Mandy's Marketing life

3 Reasons Why YouTubers (And Not Celebrities) Win Over Millennial Hearts

Featured by Mandyliang2782, posted in Social Media Marketing

If you’re a millennial, this is why YouTubers have a greater influence on you.

Television was the primary medium where people consumed news and entertainment for many decades. Almost every commercial advertisement featured celebrities vouching for the benefits and greatness of the products or services and this continues today.

However, with the rise of social media, the declining popularity of TV and people’s growing dislike for advertising are prompting a redefinition of the word, “celebrity.” The YouTube creators are gradually becoming more influential as they set up trends and driving opinions online.

As of 2015, millennials are the largest consumer demographic with about $1.3 trillion in purchasing power which makes them a choice target for brands. However, majority of millennials seldom watch TV and do not care much about what mainstream celebrities have to say about products or services. Instead, they trust their social media tribes and peer advice more.

A survey on 1500 people in 2015 on the most influential figures among American teenagers conducted by professor Jeetendr Sehdev, a brand strategist from the University of Southern California has shown that the top five in Variety’s survey are comprised entirely of YouTubers and they are up to five times more influential than other celebrities.

Top 8 most influential figures among teenagers

So why do YouTubers have a greater influence on millennials?

YouTubers are easily accessible

YouTube has more than a billion active users . The platform is so expansive that it can be accessed in 76 different languages, accounting for 95% of the world’s population.

2. YouTubers are good at rapport building and drive more engagement with the viewers.

People find it hard to relate to traditional celebrities who always seem to act according to their PR strategies rather than free will. On the contrary, YouTubers connect better with people by being approachable and having more interactions with their viewers. They reply to comments regularly and schedule Q&A sessions frequently with their community, where no questions are off limit. h

3. YouTubers set trends and shape pop culture

Most millennials agree that YouTubers set more trends than traditional celebrities these days. In fact, 70% of subscribers say that YouTubers have changed and shaped the pop culture and 60% of them say they would make purchasing decisions based on the recommendation of their favorite YouTubers.

Conclusion

YouTube influencer marketing has a great impact in brands because it can drive consumers from awareness to consideration to conversion all in one fell swoop. This is even more persuasive than just having a celebrity endorsing a product in an advertisement with zero engagement with the audiences.

So what do you think about the rising popularity of YouTubers among the millennials? Feel free to share your thoughts with me.

4 IoTs in Singapore Healthcare System

March 22, 2019April 3, 2019 by Mandyliang2782, posted in Internet Of Things

Anyone has any idea of what is IOT?

Singapore General Hospital (Image credited from TodayOnline)

With the healthcare system facing with multiple challenges, there is a rise in demand for better services in Singapore. These challenges include a rapidly ageing population, which is accompanied by a growing prevalence of chronic diseases and a shortage of manpower in the healthcare sector.

As a healthcare leader, Singapore is striving hard to make healthcare more accessible for its growing pioneer generation. The current focus is likely to shift towards taking the digital route to make healthcare more affordable and convenient.

By 2020, the government is expecting to spend S$13 billion on healthcare, up from just S$3.74 billion in 2010 and S$10 billion in 2017.

To change how healthcare is delivered, the key is using one of the technologies-Internet of Things (IoT) .

IoT is about the extending the power of the internet beyond computers and smartphones to a whole range of other things, processes and environments.

Let’s take a look at the following IOTs which has penetrated into Singapore’s healthcare market.

Doctors’ wearables

Wearables provide doctors patient data they never had before, enabling them to proactively diagnose patients before they head to a hospital for treatment.

2. Unique patient identifier

Healthcare solutions are supported by integrated medical records running on unique patient identifiers with IOT which can connect residential homes, nursing homes and senior-friendly communities to grocery shops.

Unique Patient Identifier (Image credited from Stat)

With this, the Health Promotion Board can provide seniors with subsidies by pairing with pharmacies.

3. To monitor chronic conditions at home

The Smart Health-Assist (SHA) programme was implemented in 2015 as part of the Government’s broader Infocomm Media 2025 Masterplan.

The SHA programme explores the use of technology to support new models of care, in both home and community settings. One of its key area of focus is Telehealth-a long-distance delivery of clinical care through the means of electronic communications.

