Every so often, when I want to feel true pain, I subject myself to one of the single worst websites on the internet – PRDaily – a snake eating its own tail of PR people in denial about their relevance to the world at large, with the occasional summary of how a big company spent millions of dollars and how PR people were at some point involved. They also love to make posts, just like the rest of the industry, about lessons you might learn about PR from something not related to PR, such as The Lessons You Can Learn About PR From Bird-Brained Historically Inaccurate and Genuinely Terrible Rap-Musical Hamilton. This awful screed is an example of PR people searching for relevance and importance in popular culture, a truly depressing and embarrassing pursuit. This is the career version of buyer’s remorse – when you realize the job you do is not exactly the most important in the world, instead of saying “hey, at least I get paid money and people are happy,” you say the following: The post, “7 PR lessons from ‘Hamilton,’” is the platonic form of these “how do I make this about PR” posts:
These posts are some of the most cynical, putrid deposits in PR, and, while seemingly harmless, are part of a larger issue of misleading and gaslighting young PR people into believing that they have a larger affect on the world than they do. By making these posts about PR lessons from a big famous thing, you are telling the PR person that everything is about PR, that PR has relevance to everything, that they are more important than they think and that their world can be seen through the lens of PR. By leading PR people to have a greater degree of self importance, you relax the need for critiques – both of oneself and of the industry at large – and a genuine ignorance of that which may cause you to be better at your job. The irony is that these same people who love these posts also talk about how the PR person isn’t the story, while at the same time trying to feel as important as they possibly can. It’s fine to not be important, it’s fine to not be popular, and it’s fine to not have relevance to every piece of modern culture. I really do mean that, and I want to be clear to PR people that just because your job can be described as sending emails at scale or writing lots of documents, that’s totally fine. You are in a well-compensated industry with lots of work. You do things that do have an affect on the world, though those things may be someone else’s achievements, and that’s okay too. Your job isn’t as interesting to describe as, say, a doctor’s, or a lawyer’s, but guess what? It’s also nowhere near as hard to do and requires far fewer qualifications. You don’t have to make up why you’re important, you don’t have to puff it up, you have a good job, and through said job you likely have a better chance at working at the companies you want to work at than most people. Please, stop trying to pretend we’re more important than we are. Be happy with what you’ve got. The post There Are No Public Relations Lessons To Be Learned From Any Media Property appeared first on The Future Buzz. Original source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheFutureBuzz/~3/FMKRL3uyj1Y/ The post There Are No Public Relations Lessons To Be Learned From Any Media Property appeared first on connect social networks. via Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/there-are-no-public-relations-lessons-to-be-learned-from-any-media-property/
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When trying to get your business to gain popularity and grow, digital marketing strategies are the best methods to utilize that can help you increase your customer base. When you work on improving your online presence, it will impact your business positively. With the right marketing plans and search engine optimization (SEO) tactics, you can expect a significant increase in your traffic. If you want to learn more about how you can make your business succeed, then read on to learn more about how you can do so by attracting a lot of genuine traffic to your online platforms. Email MarketingA strong email marketing strategy can make a huge difference in the success of your business. This is one of the strongest methods available to generate traffic to your platform. You just need to personalize each email to your customers to get their attention. You need a healthy and strong subscriber list and you need to sync your landing pages with your email strategies. Then you need to properly segment different email lists depending on the interests of your visitors/subscribers. Just remember to target each recipient with a special and personalized email to make them feel appreciated. This will draw their attention and they won’t be discouraged or ignore your email because it isn’t filled with sales jargon. Guest PostingYou can help generate traffic by guest posting, which is an easy way to guarantee some organic traffic. Guest posting is an effective marketing method that involves you writing a blog post or an article on someone else’s platform online. The major benefits of guest blogging/posting are too good to pass up. It gives you a chance to reach more audiences and connect with different potential customers that might be interested in your platform. You need to make sure that the website you choose to guest post on is related to your business. Relevant guest posting will always generate genuine traffic. People will get interested and you can help your brand gain the exposure it needs. Utilizing Software ToolsYou need to start monitoring your competitors by utilizing software tools. You need to understand what they’re doing right when it comes to traffic generation. This involves reviewing your rival’s tactics and social ads. This can help you significantly in social media marketing too. It’s quite common for businesses to use Facebook ad spy tools to understand how their competitors are using social ads, creatives, targeting options, audience lists, and the ad copy itself. But it doesn’t work as a method of stealing a company’s ads and copying them verbatim. This will not work positively for you and you would tarnish your reputation in this way. Use it to gain insight into how your rivals are succeeding in the business world. The data you gather will help you strategize and come up with better ads that are much more effective in generating genuine traffic to your platforms Social MediaWe’ve mentioned social media before and how important it could be to increase traffic levels. You need to come up with a plan that will allow