#yes having the game on 2 platforms is probably a waste of money but at least both purchases were made during sales!

[sapphic-kumatora]

no posts, busy assembling a polycule for my bosmer

[gia2o]

4/22/21- Hey guys. Sorry I haven’t been on here in awhile. I am going to try to be posting on a more regular basis again... starting today!

It’s only 12:38AM so here is just a quick update:

My life felt pretty much stagnant these last few months. He, and yes... his as in “him”, “the one that got away” came back in my life. I messed up just over a month ago but I’m fixing things and now I know and am more confident that he will be in my life forever. One way or another, but I really feel like it will be the way him and I are both hoping he will be in my life. Which is: romantically.

Also, I started job training for a new job 2 days ago. Job training will be 2 weeks long and during training the pay is $15.20/hour but after training, I was told it will go up. Wasn’t told to what. But stoked. You guys wanna know what the job is..... it probably wouldn’t be as exciting if it wasn’t what it was.... which is....

At a sex shop!

So I’m sure I’ll have a lot of interesting stories. I am actually required to work at both stores the owners opened (at least for now... and until indefinitely). The reason I applied was because the ad for the job showed the address to the location that is only a five minute drive away from where I live. But the second one isn’t too far, which is only 20-30 minutes away depending on traffic.

I don’t want to say what the store is called online (for obvious reasons), but I’m stoked. It feels extremely empowering as a woman to work there. The hours are great and the latest the store is open until is 9PM and the latest I’d be there if I have a closing shift would be 9:30PM because usually whoever has the opening shift takes care of what other retail stores I’ve worked at had the closers take care of. Which I think makes a lot more sense. Especially since a sex shop isn’t nearly as busy in the morning, early afternoon. Giving the openers ample of time to take care of any extra responsibilities that those closing would probably be too tired to take care of once the store has closed.

Also, I still plan on starting a YouTube channel. And now, I even have an intro and idea planned out for what I want to do. I still have some things I want to take into consideration before starting but I’m a lot closer to starting then I was before. This will be the first platform I will promoting my future channel on too! Mainly because if this thing gets more views than I am anticipating, I want to have a bit of a following already before showing people I know in person. I’m already a bit shy about the idea, so I figured if I have at least some subscribers already before showing people I know in person, might make my whole “YouTube idea” seem more promising and worth giving a try. At this point, the only people I keep in contact and see in my real life are only the people I really give a shit about. That and they are the people who’s opinions and advice I take to heart.

Regarding drugs, I am still using but I’m off the needle. Still not good. But I have a game plan cause I want to quit soon. I don’t want to work just to waste all my money on drugs. And using is supposed to numb me at the very least, if it isn’t making me happy. I’m using and I’m extremely unhappy, so that to me is a huge sign that maybe it’s time. It’s time for me to quit because I feel it in my core, that for many reason, I will be actually happy if I stop using. Using is the only reason I have the problems that I have. If I just stop, within time, these problems will no longer be.

So yeah! That’s where I’m at. Hope all of you are doing great. I haven’t stopped writing. I have just been using a notebook only. As opposed to writing on here. Maybe I’ll post some of my new things on here later on. I think you all would enjoy some of the new stuff I have written.

Thank you to those still following me regardless of how long I’ve been MIA and especially to those who have sent me asks or messages to ask me how I’ve been or to check in.

Much love,

Gia

[indecisive-v]

NINJAMUFFIN DOING ANOTHER AMA ON TWITTER, HERE'S MORE SHIT FOR YA! keep in mind i'm just sharing the funkin related stuff, though i am including WAAAAY more than what i shared before 👍 go check out ninja's twitter profile for questions about stuff like ritz! questions in blue, answers in orange. if yall don't wanna read everything i MIGHT make a version of this post where i replace the answers with my own summaries of em (and if the questions are long, those too)

and here's a link to the ama tweet itself! dunno if it's still goin

Q: I figure the answer will be yes but do you have more plans to implement more guest appearances from people in the newgrounds community into FNF? Or are you all gunna focus on OG lore and stuff going forward

A: for guest appearances, I think we have always seen it as getting a healthy mix of both. PERSONALLY I'd like to lean towards having more OG stuff than guest stuff, BUT it's all a matter of what other boys think of that as well. I'm not the sole person working on game!

Q: Are you gonna release the full FNF game or are you gonna be releasing week after week? Like, are you gonna release week 8 or are we gonna wait some years until The Full Ass Game comes out?

A: Release plan for FNF right now is a few more updates or whatev to the 'demo' we have out right now, and then a long silence of probably no updates whatsoever until the full game is done (which will likely be a few years). That's partly why we made kickstarter for game.

Q: Hey so like, how much will Fnf cost after it's finished? And when will you ask the supporters what they want the game on?

A: It's all subject to change, but right now it prob gonna be standard 15-25$ lil steam indie game.

We will ask Kickstarter pledgers and whatnot what they want the game on SUPER close to when its released, to keep options open if we get onto anything like a console people want.

Q: 1. how was your day

2. are you releasing a week 8 song early like week 7, or are you goin full lockdown

A: I am doing GOOD today, and I think recently I've been good in general.

up to the mood, but so far we doing good about not having anything leak or whatev, so I think it'd be fun to have update come out with people not knowing what to expect at all. Build dat intrigue

Q: Will fnf ever get official plushies?? Seems like an untapped market

A: FNF plushies will prob happen some point, we have a lot of current merch stuff on our plates already though! (Mostly kickstarter type stuff, shirts, pins, posters, and all the physical OST stuff) Its a lot to sort out, but in time more and more stuff will happen. We r jus 4 boys!

Q: did you ever expect your game to blow up as it did? what was your first reaction to seeing it become super popular

A: FNF never had a humble moment, literally day 1 before the prototype even came out, the vid on twitter had like 5K likes overnight. Then when ludum dare version came out, it got 5K likes again, like it wasnt just a fluke. Was crazy, and def felt like somethin was different wit FNF

Q: Do you plan on getting other people to come in to help with the music? That seems like a lot of work to dump on one person, what with the erect mode and whatnot.

I guess the question could apply to all aspects of development. Will you be bringing on more people to help?

A: We definitely are getting help from other people. We are always keeping an eye on people for various different things. In terms of programming, already I've gotten 2 people (MtH and Geokureli) to help with certain Week 7 stuff (charting/polish, and loading stuff). Shit like dat

Q: Oh, also, will the Steam version be Workshop compatible? That'd really help streamline the process of downloading mods.

A: Steam version of FNF will likely NOT be Steam workshop compatible, because we want all the mods to NOT be spread out through different places. There WILL be modding support that is as streamlined as Steam workshop though. Mainly for non-steam versions of the game!

Q: Are there any chances that the game will have a physical release? Also any updates on a switch port? I remember one of you guys talking/joking about it.

A: Not impossible for FNF to get a physical release. We would want to see how far we could go with it though. I think it'd be super easy to do something wit people like LimitedRun games or whatev, but I think stuff like that can only go so far. I wanna see Funkin in mf Walmart!!!!!!

not that LimitedRun isn't going to be an option! Just we consider and pursue many different things! FNF release is years away, so we have time to think about everything. Whole mindset can be different just a few months from now.

Q: Out of curiosity, how are you dealing with all the popularity? It blew up so fast id barely be able to handle it if I was in your shoes.

A: The only way I've been able to handle it is having the other boys on the crew and being able to talk to them about all the overwhelmingness.

Part of it feels very lonesome, feels like NO ONE can come close to comprehending exactly how I'm feeling, except them. also other PALS!!!

Q: Do you own any of the bootleg FNF merchandise? Like any bootleg plushies or anything?

A: i dont, i genuinely think they r a waste of money, and I know any bootleg shit that gets made, we can prob go about and make it, and make it 100x cooler because we actually put effort into shit. bootleg shit just in it for the coin, so they aint gettin that from me

Q: How did you go about getting in contact with sr pelo for skid and pumps vocals?

A: Pelo i think was familiar and pals wit PhantomArcade a bit thru various Newgrounds things and collabs and whatnot.

pelo retweeted the first OG FNF posts first ever, and brought a LOT of attention to it. to pay him back, we put skid and pump in game! ask dave for more info prob

Q: what's the plan for having the full ass game open source if it's gonna cost money? couldn't people just download the source and compile the game for free?

A: when FNF is fully released, the full source code will be released as well.

the game will be DRM free so it will be way easier for people to redistribute the released/offical .exe instead of compiling it, so that's not the issue anyways. people will pay for things if they like it

Q: What are the chances of it getting on consoles like switch or Playstation, ps5 would definitely be my preferred way to play

A: it'd be a matter of hiring someone to build out backend stuff for those specific consoles. someone who knows their way around all the wacky code stuff, AND knows console hardware stuff. Then its just a matter of hittin up those console manufacturers (Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo)

the CLOSEST one is SWITCH. pretty much all of that backend is already made, so it just a matter of gettin all that access and shit.

i think in any case though, there's a lot of NDA stuff required, i dunno how much we'd be able to talk about it even IF we get that stuf sorted

Q: any ideas of releasing it on epic store or another platform?

A: Right now, the only thing that is 100% confirmed and WILL happen is a Steam version, itchio version, and mobile versions on respective app stores. Other storefronts aren't out of the picture though, but we don't want to spread ourselves too thin with it.

Q: Will you continue using HaxeFlixel to make the rest of FNF?

A: yes, because it is what I'm the most technically proficient in, and generally is VERY flexible. just a matter of ME becoming a better coder. It's ALL open source, so if I need something done a certain way, either I can do it, or we can hire someone to do it.

Q: have you seen game theory's videos on your game yet and if so, what do you think about them? (not talking about his predictions because i dont want spoilers. i like mystery)

A: it is always good silly fun to watch the Game Theory vids about Funkin with some pals, and see what matpat thinks of the game. i lov the vids, but wish he used my face less! Or at least used a cuter pic of me like this one!!

Q: Ok so: What does the future of FNF look like to you?

A: future of FNF is a rhythm game that not only exceeds every expectation that people have of it, but subverts most expectations and conventions as well.

Q: Do you plan on retouching on older weeks once the game is fully out? Like reanimating sprites, redoing some charting, updating the background, etc

A: retouching and probably overhauling certain aspects is almost definitely gonna happen. Everything is fluid and can be changed (and should be changed when necessary). i dont think anything should be too attached to, especially this early on in development

Q: I honestly do not care if the answer to this is vague as hell to keep surprises and shit lol but… Since Week 7 was the closest we’ll get to a playable girlfriend (still bf controlling tho), do you have plans to make girlfriend playable in spin-off things or just freeplay?

A: wouldnt be out of the picture for a playable GF, i don't think we've had some hard thing AGAINST it. just a matter of what we want out of the game, and what sort of story or whatev we could do with that concept

Q: How do BF and GF manage to meet famous newgrounds characters (such as pico, tankman and the others to come) like is this all in one universe/ timeline or are they being brought in?

