Thursday 5 December 2013

Buying shares and social advertising and perhaps what it all means...

I just bought some Facebook shares today.

Nothing amazing in this news. I wanted to buy them ages ago - when they almost hit $15 - which for some reason I had in my head they would do - and so stubbornly (like an amateur) I didn't buy any!

As even, if I had wanted to buy them at $18 - I didn't know how to or where to and so each time my mind hit that tiny bit of friction I would stop and do something else and forget about shares for a while.

Then last week I remembered about doing it again - but not because of a chat with friends (I had already done that the week before) or a talk with family (again done the week before with a recommendation from my father that I go into a bank and chat to them about it... ) but my mental reminder came from a Facebook ad on my mobile phone. Right in my stream, right in my social area, right smack bang where it should be.

Fair play to Facebook and fair play to eToro (who I am now buying social shares with... even though I don't know how I own the shares or whether I really do...)

The point I suppose is that when Facebook marketing is done right - it really works. I have been thinking about buying shares for YEARS. Literally. Then three clicks later I had bought shares with my first $50 being free. All thanks for mobile and facebook and facebook mobile ads.

Yet apparently, so people are saying that it is precisely Facebook's solving of it's mobile problem (i.e. how to make money from it) that could be it's very undoing. As Mobile Marketeer reports: 

"Facebook recently revealed that its mobile application install ads are responsible for driving 175 million application downloads so far this year. At the same time, the company is stepping up efforts to leverage its mobile news feed to link users with news and other content from media sources, pointing to how it is evolving away from being a way for users to connect with one another to become more of a content platform.
“Facebook is far from its roots as a social network, and are now functioning more as a social publisher,” said Jordan Schenck, senior strategist at Rokkan, New York. “Their priorities for this platform will remain around serving up ads and less about functioning as a person-to-person engagement tool.
“Facebook and Instagram's biggest challenge will be remaining authentic to their roots as a social network and photo-sharing network, respectively,” he said.
“They will need to figure out creative ways to re-target millennials without over-saturating their platforms with ad units. Consumers are smart and see straight through that.”
Instagram COO jumps ship Facebook is experiencing significant growth in the use of its platform by mobile users and has been responding to the need to monetize this audience by building out its mobile advertising offerings, which has been successful to date.
Facebook recently reported that 49 percent of its ad revenue is coming from mobile.
However, the platform is increasingly facing pressure from newer social networks that are inherently more mobile oriented, such as Twitter, which is quickly growing its own mobile ad business. Vine, SnapChat and others are also expected to introduce advertising soon.
Just this week, Instagram’s chief operating officer Emily White, who brought advertising to the platform, jumped ship for SnapChat.
Facebook is not even the most popular social messaging app any longer. That spot is now occupied by WhatsApp, according to On Device Research.
Content referralIn the face of the growing competition, Facebook is doubling down on app install ads, last month introducing new capabilities enabling developers to use deep links in mobile app ads that direct users to a customized, specific location inside an app such as a sale, promotion or specific content.
“Mobile app install ads make up a significant and growing portion of Facebook's mobile ad revenue, and this is an example of Facebook successfully identifying and capitalizing on the huge opportunity that stems from advertisers' need to drive discovery, installation and usage of their mobile apps,” said Todd Herrold, San Francisco-based senior director of product marketing forKenshoo.
Facebook is also giving articles and other content from media companies a more prominent role, particularly in mobile, via links to articles users might find interesting. The idea is to increase the amount of time people spend there, which in turn will help Facebook sell more ads.
The move comes as the average referral traffic from Facebook to media sites has increased by over 170 percent in the past year.
Users will start to see links to articles more often, particularly in mobile, about current events, sports teams and other news. Facebook is also planning to include links to three related articles once users click on a link to an article of interest.
It remains to be seen if these efforts will overwhelm users with too many marketing messages.
Cross-device targetingGoing forward, the social network will need to focus on leveraging its significant scale to deliver more relevant cross-device advertising so it does not turn off users with too many brand messages. The risk that Facebook and others face with tracking user activity across devices is running afoul of consumers and regulators who are concerned about privacy.
“Facebook's biggest opportunity and challenge related to mobile in 2014 will be to develop capabilities for cross-device consumer ad targeting, measurement and optimization," Mr. Herrold said. “This will be a hot topic in 2014 and Facebook is uniquely positioned to capitalize on it and innovate in this area.
“Rather than rely on device fingerprinting technology which is complicated and doesn't take into account multiple users who share devices, Facebook has the scale necessary to simply link user activity across device through association with the individual user's login,” he said.
“Enabling advertisers to target users and measure performance across devices will open up many new advertising and revenue opportunities and will solidify Facebook as the leading digital and mobile marketing channel.”
So perhaps the solving of Facebook's mobile problem is going to be OK in the end... I hope so as I own $50 worth of their stock - at a starting price of around double what I would have paid if I hadn't been so slow... on that note .... anyone want any Netflix shares ;) 

