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👻 Pre-order Parmi les Vivant·es via Ulule 👻
SeidkonaPress (FR) 40pg, 10 eur
C'est la nuit d'Halloween, la nuit où les créatures d'outre-tombe peuvent passer inaperçues dans le monde des vivant·es. Trois filles se promènent dans le cimetière, préparant cette soirée spéciale: Buffy, une zombie, Poppy, un fantôme en bottes et enfin, Emelda, une vampire. Alors qu'elles discutent, elles font la rencontre d'une petite fille appelée Kylie. Une rencontre qui va sans aucun doute chambouler leur soirée d'Halloween, pour toujours.
Hello everyone, this is my brand new original comic I made last year for Seidkona, and also my first publication for Europe! For now it's only in french but your support will be more than welcome, even if you don't know french, shares are super appreciated for us <3 Help us reach our goal 🐛💞
#artists on tumblr#original art#ocs#Parmi les Vivant·es#I will edit this post with a new link once the pre-order campaigning ends#thank you for supporting T____T
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Pluralistic: 08 Mar 2020 (Ghost flights over Europe, Patagonia joins Right to Repair, EU's R2R showdown with Apple)
Today's links
EU airspace is full of empty planes: Flight slots are use-em-or-lose-em.
European Right to Repair for phones is finally on the horizon: Will the EU finally defy Apple?
Patagonia offers tutorials and supplies to fix your clothes: Companies that guarantee their products for life have different incentives.
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading
EU airspace is full of empty planes (permalink)
In the EU, airlines that do not fly at least 80% of scheduled flights risk losing their spots to competitors, so Europe's skies are filled with largely empty "ghost planes," burning tons of fuel for no reason.
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-airlines-run-empty-ghost-flights-planes-passengers-outbreak-covid-2020-3
Covid-19 has crashed aviation demand, but not flights themselves. Miraculously, UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps – an otherwise useless idiot – has led on this, asking British aviation regulators to relax the 80/20 rule.
https://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1235614933292920832
European Right to Repair for phones is finally on the horizon (permalink)
The EU has led the world on Right to Repair, with extensive regulation mandating both easy-to-repair designs and manufacturer cooperation with the independent repair sector. But there's been one glaring omission in EU rules: smartphones. Though the official reasoning for not mandating Right to Repair for phones – which are universal and a major source of e-waste – is that the sector is too fast-moving to regulate, it's far more likely that the EU shied away because were scared to pick a fight with Apple.
Apple, after all, is the most repair-hostile manufacturer in the world. It's official reasoning on this is laughably terrible and transparent.
https://www.ifixit.com/News/33977/apple-told-congress-how-repair-should-work-we-respond
Especially when considered in light of its investor disclosures, which make it clear that the company views the tendency of customers to fix and keep their phones (rather than buying new ones) as the major threat to its profitability.
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/01/letter-from-tim-cook-to-apple-investors/
Apple is a one-company environmental apocalypse, with the industry's worst practices for old/broken electronics. Others fix systems, re-use parts, and keep parts available. Apple literally orders its partners to shred it all and turn it into landfill.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/yp73jw/apple-recycling-iphones-macbooks
This has the major advantage (for Apple) of curtailing the used equipment market, which means that potential customers are herded into buying new. It also means that those new devices have a hidden drain on their value, because they have no aftermarket commercial life. It's no wonder, then, that Apple led the industry coalitions that killed all twenty state-level Right to Repair bills in 2018.
Which brings us to today, as the EU is contemplating a new set of Right to Repair rules, including rules for electronics, including – possibly – phones. The new rules will be published this week, and Apple has lobbied heavily against this outcome.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/03/right-to-repair-will-the-european-commission-have-the-guts-to-stand-up-to-apple-et-al-details-on-wednesday.html
If the new ecodesign directive covers mobile phones, the Commission will finally be addressing one of the great e-waste sources worldwide. If they do, though, expect Apple to squawk, as they did when the EU mandated a single charger for smartphones, which Apple publicly freaked out about as though it was an extinction-level event.
Patagonia offers tutorials and supplies to fix your clothes (permalink)
People buy Patagonia not just because it's long-wearing, but because it comes with what amounts to a lifetime guarantee.
https://help.patagonia.com/s/article/Ironclad-Guarantee
Companies that offer lifetime guarantees want their customers to be able to effect their own repairs and maintenance – unlike companies whose profits depend on you throwing away and replacing your purchases every 18 months.
https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/08/ghost-flights/#eurighttorepair
So it's delightful (but not surprising) that Patagonia have partnered with iFixit to produce detailed repair and maintenance documentation for its products.
https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/Patagonia_Product_Care
The official Product Repair Guide fits right in with the company's longstanding ethic and messaging (after all, these are the people who ran an anti-consumerism campaign called "Do Not Buy This Jacket!").
https://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-fashion/patagonia-will-teach-you-how-repair-clothes.html
This day in history (permalink)
#15yrsago Waxy and his mom trying to save journalism program in SoCal's Oxnard College https://waxy.org/2005/03/my_mom_fights_t/
#5yrsago Stomach-churning details of CIA waterboarding crimes https://web.archive.org/web/20100310233037/https://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/03/09/waterboarding_for_dummies/index.html?source=rss&aim=%2Fnews%2Ffeature
#5yrsago Imaginary ISIS attack on Louisiana and the twitterbots who loved it https://render.betaworks.com/media-hacking-3b1e350d619c
#1yrago The media company paid by the EU Parliament to make a video promoting a copyright law it stood to make millions from once sued a photographer for complaining that they'd ripped him off https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190307/16175941758/eu-parliament-paid-news-publisher-afp-to-create-bogus-propaganda-video-favor-eu-copyright-directive.shtml
#1yrago Thanks to audiobooks, reading's popularity still strong in America https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/25/one-in-five-americans-now-listen-to-audiobooks/
#1yrago Millions of Americans have left Facebook, led by young people aged 12-34 https://www.marketplace.org/2019/03/06/tech/exclusive-look-numbers-showing-users-leaving-facebook-by-the-millions/
#1yrago A machine-learning system that guesses whether text was produced by machine-learning systems http://gltr.io/
#1yrago Towards a general theory of "adversarial examples," the bizarre, hallucinatory motes in machine learning's all-seeing eye https://perma.cc/3ZQQ-A7MY
#1yrago Chelsea Manning has been jailed for refusing to testify at a grand jury about her whistleblowing https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/8/18256173/chelsea-manning-wikileaks-jailed-testify-refusal
Colophon (permalink)
Today's top sources: Slashdot (https://slashdot.org) and Naked Capitalism (https://nakedcapitalism.com/).
Hugo nominators! My story "Unauthorized Bread" is eligible in the Novella category and you can read it free on Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/
Upcoming appearances:
Museums and the Web: March 31-April 4 2020, Los Angeles. https://mw20.museweb.net/
LA Times Festival of Books: 18 April 2020, Los Angeles. https://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/
Currently writing: I'm rewriting a short story, "The Canadian Miracle," for MIT Tech Review. It's a story set in the world of my next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation. I'm also working on "Baby Twitter," a piece of design fiction also set in The Lost Cause's prehistory, for a British think-tank. I'm getting geared up to start work on the novel afterwards.
Currently reading: Just started Lauren Beukes's forthcoming Afterland: it's Y the Last Man plus plus, and two chapters in, it's amazeballs. Last month, I finished Andrea Bernstein's "American Oligarchs"; it's a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I'm getting really into Anna Weiner's memoir about tech, "Uncanny Valley." I just loaded Matt Stoller's "Goliath" onto my underwater MP3 player and I'm listening to it as I swim laps.
Latest podcast: Disasters Don't Have to End in Dystopias: https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/01/disasters-dont-have-to-end-in-dystopias/
Upcoming books: "Poesy the Monster Slayer" (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627
(we're having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).
"Attack Surface": The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020.
"Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a very special, s00per s33kr1t intro.
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Age Of Empires 2 For Mac Download
Age Of Empires Free Download
Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Mac Download Free
As I‘ve written in earlier blog posts, Age of Empires is my most favorite game of all time. So, you can imagine my dismay when Microsoft announced in 2008 that they were shutting down Ensemble Studios, the development studio for all the Age of Empires titles. It would appear that Microsoft has reconsidered the decision to end the Age of Empires line, as they’ve recently released two significant updates—Age of Empires: Definitive Edition and Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.
These updates improved the graphics quality and also moved to DirectX 11 as the graphics library upon which the games are based. I wrote about Age of Empires: Definitive Edition and Parallels Desktop in an earlier blog post, and in this post I will discuss Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.
I won’t keep you in suspense any longer: because Parallels Desktop™ for Mac moved to Apple Metal and now supports DirectX 11, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition plays great in Parallels Desktop on my MacBook Pro. You can see this for yourself in this short video:
The Age of Empires Franchise represents the critically acclaimed, award winning Real Time Strategy (RTS) games with a legacy spanning over 20 years and nearly a dozen titles.
Download Age of Empires II HD Mac Free download free setup for Mac OS. It is Offline dmg File with Direct Download Link with the standalone Compressed file. Age of Empires II HD Mac Overview: Microsoft has as soon as once more launched one other shock on the Age of Empires II HD for Mac sequence of in style strategic video games, the model of.
Nov 29, 2018 Download Age of Empires 2 HD for Mac OS: Age of Empires 2 HD is a remastered version of the popular real-time isometric strategy game Age of Empires 2. In this game you will find a new visual design, improved gameplay, multiplayer mode and a new soundtrack.
Video1: Some short gameplay of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition in Parallels Desktop
Age of Empires, the pivotal RTS that launched a 20-year legacy returns in definitive form for Windows 10 PCs. Bringing together all of the officially released content with modernized gameplay, all-new visuals and a host of other new features, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is the complete RTS package. Age of empires 2 mac free download - Age of Empires Update, Age of Empires III Update, Age of Empires, and many more programs.
Of course, the most important variable in-game performance is the specs for your Mac. The basic specs for the Mac used for Video 1 are shown in Figure 1.
Note: There does appear to be a small bug in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. Its check for video memory in a Parallels Desktop virtual machine is incorrect, and you may see the dialog shown in Figure 2. Just ignore this warning as it does not appear to affect gameplay at all. (I have reported the bug to the Age of Empires team.)
The Age of Empires team has also announced Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition and Age of Empires IV. I will test them in Parallels Desktop as soon as they are available.
Let me know in the comments about your experience with any of the Age of Empires titles or other games that you play (or want to play!) in Parallels Desktop on your Mac.
Download a free 14-day free trial to try Age of Empires and Parallels Desktop yourself to see how it works for your Mac set up!
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition completes the celebration of one of the most beloved real-time strategy franchises with stunning 4K Ultra HD graphics, fully enhanced audio, two new game modes, and includes all expansions and all 14 civilizations, plus two brand new civilizations – the Swedes and Inca.
Minimum System Requirements
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 version 18362.0 or higher
Processor: Intel i3-2105 @ 3.1GHz or AMD Phenom II X4 973 with an average CPU Passmark score of 3735 or better
Memory: 8GB
Graphics: GeForce GT 430, Radeon HD 5570, or Intel HD 4400 with an average Passmark G3D Mark of 570 or better
VRAM: 2GB
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 42GB available space
Recommended
OS: Windows 10 version 18362.0 or higher
Processor: Intel i5-3300 @ 3.0GHz or AMD FX-8350 or equivalent with an average CPU Passmark score of 4100 or better
Memory: 16GB
Graphics: GeForce GTX 980 or Radeon R9 Fury or equivalent with an average Passmark G3D Mark of 9500 or better
VRAM: 4GB
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 42GB available space
Experience one of the most beloved real-time strategy franchises with the Age of Empires: Definitive Collection. This collection packs a 20-year legacy of historical adventure in definitive form with remastered 4K Ultra HD graphics, enhanced audio, all previously released expansions and featuring brand-new content in all three remastered versions of the games:
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition (Pre-order)
This unforgettable collection features hundreds of hours of real-time strategy fun and is an unrivaled compilation that will stand the test of time.
Age Of Empires Free Download
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is the new, lovingly remastered version of the legendary real-time strategy game straight from the pages of history! Relive the most glorious battles of history with all-new graphics, music, sound, and more.
Minimum System Requirements
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 64bit
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64×2 5600+
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 420 or ATI™ Radeon™ HD 6850 or Intel® HD Graphics 3000 or better with 2 GB VRAM
DirectX®: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 30 GB available space
Recommended:
OS: Windows 10 64bit
Processor: 2.4 Ghz i5 or greater or AMD equivalent
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia® GTX 650 or AMD HD 5850 or better
DirectX®: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 30 GB available space
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is the new, lovingly remastered version of the legendary real-time strategy game straight from the pages of history! Relive the most glorious battles of history with all-new graphics, music, sound, and more.
Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Mac Download Free
Minimum System Requirements
OS: 64-bit Windows 10 version 14393.0 or higher required
Architecture: X64 required
Processor: 1.8 Ghz+ Dual Core or greater i3, i5, or i7, or AMD equivalent
Graphics: Intel HD 4000 or Greater (16 or more Execution Units), AMD or nVidia GPU scoring 500 or more on Passmark G3D Mark, DirectX 11 or higher Feature Level support
Memory: 4GB (free)
Video Memory: 1GB (free)
Storage: 17-20GB, additional 100MB free at run time
Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome (Included with Age of Empires: Definitive Edition)
The Rise of Rome adds four new civilizations and units as well as new campaigns, now fully voice-acted in English.
Age of Empires II is the sequel to the award-winning, best-selling real-time strategy game Age of Empires. Explore new maps, multiplayer scenarios, spectator mode, user-created content from the Steam Workshop and more in the HD Edition re-release and its three expansions!
Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 Pro+
Processor: 1.2GhZ CPU
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 2 GB Space
Direct X 9.0c Capable GPU
DirectX® 9.0
Age of Empires II HD: The Conquerors (Included with Age of Empires II HD)
The game features five new civilizations, four new campaigns, eleven new units, twenty-six new technologies, and new gameplay modes.
Age of Empires II HD: Rise of the Rajas
Released December 2016, Rise of the Rajas brings Age of Empires II HD to Southeast Asia! Four more civilizations join the fray, as well as a new map type, new units, and of course new campaigns!
Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms
Released in November 2015, The African Kingdoms adds four new civilizations, each with a fully voice-acted campaign, as well as new maps, units, and a brand-new game mode!
Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten
From the dev superstars at Forgotten Empires comes The Forgotten, introducing five civilizations, maps, and campaigns.
Immerse yourself in the award-winning strategy experience! Microsoft Studios brings you three epic Age of Empires III games in one monumental collection for the first time. Command mighty European powers looking to explore new lands in the New World; or jump eastward to Asia and determine the outcome of its struggles for power.
Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 Pro+
Processor: 1.2GhZ CPU
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 2 GB Space
Direct X 9.0c Capable GPU
DirectX® 9.0
Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs
Continue the saga of the Black family in an all-new campaign as they witness the birth of a new nation.
Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
Three new civilizations join the fight, each with its own campaign!
Age of Mythology is back! Choose your god and take to the battlefield in this classic RTS, upgraded with full Steamworks integration and enhanced features. Use mythological creatures like Minotaurs and Cyclopes to bolster your armies' strength. Call upon the gods for assistance in flattening enemy towns with meteors or scatter opposing troops with lightning storms!
Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 Pro+
Processor: 1.2GhZ CPU
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 2 GB Space
Direct X 9.0c Capable GPU
DirectX® 9.0
Age of Mythology: The Titans (Included in Age of Mythology Extended Edition)
A new culture—the Atlanteans—joins the clash of truly epic proportions! With new units and an all-new campaign, you won't want to miss this titanic expansion.
Age of Mythology: Tale of the Dragon
Age of Mythology: Tale of the Dragon introduces gods and units from Chinese lore in this expansion to the epic game of mythological armies!
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5 Data-Backed Social Media Trends You Need to Know for 2019
2019 is here and gone are the days where generating audience engagement on social media was primarily a passive process. The always-online audiences of today want to be involved, interact, and co-create.
The brands that are successful in delivering personalized experiences to their audiences are the brands that are likely to thrive with their social media strategies in the coming year.
But in order to be able to capitalize on this and everything else social media has to offer, you have to know what's coming!
Which is exactly why today we're covering 5 data-backed social media trends you need to know to make 2019 your best year yet with social media marketing.
Let's dive in!
5 data-backed social media trends you need to know for 2019
What follows is a lightly-edited transcript of the Buffer Podcast episode #127 for your reading pleasure.
Table of Contents
Trend 1: In-the-moment content will win out over highly-produced content
Trend 2: AI-driven personalized customer experiences
Trend 3: Brands can no longer afford to ignore social media ads
Trend 4: Rise of social media TV and vertical videos
Trend 5: The evolution from multichannel to omnichannel marketing
Kicking off our most popular show of the year: Social Media Trends 2019.
1. In-the-moment content will win out over highly-produced content
Brian: Our number 1 trend for 2019, and by the way these 5 trends are in no particular order because we feel that they are all hugely important, is that in-the-moment content will win out over highly-produced content.
Stories and rise of ephemeral content across social networks, which I'm sure we'll see a lot more of in 2019, is capturing the hearts and minds of audiences everywhere.
Hailley: One of the key parts of that trend is that we're predicting that stories will become the primary way to share content on social media, overtaking the News Feed. Only time will tell, but we'll count on you to let us know if that prediction was right or not next year!
But this is why social media marketers have to continue to pay close attention to the rise of Stories and how it impacts how people consume content. And it's why we talk about it so much here on the show. We're witnessing a fundamental shift in media.
Brian: Mobile usage and even shorter attention spans will continue to increase the popularity of short-lived content in 2019, especially with Millennials and Generation Z'ers, who thrive on their relationships with brands being authentic and meaningful.
Which is exactly why it's crucial that social media marketers establish a solid video strategy for ephemeral content.
More and more brands will embrace this personal, authentic and in-the-moment style content vs. overly produced, pre-packed content.
Hailley: What exactly does that mean for you?
Well, this means an increased focus on the people and personalities behind your brand. Think about how you can use video, Stories and images to connect your audience with the human – maybe even, dare I say, the vulnerable – side of your business.
You can accomplish a lot of this by taking your audience behind the scenes and showing the work your business day-to-day.
If you're a coffee shop, create a story of how you brew the perfect cup.
If you're a service business, take your followers on a tour of your office or show your team working.
Brian: Overall, the key thing is to experiment.
Imagine at one end of the spectrum there's the old social media with pre-packaged, very produced content. At the other end you have in-the-moment, super raw content. For brands, there are millions of untapped miles of opportunity in the middle of those two ends to try new things.
2. AI-driven personalized customer experiences
Which, brings us to our next social media trends 2019 and that's that we'll start to see AI drive a personalized customer experiences across lots of different channels.
Hailley: From chatbots to ad optimization, platforms like Google and Facebook have been continuing to adopt artificial intelligence to enhance customer interaction.
But it remains a huge opportunity and is underutilized by many brands.
Where we're seeing this develop particularly fast is in the form of online customer service.
In 2018, the growth in AI-driven communication has been undeniable, with tools like Intercom and Drift starting to appear on websites everywhere.
Many experts predict that by 2020, more than 80% of all customer service interactions will be powered by AI bots.
Brian: Again, with the younger generations leading the charge.
Millennials are the quickest adaptors of chatbot-based customer experiences. According to Huffington Post, 60% of the millennial population already uses chatbots and 71% of Millennials have implied that they would like to try using one.
In 2019, more and more brands will strengthen their online customer service practices and even move to new platforms that may potentially offer more effective technology for customer service to thrive online, such as WhatsApp and Messenger.
Hailley: Let's talk about WhatsApp for a second because I think marketers forget that they have over a billion users.
In 2019, we should begin to see the rise of WhatsApp as a primary social customer service channel. The release of the WhatsApp business API in August 2018 will continue to be a total game-changer in the industry.
With this new API, WhatsApp allows businesses to respond to customers for free within 24 hours. This shift means businesses are now incentivized to reply to their customers faster. It puts the focus firmly on improving customer experience.
Brian: What I love about how WhatsApp is set up is that customers can talk to a business on a channel they are already using for communication (with friends and family) without being spammed with marketing messages. The power with WhatsApp really is in the consumers hands.
But in terms of personalization, given the vast amount of information being uploaded by people each day, it's become very easy to get insights into all kinds of information about your customers.
This has opened the door for enhanced personalization, and that has increased consumer expectation for the same. So in other words, consumers are coming to expect it.
Hailley: Content, products, emails, ads – all can now be based on the consumer's purchase history, clicked links, social media posts, and other behavior.
Like for example, Airbnb now sends personalized trip and activity ideas based on your upcoming trips. And Netflix offers shows to watch based on your taste. Amazon and eBay show products similar to the ones you've bought before. All of that is personalization.
Brian: It's on you as a business to figure out what personalization looks like for your company.
As long as you are respectful of personal privacy, personalization is a solid way to go for marketers to boost campaign performance in 2019.
3. Brands can no longer afford to ignore social media ads
We're already seeing a ton of businesses jump on board with social media ads. Marketers increased social ad budgets 32% in 2018 alone and produced more ads than ever before.
In fact, one of every four Facebook Pages now use paid advertising as part of their strategy. And Facebook accounts for 23% of total U.S. digital ad spending. All of those numbers are sure to increase in 2019.
Brian: What happens when we see this trend emerge is that it gets more competitive and more expensive to advertise.
To counter this, social teams should make sure they pair their ad money with equal time investment and creativity..
In other words, you won't be able to just create any old ad and have it work. You have to invest some time in creating great content. One of the easiest ways to do this is to just boost your top performing organic content.
Hailley: If you've noticed, lots of brands like Spotify, Blenders Eyeware, and others are leading the way with creative social ads that are both personalized and entertaining, rather than just banner ads squeezed into a news feed.
It's the brand awareness type ads that are really thriving. Even if you're selling your product, you can do it in a way that doesn't feel intrusive to other types of authentic content in the news feed.
Brian: Content should feel like something coming from your friends.
We wanted to give you a few tips on creating better ads.
First, you must must must, understand your target audience.
Each ad campaign should target a focused group based on interests, jobs, relevant competitors, and previous interaction with your brand.
Hailley: Next, make sure to define your goals and metrics up front.
It's important to show that social media has a positive bottom-line impact on your business.
Awareness campaigns, for example, might focus on impressions, while conversion campaigns should put more value on click-throughs.
After goals, it's all about investing in high-quality content.
With more brands competing for people's attention on social media, ordinary posts just aren't going to cut it.
Brian: At the heart of great content are compelling visuals, which are essential for clicks and high conversion rates on social media. Not every brand will have the budget for expensive equipment or a professional team, but even just learning some video basics or even hiring a freelancer can make a difference.
But one thing every brand and marketer can and should be doing is repurposing ideas from top-performing organic content.
Creating high quality social ads takes time and money. Test your ad concepts as organic posts first to see how they perform. Once you see what's working, you can adapt and repurpose your top performing organic content for ads.
Hailley: Doing that will help increase ROI of your ads right from the beginning.
And one more thing on that topic is to embrace new ad formats
Instagram Stories ads, for example, have been around since 2017. But this year Instagram gave brands the ability to use three consecutive photos or videos.
Pinterest, on the other hand, recently rolled out wide-format promoted videos.
And Facebook Messenger ads now allow brands to connect with customers directly via instant messaging.
4. Rise of social media TV and vertical videos
One of the biggest social media trends since 2018 has been the launch of IGTV by Instagram.
This along with other developments from social networks points to the rise of what we're calling “social television” lead by the vertical video format.
Hailley: I think that this fourth trend is one of the most exciting social media trends 2019 and is going to fundamentally shift the way that brands and marketers create content.
Plus, Instagram is just going to continue to grow exponentially. Other platforms will probably follow suit with their own version of vertical video and Stories.
According to data collected by Statista, more than 50% of digital videos are now viewed on mobile in vertical format. And it has been showing a general upward trend since 2013.
Brian: I hope at this point everyone is starting to realize that these trends for 2019 are all connected. Personalized experiences, advertising, and vertical videos are all a part of the overall way the social media industry is heading.
Each platform is working hard to create experiences that people want to return to every single day. Which is exactly why things like IGTV are so compelling-that content sits right there at the top of the feed, and is top of mind each time someone logs on.
Hailley: Your daily authentic content creation approach that businesses will inevitably take advantage of in 2019.
The way we see it is that savvy businesses will create content for each type of consumer:
The daily consumer that Stories really helps to attract.
The shoppers and scrollers that the News Feed is perfect for.
The power users that longer form content, like what's found on IGTV, is perfect for.
Brian: Thinking about your target audience as these types of personas and then matching your content to their intentions on social will lead to the biggest engagement.
Which, is a great transition into our 5th trend to look forward to in 2019 and that's a shift in marketing best-practices.
5. The evolution from multichannel to omnichannel marketing
Hailley: Now this one isn't solely about social media trends 2019, but social media plays a critical role in your overall marketing strategy.
If you're wondering what omnichannel marketing is and why we're talking about omnichannel, Omni is based on the Latin word Omnis, which means 'all or every' – and this obviously emphasizes the importance of reaching and interacting with customers in all channels.
Brian: There's a quote floating around out there from John Bowden, VP at Time Warner Cable, and I think he explains omnichannel marketing perfectly:
“Omnichannel is viewing the experience through the eyes of your customer, orchestrating the customer experience across all channels so that it is seamless and integrated. It anticipates that customers may start in one channel and move to another as they progress to an end point. That end point is your product or service.”
In other words, you have to think about the digital experience as a whole.
Hailley: A buyer's journey is still a mystery for the most part because there are so many touch points with your brand along the way, but what we do know, is that nobody today shops exclusively through a single medium.
Consumers of all generations buy online and in stores, they read reviews, listen to peers, do their research and it all makes up part of a bigger picture.
Brian: The best part about thinking of marketing like this is that paid ads, social, content, and email channels don't have to compete against each other for sales or customers.
You can grow your business by strategically integrating all these channels together.
So while email may not convert a customer immediately, readers might visit your website from your newsletter. Then you might then use that traffic to re-target visitors with a special offer on social media.
Hailley: Exactly and those people might read a review on Google or Amazon about your product.
But it all originated with that email. And even though the email won't get credit, you still were able to add a new customer to the list.
Which I think every business would consider a win.
How to say hello to us
We would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!
Hailley on Twitter and Hailley's Website
Brian on Twitter and Brian's Website
Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.
Enjoy the show? It'd mean the world to us if you'd be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!
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About The Science of Social Media podcast
The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you're a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you're sure to find something useful in each and every episode. It's our hope that you'll join our 20,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result!
The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.
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5 Data-Backed Social Media Trends You Need to Know for 2019
2019 is here and gone are the days where generating audience engagement on social media was primarily a passive process. The always-online audiences of today want to be involved, interact, and co-create.
The brands that are successful in delivering personalized experiences to their audiences are the brands that are likely to thrive with their social media strategies in the coming year.
But in order to be able to capitalize on this and everything else social media has to offer, you have to know what’s coming!
Which is exactly why today we’re covering 5 data-backed social media trends you need to know to make 2019 your best year yet with social media marketing.
Let’s dive in!
5 data-backed social media trends you need to know for 2019
What follows is a lightly-edited transcript of the Buffer Podcast episode #127 for your reading pleasure.
Table of Contents
Trend 1: In-the-moment content will win out over highly-produced content Trend 2: AI-driven personalized customer experiences Trend 3: Brands can no longer afford to ignore social media ads Trend 4: Rise of social media TV and vertical videos Trend 5: The evolution from multichannel to omnichannel marketing
Kicking off our most popular show of the year: Social Media Trends 2019.
1. In-the-moment content will win out over highly-produced content
Brian: Our number 1 trend for 2019, and by the way these 5 trends are in no particular order because we feel that they are all hugely important, is that in-the-moment content will win out over highly-produced content.
Stories and rise of ephemeral content across social networks, which I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of in 2019, is capturing the hearts and minds of audiences everywhere.
Hailley: One of the key parts of that trend is that we’re predicting that stories will become the primary way to share content on social media, overtaking the News Feed. Only time will tell, but we’ll count on you to let us know if that prediction was right or not next year!
But this is why social media marketers have to continue to pay close attention to the rise of Stories and how it impacts how people consume content. And it’s why we talk about it so much here on the show. We’re witnessing a fundamental shift in media.
Brian: Mobile usage and even shorter attention spans will continue to increase the popularity of short-lived content in 2019, especially with Millennials and Generation Z’ers, who thrive on their relationships with brands being authentic and meaningful.
Which is exactly why it’s crucial that social media marketers establish a solid video strategy for ephemeral content.
More and more brands will embrace this personal, authentic and in-the-moment style content vs. overly produced, pre-packed content.
Hailley: What exactly does that mean for you?
Well, this means an increased focus on the people and personalities behind your brand. Think about how you can use video, Stories and images to connect your audience with the human – maybe even, dare I say, the vulnerable – side of your business.
You can accomplish a lot of this by taking your audience behind the scenes and showing the work your business day-to-day.
If you’re a coffee shop, create a story of how you brew the perfect cup.
If you’re a service business, take your followers on a tour of your office or show your team working.
Brian: Overall, the key thing is to experiment.
Imagine at one end of the spectrum there’s the old social media with pre-packaged, very produced content. At the other end you have in-the-moment, super raw content. For brands, there are millions of untapped miles of opportunity in the middle of those two ends to try new things.
2. AI-driven personalized customer experiences
Which, brings us to our next social media trends 2019 and that’s that we’ll start to see AI drive a personalized customer experiences across lots of different channels.
Hailley: From chatbots to ad optimization, platforms like Google and Facebook have been continuing to adopt artificial intelligence to enhance customer interaction.
But it remains a huge opportunity and is underutilized by many brands.
Where we’re seeing this develop particularly fast is in the form of online customer service.
In 2018, the growth in AI-driven communication has been undeniable, with tools like Intercom and Drift starting to appear on websites everywhere.
Many experts predict that by 2020, more than 80% of all customer service interactions will be powered by AI bots.
Brian: Again, with the younger generations leading the charge.
Millennials are the quickest adaptors of chatbot-based customer experiences. According to Huffington Post, 60% of the millennial population already uses chatbots and 71% of Millennials have implied that they would like to try using one.
In 2019, more and more brands will strengthen their online customer service practices and even move to new platforms that may potentially offer more effective technology for customer service to thrive online, such as WhatsApp and Messenger.