A: i think they are all just there existing. i think there's a lot of wacky things in other media that try to justify crossovers, like MULTIVERSE bullshit or TIMELINE shit, but i dunno, its like subspace emissary. Captain Falcon and Olimar from Pikmin just hang out. Shit like dat

disclaimer that all lore shit is in phantomarcade head pretty much and maybe there is wacky dimensions or somethin

Q: Will the game have dlc?

A: its not too unlikely that we'd have expansions of some sort, but i mean right now we plan on packing in as much as we can into base game, and trying to make that as pure as possible.

if there is ANY dlc, i would personally want it to be 100% free updates

Q: How did you meet Phantom Arcade, Kawai Sprite, and EvilSker? And what do you think about the community and its controversies?

A: me and phantomarcade been fukin around NG for years so years and years ago we naturally crossed paths and became pals

about 2 years ago i found kawaisprites music on NG, and started talkin wit him, made Ritz wit him and we fell in lov

and evilsk8r i met cuz of FNF!!!

quik elaborate on evilsk8r, wanted artist for gamejam FNF was for (ludum dare), and OG person i asked wasnt available, so he referred me to evilsk8r, who I have never met or talked to before ever.

[tslasvegas]

Episode 12: “I’ve been awakened.” - Xavier

Well that vote went exactly how I had hoped it would... and then the super idol came out! I'm glad that it's out of the game now once and for all, but I guarantee that Liv is going to find something else along the way. It's so hard for me to summarize everything that I'm doing around here because I feel like I'm doing a lot. Maybe that's going to come bite me in the ass this coming vote but idk, I'm not mad about it. I definitely limited myself a lot by really not going for the money shot and convincing Jeff to use his vote steal on Joey to get Joey the hell out of here, but maybe in some weird way it works. Because now I have John's 8 chips and I'm going to need as many as I can get to somehow beat Livingston. I definitely think that snubbing this vote is going to be my biggest detriment only bc it provides the opportunity for Livingston to ascend higher as a threat, but also avoid getting voted out at our next convenience. I still really want Kailyn to go, but I think the goal for everyone else is to get rid of Livingston or myself (maybe Joey) at the next tribal council. Ugh. Heh... I never would've thought that I could pull off that kind of a move and have it not fully work out in my favor. It was a cool feeling regardless and I'm not crushed if it means I played myself out of the game. I give myself credit where it's due, I'm going to continue fighting as always and hopefully I come out on top :~)

Last Luxor standing 

Whelp, there goes the Super Idol. Jaiden is a snakey little snake snake. Pat and Jeff are naïve as all hell. I'm not 100% sure I believe Jaiden now, but apparently Joey's plan was to cut me at like final 6 or something. And people are so convinced that Livingston and I are a duo. I mean we are, but like maybe if anyone would ACTUALLY FUCKING TALK TO ME AND TRY TO WORK WITH ME, we wouldn't be??? Like don't whine and bitch that Livingston and I are a duo who are going to stick together and not turn against each other if you can't even be bothered to respond to a single fucking message of mine. I have no issues voting out whoever is necessary for me to get farther in the game. But when only a limited number of people express in interest in going farther with me? You better fucking bet I'm working with those people. Anyways, can't wait to vote out Jaiden, Kailyn and Xavier. xoxo Gossip Girl 

Waiting on Immunity Results, but whatever happens the 5 of us need to vote together, and be smart about it! We know that liv, Keegan and Joey will vote together. Probably for me next. So Jeff Pat need to stick with us. We need to split the votes 3-2, and use a vote steal, cancel or extra to get it to 3-3 just in case of idols. We need to be smart about this. Going all out and proposing this once results are in. I am going to the Jury next anyway, go out guns blazing.

...five seconds later

OMG I WON IMMUNITY! Finally something good! I figured most people gave their correct numbers, and if not, just chose a number close to theirs. OR they didn't coordinate so well, so some gave a higher number and others gave a lower one, so it cancelled out. Also helps that I knew Liv and Pat's numbers with the advantage. Pat gave mine accidentally so I knew his was in the 40s as well. Phew. Now to figure out whether to use the Steal a Vote now or not.

I came so close to winning immunity but it was rudely snatched away from me by Xavier. On the plus side, Livingston found the hidden immunity idol on the idol board! Heck yeah! As long as there isn’t a full blindside we should be good now! 

(originally written 11/23, night after super idol) Anyways what rly bugs me is that Jeff is actually mad at me now for the fact that he wasted his vote on Joey and I tried to get rid of Livingston instead... and I think I put myself into a spot where I need to apologize to him and make him feel good about me again. Tbh no I don’t. Jeff said to me that he’s got to play his own game first and mine second. So why am I playing some other people’s games first? Because it benefits me to play everyone’s hand for them, yes, but also I’ve been caught trying to run the entire table a little too early. So maybe now it’s time for me to do something a little different - play my game first. It’s now fully Jeff’s fault that Joey didn’t leave. I told Jeff precisely what he needed to do to ensure Joey went home. He needed to play the vote steal and send Joey on packing... and he didn’t. So now when Pat and I finally talk tomorrow and he tells me what’s up, I’m not gonna hold back. I’m going to throw Jeff under that bus so fucking hard his head will spin. Pat doesn’t know about the vote steal and I think I’ll hold that piece of information over Jeff’s head a little bit longer - I know something no one else knows about you, keep me safe or it’s coming out and everyone’s going to come after you. So tomorrow I will blame Jeff to Pat. Sure I was the person who made the move, but it’s my game and I’m playing it now. If Pat doesn’t like my apology, then kiss my ass and take eighth place. Bye!

...five seconds later

I'm pessimistic as FUCK so I'm fully expecting to go home tonight and I'm writing this confessional against better judgment because I need to rly focus on letting my mental state get back to normal rather than Survivor mode before I get voted out lmfao. Anyways, tonight is FINALLY the night where I'm making my last move against Joey, one way or another. This is the decision that will either determine oops sorry as I was writing that, I just realized something else... this is ME making yet another move that makes Jeff think I'm controlling the whole entire game I love that for me hehe. Should I convince the entire tribe to vote out Jeff instead??? Let's go fully with the chaos mode. DRAW ROCKS BITCHES!!!! Jk Jk Back to my original point - this is the vote that determines whether I was worth being brought back for this game or not. I'm not trying to be this like crazy strategist who has all these cracked plans to take out Joey but that's where we're at rn. One side of me like, trusts Jeff but the other side of me doesn't. So I told Jeff about Joey's legacy advantage and now it's like, getting Jeff to want to turn on Joey. Even though Joey told me he wanted to get rid of Jeff it seems like Jeff is not as stressed about it. I'm pretty sure Jeff turned votes against me instead, it is what it is. It's the game. However, Jeff would be really stupid to not vote out Joey now while he has the chance... it's probably going to come down to Jeff winning this whole entire thing if he makes the correct move tonight because I'm certainly not going to turn my back on him if he follows through. But, crazy things have happened tonight. And it's about to get a whole lot crazier. :) Although I'm like, CERTAIN I'm going home tonight or at least getting votes. OK IM TRYING SO HARD TO WRITE THIS CONFESSIONAL BUT SO MUCH IS HAPPENING AHHHH IM STRESSING OUT BUT I KNOW THERES A GOOD PLAN OUT THERE FOR ME TO MAKE AND HOPEFULLY IM NOT SCREWING MYSELF OVER 

...five seconds later

OKAY I think I'm gonna be ok but I'm taking a HUGE risk rn!!! Basically putting my vote onto Liv with Joey and hoping Joey 1) doesnt have an idol and 2) gets the rest of the votes. But my logic for voting Liv is simple. If Joey actually has an idol he's been hiding, he plays it and reveals I voted for him again if I don't do it. It also prevents me/Kailyn from going home 2-1-0 since Keegan and Liv seem to be locked in on one of us (likely me). If somehow Jeff/Pat are lying and are part of split, it'll go 2-2-2-2 which is not only insane but it also gives me a PERFECT platform to light people up, namely Jeff and his vote steal advantage. But we'll see! I'm predicting to go home tonight :) But at least I made a move when I could. Good luck to me <3

[queenmercurys]

So, I usually refrain from expressing too many “problematic” opinions on this platform mainly because I don’t wanna deal with anon hate. I’ve done so in the past and it’s never been fun. But since I’ve been talking my friends’ ears off about Disney recently, I thought I would give it a go here. Yes, in the safety of the “read more”-button, because overall, my opinion doesn’t matter and I don’t wanna force it on anyone.

Let’s cut to the chase. I kind of hate Disney. Don’t get me wrong, I watch Disney films and I occasionally reblog some Disney stuff. I think some of their earlier things, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame to Atlantis, are truly enjoyable films. But I’ve never been into the whole Marvel phenomenon. I don’t care about superhero movies, and the way Marvel is insistent upon franchising everything and essentially making every film a cliffhanger for another cliffhanger film, just makes the whole sub-genre less appealing to me. I’m not exactly an action film fan as it is, and when it’s done in such a chaotic way as the Marvel films tend to be, I’m even less convinced. I’m not saying every Marvel film has to be a John Wick in the quality of action, but... one of them could be, no? As for Star Wars, well, it is my personal opinion that Disney has thoroughly ruined the franchise, to the point that I actually prefer the prequels. Maybe they were messy, badly acted and boring, but at least they felt like films - rather than products made for a cash grab. 

As for their other products, well, I like Tangled. Moana is passable. Frozen is fine (but only fine). But none of these animated films have touched me in ways that, for example, The Swan Princess, The Prince of Egypt and Quest for Camelot have. Ever since I was a child, I’ve preferred non-Disney animated films without even realizing it. Maybe it’s because to me, the non-Disney films just tackle more complicated, fascinating stories that rely less on the chance to make merchandise and more on the opportunity to make good content. I have often heard the term of something being “too Disney”. Which, basically, kinda means that a film is just too family-friendly when it really doesn’t have to be. And that is probably something missing from the non-Disney examples I just gave. Admittedly, all of these films are from the 90′s, and I’m sure Dreamworks and co. have now fallen into the same cash-grab trap that Disney is currently sitting in. But nevertheless, I still consider most non-Disney animated films to be superior to their Disney counterparts. Part of it is definitely my annoying habit of disliking something that is too popular simply because it is popular - but I don’t think that’s the whole story. And my dislike of Disney has only grown over the years, to the point that I’m considering boycotting the company entirely. And here’s a few of the biggest reasons why:

Disney+. Yes, every company has the right to try to make money, and they should. But I think Disney+ will only mean the death of other streaming services, and eventually, the death of diversity and creative freedom in the film and TV industry. I prefer Netflix over anything Disney has ever spat out, and while I recognize its flaws, I hope that it will not get overshadowed by Disney+. But who are we kidding? It will. Especially in America, Disney is this sacred thing that nothing can defeat. Disney’s mediocre films (such as Frozen and Marvel movies) are praised as gifts from God, and everything else is either compared to Disney products, or discarded because of Disney. From everything I have read and watched, Disney+ is going to be a real threat to all of its contemporaries. It’s going to be cheaper than Netflix and others, and it’s going to have the products the masses adore (again, namely Marvel). Netflix will lose customers, and Disney+ will gain them. This will most likely make it difficult for Netflix to make new original content, and will most likely also affect movie theatres. Because if Disney+ continues their trend of releasing films on the platform rather than in theatres, well, what choice do Disney fans have but to join the service? And in the end, we’ll be left with nothing but films and shows that are so lifeless, or old classics we know from beginning to end. And neither one of these options encourage anything new. 

