Digital Marketing

Ten Reasons Your Business Should Be Using Live Chat

September 19, 2017 by Andrew Stickel

Everyone understands that high-quality client service is vital to the continuing success of any business or professional practice. If you provide genuine value and a worthwhile experience every time a customer interacts with you, your customers will sing your praises to their friends and help grow your client base. If you’re not already taking advantage of live chat on your company’s or firm’s website, you’re missing a tremendous opportunity to expand your client base and to provide that worthwhile experience to your clients.

Live chat lets you communicate instantly with website visitors through instant messaging. The software works in somewhat the same way as a desktop messaging application like Skype, except that your website visitor won’t need special software. The chat appears in the browser window, so the visitor may “speak” with an agent or operator by typing text into the chat box. Emails and comment sections can’t provide immediate, real-time, two-way communication with your website’s visitors. Live chat can.

HOW DOES LIVE CHAT WORK?

Live chat was originally developed by LiveChat Software in 2002. Today, a number of versions of live chat and a variety of options are available, but all of them provide essentially the same functions.

Live chat works like this: Visitors to your website see a small chat box where text can be entered. In some versions, they will need to type in some something – like their email address or a question – to begin the chat and to indicate to your agent or operator that a visitor is online and wants to chat.

WHY IS LIVE CHAT RIGHT FOR YOU?

Other live chat features include chat monitoring, which allows experienced operators or agents to monitor newer operators or agents. This helps train new personnel and ensures that anyone who represents you online is following your script and adhering to your established client service procedures. Some live chat versions can even email your website visitor the transcript of a concluded chat.

Should your business or professional practice be using live chat? That answer is affirmative, and here are ten reasons why:

1. Live chat makes client service instantaneous. Your visitor isn’t forced to check his or her email every few minutes while waiting for your response. Moreover, live chat tells potential clients that you are prepared to help them – right now.

2. Live chat is reassuring. It tells your clients that you are there when they need you, and that you aren’t avoiding them or simply responding with the email version of a standardized form letter.

3. Live chat is efficient. Not even the best salesperson in the world can manage three or four distinct telephone conversations at once, but with live chat, any trained operator or agent can easily handle several conversations at the same time.

4. Live chat is cost-efficient. In fact, a large variety of “freemium” live chat options are available, and live chat is always free to your website’s visitors.

5. Live chat captures leads. You can program your live chat software to capture email addresses or even telephone numbers to initiate a chat. That steadily creates a promising set of leads from visitors who are indicating an interest in your service(s) or product(s).

6. Live chat guarantees consistency. You can create a script with standardized responses so that every agent or operator knows precisely what to say to every visitor and inquiry. You can rest assured that your agents or operators are providing swift and consistent answers to your most frequently asked questions.

7. If you want to look bigger than you really are, live chat can help. You can create “departments” like Support, Sales, or Billing, and ask visitors to “click” the department they need to reach, even if all of those “departments” are just one lone operator or agent.

8. Setting up live chat could not be easier. With just a small line of code added to your website, you can have live chat up and running in almost no time at all. An experienced internet marketing agency can help.

9. Live chat will help you identify your clients’ most common questions and concerns. It lets you review chat statistics and transcripts to identify the areas where your product(s) or service(s) can be improved.

10. A live chat is faster and more accurate than a telephone chat. For example, have you ever tried to give someone a complicated URL address over the phone? After trying to explain where the colon and backslash go, you’ll probably end up telling your client, “I’ll text it when we’re finished.” Live chat eliminates all of that inconvenience. You can copy and paste web addresses – and any other text – fast and accurately. Everything is visible on the screen, so no one has to be asked to “stand by” or “please repeat.”

Apart from its direct and immediate benefits, live chat can bolster your company’s or firm’s reputation in less direct ways. Your customers may give you good endorsements and reviews on their Facebook pages and anywhere else that’s appropriate. In fact, when you have a satisfied customer right in front of you on live chat, there’s no better time to ask politely for a positive testimonial or review.

WHAT MAY BE THE GREATEST BENEFIT OF LIVE CHAT?

