The Evolving Digital Landscape

 

 

Image courtesy of Leanport Software Pvt Ltd

The Evolving Digital Landscape – 2016
by Steven Copertino

The Digital Landscape continues to evolve in both ways we could have predicted and ways we could never have imagined just several years ago. Below is a listing of things that strike me as particularly relevant and interesting. What are your thoughts?

Snapchat Dominates At SXSW In 2016

• Snapchat did not have a presence at SXSW, nor did they do any advertising there
• Snapchat generated 192 million impressions on Twitter from SXSW – more than any other brand (3/6 – 3/16)
• It’s a messaging app created in 2009 by Students at Stanford University. By early 2016, users were sending      7 billion photos and videos PER DAY – more than tripling between June and Nov of 2015 alone. (FB 8 bill/day)
• The messages self-destruct after 10 seconds – images, videos or text. You can create a story that lasts for 24 hours
• Bought by Facebook for $20 billion in 2014 – Snahchat has over 100 million active users per day
• Brands creating unique content for Snapchat – NatGeo, CNN, MTV, Buzz Feed, Comedy Central, WSJ, Food Network, ESPN, People, Cosmo, Mashable and many others…

“Desktop” Matters Less and Less

• No secret that desktop users have been flocking to mobile in droves
• But only this year did mobile traffic finally overtake desktop traffic
• Growth hasn’t slowed. In fact, some companies are preparing for desktop to stop mattering altogether
• That means it’s more important than ever to have a mobile component to your digital strategy

Video Is Becoming The New Normal

• For a while, written content dominated the digital landscape, but videos are taking over – 20% of digital budget in 2016 vs 17.7% in 2015 (display, search and social higher but video is pulling $ from them)
• Thanks to wider availability of lightning-fast internet (and smaller screens that favor video over text), video content is becoming preferred and more popular among publishers
• Social platforms like Facebook and Twitter are auto-playing videos in news feeds and rewarding video contributors
• Google is considering allowing video ads in its SERPs
• If you don’t already have a video content strategy, it’s time to get one. (don’t forget imagery, data visualizations, illustrations as well)

Omni-channel Is More Important Than Ever

• Studies show that 90% or more of consumers’ interactions with a brand employ more than one device/channel
• For example, a customer might search for a business/product/service with a smartphone and then continue using a laptop or by calling or visiting in person
• It’s very important for marketers to work collaboratively to study ALL channel interactions and customer behaviors and to adjust accordingly – data is key

The Humanization Of Digital

• Social media started this trend years ago by showing brands they no longer control the conversation nor the definition of their brand
• There is a movement towards more “human communication” – content with warmth and humor instead of corporate buzzwords, and making communication more authentic through humor, visuals and storytelling.
• It’s the humanization of digital to make brands feel more real and differentiated
• UGC is a great way to help warm up your digital presence – customer blog posts, customer ratings & reviews, etc. – search engines love UGC!  

 Digital Marketing Needs To Be Even More Data Driven

• This is nothing new, but it is. The expectation is for real-time changes based on data and for a personalized experience
• Digital marketing is both an art and a science
• Successful marketing comes from collecting, analyzing and using data about when and where customers spend their time
• In short, data is behavior. Learning from this behavior drives creative messaging and strategic campaigns
• Tracking behavior and tapping into the emotional connection through messaging, ads, social, and design makes all the difference in the digital space
• Content personalization is a consumer expectation

Social Engagement Is Key

• There’s a lot to be learned from your audience online
• You’ll get honest feedback on campaigns and messaging, for one
• Incorporating your fans’ interpretation and opinion of your brand can get you both fresh content and loyal fans
• Create incentive for fans to write, tweet, take photos, share videos, etc
• Reward them for their participation and loyalty by giving them the spotlight in your campaign.
• Think holistic strategy, rather than specific tactics. Each social channel, blog post, email, weblink must have a purpose and drive towards something
• Never post simply to post
• Without engagement or traffic, those posts are a waste of time and money

Social Is Starting To Mean Much More Than “Social”

• Social media apps change a little more every year, but for the most part, those changes have been made to introduce new kinds of social interactions or simplify old ones
• Now, social apps are moving in non-social directions; for example, Pinterest is leading a new trend of social/e-commerce hybrid apps, which offer social functionality combined with purchasable items, and Facebook is developing its own digital assistant

Feel free to share your thoughts.

