Marketing in the Digital Age: News Round-Up (week ending Dec 14,2018)

See you in January 2019 for more Marketing in the Digital Age!

Google+ to Shut Down Earlier

Summary: After a breach in data where developers inadvertently had access to profile information not marked public for nearly a week, Google is accelerating the end date of Google+ from Aug to April 2019.

Opinion: To the few people who still use G+ (basically, Google employees), you’ll still survive.

Offensive Content on YouTube

Summary: YouTube has increased its efforts to remove offensive content from its hub quicker. using a combination of AI and human reviewers. From July-Sept 2018, YouTube removed 7.8m videos with 81% of those being detected by machines. Of those 81%, 74.5% never received one view. During that time, they also removed 224 comments for violating their policies. Because of that, comments went up by 11%

Opinion: The efforts to remove this offensive content actually increased comments, likely because of the resulting quality and validity of content. Humanity, it is a thing!

Facebook’s 3 Things Marketers Need to Know About AR/VR

Summary: One, AR is already adding to everyday life. On mobile, its dominant device use, people use it scan and translate text and chase imaginary figures around their neighborhood. Two, VR will help people defy distance. VR can transform people to new worlds and even be used to help overcome phobias in a safe space. Three, AR and VR are poised to transform the path to purchase. With the rise of online shopping, people still do want to try on things or see how they look in an environment. AR/VR will allow for that missing piece of integration.

Opinion: As a marketer having worked on AR/VR, this is an exciting integration of technology into our everyday lives. It opens up new opportunities and mediums through which to explore how bets to communicate with customers, and, I think, allow for more personalized communications by being able to allow customers to use the technology in a way that best suits their needs.

Marketing in the Digital Age: News Round-Up (week ending Nov 9, 2018)

Chat bots to the rescue.

Chatbots Working for you This Holiday Season

Summary: With the holiday season fast approaching, many brands are using chat bots to help with consumer questions. Brands love them because it streamlines efforts from their customer service department for FAQ’s. Consumers love them because the bots are often in places they already are, like Messenger, and can provide advice like gift recommendations.

Opinion: First, where has the year gone?! Second, bots are a great tool in this type of scenario to complement a robust customer service strategy.

#wcwSTEM

Summary: MTV, Facebook, and AdCouncil launched a series of videos on IGTV (Instagram TV) featuring 5 inspirational female STEM role models. The series began this week and will continue every Wednesday for the remainder of the episodes.

Opinion: #wca- woman crush always! This is a great series aimed at encouraging girls to pursue interests and careers in the STEM field.

How to Set Your 2019 Social Media Advertising Budget

Summary: First and foremost, define what your goals are in the space. Is it more traffic, more engagement, more website views? Once you have a handle on this, determine what to project. For example, for more community building, gather your cost per follower (amount spent/amount gained) to get a rough estimate of your acquisition costs. If you want to increase by 25%, do the budgeting math accordingly. For increased engagement, visit previous engagements to see what it will cost you to keep on that path. Website views, use cost-per-click x target visits.

Opinion: This is a good start to break down a good chunk of tools you need to accurately forecast for 2019. You also want to take into account any campaigns that are being built out for your brand alongside any other one-off pushes that may be needed.

Marketing In the Digital Age: News Round-Up (week ending Mar 9, 2018)

Ever find yourself talking about something and then see an ad pop up on Facebook for it?  Is Facebook listening to you through your phone's microphone.  No, it just really feels like they are. 

Why It Feels Like Facebook Is Listening Through Your Phone

Summary: Mic check: Facebook has gotten so good at offline and online tracking that the ads you see feel like it has tapped into your phone's microphone.  Facebook uses a system of techniques to best suit ads to you, be it location based through your phone, pixels, or tying offline data from stores' loyalty cards to your online behavior. 

Opinion: The level of ad tracking can get creepy. I figure if I am going to get ads, though, I may as well get ones that may actually serve me well.  If you're not into that, you can go into Facebook settings, accounts settings, and turn off interest based ads.  Similar on your iPhone, settings--> privacy--> advertising--> limit ad tracking.

Snap Releasing Version 2 of Spectacles

Summary: Snap announced it will be releasing a version 2 of its Spectacles due out in fall of this year.  The new glasses will now feature two cameras with a price point of $300 (up from $130 for version 1).  This is after a $40 million loss on the first version of Spectacles, with many glasses sitting unsold.  

Opinion: When Snap changed its tagline to "a camera company," one would have expected better camera products.  That has not been the case, and this seems like an instance of throwing good money after bad now. 

Brands' Ads Unknowingly Ran on YouTube Channel InfoWars

Summary: InfoWars right-wing founder Alex Jones was reprimanded last week for claiming victims of the Florida shooting were actors.  Now, CNN discovered brand ads from companies like Nike, ClassPass, FOX, Acer, and more were running on the channel without their knowledge. 

Opinion: Keep your blacklist and whitelist channels up-to-date!  Set a calendar reminder if you have to in order to protect your brand identity and integrity.

FOX Aims to Cut Ads to 2 Minutes Per Hour by 2020

Summary: FOX Network Group's ad sales chief announced a goal of reducing TV ad time to two minutes by 2020. In 2017, the average time was ~13 minutes on broadcast and 16 minutes on cable. FOX would likely have to charge a lot more for ads given the reduced inventory.    

Opinion: This will price a lot of companies out of the market.  For those that could afford it, I imagine the effectiveness of the ad and recall would increase given the limited time.  

Facebook Signs Deal to Stream 25 MLB Games

Summary: Facebook announced exclusive rights to stream 25 afternoon games on Facebook. 

Opinion: With broadcast TV on the decline, a shift to online viewing threatens offline revenues for traditional TV even more. The shift, however, is reflective of migrating consumer behaviors. 

Marketing In The Digital Age: News Round-Up (Week Ending Dec 22, 2017)

This week's highlights include why your old iPhone really is slow, Instagram comments, using Universal's music library on Facebook, Magic Leap's first product reveal, and fake news on Facebook. 

Apple Slows Down Old iPhones

Summary: Apple has confirmed it is throttling processor speeds when a battery capacity deteriorates over time. While users may feel this is a ploy to get customers onto newer phones, Apple has stated that the performance of older devices is sub-optimal due to its lithium-ion batteries which become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions. 

As of about an hour ago, a class action lawsuit was filed against Apple.  

Instagram now Quietly Nudges you to Comment on Posts In Your Feed

Summary: Instagram has quietly rolled out an "add comment" section to posts on Instagram, but you have to hover on a post for a few seconds before this new addition appears.  

Facebook, Universal Music Strike Multi-Year Licensing Deal

Summary: Universal Music Group is the first major label to sign-up a deal with Facebook allowing users to use upload videos to Facebook, Instagram, and Oculus. Facebook has done this in an effort to keep users on its site and attract advertisers.

Magic Leap: Founder of Secretive Start-Up Unveils Mixed Reality-Goggles

Summary: Magic Leap, which has been operating in a secretive mode, announced its virtual reality googles called Lightwear. This is the first piece of working technology the $6B valued company has revealed publicly. 

Facebook Changes Approach to False News

Summary: Instead of using "disputed flags" to indicate a story may be spreading false information, Facebook will rely on its "Related Article" feature.