You’ve now been introduced to most of the benefits of live chat, with one big exception. Perhaps the greatest benefit of live chat is simply that clients and customers love it. Go anywhere today that people are gathered publicly, and what are they doing?

They’re talking on the phone – or texting. People love to chat. In fact, we’ve all had at least one acquaintance who simply will not stop chatting! Moreover, your website visitors love having their questions answered and their concerns addressed instantly. Nobody likes waiting.

Your competition is probably already using live chat. If you want to get live chat up and running on your company’s or firm’s website quickly, or if you’d like to learn more about live chat and the other tools that can improve your client and customer service, arrange to speak promptly with the professionals at an experienced internet marketing agency. They can help you decide precisely how to set up your live chat, and they can get your live chat up and online almost immediately.

What Are The Benefits of Advertising on Facebook?

June 23, 2017 by Andrew Stickel

The Facebook empire, believe it or not, is continuing to grow. By the middle of this year, it’s estimated that Facebook will have two billion active monthly users around the globe. You might already have spent a few dollars on Facebook advertising, and you may have been disappointed with your results.

Is there a better way to use Facebook to connect with your target audience? Because that’s where they are. According to the New York Times, the average Facebook user spends fifty minutes every day on the site.

How does Facebook advertising work? Who should advertise on Facebook? And what is the best way to ensure that your advertising on Facebook is effective and reaches the audience that you are targeting?

This will be a general look at Facebook advertising, but if you are serious about marketing on the internet, you really should discuss your marketing goals and needs with the professionals at a successful internet marketing agency.

WHAT IS A “BOOSTED” POST ON FACEBOOK?

As you probably know, there are several ways to advertise on Facebook. The simplest form of Facebook advertising is called a “boosted post.” You can boost a post from your business page – there should be a button at the lower right corner of each of your business page’s posts that says “Boost Post” – but you cannot boost a post from a personal profile. If you don’t see the button, either it’s a post that you can’t boost, or it’s already been boosted.

When you click on “Boost Post,” you’re given options regarding whom you want to reach and how much you want to spend. To reach more people, you’ll need to spend more or update your audience targeting preferences.

A boosted post appears more often in the Facebook news feed, increasing the chances that the audience you select will see it. When you boost a post, you can aim it at people who like your page, people who like your page and their Facebook friends, or specific groups you choose through demographic targeting.

If you choose people through demographic targeting, you can base your choices on geography, interests, age, and gender. Boosted posts can generate significantly more likes, shares, and comments than unboosted posts, so they are particularly effective when you’re seeking engagement with your audience. Facebook also gives you the ability to see how your boosted posts are performing.

WHAT ARE FACEBOOK’S OTHER ADVERTISING OPTIONS?

Facebook ads are a more sophisticated way to advertise on Facebook, with more options and more ability to reach your targets. You have to create an ad account – if you haven’t, it’s easy. Facebook helps you create your advertising, helps you choose your objectives and your target audience, and it provides complete analytics so that you can measure your advertising success and tweak your ad campaign as you need to.

For your Facebook advertising to be genuinely effective, ask yourself some questions before you create the first ad or spend the first dollar. Take a moment to think about why advertising on Facebook may be worth the investment for your business.

Precisely who are you trying to reach? What is your objective? What is your message? Having clear objectives and goals from the beginning is imperative. Never hesitate to consult a professional internet marketing agency to discuss your online marketing goals and objectives and the best way to attain them.

Whether you are “boosting” a post or buying a “regular” Facebook ad, the picture or graphic you choose will be the first thing that people see. You must choose images thoughtfully because our minds retain images, and this is how people will think of your business. Of course, you’ll want to be certain that you have the rights to any photographs or graphics you use for your Facebook advertising.

As for writing the ad text, you don’t have to be Hemingway or Stephen King – no one on Facebook is going to read a novel there anyway. Just make certain that all of the important information is included. Also, be certain that you use a spell check and grammar check or a program like Grammarly. Especially if you’re a professional, your online spelling, grammar, and punctuation need to be accurate – all the time.

