Mediaboss Marketing

Yesterday,DigiTimes reported that Facebook is working on an ambient voice device to compete with the likes of the Amazon Echo. This could be a great and/or terrible idea.

Weve seen smart speakers from an online mega-retailer (Amazon), a search and ad giant (Google), and a couple of consumer devices companies (Apple and Xiaomi). Microsoft, a productivity software company, and Samsung, another consumer devices company, will likely join in with theirown ambient voice products.

But the possibility of a smart speaker from the worlds largest social networking company is especially intriguing.In the cases of Amazon, Google, Apple, and Microsoft, it was fairly clear how a smart speaker might complement their core businesses. It was also clear that the smart speaker is a major beachhead in the war of the tech platforms. But why would Facebook want to sell a smart speaker?

Facebooks device would be different than most of the other ambient voice devices, DigiTimes reports, in that it has a large 15-inch display (sourced from LG). The devices large screen may make sense because social network posts are largely visual, with text, photos, and video.

Global Data analyst Avi Greengart stresses that the kitchen counter is an important piece of real estate for tech companies, and that the new Facebook deviceif realmight be intended for that space.

Think Facebook in the kitchen: tasty recipe videos, photos of your niece, upcoming events, Greengart wrote in an email to Fast Companyon Tuesday. Its not crazy to think some consumers would welcome it, especially if positioned as a digital picture frame/smart speaker.

An important caveat here is that the deviceis just a rumor at this point, andDigiTimeshas a mixed track record when it comes to reporting supply-chain rumors. Some never actually come to fruition. A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment:We dont have anything to share at this time.

Greengart, meanwhile, has his doubts that mainstream consumers are so hooked on Facebook that they need aconstant social media ticker in the room.And Facebook has badly misconstrued consumer desires in the past. Remember when it thought people wanted a Facebook phone? Well, it turns out they didnt.

So far, one of the main jobs of ambient voice devices like smart speakers is to act as a hub from which to control all kinds of lights, switches, locks, and other accessories in the home. People like saying, Hey [assistant name], turn off the living room lights, as if telling another person in the room.

And Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has shown a special interest in the connected home. He built an AI-powered home automation system called Jarvis for his own home earlier this year. The system responds to natural language commands from the user to control lights, music, and room temperature. Zucks interest in the tech makes the possibility of a Facebook ambient home device sound more plausible.

And the home is, by nature, a very social place. Interactions among family members happen constantly. So do buying decisions. It seems reasonable that Facebook might want to extend its reach there.

But, as Jacob Kastrenakes at theVerge points out, thats exactly why a Facebook kitchen-counter device might be abad idea. It could be a real threat to privacy, or at least a reason to feel uneasy.Facebooks whole business depends on the collection of personal information for the targeting of ads. The new devicemay give Facebook a new and powerful means of seeing and hearing new forms of personal information and label it as social. Some of the ads might appear on the device itself. Others might appear on Facebook or other platforms.

The DigiTimes report says the Facebook product will be manufactured by Pegatron in China, and will be released in the first quarter of 2018. It also says the ambient device, which was designed by Facebooks Building 8 department, will be housed in a magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis.

For now, well just have to wait and see, but no doubt theres a big opportunity here for Facebook: The research firm Strategy Analytics says smart speaker sales will reach $5.5 billion in 2022.

Original post:
Facebook's Rumored Smart Speaker Is A Great And Terrible Idea - Fast Company

Facebook Inc. shares have busted out a roughly 44% gain so far this year but analysts are saying another 20% rise may lie ahead, after the tech companys earnings pushed past Wall Street forecasts.

Shares of the social network giant FB, +4.56% were up more than 5% in premarket trading Thursday. They had initially fallen in after-hours trading on Wednesday on the release of those results before reversing. If Facebook hold on to those gains in regular trading, it could become the second tech giant to hit a market cap of $500 billion in two days.

