Travel Apps to Help You Save Time, Money and Effort

Holidays are always meant for traveling. If you are planning to spend your holiday somewhere away from home, travel apps should be part of your baggage list. Your iPhone is actually more than a communicative device, it can handle all the needed arrangements and help you search for accommodations, recommendations on good eats and best travel deals. Without further ado, here are some great choices of travel apps for your iPhone: 

1. Hotel Tonight 

Hotel Tonight is a free app which provides discount deals on hotels in San Francisco. Should you spend some time in this lovely city, this app allows you to view hotels that fit your budget. Getting half-price for a five star hotel is such a reward. If you are up for great deals, you should be willing to wait up to the last minute in order to book a room. The only drawback to this app is that deals last for just a few days and their availability usually takes place during noon time. 

2. TripAdvisor 

TripAdvisor is a free app that provides you with shopping spots, hotel booking options and nearby utilities. By using this app, you can view photos and videos of places you are to visit on your vacation. Also, you get to read reviews from travelers who have gone to such particular place. This will give you an idea on what to expect and what your destination looks like. This app comes with a location feature that enables you to locate nearby attractions, entertainment spots and various restaurants. The TripAdvisor app lets you save time and effort as you don’t have to do the legwork finding what you need. 

3. Foodspotting 

Foodspotting is an app that speaks for its name. It is a restaurant guide which provides you with the best eateries and restaurants within you area. If you are craving for something special such as authentic Chinese cuisine or hot Mexican food, the app will give you the best restaurants for these types of food. You also get to view their menu and corresponding prices so that you can allocate a good budget for meals. Food lovers will surely enjoy this free app. 

4. Flight Tracker 

Flight Tracker is a free app that enables you to access departure and arrival details for flights heading to various destinations in the world using major airlines. It includes an airport map which helps you locate the right exit and entry zones. This saves you time especially in a gigantic airport where you have a few minutes left before flight. An added feature is information about the weather conditions of your destination. Flight tracker also gives you access to view which seats are still available in the plane, should you wish to transfer to a window seat. 

5. Travelzoo 

Travelzoo is a free app that will interest you with great vacation deals at any season of the year. If you love taking vacations, this app is great for you. Travelzoo is operated by a team of ‘Deal Experts’ who are tasked to share the best travel deals such as all-inclusive trips, early-bird promos and exotic getaways. Apart from great vacation packages, you also get to view deals on hotel rooms and discount tickets for entertainment events. Travelzoo is a helpful app for those who want to travel and at the same time save on their expenses. 

Explore every corner of the world with these travel apps installed on your iPhone. Having all these readily available, getting lost is no excuse. Choose the apps that could answer to your needs and visit the App Store on iTunes. Travel apps truly make a vacation stress-free. 

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Top 5 iPhone Apps for 2014 - Part III

Since the first iPhone release almost 7 years ago our concept of what a phone can do has been continuously pushed to the limit. The days of paying for each text message, playing cell phone snake and swapping phone faceplates is long gone! iPhone apps are the new craze and have changed our daily lives! Don’t believe me? When is the last time you actually headed into a bank to deposit a check? If you still do, then stop it! There’s an app for that now. With hundreds of new apps being added to the App Store each month it may be difficult to know which ones are worth your while. Check out our list of the top 5 iPhone apps for 2014!

Snapchat

Now you may not be a newbie to the media messaging Snapchat app but there have been some exciting updates to the app’s features in 2014. For beginners, Snapchat is used to send pictures or short videos, known as Snaps. Once you send it to a friend list the message will self-destruct after a set time. Talk about living in the moment! Turn up the entertainment value of your snaps with text or colorful drawings. In 2014, Snapchat added a chat feature allowing you to instant message your friends, without changing applications. Send funny faces or tell a dirty joke with Snapchat in 2014!

