Mediaboss Marketing

Consumers rarely take necessary precautions when it comes to privacy and information security. A new paper presented during the 2017 DEF CON eventcovered this trend in painstaking detail. In fact, researchers have dubbed this trend dark data, which can easily be used to cause all kinds of harm to people. It is a very disturbing trend as well, especially considering how criminals operate to exploit dark data.

The lackluster approach by most consumers to keep their information safe will cause all kinds of problems over time. Leaving digital breadcrumbs for third parties to exploit is never a good idea, yet it appears few people are aware of what they can do to counter this problem. The research paperregarding dark data certainly paints an interesting, if worrying, picture.

The researchersnote thatthe vast majority of internet users leave a significant amountof data exposed to criminals who are waiting to abuse it. Collecting data aboutinternet users has proven to be incredibly easy, and it seems this problem has only grown worse over time. Anything you see online can be a major threat to your online privacy at any given moment. That is quite disheartening to think about.

The paper outlineshow the team set up a bogus online marketing consultancy firm. It looks quite professional, all things considered, but that just goes to show how easily people are tricked into believing awebsite has only honest intentions. They then looked for web analytics companies providing clickstream data. Suchdata includes a list of websites users visit and in which order, as well as URL details of pages accessedon the sites. This is a powerfultool utilizedby retailers and other service providers.

Signing up for a free web analytics trial can give malicious entities access to clickstream data for several millions of users. There are companies specializing in collecting user data, and they can easily be taken advantage of to a certain degree. While thedata should be harmless more often than not no real names are included that is not necessarily the case. Anyone who knows what theyare looking for can use suchinformation to identifyinternet users.

Marketing companies and web analytics service providers prefer to be very meticulous when it comes to gathering information. Not only do they note whenpeople visit a particularwebsite, but they also collect information regarding user behavior. For example, when someone searches for an item on your website, do they stick around or leave the platform? Even though there is no real name attached to these behavioral profiles, people cannot change their online behavior either. Given enough key points to create a profile, it simply becomes a matter of matching that behavior to an actual internet user.

Indeed, a lot of information can be extracted from the website URLs onevisits, even if his or hername isnot attached. According to the paper, close to 3% of internet users can be identified from clues contained in a URL. Contrary to what one mightexpect, visiting a website prior to the site being analyzed by a service provider will often include metadata from aprevious platform. If that site happens to be a social media platform, the web analytics firm now seesyour Twitter or Facebook handle as part of that URL.

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What is Dark Data? - The Merkle

When it comes to social network advertising, Facebook and Instagram are leading the pack, accounting for 68 percent of social network revenue in 2016 (a whopping $22 billion). But social marketing is always in flux, so its vital that fundraisers engage strategically and dynamically.

At the 2017 Bridge To Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference, Ashley Reed, director of social media at agency BKV, Madeline Ruffin-Thomas, Non-Profit Group account director at BKV and Robert Field, director of digital marketing at March of Dimes, discussed how to effectively implement Facebooks plethora of targeting options and ad types, as well as tips to use organic social insights and social listening to fuel your non-profits paid social strategy.

Take advantage of the multitude of custom audiences that can be built from the Facebook pixel, such as retargeting website visitors who have not donated recently, or building prospecting targets of users who look similar to your current donors. Typically, BKV sees custom audiences as our top performers.

Read more from the original source:
Paid Social: Blowing Up The Basics - The NonProfit Times

Want to learn more about using social media and other digital marketing methods to promote your small business? If so, theres a new weekly livestream show that could be of interest.

The show is called #CoffeeWithCoal and its hosted by Pennsylvania-based digital marketing company Coal Creative. (The whole coal thing comes from the fact that the company is based in and works primarily with companies from Pennsylvanias anthracite coal region.) The show airs every Monday morning at 10 a.m. Eastern on Facebook Live and is simulcast on YouTube and Periscope.

The first episode aired on July 17. Each episode focuses on a different topic. For instance, the first one discusses Facebook cover videos and maintaining a consistent image across social media. You can also catch up on past episodes on Facebook, YouTube and Periscope.

But the hosts also accept audience questions and participation during the show. So if youre able to tune in on Facebook Live, you can get answers to your questions and interact with the team. And since the episodes air on Monday mornings, the team also shares a social media prompt to help viewers get their week off to a great start.

