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luni, 18 august 2014
Chart of the Week:
How to Use Facebook for Targeted Content Promotion
How to Use Facebook for Targeted Content Promotion |
How to Use Facebook for Targeted Content Promotion Posted: 17 Aug 2014 05:16 PM PDT Posted by Paddy_Moogan As much as content and advertising agencies would like you to believe it, content produced by a business doesn't just go viral on it's own. There is often something that pushes it really, really hard when it first goes live which gains momentum, and eventually the content is spread far and wide enough that it doesn't need you to push it anymore. Those of you who have read Good to Great may be making associations with the flywheel principle, but that's a post for another day! In this post I want to talk about one of the ways you can give your content a nudge in the right direction and get more people looking at it: Facebook advertising. I won't go into too much detail on the basics of Facebook advertising; there are lots of resources and posts out there which do this. Instead, I want to dive straight into the methods you can use to promote your content to an audience on Facebook. One of the advantages of using Facebook is the fine level of detail you can go to in terms of targeting an audience. In my opinion, this is one of the areas where Facebook is actually better than Google when it comes to advertising. They have so many options when it comes to targeting your audience: You can go much deeperWhat isn't as well known, however, is that you can define your own audiences on Facebook and advertise to them directly. There are two core ways that you can do this which I'll explain in this post:
These methods allow you to push your content to a wider audience, but in a very targeted way. Yes, you are paying to advertise your content, which may feel a bit strange. However, it can be a great way of supporting your outreach and PR efforts. Let's explore each one. Custom audiencesYou can use a feature called custom audiences to define exactly who it is that you'd like to advertising your content to. Why this is useful for content promotionWhen it comes to promoting your content, getting a lot of traffic to the content is good, but ideally you don't just want random visitors, you want targeted visitors. Whilst it is unlikely that you'll generate loads of direct conversions from a piece of content, you still want to attract visitors who you stand a chance of converting to customers at some point in the future. As you can see above, you can get very granular with standard Facebook targeting. Custom audiences allow you to do even more and mix in data from your existing, non-Facebook customer lists too. This means that you can promote your content to an audience that is already somewhat engaged with your brand and is a little bit more likely to be interested in it. This is far better than a scatter-gun approach where you just try and get as many eyes on a piece of content as possible - regardless of how targeted they are. Facebook gives you a number of ways to define your custom audience: Let's go through each of these in turn and look at what they can do. Data file custom audienceThis option allows you to upload a CSV file which Facebook will then process to try and find matches with people who are already on Facebook. There are a few options in terms of what data you can upload and use to match people against:
Once you've uploaded the file, it shouldn't take Facebook more than an hour or so to process the file and find matches from its users. Note that you need to upload a decent number of records in order to target them, Facebook recommends at least 100 people. Otherwise, the audience is likely to be too small to have any kind of impact or reach. After processing, you'll see that the audience you've just created will be available to advertise to when you create a new ad: From here, you can just create an ad as normal but it will be targeted just at this list of people. MailChimp custom audienceI love MailChimp, we use it all the time at Distilled. Facebook makes it super easy to connect to your MailChimp account and target your email list. If you have a list of customers or newsletter subscribers, then they are already familiar with your brand. So targeting them and showing off your awesome content could help bring them back to your website in a way that isn't directly sales / conversion focused. This can also work well to try and drive more traffic to your Facebook page or to generate likes, etc. Custom audience from your mobile appI haven't had the opportunity to try this one yet, but it's clear that it could be pretty powerful if you have a mobile app and are able to integrate the Facebook SDK for iOS or Android. Basically, you can record user interactions with your app and choose to bucket people who take certain actions into a custom audience. Custom audience from your websiteThis feature allows you to track visitors to your website using a Facebook remarketing pixel. Once you've installed the pixel, Facebook will begin building a list of visitors to your page who are also logged into Facebook and push these people into a custom audience. There are loads of ways to use this, but I'll come onto a very specific way you can use this shortly. Lookalike audiencesThere is a lot of power in the lookalike audiences feature on Facebook, I'll talk through a few examples, but first, let me briefly explain what lookalike audiences are in case you're not familiar. Facebook allows you to say, "hey, here is a list of my existing customers, go find me people on Facebook who are similar to them and put those people into a new list." I don't know the secret sauce or methodology that Facebook uses here, but I'd imagine it's a case of mashing together things like:
