#I like this season's critical of the whole... media and consumerism and all

[pinkyjulien]

oh wow holyshit the "Loch Henry" episode hits fucking hard hgfh

[mollysearle24]

Critical thinking lecture 2

What does the future hold; prediction on the current social changes and the impact it has on fashion and textiles.

There are six main sections this comes into and I will be covering them all in this post. They are politics and power, the division of wealth, consumerism, sustainability, innovation and social media. 

Politics and power: 

Due to the pandemic the government have had a lot of power over the general public, the longer this goes on the less people will want to listen to the rules as they are growing bored and tired of being told what to do. Because of this people may start to rebel and this will link into fashion and the clothes people choose to wear. The last time the government had too much control over people there was a whole style tribe created based on rebellion and risky fashion choices, the Punks, who wore very different and loud clothing. The clothing was dark and very heavily embellished with studs and chains, this was the people’s way of rebelling . Something similar may happen is the close future as people will use clothes and the way they dress to express their frustration with the current situation. This is opposed to people following the latest forecasted trends, seasons, magazines and celebrities. Overall, this means that many more people may start expressing themselves through there fashion choices, this may be by making rebellious and risky fashion choices. Showing their individuality and not dressing the same as everyone else.

The division of wealth:

Division of wealth is the income gap between the wealthy and poor in society. Although, many people often want to follow the latest trends and do this by buying into known brand clothing. This can cause the poorer population to get into debt trying to fit in. From the offset this can cause a blur in the gap as you may not be able to tell the rich from the poor. We can change this by buying into long lasting and sustainable products instead of buying products just for the name. This will also help save money as the clothing is made to last longer meaning there is no need to buy in excess, on fast fashion sites. However, some may argue that these sustainable clothes that were made to last longer could in fact outlast the trends and therefore people may be put off wearing them. In conclusion we need to change what we buy as well as our mind-sets when it comes to what is in and out of trend.

Consumerism:

Many people now, and especially due to the pandemic, turn to fast fashion and online stores. This is because it is easy and cheap as well as retail stores not being open at the moment. Many people think due to the high demand online stores now have; retail stores may never recover from the losses that they have already incurred. When they do reopen, they may never see as much custom in store, compared to online. This could also lead to only online stores in the future as everyone is turning to convenience. This will result in many job losses for in store workers however on the other hand it will create more jobs in warehouse, transport and distribution. Although we could then argue that technology will also take over these positons in the future, overall, still ending in more job losses than gains. Linking back to division of wealth, online stores also take advantage when it comes to wealth and poverty. You Can find anything online, with varying price ranges from budget to designer. Fast fashion stores take advantage of the people living on a lower income as they provide cheap clothes at convince along with regular sales to entice people into shopping. Then there are the luxury, more high-end stores and brands, who aim their products at the higher earners who can afford to buy into them. Therefore, they can still get their favourite designer and luxury brands at the click of a button. We can change the way this works by buying into longer lasting, sustainable products and brands. People are more likely to buy into well-known brands rather than the same unbranded product. We need to change the way we think about sustainability, many people think about buying into sustainable brands but will still only shop fast fashion. Nothing will change unless we start paying more for quality over quantity. Many people will think higher end brands automatically mean better quality however that is probably not the case. Therefore, proving that you can have sustainable clothes but people will still buy into a name brand to look good to society.  

Sustainability:

Consumers have an addiction to disposable fashion, there are many reasons for this addiction like it is cheap, easy and fast. We can stop this habit of buying into this disposable fashion by instead buying into products that last longer, although they will be more expensive, they are made to last so overtime it will be worth the purchase. Thinking about being more sustainable is a lot different to actually being sustainable as many people often think about it but never actually act on it.  There are many different factors that all have to work together if we want a sustainable future of fashion. These are governments, businesses, civil societies and the general public. When working in our group building our brand, we need to reference all these to make sure our brand meets these goals.

Innovation:

Many people are worried for what the future holds when it comes to robotic technologies and the use of computers in the modern world. Will robots take over is a frequent question on people’s minds and will people lose their jobs to robots. People are concerned that these new technologies will destroy the industries, not allowing growth and resulting in unemployment. Whereas some people think this could help create a more sustainable economy. There will be many job losses if manufacturers and employers choose to replace their current workers with robots, however this may also open up many job opportunities for the people producing and maintaining these technologies. The current pandemic has helped speed up augmented reality within fashion brands as they are now creating digital 3D simulated fashion shows. Designers do this by sending out look book boxes with codes that can be scanned by phones. The code shows the clothes in 3D so the consumer can get a feel for what the clothes look like on and the dimensions of the product, this makes it very convenient. This will never replace the social side of shopping as many people did and still will enjoy going shopping with friends and family to try on the clothes themselves before buying them. The pandemic has also changed the way we will work as many people are now used to working from home and again it is convenient for employers and workers and therefore online meetings and working from home will still continue after the pandemic.

Social media: 

Social media is a massive platform that can be used to market a brand easy while reaching millions of people at once. Everything, anyone does is all online now, which makes advertising easy. However, people’s activity online is monitored and therefore social media platforms can insert advertisements based on your search history. Social media is a very controversial topic, as it may have many positive influences it does have its negatives. One of the negatives is that many people feel the need to put up a front when using social media. people will buy into new trends and show off outfits for validation. The whole nation is anxious for views, likes and comments to feel appreciated and noticed. Companies use our addiction to social media for their benefit and finical gain, as I mentioned earlier this can be done by companies monitoring our online behaviour and predicting what personalised advertisements to show us. Technology is surpassing the human race as this is what draws us in, social media could be described as a drug to many people and it is very addictive. This is proven as many people will not leave home without a phone and when they are uncomfortable the first thing, they reach for is their phone, as it makes a good distraction. It is also proven that the rate of suicide flew up after the growth in popularity over phones. This will always come back to the fact that we like to be liked and need validation from others to feel content. Humans were never meant to be seen and followed by millions and therefore never meant to be under constant scrutiny. Many people are more likely to believe fake news and posts made on social media and will normally believe the first thing they read. If we want to change the way social media is being used, we can start making products humanly and sustainably. We also need to introduce new laws in digital privacy, meaning that our search history can no longer be monitored and no more personalised advertisements can pop up to draw us in. Another way we can change the way it is being used is to introduce a tax for data collection this way no one can collect data on you without paying a tax first, we should also be notified when said data collection happens to us. Finally, we could all always do an extra google search when researching, this way we can have a more varied and wider amount of information when searching online.

