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The Kongalytics Team: Our Week in Tech News

As you might imagine, the team members at Kong Digital are quite the tech enthusiasts. We spend lunch times browsing the latest news, testing gadgets and dreaming of owning the next big thing. Obviously, we’re also keen on new developments in all things Internet and marketing too.

We’d love to share with you some of the things that stood out to us on a weekly basis. As individuals, our tastes and interests vary – we hope that sharing our favourite stories and articles gives you a small insight into the personalities that make the Kong team!

Rocy

Picture this: 2 shops are right next to each other. However, one attracts more customers than the other, although both have the same goods. This is for one reason; the one shop that attracts more customers uses the concept of interaction with people. This is in terms of consumer suggestions, attractive offers, contests and displays. These methods draw more people, as the overall environment makes a customer feel more comfortable.

In terms of web design, the concept can work in the same manner. If a website is one sided in expressing content about your company, product or service, users will feel bored. Isn’t communication the best thing? Why not make it happen on your website?

Article via Business 2 Community: How Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Helps to Guide Better UI Design

Iva

I’ve been learning a lot about the use of video in advertising recently, because there’s so much to keep up with – it’s an ever evolving landscape! This particular article answered some of my FAQs, particularly on KPIs. It also confirms that benchmarks aren’t always possible although they’re something that many like to aspire to or surpass. I’m sure I’ll be reading something new every week on video marketing!

Article via Think With Google: How to Identify the Right KPIs for Online Video: Lessons From Google BrandLab

Robert

I shared this within the team this week and it’s fair to say the whole team was amazed by the numbers being thrown around. Of course, we all know the importance of Google and Facebook for advetsiting, but I think this gives everyone more of an idea of how key is is to get campaigns right, because there’s stiff competition out there!

Article via Inc.com: Google and Facebook Now Make More From Ads Than Every Newspaper, Magazine, and Radio Network In the World Combined

Lucy

I’ve owned a OnePlus since meeting their team at the Web Summit in 2015, so this week I’ve been reading a lot of reviews following the announcement of the OnePlus 5 last week. I’ve read mostly good reviews so far but there is the feeling that it could have been so much better, especially given that their price scale has risen. So now I’m on the fence as to whether to buy one or not!

Article via Forbes: OnePlus 5 Review: A Risky Gamble Against Samsung And Apple

Are your marketing plans summer ready?

Summer is well and truly upon us with the solstice occurring yesterday and some sporadic hot weather putting smiles on faces.

But for online marketers and advertisers, we’ve often found that social media and online advertising analytics show slight dips in summer months, sometimes showing lower click throughs and engagements on warmer days.

School holidays, summer holidays and generally getting out and about more are just a few reasons for audiences becoming less reactive than in the winter months.

This means it’s highly important to plan summer campaigns meticulously and take all of the above factors into consideration. We’ve come up with a few tips for summer marketing based on our previous experience of making social media campaigns and online advertising work in better weather…

1/ Special Offers

pi7nmqyi9Does your business have something to offer in summer? Do you have outdoor space that people should be making use of, maybe suitable for kids on school holidays? Give them something not to miss. Ideas include:

• 10% off entry prices on one weekend for people who follow you on Facebook/Instagram
• Free cold drink for anyone who retweets a specific tweet
• Offer a free branded fan/tumbler when people book tickets/appointments through your website

HINT: Data is king (well, content might argue with that). Keep this in mind when creating competitions or
offers – maximize the potential to capture email addresses especially.

2/ Target mobile

Put your efforts into mobile advertising. People are outside at home or on holiday so they’re more likely to be browsing online through a mobile device. Okay, we know this is generally the case anyway but even more so when the weather’s nice and people don’t want to be stuck indoors on a desktop or laptop.

3/ Consider the time of day

Focus your ads around times of the day people are more likely to be online. If people are at home in the evenings, the chances are they’re settling in later than they would in the winter. They also might be more likely to go out over the weekend rather than stay in with a box-set, so bear this in mind too…we realise that’s not always easy!

