Basic Digital Marketing

With its focus set on decreasing loading time for online services, Google has found a way to effectively shrink JPEG image files to 65% of their original size. The company’s first file reduction program, WebP, was released in 2014, but was quickly withdrawn due to the mere tenth by which it reduced size. Guetzli, the latest image reduction creation, is far superior to its predecessor.

Google’s new tool has many things in common with its gzip and PNG file reduction tool, a digital device that allows users to shrink the image files without the hassle of converting them. However, the company’s old program needed changes in user interface and digital processes to have a significant impact on loading time.

While professionals normally only spend time on LinkedIn when they are actively looking for a job, this is a mistake, according to CNBC contributor and top selling author on management, Suzy Welch.
There’s an army of recruiters constantly mining the 467 million people on LinkedIn to find the best candidates. Having on a mediocre profile, which is essentially an online version of your resume, could mean missing out on potential job openings.
“If you make your LinkedIn profile great,” Welch says, “your next job might end up finding you.”
Here’s how to optimize your LinkedIn profile and get noticed by recruiters.
1. Complete the summary section.
“While you may have been told 100s of times to not have an objective on your resume, LinkedIn is different, Welch says.
The summary area on your profile is the best place to describe professional goals and your achievements. Indeed, it is considered by many recruiters to be the most important section.
“It’s a great place to showcase your motivations, interest, experience and skills,” says Welch.

On Friday, Facebook announced that it had succeeded in taking down an extensive fake spam account operation. Their strategy was to target popular publishers with fake likes so as to gain more Facebook friends that the spammers would then in turn spam.
This operation has been going on for the last six months and was talked about in depth by Shabnam Shaik, a Facebook technical program manager, in a recent post on its security blog Friday.
These unknown groups behind the scam had created an extensive amount of fake accounts, which then began liking a publisher’s page and pushing out fake comments on to them.
The source of these accounts appear to be in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, and in several other countries, Shaik described.
These groups employed “advanced tactics to hide that their activities were part of a carefully planned strategy. They employed a variety of hacks to avoid being caught, like using proxies to redirect traffic in order to hide data associated with their location.

Most companies put quite a bit of thought into what their brand name will be. If the business succeeds, the name will represent more than just the company. Thoughts, feelings, images, and ideas will all be associated with that name, and selecting something both unique and representative of your business can be tricky. Fortunately, there are several ways to inspire a brand name.

For small startups that want to maintain their modest size, a brand name that incorporates the company’s location can be a good option. Problems arise when the company chooses to grow past the borders of the city, region, or even country in the brand name. Customers may be confused as to where you’re located or which places you serve, though your origins will always be clear. If you do choose a brand name of the sort, be sure your business remains small and controlled.

Branding your company with your surname, and perhaps integrating a family connection, is a powerful way to stir emotions. However, there are many possible drawbacks to consider. Should the business be unsuccessful financially or legally, your name will be associated with that trouble for years, affecting your future relatives. On the other hand, business could run smoothly for decades, and then your family could express disinterest in taking over when you’ve retired, forcing you to leave the company to someone else.

You have probably already heard of influencer marketing as a great way to boost sales for your business. Best of all, you don’t need someone as popular as Kim Kardashian to make your influencer campaign a success. Micro-influencers with niche audiences can give you an incredible ROI, especially for brands that don’t have a lot of budget.
Micro-influencers are always a great way to start. Finding those who fit your brand that allow you to test influencer marketing on a smaller scale is a great approach before pursuing it on a larger scale. Here are 5 reasons why you should consider a micro-influencer for your next campaign.
1. Low Cost Experiment
The price of influencers can vary substantially and micro-influencers can offer the best bang for your buck. They charge $100 to $250 a post or even lower. And these people can be active in your industry and have 50,000 followers, so your name is still getting out there. For a couple thousand dollars you can secure several posts from influencers that already engage the audience you’re looking for.

One of the biggest names in the soft drink industry is under attack for the insensitivity of its most recent advertisement, featuring Kendall Jenner in a recreation of a real-life protest. From an outsider’s perspective, widespread complaints may seem worthy of an eye roll. Understanding what caused such a harsh reaction, however, explains why this piece of media can’t be trusted.

First and foremost, by putting together a joyful, ideal protest for their commercial, Pepsi undermines the harsh reality of those who have participated in such events and implies that they can be avoided through the use of their product. The overall message, therefore, is offensive and unrealistic.

Social media contests are a great way to connect with potential customers in an era when everything has gone digital - but they’re not always successful. What’s different about the ones that work? You’re about to find out.

1. They draw in customers, not entrants. If the majority of your contest entrants aren’t part of your target audience, you need to change your strategy. Adding labels familiar to the group you want to draw in is an effective way to get their attention. Whichever niche you’re targeting, call them out directly; they’ll have a much harder time turning down your offer. To make your contest even more irresistible, connect it to an event that appeals to your target audience. Finally, choose a prize that potential customers would truly want to win. Offering ballerinas the chance to win a toolbox probably won’t go over well. Offer them a gift certificate to a ballet store, on the other hand, and you’ll catch their eye.

