Category: Big Data

Creators are always looking for ways to connect with their audiences, starting with producing and sharing content that resonates with them. But how do you take these interactions to the next level and build a stronger sense of connection with your followers? We asked creators who cover a wide range of topics how they turned their followings into active, engaged communities.Use multiple platforms to build your audienceMost creators have a favorite platform they post on, but there are benefits to being active on more than one. For example, posting on multiple platforms can help with discovery, boost engagement and drive traffic to your website. Lindsey Bomgren, a fitness trainer and blogger who posts at Nourish Move Love, says, “I use Instagram for building audience engagement, Pinterest for driving traffic to my website and YouTube for sharing full-length workout videos. No matter where you post, you can always link back to a common destination, like your website. Our most loyal readers are our email subscribers, but we love YouTube and Pinterest for their discoverability!”Lindsey Bomgren posts content for her brand, Nourish Move Love, on multiple platforms to boost discoverability and engagement.Choose how you want to measure and define successAs a creator, how do you know whether you’re building community among your target audience? Should you focus on how big your audience is, how well your topics resonate with them or both? Two important tools to measure success are analytics and direct feedback, including using direct messaging through platforms, comments or emails.Lindsey uses analytics to understand “which posts are driving the most traffic, and where that traffic is coming from.” She adds, “We create content for different audiences. Some of our content is designed for search engine optimization; whereas other content, like full body high intensity interval training (HITT) and pyramid workouts, is geared toward our Instagram followers.”Other creators rely more on community feedback to find out what content is resonating. Payton Cavin, who built the media brand Mellow Yellow Media to inspire women to explore the world and their passions while working remotely, shares, “Analytics help us understand what our audience is craving more of. That being said, direct feedback is always more beneficial. There’s nothing like having a conversation with a follower who found value in what you shared.”Mellow Yellow Media founder Payton Cavin values direct feedback from her fans and followers.Find ways to engageInteracting directly with your audience can not only help you figure out what’s working, it can build community and bring your brand to life. Many creators shared that they interact with followers in comments or direct messages on social platforms, or via email. Beauty blogger Kendall Alfred says, “I try to respond to as many YouTube comments as I can, and my direct messages are always open on Instagram. I go live on my platforms and answer questions in real time. I also try to do giveaways and donations as often as possible.”And Lindsey hosts “live workouts on YouTube and Instagram, sharing weekly seven-day workout plans and daily #WOD’s [workouts of the day] that we follow together as a community.”Beauty blogger Kendall Alfred engages with her community through live sessions, giveaways and donations to promote her YouTube channel.Partner upEager to grow your brand’s reputation and think outside the box? Partnering with other creators can be an effective way to mix things up while bringing your communities together. It can also help you get creative by exploring more topics related to your brand.Shylah May, a lifestyle and wellness blogger, says, “I’ve made friends with a lot of other creators throughout the years. We travel, take photos and attend events together, and they even help promote my clothing line, Shop Shylah May. Teaming up with other creators helps your brand so much — it creates awareness, better defines your brand and allows you to grow your audience.”Shylah May loves partnering with other creators.

