Web Success Podcast - November 27, 2017



TRANSCRIPT OF THE WEB SUCCESS PODCAST (11-27-2017):

Greetings everybody; you're now listening to Website Magazine's Web Success Podcast. I'm Pete Prestipino, Founder, Editor, and analyst at the publication; and here's how the show works: Each Web Success Podcast features briefs on the most popular recent articles at WebsiteMagazine.com and addresses the most pervasive challenges faced by Internet professionals today. What we hope to accomplish in every show is to provide listeners with actionable, useful information and guidance they can use to achieve Web success. 

Today is November 27th, 2017 and this edition highlights cyber-security, video, advertising, and digital community building, so let's get started. 

The feature article in Website Magazine's upcoming December edition - which will be available later this week - takes a look at what it actually takes in a practical sense to develop and foster online communities. Last week we published a companion piece to that feature article online which showcases 25 different ways, from hashtags to push notifications, that websites can use to encourage more and better activity in their own online communities.  Website Magazine readers can find that article at WebsiteMagazine.com by searching for 25 ways to encourage activity in online communities

Cybersecurity of course remains top of mind with today's enterprises and there are some rather interesting solutions emerging.  Cloud security solution Dome9, for example, recently released Magellan, a capability of its Arc Cloud Security offering that essentially synthesizes data from a variety of sources to build contextual awareness of security in a cloud environment. Customers will be able to use the solution to detect threats and intrusions, investigate incidents, and validate adherence to compliance and policy requirements based on actual network traffic and user-triggered events.

Just as cybersecurity is top of mind today, so is advertising fraud and it appears to be worse than ever with what may ultimately be the discovery of the biggest bot network of all time.

Adtech company Adform announced the discovery of an advanced ad fraud scheme it has named "Hyphbot," which involved the creation of more than 1 million unique URLs and 34,000 domain names that tricked advertisers into believing they were purchasing real inventory from publishers. These aren't small or mid-size publishers but some of the largest and most prestigious outlets including CNN, The Economist and The Wall Street Journal. Adform suggested that the scheme is "likely the biggest bot network" to ever affect the digital ad industry. Hyphbot, in fact, may be four times the size of the Methobot network that was discovered less than one year ago. This current scheme may have generated upwards of $500,000 each day for the perpetrators. Adform revealed that the inventory targeted was predominantly video and that the primary activity began in August.

Despite the very real threat of advertising fraud, brands are still advertising and they're increasing their use of programmatic along the way. According to Publicis Groupe Zenith's recently released Programmatic Marketing Forecast, over two-thirds of all digital display advertising (67 percent) will be traded programmatically by 2019. Growing at an annual average rate of 21 percent per year currently, programmatic ad sales this year could reach nearly $58 billion. Programmatic trading is most advanced in three English-speaking markets according to the report: Canada (81 percent), the U.S. (78 percent) and the UK (77 percent). 

Content marketing has exploded in popularity (and usage) the past few years and today it is influencing nearly every facet of the enterprise. Financial-services public relations and integrated marketing firm BackBay Communication recently published a study quantifying and analyzing the use of content marketing programs and social media among the world's 200 largest asset management firms, and found that nearly 9 out of every 10 (88 percent) have implemented content strategies, leveraging multiple mediums and distribution channels. In addition to the near ubiquitous adoption of content marketing, the study revealed that video (93 percent) and regular insights or market commentaries (90 percent) are the two most common mediums employed, and that over half (51 percent) are publishing new content on at least a weekly basis.

Continuing in Website Magazine's Ask Anything About series, last week we also turned our attention to Cybersecurity. Big Commerce chief technology officer Brian Dhatt tackled some common questions about digital security, and provided some practical guidance on how retailers in particular can safeguard their websites from attack.

Hey, that's all we have for today. Thanks so much for listening to Website Magazine's Web Success Podcast.