Written by Jeanne Hopkins

As a business, you need to think of social media like fishing. Sometimes you put your pole in and the fish are biting; other times, not as much. Still, a lot of people approach social media marketing without any bait whatsoever.

So what is this ‘bait’ I’m talking about? Engagement!

Setting up a Twitter account and a Facebook page — these are both a good start, but if you don’t attach something tasty to the end of your pole, you’ll be fishing for a long time for that viable lead. Here are five tips to optimize your social media participation for the best engagement.

1. Geo-Target

If you’re a business in, say, Omaha, and you operate in a specific location, or you’re organizing an event, or you’re just trying to get people in the front door of your establishment, then you’re not going to have a lot of luck if you’re marketing to New York. Conduct searches to determine who is tweeting relevant keywords in your location. A simple way to do this is by using Twitter’s own search function on Search.Twitter.com. More advanced businesses may want to try a 3rd party application like MarketMeSuite’s Reply Campaigns.

2. Ask Questions

Can you resist a question? If you answered that, or even thought about answering that, you’ve proven my point. We’ve embarked on this fishing analogy, so let’s stay with it. Asking a question is premium bait! It’s almost irresistible for someone who has been asked a question to reply. This works great on Twitter by @replying and works equally well on Facebook in comments on pages or even sending messages to potential customers. For example, if I see Sally Smith just commented on a Food Network fan page and I sell pans, I may want to send Sally a Facebook message like this: “Hi Sally, I happened to see you commented on the Food Network fan page, and I’m doing a bit of research. Do you mind telling me what your favorite maker of pans is?” There’s a very good chance she will answer. You can then thank her for taking the time to answer you and offer her a coupon to shop with you in the future.

3. Be Useful

Monitor what people are tweeting and posting on Facebook, and lend a hand if you can. Set up searches for certain “problem areas” in your industry. A chiropractor may want to look for people tweeting about back pain, and a web designer may look for people having trouble installing WordPress. If you reply with something helpful, a person is very likely to stay in touch with you and follow what you have to say. Let’s face it, people buy from who they like. This approach may not convert leads instantly, but it’s well worth having some good karma irons in the fire.

4. Don’t Automate Engagement

We are all busy people, but for a social media marketing strategy to succeed, you cannot automate the engagement side. Social media may be virtual, but it’s still real human interaction. Think back to before the internet (yes, there was a world before the internet). Imagine people walking into a shop and being greeted by a tape recorder welcoming them to the store and randomly probing them for conversation. You cannot automate engagement. You can organize it, and there are a lot of useful tools for helping you keep track all of your social media marketing. You can also collaborate with a team of people to get it all done. But don’t automate engagement.

5. Settle Into the Strategy

On a fishing trip, it’s rare to catch a 5 pound fish just after you’ve dipped your pole in the water. Be patient. Once you embark on an engagement strategy, keep it going. You will see some early results, I promise, but don’t get discouraged if your cash register isn’t overflowing a few days later. Similar to how search engine optimization works, social media engagement takes a little time to convert. But once you get into the groove, you will be incredibly pleased with the world you’ve opened up for yourself and your business.

Key Marketing Takeaway

The same rules apply to social media situations as real life ones. Be real, be relevant, be useful, and people will want to talk to you. If you’re the crazy person shouting randomness at no one in particular, you aren’t going to get a lot of traction in offline situations. The same holds true for online situations. Find your customers, talk to them, find out what they want, and interact.

Image credit: maggiejumps

This is a post by Tammy Kahn Fennell, CEO and co-founder of MarketMeSuite. MarketMeSuite now has thousands of users and a fast-growing global customer base of small businesses and consultants.

Bonus: Google+ VS Facebook

[Source: Misconception Junction]

Written by lifehacker

You might think that you have to wait in line, buy only what’s offered to you, subject yourself to advertisements, and generally go through you day accepting nuisances because that’s just how the world works. But just like on your computer, there are easter eggs hiding out in the real world just waiting to let you unlock the bonus levels of life. Here are our top 10 favorites.

