How to Get the Best Body Ever?

Tired of overweight, cellulitis, and fat? Don’t give up! Sarah lost 40 pounds and got in shape.

Everything is possible if you adopt a healthy lifestyle and diet. You can slim down and look your best, combining a low-calorie and well-nutritious eating style with some physical exercises. Ups will help you weather the storms of downs during the continuous fitness journey. Even if it takes you some time to notice a difference and reach your goal, discipline is necessary to get the best results over the long run.

The above is about turning your physical body into the best body ever; but what if you can turn your text body into the best body ever? How can you build your own blog, write the most compelling content, and target your identified audience? The toning of the blog body follows exactly the same rules of the toning of the physical body. Our highly recommended text body coach will be Mrs. Bernadette Jiwa.

Bernadette Jiwa helps “every entrepreneur, business owner and global brand to better understand how to create deeper connections with their customers”. She also assists “big and small companies to design, build, and grow brands while developing a business strategy and brand story that’s aligned with their unique identity, vision and values”. In her strategy, she focuses on the story, and this is what her blog’s name “The Story of Telling” reflects. I recommend you to follow her “healthy” blog.

6 tips that keep Bernadette’s text body in shape:

• She does not count calories! 

In her blog, Bernadette doesn’t stretch sentences to give strong impact. She doesn’t count the “calories” of her text. She just writes as much as she wants, so that her text flows as natural as a calm spring. For her, the number of words is not a matter of quantity, but quality. As you can notice, the majority of her texts are less than 250 words; however, they are authentic, clear, simple, and concise. She doesn’t write to fill lines, she writes to fill hearts.

• She establishes a baseline 

In her marketing and business posts, she tends more likely to parachute in. She keeps the story rolling, while giving some context before moving completely to the key step: revealing the main topic of her writing. The baseline she establishes is quite creative, just as in her text called “One or All”. She moves from the story of the flower shop to the different choices a marketer can have. At the end, she gets back to her headline with the question “What would you write on you blackboard?” engaging the reader, using the 1^st and 2^nd personal pronouns, and presenting her brands and unique innovation strategies with stories.

• She juices up the diet 

The style she’s adopting is accompanied with high-quality relevant images that best describe the idea she’s narrating. As having pasta or ice cream in a diet, visual content in her blog is temptingly compelling: on a white background, brownish colored text is written in a very clear font character. Also, all the articles are filed under categories: if you would like to read about brand story, brand strategy or marketing, you can get there with a single click. She also includes lists that grab the attention; “A List of Alternatives to Winning” is a concrete example for that.

• She works her internal feelings and thoughts 

The more you know your audience, the more natural the real-life stories come to your head. Bernadette gets inspired by her environment, where she lives or where she grew up, in order to create a small heart-to-heart and human connection with the reader, just as she did for example in her article “In Praise of Curiosity”. She would rather focus on the end user and the human aspect than on her own wants and needs. Experiences, emotions, and humanity are key elements in her writing approach.

• She targets her major muscles 

The Australian writer listens to the needs of her target audience so that they can benefit from what is being written, adding value to the field she is promoting. After much efforts put into workout, her text body rewarded her with great results because, effectively, it is being shared and liked. She is targeting her major muscles, her identified audience.

• She selects the right tunes 

Yes. She hits her audience with unique and catchy tunes that can perfectly tone with the body, headlines like “Important”, “Knowing what you Don’t Know”, “Perfect Ten”, “A Thousand Times”, among others, that are related to the topic she’s coping with.

Bernadette Jiwa throws her small darts onto the Inner Bullseye of the body, counting her winning points as she goes, because she thinks of her audience when writing the article: What is important to them?; who are they?; what are their dreams and fears?; what are the problems they may be facing?, and meets their expectations.

What I really loved about Bernadette is that she stands in the shoes of her audience, she writes as if she was telling the story of the reader to the reader, as if she was narrating a resonating human story that is drawn from the well of the reader.

Follow coach Jiwa and get your best text body ever!

A card game that made Kickstarter history

What started in January 2015 as a modest plan to raise $10,000 turned into a crowdfunding phenomenon. Elan Lee and Shane Small both have a background working with XBox, and they team up with Matthew Inman, – the genius mind behind behind The Oatmeal  – a humor website that gets at least seven million unique visitors per month – to create a card game that they called: Exploding Kittens.

Check out the campaign video:

In less that 7 hours from its launching they raised 1.000.000,00, and by the end of the campaign they successfully raised $8,782,571 in total with 219,382 backers. It became the most-backed game in Kickstarter history and the campaign with the most number of backers, ever.

