Weekend Favs February 5 written by Shawna Salinger read more at Duct Tape Marketing
My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.
I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.
HubSpot Tools Website Grader – Free website grading tool with recommendations and optimizations to improve your site
Btw – Product-led marketing platform that compares over 10,000 marketing tools and software by category
AlsoAsked– Aggregates data from online searches for SEO, PPC, copywriting, or content research
These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape
Meta and Mark Zuckerberg have a 6-letter problem. It’s easy to spell: Ti-k-To-k.
TikTok has become the Hot Thing in Tech and has amassed a million-plus users. It is now threatening Zuckerberg’s social media networks. He admitted as much several times in a call with Wall Street analysts earlier this week about quarterly earnings, a briefing in which he sought to explain his apps’ plateauing growth—and an actual decline in Facebook’s daily users, the first such drop in the company’s 18-year history.
Zuckerberg has insisted a major part of his TikTok defense strategy is Reels, the TikTon clone—ahem, short-form video format—introduced on Instagram and Facebook and launched in August 2020.
If Zuckerberg believed in Reels’ long-term viability, he would take a real run at TikTok by pouring money into Reels and its creators. There is a lot of money. YouTube is the biggest source of income for celebrities on social media. These creators create content that attracts engaged users. The platforms sell ads to appear with the content—more creators, more content, more users, more potential ad revenue. It’s a virtous cycle.)
Now, here’s as good a time as any for a crash course in creator economics. For this, there’s no better guide than Hank Green, whose YouTube video on the subject recently went viral. He is best known for his YouTube channel, which he runs from Montana. His most popular channel is Crash Course (13.1 million subscribers—an enviable YouTube base), to which he posts education videos for kids about subjects like Black Americans in World War II and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Green, like the most savvy social media marketers, fully grasps the value of YouTube as a way to make money. YouTube shares 55% all the ad revenues earned from a video it creates with its creator. “YouTube is good at selling advertisements: It’s been around a long time, and it’s getting better every year,” Green says. Green earns approximately $2 per 1000 views on YouTube. YouTube gave almost $16 billion in total to creators last fiscal year.
Green is a man of great mentality. He has also created accounts on TikTok Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. TikTok doesn’t come close to paying as well as YouTube: On TikTok, Green earns pennies per every thousand views.
Meta already offers Reels some payouts. Over the last month, Reels has finally amassed enough of an audience for Green’s videos to accumulate 16 million views and earn around 60 cents per thousand views. Many times over TikTok’s but still not enough to get Green to divert any substantial his focus to Reels, which has never managed to replicate TikTok’s zeitgeisty place in pop culture. (Tiktok “has deeper content, something fascinating and weird,” explains Green. Reels, however, is “very surface level. None of it is deeper,” he says.) Another factor weighing on Reels: Meta’s bad reputation. “Facebook has traditionally been the company that has been kind of worst at being a good partner to creators,” he says, citing in particular Facebook’s earlier pivot to long-form video that led to the demise of several promising media startups, like Mic and Mashable.
This is where Zuckerberg could use Meta’s thick profit margin (36%, better even than Alphabet’s) and fat cash pile ($48 billion) to shell out YouTube-style cash to users posting Reels, creating an obvious enticement to prioritize Reels over TikTok. Perhaps even Reels could be more popular than YouTube’s TikTok rival, Shorts.
Now, imagine how someone like Green might get more motivated to think about Meta if Reels’ number crept up to 80 cents or a dollar per thousand views. Or, $1.50. A YouTube-worthy amount of $2. YouTube earnings can rise up to $5 and even double, for popular creators.
Meta has allocated up to $1 billion to these creator checks, which seems huge until you consider the capital Meta currently has. Think about how much YouTube has disbursed. Meta also stated that it will continue to disburse those funds through December 2022, last July. Meta has set a timeframe to allow them to (most likely?) disburse the funds. The financing will be turned off at Christmas next year.
Over many years, Zuckerberg demonstrated his willingness to spend Everest-sized amounts of money on projects that he believes in. Does You fully trust in. Most notably, there is the Metaverse. It’s the latest Zuckerberg pivot. Meta spent $10.1 million last year on this bill to help develop new augmented or virtual reality software. It also bought headsets and hired engineers. In 2022, costs are predicted to rise. Reels aside, Metaverse spending is not on a schedule. Wall Street has been assured that this splurge will go on for theforeseeable future. Overall, Meta’s view on the metaverse seems to be, We’ll spend as much as possible—for as long as it takes—for this to happen.
The same freewheeled mindset doesn’t seem to appply to Reels. But Zuckerberg knows he can’t let TikTok take over the short-form video space unopposed. Meta should hold on to the revenue from Instagram and Facebook so that it can create the metaverse. (Instagram and Facebook, for perspective, generated 98% of Meta’s $118 billion revenue last year; sales of Meta’s VR headset, the Quest 2, accounted for the remaining 2%.) And advertising dollars will increasingly move to short-form video, following users’ increased demand for this type of content over the last several years.
Reality is, Zuckerberg has already admitted he doesn’t see Reels as a long-term solution to his T-i-k-T-o-k problem. If he did, he’d spend more on it and creators like Green than what the metaverse costs him over six weeks.
The post Facebook Has A Growth Crisis. And Zuckerberg Already Told Us That Reels Aren’t The Solution. appeared first on Social Media Explorer.
from Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/facebook-has-a-growth-crisis-and-zuckerberg-already-told-us-that-reels-arent-the-solution/
Helping Entrepreneurs Buy And Sell Their Agencies written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Amanda Dixon
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Amanda Dixon. Amanda is the Co-founder at Barney an M&A firm that specializes in the digital marketing space. She’s also a Forbes 40 under 40 award recipient.
Key Takeaway:
Selling your agency in the digital space can be a hard area to navigate. Amanda Dixon found it difficult to find an M&A advisor who understood that landscape when she went to sell her own business. Since 2015, her company, Barney, has guided over 150 media, marketing & tech companies through acquisitions. In this episode, she’s sharing how she’s helped many entrepreneurs buy and sell businesses.
Questions I ask Amanda Dixon:
[1:14] What’s the story behind your company name?
[1:57] Could you tell us about your origin story and how you got started down this path?
[2:55] Is there anything unique to the digital agency space or the digital space in general when it comes to selling in comparison to a company with tangible assets like a roofing company for example?
[3:54] If someone stumbles upon you and what you do, and they’re ready to sell their agency, what is the first step?
[5:00] How do you put a tangible value on digital assets like a methodology or framework?
[6:33] Is there a way to value future growth?
[7:47] Is there a right time or right size or sweet spot for agencies?
[10:25] Are you seeing anybody selling parts of their companies rather than an entire acquisition?
[11:19] A very common model today is people are outsourcing a lot of the implementation fulfillment, does that make it actually harder to sell?
[12:00] Could you talk a little bit about the consultant versus agency model – is that harder to sell?
[14:12] Do you have a success story that you can share?
[16:06] Does hiring an advisor also come with a team of legal and financial advisors? Or do you have to find that outside of an advisor?
[17:49] Have you ever experienced a transaction where a Founder sold the company to their existing team?
[18:35] Could you tell people where we could find you and your work?
More About Amanda Dixon:
Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn
Amanda’s Website
More About The Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network:
Check it out here.
