Communicating With GIFs

04gif-web1-articleLargeGIF’s are quickly becoming a popular way for young people to communicate on mobile. .gif files, pronounced “jif,” are animated, soundless images that endlessly loop and allow users to communicate specific emotions that would otherwise go unexpressed. Seen as an edgy and witty way to express yourself, GIFs are quickly becoming the new native language of the digital world. Here’s what you need to know if you’re looking to keep up with the next big thing in digital media:

  • Origin: They were created in 1987 by a programmer at Compusoft. Though omnipresent on desktops, their use has only recently invaded mobile devices.
  • Why They’re Used: GIFs are step up from emojis. They’re used to express feelings that a simple emoticon can’t, and millennials are loving it.
  • Who’s Making Money From It? Nobody is really making money from them quite yet, but companies are quickly seeing the value in this format. Companies like Buzzfeed uses them as a storytelling method, and Google recently responded to a question using a GIF in a press interview.
  • Where do I find Them? Tumblr has long been home to a huge number of GIFs, but plenty of other sites host them.

Knowing new forms of popular media is key to staying relevant in digital media. Learning to use these new formats paves the way for innovation, and helps you capture the interest of your customers. After all, if you aren’t connecting with your customers, your competition is.

The Technicalities of a ‘Tech’ Startup

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With “tech startups” being everyone’s favorite buzzword – are we simply diluting the term? “Tech” startups like Uber and Airbnb (yes, they are still labeled as startups) are taking over the world,  but what about them makes them a “Tech” company? Of course, technology is a key part of how they do business, but that is true of any company. The truth lies at the core of the word “tech” and what people associate with it: research, innovation, and long term thinking, not necessarily just producing hardware or software. The chief economist at Moody Analytics, Mark Zandi, suggests that the label of “tech” sends the message “you want to work for me. You want to buy things from me at a higher price. You want to give me capital at a lower cost.”

Ultimately, is the classification of “tech” just marketing? Likely so. Alex Payne, an early Twitter engineer and tech investor, wrote in 2012: “Calling practically all growing contemporary businesses ‘technology companies’ is about as useful as calling the enterprises of the industrial era ‘factory companies.’ ” Would calling Uber a transportation startup or Airbnb a hospitality startup be as exciting? Likely not. What is sure is that “tech startups” are looking to revolutionize your way of life no matter what industry they’re doing it through.

Read the full article in the New York Times here.

 

Google’s Race to Stay on Top

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A key component of any business is a company’s website, and Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is key to getting that website seen by customers. Google is the world’s premier search engine, and Amit Singhal is the man responsible for the 200+ factors that determine your website’s ranking in the search engine. Amit also keeps track of incoming trends, and how to adapt Google’s software to reflect changes in the way people look up their information. What someone may have asked a search engine 5 years ago is vastly different from what will be asked today, and it’s Amit’s job to ensure Google is optimally responding to a user’s search query.

How can you ensure that your own business remains up to date? Having your website optimized for mobile is key to being relevant and ranking high in the search engine’s results. With a surge in mobile users on both phone and tablet, a website that doesn’t read well on a phone will not fare well with Google’s algorithms. Quick load times and relevant information are always important, as people want responsive sites with the information they need so they can put their phone down and get on with whatever they were doing.

As a search engine, it is Google’s purpose to deliver exactly what the user needs as soon as possible, and Amit’s job to make sure Google keeps doing that as well as it possibly can. With so many startups being acquired by both Google and now Apple, Google cannot take its position as the #1 search engine for granted. Startups with algorithms for apps and music are appearing, and Google’s ability to adapt to that change will determine its relevance in the decades to come.

 

Read the full article in The New York Times here.

Gain a Competitive Edge in E-Commerce by Optimizing Your Mobile Site

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With mobile transactions gaining an increasingly large share of the e-commerce pie, small business owners need to start asking themselves: how can I best accommodate mobile shoppers?

Mobile’s global average share of e-commerce is 34% and in countries like Japan and South Korea that share is over 50%. While US conversion rates from mobile shoppers are still around 2.46% compared to Japan’s 9.35%, it is still important to note that one can gain a significant competitive advantage from optimizing their mobile e-commerce suite.

