25 New Social Articles on Business 2 Community |
- Learn How to Boost Your Company Page from LinkedIn’s Top 12
- Why Brands Should Use Google+
- All Social Media Platforms Are Equal, But Some Social Media Platforms Are More Equal Than Others
- Google+ Adds Communities
- Social Media Customer Engagement Mistakes You MUST Avoid
- Introducing Google+ Communities!
- 5 Ways Social Media has Revolutionised Events
- The Psychology of Cults and Marketing [Infographic]
- Lucky For Some: 13 Tips For Enterprise Social Networking Success In 2013
- How to Improve the SEO Quality of Blog Posts
- Why Your Company Isn’t Growing
- Gillette’s ‘Shave Or Crave’ Movement Reaches Out To Women Bloggers
- 6 Ways to Optimize Your Retail Website for Search Engines
- The Cost of The 12 Days of Christmas – Animated Infographic
- The 9 Circles of Social Media Hell: When it All Goes Horribly Wrong (p2)
- Apocalypse Now: Imagining a Post-Facebook Marketing World
- How to Use Social Media for Sales
- 5 Social Media Lessons from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- 7 Tips for More Facebook Page “Likes” & User Engagement
- What to Add to Your Social Media Strategy In 2013
- WordPress 3.5 Arrives – With Several Useful New Features You Won’t Want To Miss!
- Blog Post Length: The Long and Short of It
- The Disney Princess Academy On Facebook And The Contemporary Princess Tales
- Top 5 Intranet Predictions for 2013
- Google+ Business Pages: the Company Accelerator
| Learn How to Boost Your Company Page from LinkedIn’s Top 12 Posted: 14 Dec 2012 01:48 PM PST
LinkedIn notes in their announcement that, "The list of winners is comprised of member favorites from such categories as Enterprise, Small Business and International." This means that the list is a showcase—an opportunity for businesses to see that, no matter their size or scope, they can have a great LinkedIn company page that strengthens their B2B interactions. Since there is so much variety, it can be hard to get a good picture of the pages’ best practices. But I did a little deciphering, and here are four factors that I see are in play for this list and for company page-building in general.
To me, it's not super important to dive into each of the 12 companies, but by drawing on what got them selected, you can begin to strategize about how to optimize your LinkedIn company page. So, here we go.
1. Number of Followers The variety within the chosen 12 companies shows that LinkedIn understands that a "good" number of followers is always relative. Similarly, you should aim for a realistic goal on LinkedIn also. For instance, HireVue, one of LinkedIn' top 12, has only 632 followers. That pales in comparison to Adobe's 100,000+. The key thing to remember is that HireVue's scale is much different, and its appeal is much more targeted. A great page means building a strong following through some of the other three aspects outlined below.
2. Level of Follower Interaction Speaking of building a strong following, one of the best things that a page can do is to cultivate a dynamic, interactive audience. While HireVue is obviously trying to build interaction by posting interesting content, Tata Consultancy Services is leading the way among the 12 page in terms of on-page commentary and "liking." Creating a community on the company page is vital to utilizing LinkedIn's potential for B2B interactions. 3. Aesthetic Appeal For any of the twelve pages, you can bet that aesthetic appeal was a huge factor—LinkedIn provides a number of controlled opportunities for companies to brand themselves through imagery and design, and there are far too many companies that don't take advantage of it. Every single one of the 12 companies listed by LinkedIn has excellent aesthetic appeal. The one that stuck out to me was Adobe. Rather than filling the main imagery area with a large picture of typical company slogans, Adobe chose to use creative messaging (see below). Their picture, of course is their logo, but they enhanced their page further by buying ad space to position a bright and welcoming call-to-action: "Join the Adobe Team—Learn More." This ad space is present on very few LinkedIn company pages, and I think it's a shrewd (albeit pricy) move to optimize the company's LinkedIn presence.
4. Branding Strategy Going along with aesthetics, there are several different strategies that can be adopted for a company page on LinkedIn. Some pages, such as Aurecon choose a completely professional and almost ad-like image strategy, using color, logo, slogans, and numbers to tell people who they are. Other companies try to present more of a personality and less of a company. HubSpot does this really well. Both within and beyond LinkedIn, HubSpot tends to use large high-quality pictures of their customers, their employees, and their partners to serve as the faces of their company. On the LinkedIn page, you see that HubSpot presents itself as open and ready for conversation. "Say Hello to HubSpot 3" is an excellent message that says B2B is just like P2P. With twelve great companies on the list, it’s likely that there are a whole bunch more lessons to be learned from these folks. They’re all great examples of strategy executed well. To begin formulating a stronger strategy with your LinkedIn activity check out our Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn.
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| Posted: 14 Dec 2012 01:00 PM PST
When we meet with clients and bring up the importance of Google Plus they universally give us that look like the kid who is being forced to eat their vegetables. What is Google Plus?Google+ is a multilingual social network that was launched in June of 2011. Google Plus is the result of a number of failed and successful Social Networks from Google. Wave, Circles and Orkut all contributed to the final G+ product. Unlike other traditional social networks which are accessed through a single website, Plus (as described by Google) is a "social layer" that links and interacts with many of its online properties. This is where the true power of Google Plus Business Page lies. Facts:
Why should I use Google Plus?As an individual, Google+ is an easy-to-use Social Network that integrates with Gmail, Google Search plus Your World, YouTube and other Google products. For businesses the main benefits are:
I used to hate vegetables but as I get older (and smarter?) I have learned that vegetables can be delicious and nutritious (except for Brussels sprouts). As a brand, you need to adopt the strategy that people can see as the equivalent to sometimes forcing a kid to eat their vegetables. Ready to learn more? Check out the class, 'Why you Need Google Plus and How to Use It'. |
| All Social Media Platforms Are Equal, But Some Social Media Platforms Are More Equal Than Others Posted: 14 Dec 2012 11:40 AM PST If there is anything I learned from reading Animal Farm in 9th grade English class, it was how George Orwell exposed the Russian's communist tendencies during the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. In a fictional tale of talking animals that rise up through the ranks and assume power over the farm, the leaders of the pack begin to bear striking resemblances to Russian dictators, and their previous perception of "equality" soon becomes distorted as they now collectively chant the words, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." In referencing this quote, I am not trying to use it to attack totalitarian governments around the globe, but rather to draw attention to its application and meaning in today's world of social media marketing. Do you think all Social Media outlets were created to fill the same need for the public? If they were, why would one person subscribe to multiple social networking sites? Sure, they are all intended as a collective forum for users to contribute their thoughts, ideas, and stories, but they would not all exist, let alone be successful, if they all served the exact same purpose for their loyal subscribers. If you are a business that plans to utilize social media to gain brand exposure, it is imperative that you are aware of this fact before diving into it without any prior strategic thought. I see so many companies creating Facebook pages, Twitter pages, LinkedIn pages, and Google+ pages that are not only similar, but identical to one another. If I could give one piece of advice, one "best practice" to employ in your social media marketing campaign, it would be to refrain from re-posting the same content throughout different social media outlets, all at the same time. Although it is always a great idea to brand yourself similarly across these platforms, remember that not all social media platforms were created equal. Each is a unique networking forum serving the diverse needs of audiences around the globe. In order to reap the benefits that arise from marketing across each of the different platforms, tweak your content so that users have the ability to take something different from each social media site. Never underestimate the value of creating a purpose statement and a different set of tactical strategies for each platform, and you will go far. |
| Posted: 14 Dec 2012 10:41 AM PST
