editor, Author at Mediastreet

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Why Personal Branding for Women Is More Important Than Ever

May 4, 2022 No Comments

The pandemic resulted in a disproportionate number of lost jobs for women, which is why their need to self-brand effectively is uniquely critical.

You keep saying that you want to show up differently, gain authority in your industry, get booked on national TV, grow your business, speak on a big stage or confidently apply for that six-figure job. But as you’re reading this, does your online presence reflect that?

If you’ve ever tried to grow your personal brand from the ground up, you know that it can be intimidating, but right now and more than ever before, it is vital for women.

American working women took some major hits during the pandemic. Before 2020, they made up more than of the workforce, a percentage not expected to return until 2024. It was a rough year, to say the least, and we had to make some tough decisions. Many women saw their lives briskly transformed by stay-at-home orders, school closures and the onset of remote work. When child care centers closed, hundreds of thousands of working mothers lost their jobs, requiring an overwhelmingly larger number of women versus men to stay home and prioritize family needs.

Now that it’s time to return to the workforce, women must establish a personal brand. Whether you are looking to find a new job, get a promotion or create a competitive advantage, it’s imperative that you now represent the best version of who you are online — showcase what you do, what you stand for and what you do believe in.

What is personal branding anyway?

Put simply, this term refers to how you present your unique combination of skillsets, experience and personality, as well as your perspectives. Jeff Bezos famously quipped that personal branding is “…what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” That can be a paralyzing thought; what are the lasting feelings that people around you feel when you’re no longer in their presence?

We tend to associate the concept of a well-crafted brand with major corporations, but that can’t be further from the truth. In this digital age, where we are the product, it has become a critical ingredient to success — on both the personal and professional fronts.

The truth is, you have all of the power to design how the world sees you, and by extension your professional brand. You have everything you need, both visual and written, to usher new energy into whatever space you occupy (or want to occupy). Whether you’re an intrapreneur aiming for a six-figure promotion, the founder of a non-profit or a self-employed Etsy designer wanting to share genius with the world, crafting a strong and authentic personal brand is the differentiator — the key to securing more interviews, being considered for more opportunities and giving people around you a memorable sense of who you are. A personal brand puts you in control of your next career move and helps you attract the employer you want, not just the one who will have you back.

Why it’s crucial for female entrepreneurs

Before the pandemic hit, perhaps your career path was a little blurry or non-traditional. These times have changed everyone, including giving us time to reflect on values and passions. Struggles highlighted our strengths and what set us apart from others. For many, the pandemic provided clarity concerning which goals they wanted to continue to pursue, which ones to let go of and where a broader purpose might lie. All of the above make up who you are. This introspection will help you truly thrive, and is the key to crafting a personal brand story. When you weave it into branding, you alert others to what you desire and expect in your next career move, as well as what they can expect from you.

What is the story you want people to tell when you walk out of the room? That message you leave behind — that is your brand. Eventually, if done correctly, it becomes more than a career or a business; it becomes your legacy. Whether you’ve decided to return to the same field, start your own business or perhaps run for political office, creating a strong brand will help elevate all goals.

Building a personal brand post-pandemic

As lockdowns and other restrictions unfolded, the world became a little more savvy and dependent on technology. We all got a crash course in video chats, remote work or education and certainly increased online activity overall, including possibly Googling a few new people who crossed our social feeds. That same level of online curiosity will continue as people emerge from being homebound, seek out new relationships and try to reconnect with old ones.

According the Pew Research Center, 31% of U.S. adults report being online almost constantly now. So clearly, an online presence impacts our day-to-day lives, whether we are looking at the screen or producing content for others to find. What we each put out into the digital world makes an impact. By building a personal brand online, you attract the type of people, employers and relationships you desire, while also telling the world what you won’t stand for. It sets clear boundaries and expectations and lets the world know what your presence, ideologies and work ethic bring to the table.

Such a digital footprint is, in fact, the first impression most employers, future relationships and potential clients will see, so how you make it is more important than ever before.

People buy from people first, and that will never change, and they don’t connect with stories that don’t resonate. If they can’t connect with you, they will likely not care to purchase from you, either. Your personal brand is that connection.

So, does your online brand reflect your inner brand? Have you created an online presence that you can be proud of? The better you present that unique you online, the more straightforward your path forward will be. When done right, it encompasses story, vision and purpose and keeps an audience loyal and committed, no matter where life takes you.

By Lakesha Cole

Sourced from Entrepreneur

In News

Streaming Equipment: What You Need to Get Started

May 4, 2022 No Comments

By Ernie Smith

With more employees working remotely, now is the time to invest in home livestreaming setups, from high-end DSLR cameras and ring lights to lavalier microphones.

Whether your goal is to build a stronger audience on social media or to put on effective virtual events, livestreaming is a great opportunity to reach your audience through the power of live video.

It was already a growing trend before the pandemic, with platforms such as Amazon’s Twitch and Google’s YouTube hosting a number of livestreams, but the professional contexts for live video and hosted virtual events are also on the rise.

