Archives de catégorie : Video Marketing

Trump wants to cut two regulations on businesses for every new one

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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed an order Monday aimed at cutting regulations on businesses, saying that agencies should eliminate two regulations for every new one.

The White House later released the text of the order, which added that the cost of any new regulation should be offset by eliminating regulations with the same costs to businesses. It excluded regulations regarding the military.

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The impact of the order was difficult to judge based on the president’s remarks. It could be difficult to implement under current law, and would concentrate greater power in the Office of Management and Budget, which already reviews federal regulations.

Trump signed the document — which he called ‘‘a big one’’ — at his desk in the Oval Office surrounded by nine small business owners, who earlier this morning met in the Roosevelt Room.

‘‘This will be the largest ever cut by far in terms of regulations,’’ Trump said. ‘‘If you have a regulation you want number one we’re not going to approve it because it’s already been approved probably in 17 different forms. But if we do the only way you have a chance is we have to knock out two regulations for every new regulation. So if there’s a new regulation they have to knock out two. But it goes way beyond that.’’

But experts on government policy said Trump’s formulation made little sense. ‘‘There’s no logic to this,’’ William Gale, a tax and fiscal policy expert at the Brookings Institution, said before seeing the executive order. ‘‘The number of regulations is not the key. It’s how onerous regulations are. This seems like a totally nonsensical constraint to me.’’

Trump said the move would help both large and small businesses. ‘‘Regulation has been horrible for big business, but it’s been worse for small business,’’ he said, noting that small businesses cannot hire the talent and compliance personnel that larger businesses do.

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‘‘There will be regulation, there will be control, but it will be a normalized control where you can open your business and expand your business very easily and that’s what our country has been all about,’’ Trump said.

Administration members who attended the signing included White House counsel Donald McGahn; chief of staff Reince Priebus; Jared Kushner, domestic policy director Andrew Bremberg; and National Economic Council director Director Gary Cohn.

The president was surrounded by small business leaders as he signed the order in the Oval Office Monday morning.

Trump says that the order is aimed at ‘‘cutting regulations massively for small business.’’

He says it will be the ‘‘biggest such act that our country has ever seen.’’

Earlier, White House officials called the directive a ‘‘one in, two out’’ plan. It requires government agencies requesting a new regulation to identify two regulations they will cut from their own departments.

The officials insisted on anonymity in order to detail the directive ahead of Monday’s formal announcement.


SAG Awards: Has a ‘Hidden’ Threat to the Oscar Prospects of ‘La La Land’ Emerged? (Analysis)

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La La Land had a big night on Saturday at the 28th PGA Awards, where it won the top prize, and everyone knew, even then, that some other film was going to have its big night on Sunday at the 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards. That’s because La La Land was not nominated for the best ensemble SAG Award, the closest thing that SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, has to a best picture award.

How could a film about a struggling actress, which got as many Oscar nominations as any in history, not even make the final five for that prize with this group? In all likelihood, because a lot of guild members took the category’s title literally and felt that the film is essentially a two-hander that could not be classified as an ensemble.

History suggests that such an omission will preclude La La Land from winning the best picture Oscar — in the 21 previous years in which the best ensemble SAG Award was presented, only one film that wasn’t nominated for it still managed to win the best picture Oscar, 1995’s Braveheart — but I strongly suspect that history will be defied on Feb. 26 because of the way the SAG Awards did play out.

The film most widely regarded as the greatest threat to La La Land in the best picture Oscar race, Moonlight, was not able to seize this opening, but instead was vanquished — in an upset anticipated by virtually no one — by another, much more profitable film about the African-American experience, Hidden Figures.

This obviously is a demoralizing setback for Moonlight and very exciting for Hidden Figures, considering that the final result was determined by some 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA. While most members of SAG-AFTRA don’t belong to the Academy, almost every member of the Academy’s actors branch — its largest — belongs to SAG-AFTRA, so this is as sizable a sample size as we’re going to get about how the Academy feels.

Even so, it’s extremely premature to write off La La Land and Moonlight or crown Hidden Figures. Only 11 of the 21 previous best ensemble SAG Award winners went on to win the best picture Oscar. The SAG prize did anticipate surprise best picture Oscar winners Shakespeare in Love (1998), Crash (2005) and Spotlight (2015), but it also gave false hope to Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Inglourious Basterds (2009) and The Help (2011).

To me, the most notable thing about Hidden Figures‘ win is that it happened without the aid of hard-copy screeners, without which few films have won best ensemble since Lionsgate pioneered the (expensive) practice of sending them to the entire guild 11 years ago and was rewarded with a surprise win for Crash that propelled it on to another surprise win at the Oscars. Of this year’s best ensemble nominees, only Fences, Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight sent hard copies to everyone; Hidden Figures and Captain Fantastic made do with digital links, which are far less coveted. The fact that Hidden Figures overcame this and won means it has deep and passionate support (reflected in the standing ovation that greeted its win and the end of Taraji P. Henson‘s acceptance speech), and probably should be regarded as an Oscar threat to La La Land comparable to Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea, which heretofore have been regarded as the only films with a real shot at winning best picture.

