Facebook Announces New Tools For Video Publishers

Additional Tools

Facebook continuing its' ongoing process for continuous improvement and operational efficiency has recently announced some additional and potentially valuable tools that bring additional value to Facebook users that may publish videos on their Facebook page.

Two Key Updates 

Specifically there are two new major upgrades that will provide publishers a greater level of control over how  videos get displayed and ultimately shared to others.

The Enhanced Video Uploading System

The much anticipated  enhanced video upload feature provides business page managers the ability to customise the distribution of the videos within the Facebook platform allowing for a more precisely segmented flow of video content to exactly the precise audience for whom you want each video to be seen.

New Video Library

The new video library feature is an equally impressive addition and provides and intuitive, central repository of video storage that allow for simple video management by the page owner.

Improved Video Uploading Functionality
Additionally Facebook have reconfigured the actual upload process, whilst incorporating  several additional features currently available within the Facebook Video API. 

Secret Videos

Also included in this suite of new and exciting upgrades is the arrival of secret videos that now allows video owners to block any third party sites from embedding the video on their site.  These secret videos give page owners the ability to upload videos which can only be seen through a direct URL, but importantly can not be searched through Facebook search directly.

This functionality will allow users the ability to host videos on Facebook, embed the video through a  third-party sites or selectively provide the link to share them with anyone who has the URL, without the need to include it in your Facebook newsfeed or Facebook business pages.

Control & Customization Features

Tighter Control

• Predetermine the video audience by demographics such as age, location, gender, etc. to more accurately align to your target audience.
• Allocate the date the video will stop playing whilst retaining the rights to it after it has stopped. 
• Direct ability to publish directly to the videos tab for your business page independent of the  News Feed or Timeline.
• Block or permit video embeds on third-party sites.

Custom Design

• Include customised  video thumbnails for incorporating  your own image or a suggested thumbnail.
• Label videos based on interest categories, including Entertainment, News and more.

New Video Library For Asset Management



The Video Library is a new place for Page owners to arrange and store their videos.
The Video Library provides a user friendly way to manage your entire library of videos. In the spirit of greater user control, any updates to videos may be made to individual videos or to multiple videos togther. Page admins can access the new Video Library through the Publishing Tools tab on the individual pages.

With the Video Library, Page admins may:

• Edit a video’s metadata after upload, including adding subtitles or changing the video thumbnail.
• Manage distribution options for videos, including prohibiting third-party embeds, publishing to News Feed.
• Search and filter videos by title, description.
• View and manage videos deemed to be secret videos.

Importantly all these features listed within this post are scheduled to become accessible everywhere to all pages within weeks.

So until next time, good luck and good marketing.
Regards,
Daniele.

Google Talks About The New GTLD's

Global Top Line Domain

In recent days Google’s John Mueller has through Google's Blog on: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/googles-handling-of-new-top-level.html

speaking on how Google will deal with the new global top level domains (GTLDs) that are coming in to vogue in recent times.

Need For Clarification

Presumably the blog post was written and raised to offset some of the misinformation and uncertainty around the new GTLD's and how they will be treated by Google for those webistes that chose to adopt them.

No Preferential Difference

The bottom line is that none of the new TLD's will have any priority or receive any preferential treatment over any of the existing, traditional location based TLD's. Despite the fact that some Geo-specific TLDs will default to a specific country and use that as an indicator that the website is more important in a specific geographic region, Google have now overtly stated that in every other way in relation to it's ranking algorithm, all TLDs will be treated n the same way.

Key Q&A Responses

Q: How will new GTLDs affect search? Is Google changing the search algorithm to favor these TLDs? How important are they really in search?

A: Overall, our systems treat new gTLDs like other gTLDs (like .com and .org). Keywords in a TLD do not give any advantage or disadvantage in search.

Q: What about IDN TLDs such as  .みんな? Can Googlebot crawl and index them, so that they can be used in search?

A: Yes. These TLDs can be used the same as other TLDs (It’s easy to check with a query like [site:みんな]). Google treats the Punycode version of a hostname as being equivalent to the unencoded version, so you don’t need to redirect or canonicalize them separately. For the rest of the URL, remember to use UTF-8 for the path and query-string in the URL, when using non-ASCII characters.

Q: Will a .BRAND TLD be given any more or less weight than a .com?

A: No. Those TLDs will be treated the same as a other gTLDs. They will require the same geotargeting settings and configuration, and they won’t have more weight or influence in the way we crawl, index, or rank URLs.

Q: How are the new region or city TLDs (like .london or .bayern) handled?

A: Even if they look region-specific, we will treat them as gTLDs. This is consistent with our handling of regional TLDs like .eu and .asia. There may be exceptions at some point down the line, as we see how they’re used in practice. See our help center for more information on multi-regional and multilingual sites, and set geotargeting in Search Console where relevant.

Q: What about real ccTLDs (country code top-level domains) : will Google favor ccTLDs (like .uk, .ae, etc.) as a local domain for people searching in those countries?

