Today in Digital Marketing - Will The Internet's Huge Security Hole Hurt Your SEO?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today,

Starting point is 00:00:18 starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Today, finally, some good news for retailers. Be protected. Be Zen. Who's the next big player in email marketing? Apparently, Mark Zuckerberg. It's Thursday, December 16th, 2021. Happy Day of Reconciliation, South Africa. I'm Todd Maffin from EngageQ Digital, and here's what you missed today in Digital Marketing, Episode 528.

Starting point is 00:01:02 Consumers are more likely to give away their data for a cheeseburger than to find out the value of their retirement savings. New research from Omnicom Media Group suggests consumers' concerns over data privacy often conflicts with their actions. Their OMG Signal Unit compared insights gathered about consumers' concerns over data privacy with research from SourcePoint about what sectors consumers are willing to share consent with. According to the data, 63% registered concerns about sharing data.

Starting point is 00:01:31 31% of those said that they were extremely concerned. So what sectors are consumers worried about when it comes to sharing their personal information? The top concerns are general interest websites, big tech, and apps. This research, however, conflicts with data from SourcePoint about which sectors consumers tend to consent giving their data to. According to the article, the survey found that authoritative or trustworthy sites, including news channels, generated a 76% consent rate. The food and drink sectors secured an even higher consent rate of 86%. And in contrast, personal finance saw a significantly lower consent rate way down at 24%.

Starting point is 00:02:12 Marketers have another valuable lesson to learn here. If you give consumers something they want, they will share their information with you, even if they might not trust your website. If you provide enough value to the consumer in exchange for data, they will opt in. So if you were one of the many who were stuck in the berries and cream chasm of TikTok, you might appreciate this update. The company announced today it's taking a new approach to its For You feed with new features to safeguard and diversify video recommendations.

Starting point is 00:02:49 The platform is working on an update that will let users pick topics they want to avoid as part of its efforts to interrupt repetitive patterns. The announcement could be the company's attempt to reduce lawmakers' concerns about how the platform's algorithms affect kids' and teens' mental health. Quoting the announcement, As we continue to develop new strategies to interrupt repetitive patterns, we're looking at how our system can better vary the kinds of content that may be recommended in a sequence. That's why we're testing ways to avoid recommending a series of similar content, such as around extreme dieting, or fitness, sadness, or breakups,

Starting point is 00:03:26 to protect against viewing too much of a content category that may be fine as a single video, but problematic if viewed in clusters. We're also working on a feature that would let people choose words or hashtags associated with content they don't want to see in their For You feed. This new tool will offer a way to help people customize their feed, unquote. So how will this affect your content if users have more control over their For You feed? We won't know exactly how this affects the algorithm until it's rolled out, but more than ever, it's important to put thought into making your videos engaging.

Starting point is 00:04:02 Aim for content that people will want to share, since that appears to be pretty highly weighted in the content algorithm. Amidst the supply chain issues and continued uncertainty around COVID, finally, a bit of good news for retailers. According to a report from Moody's, analysts expect that the retail industry will continue to grow, though at a slower pace than in 2021.

Starting point is 00:04:29 Here's what else the analysis predicts. Retail sales will grow by 5% next year, compared to the projected growth of more than 10% in 2021. Operating income will grow 2% across the U.S. industry, which is down from the spike in operating profit growth this year. All that said, supply chain disruptions and a shift to experience-based consumption will pose threats to the industry. It has been described as the single biggest, most critical vulnerability of the last decade. Yet, unless your site has been affected, you might not have heard about the Log4J security issue

Starting point is 00:05:11 that many major businesses are quietly trying to fix. It's taken many sites offline, including the Canada Revenue Agency. You yourself may have recommended that your brand take its site down for a day or two while your web nerds fix things up. That action will make it simpler for them, but of course has complications, not the least of which is your Google ranking. How is your position in the search results going to change if you need to take your website down and Googlebot can't access it?

Starting point is 00:05:43 Google search advocate John Mueller shared advice on Twitter about how to handle taking your site offline to fix any log4j vulnerabilities. He recommends four steps. First, make a static version of your site. Then, copy the site. Host it on the same domain. And he says this too will pass. Temporary outages will be fine in the long run.

Starting point is 00:06:06 If you want more information about these four, check his tweets. His Twitter account is at John Mu. That's J-O-H-N-M-U. It's the season for new styles and you love to shop for jackets and boots. So when you do, always make sure you get cash back from Rakuten.

Starting point is 00:06:28 And it's not just clothing and shoes. You can get cash back from over 750 stores on electronics, holiday travel, home decor, and more. It's super easy. And before you buy anything, always go to Rakuten first. Join free at rakuten.ca. Start shopping and get your cash back sent to you by

Starting point is 00:06:46 check or PayPal. Get the Rakuten app or join at Rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N.C-A. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Snapchat has a new Story Studio app that will help you create more complex vertical videos, which can then be uploaded into the main app. Quoting Snap, use the frame-precise trimming, splitting, and timing tools

Starting point is 00:07:31 to get your edits just right. Add layers and captions to tell your story, and then sounds from Snapchat. Try the latest lenses that everyone is talking about. Add smooth transitions from one video to another. When you're ready to share, send it to Snapchat to share on your story or on Spotlight, unquote. Spotlight, of course, being their version of TikTok. We reported earlier this week on Meta's Spark AR Go app, which is only available to certain users through an application process.

Starting point is 00:08:02 The app simplifies AR creation. Story Studio from Snapchat isn't focused on augmented reality, but it is interesting to see both platforms release simplified creation apps. This could be a trend for platforms in the new year, and these apps could be a great tool for digital marketers to incorporate

Starting point is 00:08:19 into their content strategy. Currently, the app is only available as an early version to iOS users in the US, UK, and Canada. Twitter is testing a feature called quote tweet with reaction that enables users to capture a response to a tweet with a photo or video in camera mode.

Starting point is 00:08:42 It's similar to responding to a question with a video on TikTok or Reels. It's similar to responding to a question with a video on TikTok or Reels or sharing an Instagram post to your story and responding to it. Plus, it would add another visual element to the platform. Also on the visual front, Twitter is testing an updated text editor option that allows you to add color to the text and background of your tweets, very similar to Facebook's feature when you create a post. For marketers, both features could be a great way to improve engagement and interaction on the platform. Twitter is currently in the testing phase. The company has not announced when the updates will be rolled out to a wider audience. And finally, this year,

Starting point is 00:09:22 live stream shopping has exploded. Social Media Examiner has an excellent piece today about how to get started with Amazon Live video. You'll learn why marketers should be using Amazon Live, at least from their point of view, how to use it, what you can do with it, how to deliver an effective show using it. Even though the guide goes into detail about Amazon Live specifically, it also contains some great information you can apply to other platforms for live shopping. A link to the article is available in today's premium newsletter. All right, don't forget about our live hangout tomorrow. It's open to everyone. No agenda, just hanging out, sharing tips and ideas, whining about Facebook

Starting point is 00:10:02 ads. You know, the usual. That's tomorrow, Friday, 12 p.m. Pacific, 3 p.m. Eastern, and 8 p.m. London time. The URL is todayindigital.com slash happyhourlive. Talk to you tomorrow. I think that education is dumb. I think that I can learn everything I need to know on TikTok. Yeah. Yeah, because they taught me how to clean out my washer and my dryer on TikTok. And the school didn't teach me how to do that.

Starting point is 00:10:36 No, school doesn't teach you that. No.

Today in Digital Marketing - Will The Internet's Huge Security Hole Hurt Your SEO?

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