Author Archives: Natalia Gaal

10 Ways to Increase Programmatic Advertising Earnings for Websites

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In the ever-evolving digital landscape, maximizing website revenue through programmatic advertising is a crucial strategy for website publishers. 

Programmatic advertising is the use of advertising technology to automate the buying and selling of online ad space across the web, mobile, apps, video, and social media, offering a sophisticated, data-driven approach to monetization. To harness its full potential, publishers must employ effective strategies and the correct tools. 

Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to increase programmatic earnings and enhance website revenue.

1. Optimize Ad Placement and Layout

Ad placement and layout significantly impact user engagement and, consequently, revenue. Consider these best practices:

  • Above the Fold: Place ads in areas visible without scrolling to capture immediate attention.
  • In-Content Ads: Embed ads within the content for higher visibility and engagement.
  • Responsive Design: Ensure ads are mobile-friendly and adapt to various screen sizes seamlessly.

1.1. Improve Below-the-Fold Performance

Below-the-fold ads often suffer from lower viewability, but there are ways to enhance their performance:

  • Infinite Scroll: Implement infinite scrolling to keep users engaged and bring below-the-fold ads into view.
  • Engaging Content: Place engaging and interactive content near below-the-fold ads to encourage scrolling.

2. Leverage Header Bidding

Header bidding allows multiple demand sources to bid on ad inventory simultaneously, increasing competition and driving up prices. Implementing header bidding can yield higher CPMs (Cost per mile, the amount an advertiser pays a website per one thousand impressions). compared to traditional waterfall setups.

  • Unified Auction: All demand partners bid in real-time, maximizing revenue potential.
  • Increased Competition: More bidders lead to higher bids and better fill rates.

3. Utilize Data Segmentation and Targeting

Personalized ads perform better. Use data segmentation to target specific audience segments with relevant ads.

  • Demographic Data: Target ads based on age, gender, and location.
  • Behavioral Data: Leverage browsing history and user interests for more personalized ad delivery.
  • Contextual Targeting: Match ads with relevant content on your site to increase engagement and click-through rates.

4. Improve Page Load Speed

Page load speed is critical for user experience and ad viewability, and recent studies indicate that bounce rates soar to 53%  if a page takes as little as 7 seconds to load. Faster-loading pages ensure ads are seen and engaged with promptly.

  • Optimize Images and Videos: Compress media files to reduce load times.
  • Minimize HTTP Requests: Streamline website code and use asynchronous loading for scripts.
  • Leverage Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): Distribute content across global servers for faster delivery.

5. Employ Ad Refresh Strategies

Ad refresh strategies can significantly boost ad impressions without negatively impacting user experience. Some of the approaches to ad refresh are: 

  • Time-Based Refresh: Refresh ads after a certain period.
  • Engagement-Based Refresh: Refresh ads when users interact with the page (e.g., scroll or click).

6. Enhance Viewability Metrics

Ad viewability is a key metric for advertisers, and higher viewability rates attract premium advertisers and increase bids. 

  • Above the Fold Placement: Ensure a significant portion of ads is above the fold.
  • Sticky Ads: Use ads that remain visible while users scroll.
  • Lazy Loading: Load ads only when they are about to come into view.

7. Diversify Demand Partners

Working with multiple demand partners increases competition for your ad inventory, driving up CPMs.

  • Ad Exchanges: Partner with various ad exchanges to access a broader range of demand sources.
  • Private Marketplaces (PMPs): Engage in direct deals with premium advertisers for higher CPMs.

8. Implement Advanced Reporting and Analytics

Regularly monitor and analyze ad performance to make data-driven decisions.

  • Real-Time Analytics: Use tools that provide real-time insights into ad performance.
  • A/B Testing: Test different ad formats, placements, and strategies to identify what works best.
  • Performance Metrics: Track metrics like CPM, CTR (click-through rate), and fill rate to optimize campaigns continuously.

9. Ad Quality and User Experience

Ensure that ads do not detract from the user experience. Intrusive or irrelevant ads can drive users away.

  • Ad Quality Control: Use ad networks that prioritize high-quality ads.
  • User Feedback: Collect user feedback to understand the impact of ads on user experience.
  • Frequency Capping: Limit the number of times a user sees the same ad to prevent ad fatigue.

10. Stay Updated with Industry Trends

The programmatic advertising landscape is dynamic. Stay informed about industry trends and innovations.

  • Industry Conferences: Attend conferences and webinars to learn about the latest advancements.
  • Professional Networks: Join industry groups and forums to exchange insights with peers.
  • Continuous Learning: Invest in training and certifications for your team to keep their skills up-to-date.

By implementing these strategies, publishers can effectively increase their programmatic earnings, ensuring a sustainable and lucrative revenue stream for their websites. The key lies in continuous optimization, leveraging data, and maintaining a balance between ad revenue and user experience.

To make sure that your ad strategy has a solid foundation, it is important to count on a reliable and easy-to-use tool that concentrates all of your website advertisement resources to maximize your monetization goals. Arena has a robust dashboard that connects with your Google Ads account to help you streamline your monetization strategies, all while gaining deep insights into your audience’s preferences. 

Learn more about how Arena can help you monetize your website!

7 Website Monetization Strategies for the Age of Social Media

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In today’s digital landscape, both internet personalities and companies are vying for audience attention across various platforms. Influencers leverage social media (SoME) and video content, while businesses use websites and other digital tools to engage with their target audience. With this intense competition, creating a robust monetization strategy for your website is crucial to stand out and generate revenue effectively.

The Rise of Social Media and Video Content

Social media platforms and video content have revolutionized how we consume information. Influencers use platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok to build large followings and engage with their audience in real-time. Companies, too, have embraced these platforms to create compelling content that resonates with their audience, from product launches to customer engagement campaigns.

According to the research Publisher Trends Report, conducted by Echoboxv and published in 2023, the publishing industry claimed that creating video content (47%) is one of their priorities for the next few months, coinciding with a surge of publishers focusing on TikTok (59%). 

While social media offers a dynamic way to connect with audiences, it also means that users’ attention is divided across various channels. This fragmentation makes it essential for website owners to implement strategies that not only attract visitors but also convert them into loyal customers or engaged followers.

