Blockchain and Digital Marketing – between Opportunities and Promises

After the economic crisis of 2008, experts in the digital marketing world set to work on the development of new security systems in order to give a new image to financial institutions as well as to the marketing and online transactions sector. This led to the birth of blockchain technology. Today, more than ever, the digital marketing industry is plagued by problems with authentication, false influencers, false images, fraud, etc. How can blockchain be an effective solution?

Whoever invented it, blockchain technology seems to establish itself as a new standard for managing exchanges on the web. Originally used in Bitcoin transactions, the technology is now being leveraged by most digital marketing agencies. Let’s see how marketing and advertising could benefit.

What is blockchain?

It is a distributed database, without centralization, which securely records transactions between users. Originally, these were Bitcoin transactions (digital gold) but any type of exchange can be stored through this. It’s not about storing files, it’s about transactions.

Each recorded transaction relates to a programmable currency, representing the unit of exchange. Bitcoin is the best-known application, but any quantifiable exchange can be managed by a blockchain.

How does it work?

There is no centralization of security by a third party. Any computer can be part of a blockchain, without its failure jeopardizing the data. Each constituent of this network is conventionally called a node and contains a blockchain client.

• When actor A initiates a transaction for the benefit of actor B, the transaction is added to a block

• Each block is validated cryptographically by the nodes of the networks

• The block is added to the chain of valid and visible transactions (blockchain)

• And B then receives the transaction.

Benefits of blockchain in digital marketing

Tokenized marketing to attract more prospects

A large number of mobile users use games on their phones. Marketers have taken inspiration from this trend to find new customers. From there was born tokenized marketing. Its principle is based on the collection of personal data in exchange for cryptocurrencies.

For its part, the advertiser optimizes the qualification of its target. He actually has more certainty that the person who watches his advertisement is really interested in his products or services.

The individual can also receive Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) when viewing the advertisements. However, you have to choose the virtual currency that best matches your prospects.

Secure Internet Advertising

For a brand, it is not always easy to know whether a click on its advertising was generated by a user or a robot. To remedy this, the Blockchain presents itself as an excellent alternative. The detailed history of all actions on the network makes it possible to identify the people who viewed the advertisements. The company can then immediately know if the click on its advertisement was made by a robot. This is to avoid wasting time and money.

Access to real data, without intermediaries, is, therefore, easier thanks to the traceability and transparency of the whole process. The advertiser can check the display of banners as well as the costs per click (CPC) at any time. It is, therefore, certain that its expenses are used in full for the dissemination of advertisements.

The advertiser can also know at any time the impact of advertisements on its target audience. Copyrights and intellectual rights are also easier to control.

Facilitate the monitoring of the production chain

In mass distribution, the Blockchain ensures product traceability. Indeed, it can intervene in all stages of the production chain, from the origin of the product to its shelving. Via the QR code on the packaging, the Internet user can verify several pieces of information about the procurement of products. This guarantees the quality of the products and contributes to strengthening the image of the brand, thus making the task of digital marketing companies easy.

Optimizing data management on search engines

Two open-source blockchain-based search engines were created in 2018: BitClave and Presearch. Thanks to these independent systems, Internet users can manage their personal data themselves.

They can then secure them on the Blockchain or resell them to advertisers. Thus, compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation is no longer a concern for brands. This helps boost the efforts for one of the most important digital marketing features – SEO.

Checking the display of banners

Juniper Research estimates that $19 billion, or 9% of global advertising spend, is wasted annually on fraudulent activity such as ad-clicking on advertisements. This problem has always been difficult to identify and to monitor.

In a classic third-party inventory purchase scheme, the advertiser uses a platform to pay for the site that distributes it, in particular by pay-per-click (PPC) or pay-per-mile (PPM). But it is legitimate to make sure that the clicks or the displays are real.

Today, digital marketing agencies have to rely on the platform’s data. If each display or click was recorded in a specific blockchain, the reliability of this data would then be guaranteed, and the advertiser assured of paying for effective campaigns.

