Today's Most popular News

Source:Mashable!

There will be times that you have to contribute a post for your company’s blog and you just don’t have one idea that inspires you to start a conversation. We’ve all been there and that’s why we’ve created this resource with more than 40 topics for corporate bloggers to help provide that much need inspiration:

Press release – Read a recent press release from your company and write two paragraphs on its significance in plain English.

Industry news – Share your opinion about a recent story affecting your industry/audience.

Best practices – Provide an example of a best practice that you adhere to or that others could learn from.

Tradeshow 1 –  Prior to an industry trade show, share your list of interesting sessions, what to expect or what you’re looking forward to.

Tradeshow 2 – During the show, share images from the floor, notes from sessions or interviews with attendees.

Tradeshow 3 – After the show, write a quick wrap-up, discuss what you learned and who you met.

Find video – Search for a video related to your industry and embed it as your post with a bit of analysis as to why it’s relevant.

Plan a meet-up – Use your post to organize an informal meet-up with readers around one of your blog’s topics.

Current event - Leverage a current event in the news to discuss how your company handles adversity or crisis.

Holiday party – Take pictures at fun company events to show you don’t take yourselves too seriously.

Productivity tip – Email, Excel, PowerPoint… do you have any tips for how to be more productive that your audience might appreciate?

Email query – Send an email asking 5 people in your company the same question and share their responses.

Blog comment – Review some recent blog comments and choose one to discuss in detail.

Write a how-to post - Maybe it’s about your job or about your product, but create a tutorial to help your readers.

Address a post on a competitor’s blog – What is your competitor writing about? Are there any of these topics you’d like to address?

Corporate culture – What makes your company’s culture unique? Why would a prospective employee want to work there?

Humor – It might be a Dilbert cartoon or a video from FunnyOrDie, but everyone loves a laugh.

Stumble – Install the StumbleUpon toolbar and discover new blogs/websites to introduce to your audience.

Delicious – Search for keywords related to your blog and write about what you find.

Digg – See what stories are popular today and share your opinion about it.

Facebook – Look for a group related to your industry and share some thoughts about it.

LinkedIn Answers – Find a question someone has asked related to your industry, answer it, and invite your readers to do the same.

White paper – Is your company publishing new research? Do you subscribe to any analyst reports? Read the white paper and share your perspective.

Flickr image – If you had to pick one Creative Commons licensed image that reflected your mood/industry/workload, what would it be and why?

Make a list – Kind of like this, except related to your industry. People love lists!

Start a meme – Pick a conversation topic, discuss it and then tag a few other bloggers to post on the same topic.

Answer a customer support question – Does your company have forums? If so, pick a support question to answer. If not, ask your sales team for customer feedback and tackle one common issue.

Buck the status quo - Take the opposite view on an industry issue.

Does size matter? - Compare/contrast your product with a competitor.

Share a problem – Sometimes your community can offer insight into a problem that you’re not able to solve on your own. Just positing these types of queries will at times help your readers to feel closer to your brand.

Twitter – Posit a question to your Twitter community and use the collected responses for the basis of your post.

Try a new application and review it – Is there a new software app or a new version of an old app that your industry uses on a regular basis? If so, take the time to delve into it.

Start a series – Take a topic that you’re passionate about and create a series of posts examining it over the course of several weeks.

Take a picture – Use your mobile phone to take a picture of a cool part of your building and discuss it.

Share a PowerPoint – If you create a lot of presentations, pick out a slide (assuming it’s okay to share it publicly) to write about. You can also upload a deck to SlideShare to make it more interactive.

Get personal – Share a story from your own life. Although this is a corporate blog, it’s always nice to know about the people behind the brand.

Conduct an interview – There are many people in the company that aren’t blogging, but probably have some great stories to tell. Find people doing interesting work and sit down for an informal interview with them. You don’t need fancy equipment. In fact, you can probably do it with your digital camera.

Look for trends – What new innovations are igniting conversations in your industry? How is your business changing? Share some insights on the future of your industry. Maybe Trendpedia can help.

Random Thoughts on X – Set aside 15 minutes, pick a topic and start writing. See what you’ve got and post it under the title, “Random Thoughts on…”

Test a pitch – If you’re trying to figure out how to best position your product, use your blog post an opportunity to test what messages resonate with your audience.

Ask the intern – After all, they have a whole different perspective on the company than you do. Some of them are already blogging.

Presentation creation – We all have to create presentations, either for internal or external use. If you’ve got some tips, share them!

Remember, what makes a good corporate blog post is the passion of the writer. Find the topics that you are most interested in and help your readers to feel that same type of excitement.

[Aaron Uhrmacher is a social media consultant. In addition to his posts on Mashable, he blogs about social media and communications at DISRUPTology.]

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:LinkedIn Launches Corporate BlogBlogBurst - Now Get Paid to BlogSpotplex Launches, Challenges Digg with Pageviews ModelKickin’ As* for the Blogging ClassTechnorati Launches Useless “Topics” SectionToday is BlogDay. Your Top 5 Undiscovered Blogs?Bloggers! Here Comes Navel Gaze Sunday

Source:Mashable!