Ad Age’s Digital Predictions 2016

From the Demise of Texting to the Next Phase of Facebook Messenger

Facebook’s Messenger Opens for Business
Facebook’s chat app is poised to become the social network’s next big revenue stream. Originally an instant-messaging service, Messenger was spun off into its own app in 2014. And after a series of announcements, now it’s ready to start up its own business. Last year Messenger began testing ways for businesses to use the service as a customer support line and for people to use it as an artificially intelligent assistant that can do things like order an Uber car. As more people use Messenger to communicate with businesses, expect Facebook to find a way to charge companies for the privilege, as it’s done with its own social network. –Tim Peterson

The Death of Texting
Emojis ruled in 2015. But GIFs, those quick looping videos or animations, are the next messaging app trend. In Asia, GIFs have been huge on apps like WeChat and Line. The appeal is obvious: Why use a standard yellow smiley face when you could send someone a three-second cat video? The fancier, funnier cousins of emojis are familiar from sites like Tumblr, but they’re about to get much more mainstream in Western markets, since Facebook finally embraced them. Facebook Messenger integrated a GIF-finder, and some brands have been using them on Facebook too. Between emojis and GIFs, who really needs text anymore? –Angela Doland

Headhunters Look to China
Given the explosion of online shopping in China and how crucial that market is, more multinationals will tap executives with experience there to oversee their worldwide e-commerce strategy. Case in point: Mars recently promoted its China general manager, Clarence Mak, to chief customer officer and global e-commerce leader. Mondelez International’s Cindy Chen, global head of e-commerce, also has worked in China. –Angela Doland

Refined Virtual Reality
This year will deliver more sophisticated virtual reality experiences, refined storytelling and increased layers of interactivity, given the consumer arrival of the Oculus headset and a variety of big deals in the space. Oculus partnered with premier VR storytellers Felix & Paul Studios to develop long-form, narrative content. Disneymade a $65 million investment in Jaunt VR. And 20th Century Fox is diving in as well, unveiling “The Martian Experience,” based on the blockbuster movie, at its Fox Innovation Lab during the Consumer Electronics Show.–Ann-Christine Diaz

2016 Won’t Be 360-Degree Video’s Breakout Year
There are plenty of reasons to believe 2016 will be the year that 360-degree videos hit the mainstream. Two of the biggest digital video services, Google‘s YouTube and Facebook, already support the format that lets people swivel their viewpoint all the way around a scene. And Facebook’s Oculus VR has finally begun selling the long-awaited consumer version of its virtual-reality headset that, like Samsung‘s Gear VR and Google Cardboard that are already in the market, is more tailored to 360-degree video viewing than a smartphone.

But while the ways to watch 360-degree videos have grown, there’s still the question of what people will watch. The New York Times, Vice and Disney are among the content companies already producing 360-degree videos, but too many of the 360-degree videos currently available offer beautiful documentary-style landscape shots yet lack a clear story or characters that can entice mainstream audiences and offset the format’s learning curve. If people are to tune in to 360-degree videos consistently, those videos must survive the novelty of the form; their content needs to rival, if not surpass, what people could watch normally. And for that to happen, filmmakers need to experiment with the form. That will likely require more time than 2016 holds. –Tim Peterson

Read the Full Article:  http://adage.com/article/digital/ad-age-s-digital-predictions-2016/302095/

The Internet of Things Is the Hackers’ New Playground

July 29, 2014, 5:49 AM PDT By Arik Hesseldahl

Excited about the promise of the shiny new Internet of Things? Good. Because hackers are too. Or at least they should be, according to a study by computing giant Hewlett-Packard.

The company’s Fortinet network security unit conducted an analysis of the 10 most popular consumer Internet things on the market and found 250 different security vulnerabilities per product for an average of 25 each. Unfortunately HP doesn’t identify each product but does describe them in broad brush-strokes: They were from the manufacturers of “TVs, webcams, home thermostats, remote power outlets, sprinkler controllers, hubs for controlling multiple devices, door locks, home alarms, scales and garage door openers.”

As a basic rule, these devices often run stripped down versions of the Linux operating system, and so will have many of the same basic security concerns that you might expect to be in place on a server or other computer running Linux. The problem is, the people building them aren’t going to the effort to secure them the way they would a more traditional computer.

What’s happening says Mike Armistead, VP and general manager of HP’s Fortify unit, is that manufacturers are rushing to get their products on the market without doing the harder work of locking their devices down against the most basic kinds of attacks.