4/ Make content relevant

8c6opzb9iKeep your imagery summery and colorful to awaken all the senses that summer brings (or at least it should, if the weather is agreeable). For example:

• Illustrate someone using your product on a beach front
• Picture someone wearing your clothes having fun in the park
• Make text over images bright and cheerful

The same rules apply to copy. Use vibrant language to stir summer feelings within your target audience. Just put yourself in their shoes – what would you want to hear as a consumer in summer?

HINT: Don’t be afraid to put relevant emojis in text. Emojis stir emotions and catch attention…science says so! But don’t go off topic.

Hopefully, these basic tips will give you a few ideas for your upcoming social campaigns and online ads. Give us a shout if you’d like more advice!

6 great Simpsons quotes and how they relate to online marketing

We know that some of you could turf out Simpsons quotes like there’s no tomorrow, but have you ever thought about how some of them can actually relate to your career as an online marketer? No?
We’ll help you out then…

homer-panicNow we play the waiting game…Ahh, the waiting game sucks. Let’s play Hungry Hungry Hippos!” Homer Simpson   

Online marketing isn’t a waiting game. There’s plenty you can be doing in between your campaigns. Think about the strategic spend you can place on your social campaigns and targeting, which means that your wait time for results will be minimal. Granted, there’s a certain amount of being patient, but there’s so much more that can be done than creating campaigns and anticipating

“I used to be with it, but then they changed what “it” was, and now what I’m with isn’t it. And what’s “it” seems weird and scary to me.” Grampa Simpsontumblr_mgzy4uqbxr1qfrrv2o1_500
Well yes, this much is true – there are changes going on all the time in the online marketing world. One minute you know what you’re doing and the next it’s all changed.Trends come and go, even platforms change their interface at the blink of an eye. Keeping up is just part of a life in marketing and branding. The beauty of tracking online campaigns is the speed at which reactions can take place in order to keep everything relevant, cost effective and visible.

“I’d be mortified if someone ever made a lousy product with the Simpson name on it.” Lisa Simpson

Ah yes, the importance of perfection! We all know nobody’s perfect, but getting as close as you can is vital when putting your name out there. Your social accounts, online ads and website all proudly carry your name and branding and represent everything that’s great about you; company values, products, customer service. If you’re not proud to put your name to something, think twice before publishing to the world via online.

“Science. What’s science ever done for us?”  Moe the Bartender
board-03-moes-electricityB..b..but science is everywhere! Believe it or not, there is a science behind everything you do in a marketing campaign. From the techniques you use to draw the eye to an ad, to the processes you use to get it seen and promoted, there are the sciences to all aspects of online advertising and marketing. Our analytics services might just help you out with that side of your business.

“Just because I don’t care doesn’t mean that I don’t understand.” Homer Simpson

Getting your messages seen by people is the first step. Getting them to care is the next one. Creating and publishing quality content is a start, but by continuing to target those who have genuine interest in your product, service or brand you’ll go a long way to making people care. There comes a time to accept that not everyone on the planet needs you, but those who want to share your greatness with you will build an authentic relationship with your business online. People might understand your message, but do they care?

“Yes, but I’d trade it all for a little more.” Mr. Burns
More, more, more…There’s a part of every marketer that wants more.giphy Sometimes it’s about testing the water to see what reaction you can gauge from an online campaign. Other times you’re sure you’ve got it spot on and, hey presto, it works. The idea is to target your audience, not just the masses. Check back into your online analytics at regular intervals and take it all in for a moment. Listen to what the results say, and don’t get greedy. If you’ve reached your peak audience, great job! Pushing it too far may result in negative effects.

Are your kids using mobile devices and apps safely?

As a keen technology enthusiast and a parent of 3 wonderful kids 🙂 I always ask myself; are my kids safely using the technology and apps that are widely available to children across the world today?

