Instagram Story might end Snapchat (hear me out on this)

Godzilla vs King Kong
Superman vs Batman
Cavaliers vs Golden State Warriors

There is a winner and a loser in all of these epic match ups, but there is one epic match up and the result of the battle is completely up to you…

Instagram vs Snap Chat

Recently we’ve seen it all. Instagram stories, Instagram filters, Instagram emojis (like bitmojis)…however, instagram has one advantage in the what I like to call “Story War” agains Snap that makes it far more advantageous: the Location Tab

I know, Snap also has a story you can create within the local boundary too, but it’s different.

The local story on Snap is all about seeing what else everyone else is doing and maybe…just maybe you might have a few people add you because your story is interesting.

However, instagram’s story location can enable a person (and more importantly a business) to advertise it’s portfolio. If a local coffee shop posts a ‘local story’ on Snap, you’ll probably get some views but there is no reference that the user can can look into, other than the story you post. However, on instagram story, a user can know about promotions that is on a local story and click the profile.

This may seem like a small difference, but it is actually pretty crucial. Being able to look at a person’s full account is way better than access to a story/post from Snap. Here are the advantages of Instagram story over Snap story in regards to the location feature:

1. You have access to everything they post, potentially from years ago (as long as they don’t delete it). Snap will only let you see posts from the last 24 hours
2. You can see who else follows the account on instagram, which creates an opportunity of personal connection
3. You can locate thorugh geographical features (map) – a feature that is still not available on Snap
4. The size of the platform is too vast. While Snap has 158 million users, Instagram has over 700 million users with over 400 million daily active users (DAUs) and that Instagram Stories alone reach 150 million DAUs

This epic tech Social battle is not over yet. However, the fact that Instagram is gradually gaining the upper hand is statistically backed up.

What do you think?

Do you use instagram more? Or is it Snap Chat?

Why people should advertise digital (part 3)

Reason 3: We must use digital because it represents innovation, and Innovation is our responsibility.

I believe as business professionals, we have the responsibility to connect the past with the future. This is done through investing in innovation.

Until 1879, the lamp was the source of fuel for lighting in the global community. It was costly and very dangerous. However, Thomas Edison innovated a path for society to have a more affordable and greater quality lighting, that revolutionized into a new industry – the the incandescent light bulb.

Until 1876, letters were means of communication for those in the local community, with an exception of the telegraph. However, Alexander Graham Bell innovated a path for society by revolutionizing how individuals communicated – through the telephone.

Ideas, Discoveries, and Inventions are the results of Innovation.

I believe it is important to advertise digital, because it is currently at the pinnacle of innovation, and will help us bridge our way into the next great big thing.

 

 

Why people should advertise digital (part 1)

This is a three part article that explains my personal reasons why people should advertise with digital from the shoe of investors, consumers and ethics! Hope you like it!

Reason 1: Growth & Results – We should advertise with digital, because it is a method that is growing in demand and producing strong results.

– Growth –

According to eMarketer, the global ad spending is projected to increase faster than previously expected, with a 7.2% growth in 2016 which sums to $550.51 billion. The source additionally credits the rise largely due to increased digital advertising activity, as well as greater spending related to the US presidential election and Summer Olympics in Rio.

• eMarketer projected growth rate between 5 – 9% each year with total spending forecast to $724.06 billion in 2020 – this rise is mainly derived from the strong demand in digital advertising (heavily mobile).
• The top five advertising market countries are…
  • US
  • China
  • Japan
  • UK
  • Germany
• The above 5 will continue to remain dominant in the forecast years, with US covering $196 billion in total media ad spending this year (36% of the global total).

According to Forbes‘ results pulled from eMarketer, U.S. digital ad spending will reach $83 billion in 2017, representing an increase of 16% from 2016 ($71.55 billion), according to consultancy eMarketer’s latest forecast

• Digital ad spending (includes mobile) will increase 20.3% and reach $194.60 billion in 2016 – summing to 35.3% of total media spending.
• By 2020, digital spending will pass $335 billion, representing over 46% of total media ad investment.
• For the year 2016, mobile ads will account for more than half of the digital ad investment, and almost 20% of total ad spending.

 

– Results –

According to IAB’s annual and HY (half-year) reports conducted by PwC, below are few interesting points that depict the results of digital advertising. (IAB PwC 2015 Report)

In FY 2015, revenue from internet advertising increased 20.4% in the US, totaling $17.4 billion in fourth quarter of 2015 – 18..3% increase from third quarter of $14.7 billion and an increase of 22.8% from the previous year (2014) fourth quarter revenue which was at $14.2 billion.

The total internet advertising revenue summed to 59.6 billion , up 20.4% from the 49.5 billion in 2014.

Additionally, according to the 2016 HY IAB report from PwC, the HY revenue for 2016 was $32.74 billion from $27.48 billion in HY 2015 (19.1% increase).

 

 

Thus, growth in the demand and it’s unparalleled results are undoubtedly a reason why people should advertise with digital.

Businessman of the Week – Mark Zuckerberg

“We must take risks today to learn lessons for tomorrow”

– Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook

“Guess who like my picture!?”
“Dude, she sent me a friend request”
“What does his status say?”
“Did you see that picture they uploaded and shared?”

While the world watched the Athens Olympics in 2004, four college students moved from Cambridge to Palo Alto, during the transition phase of innovating a small firm which was founded just six months prior in February.

These students were Mark Zuckerberg and co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin who launched a social platform called, Facebook. In the past 12 years, Facebook has grown into a company that prides itself with a revenue of nearly 18 billion USD, ranking in top 200 of the Fortune 500 (Fortune).

Through Facebook’s success, Mark Zuckerberg has become one of the most influential individual in the world, business tycoon, and a central player in the innovative tech industry. Today Zuckerberg has a net worth of 56.1 billion US dollars, ranking top 10 richest individual in the world according to Forbes real time net worth (Forbes). Additionally, as the CEO, Chair and founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has climbed his way to becoming the 10^th most powerful person in the world in Forbes power people ranking, with fellow tech businessmen Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Larry Page (Alphabet: Google).

According to the company website (as of December 2016), Facebook has 1.23 billion daily active users on average, and 1.15 billion “mobile” daily active users on average. Additionally, as of December 31, 2016, the company had 1.86 billion monthly active users, and 1.74 billion mobile monthly active users (Facebook public data via website). The internal research team also concluded that approximately 85.2% of Facebook’s daily active users are outside both US and Canada, which totals to nearly 1.05 billion users.

Fun Facts

• Mark Zuckerberg was the second youngest person to become a billionaire next to his pal Justin Moskovitz
• Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard
• Mark Zuckerberg and his wife pledged to donate 99% of all his net assets during their life time.
• We have the same birthday!

 

Hope you found this fun and amusing! Let me know if you have other interesting information!