You may have heard that renowned social media sharing site: Digg ( located at: http://www.digg.com/ ) has been relaunched yesterday with some major upgrades and changes.
No doubt a lot will be written about and spoken about in the days and weeks ahead, however there are a couple of the more significant changes that I thought I'd briefly touch on.
Firstly it should be noted that although in the past Digg rule makers were absolutely against people submitting their own work. So for example a blogger could not submit their own posting. Thank fully this rule has now changed and so anyone can submit anything they choose to. Common sense preveils at last.
As well the other intersting change is that you can now set accounts and other people can follow you in the same way that you might follow someone on Twitter.
Suffice to say if you havent had a look at Digg before or it's been a while between drinks, this may be an opportune time to check out and start leveraging the power of the new look Digg site. Enjoy.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Does Someone You Know Qualify for Free Nationally Accredited Business Training
I have no doubt that one of the outcomes of the recent daily focus and general frenzy around the Federal Election has been that one of the more attractive and useful Government initiatives has gone largely under the radar for a lot of people.
Having personally spoken with many people about it, I was amazed that no one had heard about it prior to our discussion. And so for this reason I am writing down some thoughts in the hope that you may be able to benefit from it.
Essentially there is Government funding available for the nationally accredited, Diploma of Management course which is usually valued at around $3500. However as an incentive for businesses to have their
personnel trained, eligible candidates may receive the training free.
Sadly with the high levels of mortality within the services sector and on the back of the difficult economic times most businesses have experienced over the last couple of years it is not surprising that funding has been made available to raise the bar in terms of key management and leadership skill s, as a key driver of improving business productivity and outcomes.
However the need to up skill people quickly and in a way that fits in effectively with their work commitments is also as we know very important and has been well thought out, so the Diploma of Management has now been streamlined and can now be done over four days where the student does one day a month for four months.
What Does the Diploma Cover?
The Diploma is made of eight key units of which two are delivered over each of the four days.
Specifically they are:
Managing Personal work priorities and Professional Development
Show Leadership in the workplace
Managing an Operational Plan
Facilitating Continuous Improvement in your business
Leading and Managing a Sales Team(s)
Providing Mentoring and coaching within you Business or workplace
Managing Quality Customer Service
Managing Budgets and Financial Plans.
What are the benefits to my business of my staff doing the Diploma of Management?
There are several key benefits for any business that up skills its staff with such a robust course.
To begin with the diploma helps to allow you to carefully plan out your succession planning within one or multiple practices by ensuring that people are appropriately trained with the commensurate level of leadership and management skills required to be effective.
As well, training is a great retention tool for quality, high performing and high potential staff that we want to keep. Almost invariably people have an expectation for more and better training as part of their personal development. This in turn demonstrates to them that they are a valued member of the team that is being developed for bigger and better things down the track.
It should also be noted that if any staff member then wanted to progress to a full business degree, doing this course will mean they only have to do the second and third years of the Bachelors degree.
Finally this type of training will make the individual more effective, a better leader and more strategic in their thinking about the business and where possible opportunities for growth may lay in the future.
Is every state eligible for Diploma of Management funding?
Sadly no. Not every state is eligible for this funding and even within those that are,
there are differences in qualifying criteria and the rewards on offer for businesses.
If you live in Victoria:
The business has a net gain of $2500 for each student who meets the criteria on completion of the Diploma of Management. In every instance they must be an Australian citizen who works full time or part time over 13 hours per week. Beyond this it is further broken down by age?
For people under 25, who have not completed a degree or diploma, the business receives $2500 for each student that completes the course.
For people 25 and over, who have not completed a degree or diploma and have started with the firm within the last weeks, the business receives $2500 for each student that completes the course.
If you live in Queensland, South Australia, the ACT or Tasmania:
The business can get staff trained up in the Diploma of Management for free if they meet the specified criteria as follows:
Regardless of age, the candidate must be an Australian citizen who works full time or part time over 13 hours per week. As well they cannot have completed a degree or diploma. As well they cannot have completed a qualification higher than a Certificate III in the last 7 years that was not completed within 2 years of finishing high school. If these criteria are met, the course will be free.
If you live in New South Wales or Western Australia:
There is no funding available for the Diploma of Management at this time; although this may change in the future as funding is reviewed.
Suffice to say, if you personally have any interest in this type of training for you or your staff please or think this may be of use to someone you know, please as Molly would say "do them a favor" and forward this post on to them. As well anyone should feel free to call me and I’d be pleased to discuss the criteria with you and direct you more precisely based on your needs and situation.
My direct contact number is: 0413 297 617.
I hope this can help you and your business as we all continue to pursue continual improvement and grow.
Having personally spoken with many people about it, I was amazed that no one had heard about it prior to our discussion. And so for this reason I am writing down some thoughts in the hope that you may be able to benefit from it.
Essentially there is Government funding available for the nationally accredited, Diploma of Management course which is usually valued at around $3500. However as an incentive for businesses to have their
personnel trained, eligible candidates may receive the training free.
Sadly with the high levels of mortality within the services sector and on the back of the difficult economic times most businesses have experienced over the last couple of years it is not surprising that funding has been made available to raise the bar in terms of key management and leadership skill s, as a key driver of improving business productivity and outcomes.
However the need to up skill people quickly and in a way that fits in effectively with their work commitments is also as we know very important and has been well thought out, so the Diploma of Management has now been streamlined and can now be done over four days where the student does one day a month for four months.
What Does the Diploma Cover?
The Diploma is made of eight key units of which two are delivered over each of the four days.
Specifically they are:
Managing Personal work priorities and Professional Development
Show Leadership in the workplace
Managing an Operational Plan
Facilitating Continuous Improvement in your business
Leading and Managing a Sales Team(s)
Providing Mentoring and coaching within you Business or workplace
Managing Quality Customer Service
Managing Budgets and Financial Plans.