you to build relationships with your audience. You need to build a community that has loyal customers, but you can’t do that without posting regularly. Set up social media pages and show people interesting content, important news, and special offers. This will be a chance to communicate with your audience and get to know them better. You will understand their preferences and needs effectively to capitalize on it by getting your potential customers interested in your platform. Your genuine traffic will increase significantly, and you could land numerous sales orders. Building BacklinksYou should start building strong backlinks because SEO tactics can generate a ton of genuine traffic for you. Backlinks are placed on other platforms and blogs that are related to your business. It would be great if you find websites with strong authority levels because that can benefit your platform. Your site would gain more traffic and people will get more interested in your brand when you implement it right. Just don’t aggressively have thousands of backlinks on different websites because the quantity isn’t better than quality. Also, you don’t want Google to stop you from gaining a higher ranking in the search engine lists. Play it safe and do it correctly with relevant blogs and websites that make sense to the products or services you’re providing. Location-Based KeywordsA strong location-based keyword is another effective SEO tactic that can drive more traffic to your website. Each brand has numerous keywords in different articles that will redirect the user to the brand’s platform. But if you do this by adding a location, then the people who search for the nearest choice will always land on your platform. This is great because customers are always looking for stores, companies, or services that are close to where they live. You can increase your traffic, generate leads, boost your sales, and earn a lot of revenue every quarter. The location used in the keyword placement can be a town name, a postcode, or the area itself. This is an effective way to target local customers in your area. Word-Of-Mouth TacticsNumerous people underestimate the power of word-of-mouth tactics and how it can attract more people to your platform. This is possible through special offers that you provide to your current customers. The idea is to have them send their friends or family members a promo code that will give them discounts if they purchase products directly from your platform. This is a great method of retaining your customers and making them purchase more. Also, it’s effective in converting the new visitors you get into paying customers. This is a great way to spread your brand name around and it will increase your overall exposure in the market. People will know who you are and get a special offer too. Create Interesting ContentYou need to think about how creating interesting content can transform your platform to attract more leads. This will increase traffic levels for you if you have great content that is appealing enough for people. They will want to learn more about specific products and services. This can be anything from articles, pictures, videos, guides, and a lot more. You need your visitor to have all the information they need and come back for more because it was displayed pleasantly. Also, interesting content can change your platform into a strong central hub for information. Google will notice this change and see the number of visitors you get every day. This will improve your ranking online and that will generate even more traffic overtime for you. Keep UpdatingYou should always keep updating your outdated content and strategies. Some of your content might be too old to be useful and most marketing strategies need to be altered and changed to match today’s customers. You need to update your backlinks and keywords to make sure they’re working properly to effectively generate more traffic. Google changes the system gradually and you need to adapt to those changes to make sure that your website stays updated, relevant, and worthy of having a high ranking. Always adapt and evolve with the current times for better results. Check Your AnalyticsYou must check your analytics frequently to learn from your progress. This means that you should check the good days where you had great traffic levels and the bad days that had low traffic levels. You can learn from that data and convert it to clear reports that you can review. You will get the insight you need to repeat the same actions that attracted a lot of users to your platform. Also, you will avoid all the bad tactics that lead to a decrease in your traffic levels. There is always room for improvement, and you need to know which areas you have that need your attention and which areas need to be strengthened. Hire InfluencersHiring influencers can prove to be quite useful for businesses that need an extra helping hand. This will increase your exposure levels and you will gain a lot more visitors that check your website for your products and services. Influencers are famous people in the world that have a huge audience of their own. That audience can be yours too because the fans would listen to their favorite actors/actresses, music artists, critics, and social media figures. They will get interested enough after hearing the influencer talk about your brand. This will drive everyone to check your platform and that will give you a surge of positive traffic. Also, it’s a chance to convert most of them into paying customers and increase sales. Go MobileIMAGE SOURCE: https://pixabay.com/images/search/web%20traffic/ You should check your platform’s compatibility and make sure it’s accessible through mobile devices. This is extremely important, and most businesses tend to ignore the fact that the majority of online users come from mobile devices. More than half the traffic of online users and shoppers use their smartphones. You can gain more leads and convert them into paying customers if you have a website that is compatible with mobile devices. You need to appeal to what makes customers happy and comfortable. Smartphones and other smart devices are easier to use, and they can be used anywhere. You can’t miss out on all the mobile online users that can increase your sales and exposure levels. Have GiveawaysMost businesses think that giveaways are a waste of money, but they are sorely mistaken. Enticing your customers with giveaways will interest them enough to buy more and word will spread about your giveaway plans. If you advertise this well using the