My digital marketing software company, Kong Digital, integrates our unique platform, “Kongalytics”, with a number of social media & online advertising platforms and we get to see the powerful tools that are available to reach your target audiences with precise accuracy! In today’s digital environment, these platforms are extremely important to businesses and essential to driving positive ROI from their online activity.

On the parent side of my life, I see the potential risks that are out there for young kids who are growing up with a smart device in their hands. I have been asked multiple times by parents, and regularly see articles in the media, about the dangers of certain apps and social media platforms.

Here’s a bit of advice to parents who have young kids using mobile/tablet devices & apps…

All messaging apps & social platforms need to be monitored by parents. I see articles in the media alerting parents about the horrible stories of predators grooming kids; the most recent one I’ve seen was ‘Paedophiles are using hugely popular musical.ly mobile phone app to groom underage children’.

What I see off the back of these articles are parents thinking that the social media app in the article is the one they should ban their kids from, but to single out one or two apps as the only ones that are dangerous to kids is risky. There are potential threats to kids across all social & messaging apps.

It's more important than ever to monitor children's online activities, including games and chats.

It’s important to monitor children’s online activities, including games and chats.

Here are a few suggestions on what you can do to limit the risks to your kids.

For each app that your kids are active on, control the privacy settings and restrict who can view, follow or interact with your kids.

If your kids are online using social apps, then they also need to be regularly monitored. I do weekly checks on my kids’ devices and will also do random checks throughout the week. I also make sure my kids know that I am checking to make sure that they stay safe online.

If your kids have their own email address, make sure that their emails are automatically forwarded to your email address and make sure, where available, that you have notifications switched on within the apps they use, so you know as soon as someone contacts them, follows them or sends a private message.

Also, carry out weekly checks of their searches on Google/YouTube etc… And monitor who they are following or who they allow to follow them. There are a lot of fake celebrity accounts that kids think are the real celebs, so you need to be very careful of these.

Another one to be aware of are the games your kids play, there are lots of games that have chat features built into them and kids are chatting away on these without you even knowing. Clash of Clans and Roadblocks are just two examples.

I’m a big fan of technology and my kids are too. There are lots of great benefits of using these apps but also a lot of risks for kids. So, try and get into a routine of doing weekly checks and making sure that the proper privacy restrictions are enabled on the apps your kids are using.

I think the most important thing to do is to educate your kids on the potential risks of being online. You just never know for sure who is behind the online profile you are interacting with. It’s also good practice to monitor your kids’ interactions with their peers/classmates etc. Cyber bullying is a big issue and can have a very negative impact.

 

Irish Tech; Kong Gets to Grips with SXSW 2016

When I got the email from Enterprise Ireland suggesting that SXSW would be a suitable event for Kong Digital to attend in 2016, it didn’t take long for us to see the potential & opportunities this event would provide! When start-up companies are deciding which events are the most valuable to attend throughout a calendar year a lot of things need to be considered. Location, profile of attendees, cost to get your team there etc… So of course a trip to Austin Texas for 8 days is something that needs to be thought through.

Enterprise Ireland were kind enough to put me in touch with a few companies who have attended the event over the past few years and I was able to get a fairly good handle on how SXSW would fit with Kong Digital. And it didn’t disappoint…. Here is our experience from our trip to SXSW 2016…

The excitement started to kick off when we got the invite to the American Ambassador’s residence in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland for the Creative Minds SXSW Send Off. Most of the Irish tech companies & musicians who were bound for SXSW 2016 were in attendance along with some of the companies who attended SXSW over the previous few years. Plenty of information and advice was on hand for the SXSW virgins who were unsure what to expect when they got their feet on the ground in Austin. It was a great night with an experienced panel of past attendees & also a couple of fantastic performances from Irish artists Rosie Carney & Saint Sister.

