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I’m running an agency at 24. Here’s what I do differently

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By MJ Widomska.

I founded my content marketing studio when I was 22. I’d already been a full-time social media freelancer for about three years, and I thought I’d been through it all – highs and lows with clients big and small, stints at advertising agencies, meetings and tedious admin.

In early 2018 projects just kept coming, and I decided it’s time to expand. I thought it wouldn’t be any different, really (big misconception), and I can handle it no matter what (debatable).

As I’m writing this, I’m 24 and my agency is nearing its second birthday. We’re now a team of five residing in a small office in East London – not the biggest enterprise the world has seen, but I wouldn’t have thought it possible two years ago.

I’d always preferred to stay quiet about my age. I believe we should be judged by the quality of our work, and I suspect many people would equate my age with a lack of experience. Or, worse, take it as a sign I could be taken advantage of, offered unpaid – or underpaid – gigs.

Beyond ageism

Ageism in the marketing industry is alive and well. It tends to hit those on the other side of the spectrum than me the most, though. It is an industry where fresh ideas are valued above all, and fresh ideas are often unfairly associated with youth. I don’t want to participate in spreading that mindset.

So, I kept my age to myself, considering it nothing but a liability. But we all grow up in different times and circumstances, and as a result, end up with different worldviews. They are all equally valuable.

One day, as I was talking to a friend, I noticed how surprised he was to find out I supplemented my income in the early days of my career by building websites, designing flyers and creating illustrations.

Indeed, I spent so much time on my laptop in my teens that by the time I was 19, I was a junior social media manager, junior copywriter, junior web developer, junior graphic designer and a junior illustrator rolled into one. That’s because I grew up in precarious times, in a bad economy, with pretty bleak prospects. I knew I had to diversify my skillset from a very young age.

Turns out, growing up in the 2000s and early 2010s brought a lot of valuable lessons.

Seeing the potential in others

I was still a teen when I landed my first freelance gig.

I wouldn’t be where I am now without the clients who took a chance on me (just like Abba). My first client, who had a 19-year-old Eastern European me running all his socials, and who recommended me to other clients. A PR consultant who taught me to stop using emojis in emails (yes, I needed to be told). An agency that kept giving me more responsibilities because they believed I could handle it. Another agency which had me sit in on all the big scary meetings, so I had an opportunity to learn. A client who thought I had potential and allowed me to spread my wings — the same client who believed in me even if I messed up.

I like to extend all of the kindness I received to marketing juniors. When I need help on a project, I’m not overlooking people with little to no relevant experience, no matter their age — I’m looking for someone I could believe in.

Flexible working

The marketing industry is no stranger to flexible working. I don’t believe the future of creative work relies on a rigid eight hour working day.

Therefore, if a 9 to 5 isn’t your thing, I trust you’re able to deliver what’s asked of you within a reasonable timeline. I work with adults, I’m not running a daycare — I don’t need to know where you are as long as the work is done.

Be prepared for everything

Would you like to know how to set Gen Z and millennials apart? Since no one agrees what the exact cut-off year between the two is, follow this handy guide instead:

Have they grown up in the era of economic prosperity, and entered the workforce just before, or during the financial collapse of the late 2000s? Have they been surprised to realise they will most likely be financially worse off than their parents? They’re a millennial.

Has the 2008 crisis marked their childhood or teenage years? Have they grown up in a precarious economy and entered the workforce fully aware that they may never buy a house or expect a traditional career path? They’re Gen Z.

I was 12/13 when the market collapsed. Even though it didn’t affect me directly back then, I was aware something has changed for good. I was a teen when the political upheaval in Europe started, and I was in my late teens when environmental issues became a mainstream issue. Any illusions of a safe world I had as a kid were quickly dispersed. It became apparent that if I follow my mum’s (literature teacher) or my dad’s (radio journalist turned writer) paths, I will never buy a house. Hell, I will probably never buy a house anyway. And I may not be able to retire for a very, very, very long time.

If I live long enough for retirement, that is – given that most climate emergency projections paint a catastrophic view of the 2050s. My earliest retirement year is 2063.

So, my constant need for self-improvement is pretty much fueled by existential anxiety. Can’t think of a better motivation!

Everyone’s time is valuable

I coded websites for a living, so when the time came to let someone else code mine, I wasn’t cutting costs. I know how much of your time and heart goes into building a website.

I used to create illustrations for clients, so I wouldn’t offer the illustrators I commission an unfair deal. I remember how soul-crushing it was to receive negative feedback on your art.

My early freelance experiences in various roles helped me empathise with how valuable everyone’s time is. I’ve met freelancers-turned-agency-owners who charged the clients double the day rate they paid the freelancer. I’ve met people who never freelanced and charged the client triple the day rate while cutting the costs as much as they could.