One of Coal Creatives most popular services is assistance with video marketing. For that reason, the company has the equipment and know-how to make really professional looking livestreams. And the ability to showcase that while also sharing helpful tips and information is one of the main motivations behind starting the show in the first place.

Gerard Durling, founder of Coal Creative, said in a phone interview with Small Business Trends, The whole point is to talk about some of the stuff we do on a daily basis like social media and internet marketing while also showcasing some of the services were capable of providing like livestreaming and video marketing.

In addition, the company is using the show as an opportunity to connect with potential customers in other parts of the country. Located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, most of the companys clients to this point have been located nearby. But as a digital marketing company that provides services like video marketing, branding design and social media, the company has the capacity to help small businesses in any location through its content and services.

Image: Coal Creative

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PA Marketing Company Launches Livestreaming Social Media Talk Show - Small Business Trends

Mobile technology has revolutionised the way people travel. Now, more than ever before, people are using mobile devices to plan every aspect of their trip, creating an incredibly flexible and powerful marketing platform for the hospitality sector.

A survey by eMarketer found 51.8% are using their devices to complete travel bookings - a figure expected to rise to 86.4% by 2019 while ThinkWithGoogle reports 49% of all hotel searches take place through mobile phones.

Working hand in hand with the fact that booking companies and travel industries are becoming even more mobile-focussed is the notion that consumers are now looking for a complete travel experience. Its not enough to simply sell the service using traditional strategies anymore.

This is thanks to the increase in brand popularity across social media platforms. Consumers, in particular Millennials, are focusing on the bigger picture when it comes to planning a trip or holiday. Decisions are now based on what they will get out of the trip as a whole and if they are being offered a fully immersive experience.

Thats why building up your brand via mobile is key.

Develop a strong strategy

First and foremost, we recommend doing this through a tailored social media strategy. Using Twitter, Instagram, Facebook etc. not only gives you a variety of platforms to reach out to consumers but encourages guests to share their experiences firsthand.

New figures show 97% of millennials share photos and videos of their travels online with 89% planning their travel activities based on content posted by their peers online.

People are inspired by others opinions of where to visit, stay and what activities they should try thanks to the power of social media and its ability to pinpoint locations through user check-ins, the immediacy of published material and hash-tagging.

With 73% of travelers using a mobile device to research a trip in 2016, a good social media presence is more important that ever before.

Social media also comes with another vital USP. It gives the brand the chance to reach out directly to consumers and offers a platform for reputation management if any complaints are launched. Its a more intimate and personal direct channel for brands to interact with consumers.

Finally, when it comes to picture sharing, there really is no reason your brand shouldnt be showing of its finest features via Instagram - which boasts 700 million active monthly users.

Video is vital

It may seem like a given to include a good video marketing strategy but many companies are missing out on its true potential when it comes to implementation across social media channels.

In 2017, video content will represent 74% of all internet traffic(hubspot)

In its most basic form, social media videos give you an unrivalled platform to showcase your property, hotel or service as well as the surrounding area, local events, restaurants and bars.

According to Googles Travellers Road to Decision report, 66% of people watch travel-related content while thinking about taking a trip.

Its figures like these which show brands can no longer afford to be absent from social media.

Going above and beyond, developments in video, such as the new live platforms offer scope for experimentation in the hospitality sector. Live video is growing ever more popular. Its more natural and organic and reaches out to consumers in a direct and intimate way. As its still relatively new its important to experiment with live video to see which approaches can really work for your brand.

These developments should be maximised on to stay well ahead when it comes to both digital and social media marketing across the sector.

Its all about content

As social media users are constantly sharing their holiday experiences its facilitating the way branded travel content is making its way across the web.

Mobile content is an excellent way of encouraging consumers to make bookings but its important to have a clear idea of audience and each platforms strengths beforehand.

Stepping up your content in the form of blogs and long form copy raises awareness about events and activities in surrounding areas. Innovative and interesting city and travel guides are incredibly useful in generating continuous conversations and increasing interaction between consumers and the brand in an unforced manner.

With people doing more searches than ever before prior to booking, inspiring organic destination marketing is particularly useful in upping brand visibility through successful SEO and keyword implementation, incorporating a subtle call to action.

