Are we valuing quantitive quality over experience?
Usually experience tends to count for a lot, but when it comes to blogging Ihave come to realize that it does not matter as much. Think about it, you follow a blog because of quantity, assuming of course that it is quality content. This feels like common knowledge when it comes to finding great blog and following them consistently, but in what other part of the society is this the case?
However, is the society changing to become more like the blogosphere? Are we valuing quantitive quality over experience?
Think about it.
The first argument against this might be that quantitive quality is the same thing as experience. But if you take the blogosphere example it is not. A blog can be huge because it posts 60 articles a month even though it has only been running for a year. This blog can be a lot bigger than the blog of someone who posts less often but have been blogging on the same subject for many years.
Is this phenomenon spreading to other parts of the society or not?
If a person who graduated from school three years ago apply for a job and is measured against an experienced highly appreciated professional in the area, the experienced person usually win, even though the fairly recent graduate have performed great during the last few years.
In some fields, however;
Like in the IT business, it might be better to have accomplished great things in the last few years than to be very experienced, because the technology changes so fast. So there, the fairly new graduate might win the battle against the experienced professional.
What do you think? Are we valuing quantitive quality over experience?
Picture credit: Websuccessdiva
I’m attending SMMUK10, are you?
Finally, it’s happening, I’m attending a Social Media Marketing event with internationally recognized speakers. I’ve been following their blogs for years and followed the conferences on YouTube. But now, there is finally an event in Europe were two of the writers, of the largest blogs in the world about social media, will speak. I will attended #SMMUK10 and listen to Chris Brogan and Brian Solis among others.
The event takes place in London on the 17th of June, (I hope to see you there) and over the day we will see 13 presenters speak (talk about heavy schedule!) about all social media marketing. Here are some of the speech topics:
- What Social Media Marketing Mean for You?
- The New Era of Relationships: Introducing Niche works
- How to Make Your Marketing Messages Travel
- There’s No Such Thing as Viral Marketing: Only Great Content
- Twitter Marketing for Brands in Action
- The Psychology of Persuasion: Next Generation Marketing
I’ve created a Twitter-list which follows 11 out of the 13 presenters, so you can get listen to them before the event.
On the website, you can get a sneak peak about what is happening on the event. One of the main topics will be the viral power of the web. But I listen to the taster of Philip Sheldrake who is speaking about the opposite. There is no such thing as viral marketing, only great content!
I hope to see you there!
Ps. This is a link to a great story from Richard Sedley who is speaking about the art of persuation at the event! I recommend it :D
How to: Use Similar Pages for Research
My current job calls for a lot of research with the objective of gathering information. There are many ways to do this, but one extension that I use in my Google Chrome browsers have proven to be particularly useful.
The extension is called Similar Pages, and as told by the name of it, it suggests pages which are similar to the one you are visiting. I use this by fining some good pages on the subject I’m interested in on Google, and then I see what suggestions I get on Similar Pages and find new interesting sites that way.
It also shows small previews of the pages that it suggests, so I can get an idea of what they look like. You can also install the extension Sites Preview if you want picture previews in your search results as well.
The only thing missing from Similar Pages it the option to decide what type of pages that I want suggested; for example, websites, newspapers or blogs. As Google is the producers of the extension I’m sure that this could easily be added.
Why you should be a mentor
“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give” – Winston Churchill
In the beginning of his career, Winston Churcill had a mentor in Bourke Cockran a British Lawyer and Politician. If Churcill mentored any one particular himself I have not figured out, however with quotes like this, he inspired many.
A mentor is a professional advisor; usually two of the most important qualities of a good mentor are that they have “learning attitude,” and “effective managerial skills.” If you have this qualities I encourage you to become a mentor, to a fellow novice as myself.
Last week, I read a blog post from an internationally recognized young entrepreneur. He wrote that he never had a mentor and he thought that the reasons where that; character did not fit with a mentor and many think of him and others like him as “young people who think they know everything.”
