Weekly Picks

Weekly Reading Picks| Volume 23

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Bob’s Weekly Reading Picks

2019.6.16 volume 23

Content

1.10 Takeaways From Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report
2.WeChat for Business: What Marketers Need to Know
3.This year’s Digiday Publishing Awards finalists reflect a changing industry
4.Getting the Perfect YouTube Review: A Step-By-Step Approach
5.BrandZ Top 100 Global Brands 2019
6.10 Profit-Driving Chatbot Campaigns You Can Copy Today
7.How to Make Money with SEO in 2019 – Whiteboard Friday

1.10 Takeaways From Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report

Venture capitalist Mary Meeker is back with her annual Internet Trends report, with another look at where we collectively stand in technology, advertising, consumer behavior and society.

1. Online Advertising

In 2018, the percentage of advertising spend in desktop and mobile channels drew even with the percentage of time consumers spent in those channels—18% for desktop and 33% for mobile. (And programmatic buying was up to 62% of display ad spend globally.)

2. Second Screens

YouTube and Instagram are gaining the most online platform time (up 27% and 19% respectively in Q4 2018) and digital video is now up to 28% of average daily watching time.

3. On-Demand

Get-it-when-you-want-it products and services increased from about 40 million in 2017 to 56 million in 2018.

Online marketplaces are the most popular, followed by transportation, housing, food delivery and health/beauty.

Similarly, on-demand platform workers numbered 6.6 million in 2018, up from 5.4 million in 2017, Meeker added.

4. Visual Communication

Instagram is up to 1 billion monthly active users, and more than 50% of tweet impressions include images, videos or other media.

5. Interactive Gaming

There were 2.4 billion interactive game players globally in 2018.Online game Fortnite had 250 million users as of April 2019—and nearly one major update per week by May 2019.

6. Freemium Business Models

Free trials and tiers, like online streaming services, enable more usage, engagement, social sharing and network effects while premium models drive monetization and product innovation, Meeker said.

6. Data and Personalization

Context-rich data yields happier customers, but Meeker said companies are “drinking from a data firehose” because of real-time customer information capture.

 

7. Consumer Concerns

Consumers are more aware of digital overload and are taking steps to reduce screen time: 63% of U.S. adults say they are trying to limit personal smartphone usage in 2018, which is up from 47% a year prior.

Consumers around the world are less concerned about internet privacy than they were four years ago. 

8. Offensive Content

Problematic content is also top of mind for consumers, and an age-old challenge for regulators has resurfaced, which is this: How do you amplify the good and minimize the bad?

9. Open Internet

Meeker said an open internet can benefit everyone as consumers get what they want efficiently and inexpensively, businesses sell products and services profitably and regulators  protect consumers, businesses and social institutions.

Table illustrating web censorship across the USA, EU, India and China

10. Digital Healthcare

Costs are high and rising for both the government and consumers.

Insurance is increasingly from the government instead of employers: Employer coverage was 54% in 2017 versus 63% in 2008, while government coverage was up to 39% in 2017 from 30% in 2008.

Download the report: Mary Meeker Internet_Trends_2019

2. WeChat for Business: What Marketers Need to Know

Why Marketers Should Consider WeChat

  • Massive Reach ( 1.09 billion monthly active users)
  • One-of-a-Kind Lifestyle Platform
  • Interactive Features

#1: How to Set Up Your Business Profile on WeChat

  • subscription accounts (one broadcast message a day)
  • ervice accounts (WeChat Stores, WeChat Pay, instant customer service, and GPS among others.)
  • enterprise accounts.

https://mp.weixin.qq.com

#2: Use WeChat for Customer Service

  • Assign a Personalized Customer Service Agent
  • Use Automated Customer Inquiry Responses
  • Maintain a Customer History Chat Log

#3: Advertise on WeChat

  • Launch Banner Ad Campaigns
  • CPC/CPM
  • Target Users With Moments
  • Partner With Influencers or KOLs

3. This year’s Digiday Publishing Awards finalists reflect a changing industry

The Digiday Publishing Awards recognize the companies modernizing digital media. Over the years, these awards have honored leading work from brands, agencies, publishers and tech providers such as The Players’ Tribune, Dotdash, NBC News, Purch and more.

