The recent ransomware saga is a potent reminder

of just how vulnerable our information and data is to cyber-threats. But it’s not just our information that’s vulnerable; these threats extend into the physical world of electricity as well. In fact, today’s electrical grid is incredibly insecure against cybersecurity threats; for example, the massive 2015 cyberattack on the Ukranian power grid that left 230,000 people in the dark and the intrinsic level of insecurity presented by smart meters used all over the world. And with billions of energy-using, Internet-connected devices expected to come online over the next decade (PDF), the grid is about to experience a several-orders-of-magnitude increase in the number of vulnerabilities to

cyber-threats.

As … billions of energy-using devices are integrated into the electricity system, malicious actors will see the potential to exploit these systems and attempt to usurp this new reality.

Fortunately, blockchain technology is inherently robust against cyber-threats, and many energy companies are considering how blockchains may bolster the grid’s cybersecurity. This is because blockchains are built for:

• Tamperproofing data (PDF): 
  Blockchains make it very difficult to change data after it has been written. This eliminates a number of risks, including man-in-the-middle attacks, in which a hacker modifies data that’s en route to its destination. With a proper blockchain implementation, all computation is "hashed" and made tamperproof at the point of origin, so there is no risk of data being modified while in transit.
• Disintermediation (PDF): 
  With blockchains, intermediaries (escrow corporations) often are no longer necessary, significantly reducing transaction costs.
• Complete data availability (PDF): 
  Blockchains can store data in a decentralized fashion across many nodes. With this architecture, even if some nodes or servers are compromised, users still can access a complete dataset.
• Redundancy (PDF): 
  Blockchains operate without a central point of failure, so reliability through redundancy is intrinsic to this architecture.
• Privacy and control: 
  Users of a blockchain can choose which data to make immutably transparent and which data to keep encrypted so only the intended recipients can view the contents.
• Outsourcing computation (PDF): 
  Encrypted data can be sent for processing to a third party, without the contents of the data being revealed.

As the world of energy becomes more digitized and decentralized, the need for solid defense against cybersecurity threats increases drastically. When a blockchain is implemented properly, it offers a strong defense against external and internal threats by mitigating internet-connected and data communications vulnerabilities, and increasing data confidentiality and privacy.

Mitigating vulnerabilities

Internet-connected energy-using devices have the most room for improvement when it comes to cybersecurity. Between January and April, the research found that over 2 million Internet of Things (IoT) devices in homes were hacked into and rendered useless (bricked). This attack was to protest manufacturers’ poor cybersecurity policies for the devices, chiefly, thousands of devices set by default to use basic login and authentication credentials (username=user and password=password). In this case, hackers could have been much more malicious than simply bricking devices, but they wanted to prove their point: Unsecured IoT devices are unsafe, and should not be allowed to operate in a real-world environment where people’s lives and property are at risk.

Blockchain technology and those working on making it more usable for everyone are paving the way toward a new user-authentication paradigm. The current system of username/password combinations has been obsolete for many years. A much more secure mode of authentication is that of the public–private key pair (also called public key cryptography), the default in systems such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. As these blockchain implementations become more user-friendly, we will see a natural evolution of all login systems toward this more modern and secure method.

With a properly integrated cryptographic key login system for blockchain-based applications, IoT device owners will bear a significantly reduced risk of loss of power, theft of data and threats to privacy. What's more, integrating pricing and settlement on wholesale electricity markets into a secure blockchain significantly minimizes the risk of false data injection and pricing manipulation. This is largely because of the tamperproof characteristic of blockchains, which ensures immutability of a given dataset or series of communications between transacting parties.

The blockchain is also relevant for addressing data privacy and security issues. As more data is collected and transported over the internet, the risk of data exploitation and breach increases, as evidenced by the release of confidential information from hacks of LinkedIn, Yahoo, Target and other large organizations. Blockchains allow for the encrypted transportation of private data, ensuring that data is readable only by the intended recipient.

