This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

This video is called, Why I Stopped Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator By Mike Pitt.  You can . Mike Pitt is the Founder of Marketing Fundamentals Ltd, which is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London.

In this video, Mike Pitt explains why he stopped using LinkedIn Sales Navigator and he also explains how it compares to a Content led Inbound approach.

LinkedIn

This video will be of interest to business owners, B2B marketing managers, Content Marketing professionals, Social Media Managers and others who use Content Marketing and Social Media to promote their B2B business. Existing LinkedIn users will find this particularly useful.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Regular LinkedIn allows you to search for prospects for your business to a certain extent. The key benefit of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, which is a premium service for $64.99 per month, is that you can search with a great deal more specificity. I am in Sales Navigator now and you can see that I have set up my search filters. Geography – London, industries that I am targeting: architecture, business supplies, construction, information technology, professional services and coaching. Headcount 11-50, seniority and job roles. Using the filters that I have set up, Sales Navigator has thrown up many leads. This is excellent. I have no criticism of the searchability of leads and prospects within Sales Navigator. That’s not the issue.  However…to hear more of my thoughts please watch the video. 

If you’ve liked this post you will also like the following posts:

How to Increase LinkedIn Company Page Followers

How I Follow Up With LinkedIn Searchers

Google+ is Dead (You Must do This!)

LinkedIn: How to Approach Leads the Right Way

LinkedIn Storytelling: How to Tell Stories on LinkedIn

My Most Viewed Post on LinkedIn

LinkedIn: Company Page Followers No Longer Viewable

Professional Services: How Do You Fill Your Sales Funnel?

Professional Services: How Do You Build Trust in Your Company ? 5 ways

LinkedIn: Advice For B2B Businesses – Playlist

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.

Best regards,

Mike Pitt

Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

Follow Mike on Twitter 

Subscribe to

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow Mike on Pinterest

Web Hosting Special Offer

This is video number 250 and blog post number 484.

The post Why I Stopped Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

Image Credit: Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

This video is called, I’m Back on Quora By Mike Pitt.   . Mike Pitt is the Founder of Marketing Fundamentals Ltd, which is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London.

In this video, Mike Pitt explains that he’s Back on Quora; Quora is a Questions and Answers platform. Hear Mike’s thoughts on why he took a break from Quora and what his approach will be now that he is back  in the video.

This video will be of interest to business owners, B2B marketing managers, Content Marketing professionals, Social Media Managers and others who use Content Marketing and Social Media to promote their B2B business or organisation.

Back on Quora

A couple of years ago, I was very active on Quora. I was answering two or three questions per day and then I had to take a break. I took a break because I was getting inundated with questions that were asking me to complete projects and to give detailed answers to strategic questions. Questions that really should come through my business, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd; people were being cheeky and asking for a full scope of work on Quora. I did not want to give out free consultancy via Quora, I was happy to give out guidelines and pointers but not to complete chargeable work for free. People were asking very specific questions about their own projects rather than general questions.

Now that I am becoming more active on Quora again, I will make a judgment on a question by question basis in terms of the information being requested. If you are considering using a B2B Content Marketing Agency, Quora is the perfect platform for you to ask me a question, that could then develop into a conversation and a subsequent meeting or phone call if you are overseas. I will see you on Quora!

If you’ve liked this post you will also like the following posts:

How to Increase LinkedIn Company Page Followers

LinkedIn Storytelling: How to Tell Stories on LinkedIn

My Most Viewed Post on LinkedIn

LinkedIn: Company Page Followers No Longer Viewable

Professional Services: How Do You Fill Your Sales Funnel?

LinkedIn: How to Approach Leads the Right Way

Professional Services: How Do You Build Trust in Your Company ? 5 ways

LinkedIn: Advice For B2B Businesses – Playlist

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.

Best regards,

Mike Pitt

Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

Follow Mike on Twitter 

Subscribe to

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow Mike on Pinterest

Web Hosting Special Offer

This is video number 243 and blog post number 477.

The post I’m Back on Quora appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

Image Credit: Vasya Kobelev/Shutterstock

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

This video is called, Review of Steem Markdown Course By Mike Pitt. This is video number 236 and blog post number 465. . Mike Pitt is the Founder of Marketing Fundamentals Ltd, which is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London.

In this video, Mike Pitt gives a review of the Steem Markdown, a course created by @sumatranate . This video was originally uploaded to DTube and Steemit in February of this year.

