Erik Qualman's Blog, page 556
March 19, 2015
#SAGrad Social Media Sensations
Connectivity among communities within student affairs and higher education has increased with the presence of such forums as StudentAffairs.com and the Student Affairs Collective, each providing a myriad of resources, blogs, and up-to-date information. Additionally, a number of twitter threads are used for discussion and enhancing connectedness such as #SAchat every Thursday afternoon and evening; #EMchat for substantive Enrollment Management discussion; #SAtech for student affairs and technology conversations; and #SAdoc for engagement between student affairs and higher education doctoral candidates. Even professional conferences have unique online communities, #NASPA15 or #ACPA15 for example, that provide digital congregation for participants or members of the higher education and student affairs community who are not able to attend, but still desire connection.
One of the growing and unique digital space holders is the population of Student Affairs Graduate Students, known online as the #SAgrad community. While there are a number of well-established digital citizens among experienced student affairs professionals, the #SAgrad community provides a hint at the future of what is to come in the digital space. These highly active and digitally engaged graduate students meet on Sundays at 8pm EST for the #SAgrad chat, and represent an array of unique approaches to developing digital identity as a student affairs graduate student. Among many stellar #SAgrad Social Media Sensations, here a few to pay attention to:
Craig Bidiman is a first-generation college student from Keizer, Oregon who is currently a Higher Education graduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Craig currently serves as the Social Media manager for StudentAffairs.com, and for the UMatter at UMass campus care initiative at UMass Amherst. Craig moderates the Sunday evening #SAGrad chats and is a regular guest blogger for SA Collective, Feminists in Student Affairs, and NASPA Technology Knowledge Community. Craig has an active Instagram that focuses on journeys with vinyl collecting, John Cena, and Craig’s tuxedo cat. You can learn all about Craig’s robust digital presence on www.craigbidiman.com and craigbidiman.blogspot.com.
Vanessa R. Patrick is an M.Ed candidate at the University of West Georgia who will earn her degree in April 2015. Vanessa is active on Twitter and LinkedIn and has built a digital presence by blogging about Assessment for the ACPA Commission for Assessment and Evaluation. Vanessa has written guest posts about developing student programs for the Student Affairs Collective and establishing professional standards for the Student Leader Collective. On campus at West Georgia, Vanessa also manages the Graduate Student Affairs Professionals Networking Blog.
Rebecca Windover is a member of the NASPA IV-E New Professionals and Graduate Students Leadership team and serves on the joint task force for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Student Athletic Knowledge Community. Currently completing her graduate degree in Higher Education Administration at Kent State University, Rebecca has dedicated much of her writing in the blogosphere to giving voice to the LGBT student student-athlete experience and exploring purpose and meaning in student leadership. Rebecca is also co-Founder of #SAFitChallenge and has written a number of guest blogs for the Student Affairs Collective and has discredited the notion of the “dumb jock” through her writing.
Junior Pena is a first-year graduate student in the Higher Education program at Florida State University. Junior is passionate about social justice issues, and often peruses social media to keep up with this topic. Junior advises his colleagues to check out Josie Ahlquist who Junior says “always has great things to share in digital education.” Junior also says that “Trina S. Tan is another gem, and as a fellow #SAGrad I can’t help but enjoy her content.” After finding inspiration to blog, Junior’s first blog post, #SAReflects Finding My Voice In Student Affairs was written for the Student Affairs Collective. Junior is an active Twitter participant on #SAGrad, #SAChat, #SLChat, and #FSUFriday forums. You can also find Junior on LinkedIn.
Amber Hurt is currently a second-year #SAgrad at Hofstra University, works as an Assistant Resident Director, and serves as an intern at Nassau Community College. Amber, an active Twitter user, is a weekly participant in the #SAgrad, #SAchat & #SLchat conversations and has written blogs about her experience as a graduate student and being an introverted #SAgrad. Amber has also blogged about her experience job searching as an #SAgrad.
Erin Hensley is a second-year graduate student in the Higher Education and Student Affairs program at Indiana University. Erin’s new website is growing and will be a forum for discussion around Erin’s research in digital education. Erin has Guest blogged for Student Affairs Collective for the #SABeginnings series and written about Student Involvement. Erin was recently approved to conduct a research study with four colleagues on Yik Yak and how students at Indiana University engage using the platform. You can find Erin on Twitter where she is active on #SAchat and #SAgrad chats. As part of her graduate assistant position, Erin supervises student social media efforts on Twitter (@PLpicks) and Facebook, noting that work with her students has yielded increases in followers and visibility by 161% and 62%, respectively, on each forum. Erin has also published in the Mid-Atlantic Association of College and University Housing Officers Magazine and participated in the Spring 2014 StudentAffairs.com Virtual Case Study Competition.