Introducing a new risk: Key mismanagement

Blockchains are great at mitigating several cybersecurity risks, but they also introduce a new risk that is often overlooked: key mismanagement. Key management is the secure storage of digital keys in a fashion that prevents unauthorized access — something of significance for distributed energy resources, which eventually will be connected to the web and authenticated mostly through asymmetric cryptography (the method used for all blockchain-based transaction and authentication). Many early adopters of blockchain technology that don’t have a background in IT have lost their private keys, rendering their blockchain assets or devices inaccessible.

However, key management is getting some much-needed attention, and innovators are creating new ways to store and recover private keys securely. One innovative way to tackle this problem is to integrate key pairs in actual, physical devices (think key fobs for your car) and use them to activate devices. This minimizes, or in some implementations renders impossible, the risk of hackers accessing private keys that confirm the identity and authority of a signing entity. Keys that exist on a personal device enforce secure signing on, for example, an energy-using internet-connected device (an electric vehicle). For a malicious actor, if all signing must be on a device, then the physical device must be compromised in a way that allows a hacker to remotely execute commands on the device instead of just reading data, which is much more difficult for the hacker and therefore a more secure implementation.

As digitized and distributed systems in energy become more common and billions of energy-using devices are integrated into the electricity system, malicious actors will see the potential to exploit these systems and attempt to usurp this new reality. Therefore, it is paramount that we ditch the "build-then-patch" approach, and build systems integrated with holistic security. Fortunately, much of this security is inherent in a properly implemented blockchain.

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about – TCC-Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

A state-owned development bank in Russia

has revealed its plans for launching products built around blockchain. Vnesheconombank, an institution backed by the Russian government, is focusing its efforts on the areas of project management and supply chain finance, according to a report by Sputnik International. The publication quoted Vnesheconombank's chairman, Sergey Gorkov, who appeared this week at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

What they're doing: 
Gorkov's comments, as quoted, reveal a kind of two-prong approach: developing institutional knowledge and pursuing applications – trade finance in particular – that have captured the attention of a wide range of financial firms worldwide.

Here's how Gorkov framed the bank's project management initiative, according to Sputnik:

"When we started to think about how to manage projects efficiently, we realized that there is no platform. Everything that we had became obsolete. We realized that the blockchain is a good fundamental and qualitative platform for the future."

He said that the bank had since pursued a pilot project centered around the use case, with further iterations to follow. "We are launching the first prototype in terms of project management this fall," he told the publication.

Why it matters: 
That a state-backed bank in Russia is moving to launch services around the tech is a notable one – but perhaps not an altogether surprising one given the pace of blockchain development in the country's finance sector.

The unveiling comes months after Russia's prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, called for more research into the tech by a pair of government agencies. Government officials also said earlier this year that they expect to develop blockchain-specific regulations, looking to an introduction by 2019. That work comes as Russia's central bank drafts new rules around bitcoin and digital currencies, with an eye to regulate them as kinds of digital goods.

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about – TCC-Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Blockchain consortium R3 raises
$107 million

People may well remember 2017 as the year that blockchain broke.

After years of development and flickering just outside of mainstream consciousness and acceptance, record high prices for the most popular blockchain-based cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and newcomer Ethereum and an embrace of the technology’s core principles by some of the world’s largest institutions may mean that blockchain technology is ready for its close up. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than the just-announced $107 million financing for R3, the blockchain consortium that includes some of the largest financial services firms and technology companies in the world.

Leading investors included SBI Group, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC, Intel and Temasek, the company said in a statement. R3 represents the largest consortium of global financial institutions working on developing commercial applications for the distributed ledger technology that’s at the heart of blockchain technology. In addition to the big names that committed the most capital, R3 pulled in additional commitments from ING, Banco Bradesco, Itaü Unibanco, Natixis, Barclays, UBS and Wells Fargo.

