Welcome to the third Digital Roundup of 2022, January is almost over and brands are starting to announce their big changes to excite digital marketers about what the future of social media may look like. This week we have a big announcement from Instagram as well as some Google insights and updates.
-Eliot
Instagram to introduce money-making features for Creators
Instagram has begun testing a new feature called “Instagram Subscriptions” which will allow creators to charge a monthly subscription price in order for their followers to access exclusive content. It’s currently being tested with a handful of creators and it’s also currently unknown when every creator will be able to start charging for a subscription or if there is a minimum follower count associated with this.
In order to subscribe to a creator, users need to op-in through a subscription action button on a creator profile, Instagram’s blog announcement had an example of how the button would look:
It is confirmed that creators who are eligible to charge for subscriptions will be able to set their own price, rather than every account just using a set price.
As a subscriber, you get access to exclusive features associated with the account you’re subscribed to which are:
- Subsciber Livestreams– Creators can host exclusive livestreams, only accessible to subscribers.
- Subscriber Stories- Creators can also add stories which can only be accessed by subscribers.
- Subscriber Badges- A subscriber will also receive a customer badge which will appear next to their username if they comment, designed to show your loyalty.
In their announcement, Instagram stated
“With Instagram Subscriptions, creators can develop deeper connections with their most engaged followers and grow their recurring monthly income by giving subscribers access to exclusive content and benefits, all within the same platform where they interact with them already.”
Currently, only a handful of US-based Instagram creators are available to access Instagram Subscriptions.
This feature may change how Digital Marketing teams that work with brands choose to use the platform to interact with follower bases, exclusive giveaways and discounts behind gated paywalls may become the norm; only time will tell.
Google’s John Mueller on URL changes
Google’s latest Ask Googlebot video had John Mueller speak about the SEO impact of making structural URL changes on your website, in short Mueller said URL Changes are “not that simple for search engines like Google” and that even if URL changes are done properly it can still take several months for Google to fully process them.
The video goes into good detail even though it’s only two minutes long, and has some helpful tips from a document originally published a few years ago on planning URL changes such as:
- Do research before the migration takes place.
- Time your URL update when it’s fine to have a traffic drip.
- Monitor the migration with Google Analytics and Search Console.
- Compile a list of old and new URLS so for site mapping.
- Leave the redirects and and 301 redirects in place for at least a year.
The full video can be found here:
Google Search Console update brings Page Experience Report to desktops.
Google Search Console has been updated to show a report dedicated to Page Experience on desktop webpages, a feature that was previously exclusive to mobile webpages only. This report will help marketers prepare for the Page Experience algorithm update set to launch in February and roll out until March.
The report can be accessed in the Page Experience tab in Search Console, just underneath the mobile report and functionally, it’s identical to said report except for “Mobile usability”
Google Search Central made a blog post about the new report which can be found here: Timeline for bringing page experience ranking to desktop | Google Search Central Blog
Sean Walsh
Sean is a Director at Intelligency heading up our digital marketing and client services operations. Sean has 15+ years experiencing working both in-house and agency with brands including Lloyds, Alstom, Hitachi, Lufthansa, Viaplay, DFDS Seaways and Mercedes-Benz.
