Instagram: Perfecting the Art of IP Thievery http://ift.tt/2tJLj7M It’s no coincidence that Snapchat and Instagram share many of the same features. Since the two social media platforms started going toe-to-toe, Instagram has always seemed to reproduce Snapchat’s successful developments. Stories, selfie filters and expiring messages are just a few of the lookalike features Instagram released after Snapchat. Instagram’s VP of Product Kevin Weil addressed this accusation in a recent interview, claiming that imitating competitors is just how the tech industry works. Is Instagram’s apparent theft really a bad thing for marketers? After all, the features the platform has “borrowed” from Snapchat have presented its users with better experiences. From a marketer’s perspective, that’s all that matters. Social Media Explorer asked several social media experts to share their thoughts on Instagram’s habitual thievery. Here’s what they said: Q: Now that Instagram has finished copying every single Snapchat feature (the latest being #selfie filters), will they turn elsewhere to copy somebody else?Jennifer Forrest, Director of Social Media at DEG Digital: If Instagram is going to copy anyone moving forward, I think it will be parent company Facebook. Specifically, I foresee Instagram copying how Facebook does advertising around live video. Brian Moran, entrepreneurial consultant: Everyone copies good ideas. It’s been going on since man invented the wheel. Instagram’s next move should be to make their name a verb—as in “I instagrammed it.” That’s when your product or service has built a solid foundation. Joel Comm, author, speaker, brand influencer: Snapchat still has a feature advantage, but when Instagram starts offering custom geofilters, they will seize Snapchat’s greatest chance for growth. Jason Falls, Founder of Conservation Research Institute: Instagram doesn’t need to go copy anyone else because they don’t have any legitimate competitors for the photo/video sharing experience, and they are plugged into Facebook’s powerful ad manager. They’re just keeping up with Snapchat so they don’t lose users. Snapchat will always be a challenger brand, though. They don’t have the power of Facebook behind them. Josh Steimle, influence coach, author, CEO of MWI: I’m all in favor of app companies copying each other when they see a feature that would be beneficial to their users—this is a large part of how progress happens, as cutthroat competition between companies leads to benefits for consumers. That said, if the best a company can come up with for its users is, “Yeah, we can do that, too,” then that leaves something to be desired. One would hope Instagram would not only add in features it sees elsewhere, but also innovate, take some risks, and push boundaries without waiting for someone else to do the heavy lifting first. Drew Neisser, CEO of Renegade, LLC: Instagram continues to thrive thanks to its “fast follower” approach. “Borrowing” many of Snapchat’s key features has attracted new users most likely at Snapchat’s expense. The only possible blemish on the horizon is that Instagram has lost its effortless simplicity that was at the heart of the brand’s initial appeal. Q: Will Instagram just wait for Snapchat to add some new stuff, and then copy that?Stephen Monaco, Founder of Future Marketing Institute: Instagram is likely to continue “borrowing” new features from Snapchat as they’re added. This blatant copying of features is bothersome. Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, seems to have no shame. Jennifer Forrest: There’s an obvious arms race between Instagram and Snapchat to compete for user attention. And while Snapchat has been first on many of these features, Instagram still has a leg up, especially since Snap just went public and now must place a real focus on retaining users. There’s room for both Instagram and Snapchat, but the question is for how long? Jason Falls: Snapchat is the only real competitor for Instagram, so it’s logical that they would at least match feature sets. It’s not uncommon. I’m sure if Ford invented power steering, Chevy added it the next year. Instagram may be prone to pull ideas from competitors, but those features have helped the brand expand its user base. Therefore, it’s not a question of effectiveness for Instagram’s copycat tactic; it’s simply a question of morality. As long as Instagram keeps wowing users with nifty bells and whistles, the platform will continue to prosper—regardless of where those bells and whistles came from. Drew Neisser: No. I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that Instagram will actually develop new unique features. These features will help restore perceptions of Instagram as an innovator and perhaps even return it to its roots of providing flickable images of delight. Or at least, that’s what I would advise them to do!
