March 2022 Digital Marketing News Updates

Facebook News Updates

• Meta’s Ongoing Efforts Regarding Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
  Meta (FB) is making ongoing efforts regarding the current conflict in Russia and Ukraine. They have a special operations center setup and working around the clock to take steps to add safety features in Ukraine and Russia, and taking steps to fight the spread of misinformation. They’ve restricted access to certain areas and taken down a network creating fake personas and posting misinformation. This is an ever changing situation and updates can be monitored here if you are concerned with how this impacts your business or organization.

• Facebook launches Reels Globally
  Facebook launches Reels in more than 150 countries, and expanding tests of overlay ads, starting with banner and sticker ads, to help creators earn more money from Reels. There are also some new Reels features to check out!

Instagram News Updates

• Auto-Generated Captions for IG Feed Videos Now Available
  Adding captions to IG feed videos makes Instagram more accessible. You will have the option to turn captions on (or off), and this feature is available in 17 languages so far.

• Separate IGTV App and In-Stream Video Ads is going away
  In line with an effort to lean into short form videos, Instagram will soon shut down its separate IGTV app, and will also remove in-stream video ads option and looking to replace this with sticker ads for Reels and other options. In this article, they also provide some great tips on video creation and the key message – ‘Please stop posting TikTok clips to Reels’. reminding creators that it will be doing all it can to penalize those that blatantly recycle their TikTok clips.

• IG Adds Stories Likes
  The option to like Stories provides a low-touch way to engage with Stories, which could have a big impact on user engagement. This also provides insight on viewer engagement which can be very valuable to marketers who want to determine the types of stories content their users like best.

LinkedIn News Updates

• LI releases 2022 Global Green Skills Report
  LinkedIn released this first-ever report on the state of the green economy, which shines a light on how and where people are contributing to the transition to a green economy, where gaps are emerging, and what policymakers, companies and individuals can do to help fight the climate crisis. If you have an organization or business that focuses on sustainable practices, or is green in any way, this is a hot topic that people are interested in and a great article to share with your network! Great opportunity to position yourself as a thought leader and share your position and experience.

• LinkedIn Previews New Post Analytics, as Well as a New Reaction Emoji
  Soon, creators will be able to get analytics on their individual posts and overall performance, across content & audience and more specific insight into who, exactly, is reading your posts, filterable by job title, industry, location and more. That could be a great way to ensure that your content is resonating with the people you want to reach.
  And soon, you’ll have a laughing face response too in your reaction emojis.

• LinkedIn Adds New Elements to its ‘Services’ Listings to Help Freelancers Generate Business
  LinkedIn has added two new elements to its Services Pages, which enable freelancers and SMBs to list the services that they provide on their LinkedIn profiles, and be found for the same in search results. 
  “Use this section to give prospective clients a preview of what you can do by highlighting your favorite projects of press related to your services.”

Pinterest

Pinterest Active Users Continue to Slide as it Loses Growth Momentum Sparked by Lockdowns
Pinterest continues to lose momentum after seeing a big rise in usage during the pandemic. However, it still is a great driver of traffic so don’t be too quick to react when you hear these things. It may still be a good source of traffic so test it.

TikTok

TikTok 10 Minute Videos are Coming!
All users will soon be able to upload 10 minute long videos in the app. It’s challenging to monetize short videos because you can’t insert pre or midroll ads into such short content. So TikTok is making it easier to monetize by allowing longer videos.

YouTube

YouTube Previews New Channel Analytics Options, Providing More Insight into Content Performance
YouTube is testing a lot of new analytics features now, and not guaranteeing that all will roll out, but keep an eye on your channel analytics for new features that help you maximize the performance of your videos.

Industry News Updates

• New LinkedIn Data Shows Top Digital Marketing Skills in High Demand
  As explained by LinkedIn: “As the pandemic accelerated our industry’s shift to virtual everything, it also accelerated the demand for marketers in digital roles. Digital marketing specialists are most in-demand, while the media coordinator role is experiencing the fastest growth.”
  LinkedIn says skill up in more specific areas or make sure you highlight specific skills within your profiles – and take more courses! Most in-demand skills are: social media marketing, paid search strategy, SEO.

• New business openings nearly reach pre-pandemic levels
  According to Yelp, new business openings are near pre-pandemic levels. If you are a service provider, freelancer, or agency, this could be an opportunity to connect with new businesses that will need marketing in the form of websites, social media presence and Google My Business Pages.

• Shoppers may soon be able to message merchants via Google Shopping
  Google is running a messaging pilot program that would enable customers to send messages to your customer service email.

• How Social Platforms are responding to the crisis in Russia and Ukraine
  Russia’s invasion into Ukraine has caused one of the biggest conflicts in decades, but unlike similar past incidents, this is playing out in the age of social media, with memes, misinformation campaigns and scams all adding to the growing amount of information, which can confuse, contort and cloud what’s actually happening. All major social media platforms are taking steps to limit the misuse of their platforms. Keep an eye on this page for updates on what each platform is currently doing, and how that might impact your organization or business.