Three out of four people in the United States come to the internet first with questions about their health and wellness. The pandemic has exacerbated the need for high-quality, timely and actionable health information — in fact, since 2020, people are searching for “mental health hotline” twice as much as they did before. On Search, we work to connect people in crisis situations to reliable support as quickly as possible.Today, when you search for information about suicide prevention in the U.S., you’ll find a new, easy-to-remember hotline number and chat support at the top of your search results. We’ve updated this to reflect the new national mental health crisis hotline number, 988. Services are provided by the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, a network of more than 200 state and local call centers funded by the U.S. Department of Health and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).Suicide is a leading cause of death among people of all ages globally. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide is the second-leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10-14 and 25-34 in the U.S. While Google has included suicide prevention information at the top of relevant search results for many years, this new hotline will make it easier for people in emotional distress and seeking mental health support to get help.With search interest in mental health resources reaching record highs this year, 988 provides a critical lifeline for those in need. “Hope has a new number, and it’s 988,” says Dr. John Draper, Executive Director of 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. “This is a historic moment in our country’s approach to mental health. When people call or text 988, they will be connected to trained counselors who will hear them, support them and connect them to resources. With this transition to 988, our hope is to reach so many more people in emotional crisis, and connect them to care.”For over a decade, we’ve worked closely with crisis support providers to help people navigate topics like suicide, substance use disorders and domestic violence. In addition to returning helpful information from reliable sources for related queries, we work with local suicide crisis partners to surface high-quality information around the world. Beyond the U.S., suicide hotlines are available in dozens of countries and we recently expanded the feature to Costa Rica, Pakistan and Belgium. We’ll continue working to bring this feature to even more countries.People come to Google looking for information in critical moments, and access to high-quality information is crucial to helping them navigate those moments safely. Providing hotline resources is one way we’re continuing to help people stay safe while they search.

We want to make it easier to create effective ads for any Google Ads campaign. That starts with improving how images and videos are organized, accessed and created. With assets available in a central place, you can create ads and campaigns faster or swap content more easily when you need to make a change. And, if you’re missing a video needed to reach an important audience or business objective, you can now make one directly in Google Ads.A new home for asset storage and organizationWhen you’re working with a team supporting several different campaigns, it’s important that everyone can access the content they need. With the asset library, images and videos are available to users across your Google Ads account in a visual-first experience. You and your colleagues can view, import and organize creative assets from both past and present campaigns. This makes sharing, collaboration and consistency easy.When it’s time to create or edit a campaign, you can access the library directly while building an ad. There’s no need to re-upload assets that you’re using across multiple campaigns. This experience is currently available in Performance Max, Discovery, App, Local, Display campaigns and some ad extensions.If you use Google Ads Editor for campaign management, you’ll find an asset library there too. Similar to Google Ads, you can view and select content from your library to construct ads. And, you’ll soon be able to import images and videos to Google Ads directly from your Google Drive account.We hope the asset library will help you spend less time managing or hunting down assets and more time developing creative ideas.An easy, fast way to create video ads that work on YouTubeVideo has a unique ability to captivate and influence people, especially on YouTube where billions of people come to watch content they love. Yet, many businesses struggle to unlock the full potential of video advertising because the creation process can often be lengthy, resource-intensive and complex. But, it doesn’t have to be!With video ad creation now available in Google Ads, anyone can create a high-quality video ad in a matter of minutes. Start by selecting a template from our catalog and populating it with your brand colors, logo, images and text. Then, pick a music track from our audio library. Finally, use the video in any campaign that includes video, like a Video action campaign or a Performance Max campaign.The templates are made for YouTube, meaning they have optimal pacing, brand and product placements and prominent calls to action. They are designed to help your ad stand out and drive results. With templates guiding you, the complexity of creating a video disappears and you can spend more time developing your messaging, audience insights or campaign strategy.Invertironline is an Argentinian fintech company that turned to video creation in Google Ads for its efficiency and flexibility. “We always thought about YouTube, but we didn’t want to enter in the design loop until video creation in Google Ads appeared,” says Ariel Peralta, acquisition marketing lead of the financial technology company. With the help of templates, Invertironline reduced the time to produce video ads from two days to just 15 minutes. Compared to previous video ads, conversion rates doubled and the cost per acquisition was cut almost in half.[39b95e]Another aspect of video creation we’d like to simplify is adding voice-over to videos. Audio is a critical factor in driving creative effectiveness on YouTube. The ABCD guidelines for effective video ads consistently show that videos with voice-over drive better performance. That’s why we’ve launched an easy way to generate a voice-over for YouTube videos, powered by Google’s industry-leading text-to-speech technology. This feature is accessible directly from the asset library.Simply type in your script, select your preferred voice and with one click we’ll overlay your voice-over onto your video. We currently offer 7 voices in English (US) that are specifically created with advertising in mind. We also offer general text-to-speech voices in the following languages: Filipino, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Malaysian, Mandarin, Spanish and Swedish. We plan to add more ad voices and languages in the future.In studies, creative is often the most significant driver of advertising return on investment. That’s why we’re so focused on helping you create and curate great assets for all of your Google Ads campaigns. We hope the asset library fosters more collaboration and smooth campaign deployment for your teams, freeing up time for you to develop creative ideas. With easier video ad creation and voice-over in Google Ads, we’d like to help you fully unlock the benefits of video advertising.Learn more about the asset library, video creation and voice-over in the Google Ads Help Center.