WHAT ARE THE MOST POPULAR TYPES OF ADS ON FACEBOOK?

You can place several kinds of advertising on Facebook. Among your options, a “page post link ad” is ideal for promoting your external site, because that’s where it takes those who click the link. Video ads are growing in popularity. They now account for more than fifteen percent of all Facebook ads.

Properly produced, a video ad on Facebook can genuinely create a personal connection in a way that almost nothing else can. Event ads and special offers can be effective in the short term to promote sales, webinars, and other specific activities.

As you can tell, Facebook advertising offers a lot of options and advantages, but there are some “cons” to go along with the “pros.” Some marketers may feel their growth on Facebook has already reached a level of maximum exposure.

Others may look at their analytics and feel that their resources are wasted. Some may simply not know what an ad should say, and a few people are just uncomfortable and confused by Facebook’s terminology or feel that the ad purchasing system is needlessly complicated.

For anyone who is marketing online – especially if you are a busy professional, and your online marketing must be professional as well – the best way to accomplish your online marketing goals is with the advice and services of internet marketing professionals. Experienced internet marketing pros can help you make the right advertising choices, and they work with a variety of content writers, website designers, visual artists, videographers, and more.

If you want help with your Facebook advertising and more – or if you feel that you’ve exhausted your possibilities on Facebook and you need new marketing options – speak with some internet marketing professionals.

An experienced internet marketing agency can create a powerful online presence for you and coordinate your marketing across the internet. When you put your marketing concerns in the hands of talented, experienced internet marketing professionals, you can start marketing more effectively on the internet almost at once.

How To Use Social Media To Promote Your Brand

May 26, 2017 by Andrew Stickel

In the Old West, a “brand” was an identifying mark burned directly onto the cattle with a branding iron. A brand identified the cattle as belonging to a particular owner. With the rise of production, packaged goods, and consumerism in the 19th century, marketers started “branding” consumer items with trademarks to distinguish their goods from similar goods. You know a soda was made by the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta because the Coca-Cola trademark is printed on the bottle. Thus, we call Coca-Cola, Ford, and Microsoft “brand names.”

Today, a “brand” functions in much the same way – it identifies your business, non-profit, or professional practice – but a “brand” today is also much more than merely the product’s or company’s name. As consumer and marketing writer Jerry McLaughlin explains in Forbes, “Your brand name exists objectively; people can see it. It’s fixed. But your brand exists only in someone’s mind.”

WHAT IS A “BRAND” IN THE 21ST CENTURY?

McLaughlin defines “brand” in the 21st century as “a specific perception in customers’ minds concerning the qualities and attributes” of a business, non-profit, or professional practice. So how can you improve that perception of your work in the minds of your own potential clients? In other words, how can you most effectively market and promote your own brand on social media and other locations online?

Below is an explanation of six effective ways to promote your brand on social media and across the internet:

1. Take advantage of headlines: You may be the world’s best content writer, but if your headlines are not grabbing the attention of visitors to your blog and website, all of that excellent writing will be in vain.

Good headlines aren’t difficult; simply inform the reader that you are offering something the reader needs. A blog post titled “How to Avoid Income Tax Trouble,” for example, is far more likely to be read than “An Explanation of the Income Tax System.”

WHY ARE GRAPHICS SO IMPORTANT?

2. Take advantage of graphics: We know that posts on Facebook and tweets on Twitter get more attention – and get reposted and retweeted more – when they are accompanied by graphics. Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest are all graphics-driven sites. A visitor to your blog or website might easily ignore a block of text, but if it’s next to an interesting or compelling graphic, that text is far more likely to be read.

Sites offering free images include Wikimedia Commons, Unsplash, Pixabay, Photo Pin, Flickr Creative Commons, Getty Images, and the Folger Shakespeare Library. Some sites offering free images allow you to use the images without attribution, but others require attribution or a link back to the site.

Creating your own graphics and working with an internet marketing company are also always good ideas. Be careful, however, with graphics obtained from other sources, or you may encounter copyright issues.

