Top Four Digital News Predictions of 2019

According to Reuters Institute Digital News Report of January 2019, the journalism field has faced many challenges in the past year; from the change of Facebook algorithm to the worst social media and digital technology privacy leaks. This, however, does not negate the fact that they can still be used to deliver better high-quality journalism. In 2019, we expect better outcomes, with more technology integration such as Artificial Intelligence and Virtual/Augmented Reality. In this article, we will share with you our top four digital journalism and media predictions of 2019 based on Journalism, Media, and Technology Trends Predictions report by Nic Newman.

1-A Test for Media Platforms  

Elections Igniters 

The elections poll this year in India and Indonesia will be a big defense test for social media platforms. The rise of religious hatred and intolerance in India has corresponded with the rise of social media, specifically political WhatsApp groups. Political activists and parties have established thousands of Whatsapp groups to spread their messages, which will be a hard task to audit. A new BBC study indicated that Indians feel that forwarding some of these political messages is their patriotic duty. Furthermore, In Indonesia, the government has reportedly set up a defense team of 70 engineers to fully block Facebook, if needed.

Fact Checking Indicators

Making a decision on what and what not to show as a publisher will be harder than it has already been. The different social search platforms along with aggregators will increase their focus on the credibility and the track record of publishers in 2019. This had proven effective in downranking false news. However, this year, more systematic approaches will be put into action. About 120 news websites have included indicators to gain people’s trust on their pages. The indicators link to details about online journalism ethics, fact-checking and editor’s corrections. Accordingly, established news websites hope that these indicators will differentiate them from unreliable ones.

BBC Trust Indicators

Stories vs. Feeds

The trends report also showed that publishers are thinking of moving away from Facebook to try the diversity of other social media platforms this year. Media publishers along with many others have moved from feeds to stories last year, due to the huge traction that these stories have received.  According to Facebook, people will use stories more than feeds to share with their friends in 2019. On a daily bases, about 150 million people use stories on Facebook, 300 million people on Instagram, and 190 million on Snapchat. A notable mention here is the AMP stories, which firstly appeared in 2018 at the top of some Google searches. These AMP stories will become more important for Google news distribution this year, operating on Android devices.

2-The Business of Journalism

The Game of subscriptions 

Regarding changes in the journalistic field this year, news websites will place further subscription limitations on their online content. The limitations will range from putting entire website behind paywalls to introducing new membership models for loyal readers only like what is used by HuffPost and the Independent. However, these limitations might not be the ultimate solution in 2019, as we might witness the rise of ‘subscription blockers’ downloadable software or maybe browsing extensions that will give people a way around paywalls. One solution for news websites is to force users to login with their information, but that will result in a decrease in occasional readers and advertising revenues as well.

Organizational Changes

Another change in the journalism field is equal opportunities for different genders. More organizations will try to follow the example of Ben Bartenstein, a business reporter at Bloomberg, who made sure that he is giving enough opportunities by approaching more diverse sources. Ben’s colleague helped him to build lists of people, and he went further to start the “New Voices” initiative, where they give media training to executive women.  As a result of his imitative efforts, Ben argues that including more women has given him a competitive advantage of coming up with intriguing higher impact stories.

3-AI in the Newsroom

Publishers and newsrooms are planning to invest more in the potentials of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning technologies (ML).This investment, however, will not be at the expense of journalists and editors. Editors will still be valued more than machines; the integration of both humans and AI technologies are also needed to assist journalists and editors in their jobs to hopefully reach a high level of accuracy and efficiency.

At AP 72% of publishers denoted that they were experimenting with the different tools of AI, however, in 2019, there will be real life application of AI, said Lisa Gibbs, Director of News Partnerships.

The application of AI will mainly fall into three main categories

1- Using Machine Learning to individualize content and generate customers’ recommendations more efficiently.

2- Making more automated videos and stories (Robo-Journalism).  

3- Presenting tools that help journalists dealing with the overloading of information and enhancing their work, like Wordlift for example.