As the pace of technology develops exponentially, it’s often people that need faster upgrades rather than software and applications. Many older adults, including a vast array of trend-spotting marketers and investors, are finding it difficult to keep up with Snapchat, a fun mobile application that allows users to send video and pictures with filters, captions or doodles that self-destruct after viewing.

Social media marketing nowadays is a lifestyle in and of itself that reflects life in real time, but not in the same space. The company based in Venice Beach released an 8-minute video during a Roadshow event to raise money for the Snap IPO to help those not as comfortable with the communications app. The video outlines the company’s market vision for investors while they learn its purpose and how to effectively navigate and use features in easy-to-follow steps.

LOS ANGELES — Two under 30 year olds who previously attended Stanford University did the best off the Snap IPO.
They are Bobby Murphy, 28, and Evan Spiegel, 26, who were able to sell 16 million shares. Their shares were valued at 5.2 billion each for based on the closing price of the stock’s first day
Spiegel is the product visionary and CEO of the company whereas Murphy works as Snap’s chief technology officer.
But they weren’t the only ones to do well as several investors and long-time company employees either cashed out or are sitting on big paper gains.
With 6.6 million shares is Timothy Sehn, the company’s vice president of engineering. He decided not to sell any shares, but his paper value is estimated to be $165 million.
With 2.8 million shares is Imran Khan, Snap's Chief Strategy Officer, which are estimated to be worth $69 million. He joined the company after a stint at Credit Suisse where he helped orchestrate the IPO for the Chinese ecommerce company Alibaba Group, which was the biggest in tech history.

The ROI Problem Plaguing Influencer Marketing may finally be solved.
For quite some time, influencer marketing has been a buzzword among marketers, salespeople and PR professionals. The fact that it’s still with us after many years is a testament to its power to drive sales and engagement, but also suggests how little brands and influencers alike really get it.
Looking from the outside, influencer marketing is tailored for a marketing world where social media dominates and there’s content overload. Basically, those who want to reach audiences with their messaging need to connect with people who already have followers.
For example, if you are going to launch a fashion company, there would be huge benefits to having a well-known writer or model from a fashion magazine posting a photo or sharing a link, with a few friendly words of course, related to your brand on Twitter or Instagram.

Forget spending hundreds of dollars on foreign language lessons, immersion school or packing clumsy language dictionaries, those days are drawing to a close with the help of a new wearable tech that bridges the awkward language gap in real time.

Brooklyn-based Waverly Labs’ new prototype, the Pilot Translating Earpiece, is a translation device similar in fashion to earbuds with ambient noise canceling microphones. The earpiece can near instantaneously translate more than 15 different languages including Italian, French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Hindi, Greek and English. The device fits comfortably in the outer ear canal and works via an online app on a wide range of smart platforms.

A pocket-sized drone could be the answer to a growing threat to our world's flora: the decreasing population of honeybees. Japanese researchers have successfully developed tiny drones, which are capable of pollinating flowers. This groundbreaking, artificial pollinator comes from Eijiro Miyako, a chemist at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, Japan. Horsehair bristles are attached to the remote-controlled drones, which are capable of coating them with a special gel. The gel enables these tiny drones to gather pollen from flowers and similarly to honeybees, distribute them.

Facebook makes quite the habit of copying Snapchat concepts. The idea of imitation being the highest form of flattery might not be such a compliment for Snapchat in the latest turn of events. From the not so successful feature Poke, to Stories on Instagram, and now Messenger Day, the older company has matched its younger competitor feature for feature with nothing new but a name change. Facebook is known for buying up potential rivals but Snapchat was not impressed with the over $3billion offer made by Mark Zuckerberg in 2013 for the company. Snapchat was warned that Facebook also had a clone of its upcoming feature.

A small, faint star has recently been discovered relatively close to our planet earth. While this fact in of itself is only somewhat interesting, it is the rest of the discovery that has scientists and much of the rest of the world buzzing. Discovered around these nearby star are seven planets similar in size to earth.

While a great deal of research still needs to be carried out, astronomers have thus far found that with these seven planets, the conditions seem to be right for liquid water. This translates to conditions that could also be ideal for life.

The discovery has set a number of records. Not only does this record apply to the most Earth-sized planets, but it is also the greatest number of potentially habitable planets ever found around a single star.

Instagram doesn’t just want you to use their Snapchat Stories-like feature to share more than a complete, single image of your experience. They want you to share stories like these through your normal feed as well. To that end, they have created Carousel, which is designed to make it easy to share one video or ten images in a single, swipeable post.

Think of them as Instagram albums that offer up permanent photos/videos around a specific theme.

Online marketing trends either evolve or simply disappear from the landscape altogether. As we continue to search for new and effective ways to market our brand or business, we find ourselves considering new technologies, new possibilities, and new channels. Video marketing isn’t a new concept but it has proven itself to be something that is more than capable of adapting to the times.