Friday 22 November 2013

Marketing planning and the real question to ask - Who is this Marketing FOR?

This week and most of next week I will be reviewing the marketing (especially the online and social media marketing) for The Apprentice Academy who are moving into helping employers recruit digital apprentices. 

This marketing planning review work over the last 6 months I also do in a much more haphazard way in my dreams (I do really and really do which is sad really and really sad.)

This morning I awoke to an imagine meeting with my MD about numbers for the next 12 months - only for the numbers and the vision to disappear in the 3 seconds it took me to awaken. Damn it all I will now have to do the real work too.

So this article from my hero Seth Godin nicely puts it all into simple perspective - something sometimes lost in the spreadsheets and analysis of modern online marketing...

Who is this marketing for?

Before you spend a minute or a dollar on marketing, perhaps you could answer some questions:
  • Who, precisely, are you trying to reach?
  • What change are you trying to make?
  • How will you know if it's working?
  • How long before you will lose patience?
  • How long before someone on your team gets to change the mission?
  • How much time and money are you prepared to spend?
  • Who gets to approve this work?
  • Who are you trying to please or impress?
It's cheaper to answer these questions than it is to spend time and money on marketing, but, alas, it usually doesn't happen that way.
I don't know if we can answer all of the questions above at The Apprentice Academy - but we can certainly try to answer the following in our next meeting. 
  • Who, precisely, are you trying to reach?
  • What change are you trying to make?
  • How will you know if it's working?
  • How much time and money are you prepared to spend?
  • Who gets to approve this work?
The rest I fear are too political for me to dare to ask - what about for your organisation? Would people really answer....
  • How long before WE / SOMEONE / you will lose patience?
  • How long before someone on your team gets to change the mission?
  • Who are you trying to please or impress?

    The companies that can truly answer those types of questions honestly, are honestly, going to do rather well this next year. 

      Monday 11 November 2013

      The generous skeptic. A great post - simple stolen from Seth Godin and popped here for reference :)

      The generous skeptic


      If you've got a big idea, there's no doubt that you will run into skeptics along the way.

      Many skeptics are afraid for you, embrace the status quo, and in their twisted but well-intentioned way, will work to persuade you to give up your dream. This sort of skeptic should be ignored, certainly. It doesn't really pay to argue with them, because your impassioned restatement of your view of reality will do little to persuade them that you're not doing something crazy risky.

      The other kind of skeptic, though, should be treated totally differently.

      The generous skeptic has insight into your field, your strengths and weaknesses. She wants you to succeed, but maybe, just maybe, sees something you don't.

      When the generous skeptic speaks up, she's taking a risk. If you respond to her generosity by arguing, by shutting down, by avoiding eye contact or becoming defensive, you've blown it. You've taken a gift and wasted it, and disrespected the gift giver at the same time.

      The alternative is to emotionally stand up and sit down on her side of the table. Egg her on. Imagine the world the way she sees it. Take her tactical skepticism and amplify it, pushing it to its logical conclusion. Instead of defending the flickering flame of your idea as if it might soon be extinguished, dump as much of this sort of skepticism on the idea as you can.

