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Social Media

CEOs and Social Media Influence in the Workplace

April 15, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Although there is already a growing list of reasons why it is beneficial for every member of a company’s team to participate in social networking, there may be another new reason that should encourage further consideration.

BRANDfog Study

A recent study conducted by BRANDfog shared some rather concerning statistics about CEO participation in company leadership via social media platforms. The general consensus is that top business executives are slower than their employees and consumers when it comes to using social media for communications.

  • 64% of CEO’s are NOT engaged on their company’s website or social media networks
  • Only 5% of all Fortune 500 CEOs are on Twitter
  • Only 4% of global CEOs have a profile on Facebook or LinkedIn
  • Only 13 Fortune 500 CEOs have active Twitter accounts

If that alone isn’t enough reason to encourage CEOs and others in similar positions in their company to join Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, then it may be important to understand that on the same study, 86% of respondents rated a CEOs engagement on social media networks to be either important, very important, or mission critical.

Why CEO Engagement is Important

There are a few reasons why CEO engagement on social networks can be beneficial. During the BRANDfog study respondents answers also indicated that 78% of CEO participation on social media networks led to better communication. 71% of them agreed that it can lead to improving brand image, and 64% agreed that it provided more transparency, an element vital to a successful social media marketing campaign. The study has also shown that 82% of respondents listed as employees believe that a company can garner more trust when the CEO or leadership teams communicate via social networks.

Can a CEOs Social Media Presence Influence Purchasing Decisions?

The study says yes. The majority of the study’s participants, 77%, shows that consumers are more likely to buy from a business whose CEO uses social media opportunities to help define their company’s values and leadership principles. 94% of those respondents also agree that the C-list leaders participation in social media can help to enhance a brand’s image.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners. Follow him on Google+

Sources:

  • CEO’s Tweet Held in High Regard
  • The Impact of Social Media in the Workplace
  • Social media’s effect on workplace productivity
  • Employee Engagement on Social Media

Filed Under: Blog, General, Social Brand Visibility, Social Media Topics Tagged With: brand, Chief executive officer, Executive director, facebook, Fortune 500, Hedge fund, LinkedIn, Social Media, twitter

Can Social Media Change Education Paradigms?

April 9, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com 1 Comment

Sir Ken Robinson; author, speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education and arts bodies. He was Director of The Arts in Schools Project (1985–89), Professor of Arts Education at the University of Warwick (1989–2001) and was knighted in 2003 for services to education.  You can view the RSA animate video “Changing paradigms in Education”
 

I watched the video of Sir Ken Robinson’s “Changing Paradigms in Education” talk given at the Royal Society on the Arts on YouTube.  I don’t remember how I came across it but I was in awe.  I watched 4 or 5 times over. I wasn’t surprised to hear someone else talking about how current public education is failing our students.  Sir Ken Robinson’s simplistic approach to making small changes that can have significant impact on our children’s education was inspiring. I can see why it went viral.  Sir Ken’s key points hit many of the core issues I believe our evolving education system is now facing.
His views are not new.  The Montessori Method from the 1890’s involves the teacher in viewing the student as having an inner natural guidance for his or her own perfect self-directed development. The Reggio Emilia philosophy founded after World War II is based upon the following set of principles.  Students must have some control over the direction of their learning; must be able to learn

Image c/o www.edweek.org/

through experiences of touching, moving, listening, seeing, and hearing; have a relationship with other students and with material items in the world that students must be allowed to explore and must have endless ways and opportunities to express themselves.
So what has changed? Sir Ken Robinson talks about how education reform can work.  The current US education system was established during an Era of Cultural Enlightenment and the Industrial Economic Revolution.  That education model worked for a while. We were automating and building our communities.  People worked in factories or offices.  Technology was changing American society. Health and medicine evolved due to research technologies.  Many of our teaching programs developed over time met the variety of skill needs for our society.  As we move forward in the technological revolution factory like school settings and un-stimulating classroom learning are becoming obsolete, so we find ourselves asking “What’s Next?”
According to Robinson, We are changing education to prepare our future generations but we don’t know what that future will hold since there is such rapid change.  We are also trying to reform education to adapt to cultural changes while maintaining cultural identity, as the world’s cultures connect.
The System Requires Change
So how do we change the system without totally starting from scratch?  Our education infrastructure is expensive so we can’t build a new one. Many people are hesitant to scrap the current system fearing unknown outcomes.  There are ways Social Media could bridge the gap.   Technology has enabled society to catch up with Montessori’s revolutionary methods of teaching.  Collaborative learning and divergent thinking can take place in classrooms leveraging many of the Social Media tools we have today.
Image c/o ioanalazarov.com/