Robo-Journalism Expected to Expand Despite Limitations — Financial Tribune

4-Audio and Voice in 2019

The huge sales of millions of new smart devices, spreading globally, and the rapidly growing popularity of podcasts, have set audio to be one of the biggest media topics of 2019. In the United States, it is estimated that up to 40 million individuals own a smart speaker, while in the UK it is about 7 million people. The digital Survey of Reuters News disclosed that (75%) of the respondents believe that audio is becoming an essential part of content creation and the different marketing strategies of publishers that they are building audio production units. Moreover, the majority of respondents (78%) believe that, during the next few years, voice-controlled technologies like (Google, Assistant and Amazon Alexa) will change the ways people discover media.

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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TRENDS IN 2019: THE FUTURE IS VIDEO

 

How Can AR/VR Successfully Change Business Marketing

What is VR/AR?

Virtual Reality is a computer aided stimuli that places the user into another dimension. Alternatively, Augmented Reality (sometimes called mixed reality) is placing digital content in the real world using smartphone cameras. The most common application of AR is Pokémon Go game. AR/ VR and MR all fall under the term extended reality. VR/AR was mostly well received in the virtual gaming industry, however, the promising potentials of this technology encouraged experts in many fields, including marketing to experiment with it. Here are some of the ways where VR/AR can be used in business marketing.

A New Way to Attract Customers

Recently experiential marketing has become widely used by many entities, especially when attracting new customers and sustaining existing ones. Merged with experimental marketing, using AR/VR technologies, marketers can visually display what customers request…From kitchen counter-tops to medical surgeries, VR will add value to customer experiences and accordingly enhance the marketing and sales processes.

With the support of VR, customized advertising will be part of our lives. Marketers and advertisers will make use of user preference data and turn it to real time, in an effort to enhance messages, colors, timing and placement of ads.

Surgeons can now use VR headsets to virtually check their patient’s brain or body — Surgical Theater

User- Brand Interactivity

One of the most important things for marketers in customer engagement, and VR/AR has allowed marketers and advertisers to achieve their user interaction goals using short features on brands and companies. Traditional marketing is limited when it comes to customer interaction restraining the benefits that could arise from a favorable user interaction. Alternatively, using AR/VR, marketers can now display immersive interactive experiences built around brand content.

Topshop, the clothing brand, with the help of an emerging tech agency “INITION,” gave their customers the experience of a fashion show front seat. Customers used VR glasses to watch Topshop’s catwalk as if they were attending the show during The London Fashion Week.

Customers at Topshop were able to virtually attend the fashion show — Wired UK

Closing the Digital-Print Marketing Circle

Closing the circle between digital and print marketing, AR has already become an integral element of experiential marketing. Marketers now have the ability to boost their real world message with the support of digital interactions, which in term increase the resonance of the message and elongate the user engagement time, bringing the digital reality to the real world. On the other hand, VR allows marketers to bring the real world into digital reality when they use it to bring customers to a controlled environment like for example a virtual store.

 

“The traditional model of advertising and marketing is based on the marketer speaking to the marketed through a commercial, social post or digital skyscraper ad. With AR and VR, customers have a new opportunity to become part of the experience, to interact with a brand in ways they haven’t before.” – Kathleen Lucente, Red Fan Communications

 

E-Commerce Integration with AR

In a new way that was not possible a few years back, AR can be integrated into E-commerce using smartphones operating system. Brands can now engage their customers with their products, a process which was not possible a few years back. For example Ray-Ban used AR in an Instagram sponsored post to allow customers to tryout the different glasses, and see how they look on their faces before making a purchase.

Rayban VR Demo from Teads on Vimeo

Exploring Products Became an Experience

In a digital world where customers read reviews, look at photos, and check rating before purchasing any product, AR/VR technologies allows customers a 360 degree view of any item before actually making a purchasing decision. IKEA for example used VR in their app to allow people to decide on how the furniture will look and fit into their place. While Lowe’s home improvement store worked with Microsoft to design an experience where people can see how they would look like at their future homes. The Importance of these VR activities lies in the valuable customer data collected by VR systems which later help marketers in their marketing strategy and market research.

