#at first the idea started out as a kind of gamification of science

[mizzingyou]

ive had this idea for a visual novel but with famous scientists for literal years. here’s some attempts at actually trying to make something out of it

[fantasiawandering]

Thoughts on Tech, Games, Autism, and Pokemon Go

So this year continues to be tough. I didn’t think it would be otherwise -- the factors I’ve been struggling with for the last couple years are long-term and ongoing and I was never under any illusions to the contrary -- but with the arrival of summer and the reversion of my feet to more-or-less working order after the six months of plantar fasciitis that helped get me kicked out of dance, I’ve been playing a lot of Pokemon Go as a way of getting active again. Which has combined with a lot of the work I’m doing to try to integrate tech and distance learning into our programming to give me a lot to sort through. Oddly enough, one of the things that’s helped crystalize it a lot has been Pokemon Go. One particular cool thing I discovered was the mitigating effect it has on one of the aspects of ADHD that’s cropped up since, well, basically, my sliders shifted. 

I’ve long loved this comic about the autism spectrum as a colour wheel, and it helped sort out a lot about my own autism and why it went undiagnosed for so long (this article helped a lot too, and made me cry with how much I identified). But the colour wheel didn’t quite explain why I’d changed so fast from functional to struggling with things with both aspects of my autism and ADHD that I’d never been hindered by before (or at least, not to the point of not being able to function -- I had my first auditory sensory overload moment at work this year. That was an experience). And then I was rereading John Scalzi’s blog on how Straight White Male is playing the game of life on the lowest difficulty setting, and figured out a metaphor that actually works for me. All those pie slices on Rebecca Burgess’ comic are kind of like autistic difficulty sliders on the game of life, and most of my life, they’d all been set at levels that were challenging, but I could still progress through the game, farm for items, read the codex, etc.  Then, in the last couple of years, two sliders got pushed, within a couple of months of each other, up to the highest setting, and haven’t gone back down, and combined with everything else, knocked out my ability to do things that had always been second nature.

Two of the big ones were reading and writing.

It’s not that I can’t. It’s that it’s now SO HARD to maintain that focus that it’s like running a marathon, and I’m so exhausted by trying to act neurotypical at work that I don’t have the energy to maintain it during my free time. Certainly not for fun. As soon as I relax, the ADHD kicks in, and I realize that nothing I’ve read or typed makes sense because my mind has wandered without even realizing it. I have no idea what happened on the last three pages I read, and the stuff I’ve written contains words that have no reason to be there, because my wandering brain just grabbed them and stuck them in.

But here’s where we get back to the interesting thing about Pokemon Go. One of the other things I just kind of gave up on was listening to podcasts. Listening to something has ALWAYS been a challenge for me. Always. From lectures, to author readings, to podcasts, my brain cannot keep focus on the auditory information without dekeing off elsewhere. I wrote entire novels during the lecture portions of English class. But when I discovered that doing cross-stitch during author readings at cons mean that I could not only follow the story for the first time ever, but I was getting sensory information I never had before (I could smell the descriptive passages), I thought hey, there’s something to this fidget tool thing, let’s see what else I can put together.

Which is when I discovered that Pokemon Go is the perfect thing for putting my brain into “listening to podcast” mode. I’ve ripped through all three seasons of the phenomenal Curiosity in Focus podcast while wandering around looking for Pokemon, and am currently looking for other awesome stuff to listen to (I’m open to suggestions!). And oh hell, did it get me thinking about other things, too.

A lot of Curiosity in Focus touches on Daniel’s passion for teaching science (and other things) through D&D. Some of the conversations seemed really familiar, too, overlapping with some of the struggles and challenges I’ve faced while trying to integrate tech into our programming at work. For a lot of different reasons, there’s resistance, but I maintain that it’s really important because it gives students the ability to engage with materials through the communication tools they’re used to using. And much like the work Daniel is doing with D&D, it’s a way of opening up opportunities for learning and engagement to the learners who typically struggle with the “traditional” learning environment. 

Gamification is one way of dealing with these obstacles. We’ve been doing it to an extent with tabletop gaming based on the Blue Whale exhibition, but I’m going to come back to Pokemon Go again. 

For all the problems the game has, and I’m not going to deny it has its issues, I’m really fascinated by the game design in Pokemon Go. There’s enough to occupy casual players, but between IV stats, Pokemon types, fighting counters, and evolutions, there’s also a ton to occupy people like me who engage in obsessive collection and categorization as one aspect of our autism.  But they’ve built up a system that actually encourages that and turns it into an asset.

The game has individual competition -- collect the best Pokemon with the highest IVs and power them up.  It has competition between teams to control the neighbourhood. But with the introduction of raid bosses, it now also compels the teams to work together to take them down, ensuring that the competition can’t become too alienating. And it encourages cooperation.

A few weeks ago, I ran into a group of people trying to take down a Tyrannitar at a gym. And now I’m in a chat group of people who work together, share ideas, meet up with each other, and help newcomers. With a few exceptions, everyone, no matter what team they’re on, is willing to wait, support, and help others. People freely give tips on how to catch Pokemon and teach you how to succeed. The person more or less in charge of the neighbourhood group I’m part of is really glad that there’s one guy in the group who will explain all the minute details to everyone else, because he knows he scours the internet keeping up with all the recent developments, they’re accurate, and he will patiently walk newbies through it no matter how many times they ask.

And it goes beyond that. While raiding at a gym the other day, a guy walked past, looked at us on our devices, and yelled “TALK TO EACH OTHER.”  Then an older woman walked over and asked “what would you people do without those things? When I was little, we had to entertain ourselves.” 

And I explained to her (as the teacher in the group, I’ve gotten pretty good at this and people are starting to expect it), that yes, as a Xennial (I don’t use that word when I’m explaining this, but damn it’s useful), I had to entertain myself, too. Which meant I spent a lot of time growing up isolated, alone, unable to find anyone who shared my interests. I spent most of my time indoors, and that carried into adulthood. And that in the past year playing this game, I’ve discovered parts of my neighbourhood I never knew existed, and talked to more people in the neighbourhood than I have in the ten years of living here prior to that. I now pass by people on the street, here and around the city, who smile and greet me by name. I’ve had strangers whose only encounter with me was catching a bulbasaur stop me from blithely heading into an area they knew wasn’t safe, and walk with me back to a safer, more populated part of the city. People are looking out for one another, and establishing a strong sense of community in a city of a million people.

That’s a hell of an accomplishment for a little game about catching cute cartoon animals.

Yes, I’m aware my experience isn’t universal, but it does illustrate something really critical in regards to the work that I do. Like everything else about technology, it’s a tool. It can be used for good or for ill, but for many, it has become a way to facilitate engagement in something that was previously insurmountable. For some people, that insurmountable thing was starting a conversation with a stranger on the street. 

This is the kind of power I want to harness with the work that I do with social media, and Google Classroom, and Makerspaces, and Minecraft programs. We’re not using technology to replace traditional learning. We’re using it to build bridges to invite more people to the party who could never reach it before.

[batterymonster2021]

Anant Agarwal: Why massively open online courses (still) matter

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/anant-agarwal-why-massively-open-online-courses-still-matter-6/

Anant Agarwal: Why massively open online courses (still) matter

I might like to reimagine education. The last year has obvious the invention of a brand new four-letter word. It starts with an M. MOOC: enormous open on-line guides. Many companies are supplying these online guides to students all over the place the world, within the hundreds of thousands, at no cost. Anyone who has an web connection and the desire to study can access these first-class courses from exceptional universities and get a credential on the end of it. Now, on this discussion at present, i’ll focus on a different part of MOOCs.We’re taking what we are finding out and the applied sciences we are setting up within the gigantic and making use of them within the small to create a blended model of schooling to fairly reinvent and reimagine what we do in the school room. Now, our lecture rooms might use trade. So, here is a lecture room at this little three-letter institute within the Northeast of the usa, MIT. And this used to be a classroom about 50 or 60 years ago, and this can be a classroom at present. What’s converted? The seats are in colour. Whoop-de-do. Education quite hasn’t modified prior to now 500 years.The final massive innovation in schooling used to be the printing press and the textbooks. The whole thing else has changed around us. You know, from healthcare to transportation, the whole thing is one of a kind, however education hasn’t converted. It is usually been an actual quandary in terms of access. So what you see right here is just not a rock live performance. And the man or woman you see at the end of the stage isn’t Madonna. This is a study room at the Obafemi Awolowo college in Nigeria. Now, we have all heard of distance schooling, but the pupils method in the again, 200 feet away from the trainer, I believe they’re undergoing long-distance schooling. Now, I quite suppose that we are able to grow to be education, each in great and scale and entry, via technology. For example, at edX, we try to convert education by means of on-line technologies. Given education has been calcified for 500 years, we quite can not suppose about reengineering it, micromanaging it. We rather ought to thoroughly reimagine it. It can be like going from ox carts to the aircraft. Even the infrastructure has to change. Everything has to change. We must go from lectures on the blackboard to online exercises, on-line videos.We have got to go to interactive digital laboratories and gamification. We need to go to completely on-line grading and peer interaction and discussion boards. The whole lot fairly has to alter. So at edX and a number of other corporations, we’re making use of these applied sciences to education by way of MOOCs to really broaden access to schooling. And also you heard of this instance, the place, after we launched our very first course — and this used to be an MIT-rough circuits and electronics course — about a year and a half ago, 155,000 pupils from 162 countries enrolled in this course. And we had no advertising budget. Now, one hundred fifty five,000 is a big number.This number is better than the whole quantity of alumni of MIT in its one hundred fifty-year history. 7,200 scholars passed the path, and this used to be a hard path. 7,200 can be a colossal quantity. If I have been to teach at MIT two semesters each 12 months, i would have got to train for 40 years before I could educate this many pupils. Now these huge numbers are just one part of the story. So at present, I wish to discuss an additional aspect, the opposite facet of MOOCs, take one more viewpoint. We’re taking what we develop and study in the enormous and applying it in the small to the study room, to create a blended model of studying. However before i am going into that, let me tell you a story. When my daughter became thirteen, grew to become a youngster, she stopped speaking English, and she or he started talking this new language. I name it teen-lish. It’s a digital language. It can be got two sounds: a grunt and a silence. "Honey, come over for dinner." "Hmm." "Did you hear me?" Silence. (Laughter) "can you take heed to me?" "Hmm." So we had a real limitation with speaking, and we were just now not speaking, unless in the future I had this epiphany.I texted her. (Laughter) I acquired an instant response. I stated, no, that need to were by chance. She have got to have proposal, you recognize, some pal of hers used to be calling her. So I texted her again. Increase, an extra response. I stated, this is first-class. And so in view that then, our lifestyles has transformed. I textual content her, she responds. It’s simply been absolutely first-class. (Applause) So our millennial new release is constructed another way. Now, i am older, and my youthful appears might belie that, but i am not in the millennial generation.But our children are particularly distinct. The millennial iteration is completely comfortable with online science. So why are we fighting it in the classroom? Let’s now not fight it. Let’s embrace it. Correctly, I believe — and i’ve two fat thumbs, I can’t text very well — but i am inclined to guess that with evolution, our children and their grandchildren will increase really, fairly little, itty-bitty thumbs to text much better, that evolution will repair all of that stuff. But what if we embraced technology, embraced the millennial iteration’s ordinary predilections, and really feel about growing these online applied sciences, mixture them into their lives. So this is what we can do. So as an alternative than riding our youngsters right into a lecture room, herding them out there at eight o’clock within the morning — I hated going to class at eight o’clock within the morning, so why are we forcing our youngsters to try this? So rather what you do is you might have them watch videos and do interactive workouts within the alleviation of their dorm rooms, of their bed room, within the dining room, in the bathroom, wherever they are most inventive.Then they arrive into the classroom for some in-person interaction. They can have discussions amongst themselves. They can resolve problems collectively. They can work with the professor and have the professor answer their questions. Actually, with edX, when we were instructing our first path on circuits and electronics around the world, this was going down unbeknownst to us. Two excessive college lecturers at the Sant high institution in Mongolia had flipped their school room, and they have been using our video lectures and interactive workouts, the place the learners within the excessive tuition, 15-yr-olds, mind you, would go and do these matters of their own homes and they’d come into classification, and as you see from this image right here, they’d have interaction with each and every other and do some physical laboratory work. And the one means we discovered this was they wrote a weblog and we occurred to encounter that web publication.We were also doing other pilots. So we did a pilot experimental blended publications, working with San Jose State tuition in California, again, with the circuits and electronics path. You can hear that quite a bit. That path has come to be kind of like our petri dish of studying. So there, the scholars would, again, the instructors flipped the study room, blended online and in person, and the outcome were superb. Now don’t take these results to the bank just yet.Just wait a little bit longer as we test with this some extra, however the early results are excellent. So most likely, semester upon semester, for the previous a few years, this path, once more, a difficult course, had a failure fee of about 40 to forty one percent every semester. With this blended classification late last year, the failure cost fell to nine percent. So the results may also be tremendously, wonderful. Now earlier than we go too some distance into this, i would prefer to spend some time discussing some key recommendations.What are some key ideas that makes all of this work? One notion is lively learning. The proposal right here is, rather than have scholars walk into classification and watch lectures, we change this with what we name classes. Classes are interleaved sequences of movies and interactive workouts. So a student would watch a 5-, seven-minute video and follow that with an interactive pastime. Consider of this because the ideal Socratization of education. You coach via asking questions. And this is a form of learning known as energetic studying, and really promoted through an awfully early paper, in 1972, by using Craik and Lockhart, where they stated and found out that studying and retention rather relates strongly to the depth of mental processing. Scholars study much better when they are interacting with the fabric. The 2d proposal is self-pacing. Now, when I went to a lecture hall, and for those who had been like me, by means of the fifth minute i would lose the professor. I wasn’t all that intelligent, and i’d be scrambling, taking notes, and then i might lose the lecture for the relaxation of the hour. Alternatively, would it be first-rate with online technologies, we offer videos and interactive engagements to scholars? They are able to hit the pause button.They can rewind the professor. Heck, they are able to even mute the professor. So this form of self-pacing will also be very worthwhile to learning. The 1/3 proposal that we have is instantaneous suggestions. With immediate feedback, the pc grades exercises. I imply, how else do you coach one hundred fifty,000 students? Your pc is grading all of the workouts. And we have now all submitted homeworks, and your grades come back two weeks later, you’ve gotten forgotten all about it. I do not consider I’ve nonetheless got a few of my homeworks from my undergraduate days. Some are under no circumstances graded. So with instantaneous feedback, scholars can attempt to observe answers. If they get it fallacious, they can get instant feedback. They can are trying it once more and check out it once more, and this quite becomes much more attractive. They get the immediate suggestions, and this little green investigate mark that you see here is fitting quite of a cult symbol at edX.Newbies are telling us that they go to mattress at night dreaming of the green verify mark. Correctly, one among our newcomers who took the circuits direction early last 12 months, he then went on to take a software course from Berkeley on the end of the year, and this is what the learner had to say on our discussion board when he simply started that direction about the inexperienced verify mark: "Oh god; have I neglected you." When’s the last time you’ve gotten noticeable students posting comments like this about homework? My colleague Ed Bertschinger, who heads up the physics division at MIT, has this to assert about immediate feedback: He indicated that immediate feedback turns teaching moments into studying results.The next gigantic thought is gamification. , all newcomers have interaction really good with interactive videos and so forth. You recognize, they would sit down and shoot alien spaceships all day lengthy unless they get it. So we applied these gamification tactics to studying, and we are able to build these on-line laboratories. How do you educate creativity? How do you educate design? We will do this via on-line labs and use computing vigor to build these on-line labs. In order this little video suggests right here, you could have interaction pupils much like they design with Legos. So here, the rookies are building a circuit with Lego-like ease. And this can be graded by using the computer.Fifth is peer studying. So right here, we use discussion forums and discussions and facebook-like interplay now not as a distraction, but to really support students be taught. Let me inform you a narrative. Once we did our circuits direction for the 155,000 pupils, I failed to sleep for three nights leading up to the launch of the path. I instructed my TAs, k, 24/7, we’ll be up monitoring the forum, answering questions.They had answered questions for one hundred students. How do you do that for a hundred and fifty,000? So one night time i am sitting up there, at 2 a.M. At night, and i feel there is this question from a scholar from Pakistan, and he asked a query, and i mentioned, okay, let me go and type up an reply, i do not variety all that rapid, and that i start typing up the reply, and earlier than i will be able to finish, a different pupil from Egypt popped in with an answer, now not particularly correct, so i am fixing the reply, and earlier than i will conclude, a student from the U.S. Had popped in with an additional answer. After which I sat back, interested. Growth, growth, growth, growth, the students were discussing and interacting with each and every other, and through 4 a.M. That night, i am totally interested, having this epiphany, and by way of four a.M.In the morning, that they had discovered the right answer. And all I needed to do was go and bless it, "just right reply." So that is definitely mighty, the place scholars are studying from every other, they usually’re telling us that they are learning by using educating. Now that is all now not just someday. That is going down in these days. So we are applying these blended studying pilots in a number of universities and excessive faculties all over the world, from Tsinghua in China to the countrywide tuition of Mongolia in Mongolia to Berkeley in California — in every single place the arena. And a majority of these technologies really support, the blended model can really support revolutionize education.It may well also remedy a realistic main issue of MOOCs, the business part. We can also license these MOOC publications to different universities, and therein lies a revenue mannequin for MOOCs, where the college that licenses it with the professor can use these online publications like the following-generation textbook. They may be able to use as a lot or as little as they like, and it turns into a device in the teacher’s arsenal.Sooner or later, I want to have you dream with me for just a little bit. I would like us to rather reimagine schooling. We will be able to must move from lecture halls to e-areas. We have to move from books to capsules just like the Aakash in India or the Raspberry Pi, 20 bucks. The Aakash is forty bucks. We need to move from bricks-and-mortar school structures to digital dormitories. However I consider at the finish of the day, I feel we can still want one lecture hall in our universities. Or else, how else can we tell our grandchildren that your grandparents sat in that room in neat little rows like cornstalks and watched this professor on the finish speak about content and, , you did not also have a rewind button? Thanks. (Applause) thanks. Thanks.(Applause) .