Best Brand Partnership
National Baseball Hall of Fame and TeamWorks Media – “La Vida Baseball”
Liquid-Plumr and Reach Agency, AKQA, OMD – “Will It Clog?”
Overheard and Uber – “@OverheardUber”
Uber and Girlboss – “Uber Pitch”
WP BrandStudio and Optum – “Working to End the Epidemic”
Polo Red by Ralph Lauren and Spotify – Global Fragrance Partnership

Best Brand Safety Strategy 
CNN Worldwide – CNN Sentiment Analysis Moderator 
BuzzFeed
USA Today – Project Armor
Dotdash
IPONWEB

Best Branded Content Program – B2B
OppenheimerFunds and Quartz – The New Global Economy
Atlantic Re:think and Hewlett Packard Enterprise – A Moral Code – The Ethics of AI
Wall Street Journal Custom Studios and Invesco – Factor Effect
Lycored – Letter of Love Tour
Courageous Studios and GE – “Power”
Bloomberg Media & 3M – Leap Ahead

Best Branded Content Program – B2C 
RT – “#Romanovs100″
Blossom and Dunkin’ 
24sata – “Gone, but not forgotten”
Vox Media – Ford’s “Home of the Future”
Courageous Studios and Coors Light – “Made From Mountains”
The Hook, JBL and Blue 449 – “Currys PC World”

Best Content Studio
Hearst Digital Media – HearstMade
Bonnier News Brand Studio
The Foundry @ Meredith Corp
Vox Media – Vox Creative
Discovery Digital Studios 
Courageous Studios

Best Custom Advertising
WarnerMedia and Google Play – Conan 24 Hour Mobile Marathon
WarnerMedia and FDA – “Amateur Surgeon”
NBA, Spark Foundry and Arkadium – 2018-19 NBA Tip Off
Bleacher Report and McDonalds – Game of Zones
24sata – Let’s talk about sex
Bloomberg Media

Best Live Event
The New York Times – Get With The Times
PopSugar  and Reed Exhibitions – PopSugar Play/Ground
Culture Trip and Fake Love – Soho in Soco at SXSW
Bleacher Report – B/R x NC – NBA All-Star Game 2019
New York Media and The Cut – “How I Get It Done”
The Infatuation – EEEEEATSCON

Best Millennial Publisher 
Newsy
Jellysmack
First Media
Bleacher Report
Bustle Digital Group
Insider Inc.

Best Mobile Innovation
MTV International – 2018 MTV EMA AR Experience
USA Today
NBC News and Code and Theory – NBC News Mobile App
Ogury and Zedge
Marfeel and Den of Geek

Best Overall Design
The Washington Post – The Lily
Ynet, Powered By – This Way Out
NBC News and Code and Theory – NBC News Digital Redesign
Insider Inc.
Bloomberg Media – TicToc

Best Paid Subscription/Membership Product
Consumer Reports – Consumer Report
Bodybuilding.com – All-Access
Piano
National Review, Inc. – NRPLUS

Best Use of Audience Data
Group Nine Media – GIA 
Assembly Technologies Inc. – Statera
Bonnier Publications
Al Jazeera English – AJLabs
Mediahuis and Cxense
Jellysmack and Boys Do It Too

Best Use of Snapchat
Jukin Media
Group Nine Media – The Dodo
Group Nine Media – NowThis
Food Network
Indigo Development and Entertainment Arts Studio – Kappa Crypto
Jellysmack

Best Use of Technology
MTV International – 2018 MTV EMA AR Experience
Vox Media – Chorus
CNBC – The Warren Buffett Archive
American Hometown Media – Recipe Box Plugin
Anghami, Nescafe, Zeith and DMS – Egyptian students’ coffee
Prisma and Sourcepoint

