Super Cool Sites, Inc.

Is Facebook Doomed?

Post author By JoAnn Kauffman
Post date September 3, 2015

For the past few months there has been an increased rise in the number of “niche” social media platforms due perhaps to the heavy criticism networks leveled toward some of the popular social media platforms.

For example, Facebook has received some scrutiny recently regarding their lack of privacy and the priority that is given to advertisers. What many couldn’t have predicted last year was the emergence of a new social platform intended to go head-to-head with social media giant, Facebook. The platform, which is still in public beta (meaning invite-only), has caused quite a stir; dubbed by some as the ‘hipster social network’, Ello offers a forever ad-free experience and promises to never sell its users’ information to third parties. Their website states: “Collecting and selling your personal data, reading your posts to your friends, and mapping your social connections for profit is both creepy and unethical. Under the guise of offering a “free” service, users pay a high price in intrusive advertising and lack of privacy.”

It’s unclear at this point whether the extreme buzz around the platform is simply because of its positioning as the ‘anti-Facebook’, or whether it has the substance, design and functionality to actually become a serious competitor for Facebook. Engagement on the platform doesn’t seem to be high at this point, and some are pointing out the current weaknesses of the platform, including the lack of video-integration and meaningful conversation and engagement.

Regardless, Ello is likely to grow in 2015, both in terms of numbers and engagement, and many will be watching closely.

Speaking of Facebook, Facebook’s ad pricing and demand will significantly increase. It’s no secret that Facebook post reach is significantly decreasing, and has become a serious problem for business owners who are using the platform for marketing purposes. This steady decline in reach is what has been coined the Filtered Feed Problem. As Facebook continues to limit the number of posts page fans actually see, the demand for promoted posts and ads will continue to increase. And with this increased demand will come increased pricing.

Twitter’s new business advertising model will skyrocket in popularity. With Twitter’s move to offering businesses more choice and flexibility in how and what they pay for in terms of advertising, more small and medium-sized businesses will jump on the Twitter ad bandwagon. The new fee structure allows businesses to pay for certain performance-based actions rather than just retweets or clicks.

These objective-based campaigns, which are still currently in beta, will offer more flexibility including tweet engagements (retweets, replies, etc.), website clicks or conversions, app installs, new followers and leads. These campaigns will be particularly appealing to small business owners who want to pay for results, not just for brand visibility.

Instagram will also continue to grow in the micro-video space. With both Vine and Instagram vying for billing as the top video networking site, the platforms have continued to differentiate themselves from the other offering different features, video lengths and editing capabilities. However, I believe we’ll see Instagram begin to outpace Vine as we enter 2015.

And with the recent emergence of Instagram’s in-feed video advertising, marketers will now have the option of paying to target their 15-second videos to users based on age, gender and country. While some have called the new video ads incongruous, the new feature is a welcome addition for marketers looking to promote their wares to Instagram’s young, affluent user base.

LinkedIn has been the top network of choice for the B2B crowd for years already, and I believe we’ll see the gap between LinkedIn and other networks continue to widen in 2015.

While B2C marketers report LinkedIn as being significantly less important than Facebook or Twitter for their marketing efforts, the numbers are quite different for the B2B crowd: according to the 2014 Social Media Examiner survey, 88% of B2B marketers are using LinkedIn, compared to 89% for Facebook and 86% for Twitter.

In 2015, marketers will finally realize that there are two core pillars of a content marketing strategy: publication and distribution. Marketers will learn that social media is the most effective method of expanding the reach and visibility of their content, and because of this, will come to view social media as more of an “amplifier” for their published content rather than as the content itself.

So, while the content marketing buzz continues to pick up steam, marketers needs to remember that a distribution strategy for that content is just as important, if not more important, than the content itself.

Some things to look for in 2016: an increase in the use of podcasting, video social commerce and mobile marketing.

Sign Up

Stories

How Super Cool Sites was started

Post author By David Kauffman
Post date November 2, 2012

How Super Cool Sites was Started

How I got into the Website Design and Internet Marketing Service.

This business came upon me in a time of crisis. My insurance brokerage company had taken major battering from the top Health Insurance Companies in the state. I had 9 agents selling health insurance for individuals, families and small groups. We advertised via Yellow pages, Radio and TV. We represented over 50 insurance companies, and would do anything in order to get our clients the best possible coverage at the lowest possible price.

I thought this would be a great formula for success. I didn’t take into consideration that the insurance companies were actually holding all the cards. Yes, I had contracts that stated our agency commissions, but these were changed. It didn’t affect everything immediately, but as each case renewed for the year, the commissions were cut by up to 80%.

It didn’t take long for the agents to realize they couldn’t continue on this path. We went from one of the largest health producing agencies in the state to a single person operation in the matter of 3 years.

Starting Fresh

Although I had spent over 30 years in the insurance business, I wanted to find something different. I wanted something that was totally in my control and not some large company.

I always had loved computers. I got the first Atari computer with a 5 ¼ inch floppy disk. I kept stepping up as they came out. Next was the Commodore 64, then the 128. I bought the first personal IBM with a hard drive, a whopping 20 megabyte disk.

The reason I loved computers so much was that they never forget anything. It’s like an extension of your brain with perfect memory. Anything I wanted to remember, just put it in the computer, then I didn’t have to think about it anymore.

Looking for something with more certainty

So when I started searching for something to do that I controlled, computers and the internet were at the top of my list. I contacted a company called WSI. They had the “bestselling” franchise available for website design. This was in 2003. After looking into this extensively, I partnered up with a person in my area that had already paid for the franchise, but had not sold any websites. He knew the technical side of the business, but needed help in selling the product. Since he already paid the $50,000 franchise fee, I thought this would be a good opportunity to see how I like the operation. He agreed to partner with me and split profits 50/50. This worked pretty well for the first year. But once I learned a lot about the business I realized we didn’t need WSI for anything. They were charging much more than was necessary and adding a lot of franchise fees. My partner didn’t want to quit with WSI, so we decided to part ways.

The Birth of Super Cool Sites!

Thus, Super Cool Sites, Inc. was born. We started with flash templates, and WOW did they look GOOD. They were blowing away everything else on the web for looks and animation. Who didn’t want one of these to represent their company on the Internet?

But it didn’t take long to realize, there is a lot more involved in building a successful website than having a cool looking design. You have to get people to your website, through the hundreds of different ways possible, and then you had to get them to interact with the website by contacting the website owner or buying their products or services on-line. That sounds simple enough, but when you are competing against thousands or even millions of people, it can be a daunting task. You need an expert for every step of the process. This is how Super Cool Sites, Inc. was started and is flourishing today.

Randy Kauffman
President, SCS