This video will be of interest to users of Steemit.com (Steemians) and DTube. It will also be of interest to content creators and Social Media Managers.

Steem Markdown Course

When you create a post on Steemit you have to use Markdown styling, Markdown is the text format and accounts for embedded links, bold and italics, as well as a comprehensive selection of emojis. After a few weeks of using Steemit, I found the Steem Markdown Course which teaches you all about Markdown and how to use it on Steemit. The course was clear, concise and practical. If you are joining Steemit, or intending to post more often on the platform,  I  recommend that you take this course.  It’s well structured, easy to follow and very helpful. Here’s the course link. 

If you’ve liked this post you will also like the following posts:

Conventional Social Media vs Steemit

The New Wave: 13 Social Media Platforms Powered by Blockchain

Blockchain Expo Global 2018 London

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.

Best regards,

Mike Pitt

Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

Follow Mike on Steemit

Follow Mike on Twitter 

Follow Mike on Pinterest

Subscribe to

Follow us on LinkedIn

Online courses:

How to TurboCharge Your Business with a Blog
Meet Edgar Social Media Management
TurboCharge Your Twitter Presence
Quora For Business

Follow Mike on Twitter

Web Hosting Special Offer

This is blog post post number 465.

The post Review of Steem Markdown Course appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

A beginner’s guide to Improving IT resilience For Your Business

IT resilience is when your business systems can seamlessly adapt to changing circumstances in order to protect data and applications, mitigate the risk of downtime and focus on service delivery.  

In other words, IT resilience ensures that your business is ‘Always-On’ also known as business continuity or serviceability.

Why is that important?

Downtime (when a system cannot perform its primary function) can have catastrophic effects on your business including (but not limited to):

•    Reduced profitability due to loss of revenue and Downtime incurred costs to get the systems back online again.
•     Reduced staff productivity and morale
•    Backed up orders
•    Reduced or none existent serviceability.
•    Potential overtime costs to repair systems, catch up on productivity.
•    Loss of customer confidence which can lead to brand damage ex. “Don’t use McGregor’s Stationary, they have issues delivering on time.”
•    Ripple effects that could impact the business for months post-downtime.

IT resilience, however, is much more than just mitigating the effects of downtime.  

If a disaster were to strike would your business perish or would it be up and running again in a matter of hours? The latter signifies good IT resilience whereas the former is proof of the lack thereof.

Here are some things you should look at to get you on your way to IT Resilience:

Power Outage Protection

Computers run on power and power failures are becoming an everyday ordeal and the simple fact of the matter is that you can’t afford to be without a backup plan.

Sudden loss of power can have nasty effects on your productivity; it can sometimes wipe away weeks’ worth of work and scramble a system into oblivion.

The first step is to invest in a quality UPS system for each computer.

UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) is a device that is rooted between the computer and the power supply, it can detect any changes (drops or surges) in the power supplied to the computer and will switch to battery backup when the voltage drops too low.

It will also supply a constant stream of voltage to your pc, which protects it from power spikes.

What that does is give you the time to save and backup any important projects that you are working on.

Generators are the most important tool for business continuity when it comes to power failures.

Sometimes there will be a generator backup system for the entire building but if that isn’t the case then you have no choice but to invest in your own.

You will need to determine what is the right size generator for your business, and then you will have to make sure that it is properly installed with an ATS.

An ATS is an Automated Transfer Switch; it will systematically transfer the load of power from one source to another. However, this can take anywhere from 2 – 2- minutes which is why a UPS system is so important.

What is Backup and Data Recovery?

A backup is simply a duplicate of data, applications or processes to an alternate location. It’s important to store vital information in more than one place because there are so many threats to business systems these days.

Data Recovery, however, refers to how quickly and successfully said backups can be recovered in a disastrous event.

Both of these are important, but integrating them is the next step to business continuity and improved serviceability.

Traditional vs. Modern Backup and Data Recovery

A traditional backup system entails manually backing up systems to an extra pc/ hard drive/ backup appliance, has to be manually tested, upheld and is a constant source of headaches for a small business owner.

Modern Backup systems also have appliances, but these are smart devices that need little to no human intervention and automatically duplicate backups to a cloud.

Backing up to only a cloud is also a very popular option for modern backup systems.

