BlackFin360 – Innovation To Reality
Tom Edwards is a professional futurist and keynote marketing technology speaker covering data, digital, artificial intelligence, marketing technology and emerging media trends
I recently had the pleasure to speak at Success North Dallas discussing the topic of DISRUPTION is The New Normal. This hour long discussion looked at the past, present and future of emerging technology and how to apply the trends of today to the business models of the future. The past looked at key milestones …
I recently provided commentary to Digiday outlining which video platform is ideal for brands. From my perspective it really comes down to the individual use case. Instead of saying one platform is the best overall, marketers should identify their specific audiences, how they’re looking to deliver the message and then determine the video platform that …
I recently had an opportunity to speak at Digital Hollywood and discussed viral and social media experiences in entertainment, media and advertising creativity. It was a great discussion and the panel touched on topics from social media, smart data usage, social creativity and monetization. Below is a recap of my key discussion points and additional commentary: …
From a strategy perspective, Instagram is one of the more misunderstood social platforms when it comes to outlining it’s role and business impact along the path to purchase. Below is a breakdown of three Instagram use cases that outline various levers that can influence user behavior that can ultimately lead to awareness, advocacy and offline …
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TMA EVP, Strategy & Innovation Tom Edwards recently talked to Mobile Marketer about the big players for social media and brands during NCAA March Madness. Q: What role could Snapchat and other social media platforms play in March Madness marketing? TE: “Snapchat is actively looking to connect and extend physical experiences digitally. With their our story …
How we consume information is constantly changing. With the shift towards mobile centric visual storytelling and the decrease in organic reach by many social platforms it is even more important that your content tells a story and ultimately gets a users thumb to stop and take notice. The following deck highlights best in class examples …
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I was recently asked by Venture Beat to provide insight into 5 marketing trends that I saw surfacing while on the ground at SXSW Interactive this year. This is a repost of the article: SXSW Interactive 2016 kicked off this week with thousands of marketers descending upon Austin, Texas for food, fun, and a glimpse …
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In celebration of Twitter’s IPO, I recently put together the following POV on the new visual Twitter experience outlining what changed, potential impact for programs as well as best practices directly from the Twitter team. When: This update was rolled out to the public on October 29th, 2013 What: Images, Videos & Vines in users …
One of the more interesting briefings that I have taken part in recently was provided by Buzzfeed. The rise of native advertising publishers has created a lot of excitement with brands. The level of sophistication and scale provided by publishers such as Buzzfeed cannot be understated. At it’s core Buzzfeed strives to create content that …
My commentary was recently included in a TechNewsWorld article discussing Yahoo’s new approach to weather & e-mail via mobile and how they are focused on visual storytelling and curation to create a richer experience. Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360
Recently, I was asked by DM Confidential to provide insights on best practices for creating mobile landing pages that work well on smartphones. Some of my commentary was included in the article that recently posted. Below is a recap of my thoughts on the topic beyond what was published. Having a streamlined user experience across …
Recently, I had the privilege to speak at the Dallas Digital Summit discussing the convergence of owned & paid media. The talk covered the importance of visual storytelling and the intersection of real-time paid amplification. One of the outputs of the presentation is a new phrase that better defines the intersection of paid & owned …
Today I met with one of my local Facebook team members as we were partnering on a client initiative and our conversation sparked an interesting thought about the future of newsfeed publishing and how brands should be thinking about maximizing their publishing strategies as Facebook’s platform continues to evolve. I have recently written a number …
I have been following Stipple for a while now and with today’s big announcement tied to Facebook support launched the platform to the forefront of my mind to support social content & publishing strategies. What is Stipple? If you have not heard about the service, Stipple allows you to embed interactive hotspots into an image …
Today Facebook held an event to announce the first major change to the Facebook News Feed in six years. The theme reinforced by the Facebook team was reduction of clutter by providing more choice and control over the content and stories users will see in their feeds. “From the beginning, our goal with News Feed …
Today I was a contributor to a Fortune Magazine article Brands are learning to “Say Cheese” Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360
This morning my new article 5 brands that are Instagram Superstars is the IN FOCUS cover story for iMedia Connection. The article is an in-depth review of how innovative campaigns from American Airlines, Red Bull, Tiffany’s, Ford & Nike are using visual imagery to evoke emotional responses and to further humanize the brands. Here is …
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On June 20th Instagram announced the addition of videos to its popular photo-sharing app. Besides being an obvious response to the growing popularity of Twitter’s Vine app, this is another confirmation that short form content creation is on the rise. I was recently asked by DM Confidential to share some tips for marketers to create …