All that being said, the four SAG Awards that recognize individual acting in films have a far better track record at anticipating Oscar wins than the best ensemble prize does.

As was universally expected, best supporting actress went to Fences‘ Viola Davis over all four of the same women she’s pitted against at the Oscars — Moonlight‘s Naomie Harris, Lion‘s Nicole Kidman, Hidden Figures‘ Octavia Spencer and Manchester‘s Michelle Williams. Davis thrice before has won individual SAG Awards (once for The Help, twice for the TV show How to Get Away with Murder), and, in Fences, she won for a part she previously won a Tony for playing on Broadway (you can bet that SAG-AFTRA’s large New York contingent was behind the stage and screen pro).

Mahershala Ali, a star of both Moonlight and Hidden Figures, solidified his standing as the man to beat for the best supporting actor Oscar by winning the corresponding SAG Award for Moonlight. Revered veterans long have done well in this category, which boded well for Hell or High Water‘s Jeff Bridges, but Ali, despite very brief screen time, held off him and two other fellow Oscar nominees, Lion‘s Dev Patel and Manchester‘s Lucas Hedges, as well as Florence Foster Jenkins‘ Hugh Grant.

Both of SAG’s supporting awards have been presented 22 previous times, and the winner of each went on to win the corresponding Oscar on all but nine of those occasions.

Best actress, not surprisingly, went to La La Land‘s Emma Stone, who certainly portrayed the character most guild members can relate to. She defeated fellow Oscar nominees Natalie Portman (Jackie) and Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins), as well as Amy Adams (Arrival) and Emily Blunt (The Girl on the Train). Only six times in the 22-year history of this SAG Award has its winner not gone on to win the corresponding Oscar, most recently five years ago.

And then there was perhaps the most significant result of the night, in the best actor race: Manchester‘s Casey Affleck, who heretofore has won virtually every best actor award, was upended by Fences‘ Denzel Washington, who gave a far showier performance, in an upset that few saw coming. Only four times in the 22-year history of this SAG Award has its winner not gone on to win the corresponding Oscar, most recently 13 — again, 13 — years ago. In other words, there’s now real reason to believe that Washington may collect his third Oscar before Affleck collects his first.

I’ll close with two fun facts. (1) People who lost at tonight’s SAG Awards should not totally despair. Only six times in the 22 years in which the SAG Awards previously were bestowed did all four winners of their individual film acting prizes go on to win Oscars — the years honoring work for 1997, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2014. (2) This year marks only the second time in the history of the SAG Awards that as many as three of those four awards went to people of color — the last time was a decade ago when Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland), Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson (both Dreamgirls) won. Never, in the 89-year history of the Oscars, have people of color won three of the four acting awards. After two consecutive years of #OscarsSoWhite brouhaha, that now is a very real possibility.

Quebec mosque saw itself ‘in harmony’ with Canadian society

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People stand with a peaceful sign near the Quebec City Islamic cultural center after a shooting occurred in the mosque on Sainte-Foy Street in Quebec City on January 29, 2017. Canada. (Alice Chiche/AFP/Getty Images)

“We love everyone.”

That’s how Mohamed Yangui, the president of the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec, described his organization in June after it was the site of a particularly grotesque act of anti-Muslim vandalism. A man had finished praying at the mosque and as he opened the door to leave, he noticed a package at the doorstep, with the words “Bonne appétit” written in thick, black capital letters. Wrapped inside was a severed pig’s head, still dripping in fluids, an all-too-frequent gesture of contempt for Muslims, most of whom do not consume pork.

Still, Yangui said at the time, “We have no problem with anyone, and we respect people. We hope it’s mutual. And we are always here to give the image of the good Muslim to all Quebecers.”

With anti-Muslim sentiment on the rise in the western world in the wake of high-profile and deadly terrorist attacks, the Islamic Center in Quebec City — alongside many other Canadian mosques — has experienced its share of attacks.

All of them pale in comparison to what happened Sunday night, when at least two gunmen entered the building and opened fire on the 60 to 100 worshipers there, killing six and injuring eight others.

“Why is this happening here?” Yangui asked after the attack. “This is barbaric.”

As of now, police have labeled the shooting an act of terror, but they have not said by whom or for what motive. Authorities did not identify the two suspects they arrested or their ethnicity or religious identity, if any.

But the attack came at a time of great turmoil for Muslims globally and in the U.S., where people were still reacting to the results of President Trump’s executive order prohibiting entry into the United States for migrants from seven mostly Muslim countries and to his broader campaign theme against “radical Islam,” highlighted by his statement that “I think Islam hates us.”

And this particular mosque has found itself repeatedly under attack.

