{"title": "Analytics Related Picks", "modified_at": "2018-11-06T09:48:36Z", "entries": [{"content": {"guid": "7fcb953d47f914abbfd9a9a9ad58bc6c", "group_id": "7fcb953d47f914abbfd9a9a9ad58bc6c", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [{"caption": "Reddit.jpg", "attribution_text": "", "description": "", "height": "532", "width": "1022", "thumbnail": "https://images3.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz02YjMwNWE4NWZkNTc3OGE2NmJiZjlkNjA2OWM4ZjQzYQ==?width=75&height=75", "url": "https://images3.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz02YjMwNWE4NWZkNTc3OGE2NmJiZjlkNjA2OWM4ZjQzYQ==/Reddit.jpg", "mimetype": "image/jpeg", "source": {"name": "Business2Community"}}], "videos": [], "authors": [{"name": "Justin Wong"}], "topics": [{"guid": "6e1beec1eb8edb6811c7336ef5a7a6b8", "name": "Corporate Social Media"}], "title": "A Practical Guide to Reddit AMAs", "description": "
Reddit is one of those social media platforms that many businesses tend to steer away from. The culture of Reddit is very anti-corporate, so any blatant attempts at self-promotion will have a major negative backlash on your company. That\u2019s not to say that Reddit is an unsafe zone for businesses; they just need to approach it differently than other social media sites.
\nIf used properly, Reddit promises a major viewership base that is largely untapped by other businesses (at the moment, anyway). Currently, one of the best ways for companies to tap into Reddit is by doing an AMA (Ask me Anything).
\nHere is an example of some of the most popular AMAs of all time.
\n\nDo you need to be a celebrity to do one of these? Not necessarily. Many successful AMAs have been people who have gone through a tough experience, are suffering from a unique illness, or have an interesting job.
\nWhat exactly is an AMA?
\nAn AMA is an interview of sorts. Generally what happens is that a celebrity, politician, or someone with a unique profession sets up an AMA for anyone to ask them questions. Once you provide proof for yourself, which is usually just a tweet from your official Twitter account, you\u2019re ready to start. Don\u2019t worry if you don\u2019t quite understand it right now because there are plenty of examples further down in the article.
\nOther users can \u201cupvote\u201d questions that they like to give them more visibility and \u201cdownvote\u201d ones they think are irrelevant, and the person running the AMA can pick and choose which questions they want to answer.
\nWhy is an AMA useful?
\nThe main goal of any social media effort on behalf of your company is to get people to engage with you, and an AMA will do exactly that. The AMA will connect you directly with the people who are the most interested (or at the very least, curious) about your brand.
\nMany businesses or celebrities use the AMA as an opportunity to promote a new show, book, movie, or whatever, and this is generally considered acceptable. The more popular your AMA becomes, the higher it will be \u201cupvoted,\u201d which gives it additional visibility on Reddit. Extremely popular AMAs have seen everything from media coverage to greatly increased brand awareness, and even increased sales.
\nWhat\u2019s the catch?
\nAs mentioned earlier, Reddit is very different from Facebook or Twitter. These people aren\u2019t your fans or your followers, so don\u2019t expect all the questions to be easy. Many users will take the opportunity to ask tough or hard-hitting questions, so it is important to be prepared for anything. Treat it more like a press conference than anything else.
\nThe impact of a bad AMA can have far-reaching consequences. Particularly poor AMAs can cause severe damage to your online reputation and brand image. For example, Morgan Freeman gave an incredibly lackluster AMA where fans became convinced that he was either half asleep or the whole thing was done by a lazy marketing team. Mr. Freeman went from a beloved Internet celebrity to a bad joke almost overnight. You can see some of the disappointed fans below (warning: explicit language).
\n\nBelow are some of the biggest tips and trends for making a solid AMA:
\n1. Avoid over-promotion
\nRemember, you\u2019re talking to real, living human beings. You aren\u2019t writing a commercial or an ad spot. If you reference your new product or promotion in every response, people will soon get tired of you.
\n2. Be genuine
\nAMAs are a great way to bring attention to your product in moderation. If your new product is directly related to the question you\u2019re answering, then you can bring it up. People want to talk to you or your business because they think it is interesting, not because they want to be sold a product.
\nSnoop Dogg (also known as Snoop Lion) has made several AMAs without directly promoting anything at all. His laid-back personality and friendly responses made him a huge hit on Reddit and his AMAs bring in tens of thousands of comments.
\nYou can see Snoop\u2019s first AMA here.
\n3. Don\u2019t just go for the easy questions
\nIf you have a somewhat controversial job or position (like a tobacco company spokesperson or a politician), many people are going to ask you very tough questions. It is very tempting to make new accounts and send yourself lowball questions to avoid answering the difficult ones.
\nOne notoriously poor example is Governor Johnson of the United States. This is the perfect example of someone who understands the potential of Reddit and the AMA system, but just doesn\u2019t understand how it works. This comment sums up the entire experience very well (warning: explicit language).
\n\nYou can see the full AMA here.
\n4. Answer many different questions
\nNo one expects you to answer every single question, especially if they may be personal or sensitive in nature, but it is crucial that you make at least an effort. Some questions will be simple, some may be silly, and some will be hard-hitting, so do your best to answer a wide range of questions.
\nFor example, Louis CK impressed many Reddit users by specifically digging out and answering the unpopular questions instead of going with the easy ones. His solid AMA performance even got him media attention, with a story in the Huffington Post.
\nYou can read Louis CK\u2019s full AMA here.
\n5. Have fun
\nA serious question should have a serious answer, but you shouldn\u2019t be boring. Generally speaking, Reddit is a crowd that enjoys a good laugh; so make sure to make your AMA entertaining and enjoyable. If you come across as boring or going through the motions, people will quickly leave. We recommend dedicating at least a solid 2-3 hours for answering questions. There\u2019s never a guarantee your AMA will be popular, but it\u2019s always good to be prepared.
\n\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\n", "created_at": "2014-08-21T15:44:22Z", "modified_at": "2014-08-21T15:56:03Z", "published_at": "2014-08-20T20:30:18Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/1ABgShL", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT03ZmNiOTUzZDQ3ZjkxNGFiYmZkOWE5YTlhZDU4YmM2Yw==", "customer_canonical_link": null, "source": {"guid": "adebb0546524262ed2eb0bd686912924", "name": "Business2Community"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [{"label": "Content Type", "values": ["Licensed"]}], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "21450291b0af7876f558e39d35f07e5a", "group_id": "21450291b0af7876f558e39d35f07e5a", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [], "title": "Consider the 404 Page", "description": "Ah, the Error 404 page. Once in a while, we all come by it. It\u2019s inevitable, but it doesn\u2019t have to be boring. In fact, it should be the opposite. We don\u2019t always get second chances, especially when it comes to engaging an audience; this is one of those times, and an opportunity to get fun and creative.
\n\nInstead of slapping on that bland message we all know so well, take some time to think about a 404 page that speaks to your users \u2013 one that grabs their attention and directs them where you want. As long as you make sure to explain the situation, provide a solution and grab your viewer\u2019s attention for longer than a second, you\u2019ll be on the right track.
\nCheck out how these brands and businesses tap into their core identities with awesome 404 pages, and get some design inspiration while you\u2019re at it.
\nBlue Daniel
\nFilm designer Daniel Karcher\u2019s website wouldn\u2019t be complete without its fitting 404 page. If you want to relay talent, expertise, work ethic and an eye for design, the standard message against white background just isn\u2019t going to cut it. On Karcher\u2019s site, a typo or broken link lands you on track 404, an interactive page that mimics a subway platform and moves along with your mouse as the train noisily pulls in.
\nThe only link provided is back to the homepage, but the experience itself is a sensory feast that establishes the fact that you\u2019re dealing with a creative and very capable professional.
\n\n\u00a0
\nAfter that, you can be sure the viewer wants to go back for more. How can you work your brand or specific skill set to make your audience feel the same?
\nNew Yorker
\nThe New Yorker\u2019s error page appears just as any other piece of its content would, complete with an iconic cartoon by one of its regular artists. Immediately below, there\u2019s a handy search option, making it easy for a user to quickly get to whatever it is she or he was looking for in the first place.
\n\nSince the 404 is situated within the site\u2019s general framework, the magazine\u2019s online readers still have the opportunity to browse and click through the various categories and headlines that they\u2019d find on any other page. Simple, familiar and totally on-brand \u2013 how can you translate that into your own error page?
\nHeinz
\n\nHeinz playfully presents an empty ketchup bottle to mirror its empty page message. \u00a0Not only is the site\u2019s main menu and search box conveniently kept along the top of the page for easy navigation, Heinz also offers up a bunch of links to help users find what they need, or to direct them to what they don\u2019t even know they need.
\nProviding this many links could be problematic when it comes to other brands or websites, but the sleek, minimal design of this page makes it work. Dividing links into three groups works wonders in streamlining the information and links, making it as easy as possible for browsers to find what they need.
\nHotels.com
\nHotels.com takes the 404 page even further by using it as another opportunity to push its product. We couldn\u2019t find what you\u2019re looking for, but here\u2019s another form field for you to find and book a hotel with ease. In the unlikely event that you\u2019re not looking for a hotel on Hotels.com, the page provides three alternative links as well as a comment box for users who wish to explain what they were trying to do.
\n\nWhat could be more perfect? Taking advantage of a generally frustrating situation and using it to sell, sell, sell \u2013 and in a non-irritating way! Not every kind of business can get away with something like this, but if you can find a way to work it in, by all means give it a shot. The results may astound you.