This brings me to my second point, which is the lack of creativity and new ideas. You only have to look as far as the Disney liveaction remakes to see that they don’t care if they give you new, quality entertainment. All they care about is getting your money. And again, I am also at fault here. I liked Cinderella just fine. I loved the new Aladdin. I paid to go see those films. I gave Disney my money and thus, encouraged them to make new liveaction remakes. So, I can’t really criticize much when I’m also the offending party here. But still. Remaking every single classic Disney film? That is just exploiting nostalgia to the point that it’s becoming absurd. And all this does is stop Disney from working on new, interesting films that don’t exist in an already established franchise, or aren’t direct remakes. It’s not like Disney doesn’t have the money to take risks. It just refuses to, because why take risks when you can make easy money? And make no mistake. Aladdin 2019 was easy money. Frozen 2 was easy money. And however nice these products are, it does show in the end result. The stories are recycled, and feel kind of lifeless. The fact that people are comparing The Rise of Skywalker to Avengers Endgame only proves that Disney is not only recycling its’ own ideas, but that it’s stripping the directors and writers involved of their creative freedom. I’ve read stuff about how much JJ Abrams had to change in The Rise of Skywalker to accommodate Disney, and it’s actually pretty scary. What the hell is even the point of trying to tell original stories if Mickey Mouse is just gonna come and tell you to rewrite everything you’ve worked on? Disney is perhaps the most obnoxious and money-hungry company I have ever heard of in my life, and that’s saying a lot when there’s companies like Amazon and Apple around.

My third and final point is the fact that Disney owns, or is on its’ way to owning, everything. Absolutely everything. Star Wars. 20th Century Fox. You name it. Almost everything in the film industry at this point is Disney. And that sucks. It sucks so much. I can’t put it any other way. It terrifies me that Disney is in charge of so much of the content we are given. Because, let’s face it. Disney is not the most risk-taking company (at least not anymore), and certainly not the most diversity-encouraging one. People of color, LGBTQ+ characters, you name it - all of the representation in film and TV will most certainly lessen even more once Disney has its’ claws in everything. Disney only represents minorities when it serves them, and when they know they’ll get money off of it. Like that lesbian kiss at the end of Rise of Skywalker? I didn’t even fucking spot it when I watched the film! That is not representation. Having a token black character (who is completely wasted in the case of Finn in Star Wars) is not enough representation. Disney is a coward, and has been for a long time. All Disney cares about is profit, and that’s it. That’s 100000% it. And I’m not saying that other companies are much better. Of course Netflix wants your money. Of course HBO wants you to hand over your credit card info. But at least the content we receive from those companies varies. Not everything Netflix produces is another Stranger Things. HBO has done things that vary from Game of Thrones. But Disney (in recent years)? Remakes. Sequels. Rebooting a known franchise. It’s all been done before. And I’m scared that, say, ten years from now, every single action film will have the protagonist say a variation of “I am Iron Man” before doing their own variation of snapping their fingers. And, in my very non-expert, very non-educated opinion, that would suck.

By the way, it goes without saying, but all of this is just MY opinion. If you love Disney+, if you love Marvel, that’s amazing. I am so happy for you. This is a really good time for you. I’m nothing but a pretentious dick who is complaining about what is essentially just harmless fun. Just wanted to make that clear. 

[jibrillenyan]

A quick note about Through Eldarya.

I'm getting PMs asking me about episodes 27 and 28, if I will finish the guides for 25 and 26, and whether or not the website will stay online.

Let's start with the easy part: The domain has been paid for another year, so yes: my guides will be online *for sure* until the end of Jan 2021. If I decide not to renew the hosting, I *PROMISE* I'll move all I can to a free platform, it's my work, wouldn't want to see it wasted.  

I'm really touched that people liked my guides enough to keep asking about them more than half a year after I stopped, but I can't make any promises, and most likely I will not make any more guides in general, especially after the Christmas disappointment.

I've tried to keep this blog and the guide as opinion free as possible, but it's not hard to guess that I'm very unhappy with the direction Beemoov has taken. I'm no longer giving them *any* money, I didn't even buy the bank outfit this Christmas, to name one, and I'm a collectionist with every. single. equipment piece up to that point.

While I still have some gold coins saved up, I'm pretty low on maana (I haven't played much, so I haven't farmed it either), most certainly I don't have enough to make a guide, which takes, on average, 2-3 replays on each of my up-to-date accounts, and that's if I don't have any problems figuring out stuff. Even episodes 25-26 would require, I'd say, 1-3 more replays (so two-six total) to have a good idea of what's going on, replays I don't have maana for. And since I'm not buying anymore, there is nothing I can do about that.

I will probably fix the mistakes as I play the older episodes and do a preliminary guide when I get to the new ones (so a very incomplete, unreliable, version) but as you can imagine that could take forever, because at the moment I haven't even TOUCHED episode 27 and 28.

Again, I'm sorry, I understand that there were people relying on those guides, but as much as that makes me happy that's not enough to make me want to pay Beemoov any more money and honestly, I lost interest in their games, or, to be frank for once, they can go F*** themselves. This is the last time I will post about this but if I ever update a guide, or make a new one, you have my word I'll let you know about it.

PS yes, with this post I hereby toss the title of “neutral/opinion free” game guide out the window and pour oil on it. Someone got a match?

[heyadam-blog2]

Is influencer marketing for every brand?

First of all, what is influencer marketing?

For the last few years, social media has become an integral part of people’s everyday lives. As more users were joining portals like Instagram, Facebook, Youtube or Snapchat, looking for lifestyle inspirations, many of them became content creators themselves, sharing their own impressions, ideas, and experiences by uploading photos, videos and stories for others to follow. This is the point where influencer marketing was born and quickly drew the attention of marketers who saw an opportunity to reach their potential costumers via particular influencers whose image fit the character of the brand or specific product much better than traditional channels. In result the average monthly search for “influencer marketing” in Google rises constantly:

Graphic 1. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=%2Fm%2F026bgmq

However one question still remains: does influencer marketing really work for brands? The general answer is simple: yes, it most certainly does. Statistics speak for themselves.

According to Influencer Marketing Hub studies 84% of marketers evaluate their cooperation with influencers as „effective“. Nielsen’s report finds out that marketing campaigns which engage influencers generate $6.5 of return for every $1 invested.

[source: https://www.whitepress.pl/baza-wiedzy/590/czy-influencer-marketing-sie-oplaca]. In accordance with Mediakix 65% of brands’ influencer marketing budgets increased in 2019, while only 2% decreased. 17% of companies spend over half of their whole marketing budget on influencers. 89% of marketers say that ROI (return from investment) from influencer marketing is the same or better than traditional channels. The whole influencer marketing global spend is estimated to reach 5 – 10 billion $ market in 2020. [source: https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/influencer-marketing-statistics/#10-most-important-influencer-marketing-statistics-for-2019]

Graphic 2. https://mediakix.com/blog/influencer-marketing-industry-ad-spend-chart/

Does it mean that influencer marketing is a silver bullet strategy? Unfortunately life is never that easy and the fact that your brand simply invests in influencer marketing campaign doesn’t necessarily imply that your product will start to sells itself.

Therefore – is influencer marketing for your brand? To find the answer for this question you definitely should ask yourself few others first.

Know what you want, know what to expect

Influencer marketing is only a tool. If you want to succeed, you have to know how to use it right. Performance of your action depends on many factors such as magnitude of your brand, specific objective of the campaign, characteristics of the product, to whom you want to sell it, how to match your product with particular influencer and their image. Dealing with these topics will help you create an adequate strategy, estimate the budget needed and eventually verify results of the campaign to answer the key question: “is influencer marketing for my brand?”

How big is your brand? Depending on actual magnitude of your company, it’s presence, recognition and impact range on social media channels will vary, probably the same as your budget. However it doesn’t mean it’s a game only for the big ones. Large brands often compete against each other, trying to outspend the rivals – that consumes a lot of resources. Being small may be advantageous as long as you introduce something new, therefore fresh, interesting and exciting for SM users. What is important here, is the fact that you should create right concept and impression around your brand, and find right influencers matching your niche. As you probably can’t afford extensive campaign, try to cooperate with micro influencers, who will often be satisfied with barter exchange for their work.  

What is the main objective of your campaign? Before embarking on a campaign, it’s crucial to be clear of your goals. In general, KPIs (target key performance indicators) for brands include two categories:

Brand awareness: metrics associated with increasing audience awareness of your product, such as content responses - likes, comments, mentions. The most common objective for influencer marketing campaigns is establishing awareness around the brand and to reach new audiences. As mentioned before, it should be the right tactic for small, new brands.

Direct response: metrics associated with particular actions, such as clicks, conversions and finally sales of your product. However you should avoid using too many CTAs (calls-to-action) buttons in a single post — this may cause confusion among users and can negatively affect performance.

What actually is your product? This may sound obvious, but you really need to have a good product to sell. A product that consumers will genuinely need, want or love is a basis of your campaign. It’s no use having whatever number of influencers giving ‘rave reviews’ if the real customers are disappointed. If you don’t have a product that people would be satisfied with, influencer (or any other) marketing is probably not for your brand.Even if your product is great, you have to distinguish it among the others. It won’t be possible if you are not the only one who sells it. There are many businesses that just resell other brand’s products. If this is your case, you need to give consumers very good reason to buy product from you instead of elsewhere.You have to remember that social media, especially Instagram that is the major platform for influencers, impose hyper-realistic aesthetic forms where visual aspect of advertised products play the key role. Attractive design of your product is an important quality. According to Patrick Barwise and Sean Meehan from the Harvard Business Review: “social media makes it more urgent than ever that companies get the basics right, developing and reliably delivering on a compelling brand promise.” [source: https://www.apptamin.com/blog/influencer-marketing-considerations/]

Who is a target group of your campaign? Does your product have wide appeal? Who do you sell your product to? Is it an individual consumer or another company, institution or even a state? This might seem odd, but if your brand produces very niche, technical products like spaceship components for example (bought by NASA), successful execution of influencer marketing campaign for your brand will most probably be very difficult. Even if your potential client is individual before you get into influencer marketing, you should first determine whether your product will interest enough people. Products that are addressed to wide spectrum of consumers tend to perform best with influencer marketing. Shampoo > technical ski equipment.

