Category Archives: Marketing

Real-World Experience for my University Students

This semester, my Rider University COM341 Publicity Methods students have the opportunity to gain real-world PR, marketing and business experience by working directly with Bryan Evans of Greater Trenton. We are all so excited! (And thank you, Bryan, for allowing us to work with you again!) Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here’s the link to the Trenton Daily article about our collaboration.

Twitter grows, while Facebook remains the same…

Do you use Twitter?

Apparently, Twitter has been gaining more users, while Facebook usage has remained the same.  According to a recent article from Social Media Examiner, Twitter has been experiencing “massive growth.” Twitter screenshotThe article cites a Pew Research Center report that says the social media platform’s audience rose by 27.7% from 2013 to 2014, while Facebook’s audience held steady during the same time. The research also attributes some of Twitter’s increased popularity to TV programs and other businesses and brands using the platform. The article reports, “Twitter’s foothold with television audiences and Millennial consumers suggest there are some marketing opportunities.” That’s good news for businesses and brands.

Personally, I’ve enjoyed using Twitter since I first signed on in 2009. Over the past six years, it’s been fun to learn from people around the world, to meet new friends (some of those friends have transferred from the “Twitter world” to the “real world”), and to watch and participate in Twitter’s growth. If you’re not already using Twitter, you should join in on the fun! And let’s connect there: You can follow me @kathymagrino and I’ll follow you back. Hope to see you on Twitter soon! 🙂

WriteOn! – Week of January 19, 2015 – This Week’s Picks:

Your Sales Teams Can Build on Content Marketing to Get More Revenue…

infographicAre your sales teams “as ‘hip’ to the content movement as their marketing colleagues?” @Hubspot shared this helpful infographic from @knowledgetree in a post last week (“Content Selling: The Next Evolution of Content Marketing”) . Check it out: http://exprt.co/1y8oXgx

Hire a ‘Combination of Right-Brain and Left-Brain Types’ for Your Marketing Team

On the Silverpop blog, Bryan Brown writes, “Companies lack the cross-channel customer insights they need to deliver relevant, timely, personalized content.” He offers recommendations for “transitioning your marketing team” this year. I especially like recommendation #1: “Shift Your Hiring” and hire “a combination of right-brain and left-brain types to thrive in a new marketing landscape…” Read more: http://bit.ly/1CqgUcg

Six Pixels of Separation – A Study Guide – (Part 2)

This is the second part of the study guide I’ve pulled together to help you connect with the main concepts Mitch Joel writes about in his book, Six Pixels of Separation. (This study guide was created for my COM106 students at Rider University. In our class, we will be having a quiz on Chapters 7-10 of the book next week.)

Chapter 7:  You Are Media

Understand key concepts/terms/people from this chapter:  personal brand, digital footprint, Robert Scoble, Chris Brogan

“In a world of Six Pixels of Separation, it is not about how your business connects and communicates in online channels, it’s about how you (or your employees) as an individual build, nurture, and share personal brands. A company is no longer made up of anonymous people building one brand; rather, it is made up of many personal brands that are telling your one corporate-brand story in their own, personal, ways.” (p.126)

“Build a 3D Personal Brand:

  1. Give abundantly…
  2. Help others…
  3. Build relationships…” (pp.134-135)

Chapter 8: From Mass Media to Mass Content

Understand key concepts/terms from this chapter: content, word-of-mouth

“There are really only four types of content you can create:

  1.   Text…
  2.   Images…
  3.   Audio…
  4.   Video…”

“The tone, flow and vibe you give off in your content will reveal who the ‘real company’ is [or who you are]. This is, specifically, why blogs are so popular: they’re the human voice behind it all.” (p. 152)

“Great content = great word-of-mouth.” (p. 159)

– Know the “Six General Rules for a Healthy Blog” (p. 160)

Chapter 9: Digital Darwinism

“Building community has many more similarities to dating than you might imagine. So if your blog, podcast, or Twitter is getting no traction, more often than not it’s simply not what your customers [readers] are looking for and, to be blunt, they’re just not that into you.” (p. 164)

“How do you build trust once you begin receiving attention? By using the Web in a very human way. This falls into two major categories: 1. Be Helpful… 2. Be Sincere…” (pp. 167-168)

