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The ‘Sift’ strategy: A four-step method for spotting misinformation

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By Amanda Ruggeri

Pioneered by digital literacy experts, the “Sift” strategy is a technique for spotting fake news and misleading social media posts, says Amanda Ruggeri.

It’s no secret that misinformation is rampant on social media. And it’s even more so in some subjects than others. Research has found, for example, that around two-thirds of the most popular YouTube videos on vaccines contain misinformation. The fall-out can be dire: an uptick in inaccurate anti-vaccination content online correlates with a decline in vaccination coverage, especially among children. That has led to larger outbreaks of potentially deadly diseases, like measles, than have been seen in recent years.

“Misinformation is worse than an epidemic,” Marcia McNutt, president of the US National Academy of Sciences, put it in 2021, implicitly referring to the Covid-19 pandemic. “It spreads at the speed of light throughout the globe and can prove deadly when it reinforces misplaced personal bias against all trustworthy evidence.”

HOW NOT TO BE MANIPULATED

In today’s onslaught of overwhelming information (and misinformation), it can be difficult to know who to trust. In this column, Amanda Ruggeri explores smart, thoughtful ways to navigate the noise. Drawing on insights from psychology, social science and media literacy, it offers practical advice, new ideas and evidence-based solutions for how to be a wiser, more discerning critical thinker.

There are many reasons why misinformation travels so quickly – according to some research, even faster than accurate information. One reason is that people are far more likely to share a claim when it confirms their pre-existing beliefs, regardless of its accuracy. This cognitive bias may help explain why even more misinformation seems to be shared by individuals than by bots. One study, for example, found that just 15% of news sharers spread up to 40% of fake news.

That’s a sobering statistic, but there’s an upside. As long as individuals are the ones responsible for sharing so much misinformation, we’re also the ones who – by being more mindful of what we “like”, share, and amplify – can help make the greatest change.

When it comes to not falling for misinformation, being aware of our human fallibilities, such as our quickness to believe what we want to believe, is a good first step. Research shows that even being more reflective in general can “inoculate” us against believing fake news.

But it’s not the only thing that we can do. In particular, researchers have found there are several simple, concrete strategies that we all can (and should) use, especially before we’re tempted to share or repeat a claim, to verify its accuracy first.

One of my favourites comes with a nifty acronym: the Sift method. Pioneered by digital literacy expert Mike Caulfield, it breaks down into four easy-to-remember steps.

Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images STOP: Take a moment before you hit 'share' (Credit: Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images)Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images
STOP: Take a moment before you hit ‘share’ (Credit: Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images)

1. S is for… Stop

Perhaps one of the most pernicious aspects of the modern era is its urgency. Thanks to everything from our continual phone use to nonstop work demands, far too many of us seem to be navigating the world at a dizzying speed.

Being online, where both news cycles and content are especially fast-paced and often emotive, can put us in a particularly “urgent” mindset. But when it comes to identifying misinformation, immediacy is not our friend. Research has found that relying on our immediate “gut” reactions is more likely to lead us astray than if we take a moment to stop and reflect.

The first step of the Sift method interrupts this tendency. Stop. Don’t share the post. Don’t comment on it. And move on to the next step.

Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images INVESTIGATE: Look deeper into the source (Credit: Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images)Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images
INVESTIGATE: Look deeper into the source (Credit: Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images)

2. I is for… Investigate the source

Posts show up in our social media feeds all the time without us having a clear sense of who created them. Maybe they were shared by a friend. Maybe they were pushed to us by the algorithm. Maybe we followed the creator intentionally, but never looked into their background.

Now’s the time to find this out. Who created this post? Get off-platform and do a web search. And because search results can be misleading, make sure you’re looking at a reputable website. One that fact-checkers often use as a first port of call might surprise you: Wikipedia. While it’s not perfect, it has the benefit of being crowd-sourced, which means that its articles about specific well-known people or organisations often cover aspects like controversies and political biases.

While you’re investigating, ask:

  • If the creator is a media outlet, are they reputable and respected, with a recognised commitment to verified, independent journalism?
  • If it’s an individual, what expertise do they have in the subject at hand (if any)? What financial ties, political leanings or personal biases may be at play?
  • If it’s an organisation or a business, what is their purpose? What do they advocate for, or sell? Where does their funding come from? What political leanings have they shown?

And finally, once you’ve run your analysis (which can take just a couple of minutes), the most telling question of all: Would you still trust this creator’s expertise in this subject if they were saying something you disagreed with?

Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images FIND: Seek out better coverage (Credit: Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images)Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images
FIND: Seek out better coverage (Credit: Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images)

 

3. F is for… Find better coverage

If, from the previous step, you find that you still have questions about the source’s credibility, now’s the time to dig a little further. What you’re looking for is whether a more trustworthy source, like a reputable news outlet or fact-checking service, has reported and verified the same claim.

No surprise, but I find Google has some of the best tools for doing this. Obviously, there’s Google itself, and if you’re specifically looking to see if news outlets have covered something, Google News.

But I sometimes prefer to use the Google Fact Check search engine, which searches just fact-checking sites, specifically. Just keep in mind that Google says it doesn’t vet the fact-checking sites it includes, so to make sure your results are reputable, you’ll need to do a little further sleuthing – I like to see if an outlet has signed up to Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network, which you can check here.

If it’s a photo you’re investigating, use a reverse image search tool to see where else the image comes up online. Google has one, but I also like TinEye and Yandex. (You can also use these for video: take a screenshot from the video and put that in for your image search).

Your goal? To see whether there are any credible sources reporting the same information as what you’re seeing, and saying that it’s verified.

Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images TRACE: Find the original context (Credit: Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images)Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images
TRACE: Find the original context (Credit: Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images)

4. T is for… Trace the claim to its original context

Often, you’ll wind up doing this at the same time that you’re trying to find better coverage, at least if you’re using the tools mentioned above. But the idea here is a little different. You’re trying to find out where the claim came from originally.