What are the benefits to my business of my staff doing the Diploma of Management?
There are several key benefits for any business that up skills its staff with such a robust course.
To begin with the diploma helps to allow you to carefully plan out your succession planning within one or multiple practices by ensuring that people are appropriately trained with the commensurate level of leadership and management skills required to be effective.
As well, training is a great retention tool for quality, high performing and high potential staff that we want to keep. Almost invariably people have an expectation for more and better training as part of their personal development. This in turn demonstrates to them that they are a valued member of the team that is being developed for bigger and better things down the track.
It should also be noted that if any staff member then wanted to progress to a full business degree, doing this course will mean they only have to do the second and third years of the Bachelors degree.
Finally this type of training will make the individual more effective, a better leader and more strategic in their thinking about the business and where possible opportunities for growth may lay in the future.
Is every state eligible for Diploma of Management funding?
Sadly no. Not every state is eligible for this funding and even within those that are,
there are differences in qualifying criteria and the rewards on offer for businesses.
If you live in Victoria:
The business has a net gain of $2500 for each student who meets the criteria on completion of the Diploma of Management. In every instance they must be an Australian citizen who works full time or part time over 13 hours per week. Beyond this it is further broken down by age?
For people under 25, who have not completed a degree or diploma, the business receives $2500 for each student that completes the course.
For people 25 and over, who have not completed a degree or diploma and have started with the firm within the last weeks, the business receives $2500 for each student that completes the course.
If you live in Queensland, South Australia, the ACT or Tasmania:
The business can get staff trained up in the Diploma of Management for free if they meet the specified criteria as follows:
Regardless of age, the candidate must be an Australian citizen who works full time or part time over 13 hours per week. As well they cannot have completed a degree or diploma. As well they cannot have completed a qualification higher than a Certificate III in the last 7 years that was not completed within 2 years of finishing high school. If these criteria are met, the course will be free.
If you live in New South Wales or Western Australia:
There is no funding available for the Diploma of Management at this time; although this may change in the future as funding is reviewed.
Suffice to say, if you personally have any interest in this type of training for you or your staff please or think this may be of use to someone you know, please as Molly would say "do them a favor" and forward this post on to them. As well anyone should feel free to call me and I’d be pleased to discuss the criteria with you and direct you more precisely based on your needs and situation.
My direct contact number is: 0413 297 617.
I hope this can help you and your business as we all continue to pursue continual improvement and grow.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Customer Service 2.0
Following up from an earlier article on customer service from the February 2009 issue titled: Are You Being Served, I’m pleased and pleasantly surprised by the tremendous response I have received from people that have read it and how much of a wake up call it has been for them to initiate some action.
For example one business owner told me that he decided on doing some market research to gain an insight into how his customers felt about the level of customer service they were receiving, which to his disappointment revealed some disturbing feedback regarding widespread dissatisfaction with the status quo.
This type of feedback although upsetting, is none the less particularly relevant for any business when you consider the findings of the well known and often quoted landmark TARP study on the effects of customer dissatisfaction through poor customer service.
It confirmed what most people suspected to be true about the ripple down effect of poor customer service and the inevitable reaction of the dissatisfied customers.
The study found that every very dissatisfied customer would tell ten people about their experience who inturn would tell another five people on average. Do the maths. For every complaint you know about, up to one thousand people may be hearing about it.
Problem number 1. The same data showed that for every complaint made, around nineteen are not made. This rings of truth to me because most people are conflict averse and will try to avoid direct conflict unless they have no other option.
Problem number 2. The results of the TARP study were released well before the advent of social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook, where we know that around 85% of people are likely to trust their respective peers that they network with. As little Wednesday Adams says in the Addams Family movie, “be frightened. Be very, very frightened”.
As a result these numbers may quite possibly be conservative and underplay the scope of the potential harmful effects of ongoing, poor customer service will bring.
And as for legal remedies, well consider that for deformation to be present, you need to show that the statement being made is incorrect and that the intention of the person making it was do harm. The only real defence is a proactive offence that completely lives, breathes and delivers quality, consistent customer service every time that people will rave about.
Since the earlier article, along with some dreadful examples I wont talk about, I’m pleased to say I’ve also seen some really first rate customer service. Here are some examples. Can any of the principles be applied to your business or brand?
1. Having recently traded my old Nokia for a new Blackberry Bold I one unwanted side effect. Namely that by deleting my emails on my phone (and not on my laptop), I would clog of the server and stop receiving emails.
I asked by my telephone company and the retail outlet for help but was politely ignored by both. Help cam from my ISP of all places (Spacelink Connect) who generously invited me to their office and fixed the problem free. Of charge while I waited. Key take out: When you can help someone, do so.
2. Like a lot of others this time of year my trees have grown and are causing problems with blocked drains and gutters. Accordingly I called Taylor’s Tree and Stump Removals and booked a time. The day prior they let me know they had some people out and would need to reschedule which I did. Later that week a written apology and $20 Bunnings voucher arrived in the mail.
Key take out: When it’s your fault, take accountability and show your remorse.
3. Finally an example around income protection insurance. Now for people not familiar with this area, the bottom line is that once you have formally applied for IPI with one insurer, there is a duty of disclosure to tell any subsequent insurer you approach about it, which they can then check. I therefore wanted to know if someone with my particular (albeit unremarkable) medical history would have any issues obtaining it without having to go on record formally. I’m pleased to say that Halstead Financial Services were very helpful and conducted a pre-assessment, which meant they asked about the profile generically without having to provide a name.
Key take out: Give your clients and customers greater control.
In each of the three examples above, the firms did not know me and definitely had no idea they would be later cited in an article extolling the virtues of customer service. In each case their responses were customer focused, fair and reasonable. No customer could expect any more and no customer should ever have to put up with anything less.
