Twitter Q1 flies past estimates with sales of $787M and EPS of $0.25 but MAUs drop to 330M4/23/2019 Twitter Q1 flies past estimates with sales of $787M and EPS of $0.25, but MAUs drop to 330M https://tcrn.ch/2ICVvu6 Social networking and media platform Twitter today reported its results for the first quarter of the year, and it’s a strong one. The company said that revenues came in at $787 million, up 18 percent on a year ago; with net income of $191 million and earnings per share of $0.25. However, monthly active users continue to paint a challenging picture (no surprise that MAUs are a dying metric for the company). Twitter says MAUs were 330 million in Q1, a drop of 6 million users compared to a year ago, although up 9 million on last quarter. Monetizable daily active users — Twitter’s new and preferred metric for user numbers — were 134 million in the quarter, up 11 percent on a year ago. (Note: the earlier 28 million figure we used here was US-only.) Still, on the financial side, this is a strong set of results for the company. Going into today, average analyst expectations were for Twitter to post about $775 million in sales ($742-$815 million range) on an EPS of $0.15 per share ($0.10-$0.20 range). Twitter itself last quarter said it expected Q1 revenues to be between just $715 million and $775 million, with operating income between $5 million and $35 million. Shares are up 6.22 percent so far in pre-market trading. With those numbers relatively stabilised, Twitter is putting more focus on trying to improve its actual product in the two areas where it has been considered weak: the ability for people to use Twitter when it gets noisy and active; and the general “health” of content management, around harassment and fake news. For the former, it’s been tinkering with a prototype app called twttr, and for the latter, it’s been adding more rules that it is proactively enforcing, which it says has led to “helping [Twitter] remove 2.5 times more of this content since launch.” The “initial focus” of the twttr app up to now has been to focus on conversations and how to make them easier to follow. This implies that the app could stay around for some time to come and become the testing ground for much more, including Twitter’s increasing forays into video and other content and how it manages bad actors on the platform: in other words, aspects of the service potentially represent opportunities for growth and monetization — or otherwise urgently need attention because if they don’t get resolved they will ultimately hinder both. This is the last quarter that Twitter is reporting monthly active users, as it makes a switch instead to reporting “mDAUs”, or monetizeable daily active users, which it claims is a more accurate representation of how the business is growing. MAUs have not been a great metric for the company over the years, with one of Twitter’s strongest criticisms being that its user growth is stagnating. Given that the platform has a strong surge of usage around specific events, the average usage on days will work out stronger than that of usage on a monthly period. As is the case with Facebook, a majority of Twitter’s users (but not revenues, see below) are coming from outside its home country of the US, where mDAUs were 28 million, compared to mDAUs of 105 million internationally. Last quarter, while reporting a relatively strong set of Q4 earnings, we noted that Twitter’s stock dropped on that weak guidance, which represented a big drop from Q4 at a time (Q1) when many expect Twitter to report its strongest numbers. As a point of comparison, a year ago in Q1 2018, Twitter posted revenues of $665 million, on an EPS of $0.16 per share, both blowing past Wall Street estimates with sales up 21 percent year-on-year. Drilling down into where money is coming from for the company, the US is still Twitter’s biggest market in terms of revenues, if not users. The US accounted for $432 million, or 55 percent, of Twitter’s revenues, with international revenues at $355 million. To note, Twitter noted that the US is current the engine of its revenue growth, where figures were up 25 percent on last year (while international was only up 11 percent). Japan, it noted, continued to represent Twitter’s second-largest market, contributing $136 million to Q1 revenues. It will be interesting to see how and if Twitter addresses that: since international represents such a large part of its user base, monetizing it more effectively could really give the company a boost. (Indeed, this is something that was brought up a couple of times on the call as well, when CFO Ned Segal pointed out that not all formats have worked as well in some markets as in others and that they are continuing to tinker with this.) In terms of what is actually making money for the company, advertising continues to be Twitter’s biggest cash cow. Of its $787 million in Q1 revenues, $679 million, or just over 86 percent, comes from advertising. That’s been a consistent proportion: ad revenues were up 18 percent, just like overall revenues. As with other social platforms, video is giving advertising a boost at Twitter. It specifically singled out Video Website Cards and in-stream pre-roll ads. Data licensing and unspecified “other revenue” was $107 million, up 20 percent, and it sounds like Twitter isn’t expecting huge growth in this area. “DES continues to see new customer opportunities and use cases as well as smaller customers adopting our self-service APIs… however, we are now largely through our multiyear enterprise renewal cycle in DES. As a result, many of our largest partners are now at market pricing and data licensing revenue growth is likely to moderate for the full year,” it noted. More to come from the call. Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com April 23, 2019 at 07:29AM
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How to Create Sticky Content to Share on Social Media http://bit.ly/2Gwk2xf There’s a misconception floating around that you should share as much content as possible on social media. However, the reality of the situation is that not all content is well optimized for social media platforms. And if a certain piece of content is optimized for one social networking platform, it may not be conducive to another. What is Sticky Content?Sticky content is essentially content that you publish on your website with the intent of getting users to engage with your brand and spend more time on your site. It’s content that adds value to the reader and commands a response. Sticky content also happens to be shareworthy – meaning that it excels on social media platforms and encourages people to click. Sticky content should not be confused with clickbait, which uses spammy and misleading tactics to encourage website traffic. There’s actual value and the exchange between the brand and user is mutually beneficial. How to Create Sticky, Shareworthy ContentMost brands don’t have any idea how to create sticky, shareworthy content for their social media platforms. But it’s not as challenging as it may seem. Here’s some advice to get the wheels turning: 1. Understand Platform DemographicsThe first key is to understand what type of audience you’re interacting with. It varies from one social platform to the next. Consider Facebook vs. Instagram vs. Twitter:
A piece of content that does well on Facebook probably won’t do as well on Twitter. Not only are the audiences different, but so are the expectations and the delivery. Keep this in mind and create sticky content with specific platforms in focus. 2. Integrate Shareable ElementsContent that’s predominantly textual in nature won’t perform as well as content that has visual elements. If you’re going to share a traditional blog post on social media, be sure to incorporate visual elements into the post. Not only does this make the page itself more digestible, but it also gives you a magnetic element to push out when you post the content on Facebook, Twitter, or whatever platform you’re using to share it. This page from Henry C. Dailey Law Firm is a good example. Notice how the content uses different graphics to summarize the contents of the article. These graphics can then be used when sharing on social media. As a result, people will be more likely to click. 3. Take a Fresh AnglePeople get tired of reading the same old content on the same recycled ideas. Sticky content should be fresh and unique. The popular article from Seth Adam Smith, titled Marriage Isn’t For You, is a fantastic example. It’s merely an article on how to have a better marriage, but the polarizing headline garnered the post nearly 2 million shares. 4. Get InteractivePeople don’t want to sit in front of a screen and read thousands of words until their eyes glaze over. They’d much rather engage with the content. “Getting readers to participate somehow on your blog is a great way to get them to return! Encourage comments, hold a competition, have readers vote on something, host a giveaway, encourage readers to subscribe, etc.,” marketer Kim Garst suggests. “These types of interactions encourage readers to come back to comment again or view the results.” Elevate Your Social Media PresenceSocial media is too valuable of a marketing channel to keep getting it all wrong. It’s not about posting as much content as you can muster. Instead, it’s about maximizing the quality of the content that you do post. Three or four quality posts each week will yield far more value than 15 or 20 weekly posts that don’t connect with your followers. The post How to Create Sticky Content to Share on Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog April 23, 2019 at 06:35AM
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How to Use Google Data Studio to Analyze Your Facebook Ads http://bit.ly/2ZpULgV Want to better understand your Facebook ad performance? Have you considered using Google Data Studio? In this article, you’ll discover how to create seven valuable Google Data Studio charts that can help you better analyze your Facebook advertising campaigns. How to Create Charts in Google Data StudioData Studio is a free tool created by Google that can power endless variations of charts to showcase information from a variety of sources. Social media marketers can create visualizations of data from Facebook Ads Manager and Google Analytics. From basic reporting tables to more advanced charts, marketers can better track and analyze Facebook advertising campaign performance by using Data Studio. Data sources power charts created in Data Studio. A data source will connect the information from Facebook Ads Manager, Google Analytics, and other marketing platforms to Data Studio so that you can create charts within a reporting dashboard. To create a data source, you’ll pull in information from Facebook Ads Manager and Google Analytics using a connector for these platforms. Google Analytics is a native connector in Data Studio, so you don’t need any other integration to bring this data into your report. For Facebook Ads Manager, you can use a partner connector. Supermetrics is a popular option for integrations with Facebook Ads Manager, Facebook Insights, Instagram Insights, and others. #1: Create a Data Source for Google AnalyticsThis will be the simplest data source you create. Go to the Google Data Studio data sources page. Then click the blue circle with a “+” sign to create a new data source. Next, you’ll see your choices for connectors. You can scroll to or search for Google Analytics and select it. Search for the name of your Google Analytics account and select the property and view of the data you want to analyze within your dashboard. Click Connect. Next, the data source should automatically update to the name of the view you selected. If you want to rename it, click into the name of the data source in the top left. #2: Create a Data Source for Facebook AdsTo create a Facebook Ads data source, follow a similar process to creating your Google Analytics data source. You’ll need to use a partner connector to pull data from Ads Manager into Data Studio. Supermetrics offers a 14-day free trial to test the service’s full capabilities. It also offers a free version that allows you to pull the last 10 days of data, and low-cost paid plans starting at $19 per month. To create a Facebook Ads Manager data source using Supermetrics, return to the data sources main page and click the blue Add button again. Search for or find the Facebook Ads connector from Supermetrics and select it. When creating a Facebook Ads Manager data source for the first time, you’ll need to log into your Facebook account. Supermetrics prompts you to do this with “To add more/manage Facebook Ads user accounts, visit” and provides the link to add your Facebook account. Next, you’ll select your ad account from the drop-down menu. Make sure to match the conversion window settings to the attribution window settings in your ad account, as well as the reporting time zone. To report on conversions directly through Facebook Ads Manager, you’ll need to set up standard event tracking with the Facebook pixel. Finally, rename the data source to match the name of your ad account or business. #3: Build a Chart Using Data SettingsStart with a blank report in Data Studio. Go to the Data Studio home page and click the blank template in the top left. Data Studio will create a new report, which you can rename in the top left. Next, you want to add your data sources for Facebook Ads to your report. Go to the right-hand column and select your Facebook Ads data source. You’ll add the Google Analytics data source later. To create a chart, click Add a Chart in the navigation bar. Data Studio will provide the options for the type of chart to add to your report. The simplest chart is a scorecard, so it’s a great place to start for your first try. Select Scorecard from the options, and Data Studio will create it automatically. #4: Customize the Chart With Style SettingsEach chart includes settings for both Data and Style, which can be seen in the right-hand column when a data source is selected in the report. To look at the settings you’ll explore with each chart, update the scorecard to a table. Go to the Chart settings right above the Data and Style settings and select the Table Chart option from the drop-down list. Data SettingsIn the Data settings, you’ll want to be familiar with:
Style SettingsYou can customize the size, color, and appearance of chart elements in your Style settings. For instance, you may want to customize your charts to match your company branding, or add drop shadows or backgrounds to charts. 7 Charts for Analyzing Facebook Ad PerformanceNow that you have a foundational understanding of creating and customizing charts in Data Studio, let’s explore seven different charts you can create to analyze your Facebook ad performance. #1: Assess Overall Facebook Account PerformanceCreate a table that shows all of your ad account data to get a holistic view of your Facebook ad performance. Keep metrics high-level if you’re including campaigns with multiple objectives. This table is similar to the information you would see in Facebook Ads Manager. Use this chart to analyze overall performance for a specified date range. Chart Data Settings
