Twitter’s direct message chatbots: Our verdict

(c)iStock/Prykhodov  

Brands who use Twitter direct message as a customer service tool should be pretty happy with the platform's latest addition.  

Twitter is now allowing brands to set their own welcome message, which automatically appears when a user opens the DM box. This tells customers how they can interact with the brand and can include deep links and other features.

But the magic is in the platform's new Quick Replies feature, essentially a chatbot...

4 November 2016 | Automation

Adobe launches AI tool to improve digital experiences

(c)iStock/undrey

Adobe has launched a new set of services for improving the design and deliverability of digital experiences for marketers: Adobe Sensei. 

It's a fitting term for the team - and means 'master' or 'teacher' in Japanese - as Sensei aims to help tackle complex experience challenges, such as image matching, understanding meaning and sentiment of documents and using AI and machine learning to target audience segments.

The tool will be built into the...

3 November 2016 | Advertising

Marketers becoming more optimistic about company martech adoption

Technology seems to be evolving at a faster and faster pace as the years progress, and marketing tech is an area that's certainly not immune to this speeding up of advancements.

So it may come as no surprise that half of marketers think that the martech landscape is evolving quicker than companies' adoption of the tech. That's according to a new piece of research by digital marketing agency Walker Sands Communication, which examined what marketers think about the...

2 November 2016 | Automation

IBM Watson being used for native advertising

IBM's AI software Watson is now being used to create better semantic targeting for native advertising with ADYOULIKE. 

The tech scans publisher pages of ADYOULIKE's global network of premium publishers, analyising them contextually for topics, sentiment and semantics instead of just looking for keywords.

This means the platform can deliver native content in-feed in a more relevant and targeted way, by looking at where, why and how the existing editorial content on each...

26 October 2016 | Automation

Six realistic ways to beef up your content marketing

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Love it, hate it or loathe it, content marketing is pretty essential these days, especially when it comes to differentiating yourself from the herd.

Of course, you could push your budget at advertising, hold events and buy shinier product packaging; but if your words and messaging aren’t right and connect with your customers, then what is it worth?

Sharon Flaherty, founder of agency Brand Content, spoke...

25 October 2016 | Content Marketing

RadiumOne launches ad quality division

(c)iStock/UberImages

Ad quality is hot on the agenda at the moment, and marketing tech business RadiumOne is launching a new division centred around exactly this. 

The company will aim to improve the creative quality of ads served via programmatic with its Creative Solutions division. It will ensure that the mechanics of how ad exchanges assess and deliver ads are more heavily factored into the process of creating ads - as well as being creative with ad...

25 October 2016 | Advertising

How Viber is partnering with influencers like F**kJerry to engage users

(c)iStock/hamikus

Messaging apps are something of a goldmine for marketers at the moment. Whether it’s Google’s new ‘click-to-SMS’ ads, building your own chatbot for Facebook Messenger or simply Whatsapping your customers’ latest offers, there’s plenty of use for the tech in today’s marketing mix.

But Viber, which has been around since 2010, is doing something that bit different. Alongside games and sticker packs, the platform also...

24 October 2016 | Influencer Marketing

Social media tips from BBC Wales head of social

Social media can be a tough nut to crack for many marketers, so it's only right to look to the experts for help when you're stuck. At the Online Influence conference in Bristol recently, we heard from one such expert, the head of social for BBC Wales, Owen Williams. 

With over 120,000 active and engaged Twitter followers and 95,000 Facebook page likes, BBC Wales is certainly doing a thing or two the right way. 

Williams had some good, basic tips for getting your...

21 October 2016 | Social Media Marketing

#DMWF insights: The surprising areas of importance for social media in 2017

The CEO of award-winning social agency Social Chain is something of a unique persona.  

Cutting an impressive figure on stage, the 24-year-old sports a rakish hat and a pretty social-savvy attitude; it's not hard to see how a company led by Steve Bartlett can make nearly anything go viral in a short space of time.   

Social Chain has grown from its inception in Manchester with just a handful of staff, to doubling its office size with the launch of New York base...

21 October 2016 | Social Media Marketing

#DMWF insights: How marketers can be more innovative

(c)iStock/stevanovicigor

Innovation within marketing isn’t just done ‘from the top’. While it can be difficult to secure yourself time, resources and budget to be innovative with, there are steps you can take to jump on the right path.

This was the message being put out by vice president, solutions, of digital innovation agency Icreon Tech at day one of the Digital Marketing World Conference (#DMWF) in New York this week.

19 October 2016 | Best Practice