Are there influencers whose audience matches your target market?Influencer marketing is about engagement. Yes, you definitely should engage only the influencers who have a close match to your perfect target audience. Semi-close matches usually don’t work good unless influencer has a lot of well-engaged followers. There should be a flawless overlap between your target audience and that of your influencer’s. For example, if you sell an innovative backpack aimed specifically at women, a generic travel gear blogger will be nowhere near as effective as a travel gear AND women orientated niche. Likewise, a girl blogger writing for girls who is not interested in travel gear will have only a small impact.

You’ll never try, you’ll never know

To sum up: Is influencer marketing for every brand? Theoretically, YES. However, as it was elaborated before: the success of your campaign depends on many factors managing which can be difficult, expensive and not always effective. Often it may turn out that the best solution would be hiring someone who is willing to do that for you.

There are few companies, which can help you create right campaign for your brand or your products considering characteristic of brand’s conditions and provide influencers corresponding with your niche. One of them is Indahash – one of the major, and most widely recognized platform that organize cooperation between brands and influencers. It also provides support at every stage, from budgeting and assistance in choosing creators to analysis of the final reports. Indahash is:

„END-TO-END INFLUENCER MARKETING SOLUTION

We have a very rigorous process in place before and after creators are approved on the indaHash platform, so you can be sure you are reaching real people. With over 900 000 creators from 83 markets registered in the indaHash app, we can run any multi-country, scalable campaign you may need.

TRUSTED BY GLOBAL BRANDS

Our technology platform is used by the world's largest brands and has been put to the test to guaranteee the highest quality and value is delivered. You too can benefit from our platform just as these global brands do on a daily basis.”

The best way to know if influencer marketing is for you is to try!

Sources:

1.     https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=%2Fm%2F026bgmq

2.     https://www.whitepress.pl/baza-wiedzy/590/czy-influencer-marketing-sie-oplaca

3.     https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/influencer-marketing-statistics/#10-most-important-influencer-marketing-statistics-for-2019

4.     https://mediakix.com/blog/influencer-marketing-industry-ad-spend-chart/

5.     https://www.apptamin.com/blog/influencer-marketing-considerations/

6.     https://www.whitepress.pl/baza-wiedzy/442/jak-kreowac-marke-w-blogosferze

7.     https://www.whitepress.pl/baza-wiedzy/550/influencer-marketing-dla-malych-firm-–-podstawowa-wiedza-w-pigulce

8.     https://www.jcsocialmedia.com/how-to-not-waste-money-on-influencer-marketing/

[lewis-phillipson]

Games As A Service, and Why I Went For Uplay+

UPDATE: I have since cancelled my subscription due to personal financial issues.

I, like many, enjoy physical things, CDs in a huge case, movies and books on a shelf, literally anything that can be collected I’ll collect it. With this in mind, I’ve always been slightly uncomfortable buying things digitally, most notably games.

 I’m not ashamed to admit that I actually read the terms and conditions (I know right) for the services that I subscribe to. You may not be aware but if you purchase a game or movie from a digital retailer in some cases you don’t actually own the product that you have purchased. This essentially means that if the service from which you purchased the game or movie from shuts down, you may not be able to use those products after the shutdown. 

To simplify the point, imagine buying a car from Fred’s Cars and 2 weeks later Fred’s Cars closes down and you can’t drive your car anymore. Literally, no one would opt into a system like that for physical products so why do people accept it in digital marketplaces? Honestly, I don’t know and I don’t really want to write about it today so... moving on

Ubisoft announced their very own “games as a service” platform, Uplay+ at E3 earlier this year. The service gives you access to over 100 Ubisoft titles on PC, as long as you pay £12.99 a month. At this point, you may be thinking (if I’ve written this properly) why would I buy into this after all of the objections I mentioned previously. To put it simply, Ghost Recon Breakpoint and Watch Dogs Legion. 

Let me explain the logic behind what at first sounds like an idiotic plan. Firstly I love games, and a lot of the games that I play are Ubisoft titles because, Despite all of the negativity they attract, they make pretty good games. secondly I like to get as much content from games as possible so I always end up buying special editions. Uplay+ gives me all of that for £12.99 a month with a yearly cost of £155.88‬ and the first year is only £143.88‬ as the first month is free. Finally, I am a disabled person who is unemployed and scrounges money from the government so I’ll take every chance I get to save a bit of money.

The gamers amongst you will probably be saying what about Google Stadia? and that is a very good point as it will have a wider selection of games from a variety of developers and publishers however it isn’t here yet and I already have a very good high-end gaming PC, so why would I waste my money renting a high-performance car, when I have a Tesla at home. 

So yes I’m paying for a service comparable to Netflix if Netflix only streamed movies from one studio. All in order to play 2 games, which sounds ridiculous but in my mind, it has already paid for itself, as I have already played the closed beta of Ghost Recon Breakpoint, and I will get early access to the game on October 1st. Hopefully, a similar scenario will present itself when Wath Dogs Legion rolls around, for now though, I’m off to play some games.

[stayathomesurveys]

083.

1. What was the last thing you had the urge to do? Get a smoothie... which I did.

2. Is there anyone you feel that takes you for granted? Yeah.

3. What is the last thing you had a craving for? A smoothie.

4. Do you ever read the comments on social media posts? Yes.

5. What was the last thing you felt like you wasted money on? My boyfriend got us breakfast this morning but I felt it was a waste because I can’t taste anything so I could have just had something at home.

6. What’s the last thing you had stuck in your head? A Bayern fan chant song thing.

7. What was the last “good” thing to happen to you? I was able to sell my tickets to the game at Lambeau field literally last minute the day of the game, for more than I paid for them.

8. Last awkward situation you were in? Every social encounter I have is awkward.

9. Think of the last time you were sick – what were you sick with? I am currently sick with Covid, pretty sure it’s the BA.5 strain. I finally got it after avoiding it for the past 2 and a half or so years... unbelievable.

10. How do you think your life would change without social media? I’d probably do more productive things.

11. What was the last thing you wanted to buy, but couldn’t afford? Clothes, handbags, shoes, plane tickets.

12. What is a recipe you’d like to try to make for yourself? So many.

13. What goes through your mind when you look back at old photographs of yourself? The memories associated with them.

14. What was the subject matter of the last email you sent? Idk. 15. Would you say your emotions are fairly stable and predictable throughout a week’s time, or not so much? Not so much.

16. Are you friends with your family members on any social media platforms? Yeah.

17. How do you get your news? Online.

18. How often do you drive? I don’t drive.

19. If you had to go (back) to school and completely change your career path, what would you choose to study/pursue? Business, marketing, finance, communications.

20. Are there any TV shows you constantly quote or know almost every line to? No.

21. What do you think about lizards? Cute.

22. Is there anything that people assume about you that isn’t true, and that you find very irritating? Idk. 

23. How would you rate your “detective” skills? Pretty good.

24. Have you ever done consumer testing (testing products before they come out on the market)? If not, would you ever want to? Yeah.

25. How do you feel if you are late arriving to meet someone? How about if someone is late meeting you? I get annoyed either way, but mostly if I’m the one that’s late.

[techdata1]

Why Everyone Should Learn Python

We all talk and dream about earning billions. But have you ever wondered how? Do you know some of the courses that will lead you to a great amount of money?

If not, let us guide you.  

There's this computer language everyone needs to know about for a secure future. Comprehending this language will upgrade your skills and you will have an outstanding career in data science technology. The demand for this course is arising every single day, so why hold up to come in usage for our and the next generations.  

What is Python?  

Python is known as an object-oriented, interpreted high-level programming language with several dynamic semantics. It is built with the data configurations, It's very impressive for Rapid Application Development, as well as for use as scripting terminology or glue wording to relate prevailing elements. Python's modest, lenient to comprehend. It lessens the expenditure of program sustenance. Python supports modules and assortments, which enables programming modularity and protocol reusing.  

The Python is an interpreter and its comprehensive criterion library is accessible in source or binary form without cost for all major arenas and platforms also they can be voluntarily allocated. 

Importantly, 

The basics of python will enable you to attain a lot and apprehend an outstanding position in the exhilarating field of your preference. Being in data science is probably your best chance, but wherever you settle other than that, you’ll be forever delighted you learned Python programming. 

Benefits of learning Python 

All of the advanced fields use python and it is considered a global job. It is said to be the most used computer language. 

 But for you to get more certain we are presenting you the top reasons to study the Python Language. 

1. Used in most of the fields- 

The fields such as Data Science, Computer Graphics, Development of Web, Game Development (Basic), Geography, Mapping, Finance, Trading, Scientific computing as well as Mathematics and much more work with the help of the Python Language.  

Learning Python will provide you with numerous job opportunities abroad and in India. 

2. Earning- 

Python is known to be the second-highest-paid computer language. You can predict an ordinary income of $118,600 in a year. So there's nothing to worry about. 

Companies are delivering more salary than the one we illustrated. If you're lucky enough you could be a part of some top companies too. If not, the normal income mentioned isn't insufficient.

3. Simple to comprehend- 

Python is simple to understand and fun to try. It's said to be the syntax, unlike the many other computer languages, which reads like English, so it isn’t aggravating to understand.  

Monty Python was the guy who invented this language, it is named after him so it's also called Python. Now you know someone had a connotation as he prepared such useful and humoured codes. He not only developed these codes but also made them simple to use. It handles all the other difficulties sufficiently so that you can only focus on learning Python programming, and not the other nuisances. 

4. Open-source and portable- 

You can voluntarily use and operate Python, even for marketable use. 

You can move Python protocols from one arena to another, and regulate them without any modifications. No restorations are required after the transfer. This creates its portability. 

5. Secured-

Not only is Python computer programming language simple to comprehend, but it’s also one of the vastly safeguarded and secured computer programming languages. By discovering python your abilities will be even more commercial. 

Questions frequently asked-  

We're answering all of your questions one by one, read further to clear your doubts.  

Is python easy to learn? 

Yes, it is. It's known to be the easiest computer language. Anyone who works hard enough could master this field.  

How do I learn Python? 

Several platforms introduce and teach python. There is practical as well as online training provided.  

Can one get a good job by learning python? 

Yes definitely! It gives you numerous job options. Python gets you a job in Indian companies as well as abroad. It enables you jobs in the computer community as well as the industry world.  

Is python the future? 

Python is precisely the future of the language. At some point, everyone will want to learn this language and upgrade their skills in this field of science. It is seen to be growing continuously.  

Where one can learn -

There are tremendous training centres one could enrol into. But one of the best is tech data solutions.  

Techdata training institute is an institute we highly recommend to learn this exciting language. It is located in Pune city and the plus point is they're providing practical python training in Pune with placement. You may get the best python classes in Pune from tech data. 

Key points why one must get enrolled in tech data?  

1-Beginners 

 They teach Python for beginners and also provide advanced high-level learning. You can start from scratch or learn from where you know.  

