NGE demands suspension of work by Senate on ‘Social Media Bill’

The Nigerian Guild of Editors has demanded, unconditionally, that the Senate suspends all proceedings with respect to a proposed Bill: “Frivolous Petitions (Prohibitions, etc) Bill, 2015.” The Guild made its position on the bill, which has been tagged the Social Media Bill, known in a statement by its President, Garba Deen Muhammad. The Guild said the broad objective of this curiously accelerated Bill is to outlaw the freedom of expression of all Nigerian citizens and freedom of speech of all media organizations operating in print, electronic and online platforms in Nigeria and beyond. It said appallingly,marketing through social media the Bill has also included as its target very personal and private means of communication such as SMS or text messages and WhatsApp, among others. The statement added: “The freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed in section 22 and 39(1) of the 1999 Nigerian constitution respectively. Therefore, to enact any kind of law under any guise that will contradict these fundamental provisions is to deliberately seek to undermine the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “We are, therefore, concerned that a group of persons elected by Nigerians to ensure that their rights, privileges and interests are protected, should gleefully misuse the mandate given to them to the detriment of the same people that elected them. “As other concerned individuals and groups have pointed out, social media marketing certification the Senate should note that there are already existing laws in our Constitution that can accommodate all the concerns, real or imagined, that the proposed Bill is expected to address. These laws include the Cyber Crime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015, the Libel law etc. “In view of this and the glaring danger posed by the proposed Bill, the NGE is strongly advising the Senate to drop all proceedings on the proposed Bill and turn its attention instead to critical areas in need of urgent intervention. “While believing that members of the Senate have a right both individually and collectively to express their concerns about the abuse of the cyberspace by unscrupulous people and organizations, we advise them to consolidate or strengthen the existing laws and enforce implementation.?”We call on all Nigerians that are justifiably peeved by the very consideration of enacting such obnoxious law to remain calm and express their opposition through lawful means.

Retailers tapping social media to follow consumer demands

Social media platforms may be able to provide retailers with further insight into consumer demands, said Joel Teitelbaum, chief executive of the iStore electronics chain, at a recent Retail Council of Canada panel. At the event, which centred on strategies for adapting to modern sales trends, Teitelbaum emphasized the importance of social media marketing in measuring consumer demand and assessing product trends. He also discussed the use of artificial intelligence technologies, such as image recognition, to help retailers further determine the preferences of their customers. “When we are too vendor-driven we often miss out social media marketing consultant on those opportunities,” added Teitelbaum. “The vendor may have their own agenda, their own particular set of circumstances that was causing them to develop certain products or push a certain product onto retail customers … It is about shifting that risk back into the supply chain, which helps you have a better view of what customers really want. Increasing numbers of Americans use social media both on and off the job. Reports of employers asking employees to turn over their usernames or passwords for their personal accounts prompted concerns among some lawmakers. Some employers argue that access to personal accounts is needed to protect proprietary information or trade secrets, to comply with federal financial regulations, or to prevent the employer from being exposed to legal social media marketing ideas liabilities. But others consider requiring access to personal accounts an invasion of employee privacy. State lawmakers introduced legislation beginning in 2012 to prevent employers from requesting passwords to personal Internet accounts to get or keep a job. Similar legislation would protect students in public colleges and universities from having to grant access to their social networking accounts.

Social Media, Email Marketing Yield Lowest Cost-per-Lead

When asked to evaluate the cost-per-lead of these channels, many (34 percent) singled out social media marketing—that is, social media campaigns and programs outside of ads—as having a “very low cost.” A combined 66 percent also cited in-house email marketing as having a “somewhat low” or “very low” cost-per-lead. In addition, while many marketers said trade shows produced a high volume of excellent leads, this was also the channel most frequently described as having a “somewhat high” or “very high” cost-per-lead (83 percent)—no surprise, given the cost of travel, registration fees and mountains of swag typically used to lure prospects into presentations. The vast majority of marketers reported that they used all 15 of the demand generation channels we listed, with each being used by at least social media marketing packages 85 percent of respondents. In-house email marketing was the most popular choice, with a 97 percent adoption rate. This is likely due to its high level of effectiveness—it was rated third-highest both in terms of quantity and quality of leads generated—combined with its low cost-per-lead. We also asked respondents to rank the demand- and lead-generation effectiveness of various types of content, offers and calls-to-action (CTAs). Of the content types we asked about, video was the one most commonly leveraged for demand generation programs—used by 92 percent of B2B marketers. That’s above surveys (88 percent), white papers (88 percent) and case studies (87 percent). This is in contrast to the findings of CMI’s recent B2B Content Marketing report, which found case studies to be more commonly used than videos. The discrepancy is likely due to the differing demographics of our samples. Our sample included a significantly higher percentage social media marketing proposal of marketers representing large businesses (see the “Demographics” section below for more on this), which we found were eight times more likely than small businesses to use video content. This is unsurprising, given the relatively high cost of video production.