35 Podcast Stats That Advertisers Need to Know in 2020

35 Podcast Stats That Advertisers Need to Know in 2020

If you’re trying to connect with younger audiences, like millennials or Gen Z, odds are you’ve thought about creating a podcast for your brand. I probably don’t need to tell you that podcasting takes time and effort. Not only do you have to figure out which topics will intrigue and captivate audiences, but you’ll also have to take time to book guests, record interviews, and build a solid recording space where you can create high-quality audio content. As a busy marketer, you want to make sure you’re going to get a good return on your investment before you start spending time and money building a podcast. One great way to […]

Brands, especially restaurants, need FAQs and ‘coronapages’ fast

Brands, especially restaurants, need FAQs and ‘coronapages’ fast

Yesterday I received an email, among others, from Chipotle promoting free delivery during the corona crisis. This prompted the type of behavior they were probably hoping for — an order. But it also sparked a debate in my home about whether it was safe to order takeout/delivery from chains and local restaurants. Is it safe to order from . . . To try and settle the dispute, I went online to learn more about any precautions being taken at Chipotle. Finding no information, I ran a version of the query, “Is it safe to order from __?” for a range of national restaurant chains. While there was a lot of […]

Contextual Advertising 101: How it Works, Benefits & Why It’s Necessary for Relevant Ads

Contextual Advertising 101: How it Works, Benefits & Why It’s Necessary for Relevant Ads

Today, it’s hard to imagine any kind of digital advertising that isn’t based on browsing behavior: clicking a link, viewing a video, visiting a product landing page… But behavioral advertising isn’t the only way to serve relevant ads to internet users. And according to some, it may not even be the most effective. In some cases, there’s a better way, and it’s called “contextual advertising.” What is contextual advertising? Contextual advertising refers to the practice of placing ads on web pages based on the content of those pages. For example, this could be ads for running shoes on a news article about running, or it could be ads for laptops […]

SMX Overtime: Creating great content, FAQs and how to navigate approval limitations

SMX Overtime: Creating great content, FAQs and how to navigate approval limitations

During my “What does great content really mean? And how do you create it” session at SMX West with Stoney deGeyter, attendees asked questions about how retailers can create good content, FAQ on product pages and collecting valuable testimonials for lead gen. Below I answer a few of our session’s questions. What does great content look like for retailers? Retailer’s best content pieces are the ones that showcase what they sell in realistic ways. Beyonce just did a great job of this (as she does with most things) with her Adidas campaign. Instead of hiring models to showcase her new clothing line with Adidas, she did a photoshoot wearing each […]

Twitter Now Enables Users to Invite Guests to Live-Streams Ahead of Time

Twitter Now Enables Users to Invite Guests to Live-Streams Ahead of Time

In these times of physical distancing, social platforms are likely to become an even more important element of our day-to-day lives, and tools which enable us to interact in real-time, simulating social elements as best as possible, will also come to the fore. We’ve already seen Zoom take off as a virtual hangout tool, and other platforms are working to expand their live-streaming capacity and provide more ways to connect. And now, Twitter has updated its real-time video connection feature, adding a new option to add audio guests into your Twitter live-streams before you actually begin your broadcast. Broadcast live with a little help from your friends, no matter where they […]

Facebook-Owned CrowdTangle Provides New Trend Search Tools and COVID-19 Content Tracking

Facebook-Owned CrowdTangle Provides New Trend Search Tools and COVID-19 Content Tracking

Facebook-owned social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle has launched a new search feature to help journalists and students track down relevant information on evolving web trends. As shared by CrowdTangle CEO Brendon Silverman: Today, we are launching CrowdTangle Search, a powerful new tool that lets our users search memes, see social trends over time and access page transparency data across FB, IG and Reddit (2/3) pic.twitter.com/x2lCHGAi9O — Brandon Silverman (@brandon33175) March 17, 2020 As you can see here, the new option will enable CrowdTangle users to search for any term in order to access a display of all the relevant mentions, along with a chart showing the query’s popularity, based on post […]

WhatsApp’s Testing Disappearing Messages Based on a Set Time Limit

WhatsApp’s Testing Disappearing Messages Based on a Set Time Limit

This will no doubt be controversial. WABetaInfo has reported that WhatsApp is developing a new option which would enable users to set their WhatsApp messages to auto-delete after a set time limit. As you can see in these screenshots, pulled from the beta version of WhatsApp on Android, the new option, if it is rolled out, will let people set their messages to auto-delete within each chat. When a user chooses to enable auto-delete, they’ll also be able to pick a time limit – from an hour, up to a year – before their messages are erased. It makes sense – with more users now preferring the intimacy of direct messages […]

Linkedin Launches ‘Conversation Ads’ to Help Brands Capitalize on the Rise of Messaging

Linkedin Launches ‘Conversation Ads’ to Help Brands Capitalize on the Rise of Messaging

LinkedIn has this week launched a new ‘Conversation Ads’ option, which essentially enables you to add clickable CTA buttons that your email recipients can choose from in-stream, making your Sponsored InMails more engaging, and more interactive, which could help to drive better results. As you can see in this example, with Conversation Ads, you can add direct action CTA buttons into your Sponsored InMails – or ‘Message Ads‘ as LinkedIn now calls them. Among the various options, your in-message CTAs can be things like: ‘Visit website’ ‘Register for Webinar’ ‘Sign up for newsletter’ ‘See case studies’ ‘Sign up for demo’ ‘Learn more ‘Tell me more’ You can add several CTA buttons […]

Google Rolls Out Real-Time Translation in Multiple Languages for Google Translate

Google Rolls Out Real-Time Translation in Multiple Languages for Google Translate

As we look ahead to a future of borderless commerce, and expanding global opportunity, translation tools could prove to be a key element. And this week, Google has taken a significant step towards eliminating the language gap, with a new real-time translation feature in Google Translate which can provide rolling text, in your native language, as another person speaks. As explained by Google: “Starting today, you can use the Google Translate Android app to transcribe foreign language speech as it’s happening. Transcribe will be rolling out in the next few days with support for any combination of the following eight languages: English, French, German, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.” The […]