Top 10 Media Beyond Entertainment by beyond!

TOP 10 MEDIA BEYOND ENTERTAINMENT

BUSINESS

Issue 10 Autumn 2018

Joseph Rothstein Director Social Media 55

A problem with the term “big data” in media and entertainment

Using Social Media in Interna onal Trade P.44

Selec ng a Social Media Marke ng Strategy Is Easy P.54

P.40

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EDITOR’S CORNER

here used to be a time and place wherein people used to sit around the campfire to enjoy some quality time with one another. Time changed, people have evolved, and, most importantly, technology has advanced. Instead of the campfire, people are surrounded by the television sets, smartphone screens, and other tech gadgets. Much of this shift can be owed to the advancing landscape of the media business. The media world used to be a fairly simple place at one time. It functioned on a linear model, which consisted of content, distribution channels, and the audience. This was coupled with the small priesthood of producers, executives and publishers who made editorial decisions for us. Stars were created by the choices and actions they made and took. Thanks to the inception of the Internet, that model blew apart. Today, there is a cut-throat competition as far as the media industry is concerned. Industry players of different categories are battling with each other to gain the eye-balls of the viewers or the readers. With time and technological advancements evolved, the media and entertainment industry went through a major paradigm shift. During the early days, the entertainment aspect through media comprised of a few grainy television channels, limited number of radio stations and some stale piece of newspapers. Today, the world is connected by more than one networked means. With the consumers being changed, the media industry too has followed suit and evolved and expanded as a result. The expansion and evolution of the sector has led to the emergence of various media and entertainment solution providers, which are offering new and innovative services that boast the capability to steer your organization towards success in the industry. Beyond Exclamation understands the importance of the industry and the surging growth of the sector and has come up with an issue tilted the “Top 10 Media Beyond Entertainment.” Standing out as the Cover Story of this issue is Social Media 55, a pioneering company which is now one of the most powerful marketing tools with the ability to communicate with a target audience in real time. The issue also features innovative media companies like GHO Group, Shutterstock, Viral in Nature, Chimp&z, and Project Bionic.

Editor in Chief CHRISTINE [editor@beyondexclamation.com]

Managing Editor JACK [jack@beyondexclamation.com]

Art Director VIJAYKUMAR [design@beyondexclamation.com]

Graphic Artist NICK [nick@beyondexclamation.com]

Project Manager JENNIFER [jennifer@beyondexclamation.com]

Development Manager JUSTIN [info@beyondexclamation.com]

In addition to these, the issue also includes in-depth CXO articles written by some of the leading industry experts.

CONNECT!

Let’s dive right in!

Jack London www.beyondexclamation.com BeyondExclamation @BeyondEx Beyond Exclamation beyondexclamation

In addition to our print magazine, we also provide relevant industry news and updates, as well as some thoughtprovoking articles and blogs on our website. Make sure to follow the same as we at Beyond Exclamation are looking forward to interact with our readers. Let’s connect on the web!

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Inside... Business Boulevard

B E O N 12

A Socially Accurate Social Media Management Company

Omniscient Voyage

Using Social Media in International Trade

Excellence Causeway

22 The Golden Intersection for Building a Powerful Personal Brand: Education and Entertainment

28 Bridging the Gap between Technology and Opportunity

Newsmakers Locale

48 A Thought that Built an Industry

52 Merging Creativity with MarTech

Younick Corner

Y D

34 Social Media Team on Mission

40 A problem with the term “big data” in media and entertainment

Deﬁnitive Destination

54 Selecting a Social Media Marketing Strategy Is Easy

60 Capturing the Power of Social Media

SOCIALLY ACCURATE

Joseph Rothstein Director Social Media 55

t was back in 2013 when Joseph Rothstein began researching and studying every single facet of Facebook and its features to get a clear idea of what majority of the brands were not doing. It was the beginning stages of the developmental process of a social media management platform, which would go on to be named as Social Media 55.

During his study, Joseph saw each option on Facebook to be an avenue; an avenue to generate leads, engagement, and other sources of traffic. While others, back then, were still focused on paper click campaigns, Joseph was stone-focused on the social world. Through his study, Joseph realized “What I was seeing was masses of people shifting to social media and spending a large part of their day on a particular platform like Facebook. I began studying all the tools necessary in order to run a successful campaign into 2013 began the social media strategy for our first client. Along with social media, we implemented a new online shopping experience for this brand. And in 2014 after seeing much success with our first clients Social Media 55 was born.” A la carte solutions for your social needs. The solutions of Social Media 55 are customized to address your needs and offer a peace of mind by maintaining these channels, so as to enable you to focus your time and energy on other more important areas of your business. The social media solutions of the company cater to any businesses of any size. Additionally, the ‘a la carte’ style options offered by Social Media 55 are designed to maximize your ability to communicate with your target audience. With any and every brand constantly on the lookout for new and innovative ways to drive traffic and convert them into sales, Social Media 55 offers influencer marketing as an additional service to maximize your social visibility. The company maximizes your social visibility via strategic alliances with PR and modeling agencies, which helps expand your network of influencers, bloggers, vloggers, and celebrities for a fee or in exchange for product.

The list of services oﬀered by Social Media 55 are as follows: Social Media Marketing, Social Media Paid Ads Management, Content Marketing, Video Production, Photography, Product Photography, Website Design, Website Development, Mobile App Development, Mobile App Marketing, PPC Pay Per Click Advertising, SEO Search Engine Optimization, Reputation Management, Crisis Management, Retarget Marketing, Web Retarget Marketing, Facebook Retarget Marketing, Inﬂuencer Marketing Campaigns, Celebrity Appearances, Television Appearances on Major American Networks, and PR.

“What I ﬁnd refreshing is businesses that have been around for many years have the opportunity to leverage their brand and the branding in a digital world on the platform that exists. Leveraging their name and their brands on social media allows old school business to be successful in the new school environment,” mentions Joseph. If you are running a business today and your digital appearance does not match up to what your business truly is, it’s about time to take action and become an online industry leader in your vertical. Staying ahead of the crowd

The initial challenge The biggest challenge for Social Media 55, initially, was educating clients on the importance of social media and the power of the advertising tools. Even though the company still ﬁnds itself to be educating its clients on all these factors and stressing the importance of these tools, today, the people are much more receptive to this idea. This is due to a common understanding or the norm in the advertising world to be allocating a large portion of your budget for ads on social media. What was once print, billboards, newspaper, and other forms of traditional media outlets are now replaced with digital formats.

