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Periscope lets you buy and send Super Hearts that broadcasters can cash in http://ift.tt/2sqtBrI Periscope has a new revenue stream and a new way to attract the best live video content to its Twitter-owned app. Today Periscope launches Super Hearts — in-app purchase virtual goods that users buy for real money, send to creators as animated hearts that get them attention in the comment reel, and that broadcasters can then redeem with Twitter for a monthly cash pay-out. After the 30% tax on in-app purchases from iOS or Android and transaction processing fees, Twitter will pay 70% of the cash value of the Super Hearts to the broadcasters and keep 30% for itself. The feature is unfortunately a bit confusing. You’ll see the Super Heart icon while watching broadcasts. Tapping it opens the Super Heart store, but first you’ll have to buy a bunch of virtual ‘coins’ starting at $0.99 with packages ranging up to $100. Then you can buy different kinds of Super Hearts with these coins, ranging from cheaper lightly-embellished animated hearts to expensive ones that give off explosions and feature your face in the center. You can then send these hearts by tapping across any broadcasts you watch. When users send these hearts, they’ll show up more prominently on the broadcast than free hearts that users can already send. The people who send the most Super Hearts during a broadcast are shown on a leaderboard, which other viewers can watch in envy or broadcasters can check to see who to shower with love on camera. Every Super Heart a broadcaster receives translates into a ‘star’ count. Once broadcasters have $175 worth of stars accrued, they can apply to join Periscope’s Super Broadcaster program. If admitted, they can cash out their star balance for real money via ACH transfer at the end of each month. Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com June 21, 2017 at 11:33AM
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This famous YouTuber is making the leap into esports http://ift.tt/2sB0FvL Shonduras, a high-profile content creator of Snapchat and YouTube fame, is tackling a brand new endeavor: running his very own esports team. He joins other sports and media celebrities who have made the jump into esports team ownership. Read more... More about Youtube, Gaming, Snapchat, Social Media, and EsportsSocial Media via Social Media http://ift.tt/1N1mMj1 June 21, 2017 at 11:19AM
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'Game of Thrones' new Season 7 trailer is cool as hell, because ICYMI, winter is here http://ift.tt/2rRHvoh A new Game of Thrones Season 7 trailer has arrived just in time to celebrate Summer Solstice, because forget what the calendar says, winter is here. (Or it will be in a little under a month, at least.) The White Walkers were conspicuously absent in the first Season 7 trailer, but the new footage more than makes up for it, showing the Night King and his undead army in all their frosty glory. The chilling new trailer release is part of a massive HBO social media campaign to take over the Summer Solstice by "winterizing" the web — Game of Thrones fans can unlock exclusive Season 7 content on Twitter, Reddit and Google search, so there'll be no doubt that despite the warm weather, winter is truly here on July 16, and no one is safe. Read more... More about Social Media, Game Of Thrones, Game Of Thrones Season 7, White Walkers, and Game Of Thrones TrailerSocial Media via Social Media http://ift.tt/1N1mMj1 June 21, 2017 at 11:19AM
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18 Essentials to Creating a Trust-Boosting Facebook Page http://ift.tt/2rVjiIL Trust has always been important from a marketing perspective. But in my opinion, it’s never been more important than it is today. That’s because so many consumers have an underlying cynicism about brands and companies. And why wouldn’t they be skeptical?
Just think of all the scam artists, false advertisements and deceptive advertising techniques people so frequently encounter. Not to sound pessimistic, but modern consumers have a good reason to be suspicious. As a marketer, you have to put your audience at ease. And social media is a great way to do that. Facebook in particular is ideal for creating trust. You can even use it to turn casual fans into die-hard brand advocates. In fact, Facebook has been instrumental in helping me expand my following. As of right now, I have nearly 1 million followers on my Neil Patel page, and it’s growing every day. In this post, I’d like to cover 18 essentials mandatory for boosting the trustworthiness of your Facebook page. These tactics have worked for me and countless other brands, and they can work for you too. 1. Verify your pageJust like on Twitter, Facebook has a feature where you can add a verification badge as long as you’re a public figure, media company or brand. Here’s mine: It’s a simple way to prove it’s actually you and not a fake account. Here are the steps involved in getting your Facebook page verified: Check out this guide from Facebook for more information on the process. 2. Use your core branding elementsIn order to build a solid brand, you need to have identifiable branding elements like a formal logo, recognizable color scheme, style, etc. Facebook gives you an excellent opportunity to reinforce your brand, which helps with trust building. Include a profile picture and a background picture that incorporate your core branding elements. Take TechCrunch for example: They use their signature green and white color scheme along with their logo. 3. Beef up your About pageThe About page of your website is important. In fact, “52% of people” want to see it on your website’s homepage. It only makes sense to create a robust Facebook About page. Here’s a good example from Chris Guillebeau: Notice how he succinctly fills visitors in on his key info? 4. Include contact infoAccording to the same study from KoMarketing I referenced above, including contact information on your website is even more important than having an About page. They found 64% of people want to see your contact information after arriving on your homepage. Of course, you’ll want to include this on your Facebook page as well. Include as much info as you can. Ideally, also include a phone number because