As we prepare the next wave of leaders to complete their graduate programs and enter the higher education work force, we must remember that digital presence can be a tremendous tool for success. The commitment to digital education has become such a critical component of student engagement that in 2014, the president of the American College Personnel Association created a Digital Task Force to “develop a multi-prong approach for educators, with the primary objective being to advance the application of digital technology in higher education informed by student affairs scholarship and practice.” It is important to remember that graduate learning and connectivity extends beyond traditional classroom or conference settings. The digital citizens above are leaders among the online community that exists for #SAgrads, and will continue to expand our field with ideas, creativity, and digital savvy. The #SAgrad community is digitally ready and we must be prepared to receive, support, and engage every member.
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Al Roker & Equalman | 31 Second Social Forecast
During the hustle and bustle of SXSW Interactive, Al Roker was kind enough to help the Equalman team navigate the Twitterstorms with a little bit of social media forecasting. Here’s a sneak peak of what he had to share with us:
More to come from my interview with Al Roker about digital leadership, digital reputation, and disruptive innovation soon!
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Apple Plans To Launch Subscription TV Service
Apple is in talk with TV programmers about the launch of a web-based subscription TV service that would launch this fall the Wall Street Journal reported.
The service, said to be about $30 to $40 per month, would have about 25 channels including major networks such as ABC, CBS and FOX. One major network that would be lacking is NBCUniversal due to a conflict between Apple and NBCUniversal parent company, Comcast, according to CNET.
The service would be available on all of Apple’s iOS operating systems including Apple TV. Just last week Apple partnered with HBO Now allowing users to stream the channel for $14.99 a month. WSJ said that this was, “designed as a kind of appetizer for the main meal plans to be served later this year, according to a person familiar with the matter.”
Apple is entering a competitve market with this TV service with competitors such as Hulu Plus and Sling TV as well as Sony’s rumored TV subscription. WSJ said that the reason for this competitive market is because, “several companies are looking for ways to target ‘cord cutters,’ people who don’t want to pay the typical $90 price for a cable TV package with hundreds of channels and who tend to enjoy online video.”
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March 18, 2015
Be More Social and Avoid Being Remote
Whether you sell products or services or are looking to buy them, social media can be a treasure trove of opportunities for you.
While there are obviously other ways to promote and/or shop for goods, social media is beneficial to both the buyer and the seller for the simple factor that it is so accessible. Throw in the fact that using it is essentially free, and it can be a win-win for companies and consumers.
With that said, are both companies and consumers taking advantage of social networking? If not, how can they better position themselves to do just that?
Be Active and Alert
When it comes down to the business owner, he or she can benefit greatly from even just minimal action on social media. Now, imagine if they’re active on social networking sites regularly?
In order to benefit as a company from social, make sure you:
Engage regularly – To increase the chances of being truly effective on social media, make sure to engage consumers regularly. Doing this benefits you for several reasons, including regular interaction, being seen as authoritative in your respective industry, and someone who takes an interest in consumer matters;
Don’t push sales – Whether you are promoting auto insurance, FiOS TV, legal services, cars and trucks for sale or hundreds of any other products and services, don’t come across as a salesperson from the start. Consumers are literally inundated daily with flyers, emails, regular mailings, and even ads on various social sites trying to entice them to buy. If you push the sale right from the get-go, you stand a good chance of pushing the individual away.
In order to benefit as a consumer from social, make sure you:
Search the social world – A larger number of companies are finding that being busy on social networking sites truly does matter. As a result, you stand to benefit when you know where to find them. While Facebook and Twitter are the respective kings of the social world, don’t forget to look for company representation on sites such as Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and more. The more social you are, the greater chance of finding the right deal;
Network with others – Since you can’t be on all the popular social sites at once (unless you have a bunch of free time on your hands), it is a good idea to network with other consumers. As an example, in the event you are a regular on Twitter, follow other users with similar interests and buying habits as yourself. Maybe you will miss out initially on a certain company’s announcement about a sale or upcoming new release, but others you follow will have the scoop. The more networking you do the better chance of scoring savings.
