Archive for May, 2011

Business Blogging

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Not long ago, blogging was considered as an online diary or journal where the writer documented his/her day to day activity. It was a space for people with creative bend to showcase their talent. It was personal and it was only shared with a select few. Circa 2011 and blogs have evolved into a vital communication tool that every brand is looking to incorporate in their marketing plan.

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Keeping this in mind, it is important that this social media tool be well understood and its potential be highlighted. Here we look at key ways of making a corporate blogs work for your brand. To start with, a corporate blog need not be serious and perched on an ivory tower. Like any other social media tool, blogs too can help you build a friendly relationship with your consumer. Splash some creativity and humor in the content, especially, if your brand personality is such. Be vibrant, colorful and vivacious. It can go a long way in making your blog reach out to your target audience.

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A colorful blog title can personify your brand image

Being a blog should not restrict you to just putting up articles. Break the monotony by posting, video blogs and/or photo blog posts. Not only will this make your blog more interesting, it will also present you with the opportunity to showcase your product features without suggesting that you are advertising your product. Also, it can help you in letting the world know about your organization, its culture and ethos of the place. It also helps in building a strong employee-employer relation.

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Add photos to your blog

Another way of building employee-employer relationship is by allowing employees to post on your corporate blog. Empower them to promote the company’s products through informative tutorials, advice, and reviews that not only sell the products, but also offer some valuable tips. Not only will this help in content generation, it will also help in giving face and name to the organization.

Blogs need not always be about the products. It could well become a research platform for your company. Inviting the readers to suggest the kind of product they would want to use can help in getting valuable consumer insight at a very low cost. Adding comments and a rating system can make the blog highly interactive. The aim is to experiment with ideas, something that you can’t do with your website.

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Make your blog user friendly and sharable

An important point to bear in mind is to be unique in your style. Stand out and be seen. Change your blog theme to reflect colorful seasonal themes. Add animation to bring alive your blog. The more effort you put in, the more appreciation you shall get. It is not about being different for the sake of being different, but because you truly are.

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If changing your style is something you cannot suggest as a brand, then choose a very simplistic, neat and corporate look. Have a professional and simple blog design. A clutter free approach helps in easy navigation and a more pleasing experience for the reader. A decent mix of pictures and words will be enough for you to get your point across. Be simple in your language as well. Always remember, the idea is to let people know what you are talking about, not to send them on a wild hunt through online dictionary sites.

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Neat and clean look for a corporate blog

Another sure shot way of getting people to your blog and keep them hooked is by inviting guest bloggers. Everyone is keen to know what a celebrity has to say or what a famous person thinks. Having such a person write an article on your post will help you achieve huge readership. Also, sharing of these posts will make your blog achieve virility like never before.

If you don’t have access to celebrities, then turn the table and give access to your readers about inside news and pre launch stories. Share all behind the scene action, through videos, photos, descriptive blog posts, and interview with people who have been part of the development process of the product.

 

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Share exclusive details on your blog

These are just a few ideas on how a corporate blog can help you and your brand connect with your audience and potential customers. Like any other communication tool, there is no set pattern but being clear of the idea and your personality would be a perfect way of defining your blog personality.

Read more about blogging, here.

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Sajin Seethi

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Keeping up to date with mobile technology would be impossible if not for few enthusiastic bloggers who take the pains of finding out about new technologies, new devices and applications, understanding them and writing about the same. It makes life of us simple folks, well simple. One such technology buff is Sajin Seethi.

Sajin, has been writing for almost two years. He loves understanding mobile technology and how things work. He carefully traces every brand’s activities and reports them instantly. He is a big fan of Apple and Android products, although he is not biased in his opinion.

The blog, my mobile scoop, has been developed to give readers a scoop of what is happening in the tech world. It mainly focuses on the mobile news, as according to Sajin, they are the most happening devices in the world. He also does video news, app reviews and more on YouTube. Add to that, the video demos of new phones are something which impressed a lot. The detail with which these videos are produced is simply amazing.

Video Demo

Click on the image to see the video

What is most impressive about his blog is the manner in which he breaks down the information. Knowing very well, that bombarding the user with too much information of very technical nature would leave them dazed and confused, he carefully lists down the main features and the benefits that the user gets from the device. It not only helps in understanding the device better but also makes the reader feel comfortable.

Sajin also does reviews for social media applications for mobile phones, like the Foursquare application for Nokia and the Facebook application launched by Samsung. This not only helps inform the reader about the services but also about the various features of different Social Media Platforms.

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Facebook Application Review

Technology is something which not many people understand but in today’s world, technology is mostly sold to such people. Hence, it is very important that someone somewhere takes the effort to make this information available in simple manner. And for doing that, Sanij Seethi is our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

Click here to read more from our Blogger of the Fortnight series.