For example one business owner told me that he decided on doing some market research to gain an insight into how his customers felt about the level of customer service they were receiving, which to his disappointment revealed some disturbing feedback regarding widespread dissatisfaction with the status quo.
This type of feedback although upsetting, is none the less particularly relevant for any business when you consider the findings of the well known and often quoted landmark TARP study on the effects of customer dissatisfaction through poor customer service.
It confirmed what most people suspected to be true about the ripple down effect of poor customer service and the inevitable reaction of the dissatisfied customers.
The study found that every very dissatisfied customer would tell ten people about their experience who inturn would tell another five people on average. Do the maths. For every complaint you know about, up to one thousand people may be hearing about it.
Problem number 1. The same data showed that for every complaint made, around nineteen are not made. This rings of truth to me because most people are conflict averse and will try to avoid direct conflict unless they have no other option.
Problem number 2. The results of the TARP study were released well before the advent of social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook, where we know that around 85% of people are likely to trust their respective peers that they network with. As little Wednesday Adams says in the Addams Family movie, “be frightened. Be very, very frightened”.
As a result these numbers may quite possibly be conservative and underplay the scope of the potential harmful effects of ongoing, poor customer service will bring.
And as for legal remedies, well consider that for deformation to be present, you need to show that the statement being made is incorrect and that the intention of the person making it was do harm. The only real defence is a proactive offence that completely lives, breathes and delivers quality, consistent customer service every time that people will rave about.
Since the earlier article, along with some dreadful examples I wont talk about, I’m pleased to say I’ve also seen some really first rate customer service. Here are some examples. Can any of the principles be applied to your business or brand?
1. Having recently traded my old Nokia for a new Blackberry Bold I one unwanted side effect. Namely that by deleting my emails on my phone (and not on my laptop), I would clog of the server and stop receiving emails.
I asked by my telephone company and the retail outlet for help but was politely ignored by both. Help cam from my ISP of all places (Spacelink Connect) who generously invited me to their office and fixed the problem free. Of charge while I waited. Key take out: When you can help someone, do so.
2. Like a lot of others this time of year my trees have grown and are causing problems with blocked drains and gutters. Accordingly I called Taylor’s Tree and Stump Removals and booked a time. The day prior they let me know they had some people out and would need to reschedule which I did. Later that week a written apology and $20 Bunnings voucher arrived in the mail.
Key take out: When it’s your fault, take accountability and show your remorse.
3. Finally an example around income protection insurance. Now for people not familiar with this area, the bottom line is that once you have formally applied for IPI with one insurer, there is a duty of disclosure to tell any subsequent insurer you approach about it, which they can then check. I therefore wanted to know if someone with my particular (albeit unremarkable) medical history would have any issues obtaining it without having to go on record formally. I’m pleased to say that Halstead Financial Services were very helpful and conducted a pre-assessment, which meant they asked about the profile generically without having to provide a name.
Key take out: Give your clients and customers greater control.
In each of the three examples above, the firms did not know me and definitely had no idea they would be later cited in an article extolling the virtues of customer service. In each case their responses were customer focused, fair and reasonable. No customer could expect any more and no customer should ever have to put up with anything less.
Friday, August 6, 2010
14 Attention Grabbing Tactics for Launching a New Business Blog
Are you doing enough to ensure that your blog is up to scrtach. You have some small amount of competition of course with over 12o million other blogs already out there competing for people's time and energy. So what are some things you should be routinely trying to do to be certain yours is a blog others will read, follow and possibly even share with others. Here are some thoghts by Denise Wakeman from August 5, 2010 you might find useful. Enjoy.
So you’ve created a blog for your business. Now what? You’re probably asking yourself, “How do people find out about my new blog?”
The simple answer is: You have to promote your blog and let people know it exists.
Optimizing your blog for search engines is critical, but just like any website, product, book or service you create, you have to promote the launch of a new blog.
There are a lot of ways to promote a new blog and I’m sharing 14 tactics to help you get the word out about your new baby. Heck, you could use these tactics for an established blog as well if you want a boost in traffic and subscribers.
But before you tell the world your blog exists, make sure you have completed these essential tasks first:
Does your masthead (banner) make it easy for new readers to know what your blog is about and if it’s right for them (target audience)?
Is your name as author/publisher easy to find?
Do you have an About/Contact page?
Do you have subscription options (RSS and email)?
Do you have a call to action to get more info (join your mailing list, get a free report, etc.)?
Do you have social sharing buttons on your posts?
Do you have links to your social networking profiles?
Do you have comments enabled?
Do you have 7 to 10 posts published?
Point #9 is important because you don’t want to send people to a blog with only one or two posts. New readers will want to get a sense of your style, content and expertise before they commit to subscribing. I strongly recommend having a minimum of seven posts published before you start promoting your new blog.
Implement the Obvious First
Before I get to the 14 creative ways to promote your blog, implement the obvious and see #12, 13 and 14 in this article.
Syndicate your blog content to your Twitter stream.
Link your blog to your Facebook business page.
Link your blog to your LinkedIn profile.
Submit your blog to the appropriate blog directories.
Write and post a media release.
Send an email announcement to your list.
The Not-So-Obvious
When I was thinking about this topic, I decided to “tap the wisdom of the crowd” to get the best of the best ideas. I posted the following question on LinkedIn Answers:
Question posted on LinkedIn Answers.
There were 27 responses in 7 days. There were many similar recommendations and a few that stated the obvious (like using social media and writing engaging content). I’ve culled through them and offer you a selection of tips I feel are the most effective for launching your new business blog.
#1: Host a Live Streaming Video Event
When Mike Stelzner launched Social Media Examiner, he created buzz and a lot of traffic by hosting four back-to-back video chats with the initial contributors (me, Mari Smith, Jason Falls and Chris Garrett).
