LinkedIn enhancing engagement options

LinkedIn is looking to build on its record levels of engagement by enhancing the engagement options on its platform.

Among those enhancements are new comment and comment reply options on Event pages, and a ‘Repost’ option.

It was reported by LinkedIn in April that the company continues to see record levels of engagement, which led to a 34 percent increase in revenue in the first quarter.

In respect to Event comments, LinkedIn is rolling out more comment engagement options within LinkedIn Events. The goal is to encourage on-topic discussion and engagement at events. According to socialmediatoday.com, "The option is designed to capitalize on LinkedIn Events engagement, with more than 24,000 events now being created in the app every week. LinkedIn also recently expanded its streamlined ‘Boost’ ad option to incorporate LinkedIn Events, providing users with another way to amplify their LinkedIn event listings. It could be a good way to both encourage topical discussion, while also promoting your event."

As far as the repost option, the goal here for LinkedIn is make it easier to amplify job opportunities, while also streamlining engagement by reducing some of the steps to add commentary to every re-share.

YouTube publishes Culture & Trends report

YouTube has published its "Culture and Trends" report, which includes insights from 10 countries to provide perspective on what’s driving the latest video trends, and how that can relate to businesses digital marketing strategies.

The report looks at three trends: Community Creativity, Multi-format Creativity and Responsive Creativity.

In its introduction, YouTube says, "The pop culture landscape was varied, and a new type of online video creator was rising in prominence, but everyone experienced digital culture in basically the same way.

"Now, pop culture is all about you. We still have viral videos, but single videos are comparatively less likely to achieve broad cultural breakthrough."

According to YouTube, new video formats and technologies have grown massively in the last five years. It said 85 percent of Gen Z users have posted video content online. Gen Z is defined as someone born between 1981 and 1996 (or people from ages 26-41 in 2022).

YouTube also acknowledge the COVID-19 pandemic has "reshaped our relationship with video and accelerated a number of long-term trends."

Here is some data to consider:

• 65 percent of Gen Z agree that content that's personally relevant to them is more important than the content that lots of other people are talking about.
• 55 percent of Gen Z agree that they watch content that no one they know personally is interested in.
• 63 percent of Gen Z followed one or more meme accounts in the past 12 months. "Producing and consuming remixable content - often as memes - is a major way that Gen Z and millennials participate in pop culture," the report said.
• 57 percent of Gen Z agree that they like it when brands participate in memes.
• 59 percent of Gen z agree that they use short-form video apps to discover things that they then watch longer versions of.
• 69 percent of Gen z agree that they often find themselves return to creators or content that feels comforting to them.

Why are you dropping in SEO results?

Don't get discouraged. Mastering SEO is a hard thing to do. There is so much competition for top-of-the-results placement. But, you also know there are ways to standout. Among those, is making sure your website content is updated and making Google Business Profile is updated are two of the easiest suggestions.

But, because SEO placement ebbs and flows, one day you're high on the results, say in that 0, 1 or 2 position. Then, the next week, you're out of those spots. It happens.

Then of course the question you ask is why did that happen?

Here are some possible reasons:

• Technical issue with website. Possibilities here include any change(s) of URL(s), any recent updates (such as uploading a photo or photos and/or video or videos) that slowed the speed of the site, or any updates in general (maybe something as simple as changing the layout or template) been made that could again slow website loading speed. Several research studies have shown that slow website loading speed not only hurts the ability to track consumers but also has a factor in SEO results. The quicker a site can load, the better. You typically have less than a matter of seconds to get your site loaded before a user will click away.
• Another thing to consider is your CLS. Color changes can hinder website performance as well.
• Ah the ol' algorithm by Google. Google is CONSTANTLY working on keeping its algorithm up to date, specifically making sure users are getting search results relevant to them. One of the top factors in that is localization. Google continually puts a greater emphasis on presenting results to users that are of local interest to them.
• Competition. This has already been mentioned, but bears repeating. Competition is a big factor in search results, especially local ones. Continue to monitor what your competition is doing.
• Link building. If you've changed URLs, that'll means lost links on third-party websites. For example, if you have a URL listed on a Chamber of Commerce page, you need to make sure when you update the URL, that the change is also reflected on the Chamber of Commerce. When you lose a link, you lose some link credibility and accuracy, and those elements can lead to lower website scores.
• Keyword search demand. This can fall into the competition category as well. Not only are you competing with other businesses, but also you're competing for keywords. If you're business' or organization's industry is suddenly in high demand, there's heavy competition there too.

Here are some tips and tools on how to address lags in your search result placement:

• Meta tags and descriptions. Continue to make sure these are accurate and up to date. Make any changes when necessary.
• Sitemap. Make sure your sitemap is updated and accurate with Google. You can do this through Google Search Console.
• Site speed. Check on your website's speed. Google has a free tool for you to check that called PageSpeed Insights.
• Test your site's SEO. There are several resources for that including Sitechecker and Google SERP Snippet Optimization Tool, to name a few.