While some companies and consumers don’t have time for social media, many others use it as one of their main resources for selling and buying goods and services.
When you’re more social, everyone stands to benefit.
Photo credit: Image courtesy of nokhoog_buchachon at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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How To Create Personal Relationships with Customers in a Non-Personal Digital World
We live in a world where a tweet has now replaced a handshake. More and more people are opting to adopt a Cro-Magnon man stance as they immerse themselves in mobile devices. As a result, it is becoming more and more difficult for marketers to deploy strategies which help foster the coveted personal relationship with their customers.
Photo Attribution: By Tomwsulcer (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
The fact of the matter is relationships still rule, even in a digitally driven society. While it can be more challenging, today’s marketing strategists are tasked with finding ways to develop relationships with customers through digital, as opposed to personal, contact. Let’s examine some tactics you may want to consider adding to your marketing mix.
Offer Tips Rather Than Sales Pitches
One huge mistake digital marketers make is offering too many sales pitches. An effective marketing strategist will use social media, e-newsletter, blogs and other forms of digital media to create a following. If you continue to give the audience the things they want, they will always come back. And, you will develop a relationship with each customer and sell your product/service without having to make an outright pitch. Let’s say you are the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for a sporting goods company. Rather than sending an e-newsletter advertising what is on sale for the week, consider making the content more engaging and fun. Perhaps add something like, “Eight Things You Never Thought You Could Do with a Pool Cue” or “Creative Ways to Pack Your Kayak”. Depending on your time and budget, you can even create short but entertaining videos. Make your customers look forward to receiving your weekly e-newsletter and/or reading and sharing your social media posts. If you are not exactly sure what will entice your customers, then ask them. Also, watch their social media accounts to learn what is important to your target audience. If you are short staffed, companies like Global Response can help out by providing social media monitoring services.
Get Involved or Start an Online Group
Starting or becoming part of an online group places you in a peer-to-peer relationship with customers and potential customers. You can either use an already established platform such as Facebook Groups or LinkedIn Groups or, develop an online community on your own. Be sure to invite current and prospective customers to the group and engage in fun but useful, thought-provoking conversation pertinent to your product or service (again, without making a pitch). For instance, if you are the Marketing Manager for a restaurant group, perhaps you can share some recipes and invite the group to prepare them at home and offer their thoughts and feedback. Or, offer cooking techniques and tips they can use in their home kitchens. Not only do groups allow you to develop a more personal relationship with members, but they can also offer valuable insight into current market trends.
Make Your Customers Part of the Conversation
It’s no secret that one-way marketers can develop relationships with clients is through e-newsletters and blogs. However, many e-newsletters are disregarded and discarded and blogs are ignored because of “salesy” or non-useful content. If you can make your content stand out, you will gain loyal followers. One way to do this is to invite your customers to be part of the conversation. Allow them to write articles, send in fun videos and tell your company story for you. When your customers are “published” they will not only feel more devoted to your brand, but they will share the e-newsletter/blog with their friends as well.
Although we’ve discussed some strategies in depth, it does not hurt to also stick with some of the old marketing standbys. Sending cards on birthdays, invites to special sales and holding customer appreciation events also helps cultivate your relationships. Remember, in today’s digital society, it takes more effort – and impressions – to reach customers. You will have to think outside of the box and deploy more creative marketing strategies to earn customers loyalty and cultivate personal relationships. Good luck!
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Pay Your Friends Through Facebook Messenger
Facebook announced on Tuesday morning that users can now send and receive payments through the Messenger app. This new feature is expected to roll out in the next few months.
On their blog, Facebook said that payments work like this:
To send money:
Start a message with a friend
Tap the $ icon and enter the amount you want to send
Tap Pay in the top right and add your debit card to send money
To receive money:
Open the conversation from your friend
Tap Add Card in the message and add your debit card to accept money for the first time
The money being sent is transferred right away and takes about one to three business days to become available to the receiver.
In order to make sure this payment method is secure, as of now users can only add a Visa or MasterCard debit card. Once the card is added, you can create a PIN or enable Touch ID to provide security for future transactions.