Matthew Inman didn’t create the game, but in my opinion, he made it FABULOUS! He is a cartoonist and an incredible storyteller – read one of my favorites: When your house is burning down, you should brush your teeth – and the game gained his personal touch in writing and drawing

The game description says:

It is a highly-strategic, kitty-powered version of Russian Roulette. Players draw cards until someone draws an Exploding Kitten, at which point they explode, they are dead, and they are out of the game — unless that player has a Defuse card, which can defuse the kitten using things like laser pointers, belly rubs, and catnip sandwiches. All of the other cards in the deck are used to move, mitigate, or avoid the Exploding Kittens.

I have to admit that I was sold from the moment I saw Matthew Inman’s name involved in this project but, after reading that description, Who could resist buying or at leats click to see more about this awesome game, right?.

Almost all of the emails updates had a funny infographic, and some of them were to announce and position hashtags like #ExplodingKittens was the official hashtag for the game, Be our #KittenConsul was for people who wanted to play with a Playtest Deck and do reviews of the game, #BackerParty consisted of special events like sending Matthew Inman a picture and he did a funny draw of it.

Updates also received a lot of feedback on social media. Update 27 was a very compelling re-cap of the campaign that ended announcing that they were still delivering the game on time as the promise, which is very unusual in Kickstarter history.

Click to see full Update #27

They had to team up with another card game company called Cards Against Humanity  to help them with the distribution of the game, and they had to create a new company called Black Box  to distribute and deliver the game worldwide on time. That’s how HUGE this project was!

The tone of the campaign was fun and entertaining and even though is over, they still update the twitter and facebook accounts, and send emails to the Kickstarter backers with updates and special promotions. They launched an app of the game this year and also, an expansion for the original card game.

Exploding Kittens is a great example of how great writing can lead to a successful campaign, especially when you do it with the same authentic voice that defines you.

I’m gonna finish my post with a Simon Sinek’s quote that it came recurrently to me while I was writing this post:

People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.

As one of the backers of this project I can testify that at the time, I wasn’t just buying an awesome super cool card game. What I wanted was to be part of something in which I believed. No one imagined that we were making Kickstarter history.

Thanks for reading
Follow me at @Lesmy

Finding my community

By Christine Akl.

As I was scrolling through the list of bloggers that I had to pick from for my content creation CBUS111 class assignment, one in particular caught my eye: Jeff Goins.

I have always been a right brain type of person and what struck me the most in Jeff’s description of topics is the word creativity. As I started to read his blog, something he said when describing himself made my choice crystal clear: “Here is where we wage war on the blank page, where we band together to discover our purpose and our art, where we find our true voices. If you have a passion for creativity and changing the world, this is the place for you.”

Jeff Goins is the author of four books including the national best seller, The Art of Work. On his blog, he shares his reflections on writing and life. He talks about creative professionals and how to pursue a passion without burning yourself out.
These topics struck a chord with me because I started my career as a designer and I do consider myself both an artist and a creative professional first. I’m going to be honest here, I had never really had any interest in blogging before this class, but I was slowly but surely getting excited for this assignment – I had found someone who I related to, his articles were clear and to the point as well as inspiring.

As I was looking through his articles two in particular stood out: “The World Needs More Artists” and “You must Ship”.
The first article talks about why we need art and how crucial it is in our lives. It talks about the importance of quality in a world full of mediocre and how the world in longing for a change and for great art. The second article discussed people seeking perfection that is unobtainable, those that get held back “shipping” their products or developing their ideas… because they are unsure of their work and themselves. I think that everyone can relate to that feeling of uncertainty.

I found myself hanging on to every word. I could relate to so much of what was being said. And that is what blogging is all about, finding your community of people who are interested in the same content as you!
So what are you waiting for? Go and check out Jeff Goins’ blog and you will not be disappointed. One thing is certain; He now has one new subscriber .

Ⓒ Photo Credit Adsoftheworld.com
Ⓒ Photo Credit Goinswriter.com
Ⓒ Photo Credit knowledge.insead.edu

Match! When Media Release meets Social Needs

by Cintia Klein

Paper books were supposed to be dead. Have you been reading most of your news on line or on paper lately? What do you prefer?  I like reading long, complex concepts on paper. But still there is a pile of books waiting for me by my bed. When I have 30 minutes  before falling asleep, reading a book is a very pleasant activity. I believe there is time and place for traditional media release, for printed magazine and hand written letter.