10. Get Free Money

As far as cheat codes go, picking up some extra coins was always a pretty sweet deal. You might be able to do the same in real life by searching unclaimed money sites likeMissing Money and TreasuryDirect. Not everyone has free cash with their name on it (like me, sadly), but it only takes a few minutes to check to quickly become a little bit richer.

9. Eat for Free On Your Birthday

When it’s your birthday, you shouldn’t have to pay for food. That’s how I feel, anyway, and a lot of restaurants agree. If you join their rewards programs, you can pick up tons of free goodies. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter if it’s your actual birthday, but rather just your birth month. Either way, there’s plenty of free food with your name on it.

8. Find Your Car Easily by Using Yourself to Amplify Your Keyless Entry Remote’s Signal

When you can’t find your car in a parking lot, pressing the lock button a few times will generally make it beep and honk so you can track it down quickly—but this only works if your car is in range. Putting the keyless entry remote in your mouth and pressing the lock button can help extend the range. Some Reddit users suggest that you just need to put it under your chin and it works because the signal resonates in your skull.

7. Open an Airplane Lavatory Door from the Outside

Full size

Those airline bathroom doors? You can unlock them from the outside. All you have to do is flip up the lavatory sign on the door and slide open the lock. You don’t want to be doing this to unwitting strangers, of course, but this could be useful in case of emergency (or just to play a cruel joke on a friend).

6. Order Secret Items at Fast Food Restaurants

Just because it’s not on the menu doesn’t mean you can’t have it. There are plenty of secret menu items at plenty of chains. Starbucks has a tiny-sized coffee for light drinkers. Chipotle will make practically anything that can be accomplished with their available ingredients—like quesadillas. Wendy’s will make you a "meat cube" burger, knowing as the Grand Slam, that consists of four heart attack-rendering beef patties. In and Out, on the other hand, offers a grilled cheese that is essentially a hamburger-less hamburger (but somehow really tasty). And if you’re torn between being a carnivore and vegetarianism, Fatburger will make you "The Hypocrite"—a veggie burger topped with bacon. You don’t have to order what’s presented to you. If there’s something you want, ask for it. You might just get it.

5. Get Shopping Discounts by Pretending to Be (or Actually Being) a Tourist or Student

Several retail stores give you discounts for being a tourist. You don’t necessarily have to actually be one, but just say you are. At most you’ll have to provide some sort of out-of-state identification (which you can always say you left at the hotel if you’re unable to provide it). Being (or pretending to be) a tourist can save you around 10 to 11% off your purchases, so it’s always worth asking if the store you’re at provides that kind of discount.

Getting student discounts forever is also pretty easy (and likely more useful than when you’re actually a student and don’t need them as much as you do when paying off loans). For online verification, you can generally just Photoshop the date on your ID. If you need to send an unofficial class schedule and make it look official, it’s not that hard to spoof an email address. Alternatively, pay some college kid a few bucks to get the discount for you or enlist a student you know. You have plenty of options, so these discounts are pretty easy to come by if you’re okay with bending the rules.

4. Go Directly to Voicemail When Making a Phone Call

Do you ever have a phone call to make that would be a lot easier if you could just talk to an answering machine? Rather than leaving it to chance, or trying to call when you think the other person won’t answer, just use slydial. All you do is call 267-SLYDIAL, enter the phone number you want to call, and you’ll get sent directly to voicemail so you can leave a message.

3. Get Discounts Without Giving Up Personal Information

Discount cards can be great, but you’re essentially selling your personal information to the store in exchange for a few cents off a head of lettuce. How can you avoid this and still get the discount? There are a couple of effective ways. First, companies can often look up your information via your phone number and we recently learned that you can just tell them that your number is 867-5309—a number that’s almost always in the system. Alternatively, you can just say you left your card at home and ask the cashier if they’ll use their own card. If there’s a rewards system in place, they’ll often be happy to do this. Finally, you can always just say you want to sign up for a card, let them scan it, and then say you’ll bring back or mail in the signup form when you’re done. Of course, you won’t actually do that.

