Twitter introduces a new story-like feature called Fleets.

This week, Twitter arrived at the “instant story feature” party fashionably late, and introduced Fleets. While not giving a reason why it took so long, the platform explained that to some people, tweeting is uncomfortable because it feels public and permanent. That the pressure to rack up retweets and likes causes people to leave great tweets in their drafts. Twitter feels that Fleets is a lower pressure way for people to talk about what’s happening.

If you have used Snapchat or Instagram stories, you will be very familiar with Fleets. They are for sharing momentary thoughts. They help start conversations and only stick around for 24 hours, just like the other two.

This rollout hasn’t come without its problems, though. Twitter has acknowledged awareness of the technical problem impacting some users and says they’re working to fix the issue. If you’re among those affected, you’ll notice when you’re tapping or swiping to move through Fleets, the screen will either temporarily freeze or move very slow. This may make it seem like your phone is having problems, but it’s just the Twitter app.

YouTube Audio Ads in beta

Google announced this week that YouTube is looking to add audio-only background ads to the video platform, but only when you’re listening to content in the background on the desktop. Whether you’re listening to your favorite podcast or a new album on YouTube, Google is testing running audio-only ads on the platform. If you are actively watching the video, you will get a “normal” YouTube video ad. But if you are listening to a video on one tab, but working on another, you might start hearing audio-only ads.

In a blog post, YouTube confirmed that the feature will begin rolling out in beta and is “designed to connect your brand with audiences in engaged and ambient listening on YouTube.”

Essentially this means that those that like to listen to podcasts and music on YouTube in the background while they go about their day may hear audio-only ads tailored to them. We can only assume this will mimic the ads that free-tier members hear when listening to content on Spotify. Of course, on mobile background play is only available to those already subscribing to YouTube Premium.

YouTube is one of the world’s biggest music streaming platforms, with “more than 50 percent of logged-in viewers who consume music content in a day consume more than 10 minutes of music content” according to this announcement blog post.

It’s clear that audio-only ads are an untapped market when it comes to YouTube, as an alpha test of the feature found, “more than 75% of measured audio ad campaigns on YouTube drove a significant lift in brand awareness.”

Google says setting up audio ad campaigns will be very similar to setting up YouTube ad campaigns, and will report on similar metrics. The fact that this is the first we’re hearing about Google and audio ads is a little surprising. But it would not surprise me to see it become more available in the next few months or years. I could definitely see them opening up audio ads into podcasts, and it would be great to run all your PPC, YouTube, and audio campaigns on one platform.

During this time of uncertainty, businesses are struggling on a variety of fronts and under circumstances beyond their control.  While this unprecedented economic shutdown has been devastating to many, there are opportunities to come out of this crisis – not only intact but improved and positioned for better days ahead!  Survival marketing is the process of assessing and shifting your business to meet the needs of your customers right now.  Marketing experts, Korena Keys (CEO of KeyMedia Solutions), and Courtney Davidson (VP of Matt Jensen Marketing), recently joined together with Small Business Owners and Executives for an online interactive discussion on what actionable steps businesses can take today.

Get started now by conducting a comprehensive audit of your current marketing strategy.  Is your message still relevant in light of what’s happening? Revise your messaging to be reflective of the moment and informative to your patrons.  For example, if your retail location is currently closed, but you use a CRM to send automated emails, make sure the email messages do not invite customers to your physical locations.  It is also imperative to update your Google My Business information to reflect any changes to your hours or services.  Your customers are still your customers and they want to find you!

Look closely at your paid and non-paid media. If your company’s marketing budget is currently frozen, that doesn’t mean your marketing efforts should be!  Google is offering $10k in Google Ad Grants to nonprofit organizations and Google Ad Credits to businesses that have been consistent advertisers.  Facebook is also offering assistance options.  Increase your social media posts and email campaigns to keep customers engaged.  Change up your paid media mix to stretch your budget.  With the world online, your ad dollars may go further with OTT or streaming platforms over traditional broadcast television or over-the-air radio. Make sure your paid search keywords are relevant and updated.

