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Social Media
Top 5 Must Have Blogging Tools
posted by Jason Fleck @ January 5th, 2009
People ask me all the time what programs or services I use when it comes to blogging. So, here are my top 5 favs (which are in no particular order).
5.) WordPress — When starting a blog, you need to choose a platform that’s customizable enough to meet your needs yet robust enough to stand up to the constant changes of the internet. WordPress works like a charm. Everything from its slew of features to it’s easy-to-use interface makes choosing WordPress a no-brainer. I’ve been using it for the past four years and still love it.
4.) Google Reader — Now that your blog is online, you must start posting content. Starting your own directory of blogs is a great way to start. I read probably close to 100 blogs a day and I find my best inspiration comes from what I read. Reading keeps your brain working at full capacity and always gives you new content to write. Google Reader makes reading your favorite blogs a breeze. No longer do you have to load individual web sites. Just add every RSS feed you want to follow into your Google Reader account and Google takes care of the rest!
3.) ScribeFire — This program allows you to write blog posts without actually logging into your blog site. It runs as a toolbar in your browser and creates a new window within your browser when you venture onto your website. Pretty freakin’ cool if you ask me. The only way to feel its full awesomeness is to try it out. Oh - and as a bonus you can advertise through them or earn a little extra revenue by allowing others to advertise on your blog.
2.) Twitter — Now that you’re posting content on a regular basis — ahem, and you are posting regularly, right? - I’m sure you’re beginning to wonder: - where are your readers? Since your blog is fairly new, you’re probably not receiving a lot of search engine traffic and that large number of page impressions you’ve noticed is probably from either yourself or your close friends. Getting an audience quickly is where Twitter reigns supreme. Start following people on Twitter who have similar interests to you and soon you’ll realize a lot of those people will follow you back. Use Twitter to update your followers on your latest blog posts and if you have memorable content, those followers will retweet your blog post to their followers and so on creating an exponential growth of visitors to your site.
1.) Google Analytics — The tracking service your web host provides is — at best - alright. You can typically get statistics like page impressions and unique visitors, but not much past that. Google Analytics takes statistic tracking where it belongs. It’s by far the best site tracking program I’ve found to date. It tracks all your visitors, breaks them down into geographic locations, tells you what time of day they visited, which pages were visited, where they came from, if their visit resulted in a conversion, and so on. The list continues and the best part of this service is that it’s FREE.
Are there any others that should of made the list or do you disagree with any of my choices? Let me know by commenting below.
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Online Marketing • Social Media
Web 3.0?
posted by Jason Fleck @ December 29th, 2008
Read Write Web (RWW) posted earlier today that ZigTag (a somewhat intelligent social bookmarking service) is now live to the public. ZigTag knows the meanings behind your tags. In other words, if you tag something NY it knows it’s the same as New York, New_York, or New+York.
For those of you just catching up, a tag is a word or group of words that allows you to quickly identify content. Tags are now a part of Web 2.0 which allows users to quickly siphon through a large amount of information to find exactly what he or she is looking for.
Towards the end of their article, RWW posed the question:
Is this really Web 3.0?
I don’t think so. Web 3.0 is supposed to be all about the intelligent web. Dictionary.com defines intelligence as:
A capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.
RWW suggested that Web 3.0 could quite possibly be a system that knows what we would tag something and would actually tag it for us. As soon people start talking about computers thinking on their own, it makes me think of “The Terminator” and artificial intelligence. We’re definitely not there yet. But it gets me thinking - why does there need to be such a drastic change from Web 2.0 to 3.0? Will the next shift be a quantum leap or a glacial shift? Will it be Terminator, or self identifying tags?
Web 2.0, summed up, was all about social media. While some of the greatest minds online are saying Web 2.0 has already come and gone, the larger question is: are we looking at Web 3.0 or are we in some later release of Web 2.0 - say Web 2.200.1?
Whatever the case may be, in the near future we’ll see social media continue to be integrated within all aspects of our online lives in everything from searching to buying. And, whenever it does come, social media will still be the foundation of Web 3.0 - which is why you should be building your online community (ie: like Google) now if you haven’t already.
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Social Media
…the future of breaking news
posted by Jason Fleck @ December 22nd, 2008
This past weekend, word of a Denver plane crash was first reported through a tweet sent by a software engineer before he managed to escape the burning wreckage. The tweet read:
Holy ******* **** I wasbjust in a plane crash!
No seriously, this is a true story.
Mike Wilson, otherwise known as 2drinksbehind in the Twitterverse, updated his followers through his Twitter stream, keeping them up-to-date on how the situation unfolded.
So long, news agencies.
Social media is evolving in the best way possible — people giving information to other people. Raw and unfiltered. Would you want an account from a reporter standing next to the wreckage on what he or she thinks happened or a report straight from someone experiencing the situation first hand?
Yeah, I thought so.
Just another reason why I use Twitter and social media to get my news.
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Online Marketing
What recession?
posted by Jason Fleck @ December 15th, 2008
I ran across a story on VentureBeat.com that stated:
NetShelter Technology Media is announcing today that it’s raised $11.1 million in a first round of funding as the nine-year-old ad network for tech properties seeks to expand the reach of its 150 technology content web sites.
Wow.
$11.1 million.