Hailley: Let’s talk about WhatsApp for a second because I think marketers forget that they have over a billion users.
In 2019, we should begin to see the rise of WhatsApp as a primary social customer service channel. The release of the WhatsApp business API in August 2018 will continue to be a total game-changer in the industry.
With this new API, WhatsApp allows businesses to respond to customers for free within 24 hours. This shift means businesses are now incentivized to reply to their customers faster. It puts the focus firmly on improving customer experience.
Brian: What I love about how WhatsApp is set up is that customers can talk to a business on a channel they are already using for communication (with friends and family) without being spammed with marketing messages. The power with WhatsApp really is in the consumers hands.
But in terms of personalization, given the vast amount of information being uploaded by people each day, it’s become very easy to get insights into all kinds of information about your customers.
This has opened the door for enhanced personalization, and that has increased consumer expectation for the same. So in other words, consumers are coming to expect it.
Hailley: Content, products, emails, ads – all can now be based on the consumer’s purchase history, clicked links, social media posts, and other behavior.
Like for example, Airbnb now sends personalized trip and activity ideas based on your upcoming trips. And Netflix offers shows to watch based on your taste. Amazon and eBay show products similar to the ones you’ve bought before. All of that is personalization.
Brian: It’s on you as a business to figure out what personalization looks like for your company.
As long as you are respectful of personal privacy, personalization is a solid way to go for marketers to boost campaign performance in 2019.
3. Brands can no longer afford to ignore social media ads
We’re already seeing a ton of businesses jump on board with social media ads. Marketers increased social ad budgets 32% in 2018 alone and produced more ads than ever before.
In fact, one of every four Facebook Pages now use paid advertising as part of their strategy. And Facebook accounts for 23% of total U.S. digital ad spending. All of those numbers are sure to increase in 2019.
Brian: What happens when we see this trend emerge is that it gets more competitive and more expensive to advertise.
To counter this, social teams should make sure they pair their ad money with equal time investment and creativity..
In other words, you won’t be able to just create any old ad and have it work. You have to invest some time in creating great content. One of the easiest ways to do this is to just boost your top performing organic content.
Hailley: If you’ve noticed, lots of brands like Spotify, Blenders Eyeware, and others are leading the way with creative social ads that are both personalized and entertaining, rather than just banner ads squeezed into a news feed.
It’s the brand awareness type ads that are really thriving. Even if you’re selling your product, you can do it in a way that doesn’t feel intrusive to other types of authentic content in the news feed.
Brian: Content should feel like something coming from your friends.
We wanted to give you a few tips on creating better ads.
First, you must must must, understand your target audience.
Each ad campaign should target a focused group based on interests, jobs, relevant competitors, and previous interaction with your brand.
Hailley: Next, make sure to define your goals and metrics up front.
It’s important to show that social media has a positive bottom-line impact on your business.
Awareness campaigns, for example, might focus on impressions, while conversion campaigns should put more value on click-throughs.
After goals, it’s all about investing in high-quality content.
With more brands competing for people’s attention on social media, ordinary posts just aren’t going to cut it.
Brian: At the heart of great content are compelling visuals, which are essential for clicks and high conversion rates on social media. Not every brand will have the budget for expensive equipment or a professional team, but even just learning some video basics or even hiring a freelancer can make a difference.
But one thing every brand and marketer can and should be doing is repurposing ideas from top-performing organic content.
Creating high quality social ads takes time and money. Test your ad concepts as organic posts first to see how they perform. Once you see what’s working, you can adapt and repurpose your top performing organic content for ads.
Hailley: Doing that will help increase ROI of your ads right from the beginning.
And one more thing on that topic is to embrace new ad formats
Instagram Stories ads, for example, have been around since 2017. But this year Instagram gave brands the ability to use three consecutive photos or videos.
Pinterest, on the other hand, recently rolled out wide-format promoted videos.
And Facebook Messenger ads now allow brands to connect with customers directly via instant messaging.
4. Rise of social media TV and vertical videos
One of the biggest social media trends since 2018 has been the launch of IGTV by Instagram.
This along with other developments from social networks points to the rise of what we’re calling “social television” lead by the vertical video format.
Hailley: I think that this fourth trend is one of the most exciting social media trends 2019 and is going to fundamentally shift the way that brands and marketers create content.
Plus, Instagram is just going to continue to grow exponentially. Other platforms will probably follow suit with their own version of vertical video and Stories.
According to data collected by Statista, more than 50% of digital videos are now viewed on mobile in vertical format. And it has been showing a general upward trend since 2013.
Brian: I hope at this point everyone is starting to realize that these trends for 2019 are all connected. Personalized experiences, advertising, and vertical videos are all a part of the overall way the social media industry is heading.
Each platform is working hard to create experiences that people want to return to every single day. Which is exactly why things like IGTV are so compelling—that content sits right there at the top of the feed, and is top of mind each time someone logs on.
Hailley: Your daily authentic content creation approach that businesses will inevitably take advantage of in 2019.
The way we see it is that savvy businesses will create content for each type of consumer:
The daily consumer that Stories really helps to attract. The shoppers and scrollers that the News Feed is perfect for. The power users that longer form content, like what’s found on IGTV, is perfect for.
Brian: Thinking about your target audience as these types of personas and then matching your content to their intentions on social will lead to the biggest engagement.
Which, is a great transition into our 5th trend to look forward to in 2019 and that’s a shift in marketing best-practices.
5. The evolution from multichannel to omnichannel marketing
Hailley: Now this one isn’t solely about social media trends 2019, but social media plays a critical role in your overall marketing strategy.
If you’re wondering what omnichannel marketing is and why we’re talking about omnichannel, Omni is based on the Latin word Omnis, which means ‘all or every’ – and this obviously emphasizes the importance of reaching and interacting with customers in all channels.
Brian: There’s a quote floating around out there from John Bowden, VP at Time Warner Cable, and I think he explains omnichannel marketing perfectly:
“Omnichannel is viewing the experience through the eyes of your customer, orchestrating the customer experience across all channels so that it is seamless and integrated. It anticipates that customers may start in one channel and move to another as they progress to an end point. That end point is your product or service.”
In other words, you have to think about the digital experience as a whole.
Hailley: A buyer’s journey is still a mystery for the most part because there are so many touch points with your brand along the way, but what we do know, is that nobody today shops exclusively through a single medium.
Consumers of all generations buy online and in stores, they read reviews, listen to peers, do their research and it all makes up part of a bigger picture.
Brian: The best part about thinking of marketing like this is that paid ads, social, content, and email channels don’t have to compete against each other for sales or customers.
You can grow your business by strategically integrating all these channels together.
So while email may..
Read more: blog.bufferapp.com
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How to get 10k Streams on Spotify
If you are new to the music biz or even if you have been at this for a while, getting music fans to play you is not easy. Sometimes I’m sure it feels like people are anti-music listeners, especially when you ask them to listen to you.
Take heart, I’ve been working with musicians for over 10 years and I’ve helped to break thousands of songs into the media. What I do know for sure is this doesn’t happen overnight for anyone and you should never give up on an awesome song.
Growing your music streams is not an easy task but it’s worth the effort. If you are an artist who is releasing music consistently, then your efforts will grow in layers. Just never give up on it or you will lose momentum and someone else will slide right into your place with your fans.
Something else you need to know is that quality content matters. If you want to get ahead more quickly, you’ve got to master taking great images that can map your journey on social media and to the press.
Press can only do great things for you if you learn to tell a great story using images, video and text. Our editing team here at AVA Live Radio can help you get all that together and create amazing feature stories for press releasing to an already built following.
I’ve also loved the power of anticipation. Campaigns perform so much better when the artist understands the power of telling the story in the moment. You end up with details that you never remember later documented and wonderful timelines of content that we press agents can pull from.
I think you’ll find that if you get in the habit of documenting what’s happening with you daily to your fans, your relationships get strong quickly and when you do have a music release ready for streaming, people will be ready to hear it.
Apply to playlist curators you know.
Inclusion into some advertised applicable Spotify Playlists can break an artist or a song in front of new music fans. It’s one of the keys to promote your music and have a stronger presence. Our curation team is always looking for new music to update our Spotify Playlists. If you have a track, a new release or an EP that’s perfect for one of them, please submit to your desired Playlist on our Submission page.
To be considered make sure you have followed our playlist, follow us on Spotify and share our playlist with a tag to @AVALiveRadio at least once. Only artists sharing our playlist will be reviewed. We get hundreds of new submissions daily, so be sure to execute this step religiously and make sure we see it if you want your application considered.
Create your own playlist
When you create your own playlist, make sure you add at least 10 qualifying songs that support your track by genre, mood and fan base. A music fan that hears your playlist wants to discover fresh music so take care in curating a solid list. You only get one chance to make a great impression so if the playlist is awesome, that fan will listen to your future recommendations as well.
Be active with your playlist on social media. Remind people when you add something fresh, celebrate the music you add to it. Be creative and manage your own personal playlists around your releases so fans can support you but also learn about music you love and that influences you. Most importantly, it allows you to trade your tracks with other musicians, share your music and increase your presence : it’s a win-win situation for everyone and best if the musicians share similar fan bases.
BUILD A MUSIC BRAND
Music success is more about brand building than anything else. It’s not enough to have one track take off, you’ve got to have an inventory to back that up or you won’t see any real traction for your hard work and advertising dollars. This includes professional looking photography and video content. Take care in all the content released from your music brand and don’t rush your posting schedule. If you don’t have anything great to share, wait until you do. Your BRAND is only as strong as your latest release.
Having a strong “Brand” image is essential, on your website, streaming sites like Spotify and especially on social media. Everything should match and look cohesive across all your pages. Remember, everything public is considered a showcase for your music and part of your brand identity.
You should also work towards getting verified on Spotify as an Artist.
CONTACT MUSIC BLOGS
Most popular music blogs are completely inaccessible to new artists who haven’t paid their dues yet. Serious music blogs need to feed their audience qualified music news and risk liquidating their reputation if they send out something from a band that doesn’t have their identity in place nor any follow up inventory. I recommend launching several releases and promoting them to music fans on social media before trying to get the attention of all the top curators.
When you do have your brand in order and an Ep or Album launched with some good fan reviews, package that up and apply for Indie Music Spin and AVA Live Radio.
A release on Indie Music Spin will gain a good track anywhere from 5k-25k streams just be posting to their website and newsletter. Typically they work with management teams and labels but you can also submit as an indie artist through the AVA Live Radio Submission page.
A featured page also on the AVA Live Radio website and newsletter can help a track spread quickly from rotation on our broadcasts and social media shares. We also have several playlists that will help you gain notice on the Spotify Algorithm. Posting through the New Music Release Radar program will gain you 10k-25k initial streams over 3 weeks and often 40k-100k streams over 8 weeks if the track is excellent and gets the attention of the other curators in our network.
Radio rotation can be applied for using our New Release Radar page. All applications must be paid in full to get on the network but we guarantee the results if your track is accepted and if you are not accepted, your credit card will not be charged. Apply here:
DEVELOP AN EMAIL LIST
Prior to your release coming out, gather your best pictures and start telling people what you are up to on social media. When you start capturing anyone’s interest ask them to get on your email list to be the first to hear your new release. Be sure to talk about your plan for the release and any milestone goals you are trying to reach. Don’t expect people to jump on board right away if they don’t know you, the average person needs to experience a new musician around 4-8 times before they decide to get on board with you. The key is to be consistent and think about what you stand for. Express your message and offer value to your subscribers. The value and personal content would be things they may miss or can’t get any other way like free downloads, video messages and perhaps Behind the scenes photos with a narrated blog post to go with it.
Find a way to reward new subscribers publicly without revealing their private emails publicly. This could be done on your newsletter or on the social media pages.
Your email list is like gold if you nurture the best and most active fans to it. It can guarantee your views, streams and sales in the future. It just takes time to build.
SHARE YOUR SPOTIFY EVERYWHERE
Don’t be shy once your spotify stream is live. Share it everywhere. Add the link to your descriptions on social, share it on your newsletter, and in messages. It takes time to gain traction so mix it up on social media. Make sure everyone knows about your launch and alternate your posts so they don’t seem repetitive. You’ve got to get creative and appreciate the fact that people need to see variety. Repetitive posts are boring and get ignored so try to get creative with the way you share your posts.
Just look at some of your favorite main stream artist and subtract out the advertising banners for the real content that gets the highest engagement with their fans.
Take a look at how Alicia Keys posts on instagram. There’s a nice mix of professional pictures, music and behind the scenes images. https://www.instagram.com/aliciakeys/
Post Malone also have a terrific social media profile filled with his personality on and off the stage. https://www.instagram.com/postmalone/
BE PATIENT
This takes time so it’s important that you look past just one month on your promotions. Building a fan base and having a hit record takes consistency and time. People need time to learn about you and they need to see you more often. Stay focused on your content production and watch for what resonates with those around you.
WORK WITH A GREAT TEAM If you apply and get invited to work with the AVA Live Radio Network, you’ll be working closely with your own media advisor who will guide you to improving all of the things I’ve listed for you on this guide. You’ll receive a full Pre-release template and release strategy that you can follow to make this easy and efficient.
You’ll also receive updated information on all results as we proceed through your promotions. This includes tracking how many thousands of streams to your spotify page that our promotions have brought to you.
PR takes time and effort to execute well but as you know, our team creates professional promotions daily for artists, management and labels all over the world. We look forward to helping you achieve great results.
We have been promoting artists for 10 years, You can Read the FEEDBACK here: https://www.avaliveradio.info/feedback
You can read through our marketing guide for some useful tips and to get to know how we work on these releases in the international press. More tips for you here.
https://www.avaliveradio.info/jaxdaily/music-marketing-guide
Jacqueline Jax
Entertainment branding and marketing speciality
ENJOY SOME OF OUR PLAYLIST BELOW.