For any metrics that are currency, update the settings of the metrics to US Dollars. Hover over the metric you want to update and click the pencil edit button. Then click into Type, select Currency, and find the currency that matches your data. Chart Style SettingsSelect Wrap Text under Table Header to make sure none of your table headers are cut off. If any of your metrics show as null, update the selection under Missing Data to Show “0”. If you’d like to analyze these results in comparison to a previous time period, update the comparison date range in the Data settings. Under the Style settings, you can choose which metrics you want to see the comparison data for. In the example below, impressions, clicks, and post engagement don’t include comparison data. Use a chart with comparison data to analyze overall performance for a specified date range compared to another specified date range. Join thousands of fellow marketers. Receive the training and support you need to accomplish your marketing objectives! #2: Measure Campaign-Based Performance With a HeatmapThis table is very similar to the overall performance data; however, it differs because it focuses solely on one objective and includes a heatmap to visually categorize data with color. To visualize this, use a filter to show only conversion campaigns and report on purchases, cost per purchase, ROAS, and purchase conversion value for each campaign and/or ad set to see how they stack up against each other. Add this table to your report to compare campaigns against each other when they use the same objective. Also, use this table to compare ad set performance within a specific campaign. The chart above shows four ad sets within a campaign optimized for purchases. The highest metric in each column is the darkest color and the lowest number in each color is the lightest. You can see that the lookalike audience to this Facebook page’s fans drove the lowest purchases at the highest cost and had the lowest ROAS. When optimizing, you would consider turning off this ad set. Chart Data Settings
You might have noticed that the table headers in the chart above look different from the metrics included in the data settings listed. Edit the name of a metric to better match what that metric represents. To illustrate, update “Website purchase conversion value” to “Revenue” to clean up the appearance of your table. To edit a metric name, hover over the metric in the Data settings and click the pencil icon that appears. Then update the metric name to a shortened or more direct name. You’ll still see the original name below the updated one for reference. To create the filter for this chart, click Add a Filter under Filter > Table filter. Create the conditions to include campaigns with the objective equal to conversions. This filter will narrow the data in your chart to only the campaigns with a conversion objective. Chart Style Settings
#3: Track Campaign Results by Demographic DataCreate a stacked bar chart to show results by age and gender information. Use this chart to understand the ages and gender driving the most results from your campaigns. This chart comes in handy when reporting on high-value actions like leads and purchases to determine where to allocate your Facebook ads budget. Chart Data Settings
Chart Style Settings
#4: Analyze Platform or Placement Performance With Cost-per-Result BreakdownAnalyze platform and placement results with a horizontal bar chart showing results and cost per result for each. If you’re currently using automatic placements for your campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger, and Stories, these types of charts show where you’re driving results and at what cost. Use Publisher Platform as the dimension when you want to see the performance between Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, and Messenger. Use Placement as the dimension when you want to dive deeper into which placements within each platform are driving results and at what cost. Chart Data Settings
Chart Style Settings
Create filters to narrow your data to show only campaigns with the same objective to get a more accurate picture of results for those campaigns. #5: Reveal Results and Cost Per Result Trends Over TimeDo you have questions like, “How do I know if I’m making long-term progress with my optimizations?” If you do, you’ll love this chart. Create a bar chart to show results per month (or day, week, etc.) over an extended period. Use this type of chart to analyze performance over a quarter, month, or year depending on what type of data you want to see. With this chart, you’ll want to see how your results trend in comparison to your cost per result. In the chart above, leads increased over time and cost per lead showed significant improvement from December to January compared to September through November. When analyzing this data, keep in mind the effect that overall ad spend will have on your total number of results. Chart Data Settings
Chart Style Settings
#6: Display Website Engagement From Facebook Campaign TrafficBuild a chart from Google Analytics data to display your campaign traffic and engagement metrics with your site including average session duration and average time on page. Evaluate the quality of traffic coming from your campaigns. To add the Google Analytics data source to your report, select Table With Bars from the Add a Chart menu. Click on the Facebook Ads data source and search for the Google Analytics Data data source for your website. Chart Data Settings
Instead of creating a segment in Google Analytics, you can also create a filter within Data Studio to include only Facebook campaign traffic. Chart Style Settings
#7: Compile Cumulative Data Year Over YearShow big-picture data with year-over-year comparison charts. Determine how you’re pacing throughout the year in comparison to data from last year’s Facebook advertising efforts with a chart that shows cumulative data for the current year compared to the previous year. This chart works well with Facebook Ads data and Google Analytics data. Chart Data Settings
Chart Style Settings
ConclusionThis article provides several ways to integrate your Facebook Ads Manager and Google Analytics data into Google Data Studio for better reporting and analysis. Use these recommendations, along with other customizations, to make the most of Data Studio and improve your Facebook advertising. What do you think? Which charts have you created to gain more insight into your Facebook ad campaign performance? Which of these charts will you integrate into your Data Studio dashboards? Share your ideas in the comments below. More articles on Google Data Studio:Join thousands of fellow marketers. Receive the training and support you need to accomplish your marketing objectives! Social Media via Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner http://bit.ly/1LtH18p April 23, 2019 at 05:08AM
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Trying to Jump-Start Your Creativity? Here’s How to Do It http://bit.ly/2INDQ28 You’re a fountain of originality. You don’t need recipes in the kitchen, icebreakers in social situations, or workout plans at the gym. So why, when you sit down to draft a tweet, do you struggle to come up with something fresh? When you’re feeling creatively stale, it can be tempting to wait around for inspiration to strike. Paul McCartney famously woke up from a dream with the melody for “Yesterday” in his head. But McCartney’s “miracle” was, in fact, the product of his hard work. In one of the best new books on creativity, author Allen Gannett points out that McCartney credited the artists he listened to with his father, like Fred Astaire and George Gershwin, in at least one interview about the song. “The things we view as unexplainable genius often have a genesis of some sort,” Gannett writes in “The Creative Curve.” He notes that McCartney also enjoyed a community of supportive musicians and spent the next year and a half developing the song. If McCartney hadn’t understood the work of creativity, his melody might never have made it out of his head. Instead of pressuring yourself to be creative on the spot, follow Gannett’s four-part creative process of consumption, imitation, community, and iteration. Checking out others’ work isn’t a distraction from your own; it’s a critical first step in the creative process. 3. Create something “bad” on purpose. If studying or avoiding the work of creativity isn’t cutting it, try deliberately creating something you dislike. Your expectations for yourself and your work may be choking off the creative impulse you’re trying to let out. By lowering the gates of acceptability as much as possible, you increase the odds that something inspiring will tumble out.
