Avoid the 4 BYOD Danger Zones

Employees are bringing their own devices to work in record numbers. Are you doing the right things to protect your infrastructure?

As tablets and wearable devices become more prolific, it looks like the BYOD (bring your own device) phenomenon is here to stay. To learn what executives and managers should be doing to keep their organizations safe and streamlined, I connected with Bill Carey of Siber Systems (creators of BYOD apps RoboForm and Goodsync) to share the most common danger zones and their solutions.

Danger Zone: All apps welcome

Allowing your employees to download whatever they want leaves your enterprise vulnerable to viruses as well as data storage and productivity issues. Create your own “app store” so employees know what’s available (and not available) to them. If you are going to allow certain non work-related apps on BYOD devices, establish boundaries so employees cannot access those apps on your network. And while we’re on the subject of employee choice, you can give them the freedom to select their own devices – within limits. The last thing you need is a jail-broken iPhone crawling around your network.

Danger Zone: All hands on or all hands off

Employees dislike location tracking, or for employers to know too much about their exact activities and whereabouts. But leaving employees to their own devices (forgive the pun) is not an option if you want to properly protect confidential company information. The answer? You must find a happy medium that allows regular monitoring of employee access while preserving some semblance of their privacy. Talk with your colleagues at similar organizations practicing BYOD to gain insights into workable policies.

Danger Zone: Lack of synchronization

Remember the version control problems of old? Well, unprotected data silos are a BYOD manager’s worst nightmare. Fortunately, by using a file-based synchronization and backup solution, you can synchronize work folders and files automatically to ensure that they are protected and current. Synchronization operations should cover desktops, laptops, servers, mobile devices and external drives. You should also make use of a password manager like RoboForm, for all devices participating in BYOD. This will keep all files secure no matter what device they are being stored on.

Danger Zone: Roam where you want to

Trusting your employees is essential, but you don’t want to be so laissez-faire that they take advantage of that trust. When it comes to the intersection of technology and the workplace, it pays to be skeptical, and companies that don’t track BYOD employees’ data, texting, and roaming usage are setting themselves up for loads of excesses. Although it involves more work for you, you must put yourself in a position to know immediately if an employee is racking up unauthorized expenses on his or her device.

Do you allow BYOD? What learnings can you share?

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1nQvrcX

Interviewing Industry Influencers: Ten Useful Tips

At Red Rocket Media, we adopt a magazine mindset when it comes to your content marketing. We know from experience that, when you think like a publisher , you get much better results. That’s also why we recruit professional journalists to create content for our customers.

One of the key skills that journalists have is knowing how to research, conduct and write interviews. Interviews play a key role in adding professionalism to a content marketing strategy – they add a totally different dimension to your content and demonstrate that you’re rubbing shoulders with the key influencers in your industry.

An article is enriched with quotes from experts. Real people’s opinions and soundbites add colour, personality and credibility to an article.

1. Research your interviewee

An interview is as much about preparation as it is about asking questions. Good interviews come from good research. Obviously you need to know what your interviewee does for a living, but do you know their interests? Do you know what is likely to push their emotional buttons?

A creative person is likely to be inspired by visual language. An IT geek may be motivated by logic and process. If you find areas of common interest, you will have things to discuss that help you build a rapport. You may also find things that your interviewee has talked about before. You can ask them about previous statements and expand on those or re-qualify them.

Use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google and any other useful tools to do your research. You could also speak to colleagues or friends of your interviewee. Don’t forget to read their own website.

I once interviewed a pop band who were frustrated by my boring and mundane questions. This was before the world wide web and the only research I did was reading the press release on the tube on the way to the record company. The interview was fractious and uninteresting.

2. Agree interview questions beforehand

Corporate managers who partake in media training are often advised to control the situation when they are contacted by journalists. The advice is to not just answer on the phone but to ask which questions the journalist wants you to answer, then to call back with prepared answers. This gives you time to think before you speak.

Most interviewees are not corporate managers. They may be shop owners, artists, charity workers… Most people are not used to giving interviews and they can be nervous. Explaining the interview topics, and what you hope to cover in the interview, beforehand, is a good way to put them at ease.

3. Pick a suitable time and place

Where you conduct an interview is important. You don’t want lots of background noise encroaching on your recording, and you don’t want office interruptions. Agree a suitable time – there’s nothing worse than you planning for an hour that turns into, “Sorry, I have to go in 15 minutes.”

If you are conducting the interview on the phone, make sure you are both comfortable and that there is no background noise.

Ask your subject where and when they would like to talk – where they will feel relaxed and able to give you the required attention.

4. Check your tech

There’s nothing worse than planning to record using a dictaphone and finding you don’t have batteries, or that it isn’t fully charged. What if it isn’t working? Do a practice run to check sound and ensure you have enough tape or storage space.

Likewise, if you are using a camera, or a camera phone, make sure it is fully charged and has enough memory. A phone on a low charge could also be disastrous if you need to call the interview because you are held up in traffic.

On top of all that, your tech devices may fail. What will you do then? You should revert to the lowest tech – a notepad and pen. If you have fully prepared, you will have already made notes of your questions and the topics you want to talk about. This will make it easier to make efficient and accurate notes so you can quote your interviewee correctly.

5. Business and pleasure

A relaxed interviewee will be more open. Remember, you are trying to record the thoughts of the other person – not impose your thoughts on them. Your task is to draw out their thoughts in a businesslike and measured way, while making the experience pleasurable for your subject.

Build a rapport by pandering to the subjects close to your interviewee’s heart. People like to talk about things they care about – they will talk emotionally and passionately and that encourages them to be more frank. Emotional statements are more powerful quotes.

That doesn’t mean generate anger and frustration. Quite the opposite. Use empathy and show interest. If you enjoy the discussion, so will your subject.

6. Have a conversation

An interview is not an inquisition. Don’t just run through a list of questions and write down answers, producing a formulaic Q&A. Sometimes that format is great for an article, but there’s no storytelling involved in a Q&A.

Even having planned your questions and the topics you are looking for, a general conversation will reveal things you didn’t expect.

Your interviewee may be passionate about a charitable cause or a hobby. These things, when probed, could reveal a whole new angle that puts the interviewee in a new light.

7. Listen for soundbites

People generally don’t talk in concise, coherent and complete sentences. They may start to make a really clever point without completing the statement and then veer off into another point.

Imagine transcribing the interview recording and discovering this not-so-great statement: “The three great things about working as a doctor are that you get to help people and that no two days are the same. As much as you might assume each day is the same. The other day I had this patient who…”

Three things? What was the third thing? Listening for complete statements is important while you are interviewing something. Especially, listen for soundbites that would make good headlines or pull-out quotes.

One great technique is to ask your interviewee to repeat or re-phrase something. Or you can re-word their statement back to them in a better way and ask them if that’s what they are trying to say.

8. Thank them

Manners cost nothing. When someone gives up their time, and their story, for you, the least you can do is thank them.

Thank them at the interview but also afterwards, by phone or email. This is a good way to reassure them that the interview went well. First-time or inexperienced interviewees may feel nervous about what they said, or how they came across.

Let them know they have nothing to worry about and that you will check your facts with them before you publish.