      Not only are you honoring the generous skeptic when you do this, you're learning how to see the way she sees. Your job isn't to persuade her she's wrong, your job is to learn from this and buttress your project in a way that when it collides with the market, you're ready.

      "Tell me more about that," is the useful and productive response, not, "no, you're wrong, you don't understand."

      There's always time to ignore this feedback later. Right now, dive into it, with an eager, open mind.

      It's a gift you're not often offered.

      Sunday 27 October 2013

      Gotta love wordle - This is a wordle of Barack ombama's 2013 speech.

      Wordle: President Obama's State of the Union 2013

      Wednesday 23 October 2013

      Working over the weekend...

      I realised today due to workload that I am going to have to work over the weekend to get things done and a great old chinese story came to mind - so I share it with you here...

      A poor farmer’s horse ran off into the country of the barbarians. All his neighbors offered their condolences, but his father said, “How do you know that this isn’t good fortune?” After a few months the horse returned with a barbarian horse of excellent stock. All his neighbors offered their congratulations, but his father said, “How do you know that this isn’t a disaster?”  

      The two horses bred, and the family became rich in fine horses. The farmer’s son spent much of his time riding them; one day he fell off and broke his hipbone. All his neighbors offered the farmer their condolences, but his father said, “How do you know that this isn’t good fortune?”  

      Another year passed, and the barbarians invaded the frontier. All the able-bodied young men were conscripted, and nine-tenths of them died in the war. Thus good fortune can be disaster and vice versa.  

      Who can tell how events will be transformed?

      Our crystal palace and our fears and what that really means.

          
      Here is a blog written by the legend Seth Godin and an email from the Store for Entrepreneurs  platform Appsumo - so nicely are they timed and joined together that I pop them both here.

      Seth to start... With our crystal palace...  And AppSumo with an elegant answer to it all.

      Emotive stuff.

      Our crystal palace


      Thanks to technology, (relative) peace and historic levels of prosperity, we've turned our culture into a crystal palace, a gleaming edifice that needs to be perfected and polished more than it is appreciated.

      We waste our days whining over slight imperfections (the nuts in first class aren't warm, the subway isn't cool enough, the vaccine leaves a bump on our arm for two hours) instead of seeing the modern miracles all around us. That last thing that went horribly wrong, that ruined everything, that led to a spat or tears or reciminations--if you put it on a t-shirt and wore it in public, how would it feel? "My iPhone died in the middle of the 8th inning because my wife didn't charge it and I couldn't take a picture of the home run from our box seats!"

      Worse, we're losing our ability to engage with situations that might not have outcomes shiny enough or risk-free enough to belong in the palace. By insulating ourselves from perceived risk, from people and places that might not like us, appreciate us or guarantee us a smooth ride, we spend our day in a prison we've built for ourself.

      Shiny, but hardly nurturing.

      So, we ban things from airplanes not because they are dangerous, but because they frighten us. We avoid writing, or sales calls, or inventing or performing or engaging not because we can't do it, but because it might not work. We don't interact with strange ideas, new cuisines or people who share different values because those interactions might make us uncomfortable...

      Funny looking tomatoes, people who don't look like us, interactions where we might not get a yes...
      Growth is messy and dangerous. Life is messy and dangerous.

      When we insist on a guarantee, an ever-increasing standard in everything we measure and a Hollywood ending, we get none of those.

      This wonderfully links into a great idea from Appsumo - of how to take this fear and overcome it  with a new iPhone App: called Failure Games.

      This email is from Eric Fernandez 

      The point of the app is gamify the learning experience through failing and humanising it as well as adding humour so we can get over it. With the app they challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and get what you want in life

      This is Eric's rather wonderfully crafted email introducing the idea. Which I really hope works.
      "Would you rather have the ability to fly or to become invisible? I was listening to NPR a few days ago when they asked this and it got me thinking ...