2. Don’t Wait on Hold

Calling customer service is not something most people look forward to, and that’s often exacerbated by traversing phone trees and waiting on hold. If you’re just trying to get a human, doing nothing can trick the system into thinking you have a rotary phone(assuming it’s not a voice-based system). If it is, just talk incomprehensibly until the computer gives up on trying to understand you and sends you to an actual person. Or just use GetHuman. If you want to avoid the hold wait, try LucyPhone. In some cases they can even help you avoid navigating through the phone trees, too.

1. Skip Television, DVD/Blu-ray, and YouTube Advertisements

When you’re watching TV, DVD movies, or content online, ads can be annoying, but you can skip them all! Obviously the advent of the DVR made this especially possibly, even when watching live-ish television, but there are easier ways. If you have a TiVO, you canenable a 30-second skip button to make passing through ads especially easy. If you’re using Windows Media Center, you can set it up to skip ads all together. Several other DVRs and HTPC softwares include ad-skipping options as well. For your disc-based content, there is, of course, the stop stop play trailer- and ad-skipping trick. Finally, if you’re on YouTube, just reload the page to skip the ad.

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Got any other great real-world Easter eggs or cheat codes? Share ’em in the comments!

Bonus: Mr. Potter…

Written by podjam.tv

Twitter has changed the way people communicate and share information online.  Spreading information, conversations with people from all over the world,  creating change and spreading good cheer 140 characters at a time sums up what one can experience on the social media platform.

The statistics are quite staggering, can you  just imagine the number of tweets sent per day? According to Kissmetrics, there have been 177 million Tweets sent on March 2011. 50 million, the average number of Tweets people sent per day, one year ago. (You can check out some other stats HERE.)

Everyday there are still more and more people joining Twitter and would usually get discouraged because they are either overwhelmed and quiet confused as to how things work.  For those who have been active since Twitter started to become popular knows the experience, and believe us, the experience keeps on evolving.

Since our primary aim here at PodJamTv is to inspire people to have a better and fulfilling experience online, we have decided to list down tips that we hope can help you get your feet wet and start tweeting like a pro.

Personal Branding

1. Don’t be Vague – Write your bio. This will allow other Twitter users to get to know who you are at a glance.  They will see what you interested in and that will allow for better engagement and sharing.   It is also good practice to use your own name for SEO purposes.

2. Identify yourself properly – Have a recent picture if you are using a personal account and a logo if you are using Twitter for business. A good practice, is to have a close up picture rather than something that is far away.

3. Express Your Personality – Add a Twitter Background  as this allows you to give people who want to follow you additional information about what you like and who you are.

Following

1.  Don’t just Click on the Follow button – Make sure to check out the bios of each of the people following you, this will eliminate the chance of you following spammers.

2.  Organize your follower – Create lists as it aids in organization of followers based on interests, location, profession.  This will help you divide your followers into buckets so that you can pay attention to the message that you want to share with them.

3.  10% Rule in following – If you are new on Twitter and would like to follow a lot of people, please remember the 10% rule.  You can only follow 2,000 initial and then if you reach your limit you can follow up to  10% more based on the number of people following you.

Content Sharing Strategy

1.  Using Twitter Clients is good – For those new on Twitter, there are a lot of Twitter clients available to you for sharing and engaging.  Using the different clients other than the web can help you optimize your time on the social media platform.  There are clients to help you schedule your tweets, and there are some that will help you automatically shorten your links.  Try to make sure that you use no more than 120 characters per tweet  to leave room for Retweets.

2.  Use the 60 / 40 Rule –  When sharing content remember the 60 / 40 ratio.  60% information and Retweets and 40% conversation.  You want to make sure that you balance your engagement.  Twitter is great for learning but also you need to build relationship with the people you will talk with 24/7.