this tends to be a significant trust factor. Here’s what I have for my contact info: 5. Link to your websiteAny time you can create a link pointing to your website, you should do it. This is just another opportunity for referral traffic. It can also add to the trust users can feel from your Facebook page. 6. Post personal picturesEven if you’re a massive, big-name brand, you still want to create a genuine connection with your audience. You want to come across as being transparent and authentic. One thing I love about Facebook is that it enables you to combine business with pleasure. I know it’s helped me increase my credibility by allowing me to show a bit of my own personality. If you’ve ever scrolled through my pictures, you’ll see stuff like this: That’s my mom and me. Or this: That’s my nephew and me having an epic intergalactic battle. You want to be professional, but don’t be shy to share some personal information on your Facebook profile to help you gain trust and to be more likable. 7. Include behind-the-scenes contentAnother way to forge a connection with your audience is to let them see what’s bubbling beneath the surface. Give them a glimpse of what your team culture is like by including some behind-the-scenes content. Here’s a great example from HubSpot: 8. Feature influencersI’m sure you know by now just how powerful leveraging key influencers can be. Associating your brand with an influencer in your industry is almost guaranteed to elevate your trustworthiness. The bigger the influencer, the bigger the impact. One of the best in the business at doing this is Tim Ferriss. Scroll through his Facebook photos, and you’ll see him with countless celebrities and influencers. Here he is with the founders of Shopify: And here he is with author and tidying master Marie Kondo. I know this isn’t viable for everyone, especially if you’re a new or small brand. But it can have a profound impact on how much your audience will trust you if you can pull this off. 9. Post media coverageAgain, this won’t be realistic for everyone. And I know this is easier said than done. But including any type of media coverage you’ve received can increase your trustworthiness significantly. Here’s a quick snippet of me on Viceland as an example: 10. Add videosWe all know video marketing is blowing up. Just look at the massive rise of mobile video over the last few years: Why wouldn’t you want to get in on the action? I’ve found that adding video to my Facebook page has helped me increase engagement while establishing myself as a trusted voice in the digital marketing realm. I make it a point to include videos toward the top of my page. By clicking on the “Videos” section of the sidebar or on “See All,” visitors can check out my full archive of videos. If you haven’t experimented with videos yet, I strongly recommend giving them a go. 11. Take advantage of Facebook LiveBut why stop there? Facebook and several other social platforms now allow you to create live streams. You should be interested because “Facebook Live Stream search popularity has risen over 330% since Facebook Live’s rollout.” Engagement is off the charts, and I can’t think of a much better way to quickly boost your trustworthiness. Just think about it. People can watch your videos in real time and get to know you intimately, and you can instantly respond to their questions and comments. Darren Rowse of ProBlogger takes full advantage of this new trend with great success: You can check out his archive of videos for ideas and inspiration. 12. Inform rather than sellThe beautiful thing about inbound marketing, and content marketing in particular, is that it gives brands a way to advertise without overt selling. Rather than blasting your demographic with mind-numbing marketing messages, content marketing allows you to educate, inform and entertain them. This way they’re learning about your brand and getting real value in an unobtrusive way. My Facebook policy is to inform my audience—not to sell to them. This has been a huge contributor to my success, and I recommend you take the same approach. 13. Stick to your central themeI’m sure you’ve heard the expression “Jack of all trades, master of none.” This is what you want to avoid with your Facebook page. In order to establish trust, you need to focus on your core competencies and not try to be everything to everyone. Let’s go back to Darren Rowse. His name is synonymous with one thing: blogging. Not home renovation or gardening or crocheting. It’s just blogging. This is what has allowed him to be one of the top experts on the topic. Be sure you’re doing the same and sticking with a central theme. 14. Follow a consistent posting scheduleAccording to an article from CoSchedule that analyzed research from 10 different studies, one post per day is the recommended posting frequency on Facebook. Unlike on other platforms, like Twitter or Pinterest, where posting several times a day is acceptable and even encouraged, one post a day tends to work best on Facebook. I do at times post more often as do many other brands, but this research tells us one important thing. You need to get in the habit of consistently posting or at least curating fresh content. 15. Respond to commentsYou know if you’re getting a lot of engagement, you’re winning on Facebook. But to keep the momentum going and keep people interested, you need to respond as much as you possibly can. That’s what I try to do. I know it can be time consuming, but this is a must for building real trust with your followers. 16. Ask for inputLooking for ideas on which features to include in your new product? Or wondering what topics to cover on your blog? Just ask your Facebook followers for their input. This is a great way to perform market research, crank up engagement and make your audience feel valued. Here are a couple of specific examples from Mavrck: You can get more ideas in this post. 17. Publish an occasional pollPolls are another awesome way to engage your audience. It’s a quick and easy way for them to give their opinions, feeling included. Visit this page from Facebook to learn how to publish polls. 18. Have funOne last thing. Social media is meant to be fun. It’s not meant to be overly formal or rigid. So another key factor in trust-boosting is to have fun with it and let your personality shine through. Letting your hair down, so to speak, can help you get the trust you’re seeking. ConclusionWhen you get right down to it, trust equals revenue. Gaining trust is like knocking down the initial domino, which leads to a host of other benefits like engagement, a big following, leads, conversions and ultimately sales. And the way I see it, Facebook is one of the best platforms pound-for-pound for creating trust. You just need to understand which elements to leverage and put in the work to give your audience what they’re looking for. What makes you trust a brand on Facebook? Social Media via Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/UU7LJr June 21, 2017 at 10:01AM