9. Check your facts

Don’t publish without checking facts. First, your subject may tell you things that need to be verified. They may also mention product names or people – check how to spell these.

You don’t need to share a draft of your article with the interviewee, but you can check their statements with them and sharing a draft is a good courtesy. Remember you need to maintain that rapport because you may need their help again sometime.

10. Promote it

Content marketing is 50% writing and 50% promotion. Unseen content is useless – make sure you get it out there. Encourage people to share it and comment on it.

Promotion starts at the planning stage. Don’t forget the thought leader that you are interviewing has their own audience. They may promote it themselves, or their peers and followers will promote the content.

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1nC6flG

6 Essentials for Putting the Q in QA

When I tell my Marketo students that, in a perfect world, half their time for any digital marketing initiative should be spent designing and building and half testing and QA, they laugh at me. The world, alas, is sadly imperfect.

That doesn’t mean you can forget QA, though. I also tell my students it’s a lot easier to check first than to send an apology email later. Here are 6 areas that you must cover, to ensure quality QA:

1) Copy Editing: Make sure you check the grammar, logical flow, and appearance of your content – and that includes emails, landing pages and form field labels. While an extra space between lines won’t kill you, and a misplaced capital letter is hardly a crime, it smacks of being unprofessional. Clean it up, people.

2) Looks Matter: Ok, it reads well now, but do the links go where they’re supposed to? Does the email look right in several email clients? Mac and PC? How about the landing pages? Is the alignment ok on Mac and PC (and increasingly important, handheld devices)? Are the images working? How about in different browsers? What happens when you fill out the form? Does it go to the right page? Alt-tags? Meta tags?

3) Program Set Up: If you’re using Marketo, make sure you’ve set up your costs and custom tags, and you’ve got the right steps for your program statuses (based on the channel). Every program should have at least one cost tag, even if it’s $0. It makes for better, cleaner reporting down the line.

4) Program Statuses: Why? Every time I teach, someone asks me why they should bother with these…especially if they only have one email to send because they’re doing a pilot. Without them, you can’t learn about how far your leads progressed into your program and how effective it was. Reporting is essential. Don’t forget these easy, but required, smart campaign flow steps.

5) Flow Testing: You have to send to a test list. Not just the test emails that you send, but really, to a list. Make sure the tokens are filling in correctly. That you get the right responses from auto-response campaigns under the right actions. That you’re removed from a campaign at the right place, if you’ve included that as a requirement. You’ll need at least one email address to check every possible variation through your campaign flow, so recruit colleagues and give them roles (you open, you ignore, you click after the first email, you click after the second email, etc.). Make sure you get the feedback from their experiences. This is where you can test that your program statuses (see step 4) are working correctly.

6) The List: You absolutely MUST verify that you are sending to the right people. Make sure your list is the size you expect it to be, and spot check to make sure the right leads are showing up in your list. Error proof this one, because you can’t back out once you hit that send button!

While this is an overview, and there are lots of details for each of these areas, making sure you don’t skip any of the steps above will help get you on your way…until the world is perfect.

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1jD0fOl

Need A Full Sales Pipeline? Update your Buyer Personas with These 4 Questions

Successful marketing and sales both trace their roots to one core piece of your business strategy: your company’s accurate, targeted buyer personas.

These buyer personas run the show; They determine how and where you market your products and services, and they can determine how your sales team approaches potential customers.

Unfortunately, many companies don’t realize that their buyer personas may have an expiration date. At the very least, they need to be updated and refined periodically.

If your assumptions and accepted truths about your customer’s pain points are no longer accurate, your marketing efforts simply won’t be effective in the long term.

To stay relevant, your marketing team needs to approach these marketing assets as living documents that need to be updated and maintained over time.

Fortunately, your sales team is in the perfect position to help. With the right conversations and the right questions, they can help your marketing team develop fresh, accurate profiles.

With these refined personas, your marketing department will be able to generate more targeted leads for sales.

Here’s a look at four questions your sales or marketing team can ask customers to update your buyer personas:

1. “What is your biggest challenge when it comes to ___________?”

The first step in updating your profiles is to understand how your client’s needs have changed over time.

• What problem keeps them up at night?


• Is it the same problem as when you first created these personas?


• What trends and technological developments have influenced their business or personal success?

You need to continue to analyze the path that your clients take towards becoming your customer based on the information you’ve gathered from working with them for so long.

Then, if possible, use your lead intelligence to help you make better decisions about nurturing this customer along your sales pipeline.

2. “If you could accomplish one thing, what would it be?”

This question speaks to the most important thing to understand about your customer: how they behave and the “Why” behind it.

First, the client’s answer will give you a clear indication of what motivates them, what is important to them, and how your products and services can help them reach this goal.

This is incredibly valuable information to capture in a buyer persona because each answer can have a profound effect on your entire marketing strategy.

Second, building and updating your profiles with behavior-based information will help you intelligently evaluate your customer’s goals and make informed assumptions about how each client will respond to your marketing efforts.

This inside-out understanding of how and why your client acts can give you insight into how and why your marketing strategy works.

3. “Where do you typically search for or find information about products like ours?”

Once you have an updated understanding of how and why your ideal client profile acts, it’s time to make sure your outreach strategies are still appropriate.

Ask yourself the following questions to identify where your ideal clients spend their time offline and online:

• Are they active on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter?


• Do they read blogs and news sites? If so, do they prefer educational articles or industry news?


• What’s the most engaging format? Do they prefer video clips or blog posts? Infographics or tweets?


• How much time do they spend researching each of your products?

Each answer will give you insight into whether or not your outreach efforts are as effective as they could be. You may even discover a new marketing opportunity that wasn’t on your radar, but that would help you tap into new customers.

4. “If you decide to do business with us today, who signs the check?”

Above all else, it is vital that you understand who makes the ultimate decision to do business.

Pack your ideal customer profile with detailed information about the name, role, industry, and company information as well as the demographic and personal information of the client, too.

A thorough understanding of the decision maker’s personal history and motivation will help you make even more accurate educated speculations.

This will also help you understand how many people are involved in the decision-making process, which can feed into your content marketing efforts as you target content toward each decision maker.

The more you pay attention to what your prospects and customers say, the more you learn. Rather than moving forward with established (and possibly outdated) customer profiles, evaluate each of your assumptions to see how they’ve changed over time.

The more detailed your ideal customer profile, the more targeted your efforts can be, and your marketing strategy should reflect that learning.

Use your marketing and sales team to help you create more informed profiles, and encourage them to ask the right questions to help them refine their personas with true, accurate information and added detail.

photo credit

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1jD0fxX

Jason Biggs Stirs Up Controversy By Making A Joke About Malaysia Airlines MH17 On Twitter

Actor Jason Biggs stirred up some controversy today when he made a joke about Malaysia Airlines. The airline has suffered two major tragedies this year. First, flight MH370 disappeared somewhere over the Indian Ocean. And today, about 300 people died when flight MH17 was shot down over Eastern Ukraine.

Biggs apparently thought it was the perfect time to crack a joke.

Anyone wanna buy my Malaysian Airlines frequent flier miles?

— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014

The joke isn’t really offensive but many people thought that it was way “too soon” to be making light of the situation. Twitter quickly called out Biggs for being offensive but the actor isn’t backing down.

Hey all you "too soon" assholes- it's a fucking joke. You don't have to think it's funny, or even be on my twitter page at all.

— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014

The idea that I wouldnt have any empathy 4 the victims or their families because I make a joke is absolutely ridiculous. U know that, right?

— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014

Several people came to Biggs’ defense, saying that it was ridiculous how people were getting angrier about Biggs’ joke than they were about the actual tragedy.

People on twitter are angrier at @JasonBiggs and his comedic tweets than they are at whoever shot down the fucking plane? Logic.

— Vivien Dikeakou (@vivienmariaa) July 17, 2014

The situation got even more absurd when TMZ posted a story about Jason Biggs’ MH17 joke that featured the actor’s face next to the wreckage.

Hey @tmz – well done on posting my face next to the wreckage of the plane- you might almost think I actually shot it down!

— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014

What do you think? Was Jason Biggs’ joke too soon? Is the internet being too sensitive? You can read more about the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash here.

Truly- you losers are literally trying to find shit to get angry about. Channel your issues elsewhere.

— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1nQvaqk

5 Clever Ways to Use Your Thank You Page

Thank you pages – pages that are displayed following the completion of a sale – are generally last on the list of content priorities for any brand or online retailer. After all, the sale has been made, the conversion is complete and it’s time to look for new customers and the next big sale, right? Wrong.

The best business owners know that the probability for selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, whereas the probability for selling to a potential client, someone who has never purchased from a given brand or company is only 5-20%. This statistic clearly demonstrates that it’s easier – and more profitable – to market to existing customers than to attempt to bring in new business. Clearly, retention must remain a focus for business success. A simple thank you page could be the difference between a customer that’s loyal for life and a serious decrease in potential profit.

When designing a thank you page, there are many ideas to keep in mind. A personal thank you can go a long way toward making a lasting impression and demonstrating true appreciation. In fact, according to McKinsey, 70% of buying experiences are based on how customers feel they are being treated. Positivity breeds positive outcome and negativity or indifference breeds negativity. It’s that simple. Adding a personal touch – a quick video, an image or sound bite – can increase the overall feeling of appreciation in a professional manner that leads to a positive buying experience, even after the sale has been completed.

Keeping that in mind, check out the five ways below to cleverly use a thank you page to generate loyal customers, spread endorsements and increase repeat sales.

1. Include a Coupon

What’s the best way to drive repeat traffic after a sale? Offering an incentive. Once a customer has completed a transaction, consider including an email as a pop-up, or, better yet as an email that can be used toward a future purchase. Include a quick note of thanks and make it clear that your company takes care of customers, long after a sale has been completed. The coupon can be as small or significant as you’d like, however, the better the deal, the more likely a customer is to return.

Not ready to offer a coupon? That doesn’t mean the thank you can’t be helpful. Follow Amazon’s lead by offering a list of sales items that could relate based on other repeat customers’ purchases of the same item.

2. Consider Social Buttons

Sometimes a purchase is too exciting not to share. However, who wants to brag after they’ve bought something great? You can help in this area. Allow customers to share their purchases across their social media sites. This makes your link easy to find in the future and allows the followers of your customers to learn more. Nothing’s better than a testimonial – social buttons make the process simple.

3. Ask for Reviews

Look at your top referrers. What are they? Yelp? Google+? Another site? Pay attention to your metrics. After thanking your customers for making purchases, ask them to leave a review. The timing couldn’t be more perfect – they are excited about what they’ve purchased, why not give them an outlet? Provide a link to your review page or Google+, like Warren CAT does, to streamline the process by cutting out a few steps. Generating positive feedback is always a worthwhile endeavor.

4. Add a Sign-Up Form

After you’ve taken the time to thank a customer for his or her most recent purchase, invite them to become a part of your brand’s community by signing up for your newsletter. Language like “don’t miss out on future sales, sign up today!” can go a long way toward encouraging action at the close of a sale.

By increasing the size of your e-mail list, through your thank you message, you’ve turned a static message into something that can be used to generate additional business in the future, to remind customers that your brand exists and to send out special deals and promo codes going forward.

5. Create a Referral Perk

As a part of your thank you message or email, provide a referral coupon that a customer can share with friends and family that offers a kickback for the original customer. For each person that makes a purchase using the customer’s original coupon code, the customer can earn an additional 5% or dollar amount off of the next purchase.

This is yet another way to increase the potential for future sales, from both existing customers and a new market that you may not be targeting.

Whatever steps you take, now is the time to stop thinking of thank you messages as generic and useless and to start looking for greater possibilities that can increase positive customer experiences.

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1mZ47Z8

How to Build a Foundation for a Public Relations Career

This past month I started my first PR job! I have held plenty of internships before, as anyone in the industry knows is a necessary first step, but with college graduation came my first full-time public relations job. And while starting a new job is rather overwhelming, it is also an incredible learning experience.

When I first began, I wanted to make a good impression, to soak in everything PR-related, and to master it all right away. Well, it didn’t take long for me to recognize these tasks take time. A lot of time. I quickly adjusted my goals and worked to learn something new every day and to form relationships with my coworkers and superiors, as I realized how much I had to learn from them.

If I were to list all of the things I have learned in the past month, this post would be far too long. So instead, I want to focus specifically on the little details, habits, and skills that I have learned are needed to build a foundation for a public relations career.

We have all been told that the little things are important, and that the little things you do define you as a person. Well, it’s true in PR, too. After my first month, I now know how incredibly important details are in the PR world.

Five Skills and Habits Needed to Build a PR Career:

1. Dress the part. The first day of work I wore a carefully picked out navy work dress. Since I was unsure of the office environment, I dressed on the conservative side. When my boss greeted me, she thanked me for looking nice. I had never been more grateful for an outfit choice than I was in that moment. Dressing well shows your boss, your coworkers and your clients that you respect them. Overdressing is always better than underdressing. In the words of Oscar Wilde, “You can never be overdressed or overeducated.”

2. Speak like a professional. Before I started answering the phones at Lovell, Paula gave me this advice: “You’re not a sorority girl anymore, don’t talk like it. Girls tend to speak with a high insecure voice when they’re unsure of themselves; don’t do that.” I nodded along, making notes of everything. “This will help you throughout your entire career,” she added. And I realized she was right. If you want respect from others, speak confidently.

3. Learn to assert yourself. This goes hand-in-hand with your tone of voice. While it is sometimes difficult to assert yourself in a new situation, it is essential. If you speak and act assertively, the people around you will take you more seriously. They will know you are excited about your job and that you are both competent and capable. Of course, don’t be afraid to ask questions if you are unsure of something. Assertiveness is not mutually exclusive from being inexperienced.

4. Educate yourself on current events. As a world citizen, it is always important to be educated about the news and as a PR professional, it is especially important. If a client is in the news, or a competitor is featured, it is our job to be aware and ready to respond. Additionally, it is essential to be knowledgeable about the world around us, whether or not it involves our clients.

