What's the big deel?

Unique & fresh opinions on business, politics, music, art and more from renaissance man: Adeel Chaudhry

[whatsthebigdeel]

My Leadership Spark Mandala Courtesy of Lumina Spark

[whatsthebigdeel]

[whatsthebigdeel]

Don't Get Stuck!

“Don’t get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal. Now is your time. Walk closely with people you love. Don’t get stuck in the past, and don’t try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven’t yet earned. Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep travelling honestly along life’s path.”

[whatsthebigdeel]

Online Reputation Management For Students

After watching David Krejci's video lecture, "Digital Defence: Online Reputation Management in the Digital Age," it is clear that students need to manage their online presence the same way a business does. If you've been active online through social media, blogs or websites for a few years now, chances are you have some compromising content out there. This could include a variety of inappropriate or embarrassing photos, videos, comments or posts that you have completely forgotten about. So if someone Google'd your name and came across any of these, what would they think about you? This is why online reputation management is so crucial for students that are about to enter the real world.

Did you know that 79% of all hiring managers check their candidates' online activity? This can include them checking everything from photo's, video's, blogs, and any social networks you may have. But that does not mean that you can simply delete everything and have no personal online content. Most employers in the business world will not hire you if you don't have some sort of online presence. 63% of a company's market value is attributed to reputation while 50% of reputation crises occur because of employees. So you know, that companies are NOT going to risk hiring you if you have any inappropriate content floating out there because then they can't trust you. So before you decide to send out that next resume and cover letter to your dream job, you might want to take the time to do some online spring cleaning.

Tips:

Go through ALL your social media account history from when you first started using them and ask yourself, could this piece of content be perceived negatively? If so, get rid of it.

Google yourself. Sift through the pages of search results and make sure all the links associated with your name are positive.

Organize all your positive online content and profile links and bring them together on a personalized website or blog. This will allow you to better control your personal brand and image and will reduce the necessity for others to have to go snooping any further.

Take charge of your online brand image and turn it into something that will get you hired rather than fired!

[whatsthebigdeel]

An Introduction to Email Marketing

Below is a video introduction to email marketing and the online tools and services available for businesses to get started easily. Feel free to use the pause button as the video moves very quickly or you can view the slower PowToons version here: 

http://www.powtoon.com/p/b4IPkTYSCLS/

Also take a look at the following 10 Additional Resources To Help You Get Started:

1. http://conta.cc/LDhs8Z

2. http://bit.ly/16zgi6e

3. http://bit.ly/WwSCeA

4. http://bit.ly/A11VK8

5. http://bit.ly/10Hoksm

6. http://bit.ly/MthYmH

7. http://bit.ly/16D1xwm

8. http://bit.ly/Nzl6xW

9. http://bit.ly/LFvu4x

10. http://bit.ly/M8xjuR

[whatsthebigdeel]

Privacy in Canada (Infographic)

Created by Adeel Chaudhry

[whatsthebigdeel]

Got Klout?

So, you've been spending the last several years on a number of different social networks, feeling pretty good about yourself and your digital presence. But have you considered how much online influence you really have? Are people actually paying attention and engaging with the content your sharing? More importantly, how can you find out how you are doing?

There are three major measurement tools that you can use to analyze your online presence:

 1. Peer Index 

 2. Kred Story

 3. Klout

Although all three have unique features, based on my personal experiences with each one, Klout is the most effective and accurate measurement tool while providing the best insight.

Klout allows you to connect a variety of your social networks including Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Linkedin, Instagram, Foursquare, YouTube, Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress and more. By connecting all your online accounts, Klout measures your total online influence with a Klout Score between 1 and 100. Once you have received your score along with the accompanying analytics, you can begin to understand which networks your most influential in and which ones need work.

When I first started using Klout, I found that over 80% of my online influence was coming from Twitter even though I had been active on other networks. This is because I was engaging people in back and forth dialogue the most on Twitter rather than other networks where I was mainly just clicking or receiving "Likes". Klout is effective because it measures your meaningful online interactions rather than just how many followers you have. Just because you have thousands of followers, doesn't mean that they are engaging with your content. It is important to understand that social media is not all about how many page views or followers you have. The real asset is creating an engaged and interactive network of people that you can build two-way relationships with.

Regardless of what mocking websites like Klouchebag say, Klout can in fact be very useful to you and your brand.  

Now that you know, go out there and get those Klout scores up!

(Credits for all Klout infographics go to Kissmetrics)

[dwshorowitz-blog]

[whatsthebigdeel]

"Idea's that spread, win"

[greendayrock92-blog]

How Social and SEO fit into marketing

Search engines are used when people go on the internet and type in keywords in order to get a list of websites that relate to those words.  Some main reasons why people use search engines include doing online research for a school project, going shopping for a certain product that is offered online on a company’s webpage, and getting answers from other people in order to solve a problem that they are experiencing. 

Everybody knows that the most popular search engine on the internet is Google, which currently represents 65% of all search volumes compared to its competitors, which are Ask and Bing.

In terms of search engines and social media, SEO is used to improve and promote one’s website in order to increase the number of visitors who are coming from search engines. 

