Helping the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund

When our sister agency MadeByPi told us they were working with the Childrens Heart Surgery Fund we immediately began thinking of ways in which we could help out.

They had previously explored Facebook advertising as a means of getting their message out, and inspiring donations. However, working to a very limited budget they had not yet explored the opportunities within paid search.

Given the budget constraints we were delighted to be able to help them access free promotion and free traffic on Google Adwords, whilst donating our time for free as part of our commitment to local charities.

We introduced them to the Google Ad Grants programme – an opportunity for non-profits to access free advertising budget on Google Adwords. Working within a fairly broad framework registered non-profits can access up to $10,000 per month in free Adwords traffic, with no spend commitment required.

We worked closely with Andy at CHSF to help submit the non-profit and ad grants applications. This included building an Adwords account to highlight their award-winning work in support of the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit. Keywords and ad copy were created in collaboration with Andy, all whilst helping develop his understanding of the Adwords set-up process.

Once live we provided a training session to help Andy understand the requirements for continually developing and improving the activity, as well as reporting on it, updating copy, and creating new campaigns. Ongoing we are delighted to be available as a constant support partner for any questions or issues. Ultimately we want to ensure they get as much free traffic as they possibly can to help drive the amazing work they are doing.

“We’re really grateful to Fusion Unlimited for giving their time and expertise for nothing to help us take advantage of Google Ad Grants, and teaching us how to use Google Adwords.

Matt at Fusion has been supremely patient and professional in showing us how everything works and building us an introductory suite of campaigns.
Google Adwords will be invaluable in helping build our online presence to bring in more traffic to our website and spread awareness to potential new supporters.”

Andy McNally
Marketing and Communications Manager
Children’s Heart Surgery Fund

Social Media Roundup: March

March has seen the continuation of a number of recent trends in social media, with Twitter doubling down on live video and Facebook adding a new Stories feature. Here’s a rundown of the biggest developments of this month.

 

Twitter

 

Firstly, in big news for Twitter users, it has been announced that the character limit for @usernames will no longer apply to replies, meaning responses can be the full 140 characters. Alongside this, the ability to choose which users to reply to in a group discussion has also been introduced. The benefits of longer replies for those businesses using Twitter as a customer service platform are clear, but the removal of @handle clutter will also facilitate locating and engaging in conversations for companies looking to build a community online.


Secondly, as previously mentioned, Twitter has committed even further to live video. It has announced that it is opening its live video API, letting large media companies broadcast on the platform using professional equipment, and allowing increasingly customisable ways of streaming live. We’ve mentioned previously the importance of adapting content strategy to suit this focus on live video, but increased advertising opportunities are also arising from this. For instance, Twitter has started to introduce pre-roll ads on Periscope videos, allowing advertisers to associate their message with specific broadcasters and creators in an environment that seems more spontaneous and hi-tech.

 
Finally, Twitter has announced that their Moments feature will now display analytics of performance, allowing creators to track how well their content is working on Twitter, with data on opens, likes and shares amongst others. Although Moments was relegated to the Explore feature last month, this development will help creators learn from their best-performing content and help craft more engaging Moments going forwards.

 

 

Facebook

 

Facebook has announced new developments to its Bots for Messenger feature, giving businesses the opportunity to harness the automated platform for detailed customer service responses or to encourage users into purchase decisions. An enhanced menu structure has been announced, which could help customers find products they’re looking for without leaving Facebook; or enable problem-solving conversations with bots. Although the feature didn’t really take off when first launched back in 2016, these developments could present a real opportunity for firms looking to improve customer service experience for users or drive purchase opportunities.

In other news, Facebook has rolled out split tests, allowing advertisers to split their campaigns into completely random and non-overlapping audiences, helping to determine which strategy is optimal for a campaign. With this feature, advertisers can discover which target audience, delivery method or placement is most efficient across 4 objectives:

  • Traffic
  • App installs
  • Lead Generation
  • Conversions

This is a first for Facebook, as previous A/B testing has run the risk of sharing audience members. Now, advertisers will be able to understand how different aspects of their ads affect campaign performance in a truly fair test.

 
Facebook has also started to roll out its tag showing disputed stories, which will appear beneath news stories that have been judged dubious by 3rd party fact-checkers. This could be a development to keep an eye on, as there is a possibility this could reduce user engagement on Facebook – visibly flagging items as disputed may reduce trust in the platform, meaning people may become less likely to share content in the future.

Facebook Stories was launched on mobile apps in March, a feature that works in the same way as the Stories features from other Facebook-owned apps (and Snapchat of course). As with Instagram Stories, this could present an opportunity for a new advertising environment if the feature shows promise… however, the continued emphasis on Story features has drawn derision and mockery from many parties and the feature has struggled to take off so far.

Facebook has a habit of making a success out of initially unpopular apps though (see: Messenger), so we’ll need to keep an eye on this.

 

Clips

 

Finally, Apple has announced a new app, Clips, looking to take advantage of social media’s current focus on the short-form video format. It differentiates itself from other apps through its inclusion of “Live Titles” – dynamic text which creates captions based on what is said aloud during a video. Although clearly aimed at personal experiences for the moment, it’s worth watching out for any future developments to see if this will fit in with a wider content strategy.

SEO Market Updates: March 2017

Google’s “Fred” update disrupts SEO

An unconfirmed Google update on March 8 saw a number of sites fluctuate dramatically in rankings.

The name was coined after Google’s Gary Illyes jokingly suggested that this and all future updates should be called Fred.

Further analysis by data-collection company Sistrix identified that this update may be penalising sites with ad-heavy, low-quality content.

Google gives recommendations on SEO hiring

Google has created a new video on hiring a search engine optimisation service.

The video features Google employee Maile Ohye offering realistic advice on what to look for in an SEO service and how to sort the reliable companies from those that offer the impossible.

New podcast structured data type

Google has recently added the ability to display rich results for podcasts and their episodes in search results.

By including the appropriate markup on the podcast’s website, episode information and an embedded player can be shown directly in the SERPs.

This currently only applies to searches conducted on the Google Search app v6.5 and higher and Google Home, though support will be extending in the near future.

Google Posts program opens in US and Brazil

Google Posts is a new way for companies to pass information directly to Google. These posts then show up for relevant search queries.

The program was originally only available to a small handful of users, including the Clinton and Trump presidential campaigns. It is now being opened up to more organisations, including museums, cinemas, musicians and sports groups.

Hacked sites increased 32% in 2016

In Google’s recently published State of Website Security 2016 report, they outlined that the number of hacked sites increased 32% in 2016 compared to 2015.

This is an incentive for more webmasters to verify their sites in Google Search Console, as the platform is able to provide email notifications if the site has been compromised.

Google also documented 3 common types of hacks and how to recover from these.