Instagram may be prone to pull ideas from competitors, but those features have helped the brand expand its user base. Therefore, it’s not a question of effectiveness for Instagram’s copycat tactic; it’s simply a question of morality. As long as Instagram keeps wowing users with nifty bells and whistles, the platform will continue to prosper—regardless of where those bells and whistles came from. Do you think it’s acceptable for Instagram to lift features from other platforms? The post Instagram: Perfecting the Art of IP Thievery appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://ift.tt/xMddWR July 28, 2017 at 09:45AM
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Search to Social Ads: How to Use Google With Facebook to Build Niche Audiences http://ift.tt/2tPjtvi Does your business serve a specialized customer base? Wondering how to reach specific niche audiences with Facebook ads? To explore a strategy for retargeting specialized audiences using Google ads in combination with Facebook ads, I interview Shane Sams. More About This Show The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing. In this episode, I interview Shane Sams, the co-host of the Flipped Lifestyle podcast, a show focused on helping families make money online. He describes himself as a normal guy from Kentucky who loves helping others. He's also the founder of the Flip Your Life Community. Shane explains how to use website traffic generated by Google ads to retarget Facebook users. You'll discover how highly focused keywords help manage your marketing costs. Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below. Listen Now Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show: Search to Social Ads Shane's Story Shane and his wife Jocelyn met at the University of Kentucky. After graduation, Jocelyn initially worked a corporate job and Shane coached football. They then decided to become schoolteachers, which they did for about 10 years. Shane taught social studies and continued to coach, while Jocelyn was an elementary school librarian. After some bad experiences at work, Shane realized he had traded control of his life for job security. He started looking for other things to do because he knew there had to be a better way. This was in 2012. One day, as Shane and his wife were driving around town, Shane said, "I wonder if I can get 100 people to send me $50." She asked what he was talking about and Shane said that out of the 7 billion people on the planet, surely 100 would give him $50. If they all did that in a month, it would be $5,000, and for 12 months in a row, it would be $60,000. If they could do that every month, they could quit teaching. Shane didn't know how he was going to make this money but he was determined to figure it out. He began seeking information about business. One day while mowing the grass, Shane decided to look up business podcasts. An image of a guy looking at the podcast art with his eyeballs caught Shane's attention. It was Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn. In the podcast, Pat talked about how he sold a study guide and would email it to people. Shane decided he and Jocelyn could sell PDFs of information. After trying different things online, they were finally able to figure it out. They sold lesson plans to teachers and football playbooks to coaches. A year later, Shane and Jocelyn replaced their income. As soon as they quit their jobs (which they did on September 27, 2013), people started asking questions. For example, Lindsay, a friend of Jocelyn's, quit her job to be a stay-at-home mom and wanted advice on making money online. They helped Lindsay create digital products and she made $1,000 on the Internet in a month. This money enabled Lindsay to be at home with her daughter every day. After Shane and Jocelyn realized their experience and knowledge could change the lives of others, they started Flipped Lifestyle. It has helped a lot of people. People ask why it's called Flipped Lifestyle. Shane explains that everybody flipped out after Jocelyn and he left their jobs, where they had tenure and insurance. Shane recalls how his mom cornered him and said, "Shane Sams, you have babies. You have lost your mind. You have flipped out. And I do not approve of this decision." Hence, Flipped Lifestyle. Listen to the show to hear Shane recall how much sharing online business skills meant to his friends. Why Combine Google Ads With Facebook? Early on, Shane and Jocelyn discovered a lot of the marketing advice available online didn't work for ... Social Media via Social Media Marketing Podcast helps your business thrive with social media http://ift.tt/eZnnjC July 28, 2017 at 06:55AM
