△ MENU/TOP △

Holtz Communications + Technology

Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
SearchClose Icon

Friday Wrap #110: Blogger fined for success, automated PR, social-reputation link, mobile newsrooms

Friday Wrap #110: Blogger fined for success, automated PR, social-reputation link, mobile newsrooms

Friday Wrap #110
Bacon-wrapped hot dog Flickr image courtesy of Arnold Gatilao
The Friday Wrap (which is what you’re reading) is a curated rundown of news, reports and posts from the past week that, while they didn’t go viral or attract much attention, are still interesting and useful for communications professionals. I select Wrap items from my link blog, which you’re welcome to follow.

News

French blogger fined over her review’s popularity—French blogger Caroline Doudet wrote a scathing review of the restaurant Il Giardino that met Google’s criteria so well it became the number four link in a search for the restaurant. The owner sued, claiming the prominence of the review hurt its business, and the courts agreed, ordering Doudet to pay damages and change the headline in order to lower the review’s search rank. Read more

Digg digs deeper—Digg.com has introduce Digg Deeper, designed to give you a view into what your friends was reading and watching. A retooled version of an older service called News.me, Digg Deeper analyzes your Twitter timeline to present the most shared links and display them as a scrolling list on the Digg homepage. You can also get real-time email alerts and mobile notifications on the app (available for iOS only). In some ways, it’s not far different than the service Paper.li has been providing for years. Read more

Time introduces native ad group—Time Inc. has launched Native Group, an eight-person unit that will focus on native advertising. The group “will work with advertisers, brand editors and publishers to develop and implement native programs and strategies across the company’s 25-title portfolio.” Read more

BitTorrent tries a paywall—You may know BitTorrent as the means by which people access copyrighted content illegally, but the company behind the technology is introducing a new concept: Pay $9.95 to help fund a new scifi series and, in return, you’ll get access to its eight episodes. Read more

Trends

Is PressFriendly making you sweat?—That’s the assertion of the Inc. headline—at least, PR firms are sweating. PressFriendly is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform that helps startups develop pitches to get coverage from reporters and bloggers. The service’s Story Wizard “walks users through the elements of a good pitch, then analyzes all user-generated content with a machine-learning platform that co-founder Paul Denya coded to compare keywords against the elements of the pitch.” A real live person then reviews the output and delivers it to the startup, along with a list of contacts selected based on their likely interest in the pitch. For more money, you also get advice on timely product opportunities and the best time to pitch reporters. The company is staffed by “burned out” PR reps who work part-time. Read more

Should publishers pay to promote content?—It’s a long-standing philosophy among publishers that they don’t pay to promote their content, though some are starting to use paid Facebook promotions to amplify their offerings, though usually as a defensive strategy. The economics of content could change that. “If your traffic is spread across a large percentage of your content, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have a well-diversified library,” writes Edward Kim, CEO of online content distribution company SimpleReach. “Rather, it means you’re likely leaving value on the table that could be extracted from your winners. When you choose not to invest to promote your highest-potential content, you’re essentially assuming that organic channels are sufficient to reach the fully addressable audience for your content.” Read more

Hospitals begin tapping consumer data—If NSA snooping and Facebook social experiments bother you, you’ll love this. Hospitals are starting to create profiles on current and potential patients based on detailed data available from sources ranging from credit card transactions to public records. You could get a call from a doctor if you’re buying too many donuts or started smoking again. Read more

Social media stars build careers on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr—A network has emerged that helps social media stars—those who craft content that attracts huge numbers of followers—connect with brands who want to use their talent and reach their audiences. Among these is social media superstar Gary Vaynerchuk, who says, “We want to cultivate these stars, and if they graduate to being the next Jimmy Fallon, great.” Vaynerchuk co-founded GrapeStory, an agency representing Vine producers that “guarantees” five to six figures per year in income for those it represents. Read more

Research

KLM study reveals link between social media and corporate reputation—A survey of people about their social media engagement with KLM Royal Dutch Airline—a social media-savvy company—found that (a) consumers’ level of engagement with a company via social media was positively related to their perceptions of the company’s reputation, and (b) those who use social media most were more likely to engage with a company via its social media efforts. “The rapid rise in social-media use among all demographics means that more people will be wanting to engage with your (company) on social media.” Read more

Most consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations—Online reviews are increasingly important to purchase decisions, with 88% of respondents to the BrightLocal survey indicating that they read reviews to assess the quality of a local business and 32% reading reviews regularly. Both numbers are up from the 2013 survey. “The trend line over the last four years clearly shows how much more regularly people are reading reviews, clearly highlighting the need for local businesses to attract more reviews and actively manage their online reputation. Most consumers are satisfied when they have read up to 10 online reviews, but some read up to 20. And 88% of respondents said they trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.Read more

Social media is the best channel for reaching Millennials—Millennials are “a highly mobile-centric audience that is willing to engage with marketers that earn their trust but are otherwise hard to reach,” according to a survey of 1,800 of the 18-36-year-old crowd. Most use at least two Internet devices daily and some use up to four (37% in the U.S.). Nineteen out of 20 Millennials worldwide own smartphones and check them, on average, 43 times per day. Social media is the primary way they learn about things, ranking above Google for content discovery. Consequently, brands should build relationships and trust with Millennials via Facebook and Twitter—their dominant networks—and other social channels. Read more

More on Millennials: Channels are irrelevant—Millennials don’t care where they are or which device they’re using when they’re interacting with a brand. That’s the view of 58% of Millennials surveyed by SDL; they expect to be able to engage with a company wherever, whenever, and on any channel they choose. “The data highlights the critical need for brands to stop focusing on channels and instead apply what they know about their consumers to elevate the overall experience in the buying journey.” Read more

Marketers not enthusiastic about content marketing results—Only 14% of marketers think their content marketing efforts are very effective, while just over half describe their results as “somewhat effective,” according to a study from Forrester, conducted in partnership with the Business Marketing Association and the Online Marketing Institute. Twenty-seven percent were neutral. According to Forrester VP Laura Ramos, “They’re doing a lot of things around content marketing, but they fully admit they don’t thin it’s going that well.” Read more

Mobile

Rethinking newsrooms for the mobile era—Sixty-two percent of the Financial Times’ readers access the publication from phones or tablets; only 38% use desktops. “Desktop is the new print,” according to Lisa McLeod, the FT.com’s head of operations. “It’s static, one-dimensional and it’s slowly becoming more and more marginal to our business.” The FT is just one new outlet struggling to reconfigure the newsroom around “reporters using mobile devices to gather and file and…how to make money from news on mobile phones.” Read more

Billboards will come to life on your smartphone—Clear Channel Outdoor is introducing a technology platform that will connect billboard advertising—including those you see at bus stops and airports—with your smartphone. Dubbed Connect, the technology will let you activate these ads through mobile location sensors. The technology has already been employed with some sixty brands in Europe, including McDonald’s, Levi’s, and Disney. Read more

Comment Form

« Back