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Russia Is Now Blocking Twitter

March 2, 2022 No Comments

Facebook Messenger is also down as the Kremlin seeks to control the narrative around Ukraine.

The Kremlin has begun blocking access to Twitter, hours after the social media company stopped Russians from advertising on the platform.

The decision to block access to Twitter followed Russia’s move hours earlier to restrict access to Facebook in the country as the government seeks to control the narrative around its invasion of Ukraine.

The Twitter block was first reported Saturday morning by NetBlocks, a digital advocacy group that tracks internet outages across the globe.

“Network data show that access to the Twitter platform and back-end servers are restricted on leading networks including Rostelecom, MTS, Beeline, and MegaFon as of 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning,” the company wrote on its website.

Alp Toker, the director of NetBlocks, told VICE News that the decision to restrict access to the Twitter platform was to be expected, but that the social media company’s decision to stop the ability to advertise on its platform was the trigger that forced the Kremlin to act.

“Although it’s been a long time coming, this tit-for-tat seems to have pushed it over [the edge],” Toker said, adding that while the restrictions can be circumvented with virtual private networks (VPNs), most regular users won’t be able to access these services.

“The restrictions are targeted so circumvention remains possible through the use of VPN services,” Toker said. “However, for casual and non-technical users this will offer little respite.”

There were about 9 million Twitter users in Russia in January 2021, according to Statista.

The company did not immediately respond to VICE News’ request for comment about the government blocking access to its platform, but it posted the following statement on Friday night.

“We’re temporarily pausing advertisements in Ukraine and Russia to ensure critical public safety information is elevated and ads don’t detract from it.”

On Friday, Roskomnadzor, the government body that regulates telecommunications and the internet in Russia accused Facebook of being involved in violations of the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens.

Later, Facebook spokesperson Nick Clegg tweeted that the Russian government ordered the company to stop fact-checking Russian state-owned media organizations on its platform.

“We refused,” he added. “Ordinary Russians are using our apps to express themselves and organize for actions. We want them to continue to make their voices heard, share what’s happening and organize.”

The statement from Roskomnadzor didn’t make clear what exactly the restrictions would look like, but on Saturday morning some social media users began complaining that Facebook’s messaging app Messenger was no longer working.

Toker confirmed to VICE News that Messenger was facing similar restrictions.

The Kremlin is pursuing a two-pronged approach to controlling the narrative around the Ukraine invasion. While at home it’s seeking to stop citizens from accessing information outside state-run platforms on social media, in Ukraine it appears to be trying to cut off internet access entirely.

On Saturday morning, there was a significant disruption to Ukraine’s internet backbone provider GigaTrans, which supplies connectivity to many other networks

Feature Image Credit: Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his address to the nation at the Kremlin in Moscow on February 21, 2022. (Photo: ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)

By David Gilbert

Follow David Gilbert on Twitter.

Sourced from Vice

In News

Why So Many Entrepreneurs Don’t Know Their Digital Marketing ROI

March 2, 2022 No Comments

By Timothy Carter

Not every metric can be pinpointed exactly, but you can certainly come much closer than intuition or an educated guess.

Let’s place a bet.

Currently, 55 percent of small business owners are planning on investing more in their digital marketing strategies. It’s unclear what percentage of businesses owners are already investing in digital marketing, since this is a broad concept that’s difficult to precisely define. But let’s assume at least three-quarters of existing businesses are spending money on digital marketing in some form. Most of these businesses have been investing in digital marketing for months, years or even decades.

So, if you asked them individually, what percentage of these business owners would be able to tell you what their marketing return on investment (ROI) is?

Do you think it’s 90 percent? Or closer to 80 percent?

The exact numbers vary depending on what strategy you’re examining, but 44 percent of businesses have no way to measure their social media ROI. And those that can measure their social media ROI may not be doing it consistently or effectively.

Extend that concept to the rest of the digital marketing realm. Why do so few entrepreneurs know their marketing ROI when it’s such an important concept for long-term marketing success?

Apathy

Often the problem is entrepreneurial apathy. Some entrepreneurs simply don’t care what their ROI is. But why is this the case? There are several possibilities. For starters, entrepreneurs may underestimate just how valuable ROI is in a digital marketing context. If they don’t understand its significance or how to use it, they’re not going to care about measuring it.

