Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Episode 12: LinkedIn Spam and the Cult of Personality



LinkedIn makes it terribly easy to send someone a note of congratulations. Terribly.

And what happens when your brand is associated with a single personality? It could be a detriment or a benefit.


Links


Be sure to check out other major stories from the September 26th edition of the newsletter:


Credits


Theme song: "The Liberty Bell," by John Philip Sousa, performed by the United States Marine Band and shared under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Incidental music: "One More Stripper" by APAMusic, royalty-free license from Pond5.com.

Voice over: Toni Deckers



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We'd appreciate your support on Patreon.

Monday, September 26, 2016

​The Full Monty — September 26, 2016

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ICYMI last week, I launched a new company, Brain+Trust Partners. Check out our vision and mission and see if you're interested.

Big companies are playing catch-up; Yahoo exposes itself (and you); Twitter may be for sale; apps dominate the mobile web — but not exactly as you'd think; consumers want a texting relationship with businesses; Google wants in on the messaging craze; Facebook owns up to misstated video metrics; Snapchat flashes its hardware; the government wants data from autonomous vehicles; the role of news and journalism in evolving podcasting; the biggest influencer of B2B software purchasing; the single most important trait in leader and more in this week's edition of The Full Monty. Get trivia and the poem of the week exclusively on The Full Monty podcast.

Virtually everything you need in business intelligence. If you’re on Flipboard, you can get these links — and those that didn't make the cut for publication — by subscribing to The Full Monty Magazine at smonty.co/fullmontymag. And don't forget to subscribe to the email update here.

Upcoming Speaking Gigs


Industry


Essentially, IBM's app looked like this. 



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Some of the results are going to really surprise you.


Platforms

FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / WHATSAPP

  • As we've chronicled here, Facebook has been pushing for more video content by brands and users alike. So imagine the shock when last week we discovered that Facebook has been overstating a key video metric, the average time users spent with videos. While this should concern many companies that have been pouring resources into Facebook video, the company is still committed to the medium and will certainly rectify things.
    • The company issued a mea culpa, taking responsibility for the error and being transparent about its mistake. Carolyn Everson, VP of Global Marketing Solutions, and David Fisher, VP of Business and Marketing Partnerships shared the same statement on their profiles.
  • Why Facebook is the #1 enemy of newspapers and journalism. One reason: newspapers don't have all of the personal data about readers that Facebook does about its users, so they're at a natural disadvantage.
  • To further enable businesses to target discovery of experiences on the Messenger Platform, Facebook is starting to roll out ads in News Feed that drive people to chat with your bot on Messenger.

TWITTER / PERISCOPE / VINE

  • The big news of the week in the social network space was that Twitter is a takeover target. Suitors include Salesforce, which missed its social opportunity with LinkedIn; Google, which has failed at every attempt of a home-grown social network; Verizon, which may be preparing for a non-Yahoo event; and Microsoft, to thrwart Salesforce again.
    • Salesforce seems like the odd one out of this, as Twitter is as much a news and media platform as anything else. They might be thinking about plugging the "firehose" into their social listening tools, but that still leaves a gap, as Twitter doesn't cover everything. But having such a powerful data stream is still appealing to cloud companies that run on data.
    • Wouldn't it be great if Twitter required all offers to be submitted in 140 characters or less? [TWEET THIS]
  • Some sources suggest Twitter may command as much as $30 billion, which narrows down the list of potential buyers.

ALPHABET / GOOGLE



SNAPCHAT

YAHOO

  • Rumors began circulating on Thursday morning that Yahoo was going to announce a data breach of some 200 million accounts.
  • That turned out not to be true. The next day, Yahoo said it was 500 million accounts. The company said it believes a state-sponsored player was behind the breach, which occurred in late 2014, making Yahoo even slower than Wells Fargo to acknowledge some funny business. The news complicates the Verizon takeover offer, which may be dependent on such material news, and leaves a blemish on Marissa Mayer's record, which was already spotty at best

Collaborative / Autonomous Economy

LODGING

  • Airbnb has raised $555 million in its latest funding round and is now valued at $30 billion. This places the company at #4 among the world's most valuable startups, with Uber, Xiaomi and Didi Chuxing leading the way.