3. Be consistent and have variety –  You don’t want to bore the people that follow you.  It is good practice to tweet a variety of content that will keep your followers informed and entertained.  You can share music, photos, recommendation, etc.  But aside from sharing good content you also need to be committed to giving enough time to be on the social site.  Relationship building takes time.  If you want people to interact with you, you need to be present.

DM Etiquette

1.  No one likes a spammer –  Don’t spam your followers with too many sales pitches and requests to join your Mafia family.

2.  Better to welcome people on stream –  Some people send auto DMs to their new followers, but we feel that you should rather take the time to welcome your new followers on stream, that makes you more human to them.

3.  Be creative in using the DM function –  Instead of spamming people you can use this function as your personal communication tool when sending messages as a one on one conversation with the people you tweet with on a regular basis.  You can also engage people you want to interview for blog posts or as a way to make appointments real time.

Twitter Etiquette:

1.   Be Real – One needs to consider that your online personality should just be the extension of your offline self.  You don’t need to pretend to be someone you are not. Just be yourself.

2.   Be a good listener – You want to be able to build relationship on Twitter,  you would also find it a more enjoyable experience if you are engaging and sharing experiences with people from all over the world and you can only accomplish that if you know how to listen. Don’t just broadcast.

3.   Be respectful – Don’t bully anyone on Twitter, this is not tolerated on the social networking platform.  Just like in real life, we need to show respect to be respected.  Remember the five simple words, thank you, please and you’re welcome as they are words that are so simple and yet powerful enough to brighten anyone’s day.

There you go.  These sums up our Twitter tips for those who are contemplating on joining Twitter.  We hope that after going through our list, you will find your experience more enjoyable.  And for those of you who have been on Twitter for as long as we have, maybe you  could share some of the tips with us and our readers, we would love to hear from you.

Bonus:  If Comedians These Told Video Game Jokes They Would Sound Like This…..

Written by socialhype

According to the latest research, 17 percent of married couples met online and one in five American singles have dated someone they met online. Needless to say, online dating is a booming industry. As people become more consumed by their work, kids, friends, bills, and whatever else they have going on, they turn to online dating sites to maximize their time. In fact, the online dating industry is now worth an estimated $4 billion worldwide. Wow.

Unfortunately, there is a stigma attached to online dating. People ‘hide’ behind their computers, use pictures that are unrealistically flattering or dated, and flat-out misrepresent themselves so they can gain someone’s trust and romantic interest.

But not everyone online is shady. Some are genuinely interested in seeing what is available and using online dating sites to augment their lives. These top ten online dating tips are for those brave souls who aren’t afraid of honesty, being receptive to new people, and being themselves on the internet.

1. Honesty is still the best policy

Being transparent about who you are, what you represent, what you like to do and what is important to you is sexy. Even if a potential mate disagrees with you, they should respect you at the very least for keeping it real. Maintaining an honest discourse about your good and even some of your bad traits is admirable. We’re all adults and we all have BS-detectors so don’t think you can smooth-talk your way into someone’s heart without reaping what you sow.

2. Know what you’re looking for

Not ready for something serious? Not looking for Mr. Right? Only comfortable if you’re taking things slowly? Say so and don’t be afraid to ask the other person. You aren’t meeting this person in an elevator; you’re both on an online dating site so there is some interest in something whether it’s a new friend or a new hook-up. There’s no need to dwell on small talk in an introductory conversation. Ask why a person joined the site or what they hope to gain from the experience.  And if you can’t answer these questions, it’s important to look inside yourself and figure it out.

3. Read their profile, all of it

What a concept, right? Of course, many people are visual and physical attraction is an important facet of a relationship. If you see a pretty girl, there’s no harm in telling her that she is attractive in a respectful way, but then what? Attraction can only take you so far and inevitably, you must talk to a person and engage with them on a deeper level. Find out what they have to share about themselves. How a person describes themselves says a lot about their personality. Take the time to learn as much as you can before making that first contact.

