Thursday, December 29, 2022

Advertising News Media Blog: Musk says Twitter in precarious position, defends cost cuts

Musk says Twitter in precarious position, defends cost cuts

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Elon Musk is defending his massive cost-cutting at Twitter as necessary for the social media platform to survive next year, due in part to debt payments tied to his $44 billion takeover of the company.


“This company is like, basically, you’re in a plane that is headed towards the ground at high speed with the engines on fire and the controls don’t work,” Musk told a late-night audience on a Twitter Spaces call Tuesday.


That’s after Elon Musk said earlier on Tuesday that he plans on remaining as Twitter’s CEO until he can find someone willing to replace him in the job.


Musk’s announcement came after millions of Twitter users asked him to step down in an online poll the billionaire himself created and promised to abide by.


“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!” Musk tweeted. “After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.”


Since taking over the San Francisco social media platform in late October, Musk’s run as CEO has been marked by quickly issued rules and policies that have often been withdrawn or changed soon after being made public.


Musk said Tuesday night that he “spent the last five weeks cutting costs like crazy” and trying to build a stronger paid subscription service because otherwise Twitter might be operating with $3 billion in negative cash flow next year. He in part blamed the $12.5 billion in debt tied to his April agreement to buy the company, as well as the Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate hikes.


Some of Musk’s actions have unnerved Twitter advertisers and turned off users. He has laid off more than half of Twitter’s workforce, released contract content moderators and disbanded a council of trust and safety advisors that the company formed in 2016 to address hate speech and other problems on the platform.


The Tesla CEO has also alienated investors at his electric vehicle company over concerns that Twitter is taking too much of his attention, and possibly offending loyal customers.


Even more unnerving for investors, Tesla shares are plummeting.


Shares of Tesla are down 35% since Musk took over Twitter on Oct. 27, costing investors billions. Tesla’s market value was over $1.1 trillion on April 1, the last trading day before Musk disclosed he was buying up Twitter shares. The company has since lost 58% of its value, at a time when rival auto makers are cutting in on Tesla’s dominant share of electric vehicle sales.


Shares fell Wednesday, as they have every day this week.


A single share of Tesla that cost about $400 to start the year, can now be had for less than $140.


Musk sought to defend some of his recent Twitter decisions on the Twitter Spaces call.


“They may seem sometimes spurious or odd or whatever,” Musk said. “It’s because we have an emergency fire drill on our hands. That’s the reason. Not because I’m naturally capricious. Or at least, aspirationally, I’m not naturally capricious.”


Musk, who also helms the SpaceX rocket company, has previously acknowledged how difficult it will be to find someone to take over as Twitter CEO.


Bantering with Twitter followers earlier this week, he said that the person replacing him “must like pain a lot” to run a company that he said has been “in the fast lane to bankruptcy.”


“No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor,” Musk tweeted.


As things stand, Musk would still retain overwhelming influence over platform as its owner. He fired the company’s board of directors soon after taking control.

Monday, December 26, 2022

Sunday, December 25, 2022

Advertising News Media Blog: Keys To Online Success

Advertising News Media Blog

5 Keys To Online Success





It is being more commonly understood that the dot.com bust of 2000 was more the result of bad business models and execution than of some intrinsic fault within the Internet. Many businesses with models appropriate to the Internet are alive and thriving.


Perhaps you’re wondering if your own business has what it takes to be successful on the Web? While every situation is different, experts have noted that successful online businesses possess a number of common characteristics. Let’s take a look at five key characteristics that they share.


1. Management possessed a “Net” awareness.

Dun and Bradstreet’s 20th Annual Small business Survey reports that two-thirds of today’s small businesses have Internet access, and approximately 50 percent of those also have a Website. And more than 60 percent of those with Internet access plan to increase their use of the Internet in coming months.


As business owners and decision-makers, you will most certainly benefit by spending time online learning about the Internet. Look at how your competitors and industry are using it, try to discern where your markets potentially hang out, and ask lots of questions.


2. They had an organized plan.

Do you remember the story Alice in Wonderland and the Cheshire cat? One day Alice came to a fork in the road. Looking around, she saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. “Which road should I take?” she asked. “Where do you want to go?” the cat replied. “I don’t know,” Alice answered. “In that case,” the cat said, “it doesn’t matter which road you take.”


