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Meta has announced a heap of new ad updates, primarily focused on retailers and those using its automated Advantage+ campaigns.

And there are a lot of niche use cases within these new updates, which could apply to your business.

The first update is “Advantage+ creative optimizations”, which will automatically optimize your video ads for viewing on Reels, or the mobile Facebook and Instagram apps with 9:16 ratio.

Meta ShopTalk update

That will help more brands tap into the popularity of the various Meta video formats, with Reels being the key focus.

As per Meta:

Reels and video on our apps continues to grow as daily watch times across all video types grew over 25% year-over-year in Q4. In fact people now reshare Reels 3.5 billion times every day.”

The new process will also enable advertisers to dynamically create multiple variations of an ad, so the system then has more options to display to users, depending on what they respond best to.

Meta’s also updating its Advantage+ catalogue ads, with the added capacity to import and use branded videos or customer demonstration videos, instead of just static images.

Meta ShopTalk update

Advantage catalogue ads, which Meta first launched in beta testing last year, provide personalized recommendations to users, based on what Meta’s system detects that each will be most interested in, and this new process will provide more capacity to showcase relevant products within the display.

Meta’s will also now enable brands to upload a “hero” image in the centre of their catalogue ads, which Meta’s AI will then use to show people the best products from their catalogue to drive performance.

Meta’s also adding more eCommerce ad options, with users of Magento and Salesforce Commerce Cloud now able to create Shops ads within their management systems. Meta’s also integrating its Shops ads and branded content ads (now called “Partnership ads”), which will enable direct purchasing from collaborative campaigns.

And there’s also new elements in Reminder Ads on Instagram:

“Now, advertisers can include external links to a new product or sale in their Reminder ads to help turn a person’s interest into a purchase. This summer, we’ll also give advertisers ways to notify people when an event starts and before it ends.”

Meta ShopTalk update

Meta’s also looking to expand Reminder ads to Reels in the coming months.

There’s also new Promo Codes promotions on Facebook and Instagram, as well as ads with product tags:

“In March, we’ll bring ads with product tags to Facebook Feed (currently Instagram only), and in April, we’ll launch the global availability of ads with product tags to all businesses, whether or not they maintain a Shop.”

Meta ShopTalk update

Meta’s also updating its Collaborative ads offering, to provide more analytics on performance, while it’s also testing the ability for advertisers to use Collaborative ads with Advantage+ shopping campaigns.

Finally, Meta’s also working on Advantage+ Catalogue ads with omnichannel brand and product level reporting as a new managed service solution “to help RMNs prove that ads on Meta platforms drove sales online and in-store”.

So yeah, a heap of updates, all with varying levels of applicability and use. And while there may not be some huge, headline change that will get the most attention, there’s a lot of value for specific brands within these changes.

Sourced from Social Media Today

Seeking content inspiration for your holiday schedule? Maybe you’re planning for 2024?

Whatever you’re targeting, this new overview of four effective content types, from the team at Giraffe Social Media, may help.

The Giraffe team have put together an overview of some of the best, most responsive content options for your posts, which could help to get you thinking about your marketing plan.

A combination of these approaches could be a great way to boost brand awareness, and grow your following. My only additional note of advice is that you don’t just go and slap these idea prompts into ChatGPT, and end up pumping out generic rubbish.

You can check out Giraffe Social’s full tips here.

Four types of content infographic

 

Sourced from SocialMediaToday

Meta’s adding some more ad tools to WhatsApp, in order to help businesses capitalize on the rising use of messaging, and WhatsApp in particular, in more markets.

First off, Meta’s adding a new option that will enable businesses on WhatsApp to launch paid promotions on Facebook and Instagram, without needing a Facebook account.

WhatsApp Facebook ads

As you can see in this example sequence, this new promotion type will include a WhatsApp CTA, which will drive potential customers back to your messaging channel.

That could be a good way to boost brand exposure, and open up a more direct line of communication via the messaging platform, which is also more likely to give you access to push notifications for any future messages.

Businesses need to respect the use of messaging in this regard, and avoid spamming potential customers (note: Meta has a limit on how many messages brands can send for this reason). But it could be a good way to establish direct contact, and keep customers updated on relevant product updates.