      For me, instinctively, I’d choose invisibility. As an introvert, invisibility is the quiet and simple answer. I could find solitude whenever I wanted it. I could find out what’s in Area 51. I could sneak into Skywalker Ranch and be disappointed ahead of time in the next Star Wars movie.

      It feels a bit unsavory, but it’s the easy answer for me. It’s the answer that lets me stay in the comfort of my private life.

      Flight, however, seems like the answer of an adventurer. It’s the answer I wish I would give. It’s the answer that rattles around in my head when I hear stories of climbers who scale Mount Everest or see comedians standing in front of a thousand people with nothing but a microphone. It’s daunting, but it’s the answer that I imagine the people I admire most would give.

      We all have an idea of who we are and who we want to be. Stepping out of our comfort zone and taking a risk is the first step towards our ideal versions of ourselves.

      For me, it’s writing this email to hundreds of thousands of AppSumo subscribers. For you, maybe it’s cold-calling a client or validating your golden business idea.

      Getting over that fear of failure is a hurdle some of us never even attempt to jump and that’s the reason we’ve developed a totally free app for iOS 7 devices called Failure Games.

      It works like this. Every day, we’ll release a new challenge. The challenge could be as silly as telling a joke or as socially uncomfortable as asking a complete stranger to have lunch with you.

      Some will be harder than others, but every challenge will be designed to get you more at ease with taking chances and with the possibility of failure.

       This is just one of the fun daily challenges. Think you can do it?

      If you’re like me, you’ll be inspired by others who are successfully completing challenges and encouraged by your followers commenting on your pictures and videos. And with any luck, we’ll realize together that:

      1. The fear of failure is never a good thing if it’s holding you back from what you want.

      We get emails daily from people taking our "How To Make A $1,000 A Month Business" course thanking us for pushing them to believe in themselves and take a chance. Here’s just one of them:

      Well just made under $1,500 in sales. I will hopefully receive the money on Monday 21st of October.

      It's amazing how much fear stops you. I was fearful asking the guys and more so asking an already established guy to help me and more fearful again about whether or not my coaching skills are good enough.

          This is really insightful ... seems like it is just all about overcoming that fear.

          -Brian Halpin

      2. When you do fail, you can learn a lot.

      I know a guy that got fired from a very early position at Facebook. That period of failure was a defining moment for Chief Sumo and he can tell you better than anyone that he learned a lot about himself and the world of business from that moment.

      3. Taking risks can be fun and lead to a more prosperous and full life.

      I think this point is self-evident, but we all need to be reminded about it at times. Go on a spontaneous road trip or stay comfortable at home? One leads to excitement and new memories and the other is just like any other night."

      The irony for myself is that... to download the app you need iOS7 - and I don't dare download it yet! ;)

      I think this Failure Games App  (not my fear) is a great example of modern marketing - creating a social object through an app - of adding value and creating a talking point - doing something remarkable - all of which Seth would be proud!

      Modern marketing really has changed - more than perhaps people realise. But it has also in a strange way come full circle over a decade - whereas before you wanted people to come together to be part of  your sponsored event in the real world (like we did with guerrilla marketing with Spearfish) now clever brands and ideas created digital realities and events i.e. apps and games and moments - so people can share them and talk about it all.

      Perhaps in the end of differences are just the channels of experience. It's all just #greatmarketing.


      (ED ADDED 27/10/2013 To make my life complete Seth Godin apparently just blogged about this as well)

          

      Tuesday 22 October 2013

      The selfish cynic

      This is taken from Seth Godin's Blog:The selfish cynic


      Cynics are hard to disappoint.

      Because they imagine the worst in people and situations, reality rarely lets them down.

       Cynicism is a way to rehearse the let-downs the world has in store--before they arrive.

      And the cynic chooses this attitude at the expense of the group. Because he can't bear to be disappointed, he shares his rehearsed disappointment with the rest of us, slowing down projects, betting on lousy outcomes and dampening enthusiasm.