Magnifying the potential for the problem is the fact that once one device is compromised, overlapping vulnerabilities can lead an attack from one to the other. If that seems like alarmist paranoia, remember that one of the most damaging hacking attacks in history, the Target breach, in which information on more than 70 million people was compromised, was carried out by way of an attack on a system used to manage and maintain the heating and ventilation system in the company’s stores.

Read the full article on RE/CODE

B2B Approach To Social Media

B2B Approach To Social Media (click here)

 

Vysk QS1 Case Encrypts Phone Calls Against Hackers, Spies

April 24, 2014, 4:04 AM PDT By Bonnie Cha

Smartphones, just like computers, are vulnerable to hackers, who target mobile devices with malicious software to access your personal information. There are security apps that can help prevent this, but one San Antonio-based startup thinks it has a better solution.

Today, Vysk Communications introduced the QS1, a protective smartphone case that the company claims makes it virtually impossible for others to eavesdrop on and capture phone conversations and also encrypts text messages and photos. It does so by incorporating a proprietary encryption processor and its own microphone into the case. The Vysk QS1 also has two mechanical camera shutters for blocking your phone’s front and back camera.

With the case on, you can activate one of two privacy modes: Private Call Mode and Lockdown Mode.

Private Call Mode requires a $9.95 monthly subscription but gets you the full gamut of security features. With the accompanying Vysk QS app (available for Android and iOS), you can make private VoIP calls to other subscribers over Vysk’s encrypted network. The company says no one will be able to listen in on your call, and no data, such as caller ID, phone numbers and call times, is recorded.

The Vysk QS1 will also generate an untraceable number when making calls to non-Vysk users, and if someone does try to hack into your phone call, they’ll be met with a piercing buzzing sound. Other features of the subscription service include encrypted private messaging, voicemail and pictures, remote wipe and password protection, among other things.

Meanwhile, Lockdown Mode jams your phone’s microphones and blocks the cameras. A subscription is not required to use these features.

But why choose a clunky and expensive ($229) case over one of the free or cheap security and privacy apps?

Vysk believes its hardware approach is stronger because software-based solutions are still vulnerable to malware and hackers. The company also considers the QS1 to be a better alternative to the upcoming Blackphone, since it allows people to keep the phone that they like and use every day.

The Vysk QS1 is compatible with the iPhone 5 and 5S and the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5. Preorders begin on May 15, and the case is expected to ship in early Q4.

Read the full blog post on re/code

Google Follows Facebook and Twitter Into App-Installation Ads

Adds Targeted App-Install Ads Within YouTube and Mobile Search

The news comes a weeks after Twitter started selling app install ads, following Facebook’s lead. Yahoo is floating the idea as well.

YouTube’s app install ads will run with TrueView, the in-stream service that allows users to skip through videos, the company said. It was added to mobile in August of 2012.

A mobile ad with the new capability of opening an installed app on a user’s phone.

Read more…

Twitter to Offer Mobile Ads Beyond Twitter In Bid for Revenue

Twitter to Sell App Install Ads Across Mobile Apps Through MoPub

Twitter’s ad world just got a little bigger.

The messaging service — whose business is already 75% mobile — started selling ads in mobile apps beyond Twitter today, a key rationale of its purchase of MoPub, a mobile adexchange it purchased in September.

MoPub will allow Twitter’s advertisers to buy mobile app install ads through the exchange. App install ads are today the mobile web’s dominant form of advertising and a key source of revenue for Facebook and other publishers.

Via the integration, advertisers can buy mobile app install and app engagement ads on Twitter, as well as on the thousands of apps within MoPub’s network, which include WordPress, OpenTable, the mobile messaging app Tango, and the music-streaming app Songza.

Twitter’s intention to launch mobile app install ads has been a poorly kept secret. Promoted tweets with Twitter “Cards” attached in which users can click to install an app have been materializing in users’ Twitter streams over the last few weeks.

Though still in a private beta, mobile app install ads will be available for purchase in Twitter’s ad auction, and other targeting parameters can be applied to them. But separately, advertisers will be able to participate in real-time bidding to buy mobile app install and app engagement ad inventory programmatically via MoPub within the Twitter ad system. Those ads will appear as banners, interstitials, video and sometimes in native formats.

Read more on Ad Age.com…