If I believe a freelancer’s work is worth £500 a day and the client agrees, I’m not going to pay them £250 and pocket the rest. They get the whole thing.

The power of belief

Which brings me to my next point – I have opinions I feel strongly about. I don’t just talk about ethics because I heard that’s what the kids like now: I am the kids in question. If I don’t run my business ethically, I won’t be able to look at myself in the mirror. I genuinely believe that we can all do our part in making the world a better place.

This translates itself to the work I do as well. I want it to be meaningful. I want it to be inclusive.

By MJ Widomska.

MJ Widomska, founder and creative director, YRS TRULY

Sourced from The Drum

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The Ultimate Guide to Writing Blog Posts that Rank in Google’s Top 10

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By Oscar

Blogging is crucial for every web business to progress in the digital realm. But what most people forget is the fact that blog posts require frequent updating. Competition fumes up every day in the blogging world, making it very difficult for websites to survive. A great deal of pressure is on marketers that require publication of blogs that are crisp, unique, and updated as well. More or less successful blogging requires only one thing, and that is “consistency.” Without consistency, your content is just like a piece of plastic floating on the surface of the ocean, just lying there without any purpose, like garbage. Blogging is more like an inbound strategy aimed at generating more qualified leads. Even studies support the fact that blogging acquires 126% more leads.

As we move into the year 2020, it’s crucial for marketers to level up their blogging game. Old generic tactics for blogging aren’t going to work in 2020. Every New Year starts with a banging resolution, and your resolution this year should be to publish content that not only speaks for itself but leaves a significant impact on your audience search queries as well. Content that is able to speak for itself but fails to rank in Google’s top 10 isn’t going to do any good to you in the long run. All the blogs that you put forth should be able to convert into the maximum amount of leads and sales.

I have curated this blog, specifically for marketers who either don’t know their way around towards successful blog creation or have lost their touch with it. Hence, follow this guide given below to ensure you create content that compellingly engages your audience, driving towards more leads and sales.

  • Work on the Anatomy of the Blog Post

Every successful blog requires one thing in its initial phase, and that is creating a killer outline. Every great blog should start with a catchy yet compelling headline because that’s probably the first thing that attracts the reader’s eye. Next, always add in interesting images and infographics relevant to your topic. Then write a creative introduction. Your introduction should have the power to engage your readers quickly. Introduction is a crucial element of a blog that can either make or break your blog. It’s the only thing that will keep your audience from visiting your competitor’s website.

After you have given an outstanding introduction, highlight your main points in either a paragraph or bullet points, and briefly explain them. Always give a conclusion in the end with an invitation or feedback or probably a call to action would do. Create a comment section as well, where viewers can leave comments about their experiences with your brand or ask queries.

  • Do SEO Like a Pro

On-site SEO always pays off. About 70-80% of users go for organic research and tend to ignore paid research. When you successfully optimize your page for on-page SEO, you are automatically driving more visitors to your website. On-page optimization takes two factors into consideration, and that is the content that you put in and the HTML. Three things that matter the most for on-page SEO and the is the value of content, use of keywords, and the overall user experience.

Your choice of keywords in your blog content shall be overlooked from your audience perspective. Make use of online tools such as a Google AdWords keywords planner and create long-tail keywords. Insert these keywords in the headlines, the content, and in the sub-heading. But always stay mindful of keyword stuffing. Refrain from using your keywords too much and avoid putting them in the wrong places. Such practice is considered demeaning and can even cost you your page since Google tends to take down such pages.

  • Pick Out a Rich Topic

Your customers must always be your top-most priority. Also, pick out a topic that caters to your audience in a useful way. Don’t create content on topics that the internet is already filled with. Try writing on topics that are unique, informative, and inspiring in every way. The audience online craves content that is authentic and follows a genuine idea, so, always incorporate rare ideas that drive originality, concept, and offer fruitful knowledge to your readers.

Other than choosing a mind-blowing topic, also make sure of what keeps on bugging your audience. Keep reviewing comments on blog posts to see if your audience is in need of any assistance. Cater to all their search queries properly. Send them a handful of surveys every now and then to gain relevant insights and keep a follow-up on their experience with your brand. Utilize online tools such as Buzzsumo, to educate yourself on popular posts in your niche. These tips will surely help you in taking your blogs to cloud nine.

  • Insert Stats

Adding statistical information in blogs will surely, add more value. Providing evidence-based content always creates a win-win situation for both the brand and the audience. Conduct an in-depth analysis and incorporate your findings in your introduction. This will make your blog more appealing to your audience, driving them to read more as well as allowing them to keep coming back for more. It’s proven that due to short attention spans, people only read 18% of your blog posts.

