8 New Social Articles on Business 2 Community |
- Big Content Search – The Largest PLR Database on the Internet
- 5 Key Habits To Supercharge Your Social Media Engagement Skills
- If I Were A Social Chamber Of Commerce Or Association President
- 11 Reasons Your Blog Comments Are Not Getting Approved.
- How to do Keyword Research the Easy Way
- How To Become A YouTube Superstar
- A Hidden Evil of Google Plus
- Scream And Win A Stylish Makeover With Jabong’s Screamville On Facebook
| Big Content Search – The Largest PLR Database on the Internet Posted: 19 Aug 2012 03:00 PM PDT |
| 5 Key Habits To Supercharge Your Social Media Engagement Skills Posted: 19 Aug 2012 01:05 PM PDT
Although the habits listed below are proven to be effective IRL, they can be used just as effectively in your online interactions as well. The habits are listed in no particular order, they are all powerful, yet simple to apply. Ready? Here we go! Be curious – This should automatically be your mindset whenever you're looking to engage someone. Not only does it put you in an inquisitive frame of mind, it also prepares you for opportunities that may arise during the interaction. People can sense when you're genuinely curious and interested in what they have to say, even online, which puts them at ease and encourages them to open up. Just remember your ABC's, "Always Be Curious". Learn to ask the right questions - The goal here is to interact with your customers, not to interrogate them. People love to talk about themselves and their experiences, so make sure that your open-ended questions are relevant to your audience. Great questions get people thinking and help propel the conversation. Regular tweets, for example, provide a great opportunity to practice this habit and helps to embed your brand in your audiences mind. Listen – With all the noise from various social media platforms, this is probably the toughest habit on the list. Getting your customer to interact with you is no easy task to begin with, so when your customer responds, you want to listen. Learn to develop active listening skills by asking clarifying questions and repeating back what you heard. This is more important in social media, where misunderstandings can easily arise due to the absence of nonverbal cues. Also, people can be reluctant to share a problem or issue with you, so listening to what isn't being said is just as critical. Keep an open mind – It's human nature to judge, be quick to dismiss, or assume. If you're compelled to give in to human nature, take this as an opportunity to add to your knowledge base by staying open to unexpected ideas. I have learned that people don't always respond the way that I expect them to, or share the same opinions as I have. These instances provide a great opportunity for me to enjoy a different point of view. Oftentimes, it's after being able to suspend judgment that I'm better able to understand the reason for the disparity of opinions. Be grateful – There are a lot of things that have to be right for a customer to be willing to open up and interact with you. Honestly, they're not obligated to do so. The fact that they're willing to take time out of their day and interact with you, giving you feedback, is something that every company should be grateful for. Always show gratitude in all your interactions. It doesn't cost anything extra, it adds value to the interaction, and it brings good karma. What are some creative ways that you show or express gratitude to your customers? Oftentimes, we get caught up in the headlines touting the newest tech gadget, social network, app, etc., that we push aside the human element in it all. It's good to step back occasionally and remind ourselves that the endgame here is still to interact with people. These 5 habits have helped me in my own personal journey. What are some of the habits you rely on when engaging your audience? |
| If I Were A Social Chamber Of Commerce Or Association President Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:50 PM PDT
Associations and Chamber of Commerce organizations hold a soft spot in my heart because they were of course one of the first business networking groups. They have deep roots and have the potential to offer much value to businesses new and old. I can still remember the first day I walked into a local Chamber of Commerce event after starting my first agency. I remember the fears of becoming an entrepreneur and leaving behind the fat corporate paycheck, 401k, health benefits and security to follow a dream. I remember the members of the Chamber and other Associations virtually holding up my back, telling me to "stand tall, you can and will do this." A few people told me just that. They told me they could "see it in my eyes, feel it in my handshake and practically see it on my skin, that I wanted this thing and I wanted it bad." They told me they were confident that I would succeed. I can remember their words like they were