#2: Use Offline Marketing
Boris Mahovac recommends going offline and sending postcards to your existing clients, asking them to promote your new blog to their contacts. Using a unique URL will allow you to track new visitors/signups, and this can be a way for you to reward the one client who sends the most traffic to your new blog. You need to give your clients an incentive to promote your new blog—say a chance to win an iPad, or something more expensive, depending on the business (model).
#3: Create a Video to Promote Your Blog
Apryl Parcher suggested using Animoto.com to create a video about your blog. Post it on your YouTube channel and Facebook page. Send the video link to your email list as well. Several others also mentioned creating videos and with the popularity of video, I encourage you to include it in your launch plan.
#4: Use Remote Blogging Sites to Extend the Reach of Your Content
Brandon Uttley uses Posterous.com to post excerpts from blog posts with links back to his main blog and other social media sites. Remote blogging sites often have high traffic and this puts your content in front of potential new readers.
An excerpt of the original blog post is published on a Posterous blog with a link back to the original post.
#5: Host a Live (In-person) Event for Your Announcement
As Barry Hurd says, “I think a lot of people forget the social part of the media. Launching a new blog is really about reaching through your relationships.” Host a private reception, dinner or cocktail party with industry leaders in your niche. Or, go big and host a meetup or tweetup and cross-promote with a charity. Live events are an opportunity to connect face-to-face, get to know the needs of your target audience and build a lot of goodwill.
#6: Repurpose Your Content
I could relate to Kathi Browne’s suggestion to submit blog posts on article sites like EzineArticles.com. There’s more on repurposing your blog posts here.
#7: Feature Experts
It comes as no surprise that Liz Strauss , a master at building community, shares a tip about featuring other people on your blog. Start an interview series that features experts who folks want to know better. Invite a wide range of people to participate in short interviews that ask unusual and insightful questions. Include the expert’s name in the blog title. Additionally, make heroes of other people who are just starting out. Point out their work as well.
#8: Comment on Other Blogs in Your Niche
This suggestion was offered by quite a few people, and with good reason. As Janet Fouts says, “Commenting on other blogs with useful (not promotional) information and insight can pique the interest of other readers and also build those treasured backlinks.”
#9: Do Some Guest Posting
This idea came up many times as well. There are two sides to this: inviting other bloggers to guest post on your blog and offering to guest post on complementary blogs. Both ways can generate visibility for your blog. The value is in creating connections with colleagues and creating win-win-win for you, other bloggers and your readers. The links and buzz will support your blog launch.
#10: Host a Webinar
Along the lines of a live video chat or an offline event, create a webinar or teleseminar to introduce your blog. Rather than simply announcing your blog, make it a learning experience by teaching or demonstrating an aspect of your expertise. Remind your audience they can continue getting the same great content by subscribing to and reading your blog.
#11: Run a Contest
Dawn Pigoni offered this excellent idea: Run a contest based on the content of the blog. Have an “answer hunt” where the answers to win the prize(s) are found within the blog posts. That will get people reading the quality, content-rich posts while attempting to win a prize. Then use Twitter to post questions and the winner(s).
#12: Host an Online Radio Show
BlogTalkRadio is a popular and free site that provides the tools and foundation for creating your own show. Because of high traffic and the syndication options on Blog Talk Radio, a show focused on your niche could generate an ongoing stream of visitors to your blog. If hosting isn’t for you, most radio hosts are always looking for guests to fill their time slots. No doubt you can find many shows that are in alignment with your blog’s niche.
#13: Create a Related Special Report
Brian Clark of Copyblogger.com shared his secret: Release a valuable piece of “extended content” such as a PDF report or video tutorial (without an opt-in) fairly early after the blog launches. While the content itself is valuable, it also acts as a “sales letter” for subscribing to the blog, due to the promise to keep expanding on the themes presented in the extended content in more detail. This allows you to create a “content event” early. And it’s a natural way to attract long-term subscribers if well done. Just be sure to have the opt-in call to action at the close of the extended content, because that’s the action you want people to take.
#14: Advertise Your Site
Clay Franklin recommends using Craigslist, eBay classifieds and Facebook ads to boost awareness of your new blog. This will depend on your budget. If you do want to spend some advertising dollars, you can test a Google Adwords campaign and see what kind of results you get.
If you were to implement just three or four of these ideas, you would see a boost in visibility, traffic and blog subscribers. Pick the tactics that fit with your business model, style and intended audience and you’re sure to experience success.
Now it’s your turn. What creative tactics have you used or observed to launch a new blog? Share your ideas in the comments box below.
So you’ve created a blog for your business. Now what? You’re probably asking yourself, “How do people find out about my new blog?”
The simple answer is: You have to promote your blog and let people know it exists.
Optimizing your blog for search engines is critical, but just like any website, product, book or service you create, you have to promote the launch of a new blog.
There are a lot of ways to promote a new blog and I’m sharing 14 tactics to help you get the word out about your new baby. Heck, you could use these tactics for an established blog as well if you want a boost in traffic and subscribers.
But before you tell the world your blog exists, make sure you have completed these essential tasks first:
Does your masthead (banner) make it easy for new readers to know what your blog is about and if it’s right for them (target audience)?
Is your name as author/publisher easy to find?
Do you have an About/Contact page?
Do you have subscription options (RSS and email)?
Do you have a call to action to get more info (join your mailing list, get a free report, etc.)?
Do you have social sharing buttons on your posts?
Do you have links to your social networking profiles?
Do you have comments enabled?
Do you have 7 to 10 posts published?
Point #9 is important because you don’t want to send people to a blog with only one or two posts. New readers will want to get a sense of your style, content and expertise before they commit to subscribing. I strongly recommend having a minimum of seven posts published before you start promoting your new blog.
Implement the Obvious First
Before I get to the 14 creative ways to promote your blog, implement the obvious and see #12, 13 and 14 in this article.
Syndicate your blog content to your Twitter stream.