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Search to Social Ads: How to Use Google With Facebook to Build Niche Audiences http://ift.tt/2tPjtvi Does your business serve a specialized customer base? Wondering how to reach specific niche audiences with Facebook ads? To explore a strategy for retargeting specialized audiences using Google ads in combination with Facebook ads, I interview Shane Sams. More About This ShowThe Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing. In this episode, I interview Shane Sams, the co-host of the Flipped Lifestyle podcast, a show focused on helping families make money online. He describes himself as a normal guy from Kentucky who loves helping others. He’s also the founder of the Flip Your Life Community. Shane explains how to use website traffic generated by Google ads to retarget Facebook users. You’ll discover how highly focused keywords help manage your marketing costs. Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below. Listen NowHere are some of the things you’ll discover in this show: Search to Social AdsShane’s Story Shane and his wife Jocelyn met at the University of Kentucky. After graduation, Jocelyn initially worked a corporate job and Shane coached football. They then decided to become schoolteachers, which they did for about 10 years. Shane taught social studies and continued to coach, while Jocelyn was an elementary school librarian. After some bad experiences at work, Shane realized he had traded control of his life for job security. He started looking for other things to do because he knew there had to be a better way. This was in 2012. One day, as Shane and his wife were driving around town, Shane said, “I wonder if I can get 100 people to send me $50.” She asked what he was talking about and Shane said that out of the 7 billion people on the planet, surely 100 would give him $50. If they all did that in a month, it would be $5,000, and for 12 months in a row, it would be $60,000. If they could do that every month, they could quit teaching. Shane didn’t know how he was going to make this money but he was determined to figure it out. He began seeking information about business. One day while mowing the grass, Shane decided to look up business podcasts. An image of a guy looking at the podcast art with his eyeballs caught Shane’s attention. It was Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn. In the podcast, Pat talked about how he sold a study guide and would email it to people. Shane decided he and Jocelyn could sell PDFs of information. After trying different things online, they were finally able to figure it out. They sold lesson plans to teachers and football playbooks to coaches. A year later, Shane and Jocelyn replaced their income. As soon as they quit their jobs (which they did on September 27, 2013), people started asking questions. For example, Lindsay, a friend of Jocelyn’s, quit her job to be a stay-at-home mom and wanted advice on making money online. They helped Lindsay create digital products and she made $1,000 on the Internet in a month. This money enabled Lindsay to be at home with her daughter every day. After Shane and Jocelyn realized their experience and knowledge could change the lives of others, they started Flipped Lifestyle. It has helped a lot of people. People ask why it’s called Flipped Lifestyle. Shane explains that everybody flipped out after Jocelyn and he left their jobs, where they had tenure and insurance. Shane recalls how his mom cornered him and said, “Shane Sams, you have babies. You have lost your mind. You have flipped out. And I do not approve of this decision.” Hence, Flipped Lifestyle. Listen to the show to hear Shane recall how much sharing online business skills meant to his friends. Why Combine Google Ads With Facebook? Early on, Shane and Jocelyn discovered a lot of the marketing advice available online didn’t work for educators like elementary school librarians, history teachers, and football coaches. Marketers with a business focus can target the Facebook page of Tim Ferriss, Gary Vaynerchuk, or somebody with a million followers, because their fans are all entrepreneurs. However, when you sell something like Civil War battlefield crossword puzzles, it’s more difficult to find interested people on Facebook because that audience doesn’t typically like or follow a page that reflects that specific interest. You may be able to target and find teachers; however, their specialty could be algebra, and math teachers have no interest in librarians’ material. To begin finding their customers, Shane and Jocelyn looked instead at search. They realized their potential customers were searching Google for materials. Through Google, they could find customers looking for their products, pixel those potential customers, and then follow up with Facebook ads. The approach could be powerful (and inexpensive). The core of all marketing is follow-up. You don’t show someone something only once. That’s why you get 100 Pepsi commercials during every football game. Pepsi wants to ingrain itself in your brain. Then when you really want a soft drink, you’ll buy a Pepsi. Shane and Jocelyn are doing the same thing. They’re getting in front of people where they are looking for their solution (on Google), introducing themselves, and following up. Listen to the show to hear Shane’s car salesman analogy. The Strategy Start where your customers are searching for solutions to their problem. Shane and Jocelyn use Google, but your customers may be elsewhere. For instance, if you sell guitar lesson plans, you may want to buy ads on a forum for guitar players. In Google, set up an ad based on your target keywords. The plan is to drive traffic to a page where you give something away. In your ad, offer something to solve people’s immediate search problem and emphasize that the item is free. On the giveaway page, eliminate any friction for getting the promised item. For example, people search for the term “Civil War battle site crossword puzzles” 4,000 times every August. Shane’s ad targets those keywords and offers a free crossword. The clicks cost only $0.02 because nobody else is targeting those keywords. With your giveaway, you want your potential customer to feel