Mediaboss Marketing

Brands often use social media for marketing because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up getting them exposed to a wide range of consumers and boost engagement to higher levels. But are they really using social media to the fullest extent? Marketing is just one of the many things that brands can use social media for, and sometimes just reading what their customers are posting about them can be useful.

This process is known as social listening, and with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that it can be a great way for brands to get free consumer data. Customers often share opinions and perspectives on brands they recently worked with eagerly on social media, but in spite of the fact that this is the case around 39% of businesses currently dont use social media listening as part of their overall marketing strategy.

This data comes from a report released by Meltwater in collaboration with Social Media Today. The findings of this report revealed that while only 61% of brands currently use social listening, about 82% said that they felt it was important and useful with all things having been considered and taken into account. That indicates that brands are maturing in their understanding of what they can get from social media, because this is a treasure trove of data that they would have otherwise had to pay a lot of money for.

As for what brands use social listening to understand, there are a lot of points of focus here. Around 21% of brands use social media listening to get an idea of how aware consumers are of their brand. An even greater number, or 32% to be precise, say that they use it to understand the sentiments that consumers have regarding them. The third most common use for social media listening is to understand current trends in the industry, with around 20% of brands using it for that purpose because that might help them create better products.

There are some problems that brands might face in their pursuit of social listening, though. The most widely cited obstacle by brands is time, with around 42% of brands agreeing that this was an issue. Other issues are almost equally troublesome though, including employee bandwidth which was cited by 40% of brands. Employees are overworked as it is, and adding social media listening to their list of tasks might push them over the edge. 39% of brands also cited data restrictions by platforms as an obstacle, with 32% also referring to cost related issues. 30% of brands felt that they lacked the necessary tools, and surprising 15% of brands said that they didnt have enough system knowledge.

Read next:Digital Content Marketing Sees An Exponential Rise During And After The Pandemic

Continued here:
Social Media Listening is an Incredible Marketing Resource, But Are Brands Taking Advantage of It? - Digital Information World

Social media platforms drastically altered the way we socialise. But in recent years their role has expanded beyond that of connecting us with our friends.

Consumers are now exploiting these platforms for other use cases - like keeping up with news on Twitter, getting product reviews on YouTube or gaining an inside view of celebrity and influencer lives on Instagram.

In fact, a study by US influencer marketing intelligence platform Sideqik revealed that 50% of millennials feel that they know the influencers they follow on social media better than their friends. At least 78% of consumers said they discovered a new brandor product from an influencer.

And, according to an October 2020 survey by Rakuten Insight, about 72% of the respondents from the age group of 25 to 34 years in India admitted to following at least one influencer on social media.

While there is no rigid classification, the category in which an influencer falls in is typically defined by the number of followers.

Nano influencers are those with a few thousand to as much as 10,000 followers while micro influencers have up to 100,000 followers. For macro, this number goes to a million. A mega influencer would be someone with a million or more followers. They may not necessarily be celebrities.

Brands leverage influencers to not only promote their products, but also to get their messaging across to consumers in an engaging visual format.

Influencers have a big impact on consumers, especially millennials. And influencer marketing has democratised digital marketing. It is not just TV ads anymore. The time spent on social media platforms is going up, and so is the clout of influencers.

They command a higher engagement rate than celebrities, and enjoy peoples trust too. And brands know it very well.

But, off late, a flip side of influencers marketing also seems to be emerging. Allegations are surfacing that brands are using influencers to not just to mould their better image, but to pull down their competitor too. As with any industry, there are a few bad apples here too. For such agencies, it is just another service they offer to brands for money.

SoftBank and Meta-backed e-commerce startup Meesho recently got a taste of it. It took note of this after a startup executive on Twitter pointed out earlier this month that several influencers -- in a seemingly coordinated manner -- tweeted negatively about the company while tagging its investors. These posts accompanied a link to a news article about Meeshos cost-cutting strategies. Meesho claimed that some influencers acknowledged that the tweets were paid promotions while others deleted their posts.

It has now asked the marketing agencys CEO to disclose on whose behest it was working and issue an unconditional apology.