Many PR professionals are  uncertain choosing which tool best fits their communication needs. Such a broad variety of medias can lead the more cautious brands to stick with the classic news release, while others advocate for more social ways of distributing news. How far must we go converting releases into  “social” products?

The Silicon Valley Watcher Tom Foremski’s famous blog post kicked off the debate of the social media release,  rising controversy at the time. See his main advice for planing and developing a useful, contemporary release:

–  Promote deconstruction of the press release into useful and versatile sections: tag the fragments of information so that publishers can pre-assemble some of the news story.
– Provide a brief description of the  announcement, however leave the spin to the journalists. The journalists are going to go with their own view on the story, so why bother? Keep it straightforward rather than spintastic.
– Provide a page of quotes from the CEO or other C-level execs. Quotes from customers and analysts, can be applicable.

Currently, the promises are that social media release  will allow “mobile” story telling from services and products, that actually matter to the customers. In theory, a social media release is well succeed if it travels around the web leaving people a window into the brand.  The results will be seen and measured – more and more often –  by the increase of website relevance via SEO technology, high level of interaction and content sharing. No matter the shape of the media release,  content is clearly leaning towards a conversational tone to engage readers reactions, not only the media professionals.

Sources:

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/04/social-media-release-must-evolve-to-replace-press-release113/
http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2006/02/die_press_relea.php

Everyone’s Doing it. You know, social media marketing!

Everyone’s Doing It – Social Media Marketing

by Lilly Vogelesang

“Everyone’s doing it.”

How many times have you heard someone say that when talking about social media marketing?

In between attending trade shows, talking with customers, working with designers, web analysts, and reporting to management – how does the modern marketer have time to breathe, much less to pick up new skills?

I had that same thought myself. I honestly wondered, just because everyone is doing it, does that mean we should too?  Not wanting to get left behind in the pack, I stocked up on coffee, set my alarm to go off an extra half hour early, and started to teach myself.

Twitter?  Got it.  Facebook?  Yeah, okay, I use that for personal stuff – I can do that too.  YouTube?  Sure.  LinkedIn?  Ummm… yeah, okay, I can learn that one.  Google+?  Does anyone even use that?  Why bother?  Tumblr?  Are you serious?  Well, okay for my business, maybe we need it…

I realized soon that I felt like I was drowning.

In fact, I was probably drowning before I’d even gotten started.  Then, I did a deep dive without any air.

Bad idea.

I decided I needed to take a class, for a couple of reasons.

1.  Accountability.  If I’m required to do homework, that means I’m actively learning from one week to another.
2.  Group Discussions.  The best thing about learning in a class is being able to see things from other people’s point of view.

In a classroom, when you’re sitting there with other marketing gurus, there’s a little bit of magic that happens.  Someone might say something, and it sparks inspiration.  It’s like all the wires in my brain light up at once, synapses firing, and ideas spawn new ideas until I have to try to contain my excitement.

For example, when Jessie Sternthal came in to our class to talk about writing, she said, “Write like nobody’s watching.  Write like you’re dancing in the kitchen.  Write like you’re singing in the car at a red light.”  Not only did it make sense, but it resonated with me.

Jessie also spoke about giving your brand a voice, a personality.  Harriet Cummings, a copy editor, wrote this amazing article to help develop voice.

I had been so blinded by sifting through amazing resources on writing for SEO that I forgot that at the end of the day, it’s about speaking to your audience, adding value, and having a meaningful conversation with them.

I got my life vest, thanks to McGill.

Content needs active readers!

By Marc Roth

In my experience, successful content answers two major questions; who is your target audience and what specific action are you asking them to take?

Audience
Who is your reader, and what solutions or insights are they trying to solve by reading your content? For example, if a brand is targeting moms with a product designed for young girls, the conversational tone, useful tips and advice would be a good reflection of the reader. Alternately, targeting a high-level IT professional requires a different tone, covering a different level of detail, and require sourcing and fact checking to assure credibility.

A good measurement of audience engagement is not only how many readers the piece had, but how many passively engaged with a ‘Like’ or other acknowledgement and how many took the ultimate step of sharing it with their own networks.
Action
While positioning your brand as a thought expert and providing ongoing, interesting content is important, each entry should give the user a ‘what’s next’. Whether it be a link to a download, another blog entry, a special offer or coupon, or even further reading on the topic. While a post could have many likes and even some shares, if no one clicks on your coupons or downloads your enhanced content, it might be a sign its off the mark.

