Right About Now with Ryan Alford - Weekly News Update 9.4

Episode Date: September 4, 2020

Weekly News update with Ryan and Reiley for the week of August 31 - September 4, 2020.News Topics for this week:Twitter update for trending topicsFacebook event planningGoogle search changeRemembering Chadwick Boseman If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. 

You're listening to the latest RADCAST News Update. Here's Ryan and Riley. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of the RADCAST News Update. It's the first week of September. Riley and I are here with you, like always, to give you the scoop in, well, let's not say all things. All things would be an oversell, but the big news of the week. Especially because we only hit on four topics. There's definitely, yeah, and the big news of the week. Especially because we only hit on four topics. That would be. There's definitely, yeah. And none of them political in nature.

That's true. I'm relieved just to talk about something or hear about something that's not politics. I know. And actually, I think for the most part, at least three of these are pretty, I think they're good things. Yeah. I think they are too. So we've got four stories this week and one in pop culture, a sad one, but we'll get to that. A local, actually local here in South Carolina, a celebrity passed away.

So we'll get to that shortly. But hope everyone's been enjoying the episodes. We're going to keep these new segments going. So a little more topical each week. And we're getting ready to start our e-commerce slash digital commerce special. We'll talk about all things happening in the future of e-commerce and everything to do with digital commerce. And so excited about that. Me too.

And I think it'll be, it's obviously really important right now just because of the nature of, sadly, that word we don't like to talk about a lot. But in the nature of COVID, I do think that this is going to be a really nice series to bring some good insight on. So I'm excited for all the guests we have lined up and everything. Exactly. It looks like it's going to be another diverse group of guests. I agree. We're kind of still bringing it all together. group of guests. We're kind of still bringing it all together, but it looks like we're going to cover lots of different parts of the ecosystem that is e-commerce. I agree. I agree. So let's

get into some news. Yeah, no. First up, Facebook launches free paid online events for SPMs and others. So what exactly does this look like? Like, what will this mean, Ryan? Well, essentially, you know, there's a couple things here. I'll talk holistically and then specifically. Hey, I like those holistic specific. But no, you've got a lot of things going on where there were going to be live events. So shows, festivals, groups, B2B, like seminars and sales and anything in business traditionally, especially B2B marketing and sales, is event-driven. It's very event-driven. You go and learn about a lot of different vendors, different products or different services.

And you meet some of your best prospects there, your best customers, and it's a way to meet and greet. So all of that's kind of gone by the wayside temporarily during COVID. And so Facebook is rolling out the ability. All these events have started to kind of go online. You see these. I see them. I get them in my email box a lot.

Invited to an event. It's, you know, essentially a glorified webinar in some ways. Okay. And I don't want to dumb it down or make it diminish it, but it's, you know, an online version of the event where you might have digital experiences with the product. So because traditionally, if you go to like a B2B event, you might have, there's booths and different things and different vendors that you walk around and see. And these events bring to life these experiences in a more digital way. You might see products and services through videos

or there's just interactive events that happen and Facebook is turning this on and making it free to SMBs on the platform. So you can sell tickets to the events, you can set up the events, you can market the But Facebook is doing all that stuff, right? Yeah, they're setting up the technology and the mechanism for the events. And a lot of this they already had with some of their group things and technologies that are already there.

I think they've just bundled it together and it's going to be free at least for the first year for SMBs, which is huge. I mean, because having actually looked at for a few clients and just kind of exploring the possibilities of online group meeting software or event software, it's pricey. And so I can't speak to, obviously, the features or how robust. It's Facebook. They've got money, so I'm sure it's going to be a nice experience. But you can sell speak to, obviously, the features or how robust. It's Facebook. They've got money, so I'm sure it's going to be a nice experience.