Two more startup executives revealed they were approached earlier this year to make negative comments about Meesho in lieu for money.

A journalist shared her observation that articles on Meesho often receive coordinated abuse from verified accounts on Twitter.

Meesho Founder and CEO Vidit Aatrey claimed that paying influencers to peddle rumours against the startup has been happening for the last many months.

The agency which engaged the influencers for this alleged smear campaign and to whose CEO Meesho has sent a notice is reportedly based in Ahmedabad. It is one among the scores of such influencer marketing agencies that have cropped up across the country as brands look to reach 400 million social media audiences.

Balasubramanian, co-founder of Bengaluru-based influencer marketing firm Greenroom, says that smaller influencers sometimes get paid through free products in return for promotional posts talking up a product or sharing their opinions after using a product.

She says nano influencers can get paid as little as Rs 500 for a post that can go up to Rs 5,000 whereas a micro influencer can make as much as Rs 15,000 per post.

Lakshmi Balasubramanian of Greenroom says influencers are people like us who record their everyday activities online. Their reliability quotient is much higher than a celebrity. With influencers, smear campaigns just moved to a different medium. as such, until rules are put down, such campaigns using influencers will also continue to happen. Agencies are doing it simply for the moneym she says. We get influencers signing up with us to agree that they will not abuse a brand, she says.

Influencers who tweeted against Meesho for a price may have fallen afoul of the guidelines for influencer advertising in digital media issued by the Advertising Standards Council of India, a voluntary self-regulatory organisation of the ad industry.

Greenrooms Lakshmi Balasubramanian says that in such cases brands and agencies can be pulled up since policing hundreds of influencers involved in a negative campaign can be impractical.

A report by GroupM India pegged the size of Indias influencer marketing industry at Rs 900 crore in 2021, growing at an average of 25% annually till 2025. Around 40% of this consists of nano and micro influencers.

While the exact number of total influencers in India is hard to come by, it could very well run into tens of thousands if not lakhs, with more being created every day.

According to The Advertising Standards Council of India or ASCIs guidelines, influencers are required to disclose any material connection between them and the advertiser by using any of the permitted disclosure labels.

Material connection isnt limited to monetary compensation. Disclosure is required if there is anything of value given to mention or talk about the advertisers product or service. The anti-Meesho tweets did not carry any such labels.

Influencers are also advised to review and satisfy themselves that the advertiser is in a position to substantiate the claims made in the advertisement.

ASCI CEO Manisha Kapoor told The Morning Show that the regulator has not been approached by Meesho so far but if they do, ASCI would examine the complaint to the extent of its remit.

Speaking to Business Standard, Manisha Kapoor, CEO, Advertising Standards Council of India, says this is not the first time influencers have been paid to talk negatively about a competitors product. This is not just unethical but also misleading to consumers. The anti-Meesho tweets potentially violates both ASCI guidelines and Consumer Protection Act, but the final responsibility is of the advertiser who commissioned a campaign of this nature. Influencers are also responsible

Manisha Kapoor also says that even one or two of these agencies engaging in malpractices give the entire industry a bad name. She suggests that the influencer industry, including players in the ecosystem, should step up and look at implementing a code of conduct for itself, to keep the industry clean.

The onus to nip this malpractice in the bud also lies on influencers. It will not just dent their image, but that of the entire influencer community as a whole. The trust they enjoy will erode, and brands may also stop coming to them for promotions. ASCI too should act tough against such incidents to instil confidence among social media users.

See the article here:
Has the Meesho incident highlighted the flip side of influencer marketing?s - Business Standard

Many users on #worktok a tag that has more than a half-billion views found themselves ending up on TikTok out of lockdown malaise, when their companies implemented remote-work policies more than two years ago.

"I was bored on my couch, to be honest with you," says account-manger Coleman.

He joined TikTok after lockdowns began in early 2020, when his company began remote work. Hed found himself engaging in new rituals like "taking a midday shower, taking a midday nap or doing laundry" during the workday and when he started scrolling through TikTok, to his surprise, he found he "wasn't the only person" sneaking in dog walks. Many of his videos focus on those work-from-home behaviours that nearly all remote workers now partake in, like puttering around the house doing chores in between tasks, or "wiggling your mouse to stay online" to "show that your status is green".