Once you have gotten familiar with the Internet and its potential for your marketing, create a written plan of action. Simply putting your ideas down on paper will help focus your thoughts. Set goals and identify how you can get there.


How important is it to have a plan, or better yet, a written business plan? The Small Business Administration says that most successful companies started with a detailed business plan and those that didn’t plan were far more likely to fail.


3. Successful ventures implemented their creative ideas and then learned from what worked and what didn’t.

Kraft Foods is the largest branded food and beverage company in North America, and the second largest worldwide. Paula Sneed, one of their vice presidents, was a keynote speaker at an Economist Conference. She boiled down the basis for their success down to three simple “ingredients” which I believe are also important to all businesses, no matter what size.


Make smart bets. Kraft identified initiatives that build brand, increase customer loyalty, or cut costs.

Move fast. Once identified, they implemented their initiatives. I think one of the most notable things Sneed said was, “If we’re going to fail let’s fail fast and fail cheap.”

Make course corrections. Kraft expected both success and failure. They made mid-course corrections based on early feedback to improve the likelihood of success. Even failures provided good market feedback they could use for future initiatives.


4. Successful Web ventures did targeted marketing.

As a marketing consultant I find that many small businesses have great difficulty identifying their choice markets. I can’t tell you how many times I ask entrepreneurs what their target markets are, only to be told, “everyone.”


But targeting your marketing to “everyone” doesn’t make sense. Targeting means identifying those potential customers who represent the best prospects for sales and focusing your marketing efforts on them. This is simply the old 80/20 rule (that 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers) in practice.


In fact, finding a niche and working to serve its unmet needs is one of the best uses for the Web. Why? Because the Web isn’t really a mass marketing tool, as some would believe. It’s actually a supreme targeted marketing tool.


5. They combined online and offline marketing.

I always hear people making either/or kinds of comments about offline versus online advertising. But successful companies recognized that online and offline advertising are synergistic. They support and amplify one another.


Here are two simple examples. First, including your website URL in all your offline advertising messages (yellow pages, magazine ads, circulars etc) will bring traffic to your website. Second, a signup form on your website that you use to send prospects your standard marketing printed materials (brochures, sales materials etc).


While these five Keys do not guarantee online success, including them in your business will certainly improve your chances for success.

Monday, December 19, 2022

Advertising News Media Blog. Organic Search Results. An overview about how it all works for the Internet.

Advertising News Media Blog: Organic Search Results




In Web search engines, organic search results are the query results which are calculated strictly algorithmically, and not affected by advertiser payments. They are distinguished from various kinds of sponsored results, whether they are explicit pay per click advertisements, shopping results, or other results where the search engine is paid either for showing the result, or for clicks on the result.


Background

The Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Petal and Sogou search engines insert advertising on their search results pages. In U.S. law, advertising must be distinguished from organic results. This is done with various differences in background, text, link colors, and/or placement on the page. However, a 2004 survey found that a majority of search engine users could not distinguish the two.


Because so few ordinary users (38% according to Pew Research Center) realized that many of the highest placed "results" on search engine results pages (SERPs) were ads, the search engine optimization industry began to distinguish between ads and natural results.[citation needed] The perspective among general users was that all results were, in fact, "results." So the qualifier "organic" was invented to distinguish non-ad search results from ads. It has been used since at least 2004.


Because the distinction is important (and because the word "organic" has many metaphorical uses) the term is now in widespread use within the search engine optimization and web marketing industry. As of July 2009, the term "organic search" is now commonly used outside the specialist web marketing industry, even used frequently by Google (throughout the Google Analytics site, for instance).


Google claims their users click (organic) search results more often than ads, essentially rebutting the research cited above. A 2012 Google study found that 81% of ad impressions and 66% of ad clicks happen when there is no associated organic search result on the first page. Research has shown that searchers may have a bias against ads, unless the ads are relevant to the searcher's need or intent.


The same report and others going back to 1997 by Pew show that users avoid clicking "results" they know to be ads.


