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How to Build an Audience From Scratch In 2023

August 16, 2023 No Comments

If you’ve ever tried to build an audience, you might have experienced the painful scenario of posting a piece of content you’re particularly proud of and… crickets.

As the supply of content increases, accelerated by the introduction of AI content tools, it’s harder than ever to earn attention.

However, this also means that the value of attention is increasing, and those who succeed have more leverage than ever before. Famed investor Andrew Wilkinson sums this up well in the following tweet:

The good news is that building a new audience isn’t impossible.

It just requires a different strategy than before. So in this post, we’ll discuss a step-by-step strategy you can use to build an audience from scratch in 2023.

Step 1: Select a Topic, Medium, and Angle

If someone consumes a piece of content you created and then follows you, it’s probably because they liked it and want to see more similar content. So if you change the topic and style of your content, you might lose those subscribers because they might not like the new topic or style of content.

As a result, you’ll find that your subscribers frequently churn, and you’ll struggle to build a loyal following.

This was a key mistake Eric Siu mentioned he made when building his YouTube channel. He discussed marketing in some of his YouTube videos, while in others, he discussed NFTs and cryptocurrency. His audience began unsubscribing as the audience interested in marketing didn’t care about his NFT videos, and the NFT audience didn’t care about his marketing videos.

So the key to building a sticky, loyal audience is selecting a topic, angle, and medium. Here’s how I define each of these:

Topic: This is what you’ll talk about. Examples of topics include marketing, finance, food, travel, etc. Choose a topic you have unique knowledge about and are genuinely interested in. Content is a long game, and you’re much more likely to be successful if you have a genuine interest in the topic, as there will be a period of time when you won’t receive any reward for your efforts.

Medium: This is how you communicate your content. Examples of mediums include video, text, or audio content. The key to choosing the best medium is to select one you enjoy and can produce consistently. Publishing consistency is key to long-term growth, so if you don’t think you can produce that medium of content weekly, choose a different medium. For example, if you don’t think you can produce video content each week, you might want to choose text-based content.

Angle: This is how your content will provide a different perspective from other existing content. Similar to product-market fit, your angle is the differentiator that helps you achieve “content-market” fit. For example, if you’re starting a Japan travel vlog, how will it differ from existing Japan travel vlogs? Maybe you’ll interview local Japanese chefs and film them making a meal. The key to selecting a successful angle is to make it both unique and repeatable. For example, interviewing Japanese chefs and filming them making a meal is a repeatable format.

Select the topic, medium, and angle of your content

To help you choose your topic, medium, and angle, here are a few examples for inspiration.

Example #1: Justin Rowe

Topic: LinkedIn Advertising
Medium: Text (LinkedIn)
Angle: He shares tactical breakdowns and case studies of of how to improve your LinkedIn ad performance.

Example #2: Sam Parr and Shaan Puri

Topic: Entrepreneurship
Medium: Podcast
Angle: Casual business conversation between two seven/eight entrepreneurial friends.

Example #3: Caleb Simpson

Topic: Rent
Medium: TikTok
Angle: Asks people on the street how much they pay for rent and then tours their apartments.

If you look through each of these individuals’ content, they cover roughly the same topic in a repeatable format.

Note: You’ll notice that they all have audiences across multiple different platforms (Twitter, YouTube, etc.). Below, we’ll discuss how you can take an omnichannel approach, but when you’re first starting out, it’s best to focus on just one medium on one platform.

Step 2: Create Content and Publish Regularly

The main cause of content failure is the creator quitting too soon.

Your first pieces of content probably won’t hit, and that’s okay. In the early days, the most important thing to do is to get the reps in and hone your abilities as a content creator.

So select a specific content topic, medium, and angle and commit to publishing consistently for the next three months.

Here are a few tips to help you publish consistently:

Set a reasonable content publishing frequency. If you plan to publish every day, you’ll probably burn out quickly and give up. As consistency and a long-term vision are essential for content success, create just one piece of content, see how long it took you to produce, and then select a realistic publishing schedule you can realistically commit to for at least six months.

Batch your content in advance. Many creators find it easier to produce several pieces of content in one sitting once they’re in the flow state rather than setting aside several content creation sessions throughout the week/month. Batching content also ensures you publish on time.

Outsource and automate non-creative work. Plenty of minor tasks are involved with content creation, from editing videos to scheduling social media posts, but these small tasks can quickly add up to hours each week. So use software tools to automate tasks or hire a virtual assistant on a platform like Upwork to help you. By offloading low-value tasks, you’ll have more time to dedicate to content creation, decreasing your chances of burnout.

Once you publish some content, you can ask for feedback from mentors and peer groups.

For example, platforms like Intro.co and Clarity.fm allow you to schedule mentorship calls with world-class experts.

Alternatively, you can join a community like the Copyblogger Academy, where you can ask me (Tim) questions and receive feedback from other peers. We also do Q&A sessions with top content creators.

If you want to learn more about how to level up your content creation skills, here are a few additional resources you can check out:

How to improve your copywriting skills
How to improve your video content
How to improve your podcast content
How to improve your social media content

Another excellent method to improve your content is to study your competitors’ content and determine which content receives the most engagement or positive comments.

For example, if you produce video content on YouTube, you can filter by the most popular videos and then look for patterns and popular influencers to incorporate into your content:

Step 3: Partner with Existing Creators

There’s a misconception that as long as your content is high quality, it will naturally earn engagement.

Unfortunately, most algorithms (social media, search engines, etc.) give more visibility to content that earns a lot of traction and engagement within the first few hours.

When you’re starting, you probably only have a handful of followers, so your content won’t receive much engagement within the first few hours of publishing. Unfortunately, this means your content probably won’t receive much organic reach from the algorithms – even if the content quality is next-level.

This creates a vicious cycle that makes it hard to earn a following and receive more engagement.

To break out of this cycle and help your content receive more organic reach, consider collaborating with an influencer that already has the attention of your target audience.

When they promote your brand to their audience, your content will naturally receive more impressions, which will help it receive more engagement and ultimately help you earn more followers.

The tricky part is getting an influencer with a larger audience to agree to do a content collaboration with a smaller brand with a small audience.

As a rule of thumb, partnerships are most successful when incentives are aligned.

So before you ask an influencer to collaborate with you, ask yourself how this partnership will benefit them.

Some influencers agree to interview smaller brands if they can repurpose the content on their own social media accounts. As most influencers are already setting aside time to create their own content, many will agree to an interview with a smaller brand if they can use that content for their personal brand.

Alex Hormozi is a great example of this in action. He often repurposes all of the interviews he does as social media content, like this clip that he swiped from an interview he did on Impact Theory:

Many influencers also share the content when it goes live and give your brand a shout-out. Here’s a great example:

Brett Adcock promoting a podcast episode on Twitter

Not all influencers will agree to an interview, especially if you have a smaller audience. To increase your chances of receiving a “yes,” look for influencers that have recently done interviews with competitors that have a similar audience size.

You can also look for influencers launching a book, as they tend to be more open to interviews.

Note: Even if you’re just writing text-based content (like Twitter or LinkedIn threads), you can still interview someone and then write out the key points from the conversation and post that on your social media channels.

If you’re struggling to get an influencer to collaborate with you, consider paying for an interview. For example, you can use a platform like Intro.co or Clarity.fm to pay for calls with world-class experts.

You can also pay an influencer directly to promote your content. However, collaborations tend to be more effective as influencers are often more vested in the partnership when their own thought leadership is involved.

If you’re producing audio or video content, you can also offer written guest posts to blogs with similar audiences and simply ask that they insert the video or podcast link somewhere inside the guest post. For example, popular car YouTuber Doug DeMuro got his first several thousand YouTube subscribers by writing for the car blog, Jalopnik, and then inserted his videos into the written content.

Finally, you can also pay to promote your content on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Step 4: Adopt an Omni Channel Approach

Once you’ve established a solid publishing schedule for your main channel, the best method to increase your output and reach with minimal additional effort is to adopt an omnichannel approach.

For example, if you’re already creating video or podcast content, you can chop that video up into multiple shorter clips and post it across social media platforms like LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram.

This allows you to scale reach and engagement exponentially, as your single long-form video is now ten or twenty pieces of content.

Eric Siu and Neil Patel do a great job of repurposing the content for Marketing School. You can see an example here:

To help you automate this process, you can use a tool like Repurpose.io. Or, if you’d prefer to outsource the entire process, you can hire an agency like Shortzy to do it for you.

For example, you can also put the video script into an AI content writer tool and ask it to write a blog post or social media content based on the script.

The key to succeeding with an omnichannel approach is optimizing each piece of content for the platform on which you intend to publish it. For example, if you’re repurposing a piece of content on TikTok, optimize it with subtitles and edit it in the fast-paced style of content that TikTok users like to consume.

If you feel overwhelmed at the prospect of repurposing your content across multiple additional platforms at once, choose just one additional platform and then add more as you become comfortable repurposing.

Step 5: Double Down On What’s Working

The content marketing landscape is always changing, and the marketing campaigns that work today might not work as well a year from now. So as you grow your audience, consistently collect audience feedback to learn what content resonates best and then produce more of that content.

The same methodology applies to your general audience growth strategy.

Look at your growth metrics and double down on the partnerships and marketing strategies that drive the most audience growth.

Many entrepreneurs become distracted by new trendy marketing tactics, but the key to long-term success is focusing on what works and doubling down on those marketing strategies.

While experimentation is a great way to discover more effective strategies, limit new marketing campaigns to just one or two per month. Other than that, focus all your efforts on the top two or three marketing campaigns currently driving the most growth.

For example, if email marketing promotions currently drive 50% of your growth, double down on doing more email campaigns.

Bonus: Consider Different Monetization Strategies

The purpose of building a following is to eventually convert them into paying customers, but when and how you monetize will significantly impact the long-term revenue you receive.

First, monetizing too early can cause your audience to lose trust in your brand, and many will either unfollow you or ignore your offer.

You can think of the trust you build like a bank account – the more value you provide and the longer you wait to withdraw, the more you can ask for when you pitch an offer.

So how do you know when you’ve built enough trust that you can make an ask?

There isn’t a hard and fast subscriber count or engagement rate, but a great test is to make a small non-monetary ask and see how many people respond. For example, you can ask your audience to respond to a specific question in the comments or on social media.