yesterday. Chambers and associations have been hit hard by the change in technology and wide adoption of social media. What work for them in the past, doesn't work today. Yet, many of them are still using the same old tactics and wondering why they aren't seeing the same result they did five years ago. The purpose of this post is to provide some ideas and give a bit of an insight as to what I would do if I were the president of a chamber or member association that was committed to integrating social media into business for real results. Many of these tips will work for any business, association or franchise organization. I of course am not going to give away all of my secrets or offer a full comprehensive strategy. I wouldn't have time to do this in a single blog post anyway. I hope this post provides enough to help association and chamber leaders wet their whistle. If you want more help on any of the below or more, call us and we can help you build and execute a real plan that will drive results. Mindset matters…Most changes needing to happen within organizations today to enable them to become a social business are related to mindset. In a nut shell they have the wrong mindset. It may be a mindset stuck in the 80′s, an arrogant mindset, insecure mindset and the list goes on. As you read this post I challenge chamber and association leaders to look deep within your heart, soul, staff and board of directors. Ask yourself this question… "Is my mindset holding me back from success?" My guess is that if you have to think about the answer to question then it is! 20 Things I Would Do if I Were a Social Chamber of Commerce or Association President
If I was the the owner, President, Vice President of member services, sales, marketing, or simply sat on a board of directors for a chamber or association that I know needed help I would NOT be the silent person who knows they need to change but kept my mouth shut. If somebody at the local Chamber of Commerce does not speak up and help them make change they are going to be a dying breed and out of business in the next one to two years. 2. Hire and empower the needed help. If I did not have the resources with the skills needed to take my business to the next level I would hire, train and empower them. I would hire the right agency, consultants or staff to take us where we need to go. I would prioritize and pay for the needed training, change management resources and empower them to do their jobs, not do them for them! An intern straight out of college who's face turns red when asked to open up her social media Facebook profile to the business membership is not going to take your chamber or association to the next level. Have the guts to admit you do or do not have the right skills. Find them and empower them to help you, period. Don't hire them and then overnight claim to be an expert on the exact skills you hired them to do. Continue to work with them even if they challenge you to take skeletons out of the closet, stop doing stupid things that are wasting money and even look in the mirror at things you, yourself need to change. Be their partner, their friend and help them help you!
The first thing I would do is to develop a comprehensive plan with specific goals and objectives. This does not necessarily mean a social media plan. What is needed in most businesses today is a real business and marketing plan. Sorry, stating you want to grow membership is not a plan. HOW will we grow membership? What markets will we grow? What percentage of members will purchase what memberships? How exactly will we expand to new markets, impact local government? How will we drive the intended revenue? How will we keep up with the online competition? A business without a real plan is like a dart with out a dart board. A fish without water. Trust me, you will NOT be in business in two to three years if you don't develop a plan to be in business in two to three years, period. 4. Include members in the "get social" plan. The best way for a chamber or association to become social is to engage and tap into their already existing community of members. Ensure the membership is included at every step of the way. Start with focus groups, surveys, social network reviews, blog feedback sessions and more. Teach them how to be social, how to leverage social media to network, help one another and grow their business. The chamber or association and their membership can learn and grow together if the right focus is put in this area. 5. Avoid Random Acts of Marketing and Social Media Avoiding RAMS is a requirement. The only way to do such is stop doing them. Bottom line if it is not in the budget, isn't in the plan and can't be measured it is a RAM. RAMs will eat every last dollar of return on investment (ROI) without blinking. Don't let RAMs consume your business. I would rid my team of RAM addiction immediately. I would train them on what they are and teach them how to stomp them once and for all!