According to a June 2013 study by Chitika, 9 out of 10 searchers don't go beyond Google's first page of organic search results, a claim often cited by the search engine optimization (SEO) industry to justify optimizing websites for organic search. Organic SEO describes the use of certain strategies or tools to elevate a website's content in the "free" search results.


Users can prevent ads in search results and list only organic results by using browser add-ons and plugins. Other browsers may have different tools developed for blocking ads.


Organic search engine optimization is the process of improving web sites' rank in organic search results.


References

Wikipedia

Search News Media

Search Engine Journal

Search Engine Land

Sunday, December 11, 2022

Advertising News Media Blog: Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising. - Mark Twain

Advertising News Media Blog

Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising. - Mark Twain

Friday, December 09, 2022

Advertising News Media Blog: Airbnb’s search marketing shift: Should advertisers follow suit? (Search Engine Land)

Airbnb’s search marketing shift: Should advertisers follow suit? (Search Engine Land)

Airbnb’s search marketing shift: Should advertisers follow suit?


With CPCs rising across performance media channels, is it worth following Airbnb's shift from PPC to brand marketing? Here's what to consider.


A recent Wall Street Journal article reported that Airbnb’s “strategy of slashing advertising spending, investing in brand marketing and lessening its reliance on search-engine marketing is continuing to pay off.”


This remark has sparked discussions among many advertisers, wondering if a similar strategy may work for them. 


In 2019, Airbnb started to move budget away from search marketing in favor of broader marketing initiatives.


The pandemic accelerated the shift, with video and social media picking up the largest share of digital spend in 2021, according to data gathered from Semrush and Pathmatics.

*click here for full article and multimedia

(Search Engine Land)


Social Media

Greg Tingle

SEL's Amanda with an interesting and helpful article on Airbnb search marketing. I tend to agree that brand marketing and the like is the way to go. It's a saturated market as has been so for many years. Many brand managers, CEO's, bean counters and the like having been going direct to both creative and advertising agencies - I should know. Airbnb operators still see value in SEO as well as negotiating ad and copy rates with destination websites and niche website owners/ publishers. I've been in this game a few decades. A decade ago I secured a five figure deal with an owner on three continents with a number of properties involved, plus with an interactive game of skill tie-in with PR and news media elements. It was huge. If our agency didn't exist the likes of News Corp's Real Estate.com.au and/or Domain.com.au or maybe Google Ads would have secured it. As they say, you win some - you lose some. This Search Engine Journal feature has sparked my team and I to ramp up property aka real estate coverage including Airbnb again so thank you. There's still opportunity in the sector, be it Sydney, Melbourne, Vegas, Florida, Virgin Islands, Fiji or maybe even out the back of the U.A.E - you can bet the house on it! Web to the world over. 




Sunday, December 04, 2022

Advertising News Media Blog: Elon Musk thanks advertisers as Apple and Amazon return to Twitter

Elon Musk thanks advertisers as Apple and Amazon return to Twitter



Advertising News Media Blog: Organic Search Results...

Advertising News Media Blog 

Organic Search Results

Organic search results are the query results which are calculated strictly algorithmically, and not affected by advertiser payments. They are distinguished from various kinds of sponsored results, whether they are explicit pay per click advertisements, shopping results, or other results where the search engine is paid either for showing the result, or for clicks on the result.


Background

The Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Petal and Sogou search engines insert advertising on their search results pages. In U.S. law, advertising must be distinguished from organic results. This is done with various differences in background, text, link colors, and/or placement on the page. However, a 2004 survey found that a majority of search engine users could not distinguish the two


Because so few ordinary users (38% according to Pew Research Center) realized that many of the highest placed "results" on search engine results pages (SERPs) were ads, the search engine optimization industry began to distinguish between ads and natural results. The perspective among general users was that all results were, in fact, "results." So the qualifier "organic" was invented to distinguish non-ad search results from ads. It has been used since at least 2004.

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Advertising News Media Blog: Find your niche business sector For The Internet Matrix and beyond

Find your niche business sector For The Internet Matrix and beyond



We've been working in and around the internet and new media now for the better part of two decades and have continued to ramp up our coverage of this most interesting, dynamic and competitive sectors.


I guess you could say we have carved out our own niche (or specifically - niches). More on that later.


