ImaginativePRO Blog

15 AWESOME SEO TOOLS YOU CAN USE TO SPY ON YOUR COMPETITION

Everyone knows to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, you should keep track of your main competitors. 

To beat the competition, you should spy on your competitors’ every marketing move. Tracking competitors’ search rankings, content, social mentions, emails, and anything else they do to boost business.

There are tons of SEO tools that monitor not only your website performance, but also that of your competitors. The good news? You probably already use them for other stuff.

#1. Alexa

Alexa allows tracking global web traffic of your own and competitor websites. “Information is a power,” and Alexa is one of those must-have tools that you can use to transform data into competitive value for your business.

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If you have the Moz toolbar, it will show you any website’s Alexa ranking. It lets you spy on your competitors’ backlinks, traffic, keywords, etc.

How to best use this tool: It is interesting to compare similar websites in your niche: get data on international competitors and website rankings for having an overall picture.

#2. SE Ranking

SE Ranking helps you monitor competitors’ rankings on any search engines and target regions, up to five projects per website.

You can get detailed reports on main competitors, including data on their average positions, traffic forecast, and website visibility. You can also gather data for the first page of any tracked query and ordered them by visibility.

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How to best use SE Ranking: The tool gives brief information on the top 10 websites for each of your queries. If you want to track anything in more detail, add it to the ‘Main Competitors’ tab and track for getting more details.

#3. InfiniGraph

InfiniGraph tracks trends in social media circles. It combines consumer-to-brand interactions in real time and uses targeting to find out what brands and content are popular right now.

With Social Intelligence, you can easily pay attention to the most powerful influencers and content for a successful campaign.

How to best use the tool: InfiniGraph allows tracking social media trends of your competitors in your niche and gets insight into your target audience. InfiniGraph is not social listening (it’s keyword-based Social Intelligence and ranked social activities by the ‘relevance’ factor).

#4. Topsy

Topsy provides all data from Twitter. You can search your competitors’ tweets from all the way back in 2007 and obtain free exports. You can easily view how many tweets that competitor has, and a list of most engaging tweets.

It gives information on top links in the past 25 hours with velocity, peak, and metrics on influence (you can also download the report in CSV format)

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How to best use Topsy: It’s useful to view Twitter reports of main competitors and view social analytics. It would be great if your metrics like velocity, peak, momentum, and influence are clearly specified.

#5. Monitor Backlinks

Monitor Backlinks is new to the market, but has already earned a great reputation. You can track various competitors’ backlinks, disclose a bunch of negative backlinks, and find quality ones.

It can help to analyze the backlinks of bloggers and webmasters in your field to build up your own link building strategy, build quality links from your competitors, and write link bait content. You can also estimate the traffic increase based on keyword positioning and efforts to boost good backlinks to a certain website.

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How to best use Monitor Backlinks: You can easily check out new links from your competitors, analyze good and bad links, get an overall SEO snapshot, compare the results, and build up a new marketing strategy.

#6. SpyFu

SpyFu is a powerful tool that lets you view all data on competitors’ keywords in both organic search and AdWords – and get even more related keywords. You just need to add competitors’ keywords and get an overall view of their strategy.

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How to best use SpyFu: You can easily get a list of keywords that your competitors are targeting in the organic search and AdWords. This is a good tool to research niches, new keywords, and plan tests. Pro tip: View the destination URL for each ad in order to see how the competition is utilizing landing pages.

#7. Open Site Explorer

Open Site Explorer is a well-known and easy-to-use tool from Moz that helps to monitor backlinks. Not only can you follow all competitors’ backlinks, but use that date to improve your link building strategies. What’s great here is how much you get – data on page and domain authority, anchor text, linking domains, and compare links up to 5 websites.

How to best use this tool: You can easily check out what links you competitors have, compare their link profiles with your links, and boost link building strategies.

#8. Moat

Moat is a multifunctional tool for advertising industry. With it, find out what ads are running for different websites and top brands. You can view the places and size of recently displayed ads and Moat provides a step-by-step guide on where to place your own ads.

How to best use Moat: You can enter the brand names of the competitors you want to spy on and get an overall report of the display ads they’re running.

#9. iSpionage

iSpionage is one of the spying tools that makes it easy to see what your competitors are doing organic search. It has a set of tools that includes SEO competitive research, social monitoring, and keyword tracking.

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How to best use iSpionage: This tool allows you to enter competitors and check out the best keywords for organic and PPC, how much they spend on both, and see the most effective ad copy. Then it provides comparison graphs for you – no number crunching necessary.

#10. Followerwonk

Followerwonk analyzes any Twitter profile for free to boost your Twitter marketing strategies. It provides a wide range of details, like recent tweets, bios, locations, and the authority of followers, to get the overall picture of your competitors’ Twitter presence.

How to best use Followerwonk: You can optimize your Twitter presence through the analysis of competitors’ followers, location, tweets, and content. The best feature is finding users by keyword and comparing them by metrics like age, language of the followers, and how active and authoritative they are. You can also view the progress of your growing, authoritative followers.

#11. Simply Measured

Simply Measured is one of the best aggregators of raw data for social metrics. It helps you to find out how your competitors are doing on trends, branding, traffic, conversions, and more. You can get to access 35 different reports on competitors.

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How to best use Simply Measured: The tool gives you a detailed competitive analysis for each network. You can also figure out which competitor strategies work, thus, and which you can beat them at.

You will also see a detailed comparison of all the most important stats like as engagement, follower change over time and average response rates.

#12. Complete PRO

Compete PRO is considered a “digital intelligence” tool, used to track passive online consumer behavior, seasonal trends between competitors, and demographic information (you should register your site to check this info).

How to better use Complete: Complete is best used for data visualization – it makes comparing and presenting data easy.

#13. Quantcast

Quantcast helps get you get to know potential clients via detailed reports on: demographics, lifestyle and interest affinities, website, audience insights, and conversion level. The reports give you a clear understanding about your audience, help to improve your marketing plans, and make your media campaigns effective.

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How to best use Quantcast: It’s most useful for providing traffic figures based on demographic data to better target your audience in your campaign. Make sure to compare your data against that of your competitors.

#14. SpyOnWeb

SpyOnWeb is a well-known tool that’s easy to use. It allows you to figure out which websites belong to the same website owner. It provides all information related to the entry on one page, collected from publicly available resources.

How to better use SpyOnWeb: You can gather all information about IP addresses, Google AdSense IDs, Google Analytics IDs, and Yahoo Publisher Network ID. Just n enter the domain URL and you will get results of all IP addresses and a list of domains with the same IP address.

#15. Ontolo

Ontolo is a good tool for backlink monitoring and content marketing. It assists with determining good content topics, finding authors to reach out to, and improving your link building strategies.

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How to best use Ontolo: I really like the idea of filtering out links that can be a waste of time, and finding authors who link to your content. Thanks to Ontolo, I learned how to find the right keyword for a given page.

Conclusion

We should mention that there are a lot of tools worth using. Make sure that any tool you consider has a free trial. It’s important to make sure it works for your team’s specific goals.

If you can’t find one, contact the company and ask for a test period. You’d be surprised how many companies can give you a free trial, and even offer to extend it in case you need more time to evaluate the service.

COMMENTARY:   There are some amazing tools available to marketers that allow thorough and in depth analysis of the competition and opportunities.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Paid Traffic: find out the traffic sources, ads, and angles your competition is using to acquire new customers with these tools.

SEMRush

WhatRunsWhere

MixRank

AdBeat

Social Media: understand the audience size, engagement, and content that works in your market.

RivalIQ

Website & Market Analysis: understand the big picture opportunities so that you can find out where to dive deep. Analyze market data to find out who the leaders are and uncover their strategies.

SimilarWeb

Alexa

SEO:

Ahrefs

Majestic

SEMRush

Below is an example overview analysis between two companies. The goal was to complete a general analysis to determine the viability of an e-commerce digital sales & marketing strategy and recommend the brand with the best chances for success.