[thejollyshiner]

Meme Anime Ask Pt.1 of 4

@stacys–mum asked me to answer 12, 16, and 30.

Due to my past experience of learning to answer these I will answer them in this order

Pt.1 - 12.  Anime that should get more attention from others?

Pt.2 - 16. 10 animes you have watched to recommend? (alphabetically/1-5)

Pt.3 - 16. 10 animes you have watched to recommend? (alphabetically/6-10)

Pt.4 - 30. One anime conclusion you would change?

Also a quick mention to anyone of what not to do when writing an extensive post since this is now my fifth attempt.

1. Always stick with one network or wi-fi when completing these, otherwise when you connect to a new wi-fi theres a good chance of losing everything you wrote.

2. Don’t ever write on a train even if they promise some sort of wi-fi especially on a moving train. Since your computer is just going to run pretty slow to the point of your computer thinking you had decided to send the answer on private, instead of choosing your gif.

3. Always be cautious where you are leaning your body on the overly sensitive touchpad especially when your unaware of it, while enjoying someones company.

4. Don’t ever try to attempt to make a long post and expect your laptop to still run fast. I learned this the hard way being half way done with this ask only for my computer to stay frozen for over two hours. only to give up hope that my computer can work while still answering this ask, so I decided to restart my laptop and loose everything.

Knowing these are all of the things I’ve learned I encourage everyone to not be me lol.

So, fifth times the charm…I guess.

12. Anime that should get more attention from others

Gatchaman Crowds

Plot: The year is 2015. The city of Tachikawa has become home to special fighters known as the Gatchaman Crew (G-Crew), assigned by a council to protect the Earth against criminals with their superpowers. But a mysterious entity known as the MESS proves to be an escalating threat, leaving the G-Crew to have to fight it off. A young artist named Hajime Ichinose is the latest recruit to the G-Crew, and her impulsive personality sets major changes in motion.

Background: Gatchaman Crowds is a 12-episode continuity reboot of the 1970s anime Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. However, it is a radical departure from the concepts of the original, with the team receiving their powers from a source known as “NOTE" and no longer wearing suits themed after birds, with their suits instead reflecting their special abilities and personalities.

It started airing on NTV on July 12, 2013, and is directed by Kenji Nakamura (Tsuritama). It has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks, who also currently hold the license for the original Gatchaman.

Genres: Sci-Fi and Adventure

I will be using three resources in discussing why I this four year old show is still memorable to myself. Where I will rely heavily on these sources and the first part in discussion with the plot/analysis and the second being about Hajime Ichinose who I personally adored seeing as the main lead of the show.

Resources : Creamer, Nick . October 23rd, 2015 .  Animenewsnetwork.com . Anime News Network . Gatchaman Crowds Explained

Rand, Emily . December 21,2013 . formeinfullbloom.wordpress.com . Atelier Emily for me, in full bloom . [Five] Hajime’s World

Rand, Emily . July 27, 2013 . formeinfullbloom.wordpress.com . Atelier Emily for me, in full bloom . In Defense of Hajime Ichinose: Gatchaman

Plot/ Analysis

The internet has changed everything, while somehow also not changing much of anything. The context of our engagement with others has been completely transformed by the internet but we’re still human beings, and we still act more or less like human beings do. Gatchaman Crowds is a show about that, among many, many other weird little dichotomies and contradictions of our fundamental nature. It touches on crowdsourcing, gamification, the role of government, complacency, artistic expression, and social science. It’s a show about social engagement, a show about the nature of power, and a show about aliens and superheroes. Gatchaman Crowds is basically a show about everything. 

The first season of Crowds introduces us to Hajime Ichinose: upbeat teenager, scrapbooker extraordinaire, and the very newest Gatchaman.

Gatchaman are classic superheroes, secret fighters who transform into fancy CG suits and “fight evil.” But, the concept of “fighting evil” to “achieve justice” isn’t achievable. It wasn’t achievable in the past nor is it now-a-days, arn’t really relevant to the world Gatchaman Crowds is setting up. 

Instead, the “evil” of Crowds takes the form of Berg Katze - a distant, malevolent trickster who occasionally starts some fires of his own, but mostly just exists to compel others to be their own worst selves. Katze is trolling, Katze is anarchy, Katze is sociopathy.

Hajime and Berg Katze form a pair of binary ideas in Gatchaman Crowds - our instinct towards charity, and our instinct towards violence. Through their dancing and the various machinations of the very human characters around them, Crowds ends up taking on the internet, social engagement in general, the nature of political power, and more else besides. This busy idea-tempest picks up early in the first season, starting right off with.

Over the course of the series it goes over how society treats the internet, the importance of direct engagement, and the nature of power. Which unfortunately I won’t get into too much detail due to potentially reaching to spoilers.

Things fall apart fairly easily in Gatchaman Crowds. Rui’s high-minded goals are twisted towards petty terrorism, trolls end up doxxing innocents, the pursuit of social harmony leads to the hunting down of anyone presenting disharmony, and lots of awful stuff besides goes down over the course of its two seasons. While Hajime represents a kind of charitable ideal, most of Crowds’ characters are as flawed as they are passionate, dedicated to long-term ideals but making plenty of mistakes along the way. Embedded in all of Crowds’ points is an acceptance of that - an acknowledgment that not only are we all imperfect people who make plenty of mistakes, but that we are also all different people, and even if we were granted perfect understanding, we would still not want the same things. All we can do is our best - use the tools we are given, attempt to connect charitably with others, and be mindful of the power of our own actions. Crowds’ ideas go high and low in their interrogation of modern culture and the social animal, but the show arrives back home at a very simple place. “Be earnest, be honest, be kind,” says Crowds. The world’s a complicated place, but at least in that small way, we can hope to carry on.

Hajime Ichinose

I adored Hajime Ichinose, of Gatchaman Crowds, from the moment she appeared, lovingly caressing her collection of planners before taking the newest out on a rooftop lunch date. She was weird, wonderful, and expressive, regardless of whether she was enjoying lunch alone, or cuddling with notebooks in class in front of bemused classmates. More importantly, she communicated most successfully with others through gestures and actions, in spite of her vague and simple wording.

Personally, I resonated with Hajime’s character because of her inability to communicate outside of hand gestures and colorful art collages. I loved that this specific type of person had been placed in a leading role, and more importantly, that her actions drove the plot of the series, where other properties – in addition to their audiences, and to some extent, even viewers of Gatchaman Crowds – would have inevitably relegated her to quirky sidekick, or whimsical idiot.

Even though I adore and love Hajime Ichinose as the lead, she is still a controversial character. She can be a difficult character to some people due how high energy she is and how she always has a difficult time to express herself. I simply say be patient with her, but if Hajime is still very irritating my advice is to stop watching the show.

As it’s Hajime’s genuine desire to see others communicate with one another, and help people understand each other is an aura that radiates out from her every action. It is crucial to Gatchaman Crowds that you know that Hajime Ichinose is a Gatchaman. You can disagree with the choice, in fact, one could argue that the series wants you to. Perhaps sticking one like her in the role of protagonist annoys you, much like it annoys fellow Gatchaman, Sugune Tachibana. If this is the case, then I would additionally suggest that Gatchaman Crowds is working as intended.

[museumgirlsarah]

Thoughts on EdTech, Autism, and Pokemon Go

Revised and reposted from elsewhere -- it may look familiar to a few of you.

So this year continues to be tough, and as a way to get active after six months of being sidelined by foot injuries, I’ve been playing a lot of Pokemon Go. Which has combined in my brain with a lot of the work I’m doing to try to integrate tech and distance learning into our programming, and as a result, it’s given me a lot to sort through. But one particular cool thing I discovered was the mitigating effect it has on one of the aspects of ADHD that’s cropped up since, well, basically, my sliders shifted.

Backing up a bit...

I’ve long loved this comic about the autism spectrum as a colour wheel, and it helped sort out a lot of personal understanding about my own autism and why it went undiagnosed for so long (this article helped a lot too, and made me cry with how much I identified). But the colour wheel didn’t quite explain why I’d changed so fast from functional to struggling with things, autism and ADHD-related, that I’d never been hindered by before (or at least, not to the point of not being able to function – I had my first auditory sensory overload moment at work this year. That was an experience). And then I was rereading John Scalzi’s blog on how Straight White Male is playing the game of life on the lowest difficulty setting, and figured out a metaphor that actually works for me. 

All those pie slices on Rebecca Burgess’ comic are kind of like autistic difficulty sliders on the game of life, and most of my life, they’d all been set at levels that were challenging, but I could still progress through the game, farm for items, read the codex, etc.  Then, in the last couple of years, two sliders got pushed within a couple of months of each other up to the highest setting and haven’t gone back down, and combined with everything else, they knocked out my ability to do things that had always been second nature.

Two of the big ones were reading and writing.

It’s not that I can’t. It’s that it’s now SO HARD to maintain that focus that it’s like running a marathon, and I’m so exhausted by trying to act neurotypical at work that I don’t have the energy to maintain it during my free time. Certainly not for fun. As soon as I relax, the ADHD kicks in, and I realize that nothing I’ve read or typed makes sense because my mind has wandered without even realizing it. I have no idea what happened on the last three pages I read, and the stuff I’ve written contains words that have no reason to be there, because my wandering brain just grabbed them and stuck them in.

But here’s where we get back to the interesting thing about Pokemon Go. One of the other things I just kind of gave up on was listening to podcasts. Listening to something has ALWAYS been a challenge for me. Always. From lectures, to author readings, to podcasts, my brain cannot keep focus on the auditory information without dekeing off elsewhere. I wrote entire novels in my head during the lecture portions of English class, and those were lectures about things I was interested in. But when I discovered that doing cross-stitch during author readings at conventions meant that I could not only follow the story for the first time ever, but I was getting sensory information I never had before (I could smell the descriptive passages), I thought hey, there’s something to this fidget tool thing, let’s see what else I can connect.

Which is when I discovered that Pokemon Go is the perfect thing for putting my brain into “listening to podcast” mode. I’ve ripped through all three seasons of the phenomenal @curiosityinfocus podcast while wandering around looking for Pokemon, just started Imaginary Worlds, and am currently looking for other awesome stuff to listen to (I’m open to suggestions!). And oh hell, did it get me thinking about other things, too.

A lot of Curiosity in Focus touches on Daniel’s passion for teaching science (and other things) through D&D. Some of the conversations seemed really familiar, too, overlapping with some of the struggles and challenges I’ve faced while trying to integrate tech into our programming at work. For a lot of different reasons, there’s resistance from many different avenues, but I believe passionately that the work we’re doing is really important because it gives students the ability to engage with materials through the communication tools they’re used to using. And much like the work Daniel is doing with D&D, it’s a way of opening up opportunities for learning and engagement to the learners who typically struggle with the “traditional” learning environment.

Gamification is one way of dealing with these obstacles. We’ve been doing it to an extent with tabletop gaming based on the Blue Whale exhibition, but I’m going to come back to Pokemon Go again.

For all the problems the game has, and I’m not going to deny it has its issues, I’m really fascinated by the game design in Pokemon Go. There’s enough to occupy casual players, but between IV stats, Pokemon types, fighting counters, and evolutions, there’s also a ton to occupy people like me who engage in obsessive collection and categorization as one aspect of our autism.  But they’ve built up a system that actually encourages that and turns it into an asset.

The game has individual competition – collect the best Pokemon with the highest IVs and power them up.  It has competition between teams to control the neighbourhood. But with the introduction of raid bosses, it now also compels the teams to work together to take them down, preventing the competition from becoming too alienating (most of the people I’ve played with have gotten into the habit of wishing each other luck when the battle begins, regardless of team affiliations). And it encourages cooperation.

A few weeks ago, I ran into a group of people trying to take down a Tyrannitar at a gym. And now I’m in a chat group of people who work together, share ideas, meet up with each other, and help newcomers. With a few exceptions, everyone, no matter what team they’re on, is willing to wait, support, and help others. People freely give tips on how to catch Pokemon and teach you how to succeed. The person more or less in charge of the neighbourhood group I’m part of is really glad that there’s one guy in the group who will explain all the minute details to everyone else, because he knows he scours the internet keeping up with all the recent developments, they’re accurate, and he will patiently walk newbies through it no matter how many times they ask.

And it goes beyond that. While raiding at a gym the other day, a guy walked past, looked at us on our devices, and yelled “TALK TO EACH OTHER.”  Then an older woman walked over and asked “what would you people do without those devices? When I was little, we had to entertain ourselves.”

And I explained to her (as the teacher in the group, I’ve gotten pretty good at this and people are starting to expect it), that yes, as a Xennial (I don’t use that word when I’m explaining this, but damn it’s useful), I had to entertain myself, too. Which meant I spent a lot of time growing up isolated, alone, unable to find anyone who shared my interests. I spent most of my time indoors, and that carried into adulthood. And that in the past year playing this game, I’ve discovered parts of my neighbourhood I never knew existed, and talked to more people in the neighbourhood than I have in the ten years of living here prior to that. I now pass by people on the street, here and around the city, who smile and greet me by name. I’ve had strangers I’ve only encountered for a few moments looking out for me and walking me to the subway after dark. People are looking out for one another and establishing a strong sense of community in a city of a million people.

That’s a hell of an accomplishment for a little game about catching cute cartoon animals.

Yes, I’m aware my experience isn’t universal, but it does illustrate something really critical in regards to the work that I do. Like everything else about technology, it’s a tool. It can be used for good or for ill, but for many, it has become a way to facilitate engagement in something that was previously insurmountable. For some people, that insurmountable thing was starting a conversation with a stranger on the street.

This is the kind of power I want to harness with the work that I do with social media, and Google Classroom, and Makerspaces, and Minecraft programs. We’re not using technology to replace traditional learning. We’re using it to build bridges to invite more people to the party who could never reach it before.

[seedfinance]

Meet The Fintech Innovators Using AI To Reimagine The Financial Sector

The financial world as we know it is changing. From new currencies to new trading opportunities, innovation has been unlocked with a single key: artificial intelligence. Almost all new approaches to managing money have AI in their DNA.

Globally, the AI ​​financial technology (fintech) market is expected to reach $ 22.6 billion by 2025.

AI is key to fundamentally changing the way people interact and use money. With currencies being used on a daily basis and literally affecting every market and industry, the impact of financial innovation through AI cannot be underestimated.

There are two important points: the financial world is becoming more user-centric, but every single fintech company is facing a major threat.

The digitization and decentralization of finance

Fintech has become user-centered mainly through digitization and decentralization. In case you haven’t seen an online statement or used contactless to checkout, you should understand that finances are now digitized. The entire cryptocurrency industry is one of the least concrete systems imaginable, and its products are certainly intangible.

This reality has changed some forms of financial transactions. The digital nature of finance means that some of the power is taken away from the big banking institutions and passed directly to the people. Even historically interactive financial transactions, such as stock trading, have been several steps away from a portfolio owner. Now, however, a simple app can give a trader full access to their stocks and the autonomy to do whatever they want with them.

An illustration: price prediction games for cryptocurrencies

A good example of user centricity in retail can be found in the company YOLOrekt. Funded in February, YOLOrekt leverages gamification by offering price predictions (essentially smart gambling) in three-minute cycles. They are starting the second round of their platform with prizes for ETH, WBTC, Tesla, GameStop and others. Developed by Degens for Degens, this approach contradicts the painfully data-driven approach of traditional old-school commerce. It’s fun, easy to use, and based on AI.

Yogesh Srihari, co-founder of YOLOrekt

YOLOrect

Co-founder Yogesh Srihari explains, “We tried to build a cross-chain protocol like other companies, but with much less capital. Other companies had raised hundreds of millions of dollars and we had less than a million.

“However, we have found that even with so much capital these companies are not gaining acceptance. We had to be more user-oriented. Binary options and Nadex were two interesting things that I’ve been doing all along. That basically gave me the idea of ​​how to take traditional options trading to Gamify. “

AI fintech is typical of these types of startups, and Srihari’s efforts are a good example of how a small idea can get a lot of buzz, as long as it’s what people really want.

The world has adjusted to both digitization and decentralization. People who gamble with money are the opposite of the old school, “wear a tie to the bank” mentality. But disrespectful approaches and novel platforms have a big problem. Fortunately, there is an AI solution for this.

Finances as a Service + state-of-the-art AI tools

Online financial services owned by users are great: until they are plagued by fraud. Unfortunately, they often are: the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported 4.7 million cases of identity theft, scams, and online shopping scams in 2020. This represented a loss of $ 3.3 billion in fraud. It’s great for people to be in power, but what about protecting them?

Financial services are known to be plagued by fraud, and a company is up to the challenge.

Fraud Prevention as a Service (FaaS)

We all know SaaS (Software as a Service), but Sardine.ai is here to embody a new term: Fraud Prevention as a Service or FaaS. Sardine.ai is based on AI and offers information that scammers catch because of their intrinsic behavior.

Imagine the following: A fraudster has a pile of fraudulently obtained (ie stolen) credit cards. You are starting to use these cards to spend money online. The algorithm developed by the Sardine.ai team can identify someone as a fraud using real credit card numbers and information.