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
John Jantsch (00:00): This episode of the duct tape marketing podcast is brought to you by the sales podcast, hosted by will Barron brought to you by the HubSpot podcast network. Look, if you work in sales, wanna learn how to sell or just peek at the latest sales news. Check out the sales podcast where host will Barron helps sales professionals learn how to find buyers and win big business in effective and ethical ways. One of my favorite episodes lately, how to personalize your sales outreach at massive scale, who doesn’t want to do that, listen to the salesman podcast, wherever you get your podcast.
John Jantsch (00:47): Hello, and welcome to another episode of the duct tape marketing podcast. This is John Jantsch and my guest today is Amanda Dixon. She’s the co-founder at Barney, an M & A firm that specializes in the digital marketing space. She’s also a Forbes 40 under 40 award recipient. And we’re gonna talk today about helping entrepreneurs buy and sell their agencies. So Amanda, welcome to the show.
Amanda Dixon (01:11): Thanks for having me, John. This is great.
John Jantsch (01:14): So I have to start with the name. So, you know, I, I have kids that are in their thirties and I’m envisioning a purple dinosaur that I did a a lot of watching with, but I guess there’s also Smith Barney, which is certainly in the finance space, but I’m sure you have and Barney
Amanda Dixon (01:29): The store.
John Jantsch (01:29): Oh, right, right, right. So, so hopefully there’s a story or I’m guessing there is, you
Amanda Dixon (01:33): Know what, there is not a story, but I need to make one up because everyone asks the story is we needed a name and a domain. And I think it was $14 on GoDaddy. So that’s what we ended up with corporate, but playful.
John Jantsch (01:49): Yeah. Yeah. We are barney.com in fact, was the URL that you secured. So your origin story, at least I dove into a little bit is you were like a lot of people, you had something you tried to get something done and couldn’t so you thought, oh, go do that myself. So yeah. You had an agency and, and sold that agency or, or somehow related. Uh, tell me a little bit about
Amanda Dixon (02:12): That story. Exactly. Yeah. Not necessarily marketing services, a tech platform that, that sold and the process, this was seven years ago. The process to sell was brutal. I was pregnant with my daughter time. So there was a definitive end date when I wanted this process to be done. And I understood a really tough time finding representation that understood the digital space. And also, you know, was it gonna charge me a $50,000 a month retainer for me, the dollar amount of the transaction was so life changing, but for the markets and for the large scale M and a world, it wasn’t a blip on the radar screen. So yeah, I just recognized, gosh, there’s this huge gap above a business broker below an investment banker. That’s just living in, uh, no man’s land.
John Jantsch (02:55): I, is there anything unique to the marketing space, the digital agency space or the digital space in general, that kind of makes, you know, a disconnect between people that are also selling, you know, roofing companies a hundred percent.
Amanda Dixon (03:10): Yeah. I mean, in the agency space, there’s no tangible assets. You’re selling relationships with people. You’re selling your culture, you’re selling your client list, you’re selling your business model, but that’s it, you have no tangible also, you know, agencies, don’t typically service clients in a localized market. Agencies can service clients all over the world. We may see them niche down based on the type of industry that they’re in, you know, that they specialize in. They may just do PPC or just do SEO or just do creative, but they’re all over the, the country. So we just found that folks that do know how to sell construction companies on a localized, on a localized scale, just don’t have the buyer pool to attract a national, you know, a national buyer who’s interested in the digital ecosystem.
John Jantsch (03:54): So let’s say somebody stumbles upon you and what you do, or somebody tells them about what you and their first thing is. Okay. I’m, you know, I’m ready to sell my, what do you have to know? What do you have to start unpacking? Yeah. To really cause I, everybody wants to sell right. Everybody. Overvalues what it’s worth expects the big pay day. So, so how do you have to start walking back to reality?
Amanda Dixon (04:15): Yeah. So I always joke with people, but it’s one actually 100% serious. My job here in and our team’s job is really to set realistic expectations across the board with buyers and with sellers. So the first thing we do is we’ve gotta get on the same page with evaluation as a firm, we will always do evaluation at no cost to just get on the same page and say, this is what your business is worth. Sometimes we’re way over sometimes we’re way under with what they’re expecting. Sure. But nonetheless, that step one, we do that before there’s ever an engagement because it’s a lot of time to get these sold and anyone who knows how the, the MNA space works. We, we don’t make any significant money until the business is sold. We’re not in the business of just listing and having it sit. So step one is getting on the same page evaluation.
John Jantsch (05:00): So how, because there are no tangible assets, obviously it’s a lot easier to sell a building, you know, as part of a thing. Right. So because there are quite often are like three laptops and, you know, four cell phones as, you know, the tangible assets. I mean, how do you end up putting some, something that is intangible that is more than like, you know, a, a multiplier of revenue, because there are some people that have created a methodology that have created a framework that have created something exactly a way to actually get, you know, leads. Exactly. I mean, so how do you put a tangible value on those things that maybe actually haven’t realized their opportunity?
Amanda Dixon (05:36): Exactly. Yeah. So if the business is returning net income, profit, EBIDA at the end of the year, it is absolutely worth something right to the right buyer, right? So just like with any other business, uh, in the agency space, the more profitable you are, the higher your valuation outside of the financials, there are some components that are unique to the agency space that go into, uh, what affects the valuation. Multiple, those multiples can range between typically two to 10 X, two to two times, or up to 10 times of your bottom line number. Some of those other factors could include the type of revenue that you have or you project based, or your clients paying you on a re current retainer, the size of your clients. Are they all SMBs small businesses or do you have enterprise really big clients? Yeah. What does your sales and marketing team look like? Do you have a leadership team? All those things go into, you know, setting what that, that valuation is outside of just the financials.
John Jantsch (06:33): Okay. Let’s say you’re talking to somebody who has had like 300% growth three years in a row. So there’s still only, I don’t know, 5 million. Right. But somebody looks at that and says, you’ve cracked something, you know, you’ve like in 10 years you’re gonna be a 50 million business. I mean, is that, is there a way to value future growth?
Amanda Dixon (06:52): Yeah. Great point. So in the agency space, one of the atypical features of going through an M and a transaction, and this ecosystem is we just typically use a trailing 12 P and L we are looking at three years of PNLs, but the reality is agencies can grow a hundred, 200, 300% year every year. It’s not, you know, atypical. So we look at a trailing 12 number for retainer based agencies. If they’ve got a model down for getting new business, right. And their last month of MRR is higher than the average of, you know, what the previous years sure. We’ll give credit for that buyers sometimes push back a little bit, but we will absolutely give credit for projections. It depends on the time of year two, if you’re midway through the year and you’re projecting out the current year, it it’s an easier, you know, case to make to a buyer than if you’re finishing up, you know, 20, 21. And you’re saying, but 20, 22 is gonna end up double hard to do evaluation off of that.
John Jantsch (07:48): Is there a right time or a right size? And maybe it ha has to do with like, what are your objectives in life? You know, but you know, is there such a, like, do you get too big? Do you get like too clumsy? I mean, I, I wonder if you look at agencies and go, yeah, this is like the sweet spot.
