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tommybaholland · 4 years

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Hiya! I was wondering if I could request a one-shot with Sugawara where the reader is his best friend and secretly loves him but he doesn’t know? Then maybe another person catches his attention and the reader starts to distance themselves from Suga to try to spare themselves the hurt? Then maybe turns out the other person was just using Suga/wasn’t serious bout him and he realizes that the person he really loves is the reader but now they’re staying away from him and just angst and fluff and dramatic confessions?? Sorry if it’s far too much detail, I get carried away. Your writing is amazing, keep up the fantastic work!

somebody, some body

featuring: sugawara

goddddd i’m so sorry i am late with a post AGAIN. this has been way overdue to be posted actually, and last night i finished it and was almost done with editing but accidentally lost everything i added and edited in the draft :// so thank you for being patient with me! this ended up being pretty long, so hopefully that makes up for the wait :) anyway, i really liked this idea! i have a little personal experience with this kind of situation, so it was fun to explore those feelings a bit. thanks for requesting and enjoy!

you didn’t always know that you would be in love with koshi sugawara. your dynamic was always friendly, and nothing more. so where did you go wrong?

when you think back to your history with suga, you could never find yourself resenting any time you spent with him. it all started when you moved into his neighborhood and as a shy child, you didn’t have the easiest time making friends. but he was a kind boy who was around your age and made it easy for you to form a bond with him. after all those years, neither one of you had changed that much. you were still reserved at heart but, he was the one who pushed you to things that you both could enjoy.

one is joining the high school volleyball club together. you weren’t usually one to go outside of your comfort zone, but with him, you felt like you could do anything. he had you fuel your enthusiasm and you had him to thank for that. volleyball ended up being a great idea because it was quite a versatile sport that anyone could play. you found that you were quite athletic and took a liking to the libero position. there was just something exciting about digging a ball off the ground and rolling on the floor to get back up again. also, it looked pretty cool.

so that was great until you hurt your shoulder during a game, which ended up being more severe than it seemed. now you couldn’t lift your left arm very far over your head unless you wanted to dislocate your shoulder again. it was already a tough recovery period because all you wanted to do was get back to the game.

he was there with you for the entirety of it and even though he mostly encouraged you, he had to make sure you knew you wouldn’t do anything to hurt yourself. you felt helpless. it was the lowest he had ever seen you and he did everything he could to lift you back up again.

that was something you could never take for granted with him.

the thing about you and suga is that you were in constant contact, especially during school. if it wasn’t sending each other funny memes or tiktoks, you were either on snapchat with each other or texting. sometimes simultaneously.

are you alive??

yeah i’m awake, unfortunately

what do u want sugar-wara

whoa how are you up this early lol and sugar is my thing ok

let’s go get sweet buns before class

ur right, it is ur thing. ur sugar-wara

okay i’ll meet you by the light in 15

there was a lonely intersection in your neighborhood with a red stoplight that seems to have malfunctioned and now the light never stops blinking. you and suga lived on the same street, with the intersection being a perfect place to literally meet in the middle.

“hey, sugar-- uh oh. someone doesn’t look so sweet today!”

he was always so peppy in the mornings.

“yeah, well, maybe if someone didn’t wake me up with their annoying texts..”

“if you really don’t want to be woken up, you’d put your phone on do not disturb. you can thank me later for being your alarm clock.”

he gave you a bright smile and a few head pats before you set off down the road to your favorite bakery which happened to be on the way to school. you didn’t go every morning, but most days it was necessary for you to start your day off right.

“how’s the team looking this year, mr. vice captain?”

“pretty good, actually! four first years joined the team and one of them’s over six feet tall. our blocks will be unstoppable!”

there were several things you loved about suga but, if there was one thing you enjoyed most, it was hearing him get psyched about volleyball. even though you couldn’t play anymore, his undying enthusiasm for the sport made you feel like you were living through him vicariously.

“and there’s one who’s on the shorter side, only a little taller than noya. but he seems to have so much energy and drive, it’s just-- i don’t know, i have a feeling we could actually make it to nationals this year.”

“wow, that’s great!”

“you should come to practice and see them! also we just got asahi back so i need to make sure my sets really land.”

“kou, you know i love watching you guys but isn’t that what kiyoko’s there for?”

“well, yeah, but you know how i play best!”

“yeah, sure. it’s not like i have anything better to do.”

“you never let me down!”

his smile never let you down.

it was your senior year of high school and it felt like things were going to be nothing but great.

“so...speaking of you knowing me best,” he started rather hesitantly.

“what would you do if i...made you dinner?”

“i...what?”

“oh, uh, oh, no. not, like, i make you dinner but, like...rei finally agreed to come around tonight and i thought i’d make something for them.”

“oh, um,” you tried to force a smile. “yeah, i think they’d like that.”

“yeah? you don’t think it’s too cheesy or anything? we haven’t hung out very much but i’d thought it would be a nice way to show them that i mean what i feel, you know?”

“yeah, yeah! that sounds perfect, kou..”

if only they knew that they were so lucky.

you knew about this person, rei. they were your teammate and even a friend at one time. they transferred to karasuno during your second year and you bonded over your shared interest of the libero position. they didn’t get to play much that season until you got injured and had to quit playing.

to see them fill that position so easily, it made you feel so type of way. a way that suga couldn’t know because even though he was there for you, he couldn’t deny his feelings. you remember when he told you that he liked them. about how he’s liked them ever since they came to karasuno and about how he was nervous to talk to them.

and guess what?

you encouraged him. you encouraged him to try to pursue someone who you knew and liked, so now you had to hide that you were envious of both their position on the team AND the fact that your best friend is in love with them.

at first, you tried to look at it as a positive point. you were still friendly with them, but volleyball was the only thing that connected you so you didn’t talk to them that much anymore. but now that suga, the person you’re closest to, was talking to them, it opened up the possibility that you would be able to reconnect with them. you had to be supportive. you were his friend, his closest friend, after all.

the next morning you didn’t wake up from a text from suga. no, it took several snooze buttons to wake you up, which already put you in a bad mood.

it’s ur turn now. are u alive??

i actually woke up to my alarms, how weird. u must be dead lol

also have you done the english assignment yet? i need serious help >_<

you weren’t afraid to double, triple, even quadruple text him because more often than not, he did that to you. sometimes he’d even send longish paragraphs as he did later that day when classes had already started.

hey sorry today has just been filled with fun and thriving and good stuff! rei asked me if i wanted to meet up with them before school last night and they made me some sweet buns and they were soooo good. i think we’re going to eat lunch together with some of their friends from vbc. ugh english sucks for me too. idk why you think i’m good at it

you almost jumped at the gesture to reply. it was never this long that he would go without text you at least one dumb thing.

haha it’s okay don’t be sorry! so i guess last night went well?

also ur great at english sugar-wara what r u talking about??

it surprised you how quickly they seemed to become so friendly. it was kinda weird that he would already be spending a lot of time with her and now meeting all her friends. he probably already knew of them though, with volleyball and everything. the thoughts of how long you would have to wait for a reply crept in your mind, but that was quickly erased by an elapsed period of only a few minutes.

yeah it went great! they had never had someone cook for them before, so they really liked it. this morning they told me they’d show me how to make fried eggs bc i said i dont know how to use a stove lol

wait you made a whole meal for this person and u don’t know how to use the stove??

i used a crockpot and microwave ok :// don’t make fun of me dingus

well a stove would definitely broaden ur horizons lmao that’s nice it went well though

thank you i hope its going well

that conversation was truly the end of the beginning.

Every day after that seemed to happen the same way. you’d wake up, no text from suga. he hadn’t even replied to what you last said the previous night. you didn’t see him much either, but you knew who he was with probably. you would still stop by at volleyball practice where you did get to see him but they were there also. so you found yourself dipping out a lot more.

it just felt weird. seeing him talk to someone he didn’t even know before. they didn’t even know him. even when you two were on the team together, they never once showed much interest in him and now it just seemed strange that they would.

the transition was particularly difficult for you, as much as you didn’t want to admit it. one night you were so overwhelmed with work because you had waited too long to do it. frantically texting suga was an understatement.

you knew you couldn’t put all your reliance on him but it was weird that he wasn’t replying on a school night as he was just as much a procrastinator as you. you dragged yourself through the night, trying to put together a somewhat coherent speech for english the next day. which, again, started as it had for the past few weeks. you still hadn’t heard from him, but it doesn’t even matter anymore. by the time he replied, it was almost embarrassing on your part.

oh my god y/n i’m so sorry i didn’t reply sooner. i tried to get all my work done early so i could hang out with rei last night and i was asking my mom for advice and she told me to just pay attention to them as much as possible so i just wanted to be with them, you know? but i really hope you didn’t beat yourself up too much about it and that you got at least a little sleep. i’m sure your speech went well :)

you sounded desperate for his help and meanwhile, he’s genuinely trying to show someone how much they mean to him. could you look any more stupid?

you didn’t even want to reply but you felt like you had to.

no don’t be sorry koshi! if anything i’m sorry i was just super frustrated in the moment and didn’t know what to do. i managed to pull something halfway decent together i think so it’s all okay now

was it okay though?

that was when you realized that things would never be the same. you’re his best friend and that’s simply it. you mean something to him, but not the same something that they mean to him. you couldn’t go to him when you help because then you’d be taking his time away from someone who wanted to feel that special meaning. it was a hard pill to swallow, for sure. but there were still several questions that lingered in the potential of what your relationship could be.

isn’t it possible to be both a best friend and a partner at the same time? you didn’t see any problem with it, so why couldn’t it be true?

two weeks past and suga, your best friend, decided to let you in on some news.

going up against all these powerhouse schools is definitely tough but it’ll help our team in the long run. we’re really amped to play seijoh soon but also i have an s/o now who can come and cheer us on

WAIT you guys made it official?? when?

haha we’ve been official for like two weeks now

oh well that’s great!

(what the actual hell.)

months went by and you saw suga maybe two or three times. and only saw him, usually with the rest of the volleyball team or with rei and their friends. you texted now and then but it wasn’t the same. you had to accept that it wouldn’t be the same, so you did. you had a good group of friends who you spent more of your time with, as well as trying to focus as much as possible on school. entrance exams were coming up and you couldn’t let this be your downfall, even though you and suga had previously talked about possibly going to the same college together. but that wasn’t important anymore.

you had your priorities and suga had his.

which was the biggest reason why you decided not to go to the game against aoba johsai. you told him that you would try to make it, if schoolwork and college prep courses would lend you the chance. you were just trying to focus on yourself and work hard in on your own. you still texted him just to show that you still cared.

sorry i couldn’t make it to the game! how did it go?

we lost :’(( we were so close too

oh no :( i’m sorry kou. but i know you guys will get them next time!

he never replied, which only made you want to grow further from him.

summer vacation rolled around and it was about a month out from suga’s birthday. a strange text appeared from someone you didn’t expect.

Hey so I wanted to get manga for suga for his bday but I cannot for the life of me remember which ones he has so can you try to casually ask him which ones he has? like the next time you guys talk about manga or something?

you felt weird that they were asking for your help, considering that they now spent more time with him than you did. but you weren’t going to completely ignore them either.

to be honest we haven’t talked a whole lot lately but i’ll try to subtly ask him

Okay awesome thanks!

what were you thinking of getting him?

Deathnote lol nothing original

hmm maybe the new aot volume?

Yeah, that’s a good one. Or maybe BNHA

yeah that too! do you still want me to ask him?

Yeah could you?

yeah sure!

Yay thanks!

okay i’ll let you know what i find out

going through with this was even worse. if it were you, you’d take him to see his favorite artist in concert. he wasn’t never much of a concert guy but he would talk about how badly he wanted to go see them live. or a more lowkey and personal option would be to customize a crewneck for him. you had a knack for designing and decorating plain-looking clothes and he would try to do it himself but would always remark how much better yours always turned out.

but this time you’re simply the messenger and wouldn’t get that chance to get him something you know he’d love. not that he wouldn’t like manga, but it just seemed like they weren’t putting a ton of thought into it. maybe you couldn’t blame them though, it had only been a few months that they had been dating.

that conversation honestly seemed more out-of-the-blue than anything, but you were hoping that suga would be as oblivious as ever. it didn’t even matter in the end because he never even answered your subtle way of asking. you didn’t feel like double texting because a.) you hadn’t done that in months and b.) it seemed too obvious.

in the end, you did all that you could do and told rei that you had no information to provide, even after a week had passed. that was your, now monthly, interaction with suga that month.

but it wasn’t like you weren’t thinking about him.

your interactions moved from text to strictly snapchat, where you would hold streaks for considerable amounts of time. but every time you seemed to break contact with him, you found yourself blaming them. but you couldn’t blame them. they were with him, dating him. they had a right to claim a spot by his side. you had learned to pull back and just live your life.

but life didn’t want you to have a great time either. albeit through a simple app like snapchat, he was the one asking you if you were okay. at this point, you would probably just deflect but somehow, you found yourself telling him about how you didn’t do so well on your entrance exams, despite having done what you could to prepare for them. you just thought you were so focused to do well, but maybe it was too much focus. you told him it would be alright. another notification came through.

snapchat from sugar wara

you opened it to a selfie of him, one that was angled upwards to position him looking right up into the camera, his wide hazel eyes being the centerpiece of the photo. the caption simply said, “promise?”

and that was when it happened. you felt something different in your heart like it was knocked around in your chest. you smiled at the simple response and replied, “yeah i promise!!”

it felt strange, but you finally admitted it,

you were in love with koshi sugawara.

timing was, without a doubt, a demise in all of your previous relationship endeavors. you could never seem to get that part right, also coming in too fast or not knowing if you should wait. you had only hoped that someone you liked would like you just as much. so catching feelings for someone, strong feelings at that, was not part of your current life plans. let alone with suga, someone you were, at one point, extremely close to.

you know so much about him and what scared you was that your confession would be the only one that could mess up whatever relationship you had left with him. why couldn’t you just enjoy where you stood with him? why should your selfish feeling have to get in the way?

stupid was an understatement as you how you felt. he was still dating rei, and that didn’t look like it was going to end anytime soon. you didn’t know what to do or how to cope. you can fight your feelings, but they can’t change right away. and for as long as you’ve known suga, the history you’ve shared with him, it seemed like these feelings weren’t leaving anytime soon.

you spent the next couple of weeks trying to get everything out, while simultaneously trying to forget. you vented about it to your friends and while most of them offered advice, you stuck with just remaining stagnant. one of them suggested that you confess to him but that was what you feared most: that your feeling would become so overwhelming that you had to do something impulsive to relieve them. he would probably never talk to you again. there was nothing you could do. he was in a relationship with someone he really likes. why would you try to ruin that for him?

you didn’t go to any of the preliminaries, mostly because of prep courses and trying to prepare for the next round of entrance exams. you still kept up with suga and saw that they won in the game against seijoh and we now going to the finals against shiratorizawa. you swiped up on his story and typed a simple, “omg that's amazing!! see I knew you guys could do it.” you continue to scroll through your phone, not thinking that much about it until a notification popped up.

sugar wara is typing…

snapchat from sugar wara

yeah it was great! Wish you could have been here though :(

me too! college prep courses seem to have been taking up all my time :P

is there any chance that you could try to find time to come to finals?

we've been trying to get all the support that we can

plus it would be nice to see a familiar face there :)

yeah i'll see what i can do to try to be there!

wymd a familiar face? hasn't rei been going to the prelims?

they have been but we actually broke up about two weeks ago

i sort of initiated it but i promise it's okay

your eyes almost fell out of your head when you read that 2 weeks ago you were talking about how you were in love with him and were and decided to accept that it wasn't going to happen. now you're hearing that at the same time they had broken up? It seemed odd and... bittersweet.

oh no i'm sorry kou :(

you bit your lip as you couldn't help but ask.

wdym you initiated it tho?

so kageyama has been killing it as our setter especially with his quick attack move with hinata

rei was worried that i wasn't being treated fairly bc i'm a senior and vice-captain and all that. i tried to reassure them that i just want to see our team thrive and go to nationals but they still were worried about it and would talk about how they would go to games and never see me play once

it's been hard especially that it happened right before the seijoh game and now before finals

yeah i'm sure it's been difficult

but don't beat yourself don't blame yourself so much! the team needs your support just as much as it needs players. nobody could replace that :)

thanks y/n :) i appreciate you so much

although you thought you would be happy, you can’t help but still feel weird about this whole thing. you felt like the ball was in your court but your bum arm couldn’t receive it properly. your feelings for him had been strong and you felt like you had to pack them all the way so now it just felt wrong to let them flow out again. but now that there was no conflict of interest, did you have to hide your feelings?

it was more complicated than it was before. you didn't know how anything was going to play out at all and that kinda scared you. you did know one thing though, and that was how to be a loyal friend to suga because that's all you ever were from the start and that's what you could and would be for the future.

it was the friday before the finals game.

you decided to stay late after school to maximize your focus on studying. it seemed to have worked because the sun was going down before you knew it. you wanted to get ahead on work so you could go to the game tomorrow. you and suga had been talking more recently and while it wasn’t as much as it used to be, it was more than it had been in the past several months.

you quickly gathered up your things and left school for the night. the pretty orange and pink sky lit your way home through the quiet town and into the residential parts. at that point, the dark had met and light and-

“y/n! hey, wait!”

you turned to see none other than suga, jogging up behind you to catch up. you smiled at his sudden presence, looking past him to see the small group of the rest of the team.

“hey! funny seeing you here.”

“yeah, haha,” he chuckled, catching his breath from suddenly running a considerable distance. “are you going home?”

“yeah.”

“can i walk with you?”

“of course.”

great! so i’m guessing you stayed late at school? you’re still wearing your uniform.”

“oh, yeah,” you affirmed, looking down at your monotonous outfit. “i just wanted to be all caught up on work and studying so i could go to the game tomorrow.”

“oh, yeah? that’s good to hear! yeah, we were-- we just had a late practice. coach left before us but we wanted to stay a little longer.”

“i hope you guys win tomorrow, it seems like you’ve been working really hard.”

“yeah, i hope so too. we’ve come a long way in such a short amount of time, it just feels like we can’t stop now.”

you nodded in agreement. there was a beat of silence just then, and while it wasn’t awkward, it felt like something was lingering in the air.

“so, um,” he spoke up after several seconds. his eyes met yours and you felt that pang in your chest again, quickly looking away. “it’s been a while, huh?”

“yeah. yeah, it has, i guess,” you laughed lightly. you reached the intersection with the never-ending blinking stoplight and you turned around to face him.

“but i guess i’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

“yeah. yeah!”

“okay, get some sleep. goodnight.”

he nodded and you grinned at him before turning around to walk the rest of the way home until his voice stopped you again.

“hey, y/n?”

“yeah, kou?”

he looked down and all around, anywhere but your face.

“i, um, i know things have been kinda weird between for a while but it’s made me realize that i missed you, a lot.”

“yeah, i missed you, too.”

“but it’s also made me realize that i enjoy spending time with you and talking to you. like, even now, just talking to you makes me feel-- i don’t know. it makes me feel at ease like i’m home. and i’d really like to spend more time with you because i, um, i really like you.”

“you, you what?”

“i really like you, sugar.”

in all the ways you had imagined this happening, you never thought that you would feel your face fall to a frown, your heart beating in your ears. something just didn’t sit right with you about it.

“i, i, i don’t know what to say...”

“it’s okay if you don’t! i just wanted to tell you.”

“but why are you telling me this now?”

“do you-- do you not feel the same?”

“no. no! i’ve been wanting to hear you say something like that for so long, it’s just. you broke up with rei not too long ago and-- i don’t know. something isn’t right about it.” you shook your head, unsure of what you were trying to say.

“it’s how i feel,” he shrugged. “i just wanted to tell you and have a good feeling to hold onto to make tomorrow a little easier.”

you looked at him in disbelief.

“oh, so you think you can confess all that to me right before this big game and that i’ll automatically reciprocate those feelings when you just broke up with someone not even a month ago? i’m not a second choice--”

“no, sugar, listen, that’s not how i meant it at all--”

“no sugawara.” those words made him go quiet instantly. you never used his full name, there was always some sort of play on it, so this was serious.

“maybe that’s not how you meant it, but that’s how i’m taking it. i’ve been wanting to tell you for so long how i felt but i wanted to respect your feelings so i didn’t. so please, respect mine. i’m not the good luck charm that you can just confess to and expect that it’ll all be okay. this just isn’t right. i’m sorry, koshi.

your voice broke as his name left your lips, tears beginning to fall. you didn’t even give him a chance to respond, a rush of adrenaline telling you to quickly turn and get out of there.

you didn’t get much sleep that night.

it was hard not to think about your conflicted feelings over suga’s confession. you had hoped for that moment for a long time but the timing simply wasn’t right. how funny and ironic is that? you thought your timing was off. maybe you were meant for each other in that way. you couldn’t help but let your feelings get the best of you and you were beginning to become what you feared most from him. you thought he would immediately reject you and make you feel bad about ever saying anything about how you felt. but the roles are reversed and that was the part that blindsided you the most.

you didn’t think that how you reacted was wrong but you also couldn’t imagine how he was feeling right now. he just wanted to feel good right before a big game but that backfired right in his face. some might call it karma, but part of you thought he didn’t deserve it.

the pressure was setting in as the game went into the fifth and final set. what made it worse was kageyama wouldn’t be starting that set, his nose bleeding from the spike he took to the face. suga was genuinely thrilled to be a teacher, a mentor, and a support system for his fellow teammates. he didn’t mind that another, rather talented, setter had joined the team because that meant he wouldn’t have to worry about passing the position over to someone who he thought didn’t deserve it.

he almost forgot he was actually a player on the team when everyone looked to him to fill in. this was his moment and it just happened to be at the most overwhelming part of this game. Both teams were tired while simultaneously running on pure adrenaline to see who was going to come out on top.

suga had an opportunity, not only to start the set but be the trailblazer for their success.

the nerves set in as he held up the paddle with the number nine on it, kageyama holding it up with him for a moment. It was symbolic in a way. suga always thought he’d be passing the baton to him, his successor as karasuno’s official setter, but this felt just as sentimental. Suga hadn’t played much this season but he got to watch the team grow into something that it once was: something great. They’ve had their share of loss and strife but it finally seemed like they had come so far and the only direction they can go is up.

the nerves set in as he looked around, anywhere to ease them. His eyes automatically went to the team banner, black with the simple word ‘fly’ written over it, where all the school and their supporters were watching. he went down the line quickly but the wave of a hand caught his eye. his eyes shifted back and felt that familiar grin on him.

it was you.

“c’mon suga! You can do it!”

and so he did.

once the final ball hit the ground, the room was quiet with shock. it had been tight for most of the game but no one really expected this outcome. they were going to nationals. daichi, suga, and asahi embraced, taking in the satisfying feeling of victory.

after the awards ceremony, you were buzzing with excitement for them, trying to calmly follow the rest of the crowd out of the gym. you could tell they were somewhere along the hallway as another crowd formed to congratulate the winning team. you weaved in and out of it, even getting on your toes to see if you could spot a familiar head of gray hair.

you finally caught a glance at him from afar, his smile growing as his eyes locked onto yours.

