Public Relations Archives - Page 4 of 7

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How Facebook’s Changing Algorithms are Impacting Publishers

January 23, 2018 No Comments

A study based on 33,000 videos posted by almost 300 publishers shows that for publishers, the struggle is real.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

Social video creation platform Wochit today reported that Facebook’s de-prioritisation of publisher and brand content is already having a negative impact across video metrics.

The annual report builds on insights published in the company’s quarterly indexes, informing brands, media companies and publishers of video trends and how to best leverage them to drive success.

So here is what you need to know:

Views are declining: Following significant increases in the first half of the year, declines of 8-15 percent in the second half point to the impact of changes in Facebook’s newsfeed.
Square is the winning format: As mobile is increasingly becoming audiences’ first screen, this format is proven to have a significant advantage over other aspect ratios, particularly in the increasingly important “comments” metric, which averages 5 times the average received by non-square video.
Video’s “1 percent” persists: The 1.2 percent of videos that get more than 1 million views continue to have a disproportionate level of engagement, receiving 38.7 percent of total views and 58.3 percent of total shares across all videos. While a higher number of page followers boosts the chances of virality, the number of smaller publishers achieving this level of success proves it’s not the only factor.
Longer videos get better results: Increasing in number but still a minority, videos longer than 90 seconds have considerably higher per-video metrics, receiving 52.1 percent more shares and 48.2 more views on average. This trend bodes well for the monetization opportunities of Facebook mid-roll, only applicable to videos of at least this length.
Average engagement per video is highest across all metrics in Latin American countries, with nearly triple (269.6 percent) the shares, 253.3 percent more reactions, 166.8 percent more views and 134.3 percent more comments.
All video is not created equally: Some content is simply more viral-ready, more a function of effective production techniques and compelling storylines rather than the result of artistry.
“In the Know” titles are popular but don’t perform: While video titles purporting to show something the viewer NEEDS to know are common, these videos receive considerably fewer views (15-70 percent fewer!) than average.

“While we’re only seeing the headlines about Facebook’s latest changes now, our 2017 report shows the impact is already setting in, and this makes it even more important for brands and publishers to know and act on trends,” said Wochit CEO Dror Ginzberg. “And let’s remember that, even with algorithm changes, Facebook is second to none when it comes to opportunity to reach and engage with audiences. The best way to capitalise on that is to focus on delivering great video storytelling that will create meaningful engagement with your audience. This was true before Facebook’s announcement, is relevant across platforms as well as owned and operated sites, and it will remain true after it.”

In News

Public Relations – A Marketing Tool to Success

January 22, 2018 No Comments

By Wendell Enright

When we are a well-known company or when we are just starting up, we hear a lot about public relations. It is important to understand why hiring PR agencies is important and how PR services act as a catalyst for the growth and the success of a company. PR firms are so important that now a day, we can find PR firms for startups, which help in the overall boost of revenue for startups.

The advertising activities of a company try to achieve direct revenue for the company, whereas the PR firms aim at creating a positive impression about the company in the eyes of the public, which helps in the brand loyalty of the people towards the company. PR agencies act as another tool for marketing and helps companies in these following ways –

1. Building connections

We all know that building of connections, the creation of goodwill and proper networks in important for the growth of the business. Of course, the product or service that a company provides is the most important factor for a company’s success, but what your industry people think and talk about you also plays a very important role, in the success story of any business.

2. Reaching the target audience

Few of the important activities that are included in PR services are press releases, getting articles written about the company in different magazines, getting blogs written on different relevant websites, etc. With the help of correct public relations partner, you can get these things done smoothly and effectively. With the reach to the right target audience, you can also have a speedy growth of your company.

3. Longevity

With proper public relation activities, you can leave a long lasting impression of yourself in the eyes of the reader. Advertising activities are short lived, but good PR activities have great credit worthiness and leave a very lasting impression about the product and service. Such activities also help in creating a great brand image and also cater to creating brand loyalty in the eyes of the consumers.

4. Crisis Management

In this digital era, any negative news about the company spreads like a wildfire within a flick of a second. If you have a good public relations company working for your brand, any news which is not in favour of your company can be easily contained and the risks related to activities having an adverse effect can be minimized.

In the competitive world that we live today, with a new startup, having a unique idea coming every day, it is important for the startups to stay at the top of the game to achieve unparalleled success. To attain that, it is important for them to hire efficient and effective PR firms for startups. It is important for both startups and big companies to give special importance to their PR activities, and realize that it is a great marketing weapon which can help them stimulate the speed of climbing the ladder of success.

By Wendell Enright

Sourced from Tetrameters

In News

Could Social Media Be The Ultimate Customer Service Channel?