Salesforce’s State of Marketing study found that 73 percent of digital marketers are using livestreamed video, compared with 81 percent using pre-produced video. In the wake of the pandemic, livestreaming became an increasingly popular strategy for retailers looking to increase online commerce. It also helped non-profits boost their fundraising during a time when more traditional in-person options were harder to come by.

Now, with more employees than ever working remotely, the need for livestreaming equipment at home is growing — including for CEOs and other executives, who might take part in virtual events or TV interviews from home.

What Are the Basics of a Streaming Setup?

At its core, a streaming setup needs four things:

A modern computer capable of delivering live video
A camera
A microphone
A fast internet connection that prioritizes both uploads and downloads

Of course, it’s not necessarily limited to those four things, and the context may differ based on your goals. For example, if you’re producing a podcast, sound dampening becomes an important consideration.

You may need mounting equipment for cameras and microphones, to ensure your equipment is properly positioned when recording. Your setup may also require capture equipment that can feed in video from another source over industry-standard video technologies such as HDMI and DisplayPort. For example, the content from a video game console might be an important element of esports streaming.

Streaming Setup: Back-End Considerations

In building a strong livestreaming platform, it’s important to consider the quality of the connection and the underlying technology that’s used to manage the livestream.

During the early months of the pandemic, for example, Zoom became a popular choice for livestreaming. And tools you already use can be integrated into livestreams. For example, with plug-ins that use the Network Device Interface standard, Adobe’s Premiere Pro video editing tool can be integrated with Zoom to allow professional live video editing in real time.

If your goal is to use a hosted infrastructure to distribute video, resources on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and other cloud services can be important to making that work. An outside eye, such as that offered by CDW Amplified^TM services, can help you figure out what makes the most sense for your needs.

DSLR vs. Webcam for Streaming Video

The camera you use can greatly affect the quality of your stream, so it’s a good area to invest if you have the budget. While your laptop’s built-in webcam may be able to do the job, it probably won’t have the fidelity of an external webcam, a high-end digital camera or even a smartphone.

A high-end streamer may prefer a high-end digital camera, such as a digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) or a mirrorless digital camera. Their quality is often significantly better than a webcam can produce, due to the generally wider options for use of camera lenses and increased capabilities of the camera’s shutter. Even smartphones, which often have better cameras than many webcams, can pale in comparison to a moderately priced DSLR (though artificial intelligence has helped close the gap). When professionalism is the goal, a high-end camera, such as those made by Canon, might be the best option.

However, DSLRs often require proprietary software to use in streaming contexts, some of which may not work on every platform. This is an area where webcams shine. More traditional webcams have grown increasingly capable in recent years; for example, Logitech’s Brio camera can provide 4K images. While higher-end cameras can capture more, they may not be the right option for a more complex streaming setup in a studio setting.

Finding the Best Lighting for Your Video Streaming Setup

Another area livestreamers may want to invest in is lighting, which can bring a more professional look to the stream.

While fixed lighting for a livestream isn’t nearly as extreme as shooting a Hollywood film, it does require some setup. Three-point lighting, for example, uses a key light in front of the subject and a fill light to the side with a backlight illuminating the subject from behind. In a more traditional studio setup, this could be a good option.

An alternative to multipoint lighting that has grown popular among livestreamers in recent years is ring lighting. Videos are shot through a large circle of LED or fluorescent lights, which simplifies the lighting setup for those shooting at a desk or via a smartphone.

What Microphone Is Best for Audio Streaming?

You may have seen people using Bluetooth earbuds when doing interviews on television. That approach certainly works in a pinch, but it may not be the best if you’re regularly livestreaming, as quality can often be lost with Bluetooth headphones. (Again, wired is preferred for a high-quality audio connection.)

If audio quality is vital to your setup, it’s important to invest. Consider the following for a livestreaming setup:

Dynamic microphone. This type of microphone, as noted by the website Producer Hive, is often used in recording studios to pick up certain instruments. It captures loud sounds effectively while avoiding unwanted noises. While durable, they are best for microphone setups where the goal is to minimize external noise.
Condenser microphone. While these tend to pick up more outside noise, condenser mics also capture broader frequencies overall, allowing a fuller sound. Because of their structural design, they can be more sensitive than dynamic microphones. They also require an external power source to function properly — a phenomenon called “phantom power.” If fidelity is paramount, however, condensers are a good choice.
Lavalier microphone. For streaming setups that need a more minimal microphone, a lavalier mic, which can attach to a shirt collar, is often desirable. Generally these are wired, but wireless options that rely on higher-bandwidth 2.4-gigahertz wireless connections are available.

Ports are another consideration for microphones. Many basic streaming microphones use USB connections, but others rely on traditional XLR plugs for audio input. While USB microphones are fairly simple to plug in, you could gain more flexibility with an XLR, although your setup will probably also require a mixer. A number of popular brands, such as Logitech’s podcaster-focused Blue Yeti line of microphones, are built with USB in mind.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images/ Tirachard

By Ernie Smith

Ernie Smith is a contributor to BizTech, an old-school blogger who specializes in side projects, and a tech history nut who researches vintage operating systems for fun.