\nNational Public Radio
\nNPR\u2019s 404 starts off like so many others, but a glance ahead reveals custom crafting and attention to detail. \u00a0Like other examples featured here, the NPR page is smartly framed as any other on the site, with dozens of non-distracting links to various categories and pages. Just below the search box, though, is where things get interesting.
\n\nIn its deep-rooted tradition of rich storytelling and reporting, the company tells fans: \u201cIt's a shame that your page is lost, but at least it's in good company; stick around to browse through NPR stories about lost people, places and things that still haven't turned up.\u201d What follows is a delightful, curiosity-inspiring list linking to coverage on topics as wide-ranging as Amelia Earhart and the striped-shirt, bespectacled Waldo.
\nSee what happens when you start thinking outside the box when it comes to the dreaded 404. Keep your audience\u2019s needs and interests in mind, and you\u2019re bound to come up with some great, attention-grabbing options. Share your results in the comments below, or link to your favorite example!
\nWe hope you never land there, but here's ours:
\n\nBy\u00a0Anastasia\u00a0Dyakovskaya,\u00a0NewsCred\u00a0Contributor
\n\n", "created_at": "2014-04-17T19:56:41Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-05T09:00:28Z", "published_at": "2014-04-17T19:57:48Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/1eECdQu", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT0yMTQ1MDI5MWIwYWY3ODc2ZjU1OGUzOWQzNWYwN2U1YQ==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/consider-the-404-page/", "source": {"guid": "609633841404c0f27271cf8e82a04c36", "name": "NewsCred"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [{"label": "Post Type", "values": []}, {"label": "SEO Keywords in Post", "values": []}], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "3ebbaeeaca507b1ab52ed84403e3d6a4", "group_id": "3ebbaeeaca507b1ab52ed84403e3d6a4", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [{"guid": "ed381ed30e6bf4456d85584c885c3098", "name": "Digital Marketing"}], "title": "The Pros and Cons of Having A Full Internet Marketing Campaign (Infographic)", "description": "Over the years, many brands and businesses have started to adopt Internet marketing much more extensively than traditional mass media marketing as seen in the graph from Adecco which is part of an Infographic that explores the evolution of marketing. Many of these businesses have realized the importance of Internet marketing particularly as an inbound marketing tool that delivers better results and revenues than traditional marketing channels.
\nTo gain a better understanding of why full Internet marketing has grown in popularity over the years, one should first gain an insight of the advantages this digital marketing tool present for businesses, whatever size or industry they may be. It is also important to also take into consideration some of the disadvantages full internet marketing campaigns present businesses to help them gauge which digital marketing tool will work best for their business environment.
\nThe infographic (click to zoom):
\n\nEmbedded from Digital Marketing Philippines
\n\n", "created_at": "2014-02-10T14:00:17Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-06T08:37:55Z", "published_at": "2014-02-10T14:00:25Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/1loXJIw", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT0zZWJiYWVlYWNhNTA3YjFhYjUyZWQ4NDQwM2UzZDZhNA==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-having-a-full-internet-marketing-campaign-infographic/", "source": {"guid": "adebb0546524262ed2eb0bd686912924", "name": "Business2Community"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [{"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "28d40779bd7f81f78f95a8750a1a46bd", "group_id": "28d40779bd7f81f78f95a8750a1a46bd", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [{"caption": "", "attribution_text": "", "description": "", "height": "245", "width": "520", "thumbnail": "https://images3.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz0wM2UwZWZjNTdhYmE2ODhkOTkzMTYxNGM2NmI2YjMzYQ==?width=75&height=75", "url": "https://images3.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz0wM2UwZWZjNTdhYmE2ODhkOTkzMTYxNGM2NmI2YjMzYQ==/.jpeg", "mimetype": "image/jpeg", "source": {"name": "The Next Web"}}], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [{"guid": "d179cbd652e19851b913fe5eaa5001cd", "name": "Mobile Application"}, {"guid": "274e6aed8e840aa235973559e6d5522a", "name": "Apps"}, {"guid": "7308e0118fa02a5479b3bd6a8bfd8cb6", "name": "Entrepreneurship"}], "title": "How to decide between a responsive website or a native mobile app", "description": "Many business owners and entrepreneurs struggle with whether they should design a responsive website that works across devices or focus exclusively on building a native mobile app.
\nIt\u2019s a difficult choice to make since both options present advantages and disadvantages that must be taken into consideration when moving forward.
\n\nAs of last year, apps from retail businesses took up to 27 percent of consumer\u2019s time, which sheds lights on how critical a mobile app can be to reaching your customers where they are active online.\u00a0At the same time, 67 percent of consumers say they are more likely to purchase from a mobile-friendly website than they are from a website not optimized for devices other than desktop.
\nIt\u2019s a tough call to make when deciding between responsive design or an app, but in the end, it depends on the goals of your business.
\nIf your company can afford it, it\u2019s highly recommended that you build both a responsive site and a native mobile app in order to help your business work towards capturing the attention of your entire mobile audience.\u00a0The native mobile app will provide a mobile centric experience for your existing and most loyal customers, while your responsive website can help provide an optimized experience to new and old visitors browsing your website or discovering it for the very first time.
\nFor example, popular ecommerce brand Nasty Gal has a responsive website and a mobile app to help provide the best experience for its shoppers however they wish to shop the brand\u2019s products.
\nMost companies can\u2019t afford to do both, which is why it\u2019s important to understand the advantages of both options when addressing your company\u2019s mobile priorities.
\nResponsive Web design is certainly the most affordable option for your business as compared to the development of a mobile app. Take into consideration the initial costs of redesigning your website to be mobile friendly, then the cost of occasional upkeep and upgrades.
\nIf visibility in the search engines is an increasingly important part of your strategy to grow your business, then a responsive website is critical in helping grow traffic to your website. A mobile app lives in a closed environment and cannot be indexed by the search engines, which requires driving traffic to this app through alternate methods.
\n\nDepending on your designer and the size of your website, a responsive Web design often takes far less time to create then does a mobile app since there\u2019s no app store approval or extensive guidelines to follow as compared to what Google Play, the Apple app store and the Windows Phone app store require for launching an app.
\nIf the goal of your destination online is to be universally accessible from any device, then responsive design is the solution. A mobile app is designed for a unique experience; exclusive to the operating system it lives on, which means it isn\u2019t a one size fits all fix.
\nHowever, don\u2019t think of responsive design as the easy way out when it comes to optimizing your website across mobile devices. Although a responsive website optimizes your experience, it doesn\u2019t incorporate all the smart phone features like the camera or GPS that a native mobile app can.
\nA mobile app will provide users with unique functionality and speed that can\u2019t be achieve with a responsive website, but can be experienced on the operating system you choose to design your app on.
\nIt\u2019s better than not having a mobile-friendly version of your website, but it\u2019s not the finally solution for your customer\u2019s experience with your business on mobile. Again, the choice between responsive and a mobile app depends on what your goals are for mobile.
\nA mobile app offers a compelling, unique and mobile specific experience for your customers, which is one of the main reasons why your company should consider designing an app over worrying about making your existing website mobile-friendly.
\nFirst and foremost, if you have existing data to analyze than it is important to use your analytics tools like Google Analytics or Omniture to see what mobile devices are used the most to visit your website in the past few months. This can help inform what operating system you decide to design your app on.
\n\nWhether you decide to go with iOS, Android, Windows Phone or another less popular operating system, it\u2019s essential to match the features of the operating system with the type of app you\u2019re looking to create whether it\u2019s an ecommerce store, a content focused website etc.
\nBesides being able to utilize more of the features incorporated in a mobile device into the experience, a mobile app often has access to more data from a user and therefore, can provide a more personalized experience.
\nThis personalization through data could play out in the types of push notifications an app sends you, product recommendations, suggested content to view or other specific user-driven actions. When a user makes a profile on an app, it makes gathering data about a person and their online habits much easier for a business and much quicker and smoother for the user continually using this app to shop, find events to attend, listen to music and perform other tasks.
\nAs of now, a native mobile app offers the best user experience for a person on a mobile device since there are still limitations to how HTML 5 can be parsed on mobile.
\nAs the complexity of the responsive website increases, the more likely the user experience will begin to suffer. A native mobile app offers the best user experience to your audience, taking advantage of the phone\u2019s functions and the expectations of customers using these devices.
\nLastly, in-app purchasing drives 76 percent of all app marketplace revenues to date since once it is setup, it\u2019s particularly easy for users to make a purchase with pre-entered credit card information.
\nThis is best suited if your app will offer micro-purchases, which our low price point products or services within the app, like buying virtual goods, membership to the premium version of the app or access to additional content.
\nThis article originally appeared on\u00a0The Next Web
\n\n", "created_at": "2014-02-10T13:49:06Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-05T11:41:04Z", "published_at": "2014-02-10T13:49:12Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/1aNwPbT", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT0yOGQ0MDc3OWJkN2Y4MWY3OGY5NWE4NzUwYTFhNDZiZA==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/how-to-decide-between-a-responsive-website-or-a-native-mobile-app/", "source": {"guid": "a01412aa35f57d55b0789e3329dd1f3a", "name": "The Next Web"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [{"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "78c9d5cf2cd17b06eb0006378850dd2c", "group_id": "78c9d5cf2cd17b06eb0006378850dd2c", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [], "title": "Pinterest, Twitter And Tumblr (Yes, Tumblr!) Are Starting To Steal Revenues From Facebook", "description": "No longer a novelty, social media\u00a0is now driving huge increases in paying customers to retail sites, according to a report released this morning by Adobe.
\nBut Adobe\u2019s fourth-quarter Social Media Intelligence Report also showed something else interesting: Facebook is no longer the only game in town.
