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Pedro Gonçalves

Memes With Meaning: Why We Create And Share Cat Videos And Why It Matters To People And... - 0 views

  • We uploaded over half a million variations of Harlem Shake to YouTube in the past few months. Google searches for Cat GIFs hit an all-time high last month.
  • The research showed us that far from distracting us from more serious things, these viral pictures, videos, and memes reconnect us to an essential part of ourselves. And by understanding what’s at the root of our obsession with the visual web, brands can create the kind of content that resonates in today’s culture.
  • It may seem that all we’re doing is just capturing every mundane moment. But look closely. These everyday moments are shot, displayed, and juxtaposed in a way that offers us a new perspective. And then all of a sudden these everyday moments, places, and things look . . . fascinating.
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  • Neuroscientists explain that synapses occur inside the brain when we’ve made a connection between various different things. The more random the components connected, the more synapses occur. Synapses are the basis of creativity. In other words, synapses firing equals creative joy. As kids, that happens all the time because everything is new. Everything is unlike. And we aren’t constrained by the rules about what “goes together.” Why else was putting the Barbie in the toy car wash more fun than putting the car in the car wash? The visual web frees us to return to this childlike state, where we can adventure through a whole array of different, seemingly unrelated images and clips--be they old, new, from a world away or own backyard--sparking our all-important synapses and helping us come up with new combinations and ideas so easily.
  • The only thing better than going on this journey of discovery is sharing it with others. This “gift” of sharing contributes to an energy exchange that amplifies our own pleasure--and is something we’re hardwired to do.
  • start thinking like a creator, less like an advertiser. While posting the glossy photos from the photo shoot or :30 spots online may be part of your approach, it shouldn’t be your entire approach. Think content, not commercials.
  • Help us rediscover the beauty of a forgotten familiar. Find something familiar--in your product, brand, or from people’s lives--and help us see it in a fascinating new light. It could be as simple as taking a kitchen appliance and turning it into a science experiment or reminding people to capture just one second of their daily lives and compile a beautiful montage.
  • Search for your brand online. Chances are your fans are already mixing and mashing your brand with something seemingly unrelated. Build on it, fuel it, steer it, and help us make more with it.
  • Ditch the pitch. Instead, start an energy exchange. Create content that reminds us of our own capacity for excitement, happiness, and vivacity so we want to share in it with others.
Pedro Gonçalves

Coming Soon To Facebook: Video Ads | Fast Company | Business + Innovation - 0 views

  • According to Joyus founder and ex-Googler Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, people are five times as likely to buy something from a video ad than from a picture on an e-commerce site, and buy five times as often.
  • The Facebook videos will run silently until the user chooses to activate the sound, which will relaunch the ad from the beginning. How long before Facebook offers an ad-free newsfeed to users--at a price?
Pedro Gonçalves

Local Businesses Start Warming Up To Facebook Ads: 300K Tried Promoted Posts, 75K Were ... - 0 views

  • 12.8 million small business have a free-to-use Facebook Page, and 8 million use it monthly. By making advertising easier, Facebook got 300,000 of them to buy its new Promoted Posts ads, Sheryl Sandberg explained on today’s earnings call. 25%, or 75,000 of them had never bought Facebook ads before.
  • by designing ad products for mom & pop, Facebook can turn the long tail of businesses into spenders.
  • Mobile is also where users are consuming branded content on mobile.
Pedro Gonçalves