Preparing today’s students for the unknown and quickly changing cultural and economic climates, must include the new ways we are communicating.  Creating stimulating learning environments, allowing students to express knowledge through their creative means can be achieved by integrating Social Media technologies.  Communication modalities are changing our lives, and we must adapt our teaching methods to work with emerging technologies.
We must raise standards to compete in the changing world economy. What should the standards be?  Some tests can designate a person genius and others label them special needs.  Who will set the standards?
Sir Ken says to change the Education Paradigms we need to think differently about human capacity and get over the old conception of Academic, non-Academic, Abstract, Theoretical…etc. Most great learning happens in groups- Collaboration is the stuff of growth.  The current education system is crucially due to the culture of our institution: the Habits of our institution and the habitats they occupy.
I believe there are opportunities to make great strides with small changes if we introduce methods for implementing Social Media at different levels throughout the education spectrum.
Author:
Marilyn Zayfert is a passionate digital strategist implementing online and mobile applications. She is a results-driven sales and marketing strategist with a proven track record of achievement and demonstrated success.  Marilyn founded illumiNET Creative Media in 2009. illumiNET Creative builds and implements online marketing strategies for local businesses. Twitter @mzayfert  / Website http://www.illuminetmedia.com / Facebook: Mzayfert / Google+ Marilyn Zayfert
Sources:

  • RSA Animate – Changing Education Paradigms
    Changing Education Paradigms
  • Reggio Kids Childcare Centers
  • Montessori Schools

Filed Under: Blog, General, Social Media Tagged With: education, Ken Robinson, Paradigm, RSA Animate, Social Media, University of Warwick, World War II, YouTube

Why Twitter is Better Than Facebook for Marketing Yourself as a Freelancer

March 27, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com 5 Comments

Working as a freelance writer means a lot of self-promotion. Really, working as a freelance anything means a lot of self-promotion. It is up to yourself to get your name and work out there for the world to see. You are, in a sense, a business. Fortunately, in this day, social media gives you the perfect platform for all the free self-promoting you could ask for. I can’t imagine how hard it was to begin a freelance career before the Internet existed.
As a rule, I would say that I use Facebook more than Twitter for entertainment. When it comes to marketing myself, however, I find that Twitter is a far more valuable asset than Facebook. While it certainly is a matter of opinion, there are a few reasons why I believe this and stand firm in this belief.
One: Facebook is focused around friends and relationships with friends. Twitter is more focused around businesses, magazines, and marketing. I find it is now used more often and successfully as a marketing tool than a social tool. The group of people that you communicate with on Twitter is normally very different than the group of people on Facebook. Sure, there might be some common friends and relatives, but they are the outliers. People and businesses that you do not know can follow your tweets without asking permission, which makes you more accessible to the public; much more so than on Facebook.
Two: Hashtags. Using the most popular hashtags makes you very accessible. When any Twitter user searches for a certain #hashtag, your tweet can show up and gain you another #follower. Therefore, you are in control of how viewable you are by which hashtags you use. Facebook has no such function. You are mainly viewed only by your friends, which tend to be acquaintances and not owners of businesses that could use your freelance abilities.
Three: Twitter keeps you relevant. Rather than seeing a lot of updates about what was eaten for breakfast or how annoying The Bachelor was last night, the updates that are viewed on Twitter tend to be more relevant to professional life. For one, because you are following more businesses, magazines, and blogs that pertain to your field (most likely), you are keeping up-to-date on the news, which makes you more valuable. Second, when you tweet back to certain posts, it helps to build relationships with said tweeter. All in all, you are networking virtually; hence the term “Social Network”.
While I believe that both platforms (as well as many other social media platforms) should be utilized to market yourself, I think Twitter has the leg up in this domain. It makes you more accessible to potential employers, and it is easier to network with said potential employers. When it comes to freelancing, getting your name and work out there is what is important. Once it is out there, opportunities will roll in. Life really is all about connections.
Author:
Megan Campbell has a degree from Clemson University in Graphic Communications, and is currently living in Germany during a Gap Year abroad, working as an au pair and freelance writer. Her degree set her up for a great interest and knowledge of social media. You can find her on her blog, balancewithadashofcrazy, or contact her via email at meganecamp at gmail dot com. You can also find Megan on Twitter @abalancedcrazy
Sources:

  • http://www.webgeekly.com/lessons/social-media/why-twitter-is-better-than-facebook/
  • http://virginiamediaventures.com/2011/10/heres-what-twitter-does-better-than-facebook-3/
  • http://freelancefolder.com/how-freelancers-can-brand-themselves-using-twitter-trends/
  • http://www.seoinc.com/seo-blog/are-twitter-followers-better-than-facebook-likes/

Filed Under: Blog, General Tagged With: business, Clemson University, facebook, Freelancer, Gap Year, Social Media, social network, twitter

Is Marketing over Facebook a Battle for Likes/Followers?

March 22, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com 14 Comments

Marketing over Facebook has convulsed. It is now a battle for likes/followers. Firms are waging cold wars, wherein the highest number of followers is considered the winner without an assertion. This picturesque is very well known to us and yet marketers follow the path blindfolded.
Let us analyze the common mistakes committed by most of the marketers.
Fan Page is not a Petri Dish
‘Create a fan page; buy thousands of likes and update the status with fluffy contents’ seems to be the motto of new firms. No wonder, results fail to show. Fan page is not a Petri dish where you grow your fans like organisms. In relation, fan page is just another portal where your customers arrive to see what you have to offer.  Unless you give them something worth their time and money they will walk off with contempt.
First Impression is the Best Impression
Impress your customers with your fan page. Facebook has been very generous with providing various tools for designing your fan page. Though FBML is being deprecated HTML, CSS and JavaScript are there as your savior. Make sure to create a stunning landing page for your customers. Now, with the recent intrusion of Timeline it has been easier than ever. Just upload a cover photo of your firm or the latest product which is about to be launched and you are done.
Note how Apple has taken advantage of Timeline over their page.

After you are done with the impression work, the product you should offer should be worth their time. This brings to our next question.
Why should Customers stay on your Fan Page?
People log into their Facebook account for relaxation and entertainment. Unless you are the big player in the market you will have a hard time in convincing your customers. However, the good news is you do not have to convince them at all. Satiate their thirst for entertainment by throwing up a contest. Again, another mistake committed by marketers is to announce the contest through the status update. Creating a separate page for contests creates a better impression and appears to be professional, not to mention the increase in engagement. Below is a screenshot of how Blackberry engages their customers to a challenge.

Provide Discounts on Products & Freebies
There is nothing that sounds as good as freebies and discounts. Give away discount offer on your products and if possible provide some freebies. Customers will be attracted in hundreds and thousands to your fan page and you will reap success within no time. Personally discount on London pass coupons world soccer shop showed greater sales when sold through our page.
Should you buy Fans?
Before winding up we need to discuss the much debated topic of whether purchasing fans is ethical or not. Of course it is not ethical but apart from that purchasing fan has very less benefits. In fact there is hardly any benefit by purchasing fans. Some of the reason not to purchase fans is mentioned below:
1. Most of the fans sold are sham. Fake profiles are created on a larger scale and these are used to provide ‘likes’. Once the job is done through these fake profiles they longer serve any purpose.
2. The cost of a like goes anywhere from $1 to $1.33. Yearly budget for a small business might range from $500 to $6000. If this budget is used for marketing, you will not only achieve organic likes but an increased conversion rate.
3. After purchasing thousands of fans, fan page remains desolated. No engagement is found and rarely a share and few likes can be seen. This scenario is just the result of misleading people to like your page by false promises. ‘Joshua likes XXXX (name of the brand). Like us’, this sort of gaining likes is a lame one. Likes will be accrued but what are you looking for, likes or engagement? Instead write a short description with excellent copy. Likes gain through this tactic will provide better engagement as every like is really interested in what your brand does; not in what their friends have done.
Author:
Richie Richardson loves to write about Social Media Marketing, SEO and Internet marketing. He also writes about london pass code and world soccer shop code. They have some discount and various promo coupons which can prove beneficial.
Sources:

  • Importance of Facebook Fans
  • Marketing through Facebook
  • 14 Powerful tips for Marketing over Facebook

Filed Under: Blog, General Tagged With: business, facebook, Fansite, html, internet marketing, Richie Richardson, Social Media, social media marketing, Timeline

Bottlenose Surfs the Stream for You

March 20, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

For many with large social networks, reading through social feeds can begin to require the same time and energy as any other full-time job. This social media overload can be frustrating to those who are dependent upon their social networks for industry news, communication with friends and colleagues, or research purposes. How do you separate the videos from the web links? How do you filter through the spam, jokes, and memes to find the information you need.

Bottlenose may be a serious competitor in an industry that is filled with similar tools. Bottlenose allows you to filter your Facebook and Twitter streams by a specific set of criteria.

Bottlenose Custom Stream Filtering

c/o http://www.vexite.com/

Bottlenose allows users to create their own custom streams by:

  • Media Types – Videos, Web links, Images
  • Mentions – Messages and their relevance to you and your industry
  • Popularity – Topics that have been made popular by user aggregation, retweets, and shares

Users can also select actions to add such as apps that will play sounds when the stream updates. Although actions are a bit limited at the moment, Bottlenose relays that they have many more action options coming soon.

Sonar Term Clouds

This may be one element that sets Bottlenose above and beyond its competition. When you use the single column view tab, you can click on or observe any stream topic and the Bottlenose sonar will display a term cloud. You can control your term cloud in a variety of ways.

  • Changing Time Periods
  • Changing Term Density
  • Toggling People, Messages, Hashtags, and Topics

Users can zoom on their term clouds to open it in a feed. Clicking on the users relative to your account can also show you terms that are associated with that person, or even just let you view their feed.

Although Bottlenose is clearly in its relatively early stages, it seems to be growing up to be a very functional and useful stream aggregation tool.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

Sources:

  • Bottlenose Is a Game Changer for Social Media Consumption
  • Why Bottlenose is Great for Monitoring Social Media
  • Bottlenose – Crunchbase Profile

Filed Under: Blog, General Tagged With: Bottlenose, Chief executive officer, Executive director, facebook, Hedge fund, Social Media, social network, twitter

What a Successful Company Blog Says about Your Business

March 18, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com 7 Comments

We’ve all seen them – the company blog that is buried within the site map, with a single “Welcome” post that is three years old. Or the blog that is littered with bad grammar, typos or business jargon. A bad company blog can give off the impression that you’re lazy, technology-challenged, or you think you’re smarter than your readers. No blog at all is better than a bad blog.
Writing a successful company blog takes time and effort. It’s a way to start, continue and strengthen a meaningful conversation about your business and your brand.
So what does a great company blog say about your business?
You care about your customers.
The blog is your opportunity to reach out to your customers and provide them with in-depth, valuable information that they can’t find on your website. It allows you to connect and engage with them daily – answering questions, providing feedback and responding to comments. This interaction shows your commitment to building a community that benefits your business and your customers.
You know what you’re talking about.
When you write comprehensively about industry-related topics, you can establish your company as a leading authority in your field. Let readers know that they can rely on you for sound advice, useful information and knowledgeable opinions – and they can count on your products and services, as well.
You’re not a dinosaur.
You should be sharing your blog through Twitter and Facebook. Being active through social media channels can help you connect even further with your audience, and lets readers know you’re up-to-date with current trends and always thinking forward.
You’re well-known and respected in the industry.
Networking with other bloggers in your niche can increase blog traffic and in turn, increase leads. Engage other industry thought leaders in the conversation – contributing guest posts for other prominent blogs, for example, can help you expand your blog’s reach even further.
You have the resources to create quality content and designs.
Readers can tell if you’ve created a company blog with no knowledge of Web design or copywriting. A well-designed, well-written blog is crucial to drawing attention to your blog and keeping it there, and demonstrates the ability and talent behind the scenes – whether you have a staff of designers and writers maintaining the site, or you have taken the time to learn these skills yourself.
You’re friendly. 
Blogs allow for a more casual, personal tone than your company website. Your blog has a voice – your voice – to give readers a sense of the people behind the business. Don’t fill your posts with industry jargon or make your readers feel inferior; this will only repel readers from your blog and your business. A blog that reads like a friendly chat over coffee, containing stories with which readers can relate, makes your company seem more approachable.
Do you know what your company blog says about your business?
Author:
Jacqui MacKenzie is a writer for Straight North, one of the leading Internet marketing companies in Chicago. She writes for a wide range of clients, from merchant account providers for credit card processing restaurants to manufacturers of electrical gloves. Check out the Straight North blog, or follow @StraightNorth on Twitter.
Sources:

  • HOW TO: Create a Successful Company Blog
  • 11 Pro Tips for Better Business Blogging
  • 12 Most Successful Corporate Blogs
  • 10 Principles of Successful Business Blogging

Filed Under: Blog, General, PR & Writing, Publishing Tagged With: blog, business, Chicago, facebook, internet marketing, Social Media, twitter, Web design

How to Make Your Event Successful

March 13, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Those who organize events know that the success of the event depends on many things, least of them the weather. The amount of options and the connections the attendees create in an event will dictate if they will join you next time or not. In other words “What would I get out of it?”

Even in our connected and social media rich world, business is still done face to face. The biggest hurdles business people have to overcome are psychological; how to introduce themselves to strangers, how to portray themselves without seeming cocky and how to make the most of the time in the event.

Pathable.com is a new program that aims to create a virtual gathering place before the start of the event. It is a private online community which aims to facilitate introductions and highlight common interests. They provide an interactive space for the attendees to gather and share information.

When one registers an event, all the attendees are asked to fill a profile. Those profiles are personalized with photos and links to other sites and all other web representations in social media; Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and more.

This has the potential of introducing the attendees to each other before the event starts. People can see who they would like to meet personally at the event and start a conversation beforehand. The program even makes it easier to spot them; people with common interests are highlighted.

Starting a discussion in forums is encouraged, and because people can converse, they can also set meeting to take place during the event. The software enables mailing schedules that will appear on all the chosen attendees’ schedules at the same time.

A personalized conference calendar is available for each attendee, so they can easily build their own schedules as well. The program enables attendees to save space for private meetings and has a diagram of the conference, including all the booths and private rooms to make navigating the event very easy.

Event sponsors can create their own pages and sponsorship tools that target specific channels. They can participate in the conversation and communicate with the attendees in a non-intrusive way. It provides another place for targeted advertisement.

All those features are available in a mobile app for iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Windows and Android as well. Easy to use and quick to respond.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

Sources:

http://www.pathable.com/tour/

http://www.crunchbase.com/company/pathable

http://www.geekwire.com/2011/profitable-growing-pathable-raises-cash-events-social

Filed Under: Blog, General Tagged With: Chief executive officer, Executive director, facebook, Hedge fund, iPhone, LinkedIn, Social Media, twitter

Inbound Marketing Summit NYC 2012 – 3 Important Tips to Take Home

March 12, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Image c/o http://inboundmarketingsummit.com/event/new-york/

If you had the opportunity to sit in on the panels at the Inbound Marketing Summit in New York this year, you likely took away a few vital lessons that you can carry to your business. The conference itself has evolved over the last few years. It has held a focus on social marketing strategies, but has also begun a swift evolution to cover other vital elements such as social TV, touch screen devices, and mobile marketing, as well as defining what these technological shifts really mean for professionals utilizing engagement skills and strategies.

While many interesting points were made, there were absolutely three great highlights that every small business owner should consider when focusing on social media and fan engagement.

Social Media Advertising

Most social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and even LinkedIn have opportunities for advertising at relatively affordable prices. While businesses are building and managing their content in order to break through valuable channels to achieve better engagement, they are finding that advertising can be easy when it is placed where people are hanging around the most. With the many Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn stats we are familiar with when it comes to time spent on social networks these days, there is no doubt that although more affordable than many other types of digital or traditional advertising, they are still highly effective. The IMS panels recommended trying this out on your Facebook Fan page since it is significantly easier to build an audience there.

