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11 Marketing Survival Lessons Learned from Accidentally Enraging an Island City-State |
11 Marketing Survival Lessons Learned from Accidentally Enraging an Island City-State Posted: 03 Dec 2013 03:17 PM PST Posted by DannyDover My initial response to the massive traffic increase was not exactly professional. "HOLY FREAKING CRAP BALLS!", I blurted out. I searched the room for a fellow nerd to share my e-thusiasm with, but only found a room full of strangers eating sandwiches.
Over the course of the next few days, the post received more than 600,000 unique visitors. If you segment the traffic to only include visits from Singapore, the number of unique visitors is equivalent to 10% of the entire population of the country (although admittedly this metric is a bit inflated due to people reading the post on multiple devices.) Some contextI support myself financially as a storytelling consultant. On a day-to-day level this means I work on marketing strategy, creative writing, and web development. Admittedly it is a weird mix, but I enjoy the lifestyle. I am currently living in Vietnam, but recently spent two months living in Singapore. Like I do with all of my travels, I penned a blog post about my experience living in Singapore and hit publish. You can read the entire post here, but the quick summary is:
My blog is fairly well read, so I was surprised that this post started out as one of my least-read posts. After a few days the post was, for most intents and purposes, just another link in the archive. Last Wednesday, I grabbed my normal Vietnamese breakfast (a local sandwich called a Bánh mì and a coconut milk-based smoothie) and went into my co-working office to start on my to-do list for the day. I have been trying to convert bad online habits into good ones, so when I found myself craving a peek at Facebook, I clicked on my Google Analytics shortcut instead. It opened up my real-time report, and I practically dropped my meal. Marketing lessons learnedThe next few days were the craziest marketing adventure that I have ever had. The following are the key lessons I learned from this experience: 1. Honesty is powerI think the key reason that this post resonated with people was that it was uncommonly honest. (This is a trait I picked up from Rand when I worked at Moz. It isn't a marketing trait, it is a life trait.) This post was published on my personal blog where I don't have any ads or up-sells. I write posts there solely because I enjoy writing. In this case, I thought I had some interesting insights about Singapore and wanted to share my honest thoughts. The power in this was that when people read it, they too wanted to share my thoughts (along with their own!) with their online friends. 2. Be conscious of the clickstreamIn the post I cited some suicide statistics that were quite alarming. As the thousands of comments about the post came in (mostly via Facebook), I continually received the criticism that my data was incorrect. I triple-checked my sources (they checked out) and tried to reply to as many of the false claims of bad data as possible. It wasn't until two days later that I realized that people Googling the statistics were taken straight to a Wikipedia article that listed outdated data. After I updated the Wikipedia article to include the most recent data, the data criticism comments immediately stopped. I could have saved myself a giant headache if I had just viewed the situation from the readers' perspective and found the misinformation on Wikipedia earlier. 3. Be a first-responderAs the comments came in, I was alerted (rudely and repeatedly) that I had erroneously cited a date as 2011 rather than 2001. My first thought was just to subtly update the number but was worried this might start a backlash. For this reason, I called Jessica Dover. Jessica has worked on social media strategy for many of the world's most well known celebrities and has solved more social media problems than I have followers. (Disclaimer: She also happens to be my sister, but I honestly think that has hindered her more than helped her :-p. Her success is hard-earned and her own.) Without hesitation, she told me exactly what to do.