A View of Ikea Kitchen Using VR app for HTC Vive

Ikea VR app for HTC Vive

VR for Fundraisers and philanthropy

Many sectors can benefit from VR/AR technologies including non-profits. Fundraisers could use AR to demonstrate the causes they support like for example recreating a poor village in need of food supplies. Toms shoes, known for their philanthropy initiative: Giving away a pair for every pair purchased “one for one,” used VR in one of their marketing campaigns. Toms created virtual reality experience, where customers can feel what it is like to travel on a trip to give someone shoes.

Contact us at Insideout 10 to know more about our services for integrating VR/AR technologies in your business marketing activities.

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Five Reasons Why You Should Use Artificial Intelligence powered Marketing

 

 

 

Five Reasons Why You Should Use Artificial Intelligence powered Marketing

The term Artificial Intelligence has been a buzzword in the marketing industry in recent years due to the many benefits that this type of technology can add to marketers and the quality of their work. Nevertheless, recent studies show that only 18% of companies have figured out how to use AI to the point that they’re scaling it in their operations, that is due to the fact that marketers still do not know how to use this technology and feel threatened by it that they just want to experiment with it, but not actually use it.  

To put things into perspective, Artificial Intelligence powered marketing (AI marketing) is today’s new wave of data-driven marketing strategy, that allows marketers to construct customized and remarkably personalized customer experiences. These AI fueled experiences are much cheaper and more efficient than traditional marketing in that it truly fulfills one to one marketing by filling the gap between data, analytics and customer experiences. Here are five reasons why you should use Artificial Intelligence in your marketing activities. 

1.Customized Content For Your Customers 

Marketing platforms that support AI are able to come up with purposeful information and findings that enhance and boost personalized marketing activities. Additionally AI integrated marketing create customized content and fulfill a measurable one to one individually tailored communication with customers.

Wanna learn how Artificial Intelligence can help grow your business? We’ve tried and reviwed for you some of the best Artificial Intelligence SEO tools to improve your website performance. Check our top 10 AI SEO tools!

2.A Possibility to Win Every Sale 

Marketers who use AI technologies can clearly understand motivators, improve user experience, and predict actions and behaviors to engage customers. The AI driven marketing ultimately amplify the possibility for marketers to win a sale. For example, Sigma Beauty ( the makeup brushes brand) sends its customers personalized codes in order to incite them to make a purchase.

3.Big Names Are Already Witnessing AI Benefits

Whilst some still look at it as science fiction, AI is already integrated into people’s lives without their realization since long ago! Google , for example, uses it in their Google Search optimization to discover trends. Facebook uses AI in their ads to predict future occurrences and to enhance their marketplace. For their buyers, Facebook uses AI to suggest items that look similar to the one the buyer is looking for, and for their sellers, they have a tool that automatically enriches the lighting in product images while being uploaded. Also, social networks use AI, somehow. For example, Pinterest uses AI to foresee users behavior in order to come up with search recommendations.

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4. Say Goodbye To Tedious Daily Tasks

AI uses machine learning algorithms to step in and take over the time consuming and boring tasks that marketers have to deal with daily. A good example of this would be product recommendations. With zero human interaction, AI can consistently decide which product to offer to which customer. Optimizing ads for instance used to be a heavy task on marketers, especially when trying to reach a certain level of customization dealing with thousands of customers. Now, with the help of AI and based on precise customer data, ads are easily targeted to serve each user .

AI-powered SEO is the future of content marketing! Wordlift is Paving the way for a completely new generation of AI-driven SEO tools powered by semantic technologies that combine knowledge extraction with high-quality graphs to help editors focus on their stories and let machines find the perfect audiences for it. Learn how our AI-powered software can improve your organic traffic, while you focus on your content.

5.Machine Learning Objectivity and Accuracy 

There aren’t enough data for marketers to identify and optimize incentives on an individual level. Artificial intelligence , on the other hand, collects and analyze data regarding customer responsiveness to incentives, and how that affects buying behaviors. Machine learning then excludes any objectivity or speculations by distinguishing the exact incentives for individuals to buy products. 

If you want to advance marketing ROI and boost your business way beyond traditional marketing, drop us a note on our contact form and get to know more about how you can use AI driven marketing solutions tailored for your brand.

