Semantic Web, Knowledge Graphs, Social Media and Memes
As a PhD student, I’m keen to discover the latest academic research, which often happens at conferences. Although my main area of research is within marketing, my specialist area is social media. This year I stumbled over the ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media.
In case, like me, you didn’t know, the ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) is a major international organisation focused on ‘Advancing Computing as a Science & Profession’. Their members include Vint Cerf, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and many of the computing great and good. They hold 170 conferences a year and have 37 Special Interest Groups, including Hypertext and Social Media.
Academic research source: ACM Digital Library
They also have a Digital Library that contains a wealth of significant academic articles about fake news, analysing Twitter data, bots and big data, privacy and artificial intelligence, as well as every aspect of applied…
Chart of the Day: Consumers prefer to compare and switch on desktop
The need for businesses of all industries to perfect their mobile experience has never been more important than it is in 2017. Google promoting Accelerated Mobile Pages and their announcement of a Mobile First Index mean that we need to optimise our websites for mobile and desktop to remain relevant in the coming years.
As marketers, it is vitally important that we create a great online experience for our customers and potential customers no matter which device they choose to use. To help deliver the best experiences across the purchasing funnel, you need to have actionable data to guide you in the right direction for each of the marketing channels including Search, Social, Email, Display etc.
This is where recent research from Hitwise will come in useful. It shows the distinction between an industry pushing towards mobile and a consumer still using…
Facebook digital transformation journey is 'only 1% finished'
I recently had the opportunity to visit Facebook’s Dublin HQ for a deep-dive immersion session. The objective was to up-skill everyone in the latest thinking and best practice in digital and mobile marketing from a Facebook/ Instagram perspective and over two days we covered a range of topics, from the rise of mobile video to the evolution of communication.
All of the presentations provided some really interesting and valuable insights, however it was the opening presentation that covered Facebook’s culture of innovation that really struck a chord.
At first I assumed this would comprise mainly of corporate propaganda, a list of reasons why Facebook is the #1 channel for marketers and ultimately an unassailable force for social good. Whilst there were inevitably elements of this there were also some interesting insights into a company that is a living and breathing example of digital transformation at…
Be proactive not reactive: Five simple steps to protect your brand reputation from future cyber attacks
On Friday 12th May, a global coordinated ransomware 'attack' began, affecting thousands of large and small private and public sector businesses. The attacks most high-profile victim, the NHS, suffered incredibly by way of operational business functionality, but also by way of business reputation.
Cybersecurity firm Secarma are warning businesses, large and small, that prevention is key to avoiding future attacks, and according to research from the Kaspersky Lab, 90% of businesses underestimate the threat of malware to their business continuity and brand reputation. A cyber attack on a business can be hugely detrimental to the longevity of that business.
According to IBM, small and mid-sized organisations are hit by 62% of all cyber-attacks, and unfortunately, the US' National Cyber Security Alliance reported that 60% of small businesses are unable to sustain their…
Which are the technologies that are dominating the Marketing Automation space?
Did you know that when it comes to marketing automation, just six technologies hold more than half of the market share? Well, now you do – courtesy of competitive intelligence and lead generation company SimilarTech and inbound marketing agency Bold Digital Architects.
The two companies recently teamed up to create a report on the State of Marketing Automation in 2017 and managed to draw up a couple of interesting conclusions.
Before we go into further detail, here’s a short overview for your convenience:
Six biggest technologies hold a total of 57 per cent of the market share.
A total of 482,765 websites have been using marketing automation technology last year, representing an increase in usage.
With more than a fifth of market share (21 per cent), Hubspot has the single largest market share.
B2B companies are most inclined on using marketing…
How and Why We Have Updated the UX in Our Members' Area
With over 150,000 active Basic, Individual and Business members accessing our resources through our members' area when they are signed in, we take the user experience (UX) of this area extremely seriously.
Since we first launched the members' area in Smart Insights in November 2011 we have updated its look and feel several times through major changes to the features and tests to improve usability and conversion. The new UX, launched this week is one of the biggest changes in look-and-feel for two years. So, in this article, I wanted to detail what the changes are and why we made them. I won't explain how different types of resources can help businesses in different use-cases or scenarios, these are detailed in our Getting Started guide for members. Before I get to the 5 new features I'll also explain a little…
Chart of the day: Most marketers are empowered to collaborate with sales
Research has found that marketing and sales are aligning more than ever, sharing insights and metrics. The study shows marketers usually understand what sales need from them.
The positive results from Salesforce show:
Marketers understand how they impact individual customers.
Marketers believe they send high-quality leads for the most part and marketing and sales share common goals and metrics.
They both also share data and imp[ortantly marketers understand what sales need to succeed and how they can assist with that.
The results suggest that sales and marketing metrics and goals are aligning, that they have regular communication and empathy for each other. In turn, supporting each other to succeed. This research is very positive for the effect marketing has on sales, in supporting their efforts. Perhaps marketers are now targeted on leads, quality of…
Chart of the Day: Mergers & Acquisition activity involving AI companies is increasing rapidly.
First people build things in their garages. Then the startup ecosystem develops. Then the tech gets noticed. Then the big players start realizing how disruptive it will be, and they start buying up the startups so they're the ones doing the disrupting, rather than being disrupted.
It's a cycle as old as silicon valley (so not really that old in the scheme of things). We've seen businesses like Amazon, Google and Facebook go from dorm rooms to garages to becoming some of the most valuable companies in the entire world.
Now it is artificial intelligence tech that is the exciting new technology with the power to transform how we live work and organize the world. The possibilities for marketers are enormous, so it is wise to keep an eye on how the tech is maturing.
The chart below shows how many…
Are you embracing AI to improve your ad campaigns?
Throughout the last year, artificial intelligence (AI) and its multitude of uses for marketing have become more and more obvious. While many brands were hesitant to explore the plethora of benefits it offers, 2017 is seeing brands dipping their toes into the AI waters, ready to embrace it as a beneficial component of their marketing strategies.
Take a look at these 3 ways artificial intelligence will affect marketing even more in 2017.
Impactful Ads
The creation of better advertisements is one of the biggest ways artificial intelligence will impact marketing in 2017. The ability for brands to use AI to research and develop crucial marketing aspects, such as keyword searches, empowers marketers to build smarter, more effective ads that should lead to more conversions.
For years, companies have focused on who to show ads to and when to show the ads. AI allows marketers to, instead,…
Happy birthday iPhone
120 months ago on the 29th June at 09.41am (California time) the world changed forever. Six months after being introduced at the Macworld Convention by Steve Jobs, the $499, 4GB storage iPhone was finally in stores.
Since then, over a billion iPhones have been sold globally. In 2007 Apple had $6bn in cash. Today the company’s accounts are reportedly in the final stretch to being valued at $1trillion.
But things could have turned out very differently. Back when the iPhone wasn’t even a glint in Steve Jobs’ eyes, telecoms giants like Verizon held a tight grip over the specification of handsets. Weighty manuals read like a bible of ‘thou shall nots’. Such restrictions went against everything Jobs believed in. It certainly wasn’t a sector that he wanted to get into.
Some three years before the iPhone said ‘hello’. A team of Apple engineers were fiddling…