Much as we might like it to, creativity cannot be forced. Freelance writer and editor Jane Porter likens it to squeezing an empty tube of toothpaste: No matter how hard you try, you’re unlikely to get more than a drop. Instead, Porter seeks out beauty in poems, museum pieces, and music, in part because it reminds her how taking creative risks can pay off. “There’s something liberating about knowing there are artists out there making portraits out of hamburger grease,” she jokes. For filmmaker and marine photographer Nikita Mor, beauty breaks down creative blocks for another reason. Mor looks for beauty in small things because it makes her grateful for her own capacity to consume and create beautiful things. “We understand that our perception of things is what changes them,” she notes. Appreciating beauty helps her see creative problems as pathways to something new. The next year, Guillebeau committed to creating 100 paintings for clients in 100 days. She held herself accountable by emailing a photo of her painting each day. “It was a little intimidating at first, but the project ended up being so successful that I continued daily painting logs long after the initial 100-day commitment,” Guillebeau says. If you’re intimidated by such a commitment, like Guillebeau herself was, share your plans with friends or family instead to lower the stakes. The post Trying to Jump-Start Your Creativity? Here’s How to Do It appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog April 22, 2019 at 09:29PM Why YouTube Deserves More of Your Social Media Spend http://bit.ly/2GzvZn6 When YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim uploaded the platform’s first video in April 2005, neither he nor anyone else could’ve guessed that it would soon be a platform worth more than $100 billion. Titled “Me at the zoo,” Karim’s video was a humble start to what’s now the world’s second most popular social media platform, trailing only Facebook’s monthly active user count. Are they making the right investments?
YouTube is far more than a hub for vlogs and music videos. In barely a decade, it’s become the television of the 21st century. No other social platform — including Instagram, despite marketers’ investment, and Facebook, regardless of its user advantage — dominates its type of media to such a degree. If that’s not reason enough to make YouTube the center of your social strategy, what is? The post Why YouTube Deserves More of Your Social Media Spend appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog April 22, 2019 at 09:29PM 5 Watch Companies That Celebrities Love and Endorse http://bit.ly/2GzDxpY Trends often start with celebrities. The reason is that they are at the top of the social food chain and their taste affects the preferences of everyone else. Watches are one of the best examples of this effect, as almost every celebrity chooses to wear them. You can probably predict a few brands that will be listed below, Audemars Piguet being one of them, but some names might surprise you. I go through 5 fantastic watch companies in the following passages. Audemars Piguet Audemars Piguet has essentially taken one groundbreaking design and used it to become a top company in the world. That model is the Royal Oak, which shocked the market when it was first introduced in 1972. The thing that made it special was that it combined two worlds that previously were separate. On the one hand, it was a tough sport watch made from steel. On the other, it was incredibly well made and sold at a luxury price point. Not surprisingly, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak is a watch that many celebrities love. It is robust, masculine, great to look at, and has fantastic craftsmanship to back it up. A few fans of the brand that you might recognize are James Corden, Lebron James, Ellen DeGeneres, and Kevin Hart. That list could go on and on, though, as Audemars Piguet is one of the most popular brands among celebrities. Rolex Our second brand is likely the most recognizable in the world. It is Rolex, and it seems like every celebrity has one. This company is over 100 years old, has an undeniable reputation among collectors, and crafts amazing watches. One of the best indications of this trend is that there are multi-year waitlists for many of their top models. Demand for Rolex just keeps rising, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Hundreds of A-list celebrities wear Rolex, and thousands more that have a slightly lower profile do too. A few of them are Justin Timberlake, Kylie Jenner, and John Mayer. The interesting thing about this brand, though, is that many celebrities only wear Rolex. They have all the money in the world but choose to stick to just one company. That kind of devotion speaks volumes. Patek Philippe While Rolex and Audemars Piguet capture people’s attention right away, Patek Philippe is a bit more of a collector’s watch. Of course, it isn’t any worse than those two brands just because it has a slightly lower profile. The truth is that Patek Philippe might be the top watch manufacturer in the world, according to serious collectors. Anyone who knows watches wants one of these timepieces in their collection, and a few of their models have become true classics. Patek Philippe makes watches fit for royalty, as evidenced by Queen Elizabeth sporting one on occasion. Other big-name fans include Ed Sheeran, Brad Pitt, and even the Dalai Lama. That is quite an eclectic group of diverse individuals, which is a testament to Patek’s mastery. Whether you’re a literal queen, actor, musician, or spiritual figure, you’re going to love this brand. Cartier The interesting thing about Cartier is that they are not a pure watch brand. In fact, they are likely better known for their work in manufacturing jewelry. Still, this brand has received acclaim from the public, collectors, and celebrities alike. Its most defining characteristic is how luxurious every one of their products is. They are thin, dressy, made from excellent materials, and undeniably charming. Celebrities love wearing Cartier, and that is especially true of high profile women. Angelina Jolie, Naomi Watts, and Kate Middleton are just a few of the massive fanbase that Cartier has. If you expand your view to jewelry too, you find that royal families around the world choose this brand over all else. IWC IWC is a watch brand that truly does it all. On the one end of the spectrum, they manufacture the Big Pilot, which is a pure tool watch. It has an aviation theme, is incredibly tough, and doesn’t try to be anything too luxurious. On the other, you have more delicate, luxurious timepieces. The fact that you can find anything you want in the IWC catalog is one of the things that makes their brand so enticing. It also has some fantastic celebrity endorsements to back it up. They include Tom Cruise, Bradley Cooper, and Chris Evans. Whether we know it or not, most of us adhere to trends set by celebrities. They are the tastemakers of society, and for many, their opinions on fashion absolutely matter. Those of you who are inspired by the many names on this list shouldn’t hesitate to share their timepiece preferences. Whether that be Audemars Piguet or any of the other companies we’ve discussed, you’ll end up with a fantastic watch. The post 5 Watch Companies That Celebrities Love and Endorse appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog April 22, 2019 at 04:53PM