Cook With M&S

Dinner time is fast approaching and you’re all out of ideas for the night’s meal. You have 2 choices: boil water for another night of Ramen Noodles or download Marks & Spencer’s latest cooking app for meal inspiration and support you’ve only dreamt of. Cook With M&S is the only food app you’ll ever need with the capability of creating shopping lists, search for new recipes, clear step-by-step cooking instructions and even built in timers to keep everything on schedule. It’s like having your own sous chef in your home, except you still need to chop the onions!

Uber

Gone are the days of standing in a taxi pickup line for hours and then cramming 5 friends in the back of a smelly yellow cab. Uber is a real-time ridesharing app service where you can arrange a one-time trip from your cell phone. Private Uber drivers can be scheduled in more than 100 cities and 30 countries around the globe. Choose from the low cost uberX cars that can seat up to 4, UberBLACK featuring luxury vehicles like the Lincoln Town Car, Mercedes and Cadillac’s or the UberSUV service that can fit more friends into Chevy Suburbans, Escalates or GMC Yukons. Change the way you move in 2014 with Uber!

Mint

Do you need a little help when it comes to budgeting expenses? Join the already 10 million active users relying on the Mint apps’ personal cash and credit account summary, free purchase categorization and bill alerts. Mint even provides charts and graphs helpful to track your spending habits, income and net worth. Love data? Compare these figures month-to-month or year-to-year. Reach your personal finance goals and avoid missed bills and overdrafts with iPhone’s Mint app.

QuizUp

Prove once-and-for-all your mind is superior than your friends’ with the QuizUp app. This timed trivia game pits you and your opponent in a 1-on-1 battle of over 250 trivia topics. After 6 multiple choice questions and a bonus question the winner will determined on points based on number of correct answers and speed. This fast paced mobile game, most games take under a minute, is 100% free and is an entertaining way to pass the time or to resolve a friendly disagreement. Learn something new and earn bragging rights with QuizUp.

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Top 5 iPhone Apps for 2014 - Part II

This article will deal with the 5 I-phone apps that we think are the best in 2014. Before entering in the topic, let's start with a small history of the brand.

I-Phones' history begins in 2007 thanks to Steve Jobs and Apple Inc. Indeed this is the year during which a lot of people heard about I-Phones for the first time. The first I-phone was launched and commercialised in 2007 by Apple Inc all around the world. Following their success, Steve Jobs and his team started launching a new I-phone each year and now we can count eight of them launched in eight years (cf. picture 6 of them):

• 2007: I-phone Edge or 2G
• 2008: I-phone 3G
• 2009: I-phone 3Gs
• 2010: I-phone 4
• 2011: I-phone 4s
• 2012: I-phone 5
• Recently in 2013: Iphone 5s and 5c
• And 2014: I-Phone 6 (coming soon)

What makes this brand really different from the others are the widgets, the unique shape and the design of the Smartphone which improves each year.

As a real social media agency, Apple's mobile phones are always full of new grindings of the operating system IOS. As you can see in this picture, the more the brand creates phones, the more the phones become thinner, easy to use and to carry.

Apple's products are nowadays one of the most, if not the most,  wanted products in the world and to better show why, we decided to build a list of the 5 best apps that the brand has in 2014.

1.  The first app will be "Yahoo finance", ideal for those who like dealing with figures and being in touch with the market and stock prices evolution. This app is easy to use, it shows all you need to know about the current activity and doesn't cost a single amount of money. 

2.  The second application that we chose is "Carousel by Dropbox". Also a free application, it is for those who have a creative spirit but also for those who only like improving the quality of their images before posting them on a social network for example. Easy to use, this application saves, uploads your pictures in order for you to better manage them and easily share them with who you want. 

3.  For the third category, we chose to put two applications that we think really work together. These are the must have for those who are abroad: "Citymapper and Viber"

• "Citymapper": Abroad or not, this is the free app to have for both those who have a good sense of orientation and those who don't. It enables you to plan your day and offers you different ways to get to the place where you want to go at anytime of the day.
• "Viber" is one of the best way to save money when you are abroad. To use this app you need two things; tell the others to download it and have a Wi-Fi access. Then text or make all the calls you want all around the world without paying

     

4.  The fifth app we chose is also a really good one: "Dragon Dictation". Free, this app is good for all those who sometimes feel lazy when it comes to writing. With "Dragon Dictation", record what you want to say and let the app write everything down for you and all this with the correct grammar. The next step for you will be to share it with who you want.

