With this in mind, I recently wondered how I could engage my social network “in real life” (IRL). I wanted people to put down their phones and talk again. Here are a few things I came up with. Feel free to use these suggestions to reconnect with your tribe as well.

1. Host a Meetup

When I first noticed how cell phones were controlling us, ironically, I decided to take to Twitter. I voiced my dismay with how people weren’t engaging with each other in real life. So, I proposed to my followers that we should have a creative meetup. The event would be for anyone who’d want to take cool photographs or get photographed at a park in New York City. I wanted to bring everyone on my timeline to one place for one reason—to engage with each other in real life. Before I knew it, hundreds of people were showing interest in the meetup. They too had become jaded with how the Internet had taken hold of our lives. To my surprise, about 50 people showed up.

More photos here:

Everyone who attended the meetup posted about it on social media. My follower numbers jumped and profile views were in the tens of thousands after just a few days. This is a great example of IRL marketing. Bring your followers to a given location with a specific purpose in mind. You’d be surprised how many people will come together for a cause.

2. Start a Club

A few weeks after my meetup, I received a direct message from a friend. He decided to start a book club with some of his social followers. The club would meet once a week at a park in the city. As a professional social media practitioner, I recognized this as a real opportunity. Building a club with your followers is a great way to get to know them in person. It’s organic and you don’t have to hide behind a keyboard to showcase your brand or who you are.

3. Stream Live Q&As

Going on Instagram Live or Facebook Live isn’t necessarily engaging with your followers in real life, but it is engaging with them in real-time. Ask your followers to prepare questions for you. This is a great way for them to get to know you. Don’t have enough followers to get questions from? Try looking up “Personal questions” on Google. In my experience, answering deep questions on live video has been a great way to build relationships both online and offline.

I’ve made it my mission to bridge the gap between social media and the real world. If you have any supporting ideas on how to engage with your followers in real life, please comment below.

The post How To Engage With Your Followers In Real Life (IRL) appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Here’s How…

Giphy is a free service that allows users to share gifs on their Facebook pages.

Login to Giphy.com. On the upper right-hand corner of the website, click “Upload.” Next, click “Browse” and select the GIF you’d like to upload.

Once your GIF is uploaded, Giphy will give you an option to share your GIF to Facebook. Click the Facebook icon on the right side of the screen. If you have a business profile page, Giphy will give you an option to share it on your intended profile there as well.

To GIF or Not to GIF?

Not sold on how effective GIFs are? According to Alex Chung, CEO of Giphy, a picture may be worth a thousand words, but as “the average GIF contains sixty frames, then they’re capable of conveying 60,000 words – the same as the average novel.”

And according to Reuters, 84% of communication will be visual by 2018. People love communicating through GIFs. The latest iPhone software has a GIF keyboard—and so does Facebook Messenger. Why not extend the kind of content you put out on your Facebook Page to keep up with demand?

Finally, the use of GIFs is growing more and more every day. According to Twitter, more than 100 million GIFs were shared through tweets and direct messages. Stay tuned for my next article on how to find the right GIFs to use on social media.

The post How to Upload GIFs to Facebook appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

We’ve uncovered some patterns that determine whether or not online music tracks become modern-day hits. In today’s music culture, being talented just isn’t enough. You need to utilize social media in order to get your music to as many ears as possible. Here are 5 tips to help you do just that:

Start A Trend

A great way to get your music out there is by starting a trend. Over the years, we’ve seen countless trends blow up on social media. In 2013, American DJ Baauer’s song “Harlem Shake” gained popularity when a challenge using the track ignited on social media. Virtually everyone got in on the viral phenomena, adding their own unique spin on it. My high school swim team even made an underwater version. The viral meme pushed Baauer’s song onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 5 consecutive weeks. That’s not surprising, considering that one Harlem Shake video by the Norwegian Army has gotten over 116 million views.

Today, there’s another challenge dominating social media — the Mannequin Challenge. With Rae Sremmurd’s song “Black Beatles” playing in the background, people pose frozen in action as a camera films around them. Celebrities, colleges, and even professionals participated in the challenge. As a result of the challenge, “Black Beatles” has been on the Billboard Hot 100 for weeks and has 297 million plays on Youtube. The Mannequin Challenge is a great example of how a trend can push song plays around the world.

