The 3 C's of Content Marketing

Happy Monday, everyone! This week in news read about the top 5 emerging technology trends, 19 social media facts that every marketer should know, Google Android catching up to Apple in race for mobile ad dollars, and mobile contributed 59% to ad revenue for the first quarter of Facebook. In tips, learn how to increase your social media click-through rates, the three C’s of content marketing, effective, ethical native advertising, and 5 steps to creating a better app… It’s Skimming the News!

NEWS

The Top 5 Emerging Technology Trends of 2014 via Business2 Community

According to Gartner, one result of BYOD is “a doubling or even tripling of the size of the mobile workforce.” Gartner predicts improvements in JavaScript performance will push HTML5 and browser-based enterprise application development environments into the mainstream. Gartner believes the number of mobile apps will grow—while the number of larger applications shrink–with apps becoming smaller and more targeted than more comprehensive applications. Read the full article for the complete list of emerging technology trends.

19 Social Media Facts that Every Marketer Should Know [Video] via Mashable

Over 50% of the world’s population is under 30 years old. 53% of people on Twitter recommend products in their tweets.93% of shoppers’ buying decisions are influenced by social media. 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations whereas only 14% of consumers trust advertisements. The four C’s of digital are creating, curating connecting, and culture. See video for full list of facts.

Google’s Android Catching Up to Apple in Race for Mobile Ad Dollars via AdAge

In a report published Tuesday, mobile-ad platform Opera Mediaworks found that devices running Android sent a greater percentage of ad requests in the first quarter of 2014 than those running Apple’s iOS. The report found that, in the first quarter, Android devices’ share of mobile-ad requests reached 42.8%, up from 31.3%. Over that time iOS’s share fell to 38.2% from 44.5%. After serving 76% of impressions in the first quarter last year, Android and iOS now control 81% of all traffic and 86% of revenue.

Facebook’s Q1: Mobile Contributed 59% of Ad Revenue in Q1 via AdExchanger

Facebook reported first-quarter earnings Wednesday, exceeding analyst estimates with ad revenue growth of 82% to $2.3 billion. In contrast, Google’s Q1 revenues were seven times larger at $15.4 billion, but its growth was only 19%. The number of users accessing Facebook via a mobile device jumped 43% year over year to 609 million globally, and monthly active mobile users surpassed 1 billion for the first time. Mobile now contributes 59% of the company’s total ad revenues, up from 30% in Q1 2013.

TIPS

How to Increase Your Social Media Click-Through Rates via Social Media Examiner

Most businesses make the same mistake in their social media updates: They don’t have a call to action that routes people back to their website. Remember to give fans a reason to click through. To get the most out of your efforts, look at which social updates, blog posts and advertising campaigns your prospective customers have responded well to in the past. Use your landing page to provide more information and another clear, strong call to action and the means to complete that action.

The 3C digital accessories Marketing via Entreprenuer

Be compelling. The information and perspective you provide should feel unlike anything that’s available elsewhere, and it should give your customer pause. Always customize. When publishing your content, it’s important that it feel unique to your customer, specially created to suit their certain kind of needs. Keep consistency. Each piece of content you distribute should be published consistently, with purpose, and with a constant brand voice.

The Essential Guide for Effective, Ethical Native Advertising via Business2Community

To avoid angering your audience, transparency is critical when it comes to native advertising. Strive to educate, inform, or entertain while weaving your brand message subtly into the content. Since kids are less likely to distinguish between advertising and regular content, avoid sponsored ads in children’s publications and websites. Native ads work best when the content is consistent with a brand’s personality, as well as the publisher’s editorial mandate. Finally, provide an opportunity to participate and make customers feel empowered.

Five Steps to Better Apps: A Cookbook for Mobile Application Security via Forbes

Code should be regularly scanned for security vulnerabilities during the development cycle.  Companies that have to go back and add security after development often find that it can be more expensive. Applications produced should be automatically tested as part of a build automation process. All development staff should have received some secure application development security training. Check for security gaps by testing vulnerabilities. Utilize other testing techniques such as penetration testing, infrastructure tests, and risk reviews.

A guide to digital SLR accessories

If you’ve bought (or been bought) or are buying 3C digital accessories- SLR camera you may have already discovered that the camera itself is just one of the many things you need to make the most of it. Even if you’re a photographer of the point-and-click variety who only intends to take the odd picture on special occasions, there is no shortage of accessories you should consider in addition to the main product. While many are just nice to have in order to develop your photography, others are absolute essentials without which the camera is almost redundant. In this guide we will look at both kinds; those accessories that you should not consider buying a camera without and those which you may want to put on a “wish-list” for another day.

1. Essentials

Lenses
It’s an obvious statement to make, but your SLR camera is going to need a lens. If you’ve bought the “Body Only” version, then no lens is supplied and unless you’ve already got a lens sitting at home that will fit your new camera, it will be unusable until you’ve bought some glass to stick on the front of it. Even if you do already have some lenses, it’s worth checking that these will fit and work on the newer cameras. Not all lenses will, and even if they do you may want to consider one of the more up-to-date lenses in order to get the best performance from your new SLR camera.

Most digital SLRs are available in kits that will include a lens (twin lens bundles are also often available) and if this is your first SLR camera then one of these kits is a sensible option. However, these tend to be standard general purpose lenses that are OK for everyday shots, but may not be suitable for more subject specific photography. As such, sports, wildlife, close-up and landscape photographers may want to consider purchasing an additional telephoto, macro or wide-angle lens to compliment and be used in conjunction with the standard kit lens.

2. Memory cards

Although once upon a time compact digital cameras used to be supplied with a memory card, the same is not true of SLR cameras, and this has caught many a new purchaser out in the past. Imagine getting your shiny new digital SLR camera (and lens, of course) home and out of the box, only to find that you’re unable to take any pictures because you’ve not got a suitable memory card – a truly disappointing experience.

The exact memory card you need will depend on the type of camera and what you intend to do with it. Different models use different types of memory cards so you’ll need to check exactly which one you need, but most cameras will require either a Secure Digital (SD, or SDHC for cards with a capacity greater than 2GB) or a Compact Flash (CF) memory card. These two types of cards are physically very different and one can not be used in place of the other.

You may have memory cards at home from a previous camera and, if you’re lucky, they may even be of the same type as your new purchase. However, things move quickly in the world of digital technology and over the years the resolution of cameras has increased dramatically. The result of this is that the file sizes your new camera produces may be significantly higher than your old model, particularly if your previous camera was a compact. Bigger files take up more space on a memory card, meaning you get fewer pictures. As such it may be worth considering purchasing a newer, larger capacity memory card to ensure you don’t run out of space.