But there are some major issues with traditional backups:

•    It’s a bulky, inefficient and time-consuming process that has to be repeated daily (which can lead to excessive costs for extra IT techs)
•    Testing has to be done manually and can be inefficient and often much too late to recover corrupted data.
•    There is no protection against ransomware.
•    The recovery process is long and costly and often unsuccessful and at times impossible.
•    Has no safeguard in place for natural disasters or theft.
•    It may seem cheaper until you have to recover corrupted data, stolen hardware and eventually completely restart all of your business systems.
•    Searching for the data you need (data recovery) can be frustrating and time-consuming.
•    When disaster strikes you can’t carry your servers with you to safety.

Meanwhile, modern IT Resilience Solutions are simply brilliant.

•    There are all in one devices that act as a local backup whilst also transferring backups to the cloud and integrates systems and application seamlessly.
•    This means that your backups are done time efficiently and effectively and
•    Your downtime is cut in half.
•    Features integrated disaster recovery testing with a built-in notification system.
•    Has built-in ransomware protection that can stop malware in its tracks.
•    The appliances feature predictive analytics that can anticipate hardware related issues from a mile away.
•    Should worst come to worst, you can operate your business from the cloud. How cool is that?
•    Data recovery is relatively painless and very effective.
•    Offers greatest resilience and continuity to modern day businesses.

Finding the right plan for your business can be daunting but it’s in your best interest to push forward and find innovative solutions that work for your business.

If you’ve liked this post you will also like, Have you set up Your Services Business for Success?

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.

Best regards,

Marketing Fundamentals Team

Follow Mike on Pinterest

Subscribe to

Follow us on LinkedIn

Online courses:

How to TurboCharge Your Business with a Blog
Meet Edgar Social Media Management
TurboCharge Your Twitter Presence
Quora For Business

Follow Mike on Twitter

Web Hosting Special Offer

This is blog post post number 460

The post What Is IT Resilience And Why Do You Need It? appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

Image Credit: Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

This video is called, Ello 2018 Update: What has Happened? By Mike Pitt. This is video number 234 and blog post number 458. . Mike Pitt is the Founder of Marketing Fundamentals Ltd, which is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London.

In this video, Mike Pitt takes another look at the Ello Social Network which can be found at https://ello.co/  This is an Ello 2018 update, his last video on Ello was uploaded in Feb 2015.

Click here to watch the earlier video from 2015  

This video will be of interest to business owners, B2B marketing managers and others who use Content Marketing and Social Media to promote their B2B business or organisation.

Ello 2018 Update

In 2015, when I last looked at Ello, it was positioned as an ad free Social Network. At the time, the anti-commercial stance was a key point of difference compared to the major Social Media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn . Fast forward to 2018 and Ello has been re-positioned as an artistic community as I explain in the video. 

Are you an artist currently active on Ello ? If so, what do you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you like this post you will also like the following:

 Traffic Tips: Are you Using StumbleUpon?

 Traffic Tips: The Power of Pinterest 

 Content Hacks: Learning From Your Most Popular Post.

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.

Best regards,

Mike Pitt

Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

Follow Mike on Pinterest

Subscribe to

Follow us on LinkedIn

Online courses:

How to TurboCharge Your Business with a Blog
Meet Edgar Social Media Management
TurboCharge Your Twitter Presence
Quora For Business

Follow Mike on Twitter

This is blog post post number 458.

The post Ello 2018 Update: What has Happened? appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

Image Credit: Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

This video is called, Traffic Tips: Long Form Content By Mike Pitt. This is video number 233 and blog post number 457. . Mike Pitt is the Founder of Marketing Fundamentals Ltd, which is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London.

In this blog post and video, Mike Pitt discusses the benefits of creating Long Form Content for Your Website . He also explains what Long Form Content is.

This video will be of interest to business owners, B2B marketing managers, Content Marketing professionals, Social Media Managers and others who use Content Marketing and Social Media to promote their B2B business or organisation.

Long Form Content

A regular blog post may be between 500 and 800 words, if we look at a recent post of our website you can see that it a much longer post. Rather than 800 words it is actually 2,500 words, this is what I mean when I use the term , Long Form Content. Long Form Content can be between 1200 and 3000 words. The significance of Long Form Content is that most of our best performing blog posts are Long Form Content. There are several benefits of creating this type of content and I discuss them in the video. 

Are you creating Long Form Content for your website? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you like this post you will also like, Traffic Tips: Are you Using StumbleUpon?