It does this by tracking everything: the device, location, VPN, and even behavior. The latter goes on a granular level: the system can measure how hesitant or distracted the behavior is, compare typing patterns with those of legitimate users and observe how someone types or scrolls. In other words, it sees it all and is an effective line of defense against fraud. This first platform of its kind, specially developed for financial institutions, is a game changer.

Most fintech startups are so busy raising funds that they forget the real and current threat of fraud. In fact, Sardine.ai Co-Founder and CEO Soups Ranjan saw it firsthand: “I ran Data Science and Risk for CoinBase and ran financial crime for a UK bank. In both places there was fraud every time a new product or territory was introduced. In fact, a US launch was delayed by more than six months due to fraud.

The Sardine.ai team

Sardine.ai

“You have been careful and exercised great caution, but scammers are very hardworking. They put themselves on a waiting list years in advance and wait for them to be reached as soon as the fintech platform launches. We launched Sardine.ai to ensure that fintech and crypto companies can operate successfully without fraud in either start-up or growth mode. “

All of these innovations expand access to the entire financial sector, and most companies in the world can participate.

Every company is a fintech company

Any financial organization that wants to stay relevant has to transform itself into some kind of fintech company. This means technology can flow into every aspect of the business to create a better, streamlined customer experience. AI is just one technology that is part of the broader fintech movement: others include the blockchain, robotic process automation, and big data analytics.

Fintech funding is exploding. The COVID-19 pandemic has reanimated the market to such an extent that some analysts are calling it the second fintech wave. To be competitive, traditional players must make large investments in technology and human capital to be successful.

Not all fintech companies can secure massive rounds of funding, however, but that doesn’t necessarily mean their ideas are less valuable. Often, minority small business owners struggle to secure funding due to systemic biases and a lack of resources.

David Price is the CEO of financial services company Biz Pay, which levels the playing field between large and small businesses by allowing small businesses to meet all of their service provider payment needs, allowing small businesses to hire higher quality service providers – something that has only previously been possible So far, large companies have been able to afford this.

“If a company can afford a better recruiter, accountant, attorney, business consultant, or digital marketer, it will improve its business quickly. There is more money in and / or less out – usually much more than the cost of the service. So the problem is just the cash flow – its timing. “David Price continued,” Since Bizpay gives companies more time compensation by spending only one quarter each month, the cash flow or timing problem is resolved and they are better Use service providers and be able to take advantage of these advantages. ”

This innovative service ensures a more democratic and even distribution of talent in the labor market and is one of the few stabilizing forces that counteracts the perpetuation of powerful and wealthy companies that have been cornering top service providers as they have for centuries.

It also provides a framework for how other B2B companies can help strengthen and protect the American small business market, which has never been more vulnerable than it is today.

Who is there? An era of AI innovation in finance

Deloitte analysts describe three common characteristics of AI leaders in financial services:

Embed AI in strategic plans with a focus on organization-wide implementation

A focus on applying AI to customer loyalty and revenue opportunities

Adopting a portfolio approach to acquiring AI

AI is available and early adopters have an edge over the competition. It’s safe to say that the evolution of AI for fintech is less of a trend and more of a new reality. Innovation in the financial world is set to continue at a rapid pace and it is exciting to think about where the financial sector could be in 5 or 10 years. One thing is clear: a number of new technologies based on AI are beneficial for consumers and retail investors alike.

source https://seedfinance.net/2021/06/15/meet-the-fintech-innovators-using-ai-to-reimagine-the-financial-sector/

[zipgrowth]

Its 2019. So Why Do 21st-Century Skills Still Matter?

When tech giant Amazon announced its search for a second headquarters site, cities across the country scrambled to produce persuasive pitches. In Loudoun County, Virginia, fourth-graders from Goshen Post Elementary School took up the challenge personally. To create compelling video arguments, student teams interviewed experts in economic development, researched state history and geography, and even wrote poems to sing the praises of their region. When Northern Virginia was ultimately picked as a new HQ site, students were as proud as any civic leaders from their community.

The story offers a good example of how education is shifting as we wrap up two decades of the 21st century. Instead of relying on textbooks and teacher direction, these students had to think critically about unfolding events, collaborate with peers and adults, and make creative use of digital tools to communicate their ideas. In the process, they also learned plenty about social studies and civic engagement. For Loudoun County Superintendent Eric Williams, what makes such authentic learning experiences worthwhile is how they prepare students “to make meaningful contributions to the world.”

4 Cs and More

The call for 21st century learning dates back more than two decades, when blue-ribbon committees, policymakers, business leaders, and education experts began sounding the same alarm: Yesterday’s focus on memorization and rote learning would not prepare students for a fast-changing, increasingly automated, information-saturated world.

Although some educators have grown weary of the term “21st century learning,” the drive to transform education “matters more today—a lot more—than when we started the conversation.”

Ken Kay, CEO of EdLeader21

Figuring out how schools should respond, however, remains an open question for many communities. In my own work with educators around the globe, I’ve watched the emergence of 21st century trends such as makerspaces, flipped learning, genius hour, gamification, and more. Each has its own champions, teaching practices, and even hashtags; all have the potential to disrupt what we think of as traditional, teacher-centered education by giving students more voice in how they learn.

Although some educators have grown weary of the term “21st century learning,” the drive to transform education “matters more today—a lot more—than when we started the conversation,” says Ken Kay, who in 2002 co-founded an influential consortium called the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (later rebranded Partnership for 21st Century Learning, or P21. He currently serves as CEO of EdLeader21, a national network of Battelle for Kids.

In hindsight, Kay can identify three phases that have been critical in the 21st century learning movement. “The first was defining,” he says, with experts generating a laundry list of skills and competencies considered essential for students’ future success. Next came the communication phase, when those 20-plus competencies were condensed into a more memorable set of 4Cs: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity.

These core competencies remain relevant as we get further into the current century, argues David Ross, global education consultant and former CEO of P21, “because they seem to be the one constant in a rapidly changing social and economic environment.”

The third and current phase of the 21st century learning movement is all about “empowerment,” says Kay. “People are interested in not just adopting the 4Cs, but understanding what they can do to customize this framework at the local level. What can they design that works well for their community?”

EdLeader21 has developed a toolkit to guide districts and independent schools in developing their own “portrait of a graduate” as a visioning exercise. In some communities, global citizenship rises to the top of the wish list of desired outcomes. Others emphasize entrepreneurship, civic engagement, or traits like persistence or self-management. Kay estimates that some 800 school systems across the U.S have developed portraits so far.

When stakeholders in Loudoun County, Virginia, went through the visioning process, they decided to emphasize the 4Cs (along with content mastery), plus the competency of “contributing.” Explains Superintendent Williams, “By this we mean contributing to the world through careers in the public sector, the private sector, and the not-for-profit sector; through civic engagement; and through community service. When a student is a contributor,” he adds, “it turbo-charges their ability to employ the other competencies and their content knowledge.”

The Human Factor

The unifying theme of these various frameworks seems to be the human factor.

As the 21st century learning movement expands internationally, we’re seeing an abundance of frameworks, assessments, and semantic labels as different organizations put their spin on what’s worth knowing.

PISA (the Programme for International Student Assessment) now compares the global competence and collaborative problem-solving skills of students from different countries along with more traditional scores for reading, math, and science. ISTE Standards for Students highlight digital citizenship and computational thinking as key skills that will enable students to thrive as empowered learners. The U.S. Department of Education describes a globally competent student as one who can investigate the world, weigh perspectives, communicate effectively with diverse audiences, and take action.

The unifying theme of these various frameworks seems to be the human factor. “The core skills of collaboration, communication, and critical thinking are things that humans do well and machines not so well,” argues Ross. “Machines are getting better at them,” he adds, “but perform them best in concert with humans.”

From Mission to Methods

How wide is the gap between lofty aspirations for learning and day-to-day classroom practice? It’s hard to measure, but leaders at the forefront of the 21st century learning movement tell me they still see too many students sitting passively while teachers deliver instruction; too much technology is still used to replace routine tasks rather than turbo-charge the experience of learning.

Frameworks provide mental models, but “don’t usually help educators know what to do differently,” argues technology leadership expert Scott McLeod in his latest book, Harnessing Technology for Deeper Learning. He and co-author Julie Graber outline deliberate shifts that help teachers redesign traditional lessons to emphasize goals such as critical thinking, authenticity, and conceptual understanding. (See the resource list below for more suggested readings and teaching tools.)

More examples and practical strategies will help chart the way forward. Translating from vision to classroom implementation “is the journey we’re all on now,” says Ken Kay.

. . . too much technology is still used to replace routine tasks rather than turbo-charging the experience of learning.

Heather Wolpert-Gawron offers a good role-model. She wears a number of hats as middle school teacher, instructional coach, and author (@tweenteacher). In the classroom, she teaches collaboration skills by challenging students to solve mysteries, and then debrief how well they worked together. She fires up students’ communication skills (along with their engagement) by having them interview an astrophysicist about the science of superheroes. She leverages social media and blogging to reflect on what works and shares her insights with colleagues.

When coaching other teachers to make similar moves, Wolpert-Gawron encourages them to “tease apart what it means to collaborate, communicate, think critically. This is a language that teachers at all grade levels, in all subjects, are able to embrace.” The more concrete, the better. For example, if the big goal is student-led inquiry, teachers might brainstorm “how to see if a kid is curious. What questions are they asking? Do their answers spark even more questions?” To cultivate healthy curiosity, teachers can remind students “to hit pause [in their thinking] and take a mental screenshot. It’s empowering for students to realize, ‘Oh, so I do have ideas!’”

The good news is, there’s no shortage of creative ideas for fulfilling the promise of 21st century learning. In all kinds of contexts, I see teachers designing learning experiences that challenge students to not only imagine the future, but help to shape it. The challenge that remains is making sure all students have similar opportunities to dream and do.

Credit: EdSurge. Full sized infographic here.

A 21st Century Reading List

Looking for more resources to support 21st century learning? Here are suggestions from Suzie Boss:

1. Wondering how to teach and assess 21st century competencies? The Buck Institute for Education offers a wide range of resources, including the book, PBL for 21st Century Success: Teaching Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, and Creativity (Boss, 2013), and downloadable rubrics for each of the 4Cs.

2. For more strategies about harnessing technology for deeper learning, listen to the EdSurge podcast featuring edtech expert and author Scott McLeod.

3. Eager to see 21st century learning in action? Getting Smart offers suggestions for using school visits as a springboard for professional learning, including a list of recommended sites. Bob Pearlman, a leader in 21st century learning, offers more recommendations.

4. Book group discussions can jumpstart conversations among colleagues. Here are three titles certain to lead to lively discussions about the future of learning:

Timeless Learning: How Imagination, Observation, and Zero-Based Thinking Change Schools captures the insights of veteran school leaders from Albemarle County Public Schools, a Virginia district known for innovation.

What School Could Be: Insights and Inspiration from Teachers Across America shares highlights of author Ted Dintersmith’s 50-state quest across the country in search of teaching and learning retooled for the future.

Building School 2.0: How to Create the Schools We Need offers a series of provocations to invite readers to consider how education must change. Author Chris Lehmann is founding principal of highly regarded Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia; Zak Chase is a former SLA teacher.

Its 2019. So Why Do 21st-Century Skills Still Matter? published first on https://medium.com/@GetNewDLBusiness

[lucyariablog]

Are You Measuring Right in Your Content Marketing?

Marketers are awash in data. But ask marketers if they’re measuring the right things and most answers are closer to “damned if I know” than “you betcha.” So, what can be done when big data gets the better of you?

In May I judged a category in the 2018 Content Marketing Awards. I was particularly interested to see how the entries reported success metrics. I was beyond disappointed to see many entries relying on the same ubiquitous (and often useless) metrics everyone touts regardless of the nature of the content or the business goals it’s meant to achieve. Even when people clearly defined their goals for the project – and not everyone did – there was a striking disconnect between the goals and how they claimed to demonstrate success.

Too many marketers mistakenly rely on the same metrics regardless of #content’s purpose, says @SarahMitchellOz. Click To Tweet

Rand Fishkin sees the same behavior. The founder of SparkToro and Moz, and author of Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World, has spent his career helping marketers reach their target audiences. Rand spoke to me about measurement on an episode of the Brand Newsroom podcast.

“I think that one of the biggest issues I see on measurement and reporting, for sure, is that the marketing metrics we use are disconnected from the things that actually impact the business goal,” he says.

The #marketing metrics we use are disconnected from the things that impact the business goal, says @randfish. Click To Tweet

He believes business is on autopilot when it comes to reporting, pointing to preconceived ideas as a culprit. “I think it happens because marketers are used to certain metrics. Their managers and CMOs and even CEOs are used to certain metrics; they’re used to reporting in a certain way,” Rand says.

“You know web analytics tools are used to giving certain kinds of outputs, so you get this bias.”

When pressed to give his top metrics, Rand says a one-size-fits-all mentality is the wrong way to think about measurement. “We should be asking, ‘For this particular situation, where we are trying to accomplish x, what are the metrics that we should be using to measure whether we’ve done x?’”

A one-size-fits-all metrics mentality for content evaluation is wrong. It’s situation-specific, says @RandFish. Click To Tweet

Rand says content marketers run into problems when they assume some metrics are good and others are bad. “It’s all situation-specific and tying the metrics to business goals is what we need to do,” he says.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Road Map to Success: Monitoring and Measuring Your Content’s Performance

Path to content marketing success

Let’s be clear: The way to content marketing success is simple to define but difficult to achieve. It looks like this:

Define business goals.

Develop a content marketing strategy with defined marketing objectives and success measurements.

Produce original, high-quality content aligned with those objectives.

Publish to online and offline channels identified in your strategy.

Distribute content, via your email database, social media, and PR.

Amplify your content using SEO and SEM to find those you don’t know or who don’t know about you.

Measure results against business goals.

Refine strategy to improve results.

Rand is right. What you measure must relate to the first thing in the cycle – your business goals. Yet, most content marketers focus on reporting the success of distribution and amplification efforts. This results in an overall lack of accountability to the business.

Before you protest, remember the title of this article. It isn’t about social media or SEO metrics. It’s about whether content marketers are measuring the right things. Content marketing’s purpose, according to the Content Marketing Institute, is “to drive profitable customer action.”

It’s easy to become distracted by the process of content marketing because data gives a great way to see results. It’s exciting to tweak a project and see metrics change, rankings shift, or follower numbers increase. The gamification of social media turned us into an industry of tracking fiends – while distracting too many of us from the business outcomes we should be trying to achieve.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Measure Your Content Marketing Effectiveness

Popular metrics aren’t necessarily useful metrics

In my opinion, some popular measurements deliver truly useless metrics when determining the success of a content marketing initiative. We need to be better at demonstrating content’s ability to influence business goals. It’s easy to report statistics and figures, especially when dripping in data, but none of these metrics is useful when calculating a return on investment: 

Activity metrics: Gobs of statistics – including impressions, reach, views, sessions, and engagements – are reported for websites, social media, and online advertising covering both organic and paid traffic. Big activity numbers can seem good, but they don’t necessarily help determine if you’re meeting business goals. It’s a little disingenuous to pay Google to promote your content or website, then turn around and claim success.

Big activity metrics don’t help determine if you’re meeting business goals, says @SarahMitchellOz. #ROI Click To Tweet

Time spent: Does more attention on Facebook, YouTube, Pandora, and any other online channel or platform convert to more business? Too many marketers make the pivot into content designed purely to entertain for the sole purpose of holding attention longer. Will that compilation of cheesy ads from the ’80s coax a person to make a purchase? Will those oh-so-clever memes lead to more newsletter sign-ups? Will people notice or care which company page or account the content came from?

Sentiment scores: These might reveal how people feel about your content, but do they make a difference to your bottom line? Sentiment may help you set the right tone, but it’s a long way from proving the effectiveness of your content.

What is your purpose? What does profitable customer action look like for you? What can be measured to ensure that your efforts are appreciated and rewarded with buy-in from your business? Profitable customer action most resembles growth in the business.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Explain Content Marketing ROI to Win (or Keep) Buy-In

Caveat about unique users

One of the most misunderstood metrics is unique user views. Reaching 100% of your audience is difficult, if not impossible, so tread carefully before reporting you’ve reached everyone. Before you claim victory to your management team, it’s worth knowing how unique users work.

Unique user views are designed to count visitors to your website, but it’s not an exact science. In simple terms, a new user is counted on the first visit to a website. If a person uses more than one browser – say Safari and Chrome – the user is counted twice. Or, if cookies are in play and the user clears their cookies or the cookies are reset, the same person could be counted more than once during any given period.

Improvements are made continually and the rules defining unique users keep changing. Most recently, Google has started trying to predict and filter out duplicates for people visiting your website from more than one device.

Good things to measure

It’s vital to define business goals in your content marketing strategy along with how you plan to measure goal achievement. This creates a good opportunity to get buy-in from elsewhere in the business because the important measurements are not going to come from Google Analytics. You’ll need support from different departments to get assistance on reporting.

It helps to overtly explain how you intend to drive growth with content marketing. While a single piece of content rarely generates a direct conversion, your overall strategy should make a measurable contribution to growth. Consider including some or all of these measurements in your strategy:

Sales data is the motherlode of all measurement. If you can prove content marketing is impacting the bottom line, you’ll have no problem getting more budget for future efforts.

New customers are another critical measurement. Identifying the influence content has on customer acquisition – and you should be considering ways to capture that information – shows the value of content marketing.

Average customer lifetime value reflects how content marketing aids upselling and cross-selling opportunities. Benchmark this figure and track it as part of your management reporting.

Reduction in the cost of customer acquisition shows your content marketing can lower expenses in other areas of the business including advertising, traditional marketing, and sales.

