Mary Meeker’s Annual Tech Report Outlines Coming Shifts in Social Media and Digital Marketing
The highly-anticipated Internet Trends report for 2019 has been released, including data of interest to digital marketers. For more than 21 years venture capitalist Mary Meeker, partner at Kleiner Perkins, has researched and put out the report, this year weighing in at 333 pages. Social Media Today

Voice Search Study: Factors Influencing Search Engine Rankings in 2019
20 percent of Android Google App searches now come from voice, and a new SEMrush study examines ranking factors including the importance of first-page placement and other facets of voice search. SEMrush

Instagram Advertisers Can Now Promote Creators’ Organic Branded Content Posts as Ads
Instagram has begun offering a new branded content ad option that will allow organic branded content feed posts from creators, expanding the Facebook-owned platform’s tools for digital marketers. The new ads will contain “Paid Partnership,” and are part of Instagram’s efforts at increased ad transparency. Adweek

Facebook Video Creation Kit gets new editing, resizing options and ‘Save’ feature
Facebook has rolled out new Video Creation Kit features including the ability to create varying aspect ratio videos, better ad placement options, savable unfinished video drafts, and more templates, the firm has announced. Marketing Land

Study unearths major differences in ad receptivity for digital audio listeners and video viewers
How consumers feel when they listen to or watch digital video plays an important part in receptivity, with relaxed and focused listeners some 35 percent more open to ads, one of several findings of interest to marketers in newly-release study data. Campaign US

LinkedIn Announces New Ad Research and Insights Series to Help Marketers
LinkedIn (client) has announced several new initiatives to boost marketers’ promotion efforts on the platform, including a monthly series of expert tips, insight, and research examples, the firm recently announced. Social Media Today

Google search update aims to show more diverse results from different domain names
Google recently announced a search update focused primarily on domain diversity, by having fewer first-page results that come from the same domain, and Search Engine Land takes a look at how the changes are likely to affect search marketing efforts. Search Engine Land

Do Marketers Take Enough Creative Risks?
43% of marketers say that their team does some — but not enough — creative risk-taking, while eight percent say their team takes too many creative risks, two of several creativity in marketing findings from newly-released study data. MarketingProfs

“Digital-first” marketing helped companies outperform peers by >40% in 2018 business goals
Nearly a quarter of marketers view data-driven marketing as 2019’s most exciting opportunity, one of many take-aways from newly-released report data, which also shows improved customer experience is still a top digital marketing priority. ClickZ

Google to buy unified data platform Looker for $2.6 billion to strengthen Cloud analytics
Google has announced that it will purchase unified data and analytics platform Looker for $2.6 billion, in an acquisition aimed at improving digital execution and boosting Google Cloud data insight. Marketing Land

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at the silo mentality by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

Report: More Americans Than Ever Relying on Monetized YouTube Covers of Toto’s “Africa” to Make Ends Meet — The Hard Times

Apple Shutting Down iTunes — The Onion

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lee Odden & Ashley Zeckman — Onalytica – The Influential Times Episode 1 [Podcast] — Onalytica
• Ashley Zeckman — 10 branding strategies for your small business to build awareness and loyalty — Intuit / QuickBooks
• Alexis Hall — What’s Trending: Marketing Meets the Bottom Line — LinkedIn (client)
• Lee Odden — How a Best Answer Content Strategy Drives B2B Marketing Results [BuzzSumo Webinar Video] — YouTube / BuzzSumo

Have you found your own top new influencer marketing or digital advertising stories from the past week?

Thanks for joining us, and we hope you’ll return next week for more top digital marketing industry news, and in the meantime you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news. Also, don’t miss the full video summary on our TopRank Marketing TV YouTube Channel.

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