The first list I would create is the list of the things we are going to STOP doing. You can check out a post I wrote on this topic here->>#1 Social Business Action List: What You Are going to Stop Doing Becoming a social business is going to take time and resource. Time and resource is one thing that most chambers and associations do not have in excess. Therefore, the only way you are going to find time and resource to become a social business is to make the time and free the resource. It's simple math. Cut some events, projects, tasks off the list. Use the time to do the other things listed here that will derive real value and move you toward your goals. Focus on analyzing every single activity your team is spending time and resource on. Is it providing a return? Value to members? Where are the bottlenecks? How can you combine activities to drive higher result? Where are their opportunities to combine activities, events, tactics to drive higher efficiencies and return. I can guarantee most chambers and associations are not thinking about these things. They are instead thinking how they can keep current staff busy to justify their role. The problem is they are keeping staff busy with the tasks of yesterday, the events of last year and few projects and programs that are going to ensure they are still in business next year! If your current methods are not working, then stop them. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. 7. Do an internal mindset analysis. I would take a serious look the mindset of my entire organization. Do they have what it takes to be social? Does my leadership team have the right mindset to lead my organization through massive change? Or will they get insecure, stay stuck in their ways and refuse required changes? A team ready to embrace change inclusive of a new way of thinking is a requirement, not an option. Do they have a sharing and giving attitude? Or do they want to hoard information, require people to attend an event to learn new skills? These ways of thinking must be thrown out with the bath water, period! Do people like them? Do they treat my members like human beings? Or do they hide behind avatars and email blasts? Do they sit in the back of an event and whisper about members? Or are they in the middle of the action, guiding and leading conversations to bring people together? 8. Do a comprehensive audit. I would look at everything from staff, processes, email marketing, content, board of directors, involvement with and support for government organization, event strategies, membership structure and business models, revenue analysis, event attendee analysis and the list goes on. I would literally peal back the onion, pull the skeletons out of the closet and not be afraid to lay them on the table in front of my entire leadership team. If they can't handle looking at them and dealing with them then I would have the guts to fire them. Keeping a leadership team around that can't move a business forward is a recipe for failure. I would look at every social media network launched. Dig deep into the data, analyze the data and make decisions based on such.Who is liking the Facebook page? Who is clicking "like" on posts? Are they more females or males? Who is engaging and why? What is it they are looking for? I would dig deep into Google Analytics as there is gold in them there anlytics! icon wink If I Were a Social Chamber of Commerce or Association President Having an understanding of how your current customers, prospective customers and general website visitors are engaging with your current or past website and blog is critical to success moving forward. If I didn't know how to do an audit or where to even begin I would hire someone asap who does. If this is you and you need help, call us. We offer comprehensive audits at an affordable price. We can save you thousands of dollars in wasted execution and lost membership revenues. How much is your time worth? How much is one year of member revenues worth? Check out our audits here-> Social Media Business Audit & Assessment 9. Conduct market research.
Second I would look at the broader market. I would not do this so I could copy my competition or take the easy way out. I would look at new market segments I could attract with real value. I would analyze trends, buying patterns, technology platforms we could leverage and integrate into our membership programs and the list goes on. I would force my staff outside of the walls of our organization and restaurants where we host the events. I would include the staff and ensure they were part of conducting the research. They need to learn first hand the changes taking place in the market today. 10. Hire leaders. Chambers and associations have an amazing opportunity to lead change today. Yet, most seem so stuck in their ways. Their revenues are falling, leadership teams are working two or three jobs each and they know they are losing ground in market share, value and every aspect of their business. Since I would have done a comprehensive audit as a first step I would know what team members are delivering value. I would know who has the right or wrong mindset to implement change and help our members implement change. I would also have the guts to fire or layoff the people who are incapable of being trained, inspired, motivated to do such. As hard as it may sound many businesses need a full overhaul when it comes to internal staff and leadership. 11. Teach my staff the word WHY! The most important word in social media is WHY! Why should anyone like our Facebook page? Why should they follow us? Why should they be our friend? Visit our blog? Why should they share our content? Why should they attend our events? Why should they be members of the Chamber? Why should they give a rip about anything we do or say? If you can't answer this question from the start you are unlikely to ever become a social business with results. 12. Put my action where my mouth is.