Link your blog to your Facebook business page.
Link your blog to your LinkedIn profile.
Submit your blog to the appropriate blog directories.
Write and post a media release.
Send an email announcement to your list.
The Not-So-Obvious
When I was thinking about this topic, I decided to “tap the wisdom of the crowd” to get the best of the best ideas. I posted the following question on LinkedIn Answers:
Question posted on LinkedIn Answers.
There were 27 responses in 7 days. There were many similar recommendations and a few that stated the obvious (like using social media and writing engaging content). I’ve culled through them and offer you a selection of tips I feel are the most effective for launching your new business blog.
#1: Host a Live Streaming Video Event
When Mike Stelzner launched Social Media Examiner, he created buzz and a lot of traffic by hosting four back-to-back video chats with the initial contributors (me, Mari Smith, Jason Falls and Chris Garrett).
#2: Use Offline Marketing
Boris Mahovac recommends going offline and sending postcards to your existing clients, asking them to promote your new blog to their contacts. Using a unique URL will allow you to track new visitors/signups, and this can be a way for you to reward the one client who sends the most traffic to your new blog. You need to give your clients an incentive to promote your new blog—say a chance to win an iPad, or something more expensive, depending on the business (model).
#3: Create a Video to Promote Your Blog
Apryl Parcher suggested using Animoto.com to create a video about your blog. Post it on your YouTube channel and Facebook page. Send the video link to your email list as well. Several others also mentioned creating videos and with the popularity of video, I encourage you to include it in your launch plan.
#4: Use Remote Blogging Sites to Extend the Reach of Your Content
Brandon Uttley uses Posterous.com to post excerpts from blog posts with links back to his main blog and other social media sites. Remote blogging sites often have high traffic and this puts your content in front of potential new readers.
An excerpt of the original blog post is published on a Posterous blog with a link back to the original post.
#5: Host a Live (In-person) Event for Your Announcement
As Barry Hurd says, “I think a lot of people forget the social part of the media. Launching a new blog is really about reaching through your relationships.” Host a private reception, dinner or cocktail party with industry leaders in your niche. Or, go big and host a meetup or tweetup and cross-promote with a charity. Live events are an opportunity to connect face-to-face, get to know the needs of your target audience and build a lot of goodwill.
#6: Repurpose Your Content
I could relate to Kathi Browne’s suggestion to submit blog posts on article sites like EzineArticles.com. There’s more on repurposing your blog posts here.
#7: Feature Experts
It comes as no surprise that Liz Strauss , a master at building community, shares a tip about featuring other people on your blog. Start an interview series that features experts who folks want to know better. Invite a wide range of people to participate in short interviews that ask unusual and insightful questions. Include the expert’s name in the blog title. Additionally, make heroes of other people who are just starting out. Point out their work as well.
#8: Comment on Other Blogs in Your Niche
This suggestion was offered by quite a few people, and with good reason. As Janet Fouts says, “Commenting on other blogs with useful (not promotional) information and insight can pique the interest of other readers and also build those treasured backlinks.”
#9: Do Some Guest Posting
This idea came up many times as well. There are two sides to this: inviting other bloggers to guest post on your blog and offering to guest post on complementary blogs. Both ways can generate visibility for your blog. The value is in creating connections with colleagues and creating win-win-win for you, other bloggers and your readers. The links and buzz will support your blog launch.
#10: Host a Webinar
Along the lines of a live video chat or an offline event, create a webinar or teleseminar to introduce your blog. Rather than simply announcing your blog, make it a learning experience by teaching or demonstrating an aspect of your expertise. Remind your audience they can continue getting the same great content by subscribing to and reading your blog.
#11: Run a Contest
Dawn Pigoni offered this excellent idea: Run a contest based on the content of the blog. Have an “answer hunt” where the answers to win the prize(s) are found within the blog posts. That will get people reading the quality, content-rich posts while attempting to win a prize. Then use Twitter to post questions and the winner(s).
#12: Host an Online Radio Show
BlogTalkRadio is a popular and free site that provides the tools and foundation for creating your own show. Because of high traffic and the syndication options on Blog Talk Radio, a show focused on your niche could generate an ongoing stream of visitors to your blog. If hosting isn’t for you, most radio hosts are always looking for guests to fill their time slots. No doubt you can find many shows that are in alignment with your blog’s niche.
#13: Create a Related Special Report
Brian Clark of Copyblogger.com shared his secret: Release a valuable piece of “extended content” such as a PDF report or video tutorial (without an opt-in) fairly early after the blog launches. While the content itself is valuable, it also acts as a “sales letter” for subscribing to the blog, due to the promise to keep expanding on the themes presented in the extended content in more detail. This allows you to create a “content event” early. And it’s a natural way to attract long-term subscribers if well done. Just be sure to have the opt-in call to action at the close of the extended content, because that’s the action you want people to take.
#14: Advertise Your Site
Clay Franklin recommends using Craigslist, eBay classifieds and Facebook ads to boost awareness of your new blog. This will depend on your budget. If you do want to spend some advertising dollars, you can test a Google Adwords campaign and see what kind of results you get.
If you were to implement just three or four of these ideas, you would see a boost in visibility, traffic and blog subscribers. Pick the tactics that fit with your business model, style and intended audience and you’re sure to experience success.
Now it’s your turn. What creative tactics have you used or observed to launch a new blog? Share your ideas in the comments box below.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
7 Social Media Marketing Lessons Learned from Hypnosis. By Dan Zarrella
Another great piece by the Social Media Scientist. Over to you Dan.
For over a hundred years people from charlatans to respected academics have been studying the power and uses of hypnosis. Two forms have emerged recently as the most well-researched and effective: clinical hypno-therapy and stage hypnosis, in fact there are many therapists who dabble in entertaining stage hypnosis. As social media marketers, there are many lessons we can learn from the field of trance and suggestion, below are 7 of my favorite.