Even if you see that a claim has been reported on by a credible media outlet, for example, it may not be original reporting; they may have gotten that claim from another outlet. Ideally, the original story should be linked – so always go there – but if it’s not, you may need to search for it separately.

Crucially, you want to figure out not just whether something like this really is true, but whether anything was taken out of context. If you’re looking at an image, does how it was described in the social media post you saw line up with what its original caption, context, and location? If it’s a quotation from a speaker, was anything edited out or taken out of context or, when you see their full interview or speech, does it seem like perhaps they misspoke in that moment?

Taking these steps before deciding whether to simply share a claim might feel onerous. But the time investment of just a few minutes may save you not only embarrassment – but help ensure you’re not spreading misinformation that, at its most dramatic, can even lead to illness and death.

Today, anyone can make a claim on social media. And anyone can be the person whose re-sharing of that claim is the one who makes it go viral. That means it’s the responsibility of each one of us to make sure that what we are posting, liking, and sharing is, first and foremost, actually true.

Feature Image Credit: Javier Hirschfeld/Getty Images

By Amanda Ruggeri

Amanda Ruggeri is an award-winning science and features journalist. She posts about expertise, media literacy and more on Instagram at @mandyruggeri.

Sourced from BBC

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Google shows off astonishing vision for how AI will work with Gmail, Photos and more

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By Samantha Murphy Kelly

A day after OpenAI impressed with a startlingly improved ChatGPT AI model, Google showed off an equally stunning vision for how AI will improve the products that billions of people use every day.

The updates, announced at its annual Google I/O developer conference, come as the company is trying to push beyond its core advertising business with new devices and AI-powered tools. Artificial intelligence was so top of mind during the event, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said at the end of the presentation the term “AI” was said 120 times – as counted by none other than its AI platform Gemini.

During the keynote, Google showed how it wants its AI products to become a bigger part of users’ lives, such as by sharing information, interacting with others, finding objects around the house, making schedules, shopping and using an Android device. Google essentially wants its AI to be part of everything you do.

Pichai kicked off the event by highlighting various new features powered by its latest AI model Gemini 1.5 Pro. One new feature, called Ask Photos, allows users to search photos for deeper insights, such as asking when your daughter learned to swim or recall what your license plate number is, by looking through saved pictures.

He also showed how users can ask Gemini 1.5 Pro to summarize all recent emails from your child’s school by analysing attachments, and summarizing key points and spitting out action items.

Meanwhile, Google executives took turns demonstrating other capabilities, such as how the latest model could “read” a textbook and turn it into a kind of AI lecture featuring natural-sounding teachers that answer questions.

Just one day before, OpenAI — one of the tech industry’s leaders in artificial intelligence — unveiled a new AI model that it says will make chatbot ChatGPT smarter and easier to use. GPT-4o aims to turn ChatGPT into a digital personal assistant that can engage in real-time, spoken conversations and interact using text and “vision.” It can view screenshots, photos, documents or charts uploaded by users and have a conversation about them.

Google also showed off Gemini’s latest abilities to take different kinds of input — “multimodal” capabilities to take in text, voice or images — as a direct response to ChatGPT’s efforts. A Google executive also demoed a virtual “teammate” that can help stay on top of to-do lists, organize data and manage workflow.

The company also highlighted search improvements by allowing users to ask more natural or more focused questions, and providing various versions of the responses, such as in-depth or summarized results. It can also make targeted suggestions, such as recommending kid friendly restaurants in certain locations, or note what might be wrong with a gadget, such as a camera, by taking a video of the issue via Google Lens. The goal is to take the legwork out of searching on Google, the company said.

The company also briefly teased Project Astra, developed by Google’s DeepMind AI lab, which will allow AI assistants to help users’ everyday lives by using phone cameras to interpret information about the real world, such as identifying objects and even finding misplaced items. It also hinted at how it would work on augmented reality glasses.

Google said that later this year it will integrate more AI functions into phones. For example, users will be able to drag and drop images created by AI into Google Messages and Gmail and ask questions about YouTube videos and PDFs on an Android device.

And in a move that will likely appeal to many, a new built-in tool for Android will help detect suspicious activity in the middle of a call, such as a scammer trying to imitate a user’s bank.

According to analyst Jacob Bourne, from market research firm Emarketer, it’s no surprise AI took centre stage at this year’s Google developer conference.

“By showcasing its latest models and how they’ll power existing products with strong consumer reach, Google is demonstrating how it can effectively differentiate itself from rivals,” he said.

He believes the reception of the new tools will be an indicator of how well Google can adapt its search product to meet the demands of the generative AI era.

“To maintain its competitive edge and satisfy investors, Google will need to focus on translating its AI innovations into profitable products and services at scale,” he said.

As the company grows its AI footprint, it said it will introduce more protections to cut down on potential misuse. Google is expanding its existing SynthID feature to detect AI-generated content. Last year, the tool added watermarks to AI-generated images and audio.

Google said it is also partnering with experts and institutions to test and improve the capabilities in its new models.

Although the company has doubled down on artificial intelligence in the past year, it also met significant roadblocks. Last year, shortly after introducing its generative AI tool — then called Bard and since renamed Gemini — Google’s share price dropped after a demo video of the tool showed it producing a factually inaccurate response to a question about the James Webb Space Telescope.

More recently, the company hit pause in February on Gemini’s ability to generate images of people after it was blasted on social media for producing historically inaccurate images that largely showed people of colour in place of White people.

Gemini, like other AI tools such as ChatGPT, is trained on vast troves of online data. Experts have long warned about the shortcomings around AI tools, such as the potential for inaccuracies, biases and the spreading of misinformation. Still, many companies are forging ahead on AI tools or partnerships.

