do-this-one-thing-before-you-write-your-business-plan So, you’ve been asked to write a business plan. It’s likely that your mind is filling with images of long documents, bad memories of writing term papers, and worries about doing market research and creating financial forecasts. Take a deep breath. It doesn’t have to be that way. Today, I’m going to walk you through an easier way to get your business plan started, and show you how to develop a winning strategy.
Arachne The agglomeration of data in Arachne over the last three years led to the insight that the manual labour of creating metadata for every image seemed impractical. Between 2002 and 2007 the number of images stored in Arachne expanded from 50,000 to 200,000; our present stock of 820,000 images represents an increase of around 400%. In cooperation with the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) in Rome, the “image_grid project” is seeking to solve these problems. With the “image_grid project” we have automatically contextualised about 400,000 images from the photo library of the DAI Rome. blog.hootsuite A study done by researchers at Cornell University, backed by the National Science Foundation and Google, found that style may trump substance when it comes to Twitter popularity. This research found that including an engaging call to action at the beginning of the Tweet—for example, “please retweet, retweet, plz, pls”—can increase people’s engagement rate on Twitter. Now, what does this mean for social pros? Recently, we conducted our own Twitter experiment to see what our followers found engaging. We found that knowing more about our audience, using images, and taking some risks really helped boost our Twitter engagement rate (TER). This helped us increase our TER by 180% in two months.
blog.hootsuite At first, spending under half an hour on managing social media may sound like a tall order, especially considering that an average user spends approximately 3 hours on social media per day. But if you’re running a small business, you may not have 3 hours. Let’s say you’ve only got a measly 18 minutes—it’s going to be tight, but we’ve got a plan we think can work for you. Before you start, there’s a lot to think about. Which social media network do you visit first? blog.hootsuite If you are trying to grow your presence on Twitter, you’re probably wondering when is the best time to tweet, so you can get the most value out of this social network. There is a myriad of blogs and infographics dedicated to the subject. Many of them mark 9am, 12pm, and 3pm as the best time to tweet. But before using those times for your company’s Twitter handle, your brand must consider some important factors: where in the world are you located? What kind of tools are you using to find the best times to tweet? Are you engaging enough on social media to test which times work best?
blog.hootsuite Over time, every new communication medium develops its own set of rules. We’ve come a long way since the first social networks started emerging mid-1990s, when users were still figuring out the basics like the best size and angle of their profile pictures. By now, we have collectively agreed on proper etiquette of flirting, maintaining friendships, and even applying for jobs on social media. Naturally, there are also rules of online behavior for digital marketers and social media managers. Some are spelled out by the networks—such as Facebook’s call for less promotional content from brands on users’ News Feeds. Others, however, take some experience to figure out, and those unfamiliar with the etiquette often find themselves in very sticky situations. for Business This video for marketers showcases how some of the best brands on Instagram—@nikerunning, @generalelectric and @benandjerrys—bring their stories to life and constantly connect with their communities. When it comes to brands and businesses, our goal is to help companies reach their respective audiences through captivating imagery in a rich, visual environment. One way we can do this is by providing new resources and tools to educate and inspire marketers. So today we’re publishing the first in a series of blog posts aimed at helping marketers showcase their best creative work on Instagram, and we’re also announcing the launch of the The Instagram Handbook for Brands. The Instagram Handbook for Brands This book profiles eleven brands on Instagram that post incredibly engaging content.
blog.hootsuite Change is constant in digital marketing. However, many social media managers feel changes are so rapid that the need to stay in the know can be overwhelming, and playing catch-up to all the trends is impossible. Don’t worry, we’re here to help!