Jack Tang — Singapore Digital Marketer

Yo that’s cool. I saw this feature added a few weeks back but first time I saw a brand utilize it.

Never knew a site like this existed but good to know!

Alt Text vs. Image Descriptions

The terms “alt text” and “image description” are often used interchangeably, but they are in fact different.

Alt text is a short, concise text description, however, you can make it longer if you want it to be more descriptive. It’s added to an image tag in the HTML code of a webpage or through a platform’s designated alt text field. While normally brief, alt text should still accurately convey the content and function of an image. It’s also commonly referred to as an “alt tag” or “alt attribute” when used in web development projects.

An image description, on the other hand, is a more detailed description of an image and it’s provided in the content of the webpage, typically near the image or as a visible caption. On a social media platform, it would be in the body of your post.

The purpose of an image description is to provide additional context and information about a visual, beyond what can be conveyed in short alt text. Image descriptions may include details such as the colors, shapes, sizes, textures, and other elements in an image, as well as its context and meaning.

In short, you should think of an image description as a more robust version of alt text. It gives additional details to create a more informative description of an image and is normally preferred to alt text when it comes to accessibility.

Let’s use the below image as an example. The alt text and image description for it would be very different.

• ‍Alt Text: Pancakes‍
• Image Description: A stack of pancakes covered in gooey syrup, powdered sugar, and fresh fruit on a white ceramic plate.

Came across an article a few months back on HBR (Does Influencer Marketing Really Pay Off?). Made me think of how differently influencers are used back in the mobile communications industry VS gaming industry.

In a nutshell this article talks about the following:

• Influencer marketing can be a powerful tool for brands, but it’s important to do it right.
• There are seven key factors that can affect the ROI of an influencer marketing campaign:
  • The size and engagement of the influencer’s audience
  • The relevance of the influencer’s content to the brand’s target audience
  • The quality of the influencer’s content
  • The authenticity of the influencer’s relationship with the brand
  • The timing of the campaign
  • The type of content that is created
  • The measurement of results
• When done correctly, influencer marketing can be a highly effective way to reach new customers, build brand awareness, and generate sales.

How exactly to do you do it right? How do you know whether your agencies are equipped with the best knowledge about what influencer suits your brand?

• Choose the right influencers. Not all influencers are created equal. When choosing influencers, it’s important to consider their audience size, engagement, and relevance to your brand.
• Set clear goals. What do you hope to achieve with your influencer marketing campaign? Do you want to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales? Once you know your goals, you can tailor your campaign accordingly.
• Create high-quality content. The content that influencers create is often what will ultimately drive engagement with your brand. Make sure that the content is high-quality and relevant to your target audience.
• Track your results. It’s important to track the results of your influencer marketing campaign so that you can see what’s working and what’s not. This will help you optimize your campaigns for future success.

I think it’s important to frame the usage of influencers in the right part of the marketing funnel. Elsewhere in the world these people are also called Key Opinion Leaders – and they should do just that. Their opinion on your product should matter. Influencers are generally used at the Awareness and Consideration stage, and should rarely be used to focus on conversions.

In the mobile industry, we use a whole variety of influencers from techfluencers (those at the forefront of tech), to photography influencers (to showcase how great your cameras are), to fashion icons (to elevate your brand just to name a few. Otherwise in gaming, you’d really want to use gaming influencers within the vertical mainly, though they can also be sub-categorized into casual streams (Let’s Players), Pro Gamers, and Content Creators (Edutainers). These are the folks that generate localised content that consumers need to watch in order to decide whether they have interest in your product, or whether it’s even worth purchasing at all.

Overall, a highly integrated 360 marketing campaign is important to cover all grounds when launching a new product.

Social live commerce is a type of e-commerce that takes place on social media platforms. It allows businesses to sell products and services to consumers in real time. This type of commerce has been growing in popularity in recent years, and it is expected to continue to grow in the years to come. Shopee Live, Lazada Live, and more recently TikTok Shops have driven the popularity across Southeast Asia.

There are a number of reasons for the growth of social live commerce. One reason is that social media platforms have made it easier for businesses to sell products and services. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have all rolled out features that make it easier for businesses to create and sell products through their platforms.

Another reason for the growth of social live commerce is that consumers are increasingly comfortable making purchases online. According to a recent study, 72% of consumers have made a purchase online in the past year. This number is expected to continue to grow in the years to come.

Social live commerce offers a number of benefits for both businesses and consumers. For businesses, social live commerce can help to increase sales, reach a wider audience, and build relationships with customers. For consumers, social live commerce can make it easier to find and purchase products and services, compare prices, and read reviews.