Infographic about the problems faced while using traditional marketing and how AI can solve them

 

 

 

 

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TRENDS IN 2019: THE FUTURE IS VIDEO

A person holding his phone up horizontally and take a videoIn the past couple of years, video content has notably boomed especially with the rise of different forms of videos such as live videos, 360 videos, VR videos, and technology continues to surprise us each year with astonishing concepts and inventions that take videos to another level.

In 2019 video content is expected to grow even stronger, video is anticipated to dominate the online marketing arena and that is mostly true for live videos, the trend that has been taking over Facebook and Instagram in the past couple of years. The originality and the immediacy of these live videos have attracted viewers and social media users globally.

360° Videos and Live Streaming: An Immersive Video Experience for your Audience

Michael Stelzner founder of Social Media Examiner conducted a survey where more than 5000 marketers mostly in the United States answered question regrading social media marketing trends.  According to the report’s results,  social media marketing is definitely moving towards including more visuals, specifically more videos. The participants identified five different types of social media content that they use in their social media marketing activities. These are visual images, videos, blogging, live videos, and podcasting. The major percentage of 80% went to visual images, followed by videos at 63%, blogging at 60%, live videos at 35%, and lastly, marketers use podcasting only 9% of the time.

Interestingly using videos for social media marketing moved from 57% in 2017 to 63% in 2018. While live videos moved from 28% in 2017 to 35% in 2018. Witnessing this rise in video content is due to the fact that when asked which content form these marketers wish to learn more about in the future, videos went to the top of the chart with 77% followed by live videos at 68% and visual images at 65%. Therefore marketers when asked whether they’ll increase, decrease, remain the same, or not use various forms of content. They indicated that they would increase videos by 77%, visual Images by 68%, live video by 63%, blogging by 57%, and finally podcasting by 25%.

Infographic including facts and figures about using videos for social media marketing, that's based on a 2018 survey by MICHAEL A. STELZNER

 

The rise of ‘Live’

We have witnessed the rise of live video in the past few years; to be more specific YouTube started this featured back in 2012 for selected partners and verified accounts. The popularity of this feature among many viewers and mobile users encouraged Facebook and Instagram to follow the leads of the video streaming giant. The strong continuation of live videos in 2019 has created opportunities for marketers to engage audiences and creating strong relationships with their brand followers.

Some risks accompany live streaming, just like any type of technology due to technical difficulties and random problems that arise from the nature of going live, however viewers are likely to understand these issues owing to their geniality and authenticity. In addition, issues actually might increase relevance to both sides.

Mike Allton, Brand Evangelist, Author and Content Marketing Practitioner at The Social Media Hat said that:

“As more and more devices and platforms support video – and in particular, live video – it’s becoming imperative that brands have a video strategy.”

Generation Z and Millennials thrive to trustworthiness and realism in their relationship with brands. Their intensive mobile usage and instant gratification needs will increase the popularity of short feature content in 2019. Hence, it is essential for social media content creators and marketers to form a strong video strategy that not only develops audience engagement with the brand but also establish FOMO (fear of missing out) effects among the follower.

Six Elements of a Successful Video Strategy

The biggest development in 2018 ongoing to 2019 regarding video is the launch of IGTV by Instagram. Many were confused by this new addition at the beginning including myself. It was not clear how can we use this new tool to market brands. IGTV is a long video feature that can last up until one hour, which makes it different than other types of videos on social media. Despite its dissimilarity in format to the other videos on social media the IGTV has encouraged many brands and dare I say “Social Media influencers” to become broadcasters, bringing variety, authenticity, and relevance to video content for mobile users. Initiating IGTV as its own platform similar to conventional TV with its separate channels only for Instagram users will boost the likability and growth of Instagram between users in 2019, which in turn will open new paths of social media marketing  

Live videos seem to increase people’s trust and relevancy of the brand, which in turn might affect customer retention in a positive manner. Hence, live videos or video content , in general, is an opportunity for brand exposure and growth that you don’t want to miss out on in 2019.

If you are interested in a video strategy to market your brand online and key solution tailored for your needs to generate revenues with videos, contact Insideout 10 today to know more about our video marketing solutions and services, we would be delighted to help!