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Reddit family,I've been on reddit since December 18, 2011 (had to check my personal account cake day). I've learned so much on this site and spend most of my time engaged with /r/mtb and /r/toyotatacoma.This post is intended to share our work with you so you can pull out what is helpful. It's not an academic paper so some things are probably vague. Please ask questions and make suggestions!At the request of the mods, I've taken out 99% of the links to our materials and partners we used/worked with. The rest of this message is word-for-word what I sent out to mentors, investors, and friends of the company yesterday as part of our weekly updates. Scroll to the bottom for images with data and charts.The message (with edits to be less promo):---------------------------------------We're in the 15th day of our Kickstarter campaign and are sitting a little over $82k - and we have officially surpassed the total funding of our last campaign! Tracking to this point in our last campaign, we are growing at a rate of 44%. Our plan for rest-of-campaign is to keep up cross-promotion and paid-ad activity to create steady daily pledges and to keep pressing PR, email list features, and Kickstarter-watch outlets for regular bumps. We are getting really solid organic pledges through Kickstarter, accounting for the majority of recent activity.This post is going to contain a lot of information. If you want to dive deep into how we're doing what we're doing, this'll be your day!OUR LAUNCH STRATEGY (or: how we pre-sold $27k in one day)Pre-launch content marketing:Several months ago, we identified our current audience as our most valuable asset: website customers (~400), kickstarter backers (~500), followers (~9k), and email list subscribers (~25k). Following this insight, we planned out a content-marketing strategy with the intention of taking someone from a distant follower into an eager customer, and a customer to a superfan.We started weekly lve video Q&A's on our Instagram, each with its own planned topic. We covered the people behind the brand, our values, our products, and more. These live episodes were then re-packaged into youtube videos, email list features, and social media posts to be shared with our audience. Nearly every social post and email mentioned the upcoming Kickstarter and leaking specs of the new pants. Our ambassadors helped a lot in building hype.We sent primer emails to our press and industry contacts letting them know we'd be launching soon. This included a press release, details, and images. Video and campaign pageOnline shopping is built upon trust, and nothing creates trust like a professional page and video.We teamed up with a local media company who is incredibly talented for our video - ensuring we'd come out with something high quality. We planned a four location shoot: rock climbing, commuter cycling/coffee shop, welding shop, and urban mountain bike. The idea being to showcase all the ways you could use our product.We then spent several weeks iterating and refining our campaign page. We walked through top-grossing campaigns and took cues to how they laid out the page, digital assets, and the language used. We made sure our campaign wasn't lacking any vital piece of information. Then we iterated like crazy going through it like a fine toothed comb cleaning things up, adding missing information, and correcting awkward assets/copy.The main things we took away were to use a GIF or bright image for a hero image at the top, get to the product features quickly, EXPLAIN why the features matter, most text needs to be on images, present lifestyle and detail images in groups to keep things interesting. Also we knew we needed: timeline, good FAQ, stretch goals, basicallly: what information might someone want to find. We took away that a page can be very, very long and still be effective and that our customers like details - so we went all in. We actually removed about 40% of content before launch.Early promotionEmail was our main tool at the start. I worked up seven segmented emails staggered from 9am-11am on launch day. In order of first to know: friends & family, insiders, brand ambassadors, previous backers, most-engaged email list, least-engaged email list. This allowed our most loyal fans to get the "Super Early Bird Pricing."After the emails went out, we announced loudly on our social accounts. We used our personal accounts and asked our friends and partners to share our posts. The important thing here is that we announce on Facebook, Instagram post, Instagram story, and Linkedin all at once. This "everywhere" effect is a good way to increase perception of importance.We wrote a press release, created a press kit with images and graphics, and sent out the announcement news to local and national press. We got some good syndication from this. We always get something. I like press releases!We had a great list of cross-promotion partners lined up from the start. These included other non-clothing brands in the outdoors space who we have developed relationships with as well as a couple sustainability and buy-it-for-life blogs.We exhibited at Outside Experience (put on by Outside Magazine) on our opening weekend. The early success of the campaign was a great proof-point to visitors who were receptive to our message of "Own less, live more" and "Less stuff, better stuff." This event was incredible. Plus, we collected 230 very, very warm emails.Campaign promotionWe teamed up with a Kickstarter marketing firm for live promotion. They are managing our ongoing paid-ad spend, national/international PR efforts, cross-promotions, and affiliate marketing - along with general campaign strategy. In the referrer data below, you'll see just how valuable their cross-promotion, affiliate network, and PR efforts are. We're continuing both owned and personal social media promotion, as well as email updates to our general and segmented email lists.We are currently sponsoring the an outdoor startup podcast (4 live episodes during the campaign), with ad spots at the beginning and end of the episodes. These get 5-10k downloads each and is a test project for us. Their audience has brought us dozens of customers, so we know it's highly relevant.Kickbooster is being utilized to drive affiliate links and virality. The main drivers of ongoing pledges, however, are press placements, cross-promotion, paid social ads, and organic Kickstarter.The spikes in pledges we are shooting for now come from "the grind." Consistent effort on press and partner outreach leads to consistent placements in front of new audiences. We scored another great email feature this morning (very niche and very good for us).We're continuing Livsn Live video Q&A's on Thursday nights at 8pm CST on Instagram Live. So you can visualize what I'm talking about, here is the campaign page. It's the one link we think should stay in, so you can see things in real time and also so you can make suggestions.The live campaignI promised data didn't I? OVERVIEWThe campaign as of 7/22 (all data as of 7/22)[image](https://imgur.com/pyw2TyD)Before we get too far along, I think we should acknowledge that only 1.7% of kickstarter campaigns surpass $75k. We're now in good company.[image](https://imgur.com/LBsI0kA)Here's a look at where we may end up. Kicktraq (where this chart comes from) is usually pretty optimistic. However, this is reasonable and probably a good prediction.[image](https://imgur.com/JAlrt8O)GEOGRAPHY AND DEMOGRAPHICSWorldwide traffic[image](https://imgur.com/8gP0hLj)Here is the country breakdown with traffic and revenue.[image](https://imgur.com/eoqGNtE)Where in the USA. [image](https://imgur.com/gwkcuIN)By the numbers. (The state of Virginia is basically a big server farm and distorts this data, unfortunately)[image](https://imgur.com/rjxdckj)Males 25-34.[image](https://imgur.com/09LAI69)TRAFFIC AND CONVERSION DATAWhere the traffic is coming from.[image](https://imgur.com/7ZUM6FX)Here is a breakdown of that "referral" traffic above. Our email list is at the top by revenue (emaile.fnd.to). 2bc.fnd.to is the marketing firm's cross promotion efforts. I'm especially happy to see the blue results - those are due to Kickstarter's own algorithm putting in front of their audience (major reason we use KS). Note: anything with an "e" before .fnd.to is our own activity. The "e" stands for exclusion and it's a list I made to keep us from paying our marketing firm for activity we drive.[image](https://imgur.com/gC9tkMe)This one shows referral activity ranked by traffic. Paide.fnd.to is our own social media ads (not run by Funded Today). The 51msa and 51dsa are marketing firm ads. Thisiswhyimbroke.com, elevator, and newatlas are marketing firm PR placements.[image](https://imgur.com/y2sjcZD)Most popular pre-sale packages.[image](https://imgur.com/UAAO5Ab)THIS CAMPAIGN VS. OUR LAST ONEThe following are going to be two-image groups, with our last campaign on top of our current one. This is so you can see the growth of this effort vs. last time. [image](https://imgur.com/KIJtf9e)[image](https://imgur.com/vsAEuwY)LINE CHART DAILY SALESShowing growth of 44% over where we were at day 12 in the first campaign.[image](https://imgur.com/BOVHQ1D)[image](https://imgur.com/FbpLYt4)BAR CHART DAILY SALES[image](https://imgur.com/7MZBzwb)[image](https://imgur.com/uqRmP1Y)Thank you for your time. I know how valuable it is.-Andrew
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5 Data-Backed Social Media Trends You Need to Know for 2019
2019 is here and gone are the days where generating audience engagement on social media was primarily a passive process. The always-online audiences of today want to be involved, interact, and co-create.
The brands that are successful in delivering personalized experiences to their audiences are the brands that are likely to thrive with their social media strategies in the coming year.
But in order to be able to capitalize on this and everything else social media has to offer, you have to know what’s coming!
Which is exactly why today we’re covering 5 data-backed social media trends you need to know to make 2019 your best year yet with social media marketing.
Let’s dive in!
5 data-backed social media trends you need to know for 2019
What follows is a lightly-edited transcript of the Buffer Podcast episode #127 for your reading pleasure.
Table of Contents
Trend 1: In-the-moment content will win out over highly-produced content
Trend 2: AI-driven personalized customer experiences
Trend 3: Brands can no longer afford to ignore social media ads
Trend 4: Rise of social media TV and vertical videos
Trend 5: The evolution from multichannel to omnichannel marketing
Kicking off our most popular show of the year: Social Media Trends 2019.
1. In-the-moment content will win out over highly-produced content
Brian: Our number 1 trend for 2019, and by the way these 5 trends are in no particular order because we feel that they are all hugely important, is that in-the-moment content will win out over highly-produced content.
Stories and rise of ephemeral content across social networks, which I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of in 2019, is capturing the hearts and minds of audiences everywhere.
Hailley: One of the key parts of that trend is that we’re predicting that stories will become the primary way to share content on social media, overtaking the News Feed. Only time will tell, but we’ll count on you to let us know if that prediction was right or not next year!
But this is why social media marketers have to continue to pay close attention to the rise of Stories and how it impacts how people consume content. And it’s why we talk about it so much here on the show. We’re witnessing a fundamental shift in media.
Brian: Mobile usage and even shorter attention spans will continue to increase the popularity of short-lived content in 2019, especially with Millennials and Generation Z’ers, who thrive on their relationships with brands being authentic and meaningful.
Which is exactly why it’s crucial that social media marketers establish a solid video strategy for ephemeral content.
More and more brands will embrace this personal, authentic and in-the-moment style content vs. overly produced, pre-packed content.
Hailley: What exactly does that mean for you?
Well, this means an increased focus on the people and personalities behind your brand. Think about how you can use video, Stories and images to connect your audience with the human – maybe even, dare I say, the vulnerable – side of your business.
You can accomplish a lot of this by taking your audience behind the scenes and showing the work your business day-to-day.
If you’re a coffee shop, create a story of how you brew the perfect cup.
If you’re a service business, take your followers on a tour of your office or show your team working.
Brian: Overall, the key thing is to experiment.
Imagine at one end of the spectrum there’s the old social media with pre-packaged, very produced content. At the other end you have in-the-moment, super raw content. For brands, there are millions of untapped miles of opportunity in the middle of those two ends to try new things.
2. AI-driven personalized customer experiences
Which, brings us to our next social media trends 2019 and that’s that we’ll start to see AI drive a personalized customer experiences across lots of different channels.
Hailley: From chatbots to ad optimization, platforms like Google and Facebook have been continuing to adopt artificial intelligence to enhance customer interaction.
But it remains a huge opportunity and is underutilized by many brands.
Where we’re seeing this develop particularly fast is in the form of online customer service.
In 2018, the growth in AI-driven communication has been undeniable, with tools like Intercom and Drift starting to appear on websites everywhere.
Many experts predict that by 2020, more than 80% of all customer service interactions will be powered by AI bots.
Brian: Again, with the younger generations leading the charge.
Millennials are the quickest adaptors of chatbot-based customer experiences. According to Huffington Post, 60% of the millennial population already uses chatbots and 71% of Millennials have implied that they would like to try using one.
In 2019, more and more brands will strengthen their online customer service practices and even move to new platforms that may potentially offer more effective technology for customer service to thrive online, such as WhatsApp and Messenger.
Hailley: Let’s talk about WhatsApp for a second because I think marketers forget that they have over a billion users.
In 2019, we should begin to see the rise of WhatsApp as a primary social customer service channel. The release of the WhatsApp business API in August 2018 will continue to be a total game-changer in the industry.
With this new API, WhatsApp allows businesses to respond to customers for free within 24 hours. This shift means businesses are now incentivized to reply to their customers faster. It puts the focus firmly on improving customer experience.
Brian: What I love about how WhatsApp is set up is that customers can talk to a business on a channel they are already using for communication (with friends and family) without being spammed with marketing messages. The power with WhatsApp really is in the consumers hands.
But in terms of personalization, given the vast amount of information being uploaded by people each day, it’s become very easy to get insights into all kinds of information about your customers.
This has opened the door for enhanced personalization, and that has increased consumer expectation for the same. So in other words, consumers are coming to expect it.
Hailley: Content, products, emails, ads – all can now be based on the consumer’s purchase history, clicked links, social media posts, and other behavior.
Like for example, Airbnb now sends personalized trip and activity ideas based on your upcoming trips. And Netflix offers shows to watch based on your taste. Amazon and eBay show products similar to the ones you’ve bought before. All of that is personalization.
Brian: It’s on you as a business to figure out what personalization looks like for your company.
As long as you are respectful of personal privacy, personalization is a solid way to go for marketers to boost campaign performance in 2019.
3. Brands can no longer afford to ignore social media ads
We’re already seeing a ton of businesses jump on board with social media ads. Marketers increased social ad budgets 32% in 2018 alone and produced more ads than ever before.
In fact, one of every four Facebook Pages now use paid advertising as part of their strategy. And Facebook accounts for 23% of total U.S. digital ad spending. All of those numbers are sure to increase in 2019.
Brian: What happens when we see this trend emerge is that it gets more competitive and more expensive to advertise.
To counter this, social teams should make sure they pair their ad money with equal time investment and creativity..
In other words, you won’t be able to just create any old ad and have it work. You have to invest some time in creating great content. One of the easiest ways to do this is to just boost your top performing organic content.
Hailley: If you’ve noticed, lots of brands like Spotify, Blenders Eyeware, and others are leading the way with creative social ads that are both personalized and entertaining, rather than just banner ads squeezed into a news feed.
It’s the brand awareness type ads that are really thriving. Even if you’re selling your product, you can do it in a way that doesn’t feel intrusive to other types of authentic content in the news feed.
Brian: Content should feel like something coming from your friends.
We wanted to give you a few tips on creating better ads.
First, you must must must, understand your target audience.
Each ad campaign should target a focused group based on interests, jobs, relevant competitors, and previous interaction with your brand.
Hailley: Next, make sure to define your goals and metrics up front.
It’s important to show that social media has a positive bottom-line impact on your business.
Awareness campaigns, for example, might focus on impressions, while conversion campaigns should put more value on click-throughs.
After goals, it’s all about investing in high-quality content.
With more brands competing for people’s attention on social media, ordinary posts just aren’t going to cut it.
Brian: At the heart of great content are compelling visuals, which are essential for clicks and high conversion rates on social media. Not every brand will have the budget for expensive equipment or a professional team, but even just learning some video basics or even hiring a freelancer can make a difference.
But one thing every brand and marketer can and should be doing is repurposing ideas from top-performing organic content.
Creating high quality social ads takes time and money. Test your ad concepts as organic posts first to see how they perform. Once you see what’s working, you can adapt and repurpose your top performing organic content for ads.
Hailley: Doing that will help increase ROI of your ads right from the beginning.
And one more thing on that topic is to embrace new ad formats
Instagram Stories ads, for example, have been around since 2017. But this year Instagram gave brands the ability to use three consecutive photos or videos.
Pinterest, on the other hand, recently rolled out wide-format promoted videos.
And Facebook Messenger ads now allow brands to connect with customers directly via instant messaging.
4. Rise of social media TV and vertical videos
One of the biggest social media trends since 2018 has been the launch of IGTV by Instagram.
This along with other developments from social networks points to the rise of what we’re calling “social television” lead by the vertical video format.
Hailley: I think that this fourth trend is one of the most exciting social media trends 2019 and is going to fundamentally shift the way that brands and marketers create content.
Plus, Instagram is just going to continue to grow exponentially. Other platforms will probably follow suit with their own version of vertical video and Stories.
According to data collected by Statista, more than 50% of digital videos are now viewed on mobile in vertical format. And it has been showing a general upward trend since 2013.
Brian: I hope at this point everyone is starting to realize that these trends for 2019 are all connected. Personalized experiences, advertising, and vertical videos are all a part of the overall way the social media industry is heading.
Each platform is working hard to create experiences that people want to return to every single day. Which is exactly why things like IGTV are so compelling—that content sits right there at the top of the feed, and is top of mind each time someone logs on.
Hailley: Your daily authentic content creation approach that businesses will inevitably take advantage of in 2019.
The way we see it is that savvy businesses will create content for each type of consumer:
The daily consumer that Stories really helps to attract.