Next, perform a thorough inspection of your website.  Use the site to communicate your current situation, changes in hours, and ways to shop or connect with your business.  State your company’s response to the current crisis and your commitment to your customers.  Confirm that your content is current and applicable to the present climate.  Is your website user friendly? How about optimized for mobile devices? Perhaps your site needs new landing pages? Make the necessary updates to your website and refresh your content.

Finally, evaluate your business operations. Use the extra time on your hands to improve your customer experience.  Map the customer journey and review every touchpoint, from the initial site visit to after the sale. Have you put off training initiatives because you’ve been too busy?  Utilize this downtime to train your employees and streamline internal processes to prepare for tomorrow.

Remember, while this crisis is difficult, it is also temporary. Stay calm and focus on what you can do for your customers and employees today.  Seize every opportunity available to sustain or advance your business.  At KeyMedia Solutions, we are dedicated to helping businesses through this challenging time and we would be honored to discuss your current needs and help you with strategies to write your success story!

 

 

When I first heard about Facebook’s “Secret Videos” my eyes widened and my mind wondered. I imagined a hidden playlist of videos buried somewhere deep in a part of Facebook long forgotten by civilization. “They could be anything,” I thought to myself – they could be leaked videos of Mark Zuckerberg creating the social platform or secret “how-to” videos for someone to unlock the hidden treasures of Facebook!

The reality, however, was less Indiana Jones-ish then I had hoped. Facebook Secret Videos are a part of the platform’s updates for businesses to better manage and organize the videos on their page. Secret Videos allow for anyone to upload video content to their page without having to post the content to their timeline or have them visible in their video library. This is very similar to uploading an “unlisted” video in YouTube.

Why are Secret Videos Important?

While this might seem like a small or insignificant update, the ability to upload videos without having them viewed on a profile or timeline gives page administrators much more control over the life of their video content. Admins can now share videos privately with a direct URL or embed the videos on another site.

In the rest of my blog today, I’ll walk you through the step-by-step process to uploading a Secret Video and how to embed that video on a website.

How to Create a Secret Video

The first thing you’ll want to do is get to the right place on your Facebook profile. In the top bar click “Publishing Tools.” This area will let you see some of the basic performance data on your most recent posts. Once there, locate the “Video Library” tab on the left side of the screen.

The “Video Library” section is also another one of Facebook’s platform updates. This section allows Page Admins to monitor and review the performance of the video content on their profile. Once you’re here, click the “Upload” button in the top right corner of the screen.

This will bring up the screen to upload and post a video. I’ve chosen an animated video I created about the Importance of Content Marketing for this example. Once the video has been completely uploaded, give it a title. You can also give it a description if you’d like (it’s optional). Instead of “Publishing” the video, you’ll want to click the “Advanced” tab.

The next step in posting a Secret Video is deciding how to distribute the video. In this area, you have a few options. If the video is recorded in 360 you can choose this option here. But for this example, we want to choose the drop-down under the “Distribution” area.

In the drop-down menu, you’ll want to choose the “Custom” option. This will bring up more options to manage the distribution of your video. Check the box labeled “Add as secret video.” Listed in the summary below, you can see that choosing this option will make the video unpublished and non-searchable. People who view the video will not be able to like, comment, or share unless you un-check the box labeled “Block social actions.”

Finally, push the “Publish” button to finish the process.

Once you’ve pressed “Publish” the video will begin to process. In the “Video Library” area, you’ll be able to see the finished Secret Video. This will be the only area that the video will be accessible to page administrators.

How to Embed a Secret Video

Next, we’ll discuss how to take your Secret Video and embed it on a website. Start by clicking into your video in your video library. Just like before, you’ll want to choose the “Advanced” tab in the taskbar. Here you can find the direct URL link to access the video. If you’d like to privately share the video with someone, you can simply give them this URL where they can view the video.