\nThe report, drawn from anonymous, aggregated data from more than 5,000 companies using Adobe\u2019s Marketing Cloud services, indicates that Tumblr, Pinterest, and Twitter are now seeing big increases in revenue per visit thanks to their driving more consumers to retail sites.
\nEven Tumblr, which Yahoo bought last year in a $1.1 billion deal that has since drawn a lot of criticism as Tumblr traffic growth has apparently waned, showed that it might have a chance to fulfill Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer\u2019s hopes after all. Adobe says revenue per visit to Tumblr, derived from sending consumers to retail sites via ads, social media pages, and brand posts, jumped 340% from a year ago. Pinterest saw a 244% jump in revenue per visit, while Twitter logged a 131% increase and Facebook revenue per visit was up 72%.
\nThough surely the incredible increases posted by Tumblr and Pinterest are off a relatively small base a year ago, Adobe also says there are other factors.\u00a0Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst for Adobe Digital Index, the Adobe unit that compiled the report, thinks the jumps mainly have to do with the visual nature of those two social networks vs. Facebook, which for all its posted photos still depends to a large extent on text posts, both by users and by marketers.
\nPinterest even overtook Facebook for referring revenues in the fourth quarter in the United Kingdom, and Adobe expects it to blow past Facebook\u2019s revenue per visit in the U.S. this year. Tumblr almost caught up with Facebook\u2019s revenue per visit as well, coming in only 10% lower.
\nSome of the gains by Facebook competitors, of course, comes from the fact Facebook has years of revenue growth already, so the leading social network still leads by far in revenues. Still, the signs are worrisome for Facebook, says Gaffney. \u201cGrowth might be slowing down because of competition,\u201d she said in an interview. \u201cFacebook is going to have to do some new things to improve click-throughs on its ads.\u201d
\nNot all the news is bad for Facebook. Adobe says brand marketers, who spend the largest chunk of ad dollars overall, are finding Facebook ads more attractive. Facebook\u2019s click-through rate on ads jumped 365% from a years ago, even as its ad prices in cost per thousand impressions\u2013a method of payment used by brand marketers looking to influence brand or purchase preferences more than trying to get an immediate click-to-buy\u2013rocketed 437%.
\nWhat\u2019s more, brand posts are attracting more attention from Facebook users, with social engagement such as comments, shares and likes on the posts up 180% from a year ago. Brand posts with images in them got more than seven times the engagement of text posts, though posts with links, text or (oddly) video got less engagement than a year ago.
\nFor all that, Facebook\u2019s competition\u2013and the chief competition for all social networks for that matter\u2013is not other social networks but search. Though this report doesn\u2019t address search ads, chiefly from Google, they drive much more revenue to retailers and just about every other site than social networks.
\n\n", "created_at": "2014-01-27T16:21:59Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-06T06:53:14Z", "published_at": "2014-01-27T16:28:26Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/1dIOBYB", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT03OGM5ZDVjZjJjZDE3YjA2ZWIwMDA2Mzc4ODUwZGQyYw==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/pinterest-twitter-and-tumblr-yes-tumblr-are-starting-to-steal-revenues-from-facebook/", "source": {"guid": "aa8ee769628871feea7081e8c9b9ac1a", "name": "Forbes"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [{"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "31380cdc5e2434ce5016a6f30aa74976", "group_id": "31380cdc5e2434ce5016a6f30aa74976", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [{"guid": "865e98fc08ff54c5f6229cdf1cde1fc9", "name": "Tumblr"}, {"guid": "fc72b5a922a510feb1eb1afe1817e05e", "name": "Tumblr Acquisition"}, {"guid": "7620c8cd0c5f21ffb1cc1afcceaee5d6", "name": "Yahoo Microsoft Deal"}, {"guid": "6dcb42ea753b7a52a045a441f91dfb6c", "name": "Yahoo"}, {"guid": "2d92393c32395ee7ca316f978f744677", "name": "Snapchat"}, {"guid": "ee8b87ce69f4038f3d6968c1b167900a", "name": "Advertising"}, {"guid": "2108938e5a3ff42c7b26c6ca9a8e7603", "name": "Marissa Mayer"}, {"guid": "f7ca46d4b7a8c8b9ac665a83744dbc48", "name": "Personal Computer"}, {"guid": "5033199ffd7564ea5579fd4d60cc5fb0", "name": "Mergers and Acquisitions"}, {"guid": "d73017dceb239e84fc7d5618a871db06", "name": "NYC Start-Ups"}], "title": "Yahoo's Next Problem: Tumblr's Traffic Isn't Growing", "description": "The past year has been an up-and-down affair for Yahoo, with the company and its CEO, Marissa Mayer, scoring numerous PR coups while failing to make headway in its core business of selling digital advertising.
\nOne of those coups was the $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr, the social blogging platform, which had drawn interest from the likes of Facebook and Microsoft despite having negligible revenues. Like Snapchat, Tumblr justified its sale price with its astonishing rate of user growth.
\nBut since the acquisition, that growth \u2014 or at least the portion of it subject to public verification \u2014 has come to a screeching halt.
\nIn May, the month the deal was announced, Tumblr reached an audience of 47.49 million users across desktop and mobile, according to comScore. Only once in the subsequent six months, in July, did its traffic exceed that level. That\u2019s not to say traffic has fallen off, just plateaued abruptly.
\nAsked about the audience trend, a Tumblr spokeswoman cautioned against reading too much into the comScore data. Via email:
\n\n\nComscore does not fully capture mobile traffic, as it does not include in-app traffic (and that number you reference also only accounts for US). For Tumblr, 1 in 2 active users access Tumblr content through the mobile app.\u00a0In addition, in the past year we\u2019ve seen a 55% total engagement growth and on mobile this number is 251% growth.
\n
So the picture painted by comScore\u2019s data is far from complete. But it\u2019s worth noting that when Valleywag asked Tumblr in December why it had asked Quantcast, another measurement company, to hide its audience numbers from users, this was its reply: \u201cIn order to remain consistent with the rest of the tech sector and improve traffic reporting, we are now measuring Tumblr\u2019s audience engagement only through comScore analytics.\u201d
\nAnother data set, a global survey of 170,000 internet users conducted by GlobalWebIndex, shows a similar pattern. The proportion of internet users describing themselves as active users of Tumblr held steady at 4% from the second through the fourth quarter of 2013. Meanwhile, the proportion of users saying they have a Tumblr account jumped from 6% in Q1 to 12% in Q2, but then hovered around that level for the rest of the year (at 11% in Q3 and 13% in Q4).
\nIn any case, Yahoo surely wouldn\u2019t mind if Tumblr were growing both its app usage and its web traffic. Considering the trajectory it was on at the time of the acquisition, that would seem to have been the logical expectation.
\nHow to explain this? The easiest theory would be that Tumblr, having become part of a faceless corporate colossus, has \u201clost its cool.\u201d Certainly there was no shortage of predictions at the time of the sale that this would be the case, and no shortage of users vowing to take their business elsewhere. But history suggests mass defections of that sort are rare. (The promised post-Facebook Instagram exodus was all talk, for example.) When users flee in droves, it\u2019s usually because of a change to the product, not the ownership.
\nHere\u2019s another thought: Tumblr\u2019s traffic flattening corresponds with a period of torrid growth for viral content sites, particularly Buzzfeed and Upworthy. Those sites deal in the same sorts of content \u2014 funny gifs and memes, inspirational photos and videos \u2014 that\u2019s popular on Tumblr. Could it be that casual Tumblr users \u2014 the kind who consume content but don\u2019t produce any of their own \u2014 are going to Buzzfeed instead to get their fix of hot dog legs and otters who look like Benedict Cumberbatch?
\n\n", "created_at": "2014-01-24T18:56:05Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-06T09:48:36Z", "published_at": "2014-01-24T19:09:26Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/LRn94C", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT0zMTM4MGNkYzVlMjQzNGNlNTAxNmE2ZjMwYWE3NDk3Ng==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/yahoos-next-problem-tumblrs-traffic-isnt-growing/", "source": {"guid": "aa8ee769628871feea7081e8c9b9ac1a", "name": "Forbes"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [{"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "f6c58f324d282bc66a1f6520a58ff122", "group_id": "f6c58f324d282bc66a1f6520a58ff122", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [], "title": "SaaS Data Security: Secure or Sink", "description": "With the recent episodes of security failures by Snapchat, Target, the NSA and more, it promises to be a very merry New Years for hackers, heroes and those who simply like to see vulnerabilities exposed. Needless to say, if you\u2019re a SaaS company that hasn\u2019t taken data security into consideration, your team has about as much foresight as Justine Sacco.\u00a0So, let\u2019s put our insecurities to rest and look at how to survive in this secure or sink world.
\nInformation That Should Be Handled With Care
\nSecurity is the name of the game, and\u00a0Personally Identifiable\u00a0Information\u00a0(PII) is the data that needs to remain protected. Loosely defined, PII is information that can be used alone or in combination with other information in order to distinguish the identity of an individual. Under Federal, New York and California state definitions, PII includes first and last name, home or other physical address to which the individual is linked, email address, telephone number, social security number, identification card number, mother\u2019s maiden name, financial services account and card numbers, as well as any other\u00a0information that can be used to contact an individual through physical or electronic means.1,2
Why PII Should Be Handled With Care
To begin with, any breach of this type of information puts loyal consumers\u2019 personal and financial information in jeopardy. Moreover, if sustaining trust with those who keep your business thriving isn\u2019t reason enough (shame on you), there are some compelling monetary reasons as to why your company wouldn\u2019t want to undergo a\u00a0data breach. In astudy conducted by Ponemon Institute, a Data Protection and Information Security Policy research firm, researchers found that the average cost per capita of a data breach in the US was around $190 in 2011 and 2012. In the spirit of SaaS, researchers found that the average cost per capita of a data breach in the technology and services industries was around $130.\u00a0While some companies are easily able to front these costs without batting an eyelash, you should keep in mind that such costs add up quickly, especially if the number of consumers\u2019 data-breached is in the tens or hundreds of thousands.
