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INSTAGRAM OFFERS BRANDS A HUGE OPPORTUNITY TO COMMUNICATE THEIR MESSAGE VISUALLY, AND HERE'S HOW TO GET STARTED

After months, some would say years, of expectation, advertising on Instagram is now available to everyone.

Instagram drives massive engagement and just recently reached the following milestone:  

• 400 million monthly active users (MAUs), passing Twitter’s 316 million MAUs.
• 3.5 billion daily likes.
• 80 million+ photos shared daily.

According to SproutSocial, Instagram’s demographics are very appealing for advertisers.

• Young, mostly millennials, who spend hours scrawling the feed. 
• 53% of 18-29 year olds use Instagram.
• U.S. has 77.6 million or 25% of total overall monthly active users.
• 75% of its users live outside of the States, mainly in Brazil, Japan and Indonesia.

Click Image To Enlarge

Advertising on Instagram is now open to everyone.  Here’s what you need to know if you want to implement an Instagram advertising campaign:

The 3 Ad Formats

1. Image Ads

Promote an image ad that looks just like the regular feed photo, and includes a call to action of your choice (and indicates ‘Sponsored’).

Michael Kors and Levi's Instagram sponsored photo ads (Click Image To Enlarge)

2. Video Ads

After six months of testing, Instagram's first video ads were launched in October 30, 2014. Instagram's first video ads were 15-second autoplay spots from Disney, Activision, Lancome, Banana Republic and CW. The ads will start appearing today and roll out over the coming weeks. For instance, Disney is promoting its film, Big Hero 6, with a video showing animated characters posing as if they were taking selfies.

 

Click to run the 15-second video ads for Disney's Big Hero 6

Click to run the 15-second video ads for Banana Republic

Changes to Instagram’s advertising policies will increase the length of video ads to 30 seconds in November 2015 from the previous 15, doubling the time in which companies can promote their products.  Those same videos will also be appearing in non-square format, too, as the company extends its recent aspect ratio relaxation to ads.

3. Carousel Ads

Following the success of carousel ads in Facebook, Instagram added the carousel format in March 2015 that are designed as a digital analog to the multi-page print magazine spread. Advertisers can include up to four photos that people can swipe through as well as a link to a dedicated landing page.  The carousel ad format allows brands to gain more engagement with a good visual storytelling.

Click Image To Enlarge

On top of these three great options, there’s a 4th Premium option which is not open to everyone: Marquee. The Marquee “drives mass awareness and expanded reach in a short time-frame”, says the company. This feature is great for time-sensitive events, like launching a product.

Targets to Accomplish with Instagram Ads

Instagram offers four different call-to-action objectives you can achieve using their ads:

1. Clicks to Website: leads users to the desired website or landing page with varied call-to-actions like “Learn More”, “Shop Now” or “Sign Up”.
2. Mobile App Installs: directs users to install a mobile app through an image or a video ad.
3. Video Views: attracts users’ attention through a captivating video. 
4. Mass Awareness: This one is a Premium option through the Marquee route. It drives mass awareness in a short time frame. Currently not available to everyone.

How Do I Get Started?

To create an Instagram ad you’ll need to use Facebook’s Power Editor.

Funny as it sounds, in order to set up an ad on Instagram you must have a Facebook account even though not necessarily an Instagram account (though it’s recommended).

Want to launch your own Instagram campaign? Here are 6 simple steps you should follow:

1. Connect your Instagram account to your Facebook page. Go to your page settings and then to the “Instagram Ads” tab.

2. After confirming the account via email, go to the Power Editor.

3. Choose one of the three objectives offered: Clicks to Website, Mobile App Installs or Video Views.

4. Continue creating the ad just like you would on Facebook, targeting your audience by language, location, and demographics.

5. Choose the CTA: Book now, Contact Us, Download, Learn More, Shop Now, Sign Up or Watch More.

6. Choose your budget and launch the ad with a great image and copy!

Design Tips for your Instagram Ad

Image Dimensions:

• The recommended image ratio is 1:1 with 1080 x 1080 pixels.
• Just like with Facebook ads, an image should not include more than 20% text. Test your image here to check if your text exceeds the limit.

Caption: 

• Instagram recommends keeping the text up to 125 characters. Maximum 300.
• Use hashtags to tag your ad and increase its reach potential beyond the target audience you’ve set.

Video: 

• Video format needs to be MP4.
• Audio: Instagram recommends Stereo AAC audio compression, 128bps and above.

Instagram’s Biggest Challenge

When Instagram announced its advertising opportunities you could almost hear a sound of relief from brands around the world. Marketers were eager for this piece of news.

Just three years ago Facebook acquired Instagram for $1B, with many questioning that price tag. Today things look completely different. eMarketer estimates that Instagram will bring $595 million in mobile ad revenues in 2015 and $1.48B in 2016.

Click Image To Enlarge

The main question is how quickly marketers will adopt this new advertising opportunity and allocate necessary budgets. Marketing opportunities are by all means huge here. With great ad copy and smart targeting, users may think alike.

COMMENTARY:   Instagram has over the last two years ventured into video to enrich its storytelling experience rivalling other players like Twitter's Vine. Instagram’s interest in video came from the observation that videos tended to have more engagement than still photos, which was the platform key offering. Lululemon was among the first companies to adopt video on Instagram. However, Instagram noted that Lululemon videos recorded up to 7 times comments than photos and clearly video was the future. The content sharing platform now allows users to shoot edit and share short videos of 15 seconds, which now has been extended to 30 seconds.

Video is shot within the app and is based on 640×640 px dimension, and even has an option of shooting several clips and editing them together. Alternatively, one continuous video can also be shot. Since video is a great format to deliver brand’s narrative to audiences, below are some handy tips on how to leverage Instagram’s power.

• Instagram offers marketers several features including 13 preset filters to edit photos and cinema features available on iOS to stabilize video clips. Videos can be shared on Facebook, Tumblr, or even embedded on brand’s website or blog.
• To create Instagram videos, consider using a mini adjustable tripod holder with a sturdy Smartphone holder. This is especially helpful if you seek to shoot video with your Smartphone. The one disadvantage with this is that the head holding the Smartphone has limited mobility, which can limit scope of your video. Alternatively you can use a cell phone tripod adapter like those for iOS and Samsung, which are portable, slim, and adjustable to fit Smartphone’s. The only difficult with phone tripod adapters is that the phone may wobble, if the head is moved too fast as rubber tabs holding the phone in place can be improperly secured. Other alternatives include the 60 inch tripod stand and Glif cell phone mounts.

With diverse apps available today, images can also be converted into short movies or GIFS using applications like Burstio App available for iOS5/6 & 6Plus. Apple users can also use iMovie 11 to speed up or slow down video frames for emphasis. This lets you share more of your narrative in 15 seconds.

Create Quick Instagram Videos With Instagram's Boomerang App 

On October 22, 2015, Instagram launched a new video app called Boomerang, which will produce GIF-style animation clips at the click of a button.  Boomerang takes a one-second burst of five photos to create a mini video loop which can be shared to the main Instagram app and Facebook. Boomerang doesn't require users to be logged in, or to even have an Instagram account, according to TechCrunch. The controls are simplistic, one shutter button when you open the app, and another screen to share the looping video you've just created.

Instagram has been reluctant to add new creative features directly into its main app, and instead has been building stand-alone apps. Boomerang is the third stand-alone app from Instagram, following Hyperlapse and Layout.

Boomerang product manager John Barnett told TechCrunch.

"It was something we built just for fun for us to play with as a team."

The app, which was initially built by a group of five people from Instagram's Android team, soon caught on within the company and became a full-fledged product, according to TechCrunch.

Boomerang is available for both iOS and Android mobile devices.

The Anatomy of an Awesome Instagram Ad

Bannersnack prepared this wonderful infographic that describes what you need to know to create an awesome Instagram ad.  Thanks guys.

 Click To Enlarge Image

Courtesy of an article dated October 14, 2015 appearing in Klear, an article dated October 30, 2014 appearing in AdWeek, an article dated July 27, 2015 appearing in eMarketer, an article dated September 16, 2015 appearing in Video Advertising News, an article daed April 7, 2015 appearing in Advertising Age, an article dated September 9, 2015 appearing in Gizmodo, and an article dated October 15, 2015 appearing in The Telegraph

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HOW KLOUT LEVERAGES MACHINE LEARNING TO CALCULATE SOCIAL INFLUENCE VIA THE 'KLOUT SCORE'

For the first time, Klout has published a paper on how they calculate and measure a person’s influence as an attempt to provide more transparency with its service.

Klout, owned by Lithium Technologies, is a website and mobile app that uses social media analytics to rank its users according to online social influence via the “Klout Score”, which is a numerical value between 1 and 100. For many, its a measure of how active and influential their social profile is across several social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and popular blog hosts such as WordPress.

The Klout scoring system assigns scores to 750 million users using machine learning that examines;

• 9 different social networks on a daily basis
• Over 3600 features that capture signals of influential interactions are aggregated across multiple dimensions for each user
• Over 45 billion interactions from social networks every day

Adithya Rao, lead research engineer behind the Klout score said.

“Though the Klout Score has been around for years, this is the first time we have published a paper that provides this much detailed information on what’s behind it.  Getting this paper accepted is a step towards a more transparent view into the Klout score, and by publishing this information in a public forum others will be able to build upon the work we’ve done.”