This new feature seems to purposely mimic and improve upon Facebook's "Groups" feature, which recently took a turn for the busted when Facebook merged all of its forgotten Pages into Groups, causing a huge problem for users (and, as a Facebook friend of mine noted, possible carpal tunnel for all of the un-followers). Where Facebook seems to lack a coherent strategy with their Groups, Google+ is hitting the social media world hard with an apparent two-fold strategy in their Communities. The Strategy of CommunityFirst, Google+ requires moderators for their Communities, meaning that focused and organized conversation can occur with the guiding hand of someone appointed as group leader. Communities range in diversity of topic – from cars, to recipes, to groups focused on features of Google+ itself, including Hangouts On Air (an increasingly desirable resource to New Media creators). Secondly, it would appear that Google+ is also creating sponsored Communities. One example is the Sci-Fi group, sponsored by the SyFy Channel and hosted by Craig Engler, a SyFy senior executive. Also part of the community is the beloved geek luminary Casey McKinnon of the now-defunct web series A Comic book Orange and the now-geek-famous marriage proposal involving a custom Atari 2600-style version of Portal. Smaller Groups, Bigger Reward As website redOrbit notes, "The theory here is that if users are connected to smaller groups of people, the entirety of social media becomes more manageable, thereby driving interaction with the social tools." Another component of the move seems to be fostering a higher level of quality in those "smaller groups" of people, which will hopefully in turn provide a higher quality of social media in general. With Google+ proving itself as "the fastest growing network" in social media, as Google calls it, this is probably a good idea. Google+ Surprises, Facebook DisappointsAs mentioned previously in this blog, while Google+ has been impressive in rolling out this new Communities feature, Facebook has been disappointing users with their handling of the Groups within their site. A major recent complaint among users is the folding in of the "Pages" feature within the site, which has flooded users' Groups section with various pages forgotten years ago and, often, best left forgotten. Additionally, the functionality of Facebook's Groups and Fan Pages has been diminished by the changing of the algorithm at work within the Facebook site. Many users of Facebook's Fan Pages have found that their "reach" – the number of users who will see a certain post by a Fan Page – has diminished drastically. While this was originally believed to be a move employed by Facebook to push their "promote posts" feature, which would allow Fan Page managers to push posts to the top of a user's newsfeed in exchange for money, the reality is a likely bit simpler and surprisingly more archaic. The Reach is the ThingAs not-so-work-friendly comics and novel author Warren Ellis pointed out in a recent post from his mailing list, MachineVision, it looks like Facebook now favors all-text posts, pushing down the potential reach of posts that link outside of the Facebook site. Ellis himself used re-purposed tweets from the Twitter social media application, as well as auto-posting Facebook add-on, Buffer, to trick the site into raising the reach of his Fan Page. Ellis also observed, "Anything that's a crosspost is reaching maybe 1000 people. The simple short plaintext posts re-purposed from my Twitter archive are reaching between 2500 and 3500 people." Previously, the interconnectivity of Facebook with other sites was one of the big advantages in social media, as well as being part of the downside of Google+, but with the apparent end to the usefulness of the "like" button now in effect, is there room for the +1 to take over? Unresolved IssuesThere are still problems with the Communities set-up, including the inability to create custom URL endings for said Communities, though this custom URL problem seems native to the entire G+ site. That said, I don't imagine it will take Google too long to include a feature like this in future updates. Another issue will be directly related to how active different community leaders will be within their own communities. As with any other social media resource, without constant maintenance, the dialogue may fall apart within the community. Already, many users are giving in to the urge to post pictures, trailers, and thoughts on various things without fostering a sense of conversation. It will be up to the community leaders, as well as Google itself, to appeal to the higher angels of social media users, encouraging a broader depth and breath to conversation within the platform. What do you think of the new Google+ Communities? |
| Social Media Customer Engagement Mistakes You MUST Avoid Posted: 14 Dec 2012 10:30 AM PST
Social media networks have been pulled in all directions by every business function since its widespread use by consumers and other businesses alike. The marketing guys use it as a channel to push product information and advertise new offers. The design department looks at it as a tool for innovation and an opportunity to capture the knowledge of the masses so that they can design products based on the actual requirements. The recruiters see it as an excellent channel to attract and find new talent for the organization. So we all have our fingers in the social media pie for one or other reason. If we look at the way the social media networks are designed, it is nothing more than a meeting place for like-minded individuals. We have Twitter lists, LinkedIn groups, and Google Circles organized around subjects and products. These networks, then, are ideal for customer engagement above everything else. I say so because our goal in customer engagement is to facilitate connections among customers themselves and between customers and the organization to build loyalty and spread the good word. There is no doubt that the rules of engagement are changing as we move from the traditional Interrupt and Repeat advertising model to online customer engagement. The early adopters who spend nearly a million dollars on social media seem to reap the results of this new medium. According to this research by Bain and Company, customers engaged over social media tend to spend 20% to 40% more with the organization they are engaging with. Small businesses have much tighter budgets and restricted access to resources compared to large organizations. However, as you move from traditional methods of customer engagement to engagement over social web, it is important to avoid these common mistakes. Engagement Mistake #1: Don't have enough time to respondWe are all strapped for time, but if you decide to leverage social media for customer engagement, this is one mistake that you should avoid at all costs. Research by International Data Group shows that 53% of online tech buyers want the product organization to respond to their questions and comments. An efficient social media strategy will factor in this time in your schedule. Answering customers' questions should have higher priority than posting new content. Consider that any one taking the trouble to post a question is a lead, and is already part of your sales funnel. So treat any query online with the same urgency as you would treat them in traditional channels. Engagement Mistake #2: Don't think it is necessary to respondAs the above research shows, more than half the consumers want you to respond. Now that is not a small number and it will be very wrong to assume that it is not necessary. Customer engagement means engaging your customers in a dialogue. To create a community where they can come up with suggestions and voice good and bad opinions. If you fail to respond to your customers' posts and comments, they will soon lose interest in participating in any discussions.Silence is certainly not an option! Social media is not just about pushing content all the time like an electronic ticker board. Engagement Mistake #3: Spread the net far and wideBuild as large a following as you can – spread a wide net and someone will bite, right? Wrong! Customer engagement is all about relationship building. You can announce new products every now and then, but the dialogue should be about the users and their experience with the product. Whenever possible, engage individual customers and answer their questions or help them solve a problem. This way the customers know you are there to help and you earn loyal customers and a product advocate. But engaging customers is easier said than done. Many small businesses find it difficult to answer questions posed by their customers or are not sure how and what to reply to a comment. What your business needsAs we saw in our earlier post about Social Media DIY myths, you are already spending a lot on your social media plan – either in terms of time or money or sweat equity – or even if you have hired a consultant. The ultimate goal of this effort is conversion. At the end of the day, you want more customers and higher revenues. It is imperative that you have engaged and loyal customers through this effort, and not just eyeballs! This is only possible if you have a tight feedback loop and really care about what every current or potential customer thinks about your business. Are you flummoxed with these kind of scenarios? We address these issues almost every day for our clients. Contact us to set up a free consultation and we will be happy to discuss a social media strategy for your business. |
| Introducing Google+ Communities! Posted: 14 Dec 2012 09:45 AM PST A World of Fun With Google+In one albeit not swift move, Google+ single-handedly made Facebook Groups look archaic while again raising the question of why Facebook pages have no access to group, forum or extended discussion tools! Additionally, because public groups are search engine indexed and facilitate a quicker flow of information… Google may have found a way to dive into being a current news channel in much the way only Twitter has successfully achieved so far. Strong words, for a VERY strong new offering from the Google+ team… Introducing Google+ Communities!Learn more at: http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/communities/ I invite Ronnie Bincer, one of my favorite Google+/YouTube hybrid specialists, to introduce you to many of the nuances of this amazing potential! Google+ Community: What You Need To KnowGoogle+ Communities: What We Know At One WeekAre you taking advantage of Google+ Communities yet? |