“This masjid has witnessed a lot of issues before — threats and vandalism, and some Islamophobic graffiti,” Samer Majzoub, president of the Canadian Muslim Forum, told The Washington Post, using the Arabic word for mosque. “It’s not the first time.”

After the pig’s head was left on the mosque doorstep, Yangui said incidents like this occur about once a year.

The Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec grew out of the Association of Muslim Students, which was begun in 1972 by four Muslims who worked for or attended the nearby Laval University. By 1985, the association had grown large enough to merit its own building, which included a mosque that attracts a small, young and diverse crowd from the school — the congregation of about 100 includes many attendees of North African descent.

[6 killed, 8 injured by gunmen who invaded Quebec City mosque]

Though the Center holds regular prayer groups, it also described itself as a place to be both Canadian and Muslim in equal parts, neither superseding the other. As described on its Facebook page, the center offers local Muslims “spiritual and Islamic sociocultural framework, in harmony with the Quebec and Canadian society to which they belong.”

Much of its programming includes local outreach — its members have volunteered at the city’s prison, for Amnesty International and for the Multiethnic Center of Quebec, to name a few. For the past eight years, the center has held an open forum for the non-Muslim members of the public to ask questions about Islam, which was particularly important in 2013, when the forum was held two weeks after the Boston Marathon attacks.


(Google maps)

Still, the pig’s head represented one of several anti-Muslim incidents occurring in Canada during Ramadan that left some Muslims feeling hopeless.

“I’m tired, I’m exhausted. I am hurt and I’m disappointed,” Saleha Khan of the National Council of Canadian Muslims told CBC. “Part of me doesn’t want to give up hope, because if I give up hope, I’ll probably curl up and never want to come out in public. You just sort of buckle down and say, okay, I’ve got more work to do now.”

Even as organizations such as the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec attempt to involve themselves within their secular communities, anti-Islamic sentiment seems to be growing, particularly, as The Post reported last year, in Quebec.

Some incidents are smaller — such as in 2014, when three mosques near Quebec City and one near Montreal were vandalized in one weekend. In one instance, someone threw a rock through the windows of a mosque. In the other three, an anti-Islam group calling itself Québec Identitaire pinned to the mosques’ doors posters reading “Islam hors de chez moi” or “Islam out of my country.” The year before, a Saguenay mosque was splattered with pig’s blood. A note pinned to it read “assimilate or go home,” according to CBC.

While Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in contrast to Trump, has held out a welcoming hand to Muslim refugees, many Canadians clearly do not share his views. In 2015, Cogeco Nouvelles released a poll showing that 65 percent of Quebecers stated they did not want a mosque in their neighborhood, according to the National Post.

There have also been frequent debates regarding the religious freedom of Canadian Muslims, including a long-running spat about whether Muslim women should be allowed to wear a niqab, cloth that covers the face, during citizenship ceremonies, with the Federal Court of Canada finding a ban on the practice unlawful in February, 2015.

“When you join the Canadian family in a public citizenship ceremony, it is essential that that is a time when you reveal yourselves to Canadians,” former Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, defending the ban. As The Washington Post noted in 2015, “Another Conservative candidate said … the niqab is ‘not in line with Canadian values.’”

The Post reported:

A poll ordered by Harper’s government showed that a huge majority of Canadians are in agreement with the niqab ban at citizenship ceremonies. It’s a sentiment that is particularly strong in Quebec, a majority French-speaking province that has for years waged its own battles over the role afforded to religion — and especially Islam — in its public life.

Those in power didn’t mince their words, either. Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, who opposed the proposition, nonetheless told CBC in 2015, “I don’t much like the niqab and I wish people wouldn’t wear it.”

A similar situation occurred last year when a Muslim woman named Rania El-Alloul visited a Quebec Court to retrieve her car, which had been seized after her son drove it with a suspended license. Judge Eliana Marengo, though, refused to hear her case because she wore a hijab.

“In my opinion, you are not suitably dressed,” Marengo said, according to CBC. “Decorum is important. Hats and sunglasses, for example, are not allowed, and I don’t see why scarves on the head would be. The same rules need to be applied to everyone.”

“When she insisted I should remove my hijab, really I felt like she was talking with me as … not a human being,” El-Alloul told the CBC. “I don’t want this thing to happen to any other lady. This is not the work of a judge. She doesn’t deserve to be a judge.”

Some blame this perceived rise in Canadian Islamophobia on Trump, although it long predates his ascendance.

Masuma Khan, a Muslim undergraduate student at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said incidents of racist remarks being shouted at her has increased since the United States presidential election.

“Trump now being president has validated people’s ideas of racism,” Khan told CBC’s Information Morning. “Because they have a man now who thinks all these things and expresses it everywhere.”

Ihsaan Gardee, executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, shares this view. “There is already a growing and documented climate of Islamophobia in Canada,” Gardee said in a statement. “There are legitimate fears that Trump’s so-called Muslim ban and accompanying rhetoric will lead to more hate, and further acts of violence like this.”