Amanda Dixon (08:06): Yeah. So the easiest agencies to sell are between five and 15 million. Okay. And that’s BEC and, and in total deal value. So that puts you at EBIDA right. O starting right at about a million. Once you hit a million in E you are significantly less risky to buyers. Now we sell lots of agencies that are smaller, but once you hit a million, anybody you’re significantly less risky to buyers, you’re now valuation is, you know, five to 6 million or higher, which then becomes real life changing money for folks. So once you have that million, but that’s a, it’s a great time to think about the conversation. We typically cap out somewhere in 7 million and it’s 7 million in EBIDA just because there aren’t that many agencies that are that size that haven’t already gone through a transaction, the, the five to 15 range. There’s just so many more buyers. When you get above 20, 25, 30 million, the buyer pool decreases and you lose the strategic buyer. Yeah. So strategic buyers or other agencies that are looking to bolt on a smaller yeah. Uh, those types of buyers, founders love because they understand the culture, they get the, you know, what it takes to be successful in the agency space. And they’re not just making decisions based on financial returns. So, you know, I’d sell on that five to 15 range, but again, to each a zone. And
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John Jantsch (10:26): to that point you just made do people, um, are you seeing anybody selling parts that, you know, it’s like, Hey, I, we I’ll just throw out an idea. We, we need a team of, you know, YouTube, you know, averages experts or social advertising experts. And we don’t have that. So we want to acquire a firm that just does that as kind of a part rather, you know, sort of an AC acquisition hire.
Amanda Dixon (10:49): Yeah, exactly. So we see buyers do that all the time, and that’s what strategic buyers do. You could be a really great, like e-com web dev shop and say, okay, we need performance marketing to drive eCommerce leads to our clients. We develop these great products, but we’re not able to drive traffic to them. And our clients are asking for that. So that’s really what strategic buyers are doing in this ecosystem. Sellers are not typically ever selling just a part of their business though, are really selling the whole thing.
John Jantsch (11:20): So talk to me a little bit about how hard it is. If you know, a very common model today is people are outsourcing a lot of the implementation fulfillment. So does that make it actually harder to sell because you don’t really own that part of it?
Amanda Dixon (11:33): Yes and no. So if your project based agency and cash is challenging to manage, and the way that you work through that is by outsourcing, keep doing it because bringing in house and then having cashflow issues are not being profitable because you’re overstaffed for projects is worse than having outsourced labor. If you retainer based, no, bring those people in house. There’s no reason to, you can scale up if you’ve got the, if you’ve got the retainers,
John Jantsch (12:01): Talk to me a little bit about the consultant versus agency model. I work with a lot of, of consultancies, or at least that’s kind of how they refer to themselves, who I think are, are strategic. They’re providing more strategy and not necessarily fulfillment is that, it, it, I, I do think a lot of times that is a harder model to sell because it is typically, you know, even if it’s a $5 million firm, it’s typically about the people that they’re buying or the people’s relationships or the people’s knowledge is that hard to sell than fulfillment engines.
Amanda Dixon (12:36): You know, it’s interesting the market shifts, right? Like every market does the agency M and a market shifts too. We’ve seen over the course of the last couple of years, large agencies realize they need a seat at the strategy table. Yes. To do the fulfillment. So large agencies and financial buyers are saying, okay, we need to bring on management consulting, whether it’s just around sustainability or diversity equity inclusion, or whether it’s around just branding, the strategy piece has become a very desirable because oftentimes strategy is backed by data. And, and so have yes. Having a seat of able when you’re in the C-suite, which those folks typically are, it, it is valuable. I wouldn’t say it’s harder. Uh, just the buyers are a little bit
John Jantsch (13:22): Different. Yeah. Well, that makes a lot of sense though, because I mean, one of the things that’s going on in the world of fulfillment is you probably know is it’s sort of a race to the bottom financially. Yeah. You know, I can get a website or somebody will promise to develop a WordPress for me for 500 bucks. I mean, I who’s to say exactly what it’s gonna be exactly. But I think it’s gotten tougher to sell hasn’t
Amanda Dixon (13:40): It? Exactly. Well, and look at what happened in the influencer agency space. Yeah. Influencer agencies 5, 6, 7 years ago, were making a killing. They were brand new. Yeah. Uh, you could be just a standalone influencer agency. Now with the rise of the influencer tech feels like a little bit of a race to the bottom. And some of those agencies are really struggling to, you know, remain profitable.
John Jantsch (14:01): Well, that happened 10 years ago, social media, only agents. Exactly. You know, and then all, all of the general agencies figured out Twitter’s not actually that hard. We could just do that for them. Can’t we, do you have a success story or two that you, I’m not sure how much you can divulge in terms of names and dollars, but do you want to talk about something that you put together maybe that could give an, an people an idea of the value of really going to somebody who specializes?
Amanda Dixon (14:29): Absolutely. Well, uh, there’s, there’s no question that whether it’s us or someone else, everyone going through this process needs to have an advisor on their side. There are a lot of idiosyncrasies that go into an M and a transaction. So the, the historical data, you know, and part of the trade organizations for M and a groups is that nine and 10 businesses that are listed, never sell. And our ratio of, of sale sales is exactly the opposite. We sell 90% of what we bring on, and that’s mostly because we’re, we’re hyper nation this space and really understand the business and the buyers. But the other side of that is, you know, you just need an advocate to guide you throughout the process. So success stories for us are, you know, abundant, we get to help people change their lives every day. Right. So, you know, as we look at, at our business and, and really the purpose behind that, we really stick to that core value in that, you know, everyone that we’re able to get across the finish line is forever grateful to us.
Amanda Dixon (15:25): It’s like getting married, having a baby and, you know, selling your business. Most of the most people tr trying, just do that, that once. Um, so yeah, I mean, success stories for us live in, in the stories of our clients and the happiness that they feel and the, you know, the phone calls and the text messages and the, you know, the email and the press about a, a close transaction and someone’s life changing. And the, you know, it, it’s not just the phone. It could be the key employees that are minted as millionaires at those, the time of those transactions, or, you know, they go on to a much larger ecosystem and continue to do great things. Those, those are all, you know, wonderful times of this business. So
John Jantsch (16:06): We’ve talked really, or, or at least I think all we’ve really talked about is the idea of, you know, having a advisor, but does that advisor come also with the, the legal aspects and the financial advisors and the cuz, uh, you know, somebody let’s say somebody has a successful transaction and they, they walk away with two and a half million dollars, you know, before their earn out or whatever. I mean, all of a sudden they’ve got, I hate to say their problems, but they’ve got different problems. Right. I mean, so are you really hiring a team with your organization or is it more like, oh, we tell people they need to get all those people.
Amanda Dixon (16:41): Yeah, exactly. Sorry. I was,
John Jantsch (16:43): Yeah. I, I tried to extend my question because I could tell you, you were struggling. Could you
Amanda Dixon (16:48): See me struggling? I’m muted for a minute. Sorry about that. Yeah. So we really try and do all of that in house. Folks still need to have their own counsel yeah. To go through the process. They need to, you know, the buyer produces closing documents, but at the end of the day, every seller needs to have a, you know, an attorney on their side who can help review those documents. It’s part of a law firm. We have an amazing house council who helps with that process and, you know, will help guide the due diligence process. But ultimately the, the sellers do need to have, you know, an attorney. Yeah. Outside of that, I mean, we’ve just got an amazing team of people that come from the finance industry, but then folks that don’t, um, people that come from the agency space, people that are entrepreneurs and, you know, our job is to handhold throughout this, what can be a very stressful, emotional process. And, you know, there’s various components to that from financial to, to legal and, and some of it’s just emotional therapy. All right.