“y/n!”

you mimicked his expression and found your feet moving quicker than your brain could process. he put in the same amount of haste to meet you in the middle. you both stopped at about an arm’s length away from each other. his flushed cheeks and slightly red but glistening eyes held your smile as you decided to speak first.

“hey, kou.”

“hey, sugar.”

another minute couldn’t be wasted as you finally crashed into one another. it felt better to hold somebody that you knew and genuinely loved. you could be sure that he felt the same way as he held your body tightly against him.

heyo haikyuu night! send any requests right here..

#haikyuu x reader #sugawara x reader #sugawara oneshot #sugawara fluff #sugawara angst #tommybaholland

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thetrainwreckjournals · 5 years

Text

The Little Wolf Queen Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Connection

Ava is woken up too early, is stared at by one of the boys on the hockey team and feels weird. Shawn goes to school, his nose is on overdrive and he finds his mate.

The first thing she heard was the shrieking blare of her alarm followed by her stepmother Elena calling her name from downstairs. Groaning, she slammed her hand down on the alarm before rolling back into her sheets to enjoy the warmth, closing her eyes….and immediately opening them when she heard her door open.

“Ava” Elena’s gentle voice came through her room. “Ava sweetheart, you gotta get up for school”

“No” Ava grumbled.

“Ava honey, school is important” Elena chuckled.

“It’s not, I’m gonna make a killing being a grumpy judge on a talent show like Simon Cowell” Ava muttered from under her covers.

“You still need to finish school, now come on and get up before-”

“AVAAAAAA” came the loud voice of her three-year-old sister before a small mass crashed into her body with much more force than it should’ve.

“Oof” Ava groaned upon the impact.

“Chelsea!” Elena chastised the small girl. “Don’t do that, you could hurt your sister!”

“Sorry Mommy” Chelsea said bashfully.

“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to your sister” Elena scolded.

“Sorry Ava” Chelsea smiled before throwing herself to hug her older sister.

“S’alright kid” Ava smiled back before reaching for her phone to take a quick snapchat of her sister being all cuddly and cute.

“Let’s get you both downstairs, gotta get you both ready for school” Elena smiled.

Reluctantly hauling herself out of bed, she remembered why she loved her blankets so much. It may have been spring in Canada, but the mornings could be chilly. Her sleep jumper and shorts were perfect until she removed the blankets, even on the carpet and with socks on, her legs felt slightly cold. Walking down the stairs somewhat drowsily with a big yawn coming up, Ava couldn’t help but smile as the twins stood at the bottom of the stairs with big curious eyes as they watched their mom with big smiles to match.

“Oh, by the way, they ate the rest of the chocolate cake” Elena smiled apologetically. “I can buy some more from the bakery when I drop them off at Mum’s”

“Elena darling” Ava’s dad called from the kitchen, “Where on earth is the cheese?”

“Back of the fridge” both Ava and Elena answered at the same time.

“You don’t suppose he’ll ever get his eyes checked, do you?” Elena quizzed gazing into the kitchen.

“It’s Dad, what do you think?” Ava stated like it was obvious.

Elena laughed her bell like laugh and took the hands of the twins while Chelsea grabbed Ava’s hand and pulled her down the stairs.

“Morning sleeping beauty” Ava’s dad smiled fondly at his somewhat disheveled daughter.

“Dad” she acknowledged. “Can you grab me that cereal?”

Passing the cereal to his daughter, he watched her as she sighed upon looking at her phone. “everything okay?”

“Yeah, but last two weeks of school and then summer. Which means feeling too lazy to do those last pieces of work that get me into the 11th Grade” Ava groaned miserably.

“Just two more weeks baby” Elena smiled kissing Ava’s temple.

“Elena do my work for me” Ava begged.

“You’re a capable woman Ava” Elena reminded her stepdaughter.

“Fine” she grumbled.

Eating her cereal, she was joined by an equally grumpy Jesse and a very sleepy Noah.

“Do you want some of my fruit loops?” Jesse asked with a big yawn.

“Nah that’s alright, you want any coco pops?” she asked him.

“Just a spoon” he smiled dopily.

While he got his cereal, Noah glanced at them while eating his wholemeal ham and tomato sandwich with his favourite cheese.

“Those cereals have lots of added sugar in them y’know. You should eat something lo GI that has protein in it” Noah told them in his four-year-old “I know everything” tone before walking off to sit on the porch with their Dad.

Narrowing her eyes in confusion, Ava reminded herself that he was four and not 30. Then she turned to Jesse as if he had an explanation, which apparently, he did.

“He’s been watching the food network on his sick days” Jesse shrugged.

Elena loved the food network. It made sense.

Finishing her cereal, she went upstairs to throw on her jeans and Coca Cola t shirt and converse before heading to her mirror. She blended out her foundation and concealer before debating if he could be bothered with proper eyeshadow. Deciding she could not, she set her face with powder, bronzed her cheekbones and used the same bronzer for eyeshadow and contouring her nose before applying a nude lip and mascara. She almost forgot her highlight but then remembered that Katie was planning on polaroid’s at school today so she applied some.

She threw her books in her bag, her tissues and bounced her way downstairs before making her coffee.

“Well you certainly seem to be in much higher spirits” Elena smiled.

“All things are possible with coffee and mascara Elena, all things” Ava smiled back brightly.

“Wanna go and round up your siblings?” Her dad asked.

“Sure” Ava agreed. “GET DOWN HERE MY ARMY” she yelled at the top of her lungs making Elena and her Dad wince.

“I meant at a lower volume” Her Dad grumbled.

“There’s too many to find individually” Ava shrugged.

Just then, a mess of four children came hurdling down the hallway giggling and laughing while they raced each other to the front door.

“School drop off time. Alex and Levi, just where do you think you’re going?” Elena said in fake sternness with her hands on her hips.

Alex and Levi were meant to be waiting with Ava’s Dad. Instead they had their animal bag packs on and their jackets.

“They’re coming with us” Chelsea stated proudly. “I put their jackets on and Jesse got their bags Mom”

Raising her eyes to the ceiling, Elena sighed. “You can come to the drop offs but then we’re coming back home to say goodbye to Dad and the dogs”

Giggling victoriously, they all packed themselves into the car and drove off to school.

“Have a nice day. Two more weeks, that’s all Ava” Elena reminded her stepdaughter before driving off.

Groaning in despair, Ava turned and walked her way through school.

“Morning Ava” Monty smiled nervously at her.

“Morning Monty” Ava smiled back.

Monty was the socially awkward geek in her History class who seemed to have a crush on her. She wasn’t to alarmed by him, it was his friend Gavin, the extroverted creep who bothered her.

“Babe!” she heard the exaggerated happiness in the voice of Heather Wilson, the school’s very own demon, as she rushed over to very sloppily kiss her newest toy, Dustin Kirk. Dustin and Heather belonged to the popular kids of the school. While Ava wasn’t unpopular, she didn’t have the whole “queen” status going on for her. She noticed that some of the hockey players were present, bit early for them. She spotted Katie’s older brother and then she saw Shawn Mendes with his friends Cameron Dallas and Brian Craigen. They played on the hockey team and were kinda cute. His mom was friends with Elena and her Dad. Karen was a sweet lady. But then she spotted the one who made her heart stop. Jake Henderson. All 5ft11 of his blonde-haired, blue-eyed muscle. Snapping herself out of it before someone noticed her staring, she walked around their group and onto her friends.

“Hello Ava” Katie greeted. “How was the weekend, we didn’t see you at all”

“Talk about missing the fun” Leah grinned. “I don’t think Laura’s ever seen so many shirtless men in her life”

“It was a wonderful sight to behold” Laura smiled.

“How was games night?” Stacey smiled.

“Good, you know Elena’s parents, heavy on the food, heavy on the wine and heavier on the desert” Ava sighed contently.

“You know I swear you’re never happy without food in your mouth” Laura laughed.

“Food is good for the soul. And I need about all the soul I can get in these last two weeks” Ava muttered grimly.

As the girls continued gossiping about the latest party, Ava couldn’t help but feel she was being watched. She looked up to see the last person she was expecting to be looking at her. Shawn Mendes was watching her with an odd sort of gaze as he caught her eye. Affection? Admiration? It was strange. Suddenly she felt this odd sensation in her stomach and slightly dizzy. Before she could linger on it, the bell rang and their classes had begun.

SHAWNS POV

He was early to school today. Brian’s parents had taken his brother out of town for a specialist appointment for his little brothers hearing, so they were at school before the bell rang for once.

He was watching Heather and Dustin be their usual selves and then he smelt it. That same sweet smell he caught lingering in the hallways. Except this time, it was stronger, much stronger. Overwhelmingly so. It was all his nose could focus on. A cross between vanilla and baking sugar. He took a deep inhale and turned to his left. A girl walking by seemed to radiate the smell.

Mate. His inner wolf told him.

He suddenly felt dizzy, his hands were sweaty, his body was warm and he felt a tugging sensation at his stomach. The smell seemed to overpower all his senses as shivers went down his spine. Could it really be?

She was small and she had black hair. All he could see was the back of her covered by a denim jacket and a backpack. When she had sat down, she was against the wall and her could only see half her face. Caramel skin. And then by some sort of mercy she frowned. Was she okay? Was something making her sad? Then she looked up, right at him and he felt his whole world shift. He got lost in her brown eyes and he felt a drop in his stomach and a fluttery feeling. It was her. He had found his mate. She looked so familiar, but did he know her? Did she know him? He didn’t have a chance to linger as the bell rang and he was pulled in one direction whilst she was pulled in the other.

He had spent the whole day with his head in the clouds thinking of her and when he was leaving school, he saw her once more getting into a car with… no…Liam Beauregard? He was notorious for his womanizing ways. He didn’t do love or commitment. He was in simple words, a dog.

Walking his way to Jake’s car, he stared out the window in misery. His mate with another wolf? A deplorable one at that.

“Uhh dude, you getting out or coming home with me?” Jake laughed.

“Sorry man, see y’all at practice” Shawn grinned, shaking it off. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to tell his friend yet.

He was lying on his bed formulating a plan to murder Liam when his thoughts returned to her and all he could do was smile.

He had found her. He had found his mate. And she was perfect. Petite in height, quite slim from what he could see, not that he’d care if she was otherwise. Black hair, dark brows, chocolate brown eyes and caramel skin with plump lips. She was stunning. He wondered if she was Spanish or something. She definitely looked it.

Broken out of his thoughts by his Mom’s voice telling him to leave his bed and the sound of a car pulling up, he suddenly remembered his Mom telling him Elena Prescott would be coming over for afternoon tea today. Elena was one of the few wolves mated to a human in their pack. Her mate actually helped out by playing the role of pack doctor on Wednesdays. They were both nice people. Besides, Elena was Shawn’s favourite babysitter as a kid. He could ask her about her human mate bond. Rare but possible, as Shawn now knew. Or did he. Was she human? He didn’t have time to dwell as he trudged downstairs to greet Elena.

After saying hi and being told to make tea by his Mom, he returned to smiled at his babysitter who now had 5 children of her own now if he remembered correctly.

“Hey there Rockstar” Elena smiled.

“Ellie” Shawn smiled brightly at her.

“You and Aaliyah are the only ones to get away with calling me that”

“we were the best kids you ever babysat and you know it” Shawn grinned.

“Quite possibly” Elena avoided answering

“How are you kids?” he quizzed, genuinely interested.

“Growing” she said ominously. “and fast”

“How old are they all now?”

“Jesse’s five, Chelsea is three and Levi and Alex are 18 months.”

“Man, your house must be loud” Shawn laughed.

“You’ve no idea. The dogs are quieter than my kids and you can hear them bark from here” Elena said dramatically.

Suddenly Elena moved and knocked her keys off the coffee table which Shawn immediately picked up for her before spotting the keychain and the photo on it. Of Elena, her husband, her kids and Shawn’s mate.

“Ellie who’s the older girl? You’ve only got 4 four kids” Shawn observed.

“Oh, that’s Ava, our biggest ray of sunshine. She’s not much younger than you actually, Lewis actually had four kids from his previous marriage, she’s his third child and second daughter” Elena explained.

“Does she know about all of this?” Shawn asked.

“No, we agreed to keep her out of it until necessary” Elena said. “We’ll have to tell her eventually because of Jesse” Elena sighed. “Her best friend comes from a wolf family too actually, Katie Beauregard”

“Marcus’ daughter?” Karen asked.

“One and only, her and Katie have been attached to the hip since she moved her. More like sisters than friends those two are”

He couldn’t believe his ears. Elena’s stepdaughter was his mate. He’d hit the jackpot. He could find out everything from her.

“I feel like I’ve seen her before” Shawn muttered. “Does she go to my school or something?” he feigned ignorance.

“Year below you actually” Elena told him.

“Oh, well if ever see the two of you I’ll make sure I come and say hi” Shawn smiled politely before turning to his Mom. “I have practice now, I’ll be home for dinner, just later than usual. Bye guys”

Turning and running out of the house he walked his way to Kyle’s house two blocks over, smiling the whole way there.

Ava. Her name was Ava Prescott. The name suited her. Just thinking of her made him feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. He’d locked eyes with her for a split second but it was enough for him to know she was his mate. Beautiful chocolate almond shaped eyes and a gorgeous smile based off what he’d seen when she was dragged out by her friends, grinning at their enthusiasm. He didn’t notice much too overcome with his initial emotions and heart eyes.

He did however notice Jason Lewis eyeing her up like a piece of meat as she got dragged past him.

Asshole.

All Shawn knew was that he had to find a way to talk to her, get to know her and somehow manage not to freak her out in the process.

He was going to be with his mate.

Part 2

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softyoongiionly · 6 years

Text

Fear and Dumplings: Chapter Six

Confronting your fears for a final grade sounds unappealing but, with Yoongi as your partner, things might not be so bad.

Summary: You’re in your final semester at University when your Abnormal Psychology professor assigns you a partnered project surrounding your greatest fears. Lucky for you, your partner just so happens to be a cute boy named Min Yoongi.

Pairing: Min Yoongi x Reader

Genre: College Au, Underground Rapper! Yoongi, Soft!!! Yoongi, Fluff!!!, some moderate angst (later), smut (later later), slow-ish? burn

Word Count: 5.1K

A/N: I’m literally on fire after writing this chapter lol. I hope you like it!😊

Warnings for this Chapter: mentions of fear, anxiety, sadness, some angst aka Jimin is an insecure boy who is unaware that he is literaly heaven on earth, swearing, suggestive situations/concepts, if you squint really hard you can see the beginnings of smut.

Warnings for the Fic: mentions characters confronting their fears, characters in uncomfortable situations, emotional moments between characters, mentions of bad parenting, explicit language throughout the fic, moderate angst, and very explicit smut later in the story.

Chapter 6: Doubt and Shadow Demons

You’re lying on your bed in one of your many baggy t-shirts, smiling like an idiot at your phone. Jimin had sent you screenshots of what he believed to be Yoongi’s twitter. If Jimin wasn’t aiming to be a dancer, you would have suggested a career as a private investigator because, he could literally find anyone. You hadn’t asked Jimin to go looking for more information on Yoongi but, you’d be lying if you said you weren’t interested. His Twitter was mostly black, no bio and, no location but, the avatar was a picture of Yoongi wearing headphones, his newly blonde hair disheveled as he smiled at the camera. He really had no business being that cute. ‘@agustd93’ was his handle and you furrowed your brows in confusion as you tried to decipher what it could mean. Yoongi didn’t seem to tweet much, he just retweeted a lot of music equipment accounts however, there were a few scattered tweets here and there that made you laugh.

“Roommates are drunk, again. They can’t hold their alcohol for shit.”

“Update: Drunk Hobi is obsessed with my cheeks and, I swear if he pinches them one more time, I’m going to cut his hands off.”

“Another Update: Joon just started crying after explaining to me that, “we are all just little flowers in the garden of life, trying to find our bees.” What the fuck does that even mean?”

You giggle, shaking your head, your thumb scrolling down to search for more tweets. There were more scattered between retweets of what you assumed to be the latest music equipment as Yoongi quoted some of the them with captions like ‘Dream Studio’ and ‘if only I wasn’t broke.’ You kept scrolling before coming across a tweet that made your stomach flutter.

‘Where? Everywhere.’

Fuck. He tweeted that last night. After you and Yoongi got off the Ferris Wheel, you actually ended up having a pretty decent time. The two of you got dinner at the park and wrote your experiences down in your research journals. Yoongi acted like the conversation on the Ferris Wheel never happened but, he seemed to warm up to you more and more as the night progressed. But still, nothing flirty occurred between the two of you and, Yoongi was very careful not to get too close to you. The whole thing was very confusing, one minute, Yoongi’s admitting that he would kiss you ‘everywhere, if you let him’ and, the next minute he’s treating you like he normally did. This tweet was sent at 11:30 which would have been around the time he got back to his place. Maybe it wasn’t about you, Yoongi seemed to have a habit of being vague and, he easily could have been talking about something else but, none the less, it made your heart skip a beat.

Did you like Yoongi? More importantly, did it matter? You shook your head, trying to rid yourself of your complicated thoughts as you rolled out of bed. Marzipan throws a complaint your way as you walk past her lounging at the end of the mattress. Normally, you would be out at your favorite crepe café gossiping with Jimin over some iced coffee but, Jimin had texted you the night before saying that his showcase rehearsal was running late and he didn’t think he’d get any sleep if he met up with you. You had of course met this with an abundance of understanding as you knew better than anyone how hard Jimin had been working at his showcase routine. So, instead of meeting up with your best friend, you planned on working on your final paper for your International Relations course. You had been working on it all semester and, felt accomplished that for once, you didn’t procrastinate. Green tea was essential for today’s writing session so; you brewed a decent sized pot before, continuing your paper. Marzipan eventually made her way out into your living room, opting to sprawl out on the couch, claiming her space as usual.

After writing for some time, you glance at the clock at the bottom of your laptop and your eyes widen. Shit. You had been writing for 4 hours. How was it possible that much time had passed? You had gotten a lot done, adding an additional 6-7 pages to the giant that was your final paper. Just after leaning back in your chair and stretching your limbs, your phone lights up with a text message.

BROS 4 LYFE (Jungkook): I miss the squad tho.

You giggle at the message, your heart warming as you reply.

BROS 4 LYFE: me too tho :/

BROS 4 LYFE (Taehyung): me 3 tho :/ :/

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): MY BABIES :( i miss u guys.

A hint of sadness plucks at your chest as you read the messages being sent in by your friends. You had made new friends in school and, college had been an overall fun time but, you had to admit that you never stopped missing having all three of your bestfriends in one place. The past four years hadn’t been the same without them and you couldn’t wait til the four of you graduated so, that you could finally have your group back together again. Jungkook had been drafted to play pro ball on a minor league team in your current city and, Taehyung had made the decision earlier in the semester to pursue his masters in art history at the school you and Jimin were currently attending. This meant that in a few short weeks, everything would back to normal for a little while.

BROS 4 LYFE: only a few more weeks my dudes, we got this.

BROS 4 LYFE (Jungkook) stay on that grind squad, college grad hours are about to be open.

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): kookie and tae, will you be here for my showcase? It’s two weeks before graduation.

BROS 4 LYFE (Taehyung): duh. We wouldn’t miss it for the world Jiminie.

BROS 4 LYFE (Jungkook): yea we would never miss a chance to see the world’s shortest ballerina.

Your eyes widen as you laugh, already imagining Jimin igniting in fury when he reads the message. His reply comes before you are able to chime in.

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): YAH! IM NOT A BALLERINA!

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): I AM A CONTEMPORARY DANCER.

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): THE CHAMPION CONTEMPORARY DANCER

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): THREE YEARS RUNNING THANKYOUVERYMUCH

At this point you’re in a full blown laughing fit, shaking your head as your fiery best friend pops off in the chat.

BROS 4 LYFE: go best friend, that’s my best friend.

BROS 4 LYFE (Taehyung): let the record show that Kookie bought 12 of the limited edition Jimin shirts that your school sold after he won the championships.

BROS 4 LYFE (Jungkook): YOU PROMISED ME YOU WOULDN’T TELL

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): >:)

BROS 4 LYFE (Jimin): love u kookie

BROS 4 LYFE (Jungkook): …love u too…

The responses eventually dwindle down and, you decide to hop in the shower to tend to the mop of hair that was growing slightly greasy on your head. Afterwards, you throw on a cozy sweatshirt and your favorite pair of fuzzy pajama shorts and, settle on the couch to watch some Netflix. You hadn’t had a night in to yourself in a long time and, it felt amazing to be able to sit around and, do nothing. Marzipan made her way up your body before, snuggling up in the free space between you and the edge of the couch. As your fingers absentmindedly stroke her fur, you feel your lids becoming heavier and heavier and, finally, you drift off into a much needed nap.

Needless to say, the nap turned into you passing out around 7:30 and, sleeping through the night until, finally, you awake to the ethereal sound of the never-ending city construction. You grumble as you pull the covers over your head to drown out the noise causing Marzipan, who clearly hadn’t left her spot all night, to flee from the couch. Checking your phone, you noticed a few messages from your group-chat and a snapchat or two from some of your other friends. After responding to the majority of your missed messages, you drag yourself off of the couch and into the kitchen to make some coffee. The microwave displayed the current time: 7:45am; an unholy time to be awake on a Saturday morning. The coffee was finishing up before a loud knock at your door caused you to jump out of your skin. Who the hell was at your house at 7:45 in the morning? You gingerly made your way to the door, hoping that it was just someone from maintenance. Opening the door, you nearly scream as a tuft of pink hair practically collapses into your arms. It was Jimin and, he was crying.

“Jimin, babe, what’s wrong?” You hold him to you, your eyes wide with concern as you usher him into your apartment.

“I can’t do it y/n, I can’t do anything right.” He cries into your t-shirt, his hands clutching you as if you’re about to slip away.

You rub his back, maneuvering you both onto your couch, Jimin clinging to you all the while.

“Hey, hey, that’s not true at all.” You murmur soothingly. “Jimin, what brought this on? Did something happen?”

Jimin, still crying, nods, as the tears stream down his puffy cheeks.

“I’ve been rehearsing for…for 36 hours…and I ca…can’t….do it…I can’t get it right. I ke…keep messing up. I’m n…not getting it…they’re…they’re going to drop me from the showcase if I can’t do it….they…they will…” At this point, your heart is broken, your usually smiley best friend is completely shattered, sobbing, into your arms. You hadn’t seen him like this since he had his first serious breakup sophomore year and, even that couldn’t compare to what you saw before you.

“Shh…minnie…it’s ok, it’s ok, I got you.” You gingerly tilt his swollen face towards yours, your eyes holding an immense amount of emotion as you gaze into his. “Listen to me ok? You can’t rehearse like that, you’re going to burn out and, get hurt. You have to rest. You’ve been practicing non-stop for the entire semester. You could do that routine in your sleep babe. The only reason you probably messed up is because you are exhausting yourself.”