Now, obviously there are many variables that come into play when determining which brand will succeed, but our goal was to analyze their current efforts, determine where the opportunities are, and understand what the market leaders are doing in the space. Also, you can go much deeper down the rabbit hole when it comes to detail, but I feel this is sufficient to begin creating a plan of attack.

Based on what was discovered in the overview analysis, the next course of action would be to dive deeper into each individual bucket (SEO, Social, Paid, Email, and Analytics) with actual data from the business.

Hopefully this will give you a helpful template to start analyzing your market & competition. It was completed using SimilarWeb & RivalIQ.

Overview

This document includes current website statistics, analysis, and digital strategy opportunities for Company A & Company B. When it comes to digital efforts, both companies lack cohesive strategies to increase website traffic & conversions.

Opportunities

Based on the below analysis, the following channels and strategies could drive significant business growth through digital:

• Develop high quality content for the websites in order to drive organic search engine traffic and rank for terms in their respective markets.
• Distribute content across social media channels to build a targeted audience to funnel into promotional strategies that drive repeat purchases.
• Targeted digital advertising programs would help both websites reach ideal customers with direct response offers. Multiple channels would need to be tested in order to find strategies that show positive unit economics (customer acquisition cost < lifetime value) and potential for scale.
• Product Listing Ads and Consumer Shopping Engines would allow both brands to increase distribution by advertising & listing products on sites like Amazon.com and Google Shopping.
• Email marketing is one of the highest ROI digital strategies. Both websites lack user experiences that prioritize the collection of email addresses to increase repeat sales.

Competitive Overview

Two core business models represent digital market competition.

1. Vertically integrated e-commerce
   1. This includes websites like Company C who develop and sell their own products via their e-commerce site.
2. Category shopping ecommerce
   1. This includes websites like Big E-commcere Company who aggregate and sell cosmetics products from a number of suppliers.

Company C sells on both their own ecommerce website and on niche 3rd party websites like Big E-commerce Company and is a relevant market competitor to both brands.

Recommendation

Neither brand currently demonstrates a distinct competitive advantage through digital and market leaders are moving into a multi channel strategy, developing and selling products that compete with both Company A & Company B.

General consumer interest seems to favor “category a” over “category b” when looking at historic Google search volume. General “category a” related search terms also appear to have slightly less competition.

Courtesy of an article dated June 29, 2015 appearing in Mention Blog and an article dated February 5, 2015 appearing in LinkedIn Pulse

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NEW ZEALAND'S MARTIN AIRCRAFT COMPANY READIES THE FIRST JETPACK FOR PERSONAL AND COMMERCIAL USE IN 2016

THE FUTURE IS ALMOST HERE, IF MONEY IS NO OBJECT

Jetpacks are about to go on sale, so curmudgeons of the world can at last retire their canard that we are not living in the promised future. The New Zealand-made Martin Jetpack first flew in public in 2008, and earlier this past winter opened for public trading for the first time. Now, rich daredevils and the rescue crews tasked with finding them can both expect to buy the jetpacks when they go on sale in the second half of 2016.

Martin Jetpack inventor Glenn Martin shows off the Jetpack P12 with Martin Aircraft CEO Peter Coker, right. Mr Coker said the jetpacks have been built to fit in with US and New Zealand aviation standards. Ben Rushton/AFR (Click Image To Enlarge)

There’s one hitch: the Martin Jetpack isn’t precisely a jetpack. Instead, it belongs to the “ducted fan” family of vehicles, which include some modern and past experimental hoverbikes, as well as some drones. So it’s not jets, exactly, but it is still an actual flying machine worn on a person’s back that hurtles them into the air.

Smaller than a helicopter and larger than a drone the jetpack can, according to its creators, fill niche roles, like rescuing surfers or inspecting pipelines. It’s also aimed at the recreational market, for rich thrill-seekers. The jetpack is expected to retail between $150,000 and $200,000, or about the median home price in the United States in 2014. Who needs a house when you canmake your home in the sky with your actual working jetpack?

COMMENTARY:   To demonstrate flight high above the ground and the concept of the ballistic parachute as an emergency safety system, the Martin Jetpack was flown to around 1500m (5000ft), brought down from this height and an off-the-shelf ballistic parachute was deployed.The aircraft was flown by James via radio control in a chasing helicopter - also demonstrating the ability of the technology to apply to UAV applications. Jetson, Martin Aircraft Company's weighted dummy was on board, and the parachute was placed out front for visibility and weight balancing.The video features inventor Glenn Martin and RC pilot James Bowker. The jetpack ascended initially at 4m/s (800ft/min) and the climb took about 6 minutes. The parachute was deployed at around 3000ft above ground level. The aircraft sustained some damage on impact, but we would expect that it is likely a pilot would have walked away from this emergency landing. The total flight was just under 10 minutes.

 

Martin Aicraft Company has been approached by over 2500 individuals interested in buying a Jetpack for personal use.  In addition Martin Aircraft has had expressions of interest for over 3,000 commercial Jetpacks from the militaries, search and rescue organisations, first responders and commercial organisations.

 

Unmanned remote control test flight of the Martin Jetpack P12.

 

Courtesy of an article dated June 25, 2015 appearing in Popular Science

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MARKETERS' FAVORITE SEO TACTICS AND METRICS

Marketers say creating relevant content is the most effective search engine optimization tactic they employ, according to a recent report from Ascend2.

The report was based on data from a survey of 286 marketing, sales, and business professionals from around the world (71%, B2B-focused; 29%, B2C).

Some 72% of respondents say content creation is one of the most effective SEO tactics they employ; other top tactics are keyword/phrase research (48% cite), frequent website updating (34%), and relevant link building (33%).

Most effective SEO tactics:

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Below, additional key findings from the report.

Most Challenging Tactics

• 52% of respondents say relevant link-building is one of the most difficult SEO tactics they employ.
• 46% say relevant content creation is one of the most difficult tactics.

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Most Useful Metrics

• 54% of respondents say website traffic is one of the most useful metrics for measuring SEO performance.
• 50% say leads generated is one of the most useful metrics.

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Challenges

• 40% of respondents say changing search algorithms is one of the biggest obstacles to SEO success.
• 38% say budget constraints is one of the biggest obstacles.

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About the research: The report was based on data from a survey of 286 marketing, sales, and business professionals from around the world (71% B2B-focused; 29% B2C).

COMMENTARY:    It's 2015 and SEO hasn't gotten any easier for digital marketers. With Google's Panda and Penguin algorithm updates that have happened in the past few years, it's no surprise that the search engine optimization aspect of digital marketing is constantly changing.

This volatility requires digital marketers to be agile with their tactics, frequently adapting to the latest guidelines that search engines implement into their algorithms. Here are nine SEO tactics that simply don't work or don't work as well as before.

1) Get more links to rank higher

In the past, building as many links as possible without analyzing the linking domain was how SEO typically worked. By doing this, your website was sure to rank higher. Building links is still a very important part of ranking factors. According to Search Metrics, it is still top 5 most important rankings factors, but you must build links in a much different manor than you used to.

Around Penguin 2.0, which was released in May of 2013, all of this changed. Nowadays, it is important to focus on the quality of links you are obtaining, rather than the quantity. Sometimes less can be more if you know how exactly to build links the proper way.

2) Write keyword rich content for better ranking

It used to be important that you write your content with the keyword incorporated exact match, but now Google uses latent semantic indexing (LSI), which was conceived around February of 2004 and became more and more prominent within search through every update.

With this type of indexing, the contents of a webpage are crawled by the search engine and the most common words or phrases are combined and identified as the keywords of that page. LSI also looks for synonyms that related to your target keywords.

Today, it's important to optimize your page for the user experience; this means that you do not have to place your keywords word-for-word in the content. Write the content for the user. By using synonyms and related terms, the search engines will still understand what your goal is.

3) Only focus on links and content

About 5 years ago, SEO used to be all about getting tons of links, good code, and okay content. These days, most of the websites that are ranking really well have a large social following. People argue whether it directly or indirectly affects rankings, but either way it does have an impact.

Think of it this way, the more popular your website is socially, the more eyeballs you will draw to it. The more people see it, the more backlinks and traffic you will receive. Additionally, social media is a great way to send out content and get the traction you are looking for.