Chapter 10: From Mass Media to “Me” Media

Understand key concepts/terms/people from this chapter:  Garr Reynolds, Seth Godin, cloud, niche

“Always be experimenting… The win is not in creating something that appeals to the masses. Your personal win will be leveraging the power of a very specific and unique niche that you can serve, protect, and call your own. Your personal brand builds your business. You find your own ‘mass’ in your niches.” (p. 195)

Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel – A Study Guide (Part 1)

Over the next few weeks, we’re reading Mitch Joel‘s Six Pixels of Separation in my writing classes at Rider University. The following post is Part 1 of a two-part study guide I’ve pulled together for my students. Next week, I’ll be posting Part 2 here, as well. If you’re interested in learning more about digital/online communication and marketing, I think you’ll love this book as much as I do. 🙂

Here’s the study guide:

I’ve written this study guide to help you connect with the main concepts Mitch Joel writes about in his book, Six Pixels of Separation. I hope Mitch’s book and this guide help you gain:

  • a better understanding of the digital marketing/communications era we live in today
  • and an appreciation of just how much online communication has transformed our world, in general.

My goal in asking you to read this book (and one of Mitch’s goals in writing the book) is to help you to see the power offered by digital communications and the online world, a world where distance is not an issue, and a world where we are easily connected to each other asynchronously and in real time.

This study guide was created for my COM106 students. In our class, there will be two quizzes on Six Pixels of Separation:

  • QUIZ #1 on September 24th will cover the Introduction and Chapters 1-6. (Review Part 1 of this study guide to prepare for Quiz #1.)
  • QUIZ #2 on October 1st will cover Chapters 7-14. (Review Part 2 of this study guide to prepare for Quiz #2.)

The book’s Introduction:

Don’t skip reading the introduction because it gives us the opportunity to learn how this book came about, and to see how successful we can be as writers/bloggers today because of online communication channels (blogs, social media, etc.). Mitch writes, “All of my past and current personal successes in life, from the growth of Twist Image to the mass media attention to the publishing deal that put this book in your hands, has been because of these online channels…”(p. xi) According to Mitch (and I agree with him), the digital communication channels offer many opportunities to us. They’re not the “time suck” that many people accuse them of being…

Chapter 1: I Google You… Just Like You Google Me

Understand key concepts/terms from this chapter: transparency, personal branding, community, online community, networking, social media, blogging.

Being able to publish to the world for free is a big (huge) deal… what we’re really seeing is an entirely new marketing and communications channel emerge where brands are all treated equally (sometimes equally badly, sometimes equally well)… We’re seeing a new world where people are building huge networks of connections that foster community, conversation and commerce.”

Review the “Six Social Needs” (pp. 19-20). Among them: “Online social networks provide people with the ultimate tool for defining and redefining themselves, as evidenced in profile pages on Facebook…” – research findings originally from Center for Media Research e-newsletter (December 2007).

Chapter 2: The Trust Economy

Understand key concepts/terms from this chapter: trust economy, participatory culture, authenticity, channels, permission, content, blog, micro-blog, podcast, online social network, sharing sites, user-generated content, wiki, widgets, consistency

“When you engage in a conversation and treat your consumers with respect and as your peers, magical things will happen.” (p. 26)

“You are in the business of building your own trust economy as part of your core values and foundation.” (p. 27)

“The two pillars for building your business through the digital channels will be: Permission… Content…” (p. 27)

“Speak like a human being, not like a press release.” (pp. 42-43)

Chapter 3: Entrepreneurship

In this chapter, focus on pages 52-53 where Mitch lists the qualities of a great website.

Chapter 4: Faith-Based Initiatives, Viral Expansion Loops and the Long Road

Understand key concepts/terms from this chapter: online communities, engagement, participation

(This chapter contains a lot of conceptual information. Read it for your own benefit, but you won’t be quizzed on any details from this chapter.)

