• Jill Abramson’s ‘Badass New Hobby’

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    Former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson has a “badass new hobby.”

    That’s according to her daughter, Cornelia Griggs, who posted a photo to Instagram on Thursday that shows the ousted editor wearing boxing gloves and posing for the picture

    Alongside the caption were two hashtags: “#girls” and “#pushy,” a reference to Ken Auletta’s source reported in the New Yorker:

    “She confronted the top brass,” one close associate said, and this may have fed into the management’s narrative that she was “pushy,” a characterization that, for many, has an inescapably gendered aspect. …

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  • Upgrade Your Social Mobile Marketing with Snapchat

    Now is the time to get on board with social mobile marketing; explore the possibilities of Snapchat, and see what develops. Snapchat can indeed upgrade your social mobile marketing and advance your business, especially if you have a young target audience.

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  • New AdSense “Magazine” Ads Render Text Ads In Display Formats

    Google has launched a new AdSense ad format in which text ads are rendered in display formats called magazine ads. Publishers that opt to only show display ads on their sites may now have text ad advertisers entering auctions for those ads. When a text advertiser wins an auction, the ad will appear…

    Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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  • Ariel Hyatt – Featured on The Legendary CD Baby Podcast: On Fans, Fears & Funding

    I was THRILLED to be invited back to the CD Baby Podcast again – It’s been several years since I was interviewed by Kevin Breuner, CD Baby’s Director of Marketing who I have known and respected for more years than I can count.

    I share some social media tips, and discuss why Facebook isn’t your best bet these days. I also dish online marketing advice, and my own experiences and insights with my crowd funding campaign.

    PLUS I finally and publicly set a self-imposed release date for my upcoming book CrowdStart, on Fans, Fears & Funding.

    It will be JUNE 20, 2014!

    Click on the image above to listen in! Or click here to listen.

    THANK YOU TO CD BABY for the opportunity to be included on your fabulous Podcast!

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  • Nuzzel Releases An iPhone News App With Simple Setup And Personalized Alerts

    For those of us who have been following social news startup Nuzzel, there’s been a long wait for the startup today’s iPhone launch. I first spoke about Nuzzel with founder Jonathan Abrams (who also founded Friendster) back in September 2012. Since then, Nuzzel has been a browser-and-email product, although Abrams told me recently that the iPhone app was “95 percent done.” Now I guess they’ve… Read More …read more

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  • Social Media Scheduling App Buffer Adds Content Feeds In Dashboard Play

    Buffer, the social media scheduling app with 1.5 million users, picked up a bit of notoriety when it got hacked and its users started sending out weight-loss spam to followers, but also kudos for its generally transparent approach to business. Today, it is announcing a pivot of sorts. The company is adding two new features – a feed-reading service and curated content suggestions —… Read More …read more

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  • 6 Nonverbal Hacks for Your Website So it Captures Attention and Converts

    You have 0.05 seconds to make a good first impression online.

    That’s only 50 milliseconds to hook someone — according to researchers at Carleton University.

    Most important, this happens before a user reads any of your content. So, you have to capture their attention with your website’s nonverbal cues.

    Do you have any of the following?

    • Low conversions
    • High bounce rate
    • Short average visit duration
    • Low sales
    • Slow traffic

    Then you need to optimize your website’s nonverbal first impression.

    I’m a human behavior hacker, and I’m going to show you how to use science to optimize your website.

    Why human behavior science?

    Let me be blunt:

    If you don’t understand online human behavior your website will fail.

    Sure, you can produce killer content — and that’s a great start. But even if your blog unveils the meaning of life while saving baby pandas from grumpy cats, it’s not enough.

    You have to understand your reader’s behavior to get them to convert. This is all about making sure your website produces a killer nonverbal first impression.

    Below I have laid out six scientifically proven hacks to improve your website’s visual cues.

    Hack #1: Understanding eye patterns

    Do you know how your readers see your website?

    The Poynter Institute tracked eye behavior as users read various web pages. They found that reader’s eyes follow an F-Shaped pattern on a website. Typically they start in the upper left hand side of a web page …read more

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  • The UN Battles Killer Robots. Yes, a Robocalypse May Be Coming

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    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G1GKJu5epo]

    So, the UN is holding a meeting to discuss the legality of killer robots. We don’t want you to panic, but let’s face it, a killer-robot-apocalypse is probably right behind the corner

    Meanwhile, a student at the University of British Columbia is trying to teach a robot right from wrong. This could be our only hope, folks

    If the thought of killer robots intrigues you, you should probably check out the last episode of Mashable Minute, in which Elliott Morgan discusses a huge Godzilla and tiny dinosaurs

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fEiIWwyS5I?list=PLSKUhDnoJjYmVEZrJ8ni7qFa0IkRsRTNI&w=560&h=315] …

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  • How To Effectively Promote Your Music Video on Facebook

    Being an up and coming musician can be both a delightful and dreadful gig. You’re always writing music, recording, performing in bars and/or clubs, and trying to sell yourself on social media platforms. Selling yourself also means shooting a music video for your best song. You can always just upload the video to YouTube and engage with trolls, or upload to Vimeo and engage with trolls. But you want to, not only sell your music video, you want to engage with your growing audience and earn more fans. Facebook is the answer for that.