Customer retention and loyalty demonstrate the value of content marketing since it’s cheaper to keep a customer than find a new customer.

Leads generated measures the number of potential revenue opportunities created for your company by tracking the leads directly resulting from your content.

Email subscribers rank at the top of the subscriber hierarchy, according to Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose in their book Killing Marketing: How Innovative Businesses are Turning Marketing Cost into Profit. This is because the audience has not only shown an interest in your content but expressly requested more of it. When someone wants your content, it’s much easier to convert that person into a paying customer.

#Email subscriber metric shows audience so interested in your #content they want more of it. @SarahMitchellOz Click To Tweet

Goal attainment in Google Analytics depends on the goals set up by your SEO team and can help track the effectiveness of your content and how well your calls to action are working.

The above goals measure profitable customer action. Meanwhile, other metrics provide useful leading indicators to analyze how your content marketing initiative is working and to identify weak spots or opportunities to improve:

Open rates from email show whether your titles or subject lines resonate with your audience.

Click-through rates (CTR) from website and email identify a willingness to answer calls to action or find further information. It’s essential to understand how customers move through your content – where they enter and drop off – but high CTRs don’t necessarily equate to conversion.

Time spent demonstrates your content is interesting, but it doesn’t show whether it’s meeting business goals. Still, if time-spent figures are changing, it’s worth examining why.

Invitations to contribute at in-person events, in writing, or by making appearances on videos or podcasts are an indication your content is positioning you or your company as subject matter experts.

Results from research and surveys about your company provide a body of information to track over time. Depending on the questions asked, you can ascertain whether your content efforts are having a positive effect on your business.

Rand explains how web analytics can lead to bias in marketing’s expectations. Consecutive monthly reports showing increased activity, time spent, and improved sentiment create a false sense of security. Because content marketing is known for taking time to build momentum and deliver results – six, 12, or even 18 months – focusing on the wrong measurements creates a difficult situation if the business hasn’t changed despite all the reports delivering good news for months.

The less that marketers and management understand analytics and metrics, the more likely that frustration levels rise until a growing sense of “content marketing doesn’t work” creeps into the psyche of the business. That’s exactly what’s happening in this era of too much information.

Switching to business metrics for measuring and reporting the effectiveness of content marketing requires a shift in thinking. Content marketers who report on the impact content has on the business are better placed to gain influence in their organization.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Want to Prove Content’s Success? Stop Measuring It

A version of this article originally appeared in the November issue of  Chief Content Officer. Sign up to receive your free subscription.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post Are You Measuring Right in Your Content Marketing? appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2018/11/measuring-right-content-marketing/

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Hey /r/Entrepreneur! Its Rich, maker of Failory, a website where I weekly interview entrepreneurs (failed and successful ones). Today we published an interview with Bruno, the CEO of Trackin, a startup that releases technology for companies to start a food delivery business. He rapidly built the MVP, acquired $25,000 from the 3 best French entrepreneurs, and started with different marketing campaigns. Today, Tracking is making +$167,000/month!Here are the main points:Idea: Bruno was CTO of a catering company and found one of their main pain points was the delivery and finding out where the food was.Development: They spent a few months building an MVP.Marketing: Online marketing (SEO, AdWords, blog, content creation), direct sales and product growth.Mistakes: Bruno has commited huge mistake when hiring the team.Revenue: $167,000/monthProfit: They became profitable two years ago. But Bruno reinvests everything in the business so in that sense there is no actual profit. Learn from idea to monetization, including mistakes and obstacles, how did he achieve it!Hi Bruno! What's your background, and what are you currently working on?Hi Failory!I have a master degree in Computer Science, and I’ve learned how to code and use computers when I was 12. I released my first website when I was 14 years old. At that time XHTML was fancy and JavaScript was the ENEMY. I was also leading a couple of video game teams that were at the top of the French scene.Even though I’m a ‘tech guy��, I’ve also always been a people person, which allowed me to build products while creating direct relationships with people who needed them and acquire skills that some techies might not have.I’m currently the CEO of Trackin, which has released the technology for any company to start a food delivery business within a day, and MobyDish, which is our main focus today. MobyDish is a full-catering online service for companies of 10 to 1000+ people. What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?I’ve always been an entrepreneur. As a kid, I was a student of a private school, and hanging out with kids that received money from their parents. In order to have the same level of life than them and not be left behind, I would find out what students would need, and just make it happen!Before my work on Trackin, I was CTO of another catering company. One of our main pain points was the delivery and find out where the food was. It really makes you look bad to not be able to answer such question when the order size is worth $1k+. I quickly realized that it was a worldwide problem. Even the big brands like Pizza Hut didn’t know what was going on with their drivers as soon as they left a restaurant. I looked up online and didn’t find any technology to streamline deliveries, so I just went ahead, quit my job, my visa, my girlfriend, and life in San Francisco. I went back to France and started to work on the tech!Then long story short, I showed it around the world to different restaurants after a few months and an MVP, then I launched it, got some interesting growth and joined Y-Combinator.Being half French and half Italian, I really care about food, and I couldn’t keep seeing people having bad experiences towards it. It definitely made sense to come up with technology so that people stop being scared to order food online and wait for hours without any news from the restaurant.Also, as a people person, I do care a lot about user experience and making people happy. With MobyDish, it is the perfect opportunity to have a huge impact on the food space and to connect people together, the right way.The idea is not just to feed people but to create such a great and easy experience, that we’ll democratize catering like Airbnb democratized renting apartments from individuals, globally. How did you build Trackin?I will always remember the first days working on Trackin. Looking for the right name, right domain, right design. I spent about 3 days working of the first version on the logo, and my computer crashed...my work on Photoshop was all gone before I got a chance to save it...Worst day of my life at that time, and first lesson learned...Save your work ALL THE TIME.I pitched the idea to a few people and a friend decided to join the journey as a backend engineer/DevOps while I’d take care of the rest.After a few months building the MVP, I’ve traveled to meet with restaurants, collect data and improve our tech and features. The first time I tried to show the product to restaurants, I was petrified. I felt like my baby, ideas and product were about to be judged for the first time. Fortunately, people liked it.Then, in order to scale, I needed to find money to hire some people. We won some French national contests, got money from the government, loans, banks, and other European awards that gave us enough to hire people.Unfortunately, my friend decided to leave the startup to focus on his full-time job instead of Trackin.With all the excitement around us and my knowledge of the food space, I decided to take over his role as well and kept working on Trackin as a solo founder. After six months of improvements, and a couple of press release, I closed our first paying customer (which wasn’t even a restaurant but an alcohol delivery company at night) and things became real. I officially incorporated the company and hired interns to get things going. Dealing with inquiries, marketing, and sales.The first version looked okay, but pretty bad for my current standard, and the new generation of employees was able to use it pretty easily. I’ve always enjoyed showing the product to someone and just stare at how the person would interact with it, where he would struggle, what kind of questions he would have...at that time there weren’t yet online tools to record the online experience and stream it back at you ;)I will always remember how I was answering to calls from my first customers at 2 am. I would be pushing code and new Android apps based on their problems the minute we’d hang up to keep them happy (like connectivity issues, UX, etc.).Our first pricing model was to charge per driver tracked on the platform, kind of salesforce charges for number of seats, but it didn’t make sense for restaurants. Then we decided to charge per deliveries. We felt like it was easier to convert restaurants this way because if they were just launching or were small, we were helping them grow faster, at a lower cost. If they were already established, they would pay more because they use us more and would improve their service, brand, and efficiency.When I’ve started, I knew nothing about sales processes, but I’ve learned by talking to people with more experience than me. Then I started to execute. We grew 10x in 4 months and I got lucky enough to sit down with Michael Seibel in my city (Lyon, France). After having dinner with him and sharing my story, he invited me to apply to YC.I didn’t think twice to jump on the opportunity, rented a house in San Jose, left my life in France, sold my furniture, gave up on my lease, prepared my employees, and moved back to California...Then I went through the program, learned a ton, fundraised enough to survive and then started to work on MobyDish. Which were your marketing strategies to grow your business?I’d say there are not many secrets to growth. Combining techniques and doing it the right way by paying attention to details and knowing what you do is key.I’ve always been good at multitasking, and quick growth, to me, means combining many channels, then focus on the ones that work for your business.My main idea though as always trying to create a strong brand, and it has a lot to do with growth. People need to be emotionally attached to what I create. Long term, it decreases marketing costs, increases retention and organic growth.Online Marketing (SEO, Adwords, Blog, Content creation)Find out who your target is, what keywords they’re looking for when they have the pain points you’re trying to solve.Address these pain points through blog articles, short sentences for SEO and ads, etc. Establish your credibility by sending these in newsletters or on social media.Direct sales:Almost everything can be automated or outsourced nowadays. But when I started I did learn by doing all of it myself. Although I hadn’t realized how important it was to start with a good list of leads. Talking to salespeople I quickly came up with ideas on how to automate SDR, Follow up and Sales pitch.Constant email tweaks, A/B testing and looking at opening rates/conversion rate is key.Product growth:Just think about ways your users can recommend you or add gamification for stickiness and make your users feel great about your product. Then when you make them feel great, invite them to talk about your product to someone else! I always use the Candy crush example. People love playing it because they feel great about themselves when they’re playing it. It’s fairly easy but challenging sometimes, and most and foremost, you get animations and congratulations for almost everything you’re doing. The game keeps praising your actions!I also like to make others laugh or feel good about themselves so the notifications in Trackin are pretty funny and different from what you would read in standard SAAS.Getting a sense of self-improvement, especially regarding sales was amazing. Finding the right introductory sentence to get to talk to a manager and by-pass employees, being aware of what to answer based on questions, being able to read people concerns, see their reactions to the features we knew they would love...were all great feelings.Today with MobyDish, I love to hear customers from Silicon Valley (used to deal with the best products) how they enjoy working with us VS companies like Doordash, Caviar or others. Because these companies have raised millions and are hundreds, when we’re super small, profitable and mainly backed by angels, and still being the company they like most. Another funny fact is that some of the biggest VCs in Silicon Valley that have invested in these food companies, are using MobyDish to feed themselves :) What were the biggest challenges you faced and obstacles you overcame?Deciding to leave the life I’ve built in San Francisco to start Trackin was already a big step. I am an entrepreneur and wanted to get back to that life, but this time it meant giving up on a visa, job, life, friends, cheap place etc.Then getting back to France, it was hard for people to understand my ambitions, I kept hearing that I should start “slowly and not aim too high and slow down on international expansion”Follow your guts when you hear people telling you that it’s not the right thing to do and how to approach things is tough, because some people will be right about some aspects of your business, but some people will be wrong...so how do you know which one to listen to?Deciding to keep working on this adventure alone was another big challenge, and it has been since then. Getting into YC, talking to investors, managing your company...you are expected to do as well as other companies, even though you’re alone. I’ll always remember Michael Seibel during the program explaining to the batch how solo founders are supposed to be “superheroes” because expectations are at least the same and nobody will help out. Although I feel very fortunate, because looking back, I have learned so much about everything related to creating and growing a business: management, sales, hiring, marketing, accounting, technology, customer support, scalability, fundraising etc. There are days I wish I had more time to be a normal CEO, but overall, it’s a huge chance to be able to lead a growing company by yourself, because the amount of new skills you get is extremely valuable and will help you not only in your business life but also in your personal life. Everything becomes so easy!The last biggest challenge I had to face was being in the food space. We came late in the game and humans are not really objectives...After some bad investments were made, and after some companies failed, (mainly because of lack of business models and leadership), food suddenly became a ‘bad’ market. Which forced me to build a business sustainable and profitable right away instead of taking the VC shortcut.But at the end of the day, it made us stronger and we have solid foundations to scale! Which are your greatest disadvantages?I guess my last paragraph above answers this question.Being a solo founder, in the food space in the most expensive city of the world is not ‘ideal’ facing some of the most founded companies in that space.Luckily for us, things are doing great! :) During the process of building & growing Trackin, which were the worst mistakes you committed?I’ve made huge hiring mistakes, multiple times, always ended well though, because I don’t think like you win anything by fighting with people for your ego. And I kept people for too long in the team when I knew they weren’t performing.We also made mistakes regarding our first targets with Trackin: we wanted to build the product for chains, but started talking to small businesses, so developed features based on their feedback, then realized chains were making more sense as target, but needed different features and had longer sales cycles. After trying to sell to chains and talking to experimented investors, I realized that to build a solid business I should sell to small businesses. A lot of them. Chains would ask for custom features and would take tons of time to make decisions, payments etc. Plus, they would represent a high percentage of your revenue and losing one of them could be meaning laying of people.Another mistake I’ve made was spending too much time to get money from government, loans, and contests. This is honestly all bullshit. It’s not because you’re winning contests that customers will show up, love your product and pay you. Contests are only good to have press articles and to get some credibility but it’s not a long-term strategy. This is still a common mistake made by entrepreneurs. The money helped me start hiring people, but the paperwork needed for it and still needed today wasn’t worth it.Keeping people too long in your team when you know they are creating problems or not performing the way you want is also a big mistake. I’ve tried to help and change too many people, at some point you can’t help everybody and need to hire people that will bring great things since day 1, especially in a startup. Then in a big corporation, you can do the opposite.Last but not least, as a co-founder of a company before Trackin, I’ve built the product with my engineers and my CEO without actually talking to the market. We thought we knew what people wanted when we actually didn’t.We spent almost a year building a product that didn’t make any sense to the market we targeted and closed almost as soon after we “launched”. Apart from mistakes, what are other sources of learning you would recommend for entrepreneurs who are just starting?I think that learning from books is a great start, although it’s not always easy to remember everything and apply it in your life. If the book tells you to do one thing when a situation shows up, and if your emotions are taking over your brain or you just simply can’t remember what it was, then you’ll make the same mistakes again. Having some kind of routine to digest new lessons learned and what to do based on a specific situation is very important.I like to plan ahead and have a vision of what I want to do with my company long term, but it’s also very important to set shorter term goals, that will take you there and try to reach them. You’ll face new challenges that you will have to solve. Being highly focused on solving these problems one at a time, one after another and cut the distractions, will allow you to reach your main goal, then the next one and so on.As you’re facing these problems, you can then look for answers in books or ask people that have been through similar issues.Then looking back, you’ll realize how far you’ve gone.You can get to smart people from networks of entrepreneurs, incubators, alumnis of your school, or just shoot an email to someone you really want to talk to. Explain why you’re asking for his/her help. Entrepreneurs who started from scratch usually enjoy sharing their knowledge and experiences. Where can we go to learn more?You can learn more about Mobydish here. You can visit Tracking here, but we’re not accepting new customers at the moment. And one day, I’ll have time again to share all my knowledge on my website! Original interview published at https://www.failory.com/mistakes/trackin

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How To Work And Travel The World: 10 Helpful Tools

The difference between office and remote jobs is not in the place of work but in the freedom and responsibility. There is no boss who forces you to work and pays the salary at the end of the month. On the contrary, remote workers get paid only for what they actually do. The competition is harsh: there are millions of orders and potential executors so you have to fight for your client.

Three years ago, I left my office job and after a few attempts, I decided to stick to online marketing. Over this period of time, I tried a lot of useful digital tools that helped me to deal with the freelancing duties more efficiently.

In this article, I decided to present you the 10 most productive online tools that can improve the capabilities of any remote worker.

10 Tools to make you a Super-Efficient Remote Worker

It doesn’t matter if you are a copywriter, content manager, blogger, translator, marketer, online teacher, or even a website developer – all these tools can make you better at what you do. Let’s check them out one by one.

Learning Tools:

Udemy

Udemy is a global learning and tutoring platform which offers more than 55 thousand courses. It allows you to gain new knowledge from anywhere in the world with expert help from professional instructors. This is extremely practical if you want the opportunity to obtain new freelance occupation and become eligible for more job openings. Using one of Udemy’s courses three years ago, I got acquainted with alternative ways to prepare and implement social media campaigns.

Duolingo

Learning languages while traveling around the world is the best combination to meet different cultures. Duolingo is a digital language learning source that guides you through the basic elements of foreign languages with its friendly user interface and simple functions. I used Duolingo successfully to strengthen my Italian before going to Rome for a few months. It is based on amusing gamification elements and learning through visualization. The navigation is easy and takes you directly to the in-app grammar and vocabulary practices.

Planning Tools:

Trello

Planning and time management play an essential role in the life of every remote worker. In that regards, you can use Trello as the best agile management solution. Using this software, you can manage projects through the card board and get acquainted with each new phase of the working process. Trello is an excellent planning tool. When I started using it, it helped to see the big picture of all important processes in my life and helped me to determine the direction in which I want to grow

Rescue Time

Rescue Time is an online tool that improves your everyday habits and makes you more productive in general. I wasn’t even aware of my daily activities and behavior patterns before I started using Rescue Time. It helped me to eliminate distractions such as social networks and other features on my computer. In that regard, Rescue Time monitors your progress over time and you can improve even further once you get used to this way of thinking.

Financial Management Tools:

On the Job

Remote workers usually can’t keep an eye on their finances easily – or at least I know I can’t. That’s why I suggest you use an app like On the Job, which can assist you in time tracking and invoicing. It makes your personal finances simpler and you won’t struggle with multiple currencies or hourly rates. All you have to do is to set your preferences in On the Job and it will do all of the necessary calculations related to your work.

Invoice Ninja

Recently I had something like five or six different clients at the same time and it was hard to manage all those bills and payments. Invoice Ninja is a high-quality open-source platform with elements like online invoices, payment alerts, due dates, and other valuable features. I must admit that it set me free from everyday accounting work. It doesn’t only make your financial transactions a lot easier but also a lot faster than traditional payment services.

