If you re editing someone else s work and they re a seasoned writer, you shouldn t run into these issues often if at all , but it s still a good idea to double check.

10 copy editing tips you need to know

There’s a gap in the marketing industry today, and that gap lies in attention to detail in writing. The evolution of digital marketing has brought impressive innovation to the fields of web design and social media, but the importance of excellent writing to help your marketing efforts make an even greater impact gets overlooked too often. Copy editing can help fix this problem.

Your company needs clean, consistent marketing copy to build credibility and deliver your message in the most effective way possible. Poor formatting in your content, inconsistencies in your writing style, and grammar and spelling errors all distract and detract from your marketing goals.

In this guide to copy editing, we’ll help you get started by outlining 10 tips all content creators and business owners need to know.

Copy editing essentials

You need to know what to edit for before you can start the process. If your company doesn’t already have an editorial style guide, you can create a simple, two-page version to help ensure all of your content gets copy edited in a consistent way.

Your editorial style guide can be as basic or as robust as you want, but if your company doesn’t have a culture that’s focused on writing style and copy editing, we recommend keeping it simple so that people on your team actually use the document. Here are a few things to include:

Make your content about your audience, not about your business. When you’re copy editing, scan each piece of content for references like “us” and “we”, then turn the story around to focus on “you” — your prospect or customer.

Audience-centric content also includes language that educates your readers or helps them solve a problem. As you edit a piece of content, ask yourself if it delivers value.

You may be so close to your products and services that you unintentionally use jargon to talk about them, or you forget to explain concepts that seem simple to you. These are especially common issues when it comes to B2B content.

Your readers need to be able to understand your content for it to make an impact. When you’re copy editing, ensure every sentence reads clearly. It’s helpful to read content out loud so you can see how much it differs from the way you’d actually talk about a topic. A conversational tone is always best.

Help with copy editing is something that Scribe National can provide you with.

Which sentence is more powerful? You’re right on the money if you guessed the second one. Active language gets to the point immediately, pulling your reader into the story and keeping them engaged. These days, we’re all overloaded with marketing messages. Make yours stand out in the crowd by using compelling, active language.

Your prospects and customers are busy. They don’t have all day to read your content. When you’re copy editing, ask yourself if there’s a shorter, simpler way to get your point across. Do this for every sentence. Be ruthless.

Editing for brevity also helps you call attention to the most important parts of your content by trimming away superfluous language.

A guide to copy editing wouldn’t be complete without mentioning grammar and spelling. These technicalities are easy to miss, and they can throw a wrench in even the most interesting, rich story.

It’s helpful to use a cheat sheet to check your content for grammar and spelling errors. Grammarly offers a Grammar Tips guide that you can turn to for information. If your company is Canadian, the Canadian Press offers a useful Caps and Spelling book that highlights commonly misspelled words. In the U.S., check out the Associated Press to see what resources they offer.

When you’re copy editing, pay extra attention to things like apostrophe usage and spelling of their/there/they’re or your/you’re.

If you’re editing someone else’s work and they’re a seasoned writer, you shouldn’t run into these issues often (if at all), but it’s still a good idea to double check.

If you work for a large enterprise, fact checking may fall outside of your copy editing responsibilities. But more than likely, no one else will oversee this task.

Every organization handles fact checking differently. Writers should always ensure they’re using accurate research to inform their content, but it doesn’t hurt to take a second look at any statistics presented or claims made during the copy editing process. You might catch a stat that’s out-of-date and find an opportunity to use a more recent source to illustrate your point.

If you’re copy editing content that you’ve written, it’s crucial to get another person to look it over. They may spot an error that you missed, or have an idea for how to improve a sentence or paragraph.

If you’re copy editing someone else’s writing, your team has the right approach. Congrats!

Even if you’ve gotten another person to look over your content, and especially if you haven’t, always read the piece one final time before you click “publish.”

Making these 10 copy editing tips a regular part of your content creation process will improve your content drastically, and help you cut through the noise to earn your market’s attention.

Get help with copy editing

Many marketers are creative, effective strategists who don’t necessarily have a knack for writing or copy editing. Alternatively, if you’re a business owner whose background doesn’t include marketing or communications, you may also need help with copy editing.

At Scribe National, we’ll be your (eager) second set of eyes for voice, tone, flow, format, style, grammar and spelling. Contact us today to learn more about our copy editing services.

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Look out for tautology

Poor formatting in your content, inconsistencies in your writing style, and grammar and spelling errors all distract and de tract from your marketing goals. Copy editors are paid to find mistakes and inconsistencies, and cannot help being grammar police, comma kings or queens, quality control officers, and inconsistency police.

headlines They usually are based on the lede and contain active verbs. Always make sure the story supports the headline, and try to avoid:

Resources:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-copy-editing-tips-you-need-know-afton-brazzoni
https://www.editage.com/all-about-publication/english-editing/top-tips-for-copyediting.html
https://studentmedia.appstate.edu/abcs-of-copy-editing—valuable-tips-for-copy-editors
]

Citing sources proves that we are well informed about the topic and that our work can be trusted to be accurate.

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism at UNSW is using the words or ideas of others and passing them off as your own. Plagiarism is a type of intellectual theft.

Plagiarism can take many forms, from deliberate cheating to accidentally copying from a source without acknowledgement. Consequently, whenever you use the words or ideas of another person in your work, you must acknowledge where they came from.

Three steps to learning about plagiarism

It’s important to know what plagiarism is, and what form it takes (some common types of plagiarism are listed here). It’s also important to know how plagiarism happens. The final step is to develop effective academic skills. Many students who plagiarise do so unintentionally, often because they don’t have the academic skills to avoid over-reliance on the work of others or because they aren’t sure what constitutes plagiarism. So it’s important to take every opportunity to develop your academic skills.

On this site, there are resources on avoiding plagiarism and how to be organised, as well as a list of other resources and links so students can develop good academic practice.

Why do I need to know about plagiarism?

One of the contradictions of academic writing is that, while you are expected to research and refer to experts and authorities, you are also expected to produce original work. This is to ensure that you are very clear about your own ideas and about how the works of other scholars have influenced your understanding.

It is important to recognise that all scholarship involves understanding, researching and building on existing research to some degree. Undergraduates, for instance, often base their assignments on selecting, ordering, summarising and interpreting what others have said to support their own academic arguments. Therefore, it is important to learn how to reference well, that is, how to consciously and clearly acknowledge the sources you have used in your work so that your own contribution can be clearly identified and appreciated.

As part of an academic community, you are expected to abide by its ethical practices. It is partly this tradition of acknowledgement of sources, in the form of ‘in-text’ citation or footnotes, that separates academic writing from other forms of knowledge: it is part of the strength of academic research.

Why is it wrong to plagiarise?

• Firstly, it is unethical because it is a form of theft. By taking the ideas and words of others and pretending they are your own, you are stealing someone else’s intellectual property.
• Secondly, it is unethical because the plagiariser subsequently benefits from this theft.
• Thirdly, a degree is evidence of its holder’s abilities and knowledge. If a student gains employment on the basis of a qualification they have not earned, they may be a risk to others.

