7 blogging myths and ways to deal with each of them

The stats are mind-boggling – over 409 million people read more than 17.6 billion blog pages every month as reported by the site WhoIsHostingThis?

And as the saying goes – break the rules but know the rules first – it is up to you to stick to a certain blog regime. The one that is more favourable and suitable to you.

The rules of social media are ever changing and nothing is carved in stone forever. When someone says, you should blog daily – listen to him/her. But take your time to do proper research before posting. You don’t need to post a blog every day to get more traffic. It’s the content that you are serving matters the most to the readers. However, be consistent and post at least once a week.

Likewise, it’s not true that readers like only short posts or long posts. You should post both in short and long forms.

Here’s more if you want to avoid the 7 common mistakes bloggers make.

Source: WhoIsHostingThis.com

Blogging stats you must know to be a successful blogger

Are you a frequent blogger? Are you not getting the expected traffic to your blog?

It’s a common problem for most bloggers. But if you are aware of the 13 blogging statistics curated by Social Marketing Writing, you will be on a safer side.

As per the report, 80% of daily blog visits are new. So, you must optimise your blog for the new visitors.

Likewise, the post says that once you cross 51 posts, your blog traffic increases by 53%, goes up by 3 times after 100 posts and by 4.5 times after 200 posts. So, the more the number of posts, the more the traffic. 

And above all, the images matter. Post more images and infographics to your blog.

Want to know more? Here’s an interesting and useful infographic on the 13 blogging statistics that you should keep track of. 

How to make your video meetings effective

Murmurs, chatters, smiling faces, people sneaking in and leaving the room – that’s how the video meetings are. Participants showing up and doing the vanishing act, ear-piercing sound and sometimes no sound at all, technical glitches, bandwidth problem and not enough sound clarity are the common problems that we face during a long-distance video meeting.

However, looking at the positive side, we save the travel time and of course a lot of money that would otherwise be spent on air tickets, accommodation and food. In the video meetings you can accommodate a large number of participants since you don’t need to pay the per-diems. Additionally, the participants can be vocal – they can ask questions that come to their mind – the hesitation that persists during the face-to-face meetings vanishes.  

So how do you plan a video meeting and engage your staff?

Make sure the connections are checked at least 15 – 30 minutes before the actual meeting. Do a dry run with the ICT people to ensure there are no technical problems.

As the video meetings are not coercive enough to make each participant speak, ask the teams to present on a topic beforehand. The participants will take time to prepare the presentations and be engaged throughout the meeting – anticipating probable questions from other attendees.

Circulate the presentations few days before the meeting and ask them to think of the related questions. This will, at least, give time to the participants to run through the presentations and ask questions, if any.

Just like the face-to-face meetings, make some ground rules – no one should leave the meeting in between, no one joins the meeting in between, put the mobile phones in silent mode and the list goes on.

All the video meeting softwares have the provision to mute the microphone. And when the team mutes the microphone, they tend to talk with each other while the other team is presenting. Discourage this habit. It distracts the participants in other teams.

Do spoofs and propaganda help brand building?

Marketers love propaganda and they think it helps promote a brand. However, sometimes you play with the sentiments of a community if you vilify their beliefs and denigrate their legends. Eventually, you end up losing a band of loyal customers. 

Recently, I was in Cebu and came across a marketing blunder of a company producing EQ brand diapers.
   

In early 2013 a television commercial of EQ diapers took resort to the history recalling the famous battle of Mactan. In the commercial, the Spanish conquistador Ferdinand Magellan arrives in Mactan and gifts the king of Mactan Lapu-Lapu a box of diapers. However, his wife Reyna Bulakna finds out that the diapers are of inferior quality. This enrages Lapu-Lapu and thus, begins the battle of Mactan.    

Many people found the advertisement funny and found nothing wrong about it. However, Balbino “Ka Bino” Guerrero, a tour guide and a tourism consultant of Lapu-Lapu City and Lapu-Lapu Mayor Paz Radaza, along with many others, found the advertisement insulting.

Ka Bino launched an online petition to pull out the commercial and the mayor demanded a public apology from the company and stoppage of advert airing.

Later, the Advertising Board of the Philippines recalled the clearance to air the EQ diapers commercial.

In another instance of marketing blunder, New England Brewing Company of Connecticut, USA, had been marketing its India pale ale under the name "Gandhi-Bot". On the label was a robot version of Gandhi.

Mahatma Gandhi, the father of nation, led India to freedom from the British rule and is revered by Indians throughout the world. The brewery drew the ire of Indian community for insulting the great soul.

The company had to apologise and stop using the name and image of Gandhi on the beer cans. It later decided to rebrand the beer. 

The company, however, claimed that they hoped the product would inspire people to learn about Mahatma Gandhi and his non-violent methods of civil obedience.

Likewise, the EQ diapers wanted the people to recall the famous battle of Mactan and remember their hero Lapu-Lapu.

However, in both the cases, playing with the sentiments of people backfired. Both the cases, along with many other similar cases, convey a simple message – though spoofs and propaganda bring a brand into limelight, it is short-lived and in the long term deter the brand building process.

Oxford comma: When to use it

The Oxford comma, also known as serial comma, becomes too much sometimes when you have a list of things to separate from. Generally, avoiding it is the best way to make your writing look clutter-free. However, in some cases if you don’t use it, the meaning turns out to be something else. 

Here’s a case where the use of serial comma becomes necessary.

Below are two more examples.

 

 

 

Smart ways to ask customer feedback and referrals

Recently while I was in Cebu, Philippines, I noticed some smart and honest ways of asking customer feedback and asking for referrals.

Being a public transport user, I have never been asked by any of the drivers how their driving is. However, while riding a jeepney, a long form of tuk-tuk or tempo in Nepal, I was happy to see a message asking about the drive. At least they considered about the passengers!

On the side of the jeepney was the message - “How’s my driving? Tel. No. …..”.

What a smart way of caring customers and asking for feedback? Because of the message I was tempted to ride a jeepney again and again instead of taking taxis.

In another incident, along with my friends, I was dining at a local restaurant. The restaurant was neither fancy nor a laid back sort of. The food was okay and the service was alright. However, the most fascinating thing about the restaurant for me was a message on its wall.

“If you like our food, tell someone. If you don’t, tell us.”

They had also provided numbers for texting comments to.

That’s what I liked about the restaurant most and when I returned to the hotel, I recommended my friends to go to the restaurant and taste the food.

So, if you are doing a business, never ever shy away from asking customer feedback and referrals. It helps you rope in more customers and develop a loyal customer base.

Think twice before starting a tweet with an @ sign

.@jetairways update: Fire was under control as the plane landed and no passenger was injured. http://t.co/gxz56ecYax
— Nepali Times (@nepalitimes) December 29, 2014

Did you notice a period in front of @jetairways?

Why the period at the start?

If you start a tweet with @, only the people who follow BOTH you and the person named at the beginning of the tweet will see the tweet – not all your followers.

This tweet has been targeted to Pat and only the followers of Jet Airways.

@patdesma Waiting to welcome you on a Jet Airways flight soon. :)
— Jet Airways (@jetairways) December 29, 2014

I got to see it because, one of my followers retweeted it.

So what’s the solution?

It’s simple. Rephrase the tweet and put the @ sign in the middle of the tweet.

Another crisis averted. @jetairways safely landed at #TIA after it collided with a bird. #airsafety #birds
— Subhash Ghimire (@subhash580) December 29, 2014

Here’s a presentation by Gary Vaynerchuk that describes it all.

The Number One Mistake Everybody Makes on Twitter from Gary Vaynerchuk