Social Media Myth

I was in process of hiring an candidate who can manage a SMO for in house as well as for my clients. During the process I interviewed almost 20 odd candidates for same and heard lot of thoughts about the Social Media. There are lot of Myth in market for Social Media. I am trying to pull out some of them as per my understanding and hopefully will help you also.

• Social Media is Free - My dear if you put your valuable time in Social Media than how can it be free. I don’t understand why people feel it’s free when they are spending time on Social Media Channel.

• Killer Content catch Fire- Sorry to say but if you have a thought that a good quality content can catch fire and spread throughout the internet than update yourself at the earliest. Good quality content can catch fire if it has been placed at right place and for right people. Else it’s a wastage of Quality content and your valuable time.

• Employees killing time on Social Media - Some of the employers have fear that their employees will waste time if company allow them to use social media. And the Fact is this- Research from MIT notes that 40% of employees productivity is directly explained by the among of communication they have with others to discover, gather and internalize information. Employees with the most extensive digital networks are 7% more productive than their colleagues.

• No rule Game - IF you think that social media work with no rule than you are wrong. If you think that you can say anything or do whatever you want without understanding an impact than better check yourself and your thought again. Let me give you an small example recently one of the Indian political leader "Shashi Tharoor" give comment on Traveling of politician in Airlines Economy class over one of the social media website, he has to face a unforgettable problem as his own collogues asking for his immediate resignation. So RULE is always there !

• KID Zone- Some of the great people says that Social media is for Kids therefore it is only a toy and not to be taken seriously for assessment as a business tool.

Research by Nielsen in 2009 showed that use of Web 2.0 websites is now more popular than email with an estimated growth three times as fast as the pace of general online growth.
# Global share of time accounted for by people using social media increased by 38%.
# Men and women aged 65 and above moving to social media websites grew by 7 per cent
# The 17-and-under category dropped by 9 per cent
http://nitinmaximumhit.blogspot.com/2009/07/social-media-recall-brands.html
http://nitinmaximumhit.blogspot.com/2009/07/banking-with-social-media.html

• Low Quality Relationship - Send all those people to Mars if they feel you cannot build a good quality relationship over internet, when people are getting married over internet. I hope you understand what i mean to say.

• Add Every One – If you think adding everybody as a friend will get you a social media success than my dear you are in wrong phase and come out as soon as possible. Just because you’re connected with thousands of users, doesn’t mean you’ll build a strong connection with everyone. Always Remember, quality trumps quantity every time.

• Easy process- Do you have a belief that social media is one of the easiest thing to do ? If yes than let me tell you it’s NOT. Those who don’t understand how social media works assume it’s as easy as starting up a blog. They subscribe to the ‘if you build it, they will come” mentality. Fast-forward a few weeks when no one is visiting their blog or promoting their content, and they then swear off social media forever.

• No ROI of Social Media - Let me correct you if you also have the same thought for Social media ROI. Social media has shown huge ROI through increased search engine optimization alone and not only this Social media Recall Bands . Social media has resulted in higher organic search results and quantifiable number of new business leads.

• Social Media is a Security Threat –Some of the great employers feel that their employees will share the organizations IP or say something that could land the company in legal trouble if they depart from their traditional editorial control processes. A study from Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law finds that 81% of companies believe social media is a corporate security risk. As a result, many organizations does not allow social media platforms. Despite this fear from corporate heads, the study also found that 69 % of those surveyed said they did not have a written social media policy in place. 25 % said they were unsure what the policy should include while 9 % said it was unimportant.

• Social Media is for Minors- Most of the top executives feel that Social media is for small (SME) companies so my dear let me tell you few giants who are in Social media and you decide how small they are in front of you. Some of the companies using social media channel for there marketing and sales : DELL,STARBUCKS,MCDONALS,SONY,SAMSUNG,LG,NOKIA,CANON,KINGFISHER,COMCAST,FORD, Chevrolet and so on for detail http://nitinmaximumhit.blogspot.com/2009/08/big-brands-tweeting.html

• FaceBook or ORKUTING is Social Media - I love FB or Orkut, but it’s not the end-all of social media. If these are the only thing you focus on, you’ll end up being sorely disappointed. Again, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. There are numerous social media sites out there for you to take advantage of. Find the ones that fit best with your niche.

• Blogging is too scary -Many companies are scared to death of blogging for fear of negative reactions or simply “messing up” . A blog is a reflection of the company’s values, strategies and direction. If done in a professional way, blogging can become an effective medium to encourage a two-way conversation that shows your clients or customers that you care about their opinions.
  