No doubt some students do cheat. They deliberately take the results of other people’s hard work, use it to gain credit for themselves, and learn little or nothing in the process. But most cases of plagiarism are accidental and could be avoided if students became more conscious of their own writing and research practices. Most students who plagiarise do so unintentionally, usually because they don’t have the skills to avoid over-reliance on the work of others or because they aren’t sure what constitutes plagiarism. Both intentional AND unintentional plagiarism are violations of UNSW Plagiarism Policy (PDF)

What is contract cheating?

Contract cheating, or ‘ghostwriting’, is when a student engages another person to complete work for them, and then submits the work as their own, regardless if money was paid or not. Click here to learn more about contract cheating.

Advantages to Citing Sources

Procedures and methods sections of technical and scientific articles and laboratory reports provide readers with information sufficient to replicate both the method and data described in the document. Famous cases of plagiarism include the historian Stephen Ambrose accusations about six of his books have been made, most famously about The Wild Blue and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin who ended up asking the publisher to destroy all unsold copies of The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys.

In any event, even if the plagiarism is unintentional, the consequences can still be very painful.

Resources:

https://cmsw.mit.edu/writing-and-communication-center/avoiding-plagiarism/
https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/what-plagiarism
https://www.phillybite.com/index.php/health/57-style/7680-why-is-it-important-to-avoid-plagiarism-in-academic-writing-main-reasons
]

Introduction

User generated content (UGC), also known as user-generated content, user-created content, or user-contributed content, is a type of content that is created by a user or a group of users rather than by a professional content creator.

UGC can be in the form of text, images, videos, audio, or any other type of media. UGC can be posted on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as on blogs and other websites. It can also be uploaded to websites such as Dribbble, Behance, and DeviantArt.

The term UGC is often used interchangeably with the term crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is a term used to describe the process of outsourcing work to a large group of people. For example, crowdsourcing can be used to crowdsource content for a website or a social media post. Crowdfunding is another example of crowdsourcing, where a large number of people contribute money to a project in order to fund the project.

UGC is an effective way of marketing your business because it allows you to reach a large audience in a short amount of time. It is also a cost-effective way of reaching your target audience because it does not require you to spend a lot of money on advertising. In addition, UGC has the potential to be more effective than traditional advertising because people are more likely to share content that they find interesting, useful, or entertaining.

The following are some of the reasons why you should use UGC to promote your business:

– Cost-effective: Because UGC does not cost a lot to produce, it can be a very cost-efficient way of promoting your business. You do not have to pay for advertising or pay for content creation. Instead, you only pay for the time that you spend creating the UGC. This means that you can spend less money on marketing and more money on other important aspects of your business, such as product development, customer service, and research and development.

– Reach: UGC reaches a much larger audience than traditional forms of advertising such as television, radio, and print media. With UGC, you can reach a much wider audience than you would be able to reach with traditional advertising. You can reach people who are interested in your product or service and who are likely to be interested in what you have to say. This can be very effective in terms of generating leads and sales for your company.

– Social media: Social media is one of the most effective ways of reaching a wide audience. With social media, you have the ability to reach people all over the world and to communicate with them in real-time. Social media can also help you to build a community of people who care about your business and who will be willing to share your content with their friends and followers.

– Engagement: People are more willing to engage with UGC than they are with other types of content. This is because UGC allows people to interact with the creator of the content. They can comment on the content, like it, or share it with their followers. This allows them to get to know the person who created the content and to feel like they are part of the community. This feeling of community is very important to people because it makes them feel more connected to the people they are interacting with. People who feel connected to their community are more open to sharing information about the community with their family and friends, which can lead to word-of-mouth marketing. This type of marketing is very effective because it is based on trust and relationships, which are two of the strongest forms of marketing that exist.

– Interactivity: Interactivity is another reason why people prefer UGC over other forms of content such as text and images. Interactivity can be defined as the ability of a piece of content to allow a user to take some sort of action. This action can be as simple as liking a post on Facebook or as complex as making a donation to a crowdfunding campaign. The more interactive a post is, the more likely it is to be shared and liked by other people. This makes UGC a very effective form of marketing because it can help you reach a larger audience.

– Authenticity: Authenticity is a very important factor when it comes to UGC marketing. Authenticity refers to the fact that the content that you create must be true to who you are as a person and as a business. If the content is not authentic, people will not trust it and they will not share it. Authentic content can be created in a variety of ways, including by hiring a professional photographer to take a picture of you or by taking a picture with your smartphone and editing it in a photo-editing app such as Photoshop or Snapseed. If you want to create authentic content, it is important that you hire a professional to take the picture or that you use a professional photo editing app. This will ensure that your content is authentic and that it will be shared by people who trust you and who want to be part of your community.

Types of UGC

There are many different types of user-generated content. Some of these types include the following:

– Photos

– Videos

Photos

Photos are a very popular type of UG content because they are easy to create and easy to share. They are also a very authentic form of content because you are the one who took the picture. Photos can be taken with a smartphone, a digital camera, or a point-and-shoot camera.

Videos

Videos are also very popular because they can be shared on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Videos can also be uploaded to websites such as Vimeo, Dailymotion, and Metacafe. Videos are a more interactive type of content than photos because they allow people to comment on them, like them, and share them with their social media followers. Videos also allow you to create a more personal connection with your audience because you can talk to your audience and explain what you are doing in the video.

How to Use UGC for Marketing

UGC can be used in many different ways to help you market your products and services. The following are a few of the ways in which you can use it to market your company:

– Advertising: You can create UGC that advertises your products or services. For example, you could create a video that explains how to use your product. You could also create a photo that shows your product in use. These types of videos and photos can be posted on your website, on your social media pages, or on your blog.

– Promotion: If you have a new product or a new service that you would like to promote, UGC can be a great way to get the word out about it. For instance, if you are launching a new app, you might create a UGC video that shows people using the app and explaining why they should download it. You might also create an image that shows the app in use and that explains what it can do. These images and videos can then be posted to your website or social media accounts.

– Lead generation: One of the best ways to use UGC to generate leads is to create content that helps people solve a problem that they are having. This can be in the form of a blog post, a video, or an image. The goal of this content is to help people solve their problem and to get them to contact you for more information about your product or service. You can then follow up with them to see if they are interested in learning more about what you have to offer.

– Content marketing: Content marketing is the process of creating and sharing content with the goal of increasing brand awareness and driving traffic to your site. Content marketing can take many different forms, including blog posts, videos, images, and social media posts. The key to content marketing is to make sure that you are creating content that your audience wants to read, watch, or listen to. If your content does not interest your audience, they are not going to share it or like it. This means that you will not be able to reach a large audience and that your brand will not get the exposure that it deserves. The best way to create high-quality content for your audience is to ask them what they want to see and to listen to what they have to say.

– Blog posts: Blog posts are one of the most popular types of content on the Internet. They can be written in a number of different formats, including text, audio, and video. Blog posts can be about almost anything, but they are most commonly used to share information about a company, a product, a service, an event, or some other topic that is relevant to the company or product that is being promoted. Blogs can be very effective for lead generation because they give people a chance to learn more about your company, your product, or your service. They also give you the opportunity to build a relationship with your customers, which can lead to more sales in the future.

How to Write an eBook and Make Money for Free Self Publishing

Imagine the sound of someone flipping through the pages of your new eBook. What would it feel like, waking up every morning, knowing that you are spicing up the internet sphere with some valuable information packaged as an eBook?