Here are a few common shortcomings of small business and easy solutions:

  • Use Mobile Solutions that Make Sense: Opt for all-in-one desktop and mobile e-commerce solution with write-once-publish-everywhere capabilities that will streamline your online presence into a cohesive entity.
  • Ensure Your Site is Mobile Accessible: Avoid large images or too much information in a single page as most mobile users are still running off of the slower 3G network. 40% of users will abandon a site if doesn’t load within 3 seconds so ensure your site will load quickly to avoid losing potential customers.
  • Use Everything that Mobile Has to Offer: Mobile users give your site a lot of information when they go onto your website. Take advantage of this data by adding elements that personalize the user experience for the customer.

Recently, Google has started to give an overwhelming priority in its search engine rankings to websites that are optimized for mobile. Ensuring your site is mobile-friendly will sharpen your competitive edge and vastly improve your online presence. Don’t let your business fall behind – optimize your e-commerce site today!

Click here for the full article on GetElastic

Properly Extracting Value from Data

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Is big data overrated? In a world ruled where metrics are king, raw data is being used to assess the quality of subjective things. We use big data to quantify the quality of teachers, students, and our fitness, but what insights are we drawing from that data?

In the mid-nineties, websites like Facebook were using human judgement to help discern quality insights over mindless data. Asking people how they felt about what was presented to them in their newsfeed granted them insight on what was an absent-minded click and what was an actual engagement.

Big data often fails to consider human factors that are often left unaccounted for. In the case of teachers, big data may determine that a certain teacher is doing poorly, but small data will tell us why that is. Conversely, it can tell us what a teacher is doing right to yield better results amongst children. Big data does a great job of explaining results, but a poor job of explaining how or why you got there. There is no replacement for human inspection and expertise, as much as companies try to avoid doing so.

As optimistic as we’d like to be about using big data to improve our lives and save us money, we can’t let it replace traditional decision making. Instead, we should use it as a tool to make more educated decisions.

To read the full article on The New York Times, click here.

Marketo and LinkedIn Team Up to Offer Personalized Ads

14257556613_4cfd6d3aa7_oMarketo, a digital marketing automation software company, has struck a deal with LinkedIn to use its metrics and database to target ads specifically to LinkedIn, allowing marketers to better hone in on their target market. With GE as its first customer, it is looking forward to engaging consumers with a brand in a more professional context which was previously unavailable. Here are some key points from the article:

  • LinkedIn and Marketo are partnering up: “Marketo brings to the partnership software that automates digital marketing across the Web, email and social and mobile channels. That’s being integrated with LinkedIn’s new ‘Lead Accelerator’ product, which helps marketers deliver more relevant ads by combining data about what part of the brand’s website the person browsed with demographic information from the person’s profile on the LinkedIn professional networking site.”
  • How is this different from LinkedIn’s previous advertising? “The integration essentially bridges paid advertising on LinkedIn with the digital marketing that Marketo is known for and helps advertisers tell a consistent story across those channels, said Marketo Chief Executive Phil Fernandez.”
  • Consumers respond to ads that are consistent through multiple devices: “‘Consumers are expecting relationships to follow them around as they move through all those places,’ Mr. Fernandez said in an interview. ‘We move around devices and apps without thinking about it, but what brands are saying to us doesn’t.’”
  • This advertising strategy adapts for consumers who may take several paths when researching a purchase: “There are multiple paths a customer might take to research and make a purchase decision, including a combination of online channels and offline interactions, like conversations with an actual salesperson, said Andy Markowitz, general manager for GE’s Performance Marketing Labs.”
  • Marketo will not stop with LinkedIn: “For Marketo, the LinkedIn partnership is the latest in a series of deals that aims to help marketers create continuous conversations with customers across digital channels. The company recently reached a deal to integrate its software with Google AdWords and Google Analytics products as well as Facebook’s custom audiences.  Marketo this week is also rolling out new products to help marketers reach customers across all major digital channels through a single software platform.”

LinkedIn and Marketo are sure to make waves with this new service, and will open the possibility of advertising B2B product and services through social media. There is no denying that personalized ads are the future of advertising, and with Marketo and LinkedIn becoming bigger players in the game, we can expect many more changes to come.

For the full article on The Wall Street Journal, click here.