You can also use a sentiment analysis tool like Awario or Brandwatch to gauge your audience’s general sentiment and identify specific audience complaints.

Responding and engaging with your audience is also a general audience-building best practice, so you’ll probably be able to estimate your audience’s loyalty based on the comments you read daily.

Once you feel that you’ve built a loyal following and have reached a stage in the business where it makes sense to monetize it, there are several different monetization strategies. Here are a few you might consider:

Start a business: This strategy is probably the most work, but it’s also the most profitable long-term monetization method. Ryan Reynolds’ business, Mint Mobile, is an excellent example of a billion-dollar business created mainly on the back of a single influencer’s audience.

Offer a course: This is one of the most popular audience monetization methods, and Ramit Sethi and Pay Flynn are excellent examples of content creators that have built multi-million dollar course businesses off of their audience.

Affiliate sales: There are always plenty of product businesses that need promotion, so you can partner with other brands and offer their products and services to your audience. When your audience purchases those products, you receive a commission. This is a great way to quickly generate revenue, but it isn’t as profitable or long-term focused as the previous two options. The Influencer Marketing Hub is an excellent example of a website that built its audience through SEO and monetizes primarily through affiliate sales.

Sponsored posts: This option is similar to affiliate sales, as you’ll be promoting other products or services to your audience, but instead of receiving a commission based on sales you generate, you’ll be paid a flat fee.

There isn’t a single best monetization strategy for everyone, and you can run multiple monetization strategies simultaneously.

The key to successfully monetizing your audience is taking a long-term approach and balancing the ratio of value to asks. You’ll lose credibility if you’re constantly promoting products and services, and your audience will eventually stop following you.

Start Building Your Personal Brand Today

As attention becomes more difficult to capture due to the increasing volume of content online, the value of attention will also continue to increase.

The good news is that as the volume of content increases (aided largely by the introduction of AI tools), the percentage of authentic content continues to decrease, so you can still stand out if you have a genuine, authentic message to share.

Your first few pieces of content probably won’t hit, but if you seek feedback, consistently hone your skills as a content creator and deliver an authentic message, you’ll eventually build a loyal following.
If you want to accelerate your skills as a content creator, consider joining a peer/mentorship group like the Copyblogger Academy. You can ask me (Tim) questions directly, and we also do regular collaborations with other top content creators like Amanda Natividad, Brian Clark, and Steph Smith. You’ll also have access to a group of supportive peers that you can lean on for advice, feedback, and inspiration.

By Tim Stoddart

Tim Stoddart is CEO of Copyblogger. In 2011, Tim founded Stodzy Internet Marketing. He currently lives in Nashville with his wife, his son, and their pitbull named Alice. Follow Tim on Twitter.

Sourced from copyblogger

In News

What is Social Selling? 10+ Top Tips to Level Up Your Business

August 15, 2023 No Comments

By Sam Driver

Navigating the digital landscape, you’ve probably heard of the term ‘social selling.’

But what does it actually mean? And how can it turbocharge your business?

Well, think of it as the ultimate modern sales technique, leveraging your social networks to build relationships and close deals.

From reaching out to prospects on LinkedIn to leveraging customer testimonials on Facebook, there are many ways to win at this game.

So, ready to turn your social media prowess into sales power?

Let’s jump in.

What is Social Selling?

Social selling isn’t just another marketing jargon. It’s an evolved sales methodology designed to function seamlessly in the digital era.

Harnessing the power of social media platforms, it’s about finding and interacting with potential customers in their natural online habitat.

Let’s delve deeper into this concept…

Imagine you’re at a networking event. Instead of bombarding strangers with your sales pitch, you opt for a softer approach.

You mingle, listen, provide valuable input, and slowly develop relationships.

Social selling is similar, only it takes place on the virtual corridors of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms.

But it isn’t a process of randomly approaching anyone online.

It involves strategic listening, observing potential clients’ online activity, understanding their needs, and then initiating conversations that provide value.

For instance, you might come across a LinkedIn post by a potential client who’s facing challenges your product can solve.

Instead of directly pitching your product, you could share a helpful article addressing those issues, subtly showcasing your solution.

In essence, social selling moves away from the era of cold calling and unsolicited emails, enabling you to engage in more fruitful and less anxiety-inducing sales conversations with interested buyers.

Why is Social Selling Important?

a women looking up social selling on her phone

Now, you might be thinking, “Okay, so social selling involves using social media. But why should I bother?”

Well, here are a few benefits that might change your mind:

Improved lead generation: With social selling, you’re not just throwing darts in the dark. You’re able to target audiences that are already interested in what you’re offering. Hence, you can improve the quality of your leads.

Enhanced customer relationships: Social selling isn’t just about the sale; it’s about building relationships. You’re engaging with potential clients on a platform they’re comfortable with, leading to better connections and trust.

Increased sales: With improved leads and better relationships, it’s no surprise that social selling can boost your sales. According to LinkedIn’s social selling index, sales reps who leverage social selling tools are 51% more likely to exceed their quotas.

With these benefits in mind, let’s transition into some top tips and strategies to help you unlock your social selling potential.

11 Top Social Selling Tips That’ll Skyrocket Your Sales

People checking their phones for social selling

If you’re set on embracing the world of social selling, you’ll need more than a basic understanding.

Here’s where best practices come in — consider them your survival kit in the vast digital jungle of social selling…

1. Leverage LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is not just a tool — it’s a treasure chest filled with nuggets of invaluable customer insights.

This advanced LinkedIn tool is designed to help you find the right prospects, understand their needs, and engage them with personalized outreach.

For instance, with its lead and company search feature, you can filter by job role, company size, and industry, among others, to find your ideal customers.

Moreover, it provides real-time updates about your prospects, such as job changes and shared posts, giving you a reason to engage.

Remember, sales pitches are out; insightful, personalized engagement is in.

So use these insights to approach potential customers with something valuable to them, increasing your chances of striking up a meaningful conversation.

2. Engage in Social Listening

Social listening goes beyond merely monitoring your social media mentions. It involves analysing the conversations and trends happening not just around your brand, but your industry as a whole.

For example, you might notice a rising trend or common pain point among your customers.

By addressing these in your interactions or content, you show prospects that you understand and care about their needs, making your brand more attractive.

So, make it a daily habit to listen in on the buzz, then respond strategically, placing your brand right at the heart of the conversation.

3. Promote Employee Advocacy

Your team members are not just employees; they’re your secret brand ambassadors waiting to be activated.

When they share your company’s content, they help humanize your brand and extend your reach into their diverse social networks.

For instance, a software engineer sharing a company blog post about a new feature they developed not only promotes your product but also showcases the brains behind your operations.

This type of content adds a personal touch, which can resonate with customers and build trust in your brand.

Remember, people connect with people, so fostering employee advocacy can be a huge win for your social selling efforts.

4. Partner with Influencers

Influencer partnerships can dramatically amplify your reach and boost your credibility.

But it’s not about picking any influencer; it’s about choosing the right one who aligns with your brand and can add value to your audience.

For example, if you’re a fitness equipment company, partnering with a respected fitness coach on Instagram can help your products get in front of the right eyes.

The influencer could share workout videos using your equipment, providing value to their followers while showcasing your products.

Thus, the key to successful influencer partnerships is finding those whose values align with yours, whose audience matches your target customers, and who can showcase your products or services in a way that adds value to their followers.

5. Prioritize Content Marketing

The value of high-quality, relevant content can’t be overstated. Effective content marketing isn’t about overt promotion; it’s about establishing yourself as a trusted thought leader within your industry.

This means sharing articles, infographics, and videos that not only pique the interest of potential buyers but also provide them with actionable insights.

For instance, if you’re in the SaaS industry, share tips on maximizing software productivity or post a how-to video for a common software problem.

By consistently offering valuable content, you attract potential customers, facilitate meaningful sales conversations, and organically boost your brand reputation.

6. Track Social Selling Statistics

While instinct plays a part in social selling, it should never be your primary decision-making tool.

Use social media analytics to track your efforts and understand which strategies work and which don’t.

For example, measure engagement rates to understand what content resonates with your audience or track conversion rates to see which tactics drive sales.

Adjust your approach based on data, not just gut feelings.

This constant analysis and adjustment make your efforts more targeted, increasing the efficacy of your social selling strategy.

7. Utilize a Variety of Social Platforms

One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to social selling.

Each platform has its unique demographic and engagement style, and your approach should reflect that.

LinkedIn, with its professional focus, is perfect for B2B outreach and networking, while Facebook and Instagram might be better suited for B2C and lifestyle brands.

Twitter, with its concise, real-time communication, is ideal for industry news and quick updates.

Be sure to optimize your messaging to align with the platform. A diversified presence allows you to reach a broader audience and tap into the unique opportunities each platform provides.

8. Focus on Building Relationships

Social selling is more about cultivating relationships than making a quick sale. It’s a long-term strategy, not a quick fix.

Engage with your followers by responding to their comments, answering their queries, and even participating in discussions on their posts when relevant.

For instance, if a potential client posts a question about industry trends, provide an insightful response or link to a helpful article.

This type of engagement builds a relationship based on trust and respect, positioning you as a go-to resource. This rapport will naturally lead to sales conversions over time.

Remember, in social selling, relationships are the soil from which sales grow.

9. Personalize Your Outreach

You’ve likely been on the receiving end of a generic sales message before — it’s about as thrilling as watching paint dry, right?

So, to truly engage with your potential customers, make sure your outreach efforts are personalized.

Study their profiles, understand their interests, and reflect on their needs. By doing this, you can tailor your messages to resonate with them on a deeper level.

For example, if you see a potential customer post about sustainability efforts in their industry, don’t just send them a message about your product. Instead, talk about how your product aligns with their sustainability goals.

By personalizing your messages in this way, you’re showing that you genuinely understand and care about their needs, which will in turn build trust and connection.

10. Stay Consistent with Posting

Consistency is the backbone of any successful social media strategy. Just as your favourite TV show has a consistent airing schedule, your social media accounts should also follow a regular posting pattern.

This keeps your brand fresh in the minds of your followers and demonstrates your dedication to engaging with them.

Establish a content calendar to keep track of what you’re posting and when.

Mix it up with a variety of content types — blog posts, whitepapers, user-generated content, case studies — to keep your audience engaged.

