16 New Social Articles on Business 2 Community |
- The Science Behind Social Media, Natural Language and Big Data (Infographic)
- On The Radar: Social Media Dominates Headlines
- Why Your Business Needs to Start Social Media Stalking
- Search vs. Social – Which One Wins? (Infographic)
- The Great Twitter Unfollow Event
- Your Website is Good, Your Off Page Optimisation is Just Off
- Are You Too Old For Social Media?
- ICC Impresses With Its Use Of Social Media For #wt20
- 5 Steps to Building Your List Using Guest Blogging
- Why Twitter Is The Perfect Personal Branding Tool
- 110% Blogger Outreach – Lessons from IBM
- How to Schedule your Pins on Pinterest
- Top 10 Blog Writing Best Practices
- 7 Indian Social Media Trends To Be Adopted By The End Of 2012 [Experts Speak]
- Harnessing LinkedIn – Top 10 Do’s and Don’ts
- What Is The Purpose of WordPress Tags? – What Are They Good For and Why Do We Care?
| The Science Behind Social Media, Natural Language and Big Data (Infographic) Posted: 29 Sep 2012 02:50 PM PDT One of the biggest challenges in social media today – apart from ROI, depending who you ask – is that of natural language. The art of being able to extrapolate intent (purchase), actions (influence), and outcomes (predictive analysis) offer just some of the reasons why technology companies like Jugnoo and others are working on deciphering this holy grail of online language. The problem is, it's a hell of a lot harder than it sounds! It involves a whole lot of legwork, mind work, scientific work and work I've never even heard of, never mind hope to understand! To give you an idea of just what goes into understanding the nuances of social media conversations and grabbing the nuggets from them, we created this infographic below. And if you want to know more about the topics discussed below, and how they can help your business with lead generation in social media, there are two posts over at the Jugnoo blog you should check out:
Enjoy!
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| On The Radar: Social Media Dominates Headlines Posted: 29 Sep 2012 02:25 PM PDT
It's been a busy week for social media. It seemed like everything that came across our desk was either about social networks, Social TV, or the second screen. The X-Factor set a social media milestone with its season premier, and the Emmys had their own sort of experimentation with social TV. Zeebox, the popular second screen platform from England made a couple of big headlines, and a new study found that people actually prefer watching online videos on a TV rather than a computer screen. We've got these and more in this week's roundup, so read on to catch up on the rest of the week's top digital stories that you may have missed while you were at work. We also have a very cool Infographic about, you guessed it, social media. Top Stories This Week: The X Factor Wins Over Social Media Fans (VIDEO) — The X-Factor had its season premier through severe lightning and rain. Despite losing power and springing some leaks, the talent show debuted as the most social television premier of all time. Jimmy Kimmel and Tracy Morgan Boost Emmy Social Media Traffic — While hosting the Emmys, Jimmy Kimmel decided to pull a little prank on social media users. He asked Tracy Morgan to lie down on stage, and have everyone watching to Tweet that he passed out. The joke generated 17,000 tweets per minute. Madame Tussauds Hollywood Launches First-Ever Social Media Contest Enabling Consumers to Select 2013 Figure — For the first time, fans of the the famous wax museum will have the power to decide who will get the honor next. So far, the nominees include Ryan Gosling, Anne Hathaway, Ryan Reynolds, and Jennifer Hudson. Justin Timberlake Revives Myspace and the Internet Reels — MySpace, the once dominant social network that was all but destroyed by the ascension of Facebook, is attempting a comeback with a sleek new look. Under the leadership of pop star and actor Justin Timberlake, MySpace hopes to capitalize on its position as the community for musicians and their fans. Can Timberlake bring MySpace's sexy back? PepsiCo To Make New Investments In Digital Media Start-Ups — After a successful program in the United States and Europe, Pepsi has decided to extend its funding to digital startups in Brazil. Sky integrates Zeebox's second-screen platform in its Sky+ iPad app, makes TV more social — Sky TV invested millions of pounds into UK second-screen developer Zeebox back in January, and is finally integrating the technology into its programming. People Prefer Watching Online Video on Televisions Over Computers — A new study shows that, for the first time, online videos are watched more on televisions than on computer screens. This is most likely thanks to the rise of smart TVs and devices that connect TVs to streaming content, but it seems like people prefer the comfort of the home theater over the desk chair. Comcast, NBCUniversal Back Second-Screen App Zeebox — In other Zeebox news, the platform finally crossed the Atlantic thanks to a big investment by American media magnet, Comcast NBCUniversal. The corporation isn't revealing exactly how much they invested, but you can bet that this is a sign that they are seriously stepping up second screen plans. Infographic of the Week: Not too many Infographics came by us this week, but we did see this excellent one on Bit Rebels. Use a complex Venn Diagram, this Infographic from USBundles shows how all of the different social media networks actually make money. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Any stories from the week that we missed? Let us know in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. Register for our FREE Resource Center and Newsletter to access our growing library of valuable Guide Books, Tip Sheets, and more! To learn how MAGNET MEDIA can help with your social media/interactive marketing or video solutions, contact info@magnetmediafilms.com, 646-486-7109, or visit magnetmediafilms.com/what-we-do. |
| Why Your Business Needs to Start Social Media Stalking Posted: 29 Sep 2012 02:00 PM PDT Revolutionary Data Mining Tips
NM Incite marketing research recently released an whitepaper titled The Customer First Imperative which details ways we can all use social media as a market for insight. Here are a few highlights of the content: 1. You Can’t Stop Social Media Even a few decades ago, defining a brand and controlling messaging was primarily a company’s responsibility. They couldn’t control what neighbors whispered about their products or customer service over the back fence, but there were no major information highways where private opinions were shared at a rate of 8 terrabytes a day. Social media has changed that fact. It’s now easier than ever for consumers to form their own ideas about the quality of a product or service based on just a few minutes on their Facebook feed. While it’s impossible to tell whether social media is responsible for this new distrust of paid advertising, the latest data from Nielson is staggering:
The part that surprised me the most wasn’t that consumers are tired of interruption marketing methods like magazine advertisements, billboards, radio ads and television commercials. It was the fact that consumers don’t trust paid advertising in general, even when it’s a Facebook advertisement or promoted tweet. Social media conversations and online reviews are far more effective at getting people’s attention than even email marketing. While you can choose to not have a brand presence on social media (though we really hope you don’t), you can’t control what people have to say about your company. Turns out, almost no amount of paid advertising can compete with a simple status or comment on Facebook! 2. Social Media isn’t BiasedIn the traditional realm of market research, removing bias from research results is a struggle. Computers can’t pick up on nuances as adeptly as humans, and humans can’t be as unbiased as computers. Even more frustrating, the results of your survey are only going to be as helpful and smart as the answers your research team wrote. Twitter is actually a sea of free information that smart marketers are starting to harvest and apply Without getting too technical, one of the biggest benefits is “unmet needs.” In an example given by NM Incite, a sports drink company may see a tweet from an elite athlete about how they’re drinking pedialyte, a hydration drink designed for preschool-aged children. In 140 characters or less, they’ve just been given some real insight into the fact that sports drinks available aren’t meeting a need for one reason or another. How do you start stalking for knowledge? Expand your Twitter searches beyond routine checks for your company name and start searching for terms that describe products and services you offer. Social media is really the best kind of market research because it’s unbiased, free and offers additional insight on how consumers use products in their day-to-day life that isn’t always conveyed in a focus group. Here are a few benefits of adding social media stalking to your inbound marketing strategy: I. Unlimited Sample Size A smart company doesn’t survey even one more consumer than they really need to. The determine the ideal sample size for accurate results, get to work and stop when they’re finished. Nielson estimates that 13% of American adults used Twitter on a regular basis. That’s 32.5 million! Even if over 99% of these individuals aren’t talking about cupcakes, plumbing, running shoes or whatever else your industry sells, that’s still a whole lot more insight than you can pack into a single focus group. II. Let Them Define Their Priorities Maybe you think that price and color matter most to your buyer personas. But how do you know for sure? Check out exactly what’s driving conversations on social media to identify exactly how your customers and market define quality or satisfaction. III. Gain Insight in Real Time Aside from the fact that a Twitter search is very low-cost, social media happens in real time. Traditional research is time-consuming – you’ve got to design a survey, implement, track results and then apply the intelligence. 200 million tweets are sent daily, or 1.2 billion each week. Thanks to this volume of data, research insight can be applied faster than ever! How Does Your Company Use Social Media Stalking as Part of Your Inbound Marketing Strategy?
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| Search vs. Social – Which One Wins? (Infographic) Posted: 29 Sep 2012 01:45 PM PDT If you're wondering which is more potent — search or social media — as is often my answer — it depends. The truth of the matter is that every organization should be thinking about BOTH because they are the yin and yang for each other. Each feeds the other side of the equation. When you write quality content about topics that your audience cares about (social) you attract readers, shares and you earn social proof of your expertise. That content then begins to influence search for those key words and phrases that exist within your subject area and content (Search) and before you know it, you're impacting Google and the other search engines — becoming more findable and attracting exactly the right people to your content. Yin. Yang. The perfect combo. This infographic, developed by MDG Advertising really makes the point. And should be hanging in your office to remind you to go for the one two punch of social AND search.
(Click here to download the full-sized version) |
| The Great Twitter Unfollow Event Posted: 29 Sep 2012 01:35 PM PDT
According to recent articles about conversations with Evan Williams (Venturebeat, IB Times) Twitter is about to reinvent itself as an indicator of influence and rethink the whole Follow vs Follower ecosystem. This information comes after Twitter's API (application programming interface) regulation changes were announced back in August. By effectively pushing for users to go back to the official site and apps, Twitter would have more control over user generated data, engagement being easily tracked and measured for example. And it's got people running already. Apart from the obvious impact to new services like Kred and Klout, potentially removing the Follower count and that the fact Twitter could offer the measure of influence out of the box itself, the sudden reach for tools like TwitCleaner and other Unfollow tools, the rise in noise about 'I follow people because of interesting subjects' is extremely obvious but more importantly shows that some actually take influence very seriously. Where the measure of a person was by how many people followed them the Twitterverse is rightly being reset to just how many people you actually engage in. It'll put to rest the rather stupid TeamFollowBack craze and buying a load of random Twitter followers for a few $$ (and believe me, you actually stick out like a very sore thumb when you look at the tripe you actually tweet, you know who you are). When you look at all those Top 100 lists they are measured by follower count but when you actually examine just how many actually talk back to people who talk to them rather than just send out scheduled links or from a linked account with another tool, it's actually very low. You have to begin to question LinkedIn's recent strategy to introduce Endorsements. It's another metric similar to Followers that doesn't actually guarantee influence or quality. All of these measurements are easily manipulated. I look forward to receiving my first spam email offering to sell endorsements. Is this a good thing ? Hell yes. For those who's sphere of influence actually matters they'll take this seriously, for those who are involved in social media and associated marketing roles they'll have to rethink their strategy, especially those who fell into the cheap trick trap and believed the hype that numbers mattered. Context, content, engagement will all lead to an audience who will listen and participate. And that leads to real influence. Now reach for the unfollow button then ask for your money back from buyamillionfollowers.com |
| Your Website is Good, Your Off Page Optimisation is Just Off Posted: 29 Sep 2012 01:30 PM PDT Off page optimisation is the process of doing things away from your site to encourage other sites to link back to you and the search engines to increase your standings. If you create a great website, that is useable and filled with useful, relevant and fresh content, you will naturally find that other sites point towards your site in recognition of the great work that you are doing. To Google, a good number of inbound quality links pointing to your site signals that your site is relevant, authoritative and trustworthy. The volume of social shares is also vital so, to generate as many high quality links back to your site as possible you should; Make your content good enough to share. Without fresh original, relevant content that people want to and feel compelled to share you are really going to struggle to build authority to your site. Think about the questions that people ask of you and your business and answer them. Be the first to break news relevant to your industry and you will find your material gets shared and linked back to. To see more content ideas click here… Make your social sharing buttons highly visible.If something is not blatantly obvious and by that I mean staring you in the face then people will not do it. If you make it hard for people to share your content or go searching for the sharing tools. The chances are your content will not get shared. Submit and syndicate content to other high traffic sites.Ultimately the goal is to get people on your website, interacting with your content, subscribing to your newsletter and becoming your customer. The fact of the matter is in order to get to that level you need people to see your content, love your content and share it. The more people that see your content; even if it is on other platforms; Facebook, Twitter, Google+, the greater the chance you have of these people taking the time to visit your sites and becoming patrons of yours. Register your site on targeted directories.For most industries and niches there are targeted directories that allow you to advertise your business; name, address, telephone number and a link back to your website. A listing in a relevant directory can provide a reference to your site but also can bring targeted users to your site. Many of these directories will try and convince