Recruiter Jones, who also joined TikTok during the pandemic because she was missing that camaraderie you get from sitting around the office and sharing stories, says the app provided her a way to join the conversation around the ways work was changing.

"I didn't start this channel on Instagram, because then it's really just my friends and my family that follow me," says Jones. "On TikTok, the way the algorithm works, you're pushed out to a lot of different kind of people, and that's really fun."

Relatable and real

For solicitor Nelson-Case, #worktok shows how "so many of us go through the same experiences, regardless of what our jobs are".

"The experiences and nuances of corporate life and working in an office are relatable and almost universal," he says, adding that his intent isn't to complain about his job or colleagues, whom he calls "supportive and great". For him, #worktok is more about "the nuances and the challenges of the corporate environment itself." He thinks by watching these videos, workers especially during the pandemic "feel less alone".

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#worktok: The surge of venting about the worst of work - BBC

Since 2021, the stars of Chinas internet economy including Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan all entered a stagnant stage after a decade of phenomenal growth. In the decade before, we grew used to these giants expanding into new industries and making waves with their capital and technology advantages, but these days we hear more about them laying off employees and cutting non-profitable business units.

Meanwhile, the term Web 3.0 has been gaining traction and has already become the new catchphrase for the crypto movement. Web3 the next generation of the internet disrupting the over-centralized Web 2.0 platforms is a powerful narrative that is capturing the attention of Chinese internet entrepreneurs who are looking for the next big thing.

A16z, one of the most influential crypto VC funds, defines Web2 as social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WeChat where we can only read and write, while Web3 is the blockchain-enabled internet that allows us read, write and own meaning users can own the digital assets they create as well as part of the network infrastructure.

There are now more and more impactful investors and entrepreneurs from Chinas Web2 industry venturing into Web3. They are veterans from the last wave of internet innovation who built fintech, e-commerce or social media applications for tens of millions of users.

Ironically, some new migrants who just moved out of the stymied Web2 businesses in 2021, were again caught in cryptos bear market which already has erased about a trillion dollars in market cap since the beginning of 2022. Will the bear market also end prematurely the migration from Web2 to Web3?

Having talked to many Chinese entrepreneurs in the past several months, my observation is that the Web3 movement is now forced into a sobering reset moment which actually is a good time for Web2 entrepreneurs to enter the playing field and leverage their know-how to help accelerate Web3 applications toward mass adoption and real-world economic activities.

From falling market cap to sizable layoffs, the optimism once surrounding Chinas internet economy has been visibly diminishing over the past year. Chinese internet entrepreneurs have so much anxiety about the fluctuating government regulations and policies that the code is law philosophy held by the blockchain community seems particularly attractive to them.

As they feel that the social contract between government authorities and market players is often getting rewritten, the smart contracts on the blockchain seem transparent and more secure to them.

Chinese internet companies have to stay away from cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi), which the government has outlawed. But they are actively exploring non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which look like a cultural and entertainment business that attracts less regulatory attention.

Bilibili, the video-driven social network, just launched its NFT series Cheers UP in late April and even added an NFT tab to its app (international version), which connects to users Metamask wallets. Even the food delivery platform ele.me has launched an NFT series focusing on Chinese heritage cuisine, with Cod Meat Ball as its first NFT.

Tencent has invested in the NFT platform Immutable X and TikTok collaborated with Immutable X to launch a NFT collection Tiktok Top Moments.

The investment funds that backed the winners of Chinas internet economy are now placing big bets on Web3. Neil Shen, known for being the founder of C-Trip and early investor of Meituan and Pinduoduo, led Sequoia China to invest in blockchain gaming behemoth Animoca Brands.

These are just some examples of publicized investments. There are many more individuals and family offices quietly backing Web3 startups behind the scenes.