4. Send a unique message when contacting someone new

Save the corny one-liners and lame icebreakers. Even if you think they’re great, most other people don’t.  Briefly introduce yourself and explain why you decided to contact someone. Do NOT come up with one generic message and then copy and paste it to every person on the site. When writing your note, focus on common interests or something you found interesting when reading their profile.

5. Use ‘organic’ pictures, not self-shot mirror pics

If all your pictures are taken by yourself, alone in a poorly lit room off of your webcam, then you’re probably not sending out the right vibe. You don’t need to flaunt your social life or all the great places you’ve traveled to, but use organic pictures of real-life experiences that accent your lifestyle. If you love to travel and have great pictures in locations around the world, use them. But be sure to show some diversity in your selection. If you have pictures from last Halloween, show them off but let’s try to maintain some level of self-respect and not post anything where you’re drunk, sloppy or dressed up like some bloody, brain-consuming zombie. There’s nothing wrong with having fun but let’s not get too carried away.

6. If you’ve got it, you don’t have to flaunt it

Have some self-respect and if you do want to show some skin, keep it subtle. And please gentlemen, while we know you are your junk’s #1 fan, keep your bromance in your pants.

7. Don’t forget, there is a world beyond the world-wide web

There’s no reason to limit yourself into one method of meeting new people. There are a ton of activities, clubs, groups, hangouts, and places to meet like-minded people who share the same passions that you do.  At the very least, by staying active offline, you’ll have more to share with a new match you’ve met online.

8. Gramer iz immpotent

Language is a beautiful gift. With it, we can convey the full tapestry of human emotions and experiences. We can figuratively dive into our intellectual depths and further explore ourselves and each other. How we use language becomes a representation of how we see ourselves and how we want others to see us. So if u b typin lyk dis, u look dumb yo. so lyk, juss don do dis ight. no1 ova da age 17 talk lyk diz 4real. u look hella stupid lol.

9. Don’t talk about politics or religion

Just don’t. Everyone has opinions and that is your right. But very few people are interested in learning this about you right off the bat. Unless the person makes it very clear that they enjoy these sorts of conversations and you are too, it’s not worth the potential frustration.

10. Are you really ready?

Our natural inclination after a break-up is to sometimes jump right back in the dating game. And to an extent, that is a great approach. It’s important to dust yourself off and move on in a new, healthy direction. But are you ready? This is something you’ll have to figure out for yourself. But if you still have an ex in your life who wants you back or who you still have feelings for, tread carefully. Sometimes people end up making their biggest mistakes when they’re on the rebound so figure out if you’re ready for someone new in your life.

Bonus: She kind of has a point.

Written by thenextweb

All the buzz over the last week has been about Google + but without a way for brands to engage there yet, it’s Facebook that still gets most of their attention in the social space. Now that Facebook pages have been live for a couple of years who are the biggest brands on the platform in terms of likes and what sorts of campaigns and apps running on their pages? The pages on the list are a mixture of brands that people love and have willingly liked as well as brands who are clearly acquiring Likes through large scale Facebook advertising.

These brands have identified Facebook as a great platform to engage with their fans and have built up huge valuable communities and it’s interesting to see what rewards and engagement they all offer to keep those users loyal and to keep their page growing. Have a look through the pages at your leisure because these are the biggest and best pages out there so you should be able to pick up some great tips…

1. Coca Cola (31,762,653)

The interesting thing about this page is that it was actually started by fans themselves and instead of shutting it down Coca Cola allowed the fans to take control and that still feels like the case today. It isn’t by chance that there is a great community feel to this page despite its size. Less of a focus on apps or games and more focus on pushing great, engaging content out to the 30+ millions fans all over the world.

