Author: Laura Isaacs

Laura has a decade of diverse experience in SEO and content strategy. Her expertise lies in digital intelligence, website audits, keyword research and optimization, content strategy, finding technical SEO solutions, and site structure.

SEO isn’t dead: How AI and SGE are shaping the future

Post author By Laura Isaacs
Post date October 9, 2023

The artificial intelligence revolution has rocked our world in a few short months. OpenAI launched ChatGPT. Bing released a chat feature. Google opened access to Bard and the experimental Search Generative Experience. As these new tools emerge, almost everything about how we seek, access, and interact with online information changes. And it begs the question…

Could all these AI-enabled changes mean SEO is dead? The answer is a hard no; it’s just different. The days of optimizing websites exclusively for crawlers and bots are far behind us. We, as SEOs and marketers, must embrace the shift toward optimizing websites, content, and online experiences for humans and their information needs. As such, search engine optimization is alive, and will become even more important in your web strategy as AI tools advance in this new era.

Living in the moment: Understanding SEO, AI, and SGE

SEO, AI, and SGE are three of the most important technologies today, and they’re all becoming inseparably linked. AI is already used in a number of ways to improve SEO, from generating high-quality content to identifying and targeting the right keywords.

As AI develops, it will likely play an even more significant role in SEO, helping businesses reach their target audiences more effectively. By staying ahead of the curve with these technologies and strategies, companies can position themselves for success in the future of search. Before we dive into the details of what comes next for SEO, let’s look at broader definitions and how these technologies and strategies impact each other today.

What is SEO?

SEO (search engine optimization) is nothing new. In fact, both the concept and the term have been part of the web-based world since 1997 — before Google existed. At this time, search engines functioned as directories or virtual yellow pages. And as more consumers adopted the Internet, more businesses became invested in making themselves visible on the Internet.

SEO is a complex and ever-changing field, but it is essential to any online marketing strategy. Your web presence depends on organic SEO. Traditionally, SEO depends on fundamental factors that increase website traffic and search engine placement, which include:

Creating relevant, keyword-optimized content.
Optimizing the website’s title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags.
Building backlinks from high-quality websites.
Ensuring that the website is mobile-friendly.
Improving the website’s loading speed.

What is AI?

AI, short for artificial intelligence, is a technology that mimics or simulates human intelligence. There are a variety of applications for AI, from self-driving cars to automated manufacturing processes. Machine learning, deep learning, and cognitive computing all influence how AI works.

Conversational and generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Bard, and Bing are natural language processing tools and can communicate in a human-like way. They provide information quickly and can generate new text, code, images, and other kinds of creative content.

What is SGE?

SGE stands for Search Generative Experience. It is a new set of search and interface capabilities that integrates generative AI-powered results into Google search engine query responses.

SGE is still under development, but it’s designed to make searching for information online even more helpful, instructive, and insightful. By nature, SGE hinges on providing users with a more personalized and conversational experience. It is intended to do this by:

Generating concise and informative answers to complex questions.
Providing relevant visual content, such as images, charts, and graphs.
Suggesting follow-up questions to help users explore their topic of interest further.
Translating search results into different languages.

Here are some examples of how SGE can be used:

If you search “how to change a tire,” SGE might generate a step-by-step guide with images and videos.
If you search for “best restaurants in Phoenix,” SGE might generate a list of restaurants with user reviews and links to their menus.
If you search for “what does life even mean?” SGE might generate a summary of different philosophical perspectives on the topic.

SGE is revolutionizing the way we search for information. Using generative AI to produce more personalized and informative results, SGE can help searchers (consumers) find the information they need more quickly and easily.

The current state of SEO: ‘It depends’

We can’t ignore the fact that AI’s emergence and proliferation are rattling to SEO as we traditionally know it.

According to Search Engine Journal’s 2024 State of SEO report, today’s digital marketers and SEOs expect disruptions from three major trends:

Generative AI
Google’s E-E-A-T ranking criteria
Automation tools

For many SEO experts, these new and rapidly evolving advances challenge how we think about what it means to optimize for search.

These concerns check out, too. Google’s recent Helpful Content core algorithm update, which began rolling out in August and has extended into September 2023, is making one fact glaringly obvious: SEO no longer means optimizing content and website experiences for search engine crawlers and the only way to win top-ranking spots, boost CTR, gain qualified organic traffic (and lift conversions) is to optimize for the human experience.