Plus, regularly updating your social media accounts may help improve your SEO rankings, which leads to greater visibility online.

11. Always Provide Value

Social selling isn’t a one-way street; it’s about fostering a beneficial relationship between you and your audience.

This means ensuring that every interaction — be it a blog post, an insightful comment, or a helpful tip — provides value to your audience.

Think of your social media platforms as a resource hub for your followers.

Sharing helpful tips, industry insights, and useful resources not only educates your audience but also positions you as a thought leader in your industry.

For example, if you’re in the software business, regularly sharing tips on maximizing software efficiency or guides on choosing the right software can be incredibly valuable for your audience.

Embracing the Future with Social Selling

Perhaps you’re sitting there, a tad overwhelmed…

We get it.

But remember, it’s not just about selling — it’s about building relationships and connecting in meaningful ways.

You’ve got the tools, you’ve got the know-how, and now, you’ve got the insights from this definitive guide.

So, it’s time to take the reins, harness the power of your social networks, and skyrocket your sales.

The world of social selling is your oyster — go out there and make some pearls!

By Sam Driver

Sam is an Associate Editor for Smart Blogger and family man who loves to write. When he’s not goofing around with his kids, he’s honing his craft to provide lasting value to anyone who cares to listen.

Sourced from SmartBlogger

In News

How the generative A.I. boom could forever change online advertising

August 15, 2023 No Comments

By Jonathan Vanian

New technology that converts text prompts into headlines, conversational paragraphs and images is in the early days of making its way into online ads.
Along with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, all the major online ad platforms are testing generative artificial intelligence tools.
“This is going to have a seismic impact on digital advertising,” said Cristina Lawrence, executive vice president of consumer and content experience at Razorfish.

Shortly after ChatGPT hit the market last year and instantly captured headlines for its ability to appear human in answering user queries, digital marketing veteran Shane Rasnak began experimenting.

As someone who had built a career in creating online ad campaigns for clients, Rasnak saw how generative artificial intelligence could transform his industry. Whether it was coming up with headlines for Facebook

ads or short blurbs of ad copy, Rasnak said, jobs that would have taken him 30 minutes to an hour are now 15-minute projects.

And that’s just the beginning.

Rasnak is also playing with generative AI tools such as Midjourney, which turns text-based prompts into images, as he tries to dream up compelling visuals to accompany Facebook ads. The software is particularly handy for someone without a graphic design background, Rasnak said, and can help alongside popular graphic-editing tools from Canva and Adobe’s Photoshop.

While it’s all still brand new, Rasnak said generative AI is “like the advent of social media” in terms of its impact on the digital ad industry. Facebook and Twitter made it possible for advertisers to target consumers based on their likes, friends and interests, and generative AI now gives them the ability to create tailored messaging and visuals in building and polishing campaigns.

“In terms of how we market our work, the output, the quality and the volume that they’re able to put out, and how personalized you can get as a result of that, that just completely changes everything,” Rasnak said.

Rasnak is far from alone on the hype train.

Meta, Alphabet and Amazon, the leaders in online advertising, are all betting generative AI will eventually be core to their businesses. They’ve each recently debuted products or announced plans to develop various tools to help companies more easily create messages, images and even videos for their respective platforms.

VIDEO04:53

Generative A.I. startups are driving VC deals

Their products are mostly still in trial phases and, in some cases, have been criticized for being rushed to market, but ad experts told CNBC that, taken as a whole, generative AI represents the next logical step in targeted online advertising.

“This is going to have a seismic impact on digital advertising,” said Cristina Lawrence, executive vice president of consumer and content experience at Razorfish, a digital marketing agency that’s part of the ad giant Publicis Groupe

In May, Meta announced its AI Sandbox testing suite for companies to more easily use generative AI software to create background images and experiment with different advertising copy. The company also introduced updates to its Meta Advantage service, which uses machine learning to improve the efficiency of ads running on its various social apps.

Meta has been pitching the Advantage suite as a way for companies to get better performance from their campaigns after Apple’s 2021 iOS privacy update limited their ability to track users across the internet.

‘Personalization at scale’

As these new offerings improve over time, a bicycle company, for example, could theoretically target Facebook users in Utah by showing AI-generated graphics of people cycling through desert canyons, while users in San Francisco could be shown cyclists cruising over the Golden Gate Bridge, ad experts predict. The text of the ad could be tailored based on the person’s age and interests.

“You can be using it for that sort of personalization at scale,” Lawrence said.

Meta’s Advantage service has been gaining traction with retailers using it for automated shopping ads, according to data shared with CNBC by online marketing firm Varos.

In May 2023, roughly 2,100 companies spent $47 million, or about 27.5% of their combined total monthly Meta advertising budgets on Advantage+, the Varos data showed. A month earlier, those companies directed 26.6% of their budget, or $44.9 million, to Advantage+.

Last August, when Meta formally debuted its Advantage+ automated shopping ads, companies put less than 1% of their Meta ad spend into the offering.

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Georgetown University in Washington, Oct. 17, 2019. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images

Varos CEO Yarden Shaked said the increase shows Facebook is having some success in persuading advertisers to rely on its automated ad technology. However, Shaked said he’s “not sold on the creative piece yet,” regarding Meta’s nascent foray into providing generative AI tools for advertisers.

Similarly, Rasnak said Midjourney’s tool isn’t “quite there yet” when it comes to producing realistic imagery that could be incorporated into an online ad, but is effective at generating “cartoony designs” that resonate with some smaller clients.

Jay Pattisall, an analyst at Forrester, said several major hurdles prevent generative AI from having a major immediate impact on the online ad industry.

One is brand safety. Companies are uncomfortable outsourcing campaigns to generative AI, which can generate visuals and phrases that reflect certain biases or are otherwise offensive and can be inaccurate.

Earlier this year, Bloomberg News found that AI-created imagery from the popular Stable Diffusion tool produced visuals that reflected a number of stereotypes, generating images of people with darker skin tones when fed prompts such as “fast-food worker” or “social worker” and associating lighter skin tones with high-paying jobs.

There are also potential legal issues when it comes to using generative AI powered by models trained on data that’s “scraped from the internet,” Pattisall said. Reddit, Twitter and Stack Overflow have said they will charge AI companies for use of the mounds of data on their platforms.

Scott McKelvey, a longtime marketing writer and consultant, cited other limitations surrounding the quality of the output. Based on his limited experience with ChatGPT, the AI chatbot created by OpenAI, McKelvey said the technology fails to produce the kind of long-form content that companies could find useful as promotional copy.

“It can provide fairly generic content, pulling from information that’s already out there,” McKelvey said. “But there’s no distinctive voice or point of view, and while some tools claim to be able to learn your brand voice based on your prompts and your inputs, I haven’t seen that yet.”

An OpenAI spokesperson declined to comment.

A spokesperson for Meta said in an email that the company has done extensive research to try to mitigate bias in its AI systems. Additionally, the company said it has brand-safety tools intended to give advertisers more control over where their ads appear online and it will remove any AI-generated content that’s in violation of its rules.

“We are actively monitoring any new trends in AI-generated content,” the email said. “If the substance of the content, regardless of its creation mechanism, violates our Community Standards or Ads Standards, we remove the content. We are in the process of reviewing our public-facing policies to ensure that this standard is clear.”

The Meta spokesperson added that as new chatbots and other automated tools come to market, “the industry will need to find ways to meet novel challenges for responsible deployment of AI in production” and “Meta intends to remain at the forefront of that work.”

Stacy Reed, an online advertising and Facebook ads consultant, is currently incorporating generative AI into her daily work. She’s using the software to come up with variations of Facebook advertising headlines and short copy, and said it’s been helpful in a world where it’s more difficult to track users online.

Reed described generative AI as a good “starting point,” but said companies and marketers still need to hone their own brand messaging strategy and not rely on generic content. Generative AI doesn’t “think” like a human strategist when producing content and often relies on a series of prompts to refine the text, she explained.

Thus, companies shouldn’t simply rely on the technology to do the big picture thinking of knowing what themes resonate with different audiences or how to execute major campaigns across multiple platforms.

“I’m dealing with large brands that are struggling, because they’ve been so disconnected from the average customer that they’re no longer speaking their language,” Reed said.

For now, major ad agencies and big companies are using generative AI mostly for pilot projects while waiting for the technology to develop, industry experts said.

Earlier this year, Mint Mobile aired an ad featuring actor and co-owner Ryan Reynolds reading a script that he said was generated from ChatGPT. He asked the program to write the ad in his voice and use a joke, a curse word and to let the audience know that the promotion is still going.

After reading the AI-created text, Reynolds said, “That is mildly terrifying, but compelling.”

Feature Image Credit: Sebastien Bozon | AFP | Getty Images

By Jonathan Vanian

@jonathanvanian

Sourced from CNBC

In News

13 Best Ways to Make Money Online for Beginners: Your Ultimate Guide

August 15, 2023 No Comments

By Jennifer Leach

Are you interested in learning the best ways to make money online for beginners? Today, making money online from an online job is easier than ever, honestly.

People are looking to make money online for many reasons.

Whatever your reason, there are plenty of ways to make money online for beginners.

We’re covering 13 of the best beginner-friendly ways how to make money online in this ultimate guide.

Let’s get into it!

Are you looking to make some extra cash on the side? You’re not alone! A recent survey found that 45% of working Americans have a side hustle, and some of them are online.

Check out our top ideas for making money and find one perfect for you. There’s definitely something for everyone in this roundup of money-making ideas. Let’s go!

1. Start a Blog

A blog is a website. Bloggers are people who write for these websites.

Starting a blog is more than just sharing your day or venting about what’s happening in your life.

It’s a money-making vessel where you can:

Connect with your target audience online by sharing relevant news and information
Sell products and services
Build your personal brand
Develop your online reputation as an expert in the niche you blog about

This is one of my favourite ways to make money online for beginners!

This collection of over two dozen blogger income reports reveals how bloggers are making $500 to $90,000+ per month from their blogs!

Making money blogging from Google Adsense, sponsored partnerships, and other ways is possible. But, earning a full-time income as a blogger is not guaranteed, and your results may be different.

This step-by-step guide goes into detail, sharing exactly how to start your blog from scratch and write your first blog post.