Sourced from BizTech

In News

5 Tips to Run Your Instagram Business Profile More Efficiently

May 3, 2022 No Comments

By Arol Wright

Instagram is a powerful tool for both established and up-and-coming businesses. Here are a few tips on how you can use it better.

For any company or business, it is of utmost importance to maintain a presence on social media, and do so in the most efficient way possible. Nailing down your internet strategy is as important as ever, and if you’re a business, it can score you a lot of points to get things right.

One of the biggest social networks around right now is Instagram. It can be a daunting platform to get into, but if you use it properly, it can be a powerful tool for your business. Here are a handful of tips on how you can boost your presence on Instagram.

1. Get the Basics Right

When first creating an Instagram account for your business, there are a few things that you need to do before kicking it off other than just putting a name, a profile picture, and a bio. These will be essential for your journey later on.

The first one is to switch your profile to an Instagram business account. This will allow you to access juicy metrics later on, and use some of the tools we’ve detailed later on in this post—and it will also make prospective customers take you more seriously. To do so, go to Settings, tap on Account, then tap on Switch to Professional Account and follow the steps—select the category that best suits your business, and click OK to confirm.

The second one is to put action buttons on your profile. You can add info to your profile, like a phone number or an email, and make it easily accessible via call-to-action buttons on your profile, so people can quickly reach out to you. Create a Linktree link and put it in your profile, too, as this will allow you to both add extra buttons not supported by Instagram and also link to your other social media accounts.

Also, while we’re on it—even if you do all of this, keep an eye on your DMs, because you’ll almost certainly still have people message you there, and you don’t want to lose out on them.

2. Use Facebook Creator Studio

To manage both your Facebook account and your Instagram account, this is one of the best options around. It’s an official tool developed by Meta itself, first launched in 2018. A mobile app was also launched in 2020.

Facebook Creator Studio tool allows you to schedule posts on both social networks, and lets you monitor statistics on your profile to know how well your posts are performing. Being a tool developed by the parent company of both Facebook and Instagram, it stays constantly updated and relevant with the latest additions to the platform. And for Instagram, in particular, it’s a very powerful tool, allowing you to do mostly everything short of posting stories. You can post pictures/videos, schedule content, and look at stats on everything from followers to post metrics.

It can do many things, but don’t go overboard, either. If you’re just getting into this tool, in order to make it much more bearable to use, make organizing content your priority and take into account the fact that you don’t need to check out all the metrics or use all tools at your disposal. Stick strictly to what you need.

If you’re an entrepreneur looking to grow their social footprint, you should adapt to what you really need inside Creator Studio. You don’t need absolutely everything—the key is to make things easy, and for that, it is best to use only what is really necessary.

3. Feed Design is Key

Keeping your post feed nice and tidy is something many businesses overlook. And quite frankly, these days, it might very well be one of the most important.

The very moment users click on your profile, they’re going to form their very first impression of your project. And it goes much further than just reading the bio, or looking at your profile pic. They’re also going to take a look at your feed without necessarily looking at each post in deep detail, so make it looks appealing and consistent.

Use websites like Unsplash to get high-quality, free-to-use resources for your content, and use tools like Figma Editor, Canva, or even Adobe Photoshop to create killer images. And while making them, remember to keep a common design language, in order for your feed to have a nice dose of visual harmony.

4. Don’t Be Afraid of Branded Content

Once you start getting a large social media following, and you’re looking into actually pouring money into your promotion efforts, you can look at branded content.

Instagram’s branded content is pretty much just partnering with influencers and other users for them to promote your product. It’s actually surprisingly effective—things can and often do go viral on TikTok and Instagram, resulting in sales multiplying exponentially. People see their favourite creators using things, and then want to buy those things.

To make branded content, you’ll actually need to reach out to creators. But once you’ve agreed on terms with them, Instagram makes disclosing a partnership to the public quite easy.

Darkposting on social media is another way to serve branded content seamlessly into users’ feeds.

5. Be Customer-Friendly

Finally, no matter at which stage of the process you’re in—whether you’re still a growing brand, or if you already have a large following—it’s very important to always be customer-friendly.

Keeping attention to detail, being responsive, and listening to your users are all key parts of not only holding up your social media presence, but also your integrity as a business. If you’re a small or big store selling things, make your price tags visible and be responsive to users looking to buy from you. Keep your catalogue of products visible and easily accessible. Ideally, you only want people messaging you to either buy something or know more about a specific product—always be kind and proactive with them.

Growing on Instagram Takes Time and Effort

The tips we’ve detailed here are not a sure-fire way to grow into a world-renowned brand in a matter of days. That will actually need more dedication and effort. But they’re a good place to start from scratch, or boost things if you’re already established.

Organizing your content better and being proactive will set you apart from a big crowd.

By Arol Wright

Arol is a tech journalist and Staff Writer at MakeUseOf. He has also worked as a news/feature writer at XDA-Developers and Pixel Spot. Currently a Pharmacy student at the Central University of Venezuela, Arol has had a soft spot for everything tech-related since he was a child. When not writing, you’ll either find him nose-deep into his textbooks or playing video games.