Apple may be interested in licensing and building Google’s Gemini AI engine, which includes chatbots and other AI tools, into upcoming iPhones and its iOS 18 features, Bloomberg reported in March. The company is also reportedly talking to ChatGPT creator OpenAI.

Feature Image Credit: Google. Sundar Pichai speaks about Gemini 1.5 pro during Google I/O developer conference today. 

By Samantha Murphy Kelly

Sourced from CNN Business

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A Five-Step Guide For Businesses To Master A Cookie Audit

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By Jodi Daniels

When you think of your favorite cookie, you might picture a recipe that you’ve had since childhood. It’s tasty, nostalgic and part of its charm is that it hasn’t changed in 20+ years.

But while an unchanging tradition is ideal for your beloved baked goods, it’s a recipe for trouble when it comes to website cookies.

Website cookies aren’t stagnant things that you can set and forget. With changing regulations, consumer sentiment and technological advancements, businesses need to mitigate risk with a regular cookie audit.

While audits are usually no one’s idea of fun, a cookie audit for your business doesn’t have to be complicated.

Here are five steps you can take to execute an effective cookie audit for your business.

1. Identify and categorize the cookies you already have.

First and foremost, know what you’re working with. Catalogu existing cookies on your website (all of them) and separate them by type:

As you catalogue, check that they’re all labelled correctly. Lumping them all together as “strictly necessary” won’t give insight into your cookie practices… and could lead to overstepping compliance requirements (just because you might think it’s necessary for your business doesn’t mean privacy laws do).

Cookie consent software is helpful here. They can automate cookie discovery and categorization, making the process faster and easier. (It’s not entirely hands-off, though—you still need to regularly review the results and ensure proper categorization!)

2. Review what data privacy jurisdictions apply to your business.

Once you have an accurate cookie inventory, review which jurisdictions apply to your organization. Remember, ignorance is not absolution from the law.

Different countries and states have wide-ranging consumer privacy requirements for businesses, and these laws have different thresholds and policies for website cookies. Broadly speaking, though:

• Under GDPR’s jurisdiction, users need to opt-in to cookies

• Under the many state-level privacy laws in the United States, users need to opt out of cookies

But, as we said, this is broadly speaking.

For businesses that operate out of or serve clients or customers in Colorado, California, Connecticut and a growing list of other states, regulations require a universal opt-out requirement for cookies (also known as global privacy control).

California’s cookie policies are particularly involved. Under California law, businesses must include a link that says “Do Not Sell/Do Not Share My Personal Information” on the home page (usually done with a link in the footer) or companies can use the Your Privacy Choices icon (don’t forget to use the words and the icon).

3. Reexamine the purpose and efficacy of your cookies.

You’ve categorized your cookies (thanks to Step 1). But have you looked at what information your cookies are collecting?

This evaluation extends beyond noting business purposes. It impacts your jurisdictional privacy obligations. (Refer back to Step 2.) For example, do your cookies collect health data? Are they targeting based on health data? This could pose regulatory concerns regarding HIPAA, the FTC and states like Washington with its new consumer health privacy legislation.

You should also look at where this data goes. What third parties have access to it?

Just as importantly, have you made your consumers aware of this? If it’s not in your privacy notice, get it in there.

4. Build/test/review your cookie consent banner.

Depending on applicable jurisdictions, you may need a cookie consent banner on your website. Even if it isn’t strictly required, cookie consent banners can increase the trust between you and your consumer by creating transparency surrounding your data collection practices.

If you’re building a cookie banner, it needs to make sense. It should be:

• Visible

• Easy to understand

• Accurate

Your cookie banner should also:

• Include proper language that describes the purpose of cookies

• Include options to exercise rights

• Link to your privacy notice

• Be formatted without “dark patterns,” e.g., font/color/box shape discrepancies that push the consumer to “accept” rather than “reject” cookies. These can show up in numerous forms, but they’re uniformly detrimental to exercising privacy rights.

If you’ve got cookie banners in place, that’s great. However, they should also be part of your cookie audit.

Make sure your established cookie banner and cookie consent settings are up to date. If you add or remove cookies from your website, update accordingly (this includes your cookie consent software and your cookie policy, not just your cookie banner).

Test your banner to make sure the tech works correctly. If it says “reject,” does it block cookies from firing? Walk through each step of the process as if you were the consumer. Make sure cookies are getting blocked if the user opts out. If your banner isn’t functioning correctly, troubleshoot the issue to prevent any perception of deceptive business practices.

5. Document everything and review the results with your team.

Throughout your cookie audit, document your findings, issues, solutions and any changes required.

As you make changes to your privacy practices, make sure they are reflected in your privacy policy; your privacy policy should contain an up-to-date description of your data activities that is accurate to your current practices, not aspirational.

Once your cookie audit is complete, create an internal standard and controls for cookie practices. This can be used for a consistent approach for future cookie audits.

Consumer data privacy isn’t a requirement for a single department or team. It often involves teams like legal and compliance, marketing, HR, IT, web development, and, of course, executive leadership. Ensure that anyone who works with consumer data is kept up to date with any changes in your cookie policy and any new requirements they must follow.

Clear and transparent communication between your departments—and between you and the consumer—will help mitigate risk and build trust. It’s just good business.

Feature Image Credit: GETTY

By Jodi Daniels

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

Jodi Daniels is a privacy consultant and Founder/CEO of Red Clover Advisors, one of the few Women’s Business Enterprises focused on privacy. Read Jodi Daniels’ full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

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ChatGPT with GPT-4o — I cannot remember the last time I was this blown away by a piece of technology

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By Ryan Morrison

It laughs!

OpenAI outshone Apple during last night’s spring update livestream. This happened in terms of hype before the event and the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the products being announced by the team. As CEO Sam Altman said: “It feels like magic”.

