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| Issue: #47 |
THE MILLDAM MONTHLY
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July/2016
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Welcome to the July edition of the Milldam Monthly.
This is the second installment in our Summer Series of newsletters covering the topic of “News on the Go.” July’s issue explores news or content that’s achievable “In a Snap.” The following articles
discuss how you can c
reate and absorb news that is quick and concise for yourself and your audience, whether through website layout, the use of SnapChat (yes, that app your kids use), and examples of news “in a snap” through client stories, industry news items, and upcoming events.
July was a month of nationwide travel for Milldam. It brought us to Las Vegas, Nevada for Ciscolive!, to the West Coast for Datacenter Dynamics’ Webscale Event in San Jose, California and into the Midwest for a Global Press Tour hosted by Panduit in Chicago. Check out some pictures from the events, linked below.
As always, if you’re interested in exploring how we can support your public relations campaigns,
just reach out.
Best Wishes,
Adam Waitkunas
President
Milldam Public Relations
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We’re delighted to welcome two new clients to the Milldam roster this month!
As Brooklyn’s only data center and carrier neutral hotel for all major fiber providers, ColoGuard Enterprise Solutions operates over 50,000 square feet of colocation space in Brooklyn. The company delivers 1gig to 100gig connections via numerous Tier1 providers with Points of Presence in the facility.
Founded in 2003 to provide affordable enterprise colocation solutions for companies of all sizes, ColoGuard has been the go-to data center for a range of sectors including Internet Carriers, Healthcare, and Financial Services. Located minutes from Wall Street, ColoGuard is notable for its excellence in managed services, access to numerous Tier1 networks and a direct path to 325 Hudson Street.
Panduit is a world-class developer and provider of leading-edge solutions that connect, manage and automate the physical infrastructure.
Panduit solutions help customers integrate core business systems for a smarter, unified business foundation. Their robust partner ecosystem, global staff, and unmatched service and support make Panduit a valuable and trusted partner.
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Readable Websites
Did you know:
55% of your website’s visitors will only spend 15 seconds or less reading what you have to say.
A major factor that leads to low website retention rates is an “unreadable” page. When people search the Internet, they want results fast (especially when getting their news on the go) and don’t want to spend a lot of time searching a page to get the information that they’re looking for.
So, what makes a page unreadable?
Extensive, unbroken blocks of text.
- It is much easier to read something when headlines or bullet points break it up.
- Extensive text on a computer or phone screen is more difficult to parse through than when viewing on a printed page.
A solution: how headers can improve page layout:
When you separate your webpage with headers, it not only makes it easier for readers to find what they’re looking for, but also causes the page seem less overwhelming.
- There should be no more than three paragraphs between headers.
- Each paragraph consists of no more than three sentences (unless absolutely necessary).
- Headers help to showcase important key words.
Bullets make text more readable
Consider using bullet points when listing three or more things in a sentence! This breakdown of information makes the page easier to read and more inviting to readers. An article or webpage that uses headers and bullets results in lower visitor bounce rates, more readable text and more effective use of keywords.
People therefore spend more time on a well laid out page!
Studies have concluded that pages with headers, bullets or block quotes get visitors to spend an average of 31 seconds longer on their websites.
Ultimately, the more accessible information is, the longer people will stick around to read and benefit from it.
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Brand Experience In A Snap: The Future of Your Company?
How many of you have a SnapChat account?
Been caught in your teenager’s SnapChat while napping? Do you even know what it is?
SnapChat, according to our friends at
TechTarget, is: “a mobile app that allows users to send and receive ‘self-destructing’ photos and videos. Photos and videos taken with the app are called Snaps.”
Most of us would never consider an app in which you exchange disappearing photo-messages to be a worthwhile advertising platform. It seems more like a frivolous tool to send ugly selfies or post pictures of your lunch without ridicule (after all, it disappears). But SnapChat has over 100 million active users and 7 billion views on a daily basis. The reality is that SnapChat is too big to ignore, and more and more companies are considering this platform as part of their advertising and social media strategy.
One of HubSpot’s bloggers recently published a piece titled “Snapchat Isn’t a Fad. It’s the Future of Brand Conversation,” exploring the connection between your company’s next marketing opportunity and the latest trend in social media.
Below, we’ve outlined a few basic questions and answers about SnapChat. Perhaps you’ll convert and download the app as another way to post “News on the Go” (we find the filters hilarious) even if it may not be applicable in a PR or marketing context for your company… yet.
Why SnapChat?
When it comes to branding your company, think of a snap as “A” brand experience, not “The” Brand Experience. Unlike a website or a flagship store, a snap isn’t the be-all, end-all of your branding.
But SnapChats disappear – why would that help my brand?
Being restricted to ten seconds or less frees brands to aim for more authentic and small interactions. If a SnapChat user puts something interesting in their story, you only have 24 hours to show people before it disappears forever.
How do I even begin to integrate SnapChat to my marketing strategy?
Taking a snap is simple, fast, and (perhaps best of all) free. All you need is an image or video, a couple words, and the selection of a filter or lens( which is also optional). For brands, there are really no obstacles to entry, outside of the time it takes to learn the platform.