R3, which opened the first tranches of the company’s planned $200 million financing exclusively to members of the consortium, is one standard-bearer for the mainstreaming of blockchain technology. Indeed, the company already counts among its customers the government of Singapore, the Bank of Canada and other national financial institutions. The company said it will use the funds to accelerate technology development and grow strategic partnerships for project deployment. R3 has its own proprietary ledger that can be used to develop applications, and it also supports an infrastructure network for financial services firms and technology companies to build their own ledger-based applications and services.

“While still in its infancy stages, the emergence of distributed ledger technology comes at a time when the financial services industry is poised to further embrace technological change and efficiencies,” said C. Thomas Richardson, the managing director and head of market structure and electronic trading services at Wells Fargo Securities, in a statement.  That sentiment was echoed by other financial services executives whose firms were members of the R3 consortium. “Innovation in digital technologies is reshaping the banking industry, and this investment is reflective of our belief that distributed ledger technology and smart contracts have the potential to significantly enhance capital markets infrastructure. R3’s collaborative approach is key to the progress of this technology,” said Andrew Challis, managing director of strategic investments at Barclays.

Not all big banks and financial services firms have embraced R3. Goldman Sachs and Santander both dropped out of the consortium, perhaps figuring they’d be better off going their own way. Where R3 has really shined has been in getting governments comfortable blockchain-based applications. Their approach of enlisting banks and financial services companies for projects is light years from the more subversive mindset of some of the developers of the original and the largest blockchain protocol, Bitcoin.

As some investors and entrepreneurs see it, there’s room in the market for both the private blockchains developed by communities around Bitcoin and Ethereum, and the sanctioned corporate ledgers that companies like R3 are developing. For now, the technology that R3 is developing is focused on business applications like verifying transactions between banks, or automating the things like the establishment of the London Interbank Offer Rates. In the future, the company’s technologies could touch consumers more directly — through the creation of a digital fiat currency. While that may be somewhere far off down the horizon, with the company’s connections to the banking industry and to national governments, it’s not beyond the pale.

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about – TCC-Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Eight Reasons To Be Skeptical About Blockchain

Given the turbulent, even frothy environment for disruptive digital technologies, one novel entrant promises to be among the frothiest: blockchain. The secure distributed ledger technology behind Bitcoin, blockchain has exploded out of the realm of the dubious cryptocurrency into a hype-driven category of its own. VC money is pouring into numerous blockchain startups. IBM IBM +0.59% is betting the farm on the technology. Pundits around the globe are calling for blockchain to reinvent everything from equities trading to charitable giving. And yet, aside from Bitcoin itself, real-world implementations of blockchain are few and far between. Has the hype exceeded the reality?

Let’s see what a number of skeptics have to say.
 

  

Secure ledger from an earlier century

Blockchain is a Solution Looking for a Problem

As blockchain exploded from its cryptocurrency roots, it quickly took on new life, as proponents rushed to figure out what else it was good for. “‘Blockchain is a solution looking for a problem’ is a sentiment that we heard several times while conducting this research—a fair representation of the reality,” says Axel Pierron, founder and managing director of financial consulting firm Optimas LLC. “Rather than investing in ‘catch all’ blockchain-related initiatives, the industry should focus its attention on evaluating the various solutions that can address the issues that need to be solved.”

The Open Data Institute also warns about selecting the ‘right tool for the job.’ “We think that the government should go further and think about how it can convene sectors (such as finance, agriculture, or health care), identify common challenges in those sectors and then determine which technology approaches – whether blockchains or not – are the most appropriate in helping to address them,” the ODI blogs. “Blockchain technology is a new tool in our toolbox. We need to use it when it is the right tool for the job at hand.” (Emphasis in both paragraphs is theirs.)