But be careful, always double check just to avoid any bad surprise. 

     

5.  The last application that we found interesting is the "Monument Valley" game which costs only £2.49. Apparently this game looks like a lot of others where we always have to save or help someone to achieve its goals. But this one has something different which relies on the design of the game. This can be really interesting for those who like stuffs related to architecture as it enables to travel around different places full of incredible sets. It is really worthy to try it. 

Regarding us, these are the best applications to have and as you could read, most of them are free and are useful for our everyday life. 

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Top 5 iPhone apps for 2014 - Part I

If you were asked to list your favourite iPhone apps, the likely contenders would be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and a host of other social networks and shopping apps. 

But there are thousands of great apps in Apple's App Store that deserve a mention, partly because you may not have heard of them before, and because they do something either unique or incredibly useful.

So here are the top 5 iPhone apps for 2014 that you should download:

1.      Cloak

This is an app I'm sure Jason Bourne and James Bond would have found handy out in the field.

Cloak is an app that pulls together all the locational data from the likes of Instagram and FourSquare so you can see where (on an actual map) all your social 'friends' are.

Cloak markets itself by saying: “Avoid exes, co-workers, that guy who likes to stop and chat – anyone you'd rather not run into”.

Now whilst this app may sound highly unsociable, in a world where our every move is now documented on social media, some balance does help.

2.      Steam

Steam helps avid gamers combine the worlds of social and video games within one platform. Already hugely popular on desktops, this mobile version opens up the iOS smartphone to over 2,000 games that can be bought or played for free within it.

The app encourages in-platform and even in-game chatting between the gamers, suggesting they can meet new people and discuss even form clans, and as mobile app development goes, this app is up there as one of the most impressive.

3.      Secret

Secret is a very new app only released at the end of April this year. It is essentially a platform for tech geniuses in Silicone Valley to vent frustrations about their bosses and the companies they work for.

Some humorous anonymous statuses make this a fun app to both vent and wallow in the frustrations of others.

4.      Here & Then from the Newspaper Archive

One for the avid reader (or perhaps extremely bored commuter). This app showcases newspaper articles for the user to read from over the past 200 years, as well as images and archaic adverts.

The app lets you read what happened on this day in history over a century ago as it was reported at the time, all delivered from the British Newspaper Archive.

5.      Live Football on TV

This app is brilliant for the busy football fan. Instead of spending a frantic half hour scouring through the TV Times or the Sky TV schedules looking for when you team is on which channel, this app tells you every game that is on TV throughout the year.

The app then integrates itself with your iPhone's calendar, and you can upload all the matches you must watch. The app also integrates with Sky+, and within the app you can tell your Sky box at home to record any match if you are out and about. 

So there you have it. All of these free apps are well worth a download and could be really useful, whether you are looking to avoid co-workers on your lunch break, play hundreds of games on your phone, schedule your TV watching schedule or read newspaper clippings from 1845.

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Using various channels for digital marketing

Many people are engaged in digital marketing today, and it is an obvious fact, because online business is greatly prospering now. It is one of the main sources of regular income for majority. No doubt, many obstacles occur on the way to the success, and it is main fact here not to skip any innovation, new updates in this field. You should follow all new trends, which appear on the platforms in order to improve the quality of your work and service. Every year prepares for us some new technologies and it is important to follow them. Today Internet marketing professionals offer some new strategies, which help to boost your online business. So it is really worth to look through them and to distinguish the best ones for you.