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Push Strategies for Getting More Visitors http://bit.ly/2GAoufR A push strategy usually involves interrupting the content that is being consumed. You aren’t the tweet they want to read, but instead, you’re the tweet ad that they read on their stream. You aren’t the YouTube video they want to watch, but you are the pre-roll ad that they watch to get to the content they were after in the first place. Pull is analogous to Hansel and Gretel. The sweets lure the children into the house on their own accord. Push is analogous to the Three Little Pigs. The wolf just huffs and puffs and breaks into their homes. You can pull them into your world, or you can push yourself into their world. That’s the main difference between pull and push tactics for getting visitors. Understanding Lifetime Value of a CustomersThe lifetime value of a customer (LTV) is basically the amount of money that you are going to make from a customer throughout their life. If you built an e-commerce app and you profit an average of $100 per customer, per year, and they typically buy for 5 consecutive years before they get bored with your inventory and stop shopping with you, then your LTV is $500. This is important because another primary difference between pull and push tactics is that push tactics usually cost money. Going back to our example above, if a customer is worth $500 on average then it would be foolish to spend $501 to move someone through your funnel. You would ultimately lose $1 each time you retained a user. Keep this simple idea in mind with all of the tactics covered in this section. 1. Purchase AdsIt may not seem like growth hacking at first glance, but ads are definitely a place to hack the distribution of your product. Sure, if you just purchase ads without a strategy, void of creativity, doing nothing to gain an edge, and ignore the process of multivariate testing, then you will be like everyone else (and it probably wouldn’t be considered growth hacking). But that’s not what we’re going to do. Here are some things you must keep in mind as you approach this push tactic: Understand Your Ad Platform OptionsThere are many different ways to purchase ads. Most people assume that there is just Facebook, Google, and Twitter, but there are so many more. You can also purchase ads on LinkedIn, which would make a lot of sense if you’re selling to corporate customers. There are niche ad networks such as Carbon (carbonads.net) or The Deck (decknetwork.net), both of which will allow you to target specific verticals. There is BuySellAds (buysellads.com) which allows you to purchase website banner ads, tweets, newsletter sponsorships, RSS includes, and even spots on mobile apps. There is a relatively new ad network that just focuses solely on email sponsorships called LaunchBit (launchbit.com). There is even a solution called Trada (trada.com) that will crowdsource the purchasing of your paid advertising and only take a cut if they exceed your goals. If you want to focus exclusively on mobile users then you can advertise using Tapjoy (tapjoy.com). Here is a screenshot of Carbon, a niche ad platform. Here is a screenshot of BuySellAds, one of the generic ad platforms. This doesn’t even include the platforms that focus on retargeting. Retargeting gives you the ability to track users to your site and show your ads only to those people as they browse around the internet. Now, even your ads can be pre-qualified. If this sounds magical it’s because it is magical. In this space alone you have a number of platforms like AdRoll, Perfect Audience, and Retargeter. Here is a screenshot of AdRoll, which was named the #1 advertising company by Inc. Magazine. There has been an explosion of ad networks over the last few years. Some would argue we have too many ways to purchase ads. This can be a good thing if you are willing to investigate the options to find the ones that meet your needs. Learn the Technical Details of Your Chosen PlatformOnce you’ve found an ad platform that meets your specific needs then it will be imperative that you learn the technical details of their offering. The difference between making money or losing money could easily be the difference between knowing the technicalities or not. The most complicated and advanced platform is probably Google AdWords, and it could easily take months to truly master their product, but most of the other options can be learned in a weekend with a high degree of proficiency. Buying Ads is a Business Model CompetitionIt’s always hard to know how much you should spend for a single click, or for a set of impressions, but the answer is actually a factor of your business model. If you are targeting the same audience as another company, but your business model is more efficient and your LTV is higher, then you can afford to pay more for the traffic without going upside down. The best thing you can do to win customers using ads is to have a great business model. It’s almost an unfair advantage because no amount of tips or tricks can overcome this one stronghold. If you can pay twice as much to acquire a customer then you have a very defensible strategy. Consider the Various Personas of Your CustomerYour customers can probably be reached using various platforms. For instance, they are more than likely on Facebook and LinkedIn. You must then decide which persona they are utilizing when they want a product like yours. When someone is on Facebook they are thinking about friends and family. They are looking at photos of other people’s experiences. When