Bottom line the worst thing a chamber or association can do is to continue making false promises to their members. How many times have you heard an organization say "we are going to get social this year." Yet, you are lucky if you see them launch a Facebook page and tweet buttons to their website. Sorry, a tweeting website is not going to deliver results. 13. VALUE – become the most GIVING Chamber or association on the planet. After my staff learns the word "why", the second word they must learn is VALUE. The focus must be on providing real value to members. The Chamber is packed with knowledge and relevant information. Content is the king, queen, jack, joker and spade of social media. The purpose of this post is not to argue about if content is king or queen. However, I will guarantee you that content is the key for the local chamber and association. If leaders do not learn this fast, their days are numbered. Sorry, charging people to come to an event so they can network is not giving or providing value! It is taking and it is providing little value. My true belief is that the chambers and associations that will survive longer term are the ones with the biggest, most giving hearts. 14. Start focusing on the members who are NOT attending events.
Instead I would focus on the people who are NOT attending the events. Who are they? What are their business demographics? What is their business model? Business size? Why are they not attending events? Do they attend any events? If yes, which ones? Why do they attend those events? If the events are not offering a good majority of your membership value then where are they deriving value? This is the segment I would be the most concerned about. How am I going to keep them as a member two years from now if all I am doing is face to face meetings that they never attend?
We must dig into the real cost of attending a Chamber event. Not only is there often a charge for the event itself, there is a charge for the luncheon. What about the time? It takes time to prepare and attend an event. It takes money and gas to drive to the event. The events must provide value above the cost of getting there, being there and getting back to the office or home. If the value doesn't out weigh the cost, well that right there my chamber and association friend is why the same people are attending your events over and over. You are not understanding the value / cost equation. You better learn this fast. 16. Overhaul the traditional membership program and business model. Sorry chamber leaders and associations, many of your business models are broken. In case you haven't noticed there is an entirely free social networking event happening across the globe 24/7 on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, blogs, and more. The days of you building a business model based solely on live events are dead and done. We need more value than what you are offering. We need integration online and offline. I would get in the head of my dream customer segments. I would build a business model that offers them the most value packed membership program possible. I would focus on how we can help them meet goals and objectives, fill gaps they have in knowledge and learning, help ensure they don't miss key deadlines for state legal requirements. I would provide them opportunities to connect with other business leaders who can support them, who they can build relationships with and help grow their business. I would do this WITHOUT forcing them to attend a meeting, event or in real life training. I would provide opportunities to obtain the information via webinars, podcasts, downloadable whitepapers, slideshare presentations and the list goes on. The people attending the events today are the same over and over because there is no value for those who are not there. Locally we find the same people who are broke, looking for people to take to a free lunch and have no money to buy our services. It's often a depressing group of folks who are not inspiring the new attendee to stick around. The membership business model presents tremendous opportunity to provide value if social is integrated properly. The only way my chamber or association is going to survive and use social media with real result is if I integrate it into the DNA of business. I would make this a top goal and find real ways we can integrate social media into processes, events, communication, membership programs and the list goes on. Social media can be used to improve sales close cycles, membership communication and feedback, membership satisfaction, relationships with outside partners and government entitities. The time spent here will deliver a return far better than any list of RAMs or events. Stop the nonsense and roll up the sleeves to make the needed changes pronto. 18. Make it about the members, not ME!
19. Empower and train the RIGHT team. After we have a plan, goals, objectives and a strategy for social business integration, hiring and training the right team is the most important investment to ensure success.
I would hire, empower and train my social power team. I would not be afraid of competition stealing them as I would give them a reason to stay. Provide them the best possible working environment where they can learn, contribute and add the highest possible value to paying members. I would ensure I had the right coverage in the areas needed to lead, integrate social, communicate, manage events, video tape, engage people both online and offline, measure, monitor, and implement needed changes. The team should offer something of value. They should be more than a facilitator at leads groups. They should have the skills to help people learn how to network, communicate, leverage social media for real results and grow business! 20. Get video and photo savvy.