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The Definitive WordPress Cheat Sheet http://ift.tt/2tNwYH5 WordPress is arguably the most popular blogging platform on the planet. As pervasive as it is, however, it also comes with a level of complexity that can stymie all but the most savvy blog technicians among us. But have no fear! Help is here for the rest of us mere mortals who can’t tell the difference between an index file and an index finger. Just point the latter to the definitive WordPress cheat sheet below and you’ll be coding and blogging like a WordPress Pro in no time! WordPress Theme AnatomyBefore digging into the more technical stuff, it would be wise to familiarize yourself with the basic anatomy of a WordPress theme. For many bloggers, editing theme files sounds intimidating. But if you spend a little time familiarizing yourself with theme anatomy, you’ll have no problems knowing which file needs editing. Theme files are located in Appearance > Editor. The amount of files will vary from theme to theme but the most basic theme will have the following files in place: • style.css: this file contains all the styles associated with your theme. Use this file if you want to change the colors, fonts, margins, paddings, replace a background image, or change any other visual aspect of your theme. • index.php: the index.php file controls what the homepage of your website looks like. By default it displays your blog posts in reverse chronological order. But if you set a static page to display as your homepage, then you need to create a separate page for your posts and in that case, index.php will generate the contents of your posts page. • single.php: this file generates the contents of individual blog posts. It contains a loop that queries just one post and it allows you to specify which sidebars you want that post to use. Or you can remove sidebars from it altogether. • archive.php, category.php, tag.php: these templates control the content displayed on your archive, category, and tag pages. If there is no archive.php file, the template will display the contents of index.php. The category.php will override archive.php for categories. In a similar fashion, tag.php will override archive.php for tags. You can use Category and Tag files to add text that shows a category or tag description, show excerpts instead of full posts, display images that link to your post, and more. • searchform.php: this file controls the search form of your theme that is usually included in the sidebar of many themes and generates the search box form. • search.php: displays the results when someone uses the search form on your site. • 404.php: this file will display a 404 page if someone clicks on a post or page that is no longer available. You can add specific sidebars to display on your 404 page or add customized text to make better use of the page. • comments.php: use the comments.php template if you want to modify how the comments are displayed on your site. Some comment plugins like Disqus will override the comments.php file completely. • footer.php: the footer template controls the look of the footer area across the entire site and contains closing HTML tags. • header.php: this file contains the opening HTML tags, the name and tagline for your blog and controls the overall appearance of header area. It also contains the primary navigation menu. • sidebar.php: this file is responsible for displaying and controlling all the available widgets on your blog. You can add additional sidebars using the functions.php file and add content to them under Appearance > Widgets. • page.php: the single page file generates the look of the individual pages. You can choose whether you want to have sidebars or remove them from the pages completely. You can create specific page templates using page.php by copying its contents into a new file, naming the new file whatever you want and adding the following at the top: • functions.php: this file allows you to add your own custom PHP code if you want to modify core elements of your theme. As mentioned above, you can add new sidebars, change the number of characters in the excerpt, add a custom copyright notice, or add new sections to the admin panel. Header FunctionsAs mentioned earlier, the header file controls how the area that holds your logo, blog name, blog description, and the primary navigation menu will appear. It also gives instructions to your theme where to find the stylesheet and other theme files. The code that generates the header is found in the header.php file and is called by the other templates with the following function: This function also takes one parameter called name which is useful if you want to create different headers for different pages. The entire function then looks like this: The header.php file accepts the following functions: • bloginfo(‘name’): outputs the title of your blog set in Settings > General. • wp_title(): outputs the title of a specific post or page. • get_stylesheet_directory_uri(): returns the location of the stylesheet. • bloginfo(‘pingback_url’): displays the Pingback XML-RPC file URL. The Pingback XML-RPC allows you to get notified when another blog has linked to one of your posts or pages. You can then choose to display this on your site. • get_template_directory_uri(): this will return the location for the site’s theme files. • bloginfo(‘version’): returns the WordPress version for the site and can be removed if you don’t want to display that information. • bloginfo(‘atom_url’): returns the Atom for the site. • bloginfo(‘rss2_url’): returns the RSS2 URL for the site. Both Atom and RSS2 display