With a billion users signing in each day, watching hundreds of millions of hours of video, YouTube continues to be a leader in the world of video marketing. YouTube also has one of the strongest holds on that coveted 18 to 49 viewership. YouTube grew by more than forty percent over the course of the past year.

Are you taking advantage of Facebook as a powerful marketing tool? If you’re not sure whether you’re marketing your business correctly on Facebook or not, we’ve compiled some tips to get you started!
If you fail to follow Facebook’s guidelines, especially concerning Facebook ads, your business can get into some serious trouble. Facebook is known to deactivate businesses' advertising accounts due to improper use.
Make sure to publish a post to your business’ Facebook page once a day. Your followers will notice if you haven’t been posting . Make sure that most of  your posts provide valuable info--remember, if you don’t give your fans a reason to keep coming back for more, they won’t.

In the early days of content marketing, it seemed as though everyone was excited and ready to get on board with everything the concept brought to the table. It allowed individuals from a wide range of businesses, ambitions, and backgrounds to essentially combine creative writing with marketing to increase engagement like never before.

The Rise Of Content Marketing
Not surprisingly, the concept popularized, and spread out across a number of different industries very quickly. Even in the present, it still isn’t difficult to understand why content marketing remains so popular, even vital. You have a cost-effective marketing solution that allows for a considerable measure of creativity.

Certain technologies simply fail to gain popularity and die a humiliating death. In 2017, the 3D television is officially dead with all major players ceasing production of the once revolutionary digital media and entertainment technology.

Sony and LG were the last two TV manufacturers to incorporate 3D functions in their high-end gadgets. It is now a fact that the production of televisions that have the capability of giving the viewer the chance to watch 3D television shows or movies will come to an end. These two followed in the footsteps of other television manufacturers to dump 3D technology such as TCL, Vizio, and Sharp, who proceeded to do away with the technology.

In recent years, Pinterest has keenly established itself as a proven revenue-driver for retailers. This is why it has become a powerhouse when it comes to digital marketing strategies for a number of brands.

The social media giant has now added a search ads feature to the site. What does this mean for retailers and other brands? Quite a bit that is well worth getting excited about!

A Look At The New Pinterest Search Ads Feature:
When people use the search engine on Pinterest to search for something specific, they will receive search results that consist of pins that match what they were searching for. The search ad concept is simple enough. It will include advertiser pins in the search results and these pins will be clearly marked as being promoted. Pinterest will determine the number of ads that are going to appear on each page.

Working from home definitely has its advantages. On one hand, it can be the path to optimal productivity. On the other hand, staying motivated can be challenging when the atmosphere of a professional working environment isn’t being felt. Thankfully, there are several things you can do in order to stay motivated while working at home.

1. Defining the workspace: You need to create your own professional atmosphere. This doesn’t mean completely changing your interior space. What it comes down to is finding a room that makes sense as a workspace and taking the necessary steps to turn that space into a space that will allow you to focus and be productive. Set the tone for a happy work environment. All you really need is a desk, a comfortable chair, and some inspirational images pertaining to your line of work to get your creative juices flowing! A cup of coffee or two probably won’t hurt either.

2. Create (and stick) to a schedule: With great power comes great responsibility. Being able to create your own hours isn’t much of a benefit unless you build a schedule that will allow you to complete the tasks that keep you working. Organize your daily, weekly, or even monthly demands into a schedule that will allow you to deal with the most important tasks first, moving down the list from there in order of importance. Use a calendar (or an app) to help you keep track of everything that’s going on.

Designed to promote news/media literacy, Facebook has announced the launch of their journalism project. One of the main objectives of the project will be to strengthen the ties Facebook currently shares with media groups and organizations throughout the world. Additional objectives include the ability to promote new products, while also striving to promote only trusted, consistent news sources.

NOAA recently released new, amazingly detailed images of Earth. These pictures were taken by their most recent weather satellite that is orbiting the Earth 22,300 miles above us. The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration collaborated with NASA in order to work on this incredible satellite.

This new and improved satellite is known as GOES-16 and does not move in relation to one spot on Earth. The current GOES satellite is only able to measure five spectral bands, while the new GOES-16 can measure sixteen. The difference is obvious when you see how clear and high-definition the new pictures are. The satellite uses new technology that allows it to calibrate pictures using the moon. This has been compared to how a photographer uses a light meter when taking pictures.

If you have a number of social media posts that you don’t want to lose, there are a number of different steps you can take in order to ensure your social media profile is backed up safely and securely. Downloading your profile, content, and contacts is a good way to make sure you have everything saved securely so that you do not lose any information that’s valuable to your brand. Specific measures can give you the ability to ensure that your business is always going to run smoothly, no matter what might happen.

Recently, the Japanese insurance company Fukoku Mutual Life made the decision to reduce thirty-four employees and replace them with the IBM Watson Explorer AI. This is news that comes to us in the face of an understanding that as time goes on, computers and machines are going to take on an increasing number of jobs. These would be jobs that were once performed by humans.