3. Post content in a timely manner: A “timely” post is a post shared when people are online and active. Between midnight and five a.m., for example, is probably never a good time to post something. So when is the best time to post content to social media? There’s no definitive answer.

Different businesses may find different days and times work best for them. Consider the platform you’re using, who your target audience is, and the region or regions you’re targeting when determining the best time to post content.

Data compiled from a number of sources indicate that these are the peak hours of activity on the following sites:

Twitter: Noon to 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday; 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Wednesdays.
Facebook: Noon to 1:00 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Wednesdays; and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays.
LinkedIn: On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and on Tuesdays from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

4. Post the same content multiple times: Multiple posting is the way to make sure that your audience has the opportunity to see and engage with your content. On Facebook, for example, something you post could very quickly be pushed far from the top of a reader’s Facebook feed, so posting at several different times over several different days is always a good idea. You should also consider using different headlines and/or different graphics when you post the same content multiple times.

5. Ask your audience questions: Social media is two-way, and you want to take advantage of that. You always want to strive to create a human connection with each member of your audience.

To generate feedback – and most importantly, to promote engagement with your brand – include a question that compels a response from your readers. Headlines in the form of questions are usually an excellent way to generate activity and responses.

WHAT CAN AN INTERNET MARKETING COMPANY DO FOR YOU?

6. Work with an internet marketing agency: When you work with an internet marketing company, you have the assistance of knowledgeable researchers and experienced professional writers who can create and supply the content that promotes your brand and meets your unique marketing needs. You can order blog posts written about specific topics and make or request revisions to any text, but the burden of creating regular content will no longer be on you.

An internet marketing company can provide you with a great deal more than written content. If time is an issue for you, an internet marketing agency can handle all of your online marketing needs while you deal with clients and run your business or professional practice.

An internet marketing company also provides you with the opportunity to work alongside experienced website designers, graphic artists, videographers, and other professionals who are dedicated to promoting your brand online and then keeping it promoted – and high in the search engine rankings – in the months and years to come.

Every element of your online marketing should be designed to strengthen and promote your brand. If you’re like most professionals today – just too busy – consider hiring an internet marketing company to create the content that promotes your brand, brings visitors back, and converts them into clients.

An internet marketing company can design (or redesign) and manage your website, provide you with valuable marketing insights, promote your brand, and handle all or any part of your internet marketing needs.

What Are The Benefits Of Law Firms Using Content Creation Services?

April 28, 2017 by Andrew Stickel

If you are an attorney and you are not blogging on a regular basis, you might be missing some genuinely lucrative opportunities. Blogging enhances your marketing efforts in several important ways. Probably the most important long-term aspect of blogging is the search engine optimization (SEO) benefits that blogging provides.

Every blog post that you write extends and expands your website and provides more opportunities for your website to rank higher in the search engine results. That, of course, makes it easier for the consumer to find you.

Search engines like Google are designed to seek fresh content, so when you post something new on a regular schedule, and when the search engines find that new content as they “crawl” your page, those pages are indexed by the search engines and “crawled” more frequently.

For attorneys, blogging is the most sensible way to extend and expand your website with fresh material. Moreover, your website could drop in the search engine rankings if you do not post fresh content on a regular basis. And while regular blogging is imperative, so is quality blogging.

There’s nothing wrong with checking out other websites to get some ideas, but your visitors want original, engaging, informative, and practical content. Visitors who in fact do find your blog posts useful may share them on Facebook or Twitter, expanding your readership and bringing, even more, new visitors to your site. Google also considers social media activity when it ranks pages, so the more your blog posts are shared on social media, the higher they rise in the Google rankings.

WHY DO SOME ATTORNEYS LOVE BLOGGING?

Some attorneys love to write blog posts. Blog-writing provides a break from the formalized, legal writing style that lawyering requires. Blogging is the chance to do something different or try something new, to express your ideas, ideals, and passions. Some of the most prolific attorney-bloggers, for example, are activists who write passionately about legal and social justice issues, openly seeking to persuade readers to share their convictions.

