I recently came across an entertaining TV show that I had not seen before. My attempts to watch all episodes of the show convinced me that the entertainment industry, while making decent progress in the US, is still using a hopelessly obsolete business model when it comes to the global market. Continue reading “Entertainment industry, meet the instant global economy”
Tag: social media
The many faces of guest posts
Guest posts are a common practice in the blogosphere, and a common marketing tool for new authors. However, there are many other uses for guest posts as well.
In this post, I will examine various types of guest posts and the benefits they offer for the post authors and the blog hosts. Continue reading “The many faces of guest posts”
The ethics and prudence of publishing paid content in blogs
Bloggers are influential nowadays, and where there is influence, there is money. Many bloggers want to monetize their blogs, and many marketers are happy to pay for exposure, so this looks like an ideal match.
In this post, I will examine the ways blogs are monetized and the ethical and prudential questions that arise from various forms of paid content in blogs. Continue reading “The ethics and prudence of publishing paid content in blogs”
Blogging in a foreign language
It would be ideal if all blogs were written in the author’s native language. However, in many cases that is not practical.
What if the native language of your best subject-matter expert is not spoken in your main market areas? What if you are in charge of marketing in multiple countries, each with their own language?
I have previously explored this subject in my post Translating your blog, is there a good way to do it? In that post, I concluded that blogs are not ideal material for translation, and better results could be achieved by translating articles that are based on blog posts.
Now I want to explore this subject from a slightly different point of view. Even if translation does not work, what if your awesome expert happens to speak the language you want to blog in, say English, as a foreign language? Continue reading “Blogging in a foreign language”
Social media in the manufacturing industry in Finland
The results of a survey on social media use in traditional industrial companies in Finland was published on 29 September 2011. The survey was carried out between April and June 2011.
So, how is social media doing in this field in Finland? Not very well, I’m afraid. Let’s examine the results in more detail. Continue reading “Social media in the manufacturing industry in Finland”
Social media in manufacturing industry: #EMO2011 & #imxevent
The two most important trade shows in the manufacturing industry in 2011, EMO Hannover 2011 and imX Las Vegas 2011, were held recently. In this post, I will examine how online and social media were utilized in these events that focus on a very traditional industry. Continue reading “Social media in manufacturing industry: #EMO2011 & #imxevent”
Interlude: Meaningful Follow Fridays
I like Follow Friday. It is nice to have some traditions in the constantly changing world of social media, and Follow Friday can sometimes be useful for discovering new people.
However, often it is not. It is in large part dominated by spammers and long lists of people. While I appreciate being mentioned in an #FF list, it is more like a minor compliment than a real suggestion to follow me, as I never bother clicking through all those names to find out more about them and I know most others do not either.
I know this is not brand new information. People have discussed the shortcomings of Follow Fridays almost as soon as the tradition began, and most things have been said multiple times already.
I still want to share the way I use #FF, because I enjoy it when I notice other people using it the same way and often check out people suggested this way:
- I always include some comments about the person I recommend.
- I only recommend one person or a related group of people each week. On some weeks, I might just skip the #FF entirely.
Here are my latest #FF tweets as a demonstration, and I suppose this promotes these people a little bit more as well:
#FF @torikyes – social media and technology; also infrequent but interesting blogger – ask her to blog more when following! (23 September 2011)
#FF @wittlake – writes about B2B marketing and social media; has a good head on his shoulders. (15 September 2011; I know it’s a Thursday.. Well, I know now that it’s a Thursday)
#FF @markwschaefer – One of the few daily bloggers who produces value on most days. He also practices what he preaches (in Tao of Twitter). (9 September 2011)
#FF @GrahamHill @ireneclng @SteveVargo – all three for their discussions on #SDLogic (2 September 2011)
Photo: Roger Price (cc)
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Creating engaging social media guidelines
There seems to be a general consensus that companies need to have social media guidelines. The various guidelines share some common features, but also differ in many ways. In this post, I will examine the purpose of creating social media guidelines and try to identify key features that make social media guidelines engaging instead of just constraining. Continue reading “Creating engaging social media guidelines”
Interlude: The zombie argument for empowering your employees
People are a company’s most important asset. This is an often heard phrase, but in order for it to be more than lip service, those people should be empowered to do a good job.
One of the main reasons companies are unwilling to empower their employees to do a good job is fear. What will happen if a well-known expert leaves the company? Will people think less of the company then?
These fears are based on a mistaken premise. Everyone knows that people sometimes change employers. What makes a company look good, is a culture where great people are allowed to do a great job.
Hence, the zombie argument for empowering your employees:
You have these great people working for you, but if you don’t let them work their magic, you could just as well replace them with zombies.
Picture: Sweet Honey Pie (cc)
From brevity to skimmability
The prevailing paradigm for writing online content is to be brief and concise.
There are multiple interpretations as to what this means, and some of them lead to undesirable results.
Furthermore, it is not even obvious whether this paradigm is useful in many of the cases. Continue reading “From brevity to skimmability”