Sourced from MUO

In News

The ‘Flippening’ will usher in a Golden Age of B2B marketing

May 3, 2022 No Comments

By Peter Weinberg & Jon Lombardo

Brand marketing creates more financial value than short-term performance marketing – the sooner B2B marketers flip their perspective and start allocating budgets accordingly, the better it will be for everyone in B2B.

Should you be optimistic about the future of B2B marketing?

We are optimists, believe it or not. We believe B2B marketing is on the cusp of a Golden Age, a glorious revolution that shall be ushered in by a momentous event.

And we call this event…the Flippening.

To understand the Flippening, first you must understand the three numbers that explain everything that’s wrong with the B2B marketing industry.

80%, 95% and 8%.

First, 80%. If you talk to a financial analyst, they’ll tell you something like 80% of your share price is based on cash flows that are 10n years out into the future. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Wall Street is not short term. The market values businesses on their future cash flows.

Second, 95%. According to our research with the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, something like 95% of buyers are not ‘in-market’ to buy your products right now. That means effective marketing works primarily by reaching the 95% of customers who are not yet in-market, increasing the odds your brand gets remembered when those customers do enter the market in some future period.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, delivering short-term sales isn’t the most important job for B2B marketers, because only 5% of customers are ready to buy today. The most important job is influencing the 95% of future buyers who generate future cash flows.

And finally, 8%. According to LinkedIn data, B2B marketers spend around 8% of their budgets on brand awareness objectives. Something like 92% of B2B budgets are dedicated to short term, bottom funnel objectives like lead generation.

This so-called performance marketing may capture sales from in-market buyers, but it has little to no effect on future buyers. Brand marketing is much better at building the lasting memory structures that determine future sales.

85%. 95%. 8%.

One of these numbers makes 0% sense. If 80% of your stock price is based on future cash flows and 95% of your buyers are future buyers, why would you spend only 8% of your budget on brand marketing, which increases future sales from future buyers? Why would you spend 92% of your money chasing after 5% of your customers? Isn’t that a massive misallocation of capital?

Yup!

But don’t worry, the correction is coming.

Brace yourself for the Flippening.

The Flippening: When 8% brand becomes 51% brand

So what the flip is the Flippening?

The Flippening is that magical moment when B2B businesses realise that brand marketing creates more financial value than short term performance marketing, and B2B CMOs begin to allocate at least 51% of their budgets to brand marketing.

The Flippening will spark a positive chain reaction, which will be good for everyone in B2B.

The shift to brand will benefit businesses, since brand 1) increases long- and short-term sales, 2) improves pricing power, 3) reduces talent acquisition and retention costs, 4) unlocks growth in new categories, and much more.

Sales does not share power. The bottom of the funnel is the land of Mordor, where sales torments marketing for all eternity.

By creating more commercial value, marketing will enhance its status within B2B organisations. Instead of sitting in the basement, colouring in our whitepapers and sales collateral, marketing will get back to the boardroom with the decision makers.

Moving up the funnel will also make the job of B2B marketing a million times more enjoyable. The problem with the bottom of the funnel is that marketing has to ‘share’ its success with sales. And as Gandalf once said to us: “There is only one Lord of the Rings, and he does not share power.”

There is only one department that will ever get credit for delivering short-term sales, and it’s the sales department. Sales does not share power. The bottom of the funnel is the land of Mordor, where sales torments marketing for all eternity. The top of the funnel is the Shire, where marketers can frolic like happy little hobbits. Marketing has a monopoly at the top of the funnel. Only we can influence future buyers at scale through brand advertising.

The Flippening will even benefit performance marketers, both by lowering their precious cost-per-leads and by increasing their budgets. That’s right – we don’t believe brands’ growth will come at the expense of lead generation. It’s incremental. Businesses need to both influence ‘out-market’ buyers and capture in-market buyers. The Flippening will grow the overall marketing budget. Performance marketing will receive a smaller slice of a much bigger pie.

Yum!

Feature Image Credit: Shutterstock

By Peter Weinberg & Jon Lombardo

Sourced from MarketingWeek

In News

How brands can stand out in the customer experience economy

May 3, 2022 No Comments

By Morgan Mitchell

Online customer experience is changing like never before. So, brands need to decide: adapt or die, writes BOSCO™’s Morgan Mitchell.

The new customer experience economy is set to be the making or the breaking of not just newer brands but established ones too. Since 2020, the customer experience (CX) online has evolved dramatically. The need for a winning online CX is essential for success and is proving to be one of the most important and fundamental elements of marketing in today’s digital landscape.

With 81% of retailers increasing their investment in CX over the past two years, what does that mean for brands, consumers and the long-term relationship between the two?

The BOSCO™ index measures the online footprint of brands and benchmarks how effective they are with their paid and organic media channels. Using third-party data, BOSCO™ generates a score between 0-1,000 to determine how successful brands are in the digital space.

What is online CX and what does it include?

Online CX refers to the digital customer experience of your brand. It includes every stage of the consumer buying journey, including pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase.