American Embassy

It was getting close to flight time, the branded t-shirts & leaflets were ready to go and the bags were packed. The Kong team landed in Austin late on the night of Wednesday 9th March. There was heavy rain and a few tornados in Austin that day, so the flights were a bit behind schedule. The airport in Austin is only a 20-30 min drive to downtown Austin – first bit of advice, stay in downtown Austin for SXSW it will make your life a whole lot easier! On our connecting flight from Chicago to Austin we were lucky enough to be sitting beside a native Austonian who kindly gave us a list of the must eat places and where is worth a visit while in town (the food in Austin is unbelievable! See list of recommendations below).

Food recommendations

We arrived at the JW Marriott hotel where we would be based for the next 8 days. It’s a little bit pricey but we were late booking accommodation, otherwise we would have been a 1-2 hours’ drive outside of downtown Austin which wasn’t something we were keen on. I couldn’t recommend the JW Marriott any higher, we definitely got what we paid for, the location, food, service, facilities & all-round comfort was second to none. We may have spoiled ourselves by staying here at our first SXSW but we would struggle to find a reason not to book here again next year. We got to rub shoulders with some very influential people who were staying there too!

So day 1 for us at SXSW was Thursday 10th March – we picked up our badges early,  the queues can get quite long as it gets closer to the interactive session and the city was about to go into Presidential visit mode!It was then time to get our first taste of Austin food. We had a tasty breakfast at La Crepe which is just a 2 minute walk from the JW Marriott, later for a light dinner we went across the road to Gus’s Fried Chicken – once you taste you will understand why its World famous!

Day 1

We got to bed early on the Thursday to make sure we were well settled before the meetings and events kicked off. We started day 2 with a healthy breakfast in the JW Marriott and ended up sitting beside Guy Kawasaki (an influential Digital Marketing specialist). We then set off for a small bit of sightseeing with a walk up to the Texas State Capitol building.

Day 2

It was then time to head to our first event; Irish tech company Overhaul were hosting their launch party at a nearby bar/restaurant. We headed off using Google Maps  (which, of course began with the its this way, no its that way moment) to find the location where we got our first taste of local beer & some delicious tacos. We introduced ourselves to the Overhaul CEO Barry Conlon, who is an inspirational entrepreneur with a great story. We also got to meet with the Enterprise Ireland team who organise the SXSW event for Irish tech companies, Simone Boswel, Robert Walsh & Brendan Roberts.

Overhaul put on a great event and had plenty of tasty food and beverages for their guests. Their CEO Barry Conlon finished off the event chairing a very relaxed but informative  Q&A session which consisted of some of their founders, investors and some experts within the haulage industry. Co Founder Robert Clarke spoke about one of the things that makes this company so special, they value the people who get the job done for them, the people who deliver on the companys word, every single day, something at Kong we really believe in.  This gave us a clear understanding of what Overhaul have set out to achieve, their values as a company and how their technology is going to bring the haulage industry into the 21st century. I’m looking forward to seeing how these guys grow over the next couple of years.

Overhaul event

On day 2 I reached out to Dennis Yu, who I had been following online for the past two years. Dennis is a thought leader & influential guy within the Digital Marketing space in the US & I was delighted when Dennis invited me to the Spredfast event that he was attending in downtown Austin. Dennis also had one of his young colleagues with him, Zac Sinks, and we chatted for over an hour about how the digital marketing software space is rapidly evolving and creating massive opportunities. I’m looking forward to working with Dennis & Zac as we expand Kong Digital’s digital marketing software “Kongalytics” into the US market.

Dennis Yu, Zac Sinks & Robert Kelly

The Interactive keynote speech was a first for SXSW, Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune spoke with President Obama about Tech innovation and citizen engagement, it was all very impressive with streets closed down everywhere and POTUS tweets trending. It wasn’t only the presidents visit to Austin that was causing excitement, there was also USA Network’s Mr. Robot attracting everybody’s attention down on Congress Avenue with a free carnival! but never to be outdone, Paramount Theater brought an actual Tie Fighter to the SouthBites Trailer Park….yes, seriously!!!