effective digital marketing strategies that you constantly use, then more people will visit your platform and get a chance to get your giveaway. Everyone loves free products and if your little event can allow some people to get something for free, then they will surely participate. Chances are that the new people that visit your platform might come back for more information or even purchase a product from you after the giveaway ended. Help Your CommunityHelping your local community through charitable events and special services can improve your reputation and increase exposure levels. People love it when companies care about their communities and help make it a better place for them. This can get a lot of traffic getting sent your way because customers will be interested in a brand that genuinely wants to help people. Customers and potential clients will trust you more and that trust can turn into loyalty. Why would they go to another brand if they already know you from your contributions to the community? Just as you supported them; they would support your brand as well. This support can come in the form of subscriptions and sales too. Collaborate with Other CompaniesIt would be wise to collaborate with other companies to help each other grow. This is great because you will both gain each other’s audience. It will drive sales margins tremendously and exposure levels will be extremely high. You can expect a surge of traffic this way because the other company’s audience would be interested in what you have to offer. The same effect will happen to them with your audience too. Tapping into each other’s audience through a special webinar can be very effective to gain more exposure. Every company involved will go home happy because they’ve gained more potential customers this way. You can promote and get people excited for the webinar through social media outlets for better results. With the right mindset, you will gain exposure, generate leads, and convert those leads into paying customers who love your products and services. It doesn’t matter what kind of business you own because any brand can gain popularity and success using most of these strategies for the betterment of their online presence. It will help you increase sales, satisfy customers, and compete effectively with any of your rivals in the market. Your success can ensure that your brand name will be part of the annals of business history. Not only will traffic be easily generated, but your profits will be through the roof! The post Drive More Traffic to Your Website – Here’s How appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/drive-more-traffic-to-your-website-heres-how/ The post Drive More Traffic to Your Website – Here’s How appeared first on connect social networks. via Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/drive-more-traffic-to-your-website-heres-how/ The Help A Reporter Out mailing list was once a golden source of getting last minute coverage for all sorts of businesses. If you’re unfamilar with the concept, it’s a thrice daily email of reporters reaching out to gather sources. These emails have been known to have dozens of requests for sources. Started by Peter Shankman about a decade ago, the basic email is free. But is it still worth it? Too PopularThe first problem with modern HARO is that it’s very well known. It’s been touted as a great source for SEOs looking for links through genuine coverage as well as for PR teams. It means that each request will typically receive dozens if not hundreds of pitches. That’s great for reporters, but horrible for actually getting attention through the system. This volume makes it a bit of a black hole. Its not uncommon to seed out 20 requests before seeing even an acknowledgement in return. While it’s supposed to be the ethic to send out “rejections” it’s rarely followed. It’s also common to gain coverage with out even getting a notification about it. It’s always nice to prep clients that they’ll be getting some media, and when, so they can be ready to talk. That doesn’t happen either. Bad RequestsThe second problem has to do with the types of requests. Some are fantastically on point, timely, and focused and there’s no reason to ignore those. However, when the holiday season rolls around there’s also quite a few requests for review products. I’m sure some are legit. I’m also sure that there’s a lot of bloggers that just want free stuff. Maybe saying no to these is a good idea. The most annoying type of request has to be the “looking for confirmation” request. This takes the form of trying to confirm a controversial or unusual position. There was a recent request for doctors to talk about essential oils that can treat the flu. Normal medical doctors aren’t going to say that an oil is going to prevent the flu. It’s not researched, it’s not supported, and the FDA goes out of their way to make sure that every essential oil company puts a huge disclaimer on it’s package about how it’s not there to treat anything. This reporter only needs one doctor to say something else, and the article is written. The flu kills people. Poorly supported info can be complicit in that. Real Opportunity and TrendsAll that said, if you wade through all of the chaff, there are quite a few wonderful opportunities. Finance and accounting in particular seem to have a disproportionate number of requests. Cryptocurrency used to be a hot bed, but is now quite a bit slower as the interest has waned a bit there. It can even be good to take a pulse of reporters interests. There are real trends to see and even if none of the requests fit, it could form an idea for existing clients and reporter contacts. I wouldn’t say HARO is worth throwing out of the tool box just yet, but don’t expect it to get you on the cover of Newsweek either. The post Is HARO still valuable for PR appeared first on The Future Buzz. Original source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheFutureBuzz/~3/XEJCm9J6ELg/ The post Is HARO still valuable for PR appeared first on connect social networks. via Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/is-haro-still-valuable-for-pr/ Social media companies rely on individuals with unique skill sets that didn’t exist over a decade ago. Even experienced offline marketers struggle to navigate the challenges of social media marketing. Marketing agencies need to make sure that their employees are properly trained. In the past, agencies often trained their employees in a traditional office setting, despite the availability of technology that enabled