Issue 4 2019

CORPORATE VISION / Issue 4 2019 5 NEWS , Lepton Global Solutions, a lead- ing small-business provider of custom- ized, cost-effective, end-to-end satellite communica- tions solutions, has expanded its Asia-Pacific network service offerings and customer market. In the last year, the company significantly increased its Pacific network service presence, add- ing multiple government, military and commercial customers from the North American mainland to remote Pacific islands. Since launching services in the Asia-Pacific region in 2016, Lep- ton has seen a steady increase in demand for satellite commu- nications from Alaska’s Aleutian Islands chain down to the U.S. territories between Hawaii and Southeast Asia. The compa- ny now offers Ku-band satellite coverage across the Pacific via Eutelsat’s 172B (172°E) and 70B (70°E) satellites, as well as Ka-band services via Inmarsat’s Global Xpress network. A new managed network on Eutelsat 174A (174° E) is planned to debut in the second quarter of 2019 in support of a government custom- Lepton Global Expands Pacific Presence With New Government and Commercial Customers er. Lepton also recently support- ed a DoD exercise on JSAT2B’s Pacific and South beams in C- and Ku-band. “Our hub infrastructure at Hawaii Pacific Teleport enables us to of- fer an entirely U.S.-based solution where needed in a region with a large foreign-owned service pro- vider footprint,” stated Rob Wei- tendorf, Managing Partner at Lep- ton Global Solutions. “We chose HPT as a strategic bridge from the U.S. to the Pacific, and we are glad to be supporting the increas- ing requirements of our commer- cial and government customers in the region.” Increased Ku-band coverage, proactive technical support and U.S.-based offering attracts new customers. find their most engaged customers and seek their feedback first. This means that influencers have to be genuine, authentic Glossier advocates to access the brand. With vast media attention on influencer marketing, transparency and authenticity, influencers are going to be more selective with the brands they work with. This means beauty brands will have to move beyond sending out thousands of product packages to a PR list and instead focus on building long-term relationships with consistent brand advocates - build a genuine community. These relationships feel more authentic with long-term content partnerships and offline events, like Boots sponsoring the Glamour Beauty Festival. Marketers should strive to create genuine moments of connection and community around their brand - both online and offline. “The second value is diverse representation. Social media platforms - particularly YouTube, Instagram and TikTok - give creators the opportu- nity to build a niche audience around specific themes and viewers the ability to watch people who reflect and represent them. Take the growth of curly hair care channels on YouTube as an example (for reference, see the rise of channels like Curly Proverbz), viewers felt as though their physical features were not represented in traditional media and they wer- en’t advised on how to style or care for their hair - YouTube is the place they can turn to for advice, product recommendations and a presenter who reflects their appearance. YouTube and Instagram are essential to shaping the way people see themselves and perceive beauty in society. YouTube allows viewers to explore every niche, led in an authentic way by creators who have felt the same beauty struggles and alienation. Brands need to find the niche audiences that best reflect them, then create useful long-form content that shows they champion diversity in beauty.” Among the recent developments in technology that are driving change is the announcement that Instagram is introducing a new shopping feature. Daniel Dixon, Head of Social at ecommerce agency Visualsoft, explained that this latest development changes how the social media marketing space operates. “In a world where the consumer expects a more seamless shopping experience than ever before, shopping directly via social media is the natural next step. “Social media has long been viewed as an invaluable brand awareness and engagement tool, but conversion has always been an issue – how do you successfully turn those “likes” into measurable sales? “Instagram’s shoppable posts are providing the answer to this and have already been adopted by almost half of ecommerce businesses due to their sales-boosting abilities. The platform’s latest update is therefore set to build on this success by enabling shoppers to make a purchase without even leaving the app – maximising ease of purchase. “Shopping via social media removes a number of pain-points on the customer buying journey, and could virtually eradicate shopping cart abandonment; an issue which affects almost three quarters (74%) of online retail sales. Considering that UK retailers enjoy an average social media reach of over 1 million, the growth opportunities are tremendous for businesses who can take advantage of this new trend.” “However, if this is to be successful on a wide scale, retailers need to keep followers engaged on an on-going basis. This can be achieved through creative Instagram stories and social posts.” Overall, influencers remain a key part of the beauty industry in the future, and the developments in technology will help drive the market forward as consumers become even more attuned to the latest advances and the newest ways brands are pushing their products. With new technologies in their arsenal brands and influencers alike will be able to reach new audiences and target them with the content they want to see.