Once they've discovered the trends in this data, they find other people on Facebook who share these trends and put them into a new list. You can then push adverts for your content towards this list of people. Why this is useful for content promotionThe beauty of this method is that you're reaching a brand new audience in a very, very targeted way. Again, it's not a scatter-gun approach of just trying to target as many people as possible. Instead, you're targeting people who look very similar to your existing audience. How to create a lookalike audienceFacebook makes it really easy, you go to Facebook Ads and click on the following: Then click on: You will then see something like this: You can choose the source of your lookalike audience which, as you can see, can be either:
I'll go into detail on these shortly and give some examples of what you can do here. Next, you need to choose a country for your audience. Currently, Facebook only allows you to select one country at a time. So if you wanted to create lookalike audiences across lots of countries, you'll need to create a lookalike list for each country. The final option is to tell Facebook what balance you want between a new audience that is similar to your existing audience vs. the reach of the new audience. If you're starting off with a pretty small audience, then you may have to move the needle more towards reach, but I'd generally try and keep things as closely related to your existing audience as possible. Otherwise you're losing the benefits that a lookalike audience gives you. Once you've created your audience, it will be available to you in the dropdown menu when you create a new ad: Next, let's get into some examples of how you can use lookalike audiences to get more relevant eyes on your content. Create a lookalike audience based on your email listAbove, we talked about how you can create a custom audience by uploading a list of customer email addresses or syncing Facebook with your MailChimp account. This alone is pretty powerful, but you can also use your email list as a source of a lookalike audience. You'll need to create a custom audience first, but once you do, you can use this as a source and tell Facebook to find you a whole new audience who look like your existing email list. This is really useful if you have:
Create a lookalike audience based on visitors to your contentYou can't really do this one in advance of launching your content, but I think it can be a very powerful method of extending the reach of your content in a very targeted way. What we're going to do is track all the people who view our content, then ask Facebook to find us a new audience who look like those people. Let me illustrate with an example using this piece of content we created at Distilled: It stands to reason that people who click through to this piece of content are probably going to share a few things:
If we placed a Facebook conversion pixel on this page, Facebook will detect those people who view the content and are logged into Facebook at the same time. This means that when grouping all those people together, Facebook will probably find shared interests, demographics and likes which they can use to define a new lookalike audience. In this example, the new audience is likely to be interested in music and gigs. If we then advertise this content to this new audience, it's likely to get their attention because they will be similar to the existing audience who are already viewing the content. This is super, super targeted. So how do you do this? The first step is to place a Facebook conversion pixel on your piece of content. You can do this by following these steps. Click on conversion tracking: Click on create pixel: Now you have some options to select: Next, Facebook will give you some tracking code which you need to paste it into the <head> section of your page. Once you've done this, Facebook will start tracking the pixel and you'll see a new row in your conversion tracking report: It will take a bit of time for data to start coming in, but when it does and you've reach a good amount of views, you can create a lookalike audience by clicking on: That's it! You can then select this new lookalike audience when you create an ad and push adverts for your content towards people who share the same attributes of people already viewing your content. To wrap things upHopefully you can see the power of Facebook ads, in particular the custom and lookalike audience features to help you promote your content in a very, very targeted way. It may feel a bit unnatural to pay to promote content (and not your product) but this is a very cost-effective way of reaching a big audience and it can really help support your regular outreach efforts. Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read! |
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Seth's Blog : Who named the colors?
Who named the colors?
We did.
It's not a silly question. It has a lot to do with culture and crowds and the way we decide, as a group, what's right and what's not.
A quick look at some colors confirms that there is no algorithm, no accepted pattern for color names. They range from short and obscure (puce) to long and obvious references, like cotton candy.
No color has a name until a significant group accepts that name. You can start calling the sky, "gluten," but it's not going to be useful until others do as well.
That's what mass, cultural-shifting marketing does. It creates an idea or a label or a habit or a discussion and enables it to become a building block of our culture.
No one who invents a name for a color is applauded or instantly successful. It never works right away. And then, person by person, it starts to stick. The first person leaps, and leaps again, and persists, inventing something we sooner or later all decided we needed all along.
