Jared Dees's Blog: The Latest from Jared Dees, page 25
July 8, 2018
The Celebrity Method: How to Add Credibility to Your Content
I’ve written about time batching and time blocking (time boxing) in multiple places recently:
Batch Your Weekly Work Ahead of Time Time Batching vs. Time BlockingWhile both pieces are practical, neither one is as convincing as Thomas Frank‘s video above.
Why?
Because he used credibility to convince people to try this strategy. If it works for Elon Musk, why not give it a try?
It’s a great video and a great tactic.
If he had created a video like “How to Timebox Your Day” or “Why Timeboxing...
July 7, 2018
Neil Gaiman’s Idea and Development of American Gods
I finished reading American Gods this week. It is such a complex novel with so many characters and short stories scattered throughout the book. It’s well-written and, I think, clearly shows the unique writing style of Neil Gaiman.
I’m left with the thought that I could never write something so unique and creative like this.
Then I remembered Gaiman’s description of the development of this story in an essay he wrote and included in his compilation of nonfiction.
The idea for the book didn’t co...
July 6, 2018
On Stage: A Marketing Visualization Exercise
If you are trying to grow a platform online, try this marketing visualization exercise:
Imagine you are on stage in a room full of people that you would like to reach.
To this audience, you say:
“Everyone pull out your phones and go to ______.”
“Search for ______ and subscribe (follow me).”
“You will get _____.”
It’s that last sentence that is really important. When you focus your efforts on any platform, you need to be able to tell people exactly what they can expect by following/subscribing...
July 5, 2018
A Sneaky & Effective Way to Find Your Audience on Instagram
If you are trying to grow your audience on Instagram, then you know how important it is to engage with people using hashtags.
Many people may not realize this, but there is a certain kind of hashtag that has the most active Instagram users will post to and search for.
I first read about it in this post by Jenn Herman: 3 Fool Proof Ways to Grow Your Instagram Following.
Event Hashtags!
I love this idea.
It works great, of course, when you are actually at the event where people in your audience...
July 4, 2018
American Beliefs
“[American Gods] would be about the immigrant experience, about what people believed in when they came to America. And about what happened to the things they believed.”
Neil Gaiman in his essay, “How Dare You?,” about his book American Gods
I finished reading Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods yesterday. While it was no act of patriotism on the eve of Independence Day, it has given me something to think about.
As Americans, we are an immigrant people, all of us. Our ancestors each came here at...
July 3, 2018
A Vision Develops Over Time
Every morning I sit down and read through my list of goals and visions as a part of my Morning Preview. Last year I articulated for the first time a clear vision for my main website, The Religion Teacher. In my list, I have the vision written out next to the mission of the website. It looks like this:
The Religion Teacher: Every Day, Every Class, Every Student, an Encounter with Christ (vision) —> Share practical resources to help students know, love, and live their faith (mission)
Just below...
July 2, 2018
Robert Heinlein’s Five Rules for Writing
1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
3. You must refrain from rewriting except to editorial order.
4. You must put it on the market.
5. You must keep it on the market until it is sold.Robert Heinlein, in Of Worlds Beyond: The Science of Science Fiction Writing
Robert Heinlein is one of the “Big Three” science fiction writers of the 20th century along with Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. He is best known for his books Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land. He wa...
July 1, 2018
The Four Types of Instagram Hashtags You Should Be Using
Here is some great advice on the kinds of hashtags you should be using in your Instagram posts:
Content hashtags should directly relate to the items in the post itself. Industry hashtags may not be directly related to what’s in the post but are specific to the industry and clients you serve. Niche hashtags are specific to the target audience you’re trying to reach. Branded hashtags are hashtags that you and your customers use to showcase and tag your content on Instagram.(Source: Jenn Her...
June 30, 2018
The Secret IGTV Feature that No One Is Talking about Yet
Instagram launched IGTV last week and everyone has been talking about it. I did a quick experiment with the platform to launch a Bible study series I’m starting next week. I’ve been doing a little research and came across a great post by Jenn Herman:
June 29, 2018
How Abraham Lincoln Won Over the Masses
I finished listening to an abridged version of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s biography of Abraham Lincoln, Team of Rivals. The thing that stood out to me the most about Lincoln in the book was his ability to tell short stories. He had a way of telling stories that people loved to listen to and could easily understand.
It is hard to get people to listen these days.
There are a lot of competing voices on social media.
Search for something you want to learn how to do on Google and there are thousands o...