If you don't have your own social media mentor like Jessica, Moz's Q&A can be a great source of information. 4. Patch the holes in your netAt the onset, I was receiving a lot of traffic but none of it was converting (my conversion events were email captures and social follows). When I couldn't fix this myself, I called another member of my marketing SWAT team, Joe Chura. Joe runs an agency called Launch Digital Marketing. I think they are the most underrated team in the industry. In no time, they had a plan. Following their advice I installed two WordPress plugins:
After I added these plugins, it doubled the size of my mailing list and started what eventually became a viral spread of the blog post on Twitter. These were huge wins. (Hat tip to Dan Andrews for being at the forefront of that Twitter storm.) Again, if you don't have your own marketing SWAT team, Moz's Q&A can be a great resource. 5. If you have to think about server optimization, it is too lateThroughout the entire process my server never went down. I credit this to two things: First, props to WPengine (my host) for being seamless. They handled the spike without any hiccups or annoying interruptions. I will likely have to pay an overage fee but that is a MUCH better option than having a site outage. Second, I credit preparation. I have long been using a tool called http://gtmetrix.com/ to diagnose speed problems on my site. (Hat tip to Jon over at Raven for introducing this tool to me). I love this tool because it combines the Google Page Speed tool and Yahoo's YSlow into one convenient and easy to understand interface. Luckily, I had implemented all of the recommended fixes well before this traffic spike. I am kind of a speed optimization nerd. :-p 6. Take comfort in the negativity slopeWhen I first posted the blog post, no one cared. When it started to gain some traction, I was immediately told how stupid it and I were. As it gained momentum the amount of naysayers increased. It wasn't until the post reached full velocity that the supporters started to outnumber the naysayers. This has been a trend that I have observed with all of my successful content. I now take comfort in knowing that it is going to get worse until it suddenly gets better. Negativity online is a slope, and luckily it does have a peak. 7. Facebook's walled garden is much worse than it was beforeFacebook once offered a tool called Facebook Insights for Domains. This tool allowed you to get valuable information on any traffic that was referred to your verified domain from Facebook. Unfortunately, Facebook has killed it off. When my post went viral on Facebook, I had no visibility other than that the traffic was coming from Facebook and Facebook mobile. I had no idea what pages or groups the applicable conversations were happening on, and thus had no way to respond to conversations happening behind the wall. This was a huge frustration throughout the whole process. 8. A rising tideâ¦When people came to my website to read the Singapore post, many of them checked out my other posts as well (this is to be expected). In response to this, I published a post that I thought would also be applicable to the new readers. Due to the increased visibility, this post (on useful money philosophies) subsequently went mildly viral. This in turn drove even more conversions. 9. Be aware of parallel universesStories exist in parallel universes:
These are all very different stories! Many of the comments, compliments and criticism that I received about the Singapore post had absolutely nothing to do with the words written in my article. For many, it was their personal experiences, not my blog post, that drove their responses. At first, this was a major frustration point for me. It wasn't until I mapped out the perspectives in the above list that I calmed down and started to appreciate the storytelling experience. 10. Listen first, then wait, then reactWhen the responses came in, I was vastly outnumbered (it was literally 500,000 to 1)! The only way I was able to deal with that amount of volume was to listen, learn from an expert (see lesson 3), collect data, process that data, and then react. I let the first several dozen comments come in before I started to respond. I think this was critical in me being able to follow and supplement the large-scale discussion. 11. Titles are 60% of the battleThe click-worthiness of the blog post title was a major contributing factor to its success. (Second only to its honesty). Admittedly it was an attention-grabbing title but at the same time it was true. I actually will never be returning to Singapore. I didn't perform any keyword research or A/B tests when picking the blog post title. Instead, I just picked something that I figured I would want to click. The best titles are always that simple. When I look back on this marketing adventure, I feel thankful. The world, not just Singapore, is in an amazing state of change right now. I am glad that my little voice was able to contribute a little bit to the global discussion. If you would like to hear about other marketing adventures, feel free to connect with me on Google+. Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read! |
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The self-induced anxiety formula often goes like this: What I'm about to do is important. I've never done it quite like this. It's incredibly crucial, a turning point, a high risk venture, a moment in time I won't have again. Therefore, I am nervous. And I need to get more nervous, because the importance of the moment warrants it. This is going to fail. I can vividly picture all the ways it won't work...
On and on.
A common approach to decreasing the unhappy cycle is self talk to minimize how important the upcoming event is. The mantra is: No one will be watching, I'm exaggerating this moment, it's no big deal, it's not as important as you think, it doesn't really matter...
