Apple's iOS 14 platform update has certainly not been without controversy. Increased customer privacy has caused problems for mobile ad providers. What do the platform updates mean for your digital marketing strategy?

Released on 16 September 2020, Apple's iOS 14 constitutes a huge overhaul in mobile customer experience. And the biggest change is yet to come! The delayed new iOS 14 opt-in processes, penned in Forbes as 'Facebook and Google's worst nightmare', have been penciled in for January 2021. This will at least give ad suppliers more time to adjust to the changes - and it looks like they're in for a busy couple of months. We'll be discussing what these changes mean for your business below. Plus, we'll take a whistle-stop tour of some of the platform's new features and how marketers can delight customers on their iPhone.

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Retailers, restaurants and service providers:…

Discover our top 5 creators on Instagram Reels, and why we've chosen them. Stay up to date with the latest social media trend to inform your digital marketing strategy

One month ago, Instagram unveiled its latest platform update, Instagram Reels; an informal, content-centric, short video format for brands, influencers and fans to create and share alike. "Reels invites you to create fun videos to share with your friends or anyone on Instagram. Record and edit 15-second multi-clip videos with audio, effects, and new creative tools. You can share reels with your followers on Feed, and, if you have a public account, make them available to the wider Instagram community through a new space in Explore." If you're looking for inspiration, here are our favourite 5 Instagram creators, and why...

Netflix

We're kicking off with @Netflix, who in the first quarter of 2020 delivered …

Google Search Console Insights combines Google Search Console and Google Analytics to introduce a new SEO platform for content marketers

If you regularly use Google Analytics and/or Google Search Console tools to evaluate and optimize your marketing (and if you don't - here's some starters for you!), you may have heard about this integrated new insights platform update from Google.

What is Google Search Console Insights?

Still in Beta mode, Google Search Console Insights is a new platform which allows content marketers an integrated overview of how their content is searched for/discovered (GSC) alongside insights about the audience and their behaviour (GA).

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Personas, Journey mapping, AB testing, VoC or NPS: Which Digital Marketing Optimization techniques do you use?

Our latest research on Digital Marketing Optimization demonstrates there is a major challenge for many marketers of creating integrated strategies and communications plans with less than a fifth of businesses using a structured, continuous approach. From a customer point-of-view there is also likely to be a poor experience if their customer journeys are unclear or restricted by the inability of brands to integrate their communications and experiences.

Customer Journey Optimization

Since improving your customer journey can be one of the most effective ways to boost online leads and sales, we asked respondents which analysis techniques their businesses were using to research and improve the effectiveness of their customer journey.

Digital Marketing Optimization - What's hot?

You can see that A/B testing, customer personas and customer journey mapping have become…

The latest user experience update for online chat increases engagement with your customers on their terms

Many marketers already use this free Facebook Chat Plugin for chatting to customers on their website. But with major updates to the Plugin this week (and increased convenience for customers) resulting in a 45% increase in enquiries, there are even more reasons to consider your chat interface.

What is the Facebook Chat Plugin?

The customer-facing Facebook Chat Plugin embeds Facebook’s Messenger app into the bottom right-hand corner of your website. Customers have the option to ‘chat’ to you just as they do with all their other Facebook connections. Until now though, logged-out customers were required to log-in before they can chat.

What does the Facebook plugin guest chat update mean?

With the option…

The May 2020 core update highlights how different types of businesses are affected.

In the past, Google created and publicized named algorithm updates like ‘Panda’, ‘Penguin’ and ‘Hummingbird’ focused on introducing a major change to improve results quality. Google was fairly open about the goal of an update and the impact it could have. Today, named updates are less common, instead, you will probably have noticed that Google makes several ‘Core updates’ each year that it may announce through its Search liaison Twitter channel or its Webmaster Tools blog. In May we have seen a core update notified as usual via the Google Search Liaison Twitter channel that we recommend you follow: Source: https://twitter.com/searchliaison/status/1257376879172038656 [si_guide_block id="80207" title="Download our Free Resource – 10 business-limiting SEO mistakes" description="all ‘hands-on’ marketers need to understand the main factors so they can ask the…

Learn how social media giant Facebook has outlined a range of new video tools across its family of apps to help its members stay connected!

Mark Zuckerberg recently announced via a Facebook Live Stream a series of new tech innovations that will feature across Facebook's portfolio of social media app platforms.

What are the new social media video tools announced by Facebook?

As the majority of us are now interacting and engaging with our connections in a virtual way. Facebook is planning on stepping up its game to enhance the experience and social reach of its platform by providing more tools for people to connect and engage with.

So here's what's new...

Group video calls on WhatsApp from - Facebook will soon double the capacity of group video calls on WhatsApp from 4 to 8 participants. New effects tools will be introduced on Facebook Messenger to improve or alter your…

Learn how social media app TikTok has launched 'Small Gestures'

A new brand collaboration and engaging gift-giving initiative by the social media platform - TikTok, has been launched to help spread positivity within its community and open new opportunities for its platform...

What is the latest social media innovation with the new 'Small Gestures' gift-giving initiative on TikTok?

We often find that many of us appreciate a simple gesture or small gift from a friend, colleague or family member. Especially during recent weeks, identifying ways that can help us stay positive, can go along way. Staying positive whilst social distancing and not being able to maintain our physical connections, like we normally do, increases the importance for social media platforms, to increase innovation, to engage their communities with. [si_guide_block id="5768" title="Download our Business Resource –Social media marketing strategy guide" description="Our social media strategy guide will help you create an integrated social media…

Legislation from Facebook and advice from Google to inform your marcomms. Plus, from Dyson to Prada, discover the manufacturers stepping up amidst COVID-19 pandemic

Guidance for navigating your campaigns through COVID-19

Google has published guidance for marketers on navigating COVID-19. The one-page document outlines considerations such as: Tone Imagery/assets Adapting Google Ads Other Google tools which may help Google doesn't have all the answers, but, even if you only take away one thing from this article, I strongly recommend allocating yourself 10 minutes to read this guidance and just double-check that your COVID-19 marketing plan is in line with advice from the top.   Still working out your company's response to COVID-19? You're not alone. Last week, Dr. Dave Chaffey published a free Smart Insights guide Creating a marketing action plan for a recession, to help inform strategy…

Smart Insights members and followers have been discussing positive brand responses to Coronavirus which have moved us and impressed us.

We hope you will find this summary of some of our favourite responses below helpful. It may even spark a new idea for your business to help you weather the global economic impacts of COVID-19.

Social media giants' joint industry statement - Stu Miller

To me, the single best response has been the big social networks agreeing that ensuring truth of information on their platforms is incredibly important - especially at this time. We can only hope that this remains the case once COVID-19 has passed - it's long overdue!

Free access to and guidelines from forward-thinking online events platform - Tiago Caramuru 

InEvent has opened free access to its software…