January 19, 2018 No Comments

Could social media be realising its true calling as the ultimate customer service channel?

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

According to a new study released today, overall satisfaction is highest when customers ask questions or make requests via social media.

The study was conducted by J.D. Power, surveying people who were customers of mobile network operators. Said Peter Cunningham at J.D. Power, “Personalised feedback, rapid-fire response time and interaction with live humans are some of the primary factors driving the highest levels of customer satisfaction with customer service. And, increasingly, customers appear to be finding that formula through alternative channels such as social media. That doesn’t mean call centres and brick-and-mortar stores are no longer relevant; in fact, personalised assistance via phone, app and face-to-face are still critical to customer satisfaction.”

Following are key findings of the 2018 studies:

• Social channels will become front line for customer service

Among customers who ask a question or make a request, overall satisfaction is highest in the social media channel (838 on a 1,000-point scale) and the app channel (835). By contrast, overall satisfaction scores average just 797 among customers who handle these requests on the phone with a representative.

• The human touch still matters

Satisfaction tends to be much higher when customers use a channel that provides personalised feedback. For example, assisted care satisfaction is 26 points higher than unassisted care satisfaction (819 vs. 793, respectively), and satisfaction is 824 among customers who ask their question in the store channel vs. 797 among those who speak with a rep over the phone. Additionally, among customers who ask a question or make a request through their carrier’s app, overall satisfaction is 845 when they think they are interacting with an actual person vs. 800 when they think the system is automated.

• Video plays a key role

The channels with the highest first-contact resolution incidences are online videos (92%) and mobile app to research information (90%). Among customers who view an online video from their service provider, 34% say they “definitely will not” switch to a new carrier in the next 12 months vs. 21% among those who use the phone automated response system.

• Not-so-immediate gratification via email

While social, app-based and face-to-face customer support are prized by consumers for their personalised, rapid response, the average customer service response time via email is 32 hours.

Could Social Media Be The Ultimate Customer Service Channel? Soon, perhaps, it may be the ONLY service channel.

In News

Advertising Influences Millennials to Buy More Often Than Baby Boomers

January 18, 2018 No Comments

Millennials are more likely than older generations to try a new brand or product after seeing or hearing an advertisement. And who says advertising doesn’t work! It totally, totally does.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

Millennials are more likely to make purchases after seeing or hearing advertisements compared to Gen Xers, Baby Boomers, and other older generations, according to a new survey from Clutch, a B2B ratings and reviews firm.

About 81% of millennials surveyed – those ages 18 to 34 – made a purchase after seeing or hearing an advertisement in the last 30 days. Baby Boomers and other generations over age 55, however, were not quite as influenced by advertising: Among those consumers, 57% made a purchase as a result of an advertisement.

These findings illustrate millennials’ higher tendency for “impulse buying” when it comes to new products and brands.

“Baby Boomers have already gotten set in their ways in regards to the brands they prefer, so an ad might not convince them to buy something,” said Rob Albertson, managing director of Bandwidth Marketing. “There’s an aspect of spontaneity in millennials that would cause them to try something.”

Millennials also trust advertising mediums more than older generations; 64% trust TV and print advertising, and 51% trust online and social media advertising. About 54% of Baby Boomers trust TV and print advertising, and just 27% trust online and social media advertising.

Millennials trust advertising more because they have more resources available to help them discover if a brand’s message is misleading.

“Baby Boomers come from a time when there were a lot fewer regulatory bodies in advertising,” said Julie Wierzbicki, account director at advertising agency Giants & Gentlemen. “For example, cigarettes used to be advertised as good for you, and we found out that these brands we thought were great were lying to us. Millennials feel like brands have to be honest because there’s so much more information out there, and if you’re doing things in a fraudulent or misleading way, it’s going to eventually come out.”

Consumer income is also a factor in advertising influence. The study found that 83% of consumers with a household income over $100,000 were more likely to make a purchase as a result of an advertisement, compared to 68% of consumers with household incomes of less than $49,999. This is due to a higher disposable income and more spending power.

Overall, advertisements influence 90% of consumers in their purchasing decisions, and consumers—regardless of generation—are most likely to make a purchase after seeing or hearing an advertisement on TV and in print.

Consumers view traditional advertising mediums – TV, print, and radio – as the most trustworthy, while they view online and social media advertising more skeptically.

The survey shows that advertising continues to influence consumers in their purchasing decisions, and businesses should advertise in order to reach consumers.