Social Media 55 has embraced the movement or the need for social media in high levels. Speaking about the competition, Joseph claims “How we are staying ahead of our times is by providing other agencies with state-of-the-art social media services to properly manage their clients. We have developed multiple digital marketing agencies and brands, wherein we not only develop the personal proﬁles of the company but we handle and maintain and execute the marketing needs of their clients as well.” Needless to mention, the company has in health specialists dedicated to each platform from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Google My

Business. Not only is the company positioned perfectly on each of these platforms, but it also boasts designers and developers and backend developers, who are amongst some of the best in the industry. Moving forward, one can expect the company to be an industry leading properly managed social media and digital marketing agency. “We expect to be at the top of Google in your feed in Facebook, educating and encouraging companies to market online. Our goal is to help 1 million businesses maximize in leveraging their ad budget and get as much mileage as possible as they can for every last dollar,” Joseph passionately mentions. The influential form of marketing Influencer marketing is a fundamental component to run a successful campaign. It is the new age form of endorsement, which when done correctly can be very useful and aggressive in funneling traffic that would lead to a high number of sales in a quick manner. What influencer marketing also does is that it allows brands, which don’t have such wonderful assets of their own, to leverage the assets created by the influencers wrapping their products or their service, by recirculating and promoting what the influencer has created now on

their business venues to further leverage those assets.

strategies with over 7 years of experience as a leading consultant.

Social Media 55 has a number of in-house influencers to its name, along with a network of influencers and celebrities who are registered with the company and offers services to its clients. The company is constantly growing its influencer community and is encouraging more and more people to apply online.

Joseph also manages the operations in-house along with overseeing strategy and strategical developments in the company. He works closely with the strategy development process team to ensure that every company is oﬀ to the right start and starting the campaign in the right manner. Joseph likes to hit the ground running, and he is sure not kidding.

“Not only do we use our own influencers, but we access industryleading platforms that allow you to choose from some of the world’s best influencers out there. Whether you’re talking about companies in beauty or in the gaming industry we will provide you with the best influencers possible for the results that you’re looking for. We also have our own networks of a combined 250,000 following on social media platforms and we are acquiring new accounts every day to expand our verticals and reach organically.” A passionate leader striving for success Joseph Rothstein is involved in the day-to-day operations of Social Media 55. Being the Director of the company, Joseph is completely passionate and dedicated to the brand and of the brands of his clients. One of the specialties of Joseph is curating social media

A portfolio of excellence Social Media has become, and continues to be, an increasingly large, powerful marketing platform throughout this age of digitization. Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other networking channel, all these are easily accessible on laptops, desktops, and smartphone devices. Social media serves as a seamless extension of companies’ communication, user interaction, and product promotion. Developing and maintaining strong media strategies, however, can often pose a challenge to some businesses, which is where Social Media 55 and its team of experts come into play. The team at Social Media 55 curates exceptional content for its clients’ channels by creating, designing, and planning customized websites and posts that capture the consumers’ attention while

showcasing the best of each business and brand. Social Media 55 maximizes exposure while freeing up its partners’ energy, attention, and time. The versatility and visibility of its work, particularly with its specialization on Facebook and Instagram as well as through influencers, has made the company one of the top Facebook Advertisers, an honor received from Clutch that showcases the consultancy strength of Social Media 55. Speaking about such a recognition, Joseph asserts “With more than 20 reviews on our Clutch profile that attest to the success that our team has generated for clients of diverse sizes and industries, Social Media 55 greatly appreciates the support of our work that comes from both the professionals at Clutch and the clients with whom we’ve been able to collaborate.” As client Isaac Bitton, the vice president of Bijoux Eclore, shared, “They’re a great team that’s making something good happen for our company … I’d give them a 10 out of 10. They’re always on time and contact us consistently. We communicate via text and phone calls. They’ll often check in with us to offer updates and make sure we like their work. Rather than doing the bare minimum, they provide thoughtful feedback. Social Media 55 works quickly and knows what they’re talking about.”

“For a busy guy like me, Social Media 55 is the perfect agency. It’s easy to delegate marketing and focus on my business,” praised another client. “I’ve worked with several other marketing agencies in the past and Social Media 55 is much more attentive by comparison. They’re available whenever I need them. If a task is urgent, they pick up my phone call right away and get the job done … Social Media 55’s comprehensive level of involvement is fantastic.” We live in an age of constant updates and change, but with the staying power of social media, Social Media 55 is the top-pick to help you make an impact. Its team of experts know how to best maneuver and plan exceptional social media services and help spearhead your brand or business towards success.

The Golden Intersection for Building a Powerful Personal Brand: Education and Entertainment

s I like to describe it to those who have never heard of the platform, Quora is what Yahoo Answers should have been. It is an extremely tight knit social platform where anyone can ask a Question and anyone can Answer, and the community has attracted extraordinarily intelligent thought leaders from every industry: from mathematics to health and fitness, space travel to sexuality, video games, marketing and advertising, music, science, and beyond. Originally just a lurker and reader, I found it fascinating that someone could ask a question like, “How do entrepreneurs start their first business?” only to receive an answer from someone like Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia. Instantly, I started reading Quora answers obsessively because I felt like I had access to highly specialized information from people who were speaking from experience. These were people I would have killed to have had a cup of coffee with, and here they were offering free advice to anyone with a question. As I spent more and more time reading on Quora, I started to realize something: all of the best Answers, the ones that Quora prioritized to appear at the top of each Question, told a story. If someone asked, for example, what it’s like being a first-time entrepreneur, the top answer was not a textbook definition of entrepreneurship. Instead, it would start with something like,

Nicolas Cole Founder Digital Press

“When I was 22 years old, I sold my ﬁrst company and was worth over $2 million. When I turned 23, I was broke living on my best friend’s couch.” Instantly, you as a reader were hooked. Sure, the person answered the question and provided very helpful information, but they entertained you along the way. They told their story. They brought you into their world. And as a result, they further established themselves and their personal brand. As soon as this registered, I started to realize that all of Quora’s Top Writers shared this in common. There were some outliers, of course, people who simply provided extremely detailed and well-researched answers to questions, but the vast majority pulled from their own unique experiences to both educate and entertain users on the platform. Being a recent college graduate with a degree in creative writing, I sat there and thought to myself, “I have experienced some pretty cool things in my life. I have some lessons I could share. Maybe I should start answering questions and telling my story too.” Three and a half years later, and I have been a 4x Top Writer on Quora and amassed over 50,000,000 views on all my