2. Disney (26,613,752)

One of the biggest entertainment brands in the world was never going to be slow off the mark when it came to Facebook and this is its brand page but they have lots of other individual pages for their sub brands. As you can see from the landing tab below they are pushing 200 million fans all over the world on their pages but this one acts as a central hub for people who just love the Disney brand.

3. Starbucks (23,574,606)

Starbucks has not been slow to embrace any form of social media and Facebook is no different. Its Facebook page offers a range of cool features including the ability to gift a card to friends for free coffees and the option of drilling down to see the Starbucks stores in local markets. Starbucks also uses its page to post the latest information for jobs within the country which is an interesting recruitment channel.

4. Oreo (21,864,091)

A really nice and bright colorful page that features lots of great content including recipes and additional information about the products. The only negative about the page itself is that when clicking in to see recipes and other content you are taken away to the Kraft website instead of being able to view the content within Facebook itself.

5. Red Bull (21,220,373)

Possibly the best brand in the world for social media and creating content in general. The page is constantly updated with new games and fresh content and even has its own television station where it shares all the latest Red Bull content from sports events and sponsorships from around the world.

6. Converse All Star (19,880,308)

In a strange move there are 2 Converse pages with a very similar amount of fans right beside each other in the list. This one has a small amount of interaction with most of the activity centered around fan photos and fan videos. You have to guess that this is one of the iconic brands that people are passionate about and would actually like without advertising.

7. Converse (18,977,840)

While remarkably similar to the one above, this one has even less content on the page. There are no apps, no games, very little of Converse’s own content and most of the interaction comes via the wall or by content that is created via the fans themselves. The fans are clearly very engaged though with plenty of likes and comments on anything that gets posted.

8. Skittles (18,386,827)

One of the quirkiest brands in social media who uses all the big social networks effectively. Its page is constantly updated with new apps, games, videos and content for all its latest campaigns. There is plenty of fan engagement as Skittles seems to like to push its fans between their various platforms and cross promote.

9. Playstation (16,245,633)

As you would expect there are plenty of interactive previews of games and the various upcoming titles that Playstation has. The page acts as the overall host for its super engaged community but when drilling down into the different tabs you can look at their various consoles and play little interactive demos and see videos of its most popular games.

10. iTunes (15,862,234)

The is the first of the 2 Apple owned pages on the list and music fits perfectly with the Facebook page format. You’ll find a mixture of all the latest releases as well as some great live content which it streams via one of the tabs. What will be interesting to see is how this page is handled by Facebook once it starts adding its own music streaming service later this year.

11.Pringles (14,765,300)

One of the biggest crisp brands in the world has a brand and target market that fits perfectly with Facebook. Its page is full of interaction and includes links to its latest campaigns. For example its latest focus is on the music festival season and when clicking through to one of the tabs you can get all the latest information on its interactive app.

12. Victoria’s Secret (14,384,903)

I can’t lie and will have to admit that this page will get the vote of most of the males on the list. Although you can’t see it publicly it would be interesting to see what the demographic breakdown is because you can be sure women would like this page for more functional reasons while the images and interactive content is sure to pick up a few male fans as well.

13. Window’s Live Messenger (13,926,945)

Live messenger is not often talked about in social media terms but it is a massively used chat service among a young audience and you can see just how popular it is by it making this list. It helps that Microsoft is an investor in Facebook and there is also a completely different Facebook app that has over 20 million users. The page itself shares all the latest info about the product.

14. Ferrero Rocher (11,676,898)

One of the most iconic chocolate brands in the world makes the list despite having one of the poorest and least engaging Facebook pages you are ever likely to see. They have little or no interactive content or campaigns and limit what they upload to a couple of photo albums. The fans on the page do engage via the wall but it’s not clear why there are so many of them? Could it be that the brand is loved so much or are they simply advertising with a view to future campaigns?

15. Monster Energy (11,492,620)

The second biggest energy drink in the world makes the list and it is remarkable how similar its content and themes are to Red Bull who appears higher in this list.There is a lot of interactive content and apps that engage fans and it’s clear that Monster is spending lots of money to drive fan acquisition.