2- Cleared doubts

Techdata makes sure all your doubts are cleared. Every question is answered and you are patiently helped with your language.  

3- Job placement

Job placement is guaranteed. They also make sure you get placed in the position and company you dream of.  

4- Upgrades your skills 

Your skills are upgraded. Everything is made simple and accordingly presented. 

5- Explore career options 

Career advice and various options are provided. Not everyone provides you with what techdata does. You not only get career guidance but simply momentum to retain an incredible career.  

6- Professional practice

They also provide you with professional practice by the professionals themselves based on empirical proficiency with 100% delivery on project-based awareness. Anyone having a basic knowledge of Windows can apply for learning the python program.  

Have a better future with the help of techdata and get practical python training in Pune with placement.

Get Quality training, mock tests and interviews for confidence building up of students. 

Don't waste a minute more and get enrolled to get the best python classes in Pune from techdata solutions.

[sociallyinsmmagency]

SNAPCHAT ADS: SECRETS TO TRUE ROI ACHIEVEMENT IN ONE FREE GUIDE

With 256 million daily active users on Snapchat creating content and keeping engagement regularly off the charts, it's no surprise that businesses are looking for a way to take advantage of the platform with Snapchat ads.

But is it worth it to take the time to create, manage, test, and update Snapchat Ads for your business?

The answer is yes, of course. However, we want to talk you through every step of the process not only to prove it's worth to your business, but to show you exactly how to tap into the bottomless well of success that is Snapchat Ads.

Are you ready? Let's jump right into it.

A Brief History of Snapchat

Who created Snapchat? It was three Samford University students, Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy who came up with the concept for an app with disappearing content in July 2011- originally named Picaboo. It was relaunched as Snapchat in September of 2011.

What are Snapchat Ads?

Snapchat Ads are like any social media ad in that they are usually targeted to specific audiences in order to make a sale, raise brand awareness, drive website traffic, or increase engagement.

There are three basic options when it comes to Snapchat ad formats.

Within each ad format, there are sub formats, which do make the process more complicated, but also spell out more success when you know how to target and utilize them effectively. We'll get into those shortly.

There are plenty of things about Snapchat that can be beneficial to a brand, but also wildly confusing.

For instance: if you're unfamiliar with augmented reality and filters, you'll probably be more than a little confused about what creating a Snapchat ad might actually entail, or maybe about how Snapchat Ads are even a thing on a platform that isn't "Newsfeed based" like Instagram or Facebook.

However, all of these incredible features can drive massive brand awareness for your business when paired with a good Snapchat ad strategy.

A Glance at the Snapchat Ad Formats

Now that you have a basic concept for what a Snapchat ad is, let's take a deeper dive into each of the Snapchat ad formats, Snapchat ad specs, and Snapchat ad sub-formats.

Snapchat Snap Ads

These will play with sound on, are full-screen ads that come in video form, are viewable in frame, and feature a "swipe up" for links.

They allow for three main objectives, (sub-formats) which include:

Website clicks and views with swipe up

Long-form video plays

App installs with swipe up

Each of these have positive/negative aspects, which we'll cover in just a second.

Filter Snapchat Ads

Filters aren't just fun. They're also a wonderful way to raise brand awareness and create positive feelings around your brand with younger audiences.

This is an especially popular option for people with brick and mortar locations or people advertising or creating excitement around a particular event.

Lense Snapchat Ads

The real MVP for Snapchat advertising, Lense Snapchat Ads can alter the appearance of users and can often include augmented reality elements centered around your brand.

(Image Courtesy of Neil Patel)

Story Snapchat Ads

There will be plenty of times when you'll need to communicate something that will take longer than 3-5 seconds. For cases like these, Story Snapchat Ads are a wonderful option because they allow you to show your ads in rapid succession.

Product Snapchat Ads

Looking to highlight a particular product or service? Just upload a catalogue or list of services and create “shoppable” Snapchat product ads!

They'll see a swipe collection of products and can click on anything that takes their fancy.

Dynamic Snapchat Ads

With dynamic ads, you can easily send people directly to your website, a particular product, a service or a catalogue of items they've been interested in and previously looked at on your website.

Think of it like retargeting, but even more targeted.

Snapchat "Commercials" (Only Available in Certain Countries)

This isn't available everywhere, so if it sounds unfamiliar, feel free to scroll.

However, if it does, here's the scoop: 🍦

These babies can't be skipped and often clock in at or around six seconds, which is an incredible amount of time when you're looking to create brand awareness, excitement, or even just draw users back to your website.

Are Snapchat Ads a Viable Option for Your Brand?

This question depends on a variety of factors.

For starters: who are you targeting?

More than 3/4 of daily Snapchat users are under the age of 25, which means if your target audience is over the age of, say, 30, we wouldn't recommend utilizing it for your business' advertising needs.

What are your goals as a brand?

If they involve brand awareness as a main objective and you're ready to put in the investment, we'd definitely recommend giving it a shot. Snapchat Ads are fun, versatile, and perfect for driving excitement and creativity around events, services, and products.

How to Create Snapchat Ads

Now for the fun part. 🧑🏻‍🔬

Step One: find your way over to the Snapchat Ads Manager. This is going to be where most of the action takes place and where you'll be able to create some pretty incredible Snap ads.

Step two: you'll have two basic options when it comes to the type of ad you'd like to create.

Instant Create: where you can create a single ad and get it rolling within minutes, (think of it as a similar thought to boosting- no ad groups, no complicated lists, just the bare basics).

Or

Advanced Create: you can take full, unbridled control over every angle and aspect of your Snapchat Ads and corresponding campaigns. Create as few or as many as you'd like- nothing is holding you back except budget! 🤑

(image courtesy of Hootsuite.)

Step Three: choose a goal! Your options will include:

Website Visits

App Installs

App Visits

Now copy/paste in any relevant URLs. AKA apps, your company website, etc.

Step Four: Write a headline! 🎉

Remember that headlines should be catchy, thumb-stopping, engaging, straight to the point, and also self-explanatory. Nobody should be asking what you're talking about in the comments or in your DMs.

Step Five: Choose your target demographic. This one is wildly important because if you aren't careful to choose the demographics that align with your customer base, you could end up paying for unqualified leads, unqualified clicks, etc.

(Images Courtesy of HootSuite)

Step Six: TIME TO LAUNCH!

It's go time! Now you can start watching the results come in and prepare to test, optimize and improve your Snapchat Ads overtime.

Remember: success doesn't come overnight. It takes hard work.

A Look at the Snapchat Ads Cost

Unfortunately, as much as we want to provide a definite answers, the truth is that there isn't one.

This is going to depend on your demographic, how long your campaign is running, your dollar-per-day investment, and so many other small details with too many combinations to mention at all.

Snapchat works by charging every 1,000 impressions, but there are also goal-based options to examine if you think it might be beneficial.

But consider this: advertising requires money to begin with- but usually not more than a couple hundred bucks for a simple start.

While more investing CAN equal more money later, this is going to largely depend on the success of your campaigns.

If you're new to the game, we recommend starting small. Or even better: get a professional so you don't waste time in the test phase!

Snapchat Ads Best Practices

If you want to make the most out of your Snapchat Ads budget, (who doesn't??) you'll want to make sure you're closely following the Snapchat advertising best practices we're going to outline below.

Start by Defining Your Snapchat Ads Objectives

What do you plan to accomplish through your Snapchat advertising efforts? Defining these goals and making a plan for how to reach them is important if you want to get the most out of your Snapchat ad campaign.

Get to Know Your Audience

It may very well be that Snapchat is not the right place for your audience to see yours ads or interact with them-and that's okay! There's plenty of other platforms that WILL encompass your target audience.

But you won't know whether you're going to reach them or not until you've really gotten to know them and taken a close look at the Snapchat demographics to see how they line up.

Test, Optimize, Test, Optimize

Limitless success is not a click away. It requires lots of work, dedication, and more work.

Snapchat will automatically optimize your ads for your ad objective, but it won't do all the work for you.

Pay attention to what ads are performing well and perfect your formula over time for best results.

Measure the Results of Your Snapchat Ads

You won't know whether you've hit the success jackpot or not unless you're regularly measuring the results of your Snapchat Ads efforts.

Similar to the testing and optimizing concept, measuring your results can provide important insight, let you know what needs to be adjusted and further improve results over time.

Snapchat Ads: Frequently Asked Questions

If we don't get to your question, we're still here to help. Drop a comment below or email our writer at jessica@sociallyin.com

"Why Do People Use Snapchat?"

Snapchat is the perfect place to be yourself, be chill, hang with friends, and never worry about what is being hung onto.

When interviewed about why they use Snapchat, 95% of users declared that it made them happy. And we think that's a pretty darn good reason to be continually using a social media platform.

"How to Get More Views on Snapchat?"

When it comes to getting more views, there are three rules you need to follow.

1) Post relevant, engaging content

2) Speak directly to your audience

3) Post REGULARLY

If you're doing these three things, your audience will start growing because you're engaging them, you're providing the content they want and need, (relevancy) and are giving it to them on a regular basis so they always know what to expect.

Easy, right? It takes effort, but you'll look back and it'll be easier than you imagined.

How Snapchat Works

Learning to use Snapchat, let alone advertise on the platform can be nothing short of exhausting and stressful.

But quite frankly, it's easier than you would imagine.

Open the app

Take a picture or upload one from your camera roll

Add it to your personal or brand story

OR

Click the friends icon on the lower right side and explore what's happening in your network!

Snapchat is all about quick messages, fun pics, and hilarious shorts, so get to sharing!

What to Post on Snapchat

There is no limit to the superbly fantastic things you can post on Snapchat, but it works best as a platform for "behind the scenes" content, 3D content, VR, and more.

The post Is  SNAPCHAT ADS: SECRETS TO TRUE ROI ACHIEVEMENT IN ONE FREE GUIDE appeared first on the Sociallyin Insider blog.

[tearasshouse]

Mostly vidya ramblings pt 3C

Previous post here.

Right, software time. A cursory glance at my PSN Profile will show that I’ve met my personal quota of getting the platinum in at least 10 PlayStation titles over the year, with a few PC titles sprinkled in for good measure since hey, I have access to a Windows machine again (though it’s not exactly a games machine, unless your definition of a “gaming rig” is something with a 15W Core i3 and modest laptop Radeon graphics). While I didn’t start out meaning to rank these games, I find I have a tendency to do so anyway and while I’m certainly not saying these games are outright bad, they were absolutely lower on the rung, so I’ve dubbed this part “C” (again, no disrespect to the devs or any who rate these games higher than I do; these are just my personal assessments). These are OK games.