To access the embed code, however, you’ll want to choose the gear icon in the upper right corner of the display box. Once you click the icon, a drop-down will appear. Choose the “Embed” option.

Once you’ve clicked “Embed” it will bring up this box. Here we can see a preview of what the video will look like once you embed it on a website. The embed code is located just above the preview. Next, you’ll want to copy this code. You can also choose “Advanced Settings” for more in-depth HTML settings for the code. But for what we’re trying to do, copying the code as seen in the example below will work just fine.

The last step to embed your Secret Video is to log on to your site. Simply paste the code in a blog or on a page and it should auto-populate with the preview that we saw in the above example. Below is the video from the example. I used the code to embed the video into this post. You’ll notice that the viewer does have some options when viewing the video. They can “Save” the video and also view the video’s direct URL. However, they will not be able to like, comment, or share the video unless you have granted that permission.

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And That’s It

That’s all there is to it! Secret Videos and the updates to Facebook are a clear example of the platform’s push to imitate other video platforms like YouTube. Because video content is such a vital part of today’s social experience, every platform has begun to evolve and update to cater to this trend.

If you’re interested in learning more about Video Marketing or if you have any questions about this article, please feel free to reach out at any time. You can also view some of our other articles about video/content marketing on our website.

I’ve said it a lot in many of my other blog posts – content is a broad word that can be created in a lot of different ways. This fact can lead to frustrations for people trying to produce quality content for their audience. As a Content Specialist, it’s my job to not only create new content, but also try and figure out what style of content will best work for a client.

For my blog today, I wanted to talk about something that I think can help anyone who’s struggling with creating new content. It’s a simple lesson, but the first step in reaching out to your audience and attracting new leads.

Try New Types of Content

The Lesson: Try new styles of content when you have the chance. Be open to the possibility that what you’ve been doing might not be the best way to reach your audience. Have you been creating blogs for a while? Then try making a video. Would you customers enjoy reading case studies? Maybe an infographic could be a fun and interactive way to explain information about your brand.

Because I believe in this lesson so much, I decided to take my own advice. I recently learned about a website called PowToon that lets people created animated videos. The name alone was enough for me to look into it, and once I visited the website I laughed as I thought about creating a video of my own. So in the spirit of creating new content and taking a small step out of my comfort zone, I began creating an animated video about Content Marketing. You can watch my finished produced below.

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The Power of Trying New Things

I believe that there are a lot of lessons that can be learned just by opening yourself up to new experiences. I’m lucky enough to work for an organization that promotes testing, training, and new ideas. This short animated video may have been a funny experiment, but just by giving it a shot, I’ve opened our business up to the possibility of doing more of these videos.

If you’re focused on growing your business or creating awareness through the creation of engaging content, start to familiarize yourself with the feeling of being uncomfortable. If you’re not creating a blog because you don’t like writing or if you don’t make videos because you don’t think you look good in front of the camera, I encourage you try.

Trying something new and feeling uncomfortable often go hand-in-hand, but the benefits almost always speak for themselves. Lessons are learned through both success and failure, but you’ll never find out what those lessons are without trying something new.

Now that Sunday’s Big Game is over, people around the world are getting back to work after calling in “sick” on Monday. Patriot fans rejoice while Falcon fans begin the first stage of the healing process (just let it all out). Office chatter for the next few days will consist of reviews of the game’s big plays, play calling, and of course, the commercials.

Our office was no different. We spent the morning arguing over the calls, our love and hate for Tom Brady, and which commercials we’ve already re-watched on YouTube twenty times. So today I decided that I’m going to share some of the KeyMedia Solutions top commercial picks from the big game.

