Slack today introduced shared channels, a way for companies to create ongoing joint chatrooms to do business together. The feature, which will be available to paid users of Slack, can now be accessed through an open beta program. If it succeeds, it could build a powerful network of companies that rival communication apps will struggle to displace.
The idea behind shared channels is to let companies that interact frequently have a central place to discuss common business. A tech company might open a shared channel with its advertising agency, for example, or a manufacturer might create one for the contractor that handles its returns. Other good candidates for a shared channel include outside legal counsel and food and beverage vendors, Slack executives told me. “We think of shared channels as the most important thing we’ve launched since Slack itself,” says April Underwood, vice president of product at Slack. “They’re fundamentally a new way of working.”
https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/12/16291246/slack-shared-channels-frontiers-announcements/
While many retail marketers are excited about the opportunities technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence will bring in terms of customer engagement and meaningful connections, the reality is that most haven’t even figured out how to tackle truly personalized omnichannel engagement.
For brick-and-mortar retailers, hybrid retailers, online-only ones and everything in between, omnichannel yields a significant advantage in personalizing engagements. Inbound and outbound touch points, including phone, digital and social across multiple devices, traditional direct mail and addressable TV are just a few of the avenues for brands to personally connect with consumers these days.
https://marketingland.com/game-changer-retail-personalization-consumer-identity-management-222993#/
The sheer amount of data email marketers work with amplifies the significance of even the smallest improvements.
Buzzwords like ‘personalization’ and ‘automation’ are among the promised benefits of advanced email tech. But when you really get down to it, what are the most promising innovations currently being pioneered in email marketing?
Here are our picks for the technology that we think make up the future of email.
https://www.clickz.com/the-tools-and-technology-powering-future-email/
Twenty-some years ago, we found ourselves in awe of how computers and the internet changed so many aspects of life. Just when we thought technology had reached its peak, we were also blithely aware that more was going to unfold.
Today we can only look back at the impact the digital revolution made on how we communicate, the way we work, and even the way we socialize. Graphic design is no exception to this change. Technology now plays a major role in the creation of digital work available in many fields. Portfolio design, presentations, signage, logos, websites, animations and even architectural production have all traveled far since the dawn of the digital revolution.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/10/09/how-graphic-design-is-evolving/#126891771ff3/
Data is important. It’s how you measure performance, make daily decisions and plan for the future. Just in the past year, LinkedIn claims to have had more than 10,000 requests from companies across the globe asking their team for data insights to three common questions:
- What are the best emerging cities to hire engineers?
- Are we losing critical skills to other companies?
- How does my employer brand compare to to my peers?
This is what motivated the design of LinkedIn’s new product, a self-service tool that gives users direct access to rich data on talent pools and companies. LinkedIn Talent Insights is here to answer these questions by collating the information employees need to recruit and manage talent more strategically. To do this, LinkedIn Talent Insights gives businesses access to two types of reports: the Talent Pool report, and the Company report.
https://itbrief.co.nz/story/power-data-linkedin-launches-new-recruitment-tool/
Digital marketing is an industry in constant flux, but email marketing is one comforting constant. However, marketers need to update their strategies to gain attention in a very crowded market. How can rich media help them achieve this? In the early days of email marketing, it was not uncommon to achieve an open rate of greater than 75%. Of course, marketers soon caught wind of this exciting and successful new way to reach customers and the market became saturated over time.
Although open rates typically hover between 20% and 25% nowadays, email marketing still delivers a positive ROI for B2B and B2C marketers. The medium survives and thrives based on new and more inventive ways of sustaining a customer’s attention. Otherwise, it becomes stagnant and those open rates dwindle further still. Every tactic has a shelf life. We all love to have some best practices to hand, even if these are just a few simple rules of thumb to guide our efforts. These rules abound for email (Tuesday is routinely found to be the best day to send messages), but in reality we need to focus on what happens when the email is opened.
https://www.clickz.com/how-rich-media-can-bring-your-emails-to-life/112959/
If you want to have a real impact on the development of your students, it is essential to provide formative feedback. But it is also important that this does not take up too much of your time… It is this idea which lies behind the ‘Personalised Formative Feedback as Standard’ (‘Standaard Maatwerk bij Formatieve Feedback’ – StaMaFF) project undertaken at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences. Is it possible to resolve this seeming contradiction with the use of a digital feedback tool? The first experiences yield a mixed picture.
In John Hattie’s 2009 meta-study synthesising a wide range of studies in the field of education research, the significance of feedback ranked an impressively-high 10th place. Formative feedback scored even higher, ranking 3rd. Feedback focused on the task, the process and self-regulation provides the students with guidance which lets them progress towards the desired end goal (‘feed up’). By also devoting attention to the next steps students should take (‘feed forward’), lecturers can provide concrete recommendations as to the best way forward.
https://blog.surf.nl/en/more-feedback-less-time/
There was a time when companies wanting to effectively make use of email as a marketing channel had to buy bulk email software to send emails to their customers and mailing list subscribers.
But times have changed. Cloud-based email delivery platforms like Sendgrid, Mandrill, Mailgun and Amazon SES have rapidly grown in popularity, calling into question the need for bulk email software.
https://www.clickz.com/do-brands-still-need-bulk-email-software/113213/
Cybersecurity is a fundamental consideration for all organizations operating in today’s connected and data-driven world. While all who work across your business – from the IT department, to the PR team and beyond – need to understand the fundamentals of cybersecurity, CMOs have a special responsibility as leaders to ensure they are mitigating risk and are prepared in the event of a possible breach. Here are five things CMOs need to know.
https://www.clickz.com/what-do-cmos-need-to-know-about-cybersecurity/113441/
Facebook is attempting to understand why users hide ads in order to better focus content and remove inappropriate or offensive ads. Users of the social network have long been able to hide any story in their newsfeed, including ads, by clicking “I Don’t Want to See This” at the top right of the story. But the updated feature will take the “hide ad” action a step further by asking users why they didn’t want to see the ad. If a user says that the content was irrelevant then Facebook will attempt to better target future ads. But if an ad is flagged as offensive or inappropriate, the company will show it to fewer people.
The move is thought to be a “beneficial” one for advertisers who use Facebook to build relationships and preference, according to Gary Stein, senior vice president of strategy and planning at iCrossing, adding that he believes it will “ultimately create value”. On the other hand, if an advertiser is simply trying to get as many ads out to as many people as possible, relevance-be-damned, then they may be “somewhat disappointed” by this, he says.
https://www.clickz.com/facebook-asks-for-user-feedback-on-ads/29665/
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