Check out: Facebooks earnings, as they happened

Analysts quickly got to work lifting price targets Thursday. KeyBanc Capital Markets hauled its own target up to $200 from $155, lauding the positive and early impact of video for Facebook.

That $200 price target from KeyBancs analysts, who maintain an overweight rating on the tech darling, would imply a 20% increase from Wednesdays close of $165.61. And that price was just short of an record.

We believe Facebooks transition to video-centricity is helping drive incremental demand that can sustain pricing growth for the foreseeable future, said analyst Andy Hargreaves and the team at KeyBanc.

Further, we see significant opportunities to drive upside to estimates through long-form video and monetization of Facebooks billion-user messaging platforms, they said in a note to clients.

See: Facebook, Snap are sitting on a $16 billion opportunity

The highest price target for Facebook shares is $215, set by both Deutsche Bank and Raymond James, according to FactSet.

Facebook reported second-quarter revenue of $9.32 billion and earnings of $1.32 a share, both higher compared with a year ago. The social network also said it has now reached 2 billion monthly active users. Last quarter, the social networking company surprised its followers with a change in how it reports earnings, which had the effect of making its numbers clearer.

KeyBancs analysts said accelerated ad pricing which grew 24% on average year-over-year helped drive those upbeat results for the quarter. Facebooks advertising revenue was a focus for analysts, after the company slowed additions of ads to its core Newsfeed service.

Read: Facebook keeps warning about growth, but growth doesnt stop

Analysts at SIG Susquehanna also lifted their Facebook target to $200, from the previous $190, and maintained their positive rating on the stock. Shyam Patil and the team cited an impressive 2Q outperformance and lower expense outlook for driving the companys key metrics higher.

Despite the 44% year-to-date gain for Facebook, shares are still only trading at around 14 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. That metric is growing around 50%, which would suggest significantly more runway ahead for the stock, said Patil and the team.

The analysts said the core Newsfeed and video parts of the business will drive growth for Facebook in the short to medium term, with the Messenger platform and augmented reality/virtual reality tools picking up the baton in the longer run.

Analysts from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. went a step higher with their price target, boosting it to $210 a share from $182, saying Facebook continues to show a rare and impressive combination of scale, growth and profitability.

A team of analysts led by Doug Anmuth said the fact that Facebook continues to generate strong cash flow even while aggressively investing was impressive. Facebook continues to be our favorite large-cap name and even with a strong year-to-date gain, he said. Valuation remains attractive, the report added as it reiterated an overweight rating.

Calling Facebook the cash flow king, Morgan Stanleys team led by Brian Nowak lifted their price target on Facebook to $190 from $175, saying ad rev growth and incremental margins highlight how early it is in the platforms monetization and potential earnings power. The bank remains overweight on the social media networker.

See original here:
Next stop for Facebook shares? $200 or more, say analysts - MarketWatch

| | |Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)s Dual Messenger supports two accounts in social networking apps

It is common for many smartphone users to use two SIM cards on the same phone. However, there is always difficulty in using two different WhatsApp or any other social networking accounts on the same device via the app.

While there are a few smartphones that have been launched with the support for dual WhatsApp accounts, Samsung has been offering a way for users to do that through the Secure Folder. Notably, Secure Folder is a feature that is seen on the company's flagship smartphones. Nowadays, this feature is available on many Android 7.0 Nougat devices from Samsung.

Wondering how the Secure Folder manages to run two accounts in the social networking apps? Well, the Secure Folder creates an environment that is sandboxed from the normal data. So, you can install WhatsApp, Facebook and other social networking apps inside this feature and use them with a different account.

Now, Samsung is removing the Secure Folder and coming with a direct way to use two different accounts on the social networking apps. The Galaxy J7 (2017) lineup has the Dual Messenger feature. As its name indicates, the Dual Messenger installs a separate copy of the app on the handset and will list two shortcuts for the same app in the device's app drawer.