5. Stay proactive. Often in an entry level position, you will have “down time.” You’ll finish the tasks you were assigned and be left with an empty to-do list. But before you check your personal email, walk around the office and ask other staff members if they need help with anything. Often, they will have something for you to do and will be grateful you asked. And in the rare chance they do not need help, you’ll be on their radar for the next time they have exciting client work.

For now, I’m still working on mastering these traits, as well as many more. I know I have a lot to learn as I continue down my PR path, but fortunately, I am surrounded by some of the best mentors here at Lovell. Do you have any other skills to add to the list? Share them with us below!

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1jUVAb7

What The Lego PR Crisis Can Teach You About How To Protect Your Brand

Much has been written about the impact of social media on marketing and the demand for greater transparency and accountability from brands. The business landscape is now littered with examples of its impact from the ousting of high profile CEO’s at companies like Abercrombie and Fitch, American Apparel and the LA Clippers, to brands mitigating the risk of consumer activism by changing their products including CVS, Chick-fil-A, and Subway.

The level of accountability now demanded of brands is only getting higher. Brands are now under siege from watchdogs that will not only hold you accountable for your company’s behavior, but also scrutinize the partnerships you keep in terms of your stated company values.

A very powerful example is playing out right now as Green Peace reacts to the partnership deal struck between Lego and Shell Oil. Green Peace states the oil company is using Lego’s high profile and positive image to try and improve the perception of its arctic drilling in the form of 16 million Shell-branded Lego toys being sold or given away at gas stations in 26 countries.

Green Peace has asserted that this licensing deal effectively uses children’s playrooms for Shell’s public image management as it tries to “buy friends who can make its controversial arctic drilling plans acceptable and misleadingly associate it with positive values.” Greenpeace went so far as create a compelling film that takes the very brand recognition that Lego established through its charming commercials and hit movie and turns it against the brand.

This is a costly PR crisis for Lego and not surprisingly, they were quick to react sharing tweets stating, “We are determined to leave a positive impact on our society and children. We’re sad when the Lego brand is used as a tool in any dispute.” While this is an understandable attempt to separate itself from the environmental impact of Shell’s arctic drilling, it is hard for Lego to avoid guilt by association which can be extraordinarily costly to the brand’s reputation in the short and long term.

This dynamic between Shell, Lego, and Greenpeace demonstrates the fact that brands are now being forced to address three key issues:

1. What do they stand for?

2. How do they tell that story?

3. How do they show meaningful and measurable impact?

If the leadership, marketing, and employee base within a company does not have an answer to these three questions, the brand runs the risk of being miscast as part of the problem rather than part of the solution in the minds of consumers. Too often, however, leadership, marketing or PR firms point the finger of blame at other parties when it comes to who is responsible for damage to the brand’s reputation.

Yet as the adage states, “when you point your finger at someone else there are four fingers pointing at yourself.” If your company fails to recognize the reality of the world in which they live, to authentically put their shoulder behind the core values of their brand, and to demonstrate their authentic commitment to social change through all their efforts including partnerships, they only have themselves to blame for an inevitable PR crisis.

Join us Oct 7-8 at the 2014 We First Brand Leadership Summit for two days of hands-on training on how to define, frame and share a brand story that empowers your company to lead business, shape culture, mitigate risk, and position itself at the heart of what the transparency-driven marketplace will reward.

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1sudELE

Joaquin Phoenix’ Forehead Face Is Creepy [Video]

Have you ever taken a really good look at Joaquin Phoenix’ forehead? No? Well, somebody did and they discovered that the actor has a second hidden face on his forehead.

If you want to see Joaquin Phoenix’ forehead face here’s what you have to do.

1. Go rent the movie Her.


2. Skip to the scene where the actor is lying on his bed.


3. Turn your TV upside down.


4. Marvel at the creepy face on Joaquin Phoenix’ forehead.

If that’s too much effort for you, just click play on the video below.

This isn’t the first time that a forehead face has been discovered but there does seem to be something peculiar about the strange little upside down man on Joaquin Phoenix. It looks angry. Like it completely disapproves with Phoenix’ career choices.

Or maybe Joaquin Phoenix’s forehead face is plotting its next evil plan. He’s got to be the one responsible for the bizarre rapping phase and “I’m Still Here” documentary. Now that Phoenix is back at the top of the game maybe this face is starting to plot another strange career path.

What do you think of Joaquin Phoenix’ forehead face? Is it funny? Creepy? Will it be the subject of your next nightmare?

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/UduiA4

LinkedIn Tip: LinkedIn Photo Sharing via Phone App

Show your work, demonstrate your knowledge, share your professional development.

In April, LinkedIn announced the launch of photo sharing for mobile. LinkedIn’s launches typically rollout out to members over a few weeks. Since this was launched in April 2014, you should have it by now. You’ll be able to share your professional photos in real time and on the move via Android, iOS and the mobile web.

Members who share images with their LinkedIn network are five times more likely to have other members engage with their update. Clicks and pics can be a recipe for professional success.

Notice we bolded professional photos. Don’t muck up LinkedIn with silly, personal or non-professional photos. It won’t be worth it. You’ll annoy your network and diminish your credibility (need some suggestions, click here). Use photo sharing to extend your personal brand, knowledge and network. Like all things on LinkedIn, consider your strategy and what makes the most sense for your network, not you.

We like this, though, and are going to begin to experiment with this new feature. Carefully, of course.

Here’s how you get started.

Open your LinkedIn phone app >> click on Home and you will see this screen.

Tap the rectangular box (circled above) to launch your update.

Click the camera button and choose the photo and add your message. Be brief. If sharing on Twitter, keep within 140 characters.

Decide who you want to share with and send.

If you make a mistake, don’t worry, everyone does it once in a while. When you are just beginning to share like this, take your time, don’t be distracted, and make sure you read and understand what you are doing before you tap your phone.

Try it and see if you create some new conversations on LinkedIn. Let us know if you like it.

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1yxPEaY

Do Your Posts Scream “Buy! Buy! Buy!”

As a marketing major, I spend most of my spare time looking at blogs and browsing Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to catch up on the latest marketing news.

Overtime, I’ve started to notice most companies use their social media accounts to sell their products or services. I know you’re thinking of course they do, why else would they be using social media? I agree, companies should use social media to create brand awareness and recognition. However, the problem comes when companies only post content trying to sell their products.

Promotional messages and advertisements try to reach consumers 24/7. As a society, we cannot watch television, browse the internet, or even check Twitter without seeing an advertisement. Advertisers are also trying to come up with even more inconspicuous ways to advertise products because the old methods aren’t working anymore.

Consumers have become annoyed with the constant promotional messages and they have begun to tune them out. Think about it, when you’re watching TV and a commercial comes on, most people get on their phones or run out of the room to get a snack. People drive by billboards barely looking at them and when commercials come on the radio they just switch the station. People do pay attention to ads but they use social media as an escape.

Consumers primarily use social media to connect with friends and catch up on the latest news. People tend to divert from posts using hard sales tactics to get them to buy a product. For example, I used to follow a local hair salon on Instagram. They would always post photos showing haircuts they did with a caption about calling them for an appointment. I eventually unfollowed them because I felt like I wasn’t getting anything out of their posts.