John Jantsch (17:48): So one last question, cuz we’re gonna run outta time. Have you ever experienced a transaction where a founder sold the company to their existing team?
Amanda Dixon (17:56): No, that’s always that, that in some cases has been a scenario that people think they want to do, but then when they realize that there are other opportunities for their team, that could be better and could be yeah. They realize that that’s probably not the best option for anyone.
John Jantsch (18:12): Yeah. It probably, it would probably be rare to have, uh, in many cases, a team that’s even a, something they want.
Amanda Dixon (18:18): Right. Yes, exactly. So that, yeah, we find that, yeah. We find that a lot that, that folks that are, you know, senior leaders at the team don’t want to, you know, own it, they’re happy, you know, kind of in the real that they’re filling and excited to go join a larger ecosystem.
John Jantsch (18:32): So short of looking for the purple, uh, dinosaur, could you tell people where we could find you Amanda and your work? Yeah,
Amanda Dixon (18:39): Yeah, exactly. Yes. LinkedIn is a great place to reach me, Amanda Dixon and our website. We are barney.com.
John Jantsch (18:46): Awesome. Well, Amanda, thanks so much for stopping by. This was a great conversation and uh, hopefully we’ll run into you one of these days out there on the
Amanda Dixon (18:53): Road. Awesome. Thanks John. All
John Jantsch (18:56): Right. So that wraps up another episode. I wanna thank you so much for tuning in and you know, we love those reviews and comments. And just generally tell me what you think also did you know that you could offer the duct tape marketing system, our system to your client and build a complete marketing consulting coaching business, or maybe level up an agency with some additional services. That’s right. Check out the duct tape marketing consultant network. You can find it at ducttapemarketing.com and just scroll down a little and find that offer our system to your clients’ tab.
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The stock market fell on Thursday—its first down day in five sessions—as investors once again dumped shares of tech stocks, which were under pressure after Facebook parent Meta Platforms reported lackluster profits and warned of challenges to its business this year.
Snap and Twitter, two of the most popular social media platforms, plunged following the tech’s recent revival … [+]Stocks fell.
Richard Drew/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Here are some key facts
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5%, over 500 points, while the S&P 500 lost 2.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite 3.7%.
Tech stocks led the market lower on Thursday: Despite a recent comeback after a big selloff in January, investors’ renewed optimism in tech stocks took a sharp downturn following Meta’s massive earnings miss.
Company issued weaker than anticipated revenue guidance. Management warned of rising competition, slower user growth and continuing challenges due to the Apple iOS advertising changes.
Shares of Facebook parent Meta are on pace for their biggest one-day drop ever, falling 26% and erasing over $230 billion in market value alone, with the company’s market capitalization now standing at around $670 billion.
Social media stocks were particularly hard-hit following Meta’s big earnings miss: Shares of Snap, formerly known as Snapchat, plunged 23%, while image-sharing platform Pinterest lost 10% and social media platform Twitter 6%.
Other Big Tech companies also saw shares fall, such as Alphabet (down more than 3%), Microsoft (nearly 4%) and Amazon (down 7%)
Important Background
Strong earnings from the likes of Alphabet, Apple and Microsoft helped push investors back into tech stocks after January’s selloff when the Nasdaq fell into correction territory, down 9% for the month alone. That renewed optimism in recent days has proved short-lived, however, with investors once again dumping tech shares after Meta’s dismal quarterly earnings report late on Wednesday.
The most important quote:
“This isn’t simply a disappointing quarter but rather an existential moment for Meta, where investors will be forced to take a long and hard look at the company’s competitive position and consider whether it isn’t heading into a prolonged period of subpar performance—this will make it hard for the stock to quickly rebound,” predicts Vital Knowledge founder Adam Crisafulli.
More Reading
Facebook Faces An ‘Existential Moment’ After $230 Billion Stock Crash (SME)
PayPal Stock Crash Resulting in a Loss of More Than $50 Billion Market Value. After the company lowers its profit outlook,SME)
Alphabet Surges 10% After Blowout Earnings, Here’s What The 20:1 Stock Split Means For Investors (SME)
Cathie Wood Buys More Robinhood And Tesla, Tells Investors To Take ‘Advantage’ Of Volatility (SME)
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TAMPA FLORIDA, FEBRUARY 7: Tom Brady (12) of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrating after their defeat … [+]Super Bowl LV: The Kansas City Chiefs played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on February 7, 2021. The Chiefs were defeated 31-9 by the Buccaneers. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images).
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On Tuesday, Tom Brady – considered the greatest football quarterback of all time – announced his retirement from the NFL. Brady has won seven Lombardi Trophy trophies in his over two decades as a professional football player. It is the record for most consecutive championships by any single player. He was also named Super Bowl MVP.
“I have always believed the sport of football is an ‘all-in’ proposition — if a 100% competitive commitment isn’t there, you won’t succeed, and success is what I love so much about our game,” Brady said in his statement on Instagram. Every day presents a new challenge that allows me to reach my full potential. These 22 years have been a challenge, and I have done my best.
According to ESPN sources, Brady was determined for weeks not to have a “farewell” season. He led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win a Super Bowl title and NFC South crown last season. Brady declared his retirement on Tuesday less than one week after the Buccaneers had been eliminated from Super Bowl contention due to a defeat by the Los Angeles Rams.
Brady has received a lot of praise via social media.
Memories to last a life time. Thanks, 12,” tweeted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Tuesday.
Brady’s old employers, the New England Patriots (@Patriots), also wrote to Twitter: “It was quite a ride. Thanks and congrats, @TomBrady
Social Media: Reactions and Interactions
All social media platforms recognized Tom Brady’s positive impact on professional football. It wasn’t only the flood of comments from fans.
According to Emplifi’s data team, Brady’s social media presence increased after the announcement of his retirement. Emplifi also provided deep dives across social networks.
Brady gained 215,000 Instagram fans on Tuesday. Brady typically adds 7.8 thousand new followers to his Instagram account every day. This is a substantial increase. Brady usually averages about 300,000. Interactions per post.
Brady gained 39.5 million additional followers on Twitter after his retirement announcement. This is significantly more than the average of 2,000 followers that the five-time Super Bowl MVP receives. Additionally, his Tuesday posting received some 673,000 interactions.
Over at Facebook, Brady added around 6,800 fans, and had about 179,000 interactions – far in excess of his 30,000 normal daily interactions. However, his January 25 posts – following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ loss to the Rams – he had received even more engagement, with 226,000 interactions from users on the social network.
Bob Gearing from Emplifi, Global Enterprise Head, stated that “it’s not surprising that Tom Brady’s retirement announcement has lit up social media”
Brady has added 215,000 followers in just one day. He normally adds between 7-8 000 to each day. Gearing shared the details via email.
Gearing added that “Reactions to Brady’s announcement on Twitter and Facebook were also higher as a consequence.” His post from 25 January, where he expressed gratitude to his team for a great season, received more engagement on Twitter (at 226 thousand) than the retirement post posted on February 1st, with 179 000 interactions. Brady could control communication by sharing his retirement announcement on social media, sharing it with his followers and fans first.
Brady, whether you like him or loathe him on Twitter, certainly captured the interest of fans of football this week.
The post Tom Brady Bigger Than Ever On Social Media Following Retirement Announcement appeared first on Social Media Explorer.