I am pretty sure that this is not the first time you have always wished to write your first eBook. You’ve had this thought a couple of times, and you have always brushed it off, with some flimsy excuses like:

However to write your first eBook is not complicated as it seems to be. Producing top-notch content that readers would willingly exchange for their dollars is not rocket science either.

You see, if really want to do something, we will find a way. If not, we will look for excuses. I have been a victim of procrastination before. I would simply push forward anything that would appear to be more demanding at the moment. What this resulted in are piles of uncompleted tasks whose deadlines are long overdue.

Benefits of Writing an eBook

1. An Authoritative eBook Spices Up Your Personal Brand

Think of what it takes to think of writing a book, eventually writing it, marketing it to finally have it as a talk of the day by your targeted audience. If you believe in your book, you are not going to rest until it gets downloaded, read and reviewed by those you specifically wrote it for.

2. eBooks are Great Sources of Income to Bloggers and writers.

3. eBooks are Great Giveaways Incentives to Grab Your Readers Email addresses.

Email marketing is becoming a very important strategy to sustaining your blogs, both for the continued and assured percentage of traffic to your website, and as customers for your own products and services or affiliated ones.

In this case, you are willing to give away your great eBook for free, in exchange for their email addresses. And just because it is a giveaway, do not offer junk! Loyalty is hard to build, yet so easy to break. You don’t want a high rate of unsubscribes, do you?

Four Tips on How to Write an eBook for Free

Learn Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Learning search engine optimization or SEO is a must if you want search engines like Google to find your eBook. If you don’t know how you better sleep. It is better to sleep than spend your time writing an eBook that search engines cannot find.

A recent event like issues and adaptations to COVID-19 could be on top of the list. Use long-tail keywords, meaning, words that precisely define what people know, not just a simple, one-word keyword which is broad.

For example, “adaptations to COVID-19” is better than just adaptations. It is more specific. If it so happened that you are the only one who wrote about it, then the search engines will index your article, or perhaps an article that describes your eBook on adaptations to COVID-19.

Find Your Niche

I cannot overemphasize the importance of knowing something you are well familiar with–your niche. Writing about where you are good at will require less effort. But of course, you can always learn something new.

Writing about something that you are also passionate about will produce significant dividends. Talk about those things that capture your interest. The readers will notice your enthusiasm, and you will get a following.

In my case, I write about my lessons so that I could link to them when I write my modules. This approach has become handy during the pandemic because I already have a string of articles to prepare my course modules. I either link to my articles or copy them and re-write, adding some more information and improving the content. Having had written more than 600 articles, I can now compile and write an eBook for free easily.

Find a Good Book Writing App to Write an eBook for Free

Although I use both of these book writing apps, I find Lyx more convenient to write an eBook for free after studying its use for several months. I still discover new features after using it for more than five years. And it’s open-source, which makes it a nifty application to write an eBook for free.

On the other hand, Scrivener is a great book writing app, especially in organizing your thoughts. It works best for those who use Mac or those fond of WYSIWYG word processors. However, you have to pay to obtain it as it is proprietary. Learning how to write an ebook for free requires patience and a desire to learn something new.

Subscribe to a Grammar, Spelling, and Plagiarism Check Service

I subscribe to Grammarly, not only because I need to check grammar and spelling issues but also to save time editing my articles and books. It can also warn me if I forget to rephrase statements that I quote online. But most of the time, I just read references and write it myself through memory.

As a Grammarly subscriber, I also feel more confident in my writing as it backs me up. I get to use a lot more variety of words that effectively convey what I mean. It significantly improves my composition.

Write a Pillar Content Online

Pillar content is an article composed of more than 500 words. For SEO purposes, a good practice is to write at least a 600-word post. Search engines, notably Google, like long, quality posts that are informative. Indeed, it’s a post-worthy to read. Just make sure that you make it enjoyable to read.

If you get many likes, then that’s a good measure of how well you write your piece. I wrote an article that garnered a lot of likes and comments. More readers of this article convert to more eBook sales. That’s the post on the Guide to Conceptual Framework Development.

Resource:

https://thepennymatters.com/how-to-write-an-ebook-and-make-money/
https://simplyeducate.me/2020/10/24/publish-an-ebook-for-free/
https://thewritepractice.com/write-publish-book/

How to Write a Personal Statement for College (with Examples)

So, you have started your college application process and are hitting a wall. You got your high school transcripts and letters of recommendation in order. Your SAT scores are on the way. But your college personal statement is sitting there unfinished, and the deadline is coming fast!

Because Wordvice edits thousands of essays every admissions season, we have seen some of the best (and worst) college application essays out there. This guide will tell you how to write the best personal statement for college possible for your college application. Included are examples of successful college personal statements and analyses.

What we will learn here about writing a personal statement for college:

What is the Personal Statement for College?

The college personal statement is a key part of the college application and a key factor among admissions committees. It is the one opportunity for high school students applying to college to sell themselves on their own terms and using their own words.

Personal statements for college differ from SAT scores and academic transcripts, which are more standardized. Further, while letters of recommendation touch on many of the same issues as personal statements, they are not written by you but by a recommender.

1. Personal statements give broad, comprehensive insights into your personal and academic background.

2. It provides college admissions counselors with an accurate overview of your academic goals.

A good college personal statement must explain how your background relates to your university’s program and your goals. It must put in context the tools, resources, and background you bring to the table and how they are aligned with your school’s profile. In the business world, this is called “vertical alignment.”

In other words, how you write about your background should make you stand out from other college applicants as well as connect with what you want to accomplish. Your background empowers you to succeed!

3. Personal statements answer very specific questions.

Often, your college application will require you to apply to a specific program and will ask very specific questions. For example, applying to your university’s business college will require answering different application essay questions than applying to a performing arts program.

How to write a great personal statement

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, work experience and volunteer opportunities have been harder to come by over the last couple of years. Due to this, crafting a personal statement that stands out is more important than ever. We catch up with Student Recruitment Managers Richard Palmer and James Busson for their tips on writing a great personal statement.

The personal statement is much more than just meeting the grade requirements and must tick several boxes to stand out. These statements are a top consideration for admissions tutors but don’t see it as a chore, the personal statement provides an opportunity to communicate your unique skills and strengths and to secure your place at university.

Students must have the appropriate qualifications and grade predictions to meet entry requirements but this needs to be elaborated on in your personal statement. As you think of your different qualifications, accomplishments, and qualities remember to link them all together to show how this makes you suitable for your chosen course.

1) Map out the structure. The best way to approach this is visually: create a diagram splitting the personal statement into sections. Firstly, you want a strong opening statement introducing yourself. The middle section can then be split into three sub-sections: your course choice, education experience and your wider experiences (e.g. extracurricular activities and work). Then close it off with a concluding statement summarising the points you’ve made as concisely as possible.

2) When discussing your suitability, discuss your current or previous studies by talking about your transferable skills; how the content and the skills relate to your chosen course and how they will help you succeed.

Do this even for subjects that aren’t directly related to your chosen course. For example, if you’re applying for criminology but studied A-level Geography you could talk about ‘green crimes’ etc. Alternatively, you could discuss how group or creative projects have provided you with relevant skills to succeed in a degree such as organisation skills, communication or multi-tasking.