Other than your audience, it also benefits Google, as Google is pretty much eager to know what kind of audience is visiting your website. It wants to gain insights on how many users have moved from your page to another, how much time they spend reading your posts, and what they think about your website in general. Thus, when you write a data-driven blog, you are creating more ways for your audience to stay hooked on your website for a longer period of time and always prefer your website, your content, and your brand over anything.

Wrapping Up

Are you ready to level up your blog post-game in Google’s top 10? Are you prepared to see your website on Google’s first page? Then, you have landed just right! Please read this blog thoroughly as it enlists all-important vital points that you should follow to increase your rankings in no time.

By Oscar

Oscar is a passionate digital marketer who has discovered the importance of content in the online world. Currently he is working as the lead of his content team in Wikipedia LLC. Apart from being a wiki expert content producer, he is a book worm who loves to read day in night out.

Sourced from PromotionWorld

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Your Brand Is Your Greatest Asset

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By Blair Brady .

No matter the industry, product, customer or size, a company’s brand is its single most important asset. Your brand isn’t just your logo. It’s how you interact with the world — from your customers to your employees — and it all stems from the brand. So, what do you do with your most important asset? You protect and grow it.

At times, those two things — protect and grow — can seem like two opposing forces. If you protect something, you have to keep it close. But to grow something, you have to give it space. This is why it’s critical that your agency understands the ecosystem that is your brand.

Your brand manifests itself through strategy and identity, experience and storytelling.

Strategy And Identity

Your brand strategy and identity are the essence and foundation of who you are and what you stand for. We use our own brand process to reveal our clients’ brands through five key components: Purpose, Promise, Character, Champions and Assets.

Though a lot goes into crafting each of these components of a brand strategy, at their most basic levels, this is what each one stands for:

Purpose: This is your why. The purpose is very, very high and emotional.

Promise: This is what you do. This is the one thing you promise your customers.

Character: This is who you are. The unique blend of personal human traits that allow your brand to interact with other humans.

Champions: The people who love and advocate for the brand. Anyone who loves you — customers, employees, partners, etc.

Assets: The things you own to deliver on your promise. What your brand owns or does that allows you to uniquely provide your what.

Many people use different terminology for these five components, which is perfectly fine, as long as the adequate level of effort is invested in uncovering and articulating the components of the brand.

This framework articulates the brand’s essence — what it stands for, what and how it delivers, and who it is. This framework provides the foundation for when the brand’s identity comes to life, both visually and verbally. It serves as an internal guide that informs all interactions and representations — from employees to partners to customers. When everything a brand does is couched in this strategic framework, it will be protected from distortion and misrepresentation, commonly referred to as “off strategy.” That’s why it’s so important that the agency working on the creative execution of a brand understands the brand’s strategy and how to translate it.

Brand Experience

Your brand experience is how your brand shows up in the world. This is how people experience the brand. No matter if your company is B2B or B2C, it still interacts with people. This is why it’s critical that when you deploy your brand (again, your most valuable asset), you do so in an intentional way that creates value. In crafting your brand experience, think about why it matters to someone — why should they care? What is their reason to believe? The best brand experiences are designed with the customer at the forefront.

Storytelling

Lastly is brand storytelling. When people experience your brand — through sight and sound — they often have a reaction. Sometimes it’s emotional, sometimes it’s intellectual. These reactions create a story — a story of how a brand makes a person feel or think. The way a brand grows is by telling these stories and putting them out into the world. When someone sees themself in that story, they want to experience it too. This is where the growth occurs, then it multiplies.

The delicate balance of these three entities is critical for a brand and any agency that works with a brand to understand and practice. Your brand is a living, breathing thing. It needs constant attention, evaluation and the freedom and means to interact with the world.

The best advice I can give is to invest in your brand. Campaigns come and go, but your brand should be enduring. And for something to be enduring, it has to be well-crafted and thought out. It must never be addressed with a “this will work for now” mentality. What you save in cutting corners on your brand, you will lose in dividends with off-strategy work. What you gain when you invest in your brand will repay you in multiples in the market.

Feature Image Credit: Getty

By Blair Brady

Blair Brady is CEO & Co-Founder of the award-winning WITH/agency, a creative agency driven by brand strategy.

Sourced from Forbes

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I took the first-ever MasterClass in advertising. Here’s what I learned

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By Jeff Beer.

In a few hours, the founders of award-winning agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners outline their prescription for successful brand creativity.

Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein have not only won every major advertising award ever invented, but more importantly (especially for their clients) they’ve made ads that have become a part of pop culture. Got milk? That’s them. The Sega scream? Yep. The E-Trade Super Bowl monkey? Uh-huh. Budweiser’s talking lizards? Indeed. This year’s big game Doritos dance-off between Lil Nas X and Sam Elliott? Also them.

