If you want to be around for 140 years you must be willing to change!

Last year, GE CEO Jeff Immelt and Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft discussed why General Electric one of the world's largest industrial companies was becoming a digital company!

"When you realize the jet engines you produce have sensors that produce more than a terabyte of information on each flight, you begin to realize you already are a digital company with the need for an industrial strength cloud based system to process and deliver the information you have collected."

DIGITAL - Research: The Growing Importance of Visual Content

Visual content has become vital to marketing, especially in the world of social media.

A recent study by Venngage surveyed over 300 online marketers and find out exactly how visuals influenced their marketing strategies in 2016, and what their plans were for 2017.

According to the survey, 77% of marketers stated that 71% to 100% of the content they published in 2015 contained visuals. Of that 77%, 40.5% of marketers stated that 91% to 100% of the content they published in 2015 contained visuals.

When asked about their use of visuals in their content strategy during the year 2016, 83.5% of marketers stated that 71% to 100% of their content contained visuals, and 53% of those marketers said that 91% to 100% of their content contained visuals.

This shows an incredible increase of 130% in the use of visual content in articles published by marketers.

41.5% of marketers said that original graphics, such as infographics and illustrations, were the most effective.

Most marketers, 60.8%, stated that the use of visual content was absolutely necessary to their marketing strategy.

Following that, 31.7% said that visual content was very important for their marketing strategies in 2017, however the amount of budget dedicated to visuals remained relatively low.

The biggest challenge faced by marketers was finding time to produce visuals on a consistent basis.

With video growing in popularity and visuals increasing in importance to get and retain viewer interest, marketers will have to continue to allocate resources to them.

Read the detailed results, complete with infographic templates you can use, on the Venngage blog.

FUTURE TRENDS - Augmented Reality to Take Off This Year

(freepik.com)

Augmented Reality (AR) got off to a slow start.

Although the technology has been available for years, early consumer products were generally disappointing from both a sales and experience perspective.

The Oculus Rift had pre-order shipping delays, the HTC Vive had pre-order cancellations, and Google Glass was a failure with implications for other major developers as well.

But then, Pokémon Go. had $600 million in revenue in its first three months, and suddenly people were engaging with AR in ways they hadn’t before.

The app smashed expectations and opened up possibilities.

2017 promises to be the year that AR (and VR) finally starts to reach its potential.

Snap’s Spectacles seem to be succeeding where Google Glass didn’t, and on the Virtual Reality front, Google’s Daydream View is delivering a consumer experience that finally satisfies expectations.

Digi-Capital’s comprehensive overview of the state of AR/VR in 2017 includes the five major hurdles that AR will have to overcome before becoming an everyday technology:

1. hero device (i.e. an Apple quality device, whether made by Apple or someone else)
2. all-day battery life
3. mobile connectivity
4. app ecosystem
5. telco cross-subsidization.
   
   

Each of these issues presents unique challenges for tech companies who want to be at the forefront of AR market growth.

Battery life is a particular challenge, because consumers need an all-day battery on their AR technology if it’s going to become fully integrated in the way app designers hope.

Smartphones may be the answer to four of these hurdles, since they already provide battery life, connectivity, app ecosystems, and compatibility across telecom providers.

Once the new generation of smartphones are released later this year and in early 2018 - phones with the required sensors and software - what seems now like a significant series of obstacles will become much less challenging.

 

It’s unclear who will provide users with the “hero device” that Digi-Capital identifies as the critical and unsolved missing piece.

The Google Tango phone is a disappointing piece of hardware with exciting potential, and although it’s the first fully AR phone on the market, it won’t be the equivalent of the iPhone.

However, Apple, Samsung, and others could learn from the faltering first steps taken by Lenovo and Google’s collaboration.

In terms of the apps, there are a lot of exciting AR apps to explore, even with the current crop of smartphones.

One of the fastest growing AR apps is Lumyer, which has particularly taken off in Asia and South America.

The app allows users to augment photos and videos and share the results with friends and family.

Individual consumers aren’t the only growing market for AR technology.

While consumer sales and experiences were slow to build, enterprise was taking advantage of AR for everything from education to plant maintenance and business-to-business sales.

About Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany is a published academic, an editor with the Editors Association of Canada, an independent scholar and researcher, and a self-care and narrative coach. She is particularly interested in the intersection of technology and identity - how our tools shape our selves and change our stories, and in how the nature of work is changing as we incorporate more technology into our daily lives.

DIGITAL - Social Media: Best Practices for Pet Stores

(World Pet Association / SuperZoo)

World Pet Association has released a whitepaper to help pet businesses with digital marketing.

Social Media: Best Practices for Pet Stores was compiled by Crystal Vilkaitis, social media expert and SuperZoo speaker.

“Social media has become an indispensable tool for retailers and we recognize they’re hungry for information to ensure they’re optimizing their accounts,” WPA President Doug Poindexter said.

“By providing a whitepaper focused on this hot topic, we’re giving retailers access to actionable ways to improve their businesses.”

The content doesn’t just apply to pet stores, all pet businesses can apply the information in the paper.

With a focus on the social selling mindset, created by Crystal Media, the document is packed with best practices - everything from which channels to focus on to the best mix of video, photos and graphics, along with advertising strategy.

Also included is a case study of The Pet Authority, a company who dumped traditional radio ads for social media, resulting in cost savings and increased sales.

Download a copy of the whitepaper from World Pet Association.

FUTURE TRENDS - US Adults Spend Over 12 Hours Per Day Consuming Media

According to a new eMarketer study, US Time Spent With Media: eMarketer’s Updated Estimates and Forecast for 2014-2019, American adults spend 12 hours, 7 minutes per day consuming media.

Considering time is also spent working and sleeping, that’s an awful lot of time committed to media.

How is it possible?

It’s all thanks to multitasking - eMarketer counted two hours if a person spent an hour watching tv while also surfing on smartphone.

eMarketer also estimates that nonvoice time spent per day by smartphone users will rise from 2 hours 18 minutes in 2014 to 2 hours 42 minutes by 2019.

The continued growth in the number of apps is a factor in this increase.

More and more of the digital universe is designed to cater to smartphones, and this often takes the form of apps.

You can hear more about how US adults consume media in the latest episode of eMarketer's Behind the Numbers podcast.

Interested in Canada’s media usage trends? Check out IAB Canada’s report.

DIGITAL - Amazon Moving Further into Kids' Digital Market

Amazon has taken two significant steps in the kids’ digital media market in the last two months.

First, in April, they introduced a suite of tools for both parental monitoring and engagement on their well-reviewed kid-friendly FreeTime subscription service.

The new parent dashboard allows parents to see what their kids are watching, reading, and playing, and also track how much time they’re spending in each digital environment.

This kind of software-based tracking is somewhat controversial, and largely ineffective as children mature into teenagers (talking works better with teens).

But in the rapidly changing digital world and with kids as young as three and four engaging with games and shows on mobile devices, it’s viewed as a necessary part of responsible parenting.

The second major element in Amazon’s new parental toolkit is the Discussion Cards.

The Discussion Cards are designed to facilitate productive and meaningful conversations between parents and kids about what the kids are engaging with in the FreeTime service.

The cards are written by Amazon’s own contenteEditors, and there are already thousands of cards available relating to the existing content within the service, and also some of the additional content that is frequently added to FreeTime.

The added element of suggested discussion topics is an innovation in the market, and is part of Amazon’s consistently parent-friendly approach to kids’ products.

Other examples of their engagement with this market include their insured kid tablets, and the comprehensiveness of their existing parental controls.

FreeTime, for example, allows parents to limit screen time and set ‘pause time,’ to ensure kids aren’t using the service when they need to be sleeping.

One area that parents will be watching is the inclusivity of the content.

Content curation has come under fire when parent’s interests conflict with children’s rights, particularly when it comes to accessing information about gender and orientation.

For trans or queer kids, access to information and representation can be a lifesaver, even at young ages, and strict parental controls can block access to vital resources and knowledge.

Amazon’s Discussion Cards have the potential to be a significant benefit to queer and trans kids if the content editors include inclusive and compassionate conversation prompts, and links to resources for parents.

The newly expanded parental tools aren’t the only major move that Amazon’s made recently.

This week they’ve unveiled the FreeTime app on Android devices.

