Is Blogging For You?
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- Created on Tuesday, 21 February 2012 09:29
By Jens Thomsen, Impact Brussels
Blogging, blogging, blogging. Blogs are often considered the essence of social media, and over the last 10 years the number of blogs on the internet have grown explosively to the point where millions of private individuals and businesses have blogs where they share information and attempt to market their products and services.
Blogs are so common that today the sheer number of blogs makes it a lot more difficult to become a successful blogger than just a few years ago. Blogs are no longer exotic and they share the basic challenge of all other websites; that it is often very difficult to be found by the people you would like to reach out to.
Five years ago, or ten years ago, it was much easier to attract attention to your blog because blogs were still rare, new and interesting. People could find you when they searched for information on the internet. Today the internet is so crammed that you're lucky if your blog shows up in a search at all.
So why bother setting Add a comment
Do You Cheque Your Spelling?
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- Created on Tuesday, 14 February 2012 08:53
By Jens Thomsen, Impact Brussels
Okay, I know this topic may seem a little low tech and old fashioned. Usually this newsletter is about online communications and we all know that spell check is a basic tool in any reasonably equipped word processing software package. The software runs the spell check for us, so why bother?
Because it doesn't - and yes, I know I didn't spell “check” correctly in the headline and you know what? My word processing software didn't react at all, it was dead asleep.
I'm an avid user of word processing software, but I'm no technical expert. I cannot tell you if the spell check functionality of one software brand is better than those of other brands, however I've never come across word processing software that did it all for me.
The software can check your spelling, but it can be easily fooled Add a comment
Optimise Your Press Releases For Internet Search
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- Created on Tuesday, 07 February 2012 07:19
By Jens Thomsen, Impact Brussels
Press releases are not only for the media. Your press releases could exist on the internet for years to come and help lead people to your organisation's website to learn more about your activities. However, you must help people find your press releases. You can do this through what is often referred to as search engine optimisation, or SEO.
SEO can be made very complicated so consider this a basic introduction to search engine optimisation. Even if you have limited resources for your communications activities you should certainly still consider search engine optimisation, but keep it simple.
Search engine optimisation really doesn’t have much to do about search engines. Rather it is about figuring out what keywords, or keyword phrases, people would use Add a comment
Press Release or Personal Contact?
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- Created on Sunday, 29 January 2012 20:31
By Jens Thomsen, Impact Brussels
Are press releases more effective than direct media relations based on personal contact when it comes to achieving media coverage? That is the issue under consideration in this newsletter.
Some organisations and companies have given up on the personal contact approach to media relations altogether and only issue their news in press releases via commercial distribution services.
Web based news sites and niche media present new opportunities for media exposure that did not exist 10-15 years ago, and press releases can easily be accompanied by digital photos and other material useful to the media.
While digital media has breathed new life into the 'traditional' press release, and they serve a very important place in communications, personal contact however Add a comment
Take Control Of Your Communications
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- Created on Tuesday, 24 January 2012 06:18
By Jens Thomsen, Impact Brussels.
Are you tired of depending on other people to get the word out about your organisation or company? Impatiently waiting for the media to finally cover your activities, or for stakeholders or customers to find your website when they surf the internet?
Here is some good news: You don't have to depend on others to let the world (or at least your audience) know what your organisation does. You can take control of your communications.
All it takes is some planning, skill and a little guts (not a lot though, so don't let anxiety hold you back). Most small organisations have what it takes to create and issue their own communications and the benefits can be significant: Add a comment
Welcome To Ghost Town
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- Created on Tuesday, 17 January 2012 06:09
By Jens Thomsen, Impact Brussels
I recently spent time visiting some of the world's many ghost towns. Not in the physical world that is, but in cyber space. Homepage after homepage showing all signs of having been abandoned by their owners.
These dusty cyber communication habitats had all the signs of previous occupation by enthusiastic organisations with world class intentions. Now they represent a growing number of cyber ghost towns that appear to a visitor as a graveyard of good intentions abandoned by another fad or simply forgotten.