The shoppers and scrollers that the News Feed is perfect for.
The power users that longer form content, like what’s found on IGTV, is perfect for.
Brian: Thinking about your target audience as these types of personas and then matching your content to their intentions on social will lead to the biggest engagement.
Which, is a great transition into our 5th trend to look forward to in 2019 and that’s a shift in marketing best-practices.
5. The evolution from multichannel to omnichannel marketing
Hailley: Now this one isn’t solely about social media trends 2019, but social media plays a critical role in your overall marketing strategy.
If you’re wondering what omnichannel marketing is and why we’re talking about omnichannel, Omni is based on the Latin word Omnis, which means ‘all or every’ – and this obviously emphasizes the importance of reaching and interacting with customers in all channels.
Brian: There’s a quote floating around out there from John Bowden, VP at Time Warner Cable, and I think he explains omnichannel marketing perfectly:
“Omnichannel is viewing the experience through the eyes of your customer, orchestrating the customer experience across all channels so that it is seamless and integrated. It anticipates that customers may start in one channel and move to another as they progress to an end point. That end point is your product or service.”
In other words, you have to think about the digital experience as a whole.
Hailley: A buyer’s journey is still a mystery for the most part because there are so many touch points with your brand along the way, but what we do know, is that nobody today shops exclusively through a single medium.
Consumers of all generations buy online and in stores, they read reviews, listen to peers, do their research and it all makes up part of a bigger picture.
Brian: The best part about thinking of marketing like this is that paid ads, social, content, and email channels don’t have to compete against each other for sales or customers.
You can grow your business by strategically integrating all these channels together.
So while email may not convert a customer immediately, readers might visit your website from your newsletter. Then you might then use that traffic to re-target visitors with a special offer on social media.
Hailley: Exactly and those people might read a review on Google or Amazon about your product.
But it all originated with that email. And even though the email won’t get credit, you still were able to add a new customer to the list.
Which I think every business would consider a win.
How to say hello to us
We would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!
Hailley on Twitter and Hailley’s Website
Brian on Twitter and Brian’s Website
Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.
Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!
—
About The Science of Social Media podcast
The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each and every episode. It’s our hope that you’ll join our 20,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result!
The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.
5 Data-Backed Social Media Trends You Need to Know for 2019 posted first on http://getfblikeblog.blogspot.com
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Text
5 Data-Backed Social Media Trends You Need to Know for 2019
2019 is here and gone are the days where generating audience engagement on social media was primarily a passive process. The always-online audiences of today want to be involved, interact, and co-create.
The brands that are successful in delivering personalized experiences to their audiences are the brands that are likely to thrive with their social media strategies in the coming year.
But in order to be able to capitalize on this and everything else social media has to offer, you have to know what’s coming!
Which is exactly why today we’re covering 5 data-backed social media trends you need to know to make 2019 your best year yet with social media marketing.
Let’s dive in!
5 data-backed social media trends you need to know for 2019
What follows is a lightly-edited transcript of the Buffer Podcast episode #127 for your reading pleasure.
Table of Contents
Trend 1: In-the-moment content will win out over highly-produced content
Trend 2: AI-driven personalized customer experiences
Trend 3: Brands can no longer afford to ignore social media ads
Trend 4: Rise of social media TV and vertical videos
Trend 5: The evolution from multichannel to omnichannel marketing
Kicking off our most popular show of the year: Social Media Trends 2019.
1. In-the-moment content will win out over highly-produced content
Brian: Our number 1 trend for 2019, and by the way these 5 trends are in no particular order because we feel that they are all hugely important, is that in-the-moment content will win out over highly-produced content.
Stories and rise of ephemeral content across social networks, which I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of in 2019, is capturing the hearts and minds of audiences everywhere.
Hailley: One of the key parts of that trend is that we’re predicting that stories will become the primary way to share content on social media, overtaking the News Feed. Only time will tell, but we’ll count on you to let us know if that prediction was right or not next year!
But this is why social media marketers have to continue to pay close attention to the rise of Stories and how it impacts how people consume content. And it’s why we talk about it so much here on the show. We’re witnessing a fundamental shift in media.
Brian: Mobile usage and even shorter attention spans will continue to increase the popularity of short-lived content in 2019, especially with Millennials and Generation Z’ers, who thrive on their relationships with brands being authentic and meaningful.
Which is exactly why it’s crucial that social media marketers establish a solid video strategy for ephemeral content.
More and more brands will embrace this personal, authentic and in-the-moment style content vs. overly produced, pre-packed content.
Hailley: What exactly does that mean for you?
Well, this means an increased focus on the people and personalities behind your brand. Think about how you can use video, Stories and images to connect your audience with the human – maybe even, dare I say, the vulnerable – side of your business.
You can accomplish a lot of this by taking your audience behind the scenes and showing the work your business day-to-day.
If you’re a coffee shop, create a story of how you brew the perfect cup.
If you’re a service business, take your followers on a tour of your office or show your team working.
Brian: Overall, the key thing is to experiment.
Imagine at one end of the spectrum there’s the old social media with pre-packaged, very produced content. At the other end you have in-the-moment, super raw content. For brands, there are millions of untapped miles of opportunity in the middle of those two ends to try new things.
2. AI-driven personalized customer experiences
Which, brings us to our next social media trends 2019 and that’s that we’ll start to see AI drive a personalized customer experiences across lots of different channels.
Hailley: From chatbots to ad optimization, platforms like Google and Facebook have been continuing to adopt artificial intelligence to enhance customer interaction.
But it remains a huge opportunity and is underutilized by many brands.
Where we’re seeing this develop particularly fast is in the form of online customer service.
In 2018, the growth in AI-driven communication has been undeniable, with tools like Intercom and Drift starting to appear on websites everywhere.
Many experts predict that by 2020, more than 80% of all customer service interactions will be powered by AI bots.
Brian: Again, with the younger generations leading the charge.
Millennials are the quickest adaptors of chatbot-based customer experiences. According to Huffington Post, 60% of the millennial population already uses chatbots and 71% of Millennials have implied that they would like to try using one.
In 2019, more and more brands will strengthen their online customer service practices and even move to new platforms that may potentially offer more effective technology for customer service to thrive online, such as WhatsApp and Messenger.
Hailley: Let’s talk about WhatsApp for a second because I think marketers forget that they have over a billion users.
In 2019, we should begin to see the rise of WhatsApp as a primary social customer service channel. The release of the WhatsApp business API in August 2018 will continue to be a total game-changer in the industry.
With this new API, WhatsApp allows businesses to respond to customers for free within 24 hours. This shift means businesses are now incentivized to reply to their customers faster. It puts the focus firmly on improving customer experience.
Brian: What I love about how WhatsApp is set up is that customers can talk to a business on a channel they are already using for communication (with friends and family) without being spammed with marketing messages. The power with WhatsApp really is in the consumers hands.
But in terms of personalization, given the vast amount of information being uploaded by people each day, it’s become very easy to get insights into all kinds of information about your customers.
This has opened the door for enhanced personalization, and that has increased consumer expectation for the same. So in other words, consumers are coming to expect it.
Hailley: Content, products, emails, ads – all can now be based on the consumer’s purchase history, clicked links, social media posts, and other behavior.
Like for example, Airbnb now sends personalized trip and activity ideas based on your upcoming trips. And Netflix offers shows to watch based on your taste. Amazon and eBay show products similar to the ones you’ve bought before. All of that is personalization.
Brian: It’s on you as a business to figure out what personalization looks like for your company.
As long as you are respectful of personal privacy, personalization is a solid way to go for marketers to boost campaign performance in 2019.
3. Brands can no longer afford to ignore social media ads
We’re already seeing a ton of businesses jump on board with social media ads. Marketers increased social ad budgets 32% in 2018 alone and produced more ads than ever before.
In fact, one of every four Facebook Pages now use paid advertising as part of their strategy. And Facebook accounts for 23% of total U.S. digital ad spending. All of those numbers are sure to increase in 2019.
Brian: What happens when we see this trend emerge is that it gets more competitive and more expensive to advertise.
To counter this, social teams should make sure they pair their ad money with equal time investment and creativity..
In other words, you won’t be able to just create any old ad and have it work. You have to invest some time in creating great content. One of the easiest ways to do this is to just boost your top performing organic content.
Hailley: If you’ve noticed, lots of brands like Spotify, Blenders Eyeware, and others are leading the way with creative social ads that are both personalized and entertaining, rather than just banner ads squeezed into a news feed.
It’s the brand awareness type ads that are really thriving. Even if you’re selling your product, you can do it in a way that doesn’t feel intrusive to other types of authentic content in the news feed.
Brian: Content should feel like something coming from your friends.
We wanted to give you a few tips on creating better ads.
First, you must must must, understand your target audience.
Each ad campaign should target a focused group based on interests, jobs, relevant competitors, and previous interaction with your brand.
Hailley: Next, make sure to define your goals and metrics up front.
It’s important to show that social media has a positive bottom-line impact on your business.
Awareness campaigns, for example, might focus on impressions, while conversion campaigns should put more value on click-throughs.
After goals, it’s all about investing in high-quality content.
With more brands competing for people’s attention on social media, ordinary posts just aren’t going to cut it.
Brian: At the heart of great content are compelling visuals, which are essential for clicks and high conversion rates on social media. Not every brand will have the budget for expensive equipment or a professional team, but even just learning some video basics or even hiring a freelancer can make a difference.
But one thing every brand and marketer can and should be doing is repurposing ideas from top-performing organic content.
Creating high quality social ads takes time and money. Test your ad concepts as organic posts first to see how they perform. Once you see what’s working, you can adapt and repurpose your top performing organic content for ads.
Hailley: Doing that will help increase ROI of your ads right from the beginning.
And one more thing on that topic is to embrace new ad formats
Instagram Stories ads, for example, have been around since 2017. But this year Instagram gave brands the ability to use three consecutive photos or videos.
Pinterest, on the other hand, recently rolled out wide-format promoted videos.
And Facebook Messenger ads now allow brands to connect with customers directly via instant messaging.
4. Rise of social media TV and vertical videos
One of the biggest social media trends since 2018 has been the launch of IGTV by Instagram.
This along with other developments from social networks points to the rise of what we’re calling “social television” lead by the vertical video format.
Hailley: I think that this fourth trend is one of the most exciting social media trends 2019 and is going to fundamentally shift the way that brands and marketers create content.
Plus, Instagram is just going to continue to grow exponentially. Other platforms will probably follow suit with their own version of vertical video and Stories.
According to data collected by Statista, more than 50% of digital videos are now viewed on mobile in vertical format. And it has been showing a general upward trend since 2013.
Brian: I hope at this point everyone is starting to realize that these trends for 2019 are all connected. Personalized experiences, advertising, and vertical videos are all a part of the overall way the social media industry is heading.
Each platform is working hard to create experiences that people want to return to every single day. Which is exactly why things like IGTV are so compelling—that content sits right there at the top of the feed, and is top of mind each time someone logs on.
Hailley: Your daily authentic content creation approach that businesses will inevitably take advantage of in 2019.
The way we see it is that savvy businesses will create content for each type of consumer:
The daily consumer that Stories really helps to attract.
The shoppers and scrollers that the News Feed is perfect for.
The power users that longer form content, like what’s found on IGTV, is perfect for.
Brian: Thinking about your target audience as these types of personas and then matching your content to their intentions on social will lead to the biggest engagement.
Which, is a great transition into our 5th trend to look forward to in 2019 and that’s a shift in marketing best-practices.
5. The evolution from multichannel to omnichannel marketing
Hailley: Now this one isn’t solely about social media trends 2019, but social media plays a critical role in your overall marketing strategy.
If you’re wondering what omnichannel marketing is and why we’re talking about omnichannel, Omni is based on the Latin word Omnis, which means ‘all or every’ – and this obviously emphasizes the importance of reaching and interacting with customers in all channels.
Brian: There’s a quote floating around out there from John Bowden, VP at Time Warner Cable, and I think he explains omnichannel marketing perfectly:
“Omnichannel is viewing the experience through the eyes of your customer, orchestrating the customer experience across all channels so that it is seamless and integrated. It anticipates that customers may start in one channel and move to another as they progress to an end point. That end point is your product or service.”
In other words, you have to think about the digital experience as a whole.
Hailley: A buyer’s journey is still a mystery for the most part because there are so many touch points with your brand along the way, but what we do know, is that nobody today shops exclusively through a single medium.
Consumers of all generations buy online and in stores, they read reviews, listen to peers, do their research and it all makes up part of a bigger picture.
Brian: The best part about thinking of marketing like this is that paid ads, social, content, and email channels don’t have to compete against each other for sales or customers.
You can grow your business by strategically integrating all these channels together.
So while email may not convert a customer immediately, readers might visit your website from your newsletter. Then you might then use that traffic to re-target visitors with a special offer on social media.
Hailley: Exactly and those people might read a review on Google or Amazon about your product.
But it all originated with that email. And even though the email won’t get credit, you still were able to add a new customer to the list.
Which I think every business would consider a win.
How to say hello to us
We would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!
Hailley on Twitter and Hailley’s Website
Brian on Twitter and Brian’s Website
Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.
Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!
—
About The Science of Social Media podcast
The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each and every episode. It’s our hope that you’ll join our 20,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result!
The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.
Thank 5 Data-Backed Social Media Trends You Need to Know for 2019 for first publishing this post.
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Three Lessons Marketers Can Learn From Cable News
I’m a bit of a cable news junkie.
Now, I don’t watch it often, but am generally more interested how a news product can draw people in hold their attention for hours, and keep them coming back everyday.
But why is this so interesting? And why should marketers care?
Because news itself can be pretty boring.
For your average 9-5 American with two kids and a mortgage, there’s not a big reason to watch news.
And the thing is, news outlets know this. They know reporting on the latest earthquake in Oklahoma is mundane and doesn’t matter.
Unless you spice it up a little bit. Get people’s emotions involved. Make viewers scared or angry.
So here’s why all marketers can take a lesson from cable news.
Cable News is Entertainment Masquerading as News
Their expertise does not lie in reporting the news or helping you understand the world’s events. Instead, they’re experts at messaging and grabbing your attention and holding it for hours, everyday. Because the only way to get viewers is to entertain.
It’s designed for channel changers. Those people with their hand on the television remote, flipping through channels. Cable news is designed to capture that 1-2 seconds of the channel changer, and holding that attention.
In this post, I’m going to examine the different ways news programs (primarily CNN and Fox) use emotions and classic Hollywood-style entertainment techniques to grab viewer’s attention and make sure they come back night after night. Then, we’ll see how marketers can steal these for their own gain.
1. Use Numbers to Your Advantage
Numbers can tell a story. They let the viewer understand impacts and effects. Numbers can be attention grabbing.
And cable outlets know this. They love using numbers, especially when it relates to danger.
Don’t believe me? Just wait for a hurricane or any other major natural disaster.
You’ll see cable and other news programs use numbers whenever a hurricane hits the U.S. And it’s generally meant for fear mongering. It’s typically “5 million people in the storm’s path” and “13,000 homes underwater” and “20 million people under evacuation orders”. It’s forceful messaging that grabs attention.
Here, in big text, Fox tells viewers how many are without power:
CNN uses a different number, but makes it clear so the channel changers see it right away:
During Hurricane Matthew, Fox reports on evacuation numbers:
Here’s how CNN reports on Hurricane Maria:
Rescues underway in Puerto Rico as Millions Without Power captures the eye. It takes a few seconds to read, but draws you in. Who would turn the channel after reading that banner?