Their MasterClass, the first from anyone in the business, is pitched as a behind-the-scenes look at their creative process, a breakdown of some of their best work, a deep dive into working at an agency, and a perspective on how to look at the world through a creative lens. The result is basically as advertised! If advertising has a reputation for the sleazier aspects of its trade, Goodby and Silverstein come off as the kooky, nice uncles of Adland. Silverstein, the designer, is a ball of barely contained energy, while Goodby, the copywriter, is all long-haired, Birkenstocked chill.

They don’t get into some of the broader shifting landscapes in their industry, avoiding holding companies versus independent agencies, consultancies, and in-house brand competition, in favor of setting a general tone and approach for the job at hand of making brand communication. It’s an optimistic antidote (or smokescreen) to the levels of panic, paranoia, and politics around job security and industry volatility regularly on display in the steady flow of trade news reporting layoffs and major account changes. This is more like a history lesson combined with a pep talk from two guys who’ve built a career and business on being creative thinkers open to new ideas. They know they’re not curing cancer or working the salt mines and have fun accordingly, and they seem genuinely interested in making ads that don’t suck.

Here are the four most interesting things I learned:

Denial might be a job requirement

If you hang around the advertising industry enough you’ll hear it. Ad agencies claiming they aren’t ad agencies but creative shops, culture communication firms, and any other name they can pass off without expressly referencing their prime reason for existence. Same can be said for the people in advertising: They’re creatives, filmmakers, artists, musicians . . . anything but advertising folk. This cliché doesn’t stop here. In the first lesson, Silverstein describes advertising as art serving capitalism.”We want to be artists in a business world,” he says. And Goodby follows that up with, “We try to make things that aren’t advertising.”

But of course, it’s all advertising.

In later lessons, Goodby acknowledges the identity crisis: “Advertising people have a built-in feeling of guilt about what they do on a daily basis.” While Silverstein says, “It’s not an advertising agency, it’s about how do we communicate to people?”

The entire MasterClass addresses that very question, and turns out the answer is . . . through advertising.

Ad Agency Work 101

For students, the Adland curious, or really anyone interested in how the bajillions of ads we see start out, between the videos and accompanied workbook Goodby and Silverstein actually delve beneath the surface and diagram out things like the taxonomy of an ad agency, breaking down the responsibilities, expectations, and roles across all the major departments: creative, strategy, production, accounts, and culture.

Specific instructions include How To Tell a Story in 30 Seconds. Step 1: Start with the ending, so you know where you’re going. Step 2: Plan everything down to the second. Step 3: Diagram it.

On that last one, Goodby adapts his diagramming technique for his current employees working in the digital age, making a hand-drawn iPhone movie version that ends with the message, “Please learn how to make iPhone movies like this one that will tell you whether your film makes any sense and is actually 30 fucking seconds long . . . . This film was exactly 60 seconds long.”

Even founders get their hands dirty

Given their stature within the ad industry, you wouldn’t expect that these guys need to hustle for new business. But advertising is a nomadic field, with both employees and accounts moving around like chess pieces on a branded board. The lessons go to lengths to show both founders deeply involved in the process of making the work, whether through small video clips of office conversations or breaking down specific campaigns new and old.

But one anecdote stuck out.

Back in 2018, the agency was awarded creative account duties for BMW. But that win began when Goodby flew down to an event at Pebble Beach, somehow wrangled himself a press pass, then just happened to bump into the carmaker’s head of marketing. That move is what got the agency in the room to pitch.

This is all a commercial

If the ad industry needed an ad for kids to consider it for a career, they need look no further than No. 2 of Goodby’s Rules for Creative Vandalism.

“Part of your job is to not do your job: If you, like Jeff, are a writer, you’re going to do a lot of writing. But if you don’t have a boots-on-the-ground mentality—meaning you don’t get out of your cubicle, experience the world, and take the time to refuel your cultural curiosity—you’re going to run out of things to write about. So it’s important to take the time to surf the internet, see movies, travel to foreign lands, and get beat up at punk shows. It may sound crazy, and good luck ever explaining it to your parents, but living your life is as much of your job as your craft.”

It’s also worth reiterating Goodby’s last words in the class workbook, as it can apply to both anyone making ads, but also the brands themselves in how they approach, hire, and approve ideas.

“You’re selling stuff, of course. But in the end, you want to be remembered for things that are human. You want to be remembered for things that are funny and beautiful. You don’t want to be remembered for numbers. . . . If you are appreciating the things around you and communicating that to people, people will listen to you. They’ll care about what you say.”