Welcome to the latest edition of “My Path to Google,” where we talk to Googlers, interns, apprentices and alumni about how they got to Google, what their roles are like and even some tips on how to prepare for interviews.Today’s post is all about Angela Kagabo, a Kenya-based intern working on marketing projects for the Ads sales team.Can you tell us a bit about yourself?I was born and raised in Kigali, Rwanda in a family of four children and a super mom. Two words that best describe me are authentic and funny (I might be exaggerating the funny part but my own jokes crack me up). I’m a rising junior, studying international business and trade at the African Leadership University in Kigali. I’m very passionate about women’s rights, my country and the African continent — particularly her stories, people, history and, most importantly, her future.What do you work on at Google?I’m an intern with Google’s Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) marketing team, and I’m working out of our Nairobi, Kenya office this summer. I support marketing projects for our Ads sales team, like planning client events. So far, I’ve had a blast working with the SSA marketing team because of all the new things I get to learn every day. I even got to meet most of my team at a recent offsite in Cape Town, South Africa.Angela and her teammates participating in a community service projectWhy did you apply to Google?I applied because I was inspired by all the Google products that have made my life easier — like Google Forms and Google Sheets, my go-to tools for collecting feedback and organizing data. And I wanted more people, especially those in lower-income communities, to know about and have access to these products. Google’s company culture was another big draw for me, as was the opportunity to work on projects specifically focused on Africa.How did your interview process go?Honestly, it couldn’t have been a smoother process. Although I went into the interviews feeling nervous, my interviewers put me at ease. In one of my interviews, I remember not understanding one of the questions. However, I felt comfortable enough to tell my interviewer (and now manager), “I’m not sure I understand that. May I have more context?” And she happily explained. As it turns out, not knowing the answer right away doesn’t mean automatic rejection — it actually means there’s an opportunity to learn something new.How did you prepare for your interviews?While the interview process was different from what I was used to, my recruiter shared a lot of resources to help me better understand the process and team I was interviewing for. I also spent a lot of time watching YouTube videos from previous Google interns and the Google Students team, and about overall interview etiquette.Angela and her motherAny advice for aspiring Google interns?First, be yourself. Don’t try to fit into a box you think Google expects you to be in — because there is no box. Second, if you’re thinking about applying, watch videos on the Google Students YouTube channel. They’ll teach you how to create a strong resume and give you insight into the recruitment process. Also, spend time on Google’s career site because there’s a lot of important information to help you better understand the company.And finally, just apply! I almost didn’t, because I didn’t think I’d actually get this internship, but I’m so glad I pushed myself to do it. If you’re worried about the interview process, Google is rooting for you and will share all the resources you need to be prepared. So go for it!

