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Online preorders for Apple’s first smartwatch began on April 10th at 12:01 a.m. PT and sold out in under six hours. Nearly one million U.S. consumers preordered Apple Watch, though some of those buyers are attempting to cash in on the high demand and short supply—an eBay search for Apple Watch, as of this writing, returns over 1,600 results!

Users won’t be able to run a Google search on the tiny watch screen. But in the future...who knows? Click here for more details about the first generation Apple Watch. 

Every new social media platform that comes along...Instagram, Google+, Ello...you name it... is invariably the next big thing—the one that’s going to take down Facebook. Hasn’t happened yet!

A Pew Research Center survey, conducted in September 2014, found that: 

• Facebook remains by far the most popular social media site. While its growth has slowed, the level of user engagement with the platform has increased. 
• For the first time, more than half of all online adults 65 and older (56%) use Facebook. This represents 31% of all seniors. 
• Overall, 71% of internet users are on Facebook, a proportion that represents no change from August 2013. 
• 52% of online adults use multiple social media sites. Facebook acts as “home base”—it remains the most popular site for those who only use one, and has significant overlap with other platforms. 

It’s important to note that, according to the survey, “every other social media platform measured saw significant growth between 2013 and 2014.” Click here to read Social Media Update and then get to work on your social media campaigns. Call us if you need help. 

From Google’s Webmaster Central Blog: “Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results.” In other words, make the necessary changes to your website or risk losing rankings.

Search Engine Land reports that the algorithm runs on a page by page basis, “So if you have 10 web pages on your web site and 5 of them are mobile-friendly and 5 are not, then only the pages that are mobile-friendly will benefit...Many websites have sub-sections or specialized pages that would be hard to make mobile-friendly, so webmasters do not need to fret about going 100% mobile-friendly by April 21st.” 

Click here to read Google’s Mobile Friendly Websites guide. 

Click here to check if YOUR website is Mobile Friendly or not.

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A study of over 100 million emails found that “Transactional Emails” (those sent to one person as a result of an action triggered by that person) have a click rate that is 42% higher than their newsletter counterparts. Click here to read 5 Things We Learned Analyzing 100 Million+ Emails.

In 2014, email marketing was cited as the most effective digital marketing channel for customer retention in the United States (source: eMarketer).

A new Facebook insights product called “Topic Data” will soon be available to a select group of marketers. Topic Data will show marketers what audiences are saying on Facebook about events, brands, subjects and activities. 

According to WSJ: Facebook for the first time is promising insights companies can use to develop products or decide which audiences to target. A business marketing a hair-de-frizzing product might use Topic Data to see demographic information about people discussing humidity’s effects on their hair. The company might use that information to improve marketing campaigns on Facebook or TV, or to identify potential customers they hadn’t previously considered. 

Facebook plans to “Iterate on Topic Data thoughtfully and deliberately, and look to expand its availability at a later date.” 

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In 2009, Google reached a deal with Twitter to include tweets in search results. That deal expired in 2011, right about the time that Google launched its social network, Google+.

Since then, Google+ has pretty much failed as a social network (but it is important for local SEO). And now, Twitter is often first to announce big breaking news stories.

Reportedly, Google will once again have access to Twitter’s firehose—the stream of data generated by Twitter’s 284 million users. Click here to read “Who wins, Who Loses in the Twitter/Google Deal.”

Twitter content indexed in Google search results: Just one more reason for every small business to be active on Twitter. All social media activity helps build your brand and because Google places a premium on authenticity, branding is a factor in rankings.

Email marketing (newsletters, nurture campaigns, the occasional notifications about products, services, promotions, etc.) keeps your business on the minds of your customers and generates leads and sales. Nurture campaigns can be set up to send automatically, but it’s important to audit your content and make sure it’s up-to-date.

According to a recent report from Mailjet, personalization is a big factor in improving email open rate and engagement, but only about 17% of U.S. marketers personalize email messages. Tailor your emails to customers based on information they’ve provided and their purchasing behavior and you’ll set yourself apart from other businesses that don’t take the time to personalize their emails.

Click here to read more about the strong ROI of email marketing.

While the NFL was broadcasting its halftime extravaganza, YouTube hosted one of its own. YouTube’s show featured zany stunts (such as a guy jumping into a pool of cheese), fake Super Bowl ads and other entertainment provided by YouTube celebrities.

Said Suzie Reider, managing director of brand solutions at Google, “The halftime show falls in nicely with this huge theme for us, which is the notion of brands as creators and the commercial as content...When you’re an advertiser, your ad sits on YouTube next to a piece of content.”

Click here to read more about YouTube’s offbeat halftime show. Click here to learn about advertising on YouTube.

Statcounter.com reports that mobile internet usage in the US grew by 73% in 2014, to reach 24.4% in August and mobile usage has overtaken desktop in several countries. Your website has to be user friendly, and in 2015, that means mobile friendly too. 

A website that is mobile friendly: 

• Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash 
• Uses text that is readable without zooming 
• Sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom 
• Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped 

Additionally, Google recommends making it easy for users to directly connect with you by simply tapping a phone number (click to call). 

InsuranceWebDesigns offerss responsive mobile websites. Not an InsuranceWebDesigns client? Try out Easy Online Mobile!

Amazingly, only one in ten marketers are considered “modern,” according to a recent study called “Why You Need to be a Modern Marketer: The Business Impact of Marketing Maturity in the Age of the Customer.” One key finding: Modern marketing delivers increases in sales and profitability. Marketers who win and retain customers in the digital age use technology and new processes to scale their reach and engagement while delivering measurable results to the business. 

Click here to read the report and find out where you fall on the “Marketing Maturity” scale—are you a Novice, Developing, Experienced, or a Modern Marketer?