What’s the latest digital marketing news leading into December? Reports showed financial gains for brands using chatbots, Google challenged websites to be faster, Twitter moved forward with some long-awaited features, and Instagram set its sights on TikTok — you can relax now, Snapchat.
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Through 2019, chatbots saved businesses an average of $300k
While this isn’t typical Download on Digital news, it’s worth noting because some businesses still don’t realize the potential benefits of deploying a bot. While the study showed companies saving on the time and resources needed for engaging users and customer intake, chatbots also were a major contributor to sales (increasing them by 67%) and customer support. With 3/4 consumers now expecting to encounter a bot during their web experience, businesses should start thinking about chatbots as a staple rather than something that is above and beyond.
Google wants to go fast
Announced via blog post, Google Chrome plans to mark slow websites with a scarlet letter. As your website loads in Chrome, users will be shown a badge identifying good or bad site speed. In addition, sites with fast load times will be signaled with a green progress bar instead of the standard blue. While this may seem like small potatoes, take a minute to consider how a message like “This website is slow” will impact your brand image. With Google calling on websites to trim the fat, we’re hopeful this change can finally push businesses away from tacky animations and overwhelming experiences.
Twitter announced two long-awaited features: Scheduling and Hide Replies
Perhaps Twitter was too busy with politics and fake news to realize post scheduling is sort of table stakes these days. With platforms like Hootsuite failing to step up their game, Twitter users will finally have the ability to schedule tweets in the app.
Additionally, a social media hacker revealed that Twitter is testing a new feature enabling users to hide selected tweet replies. This is great news for brands with products and objectives audiences don’t always agree on. With Hide Replies, businesses will be able to hide unwanted comments from those pesky Twitter trolls.
It looks like Snapchat can stop looking over its shoulder… for now. Instagram’s new feature borrowed from TikTok’s Duet by giving users the ability to record short videos, adjust their speed, add music, and share them as Stories or DM’s. Instagram will also add a new section to their Explore page called “Top Reels”, which will house the most viral Reels. Pulling from competing image and video apps is nothing new for Instagram and with its massive user base, Reels will probably explode just like Stories did.
While this is surely bad news for TikTok, it’s great news for businesses looking to do more with video, especially those with non-teenager demographics.
The post Download on Digital: Marketing news for December 2019 appeared first on Stryve Digital Marketing.