answers, with many of them getting re-published by major publications like Forbes, Fortune, TIME, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Inc Magazine, and more. Since learning the value of this intersection between entertainment (telling your story) and education (answering people’s questions), I have spent a considerable amount of time studying other influencers and thought leaders who execute this strategy masterfully. And someone who has gotten this down to a science is most often recognized from his viral YouTube ad: “Here in my garage with my Lamborghini,”where he points out his brand new jet black “bat mobile,” and then turns the camera to talk about his vast collection of books instead. The influencer behind this seemingly candid but deliberately crafted viral ad? Tai Lopez. I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent studying his content — and for good reason. I am a firm believer in being a student of your craft and always looking for what others are doing well that you can learn from and execute yourself. With over 2 million fans on Facebook, 1.7 million on Instagram, and over 170 million

views on YouTube, there’s a reason he has built the audience he has in the entrepreneurship space. I finally got a chance to chat with Lopez and pick his brain about his process for building his personal brand, and what he shared was a wake-up call I think every aspiring Influencer needs to hear: “People think my channels are all a show, but these are just the things I like to do. If you want to build a lasting personal brand, something you’re going to stick with over the long term, you have to ask yourself what you’re interested in, what you want your lifestyle to be, and then reverse engineer how you’re going to get paid off that,” he said. “In my case, I knew I wanted to travel. I enjoy meeting new people. I like to read, I like when my life has a bit of adventure and things aren’t too monotonous. So I started to ask myself, what would my business have to look like to satisfy those personal goals?” In Lopez’s case, he wanted to take his own hunger for knowledge and share that with others. But he also knew he would have to do so in a way that catered to his desired audience. “It reminds me of when I was a kid. My first entrepreneurial venture was a tomato stand. I remember selling tomatoes and barely making

They know that people need a blend, they need to feel like they’re part of the story, they want to be entertained while they learn — and the top inﬂuencers (in every industry) know how to provide that. If you want to build a meaningful personal brand and a loyal audience, this is what you need to constantly pay attention to: What does your audience want to learn, and how can you give them the answers they’re looking for while at the same time keeping them entertained? Maybe it’s through motivation. Maybe it’s through showcasing the desired lifestyle. Maybe it’s by interviewing other top inﬂuencers and thought leaders on a podcast. any money, and then when I switched to lemonade with sugar I made a whole lot more. That taught me at a very early age you have to pay attention to what people want, and what they’re willing to pay for,” he said. “That’s why I create the kind of content I do. You can’t just preach to people. You have to entertain them too. You have to demonstrate success, not just talk about it. That’s why I show the sports cars, the fancy houses, the private jets. I am providing Edu-tainment: entertaining my audience with the lifestyle, but sprinkling in enough

education so that they’re learning along the way.” That’s the golden intersection, and Lopez isn’t the only one. Gary Vaynerchuk, Grant Cardone, Andy Frisella, some of the biggest power-players in the entrepreneurship space combine educating their audiences with actionable information, while simultaneously entertaining them in their own unique way. Vaynerchuk has his Daily Vee YouTube show, Cardone has Grant Cardone TV, Frisella has his podcast, The MFCEO Project.

Whatever the medium, just make sure you are educating and entertaining. That’s the golden intersection.

Gary Olson CEO GHO Group

Bridging the Gap between Technology and Opportunity

echnology and Opportunity; two distinctive words with a synonymous undertone. For decades, whenever these two words have met, eﬃciency and innovation have emerged out of the corner. Shouldering a tagline of “Where Technology Meets Opportunity,” GHO Group has made a mark within its industry and beyond by justifying the line with its hard work and productivity. GHO Group is an independent consulting ﬁrm, specializing in

planning and designing media production facilities for broadcast and cable companies, corporations, educational institutions, and cultural organizations. The company uses its extensive experience base to provide beneﬁcial opportunities for clients, shares best practices in design, and plans with special attention to form budgets and schedule crafts the process to assure best-in-class results. The company is a recognized leader in technology implementation and its design philosophy is based on sustainability and understanding

that this kind of opportunity and investment has to be ‘future proof’. The seeds of success GHO Group enables creative people on a global scale to express themselves using advanced technologies in the form of easy-tohandle tools. This was prompted by the evolution of advanced media creation technologies that are easy to operate and has been the key enabler to the creative production process. The very availability of such technologies has relieved and in many instances removed the

requirement of highly skilled technical support personnel to operate the technologies. This has allowed the creators and/or artists to produce and publish their projects to a multitude of digital platforms and distribution channels. The affordability of professional class creative tools has encouraged independent producers to create content. The accessibility of distribution platforms makes it easy to publish their works. Today, the company holds the distinct capability to take your vision from its initial concept to the final implementation phase, irrespective of whether it is traditional media, a web, smartphone, eBook, portable media player, and anything in between. Bridging the gap between technology and business GHO provides unique, practical, and cost-effective solutions to the challenges faced while building new facilities or implementing new technological strategies. It builds the bridge between technology and business, working with a new vision and converting it into a reality. “We manage the expectations of senior management and stakeholders throughout the execution of a project,” mentions the CEO of GHO Group, Gary Olson. The team at GHO brings a unique blend of experience to the job; they

are highly-skilled professionals with a strong foundation based on real-world applications. With an extensive portfolio in media based communication, television, telecommunications, and internet related technology projects, the GHO Team boasts the capability to apply risk analysis, program and project management, and tighten ﬁscal management to a project. GHO’s consortium of designers, engineers, project managers, and consultants is a select group of specialists and senior-level management professionals. This blend of talent allows GHO to apply best-in-class practices and the latest project management tools to each project.

industry evolved to computercentric technologies, Gary developed articles, webinars, and courses, and ultimately authored his book titled “Planning and Designing the IP Broadcast Facility - A New Puzzle to Solve.” Over the years, the book has become an industry standard. The pioneering individual is considered to be one of the thought leaders in the media industry with a considerable following for his articles on the “The Broadcast Bridge” and in social media channels like LinkedIn. Needless to say, it is his sheer passion, determination, and his drive to succeed that has propelled GHO Group to what it is known as today.

A leader with an innate curiosity

The industrial outlook

For Gary, there has always been an inherent interest in him when it comes to new technologies. Coupled with that he holds an innate curiosity on understanding how things work. Gary started oﬀ his journey by applying his experience and knowledge attained while pursuing BSEE in Computer Design into the media industry. He paved the way by bridging the gap between broadcast and computer technologies.

At present, there are a various number of disruptions ongoing within the industry. According to Gary, cloud services are rapidly accelerating without a clear understanding of all the parameters and costs associated with cloud. Also, the move to IP, now that SMPTE has published the ST2110 suite of standards, is moving slowly with competitive challenges from 12Gb SDI. Not to mention the announcement of the Japan Broadcaster, NHK, which has promised to bring-forward 8k channels for the next Olympics in December this year.