Online CX is a huge part of brand perception as it encompasses every interaction a customer has with you digitally. That could be from first finding your Instagram page to using your online chat function to troubleshoot an order problem. While that may sound overwhelming, online CX is really just about providing a persona to your brand and carrying this through every customer-facing element of the business. And as we’re sure you know, consistency is key.

Why is online CX changing?

Unsurprisingly by now, the online and digital space is changing. Major steps have been brought forward by the Covid-19 pandemic as the world moved solely online as a result of international lockdowns. The need for online customer support skyrocketed and brands that previously didn’t have a digital-first approach scrambled to catch up.

Plus, it’s getting even more difficult for brands to retain consumers. 94% of sales and marketing professionals say that their business is effective at nurturing newer relationships during the ‘interaction’ and ‘awareness’ stage of the buyer journey. But that all changes at the advocacy stage, where professionals feel they are only 77% effective. What that tells us is that it’s harder to sustain long-term consumer relationships. This is where online CX comes into play.

So, how are brands adapting and strategizing to fit this new customer experience economy? What can we learn from these insights and consumer behaviour patterns?

Instant messaging & online chat functions

As the pandemic hit in 2020, consumers moved their lives entirely online in a way that hadn’t been seen before. We couldn’t pop into a shop to see a product, make a return, or just speak to an employee. Phone lines became jammed, so consumers turned instead to online messaging.

Since then, brands and retailers alike have amped-up their online messaging capabilities. Whether that be a live chat function on their site or through their social media, messaging became the go-to way to interact with brands online. In fact, between 2019 and 2020, social messaging rose in popularity by 110% – that’s huge.

Implement an omnichannel CX approach

Businesses fail to form meaningful, positive relationships with consumers when processes become tricky to navigate. For example, support tickets are passed from department to department without proper follow-up.

Let’s put that into context. A consumer messages you on social media with a complaint. The social team pass this on to customer service where the consumer has to explain the issue again. This then gets passed on to a complaints department and once again, the consumer must explain the problem. This could go on and on, meanwhile, the consumer is becoming more and more annoyed at the lack of communication within your business.

Instead, an integrated omnichannel CX system is seamless. Agents can easily transfer customer messages between apps and departments without the need to start from the beginning every time. This creates an easy, problem-free interaction that solves problems quickly, efficiently and, most importantly, leaves the consumer with a positive experience.

It’s not just about problem-solving either. Great online CX is more about being proactive rather than reactive. A great example of omnichannel CX is Zara’s (BOSCO™ score: 731) use of ‘Store Mode’ in its app. This allows users to only see products available in their local Zara store which they can then buy online and pick up in that store on the same day. This real-time shopping perfectly blends both online and offline channels using GPS and QR technology to its advantage.

Be open and responsive to feedback

When it comes to consumer feedback, there tends to be only two options: incredibly positive or incredibly negative. No one bothers to leave feedback or a review for an average experience, but they have plenty to say when everything has either gone right or wrong.

Being open to and receiving feedback is a huge part of uncovering valuable insights into your consumer base. While you may think your online CX is bulletproof, your consumers are the people who can really put that to the test. What they have to say is a massive part of the digital evolution of your brand. Plus, that open-ended communication helps you to build that relationship further and patch up damaged ones. Often, your next clever CX move will be the result of real-time feedback directly from the consumers themselves.

Uber (BOSCO™ score: 738) is a leading example of using customer insights to improve its online CX. The business makes around 22,000 tweaks to its app every month to customize it in every city it operates in. It does this using incident and reliability reports to tailor how the app operates based on where its user is. This eliminates data problems early and lets users know it is listening and adapting.

The key to digital transformation

Standing out in the digital space isn’t easy, and with the rapidly changing online CX expectations of consumers, brands need to fast decide their strategy.

The first step is to stay up to date with changes and developments as they happen. Take note of other brands that are adapting their online CX well and look at how you can implement something similar. With 58% of consumers expecting more from services than they did pre-pandemic, the need for integrated, omnichannel CX with room for personalization is key to digital transformation.

BOSCO™ is an AI learning platform that integrates your cross-channel digital marketing data into one personalized dashboard. The data allows marketers to make better digital marketing spend decisions with the help of data-driven insights, forecasting and mapping tools. Unlock your BOSCO™ score, today.

By Morgan Mitchell

Sourced from The Drum

In News

YouTube Tests Timed Emoji Reactions

April 29, 2022 No Comments

By Stephanie Mlot

The feature lets users anonymously share emoji reactions at an exact moment in a video.

YouTube is experimenting with a new option to share emoji reactions at an exact moment in a video.

The video platform is piloting timed reactions with a “small number of channels to start,” YouTube community manager Meaghan wrote in a blog announcement.

Those watching as part of the trial can tap into a separate reaction panel via the comments section, where users can share their thoughts as colourful pictograms and see how others are (anonymously) reacting—similar to Facebook Live or Twitch. “We’re testing multiple sets of reactions and will add or remove reactions based on how the experiment goes,” the blog post explained.