Another hurricane, and more attention grabbing numbers. And if that wasn’t enough, they also threw one of their correspondents into a hurricane!
This correspondent is away from the hurricane, but that doesn’t stop them from throwing the Millions Could Be WIthout Electricity For Weeks banner:
You get the idea. Numbers grab people’s attention. They may not hold the attention for a long time, but they do catch the eye.
Now, let’s look at how some marketers are using numbers to their advantage, and how you can as well.
Lessons For Marketers
Some marketers use numbers as social proof. Help Scout uses numbers to show how many customers they have:
Or to encourage you to signup for their email list:
LifeLock uses numbers to sow fear (more on that later) for visitors – and make their product the protection:
It’s also important to note that they’re using a recent data breach to sell their product. If marketing is all about timing, then LifeLock is getting their marketing right and profiting from it by pouncing on opportunities.
McDonalds used to post the “Billions and Billions served” under the golden arches. Here they give a more specific number while keeping the emphasis, billions served, the same.
Rainforest Trust, an organization that preserves forests, tells visitors how many acres of forest they’ve saved:
Combine that with a call to action to save more land, and it makes for a great use of numbers to draw donations.
I’ll frequently use numbers in blog posts to capture reader’s attention. In one of my videos, I give the reader a specific number:
Think about it – what headline would get more people to read my article (or in this case, watch the video):
How I Built 23,540 Unique Links to NeilPatel.com
Or this headline:
How I Built Links to NeilPatel.com
The number adds to the impact and gives the headline more of a “punch”. I didn’t just build a few links – I built over 20,000 links to the Neil Patel blog. I guarantee that I got more views on this video because I gave readers a specific number.
On the Quick Sprout blog, I’ve used this advertisement for many years with a lot of success:
I didn’t just increase pageviews. I helped a company grow to 500 million pageviews.
In this video, I give viewers a few numbers to chew on in my intro:
youtube
What’s the message here? Rich people listen to podcasts. The impact? 60% of podcast listeners make over $150,000. And they listen to roughly 5 hours of podcasts per week.
I used the cable news model – what’s the story, and how do you capture people’s attention using numbers to explain the impact?
So, how can you use numbers to persuade? Here are a few ideas:
Try adding numbers for social proof. How many customers to do you have? If you have a lot relative to the market you’re in, put it on your homepage. Let people know how many people are using your products and services.
Add numbers in testimonials. You didn’t just save a customer some money. How much did you save them?
Add numbers to the results you achieved. This is particularly useful if you’re a freelance. You didn’t just help Widget’s Inc improve conversions; you helped them double their conversions in 3 months. It’s more specific, and packs a punch. An x increase in x amount of time.
Now let’s move onto another favorite tactic of cable news outlets, instilling fear. What better way to hold a viewer’s attention?
2. Fear Will Grab Attention
Watching news media outlets in the summer and fall of 2014, you’d think that walking outside would make you susceptible to Ebola. This is despite four cases of ebola and just one death.
This CNN headline takes advantage of two things people are scared of – deadly diseases and terrorist organizations.
If you’re flipping through channels, what does this headline do to you? It grabs your attention. Makes you stop and turn up the volume, lean in, pay attention, and maybe makes you a little scared. For some people, it may make them think the end of the world is near.
In this way, fear picks up where the numbers left off. The numbers will capture the eye of channel surfers, and the emotion of fear will keep them glued to you for hours.
CNN wasn’t alone with the fear-mongering. Here’s the version from Fox:
Did any of these things come true? Was Ebola used as a biological agent? Did terrorist organizations contaminate the water supply with the Ebola virus and hurt millions?
Of course not! But it’s easy to say it now. Back then, Ebola covered the news cycle. People were scared. So the headlines that cable news outlets used capitalized on that fear (which news itself built) and only grew that fear that most people already had.
Just watch as Jon Stewart brilliantly tears down the news media’s attempts to dramatize the Ebola outbreak:
//media.mtvnservices.com/embed/mgid:arc:video:comedycentral.com:b250dc73-bbc9-40c2-94c6-bc9c5ff5f947
So, how can you use fear marketing?
Lessons for Marketers
Perhaps the most common use of fear is the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO). And with FOMO, you can use two classic tactics – scarcity and urgency.
This Facebook ad has a good message. Anyone that’s scrolling through Facebook, sees this ad, and likes the shirt will buy it. It’s limited edition, meaning that it won’t be around for a long time, and now there’s only a few left in stock? Where do I place my order?
This Facebook ad has a simple FOMO message. The pre-sale is available now. Get your tickets before anyone else or else you’ll miss out.
The “best worst movie” The Room recently had a nationwide one-day special screening. It spread via word of mouth and some press coverage:
The Room,' tonight. 500 theaters nationwide. Will you be there? https://t.co/7qHor3mRGT
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) January 10, 2018
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Needless to say, when people couldn’t make it, FOMO triggered and they were pretty upset:
So they are having a one time screening of The Room tonight nationwide and I’m not gonna be there
pic.twitter.com/eKqibMDId9
— oh_hi_mark (@zero_mark_30) January 11, 2018
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Marketers use FOMO for a reason. Because it works really well. As long as you have a product or service that people want and value, adding some scarcity to it will make people buy it up as quickly as possible.
Think about it – if your product is widely available, will anyone be in a hurry to buy it? Probably not. They may even rethink buying it. But adding a little scarcity to it will make people value it more and makes them more likely to buy.
I’ve used FOMO before to promote some of my webinars:
My webinar is starting in two minutes, better not miss it!
The other way marketers use fear is to buy some protection against a threat. We saw the example above with Lifelock.
Millions of people potentially have their identity stolen? And we sell identity theft protection? Cha-ching!
Ramit Sethi wants to make it clear – use his courses and you’ll learn how to make more money. If you don’t use it, you’re not making your earnings potential (thus you’re Missing Out on money that could be yours):
The quiz is a lead generation tool. Start the quiz, give them your email to get the results, and you’ll be thrown into a drip campaign in no time. And then start making more money in “as little as an hour”. Who could pass that up?
Viruses and malware spreading across computers isn’t as common as it once was, but customers are still afraid of their computer becoming “infected”. And Symantec marketers use that fear:
These marketers use the fear as a lead generation tool. Who’s clicking on this link and reviewing the cleanup plan? Time to retarget them and sell our antivirus software.
Use fear at the right times. Marketing is about timing; so don’t rely on fear all the time. Use it at the appropriate time and it will be more effective for you. Use fear like you’d use a service, only at the right time, for a limited amount of time, and for the appropriate use.
3. Use Bold Graphics
Television is the ultimate vision medium, and much of the web is as well. Boring graphics with bland colors won’t draw viewers.
Let’s face it – people don’t want to read a wall of text, and they don’t want to read long headlines. They want fancy colors and beautiful people reading them the news.
When Jeff Zucker took over CNN, he was charged with turning around a ratings decline. One of the first things they did was debut a new graphics package:
Large, bold typography combined with all capitalization on a white background
Have you watched The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer lately? You’d think their news set was taken straight from a Hollywood movie:
Just take a look at that set!
Dozens of different images on at once (in the background), big typography on the screens, and combined with the Breaking News headline (because apparently everything is breaking news) and the countdown clock makes this the perfect cable news show.
We’re “awaiting”, which means viewers can’t click away, the countdown clock (which starts with at least *29 hours*) means that even if you leave to watch something else, you’ll have to come back and see where the clock is now and continually check to see if the Shutdown Countdown is called off. This is turning the political theater that is Washington, DC into theater television.
Jeff Zucker, I admire you. Well-done sir.
Lessons For Marketers
The lesson here is to find the balance between big graphics that stand out without overwhelming. Combine great graphics and design with strong messaging (like cable news) and you’ll earn the visitors attention.
The graphics I use on Neil Patel use bold colors combined with simple messaging. Do you want more traffic to your site? Put in your URL and see what I can do for you. The graphics stand out, the message is clear, now the choice is up to the visitor.
The Apple Homepod page uses big typography and beautiful image of the product:
Go ahead and visit the HomePod page and scroll through. Just try to click away. You can’t do it. Why? Because it unfolds like a product description. The graphics keep you scrolling and the copy keeps you reading. The font is big, bold, and stands out against a white background. And the product images draw the eye in.
The Red Cross homepage has one job – get donations from visitors. Here, they don’t use beautiful graphics. Because why would you do that if you want people to donate to a project in need? They need to see sadness or human struggle. So, they go with this:
The little girl holding the little puppy after what appears to be a natural disaster. They’re saved, but sad and clearly in need. How can you help? Give them some money so they “respond to someone in crisis”.
Charity: Water uses graphics to show visitors what they’ll accomplish with a donation – helping rural and poorer countries get access to clean, drinkable water:
This is an example of marketers using an end result to deliver conversions. Clean water coming out of a jug. A happy woman that finally receives uncontaminated water.
It’s not about the organization or the charity, it’s about the mission and what it accomplishes for people. Visitors want to know why they should donate, and this graphic makes it clear.
Conclusion
So why does any of this matter to marketers?
Because it teaches us about messaging, catching and keeping someone’s attention. And in today’s world, it’s a marvel at how cable news does this. They take a boring product (news) and turn it into entertainment that some people can’t look away.
Your product may be exciting to you, but to others it may come across as boring. You should be aware of this and appeal to people’s interests. The classic things that capture people’s attention and hold it. Use numbers to people can understand your impact, use fear to sell, and graphics to keep people’s attention.
What have you, as a marketer, learned from cable news or any great television producers?
About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital.
from WordPress https://reviewandbonuss.wordpress.com/2018/01/24/three-lessons-marketers-can-learn-from-cable-news/
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Three Lessons Marketers Can Learn From Cable News
I’m a bit of a cable news junkie.
Now, I don’t watch it often, but am generally more interested how a news product can draw people in hold their attention for hours, and keep them coming back everyday.
But why is this so interesting? And why should marketers care?
Because news itself can be pretty boring.
For your average 9-5 American with two kids and a mortgage, there’s not a big reason to watch news.
And the thing is, news outlets know this. They know reporting on the latest earthquake in Oklahoma is mundane and doesn’t matter.
Unless you spice it up a little bit. Get people’s emotions involved. Make viewers scared or angry.
So here’s why all marketers can take a lesson from cable news.
Cable News is Entertainment Masquerading as News
Their expertise does not lie in reporting the news or helping you understand the world’s events. Instead, they’re experts at messaging and grabbing your attention and holding it for hours, everyday. Because the only way to get viewers is to entertain.
It’s designed for channel changers. Those people with their hand on the television remote, flipping through channels. Cable news is designed to capture that 1-2 seconds of the channel changer, and holding that attention.
In this post, I’m going to examine the different ways news programs (primarily CNN and Fox) use emotions and classic Hollywood-style entertainment techniques to grab viewer’s attention and make sure they come back night after night. Then, we’ll see how marketers can steal these for their own gain.
1. Use Numbers to Your Advantage
Numbers can tell a story. They let the viewer understand impacts and effects. Numbers can be attention grabbing.
And cable outlets know this. They love using numbers, especially when it relates to danger.
Don’t believe me? Just wait for a hurricane or any other major natural disaster.
You’ll see cable and other news programs use numbers whenever a hurricane hits the U.S. And it’s generally meant for fear mongering. It’s typically “5 million people in the storm’s path” and “13,000 homes underwater” and “20 million people under evacuation orders”. It’s forceful messaging that grabs attention.
Here, in big text, Fox tells viewers how many are without power:
CNN uses a different number, but makes it clear so the channel changers see it right away:
During Hurricane Matthew, Fox reports on evacuation numbers:
Here’s how CNN reports on Hurricane Maria:
Rescues underway in Puerto Rico as Millions Without Power captures the eye. It takes a few seconds to read, but draws you in. Who would turn the channel after reading that banner?
Another hurricane, and more attention grabbing numbers. And if that wasn’t enough, they also threw one of their correspondents into a hurricane!
This correspondent is away from the hurricane, but that doesn’t stop them from throwing the Millions Could Be WIthout Electricity For Weeks banner:
You get the idea. Numbers grab people’s attention. They may not hold the attention for a long time, but they do catch the eye.
Now, let’s look at how some marketers are using numbers to their advantage, and how you can as well.
Lessons For Marketers
Some marketers use numbers as social proof. Help Scout uses numbers to show how many customers they have:
Or to encourage you to signup for their email list:
LifeLock uses numbers to sow fear (more on that later) for visitors – and make their product the protection:
It’s also important to note that they’re using a recent data breach to sell their product. If marketing is all about timing, then LifeLock is getting their marketing right and profiting from it by pouncing on opportunities.
McDonalds used to post the “Billions and Billions served” under the golden arches. Here they give a more specific number while keeping the emphasis, billions served, the same.
Rainforest Trust, an organization that preserves forests, tells visitors how many acres of forest they’ve saved:
Combine that with a call to action to save more land, and it makes for a great use of numbers to draw donations.
I’ll frequently use numbers in blog posts to capture reader’s attention. In one of my videos, I give the reader a specific number:
Think about it – what headline would get more people to read my article (or in this case, watch the video):
How I Built 23,540 Unique Links to NeilPatel.com
Or this headline:
How I Built Links to NeilPatel.com
The number adds to the impact and gives the headline more of a “punch”. I didn’t just build a few links – I built over 20,000 links to the Neil Patel blog. I guarantee that I got more views on this video because I gave readers a specific number.
On the Quick Sprout blog, I’ve used this advertisement for many years with a lot of success:
I didn’t just increase pageviews. I helped a company grow to 500 million pageviews.
In this video, I give viewers a few numbers to chew on in my intro:
What’s the message here? Rich people listen to podcasts. The impact? 60% of podcast listeners make over $150,000. And they listen to roughly 5 hours of podcasts per week.
I used the cable news model – what’s the story, and how do you capture people’s attention using numbers to explain the impact?
So, how can you use numbers to persuade? Here are a few ideas:
Try adding numbers for social proof. How many customers to do you have? If you have a lot relative to the market you’re in, put it on your homepage. Let people know how many people are using your products and services.
Add numbers in testimonials. You didn’t just save a customer some money. How much did you save them?
Add numbers to the results you achieved. This is particularly useful if you’re a freelance. You didn’t just help Widget’s Inc improve conversions; you helped them double their conversions in 3 months. It’s more specific, and packs a punch. An x increase in x amount of time.
Now let’s move onto another favorite tactic of cable news outlets, instilling fear. What better way to hold a viewer’s attention?
2. Fear Will Grab Attention
Watching news media outlets in the summer and fall of 2014, you’d think that walking outside would make you susceptible to Ebola. This is despite four cases of ebola and just one death.
This CNN headline takes advantage of two things people are scared of – deadly diseases and terrorist organizations.
If you’re flipping through channels, what does this headline do to you? It grabs your attention. Makes you stop and turn up the volume, lean in, pay attention, and maybe makes you a little scared. For some people, it may make them think the end of the world is near.
In this way, fear picks up where the numbers left off. The numbers will capture the eye of channel surfers, and the emotion of fear will keep them glued to you for hours.