While AI, generative tools, and even search algorithms gain a better understanding of what kind of content is helpful and informative to people, the notion of keyword-stuffed web copy created just for search engines is on its way out, and helpful content written by people, for people, has gained momentum as what it takes to win in the competitive SEO space.

Welcome to the future: Embracing content strategy with SEO, SGE, and AI in mind

As more web users turn to AI and SGE tools to do research and make informed decisions, it is increasingly important to be visible to searchers no matter the medium they’re using and aware of how your business is perceived by both artificial and human intelligence in this new virtual realm.

The only way to achieve this goal and prepare for future advancements is to embrace a website content strategy intricately interwoven with forward-focused SEO. This is evident with each Google core algorithm update as they increasingly move toward rewarding sites that relay information in an easy-to-understand, conversational, and unbiased tone.

Next steps for content strategy, SEO and SGE success

It might sound counter-intuitive, but embracing an organic content strategy with a human element is vital to success in today’s AI-driven landscape as SGE emerges. This especially rings true when your business and website tie into YMYL (your money or your life) topics like health, medicine, finance, and current events.

Google’s algorithms are designed to reward websites that provide high-quality content that is informative, comprehensive, and relevant to users. To appeal to Google’s E-E-A-T criteria, comply with Google’s Helpful Content updates, and succeed in SGE, businesses need to focus on creating content that is genuinely helpful to humans with UX and CX in mind. There are a few ways to accomplish this:

Understand your customers’ journey. Linguistic profiling and search journey analysis can help you define your target audience’s journey. Where are they in their conversion journey? Understanding their needs and offering solutions improves their experience on-site and with your brand.
Write for your target audience. Before you start writing, take some time to think about your target audience. What are their needs and interests? What kind of content would they find helpful? What are the values that drive their decision-making?
Do your research. Make sure that your content is accurate and up-to-date. Cite your sources and link to other relevant content.
Be clear and concise. Get to the point quickly and avoid using jargon.
Write in a conversational tone. Imagine that you’re talking to a friend or colleague.
Break up your text with images, videos, and headings. This will make your content easier to read and scan.

Does this sound familiar? We’ve touched on the factors you see above before and it’s helped drive success landing at “position zero” in the SERPs. Learn more about featured snippets in SEO strategy.

Take the next steps in SEO and SGE now

AI is poised to revolutionize SEO, empowering businesses to reach their target audiences with unprecedented precision. Businesses must ethically embrace AI and other innovative technologies and position themselves as leaders in this rapidly evolving field. This requires an online strategy inextricably linked to forward-thinking SEO created by humans for humans.

Offering SEO solutions and website and content strategy is just part of how Tallwave wants to drive your success. As a leader in providing integrated marketing solutions and more to both established and up-and-coming brands, Tallwave is ready to deploy our customer-centric and cohesive approach in a way that is unique to your vision and creates exceptional experiences for consumers of all kinds.

From conversion rate optimization to paid media services to product design and beyond, we’re ready to partner up and strategically future-proof your digital strategies.

Tags AI, brand strategy, business strategy, Data & Analytics, SEO, SEO Strategy, SGE

Strategy

Customer portals: Powerful platforms for CX success

Post author By Laura Isaacs
Post date June 27, 2023

It’s a fact: great customers have great expectations. Not only do your valuable customers expect an outstanding product or service, but they also demand an exceptional experience. And today, an excellent customer journey depends on meeting your customers where they are and accommodating ever-evolving demands.

One consistent trend is autonomy. Today’s customers want to help themselves — studies show that 70% of consumers want to resolve issues independently. Where do they go to find help? Online. Close to 65% of consumers always or almost always turn to a company’s online resources when they have a simple question or need a quick fix.

Customer portals: An inclusive CX solution

Combining today’s customers’ need for independence with other emerging CX demands like deeper personalization, more immersive experiences, and even conversation and connection seems like a heavy lift. But there is a solution that covers all of these needs: a thoughtful, well-designed customer portal.

Online customer portals have emerged as a vital component of successful business-consumer relationships. These dedicated digital platforms provide customers with a personalized and streamlined experience, allowing them to access essential information, manage their accounts, build affinity, and engage with your brand more efficiently and effectively.

But it goes even further than that. A great customer portal doesn’t just meet consumer demand; it also helps meet your company’s needs. Customer portals free up company resources and human capital, optimize internal processes, and much more.