The problem with that approach is that you spend your day trash talking your leverage and impact. By actively diminishing what you've accomplished, you make it less likely you'll see yourself as worthy of even bigger achievements tomorrow.
In fact, it does matter. In fact, this is an important thing you're about to do, and denigrating it undermines the very reason you're doing this work in the first place.
Here's an alternative: It's okay to be nervous. Instead of fighting that anxiety, dance with it. Welcome it. Relish it. It's a sign you're on to something. "Oh good, here comes that itch!" This is important after all.
When we welcome a feeling like this, when we embrace it and actually look forward to it, the feeling doesn't get louder and more debilitating. It softens, softens to the point where we can work with it.
Use your fear like fuel.
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Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
Posted: 03 Dec 2013 08:02 PM PST I mentioned to my wife Liz tonight, that I thought "the bottom was in for Detroit". She asked "why?" Here's my lengthy answer. Unlike Vallejo, California, it is highly likely Detroit will actually shed pension obligations in the first go-around. A mere 25% of students graduate from high school. Can Detroit schools get any worse? In 2010 I wrote about Mayor Bing's plan to Cede 20% of the City to gangs Detroit has been bankrupt for years. It simply refuses to admit it. Detroit's schools are bankrupt as well. A mere 25% of students graduate from high school.Here we are today. The city finally pulled the bankruptcy trigger, but it took two more wasted years. Here's a picture of Detroit's Michigan Central Train Depot. Image courtesy of the Journal and the AP. Also in 2010, Business Insider posted a fantastic set of images of the beautiful 3.5 million square foot Packard property worth $13 million (but no taxes collected for years). Here are a couple of those images. Bottom Catalyst Still, things do not bottom until there is a catalyst. Today we had that catalyst. It came in the form of a Lesson for Union Dinosaurs: Detroit Bankruptcy Judge Rules Public Pensions Haircuts OK. After discussing the above, I happened to read some comments from the New York Times article Detroit Ruling on Bankruptcy Lifts Pension Protections. The article itself did not say much more than I said on my blog earlier. But check out this comment by Kathleen Kelly ... I was born in and grew up in Detroit. My parents moved to Detroit from another country with their three other children, prior to my birth. The city was, at that time, a gleaming jewel, and a global center of manufacturing.I was in Ann Arbor, Michigan over Thanksgiving with Liz's family. Jan, a niece of Liz who runs a property management company in Detroit made similar comments about revitalization of Detroit by young artists. Fresh-Start Proposal Let's hope Detroit makes the most of this bankruptcy opportunity. But it can only do so if it sheds a huge chunk of pension and bond obligations. Here is my six point fresh-start proposal.
It may take years, if ever, for Detroit to be "great" again. But for the first time in decades, Detroit actually has a chance. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Pension Battle Shifts to San Jose, San Bernardino, Stockton; Rights of Dinosaurs vs. "Right Thing" Posted: 03 Dec 2013 01:28 PM PST Now that a federal judge properly ruled pension obligations are not sacrosanct (see Lesson for Union Dinosaurs) the spotlight is once again on union dinosaurs in California. Bankrupt San Bernardino foolishly did not attempt to shed pension obligations in bankruptcy, but perhaps it can now reconsider. What about Stockton and Vallejo? On April 1, 2013 Judge Rules Stockton CA Bankruptcy is Valid, City Acted in Good Faith. Hopefully Stockton will follow inevitable pension cuts in Detroit. Second Chance for Vallejo Vallejo had a golden opportunity to shed pension obligations in its first bankruptcy. When the city failed to