The narrative of Web3 indicates that it will bring an internet that serves the interests of users and builders better than Web2. VC investor and thought leader, Chris Dixon, wrote in a widely quoted Twitter thread: Web 3 is the Internet owned by builders and users, orchestrated with tokens. But the recent market turbulence exposed the gap between the narrative and the current reality, which made many Web2 entrepreneurs skeptical.

The Chinese Web2 entrepreneurs are well aware of the problems of over-centralization. The whole internet ecosystem in China is dominated by super apps such as Alipay, WeChat and Meituan, which mediate countless online activities and possess most of the users data. Meanwhile, user acquisition is one of the key business challenges for Chinese internet companies, which routinely burn billions of capital to acquire and retain users in the forms of advertising, giveaways and social marketing.

The concentration of data in the super apps and the skyrocketing cost of user acquisition have made it very difficult for new startups to emerge in the past several years and has also made the super apps into targets of anti-monopoly regulation. That is why many Web2 entrepreneurs are inspired by the idea of building upon a decentralized network and turning users into stakeholders.

However, the majority of the existing Web3 applications have not yet lived up to the vision of benefiting users at scale. Terraform Labs Luna, once one of the most influential crypto projects in Asia and claimed to create decentralized money for a decentralized economy, saw the value of its algorithm-driven stablecoin UST recently drop to zero over just three days. For many in the crypto community who criticize the Fed for printing U.S. dollars out of thin air, it is now hard to argue decentralized money is a better option.

Even blockchain games, which many hope would onboard consumers en masse into Web3, have not proven that people like them for reasons other than token incentives. While we heard quite a lot of news about virtual lands in the metaverse games Sandbox and Decentraland selling for millions of dollars, the daily active users of these two games are only around 1,000 as of this April an embarrassingly low number compared to mainstream Web2 games.

When Web2 entrepreneurs, who are experts in identifying product-market fit, look at the current Web3 applications, they could easily conclude that the current killer application of Web3 is simply speculation.

The recent collapse of many crypto assets exposed the risk of token-facilitated hyper-financialization. It also makes clear the necessity for Web3 applications to find use cases and solve problems in the real-world economy, which happens to be what Web2 entrepreneurs built their success on.

When the tokens were enjoying the incredible bull run between 2020 and 2021, we often saw Web3 advocates assuming with confidence that Web2 applications were just dinosaurs with no future. But thanks to this bear market, many of them should now recognize with humility that Web2 applications like Paypal, YouTube and Tiktok are still better at being widely used in current everyday life.

Despite some skepticism, for Web2 entrepreneurs, there is still no other vision as inspiring as this decentralized internet that aligns the interests of builders and users. For Chinese entrepreneurs in particular, the permissionless and global nature of Web3 also makes it a rare oasis free from the disturbance of geopolitics.

Chinese Web2 entrepreneurs have a good chance to play an important role in the next wave of Web3 innovation. The mass adoption of Web3 will not bypass the booming Asia market. Chinese entrepreneurs have the most experience in Asia when it comes to building internet products at scale, with killer applications that can compete with global giants. Some of the most promising use cases of crypto, such as digital wallets and virtual entertainment, are familiar territories for them.

The Web2 to Web3 migration also presents an important opportunity to the crypto-native teams. Web2 entrepreneurs and investors need partners to master the blockchain infrastructure, the complex tokenomics and the dynamic communities that operate under a DAO (decentralized autonomous organization).

Since 2021, we have already seen Chinas crypto community migrating to Southeast Asia because of the crypto ban, and talents from traditional finance migrating to crypto finance in search of growth. The Web2 to Web3 migration is another important trend. The current bear market only makes it even more impactful, and it is bringing the capital and expertise on mass adoption that Asias Web3 movement needs for the next breakthrough.

See more here:
How the bear market could accelerate the Web2 to Web3 migration - Forkast News

Crocs, Inc. (CROX Quick QuoteCROX - Free Report) has been gaining from sturdy consumer demand, brand strength and solid online show. This led to an impressive first-quarter 2022 performance.

The companys top and bottom lines surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the eighth straight quarter in the first quarter. Also, sales and earnings improved year over year. The top line witnessed growth across all regions and channels.

