Social Media & SEO

The battle between Instagram and Snapchat for more users and marketing dollars continues its heated pace. This morning, Snapchat introduced a new marketing tool called Context Cards giving Snapchat users a way to get instant information about a business featured in a Snap. Meanwhile, Instagram announced a couple of new features in the last week, including an interactive polling sticker for Stories that closely resembles Snapchat’s third-party Polly feature.

When measuring social media and website efforts, few metrics can be taken at face value. Every major platform has some form of native analytic tool, and Google Analytics provides a wealth of information on the factors that affect a website’s performance. But by accepting the numbers you’re given and not digging any deeper, metrics can mislead. Here are three common mistakes communicators can make by looking only at the tip of the metrics iceberg.

While some communicators may argue augmented reality’s relevance to brands has faded along with Pokémon GO fervor, recent developments at Snap Inc. and Toys ‘R’ Us indicate otherwise. Both companies have unrolled augmented reality (AR) offerings that encourage audience interaction with their products and drive a surprise-and-delight factor with users.

Facebook’s Crisis Response tool is facing its first sad test in the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the United States. A gunman fired into the crowd of a country music festival from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, leaving more than 50 dead and more than 400 injured.

For Carrie Strehlau, turning a complex subject into an engaging story is part of her everyday challenge. Strehlau, a senior social media specialist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, has found Instagram Stories to be a great vehicle for highlighting and humanizing the hospital’s work. In this Q&A, she shares her approach to the platform, how she measures success and why spontaneity can be just as important as prep work when it comes to Instagram Stories.

When it comes to abusive or inappropriate comments on a piece of branded content, many communicators will tell you: Don’t feed the trolls. Now Instagram has made it even easier to block the haters by unrolling a new feature that gives public Instagram accounts more power over who can comment on posts.

I don’t drink chocolate milk too often anymore, but those rare times that I do I reach for the Fox’s U-bet. Although the maker of U-bet, Brooklyn-based H. Fox & Co., was acquired in 2016… Continued

If you want to optimize a web page to be front and center on a Google search, there’s so much more to it than just using a couple of keywords in the title. From the time of day your page is posted, to making sure you always follow the 3/100 rule, there are a variety of methods for optimizing a page to make it dance with Google’s algorithm. Here’s a quick 12-step checklist to keep in mind whenever you’re posting a new piece of content to your site.

Growing up, most of us were encouraged by our parents and teachers to play well in the sandbox, to share our toys and pay attention in class. Fast forward to now, and imagine your boss… Continued

The hashtag recently turned 10 years old, but after all these years, it has still got to be one of the most misunderstood social media tactics ever. Hashtags hold power, but like any other power, it can have adverse affects if not used in the right way. Here are three common hashtag mistakes that every brand needs to avoid.