Make Your Music Out Of Context

Make your music out of context. If all you do is upload your content to SoundCloud, it’s time to start thinking outside of the box. Here’s a video of a man who collaborated with a random person on the street. This video received an astounding 29 million views and landed these two talented gentlemen a spot on Jimmy Fallon.

Another great example of taking your music out of context is performing in unusual places. Here’s a viral video of someone ordering Dunkin’ Donuts in song. Not too shabby for 6 million views.

Interact With People

The most organic way to build a music following is by engaging with people on social media. Go on Twitter and look for people who are into indie music. You can literally search “Indie Music” to find this. Follow anyone who seems to be interested in your type of music. The process may be tedious, but you’ll be surprised to see how many people follow you back and engage with your music. Don’t stop at Twitter. Follow your core audience on Instagram, SoundCloud, and YouTube as well.

Cover Other Music

People want to hear music they already know. In fact, Justin Bieber became famous by making covers of his favorite songs and posting them on YouTube. Today, the same trend is happening across all social media platforms. Facebook’s latest cover sensation is Devvon Terrell. He makes his own renditions of famous R&B songs, and most of his videos get 5+ million views.

Here’s one of his most popular songs:

Show Everyone How You Make a Song

Millennials love content that is organic and real. Show everyone how you make a song from the ground up. Artist William Singe proves just how effective doing this can be on social media. His Facebook videos get millions of views because he breaks down how he makes his music, from vocals to drum beats and everything in between.

Check him out here:

The post 5 Ways To Get Your Music Out There Using Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

On Social Media Engagement

“Fire your Facebook followers,” Investopedia CEO, David Siegel, says. “If you have followers that aren’t engaging, Facebook’s algorithm will negatively affect how far reaching your posts are.” See more via our Facebook stream of David’s presentation.

“Find out what’s relevant to your followers before you post,” a rep from Bold says.
Focus on your followers who are engaging and the content they like and you will do fine.

On The Future Of Social Media

A rep from Brandwatch seemed to think virtual reality would be making a name for itself in the social media space. “In terms of social, I think it’s very similar to the future of the digital space in general. I think social is moving towards virtual reality.”

Luke Niu, a Digital Advertiser at Digg, seems to have an even more intriguing idea on the future of social media. “I see personalized AI being developed. I see it eventually assisting us in developing brand stories and engaging in specific social actions.”

Pepsi’s CMO had an entirely different perspective. “Snapchat will continue to connect the digital world with the physical world. We have a single store that has absolutely no branding, but it does have a Snapchat and Instagram presence that people from all over the world engage with. I see this pattern continuing over the years.”

On Increasing Web Traffic

Investopedia’s CEO also gave a few insightful tips on how to increase web traffic. “When I first got the job as CEO of Investopedia, I noticed that the majority of our traffic was coming from Google. I didn’t like this. All of our traffic was in the hands of Google. A great method to increase traffic is to increase your web traffic sources.”

He then went on to give us insights into how to gain more sources of traffic. “Partner with other companies for traffic. Fool writes for Investopedia all the time for free. All they ask is that we include a link to their services at the bottom of each article.”
Partnering with other companies in this way would definitely help increase traffic. Write a blog or two for Huffington Post. Include links to your site, and surely your traffic will increase.

On Television as a Marketing Medium

Everyone seems to think television is dead — except Pepsi. For its “Puppy-Monkey-Baby” campaign, the brand decided to mix what usually goes viral online with television. The campaign was tremendously successful — to the point where people were dressing up as Puppy-Monkey-Babies for Halloween. The key takeaway is that TV still works, it just has to be modern and in-tune with the digital age.

OfferPop’s Announcement

At the conference, OfferPop, which runs applications that allow companies to run contests via social media, announced a name change to Wyng. The name change is a play on the word “Wing.”

“We changed our name because we aren’t just focusing on typical contests and offer pops. Moving forward, we want to get into predictive analysis. We want companies to be able to predict what sort of content works better with our platform. We are ‘taking flight’ into new endeavors,” a rep from Wyng explained to us.

What’s Next?

Following up on the success of the Marketing Summit, Incite Group is bringing what it bills as “USA’s best brand-focused customer service conference” to the Marriot Brooklyn Bridge on November 9-10, 2016.