    Create a Page

    It seems like a no brainer to create a page for your music video but most musicians seem to overthink it. You’ve encountered pages on Facebook before but they’re usually for products, films, or some cause to have you donate money to. You can create a page for yourself (or your band) to garner an online following and inform people of events, concerts, and more. Creating a page for a music video seems kind of redundant but it’s a great step forward for you.

    For a music video page, go to ‘entertainment’ and locate ‘music video’

    Like a film, a music video is a story with an arc and a message to tell but set to music. It’s not a novel idea since music videos have been around for about forty years but you need to treat each one of your videos like a huge premier set to be seen by millions. The process of creating and maintaining the page is just the same as maintaining your musician or band page; you can update on the filming and editing of the video.

    When your music video is complete you can upload it directly to the page and inform those followers. The uniqueness of the music video …read more

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  • The Strange Bubble Economics of Selfies

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    A couple of months ago my 13-year-old son came to me with a true story. One of his acquaintances had given him control of an Instagram profile with roughly 3,500 followers as a gift.

    A few days later, my son and his friends met some famous rappers. They took a few selfies with them and posted the images on the Instagram profile. Almost immediately the number of followers exploded from 3,500 to about 9,000. Then my son’s friend offered to buy the profile from him. There is apparently so much social value, acclaim and recognition associated with the account that it is now worth actual money.

    Social capital is being traded for hard capital online now. Social media profiles function as online campaigns for selling an image or perception of yourself. It’s even stranger than …

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  • A.1. Steak Sauce’s Social Life is More Interesting Than Yours

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    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2XFglTo6bg]

    Breaking up is hard to do, and it’s even harder when you go as naturally together as steak and A.1. But not all change is a bad thing.

    After nearly 50 years, A.1. is removing the “steak” from its name in order to include all the other delicious food pairings that the savory sauce can accompany. After years listening to customers’ stories of their sauce’s love affairs with various other dishes, A.1. Sauce is embracing all foodies with its “For Almost Everything. Almost.” campaign, which imagines the conscious uncoupling occurring on Facebook

    See also: …

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  • The Social Shake-Up 2014: Calling All Early Birds to Atlanta in September

    The Social Shake-Up 2014 is going to be a blockbuster sequel to our conference last year. For those of you who are considering attending, now is the time to decide. Our very, very low Early-Bird rate of $743 for two jam-packed days (45% off the open rate) will expire this Friday, May 16.

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  • Rappers, Monsters & Men Eating Fruit In The Jungle

    Rappers, Monsters & Men

    Eating Fruit In The Jungle:

    A modern parable in marketing & loving your customers

    by Jeremy Krakowski

    Director of Media & Marketing, A Real Change International, Inc.

    Editorial note: I actually wrote the first draft of this article over 2 weeks before Apple acquired Beats Audio. I’ve decided to edit this article based on those recent developments into what you see below as the principals are even more applicable.


    jeremy krakowski amazon Rappers, Monsters & Men Eating Fruit In The Jungle

    I flew into Washington State, Seattle specifically, for an incredible time of rest and relaxation and pressing into the spirit of God. A time that was much needed for me. I’ve been on a long health and fitness journey, losing over 100 lbs. for the last two years, but haven’t really taken the time to take rest.

    I had the incredible opportunity of visiting the offices of Amazon and even walking past one of CEO, Jeff Bezos many offices in the campus. It was truly an honor for me to walk on the ground of such a successful company that has made it it’s mission to LOVE their customers above all.