A: By default, most ccTLDs (with exceptions) result in Google using these to geotarget the website; it tells us that the website is probably more relevant in the appropriate country. Again, see our help center for more information on multi-regional and multilingual sites.

Q: Will Google support my SEO efforts to move my domain from .com to a new TLD? How do I move my website without losing any search ranking or history?

A: We have extensive site move documentation in our Help Center. We treat these moves the same as any other site move. That said, domain changes can take time to be processed for search (and outside of search, users expect email addresses to remain valid over a longer period of time), so it’s generally best to choose a domain that will fit your long-term needs.

So it looks like we have an outcome that delivers no additional value for organic ranking but still delivers a potentially punchier and  and more benefit specific URL that may be more suggestive of the benefits of what your business does which is still a big bonus not to mention that too often, the traditional .com URL is simply not avail and now will be under one of the new potential TLD tags.

So until next time, good luck and godd marketing.

Regards,

Daniele.

Pinterest Confirms That Buyable Pins Are Available In The USA

Immediate Access For the US Users

Exciting news recently has filtered through that at least as far as the USA users go, that Pinterest has released officially the Buyable Pins that it had previously pre-empted in earlier dispatches through either iPads or iPhones.

How It Operates

Essentially the Blue buttons are a license to buy products that you see on the various boards directly through the Pinterest site. US based users will now be able to see the blue Buyable Pins all over Pinterest  within the home feed, on boards and in search results. Simply put if you see the blue pin you can purchase that product.

For example if you are looking through the various pages for a new accessory for your caravan or motorhome you can search for that part which will reveal the available options. From here you can apply additional filters that will further hone your search such as a specific price range for example. From this you will be able to isolate the perfect item for your search needs.

From this point you have the option if a blue pin is present to either buy the item or if you are not ready to purchase, perhaps just pin the image of the product and delay the purchasing decision until a more appropriate time.

Faster Way To Shop

To examine the more popular items you also have the option to use the new Shop our picks category. As well to be able to access all of the most recent Buyable Pins, look at the Shop category.

Expanding Range

Pinterst have confirmed that in the next few weeks around thirty million pins throughout the Pinterst site will become buyable within the US market.

Key brands such as Macy's, Neiman Marcus and others, will be amongst those that will have the blue Buyable Pins attached.

For these American businesses, buyable pins can be accessed via partnerships with Shopify and Demandware. As well those wanting to link their product s to Blue Pins can also sign up on to the waiting list. With any luck this progressive roll out will cross American boarders and expand globally within not too long so we can all enjoy this new commercial opportunity.

So until next time, good luck and good marketing.
Regards,
Daniele.

Bound By Nuture Following The Natural Law of Good Marketing

Bound By Nuture

In another on the series of exciting local businesses that I have recently discovered operating locally by way of the Digital Enterprise Program who are employing exemplary levels of marketing nous is the Melbourne based business: Bound By Nurture. Founder and company owner Joanna Fong has successfully researched, developed and hand-crafted an impressive  range of high quality, plant based, organic skin-care products for normal to dry skin. 

Impressive In Many Ways

In looking at the products she has painstakingly produced, I was impressed on a number of different levels. Firstly there is no doubt that Joanna's approach is that she has a genuine caring about people's health and well being and accordingly has selectively chosen high quality oils and raw materials to create these impressive products that can make a positive difference to people's health  and well-being. 

Specifically these products have been formulated to suit those with sensitive skin and dry skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. Additionally there is always a high level of ongoing development of new products to add to the growing range. 

Also of note is the fact that Joanna is happy to chat with with clients about which of our products can help your skin most based on their specific skin type and needs.

Quality Ingredients

Within each product the chosen ingredients have been specifically selected for their respective therapeutic properties as well as their exquisite aromas, combining the produce a user experience that is memorable and welcomed.

Proven Safety

As a mother Joanna is also very much aware of the need to ensure that the products are at all times as safe as they are effective. This has meant a singular focus on producing products that are both safe and gentle for everyone within the family unit ranging from babies to adults and the elderly with skin types that again can vary from normal to dry and even sensitive skin.

Purpose Built

This range has been specifically formulated to benefit those with normal to dry skin conditions such as dermatitis, eczema and psoriasis. The products contain ingredients that help to nourish, moisturise, calm skin irritations and promote natural healing.

Ethical Standards

Finally from an ethical point of view it is impressive that these products are not tested on animals, only humans and they do not contain any animal-derived ingredients, only plant-derived ingredients. The body gels and the Repair Cream are Vegan friendly and the rest of the products contain beeswax. This is of course most reassuring and ensure that during the production process, there are no harmful chemicals entering our waterways as a result of the products production.

Summary

So in summary these Bound By Nature products are both user friendly and environmentally safe and highlight again some of the wonderful strategic and operational prowess being demonstrated by talented, local entrepreneurs. For more information on these products go to: www.BoundByNuture.com.au

And until next time good luck and good marketing.

Regards,

Daniele.