Mobile SEO Strategies, building an ambassador program, and how to make PR and marketing work together.

This week you'll learn:

• 📸 How TikTok is gearing up to launch a new photo-sharing app to rival Instagram

• 📱 5 key strategies for mastering mobile SEO in 2024

• 🐰 The secrets behind Mad Rabbit's thriving ambassador program

• 📣 How uniting PR and content marketing can lead to powerful storytelling

• ⚡️ Quick Hits: LinkedIn's CTV ads, Alphabet's interest in HubSpot & Meta's AI content labeling.

TikTok is getting closer to launching an Instagram rival

TikTok is gearing up to launch a new photo-sharing app called TikTok Notes, positioning itself as a direct competitor to Instagram. This venture into photo-sharing has the power to shift consumer attention and force brands to rethink their social media tactics.

A New Frontier for TikTok

The app, revealed through user notifications, will allow users to share "existing and future public TikTok photo posts" on the new platform. A brief URL, “photo.tiktok.com”, was mistakenly made accessible, hinting at the app's functionality, including the ability to add captions to photos.

TikTok confirmed its exploration of new ways to "empower our community to create and share their creativity with photos and text in a dedicated space for those formats."

Existing User Base

TikTok Notes could have a significant advantage over Instagram by tapping into TikTok's massive existing user base. By automatically sharing users' public TikTok photo posts (with an opt-out option), the app will likely launch with a substantial content library from day one.

This strategy could save TikTok Notes from the challenge of attracting an initial user base, a hurdle many new social media platforms face.

With its established brand recognition and vast user base, TikTok Notes has the potential to disrupt Instagram's dominance in the photo-sharing space. As the app moves closer to its official launch, the social media landscape could be on the brink of a significant shift.

Latest News on TikTok

Congress passed legislation on Tuesday, April 23, that is an ultimatum to TikTok’s parent company, the Chinese technology giant ByteDance: Sell to a company that isn’t Chinese within about a year or face a ban on the app in the United States. The app would probably continue operating normally in the United States during that time.

President Biden signed the bill into law on Wednesday. Even so, TikTok is likely to challenge the new law in court. Read the full article here. 

Read More: The Verge

Mastering Mobile SEO in 2024

Mobile dominates web traffic and optimizing your website for mobile users is not just beneficial—it's essential.

With over 60% of web traffic coming from mobile devices, Google's switch to mobile-first indexing has made mobile SEO more crucial than ever.

This transition means that Google now primarily uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. Brands and e-commerce sites looking to not only maintain but also gain potential customers must transition to a mobile-first mentality to stay ahead.

5 Key Strategies for Mobile Optimization:

Unlock the power of mobile optimization with these 5 key strategies.

1) Responsive Design: Embrace responsive design to ensure your site adapts to various screen sizes and orientations. This approach, recommended by Google, uses CSS and flexible layouts to provide an optimal viewing experience across a wide range of devices.

2) Interaction to Next Paint (INP): A new metric that measures website responsiveness throughout a page's lifespan, not just the first interaction. Aim for an optimal INP score under 200ms, and address common issues like long JavaScript tasks and large DOM sizes to elevate your user experience and search ranking.

3) Image Optimization: Enhance your mobile user experience by compressing images and using modern file types like WebP. This significantly improves load times, ensuring that users can access your content quickly and seamlessly, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and improved overall satisfaction.

4) Avoid Intrusive Interstitials: Google penalizes mobile pages with intrusive pop-ups that hinder user experience. By ensuring that any interstitials are non-intrusive and do not obstruct access to content, you not only avoid potential penalties from Google but also provide a smoother and more enjoyable browsing experience for your users.

5) Structured Data: Use structured data to enable rich results in search engines, which can significantly enhance the visibility of your content. Structured data is extra “hidden” information added to the page to help Google understand and enhance your content. This will help you show up in SERP features like Carousels, Videos, and FAQ results.

By prioritizing mobile optimization, you can align your site with Google's mission of making information universally accessible and useful—everywhere. Neglecting mobile SEO means missing out on a significant portion of your potential audience. 

Not sure where to start? Book a call with Dia Creative today for a free discussion.

Read More - Search Engine Journal

Mad Rabbit's Thriving Ambassador Program

Mad Rabbit, a tattoo care brand, has seen impressive growth and revenue from its ambassador program, which has ballooned to nearly 8,000 members in just a year and a half.

A Tiered Approach

Mad Rabbit's ambassador program is structured into three tiers:

• General Ambassadors: With a low barrier to entry, this tier is open to anyone who is a fan of the brand. Ambassadors can participate through an affiliate model, social media challenges, or both. In the past year, this tier generated nearly $500,000 in revenue.

• Sponsored Artists: This tier of about 60 tattoo artists is selected based on the quality and style of their work. They tattoo at events alongside Mad Rabbit employees and receive free products.