Although there are multiple ways to consider what constitutes ‘influence’, how Klout defines it is as a way to to measure a users ability to drive action from their posts or social interactions. Many ‘influencer lists’ for example pull together people active on social media platforms based on the number of followers, ratio between followers and users they follow or simply by how many times they appear via a hashtag search. Klout digs a lot deeper by listening to the signals behind the noise using machine learning and data science to distinguish between people who claim to be an influencer and others who are more insightful the real influencers.

Who responds to your messages and interactions also adds to the algorithms behind Klout, for example, if Elon Musk responds to a message posted then they are influenced by your message and have acted on it.  This is weighted far differently than if someone who holds little influence across multiple domains, since Klout also validate that users with higher Klout Scores are able to spread information wider in a network.

When a user registers on Klout they associate their social identities on different social networks with the Klout profile;

• For Twitter, public data is collected via the Mention Stream;
• Anonymised data for opted-in Lithium Communities comes from in-house datastores
• Data for other social networks is collected via REST APIs on the user’s behalf, based on the granted permissions.

Data is collected continuously from interactions in a trailing window of 90 days using the Play Framework. The collected data is written out to a distributed file system, where batched parsing and processing is done using Hadoop MapReduce and Hive. From there the users Klout score is calculated and weighted according to further factors;

• The difference between the current time and the time at which the reaction occured.
• The social network on which the reaction was performed.
• The unit of original content or action on which the reaction was performed.
• The type of reaction.

Of course, there are still some elements missing from the scoring mechanism itself which Klout is working on integrating. When I spoke with Adithya he said that in the future Klout would be looking to attribute content from reputable sources like Forbes and weight this accordingly along with the other networks (Forbes has a Klout score of 99 for example, being associated with Forbes content would credit a contributing writer like myself with additional influence.)

Sentiment also isn’t tracked currently – negative or positive, which Adithya also acknowledged is a measure of influence but one which is very nebulous to calculate, since people will react differently to certain content. And it all hangs on the availability of the information to power the framework itself through the APIs provided by the social networks. Real-time and near real-time measurement is possible with some, but for example in the case of LinkedIn, Klout’s abilities are limited to certain interactions and data, such as the users job title and status updates. A users LinkedIn blog posts for example aren’t taken into account yet.

Where Klout’s strengths now lie is in the way it will tie in a users Klout score with transactional information and their overall digital footprint online, allowing businesses who use Klout to reach audiences and customers with a more personalised and contextual experience. 

Years ago Klout was purely used to measure and compare people online in a digital bragging rights context. There were other examples where a potential recruitment candidate’s Klout score was looked at for certain role profiles which demanded a command of an online audience or deep understanding of social networks.

Their next challenge now is to educate the wider online community and average user that they need Klout as part of their own generated data as retail and consumer companies seek to create and engage on deeper and personal levels. To an extent, many current users haven’t outgrown trying to play the system just for higher scores, and wear a Klout score like a birthday badge. I wrote about this on Forbes a while back in a previous article on social media habits.

"People have become obsessed with chasing meaningless numbers and Klout scores rather than just enjoy life. There was at one point a movement to use Klout as a means of measuring a candidate against a job application. Thankfully it failed.

Klout is a classic example of behavioural modification, where emphasis is placed on posting content that you know will hit the spot for a larger audience to get a push up the ladder, rather than post something you know will be engaging to the people that really matter (and consequently won’t even garner a blip on the Klout graph.)"

But Klout has now matured beyond this kind of audience now, and as a first step the publication of this paper of how their data scientist team employs sophisticated algorithms and machine learning techniques proves that Klout and Lithium Technologies is much more than just a number.

COMMENTARY:    This is not the first time that Klout has changed its social influence algorithm. After numerous complaints, Klout changed the algorithm in 2011, 2012 and 2014.  What I find very disturbing is that Klout places too much emphasis on the number of followers or fans that you have. I keep reading that users who bought followers on Twitter raised their scores significantly.  Here are a few examples:  

1. @BarackObama - President Barack Obama is the #POTUS, but according to Klout he commands a score of 98.  However, twitteraudit reports that the #POTUS has 37% audit score, claiming that over 41 million of his Twitter followers are "fake."
2. @HillaryClinton - Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a Klout score of 94.  However, twitterdit reports that Madam Secretary has a 59% audit score, claiming that over 1.8 million of her Twitter followers are "fake."
3. @SenSanders - Senator Bernie Sanders has a Klout score of 81 with a 90% audit score, with only 90,000 "fake" followers. 

Granted, both Barack, Bernie and Hillary command tremendous influence by the nature of their current and past political resumes.  However, a lot of their tweets, if not most of them, are automated. This is not a level playing field, if you tweet 3 to 5 times per day like I do.  Does Klout take the volume of tweets into account?

When I first joined Klout, I got a score of 40, which is considered an average social influence score.  At that time, I spent most of my time tech blogging, and at one time achieved 40,000 unique visitors to my blog over a period of about one year.  I was averaging about two to three blog posts per day at that time.  Half of my fans were from the U.S. the remainder were international, primarily from the U.K. Canada, the E.U. and India.   I average 1.5 blog posts per day, and now average about 18,000+ unique visitors.  My Klout score has gradually increased from 40 when I started, to 44, 46, and 47 as of today. 

I spend most of my time on Twitter where I now have 2,800 followers (96% authentic).  I really never liked Facebook, so I only have 64 fans on Facebook, and this is deliberate on my part, and most of my posts from Twitter are fed to my Facebook page.  I also have a separate Facebook page, my Sharon Stone page where I am getting about 300-360 likes per week. The Basic Instincts star is quite a draw.  Klout can only key on one Facebook page to measure social influence.  As a result, I have switched from my Facebook home page to my Sharon Stone page.  I also have a lot of views on my LinkedIn page.  Hopefully, the combination of Twitter, LinkedIn an Sharon Stone (Facebook) will increase my Klout score. Get back to you on this one, but it should be interesting.  My goal is to hit a Klout score of 50 within 30 days.   

Courtesy of an article dated October 30, 2015 appearing in Forbes Tech

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INSTAGRAM RELEASES BOOMERANG, A NEW VIDEO APP

INSTAGRAM'S NEW VIDEO APP BOOMERANG DIRECTLY COMPETES WITH VINE.

Instagram is releasing its newest app, a video maker called Boomerang. The app, announced today, allows users to create short, shareable animations that play from beginning to end and then from end to beginning—hence the name, Boomerang. This is the latest in a wave of add-on apps released by the Facebook-owned company.

In a blog post about the new Android and iOS app, Instagram wrote:

"Boomerang takes a burst of photos and stitches them together into a high-quality mini video that plays forward and backward. Shoot in portrait or landscape. Share it on Instagram. Boomerang automatically saves it to your camera roll. We’re inspired by the visual stories you tell on Instagram."

Whether Facebook admits it or not, Boomerang is fuel for the ongoing war between Instagram and Twitter’s video-centric Vine platform. Boomerang also competes with that other great GIF purveyor, Tumblr.

Other apps released recently by Instagram include Layout (which lets users create video collages) and Hyperlapse (which lets users create time-lapse videos). According to analytics firm App Annie, downloads for Hyperlapse in iOS have steadily declined since its release in 2014; it now hovers around being the 225th most downloaded photo or video app in App Annie's metrics.

COMMENTARY:   To learn more about Boomerang from Instagram check out the Instagram Help Center.

Courtesy of an article dated October 22, 2015 appearing in Fast Company

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THE TOP 20 MOST POPULAR SURVEY SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS [INFOGRAPHIC]

SurveyMonkey is the most popular software program for conducting online surveys and analyzing the resulting poll data, according to a recent report from Capterra.

The researchers ranked the popularity of survey software solutions based on three criteria: the number of customers (unique companies/organizations that are actively using the software), the number of users (employees who create and manage surveys), and social media presence (Facebook likes, Twitter followers, Google +1s, LinkedIn followers, Klout scores, and number of online reviews).

SurveyMonkey has the most customers (2.35 million) of any survey program examined, as well as the largest social media presence; it is tied with QuestionPro for the most number of users (2.5 million).

QuestionPro received the second-highest composite popularity score, followed by Qualtrics, SurveyGizmo, and FluidSurveys.

Check out the infographic for the full rankings from the report.

Click Image To Enlarge

Courtesy of an article dated October 22, 2015 appearing in MarketingProfs

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MICROSOFT WIN10 PRODUCT UNIFICATION: 110 MIL WIN10 USERS, NEW SURFACE BOOK, SURFACE PRO 4, LUMIA PHONES, HOLOLENS AND XBOX ONE

Satya Nadella CEO Microsoft gives keynote at Microsoft Windows 10 Device Event today in New York City (Click Image To Enlarge)

We’ve been talking about Windows 10 for over a year now and today we started our next chapter, with new devices designed for Windows 10.

Today I stood on stage in NYC along with members of my team and had the honor of unveiling a new era of Windows 10 devices from Microsoft. We introduced new Surface, Lumia, and Band devices and shared the latest from HoloLens, and Xbox. I’ve been using these devices for months and couldn’t wait to share them with you today.