Presentation tools:

24 Slides

  Presentations are one of the basic models of communication for many professionals, especially marketers. 24 Slides is the presentation design tool with all of the essential graphic design elements. The developers of this app created it to avoid seeing boring slides all over the Internet. To be honest, I also exploited many of these standard templates regularly. However, 24 Slides offered me some fresh and creative template solutions, images, and visuals to make presentations much more attractive than usual.

Superior Papers

Superior Papers is a group of professionals from various fields of expertise who can help you to create a concept for the presentation and eventually execute the project on their own successfully. From marketing, over finances, all the way to science and IT industry, Best Dissertations offers you a full set of ideas that can make your presentation look perfect. Once I had to deal with the unknown topic of mobile app branding and these guys made sure that I don’t embarrass myself.

Web Development Tools:

Coda

Coda is the web development application for macOS. As an amateur in this field, I still managed to handle this tool for coding, testing, and reference, which means that it’s really simple. With its six units, web developers get an efficient text editing tool. Coda allows you to open and handle your files both locally and remotely. It has a simple user interface – a very convenient feature for remote workers who travel a lot.

Espresso

Espresso is the Mac web editor. It has numerous interesting website development features and gives you the opportunity to get creative at work. You can design and combine various elements, while Espresso makes real-time saves and updates. With this app, it is easy to customize the toolbar and make several changes at once.

Conclusion

Remote work gives you a lot of freedom but also the responsibility to manage your time successfully. In order to get the job done, you often need some kind of help. Fortunately, you can find it in some of many online tools. In this article, I presented you the 10 most fruitful tools that can help you to work and travel at the same time. Give them a try and let me know in the comments which ones you liked the most.

The post How To Work And Travel The World: 10 Helpful Tools appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

How To Work And Travel The World: 10 Helpful Tools syndicated from https://aspiringgentlemanblog.wordpress.com/

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12 Growth Hacking Techniques You Can Try This Week

Traditional marketing is getting a facelift.

Not the scary kind, where you can’t move your eyebrows anymore — but the kind where you look well-rested and ten years younger, and no one can put their finger on the reason why.

Smart organizations recognize the need to change how they spend their time and money to increase brand exposure and cement their footprint in the market.

Every strategy and every dollar spent should point toward one goal: growth.

Digital consumption of information by consumers is on the rise. With that comes a prolific increase in competition for organizations of all ages and sizes.

Consumers are drowning in choices.

So how do companies like Slack knock it out of the park in today’s competitive SaaS market?

We’ve all witnessed their Cinderella stories and wished we were in on their secret.

The truth is, it’s not a secret.

It’s a combination of hard work and knowing where and how to meet your audience.

Here are 12 growth hacking techniques you can start doing right now to see immediate results and leave the competition in your rear view.

1. Blog like your brand depends on it (because it does)

Customers can’t love you if they can’t find you.

If you haven’t already started a blog, fire one up and start writing today.

Blogging is one of the least expensive, simplest ways to get in front of an audience and connect with influencers.

Today’s consumer goes straight to the Internet for information at the outset of the buying process before they ever consider talking to a human.

Meet them there.

Just do everyone a favor, please: don’t launch a great blog with a few weeks’ worth of mindblowing content and then neglect to write another word.

Once you hook your readers, they’ll want to hear from you on a regular basis.

The more content they read about your brand, the more likely they are to trust you, choose you and recommend you to their friends.

If you disappear, so will your readers.

2. Conduct experiments

Now that you’ve got a blogging strategy and your website is up and running, it’s time to take a close look at how consumers are responding (or not responding) to you.

So dust off that Bunsen burner, growth hacker — it’s time to experiment. You’ll be glad you did.

Whether it’s A/B testing your homepage content or seeing which email subject lines resonate with readers, experimentation can uncover quick fixes that lead to big results.

Here’s a real-world example: InsightSquared recently evaluated their long forms and the data they asked for from readers.

After removing one measly field (phone number), they saw an uptake in conversions of 112%.

Simple tweak. Huge impact.

Need some help getting started with your first experiment? Check out HubSpot’s marketing growth experimentation template for some ideas.

3. Be a shameless self-promoter

Vince Lombardi said “Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.”

Ask for guest posting opportunities and backlinks. And be gracious with linking back and cross promotion to other like-minded experts in return.

It’s intimidating to pitch your content to the people and brands you look up to, but remember that you are the foremost expert on your products and services.

No one knows what you do like you do.

Your confidence will not go unnoticed by influencers, and your pervasiveness will catch the attention of prospects.

Be everywhere.

It’s free publicity for your brand with the added “halo effect” that comes from being in the same club with established influencers.

Check out online communities and forums that relate to your business and start actively posting helpful information in them. No gratuitous selling, though. You’re just there to be helpful.

Trust comes first. Pitches come later.

And remember, once you’ve made it big in the world of “digital somebodies,” don’t neglect to pay it forward with others who are just getting their start. Throw them some backlinks and guest posting opportunities.

Relationships are one of the most valuable currencies in growth hacking.

4. Find the low-hanging fruit

Periodically, it’s wise to take a step back from your marketing strategy to check out the big picture.

What areas are falling a little flat?

Where could you improve engagement?

Buffer recently ran a test to see which variant of a blog headline would create the most interest.

By adding one data point to their original headline, they increased click-through rates by over 40%.

But as you uncover tactics that aren’t performing the way you’d like, don’t panic. No need to torch them and start from scratch.

With some incremental adjustments and a little A/B testing, you can turn those naughty little underperformers into shining stars.

The key is to dig deep into the nooks and crannies of your data and use it to take action.

Start by taking a look at your lead funnel.

Are you making it easy enough for prospects to give you their information at the top of your funnel?

What do you do with those leads once they’re in the funnel? Make sure you aren’t letting them slip through the cracks. They may not all be juicy leads, but don’t rule them out for future nurture campaigns.

Lastly, do you know where exactly it is that leads fall out of your funnel? When do prospects stop engaging with you?

Search for the holes in your process and start plugging them with fresh tactics.

Now stop, test your results and watch for a lift in growth.

Funnel hacking isn’t an exact science, but the basic equation tends to follow an “identify, adjust, repeat” model.

While funnel hacking and A/B testing alone may not supercharge growth immediately, they will shine a light on your weak spots to make your strategy better over time.

5. Create an email stockpile

Email marketing is the growth hacker’s secret weapon, and still one of the fastest-growing marketing channels.

Over 91% of consumers check their email at least once a day, and over two-thirds of those consumers will purchase as a direct result of an email they receive.

Email marketing actually has an average ROI of almost $44 for each $1 spent.

Crazy, right?

From a revenue generation perspective, email is the monster truck of purchasing vehicles. And best of all, it’s relatively simple and inexpensive to use.

Here’s the key: your email marketing strategy is only as good as your email list.

Don’t know where to start?

First, are you asking for email addresses?

Start asking. No one is going to offer that information.

Consumers are flooded with emails they didn’t ask for and won’t read.

They hang on to their contact information like a Kardashian clinging to youth. Your job is to coax them into giving it to you.

If you don’t have a clear, visible opt-in form on your website and blog, add one today.

For extra “notice me” power, add a polite pop-up or exit intent form with an offer they can’t refuse (like a free piece of content or a discount).

This is also an easy way to test conversion points.

Are you getting sign-ups on certain web pages and not others?

Losing readers as soon as they hit your homepage?

Dig around in the data to find out where you’re weak, and then entice your audience to give you a chance.

Play around with different types of content.

Do your readers prefer infographics? Do they like a little more text?

Have you tried embedding video? According to Hootsuite, over 72% of businesses who use video say that it has increased their website conversion rates.

Again, don’t be afraid to experiment a little to find your secret sauce.

Another email hoarding goldmine is social media.

Make it easy for readers to sign up to your subscriber list with one click. Ask for an email address in every unique place that you interact with your audience.

Once you’ve gotten your ambitious little hands on this beautiful pile of email addresses, use them wisely.

Every email you send should provide value and leave your readers wanting to hear from you again.

6. Poke your audience in the grey matter

Studies have shown that when readers are asked a question, they almost feel obligated to answer. Why is that? (See what we did there?)

The human brain is stimulated by questions and the desire to provide answers to them.

Gamification has always been an effective marketing channel, thanks to a basic human desire to be right and to win.

Use this to your advantage by pulling your audience in with quizzes and polls to spark engagement and camaraderie with your brand.

Make the content entertaining, but make sure you keep the mantra of providing value in mind.

This is your chance to let your particular brand freak flag fly. Show your personality. Be an actual human being with an actual sense of humor. Be memorable.

And once you’ve hooked your audience and gathered their information, make sure your quiz or poll is shareable with others in one click.

Good quizzes offer immediate gratification to your audience and give them a chance to stroke their own egos a bit.

More exposure for you, fun for your readers, and a simple way to create buzz about your brand.

7. Don’t hate, integrate

Sure, you know your product is the best thing since sliced bread.

But what if you took that awesome-sauce to the next level by partnering with a company that complements yours?

You get access to a new customer base, and your integration partner gets to extend what their solution can do to solve problems and draw in new buyers.

More value for customers, more cross-marketing for your brand and more doors opening to potential new markets.

Bonus points if you can integrate with a social platform.

It not only makes your product way easier for consumers to access and use, but it opens the door for shared content, audience engagement, and faster growth.

Check out this example of sleek social media integration from RevNGo.

They have a strong call to action, clearly stated benefits, and a simple sign-up process:

You don’t need a massive marketing budget to leverage social media.

Its accessibility levels the marketing budget playing field. Even the smallest of businesses have the potential to go viral with one well-timed, shareable post.

If you can integrate your email marketing efforts with your social media outreach, you’ll get even more bang for your marketing buck. Double the exposure and content reach.

And don’t forget to flaunt your social proof with inline social widgets that prove your social media popularity and point users to the friends who already love your brand.

8. Be contagious (in the best way)

What’s the predominant feature of a loop? It never ends.

Viral loops work much the same way.

One user recommends or “loops” in another; they loop in a few more people and before you know it, your user base has exploded into exponential growth.

To get the ball rolling (or the loop…looping?), you might offer users an incentive to get friends or co-workers to join.

For SaaS companies, a great place to start is pitching the value of your solution to decision makers within organizations.

Offer a free trial to get a few teams using your solution, and then ask to be the solution of choice for the entire business.

On average, six out of ten free trials convert to paid subscriptions.

IT leaders and administrators are sick and tired of disparate, rogue business tools that are hard to keep track of and don’t connect their employees.

Your job is to become the one, “official” solution and create that viral loop of growth as new employees and business units come on board.

For social or individual consumer solutions, add a layer of gamification where users “win” by inviting new users and earn online badges or free services.

Take it even further by appealing to social consciences.

Offer to donate to charity or some other good deed in exchange for users sharing your solution with others who sign up.

It creates goodwill with your audience, and it literally makes the world a better place.

Full disclosure: viral loops are hard to pull off.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, though. Especially if you’re a SaaS company with an easy sign-up process and the right incentives and referrals in place.

It may take a bit of testing to see what your audience responds to, but once you get the momentum going, the sky is the limit.

9. Show your customers a good time

It might sound basic, but each bad consumer experience is a nail in your business growth coffin.

Don’t let a sloppy foundation topple your growth hacking strategy.

First thing’s first: how is your site speed? Does it take forever to load pages and graphics? If so, fix it. Fix it now. You have a very short window to catch the attention of your readers. Don’t squander it with slow site speeds. Run some quick analytics to gauge your current site performance.

Secondly, how’s that homepage looking? If you have enough text to bore Tolstoy, it’s time to trim it back. Simply state who you are, and how you’re going to solve your customer’s problems. You don’t have to cram an entire site’s worth of content on your homepage.

Lastly, make sure you remember your current customers with the user experience. Make it easy for them to navigate to the content they need, and keep the shiny new prospect marketing hooks separate from it.If you advertise a developer forum for customers, point them to it. Offer an open API library? Make it easy for your customers to access.

Walk each step of your prospect and customer experience as if you’re seeing the information for the first time, and take a long, hard look at the impression you’re making.

After you make some honest adjustments, ask an objective third party (or a helpful customer) to walk through the experience and offer candid insight.

Target a few users and ask them for interviews using a tool like Survey Monkey’s Website Feedback template.

And thicken up that skin. You can take it. You’re a growth hacker.

10. Recycle everything

You’re socially and environmentally responsible. You are aware of your carbon footprint. You reduce, reuse and recycle.

Hats off to you, green friend, but there is another type of recycling that leads to quick growth: content recycling.

69% of marketers say they don’t have enough time to create enough great content.

Time to repurpose.

Take a look at the content you’ve produced.

What has the most engagement? What consistently gets shared and quoted and adored by the masses?

Take that little piece of marketing brilliance and multiply it.

Look at how Copyblogger used a great piece of content in three different ways:

The 3-Step Journey of a Remarkable Piece of Content from Copyblogger.com

If it’s a blog, create an infographic out of it. If it’s a customer testimonial, ask the customer if they would write a guest blog or sit for a video interview.

Great content can be molded in many different ways to appeal to many types of consumers.

Don’t limit your great ideas to one marketing bucket. See how many times you can flavor the same great idea to keep it fresh and working hard for your brand.

11. Create community, not tyranny

One of the most overlooked growth hacking techniques is the simple value of letting your customers promote your brand for you.

Social communities are an easy way to help your users engage with your brand and each other.

The trick to fostering a successful community is to stay engaged without being intrusive.

You’ll need to initiate conversations (especially at the outset) and respond quickly to questions, but try to stay out of the way and let your community feed itself. Take Buffer, for example. They are huge proponents of community with loyal advocates to show for it.

Your job is to offer support, show community members love with periodic discounts or swag and to point new users to your thriving tribe of users.

As tempting as it may be to lead the group in a certain direction, don’t.

When your users are invested in your brand, they will willingly engage with other users. Give them ample reason to remain invested and then back off.

Delighted customers tell your story better than you ever could.

12. Bask in the glow of praise

Organizations can talk all day about the magnificence of their own products and services. But after a point (and very quickly), it’s just noise.

Instead, the savviest growth hackers know the fastest way to a prospect’s heart is a good customer testimonial.

Here’s the catch — while you want happy customers to provide these endorsements, you absolutely cannot incentivize them, bribe them, coerce them or guilt them into saying nice things they don’t mean.

Don’t be that company.

It’s miserably obvious when a customer is being strong-armed into a positive review (not to mention incredibly off-putting).

Instead, find the customers that you’ve done a great job with.

The ones whose implementations and user experiences have been smooth. The ones who are comfortable coming to you when there is a bump in the road because they know you’ll fix it.

And then let them tell their story their way.

The legitimacy will speak for itself, and the credibility you’ll build with prospects will pay off far more than a cheesy infomercial testimonial ever would.

Conclusion

In the words of the great Bob Dylan, “the times, they are a-changin’.”

Growth hacking isn’t just a fancy buzzword you can ignore while you shake your fist at the heavens and pull your pants up higher.

Competition, especially among SaaS companies, is everywhere, and consumers have more choices than ever before. You can’t afford to write a few whitepapers and sit back on your laurels.

Make everything you do about solving problems, growing your audience and extending your brand.

Great products and services certainly help sell themselves, but you need to set that growth plan in motion.

Recruit customer evangelists. Partner with like-minded companies. Create content with wild abandon. Set yourself apart with world-class customer support.

With so many simple ways to launch growth, there has never been a more exciting time to see what your brand can really do.

What growth hacking techniques have worked for your business?

About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital.

http://ift.tt/2CiulWg from MarketingRSS http://ift.tt/2EPoW6z via Youtube

[reputationiseverything]

12 Growth Hacking Techniques You Can Try This Week

email marketing 2017 trends

Traditional marketing is getting a facelift.

Not the scary kind, where you can’t move your eyebrows anymore — but the kind where you look well-rested and ten years younger, and no one can put their finger on the reason why.

Smart organizations recognize the need to change how they spend their time and money to increase brand exposure and cement their footprint in the market.

Every strategy and every dollar spent should point toward one goal: growth.

Digital consumption of information by consumers is on the rise. With that comes a prolific increase in competition for organizations of all ages and sizes.

Consumers are drowning in choices.

So how do companies like Slack knock it out of the park in today’s competitive SaaS market?

We’ve all witnessed their Cinderella stories and wished we were in on their secret.

The truth is, it’s not a secret.

It’s a combination of hard work and knowing where and how to meet your audience.

Here are 12 growth hacking techniques you can start doing right now to see immediate results and leave the competition in your rear view.

1. Blog like your brand depends on it (because it does)

Customers can’t love you if they can’t find you.

If you haven’t already started a blog, fire one up and start writing today.

Blogging is one of the least expensive, simplest ways to get in front of an audience and connect with influencers.

Today’s consumer goes straight to the Internet for information at the outset of the buying process before they ever consider talking to a human.

Meet them there.

Just do everyone a favor, please: don’t launch a great blog with a few weeks’ worth of mindblowing content and then neglect to write another word.

Once you hook your readers, they’ll want to hear from you on a regular basis.

The more content they read about your brand, the more likely they are to trust you, choose you and recommend you to their friends.

If you disappear, so will your readers.

2. Conduct experiments

Now that you’ve got a blogging strategy and your website is up and running, it’s time to take a close look at how consumers are responding (or not responding) to you.

So dust off that Bunsen burner, growth hacker — it’s time to experiment. You’ll be glad you did.

Whether it’s A/B testing your homepage content or seeing which email subject lines resonate with readers, experimentation can uncover quick fixes that lead to big results.

Here’s a real-world example: InsightSquared recently evaluated their long forms and the data they asked for from readers.