Along this line, Meta’s also adding some new promoted message options to connect with people who’ve previously registered interest in your business.

As per WhatsApp:

Starting soon we’ll begin testing a new feature within the WhatsApp Business app where small businesses will have the option to send personalized messages to their customers – like appointment reminders, birthday greetings or even updates on a holiday sale – in a faster and more efficient way. Rather than having to manually send the same message to multiple customers, this new feature will give businesses the ability to send personal messages with the customer’s name and customizable call-to-action buttons to specific customer lists such as those with a select label (like “VIP customers” or “new customers”), schedule the day and time the messages are sent and then see what’s working. We’ll offer this advanced, optional type of message for a fee in the WhatsApp Business app. We’ll have more details to share in the future.”

That’ll add another way to re-engage shoppers, and the more relevant you can make these updates, based on their past interaction history, the better.

WhatsApp’s focus on privacy has seen it become a more significant connective tool for many more users, while the broader shift towards messaging, as opposed to feed posting, has also helped to boost reliance on the app. And while WhatsApp has always been big in regions like Brazil and India, it’s now also seeing significant growth in North America, which Meta says is now the platform’s fastest-growing region.

Direct connection can be a powerful tool for engaging potential customers, and as users look to shift more of their interactions to more private spaces, it’s worth considering where WhatsApp may fit into your outreach planning.

Sourced from SocialMediaToday

Are you looking for ways to expand the online presence of your local business? Want to learn some clever social media tactics to find more local customers?

The team from Idunn share their social media tips in this infographic.

Here’s a quick summary:

  • Be where your customers are.
  • Stop selling aggressively.
  • Find out what people are interested in.
  • Always fill in all sections of your profile.
  • Run contests and special promotions.

Check out the infographic for more information.

5 local social marketing tips

 

Sourced from SocialMediaToday

Looking to get more eyeballs on your social media posts?

Your visual elements play a key role in stopping users as they scroll, so it’s important to focus on how you can maximize your visual resonance, to ensure that you get the most traction in-stream.

This could help – the team from Giraffe Social Media have put together an infographic listing of five tips to help improve your visuals in your posts.

You should also look to trending topics and apps, and take note of what makes you personally stop mid-scroll, then try to hone in on the specifics of each example.

Applying these tips, and imbuing them with your own creative reasoning, could help you improve your approach.

5 Design Tips for Social Media Graphics

Sourced from SocialMediaToday

 

By Dom Hawes

While some businesses seem to find social media a doddle, others struggle. Many consumer businesses have found that social media allows a very personal kind of brand experience that is more effective, lower cost and more human than the dreaded call centres that social service centres replaced. But, many business-to-business organisations don’t love social media. They avoid it hoping it isn’t relevant to them. Wrong.

Lauren Irwin argued on this site that business do really need social media. She made that argument during the pandemic. That’s over two years ago, yet here we still are.

During the pandemic and immediately afterwards, we tracked tens of thousands of business’s search activity online. We were seeking to identify the most searched subjects related to marketing. Our premise was that – as an integrated marketing group – people searching for information probably had an itch that we could help scratch.

Most searched social media terms by marketers

More effective use of social media was a top five enquiry month after month. The most searched topics were;

  • social media advertising
  • social strategy
  • content
  • social influencers

It struck me as odd that while businesses were searching tactical issues like advertising, content and influencers, many hadn’t got to grip with the two most fundamental building blocks of social media: social service (including social listening) and social selling.

So… I took to social media to find out why. In this case, I chose LinkedIn as my platform as it seemed the best to elicit strong B2B responses and I posted a slightly provocative post about social being a cess pit of an echo chamber. The post performed so well, I invited the best commenters onto one of my podcast, Marketing Trek. One guest in particular fascinated me so I turned his story into a bonus edition.

Social media is an essential service and sales channel

I’ve pasted a player for both the main episode and the bonus below, but you can find the pod on all good platforms too. In the intro, I think I said something like “From a business perspective, social media offers many opportunities”. That might be the understatement of the century?

Social is an essential service and sales channel for every business. If you’re not already embracing it, you’re not seizing an opportunity that’s staring you in the face.