Much of the anti-Muslim sentiment Canada has seen is not too different from what Muslims in the United States have felt since 9/11.

Hate crimes against Muslims hit a record high for the last decade in 2015, up 67 percent from the year before, FBI data released in November showed. Law enforcement reported 257 anti-Muslim incidents in 2015, the most since the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center that killed thousands.

Abigail Hauslohner contributed to this report. 

How to turn your Instagram campaigns from blah to aha

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Instagram has emerged as a thriving social platform. With over 500 million users and 80 million daily photo uploads, it’s now one of the world’s largest mobile ad platforms.

For marketers who want to achieve success in their Instagram ad campaigns, it’s going to take more than just getting your brands on the platform. As with all other social channels, consistent execution of best practices plays a big role in whether you succeed or fail.

1. Know the ad formats

Although the opportunity to advertise on Instagram is still a relatively new concept, there’s already a range of formats available for marketers to choose from. Understanding the different types of ad formats can give you a better grasp of what you can achieve with each.

Photo ads: Photo ads are what most people are already used to seeing in their Instagram feeds – single images with small sponsored icons located in the top-right corner. These photos can include calls to action that prompt viewers to “shop now” when they see a featured product, or “book now”, when tempted by an image of a restaurant or hotel. Photo ads offer a clean and simple creative canvas.

Carousel Ads: Created to help advertisers tell a sequenced story with a selection of images, carousel ads can help companies create meaningful results for their business by helping them turn storytelling into a marketing art form.

Video Ads: Video ads provide some of the best returns on engagement when it comes to social media advertising. In other words, they’re an effective way to reach out to an engaged audience. However, because users will need to activate sound on a video in order to hear it, most Instagram videos are better for using compelling visuals that don’t require audio. And now, you can share videos up to 60 seconds in duration and in landscape format.

2. Create incredible visual content

Once you’ve figured out which of the available formats you’re going to use in your Instagram campaign, you’ll need to begin designing your creative. Though this may seem obvious, it’s a crucial point because only outstanding videos and images are going to deliver good results in your campaign.

Instagram is all about the image. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to spend a fortune on professional photography or ad design every time you want to make an Instagram post, but it does mean that your brand needs to consistently create attention- grabbing, clear, and well-composed images that will stand out in your audience’s news feeds.

3. Tell a compelling story

On Instagram, a picture can truly be worth a thousand words. People want to be inspired, entertained and engaged on Instagram (and most social media channels). They don’t want to be bombarded with an endless stream of boring brand ads.

Connect with your audiences at an emotional level using awesome imagery. Think about what your brand persona is and let your personality shine through your authentic brand story. Don’t be afraid to have some fun and not take yourself too seriously.

4. Start a Conversation

Hashtags are no longer exclusive to Twitter. On Instagram, creating relevant hashtags can help further amplify your messages to the right audiences. Encourage your fans to use your brand or campaign hashtags to start meaningful conversations. Use hashtags to gather user-generated content or power your latest campaign.

5. Optimize your schedule

The average Instagram user misses 70% of his news feed content. There is so much content vying for your audience’s attention and if you want to be successful on Instagram, you’ll need to commit to a consistent posting schedule. In other words, you can’t just participate when you feel like it, you need to be using Instagram all of the time. Or at least frequently enough to make a difference!

6. Be native and creative

Finally, if a user browses through their Instagram feed and sees something that looks like an ad, they’re probably going to ignore it. That’s why the most successful campaigns are the ones that don’t look like ads at all, and can instead blend in with organic posts. Make sure your ads blend seamlessly with the overall Instagram experience, but at the same time, remember to be creative enough that you encourage interest, and engagement.

If you’re struggling to find creative ideas, try giving your audience an inside look into how your company works, or how a product is created. Get your followers involved in photo contests, or start a competition that will give them something to talk about. The possibilities are endless.

It’s easy to start an Instagram page and run ad campaigns for your brand but transforming them into effective marketing tools for your business requires lots of working hard and working smart. Follow the right best practices and you’ll be able to turn your campaigns from blah to aha in no time.

Winner of Facebook’s Innovator of the Year, ReFUEL4 is the world’s leading data- driven creative platform delivering assets from 10,000 global creators backed by predictive AI technology. Learn more here.

Mobile marketing trends to watch in 2017

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Jan 30 2017
– Mobile – Marco Sacca

In 2015, the number of people accessing the internet through mobile devices worldwide surpassed those using desktops. In 2016, two-thirds of all digital media time was spent on mobile devices in the USA. This year, mobile advertising spend is expected to overtake total TV – with TV’s share of ad spend expected to drop by a third by 2020. 

