Tag, You're It!

This spooky season, Google is making Google Tag Manager a little less scary for marketers. If the mere mention of this tool brings on a cold sweat, you’re not alone. (If you’re wondering what Google Tag Manager is … put simply, it’s a dashboard to monitor all of your website tracking codes.) It’s also long been one of the more complicated resources to implement — requiring coding and development work that many businesses don’t have the budget, bandwidth, or skill set for. Although for those able to implement it, the value is undeniable. 

Brands will soon be able to integrate their tags directly into Google Ads and Google Analytics, a welcome update that will simplify setup for conversion tracking (aka any goals you’ve set for your site). And if that weren’t exciting enough, for most CMS platforms, the latest round of updates will allow you to install a tag across your website without making manual changes to the site code.

For many companies, the complexity of Google Tag Manager was a significant hurdle holding them back from more closely tracking who is visiting their site and how they're interacting with content. We’re hopeful this latest update will allow more businesses to get strategic on their sites (without any site development nightmares).

TL;DR: Google Tag Manager will soon integrate with Google Ads and Analytics and require less developer work.

Reel in Your Audience

If you’ve been on Instagram in the last few months, you know Reels have all but taken over the app. Now the platform has released new guidelines on how brands can effectively leverage the short videos for promotion and community building. 

The 23-page document (part of IG's series of updated how-to guides) is filled with actionable tips and advice on how marketers can optimize Reels. Some interesting best practices include:

• Partner with creators: Instagram reports 78% of consumers say creators are influential in helping them discover new brands. Rather than thinking of creators as their own channels, use them as strategic collaborators. Your company will benefit from their community while retaining its brand identity. 
  
  
• Mix up regular content and branded ads: Mixed campaigns with both business-as-usual (BAU) and branded content ads on Facebook and Instagram had 53% higher click-through rates than those with only BAU.  Experiment to find the right balance for your target audience.
  
  
• Design for sound-on: Sound and music are not just additive but crucial for engaging Reels, as 80% of the short-form videos are viewed with sound. And you don’t need to provide your own custom playlist; Instagram has an exclusive collection of music and sound effects, all of which are royalty-free.

TL;DR: Instagram’s latest installment of its how-to guides is full of useful suggestions on how to make the most out of Reels.

ICYMI