How Sensitive Information Gets Breached
There is a deadly trinity in data security that companies must be aware\u00a0of, namely, criminal attacks, system glitches and good old human error. While criminal attacks, such as SQL injections (which introduce malicious code into data driven systems), account for approximately 37% of data breaches, system glitches (such as application failures, logical errors during data transfers and authentication failures) and human error account for the rest, coming in at around 29% and 35%,\u00a0respectively.\u00a0Studies show\u00a0that around 62% of employees are under the false impression that it\u2019s okay to transfer corporate data outside of a company network and that the majority of these employees fail to delete sensitive data off of servers that haven\u2019t been secured. With that being said, it\u2019s time to look at some measures that can be taken in\u00a0order to hedge against the possibility of disaster.
Avoid Data Security Breaches With These Precautionary Measures
Aside from maintaining sensitive data solely in physical form or on servers that cannot be accessed via the Internet (or not maintaining such data at all, for that matter), there are two frameworks with which,\u00a0if you comply, can greatly reduce your chances of suffering a data breach.
\nLaws Surrounding PII
\nSuffice it to say that in this game of Guess Who, it is very important for\u00a0your team to prevail. With an easily surmountable barrier to entry, you\u00a0can command trust as a consumer-facing company, as well as preemptively safeguard yourself against the possibilities of danger. If you want to take a deeper look into some of the laws surrounding PII, check out the following:
\nOnly through collaborative discussion will we advance knowledge and\u00a0achieve enlightenment.
\n\u00a0
\n", "created_at": "2014-01-22T15:26:52Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-06T07:34:29Z", "published_at": "2014-01-22T15:40:19Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/19NKlfa", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT1mNmM1OGYzMjRkMjgyYmM2NmExZjY1MjBhNThmZjEyMg==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/saas-data-security-secure-or-sink/", "source": {"guid": "609633841404c0f27271cf8e82a04c36", "name": "NewsCred"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [{"label": "Post Type", "values": []}, {"label": "SEO Keywords in Post", "values": []}], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "911ab2035e1a0d07d1eed6411cba2490", "group_id": "911ab2035e1a0d07d1eed6411cba2490", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [{"guid": "3af59c2131fe5533b8afba3d53fba2ac", "name": "Email Marketing"}], "title": "The Case for Full-Spectrum Email Marketing", "description": "Let\u2019s say you want to deliver an important message about your business or organization to a group of 1,000 people standing in front of you. Which would you choose: a megaphone or a cell phone?
\nWhat if time wasn\u2019t a factor? Would you choose to have a personal conversation with each of the 1,000 people?
\nAs email marketing evolves, we\u2019ll no longer think of email marketing as just sending optimized, researched, and targeted mass emails to qualified lists. Rather, we\u2019ll begin to see email marketing as a full spectrum running from: 1:1 Email Marketing to Large-List Email Marketing.
\nThis type of 1:1 email marketing is about initiating personal connections with people who could help grow your business (and join your email list). Perhaps you meet these people at conferences or events, on public transit, or even by reading a post on their blog and reaching out via email.
\nTry sending a simple email that includes: \u201c(1) Here\u2019s what I do, (2) here\u2019s how it helps, (3) here\u2019s why it\u2019s relevant to you, and (4) would you like to know more?\u201d
\nHowever, you won\u2019t really know if there\u2019s interest unless you learn to be persistent in a polite way. Following up is key! Luckily, there are a bevy of tools to help with this task, including:
\nBesides 1:1 email marketing, how do you grow your email list? Well, you can collect email addresses using a signup form on your home page, blog, Facebook page, etc.
\nYou can also offer an incentive for subscribing to your list. Examples include:
\nNext, be sure to provide your subscribers what they expect to receive from your email newsletter\u2014high-quality, relevant content.
\nIf you want your subscribers to derive maximum value from your email newsletter, don\u2019t overload them with URLs (keeping Barry Schwartz\u2019s The Paradox of Choice in mind). As a rule of thumb, limit yourself to one to three links\u2014possibly even doubling up on an important URL.
\nUse timed and trigger-based autoresponders to reinforce your relationship with your subscribers.
\nTimed Autoresponder Example
\nWhen a new subscriber joins your list, he or she receives your welcome drip campaign\u2014a series of emails designed around a central theme or desired action. An effective real-world example is Ramit Sethi\u2019s newsletter for his Earn 1K program.
Trigger-based Autoresponder Example
\nWhen someone downloads your ebook and clicks a specific link in the book, he or she receives a specific follow-up email. Trigger-based autoresponders are very effective but often require a little more technical tweaking to work effectively.
By growing your list, providing value, and automating some emails, you can create an effective large-list email strategy to generate clicks. But what happens when you want more then a click?
\nYour email newsletter has laid the foundation for the relationship between you and your subscribers. Now, depending on your business needs, you may want to engage with specific subscribers in a more personal way.
\nHere are some reasons you may want to enhance these relationships:
\nTo parlay your subscriber relationships into 1:1 relationships, ask a closed-ended question. Make it as easy as possible for your subscribers to respond.
\nFor instance, at the end of your upcoming email newsletter, you could say something like, \u201cI hoped you\u2019ve enjoyed [Newsletter Name]. I\u2019d love to feature your testimonial. Are you interested in providing a testimonial for [Product or Site Name]? You can reply \u2018Yes\u2019 if interested and I\u2019ll follow up with you. Thanks.\u201d
\nExpect about 2-5% to respond.
\nHere\u2019s the magic sauce that makes full-spectrum email marketing taste so sweet! It\u2019s now up to you to follow up. If you use Gmail, you can automate the process by designing a PolitePersistence template\u2014a series of personal emails that you can set and forget.
\nAt the beginning of this post, I asked whether you\u2019d choose a megaphone or cell phone if time wasn\u2019t a factor. This was kind of a trick question\u2014my answer would be both. To grow your business, you need to include both mass and targeted communication in your marketing strategy.
\n\n", "created_at": "2014-01-21T14:02:10Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-06T08:27:49Z", "published_at": "2014-01-21T14:02:38Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/1aHGfQZ", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT05MTFhYjIwMzVlMWEwZDA3ZDFlZWQ2NDExY2JhMjQ5MA==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/the-case-for-full-spectrum-email-marketing/", "source": {"guid": "adebb0546524262ed2eb0bd686912924", "name": "Business2Community"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [{"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "ba7b4e15e69574dd4842d2862c201052", "group_id": "ba7b4e15e69574dd4842d2862c201052", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [{"caption": "LinkedIn launches Volunteer Marketplace, a place to connect and help out with nonprofits", "attribution_text": "", "description": "", "height": "1259", "width": "1265", "thumbnail": "https://images2.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz0wOGMxZDg5NzcyNGRhMGI1ODJmM2JjMTBhNDJkMTdkMQ==?width=75&height=75", "url": "https://images2.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz0wOGMxZDg5NzcyNGRhMGI1ODJmM2JjMTBhNDJkMTdkMQ==/LinkedIn%20launches%20Volunteer%20Marketplace%2C%20a%20place%20to%20connect%20and%20help%20out%20with%20nonprofits.jpeg", "mimetype": "image/jpeg", "source": {"name": "The Next Web"}}], "videos": [], "authors": [{"name": "Nick Summers"}], "topics": [{"guid": "17d2824826706932cc0da81f349d963b", "name": "LinkedIn Corporation"}, {"guid": "1c2644f01927deb1c1a7711985aed7e2", "name": "TechCrunch"}], "title": "LinkedIn launches Volunteer Marketplace, a place to connect and help out with nonprofits", "description": "This article originally appeared on The Next Web
\nLinkedIn is broadening the scope of its business-focused social network to include volunteering and philanthropic work. The Volunteer Marketplace, spotted by TechCrunch, is a new part of the site where LinkedIn members can find new opportunities to work with charitable organizations.
\nMany people use their LinkedIn account as an online resume, explaining where they\u2019ve worked and studied. LinkedIn has built on this idea with endorsements and references, as well as a volunteer and causes section where users can list the charities and movements they support.\u00a0Users can also indicate on their profile that they would like\u00a0to serve on a nonprofit board or do some volunteering.
\n\nOnce a user matches up with a nonprofit through the Volunteer Marketplace, the idea is that this work will then feed back in to their profile page. This not only reflects well for users with prospective employers, but should also help to marry volunteers with nonprofits. Hundreds of opportunities are currently listed on the forum, although LinkedIn says\u00a0it will host thousands \u201ceventually\u201d.
\n\u27a4 Volunteer Marketplace (Blog Post / Via TechCrunch)
\nImage Credit:\u00a0MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
\n\n", "created_at": "2014-01-16T14:17:49Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-06T05:09:47Z", "published_at": "2014-01-16T14:17:42Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/1arFifB", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT1iYTdiNGUxNWU2OTU3NGRkNDg0MmQyODYyYzIwMTA1Mg==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/linkedin-launches-volunteer-marketplace-a-place-to-connect-and-help-out-with-nonprofits/", "source": {"guid": "a01412aa35f57d55b0789e3329dd1f3a", "name": "The Next Web"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [{"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "a2818d844b8bde83bc572c3c996fb1bd", "group_id": "a2818d844b8bde83bc572c3c996fb1bd", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [{"guid": "4451cfc62c86b91a102b9da231a8f4b3", "name": "Super Bowl"}, {"guid": "1d8ccf0ff0c3b31e99e80ac8028ab5dc", "name": "Tucson"}], "title": "Study Says Most Super Bowl Ads Are Actually Less Effective Than The Average Commercial", "description": "Besides being the NFL championship, the Super Bowl is a crazy spectacle of ads. Brands and agencies put forth their biggest efforts (and biggest expenses) to make an impression that will last all year.
