June 2, 2017

The Figaro Digital Digest: 2nd June 2017

When the world appears to be changing dramatically with each passing moment, it can be difficult to keep track of what’s exactly going on. Thankfully, our latest digest has done the hard work for you. Well, at least in terms of digital anyway.

Google Warns Publishers About Spammy Guest Posts

There has been an influx of spam links included within guest posts of late, and apparently Google’s all-seeing eye has noticed.

While the search engine giant is not against link building via guest and syndicate posts in general, the manipulation of content for the sole purpose of including links back to a site is against their policy. According to Google’s guidelines, content must “inform users, educate another site’s audience or bring awareness to your brand or company”.

Publishers are being warned that if they are caught allowing spam filled content onto their site, they will be perceived as having low-quality content and their rankings will be affected.

Snapchat Aims To Be A Safer Ad Space

With stringent competition from other social media platforms, Snapchat is once again taking steps to ensure it can capitalise on digital marketing expenditure.

Having been dealt a blow in March of this year, with Ad Age reporting that ads could possibly run after inappropriate user-posted content posted by a popular user, the social media platform is keen to show the world that it’s a safe space for marketing content.

Working with companies such as Integral Ad Science, DoubleVerify and Moat in order to get its technology and protocol for brand safety up to scratch, it appears as though Snapchat is aware that it needs to pull out all the stops to keep up with the likes of Instagram and Facebook.

With Fake News On The Rise, Trust Marketing Takes Centre Stage

In recent years, trust in the media, brands and businesses has taken quite the nosedive among consumers. According to Edelman’s 2017 Trust Barometer report, millennials have been particularly affected by the distrust created by the influx of fake news spreading across the internet, and Generation Z appear to be following the same trend.

In this case, TrustPilot CEO Peter Muhlmann recommends that marketers have been advised to target their strategy towards pre-existing customers who are likely to post positive reviews and recommendations on sites such as Amazon.

Considering that half of all adults now check the reviews of a product before committing to a purchase, brand reputation is increasingly reliant on digital word of mouth.

Twitter Further Filters Its Direct Messaging Service

Sliding into the direct messaging sphere has been somewhat of a cultural phenomenon and Twitter appears to be building further on its direct messaging option by including a request folder for messages sent by unfollowed users.

If you have disallowed the option to receive messages from accounts you don’t actively follow, any messages sent to you will now appear here.

Messages will only be moved to the inbox should the user engage with the message, and the sender will not be notified should their message be deleted or simply ignored.

The aim appears to be to open a worldwide dialogue in a personable format. However, with harassment and trolling also being synonymous with the social media platform, it’ll be interesting to see whether the new feature will be success.