Jeff Watt, MD of city-based communications consultancy Greentarget agrees. “B2B have been slower than perhaps their consumer facing peers to respond to and manage and engage with channels like that.” He said, referring to social channels. “But there are lots of examples that we have seen more recently where reputational damage appears very, very quickly. It spreads very quickly on social media channels”, he added.

And there’s the rub. If you’re not already in it, how are you going to handle things when crisis hits? And who’s going to handle it?

Who guards your brand reputation?

Andy Sutherden is a seasoned marketer and communicator who was on the London 2012 bid and organising team and has worked for giant global brands all his life. He spoke to me about social media and reputation particularly around who is responsible for a business’s reputation on social.

“Communications and reputation should always sits at the board table”, he explained. “It strikes me that when I’m asked about the importance of enhancing a reputation, the [emergency] blue [rescue] light arrives when reputation has been damaged, or it’s in tatters and you’re there to fix it. I’d much rather be an expert that elevates the importance of getting and keeping a good reputation rather than waiting for something horrible to go wrong, then trying to fix it.”

So maybe now, almost two decades after social changed everything it’s time to look in the mirror and ask “are we really doing everything we can to extract value from social?

Episode 13: Into the Echo Chamber

Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts

Episode 13 BONUS: Alex’s Story

Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts

By Dom Hawes

Sourced from State of Digital

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Want to improve the return on investment (ROI) of your social media marketing? Are you measuring the right things?

To explore everything you need to know about measuring ROI, I interview Christopher Penn on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

Christopher is the chief data scientist at Trust Insights. He also hosts the In-Ear Insights podcast. His latest book is AI For Marketers.

Christopher explains how ROI differs from return on ad spend (ROAS) and shares how to calculate ROI properly.

Click HERE to listen to the Podcast

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Sourced from Social Media Examiner

Sourced from Forbes

Building brand awareness and successfully interacting with consumers is a crucial part of doing business today. Customers enjoy and expect a personalized experience, and delivering just that will set you apart from your competition.

Voice search and live videos were just two of the methods marketers explored to improve consumer interactions and brand awareness in 2018. As innovations in technology and ideas come forward, 2019 is also sure to see its share of trends having an impact on marketing. Below, 11 Forbes Agency Council members shared their predictions for the year ahead.

Members of Forbes Agency Council offer insights on what marketing trends to expect in 2019.Photos courtesy of the individual members.

1. A Bigger Role For AI In Personalization And Automation

We are all watching the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing and how it affects our clients’ relationships with consumers. As a company that focuses on bringing out emotional connections through physical environments, we’ll see AI play an even bigger role for brands as they look to personalize and automate more digital and traditional communications. – Jessica Reznick, We’re Magnetic

2. Smart Speaker Advertising Opportunities

Smart speakers and voice assistant devices are more affordable than ever before, making them a huge potential marketing tool in the upcoming year. As the relationship between big tech and the consumer grows deeper, marketers can more effectively reach their target audiences with personalized messaging and content. Expect to see more ad opportunities surrounding smart speakers in 2019. – Timothy Nichols, ExactDrive, Inc.

3. Growth In Content Marketing

Content marketing will always have a strong impact because of the exposure and backlinks you can receive for your brand. Writing interesting content and marketing it to influencers is a win-win. You are helping people with solution-oriented content, and the influencers help your exposure and outreach so it’s widely seen by the right audience and shared with their peers. – Peter Boyd, PaperStreet Web Design

4. A Turn To The Human Side Of Marketing

We are fortunate to live in an age of advancing technology, but we run a risk of oversaturating our market with off-the-shelf tools that gather faceless data and create ineffective content. Marketing has a remarkable power to inspire audiences. Instead of an influx of new tech to adopt, I predict we’ll embrace a deeper understanding of human behavior that will foster more meaningful relationships. – Hamid Ghanadan, LINUS

5. Integrated Online, Social And Mobile Marketing

2019 will be all about the integration of online, social and mobile marketing. Many businesses have dabbled in one or all of these marketing strategies, but true success in the year ahead will be marked by a fully integrated marketing program that incorporates all three. This will eliminate redundancies, increase efficiency and fully leverage content across these three major players. – Laura Cole, Vivial