If you are applying for slightly different courses, remember that all your university choices will see the same personal statement. Make sure to prioritise talking about your main subject for consistency.

3) While it might be tempting to copy your friends or take inspiration from example personal statements online, avoid at all costs. Plagiarism is often unintentional but the best thing you can do to avoid it is steering away from using templates or writing similar personal statements to your peers.

UCAS (for example) puts every statement through plagiarism software. If your statement has 30% similarities to others, a report is sent to all your university choices. They decide the outcome, which could be to revoke your offer.

Using the Plagiarism report from UCAS in 2018 we know the following phrase was used 234 times…. "Ever since I accidentally burnt holes in my pyjamas after experimenting with a chemistry set on my 8th birthday, I have had a passion for science"

Keep is positive – “I was a debate team captain and lead in making arguments” add positive adjectives and adverbs to build up the sentence. “I was a successful debate team captain and lead in making winning arguments”

Everybody has weaknesses, and it’s important to recognise these too. However, be sure to frame it as a positive. Be honest and recognise areas you haven’t experienced or aren’t as confident at – and consider positive ways that you can develop in that area.

5) Highlight any previous work experience. Even if it was short-term or voluntary, any experience is good and helps to emphasise your skills. Demonstrating that you have actively sought out work experience presents you as someone with initiative and independence.

6) Plan ahead. Start writing it as early as possible and be aware of all important deadlines. Draw out a timeline detailing when you aim to have your first draft done, your second draft, any reviews and submission deadlines. This will help to get you in the right mindset from the outset, because nobody likes last-minute stress.

7) Keep an eye out for typos, you don’t want this distracting from your strengths. Make sure to double and triple check your work. Sometimes when you have been working on something for a long time, it’s easy to overlook mistakes so it’s also helpful to ask someone else to proofread it for you. Getting family or friends to proofread your personal statement will also help to ensure that it sounds authentically you.

8) Aim to stand out from the crowd. Try to think outside of the box and communicate what makes you unique. For example, if you have any creative ideas on how to improve a certain area within your chosen industry/subject, put this forward. This might tie in with your hobbies and work experience and be a good way to build on it.

Resource:

College Personal Statement Examples and Writing Tips

https://www.law.ac.uk/resources/blog/personal-statements/

2. Zapier: Targeted Content Marketing

Zapier, the popular SaaS integration platform, grew profoundly by employing targeted content marketing. They began in 2014 by writing content for every feature of Hangouts. They developed content for even those features that weren’t then documented by Google. They believed that if they were looking for those content, numerous others too were.

This marketing strategy generated more than 75,000 blog visits to Zapier in the first year. Today, it gets more than 1.25 million monthly visits. Statistics say that within 18 months of employing this growth tactic, its revenue multiplied by four times to reach $50 million. So, what you learn from Zapier is, before developing content, take the time to think about the potential problems your audience is facing and address those.

3. Amazon: Great Customer Experience

Amazon started gaining dominance in the retail niche in 1995. It was a period when online shopping wasn’t popular. Yet, the brand managed to earn billions of dollars every year. The growth strategy that worked for them was ensuring a great customer experience.

Amazon began by providing customers with a huge collection of books than was available in traditional bookstores. They also allowed customers to check the site and immediately know the availability of a book in stock. It is this convenience that let the brand succeed over well-established offline booksellers. Once they gained popularity, they expanded their horizons into other markets and grew their offerings.

How Small And Medium Companies Can Benefit From A Business Expansion

Different types of business expansion include purchasing new assets, opening new units, adding sales personnel, increasing advertising, adding franchises, entering new markets, providing new products or services, etc.

There are many benefits associated with the expansion of business, and it is something that small and medium businesses should think about when deciding to expand their operations, especially in other countries.

But before taking a look at the benefits, it is important for every entrepreneur to analyze the market conditions. The entrepreneur has to identify which markets are likely to show growth.

If the market conditions suggest that market competition will be on the rise, it is important to expand your business before others can grab the opportunity to take advantage of your expanding market.

1) Concentrate on new product development

This is necessary if you want to maintain your competitive edge over your competitors. By expanding globally, you can reach new markets without any problem. You can offer new products to existing customers and can make sure that new products get into the hands of as many consumers as possible. This will result in increased sales and profit for your company. You can start developing new products at any time and you can introduce them to the public as soon as they are ready for them. You can also expand your range of products and services globally and this will enable you to make maximum profits.

2) Increase customer base

Another benefit is that expanding globally will increase your customer base and this will, in turn, help you to grow your business. If you expand your business internationally, you will definitely have a more customer base and you can use this to your advantage. You can attract more customers from other countries and you can use their markets to promote your products and services.

3) Diversification

Diversification is very important for small businesses because most of the time, they face certain difficulties such as limited resources, less capital, and low margins. On the other hand, if you are expanding internationally, you can diversify in several fields and you can easily make profits.

4) Increase brand awareness internationally

Expanding abroad is an important step for many small businesses, and this step can bring an important benefit in terms of brand awareness. Not only you will be able to attract customers that will buy your products, but also partners that can cooperate or invest in your company, helping you market the products and services in other countries.

6 Best Strategies For Business Expansion

But before doing that It is important for you to understand how business expansion strategies can change and develop along with your own company’s goals, objectives, and circumstances.

These strategies can also vary depending on the type of expansion you are contemplating. If you are expanding into a new market, you will require a different strategy than if you are simply expanding your company’s presence into a new location.

1) Market penetration Strategy

Market penetration refers to the percentage of the population that can access your business’s products or services. If you are able to market your business to a specific market segment, you can effectively increase the number of your customers or clients. One of the best ways to increase your market penetration is to market to potential customers who are not yet committed consumers. You can do this by launching local advertising campaigns. For example, if you are running a business that provides pest control, you can launch a campaign where you offer free chemical treatments to individuals who have pets. This will increase your market share because you are offering a service that is in high demand in the market.

2) Marketing and promotion

You need to make sure that you have a solid marketing and promotional strategy in place in order to maximize your market share. You can do this by creating strong customer loyalty to your business. This can be achieved by attracting new customers through various means. One of the best ways to do this is by creating a strong customer base.

By capturing a large number of new customers, you can expand your business faster because you will have more new customers to spread your business name to. One of the most effective ways to capture new customers is to create a website. A website is a great way to showcase the services that your business offers and to create the image of a professional business. If you are planning to expand abroad, you should also create a localized version of the website to have a better impact on the local customers.

3) Expansion into a new market

When a market becomes saturated with one type of product or service, there is a tendency for that market to begin to dry up. If you take a look at traditional business expansion, you may have noticed that many businesses have expanded into areas where they were previously unable to do business. This may be due to limited local market penetration, lower capital costs, higher returns, or a change in consumer preferences. Regardless of the cause of market saturation, you can use new market expansion strategies to help your business thrive.

4) Expand your business abroad

At some point, for businesses, the local market becomes saturated, and the only way to expand is to go abroad. This is a step that many companies are afraid of because it comes with challenges, but also many opportunities because you are able to sell your products or services to more users.

You should find local partners to manage part of your business operations and especially those aspects, like HR and payroll, that can cause you to lose money and being non-compliant with the local law. All aspects that can destroy your presence in the market.

