Social network advertising, the fun way

What’s the best way to tap into peer advertising? Do you offer giveaways for customer retweets? Or how about checking Klout scores and offering preferential treatment to your most influential users in exchange for reviews? These techniques may have their place, but no one is all that enthused about spamming their friends’ feeds or knowing that Mr. Popular is still eating life off a silver platter.

A more appealing way to incentivize brand involvement is to make it fun. Make it something your participants can feel proud of. When people are doing something for its own sake and not because of an iPod giveaway, your company will be part of their lives in a way both of you feel good about.

Here are a few standout ways different companies have done themselves and their customers proud:

Marmite’s Elite Society Membership

Marmite is a sandwich spread. Only a few people can get excited about sandwich spreads… but if you’re a sandwich spread company, those are just the people you want to celebrate. The company we are social took Marmite’s new extra-strong flavor launch to a whole new level by seeking out self-proclaimed Marmite enthusiasts online, inviting them to a posh taste-testing session, and inducting them into the newly-formed Marmarati club. Marmite took a few enthusiastic fans and gave them something to talk about for years.

SolidWorks’ Forum Badges

Maybe you don’t have the resources to organize a gala event. But you can probably add digital badges to your forums without too much fuss. This is a common type of user incentivization, and I’m showcasing SolidWorks because it fits particularly well with their business model. SolidWorks sells simulation software for 3D design. With a product like this, naturally a lot of user questions come up and they need to offer tech support. SolidWorks manages part of this burden by tapping into its own user base, and making them feel good about contributing. The SolidWorks forum is constantly humming with questions. Peers who provide good answers to other user’s questions get points towards a medal for their forum avatars and designation as MVPs. This is a great way to encourage tech-savvy users to share the love.

Dropbox’s Dropquest Puzzle Challenge

Dropbox is a file-syncing service that lets you easily access your files from multiple devices. You get 2.5 GB of storage for free. There are various ways to get more free space by engaging with the company, but by far the most fun one is the once-a-year “Dropquest” with 1 GB of free space as the prize. I personally participated in the game this year, and it’s actually fun on its own merit, if you’re the kind of person who enjoys word and number puzzles. And the prize is directly related to the company’s service – they’re not giving away cruise tickets. It works, too. I can tell you that Dropbox occupies a much more prominent place in my mind after playing a couple hours of Dropquest.

by Sharon Campbell

Track changes in Word and text documents

by Sharon Campbell

Have you ever been working on an important letter or proposal where the wording had to be just right? You sent it off to another team member for their contribution, and then they emailed you the updated version with their changes. But while you were reading it over one last time, you realized they didn’t just add the stuff they were supposed to, they changed the wording from a really important part, and who knows what else they changed, and now you’re going to have to go over the whole thing again with a fine-tooth comb…

Actually, you don’t. The same word-processing programs you use to write your documents can also be used to automatically compare them. The differences between the documents will be highlighted in bright colors. You can spend five minutes glancing through the changes and get everything back to the way it’s supposed to be. There’s even a DOS command that will do the same thing for you command line users out there.

Microsoft Word

Make sure you save the updated document with a different name or in a different place, so it doesn’t overwrite your original file.

Now, open both documents in Word 2010. Go to the Review tab and click on the Compare tool. Choose the Compare… option.

In the window that pops up, use the dropdown menus to choose the two files you want to compare. Open the first document as the Original document, and the new one as the Revised document.

This will bring up a screen with a couple of different panels. The panel on the left shows a list of the changes. The center panel is the most useful one. It highlights every change between the two documents in blue. Words that were deleted from the first document are shown with a strikethrough, and words that were added in the new version are underlined. The two right panels show both versions of the document.

File comparison in Word 2010

More about file comparison in Word: office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/compare-documents-with-the-legal-blackline-option-HP010368863.aspx

Notepad++

Notepad++ is like Notepad but with lots of extra features. You can download it for free from notepad-plus-plus.org.

Notepad++ is great for comparing files of the “text” type, like HTML files, database backup files, regular .txt files, etc.

To compare two files, first you want to make sure both of them are saved with different names. Open both of them in Notepad++.

Go to the Plugins menu option. Hover over the Compare option, then choose Compare again from the sub-menu.

Two screens will come up, with one file on the left and one on the right. Every line that’s different will have a yellow exclamation point next to it. Specific words that are different will be highlighted in a darker color.

File comparison in Notepad++

More about file comparison in Notepad++: www.davidtan.org/how-to-compare-two-text-files-using-notepad-plus

DOS fc Command

The DOS “fc” command – short for “file compare” – will generate a list of all changes between two files.

To use this command, bring up the DOS command prompt. Type the following:

fc c:\path\to\file1.txt c:\path\to\file2.txt

The output will show any lines that are different between the two files.

File comparison with the command line

More about file comparison with fc: www.computerhope.com/fchlp.htm

Comcast brings internet service and computers for families

This is what we wanted to do since we always get so many used computers, often times we can fix them clean them up and give them away to low income folks.