What’s the deal with “Lenses” and “Geofilters”?
Lenses are exciting overlays that animate your snap. Snapchat offers daily lenses which also include brand sponsored lenses. Additionally,
SnapChat provides users with geofilters, which can also be helpful in company branding. Geofilters can be overlaid onto snaps within certain locations, giving users a unique artifact to share with their friends. Anyone is allowed to submit community-based geofilters, but brands and businesses can pay Snapchat to have branded filters that are targeted to specific locations for specific periods of time.
Read the full article and learn more about SnapChat at HubSpot
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Future Facilities Collaborates with The Green Grid in Development of Performance Indicator
Future Facilities’ CTO Mark Seymour has been instrumental in the creation of a new metric for data centers, alongside The Green Grid team. Seymour was also an author on the official whitepaper, outlining the three areas of the PI (PUEr, IT conformance, and IT resilience) as well as the application of this metric. See the full piece about the PI, recapped after Seymour presented on the topic at a DCD Webscale event last week, by Datacenter Dynamics.
2016 Critical Facilities Summit Featured by Automated Buildings
In his monthly review of industry news titled, “Across My Desk,” editor Ken Sinclair penned a recommendation of the upcoming Critical Facilities Summit. This is the conference’s fourth annual event. Read the full article at Automated Buildings.Datacenter Dynamics Features Hurricane Electric’s New Point of Presence in Taiwan
Hurricane Electric opened its first PoP in Taiwan, located in the Chief Telecom Inc./ Chief LY Building. The company plans to continuing establishing new sites to remain ahead of the rapid growth in IPv6/IPv4 traffic in both Asian markets and globally. Get the full story at Datacenter Dynamics. Panduit Releases HD Flex 2.0
World leader in cabling solutions for the data center, Panduit recently launched version 2.0 of its HD Flex cabling solution. The HD Flex 2.0 features accommodating fiber cassettes and fiber adapter panels for ease of installation and compatibility with existing cabling needs. Learn more at Cabling Installation & Maintenance Magazine
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Critical Facilities Summit to Welcome Compass Data Centers’ Chris Crosby
The 2016 Critical Facilities Summit is attracting an engaging line-up of speakers. This year’s event will welcome to its general sessions an industry favorite, Chris Crosby. Mr. Crosby’s presentation is titled “The New DC Planning Environment, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love my IT Department” and will be delivered on Wednesday, October 5. Discover more at
Mission Critical Magazine
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Hurricane Electric Connects to New Continent with PoP in South Africa
Hurricane Electric regularly expands its global Internet network with Points of Presence (PoPs) around the world. This July, HE connected in Johannesburg, South Africa, which is also its first connection on the African continent. Read details of this new PoP and the connectivity opportunities it heralds at
Capacity Magazine. |
This month, our client Future Facilities also leads the Industry News section with its role in creating and developing a new metric for data centers, in conjunction with The Green Grid:
The Green Grid Releases New Data Center Metric, Performance Indicator
The Green Grid, known for creating Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), the industry’s most popular data center efficiency metric, recently developed a new metric for data center operators: the Performance Indicator (PI). PUE was published in 2007 and since then has become extensively used in the industry. The new Performance Indicator uses a version of the PUE, but adds two additional dimensions. Understand more about the impact of this metric in a write-up by
Data Center Knowledge.
UK Suffers Nationwide Internet Outages due to Faulty UPS in Telecity Data Center
Ten percent of Internet usage by Telecity customers was affected due to power issues. This outage means that one in every ten sites that a user tried to load would fail. The issue was resolved within a matter of minutes, though customers reported problems until mid-day. This is not the first time that Telecity has experienced UPS failures, despite the meaning of the “U.” Uninterruptible, in this case, did not prove to be true. Read the full story at Data Center Dynamics.
IT Spending to Shift $1 Trillion from Hardware/Software to Cloud Computing
Leading IT research group, Gartner has quantified the spending shift in the IT sector as companies move from enterprise data centers to public cloud computing. This transition in spending, from traditional sources such as direct server and software license purchases, will occur at about a 2% rate over the next five years. At the same time, Gartner predicts IT budgets to also increase at a 2% compound annual growth rate. See the article at Information Week.
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August 3-4
Hyatt Denver Tech Center
Denver, CO
August 10
Paramount Theatre
Boston, MA
August 18
Uno Due Go
Boston, MA
August 25
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chicago, IL
August 25
Westin Harbour Castle
Toronto, Canada
September 12-15
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
New Orleans, LA
September 13
Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center
Boston, MA
September 19-21
Bellagio Resort and Hotel
Las Vegas, NV
September 29
Venue TBA
October 3-5
Charlotte Convention Center
Charlotte, NC
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About Milldam Public Relations
Concord, Massachusetts-based Milldam Public Relations is a full-service public relations firm that provides competitively priced communications, media-relations, event-management, social media, business-development, writing services, and outreach to small and midsize technology companies.
We have particular expertise in data centers, IT, energy, and telecom. No matter your vertical, we will facilitate media relations, drive brand awareness, and engage your audience with the stories that count.
To find out how Milldam can earn unbiased editorial coverage for your company, please visit our website.
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