the feed of your latest blog posts in various feed readers. • get_site_url(): returns the exact URL of your blog. • bloginfo(‘description’): returns the description of your blog set in Settings > General. • bloginfo(‘html_type’): this function will return the Content-Type of WordPress HTML pages which by default is “text/html.” • bloginfo(‘charset’): displays the character encoding for pages and feeds set in Settings > Reading. Navigation MenuWordPress 3.0 introduced Custom Menus which allows you to add pages, posts, categories, and custom links to your menus. Using the functions below, you can add extra menus to your theme and display them where you want. • register_nav_menus(): place this in your functions.php file to register a new menu. • wp_nav_menu( array( ‘theme_location’ => ‘header-menu’ ) ): this will tell your theme where the new navigation menu should display. Adding an example menu looks like this: function register_new_menus() { The wp_nav_menu supports additional parameters which can be added to the function so you can style the menu further. Here are some of the most useful parameters you can include in the wp_nav_menu function. • menu_class: a CSS class to use for the ul element that forms the menu. • menu_id: the ID that is applied to the ul element that forms the menu. • container: this will add an extra wrapper around the ul that holds the menu. By default it is set to “div.” • container_class: use this to specify a class that is applied to the container. • container_id: if you want to apply an ID to your menu, use this parameter. • before: this will add custom text before the link markup. • after: this will display custom text after the link markup. Template FunctionsTemplate functions are used within different template files to retrieve and display different data. They’re called template tags and you can add them to any of the theme’s template files or custom templates that you create. Below is a list of the most useful template tags: • the_content(): will retrieve and display the content of the posts. • get_header(): this will retrieve the header.php file. • get_sidebar(): this will retrieve the contents of the sidebar.php. • get_footer(): returns the contents of the footer.php. • the_time(‘m-d-y’): returns the date in month-day-year format. • comments_popup_link(): retrieves link for the comments on the post. • the_title(): returns the title of a specific post or page. • the_permalink(): returns the URL of a specific post or page. • has_post_thumbnail(): checks if the post has an image attached. • the_post_thumbnail(): displays the post thumbnail. • the_category(): displays the category of a specific post or page. • the_author(): displays the name of the author of a specific post or page. • the_author_link(): displays either author’s link or author’s name. • the_author_meta(): displays the information entered in User Profile. • the_excerpt(): returns the excerpt for a post. • the_ID(): returns the ID of a specific post or page. • edit_post_link(): displays the link to edit a specific post or page. • comments_template(): displays the comment.php file’s content. • wp_list_pages(): lists the pages of the site. • wp_list_cats(): lists the categories for the site. • next_post_link(‘%link’): returns the URL to the next post. • previoust_post_link(‘%link’): returns URL to the previous post. • posts_nav_link(): returns next and previous post links. The LoopThe loop is the most powerful part of any WordPress theme. First, it queries the database to determine if there are posts or pages to show. Then it formats the post or a page according to the theme’s instructions or ones you set. The loop ends with an “endwhile” statement. Everything in between the initial query and the final “endwhile” statement is up to you. You can add code that determines the output of titles, whether the post displays at full length or as an excerpt, how metadata should be displayed, and anything else you can think of. Each page can have multiple loops and queries. The entire loop looks like this: Here are the functions used to start and end the loop as well as the most popular template tags you can use in it: • if(have_posts()): checks if there are posts. • while(have_posts()):the_post(): shows posts as long as posts are available. • endwhile: closes the “while” PHP function. • endif: closes the “if” PHP function. • the_title(): outputs the title of the post. • the_excerpt(): outputs the post excerpt. • the_content (): outputs the full post content. • the_excerpt(): outputs the first 55 words of a post’s main content followed by an ellipsis (…). • the_category(): outputs the post categories. • the_tags(): outputs the tags associated with the post. • the_author(): outputs the post author. • the_date(): outputs the post date. Miscellaneous Code SnippetsAside from the most important functions mentioned above, WordPress has plenty of useful functions and code snippets that will allow you to go beyond the basics and fine-tune your blog. • /%postname%/: used to display a custom permalink instead of “ugly URLs” that WordPress generates by default. • include(TEMPLATEPATH . ‘/template-name.php’): include any file in your theme. • _e(‘Message’): prints out a custom message. • wp_register(): displays the register link. • wp_loginout(): displays the login/logout link. • wp_meta(): displays meta for administrators. • timer_stop(1): displays time to load the page. • echo get_num_queries(): displays queries to load the page. • remove_comment_fields(): removes a specified field from the comment form. • wp_enqueue_script(): use this to enqueue stylesheets or JavaScript files to use them with your theme. This article originally appeared on The Art of Blog. Republished with permission. The post The Definitive WordPress Cheat Sheet appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://ift.tt/xMddWR June 21, 2017 at 09:45AM
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Facebook Ads and Metrics: New Research for Marketers http://ift.tt/2rQtxmC Wondering if Facebook is still a relevant platform for marketing? Interested in how your colleagues and peers will use Facebook in the coming year? In this article, you’ll discover new insights that show where Facebook marketers are focusing their attention and how you can best take advantage of ads on the platform.
