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KGI: Apple could sell just 2 million HomePods across all of 2018, company ‘mulls’ low-cost model

A fresh report from Ming-Chi Kuo gives KGI’s take on the recent stories of poor market reception for HomePod. The report suggests that Apple could sell 2-2.5 million HomePods across all of 2018, with a million of those from first month pent-up demand.

Most analysts have predicted sales for HomePod around ten million a year, so Kuo’s prediction is quite pessimistic. He says the high price has cut off a lot of the potential market and that Apple is ‘mulling’ a lower-cost model.

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This year’s flagship iPhone could be even more expensive than the iPhone X, say analysts

With all the signs pointing to the iPhone X not selling as well as Apple and its suppliers had hoped, many wondered whether the $999+ price tag was too high even for iPhone loyalists. One popular line of thought is that as the technology included in the flagship model will, like everything else, fall in price over time, that Apple would use the savings to give customers a slightly more palatable price this year.

But at least one bank thinks that won’t be the case, and that this year’s iPhone X equivalent will be even more expensive …

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What is a Facebook Pixel? [Easy Guide]

Two months ago, Mark Zuckerberg wrote a Facebook status that struck fear in marketers all over the world. He announced the social media giant will overhaul its algorithm once again to give users more opportunities to engage with their friends and family — Facebook’s original purpose — and less with brands, flattening their organic reach more than ever before.

The social network’s algorithm update will move tectonic plates in the Facebook marketing world. And to sustain engagement on the platform, brands will have to create Facebook groups, prioritize live video, and spend more money on Facebook ads.

Marketers will encounter a steep learning curve and high barriers to success when they first start creating Facebook groups and more live videos because these tactics are still relatively new to the digital marketing community. But they’ll see much better, faster results when they increase their Facebook advertisement budget. The platform has always offered the best social advertising tools, like the Facebook pixel.

The Facebook pixel is powerful because it shows you how successful your Facebook advertising campaigns actually are and helps you reach new, relevant audiences. And if you want to optimize your Facebook advertising strategy, we recommend taking advantage of it. Read on to learn what exactly a Facebook pixel is, its capabilities, and how to create one today.

When someone clicks through to your website from an ad and takes an action, like completing a purchase, your Facebook pixel will trigger and report the action in Facebook Ads manager. This allows you to see if they completed the desired action of the ad like buying a product or filling out a landing page — all on Facebook.

The Facebook pixel gives you deep insight into your marketing strategy because it measures your ad’s conversion rate, not just its click-through rate. This adds another layer of analytics that paint a clear picture of your buyer’s journey from ad to purchase. For instance, if one of your ads’ click through-rate is high, but the conversion rate is low, then your ad creative and landing page probably aren’t aligned.

You can also use website visitor and customer data collected from your Facebook pixel to refine your distribution strategy in several ways.

Optimization

Your Facebook pixel helps you bid specifically for conversions on Facebook. After collecting enough Facebook lead and customer data, Facebook will only show your ads to users who are most likely to convert or buy something from your website.

Remarketing

You can set up remarketing campaigns to past customers who’ve converted through a Facebook ad or users who have visited your website or certain web pages by clicking through one of your Facebook ads.

Create lookalike audiences

Once your pixel tracks a minimum of 100 conversions, you can create a lookalike audience of your website visitors and past customers on Facebook and advertise to them.

What Actions Can a Facebook Pixel Track?

When someone takes an action on your website after clicking on an ad, your Facebook pixel records it as an event. Facebook can track 9 of them:

  • View content – Track key page views (article, landing page, product page)
  • Search – Track searches on your website (product searches)
  • Add to cart – Track when items are added to cart
  • Add to wishlist – Track when items are added to wishlist
  • Initiate checkout – Track when people enter your checkout flow
  • Add payment info – Track when people add payment information during the checkout flow
  • Make purchase – Track purchases or checkout flow completions (landing on purchase confirmation page)
  • Lead – Track when someone becomes a lead (form submission, sign up for trial)
  • Complete registration – Track when someone completes a registration form (complete subscription, sign up for a service)

How to Create a Facebook Pixel

On February 15, 2017, Facebook combined the conversion tracking pixel and the custom audience pixel into one Facebook pixel, which means they no longer support the old conversion tracking pixel for ad creation. If you installed a conversion tracking pixel before then, you need to install the new Facebook pixel. Here’s how you do it:

Step 1) Open Facebook Ads Manager.