 

Windows 10: Off to the Hottest Start in History

In just a few short months, it’s been incredible to see more than 110 million devices already running Windows 10. I’m personally humbled and excited to see people around the world loving Windows 10. Thank you for your feedback – the team and I love reading it and using it to help us shape the future of Windows.

We’re seeing a great response from IT professionals, with over 8 million business PCs already running Windows 10.

I’ve also been thrilled to see the response from developers and people enjoying everything our new Windows Store has to offer. With over 1.25 billion visits, developers are seeing the benefits – with developer revenue per download increasing four times since Windows 10 launched. This early activity is attracting new universal Windows apps to Windows 10. Today, we announced Facebook will be building universal Windows apps for Facebook, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger. And, we’re excited to welcome new universal Windows apps for Box, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Flipagram, NASCAR, Uber and many, many more.

New Windows 10 Devices from Microsoft

Our approach to hardware is to create and reinvent categories – like we did with Xbox and Xbox Live, with Surface being the tablet that can replace your laptop, with Lumia and Continuum, with Surface Hub, and of course with HoloLens being the only platform enabling you to mix holograms into your world.

Today, we unveiled a range of new devices, all built to make the most of Windows 10:

Surface Book – the new, ultimate laptop from Microsoft brings together best in class performance with the versatility of pen and touch.

 

The Surface Book includes a 13.5-inch display with a pixel density of 267PPI. That display is optically bonded to the glass, which means it should look good. Microsoft says the Surface Book is housed in a machined magnesium body — basically, it's a silver metal laptop, but it manages to look far different than a MacBook, despite its similarities in name. Perhaps the standout design element here is the Surface Book's hinge. Microsoft calls it a "dynamic fulcrum." From the side, it appears to almost flex as it bends. It leaves a slightly awkward gap when the Surface Book is fully closed, but it also elevates the display at an angle when the screen is flipped around for use as a tablet. A button on the side releases the display, which detaches from the top of the hinge.

Microsoft says the Surface Book is for someone who wants a bigger screen and "the perfect typing experience" of a laptop. For one, that includes a backlit keyboard. There's also deeper keys, with 1.6mm of travel. Microsoft is kind of freaking out about this keyboard. It's calling it "perfect" and saying it'll type almost silently. Beneath all that, the Surface Book includes a glass trackpad with five points of touch sensitivity.

The Surface Book will work with Microsoft's Surface Pen stylus as well. As for why you'd want to use this device as a tablet, Microsoft is talking about it as a "digital clipboard." That's not the most compelling phrase, but it's really everything that the Surface line has always been: a very powerful tablet that runs desktop Windows. This one just happens to do a much better job of transforming into the laptop that it really wants to be.

On the inside, the Surface Book has the latest Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, from the Skylake family. There's also an Nvidia GeForce GPU with GDDR5 memory, however that's located in the base, so you'll need to keep the display docked to tap into its power. The dock also includes two USB 3.0 ports and an SD card slot.

All together, the machine is supposed to keep running for 12 hours on a single charge. Microsoft claims.  

"Ounce-for-ounce, pound-for-pound, this is the fastest 13-inch laptop ever made anywhere on any planet."

Microsoft says it'll actually be twice as fast as the MacBook Pro.

Checkout the Surface Book's technical specs compared with the Surface Pro 4 and Apple Macbook Pro below:

Click Image To Enlarge

The Surface Book will go on sale October 26th with prices beginning at $1,499. Preorders will begin October 7th.

Surface Pro 4 – the tablet that can replace your laptop just got thinner, lighter and faster.

 

The Surface Pro 4 is now official, and it's thinner, lighter, and more powerful, while also having a larger display than its predecessor. Intel's Skylake processors and Microsoft's own Windows 10 are at the heart of the Surface Pro 4.

Panos Panay introduced the Surface Pro 4 by reminding us how transformative this line of devices has already been:

"This challenge of the tablet and the laptop... which do you buy? Remember that problem? It's gone."

There's a fingerprint sensor on the keyboard and Cortana integration inside the new tablet, which fits a 12.3-inch display in the same physical footprint as the older 12-inch device. The Surface Pro 4 is therefore compatible with existing keyboard accessories, though Microsoft has done a ton to upgrade its keyboard covers this year. And yes, there's an all-new Surface Pen as well, which also has an eraser on the end of it. The new pen has 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity and attaches magnetically to the side of the Surface Pro 4 when not in use. It comes in a variety of colors and even has Cortana integration: you can activate Microsoft's voice assistant by holding the button on the stylus.

Microsoft says this is the "thinnest, most powerful" Intel Core PC ever shipped and it's "not even close." To make that possible, the company has tweaked and optimized multiple aspects of the design that are invisible to the user, such as the 0.4mm-thick Gorilla Glass 4 covering the front. Microsoft has even developed a special G5 chipset to run the optical stack. The promise is that this is the best, most natural touchscreen out there. Notably, though, Microsoft isn't comparing the Surface Pro 4 against other tablets, with Panay saying that they're just not in the same class. Compared against Apple's MacBook Air, however, the Surface Pro 4 is claimed to be 50 percent faster, while it also has high-end specs that wouldn't be out of place on an ultrabook laptop. Storage goes all the way up to 1TB and you can get 16GB of memory to go with that Intel 6th-gen processor.

See the Surface Book (above) for technical specifications for the Surface Pro 4.  

The Surface Pro 4 is available to preorder now, starting at $899. It will be available on October 26th.

New Lumia Phones – the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL combine Windows 10 innovation with our most powerful hardware and top-of-the-line imaging to help you be more productive. And the Lumia 550, our most affordable 4G LTE smartphone running Windows 10.

Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL both run Windows 10 and combines powerful hardware and top-of-the-line imaging (Click Image To Enlarge)

Lumia 550 runs Windows 10 and is Microsoft's most affordable 4G LTE smartphone (Click Image To Enlarge)

 
Microsoft VP for Surface Computing Panos Panay unveils the new Lumia 950 and 950 XL smartphones during today's live demonstration in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015 (Click Image To Enlarge)

Panos Panay, Microsoft V.P., formerly in charge of the Surface product line, and now the head of engineering for all premium Microsoft hardware, said on stage. 

“We want to put Windows in your pocket.  If you haven’t thought about these phones, wake up!”

The Lumia 950 comes with octacore and hexacore processors and liquid cooling technology. The smaller version has a 5.2-inch display, while the bigger cousin features a 5.7-inch display. These are OLED displays with a pixel density of 564 ppi and 518 ppi respectively.

The Lumia 950 and the XL versions run 20-megapixel cameras with a natural flash. Like on the iPhone 6s, both can shoot 4K video and include fifth-generation optical image stabilization technology and a dedicated camera button.

They come with 32GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot and a new USB Type-C connector. Finally, you can charge them up to 50 percent in just 30 minutes.

The two devices will ship in November exclusively through A&T in the U.S. for $549 and $649, with the XL version costing $100 more. 

Panay finally hinted at the power of this device. Why would you need liquid cooling for just a phone? Because it’s more than a phone. You can actually plug your Lumia 950 to a dock and use it with your display, mouse and keyboard. It runs a nearly full version of Windows 10.

Called Continuum, the dock has an HDMI, DisplayPort and three USB ports. It looks like a good old USB hub, it’s very tiny and easy to put in your bag. The tile interface in the Start menu copies your phone’s start menu so that you get the exact same apps on your computer and on your phone. Universal apps, such as Mail and Word are scaled up version of the mobile apps.

Microsoft Band 2 – the new Band can help you live healthier and achieve more with a new curved screen, a barometer, and apps for email, text, running, biking, the gym, and golf.

 

Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition – designed to help Windows developers mix holograms into their world.

Windows 10 is the first platform to support holographic computing with API's that enable gaze, gesture, voice, and environmental understanding on an untethered device.

Microsoft HoloLens is the first fully untethered, holographic computer, enabling high-definition holograms to integrate with your world. Unlock all-new ways to connect, create, collaborate, and explore.

Microsoft Hololens holographic headset (Click Image To Enlarge)

This Microsoft Hololens Project X-Ray demonstration at today's NYC event, dramatically illustrates how Hololens can bring the world of holographic games into your living room. 

 

Xbox One – At the Microsoft event this morning, the company’s No. 2, Terry Myerson, announced that the company will be upgrading all of its Xbox One systems to Windows 10.  That means the company’s fans will be able to play Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One.  

The company is also introducing limited-edition consoles inspired by games. The Halo5 console, Myerson’s favorite, comes with 1 terabyte of storage and will retail for $499. Rumors have been that this will be dropping in November, but Myerson did not give a specific release date.

With the announcement, Microsoft comes one step closer to completing its promise to bring Windows10 to all hardware classes.

Myerson told the breathless (if somewhat groggy) crowd.

“Xbox One is going to bring some serious fun this holiday.” 

Microsoft Xbox One Elite Bundle includes the Console with 1TB hard drive and Controller, but does not come bundled with any game software (Click Image To Enlarge)

Microsoft Xbox One comes bundled with a variety of different games at different price points to appeal to both novice gamers on a limited budget and and more advanced players who want more variety and are willing to pay for the privelege.