This is one that I mentioned in the video,  Traffic Tips: The Power of Pinterest 

Also, you should read this post, Content Hacks: Learning From Your Most Popular Post.

Finally, the post discussed in the video, The New Wave: 13 Social Media Platforms Powered by Blockchain

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.

Best regards,

Mike Pitt

Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

Follow Mike on Pinterest

Subscribe to

Follow us on LinkedIn

Online courses:

How to TurboCharge Your Business with a Blog
Meet Edgar Social Media Management
TurboCharge Your Twitter Presence
Quora For Business

Follow Mike on Twitter

This is blog post post number 457.

The post Traffic Tips: Long Form Content appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

For a number of years, it has been clear to many that social media platforms Facebook and Twitter, to name just two, have been collecting data related to its users. Their business models are  predicated upon this, they sell this data to advertisers who then target you based on your preferences and activity. As users,  we are the product as eloquently explained by Zeynep Tufekci in this video.

Conventional Social Media and Privacy

The cost of participation on Facebook is that you hand over access and control of your personal data to Mark Zuckerberg and his senior management team.   When he was asked to share his own personal data recently Zuckerberg appeared quite protective of it here. 

They are not alone, the amount of data that Google has on consumers is also staggering; consider the logged in searches you have made together with physical journeys when using Google Maps, for example. Amazon and Apple must also be considered in this context. The companies named here are merely representative, this is not an exhaustive list.

Understandably, forward thinking users of Social Media platforms have been looking for alternatives where they can maintain greater levels of privacy and control of their own data. In this context, the appeal and attraction of Social Media platforms powered by blockchain technology is very strong.

What is Blockchain Technology?

It was Satoshi Nakamoto who created the first blockchain database and the first bitcoin software on 9th January 2009. Blockchain technology is a distributed ledger system that allows for the transfer of value from point A to point B without an intermediary. Using the financial sector as an example, usually a bank or a company such as PayPal acts as the intermediary. With blockchain technology they are not part of the process, instead the blockchain itself acts as a shared database that securely and efficiently creates a log of digital transaction activity.

A lot of the early use cases for blockchain technology related to financial products, more specifically cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin was and remains the most significant of these cryptocurrencies, but blockchain technology is more than the platform on which cryptocurrencies are created.

It’s also a great technology for Social Media platforms because it is decentralised and transparent; data is secure and encrypted. Decentralised Social Media platforms have less censorship than traditional Social Media platforms. Blockchain technology offers users greater control over their transactions and data. Perhaps because of these benefits, there are already many Social Media platforms powered by Blockchain, as my list below demonstrates.

1. Steemit

Launched on July 4th 2016 Steemit.com is the most well established of all Social Media platforms based on blockchain technology. Steemit is powered by the Steem blockchain. Central to the ethos of Steemit is idea that content creators are rewarded for the content they create, as opposed on any profits going to the owners of the platform. Rewards are paid in cryptocurrencies, specifically Steem and Steem Backed Dollars (SBD).

The voting power of those who upvote your content determines how much any particular post will earn. In March 2018 Steemit had a total user base of 920,800 and the number of monthly active users was  between 50-60,000. Steemit has a current Alexa rating of 1297, this means that it is the 1297th most popular website in the world. The site’s domain authority rating is 71.5, which is very good. People are really using the platform and it has some quality backlinks.

The concept of rewarding content creators for their uploads is a good one, unfortunately the execution of this is still problematic because there is a heavy concentration of Steem Power in the hands of just a few people. Most users do not really have very much influence at all. For more of a detailed look at Steemit please read,  Conventional Social Media vs Steemit. 

2. Dock.io

Dock. io positions itself as a convenient Ethereum blockchain based data exchange for all your profile data and professional networks. Instead of creating multiple profiles, access and login points, with all the security compromises that can create, why not store all of your data in a decentralised location that allows you to maintain control? It should simplify job searching help freelancers looking for new projects. Following a successful Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that raised $20 million Dock.io is now aggressively targeting user acquisition and has 200,000 users, as of March 2018. It is possible to earn cryptocurrency rewards for inviting new users to the platform.

It is still very much in its early stages. From my own personal experience, I found the integration of data from LinkedIn onto Dock.io to be a complicated process. Also, user discoverability needs to be improved; when I searched for users who had told me they were on the platform I could not find them to connect. I am sure that they issues will be addressed and other features will be added. You can read the dock.io white paper here.