Twitter feeds that dried out in October last year and news sections with very old news, or no news at all. Ghost sites in other words – cyber graveyards. Add a comment
How To Plan Your Communications
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- Created on Tuesday, 10 January 2012 08:37
By Jens Thomsen, Impact Brussels
Have you ever experienced starting an assignment without having properly prepared and planned for it? I have, and you may too.
While you probably managed to get the job done thanks to your experience or professionalism (or both) you probably also realised that you could have done better had you only done your homework before setting out. That was certainly my experience.
Lack of planning equals lost opportunity because we fail to exploit the full potential of a given situation. This is why creating a written plan for your communications activities is absolutely crucial for your organisation's communications impact. Without a written plan that's kept up to date you are going to miss most of the opportunities you'll get to communicate about your organisation's activities. Add a comment
Response Time Too Slow For The News?
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- Created on Tuesday, 03 January 2012 08:52
By Jens Thomsen, Impact Brussels
Do you some times wonder how some organisations manage to achieve media coverage of their positions again and again while others respond too late to be of any relevance to the media?
Very often the difference between coverage and no coverage is the result of proper planning and lack of planning respectively. The beginning of a new year is a great time to implement improved planning practices in your organisation's communications. With the exception of budgeting which you presumably did in November and December this is probably the time of year when you plan much of your work anyway, and proper planning can completely change your communications impact.
In many ways planning your communications is not much different from budgeting; it allows you to set a target and allocate your resources accordingly - and of course the plan will only remain unchanged for so long. Just like your budget. Add a comment
The Holy Grail Of Communications
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- Created on Monday, 19 December 2011 18:56
By Jens Thomsen, Impact Brussels
I know I'm about to repeat myself, but I can't help it... I've already talked about the importance of consistancy in communications several times, and I'm now going to do it again.
Those of you that know me and have worked with me may think I'm a little obsessed about consistency and deadlines and you're partly right. In fact I'm really obsessed about consistency and deadlines in communications. Regularity is what gets your great content out there. Without rigorous deadlines and message consistency you don't have communications, only great content.
When you've identified your audience and picked the most effective communications channels it's time to start thinking about planning and executing your communications activities. And this is when consistency should come to your mind again. Add a comment
Choose Your Channels With Care
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- Created on Monday, 12 December 2011 21:13
By Jens Thomsen, Impact Brussels
Do you sometimes stress over the wide range of communications channels that you could use in your organisational or corporate communications?
You shouldn't and here's why: Communication is not about using every single channel available out there, it's about reaching your audience so they get your message. So start by considering where your audience is and how to best reach them then determine the best communications channel to use. You should only stress out if you fail to reach your audience.
If you're anything like me you don't want to be carpet bombed by organisations who try to reach you through all available channels or simply want to prove to the world that they are capable of using the latest shiny thing in digital media. There is currently a tendency for organisations and companies to explore and exploit digital media to its very limits and sometimes beyond, and often the result is irrelevant and ill-targeted communications. Add a comment
Where Is Your Hungry Crowd?
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- Created on Tuesday, 06 December 2011 07:14
By Jens Thomsen, Impact Brussels
As a journalist for a major newspaper, I once got some surprising and extraordinarily valuable information about my audience and what they expected from our newspaper.
Once a week the newspaper published a life style section, and well hidden deep in that section there were a couple of dinner recipes. One day, by mistake, a part of one recipe was missing. From the early morning the life style editor was barraged with phone calls for several hours.
Many readers, as it occurred, were so enthusiastic about cooking that they went straight to these dinner recipes first thing in the morning when they got the paper. That particular morning they were so upset they simply had to call the editor instantly to tell her about their disturbing discovery: That something had gone terribly wrong with one recipe.
Now, that's what I call a hungry crowd. Wouldn't it be great to have an audience so interested that when you make a mistake they call you in droves to tell you there is a problem with the information you just sent to them? Add a comment