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And finally, Twitter decides to add the much requested “Edit Tweet” button.

Ever since I can remember, people have been requesting Twitter for the editing tweet option. It does sound good at first, especially for the fat-fingered mistakes and when autocorrect goes haywire and changes regards to retards.

But the major concern has also been around the spread of misinformation if tweets were altered after being widely shared. In favour of Twitter though, they will be adding some safeguards around it.

For one, they are starting this feature out presently only for Twitter employees and will then slowly roll it out to Twitter Blue subscribers. Only after that would it roll out to all the users.

Secondly, changes can only be made 30 minutes after the original tweet was sent and edited tweets will be labelled. On clicking the label, one would be able to see the history of the edited tweet.

It is a good filter to have – ability to correct one’s mistake on the internet. But I am still not 100% convinced this is the best way to do it.

Just consider a below average Twitter user (of which there are millions) who is easily convinced by anything they read online. Do we really think they will pay any heed to whether a tweet is edited and take the effort to find out what content was changed?

It would be interesting to see how this decision from Twitter pans out.

Read the full announcement on Twitter’s Blog.

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For any startup, the initial phase is when they need maximum traction for the minimum of expenses. While some startups burn a major portion of their financing in getting this traction, some startups use smart content strategies for the same results.

Here are 5 content strategy tips for startups, that would help in saving expenses but still provide the desired results in terms of traction.

1. EMAILS

Email marketing offers literally no-cost marketing for a startup.

It’s an easy way to attract customers and engage with them on the long term. Use whatever it takes to provide value to them – newsletters, offers, discounts, valuable content etc.

2. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING (SMM)

This is a no-brainer. The power of social media in creating value to businesses, especially startups, needs no introduction.

Yes, you would need to get creative and spend time, but as a startup, you’re already doing that. Where possible, do not outsource your SMM, but focus on building an in-house team.

3. BLOG

Creating valuable content, again and again, is probably the most effective marketing strategy right now.

Dig deep into content marketing and focus on providing valuable content to your customers. Once they see the commitment you have in providing them value, they will be your loyal customers for all times to come.

4. PAID ADS

While this does require you to spend money, when done smartly, it need not lead you to burning your pocket.

Be it Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads or any other kind of paid advertising you are getting into, do your research well. Understand your audience and their needs. This will help you to plan the spending on your ads better.

5. USER GENERATED CONTENT

While you are building your startup, creating valuable content all the time can be of issue if you do not have a specific person for that.

Enter your customers.

Through contests, bragging rights, hashtags and whatever strategy comes your way, inspire your customers to create content for you.

Are you a service startup? Request your customers for a testimonial and post it on your website.

Are you a software product startup? Reward a user who has found a bug in your app and thank them on social media.

Are you a hardware product startup? Start a competition for your customers to post pictures with your product on social media.

But remember, end of the day, no matter how effective your content strategy is, make sure your product/service also adds value.

No strategy is better than having an amazing product/service that provides solutions to your customer’s problems.

Inspired from an article at Bluleadz.com
Photo by Startaê Team on Unsplash

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On 11 May 2020, Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand PM addressed her nation regarding an update on the COVID-19 situation.

A day later, on the 12th of May 2020, the Indian PM Narendra Modi did the same for his country.

Even though I didn’t watch either of them live, I did view recordings of both their addresses and even went through the transcript in detail.

Narendra Modi addressed the nation in Hindi. Since am well familiar with the language, I viewed the recording in Hindi and reviewed the transcripts in both Hindi and English. Jacinda Ardern’s was obviously in English, so no confusion there.

As a communication professional, I love analyzing the speeches world leaders or company executives make. At times I learn a lot from how they communicate around an issue or matter, and at times I critically evaluate what they missed and what they could have done better.

The following blog post is a mix of both. It is a critical look into analyzing leadership communication by two well-respected world leaders.

It’s not always that we get different world leaders to talk about the same concern. But in this scenario when we do, it makes it easier to compare their communication effectiveness, especially in crisis periods.

It brings about a more balanced critique and ensures that we are not comparing apples to oranges.

I’ll be evaluating the whole of their address on a 50 point scale – 10 factors, evaluated against a score of 5. These factors have been taken into consideration based on the context of the existing crisis.

  1. First words
  2. Empathy
  3. Acknowledgment (of present scenario)
  4. Connecting with people
  5. Information
  6. Clarity
  7. Future actions
  8. Tone of voice
  9. Jargons (lack of)
  10. Call to action
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An elevator pitch is not an announcement. Neither is it a sales call.

It does not end with the 30 seconds of self-immersive diarrhoea that you might be blurting out.

It also isn’t about who you are or what you are doing.

An elevator pitch is all about being a conversation. What you are going to do, what you are building, what your vision is. A conversation that should be interesting enough to be taken outside the elevator.

An elevator pitch will never land you a job or a partnership or a client in the time the elevator takes to reach the ground floor. But it should augment the interest and curiosity in the other person to be able to carry the conversation forth after the doors of the elevator open.

Elevator Pitch
Consider it like a pick-up line someone uses on Tinder (minus the cheesiness). It does not directly land you in a relationship, but rather leads to the first date to begin with.

Instead of rambling a few sentences in a single breath, mould your elevator pitch as a genuine conversation which peaks the curiosity of the listener.

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Be it in your personal environment or at work, how many times have you said – I am busy/I am held up/can I make time for this later?

Of course am not asking you for the number. Its more of a rhetorical question.

Just think of all the times you have answered to someone with one of the above responses. Or something similar on those lines basically implying that “I don’t think what you’re asking me right now is of priority to me at this moment. And instead of truthfully agreeing that I don’t want to do it, I am going to pretend that I have a lot to do and am busy“.

Yes, people can be busy. You, me, my non-existent billionaire best friend, my existent girlfriend – everyone can be busy. But being busy is all about setting priorities. If its not important for you (albeit even temporarily), you’ll always find ways to be busy rather than actually take time out for that.Continue reading