Global smartphone ownership and internet usage continues to climb, especially in emerging and developing nations, and now in 2017 mobile ad spend is likely to see a 31.9% increase from 2016. Facebook and Google represent the giants of all things mobile and social – nearly 60% of Google’s ad revenues came from mobile ads this year, while Facebook’s mobile ad revenue represented 82% of all ad revenue in Q1 2016.

Firms small and large should not underestimate the impact that creative mobile marketing will have on their business.

So, what can we expect in 2017?

Location-based push advertising in retail

Mobile’s ability to assist customers with real-world interactions and transactions is already a reality, but usage of the technology looks set to expand. Beacons and other location-based technologies are likely to be further implemented in stores and malls throughout the world this year to provide consumers with enhanced in store shopping experiences.

Mobile is essentially becoming an extension of a retailer’s storefront, and smart marketing tactics using location allow brands to send tailored, personalised messages to the consumer, right in the moment when they’re making purchase decisions.

Take Starbucks as an example: the “Mobile Order and Pay” feature on its app uses a customer’s proximity to an outlet to notify that customer to order ahead before stopping in. By combining the power of mobile and location services, Starbucks is saving customers time and enhancing brand loyalty.

Augmented and virtual reality experiences

After the incredible success of Pokemon Go, augmented reality (AR) definitely isn’t something to be ignored in 2017. AR technology is gaining in popularity, and by 2021 is expected to be a $5.7 billion industry. Some social media platforms, like Snapchat, have shown how brands can effectively capture attention and monetise augmented reality experiences.

Snapchat’s Augmented Reality lenses have proved to be a popular tool amongst both users and brands. 20th Century Fox first used sponsored lenses as a marketing tool to promote The Peanuts Movie, and other film studios, including Sony Pictures, Universal Studios and Pixar, have all purchased AR ad space to promote their films. Beauty brands, such as L’Oréal, Urban Decay and Benefit Cosmetics, have also produced campaigns that applied makeup filters to customer selfies.

Instant Apps

Apps account for the clear majority of all mobile usage – greater than 85% of all mobile usage is on apps as compared to the mobile web. App usage remains highly concentrated though, with the “top five” apps accounting for 80% of usage time. Plus, most apps are downloaded very infrequently – and used even less.

Most brands have therefore found it challenging to justify the money spent on app development, which is why last year Google announced Instant Apps. These are apps that launch immediately when clicked, with no need to download from an app store. Brands can now create one-time, single-use apps that consumers can use easily and effectively.

Like and 360 video supremacy

Video represented 69% of all consumer-based internet traffic this year and this is expected to rise to 80% by 2019. In general, social media users prefer digestible video content over text: Facebook’s daily video views jumped from 1 billion to 8 billion in 2016 with 500 million people watching videos every day.

Not surprisingly, ad expenditure on mobile video is expected to grow more than 30% in 2017. Look out for live video streaming to be the next logical step in the user acquisition evolution, as social media users will only continue to expect more “on-demand” and “live feed” interactions with their preferred brands. We can also expect to see more innovation in immersive 360 video experiences across YouTube and Facebook apps, as well as video embedded directly into email.

Messaging app bots

People currently use messaging applications more than they do any other social media apps. It’s not surprising therefore that messaging apps are evolving into engaging marketing and e-commerce platforms. Facebook Messenger, Telegram and WeChat, some of the largest, have already released bots and are partnering with major brands to create life-like customer interactions.

This is the beginning of a new one-to-one conversational age of personalised marketing. Brands no longer need to shout their product pitches to the masses hoping to perhaps reach a few interested listeners, and consumers will no longer be blasted by millions of ads irrelevant to their location, situation or needs.

Through messaging apps, brands will be able to reach their customers on a one-to-one level via a channel that allows for engaging conversations, deep learning, and extreme targeting. Marketers should look to jump on as quickly as possible, as migrating onto messaging platforms is likely to have a long-lasting impact on mobile.

Five content marketing trends that survived 2016

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By Nikita Geldenhuys

1. Still going strong: Native advertising

Writing for the Content Marketing Institute, Tim Walters commented in January last year that while “native advertising – a paid placement in which the ad blends in with the look and format of the surrounding content – isn’t new, it is enjoying a major comeback”.

Brands have caught on to the practice. Megan Wolstenholme, head of content at Creative Spark, has noticed a significant amplification of this form of content marketing and that more brands are adopting it as part of their marketing make-up.

But native advertising is not taking the place of traditional advertising yet, as Wolstenholme explains, “It feels as though it is being added as part of a larger brand strategy which would still include more traditional forms of advertising.”

Her colleague, operations manager Carla Dos Santos, agrees, “I believe there is more native and sponsored [content], but not less advertising. It’s just that more of us are enabling ad-blockers, which is why native and sponsored advertising was born.”

2. A steady trend: Storytelling

The launch of Instagram and Snapchat Stories in 2016 highlighted the power of telling stories through content marketing. These social Stories allow users to tell unique stories of their everyday lives and even share longer, more complex narratives.