[ouathinktank-metacommentary]

One big issue with tv shows is that unlike with books, the message is incomplete. So they might temporarily put out the opposite message of what they will be saying in the end. Or not. Which is the issue. We don't know. What does your tv Utopia look like in regards to this issue? How do we combine accountability with artistic integrity and freedom? What framing should there be? What would it look like for Once Upon a Time?

Oo-kay. Forstarters, there’s a world of difference between message being incomplete (whichcan indicate less than adequate narrative development, to put it mildly) or if itis left to interpretation (which can vary between being clever, thoughtprovoking–even subversive) so I guess we can approach appraisal of OUaTfrom radically different angles–depending on our individual assessment of that starting point? So, I assume youalready know ours. It just cannot not start from the need to rationalizetheir ‘origins’ into the continuity, and it being–the accolades (or criticism,depending who you ask) they got for Lost. Because as we know, they have been praisedfor it–for all those explorations of that notion of multiplicity(alternative timeline/versions, etc) so we must take into account thepossibility of that affecting theirarrogance to start with–and that we have (possibly? probably? maybe?) giventhem undeserved ‘headstart’ so they took themselves too seriously–and approachedtheir new project (and their attitude/response to audience feedback, or lack thereof) in suchway? Also, more importantly–that they have naturally attracted the ‘intelligent’ followingfor it to begin with (because participatory culture surpasses basic passiveconsumerism, offers enriched dynamic, more lifelike experience–all thatjazz) thus ‘burdening’ themselves with a significantly more demanding audience, andit–affecting a more resounding feeling of our general discontent now?

Eitherway, that could explain the game of one-upmanship, of them striving to (andaround S3 starting to fail miserably, IMO) to stay two steps ahead of the audience.Hence the tactics of opposite message of what they will probably be saying in the end that you mention–so yes of course, false clues, red herrings, logicalfallacies or any other devices that lead audiences towards misleadingconclusions. Because it’s really hard to know anything in the middle? Andwhich now reminds me, I remember reading when someone was talking about Lost (perhapsJenkins, I think I also talked about it here, or somewhere–but just can’t go around diggingfor references, the archives became overwhelming, so–I just might repeatmyself, for which I apologise in advance :) and them trying to account for the things they invented in earlierseasons without too much thought of what they actually might mean and/or wherethey might lead (which sounds WAY too familiar now?) Dickens was mentioned. As in, how his works are nowseen as really well-structured novels because we read them in a bounded form,but in fact–he sometimes radically rewrote his ‘vision’ (which, retconning?) ofthe characters. So if the middle point is supposedly the most ‘productive’ space(because universally, fans also generate alternative versions of the narrativeas they theorize about what’s going on, versions which are very generative,very rich and interesting–like say, what you have been doing?) and while theyare exploring all the alternatives (which alas, usually manifest as randomness/retconningin their writing, these days?) shouldn’t it be, well–the most productive part?Instead of this… disastrous mash of pacing/contrivance, riddled with alarminglyhorrible messages–basically a pile of stinking heterosexist, racist, misogynistand homophobic shite? And all after that beginning that was so staggeringlypromising–and/or dangerously misleading?

Which brings me to, yes, fundamentally–the media industry (broadly defined) and the TV entertainmentindustry in particular, need to be far more accountable when it comes to themessage they create, both in the content itself, and the ways in which it is distributed.But if we try to combine accountability and artistic integrity and freedom–wecannot but question what IS Brothers Dim’s primary drive here? Free expression,pursuit of a vision, consistent and brilliant narrative (the ‘modern’re-envisioning of fairytales, subverting the old dogmatic tropes and all that)or are they driven purely by commerce, designed to build a brand that will multiplyrevenue streams or drive eyes toward a central moneymaking mothership? Because that’s the crux of the problem here.

And sinceyou asked, yes–my personal TV Utopia is of course all about the former. I do believe infree expression and I do believe that the showrunners have the right to createwhatever content they want–no creative limits or boundaries whatsoever. Hell,at one point I did believe that theory, that they were actually giving us twoparallel narratives, an obvious/direct one for the casual/superficialviewership (showing the cautionary tale of what’s not supposed to bea well-accepted normative) and the ‘hidden’ and yet obvious multi-layered onethat challenged the hegemony–and developed that ‘subversive’modern fairtytale about two mothers sharing a son, sense of understanding, acceptanceand ultimately, love. But as a rule, the issue becomes problematic when the show is aired–how it’s distributed and to which audiences. Because while the industry shouldbe far more vigilant, oftentimes they aren’t–because they go for pandering, asit is what (they think) sells. So inevitably the question arises,where does the ‘vision’ start being altered, twisted and is eventuallycompletely forgone–in favour of a product served/tailored by market target (whose age was drastically reduced in S4 with Frozen, in this case)audience? Inthe end leaving it to us, the more demanding crowds–tobelieve that we’ve either been misled (they tried, tested, enticed, and well–queerbaiting’s all we got left with?) or it was where they wereheading, but–they got yanked back by the PTB? And now basically giving way tothe biggest disagreement we might have here now: have we given WAY too much depthand meaning to this product than it really deserves (or was originally meant tohave, anyway) and thus credit to its authors, or are they (or well, were they–before PTBs trimmed theirwings) really intrepid and brave show runners with a brilliant vision?

You can guess what we here believe. Because sixyears later, the result is schizophrenic to say the least. For instance,sure–Hood might be a ‘prop’ for Regina but it looks like they keep hiring the idiot back (andthe story goes on and on and on?) and sure, Hook might just be a commentary oneverything that is screwed up about fairytale sexist dogma… but again, they’redragging it all way past the point of logic, no? So as a result we have here now is anintense, even toxic part of the audience (online fandom) while a whole other partof it is just as immersed in the story–but the story they think is being toldis far less subversive and actually far more dangerous. And the real problem has been the marketing of that kindof story–the story that tells you that Hook is your dream lad, 50 Shades of Rapecultureis the best romance ever written, and lesbians are mean and angry people whoshould just go away. Because bottom line: to go there by sacrificing your twostrongest female characters when the context you’re writing stories within–neithernecessitates nor justifies the undermining (or defiling) of these ‘strong women’, and… well. Onetruth is being told at the expense of the other?

