From TV to Meerkat: Redefining Media

From Newsweek ending its print run in 2012, to the emergence of new digital media like Periscope and Meerkat this year, we are experiencing a drastic shift from well-curated and polished brand generated content to raw, often times unedited user generated content and the latter is gaining more and more momentum as well as criticism. 

Interestingly, brands take different - sometimes opposing - stances in allowing users to broadcast their events. Take MLB and NHL for example, just two weeks after MLB announced that "the MLB has no intention of limiting the fan’s ability to cover their sport", NHL Deputy Commissioner said "any streaming of footage (is) in violation of the NHL’s Broadcast Guidelines (including, for example, live-streaming inside the arena less than 30 minutes before the start of the game) and Media Access Policy is expressly prohibited". NHL has its own official account on Periscope and the above statement clearly shows that they do not want fans to stream hockey games on their own. Will sports fans think of MLB and NHL differently knowing their stance on level of content broadcasting governance? Are live stream video apps the new frenemy of TV, or a foe? 

There are also legal concerns. As HBO recently learned, the apps can pose a piracy threat. When dozens of viewers began live streaming the season premiere of Game of Thrones via Periscope–essentially allowing people who don't subscribe to the channel to watch for free–HBO sent Periscope take-down notices. HBO added that "We feel developers should have tools which proactively prevent mass copyright infringement from occurring on their apps and not be solely reliant upon notification." Does the concept of a sharing community not exist in media then? I think current regulations need some update to reflect the nature of growing user generated content and perhaps even draw new lines of copyright infringement, instead of blankly treating them as simple violations.

I have not had a TV set ever since I was in college and I get all the information I need from online sources, mostly in the form of text (articles, tweets, Reddit, etc) and sometimes in videos. For our generation that thrive on the Internet, live video platforms like Periscope and Meerkat speak a more natural language than CNN or NYTimes, and I believe as long as the piracy battle is settled, social media will really become the mainstream.

5 Ways for Effective B2B Marketing

This topic speaks truly to me: I have been working in sales & marketing operations in B2B companies for the past 4 years and I see B2B marketing failures and mistakes every day. In this post, I will dissect - based on what I have seen - the five most effective ways for B2B marketing from this D&B infographic.

In-Person Events

Nothing beats a face-to-face conversation and this is one tactic where B2B companies can greatly leverage and influence. Do you host marketing events and invite your clients and prospects? (example: Salesforce.com hosts Dreamforce every year in San Francisco and it is a blast every time, I'm going this year in September and I cannot wait to see what new features and products they are introducing)

Webinars

One step down from in-person events - lower cost, larger reach with lower lead conversion - is company-hosted webinars. Webinar is only a format, you can play with what you want to communicate to your target audience depending on the ask. Some of the examples that I have seen includes: inviting your customer to speak about how they use your product to prospects, topics around current events (e.g. online security software hosting a webinar on cyber security after the Sony hack). Hubspot has a nice checklist of tasks that make your webinar great.

Videos

Instead of live events, videos that demonstrate how your product work in real life are even more affordable to produce, and very informative when the lead is just entering the top of the funnel. One thing to avoid though is rambling on and on about the technical specs with little or no mention of real life application. You want to make product videos thinking from the buyer's perspective, not simply to showcase how complex your product is - unless that is relevant to the decision maker. Even then, make it short and sweet.

Blogs

This should go without saying. Compared to whitepapers, blogs feel a tad more personal and gives you the option to read further into the company and its products after you get a feeling from videos and webinars. A well-maintained and curated company blog makes it stands out among competitors and educate potential buyers. 

Case Studies

Companies want to see how other similar companies use this product and what they say about it. Case studies are usually requested further down the sales conversation and the request in itself demonstrates great interest and intent from the buyer. Why do you want to waste your time reading another company's story if you are not considering buying? Therefore, getting great testimonials from your clients is very important. 

In fact, last month our company was able to seal a deal with a financial services company after we provided them with a list of clients within their vertical with similar revenue level. Sometimes, just the fact that others similar to your business is using the product is convincing enough. 

Top 3 e-Commerce Gamification examples

As shopping went online, a lot of the fun, interactive, and social experiences of shopping disappeared. However, it opened up a whole new world of other fun and exciting activities that could make shopping even more addictive than ever – except this time within the comforts of my home, and I can achieve my win-states much more often.

There is where e-Commerce Gamification comes in place. Who doesn't love a little extra fun while shopping? Gamification applies basic game thinking and game mechanics to a non-gaming context. Many gamification models reward users for participating, completing defined user tasks, or achieving goals. Here I provide you with 3 examples that I personally love (read: fall into) and I wish more brands, and even companies do.

LinkedIn

For LinkedIn, its product is only as good as the quality of the data that its members upload.

So to encourage users to maintain accurate profiles it gives you a different status based on the amount of data you’ve included. Personally I’m an All-Star, but there’s still room for improvement and my competitive nature cannot stop but desperately try to find out how I can fill that tiny little white space at the top!

This is obviously only a small feature, but it’s one that could be implemented on e-commerce sites to encourage customers to part with more personal data, especially when that data is where your product and thus revenue is based on.

Dropbox

Cloud storage supplier Dropbox has included an element of gamification in its platform by offering additional storage space if users complete certain tasks. 

A free account gives you access to 2GB of storage, but you can earn an extra 250MB just by taking a tour of Dropbox’s services.

There’s also 125MB up for grabs for connecting your account to either Twitter or Facebook, following Dropbox on Twitter or leaving feedback.

But the biggest rewards are reserved for referring friends just like credit card referrals – 500MB for each referral up to a maximum of 16GB.

Foursquare

It was a good feeling to get points for going about your daily life before Foursquare replaced itself with Swarm, which omit the points system. Take a look at the two screenshots below – one from Foursquare (with points) and one from Swarm (without). You may ask "who cares?", but it was fun to me and it puts a smile on me when my weekly check-in score puts me on top of the leaderboard among my friends. 

As you can see, Swarm still has the ‘fun facts’ about check-ins, but it lacks the points and the leaderboard. 

Again, user data fuels the product. LinkedIn and Foursquare rely on their users diligently either update their profiles or checking in wherever they go so they can prove out their business model to investors.