| 5 Ways Social Media has Revolutionised Events Posted: 14 Dec 2012 09:40 AM PST It used to be that when you hosted an event – whether that be a conference, training seminar, corporate hospitality or meeting – your delegates turned up, sat patiently through the presentations, drank a lot of coffee and left. That was until social media burst onto the scene. Throughout 2012 social media experts and event organisers alike have stopped asking attendees to turn off their phones, instead letting platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube come to the fore of events to make them more dynamic, exciting and relationship building, and they look set to build on these trends throughout 2013. But before I get too ahead of myself, here's a roundup up of how exactly social media managed to conquer yet another sector. 1. Building anticipation is easier than everBefore social media came along promoting events could involve a tiresome process that incorporated expensive television spots, radio ads, printed leaflets and streams of correspondence and emails leading up to the big day. Now even print advertising incorporates at least an element of social media, and many online methods of social promotion are completely free to utilise. Take Twitter hashtags for instance. They've revolutionised the way networking and creating a buzz around an event is managed. Simply by choosing a hashtag like #B2CSeminar and encouraging your followers to use it when they tweet about your event, you've created a community that allows attendees to not only network with one another but with you, voicing questions and excitement about the event before, during and after it occurs. An optional but important extra where Twitter is concerned is Tweetwally. Enabling the user to compile a 'wall' of tweets about a certain subject, it provides a great opportunity for hosts to display a tweet wall of hashtags during their event so that guests can read about what everyone thinks of the day in real time. Facebook event pages are also at the fore of event promotion. Not only do they allow you to keep an eye on the number of people that could be attending but, as with Twitter, answering questions from and striking up conversation with attendees is now easier than ever and doesn't need to be conducted via email. Event pages are also a fantastic way to raise further awareness about your event, as a guest's RSVP will show up in their newsfeed for all of their friends to see. Or there's always social media advertising. Although incurring a small cost, the advanced targeting capabilities of modern social ads ensure that you reach people who could really benefit from your event, are more likely to attend and may even contact your brand for business in the future. 2. Networking can take precedenceRaising awareness about an event has never been easier, especially with the vast networking capabilities that social media channels provide. Not only can attendees connect with each other, but by networking with industry leaders and likeminded professionals your event can reach the eyes and ears of a much wider base of potential attendees. Pique the interest of industry leaders with a selection of related content that establishes you as an authority and someone they'd like to speak to themselves. Once you have them on board and they're actively spreading the word about your event, you'd be surprised by just how many more guests you could attract. The same goes for leveraging bloggers; building up a relationship before inviting them to mention your event in a post, even if it's just a sentence, can help with both brand and event awareness. 3. Attendees' interest no longer has to wanLiving in such a technologically advanced world means that straight forward, run of the mill Powerpoint presentations often fail to hold our attention for prolonged periods of time. The overwhelming urge to check Facebook, text a friend or check our emails is never far from taking over, but social media helps reduce this fiddling and fidgeting by encouraging your event to be a whole lot more dynamic. Posting images, videos and extra information and utilising hashtags throughout the event not only pique interest and engagement, but keep those who couldn't make it updated on what they might otherwise have missed out. Scheduling software such as Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and Sproutsocial even means that you can schedule social media updates to post automatically, going out to coincide with specific points in your talk and removing the added pressure of trying to post in real time. The one advancement that's still relatively overlooked, however, is live streaming. This year a whole plethora of social streaming apps and websites popped up to stop those who can't make an event due to work or home commitments from missing out. Ustream is one of the most popular, incorporating not just a live streaming feature but interactive communities that can aid networking and brand building. If you wanted to stay away from live streaming though, there's always the option of having someone film your event and upload it to YouTube or Vimeo afterwards. 4. Vanilla events can get an added kickWould you rather sit through a plain old talk with a few flashy graphics thrown in for good measure, or one that incorporates an element of fun? It might not be the done thing quite just yet, but including a photo/video booth at an event is a great way to strike up conversation, keep attendees occupied between talks and provide a talking point even once the event's over. Let attendees have their picture taken with both guests and speakers before uploading the images to your social networks and encouraging people to tag themselves in them on Facebook. You could even hold caption contests to pique engagement on your social pages. 5. You can educate the masses long after your event endsYour event doesn't have to stop at its closing time. The power of social media means that from sharing your slides on sites like Slideshare to uploading videos of presentations to YouTube, your event will live on long after your guests have left. The hashtag you selected prior to your event will still be able to create a buzz – as well as give you feedback on your event when attendees use it to tweet about their day – you can utilise your Facebook and Twitter pages to share blog posts about how well the day went and even host a post-event Q&A for those who still have questions they need clearing up. And while we're on the subject of collecting feedback, it's also worth taking time to consider survey apps such as Poll Daddy or Survey Monkey. Getting feedback from event attendees can be an uphill struggle for event managers, with many people only sending their thoughts back if they're either particularly favourable or negative. While there isn't overwhelming evidence to suggest that using these services increases the chance of receiving more feedback, they offer a free, less intrusive and more dynamic way for guests to let you know their thoughts, which should in theory put them at ease. To Summarise It's plain to see that social media builds a fantastic sense of not only anticipation, but trust among those hosting and attending events. When used in conjunction all of these tools can work together to improve the overall success, management, effectiveness and communication of your event, provided they're monitored in the right away of course. They can even help reduce some of the costs involved in traditional event management, such as printing out leaflets, invites and copies of presentations for all guests, costs that can quickly add up at bigger events. Of course, social media isn't any substitute for traditional event management as a whole but, when paired carefully together, it provides a constantly evolving compliment to it. Just remember to bear in mind the wifi and bandwith capabilities of your chosen venue; you don't want to arrive raring to get started on your presentation, only to find that your chosen social media outlets aren't supported! |
| The Psychology of Cults and Marketing [Infographic] Posted: 14 Dec 2012 09:33 AM PST A cult is a group of people whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre – usually refers to a new religious movement. Although “cult members” seem few and far between, there are an estimated 5 to 7 million Americans who have been involved in cults, or cult-like groups. The total number of these groups ranges from 3,000 to 5,000 people. Although, cults are not just restrained to religious groups but can be found within marketing as well. Apple has a group of users that are considered to be “cult” like. There are over 66 million Mac users, over 200 million iTunes accounts, and 1 in 10 cell phone users has an iPhone. Also, 1 in 4 iPad buyers is a new Apple customer. When it comes to marketing communication, cult brands communicate with the market in unusually scarce, deliberate and very targeted marketing PR and promotions. This adds mystique to the brand and rewards on the inside. However, the boundaries within a cult is unlike most modern social phenomena, they have a closed boundary. You’re either in or out – this creates passionate solidarity. So, how exactly do you join a cult? Cult brands are an exclusive club which deliberately sacrifices a larger market for a smaller inner circle that is taken through an elaborate “initiation” process to create committed solidarity. With cults, it’s not so easy getting in – you can’t just “walk” in and join. There is a definite process to joining which converts a person’s whole outlook. In marketing, there is a passionate community. A cult brand’s loyal usership is bound to the brand’s mission. It is a community with its own rituals, vocabulary, and often hierarchy. They become not mere users, but crucial ambassadors for the brand – in effect, unpaid employees. Cults, however, are a parallel social universe with their own rituals, relationship structures and experiences. This binds individuals to the cause. Lastly, each brand in marketing acts like it is “on a mission from God.” With a strong, central ideology and leadership. This gives the brand much larger meaning. The cult has an ideology and programs what each member thinks and does. They have strong central ideology and leadership. This fosters alignment and clarity. To learn more about the psychology of cults and marketing check out the infographic below presented by ChristianDegrees.net.