Developing a Monetization Strategy for Your Website

To successfully monetize your website, consider integrating multiple revenue streams. Here are some effective strategies:

  1. Ad Revenue with Google AdSense: Google AdSense allows you to display ads on your website and earn revenue when visitors interact with them. By integrating Google AdSense, you can take advantage of Google’s extensive ad network, ensuring relevant ads are displayed to your audience, thereby increasing the likelihood of clicks and revenue. Arena’s features also allow you to integrate your Google AdSense with Live Blog, therefore increasing your earnings and maximizing your monetization strategy.
  2. Lead Generation with Conversion Cards: Conversion Cards are tools that help you capture leads directly on your website. By offering valuable content or services in exchange for contact information, you can build a database of potential customers. This strategy is particularly effective for businesses looking to nurture leads through email marketing or other follow-up activities.
  3. Boosting Organic Traffic with SEO: Frequent updates and high-quality content are key to attracting organic traffic from search engines. Implementing a robust SEO strategy ensures your website ranks higher in search results, driving more visitors to your site. High organic traffic not only increases ad revenue but also improves the chances of lead conversion.
  4. Content Marketing and Affiliate Marketing: Creating valuable content that addresses your audience’s needs can establish your website as an authority in your niche. By incorporating affiliate links into your content, you can earn commissions on products or services recommended to your audience. This approach works well for influencers and companies alike, providing a passive income stream while adding value to your readers.
  5. Offering Premium Content or Memberships: If your website provides specialized content, consider offering premium content or membership subscriptions. This model works well for websites that offer exclusive insights, in-depth analyses, or premium tools and resources. By charging a subscription fee, you create a steady revenue stream while providing additional value to your most dedicated users.
  6. Hosting Virtual Events: Virtual events, such as webinars, live Q&A sessions, or online workshops, can attract a large audience and generate revenue through ticket sales or sponsorships. Using tools like Arena’s Live Blog, you can seamlessly integrate live coverage of events on your website, enhancing user engagement and providing real-time updates.
  7. Data Monetization: Collecting and analyzing customer data allows you to tailor your content and marketing strategies more effectively. While ensuring compliance with data protection regulations, you can use this first-party data to offer personalized experiences, improving user satisfaction and engagement, which can lead to increased revenue opportunities.

Combining Strategies for Maximum Impact

To maximize your website’s revenue potential, consider combining several of these strategies. For example, integrating Google AdSense with frequent content updates can boost ad revenue while driving organic traffic. Simultaneously, offering premium content or virtual events can provide additional revenue streams.

By leveraging the right tools and strategies, you can create a comprehensive monetization plan that not only competes effectively in today’s crowded digital space but also provides sustainable growth for your website. Whether you’re an influencer or a company, a well-thought-out monetization strategy is key to turning your digital presence into a profitable venture.

Learn how you can enhance your digital monetization strategies by leveraging a powerful no-code tool that helps you boost traffic, engage viewers and facilitate ad placements on your website. Find out how Arena Live Blog can help boost your monetization strategy.

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Benefits & Creating Your Program

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Offering distance online education, especially degree programs, is becoming more popular. To help you design distance education courses, use this guide to discover the value of digital online education and build your program.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world that traditional education needs to change. Online universities, distance courses, and other online programs have proven themselves. Find out how to use educational technology and online instruction delivery methods to improve access to education.

What is Distance Learning?

Distance education is best understood in contrast to traditional classes. Since the 19th century, school teachers have stood before their students to lecture. Access to education improved, and literacy rates increased in many countries.

Distance education is the learning approach for the 21st century. This new model emphasizes online learning tools and digital resources to engage students. It combines both synchronous learning options (e.g., live chat and video conferencing) and asynchronous learning (e.g., digital textbooks, assignments, and videos).

Distance Learning Benefits: Why Offer Remote Learning?

Why are colleges, universities and other educational institutions investing more resources in distance online learning? There are a number of reasons.

Distance Learning Adds Flexibility

Distance learning is especially popular with adult learners who need a high level of flexibility. For example, an older student may want to earn a college degree by studying evenings and weekends. Educational institutions that offer an online learning experience can help these students achieve academic success..

It’s not just adults that want flexible remote instruction. Community colleges and a growing number of universities are offer online classes to reach more students. Distance education students are already finding a few universities that emphasize online approaches to instruction.

Athabasca University illustrates what is possible in remote learning. Established in 1970, the institution offers a a wide variety of distance learning degrees including A, B and C. The university has 38,000 undergraduate and 3600 graduate degree students. Over 80% of the university’s undergraduate students work while they study.

Distance Learning Courses Are More Affordable 

Affordability is a top concern for many students and educators today. Innovation in education like emphasizing alternative approaches to delivering education is a critical way to solve this challenge. By delivering academic programs via distance learning programs, there is less need to develop and maintain a large campus presence.

For example, consider the business program at Boston University. The online MBA program currently has a total fee of $12,000. In comparison, the traditional MBA degree at the same educational institution charges $61,000 in tuition. 

Hybrid Distance Education Appeals To Different Learning Styles

Hybrid distance education programs – a combination of in person and online options – is another benefit of adding online education to your institution. With a digital option, you can increase access to instruction. This option is especially important for faculty and students in high cost of living areas like the University of London.

Further, hybrid learning experiences can better use online tools like Arena Live Chat. Offering these kinds of real time apps makes the learning process more flexible. For example, some students may feel shy about raising their hand in hand. Some students may feel more articulate and comfortable writing out their questions in a chat bot. 

What Are The Different Types of Distance Learning?

Now that you know why distance learning is beneficial, what are your options to add it to your educational programs? There are three broad strategies to leverage distance education technologies.

Online School / Online College (i.e. 100% Digital)

The first path is to embrace a fully digital experience. In essence, this approach is the digital update to correspondence courses of the past. This type of education works in many disciplines like the humanities, arts and some social sciences. However, it is less suitable to areas like medicine and science. For example, it would quite challenging for Harvard Medical School to offer 100% remote education experiences to aspiring physicians.

Making the move to a fully digital college courses will likely require offering faculty development programs. Otherwise, student success may suffer. 

Hybrid Education

Hybrid education is the process of aiming to combine online courses with traditional in person courses. There are various ways to bring this combined approach to life. For example, you might offer two sections of the same course: one remote and another for on campus students. 

Alternatively, you might choose to offer virtual office hours. 

Striking a balance between in person class time, reasonable class size and using a variety of digital tools can be difficult. Regular surveys of faculty and students can help to ensure that education experiences are handled effectively.

Ad Hoc Access To Instruction

Some institutions aren’t ready to a remote education to their core educational experience. Another option is to take a bare-bones approach: use distance online education in a limited way. For example, your college writing center or math support might provide virtual drop in hours where students can get access to learner support.

In addition, you can use virtual learning tools as a way to provide access to external resources like videos or discussion boards. This ad hoc, limited approach also means minimal demands on campus support staff.

Steps to Creating Your Distance Online Education Program 

Even as the COVD-19 threat fades away, offering various forms of distance learning is worthwhile. Increased affordability and flexibility are some of the key benefits of distance learning.

Step 1: Assess Your Institution’s Goals and Challenges

Like decisions around class size and evaluations of instruction, adding distance learning to your school takes careful thought. 

Faculty Capabilities

Explore the faculty time investments required to convert in person courses to a virtual format. Don’t assume faculty digital fluency levels are all at the same level. Faculty support teams, especially when leveraging new technology, can play a critical role. 

Supports For Students

In addition, examine your current ecosystem of learner supports like tutors, librarians and other services to evaluate if they are ready for a digital world.

Student Body Profile

Finally, look at your institution’s history. There’s a big difference between a college that has had generation of distance education experience like Athabasca University and a college new to this challenge. Check whether your students include a significant number of parents or working professionals who may need different help from campus support teams.

Step 2: Select Your Distance Education Platform

Selecting the right mix of educational technology often ranks as one of the top challenges for institutions. The specific mix of tools you select will depend on the educational delivery modes you have adopted.

In general, there are a few types of tools required to provide an effecting educational experience to students.

  • Learning management systems (LMS). This is the online tool where faculty can boost additional resources, respond to discussion questions and accept homework.
  • Video conferencing tool. Video calls are a crucial tool in many types of courses, especially courses that emphasize discussions and debates.
  • Real time engagement tools. Adopting tools like Arena Live Chat or Live Blog go a long way toward making students feel more engaged in the learning process.