Sooo… purelytextual analysis whilst ignoring all other factors including basic marketing issuesjust isn’t how television works. Because them writing all the negative and harmfulthings is something they SHOULDas showrunners be accounted for, and on a much larger scale. And they should, you know, either justify it or face the consequences far more seriousthan just dwindling ratings of the product they’re now having difficulties tosell. While in the meantime, the ‘mixed’ result of their struggle to balance and pander (they know it can’t be about just Hook, but nothing they wrote about him made people as disgusted as Regina’s stomach-churning shagging scene did–which was a crime against those of us who wantedto see that shirt unbuttoned for any bloody reason–what we can’t stop reiterating) leaves the ultimatequestion, not related to ships/shipping/endgames but rather aboutcharacter journeys–if we as large chunk of theaudience cannot ‘enjoy the ride’ (some of the stuff they wrote was/isdecidedly vile, even more than their collective treatment of an incrediblypersistent/masochistic fanbase that still have hope for Reginaand Emma, who despite what’s been shoved down our throats–stillare the core of this show) then someone please tell me…

What ISthe point? Because I seem to be… missing it.

[samuelpboswell]

Lessons From Our Top 10 Influencer Marketing Posts of 2019

2019 saw the continued rise in influencer marketing's power and scope in both B2C and B2B industries. This continued the explosion of interest in the practice over the past two years, and with more practitioners than ever going all-in, influencer marketing has been a primary focus of what we have explored on our blog throughout the year. We're lucky to have some of the strongest B2B influencer marketing professionals contributing to the TopRank Marketing blog, including our CEO Lee Odden, Ashley Zeckman, Joshua Nite, Caitlin Burgess, Anne Leuman, Nick Nelson, Tiffani Allen, Debbie Friez, the author of this post, and Alexis Hall, among others. As an industry approaching $20 billion annually, influencer marketing is now far from a shiny new object to savvy marketers. The insight and expertise our team has acquired helping some of the top brands in the world including 3M, Adobe, SAP, LinkedIn, and Oracle plan, implement and measure influencer marketing programs has often made it here to our blog. To help our blog community grow their influencer marketing knowledge, we're delighted to offer this list of our most popular influencer marketing posts of 2019. Of course, collaborating with influencers is something we do daily for clients and ourselves, and influencer engagement has become even more central to our B2B content marketing solutions, alongside social media marketing, SEO, and online advertising. The influencer marketing posts that proved to be our most popular of 2019 based on web analytics and social media data are listed below. We hope that they will help you ask the right questions and provide truly best-answer solutions to some of the most important challenges we'll all be facing in 2020. We give a giant thank you to Lee Odden, Ashley Zeckman, Josh Nite, Anne Leuman, and Caitlin Burgess for their work in advocating influencer marketing best practices. In addition to the list below, we've published several popular influencer lists this year, and while we won't place them on this list, we wanted to share them here as they're a great way to find and follow some of the leading digital marketing influencers.

The Top 50 Social Media Marketing Influencers in 2019

50 Content Marketing Influencers and Experts to Follow 2019 #CMWorld

50 Top B2B Marketing Influencers, Experts and Speakers in 2019

Our Most Popular Influencer Marketing Posts in 2019:

1. 7 Top B2B Influencer Marketing Trends for 2020 — Lee Odden

Our CEO Lee wrote the most popular influencer marketing post of 2019 on our blog, exploring some of the most important and relevant trends to recognize for 2020. Highlighting trends including influence artificial intelligence (AI), democratized influence, brandividual media, more engaging content, integration with martech, the consumerization of B2B influence and more, Lee took a powerful look at many of the influencer marketing trends that are likely to rise in 2020. Check out all of Lee’s 2,600+ posts here, and follow him on Twitter. [bctt tweet="“Not staying on top of how the world of influencer marketing is evolving is simply leaving your customers open to the influence of your competition..” @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

2. Inspiring Examples of B2B Influencer Marketing in Action — Lee Odden

Lee also wrote our second most popular influencer marketing post of the year, offering up 10 inspiring examples of B2B influencer marketing in action, showing how B2B influencer marketing can help increase credibility by promoting to buyers using people they trust. Lee looked at how more B2B brands are realizing that while different than B2C, working with influencers in a business to business context represents a significant opportunity to create more credible content. [bctt tweet="“Trends come and go, but the value of trusted sources of information to customers looking for solutions couldn’t be any more timeless..” @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

3. 5 Key Trends in B2B Influencer Marketing Plus Critical Do’s and Don’ts — Lee Odden

Offering an exploration of critical do's and don'ts for B2B marketers, Lee also penned our third most popular influencer marketing article of the year, digging in to the world of micro and macro influencers, centralized influencer operations, always-on influencer engagement, a focus shift to both quality and quantity metrics, and the rise of influencer marketing software investment. Combined with five key trends to be aware of, this is an insightful look at the power of B2B influencer marketing when done right.

4. The Next Level of Influence: 30 Essential Influencer Marketing Statistics — Joshua Nite

In the fourth most popular influencer marketing post of 2019, our Senior Content Marketing Manager Josh shared 30 statistics to help take your influencer marketing to the next level — what we call Influence 2.0. Josh's post is a great way to upgrade your influencer marketing and get ready for what comes next.  Check out all of Josh's posts here, and follow him on Twitter. [bctt tweet="While financial compensation can be part of your #influencermarketing strategy, it shouldn’t be the whole strategy. Money can’t buy genuine enthusiasm and emotional investment. @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]