YouTube last year began testing a function that lets users view comments timed to an exact moment in the video they’re watching. Folks can already timestamp video comments, adding a direct link to a specific point—making it easier to navigate a video or simply highlight a particular moment.

“We heard such positive feedback about the times comments beta feature,” the blog said, “that we wanted to test out similar features.” There’s no word yet on whether timed comments will be made more broadly available.

Emoji reactions are historically hit-or-miss: Twitter has twice tried the iconic retorts, last year asking people to choose between three different sets featuring classic options like a laughing face, thinking face, crying face, astonished face, and flame. Nearly a year later, the microblogging service has yet to roll out any reactions beyond the usual heart.

By Stephanie Mlot

Stephanie joined PCMag in May 2012, moving to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland. She has also written about technology, science, culture, and Doctor Who for PCMag sister site Geek.com. She is based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Sourced from PC

In News

Elon Musk Is Absolutely Furious at the Twitter Algorithm

April 29, 2022 No Comments

By Jon Christian

And where’s he complaining? On Twitter, of course.

Space and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has had many loves — think electric vehicles, large rockets, Claire “Grimes” Boucher, and internet memes.

But he may have no greater and more longstanding infatuation than the microblogging service Twitter, which he joined in 2009 and has consistently used as a megaphone to grow his personal brand, issue proclamations and predictions about the future, and occasionally nurse feuds with a staggeringly broad selection of other famous people and institutions.

Now it appears that Musk has turned his sights on a new foe: Twitter itself. In a series of messages on the platform — yes, he’s using Twitter to complain about Twitter — the mercurial CEO griped over the past day that the site’s algorithm isn’t fair, and that there should be more transparency around how it works.

“The algorithm needs to be open source,” he wrote.

Poll Position

That wasn’t all. Soon afterward, Musk expressed amusement at a meme making fun of coders’ use of the word “algorithm.” Then, perhaps in a fit of self-doubt, he reframed his initial anti-Twitter tweet as a poll, asking his followers to weigh in on whether the site’s algorithm should be open source (at press time, 82.7 percent had agreed.)

Perhaps most striking is his single-minded focus on Twitter. It’s difficult to argue with the critique that social media companies’ opaque algorithms have a worrisome amount of control over public discourse in this extremely online era, but compared to a heavily algorithm-mediated service like Facebook, Twitter’s algorithm is relatively unobtrusive. And, while Twitter makes the setting fairly difficult to activate, it does still offer a purely reverse chronological feed.

Perhaps most intriguing is why Musk is irate at Twitter’s algorithm at this precise moment. If it’s burying anybody’s posts, Musk isn’t a very prominent victim — not only is he one of the site’s most popular users, but his poll complaining about its algorithm received more than a million votes.

By Jon Christian

Sourced from THE BYTE

In News

Why Facebook targeted ads are often hilariously wrong

April 29, 2022 No Comments

By Matt Shipman-NC State

New research offers insight into why Facebook’s targeted ads can sometimes be way off base.

Researchers already knew Facebook creates interest profiles for users based on each user’s activities, but the new study finds this process doesn’t seem to account for the context of these activities.

“For example, if you posted something about how much you dislike green cheese, the algorithm Facebook uses to infer your interests would likely notice that you shared something about green cheese,” says Aafaq Sabir, lead author of a paper on the work and a PhD student at North Carolina State University. “But Facebook’s algorithm wouldn’t register the context of your post: that you do not like green cheese. As a result, you may start getting targeted ads for green cheese.”

Facebook has been open about targeting advertising to individual users based on each user’s interests. It has also made clear that it infers a user’s interests based on that person’s activities. However, it hasn’t been clear exactly how that process works.

“It’s well established that Facebook’s targeting algorithm often sends people ads for things they have no interest in,” Sabir says. “But it wasn’t clear why people were getting the wrong ads.”

“The implications of inferring inaccurate interests on one of the largest social media platforms in the world are significant in two ways,” says Anupam Das, coauthor of the paper and an assistant professor of computer science. “This inaccuracy has both economic ramifications—since it is relevant to the effectiveness of paid ads—and privacy ramifications, since it raises the possibility of inaccurate data being shared about individuals across multiple platforms.”

To learn more about how Facebook generates its interest profiles for users, the researchers performed two studies.

In the first experiment, researchers created 14 new user accounts on Facebook. Researchers controlled the demographic data and behavior of each account and tracked the list of interests that Facebook generated for each account. (Every user can see the list of interests Facebook has compiled for them by clicking on their ad preferences, then “Categories used to reach you,” and then “Interest Categories.”)

“This first experiment allowed us to see which activities were associated with Facebook inferring an interest,” Sabir says. “And the key finding here is that Facebook takes an aggressive approach to interest inference.

“Even something as simple as scrolling through a page led to Facebook determining that a user has an interest in that subject. For the 14 accounts we created for this study, we found 33.22% of the inferred interests were inaccurate or irrelevant.”

“We then wanted to see if these findings would hold true for a larger, more diverse group of users, which was the impetus for the second experiment,” Das says.