4) Build more pages to get more traffic

Some people have the notion that if you have more pages, you will get more traffic to your website. Just like link building, creating content just to have more pages will not help you. Make sure you are focusing your content on quality, not quantity. If you do not have good content, you will not rank well and all of those pages you created will not help your cause.

Introduced February, 2011, Google’s Panda algorithm updates have been getting better and better at detecting bad content. Nowadays, if you have poor content it is possible you may face a Google penalty, so make sure you are created great content that users want to read.

5) Rank higher to get more traffic

There is a big misconception that higher rankings mean more search traffic. It is true that people will see your listing, but it does not mean you will get more click-throughs. There are a couple of reasons for this:

1. You do not have the correct keyword strategy because you are trying to rank for keywords that are unrelated to your field.
2. Your meta descriptions are not appealing and inviting for the user.

To solve these problems, try using Google Adwords to create a great keyword strategy relating to your business, and be sure to use enticing meta descriptions to get people to the site. It is a good rule of thumb to think about what would entice you to click through.

6) Guest blog at a large scale to build SEO authority

Before Penguin 2.0, in 2013, people used to write content, whether bad or good, to anybody that would listen, with a link back to their site. A lot of the time, it was content that had nothing to do with their actual industry; they were just trying to get a backlink.

Guest blogging has changed immensely since then. Now it is important that if you do end up getting one or two guest posts here and there, that they are high authoritative, relevant websites. Guest posting on a smaller scale can be beneficial if you do it the correct, ethical way.

7) Fill the title tag with keywords to increase ranking

Keyword stuffing is the act of shoving as many keywords onto the page as possible. Google’s own, Matt Cutts, warned us in 2007 against stuffing your page with keywords to rank higher in the search results. Some webmasters did not take this to heart, until Google continuously came out with new algorithm updates, like Panda, every year that were meant to target bad content.

Keyword stuffing is 100% against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and is a dangerous game. Because of Google’s algorithm getting more advanced each year, you are likely to get your website penalized.

8) Don't waste time on including images in your content

For a long time, it was okay to neglect the images on your site and still rank without using alt text and image file names to boost your page relevance. On-page SEO is more important than ever, so excluding images will prevent your website's SEO from being the best it can be.

Search engines cannot see images on websites, so it is important to give the image an alt text and relevant file name to ensure Google knows what the image is about. By not creating this text, you lose a huge opportunity to be as visible as possible online.

9) Get listed in lots of directories to fill your backlinks profile

On April 24, 2012, Google released the first Penguin algorithm update, which targeted websites with unnatural links and has since gotten more sophisticated. It is important that webmasters and marketing ensure they are not just getting a ton of links from low-quality spammy directory website.

Instead focus on niche related directories that have strict standards and high authority that will benefit your personas by getting quality information about your company’s mission and website. It is pretty easy to decided which directories are natural and which are unnatural, and if you cannot decide do not risk it!

If you are using any of these worthless tactics, it is time for you to clean up your SEO and create a better strategy. Go out there are create great content and create high authoritative, relevant backlinks to your website.

Courtesy of an article dated June 29, 2015 appearing in MarketingProfs and an article dated June 26, 2015 appearing in Hubspot Blogs

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HOW AQUAMARINE POWER OF SCOTLAND IS HARNESSING OCEAN WAVE POWER TO GENERATE CLEAN ELECTRICAL POWER

Aquamarine Power CEO Martin McAdam with Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond

Several green energy startups have attempted to harness tidal power from ocean waves to generate clean electricity and the latest entrant to try to harness electricity from 100 billion tons of water per day in the Bay of Fundy is Aquamarine Power.  Aquamarine Power, based in Scotland, which has based its wave power designs on the oyster, has installed the equivalent of 64 GW wavepower technology and is achieving great results as evidenced by the large number of published and peer-reviewed papers on the subject.

How the Aquamarine Wave Power System Works

The Aquamarine Power Oyster system creates a pumping system using huge “paddles” or “shells” that swing back and forth in the waves and pump water to onshore turbines that spin and produce electricity (see video below).

According to Aquamarine’s team of engineers, coming up with an efficient technology involves a combination of finding optimum sites to install the technology and refining the design through an endless series of testing periods. With each new installation and each new upgrade, Aquamarine’s wave power system is producing better and better results.

An illustration showing how the Aquamarine Oyster Wave Energy Convertor pumps water to its offshore power generator (Click Image To Enlarge)

The reason for harnessing wave power isn’t hard to understand as the world is mostly filled with oceans. The need for sustainable energy resources makes wave power, using nearshore waves to convert wave energy to drive hydroelectric turbines, a thing of beauty.

The following video shows the Aquamarine Wave Power system in action:

 

The following gallery shows Aquamarine’s Oyster system:

An Aquamarine Oyster Wave Energy Converter being frabricated at Aquamarine's plant (Click Image To Enlarge)

 

An Aquamarine Oyster Wave Energy Convertor being tested off the coast of Scotland (Click Image To Enlarge)

Artist concept of an Aquamarine Oyster Wave Energy Convertor farm viewed from beneath the waves (Click Image To Enlarge)

 

Close-up underwater view of the Aquamarine Oyster Wave Energy Convertor (Click Image To Enlarge)

Aquamarine Power's proposed Lewis wave farm (Click Image To Enlarge)

COMMENTARY:   Aquamarine Power got its start in 2001 when Professor Trevor Whittaker's research and development team at Queen's University, Belfast began to research flap-type wave power devices with a view to reducing the cost of energy.  The R&D team's research ultimately led to the development of the Oyster wave energy device.

The innovative design of the Oyster wave energy converter attracted the interest of Allan Thomson, the retired founder of WaveGen, the UK's first ever wave power company.  Allan went on to co-fund further R&D into the Oyster wave power device.  In 2005, Allan set up Aquamarine Power to bring Oyster wave power technology to the commercial market.

Securing investment

In 2007, Aquamarine Power secured an investment of £6.3 million from major utility SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy) plus further investment of £1.5 million from venture capitalist Sigma Capital Group.  This gave the company the financial backing and additional industry expertise it needed to progress their Oyster wave energy technology from scale model wave tank testing to full-scale sea trials.

In 2008 Aquamarine Power completed the fabrication of our first full-scale prototype Oyster wave energy converter and in 2009 it installed Oyster 1 at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney when it began producing power to the grid for the first time.

Continual progress

The following year, in November 2010, Aquamarine Power welcomed ABB, one of the world's largest power and automation companies, as a major shareholder in the business.

In 2011 the company installed its next-generation Oyster 800 wave energy device at EMEC. This device is undergoing operational testing and is producing electrical power.

Oyster 800 has now demonstrated at EMEC for over three years - including surviving some of the largest stroms this decade.  The company's team of engineers and researchers are already developing the next versions of its Oyster devices, while its commercial team is progressing with a portfolio of development sites where it can install and operate future Oyster wave farms.

Courtesy of an article dated June 23, 2015 appearing in Industry Tap      

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THE 2016 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL RACE WILL BE A BATTLE FOR SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCE -- HERE'S WHERE EACH CANDIDATE STANDS, AND THE WINNER IS!!

Donald Trump and Jeb Bush are the frontrunners as GOP hopefuls for President of the United States; Hillary Clinton leads the field among Democratic Party candidates.  Bernie Sanders is coming on strong only 5 points behind Hillary Clinton in the CNN/WMUR New Hampshire poll. (Click Image To Enlarge)

With 17 major candidates and counting, 2016 presidential candidates — and those who'll likely join them — are increasingly looking for ways to stand out through various social media platforms.

Gone are the days where candidates would raise money and cut television ads. The way the American public follow campaigns and candidates has transformed over the past two election cycles, and social media is at the forefront.

We took a look at the influence potential of each candidate through their various social-media platforms. We measured their followers or subscribers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Some candidates are even turning to Snapchat — a platform that, campaign-wise, remains in its infancy as candidates experiment with it.