This is a major development, and will allow Amazon to reach a much broader consumer base.

Prior to this release, FreeTime was only available on Amazon’s Fire Tablets, Kindles, and Fire TV.

The new Android app is free, but purchasing FreeTime Unlimited adds a significant amount of content in the form of books, videos, and games.

The kids’ digital media market is huge, and continuing to grow.

With these two new developments coming one after another, Amazon is positioning itself to be the go-to place for parent-friendly kids’ content.

About Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany is a published academic, an editor with the Editors Association of Canada, an independent scholar and researcher, and a self-care and narrative coach. She is particularly interested in the intersection of technology and identity - how our tools shape our selves and change our stories, and in how the nature of work is changing as we incorporate more technology into our daily lives.

FUTURE TRENDS - More People Watch TV on Computers than Televisions

A new study, which surveyed 26,000 internet users worldwide, has reinforced the global shift from traditional media to digital.

The percentage of consumers who prefer watching TV shows on television sets plummeted by 55 percent over the past year, from 52 percent to 23 percent, according to findings from the Accenture 2017 Digital Consumer Survey.

More than four in 10 consumers (42 percent) said they would rather view TV shows on a laptop or desktop, up from 32 percent in last year’s survey.

Thirteen percent said they prefer watching TV shows on their smartphones, compared with 10 percent last year.

“The dominance of the TV set as the undisputed go-to entertainment device is ending,” said Gavin Mann, global managing director for Accenture’s broadcast business.

“While a great number of people still watch plenty of TV shows on TV sets, our research uncovers a rapid acceleration in their preference for viewing on other digital devices — especially laptops, desktops and smartphones.”

The decline in TV viewing over the past year tracks with a four-year trend.

As recently as 2014, the survey revealed that nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of consumers preferred the TV set for viewing TV shows.

The study also showed the smartphone is becoming the preferred device for watching short video clips.

More than one-third (41 percent) of consumers said they would rather view these clips on their mobile handsets, a substantial increase from 28 percent last year.

The report makes several recommendations for how media companies should respond to the shift in consumers’ video consumption habits from TV sets to other devices. These include:

• identifying new ways to engage consumers with more-personalized video content across more types of screens;
• using more granular consumer data, segments and predictive analytics to help anticipate consumer preferences and find content they desire; and
• focusing more on their target audiences to identify exactly what content their viewers want to receive – and when, for how long and on what type of screen.
  
  
  
  

DIGITAL - Instagram Reaches 700 Million Monthly Users

After six-plus years many social media apps become a bit stagnant and growth slows.

Not so for Instagram who announced yesterday they now have 700 million monthly users.

It’s the quick bump in growth that is so impressive - the latest 100 million users signed up in just four months.

This announcement was right on the heels of a blog post which noted over 200 million people use Instagram Stories every day.

To put the growth of Instagram Stories into perspective - the feature was just launched last August, while Snapchat launched five years ago and has 161 million daily users.

Instagram is expanding on its international presence and sticking with its foundation as a visual communication medium.

According to TechCrunch here’s how long it took Instagram to add each 100 million users:

• October 6, 2010 – Launch
• February 26, 2013 – 100 million;  28 months
• March 25, 2014 – 200 million; 13 months
• December 10, 2014 – 300 million; 9 months
• September 22, 2015 – 400 million; 9 months
• June 21, 2016 – 500 million; 9 months
• December 15, 2016 – 600 million; 6 months
• April 26, 2017 – 700 million; 4 months

“Growth was driven by a number of factors, including our ability to better connect people with their friends on Instagram,” said a spokesperson. “We also took steps to simplify and improve our sign-up process, which helped bring in new people from all over the world.”

Instagram is now more than twice the size of Twitter.

DIGITAL - How to Conduct a Social Media Audit

Measuring social media is always a challenge.

A great tool for digital marketers is a social media audit.

A social media audit is the process of reviewing what’s working, what’s failing and what can be improved upon across your social media channels.

When you conduct a social media audit, you collect and analyze data from all of your social media accounts looking closely at your activity, results, audience, and financial investments.

And there are a plenty of tools out there to help you create a social media audit that works for your company or organization.