TRANSPORTATION

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

AI / BOTS / BLOCKCHAIN


SPONSOR

The American Marketing Association has its Annual Conference coming up on October 6, 2016. If you can't attend, a great cost-effective way to glean some of the same intellectual capital that attendees get is to register for their Livestream Pass.

Simply use the code FullMonty upon checkout and you'll get a pass to watch the proceedings for just $99, a discount from the regular price of $129. Sign up today for what's sure to be an event that helps develop your marketing skills.


Virtual Reality / Audio

VR / AR

  • Google has filed a patent for a hand-controlled mobile VR headset. The combination of lightweighting of the headset and VR driven by your phone could speed the mainstream adoption of VR.

AUDIO


Content / Customer Experience / Influencer Marketing

  • McKinsey takes a look at what drives customer growth, with a particular focus on companies that are taking the time to meet customer needs better than competitors do.
  • What influences software purchase decisions in a business-to-business environment most? Word of mouth.



Privacy / Security / Legal


Measurement / Metrics / Data


Essential Watching / Listening / Reading




Do you like what you see here? Please subscribe to have trends on digital communications, marketing, technology and business delivered to your inbox each Monday. Between this and the podcast, it's a lot of work. And it's not a team sport, either. If you join us as a patron, it will show how much you value this kind of content.


I speak to groups and advise brands and agencies to help them embrace the fundamentals of human communication in the digital age. You can join these other top-notch clients by reaching out if you'd like to put my experience to work.

--

Monday, September 19, 2016

Episode 11: Emotional Intelligence & Leadership and Strategist vs. Specialist




What you understand about yourself and how you interact with your colleagues says a great deal about you. It may mean the difference between being considered a boss or a leader.

Specialists serve and important role. But don't get them confused with strategists. Just because in our shorthand way of speaking, we mention a strategy for every platform doesn't mean your platform expert is a strategist.



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Links

Be sure to check out other major stories from the September 19th edition of the newsletter:

  • Americans' trust in media is at an all-time low. Last year, 40% trusted the media a great deal or a fair amount; this year it's down to 32%.
  • It was a big week in autonomous driving. Uber's self-driving fleet debuted in Pittsburgh, Ford demonstrated its self-driving cars in Dearborn, Ford and the University of Michigan announced a new robotics laboratory, Volvo produced an autonomous SUV, and Velodyne announced a smaller, higher-resolution sensor.
  • Apple CEO Tim Cook is more excited about augmented reality than virtual reality. He says it's nearer term and it's less isolating. 

 

Credits

Theme song: "The Liberty Bell," by John Philip Sousa, performed by the United States Marine Band and shared under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Incidental music: "One More Stripper" by APAMusic, royalty-free license from Pond5.com.

Voice over: Toni Deckers

 

Subscribe on iTunes and leave us a review. Also on Google Play, Stitcher, Spreaker or  SoundCloud.

We'd appreciate your support on Patreon.

The Full Monty — September 19, 2016



The Full Monty exposes you to the business intelligence that matters every week. Make sure you're getting free updates to make sure you don't miss a thing. And please share this with your colleagues if you find it valuable.

Preparing for a major announcement this week; trust in media is at all all-time low; being part of a community is one way to combat that, as is showing empathy for human conditions; paying via Messenger; Twitter's livestreaming deals; Snapchat nearing $1 billion in ad revenue; Airbnb's effort to curb racism; the week of autonomous vehicles; Apple's CEO believes in AR over VR; podcasting is being pushed toward a radio model; competition in streaming music; less can be more in content marketing; email still works; taking time to experience and embrace silence; assessing your jerkitude quotient; and more in this week's edition of The Full Monty. Trivia and the poem of the week are now exclusively on The Full Monty podcast.

Virtually everything you need in business intelligence. If you’re on Flipboard, you can get these links — and those that didn't make the cut for publication — by subscribing to The Full Monty Magazine at smonty.co/fullmontymag.

Here's this week's double-barrelled commentary on Facebook Live.