But that’s probably not you. In fact, you may be thinking that none of this can help you because you simply have no time to write two or three blog posts a week – or even one a month. That’s where a professional internet marketing agency can help.

A full-service online marketing firm can draft as much content as you need as often as you need it. By working with a staff of experienced professional writers who are familiar with legal issues and who write regularly for attorneys, an internet marketing agency can ensure that your website has the content it needs – freeing you to focus on the practice of law.

When you partner with an internet marketing agency, you’ll obtain the skills and services of experienced researchers and professional writers who can create and supply the blog posts that meet your specific marketing needs. You can order posts on particular legal topics, and you can make or request revisions to any text, but the weight of having to write something every week or once a month will be lifted.

WHAT ARE THE KEYS TO EFFECTIVE BLOGGING?

Of course, written content must be properly optimized to take full advantage of the way the search engines work. There are several key elements in any effective blog post, and each element must be considered carefully.

A good internet marketing agency and its writers will ensure that targeted keywords and phrases are appropriately and smoothly embedded into the content to obtain the highest possible search engine ranking. And every piece of content will be one hundred percent original – every time.

Good writing is the key to good blogging, but good writing is also essential on your home page, across your website, and everywhere else you post content online. A visually attractive website will catch a visitor’s attention, but it’s what the text actually says that will make the difference between a new client and a one-time visitor.

Effective copywriting is one of the key elements in a website’s development and a website’s success. That writing should be informative and persuasive, complementing your website’s design and enhancing your “brand.”

Your home page content should explain to your visitors who you are and what you do. Make that clear right at the beginning. Then, your home page should encourage visitors to stay and learn more about you and your law practice.

The words on your home page are some of the most important words you’ll post anywhere online, so they have to be right. A good internet marketing agency can help. After you’ve met with experienced online marketing professionals, they can create a website with content that reflects your goals and articulates your vision.

Candidly speaking, a lot of attorneys and law firms could substantially boost the appeal of their blogs. Too many are still using their blogs simply to recapitulate news stories about local traffic crashes (if they’re personal injury lawyers) or about celebrity divorces (if they’re divorce attorneys). And far too many other lawyers neglect their blogs for months or even years at a time.

WHAT DOES EFFECTIVE BLOGGING ACCOMPLISH?

The writing services that an internet marketing agency can offer address one of the leading concerns in online marketing – creating enough high-quality content on a regular basis to attract new visitors and search engines while also providing useful information in an engaging manner. Your online visitors are seeking easily-understood explanations of the law and how it affects their lives. They want to know how you handle cases like theirs. An effective blog accomplishes these goals and brings visitors back when they need more legal information.

Any online content that you write or post may be your single opportunity to turn a website visitor into a valued client, so you can’t neglect or overlook that opportunity. An internet marketing agency can provide the written content you need – and much more.

Online marketing professionals can establish a powerful online presence for your practice and coordinate all of your online marketing across the internet. Start marketing more effectively – now. If you simply don’t have the time or interest in blogging to do it well and regularly, call and arrange a consultation with the professionals at an experienced internet marketing agency.

Why Reviews Are Essential To Marketing Your Law Firm

January 29, 2017 by Andrew Stickel

Research confirms that prospective clients who are seeking attorneys have two priorities: the attorney’s reputation and experience. Having a great website is essential for every attorney, along with (at least) a Facebook page and a LinkedIn listing, but most prospective clients will want to know what is said about you by independent sources – news articles, other online references, and client reviews. It should come as no surprise that prospective clients give client reviews considerable weight, and it is no surprise that your reviews more likely than not will be the key element in a prospective client’s choice of attorney.

It started with Amazon inviting consumers – readers – to write online reviews of books. Then Amazon allowed customers to post reviews of every product they offer, and today, almost everything is reviewed by someone, somewhere online. In fact, Amazon is essentially responsible for changing the way we decide about and buy products and services – we read the reviews, which are not written by professional critics or reviewers, but by people like you and me.