Friday evening we made our way back to the ACC  for the first Enterprise Ireland event (yes, we are still on day 2!) at the Interactive Registration Lounge, where we got to meet the great Irish tech companies that we would be spending the next 5 days with and also enjoy some free beers! This was a great intro for everyone and set the scene for the days to follow. We also got to meet with some of the Bank of Ireland delegates who travelled over for the event.

Day 3 kicked off very early (yes very early, kick off was 7.30 am Austin time) with a trip to a local Irish bar called FADÓ to watch the Ireland v Italy 6 Nations match. As it was early (have i mentioned that already?) the atmosphere was quiet but as the morning ticked by, people started to flow in, and in no time there wasn’t a seat to be found! We enjoyed a delicious Irish Breakfast while Ireland whipped Italy 58 – 15! The crowds continued to grow as the England v Wales game got underway, as we were the early starters we had a bird’s eye view of the TV. An English guy politely asked if he could join our table to watch the match and we, of course, welcomed him. This was the first realisation that the profile of people at SXSW was of high quality! We started chatting (as the Irish do) and found that we had synergies between our companies, which can be of great assistance with our expansion into the UK market. My second piece of advice is to talk to everyone – you never know who they are or who they’re connected to!

Irish breakfast

We spent the rest of Saturday prepping for the first day of the exhibition which kicks off with the interactive session, where the tech world comes together to showcase what they have to offer. We were still unsure about how we would be received and what profile of people would be visiting our stand over the following 4 days, but we were soon to find out…

Saturday night, Macnas, presented by IDA Ireland and Culture Ireland, brought a vibrant parade to 6th Street, check out the video here.

 

Interactive Session Kicks Off

Sunday morning arrived & the temperature in Austin was heading for 30 degrees! Luckily enough the Austin Convention Centre was nicely air conditioned 🙂 The Enterprise Ireland stand was prepped and ready for the first bit of action.

The SXSW stand

From the get go, the flow of people passing by the stand was pretty steady and easy to manage, but I would recommend that you have at least 2 people with you to man the stand. The days run from 10am to 6pm and there is generally always someone visiting the stand that wants to find out more about your business. Having 2 people there allows you to manage when there is extra activity at the stand, and also allows you to grab some food & coffee throughout the day.

About an hour into the first day we had a visit from a well known Digital Marketing speaker and author, Mark Schaefer. It was great to connect with Mark and get his insight into the rapidly evolving Digital Marketing sector. We are looking forward to meeting up with Mark when he visits Ireland in May to speak at an event Content Marketing Mastery. This trend continued throughout the following few days where we got to meet with key decision makers and knowledgeable people within our target markets including people/companies from Ireland, UK, Mainland Europe, Canada & USA.

Enterprise Ireland had, without doubt, one of the best positions on the trade-show floor, straight in the door of exhibit hall 3 – but along with that one of the best draws around the whole SXSW event, free Guinness. I can’t begin to explain the amount of interesting and diverse people we met and got to pitch to, purely because they stopped by for a taste of the black stuff!

It was also used as the location for the second Enterprise Ireland Event: “Meet the Irish! PARTY & Free Bar” which attracted a wide range of people who wanted to find out more about the Irish tech scene.

Enterprise Ireland Exhibition Stand @ SXSW 2016

 

On the second day of the interactive session, Enterprise Ireland had their 3rd event: “Tech and beer go together well in one country…”, which provided another great networking opportunity for the Irish tech companies. We met with Adrian Farrell who is the Consul General at Consulate General of Ireland, Austin. Adrian is Ireland’s first Consul General to the US southwest, prioritising the maintaining and building of strong links between Ireland and the US and we wish him every success in the role.

