Happy Friday! Here is my subjective collection of comms-related items spotted in the past week. I’m not including major stories (Facebook Timeline, anyone?) that you’ve likely seen already.
Hilarious spoof of movie trailers
This captures just about every single movie trailer cliché you’ve ever watched.
Thanks to my friend Kare Anderson, who linked to this on Facebook.
Visit the Trafalgar Communications website for information about how we can help your organization to share its story through traditional and new media.
Happy Friday! Here is my wholly subjective collection of communications-related stories spotted in the past week or so. I’m not covering the biggies that we’ve all seen, but the stories you might have missed.
Mirror Mirror for social media geeks This cute video follows the Evil Queen surfing the Web and exploring the kingdom's social media websites to win over the handsome Prince and get rid of the beautiful and fair Snow White.
Audacity 2.0 is out of beta Many podcasters and others who work in audio rely on Audacity, an easy-to-use editing program. The folks behind Audacity have finally released version 2.0 from beta testing. I’ve tried the improved noise removal feature and it worked well. Last year I was a beta tester for Adobe Audition, which is feature rich, but pricey. So if you want a free program for Windows, Mac or Linux that will handle the vast majority of your audio needs, try Audacity.
The one sentence most public speakers get wrong I was happy to see this post, which addresses one of my pet peeves: the person who stands on the stage and says with absolutely no energy in his voice: “I’m really happy to be here.”
Three easy video formats for first-timers More and more marketers are using video, but are often at a loss as to how to get started. Worse, they fear the camera. This advice will help.
Forbes: Facebook timeline is about storytelling We’ve seen lots of press about the new Facebook timeline. Love it or hate it, it’s here to stay. Here’s some good insight about making the most of the feature to tell your brand story.
Fifty is the new thirty Good news for baby boomers: Fifty is indeed the new thirty, says Seth Godin. Now if someone would just tell the people responsible for seven-point type on grocery labels, I’ll be thrilled.
Have you ever asked someone what they do, only to be bored or confused by a lengthy answer filled with jargon and buzz words?
It can be difficult to distill your message down to a few words, using the clearest language possible. Even communicators sometimes have trouble with this task.
This week I wanted to create a short presentation for the Halton-Peel Communications Association’s “Bring & Brag” networking and showcase event. I needed something that would help people to understand my business in about a minute.
This video is the fruit of my labour.
What do you think? Can you tell your story in less than two minutes?
P.S. If you want to see what the HPCA Bring & Brag Night was all about, watch this.
Here is my totally subjective collection of interesting communications-related stories in the past week. I’m not covering the biggies that we’ve all seen. Instead, I’ve tried to find some gems you may have missed.
The Bensonhurst Spelling Bee This hilarious video spoke to me on so many levels. I grew up in a mostly Italian neighbourhood in Astoria, Queens, New York, and was my school spelling bee champ in sixth grade. I hope you enjoy this playful send-up as much as I did.
How leaders can inspire action through storytelling Here is a wonderful example in Forbes magazine of using a compelling story to spark action. The example relates to a charity movement, but many of the principles could apply more broadly to business.
Seven ways to become a masterful storyteller Can you tell that I love the topic of storytelling? Here’s a nice practical post from Ragan.com.
Are you reinforcing your social media content? This post by Christopher S. Penn appealed to me this week because I realized that more traffic was coming to my blog via LinkedIn than any other source, so I decided to focus more on my LinkedIn updates. You may not want to go as tech-heavy as Chris, but you will definitely learn from him in this post. (Tip: Subscribe to his newsletter for more great tips.)
This morning I was working with a client on a webinar for her company. One of my tasks is to massage the intro and closing scripts so that they are pleasing to the ear.
Sometimes people forget this simple truth: When I listen to what you are saying, it’s not the same as reading what you have written. Copy that looks fine on the page does not always sound right. Worse, it can be hard to understand.
Take a typical written passage, in this case from the Town of Oakville Economic Development site:
With easy access to North America's third largest financial centre and a workforce armed with expert knowledge in a variety of fields, establishing your business in Oakville will pay handsome dividends. Located at the epicentre of Canada’s Golden Horseshoe, Oakville, a dynamic community of 170,000 residents, is well within reach of major U.S. capital markets and nearly seven million potential consumers in southern Ontario. Coupled with a favourable Canadian tax environment, Oakville makes perfect business sense.