In this specific situation, a PEO is the best solution for your business to outsource HR and payroll abroad, so you do not have any risk with the local laws and regulations when hiring and managing employees abroad.

5) Start a franchise

One of the best strategies for business expansion includes starting a franchise, which is a process in which you open a business in a location where there is a need and people are willing to invest money and energy into it. Franchises provide a controlled environment in which you can grow your business without worrying about competitors.

6) Enter a joint venture or acquisition agreement

Another strategy that can help your business is to enter into a joint venture or acquisition agreement with another business that has a larger market share. You can leverage your combined business’s strengths and obtain access to resources and markets that you would not otherwise be able to do.

Your business’s success depends upon having the best strategies for business expansion. You want to expand your business to the fullest extent possible so that you can serve a greater number of consumers and provide better customer service.

The key is to make strategic decisions that will yield the greatest results. You may have an idea for a business opportunity, but you should also consider expansion strategies that will allow you to realize your dream.

Even if it seems like a business idea that you cannot afford, you may be surprised at how soon you can afford it. Once you have started to expand, your business will continue to grow so you can retire with some peace of mind.

Growth strategy examples

We’ve rounded up some examples of companies that achieved growth through a seemingly small tactic that yielded enormous payoff. Each of these examples should be understood in the context of the company where they were executed. While you can’t copy and paste their success, there’s a lesson to be learned from each.

1. How Zapier grew signups by writing about other products

Zapier is all about integrations—it brings together tools across a user’s tech stack, allowing events in one tool to trigger events in another, from Asana to HubSpot to Buffer. The beauty of Zapier is it sort of disappears behind these other tools. But that raises an interesting question: How do you market an invisible tool?

Zapier leveraged its multifaceted product personality through content marketing. The team takes every new integration on Zapier as a new opportunity to build authority through search and to appeal to a new audience on its blog.

The company’s blog reads like a collective guide to hundreds of tools, with specific titles like “How to Quickly Append Text to a Note in Evernote or OneNote from Your Browser” and “How to Automatically Generate Charts and Reports in Google Sheets and Docs.” Zapier’s strategy is to subtly make itself a content destination for the audiences of all these different tools.

Takeaway: If you have a product with multiple use cases and integrations, try curating your content marketing around each use-case instead of aiming for a catch-all approach.

2. How LinkedIn grew its user base by inviting connections

Remember the days when people used to hand out business cards? (Oh, and then they needed to be reprinted every time your contact info changed). LinkedIn launched an online version of this process to maintain professional contacts while also employing a “six degrees of separation” concept for people to grow their networks.

LinkedIn built an Outlook plugin that would sift through users’ contacts. They then used email marketing to reach out to these contacts. If you were an early adopter on the platform, you probably remember being on the receiving end of this strategy: “So I [someone you know] found you while I was looking around the network. Let’s connect directly; I’m happy to help you with requests and forward things incoming. It will probably make both of our networks bigger.”

It became a cycle. This email would be sent out to the contacts of new users. Those contacts would sign up, and the email would go out to their contacts, and so on. LinkedIn found that a benchmark of four emails was needed before a user would sign up for a platform. Kind of a FOMO mentality among professionals. It worked: LinkedIn went from 500,000 users in 2004 to 2 million users in 2006.

3. How Airbnb continued to scale by simplifying user reviews

Airbnb’s origin story is one of the infamous growth hacking tales. Founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia knew their potential audience was already using Craigslist, so they engineered their own integration. This connection allowed hosts to double post their ads to Airbnb and Craigslist at the same time.

While this integration got Airbnb off its feet, it’s not what allowed the brand to keep growing. You know how you check out reviews of a product before you buy? The same is true for staying in someone else’s house. The company’s review system became a critical factor in drawing guests to the platform. For 50% of bookings, guests visit a host profile at least once before booking a trip, and hosts with more than 10 reviews are 10X more likely to receive bookings.

4. How AdRoll used Appcues modal windows to increase adoption to 60%

The Head of Growth at AdRoll wanted to experiment with in-app messaging in order to target the right AdRoll users more effectively. But growth experiments like this require rapid iteration. Engineers are better suited for longer development cycles, and adding in-app messaging would be a distraction.

So the team started using Appcues to create custom modal windows quickly and easily—and without input from their developers. With a no-code solution in place, AdRoll’s growth team could design and implement however many windows they needed to drive adoption of the features they were working on.

One feature that needed an adoption boost was AdRoll’s integration with Mailchimp (Mailchimp is making all kinds of appearances in this article!). The feature allows users to retarget ads to their email subscribers in MailChimp. However, AdRoll found that very few users were actually making use of this integration.

Find the small changes that can lead to huge growth

None of these growth spurts happened by changing a whole company all at once. Instead, these teams found something small—a way in, a loophole, a detail—and carved out that space so growth could follow.

Whether you find a single feature in your product is the key to engaging users or you discover a north star metric that allows you to replicate success, pinpoint a target for your growth strategy and dig into it. Pay attention. Listen to your users. Notice what’s happening in your product and what could be better. Learning is your first step in defining your next growth strategy.

Eric heads up Marketing at Appcues. When he isn’t helping companies become more product-led, he’s likely to be found keeping up with his wife and two children, exploring the White Mountains, or fermenting things at home.

Sources:

https://www.notifyvisitors.com/blog/business-growth-strategies/
https://nnroad.com/blog/business-expansion-strategies/
https://www.appcues.com/blog/growth-strategies

What should I include in my professional CV format?

Contact information

Include your name, email address, phone number, and city in your professional CV. It’s important to make sure anyone reading your CV knows exactly who you are and how to contact you.

Depending on your location, you may also have to include your exact home address, your date of birth, and other personal details. Be sure to research CV expectations in your country so you know exactly what information to include.

You may also want to include links to any online profiles, like a personal website, LinkedIn profile, or Twitter account. If your accounts are focused on career topics and you mainly post about your industry, online profiles can show that you’re engaged and interested in your field. However, you must be 100% certain that everything on that account is professional and appropriate for a business context—even Twitter likes.

Work Experience Section

For most job-seekers, the Work Experience section takes up most of the space in their professional CV format. This is the section that tells your career story by showcasing previous roles and demonstrating your expertise.

Inside your Work Experience section, list your previous jobs in reverse-chronological order (unless you are writing a Functional or Combination CV), beginning with your most recent role and working backwards in order. For each job, include the job title, company name, and dates of employment. Describe each job using active language in a simple bulleted list.

Education Section

For most job-seekers, a more detailed description of each entry isn’t needed. If you’re a recent graduate, however, you may want to include details like GPA (if it’s high), research topics, or relevant coursework to show what your classes were focused on.

If you’re writing an academic or research CV, your education may be more important than your work experience. This means that your Education section can be longer and include more detail. Include things like specialization, dissertation topic, research area, and any other detail that will help you emphasize your academic achievements.

CV Skills Section

To make your professional CV format as impressive as possible, it’s important to include a Skills section. Employers want to know what you’re capable of and what your specialties are. Your Skills section lets them know what you can do for their company.

Pick your most impressive and most relevant skills and display them on your CV in a simple list. Most people prefer a bulleted list. If you want to include a visual element, a strength rating showing your aptitude for the skill is a great way to add some personality.

