Stressful week? Breathe in, breathe out and rejoice. Not only is it Friday, but it’s also a long weekend.
This edition of the Content Marketing Weekly has answers to your questions about Facebook ads and Google search – plus, we discuss how digital marketers can deal with common stressors and why the internet might be broken.
We won’t tell if you crack open a cold one while reading these updates. Part of dealing with the stress and prepping for the holiday weekend, right?
Here we go:
Video or Images: Which Performs Better in Facebook Ads?
The video marketing gurus at Animoto worked with Hubspot to answer two hard-hitting questions that can keep marketers up at night:
- Do videos actually perform better than images or links?
- Which types of videos are the best?
The main conclusion: It depends on the video or image. Helpful, right? Don’t worry – they gave us more telling results to work with. The tests showed that video performed better than blog post meta-images, but that some optimized images got more clicks.
The tests also shined a light on some powerful video and image optimization techniques, such as:
- Go for square videos. They outperformed landscape, with a 50 percent lower cost per click and 45 percent more engagement.
- Use Facebook’s Image Text Check to make sure your image won’t be overwhelmed by the copy.
- Utilize eye-catching imagery to stand out in cluttered feeds.
Unsurprisingly, the main takeaway is that you have to test your own content to see what works. However, the research provides a helpful jumping off point for your own analysis.
Head over to Hubspot to check out all the details of the tests and optimization techniques.
The Top 7 Causes of Stress for Digital Marketers
The marketing experts over at Search Engine Journal ranked the top sources of stress for digital marketers, which are as follows:
- Measuring metrics.
- Worrying about money, money, money (aka budgets).
- Keeping up with seemingly constant Google updates.
- Trying to do it all – anything from UX design to content writing to social media strategy.
- Struggling with strategy development.
- Dealing with less-than-ideal conversion rates.
- Letting the occasional spelling and grammar mistake slip through the cracks.
Sound familiar? We feel you.
While indulging in adult beverages and sugar rushes may temporarily relieve the stress, we need some long-term results as well. Thankfully, Search Engine Journal offered solutions for handling each of these stressors.
Set yourself up for success, create realistic expectations, follow the top SEO and marketing blogs somewhat religiously, focus your area of expertise and take your time when necessary. Don’t feel guilty about taking a moment to breathe and reset your brain. Remember what you love about the work and let that motivate you to overcome the inevitable humps.
You got this! Read more about how to deal with the stress of your job here.
How to Survive Google’s New Local Search World
Speaking of keeping up with Google updates, the search engine continues to make significant changes that affect where your company shows up on results pages.
This article from Search Engine Land offers some golden nuggets of insight for how to boost your search rankings in light of Google’s ever-changing features.
Start by taking advantage of the features Google offers – the search engine will appreciate your efforts and thank you with a better ranking. That includes Google posts, Q&A, messaging and bookings. Remember that your Google My Business listing now takes some additional care and attention, but actively managing it can be worth the positive impacts on your listing.
Take a walk in your audience’s shoes, testing your search results from the consumer perspective. That way, you can make sure the displayed results are accurate.
The article further advises considering ads to increase your chances of landing in the top search results and optimizing your snippets to answer questions before consumers even have to ask them.
Read all of the tips on how to keep your business visible in search results here.
Why Does the Internet Suck?
Is the internet broken? Are we responsible for the breakage? Why are people always yelling at each other about politics on Facebook? Is there hope to make the internet a welcoming, happy place again?
Needless to say – this interesting piece from Adweek really makes you think. The publication spoke to early pioneers of the world wide web, researchers and various communication professionals about their thoughts on what the authors refer to as the “broken internet.”
Some noteworthy quotes:
- “The heart of the problem is we have met the enemy and he is us.” – Dewayne Hendricks
- “The monetization of the internet and social media is why we’re here.” – Liz Lee
- “I don’t think [the internet is] broken at all. It’s an example of what happens when no one reads the damn [user license agreements].” – Paul Martino
Read the rest of the professional perspectives here.
And now we must bid you goodbye – wishing you luck in the scary Internet world!