How To Create A Brand Name For Your Company written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing
Marketing Podcast with Rob Meyerson
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Rob Meyerson. Rob is a namer, brand consultant, and principal and founder of Heirloom, an independent brand strategy, and identity firm. He also has a new book: Brand Naming: The Complete Guide to Creating a Name for Your Company, Product, or Service.
Key Takeaway:
A name is one of the first, longest-lasting, and most important decisions in defining the identity of your company, your product, or your service. Rob Meyerson is a professional namer and brand consultant. In this episode, Rob is sharing what makes a good (and bad) name, his process for identifying a name, and his best-practice methodologies.
Questions I ask Rob Meyerson:
[1:13] Was there a special process for coming up with your company name – Heirloom?
[3:52] You’ve worked with a lot of pretty big names in your career – would you say that this idea is equally as important for a small business as it might be for a division of a Fortune 500 company?
[5:20] Are there attributes from a general perspective that your brand name should have?
[6:55] How important do you feel it is for a name to evoke some sort of emotion?
[7:50] How do you measure if a brand re-name or re-focus is successful?
[9:41] Do you have any kind of favorite brand success stories?
[14:42] Is the risk versus reward worth it with made-up names or is it simpler to define what you do in your name?
[17:21] How does your brand naming process work?
[20:15] Given the fact that you mentioned that time will tell whether or not you chose a good name – is there a gut-wrenching moment where you all decide to move forward with a brand name?
[21:20] How important is it that the dot com name is available?
[22:46] Where can people find out more about your work and get a copy of your book?
More About Rob Meyerson:
Rob’s Book: Brand Naming: The Complete Guide to Creating a Name for Your Company, Product, or Service.
Rob’s Website
More About The Certified Marketing Manager Program Powered By Duct Tape Marketing:
Check it out here.
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!
John Jantsch (00:00): This episode of the duct tape marketing podcast is brought to you by the Salesman Podcast, hosted by Will Barron brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. Look, if you work in sales, wanna learn how to sell or just peek at the latest sales news. Check out the sales podcast where host will Barron helps sales professionals learn how to find buyers and win big business in effective and ethical ways. One of my favorite episodes lately, how to personalize your sales outreach at massive scale, who doesn’t want to do that? Listen to the Salesman Podcast, wherever you get your podcast.
John Jantsch (00:47): Hello, welcome to another episode of the duct tape marketing podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Rob Meyerson. He’s a name brand consultant and principal and founder of heirloom an independent brand strategy and identity firm. He’s also the author of brand naming the complete guide to creating a name for your company, product or service. So welcome to show
Rob Meyerson (01:10): Rob. Thanks so much happy to
John Jantsch (01:12): Be here. Okay. So when you’re in the naming business, you put a target on your back for the name of your company. So I wonder if you’d, uh, kind of go through, was there, was there a special process for coming up with heirloom?
Rob Meyerson (01:26): Yeah, of course. I went through, um, my recommended naming process and took a little bit of my own medicine. And I’ll tell you, it was a really good learning experience because after doing that, I felt like I was that much more in touch with what my clients feel, the, the pain that they feel, frankly, in making that decision. So I, I knew early on, I didn’t want to just call it Myerson consulting or Rob Myerson branding. That is something that makes sense for a lot of people yeah. That go out on their own. But I, I liked the, the sort of sense of scale that a brand name could imply. And, and I had aspirations at the time at least of kind of growing into that. Yeah. Um, and I also just felt like as a namer, I should probably go through the process. So yeah.
Rob Meyerson (02:07): I developed hundreds of ideas. I put them through legal pre-screening hundreds of them were not available. there were a ton of agencies out there and almost every word or phrase, right. Or combination of words that you can imagine is some agency somewhere and so wanting to do it. Right. I, I, I killed a lot of great ideas, but I really liked heirloom because, uh, it, it speaks to how I think of brands, you know, an heirloom is something that has value for, for intangible reasons, right? It’s your father’s watch or something like that. So even though the watch might only be worth a hundred bucks, it’s priceless to you because of the story behind it. And I think that it’s a nice analogy for, for brands. It, it sort of adds intangible value to a product or a company.
John Jantsch (02:50): So the original name of my company I started 30 years ago was to your point, Jan communications, you know, very, uh, sexy sounding people thought I sold, uh, phones or long distance service or, and so in 2002 back when you could actually still get URLs, I came up with duct tape marketing, and I will tell you that the brand name has served me extremely well. I gave it about 10 minutes of thought. So I’m not going to be very good subject for you. I, I say that, but kiddingly, but I , it just struck me as the perfect metaphor for the clients I was serving and I’d served them for 10 years. So in a lot of ways, I’d probably been thinking about that idea, you know, for 10 years, which is probably, probably not giving myself credit for .
Rob Meyerson (03:31): Well, no, I mean, so many of the best creative ideas, not just names come from that sort of in the back of your mind population. That’s a lot in the book when I talk about how to, how to do this, how to have creative ideas, how to do that generation phase. So much of it is about how to stop focusing on this specific challenge and let it pop into your mind while you’re doing something
John Jantsch (03:52): Else. So you have in your career, worked with some pretty big names and certainly in consulting have worked with some pretty big names. What would you say that? So, so, so I, most of my listeners, many of my listeners are small business owners. Would you say that this idea is equally as important for a small business as it might be for, you know, a division of a fortune 500 company?
Rob Meyerson (04:13): Yes, I think so. The name is really your, your first and I think best opportunity to, to harness the power of language, which if you think about it for a few minutes is quite powerful. It impacts us in our person lives on a daily basis. It impacts our perceptions judge books by their covers, so to speak. And so, uh, if you want people to have certain impressions of your business or your product from the very get code, the first time they hear about it, then you should put a lot of thought into the name. There are aspects of the process that are more applicable to those big fortune 500 or big, you know, whether it’s B2B or B2C. I think there are things that maybe are weighted a little bit differently, but the overall importance and process is very
John Jantsch (04:54): Similar. Yeah. They may have a family of brands or they may have some, you know, some standards that they need to kind of adhere to. So yeah, the obviously, but it is amazing how often I will run across companies and they they’ve just kind of picked it maybe because they saw other people doing it or using it in their industry. And, and when you really start trying to do some positioning around their marketing and things, it’s like, people don’t even know what you do, you know, based on the name. So let me ask you that. I mean, are there attributes that, that while every case is unique, are there attributes that you say, well, generally speaking, it should have, you know, this or, or should feel like this.
Rob Meyerson (05:32): Yes. Uh, although I really like the way you phrased the question, because I think one of the, the big mistakes people make, uh, is thinking that there is some checklist that they need in order to have a perfect, the brand name. And there really is no such thing because it’s so context dependent, the way I like to frame it is to think about names through three different lenses, creative, which is pretty clear, you know, you want a name that’s memorable or distinctive catchy in some way, but also strategic. And this is where I think a lot of small businesses miss the mark. So think about what your competitors are named, think about what kind of meaning you’re trying to convey through the names. So it’s not just about being funky and creative. It’s also about yeah. What it means or doesn’t mean. And then lastly, technical, which is sort of the logistics, another place that people often make a mistake, is it gonna be legally available? Is it gonna cause you linguistic problems in other, you know, not just other countries, but even locally, if you have a Spanish speaking community in your, uh, city yeah.