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duminică, 17 august 2014
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
What States are the Biggest Job Winners and Losers in the Recovery? Posted: 17 Aug 2014 09:01 PM PDT The Deloitte University Press has a very interesting, and comprehensive study on job gains and losses, by type of job, and state by state. The biggest winners are states involved in energy production, finance, or healthcare. The biggest losers are states that did not recover from the real estate bust, or lost population due to emigration. With that overview, let's dive deeper into the Geography of Jobs. Only now, as we reach the fifth anniversary of the end of the recession, has employment in the United States finally regained its pre-recession peak. The national story of slow recovery obscures the more complicated regional picture: As is the case during most business cycles, the pace of recovery has been very uneven among the states. At present, only 16 states plus the District of Columbia have employment rates at least one percent higher than they had prior to the start of the recession.The report takes a detailed look at mining, construction, and manufacturing gains and losses. Mining is of course a net overall gain, while hard-hit manufacturing states were slow to recover. Here are a few of my own conclusions, not from the report:
It's a nice report. Inquiring minds may wish to take a closer look. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Brain Drain and Capital Flight: 64% of Wealthy Chinese Plan to Leave China Posted: 17 Aug 2014 11:55 AM PDT Massive pollution, especially unbreathable air, lack of educational opportunities, food, safety, and corruption are some of the reasons behind a recent poll that shows a whopping 64% of wealthy Chinese plan to leave the country. The Wall Street Journal calls it The Great Chinese Exodus. Today, China's borders are wide open. Almost anybody who wants a passport can get one. And Chinese nationals are leaving in vast waves: Last year, more than 100 million outbound travelers crossed the frontiers.There is much more in the article including a video interview of political scientist James Jiann Hua To by WSJ's Deborah Kan. James To is author of 'Qiaowu: Extra-Territorial Policies for the Overseas Chinese', a book on how the Chinese government is using propaganda campaigns abroad to ensure loyalty from overseas Chinese. At $146, I doubt he sells many copies. Instead, inquiring minds may wish to consider a Q&A on Qiaowu Writing China: James Jiann Hua To, 'Qiaowu: Extra-Territorial Policies for the Overseas Chinese'. For a discussion of the impact of Chinese capital flight on the US housing market, please consider $22 Billion in California Homes Sold to Chinese All-Cash Buyers; "Beginning of Tidal Wave" says NAR Chief Economist. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
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Seth's Blog : Escalators, elevators and the ferry
Escalators, elevators and the ferry
Escalators make people happy. They're ready when you are, there is almost never a line, and you can see progress happening the entire time.
Elevators are faster, particularly for long distances, but we get frustrated when we just miss one, and we often wonder when the next one is coming, even after a few seconds. (That's why lobbies have mirrors, to give you something to do when you're waiting).
The ferry schedule, invented by Cornelius Vanderbilt, is a third way to deal with transport. Instead of having each boat turn around the minute it arrived, he guaranteed when it would leave. We can build our day around a schedule...
What do you offer your clients?
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sâmbătă, 16 august 2014
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
It's Different This Time: Humans Need Not Apply; Two Possible Solutions Posted: 16 Aug 2014 02:32 PM PDT On August 7, I wrote about "McCashier" Your $15.00 Per Hour McDonald's Worker Replacement. Sure. You can make $15 an hour at McDonald's, at least in Seattle. You just have to perform better than this machine. ![]() Many commented along the lines of "What's the big deal? It's only a cashier. There are more cooking jobs that cannot be replaced." For example reader Chris commented ... A McDonalds worker isn't a "cashier." The person who works the front end doesn't just take orders and money. The person who works up front also fills drinks for drive thru. They clean the restrooms and dining areas. They help assemble food if needed(dropping fries.) Does the machine do all those things? If it doesn't then it isn't really replacing anything or more cost effective then a person. There is usually 2-3 people in the back assembling food and 2 people up front taking orders, handling money, assembling trays with ordered food, preparing drinks for drive thru, etc., etc. You could get the kiosk and the stupid burger machine and still have more than enough work for those 5 people.Really? What about robot cooks, robot greeters, and even robot waiters? Robot Cooks, Greeters, Waiters The Times of India reports Robots Greet, Cook and Deliver Dishes at this Restaurant in China. It's more teatime than Terminator — a restaurant in China is electrifying customers by using more than a dozen robots to cook and deliver food. Mechanical staff greet customers, deliver dishes to tables and even stir-fry meat and vegetables at the eatery in Kunshan, which opened last week.Robot Waiters ![]() A restaurant in China is electrifying customers by using more than a dozen robots to cook and deliver food. (AFP Photo) Robot Cooks ![]() This photo taken on August 13, 2014, shows a robot cooking vegetables in a kitchen of a restaurant in Kunshan. (AFP Photo) Humans Need Not Apply Many people sent me a link to Humans Need Not Apply. The 15 minute video is well done and very thought provoking. It's well worth your time to play it. Is It Different This Time? The gist of the video is that "It's Different This Time", that no matter what your job is, your job is in jeopardy. I have stated that over the long haul, technology creates jobs, but there are periods of creative destruction where the opposite happens. For example: How many millions of jobs did the internet revolution create? Did they all vanish? No they did not vanish, and they all won't. Yet, we are in