On Monday evening a number of the Irish delegation and  EI team got together for a meal and a few beers to get to know each other better and share our ideas and experiences. This is another thing we would recommend as it helped us to build relationships that  go beyond the SXSW bubble.

The third day of the interactive session is when the profile of attendees starts to change; the music session is getting ready to kick off and the atmosphere starts to change – it’s not any better or worse but just different. Some of the tech companies finish up on the third day as they haven’t a specific link into the music tech side of things, but as our product “Kongalytics” has a unique offering for the music digital marketing sector, we were in for the long haul!

Tuesday evening brought us to our first music event which was hosted at the JW Marriott: “The Universal Music Pool Party!” This was an excellent opportunity for us to network with some key players with in the music industry in the US and it didn’t disappoint. The tunes were pumping the beer was flowing and networking was excellent! The scenery wasn’t bad either 🙂

Pool party

Once or twice I got a chance to stretch the legs and wander around the exhibit floor to see what else was happening at this jam packed show, which boasted almost 2,000 exhibitors. I can’t lie, the show stealer for any nerd, be it tech, music or innovation had to be NASA – these guys are just awesome. Wanna see what the actual suit will be like for the Mars mission? Sure, take a look… Want to check out the latest space robot? Yep, that was there too! Oh and while you’re at it, meet the astronauts, have your photo taken, here’s some freebies! But even these super cool people were drawn to our stand by the idea of a Guinness and an Ireland & USA badge!

Ireland SXSW 2016 - NASA

Speaking of Tech nerds though, the innovation and app development from Korea and Japan was very exciting! The apps, the tech, the ideas coming from Asia were enough to hold a casual wanderer up for the day at their area outside the pitch stage. In fact each country seemed to have a unique draw to their stand, a German coffee shop, a British living room, a Spanish tech hub, an Italian relaxed space…

A truly interesting company we came across, Social Imprints, totally blew me away! Their product is awesome for sure but what impressed us most was their hiring policy, they hire at risk adults and give them an employment opportunity, all in all a fab company with an impressive product and all day long queue at the event!

First Lady Michelle Obama opened the Music Keynote session on Wednesday, to discuss the Let Girls Learn Initiative, which aims to break barriers for the 62 million girls around the world who are not in school today, more than half of whom are adolescent. This kicked off the fourth day, with the SXSW Music Session now in full flow and the Irish Artists starting to arrive at the Enterprise Ireland stand. Angela Dorgan from First Music Contact does a serious amount of work to organise the trip for the Irish artists. This day gave us a great opportunity to talk to record labels and music organisations across the globe. It was definitely worth our while staying on for the last day. The final day the trade show finishes up at 2pm, this gave us the rest of the day/night to relax and enjoy the atmosphere that comes with the music session. We went to Maggie Mae’s on 6th Street to enjoy some of the Irish artists who were performing for the first time at SXSW.

So that was our first experience as an Irish tech company at SXSW! It definitely surpassed my expectations,  I think you have to make the most of it & be open to talk to everyone you meet along the way. Its a week of hard work which can provide huge opportunity for ambitious tech companies. I would also like to say a BIG thank you to the Enterprise Ireland team (Paul, Simone, Rob, Brendan & Randy) for the massive amount of planning and organisation that went into the SXSW event before we even landed in Austin, not to mention the hard work and encouragement during the Trade show making SXSW 2016 a huge success for the Irish Tech companies.

Here’s a summary of my tips for a successful trip to SXSW.

1) Get your accommodation in downtown Austin, its a tough week of work & networking, don’t make it any harder on yourself.

2) Talk to everyone you can, listen to their story and tell them yours, we made valuable connections by being open to having a chat and listening to other people.

3) Reach out to the people you see as the thought leaders in your sector, the chances are they will be at SXSW and most of them are there to learn as well. All they can do is say no, but in my experience most of them are more than happy to meet up.