      Someone betting on the worst outcomes is going to be correct now and then, but that doesn't mean we need to have him on our team. I'd rather work with people brave enough to embrace possible futures at the expense of being disappointed now and then.

      Don't expect kudos or respect for being a cynic. It's selfish.

      ---------

      But I am amazed how many people seem to "get employed" to be the company cynic.

      And even more people start a business with the same outlook!

      Especially when it comes to technology and marketing.

      The amount of small business owners who still tell me social media marketing doesn't work and wouldn't work for their business is disappointingly high in this country.  Maybe it's this cynical mindset?

      Wednesday 16 October 2013

      The 17 Parts of the Mono myth and the 3 stages thereof… and more to think about...

      Nothing about marketing - but something about story telling - which is a big part of marketing... 

      I pop it here as today I have been thinking about where I am in the story of my life. 

      A great man died last week - whilst I was away on holiday a TRUE LEGEND passed away - where it all began for me Jay Conrad Levinson. The father of Guerrilla Marketing. 

      Was his book the call to adventure? I don't know - Thank you, Jay




      Anyhoo.... this is all by James Campbell and great stuff.
      It was Joseph Campbell who , in the 1940's,  first brought to the public's attention the Mythic and Archetypal principles embedded in the structure of stories.  

      The 17 Parts of the Mono myth and the 3 stages thereof…



      Departure:


      The Call to Adventure

      The hero begins in a mundane situation of normality from which some information is received that acts as a call to head off into the unknown.

      Refusal of the Call

      Often when the call is given, the future hero first refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.

      Supernatural Aid

      Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known. More often than not, this supernatural mentor will present the hero with one or more talismans or artifacts that will aid them later in their quest.

      The Crossing of the First Threshold

      This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.

      Belly of The Whale

      The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. By entering this stage, the person shows willingness to undergo a metamorphosis.



      Initiation:


      The Road of Trials

      The road of trials is a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.

      The Meeting With the Goddess

      This is the point when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely.

      Woman as Temptress

      In this step, the hero faces those temptations, often of a physical or pleasurable nature, that may lead him or her to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.

      Atonement with the Father

      In this step the person must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving into this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power.

      Apotheosis

      When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfilment before the hero begins the return.

      The Ultimate Boon

      The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail.



      Return


      Refusal of the Return

      Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man.

      The Magic Flight

      Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it.

      Rescue from Without

      Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, oftentimes he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience.

      The Crossing of the Return Threshold

      The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world.

      Master of Two Worlds

      This step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Gautama Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds.

      Freedom to Live

      Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.

       So to recap the Hero's journey

      1. Heroes are introduced in the ORDINARY WORLD, where
      2. they receive the CALL TO ADVENTURE.
      3. They are RELUCTANT at first or REFUSE THE CALL, but 
      4. are encouraged by a MENTOR to
      5. CROSS THE FIRST THRESHOLD and enter the Special World, where
      6. they encounter TESTS, ALLIES, AND ENEMIES.
      7. They APPROACH THE INMOST CAVE, crossing a second threshold
      8. where they endure the ORDEAL.
      9. They take possession of their REWARD and
      10. are pursued on THE ROAD BACK to the Ordinary World.
      11. They cross the third threshold, experience a RESURRECTION, and are transformed  by the experience.
      12. They RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR, a boon or treasure to benefit the Ordinary World.

      And for a little more thinking - the characters that join the hero...