Requirements:

Starting a blog requires a computer with internet access and a modest budget of up to $30 to $100 to launch your blog.

2. Affiliate Marketing

Once you have your website, it’s time to monetize it with affiliate marketing! Affiliate marketing is about sharing and promoting products to the public. You earn a commission when your referral results in an action (like a sale).

According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary of an affiliate marketer is around $178,000/year.

Shane Dutka makes millions from affiliate marketing sites and lead generation
L.E. McArthur earns $60K/month from affiliate marketing from her niche site portfolio
AJ Saunders makes over $6,000/month from affiliate marketing

This is a way to make money online for beginners that can be done on the side in your free time for some extra cash.

If you’re new to this, I recommend you look into Matt Diggity’s online course, Affiliate Lab. It teaches you how to create monetized, high-ranking affiliate websites with a step-by-step video blueprint and templates.

Get Started With The Affiliate Lab Today

Requirements:

For affiliate marketing, all you need is a computer with internet access.

3. Freelancing

Freelancing is about monetizing your skills to perform service-based work for others.

For example, if you’re a computer programmer for a living, you could do freelance computer programming on the side to make some extra money online.

There are tons of freelance jobs you can do, based on your knowledge and skills.

Here are some examples:

Writing
Graphic design
Animation
Digital marketing

Freelancing is an easy way to make money online. It’s also probably one of the fastest ways for beginners to make money online.

Start by evaluating your current skillset. Think about what you do well, what you do in your day job, specialized tasks, or specific work you’ve been trained to do or have experience in.

Next, look at how you can translate those skills to freelance work. Then, start searching for freelance jobs.

You can earn a very lucrative full-time or side income as a freelancer. Freelance writer Alli Hill makes six figures as a freelance writer and coach!

To find freelance jobs, you can visit various websites like Fiverr, Upwork, or job-related sites like Textbroker or Problogger Jobs to find freelance writing work, for example.

Requirements:

To work as a freelancer, you’ll likely need a computer, depending on the freelance work you do.

4. Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant (or VA) is an online assistant that helps others with their daily tasks. You could help a busy mom run a household, or a small business owner do daily tasks like answering emails and scheduling meetings.

Many virtual assistants are helping clients with work tasks like:

Travel planning
Answering emails
Task management
Calendar management

VAs can make good money.

Virtual assistant Riya Jain makes $8,000/month!

Virtual assisting is perfect for people who are naturally helpful, organized, and detail-oriented. This is one of the easiest ways to make money online for beginners.

Here are 35 of the best virtual assistant jobs for beginners to get you started.

Requirements:

You’ll need a computer with internet access and a quiet space to work.

5. Start a YouTube Channel

Starting your own YouTube channel is an opportunity to create content around a topic you enjoy. You can spread your knowledge and educate an audience online while making money doing it!

How much money do YouTubers make?

This source shares YouTube income ranging from $82 to $83,000 per month!

YouTubing is a great way to make money online for beginners. This is for someone who has some free time to create, edit, and publish video content on a regular basis.

Requirements:

All you need is a computer, a smartphone (or video camera or digital camera for recording), and a YouTube account.

6. Social Media Manager

A social media manager is a social media marketing specialist working with companies to manage their social media presence:

Create and publish social media posts
Respond to fan/follower messages
Organize a social media content calendar

You can work specializing in one social network or be more of a generalist where you manage all social networks, your choice.

Requirements:

You’ll need a computer, and you may employ social media tools to help you create and manage content at scale.

7. Start a Podcast

Podcasting allows you to create and share content over audio. It’s like running your own independent radio show.

From marketing podcasts to copywriting podcasts, there’s definitely something for everyone out there. And podcasters can make a substantial income, as well.

The national average salary for a podcaster is $73,300/year, according to ZipRecruiter.

Podcasting is good for people who are inquisitive, analytical, and a creative at heart.

Requirements:

Podcasters generally need a computer and podcasting software tools like podcast hosting software, audio equipment like a microphone, etc.

8. Content Creator

Content creators are creatives that produce and publish content online. It can be written content, audio-based or video content, social media content, etc.

Content creators leverage their expertise to share their knowledge with an audience across the web.

Here are some examples:

A personal finance TikToker creating short-form finance videos for beginners
True crime podcaster sharing true crime stories through a weekly podcast
A nutrition and healthy diet YouTuber making long-form YouTube videos about making healthy recipes.

Content creation can be a full-time or part-time way to make money online for beginners. It’s a great option for people that are looking for a flexible side hustle to make some extra money.

Requirements:

Content creators need a computer, tablet, or smartphone to create digital content.

9. UGC

make money online for beginners with ugc

UGC stands for user-generated content. As a UGC creator, you’ll make money creating content for companies. This is similar to being a content creator or influencer, but you won’t be paid based on the number of followers or engagement that your personal brand has.

Instead, you’ll earn a flat rate for the content you create for companies, like short-form videos or product demonstration videos.

For example, a cosmetics company may pay you $200 per TikTok post for a set of 20 posts for the month, earning you $4,000.

It’s a great option for people who like creating content but may not have a large social presence.

Requirements:

Expect to need a computer, tablet, or smartphone for communication with brands and as a tool to create content.

10. Sell eBooks

make money online for beginners selling ebooks

Ebook sellers make money writing and selling ebooks to an audience. You can write an ebook using various free or paid tools like Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or Canva. Publishing your book can happen on Amazon KDP, Gumroad, Sendowl, Etsy, or other websites or marketplaces.

Once your ebook is published, you’ll want to promote it through one or more marketing channels, to create awareness and drive sales.

Read this detailed 4-step guide for writing an ebook and making money.

Requirements:

All you need is a computer and ebook-writing software, but you can also have it formatted inexpensively on Fiverr if you don’t have the software.

11. Transcriptionist

make money online for beginners as a transcriptionist

Transcriptionists convert audio to written text in a transcript. You get paid to type what you hear. Transcription work is an online job that can easily be done on the side.

It’s task-based work.

Your client provides audio files that need transcribing, and you complete the work by a deadline.

It’s one of the best low-stress high-paying jobs you can do from anywhere

You may work with teachers, attorneys, podcasters, content creators, journalists, and other people. You can take on one transcription project or many, your choice.

Requirements:

Start with a computer, headphones, and a quiet space. Over time, you may want to invest in transcription equipment and tools like a foot pedal, editing software, etc.

12. e-Commerce

Start an e-commerce store selling goods online. You can sell physical or digital goods and host your store on a platform like Shopify. You can make money online with e-commerce with a budget under $200!

Start with an idea to figure out what you want to sell, from digital templates to apparel.

Next, you do market research to confirm there’s a demand for what you’ll be selling. Evaluate the competition and move on to sourcing. Stock the goods (if needed) or find drop shipping suppliers, set up your online store, do marketing, and launch your store!

Requirements:

You’ll need a computer, an online store platform, and a source for your goods. This can be a print-on-demand company like Printify. It can also be a drop shipping supplier like Spocket.

13. Amazon FBA

make money online for beginners with Amazon FBA

Amazon FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) is a program offered by Amazon that provides fulfilment services to Amazon sellers. If you’re in Amazon FBA, when an Amazon customer orders your product, instead of you picking, packing, and shipping the order, Amazon does it for you!

You’ll send your inventory to an Amazon warehouse, and they’ll handle the fulfilment process when you’re selling products.

Amazon FBA is one of the few businesses you can build with very little money.

Read about how Marketplace Superheroes can help you avoid the pitfalls of Amazon FBA.

Requirements:

You’ll need a computer, an Amazon FBA account, and products you’ve sourced that you can ship to an Amazon warehouse.

How Can I Make $100 a Day Online?

Making $100 a day online is possible, but it may not happen right away.

You’ll need to work hard, be patient, and understand that it can take time to work your way up to making $100 a day.

You can get to $100/day with:

2 social media management clients at $1,500/month retainer, each
1 full-time writing client paying $3,000/month
6 Podcast sponsors paying $500/month each for ad placements

There are many options available.

How Can I Make Money Online With No Experience?

Making money online with no experience is not without its challenges, but it can happen. This roundup of 13 ways to make money online for beginners is proof!

With your effort, persistence, and a willingness to learn, anything is possible.

Look at your skills, strengths, weaknesses, and interests. Explore money-making ideas that interest you and consider developing your skills before you dive in.

Bottom Line on Making Money Online for Beginners

As you can see, making money online for beginners is possible. You just read our ultimate guide, including over a dozen different beginner-friendly ways you can generate income over the internet. The next step is to choose the online job you want to pursue and take action by starting!

Ready to get started on your journey to making money online for beginners? Join the Affiliate Lab today to gain the skills you need to succeed in many of these roles and earn money from the comfort of your home!

By Jennifer Leach

Sourced from Niche Pursuits

In News

Instagram’s Twitter rival, Threads, is destined to become a boring playground for brands

August 14, 2023 No Comments

By Nathan McAlone

Instagram’s Twitter rival, Threads, has surged to over 100 million users, riding a hype wave.
But the new “conversation” platform has a fatal flaw: It’s going to be boring.
Meta’s vision of a “positive” environment will be better for brands than humans.

Instagram’s Twitter rival, Threads, has surged to over 100 million users in less than a week, an eye-popping figure that shows the sheer size of the hype wave it’s riding. But the app has a fatal flaw that will ultimately doom it to mediocrity: It’s going to be boring.

You can tell how boring Threads is going to be by the way Instagram parent Meta describes its vision: “To take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas.”

Here’s a question for Meta: What is it, actually, that Instagram does best? The platform has felt like a declining power since the rise of TikTok (which it copied with Reels) and hasn’t been inspiring to either everyday users or influencers for a long time. When I think about what Instagram still is best at, it’s giving creators and celebs an outlet to make money from sponsored content. That’s not a great starting point for Threads.

It’s clear that Meta wants Threads to be like Twitter (the two platforms look nearly identical), only more “positive” and advertiser-friendly — a good place for everyone to make money.

Instagram boss Adam Mosseri further outlined the company’s vision when he said last week that while politics and “hard news” would “inevitably” show up on Threads, the company wouldn’t do “anything to encourage those verticals.”

I get why Meta is scared of politics, given the polarization in the US and how badly the subject warped Facebook. But Mosseri’s comment about “hard news” shows the company’s strategy is about avoiding more than just partisan outrage.

