which will make Instagram the first of the top social networks to offer the feature.

Twitter now lets users schedule tweets in advance

Twitter now offers its own method of scheduling tweets in advance, a feature that was once only available with third-party tools. When using Twitter in a web browser, users will now see an option to schedule a tweet from the composer screen.

Twitter testing new settings that let users choose who can reply to their Tweets

Before you Tweet, you’ll be able to choose who can reply with three options: everyone (standard Twitter, and the default setting), only people you follow, or only people you mention. Tweets with the latter two settings will be labeled and the reply icon will be grayed out so that it’s clear for people if they can’t reply. People who can’t reply will still be able to view, Retweet, Retweet with Comment, and like these Tweets.

Understanding “dwell time” to improve LinkedIn feed ranking

In this post, LinkedIn explains how understanding its members’ time distribution (or “dwell time”) spent on the feed has helped them improve the algorithms that rank content.

LinkedIn Virtual Events

LinkedIn Live has helped many organizations drive reach and brand awareness with their audiences, while LinkedIn Events are helping people strengthen relationships with their target audiences by allowing them to seamlessly create and join professional events.

As a result of the pandemic and changes to the business world, LinkedIn has accelerated their product roadmap to bring you a tighter integration between LinkedIn Events and LinkedIn Live, turning these two products into a new virtual events solution that enables you to stay connected to your communities and meet your customers wherever they are.

LinkedIn releases new tools for virtual interviews

LinkedIn has accelerated the launch of two new features to help you put your best foot forward during virtual job interviews: they are testing a new video introduction feature and adding an artificial intelligence AI-powered instant feedback tool that analyzes speech content and patterns to help you test and refine your interview skills.

—

Thanks for checking out May’s Digital Marketing Round-up.

We’ll see you next month!

Photo Source: Glen Carrie v on Unsplash