Renegade LLC and Social Media Explorer CEO will be speaking and moderating once again, so be sure to stay tuned to SocialMediaExplorer.com for updates and insights from the Incite Customer Service Summit 2016!

The post Marketing Insights from Pepsi, Brandwatch, Investopedia, and More appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

October 16

So, on the evening of October 16, 2016, I checked into a nondescript Airbnb in Los Angeles — a loft located in the middle of downtown. As a New York City native, I wanted to stay at a location that would put me close to all of the local attractions.

The loft was spacious. There was pool table and several couches for my friends and I to lounge on. Aside from all of the space, I noticed a few weird artifacts hanging around the loft. They were weird enough for me to photograph and post on Facebook.

October 17

The morning of the 17th, I woke up before everyone else to get a jump on the bathroom and to brush my teeth. I noted to myself that it had only been one day that I’d rested my head in this creepy Airbnb. It felt like much longer. The apartment was freezing. More cold than it was outside. Still, I didn’t really make much out of it.

These next few moments are going to sound a bit unbelievable…

After brushing my teeth, I called a cousin of mine who happens to live in the area. We started talking about ghosts over the phone and suddenly my Bluetooth speakers turned on. The music the speakers played was lagging as if the radio wasn’t working properly. The music it played sounded eerie, almost demonic. Keep in mind, it is still morning.

I turned the radio off, got dressed and left the loft to explore for the rest of the day. When I returned, I noticed a friend of mine who had stayed back at the loft was trembling in fear. He said he felt like something “evil” was in the house. He claimed that he felt like there was something watching him. While I was a bit shaken after the radio had turned on by itself earlier on in the day, I didn’t make much of my friend’s claim.

Until I felt an evil presence too.

Sundown…

When the sun went down, things really just started getting weird in the loft. The radio would turn on by itself every now and then. Everyone started getting anxiety over this evil feeling that my friend had spoken about. One of the people I was staying with at the time actually had a panic attack. He claimed that he had seen a shadow glide across the living room and that after seeing it, he couldn’t breathe or talk properly.

Did you ever get negative vibes from a person at the first impression? Imagine that feeling — times 1,000! We all felt this shroud of negative energy consume the house. The more we looked around the loft, the more freaked out we became. On the side-table there was a copy of the book Dante’s Inferno with candles surrounding it. This was no ordinary Airbnb!

That night, I forced myself to sleep. I knew that if I stayed awake, weirder things would happen.

October 18

Luckily, I didn’t have to stay in this Airbnb for much longer. Every time my friends and I walked in and out of the loft, we got goosebumps. It’s safe to say that I’ll be reading Airbnb reviews more closely the next time I book a place to stay.

So, Why Is This Story on a Marketing Blog?

After surviving my experience, I began to get a few ideas. If you host an Airbnb, why not customize your accommodations to certain types of guests or specific holidays and interests? An Airbnb specifically marketed as “haunted” would surely attract millennials (well, other than me, that is). In fact, there are other haunted Airbnbs that really do exist already. Check them out here…if you dare!

Happy Halloween!

Image credits: Horror GIF, Jarrell Chalmers

The post My Airbnb Was Actually Haunted appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

We notify Facebook whenever we get into a new relationship. Hashtags are used to make sure everyone knows just how in love we are. We get more excited for the likes and the validation than the actual date. Meals don’t taste quite as good if we can’t put an Instagram filter over them. Life has been broken down into likes, impressions and followers. Social rank is more important than it ever was.

Imagine a world in which you could look at someone and instantly see how they rank on social media via augmented reality. That is what Netflix’s hit show, Black Mirror, explores in its episode entitled “Nosedive.” Given the creepy nature of this series, coupled with the perfect storm of Halloween proximity and social media themes, we thought we’d have a little fun and review this episode with you. Give some thought to how pervasive social media is in your life and how much more it might be in the not too distant future. Enjoy…if you dare.

Google Glass? How Quaint!

“Nosedive” explores a fictitious world in which augmented reality contact lenses display user generated scores glowing across everyone’s faces. These scores range from 0 to 5. If you have a negative experience with someone, you can give them a rank of 1 and it will affect their score. Furthermore, having a low score affects your status in society, your access to services such as luxury apartments and car rentals, and even your employability. You literally cannot rent a nice hotel room in this world if you have a low social score.