Image from Facebook
Kurt Wagner from Re/code said that “the product won’t come as a shock to people who have followed Facebook closely. Last summer, Facebook hired PayPal’s David Marcus to run all messaging products, and in the company’s subsequent earnings call, CEO Mark
Zuckerberg hinted that payments were on the way.” Wagner also reported that Facebook said they are not trying to receive a profit from this feature and they are not charging users with a transaction fee for using the payments feature. Mashable said that this feature, “makes more sense given mobile payments’ fast-growing popularity. Forrester Research estimates mobile payments will nearly triple in volume from $52 billion last year to $142 billion come 2019. Entering the space is a no-brainer for a player like Facebook, which sees 745 million of its users — roughly half its user base — sign on via phone or tablet.”
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5 Tips To Optimize Your Product Listing Ad Campaigns
What is product listing ad?
Product Listing Ads appear when someone searches for your products on google.com or google.com/shopping. Google show the customer a picture of your item, its price, and your store name. Customers who click on your ad are directed to your website where they can buy your item.
One of the most and very important thing to understand about e-commerce product entry Ad is that they are organized by a CPC bid hierarchy. That means whatever ad groups you have set up in a PLA campaign, the one with the highest bid will outrank the others.
Since Google introduced product listing Ads as a part of Google shopping initiative, the internet advertisers and online merchants are now working hard to find the best possible way to optimize the performance of their PLAs.
Here are few tips that can improve the overall performance of your Google PLA.
1) Name your product correctly:
When you are naming your product makes sure that it includes the model, brand, product type, and SKU, and also the other important attributes should be included as applicable like women, men, material etc…. These things attribute your keywords and use them to name your product. This will definitely increase your chance of product listing Ad displaying when users will search for those keywords.
2) Suppress poor performing products:
Always remember products which aren’t converting are eating into your daily budget, the fund which you could be using to promote product that do sell well. Since you know that PLA work on a bidding hierarchy, all you need to do to suppress the product is remove it from its current category and put it in the new Ad group with the lower bid.
3) Increase bids on best selling products:
If you find that some of your product is selling sell on your sit or convert well on Google shopping, you should increase your bid on them. Identify the product convert well in analytics and ten create Ad group to those top performer. The more number of eyeballs your product gets the chances of selling those products increases.
4) Go for accelerate:
Google has an “Accelerated” delivery method in the setting section; this is located at the bottom of the setting page under the bidding and budget tab. If you go according to Google standard setting, Google will show ads evenly over time but the accelerated setting will show ads more quickly until the budget is reached.
5) Create your group targets:
Creating product targets will allow you to select which product are eligible to show on product listing ads and you can also bid differently on different sets of product. You need at least one product target in order to run product listing ads since they tell us what products you want to promote.
Following the above tips we have listed will help you in ensuring that your product data entry are properly optimized. However, search engines continue to make changes and release updates that may affect your strategy but you all need to do is remain current on the acceptable guidelines that are currently being used by the top search engines.
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March 17, 2015
Pinterest Valuation Now at $11 Billion After Latest Funding
The New York Times – Less than a year after being valued at $5 billion, Pinterest has joined the 11-digit valuation start-up club.
Pinterest, an online scrapbooking service, disclosed on Monday that it raised about $367 million in a new round of financing from new and existing investors. It valued the company at $11 billion, putting the start-up in roughly the same range as the Silicon Valley darling Dropbox and the data analysis company Palantir Technologies.
In a regulatory filing, Pinterest disclosed that it could raise as much as $211 million in additional financing, bringing its potential haul to $578 million. That would be on top of the $764 million that the nearly five-year-old start-up has raised in previous rounds.
The latest round highlights the investment world’s continuing infatuation with Pinterest — essentially a community image-bookmarking site where users can store pictures to any number of online boards run by them or others. Existing investors include the venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Bessemer Venture Partners, and the Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten.
Interest has been so ardent that the start-up has nearly tripled its valuation in just about a year and a half.
Pinterest has shown strides in expanding and developing revenue, especially with so-called promoted pins that advertisers can buy. Advertising will continue to be a main focus this year, company executives have said.
A spokesman for Pinterest said in a statement that the start-up planned to use the money for a number of corporate moves, including a big international push. Already, the number of users abroad has jumped, rising to more than 40 percent of customers last year, compared with 28 percent in 2013.