Other CV sections

There are some CV sections that can be useful, but don’t apply to everyone. If there are aspects of your career that you want to add to your CV, but they don’t fit into the typical sections, you can always create a new section for them. Any relevant qualifications that will help your CV can be added.

Publications (etc)

Academic CVs have very specific needs, so it’s important to know exactly what is expected in your field. Research CV expectations in your industry so you know what to include. When listing your publications, make sure to use the appropriate academic citation format.

If you aren’t writing an academic CV, you likely won’t need a Publications section. If you have published work in another context, like journalism or content marketing, a Portfolio section with hyperlinks is more suitable.

Volunteering experience

Experience working with volunteer organizations can look great on a CV. Volunteering can show that you have interests outside of work, a generous disposition, and are involved in your community.

Certifications

Credentials that don’t quite fit in with your Education section can be added to a Certifications section. This might include a special drivers license, a trades ticket, a management certificate, and more. Any relevant certifications you have achieved can be added to a Certifications section.

Memberships

You may want your CV to show that you’re a member of a club or organization. Whether they’re local clubs or international organizations that you participate in online, the right memberships can look good on a CV.

When Do I Use a Curriculum Vitae?

Individuals who use a CV format when applying for a job are generally applicants who need to convey a large amount of information which will not only help to tell an employer who they are but help define them and their work within a specific discipline.

To put it simply, CVs are traditionally used for individuals who are looking for employment in academic, research, or scholarly positions. Many PhDs, educators and teachers working at the university level (and above) will use a Curriculum Vitae rather than a resume to outline not only their work history, but their published academic papers and professional accomplishments as well.

While people in academics and education are the most likely to be asked to produce a CV for a job, there are other job seekers who need to have a solid CV as well, including individuals who are in medical and/or scientific fields as well as people in research or looking to work abroad.

Both United States and Canadian citizens who are interested in traveling overseas (most often to the U.K.) should be prepared to have potential employers ask them for a thorough CV.

CV vs Resume

As we said above, both are used to obtain an employment position and both are an ever evolving ‘living document’ (by living document we mean it’s a document you constantly update and keep current based on your own work history and experiences…not that you have to feed it and take it for walks daily. That would just be weird.)

Let’s say you’re applying for a job as a scientist. If you were writing your resume you would include only the work information that relates specifically to the job you’re applying for, but for a Curriculum Vitae, you would also include all your teaching experience, lab and field work.

Pretend you’re a grad-student and you’re just getting out into the world. Your CV might be just a page or two long as you’re still new to the world of academia and your accomplishments are just starting to roll in.

Now, let’s flash forward ten years into the future. You’ve been working for a prestigious university and have had a number of papers published in high profile journals. Your CV, which was once just a few pages long, might now be closer to seven or eight. You’ve not removed any information…rather, you’ve added to it.

Every time you accomplish something, you add that to your CV. Did you contribute your findings to a scientific journal? You add that to your CV. Were you awarded an honor at the university you’re currently working at for teaching excellence? You add that to your CV.

Tips for Writing a Cover Letter for a CV

While your CV provides a detailed—and often lengthy—look at your experience and credentials, the cover letter is an opportunity to call out your most important qualifications and make a compelling case for your candidacy for the role at hand. Here’s what you need to know to write a successful curriculum vitae cover letter.

Tailor the Letter to Fit the Organization

Each letter needs to provide detailed information about why are you are qualified for the specific job in question, and it should outline the reasons for your interest in the company or organization. Being specific is advantageous. Even if you’re applying for two similar roles in two different hospitals, the two hospitals may serve different populations or require slightly different responsibilities for people in the role. Your letters to each hospital should reflect that.

What to Include

As a candidate, it’s tempting to feel like the cover letter is unnecessary, since it is likely that all the pertinent information is included in your CV. Still, as you can see, the cover letter is a helpful tool in your application. Here’s what to keep in mind as you write a cover letter.

Format Matters

The content of your cover letter should be brief and structured. Aim for 3-5 paragraphs in your letter. Start with a salutation. Your letter should address the relevant contact, whose name often appears in the job advertisement. Avoid “Sir” or “Madam” if possible.

Start With an Introduction

Typically, the first paragraph will be an introduction—if you are applying to a job ad, mention it here. Mention the job title, any reference number, and where and when you saw it. The first paragraph is also where you should mention if someone referred you to the position.

The Body of the Cover Letter

The body of the letter—the second and third paragraphs—should highlight your relevant skills and experience. Highlight your transferable skills, achievements, and versatility. Explain what you can contribute and what makes you stand out from your competition. Include mention of your current or last job, qualifications, and professional and academic training, tailoring your information to make it as relevant as possible to the organization or job applied for.

In the body of the cover letter, you can mention personality traits relevant to the role at hand. You can also use this space to call out why you’re interested in this specific role, at this specific company. Potential employers and hiring managers will appreciate it if you can show you’ve read the job ad and researched the company.

Conclude the letter by succinctly summarizing why an employer may want to meet and employ you. Include a polite expression of interest in further dialogue with the recruiter. Do mention that you would like the opportunity to discuss your suitability further in a personal interview and that you await a response in due course.

Follow Instructions

Always follow specific instructions and include any information if it is specifically requested. For instance, some employers may ask you to include your current salary or your desired salary range.

Make Sure the Letter Reads Well

Ensure that your CV cover letter flows freely. You do not need to precisely match every point on the job description. The reader should be left with an overall impression that you are a potentially valuable addition to the workforce.

Cover Letter Sample

Depending on the employer’s submission requirements, cover letters can be submitted online with your CV, uploaded online, or mailed. Be sure to follow the application instructions and follow the directions on how to apply. Consider this template for how to structure your letter:

I am writing to apply for the position of assistant professor in the Biology department, as described in the Northern University website. The opportunity to teach biology appeals to me, and I believe I can be an asset to the department due to my experience as a field biologist, as well as my work as an adjunct professor at Southern State University. In accordance with your job description, I have the following skills:

I can be reached anytime by email at [email protected] or my cell phone, 555-555-5555. Thank you so much for your time and consideration. I look forward to speaking with you about this position.

Resource:

https://www.visualcv.com/blog/professional-cv-format-guide/
https://theinterviewguys.com/cv-curriculum-vitae/
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/curriculum-vitae-cover-letters-2060329

Take advantage of the motivational power of recognition

Research shows that recognition is one of the most effective ways to motivate employees. 80 percent of employees say that recognition is a strong source of motivation, and 90 percent say that receiving recognition motivates them to work harder. However, many companies continue to neglect recognition: a lack of recognition is the third most common reason employees choose to leave an organization.

Any recognition strategy needs to incorporate both monetary and social recognition. According to a report by Aptitude Research Partners, organizations using social recognition have 40 percent higher employee productivity compared to organizations not using it.

• Recognition should be provided frequently — not just during work anniversaries — and in the moment.
• Any time you send a recognition, be specific and transparent when describing the key behavior demonstrated. This is extremely important because 92 percent of employees agree when they’re recognized for a specific action, they’re more likely to take that action again in the future.
• Tie recognition to company values to show employees that those values are more than just words and incentivize employees to practice them.
• Consider using a points system for rewards, which allows employees to redeem their points for a reward of their choosing that they find meaningful.
• Finally, use an employee recognition platform so your team members can provide recognition from anywhere, whether they’re on desktop or mobile. You should also leverage data insights to properly measure and adjust your recognition program for optimal success.