Many agencies have long been using storytelling as part of advertising strategies, but Wolstenholme has found it has now also caught on with clients. “Many clients are starting to realise that the ‘stories’ behind their brands are equally as important (if not more) than product stories,” she says.

The team behind Red Yellow School notes the ephemeral quality of Instagram and Snapchat Stories is supporting the growth of storytelling on digital platforms. The in-the-moment quality of social media Stories has also helped brands and celebrities to provide the transparency their fans and followers seek, the team explains.

3. Growing in use: Interactive content

A study by ion found that in February 2016, only about 30% of the content on the web was interactive. However, interactive content has the ability to engage audiences, which is high on the list of priorities for content marketers.

Last year, Barry Feldman wrote on Kissmetrics’ blog that marketers succeed when their audience not only consumes content, but also enjoys and acts upon it. “Understanding this principle, more and more content marketers are stepping-up their static content to create content customers can interact with.”

Odette van der Haar, CEO of the Association for Communication and Advertising in South Africa, has also seen the interactive content trend growing. “Consumers want more interactive experiences, variability, and an amount of influence over the end resulting experience. During 2016, content marketers took note and picked up on this trend.”

As a result, brands and businesses are using more quizzes, calculators, flowcharts, polls, and other ways for consumers to get directly involved with the content they produce, she notes.

4. A work in progress: Mobile-friendly content

Mobile compatibility was among the SEMrush blog’s nine emerging content marketing trend predictions for 2016. The blog writer’s advice on the subject? “With 3.65 billion mobile users across the globe, you need to incorporate content that’s mobile-friendly in your marketing strategies. Responsive website design, embedded videos, and other mobile elements will become staples of content marketing in the coming times.”

The Red Yellow team lauds Facebook’s Instant Articles and its mobile-optimised, immersive advertising product, Canvas, for giving content creators a way of tailoring their content for mobile.

This does not mean all brands are going the mobile-friendly route just yet. Red Yellow found marketers are focusing on mobile-first content over mobile-friendly content. This is especially true for South Africa, the team indicates, “We’ve yet to see truly mobile-friendly sites and content, especially locally.”

5. Still needs work: Live streaming

Video was and still is predicted to be a big trend and opportunity for marketers. In 2015, Jay Baer, president of Convince Convert told the Content Marketing Institute “all signs point to video” as a trend in 2016.

“Whether it’s Facebook Live, video on Twitter, Periscope, Blab, Instagram, Vine, or the old standby YouTube, 2016 will be the year when video becomes a primary content marketing consideration for all brands — even B2B,” he wrote.

Live streaming did indeed get the world’s attention last year when Facebook launched its live video broadcasting option in its user base. Despite the hype, however, most South Africans brands haven’t adopted its use yet.

Wolstenholme says that brand don’t always use live broadcasted videos correctly. “[In these videos] there is either not enough happening or the subject matter doesn’t require that type of immediacy. The best examples tend to be training seminars, product launches, announcements, and demonstrations.”

A no-show: Computer-generated content

A Lifehack blog post predicted that machine-generated content would become a hot topic in the realm of digital marketing in 2016.

At that time, some news publishers were already using content-generating software for short-form articles on sport and business topics. The use of algorithms to create content has not caught on in South African yet, and neither has automated content curation software.

The concept reminds Dos Santos of an “old-school SEO trick” called ‘content spinning’. She doesn’t see computer-generated articles taking off for primary content, mostly due to quality issues. But the software may still be useful, she notes. “Google now demands 1 200 plus words per article, so [auto-generated content] may return for secondary content,” she notes.

And while Wolstenholme agrees that the technology might work for filler content that aligns to a brand, product, or service, it doesn’t look like the software will be taking jobs from content marketers any time soon, as she explains, “Genuine and created [content] will have a much greater impact on both SEO and consumer opinion.

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*Image courtesy of The Wild Blogger under this license 

Early wins against Trump immigration order may not last

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Immigrant rights groups scored a series of early court victories against President Donald Trump’s terrorism-focused executive order limiting travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, but legal experts and administration officials said the impact of those initial legal victories could prove fleeting.

There is little doubt the orders — issued by federal judges in New York, Boston, Alexandria, Virginia, and Seattle — helped bolster the resolve of anti-Trump protesters who flooded airports over the weekend and turned up by the thousands at the White House Sunday. The rulings may also sour public perceptions of Trump’s directive.

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However, lawyers pressing the cases acknowledged that their courtroom wins so far may directly benefit no more than a couple of hundred people essentially caught in limbo when Trump signed his order Friday afternoon limiting travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The flurry of legal rulings Saturday and early Sunday do not appear to have disturbed the central thrust of Trump’s order. The directive suspends immigration and tourism from nationals of the seven countries and halts refugee admissions while stricter vetting protocols are implemented. Tens or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people could be affected by those changes.