Observing some of the key trends in social live commerce:

• The rise of live shopping: Live shopping is a type of social live commerce that allows businesses to sell products and services to consumers in real time through live video streams. Live shopping has been growing in popularity in China, and it is expected to gain traction in other parts of the world.
• The growth of social commerce influencers: Social commerce influencers are people who have a large following on social media and who promote products and services to their followers. Social commerce influencers can be a valuable asset for businesses that are looking to reach a wider audience.
• The development of new technologies: New technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), are being developed that can be used to enhance the social live commerce experience. AR and VR can allow consumers to try on clothes, test out products, and explore virtual stores before making a purchase.

The state of social live commerce is constantly evolving. As new technologies and trends emerge, social live commerce is likely to continue to grow in popularity in the years to come.

In the realm of digital marketing, influencer marketing has emerged as a powerful strategy to reach and engage with target audiences. In 2021, the landscape of influencer marketing continues to evolve, presenting both opportunities and challenges for marketers. Staying up-to-date with the latest trends in influencer marketing is crucial to leverage its potential and drive successful campaigns.

One significant trend in influencer marketing is the shift towards authenticity and genuine connections. As consumers become more discerning and adept at identifying sponsored content, they crave authenticity from the influencers they follow. Marketers are recognizing the importance of partnering with influencers who align with their brand values and have a genuine connection with their audience. Micro-influencers, individuals with smaller but highly engaged followings, are gaining prominence as they often have more intimate relationships with their followers and can offer niche expertise. Collaborating with micro-influencers can lead to more authentic and relatable brand endorsements, fostering stronger connections with target consumers.

Another key trend is the rise of long-term partnerships between brands and influencers. Rather than one-off sponsored posts, marketers are recognizing the value of building ongoing relationships with influencers. Long-term partnerships allow influencers to become brand ambassadors, deeply understanding the brand’s products or services, and authentically incorporating them into their content over an extended period. This approach helps to establish trust and credibility, as well as provide consistent exposure for the brand to the influencer’s audience.

Furthermore, the demand for video content and live streaming is reshaping influencer marketing. Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram Reels have gained popularity, and marketers are leveraging the power of video to engage with audiences. Influencers who can create compelling video content and engage in live streaming sessions provide a more immersive and interactive experience for their followers. Marketers are exploring partnerships with video-savvy influencers to tap into the visual storytelling capabilities of these platforms and capture the attention of their target demographic.

Additionally, as influencer marketing becomes more prevalent, transparency and authenticity are at the forefront. Consumers expect clear disclosure when a post is sponsored, and regulatory bodies have imposed guidelines to ensure transparency in influencer marketing. Marketers need to work closely with influencers to ensure that sponsored content is clearly identified, whether through hashtags, captions, or other disclosure methods. By being transparent, brands and influencers can maintain trust with their audiences and build long-term credibility.

Lastly, the evolution of influencer marketing has led to the emergence of influencer marketing platforms and agencies. These platforms and agencies help streamline the process of discovering, managing, and measuring influencer campaigns. They provide valuable insights, data analytics, and tools to connect brands with suitable influencers, negotiate partnerships, and track campaign performance. Marketers can leverage these platforms and agencies to streamline their influencer marketing efforts and achieve better results.

In conclusion, influencer marketing continues to evolve in 2021, requiring marketers to adapt and stay ahead of the trends. Authenticity, long-term partnerships, video content, transparency, and the use of influencer marketing platforms are key areas to focus on. By embracing these trends, marketers can harness the power of influencer marketing to create meaningful connections with their target audience, amplify brand messages, and drive tangible results.

In the digital marketing realm, cookies have long been an essential tool for tracking user behavior, delivering targeted advertisements, and personalizing online experiences. However, with increasing privacy concerns and changing regulations, the era of third-party cookies is coming to an end. Major web browsers, such as Google Chrome, have announced plans to phase out support for third-party cookies, forcing marketers to adapt their online advertising strategies to the new cookieless future.

The shift towards a cookieless environment has significant implications for digital marketers. Without access to third-party cookies, it becomes more challenging to track user activity across different websites, target specific audiences, and measure ad effectiveness. However, this does not mean the end of personalized advertising or the demise of digital marketing. It simply means that marketers need to find alternative approaches to achieve their objectives.

One solution gaining momentum in the cookieless era is first-party data. First-party data is information collected directly from users through their interactions with a brand’s website, app, or other owned channels. By building and leveraging first-party data, marketers can still gain insights into user behavior, preferences, and interests. Strategies such as incentivizing users to provide their information, implementing permission-based data collection methods, and optimizing data capture touchpoints can help businesses grow their first-party data reserves.

