👋 What’s up, everyone! Back in your inbox with a roundup of what’s what in the marketing world. It was Facebook’s worst week ever, while the rest of big tech reported record-breaking ad sales. The numbers are truly mind-blowing (you can see them in the advertising section).

In Forgematic agency news: I’m continuing to add clients and have a few contractors helping me out when I need it. We’re essentially a full-service SEO (technical, backlinks, AND content) and PPC agency now that I’ve gotten some help. Still, I want to grow sustainably and for that reason, am intentionally capping the client list for now. We have capacity for two more clients, fyi. 👀

And with that, here’s what happened in marketing this week!

Social Media & The Creator Economy

• Meta is struggling, it would seem. The company’s stock went for a tumble this week (like a record-setting one-day drop level tumble) as Zuck told his employees and shareholder that it was time to focus on video. For the first time ever, Facebook lost users. Woof. What that means for us: Reels will be even bigger in ‘22 than they were in ‘21.
• Case in point: IG is testing a feature to let you upload 90-second reels, a 30-second increase over the current limit.
• Twitter is continuing its rollout of the downvotes feature. Twitter’s stance is that it improves the quality of conversations, especially since the downvotes are actually private. Hear me out: what if we just had an edit button instead?
• Just because Reels are in favor doesn’t mean other things, like carousel posts, are done for. Here are 8 ways to use Instagram Carousel posts this year.
• Twitter is testing a new feature called Twitter Articles, which could be a replacement for threads.

SEO, Content, and Email Marketing

• Conversion Rate Optimization (or CRO) is often considered a worth pursuit if you have a high traffic website. What if you have a low traffic site? This article makes the case for going big on your changes.
• SEO is a complex discipline with one big metric everyone knows and cares about: page one rankings. But there are so many things that need to be tracked for improvement. Here’s a great list of the top 7 SEO KPIs to focus on.
• Email marketing has long been the top channel in the B2B marketing mix. However, social media has taken the top spot according to this new study.
• Refreshing older content on your blog can be a great strategy to increase your traffic. This guide gives you step-by-step instructions on how to audit your content and refresh things that aren’t working.
• Newsletter pages is a project I came across this week that showcases newsletter landing pages. BRB, using this to redesign Forgematic’s landing page again.
• When I’m working with clients who have local businesses, one of the first things I audit is their Google Business Profile. Optimizing this profile goes a long way in local search, and here’s a great deep dive into how and why.

Copywriting, Branding & Advertising

• Just Do It. The iconic phrase Nike coined from an advertising campaign in the 90s has defined brand taglines ever since. Ever wonder where it came from? Here’s the story.
• It’s almost time for Super Bowl ads to air, but that’s not the only branding news coming out of the NFL. The Washington Football Team rebranded to the Washington Commanders, and now have the hard task of rolling out a second new brand lately. It’s the beginning of an attempt to overshadow the previous name and logo’s racist beginnings.
• In a first, Amazon revealed revenue numbers from their ad business. Amazon banked $31B from ads last year. If you wonder where you even see these ads, here’s a short list: product listings, search results, and on Fire/Kindle wake screens. As a side note, Google made $61B in advertising last quarter alone. WTF!
• On that note: Google, Meta, and Amazon will receive more than 50% of all ad money this year.
• Speaking of ad revenue: Snap has posted it’s first profitable quarter ever, thanks in part to ad revenue.
• I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: it’s easy to waste money on Google Ads/PPC if you’re not sure what you’re doing. Here’s a great thread from Collin Schmelebeck on how to audit your account to make sure you’re getting the most out of it you can.

For Fun

• This sarcasm converter plugs into a regular USB keyboard and instantly converts your typing into sArCaSm.

Yesssss! You made it all the way to the end!

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