\nBut a study from the Tucson-based research firm Communicus says it might not be worth it for most companies.
\nIn fact, it concluded that a full 80 percent of Super Bowl ads do not compel purchases. That's compared to the average commercial's 60 percent chance of failure.
\nThat said, a Super Bowl ad is more memorable than those shown to similarly-sized television audiences, with a 42 percent recall value compared to 32 percent.
\nCommunicus interviewed 1,000 consumers before and after last year's Super Bowl, asking them about products they intended to buy. An ad was deemed effective if it compelled them to add that product to their list of considerations. But likeability and effectiveness did not always correlate.
\nTide's \"Miracle Stain\" commercial, for example, was a fan favorite. Its hilarious story of a Joe Montana stain bringing fame and fortune to an enthusiastic San Francisco 49ers fan was well-remembered, but did not convince non-Tide shoppers to switch detergents. It landed at number 30 out of 40 in terms of consumer success:
\n\nOn the other hand, Budweiser's \"Brotherhood\" spot, the heartwarming story of a Clydesdale trainer reuniting with the horse he raised, earned the number one spot:
\nCommunicus CEO Jeri Smith told AdAge why she thinks it worked: \"Beer is an affinity product. I want a beer that makes me feel good about myself.\"
\nAs for the \"Miracle Stain\" ad, \"It didn't tell people anything they already knew. And unlike Budweiser, I don't buy Tide because of my personal connection.\"
\nEven viewer interaction with the ads did not guarantee that those same viewers will actually buy the products if they didn't already plan on it.
\nFor example, Coca-Cola told the New York Times that the total number of fan engagements with its \"Mirage\" ad, in which a vote would effect the outcome of the ad's second half, exceeded 11 million. But its Communicus ranking was even lower than Tide's, at 32.
\nSimilarly, the four winners of Doritos' popular fan-made ad contests over the past two years have not affected brand preference or purchase intentions, according to the Communicus report.
\nWith Super Bowl ad spots rising each year and currently at $4 million, Communicus suggests that brands should consider whether or not a campaign has a good chance of becoming successful.
\nNew products consistently do well, recently evidenced by the beers Budweiser Platinum and Beck's Sapphire. Car commercials can get jumbled together in viewer's memories, unless a significant product announcement outshines a flashy showcase.
\nUltimately, creating an effective ad that is both memorable and profitable will always be more of an art than a science.\u00a0But what does seem certain is that in today's world a viral, beloved Super Bowl commercial may not actually be an effective one.\u00a0
\nSEE ALSO:\u00a0This Strange Trend Says The Chargers Are Going To Win The Super Bowl
\n\n", "created_at": "2014-01-13T20:02:01Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-06T08:18:19Z", "published_at": "2014-01-13T20:02:14Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/1dqs8oN", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT1hMjgxOGQ4NDRiOGJkZTgzYmM1NzJjM2M5OTZmYjFiZA==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/study-says-most-super-bowl-ads-are-actually-less-effective-than-the-average-commercial/", "source": {"guid": "cca7db94a5a3fbe2a7cf476eed1a06d6", "name": "Business Insider"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [{"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "274dbb649ee4caea723e256c59881ed7", "group_id": "274dbb649ee4caea723e256c59881ed7", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [{"guid": "3c68bbe07cf3403e93beaa4855a28799", "name": "Terry S. Semel"}, {"guid": "5fecfa790f14a5531edbe6d8a3123cca", "name": "Investors"}, {"guid": "b33a984a6dea94c9699a1915657638ac", "name": "Careers"}], "title": "Mashable\u2019s $13.3M funding adds fuel to the tech-media fire", "description": "Suddenly, tech media is hot again.
\nTech and social media blog Mashable picked up a $13.3 million round of funding this week, the first outside funding the company has taken in its 10-year career. The funding was led by Updata Partners. That comes on the heels of the relaunch of Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher\u2019s website, formerly known as All Things D, and now dubbed Re/code.
\nRe/code, now independent from the Wall Street Journal, has taken a significant investment from two outside investors: NBC Universal and Terry Semel\u2019s Windsor Media. Fortune\u2019s Dan Primack reported\u00a0that each company took \u201csomewhere south of 25 percent\u201d of the new company, Revere Media, for an undisclosed amount.
\nMeanwhile, the Wall Street Journal is aggressively hiring (and pouring money into) its own replacement for All Things D, a new site called WSJD. Vox Media, the parent company of tech site The Verge, raised $40 million last fall. Some tech media startups, like The Information, are even launching without any apparent funding and are instead relying on readers to pay for their quality content.
\nAnd in the background, billionaires are pumping money into general-interest news: EBay founder Pierre Omidyar has promised up to $250 million to build First Look Media (with star reporter Glenn Greenwald at the helm), and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plunked down $250 million of his own to buy the Washington Post last year.
\nAs a longtime tech journalist, all this is a bit surprising. I haven\u2019t seen tech media this flush since the brief moment of insanity when Conde Nast was funding Portfolio magazine richly enough that the magazine felt comfortable spending $30,000 to hire an elephant for a photo shoot. Before that, you have to go back to the dot-com boom and the Industry Standard\u2019s over-the-top rooftop parties to see irrational exuberance comparable to this.
\nIn the interest of full disclosure, yes, VentureBeat competes with many of these sites. We also see many of the same things happening in the media landscape that they and their investors do: rising ad revenues, growing traffic, an increasing savvy among readers who are seeking more than mere clickbait headlines and who want real, reliable information and context. These trends are benefiting VentureBeat as well.
\nSo it\u2019s encouraging that investors are as optimistic about this business as we are. What I wonder is how many of these tech media companies the market can support, particularly when the advertising market contracts again \u2014 as it inevitably will.
\nMashable, for instance, has shown a masterful ability to capitalize on social media and to expand beyond tech to become a much broader-interest site. It has embraced \u201cnative advertising,\u201d a form of embedded, sponsored posts that look like regular editorial, with great success.
\nBut at the end of the day, its business model is almost exactly the same as that of any other media business: Assemble an audience and then sell those eyeballs to advertisers.
\nGiving the constant downward pressure on the cost of advertising \u2014 thanks to the increasing volume of content online and the sophistication of advertising marketplaces \u2014 it seems publishers will, eventually, need to find a new business model. So far, none of us have come up with anything radically different from what has gone before.
\nThat\u2019s no obstacle to building a solid, sustainable, and even growing business. But I\u2019d think it would give investors who are looking for \u201c10x returns\u201d some pause.
\nThis article originally appeared on VentureBeat
\n\n", "created_at": "2014-01-09T17:23:34Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-06T06:26:20Z", "published_at": "2014-01-09T17:23:53Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/1e79oJC", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT0yNzRkYmI2NDllZTRjYWVhNzIzZTI1NmM1OTg4MWVkNw==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/mashables-13-3m-funding-adds-fuel-to-the-tech-media-fire/", "source": {"guid": "81a4880a986d0ce44848a1d26b761f44", "name": "VentureBeat"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [{"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "32389e5c9235ccb28119ad02b6ca55e7", "group_id": "32389e5c9235ccb28119ad02b6ca55e7", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [{"caption": "", "attribution_text": "", "description": "", "height": "2600", "width": "1733", "thumbnail": "https://images4.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz1lOWY0MGNhNmJlYjE3MjBmMzYxMTJlZGYwNzRiMjQ1Nw==?width=75&height=75", "url": "https://images4.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz1lOWY0MGNhNmJlYjE3MjBmMzYxMTJlZGYwNzRiMjQ1Nw==/.jpeg", "mimetype": "image/jpeg", "source": {"name": "Forbes"}}], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [{"guid": "582bf4ac33ba93ebe59a4c5120c3d08b", "name": "Social Networking"}, {"guid": "adc76062a779c9187cee618346217156", "name": "Public Relations and Communications"}, {"guid": "a0f83e025eaf47c9b0fee43b9726b7d2", "name": "Public Relations"}, {"guid": "e1cfada87a1fc57bda5a92397a2162f1", "name": "Public Relations and Communications - Publicity"}, {"guid": "0154ac96115995b1a833e8eb60d6e17c", "name": "Pain Management"}, {"guid": "ebf9437a60582679cdb4f74b37e39a70", "name": "Startups"}], "title": "Seven Publicity Rules Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know", "description": "What if you invented a revolutionary product that replaced narcotics to alleviate pain, but you fumbled the public relations (PR) effort and your news got lost in the media echo chamber? \u00a0
Startups and entrepreneurs in almost every industry must confront questions like this when deciding to launch or continue a PR campaign.\u00a0 However, a number of small businesses often don\u2019t fully recognize that the world of PR has been turned on its ear.\u00a0 Many of the old rules simply don\u2019t apply anymore.\u00a0 Journalists are leaving the venerable media brands for new social networking platforms and to build their personal brands.\u00a0 Unfortunately, using PR to grab headlines or market share is no longer just a matter of \u201cgetting out a press release.\u201d \u00a0It requires deft handling from a knowledgeable team.