Best Use of Voice 
Food Network – Amazon Alexa Skill
CNBC – Alexa Skill
Image Media and Kildare Village – Smart Casual
Slate Studios, American Airlines, British Airways, Visit Britain and Wavemaker – I Travel For:

Best User Experience 
Dotdash
The Foundry @ Meredith and Cinnamon Toast Crunch – “Fuel Your Family Roadtrip Fun”
Bleacher Report – B/R App
CNBC – iOS App
American Hometown Media – Recipe Box Plugin

Best Video Series
Discovery Digital Studios – “Dan Can Bake It”
First Data – “First Data Download”
Bleacher Report – “Game of Zones”
Courageous Studios and Coors Light – “Made From Mountains”
The Washington Post – “Should I Freeze My Eggs?”
Ellen Digital Network -” The Build Up”

Most Influential Publishing Community 
The Tylt
Bleacher Report – House of Highlights
Bodybuilding.com
24sata – Voice of the People
Ellen Digital Network

Most Modern Legacy Brand 
ABC – Localish
Merriam-Webster – Making Words Matter (Again)
USA Today
National Geographic
Image Media
Bloomberg Media

Publishing Executive of the Year
Heather Dietrick, CEO, The Daily Beast
Maribel Perez Wadsworth, president, USA Today Network and publisher, USA Today
Bryan Goldberg, CEO, Bustle Digital Group
Brian Sugar, CEO and co-founder, PopSugar
Neil Vogel, CEO, Dotdash
Josh Jaffe, gm, Horoscope.com Inc.

Best Revenue Diversification Model – Editor’s Choice
New York Media
Time Out
The Daily Beast
Gizmodo
Tastemade
Barstool Sports

4.Getting the Perfect YouTube Review: A Step-By-Step Approach

A lot of the success both came from Reddit, as their beginning place, and also from YouTube tech reviewers.

Important:  record marketing activities

First thing to do: improving the website, build a brand

Amazon conversion tracking
Is there any way to track or do you know either anecdotally if a lot of your traffic comes to your site, learns about you and then leaves to buy on Amazon?—-NO

Redesigning a site

  • determine what that flow was going to be
  • visuals of color
  • the layout

How do you guys identify and work with influencers?
A lot of Googling.
Be human. Craft a message about them, about their channel. Whatever they’re doing that has caught your attention. Send them a real message

So how do you usually work with these reviewers. Do you usually work with paid reviewers, do they get a commission? What’s usually turns out to be the best approach if someone wants to go down the route of product reviews?
To pay somebody to review a product calls into a lot of question their credibility.

“Hey I want you to review our product and after you are done reviewing the product, I would like to talk to you about advertising”.

5.BrandZ Top 100 Global Brands 2019

6.10 Profit-Driving Chatbot Campaigns You Can Copy Today

 LEGO and its product recommendation chatbot Ralph

 Sephora Assistant, a Messenger-based bot

 Fanta, working to promote its new drink – Fanta Guarana 

 DBS piloted a bot called Foodster 

 TechCrunch’s publisher chatbot case study

Check out the quick-start Facebook Messenger chatbot templates that you can clone for an SMB or start-up in these industries:

7.How to Make Money with SEO in 2019 – Whiteboard Friday

Step 1: Find (or create!) a business/website that fits important criteria

A) Produces a relatively high amount of gross margin per search visitor
B.) Inspires/incentivizes users to amplify their experience and your brand
C.) Over time, creates branded demand rather than generic search behavior

Step 2: Design a unique value prop/strategy that resonates with searcher intent & produces search-optimized content that people want to link to

A.) Build a keyword research list
B.) Answer 3 questions
1. What will I create to be 10X better than what’s currently ranking on page one?
2. Who will help amplify/link to this and why?
3. How will I build a moat that can protect against Google’s own incursion into these results?

Step 3: Find what customers do before they search for high-competition keywords/around your topics

Exposure keywords
Influencer-targeted content

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