What is a customer portal?

A customer portal is a secure, web-based platform that serves as a centralized hub for customers to interact with a business. It offers a range of self-service functionalities, such as accessing account information, making transactions, progress tracking, tracking orders, submitting support tickets, engaging with support agents, and retrieving relevant resources. You can easily empower customers and foster stronger relationships by giving direct access to these features.

Customer portals are a gateway to the various products, services, and information brands and businesses offer. By bringing together crucial functions in one place, customer portals simplify the customer journey and create a cohesive and engaging experience.

How do customer portals benefit consumers?

Customer portals aren’t just important; they’re necessary. Numbers from Microsoft’s Global State of Customer Service report indicate that nine out of 10 U.S. consumers expect a brand or organization to have an online portal for self-service.

These numbers make sense, too. Millennials and Gen Z, both digital natives, comprise nearly half of the U.S. population and significantly shape consumer trends. As self-service becomes the norm and younger consumers drive digital demands, online customer portals become even more essential.

Why are customer experience portals important to consumers? Here are three benefits to consider:

Customer portals provide space for seamless communication

As users embrace ChatGPT, Bard and Gemini, and other natural language processing AI platforms, the demand for conversational customer service will likely increase. Interactions in a customer portal can be protected and stored so that historical context is quickly available when a human takes over. They can pick up the conversation without missing a beat and provide seamless communication.

Portals let your business meet digital demand in real time

A recent ZenDesk study found that 72% of customers want immediate services. Customers appreciate the ability to access their account details, view past transactions, track orders, and make changes to their profiles on their time without relying on customer support.

Self-service options foster trust

By providing a secure and personalized space for customers to engage with the brand, businesses can use online portals to foster a sense of exclusivity and strengthen their relationships. Customers feel valued and trusted when they can easily access relevant information and resources, and this positively influences their perceptions of the brand.

How do customer portals benefit businesses?

From a business perspective, customer portals contribute to operational efficiency. By enabling customers to perform self-service tasks on their own, internal stakeholders can streamline the support processes. You’ll also likely be able to put your money where it matters, as self-service in an online portal costs less than one-on-one back-and-forth with an agent.

You can also use information from your online portal to improve experiences and drive data-backed decisions. Incorporating analytics and reporting capabilities into your portal gives you rich insights into customer behavior, engagement levels, and portal performance. Learn more about leveraging data-driven insights to improve customer experiences.

Another important consideration is that effective customer portals can help craft an outstanding employee experience. When consumers are empowered to meet their needs, your agents feel less pressure. They aren’t dealing with monotonously repeated questions and are free to focus on more complex issues, which can undoubtedly be more engaging and fulfilling.

And perhaps most importantly, a successful customer portal can enable growth and prepare for a profitable future. Your customer portal has the potential to become the central hub of your customers’ experiences. These self-service functions will meet consumer demands, lessen agent burden, and let you scale offerings as your business grows.

Learn more about Tallwave’s Digital Experience Design Services.

What does it take to make a great customer experience portal?

With so many benefits and significant touch points, interactions with customer portals can be make-or-break moments in the CX journey. A great customer portal empowers your customer with a cohesive and engaging experience.

Eleven considerations for CX portal success

There’s a lot that goes into creating a great customer portal and best practices must be considered. Here are 11 essential features and factors that go into making a successful product:

User-friendly interface: A well-designed and intuitive interface ensures customers can easily navigate the portal, find the necessary information, and perform desired actions without confusion.
Secure authentication: Robust authentication mechanisms, such as two-factor authentication, help protect customer data and ensure only authorized individuals can access the portal.
Personalization: Customizable dashboards, personalized recommendations, notifications, account support features, and tailored content based on users’ preferences enhance the user experience and make the portal more engaging.
Self-service functionality: The ability for customers to independently perform tasks, such as updating information, accessing essential documents, managing subscriptions, and initiating support requests, reduces their reliance on customer support and improves efficiency.
Communication support channels: Integrating communication channels — including chatbots, live chat, support ticket systems, or community forums — allows customers to interact with support teams directly and receive timely assistance.
Mobile responsiveness: Nearly 80% of smartphone users have used their devices to make purchases, so ensuring your customer portal is mobile-responsive is crucial. It should adapt seamlessly to different screen sizes and provide an optimal experience across various devices.
Foster feedback: A great customer portal fosters a feedback loop that you can use to improve your audience focus. You can see what topics get the most engagement and track other metrics to leverage data for future improvements with built-in user feedback mechanisms.
Data enablement: The metrics you collect from customer portal interactions can help you retain customers, enhance customer experiences, and achieve sustainable growth even as the economy shifts. Additionally, reporting and data visualization within the portal make key information accessible to stakeholders.
Accessibility: Your customers are diverse, and your portal should be inclusive and accessible. This involves considering factors such as color contrast, text size, and compatibility with assistive technology.
Seamless integration: A successful customer portal should integrate smoothly with existing systems, like CRM platforms, e-commerce solutions, and support ticket systems to provide a seamless end-to-end experience for customers.
Continuous iteration: Product design and development teams should adopt an iterative approach, gathering user feedback and monitoring portal performance to identify areas for improvement and make ongoing refinements to enhance the user experience.