Feature Image Credit: [Photo: courtesy of MasterClass; BMW; E-Trade; Sega; Cheetos] 

By Jeff Beer

Jeff Beer is a staff editor at Fast Company, covering advertising, marketing, and brand creativity. He lives in Toronto. More

Sourced from Fast Company

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Influencers are putting up paywalls. What does that mean for brands?

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By Kati Chitrakorn.

Influencers are charging fans for a more intimate social media experience, calling the future of brand partnerships into question.

Key takeaways:

  • Influencers with big followings on Instagram and other platforms are starting to put up “paywalls” by charging fans for exclusive content.

  • Some charge a monthly fee to become a “Close Friend” on Instagram, while others are trialling WeChat’s new paywalls. In effect, content quality is becoming a focus.

  • While these payments add another revenue stream for influencers, analysts say brand partnerships will remain as a source of credibility.

Caroline Calloway, a 28-year-old internet personality known for her lengthy Instagram captions, and, more recently, the controversy surrounding her workshops and her relationship with Natalie Beach, started offering her 717,000 Instagram followers the option to sign up for paid access to her “Close Friends” list in August 2019. She decided the content on her Instagram was personal enough to warrant paying for.

“What I do provides value and I should be compensated for that service, just like anyone else,” says Calloway. “A stranger is not entitled to consume what I make, just as I am not entitled to reap the benefits of whatever job they are employed at.”

Patreon, a membership platform that launched in May 2013, lets creators set up pages for subscription payments from patrons by offering certain perks or incentives, and donors can pledge certain sums of money based on those tiers and perks. Today, it counts over 150,000 creators and more than 4 million patrons.

Fans of Calloway can pay a monthly fee of $2 via Patreon to see her “Close Friends” Instagram Stories, or $100 for exclusive content plus a monthly 25-minute FaceTime session with the influencer herself. “Because my content is monthly, I want what I make to be really special and meaningful,” she explains. For Valentine’s Day, she planned to share with her 419 Close Friends the details of her secret boyfriend.

Caroline Calloway

© Caroline Calloway

Gabi Abrão has used Instagram’s Close Friends feature in a similar vein. The 25-year-old Los Angeles-based artist behind the popular meme account @sighswoon, which counts over 104,000 followers, discovered Patreon last summer. “It was a lot of people wanting more from me. They wanted more things about my life and more content,” she says. “I thought about how I could make content that was more personal but have a guaranteed income.”

Abrão currently has 415 subscribers on Patreon: for $3.33 a month, she’ll add users to her Close Friends list on Instagram. For $9, she’ll share a vlog every week on a password-protected Vimeo site. For $55 a month, users can receive merch. Fans who pay the highest tier — $222 a month — receive personal emails from Abrão every week, answering questions, giving advice or just talking about their lives.

Calloway and Abrão aren’t fashion influencers, but the industry has a collection of Instagram personalities who have massive, monetisable audiences: Chiara Ferragni has over 18.5 million followers on Instagram; Aimee Song has 5.5 million. There’s also opportunity for magazine publishers like Vogue — 26.2 million people follow US Vogue on Instagram alone — to offer exclusive behind the scenes content for a fee. (Vogue Business and US Vogue share a parent company, Condé Nast.)

Influencer marketing is a growing industry. The global influencer market is expected to reach $15 billion by 2022, up from $8 billion in 2019, according to Media Kix data. But it’s nascent, and any shift can spell change for the entire category. Last year, Instagram experimented with hiding the number of likes on posts, with the intention of minimising the social pressures that come with social media. Some experts believe if this becomes a permanent feature, it could incentivise brands to spend more on ads and less on posts that feature influencers.

Influencers who develop a second revenue stream through the monetisation of close friends and private groups could be seen as a threat to brand partnerships, as they can drive their own income and might be less likely to want to introduce ads or sponsored content to an already-paying audience.

But it could also be a benefit for brands, as the influencers they work with could be more likely to develop stronger partnerships and produce higher quality content. “It will enable influencers to avoid having ‘one night stands’ with brands and rather focus on creating long-term ambassadorships with brands that are truly authentic to their lifestyle,” says Krishna Subramanian, CEO of influencer marketing and branded content firm Captiv8.

Private subscriptions for fans

“It’s the way of the future,” says Subramanian. “If you look at these fan clubs or VIP memberships that have launched, it’s tied to exclusive, specific types of content being provided by influencers and celebrities.” Erotic models have paved the way here by offering private subscriptions for their most loyal fans on platforms like Onlyfans.

Instagram introduced its Close Friends feature in November 2018 as a way to give users a space to post less curated content, similar to what has become increasingly popular with secondary “Finstagram” accounts. (The launch of Close Friends was a transparent move to recapture the interest of younger people, who were turning to platforms like Snapchat and TikTok for content they don’t want parents, teachers or any unapproved eyes to see.)