In the second experiment, the researchers recruited 146 study participants from different parts of the world. Study participants downloaded a browser extension that allowed researchers to collect data from each participant’s Facebook account about their interests. Researchers then asked participants questions about the accuracy of the interests Facebook had inferred.

“We found that 29.3% of the interests Facebook had listed for the study participants were actually not of interest,” says Das. “That’s comparable to what we saw in our controlled experiments.

“We also found that most study participants didn’t even know Facebook’s ad preference manager exists. They didn’t know there was a list of interests they could look at, or that Facebook provides at least a basic explanation of why it has assigned a given interest to a user.

“This is an interesting finding in itself,” Das says. “Because the goal of providing all of this information regarding interests is ostensibly to be transparent with users. But given that many users don’t even know this information is available, Facebook is not achieving that goal.”

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Matt Shipman-NC State

Sourced from FUTURITY

In News

How Automation and AI Are Changing Internet Marketing

April 28, 2022 No Comments

By Rumzz Bajwa

From chatbots and other remote helpers to producing content, improving client encounters, AI companies are now rolling out significant improvements to the advanced promoting scene. While it might be hard to foresee what’s to come, it’s not difficult to see that AI will proceed to advance and assume an undeniably focal point in computerized advertising.

Advertisers are currently swimming in such an ocean of information that occasionally it seems like they are simultaneously suffocating and staying afloat.

What will AI mean for Internet advertising in 2022?

Designated promoting

One basic part of designated advertising is persuading your possibility. Notwithstanding, how might you persuade somebody you don’t have any idea?

Whether in menial helpers, prescient client division, or shrewd plans for customized client encounters, AI is the eventual fate of advanced advertising in the approaching year.

Promoting those objectives to individuals in view of their overall inclinations are more important than customary publicizing. Advertisers on the seller dashboard can utilize individualized information to decide if clients will be keen on an item prior to requesting that they pay anything by any means.

Showcasing robotization and personalization

Contemplating whether you could computerize your substance creation and have it impeccably customized simultaneously? Indeed, you can. Showcasing computerization and personalization with man-made consciousness is an extraordinary mix that draws out an interesting degree of customization in advertising.

Would you be able to hear it? That weak sound of man-made consciousness encompassing you as you read this? Suddenly, an email is arriving in your inbox with a mechanized response to the assistance you requested. It is automated, but customized.

Advertisers can utilize AI answers for robotizing pay-per-click (PPC) publicizing, show promoting, transformation rates, internet searcher showcasing (SEM), watchword research, SEO, web-based media showcasing (SMM), and site investigation.

Prescient examination drove customized suggestions

The group at Facebook fostered an undertaking called Rosetta. This undertaking centers around utilizing AI and AI to comprehend messages in pictures and recordings to work on the nature of the substance clients see on their news channels, IOS ideas, and different areas of Facebook. This venture investigates utilizing AI to improve the client experience by getting what individuals are keen on and enhancing their commitment to Facebook.

With AI in advanced promotion, we engage clients with customized proposals, driving recurrent utilization and better client maintenance.

Simulated intelligence is driven content advertising

Publicists are observing increasingly more that utilizing devices to assist them with acquiring better experiences into buyer conduct is giving them an upper hand in the computerized age.

At times, this is finished by leading statistical surveying to figure out what individuals are worried about from a social and social viewpoint and seeing full-scale level insights about your objective market (age bunch, pay, training level). Fragmenting that data and forming it into something you can pitch to your crowd is vital to convincing them to pursue your message. This is the place where AI comes in.

Man-made brainpower is starting to assume a significant part in satisfying appropriation. It helps by anticipating points that are probably going to draw in rush hour gridlock and circulating substance around those topics with pinpoint precision.

B2B organizations and independent ventures utilize computerized reasoning to make content suggestions to clients in view of the client’s previous buys, perusing interests and segment information.

Client relationship the board (CRM)

Organizations like Zendesk, Salesforce, and IBM put boatloads of money into creating AI that can associate with their clients all the more humanly.

Man-made brainpower helps organizations to:

Acquire ongoing bits of knowledge into how your clients are collaborating with you across the wide scope of channels you use to interface with them.

Consequently allocate cases to the most fitting care group, then, at that point, utilize prescient investigation to decide the best strategy.

Use of chatbots to convey information through robotized work processes.

Review client information and identify the leads that will likely become clients and assist organizations in maintaining these relationships.

According to my viewpoint, the most fascinating patterns are AI, huge information, the capacity to understand individuals at their core, and the 3 V’s (Verification, Validation, and Veracity). Over the long haul, a portion of these patterns might start to wind down, however, they are intriguing issues at this moment. By 2022, computerized showcasing sagacious advertisers will benefit from AI’s capacity to peruse the opinion, e.g., how dazzled their clients are by their item. Utilizing instruments like seller dashboard, chatbots, advertisers can follow directions towards their item or administration and as soon as possible follow up on it (whether that implies changing their item or offering a return).