The episode centers around protagonist Lacie Pound (played by Bryce Dallas Howard). Lacie is obsessed with maintaining this Martha Stewart-type appeal so that people will give her high rankings. She goes out of her way to prepare meals that look great, but taste horrible. She does this just so she can photograph her Instagram-worthy food in hopes of getting high ratings from her friends.

Lacie’s social media popularity lands her the position of Maid of Honor by an old friend of hers, who happens to have a high rating of 4.7. Furthermore, most of the people who will attend this wedding have ratings of 4.5 and above. In this world, ratings from higher ranking people are worth more. This is Lacie’s perfect chance to increase her rating.

Hashtag #I’mF**CKED!

The wedding is at a private island, so Lacie has to catch a plane. At the airport, the airline informs her that her flight has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Lacie freaks out. Since this society is so tailor-made to produce content that appeals to the masses, no one shows their true emotions. When Lacie lashes out at the airline, they call the police on her.

In this world, instead of getting a ticket, you get points deducted from your rating. Lacie went from being a 4.2 to a 3.2 because of her outburst at the airport. She was also put on “double damage.” This means that if someone gives her a low ranking, her score is affected twice as much.

Lacie is escorted out of the airport. Since she has a low score, she is only able to rent a crappy car. She hopes to still drive to the wedding even though it is a few thousand miles away.

While driving her crappy car, the vehicle breaks down. Lacie is stranded in the middle of the highway. Since she has a low score of 3.2, no one wants to help her get to where she is going. People literally drive by and ignore her. This angers Lacie so much that she yells at the passing drivers. The more she yells, the more people stop and give her negative ratings. Lacie goes from a 3.2 to a 2.1.

When the bride is notified of Lacie’s low rating score, she calls Lacie and tells her that she can no longer attend the wedding. Lacie is furious, but she decides to drive to the wedding anyway.

After a series of low ratings and bad luck, Lacie makes it to the island. She notices a sign that reads “Ratings of 4.0 and above only are allowed entry.” Lacie has to climb a fence while no one is looking.

She is completely destroyed by her journey and her clothes are in tatters. After making it to the other side of the island, she notices that the wedding ceremony has already commenced. Lacie sneaks into the wedding and steals a microphone to give a speech as to why the world isn’t a good place anymore. She is fed up with the rating system. It doesn’t help that she picks up a knife while she is giving this speech. Everyone in attendance gives her negative reviews. When she hits 0, police officers escort her into a prison that looks straight out of the novel, 1984.

Does Life Imitate Art, Or…

While this episode is a bit extreme, it is not too far removed from our current reality. To get a job, you are asked for your social media profiles. Even real estate agents are checking social media accounts. Oh, and have you ever heard of Klout Perks? What’s even scarier is that an app was almost created that literally depicts Lacie’s world!

Back in 2015, an app called Peeple was being developed that was basically “Yelp for people.” There was a huge public outcry against the app, so it was never developed.

Even though “Nosedive” is a complete satire, there is a lot of truth to it. It raises the question: does social media jeopardize authenticity? What do you guys think? Let’s continue the conversation on Twitter (but we can’t promise that someone, somewhere, is not keeping score!)

Image credits: Netflix

The post Black Mirror Explores the Horrors of Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

As the 12th most popular site in the United States (25th in the world), Reddit gets about 542 million visitors per month on the site. As a business, you cannot afford to ignore such a large source of potential viewers for your content. So, here are the basic steps of how to use Reddit to drive traffic to your website or blog.

Choose A Relevant Subreddit

One of Reddit’s most powerful features is the “subreddit.” It’s basically a topic section where users can discuss just about anything you can think of. For instance, there’s a subreddit called “Business” where users post links, text, or tidbits of business advice.

Think about who your audience is before you decide what subreddit to engage with. If you have a blog about food, the “Food” subreddit might be the perfect place for you to post relevant content. Fashion brands can leverage topics like the StreetWear subreddit, and tech companies can use the Tech subreddit. Get it? There’s a search bar on the right-hand corner of Reddit’s site where you can explore any topic of your choosing.

Follow the Rules — Or Be Banned

WARNING: Do not blatantly advertise on Reddit. Reddit is about the consumer, not the business. People want quality content, not advertisements. If you sell food products, blog about different things you can do with food. Post them on Reddit as advice columns and not advertisements. In this way, you won’t be banned from using the site. Keep in mind, every subreddit has its own rules, so be mindful of all of them.