According to a spokesperson at Instagram, the Close Friends feature is used by millions of people worldwide today, with the average Close Friends list being around 20 people.

While influencers like Calloway use the Close Friends feature as a hack to charge money for more intimate access, others ask that their fans fund and support specific projects. Former venture capitalist Jenny Gyllander, who runs the product-review Instagram account @thingtesting with 42,700 followers, charges a one-time fee of $100 for a spot on her Close Friends list, which includes exclusive content such as a behind-the-scenes look at her product review journeys. (Three hundred people have been granted access so far, and Gyllander says there’s currently a waitlist.)

Gabi Abrão of @Sighswoon

© Gabi Abrão

This gives creators a way to monetise their work without relying on brand-sponsored posts. It also incentivises them to make more quality content. Millennial astrologer Aliza Kelly charges users anywhere from $5 to $200 a month for varying access to The Constellation Club — which she describes as “a private virtual community built around astrology, magic, spirituality and esotericism”. Of her 28,500 Instagram followers, about 300 have signed up for a paid subscription, which at its most basic level offers access to the chat group on Discord and private Instagram account @constellationclub.

“I’m trying to provide a balance of free content for people to enjoy on my Instagram, while also being able to give paid-for, personalised attention,” she says, like providing birth charts or answers to questions about compatibility.

For Tribe Dynamics president Conor Begley, the opportunity for influencers to monetise their fans “should give more freedom to post content that their audience will find interesting rather than purely branded content. We’ve recently seen a decline in the volume of branded posts being created by influencers that this could be connected to”.

According to Kelly, her fans are global, with most being in the US, followed by Canada, Australia and the UK. She says that the paywall approach has been a significant way to “build a community, scale my business and offer my true dedicated fans the type of quality content they wouldn’t be able to receive on a free basis”.

New forms of social media transactions

While Patreon has helped build out this model, other platforms enable similar transactions. On Twitch, people can buy virtual goods as gifts for creators. TikTok allows users to “tip” live streamers (although some creators have been linking their Venmo handles in their captions so fans can send donations directly). YouTube quietly rolled out a subscription-inspired “join” button in 2018 where fans can pay creators a monthly $4.99 fee in return for rewards such as members-only content, early access to new videos and merch discounts.

In January 2020, WeChat — China’s most popular social messaging app, with over 900 million users — began rolling out optional paywalls on a trial basis. According to the platform, articles published by its 500 most popular accounts received 39,000 views on average in 2019.

Li Huanxin, a content creator with over 500,000 followers on WeChat, was among the first to introduce a paywall to his account, where he publishes commentaries on social issues. His article about WeChat’s new paywalls costs RMB 1 ($0.15) to read and has been purchased over 5,000 times since it was published on 15 January.

The Constellation Club founder Aliza Kelly

© Bridget Badore

Meanwhile, Li Jianqu, who runs a history and politics-focused account, with 33,480 followers, normally has an article open-rate of 37 per cent, far above the industry average of 1.2 per cent. On 17 January, he posted an article discussing issues in Iran that was available to read for RMB 3 ($0.43). Nearly 700 readers paid for the post, accumulating him RMB 2,064 (about $295).

These paywalls don’t always pay dividends. According to data from Tom Boruta, a developer who tracks Patreon statistics under the name Graphtreon, only 2 per cent of Patreon’s creators — 1,393 people — made the equivalent of federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, or $1,160 a month, in October 2017, indicating that in this network initially designed to support creatives, most of the money is still concentrated at the top.

If influencers make money directly from their followers, it would be an added revenue stream, but it doesn’t mean they won’t still go after brand partnerships, says Harry Hugo, co-founder of influencer marketing agency Goat, because being associated with brands like Mac or Gucci still represents a level of clout.

“As influencers get larger, they can monetise in a variety of ways that don’t involve brand partnerships, whether it’s launching their own brand, getting a cut of advertising revenue through YouTube or paid subscription services to exclusive content,” adds Tribe Dynamics’ Begley. “But brand partnerships will continue to be a part of the equation because these brands can have a positive impact on an influencer’s credibility and audience.”

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By Kati Chitrakorn

Sourced from Vogue Business

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When You’re Stumped in a Meeting, Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Say ‘That’s a Great Question’

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By Deborah Grayson Riegel

Try these 10 practical and thoughtful responses instead, which help you stall for time–until you can get it right.

Whether you’re a startup, a new leader, or a seasoned professional taking on new responsibilities, you’re trying to master every aspect of your business. But you can’t have all the answers. No one does. Even so, the thought of getting bombarded with questions from clients or prospects that you can’t answer quickly and intelligently probably keeps you up at night, and it doesn’t get better the next morning.