Upcoming Speaking Gigs


Industry

  • The iPhone 7 announcement happened as planned. And people freaked out over the new wireless earpods. All the updates.
  • According to an annual Gallup Poll, only 32 percent of Americans have "a great deal" or "a fair amount" of trust in the media, representing a new low. Last year it was 40 percent. 
  • PwC sais in order to foster online trust, you need to build community. This is kind of Trust 101 stuff, but there are still brands out there that need this wake up call. If no one knows who you are or doesn't participate in anything with you (or more importantly, you with them), trust won't happen. In other words, you can't stand around talking about yourself all day
  • You know what you can trust? That September 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day. And if you walk into Krispy Kreme, you can get a free doughnut for yammerin' like a swashbuckler. Or a free dozen if you dress like one.
  • A coalition of companies have organized to improve social news gathering. The 20 companies include Facebook, Twitter, the New York Times, the Telegraph, Channel 4 News, Washington Post, and BuzzFeed News, among others. Facebook, tell us again that you're not a media company?
  • Business Insider attracted 230,000 Line followers in just two weeks. How? By sharing 10 pieces of content a day, putting a focus on tech and finance news, and using emojis to liven up staid content.
  • This is the year that digital ad spending will outpace TV in the US.
  • Ikea is putting itself out there by talking about divorce, a topic that very few other brands are willing to do. Emotion works when applied in a relevant way.
  • GE's CMO Linda Boff talks about GE's secrets to success: first-mover mentality, experimentation, and an insatiable sense of curiosity. And, in her words, "the importance of thinking about the user always, starting with the user, and working back, versus starting with technology or starting with media."
  • It takes a brilliance to change the world. It takes something else entirely to wait patiently for people to notice. It happened with the Wright Brothers. It happened with Alexander Graham Bell. When You Change the World and No One Notices.
RELATED: I'll be announcing a change to the world this Wednesday, September 21. Updates here.



SPONSOR

Get the scoop on what 500 marketers (budgets up to $10 million) believe and how those beliefs influence their behaviors when it comes to hiring and firing agencies just like yours.

Download this FREE 16 page report, full of information, insight and guidance on how to best approach prospects based on the findings.

Some of the results are going to really surprise you.


Platforms

FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / WHATSAPP

TWITTER / PERISCOPE / VINE

ALPHABET / GOOGLE

YAHOO

SNAPCHAT


Collaborative / Autonomous Economy

LODGING

TRANSPORTATION

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

AI / BOTS / BLOCKCHAIN


Virtual Reality / Audio

VR / AR

AUDIO


Content / Customer Experience / Influencer Marketing


Privacy / Security / Legal


Measurement / Metrics / Data

  • There's a shortage of data scientists. Bottlenose hopes to solve that by automating some processes, making it easier for business people without advanced tech skills to make use of the latest in business intelligence. Let's be perfectly clear: there's a difference between a data scientist and a data analyst; the functions of the latter aren't quite so easy to automate.

Essential Watching / Listening / Reading




Do you like what you see here? Please subscribe to have trends on digital communications, marketing, technology and business delivered to your inbox each Monday. Between this and the podcast, it's a lot of work. And it's not a team sport, either. If you join us as a patron, it will show how much you value this kind of content.


I speak to groups and advise brands and agencies to help them embrace the fundamentals of human communication in the digital age. You can join these other top-notch clients by reaching out if you'd like to put my experience to work.

--

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Episode 10: Podcasting is Big and Starting with Success



Although podcasting has been around for over 11 years, it still has yet to catch on big time. We're on the cusp of something great and we've got history at our backs.

Too often we limit ourselves with the thought of what we can't do. In a guest spot, Robert Rose tells us that starting with a positive attitude and the end in mind, we can do wonders. Source: Content Strategy for Marketers newsletter.


Links

Be sure to check out other major stories from the September 6th edition of the newsletter:


Credits


Theme song: "The Liberty Bell," by John Philip Sousa, performed by the United States Marine Band and shared under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Incidental music: "One More Stripper" by APAMusic, royalty-free license from Pond5.com.

Voice over: Toni Deckers



Subscribe on iTunes and leave us a review. Also on Google Play, Stitcher, Spreaker or SoundCloud.

We'd appreciate your support on Patreon.


The Full Monty — September 6, 2016

Image credit: Richard Binhammer (Flickr)
The Full Monty exposes you to the business intelligence that matters at the top of every week. Please sign up for our email updates to make sure you don't miss a thing. And please share this with your colleagues if you find it valuable.

