Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Preparing for new years

Preparing for New Years

Today’s the last day of 2013. How will you be spending it? Do you make resolutions? Are you signed up for a 5k tomorrow or will you stay up late and wake up when you wake up? Do you have big plans, small plans, or your only plan is to get to bed before 10am?
If you have to get to bed early, just remember that it’s midnight somewhere, so toast your health and happiness in 2014.
If you will be out drinking heavily, please remember to have someone else drive. Many places offer free taxi service. It’s easier to go and get your car the next morning then to wind up in jail.

Trivia Time

The Time Square New Year’s Eve Ball came about as a result of a ban on fireworks. The first ball, in 1907, was an illuminated 700-pound iron and wood ball adorned with one hundred 25-watt light bulbs. Today, it’s designed by Waterford Crystal, weighs 11,875-pounds, is 12 feet in diameter and is bedazzled with 2,668 Waterford crystals.
Food plays a big role in New Year’s traditions. Eating black-eyed peas (also called Hoppin’ John), pork and dark greens (mustard, chard, kale) are thought to bring prosperity. However, stay away from bad luck foods like lobsters, because they move backwards, and chicken, because they scratch in reverse.
In Colombia, Cuba and Puerto Rico families stuff a life-size male doll called Mr. Old Year with memories of the outgoing year and dress him in old clothes from each family member. At midnight he is set on fire – thus burning away the bad memories of the year.
In Spain, it is customary to have 12 grapes at hand when the clock strikes 12 at midnight. One grape is eaten on each stroke. If all the grapes are eaten within the period of the strikes, it means good luck in the new year.

We hope you have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve!

The 6 successors of the elevator pitch

Dear alan russell,

Welcome to this edition of our irregular and irreverent newsletter.

In the first email I sent you a couple days ago I gave you access to the Introduction of my new book TO SELL IS HUMAN. In this edition I want to give you a preview of one of my favorite sections.

* * * * *

The 6 Successors of the Elevator Pitch

(adapted from Chapter 7 of TO SELL IS HUMAN)

Almost from the moment that Elisha Otis invented the first viable elevator in 1853, people have been working on their elevator pitches. The idea was that if the big boss ever strode into your elevator, you'd be able to smoothly explain what you did at the company by the time you reached your floor.

But has the elevator pitch become passé?

These days, we're pitching all the time -- not just when we encounter the boss. And we're pitching to people -- colleagues, prospects, customers, family, and friends -- who are inundated with media, messages, and mayhem. To stand out, we need to adapt to changed circumstances. So over the last few years, I've plumbed the social science research, collected best practices from around the world, and compiled the 6 successors to the elevator pitch. Here are three:

1. The Question Pitch

What: A pitch that asks a question instead of making a statement.

Example: Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago? (Ronald Reagan)

Why it works: Research out of Ohio State University shows that when the facts are on your side, asking a question is more effective than making a statement. People receive statements passively. But with questions, they summon their own, more autonomous reasons for agreeing.

2. The Rhyming Pitch

What: A pitch that -- you guessed it -- rhymes.

Example: Kids and grownups love it so -- the happy world of Haribo. (German confectioner Haribo)

Why it works: A fascinating study from Lafayette College reveals that rhymes increase "processing fluency." As a result, people perceive rhyming statements as both more truthful and more persuasive.

3. The Subject Line Pitch

What: We sometimes forget: Every email subject line is a pitch.

Example: The 5 Most Persuasive Words in the English Language (Email from Copyblogger)

Why it works: Three Carnegie-Mellon scientists found that effective email subject lines fall into one of two categories: Utility and Curiosity. They either demonstrate their usefulness to the recipient or make the recipient curious about what's inside. However, trying to accomplish both goals in one subject line is a big mistake

Of course, chapter 7 goes into far greater detail -- and introduces the three other pitches (The One-Word Pitch, The Twitter Pitch, and The Pixar Pitch). But I thought you'd like an early taste. Why not try one this week?

* * * * *

That's all for now. For more information on the book, check out this page. (Rhyming pitch: Don't be schnook. Go get the book!) As always, thanks for reading.

Cheers,

Daniel Pink


Copyright © 2013 Daniel Pink, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at DanPink.com Our mailing address is: Daniel Pink PO Box 4112 Lynchburg, VA 24502 Add us to your address book
unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences

Business Journal event 1/30 economic fprecast

To view this email as a web page, go here.

Join us for economic
insights about the
upcoming year.