This person must have a mindset of serving the members. Sorry, but the videos should not just be about you, selling tickets or getting people to events. Focus on providing real value, knowledge and inspiring people to engage with your team. What You Say? How is your local Chamber of Commerce serving you? How are the associations you are a member of doing to provide value? Are you seeing trends of them moving in the right direction? What are they doing right? How can they better help you? What should they do more or less of? If you have cancelled your membership, why did you cancel? What would inspire you to come back? I would love to hear your opinions here, good and bad. Let's help these associations and chambers stay in business. They may not like what we have to say, but they need to hear it. Let's give credit to the ones doing it right and use them as a role model. |
| 11 Reasons Your Blog Comments Are Not Getting Approved. Posted: 19 Aug 2012 11:30 AM PDT After spending hours creating content for your website it can be frustrating when nobody comments on your post. In fact it can be deflating at times. But what is actually worse than having no comments at all is attracting spam comments by the boat load. Here are some of my least favourite types of blog comments.1. Your Brother, Cousin or Auntie's Pet Dog told you about this website.Your brother, your cousin or your auntie's pet dog did NOT tell you about this website, and I am positive that neither they, nor you have ever been on this website. 2. You have the Audacity to tell me my page is "rife" with spelling mistakes.OK, so every now and again a spelling or grammatical error slips through the cracks. It happens. Heck, I am open to criticism as much as the next man. In fact I wouldn't be posting anything online if I couldn't accept positive and structured criticism. Criticism is as good as praise. It opens up a conversation and as blog writers that is what you want. If you want me to believe that you are real then point out where the mistake is I will approve your comment and thank you for publically shaming me. 3. Your URL is an Affiliate LinkWorse than the URL being an affiliate link is the fact that the affiliate link is for a program that supports blog spamming. Seriously, are you having a laugh? 4. You are FacelessIf there is no image associated with your comment and by image I mean picture of you, then chances are I am not even going to look at your comment, let alone approve it. Most genuine, REAL people on the internet have a gravatar associated with their primary email address. You don't. If it is a serious comment then stand behind your name and be proud of what you write. Same goes for any social media profiles out there. Make sure the image is complete. 5. Your comment is as spun as a spider's web"Definitely imaging that that you stated." What? What does that even mean? Are you for real? The obvious answer is no but hang on a minute. The answer is really yes. Someone somewhere actually entered the text to be spun in the first place. They physically sat there typed this out, looked at it (actually I am not sure they did check their work before sending it!), felt satisfied that it was a great comment and hit submit. 6. The anchor text keywords have an Adult themeI have no reason to expose myself, or my readers, to subject matter that is going to be in any way offensive or devalue the content that I have spent time producing. Go and find other adult related niche sites and post comments there. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out there will be more interest for your offerings on a similar themed site. 7. You Obviously Haven't read the post!The comment that you have left is a copy and paste job from a word template. Thanks but no thanks I am not interested and would rather have a post with no comments. 8. Your comment is full of linksYou have the opportunity to enter anchor text as your username if you so choose. Therefore stuffing your comment full of URL's is not going to get you approved. 9. You stumbled across me on Ask JeevesReally, I don't think you did. Because if you did you would be the only person ever to do so and the chances of you actually reading the post and leaving a comment are about the same as winning the lottery. 10. You "instantly grabbed my RSS Feed" and submitted to Digg.Nobody grabs RSS feed, this is another case of using the thesaurus incorrectly when you are populating your comment submitting software. 11. You have made $60,000 last night when you were sleeping and you had to tell someone.That lucky person was me. Honestly, I don't want to know. I am happy being ignorant about it. But feel free to share it with your brother, your cousin and your auntie's pet dog because I am sure they will be interested. Leaving blog comments is a good thing to do, it helps connect people, build communities and can also help with SEO and as a blogger it is always nice to receive blog comments it makes you feel that your words are not falling on deaf ears. Go ahead leave blog comments, but do it right. |