Note What The Audience Is Already Discussing

If you’re on a subreddit called “Video Games” and you notice everyone is mostly discussing Super Mario, for example, keep this in mind when you are developing content. Speak in the “native language” and organic interests inherent on the site, or you will gain nothing from Reddit. Scroll different subreddits and note conversations by category. This will help you find patterns of quality content to discuss.

It’s vital to write content that people on Reddit will find valuable. Connect that content to your brand, but don’t do it overtly. It’s okay to link to a page on your website in a Reddit post, but don’t write an entire post about why your product is amazing.

To see who’s online, Reddit tells you how many people are currently active on a subreddit on the right-hand side of the Reddit browser.

Don’t Abuse The Site

Once you start seeing results, do not abuse the site. There are moderators that note activity on the platform. If they notice that you are blatantly trying to advertise or post too much, they will ban you. Click here to view Reddit’s full content policy.

In summary, there are five steps to take when utilizing Reddit to drive traffic to your website. First, find a relevant subreddit that fits your audience. Next, read the rules and regulations of that subreddit. Note what the audience on that subreddit is talking about and create your content accordingly. Post your content when users are most active. Finally, be careful when you are engaging on the site so as not to get banned for misuse.

Pro Tip: Make sure your hosting can handle the Reddit traffic if it goes viral. A few great tips on how to choose the right hosting you can find here

The post How to Use Reddit to Drive Traffic to Your Site appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

A reporter in Time magazine recently spoke about Millennials by saying: “Unless you are the boss, no one cares what works best for you.” This kind of rhetoric will no longer be ignored.

We are tired of being treated like children. Time and time again, you have spoken in a condescending manner without realizing what we are capable of doing in response. To the Grumpy Generation, consider this: Millenials will represent 40% of the workforce by 2020. Do you really want to anger the future majority with your empty threats today? Do you seriously think it’s a good idea to ignore the needs of the only pool of talent you’ll have access to in a few years?

And if you won’t meet our needs, we’ll just start our own companies — or drive for Uber until we are comfortable enough to do so.

What We Want

It’s no secret that Millenials can be a bit entitled. Over 72% of us want to be our own boss. We want the freedom to choose when and how we work, as long as we deliver results. Yes, this means that we want to work from home every now and then. As long as we are delivering results, why shouldn’t we be able to have this? Statistics show that people who work from home are 29% more productive than the average cubicle schlub.

While working from home would be nice, this isn’t the only thing we want. We want to create more. We want to build apps, start our own fashion lines and we want to make a difference in the world.

This isn’t all too crazy or far off from what your company can provide for us. In fact, 88% of us would rather collaborate, than compete. USE THIS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE! Include us in your brainstorming meetings. At least let us feel like we are doing something meaningful, or we just won’t work for you. We’ll just make our money by writing nasty blog articles about your company.

Yes, that’s a thing.

What We Don’t Want

Bullshit like this. The Time article I mentioned earlier goes on to say: “Check your language with your superiors. [Do you use the phrase] ‘No Problem?’ Don’t do this.”

Are you guys serious? Who cares what my language is like as long as I am delivering results. If I just landed your agency a high paying client, the difference between ‘no problem’ and ‘thank you’ is insignificant. Baby Boomers, are you so petty that you value semantics over company results?

We also don’t give a damn about dress code. If Facebook engineers are going to work in sweatpants, so can we. My tie won’t determine how well I pull data for your company or brand. It’s time that Generation Grump stopped caring about such menial things as one’s wardrobe. Why don’t we start tracking professionalism with dollar signs? If I am making your company money, don’t worry about what I am wearing. Leave that to my mother, okay?

In short, we want more freedom. We want to work at our own pace, so we can have time to travel and follow our dreams. Isn’t that what you all wanted once upon a time, G? It’s not too late to make that dream a reality. Together, we can build a better, more productive society (preferably one we can both afford to retire in).