      The Seven Archetypes:

      1. Hero:  "The Hero is the protagonist or central character, whose primary purpose is to separate from the ordinary world and sacrifice himself for the service of the Journey at hand - to answer the challenge, complete the quest and restore the Ordinary World's balance.  We experience the Journey through the eyes of the Hero."
      2. Mentor:  "The Mentor provides motivation, insights and training to help the Hero."
      3. Threshold Guardian:  "Threshold Guardians protect the Special World and its secrets from the Hero, and provide essential tests to prove a Hero's commitment and worth."
      4. Herald:  "Herald characters issue challenges and announce the coming of significant change.  They can make their appearance anytime during a Journey, but often appear at the beginning of the Journey to announce a Call to Adventure.  A character may wear the Herald's mask to make an announcement or judgment, report a news flash, or simply deliver a message."
      5. Shapeshifter:  "The Shapeshifter's mask misleads the Hero by hiding a character's intentions and loyalties."
      6. Shadow:  "The Shadow can represent our darkest desires, our untapped resources, or even rejected qualities.  It can also symbolize our greatest fears and phobias.  Shadows may not be all bad, and may reveal admirable, even redeeming qualities.  The Hero's enemies and villains often wear the Shadow mask. This physical force is determined to destroy the Hero and his cause."
      7. Trickster:  "Tricksters relish the disruption of the status quo, turning the Ordinary World into chaos with their quick turns of phrase and physical antics.  Although they may not change during the course of their Journeys, their world and its inhabitants are transformed by their antics.  The Trickster uses laughter [and ridicule] to make characters see the absurdity of the situation, and perhaps force a change."
       Perhaps we / you can think about who in your life has / is being each one. 

      And for a more fun look at the above.... here you go :) 

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZxs_jGN7Pg

      the characters explained with puppets... 

      and the stages - for us all in a lovely animation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhk4N9A0oCA&list=TL2W_SQ-k7GPhiUkyONvYntBHQtQiW3j9e  


      SMILE more.

      How to get more people loving what you do on Social Media is simple - you just SMILE more.

      Smile

      • S – Solve their problems. Offer your knowledge and insights and be helpful with no expectations of making a sale in return
      • M – Make them feel valued. Treat everyone you meet as if they are the most important person in your world at that moment
      • I – inform, educate and entertain with quality content. It could be your free eBook, sharing your knowledge, your blogs, articles from other websites or anything you feel adds value to their social media experience.
      • L – Listen and acknowledge. If you see a post from someone who has achieved something or you have enjoyed reading their blog…tell them. If they’re having a bad day, empathise.
      • E – ENGAGE! Respond to people who comment on your posts or tweet you. Initiate conversations with new people – If you engage with six new people each day, at the end of the year 2,140 will know your business exists who don’t right now. You haven’t had to leave home to meet them either!
      If you want more sales from social media, put the needs of your audience ahead of your own. Don’t be someone who only broadcasts how wonderful you are (we take that as a given!)

      Go be the person with the big SMILE whose competitors don’t get a look in.

      Wednesday 18 September 2013

      The power of stories... the following was taken from an NLP trainer...

      The power of stories... the following was taken from an NLP trainer... So you have been warned ;)

      The Gecko and the Moth  
      A few minutes ago I was sitting on my balcony following a long day of training our NLP Trainers Training program, here in Thailand.

      It is a beautiful warm, balmy evening, probably about 25 degrees and the night is dark with many bright stars sparkling overhead. In the distance, out to sea, there are about 50 green lights of the squid boats fishing for their night time catch.

      Sharing my balcony were two geckos (lizards), one very small and the other, quite large. The big one was probably a foot long and the small one, maybe a couple of inches.

      I watched these fascinating creatures for a while. The big gecko seemed to be asleep (although it is virtually impossible to tell) whilst the small one seemed to be more tense whilst 'glued' to the ceiling.

      As I watched I noticed that the small gecko was in fact moving VERY slowly and carefully in a particular direction and my attention was drawn to a sleeping moth seemingly attached to the ceiling 4 feet in fron of the little gecko.

      I watched carefully and noticed how slowly the little gecko was moving, directly towards the moth. he would move each leg in turn VEEERRYY slowly which made his progress very hard to distinguish. One thing was for sure - he was moving towards the moth.

      Once in a while he would take a few rapid steps (still upside down on the ceiling) and then freeze for a couple of minutes. I was obviously witnesssing the hunter and the hunted. The moth did not appear to notice the gecko and remained unmoving on the celing.