Telehealth (Image credited from Home Dialysis Centre)

The Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) recently announced partnership with non-profit organisations, SATA Commhealth (SATA) under a new project to leverage on IoT technology.

This enable patients at home to monitor their vital signs, such as their blood pressure, pulse rate, and blood glucose level.

Measuring Blood Glucose (image credited from Diabetes Australia)

This enables healthcare providers to deliver care to diabetic patients and also for early intervention for high-risk patients.

4. To monitor patient’s health status even from a remote location

A new NUH project adopts the use of sensors and IoT infrastructure to focus on collecting and analysing patient data.

Instead of observing patients in a hospital environment, which takes up considerable manpower and resources, it allows healthcare professionals to monitor the health status of each patient from a remote location.

This new technological aid will be particularly helpful, especially for aged patients who are wheelchair bound or even immobile.

Regular feedback from telehealth devices also allows healthcare professionals to intervene and prevent emergencies from happening, instead of responding when it is already too late.

Conclusion

In the near-future, more incentives driven by smart devices are likely to be introduced to promote healthy behaviors. Through increasingly easy-to-use IoT, the senior citizens have easy access to their own health data so they are empowered to make important decisions on staying fit and healthy.

So what’s your thought on IoT? Share more with me now!

4 Reasons Why 2019 will be A Rising Year For DuckDuckGo

March 8, 2019April 3, 2019 by Mandyliang2782, posted in Search Engine Optimization

When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO),for most of us, the first thing that comes to our mind is always Google. But are you irritated by Google constantly tracking you and invading your privacy?

Today I am going to talk about DuckDuckGo, a ten-year-old internet search engine which is unfamilar to some of you.

DuckDuckGo is a internet search engine which is launched on September 2008 in Pennsylvania, US. It gets its name from the children’s game name Duck, Duck, Goose. It has been quietly attracting new users and generating more traffic to websites.

DuckDuckGo has hit a new record of 30 million daily direct searches on October 2018, experiencing a 50%increase from last year’s daily direct record of 20 million searches. It was also listed as the 7th most popular search enginesthe same month.

As of February 2019, it has reached an average of 35,343,668 daily direct searches.

Are you amazed by how DuckDuckGo managed to achieve these remarkable results within such a short period of time?

Let’s uncover few reasons behind the rising success of DuckDuckGo.

It does not track or store information about users

DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused competitor to Google Search that doesn’t collect or share your search history or clicks. Its mantra is simple, “no tracking, no ad targeting, just searching.”

According to a Pew Research study, 40 percent of people believe search engines shouldn’t retain information about a user’s online activity.

“People are actively seeking out ways to reduce their digital footprint online,” says Du ckDuckGo’s release . It has a great belief in offering the benefits of privacy to users without any sacrifice in quality, therefore assuring a safe search process without the fear of queries being tracked.

2. Provide Useful Data Instantly with Zero Click

DuckDuckGo taps into more than 400 sources to give you instant information about your search query, without you having to click any link. These sources ranges from crowdsourced websites, its own crawler, DuckDuckBot to other search engines, including Bing, Yahoo and Yandex.

Also, its on-search page features automatically bring up the search on the first results page, so you do not have to open and navigate to any other tab. See how convenient it is!!

3. Offers unfiltered results instead of nearby results

DuckDuckGo comes quite handy as well when you just open your search engine to explore new stuff, it gathers the most trending keywords from across the globe that match the word or phrase you type.

This is because DuckDuckGo relies on unfiltered results and not just the ones that are most relevant in your location. It is also useful when searching for
potential freelancing clients from across the globe.

In the case of Google, the same old thing will be popping up again and again with the fact that Google displays results based on your location and search history.

4. Cost-effective option for advertisers

DuckDuckGo runs pay per click ads through the Bing / Yahoo! Search Network. The cost per click on targeted term is USD$0.41, which is ten time cheaper than that for Google which is USD$4.93.

For advertisers, it’s worth considering DuckDuckGo if you have a significant investment in consistent Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns and a customer segment with privacy concerns.

Conclusion

Overall, DuckDuckGo is what I would go for when looking for unfiltered and unbiased results. The search engine has a high functionality and provides great user experience. With a rise in demand, more and more pro-privacy platform will be popping up in the next few years.