you to pay for a 'sponsored link'. Before you do find out what you can about the level of traffic to that specific page, not the website in general, the expected click through then if you know your websites conversion rate, way up whether a link would be of value to you. Favour One way links over reciprocal links.A reciprocal link is a link between two sites A and B. One linking pointing to A from B and one link pointing from B to A. Although Google is not so keen on reciprocal links and has devalued their status, reciprocal links from relevant niche sites can still add value to your site. However you would get greater value from your site with a targeted one way link; website B pointing to your site A, although these are harder and require more skill to acquire. Get local citationsLocal citations are similar to business or niche related site links however the links are gained from other websites located in the same region you are targeting. These localised links then alert Google to the area in which your business operates and with enough links will start to show targeted to results to users searching within your area. You can use sites such as Yell, Thompson local etc. Post Comments with links in forums and news sites.Search for niche and relevant forums or news sites within your industry and comment on the posts. Take your time to read the post and leave a value adding comment with a link back to your site. The more value you can provide to the conversation the greater chance you have of people following that link to find out more about you and your business. Submit Linked content to Web 2.0 properties.Web 2.0 properties are high traffic sites such as Digg.com, Hubpages.com and Squidoo.com. Create a piece of content that talks about some of the key areas in your niche and publish it on these sites again linking back to your original site. If the content is compelling enough human visitors will follow the link back to your site and the link will get recognised by the search engines and count as a citation for your site. Make your links keyword rich.When you leave a link on another website pointing back to your site, Make sure that the text that is the hyperlink; known as anchor text is related to the keywords that you target. By doing this Google notices that there are links back to your site referencing the same or similar keyword terms to how your site is telling Google it wants to be seen, thus creating a relevant link, which holds more value. The work and effort that goes in to your off page optimisation is as important if not more than the work that goes into your on page optimisation when producing your site. Off page optimisation is a continual process that needs to happen month after month after month. If your site stops getting links from other sites, stops getting articles shares then in the eyes of Google it loses relevance and will eventually be pushed down the search engine results pages by fresh new content from other sites. In order to dominate the search engines you need to have a clear and strategic approach to search engine optimisation that involves the creation and syndication of relevant, trustworthy and authoritative content. The greater the value of your content the less effort you have to put into sharing the content because you're passionate following will do that for you. Off page optimisation shouldn't stop. If it does the chances are your competition will capitalise on this get more citations, get the top spots in the search engines, the lion's share of the traffic and reap all the rewards in terms of revenue and sales. |
| Are You Too Old For Social Media? Posted: 29 Sep 2012 01:15 PM PDT Intro to Social Media for Baby Boomers
For all the good that comes with being a Boomer, sometimes we struggle with younger generations who have not yet paid their dues and might not believe in long work weeks. Well, unfortunately for boomers, social media is the preferred means of communication for our children, gen x and millennials. If you really want to know what is going on in your children's lives you need to start using social media. I know – I was just like you and resisted it. I didn't see the sense in sending tweets or texting – it was far too easy to pick up the phone and have a conversation. Well, the truth of the matter is that this is the world we have created for our children. As Baby Boomers we have culturally put so much emphasis on being productive and gaining an edge that we’ve created great ways to multitask. What we didn't expect was how multitasking would go beyond our workplace and take over our communication, resulting in social networks. If you’re looking to embrace the social media networks that keeps our kids captivated, here's a brief intro to some of the most popular: Twitter a social network built around “micro-blogging” messages of 140 characters or less. You can share links and images can be shared with your followers, strike up public or private conversations through a variety of personal tweets. It’s the new generation’s version of passing notes in class, but with the added discretion of being an iPhone app. Get started by learning how to use Hashtags on Twitter for dialogue here! Currently reigning as the largest social media network, each individual’s Facebook page acts as a year book documenting what they’ve been up to in real time. You can head straight to your friends Facebook profiles to scope out their family pictures or receive updates in real time via the Facebook feed, which compiles information conveniently. Turns out, you can’t eat a Facebook like. Learn why here! If I had to pick a social media network that seems to come naturally to us boomers, I’d think immediately of LinkedIn. Profiles on this major social media network resemble a resume more than a yearbook page. You can fill out information on educational background, prior jobs and recommendations, and use the network to connect with others. The beauty of LinkedIn is that it will show you not only who you know directly, but who your network knows and even 3rd-degree connections. The numbers are astounding. By the time you consider the reach of 3rd level connections, it is not unusual that you will have in excess of 1,000,000 people in your network. What this means it might not take more than three phone calls to land a dream job or hire just the right candidate. LinkedIn is simply astounding and more importantly, it really works. I have made contacts, friends, found jobs and opportunities on a regular basis on LinkedIn. Learn how to get started optimizing your LinkedIn profile here. FoursquareFoursquare is more like a game than a networking event, and many people don't see the value initially. The concept is simple and the tone is pure competition. You can "Check In" at a locations, which can include anything from grocery stores to hotels, receiving points for every check-in. As you grow your friend network, Foursquare keeps a running tally of who among your personal network has the most points. A growing number of brick and mortar stores are finding that Foursquare offers free publicity. Many restaurants routinely offer discounts if you check in, or even a free appetizer or dessert. You can also leave photos of the locations as well as “tips,” reviews of your personal experience. This is a great way to keep businesses honest and to give constructive feedback without having to be confrontational. While it is true that Pinterest is currently dominated by women – no site tells you more about your interests and hobbies than Pinterest. On Pinterest, you can either upload your own photos or "Pin" other people's photos to a series of boards, kind of a perfectly-portable scrapbook concept. The network is a great way to keep lists of places you want to visit, recipes, decorating ideas and other things you like. To learn a little more about why Pinterest has the potential to change marketing, see here! Speaking from personal experience, the key to social media for baby boomers is to just get started. You should not be intimidated by social media , even if your kids with think that you are trying to be hip and will make fun of you. Just remember in few more years, they’ll be in your shoes trying to keep up with technology, too!