You will find a good example in Pecege Institute. It leverages Live Chat to keep students and educators engaged for its own online courses and white label products to its business clients.

Step 3: Create Your Distance Education Plan

The next step is to engage your faculty members, students and other stakeholders to discuss what kinds of courses to offer in a remote format. Use the following prompts to identify courses and programs suitable for online learning:

  • What courses and programs are unsuitable for online learning (e.g. medicine and science courses requiring lab work)?
  • What types of courses have been successfully offered online in other colleges?
  • What courses are students and faculty most interested in offering in a virtual format (e.g. the business school might already have part time commuter students who would love an online option)?

Step 4: Set Up Your Learning Support Team

Once you have a clear picture of which courses will be offered in an online format, set up your support staff. At a minimum, it is best to have a team of educational technology specialists on call to provide support. Ideally, the support team will also contribute suggestions to help faculty find success.

Step 5: Launch Your Online Education Course

With the preparations in place, invite your faculty members to start building their course in your institution’s learning management system. When you first launch remote learning, it’s normal to experience some glitches. It’s all part of the remote learning experience!

Step 6: Assess The Remote Learning Experience For 

As an educational institution, it’s vital to learn from your own experience. To that end, set up surveys with each course to find out what worked and what could be improved. For example, you might find that some students wanted more opportunities to ask questions and fewer long course videos.

Keep Teacher-Student Interaction At The Heart Of Education

As we conclude, it’s worth remembering that college and university is fundamentally a social experience. Students sign up for courses because they want the chance to make friends, learn from respected teachers and join an interesting community. To that end, your suite of educational technology needs to support interaction. Find out how Arena’s educational solutions enrich your courses and programs with deeper student engagement. 

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3 Ways To Grow Revenue With Customer Data

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The Metaverse is an exciting new development for marketers and brands. Creating immersive experiences and mixed reality experiences on metaverse platforms means a greater opportunity to deliver a personalized experience to customers. 

In the short term, the metaverse customer experience will likely require a virtual showroom, a virtual reality headset, and other resources to create a compelling digital realm. Right now, online games are dominating this type of Internet experience but that will change over time. Arena has this great article with tips to set you up for the metaverse.

Three Ways To Grow Revenue With A Metaverse Concept

Before investing significant resources in interactive content and virtual environments, let’s get clear on the business value of the metaverse. This type of virtual space is at an early stage of development but business leaders have already found a few opportunities.

1. Entertainment

Online games and extended reality – remember the Pokemon Go craze of 2016? – are the first way brands can earn revenue from digital reality. For example, gaming technology companies are already working on creating entertainment experiences for online avatars. Gaming isn’t right for every brand, however.

2. Sell Digital Products

Creating a highly entertaining consumer experience isn’t your only option. You can also offer digital products like non-fungible tokens (NFTs). For example, imagine creating exclusive NFTs and other virtual products to celebrate a product launch. 

3. Augment Your Marketing Strategies

Immediate revenue generation may not be your primary focus. Instead, you can use the digital environment to grow customer loyalty or better understand your prospects. Increasingly, concerns over privacy rights mean brands have to work harder to convince brands to share data. Offering a novel experience, even a straightforward virtual mall, is a powerful way to get started.

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In the rest of this post, we’ll focus on the third strategy – using the metaverse to boost your marketing strategies – since that approach is relevant to most brands.

Why Do You Need A CDP In The Metaverse?

There is a lot of hype around metaverse technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality, and virtual worlds. Video game and entertainment companies are early adopters of the Metaverse because there is an easy fit with their business model. If you’re not in the entertainment business, the metaverse is still relevant as a way to enhance your marketing.

Driving business results from the metaverse becomes far easier when you use a Customer Data Platform (CDP). There is no simple way to track which customers and prospects engage with metaverse content without it. 

Integrating a metaverse concept with your customer data platform is the best way to go. In this situation, you can track user activity from your website, the metaverse, and elsewhere. You’re able to measure what kind of people find your metaverse content engaging. Most importantly, you get faster feedback on user behavior. That means you can iterate and optimize your metaverse experiences faster and reach your return on investment goals.

Attaining a profitable metaverse experience starts with creating the proper foundation. Before you purchase virtual reality hardware or consulting, set up your customer data platform foundation first.

Preparing For A Profitable Metaverse Experience

Use these tips to get ready for the Metaverse. The first few steps of the plan do not directly involve the Metaverse by design. Jumping into a metaverse experience without first establishing a foundation is a recipe for wasting time and money.

1. Review Your Marketing Goals and Key Performance Indicators

Start with your marketing goals and KPIs in mind before everything else. Your goals will likely include the following:

  • Lead Generation. You may have a defined KPI like the number of marketing qualified leads (MQLs), email subscribers, app installs, or free trial sign-ups.
  • Audience Growth and Engagement. For most companies, this goal indirectly contributes to lead generation.
  • Sales. Ecommerce companies may be focused on metrics like average order value and customer lifetime value.

Once you have your goals in mind, let’s look at how your customer data supports those goals.

2. Assess Your Customer Data

There are three dimensions to assess your current customer data: quantity, quality, and utility. By optimizing all of these factors, you can grow faster.

  • Customer Data Quantity. Count the number of customer profiles you have in your databases. Ensure you check all of your tools and apps like email, customer relationship management, and live chat.
  • Customer Data Quality. The quality of your customer data also matters. For example, do you have processes to test the data? Remove duplicates and errors? Without quality control, it won’t be easy to run effective campaigns.
  • Customer Data Utility. This dimension refers to the capacity of your organization to use customer data to achieve your goals. Using Arena CDP, you can see your customer data from multiple sources in a single place, making the data much more valuable.

3. Analyze Your Content and Engagement

Engaging content and ideas are crucial to achieving success in the Metaverse. You can save time in the content creation process by reviewing your current performance. Use the following techniques to identify high-performing content.

  • Website Analytics. Check which content has the most page views and user engagement. Based on these insights, you can come up with ideas for metaverse experiences.
  • Customer Feedback. Survey customers about which content they are most interested in.
  • Social Media Analytics. Measure the number of likes, comments, and other engagement factors on your main social media accounts.

From the above sources, you should be able to come up with at least 5-10 ideas that can inform your approach to the Metaverse.

4. Set Up A Customer Data Platform On Your Website

The next step is to set up a customer data platform on your website. Leveraging Arena Personas makes it easy to create a single customer profile that covers Google Analytics, Facebook, chat, mobile and other platforms. Adding it to your CDP will lay a good foundation for your metaverse marketing program.

5. Add Live Chat To Your Website

Once your customer data platform is fully set up, it is crucial to make your website more interactive. To achieve that goal, consider installing Arena Live Chat. Live Chat is valuable because it makes it easier for customers to ask questions and get answers fast. Most users can install Arena Live Chat in 5-10 minutes.

6. Test Metaverse Content Ideas Through Virtual Events

At this point, you are ready to start your metaverse experience planning process. You have a strong marketing foundation in place. In addition, going through step 3 should have given a few ideas of the kinds of content your customers are most interested in.