John Jantsch (06:31): In your name means goat, dun some other language,
Rob Meyerson (06:35): Right? Yeah. Yeah. So checking and doing all, you know, checking all of those things is, is critical. So in the book I do list nine different things, three in each of those three categories, but I think it’s, it’s more important to sort of think just about those three areas, creative, strategic, and technical, and, and make sure that you’re doing your homework and considering all three, how important
John Jantsch (06:56): Do you feel it is for a name to evoke some sort of emotion?
Rob Meyerson (07:02): I think again, it depends. I know it’s a boring answer, but it can be extremely powerful. I mean, what, one of the most important things I think about for, for any name and almost any scenario is memorability. That’s a pretty universal trait of a good brand name. There, there are occasions where it matter as much, but generally if you’re naming a company or product, you just want it to stick in people’s mind minds like duct tape marketing. And, and one of the, I mean, one of the most powerful ways to make something memorable is to have people attach an emotion to it and it makes them laugh. It makes them smile. And it’s nostalgic. Those things really creates sort of hooks in into your memory, that, to do it another, you know, there are more superficial ways to do it, make it rhyme, right. Um, you know, use alliteration and any of those things could, could be a big help
John Jantsch (07:49): As you do this. You have, you know, you, you help a brand maybe re rename or refocus. Um, how do you measure if it was successful? You know, obviously there be the gut feeling like, oh, that sounds good. Or people seem to like it, you know, all our stakeholders are in, but, but ultimately what may successful.
Rob Meyerson (08:07): Well, yeah, that’s one of the hardest things about, about it, a naming project and about so many creative services. Yeah. I think one of the reasons it’s hard is because you have to give it time. And so I often go back to clients, you know, they, they may be ecstatic when it launches or frankly, sometimes they’ll have real doubts in reservations and they’ll push ahead, um, bravely, but either way, I like to go back six months or a year later and ask what the experience has been. And if it’s been successful and nine times outta 10, or even more than that, especially in those cases where people have the, those doubts, they’ll say, you know what? The doubts were unfounded a year later, we can’t imagine this having been called anything else. And that’s a pretty that that’s not necessarily me touting my, my brilliance. It’s, it’s sort of human nature. Yeah. That as you use a name for something day after day for a year, it just starts to feel so natural. And sometimes it’s really, really hard to see that on day one.
John Jantsch (09:01): Yeah. Sometimes maybe if the immediate reaction is like, I love it. It can be bad. It can fade. Right. as opposed to becoming
Rob Meyerson (09:10): Stronger. Yes. And often the, that reaction can be the result of it sounding like something else that’s already out there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it sounds like apple. And so I like it, but you know, really, should you sound like apple or should you, should you be something, uh, else
John Jantsch (09:26): I, I always, this is a silly analogy, but I was, I always used to love, you know, I’d get an album from an artist that I really liked and it was like that first song and I just loved it. I loved it of it, you know, like first play and then like, I couldn’t stand it a couple months later. And it was like the deep tracks that lasted with me, you know? And I think this a little bit of that. Do you have any, I know you have lots of, uh, stories in the book about brands and, and the process. Do you have any kind of favorite success stories? That’s, that’s part a of the question. And then of course these won’t be any of your clients, but do you have any bombs too?
Rob Meyerson (09:56): Yes. Uh, yes. And yes. Well, I’ll, I’ll go sort of historical, I guess. Cause, cause I have favorite brand names from, uh, literally centuries ago and, and some, um, more recent Kodak I think is just a great brand name. It’s one of these strange things where, and I’m, this is not necessarily the way to do it these days, but George Eastman liked the sound of K. He liked that strong K sound and he just wanted to make up a word that contained that and came up with Kodak and it’s, it works so well because it it’s lack of meaning is partly its strength in that it could work for just about anything. And adaptability is, is one of those factors that I mentioned in the book of a strong brand and, and, you know, it’s, it’s survived as much as that brand has addeds up and downs.
Rob Meyerson (10:40): That’s a name that is, is still very much a household name and they’ve done a good job protecting it as well. You know, a lot of names that old have become what’s called genericized, you know, zipper and escalator used to be brand names, but they became just everyday words. People lost couple Kool-Aid. Yes. Kleenex is, is at risk of that and bandaid. So that’s a great one. Uh, you know, more recently there’s a carbonated CBD beverage called recess. Mm-hmm and I just love that band. So that’s the opposite of Kodak and that it’s a real English word and I love the associations talk about out an emotional, uh, trigger there. You know, it just makes me think of the playground in third and fourth grade and the sort of fun of that. And I think the beverage is positioning itself as fun and, and relaxing and things like that.
John Jantsch (11:30): I actually kinda like those words that have, um, multiple meanings, you know, it’s like, they it’s like, okay, yeah, this is re recess, but it also, this might not be what they were after, but it’s, it’s kinda like the recesses of your mind or something, you know? I mean, so that may not have been what they’re after, but you know, I love, well,
Rob Meyerson (11:48): Well, it’s also, it’s, it’s also the break, whether it’s a break from school or a break, like court court goes to recess as well. Right. Yeah. And so that idea of just taking a little break is, is nice. Yeah. Yeah. Some of the horror stories out there, the one that I pick on the most honestly is, uh, trunk, which was a somewhat short-lived abbreviation, although it was the official name for Tribune online content. So the T R O N C . And I think the worst thing about it, and this is subjective, but it just sounds like something gross or best silly, you know, it’s unlike Kodak, it’s meaninglessness. I think it, it doesn’t work well for it. They took something that did have meaning Tribu online content a bit boring and, and just erase them meaning by coming up with this esoteric abbreviation. So I just think the combination of ugliness and, and lack of meaning is, is a real failure. A lot of the, the naming kind of failures, you may not even see because the issue with them is the legal aspect. Oh yeah. Occasionally you do see this where companies have to change their name because of a legal problem. And that’s, that’s one of the worst case scenarios and, and it’s, you know, the names may be great. Otherwise you may think, oh, that’s a, that’s a really cool creative name, but if they end up having to change it, that’s probably a lot worse than if they just had a sort of board.
John Jantsch (13:11): Yeah. That’s I know that’s happened to a few franchises, you know, where they, they were just a local mom and pop thing that wanted to go nationwide and all of a sudden it’s like, oops.
Rob Meyerson (13:19): yes, yes, yes. Back to your question about whether it’s important for local businesses.
John Jantsch (13:24): I think so.
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John Jantsch (14:21): So it seems like one of the riskiest plays is the made up word, you know, because it doesn’t mean anything. You have to invest a lot of energy in making it mean something, but it seems like the rewards sometimes is really big too. I, I mean, even if you use apple, I mean, apple means so as a word, but it certainly doesn’t mean anything to do with computers necessarily other than the bite that they tried to, uh, put into the logo. But, but talk to me a little bit about, you know, is the risk versus reward, you know, worth it there or should, is it really a lot, uh, simpler to just kind of say, everybody knows what we do now because the word marketing is in our name,
Rob Meyerson (14:57): Right? Yeah. Well, a couple of things to address there. One is you’ve pinpointed this distinction between what I call the naming approach, which is mostly like, how much does it have to do with the business or the brand or the, or the pro. So apple and Kodak as words have nothing to do with the underlying, uh, product. Right. But then there’s also the construct. And so apple is a real word. Kodak is a Madoff word. I think that there are risks and rewards either way. I, I think that tying it too closely to exactly what you do in the, in most cases at the company and a level has more risks
John Jantsch (15:34): Than rewards international business machines, for example,
Rob Meyerson (15:38): Yes. Or international house of pancakes. And they ran this big ad, flipping the P to B for burgers. And as much as that campaign may have worked for them, I still think that name has kind of trapped them into people thinking it’s just for breakfast.