4) Get there a couple of days before the interactive session kicks off. We had some great meetings in our first couple of days.

5) Have your pitch ready! This is probably the most important thing for your trip. As the week progresses you will get more comfortable & better at pitching your USP. But make sure you are clear about what your business is offering and whats unique about it.

*Bonus tip! Don’t get to the airport check in desk and realise your passports are back in the hotel safe!

If you or your company are considering attending SXSW 2017, I would be more than happy to chat to you in more detail about our experience. Robert Kelly CEO @ Kong Digital

And last but by no way least, I want to give a shout out to the other great Irish tech companies that we shared our SXSW experience with. In no particular order;  UrbanFoxIntuitionKabzyFirstageOverhaulTekTalentOpenBackKantanMTGalvanic (Pip)CrowdsightSynergySuite

Irish Tech Companies at SXSW 2016

What social networks should you be using to kick-start your student recruitment in China?

The recruitment of international students to colleges and universities used to be something that happened with more traditional methods of advertising and media.

But with a 34% increase in Chinese students coming to study in Ireland last year, this seems to be a market that
establishments are aiming to target more meaningfully, but perhaps are struggling to bridge the long distance gap.

With several social networks and search engines that we know and love being unavailable in China, here’s a quick guide to popular ways of communicating with your new target audience via social media and online advertising.

WeChat

WeChat-Logo-2015WeChat is the fastest growing online messaging app in China. It has similar characteristics to WhatsApp and allows people to communicate on a one-to-one basis or in a group. With over a billion accounts signed up for, around 650 million are active.

It is also home to a public accounts platform, which has a similar purpose to Facebook. This is the key feature that allows people to interact with businesses and vice versa. It’s mobile capabilities are seeing it become the most highly used social networking app in China.

WeChat provides text messaging, voice messaging, broadcast messaging, video conferencing, video games, and photo/video sharing, and isn’t limited to communication with only friends.

It also includes a ‘Moments’ features, which is similar to Instagram – it allows you to take a picture and share it with your friends and other social networks, with filters and captions available.

QQ

Tencent_QQQQ is an alternative instant messaging service to WeChat, although it is owned by the same company, Tencent. It has similar features such as online social games, music, shopping, microblogging, movies, group chat and voice chat.

Last year, there were 829 million active accounts, which peaked at over 176 million simultaneous users online.

QQ moved to being a free platform in 2003, but there is still a premium membership scheme offering extra features like QQ mobile, ringtones, and SMS. Users can also purchase ‘Q Coins’ for in-app purchases such as avatars and items for blogs.

Weibo

Sina_WeiboWeibo has some similar features to both Twitter and Facebook. It’s one of the most popular networking sites in China, and is used by over 30% of Internet users.

The word Weibo is actually the Chinese word for “microblog”, which makes it the perfect platform to share your stories for potential students to read and interact with.

It has 222 million active users, a number that is growing fast – the platform has seen 38% year-on-year increases in users with active accounts.

Posts consist of up to 140 characters. In the same style as Twitter, you can mention users using ‘@’ and you can use hashtags to create tags by typing  ‘#content#. The platform also allows for reposting someone’s content, formatting, favouriting, using emojis and auto-shortening URLs.

Baidu

228px-BaiduBaidu is the largest online search engine in China. It is a highly intelligent service and offers various search types within its powerful software.

Not only does it boast a great search engine, it also hosts maps, a music service, encyclopaedia, language services, cloud storage, online communities, anti-virus software and SO much more.

It’s advertising platform is again similar to Google AdWords with a pay-per-click mechanism working across the search engine itself and sites in association with Baidu.

There is clearly plenty of potential for educational establishments to pinpoint target future students in China through interest, courses of study and job aspirations.

Kongalytics is committed to growing its presence in China and will be featuring handy links to several Chinese social networks and search engines allowing you to feature online and advertise to those will will be excited at the prospect of studying in Ireland, the UK or the USA.