Now, start planning a virtual event experience with metaverse technologies. To inspire your approach, seek inspiration from these events in the metaverse.

  • Augmented World Expo USA (June 2022). With 5,000 attendees, this event explores the metaverse from several angles. Look into the event’s speakers to see some of the newest trends.
  • Metaverse Global Congress (June 2022). Based in San Jose, the Congress event covers experiential marketing, monetization, and training topics. The Congress event also includes events aimed at metaverse beginners.

7. Create A Metaverse Pilot Project

Now you are ready to start preparing metaverse pilot project ideas. Most companies find it easier to enter the Metaverse on an event basis. That is the approach that we recommend as well. Designing a metaverse experience that runs for a few hours to a few days is much more manageable.

8. Enhance The Conference Experience.

You may already be planning an event or company conference. In that case, look for ways to bring some of your panels or discussions into the metaverse context.

9. Experiment With Gaming Style Experiences

Gaming companies have the most experience in creating metaverse experiences. Therefore, creating a branded game could be a simple way to get started. For example, a homeware company might work with; The Knights of Unity to create a branded experience. The company has created a virtual world where users can buy, build and decorate homes.

10. Experiment With Exclusive Products

Earlier, we mentioned the example of Gucci selling exclusive products through the Metaverse. If your company has a new product release planned, launching the product through a metaverse world might help to generate additional excitement.

Once you have selected your metaverse idea, you can move ahead to launch the event.

11. Run The Event

Thoroughly planning a metaverse event goes beyond the scope of this post. Instead, we are going to focus on the marketing implications. Before, during, and after the event, users should have multiple opportunities to visit your website, ask for more information and make purchases. All of this activity should be tracked through your customer data platform so that you can follow up afterward.

In addition, your customers may need additional support because the Metaverse is still relatively new. For example, customers may have difficulties using virtual reality hardware. In this case, providing technical support on your website with Arena Live Chat is smart. Otherwise, confused customers may give up and leave your event if they cannot get the support they need.

12. Evaluate The Metaverse Event With Your Customer Data Platform

Finally, take some time to evaluate the metaverse event using your customer data platform. Refer back to the marketing goals and key performance indicators you outlined in step one of this process. If you did not generate new leads or sales, you have achieved other benefits like increased loyalty.

Lay Your Metaverse Foundation With Arena Personas Today

Whether you join the Metaverse today or in a few years, it is vital to act now to prepare for the event. Arena Personas helps you to create data-driven user profiles so that you can fine-tune your CDP towards marketing.

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Drive Player Engagement With In-Game Chat

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Social gaming is becoming popular with today’s social players. The days of being forced to play video games by yourself are over. Today’s social players have other options. Many gaming platforms have added text-based chat, voice chat, and other game communication options.

6 Popular Online Games With In-Game Chat

The best way to how the gaming industry is using chat messages, private chat, and more is to take a look at some of the most popular games. 

1. Facebook Gaming

Facebook Gaming launched in 2020, and it has quickly become one of the most popular choices for social players. Today, Facebook Gaming supports many of the most popular titles in the gaming industry like Grand Theft Auto V, PUBG Mobile, Garena Free Fire, and Mobile Legends. The platform supports both PC and mobile device games at this time.

Facebook Gaming is successfully driving higher engagement in a few ways. The platform features games that are already popular. The top three most popular games on the platform have 40 million followers. In addition, the platform supports gaming tournaments and charity events. These 

So far, Facebook Gaming appears to be offered as a free service, but that is likely to change in the future. Facebook will likely add advertising in some form to their game chat solution.

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2. Ludo King

Ludo King approaches in-game chat very differently from others in the gaming industry. The game emphasizes voice chat and encourages users to interact socially. Inspired by a board game, the Android app has hundreds of millions of downloads. To use the voice chat feature, players must watch videos.

The Ludo King approach to the game chat experience is different. The game essentially restricts access to the chat feature until users perform a specific action (i.e., watching videos). Other game developers use a similar strategy – restrict access to gaming content until players watch ads. 

Keep in mind that Ludo King had a few specific advantages that made their approach work. First, the game is based on appealing to a community of players filled with nostalgia for a childhood game. Second, the app has a more extensive user base. 

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3. Fortnite

Fortnite has a strong commitment to social interactions. The app has granular voice settings where users can control whether they speak to the public, friends, or private. In addition, the real-time chat has moderation capabilities so that you can kick out of mute other players.

In addition to text chat, Fortnite partnered with Houseparty to offer video chat to players. However, this specific video chat feature was removed in 2021. According to TechCrunch coverage, Fortnite appears to be moving toward metaverse technology instead.

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4. Call of Duty

Call of DuTy has earned a large following of online players since it was first released in 2003. The action game often involves teamwork to achieve missions. To coordinate these interactions, the platform required a game chat solution. 

In Call of Duty, your interaction with your game friends can take a few forms., You can use a text chat window to interact with other players. Some players use game voice chat to speak with their players. Offering both chat options is smart because unexpected voice chat issues can strike at any time.

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5. Roblox

With more than one hundred million players, Roblox is one of the most successful gaming platforms. The company encourages third-party game developers to create new experiences for players. Roblox operates based on a freemium business model like many other gaming platforms. Obtaining Robux, a type of in-game currency, is required to access many of the platform’s advanced features.

Roblox offers a powerful in-game chat for players. Users can create custom chat groups, send private messages, and chat during gameplay. The Roblox chat interface shows which experience users are involved in to encourage further interaction. That’s a powerful way to use a chat interface to encourage more app usage.  

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6. Lady Popular

Launched in 2009, Lady Popular is an online game aimed mainly at girls and women. Lady Popular is a dress-up fashion game where the player decides the clothes, makeup, accessories, and other aspects of their character’s appearance. 

Lady Popular users also have an online chat room where you can invite other users into chat rooms. Some users have commented about a poorly moderated chat experience, including bullying. Offering a welcoming chat experience that protects users is challenging for every game platform.

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In-Game Chat Vs. Third-Party Chat

In-game chat is popular with gaming communities. Building an in-game chat experience may not be the focus of your game. Other developers may prioritize the development of in-game chat experiences.

Consider the following questions to help you decide whether to focus on in-game chat or third-party chat experiences.

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1. What social interactions are users asking you to build?

Check specialized forums, Reddit, and other sources to get a sense of the social features that players are most interested in.

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2. How will you approach the chat moderation issue?

Like it or not, online bullying and abusive behavior are common problems. According to some studies, over 70% of students have suffered cyberbullying. Choosing a chat app like Arena Live Chat can help because it includes content moderation features.

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3. What type of chat – text, voice, or video – does your game need?

There are three popular types of chat available today: text, voice, and video chat. While video chat and audio have a lot to offer, they are not always ideal for gaming. Your users might find audio and video chat distracting. It is wise to offer text chat as a choice for your in-game chat. 

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The Easy Way To Add Chat To Your Business

Building chat features into your game may be challenging if you already have a complex user interface. There are other ways to offer chat to your users, however. You can install live chat directly to your website with Arena Live Chat. It takes just a few minutes to get set up. You can use chat to support players and host events to bring your community together.

9 steps to implementing successful Content Walls

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Even though content walls sound conceptually simple, building them requires you to sit down and align the content strategy with editors and content producers and with design, IT, and social media teams.

