How to Keep Your Content Fresh: Innovative Ways, Part Two

How to Keep Your Content Fresh: Innovative Ways, Part Two

How to Keep Your Content Fresh: Innovative Ways, Part Two

Once I started writing about how to keep content fresh, it seems that I couldn’t stop. Before we dive into these ideas, you might like to read Part One. Here’s part two.

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Use Quizzes and Polls

There are so many controversial topics right now that a quiz or poll could really help you figure out what your audience (or at least your friends) are thinking. You could ask them about Facebook and their privacy concerns, for instance. Have your friends shifted their social media strategies? Are they spending more time in other places online? That could be the basis for an interesting post or piece of content. Here’s a Wiki on how to create polls on Facebook.

Mind Mapping Is One Way to Find Fresh Content

Mind Mapping Is One Way to Find Fresh Content

Mindmap or Brainstorm Ideas

Mind mapping is a wonderful tool, and you can find software to help you. Or you could just get a big sheet of paper and some pencils, and get started! You’d be surprised at what starts to appear in your mindmap.

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Think Like Your Audience

What do you honestly think your audience cares about? Probably not the same things that you care about! For instance, my audience cares about time and money. And ROI (return on investment). Those are the questions that everyone asks. One idea (that I found while online) is Random Affinities.

Random Affinities

Moz has a wonderful article about growing your business with random affinities. You can use Google search, Amazon, or even Facebook ads to find out what a particular audience might be interested in. For instance, start a Google search for “are yurts” and then see what Google suggests. If you’re writing about a boring topic (not that yurts are boring!) this could help. A lot. I tried doing the search and Google guesses at the rest of the sentence.

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Try a Different Format

If you’ve been blogging, try a video blog or podcasting. The process of learning the new format might be more work, but it could also be a lot of fun. In addition, you might attract a whole different audience!

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Use Gamification

You can gamify just about anything. Give yourself points for starting, for progress, and for finishing a project. You might like this post about the Gamification of Social Media.

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Let Someone Else Write

Too busy to write? Let someone else write for you! If you don’t know of anyone, I do (that would be me!). Send me an email if you’re looking for someone to help write your blog posts!

How to Work Your Wonderful Strengths, Forget Your Weaknesses

How to Work Your Wonderful Strengths, Forget Your Weaknesses

How to Work Your Wonderful Strengths, Forget Your Weaknesses

Strengthfinders

By now, everyone has heard of Strengthfinders, and most people have done the test. But are you really using the advice from strengthfinders every day? I have to review mine every once in a while. (Achiever and Connectedness). Which of the 34 Strengthfinder strengths do you have?

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Achievers and Achievement

As an Achiever, I feel as though every day starts at zero, and need to achieve every day. Even on Memorial Day, as I write these words, I need to get things done before heading off to the baseball game. To work this strength, I can partner with other hard workers. I could also take pictures for this very blog post!

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The Gamification of Hard Work

Now that more and more of our everyday life is becoming gamified, how about gamifying your own achievements? Receive points for finishing projects, reaching milestones, and more. By the way, you might like this article: Gamification of Social Media. And, in fact, many brands use gamification to reach more people on their Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter accounts. “Join our contest!” they say, and then add, “tag a friend, and you’ll be entered twice!”

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Connectedness

Being connected to something larger is one of my own strengths, and maybe yours, too. Humility and gratitude come along with Connectedness because without them, there can be no Connectedness. So listening to others, and seeing deeper connections help me to focus on this strength.

Forget “Us” and “Them”

However, convincing others of the deeper connections in life would not help my connectedness, so I’d avoid that. Also, I’d avoid anyone who thinks along the lines of “us” and “them.” Oh, boy. Sounds a lot like the current political climate, doesn’t it?

Focus on Strengths Energizes

Focus on Strengths Energizes

Focus on Strengths Energizes

As Susan Peppercorn mentions in her article The Benefits of Using Your Strengths at Work,

“Strengths also energize us. Did you ever notice yourself involved in something where you lost track of time because you were so engaged? That’s an indication that you were using one or more of your strengths.” ~ Susan Peppercorn

You wouldn’t expect a pitcher to be able to hit like Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants. Even ball players focus on what their strengths are, although during the SF Giants – Nationals Game on Memorial Day, there was more fighting than runs.

Bryce Harper and Hunter Strickland maybe should stick to baseball. What do you think? Leave me a message in the comments! And thank you!

 

The Gamification of Social Media

The Gamification of Social Media

The Gamification of Social Media

The Gamification of Social Media

Robert Nissenbaum (follow him on Twitter at @RNissenbaumof Tactical Social Media recently wrote a post about fun being the ROI of social media, which made me think. We’re all intrigued by fun, but can it lead to more business? If you read the statistics on how many hours people spend playing games, with every subsequent generation spending more time and money, then you’d say it makes a lot of sense. For instance, Millennials spend 1.47 hours a day playing games, according to the Wall Street Journal. 1.47 hours!

Anything Can Be Gamified

Gamification is the practice of adding gamelike elements to reward behavior in a non-game setting. Think: getting points every time you brush your teeth.Or an award for doing the laundry. Or washing the car. I’d like a prize for doing the dishes! Also: can someone please make music come out of the soap dispenser? Please and thank you.

Foursquare

Foursquare is one of the first social media platforms that made social more fun. With its location-based checkins, badges, mayorships, and points, Foursquare gave users a way to measure excitement during outings. Foursquare’s explosive success has led to its morphing into a company that rewards its users in different ways now, without the intense competition that led to its early success. Still, the idea of play and social became intertwined with Foursquare.

Are Fun and Serious Work At War?

Are Fun and Serious Work At War?

Are Fun and Serious Work At War?

Fun and serious work can coexist peacefully. Playing games at work or playing games for work is possible when the purpose is to get work done. Many people experience a “flow experience” from playing music. And a game player achieves that same “flow” while playing a game. So why not play games at work? In fact, as Mario Herger explains “with new times there are new tools. And “Sales gamification platforms are one new set of tools that you can use.”

Could Gamification Work with Social Media?

Among your co-workers, how about running contests for the post with the biggest reach, or the most comments? You might consider giving away movie tickets, a night out, or a board game as a gift for the tweet or post that creates the most “likes” on a company account. Of course, the playing field would need to be level for each instance. You could also give away a prize for the best tweet during a tweetchat. Here’s a post about Twitter Chats: 101 tips for success.

Gamification Makes Us Smarter

Gabe Zichermann, in his excellent TED talk on gamification, explains how kids, given a game-based curriculum, improved in math and science from a third-grade level to a mid-fourth grade level. And the kids, when interviewed, say that “learning is fun.” He underlines that for Gen G (Millennials and those growing up on games), their primary form of entertainment is games or a game-like environment. And he recommends that we all get in the game so that we can understand kids. You might also like this article about how the San Francisco Giants can improve your game.

Gotta Go

So excuse me but I’ve got to get back to World of Warcraft! If it would be fun for you, leave me a comment. Thank you!

 

 

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