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| Lucky For Some: 13 Tips For Enterprise Social Networking Success In 2013 Posted: 14 Dec 2012 09:23 AM PST 2013 may be an unlucky year for those with a superstitious nature. But for anyone planning an enterprise social network (ESN) project to get their employees working together more effectively, there’s no reason to leave your chances of success to luck. Follow these 13 tips to ensure social business success in 2013.
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| How to Improve the SEO Quality of Blog Posts Posted: 14 Dec 2012 09:10 AM PST Content is an extremely important component of an online marketing strategy today. People are spending time doing research before purchasing a product or signing up for a service and are looking for information online. The content that you produce is what has the potential to capture their attention and keep them interested in your company or brand. Incorporating a blog into your business website is a great way to share content on a regular basis. It can also provide numerous SEO benefits if you know how to properly optimize each post since each new post adds an additional page to your website that can rank in the search engines. Here are 5 important SEO tips for bloggers: Add keywords Incorporate links Utilize H tags |
| Why Your Company Isn’t Growing Posted: 14 Dec 2012 09:07 AM PST More than one thousand business professionals have completed the confidential, sixty-second self-diagnosis of their corporate struggles at the When Growth Stalls website. While their individual results are, no doubt, instructive, the data in aggregate is also extremely revealing. We prepared this fun infographic to summarize the not-so-enjoyable internal dynamics that struggling companies must find a way to overcome. We encourage you to pass it along. And if it rings a bell in your company, by all means ring ours. We know how to help.
Infographic from McKee Wallwork Cleveland – revitalizing stalled, stuck and stale brands. |
| Gillette’s ‘Shave Or Crave’ Movement Reaches Out To Women Bloggers Posted: 14 Dec 2012 09:01 AM PST Some time back, Actors Malaika Arora Khan and Neha Dhupia had initiated the 'WOES' (Women Oppose Evening Stubble) movement where women in pyjamas marched in protest of men with stubble. The WOES movement tried to establish the fact that women like their men clean shaved in the evenings too. And very recently, the celebrity couple – Malaika and Arbaaz Khan were seen in Gillette's 'Shave or Crave' movement where Malaika had demanded her husband to shave in the evenings too, to make her feel special. The campaign announced the launch of Gillette Fusion Gamer which can be used to shave twice a day. The movement has now stormed on to the blogging world with an enticing contest and fabulous prizes to be won. Gillette has partnered with BlogAdda, an Indian bloggers community, in an urge to women bloggers to join the movement. A blogging contest weaved around an interesting theme – how women would make their men crave so that they would get rid of their evening stubble – has been announced with the grand prize being a return trip for a couple to Paris. In addition, there are 5 iPads to be won and a Rs. 500 voucher for every blog post!
Bloggers have also been encouraged to share about the contest on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #ShaveOrCrave. BlogAdda's Facebook page, which has more than 7k fans, has seen regular updates about the blogging contest. Also, the Twitter page of BlogAdda has been tweeting about the contest on a regular basis. However, the tweets seem to be missing out on the hashtag #ShaveOrCrave given by the brand. Nevertheless, the Shave or Crave movement will sure get a boost with this contest, especially with its assured prizes and a fantastic grand prize. But, how will men respond to having to shave twice a day is anybody's guess! |
| 6 Ways to Optimize Your Retail Website for Search Engines Posted: 14 Dec 2012 09:00 AM PST  Search Engine Optimisation. Search Engine Optimization © by Hobo! One of the main marketing strategies that can help online retailers build a successful Internet business is search engine optimization (SEO), the process of tailoring your website to the algorithms that search engines use to rank websites based on "signals" that the site emits. However, search engine algorithms continue to change with time as the Web evolves (Panda Updates, anyone?), so online retailers need to evolve with the engines. We must make sure we keep up to date with best practices to claim the best possible rankings for relevant keywords. If you want your website to rank well in 2012, here are 6 components of SEO that online retailers should know about when optimizing their e-commerce website to rank well in top search engines:
In addition to optimizing these six areas of your site, analyze your competitors and see what they are doing in terms of on-page optimization, off-page optimization (competitive link analysis) and social media. While you may be doing a lot of the same things they are, it's incredibly important to think outside the box to get a leg up over the competition. Pablo Palatnik is the founder and CEO of ShadesDaddy.com, one of the largest online retailers of sunglasses in the world. The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons. |
| The Cost of The 12 Days of Christmas – Animated Infographic Posted: 14 Dec 2012 08:57 AM PST The 'Twelve Days of Christmas' is a traditional English Christmas carol (originally from France). It charts 12 gifts that a lover gives to the singer over the 'Twelve days of Christmas'. The twelve days of Christmas run from the 25th December to 5th January. There are 364 items mentioned in the carol 12 Drummers Drumming, 11 Pipers Piping, 10 Lords-a-Leaping, 9 Ladies Dancing, 8 Maids-a-Milking, 7 Swans-a-Swimming, 6 Geese-a-Laying, 5 Gold Rings, 4 Colly Birds, 3 French Hens, 2 Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree. Today these 364 items would cost you $25,431.18 The cost of purchasing the 'Twelve Days of Christmas' has varied greatly over the years. This varying cost can act as an informal (and festive) cost of living index. The cost of the 'Twelve Days of Christmas' has been steadily increasing over the past 2 decades.