people are on LinkedIn they are thinking about climbing the corporate ladder and how networking with others can help them reach their goals. If your product is for project management in agile environments then I wouldn’t choose Facebook, even though technically you could reach your demographic there. Yes, they would see your ad, but their mindset would be incorrect because you are introducing yourself to them in the wrong place. Always think about the persona your customers exhibit while using your particular product before choosing an ad platform. Circumvent the Ad Networks When PossibleThis tactic may not scale easily, but it is still well worth mentioning. You could go to BuySellAds (or other places) and buy banner ads on a particular blog that your audience reads. However, if you cut out the middleman (BuySellAds) and go directly to the owner of the blog then you can get cheaper rates for two reasons. First, BuySellAds is making a cut of every transaction, so if you go direct that is money that you can recoup without the blog owner losing anything. Second, you are able to negotiate. Very rarely is the lowest price and the advertised price the same thing. You can ask for a lower rate and often close a deal relatively simply. If You Are Paying Per click Then Qualify Every ClickThere are two ways to buy ads. First you can purchase them on a CPM basis, which means you pay for set number of impressions and it doesn’t matter how many clicks they get. Second, you can pay per click and this means that it doesn’t matter how many times your ad appears, you only pay when your ad is clicked. If you are paying per click then you don’t want people to click your ad unless they are seriously interested, because it costs you money every time they do. Luckily, there are things you can do to qualify clicks using the ad itself. Consider putting the price of your product in the copy so that people don’t click unless they are interested in spending money. Also, don’t use emotion to pull them in unless that same emotion will cause them to buy from you. Don’t put a picture of cute cat on your ad, just to get cat lovers to click on it, if your product doesn’t have something to do with cats. Test Variations of Your AdOne of the most fundamental lessons of ads is that you have no idea what your audience will respond to. You have to test multiple versions of the copy, multiple versions of the imagery, and then multiple combinations of the copy and imagery together. The numbers will tell you the truth about which ads you should be running, but your intuition or gut is probably not accurate. 2. Promo SwapOne of the easiest, and free, ways to drive traffic to your site is through cross promotions with other companies. If you find a company who is already serving your target demographic, and you wouldn’t be considered a threat to them, then there are plenty of ways that you could coordinate to promote each other. Here are some ideas to help you brainstorm possibilities:
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Get the Word Out With Public Relations http://bit.ly/2IzHptw You’ve launched an amazing product or service. Now what? Now, you need to get the word out. But you’re on a budget and can’t afford the $10K a month to hire a fancy agency and put out press releases. That’s fine. You’re better off executing you’re on strategy or hiring a really awesome consultant. When done well, good PR can be much more effective and less expensive than advertising. For cost-conscious businesses, ROI is crucial. Every penny spent on marketing should generate revenue. PR is no different. Here are the steps you should take to form a successful strategy for your business: 1. Let go of the agency allureThe sad truth about PR is that existing process are broken. They’re outdated, costly, and inefficient.
To succeed with PR, you need to focus less on the appeal of an agency and focus more heavily to focus on results. Prioritize what you want to achieve, not outdated ‘best practices.’ If you want to get in front of journalists, for instance, you are likely better off forming 1:1 relationships than bombarding them with irrelevant pitches. 2. Know When to Use a Press ReleaseA press release is worthwhile if your announcement is over-the-top catchy and newsworthy. But here’s the thing — most press releases read like giant sales pitches. If you think that journalists and publishers are going to be attracted to lukewarm content, guess again. They’re not. They don’t care. Their email inboxes fill up with 100s of spam messages again. We hate to say it but marketers — get your head out of the clouds. The world does not revolve around your business, and journalists could care less about what you have to say. If your goal is to get targeted placements for your brand, you will be better off cultivating a unique and thoughtful pitch in your area of specialty. A press release won’t cut it. Position your organization as a valuable, reliable, and trustworthy source of information instead. 3. Focus on Building Relationships and Making ConnectionsThe problem with PR is ‘spray and prey’ or ‘broadcast’ mentality. If you shout at journalists with a megaphone, they’re not going to listen. Above all, journalists care about compelling stories. They want to hear about your founders’ emotional journeys. They want to know what problem your company is solving and what motivates your team to wake up and come to work in the mornings. Treat journalists like trusted business partners, not eyeballs. Develop a conversation. Let them ask questions. Strategic Planning Wins the RaceEvery so often, you’ll come across startups that generate insane amounts of traction on almost zero budget. You might think that it’s the outcome of luck — most likely, that isn’t the case. The more likely scenario is careful, strategic planning. WIth online media, Hollywood success stories are few and far between. Behind the scenes, marketers are hard at work — building key relationships with key stakeholders. Karen X Cheng founded Dance in a Year, a platform that helps users learn anything in a year. Karen learned to dance in a year and videotaped her entire journey. The outcome was an amazing video that went viral on YouTube. In just a few short months, her video has amassed millions of views. She makes the experience of learning to dance look seamlessly easy. She makes the process of making a viral video look pretty darn easy too. That’s how you know that she put some real muscle behind the process.