remote working. The COVID-19 virus has forced them to transition towards remote learning and working. There are signs that this is going to be a permanent shift for social media companies all over the world. Social Media Companies Will Train their Workers Remotely for the Foreseeable FutureFor many people, two of the most obvious signs of COVID has been the shutting kindergartens and schools, colleges and universities and the halting of face-to-face training for businesses and companies. This closing of places of learning and training facilities has led to a paradigm mass-shift in the methodologies used for education and professional development. This hasn’t affected social media agencies as much as other companies, but they have been impacted to some degree. Some of them still relied heavily on an in-person workplace, which created a new dynamic when the illness hit. They have adjusted well and are seeing the potential of a workplace that relies more on eLearning. This can change the future for social media training, but there are still some kinks to work out. After all, even though much of the world has implemented social distancing, the need for education has not stopped and staff still need to build their skills and abilities. This includes workplaces that need to train their employees to handle complex tasks such as social media marketing. To fill this need, e-learning has been rolling out on a scale as never before seen. What is e-Learning? For the average person, e-Learning can mean ‘leaning done by studying at home by using computers and courses provided on the internet’ or for any learning where the content is delivered through electronic means. But while both these are true, they do not give the whole picture. E-Learning, as a separate definition describes it, is: ‘a learning system based on formalized teaching but with the help of electronic resources… While teaching can be based in or out of the classrooms, the use of computers and the Internet forms the major component of E-learning. E-learning can also be termed as a network enabled transfer of skills and knowledge [where] the delivery of education is made to a large number of recipients at the same or different times’. E-learning is a structured learning process and can be made up of many different types of content – online lectures, audio recordings, simulations, videos, quizzes, activities, even games. It can be delivered via web browser interface or through e-learning solutions, such as apps. The Association for Talent Development states that e-Learning falls into two categories, asynchronous and synchronous:
The ATD states that there are multiple benefits that can be gained from e-Learning when compared to more traditional methods. It breaks these down as follows:
The growth in e-Learning E-Learning is not new – it has been growing in popularity since the early 2000s, notably with the development of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). But because of the requirements for physical distancing since the start of COVID, the extent of e-Learning provision has increased substantially. Educational establishments have had to shift their entire teaching curriculums online, requiring the rapid development and deployment of e-learning solutions. This has not just taken place in Europe and North America: globally, more and more courses are now offering using e-Learning or, at the least, incorporating e-Learning elements, with universities from Namibia to Jordan all using e-learning. But how does the development of e-Learning take place? E-Learning Development Services One of the results of the expansion of e-Learning – not just in the last few months but over the past decade – has been an increase in the professionalism of both the platforms used and the content offered. As with many aspects of online content and delivery, the creation of e-Learning solutions – whether this is related to the need to put together specific content or create an e-learning app – is often best done by firms that are specialists in e-Learning application development and the provision of e-Learning development services. These firms work closely with the subject matter specialists (normally the customer who wants a particular project created) to produce a software package that can offer the content to the desired audience in the required manner. There are many aspects that need to be considered when doing this, for example: what is the content that needs to be conveyed? Are there pre-existing platforms that need to be incorporated? What is the likely user hardware and software profile? What is the state of the telecoms network that the target user will have to make use of? What is the praxeology of the course? Which languages does the content need to be offered in? A specialist e-Learning solutions firm is able to take the answers to these and other questions and create an e-Learning app that precisely meets the needs of the client and user. With the expansion and growth of e-Learning solutions around the world, ensuring the delivery of high-quality content is essential for educational and professional development providers. Social Media Companies Will Continue to Train their Employees Remotely in 2020The government lockdown has led many companies to train their employees remotely. Social media companies are no exception. In fact, they are among the companies leading this trend. This trend is proving to be successful, so it will likely continue long after the COVID-19 crisis comes to an end. The post eLearning Is the New Reality for Social Media Training in 2020 appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/business-innovation-2/elearning-is-the-new-reality-for-social-media-training-in-2020/ The post eLearning Is the New Reality for Social Media Training in 2020 appeared first on connect social networks. via Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/elearning-is-the-new-reality-for-social-media-training-in-2020/ What Problem Does Your Business Solve For You? written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing Don’t misunderstand the title of this entry – I’m talking about you, the business owner, the start-up entrepreneur, the employee. What Problem Does Your Business Solve For You? See, at its heart, every business exists to solve problems. We may choose to communicate the features and benefits of our business and what it sells, but it’s a fact that buyers don’t care what we sell until they understand how doing business with us can solve their problems. So what does that have to do with you