What do you think of giffys in our posts? Let us know in the comments or @smxplorer

The post An Open Letter from a Millennial to Generation G* appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Google Sensei Is a Millennial’s Best Friend

How, exactly, did I start an agency with just photos? Like everyone else in my generation, I used the Internet. “Google sensei” taught me how to optimize hashtags, write SEO friendly blog posts, and even how to use Photoshop. The secret to my sauce was figuring out what I needed to Google. Every social media client I gained had their own needs. With every individual need came something new I had to Google. For instance, if I had a client in the wedding space, I ran to Google for details on the industry.

While my political science degree is certainly something I value, Google has become my eternal instructor that I confide in for just about everything. I even used Google to write this article. I wanted to write about how other people my age are changing the world. What did I find? Were there any truths to my claim?

Here’s what I found on Google…

A World of Entrepreneurial Opportunities

On average, there are 50,000 new Uber drivers a month. There are over 2 million Airbnb listings. Why is this relevant? More and more people are using the Internet to fund themselves. Those with hustle enough to make the most out of Uber are making over $40,000 a year. The same can be said for those taking advantage of Airbnb. This is unprecedented in our society. The Internet has become a tool from which our generation can derive its living. Who needs a job when an application can help you build your income?

Even more interesting is how our generation is taking advantage of social media. More young people are opening Instagram accounts to reach their target audiences. Facebook is making it easier and easier to literally upload products on to your profile page. Anyone can do this. The barrier to starting your own business is now thinner than it ever was. You don’t have to wait for a mass media outlet to connect with your customers when you can build your own.

At the same time, you have individuals who have become social media stars. Bloggers like IamGalla travel the world for free because of the size of their Instagram accounts. The best bloggers are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year just by posting about product.

Earlier this week, YouTube travel channel stars Damon and Jo appeared in an ad for the MTV VMA awards. Since when are “Internet-famous” people hosting the VMA’s? In this way, it’s clear that millennials have set their sites on transforming the media landscape as well.

In my case, I used the Internet and Google to create and maintain my legitimacy as a social media entrepreneur. Others are using the Internet to make money off of hosting strangers in their homes. Some are using it to sell things, or provide car rides, while others are using it to host MTV shows. What are some other millennial stories you’ve heard, or millennials that you know who are reinventing the term Generation “E?”

The post A Millennial’s Guide to Generation “E” appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

“By coordinating more with Facebook, we’ll be able to do things like track basic metrics about how often people use our services and better fight spam on WhatsApp,” WhatsApp reported on its blog. Also according to the app, “Facebook can offer better friend suggestions and show you more relevant ads if you have an account with them. For example, you might see an ad from a company you already work with, rather than one from someone you’ve never heard of.”

How Will Marketers Benefit?

Now that WhatsApp is sharing data with Facebook, all of your personal conversations will now become data rich content for Facebook. If you are a marketer, you should be excited. There are huge amounts of conversations that go on in WhatsApp. While people may not post about their interests on Facebook, they certainly talk about it on WhatsApp. You’ll now be able to target ads to people who may not post on social, but who talk openly about topics of interest in messenger apps like WhatsApp.

If you aren’t a marketer, or just don’t want to have your information used this way, there’s an option to opt out on WhatsApp’s privacy policy. You can read the full WhatsApp privacy policy here.

The post WhatsApp Is Sharing Data with Facebook. How Will Marketers Benefit? appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

The Metrics That Matter

SEMRush will tell you where your blog ranks compared to the rest of the world. The first set of metrics you’ll get when you plug in your URL to SEM: Organic searches, paid search, backlinks and display advertising.

Organic Search

In the Organic Search section, you will find widgets related to a domain’s organic traffic, keywords that a domain is ranking for in Google’s top 100 organic search results, keywords ranking distribution, and the domain’s organic competitors.

Paid Search

In the Paid Search section, you will find visual information related to the domain’s paid traffic and its cost, ad copies, keywords that the domain appears within Google’s paid search results, keywords ranking distribution, and the domain’s paid competitors.

BackLinks

The Backlinks section provides data-visualizations on the number of the domain’s backlinks, the ratio between follow and nofollow links and referring websites

Display Advertising

The Display Advertising section provides visual data on the domain’s presence on the Google’s Display Network including the number of ads and publishers, text and media ads samples, and promoted landing pages (SEMRush).