96.8% may seem like a drastic increase but it's nearly 15% below the official 111% rise in the cost of living between 1986 and 2012
Feel free to check out the animated version of this infographic here: The Cost of The 12 Days of Christmas |
| The 9 Circles of Social Media Hell: When it All Goes Horribly Wrong (p2) Posted: 14 Dec 2012 08:30 AM PST Yesterday we brought you four of the nine things you really, really don't want to happen to your brand in social media. Our list continues with five more nightmares, as we describe and prescribe the circles of social hell. 5. Tweeting from the wrong account It's every Community Manager's worst nightmare – tweeting something from the brand account instead of your personal one. Especially when what you are tweeting is somewhat controversial. But, it inevitably happens. Take these well-known examples:
What to do: There's not really any foolproof advice we can give you to avoid this – basically, always check which account you're using and try to keep personal and corporate accounts separate if you can. And make sure any staff with access to the brand account are properly trained. And if it does happen, chances are most people will be amused, it will be discussed a little, but then most will forget about it. Be sure to delete the tweet and distance the brand from it by explaining via the brand account that it was a mistake – do this quickly before momentum starts to build. Also be sure to apologise, especially if the tweet was offensive. Similar advice applies to the situation where you accidentally click retweet, a la British Airways. 6. A customer complaint goes viral Budget airline Ryanair doesn't seem particularly bothered about customer service, but the light was shone on quite how little they care when a customer complaint posted on Facebook went 'viral', being spread around the internet, receiving hundreds of thousands of 'likes' and being picked up by major news sites. What to do: This is more of a case for prevention rather than cure. Had Ryanair acknowledged the complaint and responded before it had gained thousands of likes, they probably could have avoided all the bad publicity. So, make sure you are listening and responding to your customers, in a timely manner, even when they are being rude. Be polite and take on their feedback, and try and offer them a solution to their problem. 7. Your campaign becomea a laughing stock Many a social media campaign has gone wrong, purely for the fact that it has not been thought through, and because the possible consequences –good and bad – haven't been considered. Our favourite example of this was the recent hashtag promoting Susan Boyle's album launch, #susanalbumparty. We're pretty sure they meant Susan Album Party, but the hashtag can of course be read another way (damn that lack of spaces!) Some have said that this was a deliberate ploy by the PR company to get people talking, which is possible, but seems to have received a more laughing-at-them than laughing-with-them response. What to do: The advice to avoid this? Well, basically, use your brain. Spend time thinking about the timing, content and tone of the campaign. Consider how your fans will respond, but also how those who aren't such fans of the brand might respond. And make sure you read your hashtag properly, to ensure it has no double meanings. 8. Your campaign is considered spam Toyota tried a new campaign on Twitter that was received rather poorly. The car brand created multiple accounts on Twitter and then started spamming automated messages about the 'Camry Effect' to anyone using hashtags or phrases related to the Superbowl. Needless to say, people weren't happy and Toyota were forced to issue an apology. We also frequently see tweets complaining about a certain company that is using promoted tweets to push out gated content – users feel annoyed at seeing 'unwanted' promotional material. What to do: Generally, advice when crafting a campaign on a network like Twitter is to do your research, actually target people who will be interested in your product and not just randomly send messages on mass, and make sure that what you are offering has some value to the people you are contacting. Otherwise, you may just find yourself being assigned to the spam bin and dealing with lots of disgruntled people. 9. People are talking about you behind your back If you are not monitoring conversation online about your brand, there could be lots of bad (and possibly inaccurate) discussion going on about your brand and products that you have no idea about. This could potentially be damaging to your brand, so it's advisable to get monitoring and start acting on what you find. We'll use an example of our own: We, of course, track mentions of our own brand using our tool. Sometimes, we find website owners on forums who are angry or just miffed about our crawlers accessing their site. We always contact them to let them know that they can stop our crawlers should they so wish, therefore combating any negative feeling. What to do: Make sure you are monitoring conversation about your brand, and respond to both positive and negative discussion. Once you become 'human' and not some unknown entity, and are friendly, polite and helpful, anger often dissipates. Correct inaccurate information, but don't be too 'salesy' or defensive. |
| Apocalypse Now: Imagining a Post-Facebook Marketing World Posted: 14 Dec 2012 07:10 AM PST
It was a bit like that moment when a newborn sounds like they've stopped breathing. New parents feel the tension immediately, but unless it's the very first time you've heard it you don't go running straight away. Instead you stare at the baby monitor, or the cot and feel the tension build. Then just as you're about to scream with panic, they cough back to life and start cooing away. For that brief moment, you see the horror of what it might be. You imagine the very worst and then you're taunted by the reality that you're just over cautious. It's fun, in a terrifying, stomach churning kind of way. On Monday we faced the possibility, if only briefly, that Facebook would never be back. That it was suddenly all over. If it had been the end and Facebook really had gone down for good, what would that mean for marketers? More Time on Email Marketing With no Facebook, how would marketers wish all their fans a happy Friday? Or moan about Monday? It's either email or a really longwinded door-to-door campaign. But if customers don't get wished a happy Friday, they might start using a rival brand. Significant Drop in Customer Feedback Without Facebook's famous Like, Comment, Share system, companies will loose one of their key feedback sources. In the post-Facebook world, companies will have to go without knowing which member of One Direction their fans prefer. Pet Costume Sales to Plummet With no Facebook, there will be so many fewer reasons to dress your cat up like an astronaut. If there's nowhere for customers to massage brand egos by liking pictures of a canine Indiana Jones, then why bother? Sales of pet costumes could really suffer. Huge Rise in Physical Sign Sales While pet costume sales drop, their place in the economy could be replaced by sandwich board signage. As marketers continue to push themselves into friendly conversation, they'll have to start wandering into coffee shops draped in advertising. Photos Would Get Less Fun And what of photographs? Without brands asking people to caption them, how will we know which pictures are funny? We would be trapped in a world of comment-free images that just sit there, surrounded by confused people asking 'what do we do with this thing?' Walking Down the Street to Get a Lot More Hazardous In a world where marketers can't ask you to Like them on Facebook, they'll have to do it in person. If Facebook ever goes down, expect to find them on street corners. Groups of two or three just asking every passer by 'do you Like us?' and 'thumbs up for waiting to cross the street?' They'd obviously have to keep a clicker to record the number of Likes they received. That way they can add them to the pile of Likes they keep at their office. Thankfully, Facebook didn't stay down. The baby was just taking a breath, so we can all go back to normal. Although maybe some of us should think about how we engage on Facebook and think, 'if Facebook wasn't here, would this be worthwhile?' While Facebook is still around it is a vital part of marketing strategy. Click Here to Download our white paper on 10 Tips on Monitoring Social Media. |
| How to Use Social Media for Sales Posted: 14 Dec 2012 07:05 AM PST