CNN wasn’t alone with the fear-mongering. Here’s the version from Fox:
Did any of these things come true? Was Ebola used as a biological agent? Did terrorist organizations contaminate the water supply with the Ebola virus and hurt millions?
Of course not! But it’s easy to say it now. Back then, Ebola covered the news cycle. People were scared. So the headlines that cable news outlets used capitalized on that fear (which news itself built) and only grew that fear that most people already had.
Just watch as Jon Stewart brilliantly tears down the news media’s attempts to dramatize the Ebola outbreak:
So, how can you use fear marketing?
Lessons for Marketers
Perhaps the most common use of fear is the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO). And with FOMO, you can use two classic tactics – scarcity and urgency.
This Facebook ad has a good message. Anyone that’s scrolling through Facebook, sees this ad, and likes the shirt will buy it. It’s limited edition, meaning that it won’t be around for a long time, and now there’s only a few left in stock? Where do I place my order?
This Facebook ad has a simple FOMO message. The pre-sale is available now. Get your tickets before anyone else or else you’ll miss out.
The “best worst movie” The Room recently had a nationwide one-day special screening. It spread via word of mouth and some press coverage:
The Room,' tonight. 500 theaters nationwide. Will you be there? https://t.co/7qHor3mRGT
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) January 10, 2018
Needless to say, when people couldn’t make it, FOMO triggered and they were pretty upset:
So they are having a one time screening of The Room tonight nationwide and I’m not gonna be there pic.twitter.com/eKqibMDId9
— oh_hi_mark (@zero_mark_30) January 11, 2018
Marketers use FOMO for a reason. Because it works really well. As long as you have a product or service that people want and value, adding some scarcity to it will make people buy it up as quickly as possible.
Think about it – if your product is widely available, will anyone be in a hurry to buy it? Probably not. They may even rethink buying it. But adding a little scarcity to it will make people value it more and makes them more likely to buy.
I’ve used FOMO before to promote some of my webinars:
My webinar is starting in two minutes, better not miss it!
The other way marketers use fear is to buy some protection against a threat. We saw the example above with Lifelock.
Millions of people potentially have their identity stolen? And we sell identity theft protection? Cha-ching!
Ramit Sethi wants to make it clear – use his courses and you’ll learn how to make more money. If you don’t use it, you’re not making your earnings potential (thus you’re Missing Out on money that could be yours):
The quiz is a lead generation tool. Start the quiz, give them your email to get the results, and you’ll be thrown into a drip campaign in no time. And then start making more money in “as little as an hour”. Who could pass that up?
Viruses and malware spreading across computers isn’t as common as it once was, but customers are still afraid of their computer becoming “infected”. And Symantec marketers use that fear:
These marketers use the fear as a lead generation tool. Who’s clicking on this link and reviewing the cleanup plan? Time to retarget them and sell our antivirus software.
Use fear at the right times. Marketing is about timing; so don’t rely on fear all the time. Use it at the appropriate time and it will be more effective for you. Use fear like you’d use a service, only at the right time, for a limited amount of time, and for the appropriate use.
3. Use Bold Graphics
Television is the ultimate vision medium, and much of the web is as well. Boring graphics with bland colors won’t draw viewers.
Let’s face it – people don’t want to read a wall of text, and they don’t want to read long headlines. They want fancy colors and beautiful people reading them the news.
When Jeff Zucker took over CNN, he was charged with turning around a ratings decline. One of the first things they did was debut a new graphics package:
Large, bold typography combined with all capitalization on a white background
Have you watched The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer lately? You’d think their news set was taken straight from a Hollywood movie:
Just take a look at that set!
Dozens of different images on at once (in the background), big typography on the screens, and combined with the Breaking News headline (because apparently everything is breaking news) and the countdown clock makes this the perfect cable news show.
We’re “awaiting”, which means viewers can’t click away, the countdown clock (which starts with at least *29 hours*) means that even if you leave to watch something else, you’ll have to come back and see where the clock is now and continually check to see if the Shutdown Countdown is called off. This is turning the political theater that is Washington, DC into theater television.
Jeff Zucker, I admire you. Well-done sir.
Lessons For Marketers
The lesson here is to find the balance between big graphics that stand out without overwhelming. Combine great graphics and design with strong messaging (like cable news) and you’ll earn the visitors attention.
The graphics I use on Neil Patel use bold colors combined with simple messaging. Do you want more traffic to your site? Put in your URL and see what I can do for you. The graphics stand out, the message is clear, now the choice is up to the visitor.
The Apple Homepod page uses big typography and beautiful image of the product:
Go ahead and visit the HomePod page and scroll through. Just try to click away. You can’t do it. Why? Because it unfolds like a product description. The graphics keep you scrolling and the copy keeps you reading. The font is big, bold, and stands out against a white background. And the product images draw the eye in.
The Red Cross homepage has one job – get donations from visitors. Here, they don’t use beautiful graphics. Because why would you do that if you want people to donate to a project in need? They need to see sadness or human struggle. So, they go with this:
The little girl holding the little puppy after what appears to be a natural disaster. They’re saved, but sad and clearly in need. How can you help? Give them some money so they “respond to someone in crisis”.
Charity: Water uses graphics to show visitors what they’ll accomplish with a donation – helping rural and poorer countries get access to clean, drinkable water:
This is an example of marketers using an end result to deliver conversions. Clean water coming out of a jug. A happy woman that finally receives uncontaminated water.
It’s not about the organization or the charity, it’s about the mission and what it accomplishes for people. Visitors want to know why they should donate, and this graphic makes it clear.
Conclusion
So why does any of this matter to marketers?
Because it teaches us about messaging, catching and keeping someone’s attention. And in today’s world, it’s a marvel at how cable news does this. They take a boring product (news) and turn it into entertainment that some people can’t look away.
Your product may be exciting to you, but to others it may come across as boring. You should be aware of this and appeal to people’s interests. The classic things that capture people’s attention and hold it. Use numbers to people can understand your impact, use fear to sell, and graphics to keep people’s attention.
What have you, as a marketer, learned from cable news or any great television producers?
About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital.
Three Lessons Marketers Can Learn From Cable News
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Three Lessons Marketers Can Learn From Cable News
I’m a bit of a cable news junkie.
Now, I don’t watch it often, but am generally more interested how a news product can draw people in hold their attention for hours, and keep them coming back everyday.
But why is this so interesting? And why should marketers care?
Because news itself can be pretty boring.
For your average 9-5 American with two kids and a mortgage, there’s not a big reason to watch news.
And the thing is, news outlets know this. They know reporting on the latest earthquake in Oklahoma is mundane and doesn’t matter.
Unless you spice it up a little bit. Get people’s emotions involved. Make viewers scared or angry.
So here’s why all marketers can take a lesson from cable news.
Cable News is Entertainment Masquerading as News
Their expertise does not lie in reporting the news or helping you understand the world’s events. Instead, they’re experts at messaging and grabbing your attention and holding it for hours, everyday. Because the only way to get viewers is to entertain.
It’s designed for channel changers. Those people with their hand on the television remote, flipping through channels. Cable news is designed to capture that 1-2 seconds of the channel changer, and holding that attention.
In this post, I’m going to examine the different ways news programs (primarily CNN and Fox) use emotions and classic Hollywood-style entertainment techniques to grab viewer’s attention and make sure they come back night after night. Then, we’ll see how marketers can steal these for their own gain.
1. Use Numbers to Your Advantage
Numbers can tell a story. They let the viewer understand impacts and effects. Numbers can be attention grabbing.
And cable outlets know this. They love using numbers, especially when it relates to danger.
Don’t believe me? Just wait for a hurricane or any other major natural disaster.
You’ll see cable and other news programs use numbers whenever a hurricane hits the U.S. And it’s generally meant for fear mongering. It’s typically “5 million people in the storm’s path” and “13,000 homes underwater” and “20 million people under evacuation orders”. It’s forceful messaging that grabs attention.
Here, in big text, Fox tells viewers how many are without power:
CNN uses a different number, but makes it clear so the channel changers see it right away:
During Hurricane Matthew, Fox reports on evacuation numbers:
Here’s how CNN reports on Hurricane Maria:
Rescues underway in Puerto Rico as Millions Without Power captures the eye. It takes a few seconds to read, but draws you in. Who would turn the channel after reading that banner?
Another hurricane, and more attention grabbing numbers. And if that wasn’t enough, they also threw one of their correspondents into a hurricane!
This correspondent is away from the hurricane, but that doesn’t stop them from throwing the Millions Could Be WIthout Electricity For Weeks banner:
You get the idea. Numbers grab people’s attention. They may not hold the attention for a long time, but they do catch the eye.
Now, let’s look at how some marketers are using numbers to their advantage, and how you can as well.
Lessons For Marketers
Some marketers use numbers as social proof. Help Scout uses numbers to show how many customers they have:
Or to encourage you to signup for their email list:
LifeLock uses numbers to sow fear (more on that later) for visitors – and make their product the protection:
It’s also important to note that they’re using a recent data breach to sell their product. If marketing is all about timing, then LifeLock is getting their marketing right and profiting from it by pouncing on opportunities.
McDonalds used to post the “Billions and Billions served” under the golden arches. Here they give a more specific number while keeping the emphasis, billions served, the same.
Rainforest Trust, an organization that preserves forests, tells visitors how many acres of forest they’ve saved:
Combine that with a call to action to save more land, and it makes for a great use of numbers to draw donations.
I’ll frequently use numbers in blog posts to capture reader’s attention. In one of my videos, I give the reader a specific number:
Think about it – what headline would get more people to read my article (or in this case, watch the video):
How I Built 23,540 Unique Links to NeilPatel.com
Or this headline:
How I Built Links to NeilPatel.com
The number adds to the impact and gives the headline more of a “punch”. I didn’t just build a few links – I built over 20,000 links to the Neil Patel blog. I guarantee that I got more views on this video because I gave readers a specific number.
On the Quick Sprout blog, I’ve used this advertisement for many years with a lot of success:
I didn’t just increase pageviews. I helped a company grow to 500 million pageviews.
In this video, I give viewers a few numbers to chew on in my intro:
What’s the message here? Rich people listen to podcasts. The impact? 60% of podcast listeners make over $150,000. And they listen to roughly 5 hours of podcasts per week.
I used the cable news model – what’s the story, and how do you capture people’s attention using numbers to explain the impact?
So, how can you use numbers to persuade? Here are a few ideas:
Try adding numbers for social proof. How many customers to do you have? If you have a lot relative to the market you’re in, put it on your homepage. Let people know how many people are using your products and services.
Add numbers in testimonials. You didn’t just save a customer some money. How much did you save them?
Add numbers to the results you achieved. This is particularly useful if you’re a freelance. You didn’t just help Widget’s Inc improve conversions; you helped them double their conversions in 3 months. It’s more specific, and packs a punch. An x increase in x amount of time.
Now let’s move onto another favorite tactic of cable news outlets, instilling fear. What better way to hold a viewer’s attention?
2. Fear Will Grab Attention
Watching news media outlets in the summer and fall of 2014, you’d think that walking outside would make you susceptible to Ebola. This is despite four cases of ebola and just one death.
This CNN headline takes advantage of two things people are scared of – deadly diseases and terrorist organizations.
If you’re flipping through channels, what does this headline do to you? It grabs your attention. Makes you stop and turn up the volume, lean in, pay attention, and maybe makes you a little scared. For some people, it may make them think the end of the world is near.
In this way, fear picks up where the numbers left off. The numbers will capture the eye of channel surfers, and the emotion of fear will keep them glued to you for hours.
CNN wasn’t alone with the fear-mongering. Here’s the version from Fox:
Did any of these things come true? Was Ebola used as a biological agent? Did terrorist organizations contaminate the water supply with the Ebola virus and hurt millions?
Of course not! But it’s easy to say it now. Back then, Ebola covered the news cycle. People were scared. So the headlines that cable news outlets used capitalized on that fear (which news itself built) and only grew that fear that most people already had.
Just watch as Jon Stewart brilliantly tears down the news media’s attempts to dramatize the Ebola outbreak:
So, how can you use fear marketing?
Lessons for Marketers
Perhaps the most common use of fear is the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO). And with FOMO, you can use two classic tactics – scarcity and urgency.
This Facebook ad has a good message. Anyone that’s scrolling through Facebook, sees this ad, and likes the shirt will buy it. It’s limited edition, meaning that it won’t be around for a long time, and now there’s only a few left in stock? Where do I place my order?
This Facebook ad has a simple FOMO message. The pre-sale is available now. Get your tickets before anyone else or else you’ll miss out.
The “best worst movie” The Room recently had a nationwide one-day special screening. It spread via word of mouth and some press coverage:
The Room,' tonight. 500 theaters nationwide. Will you be there? https://t.co/7qHor3mRGT
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) January 10, 2018
Needless to say, when people couldn’t make it, FOMO triggered and they were pretty upset:
So they are having a one time screening of The Room tonight nationwide and I’m not gonna be there pic.twitter.com/eKqibMDId9
— oh_hi_mark (@zero_mark_30) January 11, 2018
Marketers use FOMO for a reason. Because it works really well. As long as you have a product or service that people want and value, adding some scarcity to it will make people buy it up as quickly as possible.
Think about it – if your product is widely available, will anyone be in a hurry to buy it? Probably not. They may even rethink buying it. But adding a little scarcity to it will make people value it more and makes them more likely to buy.
I’ve used FOMO before to promote some of my webinars:
My webinar is starting in two minutes, better not miss it!
The other way marketers use fear is to buy some protection against a threat. We saw the example above with Lifelock.
Millions of people potentially have their identity stolen? And we sell identity theft protection? Cha-ching!
Ramit Sethi wants to make it clear – use his courses and you’ll learn how to make more money. If you don’t use it, you’re not making your earnings potential (thus you’re Missing Out on money that could be yours):
The quiz is a lead generation tool. Start the quiz, give them your email to get the results, and you’ll be thrown into a drip campaign in no time. And then start making more money in “as little as an hour”. Who could pass that up?
Viruses and malware spreading across computers isn’t as common as it once was, but customers are still afraid of their computer becoming “infected”. And Symantec marketers use that fear:
These marketers use the fear as a lead generation tool. Who’s clicking on this link and reviewing the cleanup plan? Time to retarget them and sell our antivirus software.
Use fear at the right times. Marketing is about timing; so don’t rely on fear all the time. Use it at the appropriate time and it will be more effective for you. Use fear like you’d use a service, only at the right time, for a limited amount of time, and for the appropriate use.
3. Use Bold Graphics
Television is the ultimate vision medium, and much of the web is as well. Boring graphics with bland colors won’t draw viewers.
Let’s face it – people don’t want to read a wall of text, and they don’t want to read long headlines. They want fancy colors and beautiful people reading them the news.
When Jeff Zucker took over CNN, he was charged with turning around a ratings decline. One of the first things they did was debut a new graphics package:
Large, bold typography combined with all capitalization on a white background
Have you watched The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer lately? You’d think their news set was taken straight from a Hollywood movie:
Just take a look at that set!
Dozens of different images on at once (in the background), big typography on the screens, and combined with the Breaking News headline (because apparently everything is breaking news) and the countdown clock makes this the perfect cable news show.
We’re “awaiting”, which means viewers can’t click away, the countdown clock (which starts with at least *29 hours*) means that even if you leave to watch something else, you’ll have to come back and see where the clock is now and continually check to see if the Shutdown Countdown is called off. This is turning the political theater that is Washington, DC into theater television.
