14 Feb 2024
- 15 Mar 2016
- 4 Min read
Industry round-up: Google’s stance on sponsored product reviews & Facebook’s ‘app for everything’
So much has happened in the world of digital marketing since our last industry round-up, not least the news of the upcoming changes to Facebook’s Messenger app, which could revolutionise the way we use our smartphones. Read on to find out all of the details, as well as Google’s guidelines for sponsored reviews and employees’ predictions for the workplace of the future.
Facebook creates the ‘app for everything’
According to reports, Facebook has taken the first steps toward creating what Wired has donned the ‘app for everything’. What is currently the Facebook Messenger app is going to be dramatically expanded, and its 800 million active users will soon be able to shop online, hail an Uber, and check in at the airport through it. It is thought that Facebook is hoping to ape the success of the Chinese social media giant Tencent, which enables 600 million people to book taxis, check in for flights, play games, buy cinema tickets, manage banking, make doctor’s appointments, donate to charity and video-conference all without leaving its messaging platform, Weixin.
This news spells another huge change to the Facebook platform, and comes just weeks after the Newsfeed underwent major surgery with the launch of Reactions, which we wrote about in our last round-up. It will be interesting to see if these changes help the social media giant win back Generation Y users, who, according to a report from digital marketing agency Oliver, are leaving the platform in droves in favour of social media platforms such as Snapchat, Whisper, and Secret.
According to Marketing Land, one of the first changes — allowing brands to send adverts to users as a direct message — will be going live as early as April. Facebook has already expanded the app to allow companies to use it as a customer service platform. Going forward, after you’ve initiated a relationship with a brand through the app, you could receive direct adverts and promotions from them as a message. Facebook will be aware that their users’ patience for ads is at an all-time low, with the proliferation of ad blockers attesting to the average consumer’s attitude to invasive advertising. We can only imagine they’ll be very careful to keep their signal-to-noise ratio low on the Messenger app in order to retain and continue to grow their 800 million active users.
Google issues guidelines for product endorsements
In a post on their webmaster blog, Google has made it clear that if bloggers are given a product for free in return for a review, they should:
- Use the nofollow tag on any links to the company’s site, the company’s social media accounts, any online merchant’s page that sells the product, or the company’s mobile app in an app store.
- Disclose the relationship. Google claims that users want to know when they’re viewing sponsored content, and there are laws in some countries that make sponsorship disclosure mandatory. They recommend the top of the post as the best place for the disclosure.
- Produce unique content which provides value beyond what is already on the web. Use a unique perspective, experience, and voice to create exclusive content which will be of genuine use to people interested in your niche.
If you’re a blogger, stick to these guidelines and you should have no fear of being penalised by Google. If you’re a brand, let bloggers know about these rules if you send them products to review so you aren’t penalised yourself.
Employees’ predictions for the workplace of 2020
According to a recent survey by Infomentum, 91% of employees believe that, in their current form, the business they work for would not remain competitive in 2020. This shows a consensus among workers that being able to adapt to the latest technologies, digital marketing evolutions, and the increasing demands of the workforce is essential for a company’s ongoing success.
Other key findings show that 61% of workers expect their job to be more automated by 2020, and 81% believe that the complexity of their job will increase. This suggests that people think they’ll spend less time on menial tasks at work as technology progresses, but to have a higher level of responsibility and a more complex workload.
The survey also reveals that 77% of users will leave a website immediately if they have difficulty using it, showing that consumers expect their online interactions with brands to be seamless. With 65% of office workers now also using a tablet, it’s clear that your website needs to be optimised for all platforms in order to hold your user’s attention.
For more digital marketing insights, you can follow Glass Digital on social media. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn.