Empower customers and enable growth with Tallwave

Customer portals have revolutionized how businesses interact with their customers, offering a range of self-service capabilities and personalized experiences. By understanding the significance of customer portals and incorporating essential features and elements, you can leverage your portal to drive customer satisfaction, loyalty, and long-term success.

Tallwave has hands-on experience creating customer-centric online portals that empower and delight. We apply a heuristic methodology to evaluate how consumers interact with digital products, like online portals, and through our iterative design process, turn our findings into a successful product that exceeds the expectations of internal and external stakeholders.

Ready to learn more about Tallwave and how we can enable your business’s growth? Let’s explore the opportunities together.

Tags customer experience, customer experience design, customer portals, product design, product development

Strategy

From chaos to clarity: Data quality management for actionable insight

Post author By Laura Isaacs
Post date June 20, 2023

Data quality management empowers business success

Data quality plays a crucial role in the business landscape when it comes to informing strategy and enabling growth. As organizations strive to do more (or at least the same) with less, mastering data quality management is imperative. Collecting and analyzing the right data points can help you retain customers, enhance customer experiences, optimize campaigns, boost acquisition, and achieve sustainable growth even as the economy shifts.

But in today’s data-driven environment with evolving tracking technology, compliance demands, and AI disrupting the status quo, problems with data quality and quantity problems are amplified. And these issues come with a steep price: misinterpreted insights, wasted resources, and even concerns with ethics, transparency, and consumer privacy.

Effective data quality management is complex, but it doesn’t have to be. Understanding the causes and consequences of poor data quality, finding a source of truth, building a data-driven culture, and working with the right data enablement partner all come together to empower informed decisions that lead to outstanding experiences.

Missed opportunities: Causes and consequences of poor data quality

Once upon a time, CMOs and growth leaders spent their days thinking about brand strategy with creative license and assumed success came from stellar messaging. But today, these roles hinge on emerging technology, marketing agility, and driving ROI while expecting immediate results — all of which depend on quality data.

Statistics reported in the 2023 Braze Customer Engagement Review indicate that more than one-third of marketing leaders cite the collection, integration, management, and accessibility of data as their top challenges when it comes to customer engagement.

These data challenges come in many different forms. Here are a few common problems in marketing data quality management:

More data, more problems

Organizations often find themselves drowning in a sea of information in the era of big data. According to the Braze survey mentioned above, a staggering eight out of every ten leaders surveyed admitted to collecting more data than they can realistically use.

Data down the drain

With so much data at hand, so much goes to waste. Experian’s most recent data experience research report stated that an estimated 73% of all collected marketing data goes unused. Overcollected and underutilized data can come with high costs, ranging from consumer privacy risks to wasted resources.

Have you stored your historical data from Universal Analytics? The clock is ticking! Learn more about GA4 migration.

Standardization struggles

A lack of standardization and guidelines in your data strategy leads to all kinds of complications. Inconsistencies across systems and departments create confusion, and inaccurate data can mislead decision-making processes. Incomplete data leads to gaps in insights, while outdated data fails to reflect the current reality. This results in unreliable data and an inability to inform strategy.

Disparate times, disparate measures

Fragmented data is a major challenge for many (if not all) organizations. According to a study conducted by Wakefield Research, 441 of the 450 senior data leaders surveyed indicated that data silos exist within their organization. In addition, 311 of the same leaders report they have “trapped” data they cannot access. Rescuing trapped data can open opportunities for actionable insights.

What happens when organizations unlock trapped data? You’ll find untapped insights into user interactions that allow you to create outstanding customer experiences. Learn more about Tallwave’s success with data unification and enablement strategy.