After removing one measly field (phone number), they saw an uptake in conversions of 112%.

Simple tweak. Huge impact.

Need some help getting started with your first experiment? Check out HubSpot’s marketing growth experimentation template for some ideas.

3. Be a shameless self-promoter

Vince Lombardi said “Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.”

Ask for guest posting opportunities and backlinks. And be gracious with linking back and cross promotion to other like-minded experts in return.

It’s intimidating to pitch your content to the people and brands you look up to, but remember that you are the foremost expert on your products and services.

No one knows what you do like you do.

Your confidence will not go unnoticed by influencers, and your pervasiveness will catch the attention of prospects.

Be everywhere.

It’s free publicity for your brand with the added “halo effect” that comes from being in the same club with established influencers.

Check out online communities and forums that relate to your business and start actively posting helpful information in them. No gratuitous selling, though. You’re just there to be helpful.

Trust comes first. Pitches come later.

And remember, once you’ve made it big in the world of “digital somebodies,” don’t neglect to pay it forward with others who are just getting their start. Throw them some backlinks and guest posting opportunities.

Relationships are one of the most valuable currencies in growth hacking.

4. Find the low-hanging fruit

Periodically, it’s wise to take a step back from your marketing strategy to check out the big picture.

What areas are falling a little flat?

Where could you improve engagement?

Buffer recently ran a test to see which variant of a blog headline would create the most interest.

By adding one data point to their original headline, they increased click-through rates by over 40%.

But as you uncover tactics that aren’t performing the way you’d like, don’t panic. No need to torch them and start from scratch.

With some incremental adjustments and a little A/B testing, you can turn those naughty little underperformers into shining stars.

The key is to dig deep into the nooks and crannies of your data and use it to take action.

Start by taking a look at your lead funnel.

Are you making it easy enough for prospects to give you their information at the top of your funnel?

What do you do with those leads once they’re in the funnel? Make sure you aren’t letting them slip through the cracks. They may not all be juicy leads, but don’t rule them out for future nurture campaigns.

Lastly, do you know where exactly it is that leads fall out of your funnel? When do prospects stop engaging with you?

Search for the holes in your process and start plugging them with fresh tactics.

Now stop, test your results and watch for a lift in growth.

Funnel hacking isn’t an exact science, but the basic equation tends to follow an “identify, adjust, repeat” model.

While funnel hacking and A/B testing alone may not supercharge growth immediately, they will shine a light on your weak spots to make your strategy better over time.

5. Create an email stockpile

Email marketing is the growth hacker’s secret weapon, and still one of the fastest-growing marketing channels.

Over 91% of consumers check their email at least once a day, and over two-thirds of those consumers will purchase as a direct result of an email they receive.

Email marketing actually has an average ROI of almost $44 for each $1 spent.

Crazy, right?

From a revenue generation perspective, email is the monster truck of purchasing vehicles. And best of all, it’s relatively simple and inexpensive to use.

Here’s the key: your email marketing strategy is only as good as your email list.

Don’t know where to start?

First, are you asking for email addresses?

Start asking. No one is going to offer that information.

Consumers are flooded with emails they didn’t ask for and won’t read.

They hang on to their contact information like a Kardashian clinging to youth. Your job is to coax them into giving it to you.

If you don’t have a clear, visible opt-in form on your website and blog, add one today.

For extra “notice me” power, add a polite pop-up or exit intent form with an offer they can’t refuse (like a free piece of content or a discount).

This is also an easy way to test conversion points.

Are you getting sign-ups on certain web pages and not others?

Losing readers as soon as they hit your homepage?

Dig around in the data to find out where you’re weak, and then entice your audience to give you a chance.

Play around with different types of content.

Do your readers prefer infographics? Do they like a little more text?

Have you tried embedding video? According to Hootsuite, over 72% of businesses who use video say that it has increased their website conversion rates.

Again, don’t be afraid to experiment a little to find your secret sauce.

Another email hoarding goldmine is social media.

Make it easy for readers to sign up to your subscriber list with one click. Ask for an email address in every unique place that you interact with your audience.

Once you’ve gotten your ambitious little hands on this beautiful pile of email addresses, use them wisely.

Every email you send should provide value and leave your readers wanting to hear from you again.

6. Poke your audience in the grey matter

Studies have shown that when readers are asked a question, they almost feel obligated to answer. Why is that? (See what we did there?)

The human brain is stimulated by questions and the desire to provide answers to them.

Gamification has always been an effective marketing channel, thanks to a basic human desire to be right and to win.

Use this to your advantage by pulling your audience in with quizzes and polls to spark engagement and camaraderie with your brand.

Make the content entertaining, but make sure you keep the mantra of providing value in mind.

This is your chance to let your particular brand freak flag fly. Show your personality. Be an actual human being with an actual sense of humor. Be memorable.

And once you’ve hooked your audience and gathered their information, make sure your quiz or poll is shareable with others in one click.

Good quizzes offer immediate gratification to your audience and give them a chance to stroke their own egos a bit.

More exposure for you, fun for your readers, and a simple way to create buzz about your brand.

7. Don’t hate, integrate

Sure, you know your product is the best thing since sliced bread.

But what if you took that awesome-sauce to the next level by partnering with a company that complements yours?

You get access to a new customer base, and your integration partner gets to extend what their solution can do to solve problems and draw in new buyers.

More value for customers, more cross-marketing for your brand and more doors opening to potential new markets.

Bonus points if you can integrate with a social platform.

It not only makes your product way easier for consumers to access and use, but it opens the door for shared content, audience engagement, and faster growth.

Check out this example of sleek social media integration from RevNGo.

They have a strong call to action, clearly stated benefits, and a simple sign-up process:

You don’t need a massive marketing budget to leverage social media.

Its accessibility levels the marketing budget playing field. Even the smallest of businesses have the potential to go viral with one well-timed, shareable post.

If you can integrate your email marketing efforts with your social media outreach, you’ll get even more bang for your marketing buck. Double the exposure and content reach.

And don’t forget to flaunt your social proof with inline social widgets that prove your social media popularity and point users to the friends who already love your brand.

8. Be contagious (in the best way)

What’s the predominant feature of a loop? It never ends.

Viral loops work much the same way.

One user recommends or “loops” in another; they loop in a few more people and before you know it, your user base has exploded into exponential growth.

To get the ball rolling (or the loop…looping?), you might offer users an incentive to get friends or co-workers to join.

For SaaS companies, a great place to start is pitching the value of your solution to decision makers within organizations.

Offer a free trial to get a few teams using your solution, and then ask to be the solution of choice for the entire business.

On average, six out of ten free trials convert to paid subscriptions.

IT leaders and administrators are sick and tired of disparate, rogue business tools that are hard to keep track of and don’t connect their employees.

Your job is to become the one, “official” solution and create that viral loop of growth as new employees and business units come on board.

For social or individual consumer solutions, add a layer of gamification where users “win” by inviting new users and earn online badges or free services.

Take it even further by appealing to social consciences.

Offer to donate to charity or some other good deed in exchange for users sharing your solution with others who sign up.

It creates goodwill with your audience, and it literally makes the world a better place.

Full disclosure: viral loops are hard to pull off.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, though. Especially if you’re a SaaS company with an easy sign-up process and the right incentives and referrals in place.

It may take a bit of testing to see what your audience responds to, but once you get the momentum going, the sky is the limit.

9. Show your customers a good time

It might sound basic, but each bad consumer experience is a nail in your business growth coffin.

Don’t let a sloppy foundation topple your growth hacking strategy.

First thing’s first: how is your site speed? Does it take forever to load pages and graphics? If so, fix it. Fix it now. You have a very short window to catch the attention of your readers. Don’t squander it with slow site speeds. Run some quick analytics to gauge your current site performance.

Secondly, how’s that homepage looking? If you have enough text to bore Tolstoy, it’s time to trim it back. Simply state who you are, and how you’re going to solve your customer’s problems. You don’t have to cram an entire site’s worth of content on your homepage.

Lastly, make sure you remember your current customers with the user experience. Make it easy for them to navigate to the content they need, and keep the shiny new prospect marketing hooks separate from it.If you advertise a developer forum for customers, point them to it. Offer an open API library? Make it easy for your customers to access.

Walk each step of your prospect and customer experience as if you’re seeing the information for the first time, and take a long, hard look at the impression you’re making.

After you make some honest adjustments, ask an objective third party (or a helpful customer) to walk through the experience and offer candid insight.

Target a few users and ask them for interviews using a tool like Survey Monkey’s Website Feedback template.

And thicken up that skin. You can take it. You’re a growth hacker.

10. Recycle everything

You’re socially and environmentally responsible. You are aware of your carbon footprint. You reduce, reuse and recycle.

Hats off to you, green friend, but there is another type of recycling that leads to quick growth: content recycling.

69% of marketers say they don’t have enough time to create enough great content.

Time to repurpose.

Take a look at the content you’ve produced.

What has the most engagement? What consistently gets shared and quoted and adored by the masses?

Take that little piece of marketing brilliance and multiply it.

Look at how Copyblogger used a great piece of content in three different ways:

The 3-Step Journey of a Remarkable Piece of Content from Copyblogger.com

If it’s a blog, create an infographic out of it. If it’s a customer testimonial, ask the customer if they would write a guest blog or sit for a video interview.

Great content can be molded in many different ways to appeal to many types of consumers.

Don’t limit your great ideas to one marketing bucket. See how many times you can flavor the same great idea to keep it fresh and working hard for your brand.

11. Create community, not tyranny

One of the most overlooked growth hacking techniques is the simple value of letting your customers promote your brand for you.

Social communities are an easy way to help your users engage with your brand and each other.

The trick to fostering a successful community is to stay engaged without being intrusive.

You’ll need to initiate conversations (especially at the outset) and respond quickly to questions, but try to stay out of the way and let your community feed itself. Take Buffer, for example. They are huge proponents of community with loyal advocates to show for it.

Your job is to offer support, show community members love with periodic discounts or swag and to point new users to your thriving tribe of users.

As tempting as it may be to lead the group in a certain direction, don’t.

When your users are invested in your brand, they will willingly engage with other users. Give them ample reason to remain invested and then back off.

Delighted customers tell your story better than you ever could.

12. Bask in the glow of praise

Organizations can talk all day about the magnificence of their own products and services. But after a point (and very quickly), it’s just noise.

Instead, the savviest growth hackers know the fastest way to a prospect’s heart is a good customer testimonial.

Here’s the catch — while you want happy customers to provide these endorsements, you absolutely cannot incentivize them, bribe them, coerce them or guilt them into saying nice things they don’t mean.

Don’t be that company.

It’s miserably obvious when a customer is being strong-armed into a positive review (not to mention incredibly off-putting).

Instead, find the customers that you’ve done a great job with.

The ones whose implementations and user experiences have been smooth. The ones who are comfortable coming to you when there is a bump in the road because they know you’ll fix it.

And then let them tell their story their way.

The legitimacy will speak for itself, and the credibility you’ll build with prospects will pay off far more than a cheesy infomercial testimonial ever would.

Conclusion

In the words of the great Bob Dylan, “the times, they are a-changin’.”

Growth hacking isn’t just a fancy buzzword you can ignore while you shake your fist at the heavens and pull your pants up higher.

Competition, especially among SaaS companies, is everywhere, and consumers have more choices than ever before. You can’t afford to write a few whitepapers and sit back on your laurels.

Make everything you do about solving problems, growing your audience and extending your brand.

Great products and services certainly help sell themselves, but you need to set that growth plan in motion.

Recruit customer evangelists. Partner with like-minded companies. Create content with wild abandon. Set yourself apart with world-class customer support.

With so many simple ways to launch growth, there has never been a more exciting time to see what your brand can really do.

What growth hacking techniques have worked for your business?

About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital.

FaceBook

[reviewandbonuss]

12 Growth Hacking Techniques You Can Try This Week

Traditional marketing is getting a facelift.

Not the scary kind, where you can’t move your eyebrows anymore — but the kind where you look well-rested and ten years younger, and no one can put their finger on the reason why.

Smart organizations recognize the need to change how they spend their time and money to increase brand exposure and cement their footprint in the market.

Every strategy and every dollar spent should point toward one goal: growth.

Digital consumption of information by consumers is on the rise. With that comes a prolific increase in competition for organizations of all ages and sizes.

Consumers are drowning in choices.

So how do companies like Slack knock it out of the park in today’s competitive SaaS market?

We’ve all witnessed their Cinderella stories and wished we were in on their secret.

The truth is, it’s not a secret.

It’s a combination of hard work and knowing where and how to meet your audience.

Here are 12 growth hacking techniques you can start doing right now to see immediate results and leave the competition in your rear view.

1. Blog like your brand depends on it (because it does)

Customers can’t love you if they can’t find you.

If you haven’t already started a blog, fire one up and start writing today.

Blogging is one of the least expensive, simplest ways to get in front of an audience and connect with influencers.

Today’s consumer goes straight to the Internet for information at the outset of the buying process before they ever consider talking to a human.

Meet them there.

Just do everyone a favor, please: don’t launch a great blog with a few weeks’ worth of mindblowing content and then neglect to write another word.

Once you hook your readers, they’ll want to hear from you on a regular basis.

The more content they read about your brand, the more likely they are to trust you, choose you and recommend you to their friends.

If you disappear, so will your readers.

2. Conduct experiments

Now that you’ve got a blogging strategy and your website is up and running, it’s time to take a close look at how consumers are responding (or not responding) to you.

So dust off that Bunsen burner, growth hacker — it’s time to experiment. You’ll be glad you did.

Whether it’s A/B testing your homepage content or seeing which email subject lines resonate with readers, experimentation can uncover quick fixes that lead to big results.

Here’s a real-world example: InsightSquared recently evaluated their long forms and the data they asked for from readers.

After removing one measly field (phone number), they saw an uptake in conversions of 112%.

Simple tweak. Huge impact.

Need some help getting started with your first experiment? Check out HubSpot’s marketing growth experimentation template for some ideas.

3. Be a shameless self-promoter

Vince Lombardi said “Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.”

Ask for guest posting opportunities and backlinks. And be gracious with linking back and cross promotion to other like-minded experts in return.

It’s intimidating to pitch your content to the people and brands you look up to, but remember that you are the foremost expert on your products and services.

No one knows what you do like you do.

Your confidence will not go unnoticed by influencers, and your pervasiveness will catch the attention of prospects.

Be everywhere.

It’s free publicity for your brand with the added “halo effect” that comes from being in the same club with established influencers.

Check out online communities and forums that relate to your business and start actively posting helpful information in them. No gratuitous selling, though. You’re just there to be helpful.

Trust comes first. Pitches come later.

And remember, once you’ve made it big in the world of “digital somebodies,” don’t neglect to pay it forward with others who are just getting their start. Throw them some backlinks and guest posting opportunities.

Relationships are one of the most valuable currencies in growth hacking.

4. Find the low-hanging fruit

Periodically, it’s wise to take a step back from your marketing strategy to check out the big picture.

What areas are falling a little flat?

Where could you improve engagement?

Buffer recently ran a test to see which variant of a blog headline would create the most interest.

By adding one data point to their original headline, they increased click-through rates by over 40%.

But as you uncover tactics that aren’t performing the way you’d like, don’t panic. No need to torch them and start from scratch.

With some incremental adjustments and a little A/B testing, you can turn those naughty little underperformers into shining stars.

The key is to dig deep into the nooks and crannies of your data and use it to take action.

Start by taking a look at your lead funnel.

Are you making it easy enough for prospects to give you their information at the top of your funnel?

What do you do with those leads once they’re in the funnel? Make sure you aren’t letting them slip through the cracks. They may not all be juicy leads, but don’t rule them out for future nurture campaigns.

Lastly, do you know where exactly it is that leads fall out of your funnel? When do prospects stop engaging with you?

Search for the holes in your process and start plugging them with fresh tactics.

Now stop, test your results and watch for a lift in growth.

Funnel hacking isn’t an exact science, but the basic equation tends to follow an “identify, adjust, repeat” model.

While funnel hacking and A/B testing alone may not supercharge growth immediately, they will shine a light on your weak spots to make your strategy better over time.

5. Create an email stockpile

Email marketing is the growth hacker’s secret weapon, and still one of the fastest-growing marketing channels.

Over 91% of consumers check their email at least once a day, and over two-thirds of those consumers will purchase as a direct result of an email they receive.

Email marketing actually has an average ROI of almost $44 for each $1 spent.

Crazy, right?

From a revenue generation perspective, email is the monster truck of purchasing vehicles. And best of all, it’s relatively simple and inexpensive to use.

Here’s the key: your email marketing strategy is only as good as your email list.

Don’t know where to start?

First, are you asking for email addresses?

Start asking. No one is going to offer that information.

Consumers are flooded with emails they didn’t ask for and won’t read.

They hang on to their contact information like a Kardashian clinging to youth. Your job is to coax them into giving it to you.

If you don’t have a clear, visible opt-in form on your website and blog, add one today.

For extra “notice me” power, add a polite pop-up or exit intent form with an offer they can’t refuse (like a free piece of content or a discount).

This is also an easy way to test conversion points.

Are you getting sign-ups on certain web pages and not others?

Losing readers as soon as they hit your homepage?

Dig around in the data to find out where you’re weak, and then entice your audience to give you a chance.

Play around with different types of content.

Do your readers prefer infographics? Do they like a little more text?

Have you tried embedding video? According to Hootsuite, over 72% of businesses who use video say that it has increased their website conversion rates.

Again, don’t be afraid to experiment a little to find your secret sauce.

Another email hoarding goldmine is social media.

Make it easy for readers to sign up to your subscriber list with one click. Ask for an email address in every unique place that you interact with your audience.