Of course, in 2014 the social media advertising takes leading position. It had a great success in the previous year and it is still one of the best ways to increase your income. Social media advertising lets you to target your business to the large audience. It is generally necessary to complement your organic activity and it helps to demonstrate profitability of investments. As we know, such social media networks as Twitter, Facebook give a possibility to companies with big budgets to advertise their products on the platforms of these networks. It greatly increases the popularity of your products and helps to find customers, who are really interested in your goods.

Also we should mention about the significance of good design and interface. In 2014 flat user interfaces are still preferred. They should be simplified, with simple color schemes and white spaces. As for design, it is preferably elaborated for mobile devices this year, because mobile appliances are widespread used now. It is both comfortable for customers and sellers.

Conversion rate optimisation is on its top in 2014. Many companies made it as a key block of their businesses and CRO brought a success to them. It helps to drive good quality traffic to your site, to attract more valuable visitors. For these aims companies should improve their profitability of the investments on such digital channels as Social, PPC, etc. In conversion rate optimization, personalisation plays main role. When you know your customers' intents, interests, preferences, you will set your competitors apart. Make your content engaging and relevant. For CRO it is necessary to track main conversions, effective visitors, to analyze accurately the data.

Email and social media is still one of the best channels to attract customers. Different platforms actively integrate with email. Ads, set in email, are very effective. Many people use their smart phones for shopping now and it is a good way to deliver engaging information to them through personal email. Now many departments and teams are going to combine their work together in order to achieve quite holistic approach. This technology will improve the service and in-store experience, because it is not difficult to observe, that even prices for goods are thoroughly checked by phone users while shopping. This technology will almost completely satisfy consumers’ needs and wishes.

Video advertising is too actual in 2014. It is much more effective, than other ways of promotion. Anyway, it will increase your traffic, your regular income. Of course, it is necessary to place video ads on the popular platforms, and it is worth to make investments in it, because, no doubt, you will get good profit from it. Suchlike advertisement saves consumer’s time and gives better and open access to your products.

There are many other digital marketing trends in 2014, and you should track all innovations, data, etc. in order always to take leading positions. Essay writing services.

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The Heartbleed Bug: what is it and how to protect yourself

The Heartbleed bug was one of the most major IT security threats to have emerged in recent times and it caught many large organisations and companies, not to mention consumers, off guard. Described as ‘the biggest internet security threat the world has ever seen’ the Heartbleed virus allowed hackers to snatch credit card numbers, bank details, passwords and other valuable data. However, it is almost impossible for companies or site owners to check whether information has been stolen, so there are fears that hackers will hold onto the information before exploiting it.

Huge websites including Mumsnet fell prey to the bug, and online shoppers were warned to change their passwords to reduce the risk of becoming victims. Mumsnet urged all of its 1.2 million users to change their passwords, but the security of its users who use the same password for sites such as banking and shopping is under threat.

The Heartbleed bug is a vulnerability in the OpenSSL certificate software which is used mainly to protect banking and credit card details. The weakness leaves the software vulnerable and lets anyone on the web read the memory of systems protected by the software. Under normal circumstances the SSL/TLS encryption is secure - SSL/TLS provides communication security and privacy over the Internet for many different applications, but Heartbleed open up a computer's memory for anyone to read - meaning that secret keys used to encrypt traffic, the names and passwords of the users and the content are all up for grabs, allowing hackers to steal data from service providers and users and impersonate both online.

Although a massive breach of internet security, there are a number of things you can do tighten up your site following Heartbleed. License management company License Dashboard advise the following:

• Make sure that you understand the risks of the Heartbleed bug. If your website server contains sensitive information then you need to update to at least OpenSSL version 1.0.1g to try to combat any breaches in security.
• Stay on top of your software. Software asset management can help you to gain an overall visibility of which versions of programmes you are running - meaning that at a glance you can see where you have potential weak links (where software is running on an old version). The latest versions of software stand the best chance of being robust enough to withstand attacks. If you are unsure which machines in your business may be at risk, a SAM programme can pinpoint exactly which machines have an older version of software and could save you money on upgrades by ensuring you only purchase the correct number of upgrades needed.
• Know which sites you use or run are affected - this means that you will be aware of which sites you need to change passwords on or update Open SSL.
• Inform your customers to change their passwords - but only after you have fixed the fixed the flaw in the security systems.
• Advise your customers to avoid using the same password on a number of different sites. Ask them to make their passwords complex password by using a mixture of upper and lowercase letters combined with numbers and to change them regularly.
• Offer an additional authentication service to visitors, such as a letters from a memorable word or text message authorisation.
• Implement checks for vulnerability in Open SSL and build this into your vulnerability management program. This can be done by using a number of scanning products and scripts.
• Review your network flow data and IDS logs. Since the flaws in OpenSSL have been present since March 2012, you may want to monitor incoming SSL sessions for odd activity.
• Review your emergency response plans and make sure that you are prepared for any emergency patching. Make sure you keep the site users up to date with what you have repaired and what is still at risk.
• Use time-sensitive two-factor authentication, as the information stolen will be useless by the time hackers want to use it. Reassure your customers by letting them know about this.
• Watch out for where you decide to place your trust in the future. Heartbleed broke down the security of the internet as a whole, and this may not be the last bug that has the ability to do this. Be on your guard when implementing IT security systems - there are always people looking for way to break down and disarm these systems, so keep yourself up to date with software developments, news and tests for new systems.

Heartbleed may have been a disaster and caused many problems in the IT world for both businesses and consumers, but there are a few lessons to be learnt from this experience. If your site has been affected then it provides the perfect excuse to upgrade site security and ensure that the secret keys on the site are the working at the height of their security strength.

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Top 6 Gadgets that Help with Education

Children in today’s world are exposed to more technology than ever before and they know how to use it better than their parents. And do you know the place where children experience technology more than ever? Schools. Their schools are filled with the newest gadgets and innovations to help them with learning and skill building. Computers and the internet are a part of every aspect of life today and will continue as your children mature so the exposure to these kind of technologies will help them be competitive in college and the job market.

1. Amazon Kindle

While some would recommend the iPad, the Kindle has more capabilities that pertain to school rather than entertainment. The Amazon Kindle is cheaper than the iPad by about $100 and it has a longer battery life than the iPad, which your student is going to need for those long study sessions. Children’s bookbags have become so heavy with books that they must carry on their backs and up stairs all day long. It gives them low energy along with back and shoulder problems. The Kindle can hold all of their textbooks all while weighing less than the iPad. In addition, the Kindle has a dual screen and anti-glare features so that your kids can take it anywhere and do a multitude of at once.

2. LeapPad Ultra

If your little student is a bit too young to be reading textbooks and surfing the Internet, think about getting them the LeapPad Ultra as their first exposure to educational technology. Who knows, maybe this can be the start to a career in technology, such as with a New Orleans web design company! Basically a toddler’s Kindle, the LeapPad Ultra has a number of features that make it a favorite among children and adults. It has a high-resolution screen that kids love to watch and Wi-Fi available with kid safe Internet sites. The LeapPad Ultra also has a huge library of fun and educational games, apps, puzzles and music. The best part though is that the Ultra is kid-proof as it is wrapped in rubber and can stand your little’s one rough treatment.

3. Livescribe Pulse Smartpen

For the OCD student that likes to write down everything the professor says and spends hours going over notes, the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen is the perfect gift to help them never miss a thing. With 2 GB of memory, the Smartpen remembers everything your student writes and everything that is said at the time the student is writing. The pen can even transcribe notes on a Mac or PC for maximum sharing capabilities. All these features in a pen no bigger than a Sharpie make for an excellent tool for education.

4. Brita Portable Filtered Water Bottle

Kids spend their days in school running around to classes, sneaking snacks wherever they can and trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible. In order to avoid the mid-afternoon slump and hunger pains, however, make sure your child goes to school with plenty of water. With a Brita Portable Water Bottle, your student can fill up and filter water from anywhere such as bathroom sinks and water fountains while still maintaining hygiene. Keeping students hydrated with water is key to helping fighting lethargy and childhood obesity.