I’ve also been following a beauty company called Birchbox on Instagram (see below). Their posts are informative and interactive. They’ll post pictures of products and ask their followers what other products they would suggest. Their posts range from tips and tricks, to contests, to different hairstyles they think their followers should try out. Some of their posts promote products they sell in their shop and most of the time I’m more inclined buy them because I trust the company. This trust comes from feeling that instead of just trying to sell me a product, the company has my best interest at heart.

Since consumers are turned off by blogs and social media accounts that scream “buy buy buy”, how can you use social media to your advantage?

Users want to feel like they are getting something out of your posts and businesses need to focus their content on interacting with users. Posting consistently and interacting can make a world of difference. So if one of your followers comments or replies to your post, respond to them or ‘favorite’ the post. Most companies make the mistake of being a pusher instead of engaging with users and creating brand loyalty.

How do you keep your posts from screaming “buy! buy! buy!”?

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/WkzQuP

The One Big Question Marketers Ask

“Is my advertisement working?”

Regardless of how big your budget is and where you advertise, this is a question we all need answered. It’s the question we want to answer for ourselves, so we know how to appropriately spend our money and grow our budgets. And it’s the question our bosses want answered so they know whether or not we’re doing our jobs.

We all know how successful Google’s advertising business is. And the main reason they were able to grow it as big as they have is because they were the first ones to come along and answer this question for us.

In Google’s model, advertisers only show their ads to people who are interested. In Google’s model, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. In Google’s model, you can measure your cost per impression, per click, and per sale. You know exactly whether or not your ad is working, and how well it’s working. They even suggest ways that you can make your ad work better.

Before Google, those companies that wanted your ad dollars were not quite so transparent. They told you what an ad would cost and approximately how many people would see it. They told you the approximate age range and interests of those people. And you could either say yes and spend the money (regardless of whether it worked or not) or you could say no and go find somewhere else to spend the money.

That model suited the newspapers, magazines, radio stations, out of home, and television advertising industries just fine.

But Google disrupted the advertising model. And now, other companies like Facebook are piggybacking on that model to show advertisers just how successful they can be when they actually know what their placements are worth.

Everyone else is still trying to figure out how to catch up. And it’s hurting their bottom lines. Don’t let it hurt yours too.

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/WkzJPG

How to Write a Great Resume in Seven Steps

I am a facilitator at Bracknell Careers Springboard which is a jobs club for people seeking employment. One of the most important key topics we focus on is the candidate’s resume. If you are looking for a job then your resume (or CV) is the key document which will either get you an interview or put you on the reject pile. Most recruitment agencies and most recruiting managers receive hundreds of resumes every day and they typically scan each one for 15 seconds or less so it is critical that your document gains attention and says the right things about you in the right way.

Your resume should be no longer than two pages. The first page contains your summary, key skills and achievements. The second page contains a brief career history and your highest educational achievement. Here are seven key steps when constructing your resume.

1. Summary Statement.

In terms of the job market what are you? You need a short summary statement of one or two sentences which clearly articulates what you are. Avoid long, generic, ‘motherhood’ claims which anyone could make e.g. ‘A highly motivated goal-oriented team-player with strong interpersonal skills and excellent communication abilities.’ These opinions of yourself are worthless because who would not say this? Be specific e.g. ‘A qualified project manager with a proven track record in delivering major projects on time and within budget. I have particular experience in leading multinational teams to deliver Oracle and SAP implementation projects in financial and retail sectors.’

2. Key Skills

Give four or five bullet points of your most valuable transferable skills. You need to choose these carefully and be as specific as possible, Once again try to avoid motherhood and wherever possible list explicit expertise. What are the skills you have acquired that employers are looking for? What are the keywords that recruiters will put into search engines when looking for someone for the kind of position you desire? Instead of saying ‘Strong IT skills’ list the particular programming languages or applications that you know best.

3. Achievements

Select a list of your three or four proudest achievements. What results did you deliver for the organizations where you worked? Do not be bashful. Blow your own trumpet with facts, figures and names of companies. ‘As Sales Manager at XYZ I grew sales revenue from $12m to $19m in two years.’ ‘At ABC I led the team which won Citibank as a major new account.’

4. Career History

The second page contains a brief summary of your most recent work experiences. List the organizations, your job title, your key responsibilities and achievements. Do not include long explanations for why you left one job to go to another or why you were laid off. Keep it concise and factual. In general it is only the last 10 to 15 years that are relevant so do not include a complete career history if it goes back further than this. If you are older than 50 then do not indicate your age as some employers may be prejudiced against older candidates.

5. Details

Add your highest educational achievement and any relevant professional qualifications. You can add some personal interests and hobbies but keep them to a minimum. Be sure to have your name, email and phone number clearly visible on the front page so that people can contact you easily. You do not have to include your address but it might be helpful to mention the town where you are located.

6. Align your LinkedIn profile to your resume

Recruiters use both so they should be aligned. Your LinkedIn profile contains more material e.g. recommendations but both this profile and your resume should clearly position you in the same way with the same key words for the search engines.

7. Personalize your covering letter

Whenever you apply for a position send a covering letter or email with your resume and tailor the letter to the exact wording and needs expressed in the advert. Explain precisely and briefly why you are a good candidate for the position and how your skills and experience are relevant.

Get several different people to review your resume. Keep working at it so that every word counts. Make it clear, short, well laid out and and easy to read. Once you have your resume in good shape you should apply, apply, apply. Good luck with your job hunting.

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/WkzGDt

The Disconnect Between What Customers Care About and What B2B Companies Talk About

Earlier this year, representatives from McKinsey and Company presented compelling information about the power of brands.

At a roundtable event, they explained how their report found a disconnect between the interests of B2B marketers and consumers.

The report examined public documents from 90 of the largest global companies to develop a list of brand positioning messages. These 13 themes range from topics like “low prices” to “promotes diversity.”

To get the other side of the story, McKinsey surveyed 700 global executives to see how important each theme was when evaluating brand strength.

The chart below shows how companies and consumers compare on different issues.

As you can see, B2B companies stress their corporate social responsibility and sustainability efforts, while buyers find those issues less than relevant.

Buyers found that the strongest brands have an open, honest dialogue with their customers and act responsibly across its supply chain.

B2B companies continuously miss opportunities to connect with their customers when they don’t talk about the issues that are most important to them.

In the United States, brand influences 18% of a consumer’s total purchase decision, making it vital to highlight what’s important to the customer. Many companies miss out on the emotional dimensions that affect a brand’s perceived strength.

How to ensure your brand’s message talks about things that really matter to your customers

Address pain points

Listen to your customer. Determine what their biggest pain points are and address how your offering fits in as a solution. If you truly understand your customer’s main concerns, you should be able to effectively communicate how you help solve the problem.

Be transparent

To think your customers don’t consider alternatives to your product is naive. Acknowledge that other companies have viable alternatives, but help your potential customer decide which is right for them.

For example, take a look at how a plastic tank manufacturer makes light of the fact that their products are incompatible with some chemicals on their website.

Cater to their emotions

McKinsey suggests using a combination of hard and soft facts to successfully reach your customers. It’s useful to show your customers the statistics behind your offering, but cater to their more emotional side as well.

The study indicates that B2B customers are interested an honest dialogue and a company’s values, so don’t be afraid to show a softer side.