#1: Facebook Advertising Spend Will IncreaseAccording to Social Media Examiner’s 2017 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, 94% of the 5,700+ marketers surveyed use Facebook for marketing, up from 93% a year ago. Furthermore, 62% of the respondents said that Facebook is their most important marketing platform. It’s only been eight years since Facebook rolled out their advanced audience targeting capabilities, and handed the ad creation and management reins over to the customer. These two advances caused ad revenue to nearly triple, going from $272 million to $777 million in the first year alone. Facebook is expected to bring in $36.29 billion in ad revenue this year, up 35.0% from 2016. eMarketer reports that in 2015, there were 1.22 billion legitimate, non-commercial Facebook accounts and that number grew by 12.8% to 1.34 billion in 2016. Growth has slowed over the last year, however, and from 2016 to 2017, Facebook saw only a 9.6% growth of their user base. From 2017 to 2018, they’re predicting growth of 7.9%. As a result, eMarketer reports that Facebook ad spend will slow considerably over the next year, with their predictions putting growth at only 26.5%, while 2016 saw a 57.4% increase. One contributing factor may be that Facebook is simply running out of ad space in people’s news feeds, something Facebook has been cautioning investors about since last year. So what does that mean for social media marketers? Not only does the competition and cost rise for ad space, but it also speaks to the larger issue of consumers’ news feed ad fatigue. In other words, Facebook news feed ads are starting to go unnoticed by consumers due to the sheer number and frequency of them. Ad costs are rising while many see engagement rates dropping. According to the 2017 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, 53% of surveyed marketers have seen a decline in their news feed exposure. This leads to a bigger question: Are social media marketers just sticking with Facebook because of the enormous base, regardless of what their data is telling them, in hopes of something changing soon? In fact, in ClickZ Intelligence’s State of Digital Advertising 2017 report, 61% of advertising professionals surveyed plan to increase their Facebook ad spend and 20% don’t plan to make any changes at all. In other words, 81% of marketers who utilize Facebook aren’t going anywhere. Takeaway Facebook knows their news feed ads aren’t as effective as they used to be and they’re reaching the high end of their ad load, which is why they introduced new options like Messenger ads. Since social media marketers have already begun to feel the sting of this saturated market, it’d be wise to stay on top of the new ad types and strike while the iron is hot, especially since 62% of our survey respondents plan to increase their Facebook ad activities. Facebook news feed advertising certainly isn’t obsolete (and our study showed 62% of you consider Facebook your most important marketing platform), but you may not be getting the biggest bang for your advertising buck right now. #2: Marketers Continue to Question Facebook MetricsA combined 42% of our survey respondents reported that their Facebook marketing activities are effective, down from 46% just a year ago. On the other hand, 58% say that their Facebook marketing initiatives aren’t effective or they don’t know. Measuring ROI has always been a sore spot for social media marketers, but is this inability to measure results solely to blame for the perceived decrease in effectiveness? Probably not. In September 2016, the Wall Street Journal reported that for two years, Facebook overestimated the amount of time users spent watching videos on the platform by as much as 60% to 80%. While this issue was enough for some to call into question Facebook’s measuring capabilities, the minimum threshold for a view is three seconds, so this error didn’t affect the overall number of views being reported to companies. Just two months later, however, another measurement problem came to light. On December 9, 2016, Facebook announced they noticed a difference between the number of likes and shares reported on its Graph API and the stats appearing if that same user saw the post on their mobile app. While they’ve since reportedly fixed the problem, this calls into question the overall effectiveness of how Facebook measures the metrics that determine not only what advertisers pay, but also the data they use to determine the effectiveness of their campaigns. Takeaway Facebook only permits a handful of approved vendors to handle their data and measurement sharing capabilities (the “walled garden” approach), which has been a thorn in the side of advertisers for a while now. This strain only came about because of these measurement glitches. The bottom line is that companies want to choose their own data partners, mainly ones whose findings they know they can trust. It’s important for brands to stay vigilant and keep an eye out for any data discrepancies in their Facebook advertising numbers, especially when new types of ads start appearing. When new ad formats are rolled out, many times existing metrics must be tweaked or new ones implemented. There are bound to be kinks at first. #3: Varied Ad Formats Combat News Feed Ad FatigueNews feed ad fatigue is a real thing, and in a way, Facebook is recognizing this by admitting they’re running out of places to put ads in people’s news feeds. When consumers see too many ads too many times, click-through rates plummet. Throw in the fact that some brands don’t rotate their ads for variety, and you have an increasingly frustrating user experience. At Social Media Marketing World 2017, Michael Stelzner discussed the frustration marketers feel due to Facebook’s ever-changing