really happy about what they found. This first step isn’t just exposure; it’s a handshake. It’s “Hi, I’m Shane. I sell history lesson plans.” Also, those who grab the free item will get pixeled. After you pixel your potential customers, follow up with a Facebook ad that tries to get them to opt in. In Shane’s example, people will get a Facebook ad that says something like, “You just finished the Civil War. You’re going to teach the Spanish-American War next. Here’s a lesson plan. Click here.” To get the next item, the user must opt in. After that, they see an offer to buy the entire year of lesson plans for a certain amount of money each month. Shane says the retargeting pixel converts more customers than their email list does. Emails get old over time. You may have a 10,000-person email list, but 2,000 of them are from 2012 or they don’t get delivered to the inbox because of email filters. On Facebook however, when you retarget the 30-, 90-, or 180-day people, they’ll see your ad and remember that you helped them by giving them an answer to their search. Plus, it will be easier to convince them that you have solutions going forward. Listen to the show to hear why Shane calls his strategy search-to-social marketing. How to Research Keywords The power is in long-tail keywords. You need to be very specific. Teachers looking for Civil War lesson plans can’t simply search for “Civil War.” A lot of people look up the Civil War online, so Shane needs keywords that exclude people with a general interest in the topic and zero in on teachers looking for classroom materials. He uses keywords like “Civil War crossword puzzle” or “Abraham Lincoln worksheet.” Similarly, a football coach can’t just use “football,” because that will generate results for football fans. To find coaches, Shane uses keywords such as “quarterback footwork drills” or “defensive back drills.” Dig down deep into the keyword research tools to find terms that your avatars (ideal customers) are definitely looking for. Then use those keywords to target your ads. These long-tail keywords cost only $0.02 and $0.03 because there’s no competition. Also, build keyword coalitions. It’s not about finding a keyword with 20,000 searches a month. Find 40 keywords with 500 searches a month. Target those to find the really cheap traffic that’s valuable to you. You don’t need to create a special offer for every keyword phrase. Instead, think in terms of categories. For example, if Shane wants to reach history teachers who are covering the Civil War, he uses a bunch of related terms and sends traffic for all of those terms to a Civil War lesson plan. Shane may give away two weeks of lesson plans so his potential customers have everything they need to succeed. Then, in two weeks, when they see the Facebook ad related to what they’re teaching next, they’re more likely to take him up on that offer. Although plenty of tools can help you find keyword phrases, Shane uses the Keyword Planner in Google AdWords. It’s intuitive and you can see all of the information you need, such as average monthly searches, trends, and competition. Keyword Planner gives Shane a good idea of what he’s going to pay for ads and he’s going to build his ads in Keyword Planner anyway. Plus it’s free. I ask how much money marketers can expect to spend, and Shane says the ad budget depends on your niche. For some, cheap might be $1; for others, it could be $0.02. Regardless, you need to spend substantial money. You want to try to get a thousand people a day, a month, or whatever. You can’t spend a dollar a day and hope to succeed. You have to invest. Shane says he starts all of their ads at $5 to $10 a day to collect data, learn what’s working, and make adjustments if necessary. Shane keeps the text in his Google ads really clear. For instance, the title of his ad may be “Civil War Battle Site Crossword,” and the copy reads, “Click here. Download this worksheet for free.” Listen to the show to hear what people talk about instead of long-tail keywords. The Next Step on Facebook The Facebook ads should be designed to give your avatar the next step in whatever product you’re selling in exchange for an email address. So you need to know their calendar. For example, after teachers cover the Civil War, they’ll likely teach the Spanish-American War or World War I. They’ll see an ad that says something like, “You just had a great time with our Civil War lesson. Click here to get a free World War I lesson plan.” They need to opt in to get it. Then Shane can let his internal email autoresponder sell them his yearlong program. The content flow will depend on the niche. An entrepreneur may send out a goal-setting guide in January and follow up with a sales funnel course to help readers reach their business goals. Shane will send his football coaches a free game plan in August. At the end of the year (and football season) the coach will take their players to the weight room. So in January, Shane’s going to sell him a weightlifting manual. Shane sends ads immediately after he gets people pixeled. On the lesson plan sites, he starts a new ad each month based on what he thinks is the next step in the educator’s calendar. They use the 180-day pixel to get in front of everybody who has been to the site over the longest amount of time. The language on their Facebook ads is similar to what they use on Google. The ad will have a giant logo that says US History Teachers or Flipped Lifestyle. They