Itβs Thursday, yes Must Reads is coming to you on a Thursday - blame the bank holiday the majority of you in π¬π§ and some of you in πΊπΈ have probably forgotten about.
πHit Of The WeekΒ π:Β
Something light-hearted to make you smile.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reassures New Zealandβs βkidsβ that the tooth fairy and the easter bunny are essential workers and will be able to work.
π The Must-Reads Of The Week πΒ
This week's handpicked Must Reads newsletter is just overΒ 950 words and is a 7-minute read.
π Here are 10 great things you can do at home (& mostly for free)
πΉ Here is how gaming should learn from social media to remove hate out of gaming
π― I have updated last weeks popular post - Marketing, Growth and Advertising tips π―
And this week, great minds must have thought alike; 1. HBO has released new backgrounds to use including GoT and Succession and 2. Pepsi is acting as an enabler and sponsoring Lady Gagaβs fundraising concert on the 18th. You can even get your favourite Tiger King Zoom background hereπ I have been recommended the Anti-CEO TED talk a number of times this week, it is brilliant, send it around, share it with your senior leadership team.
π° Deez Links is a popular journalist whoβs newsletter is one of my daily go toβs, Delia has written an article on whether paywalls should be up and how dependent news sites are on the support of their readers
βοΈ This is brilliant and such a powerful skill - the secret life of an anonymous speechwriter to the stars
π If emails had meetings was one of the most creative, and funniest videos this week
TikTok has leaped in popularity and videos like this has helped changed its perception. Enjoy the creativie.π° Growth: Deep-dive into how Canva got to 15m customers with my TLDR; their free, freemium and premium offers
π WhatsApp has rolled out two important changes this week, the 1st: is limiting the amount of forwarding of messages (fake news) and 2nd: enabled group calls of 4 or fewer people. Zoom really has got under Facebookβs skin and you will see by the many growth tests Facebook have released in the last five days.
FWIW Whatsapp groups can have 256 people in it and status can be seen for 24 hours by your whole address book, so if it can be abused.π There is also a good book excerpt Sarah Freir from her up and coming book, why Mark Zuckerbergβs jealousy held back Instagram and forced its founders to leave.
πLocal and location data has been vital in the last ten to twelve years, this week Foursquare and Factual joined forces
Why is this important? Both brands made significant money and the ability to understand, interrupt and offer insights and actions based on behaviour is well worth the investment, especially in months to comeβ½οΈ Missing live sports? Well esports (live streaming gaming) has skyrocketed in recent weeks
With all live sports (apart from a debatable decision for UFC 249 to allow go ahead and securing an island to arrange fights back to back) canceled until further notice, many athletes have jumped over to livestreaming and using their clout for good causes.
π― 5 Tips π―
This weeks five tips comes from one of my go-to SEOs & friends Carl Hendy, Carl shares his five tips for the current environment. Go and connect with Carl on LinkedIn.
Google has made it easier for you to get your company announcements regarding COVID-19 directly into the search results - Google Webmaster Link
If SEO resource is low use content/product/customer support teams to rewrite and improve existing content that will help improve SEO. Adding basic Q&A to product pages can improve organic visibility and improve UX. You do not always need to be creating βnewβ content. Trim the excess fat from your current website.
Need to pause your business within Google because of stock issues?
Do not turn your website off. There are many actions you can take to maintain organic visibility whilst being kind to your users - Google Webmaster LinkDo not make any knee jerk reactions to changes in your long term SEO plan.
SEO can take many months to work therefore changes implemented previously may not be rewarded yet, therefore, do not let that effort go to waste by making hasty decisions.Not directly SEO related and Mark (Ritson) is not everyoneβs cup of tea but the thinking within this post does heavily apply to SEO βThe best marketers will be upping, not cutting, their budgetsβ.
SEO is a zero-sum game.
πΊ Quick Content Recommendations β―
A few long-weekend recommendations, Netflix have two unbelievable shows you should watch Tiger King (it is nuts) and Ozark, season three of Ozark is the best TV in many years. If you have Disney+ it is inundated with timeless content and movies. Toy Story 4 is our list this weekend alongside forky asks a question & as if a handful of Disneynature shows. YouTube has some great shows including free theatre shows.
β€οΈYou Made It To The Endβ€οΈ
Thanks again for reading this weekβs Must Readβs.Β
Please go and have a good weekend! Β Take care of yourself, please.Β Β
About Danny DenhardΒ - About Me: 19 years in Marketing, Product,Β GrowthΒ and recently as a Β Crowdfunding business leader. You will want to see myΒ RIP to the CMO roleΒ presentation and I will be speaking at theΒ Festival Of Marketing,Β read my Q&A interview.Β Most importantly, I write this weeklyΒ Must Reads Newsletter.Β
π¨ I have limited availability for advisory or consultancy work π¨
Disclaimer: All views & recommendations are my own until you click through on the stories.
This weekβs gifs are fromΒ Giphy.