February is always a fast one but the hopeful news we received about when we can **hopefully** get back to our ‘normal’ lives made the month go by even faster. It’s been a productive month here at SocialB, just like it was at Google, LinkedIn and other companies in the industry.
Check out the updates from February:
Contents
Google Search Console Releases New Associations Functionality
Google has enhanced the Associations Page in Search Console. Association is a connection between a Search Console property and other Google services such as a Google Analytics account, Chrome Web Store account or YouTube channel.
Before this update, businesses could link Search Console with other Google platforms, but now you can link Search Console domain properties to Google Analytics. This allows you to see everything in one place.
Businesses that link their various Google services will be able to benefit from advanced performance data to gain more insightful reporting and get a clearer view of the bigger picture.
This feature supports the following Google services:
- Google Analytics property
- Google Ads account
- YouTube channel
- Play Console app
- Actions Console project
- Chrome Web Store account
LinkedIn Updates Pages With New Features
New features are being introduced to LinkedIn pages with the aim of improving lead generation, engaging more with employees and providing more data.
Some of the features include; Lead generation forms on Product pages, a “My Company” tab for co-workers and closer monitoring of content engagement and reach, along with the effect of employee advocacy.
Product pages were launched at the end of 2020 and serve as a business page for a specific product. This new feature allows page owners to include lead gen forms on these pages free of charge. Lead gen forms are fully customisable with Calls to action and the information fields you require. They pre-fill information from the user’s profile to reduce friction and once submitted display a “thank you” page where you can direct the user to a chosen destination.
The “My Company” tab is a new area within the LinkedIn page for employees. The aim is to bring employees closer together by increasing engagement within the company and connecting colleagues. The new features include employee milestones like promotions, anniversaries and new hires. It can also reveal trending content from co-workers and suggest recommendations to connect with others within the organisation. More features are in the pipeline to be rolled out soon.
Google My Business To Roll Out Messaging On Web
Consumers’ expectations in terms of responsiveness of brands are increasing rapidly. They expect to get answers to their questions within a few minutes and that’s surely putting some pressure on businesses. However, companies like Google are working on providing businesses with more tools to help manage these expectations.
Google has recently announced that all businesses that have a Google My Business page will have access to messaging on desktop by early March this year. This feature has been available on mobile for a few months now.
If you’d like to use this feature all you need to do is to turn on messaging on your Google My Business account. Once it’s on, people will be able to send you messages on your GMB page.
If you opt-in for messaging on GMB, you will need to keep on top of it as Google will have the ability to revoke your access if you don’t respond to messages within 24 hours.
Outbrain Unveil. New ad formats to attract new users
The native advertising company has unveiled new tools to increase user interaction and help advertisers save time optimising campaigns.
The coronavirus pandemic has encouraged more consumers to increase their online presence, which in turn has forced more brands to look for ways to approach a digital shopper. But at a time when more brands are competing to gain a foothold in users’ browsing habits, creativity is emerging as the ideal tool to achieve the desired interaction with users.
Among the new additions to the firm’s product portfolio is Native Awareness+, a set of native advertising formats designed for mobile devices. According to Faya Liddle-Moore, the company’s commercial director, “these ads appear to be part of the content that the user consumes on mobile”.
Available in display, video and social banner formats, the advertising content achieves greater impact and interaction than a traditional banner. According to data provided by the company, they achieve four times the impact and receive an average viewing attention of 7 seconds – longer, says Liddle-Moore, than posts that appear in the Facebook feed. They also have a cost per view 30% to 40% lower than those on YouTube and Facebook.
In the last year, the company has also been improving its artificial intelligence algorithms with the aim of improving audience targeting based on their interests and offering advertisers new tools that allow them to save time in optimising their native advertising campaigns.
In this regard, Verónica González, global head of business and legal affairs at Outbrain, showed attendees Conversion Bid Strategy and OB Code, two campaign automation tools that, thanks to the use of AI-based algorithms, are able to optimise campaigns autonomously. “This way you can focus on creative strategy and growing your business,” said González.