“Obviously, this initial litigation is not on behalf of everyone who will be ultimately affected by the executive order, but it’s the first step in challenging the executive order,” said Lee Gelernt of the American Civil Liberties Union, who argued and won an order in New York Saturday night blocking deportations of those held at airports nationwide.

“By sheer numbers it doesn’t affect as many people as would be affected by a lawsuit for people overseas, but I think it’s critically important because it’s the first challenge to the executive order. I think there will be broader challenges,” Gelernt added.

A Trump administration official who briefed reporters on the executive order Sunday night minimized the impact of the early court rulings.

“The executive order is prospective not retroactive. The purpose of the executive order is to prevent the issuance of new visas until such time as responsible vetting measures can be put in place,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The specific issue of travelers who were in transit during the EO’s [issuance] is by and large a one-time situation. … It’s a non-sequitur.”

One Muslim-rights group, the Council on American Islamic Relations, said it planned a new federal lawsuit Monday charging that Trump’s order is unconstitutional because it amounts to thinly veiled discrimination against Muslims.

That suit could face an uphill battle because courts have rarely accorded constitutional rights to foreigners outside the U.S. However, foreign citizens who are permanent U.S. residents generally have a stronger claim to recourse in the courts. In addition, legal experts say U.S. citizen relatives of foreigners could have legal standing to pursue a case charging religious discrimination.

Still, presidents have broad discretion over the nation’s immigration and refugee policy. A 1952 immigration law gives the chief executive the power to bar « any class » of immigrants from the country if allowing them is deemed « detrimental to the interests of the United States. »

For his part, Trump insisted in a new statement Sunday that he was not discriminating against those of the Islam faith.

“To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting,” Trump said. “This is not about religion — this is about terror and keeping our country safe. There are over 40 different countries worldwide that are majority Muslim that are not affected by this order. We will again be issuing visas to all countries once we are sure we have reviewed and implemented the most secure policies over the next 90 days.”

The administration also made clear for the first time Sunday night that green card holders would be presumptively exempt from the new policy, unless there was specific reason to suspect them of terrorist links. Carving out U.S. permanent residents could strengthen Trump’s legal hand to defend the policy in the courts.

While broad challenges to the Trump orders could take months or even years to play out in the courts, immigration advocates involved in the legal challenges already underway had differing views about the immediate impact of the various injunctions judges issued over the weekend.

While the New York judge’s order barred deportation of people held at airports following Trump’s directive, the order issued by two judges in Boston appeared to go further, requiring them to be released if they would have been under the policies in place prior to the new president’s executive action.

The discrepancies between different court orders were notable enough for some lawyers to advise green-card holders flying back to the United States to reroute their flights to Boston’s Logan Airport, since the federal ruling there was the most expansive of the injunctions issued Saturday.

“It’s broader in substance because it’s a prohibition on relying solely on the Trump executive order as the basis to detain or remove anyone who’s otherwise lawfully entitled to enter the U.S. The detention piece is new and the range of people is a little bit broader than in New York,” said Matthew Segal, a lawyer with the ACLU’s Massachusetts chapter. He said he believes the order issued there against detentions under the Trump order was nationwide in scope.

However, the broad federal injunction issued in Boston raised questions about whether airlines would have to allow immigrants, even from the affected countries, to board an airplane to the United States.

“Customs and Border Protection shall notify airlines that have flights arriving at Logan Airport of this order and the fact that individuals on these flights will not be detained or returned based solely on the basis of the Executive Order,” District Judge Allison Burroughs and Magistrate Judith Dein wrote.

Segal said lawyers arguing on behalf of immigrants urged that language as part of an effort to try to limit the disruption to travelers already on flights, as well as those trying to come to the U.S.

“There was some discussion in the hearing last night of making sure this order would be meaningful, so people could not only get off planes, but also get onto the plane in the first place,” Segal said. “We had been hearing from people throughout the day, folks who were essentially turned away at airports around the world … We wanted to make sure people could get onto these planes.”

Normally, airlines are reluctant to allow individuals to board flights if they’re likely to be rejected by immigration authorities at the other end. Large fines are sometimes assessed. It was unclear whether the Boston judges’ order would persuade airlines to allow, for example, the boarding of a green-card holder from one of the seven countries listed in the Trump order, even if that person had not gone to a U.S. Embassy or consulate for special additional screening.

Department of Homeland Security officials issued a statement Sunday night asserting that they were complying with the court orders and that they were instructing airlines to deny boarding to affected travelers.

“Upon issuance of the court orders yesterday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) immediately began taking steps to comply with the orders,” the DHS statement said. “We are also working closely with airline partners to prevent travelers who would not be granted entry under the executive orders from boarding international flights to the U.S. Therefore, we do not anticipate that further individuals traveling by air to the United States will be affected.”

Two narrower injunctions were also issued Saturday. One order from a judge in Seattle appeared to affect just two immigrants being held at the airport there, barring their removal from the U.S. at least through Friday.