Taxonomy: Content Strategy's New Best Friend | Johnny Holland - 0 views

  • As user trends continue to shift from search to discovery, creating the structure and process to support that discovery requires a sophisticated content strategy.
  • Instead of requiring users to categorize each board they create, however, Pinterest’s strategy is to involve other users. When someone comes across an uncategorized board, they’re asked to help by selecting one of the 32 categories from a dropdown.  So while Pinterest gives its user community a lot of free reign when it comes to naming and organizing content, this strategy is supported by well-placed guidance to help the community improve the quality and reliability of the content. Pinterest strikes a balance between flexibility and structure by involving users in enhancing site categorization while lowering the barrier to entry for users who would rather not spend their time categorizing.
  • Promoting older but still relevant content. Creating and promoting new content is important, but leading users to older content may also be part of your content strategy.
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  • Choosing well-researched and tested vocabularies can support an intuitive user experience, but may also require some guidance—instructional content on the administrative interface, for example—for content authors and managers. They may be used to using the organization’s internal terms, not the terms site visitors are using when looking for information, to define content.
  • on each book’s page, you can see a “Genres” callout showing how readers most often classified the book. You can also follow the “See top shelves” link for the full list of shelf names. Whether you prefer to find popular books by broad category or dig into unique, quirky lists made by other users, Goodreads provides ample opportunity to do both.
  • Whether you call it “folksonomy” or “social tagging,” your role as a content strategist is to provide the context to empower your users to make the best decisions about tagging your content
  • Tags or categories? Open taxonomy or closed vocabulary? How deep should your hierarchies go? Your content strategy should help drive which type of taxonomy to use when. If your organization’s strategy is to build a collaborative community in which engaged users are creating content, then a closed taxonomy with a limited vocabulary may send the wrong message. If you plan on creating content about the same subjects for the foreseeable future, then relating content through taxonomy can work well. But if the subjects will change often, then relating specific pieces or types of content to each other rather than linking them via taxonomy may work better.
  • You may also decide to limit your use of taxonomy, for example, if your organization is highly risk-averse and leaves nothing to chance. Relying on taxonomy-driven dynamic relationships, rather than manually creating the relationships between pieces of content, may not be the right content strategy for you, since you lose control over exactly what displays where. When a database, rather than a human being, is creating content relationships, the results may be humorous or even inappropriate.
Pedro Gonçalves

Want To Be More Creative? Get Bored | Fast Company - 0 views

  • The creative pause allows the space for your mind to drift, to imagine and to shift, opening it up to new ways of seeing. There’s just one small problem: The creative pause might soon become a thing of the past. When was the last time you remember being bored? Or even having a moment free from distractions?
  • A quick glance around and you’ll notice that it’s almost impossible to be bored in our 21st-century environment. Every bar now has at least one television blaring. And just as night follows day, your eyes will be drawn to the moving pictures above, sapping whatever creative thoughts you could be having. Or take, for example, the last time you were alone at a restaurant waiting for a friend to join you. Chances are you reached for your phone and did something with it, anything to avoid appearing like the lonely loser in the corner.
  • These days, I schedule a regular dose of boredom into my day. Furthermore, I don’t check messages if I’m waiting for a friend. I choose, instead, to watch people in bars, cafes, and restaurants. I don’t play games on my phone or my computer
Pedro Gonçalves

Want to Build Engagement? Be Inclusive - Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind - Harvard Bu... - 0 views

  • Leaders at some companies have begun to include employees — not just senior executives, corporate spokespeople, and other authorized communicators — in the work of telling their company story. "Employee-generated content" is one term for this practice. Our term for it is inclusion, and it's one element of a new leadership model that we call organizational conversation.
  • That's a big departure from how leaders have traditionally managed the flow of ideas and information within their company. And, not surprisingly, there is a reluctance within many organizations to move in that direction. Recently, when we surveyed participants in an Executive Education program at Harvard Business School, more than half of them (51%) said that the goal of "encouraging employee voice" had "no priority" or had a "low priority" at their company.
  • People today are skeptical of slickly produced brand messages. They're skeptical of slick official spokespeople, too. Leaders who want to build public trust in their company brand, therefore, often recruit employees to serve as brand ambassadors. Training people who work for a company to speak for that company is a marketing practice that doubles as an engagement-building practice.
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  • It's hard to break free of the mindset that treats communication as a control function. But many leaders find that ceding control over what employees say on company channels — on an intranet discussion forum, for example — means gaining a new way to tap into the talent, the insight, and the passion of their people. They also find that self-policing by employees works to keep such discussion from going off-track.
Pedro Gonçalves

Google+ Gets Down to Business - 0 views

  • brands are increasing their use of the social network for marketing and consumer engagement. As reported by CMSWire, a recent Simply Measured report shows that 64 percent of the Interbrand Top 100 now have an active Google+ Brand page (up 3 percent from December 2011), 22 percent of the brands now have circler counts more than 100,000, up from 13 percent, and more brands are posting more frequently: 43 percent are posting more than three times a week (up from 15 percent in February).
  • Among the top brands, the study showed that engagement on outbound posts is growing. Circle engagement is up 112 percent since February and content engagement is also on the rise as it increased 65 percent since February. 
  • During this preview period, organizations that use Google Apps will be able to use the business features of Google+ for free through the end of 2013
Pedro Gonçalves