  As co-founder Oliver Zak explains, "The hope from there is, after spending a year on the sponsored artists team, they then graduate to the pro team, which is a paid position, and they're very much figureheads of our brand."

• Pro Team: The top tier consists of about 15 of the top tattoo artists in the United States. This is a paid position, and these artists serve as key brand representatives.

Be Authentic

The success of Mad Rabbit's ambassador program lies in its authenticity. As Kimberley Ring Allen, founder of Ring Communications, notes:

"At the end of the day, you want to believe that this person who is telling you about this product… has first-hand experience and knowledge in it. If the ambassador comes across as overly promotional, it's not going to work."

How to Create an Ambassador Program

Define your program goals. Clearly outline what you want to achieve with your program, focusing on metrics like brand awareness and engagement

Establish ambassador criteria. Determine specific requirements for potential ambassadors to reach out to. They can be as simple or as in-depth as you want to! These might include:

• Passion towards your brand and genuineness

• Social media following and engagement

• Alignment with your brand values

• Country of residence

• Age

Create policies and guidelines. Develop clear guidelines for ambassadors to follow, including promoting the right products, using hashtags, and maintaining your brand voice.

Promote and incentivize. Build a long-term, positive relationship with your ambassadors! Offer free products, financial compensation, or promotions.

Track your progress. Monitor the performance of your program, using tools like hashtag analytics to assess engagement and ensure your campaigns are meeting their targets.

By focusing on genuine fans and industry professionals, Mad Rabbit has built a thriving ambassador community that drives both revenue and brand growth. Establishing an ambassador program can be the key to unlocking organic promotion and fostering genuine brand loyalty.

Read More - Modern Retail

Uniting PR and Content Marketing for Powerful Storytelling

As public relations and content marketing intertwine, brands are presented with a golden opportunity to boost their storytelling skills and reach business goals faster than ever.

1. Recognizing Journalists as Valued Audiences

Brands are discovering the power of treating journalists as a vital part of their audience. By crafting stories that resonate not only with the public but also with media professionals, they can cultivate stronger relationships with journalists.

Alex Sanchez of BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace, maintains the success of this approach, noting that reporters often source stories organically from their blogs, sometimes without direct outreach. This strategy not only broadens the reach of your content but also ensures it's compelling and relevant to be picked up by the media.

2. Know the Media's Audience

Did you know that 73% of reporters find only a fraction of the stories pitched to them are relevant to their audience? PR excels at building journalist relationships, while content marketing thrives in building content communities. By combining these skills, you can craft content that strikes a chord with both your target audience and the media's audience.

3. Deliver the Full Package

Journalists are stretched thin in understaffed newsrooms. Anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage.

So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center says "We work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed."

This seamless coordination not only eases the journalist's tasks but also elevates the storytelling experience.

4. Embrace Collaboration for Efficiency

Rather than focusing on individual credit for media coverage, embrace a collaborative approach to crafting multi-channel stories. Regular, cross-team meetings are essential for understanding the optimal channels to reach key audiences, including the media.

Jason Carlton, manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health, praises the effectiveness of this collaborative mindset. Their structured approach allows for more informed decision-making. "Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story's impact."

5. Measure What Matters

With overlapping metrics between content marketing and PR, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts. Implementing a shared dashboard helps tell the combined "story of your stories" to internal and executive teams.

Here are some vital metrics to keep your storytelling journey on track:

• Page Views: Evaluate which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.

• Earned Media Mentions: Tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site's referral traffic report to identify media outlets sending traffic.

• Organic Search Queries: Surface organic search queries leading to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that resonate.

• On-Page Actions: See what visitors do on your content. PR can use this as a pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

Download our free guide to boost your storytelling skills and reach your business goals faster!

Joining forces between PR and content marketing is an ultimate game-changer. By collaborating, you streamline operations, slash redundant tasks, and free up time to craft compelling narratives that actually resonate with your audience.

Read More - Content Marketing Institute

⚡️ Quick Hits

• LinkedIn launches CTV ads for B2B campaigns, partnering with major platforms.

• Alphabet considers HubSpot acquisition for $32 billion to enhance its marketing technology.

• Meta broadens AI content labeling to include more synthetic content types.

• Google evaluates forum content feedback amid concerns over misinformation.

• Digital advertising faces a "Great Reset" due to privacy changes and the loss of digital identifiers.

• X's bot purge leads to significant follower losses for top accounts.

What we’re working on right now

📣 Another win we are excited to share: Revenue growth of 38%-161% through email campaigns for big and small-sized businesses. 

See the actual numbers below:

💡 30% or more of your revenue should come from email marketing! This rule doesn't apply only to big brands; smaller businesses should experience the same. If your emails are not bringing in enough revenue, your email marketing strategy has a lot of room for improvement. 

 💭 Are your email campaigns effective? Book a meeting with our team this month and get a free strategy session to review your brand email strategy and learn how we can grow your business.