6. The Growth Of Micro-Influencers

As influencer-tracking technologies continue to improve, brands are becoming better equipped at fielding and managing large networks of high-engagement, low-following micro influencers for their campaigns. This largely untapped market will soon allow for more brands to avoid the significant costs of mid- to high-level influencers and invest in more down-to-earth and relatable influencer marketing. – Jordan Edelson, Appetizer Mobile LLC

7. Audiences Made Part Of Brand Stories

The ability to engage with audiences (that is, making audiences part of the brand story) will have a huge impact. The less friction there is to engagement, the more connected people feel. Brands that are more willing to interact with customers publicly will have a strong impact—and brands that can show how this engagement influences their products and services will make an even bigger impact. – Bernard May, National Positions

8. Thought Leadership

Audiences seek expertise, critical insight and ways to be better at all points of interest. Experiential and interactive engagement with a brand is the future of consumer-brand connectivity. From live video, to recorded advice, to content with real-time responses, to contests and beyond, it’s about offering information and encouraging feedback from stakeholders in a way that establishes trust. – Scott Kellner, GPJ Experience Marketing

9. Transparency As Key To Winning Customers

Technology is giving us so many new tools and platforms that sometimes we forget that communication always happens between human beings. Brands are groups of people who try to communicate with other persons: their customers. In 2019, I expect transparency to be the key to winning the hearts of consumers, who will reward those brands that share their values in an authentic and transparent way. – Daniela Pavan, The Ad Store New York

10. Quality Trumping Quantity In Marketing

Content marketing has been preached to death by most marketers. Content marketing is important, but oftentimes companies are capitalizing on this strategy with over-optimized and bland content that is largely regurgitated from other companies doing the same thing. In 2019, I believe we will get more discerning and choose low-volume, high-quality content instead of high-volume, low-quality. – Brandon Stapper, Nonstop Signs

11. Customers Empowered As Brand Ambassadors

By utilizing tools like YotPo and BazaarVoice, we can now chalk up a percentage of a marketing campaign to leveraging our customers as brand ambassadors by asking them to share info on a product to their own networks. This helps bypass “influencer marketing” to an extent and lets us empower our customers to do the talking. – Loren Baker, Foundation Digital

Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only, fee-based organization for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Find out if you qualify at forbesagencycouncil.com/qualify. Questions about an article? [email protected]

Sourced from Forbes

By Dominic Jeff

Including high quality blogs and other forms of useful, interesting content is a great way to boost SEO and encourage repeat visits to a website. However, with everyone playing the same game, getting visitors flowing to a new site can still be touch and go — even if you do everything right.

Increasingly, targeted advertising on Google and social media helps bring new eyes to every lovingly crafted website, and companies relying purely on SEO struggle. The drawback is that this puts a business’ hard-earned cash straight into the pocket of the Internet giants. That’s why they’re worth billions while small businesses struggle.

There is a way, however, to get free advertising and introduce thousands of new surfers to your site: by guest blogging, you can showcase yourself — and by extension your company — and usually get a backlink to boot. This is not the game it once was, though, and you’ll need serious dedication and guts to succeed.

Is Guest Blogging Still Worth It?

Strangely, given its obvious advantages, guest blogging has gone somewhat out of fashion in recent years. This is because, like everything which works in the SEO game, it has been abused. In response to the increasingly common practice of paying popular sites to host spammy blogs laden with SEO-friendly links to a business’ site, Google decided to crack down.

In a 2014 post entitled ‘the decay and fall of guest blogging for SEO’, Google’s then head of web spam team Matt Cutts announced a major shift in approach to links gathered through such dodgy practices.

Cutts didn’t hold back on his criticism of spam guest blogging. His post started:

Okay, I’m calling it: if you’re using guest blogging as a way to gain links in 2014, you should probably stop. Why? Because over time it’s become a more and more spammy practice, and if you’re doing a lot of guest blogging then you’re hanging out with really bad company.

This now notorious post, and a subsequent warning from Google on content-syndicating practices in 2017, served to dissuade many good bloggers from guesting, while only partly deterring the spammers. Word got out that guest blogging was bad, and could actually hurt your ranking. Soon, the Internet was rife with people declaring the death of the guest post, or asking whether it was still a worthwhile practice.