try to keep the copy short and sweet, and make the ad look natural in the news feed. The essence of the ad is, “I’m your friend. You met me. I helped you. I’m going to help you again. Here’s what I think you need next.” I ask Shane how he tracks traffic from Google to Facebook. Shane says there’s a gap between the number of people who visit a page and the number who are pixeled. However, after the marketing moves over to Facebook, all of the analytics are there. To make up for the gap, Shane uses a dedicated page for his Google ad, which makes closing that gap a little easier. Expect an opt-in rate of about 10% to 15%. After people join your email list, if your emails are set up correctly and hyper-targeted, the emails can convert at very high rates. (If this person came for free for this and got on the email for that, step three is surely a buy.) Listen to the show to hear Shane explain why getting the keywords right keeps your Facebook marketing costs low. The Email List After people are on Shane’s email list, they’ve already shown significant interest in his products by downloading his giveaway and opting to receive his second free item. With that in mind, Shane pitches on the second email, even though some experts say to draw out your email marketing. The first message is a welcome email with the content the person received in exchange for the opt-in. The next email will say something like, “Hey. You just downloaded that. This will solve your big problem overall forever. Why don’t you just go ahead and buy it?” If the prospect doesn’t take the core offer, which is usually $50 a month for access to the full library of plans, Shane offers something else, such as the next lesson plan for $12. He follows up on that with, “You just bought the $12 one. Sign up and you get access to everything. It’s a lot cheaper.” I ask if Shane does all the selling via email or also through Facebook. Shane says they’ll do Facebook ads, but it needs to be tied to something on the calendar like a Black Friday sale. For Jocelyn’s elementary school librarians site, they might do a Facebook ad for Dr. Seuss’s birthday week because that’s a huge event every year. The ad needs to be in line with their audience’s normal flow of life so it feels like a bonus. Although everything in Shane’s business is “set it and forget it,” he occasionally adds new products to his offerings. For example, for an upcoming librarian conference, he might create an ad that says, “Are you prepared for this conference? Here’s a new thing we offer,” which is a conference survival pack. Shane uses ads like these to get in people’s minds in a new way and keep building relationships. It’s like bumping into people out in public. You’re never going to have 100% of the market, so why not keep selling to the market? Listen to the show to hear Shane discuss the size of his email list. Discovery of the WeekTextExpander allows you to create text snippets that insert longer lines of text. It will save you tons of time. Use TextExpander to insert boilerplate content, create abbreviations for frequently used words, and more. For example, say you save SME as a snippet in TextExpander. Every time you type SME, TextExpander changes the snippet to Social Media Examiner. TextExpander snippets can insert all sorts of content. For instance, use a snippet to insert boilerplate answers for frequently asked questions. TextExpander can also insert emojis and GIFs. If you don’t remember the trigger text, you can search for it in TextExpander. You can sync the snippets across Windows, Mac, and iOS devices, so you can access your snippets from almost anywhere. On iOS, TextExpander adds a new keyboard for typing your snippets. Sharing your snippets with co-workers or friends is another timesaver. Anyone who has the app can import snippets you’ve shared into their TextExpander app. For teams and organizations, TextExpander offers additional tools for sharing snippets, which can help your business deliver consistent and up-to-date information. For instance, if your company is selling tickets to an event and you want everyone to use the same promo language, put one person in charge of creating and changing the text in TextExpander. Then anytime somebody types the designated shortcut, TextExpander inserts the correct language. The entire team has the same up-to-date boilerplate information. TextExpander costs $3.33/month for a single user and $7.96/month per person for a team setup when billed annually. Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how TextExpander works for you. Listen to the show! Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:What do you think? What are your thoughts on search-to-social ads? Please leave your comments below. Social Media via http://ift.tt/eZnnjC July 28, 2017 at 05:05AM
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10 Rules for Effective Facebook Marketing [Infographic] http://ift.tt/2v1CCKd The key to a successful Facebook marketing is posting or sharing content your audience will like. And, you probably heard or read this like a hundred times, right? It’s because it’s true but the question is, are you focusing on other essential elements? You may be posting what they like but you still can’t make the engagements go up. Well, aside from focusing on your fans, have you tried doing the other 10 things Mike Gingerich mentioned in this infographic made with Visme on how to do Facebook marketing effectively?