Here's a look at each candidate or likely candidate's potential social influence:

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Courtesy of an article dated June 24, 2015 appearing in Business Insider

COMMENTARY:   Jeb Bush narrowly leads the GOP field in New Hampshire, the state that will host the first primary of the 2016 presidential campaign, but Donald Trump's gains in the state suggest the billionaire businessman is establishing a following in New Hampshire.

The new CNN/WMUR New Hampshire Primary poll finds Trump at 11%, just behind Bush at 16% in a wide open contest for the Republican nomination for president. Bush and Trump are followed by Rand Paul at 9%, Scott Walker at 8%, and Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio both at 6%. Ben Carson and Chris Christie each have 5% support.

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All jokes aside, the Republican Party is officially afraid of Donald Trump.

He has virtually zero chance of winning the presidential nomination. But insiders worry that the loud-mouthed mogul is more than just a minor comedic nuisance on cable news; they fret that he’s a loose cannon whose rants about Mexicans and scorched-earth attacks on his rivals will damage the eventual nominee and hurt a party struggling to connect with women and minorities and desperate to win.

Former George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer says.

“Donald Trump is like watching a roadside accident. Everybody pulls over to see the mess. And Trump thinks that’s entertainment. But running for president is serious. And the risk for the party is he tarnishes everybody.”

Those risks were amplified this week after a trio of polls showed him likely to earn a coveted invitation to the party’s debates, which ironically were restructured with the very goal of avoiding the circus-like atmosphere of 2012. Giving Trump a major platform just as the country is tuning in is not exactly the Big Tent the party’s bigwigs had in mind..

An unnamed RNC member confessed.

“I’m not excited about somebody as divisive as Trump or somebody as obnoxious as Trump being on the debate stage.”

Trump currently sits in eighth place among Republicans, according to the RealClearPolitics’ average of national polls — ahead of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. And this week, he came in second in two New Hampshire polls and in a Fox News national poll, finishing behind only former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in all three.

Hillary Clinton appeared to be the front-runner among Democrats running for president until Senator Bernie Sanders (DEM - Vermont) entered the race.  Keep in mind however, that Vermont is next door to New Hampshire, and New Hampshire voters are very familiar with Bernie, and this raises his popularity considerably.  Clinton leads Sanders by only 5 points -- 43% to 38%.

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These political polls can change overnight.  With just one good debate, anyone of these front-runners for either party could vault right to the top in the ratings.  There is still plenty of time for some of them to screw up (e.g. Mitt Romney's "47%" comment).  I am betting that Trump will be the biggest screw-up.  However, even with his reputation for making controversial remarks, he has something the other candidates do not have.  A very successful trackrecord as a businessman and job creator and strong celebrity status as the host of The Apprentice and countless TV appearances. Trump has branded himself like no other Republican candidate.  

To insure that the Trump brand does not get tarnished, he continues to communicate with his fans on Facebook (1.9 million fans) and on Twitter (3 million followers).  However, according to Business Insider, only 42% of his fans on Facebook are Americans. The rest are foreigners.  His political slogan is "Make America Great Again."  Very catchy, but the same slogan was used by Ronald Reagan.  To make it his, The Donald has applied for a patent on the slogan.  That's ballsey.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner for President is no slouch when it comes to using social media.  She also has a very strong following on Twitter (3.77 million followers) and Facebook (978K fans).  From what I could tell, Hillary Clinton does not have a political slogan, but a simple (albeit controversial) campaign logo that looks like this:

Hillary Clinton presidential campaign logo (Click Image To Enlarge)

Hillary's campaign logo has been criticized for being "uninspiring", "weird" and "saying nothing" (Washington Post), but it is meant to convey "hope for America" through Hillary (the BIG H) and the big red arrow symbolizes a forward looking belief that America can "move on" to bigger and better things as a nation if you elect her as US President.

Montenico Montanaro of NPR.org says,

"Clinton's simple logo, though, is certainly saying something now. On Tuesday, the day of the Supreme Court oral arguments on gay marriage, her H on both Facebook and Twitter were changed to rainbow-colored.

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And it's not the only example of how the campaign has tried to adapt the logo. For Iowa, the background is an open field with corn in the foreground. For New Hampshire, mountains.

It's kind of becoming the Empire State Building of presidential campaign logos — changing colors to celebrate any variety of milestones and holidays, from pink for breast cancer awareness to red, white and blue for Memorial Day to "pastel fades" for Easter. (The Empire State Building has a whole calendar of scheduled colors.)"

Hillary's presidential campaign logo certainly reminds you of how Google adapts its logo on an almost daily basis to represent causes, holidays, etc.    

It's Hillary In A Landslide Over The Donald

Democratic pollster Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling just tested a matchup between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the Bluegrass State, and the results are, simply, hilarious. Even though Clinton currently trails the rest of the GOP pack by anywhere from 5 to 10 points in Kentucky, she leads Trump by a 45-42 margin.

Imagine that! A Democrat winning Kentucky! That hasn't happened in 20 years, when Bill Clinton edged out Bob Dole by a single point. It just shows how truly despised Trump is, but it also leaves us giggling over a follow-up question: What would happen if this 26-point swing were replicated nationwide?

Jensen has Clinton winning an insane 45 states and taking a beyond-comical 513 electoral votes to just 25 for The Donald. That's an FDR-level landslide, leaving Trump with just a teeny outpost of red in the far west, plus a dot here for Oklahoma and there for West Virginia. That's it, and nothing more. (Click here for a complete state-by-state breakdown of the carnage.). Here's that landslide map again:

What a Hillary Clinton electoral vote landslide would like like if she ran against Donald Trump in the 2016 General Election for US President (Click Image To Enlarge)

Trump is a showman with a huge ego.  He is flamboyant and loves to be in front of the camera, and you can bet that his handlers will make sure he gets a lot of exposure off and on the campaign trail. He always has something to say, and doesn't regret what he says, and doesn't apologize if he hurts feelings. This is the sort of thing that launched Ronald Reagan into office.  This is what is often referred as being "genuine."  What you see is what you get.  Sarah Palin was also "genuine," and Republicans were soon to find out how dumb she was.  A genuine liability.  The Donald is not a repeat performance of Sarah Palin.  He's smart, shrewd and not afraid to say what is on his mind.  Genuine.  He understands the importance of marketing, especially social media.  Many Americans are mesmerized by Donald Trump.  He has a serious following, and should not be underestimated. He knows that marketing, showmanship and boldness are all part of politics.  He has the financial means to run a Presidential campaign, and you can bet that social media will be an important element of the marketing mix.   

Courtesy of an article dated June 24, 2015 appearing in Business Insider, an article dated June 26, 2015 appearing in Politico, an article dated June 25, 2015 appearing in CNN News, and an article dated June 24, 2015 appearing in the Daily KOS

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ALIBABA IS THE WORLD'S LARGEST eCOMMERCE COMPANY, BUT DOES IT POSE A REAL THREAT TO AMAZON AND eBAY?

Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group 

Alibaba to invest more abroad as globalization becomes a top priority

Group Holding Ltd will invest heavily in existing and new ventures abroad, making its push beyond the China market a top priority, the Chinese e-commerce leader's new CEO, Daniel Zhang, said.

Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang (Click Image To Enlarge)

Zhang's comments come at a time when Alibaba aims to maintain its rapid growth even as the prospect of e-commerce saturation at home looms over the company.

Zhang said in his first speech since taking up his new post this week, according to a report on Thursday on Alibaba's news and commentary website, Alizila.

"We must absolutely globalize,"

The vast bulk of Alibaba's revenue comes from its dominant domestic online marketplaces, but the company has been investing in a range of sectors abroad. Just this week it announced it would set up a cloud computing base in Dubai, and boosted its stake in U.S. e-retailer Zulily Inc.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited - Revenues by Segment - 2010 Through 2014 - Includes China vs International Revenues  - In Millions of Yuans - Statista (Click Image To Enlarge)

Zhang was quoted as saying.

"We will organize a global team and adopt global thinking to manage the business, and achieve the goal of 'global buy and global sell'." 

Alibaba, which handles more transactions on its platforms than Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc combined, would continue to invest heavily in new and existing overseas operations, Zhang was quoted as saying. Those included AliExpress, a platform for overseas consumers to buy Chinese goods, and Tmall Global, a marketplace for overseas goods to be sold online in China.

