This Week: Pinterest, Facebook, Google Updates, and More!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

We’re back with more internet marketing news and updates. This week, we’ll cover the latest headlines in internet marketing. Read on to improve your digital marketing skills and stay on top of the game, even during these tough times.

We will discuss some significant updates, starting with Pinterest adding new organization tools. Then, we’ll look at Facebook's discovery app that will provide free data in developing countries. As well, we’ll see some important tips on choosing between a mobile or desktop site. Finally, there’s some news on Google's new podcasts and tips to find the optimal time for posting on social media during the pandemic.

Let's dive right in!

Pinterest Adds New Organization Tools to Boards to Assist in Planning

Users are finding more and more time to try out new things at home. As such, Pinterest has published that the numbers of boards created have increased to nearly 50% month over month globally.

Pinterest has come up with a new organization tool in its platform that makes organizing your boards easier than ever before. The new feature includes adding notes within the board. This allows users to list out some ingredients for their baking story, or the list of things they need to buy for their new DIY project! 

The new update is a must check-out for the pinners trying out new things during this quarantine period.

Facebook's New Discover App Provides Free Data in Developing Countries

Free Basics is Facebook’s ambitious effort to connect people with each other has a new face in line, named Discover. The new app, currently being tested out by Facebook, allows users to visit any website with data limits.

The new platform is currently being tested out in Peru, one of the 55 countries where Free Basics is currently available. Various reports suggest that the data limits are around 10MB of use per day in Peru. Sounds like not a lot of data, right? The catch here is that the traffic allowed in Discover is data sensitive and doesn’t allow video or audio against the free data limit.

With this latest platform, Facebook is trying to explore new ways to connect people and reach out to the world, which remains under-connected due to the current pandemic.

The social networking giants said that they won’t be using targeted ads or store browsing history with Discover. Plus, users don’t need a Facebook account to use Discover!

Google: If You’re Choosing Between a Desktop or Mobile Site, Choose Mobile

Google's John Mueller recently stated the importance of prioritizing mobile sites. This is if the site owners have both a desktop and a mobile version.

An e-commerce site owner put forward a question as to whether they should focus more on the mobile or desktop version of their site.

The question: From an SEO perspective, which version of the site needs more focus?

Mueller's response: Ever since Google switched to mobile-first indexing, the mobile version of a site is the only one that matters when it comes to rankings.

So, Mueller confirms that they should be more worried about optimizing the mobile version. 

This doesn’t mean that you should completely delete the desktop site, as there are a few users who only access the site on desktops. But, if you want SEO to be your priority, then you can't go wrong with thinking mobile-first!

Check out the video of the whole question and answer in the video below!

Google's New Podcasts Manager Tool Offers Deeper Data on Listener Behaviour

Google has introduced a new podcasts manager tool to help podcast publishers analyze listening data such as minutes played, listening duration, and other retention analytics. It will also give them a better understanding of how their episodes perform. 

Podcasts have been around for quite some time now. Still, the lack of insights into listener data has kept advertisers on the sidelines. As well, it’s been restraining many publishers from getting more revenue out of their ads. Google will give them information on the devices people use to access their shows. 

Google Podcasts is available as an iOS and Android app, as well as on Google Assistant, Google search, and through podcasts.google.com on the web. Automatically, Goole will index any show with an RSS feed on the web. This means that podcasters won't have to access Google Podcast Manager to find their show on Google Podcasts. If, however, they want access to this new data, they'll have to verify ownership of their RSS feed.

Podcasters only recently gained access to more listener data. Before Google, Spotify had released something similar for advertisers in January. But, Google introducing them is a sign that the industry is finally ready to render these advertisers the level of transparency available in others!

New Report: Best Times to Post on Social Media During the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

The coronavirus pandemic has brought changes to the search patterns and how marketers need to go about their upcoming campaigns. In this article, Liz Moorehead, author of IMPACT's email newsletter, analyzed certain metrics and provides insights about the best time to post on social media during coronavirus (COVID-19)!

Before the whole pandemic situation, we saw a clear pattern in the email marketing benchmark data of when we should be posting and publishing. This was based on the day of the week and the time during the day. 

After the outbreak, many professionals across the globe started working from their respective homes. So, the point here is, we were (and still are) homebound almost around the clock, seven days a week!

Speaking about trends, consumers and marketers are struggling to find a balance between work and home life while being trapped at home. With the behaviour monitored in March and April, this article provides us insights on the best times to post on major social media platforms. These include Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter during COVID-19.

To Wrap it Up!

So far, we’ve seen various updates rolling out to help internet marketers cope with the pandemic. From Pinterest introducing new organization tools to boards, to Facebook's new Discover app, a lot has been happening. As well, there’s Google's new podcast manager tool. Not only that, we learned the importance of optimizing the mobile version of your site. 

Finally, there’s a report purely based on online behaviour while people are stuck at home to help you with social media posting!
Tune into our updates on internet marketing news every Tuesday to stay up to date. In the meantime, stay safe and check out our latest blogs! Please feel free to send us feedback on the comment section below!