Karen also leveraged her video to connect with potential sponsors and stakeholders in her project. These included companies like Lululemon and American Apparel – two organizations that she was happy to support. Some of these companies supported Karen and shared her video on their social networks too. She also released her video on Tuesday, guessing that on Monday, people are most likely to be catching up on emails from the weekend. Use Public Relations ToolsThe problem with PR is that the supply/demand ratio is completely imbalanced. PR seekers are constantly spamming writers, journalists, and bloggers for attention. A service called Help a Reporter Out (HARO) can help to alleviate some of this crunch. Using this service, journalists can find sources to interview for upcoming stories. People seeking PR can monitor journalist queries and join the conversation where they’re qualified to contribute. You can sign up for a simple e-mail digest that looks like this: Here is what it’s like using HARO as a journalist: For some queries, they’ll receive 50+ responses and most of the pitches I get are totally irrelevant. They make the journalist jump through hoops to get the information they need. The thing to know about journalists is that they’re incredibly strapped for time and working under short deadlines. From a journalist’s perspective, here are some tips for making your HARO query stand out:
Use Tools To Save TimeSave yourself the time and hassle of combing through spreadsheets and sending hundreds of emails. Use tools that have been developed to solve your exact pain point — scale with limited resources. One example resource is BuzzStream — a CRM (customer relationship management) platform that helps PR professionals build relationships, monitor conversations, and maintain historical records of conversations with PR and media platforms. Features include:
BuzzStream lets you automate mundane tasks like saving information about key contacts and partners. Teams can also collaborate on initiatives and delegate outreach tasks. Collaborate With Other Business to Boost Your PRContent marketing means that brands are becoming publishers and building their own audience bases. Companies, like you, are looking to connect with key audiences through PR and distribution. Team up with fellow-business blogs who are looking to reach the same audiences as your organization. There are two ways to get going — guest post on industry blogs, or invite others to create content for your blog. Grasshopper, a virtual phone system for entrepreneurs, uses its blog as a platform for giving props to their best customers. The company has a “submit your story” program and will write about their customers who have something awesome to share. For Grasshopper, PR is an invaluable way to say “thanks” to their trusted business partners. Give Samples of Your Product or ServiceOne way to get press coverage is to give away trials or samples of your product or service. Reach out to prominent journalists and bloggers, and ask if they would be open to doing a product review. Give them a free trial or sample to try. Always Say Thank YouWhen a journalist, blogger, or fellow business writes about you or your company — reach out and say thank you. Offer yourself as a resource for future stories. Position your organization as a company that wants to return the favor and help. PR is, first and foremost, about building relationships. To the best extent that you can, maintain a personal touch. Take journalists out to dinner as a ‘thank you’ (not a bribe) for writing about you. Show that you are grateful, and you’ll stand apart from the crowd of people who aren’t. Add value to your industry — don’t extract it. Pay it forward whenever you can. Connection karma, and you never know when something small will materialize into something much, much bigger. Key Takeaways
Social Media via Quick Sprout http://bit.ly/UU7LJr April 22, 2019 at 03:03PM Talk media and TED2019 key takeaways with TechCrunch’s Anthony Ha https://tcrn.ch/2GAyMMT Anthony just returned from Vancouver, where he was covering the TED2019 conference — a much-parodied gathering where VCs, executives and other bigwigs gather to exchange ideas. This year, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey got the biggest headlines, but the questions raised in his onstage interview kept popping up throughout the week: How has social media warped our democracy? How can the big online platforms fight back against abuse and misinformation? And what is the Internet good for, anyway? Wednesday at 11:00 am PT, Anthony will recap the five-day event’s most interesting talks and provocative ideas with Extra Crunch members on a conference call. Tune in to dig into what happened onstage and off and ask Anthony any and all things media. To listen to this and all future conference calls, become a member of Extra Crunch. Learn more and try it for free. Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com April 22, 2019 at 02:10PM
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How to Tell Your Brand’s Story http://bit.ly/2XEYZzP Human-to-human connections are the heart and soul of business. At the end of the day, you’re dealing with people — your company is solving problems, alleviating pain points, and providing delightful customer experiences. Revenue is something that happens as a byproduct of a sound business model and a positive customer experience. Storytelling is a powerful technique for building relationships. It’s an age-old concept that brings people together and keeps them engaged. It doesn’t matter where in the world you’re based or how much funding your startup has. Good stories give big voices to small ventures. That’s why it’s mission-critical that companies take the time up front to fully develop their approaches to storytelling. Storytelling and marketing go hand-in-hand. Just think about it. Whether you’re producing infographics, writing copy for a Facebook ad, or writing a free online guide (like this one), you need to capture your audience’s attention. On a daily basis, consumers (yourself included) face advertising overload. Marketers are constantly competing for their prospects’ and customers’ attention. More likely than not, your brand will be buried under spammy advertising messages. How can you make your brand stand out? Storytelling. Chapter 3 is an all-inclusive guide that explains why your brand should prioritize storytelling and how your organization should get started. This is not fluffy stuff, either. Storytelling is a powerful and actionable marketing technique. Convinced? Let’s get to it. What is Brand Storytelling?Brand storytelling is:
Brand storytelling is NOT:
Contrary to popular belief, brand storytelling is not about your company. It’s about your customers and the value that they get when engaging with your product or service. The most powerful brand stories are the ones that prioritize customers as the stars. Think of your company as a supporting character. Oftentimes, marketers get hung up on this concept. They’re stressed about communicating the perfect message and confused about where this initiative should be housed within your business. Should you hire a consultant? Should you loop in your company’s EVP of corporate communications? And what if you’re an engineer? Does that mean you’re doomed? Don’t overthink this process. Storytelling is something that we do naturally. More often than not, we don’t even realize that we’re doing it. The problem is, online content is difficult to write. Stories become lost in translation. The human interest behind our brands will fall through the cracks. And you feel stuck — at a loss for words to describe what you do and why you matter to your customers. So why not let your customers tell your story for you? That’s what Clarity did. The company provides a marketplace for advice seekers and experts to connect and share business advice. The company recently launched a series of stories from actual customers. If you’re wondering how Clarity can help grow your business, take a lesson from the leaders