The biggest announcement was the model GTP-4o which will power ChatGPT for both paid and free users. Unlike large language models, this is an omnimodal model, capable of taking in anything from text to video and outputting speech, text and even 3D files.

We used to talk about the iPhone moment when Steve Jobs changed the cell phone industry forever, and then in November 2022 we began to talk about the ChatGPT moment. This was another industry-defining product and I think OpenAI has done it again.

I’ve covered a lot of product announcements over a 20+ year career and this is the most exciting I’ve been to try a new product ever. If Altman is to believed, this is only just the beginning.

Why is GPT-4o such a big deal?

GPT-4o (or, the Omni model) brings a new way to interact with information. Instead of typing, you can just have a conversation or show it a video and get a voice response without any delay.

This response won’t be the slightly monotone of other assistants or the faux inflections of the previous generation of ChatGPT Voice — it is a natural-sounding voice with laughter, emotion and inflections that react in real-time to your conversation.

The full multimodal features with the ability to talk naturally using speech-to-speech are still being rolled out slowly, but even the chat version — conversing in text and pictures — is faster and more responsive than its predecessors.

Altman wrote in his blog: “Talking to a computer has never felt really natural for me; now it does. As we add (optional) personalization, access to your information, the ability to take actions on your behalf, and more, I can really see an exciting future where we are able to use computers to do much more than ever before.”

What might this future look like?

One day, and probably not as far away as many people think, this technology will power robots that work with us or serve us in our homes.

The small black dot you talk to and that talks back is as big of a paradigm shift in accessing information as the first printing press, the typewriter, the personal computer, the internet or even the smartphone.

These will be robots we can converse with like a friend and ask to do complex tasks and have it both understand and respond.

Somebody will fall in love with GPT-4o.

Even in the short term, as OpenAI rolls out iPad, iPhone and laptop apps for ChatGPT with voice and vision capabilities we’ll see it take on the role of tutor, coding assistant, financial advisor and fitness coach — and do so without judgment.

What we’re witnessing — and other companies will catch up — is the dawn of a new era in human-computer interface technology.

Omni models don’t require the AI to first convert what you say to text, analyze the text and then convert that back to speech — they understand what we say natively by analysing the audio, the inflections in our voice and even live video feeds.

The small black dot you talk to and that talks back is as big of a paradigm shift in accessing information as the first printing press, the typewriter, the personal computer, the internet or even the smartphone.

Feature Image credit: OpenAI

By Ryan Morrison

Sourced from tom’s guide

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20 Tips For Starting A Business Podcast The Right Way

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Sourced from Forbes

In recent years, podcasts have exploded in popularity to become an enticing platform for comedians, historians and even royalty to speak on different topics to engaged listeners.

For entrepreneurs in particular, podcasts offer the opportunity to market their business while also establishing a direct connection to their target audience.

With so many people hopping on the podcast bandwagon, any business looking to start one has to carefully consider how they can stand out from the crowded market and what value they can offer listeners. To help, 20 Forbes Business Council members each share essential tips that will ensure entrepreneurs get started on the right foot.

1. Determine Your Target Audience

Identify your target demographic and meticulously discern their preferences, both in content and presentation. Harness the potential of guest engagement, maintain a steady cadence of content publication and relentlessly promote your podcast. Consider what sets your podcast apart. Then craft a distinctive tone while avoiding contrived efforts, as authenticity remains the favoured attribute among audiences. – Yasmin Walter, KMD Books

2. Focus On What Sets You Apart

If you’re starting a podcast, focus on value. Determine what your business has that sets it apart and is able to offer in terms of solutions. Customize your content to match your audience’s needs. Engagement is a major factor, so respond to the listeners’ questions and comments on social media platforms to create a community. Keep in mind that the key to generating an audience is consistency. – Chris Kille, EO Staff

3. Be Consistent

Consistency is key, so make sure you maintain a regular schedule to keep your audience engaged. Invest in quality production for clear audio and engaging content. Interact with your audience, encourage feedback and don’t be afraid to collaborate with experts to expand your podcast’s reach. – Mark Williams, Brokers International

4. Outline A Content Plan

If a business is going to start a podcast first, leaders need to make sure they keep a constant feed of knowledge pouring into the podcast and preplan what listeners want to engage in. This is vital for a podcast to be successful. – Tammy Sons, Tn Nursery

5. Create A Distribution Plan

Starting a podcast in today’s world where everyone is battling for attention is a daunting task. Before you consider starting a podcast, you have to have a distribution plan. You must have other marketing channels established. Whether it’s email, social media, paid marketing, influencer marketing, content creation or something else, you have to figure out distribution before producing a podcast. – Calvin Krainock, Incline Marketing

6. Provide Practical Solutions

Focus on providing practical solutions for the problems of your customers or listeners. If you not only want to attract but also retain your listeners for the long term, you need to ensure your conversations are applicable to their situations. Start with marketing and suitable personalities when you launch, but focus on your topics being relevant and relatable to drive word-of-mouth and longevity. – Akshay Shetty, Guidewire Software

7. Focus On Relevant Topics

Present topics relevant to your audience. We started a podcast back in January called Bridging the Gap. The purpose is to bridge the gap between individuals and health insurance questions, concerns and the unknown. Inclusion of your audience is also key. When viewers feel they are seen and heard, they tend to tune in more frequently. In addition, do live sessions and invite your customers. – Kimberly Branham-Nelson, Nelson and Associates Insurance

8. Diversify Your Guests

Look for quality diversity. Speak to as many different guests as possible. Finding people who have differing ideas to your own often leads to an interesting conversation that opens eyes to new insights. To avoid homogeneity, create healthy debate and encourage several different perspectives to be heard. – Pearl Lam, Pearl Lam Galleries