Other entrepreneurs may be more interested in achieving some specific goal or milestone. If they’re extremely committed to reaching a follower count of 100,000, for example, it doesn’t matter how much it costs to get there.

Lack of tools

Some entrepreneurs claim that they can’t measure ROI or don’t measure ROI because they don’t have access to the tools that would allow them to do this. Obviously, you’ll need some way to track and measure your progress in digital marketing if you want to calculate your ROI.

But there’s really no excuse for this. Plenty of free tools exist to help business owners determine their marketing effectiveness and boost their campaigns — and most of them are ridiculously easy to use. Google Search Console, for example, allows entrepreneurs to get an in-depth look of how their website is performing and how it appears in search engines. If you choose to market with a social media platform like Facebook, you’ll have a chance to review large amounts of important performance metrics in the back end, no extra fee or subscription required.

The nebulous nature of ROI

A legitimate grievance that entrepreneurs have is that ROI can be hard to measure exactly. You may know how many conversions you’re getting or how much your organic traffic has grown, but can that really tell you what your return on your investment is?

Consider:

Ambiguous costs: How much are you spending on marketing, really? If you’re working with a marketing agency, you might have a straightforward monthly cost. But even then you’ll need to calculate all the hours you’re spending on administration and other details and calculate the costs to the business.
Misleading data points: Some data points you measure won’t be clear or provide you with an accurate assessment of your marketing effectiveness. For example, your conversion rate might be high, but if the people filling out your forms aren’t buying your products, your ROI might be lower than you think.
Unmeasurable impact: Digital marketing can affect your return in a variety of different ways, including some that are almost impossible to measure. For example, how can you prove that your brand visibility or reputation are improving?

ROI as a secondary metric

I touched on this concept earlier, but it has a potentially bigger impact. Some entrepreneurs see ROI not as a primary metric for evaluating marketing campaign success, but as a secondary metric. For example, think about SEO. SEO is a strategy designed to help businesses rank higher in search engines. So it’s reasonable to suggest that the number one goal here is to reach rank one for a target keyword. However, it’s possible to reach rank one and still end up with a negative ROI; if you’re spending more money than you’re making in a given strategy, you shouldn’t consider that strategy a success. Similarly, you may end up in a position much lower than rank one while maintaining a very high ROI.

The solution

In my opinion, ROI is the most important metric to know for digital marketing success. If you can’t say, definitively, whether or not your marketing efforts are working, your campaign could actually be hurting your brand. And, no matter what, you’ll be missing out on the full potential of your digital marketing strategies. All business owners partaking in digital marketing should monitor their ROI closely and consistently. Otherwise, all your investments and efforts could end up being a waste.

By Timothy Carter

Entrepreneur Leadership Network Contributor

Timothy Carter is the CRO of the Seattle digital marketing agency SEO.co. He has spent more than 20 years in the world of SEO and digital marketing leading, building and scaling sales operations, helping companies increase revenue efficiency and driving growth from websites and sales teams.

Sourced from Entrepreneur Europe

In News

Where 2022 Ad Spend Is Going (And How To Get Ahead Of The Trends)

March 1, 2022 No Comments

Sourced from Forbes

There is a multitude of factors to consider and important decisions to make when creating an advertising budget. Aside from choosing the right channels and tactics to meet their own strategic goals, a brand must take the state of its industry as well as the latest marketing and advertising trends into account to create ad campaigns that will stand up against those of its competitors.

Brands don’t want to jump on any old bandwagon or social platform without a good reason to do so, and this year, they’ll once again be seeking the right avenues to reach their target markets. From diversifying with an integrated multichannel approach to doubling down in a specific medium such as digital, television, print or social, the options are endless.

With their insight into where ad dollars are being spent in real time, the members of Forbes Agency Council can forecast where brands will be spending their budgets this year. See their predictions below, along with good ways for brands to get ahead of these trends.