In response to this still-rather-new marketing environment, review marketing should and probably will become a top marketing priority for attorneys in 2017 and beyond. Some lawyers are only now coming to the realization that already, reviews about them are all over the internet. But the smart lawyers and law firms are welcoming their reviews, and in fact, they’re converting those reviews into savvy marketing tools.

WHY ARE ONLINE CLIENT REVIEWS SO IMPORTANT?

If you are an attorney, whether you “welcome” them or not, this much is clear. Online reviews cannot be ignored any longer. If you have been relying on word-of-mouth referrals and friends of friends for new clients, you probably should rethink that strategy. Today, if someone gives your name to a potential client, that potential client is probably going to find your reviews online before calling you. And if that potential client, while online, sees another local attorney with a higher rating on Avvo or Yelp, it is that other attorney who will probably get the potential client’s business.

According to the website Search Engine Land, 88 percent of consumers today give online reviews the same credibility they give to personal recommendations. Late last year, Pew Internet Research reported that 82 percent of all adults in the United States read online customer ratings or reviews. And in 2014, Software Advice™ found that 83 percent of consumers go to online review sites as the initial step in their search for an attorney.

According to research conducted by the Harvard Business School, a one-star increase on Yelp results in a revenue increase of 5 to 9 percent for the average business in the United States. Yes, it’s hard to believe. People trust Yelp, a site that reviews comic book stores and nail salons, to provide trustworthy information about law firms and attorneys. And more than ten percent of us in the United States have posted an online review of at least one product, service, or professional, according to Pew Internet Research.

HOW CAN CLIENTS YOU’VE HELPED HELP YOU?

Instead of merely letting your satisfied clients tell their friends and family members about you, attorneys need to be making those clients a part of their online marketing. If you are not managing your online reputation but your competitors are managing theirs, your business is almost certain to decline. But if your satisfied clients are speaking online to the world, it is inevitable that you’ll feel a positive impact on your bottom line, and probably sooner rather than later.

If you are not yet taking full marketing advantage of client reviews, it’s time to learn more about what an internet marketing company might call “reputation management” or “review marketing.” A good internet marketing firm can help. First, be certain that you are registered and listed with the online legal directories Avvo and Justia. Then Google your name and check out what is being said about you around the internet and especially on sites like Yelp and Angie’s List. If you discover negative or critical reviews, the damage needs to be fixed right now.

If you see five-star reviews on the review sites, add them to your own website and add the link to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ accounts and any other social media accounts you maintain. An experienced internet marketing company has a number of tools available that can help you with reputation management, for example, with automatic notifications when reviews are posted.

It’s important that you do not respond to negative reviews with your own phony reviews or with self-promotional press releases. And if someone attacks you in a way that is genuinely unfair, you have to bite the bullet – because any response at all will raise that page’s search engine ranking. An experienced internet marketing company has a number of tools available that can help you with reputation management. They can do the work for you or show you how.

HOW CAN YOU GENERATE POSITIVE NEW REVIEWS?

While marketing professionals can help you manage your online reputation, the task of generating new, positive reviews falls on you. Some lawyers now use intake forms to identify which online review sites and social media sites new clients visit and belong to. Some attorneys directly help clients establish memberships at review sites; others simply give their new clients a card explaining review sites and how to register.

One easy way to collect reviews is simply to email your previous clients and ask them, “How satisfied were you with our services? Feel free to elaborate and include details.” You’ll want to use the best positive responses in your marketing, but you will also want to answer the negative responses with an email that says something like, “We apologize for your experience with us. How can we improve?”

One genuine key to successful review marketing is getting your positive reviews onto third-party review sites. When a prospective client sees consistently positive reviews across the internet, that positive message is reinforced, and you can expect that prospective client to become an actual client. But you need to start working on that consistent message now, or talk with some internet marketing professionals who can do review marketing on your behalf.

Should Disney Purchase Twitter?