16. Nutella (10,696,260)

One of the most famous and iconic breakfast spreads in the world has turned its page over to fans and even has a section called nutiquette where it tells fans what they can and can’t do on the page. People who like the page are clearly nutty (see what I did there) about the brand and are very engaged through the wall and on all content that is shared.

17. iPod (10,530,905)

This is the second Apple product on the list and after having a quick glance at the page you will have no idea why just so many people like this page. There is barely any content, the page hardly ever gets updated and it will have people who manage pages and try to get growth organically pulling their hair out with envy. It’s strange that Apple doesn’t have a strategy for this page and never seems to have had one.

18. Adidas Originals (10,433,947)

One of the biggest sports brands in the world is always trying new and innovative stuff on its Facebook page. It has plenty of its content on tabs from other social media channels including videos from Youtube and live video streaming of events. It also tries interactive things through the wall like a flash based shoe picker and is clearly active in trying to drive sales to its online stores.

19. Xbox (10,388,218)

The 2nd of the big console makers on the list and another one owned by Microsoft. As you would imagine it’s very similar to the Playstation page with lots of interactive previews of latest titles and tabs explaining some of the main features and selling points of the device. It always has lots of good competitions and good content pushed through the wall to its dedicated online community.

20. Dr Pepper (9,927,828)

This page is funny because to do any of the activities on the various tabs you simply have to like the page which could be a little limiting but you have to guess that is one of the main reasons why they have so many likes. Lots of ways to win free cases of your favorite drink and other pieces of interactive content and games with great prizes.

Bonus: So I’ve been watching a lot of The Godfather and Arrested Development lately and I noticed something…

source

Written by Nicky

I recently set my hands on a copy of Zig Ziglar’s (amazing) book “Better than good”, and I must say that it inspired me right from page one. Zig Ziglar says, “There are three pillars to a ‘better than good’ life: passion, peak performance and purpose”.

So true.Then a few questions popped into my mind – How do we make our life everything we wished for? How do we make the best of it? I believe, the purpose of life is to be happy – and make others happy. From what I’ve read and learned, these are some of the ways how we can make our lives truly happy.

1).    Follow your passion :

Do what you love. Don’t go where money is, go where your heart is. There will be many occasions in life where you’ll need to decide what you truly want to do. Follow that gut feeling, it’ll never disappoint you. If you want to do really well in something, passion is very, very important.

2).    Spread smiles everyday :

If someone you know is going through a bad patch, try your best to make them smile. Smiling makes things easier and lightens your spirit. After all, a day without a smile is a day wasted, isn’t it?

3).    Positive attitude :

Positivity goes a long way in life. Why waste precious seconds of your life worrying too much? Remove all those negative thoughts from your mind. Don’t think that you’re any less than the others. Keep your chin up, fight the bad feelings, stay strong and be positive!

4).    Good deeds :

In today’s world, we give a lot of importance to material things. We buy expensive gadgets, luxurious items etc. We shouldn’t forget about the less fortunate. Remember, charity begins at home, but it shouldn’t end there. Do your part, make a change. Every little bit makes a difference. Give!

5).    Cherish relationships :

Life is short. Spend a lot of time with your loved ones. Don’t get too involved in work, that you start giving less time to your family. Family comes first. Cherish every moment with your loved ones.

 

6).    Stay healthy :

Meditate. Eat good food. A healthy body equals a healthy soul and healthy thoughts. A calm body, mind and soul can help you lead a happy life.

7).    Stay in contact with people who lift you higher :

Don’t constantly be around people who only talk negativity. They will only bring you down. Try to stay around positive people who exude good thoughts. Being around positive people will bring a vibrancy in your life!

8).    Express :

Humans have this intense desire to love and feel loved. Express all your feelings. Don’t keep it inside you for too long. Be who you are. Live out loud!