You Gotta Love a Man Who Cleans

We’ll start with my favorite. We had some people over to our house to watch the game and when Mr. Clean started putting on the moves during this commercial, I thought I was going to have to tell the kids in the room to cover their eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDzMxlw2Fgo

Subliminal Messaging

I thought it was strange when our Digital Specialist Luke walked into the office Monday morning with 50 avocados. That is, until he told me his favorite commercial from the weekend was the one by Avocados From Mexico. I suddenly have a craving for guacamole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX5tUgT5heo

But you were the one sitting on a wall

I think Tobaria is channeling every Atlanta Falcons fan as they try and put themselves back together after Sunday’s tough loss with his pick for best commercial. I mean really, 31 unanswered point? Talk about falling apart. But this Turbo Tax commercial reminds us that there’s hope out there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5i-p1miRNw

Save the Wales, Trees, Ice Caps, etc…

Nolan’s favorite commercial featured Melissa McCarthy trying to save the world. The Kia Niro car commercial wants you to save the environment by driving an Eco Hybrid vehicle. Nolan’s been calling himself an “eco-warrior” all week and we’re still not exactly sure what he’s talking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u6M18M3D0s

Customer Service…. Wow

Who knew customer service could be so… satisfying? Jess’s pick for best commercial comes from T-Mobile’s #NSFWireless campaign. With the new 50 Shades movie coming out soon, T-Mobile brought a little bit of cringe and a whole lot of laughter to the Big Game. Is it getting hot in here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNCG9fHGXB0

The Journey Begins

Pow! Right in the emotions. Travis’s pick for best commercial comes to us courtesy of 84 Lumber. As a mother and daughter begin their journey to find a better life, they have to overcome extreme obstacles. No, I’m not crying… I just have something in my eye.

Plenty to Talk About

Whether you laughed, cried, or rolled your eyes at this year’s Big Game commercials, they should supply your office with enough water cooler discussion topics for at least a little while. What were your favorite commercials? Visit our social media pages and let us know which commercial had you running to the computer to watch again.

Bonus Baby Commercial! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9csH_Hy-7A4

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Over 3,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians used pictures and symbols called hieroglyphics to tell their stories. Thousands of years later in the world today we continue to use a similar idea to communicate to each other. Emojis have become modern day hieroglyphics in the way we use them in messages and social media.

As businesses continually try to connect with customers in any way possible, many have tried incorporating emojis into their marketing. Today’s blog is going to help you try and find out if marketing with emojis is the right fit for your business.

Emojis in marketing today

Emojis have taken over a significant part of online communication. According to a study from Emogi, about 92% of the online population use emojis in texts and social medial. Some common ways people use emojis are to:

• Lighten the mood by using sarcasm or humor
• Find a more comfortable way to express themselves
• Communicate when we can’t find the right word

The term “emoji” has become so popular that it was named by Oxford Dictionaries as Word of the Year for 2015, which means that we weren’t surprised when we noticed an increase of branded messages that included emojis. It’s common for brands to attempt to be part of a trend. Some brands excel, but there’s always the risk of trying too hard and having a voice that sounds forced.

Should your brand use emojis?

Emojis may help a brand add a personal element to its marketing messages and create an additional appeal to its audience, but this doesn’t mean that every case is similar.

Before diving in to the world of emojis, here are some things to consider:

• How does my target audience interact online?
• Would emojis enhance the branded message?
• Which emojis could be most relevant for my brand?
• Do I really know the meaning of the emojis I’m going to use?
• How often should I use them?

Once your brand is ready to include emojis in your next campaign, you might need some inspiration on the best possible uses to do so.

Brands using emojis today 

Google

Recently, Google announced they will be able to interpret emoji via its Twitter handle. All you have to do is tweet an emoji to @Google and the service will give you relevant results.

For example, if your wedding anniversary was coming up and your significant other loves flowers, you could tweet a flower emoji to Google and they will respond with a GIF and a link for flower shops nearby in a matter of seconds. Google says the feature will work with over 200 different emojis for food, sites, and activities near you. It’s also promised some “Easter eggs.”