Your Social Media CampaignWhat makes a good social media campaign? If you have the answer to that question, any marketing agency or business on earth would pay an astronomical price tag to find out. While there's no secret-one-size-fits-all formula, I have one example of an effective campaign to share with you. Check out Social Media Examiner's case study of Crestview Doors, a small business with a mediocre social media presence. Crestview Doors had a Facebook page like most other small businesses: fewer than 1,000 followers, low engagement rates, and wasted dollars in Facebook advertising. Then, the "disaster" came when a Lowe's Facebook contest bestowed a Crestview Door with an "Ugliest Door" award. Crestview took this as an opportunity to turn negative press into awesome exposure. They grew to 4,795 fans, nixed their Facebook budget, and saw a total of 7.1% of all sales coming through Facebook (read the case study to learn more). While this all took place on Facebook, there's nothing inherently unique about Facebook (or any social media platform). Crestview achieved their success by getting personal with their audience. They didn't try to downplay the Lowe's debacle. Instead, they responded to it, laughed at it, and saw their reach soar. Of course, they didn't stop there. Crestview continued to engage with customers and brand advocates by pushing original visual content, interacting with fans, and measuring their results. The CTACrestview Doors shows us how to use social media to get engagement rates up, but we're trying to generate sales – not build elaborate fan pages. Here's where your call-to-action comes in. Your call-to-action copy is what gets visitors to go from your Facebook page to your website. HubSpot shares these five tips for writing CTA copy that are absolutely essential. There are dozens of qualified bloggers out there who can tell you how to write a CTA, but I'm sharing this one from Magdalena Georgieva because her advice is most applicable to social media copy. In a nutshell, here are her Top 5 Tips: 1) Stick with nouns and verbs, especially verbs. 2) Titles and copy with numbers tend to do well. 3) Adverbs, on the other hand, are a turn-off. 4) Aim for 90-150 characters. 5) Use practical language.* * For more advice on practical language, I recommend this blog post from Michael Aagaard. Bringing It HomeSo, you've got an engaging social media campaign and great call-to-action working for you, but what happens when your guest finally clicks through to your website? Where are they landing? It's a rare circumstance, indeed, when your call-to-action directs a visitor to your home page. Remember, you are calling your visitor to action. You want them to do something. Why would you simply point them to your home page? Here are a few of the types of pages you could send your click-through visitor to:
Need I go on? There are hundreds of different things your landing page could encourage a site visitor to do. Just make sure that your intentions are clear. If a visitor clicks through your link to arrive at a generic home page or 'About Us' page, they may poke around and leave, never to return. Assuming your landing page isn't going to make the sale that very moment on the spot, you want to lure your visitor into a drip marketing campaign… The Drip CampaignThe drip campaign is a key part of your content marketing strategy. With a drip campaign, you send automated messages to your leads, slowly providing them with more information and materials until they're ready to become customers. (For more information, I recommend this infographic from Pardot.) Your drip campaign is a great way to bring visitors who aren't quite ready to buy, but who are interested, into your content marketing machine. Not all drip campaigns have to be email-centric either. Your drip campaign could work through a series of blog posts, weekly video series, or some other medium. If you don't have a good grasp of whom you're bringing in through your social media pages, pay for some market research to provide insight. (Or take a DIY approach with Google Analytics.) When you know precisely whom you're targeting, you can choose the appropriate medium for your drip campaign, achieving the maximum results! Still hungry for more content marketing tips and tricks? A lot of the information I just went over, as well as strategies that take place before and after this lesson, can be found in our guide, Content Marketing: From Hello to Sale and Back Again. Check it out! |
| 5 Social Media Lessons from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Posted: 14 Dec 2012 07:00 AM PST  "A DENTIST?!?!" (Photo credit: wootam!) I have long loved the misfit characters in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: Rudolph with his nose, Hermey the elf who wants to be a dentist, the toys with their seemingly wrong attributes and names. They're all misfits in one way or another. They don't quite fit. They're the square pegs that will never, ever fit into a round hole. At first, all those characters try to smooth their rough edges. Rudolph covers his nose. Hermey works in Santa's Workshop. The toys hide on the island. They're told they need to blend. They're told they're too different. They come to believe that their differences mean either they need to run away or they need to be left to rot on an island. Their perspectives begin to shift. They're thrust into circumstances that require their qualities and abilities. They begin to see their differences allow them to contribute to the community and to make that community more vibrant. How does that relate to people and social media? I can think of a few ways:
What other social media lessons do you see in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? |
| 7 Tips for More Facebook Page “Likes” & User Engagement Posted: 14 Dec 2012 06:55 AM PST
Now, due to some creative marketing and fresh content, I'm on the other side watching a Cleveland-based company go from about 200 "Likes" in February 2012 to hitting 2,700 "Likes" this month! So here I share my Facebook knowledge, tips and tricks with you. 7 Tips for Gaining "Likes" & Increasing User Engagement:
As of right now, Facebook will not let you rename your vanity URL once you've customized it, so remember to pick a simple URL—something close enough to your company name and that you can use for the long haul.
Of course, Facebook is always adding new opportunities for Business Pages to engage with users, so stay tuned! Have you had success with any of these seven ideas or another tactic that worked? Share with us!
photo credit: Scott Beale |
| What to Add to Your Social Media Strategy In 2013 Posted: 14 Dec 2012 06:10 AM PST
1) Add Social Share Buttons on Your Site & Blog: I am still noticing business blogs out there that are not utilizing the social share buttons. While it might seem obvious that if someone likes your content they can just share the URL it is always good to keep a reminder just in case. This is just an easy way to compel people to promote your content without even doing anything! Add them, if you don't have them already. 2) Google+ Authorship: The search engine giant, Google is adding a new route towards search engine optimization. Not only do the usual things count like keywords and backlinks, but social signals are being taken into consideration as well. If you keep a blog set it up with your Google+ account to create authorship. Not only will this potentially help your SEO efforts but it will also make your links appear more clickable with the nice little photo that will appear next to your site, making it more likely to increase your web traffic. Don’t forget to optimize your posts though! Another helper will be adding people to circles related to your niche on Google+, and join groups or discussions related to that as well. Share topics and articles that are specific to each group.
5) Twitter For Business: Twitter has yet again made layout changes. While it might be daunting again to work out new adjustments to your page, try to use the new features to your advantage. Look at some big brands and see what they're doing. There can be some pretty neat and innovative ways to bring your new Twitter page together. Also keep track of the Twitter trends! You never know when there's going to be a trending topic that relates to your market. Just be mindful of the trends! It's a very easy way to put yourself on the map within your niche. Do not forget to engage users. It's easy to post a link and maybe have it reach a couple thousand people, but the user engagements are what is valuable. Your consumers are key so speak to them and listen to them! 6) Tips For Pinterest: Localize and optimize your Pinterest boards using standard SEO practices. There are many Pinterest boards that are showing up on search results now, and you could be one of them. This will be incredibly beneficial for new businesses within competitive markets. You must also set-up Pinterest for business if you have not already. 7) What you should already have: Don't forget to enter the ring with a game plan. You need a strategy to market your business successfully via social media. If you aren't already, utilize tools and collect data to monitor your progress. This gives leeway for testing and for adjustments, which will be natural before the plan begins succeeding, especially in the ever changing world of social media. |
| WordPress 3.5 Arrives – With Several Useful New Features You Won’t Want To Miss! Posted: 14 Dec 2012 05:25 AM PST WordPress 3.5 OverviewWordPress 3.5 has arrived and brings with it some really important new features that you won't want to miss! This version takes many features that were subtlety tweaked in 3.4 and brings them into the spotlight for an effect that is really well balanced. Dedicated "Elvin" to famous Jazz Drummer Elvin Jones, version 3.5 has a lot of polish that you would expect from a jazzy community such as WordPress! Memo: As usual, I recommend waiting *exactly* a week to upgrade, so that you hit that sweet spot of best compatibility while still keeping security risks under control. Be sure you do a full backup – which includes BOTH your database and your contents – before you upgrade. Need assistance with any of this, contact me for my services. Introducing WordPress 3.5New Media Manager
Adding media has been streamlined with an all-new experience, making it a breeze to upload files and place them into your posts. Insert multiple images at once with Shift/Ctrl+click. Picturesque GalleriesCreating image galleries is faster with drag and drop reordering, inline caption editing, and simplified controls for layout. The new galleries shortcode will come in handy! Introducing Twenty Twelve Theme
The newest default theme for WordPress is simple, flexible, and elegant. It's also fully mobile responsive and looks great on any device. Naturally, Twenty Twelve supports all the theme features you've come to know and love, but it is also designed to be as great for a website as it is for a blog. Retina Ready