Article by Michael de la Merced for The New York Times
Thumbnail from Shutterstock.com
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Yahoo Reinventing Retrieving Your Forgotten Password
Yahoo announced on Sunday that they will be launching a new service called “on-demand” passwords. This new service allows users to log-in to their account using a password that is texted to them through from Yahoo. On their blog, Yahoo explained it works like this:
1) Sign in to your Yahoo.com account.
2) Click on your name at the top right corner to go to your account information page.
3) Select “Account Security” in the left bar.
4) Click on the slider for “On-demand passwords” to opt-in.
5) Enter your phone number and Yahoo will send you a verification code.
6) Enter the code and voila!
The next time you try to log-in, the password field says ‘send my password’ and the company will send it to your phone.
During a session at South By Southwest Yahoo’s vice president of product management for consumer platforms, Dylan Casey, said that “This is the first step to eliminating passwords”.
Richard Nieva said on Yahoo that “while many websites have a two-factor authentication, where you first enter your own password, then enter a second password the company sends to your phones. (Many popular services including Google’s Gmail do this). Think of Yahoo’s process like two-factor authentication, minus the first factor.”
Nieva reported that “cyber security has become a top issue for the technology industry. Several of the world’s most well-known companies, including Sony and Apple, have fought high-profile security vulnerabilities. Many companies have also tried to tackle the problem of their users having weak passwords. Password managers, like LastPass, also tries to take the burden off users to remember passwords.”
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5 Tips for Using Social Media to Build Online Communities
When used effectively, social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus are community-building tools capable of taking your business or organization to new levels. Far too many companies fail to unlock the full potential of social networking, however, because they start with the wrong approach and implement incorrect strategies.
With the right tools, online community building takes a bit of work, but it’s worth it to boost your brand and raise customer loyalty. It will help people stay connected and remain interested in what you have to say and do.
According to Sai Prashanth of Housing.com, a popular real estate website, “Building a strong social community has the potential to reap large benefits. Our team has worked to build our brand through social media platforms, and we now have nearly 350,000 likes on Facebook.”
Each of the on-site posts receives thousands of likes, and hundreds of comments and shares. The company’s success was reached through mastering the art of building a social community with techniques like the ones below.
1. Pursue engagement over sales
Your main goal is to increase sales, which is the reason you want to put so much effort into building social communities in the first place. If you truly want to build sales, though, you’ll first work on engaging your customers.
Focus on building a fan base that’s eager to engage in your content, share it with others, and boost your rankings. A recent study showed that 90 percent of consumers will listen to friend’s recommendations but only 33 percent will listen to online ads.
In short, boosting engagement with your followers will help to increase sales all by itself.
2. Find and leverage brand advocates
Building a community is about more than simply gaining a fan base. It’s also about networking with others who will help you boost your brand.
Any of your members has the potential to be an influential advocate if you’re willing to pay attention. Take note of the fans who regularly share, tweet, comment, and like your content.
Reach out to them, let them know how much you appreciate their support, and ask them to invite friends to visit your social page too. Such a direct approach will be extremely flattering to most followers, and they’ll almost always do as you ask, which helps to leverage your brand.
3. Invest in thoughtful leadership
The biggest drawback of e-commerce businesses is the relative lack of human interaction. Social media communities allow you to create a feeling of human interaction for your business.
You have the ability to project a human voice to the world that can build relationships, push content, and offer friendly advice. You can contribute to your community by sponsoring events or giving to charities.
With all of this effort you’re creating the image of a thoughtful leader that others can and will want to follow.
4. Give followers a voice
Another way to boost the feeling of human interaction is to let your followers know their voice is heard. Ask for opportunities to share their opinions and take note of comments that offer constructive feedback.
Don’t just ask the question and leave it at that. If someone offers a great suggestion, take steps to implement it, then acknowledge the commenter and show your gratitude.
Never underestimate the power of your consumers. They shape your business, and if you want to be successful, you’ll recognize this and do something about it.
5. Integrate social media into your website
In general, people don’t want to work for things they don’t (and shouldn’t) have to. If you’re savvy, you’ll remember that in relation to getting people to share the content on your website.
You want the content you worked so hard to build to circulate around the web. That’s how you get page rankings and views. If you want to boost those views, make it easy for consumers to share it.
Build social media buttons into your website so that if someone likes a video, article, or infographic you published on your blog, they can immediately share it with all of their friends.
Every time a piece of content is shared, you’re gaining followers, so make it easy on them.
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