• Xbox One Ultimate Edition (bundled with Gears of War game, the console and controller come in black with a 500GB HD) - $349 (Microsoft Store and Amazon)
• Xbox One Ultimate Edition (bundled with Gears of War game, the console and controller come in white with a 500GB HD) - $349 (Walmart)
• Xbox One Electronic Arts Sports Bundle (bundled with EA Madden NFL 16 football game and one year free EA Access to play older EA games, the console and controller come in black with a 1TB HD) - $399 (Microsoft Store and Amazon)
• Xbox One Electronic Arts Sports Bundle (bundled with EA FIFA 16 soccer game and one year free EA Access to play older EA games, the console and controller come in black with a 1TB HD) - $399 (Microsoft Store and Amazon)
• Xbox One Forza Motorsport 6 Bundle (bundled with Forza Motorsport 6 racing game and a promo code for a free Ten Year Anniversary Car Pack, the console and controller come in blue with a 1TB HD) - $399 (Microsoft Store and Amazon)
• Xbox One Halo 5 Bundle (bundled with Halo 5 shooter game, the console and controller come in two-tone silver and black with a 1TB HD) - $499 (Microsoft Store and Amazon)
• Xbox One Rise of the Tomb Raider Bundle (bundled with Rise of the Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition games, along with a Tactical Survival Kit Content Pack for the new game, the console and controller come in black with 1TB HD) - $499 (Microsoft Store and Best Buy)
• Xbox One Lego Movie Bundle (bundled with the Lego Movie Videogame, the console and controller come in black with 500T HD) - $349 (Microsoft Store and Amazon)
• Xbox One Fallout 4 Bundle (bundled with Bethesda Softworks Fallout 4 post-apocalypse game, the console and controller come in black with a 1TB HD) - $399 (Microsoft Store and Amazon)
• Xbox One Holiday Bundle (bundled with three free games: Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Rara Replay (with 30 older games from Rare made to work on the Xbox One) and Ori and the Blind Forest, the console and controller come in black with 1TB HD) - $399 (Microsoft Store and Amazon)
• Xbox One Kinect Bundle (bundled with three free games (Dance Central Spotlight, Kinect Sports Rivals, and Zoo Tycoon) with its latest Kinect bundle, the console and controller come in black with 500GB HD) - $499 (Microsoft Store and Amazon)
• Xbox One Elite Bundle - Sold without a free game. The Xbox One Elite Bundle comes with a 1TB hybrid hard drive and controller both in black with a solid state componant that will reportedly load games up to 20% faster. - $499 (Microsoft Store and Amazon)

COMMENTARY:  I am very impressed with Microsoft's Windows 10 product unification strategy and new lineup of products running Windows 10.  Microsoft gambled that by offering computer users a free upgrade from Windows 7 and 8 to Windows 10, that they could create a huge base of Windows 10 users has proven to be an overwhelming success. 110 million Windows 10 is some kind of a record for a new Windows operating system, and will only rise as diehard Windows 7 and 8 years will eventually upgrade their computer devices to newer devices pre-loaded with Windows 10. 

Microsoft's strategy has always been a Windows-based product unification strategy similar to what Apple has done with iOS and OSX and what Google has done with Android.  The ability for desktop and mobile devices to be able to "talk" with each other in a seamless fashion is a huge advantage because the interface works similarly on all devices, and makes it easier for Microsoft to sell its customers more goodies loaded with Windows 10.  It also keeps customers grounded and loyal to the Microsoft brand and makes it harder for them to switch to Apple or Android.

For Microsoft's Windows-based product unfication strategy to work, you must have great products and ancillary products to support each product line.  This time around, Microsoft has an outstanding group of new Windows 10 products.  They are incredibly well designed and are truly head and shoulders above those of other competitors, including in my opinion even those of Apple. The Microsoft Surface Book notebook/tablet combination and Surface Pro 4 and Pen will give the Apple Air, Apple Macbook Pro and iPad Pro a run for their money from a design, features, price and performance standpoint.

Microsoft's Windows-based product unification strategy also works well with large enterprise users who depend on the compatability of Microsoft's Office Suite and other productivity software across both desktop and mobile devices. This new product unification strategy makes it least likely that enteprise users will switch to Apple, who has been eyeing enterprise users for some time now.  It may even make a few Androids mobile phone users switch to the Lumia line of smartphones, but we shall see.   

I recently purchased a new Asus touchscreen notebook, and like it very much, but if I had my druthers, I would've purchased the new Microsoft Surface Book.  It is not an Apple-killer, but comes as close as it gets.  

I was particularly blown away by the demonstration of Microsoft's Hololens and X-Ray Project hologram games.  Google and Apple just filed holographic patents and appear to be moving in the same direction.  Facebook's acquisition of Oculus and recent partnership with Samsung to market the Gear VR headset (see my previous blog post) hopes to make virtual reality games affordable and mainstream.  With Hololens and X-Ray Project, Microsoft has suddently become a major player in VR.      

In conclusion, this is as good as it gets for Microsoft, so I hope that there are no hardware or Windows 10 glitches to screw things up.   Kudos for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella who engineered this Windows 10 product unification strategy.  We could be seeing Microsoft's transition from a strictly software-driven company to a hardware and software powerhouse like Apple did under Steve Jobs.  Is Satya the next Steve Jobs?  He just might be.     

Courtesy of an article dated October 6, 2015 appearing in Microsoft Windows, an article dated October 6, 2015 appearing in TechCrunch, an article dated October 5, 2015 appearing in Windows Central, an article dated October 6, 2015 appearing in Xbox.com, an article dated October 6, 2015 appearing in Microsoft Hololens site, an article dated October 6, 2015 appearing in TechCrunch, an article dated October 6, 2015 appearing in The Verge, an article dated October 6, 2015 appearing in The Verge, and an article dated October 6, 2015 appearing in Business Insider

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FACEBOOK ROLLING OUT 360-DEGREE VIDEO IN USER NEWSFEED, BUT HIGH COST AND COMPLEXITY COULD BE AN ISSUE

Mark Zuckerberg discusses spherical 360-degree videos at F8 developers conference in March 2015

Trying to whet consumer appetites for virtual environments -- and increase engagement in the process -- Facebook is officially rolling out 360-degree “spherical” videos in News Feed.

The social giant has also enlisted some big publishers and media brands to start pumping out 360-degree videos. They include Discovery, GoPro, NBC’s Saturday Night Live, VICE, LeBron James & Uninterrupted, and, with the help of Disney and Lucasfilm, Star Wars.

The professionals' videos will “help show the range of possibilities with this new medium,” Maher Saba, engineering director for video at Facebook, explains in a new blog post.

 

To create the videos, a special set of two-dozen or so cameras are arranged in spherical form. As a result, when the resulting video is streamed, users can choose what angle they want to see it from. Saba said.  

“On the Web you can do this by dragging around the video with your cursor, and on mobile devices you do it by dragging with your finger -- or even just by turning your device.”

Users should soon be able to hold up their phones, and the 360 video will follow their movement as they turn. At some point in the not-too-distant future, 360 videos will let users virtually immerse themselves in various environments and events from a friend’s trip to the Grand Canyon to a live news broadcast from Iraq.

 

Earlier this year, Facebook began testing spherical videos. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was especially upbeat about the technology's potential during Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference in March. Facebook is also reportedly working on a stand-alone video app that will support 360-degree “spherical” videos. As sources told The Wall Street Journal, the fate and launch date of the service remains unclear.

The greatest potential for the new videos will come when Facebook launches its Oculus Rift virtual reality headset sometime next year.

By 2020, virtual reality will represent a $30 billion market, while augmented reality will be a $120 billion market, according to a recent forecast from Digi-Capital.

COMMENTARY:    Technology is in a constant state of motion in the online video industry, but that doesn’t mean marketers need to adopt every new trend. One thing you do want to pay attention to, though, is 360 video.   However, there are five things you need to know about 360 video right now:

1. It’s a different form of storytelling. One of the most important things to consider with 360-degree video, or spherical video as YouTube refers to it, is that creators approach this format as an immersive experience rather than a typical video. Unlike traditional videos and cinema, the viewers have control over what they see. YouTube compares this to a choose-your-own adventure in its blog announcement.

In a nutshell, the viewer controls the recorded camera angle by tilting and panning on their computer or mobile device via the video player. This can be an excellent tool for publishers that want to deliver a rich media experience: You could give your audience a fully interactive look at a tradeshow, a real estate listing, a new building, or even a sports or news event, for example.

2. Like most new systems, there are some pitfalls. 360 video produces some amazing footage, but because it’s a new technology there are some production downsides. For marketers, the number one pitfall right now is the cost.

The GoPro and Google Jump

Creators need special cameras to capture 360-degree video. Google and GoPro are creating a 16-camera array called the Jump that can capture high-quality video, but the rig is estimated to be in the $7,000 to $10,000 range based on the cost of 16 GoPro cameras. It’s set to be released later this year. Google is giving select creators early access to the Jump cameras by applying via its website.

360 Heros created its own GoPro rig that uses six GoPro cameras (sold separately) and will set you back $595. There are several consumer 360-degree video cameras out there that are priced around $300, but quality has been a concern with many of them. So, pricing options and quality vary, but it’ll be an investment.

Also, keep in mind that any production team will need time to get up to speed on these cameras. Composition and framing will need to be mapped out and planned ahead of time to accommodate the stich lines, for example. Consider the cost and time of training if you are looking to produce 360-degree spherical video.

