Weekly Rundown:: 09.01.21

Each week on the ‘Weekly Rundown’ segment, we highlight stories that were interesting, notable across business and technology. Each week on the ‘Weekly Rundown’ segment, we highlight stories that were interesting, notable across business and technology. In Episode 043 of the show (https://bit.ly/38rQMq2), we highlight stories across technology, travel, and music.

As always you can get this episode and all previous episodes on such great platforms as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, and Anchor. Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button and have all the episodes downloaded automatically to your device. #DaileyBlendShow

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STORY-1:: AUTOMAT EVERYTHING!!!!

Overview: Marketers lead the pack in automation at work. Automation tools are becoming increasingly common in the workplace, helping employees in all roles be more productive throughout the day and allowing them to log off feeling confident about both the work they’ve done and what’s on their plate moving forward.

Why It Matters: More than half of knowledge workers—regardless of role—are using automation tools every day to save time and be more productive in their roles. But marketers are leading the pack in automation usage, and other roles will need to invest more in automation to catch up. Automation isn’t one-size-fits-all: many roles use automation differently. In order to get a better idea of how people in various roles use automation—and why—we polled 1,500 knowledge workers in Marketing, IT, Accounting, HR, and Sales / Customer Service in small-medium businesses across the U.S. Here’s what we found.

According to Zapier data, marketers save the most time with automation tools with an average of 25 hours saved each week. IT professionals weren’t far behind, and several other roles see massive time savings.

• Marketers save 25 hours/week using automation

• IT professionals save 20 hours/week using automation

• Customer service representatives save 16 hours/week using automation

• HR professionals save 8 hours/week using automation

• Sales representatives save 6 hours/week using automation

• Accountants save 4 hours/week using automation

Link: Zapier

STORY-2:: LET THERE BE NEWSLETTERS

Overview: Twitter Launches a new letter that works just like all the other newsletters and allows you to message your audience. Looking for other ways to reach your audience? Ready to get paid for your work? It’s time to try out @Revue – Twitter’s newsletter tool for writers and publishers

• Compose and schedule newsletters

• Embed Tweets

• Import email lists

• Analyze engagement

• Earn money from paid subscribers

Why It Matters: It appears that this is free for now…. But with features like importing from Mailchimp, CSV import and manually subscribing. What is stopping you from creating a newsletter. Oh yeah, the fact that Mailchimp, Linkedin, and your website is sort of already doing this. One question I have that I wasn’t sure about was GDPR, but my assumption is the messaging that is provided by Get Revenue. The other thing that is coming to mind is which is the right platform. Twitter is super easy to use, but there is a lot of noise there. Mailchimp is great for someone who has a website (Here is our linked). Linkedin is great because there is less noise, the “Algorithm” has not impacted the platform like Twitter and you get more business users there. I am just curious which one will win out. Going to try out all three and see which one makes more sense. 

Link: Dailey Blend Twitter NewsLetter | Twitter Get Revenue

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STORY-3:: TWITTER SAVING COPY AND PASTE/MERGING

Overview: To save you from all that trouble and humiliation, Twitter will now allow users to share the same tweet with up to 20 different users at the same time without the creation of any group. You don’t have to worry about merging them in one as was the case in the past.

Why It Matters: It is almost like Twitter wants to replace your iMessage or WhatsApp with more and more features. Honestly, I am not that big into Twitter with friends to the point I would be using this feature that much. But who knows, maybe I am wrong. 

Link: Digital Information World

STORY-4:: MONETIZE YOUR FRIENDSHIPS

Overview: Twitter knows it’s important for people on Spaces to monetize through their content, and have more intimacy with their growing community. that’s why you can now apply to get Ticketed Spaces & Super Follow directly from your profile

“We want to help people creating cool Spaces make $$$. today, some Hosts will be able to create Ticketed Spaces!

we’re experimenting on iOS only for now but we hope to get it to everyone soon. know it’s taking us a little time, but we want to get this right for you!

Why It Matters: Ticketed Spaces would differentiate Twitter aside from its live audio competitors. Clubhouse and Instagram let listeners tip speakers or award badges in a live audio space, but the apps haven’t enabled advance ticket sales.