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| ICC Impresses With Its Use Of Social Media For #wt20 Posted: 29 Sep 2012 01:03 PM PDT A review of International Cricket Council's (ICC) use of social media during the T20 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka. Festivity. No, I am not talking about the festival season in India. It is the World T20 that I intended to convey from that. As cricket is a religion in India it is safe to say that the World T20 is no less than a festival for the lovers of the game like me. But it is not really cricket that I am going to be talking about here. I am here to review the social media presence of International Cricket Council (ICC), the governing body of cricket. Now, this World T20, just like the London Olympics, is being termed as the most 'social' of all international cricket events so far. True. With the ever-increasing adoption of social media every future sporting event will be the most social. That means there will always be a larger set of audience to cater to every time. So how well is the ICC using social media for the World T20? Facebook StrategyThe Facebook page of the ICC is as good as any other brand page. It is complete with quality and relevant cover images and tabs. The content being posted is appealing. In short, it has got everything that a cricket fan would desire. Flock to UnlockThe ICC within the 'Flock to Unlock' tab is running a contest in association with its official partner Emirates. Earlier, you needed to like the page before you could participate in the contest but as of now there is no restriction. That's not all. You also get access to some exclusive videos and pictures. It is a simple contest wherein you are required to answer an easy question in a given time period. The winners are going to be picked at random and will be eligible to win any "one of the prizes set out in the competition rules." [see terms & conditions] But what prizes are they offering? Well, that leads us to the second aspect of the 'Flock to Unlock'. Recently, we had a treasure hunt campaign by an Indian brand in which the location of the prize was given in the zoomed out Google map of the particular city in which the contest was being held and as more and more people tweeted with the given hashtag the app kept on zooming in on the exact location. The 'Flock to Unlock' app incorporates the same principle. As the number of tweets with the hashtag #wt20 keep on rising the closer you get to unlocking the prizes on offer and exclusive content. Twitter StrategyTo start with the ICC has got a three-way presence on Twitter with the official ICC account, a dedicated scores updates account and a special #wt20 hashtag page. The official ICC account embraces the brand page design which Twitter launched late last year. On the whole, it does a satisfactory job, from giving match updates of both the men's and women's games to engaging with tweeters, retweeting interesting tweets from both the players & fans on Twitter and also doing a giveaway here and there.
If you are someone who is away from the television set and can't catch the action live you can follow the official score updates account. It tweets the scores from both the men's and women's games with sufficient details after every over and during the over in case a wicket falls or a milestone is reached. Last but not the least, there is a dedicated page for the official World T20 hashtag, #wt20 which has given fans on Twitter a cool way to be updated on the happenings on and off the field. It is similar to the one which we had for the London Olympics and the NASCAR with the pictures from tweets appearing on the header and tweets being streamed live below.
Apart from these two platforms the official World T20 website has a separate category titled 'social' which includes tabs aimed at engaging the fans through Twitter. Also, it is here that you come to know about how the prizes for 'Flock to Unlock' contest are unlocked.
Hits:1. I liked the content strategy of their Facebook page. There are no irrelevant posts and every post is accompanied with a picture with call-to-action as well though it seems unnecessary at times. 2. The best part about the Facebook page is the 'behind-the-scenes' album featuring unseen images from the dressing room to the commentary box and elsewhere. 3. The 'Flock To Unlock' tab which includes the contest and exclusive content is well-designed and simple to navigate. The terms and conditions of the contest are given in sufficient detail too. The exclusive pictures and videos are a fan's delight. 4. It is good to see the ICC treating the women's game with the same fervour and it is reflected in their social media efforts. Be it score updates or incorporating tweets from the women players in the special hashtag page the ICC has left no stone unturned in giving the women's game its due. Misses:1. Though the contest is a simple one there is lack of clarity on the Facebook tab as to what the prizes are on offer and how they are unlocked. It is only when you check out on the official T20 website that you come to know about the entire process. 2. Sticking with the 'Flock to Unlock' app there happens to be a glitch in it. When someone who has participated in the contest before you logs in from a different account in the same browser is greeted with a 'Thank you for participating' screen when he opens the tab. And all this happens without even liking the page. 3. Talking about the special hashtag page it seems not all tweets appearing in the live stream are about World T20. I came across some which did not contain the official hashtag and some even talked about cricket, the insect! It looks like this new feature from Twitter is not all that accurate at present. But I am hopeful it will be improved with time. Overall, despite these misses the ICC has done a commendable job at being social considering the fact that it is known for making silly cricketing decisions at times. So it is a thumbs up from my side. Do let me know what you think about the ICC's World T20 social media presence and how you liked the 'Flock to Unlock' app while I worry about the Indian team's prospects. |
| 5 Steps to Building Your List Using Guest Blogging Posted: 29 Sep 2012 11:30 AM PDT
Guest blogging is one of the undisputed best ways to build your own blog's readership. But besides being a great way to attract readers, being a guest blogger also presents the opportunity to build your subscriber list. There are many posts that uncover how to use guest blogging to explode your blog's traffic in a short time. So this article is not about that. What it is about is how to turn that guest posting opportunity into more email subscribers. If you've ever been a guest blogger before, get ready for an increase in subscribers with these 5 steps. And if you've never been a guest blogger before, then this is a great lesson on what to do to when you do write that first guest post. Do your Research and Get More Opt-ins Why should you write a post on another blog? What benefit does that bring to you? Quite a few things actually, but the one we are focused on is getting more list subscribers. Writing a guest post puts you in front of another audience. Hopefully a bigger audience, one that is in your niche and will be interested in what you have to say. Generating more subscribers depends on the following steps: 1) The first step in getting more opt-ins from your guest posts is to know the blog's audience and know them well. Who does that blog target? Are they in line with who you target? The answers to these questions are not difficult to figure out – see if the blog has a guest post guidelines page and read it carefully. Often, if the blog offers advertising, they will give a breakdown of the visitors. Lastly, hop over to quantcast.com or alexa.com and see what the data says. 2) Next would be to read through many of the past posts on the blog. Read the owner's posts as well as any other guest posts. Take a close look at the topics and see what differentiating ideas you can write about. 3) If you post regularly on your own blog, then you can relate to how intense it is to come up with irresistible content. Writing a guest post magnifies this by about 10 times. In order for your guest post to attract subscribers, your content must be irresistible, fantastic and unlike anything, anywhere else. An epic guest post can attract subscribers to your blog for months after it's published. Think about it this way, as a guest author, you are given a chance to show off your expertise, your credibility and your style. This is your opportunity to show 'em what you've got. Embrace it and craft something so irresistible they'll be WANTING to find out more about you. 4) After writing an incredible post, shift your focus to the one spot that lets readers know who you are and what you do – the author box. The author box can be described as your chance to communicate your USP in 2 -3 sentences. Answer these questions:
Most of the time, the blog author will allow you to have 1 or 2 links in your author box. Now this is where it gets exciting! The more links, the merrier, but if you can only have one link, then make the most of it. Making the Most of your LinksNow for the ultimate secret in getting more opt-ins from your guest posts… 5) It's all about the links in your author box. After a reader has read your incredible post, they'll look down at the author box to find out more about you. They'll see your one or two links there, click and be taken where? The page that you take these visitors right at this very moment is crucial. In sales, they are what's called hot prospects. They've read and been intrigued by you enough to click on your bio link. They have no idea where that link will take them. They probably assume it will go to your blog. Most of them do anyway. But the secret to getting more opt-ins from a guest post is to not send them directly to your blog. Send them to a special page created just for them. Here is an example of one I made for a post on Basic Blog Tips. This is the page where I send all the readers of my guest post on Basic Blog Tips. And THIS is how to effectively build your list using guest posting. Be DifferentSetting up a page like this does take some time. But, once you've done it, you can use the same basic format again and again. To take it a step further and for really good tracking, change the web form for every post so you know what your conversion rate is on each post. (For this reason, please don't join my list from the sample page I showed you, join from the box below or on the sidebar.) The key difference here is being different. In your approach, your style, your offer to the readers. Every aspect has to be something extraordinarily unexpected to generate an opt-in. My list subscribers get the best stuff – join below for list building and email marketing tips – oh, and my latest eBook! Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
| Why Twitter Is The Perfect Personal Branding Tool Posted: 29 Sep 2012 11:05 AM PDT
I also think that your personal brand (your true brand), is who you are and what you do at work, on the weekends, at the team building off-site day, with your stamp collecting club and with your kids. Basically, you only have one brand and this is a combination of your professional and personal lives. When I give talks on social media to different audiences, most people will agree that Facebook is where you hang out with friends and family, you share photos, videos and socialize. So this isn't really the place for your full personal brand as it doesn't include your professional self. LinkedIn is considered the virtual trade show of social networks, a place for professionals to meet and do business. Does this mean your personal brand will be fully represented on LinkedIn? Not really, most users fail to project any sort of personality on LinkedIn and see it more as a place to keep a professional identity. Enter Twitter – this is where I think your real personal brand shines through. Everything you do on Twitter is out in the open (unless you have specifically locked down your account). "Twitter's transparency lets people sum up your personal brand perfectly." Tweet This! Let me explain. 1. Your bioThis is really the brand that you want to project. It has to be succinct and explain what you do in a couple of lines. Most people will include both job titles as well as what team they support or how proud they are to be a father of two. Then there's the photo of course, on Twitter you want something that represents your whole brand if that makes sense. 2. The people you follow / that follow youThis demonstrates who you have connected with and whom you get inspiration from. This will typically be a combination of friends, industry leaders, celebrities, news sources and others. Looking at this I'd be able to get a snapshot of your brand, as defined by the people around you. 3. Your contentWhen I was a child, I wanted to read minds. Now when I have a Twitter account, I can. The fact is that most people love to put content out on Twitter for several reasons, it could be to promote your blog, to show that you read the Harvard Business Review, to just tell people what you had for breakfast. You will be judged by your content on Twitter, ideally you want to put out useful information sprinkled with a smaller dose of personal PR. 4. How you interactHow you interact with other users will say loads about your brand. For instance, do you say 'thank you' when you get a blog post retweeted? Do you reciprocate a #followfriday recommendation? Do you answer questions from users with 3 followers? You can learn a lot about someone by looking at how they treat others. 5. How much time you spend on thereIf you are in a full-time job, let's say you are an accountant, you probably don't want to be tweeting every 5 minutes. If you're a social media [insert title here], you can get away with it. As Twitter is wide open, a potential client or employer can have a quick look at your feed and they might just think you're wasting precious time tweeting. This is why I believe Twitter is the perfect personal branding tool; it is where your social and professional worlds meet. You could argue that Google Plus is another place for this, just not as prolific yet. Do you use Twitter for personal branding? Please let me know in the comments! This post was part of a blogathon over at Peter Sterlacci's excellent blog. photo by: Wonderlane |
| 110% Blogger Outreach – Lessons from IBM Posted: 29 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT You wanna be one of the cool kids in the marketing lunchroom? Then you damn well better have a blogger outreach program. This is a micro-PR concept in which you research popular bloggers within the context of the client you are trying to promote. More often than not, you want to share a product or service with the blogger with the intent of getting a positive review or mention.
When this technique started to gain popularity six or seven years ago, advertising agencies and clients went to great lengths to dazzle bloggers. Since then, we've had a massive influx of bloggers. In addition to blogging in the traditional sense, many people use blogging tools to construct websites and additional marketing materials. Therefore, the term "blog" has become a bit of a gray area. Some people, like yours truly, utilize blogs in a thought-leadership role. Others utilize blogs as a new media tool for things like press releases, product launches and an additional voice to their product or service. It’s not that one is right or wrong but when you seek to construct a blogger outreach program, you don't want to reach out to a company that is simply using a blog to distribute their own marketing material. Despite the glut of online content, many marketers skip the due diligence and assume anyone with a WordPress installation wants to be contacted. Therefore, they ditch that quaint old notion of putting together a nice piece of marketing material or package to introduce themselves to the blogger. Meh. By taking time to reach a blogger in the proper way, you are showing respect. Treat them as if they are special, and you show your commitment to the sense of "craft." Many people in my generation grew up with parents who instilled the idea that you’re only as good as your word. It was part of the, "If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing right," speech. Those lessons should inform everything we do in our industry. Bring a refined level of craft to your work, in creative pitches, in your presentations and even in your spec work. You must understand that this is what differentiates you from your competition. Anything that’s not well-crafted is simply crap. OK, thanks, I had to get that off my chest. So when IBM took the time to send me a "VIP blogger invitation" to the Smarter Commerce