In News

Don’t Use Cute Kids While Advertising Your Charity – Your Campaign Will Backfire

January 15, 2018 No Comments

If you are selling clothes, use all the cute kids you want. But if you are advertising a charity, you need a different kind of kid.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

When it comes to asking a stranger for help, being young, pretty, and the opposite sex greatly improve your odds. But when it comes to children suffering from the likes of natural disaster, poverty, or homelessness, a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research reveals that less attractive children receive more help than their cuter counterparts.

“Many charitable organisations use children in advertising and promotional materials. Our research examines how the facial attractiveness of the children in these campaigns affects the empathy and help received from adults,” write authors Robert J. Fisher and Yu Ma (both University of Alberta).

In a series of four experiments, participants were asked to visit fictional websites where they were asked to consider sponsoring a child from a developing country. The authors then systematically varied the levels of attractiveness of the children featured on the websites as well as their levels of need.

Results showed that when the children were portrayed as having a severe need (for example, orphaned as a result of a natural disaster), their facial attractiveness had no affect on helping responses. In contrast, when their need was not severe, participants felt less compassion and sympathy for an attractive child compared to an unattractive child in an identical circumstance.

The authors explain that this negative effect of attractiveness occurred because participants inferred that the attractive children were more popular, intelligent, and helpful than their less attractive peers. They also observed this negative effect despite the fact that the children in the studies were obviously too young to care for themselves.

These results offer practical implications for how children are portrayed by disaster relief agencies, children’s hospitals, and other charities. “We believe our research offers a positive and hopeful perspective on human behaviour because it suggests that when a child is in obvious need, even strangers can feel compassion and offer aid irrespective of the child’s physical appearance,” the authors conclude.

Fundraisers and marketers for charities, take note!

In News

What Drives and Destroys Brand Loyalty?

January 12, 2018 No Comments

It’s pretty much what you think, with a few surprises.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

A new study shows that too many unsolicited emails and sales calls will significantly damage brand loyalty. Well it does in the IT industry anyway. While this study was conducted within the IT sales arena, wisdom from the findings can be applied to all industries.

The study was conducted by Spiceworks who announced the results of the new survey today. It explored how often IT buyers are contacted by sales reps and marketers, what drives them to engage with tech brands, and what drives and damages their loyalty to vendors.

The study, Brand Loyalty 101: Winning over IT Buyers, reveals 85 percent of IT buyers believe too many sales calls and emails from tech brands make them less likely to purchase from a vendor they’re loyal to. In fact, feeling bombarded by emails and calls is just as likely to deter brand loyalty as a security issue with a vendor.

“It’s no surprise that IT buyers react to value — they want reliable products, a fair price, and timely customer support, which all helps build a great brand experience,” said Sanjay Castelino, vice president of marketing at Spiceworks. “But this brand experience doesn’t start when a buyer becomes a customer. It starts with prospects, and if you’re continuously sending them irrelevant products and information despite low engagement rates, you’re starting in a hole that you’ll have to dig out of to eventually build brand loyalty.”

Great customer support and fair pricing are the top drivers of IT brand loyalty

In terms of how loyal IT buyers are to their current technology vendors, the results show more than 70 percent of IT buyers are loyal to their server, virtualisation, and networking vendors. About 65 percent of IT buyers are also loyal to their computing device and security vendors. However, they’re least loyal to their cloud-based service vendors (47 percent) and their IT outsourcing/consulting partners (52 percent).

When examining what drives brand loyalty among IT buyers, the results show more than 95 percent of IT buyers believe great customer support, consistently fair pricing, and a history of reliable products are important to driving brand loyalty. Ninety-one percent of IT buyers also believe access to technical experts at a company is important.

Additionally, when comparing the results by different generations of IT buyers, it’s evident creative marketing efforts are slightly more important to millennials than older generations. While 23 percent of millennials believe creative marketing efforts are important to driving brand loyalty, only 18 percent of Gen Xers and 13 percent of baby boomers said the same. The quality and frequency of communication from tech brands is also much more important to millennials than Gen Xers and baby boomers.

Over-Contact

The survey results show that on average, IT buyers are contacted by technology sales reps and marketers 13 times via email, five times via phone, two times via online forums/communities, one time via social media, and one time via physical mail per week. In some cases, IT buyers are contacted by tech sales reps and marketers up to 25 times a week.

However, the preferences of IT buyers aren’t always taken into consideration when it comes to how they want to be contacted by sales reps and marketers. Fifty-seven percent of IT buyers prefer to be contacted via email and only 8 percent of IT buyers prefer to be contacted via phone. Additionally, 36 percent of IT buyers prefer to seek out information on their own. In fact, 97 percent of IT buyers surveyed said they use online forums and communities to learn about new products, while 79 percent rely on tech news sites and 77 percent research new products via Google.