Before you can even finish, Jimin’s eyes well up with tears once again as he shakes his head.

“No…no…you don’t understand…y/n…the coaches came to watch me last night and, I fell…I fell and they…they said that they were disappointed with my progress…and that I need to do better…so…I had to stay to re…rehearse…cause I failed. I failed y/n, I failed.” Jimin bursts into another fit of sobs as he clutches you tighter and, you actually have to hold back the tears that are pricking the corners of your own eyes.

“Dancers fall all the time Jiminie, it’s ok, you had been rehearsing all day. Every free moment you have, you spend in the studio practicing. I know it must have been so hard to fall in front of your coaches but, hey,” You tilt his face to you once more before he can hide away in your arm again. “You are Park fucking Jimin. You are the youngest collegiate dancer to win the national showcase and, the ONLY dancer to win it three years in a row. Dancing is like breathing to you. Audiences are mesmerized as soon as you step on the stage. You did not fail. You are exhausted. You can’t work yourself like this or, there won’t be a Park Jimin to win the showcase four years in a row.” As your words tumble out of your mouth, Jimin begins to calm down, still sniffling lightly, he hugs you again, his normally sparkling eyes, heavy with exhaustion.

“I’m so scared…y/n…there’s so much pressure and, I don’t think I’ll be able to bear it if I disappoint anyone.” You place a chaste kiss to the top of his bubblegum hair as you nod.

“It’s ok to be afraid, this is something you really want and, when we really want something, the thought of failing can be crippling but, you have worked so unbelievably hard. No one deserves this more than you do. Try and have a little faith in yourself ok? There is nothing you can’t achieve. You have something so magical within you. Working hard is good but, everyone has their limit and, if you keep pushing yourself like this, you won’t be healthy enough to achieve all of the amazing things I know you are capable of.” Your voice has dropped to an even lower volume as you continue rubbing Jimin’s back. He is looking up at you with intense focus but, you can tell he is on the verge of crashing.

“You promise? You promise you believe I can do this?” He whispers and, your heart shatters in pieces that someone whom you care so deeply for, is in so much pain.

“I don’t just believe Jimin, I know.” You whisper back before jerking your head to the other end of the couch. “Can you please try and sleep for me? When you wake up, we can go somewhere, or we can stay in,its up to you. Just try and rest of a while.” At your request, Jimin lets out a yawn, his lips pressing to your shoulder once more before he flops back onto the couch, still sniffling lightly.

You help him out of his shoes and his coat before grabbing a blanket and, literally tucking him in.

“Thank you y/n.” Jimin whispers, practically half asleep, his hand holding yours lightly.

“You don’t have to thank me, that’s what best friends are for. I’ve cried on your couch a few times too, remember.” You smile fondly as Jimin lets out a twinkling giggle, happy to see that he’s feeling somewhat better.

“I love you.” He whispers, his eyes beginning to shut.

You squeeze his hand lightly before replying.

“I love you too Jimin.”

Jimin drifts off a few moments later, his light snores filling your living room. Your heart feels achy as you reply the last few moments over in your head. You knew your words wouldn’t be enough to completely take away Jimin’s uncertainty but, you were so grateful that he came to you instead of suffering in silence. Jimin had a history of feeling this way right before a showcase. He had done something similar to this your freshman year before, winning and subsequently making history. It absolutely devastated you to see him hurting but, you meant everything you said. There wasn’t a doubt in your mind that Jimin was going to go far in life; you just hoped one day, he could see it for himself.

—————————————————————————————————-

“The dark and the ocean….I think maybe it’s time that we start tackling our fears one by one, what do you think?” You look over at Yoongi, who nods from behind his phone.

“Yeah, I think so too. I don’t know how we’d combine the dark and the ocean anyway.” His voice was slightly scratchier than normal but, when you had asked if he was sick, he told you that he had lost his voice at a concert he went to the night prior. For whatever reason, you didn’t believe him but, rather than prying, you opted to enjoy the sound of Yoongi’s raspy voice becoming even raspier.

“If we did, it would be terrifying and, I would probably die.” You state bluntly, causing Yoongi to scoff in disbelief, shaking his head at you.

“You’re so dramatic.” He chastises, smirking lightly, tapping away at his phone. You shrug, not bothering to disagree with him as you doodle on the corner of your paper. “Are you comfortable confronting this fear directly? I don’t know how you would imagine it, unless, you just imagine yourself in a dark room.”

The shudder that passes through your body was completely involuntary and, Yoongi notices it.

“You don’t have to, we can think of something else.” He assures, his almond shaped eyes, wrinkled slightly in concern. You shook your head insistently, putting on a brave face.

“No, its ok…I can do it. I won’t be alone so, it will be a little easier.” You force smile onto your mouth but, Yoongi isn’t buying it. Thankfully, he decides to accept your statement anyway.

“Does tonight work for you? I have a free Tuesday for once so, I figured we could do yours today and mine on Thursday.” Yoongi’s suggests, his demeanor returning to normal. You nod, leaning back in your chair, attempting to look casual but, your heart jumped slightly in your chest.

“Yeah, that’s fine, what time?” You needed to know how much time you had to straighten up because, you definitely left dirty dishes in the sink and, you were quite certain that you dropped a pair or two of clean underwear whilst running late this morning.

“Well, it doesn’t get dark until 7:30-8 so, maybe around then?” Yoongi cocks his head slightly, his eyes sleepy as usual. You had never had such a strong urge to tuck someone into bed and, kiss their forehead until you met Min Yoongi. That boy needs more sleep.

“I’m good with that yeah. Are we eating together or do you want to eat before you come?”

“I’ll bring something, I have a lot to make up for since somebody, decided to buy our tickets last week.” He gives you a pointed look, disapproval gracing his features. You laugh, shrugging shamelessly, looking up at him.

“I guess you better bring something good then.” You insist, smiling, nudging his desk with your foot.

————————————————————————————————–

It was that very conversation that led you to where you were now: belly full of That’s Amore’s pasta, apartment tidied up, and Yoongi glancing over at you curiously.

“What?” You giggle lightly, confused at his intense gaze before, he nods over to you.

“Why are you afraid of the dark?” He murmurs, his tone cautious but curious.

You bite your lip, as you feel your body grow slightly uncomfortable. Meeting Yoongi’s gaze, you attempt to sound as brave as possible before, answering his question.

“I…used to have really bad nightmares as a kid. I had them every night for almost two years.” You admit, your eyes moving to stare at the couch instead of continuing to look at Yoongi. “My parents finally took me to a doctor and they told them that I would eventually just grow out of it. They gave me something to help me sleep through the night and, over time, the dreams finally stopped but, I slept with my light on until I was like 14.” You giggle, trying to lighten the mood, not really enjoying the serious tone of the conversation.

Yoongi nods, regarding you earnestly from the other end of the couch.

“I’m sorry.” He says softly and, you can tell that he means it. You smile over at him, brushing it off.

“No, its ok, it happened a long time ago. I’m just still not a huge fan of the dark.” You explain, finally meeting his gaze again.

“You don’t have to do this, you can just keep talking about it…I don’t want you to feel afraid.” He insists, his tone firm and certain.

You nod, your smile growing more genuine.

“I can do it. I think it will be good for me and, like I said, I won’t be alone so, I don’t think it will be too bad.” You’re lying. The dark terrified you but, logically, you understood that there was nothing dangerous about it. You know you can do this.

Yoongi nods but, you can tell that he’s uneasy, his movements cautious and hesitant as he looks around your apartment.

“Ok, do you want to start slow? We could just turn off the lights first; the streetlights shouldn’t make it too dark.” He assures you, nodding toward the window but, you shake your head at his suggestion.

“No, I think it’s better if we just do everything now. I think prolonging it will just make me more nervous.” Your voice is growing smaller and, once you catch that, you sit up straighter. As if, sitting up straighter would lessen the fear you felt. “Let’s do this.”

Yoongi nods and the two of you move to start closing the curtains and turning off the few lamps that you have on in your apartment. You both stand on opposite ends of your living room as Yoongi’s hand hovers over the main light.

“Are you ready?” He calls softly, his face littered with concern.

You nod, smiling tightly, bracing yourself for the darkness.

“You have to protect me if a shadow demon tries to eat me!” You insist, giggling, trying to lessen the tension as Yoongi rolls his eyes.

“There’s no such thing as shadow demons.” He counters, smirking before, he nods anyway. “But, yeah, I guess I’ll protect you if that happens.”

Your heart is picking up its pace in your chest as you attempt to pull a deep breath from your nose.

Yoongi looks at you pointedly and, before another question can pass his lips, you nod to the light.

“Go ahead. I’m good.” You assure him, putting on the bravest voice you can find.

There’s a click and then, darkness envelops your apartment. You could never have imagined that your apartment could get to this level of darkness. The room was pitch black, you held your hand out in front of your face and you saw nothing but a faint blob.

“Are you ok?” Yoongi calls softly from the other end of the room.

Another shaky breath passes your lips as you attempt to calm yourself.

“Yeah, I’m good. I’m ok.” You assure him but, even you could tell that your tone wasn’t convincing. There’s a shuffling on the other end of the room that causes you to jump out of your skin. “What was that?”

“It’s just me; I’m trying to find my way to the couch.” Yoongi’s voice calms you and, you curse yourself for being so obviously afraid.

“Yeah, I should probably do that too. I don’t want to just stand here…vulnerable…where literally anything can attack me if it wanted to.” You muse casually and, this causes Yoongi to finally break out in his rickety laughter.

“Nothing is going to attack you, just come here and, be careful not to trip over anything. That’s the only real danger you need to worry about.” Yoongi’s voice is practically a whisper and, you use it to guide yourself to your sofa. You finally feel the familiar fabric and make your way around the arm of the couch before, tucking your body into one of the cushions. The heartbeat in your chest hasn’t lessened its pounding but, you feel slightly better that you’re not doing this alone.

“I made it.” You whisper but, Yoongi could already feel you sit down at the opposite end of the couch.

“How are you feeling?” Yoongi whispers back to you and, you feel yourself relaxing slightly at the sound of his voice. He really should be doing ASMR in his free time. Your mouth opens to lie again but, you end up sighing in defeat.

“I’m scared.” It’s the first time either of you have uttered this phrase since beginning your project and, you grow uneasy as you wait for his response.

“That’s ok.” He assures and then he falls silent for a moment. “I know it’s difficult for you. We can stop whenever you want.”

“I’m ok right now; my eyes are starting to adjust.”

Another moment of silence passes between the two of you and, you feel a familiar thickness in the air that seems to occur a lot when you and Yoongi are alone. You close your eyes for a moment, stifling your desire to mention it to him. He had made it very clear on the Ferris Wheel that he wasn’t interested in being with you that way… ‘right now.’

“You can…move closer to me, if you need to. I’m not sure if that will help but, you can try. I don’t mind.” Yoongi whispers and, his offer catches you completely off guard. Should you move closer to him?

Silently, you scoot your body down the length of the couch until you feel your shins meet Yoongi’s feet. He must have been sitting cross-legged on the couch and, now that you’re closer to him, you can make out his posture. He’s sitting with his legs crossed, his body turned to face the direction you were sitting, while his hands rested in his lap.

“Thank you.” You whisper, and you can sort of make out the faint smile ( :] ) on his lips.

“Is it any better?”

“Yeah, it is, actually, thanks.” You repeat your gratitude and you finally start to feel the anxiety subsiding from your chest. Yoongi was warm and, he smelt like berries and the ocean? An odd yet tantalizing combination that, in all honesty, made your stomach tighten. His hands are adorned with a few rings and your eyes squint in curiosity as you try to make out what they look like; regretting that you hadn’t checked them out when the lights were on.

“What are you trying to look at?” Yoongi’s whisper causes you to smile as you realize that his eyes were also adjusted to the darkness and, he was probably wondering why you were staring intently at his lap.

“Your rings.” You giggle, your head jerking their direction. At your answer, Yoongi’s fingers flutter lightly in response, his head turning down to look at them.

“Oh, yeah, I don’t wear these a lot but, my roommate Namjoon got them for me and, started giving me shit for not liking them. So, I made a point to wear them more.” He explains his tone one of fondness and annoyance. Another laugh passes your lips as you nod in understanding.

“They look nice. Namjoon has good taste.” You compliment, feeling far more comfortable.

“Yeah, he’s alright, I guess.” Yoongi jests but, you know he doesn’t mean what he says, always hiding behind a snarky comment. Before you can speak again, Yoongi holds one of his hands out to you. “You can look at them if you want.”

Your heart stalls a moment as you look at Yoongi’s out stretched hand. The hand that had been on your own lap comes up to bring Yoongi’s closer to your view. The rings were actually beautiful and, you were thankful that the tiniest amount of light had escaped through the curtains so you could properly see them. There were four of them each covered in silver, the engravings depicting the four elements: Earth, fire, water, and air. You smile as your fingers gently examine Yoongi’s rings (hand). His hands were one of your favorite things about him. They were nearly double the size of your own, blue and green veins pushed slightly against the surface, fingernails bitten out of what you could assume as nervousness. There is a light increase in your heart rate as you continue to examine Yoongi’s hand and, if he had noticed that you stopped looking at his rings, he wasn’t showing it. You tilt his hand up so, its perpendicular to your own, your fingertips only reaching the middle of his fingers, as you place your palm against his hand.

“Your hand is small.” Yoongi whispers but, this time, you detect a different tone from him that you can’t say you’ve ever heard before.

A small smile graces your mouth as you nod.

“Against yours it is.” The whisper that leaves your lips is almost in audible, your eyes find Yoongi’s and, you find him staring back at you, the faint streetlight illuminating his face. The two of you stare at each other as you feel Yoongi’s fingers lace with your own. Your heart beats wildly in your chest as you lick your lips in attempt to compensate for the dryness in your mouth. Without warning, the two of you are leaning towards each other, your shaky breathing intertwining momentarily before, your lips press together. Yoongi audibly lets out a sigh of what literally sounds like relief as he mold his lips against yours. You rise up on your knees lightly, in an attempt to get closer to him, your free hand coming up to gently touch his face. The butterflies that had been taunting you for the past month erupt in your stomach, your heart racketing against your sternum. Yoongi’s hand that was interlaced with yours slips out of your grip and, settles on your waist instead, pulling you into his body. Your lips are beginning to move against one another and, you actually feel Yoongi’s heartbeat rattling against your hand. The thought of you having that effect on him, makes you clench between your thighs. Your body moves to make its way into his lap but, before you make it there, Yoongi is slowly pulling away. He seems reluctant to stop, his swollen lips still pecking against yours as he presses his forehead to your own.

“I don’t want to stop but, I think…”His breathing is too ragged for him to speak properly, and you press your lips to his cheek in an attempt to sooth him, even though, your breathing is just as bad. “We….should slow down….”

You nod in agreement but, relish in the fact that Yoongi is still holding you close to him, your body leaning into his chest.

“You’re right.” You whisper in return, your breath just as shaky as Yoongi maneuvers you so, that you’re tucked into the side of his body. Your hand rests on his chest and you smile as you feel his heart pummeling against the palm of your hand. The two of you lay there for a moment in complete silence, Yoongi’s fingers play with your own as you wait for the other to say something.

Surprisingly enough, it’s Yoongi who breaks the silence, his raspy whisper penetrating the darkness around you.

“Are you still scared?” He whispers softly, his eyes finding yours.

You look up towards him, a soft smile on your lips.

“No.”

Yoongi smiles back at you and, you can’t help but notice how shy he’s being, his eyes softer than you have ever seen before.

“Good.”

Maybe, the dark wasn’t so bad after all.

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itsmariojones · 5 years

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8 Best parental control apps for Android and iPhone - 2021

Are your kids' smartphones and tablets loaded with messaging apps such as Snapchat, TikTok or Kik? Do your kids act like their texts, tweets or viral videos can't wait until the morning? Do they hide their phone screens when you walk into the room? If so, then you may need one of the best parental-control apps.

The best parental-control apps for smartphones can help you track your kids, see with whom they're communicating, block them from viewing objectionable or dangerous websites, and even help kids understand limits while preventing them from seeing adult content or chatting with creeps. Using paid parental control apps for free using free google play gift card.

No single parental-control service we tested is perfect, but Net Nanny (formerly Zift) delivered the best mix of web filtering, location tracking and app management on both Android and iOS devices. (All of these apps can do more on Android than on iOS due to Apple's tight restrictions.)

Norton Family Premier was a close runner-up for the best parental control app. Unlike Net Nanny, Norton's service offers text-message logging and monitoring, but only on Android devices. Norton Family Premier also lets you monitor Windows PCs.

Parents on tight budgets should consider Kaspersky Safe Kids. Its free tier includes web monitoring, time limits and app management, and its full-featured, paid plan is just $15 per year for an unlimited number of devices, including PCs and Macs.

BEST PARENTAL CONTROL APPS

1. Net Nanny Parental Control

Zift/Net Nanny, which we consider to be the best parental control app, has excellent web-filtering technology and a modern, intuitive design.

Among all the parental-control apps we tried, it comes closest to having feature parity between its iOS and Android versions. Its iOS abilities don't seem to have been affected by recent Apple policy changes.

Net Nanny can track your child's location, display their location history, and set time allowances and schedules equally well on both platforms. The iOS version lets you block several dozen apps on your kid's phone; the Android one lets you block them all. (Tom's Guide readers save $10 off each of Net Nanny's plans.)

The only thing Net Nanny can't do on a smartphone is monitor calls or texts. No apps we tested can do that on iOS, but several do on Android.

2. Norton Family Premier

Norton Family Premier's power and features are ideal for Android (and Windows) households with many children, offering nearly every feature a parent could want from one of the best parental control apps.

This service's location-tracking, time-scheduling, and web-filtering and -monitoring capabilities work on both iOS and Android, but time allowances are for only Windows and Android. App management and text-message monitoring don't work on iOS at all. There's no geofencing on either platform.

Norton Family Premier comes free if you spring for one of Norton's more expensive antivirus suites, such as Norton 360 Deluxe, which is often discounted to as little as $50 per year. At that price, getting Norton Family Premier along with Norton's excellent antivirus protection is a no-brainer.

3. Kaspersky Safe Kids

Like Qustodio, Kaspersky Safe Kids lets you monitor your kids' activities on PCs and Macs, as well as on smartphones. Even better, Kaspersky's paid tier is only $15 per year, and even its free plan lets you set time limits, filter websites and manage other apps.

Kaspersky's location tracking and geofencing work in both iOS and Android, as do its web monitoring and device scheduling. But app management is limited on iOS, and the iOS app can't monitor calls or texts at all. Still, if you don't feel a need to read your kids' text messages, then Kaspersky Safe Kids is well worth considering.

In March 2019, Kaspersky Lab filed an antitrust complaint against Apple for allegedly forcing the removal of some features from Kaspersky Safe Kids. Apple hinted in June 2019 that it might relax some of its tighter restrictions on iOS parental-control apps with iOS 13, but we haven't yet seen anything different and Kaspersky's complaint is ongoing.

4. Qustodio

Qustodio has software for Macs, PCs. iOS and Android devices and Amazon Fire tablets, and it lets you set time limits for individual apps and individual devices.

This service's limited location tracking works on both iOS and Android, although there's no geofencing option. However, a Family Locator feature that shows you where all your kids are at once was added in September 2019.

You can manage only a few dozen apps on iOS, as opposed to all Android apps. Web filtering is more powerful on iOS, while monitoring texts and calls works on only Android.

The one big drawback is that Qustodio can get darn expensive, costing up to $138 per year for 15 devices. In early 2019, Qustodio experimented with offering a much cheaper three-device plan for $40 per year, but that did not last.

5. OurPact

Once the most powerful parental-control app for iPhones, OurPact was hobbled by an Apple rule change in late 2018 that nixed the service's geofencing, location tracking and time allowances on iOS. In early 2019, Apple quietly expelled OurPact from the App Store, but in July, after Apple eased up on its restrictions, OurPact was reinstated.

At its peak, OurPact was the only parental-control app we tested that could manage or block any iOS app. It can still do so for Android devices. OurPact also gets kids involved in managing the daily allowance of screen time that you give them, and it does a good job of scheduling.

Yet, its website filtering simply blocks porn, and it can't monitor calls or texts at all, even on Android. However, you can block messaging apps, and OurPact remains a joy to use.

6. Screen Time

Screen Time does an excellent job of managing and scheduling kids' device access. Unfortunately, this app doesn't do a whole lot else on iOS devices. And it has baffling upcharges for location tracking and web filters, both of which come standard with other parental-control apps. (You get both features in the 14-day premium trial.)

We liked how this service doles out additional screen time for chores or good deeds. But you can't block apps on iOS, and there's no call or text monitoring at all, although geofencing and location history were recently added.

7. ESET Parental Control for Android

ESET Parental Control for Android sticks to one platform, but it doesn't shine even there, lacking text-message- and call-monitoring features. The free app management and time management do work well, as do the paid location tracking and geofencing.

Still, the yearly plan is not worth paying for unless you get it bundled with ESET Smart Security Premium. That's because Kaspersky Safe Kids does more than ESET at half the price.

8. MMGuardian

MMGuardian has nearly every parental-control feature you might want, especially on Android, but the user interfaces are outdated and frustrating.

Both the iOS and Android smartphone apps offer location tracking and excellent web filtering, and have recently added an artificial-intelligence component to spot nudity in saved images. App management is strong on Android but primitive on iOS. On Android, the parent can read every text and block any number. Time management and screen-time scheduling are also Android-only.

How we test and rate the best parental control apps

We tested each app on every platform it supported twice, from installation to testing to uninstall. We typically monitored activity from the MacBook Pro, but if apps offered control from a smartphone app, we tested those features as well. Calls and texts for monitoring purposes were made from a secondary Android device.

The best Android parental-control apps remain more robust than their iOS counterparts in most cases, especially with regard to call and text monitoring. But new additions to iOS have closed the gap somewhat.

We note areas in which there are discrepancies in the functionality offered on each platform, but we are not providing distinct ratings and reviews for the iOS versus the Android version of each app.

What we didn't include?

The best parental control apps for mobile devices work best when they're part of a comprehensive approach to teaching your kids about behaving responsibly online. That means talking to your kids about what they should and shouldn't do with their mobile devices, clearly communicating how you expect them to act, and making clear that you will be monitoring what they do with their phones.

For that reason, we avoided testing apps that can run in stealth mode on a child's phone. There are many products that tout this capability, but some people use such services to spy not on their children, but instead on their spouses or on other adults. That is illegal in most U.S. jurisdictions and is often a factor in domestic abuse.

In addition, we did not consider apps that offered the ability to record a child's phone conversations. State laws vary on the legality of recording someone without his or her consent, and no states allow the recording of phone calls without either party's consent.

#parental control apps

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a-spoopy-bird · 6 years

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Antifreeze

suicide and anxiety/panic attack. u know the drill.