 

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Taco Bell

Taco Bell launched a campaign to ask for a taco emoji and its Change.org campaign had over 30,000 signatures for its request! Once the taco emoji finally arrived, Taco Bell took to social media. They created over 600 GIFs and photos to celebrate the emoji’s arrival. Taco Bell created the #TacoEmojiEngine, an engaging way to interact with its customers. And it’s still working today!

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Domino’s Pizza

Domino’s created one of the most popular and iconic emoji-related campaigns when they asked for customers to order pizzas by tweeting or texting the pizza emoji. The customer still has to go to the website to verify their order, but it still was a creative and fun way to give their customers a new way to order pizza.

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Start using Emojis! 

Use emojis to tell stories, to stand out, or to show emotions greater than words. Emojis represent the future of marketing: expressing emotion, which builds trust: which is exactly what we as marketers aim for. They are trendy, and probably here to stay.

 

Do you know a young artist? If so, Google may have the perfect opportunity for the next budding Picasso. The world’s largest search engine has opened their 4^th Google Doodle contest for students in grades K-12 for this year.

This year’s theme is “What I see for the future.” Students are asked to create artwork based on their vision for the future. How do you see the future – flying cars, actual hover boards, or even world peace?

Students can use any materials from crayons to clay. All creations must incorporate the letters G-O-O-G-L-E. The winner will receive a $30,000 college scholarship. The deadline for entries is December 2, 2016. Click Here for more info on the contest.

 

What are Google Doodles?

“Doodles are the fun, surprising, and sometimes spontaneous changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists.”

Google Doodles appear on the Google search page. Often they feature artwork that celebrates a special occasion like holidays, anniversaries, or the lives of people who have made a mark in history.

A Brief History of Google’s Doodles

The doodles started as sort of a comical out of office message. In 1998, Google founders, Larry and Sergy, were attending the Burning Man music festival in the Nevada dessert and used a stick figure in the logo to indicate where they were. The idea of recognizing “notable events” grew from there.

Two years later, Dennis Hwang, an intern at the time, was asked to create a doodle for Bastille Day. Users enjoyed it so much that Dennis was appointed Google’s chief doodler.

Over time, the demand for doodles has risen and the Google team has created over 2,000 doodles for their homepages around the world.

Check out the Google Doodles.

Google archives all of the doodles and you can see them here. The archive includes current and past doodles from all over the world. You can even see which doodles are showing today and where.

 

The true beauty of any marketing effort executed on the World Wide Web is the ability to measure the results. Truly, you will know if it was a success or if the campaign failed; there are no secrets.

However, I often times hear of companies blaming the medium (banner ads, search portals, social networks) for the lack of results before taking a critical look at all of the possible causes that impact the final results. While the placements of the ads will impact on the overall campaign results, the creative can make or break the campaign’s success.

Peter Minnium, President of Ipsos Connect, leads the US in helping companies measure and amplify how media, brands, and consumers connect through compelling content and great communication. In a recent Marketing Land article, he explains that quality creative can be the deciding factor in measuring the success of an advertising campaign.

“Great strategy without great creative is like clapping with one hand.” – Peter Minnium

In my blog today, I’m going to outline three areas that quality creative can impact your campaign’s performance.

#1 Engagement

“The Power of Creation,” the most comprehensive study of perception and impact of online display creative in the German market analyzed 270 studies and 40,000 survey participants to provide more insights on the effect of quality creative to the engagements of campaigns. They concluded:

“Creative quality is a key driver of the awareness and impact of an ad. Specifically, high-quality creative increases ad viewing time six times (5.8x) and nearly doubles purchase intent (+93%) vs. low-quality creative. In addition, up to half of the probability that an ad will be looked at depends on the creative itself (47.3%).” Read more.