\nFor guidance in navigating this new terrain, I turned to Shelly Gordon, Principal of G2 Communications Inc., a healthcare PR firm in Silicon Valley.\u00a0 These are her top seven publicity rules that every entrepreneur should know:
\n1. Story is king \u2013 facts are servants:\u00a0 Too many companies think telling the facts about their products will be riveting to the media. \u00a0They expect front-page coverage after sending out a product news release, or touting their wares as being \u201c\u2026more effective and efficient\u201d than a competitor\u2019s offering. \u00a0Instead, a good PR strategy crafts your company\u2019s story to appeal to journalists and their audiences. \u00a0And people tell the story.\u00a0 As the documentary filmmaker Ken Burns says, \u201c\u2026 the facts are in service of the story.\u201d
\n2. Keep the buzz going:\u00a0 Companies with cool apps may make a big splash initially, but after early adoption takes root, the buzz dies off.\u00a0 Then what do you do?\u00a0 You need different story angles to keep your company fresh in the minds of journalists, and that takes a different strategy than the one used for an initial product launch. \u00a0It takes an approach that carries a company into the future with a series of PR programs combined with social media and blogs. \u00a0Mine your company for ongoing stories that can be re-packaged and retold in different formats.
\n3. Old news is no news:\u00a0 Not long ago, reporters filed one or two stories a day.\u00a0 Today, journalists may file one story every hour, plus frequent blog posts and tweets.\u00a0 News has always been a perishable commodity and companies can\u2019t expect their stories to have a long shelf life.\u00a0 One biotech company learned that lesson the hard way. \u00a0While the company had a successful clinical trial and even saw the results published in a medical journal, it started its PR efforts two months later, which was far too late for journalists to be interested.
\n4. Social media is not PR:\u00a0 A social media strategy can run in tandem with a PR campaign, but don\u2019t confuse the two.\u00a0 PR crafts a cohesive message that dovetails with media conversations.\u00a0 PR creates fresh, high value content and should be syndicated through your social networks, and that, in turn, may gain more fans and followers.\u00a0 In an ideal world, PR and social media enjoy a synergistic relationship, with each feeding the other.\u00a0 Pursue both PR and social media outreach. You may want to augment your PR team with a social network manager who is steeped in the nuances of building meaningful followers.
\n5. Fill the news pipeline:\u00a0 Have you ever visited the \u201cnewsroom\u201d at a company\u2019s website and found that the most recent article was dated two years ago?\u00a0 Keeping content fresh on the website includes the newsroom.\u00a0 If it is out of date, people will wonder about the health of the company, and you\u2019ll risk a negative perception.\u00a0 While no small company is going to have constant breaking news, it is important to keep the media section fresh and up-to-date with announcements, press releases, case studies, and other articles. This gives visitors a chronology of the company. Don\u2019t wait for the next major release of your product.\u00a0 There are many ways to update your target audiences with new hires, industry awards, market survey results, new partnerships, new customers, etc.
\n6. More does not equal better:\u00a0 Just because a media database lists 200 journalists who cover your industry, that doesn\u2019t mean you should send company news to all of them.\u00a0 One of the main things journalists rant about when it comes to PR is getting inundated with irrelevant press releases. \u00a0Vet each journalist to make sure your news is a match \u2013 otherwise, you risk being called out on social media, or permanently removed from his or her pool of quotable sources.
\nThis last rule is probably the most difficult for entrepreneurs to comprehend:
\n7. Journalists are just not that into you:\u00a0 Few small business owners realize what life is like for journalists today.\u00a0 They get hundreds of emails every day from PR representatives that have nothing to do with what they write about.\u00a0 Additionally, tighter deadlines and greater competition mean they have less time \u2013 and patience \u2013 for listening to your story.\u00a0 Just because you are passionate about your product or company, that doesn\u2019t mean you can expect reporters to share that passion.\u00a0 But consider the effectiveness of making the journalist\u2019s job easier.\u00a0 Research the topics they have an interest in, feed them fresh stories, and give their readers what they want. Then your company stands a good chance of breaking through the media noise and getting your message heard.
\nRobert J. Szczerba\u00a0is the CEO of X Tech Ventures and author of the Forbes column \u201cRocket Science Meets Brain Surgery.\u201d\u00a0 Follow him via\u00a0Twitter,\u00a0Facebook, or\u00a0LinkedIn.
\n\n", "created_at": "2014-01-07T16:04:11Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-06T07:38:23Z", "published_at": "2014-01-07T16:04:18Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/19aTbmR", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT0zMjM4OWU1YzkyMzVjY2IyODExOWFkMDJiNmNhNTVlNw==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/seven-publicity-rules-every-entrepreneur-needs-to-know/", "source": {"guid": "aa8ee769628871feea7081e8c9b9ac1a", "name": "Forbes"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [{"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Text Field label", "values": []}, {"label": "Multi-line Text Field label", "values": []}], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "59c5d9383c3ad9304db17ee151ad15a9", "group_id": "59c5d9383c3ad9304db17ee151ad15a9", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [{"caption": "", "attribution_text": "", "description": "", "height": "3682", "width": "4524", "thumbnail": "https://images3.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz1lZjE2ZTEzYjkyYTgyMmE1Zjk1YzgzYWQ5MTBkM2Q4YQ==?width=75&height=75", "url": "https://images3.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz1lZjE2ZTEzYjkyYTgyMmE1Zjk1YzgzYWQ5MTBkM2Q4YQ==/.jpeg", "mimetype": "image/jpeg", "source": {"name": "The Next Web"}}], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [{"guid": "671c1d660bfc0a1dea96431cdbc07aa9", "name": "News Corporation Limited"}, {"guid": "5033199ffd7564ea5579fd4d60cc5fb0", "name": "Mergers and Acquisitions"}], "title": "News Corp Acquires Social Media News Agency Storyful For $25 Million", "description": "This article originally appeared on The Next Web.
\nNews Corp announced today that it has acquired Storyful, a team of journalists that sources content for traditional news outlets on social networks, for \u20ac18 million (roughly $25 million USD).
\nStoryful will be maintained as a stand-alone organisation within the company and continue to work with its current suite of clients, which includes The New York Times, the BBC, the Wall Street Journal and ABC News. Over the last 12 months, verified videos handled by Storyful have created 750 million views for the news publications that it works alongside.
\nNews Corp said it would be using its own might and global influence to ramp up Storyful\u2019s capabilities. \u201cThrough this acquisition, we can extend the village square across borders, languages and platforms,\u201d News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomason said.
\nStoryful will remain in Dublin, Ireland where it was founded in 2008, although News Corp said extra staff for advertising sales and business development would be hired for its offices in New York.
\n\u27a4\u00a0Storyful joins forces with News Corp
\nImage Credit:\u00a0WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images
\n\n", "created_at": "2013-12-20T15:16:45Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-06T06:41:11Z", "published_at": "2013-12-20T15:19:45Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/1hr7Bzp", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT01OWM1ZDkzODNjM2FkOTMwNGRiMTdlZTE1MWFkMTVhOQ==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/news-corp-acquires-social-media-news-agency-storyful-for-25-million/", "source": {"guid": "a01412aa35f57d55b0789e3329dd1f3a", "name": "The Next Web"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "eb335bd2f4d7f4252fb54d6505be00c0", "group_id": "eb335bd2f4d7f4252fb54d6505be00c0", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [{"caption": "", "attribution_text": "", "description": "", "height": "427", "width": "640", "thumbnail": "https://images3.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz1lNTExYzA3NGRhMjhiOGQwYWM2OTQ4OTRiM2MzNjVlZQ==?width=75&height=75", "url": "https://images3.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz1lNTExYzA3NGRhMjhiOGQwYWM2OTQ4OTRiM2MzNjVlZQ==/.jpeg", "mimetype": "image/jpeg", "source": {"name": "Forbes"}}], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [{"guid": "ac310674e9435d9b5491b4ee11512978", "name": "Facebook IPO"}, {"guid": "c76b8e005eef71d3b888887e58109965", "name": "Venture Capital"}, {"guid": "e13d25fe883554e1fb7544eb9d74dae8", "name": "NYSE"}, {"guid": "671687c7e4ffc6bf213dc795e0b0bd27", "name": "Private Equity"}, {"guid": "95373b5ae74e7c6d379c1155f81a1520", "name": "Twitter Inc"}], "title": "Seeking The Next Big Tech IPO?", "description": "After months of speculation about when, with who and for how much Twitter would go public, the buzz surrounding the micro-blog\u2019s public offering has finally died down. (Answer key: November 7, 2013 \u2013 NYSE \u2013 $45.10). And Facebook investors have moved past the social network\u2019s infamously rocky 2012 market debut.
The question now \u2014 who\u2019s next?
\nToday CB Insights took a step toward an answer. The venture capital tracker has released its annual Tech IPO Pipeline Report, delving into the characteristics that bind pre-IPO tech firms. The pipeline this year includes 590 companies (up from 472 last year). To make the list a company must be privately held, backed by at least one venture capital or private equity firm and have be valued above $100 million (real or rumored).
\nThis year\u2019s pipeline companies raised $101 million on average in 2013 to-date. The median amount was $73 million. Internet firms make up 54% of the pipeline, followed by mobile and telecommunications companies at 16%. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has positions in 50 of the companies. And 52% of them call California home. (See Dan Alexander\u2019s story on why this is a problem for the rest of America.)
\nTo make a Twitter or Facebook sized splash, however, a company needs to be worth a lot more that $100 million. Twitter was believed to be worth between $10 billion and $20 billion when it announced plans to go public. It\u2019s market cap is now nearly $30 billion. Facebook was pegged at $50 billion in 2011. It\u2019s market cap is over $125 billion.
\nAccording to CB Insights, 26 pipeline companies are valued at $1 billion or more. The companies include consumer favorites like Airbnb, Gilt, GoPro, Dropbox and Snapchat. Also on the list are lesser know firms like Palantir Technologies, Deem and Pivotal. (Click here for the full list). Last year only 15 pipeline companies were worth that much.