Would you consider giving DuckDuckGo a try too? If you’ve used DuckDuckGo before, tell me more about your experiences! Quack!

4 Effective Ways Spotify Ads Studio Benefit Advertisers

February 23, 2019April 3, 2019 by Mandyliang2782, posted in Mobile Marketing

Most of you use Spotify’s music streaming service to access songs, podcasts and videos, but have you ever wondered why commercial breaks keep popping up in between songs?

These commercial breaks are a type of advertisement format offered by Spotify.

Spotify has become a music steaming powerhouse in recent years. As of December 2018, it has driven 116 million ad-supported users and 96 million subscribers, with a total of 207 million active users.

In September 2017, the Swedish company has launched Ads Studio, the world’s first self-service advertising platform that make it easy for anyone to create and manage audio advertisements. It is available in the US,UK, Canada and Australia.

How Spotify Ads Studio works . (Image credited from Spotify)

According to Neilson Media Lab, audio advertisements resulted in a 24% higher advertisement recall and are twice as likely to boost purchase intent than displayed advertisement.

This is why it is seen by many advertisers as a new and exciting way to break through the clutter in the world with countless feeds and endless scrolling.

Enough of the statistics, let’s take a look at the 4 effective ways Spotify Ad Studio has benefited advertisers.

1. As labels and concert promoters

Label companies and event organizers make use of the new platform as an unique opportunity to reach their audience at scale, promoting their events or new singles to fans worldwide. One good example is the Pabst Theater Group.

Pabst Theater produces over 650 concerts every year across four venues in Milwaukee. Thanks to audio’s intimate nature, it is able to deliver the concert details at the fastest speed and ensures the message gets heard by the audiences.

2. As a live event promoter

Ad Studio can be used in live event promotion such as the partnership with the M agent and Live Nation in Australia to draw attention and raise awareness of their events. They have taken advantage of the platform’s clutter-free, native environment and flexible budget options.

3. Provides a value for listening

Spotify provides a safe platform for campaigns such as “The Big Listen,” from Samaritans, a UK-based worldwide charity, for people under emotional stress to talk about anything. With their powerful message delivered through audio, ad studio demonstrated how listening to another person can be the first step to saving a life.

Image credited from
Samaritans of Limerick & Tipperary

4. Drive significant sales for Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG).

CPG campaigns on Spotify drive results, giving marketers a strong return on their ads spend and increasing purchase frequency of CPG products in larger quantities. The 9% increase in sales encourages more new households to buy more frequently and spend larger amounts.

Conclusion

Spotify Ads Studio turns out to be successful, having made a profit of 123 million USD for the first time in the last quarter of 2018. These results prove that by pairing the emotional power of a streaming platform with engaging ads format, advertisers can reach their audience more efficiently than visual media.

For me, Ads Studio is easy-to-use and affordable for everyone who wants to advertise. If you’re an advertiser, how would you use Spotify Ads Studio? Share your thoughts with me now!(:

4 Reasons Why The Ice Bucket Challenge Wasn’t That Great At All

February 9, 2019April 3, 2019 by Mandyliang2782, posted in Viral Marketing

Remember that summer five years ago when you couldn’t sign into Facebook without seeing your friends or favorite celebrities dumping a bucket of ice over his or her head?

Ice Bucket Challenge

If you were one of them, thank you for participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge as you had done your part to raise awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, which is also commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

The ALS Association, a national nonprofit that funds research for and promotes awareness of ALS received approximately $22.9 million between July to August 2014, all thanks to the Ice Bucket Challenge. The donations received was $21 million more dollars compared to the same period last year.

Ice Bucket Challenge is the best example of viral marketing

In addition, the challenge had also raised awareness with 2.4 million ice bucket related videos posted to Facebook and 28 million people having uploaded, commented on, or liked an ice-bucket related video.

#ALSIcebucketchallenge that swept all over has become one of the most wide and best examples of viral marketing. This initiative has achieved something that’s every marketer’s dream: going viral and capturing wide attention across the nation in a month or two.

Surprisingly, too much of sudden attention and money for a nonprofit charity can have their disadvantages. There are a few concerns regarding to the campaign.

