Communications Briefs

With all the positive economic indicators, consumer facing businesses are asking some important questions: How is this sunny picture reflected in the actual near-term spending decisions of US consumers? And looking ahead, is consumer spending more likely to be the fuel that keeps a soaring US economy aloft—or the drag that is going to bring it back down?

Dave Feldman, Sr Director of Digital at the NFL, is running one of the biggest, most complex, real-time social content teams on the planet. With this level of content creation, distribution and management, it’s all about strategy, scalable process, extreme coordination and everyone and I mean everyone, must be on their A game. So, when I sat down for a full hour long interview with Dave to talk about the social content machine of the NFL, I was hanging on every word.

Over the past three years, a rapidly increasing percentage of Fortune 500 companies have begun using Instagram to reach a younger audience adept at visual storytelling. Although LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter dominate in terms of active accounts among the Fortune 500, Instagram and fellow visual platform YouTube have moved quickly to occupy the rest of the top five. Companies need to be active on a range of social media technologies that includes visual platforms.

As social media becomes increasingly important to business success, the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth continues to monitor its use. Each year, the Center conducts an in-depth study on the use of social media among Inc. Magazine’s top 500 companies. The names listed represent the fastest-growing, privately owned companies in the United States.

With virtual influencers and sponsored Instagram stories, is influencer marketing still... influencer marketing? Yes. And no. Or at least, it is not consumer-to-consumer influencer marketing grounded in the genuine authentic endorsement of a consumer sharing her story and experiences with a product with her friends and yes, followers. Done right, it is about harnessing consumer passion for brands and connecting them to opportunities to share their love in the context of their own story.

There is no question that the digital media industry has been disrupted by the Global Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR). It’s been at the top of advertising news for weeks, and while the volume of articles may decline, the impact of the law has just begun.

Last week, a business acquaintance made a ballsy prediction on LinkedIn for which he took a fair amount of flak. Posting a comment, I noted that his essential point was not that much of a stretch. Of course, there were nuances to the argument, but a long statement with a bunch of caveats wouldn’t be nearly as interesting or thought-provoking. Predictions have to push at the edges or people won’t pay attention. So, I figured it was time to step onto the ledge and make some predictions.

Digital transformation has created a faster-paced environment for business, compelling companies to improve quality throughout the organization. As a result, marketers and communicators need to consider their role in enhancing quality in the areas they shape. For instance, given the constant distraction of the digitally connected era, marketers and communicators should be advocating for quality in often overlooked areas that affect customer experience, like distribution or follow up.

Regulatory, structural, and behavioral challenges give companies an opportunity to differentiate themselves on customer experience. Enterprises in heavily regulated fields can differentiate by melding compliance into superior CX. For manufacturers, making the impact on the customer tangible for those far from direct customer contact creates opportunities for improved training and metrics. For retailers, competition for customer attention drives CX leaders to design for emotional connections.

An organization’s culture of innovation can be a robust predictor of financial performance, which highlights the importance to companies of measuring intangible assets. With intangible assets growing exponentially as a component of enterprise value, it is unproductive to allow them to go unmanaged.