End-Users Don’t Really Want to Use Blockchain

It’s difficult enough to use Bitcoin for any day-to-day task, let alone blockchain. “But still, eight years after Bitcoin launched, Satoshi Nakamoto remains the only creator to have built a blockchain that an appreciable number of ordinary people actually want to use,” opines software engineer Jon Evans, principal at HappyFunCorp and columnist for TechCrunch. “No other blockchain-based software initiative seems to be at any real risk of hockey-sticking into general recognition, much less general usage.”

Perhaps a proof of concept would help? Blockchain aficionados have implemented an online trading card game they call the Rare Pepe Game to explore the potential of the technology. Even this simple example, however, proves wanting. “[The Rare Pepe Game] also shows how a game can be built on a blockchain with virtual goods and characters and more,” explains Fred Wilson, managing partner at Union Square Ventures. “And it shows how clunky this stuff is for the average person to use. Just playing around with this over the last few days showcases to me all of the technical challenges that blockchain technology still has to overcome before it can become mainstream.”

Blockchain Will Increase Transaction Costs

By disintermediating financial institutions, so the reasoning goes, multiple parties can conduct transactions seamlessly, without paying a commission. However, cost savings are dubious. “Moving cash equity markets to a blockchain infrastructure would drive a significant increase of the overall transaction cost,” Pierron continues. “Trading on a blockchain system would also be slower than traders would tolerate, and mistakes might be irreversible, potentially bringing huge losses.”

Unlikelihood of Sufficient Adoption

The promise of blockchain in large part depends upon enough parties using the same implementation of the technology – a classic example of the network effect. However, it’s unclear any particular blockchain solution (other than Bitcoin itself) will ever be able to reach this threshold. Without such universal adoption, blockchain’s practicality is questionable. “It’s obvious that a credit union-only distributed ledger system will require universal adoption to be of any use,” says John San Filippo, cofounder and principal at OmniChannel Communications. “It’s my experience that trying to achieve universal adoption of anything in this industry is an act of pure futility.”

Blockchain is Too Complicated

The technology behind blockchain is complex enough. Add it to the complexity of a heavily regulated business environment, and blockchain may not even get out of the gate. “Blockchain is thus also turning out to be more complicated than most of us thought,” warns Kris Henley, communications manager with the Centre for the Digital Economy at the University of Surrey. “Its tremendous potential is mitigated by its steadfast resistance to being a ‘magic’ solution, and its need for regulation like so many game-changing technologies of the Digital Economy.” Optimas’ Pierron chimes in as well. “Processing trades via blockchain would not simplify the capital markets, but rather move the complexity around,” he adds.

Performance Issues

Because of its inherently distributed, peer-to-peer nature, blockchain-based transactions can only complete when all parties update their respective ledgers – a process that might take hours. As ledgers grow, furthermore, people question whether they will bog down. “Blockchain has a lot to prove in its performance,” says Peter Hiom, deputy CEO at the ASX trading exchange. The transaction delay may also be a deal-killer. “The delay before the final assurance that a transaction has been recorded ‘for good,’ that can be up to a couple of hours, would create too much uncertainty for market participants, especially during time of high volatility,” continues Pierron.

Blockchain Ledgers’ Immutability Isn’t Always a Good Thing

One of blockchain’s most touted benefits is the immutability of its ledgers: once participants record a transaction, no one can change or delete it. Such immutability prevents the correction of mistakes to be sure – but there are other issues as well. In fact, immutability may cause blockchain to run afoul of regulation. “Digital ledger technologies must be chosen based on user needs and legal requirements,” writes the Open Data Institute. “For example; tamper-proof and immutable data stores prevent the modification of stored data, but this may not always be an acceptable property. The EU ‘right to be forgotten’ requires the complete removal of information; if that data is in an unchangeable system like a blockchain, this could be impossible.”