Using blockchain technology, advertisers and their media partners will be able to transparently assess and manage how their advertising data is manipulated, invested, and accounted for while optimizing the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Follow-up of pseudonymized digital paths

Managing the privacy of our navigation data is a sensitive point. Brands are increasingly looking to record their customers’ digital journey data live.

Blockchain allows you to pseudonymize (the user is identified by a pseudonym that he chooses) the transactions. We could, therefore, consider that the route data be recorded in a blockchain, in order to provide massive, secure and almost anonymous access for analysis.

Blockchain for an environment of trust in the field of marketing

The credo of blockchain technology since the advent of bitcoin in 2008 is to allow transparent management of information. This is due to a registration list which has a high level of protection against any attempt at falsification, thanks to the possibility of detecting any false data entered from the history. This feature interests the digital marketing company and online sales in more than one way. Ecommerce, digital transactions need a transparent environment to establish a climate of trust between the different actors, an essential factor for their development.

Currently, some large brands such as Microsoft, Accenture, and even HSBC have used blockchain for traceability and authentication purposes. Carrefour also uses blockchain technology to ensure its customers better traceability of the products sold. Thanks to a QR code affixed to the products which provide information on the origin of the product, place of origin, label, etc, customers are able to trust the quality of products.

Conclusion

A blockchain is an essential tool for digital marketing agencies. Ideally, every company should reinvent its digital strategy by adopting this solution. Thanks to it, you save precious time and you do not unnecessarily invest in your advertisements. In addition, all information is perfectly secure. Despite the high cost of integration, blockchain solutions are an effective alternative to deal with the many concerns of transparency, counterfeiting, and data security in the digital marketing world.

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MeDigit News Bulletin | 22nd May, 2020

With several developments last week, Pandemic hit digital industry is abuzz with lots of new updates. We have compiled a news bulletin to keep you updated from last week’s trends – check out below:

Linkedin Feed rankings explained! An insight into how linkedin algorithm works.

The LinkedIn feed is the cornerstone of the member experience. It’s where our members post ideas, career news, questions, and jobs in an array of formats, including short text, long-form articles, images, and videos.  https://bit.ly/3cUaUkZ

Facebook introduces ‘Shops’ feature to bring small business online

The feature will make it easy for businesses to set up a single online store for customers to access on both Facebook and Instagram. https://bit.ly/3gfLcti

Private equity firm KKR to invest Rs 11,367 crore in Reliance Jio for 2.32% stake

Over the last month, leading technology investors, such as, Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista, General Atlantic and now KKR have announced aggregate investments of Rs 78,562 crore into Jio Platforms. https://bit.ly/2A2TynO

How digital adoption will power the post-lockdown revival and create a new industry normal

In this digital era, there has been an overwhelming supply of emerging technologies, digital channels, platforms etc. But its significance across the industry value chain is becoming more imperative now to raise the bar for adoption. https://bit.ly/2WQJXt6

 Paytm records 4x growth in payments made to merchants during lockdown

“We have seen four-time growth in payments received by merchants in Business Khata between January 8 and March 14, and March 15 to May 15,” Paytm Vice President Sajal Bhatnagar told PTI. https://bit.ly/3geBVSk

“Indian users mostly access news through phone”: comscore APAC report

Comscore’s latest report studies consumption patterns in the online news/information landscape in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region of the world. Given the current situation with the coronavirus pandemic, news/information is one of the top categories accessed by digital audiences worldwide. https://bit.ly/2LQKGUY

Stay abreast of Digital News. Subscribe to our WhatsApp news bulletin by sending a ‘Subscribe’ to connect@medigit.in

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Creation VS content curation: what to choose?

Companies wishing to embark on their content marketing journey often face a dilemma – curating content or creating original web content.

The first option is to share articles, videos, etc. from external sites with your community (via different communication channels such as social networks or emailing). The second is to produce your own content and promote it to your audience.

To make this complex choice, it is important to weigh the pros and cons and consider the benefits of each alternative.