do so, I made an easy prediction: Within years, Vallejo would be back in bankruptcy court. That prediction appears well-founded. On October 20, 2013 I penned Vallejo, Mired in Pension Debt Again; Lesson for Stockton and Detroit - Shed Those Pension Obligations Now! My comment from above: "Stockton and Detroit have a choice. They can cut pensions now, or cut them later in a second bankruptcy, just like Vallejo will." Will Stockton get it right? Hopefully, but some things will depend on Detroit. We have not yet seen the final ruling, but steep haircuts on pension promises and unsecured general bonds should be forthcoming. Battle in San Jose The battle in San Jose, population 983,000 and California's third-largest city, is of a similar nature. San Jose spends 33% of its general fund revenue on pensions, the highest among the 25 most populous U.S. cities. Mayor Chuck Reed wants to make changes to the pension plan. Specifically, Reed, a 65-year-old Democrat, is leading a statewide voter initiative to allow changes in future benefits for existing employees. Union Dinosaurs Part II Of course union dinosaurs are fighting the initiative, which means unions would rather see San Jose go bankrupt than negotiate. Bloomberg reports San Jose Pension Crush Spurs Bid to Ease California Pacts. San Jose, a city of 983,000 that is California's third-largest, has been forced to make deep cuts in basic services as its retirement costs soared to $245 million in 2012 from $73 million in 2002. The city's pension and retiree health-care liability is almost $3 billion, according to Reed, who was first elected in 2006.CalPERS, Oakland Mayor Against Reed's Plan It's not yet official, but Oakland is as bankrupt as bankrupt can be. Why its mayor would not want to back Reed's initiative has three possibilities: reelection motives, sheer stupidity, or to preserve her own ill-gotten pension. Rights of Dinosaurs vs. "Right Thing" Dave Low, executive director of the California School Employees Association and chairman of Californians for Retirement Security, a coalition of public employees and retirees, whines "It's a vested right". Low can whine all he wants, but bankruptcy is a "right" as well. And rights in bankruptcy overrule alleged rights of unions. Speaking of which, those alleged rights were primarily obtained via a process of coercion, threats, bribery, and back-room deals with crooked politicians willing to give unions what unions want so the politicians can get elected. What's "right" about that? From a taxpayer perspective, the "right thing" to do is end collective bargaining of all public unions, after-which public unions, like dinosaurs, will become rightfully extinct. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Posted: 03 Dec 2013 10:21 AM PST At long last, beleaguered taxpayers will not have to put up with nonsense from public unions about the sanctity of pensions. In spite of Michigan constitutional provisions, the federal judge presiding over the Detroit bankruptcy filing ruled the city filed in good faith. More importantly, the judge ruled the provision in the Michigan Constitution protecting public pensions isn't a bulletproof shield in a bankruptcy. Yahoo!Finance reports Judge says Detroit Eligible for Bankruptcy Detroit is eligible to shed billions in debt in the largest public bankruptcy in U.S. history, a judge said Tuesday in a long-awaited decision that now shifts the case toward how the city will accomplish that task.Huge "Fresh Start" Win for Detroit This was a huge, fresh-start win for the city of Detroit and its residents. The unions disagree. Minutes after the ruling, a lawyer for the city's largest union, said she would pursue an appeal at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. City officials got "absolutely everything" in Rhodes' decision, she told reporters.Definition of "Absolutely Everything" Levine whines, city officials got "absolutely everything". No, not yet, but taxpayers can hope. I propose the final settlement should include ...