Blockchain is a ‘Trojan Horse,’
Sent by Radical Libertarians to Undermine the Global Financial System

Take this one with a large grain of salt to be sure – but at least one Bitcoin entrepreneur has stated this position. “I have no problem with the financial industry inviting the Trojan Horse of blockchain technology into their walled garden because I know how powerful the technology is,” says Erik Voorhees, CEO, and founder of cryptocurrency startup ShapeShift.io. I’ve warned about the Libertarian context for Bitcoin before, but if any members of this devoted but misguided group believe that blockchain alone will disrupt the financial industry, they are out of touch with how cautious the industry is.

In fact, the more likely blockchain is to disrupt the global financial system, the less likely it is to succeed. For disruption to be a positive business force, it must drive new competitive advantage, not simple chaos. Blockchain may be disruptive, but it’s still an open question whether it’s too disruptive for its own good. Intellyx publishes the Agile Digital Transformation Roadmap poster, advises companies on their digital transformation initiatives, and helps vendors communicate their agility stories. As of the time of writing, none of the organizations mentioned in this article are Intellyx

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about – TCC-Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Critical Social Strategy Mistakes to Avoid

Businesses fail at social media marketing for so many reasons, but more often than not, it is due to weak strategy

  

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

The Rules of Social Media Marketing Success:
Leadership and Community

What kind of leader do you think will inspire a social media marketing team?

Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is social media marketing success. It takes a combination of strategy, relationship building, trust, planning and more for a brand to capture an audience's attention and further, make them take action. This is the third in a four-part series. We've previously delved into the importance of listening and planning and the need to build relationships and trust. Today we're going to look at the role that leadership and community play in creating long-term success.

Demonstrate Leadership

Social media leaders — as is the case with their offline counterparts — are valued and respected for their knowledge, experience, passion and vision. The most effective social media leaders also demonstrate a strong sense of responsibility, serve as standard bearers, have a relatively high tolerance for risk, lead by example, think strategically, plan for the short- and long-term, express humility, and have the ability to inspire others. Another important characteristic synonymous with social media leadership is integrity. And because of the ability for others to quickly and easily spot insincerity and dishonesty on social media, a leader's integrity must be rock solid at all times. 

Innovation is another hallmark of a strong leader. The most successful leaders on social media not only create new concepts and trends and serve as change agents, they also figure out unique ways to generate value and generously and consistently share that value with their online communities. Are you an influencer? Every effective social media leader is. In fact, many of their friends and followers are subconsciously looking to be influenced. It's how they learn. And that's why they keep coming back to the leaders for guidance and inspiration.

Finally, what about leadership style? Think about those leaders you know who are akin to a tyrant, ruling by dictate. Or the other ones you know who are compassionate but have a firm hand on their ship's tiller and wise words of advice for their shipmates. Which approach do you think has the most impact in the social media world? Demonstrating leadership is probably the fastest way to create a loyal following on social media. But along with that comes responsibility. So take it seriously.

Build Community

Building a loyal community of fans and followers is not a snap-your-fingers and you're done deal. You have to put effort into attracting and growing an audience, and you’ll have to continually nurture the crop before it bears any fruit. But the payoff for that investment can be significant. Where to begin? Start by identifying key influencers and cultivating individual relationships with them that you can later aggregate into a group of people who share common interests. This is your foundation — the heartbeat of your social media marketing activity. These relationships will become the core of your community and will help you expand its reach and contribute to its growth and influence.

The key to aggregation is providing quality content to your community that interests your target audience — content that’s informational in nature, not a sales pitch. And make sure that content is always relevant to your strategy and your followers. Effective connections with your audience are built when you provide information that’s based on understanding your market segment and your community’s needs, and by presenting those relevant morsels in a concise, easy-to-digest way.

And make it easy for your community members to share your content with their other communities. This will help dramatically expand your reach. Also, you don’t have to create all the content yourself. Instead, promote the submission of user content from within your community, so everyone who wants to get involved is able to do so. Yes, community building can be difficult, mainly because it requires determination, dedication, and grit — and a lot of time. But it’s key to your longevity in social media.