He was drowning in fear, there was nothing left, he was chocking, there wasn’t any hope, he had taken the plunge, his tiny oasis of a boat was floating too far above him to break free to. Lance knew it was just an anxiety attack, it would pass, but his body rebelled. It shook, he was filled with fear at nothing, he sobbed, he hit his head against the floor, begging unintelligibly for it to stop.

When it was beginning, he tried to call Hunk, hoping that maybe he could come over and Lance could not get thrown into an attack, but no such luck.

“Lance? Why are you up?” Hunk said groggily.

Lance felt bad for waking him up, but panic was rising higher. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat. “Do think that, just- could you talk to me about something?” He hated the quiver that went through his voice.

“What’s happening? Why?” Hunk was slowly waking up.

Lance bit his lip. He felt his knees turn to Jell-O. “Uh, nothing, just- please.” He slid down his bedroom door. He heard Hunk shifting- probably into a sitting position- through the speaker.

“Uh, so Pidge and I went to James Griffin’s house, because she wanted me to see what Pidge and Keith did to the lawn.”

“Go on.” Lance tried to breathe.

“And we pulled up to the opposite curve, and the entire yard had those pink lawn flamingos and bananas that were nailed in place. The entire yard.” Hunk said.

“Oh man, that’s gold. Whose idea was it?” Lance asked. This wasn’t helping, he felt his chest getting tighter.

“Pidge’s. Keith just helped carry it out.” Hunk paused. “You know, it was actually kinda beautiful.”

Lance forced out a laugh. It felt awful. His hands were shaking. He told them to stop. “Did you catch his reaction?”

“Sadly, no. But I do know why they did it. Apparently, he had some something about how Shiro being gay and how it wasn’t respectable for his occupation.”

“Isn’t he- isn’t he a secret mafia man?” Lance panted, struggling to stay with Hunk. He focused more on Hunk’s voice.

Hunk laughed, but it was quieted. “Buddy, are you okay? You sound like you’re out of breath.” The concern in his voice almost passed Lance by. He felt like Hunk was accusing him.

“Yeah- I’m fine. Just- if I don’t talk- or if I don’t call you back can- can you come over?” Lance asked, forcing his lungs to work, using all his energy to stay afloat.

“Lance, what is going on?” Hunk’s voice had taken a tone of urgency.

“Promise me?” He was going to have a full-scale anxiety attack, he couldn’t stop it.

“Lance, please, just tell me!”

“Promise?”

Hunk sighed. “Yes. Now, please, tell me! Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, I- I think.” Lance cringed. He hadn’t wanted to say that. God he couldn’t breathe, his body trembled as if he was outside in the snow rather than home alone.

“What does that mean?” Hunk asked. “Lance?”

Lance breathed in as steadily as he could. “I’ll call you back, promise.” He forced out. He heard Hunk calling his name as he hung up.

He dropped his phone, curling into himself. Just breathe. It was fine. Nothing was fine. He trembled, trying to keep tears at bay. What kind of man cries at nothing? This man. He shook, his body trying to convulse out of itself and run away from problems that weren’t there. He felt nauseous, he cried, he couldn’t breathe, he was so cold…

He didn’t know how long he sat there, pulling at his hair. A minute? Longer? When suddenly he had to throw up. His eyes snapped open. He couldn’t throw up right here. He shakily got up and staggered down the hall, bumping against the walls, just barely making it to the toilet.

Lance couldn’t stop. He wished someone was here but also glad no one was. It was bad enough to do this, worse if he had someone’s pitying eyes on him. He swallowed, trying to compose himself. It would be over eventually, it was slowing down now-

The attack hit him again full force. The room was too small, his shirt was chocking him, there were hands around his throat, why was there a vise on his chest, why couldn’t he breathe, oh God, he was drowning, he couldn’t move, he felt brittle. He sobbed into the empty air of the house, no one to hear it. He was alone, always, he felt onto his side, sobbing, banging his head, just wanting it to stop.

He didn’t remember it all. He remembered the pain of sobbing, of his fears, of his chest, and the pounding in his head from banging it against the floor too many times.

Lance sniffed to himself on the floor. He was tired of this. His body rebelling on him, his brain convincing him of lies, his days filled with this vice like grip around him, as if he were carrying the world on his shoulders. He had left his phone in his room. He doubted Hunk wanted to hear about that.

He lifted his hand to the back of his head, where he banged it against the tub. He felt something warm and sticky. He winced at the slight contact. He knew without looking at his hand that he was bleeding. He hoped it wasn’t too bad. If Pidge or Keith found out he’d be dead… or worse, his parents.

Do it. He thought suddenly. Lance knew who that was. That was Suicide. He’s been knocking for a few months. Lance had watched silently as he kicked down the door and started feeding him poison.

Antifreeze in the garage. He whispered. I heard it’s sweet. And deadly.

Lance got up too fast. When he regained his balance, he walked to his phone. Missed calls scrolled down his lock screen. Hunk, Pidge, Keith, and one from Shiro. Countless message bubbles, from Messenger, Snapchat, Instagram, and Kik spammed his notifications. The message was the same. The same words over and over until they had no meaning. Hunk must’ve worried and told the others. He felt awful.

You should. You’re a bad friend. Suicide whispered. Lance ignored him.

He checked his call history. He hung up at 11:27. It was 12:15. He took a shaky breath. He looked at when the others had called him. All around midnight.

He got another call. Hunk’s picture showed up. Lance ignored it. Why was he ignoring it? Shouldn’t he pick up, let Hunk know he was okay?

Nah, just get into something warmer and go to the garage, it’d be so easy!

Lance was starting to buy it. What could it do? He’d die, then it’d be out of his hands. No problem.

Hunk’s ringing ended. He knew he’d leave a voicemail. Lance would never get to hear it. He put his phone on the charger and got into some okay clothes. Dark grey sweats, his Westerberg High t-shirt, and his favorite jacket. Warm enough for early December.

He opened the door to the back porch. The frosty air chilled him to his bones, making him shiver. The garage was attached to the house, but locked from the inside, so he had to walk across snow salt. He had a feeling in his gut, the feeling of guilt and desperation. He hoped his plans would go through. It would be very embarrassing if he was caught. He wondered if he’d try again after that.

In the garage, find the sweet stuff. Now. DO IT! Suicide was getting pushy. He told him to chill.

The antifreeze was on the back shelf. He reached up for it and knocked it down. The orange liquid looked like something he shouldn’t drink. He picked it up and unscrewed the cap. It smelt awful. His survival instincts told him not to ingest it. Suicide was overpowering it. He closed his eyes and took a few gulps before the impact of what he was doing got to him. He chocked, spitting some out and coughing. Why did he just do that? He was nuts! The sweet taste of the poison was still playing on his tongue.

Headlights sweep the garage doors, and Lance heard Hunk’s rattling engine stop. Shit. He panicked, throwing the antifreeze into the mess of cardboard boxes and ran inside. He grabbed his phone from upstairs. More texts. These more threatening.

Hunk’s signature knock cam from the door. Knock knock knock-knock knock. Lance turned to his bedroom door, eyes wide. He didn’t want to answer it. Don’t answer it.

His feet carried him towards the door. He opened it as Hunk was starting to knock again. “Lance!” He yelped, smothering him in a huge hug. “Dude, why weren’t you answering us? We were all so worried! What’s wrong? Why is there blood in your hair ohmygodareyouhurt?” He fussed.

“Hunk- can’t breathe-” Again Lance silently added.

“Sorry.” He released him.

“I’m fine, I just had small panic attack, it’s fine.” Literally all of that was a lie. He felt bad.

“Fine?” Hunk’s voice went up. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“Dude, it’s fine, it’s over, and I’m tired, but I was going to make hot chocolate before you interrupted by almost breaking the door down.” Lance joked, grinning. “You should come in, and whoever you brought with you.” If Lance knew Hunk at all, he had at least gotten Pidge.

“You better explain to all of us then.” He said, then went to get the people he brought.

Lance went to the kitchen to make hot chocolate. He pulled out the milk, cocoa, heavy cream, and marshmallows. He wasn’t surprised to see Pidge, but when everyone entered the kitchen Lance was slightly taken aback. Guilt festered in his gut. They had all worried over him.

“What happened?” Pidge demanded, getting onto a counter.

“I had a small panic attack, it’s fine.” Lance said dismissively.

“You can talk to us, you know. We’re here for you.” Shiro said, concern displayed prominently by his body language.

“Yeah, I know. It’s fine, I haven’t had one in a while.” Lance lied. Why was it so easy to lie to his friends? He focused back on the hot cocoa. He listened to Hunk fuss over him.

“Do you need an ice pack? Or to wash it out?” Hunk asked. The more he talked about it the more it bothered Lance. The post-attack fatigue was wearing off and the wounds he had inflicted on himself were bothering him more and more.

“Nah, I’m fine. Sorry for not answering, I had just run up for my phone.” He always had his phone with him. That seemed like a really big lie. He hoped he’d pulled it off.

“Well, we’re glad you’re okay.” Shiro said, smiling.

Lance let the conversations go on, contributed, and finished the hot cocoa. “How many mallows?” Lance asked, pulling out the bag of minis. He passed it out and sat down at the island with them. The conversation went to Griffin’s yard.

“You should have seen it! It looked amazing!” Pidge said, grinning like a maniac. “And we put the bananas in so that the nail was in the top and bottom of the banana. He’s going to have a hell of a time getting them out Sunday night.”

Keith got up. “Where’re you going?” Shiro called after him.

Lance faintly heard him say something about pee and walk off. He sipped his cocoa. The conversation moved around, and Lance didn’t follow it too closely. He hoped they left soon, he was getting a headache. He watched his friends with a sense of impending doom. Guilt and anxiety swirled together in his gut, creating dark butterflies above the anchors. He ignored it, ignored the fact that he had chugged literal poison less than an hour ago, and that he was probably going to die in the next 24 hours unless he got medical treatment.

He swallowed. If Lance focused on it too much, he’d end up throwing up again, and this headache was starting to get bad.

“Lance, what the fuck?” Keith yelled, storming into the room.

Shiro stood up. “Language!”

“Do you think this is going to help anything?” He shouted, shaking the jug of antifreeze. Lance paled, the guilt in his gut clenching and swirling like a thousand evil butterflies of torture and mistakes.

Lance hardly heard Hunk asking about what it was. He could just sit there, stuck in a silent staring contest with the furious teen in the kitchen doorway.

“Well?” Keith demanded.

“I’m sorry.” Lance whispered.

“Lance, this can ruin your entire life! You could die! What do you think they’d- we’d- do without you?” Keith was practically snarling. The others were catching on.

“Lance, you wouldn’t-”

“Did you…?”

“You think that wasn’t the point?” Lance asked quietly, anger at Keith’s anger festering just under the surface. “I knew I could die!” He yelled suddenly, standing up, then winced. This headache was getting worse than anticipated.

“Why didn’t you just talk about it? You know, instead of chugging engine fluids and hoping that it happens quickly?” Keith screamed.

“Because my problems aren’t important! There are kids around here that don’t get food! My self-image problems are the least of the worries you could be thinking about!” Lance screamed back. He swallowed thickly. The energy it took to argue with Keith was taxing him.

“Bullshit! You’re one of the most important people in this fucking room, and you’re saying that your problems don’t matter? And you think that taking your life will solve this?”

“Keith, watch you mouth.” Shiro said sternly.

“If I’m dead it’ll finally be over! You can forget about the stupid kid that made bad jokes and wasn’t there when it really mattered!” Lance swayed. He sat down, wishing he hadn’t stood.

Keith stood silently, trying to calm down. “This may seem like the only way out, but I can promise you, it’s not.” He said, the anger still evident in his voice. “If you don’t get medical help right now, you’re going to die. And I don’t think anyone in this room would like that.” He said quietly.

“Keith, I’m-” Lance stopped. A wave of exhaustion hit him. He didn’t want to fight anymore. He just wanted to lie down and die. “I’m tired. Can we just- do this tomorrow?”

Keith was about to yell when Shiro cut him off. “Lance, if you drank antifreeze, we should really get you to the hospital. I don’t think we should wait until tomorrow, especially considering the hospital is over half an hour away.”

Lance was aware of everyone’s eyes on him. His shoulders sagged. He sighed and muttered a confirmation. He went to stand up and his head spun. He tried to regain his balance but stumbled into Hunk. He heard concerned voices, and felt Hunk supporting him. Lance felt like he was going to be sick.

“Lance? Buddy? You okay?” Hunk asked.

“He drank engine fluid, Hunk, he isn’t okay. It’s probably starting to run through his body.” Lance hear Pidge remark from somewhere off to his right.

“’m gonna throw up,” Lance muttered, trying to push off Hunk and get to the sink. He stumbled, almost falling, and made it into the sink. He threw up, groaning. He pressed his forehead to the cold metal of the sink edge. He wasn’t aware of Hunk and Shiro hovering at either side of him, ready to get him to the van if he couldn’t make it himself.

Hunk rubbed his back. Lance shuddered and threw up again. His throat burned. He didn’t think he had anything else to throw up at that point. “That’s it, get it all out.” Hunk murmured encouragingly. Lance dry heaved, body trying to clean itself of itself. God, Lance was so tired. He felt like he was going to fall asleep where he stood. “Lance, stay awake.” Shiro commanded.

“I feel… drunk.” Lance said to the sink. His speech was slightly slurred. He wiped his mouth. He learned onto Hunk. “I think I made a big misthake.” He said, eyelids fluttering.

“Yeah, damn right you did.” Keith said, still pissed.

Lance pouted. “That’s mean.” He said faintly.

The others shared a look Lance could feel. “Let’s get you to a hospital.” Shiro said.

Hunk supported Lance while he tried to walk. The floor seemed so far away… like he was a giant… Lance’s stomach hurt, and the guilt he had felt wasn’t helping. He tried to walk on his own, but his coordination was like he was trying to walk after getting staples in calf. He stumbled, leaning onto Hunk. Hunk was so warm, and squishy, and just perfect for sleeping on…

Lance yawned, blinking rapidly. Shiro had told him to stay awake. He was getting into Hunk’s middle seat? Oh yeah, hospital. He just wanted to go to sleep.

“Is antifreeze alcoholic?” Lance muttered, groggily looking at Pidge. “Because I feel really, like, really, drunk.”

“That just means you’re experiencing early symptoms of antifreeze poisoning.” Pidge said dryly, but she was trying not to cry.

“Oh.” Lance said. Why wasn’t he allowed to go to sleep? It’s be so easy… Hunk’ wheezy engine and the road rumbling underneath him was so comforting, the comfort of so many road trips with his friends…

Someone was snapping right in front of his face. “Hey.” Keith said firmly. “Stay awake.” Lance looked over at him. He was really mad, huh? But he was also worried… Lance hated that he’d caused this much pain to his friends. He wished he hadn’t invited them in. Then he could’ve died, and they wouldn’t have found out until tomorrow. They’d forget eventually.

He opened his eyes, and by the looks everyone was giving him, he’d said that aloud. He didn’t care.

“Lance, you know that we love you, right?” Shiro said carefully. “We wouldn’t just forget you like that.”

Lance laughed without humor. “I would.”

Keith punched his arm. “You’re an idiot and a total asshole. Why the hell do you think we came to check up on you tonight? Or why we’re taking you to the hospital? Because we care, dipshit!” Keith fumed.

“You show affection in a weird way.” Lance muttered.

Keith huffed, then looked out the window. He was trying not to cry. He remembered when his cousin Axca tried to commit suicide. He remembered the blood, the panic, the car ride, the feeling of loss when they thought they were too late.

Lance looked out his window. His head was pounding with the combination of his anxiety attack then the antifreeze. He tried to repress a groan, but Pidge caught it.

“Hey, just hang in there. We’ll be there soon. Just- stay awake, okay?” She asked, silently urging this old van to go faster.

Lance just nodded slightly, trying not to move too much. He swallowed, leaning against the cold pane of the window. The cool seeped into his skin, which felt too hot. He shuddered, wanting to throw up again. He closed his eyes against the vibrating pain of glass. His stomach felt like it was in an invisible grip. It was achy, with sharp spike of pain. Lance was so tired, surely a little nap wouldn’t hurt…

Shiro shook his shoulder, calling his name. Lance’s head dipped then he looked up. “Hmm?” He hummed blearily. The van had shuddered to a stop.

“Come on, we’re here.” The bright, twinkling lights of the hospital glared down at him. Lance just wanted to stay in here and go to sleep.

He unbuckled his seatbelt and messed with the door handle until he got it open. He stumbled out, leaning onto Hunk, who was waiting for him. After trying to walk a few steps and almost falling, Hunk swept Lance up into his arms. They didn’t have time to let him just meander across the parking lot.

Lance stared with half closed eyes. He just wanted to go to sleep, was that too much to ask? He groaned. His head was throbbing. He was aware of the others talking to the receptionist, voices being raised, then lowered, then raised again. He tried to follow the conversation.

“Can you please help, our friend, he just-” Hunk started.

“I’m sorry, but is his family here?” The man interrupted.

“What? No, but he drank-” Pidge picked up.

“Where is his family?” He interjected again.

“Why does it matter?” Keith asked loudly. “He needs medical attention, now.”

“If his family is around, I have to ask them, not you guys.” He explained.

“His family is out of town, they went to Cuba for a family emergency. Lance was home alone, and he tried to take his life. Can you please get a doctor or a nurse out here?” Shiro said, his voice hard and commanding.

The receptionist agreed and asked them to have a seat while he called the first nurse or doctor he found available.

Fuming, the group sat down. Hunk sat Lance down in a chair, and Lance instinctively leaned on him. Hunk made a great pillow…

A doctor came out with a wheelchair. Lance felt Hunk gently pick him up and set him into the wheelchair. Lance reached out his arm for Hunk as he drew back. The arm fell limp in his lap as the doctors rolled him deeper into the hospital. The last view he got of his friends was them standing together, trying to keep it together.

As soon as the doors swished shut, Hunk broke down. He sat down in their previous chairs, the rest of the group trying to comfort him but also crying.

It was a long night.

~*~*~*~*~

Lance returned home the next week. He found a pile of letters and card on his bed from family members and friends. His phone had been blown up with notifications. He looked at them all. The ones from the night he did it and up until just a few moments ago. He sighed, then tossed it down. He closed his eyes and sat on his bed. His mom and Veronica had come home to make sure he didn’t try to commit suicide again. He had refused antidepressants or anxiety medications. His mom had respected the choice but wished he could have some help. He agreed to keep a journal, but that was it. He wasn’t going to counseling or anything, he’d keep a journal and let her read it at the end of the week, then have a talk every Saturday night.

It wasn’t okay yet, but it would be.

#langst #lance mcclain #keith kogane #pidge gunderson #no ships #voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #long langst #suicide langst #antifreeze suicide #hunk garrett #takashi shirogane #shiro

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socialmediaruinslives · 6 years

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How Much Is Too Much?

Society as whole is more connected than ever. We are able to reach people on opposite sides of the world in seconds. The technology advancements we are seeing today is incredible to witness and experience. However, something that media doesn’t discuss as often as it should, is the effect these developments can have on our lives. It feels as if every month there is a new social media platform that everyone gets excited to join exactly how Instagram, Twitter and Facebook came to be. People wanted to be more connected and they got it. I find it fascinating that I can speak to my family thousands of miles away in minutes and see how they live their lives online. When writing this paper, I don’t mean to sound cynical. Social media is not some horrible monster ruining everything, but it can be to certain people. Teenagers now, more than ever are getting addicted to platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, fearing disconnection from their peers even though they see them every day in school. I have a 15-year-old brother who suffers from anxiety and has to go to a therapist every other week. He says he has no friends and that he doesn’t fit in. This was shocking to hear since he is so active on social media with hundreds of friends commenting, liking his pictures all the time. He texts about 30 people a day, all day long. How come he feels so disconnected? He tells me that everyone online is fake and that the people he talks to don’t actually talk to him in real life. Having been away from high school for three years now, it is hard to process that this is the experience teenagers are dealing with at their age. Examining this issue will help us understand what these platforms can do to our mental health and overall quality of life.

Recently, I deleted my online profiles on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat because I realized how unhappy and exhausted it made me to be online all the time. I felt like I was not in control which is a perfect example of hegemony. A process that dominates a society without force and without you realizing. Antonio Gramsci’s article “Hegemony, Intellectuals, and the State”, discusses hegemony and the power it has over our everyday lives. He states, “All men are intellectuals, one could therefore say: but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals” (Gramsci 77). This quote can be used to explain how we access information through media today. Simply put, although everyone has a brain, not everyone knows how to use it. People can be easy to control and manipulate online, especially vulnerable audiences like children. More children have access to social media platforms so they are constantly exposed to shorter bursts of content on Instagram and Snapchat, for instance. Fast, easy to understand information is what media has to keep up with to appeal to younger generations. Young adults don’t bother reading long articles about what is happening in the world when it can be summed up in two sentences. The idea of hegemony comes into play when discussing why we think the way that we do. We like to think that as individuals and as a society, we are in control of what we see online but that is far from the truth. We see ads curated on our websites that have to do with our lives in one way or another based on our search history, occupation, or recent conversation. There are higher powers in charge of us, so we are spoon-fed specific information that will appeal to us sometimes without even realizing. If I googled Nike shoes, within the next few days, I will be seeing ads on certain websites showing me deals on Nike shoes, enticing me to buy them. We see what they want us to see and nothing more unless we look closer. Gramsci also wrote, “Educative and formative role of the State. Its aim is always that of creating new and higher types of civilisation; of adapting the ‘civilisation’ and the morality of the broadest popular masses to the necessities of the continuous development of the economic apparatus of production; hence of evolving even physically new types of humanity (Gramsci 80). By dumbing down the masses by using social media and other media platforms, people in power stay in power, and ultimately, we are the ones getting exploited by marketing, and free advertising, all because of the power of social media.

In the reading “Alienation” and “The Consumer Society” by Arthur Berger, important concepts of separation, distance and capitalism is discussed. Berger writes, “One thing that advertising does is divert people’s attention from social and political concerns and steer that attention toward narcissistic and private concerns” (Berger 52). This statement couldn’t be truer today. When looking on a news site, you might see articles about the current political climate or a new development that can be revolutionary buried amongst articles about the lives of celebrities or how to lose weight with one simple trick. We know that people are living in horrible conditions all over the world, yet we focus on the lives of those with more fame and money who ultimately, don’t matter at all. As a society, we focus a lot more on everything else except ourselves. Not everyone is like this, of course. It is the majority, however, that don’t realize that there is a problem with the way we see media and if certain things do not change, this could completely ruin our mental health. After going off the grid, I can tell that my mood has changed for good. I am much happier and more productive with my time. Before, I always worried about what people would think about what I posted, tweeted, etc. We are blinded by what is presented to us and cannot break from the cycle unless really stepping back from it all. Media will follow us everywhere, but it is our job to be aware of what is good for us and what is not and to assess if it is really making us happy. On this topic of social media, fake media and society, it is important to focus on the concept of “the public sphere”. The article “The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article” by Jürgen Habermas explains the idea of power and how power is used to manipulate an audience. Habermas discusses the power of the bourgeoisie in a public sphere, mentioning how the discussion amongst private individuals “threatens to disintegrate with the structural transformation of the public sphere itself” (Habermas 79). Meaning, the idea of a public sphere is where public opinion can be formed, and when private powers are included with more of a say, it defeats the whole purpose of what a public sphere should be, an equal representation of a society’s opinion. This example can explain the way our government works and as people, we do have a say, yet certain aspects of our lives like media is still out of our control. It is interesting to watch world media develop over time. Before, we got our news by newspaper and a handful of other sources, now we see more and more articles reporting the same news but from hundreds of different angles. So how do you know who to trust? How much is too much when it comes to our mental health and the way we receive information? I hope these questions don’t go unanswered as we advance in this age of rapid fire connection.