1. Suggestibility
Suggestibility is a measure of how inclined a person is to act on the suggestions of other people. Research has shown that there is a correlation between how suggestible a person is and how hypnotiseable a person is.
Stage hypnotists spend a lot of effort on identifying the most suggestible people in their audience to bring up on stage. They’ve developed a wide range of quick tests to highlight those people who will demonstrate their abilities to the rest of the crowd, making them more suggestible as well. Clinical practitioners also have tests and scales of suggestibility and hypnotizeability.
In social media it is somewhat difficult to administer traditional stage or clinical tests, but once we understand that people who comply with initial, small requests are likely to engage in later, larger requests we can begin to identify the most suggestible of our audience. Simply asking people to joining mailing lists, ReTweet links, or supply comments are rudimentary forms of suggestibility tests.
2. Social Requests
Experiments conducted on highly suggestible people in 1998 showed that subjects who were given non-hypnotic social requests to send a series of postcards to the experimenters did so more often than those who were given hypnotic suggestions. While the social request subjects said their actions felt more “planned and effort-ful” and less “compulsive,” this seems to indicate that simple social requests can be just as powerful with subjective people as full-on hypnosis.
As marketers we should remember this research when we are constructing our calls-to-action. We can achieve the same levels of compliance as professional hypnotists with well formed social requests, especially when accompanied by the other lessons in this post.
3. Expectancy Manipulation
Clinical studies, including ones done by University of Connecticut researcher Irving Kirsch have shown that by creating the expectations of suggestibility, subjects can be made more suggestible than they’d otherwise be. Experiments were done in which subjects were given baseline suggestibility tests, then shown “evidence” that they were highly suggestible. When the subjects retook the tests, they registered as far more suggestible than they were before. Expectancy manipulations like this have also been show to work for pain, blood pressure and nausea reduction as well as increasing the effect of placebo medications.
One of the most common motivations for sharing content on social media is that people want to increase their personal reputations. As marketers we can take advantage of this, by increasing the expectation that sharing our content will do wonders for our audience’s reputation. One example would be retelling stories of how other people who’ve shared your content got more followers or Facebook friends.
4. Authority
Stage hypnotists work hard to establish an image of authority or “prestige and faith.” They rely on their audience’s belief (and expectations) that they are gifted hypnotists who always get results. They are also very quick to eliminate non-responsive subjects who would erode their effective image.
Memetics researcher Francis Heylighen has pointed out that for an idea to spread it has to come from a source that is authoritative in some regard, so did WWII rumor-weapons experts.
In social media we should work to always appear authoritative, without saying so much our self often. Subtle indications of social proof like high subscriber or follower counts can help.
5. Psychological Barriers
Stage and clinical hypnotists engage typically have a speech they give to their subjects prior to hypnosis called a “preinduction talk.” The idea of the talk is to establish rapport, remove the fears, about hypnosis, and establish favorable expectations.
Developing rapport with your audience as a marketer is generally a long-term strategy, but the more you can align your own interests and motivations with your audience the better. To make your audience identify with you, you need to make it clear that you understand their problems and desires. It is also useful to ingratiate yourself with your audience by remaining humble and frequently commenting on their intelligence. Remarks like “you guys are smarter than I am, so I need your help,” satisfy both the identification and the ingratiation demands.
Our readers understand that every piece of content they share in social media will be viewable by their friends. If you’re asking them share something they might be embarrassed by, do your best to anticipate their social fears and assuage them before you ask them to share.
6. Direct Suggestions
In their 1956 book on hypnosis, Charles Edward Cooke and A.E. Van Vogt discuss how to structure therapeutic suggestions. They give three “rules” that can be applied to social media calls-to-action: “Be Positive,” “Be Specific,” and “Be Detailed.”
In explaining how to alleviate phobias through hypnosis, they explain that by saying “you are not afraid” you are creating a large mental image of “fear” with a small label “not.” Negation requires higher level mental processing to understand, so avoid calls-to-action like “don’t hesitate to ReTweet,” state everything in the positive form.
They also direct the hypnosis operator to be as specific and detailed as possible. For social media calls-to-action this means that we should say things like “ReTweet this article by clicking on this link.” Avoid vague calls to “share” content, describe the action you want your reader to take as specifically as possible.
7. Repetition
Most hypnotic subjects reach deeper levels of trance each time they are inducted by a practitioner and the suggestions they are given likewise increase in power through repetition.
As marketers, not only can we enhance the power of our calls-to-action by repeating them more than once in a single piece of content, but we can also build on their effectiveness across touches with our audience.
What are your thoughts.
Please let us know your comments.
Regards,
Daniele.
For over a hundred years people from charlatans to respected academics have been studying the power and uses of hypnosis. Two forms have emerged recently as the most well-researched and effective: clinical hypno-therapy and stage hypnosis, in fact there are many therapists who dabble in entertaining stage hypnosis. As social media marketers, there are many lessons we can learn from the field of trance and suggestion, below are 7 of my favorite.
1. Suggestibility
Suggestibility is a measure of how inclined a person is to act on the suggestions of other people. Research has shown that there is a correlation between how suggestible a person is and how hypnotiseable a person is.
Stage hypnotists spend a lot of effort on identifying the most suggestible people in their audience to bring up on stage. They’ve developed a wide range of quick tests to highlight those people who will demonstrate their abilities to the rest of the crowd, making them more suggestible as well. Clinical practitioners also have tests and scales of suggestibility and hypnotizeability.
In social media it is somewhat difficult to administer traditional stage or clinical tests, but once we understand that people who comply with initial, small requests are likely to engage in later, larger requests we can begin to identify the most suggestible of our audience. Simply asking people to joining mailing lists, ReTweet links, or supply comments are rudimentary forms of suggestibility tests.