1. Digital Marketing To More ‘Connected’ Consumers

Digital marketing is something that cannot be ignored! The pandemic has made people even more connected to their devices with the demands of remote work and staying in touch with family and friends. This shift has made digital marketing a great vehicle to get your brand noticed by your target consumer in a cost-effective manner. – Thomas Morganelli, Centipede Digital

2. Connected TV Ads Informed By First-Party Data

Where your media dollars are spent really depends on your marketing goals. One area where we see continued growth is connected TV. There is real power that comes with the ability to serve up video on the big screen in your target’s living room. Combine that opportunity with the strength of first-party data, and it’s clear why CTV offers opportunities unavailable on other marketing channels. – Jonathan Schwartz, Bullseye Strategy

3. Online And Offline Platforms With Consistent Media Availability

Ad dollars will continue to increase on digital platforms that are optimizing their ad strategies, such as TikTok. There will be a continuous amount of spending on offline platforms that follow the supply-and-demand curve, where media availability is consistent. – Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Hawthorne LLC

4. Higher-Funnel Digital Efforts With Advanced Tracking

Ad dollars will be spent in digital, but more specifically in higher-funnel efforts where advanced tracking and attribution are now showing true impact and ROI. Think about over-the-top content, streaming video, audio and more, which were once stuck measuring impressions or maybe view-throughs. Agencies implementing better tracking systems will be able to show the trickle-down effect of these higher-funnel efforts and get better buy-in for a full-funnel digital investment. – Brian Walker, Statwax

5. Niche Targeting Via OTT And CTV

I see a switch from spend on social and search to a surge in OTT and CTV advertising. With the level of understanding of these mediums growing, the barriers to entry are not so high now. For companies with the right level of budget, both OTT and CTV present fantastic growth opportunities and the ability to reach new markets in this increasingly niched-out world. – Christopher Tompkins, The Go! Agency

6. Digital And Social Media Advertising Strategies

Ad dollars will definitely be best spent this year on digital and social media. Brands can get ahead by starting to implement result-driven social media advertising strategies. There are more users on social media than ever before, and platforms such as Facebook and Instagram give businesses the opportunity to yield a considerable return on ad spend and stay profitable year-round. – Jonathan Durante, Expandify Marketing Inc

7. Small-Budget Programmatic Buying On CTV

2022 will see lots of ad dollars move into the CTV space. Many major brands will take their first steps into CTV, especially as they discover how effectively smaller budgets can operate in this less-crowded space. With programmatic buying and audience-targeting tools, it’s possible to make a big splash in CTV, and I expect we’ll see lots of 2022’s ad dollars migrating in this direction. – Jason Wulfsohn, AUDIENCEX

8. The Right Social Media Platforms For Narrow Targets

The growing addiction to social media in all the age groups and interest groups makes social media the best place for marketing investment. Social media ads allow for narrow targeting, which helps increase brand awareness among the target audience, and thus conversions. Agencies should identify the right social media platforms for their clients and develop a focused marketing plan to exploit this trend. – Ajay Prasad, GMR Web Team

9. Specific Content And Content Creators

While the easy answer is “digital,” I think “content” is more accurate. Forget about which screen, or even which delivery method, will be dominant—consumers are becoming more tied to specific content and content creators. This is a meaningful shift in consumer behavior and an opportunity for agile and innovative marketers to find their audiences. – Andrea Palmer, Publicis Health Media (PHM)

10. Video Content Designed For Omnichannel Use

Designing campaign creative for omnichannel use—with a focus on video through CTV and linear TV—is key. Our in-house production company and agency-owned studios allow us to quickly create video, and this is something all agencies should consider. Even out-of-home placements can leverage video more in 2022. Video content is the 2022 campaign anchor. – Vix Reitano, Agency 6B

11. Inbound Marketing Technologies

It depends on the audience. The goal of digital marketing is to get the right message to the right potential client at the right time. The best way to do that is to utilize the marketing technology that most clearly communicates ROI. I believe that inbound marketing technologies that show the full buyer’s journey are where ad dollars should be spent. – Christopher Carr, Farotech

12. Increased CTV Ad Spend Across All Industries

While spend by channel typically varies by industry, we expect a surge in CTV spending from brands across all industries. While many marketers are shifting spend away from linear TV, we expect investment to come from digital channels, as CTV offers the sophisticated targeting of programmatic advertising with a comparable reach to linear TV for a much lower cost. – Donna Robinson, Collective Measures

13. Product Placement In Streaming Content

Marketers and agencies are increasing their interest in product placement in streaming content on platforms such as Netflix, Amazon and HBO Max. This is driven by the fact that they themselves sat watching hundreds of hours of streaming episodes and films over the course of the pandemic, none of which included traditional advertising. – Stacy Jones, Hollywood Branded

Sourced from Forbes

In News

Customer Engagement: Improved Through Technology

March 1, 2022 No Comments

Sourced from NewsReports.com

It is more crucial than ever for businesses to use information technology to improve customer engagement as they expand and adapt.