For the quarter ending in December 2014, Alibaba achieved $127 billion in China retail gross merchandise value (GMV).  For calendar year 2014, Alibaba achieved $370 billion in China retail GMV. A key reason for the strong GMV growth is the continued growth in active buyers across its platforms—Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com. The company explained that an active buyer is someone who came to its retail marketplaces to make at least one purchase during the period of measurement.

Alibaba Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) - Taobao and Tmall - By Quarter in Billions of  Chinese Yuans - Q4 2012 through Q4 2014 (Click Image To Enlarge)

The GMV growth was also driven by category expansion. On November 11, 2014, the company’s Singles Day promotion generated GMV of $9.2 billion. This was an increase of 58% compared to the Singles Day in 2013. These transactions were settled through Alipay on its retail marketplaces within a 24-hour period.

Alibaba's online shopping gross merchandise volume (GMV) in millions of Chinese Yuan's from Q2 2012 through Q1 2015 (Click Image To Enlarge)

Zhang said if Alibaba does not globalize it won't be able to last 100 years - a goal set out by Executive Chairman Jack Ma.

But growth of Alibaba's international commerce business is lagging the pace of growth in China, even as the new CEO faces the prospect of slowing domestic growth as saturation among online shoppers threatens to hobble expansion.

In the three months ended March, Alibaba's revenue from China commerce grew 39 percent to $2.2 billion. International commerce grew 27 percent to $264 million and only accounted for 9 percent of revenue, compared to 11 percent in the same period a year earlier.

Alibaba says some of its larger overseas markets include Brazil and Russia. The company and its affiliates are also making overtures in India, where it is in talks with phone maker Micromax Informatics to buy a $1.2 billion stake, according to several people with direct knowledge of the matter.

For the United States, Alibaba is planning a major move to win business this year, by offering American retailers new ways to sell to China's vast and growing middle class.

Mobile commerce is driving an increasing share of Alibaba's business

Alibaba’s growth has been further boosted by an exponential increase in mobile users. China’s 600 million-plus Internet users are migrating to smartphones, setting off a race to capture this new market. Alibaba’s mobile GMV now represents over 51% of a staggering 289 million mobile active users.

Alibaba said it had 289 million mobile active users (MAUs) out of 350 million buyers at the end of Q1 2015.   Mobile users represented $49 billion or 51% of  total gross merchandise volume (GMV) on its Chinese retail platforms during Q1 2015, up from 42% in Q4 2014.  Mobile users also represented a whopping 40% of total ecommerce revenues for Q1 2015, up from 30% in Q4 2015.

Alibaba Active Buyers and Mobile Active Users by Quarter in Millions - Q1 2014 Through Q1 2015 (Click Image To Enlarge) 

Alibaba Total Mobile Active Users (MAUs) in Millions, Mobile Gross Merchance Volume (US$) and Mobile Revenues as a % of China Retail Rvenues (US$) for Q1 2015 (Click Image To Enlarge)

Alibaba Mobile GMV, Mobile Revenues and Revenue Contribution by Quarter - Q1 2013 Through Q1 2015 (Click Image To Enlarge)

Does Alibaba represent a serious competititve threat to Amazon and eBay?

Wether Alibaba represents a serious to U.S. ecommerce leaders Amazon and eBay depends on who you ask.  Let's look at the opinions of a few ecommerce experts.

Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, says Yes

In terms of sheer size, accounting for 80 per cent of all Chinese online shopping, with volume growth easily outstripping rival internet retailers thanks to 1 billion items on offer to 350 million buyers, and with 30 million shipments made per day, fast-growing behemoth Alibaba represents a genuine threat to the likes of Ebay and Amazon.

Jack Ma’s stateside charm offensive has provided key insight into the firm’s goals, with some impressive numbers, such as sales of a landmark $1 trillion by 2019, generated by a whopping 2 billion customers.  The founder has made it clear that the aim is to reduce reliance on China, increasing rest-of-world sales by a factor of 20.

This implies taking market share, which the promise of 72-hour worldwide shipping and attracting US businesses to its already highly-successful platform may well help deliver. Outside China, Alibaba is looking increasingly like the retail elephant in the internet chatroom. The competition better watch out.

Steve Mader, a vice president at Kantar Retail, says No

In the short term, Alibaba is not focused on entering the US or European retail markets to compete on Amazon and Ebay’s home turf. Its attention is connecting Chinese businesses to Chinese consumers, Chinese businesses to the world, and the world to Chinese businesses.

Ma’s goal is to remove a significant amount of friction from Chinese retail trade and have Alibaba positioned as the conduit the traffic flows through, generating a massive number of monetisation opportunities through media and marketing services, or payment programmes such as Alipay.

With Alibaba focusing on China, it offers global retailers the ability to learn and adapt. We’re already seeing this with Amazon’s moves in the UK to become more flexible in its distribution network by partnering with other retailers such as Smiths News, and Ebay becoming increasingly brand focused. In the longer term, however, the tech giants would be foolish to dismiss the threat of Alibaba.

COMMENTARY:   Based on Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang goal to expand internationally by a "factor of 20," both Amazon and eBay should take this as a threat, but not an eminent one.  Alibaba Group faces several hurdles in order to successfully penetrate the U.S. market.

1)  U.S. buyers do not use escrow accounts to make online purchases like Alibaba Group uses to make sales.  We prefer to use credit and debit cards to make our purchases, expect a liberal merchandise return policy, and delivery of our purchases within 1 to 5 days.  I don't think Alibaba Group's business model translates well in the US market except for very expensive items like jewelry, art and collectables.

2) U.S. buyers are very loyal to both Amazon and eBay.  The seller reviews on eBay weed out crooked sellers.  Likewise, product reviews on Amazon are very useful in assisting buyers to make their purchasing decisions.  

3) U.S. buyers have the advantage of buying products from sellers located and shipping within the U.S.  Alibaba Group does not carry merchandise, but depends on millions of small sellers, to produce and ship the product directly to the customer.  Alibaba would have to open large distribution centers in the U.S. in order to meet the demands of U.S. customers for quick turnaround of their orders. This would require a huge investment in facilities and merchandise inventory to meet the demand of customers in the U.S. and Europe. 

4) Both eBay and Amazon have fond ways to weedout sellers of cheap knockoffs.  On the other hand, Alibaba Group has been criticized by the government for the large number of sellers selling knockoff products through their ecommerce platforms.  Alibaba Group has spent over $1 billion over the last two years to control the knockoff problem.

5) U.S. and European online buyers are much more sophisticated than Chinese consumers.  They are very leary of these small Chinese producers, the quality of the products they sell, and how to deal with merchandise returns.  This is a big reason why I believe that Alibaba Group will have to adopt a business model that is similar to Amazon and eBay in order to compete with those companies.

6) Alibaba Group does not have a well known brand name in the U.S.  This lack of brand awareness by U.S. consumers is a huge weakness.  This lack of a strong brand identity will hurt Alibaba with U.S. consumers who are used to buying from well established companies like eBay and Amazon.        

In spite of these weaknesses and disadvantages, Alibaba Group still represents a threat, probably within 5 to 10 years. Alibaba cannot just compete on the basis of price, it must compete on the basis of the four P's (price, product, promotion and place).    

Courtesy of an article dated June 11, 2015 appearing in CityAM, an article dated May 14, 2015 appearing in Reuters, an article dated January 29, 2015 appearing in The Wall Street Journal, an article dated March 23, 2015 appearing in Market Realist, an article dated March 23, 2015 appearing in Yahoo Finance, First Quarter 2015 Earnings Presentation for Alibaba Group, Full Year 2014 Earnings Statistics by Statista

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THE STATE OF MOBILE PAYMENTS 2015, MOBILE PAYMENTS COULD HIT $142 BILLION BY 2019 FROM $52 BILLION IN 2014

 

Thanks to big moves from Apple, Samsung, Google and others, the world of mobile payments is rapidly evolving. More retailers accept digital payments than ever before and these 11 tech companies — as well as the world’s most famous coffee chain — are leading the charge.