 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20108897-266/comcast-offers-cheap-broadband-to-poor-families/

Google to launch the next CES 2013

Google to launch the next CES 2013 – Then again if 2012 hits on Dec 21, I guess the show won’t matter

http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-57359278-250/ces-2013-will-be-googles-show/?tag=mncol;mlt_related

The New Generation of Cloud Storage Tools

Janus Networks was featured on Inc.com with Soonr on Cloud
Storage Tools . http://www.inc.com/articles/201104/the-new-generation-of-cloud-storage-tools.html

Data Storage: Avoiding Data Storage Nightmares: 10 Tips for SMBs

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Data-Storage/Avoiding-Data-Storage-Nightmares-10-Tips-for-SMBs-703991/?kc=EWKNLSTR10222010STR1

By Chris Preimesberger on 2010-10-21

A Small Business Disaster Preparedness Plan

By Mielle Sullivan, Janus Networks

We all have seen the pictures of the devastating effects of the Jan. 12th earthquake in Haiti. Thousands are dead and much of the capital city of Port-au-Prince is in ruins. This incident was a grim reminder to us as Californians of the devestation of earthquakes.

If another strong earthquake were to strike the Bay Area next week, what would happen to your business? Every business, no matter its size, should have a disaster preparedness plan. Here are some steps to take:

• Analyze the day to day operations of your company. Identify the components that are crucial to your business’s survival and subsequent recovery. This may include payroll, accounting, and customer relation management systems.
• Schedule an appointment with your insurance agent to review your coverage and see if your coverage needs to be changed or supplemented. If you don’t already have it, think about adding business-interruption insurance, which will replace any lost income should your company get hit by a covered incident.
• Nominate someone to temporarily operate your business in case you become injured or were otherwise unable to work. Perhaps an employee, a member of your board or an advisor?
• Of course, yours will not be the only business affected if disaster strikes. What other vendors/suppliers are you dependent on? Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket. Find back-up suppliers you can use in case of emergency.
• Back-up and secure your data. Data loss is one of the most common problems businesses face after a disaster. It is crucial to back up your data in a safe and secure off-site location. Janus Networks has solutions for just this situation.

Disaster planning can be a bit daunting and maybe even seem a little morbid. It is easy to put off, because we don’t like thinking about undesireable situations. But, a little preparedness can go a long way towards recovery. Remember, more than half of all small businesses never reopen after a disaster. Will your be one that will?

You can contact the author at press@janusnetworks.com

To find out how Janus Networks can provide tech solutions for your small business visit us at: http://www.janusnetworks.com/
Also, visit our blog: http://janusnetworks.wordpress.com/

follow us on twitter: @JanusNetworks

More Small Business Promotion Ideas

by Mielle Sullivan, Janus Networks

Run a user generated content contest in which the winner wins a trip to Hawaii
Show people where the sweet stuff is and they will come to it in swarms and they will tell all their swarming friends and they will talk talk talk about it. What is the sweet stuff? Anything really fun, anything worth fantasizing about, anything worth taking a risk for, or taking time out of their busy day for. If you can cause people to associate your, product, website or company with anything fun and exciting it will get attention. Remember the “Island Caretaker” job offered by the Queensland Tourism Board? It generated so much attention that the ensuing traffic shut down the site’s servers multiple times; tens of thousands of video applications were received and dozens of high profile articles were written.

Host an UNconference

We’ve all been conferences that were too expensive, long and predictable. So the next time there is a big industry conference in your city, rent out a small room near the conference and hold an UNconference. The idea is that the attendees will come up with topics and then discuss and present on the topics right there. You can focus on a specific problem in your field, or leave it more open. Do: invite as many people in your field as possible, invite the press, encourage collaboration, provide snacks, print up fun t-shirts. Don’t: charge admission.

Make a viral video

Hire a good video artist/director. Make it funny. Make it short. Be upfront about who you are and what you are promoting. Make sure it is tagged well and easy to find. Involver has a variety of social media video promotion tools for a large range of budgets.

Hold a Raffle

This isn’t a way to get money, but rather to get information about your target or encourage them to engage with a product. It is similar to the user generated content contest, but instead of creating content users interact with a site, fill out a survey or use a product. This idea works great when you have a new feature to promote as it points users straight towards engagement. The Dubai Government used a raffle to promote use of its new eGovernment portal to conduct payments and credit card companies and Discover Card is currently running a sweepstakes for users that switch to paperless statements. Both promotions encourage users to interact in new way with services they are use.

For more ideas sign up for the Janus Networks newsletter
You can contact the author at press@janusnetworks.com
Visit our blog: http://janusnetworks.wordpress.com/
Follow us on twitter: JanusNetworks

Promotion Ideas for Small Businesses

by Mielle Sullivan, Janus Networks

Here are some ideas for promotion that cost under or around $10,000.