Collect and respond to employee feedback

Employees are far more motivated when they have a voice. 73 percent of employees who feel heard by employers say that they are motivated to perform their best work, and 90 percent of workers are more likely to stay at a company that listens to and acts on feedback.

Collecting feedback frequently gives employees a chance to express themselves and makes them feel valued. Use employee pulse surveys to get a check on how your employees are feeling and see whether your motivational efforts are succeeding. You can also implement a workplace chatbot that provides an always-on channel for employees to confidentially share feedback.

Listening to employee feedback is just the first step; employers need to take visible actions addressing it. After conducting and closing your employee pulse survey, set aside time to measure and analyze the results carefully. What are employees telling you? How do results compare to the last study? What trends are you seeing? Consider the response rate, evaluate the data as well as the comments, and review with managers and leaders. When an employee sees that their feedback has an actual impact on business decisions, they know that their voice matters and they’ll continue to provide honest, valuable feedback.

How to Motivate Your Employees in 10 Easy Steps

Do your employees drag themselves into work? When you ask them to stay back for a meeting or complete an additional task, do they immediately jump into action, object or reluctantly agree. When employees don’t feel appreciated, they will not go the extra mile. The clock is at the uppermost part of their minds.

1. Connect with your team – As a leader you should be seen. Be visible. Make your presence felt. Don’t just lock yourself in your office whole day and only communicate with staff when you want something done. It would be good to walk around on mornings to greet staff, then during the day, take quick walks through the office. Send motivational quotes, positive insights, etc. Get to know your employees. Find out about their interests. When next you meet them remember what you discussed, they would be appreciate how you were attentive.

2.Show that you sincerely care about their well being. I can’t emphasize this point enough. If a staff member is on extended sick leave or loses a family member. Just pick up the phone and call them. Be genuinely sympathetic. Send a card or flowers. If one of your employees passes away, try to attend the funeral service, don’t just focus on getting a replacement. Staff won’t forget this type of behaviour. I had a supervisor who had poor people skills, her sole fixation was on results, sadly though when she retired none of the staff wanted to speak when the floor was opened. It was a very short retirement programme.

3. Be Fair and Neutral. We know too well about office politics and favouritism. It’s really sad when employees can tell who will be getting the next promotion because of their close relationship with the manager. Furthermore, don’t hold personal grudges, don’t send angry e-mails, swear, lose your temper or ignore your staff, especially in front of other employees. Gave constructive feedback rather than criticize. Treat everyone with respect.

4. Advocate for your staff. Exhibit loyalty to your employees. In some cases, if a complaint is made against an employee, the manager is quick to jump in and suddenly all the good the employee has done is cast into the sea of forgetfulness. Don’t be the judge, jury and executioner. When your people are facing difficult challenges and morale is sinking, be the ultimate leader and take the bullet for your team.

5. Employee Empowerment – Micro managing; breathing down someone’s neck all the time can be very disheartening. Sometimes knowing when to step back and let your employees do their work is what they need. Encourage your workers to come up with ideas. Give them responsibility. Let the lead a project. Delegate and assign tasks. Recognize the different type of employees; Some may rely on this style to effectively perform but most will loathe it.

6. Open and Honest two way Communication. Keep employees informed. Don’t let them have to hear of upcoming changes through the grapevine. Make sure top management is available and engaging. Have an open door policy where you can be seen as approachable to your subordinates. Listening to employees -Have an atmosphere where employees ideas and suggestions are valued. Don’t have surveys and suggestion boxes then when feedback is given, you simply ignore it.

7. Champion Team Building Activities. Encourage a family atmosphere at work. Recognize Birthday’s. Have regular meetings and office activities such as talent shows, group breakfast / luncheons and different events that will promote a sense of togetherness and belonging. You may want to host some of these activities off site for a change of scenery.

8. Reward and Recognition– Offer incentives. Always reward staff for good work, and not only top performers include those who are improving or doing their best. Additionally, don’t just wait for this occasion, you can always recognize employees by communicating to them the great job they are doing. Give Specific Thank You’s. Show employees the results of their hard work. Make them feel as though they are a major part of the business. Keep them up to date with the performance of the company this will motivate them to give more.

9. Training – One of the top reasons employees leave a company is the lack of development opportunities. Staff members can interpret an employer’s unwillingness to invest in training as a disregard for their professional development. Acknowledge and encourage strengths, recognize the different skills they possess and recommend training for them. Subsequently, If a staff member has informed you they want to move to another department support their wishes, don’t be an obstacle to them.

Resource:

https://wheniwork.com/blog/how-to-motivate-employees
https://www.achievers.com/blog/how-to-motivate-employees/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-motivate-your-employees-10-easy-steps-brigette-hyacinth

Why the internet’s most important law exists and how people are still getting it wrong

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is one of the internet’s most important and most misunderstood laws. It’s intended to protect “interactive computer services” from being sued over what users post, effectively making it possible to run a social network, a site like Wikipedia, or a news comment section. But in recent years, it’s also become a bludgeon against tech companies that critics see as abusing their power through political bias or editorial slant. Just this week, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced a major (and highly unpopular) amendment, claiming Section 230 was designed to keep the internet “free of political censorship.”

But that’s just not what happened, says US Naval Academy professor Jeff Kosseff, author of the recent book The Twenty-Six Words that Created the Internet. Twenty-Six Words is a nuanced and engaging look at the complicated history of Section 230, which was put forward as an alternative to heavy-handed porn regulation and then turned into a powerful legal shield through a series of court rulings.

Kosseff tells The Verge that he doesn’t think Section 230 is perfect. It’s led to truly painful outcomes for victims of harassment and defamation who can’t make platforms take down posts or sue them for damages. But anybody who thinks the modern internet is broken should at least understand why the law was created, why it’s so fundamental to the web, and why people are interpreting it in ways the architects never intended.

To really understand Section 230, you have to go all the way back to the 1950s. There was a Los Angeles ordinance that said if you have obscene material in your store, you can be held criminally responsible. So a vice officer sees this erotic book that he believes is obscene. Eleazar Smith, who owns the store, is prosecuted, and he’s sentenced to 30 days in jail.

This goes all the way up to the Supreme Court, and what the Supreme Court says is that the Los Angeles ordinance is unconstitutional. There’s absolutely no way that a distributor like a bookstore could review every bit of content before they sell it. So if you’re a distributor, you’re going to be liable only if you knew, or should have known, that what you’re distributing is illegal.

Then we get to these early internet services like CompuServe and Prodigy in the early ‘90s. CompuServe is like the Wild West. It basically says, “We’re not going to moderate anything.” Prodigy says, “We’re going to have moderators, and we’re going to prohibit bad stuff from being online.” They’re both, not surprisingly, sued for defamation based on third-party content.

CompuServe’s lawsuit is dismissed because what the judge says is, yeah, CompuServe is the electronic equivalent of a newsstand or bookstore. The court rules that Prodigy doesn’t get the same immunity because Prodigy actually did moderate content, so Prodigy is more like a newspaper’s letter to the editor page. So you get this really weird rule where these online platforms can reduce their liability by not moderating content.