Left brain, right brain

What causes all the data debacles? It could be that marketing people and data people don’t always speak the same language. Braze found that 42% of respondents reported that their top data management challenge stems from working with internal data scientists and IT departments who don’t understand marketing priorities. The second biggest challenge is that marketing talent lacks data skills.

Data mismanagement comes with consequences that can be summarized in two words: missed opportunities. Without a data-driven strategy, you’ll likely end up with wasted resources and miss out on what matters: customer retention, acquisition, and growth.

Seizing opportunities: 4 considerations for collecting quality data

Access to high-quality data enables business leaders to better understand their customers: their needs, preferences, expectations, and buying habits. This understanding helps companies successfully satisfy and engage customers, increase brand awareness, and drive sales conversions.

While ongoing data quality management might feel like an uphill battle, there are a few best practices you can implement to harness the power of accessible analytics.

Here are four actionable steps to consider:

Align data collection with business goals: Start by aligning your data collection efforts with your organization’s goals and objectives. By focusing on the data that truly matters, you can avoid the trap of over-collection and instead gather the insights necessary to drive meaningful actions.
Standardize data across systems and departments: Establishing data standardization protocols is vital to ensure consistency and accuracy. Implementing standardized data models, formats, and definitions across systems and departments fosters a unified view of the data and enhances its reliability.
Implement data validation and verification processes: Introduce robust data validation and verification processes to maintain data integrity. These processes involve checking for completeness, identifying and resolving inconsistencies, and ensuring data accuracy through various validation techniques.
Invest in data cleansing, enrichment, and visualization tools: Leverage data cleansing and enrichment tools to improve the quality of your data. These tools can help identify and rectify errors, fill in missing information, and enhance the overall value of your data. Additionally, data visualization tools and dashboards give stakeholders the context they need to gain actionable insights from complex data sets.

Understanding and acting upon data compliance requirements are also significant considerations, especially in healthcare. Learn more about HIPAA-compliant web analytics.

Data-driven culture: Collaboration and metrics that matter

To truly master data quality management, organizations need to foster a data-driven culture. This kind of environment empowers leaders to put facts before instincts and take valuable action with each decision.

Unified team, unified data strategy

A data-driven culture is fueled by connection. The symbiotic relationship between data scientists and marketing specialists enables realizing your analytics tools’ full potential, allowing your organization to make data-driven decisions and achieve greater results. When marketing teams and data teams combine forces and truly understand each other, priorities are aligned.

Prioritizing data quality lets you unlock valuable insights, reach your target audience more effectively, and ultimately enhance customer experiences while maximizing the return on your marketing investment.

The first step in creating a culture defined by data is finding a data strategy and analytics partner who truly understands the metrics that matter. A true enablement partner, like Tallwave, can help you narrow down the most relevant data points to avoid overcollection and support unification. You’ll have access to meaningful insights that drive positive outcomes.

Ready to embrace data enablement? Let’s chat. We can work together to create a unified data strategy that gives you the information needed to implement outstanding experiences. Reach out to Tallwave now.

Tags Data & Analytics, data strategy

SEO Uncategorized

Is SEO for Social Media the Secret to Success?

Post author By Laura Isaacs
Post date June 12, 2023

Social media platforms have evolved from online hangouts to significant touchpoints on your customers’ conversion journeys. Establishing your brand’s social media footprint and visibility is crucial; it forges meaningful consumer connections and enhances digital experiences.

However, the painful reality for marketers is that curated social content alone won’t get you to For You Pages and newsfeeds. But reaching into your SEO strategy toolkit just might. Many factors in establishing a solid social media presence seriously overlap with the search engine optimization strategies you’re already using to drive growth on your website.

With complex algorithms and user behavior playing a crucial role in content visibility, leveraging the power of SEO for social media is vital to improving reach, engaging the right users, and converting customers.

What is the relationship between social media and SEO?

When it comes to creating online experiences and driving strategic growth, social media matters. Surveys show that working-age adults spend an average of 2.5 hours daily scrolling social media. These consumers rely on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for product research, reviews, brand engagement, and even for making purchases as integrated e-commerce solutions become the norm.

SEO matters, too. An effective organic SEO strategy elevates your brand by boosting page rankings and increasing visibility, clicks, and conversions. Investing in SEO builds long-term equity for your business and establishes authority in your market. And while AI might change how algorithms work, SEO strategy will always need human-lead creativity and expertise to resonate with human users. Learn more about the benefits of implementing a proven SEO strategy.