The Benefits of Content Creation

1) Create traffic

The main interest in creating web content is probably the generation of additional traffic to your site.

Suppose you have a community of 10,000 members on Facebook – when you curate content, you offer thousands of visits to an external site, while yours remains in the shadows.

Sharing blog articles and original web pages, therefore, has the immense interest of creating traffic on your site, which is positive:

• For the natural referencing of the site;

• To capture new prospects.

2) Generate leads

One of the objectives of content marketixs possible from a marketing point of view by creating infographics, videos, images and call-to-action.

3) Assert your expertise

Content marketing is, beyond gaining traffic and customers; a privileged means of working on your brand image. By developing your own content and sharing your knowledge on a particular domain or niche to the world, you assert yourself as a company expert in its sector.

And it is a virtuous circle: the stronger your image, the more the credibility of your creations increases, making them even more effective.

4) Own the content

The use of content produced by others can pose a number of problems. Indeed, the border is thin between curation of content and plagiarism:

Reusing a text without citing the author can be expensive. Even the simple sharing of a link without specifying the source can be reprehensible, especially in certain areas.

Creating original and unique content is the best way to protect against these risks.

5) Becoming a leader

Some companies or people who actively curate content manage to bring together large communities and make a name for themselves.

However, they never become real references, since they are ultimately only information relays.

A company that practices effective and sustained content marketing, through the regular production of original texts, infographics or videos can achieve this objective. Become a reference in your field. Of course, this requires determination, work and ambition, but it is by no means impossible.

The Benefits of Content Curation

1) Save time

One of the undeniable advantages of content curation is that it is much less time-consuming.

Producing, editing and promoting original content takes time, where curation requires (almost) only monitoring work to find sites, articles and other infographics likely to interest your community. Especially since there are curation tools like Scoop.it to make your life easier.

2) Vary the subjects

One of the limits to the design of original texts is that a brand cannot be an expert in hundreds of different subjects.

Content curation, on the other hand, allows you to broaden your horizons and vary the themes addressed in your communication.

You can thus share content on subjects that do not fall within your field of expertise, but which are complementary to yours and which may interest your audience.

3) Build relationships

Content curation is mostly done through social media, which is an invaluable way to build new relationships. When you share someone else’s content, that person is somehow ‘indebted’ to you, which opens up new opportunities.

• On the one hand, you can probably count on this person to share your own content in the future. ‘win-win’ cooperation, in short;

• On the other hand, it is a good way to build a relationship with an influential content producer and to set up joint content marketing actions (guest blogging, co-creation of content, etc.)

Content creation or curation: what to choose?

In the end, the question is not so much about ‘which option to choose?’ but rather in what proportion use each of them?

Content creation is essential for an effective web marketing strategy, which brings traffic to your site and continuously generates new prospects.

Curation does not have this power, but it is not useless for all that. The whole thing is to use it sparingly so as not to drown your community in an ocean of external content.

However, as we have said, the production of unique and original texts requires time and skills which are not necessarily in-house. In such a case, it is best to entrust the content creation and marketing activity to someone who understands your market. This can help you produce unique and qualitative web content that will engage your audience and attract new prospects for your business.

Did you know?

Content curation can also be beneficial for your SEO.

Connect with us for re framing your content strategy or giving your website content a makeover!

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6 reasons to integrate stories into your content strategy

Up 842% since their inclusion in 2016 on the platform, consumption of stories has grown 15 times more than the conventional formats developed on Instagram.

The scale of the phenomenon confirms that stories have become an essential tool for user engagement, sharing moments of authenticity and thus working to build loyalty. Brands have every interest in integrating stories into their communication content strategy.

Launched in 2013 by Snapchat, the social network preferred by Millennials, stories are characterized by their ephemeral nature. This format, which takes the form of short videos of 15 seconds maximum or photos, is visible only 24 hours by Internet users.          

The phenomenon quickly interested in other social networks. Instagram, Facebook, then WhatsApp have seized the trend one after the other by adapting them to their platform. Twitter and LinkedIn also plan to follow suit.