October 29, 2016 by Andrew Stickel

Once upon a time, there was a website called Myspace, and it was the future of the internet. Myspace was supposed to mean the end of “big media companies” and the start of something new and exciting. Only it wasn’t. Myspace instead followed a predictable business pattern. In 2006, Myspace surpassed Google as the most-visited website in the United States. Ten years later, Myspace is the 1,522nd most visited site in the U.S.

Myspace followed the pattern of almost every consumer product or service: Start out with optimism and promise. Attract high-profile persuaders who, in the case of social media, add interesting content. Become the place to be. But the place to be soon gets crowded, and with that crowding, overall quality begins slowly to decline. A few users get out of line, and the original freewheeling spirit has to be replaced with some rules and a bit of policing. Users start leaving, especially if there is a newer, intriguing alternative.

If you have ever owned a nightclub, that pattern may sound familiar. Some variation of the pattern happens with almost every consumer product or service, website, or company. What makes something innovative and interesting is what attracts the people who end up making it dull and eventually useless. A buyer is then needed to bail out and reboot the operation, and when we are talking about online services, the most likely potential buyers are inevitably the dreaded “big media companies” who want the service’s database and anything else that might still be useful. But the sale needs to happen quickly at that point, because users may be leaving.

WHAT ABOUT TWITTER?

Consider the case of Twitter. For the last two years, the service has tried to crack down on the most extreme and offensive kinds of expression: outright and vile racism, sexism, and vulgarity, and what the internet calls “trolls.” While the motive behind establishing some rules is noble, Twitter at the same time seems to have lost some of its innovative, independent spirit, and some of the controversies in the news about some of the “tweets” seems to have smudged Twitter’s reputation.

The tweeters are not fleeing – yet – but the number of users has been stuck at about 300 million for the last two years. It would probably not be smart for a new owner to scrub Twitter clean of acrimony and contention. That is actually part of Twitter’s appeal. The challenge for any new owner will be how to rein in the genuine abuses while maintaining Twitter as a platform for dissent and activism. Certainly, the platform will change with new ownership, but until a new owner emerges, what is not clear at all is how extensively or in what way Twitter will change.

For weeks, there has been a great deal of speculation about the potential acquisition of Twitter by Disney. A social media partner could enable Disney, for example, to expand its live streaming plans for Major League Baseball games. Disney and Twitter could create an interactive platform where players, fans, and commentators communicate and enjoy the game together with live streaming and live tweets. According to a January 2016 research report by eMarketer, nearly 80 percent of U.S. retail executives believe the production of live streaming video events helps to create more authentic interactions with audiences.

India’s leading digital marketing, content, web design company is e-Intelligence, and its CEO, Jitesh Keswani, has been watching Twitter closely. Keswani says, “This, definitely, will be a brow-raising collaboration. With other tech giants like Alphabet, which is Google’s parent company and Salesforce up and in the close chase for acquiring the microblogging phenomenon, Disney so far appears to be ahead of the curve, obviously due to the seeming deeper pockets, backed up by the bankers’ lobby.”

“If and when this deal goes through, it will be after a sizeable time that Burbank-based Disney would acquire a media platform as against the recent traditions of buying intellectual properties. For Disney, this tie-up might mean a strong way to reach back to its cord-cutting customers, as Twitter recently began streaming for NFL games, which is just a tip of the ice-berg, in terms of its potential to cover mega network events. On the other hand, the San Francisco based Twitter is seen to benefit from Disney’s pure and family-oriented image. This is especially important as the social media giant has been facing fatal reputation problems in light of the recent happenings.”

Keswani’s conclusion is upbeat. “While there are divided opinions about the implications of this potential acquisition, with some even claiming that Twitter might lose its charm to the businesses as well as other media houses for running paid advertising thereon as they might see its content to be supremely influenced and rather dominated by Disney, I, being fortunate enough to be at the forefront of the digital marketing space, am quite positive about what the future might hold for these two global brands.”

Acquiring Twitter would also give Disney access to the flourishing video advertising market on social media platforms. A Cowen and Company survey published in Q1 2016 estimates that U.S. digital video ad spending will almost triple by 2020 to $28.1 billion from $9.9 billion this year. Although Twitter has had problems selling ads, the company’s recent plan to use video to attract new users (and thus new advertisers) seemed hopeful.