That really is what triggered the proposal of Section 230. For Congress, the motivator for Section 230 was that it did not want platforms to be these neutral conduits, whatever that means. It wanted the platforms to moderate content.

In your book, it sounds like the discussion revolved around porn and defamation. Those were the things people were really worrying about. Is that an accurate reading?

Yeah, it’s kind of quaint! Or. mostly. The biggest concern would be sort of “indecent but not obscene” pornography and defamation. But I will say there were some really tough cases in the earliest days of Section 230. There’s a case — the second case ever decided under Section 230 — where a mother was suing AOL in Florida because its chatrooms were used to market pornographic videos of her 11-year-old son.

But, obviously, with the internet playing a much more vital role in society and playing a much more central role in society, the number and the complexity of these cases has increased significantly.

That was the Zeran v. America Online case, the first case ever decided, and that really set the precedent for all of Section 230. The guy had his phone number and name posted on a really tasteless ad about the Oklahoma City bombing less than a week after it had happened, and he was just getting constant threats. He had to go on psychiatric medication. It was really horrible for him. So there’s always been this balance that we’ve had to strike between the ability to speak freely online and these real harms that people are suffering.

Resource:

https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/21/18700605/section-230-internet-law-twenty-six-words-that-created-the-internet-jeff-kosseff-interview
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2018/07/22/5-core-reasons-you-continually-trust-the-wrong-people-and-how-to-stop/
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/06/dating-advice-failed-relationships/661238/

20 Virtual Employee Engagement Ideas in 2022

Employee engagement is an essential piece in driving employee satisfaction. Employees who are engaged, motivated, and connected with their employers will likely decide to stay in the organization. This is all the more true for your remote teams, where it’s more important than ever to build connections and intentionally make an effort to create an engaging work environment.

1. Conduct Virtual Town Halls

Turn this traditional citizen engagement activity into a fun one in your virtual space. A town hall is one way the leadership can connect to the rest of the organization, provide company status, and answer pressing questions. The key here is to make it casual and simple.

More importantly, make it easy for your employees to join. Ideally, they’d have to press a button, and that’s it, so investing in a reliable video-conferencing platform is essential for this to work.

Start with an icebreaker to grab everyone’s attention, celebrate small wins, and don’t forget to thank everyone for their contribution. When speaking, it should be brief and direct to the point to not bore the audience. At the heart of it is the Q&A segment. Ensure that your employees can raise questions quickly by either voicing them out or submitting them via email or chatbox.

2. Maximize Virtual Coffee Breaks

When you can’t have in-person coffee runs, why not have virtual coffee breaks instead? Typically, ranging from just 10-30 minutes, these are intentional breaks to foster relationships or ask one to take a break. Discussion around coffee breaks can vary from what you ate for breakfast to your hopes and dreams.

3. Play Office Olympics

All work and no play makes one stressed and burned out. If that doesn’t come with some truth to you, then you are probably in denial. Working remotely may sometimes blur out the lines between work and personal time, so take a break and have fun when you can. One way to do this is by playing online office games or competitions like your standard office Olympics.

4. Hold Mindful Mondays

You know that almost familiar meme about dreadful Mondays or manic Mondays. What if you don’t have to make the first day of the week less desirable? For every other week, huddle up with your teams and do a mindful Monday session for 30 minutes or one hour. The idea is to give each of your team members time to regress and unload some of their emotional baggage before they face the hustle and bustle of the current workweek.

5. Do a 99k Challenge

The road to a fitness journey is a single step, but to make it worthwhile, you’d have to make it to 99. This fitness challenge is straightforward. In a month, challenge your team to reach 99 thousand steps combined. Each team member must contribute several steps and whoever reaches 99 thousand steps or more at the end of the month gets to win a prize. Steps are recorded from their smartwatch or the health apps on their phones. They can either do walking, jogging, or running on the treadmill to gain these steps.

6. Build a Mental Wellness Program

Talking about mental wellness and its importance is a good start, but it’s not sufficient. If you want to make that talk walk, you need to build a solid mental wellness program in place. You can start by equipping your managers with training on how to handle mental health emergencies.

You can also partner with mental health organizations and conduct virtual mental wellness sessions with professionals as your speakers. In this way, you are also providing your people with the resources they need to improve their mental health.

7. Ugly Holiday Sweater Themed Meeting

Who doesn’t love themed meetings and the chance to dress up after your work jammies have all been used up? For your holiday meetings, try asking your employees to dress up in their ugly holiday sweaters. In one part of your meeting, shine a quick spotlight on everyone to see what they’re wearing and using a quick poll, everyone will cast a vote on who wore the ugliest sweater among everybody.

8. Digital Perks and Rewards

One of the ways you can keep the loyalty of your teams is through rewards and recognition. As an employee, it’s always a satisfying feeling when your efforts are recognized and praised. While you may not be able to give out tangible items as frequently as you can, mainly if your teams are distributed on far-off locations, you can still reward them digitally.

These rewards can be in the form of points that they can later check out for gift cards, shopping vouchers, tour tickets, discount coupons, etc. It may also help if you have a digital rewards platform in place, whether built in-house or outsourced through an external agency. What ultimately matters is that the rewards are appealing and relevant to your employees.

9. Have Fun with Slack Apps

If you’re working remotely, you know about this app. Slack is by far one of the most popular and widely-used messaging apps, not just by remote teams but even those working on-site or in a hybrid workplace. It’s not just for communication purposes, though. You can make the app your virtual watercooler space using its wide array of available apps for recognition, engagement, or collaboration purposes.

1) Update your communications strategy

Strong internal communications are always important, but they’re even more important when teams are distributed. Consider if there are new channels or content types that you can use to keep employees informed. In addition to their regular monthly town halls, the company has started hosting virtual “ask me anythings” (AMAs) with their CEO and other leaders using Slido.

These AMAs were started to provide updates about things that are changing in response to COVID-19 — like business changes, return to work updates and more. There are also 3 AMA sessions a month for specific teams and focus areas, where the Tech/Corporate, Customer Care and Sales team can ask questions that are relevant to them. These regular AMAs provide the opportunity for GoDaddy’s 7,000+ employees to feel informed and connected to one another.

2) Develop an employee experience task force

Creating a positive virtual employee experience must be deliberate — it takes a lot of cross-functional collaboration and work to get it right. GoDaddy has created a special taskforce to rise to the challenge of preserving and enhancing GoDaddy’s culture while working remotely. Shannon and her team are part of this taskforce, which is also composed of about 20 others from different teams around the organization like Internal Communications, People Operations, Care Leadership, Corporate Events and all of location-specific experience managers.

The team meets weekly to talk about ideas for different social rooms they can create for employees to chat and interact, approaches to improving employee morale and ways that managers can keep teams engaged. They also spend time talking about how to communicate different virtual experiences internally and externally, so employees know what’s going on and so that candidates can get an idea of their virtual interim culture.

Sources:

https://onsite.fun/blog/virtual-employee-engagement-ideas
https://rallyrecruitmentmarketing.com/2020/07/activities-to-engage-remote-employees-today/
https://visme.co/blog/engaging-remote-employees/