And although social media and SEO may seem like distinct digital strategies, they are closely intertwined. Social media platforms aim to engage and satisfy users by showcasing relevant, high-quality content. At the same time, SEO seeks to achieve the same by delivering valuable web content to answer their search queries.

SEO and social media: Symbiotic sisters

Think about it: SEO focuses on improving website reach by considering algorithms and ranking factors for better visibility on search engine result pages like Google or Bing. These factors hinge on authority, expertise, and trust established through technical performance, keywords, latent semantic indexing, and user behavior (bounce rate, time on site, pages visited, etc.).

Social media platforms also rely on algorithms that determine how content is displayed to users. These algorithms analyze similar factors, such as bio and caption keywords, viewer intent, creator authority, user behavior, and engagement.

Relevance, engagement, and authority influence how content is shown to users on the SERPs, home pages, feeds, and For You Pages. Noting the many intersections, it’s easy to interpret that applying SEO techniques to social media strategies will likely increase the chances of your target audience finding your content, engaging with it, and ultimately converting into customers.

SEO strategies to adopt for social media success

Experience is everything. The shared objective between SEO and social media is to provide users with the best possible experience by delivering the best possible content related to their needs and intents.

You can implement SEO techniques in your social strategy to push your brand toward customer acquisition and growth. With increased social media visibility, you’ll be there for critical make-or-break moments on the conversion journey.

Experience is everything. The shared objective between SEO and social media is to provide users with the best possible experience by delivering the best possible content related to their needs and intents.

Let’s look at a few tips social media managers can borrow from the SEOs.

Know what’s now

Social media evolves rapidly. Just look at all the recent changes with Instagram. Part of finding success with your audience is understanding what’s current and popular in their world. Google Trends offers an easy way to tap into today’s interests so that your content is timely and relevant.

Speak their language

Like traditional SEO, linguistic profiling and keyword research are crucial in social media optimization. Identify keywords and phrases relevant to your industry, target audience, and specific social media platforms. Use those phrases in your content and captions. Tools like SEMrush, Moz, and free browser extensions like Keyword Surfer can help you discover relevant terms based on how people search for products or content.

Flex your authority

Optimize your social media profiles by incorporating relevant keywords in your bio, descriptions, and headers. This helps social algorithms understand the nature of your business and improves the chances of being discovered by users searching for those keywords. Mention titles or credentials relevant to your content to display subject matter authority.

Create connections

Actively engage with your audience by responding to comments, messages, and mentions. This fosters a sense of community and encourages further engagement. And engagement shows the algorithm that your content is valuable and relevant.

Analyze and optimize

Regularly analyze your social media performance using built-in analytics tools or third-party platforms. Monitor engagement metrics, reach, click-through rates, and conversions to understand what resonates with your audience. Adjust your strategy accordingly to optimize results.

Let integrated solutions lead to intertwined success

You can unlock social media’s full potential and drive meaningful results by understanding the relationship between SEO and social media, implementing effective strategies, and staying informed about the latest trends and algorithm updates.

Explore Tallwave’s Integrated Digital Marketing services.

Social media and SEO aren’t siloed strategies. An integrated growth enablement partner like Tallwave can assist in combining SEO and social media strategies as part of a comprehensive conversion rate optimization program. We are eager to deploy our customer-centric and cohesive approach in a unique way to your vision and create exceptional experiences for consumers of all kinds.

Ready to learn more about Tallwave and how we can help with SEO and social media? Let’s discuss how combined forces equal outstanding experiences and ongoing success. Here’s to the start of a great partnership.

Tags customer experience, SEO, SEO and Social Media, social media

News

Do You Hate the New Instagram Update? You’re Not Alone

Post author By Laura Isaacs
Post date August 22, 2022

Updated April 25, 2023

When it comes to social media, things are ever-changing. The popular photo- and video-sharing app Instagram is just one example. Instagram updates have shifted from prioritizing photos to videos and back to photos again over just a few short months. Do these shifts mean Instagram lost touch with its user base? Maybe. Learn more about how the app is fighting to find its way back to its roots in 2023.

How is Instagram Changing in 2023

Over the summer of 2022, Instagram attempted to tap into the increasing popularity of TikTok by pushing more video “Reels” to users and serving fewer photos in feeds. Both content creators and content consumers pushed back and, once again, Instagram announced a change.