The post 10 Rules for Effective Facebook Marketing [Infographic] appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://ift.tt/xMddWR July 27, 2017 at 11:24AM
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Twitter is having a very bad day http://ift.tt/2v2PX4k Twitter reported its second-quarter earnings today, and it did not go over well. As a result, the stock is down more than 12% in trading today — which is a very Twitter thing to happen, so to speak. Here’s the chart, which could pretty much be summed up with a ?: Today also wiped out most of the gains that it accrued in the year to date. Twitter’s last report was a rare positive one for the company, when its monthly active users actually grew faster than expected and everything came in ahead of Wall Street’s analysts. This quarter, the very Twitter move of its users not growing and its advertising business stalling happened once again and shed more doubt on the company’s future. To be fair, the company is still more or less being gauged on the growth of its monthly active users. And Twitter’s actual audience has always been a pretty hard thing to gauge given that a lot of content bleeds beyond the platform and it’s trying to further expand into live video. The company has tried to distance itself from that MAU metric because, for better or worse, its growth is probably being sized up against other advertising networks like Facebook. To counter that, the company has started to emphasize its growth in its daily active users. That’s the strategy that Snap employed in its pitch that it’s an alternative to Facebook. The goal is to convince Wall Street that its eyeballs are more valuable than Facebook’s eyeballs because the service is much more engaging, and people spend a lot more time looking at Twitter multiple times throughout the day. Better engagement means more expensive ads, which means that the company will be able to restart its engine — but that means it has to grow those DAUs. Still, Twitter isn’t being to open about those DAUs, and instead doing the Very Tech Move of telling us the growth rate and giving us a chart without a Y axis when talking about its DAUs. We may, in the future get more clarity, but for now that’s not helping Twitter’s case as being a potentially huge advertising product alongside other options in the market. Featured Image: Bryce DurbinSocial Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com July 27, 2017 at 10:41AM
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Nobody is joining Twitter, so let's just blame Trump http://ift.tt/2v2qet4 Nobody is joining Twitter, so let's just blame TrumpImage: Bloomberg/getty images
By Suzanne Ciechalski2017-07-27 14:32:23 UTC
Twitter may be President Donald Trump's favorite tool, but for the average person, its appeal has apparently become a bit lackluster. In three months, Twitter's growth has remained flat, sitting at 328 million monthly active users, the company reported on Thursday as part of its quarterly earnings release. Even worse, the company also saw a decrease in revenue this quarter. In America, home of one of Twitter's most notorious users, monthly active users fell by two million, while international users grew, the company said in its letter to shareholders. Maybe Americans are sick of political Twitter, or maybe they're just tired of the constant feed of news. Who knows. It's definitely not a bright spot in the company's quarterly financial report, but hey, it isn't all bad news. Monthly active usage has increased by five percent year over year, and daily active usage has increased by 12 percent year over year, according to a press release.
Another bright spot in the report: the company says the actions its taken against abusive accounts everyday has multiplied by 10, as it seeks to make the social media network safer, according to its letter to shareholders. Additionally, accounts with action taken against them for abusive content have led to 25-percent less abuse reports, the company said. "Over the coming several quarters, people can expect a continued focus on delivering the best of what’s happening in the world," the letter to shareholders says. "Specific areas of focus continue to be our commitment to safety, making it easier to get to what matters to people, and helping people capture and share what’s happening more quickly." Social Media via Social Media http://ift.tt/1N1mMj1 July 27, 2017 at 09:43AM
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We probably still need some more numbers for this Very Important Twitter Chart http://ift.tt/2vM5VOa I’m reviewing the transcript of Twitter’s second-quarter earnings call — which definitely did not go well, with the stock crashing more than 10% — and it seems like Twitter is beating the drum very hard on its daily active user growth. It’s referenced nearly a dozen times, by my count, and there were probably a bit more that I might not have caught. But either way, the company is regularly referring to double-digit growth in its DAU count year-over-year and that it is stressing DAUs as one of its most important focuses. That being said, the company still hasn’t seemingly given an exact number for those DAUs — and we, instead, got Silicon Valley’s favorite chart-without-a-Y-axis metric. Here it is, in all its glory: Even when asked about the company’s advertising business, COO Anthony Noto zeroed in on DAU growth to start. “As I mentioned, we’re very excited about the third consecutive quarter, double-digit DAU growth at 12% year-over-year,” he said on the earnings call. “Because that bodes really well for future revenue growth.” This is a very classic Silicon Valley thing to do. The growth story is always something that’s going to be critical, and it’s what Wall Street is looking for as it gauges whether Twitter can be a sustainable business. Its ad business is stalled, but it can sell its product as something that users adore and heavily engage with — meaning those individual eyeballs are more attractive than the sum of the eyeballs that look at Twitter on a monthly basis. This is definitely Snap’s strategy as it points to its DAU and engagement metrics. To be