Focus on value

Emphasize the benefit of your offering to your customers instead of filling your message with product features. B2B customers who see personal value (emotional, social, professional benefits) are 49% more likely to purchase a product and 60% more likely to pay a higher price.

The customer is interested in the value they will receive from choosing you, so clearly demonstrate this value by showing that you work hard to understand your customer’s needs and strive to meet them.

Talk to your customers, not around them

Instead of displaying your brand as “#1 in the industry” or “lowest prices around,” test your messages to make sure they’re effective.

Listen to your consumers and focus your message on the actual human that is interested in your offer. Reevaluate your message frequently to ensure you’re connecting with these consumers.

A brand message that is misaligned with the customer’s needs can have a negative effect on your perceived value.

Try to craft your message in a different way than your competitors – set yourself apart and constantly evaluate the way you’re connecting with customers.

McKinsey explains, “Consistently gathering information…and evolving in response are valuable ways of closing any gaps that may be opening up between your brand messaging and your customers’ needs.”

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1mYrthx

Firing Lousy Board Members

Yes, your organization should fire non-performing board members.

Of course, that means you must define good and bad performance. You must articulate standards and communicate them. You conduct screening interviews before nominating them. You monitor and evaluate performance. You need ways to fire them that don’t cause pain – to them or your organization. You need the guts to do this. And, by the way, who is the “you” anyway?

Are you overwhelmed yet? Thinking maybe it’s easier to just keep them?

No! Stop that kind of thinking right now. Just stop it!

Let’s start at the beginning.

First, serving on a board is serious business. The board is accountable for ensuring the health and effectiveness (mission, fiduciary, etc.) of the corporation. That’s what corporate governance means.

Serving on a board is not about having fun and hanging out with cool people. Serving on a board isn’t just about showing your commitment to the cause. Show your commitment by giving money or volunteering to do some other kind of work.

Serving on a board is hard work that requires business acumen, strategic thinking, and the willingness to challenge staff and fellow board members. Serving on a board requires advance reading and regular meeting attendance. Serving on a board requires that board members inconvenience themselves to learn new stuff, attend meetings when they’d rather celebrate Valentine’s Day or a birthday.

Serving on a board is like being hired for a job. But you aren’t paid when serving on a nonprofit board.

Since board service is that important and serious… inadequate performance is a serious offense. Repeated inadequate performance demands termination, just like in any job.

Step one: Your executive director and board members must understand that board service is serious business.

This is the first weakness I find. In my experience, the executive director and board members often don’t understand the seriousness of governance.

I use two different approaches to help organizations, staff, and board members understand the importance of governance.

• Gracious gentle approach: “How about a little health check-up to ensure that your governance is top-notch? Let’s assess your governance.”


• Shock and awe approach – often the necessary choice: “Scandals abound in both for profit and nonprofit sectors. Many of these scandals are governance failures. Governments are increasingly frustrated. They’re new inventing laws and regulations. It’s just a matter of time before donors get fed up, too. Some already are. So let’s make sure your governance is top- notch.”

Too many executive directors don’t know the basic principles of corporate governance. Too many executive directors don’t know how to help the board and its members do governance. In fact, too many executive directors see the board as a distraction, a frustrating idiosyncrasy required by government.

These execs don’t recognize their leadership role. They complain about board performance, but don’t accept their responsibility for effective enabling1. Some executive directors disempower their boards, denying governance accountability.

The bottom line: Without accepting the seriousness of governance, you’re in trouble. The other bottom line: Without effective enabling by staff, it’s difficult for boards to do governance well.

With inadequate staff, you might recruit an experienced governance expert for your board. This individual would be helpful even with good staff enabling. But board service does not mean an individual is a governance expert. I think most boards don’t do governance well, including the really sophisticated boards with all those high-powered important people serving. So those board members aren’t expert. And perhaps, they aren’t even sufficiently adequate.

Another first step.

Understand the distinction between the board and the individual board member!

The board is a group. Corporate governance is a collective act. Governance only happens when the board is together, e.g., at its meetings.

The board is accountable2 for very specific things, things like:

• Defining values, mission, vision, and strategic direction.


• Ensuring financial sustainability by adopting a budget and fund development plan, and monitoring performance.


• Hiring, appraising, and firing the chief executive.


• Ensuring legal and regulatory compliance.

The board member3 is part of the group that is the board. The board member has no individual authority, only the board itself does. The board member has responsibilities to the group, e.g., regularly attending board meetings, giving an annual financial contribution, etc.

Step Two: Standards and recruitment.

You wouldn’t hire a staff person without explaining the job and performance expectations in advance. The same holds true for recruiting board members. Your board must adopt a board job description and performance expectations common to all board members.

Before adopting these policies – or any others – talk. At a board meeting, explore ideas and concerns. But remember, a body of knowledge documents the role of the board – and it’s pretty much the same for any board of any type or size. The same holds true for board member performance expectations.

With shared understanding in place – and policies defined – identify candidates that bring the right attitude, behaviors, and skills to the table. Pay attention to diversity and pluralism – from gender to generation, sexual orientation to socioeconomics, race/ethnicity to networks. Make sure you’re recruiting for the skills4 necessary to fulfill the board’s job.

Your screening interview5 is as formal and detailed as any job interview. Ask candidates about their experiences and expertise. Clearly communicate the role of the board and performance expectations of the individual board member. Do this well!

Step Three: Orient and develop.

Remember that staff enables the board, its committees, and individual board members to do the right work well. Staff does this regularly and forever. Actually, good bosses do the same thing with staff. Enable people to succeed.

For example: Conduct a comprehensive orientation process for newly elected board members. Regularly offer skills development for board members. Always set the context for conversations at board meetings by reminding board members of policies and procedures, systems and processes.

Next step: Monitor performance.

You can’t evaluate performance without articulating expectations first. You can’t fire someone without comparing his performance to clearly articulated expectations. You can’t fire someone without providing feedback and the opportunity for improvement first.

The board’s governance committee6 does all this, just about every step described here. The board establishes a committee to provide leadership, in partnership with the executive director. The executive director enables the committee. The committee reports to the board. The board talks about stuff and takes action.

As a board chair, I call board members who are absent. I don’t care if the board member RSVP-ed her absence. If she’s absent a couple times, I’m calling to touch base. I find out what’s happening. I remind her, graciously, of the performance expectations and how much we all value her input and participation.

The executive director, board chair, governance committee talk about board member activities elsewhere in the organization. At some point, if there’s sufficient concern about performance, the governance committee takes over.

Feedback time.

The governance committee speaks formally with the board member about her performance. No staff person does this! The board chair is not in charge of doing this. This is governance committee work.

A member of the governance committee speaks with the non-performer. This is a formal conversation, not a casual mini mention. No firing. No nastiness. But expression of concern about not fulfilling agreed-upon standards. Probe to see what’s going on. Clearly state that this is a concern and needs to be fixed.

The governance committee representative is trying to help the non-performer think this through. The non-performing board member has to commit to improving – and improving now. Talk about what that looks like.

Sometimes there might be two formal conversations providing feedback and asking for change. But really, only twice. Then it’s time to end this.

