Author Archives: nada bassam

KNOCKOUT Just days before I was supposed to turn in the drop-dead, final version of the manuscript for this book to my editor, Instagram launched a fifteen-second video product that competes directly with Vine. I was in Cannes, and as soon as I could, I went back to my hotel room and spent four hoursContinue reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook 12”

CONCLUSION It takes a ton of effort to figure out how to use any social media platform to its full potential, and today we’ve got seven major ones to contend with. I hoped that if I wrote a short, useful book—one as visually enticing as a Tumblr or Pinterest post— that broke today’s most popularContinue reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook 11”

ALL COMPANIES ARE MEDIA COMPANIES I’ve just spent nine chapters emphasizing that the key to social marketing is microcontent. In fact, the shorter your content and storytelling, the better. But as I look to the future, I see a yin to the micro-content yang. After all, long-form content isn’t dead. It still lives on inContinue reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook 10”

EFFORT Content is king, context is God, and then there’s effort. Together, they are the holy trinity for winning on Facebook, Twitter, and any other platform, and even for winning in any business. Without effort—intense, consistent, committed, 24-7 effort—the best social media micro-content placed within the most appropriate context will go down as gracelessly asContinue reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook 9”

OPPORTUNITIES in EMERGING NETWORKS Every year, the world becomes a little smaller, a little more social, a little more connected. Creating content that allows us to share our experiences, thoughts, and ideas in real time is becoming an intrinsic part of life in the twenty-first century (in fact, it’s getting to the point that we’reContinue reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook 8”

GET ANIMATED on TUMBLR Launched: February 2007 As of June 2013, 132 million monthly unique users 60 million new posts every day The Tumblr blog was originally on WordPress; it didn’t move to Tumblr until May 2008. For every new feature Tumblr introduces, an old one is removed. Ranks number one in average number ofContinue reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook 7”

CREATE ART on INSTAGRAM Founded: October 2010 As of December 2012, Instagram boasted 130 million monthly active users. 40 million photos are uploaded per day. It took Flickr two years to reach the milestone of 100 million uploaded pictures; it took Instagram eight months. Instagram photos generate 1,000 comments per second. In June, 2013, InstagramContinue reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook 6”

GLAM IT UP on PINTEREST Launched: March 2010 48.7 million users Grew 379,599% in 2012 From 2011 to 2012, Pinterest mobile app usage rose 1,698%, and users accessed the site via their mobile devices an incredible 4,225% more. 68% of Pinterest users are women, and half of them are mothers. The most repinned pin isContinue reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook 5”

LISTEN WELL on TWITTER Launched: March 2006 As of December 2012, there were more than 100 million users in the United States, 500 million worldwide. The Twitter concept evolved out of a brainstorming session that took place at the top of a slide on a San Francisco playground. The company’s logo, a little blue bird,Continue reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook 4”

STORYTELL on FACEBOOK Founded: February 2004 The platform was called Thefacebook.com until August 2005. In a 2006 survey of the top five “in” things on college campuses, Facebook tied with beer but scored lower than iPods. The “Like” button was originally supposed to be called the “Awesome” button. Mark Zuckerberg initially rejected photo sharing; heContinue reading “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook 3”