    Amazon is know as “Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company” here’s a quote from their “About Amazon” page, which you can read here

    From Amazon.com: With a mission “to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices,” Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished, and used items in categories such as books; movies; music & games; digital downloads; electronics & computers; home & garden; toys; kids & baby; grocery; apparel; shoes & jewelry; health …read more

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  • Betaworks-Backed Giphy Launches Gif Link Shortener For Twitter And Facebook

    Giphy, the betaworks-backed search engine for gifs, has released a brand new tool that makes sharing gifs on social networks even easier and more efficient. Giphy is a search platform that is based entirely around gifs, with artist profiles so that creators can get more exposure and easy sharing tools for social media. However, without in-line integration on Facebook or Twitter people still have… Read More …read more

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  • Marketing Day: Facebook’s Related Content Test, Adobe Analytics Updates & World Cup Marketing

    Here’s our daily recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on Marketing Land and other places across the web. From Marketing Land: Facebook’s iOS Related Content Test Could Be A Boon For Marketers Facebook wants check-ins to be more social, which could be good news for…

    Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

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  • How Financial Brands Can Benefit From Using Pinterest

    Pinterest was an immediate hit among fashion, food, and design brands, and we’ve seen how others have benefited. With incredible growth and a wealth of success stories, it’s hard to believe that there are still some industries that haven’t embraced it yet. Currently, only a small portion of financial institutions are active on the platform. They might not seem like a match for it, but several financial brands are doing great things with Pinterest.

    This is concerning because women, who influence 85 percent of all purchase decisions, make up the majority of the site’s user base. Of Pinterest’s 70 million members, roughly 80 percent of them are women.

    The platform has revolutionized the way consumers share information, and making use of it is an innovative way for financial organizations to offer customers visually compelling information about their brand. Here are some themes to focus on and examples of financial brands that have successfully leveraged Pinterest’s popularity.

    Create Pins Around Life Stages and Financial Concerns

    While your Pinterest account should be a reflection of your brand, that doesn’t mean every pin should be self-promotional in nature. Being successful on any social network requires finding that happy balance between sales jargon and content that consumers will find valuable. So although some self promotion can be useful, your pinboards shouldn’t be loaded with marketing materials.

    For financial institutions, rather than pinning your latest credit card offer, consider sharing your blog post about tips for students looking for their first credit card. Consider who your customers are and tailor your content to meet their needs. Money might not buy happiness, but it does provide choices and opportunities. As such, major life decisions are often made with an individual’s current financial situation in mind.

    College

    finance-pinterest-students

    In addition to providing tips on establishing credit and avoiding credit …read more

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  • A music video isn’t enough; you need a YouTube content strategy

    Why YouTube is the dominant player in today’s music industry

    YouTube is the #1 music streaming platform in the world. It’s the #2 search engine in the world. It’s slowly replacing radio, MTV, and many other platforms for music discovery. It’s become a serious revenue source for musicians too (some CD Baby artists have earned more than 40k from YouTube ad revenue). And that’s why YouTube is more important than anything else in your music career — besides the actual music, of course.

    But these days it takes more than just a couple music videos to establish a YouTube presence.

    According to Lucy Blair:

    The days of aiming to create a one-hit ‘viral’ on YouTube as a marketing strategy are long gone. These days it’s more helpful to think of YouTube as your own TV channel. Think of content as programming – and not programming for an album cycle, but a 12-month content cycle.

    It’s essential to create a programming schedule and produce regular content to drive subscribers, repeat views and watch time, and to give subscribers a reason to return to your channel.

    How do you develop a content strategy, though? And maybe more elementary, what kind of content should you be creating?

    Well, here’s a list of twelve different kinds of videos you can create to promote your music.

    Still need more inspiration? Check out these 32 viral video ideas for busy musicians.

    Now, what should you DO with your videos to build your fanbase using YouTube?

    1) Read our “Top 5 tips for music video promotion on YouTube” for the basics.

    2) Then check out our Complete Guide to YouTube for more advanced tips …read more

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  • Why Online Customer Service Needs to Be Faster

    More consumers are turning to social media for customer service because of its direct and speedy nature. The problem is that as customer service requests increase, companies have a hard time keeping up. In fact, they’re way behind, according to data from social marketing software provider Brickfish.

    Eighty percent of companies believe they provide superior customer service online, but a stunning 92 percent of consumers would disagree with that statement, according to the data. And the problems will only continue to get worse, as social engagement with companies is growing nine times faster than the social platforms themselves. More customers than ever are seeking brands on social media.

    As for response times, consumers expect a response a lot faster than most companies deliver one. On Facebook, 42 percent of consumers want a response within an hour, but it takes most brands an average of 15 hours to respond.

    Twitter is faster, with the average response time for companies just under eight hours, but tweeters are even more demanding with 32 percent of them expecting a response in just 30 minutes.

    There are great gains for companies that get it right. Seventy-one percent of consumers that receive a quick and effective response are more likely to recommend that brand. If consumers are able to contact a brand on social media, they are 50 percent more likely to make a purchase.

    Of course, when responding to customers, it’s important to have a plan.

    New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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