That would be "nearly everything", and it would provide the fresh start that Detroit desperately needs. Lesson for Union Dinosaurs Something along those lines would also send a signal to unions everywhere that they can and should expect the same treatment in bankruptcy court. Hopefully this would get unions to the bargaining table before bankruptcy, but don't count on dinosaurs to learn much from history. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
What Will Your Bank Look Like 5 Years From Now? How Will Pizzas Be Delivered? Do You Tip a Drone? Posted: 03 Dec 2013 12:58 AM PST Every time I walk into my bank, I typically notice several offices in plain view of customers, each with a manager or loan office sitting doing nothing. On other occasions, there may be a wait to see an officer, perhaps even a long wait. What if there were queues of bankers at all times, and a no-wait policy? What might that cost? Actually, it would be far cheaper. Express Banking The Telegraph reports computers lined up to replace humans in bank branches. Several major banks are understood to be in talks to introduce "express" branches, which would be similar to self-service checkouts in supermarkets. These smaller outlets would be almost completely devoid of human interaction.Drone for Deliveries Amazon made a big splash last week with news of using drones for deliveries. Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, is testing unmanned drones to deliver goods to customers, Chief Executive Jeff Bezos says. The drones, called Octocopters, could deliver packages weighing up to 2.3kg to customers within 30 minutes of them placing the order, he said.Amazon Prime Air On it's website, Amazon is excited about Prime Air. The goal of this new delivery system is to get packages into customers' hands in 30 minutes or less using unmanned aerial vehicles.Amazon Test Flight Do You Tip a Drone? Dominos does not deliver to my area. Nor Does Pizza hut. Yet, I am less distance away from their stores than many places they will deliver to. I am just in a different town. A drone with a GPS would have no problems whatsoever delivering to my address. And it would be cheaper and faster, for me, as well as the pizza place to not have to bother with human carriers or tips. Like Amazon, Domino's Tests Delivery of Pizza by Remote-Controlled Drone. The company's DomiCopter—a joint effort by U.K. drone specialist AeroSight, Big Communications and creative agency T + Biscuits—is an eco-friendly machine capable of carrying pizzas in heatwave bags for impressive distances without refueling. Sadly, it's also a threat to the labor force of guys who get stoned in their cars and forget where you live.Jamba Juice Vending Machines Bloomberg reports As Smoothie Store Sales Slow, Jamba Juice Turns to Machines McDonald's (MCD) is in the smoothie market, and others like Dairy Queen and Panera (PNRA) spent the summer promoting their rival drinks.About that $15 an Hour Minimum Wage I received hundreds of emails and comments to my post Battle for $15 minimum Wage; Should Companies Pay Workers More? Wal-Mart a Savior or a Pariah? But as I reflect on what is on the horizon at Amazon, at Dominos, at banks, and with Jamba Juice Vending machines, it seems the $7.25 an hour minimum wage is far too high already. Regardless, every increase in minimum wage will further encourage businesses to seek alternatives to human employment. Obamacare does the same thing. More Questions to Consider
I can certainly envision McDonald's paying $15 an hour, but with 75% fewer human employees. The same applies to every fast-food company in the world. You can force fast food and other places to pay a higher minimum wage, but you cannot force them to hire someone. And the higher the minimum wage, and the higher the costs of Obamacare, the greater incentive to seek alternatives. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
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Damn Cool Pics |
Christmas Spending – An Infographic Insight Posted: 03 Dec 2013 12:55 PM PST |
Zombie Survival Сontest in Spain Posted: 03 Dec 2013 11:37 AM PST |
North Korean Officials Get Photoshop Totally Wrong Posted: 03 Dec 2013 11:21 AM PST A photo from the Nov. 18 issue of North Korea's labor magazine forgot to give these soldiers shadows. It wasn't the first time Photoshop failed the officials of Pyongyang. Via 163 NewsGHOST THIGHS. Kim Jong-un visits a children's hospital construction site and abides by different light sources. The terrain changes in two photos taken at the same day, in the same location. A 2008 photo of Kim Jong-il with the troops. Clone-stamped sheep from a 2010 article on flourishing North Korean farms. Either they're very meticulous with stacking bread ziggurats or they're not covering their Photoshop tracks. Clone-stamped crowds frolicking in the ocean. Tallest dude on Earth (though our readers point out this could be a legit photo of Ri Myung Hun, a 7'8" basketball player). In 1995, official press releases memorialized Kim Il-sung's death with this doctored photo of father and son standing on a mountaintop. |
Fun Facts About Man’s Best Friend [Infographic] Posted: 03 Dec 2013 10:08 AM PST Are you crazy for canines? Can't get enough cuddles from your pooch? Is "Must Love Dogs" your go-to DVD rentals on Saturday night? You're not alone if you're more than mildly-gaga for your pup. In fact, it appears America is land of the free, home of the brave…and apparent lover of man's best friend! Via puppywireClick on Image to Enlarge. |
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