Jeff Zucker, I admire you. Well-done sir.
Lessons For Marketers
The lesson here is to find the balance between big graphics that stand out without overwhelming. Combine great graphics and design with strong messaging (like cable news) and you’ll earn the visitors attention.
The graphics I use on Neil Patel use bold colors combined with simple messaging. Do you want more traffic to your site? Put in your URL and see what I can do for you. The graphics stand out, the message is clear, now the choice is up to the visitor.
The Apple Homepod page uses big typography and beautiful image of the product:
Go ahead and visit the HomePod page and scroll through. Just try to click away. You can’t do it. Why? Because it unfolds like a product description. The graphics keep you scrolling and the copy keeps you reading. The font is big, bold, and stands out against a white background. And the product images draw the eye in.
The Red Cross homepage has one job – get donations from visitors. Here, they don’t use beautiful graphics. Because why would you do that if you want people to donate to a project in need? They need to see sadness or human struggle. So, they go with this:
The little girl holding the little puppy after what appears to be a natural disaster. They’re saved, but sad and clearly in need. How can you help? Give them some money so they “respond to someone in crisis”.
Charity: Water uses graphics to show visitors what they’ll accomplish with a donation – helping rural and poorer countries get access to clean, drinkable water:
This is an example of marketers using an end result to deliver conversions. Clean water coming out of a jug. A happy woman that finally receives uncontaminated water.
It’s not about the organization or the charity, it’s about the mission and what it accomplishes for people. Visitors want to know why they should donate, and this graphic makes it clear.
Conclusion
So why does any of this matter to marketers?
Because it teaches us about messaging, catching and keeping someone’s attention. And in today’s world, it’s a marvel at how cable news does this. They take a boring product (news) and turn it into entertainment that some people can’t look away.
Your product may be exciting to you, but to others it may come across as boring. You should be aware of this and appeal to people’s interests. The classic things that capture people’s attention and hold it. Use numbers to people can understand your impact, use fear to sell, and graphics to keep people’s attention.
What have you, as a marketer, learned from cable news or any great television producers?
About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital.
Read more here - http://review-and-bonuss.blogspot.com/2018/01/three-lessons-marketers-can-learn-from.html
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7 things every musician should do before releasing a single
In our current world of short attention spans, releasing music more frequently can play a significant factor in your success.
Platforms like Spotify and YouTube reward artists who put out songs and videos on a regular basis. Obviously you can’t (and shouldn’t) bang out a full album every two or three months, so instead: singles!
Whether you’re releasing singles as a means of building towards an EP or LP which includes those same songs or you’re stockpiling tracks and putting out standalone singles as a way of maintaining momentum between bigger projects, you have the opportunity to turn each single into an event…
It’s a moment to reconnect with or grow your audience.
It’s a low-risk chance to experiment with promotion strategies and learn what works (and doesn’t).
And best of all, putting out singles is fun.
I recently released a new single and had a blast planning the various elements of the launch.
I can’t say my newest single yielded fame and fortune, but I applied marketing concepts that I’m pretty sure will improve your campaign no matter what the state of your career or size of your fanbase. It’s “scalable” wisdom.
youtube
Lots of people messaged me saying they loved various aspects of the launch (and the song, thankfully), and one person even wrote saying “Wow, your whole marketing strategy for this song is dialed in!”
So I’ve got that going for me. Which is nice ; )
As you’re getting ready to release a new song, I think it’ll help to keep the following concepts in mind too.
The key to promoting your newest single
1. Set a timeline and be patient
Yes, part of the benefit of singles is that they’re low pressure and you can drop them quickly. But don’t be in TOO much of a rush. Plan ahead. Do it right. You won’t be able to launch this song again.
Depending on the scope of your campaign, you might even need three months of preparation.
Here are just some of the things you’ll need time to arrange:
Global distribution
Spotify pre-saves
Music video and lyric video production
Song premiere
Video premieres
Press
Cover artwork
Communicating with reps from your distributor, licensing agency, etc.
Show.co page to feature your video
2. Don’t promote until your fans can take action
There’s no point in sharing a picture of your cover artwork a month before the single is available if no one can click to access, save, buy, or share the tune. Before you go crazy trying to create anticipation, set up your pre-saves or pre-orders! Get the link, then share that link when you post updates about the release ahead of its drop date.
3. Find the hook and make everything swirl around it
Everywhere all the time, the world buzzes. It takes a lot to get us to pay attention, so repeated messaging is crucial. And as you’re blasting us with news about your latest single, your message will be amplified when there’s a hook beyond just “new song coming soon.”
What’s the story? The hook? The thing that makes people say “I GOTTA CHECK THIS OUT!?” If you have that, the rest of your promotion will fall into place.
For me, there was a loose connection between the lyrics of my song “Irretrievable Beauty” and Climate Change. A single Public Domain image of an old iceberg stood at the core of my marketing, and it would become the cover artwork, the background of my lyric video, and an important element in more than a dozen Instagram posts. The image was one of the first instances of supernatural photography, purporting to capture an iceberg in 1905 where a crystalline Virgin Mary rose from the water.
The mystery of that image and how it was doctored to propel a hoax all seemed to speak to the song title “Irretrievable Beauty,” as did the very nature of both icebergs and photography. So,… there was the kernel of my marketing. From there it was just a matter of expressing it in soundbites.
4. Find different ways to repeat the message
You’ve got your hook; now how are you going to cast it into the same waters over and over again without the fish getting bored of that same bobbing lure?
Switch the tone. You can communicate through:
hints and teases
direct requests (“Please listen on Spotify”)
images
videos
facts and backstory about the song
and more
The first thing I did was set up my Spotify pre-save campaign. Once I had the link, I started to slowly tease the cover artwork by splitting it up into nine smaller images for Instagram. When a viewer looked at my profile at the end of the week, all nine of the smaller images formed a grid revealing the full artwork. Every time I posted I would share the pre-save link.
I then shifted to a more direct approach for the pre-save campaign, but with a focus on an emotional appeal…
Once the song was released I put out a lyric video (on YouTube and Facebook) with tons of buried text — posing as a letter from the 22nd-Century — referring back to the origins of the photograph, and I placed it inside a Show.co video feature page to drive conversions outside of YouTube:
I also repeated that little hook “In 1905, the people saw something so mysterious you might say that it almost wasn’t there…” in a number of ways throughout the campaign: emails, tweets, etc.
Then I did the obvious things, like adding a Spotify player to my website announcement about the song:
The next thing I did was to take a bunch of phrases from the letter portion of the lyric video and place them over the cover art for more Instagram posts, like so…
New music video now live at http://bit.ly/2j7S2rZ (link in profile too) for my song “Irretrievable Beauty”. #chrisrobleymusic #singersongwriter #photography #mainemusic #iceberg #hoax #miracle #musicvideo #lyricvideo
A post shared by Chris Robley (@chrisrobley) on Nov 7, 2017 at 9:06pm PST
Lastly, I posted the complete text of the letter on Facebook.
In addition to changing up the tone of the message, it’s important to remember that you have many channels through which to communicate: social, website, email, live shows, etc.
There’s also print and online music media, blog premieres for your song or video, reviews, playlist placements, and more out-of-the-box options such as publicizing your music to any relevant corporations, non-profit organizations, or hobby groups that might resonate with your music or the topic of the song.
5. Get all your ducks in a row before the release
Again, there’s a lot of options for creatively communicating the message that you have a new song out. But it always amazes me how long it takes to compose an email newsletter or write a Facebook post. I think, oh, that’s just a couple minutes, and then suddenly an hour has gone by. For that reason, you’ll want to prepare all assets well ahead of the launch date so you can focus on promotion once the song is out (not worrying about video editing, Photoshop, copy-writing, etc.).
And as I mentioned above, be sure to notify your distributor, publicist, any industry contacts, licensing experts, and so forth, way in advance.
This also means you’ll need to have an easy way to share a private link to your single: SoundCloud, Bandcamp, etc.
6. Consider another angle to entice beyond the primary hook
The song might be enough. The story and hook might be enough. But there could be some casual fans who won’t make the leap and check out your song unless there’s some additional benefit (like a prize, a free t-shirt, etc.).
When I ran my Spotify pre-save campaign, I made it a contest too. I would choose two winners at random from the list of people who pre-saved the song and send them a t-shirt. In addition to sending this out through the usual means, I also ran a Facebook ad to a targeted group of people who like similar artists as me.
Think of what extras might make someone push the save, buy, or play button.
7. Be ready to do the grunt work
We dream of easy solutions — the service that will handle everything for you, the dream manager who will do all the work, the industry contact who holds the keys to your success — but there’s often no substitute for digging in, doing research, writing a trillion emails, bracing for rejection, and building upon the small relative percentage of wins we get.
This applies when you’re doing your own PR, radio promotion, or launching singles. It’s work. Staying up until 3am to promote a single might not be why you got into music, but it’s work that will lead some listeners TO your music — which IS the reason you got into this crazy game in the first place.
Any advice to add? How do you think about releasing singles? Let me know in the comments below.
The post 7 things every musician should do before releasing a single appeared first on DIY Musician Blog.
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Understanding Crowdfunding as a Self-Publishing Option, Part 1
Asking family, friends, and even strangers for money doesn’t carry the stigma it used to. In the last few years, crowdfunding sites—where people collect donations to cover the cost of everything from essential surgery to wearable technology—have become a legitimate option for writers who want to self-publish without plunging into debt.
This guest post is by Diane Shipley. Shipley is a freelance journalist who writes about books, pop culture, technology, and psychology—or any combination of the above. Her bylines include The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, Writer’s Digest, and Mental Health Today.
She’s also a frequent contributor to Twitter (@dianeshipley).
Novelists are using crowdfunding to bring passion projects to life, communicate with fans, and connect with Hollywood producers. In some cases, they’re even garnering critical respect. Paul Kingsnorth’s crowdfunded postapocalyptic novel, The Wake, won The Bookseller Industry Book of the Year Award 2015, was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, and received a favorable review from The New York Times.
On Kickstarter, the biggest and best-known crowdfunding site, donors gave more than $20 million to publishing projects in 2016 alone. And since the site launched in 2009, publishing projects have raised over $100 million.
Yet only 40 percent of projects ever reach their funding goal. So how can you ensure success? In a word, planning.
Define Your Crowdfunding Strategy
Kickstarter’s publishing outreach lead, Maris Kreizman, says that authors need to do their research before deciding how much to ask for. That means getting quotes for services like editing, cover design, and printing. Plus you need to factor in site fees (Kickstarter and its main competitor, Indiegogo, take a 5 percent cut of the earnings for successful projects, plus 3 to 5 percent for processing payments), and the cost of shipping and rewards.
A key part of crowdfunding campaigns is offering backers something for their money at different donation levels: For example, a donation of $10 awards an e-book, and a pledge of $20 awards a print copy. Sometimes authors create merchandise, which Kreizman says is a nice idea but an unnecessary expense. “You can still do exclusive rewards, but it doesn’t have to be a physical object. A phone call or recommended reading list can be just as meaningful.” While crowdfunding campaigns that rake in millions hit the headlines, it’s more realistic to aim for an amount that covers your costs. “We recommend [trying to raise] the bare minimum to make the book you want to make,” Kreizman says.
Whichever site you choose, you’ll need to make your project page as attractive as possible in order to appeal to potential backers, which means explaining what your book’s about and what it means to you. Break up any large blocks of text with bullet points, links to other writing samples, and relevant images (as long as you own the rights to them). According to Indiegogo, campaigns with videos raise 114 percent more money than the average campaign, but a video doesn’t have to be professional quality. Keep it short (under two minutes), sincere, and free of background noise.
Spread the Word
Once you’re happy with the look of your project page, it’s time to launch your campaign. Kelly Thompson, who has used Kickstarter to fund two novels, says that a social media presence is crucial. “You need to be on Twitter or Tumblr or Facebook or a blog, or all of the above,” she says. “You can’t expect to go to Kickstarter and find an audience there. You have to have a preexisting audience, even if it’s a small one.”
Publishing consultant Jane Friedman says that before launching a crowdfunding campaign, you should make a spreadsheet of your contacts and estimate how much you can reasonably expect them to donate. “I recommend with social media that people consider 1 percent of their total following to be potential donors. If you have three thousand [followers], that’s at most thirty [donors], and even that [number] feels optimistic.”
Ideally, you’ll know a handful of people who will be willing to put up the initial 10 to 20 percent in order to build momentum for the campaign. Friedman recommends that authors send an e-mail to their contacts at the start of a campaign asking for support—but know who it’s appropriate to approach. Because Friedman has a lot of Twitter followers (220,000 at last count), strangers frequently ask her to tweet about their campaigns. “They’ve asked me to support their project because they know it can be helpful to have someone with a following mention them. But that doesn’t work; you need to have had some sort of interaction.”
Liz Hennessy, who writes as E.A Hennessy, used Indiegogo to raise money for her first novel, Grigory’s Gadget, a steampunk adventure story. She was keen to self-publish so she could keep creative control, and she looked to crowdfunding when she realized how costly that route would be. She found asking for donations difficult and says that if she were to crowdfund again, she’d assemble a team of ambassadors to help promote her campaign. “I’m a shy, introverted person, so it was difficult for me to approach even friends and family. You know they care, but it’s hard to reach out and say, ‘This is how you can help me.’” In the end, she raised $2,021 of her $4,000 goal, and as she’d chosen Indiegogo’s flexible funding option (as opposed to fixed funding, which requires the campaign to be fully funded to pay out), she got to keep the money she raised. That gave her enough to cover editing. By using personal savings to cover smaller publishing expenses, she was still able to self-publish Grigory’s Gadget.
Which Site Is Right for You?
Weigh the pros and cons of the different options before making your choice.
Kickstarter (Kickstarter.com): biggest and best-known crowdfunding site, and the one with the strictest guidelines. Every project must be well-defined and have a clear end goal and delivery date. Fixed funding only.
Indiegogo (Indiegogo.com): This site doesn’t have the reach or cachet of Kickstarter, but it allows you to choose between fixed or flexible funding, where you can keep every cent you raise (minus fees).
Unbound (Unbound.co.uk): This U.K.-based crowdfunding publisher is favored by literary authors and celebrities. It encourages authors to pitch their book before they’ve started writing and to update their backers regularly.
Inkshares (Inkshares.com): This crowdfunding publisher allows authors to upload drafts of their projects to receive feedback and build a following before their campaign. It offers the option of a 250-book print run for niche projects.
Publishizer (Publishizer.com): A crowdfunding site/matchmaker. For every pre-sales goal met (from 250 to 1000 copies), an author’s book proposal is shared with a bigger group of publishers. It offers flexible funding, but fees start at 15 percent.
Interested in more tips, success stories, and hybrid crowdfunding options? Check out the second half of this post on Thursday morning.
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If you’re an agent looking to update your information or an author interested in contributing to the GLA blog or the next edition of the book, contact Writer’s Digest Books Managing Editor Cris Freese at [email protected].
The post Understanding Crowdfunding as a Self-Publishing Option, Part 1 appeared first on WritersDigest.com.
from Writing Editor Blogs – WritersDigest.com http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/understanding-crowdfunding-self-publishing-option-part-1
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