5. Why Always-On Is Always Better for Driving B2B Influencer Marketing Success — Caitlin Burgess

When it comes to B2B influencer marketing, always-on is always better, and in our fifth most popular influencer marketing post of the year, our Senior Content Marketing Manager Caitlin shares why strong relationships and always-on commitment to influencer marketing combine to help you refine, evolve, and scale your marketing efforts. Featuring seasoned influencer marketing leaders at B2B brands, Caitlin's post reveals how at its core, influencer marketing is all about brands engaging and developing relationships with individuals — individuals who have relevant topical expertise, reach, and resonance that aligns with the goals of the brand. Check out all of Caitlin’s posts here, and follow her on Twitter. [bctt tweet="Companies should approach influencers as partners, not just as people that they can use for their marketing efforts and launches. - @AmishaGandhi #B2BInfluencerMarketing" username="toprank"]

6. 5 Essential Questions to Guide Your B2B Influencer Marketing Strategy — Ashley Zeckman

Our Senior Director of Digital Strategy Ashley Zeckman answered five common questions about influencer marketing in our sixth most popular post of the year, with answers and insight including: • What is B2B influencer marketing? • How effective is it? • How can I get leadership to buy in? • Short-term gain or long-term reward? • Who are the right influencers for your brand? Ashley explored how each influencer type holds a different value for your audience and your brand, and how finding your right influencer mix means the right tactics, the right topics and the right experts. Check out all of Ashley’s posts here, and follow her on Twitter. [bctt tweet="Influencer marketing activates internal and industry experts with engaged networks to co-create content of mutual value and achieve measurable business goals. - @leeodden" username="toprank"]

7. How Can B2B Brands Benefit from Collaborating with Influencers? Let’s Get the Scoop from the Experts — Caitlin Burgess

How can B2B brands benefit from collaborating with influencers? In this post Caitlin holds another spot on our top ten list for the year, sharing actionable insight from experts including Whitney Magnuson, Rani Mani, Lucy Zarlengo Moran, Martin Jones, Konstanze Alex, and others. [bctt tweet="Working with B2B influencers allows our brand to have a constant pulse check with purchase decision-makers. @konstanze @dell" username="toprank"]

8. Examples of B2B Influencer Marketing to Inspire You in 2019 — Lee Odden

Another top influencer marketing post of the years comes from Lee, sharing B2B influencer marketing inspiration with powerful examples of success from our clients at 3M, Dell, Oracle Dyn, Prophix, and SAP to help you visualize ways to make your influencer marketing efforts more impactful and meaningful. Lee's article makes it clear that an influencer content program can be a powerful force in your B2B marketing mix.

9. Sowing the Seeds of Success: 3 Elements of Strong B2B Influencer Relationships — Caitlin Burgess

What characteristics do the best influencer/brand relationships share? In another top post of the year, Caitlin shows how to sow the seeds of success using elements that form stronger B2B influencer relationships, including: • The Fit Factor • A Foundation of Trust • Commitment to Co-Creation • Greater Long-Term Interaction [bctt tweet="In order to be successful, the work has to be mutually beneficial to both parties. @lucymoran on #B2BInfluencerMarketing" username="toprank"]

10. Hitting Your Target: Why Account-Based Marketing and Influencers Are the Perfect Match — Nick Nelson

In the tenth most popular influencer marketing article of the year, our Senior Content Strategist Nick digs into the essentials of account based marketing (ABM) and its intersection with influencer marketing. Nick shows how ABM can bring a clearer focus to your B2B influencer marketing strategy and how it helps hit your influencer marketing targets and gain ideal customers. Check out all of Nick's posts here, and follow him on Twitter.

Thanks TopRank Marketing Writers & Readers

There you have it — a strong group of 10 of our top influencer marketing posts for 2019. We published dozens of posts this year specifically about influencer marketing, and we plan to bring you even more in 2020, so stay tuned. Please let us know which influencer marketing topics and ideas you'd like to see us focus on for 2020 — we'd love to hear your suggestions. If you'd like to get a handle on influencer marketing trends, be sure to also check out Ashley Zeckman's post. Many thanks to each of you who read our blog regularly, and to all of you who comment on and share our posts on the TopRank Marketing social media channels at Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

The post Lessons From Our Top 10 Influencer Marketing Posts of 2019 appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages https://www.toprankblog.com/2019/12/top-influencer-marketing-posts-2019/

[ralphlayton]

Lessons From Our Top 10 Influencer Marketing Posts of 2019

2019 saw the continued rise in influencer marketing's power and scope in both B2C and B2B industries. This continued the explosion of interest in the practice over the past two years, and with more practitioners than ever going all-in, influencer marketing has been a primary focus of what we have explored on our blog throughout the year. We're lucky to have some of the strongest B2B influencer marketing professionals contributing to the TopRank Marketing blog, including our CEO Lee Odden, Ashley Zeckman, Joshua Nite, Caitlin Burgess, Anne Leuman, Nick Nelson, Tiffani Allen, Debbie Friez, the author of this post, and Alexis Hall, among others. As an industry approaching $20 billion annually, influencer marketing is now far from a shiny new object to savvy marketers. The insight and expertise our team has acquired helping some of the top brands in the world including 3M, Adobe, SAP, LinkedIn, and Oracle plan, implement and measure influencer marketing programs has often made it here to our blog. To help our blog community grow their influencer marketing knowledge, we're delighted to offer this list of our most popular influencer marketing posts of 2019. Of course, collaborating with influencers is something we do daily for clients and ourselves, and influencer engagement has become even more central to our B2B content marketing solutions, alongside social media marketing, SEO, and online advertising. The influencer marketing posts that proved to be our most popular of 2019 based on web analytics and social media data are listed below. We hope that they will help you ask the right questions and provide truly best-answer solutions to some of the most important challenges we'll all be facing in 2020. We give a giant thank you to Lee Odden, Ashley Zeckman, Josh Nite, Anne Leuman, and Caitlin Burgess for their work in advocating influencer marketing best practices. In addition to the list below, we've published several popular influencer lists this year, and while we won't place them on this list, we wanted to share them here as they're a great way to find and follow some of the leading digital marketing influencers.