Once you’ve gotten your ambitious little hands on this beautiful pile of email addresses, use them wisely.

Every email you send should provide value and leave your readers wanting to hear from you again.

6. Poke your audience in the grey matter

Studies have shown that when readers are asked a question, they almost feel obligated to answer. Why is that? (See what we did there?)

The human brain is stimulated by questions and the desire to provide answers to them.

Gamification has always been an effective marketing channel, thanks to a basic human desire to be right and to win.

Use this to your advantage by pulling your audience in with quizzes and polls to spark engagement and camaraderie with your brand.

Make the content entertaining, but make sure you keep the mantra of providing value in mind.

This is your chance to let your particular brand freak flag fly. Show your personality. Be an actual human being with an actual sense of humor. Be memorable.

And once you’ve hooked your audience and gathered their information, make sure your quiz or poll is shareable with others in one click.

Good quizzes offer immediate gratification to your audience and give them a chance to stroke their own egos a bit.

More exposure for you, fun for your readers, and a simple way to create buzz about your brand.

7. Don’t hate, integrate

Sure, you know your product is the best thing since sliced bread.

But what if you took that awesome-sauce to the next level by partnering with a company that complements yours?

You get access to a new customer base, and your integration partner gets to extend what their solution can do to solve problems and draw in new buyers.

More value for customers, more cross-marketing for your brand and more doors opening to potential new markets.

Bonus points if you can integrate with a social platform.

It not only makes your product way easier for consumers to access and use, but it opens the door for shared content, audience engagement, and faster growth.

Check out this example of sleek social media integration from RevNGo.

They have a strong call to action, clearly stated benefits, and a simple sign-up process:

You don’t need a massive marketing budget to leverage social media.

Its accessibility levels the marketing budget playing field. Even the smallest of businesses have the potential to go viral with one well-timed, shareable post.

If you can integrate your email marketing efforts with your social media outreach, you’ll get even more bang for your marketing buck. Double the exposure and content reach.

And don’t forget to flaunt your social proof with inline social widgets that prove your social media popularity and point users to the friends who already love your brand.

8. Be contagious (in the best way)

What’s the predominant feature of a loop? It never ends.

Viral loops work much the same way.

One user recommends or “loops” in another; they loop in a few more people and before you know it, your user base has exploded into exponential growth.

To get the ball rolling (or the loop…looping?), you might offer users an incentive to get friends or co-workers to join.

For SaaS companies, a great place to start is pitching the value of your solution to decision makers within organizations.

Offer a free trial to get a few teams using your solution, and then ask to be the solution of choice for the entire business.

On average, six out of ten free trials convert to paid subscriptions.

IT leaders and administrators are sick and tired of disparate, rogue business tools that are hard to keep track of and don’t connect their employees.

Your job is to become the one, “official” solution and create that viral loop of growth as new employees and business units come on board.

For social or individual consumer solutions, add a layer of gamification where users “win” by inviting new users and earn online badges or free services.

Take it even further by appealing to social consciences.

Offer to donate to charity or some other good deed in exchange for users sharing your solution with others who sign up.

It creates goodwill with your audience, and it literally makes the world a better place.

Full disclosure: viral loops are hard to pull off.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, though. Especially if you’re a SaaS company with an easy sign-up process and the right incentives and referrals in place.

It may take a bit of testing to see what your audience responds to, but once you get the momentum going, the sky is the limit.

9. Show your customers a good time

It might sound basic, but each bad consumer experience is a nail in your business growth coffin.

Don’t let a sloppy foundation topple your growth hacking strategy.

First thing’s first: how is your site speed? Does it take forever to load pages and graphics? If so, fix it. Fix it now. You have a very short window to catch the attention of your readers. Don’t squander it with slow site speeds. Run some quick analytics to gauge your current site performance.

Secondly, how’s that homepage looking? If you have enough text to bore Tolstoy, it’s time to trim it back. Simply state who you are, and how you’re going to solve your customer’s problems. You don’t have to cram an entire site’s worth of content on your homepage.

Lastly, make sure you remember your current customers with the user experience. Make it easy for them to navigate to the content they need, and keep the shiny new prospect marketing hooks separate from it.If you advertise a developer forum for customers, point them to it. Offer an open API library? Make it easy for your customers to access.

Walk each step of your prospect and customer experience as if you’re seeing the information for the first time, and take a long, hard look at the impression you’re making.

After you make some honest adjustments, ask an objective third party (or a helpful customer) to walk through the experience and offer candid insight.

Target a few users and ask them for interviews using a tool like Survey Monkey’s Website Feedback template.

And thicken up that skin. You can take it. You’re a growth hacker.

10. Recycle everything

You’re socially and environmentally responsible. You are aware of your carbon footprint. You reduce, reuse and recycle.

Hats off to you, green friend, but there is another type of recycling that leads to quick growth: content recycling.

69% of marketers say they don’t have enough time to create enough great content.

Time to repurpose.

Take a look at the content you’ve produced.

What has the most engagement? What consistently gets shared and quoted and adored by the masses?

Take that little piece of marketing brilliance and multiply it.

Look at how Copyblogger used a great piece of content in three different ways:

The 3-Step Journey of a Remarkable Piece of Content from Copyblogger.com

If it’s a blog, create an infographic out of it. If it’s a customer testimonial, ask the customer if they would write a guest blog or sit for a video interview.

Great content can be molded in many different ways to appeal to many types of consumers.

Don’t limit your great ideas to one marketing bucket. See how many times you can flavor the same great idea to keep it fresh and working hard for your brand.

11. Create community, not tyranny

One of the most overlooked growth hacking techniques is the simple value of letting your customers promote your brand for you.

Social communities are an easy way to help your users engage with your brand and each other.

The trick to fostering a successful community is to stay engaged without being intrusive.

You’ll need to initiate conversations (especially at the outset) and respond quickly to questions, but try to stay out of the way and let your community feed itself. Take Buffer, for example. They are huge proponents of community with loyal advocates to show for it.

Your job is to offer support, show community members love with periodic discounts or swag and to point new users to your thriving tribe of users.

As tempting as it may be to lead the group in a certain direction, don’t.

When your users are invested in your brand, they will willingly engage with other users. Give them ample reason to remain invested and then back off.

Delighted customers tell your story better than you ever could.

12. Bask in the glow of praise

Organizations can talk all day about the magnificence of their own products and services. But after a point (and very quickly), it’s just noise.

Instead, the savviest growth hackers know the fastest way to a prospect’s heart is a good customer testimonial.

Here’s the catch — while you want happy customers to provide these endorsements, you absolutely cannot incentivize them, bribe them, coerce them or guilt them into saying nice things they don’t mean.

Don’t be that company.

It’s miserably obvious when a customer is being strong-armed into a positive review (not to mention incredibly off-putting).

Instead, find the customers that you’ve done a great job with.

The ones whose implementations and user experiences have been smooth. The ones who are comfortable coming to you when there is a bump in the road because they know you’ll fix it.

And then let them tell their story their way.

The legitimacy will speak for itself, and the credibility you’ll build with prospects will pay off far more than a cheesy infomercial testimonial ever would.

Conclusion

In the words of the great Bob Dylan, “the times, they are a-changin’.”

Growth hacking isn’t just a fancy buzzword you can ignore while you shake your fist at the heavens and pull your pants up higher.

Competition, especially among SaaS companies, is everywhere, and consumers have more choices than ever before. You can’t afford to write a few whitepapers and sit back on your laurels.

Make everything you do about solving problems, growing your audience and extending your brand.

Great products and services certainly help sell themselves, but you need to set that growth plan in motion.

Recruit customer evangelists. Partner with like-minded companies. Create content with wild abandon. Set yourself apart with world-class customer support.

With so many simple ways to launch growth, there has never been a more exciting time to see what your brand can really do.

What growth hacking techniques have worked for your business?

About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital.

[ericsburden-blog]

12 Growth Hacking Techniques You Can Try This Week

Traditional marketing is getting a facelift.

Not the scary kind, where you can’t move your eyebrows anymore — but the kind where you look well-rested and ten years younger, and no one can put their finger on the reason why.

Smart organizations recognize the need to change how they spend their time and money to increase brand exposure and cement their footprint in the market.

Every strategy and every dollar spent should point toward one goal: growth.

Digital consumption of information by consumers is on the rise. With that comes a prolific increase in competition for organizations of all ages and sizes.

Consumers are drowning in choices.

So how do companies like Slack knock it out of the park in today’s competitive SaaS market?

We’ve all witnessed their Cinderella stories and wished we were in on their secret.

The truth is, it’s not a secret.

It’s a combination of hard work and knowing where and how to meet your audience.

Here are 12 growth hacking techniques you can start doing right now to see immediate results and leave the competition in your rear view.

1. Blog like your brand depends on it (because it does)

Customers can’t love you if they can’t find you.

If you haven’t already started a blog, fire one up and start writing today.

Blogging is one of the least expensive, simplest ways to get in front of an audience and connect with influencers.

Today’s consumer goes straight to the Internet for information at the outset of the buying process before they ever consider talking to a human.

Meet them there.

Just do everyone a favor, please: don’t launch a great blog with a few weeks’ worth of mindblowing content and then neglect to write another word.

Once you hook your readers, they’ll want to hear from you on a regular basis.

The more content they read about your brand, the more likely they are to trust you, choose you and recommend you to their friends.

If you disappear, so will your readers.

2. Conduct experiments

Now that you’ve got a blogging strategy and your website is up and running, it’s time to take a close look at how consumers are responding (or not responding) to you.

So dust off that Bunsen burner, growth hacker — it’s time to experiment. You’ll be glad you did.

Whether it’s A/B testing your homepage content or seeing which email subject lines resonate with readers, experimentation can uncover quick fixes that lead to big results.

Here’s a real-world example: InsightSquared recently evaluated their long forms and the data they asked for from readers.

After removing one measly field (phone number), they saw an uptake in conversions of 112%.

Simple tweak. Huge impact.

Need some help getting started with your first experiment? Check out HubSpot’s marketing growth experimentation template for some ideas.

3. Be a shameless self-promoter

Vince Lombardi said “Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.”

Ask for guest posting opportunities and backlinks. And be gracious with linking back and cross promotion to other like-minded experts in return.

It’s intimidating to pitch your content to the people and brands you look up to, but remember that you are the foremost expert on your products and services.

No one knows what you do like you do.

Your confidence will not go unnoticed by influencers, and your pervasiveness will catch the attention of prospects.

Be everywhere.

It’s free publicity for your brand with the added “halo effect” that comes from being in the same club with established influencers.

Check out online communities and forums that relate to your business and start actively posting helpful information in them. No gratuitous selling, though. You’re just there to be helpful.

Trust comes first. Pitches come later.

And remember, once you’ve made it big in the world of “digital somebodies,” don’t neglect to pay it forward with others who are just getting their start. Throw them some backlinks and guest posting opportunities.

Relationships are one of the most valuable currencies in growth hacking.

4. Find the low-hanging fruit

Periodically, it’s wise to take a step back from your marketing strategy to check out the big picture.

What areas are falling a little flat?

Where could you improve engagement?

Buffer recently ran a test to see which variant of a blog headline would create the most interest.

By adding one data point to their original headline, they increased click-through rates by over 40%.

But as you uncover tactics that aren’t performing the way you’d like, don’t panic. No need to torch them and start from scratch.

With some incremental adjustments and a little A/B testing, you can turn those naughty little underperformers into shining stars.

The key is to dig deep into the nooks and crannies of your data and use it to take action.

Start by taking a look at your lead funnel.

Are you making it easy enough for prospects to give you their information at the top of your funnel?

What do you do with those leads once they’re in the funnel? Make sure you aren’t letting them slip through the cracks. They may not all be juicy leads, but don’t rule them out for future nurture campaigns.

Lastly, do you know where exactly it is that leads fall out of your funnel? When do prospects stop engaging with you?

Search for the holes in your process and start plugging them with fresh tactics.

Now stop, test your results and watch for a lift in growth.

Funnel hacking isn’t an exact science, but the basic equation tends to follow an “identify, adjust, repeat” model.

While funnel hacking and A/B testing alone may not supercharge growth immediately, they will shine a light on your weak spots to make your strategy better over time.

5. Create an email stockpile

Email marketing is the growth hacker’s secret weapon, and still one of the fastest-growing marketing channels.

Over 91% of consumers check their email at least once a day, and over two-thirds of those consumers will purchase as a direct result of an email they receive.

Email marketing actually has an average ROI of almost $44 for each $1 spent.

Crazy, right?

From a revenue generation perspective, email is the monster truck of purchasing vehicles. And best of all, it’s relatively simple and inexpensive to use.

Here’s the key: your email marketing strategy is only as good as your email list.

Don’t know where to start?

First, are you asking for email addresses?

Start asking. No one is going to offer that information.

Consumers are flooded with emails they didn’t ask for and won’t read.

They hang on to their contact information like a Kardashian clinging to youth. Your job is to coax them into giving it to you.

If you don’t have a clear, visible opt-in form on your website and blog, add one today.

For extra “notice me” power, add a polite pop-up or exit intent form with an offer they can’t refuse (like a free piece of content or a discount).

This is also an easy way to test conversion points.

Are you getting sign-ups on certain web pages and not others?

Losing readers as soon as they hit your homepage?

Dig around in the data to find out where you’re weak, and then entice your audience to give you a chance.

Play around with different types of content.

Do your readers prefer infographics? Do they like a little more text?

Have you tried embedding video? According to Hootsuite, over 72% of businesses who use video say that it has increased their website conversion rates.

Again, don’t be afraid to experiment a little to find your secret sauce.

Another email hoarding goldmine is social media.

Make it easy for readers to sign up to your subscriber list with one click. Ask for an email address in every unique place that you interact with your audience.

Once you’ve gotten your ambitious little hands on this beautiful pile of email addresses, use them wisely.

Every email you send should provide value and leave your readers wanting to hear from you again.

6. Poke your audience in the grey matter

Studies have shown that when readers are asked a question, they almost feel obligated to answer. Why is that? (See what we did there?)

The human brain is stimulated by questions and the desire to provide answers to them.

Gamification has always been an effective marketing channel, thanks to a basic human desire to be right and to win.

Use this to your advantage by pulling your audience in with quizzes and polls to spark engagement and camaraderie with your brand.

Make the content entertaining, but make sure you keep the mantra of providing value in mind.

This is your chance to let your particular brand freak flag fly. Show your personality. Be an actual human being with an actual sense of humor. Be memorable.

And once you’ve hooked your audience and gathered their information, make sure your quiz or poll is shareable with others in one click.

Good quizzes offer immediate gratification to your audience and give them a chance to stroke their own egos a bit.

More exposure for you, fun for your readers, and a simple way to create buzz about your brand.

7. Don’t hate, integrate

Sure, you know your product is the best thing since sliced bread.

But what if you took that awesome-sauce to the next level by partnering with a company that complements yours?

You get access to a new customer base, and your integration partner gets to extend what their solution can do to solve problems and draw in new buyers.

More value for customers, more cross-marketing for your brand and more doors opening to potential new markets.

Bonus points if you can integrate with a social platform.

It not only makes your product way easier for consumers to access and use, but it opens the door for shared content, audience engagement, and faster growth.

Check out this example of sleek social media integration from RevNGo.

They have a strong call to action, clearly stated benefits, and a simple sign-up process:

You don’t need a massive marketing budget to leverage social media.

Its accessibility levels the marketing budget playing field. Even the smallest of businesses have the potential to go viral with one well-timed, shareable post.

If you can integrate your email marketing efforts with your social media outreach, you’ll get even more bang for your marketing buck. Double the exposure and content reach.

And don’t forget to flaunt your social proof with inline social widgets that prove your social media popularity and point users to the friends who already love your brand.

8. Be contagious (in the best way)

What’s the predominant feature of a loop? It never ends.

Viral loops work much the same way.

One user recommends or “loops” in another; they loop in a few more people and before you know it, your user base has exploded into exponential growth.

To get the ball rolling (or the loop…looping?), you might offer users an incentive to get friends or co-workers to join.

For SaaS companies, a great place to start is pitching the value of your solution to decision makers within organizations.

Offer a free trial to get a few teams using your solution, and then ask to be the solution of choice for the entire business.

On average, six out of ten free trials convert to paid subscriptions.

IT leaders and administrators are sick and tired of disparate, rogue business tools that are hard to keep track of and don’t connect their employees.

Your job is to become the one, “official” solution and create that viral loop of growth as new employees and business units come on board.

For social or individual consumer solutions, add a layer of gamification where users “win” by inviting new users and earn online badges or free services.

Take it even further by appealing to social consciences.

Offer to donate to charity or some other good deed in exchange for users sharing your solution with others who sign up.

It creates goodwill with your audience, and it literally makes the world a better place.

Full disclosure: viral loops are hard to pull off.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, though. Especially if you’re a SaaS company with an easy sign-up process and the right incentives and referrals in place.

It may take a bit of testing to see what your audience responds to, but once you get the momentum going, the sky is the limit.

9. Show your customers a good time

It might sound basic, but each bad consumer experience is a nail in your business growth coffin.

Don’t let a sloppy foundation topple your growth hacking strategy.

First thing’s first: how is your site speed? Does it take forever to load pages and graphics? If so, fix it. Fix it now. You have a very short window to catch the attention of your readers. Don’t squander it with slow site speeds. Run some quick analytics to gauge your current site performance.

Secondly, how’s that homepage looking? If you have enough text to bore Tolstoy, it’s time to trim it back. Simply state who you are, and how you’re going to solve your customer’s problems. You don’t have to cram an entire site’s worth of content on your homepage.

