Staying on top of marketing trends and digital updates is important for any business. But when you’re trying to run your own business, who’s got time for that? Luckily, we’ve got you covered with our monthly round up of the latest digital marketing news!

With IGTV monetisation on the horizon, Facebook launching yet another app and Google expanding shopping ads to Gmail, a lot happened in the digital marketing world in February. Here’s what you might have missed...

Google is expanding shopping ads to Gmail

The search engine is giving advertisers more opportunities to reach their target audience by expanding ads to gmail. Shopping ads will start to appear on 4th March 2020, giving businesses increased reach and exposure.

Instagram adds new listings in following tab 

Ever wondered who’s posts you engaged with the most, or which accounts you see the least in your feed? Instagram has released a feature that lets you see which accounts you interact with the most or least. 

With these insights, it appears Instagram is offering users a way to curate their feeds and unfollow accounts they interact the least with. Brands will have to focus on engagements to make sure their content is being seen and interacted with in the feed to avoid this happening. 

IGTV monetisation

Many creators may feel discouraged from creating content on IGTV as there is no monetisation option for videos. Without this incentive, creators may be more inclined to post long-form video content on other video sharing platforms like YouTube.

It seems that Instagram may be finally testing some monetisation options for the platform, which could be a game changer for creators.

Byte (aka Vine 2.0) was downloaded 1.3 millions in its first week 

For those who mourned the loss of Vine, a new app is hoping to take its place: Byte. In the first week alone, the app saw 1.3 million downloads - largely from people wanting to secure their username.

Amidst the popularity of TikTok - a similar video sharing app - it’ll be interesting to see how Byte will compete. It’s too early to know if this is a platform to be using for your brand, as we wait to see how many of these initial downloads turn into active users of the app. Nonetheless, it’s definitely a trend to watch. Especially as it highlights the popularity of short form video content.

Continued growth in Google ad spend

A new report shows that Google ad spend increased on desktop for the first time in two years, rising by 12%. Unsurprisingly, mobile ad spend grew by 33%, with many using primarily their phone for internet access.

Facebook launches new app, Hobbi

Facebook’s latest venture is ‘Hobbi’, an app for collecting images of hobbies and interests. Users can sort them into baords and track their progress. The idea sounds slightly similar to Pinterest, with its focus on hobbies, but it seems more progress driven. 

Facebook says that Hobbi lets you ‘document and remember the things you love to do’, inspiring users to go beyond curating pins to actually getting creative. Whether it’ll take off is another matter - people already have thousands of ideas saved to their Pinterest boards, so that’ll be a tough one.

UK Government proposes Ofcom regulations for social media companies

New government proposals state suggest that internet businesses will be required to report on how they’re meeting standards and what harmful content they’ve removed. Companies will also have to publish annual reports and look to enforce age verification.

The proposals aim to tackle the harmful content being posted to websites that allow the sharing of user generated content, like social media companies. 

As of yet, it’s unclear how this may affect brands advertising on social media if tighter regulations were to come into place.

Celebrate your achievements with LinkedIn

Update to the professional social networking site to highlight your successes. Showcase your best achievements and update with LinkedIn’s new featured section.

Google Ads offers actions to track 'micro conversions'  

Advertisers will be able to track ‘micro conversions’ for leads and sales - tracking stages in the buyers journey.

• New options divided into leads and sales. 
• As well as purchase, can also track clicks that result in add to cart, begin checkout and subscribe
• Lead gen - submit form, book app, sign up, request quote, get directions, outbound links
• Easier to optimise for stages of the customer journey 

Facebook introduced Creator Studio App

This month, Facebook rolled out a mobile app version of Creator Studio. The app will give publishers and creators easy access to the same useful tools as the desktop version:

• Insight into data and engagement metrics
• Post-upload editing
• Connect with audiences in real-time
• View notifications for multiple accounts

You’re all caught up! For all the latest in digital, follow Yellowphin on Twitter.