For now, Dual Messenger supports WhatsApp, Facebook, Skype, Snapchat, Facebook Messenger and more. Apps such as Instagram that supports more than one account by default will not show up in the Dual Messenger. You just need to launch the app from the feature and log into it as you usually do. This way, you are free to see two different accounts on the social networking apps.

You can find the Dual Messenger on Galaxy J7 (2017) devices including the newly launched Galaxy J7 Max by heading on to Settings Advanced Features and enabling the feature for each app. Once you enable it, you will see two icons for the same app in the app drawer. One of the apps will have a linked chain on the icon showing that it is the second app. Interestingly, you can use both apps at the same time in the Multi Window mode.

Via: TechBulletin

Continue reading here:
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)'s Dual Messenger supports two accounts in social networking apps - Gizbot

It's no secret that media companies have a complicated relationship with Facebook .

The social networking giant pulls in billions of advertising dollars at a time when more traditional news publishers are scrambling to boost their online ad revenues. Those same media players are also desperate for the web traffic that can come from placing their content in front of Facebook's 2 billion users though, there have also been some debate over just how much that Facebook-derived traffic is worth to publishers.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, BuzzFeed wrote about a practice in which it claims a growing number of businesses are paying Facebook to promote positive news stories from publishers as sponsored posts. As BuzzFeed points out, rather than spend marketing money on a traditional online ad campaignwhich would involve paying someone to create an ad and then paying to place it on Facebook, or another social website, or even with the publishers who so desperately need the ad dollarsbusinesses are sending more of that money to Facebook to promote content created for free by publishers.

The BuzzFeed piece points to several recent examples of this practice, including one where a sponsored Facebook post pointed to a positive BBC article about mattress startup Casper. Another example comes from anonymous work chat app Blind, which says it paid Facebook to promote an article from Mashable. BuzzFeed's point being that, while those media companies likely saw a slight uptick in web traffic from those sponsored posts, the advertising dollars went to Facebook.

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BuzzFeed did not report any numbers that would indicate exactly how prevalent this type of marketing is on Facebook. (An executive at Blind told the publication anecdotally that he knows of other startups who are promoting positive stories on Facebook, calling the tactic "probably the best form of awareness building, community building, and user acquisition there is.")

Fortune reached out to Facebook for comment and will update this post as needed.

The practice is an example of just one of the ways how news publishers face an uphill battle when competing with the social networking service for online advertising dollars.

Facebook has been working to improve its relationship with publishers who may be unsure about the benefits of providing the social site with so much content. The social network launched its "Journalism Project" earlier this year, aiming to curb the amount of "fake news" articles on the platform and to figure out ways to help the news industry benefit from distributing its content via Facebook. Last week , Facebook said it is working with publishers to begin testing a paid subscription news service with a paywall, though Fortune has noted that media companies depending too heavily on Facebook for traffic and money could be placing themselves in an uncomfortable position.

Read more from the original source:
Companies Are Paying Facebook to Promote Positive Press - Fortune

Social media's presence in the sales world is an old story by now, but the latest figures suggest its power in the space is stronger than you might think.

LinkedIn recently gave me an early look at the findings from their second annual State of Sales Report for 2017. (You can download the PDF of the report directly here.) The study surveyed 2,000 business-to-business professionals based in the U.S. about how they perceive technology is impacting sales. Some of it's to be expected: Investment in sales tools is up, cold phone calls are less effective, and the majority of people consider technology important to closing deals.

What did surprise me, though, was how much social is changing sales--especially our expectations around how salespeople should conduct relationships with customers.

It makes sense when you think about how drastically social has changed other areas of work and life. The question is, how can we use our social tools to better meet those expectations in our client relationships?

Here are some of the most interesting figures from the LinkedIn study, along with some steps you can take to incorporate these new ideas into your daily sales work.