Gary has been on a continuous lookout for innovative solutions to solve various challenges and has applied the same to his designs and across a broad spectrum of projects and industries. When the broadcast

Amidst all these, GHO diﬀerentiates itself with its wide-

spectrum of skills and knowledge. The company has extensive expertise in advanced media technology, business, and operations covering a broad range of services in Broadcast, Digital Media, IT, Telecommunications, Transmission, Cloud, and Artiﬁcial Intelligence. It understands the technical and production operations and the impact of technology has had, including the changes it brings to an organization and personnel as IT, Cloud and AI are introduced.

industry and how other industry sectors would use media requiring broadcast knowledge and expertise to assist them as they produce more and more media. The team and clients Team building has and will continue to be at the core of GHO Group’s success. Being an independent and objective strategic advisor and design ﬁrm, GHO develops and manages teams with diﬀerent levels of expertise and disciplines for each project. The size and shape of the team vary based on the scope and requirement of the project. The company looks forward to moments of acknowledgment from clients for a job well done and are driven by positive feedbacks and the team strives to maintain the same going forward.

A look ahead GHO is an objective and fully independent advisor. The company does not represent any products, technologies or services. This enables GHO to work with its clients, understand the goals, expectations, and budgets to design the best solution to ﬁt their needs and requirements. Looking ahead, GHO is anticipating the role of Artiﬁcial Intelligence in the near future in the media

Social Media Team on Mission

ocial media is neither a quick fix for your marketing woes nor a flash in the pan that will go away. The network du jour may change over time, but the core idea will remain. Social media is a place where every business must be and where those that do it right can achieve great success by finding, maintaining, and nurturing prosperous relationships with their clients. One such media firm that believes in day-to-day social media management precision is Project Bionic. The company stays close to its clients every step of the way to provide best-in-class social media services and helps ensure their social channels to blossom.

working for a national radio broadcasting network and soon got frustrated by the constant “broadcast” attitude of his peers. As narrow-casting or sliver-casting conversations began to take place, he started looking for platforms that would allow marketers to do narrowcasting at scale. The emergence of the Twitter and Facebook quickly showed that social media was going to be the arena for this discipline of marketing and he dove in head ﬁrst. Josh and his three other partners were tired of the spray and pray methods of most digital marketers during the recession. They left their corporate jobs and in a basement in West Seattle began Project Bionic in 2009 with the mission to help brands meet the new opportunities of social marketing.

The frustration led to the foundation It all started with the founder, Josh Dirks’ foray into digital media in the early 2000’s as he watched the rise of pixels and data tracking. He was

Dedication to constant innovation, humble leadership and tireless excellence Today, the company is comprised of digital strategists, creative writers,

Josh Dirks Co-founder & CEO Project Bionic

branding specialists and marketing analysts that bring together the expertise necessary for a successful social media presence to drive results and meet business objectives in an authentic and real way. Project Bionic has methodically grown the team as its clients have migrated from being only regional brands to today representing national and global brands. The company’s dedication to constant innovation, humble leadership, and tireless excellence has allowed it to grow to more than 20 team members and more than 50 current brand partners. The team at Project Bionic has been built organically and without ever hiring a maven, ninja, or maverick. “The foundation of Project Bionics’ creative approach is rooted in something we all th learned in 8 grade, the scientiﬁc process. The team takes in as much data and other inputs at the beginning of a partner engagement to make the best creative and strategy hypothesis as possible,” Josh explains. Once a strategy is launched the team works tirelessly to measure results and then allow data to guide the creative and business decisions. “Most of the team at Project Bionic were experts in their creative areas and taught social strategy via the data. This allows Project Bionic to apply the PB Way to clients of varying industries and sizes but still deliver business results,” he further adds.

A trailblazer leading from the forefront Josh cut his teeth in the early days of SEM with the mobile moving and storage pioneer Door to Door. From there he was able to get into SEO, Affiliate marketing, web development, and much more. In 2007, Josh was hired by Entercom Communication to both create new digital products and train the staff and client base on the power of digit marketing. Ironically, it was during his time in these walls that Josh found his passion for narrowcasting. This passion and frustration with the slow-moving traditional radio space led to the creation of Project Bionic. Josh is passionate about great marketing, paying more than just lip service to great content, and empowering a social media solution that puts community management at the center of Project Bionics’ service offerings. He can often be heard tell a new client the village metaphor or railing against lazy broadcast creative. Growing with the space is the key “In our fifth year, as the social space matured and people realized that social was here to stay we began to see results that were 5-10 times the industry averages. Additionally, we were seeing amazing customer moments coming from our dedication to Community Management. As clients become aware of these things, our phone began to ring off

the hook,” Josh remembers. He is proud today that of their ﬁrst 3 original clients, 2 are still with them today. Project Bionic has grown with the space and hasn’t tried to be a solution they’re not, and that’s something to be proud of. Pushing the creative bounds of the social media space “We turnkey our social media presence. Unlike most agencies that say they will, social is all we do and so we do it excellently every day. We’re students of the space and love helping brands connect with their true clients to create longstanding relationships and

revenue,” Josh says. “Whether you just have a contest you need run, want a whole new social media strategy, or have decided that outsourcing your social is best; Project Bionic can come alongside its partners and create a business relationship that is about ‘getting the damn job done’ vs tracking contracted hour buckets. We care deeply for the brands we partner with and strive to ﬁnd real business solutions from the social chatter,” he further adds. Moving forward, Project Bionic will continue to innovate and push the creative bounds of the social media space. In 2018, the company launched an Inﬂuencer Marketing division and is beginning to dabble in the Amazon ecosystem that is becoming more and more social all the time. If it is social in the future, you can be sure that Project Bionic will be on the forefront.

Aaron Edell Co-founder Machine Box

I’VE ALWAYS HAD A PROBLEM WITH THE TERM “BIG DATA” IN MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT

ere in California, people tend to throw around the term ‘big data’ quite a lot. Its most assuredly the hot topic of the day, and companies are scrambling to make sure they’re on top of it, whether they’re a vendor of big data products or an organization with a big data problem.

broadcasters know how to store ﬁles. They’ve been doing it for 20 years. Maybe the amount and size of digital content that is created is increasing every year (velocity), but most of these companies are ready to scale their storage. I don’t want to belittle the challenge that storing petabytes and petabytes of ﬁles can present to these companies, but when you compare it to the problem of variety you start to see that its a walk in the park.

I used to think that big data applied only to governments, extremely large bio-tech ﬁrms, market research ﬁrms, or any other company with an insurmountable data about people and what they do.

These organizations have to somehow manage scripts, call sheets, word docs, PDFs, budgets, excel docs, asset tracking databases, raw camera files, lighting tables, dailies, masters, proxies, raw audio files, audio mixes, music files, still images… the list goes on and on. All these types of data are structured in completely different ways. How do you store, browse, access, preserve and share all of this structures and unstructured data? Do you jam as much metadata into the file name of every file? Can you search by provenance and context of your content? Can you quickly correlate budgets with call sheets and number of assets?