a creative destruction phase where computers take jobs away. Will this change? I don't know the catalyst, but historically speaking, it always has. What about the meantime? And for those who think the setup is permanent, the problem has even more severe implications. Many readers have written this is why we need a "guaranteed income", not a guaranteed minimum "living wage". Let's quickly dispense with such nonsense. Pay people to do nothing and you promote doing nothing. Do we have enough energy resources to give everyone on the planet, a guaranteed "living income"? The answer is no, we don't. Reflections on Productivity The natural state of affairs because of increased productivity over time is an increased standard of living, more free, time, and falling prices. Productivity and technological breakthroughs are inherently price-deflationary. Enter the Fed and central banks in general. Central banks are hell bent on producing 2% or more inflation in a deflationary world. That is the source of the battle over "living wages". The problem is money does not go far enough, rather than people do not make enough. Realistically, no one in their right mind should care if wages fall, if increased productivity makes prices fall faster. But central banks do not want prices to fall. Nor do those who control the assets (the banks, the bureaucrats, and the already wealthy) want prices to fall. So, with the Fed promoting inflation, bureaucrats promoting higher and higher minimum wages, and with the Fed holding interest rates artificially low, corporations have every incentive to replace workers with robots at a Fed-induced artificially high rate. Two Possible Solutions The solution is not higher minimum wages. The solution is not a tax on robots like Paul Krugman wants. The solution is not a guaranteed income. The solution is to eliminate the Fed, eliminate fractional reserve lending, and give the free market a chance to create jobs at its own pace, without all this government and central bank interference. The alternative "solution" and not one I support, is to kill off a lot of needless people by starting WWIII. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Rebels Inflict Heavy Damage on Ukrainian Military Vehicles; Anti-Putin Sanction Alliance Crumbles Posted: 16 Aug 2014 11:22 AM PDT Contrary to the unsubstantiated rumor (most likely a complete fabrication) that Ukraine Destroyed a Russian Convoy, the rebels have inflicted serious damage on the Ukrainian military machine. And unlike the zero-proof offered by Ukraine, I have a few videos to show. Descriptions from Jacob Dreizin, a US citizen who speaks Russian and reads Ukrainian. Video 1: Stepanovka Translated Text from Video URL: "The defeat of Ukrainian troops in Stepanovka part 1. In Stepanovka Ukrainian army left dozens of pieces of equipment, a large quantity of ammunition, classified material. Locals said that the Ukrainian officers fatten when their soldiers were starving. In the Ukrainian army thrives drunkenness and panic." Dreizin Synopsis 1: Destroyed or abandoned Ukrainian equipment in/near Stepanovka in the south, the first of two Stepanovka videos. The first couple of minutes are very interesting, with lots of destroyed or abandoned equipment and milia carting off captured munitions and rummaging through stuff. Then a funky local man who tells the cameraman about how the Ukrainian officers didn't take care of their men and darted off leaving their men stranded, how the Ukrainians all drink heavily, how their morale is low and they panic during any kind of battle, and how they don't want to engage the militia up-close. Also you can see a stack of grad rockets on the ground around 5:50 and then again around 7:20. But the most memorable quote is from around 7:18 to 7:52, as follows ... "In the Stepanovka area, guys are jumping to go into battle, to kill the enemy even with bare hands. In particular, in the assault units that captured Stepanovka, there are very many volunteers from Semyonovka [a town near Slaviansk that was largely destroyed by Ukrainian shelling], who are just burning with a thirst for vengeance for the acts of genocide that the fascists waged there. I think that for Ukrainian soldiers, it's really best not to run into these guys. This is the mindset the Ukrainian army is fighting." Video 2: Stepanovka Translated text from the video URL "In Stepanovka Ukrainian army left dozens of pieces of equipment, a large quantity of ammunition, classified material. Showing the shocking footage of the deceased in the fire department of a Ukrainian paratroopers." Dreizin Synopsis 2: Destroyed or abandoned Ukrainian equipment near Stepanovka in the south, the second of two Stepanovka videos. This video is more interesting, much more equipment here, best part starts around 2:50. Overall, for both (1) and (2), the narrator is describing the abandoned weapons, the tactical situation, and the human situation. In part (2) from 3:09-3:21, the narrator says that a militia burial party has already been to that particular spot, and along with a priest has taken the remains of 40 Ukrainians killed there and buried them nearby. Video 3: Lugansk Dreizin says "Warning! This may kill your appetite" Video URO description says "Consumed column Lviv airmobile brigade APU by the people's militia". Dreizin Synopsis 3: Dreizin describes this as the remains of a convoy of Ukraine's 95th Airmobile Brigade. I question the recentness of the video based on rotting flesh. Video 4: Marinovka Video URL Customs post with Russia "Marinovka" August 14, 2014 Dreizin Synopsis 4: These militiamen are touring the captured border post of Marinovka, one of the points that plugs the western flank of the new cauldron in the south. They are obviously really happy, and the tall guy with the beard and mustache even finds the occasion to shout out his own paraphrase of an excerpt from Pushkin's "Ruslan i Liudmila" at around 0:22-0:25 (roughly translated as "It now smells like Russia here".) Anti-Putin Sanction Alliance Crumbles As the war rages on, and sanctions mount, support for those sanctions is now being reconsidered. Zero Hedge provides a nice synopsis in "Anti-Putin" Alliance Fraying: Germany, Slovakia, Greece, Czech Republic Urge End To Russian Sanctions Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
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