The Top 50 Social Media Marketing Influencers in 2019

50 Content Marketing Influencers and Experts to Follow 2019 #CMWorld

50 Top B2B Marketing Influencers, Experts and Speakers in 2019

Our Most Popular Influencer Marketing Posts in 2019:

1. 7 Top B2B Influencer Marketing Trends for 2020 — Lee Odden

Our CEO Lee wrote the most popular influencer marketing post of 2019 on our blog, exploring some of the most important and relevant trends to recognize for 2020. Highlighting trends including influence artificial intelligence (AI), democratized influence, brandividual media, more engaging content, integration with martech, the consumerization of B2B influence and more, Lee took a powerful look at many of the influencer marketing trends that are likely to rise in 2020. Check out all of Lee’s 2,600+ posts here, and follow him on Twitter. [bctt tweet="“Not staying on top of how the world of influencer marketing is evolving is simply leaving your customers open to the influence of your competition..” @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

2. Inspiring Examples of B2B Influencer Marketing in Action — Lee Odden

Lee also wrote our second most popular influencer marketing post of the year, offering up 10 inspiring examples of B2B influencer marketing in action, showing how B2B influencer marketing can help increase credibility by promoting to buyers using people they trust. Lee looked at how more B2B brands are realizing that while different than B2C, working with influencers in a business to business context represents a significant opportunity to create more credible content. [bctt tweet="“Trends come and go, but the value of trusted sources of information to customers looking for solutions couldn’t be any more timeless..” @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

3. 5 Key Trends in B2B Influencer Marketing Plus Critical Do’s and Don’ts — Lee Odden

Offering an exploration of critical do's and don'ts for B2B marketers, Lee also penned our third most popular influencer marketing article of the year, digging in to the world of micro and macro influencers, centralized influencer operations, always-on influencer engagement, a focus shift to both quality and quantity metrics, and the rise of influencer marketing software investment. Combined with five key trends to be aware of, this is an insightful look at the power of B2B influencer marketing when done right.

4. The Next Level of Influence: 30 Essential Influencer Marketing Statistics — Joshua Nite

In the fourth most popular influencer marketing post of 2019, our Senior Content Marketing Manager Josh shared 30 statistics to help take your influencer marketing to the next level — what we call Influence 2.0. Josh's post is a great way to upgrade your influencer marketing and get ready for what comes next.  Check out all of Josh's posts here, and follow him on Twitter. [bctt tweet="While financial compensation can be part of your #influencermarketing strategy, it shouldn’t be the whole strategy. Money can’t buy genuine enthusiasm and emotional investment. @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]

5. Why Always-On Is Always Better for Driving B2B Influencer Marketing Success — Caitlin Burgess

When it comes to B2B influencer marketing, always-on is always better, and in our fifth most popular influencer marketing post of the year, our Senior Content Marketing Manager Caitlin shares why strong relationships and always-on commitment to influencer marketing combine to help you refine, evolve, and scale your marketing efforts. Featuring seasoned influencer marketing leaders at B2B brands, Caitlin's post reveals how at its core, influencer marketing is all about brands engaging and developing relationships with individuals — individuals who have relevant topical expertise, reach, and resonance that aligns with the goals of the brand. Check out all of Caitlin’s posts here, and follow her on Twitter. [bctt tweet="Companies should approach influencers as partners, not just as people that they can use for their marketing efforts and launches. - @AmishaGandhi #B2BInfluencerMarketing" username="toprank"]

6. 5 Essential Questions to Guide Your B2B Influencer Marketing Strategy — Ashley Zeckman

Our Senior Director of Digital Strategy Ashley Zeckman answered five common questions about influencer marketing in our sixth most popular post of the year, with answers and insight including: • What is B2B influencer marketing? • How effective is it? • How can I get leadership to buy in? • Short-term gain or long-term reward? • Who are the right influencers for your brand? Ashley explored how each influencer type holds a different value for your audience and your brand, and how finding your right influencer mix means the right tactics, the right topics and the right experts. Check out all of Ashley’s posts here, and follow her on Twitter. [bctt tweet="Influencer marketing activates internal and industry experts with engaged networks to co-create content of mutual value and achieve measurable business goals. - @leeodden" username="toprank"]

7. How Can B2B Brands Benefit from Collaborating with Influencers? Let’s Get the Scoop from the Experts — Caitlin Burgess

How can B2B brands benefit from collaborating with influencers? In this post Caitlin holds another spot on our top ten list for the year, sharing actionable insight from experts including Whitney Magnuson, Rani Mani, Lucy Zarlengo Moran, Martin Jones, Konstanze Alex, and others. [bctt tweet="Working with B2B influencers allows our brand to have a constant pulse check with purchase decision-makers. @konstanze @dell" username="toprank"]

8. Examples of B2B Influencer Marketing to Inspire You in 2019 — Lee Odden

Another top influencer marketing post of the years comes from Lee, sharing B2B influencer marketing inspiration with powerful examples of success from our clients at 3M, Dell, Oracle Dyn, Prophix, and SAP to help you visualize ways to make your influencer marketing efforts more impactful and meaningful. Lee's article makes it clear that an influencer content program can be a powerful force in your B2B marketing mix.

9. Sowing the Seeds of Success: 3 Elements of Strong B2B Influencer Relationships — Caitlin Burgess

What characteristics do the best influencer/brand relationships share? In another top post of the year, Caitlin shows how to sow the seeds of success using elements that form stronger B2B influencer relationships, including: • The Fit Factor • A Foundation of Trust • Commitment to Co-Creation • Greater Long-Term Interaction [bctt tweet="In order to be successful, the work has to be mutually beneficial to both parties. @lucymoran on #B2BInfluencerMarketing" username="toprank"]

10. Hitting Your Target: Why Account-Based Marketing and Influencers Are the Perfect Match — Nick Nelson

In the tenth most popular influencer marketing article of the year, our Senior Content Strategist Nick digs into the essentials of account based marketing (ABM) and its intersection with influencer marketing. Nick shows how ABM can bring a clearer focus to your B2B influencer marketing strategy and how it helps hit your influencer marketing targets and gain ideal customers. Check out all of Nick's posts here, and follow him on Twitter.