Customers can interact with businesses in a variety of ways in the digital age. This includes chatbots, social media, and other channels. Businesses must ensure that they are utilizing the most up-to-date technologies. They must do this in order to engage with their clients in the most efficient manner possible.

Consider using the most cutting-edge technology that companies are adopting to boost customer engagement.

Make use of social media.

For businesses, social media is now more vital than ever.

Customers continue to find social media accounts to be one of the most effective ways to communicate with businesses. Many businesses have adopted social media in recent years, but not all of them are efficiently using it.

First, engage with people on your social media profiles whenever possible. Make sure that each of your social media profiles has an easy contact option so that customers can simply get in touch with you.

Keep an eye out for people who mention your brand or product in their postings, as well. As much as possible, reach out to them and engage in discussion with them. This ensures that they are aware that you are paying attention. In addition, it shows that you are aware of any knowledge they may have about your product or service.

Customer engagement is improved by providing a live chat option.

In the digital age, live chat functionality is becoming increasingly vital.

Customers desire to contact businesses as much as possible. Furthermore, many prefer live chat over other types of communication. As a result, organizations should seriously consider using an online message platform with live chat capability. This allows your consumers to interact with you as much as they want. In addition, it lets them contact you in the method that is most convenient for them.

Furthermore, having a live chat platform allows organizations to effectively address their customer support needs.

Many online messaging systems can provide users with automated responses. They can do this based on the information they provide. This ensures that each consumer receives the finest possible service from your company.

Make a user-friendly website to ensure customer engagement.

One of the most significant methods to engage with your customers is through your website.

Every day, customers are online, whether on their PCs or on their mobile devices. They will go to your online store if they wish to buy your products or services. As a result, companies must ensure that their websites are simple to navigate and use.

It all begins with the design. Every online store should have a contemporary design.

It needs to appeal to customers who are accustomed to social media sites on a daily basis. If you run an online cosmetics business, for example, your virtual storefront should resemble the virtual shops of prominent social media networks. That’s because this is what your potential clients are used to seeing.

Make sure that your online business is very easy to navigate. You can, for example, include a quick-search bar at the top of each online storefront page. That way customers can find what they’re looking for quickly.

You may also make movies to show clients what they need to do to complete a transaction. In addition, guarantee that clients have the information they need. Make sure they can use the various aspects of your online store. Therefore, focus on virtual video production while creating the video.

Use mobile channels for customer engagement.

People nowadays are constantly on their mobile gadgets. They use these gadgets to surf the web, check email, and connect to social media sites.

Businesses must ensure that they can interact with clients while on the move. This entails developing a mobile-friendly website that includes services such as live chat. This allows customers to communicate with you.

Chatbots can help you increase engagement.

Chatbots are another common means of business-to-customer communication. They enable organizations to interact with clients in real-time, 24 hours a day.

This, of course, enhances customer engagement. Virtual chatbot technology is being used by many businesses to boost customer satisfaction. In addition, it helps cut response times and improve overall service quality.

Businesses are increasingly using chatbots to connect with their customers. The finest chatbots provide virtual self-service.

In addition, they allow users to seek assistance without having to wait for a human to respond. This is especially useful if you need to contact a customer service person after work hours. Customers can get speedy service without having to contact a person.

Virtual chatbot technology is also for other applications. Chatbots, for example, can collect information from customers. In addition, it can provide verbal or written training on how to use your products or services.

The way businesses connect with their clients is changing as a result of technological advancements. As a result, businesses must ensure that they are utilizing the most up-to-date technologies. They must do this in order to engage with their customers in the most efficient manner possible.

Sourced from NewsReports.com

In News

18 Instagram Tools to Improve Your Marketing

March 1, 2022 No Comments

By Anna Sonnenberg

Want to do more with Instagram? Wondering if there are any tools to make it easier?

In this article, you’ll discover 18 tools that will help you optimize your efforts on Instagram, from creating content to running engaging contests.

Instagram Content Creation Tools

Instagram’s filters and editing tools can help you produce great-looking content but using native tools exclusively often means your content looks just like everyone else’s. These third-party content creation and design tools can help your Instagram stories, reels, and posts stand out.