Additionally, marketers can turn to contextual targeting as a viable alternative to audience targeting based on cookies. Contextual targeting involves analyzing the content and context of webpages to deliver relevant ads. By understanding the topic, keywords, and sentiment of the content, advertisers can serve ads that align with the user’s current interests, regardless of individual user tracking. This approach ensures that ads are displayed within relevant contexts, enhancing the chances of engagement and conversion.

Collaboration and partnerships also play a crucial role in navigating the cookieless future. Marketers can explore collaborations with publishers, data providers, and technology partners to gain access to relevant first-party data sets and advanced targeting capabilities. By combining forces, businesses can build more comprehensive customer profiles, improve targeting accuracy, and deliver personalized experiences to their audiences.

Furthermore, investing in privacy-focused technologies and practices is paramount in the cookieless era. Marketers should prioritize user consent and transparency, ensuring that users understand and have control over their data. Implementing robust data protection measures, adhering to privacy regulations, and adopting privacy-enhancing technologies can build trust with users and mitigate potential risks associated with data privacy.

Ultimately, the cookieless future presents an opportunity for marketers to enhance their advertising strategies and prioritize user privacy. By shifting the focus to first-party data, contextual targeting, collaboration, and privacy-centric practices, businesses can continue delivering personalized experiences and relevant ads to their target audience. Embracing these changes and staying up-to-date with industry developments will be critical to thrive in the evolving digital marketing landscape.

I first entered Temasek Polytechnic in 2004. In school, the design tool of choice being taught was Macromedia Fireworks, due to licensing. I went along and learn that just fine, but one day, I saw my web designer friend, Lionel, using Photoshop. That’s when I learnt how Photoshop was becoming the tool of choice in the industry. I reflect upon that and started getting annoyed that I was learning a tool in class that wouldn’t be practical and useful in the real world (back then, Macromedia licenses were used mostly in larger organisations and it’s more expensive. You could also purchase a Photoshop license standalone).

Feeling frustrated, I downloaded a copy of Photoshop (KaZaa, Limewire, anyone?) and installed it on my PC at home. Every weekday for 3 months, I would go home, Google for Photoshop tutorials, picked one I’d like, and just follow through by doing exercises for an hour or two. Nobody taught me how to use it. I just learned by playing along and creating things like chrome-looking text and a bunch of textured/grunge wallpapers. I definitely jumped to have a little more mastery of the tool thereafter. I knew the common functions, shortcuts, and tools within Photoshop. That was the start of my journey in learning how to learn on my own.

In my previous post, one of my goals in 2020 for self-learning is to pick up a little more of programming on Python, and I thought I’d try that using the same method. I no longer have the luxury of doing a tutorial for an hour or so daily, but during nights which I have more free time, I’ll be watching YouTube videos and working on examples. I know the basics of programming, and have my development environment set up fine, so getting started is the easy part. The difficult part is to integrate more thinking into the logic and solution behind some of these sorting algorithms. I’m looking for more exercises on binary trees and search, recursion and iterations, string manipulation, trees and data structures, graphs, sorting, hashmaps and set, stacks and queues. I think these fun logic exercises will be able to hone my skills more, and provide me with a better foundational skillset for Data Science and Data Visualisation.

Today, I learned about Binary trees, and specifically the problem here was to check whether the Binary Search Tree is valid. In computer science, a binary search tree, also called an ordered or sorted binary tree, is a rooted binary tree whose internal nodes each store a key greater than all the keys in the node’s left subtree and less than those in its right subtree.

Here’s the sample code I worked on:

class Node(object):
	def __init__(self, val, left=None, right=None):
		self.val = val
		self.left = left
		self.right = right

class Solution(object):
	def _isValidBSTHelper(self, n, low, high):
		if not n:
			return True
		val = n.val
		if((val > low and val < high) and 
			self._isValidBSTHelper(n.left, low, n.val) and 
			self._isValidBSTHelper(n.right, n.val, high)):
			return True
		return False


	def isValidBST(self, n):
		return self._isValidBSTHelper(n, float('-inf'), float('inf'))


node = Node(4)
node.left = Node(1)
node.right = Node(9)
print(Solution().isValidBST(node))

node = Node(6)
node.left = Node(2)
node.right = Node(9)
node.right.left = Node(8)
print(Solution().isValidBST(node))

It’s fun. It’s late. Really missing my coding days. This is also inspired by a couple of “learning to learn”, and “always keep learning” videos that I’ve watched recently.