In this week’s Five on Friday, the Upload Engineering blog spells out the pending GDPR regulations for SaaS in simple terms, Business2Community explores how brands will share their message in an age of rampant ad blocking, CJR shares its guide to audience revenue and engagement, CMS Wire offers tips for optimizing voice searches, and PC Magazine reports that using hacked Spotify apps can get you banned from the streaming music service.

What SaaS Companies Need to Know about GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect in Europe on May 25. Under GDPR, companies that do business in Europe must ensure that they do not collect personal information until the individual gives their explicit, informed consent. Companies who collect data (controllers) and who process data (processors) must then follow a number of guidelines.

In a recent post, ‘GDPR for SaaS in Plain English,’ Igor Debatur, co-founder of Uploadcare Engineering, highlights the 12 steps of compliance in simple terms for SaaS processors and controllers. We’ve summarized here:

1. Inform all employees of GDPR.
2. Review the data you currently have and delete misplaced or unnecessary data. Reach out to third parties with whom you do business to ensure their compliance with GDPR.
3. Update your privacy policy.
4. Be prepared to protect individuals’ rights, including providing individuals who request it their data in a machine-readable format and give individuals the opportunity to modify or delete their data upon request.
5. Create a process to handle the user requests mentioned in #4.
6. Your privacy policy must explain why you are collecting specific data and what you are planning to do with it.
7. Create an explicit consent mechanism and the option for users to retract consent.

For the remaining five steps, read the original article by Uploadcare Engineering on Medium. 

Google Chrome Filters Out Ads: What Options Do Brands Have for Sharing Their Message?

Starting last month, Google’s Chrome browser has been automatically filtering out ads that do not meet the initial better ads standards determined by the Coalition for Better Ads (e.g., pop-ups, auto-play video ads with sound, large sticky ads, flashing ads, etc.) When a page loads that includes one of those ad types, a pop-up message informs the reader that ads have been removed from the page, giving them the option to allow the ads or continue without them.

In ‘As Ad Blocking Goes Mainstream, What’s Next for Brands?‘ on Business2Community, Kate Hawkes explains that this new policy negatively impacts businesses who rely on such ads for revenue. One option for publishers is to use ads within their apps which aren’t affected by the Coalition for Better Ads criteria. Based on recent research and best practices, Hawkes recommends publishers integrate their ads with content as much as possible to provide a seamless user experience. She also recommends that brand use their apps to position their brands and to personalize the experience for the users.

To learn more about how brands can utilize in-app ads to bypass Google Chrome’s new ad filter, read Hawkes’ original article on Business2Community.

[Editor’s note: Ironically, the home page for the Coalition for Better Ads has an obnoxious, above-the-fold band of scrolling logos that detracts from the user experience. While not an ad, per se, the scrolling images do promote the brands that support the Coalition.]

CJR: Guide to Audience Revenue and Engagement

The Columbian Journalism Review (CJR) recently published a Guide to Audience Revenue and Engagement to help new organizations and media entrepreneurs more deeply engage their audiences and, in turn, grow revenue. In the extensive report by Elizabeth Hansen and Emily Goligoski,­ they identify three revenue models: donations, subscriptions and memberships. Here is a brief summary of their key findings:

1. Most digitally native publications rely on a mix of revenue sources, including advertising, corporate sponsorships, foundation funding, article syndication, affiliate programs, event revenue, etc.
2. Publishers that successfully rely on subscription income typically have a strong audience base and journalism that is easily differentiated from other publishers (e.g., Wall Street Journal, The New York Times).
3. Growing memberships does not occur by offering merchandise or discounts. Readers choose to become members because they believe in the work of an organization or want to be a part of a bigger cause.
4. Some publishers operate membership programs that are essentially subscription programs with a different name. The key distinction is the level of engagement a publisher has with its readers.
5. Conversion strategies are critical to audience revenue programs.

For additional findings, download the full 104-page report here or read it online at CJR. 

3 Tips for Optimizing Voice Searches

According to a recent article by CMS Wire, 55 percent of teens and 41 percent of adults use voice searches to complete tasks multiple times a day. ComScore estimates that half of all searches will be completed using voice technology by 2020. If that’s true, then marketers need to ensure they are optimizing for voice searches. Here are three tips from Kaya Ismail for CMS Wire.

1. This is new technology, so while you should be prepared to adopt it quickly, you should also be prepared to adapt and adjust as needed.
2. Create your own Alexa Skill or voice app.
3. Focus on local marketing. According to the Internet Trends Report 2016, approximately 22 percent of voice searches were for local content or information.

Read the rest of Ismail’s tips in ‘7 Tips to Better Voice Search Optimization‘ on CMS Wire.

There’s No Free Lunch: Hacked Spotify Apps Can Get You Banned 

If you love Spotify as much as I do, you’d be horrified if you were banned from using the streaming music app. That’s the reality for users who are using hacked versions of the Spotify app to avoid paying the $9.99 monthly subscription fee for an ad-free service or listening to ads on the free version. Listeners using hacked apps are getting banned from the streaming music service, reports PC Magazine. We couldn’t agree more with Spotify’s stance on hacked apps. Spotify offers a great product, and if you don’t want to subscribe, use the free version and tolerate a few ads.