Programmatic and native are destined to combine; editorial and native teams already do; who one of Amazon's biggest competitors is (it isn't who you think); the importance of email; when you get algorithmic egg on your Facebook; Twitter's future may include being acquired; innovation has many meanings; ride-sharing isn't even close to killing car sales; Uber ups its marketing and gets a new competitor in Google; AI is biased and will always be; breaking through blockchain; prepare for a wireless VR headset from Apple; audio is big; GoPro gets into original content; hacking your face and your car; analytics teams need to do more than regurgitate numbers; I'm an oxymoron; and more in this week's edition of The Full Monty. Trivia and the poem of the week are now exclusively on The Full Monty podcast.

Virtually everything you need in business intelligence. If you’re on Flipboard, you can get these links — and those that didn't make the cut for publication — by subscribing to The Full Monty Magazine at smonty.co/fullmontymag.

Join Me


Industry




SPONSOR




Get the scoop on what 500 marketers (budgets up to $10 million) believe and how those beliefs influence their behaviors when it comes to hiring and firing agencies just like yours.

Download this FREE 16 page report, full of information, insight and guidance on how to best approach prospects based on the findings.

Some of the results are going to really surprise you.



Platforms

Facebook / Instagram / WhatsApp

Twitter / Periscope / Vine

Alphabet / Google

  • YouTubers got a bit of a wake up call this week when they received notices that YouTube wasn't allowing questionable content to be monetized.  Such content included excessive use of profanity. We're guessing it would have eradicated an entire revenue stream for Gary Vaynerchuk.
  • For its part, YouTube said that the policy hasn't changed and that notifications were merely meant to be more instructive. "While our policy of demonetizing videos due to advertiser-friendly concerns hasn’t changed, we’ve recently improved the notification and appeal process to ensure better communication." But you know YouTubers. They freaked out anyway.

Collaborative / Autonomous Economy

  • Innovation is something of a non-term. It can mean many things to many individuals. Here are 11 ways that startups use innovation to outrun larger established companies.
  • The ulimate symbol for the Uber-for-X economy has gone out of business. Washio, the on-demand laundry service, discovered that the formula needs to be a combination of affordability and frequency. So are they all washed up or were they hung out to dry?

Lodging

  • To make its home-away-from-home vibe work, the online housing broker insists on a level of transparency from hosts and guests that creates a level of intimacy bordering on the unseemly. How Airbnb Kills Our Ideas of Privacy.

Transportation

Autonomous Vehicles

AI / Bots / Blockchain


Virtual Reality / Audio

VR / AR

Audio


Content / Customer Experience / Influencer Marketing

  • Boston Retail Partners' special report, Enhancing Customer Engagement Through Social Media, finds that 81% of retailers using social media to engage with customers indicate that their processes need improvement.
  • GoPro is pivoting to do something it should have done a while ago: expand its business into original content. GoPro users lead some of the most exciting and interesting lives; it'll be better than JustinTV.
  • If you're looking for higher email engagement, try sending email on the weekends. Not inter-office email; customer emails. Given all of the notifications and work we try to catch up with during the week, this development shouldn't be too much of a surprise.



Privacy / Security / Legal

  • It's possible to defeat modern face authentication systems by creating a virtual model derived from high-resolution photos of the device's owner. Hackers can now unlock phones with a VR headset.
  • Snapchat celebrities are making undisclosed paid endorsements. The only problem is the FTC can't catch them. Even more than on other platforms, policing them is a major challenge. And unlike Snapchat content, this is not a problem that will disappear in 24 hours.

Measurement / Metrics / Data



Essential Watching / Listening / Reading




Do you like what you see here? Please subscribe to have trends on digital communications, marketing, technology and business delivered to your inbox each Monday. Between this and the podcast, it's a lot of work. And it's not a team sport, either. If you join us as a patron, it will show how much you value this kind of content.


I speak to groups and advise brands and agencies to help them embrace the fundamentals of human communication in the digital age. You can join these other top-notch clients by reaching out if you'd like to put my experience to work.

Photo credit: Richard Binhammer (Flickr)
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