\nDespite the hype, technology companies don\u2019t always have the biggest or most successful IPOs. According to research firm Renaissance Capital Twitter was just the fourth largest IPO of 2013 and the only tech company to make the top five. Facebook was by far the largest tech IPO ever, followed by Twitter, Google and Yandex N.V. While Facebook ranks as the third largest US IPO to date, it is only one of four technology companies to make the top 25 and the other three debuted during the dot-com bubble. Behind Facebook is Infineon which went public just two days after the bubble\u2019s March 10, 2000 peak.
\nTech IPOs have also been a mixed bag in terms of success. While Twitter gained 73% on its first day, Facebook was flat. A year later it was down 30%.
\n26 Private Tech Companies Valued Above $1 Billion
\n\u2013
Follow @samsharf
A visit to TheNorthFace.com is not unlike other e-commerce treks: outdoors clothing and gear is organized into categories for men, women and youth. But the active-wear brand has solicited one of the best known data explorers around to turn its site into a shopping expedition that thinks the way humans do.
\nThe North Face was an early partner of IBM's initiative aimed at applying the tech giant's Watson cognitive computing system to craft a new approach to shopping.
\nLike many other sites, The North Face's includes some alternative means of navigating such as browsing through apparel for hiking, or perusing a line of jackets according to the type of technology they feature.
\nYet what the retailer envisions is something much more robust.
\nThink of the future Watson-based site as a personal shopping concierge. \"We can imagine our customers using the technology to tell Watson about their next adventure: where they are going, when, and what they are planning on doing,\" said Cal Bouchard, director of ecommerce for The North Face. \"The software would provide some initial recommendations for products that would be suitable, and might request additional information about season to narrow down product selections for the consumer.\"
\nIBM's Watson technology gained recognition when it outwitted \"Jeopardy!\" champions in 2011. The company made the data-parsing system available in May to clients for CRM, customer call centers and other purposes under the Watson Engagement Advisor name. At the time, IBM also planned to apply Watson to improve measurement of ad effectiveness and media planning.
\nThe North Face project is in its nascent stages as the partners consider ramping up following an initial demo test. The retailer, along with IBM and tech consultancy Fluid, began working on a prototype in the third quarter of this year. Fluid has worked with The North Face since around 2008.
\nRather than forcing people to conform to systems, the idea is to create systems that conform to the ways people natural process information and ask questions. So, while today a runner might sift through a page featuring fleece vests to prepare for an autumn trip, a Watson-based site would allow him to ask, \"What gear do I need for running in Vermont in October?\"
\n\"We train Watson to be able to think and understand content and expertise as we go,\" said John Gordon, VP-IBM Watson Solutions. His team is building the underlying Watson service that Fluid is customizing for The North Face. That involves providing Fluid with developer tools and APIs to plug into their applications. APIs, or application programming interfaces, allow developers to feed data into tools they build.
\nPart of the initiative involves ingesting data on product features and specs, reviews, catalog data, and information from outside sources. \"Everyone has data in different formats. That's one of the key critical areas we're working on with IBM,\" said Brooke Aguilar, VP, global business development at Fluid, a creative agency and software development firm that specializes in digital shopping.
\nThe system might also tap into personal loyalty data such as previous purchases to help suggest products. \"Because of the way we can procure data and bring that into the corpus of Watson, we can also mine for personal data,\" said Ms. Aguilar.
\nFrom AdAge.com, 12-13-2013, copyright Crain Communications Inc. 2013
\n\n", "created_at": "2013-12-13T14:14:34Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-05T12:17:36Z", "published_at": "2013-12-13T14:14:51Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/19m9yvc", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT0xZDU1MTk1YzQ2NWI3OWNiNzIxYjNmNjYwMTcyYmVmYg==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/ibms-watson-explores-the-great-e-commerce-unknown-with-the-north-face/", "source": {"guid": "ca36b85bd0a36af63b0ad36314c3ba1c", "name": "Ad Age"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "8aa499d5d60ec3f8ca909747d8124b9c", "group_id": "8aa499d5d60ec3f8ca909747d8124b9c", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [{"caption": "", "attribution_text": "", "description": "", "height": "2616", "width": "4096", "thumbnail": "https://images4.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz1hNmFjOTRmZDY1MWEzYzUxY2U2OTdlZjU3Njk2NmZhYg==?width=75&height=75", "url": "https://images4.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz1hNmFjOTRmZDY1MWEzYzUxY2U2OTdlZjU3Njk2NmZhYg==/.jpeg", "mimetype": "image/jpeg", "source": {"name": "Business2Community"}}], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [{"guid": "a0917ee9844e32a3aee8cd8dd2180899", "name": "Content Marketing"}], "title": "15 Rocking Content Marketing Tools with Advice from Experts", "description": "With 9 in 10 organizations marketing with content, it\u2019s evident that we need effective tools to create, publish, distribute, and analyze content published online.
\nNeedless to say, there are lots of tools out there, but which are the ones worthy to give a try?
\nHere are some options that could be a great test drive for you.
\nI reached out to content marketing experts with the question, \u201cWhat Are the 3 Content Management Tools Epic Content Creators Can\u2019t Live Without?\u201d
\nAnd here are the answers I got:
\nC.C. Chapman author of Amazing Things Will Happen and co-author of Content Rules:\u00a0\u201cInstagram, WordPress & Twitter\u201d
\nMitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL Alt Delete:\u00a0\u201cPocket: to save stuff.\u00a0Buffer app: to share stuff better,\u00a0Windows Live Writer: to write my blog posts\u201d
\nNew technology comes into our lives every day. Once we try these amazing products out, we develop a reliance on them, and one day we feel we just can\u2019t live without some of them. Has this ever happened to you?
\nHere are 15 more awesome tools I believe can be of great help to you when coming up with awesome content for your business.
\nWho said that video creation must be difficult, costly, and time-consuming? Check out this free tool to create animated videos. The program is currently in beta form\u2014and free.
\nTired of stock images in your content? Want to engage your audience with humorous pictures? Memegenarator.com allows you to create custom funny images in a few clicks. And yes\u2014it\u2019s free.
\nNeed to quickly check how well your blog posts are optimized? I personally can\u2019t live without this Plugin. It offers an easy to way to check yourself and your authors on whether the basic SEO requirements for your post have been met. I love it, just like the 6 million bloggers other who downloaded it. And guess what? Free again!
\nTo tell the truth, managing content creation, and getting it done right and on time, can be difficult at times. Divvy helps you streamline your content process for any type of content. Take a tour; can be a great fit for your business.
\nGatherContent helps you manage content creation for the web, is fairly inexpensive, and appears quite convenient to use. The product is proudly made in Scotland, and its focus is digital content creation.
\nKapost, a content management system with focus on marketing results, has built-in analytics for content. You can start with a minimum of 10 users. So, I\u2019d say this product is for a pretty mature team.
\nEven if you are equipped with social media management tools, publishing and scheduling your content across multiple channels can be time consuming. Papershare boasts 1-click publishing everywhere.
\nYou know these guys from Vancouver, right? Hootsuite is a lifesaver for your social media manager. It allows you to manage all your social networks and measure the results.
\nDon\u2019t have time to create content on your own? Share the best-performing content on the web! Swayy helps you discover content of interest for your audience, share it, and analyze results. No curation, just discovery and sharing.
\nCurata is a content curation tool that helps you discover, refine, and analyze content you\u2019ve curated. This product could be a great compliment to the content you create in-house.
\nWhile this is a great tool to create content, there is one \u201cbut\u201d: Since content is published on Storify initially, if you choose to share it on your website, the content won\u2019t be considered unique. Other than that, this is an absolutely awesome tool.
\nThis content marketing tool allows content collaboration for teams, scheduling, idea storage, and management. The product is focused on social media, blogs, and newsletters. Since it has 60-day free trial, you might just want to give it a try.
\nThis content licensing solution allows you to license already written and working content, which makes it a great tool primarily for brands. Licensing quality already-written content can be a great strategy.
\nThis great tool helps you discover influencers and engage with them. Yep, cooperation with influencers in your industry can take your business to new heights.
\nThis tool gives more precise analytics on your content and social data by tracking social actions and providing metrics around social behavior.
\nAre there other content marketing tools you love to use? Do you think something else should be on the list? Any hot and trending tools that work for your business well? Just let us know in comments!
\nThis article was from Business2Community and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
\n", "created_at": "2013-12-11T14:16:16Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-05T05:36:20Z", "published_at": "2013-12-11T14:16:23Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/18BBabH", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT04YWE0OTlkNWQ2MGVjM2Y4Y2E5MDk3NDdkODEyNGI5Yw==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/15-rocking-content-marketing-tools-with-advice-from-experts/", "source": {"guid": "adebb0546524262ed2eb0bd686912924", "name": "Business2Community"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "5bbae33677c0ee7b0ec8e232dd43aca4", "group_id": "5bbae33677c0ee7b0ec8e232dd43aca4", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [{"caption": "", "attribution_text": "", "description": "", "height": "338", "width": "507", "thumbnail": "https://images2.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz02NGE0OTA3Y2Q2M2MzYmY5Mjk1YjliODM4Y2ViZDllMQ==?width=75&height=75", "url": "https://images2.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz02NGE0OTA3Y2Q2M2MzYmY5Mjk1YjliODM4Y2ViZDllMQ==/.jpeg", "mimetype": "image/jpeg", "source": {"name": "Forbes"}}], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [{"guid": "44abea33a5db39af9c85ac7b1a89cee9", "name": "Enterprise Software"}], "title": "America's Fastest Growing Enterprise Software Companies of 2013", "description": "Earlier this month Deloitte published the 2013 Technology Fast 500\u2122, their annual ranking of the fastest growing life sciences, media, software, technology, telecommunications and clean technology companies in North America.\u00a0 The winners are selected based on the percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2008 to 2012, and for the eighteenth consecutive year, software is leading all industries.