 

Mobile payments in 2015

Apple, Starbucks and Disney are all strong brands with loyal followings, but they also have something else in common: They're early leaders in the ever-evolving mobile payments market.

Some analysts predict 2015 will be the first year all the pieces — including a larger base of NFC-enabled devices and terminals, and growing consumer acceptance — come together to take mobile currency mainstream. A number of additional companies are also entering the world of mobile payments, such as American Express, which you might expect to see, and Jawbone, which might seem surprising.

Here's a high-level look at the current mobile-payment and wallet adoption levels, as well as a breakdown of

Mobile payments today

By the end of this year, 5 percent of the world's 600 million to 650 million NFC-enabled phones will be used at least once every month to make "contactless in-store payments at retail outlets," according to consulting firm Deloitte's annual "Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions" report.

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While five percent is not a staggering number, it represents a considerable increase over last year's mobile payment usage rate. As of mid 2014, less than 0.5 percent of the 450 million to 500 million NFC-enabled phone owners used their mobile devices for in-store purchases, Deloitte says.

While contactless mobile payments won't go mainstream this year, "niche adoption" will continue to grow, according to the report. Down the road, mobile payments use via NFC-enabled devices should "rise steadily" as consumers become more familiar with the concept and banks and retailers readily accept mobile payments.

Mobile payments tomorrow

U.S. mobile payments to national brands and local merchants will grow from $52 billion in 2014 to $142 billion by 2019, according to a 2014 Forrester report.  

Click Image To Enlarge

Forrester say.

"The adoption of mobile payments is an evolution — not a revolution — and the evolution is well underway,"

Forrester's numbers includes in-person mobile payments as well as remote and peer-to-peer payments.

Capgemini's "World Payments Report 2014" suggests mobile payments will increase to 47 billion transactions through 2015, up from 29.2 billion in 2013.

And according to Gartner, "rampant interest in mobile payments" and a "significant increase in mobile commerce" will drive mobile commerce revenue in the United States to represent 50 percent of all U.S. digital commerce revenue by 2017. Mobile commerce currently represents 22 percent of all digital commerce, Gartner says.

Amex on Apple Watch, Jawbone UP4

American Express is experimenting with facial recognition and wearable technology that could form the foundation for new mobile-payment and security features, according to The Wall Street Journal. Amex tests new ways of using its payment services on devices such as the Apple Watch and Google Glass in its own tech development lab. The company is evaluating facial recognition as a more secure way for mobile consumers to use Amex when paying for goods or sending money transfers. However, the technology isn't ready for prime time and is still in early testing phases, The Journal says.

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Amex also recently partnered with Jawbone to add mobile payment features to the company's upcoming UP4 fitness tracker.

Pay attention to Apple Pay

The Apple Pay mobile-payment and digital-wallet system debuted in October 2014. It lets consumers with NFC-enabled iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple Watch devices pay in stores at contactless terminals and buy goods using apps that support the service.

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Apple Pay's impact was significant and immediate. Apple said more than a million credit cards were registered for use with the service in its first three days of availability. Denée Carrington of Forrester Research says.  

"Apple Pay will influence every discussion of mobile payments through 2015.  Apple Pay will be the catalyst for new debates on balancing data privacy with customer engagement and loyalty" and will be "the standard-bearer for the best use of tokenization to secure payments and biometrics to combat fraud."

CurrentC coming summer 2015

CurrentC is expected to be available in mid 2015, and it will combine mobile payments and loyalty benefits. Merchant Content Exchange (MCX), a company owned by a consortium of U.S. retailers including CVS, Best Buy, Lowe's, Sears, Target, and Walmart, backs the CurrentC platform. 

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Small-scale trials are currently underway in undisclosed U.S. markets, according to IDG News Service, but some critics express doubts about CurrentC.  Forbes says.  

"MCX seems completely unaware of how people actually shop at its partner stores."  

CurrentC doesn't support credit cards, to help merchants avoid those fees. Instead, CurrentC uses debit cards, which don't provide the same level of fraud protection as credit cards. The system will also initially use QR codes instead of NFC or another wireless technology.

Disney 'MagicBand' at the Magic Kingdom

According to Wired.'

"If you want to imagine how the world will look in just a few years ... skip Silicon Valley and ... (go) to Disney World," 

Disney World guests can wear a "MagicBand," a waterproof, plastic wristband that contains a short-range RFID chip and a 2.4-GHz wireless transmitter. MagicBand is also a mobile payment system, and it lets guests at Disney resorts purchase food, beverages and merchandise, and gain admission to attractions.

Click Image To Enlarge

Wired says. 

"You don't need to carry cash, because the MagicBand is linked to your credit card.  You don't need to wait in long lines."

Apple Pay lifts Google Wallet

Google Wallet, a mobile-payment and wallet system that uses NFC to enable payments between compatible devices and point-of-sale (PoS) readers, was released in 2011. However, the system failed to gain traction, partially because some wireless providers supported the then-rival Softcard payment system, previously (and unfortunately) known as Isis.

Click Image To Enlarge

In February 2015, Google acquired Softcard, integrated it with Google Wallet and announced its Wallet app would be preinstalled on compatible devices from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless later this year. You can use Gmail attachments to send money from your Google Wallet, too, even if the recipient doesn't use Gmail. Apple Pay's success ironically ignited interest in Google Wallet, and today more stores accept NFC payments from both competitors.

Jawbone, UP4 and Amex

Jawbone, which makes fitness trackers, portable speakers and other consumer electronics, recently entered the world of mobile payments. In mid April, the company announced that its upcoming UP4 ($200) activity-tracker wristband would let wearers make contactless payments via pre-registered American Express cards at PoS terminals this summer. UP4 will use Jawbone's app to link Amex cards to UP4 for NFC wireless payments. (Microsoft Band is another wearable with some mobile payment capabilities.)

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For UP4 transactions, Amex will provide retailers with tokens instead of consumers' credit card numbers, according to PC World, and Jawbone says it won't store credit card numbers or receive sensitive data about user transactions.

'Microsoft Payment,' Windows 10 and 'tap to pair'

Microsoft will likely enter the mobile payments space in a big way. Here's the gist of what's known so far, according to The Motley Fool: The payment platform may be called "Microsoft Payment;" the company filed official forms to become a money transmitter in the United States and already received permission to act as one in Idaho; and Windows 10's "tap to pair" feature could be used to transmit payments via NFC.

From PC World: 

"For now, we can only imagine what Microsoft might do. Perhaps the company is cooking up a direct mobile payment competitor to Apple Pay — though any effort on that front may be hamstrung by Windows Phone's meager adoption."

Microsoft's Band wearable already lets you pay for goods at Starbucks.

Click Image To Enlarge

PayPal, Paydiant and mobile payments

PayPal has been an ecommerce force for years. In March, news broke of PayPal's plan to acquire startup Paydiant, a platform that companies use to build branded mobile-payment and loyalty-card services. Subway, Capital One and retail consortium Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) already use Paydiant's platform, according to the IDG News Service. Paydiant lets consumers pay for items via their mobile devices using NFC and QR codes.

Click Image To Enlarge

PayPal also said in March that it would sell NFC-equipped versions of its credit card readers to merchants.

Samsung Pay, NFC and MST

In March, Samsung announced Samsung Pay, which uses two different wireless technologies: NFC and magnetic secure transmission (MST). Startup LoopPay developed the latter, which has been embedded as a copper ring inside the new Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphones, according to Computerworld.

Click Image To Enlarge

Samsung Pay is expected to be available in the United States and South Korea this summer. The system's support for NFC and MST means Galaxy S6 users will be able to make purchases at many more retail locations than Apple Pay users, because Apple Pay requires NFC-enabled terminals.

Avivah Litan, Gartner analyst, told Computerworld.

"Samsung Pay certainly heats up the competition.  But Samsung still has a lot of work to do to improve the user experience before it can effectively compete with Apple."