Implement successful Content Walls using these steps 

1. Create a publishing plan for your content walls

An excellent editorial plan for a content wall should have a mix of timely and “evergreen” content. 

Timely content means “breaking news” – topics people are excited about this month. For example, a sports publisher might feature interviews with a sports team after they win a major championship.

In comparison, evergreen content are topics that are likely to be relevant for months or years to come. For example, an evergreen content idea might include spring cleaning tips in a lifestyle publication.

2. Research content ideas

For your content wall to succeed, it needs to offer interesting content that your audience is interested in. To give your content the best chance of succeeding, use research tools to get new ideas. Here are three free Google tools you can use.

Google Trends – see what topics people are searching for! Remember to try several variations on your keywords (i.e. not just “laptops” but also “personal computers”)

Google Alerts – set up alerts for topics relevant to your website or publication. 

Google Keyword Planner – this free tool is created for advertisers who want to advertise products and services on Google. However, you can also use this tool to estimate how many people are interested in different keywords.

After using these tools, your team can prioritize content that will go on the content wall and even have ideas for new content sections. 

Tip: Get inspiration from your competition 

You don’t have to work from a blank page. Take a look at your top 3-4 competitors and see what kidneys of content they are publishing. Use a tool like BuzzSumo to see which content has gone viral on social media.

Once you spot some interesting ideas, look for ways to add your own perspective to it. For example, can you offer your audience more recent data, better photos or approach the topic from a different angle? 

Let’s say you run an entertainment news website. You use BuzzSumo and see that a  competitor create an article on the richest actors in America. There are plenty of ways you could approach that idea with a new angle. For instance, you might focus on the most successful standup comedians, athletes or simply look at a different country (e.g. the most successful  British actors)

3. Repurpose your existing content

Creating some original content for your content wall is smart, but you can also repurpose existing content. Let’s say you are creating a content wall for the most popular golf courses in America. You might already have photos and articles on five great golf courses. In that case, adapt those existing content assets and put them into your content wall.

Tip: To maximize your SEO traffic, avoid copying and pasting older content entirely. Instead, take a few minutes to update any content that was published over a year ago before putting it in your content wall.

4. Be thoughtful about content categorization 

Clear categorization of content is a key reason why content wall is valuable. So, spend some time think about the best categories for your content wall. Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind.

Start with audience interests

Whether you use surveys, online analytics or other means, use content categories that match the words that your audience uses. IF your audience loves to use specialized jargon, then use those terms on your content wall.

Adjust to fit your capacity and business goals.

A content wall can be take hours or weeks to create depending on its complexity. When you first get started with a content wall, we recommend keeping it simple. Start with three to five categories.

As you finish your content wall plan, verify that your concept advances your business goals. If you need to maximize user time on site to grow ad revenue, keep in mind the topics and feedback you receive from advertisers. If you are focused on lead generation, make sure there is some space for lead generation calls to action inside the content wall.

5. Choose a flexible content management tool

Publishing content walls gets much easier when you have the right tool. The content management system (CMS) you choose should support multiple users (i.e. several journalists and editors at the same time). In addition, the CMS should make it easy to plan, create, publish, and update content.

If you’re building a short list of content management systems to run your content wall, make sure you include the Arena Content Wall.

6. Pay attention to design and usability

A content wall features many different pieces of content. Without proper design and usability, it is easy for your users to get lost and confused. 

To maximize engagement, keep in mind that your content wall should be easy to skim. Generally, the fewer clicks it takes to get to the content from the homepage, the better. You want people to find it quickly so they stay on your site longer. 

In terms of design, take inspiration from digital magazines and social media feeds. While these sources can give you inspiration, your content wall should also match your brand’s look and feel.

7. Track your critical business KPIs

After you build and publish your content wall, measure your key marketing metrics to see if it is resonating with your market. In particular, check the following metrics.

Unique visitors

Track how many visitors check out the content wall and compare this to other parts of your website.

Traffic source

Monitor how you are getting visitors to the content wall (i.e. social media mentions, links on other websites etc).

User behavior

Find out what else website visitors do after seeing your content wall. For example, you might want visitors to sign up for email updates. If most users leave your website immediately after viewing your content wall, you may want revisit and update your links and navigation.

8. Work on personalization

Besides having an exciting content wall that looks appealing to a heterogeneous audience, publishers should find tools that recognize each person and provide personalized experiences based on their unique interests and navigation patterns. 

After categorizing content contextually, it’s time to design targeted experiences around it. For instance, they could involve personalized messages, push notifications, or a personalized newsletter for clusters of customers. By addressing each customer’s specific interests, you can boost engagement and customer loyalty.

9. Optimize distribution

Now that you’ve created your content walls, it is essential to market them in different distribution channels. Your team should consider different profiles of customers and the stage of their relationship with your brand. Are they already subscribers? Have they just accessed your website for the first time? Different stages require different approaches, but some strategies can work across different profiles. 

Internal links

Your website should have a healthy number of links pointing people toward your content wall. Internal links show your audience and search engines that your content is essential.

Referral Traffic

Contacting other websites to tell them about your new content wall is a great way to gain traffic today and build relationships for the future. Your team can build relationships with sites and brands that share an expected audience with your company, to drive referral traffic to your website through their channels as well.

Partnerships and endorsements

Endorsements and partnerships might be tricky for publishers because they need editorial independence. However, sponsorships are not always harmful. Imagine a newspaper that has an entrepreneurship section on a content wall. Why not have a rising startup endorse and promote the section in their channels during an arranged period? The partner will undoubtedly be happy to be featured in the paper, while it can get new sources of traffic.

Paid media 

If you want to reach audiences outside your existing customer base, it might be interesting to invest in social ads targeted at specific communities you want to attract. Keep in mind that paid media promotion can be very costly so you may only want to invest in this type of distribution for your most impressive content walls.

Conclusion

Content walls are a powerful way to attract visitors from the search engines and keep your audience engaged. Use the tips in this guide to plan a content wall that drives your business forward. 

To get started with content walls, check out Arena’s Content Wall solution.

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Top Digital Agency Tools for 2024

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Digital agencies use several different marketing strategies to reach audiences and convert them into paying customers. As a result, companies have developed intuitive marketing tools to help agencies achieve their goals. 

To help you learn more about search engine optimization (SEO), live chat, email marketing, and social media marketing tools, we created a guide to the best digital agency tools available.

Essential SEO Tools for Digital Agencies

SEO can be used to attract quality traffic and increase organic search rankings without paying for ads. However, improving your SEO takes time and can be intimidating for beginners. The following are the best solutions for websites looking to enhance their SEO. 

SEMRush

SEMRush is an SEO tool that can run SEO audits of your website, track competitor keyword strategies, conduct keyword research, and identify backlinking opportunities. 

The tool is used by 30% of Fortune 500 companies, and it has won several awards for one of the top SEO tools for agencies. 

If you’re unsure how to improve your strategy, SEMRush gives you actionable recommendations for improving SEO, advertising, and content marketing. 

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is one of the best solutions for websites that need an all-in-one SEO tool. The tool is used by companies like eBay, Facebook, Uber, and Shopify to enhance their SEO. 