news feed algorithm. This year’s Industry Report echoed those complaints with 53% of respondents saying their news feed exposure has declined over the last 12 months. One way to combat this is to switch up ad types. For their ebook, The Science of Successful Facebook Ads, HubSpot in conjunction with AdEspresso analyzed over 100,000 Facebook ads and found that nearly 75% (74.8%) of these are page post link ads. Video (15.5%), photo (8.2%), and events and offers ads (1.9%) make up the remaining ad types. In other words, their data shows that when you utilize page post link ads, you’re doing what 75% of all Facebook advertisers are doing. It stands to reason you’ll get lost in the news feed noise. Takeaway In our Industry Report, 75% of respondents said they were planning to use video a lot more as a part of their content strategy and 61% plan on using more live video—up from 31% just a year ago. And according to Recode, Facebook is going to start offering mid-roll ads to video publishers, giving advertisers another way to capitalize on the rise of video viewing on Facebook. While Facebook got off to a rocky start with the viewing measurement aspect of videos, they’re a brand that learns from mistakes, so there should be fewer, if any, bugs now. This new ad format may be what’s needed to stand out from the crowd. What do you think? How will these insights affect your marketing? Will you change your approach to Facebook marketing? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Social Media via http://ift.tt/eZnnjC June 21, 2017 at 05:04AM
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Twitter bots get enterprising, courtesy of Sprout Social http://ift.tt/2smb685 These days, the idea of bots on Twitter might be associated more with accounts that auto-Tweet, auto-like, and auto-retweet messages, or are corralled into large armies that follow people and do other things en-masse. But as the idea of artificial-intelligence- driven messengers starts to take hold in the tech world, and specifically in areas like customer service, Twitter is positioning itself as a platform for these kinds of bots, too. Sprout Social, a firm that helps businesses manage their presence on Twitter, is launching a new product called Bot Builder, to help clients build customer support chatbots for the platform. The bots will be used to answer basic questions to, say, verify a user’s identity and account information and other basic issues that form the start of customer support queries, so that they can progress the the next level of getting handled, Sprout Social’s co-founder Aaron Rankin said in an interview. Enterprise bots on Twitter are not completely new, but the idea of using them for customer service is. Just last month, Twitter launched a new Direct Message Card that linked users from public timelines into direct message chats, to chat with bots. But these were not about customer service; they were about marketing and interacting with brands for fun, such as a “bot tender” that helped you with drink recipes; or short-term and mostly fun experiments around quick transactions, such as this bot to order food from Denny’s. Interestingly, for this move into customer service chat bots, Twitter has taken a route different from that of Facebook or others: it has chosen not to create a bot development platform of its own, but instead to work with third parties like Sprout to bring the to life. “I think there are a bunch of reasons why we don’t build bot experience ourselves,” said Jeff Lesser, who heads up product marketing for Twitter Business Messaging. “There are millions of types of businesses that can use our platform, so we’re letting the ecosystem build the solutions that they need. We are focusing on building the canvas for them to do that.” While Sprout has rolled the Bot Builder into its enterprise tier of service — Sprout has some 18,000 customers using its services in all to help manage their Twitter presence — Twitter doesn’t take any cut at all on providing the platform for this. Its sales are made by way of the selling the Cards to direct users to these experiences. Although it’s one way to promoting a wider developer ecosystem — something that Twitter hasn’t always been that good at doing — another reason why Twitter may be holding bots and building them at arm’s length is because of its history with them. “We knew Twitter had a hesitancy about automation in accounts,” Sprout’s Rankin noted, referring to Twitter’s history with bot accounts — there areas in Twitter’s terms of service that lay out where it is still not allowed — “but now they’ve also started to introduce features to encourage some automation. I think between us and Twitter we’re responding to events happening in the world,” — specifically here, the rise of chatbots — “and looking at how to evolve the position.” Twitter’s efforts to build more tools for enterprises is a long game for the company, with its first efforts in this area dating back to October 2015. It’s still not as substantial a part of the business as the company’s efforts in advertising on the platform, but it’s also a very natural fit for the platform: people often turn to Twitter to reach out to businesses when they are unhappy with them or have questions because asking questions in a public forum feels much more immediate than sending emails or phoning random phone numbers. Conversely, businesses use Twitter a lot to communicate things publicly. So pushing Twitter’s potential in doing more with customer service is a logical next step. Rankin said that the Sprout Social service was built from the ground up, but with a very basic approach to “bots” that will potentially grow over time. “We are not focused on large AI problems,” he said. “We see utility in the low hanging fruit of getting through