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The Must Know Digital Marketing Updates of 2017

Author's avatar By Robert Allen 16 Mar, 2017
Essential Essential topic

The major updates from the 8 digital platforms that matter, that's Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest and Twitter

Scarcely a day goes by without a new announcement from a social network or search engine which could theoretically have some impact on digital marketing. This leads marketers to spend vast amounts of time searching for and checking the latest updates, and then trying to work out if they will mean they need to change how they conduct their marketing.

That is why we've done the hard work of tracking, researching and assessing the marketing implications of the 17 most important updates so far this year from the major platforms that digital marketers use to promote their business. Now you can see at a glance what changes there have been this year, and click through to an article on each change to get analysis of the implications of the change. Well be updating the table regularly throughout the year, so you can see all the most important changes in one place.

PlatformJanuaryFebruaryMarch
Google 

Google starting to penalize sites using pop-ups
Google assistant now making purchases for consumers

 

Google to discontinue Google Site Search
 
AdWordsGoogle announces its ‘Crawl Budget’ rulesAdWords to count cross device conversions as conversions by defaultGoogle AdWords Account-level Call extension
Facebook Facebook mimics LinkedIn, letting users apply for jobs within Facebook

Facebook makes its ad offering more transparent
Facebook algorithm counting reactions as more important than likes

Facebook ad 'stories' like feature to Messenger, called 'Messenger Day'

Facebook video Mid-roll Ads
Twitter   
LinkedInLinkedIn redesign simplifies site and puts focus on content  
InstagramInstagram begins to introduce ads to its new ‘Stories’ feature

 

Instagram rolls out Live video to all
 Instagram rolling out Geo-location Stickers
SnapchatSnapchat seeks to entice marketers to its ad platform with two new features – Deep-linking and autofill  
PinterestPinterest Visual Search

For more detailed information on all the significant updates from digital marketing channels, going back several years, expert members can download our digital media cheatsheet.

Author's avatar

By Robert Allen

Rob Allen is Marketing Manager for Numiko, a digital agency that design and build websites for purpose driven organisations, such as the Science Museum Group, Cancer Research UK, University of London and the Electoral Commission. Rob was blog editor at Smart Insights from 2015-2017. You can follow Rob on LinkedIn.

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