Content Marketing is More Important than Ever | Experts' Corner | Big Think - 0 views

  • The major takeaways from Google Panda and update (in no particular order) are as follows: Focus on original content – you will get hammered for “stealing” or repurposing on too high a scale (for example, lifting content from Wikipedia) Over-optimization kills – Google can sniff out sites that are designed solely to exploit certain key words (for example, repeating the same keyword, or variations thereof to drive traffic) Link to high quality/authoritative sites – while Panda focused more on a more systematic sweep of SEO, Penguin is focused on the processes around linking. Don’t over-link, and when you do create links, link to high quality sources Excessive Ads are Bad – If it looks like you are running too many ads against your content, you will face the consequences SEO is a “Bad Word” – The rise of the term “content marketing” effectively means that high quality content trumps low quality link bait.
  • Write Guest Blog Posts for Authoritative SitesContent marketing does not just refer to content you write for your own site, but content you write for other sites.
  • content marketing also improves SEO rankings and traffic.  Link building is a common SEO strategy that is always difficult to grow through a paid channel.  The best way to get organic and quality links is by creating interesting content that drives people to link and share your content.  Whether or not it’s directly related to your line of business, driving free traffic is always a victory.
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  • The whole purpose of your own blog is to drive the highest quality, most targeted traffic to your conversion funnel – if you are not doing that, you might as well not have a blog.
Pedro Gonçalves

Social Media ROI: It Doesn't Really Matter (Really!) - Page 2 - 0 views

  • People who are active on social media are there because it’s a way that they can engage with their friends, family and favorite brands. As a marketer, you have to think about how you use Social Media personally, and then adapt your marketing strategy so that it fits in. When you go from looking at pics of your friend’s kid, to responding to another friend’s event invitation, a post screaming “SALE! SALE!” will stick out like a sore thumb.
  • Instead, post things that are conversational, or things that are just fun or lighthearted. Remember, this is a platform to build your brand’s identity and personality. People should want to do business with your company because they respect your values, admire your culture or appreciate the hard work you do to create your products and services.
  • What are Ways You Can Use Social Media to Market?Show images of creative uses/applications of your product. It’s still featuring your product, you just aren’t saying “LOOK AT MY PRODUCT!!!”Ask questions about things relevant to your product or service. If you sell real estate, start a dialogue about your worst moving experience or simply ask: “What does your dream house look like?”Post free advice. Position yourself as an expert. If you clean carpets, maybe you could post about how to get pet stains out of your conference room carpet. You’re not killing business for yourself, because people will still come to you when they don’t want to do it or they will refer you to friends. DIY people will find the tips anyway so they might as well be from you.
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  • social media is about branding, building loyalty and good will and opening a channel of communication with your customers. The value of all that? Priceless. 
Pedro Gonçalves

How Marketing Will Change In 2014: The Creative Forecast | Co.Create | creativity + cul... - 0 views

  • According to the many advertising leaders we surveyed, connected devices and wearable technology--or, more broadly, the Internet of things--are top of mind for 2014. But where the last decade of digital experimentation has generally made technology front and center of an experience, the feeling is that the general relationship with technology has now matured to a point where it doesn’t need to be the star of the show. Instead, people are predicting a more seamless integration of technology into brand’s efforts. Or, as Scott Prindle, partner/chief digital officer, Made Movement puts it: “I think we'll see interesting opportunities to use technology to save us from technology.”
  • We'll see a trend towards ambient intelligence where our devices learn about our individual habits and interests, anticipate the kinds of information we're looking for, and surface it at the right time and in the right place. Our technology will be doing more work for us in the background, helping to free up the time that we're currently spending staring at screens.
  • It's better to try to invent the future rather than predict it.
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  • Our social feeds will continue to be under siege by the world of inane crap. Truly great content and masterful storytelling will be the only thing that breaks through the morass. The best brands and agencies will focus on this.
  • Share-worthy content will become the Holy Grail.
  • There are no experts in this business, and we find that everyone can use a digital brush-up, including clients. If you want to sell innovation, everyone needs to know how to evaluate and measure it. Creating the right conditions for innovation is essential. And you don't just do it once. It has to be done regularly.
Pedro Gonçalves

Why Facebook Pages Are Seeing Lower Organic Reach, And What They Can Do About It - AllF... - 0 views