But I’ve come to realize that ‘big data’, as a term, isn’t really about the data itself. Its more about the problem, and what solutions people are putting into place to solve it. If you’ve done any research on big data, you’ve probably heard of the three V’s. As time goes on, more Vs are added, but it really started with; volume, velocity, and variety. Media and Entertainment companies know about volume and velocity very well. The biggest files in the world are video files (think about a 120 minute film with 48 frames per second in 4K). Motion picture studios and

If you don’t have an answer to these questions then you have a big data problem.

Using Social Media in International Trade

he rise of social media is a great opportunity for any business to raise its international proﬁle. Perhaps the best thing about it is that many of the beneﬁts can be enjoyed for little to no cost. But there are downsides as well.

The original rush to use social media as a promotional vehicle has settled down a bit, and it’s clear that some of the initial enthusiasts have reduced their activity drastically or even withdrawn altogether. But as a means of reaching potential customers and inﬂuencing existing ones, as well as in building brand reputation, some social media networks are well used by business, purely because they work. For any business seeking to harness the power of social media for its international business, the most crucial factor is to know which networks your targets are using. Social Media strategist (yes, that’s a real profession!) Vincenzo Cosenza has mapped the popularity of the leading networks, and reported that Facebook is the most popular network in 119 out of 149 countries analyzed. That’s a small fall from his previous study a year earlier, but still conﬁrms Facebook’s overall supremacy.

Tim Hiscock Associate Strong & Herd LLP Twitter, a more instantaneous network, which is increasingly used as a means of communicating directly with customers, is vying for second place in Cosenza’s study with Instagram. Instagram is ahead in more countries, but these are mostly in South America and the Middle East. In Western Europe and North America, Twitter is still ahead in volumes of traﬃc.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s the best network for everyone. Facebook is perhaps the most social of social media in the sense that much of the content is non-business. A lot depends on whether the exporter’s strategy is business to business (B2B) or business to customer (B2C). In other words, how important are those people who are sharing pictures of their pets and their dinner to your business?

LinkedIn should not be overlooked, either. A much more business focused network, it is typiﬁed by professionals looking for jobs or seeking clients. It is more popular than either Twitter or Instagram in India and Japan, and is likely to appeal to businesses who have a B2B product or service.

It has been said that Twitter is a medium to find customers and Facebook is a medium to keep them. The use of all networks is evolving, but to some extent this generalization still stands. Twitter works best for peripheral messages. What I write now will be almost invisible in a few hours unless someone goes specifically looking for either me or the content of the message. Twitter also has a strict limit on the length of the message, although it is more amenable to links and images than it was a few years ago. Twitter is a medium that can be used frequently and intensively, and also works well as a two-way medium, even for individuals and businesses that we have no prior contact with. Sending numerous messages each day is quite effective on Twitter, especially when there is something going on such as an exhibition or other event. Using a hashtag, and encouraging others to pick it up is an effective way to create momentum.

Very importantly, monitor your accounts for messages. Don’t be surprised if a customer uses Facebook or Twitter to make a complaint or leave a compliment. And remember that if you are not monitoring the traffic, others can see some of these comments that may be damaging to your reputation if you don’t respond to them promptly. Take time to understand your strategy before starting. Look at what competitors are doing, as well as comparable businesses. Note how many followers they have and, just as importantly, how many responses their messages are getting. It’s crucial to have a clear and realistic idea of what social media can do for your business and work accordingly. Many small businesses are finding it more effective than conventional advertising, but a lot depends on the nature of the business and the products/services. Many smaller businesses will entrust their accounts to an independent professional, typically as part of an advertising and marketing contract.

Facebook by contrast, communicates with its users in a more sedate way. It’s just as instantaneous as Twitter, but really relies on establishing a relationship with other users and sharing more substantial messages on a more occasional basis. On Facebook, overuse can create problems, such as potentially facing a temporary ban or at least suffering from the effect of the network’s algorithms meaning that messages get a low priority and are less likely to be seen in a target’s feed. On the other hand, many businesses find Facebook to be a cost effective medium for advertising.

Remember that whatever you write on social media is highly visible and, crucially, actionable. Always avoid libelous comments or untrue claims about your products or those of a competitor. And be especially sensitive to messages that may cause offence in other cultures. Twitter in particular can seem as informal as a casual conversation, but always remember it’s being shared around the world. Above all, think of social media as tools to use in accordance with your marketing strategy. Control its use and ensure that all staff who have access understand what the objectives are and what is and is not appropriate. Used wisely, social media can be a valuable and incredibly cost effective asset to achieving your business objectives.

The crucial success factor in social media is to understand your customers/targets, ﬁnd out where they can be found, and use the appropriate medium by following a strategy that works within its rules and practices. Set up pages and accounts that ﬁt with your company’s image and branding, add messages and stories regularly, ‘follow’ or ‘friend’ other users as appropriate, and monitor the feedback carefully. Which messages are getting the most responses? Do certain keywords help? Is there a better day of the week or time of day?

Jon Oringer Founder & CEO Shutterstock

A Thought that Built an Industry

mages and other media files like videos, music, or GIFs are increasingly being used across blogs, social media channels, and ebooks. Over the years, with the booming popularity of visual-based contents, the need and demand for media files have strikingly increased. This has caused individuals and businesses to turn towards stock media agencies to buy images and other media files, which are free from any copyright issues. When talking about stock media agencies, Shutterstock’s name is probably the first that comes to our minds, and for all the right reasons. Shutterstock is a leading global technology company, offering highquality assets, tools and services through its creative platform. Together with its growing community of over 400,000 contributors, Shutterstock adds over 1 million images each week,

and currently has more than 200 million images and more than 10 million video clips available on the platform. However, before the surging popularity of Shutterstock, the company was shouldered by one man, Jon Oringer, amidst all the challenges that he had to face.

him around the world in a similar situation. Over a one-year period, Jon shot over 100,000 pictures and put 30,000 of them on a website which he coded himself and was later on called Shutterstock. With $10,000 of his own money, he carefully spent each dollar and worked to get a return from the start.

The beginning Back in 2003, Jon discovered a business need for aﬀordable images, while building a website for an online pop-up blocker company which he had started. His options were limited. He could either go through a long, complex and expensive licensing process or produce his own shoot with a professional photographer, which was quite expensive at the time.