Enhance attrition or thank and release.

Aim to “enhance attrition” first. The goal is to help the board member recognize that he isn’t fulfilling his obligations – and apparently cannot. The goal is to help the board member say, “Well, maybe this isn’t the best time for me to serve on this board even though I really want to.”

Agree with alacrity and say, “It seems best for you to resign at this time, due to personal or professional reasons. It happens you know. It’s okay.” That’s “enhancing attrition.”

If there’s no change, after one formal feedback conversation and the promise to do better… Then it’s probably thank and release time. The organization tried to enhance attrition. But the board member didn’t resign. And then she didn’t improve her performance.

So now it’s time to graciously and kindly say to that non-performing board member: “You need to step down. Please resign because you cannot fulfill what you agreed to do.”

This sure takes a long time!

Yes, indeed.

And it isn’t easy.

But it isn’t as hard as organizations (and people) think it is.

It is not acceptable to keep non-performers around. Non-performers de-motivate and frustrate hard workers. Non-performers waste valuable staff and board time.

Your unwillingness to deal with non-performers sends a very bad message to others. This is serious business. Get it together.

But…

This is scary and worrisome. What if the person gets mad and badmouths you? Make sure you do this graciously and carefully. And exactly how will they badmouth you? “The organization asked me to resign because I wasn’t performing well.” Hmmm…

You think it’s hard to find board members and don’t want to lose any. Hey! Your organization deserves high-performing board members. Don’t accept less. Yes, there are more candidates out there. Look harder.

And finally…

This is actually not about firing lousy board members. This is about enhancing attrition. You work hard to avoid thank and release. And you never use the word “fire.”

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1nBg3w6

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 Shot Down Over Ukraine

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashed today over the Ukraine. The Boeing 777 was carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew members when it left Amsterdam on its way to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Officials believe that no one survived the crash.

According to the Russian news agency Interfax, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over Eastern Ukraine after it failed to enter Russian airspace.

#BREAKING: Interfax agency says Malaysian passenger airliner was shot down at altitude of 10 km above Eastern Ukraine

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) July 17, 2014

Malaysia Airlines has not confirmed the cause of the crash. The airline did say in a Facebook post that it lost contact with flight MH17 over Ukraine airspace.

A reporter in East Ukraine spotted the wreckage and an official with the Russian Emergency Ministry told Gawker that bodies from flight #MH17 were scattered over a 10 mile radius.

#BREAKING: Reuters correspondent on the scene in Eastern Ukraine sees burning wreckage of air plane, bodies on ground

— Reuters World (@ReutersWorld) July 17, 2014

Photos of the wreckage have also started showing up on Twitter. User ‏@MatevzNovak has been posting photos of the debris to his account. These pictures have not been verified as authentic.

Flight #MH-17 #Torez #Donetsk #Ukraine by Nadezhda Chernetskaya http://ift.tt/WeVZub

— legionar (@MatevzNovak) July 17, 2014

Flight #MH-17 #Torez #Donetsk #Ukraine . Don't know what part of the plane is this. http://ift.tt/1nBfVN8

— legionar (@MatevzNovak) July 17, 2014

Flight #MH-17 #Torez #Donetsk #Ukraine More photos http://ift.tt/1nBfVNe

— legionar (@MatevzNovak) July 17, 2014

Flight #MH-17 #Torez #Donetsk #Ukraine by Nadezhda Chernetskaya http://ift.tt/1t9wFR9

— legionar (@MatevzNovak) July 17, 2014

Flight #MH-17 #Torez #Donetsk #Ukraine by Nadezhda Chernetskaya http://ift.tt/1kzOROl

— legionar (@MatevzNovak) July 17, 2014

A video was also posted to YouTube that reportedly shows smoke from the wreckage rising over the hill.

No one has taken responsibility for shooting down the plane.

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1mYmCgy

Jeremy Meeks Death Hoax: Attractive Mugshot Guy Gets Killed On Twitter

Congratulations Jeremy Meeks, you’ve truly made it. A Jeremy Meeks death hoax has been circulating around the internet lately, claiming that the attractive mugshot guy was killed by his wife as soon as he got out of prison.

The fake story, which originally appeared on the website Huzlers, reads:

“According to jail records, Jeremy Meek was released from jail just before midnight on Tuesday night. About an hour later, just before 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning, Stockton Police found him laying in the road in the area of Dayton and West in Central Stockton. He was taken to Community Regional Medical Center where he died from his wounds shortly after arriving.”

The article claims that Meeks returned home to his wife, Lashanda, after being released from prison. They immediately started to fight. The fight ended when Lashanda pulled a gun and killed her husband.

Now, none of this is true. But it did fool a few people on Twitter.

Jeremy Meeks was killed by his wife an hours after his release.

Like damn…

— ☯ (@noturamor) July 17, 2014

Wowwwwww Jeremy Meeks wife killed him shorty couldn't handle the attention

— July 23 (@iamnotloveless) July 17, 2014

Meeks is still in prison and he could be there for a long time. He is currently being charged with felony weapon possession and could be sentenced to 10 years.

Even so, thing aren’t to bleak for Meeks. He was reportedly offered a modeling contract after his arrest and due to his good looks and the fact that the internet is obsessed with him, t wouldn’t be surprising too see him land some sort of reality show gig. “Dancing With Felons,” maybe. “American Prison Warrior.” “So You Think You Can Escape?”

Regardless, Jeremy Meeks can rest easy in his cell tonight knowing that he has truly made it in this world. He joins an elite club of death hoax victims including Chumlee, Wayne Knight, and Sharkeisha.

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1nBbxO9

How Clean and Clear Engages Teenagers In The Besties Video Campaign

Marketing to teenagers is tricky; ask parents of teenagers! And marketing to teenage girls gets even more interesting. Clean and Clear, the skincare brand from Johnson & Johnson is looking to do this in a creative way with the new ‘Besties’ campaign. The brand has launched a series of videos featuring two best friends that deal with life issues around teenagers, in the new video campaign launched last month.

The idea is to appeal to its target audience: the teenage girl and her best friend. The videos feature two besties – Naina and Mishka as they capture some of the sweetest moments of best friendships as well as discuss ways to deal with breakups, boys, moms and selfies.

Content created revolves around catchy headlines like – ‘5 ways how friends are different from besties’, ‘The 5 epic selfie disasters/fails’, ‘The 5 types of boys to avoid in college!’ and more.

This one gives you ‘7 ways to help your bestie get over a breakup’, with wacky ideas presented by the duo:

At the end of every video, the girls ask the viewer to subscribe and/or like it, and join in the conversations by sharing with relevant hashtags in their tweets or comments. For the above video, the suggested hashtag is #bestiesandbreakups.

The videos are being shared with the brand’s Facebook fan base, supported by interesting visuals and attractive copy to give them a relevant reason. Clean and Clear has more than 777K fans with Facebook revealing the most engaged age group being 18-24 years old. Posts provide tips on taking care of your skin in addition to getting skin care experts to livechat with fans. Regular contests on the timeline are also keeping fans engaged by getting them to share #WackySelfies with their besties or BFFs.