some of the basics.” Over time, as systems get smarter, this might change, he added. Similarly, there are still some questions over what, exactly, the rules of engagement will be for these bots. Right now, we still don’t have a great way of identifying who is talking to you when multiple people are speaking from one account, and you have to wonder what kind of response people will have if they know they are speaking with an actual human versus a machine. “We’re encouraging a handoff to the bot that is transparent,” Rankin said. “The UX still needs to be worked out but the short answer is that there are features to do this, and the design of our product can encourage it.” This seems to be Twitter’s view, too, where “accounts” for businesses will become less personalised but also able to differentiate and distinguish between different individuals. “We don’t want brands to create new accounts for bots,” said Lesser. “We want to build them into the accts that people are used to seeing.” Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com June 20, 2017 at 03:21PM
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Instagram is still clobbering Snapchat, and it's worse than we thought http://ift.tt/2rzngrk Instagram is still clobbering Snapchat, and it's worse than we thoughtImage: lili sams/mashable
By Karissa Bell2017-06-20 16:00:00 UTC
Instagram Stories is still eating Snapchat alive, and we have fresh data to prove it. Instagram's Stories now have 250 million daily active users, up from 200 million in April, according to the company. At the same time, engagement with Snapchat Stories declined 50 percent in June compared with the same time last year, according to new numbers from social analytics company Delmondo. "We saw a decline of 50 percent in average unique viewers per story from June 2016 to June 2017," says Delmondo CEO Nick Cicero, who looked at engagement across 50,000 Snapchat Stories from brands, publishers, and other influencers. The new metrics highlight just how damaging the meteoric rise of Instagram Stories has been for the newly public Snap Inc. The company declined to comment on Delmondo's findings. Delmondo's report comes on the heels of a rough couple of weeks for the company. Snap's first ever earnings report was a hard miss, third-party data from Sensor Tower says downloads are on the decline, and last week the company's stock hit an all-time low since going public earlier this year.
Yikes. Still, not everything may be quite as dire as it sounds. Just yesterday, the company inked a new deal with Time Warner to the tune of $100 million, and Snap has recently — surprise, surprise — touted a few vanity stats of its own. Namely that 60 percent of interactions on the app are among "close friends" — an area where Snap has attempted to draw a stark difference between itself and its much larger competitors. And on CEO Evan Spiegel's first ever earnings call with investors, he played up his company's focus on enabling the creativity of its highly engaged, if not as large, user base. Additionally, research from App Annie found that 35 percent of Snapchat's daily users in the U.S don't use Facebook "on any given" day. In any case, what is clear is that Instagram shows no signs of slowing down. The company has steadily added new capabilities to its Stories after first putting the feature front and center last summer. Now, the company is doubling down on live video, too Beginning Tuesday, users who broadcast live videos on the platform can opt to share the clips to the Stories section of the app for 24 hours at a time. Previously, live videos appeared in the Stories area, but weren't viewable after a broadcast had ended. The update is notable for a couple of reasons: For one, it stands to help Instagram maintain the growth of Stories. Though live videos aren't the same as Stories, adding fresh content to that section of the app will encourage more people to watch Stories (since videos auto-advance, a feature Snap axed last fall). It also suggests the company is ready to start pushing harder into live video. Live video is also, notably, an area Snap has avoided. Still, anything that adds up to more eyeballs on Instagram Stories could ultimately spell more bad news for the company. Social Media via Social Media http://ift.tt/1N1mMj1 June 20, 2017 at 11:01AM 4 Free Methods to Excel at Digital Marketing on a Budget http://ift.tt/2sSdIeU It’s easy for small businesses to get discouraged when looking at all of the financial resources that larger brands have available at their disposal. However, just because you don’t have a six- or seven-figure marketing budget, doesn’t mean you can’t be successful. Digital marketing can get really expensive really quickly. It’s not uncommon for big brands to spend thousands of dollars a day on ads and content. However, a big budget is by no means a prerequisite to being successful. If you’re willing to be strategic and use your head, the following budget-friendly marketing tips will help you obtain similar results at a fraction of the price. 1. Invest in Guest BloggingFew strategies are better than guest blogging. Guest blogging – regardless of which side you’re on – is the single most cost-effective marketing investment you can make. “Blog readers are typically very loyal, especially when it comes to popular niche blogs,” mentions Jessica Moreno of Active Web Group. “Begin by researching the most popular and influential blogs in your industry, contact the blog owners and ask if they’re interested in contributors. By guest writing on reputable blogs, your word will be credible as readers already trust the platform, and you will receive free exposure in return!” You can also accept guest bloggers on your blog. The major benefit here is that you get to publish free content without having to do any of the work. This not only saves you money, but it also saves you time that would have been invested in writing, copyediting, and publishing. 