Hard news can be nebulous to define, but generally refers to a certain seriousness of tone and a slant toward uncovering information that has widespread impact. It also tends to skew “negative” and is often not advertiser-friendly. That’s part of the reason advertisers put hard news subjects like the climate crisis and Russia’s war in Ukraine on blocklists.

I understand the impulse to create an environment less full of harassment and hate than Twitter can be. But the idea of doing that by avoiding conversation topics perceived as negative seems a recipe for creating a very boring dinner party. How many of the most interesting conversations you’ve ever had were advertiser-friendly?

It reminds me of a quote from Agent Smith in the movie “The Matrix.”

“Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world?” he says, referring to the virtual world that the film’s machines use to keep human minds engaged while they harvest energy from their bodies. “Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster.” The humans didn’t believe it because it didn’t feel real.

I think Threads, a “conversation” platform designed with positivity in mind, will feel like a similarly sanitized world and will fail to engage users in the long run. Things don’t get weird on Instagram, a brand-friendly paradise where users perfectly curate how they want their lives to appear to others. So, what’s to suggest things will get weird on Threads?

And that means despite the early outburst of enthusiasm, Threads — like Instagram — might end up being better for brands than for humans.

Feature Image Credit: Instagram boss Adam Mosseri. Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for WIRED

By Nathan McAlone

Sourced from Insider

In News

5 Social Networks That Are Alternatives to Twitter (Plus, What You Need to Know)

August 14, 2023 No Comments

By Tamilore Oladipo

In this article, we dive into five apps that are similar to Twitter and share what you need to know about each one.

Ever since Twitter’s ownership changed in late 2022, several apps have sprung up offering to be alternatives with varying degrees of popularity. Some are so recent they’re not even at the beta testing stage yet.

It may be overwhelming trying to navigate the list, but thankfully, I’ve been keeping up with them and have noted five that you may want to keep your eye on. In this article, we’ll dive into these apps, what you need to know about each one, and share some advice for your potential future on these new platforms.

Mastodon

Starting with one most of us are familiar with; Mastodon saw an uptick in users when the Twitter takeover began and has been touted as the most likely platform for users to gravitate towards.

Mastodon is a decentralized network that allows users to create accounts in distinct communities while being able to access others. It’s based on an open-source, “federated” concept, where different servers use the same protocol to speak to each other and share content to one feed.

These servers (also known as instances) allow users to create communities through Mastodon without building the whole infrastructure from scratch. Server operators oversee the users’ activity registered and hosted on their respective servers.

Key Features

Users can choose the network they want to sign up on, and options abound with nearly 10,000 active communities. The default network for new users at signup is “mastodon.social”, but you can choose whichever you want.

There are no ads or plans to incorporate ads into Mastodon. Its founder has stated that he doesn’t mind if users publish ads on their servers but would do so at their own risk.
When you create an account on one server, you can still see and interact with the activity on other servers on your Feed.
Users can make up to 500 character-long posts and share images, videos, and links.

Some Use Cases

If you target highly specific audiences and communities, there’s a Mastodon server for you.
By creating an instance for yourself or your brand, you can make a personalized feed with all the content you want to serve your audience and conversations you want to have with them while reaching a wider audience.
Find the Mastodon version of your favorite accounts from Twitter – many people and brands that moved over cross-post their content to both platforms.
Focus on thought leadership by starting and contributing to conversations without worrying about selling something or needing great visuals since that’s not the platform’s focus.

💡 You can schedule posts to Mastodon in Buffer. Get started here →

Available on: Web | iOS | Android

Threads/Project 92/Barcelona

In January 2023, rumours began that Meta had started coding a “Twitter competitor,” and in May, the rumours were confirmed through a leak.

instagram barcelona app — Sneak peek at the UI of Instagram’s new app. Source: ICYMI newsletter

Currently referred to internally as Project 92, the platform has been referred to as Meta’s answer to Twitter and will be integrated with users’ Instagram information. According to The Verge, “The app will use Instagram’s account system to automatically populate a user’s information.” It’s also rumoured that the app’s public name might be Threads.

Meta’s chief product officer Chris Cox reportedly shared with employees that the company’s goal for the app was “safety, ease of use, reliability” and making sure that creators have a “stable place to build and grow their audiences.”

There isn’t much out officially about the app, but according to Lia Haberman’s ICYMI newsletter, it could be out as early as July 2023. Some other details she shared in her newsletter are:

It’s built on the back of Instagram, so you can sign in with your username and password, sync your follower list and even keep your handle, bio and verification status
Users on other apps will be able to search for, follow and interact with your profile and content (so it’s likely a decentralized app built on the ActivityPub protocol)
You’ll have multiple options to create content: text updates of about 500 characters, links, photos, and videos up to 5 minutes
Sharing will remain standard with likes, replies, and reposts.
You’ll be able to control replies and mentions and easily block or report spam. Also, your blocked accounts and hidden words on Instagram will carry over
Finally, community guidelines will remain the same as on Instagram

The newsletter also shares that there are no current monetization plans, implying that there won’t be ads and the focus will be on organic content.

Available on: Nothing yet

Bluesky

Of all the apps on this list, Bluesky is second in popularity only to Mastodon, as the app has seen increasing hype, in part thanks to its Twitter co-founder and former CEO, Jack Dorsey, co-sign. The app has around 50,000 registered users but has reportedly been downloaded more than 375,000 times.

Bluesky is a decentralized social network, much like Mastodon, that allows its users to share short text updates through different providers instead of a huge central one. The default provider is bsky.social, where I’ve created my account. However, users can set their domain name as their Bluesky username while accessing the platform (instead of tami.bsky.social, I could be tami.buffer.com).

👀

We have a few teammates in Bluesky, so leave a comment if you’d like an invite code and I’ll share it with the first commenter!

Key Features

Users can create posts of up to 300 characters and add images and links.
Bluesky allows its users to choose and even create their own algorithms called “Feeds.” This means you can decide which type of content shows up on your feed. Some available options are: What’s Hot, which shows all the trending content on the app; Blacksky, which shows posts from the Black users of Bluesky, among many others.
Moderation is taken quite seriously, with users allowed to filter content, mute lists, block accounts, and more updates in development.

Some of the available custom Bluesky Feeds

Some Use Cases

Create an algorithm that shows you and your community content from your account and other related news. If I had the technical prowess, I would create a “Creator Economy” or “Social Media Updates” feed. Flipboard has created curated Feeds for different categories.

You can set and manage your account from a custom domain – see instructions here – which can help with verification. It could also create cohesion for everyone that works with or collaborates with your brand

Available on: Web (in progress) | iOS | Android

Post News

True to its name, Post News is a “social platform built for news,” according to its tagline. The main idea behind the platform is to replace the specific function of “trusted news source” that Twitter lost, along with the changes to how verification works.

Since its public launch in February, Post has welcomed over 440,000 users ranging from journalists, subject matter experts, and academics, and more than 30 premium publishers.

Despite serving a similar function to Twitter, Post aims to “develop a platform where publishers can generate revenue from micropayments — that is, where users pay some small amount of money to read individual news items,” according to TechCrunch.

Essentially, the platform seeks to aggregate every news platform that might put a paywall and let users choose when to pay for each news item they want to read instead of paying multiple subscriptions.

Key Features

Post allows users to write articles of any length, as well as like, repost and reply
Users pay with “points” to read articles which range in cost from 1-50 points
You’re gifted 50 points at sign-up, after which you have to buy a bundle from Post’s micropayments platform. One point costs $0.01 and you can buy a bundle of 300 ($4.20) to 10,000 points ($126.70).
Post gets a percentage of each sale of points bundles.
Users can also choose to tip creators and publishers on the platform.

Some Use Cases

If you already share paywalled content through your newsletter or Patreon, for example, Post could be a great way to send updates to your existing and new audience (if it’s a relevant platform) while also being able to keep monetizing your content.
Thanks to the lack of a character limit, you can post entire articles on the platform so people don’t have to click out, but your content still gets in front of the right audience.

Available on: Web | iOS | Android (coming soon)

T2 Social, founded by Gabor Cselle and Sarah Oh, is the closest platform to Twitter in terms of its user interface, the style of posts, and the general vibe on the platform. This can probably be attributed to Sarah Oh’s experience as Human Rights Advisor at Twitter.

The platform has one of the smaller user bases on this list, reporting 7,500 users in an email update as of June 2023.

Key Features

Write short posts of no more than 280 characters, add a photo, post replies, and repost or like content.
You can connect to your Twitter account to your T2.

how T2 social works — You can link and display your Twitter in T2

Users who are legacy checkmark holders on Twitter can claim their T2 checkmark by filling out a form. Others have to schedule an interview with Sarah and availability is limited – you can only get one as soon as August. I’ll let you know how mine goes!
There’s no clear “algorithm” yet – I get served content across different verticals and in different languages (Japanese is a constant on my feed). This is probably because I just joined, so my interests haven’t fully registered yet.

👀

I have access to T2, so leave a comment if you’d like an invite code, and I’ll share it with the first commenter!

Some Use Cases

If you’re looking for a centralized, clear alternative to Twitter with a simple interface, this is the platform for you
The T2 audience is small, so engagement is high and it’s easy to grow a following and connect with like-minded folks with a bit of consistency

Available on: Web | Desktop

Spill

Another entry from ex-Twitter employees, Spill is a social platform launched more recently than any other platform on this list. However, it’s the most different from Twitter, as it’s visual-first, putting it closer to Tumblr in look and feel.

When you open the app, you land on a feed that includes recent posts from people you’re “sipping” (the platform’s version of following, taken from the Kermit the frog meme) and algorithmically served posts. From there, you can pull down a top menu showing trending posts and hashtags. From the bottom menu, users can post text, gifs, videos, photos, links and polls.

Spill stands out from other platforms, including the ones on this list and its CEO’s former company, as a platform that immediately prioritizes diverse communities. CEO Alphonso Terell shared with TechCrunch that the driving ethos behind Spill is that “building for underserved culture drivers would create a superior platform for all.”