This is fairly well written, except for the dangling participle in the first sentence. Let’s now recast it for the spoken word:
Establishing your business in Oakville will pay handsome dividends. Here’s why: Oakville gives you easy access to North America's third largest financial centre – Toronto – and a workforce with expert knowledge in a variety of fields. Located at the epicentre of Canada’s Golden Horseshoe, Oakville is a dynamic community of 170,000 people. What’s more, the town is well within reach of major U.S. capital markets and nearly seven million potential consumers in southern Ontario. Add a favourable Canadian tax environment, and Oakville makes perfect business sense.
Do you see the difference? Shorter sentences, simpler language, and a more direct tone.
Here are a few tips for writing for the ear, whether your end product is a script, speech or podcast:
Use simple words, not complex ones. (Use rather than utilize.)
Shorten your sentences. If it requires a semicolon, it’s probably too long.
Round all numbers. Say nearly one million, not 989,320, unless there is a specific reason to use the exact figure.
Use the active voice, not passive. (Our team ran the webinar, not The webinar was run by our team.)
Visit the Trafalgar Communications website for information about how we can help your organization to tell its story through traditional and new media.
Last week a colleague and I were discussing content marketing, and he said: “Well, sure, content marketing is important for some businesses, but not mine. I get all my leads via referrals.”
I considered that comment for a few days. And now I think my friend is wrong.
You see, most of my business comes from referrals too, but I still see examples all the time of why it’s essential to include useful content on your website or blog. Try these on for size:
Someone refers you directly. What’s the first thing the person who receives your name will do? Go to your website. What will he find there? Just sales material, or helpful information about your area of expertise? Will he think of you as a trusted advisor after consuming your content?
Someone you don’t even know refers you. This happens to me all the time. I’ll get a phone call or email, and the person will tell me that So And So gave me their name. But I don’t know So And So. The answer: “So And So reads your blog [or listens to your podcast], so she says you know a lot about social media. We need your help.”
Great content solidifies existing relationships. When you hear from a client you worked with two years ago, do you ever wonder why you are still top of mind for her? Your content may have something to do with it. Quite often, an “old” client will call me after receiving my monthly newsletter, which is an important plank in my content marketing platform.
One more thing: Before you say that you don’t need great content on your site, take a look at your stats. Go ahead, I’ll wait. How many of the people who clicked through to your website started the process by Googling your name or your company name? They have heard of you somewhere, and they are checking you out. What will they see when they visit your site or blog?
And of course you also need to know how many people called or emailed you after reading, watching or listening to your terrific content. Be sure to ask people where they heard about you. Your stats can tell you only so much; sometimes you need to just ask the question. The answer may surprise you.
What do you think? Is relevant and engaging content important to your business?
Visit the Trafalgar Communications website for information about how we can help your organization to tell its story through traditional and new media.
Happy Friday! Here is my totally subjective collection of some of the most interesting communications-related stories in the past week.
Dollar Shave Club rocks it This product launch made the rounds like wildfire this week, with good reason. After watching it, I almost wished I were a guy. A guy who needs to shave. Daily. Let me know what you think of DollarShaveClub.com.
Four ways to capture your audience My friend Kare Christine Anderson was quoted in this Forbes article about grabbing the audience’s attention as soon as you step up to the podium. Having seen Kare speak several times, I can attest to her success with these methods.
Why a content curator is not an editor As someone who writes and speaks about content curation, I’m often asked, “What’s the difference between a curator and an editor?” In this piece, Liz Wilson does a great job of outlining the important distinctions between these roles.
Nine ways to increase your online visibility David Finch shares his favourite tips for getting on someone’s radar to promote your expertise, products or services.
Content marketing and social media go together like peanut butter and jam. You see, when you go to the trouble of creating great content, there are two ways people can find it: (a) search, whether organic or paid (b) sharing, by you or others.