Step 2) Click on the hamburger icon and click Pixels, which is under the Measure & Report tab.

Step 3) Click Create a Pixel

Step 4) Name Your Pixel

How to Install a Facebook Pixel Into Your Website

Step 1) Install the pixel’s code into your website’s header.

To install a Facebook Pixel into your website, you have three options:

 

Option 1: Use a Facebook website partner to install your pixel.

 

 

If you host your website on the platforms above, you can quickly install your pixel and check if it works by following Facebook’s instructions.

Option 2: Manually install the pixel.

You can install your pixel and check if it works by following Facebook’s instructions below.

 

Option 3: Email pixel installation instructions to one of your developers.

Installing a Facebook pixel should be a piece of cake for your software engineers.

Step 2) Track the events that matter most to your business.

To track the most important actions users take on your website, you need to add code to specific web pages. It will tell Facebook when someone has triggered an event on those pages.

To add events to individual web pages, follow the instructions below:

  1. Click Pixels, which is under the Measure & Report tab.
  2. Click Set Up Pixel.
  3. Click Manually Install the Code Yourself.
  4. Click Continue.
  5. Click Install Events.
  6. Toggle the event you’d like to track.
  7. Choose Track Event on Page Load or Track Event on Inline Action

 

 

If landing on a certain webpage triggers an event, like someone landing on a Thank You page after filling out a lead generation form, choose the Track Event on Page Load option.

If an event can only be triggered by someone clicking a call-to-action, like the add to wishlist button, choose the Track Event on Inline action option.

8. Add event parameters, like Conversion Value or Currency, to give certain events a concrete value.

9. Place code on webpage.

For page load events, copy and paste the code right below the closing header section of the web page. This will usually be just after the opening <body> tag.

For inline action events, copy and paste the code between script tags next to the call-to-action you’re tracking.

Step 3) Make sure your pixel actually works.

If you have Google Chrome, you can install the Pixel Helper extension to check if your pixel is accurately tracking events.

 

Telegram: Russia orders app blocked; pirated content routinely stored on app’s servers, claims report

A few weeks ago, a court ordered messaging app Telegram to hand over encryption keys for messages to Russia’s KGB successor, the Federal Security Service (FSB). Telegram refused, and a court has now ordered that access to the service be blocked.

This was expected, but there’s one ‘you couldn’t make it up’ aspect to it which wasn’t …

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Best Buy 2-day Sale has $250 off MacBook, iPad Pro deals, TVs, Monitors, much more

Best Buy is kicking off the weekend with a new two-day sale slated to run through Saturday. You’ll find a selection of Apple deals including up to $250 off MacBooks, iPad Pro discounts, along with the usual smattering of TV offers and more. Free shipping is available on orders of $35+ or you can opt for in-store pickup and enjoy your new toys this weekend. Our top picks are below.

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Predictive Analytics: How Marketers Can Improve Future Activities

Want your marketing to be more efficient? Wondering how predicting your marketing cycles can help? To explore how marketers can get started with predictive analytics, I interview Chris Penn. More About This Show The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It’s designed to help busy marketers, business […]

This post Predictive Analytics: How Marketers Can Improve Future Activities first appeared on Social Media Examiner.

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Hands-on with Apple’s new Schoolwork app on iPad [Gallery]

At its education-focused event in Chicago last month, Apple showcased a new app called Schoolwork. Essentially, Schoolwork is Apple’s take on a classroom management app, allowing teachers to assign tasks to students and for students view those assignments and submit their work.

Schoolwork is slated to be available to everyone in June, but the app recently entered beta testing. Head below for a quick look at Schoolwork…

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Nanoleaf joins forces with Razer to create even more immersive gaming lighting

Nanoleaf is a well-known company when it comes to specialized smart lighting for your home. Razer is also a well-known brand that makes beautiful PC accessories that also have special lighting. Why are we mentioning these two seemingly random companies in the same article? Because they recently joined forces to make your regular lighting extend away from just your desk while gaming on your PC.

Earlier this year, Razer announced its partnership with Philips Hue to extend its Razer Synapse RGB software off of your desk and around the room, giving a more immersive gaming experience. But now, Nanoleaf is joining the party, and I really like where Razer’s new direction is headed.

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