If you want to know where the Silicon Valley
economy is going in 2014, you won't want to
miss this Economic Forecast breakfast.

Following opening presentations from City
National Bank and Cushman & Wakefield,
our panel of local thought leaders will share
their outlook for the year ahead.

Mark your calendar

Thursday, January 30th
7:30 a.m. - 10 a.m.

City National Civic
135 W. San Carlos Street, San Jose

Confirmed Panelists


Steve Eimer Related Companies	Amity Millhiser PwC	Ed Shikada City of San Jose	Christy Wyatt Good Technology

Thank you to our sponsors

This email was sent to: alanrussell@princetoncap.com

This email was sent by: Silicon Valley Business Journal
125 South Market Street, 11th Floor San Jose, CA 95113 USA

We respect your right to privacy - view our policy

Update Profile | Unsubscribe

Market update

MBS -8/32 @ 102.310 10 Yr Treasury -16/32 @ 3.035 Dow +49 @ 16,554

Consumer Confidence jumped to 78.1, above the consensus of 77.0. Gold prices dropped to the lowest level since June. Thursday, Jobless Claims, ISM Manufacturing, and Construction Spending will be released. MBS markets will be closed tomorrow in Observance of the New Years holiday.

Need a digital detox?

Need a Digital Detox? 5 Free Apps to Simplify Your Life in 2014

Here’s some irony: Thanks to amazing advances in technology, we now have an endless selection of ingenious, time-saving apps and tools to fill our beloved smartphones, tablets and laptops. But thanks to these very technologies, we’re also finding we really don’t have a second left to spare.
What’s the solution? Yes, it would be nice to unplug and tune out. But for many of us—me included—that’s just not possible. Running a social media company, I can’t afford to turn my iPhone off, even for a few hours.

But I have found a few great tools to simplify and streamline my digital life. Here are five free apps—some classic and some new—that will help you save time and be more productive in 2014:

LastPass: Stop password madnessAccording to a recent ranking by SplashData, the most commonly used password last year was, you guessed it, “password.” If you’re ready to upgrade your security options but hate remembering dozens of different passwords, it’s time you finally got LastPass. Introduced all the way back in 2008, LastPass stores and automatically fills in all of your login credentials. It can even generate hack-proof passwords if you want.

But maybe you’ve been holding out all this time for the obvious reason: If someone hacks LastPass, won’t they have access to all of your sites? Consider this: LastPass stores your data online in a form that even the company (and the NSA, for that matter) can’t read. Plus, they offer two-factor authentication options to ensure you’re actually who you say you are. (While LastPass is free, the mobile edition starts at $12 per year--a small price to pay to never have to fumble through a login with your iPhone keypad again.)
Sunrise: A calendar app to actually get excited about
Even if you don’t really get excited about calendar apps and you’re perfectly happy with iCloud or Google calendar, I suggest taking a quick peek at Sunrise for iPhone. Not only does it pull in all the events from the aforementioned calendars, it also incorporates social data from services like Facebook and other networks. So, for instance, you can see Facebook events and friends’ birthdays, Foursquare check-ins, and more on one synchronized calendar. Plus Sunrise has a seriously eye-pleasing interface, with a two-week view up top and your day’s schedule in detail shown in a panel below.

Apart from those key features, it’s the little stuff that sets Sunrise apart from other free competitors. You can send and respond to event invites from within the app itself. A tap brings up a handy map to help you get to your next appointment. And, my personal favorite, Sunrise pulls in weather for your location and shows a little icon next to events throughout the day, so you always know when to bring the umbrella.

Hootlet: Stop wasting time on social media
Considering how popular social media has become, it’s still a headache in a lot of ways. To post to social networks or view the latest Tweets or updates, you generally have to stop whatever you’re doing on the net and go to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

Hootlet ends all that. (Disclaimer: This little free tool is from my company, HootSuite.) Install it on your Chrome browser, and you can share any webpage with just a click, across any (or all) of your social networks (and even schedule when the updates go out). Then there’s the really cool stuff. Do a Google search and you’ll automatically see the latest relevant Tweets. Search for a restaurant on Yelp, and the most recent Tweets on the venue pop up. Put in any location on Google Maps and see Tweets sent from nearby.

I could go on, but you get the idea. Instead of having to make an effort to go to social media sites, Hootlet brings relevant social media to you--integrating Twitter and other networks into your browsing in all kinds of time-saving (and long overdue) ways.

Vizify: Your digital self on one snazzy website
You’ve got reams of social and professional info scattered across all corners of the net--on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and who knows how many other networks. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could somehow consolidate it all--with a few clicks--into one professional-looking website?