Earlier this month, a group of Googlers traveled to New Orleans for the 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Culture, an annual celebration that brings together Black women and allies for conversation and connection. After a two-year hiatus because of the pandemic, ESSENCE returned with over 500,000 attendees and a packed lineup of performances, workshops and panels focused on sisterhood, personal development, civic engagement and community leadership.It was an honor to represent Google as a festival sponsor this year, and to witness thousands of Black women leaders, creators, founders, educators and entertainers gathering together. The experience proved how important and powerful it is to create a sense of belonging.Here are some highlights from our four whirlwind days at the 2022 ESSENCE Festival:Thursday: Building connections over brunchWe kicked off the festival on Thursday with a brunch for Googlers and their plus-ones. Over food and conversation, attendees admired photographer Deun Ivory’s work, which was specially shot with Pixel’s Real Tone technology to reflect the nuances of skin tones.At the Google-sponsored brunch, Googlers and their guests admired Deun Ivory’s photographs, shot using Real Tone on Google Pixel. Photo by Jonathan Priester.“Starting the ESSENCE festivities with the brunch event was a highlight for me,” says Stephanie LeBlanc, Global Lead of Community Inclusion Programs for Intersectional Communities at Google. “As a plus-one, you can sometimes feel like a tagalong, so it was important to us to welcome guests as part of an ever-growing and empowering community of Black women leaders. It was an amazing networking opportunity — many of us discovered how closely we’re all connected.”Stephanie LeBlanc helped lead Google’s brunch at the ESSENCE Festival. Photo by Jonathan Priester.Friday: Sharing skills and training opportunitiesOn Friday, we hosted a conversation with sorority organization partners, moderated by Cassandra Johnson, VP of Customer Care and Vendor Management Office and an executive sponsor for our internal Black Googler Network. The session spotlighted Black Women Lead, a Grow with Google partnership with The Links, Incorporated, Dress for Success Worldwide and four Black sororities: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. Since launching in 2021, Black Women Lead has provided digital skills training to 100,000 Black women across the U.S.Cassandra Johnson hosted a conversation with leaders from our sorority organization partners: (L to R) Elsie Cook-Holmes (Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.), Valerie Hollingsworth Baker (Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.), Nichole McCall (Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.) and Andria Daniels (Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.). Photo by Jonathan Priester.The Grow with Google team also sponsored a booth in the festival’s convention center, where they set up time for a sorority “takeover.” Hundreds of sorority members from across the country stopped by to learn more about training opportunities and workshops available through Black Women Lead. “It was amazing to hear firsthand from my Delta Sigma Theta sorority sisters about the success of this initiative in our communities,” says Shani Waugh, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Google.Getting ready for the sorority takeover at Google’s ESSENCE Festival booth.Saturday: Holding space for conversationsOn Saturday, I had the pleasure of hosting a fireside chat on building career paths with Jewel Burks, Head of Google for Startups U.S. and the co-founder of Partpic Inc, which Jewel sold to Amazon at age 27. Among many topics, we talked about the important role champions play throughout a career.Later that day, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage in conversation with Emmy Award-winning actress Keke Palmer — two of the many high-profile and inspirational speakers at ESSENCE. Kamala’s take on the importance of community and connection with others really captured the theme of the weekend.I sat down with Jewel Burks at the ESuite stage event “Dynamic Pathways: Charting Your Career Through Reciprocity.” Photo by Jonathan Priester.Sunday: Reflecting on the ESSENCE experienceOn the final day of the festival, Googlers wrapped up their volunteer duties, said their goodbyes to new and lasting connections and reflected on the experience. Although we were one of many companies that attended and contributed to ESSENCE, it was inspiring to see how Google’s efforts helped lift up and bring so many people together. I personally reflected on the limitlessness of human potential, and how the work we do at Google can help Black women pursue successful career journeys.Laurie Bennett, a consultant on Google’s Human Resources team, summed up the experience well: “It was really powerful to see all the different ways people showed up at ESSENCE — from companies and vendors offering support to the Black community, to celebrities and entrepreneurs sharing professional, and even personal, advice. It leaves you feeling proud and wanting to pay that work forward. ”Rachel Spivey (L) and Laurie Bennett (R), joined a group of Googlers at this year’s ESSENCE Festival. Photo by Laurie Bennett.