The vast majority of IT buyers won’t respond to a tech brand they don’t recognize

In terms of what motivates IT buyers to respond to a new sales rep or marketer, the results show a relevant product or service is most important. In fact, 77 percent of IT buyers said relevant products drive them to respond, followed by detailed pricing information (61 percent), detailed product specs (55 percent), a timely solution to a challenge (44 percent), and a free product trial (35 percent). However, only 12 percent of IT buyers said they’re likely to respond to sales or marketing outreach if they’ve never heard of the tech vendor.

When comparing the results by generation, it’s evident millennials are more likely to respond to sales reps and marketers if there’s a personalised message to them. Conversely, Gen Xers and baby boomers are more likely to respond if there’s a product or information that provides a timely solution to a challenge.

In News

Track your Brand’s Twitter Buzz with a new Alert App

January 11, 2018 No Comments

And it’s free! Everyone’s favourite price!

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

A free email service alerts you about your brand (or your competitor’s brand) activity across the internet. This includes results from Twitter, making it an essential tool for any communications professional.

Talkwalker, a social listening and analytics company, today announced the launch of Talkwalker Alerts. It delivers mentions of any keyword (i.e. brand name, hashtag, competitor) across the internet straight to your inbox. The revamped product also features brand mentions from Twitter, making it the only free alerts service that delivers social media mentions as they happen.

“Social media is where the action is today. If you want to stay on top of news and social conversations about your brand or products, you have to constantly check all major social platforms. We’re trying to make that process easier for you by bringing all brand mentions from across the internet to your inbox automatically,” said Robert Glaesener, CEO of Talkwalker. “Our aim is to empower marketers around the world and help make their job easier. This is why we’ve decided to keep the tool free and make it essential for communication professionals by adding the most important Twitter results.”

Users will have access to the tweets that matter most, as the service delivers the conversations with the highest engagement. Aside from Twitter, users can also opt to receive alerts from websites (news), discussion forums and blogs. This will enable digital marketers and PR professionals to keep track of their brands and keywords online, and let everyone monitor the web for their topics of choice, with a special emphasis on social media.

Social media presents a very accurate picture of the buzz generated around a brand or a topic. Talkwalker Alerts is the only product in the market to include alerts from a major social network such as Twitter in its results, thus enhancing the value of the service considerably.

To try Talkwalker Alerts out for yourself, click on this link: www.talkwalker.com/alerts

In News

Want to Make Money Investing on the Stockmarket? Then Ignore Media Experts

January 10, 2018 No Comments

“Experts” in the media get it so wrong so often you have to wonder what’s going on.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

Research shows that investing in the stocks least-favoured by analysts yields five times more than buying the most recommended.

But we often defer to experts, especially those in the media. So, we listen to them, then assume taking their stock analysts suggestions would make us better off than doing the exact opposite, right? Well, no.

Recent research by Nicola Gennaioli and colleagues shows that the best way to gain excess-returns would be to invest in the shares LEAST FAVOURED by analysts. They computed that, during the last thirty-five years, investing in the 10% of stock analysts were most optimistic about would have yielded on average 3% a year. By contrast, investing in the 10% of stocks analysts were most pessimistic about would have yielded a staggering 15% a year.

Gennaioli and colleagues shed light on this puzzle with the help of cognitive sciences and, in particular, using Kahneman and Tversky’s concept of representativeness. Decision makers, according to this view, overweight the representative features of a group or a phenomenon.

After observing strong earnings growth, analysts think that the firm may be the next Google. “Googles” are in fact more frequent among firms experiencing strong growth, which makes them representative. The problem is that “Googles” are very rare in absolute terms. As a result, expectations become too optimistic, and future performance disappoints.

“In a classical example, we tend to think of Irishmen as redheads because red hair is much more frequent among Irishmen than among the rest of the world”, Prof. Gennaioli says. “Nevertheless, only 10% of Irishmen are redheads. In our work, we develop models of belief formation that embody this logic and study the implication of this important psychological force in different domains.”

So it looks like the talking heads in the media needs to give us better advice, or we need to forget them and trust our instincts.

In News

You Will Sell More to Millennials and Centennials by Personalisation of Your Marketing

January 9, 2018 No Comments

A new report finds that nine out of ten marketers need help improving their personalisation strategy.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

Personalisation is a good strategy for engaging consumers of all ages, BUT younger consumers find it especially important. Nearly half of centennials, age 18-21, (45 percent) and millennials, age 22-37, (49 percent) make purchases because of the level of personalisation within a brand’s email content, meaning that personalisation translates into revenue

This is according to a new study, which shows that two in five marketers don’t tailor their initiatives to audiences of different age groups. So, marketers potentially miss out on substantial engagement opportunities as consumers demand more customised content.