Global Summit 2012 in Orlando, Fla., I was incredibly impressed by the sense of craft and attention to detail. It wasn't just that they put something mildly expensive and unexpected in a box and shipped it to me. The innovative minds behind the invitation understood that it was the first page of what could very well be a wonderful story and a long-term relationship. Upon opening the box of invitational tchotchkes and various marketing materials, I could tell that the people who sent it understand how to create what I refer to as a story seed. Plant that seed, nurture it and it will grow into something beautiful. However, the concept far outgrew the box. I was contacted by a representative who acted more like a Ritz-Carlton hotel concierge than someone following up to determine whether or not I received the package. Samantha Press, a social-media strategist at IBM, contacted me to ask if I received my materials. She also asked if I had any questions regarding the conference. Then she followed up after I registered to see if I found suitable lodging. After that, she contacted me again to determine whether I would like to speak with industry experts in order to facilitate any content directives for my blog. Do you see what’s happening here? Samantha is not your run-of-the-mill customer-service representative. No – she understands that she’s crafting a one-to-one relationship. This is not something I take lightly, because it's rare to see it executed so well. When I experience it at this level, it makes an incredibly strong impact. So much so that even after experiencing a great conference with wonderful speakers, 10,000 breakout sessions, decent food for breakfast and lunch, and variable entertainment options every night – I still think about how cool the invitation was. What I really want you to take away from this article is that if you intend to reach out to bloggers, regardless of their subscription base, you need to do so with the highest attention to detail. Make sure to outline your invitation, directives, and intent in such a way that you don’t try to direct the content of the blogger. Nothing will backfire quicker than a blogger who feels as though they’re being told what to say. Make sure to do your due diligence in order to find the appropriate bloggers to match your audience as closely as possible. For those of you who have created, or are thinking of creating a blogger outreach program, I would love to hear from you. Tell me about your ups and downs throughout the process. Please feel free to fill out the comments below and give me your take! Hope to hear from you soon. |
| How to Schedule your Pins on Pinterest Posted: 29 Sep 2012 09:30 AM PDT So you've heard the buzz about Pinterest, set up your account and optimized your Pinterest page. Congratulations! But what now? If you're like most people you've probably jumped straight into Pinterest and quickly discovered that pinning can take up an enormous amount of time. When I started using Pinterest to promote my business, at first I was happy to scour the Internet looking for cool photos as well as uploading images and blog posts from my own website. But within a few days, I realized that unless I managed my Pinterest activities, I could end up spending hours each day pinning away. There is no doubt that Pinterest can be a phenomenal tool for both product and service-based businesses but you need to schedule your pinning effectively otherwise it can be a colossal time suck. Just think about it. It takes time to source photos on the Internet, write effective keyword-rich descriptions for each of the images you upload, and optimize the pins in order to give the greatest value to your followers and ideally drive traffic back to your own site. Pinterest can be DistractingNot to mention the distraction that comes from gorging on all that stunning Pinterest eye candy. Before you know it, 2 hours or so have passed and you haven't done a thing on your to-do list! Up until recently your only option when embarking on your Pinterest journey was to go on a pinning rampage. I admit I've been guilty of this in the past but blasting 30 pins in one go is like gate-crashing someone's party. It's an absolute no-no. You'll end up overwhelming your Pinterest feed, turn people off and most likely they'll unfollow your boards or worse, report you as a spammer. The ideal approach is to log into your Pinterest account several times a day and drip feed pins into your stream at each sitting. But who has the time to do that? We're all busy people with businesses to run and even though Pinterest is an awesome marketing resource, you don't want it to eat into your productivity. A Cool Pinterest ToolThat's why I decided a couple of months ago to test different Pinterest tools to find out if any of them allow you to schedule pins in advance. Some resources promise to do this but in actual fact they're still in beta and this service is currently unavailable. Then I stumbled across Pingraphy and everything changed! Pingraphy is a remarkable new tool that I've been using daily in my business and I can honestly say I'm a devotee. Besides being totally free, Pingraphy is also quite easy to use. But if you've never used it before, I'll share a few key points that will take the guess work out of the equation for you! 8 Simple Steps to Schedule your PinsHere are 8 quick steps to help you schedule your pins like a pro with Pingraphy. 1. Get an Account with PingraphyBe sure to first sign up for a free account at www.Pingraphy.com then once you're logged in to Pingraphy, sign in to your Pinterest account in a separate tab because you'll need this to be open at the same time. 2. Grab the Pingraphy BookmarkletThe next thing you need to do is to go back to Pingraphy, click through to your dashboard, and grab the Pingraphy bookmarklet. This bright pink button works in exactly the same way as the Pinterest Pin It Button that you're probably already using to pin images that catch your attention from around the Web. Just click the Pingraphy bookmarklet and drag it over to your browser area until it attaches itself to the tool bar.
The pingraphy bookmarklet lets you pin from any website, including your own site or blog. This is an extremely handy feature because it not only lets you schedule pins in advance but also lets you upload images in bulk. This means that in just a few clicks you can instantly reduce your pinning time from one hour a day to one hour a WEEK! Can you imagine the time you would save? Once you find a website with appealing content, just click the bookmarklet and it will pick up all the pinnable images from that page. In the examples below I've used posts from my blog, www.Epreneur.TV. 3. Select from the Pinnable ImagesChoose the images you want and unselect the images you don't want by unchecking the box in the top left hand corner. Then click the green Next button on the far right.
4. Optimize the Pin CaptionsThen on the next page, add captions to each of the pins. If you are pinning your own content be sure to make the description keyword-rich for SEO purposes, add a call to action, a price tag if appropriate and the URL to your website to get the maximum benefit from your pin.
5. Add Links to the Caption Area and "URL" BoxPinterest will actually hyperlink any URLs you add to the caption area so this is a great way to get more exposure for your brand or business. Besides gaining a backlink from a high ranking authority website like Pinterest, putting a full link in this field will help you visually brand your website and make it easy for people to find you on the Internet so you can quickly build a strong community of loyal followers. If you are the originator of the content, don't forget to add a relevant URL link in the URL box too. This link can direct traffic to the homepage of your website or blog, or better still an internal page such as a specific blog post or your product page. You can also link the pin to a squeeze page to build a list of subscribers, send visitors to an affiliate landing page to increase sales or even drive traffic to a recent press review for your product or service to boost your credibility. Just remember when you are pinning other people's content to link back to the original source URL to avoid copyright infringement. 6. Select the Appropriate BoardNext, you'll need to select which board you want the images to be pinned to. In this case, I am pinning to my "EpreneurTV Blog" board.