5. Smartphone

10 years ago, seeing a 10 year old with a cellphone was considered ridiculous, but now that more parents than ever are in the work field, they need a steady way to stay in touch with their children. Now most pre-adolescent kids have smartphones, but you can make sure that your child is using it for education as well. Make sure the safety features for the phone are kid-friendly in terms of Wi-Fi and that GPS is on at all times. In addition, give your student an Otterbox for their smartphone. Otterboxes are waterproof, smash proof cases that will help keep your child’s smartphone alive.

6. Noise-Cancelling Headphones

For many students and adults alike, trying to do things like read or study can be difficult if you are easily distracted. Unfortunately, some kids don’t have quiet places to do their schoolwork so be sure to get them some noise cancelling headphones. They allow students to be fully absorbed in their schoolwork and the rhythm helps them to stay on track as well. Music is also a great relaxation technique for stressed students, so let kids listen to their music before and after school as a way to decompress the day.

This post was written by M.G. Bachemin, a marketing specialist and content creator for Online Optimism.

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Steps to Creating a Brand in Digital Marketing

Branding is not just another form of marketing. It should be the underlying goal and overall effect of your marketing strategy. When you are attempting to brand your company or your image, you want to be something that people will recognize as a representation of your mission, values and goals. You want to make your brand into something that consumers and fans can trust and rely. Read through to find out the most important steps you need to know in order to brand yourself properly and see the ROI on your brand sooner.

1. Originality

When you begin branding you will want to go over your goals and mission. If you have a clear idea about who you are going to be, it will be easier for consumers to recognize your brand and it will help you to stay true to yourself. When deciding on an image or logo, make sure it is original. When consumers see someone trying to rip off someone else’s brand, it puts a bad taste in their mouth. Be authentic and original so that you can stand apart from the rest and come out on top.

2. Content

With any branding strategy, what you stand for is going to be the focus. That means that your content has to be a reflection of your brand. Content marketing is a sector of the digital marketing world that is always changing thanks to search engine algorithms. Search engines want to see valuable, informative content that the searcher can actually use. Backlinking, guest blogging and image saturated content is no longer an option if you want to appear on the first page of results. Be sure that your content is well written, contains keywords throughout (not just in a signature line) and aims to help the searcher that has stumbled upon your site.

3. Social Media

Social media is going to be the best place to verify your brand. You can use your handles and avatars as a branding vehicle. Make your own hashtags and calendar days so that your followers can participate with your brand. For example, if you are a clothing retailer, you could start a hashtag such as #savingsundays or #topstuesdays and ask your followers to showcase their fashions. Use other platforms like Facebook, Google +, Quora, and Pinterest as well so that no matter where a potential customer is searching, they keep running into you.

4. SEO

The best way to solidify your brand’s presence is by performing great SEO techniques. Be sure that keywords are on several parts of your website. Make sure that your website doesn’t contain broken or bad links. Make sure that the site links that appear underneath your web results are the most visited or most search aspects of your company so that users can quickly recognize the link as you and click where they want to go quickly. Get in touch with a New Orleans SEO company today to explore your options.

5. Be an Expert

When you are branding yourself, a great strategy to keep in mind is that you want to be an expert in whatever industry you work within. Becoming an expert means not only being knowledgeable in your field, but also being the opinion that others seek. By using social media monitoring for Reddit, Twitter and Facebook, you can find people with questions and assist them with answers. Even if they don’t buy your product or service, your help will be remembered and you will have gained a fan, all by answering questions or directing someone to the place they are looking for.

This post was written by M.G. Bachemin, a marketing specialist and content creator for Online Optimism.

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Effective strategies that make your content ‘bigger’

‘Big content’ is a 2014 buzzword – but what does it mean? And can it really help you engage users better, using the same budget and resources?

Making your content offering ‘bigger’ – producing an ebook instead of an article, making your blog post into a whole series – is a great way to make your content resources work harder.