Thanks TopRank Marketing Writers & Readers

There you have it — a strong group of 10 of our top influencer marketing posts for 2019. We published dozens of posts this year specifically about influencer marketing, and we plan to bring you even more in 2020, so stay tuned. Please let us know which influencer marketing topics and ideas you'd like to see us focus on for 2020 — we'd love to hear your suggestions. If you'd like to get a handle on influencer marketing trends, be sure to also check out Ashley Zeckman's post. Many thanks to each of you who read our blog regularly, and to all of you who comment on and share our posts on the TopRank Marketing social media channels at Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

The post Lessons From Our Top 10 Influencer Marketing Posts of 2019 appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Lessons From Our Top 10 Influencer Marketing Posts of 2019 published first on yhttps://improfitninja.blogspot.com/

[ileanacarvajal]

Month 9: Multi-Platform Delivery Course

Connecting/Synthesizing/Transforming — What research did you conduct and utilize to arrive at the design decisions you present. How did you connect the research to your design work? What information did you synthesize and pull from the research and how did you transform the information into what you've presented this month?

In this month was about building the branding of Laredo, Texas. Also, it was about designing a variety of possible platforms with the goal of developing a unified multi-media campaign.

To begin with, I had to create the logo of the brand from scratch. I'm clear that a logo is a representative to visualization for what the whole brand means, but it is not the brand itself, although it is an especially important component.

Ray (2018) says that “The first step to sketching is to know your client’s brand. Before you put pencil to paper, do some research about what product or service your client delivers to the customers” (para.6).

I considered the design brief with which I have been working these last months. It is important to know the client well, in this case, the city of Laredo, Texas. I considered several factors that characterized this city, for example, emblematic places, its activities, architecture, politics (Laredo is the only city in Texas to fly under seven flags).

I focused my research on trying to understand the people of Laredo, their cultural scenario, but I want to give this logo a direction to the historical scenario.

Sketch of the final logo

Airey (2014) mentions 7 ingredients in designing the right logo. That is, keep it simple, make it relevant, incorporate tradition, aim for distinction, commit to memory, think small and focus on one thing(Airey, 2014).

I wanted to take these rules into account to achieve good results:

FINAL LOGO

This logo has what Airey suggests,  it’s simple, by not having a lot of details it was achieved an elegant logo; it is relevant because it's related with the emblematic of Laredo; it incorporates tradition because it’s bringing back the past of Laredo, the historical heritage. I integrated the rule of aim for distinction because this logo can be something that its residents identify and recognize instantly, St Agustin cathedral it is a historical icon here in the city, people already know it and cherish it; it could commit to memory, because as soon as the residents see it they would know that it is indeed about their city; think small, because  no details are going to get lost for when it’s used in any printing matters; It focuses on one thing, leaving just the essential on the logo.

I also had to consider the characteristics of the brand, such as being hopeful, and placing a church is a way of sending that message and highlighting that characteristic. And since one of the potential solutions is designing a city- branding focused on the historical background of the city, to create a sense of nostalgia, with this logo it could attract the interest of the residents because it will be about reminding them of the city’s past, to make them appreciate and cherish that history.

Problem Solving — What design problem were you solving? What design problem does the medium you designed to solve according to the industry? How did you solve the problem? Restate your design problem to help explain this section. Remember: A design problem is not the same as a technical problem

The main problem is that the residents of Laredo do not feel sufficiently identified with their city, there is a lack of feeling of belonging.

From the beginning, creating a new identity branding focused on the historical background of Laredo, Texas was thought to attract the interest of the residents.  

It was then that I carried out the designs of assets that could make residents identify with the brand, and therefore with their city. These assets brought back that past, for example, with the integration of the main logo in them, which is impregnated with the beginning of Laredo as a city, since the cathedral of St. Augustine was founded with it in the year of 1755.

In the media mix designs (billboard Kiosk, hang tags, post banners, bumper stickers) included the logo and the main tagline of the brand that speaks of pride and hope to its people. Pride with the heritage that belongs to them and hope, that they would feel identified with their city.

In addition, images related to the history of the city, created from its history, historical figures, historical places, etc., were used. This could translate into a sense of nostalgia in its people and therefore they could feel identified with their city. I think it has been fulfilled with the brand's purpose since the beginning, in impregnating the designs with the past of Laredo, and by using colors that no doubt could attract the residents.

The residents of Laredo have been forgetting the history behind their city, and these designs could come to remind them of the historical value of Laredo, that they should feel proud of it, protect it and presume it to the rest of the world.

Billboard

The billboard highlights the historic side of the city by showing Fort McIntosh, one of the emblematic places of the city. 

Billboards are highly visible for advertisements, branding, or sponsor signage opportunities. One of the most visible types of available advertising, billboard signs get the attention of passersby, customers, and fans in a big way. (AMI Graphics, 2001, para. 1)

The billboard (signage) it is intended to be placed in one of the main avenues of the city, as is McPherson, this to deliver maximum exposure to vehicular traffic on expressways and highways in Laredo.

The purpose is to introduce the new brand, to show its visual identity, by showing that historical side with one of its imagery, logo, and tagline. It is intended that residents value the historical side of the city and start recognizing the new brand of Laredo.

Bumper sticker

The bumper sticker seeks to emphasize the logo and tagline of the brand so that residents begin to identify with it, know that it is a brand created for them.

As Hall (2019) explains, bumper stickers are a way of expressing your identity (Hall, 2019).

This asset is designed for its residents with the intention of showing off their city. The idea of placing the logo and tagline of the city in the bumper stickers is for the residents to acknowledge this new brand, with this logo and the year of foundation in the bottom of it is a way of showing all the historical value they should be proud of.

Pole Banners

Pole banner, would reach a  wider audience since it was translated into two languages, English and Spanish, so that those who speak only Spanish could get to identify themselves in a better way. 

According to Signs (2019), Pole banners “are displayed between two poles on a lamp and light posts on main roads, boulevards, and avenues in cities and on campuses. They are most commonly used for seasonal promotional around events” (para.1).

It would be used for welcoming and embracing the residents. The idea is to share the brand’s tagline and in this way, its residents start recognizing the new brand. By placing the banners in vintage posts that are in the historic district and in the historical downtown it would be to emphasizing the historical side that the brand represents.

Travel Hangtag

The travel hang tag and bumper sticker are an excellent idea so the residents could feel part of the brand, they would feel important to be in a way owners of the brand and also they would be sharing it. 

Custom hang tags allow you to add critical and creative information to a product such as a background information on a product’s origins, especially locally made items for consumers who enjoy supporting their community (Yang, 2016).