9. Consider Your Platform Carefully

Personally, I use Buzzsprout for my podcast. They offer great tools to help businesses syndicate their content, format it and create marketing assets to help promote it. With Zapier, I was able to create an automation that blasts a link and synopsis to my list of 35,000 subscribers every time I publish a new episode. This has dramatically helped me increase engagement on my own podcast. – Joe Trusty, Pool Magazine

10. Craft Outbound Marketing Campaigns

Listening in is the outcome of a disciplined process. Create outbound campaigns via LinkedIn and other social media platforms to engage email clients, prospects and centres of influence. Introduce yourself to media focused on your space and position yourself as a thought leader. Research strategies to launch on podcast platforms like Spotify and iTunes. For the podcast itself, focus on the delivery of value to the listener. – Gregory Roll, Touchpoint Associates

11. Deliver Valuable Content

Focus on delivering valuable content that resonates with your target audience. Identify your niche, understand your audience’s needs, provide consistent value, promote your podcast through various channels, encourage listener engagement and optimize for discovery on different podcast platforms. By following these steps, you can increase your chances of attracting and retaining a loyal listener base. – Asaad Hakeem, SARC MedIQ Inc.

12. Combine Education And Entertainment

Make it educational with a flair for entertainment. The best-performing podcasts educate, not sell. Therefore, create content about your expertise and solve problems for potential customers rather than selling your products or services. – Gaidar Magdanurov, Acronis

13. Find Your Niche

The number one mistake I see with new podcasts is a lack of direction. I started a super niche podcast for an industry we serve and I’ve had no problem getting sponsors and listeners. I recommend finding your niche, determining what people in that niche would want to listen to and drawing up your plan. I also suggest having a plan for each episode but don’t be afraid to go off script. – Ryan Lucia, Such n Such Media

14. Prioritize The Community First

I recommend becoming “news media” for the community. I would focus on those in the community I want to impact before I focus on having big stars on. For example, if I own a dentistry, interviewing the city council may have more of an impact than a high-profile celebrity. Community is not just geographic either. If you are in a niche, focus on the people who are well-known in your niche. – Todd Price, Perimeter Roofing

15. Keep It Conversational

Ensure your podcast is conversational. Consider having two hosts versus just one person because it will make it more dynamic. Identify other thought leaders in your specific niche and invite them to your podcast. It is a great way to build a community of like-minded thinkers and provide a depth of ideas. – Chris Williams, Interaction Associates

16. Make It Easy To Find

Optimize and promote smartly. Make sure your podcast is easy to find. Use SEO-friendly titles and descriptions to improve visibility on podcast platforms and search engines. Share snippets and episodes on social media, tapping into hashtags and communities relevant to your podcast’s theme. Encouraging reviews can also significantly boost your podcast’s discoverability, drawing in a wider audience. – Jo Stephens, Law Firm Sites, Inc.

17. Collaborate With Influential Guests

The main key is collaborating with influential guests who can bring their audience, significantly amplifying your podcast’s reach. It’s often easier to attract successful speakers because they’re also looking for platforms to share their content, making it a mutually beneficial partnership. This partnership can significantly amplify your podcast’s visibility and listener base. – Kolja Brand, Aurum Future

18. Include A Video Component

Do it with video. By livestreaming on YouTube, your podcast is now indexed within the largest search engine in the world. You won’t have to spend a penny or second on post-production, and you can answer questions from your audience on a regular basis. Then use programs like Opus Clip to cut up the podcast into reels for TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. – Shane Murphy, UGC Pro

19. Make Listening A Fun And Worthwhile Experience

Podcasts must be fun and worthwhile to listen to. People who listen to podcasts want to learn with a smile. To ensure listeners tune in, offer valuable content tailored to your audience, maintain a consistent schedule, prioritize audio quality, promote across channels, engage with your audience, collaborate and persistently refine your approach. – Atte Suominen, PADEL1969

20. Make It High Quality

There’s only one way for a podcast to grow an audience and succeed: It has to be good. There are no hacks, shortcuts or tricks. We’ve seen with our podcast that good quality content that engages with a very specific audience and is consistently delivered always wins the day. It takes preparation, patience and persistence. It also takes a commitment to adding value. – Mike Esterday, Integrity Solutions

Feature Image Credit: GETTY

Sourced from Forbes

 

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Apple explains why it hasn’t released a touchscreen Mac (yet?)

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The first iPad Pro reviews are here, and as we rounded up earlier today, they focus a lot on the new OLED displays, the M4 chip, and the limitations of iPadOS as a platform. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Apple marketing executive Tom Boger explained how the iPad compares to the Mac, and touched on whether Apple might ever release a touchscreen Mac.

Boger, who serves as Apple’s vice president of Mac and iPad product marketing, explained to Joanna Stern that Apple doesn’t see the two devices as competitors. Instead, the idea is that the Mac and iPad are complementary. The iPad serves as a “touch-first device” while the Mac is for “indirect manipulation.”

“We don’t see them as competing devices. We see them as complementary devices,” Tom Boger, Apple’s vice president of iPad and Mac product marketing, told me in an interview. The iPad, he said, “has always been a touch-first device” while the Mac is for “indirect manipulation”—aka using a keyboard, mouse and/or trackpad.

This naturally brings up the question: will Apple ever release a touchscreen Mac? Joanna tried to get an answer – even a hint – from Boger multiple times:

He remained firm: iPads are for touch, Macs are not. “MacOS is for a very different paradigm of computing,” he said. He explained that many customers have both types of devices and think of the iPad as a way to “extend” work from a Mac. Apple’s Continuity easily allows you to work across devices, he said.

I did ask Boger if Apple would ever change its mind on the touch-screen situation.

“Oh, I can’t say we never change our mind,” he said.