E-Commerce Dips into the Home Services Industry

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The biggest names in e-commerce are now competing in the home services industry, attempting to bundle your recently purchased items with related services. Giants like Amazon give approved businesses a chance to bid against one another to provide your desired service. How will this affect you? Here are some things to consider:

  • This is a ridiculously huge, untapped industry: “Angie’s List … estimates the home services industry is $400 billion. Others put it at more than $800 billion. ‘There are few pots of gold left as big as this on the Internet,’ said Marco Zappacosta, chief executive and co founder of Thumbtack.”
  • Amazon is king and is only getting bigger“‘I can tell you that with 85 million customers purchasing products from Amazon that needed installation or assembly, customers have told us that Amazon Home Services fills an important need,’” says Peter Faricy, VP of Amazon Marketplace. “For Amazon it is another step toward becoming the conduit through which we buy everything, not just goods but services and entertainment as well.”
  • Google is another top contender: With services like Google Express to compete with Amazon, Google isn’t going to give up this sector of this emerging market without a fight. With the ability to provide services directly from its own search engine, Google will be sure to have its share of the market.
  • Home service providers have to cut prices to compete: Small business must cut costs in order to compete with Amazon’s bidders, but at the same time are gaining volume. “‘I look at it as an opportunity – it’s Amazon,’ […] I would say it’s early days still. We are trying to make it work. It’s a little difficult adjusting with the new prices, but there’s definitely volume there. We’re interested, but a little nervous about the low prices,’” says Matt Feldman, an entrepreneur who’s business is changing due to this bidding process.

In summary, expect your next Amazon flatscreen TV purchase to come bundled with a dozen of TV installers fighting with one another to give you the best price possible, and other e-commerce retailers to follow suit. What does this mean for home service providers? Smaller margins and a lot more work.

Click here for the full article in The New York Times.

Marketing Trends For 2015: Wearable Technology Expected to Increase

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The prevalence of wearable technologies are expected to increase this year. These devices present an interesting opportunity for advertisers and marketers who will need to adapt their digital marketing strategy for each kind of device. Some general observations regarding these technologies can be made:

  • Advertisements for wearable technology, such as Google Glass, Apple Watch or the Smartwatch, will need to become more customized for smaller screens and heads up display (HUD).
  • We currently check our phones approximately 150 times a day (on average). This number is expected to increase as technologies develop. Imagine how many more times we might look at a Smartwatch or device that we don’t have to take out of our pocket. Scary!
  • “New mobile devices” that consumers, and ultimately advertisers, might interact with more than a smartphone are expected to be introduced to the market.

(Information sourced from Randy Schrum, Founder- Inspired Venture Group | Business Innovator and Speaker on Conversions, Marketing, and Sales)

Marketing Trends For 2015: Mobile Marketing Will Dominate

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One of the biggest trends for marketers to observe in 2015 is the prominence and dominance of the mobile consumer. A number of interesting points can be made on this topic:

  • Mobile is estimated to be the primary channel for paid search by the end of 2015.
  • Having a website optimized for mobile, and not just a responsive format, will be crucial.
  • In response to the dominant mobile consumer, location-based marketing will increase targeting consumers based on where they physically are, what they’re doing, and what’s nearby that may interest them.
  • In 2015 the marketing formula is simple: SOCIAL + LOCAL + MOBILE = RESULTS!

Stay tuned next week for more 2015 Marketing Trends!

(Information sourced from Randy Schrum, Founder- Inspired Venture Group | Business Innovator and Speaker on Conversions, Marketing, and Sales)

Email Newsletters Not So Irrelevant As Previously Thought

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Do you think the email newsletter is dead? We don’t!

Email newsletters should not, and can not, be dismissed as simply something irrelevant that “old people use.” An email newsletter has the advantage of a “presumption of connection,” making it an ideal platform for publishers wanting to get their message across to audiences everywhere.

At a time when a swarm of information and news buzzes constantly online, email newsletters – some free, some not – help us focus our attention and decide what’s worth paying attention to. An email newsletter typically presents itself in your inbox because you asked for it and it includes links to content you’ve previously deemed relevant to your fields of interest. In other words, it’s important information you’ve indicated you want in list-form – something that, ironically within the context of the current social media news-delivery environment, seems like a suddenly modern approach.

CLICK HERE to view this New York Times article in full.