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Sketchy report says copper gold iPhone 8 may be called ‘Blush Gold’
It was reported last week that the iPhone 8 will come in a new copper gold color shade, alongside white and black. Now, a post on Chinese social sharing site Weibo claims Apple’s name for the color will be “Blush Gold.”
Broadway’s ‘Hamilton’ releases new iOS app with iMessage stickers, ticket lotteries, & more
Hamilton fans rejoice: this generation’s most popular Broadway musical now has an iOS app. The new app “Hamilton: The Official App” allows users to enter ticket lotteries, buy merchandise, send iMessage stickers, and much more. The app’s most useful feature is entering $10 ticket lotteries. Entering the lottery gives you a shot at winning a […]
What product are you most excited for Apple to release before the end of 2017? [Poll]
Earlier this week, we rounded up everything Apple still has to announce this year. While the company has already released a handful of products this year, it still has quite a bit in the pipeline.
What product still to come are you most excited to see?
This week’s top stories: New iPhone 8 color details, evidence of a 4K Apple TV, new betas, & more
In this week’s top stories: iPhone 8 leaks continue, Apple releases new betas for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS, we outline the products Apple still has to unveil this year, and more. Read on for all of this week’s news…
SoundCloud secures its ‘largest financing round,’ names former Vimeo exec new CEO
As rumors suggested earlier this month, SoundCloud has officially confirmed that it has secured investments from The Raine Group and Temasek. The company outlined the investments in a blog post, while it also announced that former Vimeo executive Kerry Trainor will be taking over as CEO…
Apple working with ‘multiple companies’ on new Smart Connector accessories
With the launch of the iPad Pro, Apple unveiled its new Smart Connector technology to allow accessory makers to more seamlessly integrate with the device. Two years after the first iPad Pro’s release, however, the Smart Connector hasn’t necessarily gained a whole lot of traction. A new report from Fast Company this week offers some insight into Apple’s efforts to have accessory makers adopt the Smart Connector…
How to play Nintendo Switch and other game consoles on your iMac’s display [Video]
The 5K iMac features a great display, but it comes with no built in input options for connecting external media sources like gaming consoles. Yet, there is a way to play gaming consoles like Nintendo Switch and PS4 on the iMac’s display. By wielding the Elgato Game Capture HD60 S external capture device, it’s easy to direct video output from you favorite gaming console to your iMac’s display.
Normally thought of for its capturing abilities, the HD60 S, is headlined by its superior low-latency properties. The low latency makes the HD60 S an ideal solution for displaying the Nintendo Switch in full screen at up to 1080p at 60 fps. It’s not perfect, and at over $150 it’s definitely not cheap, but it’s the best solution that I’ve found for using the iMac as an external display. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough for an explanation.
Facebook TV, YouTube Mobile Share and Chat, and Facebook Live for Stories
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, a news show for marketers who want to stay on the leading edge of social media. On this week’s Social Media Marketing Talk Show with Michael Stelzner, we explore Facebook Watch (their TV solution), YouTube mobile share and chat with Amy Schmittauer, Facebook […]
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Friday 5: Final Cut Pro X – My favorite media management features [Video]
I’ve used a handful of NLEs on macOS, and each has their strength, but Final Cut Pro X gets so many of the little things right that my appreciation for the app grows a little bit each time I use it.
Final Cut Pro X may not be the most powerful way to edit videos, but it blends ease-of-use with power user features like no other app in its class. One such example of this graceful balance can be seen by observing the app’s many media management functions. Have a look at our hands-on video walkthrough for more details.
Review: Bragi Dash Pro is a costly standout amongst wireless earphones
Long before the AirPods hit the market, Bragi hit the ground running with their true wireless earphones on Kickstarter. Three years later the company has released an upgrade on their original Dash. The Dash Pro brings improvements to Bluetooth connectivity, microphone quality, and a new live language translation ability.
Having spent a full month using the Dash Pro over my AirPods, I’ve dissected as much as I could out of these wireless earphones. The original Dash didn’t raise praise from us before, but could the Dash Pro be Bragi’s comeback kid story?
9to5Rewards: Anker Bluetooth Audio Package w/ Speaker + Headphones [Giveaway]
We’ve come to the end of the week, which means it’s time for another 9to5Rewards giveaway. Our partner this Friday is Anker, who is giving one lucky reader a Bluetooth audio bundle that includes the SoundCore Boost Speaker and SoundBuds Life headphones. Head below to find out how you can win this package for yourself.