3. It will change your production team’s workflow. It’s helpful for marketers to understand the production process. Your team’s post-production workflow will require some modification. To start, the multi-camera content will need to be “stitched” together in editing to create a seamless video.

While some manufacturers do this for you inside of the camera, others require that you use post-processing software. Programs like Kolor (acquired by GoPro), Video-Stitch, and AVP have been popular with early adopters. Video-Stitch says 1 minute of video takes about 1.5 minutes to stitch.

All of this media will also need to be stored somewhere for ingestion and post-processing, so you may need to bump up your team’s storage systems to accommodate the workflow. At minimum, it is suggested that you have 32GB RAM available on your system when working in this format.

Editing this spherical content will differ from other video projects, as well. Once the footage is stitched together, your editor can use popular programs like Adobe Premiere with plugins to finish the video. The main difference is the creative process for your editing teams. They will not be assembling a sequence of shots to show an audience, but rather a 360-degree image that the viewer will have control over when watching. Keep this in mind from beginning to end—from brainstorming and storyboarding to shooting.

4. There’s a lot of opportunity for viewership. The popularity of spherical video is steadily growing in part thanks to video giants like YouTube supporting 360-degree video uploads. Viewers can watch 360-video on YouTube via a computer or its iOS and Android apps.

YouTube is even working with spherical camera manufacturers to allow for seamless compatibly in future releases. Right now, additional metadata and a script must be included with your video upload in order for it to work correctly, but chances are YouTube will simplify this process in the future.

Wherever YouTube is, Facebook can’t be far behind. The social network is definitely making a push for spherical video distribution. Mark Zuckerberg revealed in March that Facebook was testing a 24-camera setup that would allow viewers to move around within a video. He even hinted at plans to get spherical video working in the Facebook newsfeed. This, coupled with Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus Rift in 2014, is proof that we’ll see spherical video on Facebook sooner rather than later.

VLC Media Player and Windows Media also support 360 video playback, in case you were wondering.

5. Once again, timing is everything. Just like live streaming, virtual reality technology has been around for some time now. However, timing means everything when it comes to technology. The emergence of apps like Periscope and Meerkat are great examples of that.

This year, streaming took off on these apps because of the ease of accessibility. Not only can we easily watch live streams, but also we can also quickly create them. Spherical video is following that same path. With YouTube and Facebook investing in it, both publishers and viewers will have the opportunity to distribute and watch 360-degree video content.

Another reason I think 360 video will take off is that it doesn’t require viewers to wear a virtual reality headset like in the past. While the headset option is there and promises a more immersive experience, your audience doesn’t need to wear one in order to enjoy spherical video. This simplifies the viewing experience because your viewer doesn’t need to invest extra money to watch.

Last, but not least, you can expect to see more spherical video creation with the release of consumer-priced 360-degree video cameras. This could be a huge factor given the popularity of photo and video sharing sites. That, in addition to the growth of high-quality smartphone cameras, drones, and GoPro-style sports cameras, could make for a huge push in this new way of producing video.

As with anything else, marketers and publishers should keep in mind how something will benefit their brands. If providing your audience with this type of an experience makes sense, then keep an eye on 360-degree video. Think about the five factors above and decide whether or not you want to experiment with this format.

Courtesy of an article dated September 23, 2015 appearing in MediaPost Social Media & Marketing Daily and an article dated July 5, 2015 appearing in OnlineVideo and an article dated September 23, 2015 appearing in The Verge

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SAMSUNG AND FACEBOOK UNVEIL SAMSUNG GEAR VR HEADSET POWERED BY OCULUS, WILL BE AVAILABLE NOVEMBER FOR $99

Today Oculus gave 1,500 developers at the Oculus Connect 2 conference (as well as those at home via livestream or on Gear VR a chance to watch) a look at how the consumer version of the Oculus Rift will roll out in Q1 2016, how Oculus plans to bring virtual reality to millions through the Samsung Gear VR, and how new platforms and controllers will expand the uses of Oculus Rift from games, photos, videos and art.

 

Click To View The Oculus Connect 2 Developer's Conference recorded earlier today 

Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe said.

“This is the dawn of VR and this is a once in a generational moment that we can create something that inspires millions of people.”

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Iribe brought Mark Zuckerberg on stage, who said.

“[Virtual reality is] like teleporting to some other place by putting on a headset. I was so excited with it because I realized I was seeing the next big technology platform. After video, the next logical step is fully immersive virtual reality. VR is the next platform. In just a few years, VR has gone from being a science fiction dream to reality. All of you are inventing the next major platform.”

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Later in the keynote, Iribe said the Oculus Touch handheld motion controllers will be shipping in the second quarter of 2016. However they will be available to developers earlier and will include a second Rift sensor.

Toybox, which is being demoed here at the event, is an example of how Touch can be used in a virtual world. Iribe said.  

"Toybox demonstrates the power of social VR and is just stretching the surface. It has the potential to be more social than any platform we’ve seen yet.”

The Touch SDK will include the APIs, controller position, as well as avatar hands.

Samsung Gear VR headset works with the complete line of 2015 Samsung Galaxy smartphones and is powered by the Oculus VR virtual reality software (Click Image To Enlarge)

Medium, which Oculus’ new painting app, will open up a new medium, Iribe said.

“Every great platform needs a paint app and this is going to be our paint app.”

Medium will also be demoed here at Connect. It allows you to use your hands to create 3D sculptures in VR.

 

The Oculus and Samsung partnership to build the Gear VR will open virtual reality to a more mainstream audience with its $99 price point. Though not as powerful as the forthcoming Rift, it only needs a Samsung phone to run and will make it affordable for more consumers to experience VR, starting when it ships in November 2016.

Nate Mitchell, VP Product at Oculus, announced that the consumer version of Oculus Rift virtual reality will be out Q1 2016 (and it will come with an Xbox one controller). Mitchell discussed the launch of the Oculus Ready PC program, which works with NVIDIA and Intel. PCs that work for developers will have an “Oculus Ready” badge on them. The partners include Asus, Dell, Alienware, NVIDIA, and Intel. The specs will be NVIDIA GTX 970/ AMD 290 or greater, Intel i5-4590+, and 8GB+ RAM. All the rigs Oculus showed off cost under $1000.

The Rift SDK 1.0 will be available in December. The number of developers continues to grow: Mitchell said there are more than 200,000 Oculus Developer Center Users.

The Rift is not only for games. Oculus has made an effort to explore new forms of storytelling through its Story Studio department. The first short film Lost was followed by the second short film Henry, which is about a hedgehog that tries to make friends despite his prickly nature. Today on Oculus Share, Henry is available for viewing by anyone with a DK2 and will be available for download for anyone who wants to see how it was produced.

Click Image To Enlarge

The Oculus Platform will have social features, games and app services, and commerce. There will be more features around user profiles including Oculus IDs and avatar pictures. The Oculus Platform will also have its own robust friend graph. There are rooms so people can connect with a group of people before they go into a virtual world.

For developers wanting feedback on their content before sharing it on Oculus Share, the new Oculus Concepts program will let developers distribute content early to testers. It will launch on Gear VR and next year on the Rift.

Palmer Luckey, founder and visionary of Oculus, announced Minecraft is coming to Oculus. It is available for purchase on the Minecraft Windows 10 Edition and Oculus Share in the spring of 2016. Luckey then threw out some Minecraft swag to the crowd, elating fans of the Lego-like building game.

Click Image To Enlarge

The 20 new VR experiences in Gear VR, Rift, and Touch will be demoed today. All of the Touch demos were built with Unity or Unreal Engine. One that’s sure to be a favorite is Netflix, which comes to Gear VR today, and Twitch is coming soon.

While today lacked any blockbuster device reveals, it strengthened the foundation of Oculus’ hardware, software, and platform. The Gear VR now has seductive experiences that will draw rookies towards virtual reality. And the Rift has the developer capabilities necessary to unlock games and apps that will convince people it’s worth the price. In short, after years experimenting in the basement, Oculus is ready for the spotlight.

COMMENTARY:   Other highly anticipated games are coming to the Samsung Gear VR:  

• Monument Valley, a new title from game maker Ustwo.
• Lucky's Tale, a cartoonish adventure game from Texas game company Playful.
• Eve: Gunjack, a high-energy space shootout game from Ieland game maker CCP.
• Bullet Train, a new Unreal Engine VR experience from Epic Games, which is a first-person shooter game where players can use their own hands to aim, fire and throw weapons.

Oculus is also working with Microsoft to adapt its technology to the popular Xbox video game console. and it's working with media companies like Netflix, 20th Century Fox and Lionsgate to bring hit films including Alien, Die Hard, Predator and Birdman and TV shows to the device as well.

To make the Oculus Rift more appealing to customers, Oculus said it has partnered with companies like Alienware, Dell and Asus to sell PCs that are Oculus-ready and able to power virtual reality games and experiences. Some of those PCs, Oculus said, will cost less than $1,000.

Oculus isn't the only company building VR devices.

• HTC is partnering with game maker Valve to release a competing headset, Vive, later this year.
• Sony is working on PlayStation VR gear.
• Oculus plans another headset, Rift, that will work with computers when it's released early next year.

A long time coming

VR has been a common trope in science fiction -- think Star Trek -- where it's seen a key element of training and entertainment simulations. But its history in the real world has been marked by frustration as clunky technology and high-price tags discouraged both companies and consumers from embracing it.