Over time, Shutterstock revolutionized the stock image industry with a simple subscription model, royalty-free images and a user-friendly interface. It was pretty much proﬁtable right away as people were buying his images, it was an exciting phase as he knew he had really hit on a global need. Once he saw that, Jon opened it up to other contributors so they could sell their work through the site.

Jon knew that if he, as an entrepreneur, was facing this problem then there would be thousands or millions of people like

Current market standing Today, in addition to the creative assets sold by Shutterstock, the company also oﬀers free editing

tools to its creative customers, allowing them to create something unique and personalized for their company or brand. From the Shutterstock Editor, you can also post directly to social media channels, thereby speeding up the whole process for its customers. Shutterstock has also seen a rise in the need for authentic branded imagery that reﬂects everyday life today on a hyperlocal level. As a result, Shutterstock Custom, which enables businesses to scale the creation of custom branded visual content, is amongst its fastestgrowing products. As methods of marketing and advertising keeps on evolving, Shutterstock anticipates the demand for more diverse and personalized visual content to continue rising. In addition to all these, Shutterstock owns companies like Bigstock, a value-oriented stock media agency; Oﬀset, a high-end image collection platform; PremiumBeat a curated royalty-free music library; and Rex Features, a premier source of editorial images for the world’s media. The initial hurdle As mentioned beforehand, Jon started Shutterstock with 30,000 of his own images and $10,000, which he carefully spent and worked upon to get a return from the start. “Getting started was the most challenging part,” recalls Jon.

Self-funding motivated Jon to focus on the essentials needed to move to the next phase. This translated into a complex lifetime-value calculation which drives Shutterstock’s acquisition model to this day. Jon also set out to introduce the subscription model to the stock photography industry. At the time, the only option to purchase stock images was to pay per image and you had to know where you wanted to use the image, for how long, in what countries, what formats, etc. It was complex and expensive, but Jon knew he could change that to be better suited to the digital age. He understood that Shutterstock could only be successful if the marketplace had the network effect of both the buyers and the sellers. To kick-start the marketplace, Jon licensed 30,000 of his own images on the platform to attract the first customers. From there, he opened the marketplace up to other photographers, designers and illustrators and now the community has grown to more than 400,000 artists, videographers and musicians from all around the world. The changing landscape Digital transformation and the evolution of technology has left Shutterstock’s customers, including those in the advertising, film and media industries with an ever-

increasing need for more visual content. Speaking about the changing landscape of the industry, Jon mentions “The world around us is becoming increasingly visual as businesses compete for their customers’ attention and try to stand out as their audiences scroll through the noisy web. The competition for attention has led the market to grow beyond images to include video and music as well as innovative tools to improve the customer workflow in the creative process. As Shutterstock expands into workflow and tools, the market gets much larger.” With its vast pool of collection, the importance of being able to surface exactly what a customer needs with advanced search and discovery tools is essential to the continued success of Shutterstock. The company’s 15 years of experience have provided it with more than general knowledge and know-how. “Shutterstock has collected data on search and download patterns, and we’ve also grown better at identifying where the company should be dedicating resources to the next big thing, whether machine-learning technology or new content offerings. All of this is shared with Shutterstock’s customers and contributors in a variety of ways to further inspire them as they work on projects,” Jon asserts.

The vision ahead Shutterstock is focused on further developing its existing business, particularly within the fast-growing areas like its enterprise offerings, as well as more editorial contents. Shutterstock has also always distinguished itself by providing the highest quality of customer service, fresh contents and the best search experience, adding up to the superior value for the customer. The company is continuing to build industryleading technology to improve its offering by leveraging computer vision and AI technology that will enhance the customer experience and ultimately improve the creative workflow process. Jon’s vision for the future of Shutterstock is bright. As the Founder and CEO, he directs the company’s focus which remains on providing customers with all of the content and tools they need to bring their ideas to life. Jon is constantly assessing technological advancements and industry changes to determine the best step forward for its business and to ensure there is plenty of room for growth.

Anngad Singh Mnchnda Co-founder Chimp&z

Lavinn Rajpal Co-founder Chimp&z

Merging Creativity with MarTech

overall marketing strategy and proper planning to ensure high ROI. Gaining or attaining success on social media is a tiresome process, one that requires you to spend both time and eﬀort.

ost businesses are clear that social media is the biggest platform of this generation and it’s the future of every brand and personality on the planet Earth. Though some are still ﬁguring it out, many have begun the journey by hiring social media agencies to go with the trend, instead of just waiting and looking at their level of proﬁciency and ascertaining their business goals.

Social media engagement is a big concept and agencies provide the much needed support that leads to online success. Going at it alone can be a disastrous step, as it is a world that changes everyday. Any minute you might come across a feeling that you’ve missed on a particular information by missing out on a social media feed. Just because one is capable of hammering down a nail, doesn’t necessarily mean that they can build a house, isn’t it?

In 2016, the tech educators had projected that the year 2017 will be the year of videos and looking at the changes on social media it proved to be true. As a company, taking on social media is by no means an easy feat. It needs to go hand-in-hand with your

A notable solution Chimp&z, is one social media agency that has time and again helped businesses turned their social media channels into dollar signs. With its innovative and creative approach, Chimp&z has impressed its clients and helped them attain unmatched social media success. The inception of this company bridged a massive gap in the industry between creativity and using technology to meet business objectives with clients. Clever ads made with human insight and ideas with simple and to the point communication were amiss and there was an opportunity to create a hybrid team of brand custodians with digital domain expertise who cracked campaigns that were measurable. Hence, Chimp&z was born. Unmatched digital expertise Started out as a small social media agency, Chimp&z was found 6 years back and has evolved since then into a complete service integrated communications agency, where all the services are available under one roof. The company has on-boarded a team of experts who add value to every brief that comes its way, be it MarTech brief, Digital Integration or Performance, all are led by a team of Digital natives. “Having worked with more than 50+ Global brands in the short time

of our existence, we have garnered a lot of knowledge about how businesses work and how we can add value to these brands and their objectives using our digital expertise,” mentions Anngad Singh Mnchnda, the Co-founder of Chimp&z. The dynamic duo and the team When speaking about his partner and Co-founder of Chimp&z, Lavinn Rajpal, Anngad creatively pointed out “If I’m the ying, then he’s the yang. He’s the water that is needed to drive the organization’s operations, and I provide the ﬁre for new business acquisitions.” Lavinn leads the execution and the performance teams of Chimp&z and Anngad leads the new business and communication teams. Led by these two dynamic individuals, Chimp&z believes that everyone is unique and they can bring something new on the table that nobody else can. The company appreciates individuality and together they have a unique mix of people from all walks of life. “This is actually one of our most important criterias while hiring our team members and we try to keep the culture as diverse as possible,” claims Anngad. Bringing-in Smiles Chimp&z boasts a wide ranging portfolio of services other than being a social media marketing agency. This includes Business Strategies for the Digital