Forming Meaningful Connections through Writing

by Lilly Birdsong

As human beings, we are always looking for a connection.  That feeling of belonging, that feeling of knowing that there are other people out there that understand your point of view, that are interested in the same things you are.

The most powerful factor in social media is the ability to forge a connection with someone that you’ve never even met.  Whether it’s that group of people online who all like the same books that you do, or even that brand that keeps releasing these revolutionary new products that you love, being able to connect with other people remotely has changed the way we interact.  It allows us to have meaningful conversations in an online space.

When writing content for readers online, it’s important to think the most about this type of connection.  Why are you writing something in the first place? Well, it’s always because you want someone to read it.  So: Who are you trying to reach?  Who are you trying to touch?  To have an impact on?

Thinking about who you’re writing to will not only have an impact on the way that you write, it will enable you to write about things which add value to your reader’s day.

Which brings us to the second most important question: Why?  Why should anyone bother reading what it is you write?  Is there something that you can teach your reader, or entertain them with?  If your goal is simply to sell something to someone, then writing that you want to sell is not going to engage anyone.  However if you are explaining how a person can improve their process, then you place the product on the side, this is a much more meaningful interaction.

For example, if someone is searching “How to:”, if your blog answers that question, then they will find value in reading what you’re writing about.

Now the question becomes: can you engage with your audience, now that you have their attention?  One of the benefits of writing online is being able to receive comments, have a dialogue and discussion about the topic that you’re writing.  This can be a great way to assess whether your story has achieved its goal in adding value.

Ultimately, in this new social space, we must not only get used to but embrace the opportunity to have a dialogue with our audience.  When successful, we can truly form a connection with our readers in a much more meaningful way than ever before.

Forget about the Content. Ask yourself these two questions first!

by Victor Guerra

They used to say that everybody knows at least 2 things in life: (1) how to run a restaurant and (2) how to create good advertising. After all, most of us have gone to a restaurant hundreds of times, and for sure we have been exposed to millions of messages trying to sell us something. Therefore, we know from our own experiences what can be done right and wrong, since we have been the judges on every one of those experiences.

But one thing is, to know how it “feels” to receive good services, products and messages; and another very different is to master the principles behind them, and to actually know how to do it properly.

Today, our usage of social networks has surpassed that of traditional media (where advertising used to live). Our frequent exposure to it can make us believe we know how to use it for business purposes.

In social media as in any other communication platform, an organization who wants to establish a connection with its customers, has to consider the basic principles of communication: There has to be a message, a sender, a receiver, a medium and contextual factors (language, tone, timing, environment, “noise”, etc.).

One simple but powerful model to analyze and create your content strategy is what I call “The six W’s”. A set of 6 questions to ask yourself about your communication intentions: Who, what, when, where, why and how. All of them are crucial to achieve a real connection between your company and its clients. But, in my opinion, two of them are the most important ones: The Who and the Why.

WHO?

The “Who” is in reality two questions in one: Who are you? and Who is your audience?

The first step is to be clear about who you are. A hard question to answer.

It is not just who you say you are, or who you may want to become. It is more about how you are perceived, it is your brand’s DNA, preferably written in few words (3 maximum, 2 or 1 much better): Who are you?

In marketing, it is called Brand Essence (your true nature). It is the cornerstone for the positioning strategy (what you want built as your public image). But it is a prior step to it.

The second part is defining your audience. Again, in marketing it is called Targeting. It has to do with segmenting your market and selecting just one segment to speak to (to have a conversation with, would be more appropriate to say these days).

We are referring here to the sender and the receiver. As opposed to the traditional media, where you are the sender and your audience is the receiver, here you will try to ignite the conversation, but you need to be willing to interchange roles with your audience. So you better know them well in order, not only to fulfill their expectations, but also to anticipate their needs and to positively surprise them.

WHY?

The second most important W, is the “Why”: Why are you trying to connect with them, what is the intent of your communication effort? It better be for a good reason. It better be because there is something of value for them, that will be of value for your brand as well.

The time and effort dedicated to determine the Who and the Why will show a clear path for the remaining 4 W’s: What (message), where (medium), when and how (contextual factors). The remaining W’s will provide in your favour, and not cause you unnecessary “noise” into the communication process.

Once you answer these first questions, your success will be determined by how easy or how hard it is to identify: (1) the what (pathways or topics for messages that you should embrace); (2) the where (the right platforms to reach effectively and efficiently your audience); and (3) the when and how (style, tone, graphics, etc.).

Ironically, in order to achieve a successful Content Strategy, you have to forget about the content first. Ask Who and Why instead. As the old quote says: “Think before you speak”.