This image shows a car swerving right, choosing social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) over mental health. This depicts what most people choose when it comes to their life online. That social media is more important than a healthy mental state.

Source: Pre-generated meme from https://imgflip.com/memegenerator

This meme is referencing how most people present the best version of themselves online. This depicts Ash from Pokemon being happy and cheery while Pikachu is more mellow and that is how people really are most of the time.

Source: Original meme made from Pokémon: The First Movie screenshot

This meme shows how much we crave attention online. Eleven from Stranger Things is shown with ego boxes that are “upvotes” and above it says “Give Me More”. Many people online constantly crave attention and validation by likes, comments, upvotes, etc.

Source: Original meme made from Stranger Things screenshot

Works Cited

Arthur Asa Berger, “Alienation” and “The Consumer Society” in Media Analysis Techniques.

Antonio Gramsci, “Hegemony, Intellectuals and the State,” in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader, ed. John Storey, pp. 75-80. New York: Routledge, 1994[2013].

Jürgen Habermas, “The Public Sphere,” in Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks, 2nd ed., eds. Meenakashi Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Kellner, pp. 75-79. Malden, MA: Blackwell 2012.

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evaaguilaus · 6 years

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Eight social media trends that will make 2019

If there’s one thing that is constant about social media, it’s change.

So many things influence the way we behave on social media: technology, social changes, economy, and politics. All of them are changing at a rapid speed, so you can imagine how volatile the social media world is.

This makes predicting trends for a year ahead quite difficult. However, there are tendencies that stick around and affect the industry in a major way for a long time. For example, influencer marketing has been winning the hearts of social media marketers and the pockets of consumers for a couple of years now, and the ephemeral content, even though it has been around for a while, got a significant boost with Instagram’s investments put into the Stories feature.

Considering these points, I present to you the eight social media trends of 2019. These are the tendencies that take their roots in the current cultural zeitgeist, technological development, and social platforms’ respective strategies, and are expected to take over social media this year.

1. Social listening

Social listening is not a new thing by any means, but the way we apply social listening is changing right now. In the past years, social listening was a way to manage brand mentions and reputations for big brands like Apple or Hilton. However, two things happened that altered the social media listening industry:

Social media monitoring tools have become more evolved, with new sources of data, new features, etc being added constantly.

The tools became affordable not just for huge corporations, but for mid-sized and small businesses, local businesses, and startups as well.

How did this affect social listening strategies? Well, nowadays, the new features and data sources allow going beyond basic brand monitoring. You can use social listening for social selling, SEO, and customer care to name a few.

If I’d have to point out one area where social listening could really change the current marketing landscape, I’d go with sales. Social selling is a unique tactic that gives you an opportunity to engage with people who are seeking services and products in your industry directly.

One tool in particular even added a specific feature dedicated to social selling called Awario Leads.

For now, this tactic is extremely underused, but we can expect to see more and more brands taking on social selling this year.

2. Buying on social

Social selling is one thing, but what if you could choose and order a product without even leaving the social media app?

To be fair, it’s not a new thing, Facebook already allows users to buy products from brands’ pages in their ‘Shop‘ section. They also have a Marketplace feature launched way back in 2007 which is an alternative to Craigslist, a platform where individuals can sell or exchange mostly second-hand items.

In 2019 we will see more social media companies opening up their platforms for ecommerce. It would be the next logical step for companies which already offer brands a wide range of features for advertising, like YouTube or Instagram. In fact, one of these might be already working in that direction.

Last September, The Verge reported that Instagram might be working on an ecommerce app. According to the article, the app will let users browse collections of goods from merchants that they follow and purchase them directly within the app.

Surely, the app is not an additional feature to Instagram but rather a stand-alone entity. However, this indicates Instagram’s understanding and interest in implementing e-commerce in their product (which is only natural considering that Facebook owns Instagram).

3. Transparency

Social media data has become essential to any marketing strategy, hence social listening is on this list. However, this past year proved just how little knowledge we as a society have of the scope and impact of social media data collected on a daily basis.

Last year was marked by an array of privacy scandals, with Cambridge Analytica being the most prominent one. However, Facebook wasn’t the only one who suffered, Twitter, YouTube, and even Reddit reported at least one security breach last year.

However, let’s not diminish Facebook’s role in this regard, they seemed to have one PR nightmare after another. This probably prompted Mark Zuckerberg to make a special New Year’s resolution for 2019 to organize a series of public discussions dedicated to how Facebook influences society.

That will be only one of the initiatives dedicated to bringing more transparency into the world of social media companies. Data is one of the most important resources in social media marketing, and ethical collection, as well as unbiased evaluation of it, will be a major priority for companies this year.

Our century is marked by brands developing personalities for themselves and building relationships with their audiences. According to this study by Sprout Social, millennials are expecting more transparency from brands than politicians or friends and family. Gaining the trust of the audience will become the focus of social media platforms’ strategies.

4. Live streaming

Powered by social media algorithms, pivoting to video content has been a trend for a while now. This year, however, live streaming is the new black.

Social streaming favors in-the-moment content, another trend that has been taking over social media for a while with Instagram Stories, Snapchat, and, most recently, Facebook stories. According to this Facebook report, daily watch time for Facebook live broadcasts grew four times over the course of a year.

You can use live streaming to present a new product, change the narrative during a PR crisis, or introduce a collaboration with an influencer.

What makes live streaming so special is the ability to create space for an actual dialogue with your customer in real time. Your viewers feel like they are in the middle of a natural conversation, and you’re speaking directly to them. It wins over highly produced video content because of its authenticity, the thing every marketer is trying to accomplish.

5. Private communities

2018 saw a trend of communication migrating to private channels.

More and more interactions occur in Facebook groups and private communities rather than on public pages, which is favored both by algorithms and people (unless these people are social media managers). Moreover, social media platforms keep adding new features to simplify the curation of private groups on top of integrating messaging features in their apps.

On Instagram, turning your growing Instagram account private creates a sense of exclusivity and urgency encourages people to follow, as described in this article by the Atlantic. Private groups and accounts make you feel like a part of an exclusive community, and who doesn’t want that?

Consider creating a private community for your brand, for example, a group on Facebook or LinkedIn. This will give your users an opportunity to not just communicate with you but also with each other, which contributes to building a strong community and encouraging brand advocacy.

6. Messaging

The most private communication channel is, of course, direct messaging. And for the last few years, brands have been engaging with customers through DMs and personal messages on social.

For now, brands are mostly using messaging apps and DMs for customer service purposes. But there’s untapped potential to create personalized, automated communication that’s even more effective than email.

This year, messaging will become a meaningful part of every social media strategy. Moreover, brands will finally embrace messenger automation. A study conducted by Relay revealed that out of 1000 trending B2B companies on Crunchbase, only 0.5 percent of the companies had a chatbot.

Chatbots could make messenger marketing the new email marketing, the open rate for messages is much higher than for emails, and messaging itself is seen as a more casual and personal way of communication.

Chatbots aren’t perfect yet, and people still prefer to converse with a human. However, as chatbots become more sophisticated and use more natural language, they will become necessary. You need to figure out which part of your marketing strategy could benefit from them.

Integrating eCommerce functions could also be beneficial for messaging apps. This is not the new idea if we remember WeChat, but it hasn’t been explored yet in the Western part of the world.

7. Personalization

Chatbots and messaging can also be a part of a comprehensive personalization strategy. 2019 will be the year when personalization powered by AI takes over marketing.

Considering the vast amount of personal information currently available to social media companies, it has become extremely easy to obtain insights into all kinds of information about your customers. Content consumed, purchase history, clicked links, social media interactions, and even personal messages. All this and more can be used to create a laser-targeted marketing campaign just for you.

However, some consumers may feel uncomfortable with how personalization is currently implemented in marketing. Brands need to find the fine line between being helpful and outright creepy.

One way to do this would be combining personalization and other types of marketing: influencer marketing, personalizing your messaging communication (beyond using first names), and so on. Take an example from Airbnb, which uses information about your past and upcoming trips to craft personalized traveling recommendations.

8. Augmented reality (AR)

AR can be used in a plethora of ways, from creating filters dedicated to certain events to actually implementing your product in videos or photos to let customers try it on.

At its F8 developer conference last year, Facebook announced that it was testing AR ads. In your timeline, they look like ordinary Facebook Ads but with a ‘Tap to try it on’ button that lets you try products on virtually with the help of camera filters.

AR could be the solution for those who don’t like online shopping and prefer to test a product before buying. If social media platforms successfully implement this technology on a wide scale first, they will become an even more attractive platform for advertising compared to digital space.

What you need to do in 2019

As you can see, none of these trends are coming at you completely out of the blue, most of them are a logical development of social media platforms’ strategies or the way ordinary users behave on social media.

So this year, it’s time to become an early adopter and try something new, be it a social listening tool or a messenger bot. In 2019, make sure you:

Collect and analyze social media data to guide your marketing decisions

Apply new technology to your social media strategy

Stay authentic and personal

You will undoubtedly see a boost in your social media ROI.

Got any unique social media strategies chalked out for 2019? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Aleh is the Founder and CMO at SEO PowerSuite and Awario. He can be found on Twitter @ab80.

The post Eight social media trends that will make 2019 appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

from Digtal Marketing News https://searchenginewatch.com/2019/03/01/eight-social-media-trends-that-will-make-2019/

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excerptsfrom · 7 years

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Chapter 15: “While You Were Away...”

I feel bad for not really keeping up with this but you know me, shit happens. Back around February? I was putting some vague slightly emotional posts on Snapchat and surprisingly he watched my stories for once. At the time I thought he was with Maggie, but things never worked out for them, she played with his feelings I think and treated him like crap. That's at least what I overheard from them talking. He tried talking to me but I pushed him away cause I was starting something with Nate. Oh god what a mess that is. I wished I hadn't done anything with Nate and just stuck with Sam and maybe all of this wouldn't have happened. And I blindly believed Nate about Sam too which I shouldn't have because of remembering talking with Sam about how he is around his friends and in real life. We didn't talk for a little bit and then he tried hitting me up for that panty prank we laughed about a while back before he started talking about Maggie. Who I actually originally learned about from Shane on the bus from south. I overheard him talking about how he was obsessed with her and stuff so I backed away thinking they had Something and Sam doesn't exactly like just anybody like that without reason. So I wished for the best and gave them space. That's when I stopped talking to him around like late January/early February. But yeah a little while after that he hit me up for that prank and I was bitter about him and Maggie cuz he chose her over me after all that talking and stuff. And I pretty much blew up on him. One of our many arguments. He had just gotten his licence and was all like yo can I grab them and I'm like nope go ask Maggie. And then I almost yelled all my feelings about him but stopped myself before everything came out. I did let out a lot though about how I've been like pining over him for like 8 months and how it's shit that I'm being played with and so on and so forth. I can't remember what he said unfortunately, but I know it was a typical "oh ok" responses kind of conversation of him playing coy. We didn't talk at all after that until about a week ago. (It's 3/17/17 today) I didn't know what to do with the whole Nate situation and I really couldn't talk to anyone about it since everyone I'm close with knows I'm with Elliott already and they don't understand the whole me being poly thing. Like Scarlett thinks I'm happily with Elliott, and Joey thinks I'm with both? I don’t know? And I really couldn't talk about it with Rachel or Yuri or Evelyn. So I decided to hit up Sam because he always gave me really good unbiased advice because he knows me and can see right through me. So I was like "hey I know we haven't talked in a while but I remember you always have really good advice and I could use some right now" and he pretty much responded almost instantly and said yeah. So we tried to work it out so that we could talk in person by him giving me a ride home from robotics and such but that didn't work, so eventually he ended up picking me up after school. Although Noah was there. I was hoping we'd be alone cuz I was comfortable with him at the time and I didn't have the nerves of being alone with him from a crush or something. We talked and he gave me advice and shit and then we ended up going out for Panera afterwards. I thought we were all gonna stay there and talk and stuff but they decided to leave so I was stuck in the backseat for even longer listening to them talk about stuff. It was a little uncomfortable. I ended up doing the thing we joked about and left the pair under his seat. It was weird. Funny thing was, I dressed cute for him, but ended up impressing Noah instead. He added me by username on Snapchat and tried talking to me afterwards. Which was funny cuz I was snapping Sam at the same time and we were flirty. After that day we went back to normal like always, him hitting me up at night and the usual snaps and conversations happening. Apparently when he's high he's kinky. Which is funny. I ended up leaving him a message to find in the morning on the day of the second competition, but he ended up leaving me on read. I was afraid I freaked him out. One night he tried hitting me up with the "ill show you mine if you show me yours" and I was tired so I said no. I've been saying that a lot lately and being a tease about it and using the smiling devil emoji. But he actually cared? Like he was like oh okay then go to sleep. And I'm like I wanna talk to you though, but he's like no go to bed you need it. So I did. It was weird he cared. It had me shook for a little bit. Especially with the one conversation we had where he was complaining about how he wanted a girlfriend and then saying he might've found someone. I of course was disappointed but I was nice and was like oh nice hope things work out. And then we proceeded to have the typical conversation. It was same old same old til last night. (Today is 3/23/17) I think I finally realize what I am to him. Just a friend that's a girl that he can always fall back on for a good time or to talk to. Just a friend where the lines are slightly blurred on the friend and something else line. Because we'll actually talk sometimes about important stuff but then others the usual thing happens. And it's always at night. I know I'm kind of being used but I guess I'm used to it and okay cause it's him and that's just how he is. The only thing that's different now than back then is that we've hung out in person and gone farther over text and stuff. Like I never thought it'd actually happen but I actually heard the "ill how you mine if you show me yours" phrase. And for goodness fucking sake he has a pair of my fucking underwear and I know he's jerked off to the thought of me. Sometimes stupid stuff like that gives me hope that maybe I'll have a chance at something more. Especially when he drops what he's doing to help me like that time with advice or when I'm tired and he makes me sleep cuz I need sleep. But then other times it just seems as if I'm just a friend, like when he came over last night to rant about his parents and we went off to side conversations and talked about how hot other girls were around me. I completely felt totally friend-zoned and like one of the guys there. Like when your crush is talking about hot girls around you you know you're screwed cuz you're a friend or they're playing mind games to make you jealous, which by the way works. And other times I just feel like a fucking object and used because it seems like I'm just a fucking side hoe with how I'm the girl he falls back on when things don't work out or he just needs a good time. Like he only talks to me at night or when he's high and avoids actually going out and hanging out in person except for last night and the first time as exceptions. We were supposed to go out several times but he always forgot or didn't bother or care. I know I'm not important to him cuz I'm always put off to the side until he needs me, but for some reason I stay. Sometimes I think I'm slowly growing out of my crush on him, but then I'm right back at it again. Like when I think and go an analyze my feelings there's a definite physical attraction and I care for him but when I actually think that if we dated I don’t know. Like it's just be weird with everything that's happened. Like how I have a history with Harrison and Nate and Yuri. And we've both seen each other naked, well he hasn't seen me beyond my skimpiest underwear, but pretty close. And things have been said that can't be taken back. I also know that if things don't work out we probably wouldn't go back to being friends. I mean there's been the exception of every other time, but in those we were never tied down or did anything in person or hung out or anything. It wasn't real, just two people attracted to one another messing around over the privacy of phones. We never acknowledge each other in school and barely talk in person. We've only had a handful of in person conversations. From what we've had though we're comfortable with each other. It's just I know him but I also don't. And I don't know whether to distinguish from my theories about him to his actual personality. Like I like to think I know him, but he's actually barely let me in. I only know what he's allowed me to. Everything else is based off of observation and inference. I just don't think that if we actually dated it'd work out. He's been hurt too much and as much as he trusts me, he wouldn't. It's just how he is. His friends know me and I know them, but it'd be weird seen as how conflict of interests. He's into some things that I don't want to have anything to do with. I'm at school to learn and I don't want to screw up and fall into the wrong crowd, not to mention my parents would kill me and it's illegal id never be able to get a job or licence or into college or military. I'm just not gonna risk it. And he just doesn't seem like the kind of guy to actually like putting the effort in, and the romance. I don't know what his relationship was like with Olivia or Aly, but I don’t know. Before I was blind and thought we'd be perfect together and happy happy romance forever after blah blah blah. But I have doubts now. I've seen the reality. Like yeah there's chemistry and were comfy around each other and care, but I don’t know. I guess I've just gotten hit in the face with reality that he's not perfect and I've been blind the whole time. I mean I always knew he had his flaws, but I put them off to the side, they weren't deal breakers. But now I guess things have changed. Like how he doesn't put effort into school, or is into risky things, or just plain out offensive. Like I mean in not a social justice warrior or anything, but when you use "Jew" or "gay" or "retard" in derogatory manners and such, it's insensitive and offensive. Like how am I supposed to know that you'll respect me, if you use those words. And he also swears a lot, I mean I do too, but like damn if Tracey heard him his blood would be filled with so much soap that he'd be like a living soap bar or whatever. You want a guy you can be proud of around your parents and don't have to worry if he's gonna say something wrong. I mean the first time we really talked in person was like October/November freshman year when Harrison and I first started dating and he came over to my table to feel me out and made a Jew joke right in front of Ben. He's the kind of guy I wouldn't bring to one of Uncle Ricky's barbecues because one, my uncle’s a cop and I know Sam, and two my family is overprotective, and three my family is very opinionated and there's a large possibility of him saying something stupid. So as much as I keep trying for things to work out, they won't and I don't know why I bother even trying. Like my feelings have faded from intense to like eh.

#memoir #excerpt from a book i'll never write #love #feelings #unrequited love

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guwop-aye-bro-blog · 7 years

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Some thoughts on the Facebook Killer and how we reacted to it.

Nothing good stems from Facebook live. The only time I remember it exists, someone is getting murdered on it. Sometimes I wish I could see the meetings that hatch these ideas. Does every social networking company gather around solely to ask each other how to (slightly) repackage what the other one is doing? Are Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram all under an umbrella, in some clandestine cabal? Let me know if I am on to something. Apparently, it took Facebook two hours and 14 minutes to take down the video of Robert Godwin Sr.’s murder. Mark Zuckerberg, likely reflecting on what a shitty idea Facebook Live is, said they’ve “got a lot of work to do.” Well, Mark, I’d suggest faster moderators. More importantly, however, a watchlist for whoever shares an article from Thought Catalog. The cesspool that resides in any and all Facebook comment sections, though? Beyond repair.

A little background on Sunday’s events. The 45 hour manhunt started with Steve Stephens going on Facebook live and literally killing somebody for the world to see. The victim, Robert Godwin Sr., 78, was a stranger. Stephens forced him to say his ex girlfriend’s name (Joy Lane) before shooting him. I haven’t seen the clip and don’t plan on it. However, I unknowingly heard the audio when 93x played it on Monday morning as part of their news segment. I would ask who was responsible for letting a snuff film play on the airwaves, but then someone would say 93x and I’d believe them. In a nutshell, he lost it over some relationship troubles and decided to take it out on the world. Almost two days later, Stephens was caught at McDonalds when he was waiting for some nuggets and fries, per the request of the quick thinking employee. This was the only sensible thing he did. If I’ve mustered up the lack of shame to order McDonalds, I will wait until the fries are ready, even if I’m on the run. All jokes aside, the idea of an elderly man being killed in cold blood on Easter shakes people up, understandably. In this instance, though, it shook them up enough to strip themselves of empathy and politicize it immediately. Good work.

The state of discourse is warped. Given the short shelf life for stories, stormy political climate, and ideologies weaponized ad nauseum, a productive approach to the conversation is, at best, uncommon. If you’re a rational person, this isolated, domestic incident is better left apolitical in its early stages. Even if your argument holds weight, you’re just going to piss people off. During the last election cycle, however, I’ve noticed the Internet throwing their two cents in all at once, hoping to be the first with a take. Some immediately shoehorn an agenda, which is obviously the tasteful option. Others, become forensic detectives and blood spatter analysts overnight. Ever heard of a crisis actor? A stranger with an Android screenshot wants to tell you about it. All of this, of course, under the guise of empathy for Godwin Sr. and his family - or in their words, “that old man that died on Facebook Live or whatever.”

If you’ve spent any time on Twitter lately, social justice is as present as ever. Saying anything deemed “problematic” will make you go viral in the worst way. You don’t want those problems. Frankly, they aren’t out of line most of the time. I’ll always encourage mobilizing against racism and careless language. A few of the younger users tend to virtue signal and leave it at that, but whatever. When I was 17, I liked Ron Paul. They’re far better off than I was then. But, we’re all at risk of getting lost in the sauce.

Within an hour of the story breaking, there were tweets pinning the Cleveland shootings on complex things like hypermasculinity. For the record, it’s no secret that patriarchy played a role here. Men will be destructive, selfish and crazy and still manage to do the mental gymnastics to blame a woman. It’s a tried and true trope. However, “snapping” over a woman versus commanding a stranger to recite their name before ending their life is a little different. Call me crazy, but I think Steve had some screws loose.

Twitter user GeauxGabby, dubbed “The Most Annoying Person On Twitter” by the good people at Bossip, had this to say:

“14 people were just murdered because this man is hurt over his girl. THAT IS HYPERMASCULINITY.”

This was part of a rant about men being murderers. I’ll never attempt to invalidate a woman speaking up about something like that, but it took a strange turn when she got specific. Suddenly, she started to focus solely on black men. I didn’t know who she was so I decided to do my Googles. In a few articles, GeauxGabby is named as a “member” of Black Twitter, although I don’t think she is warmly embraced as such. Her bio is adorned with a #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, as well as a reminder that a retweet does not mean an endorsement. The latter may come as a relief to many.

One of the (deleted) tweets in the thread said “N*****S ARE PISS” echoing sentiments shared with Darren Wilson, George Zimmerman and probably the entire Trump administration. She came to this conclusion so early that the information isn’t even correct - we’ve yet to hear about the 14 other murders. Usually I’d give a pass for misinformation when a story is developing, but not when it’s used to support flippant, dangerous accusations. It’s disheartening to see a valid critique of hypermasculinity mutate into an attack on black men. There’s a lot of opportunities to be thoughtful being squandered by “drag culture.” Nobody wants to unpack ideas when they’re wielded as social currency and provocation.