Chapter 5: Know Control

Understand key concepts/terms from this chapter: blogging, subject-matter experts, Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post

When blogging first made its debut (around 2000), most journalists and mass media people denounced it… Around 2004 more and more newspapers began quoting bloggers as subject-matter experts… Suddenly, the words of bloggers carried as much weight as (and sometimes more than) those of the mainstream media.” (p. 90)

“Your company’s newest challenge is speed – how fast do you move?… In a world of publishing platforms like YouTube and Twitter where the consumer is in (and sometimes out of) control of creating content, that’s getting harder and harder to do.” (p. 93)

“Get comfortable with being a little uncomfortable. The new business game is not about control. It’s about the volume of voices…” (p. 95)

“Resign your privacy. Yes, you’re naked on the Internet… The general rules of thumb are: Be smart, be very self-aware, and always think about the content your are creating and putting out there as a lasting record of yourself. (p. 98)

“It’s not just about the Internet: Think mobile too.” (p. 103)

Chapter 6: The Real World

(This chapter has a lot of interesting information about “unconferences” and meet-ups… I think the key message you should take away from this chapter (at this point in your lives) is that there will always be value in meeting face-to-face with other people. Communication in the online channels should never replace in-person communication.)

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Part 2 of this study guide will be published on this blog next week. If you have any questions or want to discuss some of the concepts Mitch Joel writes about in Six Pixels of Separation, please comment here. Thanks!

Additional resources:

Are Six Pixels of Separation All That Keeps Us Apart? by Bryan Eisenberg, published September 8th, 2009 – http://www.grokdotcom.com/2009/09/08/are-six-pixels-of-separation-all-that-keeps-us-apart/

A Summary of Six Pixels of Separation from PolarUnlimited.com –http://www.polarunlimited.com/2009/09/business-book-summary-18-six-pixels-of-separation-by-mitch-joel/

Six Pixels of Separation – The Blog by Mitch Joel: http://www.twistimage.com/blog/

 

How Tweet It Is: Statistics Show Twitter Usage Changes

In his recent blog post, 11 Shocking New Social Media Statistics in America, Jay Baer, described on his website as “a hype-free social media and content strategist,” cites a big difference in the way people are using Twitter in 2012 vs. 2010.

In just 24 months, the number of Twitter users who post status updates jumped from 47% to 76%!

Two years ago, the majority of Twitter users were only “listening” to what others were tweeting. Today, they’re sharing their thoughts and tweets, too! It’s nice to see that more people are getting involved, interacting and communicating through Twitter.

Personally, I’ve loved using Twitter since my first experience with the medium in early 2009, when I signed on and sent my very first tweet. Twitter has connected me to new friends, some old friends, and a few new clients — I’ve even met a few people face-to-face because of our initial connection on Twitter — people from nearby in New Jersey (@SandyDfromNJ) and as far away as Australia (@AlexBlom — who lives in Canada now) and others (you know who you are 😉 ).

I also enjoy teaching my students at Rider University about Twitter — and I continue to communicate and tweet with a lot of my former students even after they graduate and move on to the “real world.”

I’m glad more people are actively “tweeting,” and they’re not just sitting back and “listening”… How do you feel about Twitter? And do you, personally, like to “tweet”? Let me know: Tweet me @kathymagrino or write your comments here.

Thanks for reading (and I hope to see you tweeting)! Until next time, take care!

Kathy Magrino

Photo by Mike Miley via Flickr


Writing new website content

I’ve got to start practicing what I preach: A good website needs to be updated often. It should engage visitors’ interest. It should provide helpful, relevant information. (It should NOT be stale, like I’m afraid my website has become…  Yes, I’m being realistic and facing the truth!)

Guilty as charged!

The time has come — actually, it came a long time ago, but I pushed it to the back burner 🙂 — to update the content you see here. I’m (annoyingly) reminded about this need-to-update every day, since I use my website as my home page on my browser.  But, I’m really reminded and feeling guilty about this situation toward the end of each semester when I teach my COM107 Persuasive Writing for the Media students the basics about writing good website content (which is what we’re doing in class right now…).

If you’re in the same boat as I am and need to update your website content, here are the articles I shared with my students this semester:

by Michel Fortin

by Julia Hyde

“Making the Most of ‘Contact Us’…” by Khoa Bui

Each of these articles offers helpful information in an easy-to-digest, quick read. Now, it’s time to put these ideas into practice…

If you’ve come across some good advice about writing website content, or if you’ve got some ideas and hints to share, please do so by commenting here. I’m all ears — and I’m tired of the guilt — and I’m ready to revamp www.thewriteway.com! 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Photo by mikecogh via Flickr/Creative Commons