Finding The Hidden Traffic Drivers

Aside from all of these amazing features, SEMRush also tells you what sort of keywords are giving you the most traffic. You can use this for competitive research as well. Keywords that work for your competitors may also work for you. Below, are sample keywords that Facebook.com uses. If you are the owner of Twitter.com, something like this may be extremely useful.

Another useful tool SEMRush has is that it shows you data on backlinks. Basically, you can see what sites are giving you the most clicks. This is another feature that can be used for competitive analysis. If Forbes is giving your competitor a significant amount of clicks, then maybe ads with Forbes is something worth investing into.

Another tool SEM has is that it tells you how much traffic you’re getting from mobile. It will tell you the portion of your search results are mobile friendly or not. So if you have pages on your website or blog that aren’t mobile friendly, SEM will inform you.

Using Data To Spend Wisely

The last part of this tool that we find absolutely amazing is that it tells you your top paid ad keywords. This is used for Google Ad campaigns. If you’re running a Google Ads campaign, this could help you optimize your campaign. Rather, if “cats” is giving you the most clicks on your Google ad campaign, SEMRush will tell you. You can also do this for your competitors. You can plan your campaign according to what works for your competitors.

So is your blog a waste of time? If you aren’t tracking your clicks on this level, then yes. If you aren’t looking at your competitors and their traffic, then yes. Your blog is a waste of time if you aren’t tracking your site’s progress consistently. If you know of any more useful tools to rank blogs, comment below.

The post Your Blog is a Waste of Time appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Verizon to the Rescue

Back in 2013, Yahoo paid $1.1 billion for Tumblr. In July of 2016, Verizon purchased Yahoo for $4.83 billion. By transitive property, Verizon now has a stake in Tumblr. This could very well be the push Tumblr needs to be relevant again.

A few months back, Yahoo decreased Tumblr’s value by $712 million. There are only 65 million users on Tumblr, compared to 100 million on Snapchat and 500 million on Instagram. This sends waves of negative sentiment on the internet. Is Tumblr dying? What could save it? I believe Verizon will be the savior Tumblr so desperately needs.

First of all, Verizon owns AOL. AOL owns Huffington Post and TechCrunch. These sorts of popular sites can be used to push Tumblr’s relevancy on the web.

For example, Huffington Post attracts 30 million users every month. The website is ranked 158th in the world and its users tend to be liberal. TechCrunch receives about 9 million tech-savvy users a month. This is just the sort of audience Tumblr taps into: liberal, tech-savvy, journalistic and creative individuals. Given the opportunity, Tumblr can leverage sites like these to expand their reach. There are now tens of millions of people, accessible through Verizon affiliated sites, that Tumblr can blast its messages out to.

Echoes of AOL

A huge issue Tumblr had after being acquired by Yahoo is that Yahoo followed a hands-off approach. If Verizon’s CEO Lowell McAdams takes a different approach and helps steer the Tumblr ship, this could push the company to new heights. McAdams has a pretty fascinating track record. He lead the acquisition of AOL and maintained its growth along with that of TechCrunch and Huffington Post.

Do you remember how AOL was slowly becoming irrelevant before it was acquired by Verizon? Business Insider recently reported that “AOL pulled in $669 million in Q1 2016 — its highest Q1 revenue in 5 years — pushing parent company Verizon’s Q1 revenues to $31.2 billion.” The report goes on to state that “even though AOL represents a small portion of Verizon’s total revenue, the results demonstrate the impact AOL is having on Verizon’s growth.” Using AOL as an analogue for Tumblr, it’s very possible that Verizon could push Tumblr to relevancy again, as well.

New Tumblr Features = New Tumblr Users

Another factor that could reinforce growth within Tumblr is advertising. Tumblr recently announced plans to introduce a new advertising program which would implement ads across all user blogs. Though details have yet to be released, Tumblr staff has noted that users will be able to make money off of advertisements on their blogs (users will have to go through a registration process later this year to benefit from the program). Now every creative, weirdo and Tumblr aficionado will have the opportunity to thrive and amplify the platform.

If the platform continues to update regularly, we may see an increase in users. Recently Tumblr has also included live video to the platform. Celebrities on Tumblr can also ask their fans direct questions. More features like this will continue to push Tumblr’s relevancy among the creative class.

Will Verizon’s acquisition of Tumblr will be enough to fuel its resurgence? Let us know what you think by dropping a comment below or continuing the conversation on Twitter.

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