You can read Joanna’s full review over at The Wall Street Journal.

Touchscreen Mac: What do the rumours say?

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has reported that Apple is actively developing touchscreen Macs. The company is reportedly targeting a release date for a MacBook Pro with a touchscreen in 2025.

The MacBook Pro revamp being tested inside Apple retains a “traditional laptop design” that includes a standard trackpad and keyboard. The difference, of course, is that the screen would “support touch input and gestures – just like an iPhone and iPad,” Gurman has reported.

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Is your 2024 marketing strategy really prepared for cookie and election disruption?

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Sourced from The Drum

The demise of third-party cookies and an election year team up to present marketers with both challenges and opportunities.

A once-in-a-lifetime perfect storm of technological disruption and cultural flashpoint is about to descend on the digital marketing landscape, resulting in both short-term challenges and long-term change. Few marketers seem prepared for either.

Here’s what’s on the horizon.

Storm 1: Third-party tracking cookies are going away… even if that day is now further than expected. That means  the days of simply buying data on customers and retargeting them based on the information purchased are limited.

Storm 2: The 2024 election cycle, and all the down-ballot issues that come with a presidential election year, are going to eat up nearly all available ad inventory, driving up costs and driving down ROI.

Taken together, it’s going to be extremely difficult for brands to cut through the noise and target the right audience while trying to maintain efficiency.

But there is a way to weather these headwinds and come out the other side a winner. Spoiler alert, it all points to a strategic investment in first-party data, owned channels, and partnering with companies that have the data to help you execute a winning plan.

First, let’s examine more closely the magnitude of the storms upon us.

Cookie depreciation

Yes, Google keeps delaying its promise to end the use of third-party cookie on Chrome browsers. But what’s interesting is that one of the reasons behind this delay is a lack of industry readiness for a world without cookies.

We’ve seen the headaches that over-reliance on tech solutions can have on brands. Remember when Apple killed Identifier for Advertisers (which matched ads to unique individuals on iOS devices)? Brands advertising heavily on Facebook were hit particularly hard – it took nearly two years to normalize reach and metrics closer to what brands were used to seeing before that iOS update.

Perhaps that’s what has marketers so pessimistic about the future of cookies.

  • Up to 80% of advertisers still rely on third-party cookies today.
  • 70% of marketers raise concerns that digital advertising will take a step backward following the death of the third-party cookie.
  • 69% of advertisers think the death of third-party cookies will have a bigger impact than both GDPR and CCPA.

In a worst-case scenario, according to ad sales company Raptive, a 30% deprecation could easily translate to a 30% drop in revenue for brands relying heavily on cookies.

What’s more, the “Privacy Sandbox” APIs Google is creating for advertisers who remain heavily reliant on cookies is hardly a solution. Google itself says it’s “not intended to be direct, one-to-one replacements for all third-party cookie-based use cases,” according to the company’s blog. Regardless, the required innovation and building of new ad tools on top of Privacy Sandbox will require significant new costs and an entire shift in the development of these tools.

All in all, this is uncharted territory. But it seems clear the financial costs to rebuild an ecosystem will be large. There are lots of unknowns, but the biggest is how will these changes affect revenue, and what’s the new normal for an ROI model with paid ads.

Social is no haven either. Visitors from paid social are almost 40% more likely to bounce from your site than paid search traffic. Instead, social will likely remain a brand awareness play.

Regardless of the source of traffic, if an unknown device hits your site, you need to be prepared to capitalize on that activity.

  • Can you offer up the right value exchange that convinces the customer to opt-in for more information?
  • Are you using identity partners that may have a profile on that device and recognize its potential as a high-value customer?

This is critical information that allows you to engage potential new customers the moment they visit your site. Rather than offering new visitors a generic discount code, you’ll be able to make a more specific, personalized offer that has a far higher chance of converting into an opt in. Or offer a pop up touting a loyalty perk rather than a discount code.

Getting that unknown visitor to convert to an owned channel will then allow you to learn even more about these visitors and refine your offers to them even more, resulting in offers more likely to convert to sales, and ultimately a more long-term loyal customer.

If you can convert 30% of your unknown paid traffic to known contacts, your advertising spend will become far more meaningful.

The election

While the presidential race will get the headlines and no shortage of advertising funds to spend, a large majority of ad dollars will come from congressional and local races. This is where political ad machines will be targeting people based on behaviour and other data.

All those dollars will be spent chasing the same people. They call them voters. You call them customers. Either way, political ads will be chasing the same people on the same platforms, vying for the same inventory. So what does that mean?

Consider this: political ad spend is expected to shatter the previous record of $10 billion that was set during the previous election cycle. Predictions for 2024 election ad spend range from $10bn to $15.9bn. And while the majority of political advertising spend in the US goes to local broadcast TV, an increasing amount is moving toward digital channels.

Digital advertising company Jump saw Meta’s CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) rise from a total of $8 to as high as $15.50 during election week 2020, an overall increase of 94%. This is what’s ahead of us and what marketers need to prepare for.

This isn’t a financial discussion either. Brand safety is always a concern during elections. Political ads from so-called “dark money” groups can be highly inflammatory, and you neer know what kind of ad will show up next to yours.

All the more reason why owned channels are much safer. Be in control of where your message lands by seeking one-to-one communication in the personal and private space of the inbox or as a text message.

3 things you can do

1. Focus on identity

Work with partners who can match unknown site visitors against a database of millions of known devices to identify which are your target customers worth engaging with. Get them opted in as early as possible so you can use owned channels to engage.

2. Leverage owned channels

Once you can identify existing opted-in contacts and convert new site visitors, use triggered email and SMS channels to personalize offers based on their web activity and interest in your products or services. This is far more effective (and far lower cost) than remarketing with paid ads.