2. Partner With InfluencersAs you can see, there’s immense value in partnering with others and combining resources. This is why a lot of digital marketers choose to align their brands with social influencers. Influencers are essentially everyday people who happen to have magnetic personalities and lively social media audiences. These individuals have a lot of clout in their niches and can use this reputation to work closely with brands that are willing to offer something in return. 3. Utilize Free ToolsThere are so many free tools available online. If you’re serious about making each dollar go as far as it possibly can, you need to utilize the right ones. For example, are you familiar with the HARO platform? This acronym stands for “Help a Reporter Out” and is the name of a network that connects journalists with brands in an effort to get stories published. If you ever feel like you have a good story that could really give your brand some positive exposure, this is worth trying. There are other tools and resources online, as well. From social listening to content marketing, you can automate and streamline just about anything these days. Here are a few worth taking a second look at. 4. Try New Social NetworksIt’s not always easy for newer brands – or even smaller, established brands for that matter – to gain traction on established social networks like Facebook. If you want to get the highest return on your marketing spend, try investing in newer social networks that aren’t already oversaturated in your niche. This will help you rise above the noise and connect with followers in a meaningful way. In Conclusion: Your Budget Doesn’t Define YouIt’s time that we stop looking at digital marketing through the lens of how big or small your budget is. The amount of money you have available at your disposal doesn’t have to define your success. By making strategic choices and being smart about where you spend your money, you can and will enjoy positive results. The post 4 Free Methods to Excel at Digital Marketing on a Budget appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://ift.tt/xMddWR June 20, 2017 at 09:02AM
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Meditation app Headspace hires a new chief business officer http://ift.tt/2rMmETo One of the first times Ross Hoffman met Headspace CEO Rich Pierson when talking about a role running the company’s business, Pierson was not talking a lot about business. Instead, he was peppering Hoffman with questions about himself, telling stories about users, and talking about work ethos. The business questions came later, of course, but that kind of introduction and vetting for a company built around a meditation app might not be all that surprising. and Headspace has now hired Hoffman to be its first chief business officer. Hoffman, who was most recently Twitter’s VP of global content partnerships, is joining the company at the beginning of July. “What we spoke about was, revenue is important but not why headspace exists — and the job is balancing those two things to make sure we’re upholding the culture and the product,” Hoffman said. ” It’s ensuring you can do that while building a business and not interfering with that mission.” Headspace last raised $30 million in 2015 amid a big focus — at least, in Silicon Valley — on solving the problem of promoting mindfulness through an app. It’s a total Silicon Valley-ish thing to do, but Headspace recently revamped its app in order to help build those small meditation sessions into a daily habit. The company also recently hired a new chief scientist and head of growth in order to scale it up. Hoffman said those kinds of moves, plus the activity he saw online praising the app, were what finally wooed him. “I’m on a 100 day run streak [in the app] myself,” Hoffman said. “There’s a cool thing in the office, a map of the world, and different quotes from different users It’s really incredible. I went on Twitter and saw what people are saying about headspace. 99% of the Tweets are overwhelmingly positive. To have a [net promoter score] of a product that’s that high, I thought it was really special.” There may be an opportunity here for Headspace — and Hoffman — if the company is able to convince large businesses that meditation can be a helpful and healthy activity for their employees. These kinds of companies, with “wellness” budgets and other kinds of funding, may see an opportunity to work with Headspace directly in order to keep their employees happy and performing. To do that, it’ll need someone with experience dealing with partnerships like Hoffman. There’s plenty of competition for Headspace, including Calm and Aura Health, as well as your Apple Watch periodically telling you to breathe (whether that’s meditative or not is sort of subjective). But convincing users to carve out a part of their day every day can create a heavily engaged customer that will be willing to pay in order to keep and promote that habit if they think it’s healthy — something that could easily branch into larger and larger groups of people, like in corporations. For Twitter, that’s another loss on the executive team, which has more or less become the norm these days (though it did bring on a new lead for its live video business in May). To be sure, Hoffman had been at Twitter since 2011, so a departure after that long a tenure doesn’t seem too out of the ordinary. And Hoffman, to his credit, has not fallen asleep during one of the meditation sessions. Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com June 20, 2017 at 08:19AM |
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