February 2023: Instagram Brings Back Balance

The new year brought even more changes to Instagram. And this time users are rejoicing. As of February 2023, the app has seemingly gone back to its roots. A recent update removes the Reels button from its center position and instead places the plus icon (Compose button) in this prime placement. This screen real estate swap might suggest the app is once again prioritizing photos posted to grids over video Reels in users’ feeds.

This isn’t just speculation. Instagram head Adam Mosseri confirmed the app’s shift in focus in a series of questions and answers posted to his Stories in January 2023.

“I think we were overfocused on video in 2022 and pushed ranking too far, and basically showed too many videos and not enough photos. We’ve since balanced, so things like how often someone likes photos versus videos, and how often someone comments on photos versus videos, are roughly equal, which is a good sign that things are balanced.”
— Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram

You can view Mosseri’s responses in the “AMA” circle in Mosseri’s Stories Highlights.

March 2023: Additional Changes Came in Like a Lion

March brought a shakeup in how creators can identify themselves and gain clout on Instagram. Meta Verified launched in the U.S., turning the coveted blue checkmark into a paid subscription feature. The verification service is currently available to celebrities, public figures, and well-known brands.

“Verified” creators will have increased protection against account impersonation and access to “real-person” tech support. Perhaps most importantly, Meta Verified also promises subscribers “increased reach and visibility.” This means that the content creators who “pay to play” will have their content shown more in searches, comments, and recommendations.

Meta Verified seems to have garnered a few negative reactions from social media users. Twitter user Ahmed Younis (@ahmdpress) replied to MetaNewsroom’s announcement and asserted that “now you can’t protect yourself without paying.” Other replies to the announcement include questions about why Meta prioritized launching the verification service before responding to “major tech issues” on Facebook and why those who do paid advertising on the platforms don’t have access to the same level of support.

Users and creators have noticed other, unannounced changes that came with the March 16, 2023, update, including algorithm tweaks that change how content is pushed to app users. For example, creators have found that the updated Instagram algorithm seems to prefer and more predominantly feature video content edited in the app rather than on another platform, like TikTok or CapCut. Additionally, creators have found the new algorithm seems to favor daily grid posts and multiple Stories shared at specific times throughout the day.

Many users have noticed that algorithm tweaks changed how content is displayed in their feeds. Some content creators have taken to Reddit to seek solutions as their audience reach and engagement dropped after the March updates. Other users are pleased with the updates as their feeds are now chronological and feature more photos and content from the creators they follow as opposed to sponsored content and recommendations.

These anecdotal changes are defined in a TikTok video shared by Design Driven Media CEO Michelle Daboul. In the video, which has garnered nearly 2 million views, she asserts that the new Instagram algorithm changes support the fact that the app now considers itself an SEO platform. Instagram is increasingly making it easier for creators to optimize their profiles and content to leverage keywords which can increase the likelihood of showing up on in-app search features.

As the app shifts direction and more changes are implemented, paid media buyers and advertisers also have an opportunity to change course to achieve balance. Depending on user base and customer preferences, advertisers might opt to prioritize image ads and carousel ads as the app’s focus shifts away from Reels. Brands might opt for verification to increase reach and support paid placements. Advertisers might implement new strategies based on changing organic factors as well.

While photo-focused app users are celebrating the new balance and the way content is delivered to users, it is important to remember why Instagram decided to go back to the basics while pushing forward with other changes. Let’s take a look at what happened to Instagram in 2022 to understand why the spotlight has shifted to a more balanced and consumer-driven user experience.

What Happened to Instagram in Summer 2022?

The changes Instagram users saw in 2022 sparked outrage among many users, including Kylie Jenner who has over 301 million followers. These changes prioritize “recommended videos,” filling users’ feeds with videos from accounts that may not be relevant to the user instead of content from accounts they follow. Instagram is also pushing out video “Reels” instead of photos, which means a lot of content goes unseen by users, further upsetting content creators and users alike.

Why Has Instagram Made All of These Changes?

The short answer is: TikTok. Earlier this year, Meta (formally Facebook) announced that users are spending less time on its platforms and that they expect revenue growth to slow. This caused Meta’s stocks to drop 26%, resulting in a loss of $232 billion. Meta chief, Mark Zuckerberg, said on the company’s call with investors in February, “People have a lot of choices for how they want to spend their time, and apps like TikTok are growing very quickly. And this is why our focus on Reels is so important over the long term.”

