MarketUP: Marketing & PR Services

Day 2 - Wednesday, 25 May 2011

Admittedly, I should have posted a Day 1 yesterday, but it was a long day starting at 4:15 am and I needed a full night's rest to be energized for today, so I waited until this morning.

After all I'm in one of the most energized cities in the world - New York City. Specifically Manhattan - on 39th Street and 9th, just a few blocks from the Jacob Javits Conference Center, site of Blog World Expo East, or #BWENY for us hashtag users (I'm talking to you @Hashable).

What's in a word? Plenty, if you write enough of them. After reading about Wordle on the Social Media Examiner blog, under ideas for generating content - I just had to try it out for myself. I plugged in the URL for my MarketUP Musings, and this is what came up. I spent a few minutes picking the fonts and colors - to coordinate with our site colors.

It was really easy to do and instantaneous. I could probably waste a lot of time playing with many more word combinations. I have a graphic design background, including the study of typography, so I enjoy seeing how it can be used to create patterns and interest.

But equally interesting is seeing which words are picked out of my stream of writing to be empasized. 'Goldilocks' got major prominence, even though I wrote just one post with that title. However, I included several links with that name in them too - so it carried a lot of weight.

When you are writing copy for a website and want to know how well you are doing with keywords or phrases that you want your readers to find - run it by Wordle and see what comes up. It might surprise you.

--Donna

As a result of reading a post by Kneale Mann on his Facebook page, I was already looking into the details of SOBCON2010 - to find a way to work it into my calendar. Then while checking the various details of location, agenda, timing, etc. - I discovered the challenge/offer from @LizStrauss and Terry @Starbucker to write a blog about someone who's made a difference in my life/business, and get a discount on the registration.

Several different articles - and conversations - converged in my brain this morning. It just took about 17 hours for me to get some thinking time for expression.

It started with the piece: Why Flattery is Effective - Research - Harvard Business Review. Definitely worth the read. The gist of it is - we all like compliments. They motivate us. Duh. Let me think, would I rather hear 'your hair style makes you look matronly... your suit is drab...you were too blunt and pushy in the meeting...your report had no conclusion... you bored the audience to death...OR, would I rather someone told me 'your hair is lovely/shiny today...your blouse is such a cheerful color...that was terrific diplomacy in a tough meeting...your report supplied important data...you really engaged the audience.' Hmmmm. Let me give that a NANO SECOND (or less) of thought.

Well, today is March 11th and I missed days 1-10.

This first year of the new decade has started out with a bang. And a rumble. And loud murmurings around the globe. Plenty of press-worthy content going around, much of it tragic, gloomy or kvetching. There's so much going on that it's hard to cut through the noise.

But for businesses the news has been a mixed bag so far. Some positive economic signs, some still frightening.

So many discussions swirling around 'economic recovery'...Has it started? When will it start? Will it last? Where are the jobs? It's not just that uncertainty remains, it's the paralysis that overtakes individuals and corporate decision-makers because they're waiting for a definitive answer that chafes.

So many people talking. Or tweeting. Or writing. Or communicating something online. Lots of press on all of this too: Mainstream TV CNN gives out their different Twitter accounts on the air, so do most of the other network and cable news channels. The Huffington Post is a giant series of blogs all connected to various other online sharing sites. The White House posts online, on Twitter, on Facebook, and yes, even on My Space.