\nTo review the 2013 Technology Fast 500\u2122 eligibility requirements and methodology please see this document. You can find a copy of the Winner\u2019s Brochure here and the complete list here. The following infographic also summary of the key findings of the 2013 Technology Fast 500 Rankings (please click on the graphic for easier reading):
\nThe fastest growing enterprise software companies of 2013 based on the Technology Fast 500 include but are not limited to the following thirteen software companies.\u00a0 These companies placed in the top fifty of all 500 companies in the 2013 Technology Fast 500\u2122:
\nNote: I\u2019m not presently employed by or have I ever worked for any of these companies mentioned or Deloitte; I track this area of of personal interest.\u00a0
\nThis article was from Forbes and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
\n", "created_at": "2013-12-10T16:24:07Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-05T06:29:44Z", "published_at": "2013-12-10T16:24:23Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/18S2qZm", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT01YmJhZTMzNjc3YzBlZTdiMGVjOGUyMzJkZDQzYWNhNA==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/americas-fastest-growing-enterprise-software-companies-of-2013/", "source": {"guid": "aa8ee769628871feea7081e8c9b9ac1a", "name": "Forbes"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "7cf20813851d35cfa11a43be8e5e8aaf", "group_id": "7cf20813851d35cfa11a43be8e5e8aaf", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [{"guid": "c1b555779c85f46288c6cf24634935c8", "name": "Digital media"}], "title": "Verizon plans to acquire fast-growing content delivery network Edgecast", "description": "Confirming a report from over the weekend, Verizon announced today that it\u2019s planning to snap up Edgecast, a content delivery network firm that powers the likes of LinkedIn, Pinterest, and WordPress.
\nTerms of the deal weren\u2019t announced, but TechCrunch reported in its initial piece that it\u2019s somewhere around $350 million. Edgeast has raised $75 so far (most recently in a big $54 million round), so its investors likely made off well. Verizon expects the deal to close in early 2014.
\nEdgecast says it has more than 6,000 customers, which gives Verizon a leg-up in the enterprise content delivery space. The deal will ultimately make Verizon\u2019s Digital Media Services a stronger CDN option, but it sounds like Verizon is focusing specifically on video content delivery in its release. The company notes that Edgecast will allow it to offer more advanced video delivery solutions, as well as \u201cbest in class TV everywhere and superior over the top experiences.\u201d
\nVerizon currently provides TV service through its FiOS fiber network, but there\u2019s a chance that Edgecast\u2019s technology could allow it to delivery that content to consumers on other types of networks as well (assuming they have enough bandwidth).
\nThe news follows Verizon\u2019s acquisition of UpLynk\u2019s assets last month, which will also bolster its video delivery capabilities.
\nThis article originally appeared on VentureBeat
\nThis article was from VentureBeat and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
\n", "created_at": "2013-12-09T15:47:29Z", "modified_at": "2018-11-06T09:12:57Z", "published_at": "2013-12-09T15:47:59Z", "link": "http://bit.ly/1ckOjXP", "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT03Y2YyMDgxMzg1MWQzNWNmYTExYTQzYmU4ZTVlOGFhZg==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/verizon-plans-to-acquire-fast-growing-content-delivery-network-edgecast/", "source": {"guid": "81a4880a986d0ce44848a1d26b761f44", "name": "VentureBeat"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [{"label": "Insights", "type": "Destination"}], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "e820ca4f4614e2ae6e6a42be5197b29a", "group_id": "e820ca4f4614e2ae6e6a42be5197b29a", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [{"caption": "", "attribution_text": "", "description": "", "height": "3384", "width": "5072", "thumbnail": "https://images1.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz1iN2YwM2Y2MzZlYTA3MTU2ZjZjMDgyZGQ3MmRiZDQ0OA==?width=75&height=75", "url": "https://images1.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz1iN2YwM2Y2MzZlYTA3MTU2ZjZjMDgyZGQ3MmRiZDQ0OA==/.jpeg", "mimetype": "image/jpeg", "source": {"name": "Business2Community"}}], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [{"guid": "a0917ee9844e32a3aee8cd8dd2180899", "name": "Content Marketing"}], "title": "Why Are Journalists Key to Content Marketing Success?", "description": "If you want your content to really stand out, hiring journalists is a must. Of course
\n\nbeing a journalist myself, I am slightly biased \u2013 but there really are a number of reasons why journalists make the best content marketers.
\nWe\u2019re well-trained\u2026
\nJournalists are trained to write useful, relevant and concise content. They live and breathe the stuff, so they\u2019re always keen to produce content that will pull in an audience. This is very handy for businesses that wish to promote their brand, because well-written, unique content will keep users coming back to your website time and time again \u2013 driving that all important traffic and increasing brand awareness.
\nOriginal content doesn\u2019t just appear out of thin air though; writers need to know how to gather all the facts and then present them in a totally new way that\u2019s relevant to your audience. Journalists have been trained to do just that and are able to write content that engages people, rather than boring them.
\n\u2026and experienced
\nThe great thing about journalists is that they come from all sorts of backgrounds. This is extremely useful when creating great content, because having a team of journalists means that each one will likely be an expert in a different field. Not only that, but the majority will have written about a wide variety of subjects. They\u2019re adaptable and so no matter what your content marketing campaign needs, they\u2019ll be able to write it well and sound like an expert whilst they\u2019re doing it.
\nQuality is key
\nContent marketers should be well aware by now that Google loves content that is of real value \u2013 even more so with the recent Hummingbird update. So in order for your brand to rank highly in the SERPs, your site needs to be full of fantastic content that isn\u2019t just filler or copied and pasted from somewhere else on the internet. Journalists are great at taking a story and turning into something completely new and original, by finding the right angle for their audience.
\nIt\u2019s not just Google that will be able to figure out if your content is poor quality \u2013 your audience will immediately be able to tell the difference between a truthful, factual news story and pure PR fluff. No-one just wants to read self-promotional content; they want to read whatever is useful to them specifically and journalists are great at identifying the key interests of their target audience.
\nThere is a good reason why more and more companies are hiring journalists to write their content \u2013 they\u2019re the best at it. Not only will you find your content is better, but that the added support will help you create even more of it, which will in turn help boost traffic. Content is extremely important to any marketing campaign, so don\u2019t rely on a novice to deliver it \u2013 hire the experts.
\n", "created_at": "2016-04-05T14:42:54Z", "modified_at": "2016-04-05T14:42:54Z", "published_at": "2013-11-26T13:30:10Z", "link": null, "pixel_key": "YXJ0aWNsZT1lODIwY2E0ZjQ2MTRlMmFlNmU2YTQyYmU1MTk3YjI5YQ==", "customer_canonical_link": "https://insights.newscred.com/why-are-journalists-key-to-content-marketing-success/", "source": {"guid": "adebb0546524262ed2eb0bd686912924", "name": "Business2Community"}, "lang_code": "en", "custom_fields": [], "content_pillar": [], "content_format": [], "custom_label_set": [], "target_audience": [], "journey_stage": []}}, {"content": {"guid": "ec42d72821234ff010673854e240464b", "group_id": "ec42d72821234ff010673854e240464b", "meta_title": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_url": "", "meta_keywords": [], "images": [{"caption": "", "attribution_text": "", "description": "", "height": "197", "width": "300", "thumbnail": "https://images1.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz1kNWIzMGI0MzY5YmFhYjljNWM1NzE4NzA3ZmNiYzk5NA==?width=75&height=75", "url": "https://images1.cmp.optimizely.com/Zz1kNWIzMGI0MzY5YmFhYjljNWM1NzE4NzA3ZmNiYzk5NA==/.jpeg", "mimetype": "image/jpeg", "source": {"name": "Business2Community"}}], "videos": [], "authors": null, "topics": [{"guid": "4239a6e44c76644b407260eba8454b28", "name": "Marketing"}], "title": "With Great LinkedIn Power Comes Great Social Selling Responsibility", "description": "LinkedIn is the key social selling tool in every seller\u2019s toolkit. Because you can use LinkedIn to reach anyone in the world directly, does not mean you should.
\nLinkedIn gives us the social selling super power to reach out to almost anyone on earth that is on the Web. And when it comes to connecting on LinkedIn, it\u2019s like Spiderman\u2019s uncle said to his nephew, Peter Parker, \u201cWith great power comes great responsibility.\u201d We all should be using LinkedIn with some more responsibility before we make that first sales or marketing contact.
\nSuccessful social selling strategy uses LinkedIn for more than a \u201cfind and phone\u201d exercise. Yes, we all need to pick the phone up to make contact with a customer. However, B2B sellers and marketers need to use LinkedIn to increase insights and one\u2019s branding to make the most out of the first contact and ongoing customer touches. Better insight and higher personal brand visibility will lead to a greater selling success. Knowing 5 things things about a customer before you make that first touch will increase your success rate vs. just knowing one data point, right? And, if the customer is familiar with you name before you connect, then your success will be even greater.
\nDo you have an additional way or take on how to use LinkedIn before you make your first customer or networking contact? If so, please share below or contact me directly at MarketingThink.com on Twitter or on LinkedIn.
\nMy Spidey senses that you might know of someone who needs a little LinkedIn tune-up. Please suggest that your contacts swing over to these ideas to help them:
\nSo, good luck developing your LinkedIn skills that go behind finding and phoning customers or other people to network with. Spin your information-gathering and personal branding web before you make that first contact. And, did you know that there are 820 Peter Parkers on LinkedIn? I wonder which one is Spiderman.
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