Building communities around issues

Clean and Clear gets its objective right. Creating conversations around oily skin and clogged pores has been done to death, moreover, teenaged girls do not need any more information on why having a clean and beautiful skin is so vital to their confidence and their outlook towards life. Teenaged girls would definitely want to know what kind of selfies do not work and which kind of boys to avoid in college!

The ‘Besties’ campaign, apart from a sound content strategy, has also chosen the right platform to spread its communication. Social media is the favourite online hangout place for teenagers. Engaging teenaged girls and their besties with short video stories and then following it up with conversations powered by hashtags, is a cool way to build a platform. A community can only be built around shared interests or ‘issues’ as in this case, what with the target audience being teenaged girls.

I’m reminded of such a community built by Sunsilk years ago, called ‘Sunsilk Gang of Girls’, a website that had content on everything revolving around girls and their complicated lives.

Besties has the potential to be developed further from a series of videos into a full-fledged social network where teenagers could hang out online. That way Clean and Clear can help establish a strong social presence as best friend to teenagers right from solving her pimple breakout problems to boyfriend breakup issues.

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1l8Llux

Fake TSA Agent Caught Patting Down Women At Airport

A man posing as a TSA Agent reportedly groped two women at San Francisco Airport this week.

Officials suspect that the man had one too many drinks at the airport lounge before heading over to the security line where he started impersonating a TSA Agent. The man pulled two women aside, both foreigners, for a private security pat down.

Fake TSA agent gives pat downs… Wait wha?

— Vercingetorix (@DRealBrister) July 17, 2014

Time reports that the man was wearing khakis and a blue polo shirt. He may have also been wearing a pair of blue plastic gloves that he stole from a real agent. The 53-year-old man reportedly walked through the security line and picked a women for a private pat down.

The two entered a private booth where the woman was screened. It’s unclear what happened in the booth because the woman rushed to catch her flight after the incident. The man was caught when he brought a second women into the booth.

The real TSA Agents finally caught him after they realized that a male TSA agent isn’t allowed to give private pat downs to women without a female agent present. The 53-year-old man was detained by police and charged with public intoxication. He could face additional charges.

This hasn’t been a good week for the TSA. A few days ago, a TSA Agent refused to let a passenger through security because they had an ID from “Washington D.C.” which, according to the agent, does not exist.

photo credit: Truthout.org via photopin cc

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1l8Lg9X

Social Performance (and the Sound of Silence)

Social performance. That modernest of metrics. Social performance is the way we measure “impact” in the world of big data.

It is an approximation of the weight of a tossed stone, extrapolated from the size of the ripples it made. From the chatter it generated.

Social performance is the evidence that something occurred. If it wasn’t tweeted, instagrammed or youtubed, it simply didn’t happen. And if it wasn’t then retweeted, liked, or tumblred it may as well not have.

The metric works better for some occurrences than others though. The impact of a virtual event, a meme or social media campaign for example – something clicked when sat before a screen – can be measured well using this method.

But “real world” events are a little more questionable, because the disconnect between real and digital brings with it a hint of slightly comical artifice.

The Writers of Modern History

If you dabble in the social sphere you’ve probably seen one of those “I’m at the Chocolate Starfish gig, it’s AMAAAZZZING” -type message chassé its way up your timeline.

One’s natural response to this, if in possession of a logical mind, should probably be:

How “AMAAAZZZING” can it be if it’s failed to drag your attention away from your phone?

Isn’t the message paradoxically self-defeating?

There is also the “taking a shower” status update. Or “hang-gliding over Dorset”. Inherently contradictory, indeed impossible, things to be typing, but somehow quite valid forms of public journalage.

In these cases, if we wanted to be pedantic, social media silence is the more correct expression. Yet silence is not an option, because silence is invisible to the social sphere, and is a quantity no analysis tool (either automated or human) can accurately measure.

Silence is no longer an acceptable expression of anything.

Just as Wikipedia democratised knowledge, social media is modern history written by the wisdom of the crowd. Which is partly what accounts for Facebook and Twitter’s insane stock prices. They’re invested in the long game; they are the owners of modern history.

History, like so many other informational constructs, has been decentralised by the internet. It is now the product of the people, not one or two people, but people en-masse. History is written by social performance; information gathered from the noise. Never from the silence.

The idiotic chatter of a million self-obsessed attention-hungry content generators may be kipple qualitatively. But quantitively it is public record. And with this method any silence is inaudiable, while the noise is overpowering.

The new shape of history may have plenty of figure, but it has a distinct lack of ground.

Project, counter project

I studied this recently with the World Cup data dashboard I built for Brandwatch. It measured the quantity of twitter traffic around certain topics through the course of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Late in the day I added a “social performance” play-off element to it, where it replayed all the fixtures and scored them on the amount of fan chatter during the games. It was an interesting angle, but I had my doubts about it’s worth as a measure. If a fan is tweeting during a game, it can only mean their eyes have wandered from the pitch.

Might we argue that a better qualitative measure of the impact of any game would be the level of silence that descends. That measure discernible in town centres, by our eyes and ears, when a match is on.

The eerie quiet that settles during a big international, the populace sucked in close to their screens, like moths to electric lightbulbs. The streets clear. The noise and the traffic subsides for a while. It’s the perfect time to do a bit of shopping.

While I was building the Brandwatch site, I also knocked out a quickie counter-project.

I tweaked my pet twitter-bot to algorithmically construct comments on the games as they were happening. Both to contribute to the data my dashboard was monitoring, but also, importantly, sparing me the need to do so myself.

I could watch the game without suffering the obsessive-compulsive urge to share the occasional smart-arsed comment, just to be part of the social sphere.

I did the same with Glastonbury for a bit too, as my interest in the first round flagged, simply switching the bot’s interests temporarily, so human-me could enjoy it (on the telly), while bot-me took care of the chat.

Not everyone has the luxury of a twitter bot to automate their more pavlovian compulsions. Most simply suffer this obsessive-urge to get their thoughts out of their head and into the public sphere.

And it is this compulsion that is the counter argument to my cynicism. And the reason big data still works, even for events like these. And works well.

The existential hunger of the Twitter football fan

It may make no sense, logically, that the level of social chatter is a positive, not negative, indication of an event’s impact or value. But the data suggests otherwise.

There are correlations between experience and record. The biggest games of the cup so far have been the most tweeted. And not just after the event, but during the matches themselves.

The act of sharing may be discordant with the message they are sharing (“this is great, so great I’m going to stop enjoying it to tweet about it”), it doesn’t mean people won’t still do it. They can’t seem to help themselves. The urge to share, to be a part of the bigger conversation, is for many a greater compulsion than enjoyment of the moment itself.

And it’s nice, in a way. It’s sharing in something bigger.

It’s involvement.

Watercooler moments – the big events that everyone talks about the next day – no longer wait for the next day; they happen in real time. By the time we gather in person the conversation has moved on to something more topical.

The social data we mine is the product of an existential compulsion. A need to exist in the modern world.

If you don’t have a social presence, you don’t figure. You leave no ripples.

If you remain silent, you remain invisible. Your data point has gone uncounted. And for most, this is unbearable.

Existential angst propels this urge to contribute. To be included. This is the fuel of our modern obsession. And this obsession makes for great data.

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1nfnQp6