How much would you pay for an LTE Apple Watch and monthly service? [Poll]
Last week Bloomberg reported that Apple is planning to release a new Apple Watch with cellular connectivity sometime later this year. All four major U.S. carriers are said to be on board, but pricing details for both the hardware and service are currently unknown.
It seems reasonable to expect the cellular Apple Watch to carry both a hardware premium over current models as well as a monthly service charge for network access. If that’s the case, how much would you be willing to pay for cellular connectivity?
9to5Toys Lunch Break: BeatsX Wireless Headphones $80, up to $525 off MacBook Pro, iPhone 7 Plus case $2, more
Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications. more…
Comment: Is it just me, or would the iPhone 8 look terrible with a white notch?
The iPhone 8 dummy model industry is hitting its peak production a month or so ahead of the real thing. We’re seeing a rapidly-growing number of photos and videos of these impressively-detailed dummy devices to go along with the renders and mockups of the screen.
Let me start by admitting I’m biased where bezels are concerned …
New mockups show ‘double notch’ concept, and how apps might look on the iPhone 8
Steve Troughton-Smith yesterday helped us learn more about the likely iPhone 8 screen layout, and he’s since shown one possible approach to restoring the symmetry of the screen. He’s produced a mockup (above) showing how the Home button could be presented as a ‘notch,’ matching the physical one at the top of the screen.
He’s quick to point out this is not something he’s found in the code, but rather just an idea he thought it would be fun to play with …
Former UK security service head says weakening encryption would be too dangerous
While Apple may have given in to demands from the Chinese government to remove VPN apps from its app store there, it does generally take a strong stand on encryption. It uses end-to-end encryption for both iMessage and FaceTime, and resisted pressure from the FBI to create a weakened version of iOS, describing it as too dangerous.
We’ve written a number of pieces explaining why we support Apple’s stance, both before and after the San Bernardino case.
The British government wants to ban end-to-end encryption altogether, arguing that it hampers the work of the security services. Support for Apple’s position – and opposition to that of the British Home Secretary – has now come from an unlikely source …
Miami Heat becomes the first NBA team to switch to mobile-only ticketing
Miami Heat has announced that it will only accept etickets on phones for the upcoming season. Even if you buy your ticket from the box office on the night, you still won’t get a paper one …
The 5 Best Messaging Apps for Marketing in 2017
Remember only being able to send 1,000 texts each month?
My mom definitely remembers our phone bills when I doubled that amount every week in middle school.
Thankfully, companies created messaging apps to provide free and unlimited messaging, which was a refreshing solution for rigid text message limits and their lofty costs.
But messaging apps refused to be just another form of text messaging. They kept innovating and evolved into apps for almost every digital interaction possible.
Now, within a single app, you can chat with your friends, communicate with brands, make calls, play games, consume content, buy products, and even call a cab.
These added functionalities make messaging apps sticky. They draw users to the app more often and keep them there for a longer time. Today, messaging apps have over 5 billion monthly active users worldwide.
Most messaging apps also let businesses market to their massive, engaged user bases. Marketers can now use chatbots to provide customer service, send content to users, sell products, and advertise.
Naturally, different countries and age groups prefer some apps to others. Read on to learn how you can tailor your messaging app marketing for five different global messaging apps.
5 Best Messaging Apps for Marketing in 2017
1) WhatsApp
Monthly active users:1.3 billion
Most Popular Regions: Latin America, Europe, The Middle East, Southeast Asia, India, Russia, and Africa
Age Group: 25-44
Marketing Features:
WhatsApp doesn’t sell ads, prohibits third-party bots, and limits its broadcast message feature and group chats to 256 people. How are marketers supposed to leverage the most popular messaging app in the world then?
Since WhatsApp isn’t conducive to large-scale content distribution, marketers must take advantage of its one-to-one messaging capabilities. And by interacting with WhatsApp users like a normal user would, marketers can execute hyper-targeted and personalized campaigns.
In 2014, Hellman’s Brazil created WhatsCook, a live recipe service that connected people to real chefs. This wasn’t a service that just recommended recipes, though. It created recipes with the ingredients users already had.
After signing up for the service on their website, users would send a picture of their refrigerator’s contents to WhatsCook. Then a chef would whip up a unique recipe using the person’s available ingredients and teach them how to cook it using pictures, videos, and other WhatsApp features.
Over 13,000 people people signed up for WhatsCook and each user spent an average of 65 minutes interacting with Hellman’s chefs. The service also received a 99.5% approval rating.
WhatsCook is a prime example of creative WhatsApp marketing. By attracting users with a helpful service, they engaged thousands of more people than they could by blasting content through a broadcast or group chat.