Theoretical physicist Richard Feynman once remarked, “I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.” (That certainly sounds like something a theoretical physicist might say, doesn’t it?) And while the sentiment is sound–that we should strive to be both curious and challenging about our questions and answers–if you’re facing questions in a meeting or a presentation, you may need a more practical approach.

While you may have already prepared thoughtful responses to the most common questions, there’s the chance a client could ask something you couldn’t have anticipated. (Or, you could have anticipated it, but didn’t). When that happens, you’re going to need to buy yourself a few seconds to collect your thoughts–and your emotions.

In my decades of work as a communication and presentation skills coach, I have found most people use the same phrase to do this: “That’s a great question.” But that’s not a great response. Here’s why:

1. It’s a reflex.

People say “that’s a great question” in the same way my Uber driver says, “Have a safe flight,” when she drops me at the airport, and I reflexively respond with “You too!” My Uber driver is not taking a flight, so my answer makes no sense. Your audience will quickly pick up on the fact that you’re saying it after every question, without thinking. And that detracts from your credibility and likability.

2. You may offend someone.

Imagine that you respond, “That’s a great question!” to the first three people who ask a question, and then don’t say it to the fourth person. He or she may think: “Wait a second. Why wasn’t my question a great question too?”

3. It’s not true.

Yes, some questions are great. But many may be irrelevant, premature, unclear, pointless, hostile, confusing, or personal statements in the form of a question. While you don’t have to opine on the quality of each question (especially aloud), don’t call a question a great one if it isn’t.

So, what can you say in response to a question that will allow you a short stall? Here are 10 thoughtful replies:

  1. “I’ve given that question a lot of thought…”
  2. “I haven’t thought about it from that perspective. But through that lens…”
  3. “I’m so excited that you asked that!”
  4. “We love that question around here, and here’s why…”
  5. “This question keeps us up at night, too.”
  6. “That’s a very timely question because…”
  7. “Can you give me a little more context for that question?”
  8. “There’s more than one way to answer that, but for now, let me share the simplest answer…”
  9.  “I need a moment to think about that.”
  10.  “You raise a thoughtful question that calls for a thoughtful answer. May I take some time to think this through and get back to you?”

A great question is one that helps you and your clients build trust, credibility, connection, new awareness, and fresh insight. When you avoid answering solely based on reflex, you can save “that’s a great question” for the ones that truly are.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Deborah Grayson Riegel

Sourced from Inc.

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What the Hell Is That Device, and Is It Spying on You? This App Might Have the Answer

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Sourced from Vice.

Since companies won’t secure the internet of broken things, researchers are trying to educate consumers as to the security and privacy risks.

There’s really no escaping the internet of broken things.

On any given day, Americans connect thousands of internet-enabled devices to the internet, despite repeated warnings from cybersecurity experts that such devices often lack even the most rudimentary privacy and security protections.

The results haven’t been pretty. From “smart” televisions that hoover up your living room conversations to webcams that can be hacked and used in DDoS attacks in a matter of seconds, the problem is monumental. And it’s enabled by companies that routinely prioritize profits over consumer privacy, security, or the well being of the internet.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have released a beta of an app they hope can address some of these problems. Dubbed the The Internet of Things (IoT) Assistant, (iOS, Android) the app will scan any unidentified IOT nearby, tell you what they do, and guide you toward the ability to opt out of data collection (assuming such an option exists).

IOT devices are often designed with little to no end user transparency into what devices do once they’re connected to the internet. Studies have shown IOT devices routinely collect far more data than consumers realize, then sell and share that data with a laundry list of companies.

One recent study showed a popular IOT camera made contact with 52 unique global IP address destinations when transmitting data, while one Samsung television made contact with 30 different IP addresses. Some of these points of contact are innocuous, and some aren’t. Few are revealed to consumers, and often the data isn’t secure in transit.

“Many people do a pretty poor job disclosing what data they collect and what they do with it,” Professor Norman Sadeh, a CyLab faculty member in Carnegie Mellon’s Institute for Software Research told Motherboard. “Sometimes this is intentional, sometimes it’s due to a lack of expertise, and sometimes it’s a combination—privacy engineering is challenging.”

Some efforts, like Princeton’s open source IOT Inspector, have tried to help consumers take a closer look at IOT device traffic itself in a bid to see what’s collected and where it’s sent.

Sadeh says his group’s new app takes a different approach.

“We don’t rely on scanning in this release,” Sadeh said. “In general, it’s not sufficient—especially when the traffic is encrypted, which ideally would always be the case. Even if traffic is unencrypted—which is a red flag—this will not tell you how long the data is retained.”

