🌷 We’ve officially made it through the first quarter of 2022! My fellow B2B marketers are likely rejoicing and taking a deep breath before heading into the next quarter strong.

Either way, it feels like this year is speeding by. April also means it’s Forgematic’s one-year anniversary (whut!). I appreciate everyone who’s been with me on this journey each week!

On to this week’s news! 👇

Social Media & The Creator Economy

• Meta is in hot water this week (hey, that’s a familiar headline)! A Washington Post report revealed the company hired a political campaign group to run disinformation campaigns against TikTok. One campaign manager was quoted in the story as saying, “the Dream would be to get stories with headlines like ‘From dances to danger’”. Oof.
• Another Meta point from this week: a research group at North Carolina State University determined Facebook’s interest targeting is wrong 30% of the time. Personally, I don’t think this is a massive deal, can you image how inaccurate targeting was pre-internet? Then again, I’m not currently throwing lots of money at ads either.
• TikTok introduced GIPHY clips this week, which gives creators an entirely new library to draw content from. The new feature makes it easy to pull clips from shows and celebrity content.
• Snapchat added YouTube link stickers this week. This means you can now share YouTube videos as stickers directly on your story. This is the first time that YouTube links can be shared visually to Snapchat Stories and one-on-one Snaps.
• Not to be outdone with new releases this week, Instagram launched new messaging features. Included in the new features are online status indicators, new chat themes, quick replies, and music sharing.
• Netflix acquired it’s third video game studio this week, solidifying its push into gaming. The company sees a future where gaming and traditional video content overlap and work together to engage subscribers.
• Tryna grow your Instagram following this year? Of course you are! Here are three quick tips to optimize your IG for search. Keywords in various places are just as important here as they are on web content.
• There’s a new social media app on campus. BeReal is trending as a replacement for over filtered and overrated IG feeds. The app gives users a two-minute window each day to share what they’re up to. The catch is, everyone gets a notification for the posting window at the same time—and you can’t view other photos until you post your own.
• Words you weren’t expecting to read: top YouTube creator MrBeast recently joined LinkedIn. There’s a strategy behind the move, as his manager explained it here.
• Lastly, Clubhouse added a new feature called “protected profiles” which enables users to have a more private profile. With this feature, you have to approve people to follow you instead of the default fully open profile—similar to how it works on other social networks.

SEO & Content Marketing

• I stumbled across Search Engine Journal’s Guide to Local SEO, which, I thought, was great for anyone who runs SEO for local clients or run a local business in a service area. Chapter 7 is super important — it’s all about optimizing your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business).
• How about some more technical SEO stuff? Here’s a handy way to use Screaming Frog and Google Sheets to do bulk internal linking. Even if you don’t understand that copy, hit the link to see what the SEO peeps on your team are up to all the time.
• I recently came across AlsoAsked.com, which lets you view PAA (people also asked) queries in real time — which can save you a ton of time when planning content and links.
• Proof that links to your content and website matter: Google has started adding a “highly cited” label in search results. The new label will appear in the top stories carousel in the search results page.
• Creating content is only the beginning of any good content strategy. Repurposing and distribution should not only be part of your roadmap, but should be considered more important than the actual creation itself. Here’s a case study on how social media giant Hootsuite repurposes content across all of their channels.
• Speaking of content, you should attempt to avoid thin content on your website since it can damage your ranking results. What’s thin content? Glad you asked—here’s what it is and how it can hurt your rankings.

Copywriting, Branding & Advertising

• Welcome to Walmart — would you like to run some ads today? If so, you’re in look because the retail giant announced plans to become a top ad platform. They are the second e-commerce destination in the US, so it makes sense. As a side note, they hit $2.1B in ad revenue last year, so this train has already left the station.
• Vizio is another brand not often associated with ads. This week they debuted a new ad format for their smart TVs called “Jump Ads” which bridge the gap between episodes ending and starting something new. TIL: Vizio makes more from ads than it does from selling TVs.
• The team at Klient Boost put together a quick list of 7 tips to maximize your Google Search Ads (pssst, you could also just hire me for this wink wink nudge nudge)
• Another week, another metaverse brand activation. Wendy’s opened a restaurant in the metaverse this weekend. If you visit, you also get $1 off for IRL restaurant use. Included in the experience is Wendyverse Partnership Plaza, where “players can visit The Buck BiscuitDome to shoot hoops with a virtual Baconator and cut the net following a winning shot.” It’s not even weird seeing these words anymore.
• TIL Coors (a US-based beer brand) recently opened a plastic-free bodega in Brooklyn, NY to promote their new plastic-ring-free beer six packs. The pop-up even had a bodega cat, so gg to Coors marketing team.
• Twitter is frequently regarded as lagging as an ad platform when compared to its social network peers. In an effort to change that, the company is testing three new ad types. One interesting type is ‘Interactive Text” ads that show text in a larger-than-normal font. Those ads can also have up to three highlighted words in the ad copy that, when clicked, go to chosen landing pages.
• Nielsen ratings have been the gold standard for tv measurement for as long as I can remember. The ratings influence a show’s success, as well as ad prices. This week, the company announced it was being acquired for $16 billion by a private equity firm.
• Google’s Privacy Sandbox tech began testing this week. The goal of the new technology is basically what it sounds like: limiting the use of personal data when serving ads and reporting attribution. Cookies will soon be a thing of the past, and this is one approach to replace them.

Woo! You made it to the end. Thank you so much for being here for another week.

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