After decades of false starts, including the high-profile failure of game giant Nintendo's Virtual Boy, the industry may have a product it can sell at an affordable price. VR headsets contain hundreds of high-tech parts, many of which are also used in smartphones, a booming market where leading companies have driven down costs for everything from high-quality screens to gyroscopic sensors.

Palmer Luckey, the 23-year old inventor behind Oculus, is also behind the optimism. His Rift headset reignited interest in VR when it was announced in 2012, promising to make the technology affordable and easy to use. Oculus quickly became one of the leading companies making the technology, attracting some of the most high profile names in the technology industry such as VR researcher Michael Abrash and game making legend John Carmack, who headed development of key games like Doom and Quake.

Oculus Rift headset unveiled in 2012 (Click Image To Enlarge)

Michael Abrash, Oculus Rift chief scientist, said the attention the industry is getting and the speed with which it's growing has been surprising.  He said.  

"Just a few years ago, all of this would have been totally inconceivable."

 

Oculus also offered details about the Oculus Touch controllers it's developed for the Rift headset. The company said they'll be offered to consumers by the middle of next year, and will have a compliment of games and experiences prepared when it does. One will be called Toy Box, in which people can stack blocks, throw balls and shoot guns.

All of this will likely attract enthusiasts to buy its device, but whether general consumers will buy in is still unclear. Zuckerberg said even smartphones didn't sell in large numbers initially, and suggested VR may follow that trend as well.  Zuck said.

"Facebook is committed to this for the long term."

Courtesy of an article dated September 24, 2015 appearing in TechCrunch and an article dated September 24, 2015 appearing in C|NET and an article dated September 24, 2015 appearing in Forbes

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HOW, WHEN, AND HOW MUCH IT WILL COST TO OUTSOURCE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA, PLUS A LIST OF THE TOP SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING FIRMS

Many large companies worldwide are facing a conundrum when it comes to using social media to help generate new business.

On the one hand, firms of all stripes are pouring large sums of money into using paid media to do outreach to consumers on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter — and are allocating larger slices of their digital ad pies for that purpose.

In the United States alone, advertisers will spend $9.59 billion on social ads this year, according to the market research firm eMarketer. This represents a 31 percent surge from the 2014 outlays on social media, and more than double what was put into this segment in 2013.

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By 2017, U.S. advertisers will boost their social ad outlays to $14.4 billion, eMarketer projects. By that point, social ads are expected to consume nearly $1 out of every $5 in U.S. advertisers' budgets.

This year, social will account for 15.9 percent of North American ad budgets — up from 10.5 percent just two years ago. But while eMarketer has estimated that nearly 90 percent of companies with 100-plus employees did social marketing last year, many firms are also having trouble achieving their goals in that realm.

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A study that Ascend2 published in December 2014 discovered that 43 percent of respondents found a lack of in-house resources and skills as their most challenging obstacle to success from social media marketing. Another 42 percent complained about an inability to measure return on investment, and 39 percent cited a lack of effective strategy.

These results suggest that for many companies it may make sense to outsource the job of social outreach to prospective customers (something that the Ascend2 study found 53 percent of respondents were doing, in whole or in part).

However, as companies worldwide learned during the great outsourcing boom of the previous two decades, farming out important jobs carries risk.

As Hootsuite has pointed out, having someone else handle your social marketing can result in everything from an added layer of bureaucracy for customers to navigate to slower response times to consumer inquiries.

In social media outsourcing, as in every area of business, it's important to pick partners wisely — and to follow sensible practices in managing your relationships with those vendors.  

Five Keys to Social Media Outsourcing Success

Success in outsourcing social marketing boils down to five considerations:

1. Setting realistic goals: Before talking to prospective vendors, executives need to establish what they want to achieve from a social campaign and how outreach in this realm can help achieve them it. Up-front research is key to know what's doable.
2. Doing due diligence: A relationship with a key vendor can bear certain similarities to marriage. As any divorce lawyer can attest, bad marriages can wreak havoc on the lives of everyone involved. It's thus vital to do as much up-front checking on prospective vendors as possible.  
3. Being reasonable: As CIO.com has pointed out, hardball business tactics (e.g., beating vendors down on price or paying bills slowly) can lead to hard feelings — and problems down the road. Maintaining good relationships with vendors can lead to better results for both parties. 
4. Using a carrot and stick: In social media, as in any area of outsourcing, it makes sense to pay for performance. This means structuring the vendor's compensation so it has an incentive both to work only in the client's best interests and to help achieve business goals.  
5. Getting everything in writing — including an escape hatch: If client and vendors both leave extensive paper trails on their key interactions, it provides both parties with strong motivations to live up to their sides of the bargain, along with a quick and fair way to resolve disagreements. Every vendor agreement should provide the customer with some type of "kill switch" to get out of the deal if things aren't working out.

Ultimately, a relationship between a company and its social media vendor is just that — a relationship. And like any interaction between people, the client will only get out of the association what it puts in.

The more a vendor can learn about a client's business and its goals, the better the vendor can serve.

And isn't that what outsourcing is about in the first place?

COMMENTARY:    As has been pointed out in the above article, the biggest obstacle small business owners face in managing social media inhouse is a lack personnel with sufficient expertise in social media marketing and management systems.

Simply having a social media presence on social networks like Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, does not provide sufficient experience for small business owners to manage their social media inhouse. Managing your social media means a lot more than just posting updates in your newsfeed, generating Likes and retweets for your content, or sending messages with your fans and followers.  

At some point, small business owners are faced with the decision to do their social media inhouse or outsource their social media.  So, let's look at a few cost estimates.

Social Media Management Costs

According to Mack Collier, a social media marketing thought leader and blogger, here's what outsourcing social media PR costs for Twitter and Facebook platforms:

• Twitter - Launching a new Twitter account, complete with setup and outsourcing content creation/consumer interaction (all 140 characters at a time), costs an average of $2,000-$4,000 per month – and that's just for Twitter. With that said, the total price range was $1,000-$7,500 per month.   If you already have an existing Twitter account, but need some help to take it to the next level, restructuring an existing Twitter account with "limited coaching" to achieve client goals is still going to cost you between $1,000-$2,500 per month, with some charging as much as $4,000 per month…just for Twitter! That's right, if you want Facebook, you're paying extra.
• Facebook - If you thought the costs of marketing with Twitter were high, you might want to grab your fainting chair — Facebook marketing rates will give you a case of the vapors. To set up a new Facebook account and provide limited ongoing training to business partners, online PR agencies charge an average of $2,500-$5,000 per month, with some going as high as $9,000. Of course, this also includes status updates and interacting with customers. 

If you're shelling out a minimum of $4,500 per month for Facebook and Twitter management, you're not getting any strategy behind the efforts.  Social media strategy is an additional cost. 

Social Media Strategy Costs

According to Mack Collier, creating a comprehensive strategy for social media marketing and outsourcing all work for all channels (with a minimum of two social networks) costs anywhere from $3,000-$20,000 per month, with the industry average settling between $4,000-$7,000 per month. If you want the social media agency to start the accounts from scratch and consult on a 4- to 12-month contract, you'll pay between $3,000-$15,000 per month. What do they mean by channels, minimum of two? That's just a fancy way of saying that the cost includes both Facebook and Twitter…I'm betting there's probably an upcharge if your company wants Google+, too.

Other Costs To Consider

• Customer Personas - If you're doing market research to figure out your customer/client's persona(s) and preferences, it's possible to legitimatize a $20,000 spend to gather the background info necessary to excecute a killer social media campaign. But otherwise, you can probably get much of the same for less money.  I also recommend that you read my previous blog posts on developing customer personas dated June 20, 2015, July 20, 2015, September 2, 2014, and March 6, 2014.  I have actually helped clients develop customer personas, and it is a grueling process, which is why it costs so much to do. Truth be told, many clients think they know their customers, but they really don't.  Knowing customer basics such as gender, age, what they buy, and how often they buy, barely scratches the surface.  To do it right, you need more indepth ways of describing and segmenting your customers, hence customer personas.
• Social Media Audit -  What if you just want an audit of your current social media strategy, with a few pointers on how to improve?  This is going to cost you anywhere from $2,000-$10,000. The lower end of this spectrum seems reasonable, especially if you add in the cost of social media training and competitive analysis. The only way to justify a $10k spend is if the social media consultant actually flies out to your office and does an in-depth, in-person training over the course of several days. 

Before jumping into the fray and making the decision to go inhouse or outsource or your social media, it might be very helpful to know what small business owners are spending on social media. VerticalResponse conducted a survey of small businesses, and the created this wonderful infographic that shows what SMB's are actually spending.

Click Image To Enlarge

If you are a small business owner, you are probably experiencing advanced stages of sticker shock, and probably ready to drop the whole idea of outsourcing social media.  However, keep in mind that 62% of small business owners outsource some or all of their social media functions.  Having said this, if you are serious about outsourcing, and willing to make the necessary investment, the next question is:  Who do I contact to outsource my social media management and strategy.  Well, I just happen to have that information for you, thanks to the good folks at Clutch Firms That Deliver. Clutch has done all the work of reviewing and rating the top social media marketing firms.  I am not recommending any particular firm.  They are all good.  The best of the best.