Ecosystem, Story-telling for brands with Films, SEO, ATL & BTL Marketing, MarkTech/Web technology and Social Media Communications. The company also ventures into making innovative products of its own. “We have made a product which runs on Artificial Intelligence for SEO, it’s called SearchMunky.” “At Chimp&z, we make sure that everything that we create and deliver has to be liked by the person who made it and every time that manifests, I see a smile on their faces,” adds a dedicated Anngad. Spearheading a change Contrary to others within the industry, the dynamic duo believe trends to be simply fads. They explain themselves by mentioning “If you see a brand-wagon, you’re already late. We never want to be the early adopters and definitely not late bloomers, we want to be the innovators. We always have proved to be the trend setters in the categories that we work in and that’s our benchmarking for all our brands.” Chimp&z is all set to be entering a new era of advertising in the next 2 years and they will be spearheading the change with their new venture, Merge Infinity, a business solutions network.

Dakota Shane Co-founder Arctiphi

Selecting a Social Media Marketing Strategy Is Easy — Here’s How

’ve been getting a lot of questions lately from people who are trying build their brands online via social media platforms.

Of course, make sure they’re popular and trending upward — if you waste your time on a social network with 30 people on it the only thing you’ll get out of it is frustration.

By far, one of the most recurring questions is this: “There are so many social media platforms out there, but which ones are the best for my particular business?”

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s dive deeper into a more detailed approach to the selection process…

If I were one of the thousand “guru’s” out there trying to take away your time and money, then I’d probably answer with something like, “There are a billion factors that go into this question, so I won’t be able to answer it adequately.”

Here is the basic rundown of 9 social media platforms: ·

Facebook

Best For: Small Businesses that are local and stationary as well as online businesses. Some Examples: 1. Restaurants, cafes, service companies (carpet cleaners, window washers, plumbing, etc.) 2. Cafes 3. Service companies — carpet cleaners, window washers, plumbers, etc. 4. Lifestyle Businesses (via Facebook Ads)

Or maybe, “Well, I’d have to dig a little deeper into your business to truly see which social media platforms are the best for you.” I’m here to tell you that that’s bullshit. 101% bullshit. Now, don’t get it twisted — I’m not saying getting fantastic at these social media platforms is easy, or creating amazing content and a dedicated following is a walk in the park. It’s not. Shit, it’s really really diﬃcult. But what I am saying is…

Why? The reason Facebook is perfect for these types of businesses is the detailed targeting functionality you’re able to run with Facebook advertisements.

Selection is simple. Execution is diﬃcult. You can hand-select who sees your ads by geographic region, age, interests, gender, etc.

Selecting which social media platforms to use in order to spearhead your brand’s social media marketing strategy is simple. Problem is, no one wants to tell you that because they want your cash ﬁrst.

So if you own a hotdog stand in southeastern Oregon, you won’t have to worry about getting email queries from John Stumperstein in Tampa, Florida who is hungry and angry and wants your hotdogs. The same cannot be said about other platforms, such as Instagram and Twitter.

The ﬁrst thing you’ve got to ask yourself is which social media platforms do you enjoy the most? Do those. If they’re even a little relevant to your brand, do them.

In short, if you want to run eﬀective, cheap ad campaigns for any business at all, Facebook is your best bet at this point when it comes to social media. Especially, geo-targeted ad campaigns.

The fact is you’re going to have to put in a great amount of time/eﬀort into your content on these platforms. So stick with one or two of your favorites.

Twitter

Best For: Online businesses, personality-based businesses, any brand wanting a “humorous” tone, etc. Some Examples: 1. Life Coaches 2. Consultants 3. Lifestyle Entrepreneurs 4. Freelance journalists/writers Why? We all know Twitter is not where it once was. But I disagree with people saying it’s completely lost. When it comes to shareability, virality, and [real-time], it still might be the best out there. Still.If you conduct a real-time Q and A, wish to Tweet during a live event, or more then you should be using Twitter. Note: it’s also a terriﬁc time on Twitter to connect with industry leaders. When people with a million followers are averaging 7 likes per Tweet, you’re not likely to be drowned out, in terms of volume, like it used to be. ·

Instagram

Best For: visually-intensive businesses, and inﬂuencers wanting to connect with audience on a more intimate level. Some Examples: 1. Fitness businesses 2. Dance Studios 3. Photographers

4. 5.

Video Editors Travel bloggers

Why? Easy: Instagram is all photos and videos. If you don’t have highquality photography, you better be amazing at creating word art. Otherwise, no worries, just stick to other social media platforms. ·

Medium

Best For: blog supplement (if not complete substitute), thought leadership. Some Examples: 1. All 2. Businesses 3. Should Write 4. On Medium 5. …but I suppose I’m biased on this point Why? It’s still a very young platform and there’s lots of room for growth as well as time for you to carve out a unique niche (God knows there’s a need for diversiﬁcation of content!). Ideally, as Jessica Semaan has mentioned, let’s hope it turns into a “YouTube for writers”. But whatever happens to Medium, I know it’ll be great because I trust Ev Williams. ·

Best For: Thought Leadership & Highly “Formal” Brands

Some Examples: 1. Marketing Companies 2. Consulting Firms 3. Digital Advertisers 4. Journalists 5. Business writers Why? LinkedIn is arguably the leader in “legitimate” thought leadership. As much as I love Medium, at this point in time, when someone wants to know what is going on in their industry, they’re going to LinkedIn Pulse if any social media outlet at all. This isn’t a knock on Medium. It’s just the truth. They both occupy two very diﬀerent niches. For better or for worse, LinkedIn is where the most “hungry” leads live. If you’re looking for fewer quality leads over sheer volume, LinkedIn will be a good ﬁt for your brand. ·

Best For: Visually-Appealing Brands, Lifestyle Bloggers/Entrepreneurs, and Blog Enhancement Some Examples: 1. Chefs 2. Fitness Coaches 3. Travel Bloggers 4. Lifestyle Entrepreneurs Why? Pinterest is a powerful network. Keep in mind that it is an “aspirational” network, where users Pin content to save it for later.