140, not out?

Could it be that the days of the 140 character tweet are numbered? Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has responded to rumours of a character increase with a note suggesting that it is the right move for the social network to take in the future, but it will not distract from the brief nature of Twitter.

He has noticed the rise in images and screenshots depicting words that would have been limited by 140 characters, so a rise to 10,000 could well be on the cards to increase the use of the platform for conversation and search.

Dorsey hasn’t confirmed the move, and it’s clear from his message that if any changes were to take place, they would be sensitively approached. Contrary to some views, the look and feel of the social network will not change, and as Dorsey says himself, many will still use Twitter in the same way they always have.

 

jacko

 

It could be great news for marketers who want to encourage clicks through to their websites or for publishing news and reviews. It would even be great for SEO purposes – after all, you can’t text search a screenshot.

What do you think? As long as the interface stays the same and previews 140 characters, would you welcome a 10,000 character platform?

Calling all fellow Web Summit goers!

The Kongalytics team is so pleased to be exhibiting at Dublin’s Web Summit this year, so we wanted to tell you all about it so that you can come and visit us in person on Wednesday 4th November in the RDS.

We’ll be at Stand T158 in the Town Square so say hello, ask us your questions and also be in with a chance of winning a Kongalytics subscription just by turning up!

We will, of course, be posting updates to Twitter over the three days, so keep a close eye on @kongalytics and the hashtag #websummit

Our team members all have various interests and expertise, so it’s going to be great for us all to talk about Kongalytics with our own experiences in mind.

It’s also going to be so interesting to hear such influential people speaking about topics that are so close to our hearts and our business. It’s fair to say we can’t wait!

Only a few more sleeps…

 

Kong Digital is a Seedcorn Investor Readiness finalist

We’re delighted to be regional finalists in the Seedcorn Investor Readiness competition, which takes place in November.

The competition is run by InterTradeIreland who support businesses through innovation and trade initiatives to take advantage of North/South co-operative opportunities to improve capability, drive competitiveness, growth and jobs.

Best of luck to everyone competing in the regional and national finals!

It’s going to be a great set of finals this year.

Instagram Advertising – It’s Nearly Here

Facebook owned company Instagram has recently launched a new advertising service for marketers to enjoy.

The photo sharing social media site, which has recently hit over 400 million users, has grown at a rapid pace since its launch in 2010.

Just over a year ago Instagram began testing how their advertising would work by allowing trusted marketing partners to avail of the service, however, over the past few months Instagram has allowed for other companies to test their new service.

As of September 2015, Instagram has announced the following additional features.

“Landscape photo and video to unlock new creative opportunities and give ads a more cinematic feel

Video ads of up to 30 seconds in length, so brands can engage in richer storytelling

Marquee, a new premium product that helps drive mass awareness and expanded reach in a short time-frame—perfect for events like movie premieres and new product launches

Delivery and optimization tools to manage and drive the best performance of campaigns across Facebook and Instagram”

 

In comparison to other social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, people tend to focus more on content they see on Instagram. This means that the opportunity to post ads on Instagram will provide marketers with the chance to reach a whole new audience.

The focus now is on how to utilize this service in order to effectively reach your company’s target audience.

As Instagram is based purely on visually appealing information, it is important to deliver relevant, high quality content which is targeted to the right people.

It is also important to frequently post content and at the right times to reach your audience and maintain their interest. This can be achieved by regularly placing engaging and targeted ads and by being consistent.

A final tip is to ensure to take advantage of how Facebook and Instagram are integrated.

The opportunity to use the same tools across both social media platforms offers multiple benefits for companies, including, the best targeting possibilities in the world. The option to use these two platforms allows for marketers to target specifically down to geography, interests, education and more. This, as a result, allows for companies to reach the widest audience possible.

We’ll be bringing you more blogs soon on Instagram advertising development, and step-by-step guides to help you understand how and why to target your audiences.

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