3. Provide value

Increase your knowledge of each new customer by offering value in return for zero-party data that allows you to make more personalized offers and recommendations in your one-to-many outbound messaging campaigns.

To learn more about how the depreciation of cookies and the upcoming election cycle will affect marketing budgets and strategies in the year ahead, watch the Wunderkind webinar “Navigate the Turbulence: ROAS Strategies for Brand Marketers in an Election Year” here.

Sourced from The Drum

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How to develop a good newsletter marketing strategy

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By Brennan Doherty

An effective newsletter marketing strategy uses the intimacy of email to reach out to readers and keep them in the loop. Discover useful tips and best practices from publishers for a successful newsletter strategy.

Introduction to newsletter marketing strategy

With the shareability of social media and the adaptability of a blog, newsletters are an ideal tool for independent publishers to reach their audience. For Nicci Kadilak, founder and editor-in-chief of the Burlington Buzz, her newsletter was more than just a marketing tool: it was her entire platform for the first two years.

“It needs to be an essential part of your platform, because it connects readers with you as an individual, not just the news organization as a sort of nameless, faceless entity,” Kadilak says. “It just creates another touch point for you and your readers.”

The Buzz began in February 2022 in Burlington, Massachusetts to cover current events and local government. While it started out of a single Facebook post, it launched as a newsletter-only platform. Now, it boasts an accompanying news website. Kadilak’s daily newsletter lets 1,600 subscribers know about the town of Burlington and how it works in the span of a five minute read.

But it also acts as a critical tool to help grow the Burlington Buzz’s “hive” of paid subscribers, gather news and maintain a warm relationship with readers. Newsletter strategy is not only about growing a publication’s reach, but leveraging the intimacy of email to hit your marketing goals.

Is a newsletter a good marketing strategy?

“Oh gosh, absolutely,” says Corinne Colbert, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Athens County Independent, an indie publisher based in southeast Ohio. “Until we became an Indiegraf publisher and we became part of the News Startup Fund, it was really hard for us to get our name out there.”

The Independent runs a weekly flagship newsletter called The Indy, as well as two other service-oriented newsletters called The Bulletin Board and The Scoop. In the absence of print circulation or door-to-door delivery, Colbert says newsletters act as a distribution strategy to get the Independent’s work in front of audiences, rather than waiting for people to come to them. “It’s a push instead of a pull,” she says. “It’s hard to get readers to make a habit of checking a website.”

Newsletter marketing strategy for The Athens County Independent

For the Independent, the results speak for themselves. All three newsletters average open rates of around 50 percent, according to Colbert. They have also grown from a readership of around 1,000 last year to just under 5,000. “I see it as integral to our work,” she says. “On the internet, there’s a lot of competition for people’s eyeballs.”

How do you plan an effective newsletter strategy?

Getting a newsletter off the ground, and making it work for your publication, requires careful thought. Its purpose, design and timing all matter. Here’s how both the Burlington Buzz and the Athens County Independent created newsletter strategies that work:

  • Leverage your existing following: Instead of starting from scratch, your newsletter marketing strategy should first draw on your publication’s existing readership. The Burlington Buzz started with a sizeable Facebook and Instagram following among local groups, and posted links to its newsletter to boost awareness in the early days. These groups also became a proof-of-concept for the Buzz.

    “We already had an audience of people who were interested in the work that we were doing on Facebook,” Kadilak explains. “We started these posts on Facebook and then decided to transition to a dedicated newsletter because there was enough information to keep people interested, and we wanted to develop an audience that we could keep with us, and not have to rely on Facebook algorithms.”

  • Give readers news they can use: An effective newsletter strategy isn’t just about putting your publication’s logo in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Good newsletters are useful, and give readers a reason to check back often. At the Athens County Independent, the Scoop and the Bulletin provide weekly updates on public meetings, local events and even major road closures. Colbert says the Independent is looking into enhancing the Scoop’s service journalism through a mass texting tool.

    “It’s part of the strategy of public service journalism,” she says, “getting information out to the community.”

  • A walkie-talkie, not a megaphone: While the Buzz and the Independent’s newsletters serve as marketing tools for both publications, they also allow the founders to keep in touch with their thousands of committed readers. For the Independent, that means handling a mix of compliments, news tips and complaints or correction requests from readers.

    “We want to have a relationship with our readers,” Colbert says. “These are our neighbours, our friends, our family. We don’t want to be something that’s cold and impersonal.”

How to integrate a newsletter into your marketing strategy

Newsletters combine the best of several different marketing avenues, but their real strength lies in their ability to create community. When combined with other marketing approaches like live events or social media, the results can pay off spectacularly for indie publishers.

At the Independent, email marketing integration means bringing email sign-up sheets to Athens County events. It’s a way to carry on a conversation well after a gathering ends. “It’s an opportunity, not only to get email addresses but also just to get your name and your brand out there,” Colbert says. “It’s a way to communicate and engage with your readers.” While they can be tiring, Colbert says she’s never regretted any event the Independent has ever done.

Social media, a mainstay of digital marketing, doesn’t just draw attention to a newsletter. When used right, it can drive community engagement on its own. The Burlington Buzz started by identifying active Facebook groups in town with residents that would benefit from local news, and then posting relevant stories there. “We still do that,” Kadilak says.

The most powerful way to integrate a newsletter into your marketing strategy is to use it to have actual conversations with readers. Colbert points out that very few readers ever talk to a journalist in their lives, let alone carry on a conversation with one.

By Brennan Doherty

Brennan Doherty is a Toronto-based writer. His work can be found at the Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, TVO.org, Maisonneuve, Future of Good, The Local, and elsewhere.

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Want to Know the Secret to Closing More Sales? 65% of Consumers Say They Will Buy If Your Company Does This.