Business Branding Through Corporate Blog :-http://nitinmaximumhit.blogspot.com/2009/08/business-branding-through-corporate.html

Happy Blogging !

Nitin Chauhan | nitin@maximumhit.com | www.maximumhit.com

Social media networking influence people

What social media need "You + Your Thought + Your Friendly Network" To build a network there is no

shortcut. So try these simple tips to make sure you make the most of your efforts. These tips help you to keep your efforts in right direction.

• Build a blog and share with all your friends and social media sites for your genuine authentication.
  
  
• Join popular social media sites like FaceBook, LinkedIn, Digg, Stumbleupon, Orkut, Slideshare,scribd etc.
  
  
• Find users who share your interest or from your domain on social networking website to start with.
  
  
• Make sure people know about your social media accounts. Link to them on your blog, in your email signature.
  
  
• Join social sites which are specific to your domain for ex. For Travel industry join www.wayn.com.
  
  
• Always kept your photograph up in your social media accounts. This show your genuinety.
  
  
• Keep one account active per social site.
  
  
• Keep your Contact detail open so one can contact you.( email also work)
  
  
• Be helpful on social sites this will be the best way to keep your popularity up.
  
  
• Always be Polite on social sites.
  
  
• Searching for people with the same interests as you usually gets good results and make friends out of them.
  
  
• Spend small amount of time each day so you can give regular contributions and able to bring a good social network for you.
  
  
• Following someone who already have huge followers will not help you. You will never get noticed as they already have too many followers.
  
  
• Follow people who are in your niche and have a desire to communicate and network.
  
  
• Do not pay for votes to get yourself noticed as this will no longer help you.
  
  
• If you are not putting your own content than always describe the source.
  
  
• Last but not least be open and Helpful.
  

Happy Blogging !
Nitin Chauhan | nitin@maximumhit.com | www.maximumhit.com

Avoid Error not Design

From Last few months I am on close watch of Web Designing work in my organization. There are various mistakes we do while designing and I would like to bring them in notification so my other friends who are in web designing or in related domain can actually avoid mistakes and have better ROI. There are certain point which may very as per the situation, so i try to collect all of them. Some of them may fit your bunch to avoid errors.

1. Attention Please : A user must able to figure what your site is about in few seconds, if he do sent understand he will probably move to somewhere else. Your site must speak why user spend time there.

2. Sort and Simple : Avoid large blocks of text. With the fast moving internet world user demand specific information in minimal time. So our focus should be that, where user can scan through the entire content. Use Bullet points, headers, sub headers, lists. Anything that will help the reader filter what he is looking for.

3. Fashion Trail : Strictly avoid using fancy fonts. As they are difficult to read and user lose interest early.

4. Standardization : Do not use tiny fonts as they are difficult to read and more important that your website follow the standard font size.

5. New browser windows: Do not open new browser windows on external link. Let the user control where he wants the links to open.

6. Resize user’s browser windows: Do not re-size the user’s browser windows as user should be in control of his browser. If you re-size it you will risk to mess things up on his side, and what is worse you might lose your credibility in front of him.

7. Unnecessary Registration : Do not force visitor to register up and leave email address and other details unless it is absolutely necessary for business.

8. Automatic Subscription : Do not automatically subscribe a visitor to newsletters when he registers up, unwanted mails to users can bring your credibility low. Sending unsolicited emails around is not the best way to make friends.

9. Flash : Using flash on your website is always helpful to increasing the load time of your website. excessive usage of Flash might also annoy the visitors. Use it only if you must offer features that are not supported by static pages.

10. Music On Visitor Gone : Please do not play background Music on your website.

11. Music on Demand : If you like to play Music than let the visitor choose and play as per the convenience.

12. Website with badges: Badges of networks and communities make a site look very unprofessional. Even if we are talking about awards and recognition badges you should place them on the “About Us” page.

13. Not Everything On Homepage : Let the user surf your website, do not try to put everything on homepage only.

14. Contact Detail : Using “forms” to contact is a good medium but please mention direct contact details like Phone No., Address etc as every visitor might not be comfortable with filling forms. He might like to call directly and proceed business.

15. Blink : Avoid using blinking text on website.

16. Avoid complex URL structures: a simple, keyword-based URL structure will not only improve your search engine rankings, but it will also make it easier for the reader to identify the content of your pages before visiting them.

17. Site Map : Must be provided to ease visitor surfing your website.

18. “Back” button: Do not break the “Back” button under any circumstance. Opening new browser windows will break it, for instance, and some Javascript links might also break them.

19. Use CSS over HTML tables: HTML tables were used to create page layouts. With the advent of CSS, however, there is no reason to stick to them. CSS is faster, more reliable and it offers many more features.