and your problems? I would like to propose an idea that’s not talked about enough; until you can fully understand the problems your business solves for you and how your business (your job) serves your, life you may struggle to understand how to best build the lasting customer relationships and internal culture you’ll need to grow a thriving business. Now I know this seems a bit dramatic but ask yourself this question. What problem were you trying to solve when you started your business? This is a harder question than it appears and this is not the same question as “what’s your purpose in life?” Let me illustrate. At first pass, many people would answer the “problem” question with things like, “it puts a roof over my head,” or “it gives me the freedom to make my own choices,” or even things like “it allows me to use my gifts.” Nothing wrong with any of those answers, but they feel a little more like features and benefits, but nowhere near the truth. So here’s where it gets tough. I’ve come to realize that the problem I was trying to solve when I first started my business was low self-esteem. I certainly didn’t know this at the time, but in many ways, in hindsight at least, it has and continues to color my decisions and daily actions. See, I never really did that well in the traditional metric of school. I loved learning, had an insatiable curiosity, but “school” didn’t fit how I learned. I got through high school but never quite finished college. I attended for four years and turned up about 30 hours short of any kind of degree. I wanted to keep moving, keep pace with my peers, and at the time I was madly in love with a woman who has now tolerated me in marriage for over three decades. I just took the next step in life, but lacking a degree I never quite felt worthy of or even capable of chasing the traditional career path. So I hid out for a while until I stumbled on the notion of starting my own business. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but I did know I would never have to interview with anyone in order to land the job and that solved a problem for me. Just how long that element lived with me is hard to tell, but I can clearly point the finger at this dynamic in some of the ruts and stalls I’ve experienced in my business over the years. Now, it’s funny but people often associate starting a business with a large dollop of confidence and self-esteem, but it’s probably one of the greatest misperceptions about entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs often use their business as a mask or a stage for some sort of lack. That’s not really the point I’m trying to make, but hopefully, it helps illustrate the fact that once I realized that the real problem my business solved initially was to help me deal with my own issues, I could start to see a pattern of decisions that were based in feeding that solution rather than in my own personal or professional growth. This is the kind of thing that leads us to take a client we know is wrong for us. This is what leads us to lower our prices and undermine our value. This is what keeps us doing what we’ve always done, even if it clearly no longer serves. (And by the way, this applies to any employee out there as surely as it does to a business owner.) So let me ask you again – Why did you start your business, what problem were you really trying to solve? Does solving that problem feed your growth or keep you in a pattern of something akin to treading water? Ever feel stuck? Then look for the clues to answer this question. You cannot reframe the problem your business solves for you until you understand it and define it. Once you gain clarity around this idea you can reimagine your relationship with your business. You can take charge of the problem your business needs to solve for you and you can perhaps finally focus on uncovering and solving the problems that can bring your customers and everyone else who has a relationship with your business the greatest value. You can do less and be more. You can develop the confidence to say no, to narrow your focus to only those you are meant to serve, to create far greater impact than you ever imagined. Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/your-business-problem/ The post What Problem Does Your Business Solve For You? appeared first on connect social networks. via Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/what-problem-does-your-business-solve-for-you/ Who would not want to make extra cash online? We keep searching for ways to increase our income and one of the easiest ways is through the internet. If you have a good connection and time to spare, you can use that to your benefit. You have definitely heard about gaining money through advertisements, especially through Adsense. If you have never heard of it, we are here to give you the proper knowledge to build up the courage and go for it. How Does It Work?Adsense is a Google moderated way to earn money from the content you publish online. Basically, after creating your own website, Google will check it and post advertisements on it depending on the subject and kinds of visitors. When a certain number of people click on an ad generated on your website, you get paid. Furthermore, it is free to use and sign up for. Fortunately, you get to choose what kind of advertisements to be promoted and you can block future ones about topics that you don’t want to appear. Also, you can pick which area on your page they should be displayed. If you have more than one website, you don’t have to create multiple Adsense accounts, you can link the already existing one to all of them. DownsidesUnfortunately, everything has drawbacks because life isn’t ideal. If by mistake you violated their policies or clicked on one of the ads, your account will be terminated. In that case, you should be aware of different options to replace the one that you have been banned from. You can do your research and remind yourself that anything has a good alternative and you shouldn’t cry over the one you lost. Another downside is that when a visitor opens an ad, they will be directed away from your website so if there was any chance for them to buy what you offer, they will forget about it. So, sometimes it feels bad that after building your traffic, they leave yours for another link. Boosting Traffic to Your WebsiteTo have a proper number of clicks, you should have enough traffic on your website. So, you need to focus on your content’s growth to attract more people to check what you offer and on their way, they will view the ads.