Google and Salesforce have also been mentioned as possible buyers. Nicholas Kinports, EVP for strategy at Notice Agency, says, “While Google could utilize data behind Twitter to bolster search and other ad products, the company has a poor track record when it comes to social networks. Disney has a rich library of content and sporting properties, which may make Twitter a more attractive acquisition. The company seems to know how to onboard a highly-prized property without alienating the fan/user base. Star Wars is the best recent example of this ability to ingest a brand without destroying what made that brand valuable to begin with.”

IS DISNEY ABOUT TO BUY TWITTER?

But Twitter has a plethora of other problems, and with its third-quarter earnings report coming out on October 27, a sale now is probably not going to happen. A Twitter board meeting scheduled in mid-October to discuss a possible sale was canceled. Twitter went public in 2013 at $26 per share. Over the last year Twitter’s stock had declined by more than a third, but in September, as rumors circulated about a sale, shares rebounded above $24.

However, by mid-October, shares of Twitter were down to $17.80. Google, Disney, and Salesforce, the three most commonly mentioned potential buyers, have now all apparently backed away from purchasing Twitter. “It’s unlikely anyone would step in and buy Twitter when the fundamentals are deteriorating,” Neil Doshi, a senior Internet analyst with Mizuho Securities USA Inc., told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Vic Patel is the founder of Forex Training Group. He’s a professional trader and investor with more than twenty years of experience in the stock, futures, and foreign exchange markets. He says, “The most recent word on the street is that Disney is not likely to pursue a bid to acquire Twitter. Logically speaking Disney and Twitter really aren’t a match made in heaven, as some put it out to be. Disney has typically acquired companies that it can bring in to complement its corporate ecosystem, and Twitter just doesn’t fit that bill.”

Mr. Patel explains, “Twitter is an animal onto itself and Disney would have a hard time integrating it into its other core businesses. But I do not discount this potential acquisition altogether, as stranger things have happened on Wall Street. More interesting, it seems that Salesforce, on the other hand, could be a potential buyer as well. And that marriage seems more likely to happen and ultimately a better fit as well.”

Whoever ends up acquiring Twitter must do more than merely turn it into an internet marketing agency for the parent company or another subsidiary. Despite its considerable problems, Twitter is well-established in the public mind as the “town square of the world,” and Twitter’s 300 million users might not want that to change. However, someone somewhere will have to justify spending up to $20 billion on a company that generates too many negative news stories but essentially generates no profit. Apparently, Disney, Google, and Salesforce are now unable or unwilling to justify that expenditure.

WHAT IS TWITTER’S SITUATION RIGHT NOW?

So Twitter’s remaining options are quickly starting to grow slim, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Bob Peck told the Chronicle. Twitter has failed so far this year to impress investors with its meager ad sales and its stagnant user numbers. In its latest quarterly earnings report, Twitter fell short of Wall Street’s revenue projections by a considerable margin, and investors have remained quite cautious while waiting for the release of the third-quarter results.

Nicholas Kinports of Notice Agency thinks Twitter’s future may be bright even without an acquisition. “Does Twitter need to be acquired? Why, the next two years could see a resurgence in the platform without outside ownership. By cutting exclusive deals with major sporting leagues, Twitter is capturing a highly valuable audience at the time they are most engaged. Those deals bring big value to advertisers, and may command a premium that allows Twitter to accelerate growth…. Twitter’s big bet on live streaming may drive their acquisition premium over $40/share.”

For the business people and professionals who engage in all types of marketing, Twitter is a valuable marketing tool, but until a buyer steps up, the future of the social media platform will remain murky. For Twitter to be genuinely worth something close to its present market value, it must gain broader appeal and become profitable on its own rather than as a cross-promotional vehicle or as an internet marketing agency for Disney, Salesforce, or anyone else. Will there be new owners willing to do what must be done at Twitter? In the months to come, we will certainly find out.