The companys latest buyout of HEYDUDE, which sells lightweight, casual shoes and sandals for men, women and children, is likely to add value to its fast-growing footwear business. This is the second high-growth, highly profitable brand added to the Crocs portfolio.

Crocs believes that HEYDUDEs consumer-insight-driven casual, comfortable and lightweight products perfectly fit its existing portfolio. The acquisition is likely to diversify Crocs brand portfolio and add to its digital penetration, as HEYDUDE has a strong online presence.

The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to Crocs revenues, operating margins and earnings. It expects HEYDUDE to deliver revenues of $620-$670 million on a reported basis, beginning Feb 17, 2022. Management expects the HEYDUDE brand to reach $1 billion in revenues by 2024.

Speaking of its online unit, the company has been witnessing significant progress in expanding digital and omnichannel capabilities. Digital sales advanced 20.3% year over year and accounted for 32.8% of revenues in the first quarter. Increased focus on the Crocs mobile app and global social platforms aided digital sales.

Within digital, India, South Korea and Australia regions witnessed double-digit increases from the year-ago period. Gains from strategic collaborations, influencer campaigns, and digital and social marketing efforts remained upsides.

Driven by these factors, management updated the guidance for 2022 and issued a second-quarter view. For 2022, revenues related to the HEYDUDE buyout are likely to be $750-$800 million on a reported basis, up from $620-$670 stated earlier. The company expects revenue growth (excluding HEYDUDE) of more than 20% for 2022. Consolidated revenues are projected to be $3.5 billion, suggesting year-over-year growth of 52-55%.

Adjusted earnings are envisioned to be $10.05-$10.65, up from the prior stated $9.7-$10.25. The adjusted operating margin is anticipated to be 26-27% compared with the aforementioned 26%.

For second-quarter 2022, revenues are projected to grow 43-49% to $918-$957 million. In the prior-year quarter, it reported revenues of $641 million. The adjusted operating margin is estimated to be 26%, including air freight expenses of $50 million.

However, Crocs is reeling under operational headwinds related to the ongoing supply-chain challenges, high inflation, rising interest rates, adverse impacts of the war in Ukraine and current shutdowns stemming from the zero-COVID policy in China. Supply-chain disruptions have been challenging for manufacturers and have significantly hampered the mobility of products across the globe.

The company notes that global inflation, contributing to incremental freight costs, particularly air freight, will continue in 2022. It expects air freight costs of $75 million to hurt gross margins in the first half of 2022.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

We note that shares of CROX have lost 19.8% in the past three months compared with the industrys decline of 7.5%.

Despite supply-chain headwinds and rising inflation, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock remains well-poised on the back of solid demand, brand strength and robust digital business. Also, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the companys current financial years sales and earnings suggests growth of 53% and 26.6%, respectively, from the year-ago periods reported numbers. Topping it, earnings estimates for 2022 have moved up 3.6% in the past 60 days.

Some better-ranked stocks from the same industry are Delta Apparel (DLA Quick QuoteDLA - Free Report) , Steven Madden (SHOO Quick QuoteSHOO - Free Report) and GIII Apparel Group (GIII Quick QuoteGIII - Free Report) .

Steven Madden is involved in designing, sourcing, marketing and selling private label footwear, handbags and accessories for women, men, and children. It currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). SHOO has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 44%, on average. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Steven Maddens current financial years sales and earnings suggests growth of 15.2% and 19.6%, respectively, from the year-ago period's reported numbers.

Delta Apparel, a manufacturer of knitwear products, currently sports a Zacks Rank #1. DLA has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 95.5%, on average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Delta Apparel's current financial years sales and earnings per share suggests growth of 11.9% and 10.1%, respectively, from the year-ago period's reported numbers.

GIII Apparel, a manufacturer, designer and distributor of apparel and accessories, presently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). GIL has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 160.6%, on average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GIII Apparels current financial-year sales and earnings suggests growth of 8.7% and 5.2% from the year-ago periods reported numbers, respectively.

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Here's Why You Should Hold on to Crocs (CROX) Stock Now - Zacks Investment Research