Last Words

The truth of the matter is, computerized reasoning isn’t new. Propels in innovation have made it feasible for additional organizations to execute AI. Furthermore, as more organizations do as such, the normal B2B business visionary will benefit enormously. Come 2022, AI will assume a fundamental part in advanced advertising and business overall. However, similarly significant is the way these organizations can utilize and secure access to their AI successfully to offer important types of assistance rather than basically supplanting their human partners.

Feature Image Credit: AdobeStock

By Rumzz Bajwa

Sourced from Data Science Central

In News

3 Fundamental Leadership Branding Benchmarks

April 28, 2022 No Comments

By Merilee Kern

Having near-term realistic and well-sequenced goals that foster a rock-solid foundation are “the pixels that create the picture.”

Whether for a personal or corporate brand, primary objectives of a leadership branding endeavour include gaining traction, relationships and awareness. This as it relates to specific initiatives, an overarching mission or a persona at large. Since the potential is often significant and the opportunities seemingly endless, it is important to be intentional and incremental in the approach to ensure you stay on your strategic course. This includes developing achievable milestones that are well-sequenced and provide demonstrable ROI (relative to both impact and profit) along the way for either a personal or business brand. As always, there are various fundamental bases to cover at the onset.

Outline Desired Outcomes

With the endgame in mind at the onset, first identify key strategic outcomes and then develop a road map that will help ensure you stay laser-focused on those desired results. Based on your objectives for a leadership or CEO branding initiative, your strategic outcomes will vary. These might include developing easily articulated and understood brand positioning; elevating a personal or corporate profile to bolster public relations and speaking pursuits; increasing event participation; developing new (or escalating existing) strategic partnerships; and building a strategic thought leadership footprint that demonstrates the calibre of expertise and reach among other outcome types and categories.

In working toward such concerted goals, it is also imperative to consider brand challenges. This can also widely vary and might include managing the tone of the brand to better ensure likeability and relatability; addressing unclear branding that requires messaging and positioning refinement; and recalibrating imagery and visuals that are not impactful or, worse, do not aptly position the personal or business brand.

For CEO branding — or any leadership branding pursuit — to work effectively, it is important to strike the right emotional chords. This can be achieved, in part, through innovative, integrated communications that consistently engages audiences. A simple, unified message is a galvanizing tool for the entire team and serves as the backdrop for consistent messaging to all types of audiences, at all levels, to promote cohesive brand awareness. The key to effective brand planning begins with establishing a solid internal awareness and then continues with the clear articulation of brand strengths — ideas that are supported by consistent, powerful marketplace messaging to target audiences.

Accurate Positioning Is Paramount

In the positioning ideation phase, assess the marketplace to identify its current needs and anticipate those in the future. Then, structure the leader’s message and brand strengths to meet those needs. This will heavily rely on a keen understanding of conceptual brand assets. These perceptions can be outlined by brainstorming specific terms that represent the authenticity and desired feel for the brand (or that for the direction you intend to go). This might include concepts such as “inspiring,” “composed,” “credible,” “logical” and “supportive” — whatever duly represents the brand in the mind of individual customers, and even the marketplace at large. Once determined, prioritize those concepts based on those that best align with overarching branding objectives. Of course, these terms are also mission-critical to guide the direction of messaging, photoshoots and other content creation. With positioning, endeavour to structure the brand so it “intuitively connects” with the target audience at any and every touchpoint.

Of course, part of due diligence for positioning strategy requires competitive intelligence. While you might have throngs of competitors, take a sample of those deemed most relevant and then compare and contrast key points. This might include how they are excelling on social media and in the press, what they are achieving in the publishing world and on the speaking circuit and other such easily accessible barometers.

To cultivate a strong and authentic brand, leaders need to be active and engaged on social media — not just passively posting ads. Grow your brand, and company, by being visible on key social media platforms. Strive to be as transparent as possible when communicating on those platforms, rather than overly formal and stuffy — no matter your C-suite rank. Post achievements, share goals, announce exciting innovations and give shout-outs. Even in a business context, people use social media because it is fun. Just because you are serious about the success of your personal or business brand doesn’t mean your posts have to be serious and boring. Being honest and downright vulnerable can go a very long way. Tell your audience when plans fail and how you intend to move forward so they can relate to you on a human level and cheer for your success. Society values honesty, which will translate into trust and loyalty.

Also, disregard the “trolls,” but do take social user feedback seriously, since it can often serve as bona fide market research. Feedback can often be an indicator of what is currently trending and reflect emerging marketplace mindsets that will help you anticipate the needs and wants of your constituents. In order to take full advantage of this “data,” you need to take time and truly hear what users are saying so that you can strategically plan — and pivot — accordingly. This includes knowing that you sometimes need to make the hard decision to change direction despite the best-laid original plans and intentions.

While it is always wise to keep your eye on the “big picture” and know what you’re working toward with a leadership branding endeavour, having near-term, realistic and well-sequenced goals that foster a rock-solid foundation are “the pixels that create the picture.”

Feature Image Credit: ronstik/stock.adobe.com

By Merilee Kern

Chief Strategy Officer, The Luxe List

Sourced from Newsweek