Animoto

Producing eye-catching video content for Instagram can be incredibly time-consuming, even for experienced designers. Animoto’s video storyboards can save you time, whether you want to create feed videos, reels, or stories.

This desktop app has templates for everything from tutorials to testimonials to product promotions so you can efficiently create Instagram content that aligns with your marketing goals. You can even cut production costs with Animoto’s stock images and videos while adding your brand’s unique stamp with animations and overlays.

Are you running out of royalty-free music clips to use with your video content? Animoto has thousands of songs in a long list of genres so you can create the perfect audio environment.

Cost: Free and paid plans

Canva

When you want an app that goes beyond video and can also design Instagram posts and stories, Canva is a good all-in-one pick. This desktop and mobile app has dozens of templates for every type of Instagram content, along with stock images and graphics to incorporate into your designs. You can also create custom layouts from scratch.

Click HERE to read the remainder of the article.

By Anna Sonnenberg

Sourced from Social Media Examiner

In News

When Communication Is At Its Best, So Is Innovation

February 28, 2022 No Comments

By Alex Goryachev

Now is the time when many leaders are looking into the future, deciding where to invest their valuable time and resources. Digital transformation, innovation and workplace model change is undoubtedly high on the agenda. Sadly, in my experience, most of these much-needed initiatives will fail.

I believe that the single most critical element that separates innovation success from failure is communication. After all, sustainable and successful transformation requires us to communicate, communicate, communicate. And then? Communicate some more. When communication is at its best, so is innovation, and here is why:

1. Unlike invention, innovation can’t exist without communication.

The lonely innovator is a myth. Solo innovation does not exist. Unlike invention, it’s a team sport. Working in solitude may lead to invention, but not innovation because it requires communication with others.

Innovation only happens thanks to groups of people working together to achieve specific goals. It is at its best when it’s a result of communicating across inclusive, diverse, cross-functional teams that are empowered to make decisions and enact change. As a leader, it’s your job to create an environment where teams like these can emerge and succeed.

2. Digital transformation requires focused communication.

The internet transports hundreds of millions of emails, not to mention countless media posts and news articles, every hour of the day. As a result of digitization, we are bombarded with information that we often can’t even comprehend.

As you execute on digital transformation initiatives, you will inevitably make it much easier to communicate, leading to a higher volume of content. It’s essential that you plan for that and communicate precisely and consistently, thus helping separate the important content from the noise.

3. Ecosystem co-innovation puts communication into the spotlight.

Customer experience gets a lot of credit, and rightfully so, but when it comes to innovation, you’re looking at the entire ecosystem, not just pockets of the population. To bring change, you must communicate effectively with multiple audiences, understanding what they care about and how best to connect with them.

Internally, the focus is not just on your employees, but also on your fellow leaders, managers, executives and stakeholders. Externally, you’re speaking to your customers and partners of course, but you also want to make your voice heard by the rest of your industry, competitors, collaborators and the public, as many of them are potential consumers or employees.

Innovation is also about constant active listening and is impossible without an inclusive dialogue. If you don’t listen, you’ll never understand what problems your customers, employees and partners have that you can solve with innovation.

Communicate or get left behind.

Despite all the above, open avenues of communication and transparency are lacking in most companies, causing employees to lose focus and disengage, executives to discard innovation as a trend and the public to lose interest in your efforts. Clear, consistent communication is rare, and normally focuses on messaging, not listening.

Ironically, investment in communications is generally the last priority in many innovation teams or programs. Leaders pour money into hardware, software and engineering capabilities, basically anything but communications. The irony is undeniable: Given the pace of technology, many technical skills will be obsolete within a few years, but leaders are happy to fund their development. Communication skills and shared institutional knowledge, however, will stay with employees throughout the rest of their careers, benefitting all.

As a leader, you must understand the importance of communication and fund it properly. Your vision, strategy, plan and metrics must then be communicated both internally and externally. Your goal is to demonstrate the value you are generating and how your organization is capturing that value to help employees, customers, partners and the public.

As you consider how your organization will shape the future, don’t forget to communicate, communicate, communicate.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By Alex Goryachev

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Alex Goryachev is a Chief Innovation Officer specializing in Strategy, Digital Transformation & Global Ecosystem Development. Read Alex Goryachev’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

In News

When Communication Is At Its Best, So Is Innovation

February 28, 2022 No Comments

By Alex Goryachev