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BY CHRISTINE WETZLER, EDITED BY KARA MCINTYRE

Encouraging and supporting your employees in their personal branding efforts is not just a strategy for individual growth, but it’s also a forward-thinking business approach to elevate your company in a competitive market.

Key Takeaways

  • A total of 81% of consumers admitted that their trust in a brand significantly influences their purchasing decisions, with 77% preferring to buy from brands they follow on social media.

  • The reputation and credibility of a company’s CEO and employees sway the buying choices of 65% of consumers.

  • For a corporate brand to truly resonate and lead to tangible sales results, the personal brands within it need to be strong and clearly defined.

The intersection of personal branding and corporate success is increasingly apparent as we experience a revival of person-to-person connection. Traditionally, individual and corporate branding have been seen as separate entities, each with its strategies and goals, and at times, they may even appear to be in direct conflict. However, a significant shift is underway due to the growing demand for personalization.

Companies are finding that leveraging the individual brand strengths of their employees can achieve greater reach and awareness. A staggering 81% of consumers admit that their trust in a brand significantly influences their purchasing decisions, with 77% preferring to buy from brands they follow on social media.

The impact remains robust across both B2B and B2C sectors. Interestingly, the reputation and credibility of a company’s CEO and employees sway the buying choices of 65% of consumers. These statistics underscore a crucial point: Brand credibility plays a significant role in sales efforts. For a corporate brand to truly resonate and lead to tangible sales results, the personal brands within it need to be strong and clearly defined.

Having been immersed in communications since the late 1900s (and yes, I find it amusing to say that), I’ve witnessed many branding evolutions — from the advent of email to the rise of social media and, now, artificial intelligence. However, in my view, no technological advancement can ever replace meaningful human interaction; it only redefines what sales groups consider meaningful. You can use AI to generate leads, but if they aren’t the right fit or meaningful to your business, do they truly count? The key lies in a strong corporate brand that invites individuals to join in its journey.

There is a synergy between personal and corporate branding

The above concept isn’t new. We’ve all seen or worked with a “unicorn” employee at some point. What makes them a unicorn? Their individual brand. When employees establish strong personal brands, they bring authenticity and a human touch to the corporate narrative, making the company more relatable and trustworthy in the eyes of consumers.

This synergy not only enhances the company’s reputation but also drives engagement in the places where employees are active—be it in community events, on social media, or among their friends. Employees with robust personal brands naturally amplify the company’s visibility and influence. They become the ‘unicorns’ who direct qualified leads to your company. A LinkedIn social selling study even measured this phenomenon, finding that 92% of B2B customers are more willing to engage with sales reps who are recognized as industry thought leaders.

Encouraging personal brand development without losing control

Many businesses struggle with the idea of encouraging employees to amp up their personal brand, fearing it will diminish the quality of their messaging or they might lose control of their corporate story. Before I share a few tactical strategies to address this, I want to emphasize that your corporate brand must be solid and credible for this to be effective.

A strong corporate brand provides a stable backdrop against which individual employee brands can shine. It offers a cohesive narrative that aligns with the personal stories your employees are telling. Before you encourage your employees to engage in their own branding exercises, it is crucial to conduct some branding exercises at the corporate level. This ensures that your brand welcomes collaboration and instils a sense of pride in everyone associated with it.

You want all individuals to feel positive about being openly associated with your company. These characteristics are essential for personal branding efforts to be effective. Otherwise, you might end up helping individuals build their personal brands, only for them to take that strength to another company that is already well-positioned.

How to get the strongest individual brands without sacrificing consistency

The most fundamental way to maintain control of your corporate messaging while promoting individual branding efforts is to ensure a strong alignment between the company’s values and the personal values of your employees. Here’s how you can accomplish this without compromising the company’s branding efforts:

Define clear guidelines that outline how employees can align their branding efforts with the company’s values and objectives. This ensures consistency and prevents any potential conflicts or off-brand messaging. This is why it is important for you as a business to have your brand already developed — so you can communicate its characteristics clearly and provide guidance.

Offer training programs that help employees understand the best practices for social media and content creation, including workshops on writing, personal presentation and ethical considerations online. These can be both educational and fun, giving people permission and confidence to share your branding goals.

Encourage employees to become thought leaders in their respective fields. This can be facilitated through full support of speaking engagements, writing opportunities on industry blogs and participation in industry and online panel discussions. Thought leadership both boosts the individual’s brand and positively reflects on the company.

Highlight your employees’ achievements on your corporate channels. This will boost their personal brand and show that the company recognizes and values their contributions. One thing we have is an internal message board where examples of social posts are included with these announcements. We also send AI prompts to create social content when we ask people to share our content.

Regular monitoring and constructive feedback are essential to ensure that employees’ messaging remains aligned with the company’s brand identity. Part of our town hall team meetings focuses on the positive contributions individuals have made toward marketing. The feedback here should be consistent and mostly positive. If there is a need for redirection or negative feedback it should always be done privately and one-on-one.

Integrating personal branding into your business strategy creates a win-win scenario: Employees feel valued and empowered, which enhances their loyalty and productivity. For the company, this alignment between individual and corporate brands leads to increased trust and better relationships.

As the lines between personal and corporate branding continue to blur, companies that recognize and leverage the symbiotic relationship between personal and corporate brands will likely see the most significant growth and success. Indeed, at a minimum, they’ll encourage the curation of better relationships and more defined sales leads.

BY CHRISTINE WETZLER, 

ENTREPRENEUR LEADERSHIP NETWORK® CONTRIBUTOR

President and Founder of Pietryla PR & Marketing

Christine Wetzler is a PR and marketing strategist who knows how to generate consistent, widespread media coverage as well as offer strategic digital insights to business owners. She knows how to accurately integrate public relations, social media and digital marketing to achieve desired outcomes.

EDITED BY KARA MCINTYRE

Sourced from Entrepreneur

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