| How to do Keyword Research the Easy Way Posted: 19 Aug 2012 09:05 AM PDT Keyword research is one of the first things that most internet marketers should learn. Whether you're doing PPC, SEO, article syndication, or anything else- keyword research is a good, good thing. That said, I'm amazed at how complicated people can make it sometimes! I see it all the time; a new marketer goes through the follow stages-
Does that sound about right? Now I know that some parts of IM are confusing and require constant learning. But keyword research isn't one of those things. When it comes to selecting good keywords, here are the 3 principles I live by: Principle #1: Look for Buying Keywords This is probably the most important of the 3 principles. You can make money without buying keywords, but it won't come as easily. So what's a buying keyword? There are a few things to look for:
The people typing in these keywords often have a credit card in hand, ready to spend some money. They're either ready to buy, or doing research right before they buy. These are the visitors that convert like crazy! If someone is looking for a Fat Burning Furnace review, they're thinking of buying Fat Burning Furnace. It's as easy as that. If you focus on buying keywords, you really don't need many visitors to your site every day. Your visitors will convert much better than most, so making good money won't take thousands and thousands of visitors. Principle #2: Look for Desperate People I know that sounds bad, but I don't know how else to put it! When you're desperate, you have a problem that you want fixed now. Doesn't that sound like someone who might buy your product? After all, your product does solve problems, right? Let's say that someone's having marital problems, and things are getting bad. They might go to Google searching for something like
Anyone typing in those kinds of things is asking for help. They have a severe problem, and you can help them fix it with your product. **HINT** Most desperate buyers will either have health, finance, or relationship issues. People don't get desperate about World of Warcraft or shoes. Principle #3: More Doesn't Mean Better Many new marketers think that when it comes to visitors, more is better. While you might still make some sales, you always want to niche down at least 2 or 3 levels. For example, let's say that you're promoting Fat Burning Furnace. Do you think the keyword "lose weight" is good? The truth is that it's okay, but it's still not very great. You have no idea who is typing that into Google. They may be 5 pounds overweight or 500. It might be a woman who has never worked out a day in her life, or a guy who works out every day and just can't shed that last layer of fat. But really, you can't even be sure if they're trying to learn how to lose weight! That is probably what they want, but it's not what they typed into Google. Now, let's take the keyword "how to lose weight". You'll get fewer searches each month, but at least you know what they're looking for. However, you still run into the fact that it's not specific at all. Finally, let's look at someone typing in "how to lose weight for new mothers." This won't get tons and tons of searches each month, but at least you know who is searching for a solution. Now you can really target your audience, explaining how Fat Burning Furnace is the best way to lose weight for new mothers because of X, Y and Z. Conclusion There is more to keyword research than this- but when you really get to the core, this is pretty much all you need to know. Now I admit that when you throw in SEO or PPC competition, you get into a whole new ballgame. Competition is fierce for a lot of keywords, but you can still find some gems out there. If your game is SEO, then I can't recommend highly enough that you get a good keyword research tool. My personal favorite is Market Samurai but there are some other good ones as well. Thanks for reading, and I hope this article helped clear up some confusion about keyword research! If you liked this article, please share it with your friends. |
| How To Become A YouTube Superstar Posted: 19 Aug 2012 07:24 AM PDT At Third Tuesday in late June, I was standing in front of my social media friend Eric Buchegger and (of course) looking at Twitter on my phone when I saw him tweet out something about a YouTube workshop the next night. I turned around, pointed to the tweet and asked him about it when he mentioned that our mutual friend in social media, Roberto Faria was involved with organizing it. A few tweets the next day and thanks to Roberto I was on my way to OCAD University to attend this invite-only workshop, presentation and networking cocktails. I didn't know at the time, that the event was being organized as part of a cross-Canada tour through Achilles Media. YouTube's Brandon Gross and Andres Palmiter lead an informative presentation to help attendees understand what it takes to 'go viral' reach the right audience and ultimately monetize your video content. Brandon is a senior strategist with YouTube's Next Lab, where he works with funded partners as well as identifying new talent to grow on the platform. Andres specializes in audience development at YouTube and helped create the YouTube Creator Playbook, a constantly-updated leading edge resource featured on YouTube. As with most events I attend, I didn't know what I was in for, who I might meet or what I would learn, but I am so happy that I did attend! They had an amazing presentation that outlined in detail the recommendations for creating video that has a chance to grow viral legs and how to become a YouTube partner (superstar), who owns monetized channels and earns a check from YouTube for creating videos that attract viewers. The presentation covered:
The special YouTube guest star was Corey Vidal who I have to admit I hadn't heard of before, but I am so glad I was there to listen and learn! Corey shared with us the story of how he was virtually broke, sleeping on a friend's sofa, making YouTube videos he loved, when he made a smash breakout hit video: Star Wars (John Williams Is The Man) A Cappella Tribute
Creating this video helped Corey gain a lot of attention, and even though he was still broke (YouTube would pay him more than $10,000 to place advertising on his video, but it wasn't processed for a few months), he was invited to attend the 35th Annual People's Choice Awards on CBS when his video was nominated as "Favorite User Generated Video" of 2008. His video faced competition in its category from other viral videos such as Barack Roll, Fred Goes Swimming, Where the Hell is Matt?, and Wassup 2008. Corey attended the red carpet event in Los Angeles on January 7, 2009 and in many ways, it launched his career. Corey now employs dozens of video creating friends who all are paid by YouTube and that has become his full-time job, business and career. Unfortunately for you and me, I had taken some notes on my iPad from the presentation, but they have disappeared since then and I was REALLY struggling with my hardware to transfer the video of Corey Vidal telling his story, until late this week! At 22 minutes long, it crashed my computer mid edit, save, upload probably as many times. But I have to say it was well worth the effort. At least the videos from the presentation are available here. It's a 22 minute long video of Corey telling his story from 2008 to now, so grab a coffee and settle in. If you like this article, video, if it inspires you (like it did me!) or you learn anything new, please let me know in the comments below. Want to become a YouTube partner yourself, and monetize your YouTube channel earning from the videos you create? Click the image below for the link.
Want me to attend your event, document or review your valuable content? Email me at debbie@theSparkleAgency.com or request to join my Wednesday 8pm weekly meetup on Google+ Hangouts on Air by sending me a message at debbie.horovitch@gmail.com |
| Posted: 19 Aug 2012 06:00 AM PDT
One of the issues that people immediately verbalized was the privacy concerns that platforms like Facebook have encountered. Because Google is using Google Plus as a centralized location that can integrate with a user's Gmail account, YouTube account, and other Google services, privacy was top of mind for many people weighing the pros and cons of the new platform. To help stave off these concerns, Google created a way to protest your browsing history while you are logged in to Google Plus. You do get a warning that keeping your browsing history allows for better search – Google can track what kinds of results you like and deliver better, customized results faster. Of course, this also enables Google to deliver more targeted ads to you, which is the real point. But you can also opt to turn your browsing history off in Google so that your searches are kept private. You can see this part of the account options in the screen capture below.
If you're interested in at least maintaining the illusion that Google doesn't know everything about you, this option can seem comforting. However, if you are a business person, there's something else you need to know about this seemingly unimportant little tweak in Google account settings. The Analytics Factor One of the most important reports Google Analytics provides for website owners is what keywords drove traffic to the website. The ramifications of that information can be far-reaching. You can review whether words that you are optimizing as part of your SEO strategy are also showing up as people look for you. You can get clues as to what words you should use more throughout your site and what words you feel are important but that your visitors never use. You can even look through the keywords report to see if a trend in word usage can be tied to an offline tactic like a news release or a print advertisement. Unfortunately, the new Google Plus privacy setting has had a negative impact on Google Analytics and the keyword report. The screen capture below is of my personal blog analytics keyword report.