If you thought the recession is hindering the evolution of the web, think again. Times are getting tough for a lot of companies, but the online community is thriving. Money, and lots of it, is still being invested.
NetShelter Technology Media proves that it’s not all about the “up and coming” sites. They’ve been around for nine years and were still able to raise a boatload of cash.
Even in these tight situations, the web is thriving. Advertising online is one of the most cost effective ways to reach a huge number of people and there’s no time like the present to build an online presence for your brand.
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Recent News and Updates
Corporate Blogging: The Sequel
posted by Jason Fleck @ December 11th, 2008
I noticed Greg just posted an entry about corporate blogging and how only 16% of online consumers trust corporate blogs. This topic has been heavily tweeted all day and has generated some excellent chatter.
I think it’s a good topic to cover, but is it really THAT surprising? Corporate blogs, as a whole, have fallen away from good blogging techniques. Even I have to slap my wrists on this one. For blogs to succeed, you must listen and give your readers what they want not something you think they want.
Read your comments. Provide feedback. Engage your readers. Provide them with a call to action.
Max Kalehoff wrote an excellent blog post in reply to Josh’s post I linked above. He defends corporate blogging by saying:
Blogs are a both a communications channel AND a medium. Their value are not proxied well by prompted survey questions among general consumer populations.
…and I couldn’t agree more.
What do you think? Do you trust corporate blogs? Did you like the content of this post? Do you want to see more like it? Let me know by commenting below.
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Social Media
Microsoft is catching up with the future
posted by Jason Fleck @ December 3rd, 2008
The world is an ever changing, ever evolving place – even at Microsoft. Earlier today, Ina Fried, a writer for CNET, posted this article on how Microsoft is emerging into the social media market. In her article, Ina states:
Microsoft has started to roll out a series of changes, outlined in November, that give Windows Live a more social networking-like feel. Windows Live staples such as Spaces, Events, and the home page get a new look, while Microsoft is also putting special emphasis on group, profile, and photo pages.
These changes to Windows Live make it more manageable to grow a community around an already existing website and also allow its users to more easily make contacts and connect with others.
…and oh, did I mention you can also import your Facebook contacts?
Everyone recognizes that this is the future and Microsoft is taking its strides to change their design to mirror the “norm.” So what are you waiting for? Take heed and allow us to use our expertise to construct a community around your brand that will keep you at the forefront of this ever changing technology.
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Recent News and Updates
Are you a Tweeter?
posted by Jason Fleck @ November 25th, 2008
Practically every article or blog post I read relating to social media always mentions Twitter in some fashion or another. What’s Twitter you say? Wikipedia.org defines twitter as this:
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service, that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.
So in other words, a website based solely on what people are doing?
Yep.
Warren Whitlock, Co-Author of The Twitter Revolution, was part of the 2008 PubCon panel and talked about the two stages of twitter:
1. Denial: Why would anyone care what I ate for breakfast?
2. Reluctant Acceptance: I have a Twitter account but haven’t seen any traffic
Whitlock also stated:
The Twitter Revolution really is about making meaningful connections. Let people know what you are up to, because contrary to some beliefs, people do care.
The vastness of the internet creates false personas — individuals hiding behind a message board or chat room. Twitter takes its users and makes them human. In business terms, it’s much more beneficial for you if your customers can directly relate to you and vice versa. Furthermore, Twitter allows you to keep tabs on what’s being said about your company.
Comcast portrayed this perfectly after they noticed a customer had posted a tweet on how he noticed a blemish in his HD television’s reception quality. Minutes later, Comcast replied to his tweet and sent a technician to his house within 24 hours. The customer was astonished with the quality of their customer service and was transformed from a disgruntled customer to believing customer.
At Avicom, we take our Twitter campaigns in two directions:
1. Serving the customers the same way Comcast did
2. Humanizing the workforce so every worker can relate to everyone else.
Twitter is here and it’s here to stay. So what are you waiting for? Become a tweeter and tweet away!
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AgencyThink
Advertising that sticks — and tastes good
posted by Jason Fleck @ November 25th, 2008
Do me a favor; open your desk drawer where you house all your loose pens, white out, and those two random paper clips. You know the drawer I’m talking about — the one right above your knees that pulls out into your stomach. Yeah, the one you’ve been planning to clean out for the past six months, but haven’t found the time. That’s the drawer I’m talking about.
Now, what do you see? If it’s anything like mine, it’s cluttered with all the free garb handed out by other businesses. Cluttered with those pens that just magically appear in your pocket after leaving the bank or the one given to you by a co-worker that somehow become yours after carrying it around all day. Half of those pens probably don’t work anymore and yet they still occupy precious desk space.
Do these traditional forms of advertising still work?
Maybe.
Gone are the days of conventional advertising for TD Bank. Instead of pens, TD bank is handing out free coffee, pizzas, and umbrellas.
What better way to spread brand recognition is there than connecting with your customers, prospective and current, on a physical need basis? It connects with them on an emotional level and also fills their stomachs.
At Avicom, we understand this need to connect emotionally with your client base. Can we do pens?
Of course.
However, we urge our clients to think “outside of the box” just like TD Bank did. What’s going to work best with the clientele you’re trying to reach? Why resort to printing your logo on a thousand pens when there could be a much more effective way to reach your audience?
Do you covet your pens or do you like the change TD Bank is bringing to conventional advertising? Comment below and let me know.
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