The report found that just 11 percent of marketers claim they can personalise all content. The study also found about only 27 percent can execute basic personalisation tactics, such as using a customer’s name or birthday. Another 26 percent can personalise based on browsing or purchase history, but say it’s tedious to do so. And 17 percent of marketers state they cannot personalise content because they still have trouble collecting and analysing data.

“Personalisation isn’t limited to a customer’s name; and marketers who go beyond this simple data point in order to customise communications will reap the benefits,” said Michael Fisher, president of Yes Lifecycle Marketing. “Marketers should tailor content to their customers’ habits and demographics. Fairly easy-to-implement adjustments, such as triggered campaigns and lifecycle messaging, will go far.”

Of the brands that personalise content based on age, two-thirds do so via email. Social media (38 percent) and website (35 percent) are the three channels that marketers are most likely to personalise content based on age.

“The takeaway from the data is obvious: consumers want marketers to personalise content based on their individual characteristics and attributes, and marketers still struggle to do so,” said Michael Iaccarino, CEO and chairman of Infogroup. “To alleviate personalisation woes, marketers need a partner that can help them enhance and leverage their customer data in order to improve personalisation, and as a result, increase revenue.”

Additional findings from the report include:

Less than a quarter of marketers personalise display (24 percent) or direct mail (23 percent) content based on customer age.
Driving revenue (40 percent), acquiring new customers (24 percent), and engaging customers (17 percent) are the three biggest priorities for marketers heading into 2018.
Only 16 percent of marketers believe millennials are most influenced to purchase by the email channel; yet 67 percent of millennials report finding email valuable when researching products.

To learn more about how marketers can personalise content by age, download the full report here.

In News

Why do Online Shoppers Abandon Their Carts Right Before Paying?

January 8, 2018 No Comments

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

Shoppers hoping to bag a bargain in the post-Christmas sales are much less likely to go through with their purchases if they are using phones and tablets to buy goods online. This is because consumers often worry they are not seeing the full picture on a mobile app or that they could be missing out on special offers or overlooking hidden costs, according to new research. Concerns about privacy and security can also motivate people to put items into their shopping baskets but then quit without paying.

Although mobile apps are rapidly becoming among the most popular ways to shop online, the phenomenon of shopping cart abandonment is much higher than for desktop-based online shopping. According to Market Research firm Criteo, the share of e-commerce traffic from mobile devices increased to 46% of global e-commerce traffic in Q2 2016. However, only 27% of purchases initiated on this channel were finalised and conversion rates significantly lagged behind desktop initiated purchases.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) investigating why this is so say it represents a huge challenge for online retailers, who are investing heavily in mobile shopping, but not reaping the rewards in successful sales.

“Our study results revealed a paradox,” said Dr Nikolaos Korfiatis, of Norwich Business School at UEA. “Mobile shopping is supposed to make the process easier, and yet concerns about making the right choice, or about whether the site is secure enough leads to an ’emotional ambivalence’ about the transaction – and that means customers are much more likely to simply abandon their shopping carts without completing a purchase.”

The researchers studied online shopping data from 2016-2017 from consumers in Taiwan and the US. They found that the reasons for hesitation at the checkout stage were broadly the same in both countries. In addition, shoppers are much more likely use mobile apps as a way of researching and organising goods, rather than as a purchasing tool, and this also contributes to checkout hesitation.

“People think differently when they use their mobile phones to make purchases,” said Dr Korfiatis. “The smaller screen size and uncertainty about missing important details about the purchase make you much more ambivalent about completing the transaction than when you are looking at a big screen.”

Flora Huang, the study’s lead author, added, “This is a phenomenon that has not been well researched, yet it represents a huge opportunity for retailers. Companies spend a lot of money on tactics such as pay-per-click advertising to bring consumers into online stores – but if those consumers come in via mobile apps and then are not finalising their purchases, a lot of that money will be wasted.”

The team’s results, published in the Journal of Business Research, showed that consumers are much less likely to abandon their shopping baskets if they are satisfied with the choice process. App designers can help by minimising clutter to include only necessary elements on the device’s limited screen space and organising sites via effective product categorisation or filter options so consumers can find products more easily.

Other strategies that might prompt a shopper to complete a purchase include adding special offers, or coupons for a nearby store at the checkout stage.

“Retailers need to invest in technology, but they need to do it in the right way, so the investment pays off,” added Dr Korfiatis. “Customers are becoming more and more demanding and, with mobile shopping in particular, they don’t forgive failures so offering a streamlined, integrated service is really important.”