2. Social Requests
Experiments conducted on highly suggestible people in 1998 showed that subjects who were given non-hypnotic social requests to send a series of postcards to the experimenters did so more often than those who were given hypnotic suggestions. While the social request subjects said their actions felt more “planned and effort-ful” and less “compulsive,” this seems to indicate that simple social requests can be just as powerful with subjective people as full-on hypnosis.
As marketers we should remember this research when we are constructing our calls-to-action. We can achieve the same levels of compliance as professional hypnotists with well formed social requests, especially when accompanied by the other lessons in this post.
3. Expectancy Manipulation
Clinical studies, including ones done by University of Connecticut researcher Irving Kirsch have shown that by creating the expectations of suggestibility, subjects can be made more suggestible than they’d otherwise be. Experiments were done in which subjects were given baseline suggestibility tests, then shown “evidence” that they were highly suggestible. When the subjects retook the tests, they registered as far more suggestible than they were before. Expectancy manipulations like this have also been show to work for pain, blood pressure and nausea reduction as well as increasing the effect of placebo medications.
One of the most common motivations for sharing content on social media is that people want to increase their personal reputations. As marketers we can take advantage of this, by increasing the expectation that sharing our content will do wonders for our audience’s reputation. One example would be retelling stories of how other people who’ve shared your content got more followers or Facebook friends.
4. Authority
Stage hypnotists work hard to establish an image of authority or “prestige and faith.” They rely on their audience’s belief (and expectations) that they are gifted hypnotists who always get results. They are also very quick to eliminate non-responsive subjects who would erode their effective image.
Memetics researcher Francis Heylighen has pointed out that for an idea to spread it has to come from a source that is authoritative in some regard, so did WWII rumor-weapons experts.
In social media we should work to always appear authoritative, without saying so much our self often. Subtle indications of social proof like high subscriber or follower counts can help.
5. Psychological Barriers
Stage and clinical hypnotists engage typically have a speech they give to their subjects prior to hypnosis called a “preinduction talk.” The idea of the talk is to establish rapport, remove the fears, about hypnosis, and establish favorable expectations.
Developing rapport with your audience as a marketer is generally a long-term strategy, but the more you can align your own interests and motivations with your audience the better. To make your audience identify with you, you need to make it clear that you understand their problems and desires. It is also useful to ingratiate yourself with your audience by remaining humble and frequently commenting on their intelligence. Remarks like “you guys are smarter than I am, so I need your help,” satisfy both the identification and the ingratiation demands.
Our readers understand that every piece of content they share in social media will be viewable by their friends. If you’re asking them share something they might be embarrassed by, do your best to anticipate their social fears and assuage them before you ask them to share.
6. Direct Suggestions
In their 1956 book on hypnosis, Charles Edward Cooke and A.E. Van Vogt discuss how to structure therapeutic suggestions. They give three “rules” that can be applied to social media calls-to-action: “Be Positive,” “Be Specific,” and “Be Detailed.”
In explaining how to alleviate phobias through hypnosis, they explain that by saying “you are not afraid” you are creating a large mental image of “fear” with a small label “not.” Negation requires higher level mental processing to understand, so avoid calls-to-action like “don’t hesitate to ReTweet,” state everything in the positive form.
They also direct the hypnosis operator to be as specific and detailed as possible. For social media calls-to-action this means that we should say things like “ReTweet this article by clicking on this link.” Avoid vague calls to “share” content, describe the action you want your reader to take as specifically as possible.
7. Repetition
Most hypnotic subjects reach deeper levels of trance each time they are inducted by a practitioner and the suggestions they are given likewise increase in power through repetition.
As marketers, not only can we enhance the power of our calls-to-action by repeating them more than once in a single piece of content, but we can also build on their effectiveness across touches with our audience.
What are your thoughts.
Please let us know your comments.
Regards,
Daniele.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
12 Ways to Market Your Event with Social Media
There doesn't seem to be much written about putting events together through social media marketing platforms. But here's a nice piece that I saw recently from Rich Brooks that covers off all the main platforms such as Linked In Twitter and Facebook. Enjoy.
Whether you’re planning a real-world event (like a conference, tweetup or political gathering) or a virtual event (like a webinar or teleclass), social media can be an inexpensive, cost-effective way to build buzz, fill seats, and turn a one-off gathering into a recurring event.
The trick is to know which social media tools to use and when to use them. This article contains 12 useful social media tips designed to help your events shine.
Before Your Event
The first step is to make people aware of your event, to mark it on their calendar, and to
register. Here’s the game plan:
#1: Market Your Event through Twitter
There are many ways in which you can use Twitter to raise awareness. Many conferences and events have their own hashtags, such as #smss10 or #metweetup. There’s no magic to creating one—just start using a hashtags in all your related tweets and encourage other people to do the same when talking about your event.
To encourage people to tweet out your hashtag and spread the word, sweeten the deal with a free pass, door prize or other giveaway for one lucky hashtag-er.
If your event is large enough, give it its own Twitter account such as @Blogworld or @socialmediaFTW, which serves as a customer service “hotline” and adds credibility to the event.
Mix up your event tweets by varying the message.
Mix up your event tweets by varying the message.
Constantly tweeting that your event is coming will annoy some of your followers, so mix it up: use tweets to announce new sponsors, speakers, an open bar, or to ask questions that might help shape the event.
Finally, ask for people to share your event with the simple phrase, “Please RT!” You’ll be amazed at the results. Just don’t overdo it; you don’t want to look desperate, do you?
Be sure to check out Cindy King’s post How to Use Twitter Events to Grow Your Network for more ideas.
#2: Market Your Event through Facebook
Certainly you can update your status with news of your event, but don’t overlook Facebook Events, which Facebook guru Mari Smith calls “one of the most powerful tools on the platform.”
A page for your event attracts fans.