Spill is still in beta and is invite-only, so I’ll have to report back with my observations once I’ve been given access. Till then, some key things to know about Spill are:

Like Twitter, Spill will have a live news feed where users can post “spills” (the platform’s version of posts, taken from the phrase “spill the tea” popularized by Black creators).
It’s getting its own large language learning model for better content moderation that will reportedly understand Black dialects like AAVE.
The platform also plans to add blockchain-based creator features in order to reward users who originate viral trends.
It gives users a “rep score” to incentivize good behaviour and create a system for rewarding active users regardless of their audience size.
The platform is building a feature called “tea parties,” where users can host both online and offline events and then get in-app bonuses to apply to things like boosting their posts without having to pay.

Available on: iOS (beta)

A common theme across the apps on this list is the focus on decentralization. Users have become increasingly wary of big tech companies and their goals. Worries around data privacy and content moderation are driving user behaviour to platforms where they have more control.

Most of these apps have adopted open-source protocols to improve interconnectedness and allow users to control where they settle on the Internet and how they communicate. Mastodon and Meta’s secret project are all built with ActivityPub (which powers the “Fediverse”), while Post intends to adopt it eventually. Meanwhile, Bluesky is built on the ATProtocol, a social networking technology created by the team.

This push towards decentralization means two things for creators (including businesses) and users. One, watching the developments in these apps and technologies is important to understand them better. And two, you must take the time to try them out where you can, especially if users are gravitating towards them.

The more practice you have with using decentralized social networks, the better prepared you are for whatever changes are to come for how we communicate online.

Feature Image Credit: Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash

By Tamilore Oladipo

Sourced from Buffer

In News

Online Stores Like Amazon Are Robbing Your Brand — Here’s How AI Can Stop Them

August 11, 2023 No Comments

By Pavel Podkorytov

AI has enormous potential for sellers and vendors on marketplaces. By using AI to learn about customers, adjust rates, optimize pricing and manage inventory, brands can improve their competitive advantage, drive sales and increase overall profitability on online platforms.

Marketplaces have become extremely influential in ecommerce over the past three years. Major market players such as Amazon, Alibaba and JD attract millions of users, facilitating massive transactions across a wide range of product categories.

They also generate a wealth of data on consumer behaviour, preferences and trends. This strong market position gives them an advantage and the ability to charge unreasonably high commissions, basically robbing brands.

The rise of marketplaces

The journey of marketplaces goes back to the early days of the Internet when platforms such as eBay and Amazon pioneered the concept of online commerce. Founded in 1994 as an online bookstore, Amazon has evolved into a comprehensive marketplace offering a wide range of goods. eBay, launched a year later, popularized the concept of consumer-to-consumer online auctions. China’s JD.com and Alibaba also burst onto the market in the late 20th century.

With the growth of ecommerce, niche and vertical platforms began to flourish. They focused on specific industries or product categories. A prime example is Etsy, a marketplace for handmade and vintage goods founded in 2005. And as technology has evolved, so have the capabilities of marketplaces. The introduction of secure payment systems, improved search algorithms and user-friendly interfaces have provided a new level of convenience, trust, and efficiency in online shopping.

However, it wasn’t until after the pandemic that marketplaces took off. The year 2020 was a stellar time for them and e-commerce in general. Online platforms have become critical for brands to reach a broader customer base. In 2021, a whopping 42% of all online purchases were made through marketplaces. The convenience of shopping from home, the ability to compare prices and read customer reviews, and the seamless transaction process for customers have contributed to the rapid growth of online platforms. And in 2022, almost two-thirds of consumers said they were happy to be able to order everything they needed through one merchant.

By 2027, third-party marketplaces will become the world’s largest and fastest-growing retail channel, accounting for nearly two-thirds of online sales. Amazon, Alibaba, Pinduoduo and JD.com are expected to generate $4.3 trillion in global sales, up from $2.5 trillion today. Experts say that the most successful retailers, both now and in the future, will operate third-party marketplaces, and consumer brands must align with them to flourish in this new retail environment.

Although the concept of marketplaces itself is beneficial, including for brands, the strong position of online platforms has allowed them to dictate their terms to sellers and vendors and practically rob them.

How online platforms make money on brands

In the early days of marketplaces, when they needed to attract new suppliers to basically unknown platforms, contract conditions for vendors and commissions for sellers were usually based on a small percentage of the transaction amount. As marketplaces expanded and diversified, they introduced tiered commission structures to incentivize sellers with high sales volume. Those who achieved such volumes or met specific performance criteria could qualify for lower commissions, which offered a potential savings advantage.

With time, marketplaces expanded their revenue streams by introducing additional services. They included premium placement in search results, featured listings, advertising options, and other services such as fulfilment, delivery, and marketing support. With these, marketplaces generate additional revenue while allowing merchants to increase their visibility. The problem is that though online platforms aim to increase the effectiveness of services and tools offered to sellers, their main goal is still to earn more by raising the penetration of those products, not optimizing sales for specific brands.

As a result, Amazon, for example, now gets more than 50% of sellers’ revenue on average, compared to 40 percent five years ago. Sellers are paying more because Amazon has increased fulfilment fees, making advertising costs inevitable. The typical Amazon seller pays 15% per transaction, 20-35% for order fulfilment, and up to 15% for advertising and promotions. The cost of Fulfilment by Amazon, when Amazon stores, picks, packs, and ships orders, has been steadily rising, and there are few success stories of operating outside of this model. Advertising is optional, but it takes up most of the screen with the best conversions, so sellers inevitably have to buy Amazon advertising services to get noticed.

The company has even been sued recently. According to the claim, Amazon penalizes sellers for failing to set the optimal price for their products by demoting them in search results and disqualifying products from the “Buy Box” feature, a white box on the right side of the Amazon product detail page, where clients can add goods for purchase to their cart.

The power of AI

With the growing influence of artificial intelligence, companies can now leverage AI to expand their presence, optimize operations and ultimately generate more revenue. We estimate that the global retail AI market will be worth about $350 billion by 2032 as more companies realize the benefits of neural networks and take advantage of them.

Marketplaces already use AI-based tools that provide valuable insights into consumer behaviour, campaign performance, and keyword search. Their main goal is to increase sales, and algorithms help them calculate which sellers’ products are worth promoting to maximize overall revenue. Online platforms analyse customer buying behaviour, items in the shopping cart and the most viewed items to make recommendations, predicting what each client is likely to buy.

Brands, too, can use AI to get to the top of marketplace search and increase the share of sales in their categories at the expense of internal marketplace traffic. However, sellers cannot access marketplace AI models. Platforms keep information about their developments secret and notify merchants of updates only when they occur. In Amazon’s case, Amazon Vendor Service can be used to access some of the AI functionality, but it increases the cost of doing business. At the same time, the service itself remains a black box. It means that brands cannot use platforms’ AI to promote their products. It also means they need third-party solutions to do so. What exactly would such AI solutions offer them?

1. Intelligent and dynamic pricing

AI solutions enable brands to implement intelligent pricing strategies. By analysing market data, competitor pricing, and customer demand patterns, AI can determine optimal price points for products. Dynamic pricing allows sellers to adjust prices in real time based on factors such as supply and demand fluctuations, competitor activities, and customer behaviour. This ensures that sellers remain competitive and maximize their revenue potential on marketplaces. Our experience shows that using AI to determine pricing allows sellers to recover up to 6% of previously lost margins.

2. Intelligent adjustment for performance bids

Leading marketplaces usually use real-time bidding (RTB) systems allowing advertisers to bid to show their ads to buyers. For example, on Amazon sellers bid on keywords, and the one with the highest bid and the best-targeted keywords usually wins. In other words, the winning bidding strategy is when the buyer’s search query matches the seller’s target keywords.

With real-time data and advanced optimization techniques, businesses can ensure that their ad spend is used efficiently. AI algorithms can continuously recalculate billions of possible combinations of bids and amounts of budget, campaigns and segments, helping to rebound 20% of previously lost ROIC, based on our experience. Amazon, Alibaba, and JD already use such algorithms for in-house performance marketing.

3. Efficient inventory management

AI can optimize inventory management processes for sellers and vendors operating on online marketplaces. By analysing historical sales data, algorithms can forecast shipments and sales by warehouse and SKU with granularity to organic and promotional sales and high accuracy, identify peak selling periods, and optimize inventory levels. This helps brands avoid out-of-stock or dead-stock situations, reducing storage costs and ensuring a seamless supply chain. Additionally, AI can automate inventory replenishment and order fulfilment processes, streamlining operations and minimizing human error.

AI vs. People

AI has enormous potential for sellers and vendors on marketplaces. By using AI to learn about customers, adjust rates, optimize pricing and manage inventory, brands can improve their competitive advantage, drive sales and increase overall profitability on online platforms.

AI models also allow brands to save on time and resources of in-house teams and agencies, which, in our experience, companies typically hire to get their products to the top of marketplace storefronts. Сonsider, a medium-sized company from the food industry. Typically, a marketplace team (the one working to distribute products through online platforms most efficiently) includes an e-commerce leader, a manager, a designer, and a marketer. In addition, the company may hire an outside contractor to help its internal team.

Nevertheless, these people are forced to engage in routine operations instead of using their time to solve strategic problems. With AI, teams can focus not on playing cat and mouse but on developing strategy and launching innovations, while algorithms will help implement them around the clock and in the most efficient way.

By Pavel Podkorytov

Co-founder of ElDinero AI

Pavel Podkorytov is a tech serial entrepreneur, a co-founder of ElDinero.ai, an AI sales office for SPG vendors on marketplaces, a former CEO of TalentService.com, and an advisor of Stanford’s R&D project Future Talents. He has more than 15 years of experience in the tech industry.

Sourced from Entrepreneur

In News

Brand Loyalty: What, Why, & How to Win Raving Fans in 2023

August 11, 2023 No Comments

By Sarah Cha

Looking to turn your customers into raving fans?

You’re in the right place! In this guide we’re going to demystify the concept of brand loyalty, bringing it down from abstract theory to practical, actionable steps.

Whether you’re running a start-up or an established business, these techniques will show you exactly how to cultivate that sought-after loyalty.

Think of it like planting a garden — with the right care and attention, you can reap the benefits of a dedicated customer base for years to come.

So, ready to sow the seeds of loyalty?

Let’s start planting!

What is Brand Loyalty?

Have you ever tried to dissuade a die-hard Apple fan from buying their latest iPhone?

Or tried to convince a fervent Harley-Davidson fan to trade in their bike for any other brand?