On the other side of the spectrum, Pepe frogs were doing what they usually do. The reactionary right wing response was expectedly tone deaf, clamoring for a response from Black Lives Matter. How stuck on semantics can you be? An organization against police brutality and systemic oppression isn’t obligated to speak on some lunatic. Immediately, conservative pundits began digging for evidence that Stephens was affiliated with BLM and Islam. It’s almost like they’re trying to smear people they hate, if you can believe that. A comment on the Blue Lives Matter website (I got there on accident, don’t bother visiting unless you want to buy a wristband or something) said that they were expecting an “outcry” towards police when they catch him. How nauseatingly out of touch (or just plain racist) do you have to be to assume that the same people that defended Eric Garner are going to be crusading for this asshole?

Finally, the conspiracy theorists. Now that Alex Jones is doing the pump fake in court, I was worried that I’d be without my dose of crazy when I need it. My fears subsided when I saw a Facebook page juxtapose Christopher Dorner and Steve Stephens, suggesting they were the same person. This was after someone posted an anecdote about their Dad breaking down why the video was fake. Usually I trust Dads, but I don’t think everyone is Dexter Morgan. There were points about the blood drying too quickly, the shot not being realistic, etc. In fact, this theory is dumber than “Dexter” got after John Lithgow called somebody a c*nt. That’s saying something.

These conspiracy theories imply that professional actors are used by the government to deceive the public. They believe that the same people are used in multiple instances. For example, the Boston Marathon bombing and the Sandy Hook massacre were theorized to use the same Academy Award winners. They have gone so far to personally attack the parents of children slain in the 2012 school shooting, and I’m assuming the same will be done to Godwin Sr.’s family if history is any indication.

I’m at a loss as to why they would hire the same person to appear in multiple publicized tragedies and events. Wouldn’t it make more sense to keep a few on retainer? Can they not afford more actors? Actually, can I be a crisis actor? If someone could suggest a template for a resume or do some press shots for me, I’d really be interested. All I have to do is show up and cry, which is what I usually do when I log on to Facebook anyway.

All in all, I don’t really have a thesis here. Sorry to say, but these knee jerk reactions rendered Godwin Sr.’s death into a contest to see who was the loudest in the room. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure whether we project our narcissism whenever we can or have just turned into desensitized shitheads. Look at the president - both options are viable. Regardless, someone died, and I was a bit disturbed (albeit not shocked) at the immediate attempts to politicize and twist the situation to fit a narrative. It’s not a bad thing to just write someone like Stephens off as crazy and leaving your critique to the wayside while families mourn and communities heal. In fact, it may stop us from treating the news like a microwave.

John Dorcy

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deadlydollies13 · 8 years

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The Potion Master’s Grace Ch. 10

Grace was apprehensive at first, but she didn’t know why she was. Severus had adopted her after all, making him her father. So why did she pace back and forth in her room in the morning for twenty minutes contemplating it? But when she went downstairs and called out, “Morning, dad!” and Severus hid his smile behind his paper, everything was okay. She spent the rest of the morning using the word “dad” as much as she could. “Why do you keep saying ‘dad’?” Severus wasn’t annoyed or anything by it, just curious because he counted thirty-three times she used “dad” in the span of breakfast.

“Well,” Grace said, taking a sip of her coffee. “I’ve gone the past eight years without really using the word ‘dad.’ No ‘Hey, dad, how’s it going?’ or ‘See ya later, dad,’ or anything of the sorts. I’m making up for lost time, dad.” Severus just smiled, “Thirty-seven now.” “Let’s see if I can make it to one hundred! Hey- what’s Malfoy doing on the front cover?” she said, pointing to the Daily Prophet. “Professing his undying love for you,” he joked, but Grace could tell he was just trying to avoid telling her. “No, really. Lemme see,” she tried reaching for the paper, but he just pulled it out of her reach. “It’s nothing for you to concern yourself with, Grace,” but that just made her worry even more. “Yeah, okay, like that’s ever stopped me. Give- me- that- paper!” finally, she snatched the paper out of Severus’ hands and read the front cover.

Malfoy Heir Testifies Against Father In Trial Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, testifies against his own father at the Wizengamot for Lucius’ crimes against Muggles and Muggle-borns. Malfoy was also charged with involvement with Death Eaters and allegiance to He Who Shall Not Be Named. Draco Malfoy was found innocent of any involvement with father’s activities and is not an accessory to his crime. Narcissa Malfoy will face trial on a date to be determined. Lucius Malfoy will spend life in Azkaban Prison.

“What the bloody hell?” Grace said, after reading the article. She honestly couldn’t believe what she was reading. Yes, she knew Draco’s family was a bunch of self-righteous, Pureblood maniacs. But they had such an important social reputation, one that Draco cared about way too much at school, to ever jeopardize that and shame their family. “Did you know this about Draco’s dad?” Severus just looked down, in a shameful way. So yes, he did know, or at least he knew something. And he was ashamed for knowing so much. Grace decided not to press, just like Severus didn’t push her to open up about her past. So she changed the subject, “Is Draco going to be okay? It’s really hard to go up to the Witness stand and speak out against a parent.” She would know, she had to do the same thing eight years ago, and she lost both parents as a result. At least Draco still had his mom around. “Draco will be just fine, Gracie. Now, give me back the paper. I wasn’t finished reading it.”

Grace was feeling pretty bad for Malfoy. Sure, he had been a twat to her and Luna since day one, but the situation he was in was just horrible. That is, until the next morning when she walked downstairs to find the blonde sitting on the couch scrolling through his phone. When their eyes met, both teenagers screamed, “What the hell are you doing here?!” Inside his study, Severus could feel a headache coming on. “My mother sent me here for the day to get away from everything. Uncle Sev lives in the middle of nowhere,” Draco said first. Grace’s eyes went wide, “Uncle Sev?” “He’s my godfather. Now, why are you here?” “I live here, dumbass! That’s why I would be coming from upstairs! Dad!!” Draco’s jaw could’ve hit the floor. Dad? Since when did Uncle Sev have a kid and since when was it Grace McClivert? Severus reluctantly came out of his study, “Grace Audrey, for the love of Merlin, please keep your voice down. And watch the language.” Grace’s shoulders sunk a little, “Sorry. But, you never told me Draco Malfoy was your godson! That would’ve been some pretty vital information to share, don’t’cha think?” He just smirked, “It never really came up.” Draco cut in, “And it would’ve been nice to let me know you had a kid! Especially ‘Fireball’.” “Really? I thought you would have been pleasantly surprised to see Grace.” Both teenagers said in embarrassed unison, “Shut up.” Thankfully, their bickering had settled down by the end of breakfast, and they had resorted to talking about all of the Quidditch defeats they had over each other. So far, Grace’s were more impressive. They had gotten so tired of fighting that finally, they ended up sitting on the couch, on their phones like normal teenagers. Really, that’s all Severus wanted for the both of them. His godson, unfortunately, never really had a fighting chance as the Dark Lord has had an interest in Draco as he’s gotten older. He was afraid that Draco was going to cornered and left without a choice one day. But he also wanted to keep any details about the Dark Lord that weren't found in the papers away from Grace. She was far too curious to willingly stay out of things, so Severus would just have to keep it a secret. And Merlin forbid if any of the Death Eaters, or the Dark Lord, found out that Severus had adopted a Muggle-born daughter. Well, Severus didn’t want to think about it; it was too painful. So, he went down to his potions lab to take his mind off of it. Meanwhile, Grace was filling Draco’s phone up with all of the social media apps he had been missing. For such a privileged child, he had a bare home screen. It had only consisted of the apps that Apple wouldn’t let you delete, plus he had no music downloaded. So, Grace, mostly to amuse herself, had Draco sign up for Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and even Tumblr. She also showed him iTunes store and he was very excited that now he could occupy himself with mindless games and every song known to man. But Grace kept thinking about how Severus was Draco’s godfather. How Draco had had Severus in his life, involved in it too, way longer than Grace had. How Draco and Severus’ bond was much deeper than his and Grace’s. How even though Grace was now his daughter, Severus had probably always looked at Draco like his own. And apparently, her thinking showed outwardly. “What’s wrong, Little Red?” Draco asked. Completely ignoring the nickname, Grace just shook her head, “Nothing. Just thinking, is all.” “Thinking about what? You look sad all of a sudden.” Well, Gee, thanks, but you’re the reason why. “It’s just- don’t laugh, okay? But, what was it like, growing up with Severus in your life?” Draco smiled, it was a kind, understanding smile. For once, it wasn’t a mocking smile towards her, and it was actually pretty breathtaking. “He was… Well, he was the ‘fun’ uncle, I guess. I’d always cling to him, when I was real little, of course. Used to wrap myself up in his robes and say, ‘Look, I’m you, Uncle Sev!’ and he wouldn’t get annoyed like he usually does, he’d just laugh. I think before I was born, he was sad or lonely, I don’t know. My mother used to always make a big deal whenever he'd smile or laugh, but I was always the reason for him doing it. He’d let me help him brew potions, but not really. See, he’d give me jobs like making sure the cauldron didn’t over-boil or something like that. When I got a bit older, I was allowed to stir, and it was like, the greatest achievement I’ve ever received. He was really great. I mean, is really great. You obviously see that Hogwarts Snape is completely different than how he truly is. He’s always been sort of like a dad to me,” and then Draco caught a glimpse of Grace’s eyes, how they were almost twinkling, because yes, someone sees that Severus Snape has a kind heart to those he loves and someone out there shares the love and adoration Grace has for the man, but mostly in that twinkle, Grace was imagining herself put in Draco’s space. She was trying her best to rewrite her own history. If she could just replace all of the bad memories of her past, of her biological father, with fake, made-up, or stolen memories of Severus, then maybe she could breathe a little easier. “He’s your dad now. Never thought I’d see the day but, here it is.” “I never had that…with anyone really. And a dad is supposed to be so important to a little girl! A dad’s supposed to be the first man she ever loves and carry her on his shoulders and teach her how to dance with her standing on his feet and do the daddy-daughter dances and all that stuff you only find in fairy tales! But, I couldn’t have that because my dad was a horrible person. And I had made myself okay with the fact that I would walk down the aisle on my wedding day alone and I’d have no dance with my dad and- Oh, look at me being absolutely ridiculous and spilling my heart out, I’m probably boring you to death.” He shook his head, “No, I’m not bored. But you are being ridiculous because you do have that now. And you may not have gotten the growing-up aspect, you have the rest-of-your-life aspect. You get to make all of the memories now.” Grace, as emotionally focused on her new dad as she was, couldn’t help but be shocked at how nice Draco was being to her. She had never known him to be genuinely nice, only ironically or fake to her, “Thanks, Draco. That… means a lot. Just, let’s not tell anyone, okay?” Draco agreed, but they were unaware that someone already knew. It was Severus, who was about to go check on the teenagers to make sure they hadn’t mauled each other but stopped himself to listen in on their conversation. His heart swelled with two emotions as he listened, something he definitely wasn’t used to; one emotion was pride for his godson, because he had seen how grown up and mature he had become. And the other was love and adoration for his daughter, and whether he realized it or not, he too had begun to rewrite his history, adding just a few more years he could have had with Grace if the tiny, freckled, redheaded little girl had waltzed into his life sooner.

“So, how’s Luna?” Draco asked, much to Grace’s surprise. She had never heard Draco use anything else to call Luna but “Loony Lovegood,” and she had thought Draco could care less about her anyway. “She’s, um, she’s doing well. I get to see her a lot more during the summer now, living in the Wizarding World and all. She’s over a lot. In fact, I think she’s been here more than she’s been at home,” Luna’s dad was always obsessing over The Quibbler and has always been a bit too neurotic anyway. She could understand why Luna would just want to get out of the house some days. Draco just smirked before he asked, “Has she talked to Rolf Scamander yet?” Oh no, “How did you know about that?” Great, now Malfoy was going to tease Luna endlessly in school this year for her crush! “Oh, please. Everyone knows they like each other but are too afraid to do anything about it! I keep telling Rolf that if he doesn’t ask her out or something soon, he’s going to miss his chance, but every time he gets close to her he flakes.” “Wait, how do you know all of this?” “Obviously because Rolf told me! Honestly, Little Red, do you really believe I have nothing better to do than to stick my nose in other people’s business and stalk their lives all day?” Grace shrugged, “I actually don’t know much about you, I guess. Like the fact that you’re my dad’s godson or that you’re friends with a Hufflepuff.” “Rolf and I grew up together. My parents thought it best that the Malfoys’ and Scamanders’ have good connections. We’re actually quite good friends,” Draco replied. “Then how come I never see you hanging out in school? Or even say ‘Hi,’ to each other? You completely ignore each other, and why? because you’re in separate houses?” Draco said nothing, just stared at the redheaded girl because she was right. For Draco, school was a popularity game. He had to only associate with Purebloods, especially those who were in his own house. But even more so, he could never get a chance to talk to the Muggle-born Ravenclaw Seeker he had admired from afar. But now, since his father was sent away, and his mother was the slightest bit more lenient towards others of lesser blood, it was his chance to show her that he wasn’t a bigoted bully, it was all a mask; a mask he wished he never had to dawn in the first place. And now he was afraid that he had dug his grave too deep and she’d never forgive him for his harsh words. He remembered the first time he met the tiny Ravenclaw.

It was Grace’s second year, Draco’s third, and he had heard about Ravenclaw’s new Seeker, how they were small and agile and had a lot up their sleeves. He just didn’t know who they were. Until the day of the Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin match; the Ravenclaw team had just walked into the Great Hall, and the Ravenclaw table broke out in cheers. There was the Team Captain, Davies, then the other two Chasers, Stretton, and Burrow. Their two Beaters, Inglebee and a new member, Samuels. Their Keeper was new as well, Page. The boys were all fine, tall, and strong-looking. Draco never saw any girls on the team, however. That is, until, he saw a small girl in the Ravenclaw uniform, with the number 13 on her back. Her bright red curls bounced with the spring in her step. The girl was significantly shorter than the rest of her team. She stopped in the aisle between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables right next to Draco. He turned to her, figuring she had some smart remark to say to him. But instead, her back was turned to him, and she was talking to the Lovegood girl that sat directly behind him. And then something clicked in Draco, the new Seeker, the one he would have to fight for the Snitch, was the little redheaded, Muggle girl he found strangely cute. “You look so cool, Grace! I know you’re going to do great today at the match. Maybe Ravenclaw will even beat Slytherin!” the pale blonde girl said. Draco scoffed, “You’re the new Seeker? I thought you had to be a certain height to play Quidditch?” He laughed, and his friends laughed with him. Grace just turned to him with a lop-sided smile. Her blue eyes shone brighter in contrast to the royal blue and bronze uniform. Draco wouldn’t have blamed her if she spat back at him, or even slapped him. But instead, she held her hand out. And Draco, dumbstruck, took it and shook her hand. “Good luck today, Draco. I’m really excited I finally get to play on the same Pitch as you,” she had adoration in her eyes and a disgusting amount of kindness in her sweet voice. It annoyed Draco, he wanted her to be angry with him, it would make getting over his silly little crush on her. When he finally snapped out of the trance she put him under, he pulled his hand away from her’s, “Yeah, well, I don’t need luck! Slytherin is undefeated.” Grace, to Draco’s infuriation, just smiled wider at him and sat next to her friend. Draco, soon enough, would eat his words. Ravenclaw, for the first time in years, had defeated Slytherin 170-50. Grace McClivert was soon one of the most popular Ravenclaws in her house. Not just for the fact that she had caught the Snitch, but she had caught it with such style and grace. After she shoved Draco out of the way to get a lead on the Snitch, which Draco will never admit, she shoved pretty hard, the Snitch had flown straight up into the sky. Grace tipped her broomstick up and was vertically flying after the Snitch, but then, the Snitch evened out for a second, then made its way straight down to the middle of the Pitch. Grace, stupidly, followed it the same way she came up, vertically. It was perhaps the most heart-dropping scene Draco had ever seen, and he couldn’t do anything but watch. As she got closer to the ground, and it was certain she would crash, there were screams from the stands, and the faculty stood ready with their wands if something should happen. But at the last second, the Snitch made a sharp turn right, and so did Grace, catching the Snitch. The crowd cheered, she did a few swoops and flips, and Draco just sat there on his broom like an idiot. Of course, while Grace was being lifted on her team members’ shoulders, being congratulated by Professor Flitwick and a few other professors, Draco was getting eaten alive by his teammates. Although it wasn’t her fault, he had to blame somebody, so he blamed Grace. As if things weren’t bad enough, he saw his godfather and head of house, Professor Snape, walk towards him. He thought he’d for sure get detention for life for ruining Slytherin’s winning streak, but he walked right past Draco, as if he wasn’t there, and made his way towards Grace. Draco got a little closer to hear what their conversation could possibly be about. “Miss McClivert!” Grace whipped her head around, her hair following, and smiled brightly, “Hi, Professor Snape! Did’ya see me? Wasn’t that cool? Look, I caught the Snitch and Roger Davies said that I should keep it so I have a memory of my first game won.” She was obviously overjoyed and proud of her win. For her, it finally meant that she was fitting into this strange new world. Snape was taken back, but he should have known by now that Grace McClivert was the least bit scared of him. In fact, Grace was put off more by Professor Trelawney than Snape. He sighed, “Yes, I saw you almost crash into the ground with such speed and force that would have killed you!” Draco couldn’t believe it, he was yelling at her because she had put herself in danger, not because she had put the Slytherin team to shame. What bullshit! “But, Professor, I’m not hurt! Promise!” “I’m still taking you to Madame Pomfrey to get checked out since your head of house doesn’t seem concerned. Maybe you’re not physically hurt, but mental enough to pull a stunt like that!” However annoyed Snape was with Grace, she just giggled. “Okay, Professor, if it’ll make you feel better,” then Grace glanced off and her eyes met Draco’s. “Just wait one minute, Professor? I gotta do something.” Grace made her way over to Draco, who now had a slight blush across his cheeks, “I’m sorry for shoving you, Draco. I hope I didn’t bruise you or anything. You were really great today, though.” Her words were sincere, and she had that stupid smile on her face, and it only made Draco angrier. “You’re supposed to be aggressive in Quidditch. And you didn’t hurt me, don’t flatter yourself. Stupid Muggle,” Draco spat. The light behind Grace’s eyes changed as she narrowed them and clenched her fists, “Fine! Then next time, I won’t hold back!” and she stomped away. Draco got an earful from his uncle, not for losing, but for being mean to Grace when she was showing good sportsmanship even though she had totally whipped Draco’s ass. And Grace didn’t hold back the next Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin match. In fact, she had no qualms with shoving Draco into a wooden post on the stands and giving him a concussion. Ravenclaw beat them again, and Draco got beat up by his teammates. But even worse, he had completely ruined any feelings Grace may or may not have had for Draco. She only referred to him as “Malfoy” after that, and gave him dirty glances whenever their eyes met. And still, Draco never got over his ridiculous crush on her.

“What are you thinking about?” Grace snapped her fingers in front of Draco’s face, grabbing his attention. “Hm? Oh, nothing. What are we watching?” Grace had since fetched her laptop and there was a movie playing in front of them. “Say Anything. It’s my favorite movie. Like, everyone needs someone like Lloyd Dobbler in their lives,” she didn’t take her eyes off of the screen as she spoke like she would miss something she had missed before. The movie was actually pretty good, for being a Muggle film. But Draco was more entertained by watching Grace watch the film. Her little smiles and the twinkle in her eyes. Occasionally she would whisper a little tidbit about the film or John Cusak, who she had a crush on when she was twelve and spent the whole summer binge-watching all of his films. Or Draco’s favorite, when she’d murmur, “This is my favorite part,” even though she said it multiple times, so Draco actually didn't know what her true favorite scene was.

#harry potter au #modern au #harry potter #the Potion Masters Grace #severus snape #original character #Luna Lovegood #Draco Malfoy #draco malfoy x original character

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evan-horvath96-blog · 8 years

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Snap’s IPO

In anticipation of Snapchat’s upcoming IPO, expected in March, it has become pertinent to examine Snap’s future growth prospects. In the highly competitive social media market, Snap has seemed to lose traction in the industry. For this reason it is not a good investment option. There are many factors that must be considered when evaluating Snap as a potential investment such as average change in unique viewers per Snap, changes to in-app features, stagnating user growth, increased competition, lack of investor voting power, and rapid increases in losses despite impressive revenue growth, all of which will be obstacles if Snap is to achieve its goal of raising $3.2 billion in external funding.

The release of Instagram Stories in August, 2016 prompted a steep decline in Snap usage. In a sample of 21,500 Snapchat stories, it was revealed that the average unique viewers per story decreased by 40% following the introduction of Instagram Stories to the market.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/30/attack-of-the-clone/

As the above graphic shows, average unique viewers per Snap story decreased significantly after the summer introduction of Instagram stories. Furthermore, in the second half of 2016, new downloads of Snap fell to record lows of 11th within the industry.

Changes to in-app features have also affected On October 7, Snap opted to remove the auto-advance feature so users could no longer instantly watch every story in their list in a row. Snapchat users now have to manually select each story they want to watch. The removal of auto-advance is the main reason why unique viewership of Snapchat stories has declined. Snapchat users are no longer being shown stories that don’t interest them. In the past, users would simply fast forward through stories that do not interest them while still triggering view counts. However, without the auto-advance feature, the viewership of less interesting stories is being bypassed altogether, therefore, leading to decreased view counts. After the removal of Auto-Advance, the residual views are more valuable because they are more intentional. So when considering the 9.64% drop in views, keep in mind that the user’s manual selection of stories increases consumer engagement. Overall, the change influenced users to open Snapchat less often because it is no longer convenient to view stories. Furthermore, Instagram usage has increased partially because they offer the Auto-Advance feature.

As Snap’s IPO date rapidly approaches, some investors are concerned with Snap’s stagnating growth. In the most recent quarter, Snap’s user base only grew 3.3% to 158 million users in the most recent quarter. This figure is down from the 7% growth posted by Snap in the third quarter of 2016. The first graphic demonstrates the recent stagnation in Snap’s growth while the second graphic provides meaningful insights to how other social media companies have performed post IPO.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-facebook-wall-street-sizes-up-snaps-ipo-1486920692

Conversely, Instagram is trending in the other direction with rapid increases in popularity because of the added reach that social media users experience. Not only can users see traditional photo posts, but they can also watch Instagram stories that are delivered in a conveniently located banner across the top of the screen. Consumers enjoy the increased scope that is offered through the Instagram explore tab, which promotes photos and videos that they may enjoy based on their viewing history. In addition, it is important to note that people that were late to build a profile on Snapchat are seemingly abandoning the platform altogether due to the fact that it is easier for them to reach more people through their existing audiences on Instagram. Another advantage enjoyed by Instagram is the large international market in which they operate. 80% of their users are international, further improving the reach and growth potential of Instagram relative to Snapchat. The below graphic is evidence of Instagram’s accelerated growth.

The rapid growth of Instagram could have negative implications to Snap’s upcoming IPO.