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about –Inbound Marketing.

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

What is happening due to the collision of the artificial intelligence and the social media marketing?

The artificial intelligence has a long way to go; however, it’s thriving in a very quick pace. The entrance of the artificial intelligence has already revolutionized the social media marketing. Here are the ways how the artificial intelligence is changing the social media marketing.

How the Artificial Intelligence is changing the Social Media Marketing.

Slack Bots

There are some brands that need to publish huge volumes of posts every day. These brands also employ plenty of influencers by doing some social media outreach to promote their products. They find it difficult to decide which posts to highlight and which posts are likely to perform well among their audiences. Because it’s a tedious task to analyze huge volumes of contents, it’s more about guesswork.

The slack bots have been developed to avoid the guesswork. The bots have the ability to predict the chances of success of various contents and they can suggest the pieces of contents which have the highest possibility of doing well. Furthermore, these bots can also find the similar content on the social media and show you the performance of the content.

Facial recognition

The Facebook, which is the most popular social media platform in the world today, is focusing a lot on the development of the artificial intelligence these days. They have recently developed the facial recognition feature, and this feature is not only the tool to enhance the tagging function of the Facebook.

This feature can be used in various ways by the brands for developing their social media marketing strategies to further increase the reach and success of their social media marketing campaign. For an instance, the hotels, restaurants, clothing stores, and others can provide the coupons to their followers who post their picture in their place. With the images publishing getting more popular these days, this feature can help the brands to stand out with their posts.

Management

There are many creative social media marketers who are awesome at creating awesome contents. However, it’s not an easy task for the marketers to release the content, building schedules, maintaining content, and analyzing content. This is another reason why the artificial intelligence is so crucial for the social media marketers. The artificial intelligence can release all the pressure of analyzing and managing the content for the marketers.

Not only the use of AI will take off the pressure from the marketers, but it will also help them to grow as a successful marketer. The machine learning and other AI tools can analyze competitor’s performance, your historical content and performance, and much more to help you learn. These tools also provide you with the idea of what consumers want to see or want, which will help to make your every campaign an effective campaign. This can also help to publish the better sponsored blog posts to reach more people with the content people want to see.

Customer service

According to the study, the majority of the customers want to interact with the businesses via message nowadays. It’s because it’s very easy to communicate with the brands via a message in comparison to the telephone. Furthermore, the customers also want businesses to respond them as quickly as possible. It’s not possible to respond to a lot of customer’s queries quickly, and this is where the artificial intelligence is playing the role.

The social media marketers have the responsibility to engage with the customers after they are successful in getting plenty of queries regarding their posts. The artificial intelligence can help them to prioritize the queries of the customers, help them to find out whether the messages are from trolls or real users, and much more. All these tools can help the social media marketers to serve their customers in a better way; thus, increasing the chance of conversion.

A high volume of better data

The social media marketers need to listen to their followers to plan their next posts and also to make an overall strategy. The only way to find out what the customers want, the marketer needs to collect, interpret, and understand the data. However, the problem is that the massive amount of data is uploaded and downloaded each day, making it impossible for the human beings to correctly interpret the information.

The various AI tools help them to collect the valuable insights from the data collected through various social media platforms to get incredible insights on the customer taste and preferences. In the near future, the brands may also be able to find out who among their followers are wearing their brand’s T-shirt and using their products with the analysis of images and videos. It will help marketers create more personalized marketing campaigns.

Conclusion

By now, you must’ve known how the artificial intelligence is changing the whole picture of the social media marketing. You must have also realized that the traditional social media marketing strategies need to be updated in order to get the success of your social media marketing campaign. If you don’t combine the artificial intelligence in your social media marketing strategy, then you’re likely to fail to get any return from your campaign because the competitor will be using AI to gain competitive advantage.

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about – Inbound Marketing.

