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September 22, 2013

 

Welcome to my new page! Stay tuned as I keep you updated on the current events of my life!

 

Native Advertising

 

There seems to be a fuss going on about what the term “native advertising” really means. A lot of companies and professionals seem to have their own opinions on the key definition of it. This form of advertising has become a bandwagon for brands, media companies and marketing agencies around the world but if you ask them to explain native advertising, they would each have their own unique explanation of this suddenly overused term.  Native advertising is not something that is new to industry. It is, however, starting to become a trend that professionals have been keeping a keen eye on for the past couple of years. When doing my own research to find a definition that I thought fit best, I found more than I thought necessary. The one that I though fit best came a company that specializes in native advertising, sharethough. Sharethrough defines native advertising as a type of advertising that is simply a form of paid media. A form of paid media that places an ad on a website for users to see. The difference in native advertising from other forms of advertising is that these ads look natural to users when they are placed on sites. They blend in with material that is on the page and does not distinctly stand out. An important aspect that producers must look at when creating any form of native advertising is the form and function of they content they are creating. Like I stated earlier, the form of the ads needs to match the design of whatever site they are placed on. It must look and feel natural to the content a user is trying to view. Going hand in hand with the form is the function of these advertisements. The function of native advertising is critical because not only does it have to look and feel natural, it also has to function like any other “natural” content on a website would. I never really noticed what native advertising was until I started to educate myself on what exactly native advertising was. It was then that I realized this type of advertising is everywhere! It has become a popular form recently because there are many platforms of web based content for advertisers to place these ads. I think it is a great concept because it fits in with the original content and functions with content on the page. It doesn’t take you away from the information you were trying to receive when you first went to that site. Most often, it is providing the user with “valuable” content. I find that to be important because some ads will lead you away from the content you were originally trying to view or some will provide you with content that is not relevant to anything you were trying search for. This is when users get annoyed or bombarded with useless information. Sharethough hits the nail on the head with their point of view on how native advertising needs to be applied in order to be successful. They say that native advertising shouldn’t be about trying to interrupt users with traditional means of ads. Instead, they should deliver advertising that is as good as the content itself.

 

Paywall

 

Print publications have taken a turn for the worse over the years due to advancement in the digital age. You can now access everything form news, politics, global affairs, current events and pop culture just by using your computer. The advancement in the digital age has even led to companies that supply print publications to downsize. The main reasoning for their demise has to due with financial issues. It is harder to produce a sufficient amount of revenue now that everything has gone digital. The digitization of magazines, newspapers and other print publications has made it easier for subscribers to access the information that are seeking. It is much easier to use your computer or smartphone apps than it is to purchase a publication from the store and spend time sitting down to read it. Busy consumers need their information on the go! This steady downstream of revenue intake has prompted companies to establish a “paywall” on their websites. A paywall is a system that prevents Internet users from accessing webpage content without a paid subscription. There are typically two types of paywalls that are seen on publisher’s sites. They are referred to as “hard” or “soft” paywalls. The difference in these two is that “hard” paywalls restrict the access of content to minimal or none without paying a subscription fee. “Soft” paywalls typically allow the consumer to view more content but it is usually limited to they types or amount they are allowed to view. The biggest user of paywalls has been the newspaper industry. The reason for this is because print ads have severely diminished since the digital world has evolved. This is a great way for them to earn revenue and keep subscribers to their company. Even big companies like the New York Times have implemented paywalls. The New York Times has started to allow more of a “soft” paywall approach by letting customers view up to three free articles a day on their mobile app. Along with the New York Times, other companies like The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and Vogue are using this method. Like I stated earlier, this is a great way for these companies who see a decline in their print sales gain extra revenue. It is viewed mainly as an alternative income source, in addition to, other types of advertising that they promote on their websites. I would not be surprised if in the near future every print, news or media website uses a paywall. With the turn in digital, it seems only logical for them to make this move in order to stay in business and keep up with the other publishers. When thinking about using a paywall, companies should take into consideration a few usage points. If you are planning on using a paywall, you need to be sure that users are going to be willing to pay for your content. It is not going to help you if the content you produce is not something that people are going to pay for. You also need to ensure that your website is not using a paywall as the sole means of producing money. There needs to be a balance with other forms of revenue. The last usage point is that your content needs to be valued higher than what you are charging for it. Ensure that the content you are asking people to purchase is worth their money and time.

 

Content Management

 

Content Management is simply just a process that administrates collecting, managing and publishing forms of information into a type of medium. These forms that are being managed can vary. You are likely to see things such as images, video, audio and multimedia.  How companies decide to use content management is up to them. It is based on the needs of the company and what they are trying to accomplish. No two companies are going to format their content in the same format. That is a good thing though. It allows the company to make their content easier for users to navigate through or use. Tailoring is to the needs of your company and the needs of the consumer are what make Content Management a success. Content Management is also looked at as web-based publishing, format management, revision control, indexing, search and retrieval. Content Management is not a simple process. It can sometimes become lengthy and costly. This process does require a stage in how it is achieved. The common stages of Content Management include: creation, editing, publishing (making content available to users), oversight and removal.  With these stages, you will see an ample amount of roles that are played in this process. The basic roles and responsibilities of Content Management include: creator, editor, publisher, administrator and consumer. The creator is usually responsible for what their role states: creating content. The editor is responsible for taking what the creator comes up with and then fine-tuning that content into a message that is easily deliverable. The publisher then builds off of the first two roles and releases the information that was created and edited for use. The administrator role is mainly focused on allowing and managing permissions the files and folders that are used in relation to the content. The final and probably most important role in this is the consumer. The consumer is the one who is actually going to view and take in the content that was created and published. The consumer is the one who you are going to want to understand the content and react to it. Hopefully, they react in a positive manner. A content management system is used in order to make any of this process possible. It is a set of automated processes that are used to support the following features: import and create documents or multimedia material, identify all key users and their roles, assigning riles and responsibilities, defining tasks so that managers are alerted to changes in the content, tracking and managing of multiple versions of a single content and the ability to publish the content to a repository to support access to the content. Some of the most notable forms of content management systems that you see are Java, Microsoft ASP.NET, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby on Rails and CMFL. Companies in order to organize and facilitate the content that has been created have used these systems often. When it comes to Content Management, you need to be sure that you have clear goals in mind. You will only be successful and the content will only become valuable if the right data is delivered to the right people at the right time.