Product tags just became available to everyone in the US
Good news for brands with an Insta…
Instagram just announced that everyone in the US can now tag products on their feed posts.
That means users can tag products the same way they’d tag other users. They can even access product catalogs and tag particular styles and colors.
Why we care: User generated content (UGC) and influencer marketing were already exploding.
And now, Instagram’s update makes it even easier for users to find, follow, and purchase the products they see influencers and other users posting about.
Tag, you’re it: If your users or influencers posted about your product on their Instagram profile, let them know they can tag your products, too. That can help your brand get discovered more easily.
SEO
Google wants you to start thinking locally
It’s not everyday that a war between giants benefits the little guys.
What’s going on: According to Kevin Indig, Shopify’s head of SEO, users search Amazon for products 2x more than they search Google.
So Google is leveraging local search as a competitive advantage against Amazon… which is great news for businesses and agencies with local customers.
Try it yourself: Just search for “SEO” and look near the top of the SERP. You’ll see listings for nearby SEO agencies, even if you weren’t looking for agency services.
Interesting, right?
The Crew’s Take: Google’s putting a lot of effort into improving local SEO. They recently added an inventory schema which tells users what’s in stock at nearby stores.
So if you aren’t improving your own local SEO, now’s a good time to start.
SPONSORED BY AHREFS
Last week, over 10,358 companies dumped Google Search Console and got even more organic traffic
Almost every website has at least one SEO issue that it’s damaging their ranking in Google’s search results. And simply fixing these issues means getting more traffic.
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (aka, AWT) helps you do exactly that.
While Google Search Console may report on a handful of issues, AWT reports on 100+ common SEO issues.
100+ more opportunities to get more traffic. Uncover them for free.
That’s not all.
AWT analyzes your backlinks (all of them), reports on metrics, link type data, and broken links data for internal and external links.
And what about your keywords? AWT provides you with SEO metrics for pages and keywords, SERP snapshot with competitive data, SERP features for every keyword.
Does Google Search Console give you that data?
No… And that’s why TripAdvisor, Expedia, Pinterest, Facebook, HuffPost, eBay and thousands of other companies use Ahrefs Webmaster Tools.
BUSINESS
How this company built a B2B selling machine with memes and employee posts—cheaply
If you’ve ever tried generating B2B leads, you know how complicated it can be. Even on LinkedIn.
But there are ways to do it without spending a dollar.
That’s what Dreamadata does. Precious Oboidhe analyzed their LinkedIn B2B lead generation strategy, and it’s worth swiping.
Dreamdata’s secret sauce? Employee advocacy.
“Employee advocacy” refers to a culture where workers actively advocate for their company as a way of building relationships and attracting customers.
Through employee advocacy, six Dreamdata employees built a selling engine that saved the company $6.59 per 1000 LinkedIn impressions and $5.26 per click.
Here’s how their employee advocacy program works:
- Employee networks have 10x more connections than their company’s followers.
- The content shared by employees receives 8x more engagement than content shared by companies’ accounts.
- Employee content can generate 5x more website traffic and 25 percent more leads.
In addition to relying on the content written and shared by their employees, Dreamdata also follows a set of key principles:
- Hop on trends. This is a well-known social media tactic that works on every social network. And Dreamdata’s employees obviously follow it.
- Entertain with memes that tell a relatable story. Here’s a funny yet informative post shared by Samuel Malpiedi, one of Dreamdata’s employees.
- Show social proof. Yes, everybody is loading their websites with social proof these days, but for some reason they’re not putting that same effort into LinkedIn. It’s as simple as sharing a screenshot of a review or testimonial, or even a screenshot of an email, like this email from one of Dreamdata’s competitors.
There’s definitely more to learn when it comes to getting qualified B2B leads for cheap. We suggest reading this full analysis here.
SPONSORED BY ORBIO WORLD
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Want to take advantage of e-commerce without the hassle of logistics, inventory management, and customer support?
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We’re talking about products that truly make people’s lives better. Nuubu.com, Getryoko.com, Tvidler.com, and Huusk.com are some of them. And they have generated 2.2M conversions so far!
“Tell me more about Orbio’s in-demand offers.”
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
How to find a message that works
A marketer named Matt Epstein has scaled two separate companies, Rippling and Zenefits, from $0 to $10M ARR.
He did it with a straightforward, repeatable process that he details in this YouTube video.
While Matt’s complete process is too complex to feature in this newsletter section, he mentions one marketing tactic we want to highlight: Testing your messaging.
Too often, marketers go live with one or two messaging angles they settled on but never tested, dumping money into ads that don’t position the product well… and don’t perform well, either.
To fix this, Matt suggests the following:
- Create as many angles as you can. The more messages you can test, the better. Say you’re selling a high-end razor. You could test the phrase “smoother skin” against the phrase “better shave,” for example. The purpose is to generate as many ideas as possible.
- Run ads for those ideas on Google and Facebook. Matt’s process is simple: Test those ideas against each other. Figure out what people are actually clicking on. It might not be what you expect.
- Double down on what works and immediately cut what doesn’t. Moving slowly can kill the success of your marketing. When you find something that works, follow it.
The Crew’s take: This is a simple idea, and you may already be doing this.
But if you’re not, try it. Test as many ideas as you can against a real audience.
You’ll hone the messaging angle that actually works with customers—and build a stronger brand in the process.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
COPYWRITING: Blank pages. Character limits. Structure. Emotion. Edits. Making time to write killer copy is hard enough without the devilish details. So if you’re crushed for time or talent, don’t sweat it. Add a professional to your team… like Joe.*
ADVERTISING: Placing ads for your brand on a pitchside board in Rocket League may sound far fetched… but it’s not. Microsoft is developing an ads program for their free-to-play Xbox games. Anyone else curious what the ROI on those would be?
PPC: If your location prevented you from advertising in the past, check Google’s latest update. Their Advertiser verification program just added 37 new countries.
META: How do you feel about Meta automatically expanding audiences for your ads? In this article, Jon Loomer discussed the downsides of Meta’s Audience Expansion trend.
AMAZON: Amazon is rebranding IMDb TV to Freevee and advertisers are thrilled… about the targeting opportunities. Why? With the amount of first person data Amazon has, ad-supported free TV is a potential goldmine.
MARKETING: An AI wrote the intro for this article, and it’s impressive, we must say. Could artificial intelligence craft a better writing piece than us? That’s debatable, but the pros and cons of AI are worth exploring.
SEO: Test everything… except your domain URL. According to Google’s own John Mueller, changing a URL and changing it back for testing purposes can mess up the authority of your content.
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
What goes up when the rain comes down?
You can find the answer here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
This visual essay will change the way you look at money
Do you ever think about the people you’re carrying around in your wallet?
No, not the family photos. We mean the people on your currency.
This visual essay on famous figures and currency taught us fascinating insights, like:
- The most common occupation of the people shown on currency. Surprisingly, it’s not politics.
- The ratio between females and males represented on a banknote.
- The likelihood of members of The Crew becoming the images on currency.
… And more.
Not sure about you, but our wallets and purses just got a lot more interesting.