So, what is a niche market anyway? It's a specific topic or topics where one can specialize, either in a paid or unpaid capacity - sometimes both.


For example, my background includes crime scene journalism, combat sports, beach sports, lifestyle, big tech (predominantly Australia and Silicon Valley remotely), Australian Army Reserve (Comms), sports management and promotion, creative arts and entertainment management and promotion, and more. That's alot of background and experience, I know. That's a big part of the reason that having just one website, blog and social media channel was not enough for us. We wanted a bigger slice of the action and felt the need to offer more than "just" one site. We usually write about subject matters that we know a lot about - often intel not commonly known to everyone.  This helps keep the readership coming back for more.


If you the reader has a vast background also and is looking to get involved in digital and search engine related business, or ramp up, you may like to adopt or dare I say it - copycat to a certain extent (with credit to me) some of my ideas, while putting your own personal stamp and branding iron on it.


For example, the following are websites of ours that also predominantly have blogs, social media channels and so on:


Real Life Examples of niche websites


Media Man Int - our own modest size, international focussed media and digital media company. We cover over a dozen business sectors. Interviews, articles, scoops, even gossip and much more. A mix of full on journalism, gonzo journalism, opinion pieces, trends et al.


Media Man (Australia) - as above but with more of an Australian and Asia Pacific focus.


Australia Sports Entertainment - all about Australian and international sports. Includes health, well-being, training tips, news scoops, videos, interviews and more.


Wrestling News Media - predominantly pro wrestling aka sports entertainment. WWE, AEW, NJPW, NWA, independents and some UFC, ONE Championship, Bellator MMA etc. Articles, interviews, videos, scoops, fighter contracts, media deals, opinion and more.


Cafe News Media - Cafe News and cafe culture, as the name suggests. A focus on Sydney's Eastern Beaches region as well as Melbourne, Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Bali. Google Local Review profile tie-in works a treat every time. Cheers Google.


Casino News Media - casino news, information and trends of course. Vegas, Atlanta City, Florida, Hollywood, Macau, Monico and beyond, with a dash of Casino Royale and James Bond 007 themes thrown in. Shaken, not stirred. Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas, Vegas Baby and some casino king and pit boss feature and interviews. 


Hottest On TV - you guessed it. TV aka Television (hopefully not Tell Lie Vision)..Now includes streaming entertainment from the likes of Netflix, Binge, Paramount Plus, WWE Network, FITE TV, NJPW World, PPV (Pay-Per- View), UFC Fight Pass, SBS On Demand, ABC iView, PassionFlix (Tosca Musk), Court TV, Crime TV Network, National Geographic, History Channel, Internet TV on steroids and so it goes on. 


Media For Good - good news in and around the media, sports, tech and community sector. Being a former crime scene journalist and social campaigner was the trigger for this. Many other websites copied this, and we don't mind at all. Helping bring transparency and accountability to society and the world. Shining a light or blowtorch I say. Deer in headlights on occasion and when required. 


Coastal New Media - anything and everything pertaining to the coast, coastline, beach culture (especially Australia). Best surfing spots, hidden breaks, surfboards, surf and beach fashion and lingo, beach themed movies ala Gidget and so it goes on. Catch the wave. The ripple effect!


Eastern Suburbs Media - Eastern Beaches of Sydney, Australia. Some cross-over with Coastal New Media and Cafe News Media. What's news in these parts? Compliments a Google Local Review profile very nicely. Catch Of The Day mate!  


Be unique to stand out!


How can one stand out in a crowded and even super saturated industry, marketplace and world? What makes you and your company or companies truly unique? 


For us, we draw upon a few areas. We use significant gonzo journalism themes and influences (thanks Hunter S. Thompson), pro wrestling and MMA influences and banter (we know alot of wrestlers and did some basic training many moons ago), beach bum banter -; having spent much of our life and times around the beach), as well as many references from 'The Matrix', as we are a superfan of sorts. By using a combination of these terms and themes including "insider lingo", our scribes, websites and channels often stand out from the pack. A dash of controversy ever now and again. We got that idea from former wrestling promoter, television executive and author, Eric Bischoff ('Controversy Creates Cash' being his best selling and famous book). Real NWO (New World Order stuff).