If so, you know that it’s a nearly impossible feat.

That’s brand loyalty in action: It’s a force that drives customers to repeatedly choose a specific brand, eclipsing alternatives even at higher costs or inconveniences.

But wait, isn’t that just customer loyalty?

Not quite. The line separating these two is more distinct than you think.

While customer loyalty focuses on transactional interactions (think frequent flier miles or buy one get one free deals), brand loyalty revolves around emotional connections.

In fact, brand loyalty is about creating that emotional bond.

It’s about a brand resonating with its customers on a personal level.

It’s about a shared set of values.

It’s not just about rewarding repeat purchases; it’s about kindling a deep-rooted affinity for your brand.

So why should anyone bother about brand loyalty?

It’s simple. Loyal customers may be rarer than casual buyers. But they spend much more money, advocate for your brand, and are willing to stick with you through thick and thin.

In other words, having enough customers with brand loyalty is a sure-fire way to drive sustainable business growth.

The Essential Types of Brand Loyalty You Should Know

Brand loyalty comes in different levels of intensity. Here’s a little about each type, and what you can do as a marketer to persuade them.

The Hard-Core Loyalists

Let’s start with the hard-core loyalists. These are the customers who have eyes only for your brand.

Come rain or shine, these loyalists are unwavering in their commitment.

They won’t switch brands for anything in the world, and they form the core of your brand’s loyal customer base.

Consider Apple enthusiasts: They’ll line up overnight for a new product launch, wear Apple merchandise, and defend the brand in any debate.

This fervour didn’t occur by accident.

Apple has consistently delivered innovative, high-quality products and backed them with top-notch customer service and an engaging brand narrative. As a result, their customers are die-hard loyalists.

The key takeaway here is consistency.

When you deliver consistently on your brand promise, customers develop trust in your brand, evolving into hard-core loyalists.

Remember, these customers are your brand’s best ambassadors. They will not only stick around but also bring in new customers through positive word-of-mouth.

The Split Customers

Next, let’s talk about split customers.

These customers have a few favourite brands and switch between them. They enjoy variety and are open to trying out new products if they match their expectations.

A perfect example of split customers would be those who shop for clothes.

They might love the trendy clothing line from Zara, the timeless classics from H&M, and the sustainable offerings from Everlane. Depending on the occasion, their mood, or the latest collections, they alternate between these brands.

To win over split customers, your brand needs to offer something unique and valuable that stands out from competitors.

Regular product innovations, seasonal collections, or exclusive benefits can entice these customers to choose your brand more often.

The Shifting Loyalists

Finally, we have the shifting loyalists, the explorers.

They’re always on the hunt for better products, superior service, or a more appealing brand story.

They’re not disloyal; but they simply value quality and are willing to change loyalties if another brand meets their needs better.

For instance, a shifting loyalist might visit a popular coffee chain one week, then switch to a local artisanal café that offers a more personal, unique, and high-quality coffee experience next time.

Winning over shifting loyalists is challenging but not impossible.

Strive for continuous improvement and be responsive to customer feedback. Show these customers that you’re not complacent, and you’re committed to offering the best.

They’ll appreciate your efforts and may even pause their quest to stick around!

Remember, understanding these different types of brand loyalists is the first step to developing a successful brand loyalty strategy.

By recognizing what drives each type, you can tailor your approach to appeal to each group and transform more customers into loyal fans.

3 Key Brand Loyalty Stages to Consider

Now that you know the different types of customer loyalty, how do you build them up to become the most loyal and reliable clients and customers?

Stage 1: Brand Recognition

Brand recognition is the ground level, the foundation of our skyscraper. It’s what allows customers to identify your brand among the sea of options.

Think about McDonald’s golden arches or the Nike swoosh — the moment you see them, you know the brand.

This recognition is critical because if they don’t know you exist, how can they buy products from you in the first place?

Creating a unique and memorable brand identity, including your logo, colours, slogan, and even your tone of voice, is a great place to start when attempting to enhancing brand recognition.

This isn’t just about being known; it’s about being known for something specific, something that resonates with your target audience.

Stage 2: Brand Preference

Next, we move up to where the magic starts to happen.

Here, your brand isn’t just known; it’s favoured over others.

You’ve managed to strike a chord with your audience, and they now appreciate your unique selling proposition. They consider you not just as an option, but as a viable, attractive choice.

Achieving brand preference involves delivering on your promises, offering a superior product or service, and ensuring customer satisfaction.

It’s also crucial to communicate what makes your brand different and why customers should choose you over others. Give them a good reason for a desired action, and more likely than not, they’ll take the action.

Stage 3: Brand Insistence

Now, let’s climb to the rooftop of our brand loyalty skyscraper — brand insistence.

At this stage, your brand isn’t just a preferred choice; it’s the only choice.

Your customers are so connected to your brand that they’ll walk an extra mile, literally and metaphorically, to stick with you. They’ll ignore cheaper options, overlook minor flaws, and stand as a bulwark against competitive forces.

Reaching the stage of brand insistence requires exceptional customer experiences, consistently delivered over time.

It’s about building emotional connections, exceeding customer expectations, and rewarding loyalty.

It’s the ultimate stage of customer loyalty and the most rewarding for your business.

Innovative Techniques (& Tips) to Foster Brand Loyalty

To foster brand loyalty, you need to go beyond the basics.

Here are a collection of powerful and practical techniques that can help build a steadfast relationship between your brand and your customers…

Craft a Powerful Brand Story: Your brand story should be compelling, relatable, and inspiring. This narrative will define who you are, what you do, and why you do it. Think of TOMS Shoes, whose mission of ‘one for one’ resonates deeply with their audience.

Offer Consistently Exceptional Customer Experience: Go the extra mile to exceed customer expectations at every touchpoint. This involves providing high-quality products, efficient service, and prompt support.

Harness the Power of Social Media: Social media platforms allow you to engage directly with your customers. Regularly posting relevant content and interacting with your followers can create a sense of community.

Build a Vibrant Community: Foster a sense of belonging among your customers. You could create an online forum, host events, or even start a brand-centric podcast.

Leverage the Principle of Reciprocity: This psychological principle states that people are more likely to give something when they receive something. So, reward your customers’ loyalty with exclusive perks, discounts, or freebies, and they may reciprocate your goodwill!

Implement Personalized Marketing: Tailor your marketing strategies to cater to individual customer preferences. With advancements in AI, personalized email marketing, and product recommendations are now easier than ever.

Institute a Robust Referral Program: Encourage customers to become brand ambassadors. Offer them incentives like discounts or exclusive products when they successfully refer others to your brand.

Gamify the Customer Experience: Games are engaging and addictive. Incorporate elements of games, like points, badges, or leader boards, into your customer interactions to make them fun and engaging.

Take Advantage of Scarcity: Limited-time offers or limited-quantity products can create a sense of urgency, encouraging customers to make a purchase.

Build Collaborations with Complementary Brands: This can add value to your customers by offering them more variety and opens new channels for customer acquisition. An example is GoPro and Red Bull’s collaboration on various events and projects.

Encourage Customer Feedback: Actively seek customer feedback and make visible changes based on their suggestions. This shows that you value their opinions.

Provide a Seamless Omnichannel Experience: Ensure that your customer experience is consistent across all channels — in-store, online, on social media, over the phone, etc.

Establish a Loyalty Program: Rewards programs, like Starbucks’ Star Program, can encourage repeat purchases and increase customer retention.

Utilize Social Proof: Testimonials, reviews, and user-generated content can significantly influence purchasing decisions by building trust.

Create Exclusive Content: Develop valuable content that is exclusive to your loyal customers. This could be in-depth guides, webinars, or behind-the-scenes videos, giving your audience a reason to stay engaged.

Each of these techniques forms a piece of the loyalty puzzle.

When implemented strategically and consistently, they can work together to create an unshakeable bond between your brand and your customers.

It’s all about creating value, building relationships, and keeping the lines of communication open. The better you treat your customers, the more likely they are to return the favour!

Achieve Unshakeable Brand Loyalty

You’ve been through the trenches, working tirelessly to get your brand up there. It’s no small feat, and this journey towards brand loyalty is a marathon, not a sprint.

But with the tips and strategies from this article in your toolkit, you’ll be miles ahead.

Keep nurturing those customer relationships, and before you know it, you’ll have a legion of customers singing your brand’s praises.

Now, go make some loyal fans!

By Sarah Cha

Sarah Cha is an avid writer, reader, and lifelong learner who loves making magic behind-the-scenes at Smart Blogger. When she’s not wrangling words onto a screen or page, you can find her strumming a guitar, tickling a canvas, or playing fetch with her favorite four-footed friend!

Sourced from SmartBlogger

In News

Level Up Your Resume Using ChatGPT In A Few Minutes

August 11, 2023 No Comments

By Jodie Cook

Your resume should be exceptional. It should grab attention, compel someone to keep reading and make them believe you’d be perfect for the role they have available. Recruiters receive thousands of applications for every posting, so standing out is imperative if you’re going to land an interview. You don’t need ChatGPT to create your entire resume, but it can certainly take it to the next level and keep you ahead of the competition.

Creating an exceptional resume is considerate. It helps the recruiter out. It frees the busy entrepreneur from wondering if you’ll be a good fit. Of course, it’s not enough to have a great resume, you have to show up and do the work to ratify your claims. Your resume gets your foot in the door and it’s up to you to prove you’re worth keeping. Here’s how to improve that all-important document to make sure it doesn’t let you down.

5 ways you can utilize ChatGPT to improve your resume

1. Improve the formatting and structure

Even to the most seasoned hiring manager, a big block of text can seem daunting. If your resume contains lengthy paragraphs, it’s unengaging and unappealing and something needs to change.

Use ChatGPT to optimize the format and structure of your resume. Paste in the content and ask for suggestions on organizing the sections, improving the visual layout, or making it more reader-friendly. If it’s friendly to the reader, it’s helpful to your job search. Don’t miss this step out.

Here’s an example prompt: “Please review my resume and suggest any improvements to the formatting and structure. I want it to be visually appealing and easy to read.” Then paste your words and see what suggestions the large language model makes.

2. Enhance the content

It’s highly likely you’re too familiar with your resume. It’s been dug out of your files haphazardly every time you want to apply for a role. Perhaps you wrote it years ago and have only made minor changes. Overlooking the basics will cost you recruitment success, so be prepared for a complete overhaul.