I’ve found success by first creating a page for the event, and then creating a “Facebook Event” from that. This is especially helpful if you have a recurring event, such as an annual conference or a tweetup, as it helps build a fan base over time.
A page for your event attracts fans.
Other benefits of creating a Facebook page include:
You can add a “Like Box” to your website, blog or other web presence to promote your clambake.
You can invite fans as well as friends to the March on Washington.
You can take out targeted Facebook ads to reach people outside your network who would be interested in your Save the Whales Sit-In.
Mari Smith delves deeper in her post, 10 Tips for Creating Buzz with Facebook Events.
#3: Market Your Event through LinkedIn
Promote business functions with LinkedIn Events to reach your professional network. As Lewis Howes points out in his excellent post, Top 5 Ways to Market Your Business with LinkedIn, “once someone RSVPs to your event, it shows up on the home profile of everyone that person is connected to, spreading the message for you.”
It’s simple and straightforward to create an event on LinkedIn. Once you’ve completed that task, it’s just as easy to invite up to 50 people from your LinkedIn network. It also shows up in the events search.
#4: Market Your Event through Your Blog
Whether through an existing blog or a blog created specifically for your gathering, be sure to create posts announcing the event, calls for presenters, and sponsorship opportunities. Follow up with guest posts from presenters who should welcome the opportunity to reach a wider audience (and steal people who might have attended competing events!).
#5: Other Places to Market Online
There are plenty of online calendars, and you should list your event in any that seem appropriate.
Local papers, TV channels and radio stations’ websites often host a calendar of events that offer free postings. Tweetvite is a site for promoting and learning about tweetups, and Eventful is one of many sites where you can list all types of gatherings.
#6: Event Marketing and Registration Tools
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when handling online registration for your event. Eventbrite is a highly popular tool for the social media crowd, and Constant Contact, the popular email marketing company, has recently entered the market with their own competing product.
With these tools you can create and market your event, and even collect payments with registration. Registration forms appear on the event marketing company’s site and can be embedded into your website or blog.
Sharing tools let attendees post to Facebook and Twitter, which builds buzz and generates more registrations.
During Your Event
Just because your event has started doesn’t mean the marketing has ended! If you’re promoting an all-day affair like a boat show or arts in the park, people will be milling in and out all day. Keep the excitement and foot traffic high by leveraging social media well into the night.
#7: Foursquare and Gowalla
Events on Foursquare will encourage attendees to share.
It costs nothing to create an event in Foursquare or Gowalla, and attendees who are hip to location-based apps will want to check in to your event for the extra points!
Since many people link their Foursquare and Gowalla activity to Twitter and Facebook, check-ins reach well beyond early adopters of location-based apps.
Events on Foursquare will encourage attendees to share.
You can greatly increase the number of check-ins by adding signs and table-top displays reminding people to check in, and even sweeten the deal with a giveaway or random drawing.
#8: Use Those Hashtags!
Hashtags make your event more findable, searchable and memorable.
People will tweet out memorable lines from your event, so make sure everyone knows the Twitter hashtag: put it in your literature, on name tags, and announce it during your keynote.
Hashtags make your event more findable, searchable and memorable.
For more on how to leverage hashtags, be sure to read Adam Vincenzini’s post Live Events Need Twitter #Hashtags ‘Built-In’ Not ‘Bolted-On’.
#9: Live Blogging
If you’re putting on a conference, it might be worthwhile to have someone “live blog” the sessions. Instead of just taking notes, have them take notes straight into a blog post and publish it as soon as the session ends.
#10: A Picture Says a Thousand Words
Although Twitpics and iPhone photos are great and shareable, hire a photographer for the day. If you can’t afford one, consider an in-kind trade of a free pass. Make sure you come to an agreement on who owns the photos and how they can be used online to promote this and future events.
#11: Thoughts on Video
There are so many ways to use video at your event: quick interviews with attendees and speakers on Flip cams, recorded sessions, or live streaming the event with UStream.tv.
#12: After Your Event
After the glow of a successful comic book convention, bean supper or Tri for a Cure fades, it’s time to get back to work.
Create a blog post of your reflections on how the event went, what you learned, and even how the next one could rock even harder. Ask for feedback and suggestions in the comments field. Post something similar to your Facebook page and encourage fans and friends to leave comments there as well.
Upload your photos to Flickr and other photo sharing sites and be sure to give them appropriate titles, descriptions and tags. Use the Creative Commons license to let them be shared as far and wide as possible.
After you’ve finished uploading your photos to Facebook be sure to tag everyone you know and ask them to “fill in the blanks” by tagging anyone else. This can have a viral effect as people love seeing photos of themselves and their friends, driving them all back to your Facebook page.
Post video to YouTube, Facebook and other video sharing sites. Ask your presenters to share their slides on Slideshare, again with appropriate tags, titles and links.
Wrapping Up
Undoubtedly, there are more sites and techniques to promote your event through social media. What platforms do you use, what techniques have proven especially effective, and how did you generate excitement and fill the seats at your last event?
Friday, July 2, 2010
Dan Zarrella's Data Shows That On Facebook, Sex Indeed Sells
Recently I read a great post by Dan Zarrella from: http://danzarrella.com/data-shows-on-facebook-sex-sells.html#
I personally found very interesting and I think should be helpful in terms of writing content for Facebook as a key driver for likely sharing by people who see it.
As promised here’s another post in my Facebook sharing data series.This time, I applied the two linguistic algorithms (RID and LIWC) that power TweetPsych to my Facebook sharing data set and found an interesting, if not entirely surprising phenomenon.
I personally found very interesting and I think should be helpful in terms of writing content for Facebook as a key driver for likely sharing by people who see it.
As promised here’s another post in my Facebook sharing data series.This time, I applied the two linguistic algorithms (RID and LIWC) that power TweetPsych to my Facebook sharing data set and found an interesting, if not entirely surprising phenomenon.
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