The music service Spotify, too, announced its appropriation of the phenomenon by baptizing them story lines as a part of their content marketing techniques.

Stories, a success close to that of the video success story

This growing success echoes a second web success story – that of the video format. And for good reason. 81% of consumers state that they have already been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a company’s video. Even more poignant, 85% of them declare that they would like to see more branded videos.

It is certainly from this trend that the stories benefited at first. Video has indeed been for a few years now, the flagship format of social networks. It is on Facebook that it reigns supreme since 81% of its content is audio-visual.

Daily Active Users for Stories – Stats

Source: Sprout Social

Instagram – 500 million

FB – 300 million

Whatsapp status – 500 million users

Snapchat – 229 million daily users

How Stories Feature Can Help In Content Strategy Optimization?

It’s trendy

The stories have existed since 2016. Originally, we found them on Snapchat, another social network. This ephemeral content was put in place to attract a very specific target – adolescents.

Since then, other social networks have embarked on the adventure. Facebook followed suit just like Instagram which has become the undisputed leader with 500 million people who publish and view stories every day. This is more than double of Snapchat and Instagram is also ahead of Facebook.

Why? Well, because the functionality is the most elaborate on Instagram. The contents of a story vary from one social network to another because the options are not identical.

For example, on Instagram, it is possible to create a story with links to an online store. They are powerful Call to action.

More spontaneous stories humanize a business

If stories have become essential in a content strategy, it is because they offer more transparency. Ephemeral content is created more spontaneously, without filters or preparation.

The stories offer a lot of authenticity, which is not without consequence. Internet users adhere to this transparency and you gain their trust.

Ephemeral content also humanizes a business. It is no longer known only for its activity or its logo. Internet users discover the faces of the team, the premises, the work stations and even the daily life of the company.

Ephemeral content to create dependence

Stories can play a major role in the behavior of your audience. If they appreciate the content of the stories, they will watch it regularly.

Over the days, they will even wait impatiently for your content strategy. Like a meeting, the stories bring you and your audience together.

Choosing to create stories is beneficial because your audience becomes dependent and no longer misses out on your posts. If your content strategy for stories is well managed, you can gain visibility and generate more and more traffic on your pages.

The stories to reach your target

Thanks to the stories, you will be able to reach your target, especially if the target audience is young and dynamic.

Most of the stories are watched by adolescents, young adults and the active. Depending on the profile of your target, you can create suitable content strategy.

One of the current trends is to encourage influencers to use your products or services and then talk about it on social networks, especially in stories.

These are shared and go viral while you gain popularity.

Ephemeral content takes less time to develop

One of the major advantages of ephemeral content is the saving of time. Unlike conventional content, just share a photo or video right now. Besides, it is not interesting to share old content! The principle of a story is to be very recent.

Since they are spontaneous, stories do not require upstream production work. No need to think for hours about ephemeral content, it must be instinctive. The less preparation there is, the more natural and therefore impact the story will be!

Note that there is also a live story function. So, you can show an event to your audience in real-time for a few minutes.

Stories generate immediate interactions

As it is possible to comment on posts, your audience will be able to react to your stories. The answers are often like ephemeral content – brief and impact.

You have to read them and take them into account because they represent the “instant” reactions of your followers and contain a multitude of information to exploit.

If you are asked questions, answer it! Also, don’t hesitate to encourage users to respond. Several tools exist to make this possible.

To conclude

Stories are a new means of communication created by social networks. This ephemeral content can be used to address the audience differently, in a less formal way, and also to reach and engage them.

If you still lacked a reason to use this format, studies by Social bakers have shown that it is the most economical format for brands. In fact, these are 2 times cheaper at CPC! And what’s more, the investments are 4 times lower in stories than for conventional posts.

All you have to do is take action.

However, the key is to not work too much on this content, let your intuition guide you and maintain the transparency sought by Internet users!

If you need to hear it from the experts, get in touch with us for a FREE consultation on how to build your marketing strategy.

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