Jennifer Kennedy is marketing manager at Cuckoo

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Why social media matters more than ever to hospitality marketing - The Drum

The shift which could affect a swath of users from researchers to businesses suggests that China is increasingly worried about the power of the internet, experts said.

It does appear the crackdown is becoming more intense, but the internet is also more powerful than it has ever been, said Emily Parker, author of Now I Know Who My Comrades Are, a book about the power of the internet in China, Cuba, and Russia. Beijings crackdown on the internet is commensurate with the power of the internet in China.

China still has not clamped down to its full ability, the experts said, and in many cases the cat-and-mouse game continues. One day after Apples move last week, people on Chinese social media began circulating a way to gain access to those tools that was so easy that even a non-techie could use it. (It involved registering a persons app store to another country where VPN apps were still available.)

Still, Thursdays test demonstrates that China wants the ability to change the game in favor of the cat.

A number of Chinese internet service providers said on their social media accounts, websites, or in emails on Thursday that Chinese security officials would test a new way to find the internet addresses of services hosting or using illegal content. Once found, these companies said, the authorities would ask internet service providers to tell their clients to stop. If the clients persisted, they said, the service providers and Chinese officials would cut their connection in a matter of minutes.

The Ministry of Public Security did not respond to a faxed request for comment.

Studies suggest that anywhere from tens of millions to well over a hundred million Chinese people use VPNs and other types of software to get around the Great Firewall. While the blocks on foreign television shows and pornography ward off many people, they often pose only minor challenges to Chinas huge population of web-savvy internet users.

Chinas president, Xi Jinping, has presided over years of new internet controls, but he has also singled out technology and the internet as critical to Chinas future economic development. As cyberspace has become more central to everything that happens in China, government controls have evolved.

It is difficult to figure out the extent of the new efforts, since many users and businesses will not discuss them publicly for fear of getting on the bad side with the Chinese government. But some frequent users said that getting around the restrictions had become increasingly difficult.

One student, who has been studying in the United States and was back in China for summer vacation, said that her local VPN was blocked. She said she had taken the period as a sort of meditation away from social media and left a note on Facebook to warn her friends why she was a gone girl.

A doctoral student in environmental engineering in at a university in China said it had become harder to do research without Google, though his university had found alternative publications so that students did not always need the internet. He has since found a new way to get around the Great Firewall, the student said, without disclosing what it was.

Close observers of the Chinese internet said some VPNs still work and that China could still do a lot more to intensify its crackdown.

We do think that if the government has decided to do so, it could have shut down much more VPN usage right now, said a spokesman for VPNDada, a website created in 2015 to help Chinese users find VPNs that work.

If the government had sent more cats, the mice would have a tougher time, said the spokesman, who declined to be named because of sensitivities around the groups work in China. I guess they didnt do so because they need to give some air for people or businesses to breathe.

Chinas online crackdowns are often cyclical. The current climate is in part the result of the lead-up to a key Chinese Communist Party meeting, the 19th Party Congress this autumn. Five years ago, ahead of a similar meeting, VPNs were hit by then-unprecedented disruptions.

Much like economic policy or foreign affairs, censorship in China is part of a complicated and often imperfect political process. Government ministries feel pressure ahead of the party congress to show they are effective or can step in if a problem appears, analysts said.

So its definitely not an apocalypse for VPNs, said Paul Triolo, head of global technology at Eurasia Group, a consultancy.

Just a more complex environment for users to navigate, and new capabilities and approaches give China better ability to shut off some delta of VPN use at a time and place of Beijings choosing, he said.

Chinas population is learning to deal with those difficulties at a younger age. Earlier this summer, Chinas internet giant Tencent began limiting the time that people under 18 were allowed to play the popular online game Honor of Kings to an hour a day for those under 12, and two hours for those age 12 to 18.

So Chinese youths have taken to an age-old solution: getting a fake ID.

Your Honor of Kings being limited? Interested in getting an over-18 identification? read a recent advertisement on Chinese social media. No problem. Get in touch for a low-price ID.

Carolyn Zhang contributed research from Shanghai. Adam Wu contributed research from Beijing.

A version of this article appears in print on August 4, 2017, on Page B1 of the New York edition with the headline: Chinas Internet Censors Test a New Way to Shut Down Access.

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China's Internet Censors Play a Tougher Game of Cat and Mouse - New York Times