But you can sell tickets to the event. You can manage the entire process, I think, from marketing, running ads, to the event and the actual data. Payment of the, I think, the actual payment of the event. Like if you're buying tickets or something, it's all done through this Facebook. Yeah. So Facebook's been drawing out a lot of ad credits for small businesses. They've been doing their part. I know they've been getting a bad rap lately. There's been boycotting and different things. And we're going to refrain on the Radcast from passing any judgment on any one platform and keep it straight down the line of the news but the the functionality of

the service the intent of this seems great and it seems like a great way for businesses to leverage a way to have these events and not have a cost or an infrastructure issue yeah right off the bat well because i think even in the beginning i learned i know a lot of workout gyms were having online videos done and then live streaming them to facebook yeah for their classes but i think this would give them a way to still do that but it provides everything else they need the promotion of it the payment the processing everything that was funny you say that. I think you're going to see hybrid.

You know, my mind didn't go there. My mind went to more of the traditional trade show route events. But it's interesting that you go there. It will be cool to see the ways people use this service. I hope people like that take advantage of it because it's sad. I mean, people that, you know, had gems. I'm only thinking gems because in the beginning of COVID, I mean, people that, you know, had gyms, I'm only thinking gyms because in the beginning of COVID, I was that person that was live streaming the Facebook gym, you know. But I think they should, you know, be able to take advantage.

Are you a Peloton star now? And I didn't know it. You didn't know that? They're like yelling at people going, come on, Sally, go. You can do this, A hundred more cycles. Exactly. No, it's not me, but I can do that. Cool. What's next?

Next is the Google Inventory Search. Let's see. Google is expanding organic surfaces across Google to search. So a lot of the things that were originally, to my understanding, products that were originally coming up when you type in something on Google, from my understanding, aren't coming up the same way because they're giving you more content, more of the same product versus ones that paid higher to be at the top. Is that my understanding of it? Yeah. Well, you have Google Shopping and, you know, the search bar is getting really complex. It used to just be one search. Then

you've got, now you've got shopping, you've got images, you've got videos. News, scholar, books. Exactly. And so you have the shopping tag. So like, let's say I'm looking for a certain cologne and I tap it in and then I hit shopping those are usually paid ads that are there um and you manage that through your ad platform or google my business or depending on how you set it up but those are were paid and now what they're doing is introducing non-paid organic shopping results that will show up in the base i..e., like everything, overview, all, whatever that category, I think it's all the category for Google. So you'll see those shopping options there. Oh, interesting. Yeah, it's going to be organic and they'll be listed out

at different retailers. And so it's, again, interesting to see because everything, I feel like it was starting to get to pay to play on Google, which, hey, it's, again, interesting to see because everything, I feel like, was starting to get to pay-to-play on Google, which, hey, it's their network. They're prerogative. But it's interesting to see non-paid organic listings for shopping that's going to be in the all, the everything feed. Do you think that's going to be, in the long term, actually more beneficial? Or do you think it's actually going to hurt more business? I think it will help you know i think it's helping look this is all because e-commerce is booming you know back to you know other things we've been talking about with the series coming

out and everything like we've got a a match and a and some kerosene on the fire right now of e-commerce. And so many more people are shopping for goods online. Everyone was doing Amazon, so it's not like it wasn't here. I don't want to overstate that. But at the same time, everybody's getting into the online game. When you can't open your retail store, you get desperate. You're selling online.

And so with that influx, you're going to see these types of products and services just grow across Google. And look, this is a play for Google, because they've been losing search share to Amazon. Because most people now think about, you know, your behavior, you, I know, I know, I'm looking for a product, not like just a person or a random functional search. Google still owns that. But product search has specific things that you're looking to buy. Amazon, the search bar, has become the mainstay for where most and a lot of people are going. Google's still right there neck and neck with them.

But this is a play for Google to get back into that prime number one position for product searches. That's a good point. That's a good point. Because I'm definitely the person that's going on Amazon. And I'm like, okay, I know I want a whiteboard with a drawer. And that's what I'm typing in until I find what I'm looking for. I wouldn't do that. I still do most of mine actually through Google because I like to see, because I've been eight out of 10 times, the convenience and everything with Amazon, it usually wins out. See, that's me. But I have gotten burned a few times where I just, it was something obscure. I don't even remember what I was buying, where I just went to Amazon, I bought it, whatever. Then I did a search for it

a couple days later, maybe even before it shipped to me. And there was a retailer that had free shipping online and it was like $30 cheaper. I mean, it was like a $100 purchase. It was like $130 at Amazon. Usually you get the best deal on Amazon and you got the convenience, you got your pay structure, it gets so easy to check out.