Spending more money on bagged ice than on ALS research

Some of the bucket challenge videos uploaded did not contain any substantive information about the disease, why the money was needed, or how it was used. More than anything else, the ice bucket videos felt like an exercise in raising awareness of one’s own altruism or attractiveness in a wet T-shirt, instead of ALS research.

2.The ice water bath was supposed to be a punishment for not donating, not a requirement

Sometimes people were just doing the ice bucket and not donating, and then challenging other people. But the main aim of the campaign was to encourage people to donate money. That’s why Charlie Sheen just poured money on himself to represent the amount he would donate to ALS Association.

“That’s $10,000 in cash which I am donating to the ALS Foundation because let’s face it, ice is gonna melt and this money is actually going to help people.” said Charlie Sheen in the video.

3. Not Environmental-friendly

The campaign was criticized for wasting ices and water with some countries and states such as California experiencing a drought at the point of the time.

4. Spike in donation affected decline in funds in the future

Donations could temporarily affect ALSA’s standing with nonprofit watchdog groups like Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau, which track and rate how charitable organizations spend their money. This could potentially affect their status of a non-profit organisation.

Conclusion

The ice bucket challenge encouraged people to respond immediately and unthinkingly when taking part in, but failed to deliver key message on how ALSA is going to do with the charitable donation.

Let’s not forget the main goal here. Raising awareness and donating are far more practical than joining the hype in getting likes and views from viewers. I believe ALSA will be coming up with even better campaigns to spread their cause.

3 Things Alibaba Did For Their Digital Marketing Strategy

January 16, 2019March 29, 2019 by Mandyliang2782, posted in Digital Marketing

In today’s world, it’s unlikely that any of you have never heard of Alibaba.

Changing Digital World (Image credited: MarTech Today)

It became the second Asian company to break the US$500 billion valuation mark, after Tencent on Jan 2018.

Alibaba Group owes the two biggest marketplaces in the world-Taobao marketplace and Tmall. As of March in 2018, it has 552 million annual active consumers on its China retail marketplaces.

Being one of the top 10 most valuable brand in the world, Alibaba has adopted new and convenient ways for traditional retailers to engage with their customers with the aid of digital marketing :

1.Partnering with Ford, the Multinational Motor Company

Together with Ford, Alibaba sets up the Super Test-Drive Center in Guangzhou to provide users with up to 100 Ford cars to choose from for a free three-day test driving by using Tmall or Taobao apps.

Users can first select the car model that they are interested in and pay a deposit electronically, after that they can schedule a pickup time, and snap a selfie so the vending machine can recognize them when they pick up the car for a test drive.

This whole experience took less than 10 minutes.

Test-drive of Ford cars

2. Launching a visual search tool

Alibaba Cloud cooperated with Australia’s online retailer, The Iconic, to launch a visual search tool, Snap to Shop, allowing users to search for clothing, sportswear and accessories by uploading a photo or taking a photo in the app.

You’ll receive a populated feed of more than 50,000 products from 800 brands.

The feature works by way of an algorithm, which visually matches your photo to products from THE ICONIC product assortment.

Snap and Shop app

3. Launching of Fashion AI (Artificial Intelligence)

Alibaba launched Fashion AI early last year to provide mix-and-match suggestions for consumers, based on over 500,000 sources data of fashion and dressing tips from stylists on the Taobao and Tmall.

This technology has extended to offline shopping. Alibaba has newly opened a Fashion AL concept store in Hong Kong.

Shoppers have to first check in via their mobile Taobao ID code or alternatively,
opt for a face scan.

Once inside, the articles selected by the shoppers will automatically show up in the Smart Mirror once they come in contact with the clothing racks which are RFID- enabled and use gyro-sensors and Bluetooth low-energy chips.

Via the mirrors, shoppers can look at different size and colour options but also receive personalised mix-and-match options to complete the look.

Fashionable AI Concept Store

Conclusion

Digital marketing plays a vital role in helping traditional retailers to restructure and enhancing the way they operate, boosting sales and expanding business globally. In the near-future, we can expect more and more companies using digital marketing as a form of tool to create a more personalised shopping experience for consumers.

Which of these 3 innovative digital marketing approaches amazed you and why is that? Feel free to leave your thoughts below!