Responding and Engaging

Image c/o http://socialmarketingfella.com/

You have heard it before here at DBMEI, it is not enough to simply create formats for your consumers to interact with, you actually have to be responsive, and in a relatively short period of time for maximum engagement opportunities. Business owners can either use a team to ensure engagement in a timely manner, or they can use alerts and other monitoring programs to ensure their consumers or prospective customers are given responses before too much time has passed. They should also not wait until there is an issue to engage, even if a visitor just stops by to post or praise your products and services, give them a swift thanks a Like, and a special coupon code when at all possible. Make interactivity on your social media platforms a source of mutual positive reinforcement when at all possible.

Have a Plan

Business owners need to have a plan. You shouldn’t be rolling over, firing up the computer, and tapping your fingers until the content idea comes to you. You need a lot more of a forecasted plan than that. Using a social media editorial calendar can be a helpful way to pre-plan and map out topics so that they are optimized for distribution, coverage, and of course engagement. You should know ahead of time, aside from breaking or important trending news, what type of content will be created and when it will be set for distribution. Knowing your audience and what type of content they can appreciate, combined with a social media editorial calendar will help business owners to better manage engagement with current or potential consumers.

Many other vital points arose that are also swiftly becoming crucial elements in business marketing such as tablets and social TV and their respective places in a full-bodied marketing campaign. Since Americans still watch around 35 hours of TV per week, many now on touch screen devices and tablets, marketing professionals now need to begin to consider how to capture an audience’s attention across multiple devices simultaneously.

However, it is also important to recall that another lesson from IMS included understanding user behavior over in-depth knowledge about emerging technologies.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

Sources:

  • Inbound Marketing Summit 2012 NYC
  • Fan Marketing at the IMS
  • Takeaways from the IMS 2012

Filed Under: Blog, Conferences & Education, General Tagged With: Basil C. Puglisi, business, Chief executive officer, facebook, IMS, Inbound Marketing Summit, LinkedIn, Marketing, New York, small business, Social Media, Social television, twitter

Is Tweeting the New Research Paper?

March 11, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com 9 Comments

Over the years, writing has changed immensely. Not only in words, but in structure as well. When I was in school, regular 4-6 page essays and stories were common. Go back a few hundred years and plays were more in style (ex: Shakespeare). Quite a few more centuries and you see epic (read: really long) poems (ex: Odyssey). The fact is that types of writing can also go in and out of style just as clogs do.
With the emerging world of social media, a new form of writing is beginning to rise. Rather than essays, English teachers are beginning to change their chosen method of writing. Teenagers are becoming so adept at turning long stories into short stories because of character limits that writing long essays is a mystery. In order to keep students interested and the classes modern, teachers are choosing to teach with social media.
While some litterateurs will forever scoff at these changes, there are also ways in which it makes a lot more sense than traditional rules and essays. One professor points out that when students are required to meet a certain page or word length, they resort to plagiarism, text that is too large, unnecessary spaces, long, drawn-out sentences, and repetition. The result is that the students are not necessarily better writers, but they can indeed write long papers, whether most of it is empty words or not.
An assignment that does not have a set length or has a short minimum requirement helps the student to write concisely and more creatively. And the best part? Students are doing homework every day without even realizing it, when posting new information on their chosen social media platform.
I’ve read stories of classrooms using social media to answer questions instead of raising hands. Students tweet their answer. Other classes give writing assignments with a word limit of 140; abbreviations are allowed, punctuation is optional. While some of it can go a little far, set limits are looking to be a great tool in producing great writers.
One interesting plan that I have seen is for the students to choose a short status update, tweet, or ad from the paper, usually one that is 10 words or less. Then have a discussion about what they mean, maybe imagine the story behind it. In turn, their assignment is to take a popular story like Cinderella or Harry Potter and make it into a 6-10 word story:
Unappreciated, abused stepdaughter, maid finds glass slipper with Prince.

In today’s world of limited patience and fast-paced workers, no one wants to sit down and read a long paper, essay, press release, or article anymore. As these factors change, it only makes sense that writing styles change, too. While I am all for a good long book, I like articles to be short and concise. If the students of today are leaning these new styles of writing, it seems that they may be more successful in a world of 140-character limits.
Author:

Megan Campbell has a degree from Clemson University in Graphic Communications, and is currently living in Germany during a Gap Year abroad, working as an au pair and freelance writer. Her degree set her up for a great interest and knowledge of social media. You can find her on her blog, balancewithadashofcrazy, or contact her via email at meganecamp at gmail dot com.
Sources:

  • http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/less-is-more-using-social-media-to-inspire-concise-writing/
  • http://homeschooling.penelopetrunk.com/2012/02/10/social-media-is-the-best-school/
  • http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2011/01/twitter_talk_meets_english_at.html
  • http://spotlight.macfound.org/blog/entry/reading-writing-and-tweeting-studies-on-using-twitter-for-class

Filed Under: Blog, General Tagged With: Cinderella, Clemson University, Essay, Gap Year, Harry Potter, Short story, Social Media, Writing

Optimizing Your Landing Page for Better Conversions

March 2, 2012 by basilpuglisi@aol.com 6 Comments

Your Landing page is the heart of your site. Irrespective of whether you have a product or a service to sell, landing pages can provide a subsequent boost to the conversion rate. Optimizing them is not hard if you know when and where to tweak the various elements. However, the hardest part is to find the elements that require some tweaks. This brings us to the fact that there is no rule sculpted over the stones which provides guidance towards the perfect optimization of landing pages.
Some ideas can optimize your landing page for better performance. They are:
Loading speed:
A landing page that loads faster has better conversion rate when put into comparison with a page that loads slower. Therefore you very first aim should be to increase the loading speed of your landing page. Factors that can be an obstacle to increase the loading speed are:
1. Images: Too many images over your landing page can be responsible for slow loading. Though images are eye capturers and are very much essential, it is necessary that you limit their usage. Cut down on any images that is irrelevant to the content. As far as possible try to eliminate the images of huge sizes as these consume more loading time. A single image at any specific fold of the page is the best practice.
2. Videos: Videos are widely used to replace written content. However, you should be aware of the fact that videos can never replace written content. Some people have completely stripped their landing page of written content and have replaced them by a long sales video. Users those who have a high internet speed connection will be sated whereas the users with slow internet speed will have no other option but to leave the page.
A smart marketer will tell you to balance your page in terms of written content and videos. A video clip should be used only when you are unable to explain a certain idea in written content. For example, let us say you are promoting your dancing lessons. The landing page can be a mix of written content which will be used to promote your product and the videos can be used to show clips of some complex dancing steps which might be impossible to put into written words.
Note: In many cases the loading speed of your page is attributed to your hosting company. Webhostingpad and register.com are some of the hosting companies that provide excellent hosting with fast loading speed.
Length of the page
What should be the length of the page? Should I provide the readers with just the basic information or detailed information about the product? These two questions spring simultaneously while designing a landing page. Again, there is no rule stating the length and the amount of the information that has to be provided as the answer to the above two questions depends upon the answer of the following question, how much information do your customers require to trust your product?
The amount of information provided should be enough for your customers to trust your product. The content in question can be of just a short paragraph or can be a never ending landing page. However, your copywriter should be talented enough to create a stunning copy so that your reader is adhered to the page until they make a purchase. Moreover, a balance between video and content will make your landing page look great.
Tone of the copy
Personalization is the magic word when it comes to marketing. The sad part is the overuse of the magic word. Imagine yourself to be looking out for a product and you suddenly arrive at a landing page where it is full of colloquial language sprinkled with emoticons. Would you like to risk your $40 in purchasing the product though the price seems to be reasonable? Hardly any of us will make a purchase from such a place.
When marketers mean personalization, they are telling you to write a copy that can be taken as personal without losing the soul of business. An image of yours is critical when it comes to personalization. The next part is to write a copy which appears to be a personalized one while still holding the nature of business. Once you get a good copywriter this shouldn’t be much of a concern to you.
Experiment
In some cases changing just a sentence can affect the conversion rate. Therefore, consistent experiment with your landing page is necessary. Split experiment can provide better results when using trial and error methods.
These few tips will, though trivial, when applied can affect the conversion rate in huge numbers.
Author:
Richie Richardson is a prolific writer on Internet Marketing and Social Media. He also writes for webhostingpad discount codes and register.com discount codes. You can make use of the deals provided by webhostingpad and register.com for your hosting needs.
Sources:

  • Landing page Optimization
  • 10 Landing Page optimization Tactics
  • 3 Secrets to Landing Page Optimization

Filed Under: Blog, General Tagged With: Conversion rate, google, internet marketing, Landing page, Landing page optimization, Richie Richardson, Search engine optimization, Social Media

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