Hootsuite has a template for an audit so you don’t even have to create the document - just fill in the blanks.

Social Media Examiner recently posted an article about how to conduct an audit that also has information about the value of the results.

The format of Harvard Business Review’s template - which includes who, where, what, when, why and opportunity - provides a clear and simple result that is easy to understand and develop future goals from.

A Sproutsocial blog post has detailed information to help you determine what you want to include in your template, how to determine the best and worst performing channels, and even reminds you to check your branding across all your digital marketing efforts.

While audits take time, they are important to help keep a business on track and meeting organization goals.

They don’t need to be done weekly or even monthly.

Most organizations complete a social media audit quarterly, twice per year or annually.

DIGITAL - Live Video: Tips and Techniques for Creating Great Content

Live video - everybody’s talking about it, everyone says you should do it, and you need to do it well.

Social Media Examiner’s latest podcast features Alex Khan, the founder of Attractive Media, a German social media agency that helps businesses with live video.

Khan says that in only two years, he’s built his audience from nothing to 230,000 followers and 55 million hearts on Periscope, and he shares tips for creating great content.

According to the podcast, Khan believes people watching live video are always interested in five topics:

• Personal stories
• Behind the scenes
• Q&A’s
• Giveaways
• Sneak peeks

And your video doesn’t need to be limited to one topic, you can incorporate more.

The good news he shares is there is no expectation of perfection when you’re live - the medium is appealing because it replicates the way people connect and talk to each other in real life.

Khan shares the best ways to open and end a live stream and when to ask for a share or follow - hint: it’s not at the end - and he goes on to discuss code word strategy, software that adds graphics and animation, and much more.

Listen to the entire podcast of Live Video: Tips and Techniques for Creating Great Content.

DIGITAL - Facebook Launches TV Video App

Facebook’s new video app has now launched on both Samsung Smart TV and Apple TV, allowing users to save videos throughout the day and watch them when they get home.

The new app is part of Facebook’s concerted push into the video market.

Having already invested heavily in their live video feature, the app will provide a place where users can go to watch each other’s videos and more easily find other video content.

The move is potentially game-changing, opening up valuable television advertising dollars for the company and allowing Facebook to compete with market dominators like Netflix, YouTube, Amazon, and Hulu.

Facebook has already dabbled in live broadcast of sporting events, and is looking at creating original content as well.

The new app isn’t the only video-focused change that users can expect.

Facebook also announced that videos will play with the sound on by default, vertical videos will now expand to fill the screen, and videos will continue to play in a thumbnail window while users continue to browse.

These changes are each designed to complement the new video app, and make Facebook a destination for users who want to watch, and share, video content.

 

However, the launch of the video app corresponds tragically with breaking news about arrests related to a rape streamed live on the service late last month – one of multiple such incidents.

A Facebook spokesman told CNN that, "Crimes like this are hideous and we do not allow that kind of content on Facebook. We take our responsibility to keep people safe on Facebook very seriously and will remove videos that depict sexual assault and are shared to glorify violence."

Facebook may need to more comprehensively address the issue in order to prevent these incidents from casting a shadow over their efforts to pull more users into their live video services.

Facebook is far from the only live video service to experience such gruesome content – both Snapchat and Periscope have also been used this way.

However, Facebook is a much larger player in the mobile market.

The company’s efforts to combat fake news have been met with approval by a consumer base tired of constant misinformation.

Tackling the issue of inappropriate content being broadcast on their new video efforts will hopefully also be a priority.

Either way, Mark Zuckerberg believes that video is “a megatrend on the same order as mobile.”

He spoke about the company’s focus on video in an earnings call in March, and stated that the company will continue to “put video first across our family of apps.”

It’s unlikely that Facebook will go head to head with Netflix when it comes to original content or scripted video content.

But the new app, along with video-focused changes and Facebook’s slow rollout of mid-play ads, will certainly offer new advertising revenue, and new services for both users and content publishers.

About Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany is a published academic, an editor with the Editors Association of Canada, an independent scholar and researcher, and a self-care and narrative coach. She is particularly interested in the intersection of technology and identity - how our tools shape our selves and change our stories, and in how the nature of work is changing as we incorporate more technology into our daily lives.