The Darkness 2 (Steam)

Enjoyable, somewhat! I put this down like, ages ago when I picked it up for a song on PC, feeling it was too basic and uh “console shootery” at the time. Often times, having restrictions placed upon something can net great results, and hamstrung as I am by my less-capable hardware, I’ve only been picking up Steam games that could run on lower end hardware, or anything released prior to say, 2015. Surprisingly this runs at something stupid like 200 FPS on my machine with V-Sync off and all settings on High at 1080p, so go figure. Anyway, it’s a short and enjoyable shooter. I don’t know anything about the comics upon which the game(s) are based, but Jackie is a likeable character, the Darkness powers are fun enough, the locations are varied, the supporting cast surprisingly interesting and the plot was actually pretty cool too, with a major sequel hook that we’ll probably never get. 

Ori & The Blind Forest (Steam)

It sorta hovers a bit below 60fps while running at 1080p, but it’s all just a bit reductive when one spends more time looking at the framerate counter than playing a game, no? The blessing and curse of PC gaming I suppose. Anyway, as a Metroidvania the game is a bit annoying. As a piece of interactive fiction, it’s too saccharine and feels like a B-tier Dreamworks production for children which, I suppose shouldn’t be a knock against the game but I have to say --  wasn’t my cup of tea. Reminds me a bit of Child of Light by Ubisoft -- gorgeous to look at, benign if not frustrating to play (those escape sequences can piss off), and young gamers would probably find more to like in the...emotional tidbits than most adults.

Crysis 2 (Steam)

So apparently this got delisted off Steam but now it’s back up or something with EA deciding to put their back catalog on the platform or something? Anyway, like this list implies, Crysis 2 is an okay game, nothing more and nothing less. The nanosuit energy depletes a bit too quick for my liking, and you’re really made to feel like a badass only some of the times, in quick and short bursts, not unlike BJ in the new Wolfenstein games by MachineGames (any more prolonged exposure to hitscan weapons and other bullshit will quickly send you to the loading screen). Thing is, I don’t want to feel like a badass only some of the time? I mean, you put a ripped supersoldier type doing the Badass Looking Back At the Viewer Pose on the cover and I expect to be able to do certain things without stopping for a breather every 20 seconds, ya know? If you’re going to give me the power fantasy, commit to it. Or, find ways to keep the flow up and reward mastery to make players earn said fantasy (something the new DOOMs  have done and why those have been so successful). I certainly don’t envy game devs for having to balance this shit, but id Software showed you one way of how you might do that while the Crysis games and those of their ilk just feel slow and unrewarding. 

Quantum Break (Steam)

Really surprised I was able to get this running on my PC but hey, it runs on the Xbox One so how hard could it be? I dearly love Remedy’s games, even if they’re a bit straightforward at times and you get the feeling they’d rather be in the business of non-interactive fiction than games making at times. Well here is a TV show hybrid! Made exclusively in partnership with Microsoft as part of their TV & STREAMING, TV & STREAMING, SPORTS & STREAMING strategy of the 2010s. I didn’t care for the plot, nor the endless email / audiobook / loredumps scattered around, nor the characters, any of it. I will say the final stage with the super high tech offices was a delight (boy wouldn’t I love to live the corpo life in such beautiful, clean office environs). Lance Reddick was a treat as always. Peter “Littlefinger” Baelish shows up to do a thing. Yeah, it’s a Remedy joint through and through. 2019′s Control was such a highlight for me that I’ll take any kind of prototype-y take on it (and QB certainly feels like a rougher, worse version of Control, at least mechanically).

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs / Dear Esther: Landmark Edition (Steam)

These titles were certainly...things that I installed onto my PC and sat through... Yes. Look, I’m not one to dog on walking simulators, and I know the devs have faced tough times recently but I still feel these are acquired tastes and could be appreciably improved in too many ways to name. Of the two, Dear Esther is the one I’d rec because at least that one was quite pleasant to meander around in while Amnesia left me disappointed that I’d wasted my time, physically sick with its subpar performance and muddy graphics, flaccid with its stodgy plot and left absolutely disappointed that I’d wasted my time on such a bizarre and confusing payoff towards the end. Chinese Room, I mean this in the most constructive way possible: maybe try a different type of game next time.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein (GOG)

I remember putting in some decent time into the DEMO version of RtCW’s MP mode, being amazed at the time by the particle effects, with child-me just running around the D-Day map with the flamethrower out. Anyway, years later and I finally played the SP campaign. It’s maybe better than Allied Assault’s? It feels more consistently entertaining anyway. Hell I think I like these boomer shooters better than MachineGames’ recent efforts (which isn’t saying a whole lot because I find those games just merely okay). I promise you I’m not just being a crotchety old fart.

Ys: Memories of Celceta (PS Vita)

I’d been playing through this over the spring on my Vita TV, before it bit the dust eventually and I’ve been meaning to go back and wrap up the cheevos. I was a bit lukewarm with Oath in Felghana (my first Ys), but could definitely see the appeal in the series, as boss rush games aren’t really my cup of tea (ie. it’s the journey and not the destination of say, a Souls game that is the meat for me). Definitely a game that would benefit from a 60fps refresh and cleaner graphics than what the Vita can provide. I’ve already got a copy of Ys 8 in shrink wrap and have my eyes set on emulating Ys Seven or grabbing the GOG version. A game where action is king and story or character development is secondary; I would prefer more of the latter to make this more of a JRPG and less of a “predominantly Japanese action game with superficial RPG elements”.

Catherine: Full Body (PS4)

I paid $70 for this on day one and I’ve gotta say... should’ve waited for the price drop. I’m a somewhat lapsed Atlus mark, and I still hold the original Persona 5 as my no. 1 in the PS4′s lineup (with Dragon Quest XI possibly being a tie), yet I bought this knowing it wouldn’t really be for me. Why? High difficulty in a genre I don’t play, like at all, a relatively short clear time (in itself not an issue and frankly welcome these days HOWEVER...), and a somewhat unsatisfying payoff despite being a supernatural romance thriller. I bought this as seed money for Atlus’s P.Studio/Studio Zero, in the hopes that Project Re: Fantasy will knock my socks off just like the latter day Persona games have. Because in spite of the contents not really appealing to me, it’s still supremely well made, and it’s not everyday that games like these get made, so there you go. Look, if I could go back in time and put this money towards 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, I probably would, but then the Catherine steelbook is ever so pretty... 

Tearaway Unfolded (PS4)

The OG game is one of the most charming little 3D platformer/collect-a-thons out there, and as far as children’s games (or er, “games that also appeal to children”) go, more of these and less of those please (your Child of Lights and Oris). I’d go as far as to say the OG version is better than the PS4 version, though the PS4 version is also quite good. Really, if I wasn’t going for that stupid Misplaced Gopher trophy, this would probably be an easy shoe-in for the B-tier list, but I place this demotion firmly at Media.Molecule’s feet. That cheevo is cursed.

The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories (PS4)

I’d almost forgotten about this! If that doesn’t qualify for making the C-tier list then I don’t know what else does. I only know of Swery65′s qualities through osmosis, having watched the 2BF’s legendary LP of Deadly Premonition and the gone-too-soon D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die. He’s an interesting person with interesting ideas but crucially, as a game dev, his output is just... kinda mediocre? If not outright bad? Case in point with this game. It looks and runs like garbo; it plays like garbo; the character designs are cute; the dialogue is pretty good; there is a wonderful and gradual “twist” to the main character that was super spoiled for me when people were discussing and promoting it (like, that is my bad, but also internet discourse on any kind of entertainment media is just *fucked*); there’s a lot of semi-colons in this sentence so I’ll stop here. 

And the balls to charge like, what, $40+ for the game on PSN?? I’d gotten it for way less on a sale but in a day and age when $1 could buy you 3 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and MS might also throw in a curio like this in there just to fill in the gaps, it makes you wonder if these kinds of games can ever turn a profit, especially when the end product is this jank. And these are commercial goods, make no mistake, any aspirations to being an art piece or social critique notwithstanding, so that also brings to the fore the whole aspect of pricing games, relative value, production and marketing costs, blah blah.

IF you like something different, can appreciate games made on a shoestring budget with arguably bad gameplay and technical deficiencies, but has...heart? Then look no further to the output of this man. The most C-worthy of all the titles listed here. 

[swedeandsour]

Ea Kaya on having a voice in the digital generation; the beauty of flaws and the importance of slowing down

Though she can certainly count her successes, making music is more than a numbers game according to Christine Kiberg, the Danish pop star better known as Ea Kaya. From her humble beginnings as YouTube cover artist to millions of streams on her Spotify page, Christine's story is one of resilience in an everchanging musical landscape. With her last record taking the heavy words "Fragile but Strong as Hell" in her title, Christine's sincerity serves as a rallying call to the downtrodden. Her music speaking a lyrical honesty rarely spoken, Ea Kaya believes that showing vulnerability isn't weakness, but rather something that demonstrates courage. But despite her successes, Ea Kaya's decided that maybe it's time for a break, to allow for her relationship with music to become intuitive again. Christine knows that she isn't perfect and neither is Ea Kaya, and that sometimes expectations whether business or personal can leave one becoming cynical and self-critical. Catching up online over Instagram memes and emails, Ea Kaya's Christine Kiberg gives us the low-down in an honest interview where she tells us about past successes and the importance of having a voice in an increasingly interconnected and rapidly-changing world. Keeping busy with her studies and reacquainting with nature to kick the Coronavirus blues, Ea Kaya caught up with us to remind ourselves the importance of slowing down and about seeing the beauty through the flaws.

Words: Peter Quincy Ng

Before Ea Kaya began, you were Christine Kiberg playing guitar covers on  YouTube. Although you didn't play your own songs back then, you obviously still  had to put your personal brand into it. Was there a selection process in the songs  you played and what you thought might resonate with fans and yourself? How has  the feedback you received as a cover artist shaped the way you are today as a  musician? 

Selecting the songs to post was quite simple: it had to be a popular, brand new song to catch the most possible viewers or just a song that I had loved. Because of my channel online, I frequently went to sites like Billboard to keep up with  International music just as much as I kept up with the music scene here in Denmark. I’ve been told countless times that my music doesn’t sound like it’s written by a Dane, and this is very likely because I’ve grown up listening to enormous streams of international pop  songs.  

By the way, congratulations on your Red Bull acoustic session of "4 AM" rolling  over one million streams on Spotify! Live sessions as we both know, were largely  exclusive to YouTube in the past, how have digital streaming platforms changed  your outlook as an artist in this new digital era of music consumption.

Thank you! The age of streaming is interesting. On one hand, I think it’s extremely exciting how everyone can release music at any given time. I also love how streaming can function like radio, in that it recommends you new music you haven’t heard before and that  probably wouldn’t find on your own. The streaming world does have a cynicism to it  though, in a degree the music industry hasn’t seen before. The supply of music is enormous, and the listener patience is decreasing. If it wasn’t for the revival of the vinyl, nobody would be buying albums anymore, and you can’t claim that there are big dollars in  streaming. We could discuss the many pros and cons of streaming for hours, but overall, I’ll say it saved the booty of the music industry from piracy.  