Generally, the earlier and more frequently a certain site appears on the results list, the more visitors these sites would get.  This means that most visitors usually click on sites that usually appear on the first two pages before they decide to type in another keyword or leave the site.  These links are also known as an organic search.

However, there are certain websites that appear just above or on the right side of the organic search links, which are considered as sponsored links.  This means that these sites are considered to be paid ads, where advertisers would be charged for every time a visitor were to click on these ads (Pay-per-click).

Overall, the main goal for a website is to get to the top of the search results page, in order to increase the total number of visitors along with overall recognition.  If a site were to be on top, their popularity would increase for a long period of time.

[whatsthebigdeel]

Great break down of how social media and SEO work together!

[whatsthebigdeel]

Inbound Marketing: Social Media & SEO

After watching Erica McGillivray's HootSuite lecture, "Social & SEO: Two Peas in an Inbound Pod", one thing has became very clear to me; the power of inbound marketing! For those of you that don't already know, inbound marketing is the FREE (compared to traditional marketing) process of earning the attention of viewers through high value online content and communicating it to the audience.

Two key components of inbound marketing include Social Media Management and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). So once your brand has started creating unique and appealing content (websites, blogs, videos, podcasts), how do you make sure your audience can see it? That is where social media and SEO come in.

The first necessary step is to make sure your content is search engine friendly. It is crucial that your online content has appropriate and effective titles, tags, key words and easy to remember URL's. It is also important that you have web analytics in place to measure your online traffic sources. This will tell you where your visitors are coming from. These techniques will allow your content to be easier to find in various searches as well as make it more appealing to busy viewers.

Once the SEO has been implemented, thats when you can start promoting and pushing your content on the appropriate social mediums. Rather than realizing the potential of these new digital tools, many companies have jumped on the social media bandwagon just because they feel like they have to. This can lead to ineffective management of your brand's online reputation. The way you communicate with your audience on social media needs to be well thought out and customized to your target market. It needs to act as an open dialogue between consumers and the brand. Otherwise, social media could end up being detrimental to your brand rather than being a positive.

When these two inbound marketing tools are combined and utilized effectively, that is when your brand can progress towards creating the highly valuable asset of a personalized digital community. A consistent long-term effort in these strategies can help convert online visitors into sales and customers into loyal customers which means increased brand equity and mo' money!

[rogerlin1211-blog]

What makes Tumblr stands out in today’s social media chaos? (Yes, I said it, it is a chaos!!) Well…  Instead of trying to squeeze out every cent from advertisers and developers and screw its user interface like some blue F brand, Tumblr strictly focus on content delivering.  NO mini games, NO chats, here is the place for you to create, share and engage with people with similar thoughts and ideas.  The website is fully customizable, you can select the theme, colour, background and how you want to delivery your messages (pure text, video, picture, Quote, Link and AUDIO!)

[whatsthebigdeel]

I agree with what your saying about Tumblr standing out from all the social media chaos. With so many different digital platforms, Tumblr has managed to maintain some credibility by remaining unique and being driven by the freedom of creative expression.

[whatsthebigdeel]

How to Use Tumblr to Develop Your Personal Brand

Prior to watching Ari Levine's short lecture on "How the Best Brands Tell Stories Using Tumblr", I was fairly skeptical of the usefulness of the Tumblr platform. However, after watching the lecture, I was reminded of a quote from Simon Sinek's Ted Talks presenation:

"People don't by what you do, they buy why you do it."

While platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter show people what you have done, Tumblr gives insight into why you did it.

LinkedIn allows you to communicate your credentials, whereas Tumblr allows you to show the World what you believe in. Once people get a sense of what your really about, beneath the surface, thats when you can begin to develop real professional opportunities. For example; a potential employeer may come across your LinkedIn page and see your impressive credentials, but most likely there will be several others who are equally qualified. As a result, Tumblr can be a great tool for building your personal brand and setting yourself apart from the competition.

Although I've only been using Tumblr for a short time so far, the benefits it can have in developing your personal brand are already very apparent. Because of the unique customization options of how and what type of content to deliver, a Tumblr page can tell you a lot about an individual. Your beliefs and interests can be communicated through a variety of visually stimulating content including pictures, GIFs, video's and music which all come together in a creatively charged representation of your personal brand. But what really matters is what you decide to share.

[cruzindana]

[whatsthebigdeel]

Just one of many great visual pieces by up and coming graphic artist, Joel Rodriquez.

[whatsthebigdeel]

John Legend - Green Light ft. Andre 3000 (Annie Starlight REMIX)

[virtueisknowledge-blog-deactiva]

I am a student of everything. I learn from the world around me. I study the math of the universe, the art of life, and the working of nature. I ponder the reasons behind existence. I stare up at the night sky and am amazed at the vastness of what is. I learn from everyone I meet and anyone who will teach me. I invent. I create. And I build. I am not confined by my career or job or degree. I am more than that. I will not be one thing: I will be everything. I am a POLYMATH.

[whatsthebigdeel]

This describes what I'm all about fairly well.