To start a service like WhatsCook, you just need users’ phone numbers or they can add your number to their contact list.
Fortunately, WhatsApp offers a click-to-chat link that you can embed in your website, email signature, or social profiles, allowing you to effectively promote your service.
2) Facebook Messenger
Monthly active users: 1.2 billion
Most Popular Regions: North America, Europe, Australia, The Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa
Age group: 16-44
Marketing Features:
Facebook messenger offers brands a stockpile of marketing features.
For instance, you can serve destination ads in people’s newsfeed to drive them to your messenger and spark a conversation, send sponsored messages to people who’ve messaged you in the past, integrate messenger bots like Chatfuel and ManyChat to interact with customers, and more.
At HubSpot, we use chatbots to automate Facebook conversations with people. Whenever someone messages our Facebook account, our chatbot will message back with a menu of options.
People can then search and subscribe to our content, check out our software, look at job openings, ask for customer support, and manage their Facebook messenger blog subscription.
3) WeChat
Monthly active users: 938 million
Most popular regions: China
Age Group: 18-50
Marketing Features:
WeChat isn’t just a popular Chinese messaging app. Most Chinese citizens use it to run their entire lives.
In one app, they can:
- Message friends
- Post social updates in WeChat Moments
- Read the news
- Make in-store payments
- Pay for bills
- Transfer money
- Shop online
- Play games
- Make voice and video calls
- Book a taxi
- And manage their personal finances
WeChat is China’s most popular messaging app for a reason. And it also provides marketers a lot of opportunity to engage and delight users.
But if you want to market to users in China, or 90% of the user base, your business must be registered in Mainland China.
Businesses based in the United States, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, South Africa, Taiwan, and Thailand can only market to around 100 million of WeChat’s international users.
To establish a strong presence on WeChat, you should set up an official account for your business. This will allow you to create a company micro-site, publish content, and provide customer services all within the WeChat app.
There are two types of official accounts. Content publishers usually sign up for subscription accounts that let you broadcast one message per day to your subscribers in their subscription accounts folder.
Big retail chains usually sign up for service accounts that let you broadcast four messages per month to your subscribers in their friend session list.
Verified service accounts have access to 9 advanced APIs and WeChat payment. With access to these APIs, marketers can:
- Leverage personalized content marketing, location-based marketing, influencer marketing, and QR code marketing
- Open micro-stores
- And run lotteries
All accounts also offer bots that can interact with users and deliver keyword-triggered content.
BuzzFeed uses these bots to send WeChat users instant, personalized content whenever they message them a certain keyword like “dogs”, “lol”, or “fail”.
4) Line
Monthly active users: 217 million
Most popular regions: Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, and Indonesia
Age group: 10-49
Marketing Features:
Line is a free messaging app that offers a profile page, stickers, games, video calling, music streaming, ride-sharing, and about 30 other features. It dominates Japan’s messaging app market, where 94% of messaging app users use the app.
Line is chock full of opportunity for marketers. In its four most popular countries, 73% of monthly active users use the app every day. This abundance of user engagement allows brands to build huge followings and boost engagement rates.
In fact, the Wall Street Journal acquired 2 million Line followers in only 15 months, which is the fastest social channel growth they’ve ever seen. They also claim that 30% of its followers like, comment, and share all their posts.
When brands sign up for Line official accounts, they can:
- Set up a profile page
- Send chat messages to each of their subscribers
- Post content on their subscribers’ timelines
- Activate chatbots that deliver keyword-triggered responses and content
- Optimize Line advertisements based on user demographics and interests
- Distribute free branded stickers
- And reward customers with stickers after they buy a product
For Paul McCartney, Line is actually the best way to reach fans. His 12.5 million Line followers are more than all his Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram followers combined.
And since he can send private messages to each of his 12.5 million Line followers, he also engages with them a lot more than he can with his traditional social media following.
Photo Credit: TechCrunch
5) Slack
Daily active users: 5 million
Most popular regions: United States
Age group: 25-54
Marketing Features:
Slack is the main internal communications platform for many businesses. In fact, 77% of Fortune 100 companies use it. If you work in B2B, Slack could be your most targeted marketing channel.
At HubSpot, we knew Slack could be an effective content delivery channel, so we decided to offer a Slack blog subscription. When users sign up for it, they add the HubSpot Blog app to their Slack profile, where they receive a weekly broadcast of content. They can also search for content in the app.
What messaging apps do you use for your marketing? Let us know on Twitter!