I usually, everyone, that's why they're doing so well. That's why Jeff Bezos is worth $100 billion now. But I like to double. I kind of stick to my Google still for even product shopping because I like to just double check. And this is actually going to lead to even another reason to do it so you can kind of cross-check availability, stock.

And I've noticed with COVID, stock and certain things another reason to do it so you can kind of cross-check availability stock. And I've noticed, you know, with COVID, stock and certain things that I never had to worry about, stock isn't as available. Supply chains have been, you know, obviously disrupted. Right, right. So there's certain things. I mean, I'm not talking about Lysol wipes that were gone, like, you know, day one. Toilet paper. Yeah.

But, I mean, just normal things that I expect to be there. The stocks haven't been what they were. That seems to be getting better, but nonetheless. Google, more shopping options, more organic, and another place to get your products. And you can do this through Google My Business. You upload your product catalog, Google My Business or Google Search Console. I think those details are still coming out.

But you upload your product feed there, you link it with your site. You can do all that stuff and automate some of these steps to get approved so that you're in that organic listing for products that you're selling that people are searching for. in that organic listing for products that you're selling that people are searching for. And then our last, I guess, tech news today is a topic which I'm actually very excited about this. Twitter is having this more explained reason why something is trending on Twitter. And so to my understanding, they're kind of redoing the app a little bit with a lot more updates where you're going on the search feed and you see, seriously, I was a victim of this all the time. Like I would see something up there and I'd be like, okay, why

the hell is this trending? Like who is this person and why is this happening? Did you know it was tweeted like over half a million times last year what who would like why is this tweeting like why is this trending didn't surprise me which doesn't surprise me at all and i think twitter i mean they made a good point if that's being tweeted that many times we're not doing our job right for people to have access to appropriate information because i think a lot of time there was a point made that a lot of time people see a celebrity's name coming up in the trending feed. They're like, oh, my gosh, they died. Yeah.

And they're like, oh, my gosh, we have to tweet about it. Oh, everyone died. And then they're like, wait a minute. Who died? And then everyone's freaking out. Someone thinks Miley Cyrus has died. And then it's like, wait a minute. No one died.

She didn't die. She was trending because her new album came out or whatever it was but you wouldn't know that unless you did all the other background research which i guess in theory wouldn't actually take you that long but thankfully twitter is gonna i guess make it a lot easier for everyone to understand why things are trending yeah i've i've been victim of that i've definitely gone and been like what why is that it's? It's like somebody, like a band guy, I know, or something like, Dave Matthews is not dead. Do not tell me that. Don't tell me, you know, and it's like, no, it's just he won, you know, seven Grammys or something. I mean, like, you know, and you make that assumption. And it has not been easy, because all you see is the one keyword, you know, the name

of the person, the name of some random thing that you have no idea. And then you just start assuming. Yeah. You put your own thoughts together. You don't talk about the spread of misinformation. Well, it gets you leaving the platform because what you end up doing is you end up Googling. And, you know, I'm not saying Twitter is competing with Google, but let's, hey, they want your eyeballs in Twitter because they want you reading that feed and looking at those ads.

Exactly. And if you're not getting your answer from Twitter, you're going to go somewhere else to get your answer. So I think it's good that Twitter is doing this. I think it's great. And it'll be interesting to see because I noticed that it will pin the most relevant or I guess they're determining this organically to what that trending topic is. So if it's a person's name, they're going to organ they're going to organically choose a, and pin a tweet that you see with that,

um, that site, trendy thing. So it'd be interesting to see how the algorithm pars out, you know, if it's always, it's probably going to do like anything else. It's,

you know, celebrities or whoever's verified users or the most, you know, active, uh, people on there. I don't know if it's just, hope it's still the right information. know, active people on there. I don't know if it's just... You just hope it's still the right information. Yeah, no.

Exactly. Well, that will be interesting, too. No, like, that'll be the... People will start trying to trick the... Exactly. ...the pinned tweet for that search or for that trending topic. Exactly. I feel like I would be so much more okay with information if I saw a works cited page at the end of a tweet or something.

