12 Ways how to keep your blog awesome

Posted on October 15, 2013 by nika

Surfing through SocialTimes, I came across some pieces of advice of one blogger about how to keep your blog interesting and awesome for the readers…Here they are :

1) Start with the end in mind

Picture what you blog will be like in a few years. A particularly interesting tip : purchase all the URLs that you can think of that are related to your brand. You never know when you will want to launch another site, write a book, etc. When creating social media accounts, think about the future. The author of the article,Karpovich, said that when people search for her, they always spell her name wrong. So, she decided to buy several URLs, including both correct and incorrect spellings and abbreviations of her name.

2) Offer something valuable to your readersCreate valuable content. Of course it is easier said that done. Try to find what interests people and what is it that they want to real in your blog. You do not have to post 7 times a week. Just be consistent even if you write less.

3) Get to know your readers, and it’s OK if your blog evolves

Don’t expect your blog to be perfect. It is quite lilely that the more you write, the better you get.

4) Good design is key

Think about what your blog design says about you. Would you like to keep it serious, fun etc?

5) Follow your gut

Write what you feel like writing. There must have been a reason why you decided to start a blog on the first place.

6) Know what your boundaries are, and stick to them

7) Promote, promote, promote

Promote your blog through social media, the local newspaper/website, writing guest posts, and commenting on other blogs. The more people talk about you, the better.

8) It’s all about building relationships

9) Treat your blog like a business

10) Keep learning

11)Have the right tools

12) Things change

In my case, I found 2, 4, 9 and 11 the most useful ones…And what about you guys?

What makes a video go viral?

Posted on October 10, 2013 by nika

“Viral video” is one of nowadays widely used words however not too many people know exactly what it means. Is 1 million views considered viral? 10 million? And most importantly, how do you make your own video viral? These were some factors mentioned in the article . If you want your video to go viral that is what you need : viewership, buzz, parody and longevity.

Viewership

So how many views do you need to be viral? There is no exact figure to tell. Few years ago, viral was million. Now that is definitely not enough. With the growth of Youtube, you might probably need around 10 million views and quite importantly, in a short period of time.

Buzz

Viewership is not the only thing though. There’s got to be a lot of buzz around the video. They have to be talked about almost everywhere: both online and offline. Many of the most popular viral videos started with a simple tweet and the buzz just spread.

Parody

People loves imitation and parodies. So this can be a good old trick to make your video go viral. Just look at these old spice parodies 🙂

Longevity

Finally, even though you video has to go viral within a short period of time, it has to stay in people’s minds for some time. It has to stick with us. If you reach 10 million views but then in 2 weeks time or so, people start forgetting about you, your video cannot be considered viral.When this article was posted in May,2011 this video had 17 million views and was set as an example of a viral video. Now it has 50,396,952 views. Longevity point proven!

McDonalds will hire…a Chief Digital Officer?

Posted on October 6, 2013 by nika

Another proof of our earlier conclusions that almost any company nowadays should embrace ecommerce and take care of its online efforts…and the proof is…McDonalds! As surprising as it might seem!

McDonald’s Corporation has hired former Amazon and Yahoo executive Atif Rafiq as the company’s first chief digital officer. This shows the growing necessity for brands to communicate with their customers across multiple digital channels, even if this brand is McDonalds!

Sharing is caring

Posted on October 6, 2013 by nika

Following another discussion during the class on how important it is to be responsive to your customers via social media, I came across this quite interesting article.

It is a well-known fact that nowadays brands rely heavily on social media and particularly reviews.Those brands that respond to consumer reviews tend to have higher brand loyalty. Interestingly, shoppers who saw a brand respond to a review in which the product owner misused or misunderstood a product were 186% more likely to purchase than those who didn’t’ see the response!!!I Consumers who saw a brand respond to a negative review by offering a product refund, upgrade, or exchange were 92% more likely to purchase than consumers who didn’t see the response!! Seventy-one percent of consumers who saw a brand respond to a review changed their perception of that brand, cites the study. That brings us again to the disaster that United Airlines faced simply because they did not respond and did not admit their mistake at the very beginning.

So what does a brand’s response to a negative online review mean to its customers? According to the research study, 41% of consumers say it makes the brand seem like it really cares about its customers . Of course, brands should also not be too social; otherwise the consumers will think that once they start complaining and yelling that will result in refunds, free products etc

This sharing of ideas and services is also causing so-called collaborative consumption or, The Collaborative Economy. “This is embodied in the peer-to-peer lending economy in which consumers connect via social, mobile, and online to share their possessions, such as a car or an apartment.”

So in the end, it is always up to you what you make of your social media. However, one should never underestimate its power nowadays.

Marketers’ secret weapon

Posted on October 3, 2013 by nika

Following the discussion we had during emarketing class on how important it is to monitor social media and listen to your (potential) customers, this article might shed light on it.

“Social listening” has become incredibly important for marketers. Here are just a few facts and numbers from the article:

Over one billion active users are now on Facebook, and 200 million users are on Twitter. With the substantial amount of information shared on social media, marketers need to consider how to sift through data to find valuable insights.

Twitter is now a key driver for “Social TV.” More and more viewers are tweeting during program viewing to share observations and feelings for shows in real time, presenting new measurement questions and opportunities.

Fake social media offerings, coming in the form of a fake event or user group, are on the rise. According to an August 2013 Symantec Intelligence Report, fake social media offerings now account for 82% of all social media attacks so far this year, up from 56% in 2012.

So how can one distinguish between genuine useful data and fake social media? That is where social data analysts come in…The social data analyst brings in a combination of social and research methodology and can segment the data to eliminate the irrelevant information. A good analyst can point out where imposter information is clouding your judgement.

For example, when a marketer is trying to uncover new consumer audiences by analyzing social networks these people are using, social data analyst can be of great help.”In the end, it all comes down to knowing how to translate data from social media into valuable information. Employing talented social data analysts alongside a marketing team or finding external social data analysts who understand an industry and brand helps to translate specific social conversations into actionable business plans.”

So once again, never underestimate the power of social media and do your best to get the most out of it! However, be careful not to get lost in consumers’web of data 😉 Hiring such an analyst might be a good option to consider 😉

15Five, The employee-manager feedback network, great tool for companies

Posted on October 2, 2013 by nika

As I have already mentioned in my previous post, this summer I worked in a start-up company. Moreover, I always wanted to become an entrepreneur watching all kind of shows like Sharks Tank or Dragons Den, come up with a great idea and start my own company…Hopefully, New Product Development and Creativity courses I am taking right now at UBC will help my dream come true :D. So this article seemed very interesting to me!

Basically, 15Five, a startup backed by the likes of 500 Startups and Yammer’s David Sacks that provides a platform to help the working world communicate better with its managers,lets them give feedback on a regular basis that takes very little time to read, review, and respond. “For a CEO, it’s almost like being able to do one on ones with every employee in the company every week, and get all of the key highlights delivered with zero time and effort”. 15Five is $49 per month per business for the first 10 employees, and then $5 per employee per month, with different bulk-pricing options for larger teams. Report Section with Like and Comment

So what is so great about this tool? I worked in a small company where communication between employees was rather fast. However, since not all of us were located in the same office, that made things complicated sometimes. That’s why I think that this kind of tool can improve communication in the company as well as deliver feedback much faster.

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Monthly Archives: October 2013