Ahrefs helps marketers optimize their website, analyze competitors, understand what customers are searching for, study their industry’s best performing content, and track ranking progress. 

When users sign up for Ahrefs, they gain access to a community of 10,000 SEO marketers to share ideas and ask questions. 

Moz Pro

Moz Pro is an SEO toolset that can help you with site audits, rank tracking, backlink analysis, and keyword research. Users can track their traffic-driving keywords across over 170 search engines. 

It’s also one of the best tools for digital agencies that are new to SEO because it provides a free SEO learning center, blog, on-demand webinars, and how-to guides. 

Top Live Chat Tools 

Setting up live chat systems can help digital agencies improve engagement and interaction with their customers. Failing to provide a website chat widget can cause users with questions to bounce quickly. To prevent this from happening, consider adding one of the following tools to create a live chat website. 

Arena Live Chat

Arena Live Chat is one of the finest live chat systems for engaging your audience. With this unique tool, digital marketers can build a live chat website with dedicated Q&A, direct messages, conversion cards, and more. 

By creating a chat website with Arena, marketers can quickly answer customer questions, use polls to better understand their audience, and create group chats that let users interact with each other. 

Arena’s website chat widget can be added to any site, and it is compatible with desktop and mobile devices. The tool has been used by thousands of companies, including Vans, Microsoft and Fox Sports to create an effective live chat website, stand out from competitors, and improve their bottom line. 

Arena also has Live Blog and Customer Data Platform (CDP) solutions.  

Zendesk

Zendesk offers users a website chat widget best for improving customer service. It made our list as one of the best live chat systems because of its proactive messaging feature and third-party integrations. 

Users can send outbound notifications on their chat website to address customer concerns before they arise. Users can also add custom bots, live location maps, and other messaging integrations to their live chat website. 

Freshdesk

Freshdesk lets users create an automatic chat website that connects users to agents, guides customers to solutions, and answers support questions. 

The tool can be used over several different channels including Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, iMessage, and more. Users also have access to AI-powered chatbots to decrease customer support costs and provide instant solutions. 

Top Email Marketing Tools for Digital Agencies

According to a study done by Campaign Monitor, email marketing drives $44 for every $1 spent. Marketers can use email marketing to nurture leads, create email campaigns, follow up with customers, and more. The following are the best email marketing tools for agencies. 

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is one of the best solutions for websites looking to advertise via email. The tool lets marketers create visually appealing emails by coding their own emails or using one of its templates. 

Mailchimp users benefit from one of the highest delivery rates in the industry. Its Subject Line Helper provides feedback on optimizing email subject lines and preview text. It also has a Customer Journey Builder that sends emails based on customer interactions and behavior.

HubSpot Email Marketing

HubSpot Email Marketing is a tool for creating, optimizing, and personalizing marketing emails. Marketers can use subscriber information like list membership and lifecycle stage to create personalized emails that get more opens and click throughs. 

Its A/B tests and analytics help users identify email content and subject lines that have the most engagement. It also provides email templates that include call-to-actions, branding, and customized layouts. 

SendGrid

SendGrid is an email delivery service that is used by more than 80,000 customers to send over 90 billion emails every month. 

Companies like Spotify and Airbnb use the service to send promotional emails, password resets, shopping notifications, and email newsletters. 

Marketers can use SendGrid to measure marketing results, create time-based email drip campaigns, and automate recurring emails. 

Leading Social Media Management Tools

The exponential rise of social media has created a huge opportunity for digital agencies. Companies can use helpful tools to advertise on social media giants like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Consider adding the following tools to your social media marketing toolkit. 

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is an all-in-one social media management platform that lets users schedule and publish content across multiple channels. Users can uncover trends, hashtags, and the best opportunities for improving their marketing strategy. 

The platform lets marketers create content schedules, uncover customer trends, and streamline social monitoring. It also includes a Smart Inbox, allowing users to view and respond to all social media messages from one place. 

Buffer

Buffer is the best social media marketing tool for smaller agencies. The tool lets users track engagement rates, optimal post frequency, and most effective post types through its social media analytics. 

With Buffer, users can create scheduled social media campaigns and quickly respond to customer questions. It also includes analytics for tracking engagement rate, reach, likes, impressions, and more. 

Loomly

Loomly lets marketers publish, measure, and collaborate on social media marketing campaigns. The tool integrates with 14 different social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. 

This tool provides ideas for content to post, post optimization tips, automated publishing, and advanced analytics. Loomly has been used by over 14,000 marketing teams to improve their social media marketing campaigns. 

How Leveraging the Right Tools Helps Digital Agencies Build Stronger Communities

Leveraging the right tools is essential for digital agencies to build and nurture communities more effectively. Tools like Arena Community, a no-code solution that can be embedded in any website, simplify community management and enhance engagement by integrating seamlessly into digital marketing strategies.

Betting on an easy-to-use platform can be a great way of streamlining digital marketing strategies. Without the need to write a single line of code, digital agencies can deploy several creative projects for their customers and produce content at full speed, driving better results and focusing on growing vibrant and engaged communities.

Conclusion

We created this guide to help digital agencies find the best solution for their needs. Whether you need help with SEO, live chat, email marketing, social media marketing, or community building, there are plenty of available to cater to your every need.

Take a look at Arena’s solutions for creating communities around any media channel or event.

The best Live Chat for business: a definitive guide

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Companies are continually battling to improve their audience engagement and offer more dynamic experiences for their customers. As a result, Live Chat solutions have increasingly been used to strengthen the relationship between customers and brands.

Live Chat is a tool that allows customers to send messages to each other, answer polls, ask questions, and interact with a company while browsing products and viewing content. 

Traditionally used to enhance the customer support experience, Live Chat has grown into something much more. Live Chat can also be used to enhance audience engagement by letting users interact in real-time, partake in relevant conversations, and share their opinions. 

When used for customer support, Live Chat quickly connects customers to support agents. But seeing the need for more user interaction, the role of Live Chat changed.

The community effect is more than conceptual, it is present live, at the time of purchase. Engagement with the public allows for better interaction between users and companies.

Today, Live Chat is used strategically to increase audience engagement. Companies can even set up live group chat rooms and create a community on their website, leading to a more favorable shopping experience.

Use cases for Live Chat:

The top criteria for selecting the best Live Chat Tool

Ok, so you have decided that it’s time to adopt a Live Chat solution to increase audience engagement, support your service or content operation, and of course, help and delight your customers. There are dozens of software options in the market, so how can you choose what best suits your business needs?

Different Live Chat tools come with varying options of setting and functionalities, so you should be aware of key existing features and best practices for Live Chat to make a more assertive choice. 

People are used to having hybrid conversations on a daily basis and sending pictures and videos all the time to their friends and family. So why should communication with brands and other users be any different?

By choosing the right Live Chat software, you’ll let customers seamlessly interact with each other and your company like never before. Absorbing these formats makes interactions more fluid and can help resolve requests faster since customers can send pictures related to products and services.

We have prepared a list of features to consider when choosing a Live Chat solution for your company. Check it out:

1) Direct Messaging

All Live Chat software should have a direct messaging feature. This lets users share their ideas about trending topics, live streaming, and live events. It also gives your brand a way to build relationships with customers. 