Ea Kaya · 4 AM

Anyway, with regards to your latest single, I love the flipping of the age-old adage, “sticks and stones can break my bones but words cannot hurt me” on "Skin and  Bones". As a person of the internet generation how important is it to realize that our online actions matter and the importance of mental health? 

Social media can be fun and we get a unique opportunity to connect with people from all  over the world. The internet is gigantic and it can seem so insignificant to write something  to a person you don’t know, who might even be sitting on the other side of the planet. The message still does reach the receiver though, and if you’ve written something that you wouldn’t tell a person face-to-face, of course your message can still hurt when it’s send in cyberspace. It’s hard not to compare yourself to what you see on social media, and many people already deal with low self-esteem. Nobody is immune to hatred, and only a fool will think their comments and messages are harmless.  

You directed your video Skin and Bones at home during quarantine, but for you,  nature was always integral to your well-being. Tell us about growing up by the water  and the woods, in Denmark and the importance of going outside.  

Everything is moving fast these days, and growing up I was taught how important it is to  pull the plug sometimes and go for a walk. The forest and the ocean therefore equal peace  to me. Besides finding calm, I find a lot of inspiration and happiness in nature. The sounds,  the smells, the beauty - it’s so genuine and fresh. I like the liveliness of the city, but living  far from nature makes me feel claustrophobic.  

The messages in your lyrics are always simple, direct and easy-to-understand. Is it  difficult putting sometimes very abstract topics into words?

Many years ago, I wrote songs that were full of metaphors and poetic descriptions; maybe to protect myself, maybe to sound artsy (laughs). I later found that it was a lot more giving to write songs that made people feel heard, understood and moved, even if it meant that I had to spill all my darkest secrets and deepest insecurities. As a songwriter, I think you  have to be willing to take chances and give away a little bit of yourself if you wish to get  something back.  

Ea Kaya · Cruel To Be Kind

One of the things I've noticed in your video especially "Remedy" and  "Cruel to Be Kind" is the topic of male vulnerability and gender fluidity. Why is it important to have these images? 

I feel extremely lucky to be a part of my generation, because we are more free than ever to love who we love, be who we want to be, express how we feel and believe in what we  believe in. Stereotypes and gender norms can be toxic, and even harmful. Telling somebody what they should do or who they should be won’t change the truth and nothing good  comes with it. For so long, standing out has been a negative thing, but we’re becoming  more and more accepting of each other’s differences. Individuality is becoming a positive thing and it’s just fantastic.  

Ea Kaya · Remedy

The title of your latest EP is "Fragile but Strong as Hell". The archetype of the  female artist is either one of female tenderness or the strong, independent, no nonsense woman. Why is it important to have that middle ground like you mention  in the title of your last record? 

Personally, I think showing weakness is a strength in itself. It’s easy to put up an armor  and only show your bright sides, but it takes courage to let people see when you feel  vulnerable. You can be fragile and strong as hell at the exact same time, and I think it’s  healthy to have both sides.  

Growing up in a musical family, music would seem like an obvious career choice.  But you're also a student in computer science, tell us how that's been and why  you've decided to do it on the back of a successful music career. 

I see why you think it’s an obvious choice. The funny thing is that all of the musicians in  my family are classical musicians, opera singers, to be exact. It’s two extremely different  worlds. It’s definitely a matter of perspective though (laughs)! Besides doing music, I recently  started studying Communication and IT. To be completely honest with you, I’ve felt trapped in a bubble for a very long time. In this business, everyone knows everyone, and most  people talk about the same thing, or about themselves or other people that you both know. Last year I decided I needed to learn something new and challenge myself. So far  it’s working out fine to do both!  

I heard you took your name Ea Kaya from "Ea" and "Kaya", both hypothetical  names you'd give your daughters if your music career never took off. Seeing that all  didn't crash and burn, what advice would you give to other young, female artists wanting to do things the Ea Kaya route? 

The Ea Kaya route is definitely the long, complicated route. If you start from scratch  without a network like I did, my advice for you is this:  

1) Practice! Then practice a bit more!  

2) Look for music offers and connections in your local area. There may be camps and classes that could be relevant. Write on music sites and social media that you are looking  for collaborators.  

3) If step #2 didn’t lead you to amazing partners that miraculously want to help you make  demos for free, then welcome to this step; get yourself a job and save up money to record  those incredible demos of yours!

4) Send your music to anyone you could imagine yourself working with. Be persistent and  if needed, pushy. Forget about modesty - if you’re on step 4, you’ve already worked your  ass off to get here.  

5) Last one: Remember why you do music. Yes, I’m bringing the cheese and the grease, but nevertheless you’re entering a strange, cool place with many ups and downs, so your  motivation is actually a very significant thing to keep in mind.  

You’re a very charismatic young woman and I don't think I can ever question your  success. But one question remains, how exactly how many popsicles did you go  through in your video for "Tied Up"? That's a lot of popsicles from what I see! 

(Laughs) That’s a quality question. I felt so bad about all those popsicles going to waste.  The cashier must’ve given my director some type of look when he went and purchased  that batch! 

Ea Kaya · Tied Up

[clictadigital]

21 Questions To Ask A Prospective SEO Agency (Part 1)

Thinking about employing an SEO agency? Here’s 21 questions to ask, and the sort of answers to listen out for.

If you choose the right one, your reputation (and career) will take a wonderful turn - choose badly and you’ll be out of a job in 6 months.

SEO is complicated and with all the other stuff you’ve got going on in your marketing day, you don’t have time to learn the minutia of all the elements.

The problem is, this situation leaves you vulnerable to being massively played by one of the many dodgy SEO agencies out there. To give you some armour against the rip-off merchants, below you'll find a list of questions to ask your prospective agency to ensure that they won't fritter away your budget on techniques that might actually damage your rankings. On the topic of the price of SEO, open this blog in a new tab, for later…

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Questions to ask seo agency 1. Can I talk to some of your previous clients? Good Answer: “Why don’t you check out our reviews on Google and in the meantime,  I’ll put you in touch with some happy clients in your sector.”

Bad Answer: “Uh, my clients are busy people - I don’t want to waste their time”

If your prospective SEO agency says “Uh, well, I don’t want to bother my other clients” or any other form of “no” then immediately hang up. A bad agency leaves a trail of disgruntled customers in its wake and they don’t normally want prospective customers to talk to them.

If your new SEO agency says “Yes” they’re probably the right sort of people to be speaking with. They might not give you access right away, but if they ask what you want out of your SEO and then consider which of their clients is best suited for a discussion, you’re off to a cracking start.

2. Can I see some of your SEO case studies? Good Answer: “There are a few on the website, but if you can spare 30 mins I’ll take you through a blow by blow campaign we did for a business just like yours.”

Bad Answer: “Yes - you may not have heard of any of them, but we grew traffic by 10,000% every time!”

Lots of SEOs will say “With this client we had 10,000% growth!” but it’s really easy to get these kinds of figures.

For example -  if the SEO agency is showing you a case study from a very new company who only saw 2 visitors from Organic Search in month one, then the client would only need to see 200 visitors from Organic Search in month two to see 1,000% growth.  And those 200 visitors might have little or nothing to do with SEO!

Case studies of established businesses, with graphs from Google Analytics are good.

Even better - when those SEO case studies outline what the agency did and how it made a difference to the customer’s organic growth.

3. Describe your ideal client Good Answer: “A good client relationship is more like a partnership, your team and ours should pool ideas and resources to get the best results”

Bad Answer: “Anybody quiet. SEO works best when you leave the experts to it and don’t ask dumb questions”

Get the SEO agencies you’re considering to describe their ideal client and see whether your business fits that mould.

Some agencies might do their best work with start ups, other SEOs might work best with businesses who have large marketing teams, agencies like Noisy Little Monkey enjoy working as part of a multi-agency team (with PR companies, media buying agencies and branding agencies all in the mix) but there are many SEO practitioners who don’t enjoy playing in a team.

In terms of what they need from you:

Do they need you to pay within a certain timeframe? Do they need weekly calls, monthly meetings or similar? Do they need you to be available at a moment’s notice? Being the ideal client for an SEO company is beneficial because you’ll likely get more bang for your buck. Because you’re easy to do business with, they’re likely to look after you way more than someone who isn’t an ideal client (even when those big spenders are paying more than you)

4. In which industry sectors do you specialise? Good Answer: “We’re strong in <insert your industry sector> and a few others”

Bad Answer: “We’re strong in all sectors because it’s all about the technology we use”

If your SEO is a specialist in your sector, they’ll probably not have to do as much groundwork as an agency who are already knee deep in the jargon inherent in your industry.

For example, suppose your business is in the legal sector. If an SEO agency has experience in the legal sector, that’s a good thing.... While it would be unethical for an SEO to simply duplicate work they’ve done for another solicitor, if they already know about some of the nuances in the legal sector they're more likely to get off to a flying start so your business sees results more quickly.

5. What CMS (Content Management System) does your SEO team prefer to work on? Good Answer: “We’re pretty agnostic about the technology, but we’re particularly used to working with <insert your CMS>”

Bad Answer: “We’ll probably need to rebuild your site. Probably on Drupal.”

If your SEOs love WordPress and your website is on WordPress, great!  That’s the system that powers most of the websites out there. You might want to check they’re not going to install any plugins other than the wonderful Yoast SEO for WordPress plugin. To use any other SEO plugin for WordPress is probably a sign that you’re talking to the wrong SEO.

If your new SEO claims to be an expert on the CMS you use, ask to see some examples.

As marketing automation and personalised content systems become more popular, finding an agency with experience of your marketing automation platform will become increasingly important. Noisy Little Monkey is famous for HubSpot SEO, if you happen to be using that one :)

If your potential new SEO agency starts talking about building you a site from the ground up then that’s probably going to cost you a lot of money. In some cases it is necessary, but you’re going to need more budget.

6. Ask yourself - what are my potential new SEO agencies blogging about? Good Answer: “They blog about SEO and things that might make marketing more effective”

Bad Answer: “They blogged about a sponsored run they did. Two years ago”

An SEO that doesn’t blog is probably secretive and don’t practice what they preach. AVOID.

If they are blogging, is it useful advice rather than telling you how to game the system? This is important because Google creates algorithms that are designed as a proxy for human trust. The algorithms try to work out how humans indicate trust and then how to measure what is most trustworthy, The most trustworthy sites which are most relevant to a search query are those which show highest.

Is your new SEO is  just interested in ‘gaming the system’ and trying to beat the algorithm rather than producing quality, helpful resources? If so, when they employ this methodology for your business you’ll lose out. Google’s algorithms are designed to get rid of the chaff and learn what’s most useful, so by always working to make your website a useful resource you’ll hopefully stay as the wheat.

In short, seek out an SEO agency that blogs with some regularity and provides useful resources - that’s what they’re going to tell you to do, and you’re going to need some help, training, sympathy and encouragement from an SEO who feels your pain.