BakeSpace, one of the niche MySpace clones (for chefs and recipe swapping) that launched two years ago at a peak of online social networking launches, is relaunching today, with several new features designed to provide more meaningful experiences for users, effectively extending the value that BakeSpace can provide.

Aside from a new design (interface and navigation), a primary new feature is BakeSpace’s mentor program, which is something you don’t typically see as an explicit feature on a recipe-sharing site. What the mentor program does is connect knowledgeable chefs with less experienced members, as peers. This is accomplished with tagging capabilities that help users find each other, which can be narrowed down by specific types of food and cooking techniques. The matching option is also tied in with any BakeSpace search, so that when you peruse BakeSpace’s recipe database, you’ll also see a list of related tips and mentors that can give both direct or indirect advice.

Other new features on BakeSpace include a custom recipe feed that expands BakeSpace’s existing automatic update system outside of users’ direct friends’ content, allowing them to subscribe to the types of recipes they’d like to receive. This new feature offers users customization in that the updates they’re receiving are based on pure interest, as opposed to just the recipes that friends are publishing. Profiles themselves can also be customized, with background images, slide shows, videos, and more.

As brands look to established niche sites for marketing purposes, site owners have responded with many types of platforms, custom and self-service options continue to attract more brands for this reason. BakeSpace is doing the same, with better sponsor integration for brands that would like to do things like contests or engaging marketing campaigns on BakeSpace’s network.

According to BakeSpace founder Babette Pepaj, “You could say that we’ve developed a new “recipe” for brand integration that enables brands to create promotions that really engage members by giving them something of value. In most cases, the value comes in the form of sought after recipes and kitchen tips.” Allowing brands to integrate into BakeSpace’s networks offers a deeper level of brand interaction between users and advertisers, with a concerted effort at providing value to both parties in the end–something increasingly important to brands.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:BakeSpace Cooks Up Another MySpace CloneiWon’s Relaunch: Does it Need a Social Network?Rootly’s Third Relaunch Offers More CustomizationShelfari Relaunches (Again) with Better SearchMeeVee’s Acquisition of Top 10 Sources Enhances Site Relaunchmywaves Relaunches with New Mobile Features and Support from Nokiacrackspace Loses the “Bad” Name, Becomes ihiphop

Source:Mashable!

Apple announced today that its users have already downloaded 60 million applications from the company’s App store and have enjoyed about $30 million sales in just the first month of availability.  And while Apple is obviously excited about the future of its App store, it’s quickly becoming apparent that moving forward, it’s the single most important element of iPhone sales.

When the iPhone was first released, it appealed to the early adopters who wanted 3G and some basic GPS functionality instead of the junky EDGE we became accustomed to.  And although the applications were still an important piece of the iPhone-buying puzzle, it wasn’t the main reason most of us wanted Apple’s latest.

But now that most of those who wanted the iPhone already have it and the luster and hype has worn off, it’s the App store that will sell more iPhones and it’s that App store that will ensure that people continue to use Apple’s devices through future generations.

Unlike anything on the iPhone, which as a device, is nominally better than the BlackBerry, the App store gives users the ability to extend the iPhone experience and create a greater value proposition for those that are looking for it to do more.

The iPhone, by itself, is a somewhat dull device after you get over touching the screen of a cell phone.  Sure, it’s a fine device, but it’s just another cell phone with a unique way of interacting with it before applications are added.  But once applications are added to the device, it becomes a far more compelling product with a series of great applications that easily make it the best cell phone on the market for both consumers and the enterprise, alike.

The App store is the key to more iPhone 3G sales.  For all those that are willing to wait and see if they want an iPhone 3G, the applications are the main reason they would want to pick one up.  Looking for some productivity tools or good games on your cell phone?  The App store can provide it.

Beyond that, it’s the App store applications that most people will show off to non-iPhone users and the one element that will help Apple sell more iPhones.  Sure, it may go beyond the applications, but we can’t forget that most people have already seen the run-of-the-mill Apple apps, but few have experienced the breadth and quality of countless applications from skilled developers.

The App store is the key to the iPhone’s success going forward.  And although 3G and location-based GPS is an important element in the success of the iPhone’s enterprise business, we can’t forget that the App store provides a whole new level of interactivity and usefulness that will bring more people to Apple’s side and will create a value proposition that should see the iPhone rise to a new level of success.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:How Many iPhones are Sold Just to be Unlocked?One Million iPhones and Ten Million iPhone Apps are a Good StartiPhone. Europe. Still on Track for September Launch.LinkedIn Introduces “LinkedIn Store”Nokia Opens Music Store (Which Sucks)Track What’s Hot at the iPhone App Store with MedialetsiTunes Wi-Fi Music Store Now Live

This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 11:32 am and is filed under apple, iphone, Mobile 2.0, Opinion, iphone 3g, iphone app store, app store. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.