sure, double-digit growth isn’t bad. In fact, in Twitter terms (and maybe in the broad scheme of things) it’s pretty good! We could probably guess that its DAUs are some non-trivial percentage of its monthly active users — which did not grow this quarter compared to the previous quarter and sits at 328 million. Twitter is trying to bill itself as an essential service for real-time information, where it certainly excels. That includes proving out a strategy in live video, as a lot of online content people consume is now video. Twitter, still, seems to be judged on that metric of monthly active users. And for the company that’s going to be pretty unfortunate, as it’s going to be compared to other social networks like Facebook which can add tens of millions of monthly active users in a similar period. Facebook even said that WhatsApp now has around a billion daily active users. These are staggering metrics in the scope of Twitter, which isn’t really trying to be Facebook — and wants to be judged on something differently. I’m sure we can do some mathematical gymnastics to walk backwards into a DAU number from its MAU number. But Twitter still seems to be apprehensive about offering a specific DAU number, and instead will drop these charts into its presentation. In the end, this is a positive trend for Twitter, but it might not be enough to appease Wall Street just yet as they look for some more clarity as to where the company’s business is going. Featured Image: Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesSocial Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com July 27, 2017 at 09:10AM
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Twitter’s user growth goes nowhere and the stock is collapsing http://ift.tt/2v1QzY0 The small nice-ish story Twitter had going for itself for the past few quarters was that, at the very least, its monthly active users were growing quarter-over-quarter. While MAUs might not be the right number to look at these days, for better or worse it’s one of the core metrics that Twitter is judged on for now — and that didn’t pan out when it reported its earnings today as its users were flat quarter-over-quarter (and up around 5% compared to the same quarter last year). Perhaps more importantly, the company’s MAUs in the United States fell slightly though the loss was made up by international users. So, in very Twitter fashion, the stock fell on its face as it dropped more than 5% after the report came out. Here’s the money chart: The rest of Twitter’s business looked more or less fine, but it seems that Wall Street was still relying on Twitter to continue that even small user growth. Its revenue is still falling, coming down to $574 million as its advertising business continues to decline. Its data licensing is still growing, but not yet fast enough (or large enough) to offset that decline. Twitter said it brought in earnings of 12 cents per share, while analysts were looking for earnings of 5 cents per share on revenue of $536.6 million. In a grander scope, Twitter has sought to bill itself as an indispensable live service that can evolve into a long-term independent company. Snap’s shoddy performance since going public may have altered the calculus of how the market views advertising products outside of Facebook and Google, but Twitter may see an opportunity to capitalize on its (well, large) niche and sell high-priced video advertising products. To that extent, the company touted that it had 55 million unique video viewers. It’s also tried to show that its daily user count is growing, though it was with this bizarre mystery chart with no actual daily active user number (but hey, this is tech — we don’t need a Y axis): So far this year, that pitch may be working. Even with even more changes at the top — though the most recent one was an addition with a new head of live video business — the company’s stock is still up around 20%. Twitter announced earlier this month it brought on a new CFO after Anthony Noto took over as the chief operating officer. But if it’s going to continue to sell itself, it apparently still needs to do more to get that user growth going up. Featured Image: Photographer: Yana Paskova/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty ImagesSocial Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com July 27, 2017 at 06:40AM
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How to Ensure Your Facebook Page Complies With Facebook Terms http://ift.tt/2uETXpH Do you have a Facebook page for your business? Want to be sure your page isn’t disabled (or worse, shut down) for noncompliance with Facebook’s Terms? In this article, you’ll discover four tips to keep your Facebook page in line with Facebook’s Terms.
#1: Name Your Page AccuratelySetting up a new Facebook page can be daunting, but first and foremost, you want to make sure your page name (and corresponding Facebook web address) reflects your business and what you’ll be posting on the page. Facebook has a few basic rules about page names:
Picking a business name in general can be a stressful task, so keep it simple when naming your Facebook business page. If possible, just name it after your business (or yourself). If you decide later to change your page name, it can’t be a substantial change, so keep that in mind. #2: Have a Privacy Policy in Place if You Collect DataFacebook requires that if you’re collecting any personal data from your page through a call to action (such as email addresses for your mailing list), you need to provide notice to users and have a privacy policy in place. A privacy policy is basically a disclosure document that informs (and therefore protects) users. It’s a statement you’re making to visitors to your website about how you gather information about them and what you intend to do with it. Not to mention that it’s legally required in most countries. In general, anyone with a website that collects any type of data needs a privacy policy. Through their Terms, Facebook is basically saying that if you send someone to your website from Facebook and collect their email, you’d better have a privacy policy posted. Such language can be