The WordPress dashboard now looks beautiful on high-resolution screens like those found on the iPad, Kindle Fire HD, Nexus 10, and MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Icons and other visual elements are crystal clear and full of detail. Better AccessibilityWordPress supports more usage modes than ever before. Screenreaders, touch devices, and mouseless workflows all have improved ease of use and accessibility. Updates to oEmbed SupportAdd oEmbed suport for SoundCloud.com, SlideShare.net, and Instagram.com You may notice your oEmbed videos may not be at their proper size any more (click the link to learn how to fix that). Plugin Favorites Readily AvailablePlugins favorited on WordPress.org can be viewed per user and directly installed from within the Dashboard. More PolishA number of screens and controls have been refined. For example, a new color picker makes it easier for you to choose that perfect shade of blue. However, in an attempt to simplify things, some settings have been changed. You may also notice that the former Settings -> Privacy has moved into the Settings -> Reading panel. Improved SecurityPlugins incorrectly (insecurely) calling the wpdb::prepare() function will now generate a visible error. While these plugins are no more dangerous today than they were yesterday, they do present a security risk and should not be used until patched as they make the site too easy to hack. Phasing out "Links"Link Manager is hidden for new installs and for any existing installs that have no links (all sites with existing links are left as is). This can be restored with Link Manager Plugin Goodbye HTML tab – Hello "Text" TabThis is the update in the collection that I must admit does not make sense to me. The tab is for HTML and seemed correctly named to me although perhaps intimidating to novices. The only thing this really accomplished, I feel, is to make it congruent with the "Text Widget" which also supports html. Whew! So much awesomeness in one WordPress Package! You can find the original release announcement here and the 3.5 changelog here. Have you upgraded to 3.5 yet? Are you excited to get upgraded? What's your favorite new feature? PS: You can visit the Facebook thread I've had open for several days that is keeping track of successful and unsuccessful upgrades to see how people are doing. The release is only a few days old and at this time MANY plugins remain buggy. I don't recommend upgrading just yet. Wait till next Wednesday or so and your odds of a successful go at it will improve. |
| Blog Post Length: The Long and Short of It Posted: 14 Dec 2012 05:20 AM PST This afternoon I was reading a new blog post from KISSmetrics. Neil Patel and his team (I assume there is a team) delivered a well presented The post from KISSmetrics included "Write Long Posts" as one its top 30 blogging tips. The reasons included: Search engines know better what the post is about because of the length The disappointment of the reader when attracted to a great headline, only to be disappointed by the length of the post Liabilities of a Long Post The time to create the post – I wouldn't be surprised if the KISSmetrics post took 10+ man hours to complete. The writing and research for this type of post would be painstaking for most of us. The links, images, and photographs all have to be placed on the backend. It is a labor intensive effort when 4500+ words are involved. I just couldn't put that Blog Post down - Do you ever find yourself saying this with blog posts that resemble e-books? I'm guessing not so much. Hold on, someone just liked my cat picture on Facebook, I have to go thank them. I know, I'll bookmark and read later. Off to the Bookmark Black Hole – Let's face it, all things being equal, longer posts generally head to that crowded place we call bookmarks. Sadly, most posts will not see the light of day once they land in bookmarkville. We really mean to get back to them, because they are overflowing with value, but it just doesn't happen. Blog Post or "War and Peace" – The internet and the content created resembles a fast food environment. We want it short and sweet. Is it any surprise that Twitter is so popular? Cozying up with a nice 4500 word piece doesn't play for the majority. Photos, quotes, and images get more love than posts. We're visual. Those are the facts. No need for an empirical study, we live it every day online. Efficiency – Are 4-5 800 word posts more valuable to you, the writer, than one 4500 word post? This is something to think about before embarking on mega post. If you're looking for the highest percentage of readers to finish the piece keep it short. Long doesn't mean Good – Don't fall into the trap of thinking that just because your post is long that it's going to be good and well received. The KISSmetrics piece is solid, but there are no guarantees for any writer. A lot more can go wrong with a long post. The KISSmetrics post could have been an e-book. One page for every tip detailed, and you have a 30 page e-book. If you have 4000+ words in you, think about putting together an e-book. The people that request an e-book expect it to be much longer than your typical blog post. While getting you point of view out there is important, keep it tight and think about your readers. Have you ever composed a 4000-5000 word blog post? Have you composed a 1500 word post? What were the results? When is the last time you read a 4000 word post verbatim? I welcome and look forward to your comments on this one. Don't be shy. If you enjoyed this 573 word post, please share. |
| The Disney Princess Academy On Facebook And The Contemporary Princess Tales Posted: 14 Dec 2012 04:20 AM PST We've grown out of princesses and the aura of magical fairy tales. But, Disney – the Walt Disney dream company – just can't seem to do that. The brand has seemingly started to re-align the concept of princesses and their significance in our lives today. Disney India has recently released the 'I Am A Princess' video, featuring every day girls who embody the true meaning of being a 'princess' in today's times. The video that has been uploaded on the Disney India brand channel on YouTube, is a celebration of qualities like being brave, kind, generous and compassionate. Here's the video: As an extension to its plans to celebrate the 'princess' inside every young girl, the brand has launched the Disney Princess Academy on Facebook. The academy is being hosted on a Facebook app called 'She can be a Disney Princess'. One needs to 'like' the page to enter the app. About the Disney Princess AcademyThe Disney Princess Academy app is categorised into two sections: Grooming Tips and Learning from Movies. 'Grooming Tips', as the name suggests, talks about the importance of right grooming for your child. It has table manners, teaching the value of money, hygiene, etc. but what is interesting is that each grooming tip has been carefully matched with a Disney product. For instance, the 'Disney Princess Royal Talking Cash Register' has been displayed alongside the information on how it can teach your child the art of budgeting and the value of money.
The second section 'Learning from movies' takes the message from Disney movies like Cinderella, Snow White and Tangled. Little girls can learn and imbibe attributes like being optimistic just as Cinderella inspite of the tough times in her family. The story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs can teach about being good natured and helpful to others. Tangled, the story of Rapunzel who kept her spirits high despite being trapped in a tower, can teach girls to be brave and adventurous. #ThePrincessInMylife on TwitterApart from Facebook, Disney India is also quite active on Twitter to spread the message of the contemporary Disney princess. Twitteraties are being asked to share who is the princess in their life, embedding the 'I am a Princess' video into the tweet. Besides, tweets are being tagged with the hashtag #ThePrincessInMylife. To add to this, the brand's Twitter page has been tagging influencers with the message too. However, only a few seem to have replied along with tagging the person who is the princess in their life! Is this a survival strategy?In the increasingly realistic world of entertainment in India, reality shows are favoured over shows or movies based on fairy tales or ancient Indian mythologies. Brands are keen to focus their campaigns around reaching out to the younger crowds, rather than sticking to their old formulas. On its part, Disney India is bringing the idea of a contemporary princess who is brave, smart and helpful, in the hope to create a brand reconnect and revival. It is interesting to note that the brand has often been accused of teaching young girls to aspire to be beautiful and wait for a guy to help them out, rather than help themselves! The Disney Princess Academy is smart selling on Facebook. Also, it is a cool idea to bring forth the importance of the Disney princesses, especially when Disney has probably exhausted with making movies out of all of the fairy tales in the world. Apparently, the brand that survived on the power of fairy tales, magic and dreams, is now keen to make a mark in our daily lives with it's 'Who is the princess in your life?' communication strategy. I'm impressed with the concept of the video and hope that this would revive Disney as a brand that resonates with a wider target group of thoughtful parents. However, the idea of connecting with adults on Twitter seems a little odd to me. |
| Top 5 Intranet Predictions for 2013 Posted: 14 Dec 2012 04:00 AM PST Every year the foundation of intranets remain but how we use the intranet evolves. In the past few years focus has revolved around the social intranet and it has taken center stage.
