Today in Digital Marketing - Facebook Link Posts are Dead

Episode Date: August 18, 2021

Why Facebook's latest report might have you throwing out your social content strategy... PLUS: Pinterest applies its AI to hair, it's time you put chapters in your YouTube videos, and a nice Google update for people who split their time between home and the office.• Get a Free 7-Day Trial of the Premium Newsletter (with exclusive content, videos, links, and more) — https://b.link/pod-newsletter GET YOUR WORD OUT:• Ads as low as $20! See https://todayindigital.com/ads• Be a guest expert: https://b.link/pod-expert JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!- Reddit: https://todayindigital.com/reddit- Slack: https://todayindigital.com/slack- Discord: https://todayindigital.com/discord ENJOYING THE SHOW?- Please tweet about us! https://b.link/pod-tweet- Rate and review us: https://todayindigital.com/rateus- Leave a voicemail: https://b.link/pod-voicemail FOLLOW TOD:- Twitter: https://b.link/pod-twitter- LinkedIn: https://b.link/pod-linkedin- TikTok: https://b.link/pod-tiktok Today in Digital Marketing is hosted by Tod Maffin (https://b.link/pod-todsite) and produced by engageQ digital (https://b.link/pod-engageq). Subscribe at https://TodayInDigital.com or wherever you get your podcasts. (Theme music by Mark Blevis. All other music licensed by Source Audio.)Our Sponsors:* Check out Kinsta: https://kinsta.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Today, why Facebook's latest report Be protected. Be Zen. and home. It's Wednesday, August 18th, 2021. Happy National Bad Poetry Day. I'm Todd Maffin from EngageQ Digital and here's what you missed today in digital marketing. Facebook today published a new transparency report which disclosed, for the first time ever, details about what content was most viewed on their newsfeed. While the purpose of it was to discount reports that Facebook's content distribution algorithm was showing people a lot of anti-vax and conspiracy nonsense, it also provides an opportunity for us filthy digital marketers to peer in a little closer and see what's working in content marketing.

One huge surprise, at least to me, was just how little posts with links were shown on the newsfeed. Quoting from their report, The vast majority of content viewed in newsfeed during Q2 2021, that's 87%, did not include a link to a source outside Facebook. Only about 12.9% of newsfeed content views in the U.S. were on posts that contain links, unquote. This is notable, of course, because I'd venture to say that most of the post types we schedule and publish to all of our various brand pages have links in them. In fact, when you break out the numbers, we find that inside an average consumer's newsfeed, not even 7% of the posts they'll see come from brand pages sharing links.

So if you haven't run a content audit on your Facebook page lately, it's probably time to check your insights to see if those link posts are mostly being ignored by Facebook's algorithm. The report also disclosed the top 20 domains that were linked to. Top five were YouTube, Amazon, UNICEF,

GoFundMe, and Twitter. Today's premium newsletter subscribers are seeing the full chart of all 20. Facebook did note that those top 20 domain links collectively accounted for not even 2% of all newsfeed content views in the U.S. during Q2. The top Facebook page in terms of traffic was also UNICEF. So what are pages sharing that's getting them this kind of traffic? Well, memes. Quoting The Verge, according to the report, the most viewed post is a letter scramble that invites users to pick out the first three words they see. The second most viewed post is a letter scramble that invites users to pick out the first three words they see. The second most viewed post asks users over 30 to post a picture of themselves if they look young.

The seventh most viewed link is a gif of kittens, unquote. My friends, I think we're overthinking our content strategy. With millions of people going to Pinterest for hair and beauty inspiration, the company today launched Hair Pattern Search, which it says it created with people of color in mind. Quoting their announcement today, Through computer vision-powered object detection, Hair Pattern Search enables pinners to refine hair searches by six different hair patterns. Protective, coily, curly, wavy, straight, and shaved or bald.

Over the coming weeks, pinners can search for a broad hair term like summer hairstyles, glam hair, or short hair, and narrow their results by selecting one of the six hair patterns to find hair inspiration that is most relevant to their style and preference. Pinterest has detected a hair pattern in over 500 million images on our platform. This new technology builds on Pinterest's industry-first inclusive product featuring skin tone ranges first launch in 2018, unquote. Hair Pattern Search is available in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and on iOS and Android, and will roll out to international markets over the coming months. YouTube's is pushing chapters out a bit more.

Chapters are those section markers you can list that YouTube will create little bookmarks for, which people can use to jump to a specific part of your video. In particular, video chapters will now surface in searches you do in the YouTube mobile app. Here's how YouTube explains it. Quote, up until now, when you've browsed

for a video to watch on YouTube, you'd see a thumbnail image of each video. It gave you a chance to gather a quick snapshot of the video's content. Now, you'll be able to make even more informed decisions about what you're going to watch through video chapters directly in the search page. When available, these time-stamped images detail the different topics covered in the videos and let you better evaluate the video you're about to watch. You can also jump directly to the section most relevant to your specific interest." topics covered in the videos and let you better evaluate the video you're about to watch.

You can also jump directly to the section most relevant to your specific interest, unquote. From a digital marketing point of view, I think you know what's next for you, and that's to start using chapters in your videos. It's actually easier to do than you might think. You just put time codes and a brief headline of each chapter in the video's description. There isn't any specific format. YouTube's pretty good at figuring out what you mean. Don't worry if it doesn't seem to take. YouTube says not all videos are eligible

for auto-segmentation right now, but they should backfill once it's fully rolled out. And finally, Google today announced a nice upgrade for those of you who alternate between working in an office and working from another location like home. Starting August 30th, you will be able to indicate where you're working from directly on your Google Calendar. You can add a weekly working location routine and update your location as plans change. This feature will be off by default, though Google says on August 30th you will be shown an onboarding dialog with the option to enable it.

This will only work on the following workspace plans. Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, Education Plus, Nonprofits, and G Suite Business Customers. It is not available for people who use Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, or G Suite Basic Customers. I'm off to fight with the new smart door lock, which it turns out isn't very smart at all. Talk to you tomorrow. All by myself, I'll be alright Waiting for you to come tonight But if you never ring my bell, I'll be all right.