www.main-city.net

Do’s and don’ts of using QR Codes

Administrator — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:34:56 +0000

QR Codes are really breaking through this year, driven by the ever growing group of users that has a smartphone with camera able to run applications (There’s an APP for that! )

Business has picked up on this and is starting to implement QR Codes as part of their marketing strategy. Many of them forget however, that we are talking about smartphone users here, with limited size browsing screens.

Here is a great piece of advice by Scott Stratten, also known on twitter as @unmarketing about the do’s and don’ts of using QR Codes.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qic-I5b7UCk

Retweeting

Administrator — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:10:47 +0000

The main vehicle to get messages to travel far into Twitter is the so called Retweeting. Especially for new Twitter users this little video may be of help, explaining what Retweeting is.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIBf8cU_wM0

Protect your computer on Wi-Fi networks

Administrator — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 08:16:58 +0000

Using non encrypted public Wi-Fi networks poses security threats to the information in your accounts, such as Facebook or Twitter. With a new plugin for Firefox literally everyone can snoop around in these networks and easily detect and take over others accounts.

The good news is that it is just as easy to download plugins that protect you from such threats. Encrypting your connection is the most effective way to stop the intruders. Use Firefox as your browser and install the Https Everywhere plugin, which can be downloaded from here.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNC1gSuFqCs

Google goes instant

Administrator — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 04:34:54 +0000

In the next months Google is rolling out their new search algorithm that they claim will change the way people search online. Results show up instantly (hence the name Google Instant) in an auto-completing way.

Google Instant is starting to roll-out to users on Google domains in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Russia who use the following browsers: Chrome v5/6, Firefox v3, Safari v5 for Mac and Internet Explorer v8.

This clip illustrates the way the new Google searches will work:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgFh6IAQoDA

wordpress 3.0

Administrator — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:24:43 +0000

Introduction of the latest version of WordPress from wordpress.org

Arm your vuvuzelas: WordPress 3.0, the thirteenth major release of WordPress and the culmination of half a year of work by 218 contributors, is now available for download (or upgrade within your dashboard). Major new features in this release include a sexy new default theme called Twenty Ten. Theme developers have new APIs that allow them to easily implement custom backgrounds, headers, shortlinks, menus (no more file editing), post types, and taxonomies. (Twenty Ten theme shows all of that off.) Developers and network admins will appreciate the long-awaited merge of MU and WordPress, creating the new multi-site functionality which makes it possible to run one blog or ten million from the same installation. As a user, you will love the new lighter interface, the contextual help on every screen, the 1,217 bug fixes and feature enhancements, bulk updates so you can upgrade 15 plugins at once with a single click, and blah blah blah just watch the video. (In HD, if you can, so you can catch the Easter eggs.)

Inbound Marketing

Administrator — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:00:58 +0000

More and more companies are discovering that the old way of purely outbound marketing (cold calling, spamming, sending tens of thousands of flyers in the mail) is not very effective anymore. Let’s face it: everybody is fed up with spam in their email, junkmail in their mailbox and so forth. The TIVO and digital videorecorders get rid of the commercials…
A far more effective way of marketing is putting effort into letting people FIND your company when they are looking for specific goods or services. People that FIND you will do their research on your products and services and will contact you if they think you are contact worthy. Imagine the difference that makes!
A company called Hubspot have promoting inbound marketing as one of their missions. They word it really well in the next 2 videos, that have been around for a while but are really worth watching. Enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOYdDq-pqHk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3yCB7AvvAk

Facebook Page Creation

Administrator — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 01:32:10 +0000

Lately we get a lot of questions on using Facebook for business. Our recommendation is to setup a Facebook page. Pages can be about a business in general, a product or service. One of the advantages is that Facebook members can become fans without approval, more or less like the way things are on Twitter.
It is up to the users if they want to follow your page or not, this is completely in line with the new ways of doing ‘inbound marketing’. In other words, let THEM find you.
In the next while there will be more video how-to’s on MainCity’s Youtube-channel. This first video is about creating your first Facebook page for your business or organization.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN8Riv92juw

MC Hammer: Role of Social Media in Marketing

Administrator — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:55:02 +0000

Serial entrepreneur MC Hammer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

The “Gold Rush” from the 1800′s is back: there has never been a better time for entrepreneurs to start a business than NOW! All this is possible thanks to the new channels available to everyone: Social Media.
Youtube, Twitter and blogs gave him control over publishing his content so it reaches his audience.

This video is well worth the 20min view ~ enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfKCGRnjkTw

What is Social Media?

Administrator — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:34:16 +0000

View more presentations from Marta Kagan.

Happy 4th birthday, Twitter!

Administrator — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:16:45 +0000

Today Twitter started exactly 4 years ago. What initially started as a geeky new way to share what one is doing with anyone interested to follow, has taken off in a much broader sense.

Only answering the question: ‘What are you doing?’ is not exactly interesting, although some people or companies engage in interesting activities. A better question is: ‘What do you find interesting enough to share?’ ~ a use that started to be adopted amongst Twitterusers around 2007. A couple of months ago Twitter itself adopted this changing the question into short and sweet ‘What’s happening?’.

The growth and openness of the system (everyone is free to follow or unfollow whoever they want) has created the ‘buzz’ that many companies now start to ask themselves: ‘Shouldn’t we be on Twitter…?’ The answer is very simple: Yes, but only if you have a clear plan and are ready to INTERACT with others.

Too many businesses think that Twitter is just another (free) advertising channel… Guess what? It’s not!

It can work really well for your business if you use it the right way, which is using it as a bi-directional communication channel. A lot of information is on Twitter’s own website, hidden at the bottom under the ‘business’ tab. Read it, it is good info. http://business.twitter.com/twitter101

Around one year ago CNN interviewed Twitter-powerhouse-user Gary Vaynerchuck on how to use Twitter ~ a great interview that even today shows the difference in ‘getting it’ or ‘missing the point’ on how to use Twitter.

Enjoy!