I was a bit surprised by this, because I have never looked for a mentor but I have always seemed to have mentors, and has he is some one I admire I just assumed that he had many mentors and supporters.
Have you heard the Buddhist proverb:
“When the student is ready the teacher will come”
When I have needed guidance and help, the help has come in one way or another. I guess I never asked the question “would you be my mentor?” instead I just asked questions and the relationship that has formed between me and the more experience people I have asked, have become a mentoring one because of this.
No matter if you get asked to become a mentor or just naturally find yourself in that position, I encourage you to do it, and here are a few reasons why.
Teaching make you analyze and draw conclusions of your work
It is one thing to know something and to do that, it is another thing to explain how it is done for someone else. Teaching and explaining what you do, make you look at things differently and learn them more thoroughly. Therefore you will become better at what you do by constantly teaching it to someone else, and depending on the level of expertise of your mentee, you might have to become better at what you do to be able to fully answer the questions you get. This can also lead to advancement in your own career as you will show the features that are wanted in people who are promoted: unselfishness, desire to develop and leadership etc.
You have a better change to stay connected with what is “new”
If you are a few years into your career, it is very likely that the things you were taught in school have changed since you graduated. In most fields, things such as strategies and techniques changes very fast, and it is harder to stay updated when you are working full time. Therefore, a mentee can assist you by teaching you about the latest development and what is taught now compared to when you where in school. Thus, you can get a competitive advantage and get a wider picture by letting the mentee teach you stuff as well.
The relationship is both give and take.
As I just said; the mentee can teach you things as well. However, this is not the only way the relationship goes both ways. Maybe the mentee have a few connections that you can benefit from. Or computer knowledge that can help you with you online resume? Or be a very good listener, who you can speak to about changing career without judgment? Sure, you are the more experienced in the relationship, but that does not mean that you cannot gain from it. I think that the relationship is even better if you benefit from it, both because you will be more inspired to teach if you get something back, and because the mentee can feel that him or her is contributing as well.
With that said, the benefits of being a mentor is plenty; You become better at way you do, by teaching and analyzing. You stay connected with what is new and gain competitive advantage. And the benefits of the relationships goes both ways.
So what is there to wait for? Go and find you novice and start mentoring today!
IKEA Creates Another Public Showroom – This Time They Furnished The Paris Metro
People tend to see traditional marketing and online marketing as two separate things. But constantly we see examples of the fact that they are really not that different. A good “traditional” marketing campaign such as the one I’m going to write about today: the IKEA‘s public showroom, will become widely discussed online. Just as well as the campaign I talked about before by Volkswagen: the fun theory will be discussion face to face.
When the marketing is interesting enough, it wont matter were or when it is, people will speak about them at anytime they have the opportunity and share with people both online and offline. Thus viral does not have to be online and mouth to mouth does not have to be offline.
I have mentioned before that IKEA used Obama’s message of change in their commercials they had advertisement reading “Embrace change.” Though in their case it was more implying of a redecoration than a political change. However, what I had not mentioned was that they build an mock up oval office in the union station in Washington DC. The mock up featured low cost solutions to furnish an oval office, and gave visitors a chance to sit in the executives chair of course monitored by their secret service officers.
Picture: Apartmenttherapy.com
A few days ago they did the public showroom again, but this time in Paris. Between the 10th and the 24th of March four of the Paris metro stops are furnished with sofas for the travellers to use while waiting for the metro. The walls are covered with showroom examples and the furniture have price tags. I do not know about you, but I have waited for the Paris metro, and I for sure, would have appreciated these sofas.
Photo: Freshome.com
So what is what is so great about this marketing campaign? Well, except for the obvious benefit for the travellers to have a place to sit and something to look at the advantages are many.