The other order, issued by a judge in Alexandria, Virginia, Saturday night, blocked the deportation of green-card holders from Dulles Airport outside Washington. That order also required that Customs officials allow green-card holders to consult with lawyers.

Immigration lawyers, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and others complained that the access-to-counsel requirement was being ignored.

At Dulles Sunday, attorney Sara Dill said lawyers have been barred from meeting with detainees and that Customs agents refused to confirm whether anyone is being held. She said several attorneys have discussed filing a contempt order to compel cooperation.

Most green-card holders in detention at Dulles appeared to be released by late Saturday, although there were reports at least one was deported sometime over the weekend. Attorneys said Sunday afternoon that CBP had pledged to give green-card holders a list of pro bono lawyers and an opportunity to contact them.

But attorneys and advocates fanned out at airports across the country complained that CBP agents were not complying with the court injunctions — reporting instances of foreigners in San Francisco and New York who faced “imminent deportation. » In some cases, Customs reversed course and said it would not remove the travelers from the United States.

Top administration and White House officials indicated to lawmakers and reporters that the immigrants ensnared by the executive order were all being properly processed and would be released. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said during a news conference in New York that DHS Secretary John Kelly assured him that 42 foreigners stuck at airports across the country would be processed and allowed to enter the United States.

But advocates said those instructions weren’t being translated to officers on the ground.

“The last 48 hours has been really full of chaos and the sense of the federal government completely deciding to not comply with the Constitution and on top of that, not providing guidance to the field with respect to arriving immigrants and refugees,” said Marielena Hincapie, the executive director of the National Immigration Law Center.

Kyle Cheney contributed to this report from Chantilly, Virginia, and Tony Romm from New York.

Multiple people reported killed and injured by gunmen at Quebec City mosque

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Multiple people were killed and others injured Sunday after gunmen opened fire on worshipers at a Quebec City mosque as evening prayers were ending in what Quebec’s premier described as an act of terrorism.

The mosque’s president told Reuters that five people were killed. Police said via Twitter that there were “deaths and injuries” but did not specify a number. A police spokesperson said that two suspects had been arrested.

“The situation is under control, the premises are secure and the occupants were evacuated,” police said in a tweet. “The investigation is ongoing.”

Witnesses said that two gunmen, some reports said three, opened fired at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Center. Local media reported that between 60 and 100 people were inside.

“Why is this happening here? This is barbaric,” the mosque’s president, Mohamed Yangui, told Reuters.

Speaking on RDI, Quebec City police spokesman Etienne Doyon said that the shootings took place as prayers were ending Sunday evening.

Witnesses reported that at least two hooded shooters entered the mosque and opened fire on congregants who had remained there after the end of prayers. Other said the shooters were wearing ski masks.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the attack “cowardly” and said Canadians grieved for the victims.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard condemned the attacks in a tweet and called for solidarity with Muslims in Quebec. “Quebec categorically rejects this barbaric violence,” he said. Later he Tweeted that it was an act of terrorism.

The Quebec Islamic Cultural Center is located near Laval University, which has a large community of international students, many from French-speaking Africa and the Maghreb.

The mosque, one of several in the area, was the target of a hate crime last June when a pig’s head was left at the front door with the message “Bonne appétit,” as The Washington Post reported at the time. The consumption of pork is banned by Islam. Concerned about that kind of incident, the mosque installed several closed-circuit cameras around the building.

The shooting is a particular shock for Quebec City, a quiet white-collar city with a low crime rate. In 2015, the city reported two murders. The metropolitan area has 800,000 people.

According to La Presse, the province’s leading newspaper, police were also treating the attack as a terrorist incident and had activated a joint task force involving municipal police, Quebec’s provincial police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.


An ambulance is parked at the scene of a fatal shooting at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City, Canada. REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Samer Majzoub, the president of the Canadian Muslim Forum, a Muslim advocacy group in Quebec, said he knows people who attend the Quebec City mosque, but that he and other area Muslim leaders were still trying frantically to find out who had been shot.

“People that we know, we are not sure if they’re alive right now. They’re saying about five confirmed, a dozen injured. And the police are cordoning all the area,” he told The Post. “It is shocking. It never came to our mind that we’d have a terrorist act as such, especially in Canada.”

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Majzoub said Canada has seen increasing anti-Muslim hostility over the past year, but still nowhere near the level witnessed in the United States and Europe. But he said the area where the mosque has appeared to be particularly prone to anti-Muslim sentiments. “This masjid has witnessed a lot of issues before — threats and vandalism, and some Islamophobic graffiti,” he said, using the Arabic word for mosque. “It’s not the first time.”

Majzoub said the mosque has a small congregation of about a hundred people and attracts a lot of students because it’s near a university. He said many of its attendees are of North African descent.

“We never thought it could happen,” he said. “It was a slaughter.”

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

Abigail Hauslohner contributed to this report. Alan Freeman reported from Ottawa.