Instead, the new app relies on a database compiled by volunteers, cybersecurity experts, and companies trying to simplify compliance with new privacy legislation like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) or Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

“People need to be informed about what data is collected about them and they need to be given some choices over these processes,” Sadeh said. “We have built an infrastructure that enables owners of IoT technologies to comply with these laws, and an app that takes advantage of this infrastructure to empower people to find out about and control data collected by these technologies.”

Sadeh said such solutions are particularly important in bringing some transparency to the ever expanding use of IOT surveillance in public areas, where signs will sometimes inform the public they’re being watched, but little else.

“These signs tell you nothing about what is being done with your footage, how long it’s going to be retained, whether or not it uses facial recognition, or with whom this is going to be shared,” Sadeh said. He’s hopeful his app, once the database is fleshed out, can help fix that.

Sadeh’s team at Carnegie Mellon aren’t the only ones trying to address the IOT problem. Consumer Reports has also been building an set of open source standards to include privacy and security issues in product reviews, letting consumers avoid dubious products before they even have a chance to make it into your home.

Sourced from Vice.

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To boost subscribers and ad revenue, publishers should grow social media followers

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Sourced from WNIP What’s New In Publishing 

Social media has quickly become one of the most valuable ways for people to discover and engage with sites they love.

Whether you measure your social media following through the number of Twitter follows, YouTube subscribers, Facebook likes or other social metrics, having a loyal group staying connected to your website or brand is essential to growing Average Revenue Per Visitor (ARPV) and Lifetime Value (LTV).

Check out some of the reasons that the value of social followers is critical to growing digital publisher audiences, subscribers and revenue.

You will have a consistent presence in front of your target audience

Social media followers have already shown an interest in your site, which gives you an audience of people who want to read your content and learn more about the products and services you offer, including articles, newsletters, digital subscriptions and more.

In fact, consumers who are brand loyal are most likely to engage with the company through social media.

According to MarketingSherpa, 95% of consumers aged 18-34 will follow companies or brands they love through their social media outlets.

To keep your audience engaged and make them loyal followers, you want to make sure that you consistently post to keep their interest.

Your content can reach an exponential audience

One of the beauties of social media is that information can be shared with a simple click. Your social followers become part of your marketing campaign by re-posting content on their feeds and sharing it with other users.

This can help you grow your readers since they are most likely to forward the information to others they think will be interested as well.

If done well, one simple post can be circulated numerous times and for months to come, all for little cost to the company.

Followers are more likely to have higher conversion rates

The ultimate goal of any marketing campaign is to turn leads into customers, and for publishers, this means turning those followers into active subscribers.

By them following your company on social media, you have already achieved the most important first step to conversion, which is interest and engagement.

By following you on social media, they have shown that they like your content and what you have to say, and becoming a subscriber is likely the next logical step.

Social media is here to stay

Even though social media marketing has been around for a long time, and there are numerous competitors vying for attention, it is and will continue to be one of the most widely used digital platforms that can reach a large audience in a short amount of time.

According to We Are Social, there are more than 3.84 billion social media users active in 2020, which is an increase of 288 million since January 2019. It is also estimated that a large portion of users will spend an average of two and a half hours each day interacting with social media — finding your content or your competitor’s.

For digital publishers, this means a significant time frame to capture their audience’s attention every day.

Michael Yeon, VP Marketing, Admiral

Sourced from WNIP What’s New In Publishing 

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1000 Infographics Templates Presentations

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Sourced from weandthecolor.com

Download 1000 infographics templates for Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop or presentation software such as Powerpoint, Keynote, and Google Slides.

Today we are glad to present to you another outstanding bundle of infographics templates designed by Oleksii Kolosov. Equipped with 1000 fully editable infographics, this bundle includes everything you need to create business reports, presentations as well as other diagrams and charts. The infographics can be edited using professional graphic design tools such as Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. They are also well suited for presentation tools such as Powerpoint, Keynote, and Google Slides. If you download the bundle today, you get free lifetime updates.

This amazing bundle includes Parallax slides, abstract infographics, flowcharts, cycle infographics, isometric illustrations, line infographics, medical infographics, ecological presentation templates, arrows, diagrams, maps, minimalist graphics, business infographic presentations, doodle infographics, puzzle infographics, photo slides presentations, timeline infographic presentations, and flat animated illustrations. For further information, just click on the following link.

Download at Creative Market.

Infographics templates presentations
Infographics templates presentations

Download at Creative Market.

Do not hesitate to browse through our Templates category to find other graphics. In addition, you can find lots of inspiring projects in our Graphic Design category.

Sourced from weandthecolor.com

 

 

 

 

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