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

When Artificial Intelligence and Social Media Marketing Collide

Both artificial intelligence and social media marketing

are getting a lot of attention nowadays because of their huge benefits and growth potential. They are benefiting both businesses and normal people in various ways. The investment has already been growing in the artificial intelligence, and the investment is further expected to grow by around 300%, according to the prediction made by the Forrester.

Talking about the social media platforms, more than 2.5 billion people are already using various social media platforms as per the statistic. This is nearly a 1/3 population of the whole planet. A marketer has the potential to reach a large no. of potential customers from all over the world with the help of various social media platforms. The artificial intelligence (AI) is already playing a key role in various business sectors, and now it’s colliding with the social media marketing.

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about – Inbound Marketing.

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

How Social Media Is Helping Local Businesses Take On S&P 500 Marketing Departments

Today any local business can build its social media channels to challenge its largest competitors

  

Industries have evolved over the years,

with midsized and high-growth businesses quickly being acquired or outpaced by their larger rivals. It’s left a David and Goliath landscape, with most businesses being on the smaller side. Prior to the advent of the internet, larger businesses always had the upper hand when it came to marketing. They had bigger budgets and could afford the most coveted ads and support them with superior creatives generated by leading agencies while hiring the best internal talent.

Larger businesses also had the budgets to run radio and TV ads simultaneously across multiple networks, leaving most local businesses on the advertising sidelines. Their multichannel campaigns would blanket magazines, billboards, radio and television, leaving local businesses few options to build their brand awareness. Marketing decisions for local small and midsized business came down to budget constraints, while their enormous competitors were spending hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on their campaigns.

Social media levels the playing field

Today any local business can build its social media channels to challenge its largest competitors. The barriers to entry are low since starting business pages is relatively easy and costs nothing. The investment comes from daily posts and leveraging best practices that are constantly evolving. Running a Facebook ad is a fraction of the cost of TV, radio or newspaper ads, and the business gains granular engagement metrics that aren’t provided by traditional channels, as well as the demographics of the people reached. Savvy business owners and marketers can glean a lot of information about their follower’s preferences based on the engagement and demographic data.

Only a handful of traditional marketing channels have the ability to provide viewers with coupons, and none of the traditional channels can collect a potential client’s email address for future marketing opportunities.

The overlooked modern marketing asset

Smartphones are a huge social media marketing asset that often goes neglected. Too many businesses miss opportunities to take quick pictures throughout their day that their followers would find interesting. Remember the old saying, “A picture is worth 1,000 words”—a before-and-after picture is worth more than 2,000 words: It’s priceless.

The local businesses that are finding success regularly post informational or humorous content, while leveraging pictures and videos. These social profiles eventually become company assets that generate new business, help with search-engine optimization and are a fraction of the cost compared with traditional marketing channels. It’s exciting how any local business can tackle Goliath with having social channels that resonate. The tough part is overcoming inertia.

Being agile

When it comes to being flexible, for the most part, the advantage favors local business owners. They can quickly respond, without lengthy legal reviews, to circumstances and events that can pose a threat if handled incorrectly or an opportunity for their business. Local businesses also have the upper hand in knowing who their customers are and their preferences. Knowing your clients is key to growing a business and marketing success. It also provides the ability to engage with them during each transaction and cross-promote social channels.

The businesses that are finding success on social media and other channels are blending educational insights with humor to deliver a memorable brand experience that’s trusted. Most of the time, social media marketing requires a plan, common sense and commitment to consistency.

Participating in making history

The capabilities and reach of new channels that emerged over the past eight to 10 years have enabled brands to rise from zero in revenue to billions of dollars. Local businesses can now execute the same caliber social media campaigns that their billion-dollar competitors are launching, while simply engaging and staying in touch with clients. Never before in history have people and businesses been able to communicate on a one-to-one and one-to-many level, while gaining transparent metrics into their marketing campaigns.

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about –Inbound Marketing.

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member