Link: Twitter

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STORY-5:: CONNECTIONS ARE KEY

Overview: Today, we’re excited and grateful to announce Clay has raised an $8 million seed round. This spectacular round includes some of the most forward-thinking investors in consumer brands and software who deeply believe in thoughtful relationship-building.

Investors include Forerunner Ventures, which has been one of the earliest partners with category-defining brands like Glossier, Warby Parker, and Chime; General Catalyst, which has invested in leading digital products like Airbnb, Stripe, and Snap; and Notation Capital, Caffeinated Capital, Slow Ventures, and others.

Two Tiers:

• Paid: $20/month MONTHLY MEMBERSHIP – 14 DAY FREE TRIAL: Everything starts with caring about other people. Support sustainable, independent, privacy-first software as a founding member, and enjoy unlimited access to all of Clay’s capabilities

• Complimentary SPONSORED MEMBERSHIP: We believe everyone should have access to the best tools and platforms. E-mail us your story if you can’t afford a subscription and we will sponsor your membership to Clay.

Why It Matters: CRM is critical to most people’s world, some use it to “Close a Deal” in the traditional sense of making a sale. But some people use it to help in facilitating relationship management and making or maintaining connections. In my personal life, I use CRM to maintain relationships and the image above is how I use my personal CRM. The key for me is it is all about helping make a connection and that pushes you forward. That being said, let’s jump back into Clay. So, Clay is trying to bridge these two elements together from personal to professional. I am launching my 14-day trial to see how it it goes and will circle back with my two cents on the platform in future episodes.

Link: clay.earth

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STORY-6:: SPOTIFY ADDING THE STICKINESS THAT IS SPOTIFY

Overview: Bonding with a friend or loved one over your favorite shared music creates a relationship like no other. Starting today, Spotify’s latest personalized experience, Blend, is rolling out of beta to Spotify Free and Premium users globally to help sync your tastes even further—and put your music compatibility to the test.  

We launched Blend Playlists in beta in early June as a new way for two users to merge their musical tastes into one shared playlist made just for them, making it even easier for users to connect, discover, and bond over the music they love with one another. Now, the experience includes new cover art to easily identify each of your Blend playlists, taste match scores to see your listening preferences compared to your friends’, and shareable data stories that are unique to every listening pair and can be shared across social channels.

Why It Matters: Taking a combination of personal taste plus ‘the algorithm’ seems like the future over at Spotify and really should be the future that other brands strive for. What I want to see from a brand like Spotify is if they can connect to the Facebook API and start to pull into more concert details, merchandise offerings via their Shopify API and help people connect with artists and get people back to live concerts.

Link: Spotify News Room

Spotify officially launches Blend, allowing friends to match their musical tastes and make playlists together

STORY-7:: LET’S TRAVEL – HOME BASE FOR TRAVEL CREATORS

Overview: Every year, travel creators inspire millions of trips and drive billions of dollars of bookings. And yet, it’s still not easy for these creators to capture the value they deliver to their friends, fans, followers, and subscribers.

Save, organize and share your travel intel. Create beautiful, interactive guides. And make money doing what you love.

• Your intel. Easy to get to. Worth the trip – Organize your travel knowledge into shareable, interactive content your followers can browse & save – all in one place.

• Link everywhere – Link your Thatch profile in socials for followers to easily browse your recs.

• Share anywhere – Drop a content link in DMs for quick replies to followers wanting more info.

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We’re here to bring all the tools travel creators need to thrive under one roof – tools to organize and curate their knowledge, better serve the travelers they inspire and tap into their full earning potential.

Why It Matters: Travel is coming back, I see it in the streets, the trains, and certainly on the planes. Sites like The Points Guy, Localeur, and Trip Advisor already exist and are in the market. Localeur was one of the few sites that crowdsourced content from local people ‘influencers’ who are trying to highlight a place and spaces. So seeing a tech team approach this space is really interesting and it will be cool to see if they can get people to start creating and then how this brand will stand to monetize this content either through their app or other channels. 

Link: Thatch.co