A travel hang tag can be an effective way for the residents to embrace the new brand, they would own the hang tag and therefore this logo and tagline. It is intended so that residents place their trust and their future in this brand, by showing the tagline can be a perfect way to approach the community. A hang tag can be a unique way for the branding of the city, this asset has the intention that each time the resident travel, always keep in mind its city.

The brand essence is about capturing and communicating it through each design decision and in this case that could be achieved in these assets. All the elements of each design had a motive, the designs are carefully aligned with the attributes of the brand, and the logo and the assets created to transmit and support the Laredo brand.

Kiosk

The kiosk is about transmitting that historic value of the city-brand, and by placing it in the malls they could help the residents to recognize their historical heritage and leave aside consumerism and materialistic places like the shopping centers.

The purpose of the kiosk is to display the places and emblematic figures of this city so that residents recognize their historical heritage.

Kenton (2018) says, “Retail kiosks are frequently located in shopping malls or on busy city streets with significant foot traffic (para. 1).

Kiosks could offer great visibility to show the city’s branding. This asset could be located in the malls, downtown, transportation stations, events or parking lots, basically the most elapsed spots of Laredo. This with the intention that people begin to identify the personality of the brand, and especially the main emblem, which is that residents feel proud of the historical value of their city and thus they could feel identified with Laredo.

Branding is important to make a connection with people, to make a good impression, and maintain it. I firmly think these design assets can make a good impression among the residents and can make them identify with its city since they are designed precisely for them, this brand can be born to stay among its people.

A new brand is being made known, that's why it was very important to highlight the logo and tagline of the brand, and the main colors could help residents begin to recognize the Laredo brand. 

Innovative Thinking — How does your work compare to others in the industry? How did you approach the subject of innovation? How is your work innovative?

Perhaps looking at other people's logo designs and brands help to get ideas, that's why I looked for Laredo logos to see what I could contribute that was different and innovative, however, I found only one logo, which is the current one, there are no other logos than that. I think my ideas are unique because I'm looking to lean towards the historical, and the current city branding is something that does not have.

I would say the soul of this city is in its history, and I think it's important to enhance that in this new brand. Hopeful, truthful, affectionate, and understanding are the values that this brand offers to the residents. Laredo, Texas is an old border city, dating from the 1700s, and although it is a small city it has a history, and for that reason, I want to bring that history to its residents, so that they appreciate the value of their city.

Acquiring Competencies — What did you learn overall throughout this process? Any new software? Techniques? Skills? Explain.

Something I learned to design was the brand style guide, now I have very clear that to be able to develop a brand I must start with creating a brand style guide first.

A brand guideline is a manual on how to use and maintain the brand. As a designer I must leave behind a deep understanding of how the brand is supposed to be, to keep safe its personality.

The brand guide created for Laredo’s brand.

According to Chan (2016) “A brand style guide is a document that codifies how an organization presents itself to the world. Put another way, it’s a reference tool that helps maintain consistency by demonstrating what a brand looks, feels and sounds like” (para. 2).

Brand guidelines are about sharing what the brand is all about in a significant way (provide enough and meaningful information), so that designers, marketers, developers, community managers, etc. can understand who the brand is, its reputation and personality, so they can all stay on the same page and maintain consistency, presenting a unified vision of the brand to the public.

Reflection on my experiences in this course and where I plan to go from here.

Something I learned in Multi-Platform Delivery Course is that the best brands stay in people’s minds because their presence is defined by the repetition of the same logo, fonts, colors, images, and graphic treatments. For that same reason, I want to maintain consistency (in style, imagery, treatment across media) in any brand that I create in the future and in this way make it memorable.

References

Aurey, D. (2014). Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities[Online Safari Book]. Available from http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/book/branding/9780133812589

Brand. Psychology & Marketing, 33(9), 713–728. https://doi-org.oclc.fullsail.edu/10.1002/mar.20912

Chan, S. (2016). How to create a brand style guide. Retrieved from https://99designs.com.mx/blog/logo-branding/how-to-create-a-brand-style-guide/

Hall, E. (2019). The Bumper Sticker Phenomenon: How It Began (and Why It Stuck Around). Retrieved from https://blog.esurance.com/the-bumper-sticker-phenomenon-how-it-began-and-why-it-stuck-around/

Kenton, W. (2018, April 26). Kiosk. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/k/kiosk.asp

Ray, H (2018, March 10). How To Proceed With Sketching Of Logo Design. Retrieved fromhttps://www.designhill.com/design-blog/how-to-proceed-with-sketching-of-logo-design/

Shields, A. B., & Johnson, J. W. (2016). What Did You Do to My Brand? The Moderating Effect of Brand Nostalgia on Consumer Responses to Changes in a

Signs (2019). Custom Pole Banners. Retrieved from https://www.signs.com/pole-banners/\

[samburgesspom]

Major Project Log - Christmas Track: “It’s Christmas Time, It’s All Fine”

I began the process of writing this song by researching past Christmas songs to try and identify some distinct timbre that would be vital in the composition. It became apparent that some in particular such as sleigh bells, tubular bells and brass instruments would be vital in the instrumentation of a conventional Christmas song. From this I began jotting down an initial idea for a composition. Taking inspiration from the ‘cuteness’ of Christmas songs such as Lily Allens version of Somewhere Only We Know (As made famous by the 2013 John Lewis Christmas advert), I focussed on using sustained strings, and soft percussion such as glockenspiel and xylophone synthesised sounds. Other inspirations include Badly Drawn Boy’s Donna and Blitzen and The Pogues Fairytale Of New York for a more ‘melancholic’ Christmas song approach. Completely opinionated but Donna and Blitzen in particular always somehow brings me to tears right from the beginning and this feeling really resonated with me and this emotional expressiveness was something I knew I wanted to implement in my song. 

— https://soundcloud.com/samuellouis/christmas-track-demo/s-KLj76 — 

As I mentioned, I wanted to create a Christmas song that was more touching and sentimental than celebratory, I feel that there is enough of those and doesn’t really have the impact that heart-felt seasonal songs convey. On my way to University to begin writing the first draft (above), I found my lyrical inspiration in seeing several homeless people along the way looking cold and alone on a particularly freezing day, and it really made me think about the concept of ‘giving’ at Christmas and how many people (myself and family included) really only tend to focus our intent of ‘giving’ to our family and friends, and how redirecting this wealth around the season would impact the lives of the less fortunate so much more beneficially. 