- Something to do while waiting - Most people get really bored while waiting for the metro, if they do not have music or a book to occupy them. Thus, having something to read or do while waiting is appreciated, and we also tend to actually “take in” what we are reading, as anything is more fun to do, than just wait…
- Playing with more senses - Instead of only giving us something to look at, they also give us the opportunity to feel, touch and try the furniture they are selling, which gives us a better idea of what we are getting if we buy it.
- It is memorable - How many times have to sat in a sofa while waiting for the metro? Not that many, nor in any other public place either. Thus, it is unusual enough to mention to a friend, who might just remember that she need a few things for IKEA, and head over there the next they… BAAM! conversion …
- People talk about it both online and offline - If you search on any of these campaigns on Google you will find thousands of mentions, if you look at the local newspapers you will find articles about the events as well and if you speak to any of the locals I’m sure many of them will have a few things to say as well. Showing that new ideas does spread everywhere.
Create an online point – to !
I don’t know if IKEA planned any online activities for the Paris metro stations displays, but for the oval office, they complemented the offline showroom with the ability to design your own oval office on their website. Giving people a easy ”point to” when they want to discuss the subject online, is also a great idea to stimulate the buzz in the online media sphere. Actually, most people who have talked about the oval office event choose to show a picture of the online showroom as this was more available for the general public.
I have visited 1000 of blogs and websites only this year. Some are good while others are so difficult to navigate that I just go on to the next one. That is the case nowadays, that if I find one site difficult to navigate I will just move on to their competitors, because there is always someone who have a similar site. Therefore I have created a list of a few things that you HAVE TO HAVE on your website in order to keep you visitors and not annoy them. (Except for interesting content etc… ;)
Mistake 1: Only a contact form
I hate to use contact forms and therefore often end up not contacting the writer if that is the only option. Sometimes I do use them, but the occasions are rare, and I’m sure thatcontacts forms means missed opportunities.
Fix: Add your email address at text similar to annelie[at]annelienaes.com or as a picture, to avoid spam but make you easily accessible for your visitors.
Mistake 2: Not having an option for comment subscription
I think I have mentioned this before, but it is important enough to point out again. If I comment on a blog I’m interesting in find out if anyone else said something about the post or my comment. But I would never have the time to go back and check myself. However, if I receive an notification on my blog, I might not only check back for more comments but I might also check for new interesting content.
Fix: Disqus and other plug-in offers this feature automatically, otherwise you fix it by adding a comment subscription alternative for the commenter.
Mistake 3: Not describing with the abbreviation title of your blog means
Most blogs with abbreviation but the
long title right under, such as PMP – Portal Media Player. However, there are examples where the abbreviation is so common for frequent visitors that they did not find it necessary, however, for a new visitor it might be very confusing. This has even happened to me with on the website of a smaller Swedish newspaper, which I happened to come across through a Google search. Very annoying and easily fixed, so just make it clear!
Fix: Add a description to the abbreviation under it, or just don’t use them in the header for example.
Mistake 4: Not letting your readers know what you write about
A tag cloud is to many just a blur and they don’t see the need of it. Please make sure you are not one of them. I often visit blogs where I cannot tell if the author is actually writing on the subject him or her claims to because the latest posts have been covering other topics. With a tag cloud you and your visitors see what you are actually writing about. (Assuming you tag your post based on the content)
Fix: Add a tag cloud or some other indicator of what the blog posts you have published is about.
Mistake 5: Not letting your visitors know what they searched for
Some search functions are better than other. But at least you should make sure that your readers know what they are searching for. If the words “Nothing can be found” comes up after I made a search and I cannot see what I searched for I will just assume that there is nothing to be found and I will continue looking elsewhere. However, typing mistakes are easily made so if your search function shows the search term that was just written, maybe I will try again because I misspelled the word.
Fix: Install a search functions which shows the search term after you pressed “enter”.
Inother words there are many small things that make visitors leave your site in search for something better, think about these ones, and I’m sure there are many more, and hopefully you will have your readers attention a little while longer.
Any other “must-haves” you would like to add?