In a recent Harvard Business Review study, “Rethinking Digital Transformation,” only 20% of executives rated their companies’ digital transformation efforts as effective. That jibes with other research suggesting that 70-80% of large-scale change projects fail to deliver the intended results. There are a lot of reasons for the failures, but a critical one is a lack of a clear, well-communicated strategy. Another is starting with the “digital.”

“We see some fundamental disconnects between business goals and technology investments when companies start chasing shiny objects,” Melissa Swift of Korn Ferry said in the HBR study.

It’s critical to make sure that technology selection and implementation are driven by business strategy, not the other way around. Platforms and applications are designed to be flexible enough and feature-rich enough to attract a broad range of customers but not so flexible that development becomes overwhelming. As a result, customers can be left trying to shoe-horn business models into the technology, supported by professional services teams focused on implementations but not the broader planning and change management needed to ensure success. Customers may know all the options available to use a system but may not know or agree on why.

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According to the New York Times, the Electoral Integrity Partnership, a coalition of research entities, found that about half the retweets of key false election campaigns could be traced back to just 35 Twitter accounts. If it’s not just President Trump who has been spreading misinformation widely, it’s not many additional people — in terms of measurable impact anyway.

Other high profile accounts engaged in spreading misinformation to large audiences include the activist Charlie Kirk and the actor James Woods. Although such accounts seem easily identified, Twitter has taken no action thus far.

Why we care. One of the many side-effects of the division in society is the division on social media. With many brands deeply committed to social marketing and advertising, and also invested in brand reputation, it’s critical that Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the other platforms ensure safe havens remain, where marketers can have confidence that their messaging won’t be seen as aligned with hostility and falsehoods.

There’s a lot of buzz around BIMI – Brand Indicators for Message Identification – Google’s new standard that displays brand logos alongside DMARC compliant email messages. The goal is to protect brands from phishing campaigns by creating a strict DMARC policy that stops impersonation attacks. Join our BIMI experts for this webinar where they will explain everything marketing managers need to know about BIMI and why it is important to every organization that uses email.

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People are reacting on social media as details regarding what unfolded on Capitol Hill last Wednesday (and what’s to occur leading up to President-elect Biden’s inauguration) continue to become available. But, as the vehicle for President Trump’s messaging and the gathering place for his supporters, social media itself has also played a role.

These factors have led some brands to halt their social media campaigns, fearing that an unfortunate placement or out-of-context messaging could lead to a brand safety disaster. “People are very online, especially during crises — the moment they see a tone-deaf brand or company, it will immediately backfire and put them on a do-not-engage list,” Sheeta Verma, marketing associate at Neurable, told Search Engine Land.

For some, pausing campaigns may be the most strategic option available. Others, however, have persisted, citing apolitical ad campaigns, attempts to bring joy to customers, and, of course, business needs. Both the consequence for continuing campaigns and the benefit of pausing them are murky at best.

The trend of surreal news cycles did not end when we rang in the new year, meaning that marketers must be better prepared to operate during times of disruption. Brands can be proactive about their crisis response strategies by taking a stand for what they believe is right and backing it up with action, instead of simply going dark when stuff hits the fan. Preparing a rapid response team and/or workflow can also enable them to adjust their messaging more efficiently. And, experimenting by diversifying the channels they’re using can help them make more informed decisions on where to invest when one channel becomes too risky — a far better approach than having to try new options on a whim and without precedent when another crisis eventually rears its ugly head.

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The new (and long-awaited) performance reports have arrived within the Insights section of Google My Business. The report includes search terms used to find your GMB listing in Search and Maps, as well as the number of calls and messages received. Unfortunately, data on clicks to your site, requests for driving directions, and whether users found you via Search or Maps is not included.

The reports provide you with six months of data — that’s twice as long as was available previously. We think it’s an early release and we’re hoping that, when it comes time for Google to replace the insights report with the performance report, all the data points will be migrated over.

Read more here.

SEO For Developers. Google Tag Manager For Marketers And Analysts. Which workshop will you choose? Join us online, February 24-25, for an expert-led, interactive training experience loaded with actionable tactics and proven advice… just $149!

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“A reminder that growth isn’t always fun. But it is always worth it.” Amelia Sordell, founder, Klowt.