7. Tell me 3 things I should fix immediately on my website Good Answer:  Starts with - “Hmmm, let me have a look - Aha! First you should think about changing….”

Bad Answer: “I can send you a 5 page audit”

A prospective SEO practitioner should have a look around your website for couple of minutes and then be able to give you some interesting and useful tips about what you could change and the benefits that might bring to your organisation.

It doesn’t matter if you already have an SEO doing work on your site, another SEO should be able to find more stuff to do, and quickly!

Technology rapidly evolves and the way humans interact with it changes too, so Search Engine Optimisation is never finished. There’s always more to do… The best SEO service providers never rest on their laurels and should always be able to spot something that can be improved.

Anyone who relies on templated audits and repeated explanations that everything in SEO is very expensive and very difficult is pulling the wool over your eyes - there are usually lots of smaller things that are easy to change to improve your website’s ability to rank.

8. Can I see your management accounts? Good Answer:  “What? Um, let me get my accounts team to send you something… What exactly is the information you need to see?”

Bad Answer: “No”

This might seem like an odd question, but you need to know how profitable your prospective SEO agency is, and it’s also a test of how well the business is structured

If you’re going in for a long term relationship, choosing a disorganised agency that could end up going out of business next week isn’t ideal…

Sometimes it’s difficult to get eyes on a new agency’s accounts. It shouldn’t be a deal breaker but it is worth checking. Go to Companies House and assuming your SEO company is a limited company or partnership, (which they probably should be) you can download their accounts for the last few years and see what their profit and loss was. Companies House only provides the basics, so it might be worth running the new SEO company’s name through your account department’s credit checking system, if you have one.

9. How much does SEO cost? Best Answer: Check out this helpful article about the average cost of SEO

Good Answer:  “At these early stages, it’s impossible to put an exact figure on it but typically there’s an upfront cost of about £X, and our average retainer is about £X, but let’s talk about what will work for you.”

Bad Answer: “Depends on how many backlinks we need to buy”

There are typically two options offered when you're talking to a reputable SEO agency.

There will often be a fixed sum for some initial project work, and then maybe an ongoing retainer.

The key thing, if they are suggesting ongoing costs, is whether they are writing or producing content on your behalf. It shouldn’t just be ‘doing SEO’, because once SEO is “done” to your website, it's done. What you want is fresh, relevant content that is link-worthy, so any ongoing cost should include content production.

Kermit the Frog typing quickly on a typewriter

10. How many people will be working on my account? Good Answer:  “Depends on the size of the job at hand - do you want to pop in and have a coffee with us so you can put names to faces?”

Bad Answer: “Only me. I outsource all the article syndication”

If the voice on the other end of the phone says “Oh, it’s just me - I’m a freelance SEO”, then that’s cool - assuming you’re paying a fee that fits that model. Perhaps if you’re considering paying thousands per month and there’s only one person in the SEO agency, that’s not such a good sign.

When there is a team of people working on your account, then you’d expect to pay more because, if they’re any good, they’ll throw plenty of resources at your project.

There’s no right or wrong answer to this, it’s more about getting a clear picture of how things are and ensuring that you are comfortable with it.

[setshape]

Automation has changed the solar industry for good. But is it for the better?

As a solar business owner actively closing jobs in 2020, you know there are some things on the backend you could probably be handling better—but who really has time to plan, execute and update their existing workflows?

For better or worse, automation does take time… at least, in the beginning. But there is good news, with the right systems in place, you can multiply the number of customers you serve, raise the quality of your services, and close jobs faster without hiring additional staff.

And the best part? Setting up just one effective automation process today, will continue to help grow your business for years to come.

But there is a catch: the solar industry can be a zero-sum game. If someone else grabs more customers with automation, someone else lands less.

That’s why it’s paramount to invest in workflows that are truly the best fit for your business—and it’s critical to do it now, before the competition catches on.

In this article, we’ll cover the main benefits of automating your solar business processes, as well as the specific workflows you can use to 10X your business.

Try Shape Solar CRM Today!

What Is Solar Automation?

In a nutshell, solar automation allows you to run parts of your solar business on autopilot. Using the right combination of automated tools, workflows and software, you can help more customers in less time.

But the real power of automation is that it can be applied to many different aspects of your business.

Are you struggling to consistently follow up on your customers? Set up automated email and SMS campaigns so that no new solar lead in your database is left unnurtured.

Recipients not opening emails? Automated drip campaigns can boost your open rates by up to 80%

Is your team spending too much time on repetitive admin that doesn’t grow sales? Automate routine tasks and save up to 55% of the time employers spend on non-selling activities.

And that’s just the beginning. Let’s take a closer look at some of the core benefits of automating your solar business, piece by piece.

Top 5 Benefits Of Solar Automation You’ll Actually Use

Benefit #1. Reduce Speed to Lead to Seconds

According to the Harvard Business Review, chances of qualifying a lead when responding within the first five minutes are 21 times higher than when responding within 30 minutes. Yet only 26% of companies manage to respond within 5 minutes.

You can easily outpace the competition by setting up simple automated onboarding emails and texts to instantly greet every new lead as soon as they share their contact details.

If you have a team, automation will also help you distribute incoming leads between them so that the team member that are the most qualified are aligned with the right prospects.

Benefit #2. Consistently Nurture Your Leads

The money is in the follow up. In fact, some studies suggest that 80% of sales occur after at least five follow-ups with a prospect.

The good news is, almost every follow-up can be automated. For example, you can send highly-personalized email and text drips to your leads with a predefined cadence. This allows you to nurture relationships and build trust with customers, even before they decide to do business with you.

Automation helps you easily segment leads based on their solar needs, location, last action, or areas of interest so with the right system you can follow up with the best offer for a particular customer.

Benefit #3. Streamline Your Process

Manual processes and endless admin add up to wasted time and less revenue. With a CRM that leverages smart automation and powerful integrations, you can accomplish more in less time:

Google Maps Integration

View properties in real time with Shape’s Google Maps integration. Search for a location, zoom in, and see the roof from an aerial view to ensure optimal placement - all from the comfort of your office.

Site Surveys

Make sure every property has been properly inspected to prevent any pitfalls. Our responsive mobile application means even out in the field you’ll have client data and can report back to the system at any time.

Construction Tracking

Doing construction in-house? Track the progress of the job site from design to installation. Referring the project out? Track your referrals and commissions. Shape does it all!

Checklists

Use Shape’s checklist feature to build to-do lists, from the sales process to PTO, to ensure streamlined compliance and a great client experience.

Benefit #4. Increase Your Amount Of Referrals

Ramping up referrals is one of the most powerful lead generation tactics you can employ.

But when you’re focused on construction, site surveys, marketing, and other items, keeping in touch with past customers often becomes an afterthought.

And yet 60% of customer referrals happen within the first six months after the job is completed.

Automated referral campaigns allow you to stay in touch with your past clients and increase your referrals, without lifting a finger. After a loan is closed, simply set up an automated series of post-loan emails designed to keep the client relationship strong and help you stay top of mind.

Benefit #5. Easily Scale Your Solar Business

It’s pretty difficult to scale a solar business that has many manual workflows—and the last thing you want to do is scale your messy and chaotic systems. People make mistakes, and unfortunately, without the right system in place these mistakes will only multiply as your lead count grows.

In other words, when there are cracks in your systems, you can expect at least some of your leads to slip through them.

On the flip side, when critical aspects of your business are automated, there’s really no limit to how many leads you can work with at the same time.

Even if you decide to invest in new marketing channels or lead databases, you can rest easy knowing that smart automation has your back. If you want to turn your lead flow on full blast, you can easily and automatically qualify and nurture every lead.

The Power Of Smart Automation

The solar industry is changing fast.  These days, it’s all about the system and service.

Clearly, the role of automation in separating the best from the rest will be crucial. And yes, automation does take time and effort upfront. But after you set your processes in place, it’s only a matter of making small adjustments that make a very big impact for your customers and your business as an expert people can trust.

Ready to see for yourself? Find out how an automated marketing and sales platform can remove the bottlenecks from your solar business pipeline and help you consistently generate more leads and revenue.

Article Source:- https://setshape.com/blog/how-to-automate-your-solar-business-to-win-back-more-time

[author-mathomas]

YOU NEED TO WATCH ‘THE SOCIAL DILEMMA’

Eward Tufte, Statastician and professor of political science at Yale University was once quoted as saying “There are only two industries that call their customers ‘users’. Illegal drugs and software.” 

When I read that I thought, “YES!” the similarities between clients I work with who have gaming and technology addictions and the people I work with who have substance dependency problems are scary. 

I urge anyone who has a smart phone to watch “The Social Dilemma,” and encourage your family and friends to do the same. The movie was inspired by a presentation developed by Tristan Harris (President of Centre for Humane Technology) which you can find here: https://www.slideshare.net/paulsmarsden/google-deck-on-digital-wellbeing-a-call-to-minimize-distraction-and-respect-users-attention 

But ultimately it is urging people become aware of their screen time and take steps to manage their well-being and the well-being of the people in their lives who matter. 

This can be achieved through the following:

1.   Turn off those social media notifications. They are keeping you glued to your phone and being unnecessarily engaged with your device.

2.   Declutter your social media feed. Our brains aren’t evolved enough to deal with all that excess information/human interaction. If you don’t know them and the pages content or the celebrity influencer you follow isn’t directly aligned with your personal goals/ethos. Delete it/them!

3. Stop scrolling! Go to the page of the family member/friend you want an update from or actually give them a phone call/text to check in instead of hoping you will see them featured in your news feed.

3.   Your attention is worth money, don’t waste it. Now is the time to stop procrastinating and be productive.

4.   Don’t look at your phone first thing in the morning and STOP taking it into the toilet/shower with you.

5.   Stop watching the recommendations on YouTube. The computer algorithms that run social platforms are evolving much faster than us and when you manually source content you are more likely to watch something informative and engaging than if you let the device decide what you will waste your time on.

6.   Start a hobby that requires ZERO tech. this will help you keep your distance from your device and also help you to become capable at engaging your creativity once more.

7.   Assume all news is fake news and research it before sharing information you have found online. And REMEMBER, Google will autocomplete your search with recommendations based on the data extrapolated from the geographical area you live in so turn that feature off now!

8.   Encourage others to watch ‘The Social Dilemma’ on Netflix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaaC57tcci0  To read Jaron Laniers ‘TEN ARGUMENTS for deleting your social media accounts right now,’ https://www.amazon.com/Arguments-Deleting-Social-Media-Accounts/dp/125019668X To check out local resources to overcome screen addiction such as this one https://www.todaysparent.com/family/parenting/7-surprisingly-easy-ways-to-fight-your-screen-addiction/

Lastly, start now! Don’t put off this battle (and it will probably be one of the hardest struggles you will face) if we can all take steps to regain ourselves from technology and only use them as tools again we can ensure a far better future for ourselves and others.