In my opinion, Christmas has become a completely consumerist-driven holiday, with advertisement in all media, even in the celebratory songs I mentioned earlier feeding a gluttonous western society. In a modern day society, it seems that the ‘Band Aid’ approach of awareness at Christmas is in short supply and seemed like a perfect opportunity and vital time to write a song that brings pressing matters around the season back into light. After all, given the cold weather and exclusion from this consumer-based demographic at Christmas, it is probably one of the worst times of the year for people outside of society. 

I began working on variations of the lyrics and melody for the chorus. I wanted something that would, something that would summarise the message of the song and be ‘catchy’ enough that it stays in peoples heads. I settled on these lyrics:

Lonely and cold,

I’m alone in this world,

I just need someone to hold me,

and say I’m not the only one,

like this at Christmas time,

walking past like you’re all blind,

I’m alive and I’m breathing,

but my life has no meaning.

I thought that writing from the first-person perspective would have much more impact than an a third-person observation. I feel that it is the general position of most people in society unfortunately to try and avoid the issue, to avoid eye contact and even in cases to purposefully ignore homeless people in the street. Obviously this is not everyone, it’s just an observation of many instances I have seen since living in the middle of a town centre for the last few years. However I thought that this chorus might capture the thoughts and feelings of a homeless person and to put it into a perspective that really speaks to people and hopefully recognises them as human beings and individuals who each have a story, which led me to writing the rest of the lyrics.

Originally I wanted to tell a very specific story about a homeless person who had fallen down a dark path in their adolescence in rebellion to a loving and sheltered childhood, ie.

I was a baby boy in my mothers arms,

always sang a song to try and keep me calm,

don’t worry, don’t stress, your mother she knows best.

When I was 17 I didn’t want the love,

I had the drink and drugs, the tools to self-destruct,

don’t worry, don’t stress, just take a hit of this.

Inspired by reflecting a lot about my upbringing, I’ve come from a family where I’ve been privileged to have been always supported by unconditional love from my family, and at a period in my teenage years, bitterly rejecting it and going down my own dark path which I felt to an extent I can relate to some degree how easily things can slip and descend into something irreversible. I’m fortunate enough to have perpetual support that I am now so grateful for but I wanted to convey the message that less fortunate people should not be judged for their circumstances and everybody has their own story and reasons for their situation. 

Considering the broad context and time constraints of a conventional Christmas/pop song I felt it would be better to expand the message to a more general nature as the song progressed ie.

Just remember the people struggling in December,

to get to bed at night, to get to bed at night.

Cold and alone, doing what it takes, whatever,

to make sure you survive, to make sure you survive.

As I stated earlier, I recorded the whole track using synthesised instruments in Logic Pro X, then recording the vocals on top of this. When asking various people for criticism of the first draft of the full track, they suggested that only the expression of live instruments could match the passion that I was trying to convey with the lyrics and message. From this feedback I set about sourcing some live instruments in the strict time constraint I had, (I had a week before I had to submit the track to the competition I had been writing it for) by desperately emailing any other students I could find that would play suitable instruments for the track. Fortunately I managed to find performers to play trombone, trumpet, violin and viola which I managed to arrange recording sessions (in my bedroom with a microphone and my laptop) one at a time over the course of the week. I then managed to get a studio booking the day before to record double bass on top of this. I found that this hugely improved the timbre and dynamic of the piece, and after several mixes later after an up all night session night of caffeine and hearing fatigue I eventually had the final mix. I then took this to the mastering room the next day and experimented with some higher quality plug-ins including a master tape recorder plug in which really complimented the overall dynamic of the piece.

My favourite part of the piece was the finishing touch at 4:10, where a young girl says “All I want for Christmas, in the whole wide world, is for everyone to be as happy as me”. Inspired by Declan Mckenna’s spoken word outro in Brazil which is based on a YouTube video where a kid is playing Call Of Duty. Seemingly nonsensical and unrelated to the song, it’s a nice touch to the end of the track nonetheless and I thought that a child talking about what they wanted for Christmas would finish the song off perfectly. I wanted to link this back to the idea of consumerism at Christmas and have the child contrast the expectation of what they would want at Christmas ie. presents, material items etc., with something that showed that displayed a greater understanding of altruism and the ‘true’ meaning of Christmas. I managed to record this on a voice memo on my phone recording my housemates younger sister through FaceTime performing the line.

Listen to the track on Spotify here -

https://open.spotify.com/track/7kRb0MRIGGx7MNJUfDrgRb?si=HJcAB59vQ_GRvqVPy8XZ6w

[goomygoomygoomy]

Why do they criticize us?

All over the news, I hear older people talk about the younger generations being “addicted to our phones and social media.” Do they ever think about why? Do they ever ask us?

Do they ever think that we want to learn about the learn around us? That we want to know what happens in the news past the constant talk of the goddamn deranged Cheeto from hell? That we want to learn and share info on other’s beliefs so we have a better understanding of each other?

Do they ever think we want to support our fellow people of color, women, the lgbt+ community, and religious people, who are doing nothing wrong to literally anyone, and still being attacked? That we want to post pictures that we like of ourselves to boost our confidence and making sure to comment that our friends are amazing?

Do they ever think we want to make friends with our same interests? Friends we can count on when we have no one else to rely on? To help us be happy and confident and will definitely cry with you over a season finale? That we want to unify our generation so we can try our hardest to stop wars and bring peace to the world when we’re the ones in charge?

Do they ever think we want to learn how to live safely? How to life hack our way through this bullshit economy and consumerism? How to hand-make things for cheaper? How to avoid debts and handling money, ‘cause we all know that we sure as hell can’t afford anything? How to find the flaws in the present so we can fix them when it’s up to us in the future? How to save this beautiful Earth and everything on it from global warming and pollution? How to love ourselves and love others? How to keep each other safe and how to teach people that rape and abuse is vile and wrong and never is the victims fault and that consent is important?

Do they ever think we want to save the world? Do they ever think we want to make it a better place? Do they ever think to ask?

All they do is sit back and not bother to tell the whole story.