      The gecko was now 2 feet away and was getting serious! You could almost feel the tension in his body as he moved closer and closer to his dinner. Every movement was carefully orchestrated not to draw attention to itself and the steps towards the moth became even slower.

      I sat fascinated by this demonstration of nature at work. I was glued to the scene!

      The little gecko was now a foot away from the moth and the moth had not moved. Closer and closer until it was 6 inches away from the moth and i anticipated the final leap - a blur of movement that would result in the end of the moth. But it never came!

      Rather than launch the attack from 6 inches the little gecko edge closer and got to about 3 inches from the moth. He was pushing his luck now! Why didn't he take his chance or was he looking for certainty? He edged a little closer and it was plain to see that certainty was what he was aiming for!

      He was 2 inches from the moth when the moth 'woke up' and sensed, or saw, the gecko about to launch his attack and with a swift flap of its wings, it unhinged itself from the ceiling and flew across to the other side and landed on the balcony rail right in front of the big gecko, who promptly ate him.

      At that moment I learned something.....I wonder if you did too?

      Sunday 11 August 2013

      Serendipitous or what... or what is the worrying part.

      Yesterday I blogged about charities and about an app idea.

      The idea is that the app would present ideal charities to you based on the information you social footprint and search analysis presents.

      Introducing.... Google's charity One Today app.... I kid you not. The below is taken from Vebture Beat today - don't believe me then here's the link - http://venturebeat.com/2013/08/10/google-one-today/
      I quote: "Google has officially launched One Today, an Android app that puts the spotlight on great charities and lets you give $1 at a time.

      The whole premise helps to eliminate a few roadblocks that stand between your money and deserving nonprofits.

      First, it takes away the decision of exactly how much to give. With very few exceptions, most Android users have a dollar and are more than happy to give it to causes they can support ideologically.

      Second, it gets rid of “analysis paralysis” — the inability to choose a charity precisely because there are too many to choose from.

      And third, it helps to take care of some of the research behind finding great causes in the first place.
      Also, instead of giving to a nonprofit as a whole, you donate your dollar to fund a nonprofit’s specific project. Nonprofits can create projects in about 10 minutes, and the more people share the project, the closer it comes to being fully funded.

      The app has been in a limited pilot test for a while, but this week marks its general availability to all Android users."

      Goodness gracious me - how's that for spooky timing...

      Saturday 10 August 2013

      Taken straight from the wonderful world of Seth Godin but nothing about marketing...

      Taken straight from the wonderful world of Seth Godin but nothing about marketing... 

      Love it so much am going to do it myself. Right now...

      ----------------

      Why not give?


      Not because it's the holidays or because you get a tax deduction.

      Not because someone is going to match your funds or because your neighbor won't be able to enter a marathon if you don't.

      Not because the kid is at the doorbell with those cookies or because it's pledge week.

      And not because you read something that pulled your heartstrings.

      Right now, for no good reason (and for every good reason), even if it's only $5. Pick whatever cause
      you care about. And tell a friend.

      What if everyone did that, right now?

      Generosity is its own reward. Go for it.

      -----------------

       Perhaps there is even more to it - as just don't know who to give to - so perhaps someone could create a random picker for charities based on your facebook / social media profile.

      So that other charities would get a shot. Hmmm I wonder if there is a list of all the charities in England and a place where I could email them all and get them to fill out some details.

      A project in itself. Answers below please ;)

      Thursday 8 August 2013

      How to take your blogging to the next level - top tips from the professionals from 5 - 10.




      Making a blog remarkable is hard work. It takes time and effort. But what about when a whole company starts blogging to help the search engine optimization of their website and get the company more social like with us over at The Apprentice Academy.

      What happens then?   

      What about the differences in quality?  What about the quality (or otherwise) of the grammar in the blogs produced?  Was it really up to the marketing manager to manage people's personal blogs? 

      Is this a branding issue for the company?

      So many questions and not many answers, especially not from me. As I have a bit of a love hate relationship with grammar due to my own grandma being very pushy on the subject (bad pun intended and polarizing I am sure...)