Ask ChatGPT to enhance its content. Ask it to help you refine the descriptions of your past roles, highlight your key accomplishments in a better way, and provide recommendations for incorporating relevant keywords and phrases.

Use this prompt: “Can you review my work experience section and suggest ways to make it more impactful? I want to highlight my achievements and emphasize the skills that are most valuable to employers.” And provide details of the type of role you are after. When you have a response, ask it to refine the content to sound like you, and replace those tired sections with fresh ones.

Level up your resume using ChatGPT in a few minutes. getty

3. Refine the skills and qualifications

You know that your skills and qualifications are relevant for the role, that’s why you’re going for it in the first place. But you’re one resume in a pile of hundreds. You cannot expect the recruiter to connect the dots. Make it easy for them by spelling it out.

ChatGPT can help you here. Ask it to refine the skills and qualifications section of your resume. Ask it for help articulating and prioritizing your skills, to make sure they align with the requirements of the position.

Use this prompt: “I have a long list of skills, but I’m not sure which ones to prioritize. Can you help me choose the most relevant skills for the position I’m targeting? My skills are [list of skills] and the position requires [requirements of role]” ChatGPT’s strength is language, and that’s what needed here. The language of your experience should match the language of their requirements. Make that happen with this simple prompt.

4. Make the summary more compelling

Many roles require a covering letter, or at least an opening statement. Don’t let these components detract from what is now a solid resume. Your opening statement or covering letter should be compelling and concise. It should capture your professional identity and career aspirations and help the recruiter or business owner picture you in the role.

Use ChatGPT for feedback and suggestions on what you have so far. You might already be there with the content, but need it delivered in a slightly better way. Here’s where ChatGPT reworks your words to be reader-friendly and easy to digest, for frictionless application to the role of your dreams.

Use the prompt: “Could you please review my summary statement and make it more captivating? I want it to immediately grab the attention of hiring managers.” Then paste your summary, see what comes out, and give further direction to adjust the tone up and down. Consider the formality, the friendliness and how direct you want to be. Match the vibe of the company you’re applying to for maximum points.

5. Proofread and spot errors

For an entrepreneur or hiring manager with a high attention to detail, one spelling error could cost you an interview. They see a misplaced apostrophe or typo and assume that you don’t care. They assume you overlook details and that the role isn’t important to you. They project this mistake forward, and predict that you’ll show the same lack of care in the role. They’ll throw your application in the bin and never email you back.

Enlist ChatGPT as your proofreading assistant to stop this from happening. It can find grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and language improvements. It can provide suggestions for clearer wording, concise phrasing, and enhance the overall readability of your documentation.

Here’s the prompt: “Please proofread my resume and suggest any improvements to grammar, spelling, or language usage. I want to make sure it’s error-free and professionally written.” Then paste your resume and see what it finds. Breathe a sigh of relief when the LLM spots errors you would have overlooked.

Use ChatGPT to help secure your next role

These five steps will help get you through the recruitment process, then it’s up to you to prove you’re the real deal. By leveraging ChatGPT’s capabilities and using really good prompts, you can get valuable insights and recommendations to refine and improve your CV or resume, increasing your chances of making a positive impression on potential employers and landing your dream gig.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By Jodie Cook

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.

Founder of Coachvox.ai – we make AI coaches. Forbes 30 under 30 class of 2017. Post-exit entrepreneur and author of Ten Year Career. Competitive powerlifter and digital nomad.

Sourced from Forbes

In News

Social Search Techniques Using Instagram, from Henk van Ess

August 10, 2023 No Comments

By Henk van Ess

Editor’s Note: This post is adapted from a chapter of GIJN’s forthcoming Open Source Research Guide, by Henk van Ess. Posts on using Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter have already been published. The guide will be released in full this September at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GICJ23).

Methodology Note: I chose English language examples as our user interface because new search options often appear first in English. However, most examples will work in other languages. In addition, I included screenshots to capture how these examples looked at the time conducted the searches. These results may change over time, however.

A beginner’s guide on how to search on Instagram, published via GIJN, is available in All You Need to Know to Search like a Pro on Instagram, followed by a Part 2. We recommend both articles if you are new to Instagram; if you’re looking for more advanced advice, this chapter offers additional tips.

Date Search via Instagram

Instagram’s search functionality is primarily based on keywords like hashtags, usernames, and location tags. If you don’t know any of these details, then the search algorithm won’t be able to find it for you.

Instagram’s date search feature is limited because the platform’s search algorithm is primarily designed to help users discover new and popular content, rather than retrieve specific content from the past. It’s optimized for speed and efficiency, rather than accuracy. Instagram always shows, like Twitter, the “Top” posts first. If you want the latest posts, scroll down a bit and look for “Most recent.” That is far from perfect.

Date Search via Google

Use Google to search Instagram for certain dates; Google may be able to find content that isn’t readily available through Instagram’s own search functionality. Google, by default, won’t see everything because Instagram doesn’t allow full access, but it’s worth a try. Say you want to find posts about an accident in Phoenix last week. Do this in Google:

Image: Screenshot, Henk van Ess

As you can see, when we did this search, we got two (not so good) hits.

Date Search via Google Images

If you’re struggling to search for dates on Instagram, there is a more effective solution. Google Images uses a distinct search algorithm and criteria, allowing it to locate images and photos from across the internet. Given that Instagram is also focused on visual content, Google Images may be a useful alternative for finding what you’re looking for.

Due to its fine-tuned search engine, Google Images may find more relevant images from Instagram than the regular Google search engine. Let’s repeat the search we just did.

Image: Screenshot, Henk van Ess

The same search for “accident” in “Phoenix,” the week before, on Instagram has better and more results now. Google Images is clearly the winner in this date search.

Both methods — searching on dates via Google and Google Images — can complement each other and be used together to enhance your search experience. It ultimately depends on what you’re looking for and what approach works best for you.

Location Search via Mobile App

It can be easier to find breaking news stories on Instagram, but investigative journalists may need to dig deeper. Using Instagram can be challenging, especially when trying to find evidence of activity across a wide area. The lack of specific search criteria, such as date ranges and advanced filters, can make the process slower and less effective.

Image: Screenshot, Henk van Ess

Instagram’s Map Search feature saves the day. It’s an excellent way to find photos in a broader area.

Use the mobile app for Instagram for this. Tap the looking glass, search for “Aleppo” and tap “Places.” Tab on “Aleppo, Syria.”

Image: Screenshot, Henk van Ess

Now you get a hit based on those keywords. Tap twice on the map now, click on the divider to see the full screen. There it is: your area map of Instagram, with the photos shown on a map.

You will now get a bigger map and more accounts, based on geolocation. You can search for specific keywords in that area if you want.

Image: Screenshot, Henk van Ess

Location Search via Desktop

The drawback of the “Location search via mobile app” is that it’s labor intensive. It is possible to do the same on your desktop. For that we need a tool, called instahunt.co.

1. Choose an area

Image: Screenshot, Henk van Ess

Click on the map of instahunt.co or search for a specific location.

Image: Screenshot, Henk van Ess

2. Activate tool

Click “Find Places.”

This will prepare a set of coordinates you need later.

Image: Screenshot, Henk van Ess

3. Get Instagram data

Now click on “Get Instagram Place Data” – be sure you already have your Instagram account open.

4. Copy the code

You will see all kinds of location codes around the place you picked. Just copy those.

5. Paste it into the tool

Image: Screenshot, Henk van Ess

It’s now up to you to decide which accounts would be interesting to study. Facebook photos will also be displayed if there are any.

Image: Screenshot, Henk van Ess

Feature Image Credit: Shutterstock

By Henk van Ess

Sourced from Global Investigative Journalism Network

editor

Step 1: Select a Topic, Medium, and Angle

Example #1: Justin Rowe

Example #2: Sam Parr and Shaan Puri

Example #3: Caleb Simpson

Step 2: Create Content and Publish Regularly

Step 3: Partner with Existing Creators

Step 4: Adopt an Omni Channel Approach

Step 5: Double Down On What’s Working

Bonus: Consider Different Monetization Strategies

Start Building Your Personal Brand Today

Reader Interactions

By Tim Stoddart

Sourced from copyblogger

Navigating the digital landscape, you’ve probably heard of the term ‘social selling.’

What is Social Selling?

Why is Social Selling Important?

11 Top Social Selling Tips That’ll Skyrocket Your Sales

1. Leverage LinkedIn Sales Navigator

2. Engage in Social Listening

3. Promote Employee Advocacy

4. Partner with Influencers

5. Prioritize Content Marketing

6. Track Social Selling Statistics

7. Utilize a Variety of Social Platforms

8. Focus on Building Relationships

9. Personalize Your Outreach

10. Stay Consistent with Posting

11. Always Provide Value

Embracing the Future with Social Selling

By Sam Driver

Sourced from SmartBlogger

New technology that converts text prompts into headlines, conversational paragraphs and images is in the early days of making its way into online ads.

Along with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, all the major online ad platforms are testing generative artificial intelligence tools.

“This is going to have a seismic impact on digital advertising,” said Cristina Lawrence, executive vice president of consumer and content experience at Razorfish.

‘Personalization at scale’

By Jonathan Vanian

Sourced from CNBC

1. Start a Blog

Requirements:

2. Affiliate Marketing

Requirements:

3. Freelancing

Requirements:

4. Virtual Assistant

Requirements:

5. Start a YouTube Channel

Requirements:

6. Social Media Manager

Requirements:

7. Start a Podcast

Requirements:

8. Content Creator

Requirements:

9. UGC

Requirements:

10. Sell eBooks

Requirements:

11. Transcriptionist

Requirements:

12. e-Commerce

Requirements:

13. Amazon FBA

Requirements:

How Can I Make $100 a Day Online?

How Can I Make Money Online With No Experience?

Bottom Line on Making Money Online for Beginners

By Jennifer Leach

Sourced from Niche Pursuits

By Nathan McAlone

Sourced from Insider

In this article, we dive into five apps that are similar to Twitter and share what you need to know about each one.

Mastodon

Threads/Project 92/Barcelona

Bluesky

Post News

T2 Social

Spill

The future of social media might be decentralized

By Tamilore Oladipo