The answer from experts is a resounding yes: but you have to do it right.

More Than Just SEO

Entrepreneur and online marketing expert Neil Patel says guest blogging remains the absolute best inbound marketing strategy for online businesses. Not only does it offer free advertising, he argues, but also confers authority on the writer which will be lacking if he or she only ever publishes on their own site:

Data from Social Marketing Writing found that “62.96% of people perceive blogs with multiple authors to be more credible. You want authority, qualified traffic, relevant links, motivated leads and sales in your business. Well, guest blogging can give you all of these and so much more.

But he goes on to say: “However, not all guest posts are created equal and they don’t all yield equal results. You have to go about it in the right way and you have to choose your targets carefully.

One of the reasons why some brands fail at guest blogging is because they don’t understand how to effectively produce the right content.”

The only thing about guest blogging that has really changed since Google’s crackdown is that it is no longer really a pure SEO game. For the purposes of ranking, running your own regular, prolific and reasonably high quality blog is now the better option. As for guest blogging, it is better to think of it as free advertising… only more effective.

Writing a guest blog is a chance to showcase yourself to a new audience; and to appear knowledgeable and trustworthy in your area of expertise and business. You therefore need two things: a site with a good readership, and something interesting or knowledgeable to say.

Which Sites to Guest Blog on?

Finding suitable sites to guest-post on will depend on the niche you or your client are targeting. Google’s crackdown on spam links and low-grade content has led to a number of metrics that try to rank a sites’ worthiness, such as Moz’s Domain Authority system. Partly because of this, it is fashionable at the moment to write for huge websites like Forbes or Inc whenever possible, as these boast the highest scores on these scales. However, these sites have become so large that actually getting your article noticed can be a challenge in itself, while the increasing admittance of user-generated content may eventually diminish their worth as trusted authority sites.

remember that a backlink is not just an SEO tool, potential clients may actually follow it!

Perhaps a better bet is to consider industry and trade publications that directly cater to your client base. These publications can often be easy to break into as editors are often short of good copy, and they have the advantage of being quality, human-edited publications that readers trust. Readerships may be smaller, but they are also more likely to be your clients: remember that a backlink is not just an SEO tool, potential clients may actually follow it! To approach these sites a human touch is required and you will want to contact editors personally, with an individually crafted note and even — gulp — a phone call.

Finding things to say on specialist sites can be tricky. Personally, I recommend channeling your opinions True, everyone has an opinion. But on the other hand, yours is unique. If you can pinpoint the issues which are of interest to your client base and provide an insightful angle on them based on your specific knowledge, then you should have a solid pitch to make to relevant websites in your clients’ niche. In fact, good expert comment and opinion is arguably the most high-value content in any publication.

On the other hand, the drawback of relying on opinion is that it tends to have a short shelf life. As with blogging, therefore, it may be a good idea to also write an occasional ‘how to guide’, which aims to be the definitive answer to a practical question or need which you can solve. These long-form guides are worth putting serious effort into writing, as the aim is for them to remain popular and useful for years to come — thus attracting a constant flow of traffic and attention your way.

Bear in mind that it is often best not to mention your own business at all, as this is unpopular with publishers and will cause readers to raise their ‘advertising shields’. Editors understand that you do want some payment in kind, and will usually offer a link next to your byline, or in an author bio. Content yourself with this reward, because you are getting much more besides.

They Call it ‘Thought Leadership’

Offering expert opinion and guidance takes you into the realms of what marketeers call ‘thought leadership’. Don’t let this term put you off, it is actually misleading. All it boils down to is presenting yourself as an expert in an area of interest relevant to your client base.

If that seems like it’s spiraled well beyond guest-blogging, it’s because in the old sense it has. Simply publishing text on obscure sites for the sole purpose of garnering a link is now at best useless, and possibly counterproductive.

But producing quality copy for the purposes of informing readers and showcasing yourself is as useful as ever. The best guest bloggers always understood this, and were effectively practicing thought leadership without having necessarily heard the term. They simply understood that having relevant people know their name was even better than a backlink.

Feature Image Credit: via Depositphotos.