The study noted that 94 percent of the respondents said they get "valuable insights" about customers from social networks. So if you're not immediately hitting the social networks to research potential customers, you're doing your sales relationships a disservice. Seventy-seven percent of study respondents said they won't engage with people who don't know their business. That doesn't leave much room for forgiveness if you send a cold email or go to a meeting not knowing the basics of your potential customer's business.

CREDIT: LinkedIn

LinkedIn vice president of products and marketing Justin Shriber had an even more surprising stat when we spoke over the phone. "When people send out an InMail [LinkedIn's version of email], if there's a personalized note associated with it, where [the salesperson] pulled something from the profile of the buyer or introduced another kind of information that makes email unique, the respondents are five times more likely to respond."

How do you find and choose that kind of compelling information? In my experience, that's where "e-stalking" comes in handy. Look closely at the other person's "About" section on LinkedIn to see how they describe themselves. Note how they talk about their roles, past and present. Comb through their skills and endorsements to see what technologies they regularly use. Elsewhere, note what they tweet about, who they follow, and if they share information on smaller, industry-specific social networks.

You've heard stories about recruiters scanning candidates' social-media profiles before interviews. Turns out, potential buyers use that practice, too. Over half (62 percent) of the study's respondents said they look for "an informative LinkedIn profile" when they consider talking with a specific salesperson. Meanwhile, 69 percent of Millennial buyers are more likely to connect with salespeople who have a professional online presence.

Those figures boil down to a simple conclusion: Your professional social networking is hugely important to your job.

There are always opportunities to improve that presence. Pack your LinkedIn job history with interesting details and accomplishments, and consider writing something in your summary to help people get to know you.

You probably shouldn't share photos from that crazy Halloween party on LinkedIn, but appropriate personal details can make you seem human. I have a friend who posted about his love of baseball only to discover several of his clients feel the same way. He now regularly uses ballgames to close deals.

One of the most surprising things in this study was that today's buyers appear to value trust over price, strategic counsel, or even return on investment (ROI).

CREDIT: LinkedIn

Thirty-nine percent of respondents answered that "trust in our relationship" was the most important factor for closing a deal, while only 33 percent answered "return on investment," and only 13 percent answered "price." While any good salesperson understands that it's important to win a customer's trust in order to win new business, most people might not expect 3x more buyers would care about trust than price. This is an important finding, as any business can theoretically lower their price to win new customers, while trust takes much greater effort to build and can easily be destroyed, making the salesperson's job more critical than ever.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the study found 43 percent of respondents view salespeople as "trustworthy," 31 percent say they have "high integrity," and buyers increasingly consider salespeople to be "trusted advisers."

Those facts mark a positive shift in our perception of salespeople, who too often get stereotyped as aggressive frat boys willing to sacrifice morals and integrity for a dollar.

But if you want to be seen as a trusted adviser, your behavior has to live up to the label. That's especially true on social media, where potential customers can view every click, Like, and post you make.

To that end, use common sense. If you post about "the dying publishing industry" but back that claim up with bad data, people will call you out on the error. Ranting will not make you look passionate about a topic, just arrogant and possibly stupid. And never, ever talk about your clients on social media. A friend of mine once tried to skirt this rule by anonymizing the client in the post. She ended up losing money and trust with that client and others.

The moral of the story is, transparency is great when it comes to learning about one another in a sales relationship, but use it wisely. Whatever you say online should be something you would stand behind later on.

A word of caution: Social-media activity like this should never replace a cold email or in-person meeting altogether. There's no guarantee someone will care about knowing you just because they accepted an "invitation to connect." Using social media for sales doesn't mean doing less work in your client relationships. And in fact, spending extra time each week with these tools will likely give you more relevant contacts, higher open rates, and, ultimately, a stronger presence in your customers' lives.

What tactics do you have for using social media in your sales relationships? I'd love to hear about them.

The rest is here:
Why Your Sales Strategy Needs to Become a Social-Media Strategy, Immediately - Inc.com