9).    Don’t compare :

Comparing only brings sadness. “Why don’t I look like her?” “Why am I not rich like him?” etc does absolutely nothing good to us. Learn to accept yourself as you are. Work hard to be what you want to be. Be happy in your own skin. Know that God has made you the way you are for a reason, and there are people who find you extremely special.

These were some of the ways we can live a content and happy life! If you have any more to add, feel free to add your comments.

*Image Credit

1). http://bit.ly/m0cUEp

2). http://bit.ly/jLYKwr

Bonus: As a European this is all I know about Independence Day

Written by Kipp Bodnar

Some of the most common blogging advice is to write great posts. The problem is that few experts (if any) actually go into detail about how to actually write compelling and interesting blog posts. That ends today. Today, we are going to review the elements of great blog posts so you can use these traits to write the best blog post ever.

Part of writing amazing content is being willing to ignore previous assumptions of blogging best practices. Here are common blogging assumptions to ignore on your quest for the perfect blog post.

1. Length Matters – The number of words in your blog post doesn’t matter and is not a predictive indicator of the success of a piece of content. The truth is that people have been successful with all variations of blog post lengths. Brian Solis tends to write long, in-depth blog posts while Seth Godin usually sticks to very short posts. Both have been very successful, which helps demonstrate that length simply doesn’t matter.

2. Comments Matter – Maximizing the number of comments for a blog post should not be your goal. The goal of your business blog is to drive visits, leads, and customers. As Dan Zarrella recently pointed out, comments do not contribute to these important metrics on which a blog should be measured. Comments don’t matter.

3. Perfection Matters – Yes, grammar is important in a blog post. Yes, the idea must be conveyed clearly. However, perfection is the enemy of great business blogging. Being timely tops being perfect. Publishing content on time even if it is only very good and not perfect is critical to great blogging. Blogging is an iterative process. The more you blog, the better you understand your content and your audience. Perfection stops blogging progress and ultimately doesn’t matter.

Now that we have outlined what doesn’t matter, let’s instead focus on the key characteristics that, when combined, make the best business blog post ever written.

7 Traits of Great Blog Posts

1. Actionable – Whether they found the blog post through a search engine, an email, or a social network share, the core reason people click through to an article is to solve a problem. What makes people share a post with others is the actionable insight it provides to solve a problem. Provide clear takeaways and actionable steps in blog posts to ensure your idea resonates with readers.

2. Combined Relevance – Metaphors are a timeless storytelling element. Don’t leave metaphors to novelists. They should be an active part of blog posts. Comparing two seemingly different things and drawing connections between them is a valuable way to combine relevance and generate more intense interest in a subject.

3. Urgent – Journalists write articles based on who, what, when, why, and how. As a blogger, answering the “why” isn’t enough. Instead, it is critical to answer “why now?” The web is flooded with content. Content that is urgent and timely wins in the race for attention.

4. Visual – Making a blog post visual doesn’t mean filling it with images and videos (not that video and images aren’t important in blog posts). However, they aren’t the only ways to make a blog post visual. Use section headers, numbers, bullets, and other text elements to make it easy for readers to understand your idea quickly.

5. Solution-Based – As we said earlier in this post, on the web, people are looking for solutions. Products aren’t solutions. They are part of a solution. Don’t cram a blog post full of product content. Instead, provide educational content that runs parallel to your product offering.

6. Entertaining – Informative doesn’t mean boring. Just because you sell sheet metal, doesn’t mean your business blog can’t also be entertaining. Have your shop crew make some fun and timely creations out of sheet metal and post an image or video of each new creation. Have someone outside your company review your blog post to check for entertainment.

7. Definitive – Great blog posts aren’t meek or subtle. They are clear, direct, and definitive. Take a stand, make strong word choices, and don’t waver on your advice. Be the expert on your topic.

How do you write great blog posts?

Photo Credit: cliff1066™

Bonus: took my niece to a safari today… nailed it