Hip to be Square for mobile payments

Square's PoS card readers are already a hit with small businesses, including food trucks, restaurants and other local retailers. The Square Wallet mobile app, introduced in 2011, didn't catch on with consumers, however, so the company pulled it and replaced it in 2014 with Square Order, an app that lets people preorder drinks and food from local vendors. Then in March 2015, Square shut down that app, too. The company currently focuses on its Square Cash peer-to-peer mobile payments app for consumers and businesses, as well as its various PoS systems for merchants, including the Square Register app.

Click Image To Enlarge

Starbucks leads by example

Wired says Starbucks is "the master of mobile payments." AForbes headline says "Once Again, Starbucks Shows Google And Apple How To Do Mobile Payment." So what's the big deal?

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The coffee chain says it nabbed as much as 90 percent of the $1.6 billion spent in U.S. stores via smartphone in 2013. CEO Howard Schultz says the company's loyalty program drives mobile payments. Coffee drinkers purchase Starbucks cards, load them with funds from a credit card, then scan barcodes in the Starbucks app or iOS Passbook wallet to pay for food and drinks at its cafes. The more they buy, the more points they earn toward freebies.

Starbucks is also reportedly testing beverage delivery (via the Postmates service) as an extension of its mobile payment offering.

COMMENTARY:   Seth Priebatsch, 23, and CEO of SCVNGR, a Cambridge-based startup that began as company with a location-based social gaming app, could not get sufficient traction, so it pivoted in late 2011.  Priebatsch's no goal now is to dominate the market for mobile payments, allowing cellphones to be used in place of cash or plastic to buy things.

Already, 250 businesses around Boston allow consumers to use SCVNGR’s LevelUp mobile app to pay, and Priebatsch says another 100 will come online soon.  The system, deployed in eight other cities, is handling more than $1 million in transactions each month. One analyst believes the only app used by more consumers today for mobile payments is the Starbucks app.

SCVNGR has had several incarnations.

It started in 2008, enabling sites like museums or colleges to create text-based games that could be played on any mobile phone as players navigated a real-world environment.

Then, SCVNGR started chasing Foursquare, a Manhattan company that was the first to encourage mobile users to “check in’’ and share their location with others.

In March 2012, SCVNGR launched LevelUp, which was seen as an attempt to cash in on the Groupon craze.  But while Groupon’s prepaid coupons only created an incentive to go to a business once - to take advantage of, say, $50 worth of tanning time for $25 - LevelUp offered an enticing second and third deal once you cashed in the first. The idea was to try to engender loyalty, rather than just drive a swarm of bargain-hunters to the business.

The original LevelUp product didn’t take off.  SCVNGR was pitching it to merchants when dozens of other companies were also trying to persuade them to offer new kinds of digital deals.

SCVNGR introduced the current version of LevelUp in July 2012. Once you enter a credit card number into the app, you can use your cellphone to pay at businesses that accept LevelUp. The merchant puts a SCVNGR-supplied mobile phone on the counter in a special plexiglass holder. When you open the app, it displays a QR code - a more pixelated version of a bar code - which is read by the merchant’s phone and initiates the transaction.

The LevelUp scan works more reliably than a credit card swipe, and it’s generally faster.

But the big incentive is that most businesses accepting LevelUp offer deals to get you in the door. The app lets you see a list of businesses near you, and how much they will knock off your first purchase: a $4 credit at Naked Pizza, for instance.

Once you make that first purchase, a business can dangle future discounts based on a certain spending level. That’s an easy way to run a loyalty program without having to dole out those annoying punch cards.

When you use Twitter to survey people who use LevelUp regularly, they cited discounts and the simplicity as their two favorite features.

Dan Croak of Cambridge said he liked the way it cuts down on visits to an ATM, and doesn’t require him to sign a credit card receipt.

Katie Cohen of Boston said the app’s only drawback is that "I feel more like a nerd every time I use it."                                                                  

Merchants say they appreciate LevelUp’s low transaction fee: about 2 percent.  Mike Conley, director of marketing at Sebastians Cafés, says.  

“Accepting other credit cards can be as high as 5 or 6 percent.  Plus, LevelUp gives us a wealth of data about our customers: how often they come in, and how much they spend.’’

Conley says nearly 4,000 people have used LevelUp to pay at Sebastians, and their average purchase is higher than other customers.

Patrick Lynch, who runs the Bon Me food truck, says.  

"I  have found it’s worth our while to give a little discount with LevelUp to try to convert people into regulars.’’

Bon Me offers $2 off a customer’s first purchase with LevelUp.

Building a mobile payment product that consumers and merchants like is a significant accomplishment, and Yankee Group analyst Nick Holland says that SCVNGR has maneuvered into a very strong position. Holland says.  

“It’s arguable that they’re number two behind Starbucks.  But we’re still in the very low single-digit percentages, in terms of people using their mobile phones for anything transactional.’’

Handling $1 million in monthly transactions is not generating much revenue for SCVNGR, which so far has raised $20 million in venture capital ($12 million was raised in May 2012).  The 120-person company collects $20,000 in fees on that $1 million, some of which it must pay to credit card issuers and middlemen. Even getting to $100 million a month in transactions would not create a very big business.

But Priebatsch has already figured out his next move. He said.  

“In three years, we’ll be handling $10 billion a month of transactions - and making zero on the transactions.’’

Instead, LevelUp will charge merchants a monthly fee (perhaps $100 per location) for help bringing in new customers, transforming them into repeat customers, and analyzing their spending habits.

Priebatsch says. 

“Google has had great success with selling advertising that understands what you’re searching for, and generates revenue every time you click on one of their ads.  Our ad unit is based on the transaction, on getting you into a business to buy something. We think that what we are building is the largest financial advertising system on the planet.’’

Priebatsch’s lofty vision could get SCVNGR acquired, as established players in the payments industry, such as PayPal, Google, and credit card companies, try to formulate winning strategies for mobile. But building a profitable business atop the vision would give SCVNGR a chance of becoming a major player in its own right - perhaps the 21st century’s version of American Express.

Courtesy of an article dated April 22, 2015 appearing in CIO Magazine and an article dated March 25, 2014 appearing in The Boston Globe

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SURVEY: 60% OF SMB'S EXPECT AN ROI FROM SOCIAL MEDIA, BUT ONLY 50% USE SOCIAL MEDIA ADS, 47% SPEND LESS THAN $100 PER MO

Social media is an evolving arena for small business owners and many seem unsure about whether or not to invest marketing dollars. In a recent Manta survey, only half of respondents said that they are willing to spend money on social media marketing. And of those who do spend, most (47 percent) commit less than $100 per month, while 40 percent spend between $100 and $1,000. Nearly 60 percent of respondents did acknowledge ROI (return on investment), with Facebook generating the most return. The survey also found that nearly 40 percent of small business owners use social media to acquire and engage new customers, while the majority of the rest use it to drive awareness and market their business (17 percent) or to get leads and referrals (15 percent).

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Courtesy of the results of a survey dated April 22, 2015 by Manta

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WHAT ARE THE BEST TIMES TO POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Ellen Degeneres, 2014 Academy Awards Show host, does a mass selfie and posts it to Twitter (Click Image To Enlarge)

If you, like me, depend on Facebook to socialize the content you create, you want to be as Facebook savvy as possible. What do people engage with? When should you post?

I’ve found that posting images and videos gets more engagement than straight text. I’ve also found that text that speaks to a controversy or includes news-you-can-use is more successful.

I’ve also found that if I post too many times in a single day, engagement starts to go down. I get it: It’s annoying when one Facebook page dominates your newsfeed.

This infographic from QuickSprout is a useful reminder about the best times to find your audience on Facebook and on other social media platforms. Pin it up next to our desk. Optimize your Facebook promotion.

It turns out that people engage on Facebook most on Thursday and Friday. A lot of people use Facebook when they are at their desks in the their offices, but don’t want to be. Indeed, 86% of posts are published during the week. Earlier in the week, peole are trying harder to actually work, so engagement falls below 3.5% on those days.

People are also just happier on Facebook on Fridays. Their status updates tend to be more upbeat. Happier people are more likely to want to engage with you. They’re more open to new ideas in general.