2) Social Features

Some Live Chat solutions offer GIFs, reactions, emojis and social features such as “like” buttons, which make the conversation more fun by simulating social networks. They can be great for companies that want to create a more personalized Live Chat experience. 

3) Group Live Chat

Companies that organize live events, conferences, and live transmissions should consider Live Group Chat as a channel to bring together the audience – where they can discuss your content in a real-time forum. 

Live Group Chat gives companies more ownership of their audience while allowing people to chat in their channels instead of social media, for example. Ultimately, it can boost engagement and time spent on your website. Brans like Vans, for instance, use Arena Live Chat to retain users longer in their website.

To organize the conversations, it’s helpful to find a tool that can categorize topics into separate channels. Find a Live Chat tool that can integrate with your broadcast or live stream event. 

4) Advanced Tools

Some Live Chat tools include advanced features for engaging your audience and making sales. 

To increase conversion rates, a conversion cards feature lets you add several calls to action in your chats. These can include product photos, pricing details, or sign-up links. 

Other features like polls allow you to gather user data and understand their viewpoint. Simply ask a question, create a few preset answers, and see which one generates the best results. 

A dedicated Q&A tool encourages users to ask questions and lets you answer them. This will encourage more user interaction and can keep users on your Live Chat longer. 

5) Integrations with third-party business software

Messaging app integration is one thing, but even more importantly, you should look for solutions that integrate into your business and analytics software. 

Live Chat tools don’t just work on their own, they offer better results when integrated to Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Customer Data Platforms (CDP), Customer Management Systems (CMS), and sales automation software, for instance.

Such integrations allow you to have a unified view of the customer and manage leads without leaving the chat interface – checking information about customers’ profile and sales records. 

6) Mobile app integration

Many companies bet on Live Chat only for websites. According to a study pulled from Google Analytics’ Benchmarking Feature, 68.1% of global website traffic in 2020 came from mobile users. 

Among the benefits of mobile app integration is the possibility to track customers on the go with geo-localization tools, for example, and better understand their mobile behavior. 

7) Pricing

Another major factor is pricing. Some tools might seem super complete, but their pricing is impractical depending on the size and scope of your business. Analyzing key engagement metrics and the aspects you wish to improve is a great way to understand your needs and find a tool with compatible pricing.

8) Analytics Tools

A good pack of Live Chat essential features also include analytics integration and monitoring of visitor details, average time spent on sessions, chat history, etc. Some platforms even allow you to generate reports on the sales that were assisted by chat, which helps in monitoring and improving customer care strategies. 

9) Brand Customization

It is important that the Live Chat you choose has good customization options. Just like other touchpoints with the customer, Live Chat should be consistent with your brand’s identity and color palette, so make sure you pick a solution that offers enough widgets to give your chat the right look.

10) Scalable Chat

For enterprise businesses and companies that want to offer massive Live Group Chat sessions, like publishers and live events companies, it’s important to have scale. If you want to gather multiple people in a chat session, you should choose a solution that can handle chatrooms with sometimes hundreds of thousands of concurrent users.

11) Security

One of the most important aspects to check with Live Chat vendors is security. Does the Live Chat have an active firewall and data backup? What are the infrastructure and privacy policies like? Are security issues related to the chat handled in house or by the vendor?

You should always make a risk analysis regarding data breaches and cyber-attacks before purchasing any software, and it wouldn’t be any different when purchasing a Live Chat tool.  

12) Spam Control and Shadow Banning

Live Chat is about being customer-centric, engaging customers, and helping solve their doubts, but it is not free of spams and abusive messages. Especially when it comes to open Live Group Chats, like the ones used by publishers and live broadcasters, it is vital to have a solution that automatically spots and bans spam and flooding messages.

13) Integrations with messaging apps

Some Live Chat solutions offer integrations with messaging apps beyond your website, like with messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, Telegram, WhatsApp, and other social media messaging apps.

By integrating other communication channels into Live Chat, it’s easier to deliver contextual support without the customer having to move across different platforms and making the same requests repeatedly. 

A study from Aberdeen Group shows that companies can retain 89% of their customers by offering consistent service quality across multiple channels, while companies that don’t do that have only a 33% retention rate.

14) Cloud or on-premise deployment

Your company should also decide if the Live Chat system will be cloud-hosted (on a third party server) or installed on-premise (a dedicated server maintained by your IT department). 

Cloud-hosted systems are more friendly and flexible to the operations team. However, if you want to keep all data and information within your company, then you can choose an on-premise deployment. 

15. Level of proactivity

A Live Chat tool can be reactive, a window that is just there waiting for visitors to click on it. Or, it can offer settings for proactive communication, such as automated personalized messages to engage users in different moments. 

Even though it’s interesting to have Live Chat as a non-intrusive channel for the customer, you should have the option to personalize messages in the chat window according to visitors’ navigation patterns and behavioral indicators. 

Want to test Live Chat on your business?

If you want to test Live Chat Solutions, Arena has one of the most complete options on the market, and the best thing is that you can try it for free!

What the Rise of Streaming Means For Your Business

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The rise of streaming is changing the world of entertainment and news. Traditional broadcasters and studios are quickly losing ground in revenue, awards, and innovations to streaming services. Streaming services now seem so familiar that it is easy to forget how new they are.

The Rise of Streaming By The Numbers

The following numbers put the rise of streaming services into context.

2007

In 2007, Netflix launched its streaming service and quickly became one of the most successful entertainment brands. The arrival of near-universal broadband services in the US (47% in 2007 and 77% in 2021, according to the Pew Research Center) made modern streaming reliable and convenient.

$47 Spent Per Household on Streaming Services

Netflix might have an early mover advantage, but that edge is fading. According to Variety, the average US household spends $47 per month on streaming. Over the past decade, millions of Americans have ‘cut the cord’ and no longer subscribe to traditional cable TV packages.

Streaming Services Spend Billion On Original Programming

In the first streaming era, providers largely focused on licensing existing content. Unfortunately, licensed content doesn’t stay on your platform forever – “The Office” famously left Netflix recently. 

The second era of streaming – investing in original programming – emerged over the past decade. According to Variety, Netflix spent approximately $13 billion on new content in 2021, 26% more than in 2020. They’re not the only streamer investing in original content – Amazon spent $13 billion on video and music content in 221, up from $11 billion spent in 2020. If spending on original content is a predictor of streaming success, then watch Disney+, which plans to spend over $33 billion on original content in 2022.  

Streaming Is Taking Market Share From Cable TV 

Perhaps even more important than money, the rise of streaming has reshaped leisure time. In December 2021, Nielsen estimated that streaming services accounted for 27.7% of all-time Americans spent watching TV. 

However, there’s a good chance that the rise of streaming is even more popular because these estimates do not include ad-free streaming services like HBO Max, Hulu, or Paramount+. Traditional cable TV is still king for the 55+ demographic, but streaming services are starting to catch up quickly.

We’re Not In 2007 Anymore: Two Paths To Streaming Success

In 2007, Netflix started streaming and started to end its DVD by mail. In those early years, Netflix was almost alone in the streaming industry. That’s all changed over the past few years.

The best way to understand opportunities in the streaming industry today is to think about the famous red ocean vs. blue ocean metaphor made popular by the book Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne.

