Author: NickWAllen
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Three core tactics in my Twitter Strategy
While I loath to call it a strategy, I have decided to take a strategic methodical approach to my use of Twitter. I’ve decided to: Network, share and support a core group of influential people in my Dunbar 150 list – daily Participate in weekly #sshour social selling chats and one other #hashtag chat from…
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6 Awesome Ways to Rejuvenate Old Content on Your Blog
There is one thing that Google and its assorted trawling bots love, and that is fresh content. If that fresh content is also linked from established websites, then Google has every reason to believe the content is quite good, assumes it has some kudos, and will rank it higher. This, of course, is brilliant good…
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How I work
Learning the best techniques, tools and apps to do your job is a personal journey we’re all taking. I thought I’d cover the tools I use in content creation and hope you might find some useful. And, having subscribed to shotkit.com for photography inspiration – here’s a shot of my kit. Location: Auckland, New Zealand Current computers: HP…
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Podcast: Agile Development and some surprising upshots with Jason Wills
Agile Project management techniques, lean principles, learning and iterating are things that I’ve become quite passionate about over the last years. Seeing the results that “Going Agile” can bring to an organisation in terms of delivering value to the end user and business value over and beyond traditional methods gets me happy. It makes me…
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10 Reasons the World’s Most Popular Blogger Gets 1M Hits Per Post
Han Han is a self-proclaimed “ordinary” blogger, but the hype and numbers tell us something entirely different; at little over 30 he was voted the second most influential person by Time magazine in 2010. The truth is that the double-barrelled, hard-hitting Chinese blogger is probably the most popular blogger in the world. Ordinary, he is not. The…
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Radical Restructures and Self-Organising Teams at TradeMe
Responsible for 2/3rds of New Zealand’s local internet traffic and with 3.4 million members (3/4 of the local population), TradeMe is New Zealand’s second largest internet company. So strong that eBay can’t edge into their space. Most amazing of all is their ability to sell 3000 chickens on the website each day! Despite using Agile…
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Driveway moments – how podcasts capture listeners in a content-laden world
With so much digital content competing for our attention in multiple social networks how do brands connect with their audience. What is the key? In this era of disposable content, memes, vines, snaps, whispers, secrets and now ‘YO‘s, many brands are swinging to the polar extreme to keep users attention and to keep them interested. Thankfully…
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Three pillars to a great online presence
Yesterday I visited New Zealand’s first 6 Green Star Office – Geyser, in Auckland. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nick Allen (@nickwallen) Geyser is created as 6 separate parts with courtyards to let natural light into each area. It has a thermal chimney façade that heats and cools the building. It…
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How can my business keep up with new social media channels?
For many the growth of new social networks, online channels and apps can be hard to keep up with. Worse still is figuring out how to make the most of them in your communications and marketing. There is a neat clip from an obscure film The 13th Warrior that sums up the best approach to…
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Does your company need a CEO?
Well by that I mean – Chief Editorial Officer! With so many messages to convey to so many audiences and with such varied media to communicate with, does a brand or company need a senior leader to keep the overall message resonating? Having a big shepherd muster your content and corral it into the right…
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Will 2014 be the Mobile Only Year?
Well as 2014 edges it’s way closer I thought it would be interesting to throw this question out and see what everyone thinks. I believe there will be a new wave of businesses that won’t bother with a desktop focused website but start from scratch thinking mobile only. Are we going to see a new…
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The art of simplicity and great customer service – Ken’s Yakitori
Now I’m trying to give this a digital or social media twist, but to be honest, this post is about a great evening and meal at one of Auckland’s best hidden secrets – Ken’s Yakitori on Anzac Ave. With my broken high school Japanese and the help of Google translate – it turns out Ken…
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How brands survive in a photo rich online world
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nick Allen (@nickwallen) With the latest Twitter update your stream on desktop and mobile features landscape shaped thumbnail previews of photos. This coupled with Twitter cards for blog posts, videos and many more media types, means far more images in what was originally an SMS like…
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Now I understand Google glass – #SMCAKL – Through the looking glass
Well, call me a cynic but I wasn’t convinced having tech strapped onto my glasses would be worth the ergonomic nightmare and invasion of layers interfering with my reality. Tonight’s social media club Auckland on augmented reality featured some great insights on the possibilities of social media listening tools from Oracle (don’t mention the Americas…
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Tuning in to brand channels on social media
New media marketers are adamant that their platforms and channels should be treated differently to traditional media. For decades we as marketers have been placing ads, commercials and the likes into existing channels. Channels that a certain target market are interested in and follow religiously. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nick…
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Are you listening brands? Really listening?
As marketing makes a slow progression from campaign based messaging to constant engagement in social media via mobile devices – we need to revisit our communication techniques. Social is bringing us back to one-to-one communcation. People can now talk to people as faces of a brand. We can get resolution and great customer service from…
Nick Allen 