What I mean by an aspirational platform is it’s a platform where users consume content based on what they want to do, as opposed to what they are doing. This includes the wedding they want to have. The vacation they want to go on with their loved ones. The dream meal they want to make. Of course this is a generalization — but it’s the truth for the majority of the platform’s highest rated content. So emulate it by molding your content around these principles. Pinterest content is also extremely evergreen. Meaning, it have an unusually long lifecycle when compared to other social media networks. So don’t get caught up with posting twice per day. Instead, focus on creating very high-quality content on Pinterest. Even if that means only posting twice or three times per week. Pinterest should be used in tandem with your blog or website as opposed to a standalone platform. Embed direct links on your Pins so users can quickly click through to your full blog post. ·

Udemy & SlideShare

Best For: Advanced, Late-Staged Personal Branding 1. Taking personal brand to the next level 2. Thought leadership

Why? Because there a shit ton of work that goes into these platforms. Not so much for Slideshare, but especially for Udemy. So be sure to have a decent-sized following before you spend a ton of time and energy building out this content. Otherwise you might not have the clout necessary to penetrate these platforms. ·

Snapchat

Best For: Probably not you. Probably not me. Please don’t believe all of the hub-bub about Snapchat going on right now. It is a very very very niche platform that only works for a narrow demographic. At this point in time, it is a nurture platform as opposed to a growth platform. Meaning, if you already have a huge audience and you would like to nurture those relationships on a more intimate level, then by all means, spend a lot of time on Snapchat. It’ll be worth it. On the other hand, if the brand or business you are running has a very sizable amount of cash on hand in their marketing budget, then try Snapchat. Companies such as Speakr.com connects Snapchat inﬂuencers with brands, but it’s extremely pricey. I’m not saying to not have a Snapchat. In fact, I think you

should. You can build up your audience slowly over time. That way if Snapchat alters their algorithms or adds a new feature beneﬁcial to you, you’ve got a leg up on the competition. But please don’t spend a shit ton of time on it. It just doesn’t work for most people and brands. It won’t be worth your time. Final Note Here’s the deal. I know it can get overwhelming to keep up with the “digital Joneses”. Social media platforms come and go and that’ll always be the case. Select 2 or 3, sometimes even 1 and just go all-in on it. Give it your all. Enjoy it, even. And I promise you’ll get leads if your content is good. Great content will always rise to the top if you are consistent with it and dedicated in the message. Take your time on studying the platform you are delving into, tailor your content to ﬁt the needs of that platform, and keep doing it. Plain and simple.

Shawn Alain President & Owner Viral In Nature

Capturing the Power of Social Media

ess than two decades ago, when a business aimed at marketing and promoting their products or services to a speciﬁc audience, the most viable and practical option were print marketing, television advertisements and radio promotions.

Back then, websites were making way into the mainstream world of business at a snail’s pace. And only a meagre number of marketers were willing to hesitantly board the internet train. There was a cloud of uncertainty hovering over the potential ability of the world wide web and businesses were reluctant to take the jump. Fast forward to 2018 and the approach amongst businesses to market their product or services have changed in a drastic fashion. Today, websites for businesses have become more than just an option or

a choice, it has become a necessity. Search Engines like Google have become a book of inﬁnite information. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have become a part of our daily lives to keep up with our friends, families, and loved ones.

This evolving landscape of the internet has opened the doors of opportunity for individuals, marketers and businesses. It has paved the way for businesses to market their products, build a brand and reach out to customers at every corner of the world in a targeted manner. However, amidst all these potential opportunities, using social media to one’s advantage and leveraging its true power isn’t equivalent to a child’s play. It takes years of experience and a requisite level of proﬁciency to grab hold the opportunity that the internet, and particularly social media, boasts.

Delivering solutions that echoes quality With an aim of capturing the power of social media, Viral In Nature stands out as a social media management company with the requisite knowledge and proﬁciency level to steer ahead clients towards success. Irrespective of whether your business social media goals are to increase sales, ensure optimal customer service or perform reputation management, the team at Viral In Nature goes above and beyond to meet and exceed its clients’ needs and expectations. Initially named as GoWowMedia, the company rebranded to Viral In Nature in 2013. The company helps bridge the gap between remaining a local presence and acquiring a global customer pool. Their rate of success with small businesses has prompted globally renowned and emerging companies to take attention and seek out their services.

Hard work coupled with commitment There are probably no better words to deﬁne Viral In Nature and its work functionalities than hard work and commitment. It runs through the ﬁrm’s DNA. The company devotes most of its time and energy in social media management activities towards its clients and strives to ensure quality through its actions and methodologies. This approach has led the company towards achieving multiple awards to become the most awarded social media agency in all of North America. Publications such as Clutch.co and GoodFirms.co has ranked Viral In Nature amongst some of the best social media marketing agencies. This year itself, the company was named as the USA’s Best Social Media Agency of 2018. These achievements are proof of the company’s operational capability and its dedication towards success. The man with the golden vision Shawn Michael Alain, the President and Owner of Viral In Nature, shoulders the responsibility of the company and has spearheaded it to what it is known as today. Alain began his career in media when he worked in a publishing industry. It was Shawn’s pioneering vision that prompted him to recognize the gigantic potential of social media marketing strategies, even before it became a globally followed approach. He set up the company

back in 2010, and since then he hasn’t looked back. In conversation In an interview with Beyond Exclamation, Shawn shares his journey, his company’s vision and his contributions: B! Firstly, what seeded the vision to help small and medium enterprises utilize the power of social media? Shawn: I spent a decade in the community newspaper industry on the advertising and management side. It was very rewarding helping businesses achieve their goals. B! Can you give us a little background on Viral In Nature and where it stands today? Shawn: We just turned ﬁve years old and are growing month over month. Businesses are seeing what the power of social media can do for them. B! Being the President of Viral In Nature, what do you particularly add to the company? Give a brief account of your experience and contributions within the industry. Shawn: I’ve been in marketing my entire adult career. Many of the skills I learned in the newspaper industry was very transferable to social media. But the real secret to the success of Viral In Nature is the team we have put together, which just keeps on growing. B! Talking about the team, we would like to know about the team and the building-blocks of Viral In Nature.

Shawn: We have an in-house Social Media Artisan (SMArtisan) Apprenticeship program. This is a paid position where our apprentices are mentored by our experienced senior SMArtisans. B! What are your breakaway services in the media bracket? Shawn: We specialize in social media. This allows us to focus on all the new trends and changes in the industry which can happen daily. We also do websites in-house and work with other top tier

agencies for other services such as SEO and SEM. B! Tell us about the moment when the team realized that their hard work has finally paid-off. Shawn: There has been several times my teams hard work has paid off. We’ve won several awards and this is all thanks to them. B! What’s the current scenario, breakthroughs and disruptions, in the industry? What benefits does Viral In Nature provide over its competitors? Shawn: In the social media world, the only thing constant is change. At Viral In Nature, we ensure that we are on top of these trends and changes with the industry as well as having the latest hardware and cool cameras to create great content. B! What can be expected from the company in the upcoming years? Shawn: We have plans for expansion to open offices in other locations around the world.

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