Facebook Hashtags Take a Page From Twitter’s Ad Business, and Other Marketing Stories of the Week

Almost every day, it seems like some company or social network is redesigning itself or adding new features or something. Don’t get us wrong, this isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a lot to keep track of -- especially while we've been busy prepping to celebrate Father's Day today.

This week, we’ve got some major redesigns, new features, and even a relaunch that will tickle your marketing fancy. It isn’t often that social networks make many changes to their business facing features, but this week is a whole different story for marketers and brands. Companies like Google and Twitter have made some big changes for its business-oriented users that will make your week all the sweeter. So check out this quick overview of what happened in marketing this week, and then go enjoy the rest of your Father's Day!

Facebook Hashtags Take a Page From Twitter’s Ad Business, From Mashable

Facebook announced this week that it will be rolling out a hashtag feature to all of its users. There were hints of this happening a few months back and should come as no surprise to many marketers. Facebook users will be able to click on hashtags and find hashtags that are trending, but we expect more functionalities to be announced soon. This new addition to Facebook’s social network is designed to “bring conversations more to the forefront." 

For marketers, this means that many of you will be able to take the opportunity to unify your marketing efforts across almost all of the social networks -- you can use one hashtag across all platforms, which will help strengthen your brand messages. Beyond more cohesive messaging, marketers might be able to use hashtags for paid opportunities -- Facebook mentioned that there are plans to link hashtags to paid ads down the road. Learn more about Facebook hashtags at Mashable.

Unified Google+ Dashboard Lets Businesses Manage Search, Social, Maps, and AdWords, From TechCrunch

Google has been making some big changes to Google+ over the past few months and this week, it is launching a new dashboard for businesses. Google+ page owners will now have a single dashboard to manage a number of their daily activities. The dashboard will allow users to update information, such as website URL and phone numbers, across Google Maps and Google+ all at once. Other features include the ability to monitor Google+ notifications, post photos and videos, start hangouts, and manage AdWords Express.

This new dashboard design will greatly increase the effectiveness of Google+ for brands and marketers. With access to all of the important aspects of Google+ in one place, marketers will be able to better manage their ad campaigns, content, and public information -- making all of our lives much easier. Learn more about the Google+ Dashboard at TechCrunch.

Marketing Box: Your All-in-One Package for Sending the Perfect Email, From HubSpot

With so much buzz and activity around social media, content, and SEO, we often forget about how important it is to nurture leads or prospects with effective email campaigns. We know its hard putting those emails together with all the distractions around the office and on the internet. To help combat all of these distractions, we've created a Marketing Box to help you send the perfect email. Our free Marketing Box includes everything from music to jam out to, to pre-designed templates and customizable social sharing buttons. What are you waiting for? Download our free Marketing Box now.

Myspace Relaunches With $20 Million Ad Campaign, From Adweek

Myspace has hinted at a relaunch the past several months, but it looks like it's finally making the big ol' comeback. This week, Myspace announced its official relaunch with a $20 million ad campaign that will run across cable, radio, broadcast, and digital. Myspace has historically seen itself as a social network for “creatives," and that’s what the new ads are clearly suggesting. In a 90-second ad shared on Adweek, a gaggle of young hipsters are shown dancing, skateboarding, snapping photographs, and smashing instruments as many “creatives” do daily.

Brands and marketers should see this relaunch as a way to dive into a “new” social network with a lot of potential. The new UX looks quite remarkable and could be a huge selling point for Myspace to attract an audience of “creatives” who aren’t currently being catered to by any particular social network. For businesses currently in the music industry, this relaunch is a huge opportunity to be one of the first properly branded and promoted Myspace pages on the internet. Learn more about Myspace's relaunch at Adweek.

Site Speed Penalty Coming to Mobile Web Sites, From Search Engine Land

Google’s Matt Cutts announced this week that Google will be rolling out a mobile version of its site speed ranking factor, which essentially takes the load speed of a website into consideration when calculating search results rankings. This means that Google will begin monitoring the load speeds of mobile sites to determine how well a web page will rank. There is no official announcement on when this will actually come into effect, but Matt Cutts wants webmasters and marketers to be prepared for this new addition.

Ranking is a huge factor in how well marketing campaigns perform, and this new addition to Google’s ranking criteria will greatly affect websites with poorly developed mobile sites. Brands and marketers should consider taking a close look at how well their mobile sites are optimized and invest some time into creating a faster mobile experience for users. Learn more about Google's ranking update at Search Engine Land.

Twitter Starts Rolling Out Tweet Performance Analytics to More Users, From HubSpot

Twitter is now giving some users access to a free analytics dashboard that will allow them to view the performance of their tweets. Aside from seeing how many favorites, retweets, and replies their tweets get, users will be able to sort their tweets by “Best, Good, or All” when running through their analytics. Users will also be able to download all of their analytics as a CSV file for offline analysis.

For marketers or brands that have yet to opt into Twitter Ads paid program or be selected for this free release, these new tools will help give insight into how well their Twitter efforts are doing. With these new insights, brands and marketers will be able to tailor their content based to increase user engagement. To see if you have access, just head to ads.twitter.com and sign in with your Twitter credentials. Learn more about Twitter Analytics at HubSpot.

What other marketing stories did you hear about this week? Share your favorites with us in the comments.

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