who actually use it. It’s not just startups that make use of this powerful approach. Enterprise CRM Salesforce hosts customer success videos on its Pinterest page. Brand storytelling is more than what you write on your webpage to your customers. It’s more than your blog posts and about pages. It’s how you communicate your messaging. It’s your values. Your brand’s stories are values are infused in every piece of copy, customer service answer, Okay, so you’re convinced. But what what the heck does it all mean? Storytelling still feels tough. Web copy and advertising messaging are still challenging to write. Here’s what you need to do. Forget About MarketingThis may sound counterintuitive, but it’s the key to successful marketing. Stop thinking like a marketer. Stop trying to sell your product, and instead, focus on developing human interest. Answer the question of why people should care about what your company has to say. That means being persuasive and appealing to emotion. Whatever you do, don’t be boring. Do not let the words on your page hide the personalities behind your organization. Share more than what you sell. Share your strengths, weaknesses, and how you arrived at where you are today. One way to do this is by participating in the storytelling ecosystem. Just as you’re looking for customer testimonials and case studies, make sure to pay it forward by offering to do case studies for other companies. Be ConversationalAuthenticity is crucial to copywriting. If you’re overly formal or on guard, you’ll lose trust with your audience. And that’s because consumers can sense disingenuous messaging from miles away. From awkward stock photos with fake customers to false promises, empty messaging can only hurt your brand. Be real instead. Be human. Pretend that you’re talking to a new friend over drinks or coffee — not giving an academic presentation in 1862. If you talk down your customers and prospects (or show any indication of lack of respect), they’re going to stop listening immediately. Don’t dwell over whether or not you’re using perfect grammar. You can always hire a copywriter for that. Stop worrying about the occasional misplaced commas. Focus on developing your messaging instead. Conversational writing also means keeping it short. Write what you want to say. Get it all on paper. Then cut it. And cut it again. Stop trapping yourself into the mentality that you need a minimum word count to convey information effectively. Write what you feel like writing — with the exception that you can’t let your stories get too long and unwieldy. Too much writing on a blog post or webpage will make your readers feel distracted or lost. Say what you need to say in as few words as possible. There’s no need to try to sound smart. If you build a great product, your customers and prospects will perceive your company as incredibly smart. Craft Your Message ArchitectureBrand storytelling is more subtle than what your company is saying. As we mentioned earlier, the ‘how’ matters just as much. Take a lesson from Pinterest’s lead content strategist, Tiffani Jones Brown. She and her five-person team are responsible for the voice, tone, user interface copy, grammar conventions, and pinner education on the site. That’s right. It takes five people to get Pinterest’s public-facing messaging just right. This fact may seem surprising, given that some companies have zero resources devoted to getting their messaging just right. Your company’s message architecture is far from coincidental. It takes careful strategic planning to position your strategic planning. Don’t expect good stories to appear out of thin air. You need to focus on getting your messaging just right. You need to craft your company’s message architecture to underscore all of your brand communications. Yes, this is a real thing. And it looks a little something like this: This table represents the steps that Speak2Leads has taken, conceptually, to connect with the company’s core audience — sales team leaders and small business owners who are looking to increase the speed of connecting to new leads. The concept is simple — when you wait too long to connect with an interested prospect, your company risks losing his or her business. But here’s the problem. When sales teams are too aggressive, they risk driving customers away. That’s why Speak2Leads has positioned its company and product as one that boosts human-to-human connections. Selling is not about annoying your customers and prospects. It’s about being the first to respond and building a superior connection. Before articulating your company’s brand persona, you need a thorough outline of your message architecture. So what does that mean? A message architecture, according to Bloomstein, is a way to transform vague goals into substantive concepts with context and priority. Your company’s message architecture will look a little something like this: Speak2Leads incorporates these values in all of the company’s written material from help center documentation to email marketing initiatives and blog posts. The goal is to keep communication standard across its entire team and to maintain that consistency as the organization begins to scale. That’s why the company defined its message architecture as early on as possible. The company’s story as a technology, partnerships, and customer-service minded organization comes through in absolutely everything on the website. Even though the company’s blog and help center, for instance, are managed by two different people — a customer service lead and marketing consultant, the same brand story will always shine through. Speak2Leads is a company that prioritizes human interest and is committed to solving a real problem in sales. The company’s blog: The company’s customer-facing knowledge center: So how do you get started in choosing the keywords to place in your message architecture? Brand strategists leverage a technique called a card sorting exercise.
Is possible, try to get your customers involved in this process. One way is to interview them for customer case studies. What words and expressions are they using to describe your brand? The more interviews and service reviews you conduct, the more patterns you’ll start to see. Let your customers determine your brand messaging. Let them define the voice behind your company. Unify Your On-site and Off-site PresenceYour company’s story, message architecture, and brand identity should follow your team members everywhere from on-site blog posts to PR opportunities in major media channels. You need to keep your company’s identity as unified and consistent as possible. As we mentioned earlier, the image you share with the world should be a genuine, authentic, and transparent view into your organization. Choose Your Words WiselyWhat you say is just as important as how you say it. Make sure you’re using the tone, voice, and communication style that your audiences value most. How do you know what this should be and what words you should choose? Jump back to chapter 1, where we walk through the art meets science of knowing your audience. If you’re speaking to an audience of millennials, for instance, they tend to embrace a casual, conversational tone and style — more so than an audience of baby boomers would. Again, unless you were a college English major (like Ritika was), the concepts of voice, tone, and style are really vague. How the heck do you put it all on paper? What you need is a styleguide to provide instructions for all of your on-site and off-site brand communications. Get started by completing the following template:
Your brand styleguide and message architecture can be custom-tailored to any form of multimedia, beyond writing. Whether you’re producing infographics, brand videos, e-books, or blog posts, your plans will ensure that your messaging is consistent across mediums. Writing is only one form of online communication. Make sure that you invest the time in energy in creating structure behind everything that you produce online. Key Takeways
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