Pingraphy actually gives you two options – you can click upload and pin the images immediately or you can schedule them using the orange button, which is the focus of this article. 7. Schedule your PinsWhen you click schedule, the following window appears:
Pingraphy lets you choose the date, time and even time zone you want to post the pin. If you hover over the time box, a drop-down calendar appears where you can select any date you desire. You can also specify precisely the hour and minute you want the pin to go out just by sliding the cursor towards the right along the scale on the relevant bar. You can even choose which time zone you want to post to. Research by Pinerly, the Pinterest analytics tool, suggests that the optimal time for pinning in order to get the most number of repins and highest amount of referral traffic to be Saturday mornings and late weekday evenings between 8pm – 1am EST. So it is a good idea to set your pins to go out during these peak periods. Once you've done this you can return to the dashboard by clicking on the blue Dashboard link and view the pins that you have just scheduled. Thanks to Pingraphy, you can schedule your pins wherever you are in the world at a time that suits you. You don't even need to be in front of your computer in order to get the most out of Pinterest. 8. Rinse and RepeatNow that you know how to schedule your pins to Pinterest, there's no excuse not to pin consistently. You could either upload 5-7 pins and pin them directly or bulk upload 30 or so pins once a week and schedule them to drip daily into your Pinterest feed throughout the week. This could also be an activity that you outsource to an external service or delegate to a team member. Here, we've talked about scheduling images but remember Pinterest doesn't just restrict you to flat 2D images. You can apply the same technique to videos from YouTube or Vimeo. The thing I love most about Pingraphy is that it stops Pinterest from becoming a chore. It allows you to easily pin daily and provide fresh valuable content to your followers on a consistent basis. And as with any social media, consistency is key for engagement and the best way to get people to follow you. How are you Managing your Pinterest Activity?Is it working out? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Image by KEXINO |
| Top 10 Blog Writing Best Practices Posted: 29 Sep 2012 08:10 AM PDT
1. Write a catchy headline Create a headline that immediately draws the reader in and makes them click because they want to know more. Use different techniques to write a headline that hooks. 2. Entice your readers with the opener Research shows that people only read the first few lines of an article before deciding whether or not to keep reading. Therefore, the opening lines of a blog post are crucial. Start off with a quote, a question or a bold statement. You only have one shot at this, so make it count. 3. Present useful content A good, focused blog post sticks to one topic with some supporting points. Before you begin, think about the topic you want to write about. Jot down some ideas and even create an outline. Often, it helps to come up with a title (you can always change this later) to help guide your thinking. What will your readers take away from your article? Is it practical or actionable advice? What are your supporting reasons? By creating content that is useful, your readers will start to turn to you as a source of information and advice on a regular basis. 4. Avoid using technical language, jargon, and industry acronyms When your content is familiar and reads like a conversation, you’re far more likely to retain readers through to the end. If you do use an acronym, spell it out near the beginning, before you use it.
Image via Suzy Becker 5. Split up your points Break up long paragraphs and use headers when appropriate to separate content into different sections. You can do this by using various formatting techniques to give your readers’ eyes and brains a bit of a break. 6. Use images to help tell your story Break up your content by adding in images that are relevant to your post and help make your point. The human mind tends to remember and recognize images more easily than text.
Most people will scan the post rather than read every single word. Here are a few ideas for writing scannable content:
8. Write like you talk Blogging is different from other types of writing, such as essays or reports. Blogging is more social and about community so there should be a conversational flow to your content. 9. Link to quality content People will often follow anchor text (that’s the blue (or colored) text that indicates a link on your page). Give them something worth clicking. Link to some of your best content (and other's content too). 10. Include a call-to-action Every blog article should end with a clear and actionable call-to-action. This could be an invitation to comment on a question at the end of the post, an offer to sign up for a course or program, or another type of action that's appropriate based on the content of the blog post. Readers are less likely to act on their own initiative, if you want people to comment or subscribe, don't assume they will do it themselves, invite them to do it. A call-to-action is an opportunity to develop a stronger tie with the reader and nurture a relationship. What other best practices would you add to the list? Share in the comments! |
| 7 Indian Social Media Trends To Be Adopted By The End Of 2012 [Experts Speak] Posted: 29 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT 2012 has a little more than three months still left in its pocket and that's enough to make anything happen in this rapidly evolving market. We recently spoke with Palin Ningthoujam about the trends he foresees before the year end in the Indian social media space. He happily shared all his thoughts as a guest post with us. At the same time, we posed this thought to seven very interesting Indian social media marketers who are breathing this space day and night and we are delighted to share some of the very interesting trends that one might see before 2013. 1. Social Commerce to be a trendsetter
I feel social commerce is going to be a trendsetter by the end of the year. With e-commerce being a mandate for most brands, it has also become important that conversations are both monetized and made easier to monetize. With technologies like Chirpify in the picture, social commerce is now bound to pick up. - Robin Abraham, Co-Founder at Drizzlin 2. Smarter influencer management
- Samit Malkani, Creative Head at Jack In The Box Worldwide 3. Mainstreaming of brand integration in social media gaming
- Narayan Devanathan, National Planning Head at Dentsu Marcom 4. Instagram campaigns
- Chintan Vora, Co-Founder at Digital Latte 5. Hello Moto
Envisage social media content designed especially for mobile devices. Be it short films to short stories, financial reports to CSR virals, TVCs to jingles, along with free goodies, it's all customized for your mobile device, enhancing your social media experience. - Parag Gandhi, Founder, Flying Cursor Interactive 6. Good content will overpower everything
- Pratik Gupta, Executive Director at FoxyMoron 7. Rise of digital video content hugely
- Rohit Raj, Right Brain at The Glitch |
| Harnessing LinkedIn – Top 10 Do’s and Don’ts Posted: 29 Sep 2012 06:10 AM PDT
As DerivSource sits behind a paywall, I've republished the article by Julia Schieffer below. And here's a PDF version of the article "Harnessing LinkedIn – Top 10 Dos & Don'ts from a Social Media Expert". Here's a video I put together in case you prefer to hear me talking! 1. Keep it professional – balance professional and personal information.The purpose of LinkedIn is for professional use and not to use it as a network to express your personality – there are other networks out there for that. However, there is a section at the bottom of one's profile called 'interests and hobbies' where you can list some more personal items. A good way to balance personal and professional is to have a very professional profile, which is public so everyone can see it, and then have a link to a blog or twitter feed to give a bit more personality. 2. A photo is necessary but selecting the right kind of photo is key.You are seven times more likely to be found on LinkedIn if you have a photo, so putting a photo up is a no brainer. You need to have a photo. Also, you need to have a professional picture, which is cropped correctly with clothes that mirrors your role and target audience. 3. Your headline is more than just your job title.Studies show that when people look at your profile, they look at your headline first, and then your photo. If you don't capture a viewer at this stage, they won't scroll down to see the rest of your profile. The headline should be more than just your title. So you want to expand on that by including your skills and valuable attributes, such as being multilingual or having relevant certifications. You want to include key words to capture your target audience. So, if you are head of middle operations, consider adding asset classes, such as OTC derivatives, you cover or list relevant operational skills or systems knowledge. Also, you don't need to show your employer's name because it will be listed two steps down in your profile. 