#2 Revenue

A recently published study in Harvard Business Review wanted to correlate the role of the ad in driving revenue. What they discovered was that campaigns which included better quality creative had a direct impact of the sale’s revenue on that campaign. The article explains:

“A euro invested in a highly creative ad campaign had double the sales impact of a euro spent on a non-creative campaign.” Read more.

#3 Brand Recall

Ipsos Connect recently published an article which explored the relationship between creative and the ability for an advertisement to create brand awareness. The article “Who’s Killing Creativity Now?” concluded:

 “75% of an ad’s ability to leave brand-linked memories is due to creative.” Read more

In The End

The goal of every campaign should be three-fold: the right message, placed in the right medium, at the right time. The bottom line? Test various designs, messages, calls to action, and colors to see what will resonate with your clients and buyers. You may be surprised by what you find.

Want more resources on how to develop great ads for your digital campaign? Check out Peter Minnium’s recent post on the “10 Best Practices for Digital Ad Breakthrough.”

If you’d like to learn more about how KeyMedia Solutions can optimize your advertising campaign, click here to talk with us today. Or, download our free whitepaper by clicking the link below to learn how to stay top-of-mind to your customers even after they leave your site.

 

Companies that want to create strong, targeted internet marketing campaigns that will grab hold of customers' attention need to listen to what their audience actually wants. Businesses need to spread their message while still adhering to what prospective shoppers care about. At the same time, organizations have to find the best ways to reach customers without becoming annoying.

For example, the General Mills' cereal Cheerios made headlines not too long ago for a commercial it launched that featured an interracial family. The ad stayed true to Cheerios' long-running Heart Healthy campaign, but some viewers were upset by the chosen actors portraying a family. However, company officials said that a majority of consumers were positive.

A Business 2 Community article commented on the situation, saying that the cereal company took a risk and received minor backlash, but it was able to hold strong in its original message.

"Even with the vitriol directed at the ad, Cheerios believes that giving in to that kind of criticism would be a bad move," the article said. "Ultimately, Cheerios stands by its ad, despite ruffled feathers – because for this company, the benefits of representing the changing face of what a family looks like outweigh the risks."

According to a recent Inc. Magazine piece, businesses must also find the right balance between advertising to customers and spamming them. Bad press could result if organizations have complicated ways for customers to unsubscribe from things like email blasts. Mobile display ads, pay-per-click advertising and email marketing campaigns all have the ability to be extremely successful. But, if companies do not take care to create targeted campaigns, their local online marketing could falter.

By partnering with Key Media Solutions, small- to medium-sized businesses can learn how to develop advertising plans that strike the right balance and will successfully target the desired audience.

Local online marketing is often unique, as it needs to show customers why a particular business has the specific products or services they need. However, if companies detract too far from their original message, consumers might not understand what is being sold to them. 

M.P. Mueller wrote a contribution piece for the Austin Business Journal explaining why consistency is so crucial for successful marketing campaigns.

According to her, a business will be much more effective when it relentlessly commits to its unique voice, personality and message. Until all aspects of advertising work effectively together, an organization will have a harder time communicating with the public.

"More often than not, we find that the right hand isn't talking to the left hand," Mueller wrote. "The company's voice and messaging are like a drawer of mismatched socks. In some instances, the logo has had work done on it by unskilled nip-and-tuckers, and sometimes the typeface is Goudy-like and other times it's Times-Roman so heavily bolded that it screams at the reader."

This will then cause brand dilution, Mueller explained, which will only confuse customers. And when this happens, they might in turn believe that your company is confused about what it wants to portray to the public.

As an example, Mueller discussed the signature pale, blue box at Tiffany & Co. While the company's employees might despise staring at the color all day, it is an iconic image that customers around the world recognize.

To create that type of image with customers today, businesses can greatly benefit from strong, targeted internet marketing. Working with Key Media Solutions will give companies the direction they need to develop everything from mobile display ads to pay-per-click campaigns.