An offer you cannot resist

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

By the time this post is up, Facebook would have already launched its next tool for world domination. Facebook Deals went live in 5 test market cities in USA on the night of 25th April 2011. With it, Facebook hopes, it will give 600 million users more reason to stay on Facebook even when they are outside or visiting a store.

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What’s the deal?

Facebook Deals offers Facebook users’ access to Deals which are a steep discount to the actual price of the product. This is in addition to the earlier check-in based deals offer on Facebook Places. Now Facebook Deals will allow you to purchase a voucher on Facebook Deals itself and then redeeming it at the store. You can also check into a place and claim your discount using your phone application.

Each deal will have a separate landing page. Users can opt in to receive updates on their news feed about deals that are running close to their location. Once you spot the deal that you want, you can go to that deal page, like the deal, share the deal and/or purchase the deal right away using either a credit card or Facebook Credits. Once you have done so, you get a voucher that can then be used at the store.

 

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A screenshot of a landing page for a Deal

Other than this, the old system of checking into a store and finding the available deals will also be retained in all likelihood. This will help Facebook not only target Groupon but also take on Foursquare through its Facebook Places application

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Facebook Places Deal Application Screen

How should brands deal with it?

As a brand, this is another opportunity to reach out to your clients. Creating something that users can enjoy with their friends is something which gives maximum benefit of using Facebook as a marketing platform.

People like doing things with friends. Brands can use Deals on Facebook to offer people unique social experiences that they can share and enjoy together. Offering these experiences can bring more people to your business. Deals are a valuable new way to reach customers and build loyalty. Encourage people to share their excitement about the experience you’re providing, not just the discount you’re offering.

Why Deal with it?

For a start, Deals are going to be free as for now. Like any other Facebook offering, a free exposure to 600 million people is incentive enough to try it out. More so, it makes sense when you get the Facebook marketing team to push and promote your offer.

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This will help in creating a buzz about your brand and more importantly, for the first time, offer direct sales opportunity via Facebook. All this time, when brands where wondering on how to gauge the ROI of Social Media Marketing, especially on Facebook , now is the time to cash in on the fan base and push deals.

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Also, keep in mind the virality of the exposure your brand can get through this. Each person on Facebook has 130 friends on average, which means that if someone purchases a deal from you, that information can spread quickly and naturally on Facebook. Imagine if these 130 people share or buy your deal with their friends. These actions can help spread the word about your business to all of the friends of these 130 people through News Feed stories, Wall posts, and personal messages. And, because these stories are coming from a trusted network, people will be more likely to pay attention to what you’re offering.

Last but not least of all, use Deals to make your business a place where loyal customers bring their friends. Deals focuses on helping your business provide unique social experiences so that people are interested in what you have to offer, not just the discount you’re offering. Build long lasting relationships by offering people unique things to do with those that matter most in their lives.

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Amit Agarwal

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

His blog “Digital Inspiration” was awarded the “Best Technology Blog Award” at Indibloggies in 2006 and 2008. He has been involved in advocating freedom of speech and an end to internet censorship in India. He is Amit Agarwal, our Blogger of the Fortnight. Amit writes about computer softwares, consumer gadgets, and web applications that help us become productive. He also pens a weekly personal technology column for The Hindustan Times.

HT calls Amit the “founder of the Indian blogging revolution” while the prestigious The Straits Times of Singapore included him in their list of Asia’s Blog Stars alongside Chinese actress Xu Jinglei and Japanese Ambassador Naoto Amaki. Microsoft awarded him the Most Valuable Professional award for 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

 

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Amit Agarwal adressing students at the blog school

Digital Inspiration, launched in 2004 by Amit, is now among the Top 100 Technology Blogs on the Internet out of an estimated total of 130+ million blogs. The purpose of this site is to help one take maximum advantage of the software tools and web technologies at one’s disposal. Digital Inspiration averages more than 3+ million page views per month.

In 2010, Amit introduced Sleeping Time, an online service that can estimate of the sleeping habits of any Twitter user. It quickly went viral and was mentioned on CNN, The 33 News, Open Magazine and also made it to the front page of the Bangalore Mirror. Amit is also the founder of India Blog School. It is a non-profit first-of-its-kind initiative that aims to spread the blogging culture in India though training and offline interaction.

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Twitter Application developed by Amit Agarwal

Amit is no stranger to recognition, but he is still rooted to doing what he loves doing. Talking to the world about technology and helping people understand the complexity in a simple and beautiful way. That is what makes Amit Agarwal our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

 

Click here to read more from our Blogger of the Fortnight series.