You’ll be making the most of your in-house subject matter experts, your writers – however many you have – and you’ll save time commissioning and signing off on content, too.

‘Big content’ can include things like:

•       Ebooks
•       White papers
•       Long-form thought leadership articles
•       Reports
•       Blog series

The downside? It’s easy to stretch ideas too thinly, or use a longer format when one isn’t appropriate, adding to what content-marketing agency Sticky Content termed ‘the content bubble’.

Here some effective strategies for making your content bigger, while keeping every piece engaging, relevant and insightful.

Make good content ideas work harder

Producing longer, more in-depth content means you can commission greater volumes of content all at once – saving time in the process.

So, when you nail a good content idea, make the most of it. Is this really a blog post, or is it a whole series? What questions do your audiences have on this subject, and how best can you address those questions? Would a data visualisation be useful?

Once you’ve decided on an angle and a format that everyone’s happy with, your content producers can get on with the job at hand.

And if you put your agreed brief down in writing, you’ll all have one central reference point – this will be handy tool when you come to sign the content off, too.

Make the most of your in-house experts

If you’re researching a white paper or putting together a report, you’ll need some credible, expert input. Before you look externally, ask whether anyone inside the business has the knowledge you need. Look to sales teams, those speaking to customers all the time – or product owners, or customer service professionals. These people can be a mine of information on what your users are really interested in.

Anthologise existing content using a new format

Are there any clever ways you can use your existing content in a new way? For example, you could combine flowcharts, articles and video, and publish these together as an eBook.

Don’t exclude internal documents – such as presentations and email memos – from your list of possible content resources. You’ll often find something interesting in these, which can then be turned into a publishable blog post, or a section in a white paper.

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Is LinkedIn More Valuable than Facebook?

If you’re around the young frequently, you know about the exodus from Facebook.  By the young, I mean “those under 20”, and by “exodus from”, I mean general disdain for.  The platform which started as a private place for college students just isn’t that appealing to their demographic anymore.  Twitter’s brevity is the generic social platform of their youth. 

Back when I was a 20-something, Facebook was just catching on with my peers, and it was being projected as the next business platform.  Email would be dead, and business networks would begin to mingle with personal networks…Facebook was the way of the future.

Clearly, that was not a completely accurate projection.  But thinking of Twitter as the business platform of the future has its up sides and its down sides.  There are meetings I definitely feel could be reduced to 140 characters, saving us all time.  On the other hand, if I hear one more hashtag pronouncement, I may #explode.

Fortunately, we will probably not have to explore that realm.  LinkedIn, once the beleaguered stepchild of the social networking world, has become a real platform for grown-ups, and has a definite place to play in a social networking strategy.  Here are a few things you want to take into consideration when you’re building your company or brand social profile.

1.      Don’t neglect LinkedIn, even if you are in a creative discipline.  There’s a myth afoot in the creative community that LinkedIn is for office jocks seeking new jobs.  The truth of the matter is that LinkedIn is a form for people who have work (hence have paychecks), are looking for work (and might have talent to contribute to your endeavors), and know people.  Who know people.  The sales world has figured out how to mine LinkedIn connections for fun and profit – look to their tactics to help your business or brand make connections and contacts you need to grow and take root.

2.      Don’t discount LinkedIn just because you don’t need work.  Even if you’re not between gigs, LinkedIn offers a wealth of valuable knowledge.  How else would you find and connect with business leaders and thought leaders in varied regions and disciplines?

3.      Don’t be shy.  If you have a valid question, thought or consideration, you should put yourself out there.  If you’re hesitant about contacting an individual directly, join a group and ask a broader cross-section for advice.  Just as in real life, though, there’s not much that compares to direct one-on-one correspondence.  Stay within the bounds of professionalism and the golden rule, and make some new friends!

No matter what you think about the future of Facebook or Twitter, don’t neglect LinkedIn.  Take advantage of the opportunity to connect your brand with leaders and maximize your exposure, no matter what line of business you are in!

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