This is the charm of Vizify, which stands apart from existing personal site builders with its eye-catching, customized infographics. To set up the site, you just need to connect existing social profiles, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Relevant data is then pulled in and automagically arranged into not just a homepage but an entire website, with pages dedicated to your resume, education, social-media activity, and more.

It takes a bit of tinkering to get things looking just right, but the layout and graphics are top-notch. Among the coolest features: a timeline of all of your tweets showing which words you mention most from month to month; an instant graphical resume; and a customized animation illustrating all the places you’ve called home over the years.

Evernote Web Clipper: Never lose another web gem
For anyone who devours the web on a daily basis, the biggest problem is too much of a good thing. There’s so much extraordinary content--from articles to images, videos and Tweets--that it’s almost impossible to keep track of it. You read the most amazing gluten-free pizza recipe at work, for instance, and by the time you get home you have no idea where you saw it.

Enter Evernote’s Web Clipper, a browser extension that lets you “snip” out those little gems you encounter online and store them all in the cloud--neatly catalogued and accessible on any device. You can select a piece of text or an image or choose to save the entire article or page. The selection can even be highlighted and marked up with text and arrows, so you remember exactly what caught your interest and why. Plus, this can all be shared via email or on social networks. Web Clipper has been around for years now, and it’s hard to imagine my digital life without it.

*****

Did you like this post? To read my weekly insights on social media, leadership, and tech trends, just click the 'follow' button at the top of this page.

For more social media insight and to learn more about my company,f ollow HootSuite on LinkedIn.

Featured on:

Social Media

Posted by:

Best practices fot SEO from Guy K

Posting Best Practices

Social media has its own unwritten rules of composition and content. Here are the best practices that work for me.

Be brief. The sweet spot for posts on Google+ and Facebook is two to three sentences. Twitter, by definition, limits you to 140 characters.
Post publicly. Don’t hide your good stuff under a bushel. You need exposure and awareness as far and wide as possible, so let everyone read your posts. There’s no such thing as too big a platform.
Post often. No one complains about getting too few posts, but if you share too much, you’ll hear about it, or you’ll lose readers. If this happens, adjust your volume.
Cheat. Scan the compilations of stories that are already hot and post them too. Google+ has a collection as does Alltop at its most-popular page. You can also see what I’m going to post at Postworthy. (Disclosure: I am the co-founder of Alltop.)
Link to the source. Link to the source of your information, analysis, or assistance. The goals are threefold: First, enable readers to learn more about the subject; second, send traffic to the source as an act of gratitude; third, develop the habit of citing sources.
Give credit. When others point you to something that you share, acknowledge them by mentioning their name. This shows that you have class and that you know how the game works. You’ll also rack up karma points, so remember: ABC (“Always Be Crediting”).
Include a photo or video. Pure text posts don’t cut it in the highly visual world of social media. Every post should contain eye candy in order to attract attention. Be sure to give credit to the source of the photo or video if it’s not yours.
Use the active voice. “Apple announced a new iPhone today” is more powerful than “A new iPhone was announced by Apple today.” Brevity and the active voice are two sides of the same coin.
Add a hashtag. Hashtags enable people to find your posts about a popular topic on Google+ and Twitter. For example, if you’re sharing a post about bacon, add “#bacon” to the post.
Share when your audience is awake. This sounds simple, but share your posts when your target audience is awake. If your audience is spread around the world, my advice is share posts from 8:00 a.m. Pacific to 10:00 p.m. Pacific because that’s when the spammers in Southeast Asia are asleep. This is why I love Buffer so much
Repeat your tweets. I repeat my tweets four times, eight hours apart. I can prove that this increases click-throughs by a factor of four. The assumption that everyone sees your posts no matter what time you share them is wrong. I don’t repeat posts on Google+ or Facebook because this practice isn’t accepted there.

There is no right and wrong in social media. There’s only what works for you and what doesn’t. {click to tweet } These practices help me, so I encourage you to at least try them to see if they help you too.
This Slideshare is an excerpt from a social media webinar with Hubspot that you might find interesting.

Guy Kawasaki is the author of APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur—How to Publish a Book. He is the former chief evangelist of Apple. The E part of APE is applicable to any product or service (indeed, this post is an excerpt from the book). You can get the entire book for free right now (US only). Go here: http://apethebook.com/anniversary/
Photo credit: Thomas Hawk/Flickr CC