Another concern for investors is that Snap’s reported revenues for 2015 and 2016 were $58.7 million and $404.5 million respectively. Despite the impressive growth in revenues, losses widened from $372.9 million in 2015 to $514.6 million in 2016.

Perhaps the chief objective for any firm is to maximize value and wealth of the shareholders. Snap Inc. is pitching an IPO that’s more expensive and comes with less shareholder control than any social media company that came before it. Shares will be priced at $14-$16 with the aim of raising $3.2 billion in funds. Snap will be the first publicly traded company to offer non-voting shares.Only majority holders, Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, will have a voice in the direction of the company;therefore, investors will be forced to trust management to maintain revenue growth.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-16/snap-seeks-to-raise-as-much-as-3-2-billion-in-initial-offering

In order for Snap to reach its projected valuation of $19.5-$22.2 billion, it is imperative that they continue to excel in two areas. Because of Snapchat’s decelerating user growth, they will be forced to rely on ad revenues and user engagement. The latter is looking very promising for Snap, as revenue per user grew from $.31 per user in 2015 to $1.05 per user in 2016. This figure indicates that communication objectives should be geared toward increasing engagement of current users. In other words, Snap should focus on increasing current user’s preference for the brand in relation to other social media. In addition to increasing consumer engagement, Snap needs to form more long-term relationships with ad partners of higher value. Currently, Snap is directly responsible for approximately 87-93% of all ad revenue within the company which indicates that Snap has been self-sufficient in ad revenue growth up to this point. When considering that Snaps growth in user growth is declining, growth in ad revenues becomes much more crucial to success. For that reason It could prove very beneficial for Snap to form relationships with large media partners such as NBCUniversal or Turner to improve ad revenue growth potential.

Snap’s viability as an investment option is ultimately determined by competitive and market forces. Although Snap is largely self-sufficient in generating ad revenue, It will not be enough overcome the troubling growth metrics, increased competition, and lack of shareholder voice detailed above.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/snaps-ipo-filing-offers-peek-into-its-advertising-strategy-1486078983?cx_campaign=poptart&mod=cx_poptart#cxrecs_

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brianobrienny · 4 years

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Marketing in the Age of Disruption

What does marketing even mean right now? That’s what many businesses are asking. The world is in a place of dramatic change. So, what’s the answer to marketing in the age of disruption?

Marketing isn’t a function. It isn’t a department, either. It’s a process, a voice, and a conversation.

In this post, I’ll take you through marketing in the age of disruption and define five essential tips to help your brand make the leap to change and evolve.

Quick Takeaways

Disruption isn’t new, just more intense, and that sets the course for rethinking marketing.

The digital disruption of marketing is still in its infancy but has profoundly changed how brands connect with buyers.

Most marketing is still stuck in traditional mindsets.

Content marketing is the most critical aspect of modern marketing, and its focus is always on the customer.

Marketing Isn’t What We Thought It Was

It’s obvious we’re in a disruptive cycle right now. The world is chaotic. It’s been a perfect storm but one you can weather. The year 2020 has seen a culmination of disruptive forces — COVID-19, a recession, and social tensions.

So, what’s the context for marketing in a world like this. Does it even matter? Do we have anything to offer our audiences right now?

Yes, absolutely, because disruption isn’t new. It’s been around for some time. We’re seeing the acceleration of it right now.

Everything that’s changing has been changing. Maybe, we’re just paying more attention now. And that’s a good thing.

The Disruption Began with the Digital Channels and Devices

If you look at the history of the evolution of brands, you can start with some key dates over the last 17 years.

2003: LinkedIn launches, providing professionals a virtual way to connect and learn. In just 17 years, LinkedIn has become a valuable channel for marketers.

2006: Facebook debuts. In only 14 years, the effect it has had is profound. It’s still the most popular social media platform. It’s much more than a place to share family photos. It’s a news source, a marketplace, and a place for brands to tell stories.

2007: iPhone is available in the U.S. With this launch, we all now have the internet in our pocket. This accessibility has been life-, culture-, and business-changing. Answers and needs are available with a click.

2011: Snapchat arrives, becoming beloved by all generations because who doesn’t look better with a filter. Again, it’s a game-changer for consumers and brands.

Digital, social, and mobile technology would seem immature in most situations. It’s only been 17 years. We don’t call a 17-year-old an adult. Yet, these are fundamental revolutions for society.

All of this contributes to the massive shift in the way that businesses work. The most substantial impact has been on marketing. Knowing the power of these components, why does marketing still seem so pre-internet?

Most Marketing Is Still Without a Revolution

The majority of marketing still looks like it didn’t get the memo on change. It’s a cycle of brands telling us how wonderful they are. The narrative is still all about them. The only difference may be the channels they choose.

The reality is we’re all connected now. It’s easy to find information, and we expect this information to be accessible and meaningful. When it’s not, we ignore it.

This digital transformation means customers have different relationships with brands. They have expectations because this is the experience economy. When you don’t meet them, they move on.

But marketing, in many organizations, is stuck in the past. It’s not providing returns or revenue. And, CEOs are unhappy. They overwhelmingly blame their CMO.

A study from the Fournaise Marketing Group found 80 percent of CEOs don’t trust their CMOs. Subsequently, only 10 percent have those same feelings about other C-suite leaders.

This disapproval is most likely due to disconnects. There is also a dichotomy in what CEOs want and what they tell marketers to do.

The CEO Paradox on Marketing

CEOs are typically numbers and metrics people. They expect marketing to generate leads, expand brand awareness, and increase revenue. Those are reasonable requests. CEOs often have the wrong idea about how to achieve this.

They want us to change a logo. There’s no return on investment (ROI) with these vanity projects. How do you track if that activity helped meet your goals?

It’s easy to place the blame on misinformed CEOs for bad marketing, but marketers have to be accountable, too.

Marketers Can’t Be “Yes” Men or Women

Companies hire marketers to implement strategies that drive marketing value. Your job isn’t to say yes. It’s to push back. In a way, it’s your job to educate your CEO and other stakeholders on what marketing is.

What Do Most People Think Marketing Is?

If you ask most people, including CEOs, what market is, they’d probably say ads. It’s an antiquated way of looking at the process. Yet, companies still spend millions or even billions on traditional advertising or brand marketing.

Surprisingly, Coca-Cola recently halted ad spend, with a statement from the CEO that, “There is limited effectiveness to brand marketing.”

That’s an interesting response from a company that has undeniable brand equity. Their brand message has been about the product. Product marketing is the old guard. It’s all about the product and not the user. It’s true that it’s ineffective.

The Advertising Research Institute reports that product sales decline after 48 ad impressions. That may seem like a large number. However, think about watching a football game on a Sunday. Those impressions add up fast with commercials, logos on the field, and every sponsored segment.

And do customers remember the ads? They may be more for entertainment. Think back to the Super Bowl ads of this year. Some were funny and clever, yet I have no idea what brand created them. I didn’t see myself in the ads. So, it didn’t resonate.

More ads are not what your customers want. To thrive and grow during this storm and more to come, stop promoting ads to audiences that don’t want it.

Here’s what marketing needs to do instead.

What Should Marketers Do to Connect with Customers in an Age of Disruption?

Marketers need to deliver content that attracts buyers. This is what content marketing is. It’s the meeting in the middle of what you want to publish and what customers want. The illustration below shows what I mean and the fact that most things are explainable with a Venn diagram.

youtube

Content marketing isn’t novel. It’s been a force in the world for at least a decade. Its adoption and use are growing. The reality is content marketing is in opposition to the instinct companies have to market.

Their instinct is to talk about themselves. The messages are about features, benefits, and differentiators. It’s me, me, me…

It’s not that companies aren’t publishing content. It’s ineffective. A report found 60 to 70 percent of B2B marketing content is unused.

That’s a lot of effort that went nowhere. What’s this content missing? It’s not what buyers want or need. Most importantly, what’s missing in the equation is the customer.

Content marketing is the overlap of what you know and your solutions with answering customer challenges, problems, and questions. You must move from a promotion mindset to a publishing mindset.

That change has much to do with empathy. Empathy in content marketing drives real connections. Yet, it’s hard to explain to executives who are devoid of empathy. CEOs care about the money, but content marketing has the power to do that. It’s just not in a “traditional” way.

There are actions you can take that bridge this gap. Let’s explore these.

Being in Step with Disruption

The disruption is here. It’s not going away. It will only continue. It may seem like chaos, but there are critical steps to take to embrace the disruption.

Websites Aren’t Brochures

Before the internet, companies spent time and money on brochures as their calling card. Then they moved to a digital channel. Except, many businesses didn’t rethink how to use it differently.

Your website is your most important digital asset. You own it and control it. It can drive real value over time if you use it wisely.

The graph below illustrates the value of the return on content marketing on your website versus paid ads.

Image: Marketing in the Midst of Disruption

First, content marketing budgets are substantially less, with no fluctuations. Ad spend seems to always balloon. Over time, the focus on content marketing shows a significant increase in traffic. Traffic is always growing. Once you put out a quality piece of content, it doesn’t only make an impact on that day; it will for months or years to come. It’s like an annuity.

Ads, not so much. As soon as you end your Google ad, the return is zero. No ad, no return. It’s not a sustainable way to market.

You can see that content marketing has a 7x greater ROI than paid ads.

Real-World Examples of Content Marketing Success and Missed Opportunities

For proof that this phenomenon is real, I’ll tell you about three brands.

Brand A doesn’t use content marketing. I’ve been trying to educate them for five years to no avail. They stick with product promotion and advertising. That strategy isn’t working for them. If I look at their website traffic, it’s not looking good for them. They are failing. They are dying.

Brand B has a content marketing strategy. They don’t follow it. Instead, they publish content based on the whims of executive requests, product releases, and campaigns. Their site traffic is flat. They are losing market share. To correct these losses, they keep throwing money at paid ads.

Brand C is a client of five years. Every week, they publish two customer-focused articles. They have a strategy and abide by it. Their investment has been small compared to big ad spenders. The results? Consistent organic search traffic continues to grow. They are seeing more traffic, and because they put the customer first, the conversions are following.

(Note: It would be good to put the charts in the webinar here – however the ones in the deck are of low quality.)

Any Company Can Pivot

So, those are some interesting numbers — things that may pique a CEO’s interest. Here’s another story about how content marketing drives returns.

In 2011, I worked at SAP, an international software company that’s certainly a leader in the field. I was the first head of digital marketing. It’s a new role, so ripe for disruption, right?

I simply had to make the business case for content marketing. I started with thought leadership content. I found it was much more effective than product content. When we produced content that was based on expertise, audiences responded.

That was laying the foundation. The CEO and CMO were on board with content marketing. I began to construct a global content marketing strategy that would focus on thought leadership content.

This was a breakthrough, except my marketing peers weren’t on board. Those marketers were caught up in product promotion because of the expectations of product owners. Those product owners expected their marketing colleagues to push product.

I went back to the data. I found that the paid ads around product had no true ROI. Our audience ignored them. The content was ineffective. Our audience needed something more relevant.

I began to simply perform searches on the kinds of products SAP sold. Two specifically were big data solutions and cloud computing technology. For organic search rankings, SAP was losing here. Their competitors were holding the top spots, not with product content, but customer-focused content.

To sum it up:

Ads were ineffective.

Content wasn’t usable.

No leads came from these campaigns.

Our buyers wanted help.

These realizations and data analysis led to the idea that content marketing could help reach, engage, convert, and retain customers. Providing them with expertise and education content was what would help meet those goals. We had to position our content marketing as value and make the buyer the star of the story.

This strategy led to the creation of the SAP Digitalist Magazine. The content there became what users found on organic search. It now has thousands of contributors. It’s a real hub for customers.

This example serves as the way to sell the business case for content marketing.

Tip 1: Making the Business Case for Content Marketing

The business case aligns with your goals to attract your ideal buyers.

You reach by using the keywords the use.

You engage by creating the content they want.

You convert by handing them over to sales when ready.

You retain by keeping the conversation going with useful content.

Tip 2: Frequency Drives Results

What’s one area where brands derail their content marketing efforts? They are inconsistent in publishing. You must frequently deliver content customers want. You have to publish more and better content.

The more consistent you are, the higher rates of traffic. SAP’s success was in part due to frequency. In one year, they saw a 7x ROI.

This exercise led me to define a formula for marketing ROI. I published the book The Content Formula. This was my message to CMOs on how to leverage content marketing.

They didn’t want to hear it. They weren’t ready, but there was no denial of the shift to becoming customer-centric.

Experts continue to study the frequency question. How often should you blog? Check out our post on blog frequency that delivers data-driven conclusions to the question.

Tip 3: Focus on Customer Interests

What makes content marketing relevant is that it focuses on customer interests. Those interests do not have to be product-specific. For example, GE Healthcare wants to reach radiologists. They don’t care about the features of GE’s latest equipment.

We found they did care about salaries by looking at search data. To meet that need, the company published an eBook on radiology salaries. It was controversial, but it performed very well.

This is an example of the paradigm shift that must happen in organizations. This way of thinking must root out the engrained mindset of pushing product. It has a lot to do with empathy. The importance of empathy for customers and colleagues is integral to successful content marketing.

However, it’s often a cultural problem. I was challenged by how to explain the value of empathy, so I wrote Mean People Suck. Based on examples and data, I proved empathy-based organizations show better business results. Marketing should care about culture.

Most organizations still hold on to org charts. An org chart is nothing but a map of who tells who what to do. Org charts don’t see roles as humans and all the baggage and politics involved.

Most importantly, where’s the customer in the org chart? No representation here.

So, I advocate for The Bullseye, which puts the customer in the center.

Tip 4: Answer Customer Questions

One great example of the Bullseye is what Rena Patel accomplished at Capgemini. She was the brand and communications head. The company was fourth in the market behind some big names like Accenture.

The CEO saw that Accenture sponsored golfers and decided they should, too. This would have been a $20 million spend.

Rena pushed back. She found that their audience wasn’t really interested in golf. She also knew that this tactic would not serve the needs of customers.

She began to see that content that was educational and customer-focused had high returns. The company had the expertise to share, they just needed to put effort here. Her goals were to increase revenue and elevate their experts.

The company’s content began to answer customer questions. For 0.1% of the budget of a golf sponsorship, the efforts increased revenue by $1 million in the first year.

Rena provides the results, but the CEO still wants to sponsor a golfer. Rena says no again, understanding that here experts are the key to conversions.

Tip 5: Activate Your Experts

So, Rena gets the CEO to back off on the golf sponsorship. She doubles her budget for content marketing. This allows her team to create more content and tap into every SME (subject matter expert).

At the end of the year, content marketing drives $24 million in sales. It’s the highest ROI-producing product I’ve ever seen.

You may be thinking, how can a small company do this with little to no budget?

No Matter Your Size or Budget, Content Marketing Can Deliver

It’s vital to understand that you do not have to pay to get website traffic. My site currently ranks for 24,500 keywords. We don’t spend money on ads.

We get noticed by publishing consistent content that answers customer questions. If you look at thought leadership, our blog on the subject is the first organic result. The first ad at the top is Accenture, a billion-dollar company. They have to pay to be on page one. We don’t.

That didn’t happen overnight. Content marketing is a long game. But you’ll recall its impact compounds over time. Advertising does not.

Disruption Isn’t Going Anywhere, Your Marketing Should

Disruption is part of the world. Everything is changing. If your marketing does not reflect this, you need to reassess. Remember these important elements:

The customer should be the hero of your content.

You’ll have to sell the business case and ROI for content marketing.

Consistency and frequency are essential for effective content marketing.

Content should always answer customer questions.

Activating experts, internally and externally, will boost your content marketing ROI.

Be the Future of Marketing with Content Builder Services

If you are ready to get more traffic to your site with quality content published consistently, check out our Content Builder Service.

Set up a quick consultation, and I’ll send you a free PDF version of my books. Get started today — and generate more traffic and leads for your business.

The post Marketing in the Age of Disruption appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.

Marketing in the Age of Disruption published first on http://rssmix.com/u/11592782/rss.xml

#Internet Marketing #Social Media Marketing #Email Marketing #Business

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maritzaerwin · 4 years

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How To Make The Learning Of Foreign Languages Fun

For the past three decades, learning has become one of the most used and searched words in the field of education. Everyone is a learner here, not only students even teachers. The human brain is an immensely complex structure and still, it is a mystery.

Learning will create a permanent change in a person’s behavior and knowledge respectively. Acquiring knowledge from learning is something your brain stores in the memory and readily available to use in the right circumstances and opportunities.

Constantly changing behavior is coming out by learning experience. Learning also allows you to see the world differently from another perception, it makes you look different and attractive in a crowd.

Learning has no age limit, the study states that learning will stave off from mental aging as well. Researchers say learning is not only about memorization and recall, the long-lasting learning definitely involves a deep understanding and realizing the connection of acquired knowledge and new knowledge, but a person should also be able to transfer knowledge to a new context.

The point in learning and remembering is likely to endure changes in the nervous system. Through the psychological mechanism, short-term function of memory, temporary and reversible process takes through.

Why Learn a New Language?

Learning a new language has its own benefits like boosting your brain power, Helping in how to choose a career with a better option in a new country, can travel many places of our wish, and improve & increase memory power. When learning a new language you are indirectly feeding your brain to make a better decision, problem-solving mind and especially you can develop multitasking skills.

And also language is something that connects directly with other cultures, being able to communicate with other people around the world will make a better understanding of traditions and religions and mostly the history of the place. A study states that children who learned the second language have more positive attitudes in society.

14 Fun Ways to Learn Any New Language

1) Communicating With Experts

Having a conversation with a person who knows that language better than you is a wonderful trick you should try, talking to anyone in person is far better than listening to any audio or reading books to memorize the words. No matter how many times you listen and take notes on words it will not help unless you talk to a person in real with emotions.

The human brain can actually remember when it is mixed up with emotions. The person should be fully committed to teaching you without any hesitation, only then you can learn and grow from mistakes.

2) Be Your Own Tutor

Guiding yourself is the best way to learn. Allocate a separate time in a day to read and write, start with simple words then learn to build a sentence. Ask your language partner to recheck your writings, practicing this continuously will make you fluent in the targeted language.

Make a note daily of what you are learning and try to increase the time you invest in. The more you invest and are interested the quicker you will be fluent.

3) Travel!

This is undoubtedly the best way to have fun in learning. Traveling the place where the targeted language is spoken is highly beneficial and you will be amazed to communicate there when no option is left.

It will not only create space for learning but eventually gain experience for your life. Try going to places all alone, like shopping areas, restaurants and even more places which allow you to communicate with more native speakers.

4) Movie Time

Watch a movie of that particular language by using subtitles until you learn, later, try to see without subtitles(it’s quite hard) but it will improve the communication as well as create great sense in language’s culture skill.

No one gets bored out of watching a movie, do start watching and having a movie partner is not a bad idea, because if you are alone, you’re going to end up watching the same journals of your taste but having friends will help you to explore many more and it will be fun-filled.

5) Exploring New Friends

Making new friends on native speakers is a great trick. Even if you said something wrong which raised their anger you can convince them by saying you lost in translation.

It also allows you to mingle with a large group of circles, improves social interaction and grows your level of perception on how they think, it even makes you more mature to accept their opinions and analyze a particular person very easily.

6) Carry a Dictionary

Have a pocket dictionary with you all the time or there are more apps available like a dictionary to help you learn. Try to apply new words in your conversation repeatedly, if you find any new words that you do not understand make a note of it.

Later learn the meaning and keep repeating in your head until you get it.

7) Music

Listening to the music of your choice in the selected language will be fun learning. Imagine you can sing to your favorite tune at the time you learn new words. This trick will work and you cannot forget the words you listened to.

Try to understand the lyrics and find a good translator to know the exact meaning of what you are singing. The added benefit of hearing music is you can hear whenever you want to while driving, cooking, exercising, and so on.

8) Reading Books

Read the books that used simple language for better understanding. It may even be a kid’s storybooks like Disney. By starting reading this will make your basic things stronger.

Read books which are more picturized and colorful, It attracts your brain to read and find it interesting, your brain remembers easily rather than reading boring books without any colors.

9) Play and Learn

Playing scrabble on the learning language will be beneficial to learn the correct spelling and exact meaning of it. You can play with the dictionary at first then you should do away with the dictionary and challenge yourself to come up with new words.

While playing your brain starts to think the alternative word and enhances your level of thinking and remembering.

10) Google Translator

Another best platform to learn a new language is by using google translator. Watch videos, read articles, and listen to songs by using a translator. You can even interact with other online learners of your group.

It helps you to translate any language you want to and helps while you are traveling to a different country.

11) Mirror Technique

Talk to yourself pretending to be in your imaginary situation, you can talk freely and confidently when no one is there to judge you. It is as simple as that.

You can pick your own topic, never mind even if it is not good and but do record it and hear the audio, correct the mistakes you made. Self-evaluation is the best teacher. When no one is around you can speak from your heart.

12) Start Writing a Story

Gather all the words you know and try to write a story which is the best way to remember all the words you have learned. Exchange this story with friends or native speakers and ask them to correct it.

Writing a story of your favorite topic makes you more interesting and committed to doing that without any distraction or try writing about your favorite person.

13) TV Shows

Watch cookery shows on the targeted language. It is not to learn cooking but they will give step by step instructions which you can make use of. You can learn all the names of fruits and vegetables.

Debate shows are also a good idea to watch, native speakers will talk about the problems, will help you educate more about the targeted language’s country and news shows of the particular language are also quite helpful.

14) Social Apps

Nowadays many social apps (like Snapchat, Whatsapp, Facebook messenger, Linkedin, etc) are available to connect with people across the country.

Make use of it wisely to chat with native speakers and improve your language skills just by chatting. It also makes you learn the local slang they are using. You can learn the local slang only on this platform and not on any other media.

Photo Credit – theodysseyonline.com

10 Benefits of Learning a Foreign Language:

a) Advancing Your Career

Employees are looking for professionals who can communicate with customers across the globe in new and expanding overseas markets. Here is how your second language boosts your career.

Knowing an additional language tops among eight essential skills required in listed occupations. No matter what your sector or skill level the demand for bilingual professionals is rising. Most private companies deal with foreign clients therefore they need more people who can communicate with them in native speakers.

Language skills will lead you to increased salaries and bonuses.

b) Increased Performance in Academic

Improves your scores in standardized exams, reading comprehension, and vocabulary will be improved, and problem-solving techniques will be raised.

c) Connect With People

One of the considered specialties in humans is connecting with other people. Being able to connect with other humans in the same language is bliss.

When knowing more than one language you can communicate with a wider range of people, understanding their culture and shaping up with communities. Connecting with more people means you can have a lot of friends.

d) Brain Feeding

Being bilingual, actually, you’re capable of multi-tasking, better listening skills, and a problem-solving mind. You can easily adapt and monitor the changing environment more than monolinguals. You will be more flexible and creative as you get old, easily cope up with mental aging.

e) Become a Polyglot

Learning one or more languages, not only improves your communication but actually builds a strong vocabulary in your first language. This is because when you learn a new language your brain develops a new network that is primed. It will help you to embark on a third language.

f) Networking Skills

As you know more than one language, it makes you more culturally aware of the language people, which will allow you to be more flexible and understand other’s decisions or opinions.