The Red Ocean of Streaming

In the red ocean of streaming, businesses will be competing directly with the likes of Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+. Success in this market requires much more than name recognition. Just take a look at the early days of CNN+, which has so far attracted less than 10,000 daily users. At this rate, signing up millions of subscribers seems unlikely.

Competing in the red ocean of streaming requires a streamer to invest heavily in big-budget productions that rival Amazon’s Lord of the Rings (production cost: $465 million for the first season) or Netflix’s avalanche of original series. 

Success in the red ocean of streaming is still possible – just take the case of Disney+ as an example. The service grew from 0 to 100 million subscribers in less than five years. However, relatively few media companies have the deep pockets and massive fan base Disney has accumulated.

Winning in the red ocean of fierce competition is still possible. But you better bring patience, a large stable of popular franchises, and billions to spend to have a chance. Those who succeed have the opportunity to build the next Netflix and win in the mass market.

The Blue Ocean of Streaming

The Blue Ocean of streaming takes a different approach from the existing giants. Instead of relying on bullion dollar budgets and franchises with an established following, the blue ocean streaming strategy looks for growth differently.

One way to implement this strategy is to build a specialized streaming service instead of chasing a mass-market audience. This approach works well for organizations that do not plan to center their business on streaming alone. In a previous post, we looked at the top 10 OTT Vimeo streaming services. These examples show how fitness companies, religious organizations, publishers, and sports broadcasters create specialized streaming services. In essence, they are creating a mini-Netflix experience to support their goals.

Offering a unique library of content is not the only way to innovate, however. Some streaming services are also looking at ways to reimagine the viewing experience. For example, sports broadcasters use live chat to invite their audiences to ask questions and connect. For more ideas on how to win with sports fans, see our post on six online events ideas for sports publishers. 

With Arena Live Chat, you can run live online events with hundreds or thousands of participants. With dedicated Q&A features, it is easy to keep track of questions and pick the best ones to address. Keep engagement high by using polls to keep your finger on the pulse of your audience’s interests. You can also use conversion cards to drive your audience to sign up for offers, draw attention to products and much more.

From Streaming To Live Events

Thriving in the age of streaming services isn’t easy. Amazing quality content is an essential part of the solution. Another key element? Offering engaging live online events to your audience – opportunities for your audience to connect and your brand more deeply. 

If your strengths lie in broadcasting and programming, your team might need support to craft a successful online event. You don’t have to start from scratch, though – download your free copy of Arena’s live events ebook to discover how to plan your next event.

Online Events Ideas For All-Hands Meetings

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Online events ideas for all-hands meetings make it easier to keep your employees aligned. Instead of a traditional event, online events allow you to optimize costs. Online events are also a key way to invite remote and hybrid employees.

What Is An All-Hands Meeting?

Think of an all-hands meeting as a crucial opportunity to bring together all employees at once. Also known as townhalls, this event includes different subjects and participants. An all-hands meeting may include a presentation from executives, a question and answer session with the CEO, and networking opportunities.

Organizing an all-hands meeting is worthwhile because it reduces misunderstandings and fosters trust. In an all-hands meeting, everyone has the chance to hear the same message from leaders at once. Meeting people from different departments and deepening relationships contributes to trust and ultimately drives higher productivity.

The Simple “Paint by Numbers” Way To Plan An All-Hands Meeting

Look at these online events ideas as different paintbrushes you can use to create images. Pick and choose from these event ideas to create variety for your employees.

1. Celebrate Wins

An all-hands meeting is a perfect setting to shine a light on your organization’s achievements. For example, the VP of Sales might recognize the highest performing sales representatives. In addition, look for ways to celebrate employees who have worked in alignment with your values (e.g., highlight a group of employees who demonstrate exceptional teamwork).

2. Plan An Ask My Anything Segment

On the website Reddit, the AMA (Ask Me Anything) segment is one of the most popular activities. Consider adopting this practice for your organization. This event is a great way to encourage leaders and employees to open up about their interests, hobbies, and lives.

Use a platform like Arena Live Chat to moderate the session to keep the questions focused.

3. Add “Breakout Room” Networking Time To Your Event

Imagine if you are one of hundreds (or thousands!) of employees attending an online all-hands meeting. You might feel disconnected, and the urge to work through a few work emails might be impossible to resist. There’s a solution to this problem.

Give employees a chance to connect using a breakout room. For the best results, there are two principles to use. Start by keeping the number of people in each room small: four to eight people per room is a good rule of thumb. Next, mix people from multiple departments and levels of seniority.

The randomness factor in a breakout room is vital. It is one of the best ways to approximate the serendipity of meeting new people in a conference room, hallway, or elevator.

4. Bring the fun! 

Traditional company townhalls are composed of two elements: presentations and question and answer sessions. In an online event, it can be challenging to stay fully engaged through multiple long presentations. That’s why adding some fun to your all-hands meeting is so important. It gives your employees a chance to relax, smile, laugh, and get to know their colleagues better.

Play a virtual trivia game.

Playing a trivia game is a great way to encourage friendly competition. Consider asking questions about company history and industry trends. A software company might pose questions like, “how many apps does our product integrate with?.” A Fortune 500 company might ask people about products (e.g., what is our best selling product in Europe?).

Add a comedy segment.

Did you know that there are leadership trainers and corporate speakers who make comedy a crucial part of their style? For inspiration, browse the comedy-centric business speakers listed on the Executive Speakers Bureau.

5. Welcome new people

Joining an organization, especially a large one, can be a scary experience. Newly hired employees are less likely to feel connected to their colleagues. You can accelerate their onboarding by rolling out the virtual welcome mat in your virtual all-hands meeting.

The way you welcome new people will partially depend on how many new hires you have to welcome. If there is a small number – say five people or less – you can invite each person to appear on video to introduce themselves. A different approach may be needed with a more significant number of new hires, like a presentation slide showing pictures of each new person.

6. Train two moderators for online events

Running a significant online event with a large audience and employee attendees means managing many moving parts. Keeping everything moving smoothly should not be taken for granted. That’s where moderators play a significant role.

For larger all-hands meetings (i.e., online events with more than 50 people), it is best to have two trained and prepared moderators. This approach means you’ll be covered in the event of illness, Internet service problems, and other problems.

Moderators can keep your event moving effectively in the following ways:

Set the event ground rules

Take a few minutes at the event’s start to review the event ground rules. For example, if the event will be recorded, make sure you tell everyone that fact at the start.

Introduce each speaker

Before a new speaker comes onto the virtual stage, introduce them briefly. Introductions help the speaker feel valued. Further, introductions help your employees put each speaker into context.

Run polls

Polls are an excellent way to gather quick feedback from your employees. Arena Live Chat makes it easy to run polls in your event.

How To Keep Employees Fascinated By Your All Hands

You can’t take employee participation in an all-hands meeting for granted. For example, sales reps might be more interested in focusing on closing deals than hearing company announcements. Likewise, software staff might be more interested in shipping new features.

The solution to these engagement challenges is twofold. Start by using the online events ideas for all hands covered above. There’s no need to start your planning process from a blank page. Once you have the right idea, it is vital to create an exciting event free of social media distractions.

Download your copy of the free Arena Live Events ebook to save time in planning your next live event experience for experiences.