TikTok has done a great job engaging younger audiences with short-form videos and increasing their time spent on the app. This has been made possible with TikTok’s unique algorithm, which learns how each individual uses the platform and feeds them content accordingly. The more time you spend on the app, the more the app will understand which videos to show you. Cue the Instagram changes. At a high level, both platforms are serving video content to users based on their behaviors. So why is Instagram drawing backlash from users for taking a page from TikTok’s playbook? It’s all about the value proposition each offers for users. TikTok was designed as a video-centric platform, so recommending exclusively video content based on user behavior is consistent with what users expect from the platform. By contrast, Instagram started as a photo sharing platform allowing users to connect with friends and family through sharing images. By not just introducing video, but prioritizing video (including video from accounts users don’t follow) over photos from accounts users follow, Instagram’s changes undermine the value proposition for many of their users.

After user backlash this past summer, Instagram took a step back on video prioritization. But that doesn’t mean Reels are a thing of the past in 2023. These short-form videos are still an important part of the app experience, just now with more photo balance based on user preferences.

What Does This Mean for Paid Media?

While the changes to Instagram have been on the organic side of the platform, they could have a chilling effect on users that impacts paid advertising on the platform. If users decide to leave Instagram over the changes the platform is making, this could dramatically decrease the reach of advertisers. Additionally, if advertisers want to be effective on Instagram, they would need to modify their ad content to keep up with the changes Instagram is making. Video has proven to be a priority for Instagram, specifically videos made to fit into Reels, so advertisers would need to make ads tailored to Reels if they want to remain effective. Not only would videos need to be reformatted for a vertical 9:16 ratio but they would need to capture attention quickly which might mean using trending audio, a trending dance, or a trending challenge.

Lastly, if Instagram does in fact become more and more like TikTok, advertisers may need to shift their advertising strategy within Instagram. Users have been drawn to TikTok because they can sit on the app and scroll for hours while being entertained by video. While TikTok successfully launched ads in early 2019, the ads have shown to be great for brand awareness. A study by MediaScience® showed that TikTok ads drive strong brand recall and positive sentiment across various view durations. Brand awareness is great, but Instagram has done a great job at driving direct conversions. If Instagram continues down this path to be similar to TikTok, ads on Instagram may not perform as well as they used to in the past in terms of CVR or ROAS. This is most likely because users are not as likely to click on an ad and make a purchase while they’re being entertained by videos, similar to YouTube, another platform great for awareness, but not as great for direct conversions.

Keep in mind that there is still value in video even after the 2023 changes. Instagram users who prefer video content certainly still exist. These consumers still interact with and make decisions influenced by Reels, even as the app pushes more photos. A holistic and data-driven social media strategy can ensure advertisers balance consumer preferences and content placements for maximum results.

What Should Advertisers Do?

Instagram is still an important platform to advertise on so advertisers must be prepared to adapt if they want their media dollars to be impactful on this channel. Instagram is a well-established, highly effective platform that reaches 1 billion users monthly, whereas TikTok reaches 689 million monthly users by comparison, and 72% of Instagram users cite that they have purchased a product they’ve seen on Instagram. Being able to leverage Instagram alongside TikTok is the key to success. This will help ensure a wide reach among advertisers’ target audiences and exposure on a platform with proven results.

To continue success on Instagram advertisers need to stay up to date with the changes that Instagram is making and the overall trends with social media channels. This is a great time to start creating videos specifically for Instagram Reels and testing them in Reels-only campaigns. While Instagram has delayed some of the rollouts they had planned due to the backlash, it isn’t likely that they will stop pushing Reels. Advertisers need to get ahead of the curve and shift their strategy to align with Instagram’s shifting strategy. It’s in the best interest of advertisers to align their social media ad content with Instagram’s ambition to push Reels as they try to stay competitive with TikTok. Pro Tip: most trends find their way on both platforms.

As social media platforms shift and algorithms are updated, maintaining a strategic paid social media approach hinges on content and placements. For some businesses, that might be a balance between Instagram photos and Reels. Numbers tell the story and can inform advertising investment decisions.

Ready to learn more about getting the most sizzle for your social media spend? Tallwave offers truly integrated CX services, covering everything from conversion rate optimization to data strategy to paid media. Reach out to see how we can help you strike a balance.