Lastly, make sure you remember your current customers with the user experience. Make it easy for them to navigate to the content they need, and keep the shiny new prospect marketing hooks separate from it.If you advertise a developer forum for customers, point them to it. Offer an open API library? Make it easy for your customers to access.

Walk each step of your prospect and customer experience as if you’re seeing the information for the first time, and take a long, hard look at the impression you’re making.

After you make some honest adjustments, ask an objective third party (or a helpful customer) to walk through the experience and offer candid insight.

Target a few users and ask them for interviews using a tool like Survey Monkey’s Website Feedback template.

And thicken up that skin. You can take it. You’re a growth hacker.

10. Recycle everything

You’re socially and environmentally responsible. You are aware of your carbon footprint. You reduce, reuse and recycle.

Hats off to you, green friend, but there is another type of recycling that leads to quick growth: content recycling.

69% of marketers say they don’t have enough time to create enough great content.

Time to repurpose.

Take a look at the content you’ve produced.

What has the most engagement? What consistently gets shared and quoted and adored by the masses?

Take that little piece of marketing brilliance and multiply it.

Look at how Copyblogger used a great piece of content in three different ways:

The 3-Step Journey of a Remarkable Piece of Content from Copyblogger.com

If it’s a blog, create an infographic out of it. If it’s a customer testimonial, ask the customer if they would write a guest blog or sit for a video interview.

Great content can be molded in many different ways to appeal to many types of consumers.

Don’t limit your great ideas to one marketing bucket. See how many times you can flavor the same great idea to keep it fresh and working hard for your brand.

11. Create community, not tyranny

One of the most overlooked growth hacking techniques is the simple value of letting your customers promote your brand for you.

Social communities are an easy way to help your users engage with your brand and each other.

The trick to fostering a successful community is to stay engaged without being intrusive.

You’ll need to initiate conversations (especially at the outset) and respond quickly to questions, but try to stay out of the way and let your community feed itself. Take Buffer, for example. They are huge proponents of community with loyal advocates to show for it.

Your job is to offer support, show community members love with periodic discounts or swag and to point new users to your thriving tribe of users.

As tempting as it may be to lead the group in a certain direction, don’t.

When your users are invested in your brand, they will willingly engage with other users. Give them ample reason to remain invested and then back off.

Delighted customers tell your story better than you ever could.

12. Bask in the glow of praise

Organizations can talk all day about the magnificence of their own products and services. But after a point (and very quickly), it’s just noise.

Instead, the savviest growth hackers know the fastest way to a prospect’s heart is a good customer testimonial.

Here’s the catch — while you want happy customers to provide these endorsements, you absolutely cannot incentivize them, bribe them, coerce them or guilt them into saying nice things they don’t mean.

Don’t be that company.

It’s miserably obvious when a customer is being strong-armed into a positive review (not to mention incredibly off-putting).

Instead, find the customers that you’ve done a great job with.

The ones whose implementations and user experiences have been smooth. The ones who are comfortable coming to you when there is a bump in the road because they know you’ll fix it.

And then let them tell their story their way.

The legitimacy will speak for itself, and the credibility you’ll build with prospects will pay off far more than a cheesy infomercial testimonial ever would.

Conclusion

In the words of the great Bob Dylan, “the times, they are a-changin’.”

Growth hacking isn’t just a fancy buzzword you can ignore while you shake your fist at the heavens and pull your pants up higher.

Competition, especially among SaaS companies, is everywhere, and consumers have more choices than ever before. You can’t afford to write a few whitepapers and sit back on your laurels.

Make everything you do about solving problems, growing your audience and extending your brand.

Great products and services certainly help sell themselves, but you need to set that growth plan in motion.

Recruit customer evangelists. Partner with like-minded companies. Create content with wild abandon. Set yourself apart with world-class customer support.

With so many simple ways to launch growth, there has never been a more exciting time to see what your brand can really do.

What growth hacking techniques have worked for your business?

About the Author: Neil Patel is the cofounder of Neil Patel Digital.

12 Growth Hacking Techniques You Can Try This Week

[myresearchblog17-blog]

“Is maintaining a personal blog a good way to keep track of one's research?” Forum.

Source: https://www.quora.com/Is-maintaining-a-personal-blog-a-good-way-to-keep-track-of-ones-research

Forum Question: I'am just starting out as a Grad student, and I find that I need to keep track of ideas and new concepts that I keep coming across in an organized manner. A friend suggested keeping a journal. Is having a personal blog a good way to implement this? 

-11 Answers-

1) Rishabh Jain, MIT PhD, Imperial MSE, UPenn undergrad

--> Answered Mar 24, 2015

I think you should answer this question by first asking what you want to accomplish. Shriram Krishnamurthi argues that the greatest value to him comes from committing ideas to paper. For me, the most useful reason to keep track of ideas was so I could refer to them over the course of my PhD. Most importantly, when it came time to writing a paper, to be able to find relevant results easily. So you might have your own reasons, and this will certainly be field dependent. 

Regardless of how you choose to document your ideas and work, I would strongly recommend that you think about what are the most important common themes of your work and link your 'documents' or 'ideas' accordingly. A simple example is if you are an organic chemist, perhaps the relevant strategy is to organize your work by molecule (whether that is a folder, a single document, or a blog 'topic'). So try to be exhaustive in how you will want to refer to it in the future and 'save' it in that fashion. 

Finally, to the blog point specifically, I think that as long as you can create thoughtful tags and links between 'posts,' that using a blog will be very effective. As a plug, this issue was one of the big motivations for creating Open Lab, we enable you to create links between your thoughts and data sets arbitrarily so it is easy and fast to find and store your ideas/results! We are hard at work building a beta that we can deploy, but please feel free to follow us on twitter for updates (@openlab_app)--> *Personal Note: Sadly, this app seems to be defunct.*

-Are there any good personal blog?How do researchers keep track of all of their ideas?How do you keep track of research and developments in your field?How can professors in universities, especially top schools like MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley, publish so many papers per year?Is it a good thing to make a personal blog?

2) Shriram Krishnamurthi, Professor of Computer Science, Brown University

--> Updated Apr 1, 2015

First of all, congratulations on realizing this. Far too many students go through too many years of graduate school without ever coming to this realization. The fact that you did early on will serve you well.

By blogging, I assume a private blog. Maybe you even mean a public blog. However, before you go down the latter path, make sure you talk to your advisor and confirm that they're okay with you publicizing everything you're working on. They may have good reasons for you to not do so (some of which are obvious and apply to everyone, some of which may be specific to their projects).

Next, by blogging I wonder you really mean blogging in the conventional sense. I stopped blogging because blogs are focused on temporal order, but so often the things I want to write about are not temporally meaningful: i.e., blogs induce a false temporality. They also make it slightly annoying to add forward pointers from older material. You should consider whether, say, a wiki would be better, because a better organization may be to have a collection of tightly interlinked pages.

Next, ask yourself whether the technology is at the right point. Depending on your subject, it may be onerous, painful, or even impossible to get the right notations, markup, etc. in a conventional blogging platform. Do you really want to spend all your time fighting with stupid markup and/or the hideous posting interfaces of some blogging systems? The more painful it is the less you'll feel like writing at all, which is the opposite of the intended effect.

So what is the real value you might get out of "blogging"? There is a very real one: it's that committing ideas to prose forces you to clarify them. I find it's much easier to think incoherent thoughts than to write them. Especially if you share the blog with someone who might read it—a group mate or even your advisor—you're forced to think more clearly. In fact, I advised a student long-distance who I forced, once a week, to post a message to a private Posterous (RIP) board—it had a great interface (just email to an address, attach a variety of formats, etc.). He kept it up for a while and it was good, but then he lost the habit. 

Of course, you can get this value from other media too. For instance, buying a notebook and writing it in could be just as good, maybe even better if you are in a subject where presentation on the Web is painful (writing a lot of math, drawing a lot of organic compounds, etc.). It's also very easy to sketch out things (for any discipline) on paper. Of course, you lose the benefits of sharing—unless you photograph and upload images of the notebook pages (don't laugh, this is a perfectly sensible thing to do).

So, step back and ask yourself some key questions. Whom is this for? Who will read it? Is it temporal? Will it be tightly interlinked? Will the computer get in the way of writing and cause me to not write as much? Etc. Answering all these will help you figure out for yourself what medium and format is best. But either way, do something. It'll be a great practice.

[Personal aside. As a grad student, I had a file in my research directory in which I wrote down ideas. No blog, just a big ol' file of ASCII text. Most times that I added something, I also went back and cleaned up some of the old entries, etc. 

I picked off very few of them in grad school, but when I accepted a faculty position, I felt this was finally my chance to attack all the ideas I'd been writing down and curating for so long. Then I hit on two new problems, one just before finishing up and the other on the drive from my grad school institution to my work institution. 

You can see where this is going: I never even opened that file again, and have long since lost it. But there was no harm in writing any of it down anyway!]

3) Shenoy Handiru, 3rd year of my PhD journey !

-->Answered Mar 30, 2015

If your intention is to just to keep track of your research progress, then I would recommend a simple cloud-based software. Personally, I use Evernote as a daily journal. 

There is a blogging assistance tool as well -https://github.com/matigo/Notewo..., If you want to organize your ideas, you can have different notebooks within Evernote with appropriate labels/tags.  For ex: I have a notebook named "Daily journal" where I write my ideas and literature review of papers that I read (almost everyday). 

In my opinion, Evernote is one of the must-have tools for researchers. It comes very handy, where you can record the audio during your lab meeting and post it in Evernote. You can take the snapshots of presentation slides of others (ex: lab meeting/ conference/ workshop etc.) and sync it with Evernote. 

I apologize if my answer sounded like an advertisement of Evernote. But, trust me, you will not regret using Evernote to organize your research progress.

4) Pavao Pahljina, Philosopher & Entrepreneur.

--> Answered Mar 23, 2015

For the last 4 months, I have been writing a journal every single day. Journal is a place to simply "dump" your brain, but it has to make it easy for you. I've tried journaling using MS Word, Notepad, Evernote, Wordpress blog on private, various paper notebooks... but nothing really stuck. I would keep going for a few days, and then give up.That is until I found the perfect place for this kind of continuous "get ideas in writing" endeavour. 

Ideal journal.It's a simple little site 750 Words - Write every day. But it is amazing because of it's underlying gamification mechanism that makes you motivated to keep your journal up to date. And it is extremely fast and clean to use. Try it out. Later you can extract and organise everything you wrote and sort it out for research papers.

5) Ferdinand Brueggemann, runs a Wordpress blog since 2004.

--> Updated Jul 29, 2015

I guess it depends on your field of study. If you just write down well published stuff for your own records a blog doesn't make much sense. 

a) blogs are highly static. You can't work well with the memos afterwards (reorganize, sort, restructure, e.g.

b) If you have a lot of entries it's cumbersome to find old memos (even with the search function)

c) text book stuff won't attract a considerable readership except some peers who are too lazy to read the books themselves. 

Therefore for collecting thoughts, notes, webpages, PDF's, whatever, like  Vikram Shenoy Handiru, I would recommend Evernote The workspace for your life’s work. IMHO it's the most versatile solution for collecting _everything_ which comes into your mind. I use it frequently for my research, travels, receipts.

If you collect stuff which might be of interest for your peers, other academics or laymen start a public blog. Daily hits and communication with the readers IMHO is huge incentive to keep on blogging. - Since you are writing 'in public' you will learn to structure your thoughts and get a deeper understanding of the stuff you are interested in.- You will improve your writing skills. - You might get in contact with people around the world.- And it's a great tool for self-marketing in your area of interest. 

Anyway. Just Do It. That's the only way to find out what's working for you. Most blogs don't survive the first months, very, very few still exist after a few years. Quality content and persistence are the keys to a successful blog.

6) Arvind Devaraj, Researcher in Computer Science

--> Answered Oct 24, 2015

There is a difference in being a researcher and a blogger. 

Maintaining a blog just to keep a tab on your research may not be very useful. Blogging is cumbersome, technology-based and time-consuming. I prefer applications like Evernote or OneNote to organize, categorize and retrieve all that I want from time to time. 

Maybe you could try these or something similar and see if  they work for you: 5 Apps To Help Students Organize What They Learn

I tried various techniques to keep track of my research work while writing my thesis. Tools like Diigo, Mendeley helped to some extent. There is still more lot of work to be done in the knowledge management space. 

I got so fascinated by the possibilities in this field. Now started working on  Hyperbook - a tool that helps researchers to keep track of their research content.

7) Amy Hicks, I only excel at the nearly impossible. Otherwise, I'm lazy.

--> Answered Mar 31, 2015

I track my research - even books I read aloud - through audio recordings. Or brainstorming sessions, I do it on my phone, whenever inspiration strikes or I don't want to take notes. I lock it on my server if I'm not done yet. And try to keep the following limited. (Is 4.4K plays limited?) my favorites require lots of research before they're released.

8) Nita Ostroff, A short step from needing a boss, to being one.

--> Answered Mar 21, 2015.

If you do a blog, it normally gets shared, right? So if you want it to be private, maybe a word document would be better. But if you don't mind sharing, honestly I love reading research blogs. I've seen some great ones out there. 

One of the cool things about them, in my opinion, is that if yo keep having problems and nothing is "working" together, sometimes someone can read your blog and figure out where the logic problem comes in. It can be a big help. 

Sometimes I read stuff and am so wowed at the person writing the blog!

9) Joe Velikovsky, PhD & Bio-Cultural Evolutionary Systems Theory Scholar

--> Answered Mar 28, 2015

I certainly think it is.

Here's my PhD research blog: StoryAlityI try and post once a week, but sometimes it doesn't happen (too busy). But I do post about conferences, and major events that I attend, etc.

It's also a great way to get feedback on your ideas, etc. 

And I also have met many like-minded scholars via my blog. 

I personally think: it's priceless.

10) Mark Hawkins

--> Answered Mar 24, 2015

Blogging can help you to 'keep track' in that it can aid your memory of certain stages you went through. And it acts as a neat reference point.

But more than this, the practice of personal writing in various forms serves to deeper embed and imprint memories and experience in the brain. In writing you reinforce and validate to yourself, which can strengthen a memory or learning, as well as merely leaving a record.

11) Robert J. Kolker

--> Answered Mar 25, 2015

Keeping a diary is always a good idea.  If you get a bright idea or even a piece of a bright idea  write it down before you forget it.  Later on, when you have time you can review your bright thoughts and decide which if any to take action on.

*Personal Note: I copy and paste articles and forums like this (especially the forums) because sometimes the sources or the sites go defunct and I lose the info. It’s also time-consuming though. I’d like to find a way around that--some way to save the info that’s more efficient. I use Evernote, but it doesn’t let me link articles to my research notes. Until I find a better way, I’m going to have to keep doing this.*

[ds4design]

Introducing 13 Useful Free Apps For you To Install Today

We all want to be more productive, healthier and happier. Basically we want to be “more”. More work done, more exercise and fitness, more joy and happiness and more of living, every day.

But with the everyday stresses and strains, tensions and turbulences – we make our lives complicated, unproductive and tend to lose sight of the little big things along the way. Life is supposed to be about the journey but often, we end up making it just about the goals. Try these apps that we have collected for you – that make life easier, simpler and all that more joyful.

1. Paste 2

An impressive clipboard manager with a great user interface, the app can store unlimited things (text, tables, images, code). It can copy and store them for you in a dated way – for you to use and access any time you want to. It’s a Mac app and can be downloaded here.

2. Headspace 2.0

Need an app to reduce stress and anxiety levels as well as increase focus and concentration? Headspace 2.0 helps you do that by making you meditate for just 10 minutes every day. You can get it here …

3. Panda Focus Mode

If you’re the kind that gets distracted easily while working, here’s an app that will pop up and show you your to-do-list and guilt you into completing your work!

4. Hocus Focus

Want something that keeps your screen clutter free and your mind focused on the task on hand? Try Hocus Focus, an app that that automatically hides application windows that have been inactive for some time.

5. f.lux

Permanently adjusting the brightness of your computer screen? Try the f.lux app that adjusts the brightness of the screen according to the time of the day, all by itself thus letting your eyes avoid any strain.

6. Freedom

So if the entire world and its neighbor is becoming a distraction, at least on the Internet – get your work done by blocking it by using the Freedom app. It blocks every darn thing that’s lowering your productivity thus letting you work in peace and quiet!

7. Forest

Need to sharpen your focus, but in a fun way? Try Forest, a paid app that uses gamification to help you focus on what matters most in your life – when you can focus, the tree will grow. When you can’t, the tree dies!

8. HabitRPG

Again a game-based app – HabitRPG or Habitica rewards you, once you have achieved your goals. You can input your daily goals and to-do list and once they have been completed, unlock rewards.

9. Mindbloom

Mindbloom is aptly named for it is an app that helps to keep track of your emotion and better your mental health.

10. Waterlogd

Need help with your daily eater intake? Waterlogd, as the name suggests, keeps a track of your water intake thus helping you to be healthier, inside out!

11. Gmailify

Tired of too many e-mail accounts? Gmailify helps you gather all the emails from different email accounts into your preferred Gmail inbox in a simple and sleek way.

12. Clarity Money

Need help with spending, or rather, not spending money aka saving? Clarity Money is a personal financial all that will help you curtail spending, start saving – all by using behavioral science tips.

13. Coach.me

Want to learn some new tricks? Or new skills? Coach.me will help you do just that and more…

14. Stand Up! The Work Break Timer

So we all know that sitting for long, uninterrupted hours is a bad idea. Try Stand Up – an app that will remind you to get up and take a break if you have been sitting for a long time.

So give these apps a whirl and watch them make a positive difference in your life!

Featured photo credit: Daria Nepriakhina via unsplash.com

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