By Dominic Jeff

Dominic Jeff is a journalist and copywriter who has worked on The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Plymouth Herald. Since leaving the newspaper industry in 2015, he has worked closely with award-winning PR agencies and ambitious early-stage companies to produce great websites, exciting press releases, and closely-followed blog series. His own writing can be seen at www.dominicjeff.co.uk More articles by Dominic Jeff

Sourced from Web Designer Depot

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Influencer marketing has emerged as one of the more effective ways for brands to spark engagement, drive brand awareness and reach audiences via digital platforms. And with the option growing in popularity, social media giants like Facebook are now looking to better facilitate such connection, enabling improved, transparent brand campaigns which deliver better advertiser results.

Facebook’s latest initiative to foster influencer marketing is its new Brand Collabs Manager tool, which helps to connect brands with relevant content creators for such purpose.

Through the platform, brands have the option of finding influencers who have similar audiences based on various factors (age, gender, interests). These influencers – who have follower counts ranging from 25,000 to 8 million people – also have access to insights and data, making it easier for brands to assess their actual reach and capacity, helping to find the right match.

So how will this impact the world of influencer marketing? In this post, we’ll take a look at how brands can leverage the new platform to fuel up their influencer marketing strategies, and get the most out of their efforts.

Identify the Right Influencer

Brand Collabs Manager enables businesses to establish improved connection with influencers who align with their brand values, vision, and purpose.

Influencers can set up a portfolio that’s connected to their Facebook Page, and present campaigns where they’ve collaborated with brands and incorporated messages and products into their content.

The top relevant creators will also have a percentage match on their profile thumbnail, depending on your listed requirements, while you can also be able to see their audience reach, and set an audience match to see how it compares to yours. From there, you can choose any influencer or group of influencers.

Identifying the right person to represent your brand is vital – influencers with a massive following aren’t always the right fit for your audience. Always remember that quality trumps quantity when determining the right creators to partner with.

Great Content Wins Over All

The pillar of any effective marketing strategy is exceptional content – and that’s no different for influencer marketing.

Influencers are content creators who have become exceptionally successful with their craft – brands should not only focus on the influencers they’re looking to partner with, but even more so, the content they publish, and how that might work in representing their brand. Effective content is authentic, resonates with the target audience and represents both sides well.

With the influx of brands and influencers, you need to get creative to break through the noise and stand out. Think of compelling ways to reach your audience by leveraging various channels and formats.

Authenticity Is Key

Facebook is constantly working to filter out fake content and accounts, in order to ensure users only see transparent and authentic content. This is because consumers want authenticity from brands more than ever.

If you think of influencer marketing as a quick way to amp up sales, you’ll quickly fail. Every influencer should be a true brand ambassador, not just a paid spokesperson.

Instead of partnering with big-name influencers for temporary projects, invest in establishing genuine, long-term relationships with those who truly align with your brand’s vision. Create an authentic relationship with your creator – they’ll feel that you’re more invested in the partnership, and in return, they may also become more invested and be more loyal to your brand.

This kind of relationship will help both sides create content that genuinely resonates with your target audience and which doesn’t come off super salesy.

Personalized Messaging

Personalized marketing efforts have never been more important, and with Facebook’s access to a wealth of data on individual consumers, brands have the opportunity to ramp up their personalization efforts.

Brand Collabs Manager opens up the door for even better-targeted experiences – by serving more engaging ads and individualized content, the audience you’re reaching through influencers will likely be impressed and intrigued to discover more about your brand.

Track Your Performance

In order to gauge your success with influencer marketing and Brand Collabs Manager, you need to consistently measure your data and analytics in order to evaluate how users are reacting to your campaigns.

By using Facebook to track your performance, you’ll be able to better understand the type of content that works, which doesn’t, and what CTAs drive conversion. This will, in turn, help you focus on driving measurable results which boost ROI.

Conclusion

The launch of Facebook’s Brand Collabs Manager emphasizes just how significant influencer marketing has become – and really, the option is growing to form a crucial part of any successful digital marketing strategy.

Brand Collabs Manager is only open to a few brands creators at this stage, but it will soon be available to all. We predict that it will become a major disruption to the state of influencer marketing – and if used properly, it’ll maximize the quality of partnerships between the two parties and drive better ROI.

By 

Sourced from Social Media Today