Early afternoon is the best time to post. Check to see what time zone your largest audience is in. Mine is in Eastern, so I try to post around 1 pm EST. But really anytime between 9 am and 7 pm is fine.

I read a study once that said that people tend to be in a better mood right after lunch. Indeed, parole hearings that happen right after lunch are more likely to lead to a positive result for the parolee. Posts that go out at 1 pm tend to get the most shares, though posts around 3 pm tend to get the most clicks.

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Courtesy of an article dated June 22, 2015 appearing in Social Media Today

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APPLE CAVES TO TAYLOR SWIFT, WILL PAY ARTISTS ROYALTIES DURING 3-MONTH APPLE MUSIC TRIAL PERIOD, BUT DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR APPLE

APPLE IS SKILLED at attracting praise. Often, the tech giant deserves that praise. This is not one of those times.

On Sunday, high-ranking Apple exec Eddy Cue tweeted that the company would, in fact, pay royalties to musicians during the three-month free trial period of its new music platform Apple Music.

This decision was a reversal of an earlier policy that became the center of controversy this weekend when megastar Taylor Swift wrote a blog post slamming Apple for its plan not to pay artists while Apple Music was in its trial phase.  Sift said.  

“It is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing,”  

She added that she would be withholding her most recent album, 1989—that of “Shake It Off” fame—from Apple Music.

 

Last week, BuzzFeed reported that Swift had pulled her wildly popular "1989" album from Apple Music because of the streaming service's decision not to pay royalties during its three-month trial period. That followed her decision last year to remove "1989" from Spotify because she didn't think the company gave enough money to artists.

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Apple has always positioned itself as a company that stands by musicians.   So Apple changed its policy.  Cue wrote on Twitter. 

“We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple.”

Apple's Eddy Cue Tweets in response to Taylor Swift's music pullout (Click Image To Enlarge)

Swift responded saying she was “elated and relieved,” and Apple came out looking like the good guy in a crowded industry in which artists and the tech companies that profit from them are often butting heads.

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Cue told Billboard in an interview today.

“We never looked at it as not paying them.   We had originally negotiated these deals based on paying them a higher royalty rate on an ongoing basis to compensate for this brief time. But when I woke up this morning (Sunday, June 21) and saw what Taylor had written, it really solidified that we needed to make a change.”

And yet, the only change Apple is making is paying artists what they should have been paid all along. If Apple were really so pro-artist, would it have instituted a policy that withheld royalties from artists in the first place?  It doesn’t seem surprising that artists would balk at the prospect of not getting paid. But Apple’s roots in the music industry run deep—all the way back to the birth of the iPod. It seems reasonable to believe that Apple thought it could get away with not paying because it didn’t think anyone would be bold enough to speak out against a company that is already such a force in music. And if anyone did protest—props to you, T Swift—the decision would be easy enough to reverse—and might even score Apple Music some good press.

Jeff Rabhan, an artist manager and chair of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University, says.  

“They only did the right thing because they got caught,” 

A Band-Aid on an Open Wound

Apple has always positioned itself as a company that stands by musicians. With iTunes, it saved the industry from the Napster era of pirated music and has helped artists actually sell music even as streaming services threatened to shrink artists’ income. So while Rabhan applauds Apple’s decision to pay artists their fair share, he calls the original plan “a slap in the face” to musicians who have bought into Apple’s promise. Rabhan says.  

“I think Apple felt that they could get away with it because they’re Apple. They felt the artists would just go along with it.”

Had Apple planned to do the right thing all along—that is, paid artists for their music—there wouldn’t have been a story. But its apparent change of heart has garnered big headlines—and more publicity for Apple Music. The company even got a full-throated endorsement from Taylor Swift out of it. That’s worth every penny of the millions of dollars Apple will now pay artists as a result of this change—millions, let’s not forget, that Apple can well afford.

'It’s the model that doesn't work.' - JEFF RABHAN

Meanwhile, smaller rivals like Spotify have been vilified by artists, including Swift, who pulled her music from Spotify in November 2014, arguing that artists deserved to make more from the platform.

 

Rather than bowing to Ms. Swift, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek wrote a blog post defending its royalty agreements, claiming that the company has paid $2 billion to labels, publishers, and music owners. That stance turned Spotify into the poster child for the ongoing battle between artists and streaming services, a reputation Rabhan says is not altogether warranted.

Rabhan says. 

“They’ve (Spotify) become the beacon of the negativity surrounding streaming, but they haven’t specifically done anything wrong. It’s the model that doesn’t work.”  

Spotify is still a young company, he argues, struggling to make a profit, and it pays about 70 percent of revenue to music rights holders. That’s not much different than the 71.5 percent Apple is paying. The only difference is Spotify’s future might actually depend on those margins. Apple’s does not.

For Apple to prove it truly stands with artists, Rabhan says, it would have to fundamentally change the way these contracts are negotiated, striking deals directly with the artists instead of music labels. Until that happens, he argues, Apple has done little more than “put a Band-Aid on an open wound” that cuts across the industry.

If anyone deserves the credit, Rabhan says, it’s Swift, who he says has emerged as the most unlikely advocate for artists’ rights. She’s not a crusty old-timer or an unknown artist with a lot to lose. She’s the most relevant star of our day, the person who needs the money least, but is using that power to stand up for emerging artists. Rabhan says.  

“I would have never expected it to be her, but Taylor Swift is the voice of artists right now in a sea of silence.”

COMMENTARY:   Taylor Swift also doesn't think music streaming services appropriately value her art.

In an interview for Time magazine's cover story in mid-November 2014, Swift commented on her decision to pull all of her songs from the streaming service Spotify.

She reiterated opinions she voiced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in July, saying that artists should value their art and make sure that people are paying enough money for it. 

Swift also notes that Spotify could hurt music sales. Music is available for streaming on Spotify even to those who don't pay for a premium subscription (those users are shown ads).

Swift told Time.

"[People] can still listen to my music if they get it on iTunes.  I’m always up for trying something. And I tried it and I didn’t like the way it felt. I think there should be an inherent value placed on art.  I didn't see that happening, perception-wise, when I put my music on Spotify. Everybody's complaining about how music sales are shrinking, but nobody's changing the way they're doing things. They keep running towards streaming, which is, for the most part, what has been shrinking the numbers of paid album sales. With Beats Music and Rhapsody you have to pay for a premium package in order to access my albums. And that places a perception of value on what I've created. On Spotify, they don't have any settings, or any kind of qualifications for who gets what music. I think that people should feel that there is a value to what musicians have created, and that's that. I wrote about this in July, I wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal. This shouldn’t be news right now. It should have been news in July when I went out and stood up and said I'm against it. And so this is really kind of an old story."

Artists generally don't make nearly as much money putting their music on Spotify as they do selling digital albums and songs on services like iTunes.

Spotify says it pays 70% of its revenue to labels — which will amount to about $1 billion this year — but some artists feel they don't get a big enough cut. The streaming service revealed last year that it paid record labels an average of less than a penny per play, and that's just the money going to labels, not the artists.

Scott Borchetta, the CEO of Swift's record label Big Machine, told Time on Wednesday that the label earned only $500,000 from domestic streaming on Spotify in the past year. Spotify told Time that the amount the service paid for streams of Swift's music in the past year was actually $2 million if you account for global streams as well as domestic.

But it's unclear how much of that money was seen by Swift. Spotify paid the $2 million to Universal, which holds the rights to Swift's music, and then her label Big Machine got a cut.

CONCLUSION:  KUDOS to Taylor Swift for becoming an unlikely lightning rod for music artists everywhere.  She has become the "Joan of Arc" for all music artists by standng up to Apple.  Score: Swift 1, Apple 0.  Spotify needs to get its act together and change its royalty policy as well.  

Whether the music labels will allow individual artists to negotiate royalty deals directly with Apple, Spotify and other online music platforms could be difficult to do since they incur a lot of costs to get an album produced, promotied and distributed.  I am sure they will not give up their legal rights to the artist.  Will this force artists to develop their own music production and distribution companies? That remains to be seen.

Courtesy of an article dated June 22, 2015 appearing in Wired and an article dated November 13, 2014 appearing in Business Insider

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