4. The summary is not your bio.You have to get the summary right because that is the first page people will be reading. This shouldn't be more than two or three paragraphs. In the summary you should focus on what you want to do and include achievements and accolades because this attracts a lot of eyeballs. 5. Don't skip the education section – this is an important networking tool.The education section is worth filling out properly because then you can connect with alumni, which is an easy way to increase your connections and is often a first step in growing your network. 6. Join groups but not too manyTen is the ideal number of groups to join with the activity focused in three main groups including commenting and liking other comments or articles. The benefits of being a member of groups is that you can actually interact with people within these groups, connect and send messages to them. By joining the larger groups, with the most number of members, you can increase your potential network by one or two million easily, which makes joining groups a quick way of gaining wider exposure. Also, you don't have to show all groups on the profile if you don't want to. 7. Status updates – integrating Twitter effectively.One to two updates per day as well as commenting on items is ideal for users. Integrating Twitter feeds is an easy way to keep your status updating throughout the day however, a lot of people get this wrong because they have too many updates due to Twitter. You don't want to put every single tweet on LinkedIn and especially if your tweets are personal or out of context, which can look strange. My advice is that if you do have a Twitter account, you can integrate into your LinkedIn account but adjust the settings so that you don't show all tweets (only the tweets with #li or #in will show up on LinkedIn status). Update: How You Can Still Connect Twitter and LinkedIn. 8. Recommendations are useful but shouldn't be reciprocalIt is ideal to have one to two recommendations for each position that you've had. And it has been suggested it is ideal for someone in the UK to have between five to ten recommendations. Double that if you're in the US and only one to two recommendations is the norm for places like France. You always want to aim to get recommendations from managers, and the most senior executives you have access to. Reciprocal recommendations or 'back to back' recommendations where members of the same team recommend each other are not useful because people can clearly see a who supplied the recommendation. Reciprocal recommendations don't look good. 9. Accepting LinkedIn invitations from strangersEveryone has their own principles for LinkedIn networking and accepting invitations for people who they do not know, but I think most people look at the network of the stranger to see if there are many common connections and then connect if these connections are relevant and provide a good expanded network. Of course, some people might only connect with people they know and talk to. 10. Messaging and connecting etiquetteBe personal in the message and offer them something of value as to why they should connect with you. If you don't give them a good reason then they are less likely to connect with you. Can you add more points? Please let me know in the comments! |
| What Is The Purpose of WordPress Tags? – What Are They Good For and Why Do We Care? Posted: 29 Sep 2012 06:00 AM PDT WordPress Has Tags But Why Do We Need Them?"Sometimes love just ain't enough….. " -Don Henley WordPress categories seem extremely flexible and cause a lot of question about what role tags play. A mailbag question from Srini Vas asks: "How are tags important other than adding keywords ?" This is a really common question and already points to one of the usages of tags. Tags DO serve an important role in associating our WordPress content with keywords that belong to our article. This is a valuable part of SEO. Tags also serve both as a navigational structure for your visitor (they are a taxonomy which can be clicked through) and as a "related links" grouping that allows googlebot (google spiders) to crawl deeper into a portion of your content. Once your blog is producing ample content the goal is to keep as much of it indexed as possible. Google deindexes stuff it has not reached with googlebot in a while and because of that articles can actually vanish from the rankings if googlebot does not spy them. However, googlebot only crawls 3 to 5 clicks deep (sometimes less!) and so tags help to reduce the clicks form new content on a topic to old content on a topic. This again improves SEO. We also can not discredit the role tags play in making our sites easier to navigate. When categories are used correctly, we only have a handful or two of them. Yet often we have a lot more granular topics that readers may like to delve into. Tags used together with breadcrumb navigation can really improve the reader experience. As you can see tags serve quite a few purposes in fact! Categories and tags work together to make your site easy for everyone (including googlebot) to enjoy! Are you tagging your WordPress content? PS: Ideally, you want to have five to 10 total categories and each post is in no more than two categories (preferably only one). Then you want to add 5-8 tags to the post. Tags should represent the sub-topics but not be overly specific either. Using too many tags can be seen as keyword stuffing so try to keep it to no more than 10. |
Are you Facebook stalking again? I remember spending hours on Facebook back when it was a closed network for college students and employees of certain tech companies. In the age before the Facebook feed, you had to scope out people by heading directly to their profile, an activity known on my college campus as Facebook stalking. Fast forward 6 years, and it seems that 
Social media and baby boomers. You would think that those two phrases would go hand in hand. Every generation has core values, and baby boomers are known for being hard working, motivated, independent, goal-oriented and competitive. So why wouldn't they 
There are lots of definitions of your personal brand, sometimes I think there are as many as there are personal branding coaches. The definition I like to use is that your personal brand is who you are and what you do. Keeping it simple in other words.
In just one day 
Smarter influencer management is a trend that I see shaping up before the end of 2012. Every brand right now is piggybacking onto influencers to help spread brand messages across social media and the blogosphere. Not every brand is doing this well. Neither are influencers happy to work with every brand – it makes them seem like sellouts, brand pimps. I reckon agencies will have to find smarter ways to work with influencers in the year to come.
SIMS and FarmVille have been doing it for a while. But life for brands will evolve beyond Zynga, as more entrepreneurial brands and games will seek each other out, find some fits clumsily to begin with, and then evolve to seamlessly create a gaming experience that will also be a nonintrusive brand experience. And I mean this specifically in the Indian context, thanks to the growth and adoption of social gaming-enabled affordable smartphones, tablets and faster Internet access.
With the growth of Social Media, photo sharing reached a new high. Many Social & Mobile app companies flourished in this period but the company that made the most was 'Instagram'. After opening the app to Android users earlier this year, Instagram now boasts over 50 million users. If there are 50 million users on a platform, then brands ought to be present too. BUT, being on Instagram is the first step, running a spreadable Instagram brand campaign is a whole different story. Instagram campaigns which have been already adopted by international Brands will soon make an impact in Indian Social media Space.
If websites are customized to special content for various screens sizes and mobile devices, then why can't the same be implemented for social media content.
By this year end, good content will overpower everything else, infact it would be more powerful than media buying. We have already seen that agencies and brands are working together to build interesting content which could become viral. However, it also means that this will involve lot of research, hard work and money but then good content would be clear differentiator and let the brand stand out in the Indian social media space.
The days of the reality shows are dead and soon the audiences which already rely on torrents of 'How I Met Your Mother', would love to see some good Indian web based shows that plays across all screens that these youngsters live in. Fun content that engages audiences through and through with subtle brand integration will be a sure shot hit.
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