Let’s focus on (b). After you write an article or blog post for your site, it’s important to get it in front of your customers and prospects. You might follow steps like this:
Tweet a link to the blog post
Post an update to LinkedIn with a link to the blog post
Publish an item to GooglePlus with a link to the blog post
Share the blog post on your company Facebook page or your personal page or both
Pin the item to Pinterest, if it has a visual aspect
You might also add a line to your email signature with a teaser about the blog post and a link to it. Of course you’ll refer to it in your newsletter too.
If your post or article is relevant and well crafted, chances are that others will share it with their friends and followers. And so the conversation will continue and more people will discover your business. Perhaps they’ll subscribe to your feeds or sign up to get your newsletter.
In the same vein, content marketing solves one of the problems many businesses experience around their social media presence: “We are on Twitter and GooglePlus and so on, but what are we going to say?” The answer is content marketing: You are going to publish meaningful content that’s relevant to your audience, and you’re going to share it on your social media platforms. Think of it as a cycle – a cycle that gains attention and potential business.
Of course you don’t want your social media accounts to look like advertising, so don’t let them become push-only platforms. Be sure to engage with your readers, to ask questions, to answer questions, and to promote the work of others in your network and beyond.
Do you have any tips to share about the links between content marketing and social media?
Visit the Trafalgar Communications website for information about how we can help your organization to tell its story through traditional and new media.
How do you read Twitter updates? I’m apt to pop into TweetDeck in the early morning, at lunchtime and again in the evening. Sometimes, especially when I’m accessing Twitter on my iPhone, I’ll see an interesting item that I just don’t have time to click through and read.
Packrati to the rescue! This handy little site lets you set up an account that will bookmark Twitter links that you have marked as favorites. Packrati can save the links to Delicious, Read It Later, Instapaper, Diigo and several other services.
Here’s how it works. Suppose I see a brilliant tweet that links to a long blog post or article. I don’t have time to read it now, but I don’t want to forget about it. I’ll mark it as a “favorite” on Twitter, and then Packrati automatically adds the item to my Delicious account, tagged “packrati.” When I have time later, I go into my Delicious bookmarks, and read the item. I may decide then to add my own Delicious tags to it.
Give Packrati a try! For me, it’s become an integral part of my content curation efforts.
Visit the Trafalgar Communications website for information about how we can help your organization to tell its story through traditional and new media.
No matter how much client work I do in a given week, I always find time to read and save interesting content that I find via my RSS feeds, newsletters, Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, Paper.li and now Pinterest, among other sources.
I thought I’d start curating some of this material for you each Friday. So here goes: A totally biased list of some of the most interesting communications-related content I’ve found on the Web this week.
10 changes to Facebook you need to know about It’s a challenge to keep up with Facebook’s myriad changes. Here’s a good outline of what you need to know about the most recent updates.
Five insanely simple ways to make your next presentation sizzle I always learn something from posts about presentations, or else am reminded of what I thought I knew but don’t always practice. Here’s a nice quick list of things to do to please your audience and meet your speaking goals. On a related note, please check out the Trafcom News Podcast interview I did with Shel Israel, author of the new book, Stellar Presentations.
A sweet business story I’m a sucker for these kinds of things, and love reading about the provenance of products I buy. Here’s a lovely example of storytelling about a product.
Why Pinterest is not the next big thing for your business Everyone’s in a lather about Pinterest. Yes, it’s new and it’s fun but is it truly the be all and the end all for business communications? John Jantsch reminds us to calm down.
Speaking of Pinterest Although, like John Jantsch, I don’t think Pinterest is the best thing ever invented in the history of the world, I’m exploring ways of using this tool. Recently I’ve joined a pinboard devoted to podcasting, thanks to Daniel Lewis. What do you think?
Top tips for a great video meeting More of us are meeting via video these days, whether it’s Skype or GooglePlus Hangouts. Follow these tips for a better online meeting experience. I would add two things: Be sure your camera is positioned in front of your face, not looking up your nose! And be aware of what's in the background. No one wants to see your laundry pile.
Why an optimized content strategy is crucial for social search Social search is changing the way we find information online, and publishers of content need to take this into account. Here’s some advice on ensuring that your content is optimized. You might also want to check out my recent series of posts on content marketing.
Top 100 first-world problems Let’s end with a laugh. This well-produced video reminds us to keep things in perspective, and to be grateful for the lifestyle we enjoy in the developed world.