found several times throughout Facebook’s Guidelines, including the Statement of Rights and on Facebook Page Terms. Having a privacy policy on your website is a no-brainer these days. Include your privacy policy in your footer, and anywhere you’re collecting email addresses or other personal information. So what goes in a privacy policy? Well, a privacy policy for your website should state that you won’t share/sell/trade email addresses or personal information that you collect with other third-party sites. It should let users know if you use “cookies” or other tracking signals, and there are some requirements about marketing and collecting personal information from children younger than 13 years old. Most countries have such laws, including the U.S., Canada, and members of the EU. Not having a privacy policy can land you in hot water legally with Facebook and other platforms such as Google. So the bottom line here is, if your Facebook page is linking to your website to collect emails or get Facebook users to sign up for your mailing list, make sure you have a privacy policy in place. #3: Don’t Imply That Facebook Endorses Your PromotionsA great way to get your business out there is to use your page for promotions like contests or sweepstakes. Facebook allows this, but they also make one thing clear: Keep them out of it. Facebook requires that for any promotion you run, you must:
Running a promotion, contest, or giveaway on Facebook is great for sparking interest in your business or product. You just need to make sure that you follow the Facebook Terms, including having ‘official’ rules, terms, or restrictions, and that you comply with any regulations or rules about the prizes you may be giving away. Head over here for other tips on how to run a successful contest on your page. #4: Observe Copyright at All TimesSometimes it can be tough to figure out who sees what on Facebook, but it’s clear from the Page Terms that content on your page is public to anyone who can see it. Additionally, there are strict terms ensuring that your cover photo isn’t misleading and that it doesn’t infringe on anyone’s copyright. So when you create your cover photo, make sure you use images that you have the legal right to use. To ensure you aren’t infringing on another person’s copyright, double-check the license requirements for any stock photos you may be using, obtain permission if you use someone else’s photo, or simply use your own images. Conclusion We all know the reach of Facebook and how vital it can be to growing a business online. But we have to remember that Facebook is a business as well, and they have several policies in place to protect their users. There are too many to cover here, but it’s in all of our best interests to take some reading time. Facebook has more than 10 policies ranging from data to advertising to how to report copyright infringement. Trying to dissect them all here would turn this article into a book. So as you build your business page and continue to use Facebook as a marketing tool, take a few hours to read through some of the other Terms. Just having some of that knowledge could save you from an action by Facebook and keep your business and profile in good standing. * Nothing in this article is intended to be legal advice and is for educational purposes only. What do you think? Did this article help you avoid a misstep with your Facebook page? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below. Social Media via http://ift.tt/eZnnjC July 27, 2017 at 05:06AM
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TapMedia Twitter account goes rogue as former employee calls out CEO for sexism http://ift.tt/2uD5i9K TapMedia Twitter account goes rogue as former employee calls out CEO for sexismThe wrong kind of Twitter take-overImage: Mashable Composite; AP/REX/Shutterstock
By Suzanne Ciechalski2017-07-26 19:57:33 UTC
Hell hath no fury like a former social media manager scorned. TapMedia learned that the hard way after a former social media manager took the reigns to the company's Twitter account and blasted the company's CEO, John Meyer, for being sexist. In the replies to that tweet, the person who took over the account clarified that she's a woman, and adds more on why she believes Meyer's tweet, which poked fun at a woman's eyebrows, was sexist. In addition to calling Meyer sexist, the tweeter at hand also sent out a barrage of tweets, revealing details about her time at TapMedia, including how much money she reportedly made. As the tweets continued, the profile and background images on the account were changed, a rose emoji was added to the name of the account, and a tweet was pinned to the top of the profile that read: "Entrepreneurs are false idols end exploitation & oppression of the working class." As for the identity of the hacker, the bio on the TapMedia account linked to a separate Twitter account for someone named Imogen. Mashable has also reached out to them for comment. In a statement to Mashable, TapMedia CEO John Meyer explained that "Imogen" was Imogen Olsen, a former employee at his current company, Fresco. "It’s very disappointing to see Imogen Olsen hack a previously inactive Twitter account for my previous app company, TapMedia (where I was the sole employee). It’s even more sad to see such a strong case of cyberbullying from someone who talks frequently on social media about her own mental health issues." Meyer added that his father recently died by suicide, and lived with severe mental health issues. As someone who experienced that loss, he said he believes cyberbullying should be frowned upon for its toll on mental health. "I wish her all the best and hope that she could instead engage in a much more mature, professional, and respectful dialogue with me about the things that cause her anger or frustration," he said. As of this writing, the banner photo on the TapMedia twitter account still displays the url for the website of the Democratic Socialists of America, and the tweets are still posted to the account. Social Media via Social Media http://ift.tt/1N1mMj1 July 26, 2017 at 02:58PM |
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