Users required to include Metatags in their URLs

News on Facebook Marketing, according to All Facebook, Social network Facebook has announced that it has implemented changes in tightening up control over the targeted audience for its like button. Page administrators are now required to include metatags in their URLs specifying the restrictions to ensure that users don’t see like buttons or like stories where they shouldn’t.

Presently, an admin page through which you can establish the same age-gating controls that are available to Facebook pages, is created when you point a Like button at a URL with the proper metatags. These controls stop us from rendering the like button and presenting the resulting story back to the wrong audience.

By including metatags on your URLs indicating the restriction, distribution of these stories will be limited to people in the suitable country or age group.

Now, to be able to gather and publish to fans, you should create a Facebook page and update your like button to point to that page. People will then be eligible to receive page posts from you and become fans of this page once they select the like button on your URL.

We are launching a migration setting in the dev app to help you in making this change. We are also updating the platform roadmap to reflect this change. And to continue age restricting the like button on and post from your app, metatags must be implemented on your URLs in the next 90 days.

Read more at Facebook Changes Process For User Restrictions On Like Button

Google’s Handwrite tool allows easier web search for mobile users

News on Google Marketing, according to Brafton News, for those people who have difficulty in typing in the small keypads of mobile screens, Google’s Handwrite feature allows them an easier way to search the web. With the use of their fingers to trace the words onto the page, smartphone and tablet users can now have an easier time in web searching allowing writing their queries onto the main screen of Google.com’s mobile site.

Searchers must first enable it within Google’s settings and tap the Handwrite button the page before using the tool.

Although it will have a little impact on SEO, the addition of this tool shows Google’s aim to develop tools and solutions that will help its users to access its services easily. Because search is much easier with this tool, it could encourage longer searches among mobile users.

Google’s Handwrite feature is available to tablet owners with Android who have at least 4.0 and Apple devices running iOS 5 or higher and Android-powered smartphones using Android 2.3 or higher.

With Google’s active innovation for mobile search, Google’s Pierre Farr commented that marketers should be sure to develop websites that are entirely accessible to mobile users.

Read more at Google features lets mobile users ‘handwrite’ their search queries

Hotels are planning to increase marketing budget by 2012

News on Social Marketing, according to Brafton News, by 2012, mobile and social media marketing campaigns will be receiving larger portions of the budget as hoteliers are planning to significantly boost their web marketing presence, a study conducted by TravelClick shows.

TravelClick reveals that only 3 percent of hotels included in the study would cut their marketing investment and 43 percent plans to increase their marketing budget. Thirty-four percent won’t change the amount they are spending but they are planning to shuffle their spending to hit an increase on the growing marketing audiences.

In a release, Jason Ewell, vice president of ecommerce for TravelClick, said that “Not only are hoteliers increasing budgets for mobile websites and marketing, but they are also increasing staff in areas such as social media. Hoteliers are recognizing how important mobile and social media are to guests, and they have begun to put more resources toward creating and maintaining these channels.”

With the increasing trend in content marketing, hotels must develop original, informative content to encourage link sharing and improve a hotel’s web presence as well as its standing on SERPs.

Brafton reported that the real estate industry will most likely invest more in content marketing as it has also seen its value this year.

Read more at Hotels boosting web marketing in 2012

Other Social Marketing Articles of Interest

Poetry for Marketers: Develop authority by crafting your blog with care

How to make your content marketing more social