John Jantsch (15:50): Yeah. Yeah. So, so let’s talk about we’ve started. Oh, oh, first I had to share my horse, not horror story, but one that I don’t like a lot of the utilities have renamed because they were true monopolistic utilities. And so they could call themselves Kansas city power and light. But now that they’ve joined forces and they’re no longer sort of the monopolistic utility, Kansas city power and light now ever G a V E R G Y. And I think it’s the worst name in the world.
Rob Meyerson (16:17): and, and it’s because of how it feels in your mouth when you say it. Right. It just, those sounds, yeah, it’s, it’s hard to quantify, but those, that combination sounds kind of like trunk. Yeah. Just doesn’t feel quite right. And, and I
John Jantsch (16:31): Feel like there’s one sort of naming practice that people do is they try to squish words together and make up a word rather than like a Kodak, which is totally meaningless, ever energy probably had something to do with like evergreen energy or something like that, that they stuck together’s
Rob Meyerson (16:44): Right. And what we talk about a lot in meaning is linguistic naturalness, which is a fancy way of saying, does it, does it feel like a real word? And I think Kodak it’s similar to Kodiak and, and you know, if you said it to a kid, they’d say, what does it mean? Because it sounds like a real word, whereas, right. Yeah. AGY it feels concocted. Yeah. And there was a lot of that also in, you know, well, it’s, it’s been around forever with things like jello and Windex, these different suffixes that were popular, but it really was at its heyday in kind of the nineties and early two thousands around, you know, dot com boom. 1.0 with Alta Vista and things like this. Yeah.
John Jantsch (17:22): All right. Let’s, let’s talk a little bit about, because you have a process for how you go about doing this, right. So let’s talk a little bit about the steps in kind of how brand naming works.
Rob Meyerson (17:31): Sure. So the first thing that we recommend doing is coming up with naming brief and anyone who’s done any kind of creative work will be familiar with the concept of a creative brief, but getting down on paper, exactly what you want this name to do, what kinds of names are inbounds and out of bounds. And then critically making sure that everyone involved has seen that brief and agreed on it. And in some cases signed off, once that’s done, then you, you get into kind of the quote fun part of just generating names and you come up with it may surprise people to hear that on a typical naming project will come up with hundreds or sometimes over a thousand ideas. Do you, do you use
John Jantsch (18:06): Any of these tools that are these AI generators that are there now to kind of start that process?
Rob Meyerson (18:10): I, I don’t, I know other neighbors do. I have used there, there are crowdsourcing tools as well, which I, I have used once or twice, but generally I’ll use a, a small team of professional neighbors who have a lot of experience and they’ll put hours and hours into this. And the reason we come up with so many is, is so that we still have some left at, to the next few steps, which are shortlisting. So pulling the, the best out of that long, long list and putting those through preliminary trademark screening and linguistic screening, which is to avoid some of the pitfalls that we’ve already talked about. Like finding out somebody else is using the name or finding out it means something gross. And another language once we get that, that shorter them, that’s gone through that. We present names. So this is in a consultant to client format, obviously, but even if you’re doing this inside your company or for your own company, you might wanna present to your colleagues or, you know, to your friends or family, that’s helping you make this decision. If that’s the case. And that act of presenting names is something that’s often really over the looked the, the gut way that people do. This is they’ll just say, Hey, what do you think of this name? Or they’ll email 10 ideas to their friend and say, pick the best one. Yeah. And that never works. right. You, you really have to put a lot of thought into providing the right context, priming your audience for this, the kind of decision that they’re about to make and how they should evaluate these different options.
John Jantsch (19:31): Maybe even like what’s the brand promise. I mean, just a lot of like context that that is gonna make it relevant or not. Yeah.
Rob Meyerson (19:38): And if you, you may, may have experienced this, but if you just say like, what do you think of these three ideas? Right. Usually it’ll be, uh, they’ll suck. I could come up with something better. Or, or even if they like one of ’em, they may not like it for the rightly. And then after that, you still have to do a deeper legal search, usually that you’ve done in that preliminary stage. And once you have that, those deeper legal, that, that sort of official legal opinion from a trademark attorney, that’s when you can make your final decision. And so that’s the last step, uh, is just narrowing it down to one.
John Jantsch (20:11): So given the fact that that you’ve sort of admitted that time will tell whether or not it was a good name, you know, do you, is there a lot of, kind of gut-wrenching about like, okay, we’re all in on this.
Rob Meyerson (20:22): Yeah. I mean, it depends on who’s making the decision. I do feel that it’s generally helpful to have one person who’s has ultimate responsibility for making the,
John Jantsch (20:32): Or nobody decides,
Rob Meyerson (20:33): Right. Or at least have an odd number. So there’s a tie breaker because what’ll kill, this is the, you know, trying to get unanimity. Everybody loves it. That that just doesn’t happen to your earlier
John Jantsch (20:43): Point. You get, you get energy out that
Rob Meyerson (20:45): Yeah, exactly. To your yes, exactly. Or you just get the most boring option on the list that doesn’t offend anybody, but nobody really likes that much. And yeah, I do think you can then look at these factors that generally speaking, make some names better than others that we started the conversation with. I just would reiterate that it’s not about checking every box and it’s not even necessarily that the best name will check the most boxes. It’s just a hand Andy way to compare names that otherwise seem good or like they could be great.
John Jantsch (21:17): Okay. Here’s a check box that used to be on the list. And maybe it’s not as important. I wanna ask you how, how important is it that the.com name is available? It used to be when we were all getting started in these URLs, it was really, really important, but now there’s all these.info dot, you know, all these other variations. Plus we don’t use the web. Like we used to. I mean, you know, it’s like we don’t need phone numbers. We Google it. Yeah. So, you know, how important is, is a match to the URL?
Rob Meyerson (21:44): Well, you said it it’s less and less important and you know, I’ll acknowledge that for some businesses. It it’s maybe more important than others. The, the best example I can think of is I help name a streaming service. And I think if you’re naming a streaming service, you want to be able to say it’s maybe more important, you know, go to hulu.com or something like that. Yeah. But for most business, the easy answer is to add it a Scriptor after the name, so such and such consulting or the name plus, you know, just whatever it is, restaurant, but yeah, for the reasons you mentioned, there are so many more top level domains. Now you can get.marketing.agency.coffee.motorcycles. You people don’t generally type in the exact domain they’ll search for it. And so I would say take the money that you might spend on getting the exact domain and put that towards and content that’s gonna drive people to your site. Yeah, yeah. For those reasons I would rather have people have a great name and a quote, unquote, imperfect domain than force the perfect domain and come up with a name that nobody can pronounce or something like. Right. Right.
John Jantsch (22:44): Well, Rob, thanks so much for stopping by the duct tape marketing podcast to talk about naming you and tell people where they can find a, up more about you and, and pick up a copy of brand naming.
