Reddit in 2020: A summary
In a social media family reunion, Reddit would be the nerdy, cynical nephew who sits in the corner and only speaks up when he’s got a negative (but still kind of funny) one-liner to contribute to the conversation.
And though it may be the nerdy nephew of social media platforms, Reddit is still a valuable place to go for marketers. Whether you’re driving growth organically or running ads, Reddit isn’t going anywhere. The company just released their 2020 report, and here were the highlights:
- Users and posts are up. We touched on this recently, but Reddit’s daily active users and posts are up 44% and 52.4% YoY, respectively. A fun fact: 49.2B upvotes were dished out in 2020.
- Some of the most successful posts come from famous people. A post from Sacha Baron Cohen (as Borat, of course), an AMA from Bill Gates, and a couple political candidates garnered the most AMA attention. Also, Rick Astley had, by far, the most upvoted post of 2020.
- People are discussing online careers and workshops. In an age where work has transitioned to being remote, conversations from people looking for jobs focused on careers that could be done from home – and workshops to help you get those jobs.
The Crew’s take: Reddit can be the most negative place on the internet at times, but there’s a silver lining in every cloud and the platform will continue to become more relevant for marketers.
Also: The most upvoted post of 2020 in the r/memes subreddit is worth a look if you’d like to see what’s arguably the greatest redemption arc of the year.
ADVERTISING
Google and Apple have some thoughts about the future of advertising
The world of advertising is changing. Fast.
And that’s probably something you’re interested in, if you’re subscribed to this newsletter. Yesterday, Apple made a big statement on its much-discussed privacy update and we got some concerning news about Google Chrome and ads.
Are we all overreacting to advertising changes? Let’s take a look:
- Apple took a few shots at advertisers who are making “outlandish” claims about its privacy changes. An update to iOS privacy settings is going to change the way some advertisers operate, since it’ll allow users to opt out of tracking. Apple’s Craig Federighi claimed that the industry will survive, noting that advertisers have posted record revenues since a similar update to Safari in 2017.
- Google is the arbiter of ads, apparently. This won’t look too good for Google in antitrust cases. Joshua Benton, a NYT writer, noted that Google Chrome recently blocked an ad running on the most high-profile slot on the website. Should Google get to decide these things? Only time will tell.
It’s clear that advertising will be changing faster than ever in the coming years. So, all we can do for now is hold on for a wild ride (and keep reading Stacked Marketer, of course).
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SEO
Google’s getting ready. Are you?
Every year in December, people start to look for what’s coming next year.
And this means a lot of content about trends for 2021. We’ve covered the bases on predictions for most social media platforms next year already.
After all, 2020 has been a crazy ride, so, you better get ready for another apocalyptical year.
This time, we’re tackling SEO trends for 2021.
Ready? Because 12 experts shared their take in this blog post from TopRank Marketing.
Let’s boogie.
- Lily Ray: Core Web Vitals tell us what we need to know about Google’s priorities. But the biggest trend of 2021 will be the focus on E-A-T, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
- Dixon Jones: “[the] new gig in town will be heat maps and UX improvements.” Google announced that in May 2021, will release something similar to Microsoft’s free UX tool, Clarity. Since Google rarely gives this much notice, there must be something big cooking.
- Aleyda Solis: Google has become more dynamic and sophisticated in the way they show and blend results to better connect with users’ intent. Integrating intent analysis in keywords research will be a must.
- Jordan Koene: In 2021, Google will focus again on performance factors, like user experience and speed. Thus, expect recommendations to improve JavaScript libraries and guidelines for frameworks like AMP and Angular.
- Roger Montii: SEO is so consumed with SEO rituals that they forget about the end game: sales. Google will be ranking sites that users want to see, sites that solve problems for consumers. And this has little to do with author bios, anchor text, or disavowing scraper sites.
- Seth Epstein: In 2021, brands will win by creating content that solves the searchers’ intent for each of the different SERP features and adopting more use of schema to indicate what content is designated for those features.
SEO will be an exciting place next year, and if you want to see the opinions of the other experts, read them here.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
GOOGLE: If you’d like a refresher on how Google organizes data in the SERPs, check out this article. It gives a good outline of changes over the years.
INSTAGRAM: As reported by Matt Navarra, Instagram is actively testing its Remix feature for Reels. This is a copycat feature of TikTok’s Duets.
SNAPCHAT: AR is going to get practical in the world of Snapchat. Check out this article to see where things are headed next on the platform.
WHATSAPP: All aboard the e-commerce train! A new update to WhatsApp makes it easier to shop through the app.
INSTAGRAM: Time limits on Stories? It appears that’s exactly what Instagram is testing – you may soon see alerts like ‘16 hours left’ below your friends’ stories.
SEO: Are misspellings hurting your SEO? This Search Engine Journal article dives into how misspellings – both by searchers and writers – affect results.
BRAIN TEASER
How can you tell if a vampire is sick?
You can find the solution here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
That’s not Bigfoot, it’s a Rivian charging station
There’s nothing like hopping in your car and going off the grid.
The last breath of sunlight streaming through the pines, warm gusts of wind to keep you company, the crunch of snow underneath your wheels as you realize you’re slowly spinning your car into an icy grave…
Oh, and Rivian charging stations.
Yeah. This week, Rivian announced that it would be installing car charging stations in the wilderness, at everything from hiking spots to kayaking put-ins.
It’s a pretty cool endeavor that should give adventure-lovers yet another reason to drop their life savings on one of the cars – even if, to start, the number of locations served will likely be limited.