  • Facebook’s algorithm uses a number of factors to establish which posts should be shown to users. Previously called EdgeRank, the algorithm now has more than 1,000 contributing factors, but it still focuses on three main influences: affinity, weight, and Time.
  • Affinity is defined by a user’s relationship with the person or page that created the specific Facebook object — essentially how much the user interacts with that person or page.
  • Time, the last major factor, takes into account how recent the action occurred, which, in Facebook vernacular, is called time decay.
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  • Weight is determined by the object type — for instance whether it is a photo, video, or link.
  • There are a multitude of other factors that Facebook uses, such as how many of the user’s friends have interacted with the post or object, how popular the post is overall on Facebook, etc.
  • Despite the drop in organic reach, Sandmann stressed that the news is not all bad for page admins, as the users who do see their posts are the ones who are most likely to engage with them:
  • Despite the drop in organic reach many pages are seeing an increase in engagement on their pages and page posts. How can that be? Facebook’s algorithm is getting smarter. The small percentage of fans who do see a page’s posts are the fans who are most likely to engage with the post.
  • The update is essentially a double-edged sword: Although pages are reaching a smaller audience, they are reaching a more engaged audience and building a core group of engaged users.
  • First, create amazing content. Think about your audience and what they will find value in. Create content that entertains, informs, or otherwise engages your audience. This is a critical piece in boosting engagement and visibility on Facebook. Second, advertising on Facebook will be necessary to boost visibility on posts, attract more fans, and increase engagement. Clearly, Facebook is using these updates to also push page admins into buying Facebook advertising to increase page visibility. This will be a pain point for many marketers, but we can no longer think of Facebook as a free advertising platform.
  • Third, focus on building a core group of supporters. You shouldn’t focus on building up your page fans to have a high number of fans; be strategic in building a fan base. Fans who are not engaging with your page do not benefit your marketing goals or your page’s performance, and they may hurt page visibility.
  • Stay away from running like contests or giveaways that are not directly related to your business. You may gain a lot of fans, but they are there for the wrong reasons. Think of your page as a community, and target users who will find value in what your page has to offer and contribute to the community. The more engaged your audience is, the more visibility you will gain.
Pedro Gonçalves

Should You Be Ditching A Ton Of Your Facebook Fans? Here's Why Burger King Did Just Tha... - 0 views

  • Back in April, the fast feeder was re-launching its Facebook page and in an effort to get a fresh start, offered all of the followers of its previous page a free Big Mac to not join the new page (giving away up to 1,000 Big Macs). The rationale: the brand had low engagement and a lot of fans whose activity consisted of making negative cracks and asking for discounts. In the wake of the stunt, about two-thirds, or 28,000, of its Facebook fans took up the offer, leaving just 8,000 fans on the new page.
  • Burger King Scandinavia marketing director Sven Hars stands by the decision to prioritize quality over quantity. "This campaign gave us the opportunity to get rid of all the fans that just liked us because of freebies," says Hars. "We stopped focusing on how many likes we had, and put time and resources into finding out what to talk about and how to engage our fans."
Pedro Gonçalves

Empire of digital chip meets nemesis: the law of diminishing political returns | Simon ... - 0 views

  • The thesis of a knowledge-led enlightenment now faces its antithesis, a menacing, secretive techno-centralism, with as yet no synthesis.
  • This giant revolution in access to knowledge has not dispersed power but rather passed it to new and in many cases sinister oligarchies. In Hannah Arendt's words, these do not appear to be "thinking the unthinkable" but rather just "not thinking".
Pedro Gonçalves

Re-Confirmed Again! Majority of Internet Users Not Willing to Pay for Online Services |... - 1 views

  • This past October, Newsday, the Long Island daily newspaper, was purchased for $650 million, and its website, newsday.com, was put behind a pay wall. For just $5 a week, users could gain access to the site, but after three months on the market, how many had subscribed? Thirty-five people.
  • close to 49% of respondents used free micro-blogging platforms such as Twitter, that doesn't mean any ever plan to spend money on the services. When asked if they'd ever pay for Twitter, 100% said no.
  • Rupert Murdoch's London Times had gained just 15,000 paid subscribers after putting up its new pay wall. What's more, the wall cut Web traffic by two-thirds, with some estimating it could plummet as much as 90%.
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  • USC's report also showed that while nearly 50% of Internet users never click on Internet ads (with 70% finding them annoying), only 55% would prefer Web advertising to paid content, surprisingly
Pedro Gonçalves

Azure (color) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

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