What does "not provided" mean? It means that 840 people reached that website while logged into their Google account, and it means they have their browsing history protected behind that privacy option. While Google can tell you that people came to your website, therefore, Google cannot tell you what word or words people searched for in order to reach your website. It's worth mentioning that "not provided" represents almost 27% of the keyword traffic I can track. The repercussions for a business website are not hard to draw out from this personal blog example. If 27% of the keywords driving traffic to your site can't be identified (and that number is likely to grow) you are no longer going to have access to what was once a valuable part of the Google Analytics report. What can be done? As of now, we don't have any good fixes for this problem other than to say that the remainder of the keyword information Google Analytics provides could probably be extrapolated to include the "not provided" results. Your brand name(s) will always be among the most commonly used keywords, so you can still bank on that. For now, we recommend keeping an eye on your Analytics reporting. Monitor whether the "not provided" category continues to increase. Keep an eye on your landing page traffic as that can offer clues as to how people are searching for and finding you. Keep your search engine optimization strategy up-to-date and make sure that you show up on the first page of Google as much as possible for words or phrases that are important to you. Even if you can't see that those keywords are driving traffic to your site, you can feel confident they are being seen. Check out your Google Analytics report and tell us what you see. Are you getting a lot of "not provided" results already? We'd like to hear about it! Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenore-m/2599969114/ via Creative Commons |
| Scream And Win A Stylish Makeover With Jabong’s Screamville On Facebook Posted: 19 Aug 2012 05:30 AM PDT Online fashionable clothing and accessories portal, Jabong brings Screamville contest on Facebook where a fan can scream her way to win a chance for a fabulous makeover on "I'm too sexy Get the Look" in NDTV Good Times! In the times of coupons and discount vouchers, I am mighty impressed with Jabong's Screamville campaign where the incentive for a fan is aligned with the objective. The brand does indulge in voucher giveaways as those are necessary but the cool surprise to feature on a TV show, might be a very healthy move for the brand. Besides being on television, the fan also gets a free makeover from style experts! About ScreamvilleScreamville is hosted by a neat app on the Jabong Facebook page. There are tabs for Home, How it works, Gallery, Leaderboard and Invite friends. The home page resembles a website with complete information about the contest. Check out the T&Cs below and watch the accompanying video about the TV program.
Click on 'Scream and win' to get started. Then upload an existing file or use the webcam. Ask for votes from friends and family after your video gets uploaded. You can also participate through the 'How it works' tab. The Gallery hosts videos along with profile photos and number of votes it has received. However, most of the videos did not play. Leaderboard shows you a list of the top videos on the basis of votes. Invite friends, as the name suggests opens up the Facebook Invite feature, where you can invite your friends and ask for votes. How cool is Screamville?Screamville is beautifully aligned with Jabong's objective on Facebook – Let us be your new online addiction. When a brand serves fashion, it must talk fashion in every sense. By giving an opportunity to your 'fashion-conscious' community to be a part of the most popular 'makeover' program on TV, you have hit the bulls eye! Apart from having an awesome idea, the design of the app is clean, appealing and smooth. However, it isn't a 'like' campaign. You can participate without liking the page, which in my opinion is something the brand has skipped. Doesn't it make sense to use this campaign for building your community too? Besides, the campaign has major problems in execution: 1. The basis of the judgement leaves room for doubt: How does one avoid bogus voting? The T&Cs state that 5 fans would be shortlisted based on their scream and the votes they garner. But from the 17 videos in the gallery, most of them do not play and the one that played did not have a 'scream', but had many votes! 2. App has been deployed without being tested fully: When I tried the webcam option to upload my entry, nothing seemed to happen. The webcam should have loaded but it didn't, so how was I supposed to use that option? Also, the videos displayed in the Gallery do not play except for one, which isn't a 'scream' in any sense of the word – it is rather a fan's testimonial to Jabong and should have been removed in the first place. So have you screamed yet? The contest is open till the 16th and also let us know how you liked Screamville. |
It is a known fact that engaging your customer is critical to the success of your social media efforts. It's the human side of the equation, regardless of which social media tool(s) you decide to use. With that in mind, I decided to break down a few simple habits which, when practiced consistently, should increase your level of engagement substantially.
Whitepapers and Playbooks referenced in this blog post are available free to download and share in my 
In July of 2011, Google, the search behemoth, decided to launch a social media platform called Google Plus. This was not the first attempt on Google's part to join the social media fray. Google Wave and Google Buzz had created some interest for a brief while, but they fizzled out just as quickly. Google Plus launched in a different manner. Google handed out special invites to technology elites who also had a lot of pull in the online world. Those people liked what they say, and by the time Google Plus opened to anyone who wanted to start an account, there was already a lot of momentum behind the platform.
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