Your website could be about a product you are selling, reviews, or content writing. It doesn’t matter as long as you are being original and unique. Also, your website design reflects who you are as a person, so you should be picky while decorating it.
After a long day at work, we tend to be lazy and unable to look at any more laptops’ screens. So, your website should be light and can be opened on mobile phones without lagging or being too slow. That will help you as well because you will be able to check your numbers regularly and post remotely too!
For starters, there should be a clear search bar on the top of the page so visitors would easily type their targeted keyword and reach it. Also, don’t expose all of your content on the first page because that way, visitors won’t dig deeper so they won’t reach the available ads on the rest of the pages. Moreover, squeeze in links here and there so people can jump from one page to another if they got bored of the topic they are reading about.
You need to constantly remind your visitors that you exist and that you post new content weekly or monthly. That can be done through notifications or emails if people decide to agree to be reminded every time you post. That will give them a second chance to click on the ads regularly. Types of AdvertisementsThey come in different kinds and forms, so you can choose the ones that best fit your website. Here are the most common ones.
It appears with an underlined title and a short description. They can be in the form of one unit or multiple units.
They are videos or a collection of photos displayed together to be eye-catching regardless of what they are offering.
They are graphics-based and come in different forms. For example, they can be horizontal, vertical, or in the form of a banner. It is easy and almost effort-free to sign up for Adsense. You are one click away from building a community and some more away from starting to make money online. You just need to stick to the rules and regulations of Google and if by any chance you violated one, there are always substitutes. The post What You Should Know About Google Adsense appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Original source: https://socialmediaexplorer.com/content-sections/tools-and-tips/what-you-should-know-about-google-adsense/ The post What You Should Know About Google Adsense appeared first on connect social networks. via Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/what-you-should-know-about-google-adsense/ It should be painfully obvious by now, but if you’re pitching someone, for the love of God – make sure you’re pitching the right person. For example, if the journalist you are trying to pitch has this name: Katherine Riley, make sure you’re pitching the right Katherine Riley and not Katherine E. Riley. It’s confusing, I know, but if you could do that, this Katherine would really appreciate it. A little backgroundWith the holiday season coming up, droves upon droves of PR people (including this chump) are on the hunt for journalists and bloggers on the gift guide beat. It’s a yearly thing, and it’s one of those things about the job that needs to get done. Unfortunately for journalists and bloggers, their inboxes get flooded with unwanted and usually irrelevant pitches. Take Katherine E. Riley, for instance. She’s a data journalist over at Flourish. Guessing from the tweet above, she’s getting spammed with a ton of pitches that I hope are intended for E! News’ gift guide writer, Katherine Riley. I mean, that’s the only logical answer here. I can see how people could get this confused, but cmon, this is pitching 101. Do your homework. It literally took me a couple of minutes to find the right email address for the other Katherine Riley over at E! News. It takes work, but again, we know how some PR people can struggle with this. Either way, with the holiday gift guide season here in full swing, be sure you’re pitching the right people. People like Katherine E. Riley get enough email, let’s help them a bit with one less plopping in their inbox. If you enjoyed this post, check out the rest of our “PR People: Don’t Do This” series, be sure to check out some of the previous entries here, here, and here. Feel free to share them on Facebook or Twitter, we’ll appreciate the love. This a regular series on The Future Buzz, so if you ever come across any gems like this, feel free to drop them in our contact page here or Twitter. For a quicker response, I’m always here too. The post PR People: Don’t Do This #5 appeared first on The Future Buzz. Original source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheFutureBuzz/~3/ih9REHLDIEE/ The post PR People: Don’t Do This #5 appeared first on connect social networks. via Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/pr-people-dont-do-this-5/ How to Be Ready for What’s Next written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing Marketing Podcast with Chuck Swoboda In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Chuck Swoboda, author, speaker, podcast host, and the Innovator-in-Residence at Marquette University. He served as Chairman and CEO of Cree for 16 years where his team successfully led the LED lighting revolution not just by creating new products, but by focusing on solving old problems in completely new ways. He has seen what it takes to make the impossible, possible. Under his leadership, the company grew from just over $6 million in annual revenue in 1993 to over $1.6 billion as they transformed Cree from a start-up into a global market leader with 6,500 employees worldwide. Cree was recognized as MIT Technology Review’s 50 Smartest Companies for 2014 and as one of Fast Companies World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2015. Chuck is the author of The Innovator’s Spirt, hosts the Innovators on Tap podcast, and has been a speaker on leading innovation for both corporate clients as well as a number of universities including; Harvard Business School, Marquette University, University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, University of North Carolina, and North Carolina State University. Questions I ask Chuck Swoboda:
What you’ll learn if you give a listen:
More about Chuck Swoboda:
Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please! This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by .site. Have you ever tried looking for a domain name? Chances are that the first few options you tried were not available. You are not alone! Now you have the power to change this. You can get the exact domain name that you want on new domain extensions such as .site. It is short, it is simple-to-understand and it literally means “website” so it’s perfect for any website that you might be building. In fact, I got myself www.selfreliance.site where I talk about my book ‘The Self Reliant Entrepreneur’ and share content to help people become self-reliant in their entrepreneurial journey. You too can get your very own .site domain for as low as $1.99. Visit www.get.site. Search for your unique .site domain and use code ‘selfreliance’ to get 50% off on your domain purchase. Original source: https://ducttapemarketing.com/how-to-be-ready-for-whats-next/ The post How to Be Ready for What’s Next appeared first on connect social networks. via Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/how-to-be-ready-for-whats-next/ In the early days of the Internet, it could be argued that the music industry was one of the best at digital. One of the first online open communities was Iron Maiden’s early site. MySpace was a massive success in no small part due to the musical presence there, launching careers like OneRepublic and eventually selling to Justin Timberlake. Of course, MySpace is now a footnote to Facebook’s history. So what happened? Let’s start by looking at a couple of not so random musical websites.There’s no denying that Taylor Swift is one of the biggest pop stars going right now. Her site features four options in the menu. Events, Video, Merchandise and Newsletter. Half of the links end up further down the page, leaving only Events and Merch with their own pages. So other than merch, there’s only two pages. The leading image is her album cover, and a close up of her album cover. This makes for really bad SEO. If you search Taylor Swift Albums, for example, her own site is nowhere to be found. Roughly 30,000 people in the US do that search every month. Add in variants (discography) and it’s more like 150K a month. There’s no self controlled news, or anything else for fans for content unless you signup for that news letter. At least it’s kind of pretty. Let’s look at the site that unseated her a the top of the charts. Tool.This at least features a few more user paths and content to consume. The top of the site is dominated by a very extensive video loop, and there are links to more than just the latest video they’ve produced. But it’s virtually unreadable. If you can’t see it in the screen cap, it wouldn’t be surprising. Sure it captures the dark and brooding rock star thing, but doesn’t exactly make it usable. Further down the page you’d find this article: If you actually click on the read more you’ll see the cover of the magazine, but on the home page only the link can be seen. The link they posted is only a bare link with the facebook tracking parameter. In addition to looking quite ugly, it’s throwing off the metrics from where ever they took the link. It’s 2019, it’s not that hard to build a link with anchor text. So bands don’t care about product sales or websites?Somewhere in time, Napster came along and broke the industry. But it wasn’t really Napster, it was actually iTunes. And Pandora and Spotify Broke it further. Digital downloads and physical sales are only around 25% of music revenue any more. The remaining 75% is streaming. Rather than potentially thousands of retailers for sales, the bulk is now on a few platforms. Musicians care about SEO. It’s just that that S stands for Spotify rather than search. They’ve ceded control to the big streaming platforms and they know it. The same might be said of ticket sales for concerts. It’s pretty much ticketmaster or secondary market places. The marketplace tacks on plenty of “convenience fees” which help the company but not the musician. Somewhere upwards of 20% on average for the convenience of buying a ticket in the only place you can get one. That means the sites are left for superfans, not acquisition. It’s made opportunities for sites that specialize in lyrics or setlists, so you can find out which artist sings that song with a single line you remember. Google’s recognized this and is pretty good at matching the entity of a single line from a song to the actual song What should a budding artist do?We’ve looked at big artists, and poked holes in the work they’ve done. For every superstar, there’s thousands of struggling bands trying to make a go at music for a living. What should they do to get noticed? We’d recommend some of the classic tactics for marketing and PR. Getting noticed in an industry like music is hard, but there are pros that expressly exist to help with this. People have to hear a song somewhere to start the interest cycle. The era of self made artists isn’t over, it’s just shifted to getting noticed on platforms like YouTube and Spotify from traditional radio and record shops. Social media can help too, as long as you’re making your music easy to share and