Ideasabound

Revisit the top 5 articles posted by IdeasAbound for the week of September 30 through October 6! The themes revolve around Building a business, Social Media Marketing and managing content. 5) How Franchisees Can Build an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy - Entrepreneur How Franchisees Can Build an Effective  #SocialMedia   #Marketing   #Strategy   #GrowthHacking   #branding   https://t.co/bM47grVEhM — Justin Dart (@ideasabound)  October 1, 2017 4) In Search of Competition - Seth Godin Seth's Blog: In search of  #competition   @ThisIsSethsBlog   #branding   #rebrand   https://t.co/1yi88pPVMT — Justin Dart (@ideasabound)  October 1, 2017 3) Top Tips to Create Facebook Videos to Market Your Business (Infographic) - Entrepreneur Top Tips to Create Facebook Videos to Market Your Business (Infographic) #marketing #GrowthHacking https://t.co/1OeEUpiUAD — Justin Dart (@ideasabound) October 3, 2017 ...

I have been living in Asia for 17 years but when it comes to news about Social Media, Digital marketing and usage trends, they are mostly focused around the United States. But it is always a surprise when I have discussions about the most active nations on Social media. They are not the places we think. According to Statista, these are the top 10 most active nations on Social media. Find more statistics at  Statista Even though Facebook usage is very US centric, the US doesn't have the most number of users. In fact, 5 of the top 10 countries are in South and South East Asia. Now how many of those are fake or duplicates is a different story but even if we assume that 5% are fake or duplicates, it still puts the numbers high in this region. When I started working on my company's Philippine operations we were struggling with sales. We were using methods from the US and Japan...countries with long history of direct marketing and great infrastructure. But something was diff...

The swoosh of the Nike logo is a defining logo of an industry and a brand. But does it define the brand? What does the bite out of an Apple mean? What about those tag lines? All you need to make a brand is a logo and a tag line, right? The answer is ... no! These are just the tip of an iceberg. If you are starting a business, don't start with a logo and tag line as this is the final step. Why do you do what you do? What is the goal of your business? What do you value as a business? What standards do you hold and will hold your employees to? It is like building a house. Your reason for existing is a foundation. The standards and values you hold and the way you act on them are walls. The roof is the business and all the pretty things. Most brand state why they do what they do in a brand statement and how they work in values. The most successful brands have taken care to state these clearly and specifically. Having a value like, "provide the best quality servi...

Luxury and chain Hotel industry has had a boom of late in Tokyo. At the same time many hotel companies are saying to their marketing team, "launch a Facebook page" and "get on social media" without giving them the proper budget, time or training to do it right. Recently I wondered what makes a good Hotel Facebook page? What is the market make-up? In Japan, why do so many hotel Facebook pages seem to be disconnected from the larger brand? Why do Why? The traditional marketing department has been put in charge of the system without understanding who to target and how to use it to generate sales. They are still thinking and working in the old hierarchy and thought process. But one of the key problems is they talk to the mirror and not to a wide audience. Most hotels in Japan depend on agents to sell rooms so they feel they don't need to appeal to the traveler - that's left up to the agencies. Instead the marketing and sales teams focus on selling bridal ...

Aim Beyond Target in front of you When I was studying modern Chinese economics in Changsha in 1998, I found a man to teach me Tai Chi and the basics of Kung Fu. He always said, "unlike boxing (which he considered stupid and wasteful), in Kung Fu you must be flexible and conserve energy. Qi, the energy from within, should be focused when exerted. If you were to punch someone, don't aim for the nose, aim for a point behind the back of the skull." Recently I've been wondering how this can be applied to Facebook advertising. Instead of targeting people with specific interests in a country, how about looking at the diaspora of that nation as well? In the fall we ran an ad that targeted Indonesians. Most of the Indonesian diaspora is found in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and the Netherlands. We found that we received visits and likes from Malayasia through Indonesia but nothing from Saudia Arabia nor the Netherlands. The Indonesians living in Saudi Arabia are mainly im...

Working in social media marketing can be a challenge if you are new to it. Well it's a challenge, regardless, because sites are always changing, technology is always developing. Inbound Marketing requires an understanding of many different facets beyond posting quality content at the right time. It is an intense study of SEO, analytics, and content that will exert your authority in a field. I decided that I needed to study up a little more in a course system but didn't want to spend much or any money. As a fan of HubSpot , I decided to check out their Inbound Marketing University . There are 18 courses including videos, homework and tests. When it's all done, there is a test resulting in a certificate from the leader in Inbound Marketing; Hubspot.

Tonight at 7:30pm (JST) at the ACCJ Office in Chubu, I will be part of a discussion on Social Media. I will talk about Twitter for business and strategies for getting seen and growing your following to generate and nurture B2C as well as B2B leads. You can join in using the hashtag #NGOibc. Below is the presentation I will be giving. No Audio but I bet you can guess what it is all about. Twitter for business basics from ideasabound

So I haven't posted since October when I joined Japantourist.jp . When the site launched on November 4th I was just a simple partner trying to learn the ropes of a new industry. Before long I got involved with social media marketing of the site and dove head first into a field.  In university I had taken one marketing class and liked it. I had also helped my girlfriend with some of her marketing projects. Though I had done journalism and taught myself HTML, living in a rural community in the mountains of Japan had left me disconnected with much of the ex-pat community and made me relaxed in my skill set.  "Time to study up!"  With only access to the web I started sitting in on webinars, reading eBooks and blogs and looking in on LinkedIn groups. But as a hands-on learner, the best approach was to just try everything and be creative.  Everything I read deals with either B2B or B2C models but Japantourist doesn't fit either. In fact it includes but both. - Regula...