Get The Basics Right - All You Can EAT


E - Expert

A - Authority

T - Trustworthy


Become a Go-To person, if you are not already.  If something is opinion based, be up-front about it.  Opinion pieces are just that. We all have opinions and different life and business experiences.  Life and business is full of perceptions and interpretations.  This could relate to the good, great and not so much of Google and other big tech firms, "link juice", social media channels, trust in mainstream news, politics and so it goes on. Respect the audience, readership and self. Don't forget the option of becoming a Google Local Guide (for credibility, reach and passion). Google is your friend, remember.  Everything matters, just like baking a cake. Get all the ingredients right.  Not too many links. Keep adding quality content that the search engines such as Google will love. Keep testing.  Choose your social media wisely and be mindful of what you write and put out there.  Birds of a feather flock together.  Are you a blogger/Blogspot, YouTuber, Twitter, Facebook, or combination hybrid?  Does your social media reflect your business?  Aim for the best cake humanly possible. The internet has many world class cakes er websites and best of class webby's and experts on all manner of things. Remember, you are writing for the web, not a 1000 page paperback, so keep that in mind. A best selling book may be in your future, but you are a web based businessperson of authority.


References - LinkedIn, website testimonials..


LinkedIn is a big hit for many SEO, marketing and media professionals. Boost your profile and street and industry cred with authentic references. Create a professional LinkedIn profile, and consider having a business branded channel also.


Aim to have strong agency (creative and advertising) contacts that would be sure to recommend you highly if asked.  Hard work and quality work pays dividends.


Repeat business is excellent business.  No hard-sell required, as they already know how good you are!


Be Honest With Yourself And Your Audience, Customers and Associates


You know what you know, and you don't know what you don't know!

SWAT

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats


Focus on your strengths. Share your unique and in-depth knowledge built up from years of experience.  Don't fall into the trap of pretending you are an expert on everything about websites and internet business, or even sport or elements of pop culture in the world. Specialize. Focus on strengths.


Niche Market (Wikipedia reminder)!

A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focused. The market niche defines the product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that it is intended to target. It is also a small market segment. Sometimes, a product or service can be entirely designed to satisfy a niche market.  Not every product can be defined by its market niche. The niche market is highly specialized, and aiming to survive among the competition from numerous super companies. Even established companies create products for different niches; Hewlett-Packard has all-in-one machines for printing, scanning and faxing targeted for the home office niche, while at the same time having separate machines with one of these functions for big businesses. (Wikipedia)


Web Basics 101


Meta-tags

Search Engine Optimization

Website Structure

Links to other authoritative destination websites - Wikipedia, IMDb, CIA world and country directory, Google search tools, popular social media channels.

Create quality and Google / search engine friendly and helpful content, just like 'The Big G' aka Alphabet powers that be keep telling us.

Be Courteous and Respectful to clients, associates, other media - everyone.

Be the white knight with white hat mentality.  Some moderate amount of grey is acceptable in my view, but don't become the Black Knight with the black hat and black magic Pandora's Box. The web game is challenging enough already without extra dramas.

Keep building upon your technical skills. Google and Google Console is your best friend!

Have backups and a Plan A, B and C. Things can and do go wrong in business and life in general at times. Minimize the risks. Again, focus on core strengths.


Conclusion

Do your best to offer something of value that is useful and helpful. Most businesses supply products and/or services.  You are a problem solver to a problem or challenge.  You are also a content creator and even a publisher and educator of sorts.  This has a high level of responsibility attached. Know your stuff.  Hone your craft.  Build up credibility.  The right audience will find you. Get your basics and foundation strong, and keep building upon it.  To succeed you will need to work hard and work smart.  The world is your oyster in the giant ocean and Internet Matrix Of Things. Do enough of the right things well and you are setting yourself up for success. Agent Tingle out for now, and back to the webcode soldier.


Greg Tingle (Founder and Director, Media Man Group)




Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Advertising News Media Blog: Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients.

Advertising News Media Blog

Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients.








Advertising News Media Blog: Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention...

Advertising News Media Blog


Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a specific good or service, but there are wide range of uses, the most common being the commercial advertisement.









Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a specific good or service, but there are wide range of uses, the most common being the commercial advertisement.