      But in the continuation of 5 top tips it seems we may be onto something.Grammar might be more important than I first thought...

      So here are the rest of the top ten tips on remarkable blogging… with a lovely quote to start off from the author – Heyo's Mike Sweeney

      “Remarkable blog posts don’t just happen. The myth of the blog post that unexpectedly “goes viral” is just that…a myth. Behind every blog post that generates robust traffic, real engagement and quality sharing is a plan that addresses all of the items (in both blogs ) and even more.”


      1. Remarkable blog posts follow a great headline with an even better opening paragraph.

      There are plenty of things you can try here – some people like asking compelling questions or making a statement that might challenge common opinion on your subject, creating controversy in your reader’s mind. Others, like myself, typically start with a quick and personal story or include a jaw-dropping stat. Regardless of your technique, this is no different than the lead paragraph of a newspaper or magazine article; it is what has to draw the reader into the rest of your piece and capture attention. Your intro paragraph needs to contain a compelling hook—some reason to keep reading, and should always give the reader a succinct overview of what you plan to cover in your post.

      2. Remarkable blog posts cannot contain sloppy errors.

      The greatest ideas—and a remarkable post—can be ruined by the really simple stuff: spelling errors, formatting problems, murky visuals, awkward spacing, or broken links.
      In carpentry, errors are avoided using a “measure twice, cut once” mindset. In blogging, I say it’s more like “edit thrice, publish once.”

      3. Remarkable blog posts are optimized for humans…and for search engines.

      This, like many of the other nine points, deserves its own post. If you’ve been blogging for an extended period of time, and you’re not seeing the benefits of organic search traffic, then you’re likely doing something wrong from an SEO standpoint.

      Here are a few starting tips:
      • Do your keyword research. The Google keyword tool was already awesome, and they just made it even more useful.
      • Complete your meta data. At a bare minimum, write a keyword-rich title tag and description tag.
      • Tag your images.  Be certain to address the image file name, alt text, and title tag – all should include target keywords.
      • Find opportunities to interlink. Make it a practice to link to previous posts on your blog.
      • Link to outside sources. This will not only boost SEO benefits, but it creates friendly fellow- blogger relationships.

      4. Remarkable blog posts are easily shareable.

      Just today, I checked out a prospective client’s blog, and when I got there, I was pleasantly surprised at the volume of content. Then came the cringe-worthy moment…all that content, and so difficult to share. No LinkedIn sharing option. The Tweet button led to a dead end. And there was no easy way to forward along via email.

      Creating remarkable blog posts is hard. Sharing them should not be. Allison Novak’s 7 Tips for Social Sharing will get you started down the right path.

      5. Remarkable blog posts include a call to action.

      If you’ve followed these steps and created a remarkable blog post, you now have a captive audience. They may want to move on to something else, but at least give them an opportunity to hang out and get more involved with what you’re doing.
      Keep your calls to action short and simple. Some might offer the reader more information, like “Read these related blog posts.” Others might be calls for engagement, like “Anything to add? What else makes for a remarkable blog post? Share in the comments.” Another option is to offer a different piece of content that allows the reader to delve deeper into the blog post topic, like “Want more blogging tips? Download our ultimate guide to creating remarkable blog posts.” All will create an increased level of audience engagement.

      So to answer the question posed by The Apprentice Academy's new blogging mission - perhaps the most important thing really is quality and we need to train our TAA staff and non training digital people, who may not love writing - or blogging - to get them to start to love editing. 

      The same has to be done for our new digital apprentices - which ironically it is - in the course. 
      Looks like my grandma was right. Which, to be fair, she was about a lot of other things. 

      So is that sometimes (and this is where the irony must stop) "it's not what you say, but how you say it."

      What do you think? 

      More importantly, would you like to know more about how our new digital apprentices who will help your company (if you are based in Manchester and are part of a company of more than 5 people) get on the most out of social media? 


      How's that for a call to action ;)