Where are you getting this information? Let's fact check this real quick. Exactly. Click on the pinned tweet and then you go down the rabbit hole that I go down is reading all the comments. I mean, God, I get lost. I spend I don't know how much time a day. It's its own world. Comments can be its own. lost like i spend i don't know how much time a day world you know i tweet some like i tried to you know stay active and i was a lot more active before mainly consuming for me like news and stuff god it's like a it is a complete rabbit hole going in the comments like especially this politics stuff i'm like oh god he made a good point then i'm like oh though how's he gonna come how what's his response back gonna be to? Like, I'm dying to see the next one. Is he going to leave it alone? Or is he going to be, you know?

And then it's so, like, juvenile real quick. Oh. Name calling. Yeah. How old are we? Yeah. Well, anyway, cool feature. I'm excited for that one.

Overdue. Definitely. But I'm looking forward to that one coming out. looking forward to that one coming out and then um completely changing gears to just um memorizing Chadwick Boseman um legendary actor legendary artist and um South Carolina native yeah Anderson South Carolina which is about 30 minutes down the road from where we sit doing this podcast in Greenville, South Carolina. So definitely one of our own right down the road. Actually, they're having a memorial tonight at the Sports Entertainment Center. Tonight is 7 for him.

Nice. They're seating up to 12,000. Holy cow. I bet you it'll be full. I guarantee you. And great actor, Black Panther, unbelievable. But as much as I liked Black Panther, like some of these other movies he was in, not all of which I've seen, I've been admittedly like seeing the previews of them now with unfortunately his passing. he had in acting his ability he could sing like he can dance he can i'm like dude this guy was going to be i mean is already a legend but was going to be a legend in 43 years he's my age i mean i'm 43 so you're talking about hitting home like right you know we

he had the world at his hands in a lot of ways and but you could have everything but if you don't have your health so uh colon cancer, which my grandfather actually died of, so, but was much older than him, was 70. And, you know, so that hit home for me. And, you know, there's screenings and everything else for that. So I encourage people to follow that, but just really sad news. It is really sad. And it it's i think a lot of things kind of come into play here he was diagnosed in 2016 and the amount of movies he did in that time frame and he was already diagnosed with stage three and it was on its way to stage four i mean by the time he passed it was stage four so just realizing to your point realizing the scope of film that he did in that time frame.

And everybody that's come out said they had no idea. Like, I didn't know. You know, like he's been battling this, doing these high, high intense movies. Has anyone seen Black Panther? Yeah, I mean, and going through chemo and other things and not talking about it. Or even the movie 24, didn't that come out during this time? When did 24 come out? When he was talking about when he was Babe Ruth?

Yeah, I don't know what the date was. Regardless. Regardless, it's, you know, so many people, like don't get me wrong, I don't know how, if I had, knock on wood, none of us want to have cancer or go through these things but and I until you go through it you don't know how you act but so many people that go through it and maybe they feel like they should share their story in the midst of it because they're trying to you know make people aware but the the courage and the

I don't know the selfless aspect of not kind of wearing it on his sleeve and just battling through it, like coming to work every day, you know, in secret, you know, battling it, doing everything that he could, but not making it a story about him, about, okay, you know, a great, budding legend actor that, and I'm, and I'm dealing with cancer, right.

And, you know, like that could have been the story and it would have been fine, but I really admire that he just kept that to himself. And man, I mean, it just speaks to his character and his, you know,

not making about him. It stayed about the movie. It stayed about the work that he did and not about, you know, the cancer. So I really admire him for that. I agree. I think he had a dedication for his art and that was what his life was.

It wasn't about other parts of his life. His life was the art of acting, you know, and I think he gave his all in that and all the, all the respect and honor for him. Incredibly sad. Incredibly sad. I think that's all the news for today. It is. Thanks, Riley. Yeah, ends on a sad note,

but we have lots of new information coming up to you guys on the Radcast. We'll be staying up to date on that. All right, guys. Ryan Alford, Riley Clark. We will see you next time. Follow along at the.rad.cast on Instagram and theradcast.com online.

See you next time. Have a great labor day. To listen to full episodes or to contact us, visit us on the web at the radcast.com or follow our host at Ryan Alford on Instagram. Thanks for tuning in.