It’s the 3 in 3! Your January Digital Marketing News Roundup

Shocking confessions! Amateur rapping! It’s all going on at your favourite Leeds digital marketing agency – and it’s only January!

We really get a kick out of making our ‘3 in 3’ videos – if you’ve not been watching them, then you can click the links below to find out more about our latest digital marketing news and tips. Or, you know, just read this roundup. Your choice.

Episode 13, with Nichola, Jess, Colleen – (watch here)

Holistic SEO – improve every aspect of your website

In Yoast’s 2022 SEO predictions, they’ve been heavily emphasising the importance of holistic SEO, and prioritising the user experience.

Colleen points out that a lot of this boils down to staying on top of the technical performance of your website.

The Importance of Instagram carousels in marketing

A new study from Instagram recommends that accounts with less than 100k followers use carousels with up to 10 words in the caption to engage their audience. For larger accounts with more than 100k followers, video is thought to be a better option.

Colleen wants to make it clear that this isn’t a sign for smaller accounts to stop doing video – more that you should consider adding carousels to your Insta strategy.

TikTok reveals the importance of audio in brand marketing

TikTok have been putting out some rather tasty content with their ‘Evolution of Sound’ series, giving us some great insights into the importance of how you use your audio on their platform. They explain that having a sound identity or identifier is roughly eight times more effective than either a slogan or a logo.

Nichola mentions the acapella Trio ‘3 in 3’ jingle as a shining example of this sort of thing.

Jess backs up the TikTok findings, explaining how people will take your original sound identifiers and feature them, creating additional engagement for your brand elsewhere on the platform.

The video ends with what could be described as rapping. Colleen refuses to participate.

Episode 14, with Beth, Jess, Darren – (watch here)

Instagram could get a customisable grid

 New Insta changes are in the pipeline, including the option to rearrange your grid so it’s more aesthetically pleasing, or to highlight deals and offers. Beth says she can see the logic for business accounts, but it’s not something she’d be too interested in on her own account.

Darren agrees, but points out that from a design perspective it’d be good for brands, making sure their colours look right etc – and also useful if you’re wanting to repurpose content.

Important Google Search Algorithm Updates from 2021

We’re starting to see the effects of search algorithm updates that happened at the end of last year. Mobile-first indexing is in full effect, so make sure your content is fully optimised for mobile. Other tips include adding pictures to reviews, and links in product descriptions to show where they’ve been manufactured.

Darren explains that most of our client’s websites now show mobile users as being by far the largest group. Additionally, Google will be introducing AI paragraph learning soon, selectively feeding the most relevant content from a page, so it’ll be even more important to stay on top of your mobile optimisation. Which we do, obviously!

Pinterest insights into male usage of the App

 Pinterest’s own research is showing that men prefer using higher end brands because they’re trustworthy. They also spend less time searching and browsing for products.

Darren says he doesn’t associate Pinterest with buying stuff, he’s more likely to look for inspiration then go elsewhere. He won’t buy anything unless he’s read 200 reviews and looked at every page possible.

Jess thinks the personalised journey is really important on Pinterest too. 85% of the men in the survey felt that the app did a good job of personalising the content.

Darren makes reference to the client website stats – we’re seeing a big upturn in users coming from that platform.

Jess says Pinterest has completely evolved from being basically a mood board, into a full-blown social commerce platform.

Episode 15, with Cian, Jess, and Kaitlyn – (watch here)

Cian and Kaitlyn make their ‘3 in 3’ debuts, while Colleen’s helping Nichola work on her mixtape.

Tiktok is working on integrating Stories into the main feed

Kaitlyn is in favour, saying this should make things easier – it saves you having to swipe through and click to see the stories.

Jess agrees, pointing out it’ll be a quicker way to get content across as well, giving advertisers more opportunity to get creative.

LinkedIn adds new updates for marketers and company Pages

LinkedIn have launched three new courses, training you on how to grow your brand on LinkedIn, and how to optimise your paid and organic content.

Cian’s a fan, explaining how he used LinkedIn Learning to learn Python. He rates it as a really good format for learning, with the course he studied containing about three hours of high-quality free content.

Digital Marketing Trends of 2022

A quick discussion of some of the most interesting trends occurring in 2022, as the team discuss chatbots, micro-influencers, and the benefits of repurposing your TikTok content as Youtube shorts or Instagram Reels (once you’ve removed the watermark).

Kaitlyn sees a lot of positives in the micro-influencer movement, explaining how small businesses can benefit from the more personalised engagement these people can offer.

Cian’s interested in the potential of chatbots, seeing them as a more interesting way to deal with FAQs, and create a more engaged, personalised website experience.

If you want to see what this Leeds digital marketing agency can do for your business, then get in touch today (rapping available on request).