find. Social media influencers are as real in this space as the recommendation engines. If anything the splintered landscape of digital has made the possibility to get discovered from anywhere, instead of just music towns. And of course if you like this, don’t forget to check out my soundcloud. The post Why is the music industry bad at digital marketing? appeared first on The Future Buzz. Original source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheFutureBuzz/~3/rgYYSQQTnNU/ The post Why is the music industry bad at digital marketing? appeared first on connect social networks. via Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/why-is-the-music-industry-bad-at-digital-marketing/ We’re a few days from the actual Black Friday, but by now you’ve no doubt had roughly 500 emails announcing various Black Friday deals. Has this annual sale jumped the shark? Black Friday Historically SpeakingThere was a time that Black Friday was the most important shopping day of the year. Most professionals have the day after Thanksgiving off, and have spent the day with their families the day before. The 2 inch thick newspaper full of ads was the perfect escape from actually talking to our relatives. Throw in a few absurdly low priced items to get you to come in early, and you have a consumerist tradition in the making Things are different now. Sure, we still want to avoid our relatives, but now we’re doing it on social media with the five inch computer in our pocket we call a smartphone. One reaction was to create Cyber Monday, but the vast majority of purchases still happen in person. Plus the black friday ads were often leaked well ahead of time, limiting the effect of the physical ad. Black Friday becomes NovemeberReporters are all too happy to report on the leaked ads. It’s great for the attention that the deal gets, but it might actually hurt sales in the short term. After all, if you knew the TV you’d been eyeballing was going to be much cheaper if you waited, there’s no reason to buy it now. Retailers did the obvious thing. They started selling at Black Friday prices well ahead of the actual day. It leaves the actual day for some deals that encourage odd, but newsworthy, behavior like camping out in front of the store. It’s still great for PR. I’m left to wonder if the notion will lose its newsy appeal sooner than later. As news rooms suffer with dwindling resources, do they really want to send a crew on a holiday to interview a crazed consumer, just like they did last year, about the unbeatable laptop offer that’s worth spending the night in the cold to acquire? It comes across as an unpaid ad in so many ways. Online only outlets seem to rarely cover these sorts of events, and we suspect their traditional counterparts will do the same eventually. It might go without saying that calling it a day doesn’t make sense any more, but the word Black Friday has taken on a life well beyond it’s literal 24 hour period. Any SEO worth their salt would tell you that people actually search that term way more than anything else you might try and call it. You can’t make people search they way you want them to, you have to use the terms they use. Black Friday BacklashAt least one retailer has tried to set themselves apart from the rest. In a move reminiscent of Chick-Fil-A’s closed on Sunday policy, REI has decided to close on Black Friday. They’ve done it in a very on-brand way, encouraging people to use the day to actually get outside instead of shopping anywhere. It makes sense for them, and generated some positive coverage. The truth is many more retailers should do the same, even if they aren’t associated with the outdoors. If your store isn’t about discounts, the sale seekers are just going to pass by. Expanding the conceptPlenty of other days around Black Friday have been declared, some with very serious implications. Small Business Saturday is an encouragement (sponsored by American Express) to shop local. Decent idea, but honestly something that most do either do all the time or never. Sunday gets skipped, and then we get to Cyber Monday when the online outlets do their best version of DoorBusters. Then we come to Giving Tuesday. This single day has been responsible for almost $250M in charitable donations in 2017 alone. With thousands of charities becoming part of this day, it’s now difficult to get individual coverage, but obviously worth the effort. It’s still a drop in the bucket compared to the billions spent on black friday and cyber Monday, but this day is showing explosive growth. PR for Black FridayIf you’re reading this in 2019 you’re already far too late. Getting attention from news outlets on a day as well known as this takes a plan set in motion months ahead of the actual date. At this point a $99 laptop isn’t enough anymore. Doing these consumer days well requires a combination of creativity and strategy. The best strategy should leave a lasting impression, not just a loss leader item that’s soon forgotten. Here’s a few ideas:
Don’t forget the tactical items either. Update your website with relevant information. Use a google post on your local listing as well. Consider getting influencers to promote your ideas around this. Even “micro influencers” make sense if they’re targeted well enough. It’s a big few days. Or a month. Or a season. Make the most of it. The post The Post Black Friday World appeared first on The Future Buzz. Original source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheFutureBuzz/~3/cfBPMS9pobs/ The post The Post Black Friday World appeared first on connect social networks. via Connect Social Networks http://connectsocialnetworks.com/the-post-black-friday-world/ |
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