Host an event

Host an event around the launch of a new, or improved, product or service. It doesn’t have to be a big event. Rent out a bar, or a good sized room in a bar. Get a DJ or maybe a band. Invite some clients, business partners and any local press that cover your field of business. Make sure everyone the press might want to interview is there. Demo your product or give a presentation about your service. Print up take away materials for guests and press.

Sponsor a Podcast

This is a great way to hone in on niche markets inexpensively. Contact podcasters directly for details. Want examples of businesses sponsoring podcasts? This Week in Tech has a variety of sponsors, but it’s most common are Audible.com and Gotomypc.com; The Savage Love podcast is sponsored by Adam & Eve.

Run a Retweet Promotion

The most well known recent example is Moonfruit, a website hosting company, gave away ten MacBooks in ten days to random twitter users who included #moonfruit in their tweets. The prizes are what gets this kind of promotion going, but if the retweet itself is as unobtrusive and you can encourage a little creativity, the contest can create some interesting content of it’s own. These contests are easy to set up and oversee, so you can put nearly all of your investment into prizes.

Spend the money on a Google Adwords Campaign

Google Adwords is the best, easiest,do-it-yourself advertising tool in the world. You decide exactly how much to spend, what keywords to choose, and what targeting to use. It’s an essential tool to reach local audiences and is infinitely scalable. When used with a bit of know-how, Google Adwords offers some of the best ROI in advertising for both big and small businesses. If you aren’t sure where to begin, Google makes it easy.

For more ideas sign up for the Janus Networks newsletter

You can contact the author at press@janusnetworks.com

Visit our blog: http://janusnetworks.wordpress.com/

follow us on twitter: JanusNetworks

Long Term Challenges Ahead for Broadband Technologies

by Mielle Sullivan, Janus Networks

As consumer demand for broadband Internet has grown exponentially, a few different technologies have risen up to meet the need. Each of these technologies has their own unique set of advantages and challenges. Consequently, there is no all-encompassing solution for the future of broadband.

Let’s examine each of the current technologies:

VDSL2–Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line 2. The newest and most advanced standard of DSL broadband over-the-wire communications. This standard supports wide-scale “Triple Play” services such as voice, video, data, high definition television (HDTV) and interactive gaming. It uses existing copper phone wires to make the connection. The supporters of this technology are AT&T with its U-verse offering and Qwest.

Advantages: Because it uses existing copper telephone wires as the back bone of the infrastructure, there less to build out than the other technologies.

Challenges: In terms of reliability, VDSL2 is sometimes more haphazard than to DOCSYS and FiOS, in part because it relies on older infrastructure. Also, VDSL2 speeds degrade over long distances.

In order to make the system faster, AT&T has created a hybrid of fiber optics and copper wires for it’s U-verse offering. The company uses a fiber optic cable connection to a city, then copper wires within a city. However, this hybrid system relies on huge cabinet-like hubs to be installed underground in each city. AT&T has had to battle officials over taxes in many cities for permition to install these hubs. Stalled negotiations have limited deployment.

FiOS–Fiber optic communications network and technology designed for bundled communication services including Internet telephone and television. Fiber optics are the newest technology and infrastructure, offering the highest potential speeds with the least amount of loss.

Challenges: When FiOS enters any new territory, the entire infrastructure needs to be built out from scratch.

Verizon is the only company currently building out its own all fiber optic network (FiOS). In more densely populated areas, the company must install cables under often-decaying city structures and negotiate with apartment building owners individually, making implementation very slow in old cities.

DOCSIS 3–the latest in Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification. DOCSIS is a standard that allows high speed data transfer over existing cable television system.

Advantages: DOCSIS uses existing cable infrastructure, so there is not nearly as much to build out as FiOS. This system also has less speed loss over distance than VDSL2.

Disadvantages: Ultimately, DOCSIS is inferior to FiOS for speed potential. Currently, FiOS does not need to operate near capacity to be competitive. As the market demands higher speeds, DOCSIS may not compete with FiOS. Also, despite having much of the existing infrastructure, there are still growing pains associated with this DOCSIS. Providers like Comcast and Cox have been unable to keep up with demand, slowing installations and causing services outages in some areas.

The challenges in implementing these technologies are likely to continue for years. Ironically, densely populated old cities and very remote sparsely populate areas simialr cost to benefit challenge for installation. The future is likely to be patchwork of all three technologies depending on different installation challenges in each area. Cities may need to depend on VDSL and DOCSIS for several years, while newer suburban developments in some states will have FiOS. Very remote areas may rely on broadband built out to a local tower which would then connect to users wirelessly Eventually, Verizon may be able build out FiOS in most areas and ultimately it may be the clear winner if very high speed becomes the deciding factor in consumer choice. But price is also a consideration and the market may never widely demand speeds that only FiOS can provide. Within several years, it is even possible mobile broadband advancements could make it a competitor to all of these over-the-wire technologies, causing further disruption to the marketplace.