Make sure that you do your homework when evaluating firms to outsource your social media.  You should be asking the following questions:

1. How long have you been in business?
2. Who are your clients and can you provide references?
3. What sets you apart from your competition?
4. What social media services to you provide?
5. Do you offer month-to-month or fixed term contracts and what is your minimum term?
6. Are there any penalties for early termination of contracts?
7. Do you offer pricing plans for each social media service and how much does each cost per month?
8. Do you offer package pricing plans, what is included and how much does each cost per month?
9. How long will it take to accomplish our goals and objectives?
10. What exactly will I get for my money?  
11. How many people will be assigned to my account and what services do they provide?
12. How often can we contact you about problems and issues, needs and requests?
13. How much interaction do you require from the client?
14. Do you offer clients a dashboard where we can view our social media efforts in real-time?
15. Can the client prepare their own newsfeed content and tweets?   

Courtesy of an article dated September 16, 2015 appearing in eMarketing and Commerce , the Content Factory's article titled, "How Much Does Social Media Marketing Cost," and Clutch's "Top Social Media Marketing Companies - 2015 Reviews"

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FACEBOOK PARTNERS WITH ECOMMERCE LEADER SHOPIFY SO USERS CAN SELL PRODUCTS DIRECTLY THROUGH FACEBOOK

The world’s largest social network is barreling into e-commerce through an expanded relationship with e-commerce platform Shopify. It will allow Facebook users to buy products directly from Shopify merchants on their Facebook pages, the companies announced this week.

Stores with Shopify accounts can create a new Shop section on their Facebook pages, which can handle the transaction within Facebook or refer them to the store’s Web page outside Facebook, with the logistics handled by Shopify.

Click Image To Visit Shopify Page on Facebook

The mobile-compatible service is available to roughly 175,000 small businesses that have signed up with Shopify and presumably, the Facebook partnership will help recruit even more.

Facebook first revealed it was experimenting with Shops in Facebook pages, enabling brands to transact e-commerce directly from the Facebook platform, back in July.

The new Shop section builds on Facebook’s previous introduction of a “buy” button by giving products their own section on the vendor’s main page, adding product discovery for a more complete shopping experience.

 

Facebook is also testing a new mobile ad format that allows users to interact with several layers of advertiser content without leaving Facebook’s app; demo versions of the new ad showed users engaging with in-depth product profiles.

Of course, Facebook has plenty of competition in the e-commerce arena.

In July, Google began testing “buy” buttons in its mobile search results. After a limited test period beginning last September, Twitter is also rolling out its new “Buy” buttons more widely through a partnership with Shopify, as well as other e-commerce platforms. Finally, Pinterest has partnered with Shopify to create shoppable Pins.

While social-media companies have big ambitions in e-commerce, so far their share of the total business remains small, according to a study by Business Insider’s BI Intelligence. Citing data from Moovweb, BI Intelligence found that Facebook accounted for 1.32% of all referrals to mobile e-commerce sites, representing half of all traffic from social media sites and 64% of total revenue from social referrals.

By contrast, Pinterest generated just 0.16% of all referrals to mobile commerce sites, and Twitter contributed a paltry 0.04%. Pinterest accounted for an outsized share of revenue from social referrals, at 16%.

COMMENTARY:   Shopify Inc. has also partnered with AMAZON to replace the ecommerce giant's Amazon Webstore software.  

Shopify Inc shares soared after the Canadian software maker teamed up with online retailing giant Amazon.com Inc. to help merchants create their own online stores.

Click Image To Enlarge

The shares rose 23 percent to $35.55 at the close in New York on Thursday. The stock has about doubled since going public in May.

Amazon advised the users of its own Amazon Webstore software to move their online stores to Shopify, before it shuts down the Webstore service. Shopify merchants will be able to use Amazon’s payments system and warehouses, and the companies are working to let Shopify merchants list their products on Amazon.com, according to astatement. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

For Shopify, the deal advances plans to let its more than 175,000 merchant customers sell goods on as many platforms as possible. The company already has similar arrangements with Pinterest Inc., Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc.

Harley Finkelstein, chief platform officer for Ottawa-based Shopify, said in a phone interview.

“Shopify really wants to be the platform that allows merchants to sell wherever they have customers.” 

Amazon started Webstore in 2006 to enable small-business owners to set up their own Internet stores. Since then, however, startups like Shopify and Austin-based Bigcommerce Inc. have come to dominate the market.

It sure appears that Shopify shares are rebounding considerably with the announcement that they are partnering with both Facebook and Amazon.  

Courtesy of an article dated September 18, 2015 appearing in Social Media & Marketing Daily's The Social Graf and an article dated September 17, 2015 appearing in Bloomberg

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CONTACTLESS MOBILE PAYMENTS REACH INFLECTION POINT; 5% OF 600-650 MIL NFC EQUIPPED PHONES WILL BE USERS BY END OF 2015

Deloitte predicts that by end-2015, five percent of the base of 600-650 million near-field communication (NFC) equipped phones will be used at least once a month to make contactless in-store payments at retail outlets.

Deloitte expects that 2015 will be an inflection point for the usage of mobile phones for NFC-enabled in-store payment, as it will be the first year in which the multiple prerequisites for mainstream adoption – satisfying financial institutions, merchants, consumers, technology vendors and carriers – are sufficiently addressed.

We predict that by end-2015, five percent of the base of 600-650 million near-field communication (NFC) equipped phones will be used at least once a month to make contactless in-store payments at retail outlets. This compares with monthly usage by less than 0.5 percent of the 450-500 million NFC-phone owners as of mid-2014. Contactless mobile payment will not be mainstream by end-2015, but niche adoption will be a major progression from near nil in prior years.

 

The core advantage with any contactless smartphone transactions is the potential for greater security, when payments are made with phones featuring either built-in (via hardware or software) or SIM-based tokenization capability. When someone pays using an NFC-device, the tokenization facility creates a unique code (known as a token) which is sent from the device to the merchant’s NFC-enabled till. The credit card number is not transferred which means in the event of a breach, only card information used for traditional transactions would be exposed. The card information is either stored with the issuing networks (such as Visa or MasterCard), or is stored in the cloud (HCE), or in a secure element on the phone. The token is only good for a single transaction and unusable otherwise. A fraudster who intercepted the transaction would only get access to the single-use token but not the card details.

Using a fingerprint, an eye scan or a heart rate sensor as an additional form of authentication makes the payment more secure still. The combination of biometric authentication, an embedded secure element and tokenization may provide more robust security than card swipes or chip and PIN.

We expect the volume of NFC-smartphone transactions and the range of spend value to increase steadily over time as consumers become more familiar with the process, and more banks and merchants in more markets accept this form of transaction. However, contactless mobile payments will likely co-exist for some time with all other means of payment, from contactless credit cards to cash. It will be a long while before the majority of us can jettison our physical wallets.

Contactless Mobile Payments (Finally) Gain Momentum 

Deloitte predicts that by end-2015, five percent of the base of 600-650 million near-field communication (NFC ) equipped phones will be used at least once a month to make contactless in-store payments at retail outlets. This compares with monthly usage by less than 0.5 percent of the 450-500 million NFC-phone owners as of mid-2014. Contactless mobile payment will not be mainstream by end-2015, but niche adoption will be a major progression from near nil in prior years.

Looking further ahead, Deloitte expects the number of NFC-enabled devices being used for making in-store payment should rise steadily over the medium term, as consumers become more familiar with the process, and more banks and merchants in more markets accept this form of transaction. We expect the volume of NFC-smartphone transactions and the range of spend value to increase steadily over time.

TMT Predictions 2015

 

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While usage of phones to make contactless payments is expected to increase over time, they are likely to co-exist for some time with all other means of payment, from contactless credit cards to cash. It will be a long while before the majority of us can jettison our physical wallets.

The logic of using mobile phones to make in-store payments has long been recognized, and as far back as the late 1990s prototypes of vending machines equipped to take payment via mobile phones and over cellular networks were being exhibited at trade shows. The benefit of using short-range wireless technologies over a distance of a few centimeters to transmit payment information has also long been understood. Speedpass, the first contactless payment device (a key fob for use in gas stations) was launched in 1997. In the same year, the Hong Kong metro system introduced a contactless pre-paid fare collection system .

Indeed, the combination of contactless payment and mobile phones has existed for over a decade. The first phones with any form of contactless technology were launched in 2004 and the first phone with NFC went on sale in 2006. For many years, smartphones have been used to effect financial operations, such as checking balances, transferring funds, and transacting online.

But prior to 2015 the use of phones to make in-store payments using any technology (such as QR codes, or other short-range wireless technologies) has been minimal, with only a small proportion (ten percent or lower) of the smartphone base claiming to have paid in-store via their phone at any time.

Deloitte expects that 2015 will be an inflection point for the usage of mobile phones for NFC-enabled in-store payment, as it will be the first year in which the multiple prerequisites for mainstream adoption – satisfying financial institutions, merchants, consumers, technology vendors and carriers – are sufficiently addressed.