Our prediction is that in 2013 the tables will turn and the business intranet will prevail. But that is just the tip of the iceberg for change in 2013. The business intranet will continue its path to becoming a central tool for productivity, efficiency and simplicity for businesses. Here are a few more intranet predictions for 2013: Back to Basics with Business & Collaboration SoftwareSocial intranets built on wiki structures and modeled after Facebook and Twitter will start to decline in 2013 and eventually be dead in the water. Business and collaboration software will dominate and social tools will be elements that are utilized and centered around business interactions and business workflows; not just social for social sake. The softer side of social; building teams, collaboration, culture will be secondary. The term "social" will evolve and morph into a more business-centric approach to collaboration software and affect how intranets are structured. Pay it Forward IntranetsIntranets and their social tools will be a mechanism to pay-it-forward for employees. Employees want to be recognized for their contributions. They want rewards from their managers and kudos from their colleagues. In 2013, we will see more tools focused on helping companies to instill collaborative cultures, boost team-spirit and share team contributions and success stories. The passionate people behind intranets – our intranet managers – will take on a significant role in driving cultural change through the intranet. Collaborative People and Topical TaggingTopical tagging has integrated itself into all parts of our business and social life. From #hashtags on Twitter to auto-tagging in Google Adwords, we are compartmentalizing or grouping all types of interaction. Tagging is an integral part of the Intranet Connections platform with collaborative people tagging (watch video) that help with resource recognition and finding people with specific skill sets. Topical tagging is important for document management and flexible content organization. In 2013 we will see a renewed focus on tagging and innovative ways in which it can be implemented for bringing staff together, rallying for events, campaigns and further people collaboration. Employees Are Creatures of ComfortThe debate over intranet design is long-standing with the controversary on the intranet having a unique brand vs. a more public-facing design, but regardless of your position it is truly about creating the "experience" that will keep employees coming back for more. How do we do this? We try to deliver on expectations. Actually it is always our goal to deliver more! But ultimately the key is delivering on design and a user interface that is consistent with other devices and the commonality of modern web site design. As creative as some public web sites can be, navigation stays pretty standard with a simple menu to lead you throughout the site. Intranet designs and interfaces should follow suit and minimize on complexity, making way for responsive design and overall user intuitiveness. The Essential Collaborative IntranetIntranets will evolve throughout 2013 by utilizing social tools tailored more for business environments and centered around corporate campaigns and goals. The success for mobile and desktop intranets will be in delivering quick and easy solutions for specific tasks that employees perform on a daily bases. Throughout 2013 we will start to see intranets driven more by Human Resources, Marketing and Communications; less by the IT department. The Essential Collaborative Intranet is one where employees LIVE and PERFORM; an intranet that is needed, not wanted. Have your own predictions for 2013? We would love to hear about them! Please comment directly on this blog post or email me. Stay tuned to our blog to learn more about what Intranet Connections will be releasing in 2013 to help you create the Essential Collaborative Intranet for your company and employees. |
| Google+ Business Pages: the Company Accelerator Posted: 14 Dec 2012 03:40 AM PST
Last week Des Walsh explained why small or medium businesses need a LinkedIn company page in LinkedIn Company Pages: Your Secret Weapon. Maybe your target customer or client isn't on LinkedIn, but could be on Google+. So I asked Danielle Sanford, Client Services Manager of gShift Labs, why it's worth the effort of setting up a Google+ Business Page, and how to make sure it's optimised. (gShift provides SEO software for agencies and marketers.) Liz: What is the advantage of smaller and medium-sized businesses setting up Google+ Business pages? Danielle: Any business, large or small, will benefit from using Google+ since it offers better organic search visibility than Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest. In addition to indexed posts that can actually rank within the Google search engine, Google+ integrates with Google to deliver the game-changing feature Search, Plus Your World; a service that alters your organic search results based on a range of personalization signals. As a small business, your content will be published to your followers and their extended circles, increasing your reach like never before. If you run a brick-and-mortar store, an active Google+ page can amplify your local presence through Google+ Local where your local listing exists within the same profile as your Google+ Business Page. You can use this opportunity to engage your audience, ask for reviews and publicize your company and promotions. Liz: Do smaller companies still need to have personal profiles for the key people, like the owner? Danielle: Companies with a client-facing persona positioned as a thought leader may want to maintain an active personal profile in order to take advantage of Google Authorship. Users are more trusting of 'verified' search results that showcase the author's image, recent blog posts and Google+ profile. Liz: What are the key best practices or must-do elements of a G+ Business Page?
It essentially comes down to using your keywords in your content. Since your public posts can be indexed and are therefore searchable, its important to treat your page and updates like you would any other piece of optimized content – by using your keywords within your profile in the About tab, post content and post tags. Keywords included in the About tab should be hyperlinked back to your website. Liz: How should companies behave on their Google+ Business Page: is it a good platform to make offers, or to ask customers their views? Danielle: Google+ is a great social platform that lends itself to a variety of content, including corporate information, contest announcements, coupon codes, event invitations, etc. Without a character limit, you can also use Google+ to post a blog article on a niche topic that may not necessarily fit on your company blog. Directing your customers to review your business is fairly simple since Google launched Google+ Local. Once your Google+ and Local pages have merged together to form a verified Google+ Local page, simply direct your followers to review your company by visiting the About tab. High quality reviews on your Google+ Local page will improve your SEO and increase your local search performance. Liz: Among all those on G+, how does a smaller or medium size business find the right prospects? Danielle: There is a massive opportunity for your brand to be discovered by new, targeted Google+ users who happen upon your content either through search or social. For Google+ business owners, this means using your relevant keywords within your profile (specifically in your tagline and the About tab) and within your post updates, so that users can find your content when searching for relevant or nearby terms. From a search perspective, your profile and posts can rank within Google for your keyword terms especially by way of Search, Plus Your World and Google+ Local. From a social perspective, hashtagging your content with appropriate keyword terms will propel your content into ongoing conversations and allow you to reach new audiences. Similarly, commenting on relevant topics you've discovered by way of tag searches can also publicize your brand. Liz: Can you give a couple of examples of successful G+ pages? Danielle: Pratt Homes is a local homebuilder in Barrie, Ontario, that recently began using Google+. Their posts feature interesting content, are properly tagged with keywords, and use headlines to draw attention. They also use their posts to drive traffic back to their blog and website. Personally, my favorite Google+ page belongs to Sephora. Although it's not a small business, many small businesses can learn from their social media habits. They frequently update new content, push traffic to their main site, tag users and keywords, link off keywords in their profile and include a variety of calls-to-action. Google+ ResourcesgShift Labs' free Google+ For Business Optimization Guide Guy Kawasaki on Kindle What the Plus! Google+ for the rest of us (affiliate link) Google+ for business from Google How to Set Up a Google+ Page for Your Business by Kristi Hines Questions for Danielle? Ask in the comments. Tips on optimising Google+ Business Pages? Please share! |
If you're a 
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest, Ning…so many Social Networks…so little time. Brands are bombarded with messaging about Social Media and its importance. The bottom line is that Social Media is a confusing issue for most brands, big and small. They are generally overwhelmed with the prospect of not only creating profiles but mainly with how to select and manage the ones most important to their business.
Adding fuel to the fire mentioned in Patrick's 
The world was due to end this week. Don't worry if you didn't notice. It turns out Mayans who lived thousands of years ago didn't know any more than we know now. But for some people, the world did end, for about 15 minutes. On Monday, 
Earlier this week, my fellow CEM staff writer, Ross, shared some great tips about how to use social media for 
We've all been there—stuck at 200, 500 or 1,000 Facebook "Likes" for what seems like months. It begs the question: "How can my Business Page get more ‘Likes?’” I've been there—checking back daily to see if just one more person has given the Page a "Like."
Social media strategies are developing quickly. New social media sites are being created and older ones developed. Social media has turned into a tool for various pursuits. It has engrained itself within marketing efforts and it is almost necessary to continue to develop and test the waters. Below are new things to incorporate into your social media strategy in 2013, if you have not already!
and valuable post with 
What can a Google+ Business Page do for your small or medium-sized company?
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