Different opinions occur while mingling with a group of people around. Today networking becomes a vital part of the working world.

g) Sharpens the Mind

Brain structure is actually increased when acquiring more language. Learning a new language is directly linked with the purpose of a healthy brain. Speaking two languages have more grey matter in the brain which is responsible for attention and inhibition.

h) Boosts Self-confidence

Eventually, you attain self-confidence and be attracted to colleagues you are studying or working with. Any learner is authenticated to share his mistake discovering a new language especially in front of the audience.

It is part of the process. So when you try to convince someone, their language is kind of an accomplishment you feel.

i) Achievement

When you are well-versed in the new language it feels like you achieved something. It helps you motivate yourself to grow more knowledge and attain self-motivation and you will find more ways to learn something new.

j) Creativity

Your brain will force you to use alternative words when you cannot remember the exact word you want to say. This helps in boosting the creativity level of your brain, you tend to experiment with new words and phrases, this technique applies in your life by finding alternative solutions for the problems you face in life.

Conclusion

Above mentioned are the 14 fun ways to quickly start your learning. It has so many benefits involved and attracts more people and makes you look different among the people.

Language learning improves your cognitive skills, mental flexibility to analyze the situation, and adding to that it develops social interaction with many groups of people. Make sure you think in that language at least for an hour.

Try to teach others what you learned, it will make you stronger in that particular language. By all the simple practices you can be fluent in a month. Learning sharpens the mind and makes you a better person in behavior.

The post How To Make The Learning Of Foreign Languages Fun appeared first on CareerMetis.com.

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kadobeclothing · 5 years

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These 9 Brands Take Personalized Marketing to a New Level

When I sit down to write an article, I have a pretty standard routine. I outline the story in our Content Optimization System (COS), copy and paste it into a Google doc, find a good photo to accompany it, do research, write, proofread, and carry it back over to our COS. It’s a weird series of steps that doesn’t necessarily work for everyone, but it does for me. They’re my very own personal blogging habits. Those habits aren’t just limited to my writing process. I have morning, evening, and weekend routines, as if my entire life has become a series of established patterns. Knowing what those habits are, I learned during step four of the above, is a veritable goldmine for marketers. I figured that out from a 2012 New York Times article called, “How Companies Learn Your Secrets.” Penned by Charles Duhigg, it was written largely as a follow-up to what became a public incident: An angry father marched into a Minnesota Target store, demanded to know why his teenage daughter received coupons for baby products, only to later find out that she was, in fact, pregnant. The retailer, it turned out, was able to predict her pregnancy and subsequently personalize the promotions she received, thanks in large part to a ton of (completely legal) data collection and analysis. Creepy — or great marketing?

Today, we’re still asking ourselves that question. But, ultimately, it seems that there can be a good balance between knowing your customer way too well and solid marketing. In fact, in 2018, Harvard Business Review revealed that although people want to keep their information secure online, they still value personalized and meaningful marketing experience. But how does personalized marketing work, and how have other brands put it into practice without coming off as creepy? Here are eight great examples of brands that nailed it in a way that came off as fun rather than intrustive. 9 Personalized Marketing Examples 1. Shutterfly Shutterfly is a website and app that allows you to create canvases, photobooks, calendars, and even items with your own photos laminated on to them. While Shutterfly has gotten creative with personalized emails and subject lines, one unique thing it did recently was personalize item offerings on its app. If you download the Shutterfly smartphone app, create an account, and give Shutterfly permission to access your photos, it will automatically identify photos with faces in them and place them on items that you can purchase from the app. My colleague, Pamela Bump, recently discovered this while she was creating photo-books as holiday gifts for her family. In the example below, she noticed that the app placed photos of herself and one specific friend in particular on to items including mugs, holiday cards, and calendars.

The Takeaway If you sell products that are personalized to begin with, it can be helpful to show your customer what they could look like before they buy them as well as photos or words related to their life that would look great on the product. However, when you do this, be very careful that you get explicit permission to go through someone’s information to pull this data. When it came to Shutterfly, Pamela had already given the app permission to access her photos and connected the account to her Facebook account where she approved a number of other related permissions. If you don’t get proper permissions and pull appropriate personalization data, you could come off as untrustworthy or downright creepy. 2. Snapchat’s Bitmoji In 2016. Snapchat launched an app called Bitmoji which allows users to design cartoonish avatars of themselves that can be featured as their Snapchat profile picture and or on the Snap Map, if permitted. Since then, Snapchat has also launched an autogenerated daily Story in its Discover feed, called “Bitmoji Stories.” When you click into a Bitmoji Story, you can see a series of comic-book-like images that tell a story about your own Bitmoji avatar. If you’ve recently spoken to a friend with a Bitmoji attached to the app, you can also see your friends pop up in your daily Story. Below is an example of a Bitmoji Story where Pamela Bump’s Bitmoji shows her cousin’s Bitmoji a new app:

The Takeaway Because Bitmoji Stories appear in Discover, with all the other branded content and advertisements on Snapchat, the app company has found a great way to bring people to this particular area of the app — even if they aren’t interested in seeing branded content. While audiences are on this Discover page, they might find a brand or content that catches their attention and further interact with feed. This is a great example of how an app creatively used personalization to bring traffic from one area of its app to another. 3. Target To continue the above tale, we thought it might be helpful to share more information on how, exactly, the retailer pulled off the aforementioned personal prediction. As Duhigg explains in his article — which goes into much greater detail than I will here — every Target customer is assigned a Guest ID number after the very first interaction with the brand. That ID is used to store the customer’s demographic information, ranging from ethnicity to job history, and to track buying behavior. And by doing the latter, specifically with those who had baby registries with the store, Target’s marketing analysts were able to form a “pregnancy prediction” score, which allowed them to determine which purchasing patterns indicated a customer was in the early expectant stages.

It was a game changer. “Once consumers’ shopping habits are ingrained,” Duhigg writes, “it’s incredibly difficult to change them.” That is, until, a major life event takes place, like finding out that a baby is one the way. That’s when routines are forced to change. Suddenly, there’s a deadline, and people start to buy products that they never previously considered, like “cocoa-butter lotion” and “a purse large enough to double as a diaper bag,” the article says. Those are the behaviors that trigger Target’s pregnancy prediction score, prompting the customer to receive special deals on baby-related items. The Takeaway While this level of personalized marketing is admittedly fascinating, it could backfire. Duhigg summarized it well in his article:

Using data to predict a woman’s pregnancy, Target realized … could be a public-relations disaster. So the question became: how could they get their advertisements into expectant mothers’ hands without making it appear they were spying on them? How do you take advantage of someone’s habits without letting them know you’re studying their lives?”

That’s not to say that marketers should completely do away with personalization, as it’s effective when done correctly — personalized emails, for example, have a 6.2% higher open rate than those that aren’t. But in an era with growing concern over privacy and security, tread lightly. Let your customers know that you understand them, without being intrusive. Curious to learn how to do that with your HubSpot Marketing and Sales software? Read more about how personalization tokens work here. 4. Vidyard Last week, my colleague, HubSpot Academy Sales Professor Kyle Jepsen, forwarded me an email with the comment, “Taking personalization to a whole new level.” The video below followed:

Source: Vidyard He wasn’t kidding. This particular brand could have just superimposed each recipient’s name onto the whiteboard in this video and kept the same script for each one. But it didn’t stop there — Cole, the gentleman speaking in the video, not only addressed Kyle by his first name, but also referred to his specific colleagues and the conversations he had with them. The Takeaway Considering that the average online reader loses interest after about 15 seconds, personalizing your mixed media content is an interesting and often effective approach. “I mean, clearly he made the video just for me,” Jepson said. “It’s an interesting case study.” And while this sort of personalization is memorable, it’s also extremely time-consuming. So if you set out to create it, be absolutely sure you’re targeting the right people. There’s nothing worse than taking the time to produce something highly customized, only to find out you’ve sent it to someone who doesn’t have the decision-making power you need. 5. Coca Cola Source: ShareaCoke.com Back in 2011, Coca Cola launched its famous “Share a Coke” campaign in Australia, bringing it to the U.S. in 2014. It was an effort to reach millennials, in which each bottle contained one of the most popular first names assigned to that generation. Eventually, bottles contained semi-personal labels beyond first names, like “better half.” Today, according to Ad Age, over 800 first names are used. According to that same source, Coke will soon be adding surnames to bottles, like Garcia and Thompson. “Last names give us an opportunity to invite more people into the campaign,” Evan Holod, Coca-Cola’s brand director told Ad Age. “It’s just a great way to up the reach.” In addition to that effort, according CNBC, Coca-Cola Great Britain will soon be including the names of famous vacation destinations on bottles, like Hawaii and Miami. The goal of that initiative is “to remind people of the refreshment and great taste that only an ice-cold Coke can bring on a hot summer day,” read the official statement. Plus, those bottles will come with the chance to win a trip to those locales. The Takeaway Putting first names on Coke bottles was a successful move. In the U.S., it resulted in increased sales volume for the first time in roughly four years. Plus, it provides a cheap thrill — I know that I internally squeal with excitement when I actually find a bottle that says “Amanda.” The last name move, however, could be a bit different. While there is the option to customize your own bottle labels at ShareaCoke.com — which allows you to write whatever you want, like a customized event hashtag or something like “congratulations” — it could be deemed as exclusionary to those with unique or hyphenated last names. For example, while my feelings aren’t hurt knowing that I won’t find a bottle labeled with “Zantal-Wiener,” I’m not about to pay $5 for a customized one, either. So when you set out to personalize a product, make sure it’s appropriately customized to reach the right segment of your audience, but isn’t restrictive, either. 6. Amazon Amazon’s personalization efforts aren’t exactly new. Since at least 2013, its product curation and recommendation algorithm has made for headlines and case studies. And yet, every time I visit my Amazon homepage, I can’t help but scroll down and get a kick out of its recommendations for me. Have a look:

Those who know me are aware of my borderline obsession with hip hop, which is also the motivation for a lot of my online shopping behavior. Clearly, Amazon has taken notice. And as I continued scrolling down, the fitting personalization went on. There was a header reading “For a night in” with recommendations on what to stream on Amazon Prime — an activity that comprised the majority of my weekend. Its recommendations for dog and kitchen products were on point, as well. After all, those are the categories where I make the most purchases. It’s not just me. When I asked my colleagues what their Amazon homepages looked like, they were equally pleased. Sophia Bernazzani, a fellow Marketing Blog staff writer (and self-proclaimed “cat mother of three”), had a plethora of personalized cat food recommendations, while Managing Editor Emma Brudner’s suggested Prime streaming titles came with the header, “Bingeable TV.” “Amazon,” Brudner remarked, “You know me so well.” The Takeaway Here’s a personalization example where we don’t have a ton of complaints. As Brudner said, Amazon seems to know us pretty well, though I do question why, as per the image above, its algorithm thought I might like to buy a pair of leg warmers. The nice thing about personalization of this nature, when it’s executed correctly, is that it often can lead to unplanned purchasing decisions. For example, the purpose of my most recent visit to Amazon was to check out its personalization features for this article. But then, I discovered that Rapper’s Delight: The Hip Hop Cookbook was in my recommended books. Did I buy something I don’t need? Sure. But I also was left delighted by the fact that it was brought to my attention with very little effort. If you’re in the business of personalizing curated items or recommendations for your customers, remember: The best part about it, for the user, is the resulting discovery of new things that we like — whether it’s a book, a tool, or an article. 7. Spotify In 2015, Adam Pasick penned a story for Quartz explaining the “magic” behind Spotify’s “Discover Weekly”: A curated playlist of tracks that it thinks a given user will like. It’s carried out, like many other personalization and recommendation platforms, largely with the help of an algorithm that determines a user’s “taste profile,” based on listening behavior and the most popular playlists among the entire Spotify audience. The technology behind it is from Echo Nest, a “music intelligence company” that was acquired, according to Pasick, by Spotify in 2014. Here’s a great diagram from the article that visually represents the process: Source: Quartz As much as I use Spotify — which is close to daily — I’ve never actually bothered listening to my Discover Weekly playlist. So after a colleague brought it to my attention, I decided to take it for a spin.

The results were hit-or-miss. There were a few new songs that I was thrilled to discover and plan to listen to again. But for the most part, my experience was similar to Pasick’s, who described many of the songs on his personalized playlist as “meh.” But those behind Discover Weekly acknowledge that personalization isn’t a perfect science. They also have suggestions for how to make it better, like adding the Discover Weekly songs you like to your library, or skipping the ones you don’t — “If users fast-forward within the first 30 seconds of a song,” Spotify Product Director Matthew Ogle and Engineering Manager Edward Newett told Pasick, “the Discover Weekly algorithm interprets that as a ‘thumbs-down’ for that particular song and artist.” The Takeaway Most personalization initiatives aren’t going to be perfect. Even with a great algorithm, they are, at best, very educated guesses as to what’s going to be applicable to your customers. For that reason, it might be best to take a conservative approach to your recommendations, especially in the earliest stages of any personalization efforts you make. This is an area where small-batch testing can be helpful. When you want to try out a personalization project or algorithm, identify your most active users, and invite them to pilot out the technology. Listen carefully to their feedback — good and bad — and see what you can do to make it better. 8. Iberia Airlines During the 2016 holiday season, Iberia Airlines customers received emails posing the question: If you could visit any vacation destination, what would it be, and who would you go with? To answer, customers were redirected to a microsite where they would fill in responses, as well as the email address of the person they wanted to travel with. Not long after that, the friend would receive an email with a holiday greeting about the dream vacation — only, in order to view the card, that person had to click a link to view it in his or her browser.

It was that last step, Skift writer Brian Sumers explained, where “Iberia … put its advertising budget to work, using cookies [with the user’s permission] so the traveler’s friend would see banners across the web, suggesting the perfect Christmas gift.” That gift, of course, was the dream vacation. Let’s say, for example, I sent one of these cards to a friend. She might subsequently see several ads while browsing that said things like, “It’s never too late to fulfill Amanda’s dream. Do it with a trip to Mykonos.” The Takeaway The idea is certainly a cute one — and around here, we’re suckers for a good holiday marketing campaign. But one of the most important items to highlight here is Iberia’s use of cookies, and the fact that the brand wasn’t sneaky about it. As per the video above, a clear request was made to the user to allow cookies, and that’s essential. Even the best customized marketing becomes less personal, and definitely less desirable if it’s carried out without the user’s agreement. 9. Twiddy

Having enough data is essential for marketing personalization — but knowing what to look at and how to use it is just as important. That’s what made a tremendous difference for Twiddy, a vacation rental company based in the Outer Banks. “Unless we had a good way of looking at the data,” Marketing Director Ross Twiddy told Inc., “how could we make good decisions?” One of the major pieces of information that Twiddy began to more closely examine was how rental volume and demand shifted from week-to-week. Noticing those trends allowed the company to start making “pricing recommendations” to homeowners, according to Inc., “on the basis of market conditions, seasonal trends, and the size and location of a home.” The week after Independence Day was one that stood out to the team in particular, in that rentals showed a precipitous drop during that period. Because Twiddy observed that trend (among others), it allowed the owners of its managed properties to start experimenting with pricing for that particular week as early as January. Not only did it benefit the customer — setting more realistic prices for lower-demand periods actually increased the bookings made for them — but it was just one way that Twiddy was delighting its customers with helpful, actionable information. It paid off, too. Since the brand began to use this data to help homeowners with decisions like pricing, its portfolio increased over 10%. The Takeaway There’s a famous saying that goes, “Help me help you.” Data, in general, can be a tremendous asset to brands. And it doesn’t have to be about your customers’ behavior — it can be about the habits of their customers, like the vacationers that rented from Twiddy’s homeowner clients. As long as it’s something that can be shared ethically — like objective buying or seasonal trends — share the data and insights with your customers that’s going to help make them more successful. That’s the type of thing that makes a brand remarkable, and can help benefit your business, too. Get Personal One of the fundamental purposes of any personalization effort is to let your customers know that you’re paying attention to them. But striking a balance between, “We think you might find this helpful” and “we’re watching you” isn’t a simple process, so be sure to do some careful research, planning, and testing before you jump into any large-scale customization initiatives. Remember that while you might be a marketer, you’re also a consumer. When it comes to experiments like these, put yourself into the shoes of the customer and ask, “Is this delightful? Or is it just creepy?” If it leans toward the latter, find out what’s giving it that vibe, and try something different. Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in December 2013 and has was updated for comprehensiveness in November 2019.

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thelmasirby32 · 5 years

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TikTok: The next marketing platform for brands

TikTok, it’s the social media platform that’s taking the world by storm. Gen Z is all over it, and even millennials are joining in on the fun. Can brands be far behind? But what is TikTok, and is it lucrative enough for brands to include in their 2020 marketing plan?

We look at the growing popularity of the channel, what it means for brands, and how companies can maximize their TikTok marketing.

The rise of TikTok

TikTok is a mobile video app much like the now-defunct Vine, created by parent company ByteDance, a startup based in Beijing, China. Launched in 2016, the app currently boasts over 500 million active users and is popular in India, China, and the US.

Users create short, fun looping videos, from 15 seconds to a minute long that’s usually set to music available from the vast TikTok library. The app also offers effects like split screens and filters much like in Snapchat and Instagram. It also provides live streaming.

Alongside the videos that users can create, they can also remix songs and create playlists, in the same vein as Spotify. Like most other social platforms, there is a certain level of interaction between members on the app, such as liking, commenting, hashtagging, and sending hearts.

TikTok recently incorporated paid advertising, which has encouraged brands to join the app and promote themselves.

Why brands should join TikTok

The number of users on TikTok and the app’s potential to grow should be sufficient enough reason for brands with a mobile marketing strategy to join.

But there is reason to seriously consider whether or not it is worth joining the app. For one, the majority of TikTok users are Gen Z, with a few millennials thrown in for good measure.

If your target audience is Gen Z, TikTok may be the next platform to try while Instagram and Snapchat also cater to this demographic, TikTok is centered entirely on them.

A presence on TikTok could help you boost the reach within this demographic with ease.

On the other hand, if you aren’t exclusively catering to Gen Z – though most marketing trends suggest you should, TikTok may be superfluous to your social media strategy.

There is no point in stretching yourself thin if the other platforms are doing the job of improving your reach and conversions.

Additionally, take a look at how important video content is to your marketing strategy. Ask yourself, are you creating videos for your channels regularly? If yes, then TikTok could be a good fit.

You also need to ascertain whether your niche will be well represented on TikTok since the app is very entertainment-focused and takes a whimsical approach to content.

Can you mimic that tone in your content and will it be appropriate for your audience? If you answered, “yes” to those questions, then you should be joining TikTok.

How to market a brand on TikTok

Now that you’ve decided that TikTok is the platform for you and will help you reach your target audience of under-30s, how do you market your brand on the app?

Because of how new the app is as compared to the popular platforms of today, it’s difficult to define a TikTok strategy. However, there are a few methods of engagement that you can use on the platform that we will outline below.

1. Behind the scenes

TikTok is a great channel to showcase life behind the scenes, take your followers through an intimate look at the workings of your organization.

A number of entertainment and news brands are making TikTok videos of their brainstorming sessions or inside writers’ rooms.

You can show how a product is conceived and goes through the stages of production until it’s finally ready to be launched for customers.

Note: You may want to consider how you’d want to do this without giving away crucial or business-sensitive information.

But remember, this is not the place to be overly sales-y as we have mentioned earlier, TikTok is about entertainment. If you can make this content fun and quirky, then it can earn you views and followers on TikTok. If you can’t accomplish this, don’t post content on the app.

2. User collaborations

A handful of TikTok users consistently create such entertaining and unique content, that they have already earned millions of followers. These creators are akin to the influencers on Instagram and Snapchat, and it is worth looking into setting up collaborations with these individuals.

Brands are still considered interlopers on TikTok, which is why creative individuals we have mentioned are the real draw.

Instead of trying to appropriate the platform with content that may not be right for the audience, partner up with creators who already know the lay of the land to make promo videos.

3. Duets

Another type of collaborative content that brands can create on TikTok is duets. These are videos where users can add a new video to an existing piece of content. The final product looks like a split-screen video. If executed well, the result can be incredibly entertaining.

Creating a video that can easily be spliced into another is a great way to boost engagement on the app and improve follower numbers.

4. Hashtag challenges

By far the most popular way to engage users on TikTok and to go viral is – to join or issue hashtag challenges.

These challenges are social media contests usually based on a particular topic or subject, and users are encouraged to send in responses to the challenge as quickly as possible.

TikTok hashtag challenges draw in millions of users and views—if you have a creative enough challenge to share, you can see some serious engagement.

5. Paid advertising

TikTok advertising is still a new concept but some major brands like Nike and Disney have already managed to create successful ad campaigns on the platform.

However, TikTok advertising may not be for everyone, ad campaigns need businesses to spend at least $500, and the cost of a campaign could number in the hundreds of thousands.

One can see why only mega brands have tried it, making it thus far for smaller businesses, native videos, and challenges that may be the way to go.

If your company does have the budget for a TikTok ad campaign, you will need to create a TikTok Ads account.

Once you have been verified, you can set the parameters for your ad, similar to how one would create a Facebook Ad campaign.

6. Reaction videos

Similar to duets, TikTok’s reaction videos are another way to create interactive and engaging content. These videos prompt reactions from people, which they can share via video.

Unlike most other platforms that only give users the option of leaving comments or likes as reactions to posts, TikTok allows users to create a reaction video that can be embedded in the original content.

Creating content that will evoke reactions strong enough for users to leave a reaction video is a good way to boost your follower numbers.

7. Branded stickers

Snapchat has had branded stickers for a while, and TikTok recently released the ability to create your own stickers, alongside importing them from Giphy.

Branded stickers, like the brand emojis on Twitter, can improve your brand awareness on the app. They don’t need to be elaborate, just fun.

However, try to keep the stickers as relevant to the popular TikTok hashtags as possible to increase the possibility of them being used.

Summing up

TikTok is new and exciting but it may not be for everyone. With a large Gen Z following and their quirky video output, TikTok is as niche as a social platform can get.

Brands need to ask themselves whether this is the audience they need to reach and whether they can commit to creating the kind of content that is popular on the app. Because TikTok is gaining popularity every day and it’s targeting the crowd that knows what is on-trend before anyone else knows it. TikTok could be the channel that sends your marketing strategy through the stratosphere. But it may be too much hard work for your team right now so you might want to keep it on your mind for the near future.

Look at the history of the app and its niche, as well as the content channels available to brands, and make a decision about whether it is right for you or not.

Ronita Mohan is a content marketer at the online infographic and design platform, Venngage.

The post TikTok: The next marketing platform for brands appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

from Digital Marketing News https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2020/02/11/tiktok-the-next-marketing-platform-for-brands/

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