We expect the largest card issuers in the majority of the largest developed countries to have activated NFC-smartphone payments by end-2015, although adoption patterns are likely to vary by region, due to differing economics and technical (e.g. payments processing) models.
For financial institutions (card issuers and banks), NFC in-store phone payments offer continuity and improvement to their business models. They levy a commission on the transaction value, which they may share with a handset vendor or other entity. They underwrite the risk on the payment. Account holders are subject, with one of approaches used, to the same transaction limits as with a physical card and the repayment terms for credit card holders are the same.

The core advantage with any contactless smartphone transactions is the potential for greater security, when payments are made with phones featuring either built-in (via hardware or software) or SIM-based tokenization capability. When someone pays using an NFC-device, the tokenization facility creates a unique code (known as a token) which is sent from the device to the merchant’s NFC-enabled till. The credit card number is not transferred which means in the event of a breach, only card information used in traditional transactions would be exposed.

The card information is either stored with the issuing networks (such as Visa or MasterCard), or is stored in the cloud (HCE), or in a secure element on the phone. The token is only good for a single transaction and unusable otherwise. A fraudster who intercepted the transaction would only get access to the single-use token but not the card details .

Using a fingerprint, an eye scan or a heart rate sensor as an additional form of authentication makes the payment more secure still. The combination of biometric authentication, an embedded secure element and tokenization may provide more robust security than card swipes or chip and PIN.

What's In It For Merchants Adopting Contactless Mobile Payments

For merchants, NFC-equipped phones can enable fast and, with some systems, high-value transactions . All forms of payment have friction points: cash requires change and credit cards require PINs or signatures; but contactless payment requires only a card or device to be placed on a compatible reader. A fundamental benefit with some contactless smartphone payment systems is that the spending limit can be the same as the account holder’s credit or debit card limit. By comparison, contactless cards typically have a payment threshold (typically under US$50) and a transaction limit (the number of contactless payments made) before additional identification is required, so as to mitigate the impact of a stolen contactless card. As one example, the 23.8 million contactless card transactions in the UK in June 2014 had an average value of $11.03. This was about one seventh of the average transaction value of all credit and debit cards in the UK in the same month ($78.52).

Accepting NFC payment requires compatible point-of-sale (POS) terminals, and new POS terminals cost several hundred dollars. As of the start of 2015, there were already millions of NFC-ready payment terminals globally, out of the tens of millions of terminals in use around that world. Over the course of 2015 that base is likely to see a significant increase, particularly in the US where merchants are replacing their terminals to comply with the EMV mandate, these will most likely to be ones supporting NFC.

By end 2015, we expect a minority of merchants to be supporting contactless smartphone payments. These will often be retailers that have already made the investment in replacing POS systems, and will often be stores with a high volume of relatively low-value transactions, such as fast food outlets.

For most of the parties involved in the adoption of NFC mobile payments, the reason to adopt is financial. For consumers it is also behavioral. Using NFC-equipped smartphones to make payments will be adopted only if it can make the payment process simpler, sleeker or provide specific incentive in the form of digital coupons or discounts.

NFC applications covers a broad spectrum industries (Click Image To Enlarge)

The multiple components that enable NFC-smartphone in-store payments have been falling into place over the last few years. Hundreds of millions of smartphone owners have already submitted their credit card data (one or multiple cards) to a range of vendors so as to be able purchase apps, or download songs, or purchase additional cloud-based storage. Tens of millions of consumers have become acclimatized – over the course of many years – to the idea of contactless payments using their credit and debit cards, and in some markets their contactless transport cards. For most people, using a fingerprint reader is a rare requirement, typically occurring only when passing through border control in some countries. But as of early 2015 it has become an everyday action for approaching 100 million individuals using phones equipped with a fingerprint reader.

So for smartphone users who already have credit card data linked to their phone, have made contactless payments and are accustomed to submitting a fingerprint to unlock their phone or authorize an app purchase, submitting a fingerprint reading to authorize a contactless payment should not feel unfamiliar.

The existence of hundreds of millions of contactless credit and debit cards should not constrain the usage of NFC-enabled smartphones as an additional means of payment. We would expect that when offered a choice, about 30 million individuals may opt to pay using their phone instead of a contactless card.

For some, this will be because they are more likely to be holding their phone than their wallet. A few may decide to pay by smartphone to signal their status as early adopters. With some approaches, a smartphone may offer a higher payment limit than a regular contactless card.

Some NFC-based smartphone payment systems require pre-payment. We would expect these systems to remain popular, and co-exist with approached linked to debit and credit cards. Pre-pay would prevail among the under-banked.  

Bottom line

Contactless payment, initially in single-vendor closed-loop systems, has already been available for decades, but it is only in recent years that contactless cards have started to enjoy a surge in adoption. 2015 should see strong growth in contactless mobile and card payments usage, but the rise will be from a small base to a slightly less small base. Customer education and marketing will be essential to increase awareness of the ability to pay using a phone .

While we expect significant growth in usage in 2015 relative to the prior base, there many challenges remain before smartphone contactless payments can become mainstream, even in developed countries.

For financial institutions, smartphone contactless payments offer an additional way to transact which also may help maintain the current ecosystem, albeit at a cost in terms of commissions.

Retailers should consider four main benefits: reducing the need to protect customer data, the higher speed of contactless transactions relative to other payment means, the ability to attract consumers with higher disposable incomes, and the opportunity to provide more personalized experiences, for example by integrating loyalty schemes .

Handset vendors can differentiate their devices through the inclusion of components, such as a fingerprint reader, or a tokenization engine, that would enable contactless payments. These functionalities need to be offered as part of a payment ecosystem, and should be easy to use.
Over time, other contactless processes such as premise entry and exit could be incorporated in a handset; and contactless payment is likely to be combined with other processes at the point of transaction, such as collection and redemption of loyalty points .

All players should consider how contactless smartphone payments could be made even more secure. One possible way of doing this would be to use the location data routinely collected by smartphones as a security check . Deviations from a normal purchasing location could trigger a request for further verification, such as PIN entry.

In the medium term the impact of contactless mobile is wide: it provides the opportunity to deliver new customer experiences such as displaying special offers in store to NFC based devices, it may catalyze the removal of point of sales systems for merchants. And NFC may become incorporated into a wider range of devices beyond phones. 

COMMENTARY:   Although NFC technology has been around since the late 1990's, it has been tough slugging trying to convince merchants and phone users to adopt contactless payments.  There are several reasons for this as follows:

Fragmentation plagues the industry, hindering widespread adoption in the near term.

Many of the top retailers have their hands tied to CurrentC, a “clunky” retailer-led mobile payment initiative that, by relying on QR codes, keeps “friction” in the supposedly “frictionless” experience of paying with a smartphone. Some of the retailers that are not bound to a three-year exclusive contract with CurrentC will attempt to build out their own mobile-payment systems in an effort to keep a tight grip on their increasingly valuable customer data. And finally, existing players like Square and PayPal are building offerings to compete with the likes of Apple. That will all lead to a very disjointed space.

The mobile payment industry will be a tangled web for some time, delaying a universal change in consumer behavior. Mobile commerce will only take off once it is a habit — when people reach for their phones instead of their wallets to pay. “Habits, rather than conscious decision-making, shape 45 percent of the choices we make every day,” the New York Times reported, citing a Duke University study. If the stores people visit have various systems in place and differing capabilities for accepting mobile payments, consumers will simply forget to use their smartphones to pay, even when they are in a store that accepts the system they are signed up with (and people won’t use multiple systems). For widespread adoption, one or two power players that capture widespread consumer participation and work across different operating systems will need to be accepted universally.

Brands focus on integrating coupon redemption and loyalty programs seamlessly with payment.

One of the most critical things for mobile actions is simplicity. On smaller screens, every ask from a brand must be completed in one or two taps. People won’t start paying via mobile, then go into Passbook to dig out a saved offer, then go back to a brand app (or physical wallet) to pull out their loyalty card. Understanding consumer intolerance for hassle on mobile, retailers are working feverishly to automatically bring in all aspects of the transaction (offers, payment, loyalty) so that they can, say, automatically scan Passbook for a loyalty card or any usable retailer or manufacturer coupons. While this is not available publicly yet, the selling point of mobile payments to consumers is that it streamlines the checkout process. So until retailers take the thought out of it, adoption, engagement, and advocacy will suffer.

Consumer adoption and comfort level of mobile payments will be hindered as hacking continues.

“Secure” has been a word that has been pitched with every mobile payment solution, and while mobile payments may well be safer than traditional transactions, consumers are not buying it, not wholly, at least. CurrentC was hacked before it even launched, and large retailers continue to be targeted. Mobile payments combine two things with which we all feel a heightened level of susceptibility: smartphones and our credit card information. As hackers become more aggressive than ever, security breaches are only going to continue. To ease consumers’ fears, retailers and providers like Apple must amp up their lines of protection and put generous resources toward educating shoppers on the many ways they are protected.

Mobile payments hold a lot of promise for both the consumer experience and merchant operations. As adoption accelerates, it will be important for brands to not look at mobile payments as just an exchange of funds between a customer and a company. The “ability to pay” via plastic or even phone has become a commodity, and brands need to instead consider payments as part of the overall customer journey. At this point, the real value is in enabling relationships via the always-on mobile channel where consumers are willing to have a conversation if the brand or retailer offers genuine help.

Courtesy of the Deloitte report titled "TMT Predictions 2015" dated August 1, 2015 appearing in Deloitte and an article dated January 10, 2015 appearing in VentureBeat

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