20. Minimize “drop down” – Untill its required avoid using drop down menus, try to simplify the surfing by using navigation options straight way.

21. Use text navigation: text navigation is not only faster but it is also more reliable.

22. PDF linking - Make sure to explicit links pointing to PDF files so that users can handle them properly. As many times when user clicked on a link only to see your browser freezing while Acrobat Reader launches to open that (unrequested)

23. Visitor Confusion : Do not confuse the visitor with many versions, avoid confusing the visitor with too many versions of your website. For example:-what bandwidth do I prefer? 56Kbps? 128Kbps? Flash or HTML? Hold ON J, just give me the content!

24. Advertisement Ethics ; Do not blend advertising inside the content as some of the NEW portal do so and till the time they realized Visitor gone away. Blending advertising like Adsense units inside your content might increase your click-through rate on the short term. Over the long run, however, this will reduce your readership base.

25. Simplicity the Best : Using simple navigation will deliver more.

26. Forceful Introduction : do not force the user to watch or read something before he can access to the real content. This is plain annoying, and he will stay only if what you have to offer is really unique.

27. FrontPage the Old Page : Appear to make web design easier, the output will be a poorly crafted code, incompatible with different browsers and with several bugs.

28. Cross-browser compatible: Make your website compatible with the most used browsers on the market, else you will lose readers over the long term.

29. Anchor Text : Make sure to include a relevant anchor text on your links. It will ensure that the reader knows where he is going to if he clicks the link, and it will also create SEO benefits for the external site where the link is pointing.

30. Avoid cloak links : If you cloak your links (either because they are affiliate ones or due to other reasons) your site will lose credibility.

31. Visible Linking : Make sure all links are properly visible to avoid any mis understanding.

32. Underline or Color normal text: Please do not underline normal text unless absolutely necessary. Just as users need to recognize links easily, they should not get the idea that something is clickable when in reality it is not.

33. Change Color : Clickable link must change color so visitor will not in confusion whether he click the link earlier or not.

34. Animated GIF’s : Strictly avoid using animated GIF files unless you have advertising banners that require. They make a site look unprofessional and detract the attention from the content.

35. Make sure to use the ALT and TITLE attributes for images: apart from having SEO benefits the ALT and TITLE attributes for images will play an important role for blind users.

36. No Harsh Color : Using harsh color will kill the user interest. Always use good color scheme to keep the user interest.

37. Pop Ups the Block Ups: If pop is so useful most of the browser does not provide “BLOCK POP UP”.

38. Avoid Javascript links: those links execute a small Javascript when the user clicks on them. Stay away from them since they often create problems for the user.

39. Footer : Always use functional links in footer. A more professional approach.

40. Long Page : Avoid using long page and Improve navigation.

41. Horizontal Scrolling : There should be no Horizontal scrolling. The most used screen resolution nowadays is 1024 x 768 pixels, so make sure that your website fits inside it.

42. Spell Check : No spelling mistake in your website to keep the credibility and quality of your work high.

43. CAPTCHA: If you are using CAPTCHA than make sure letters are readable.

44. Contact Form : Please ask minimum required information from Visitor. Do not try to get the complete Bio data of the visitor.

45. Hidden Things : Do not use Hidden Links or hidden Text, even from SEO point this is not a good practice.

46. Linking : Do not link the content or picture from any banned site or irrelevant site which has no relevancy with your website.

47. Website Theme : Always carry a proper theme for your website and do not alter the theme in MIDWAY.

48. Blog : Adding blog to your website is good if you can put fresh content on regular basis.

49. Plugging : Do not use unnecessary plugings as it increase the load time of your website.

50. Font Adjustment : When possible use ‘em’ instead of ‘px’ or % as a measure in your CSS. It grows (or shrinks) proportionally if your user increases (or decreases) his browser’s font sizes. That’s because em’s size is relative to the font size of parent elements while pixels and percentages are relative to screen’s size.

51. Mobile Compatible : As now a day’s use of smart phones are very high. Website must have mobile version to reach more visitors.

52. Visitor Counters : Don’t use visitor counters. Instead, use an invisible tracking system like Google Analytics. Why should I care that I am visitor number xxxxxxxxx.

53. Tables or CSS : Don’t use tables to layout your web pages. Use CSS instead. Table layouts bloat your code and in some cases will change your code to content ratio to the point that Google will penalize your site for it.

54. Don’t use frames : Search engines and screen readers have a big problem trying to read the contents of frames and it will also affect your code to content ratio.

Happy Designing !

Nitin Chauhan | nitin@maximumhit.com | www.maximumhit.com