Rob Meyerson (22:52): Sure. Well, brand naming is for sale on Amazon and elsewhere that books are sold. Um, if you just wanna learn more about it, you can go to brand naming book.com and, and you’ll see reviews and testimonials, and you can also buy it from there. And just to learn more about me, it’s Robmeyerson.com and EY E R. And so, and from there, you can find my agency heirloom. You can find out more about the book and some articles I’ve written about naming. If you wanna read those. So either of those sites will work well.
John Jantsch (23:20): Heirloom is the name of, uh, my favorite little tiny bakery in, in Kansas city, Missouri, a actually by the way. So I get a warm feeling every time I hear that. Yeah.
Rob Meyerson (23:28): An emotional, an emotional connection.
John Jantsch (23:30): That’s right. Well, Rob, thanks again for stopping by. And hopefully we’ll see you one of these days out there on the road.
Rob Meyerson (23:34): Thanks. I appreciate it.
John Jantsch (23:39): All right. That wraps up another episode of the duct tape marketing podcast. I wanna thank you so much for tuning in, feel free to share this show. Feel free to give us reviews. You know, we love those things. Also, did you know that we had created training, marketing training for your team? If you’ve got employees, if you’ve got a staff member that wants to learn a marketing system, how to install that marketing system in your business, check it out. It’s called the certified marketing manager program from duct tape marketing. You can find it at ducttapemarketing.com and just scroll down a little and find that tab that says training for your team.
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TAMPA FLORIDA, 23 AUGUST: Baker Mayfield #6 from the Cleveland Browns makes a play during a … [+]Preseason match against Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on August 23, 2019, Tampa, Florida. Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
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Last week Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Baker Mayfield announced that he would be leaving social media for the foreseeable future – citing the toxic environment he had faced after a tumultuous season. Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield, the Browns’ first overall pick in 2019 NFL Draft is the latest to abandon social media.
Today, it is all too common for athletes and celebrities to find themselves in the crosshairs from critics – and many times it can be extremely personal. All people feel this type of criticism, and even athletes.
Tom Kannon, DNP (PMHNP-BC), Assistant Dean of Online Graduate Nursing, Regis College Professor, explained that it impacts them just as much as anyone else.
Kannon warned that constant criticism could lead to negative self-talk and lowered self-esteem. It can also cause frustration, anger, and irritability. If this continues for too long, it can lead to anxiety and depression.
While very successful people tend to have good supports and coping mechanisms already established – and that can help bolster them against such negativity – if inundated with it long enough, it will erode even the strongest psyche.
Kannon said that criticism could lead to lower self-appreciation for some and higher self-defeating thoughts for others. For others it might be a catalyst for self-reflection and the ‘rise to the challenge’ of proving their critics wrong. How that happens depends in large measure on how the individual views themselves and their self-concept.
While many of us would like to think we aren’t concerned about what others think, that is often not the truth. It can be difficult to ignore negative remarks from athletes who are in the limelight.
Dr. Nathaniel N. Ivers is an associate professor at Wake Forest University and the chair of the Department of Counseling. He stated that “criticism” can have a negative impact on people’s mental and emotional health. It can lead to depression, anxiety and lower self-esteem. You may also experience increased emotional reactivity or isolation towards others. This can lead to a change in how you view others and a decrease in your ability to relate.
Social media makes it easier than ever for fans – and critics alike – to tear down athletes like never before. Baker Mayfield recognized the necessity to distance himself from the negative commentary that he was exposed to via social media platforms.
The Schadenfreude Effect
The biggest problem today is the ease with which individuals can be attacked on social media.
Ivers added that Schadenfreude, a psychological idea, suggests people are more likely to feel joy when they witness, learn about or participate in the troubles and failures of another person. Studies show that people with low self-esteem are more likely to feel joy at witnessing their humiliation and failures than those with higher self-esteem. Schadenfreude can explain some of the vitriolic comments that politicians and professional athletes face on the media and social media. Low self-esteem individuals are trying to boost their emotional equanimity and psychological stability by knocking down another person.
Although Schadenfreude is a common emotion in any relationship, it could be heightened by social media because of its ability to provide unprecedented access for high-profile individuals.
Ivers stated that it is crucial that individuals protect themselves against toxic environments that can degrade their self-worth and mental health. While it may be difficult for athletes and high-profile individuals to realize that others think negative about them, and they likely talk about them on social networks, the impact will be much less than if the person is consuming this negativity constantly and directly.
One Celebrity. A Brand
Where the issue becomes more complicated – especially for athletes – is that they are more than a person at times. A brand ambassador is what they do. Part of their income comes from the ability to promote products. It can be hard for athletes to leave social media platforms that are used to promote brands.
Melissa Davies, Ph.D. assistant professor of Sport Administration, Ohio University, stated that Baker Mayfield is an individual, with many rights, and also a professional athlete.
Davies said that Mayfield represents himself, his Browns brand and the NFL. He also endorses other companies. Each of these partnerships is confirmed by a contractual agreement that outlines the exact relationship and obligations between Mayfield’s organization and Mayfield. Mayfield needs to consider both his personal well-being, and the welfare of his family. Mayfield also has to weigh his earning potential as a public figure and the contractual arrangements.
Many brands pay huge sums for professional athletes to endorse their products through advertising on their social media and in print ads. Sometimes, these brands might allow athletes to appear on company social media. However, more frequently, the brand will pay celebrities or athletes for endorsements or advertisements on celebrity social media pages. This is called influencer marketing.
Davies stated that brands gain exposure to the targeted audience of athletes. While these deals can provide a lucrative way for athletes to earn additional income streams, engaging with social media through the NFL and Cleveland Browns is not an obligation. Mayfield appears to have weighed the potential earning on social media against the possibility of reducing tension in his private life, and decided to opt out.
Time Out – But Will It Help?
For Mayfield he may tune out of social media, but today it is impossible to escape what is said – likely even more than trying to avoid TV or the newspaper. In fact, news of Mayfield’s departure from social media has only cast him in the spotlight again – where articles such as this one now focus on the reasons. Even the people you may not agree with. It is notYou may have been following football for a while and suddenly realize the difficulties he had this season.
Still, departing social media could present some benefits for Mayfield – as well as others who are finding the platforms to be more negative than positive.
Kannon said that leaving social media could have a positive influence on an individual. Negative comments can be removed from your life, which will reduce stress. It’s similar to the old saying, “Out of sight, out mind.” One of the hardest things for elite athletes and high-profile people to do is to find a way to leave all the negative comments behind, since they will still more than likely still see it on TV, in newspapers/magazines, and the Internet in general not just social media.”
Mayfield can take a break on social media to avoid the negativity flood.
Kannon stated that although he might still be conscious of criticisms, the benefits would be double. The first is that criticisms would not be as visible. Second, criticisms published in magazines or news/TV programs would come with an identifiable source. It would make it easier for the individual to evaluate the validity of any comments.
The post Baker Mayfield Signed Off On Social Media – Perhaps Other Athletes Should Too! appeared first on Social Media Explorer.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Amanda Dixon. Amanda is the Co-founder at Barney an M&A firm that specializes in the digital marketing space. She’s also a Forbes 40 under 40 award recipient.
In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Rob Meyerson. Rob is a namer, brand consultant, and principal and founder of Heirloom, an independent brand strategy, and identity firm. He also has a new book: Brand Naming: The Complete Guide to Creating a Name for Your Company, Product, or Service.