3. Ong.social

Ong.social describes itself as a decentralised social network and is powered by both the Ethereum and Waves blockchains. Ong users can use it as a social dashboard to post on decentralised and centralised platforms. Like Steemit, it is possible to earn cryptocurrency rewards for posting content.  As a content marketer I have made a quick assessment of the website, it is has a low domain authority rating according to Moz and the last piece of  content published was in August 2017.

4. Sapien Network

Sapien.network  is a Social News platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain. Like Steemit, users will receive cryptocurrency rewards for posting content on the platform; on the Sapien Network the rewards are in SPN. The platform raised over $20 million in its ICO. Users of the platform will be able to post, add friends and create groups as you would expect on a social network.  A quick analysis of the website leads me to believe that it is yet to gain any real traction, but that could change in the coming months. You can read the Sapien white paper here. 

5. APPICs

To understand APPICs I need to take you back to Steemit. Ned Scott, one of the founders of Steemit subsequently created Smart Media Tokens which are, ” A Token Protocol for Content Websites, Applications, Online Communities and Guilds Seeking Funding, Monetization and User Growth”. The full white paper for Smart Media Tokens can be read here.  APPICs is one of the first Applications to take advantage of the SMT protocol and will launch in Q3 of 2018 on the Steem blockchain. It is described as a ‘Next Generation Social Network.’

Fortunately for me, I was able to speak face to face with APPICs founder Uma Hagenguth at the recent Blockchain Expo Global in London.  Uma is an active user on Steemit and is aware of some its shortcomings.

When APPICs launches it will create a platform where content creators who post in categories will be able to create good visibility for their posts irrespective of the influence of other users who upvote it. They will also be able to earn cryptocurrency rewards in the form of APPICs tokens (XAP). APPICs is currently building a network of high profile influencers / endorsers from the music and fashion industries and it will be interesting to see how this translates into user acquisition numbers when the APP launches. At the time of writing, APPICs has just been through an ICO and raised over $4 million. You can read the APPICs whitepaper here. 

6. Sola 

Sola.ai is a decentralised social network within an App that pays you for the content that you create. The name Sola is an acronym for “social layer.” Payment is is in the form of SOL tokens based on the ERC20 standard. Unlike others decentralised social networks on this list, Sola incorporates native advertising into its business model. Users can purchase add free accounts. According to its website, Sola has over 920,000 users, a lot of these users originate from Plague which was a forerunner to Sola.ai.

Content distribution is controlled by an algorithm based on user actions, this is similar to StumbleUpon and contrasts with traditional social networks where content distribution is dependent upon connections. Each day users receive Action Points. Users view one card at a time, each card can either be ignored or endorsed, then the user can move onto the next card. When users endorse a card they ‘spend’ their Action Points to do so. You can read the Sola white paper here. 

7. Props Project

The PROPS project is a decentralised Eco system of video applications on the Ethereum  Blockchain. Rize is the name of the first PROPS app. Similar to other platforms mentioned above, the central idea is to pay content creators for the work that they create; creators earn cryptocurrency rewards in the form of PROPSs which is an ERC-20 token.  PROPS is recruiting partners whose activity within the app creates  the rewards pool. For example, one partner may create an ad supported platform and the revenue generated goes into the rewards pool for users.   You can read the PROPS white paper here. 

8. WildSpark.me by Synereo

Wildspark.me describes itself as an Attention Economy. Similar to many of the platforms above, creators are rewarded for their content uploaded to the platform. Rewards are attributed by other users in the form of AMPs, AMPS are the cryptocurrency that drives the WildSpark economy. Rewards can also be earned by curating content. Initially Wildspark was based on the bitcoin blockchain but at the time of writing it was transferring to the Ethereum blockchain. This must present quite a lot of technical challenges.  You can read the Wildspark white paper here.

9 . Indorse 

Indorse can be thought of as a decentralised version of LinkedIn, based on the Ethereum blockchain. Users post achievements that are then validated by others within their network. Once confirmed, these achievements earn users rewards in the form of IND tokens. These tokens can be traded or used to purchase services like advertising or Company pages. Potential success on Indorse is linked to your level of activity.  You can read the Indorse white paper here.

10. Decent.ch

Decent.ch is an open source content distribution platform based on DCore; DCore is an independent blockchain. Users can post on the platform and set the price consumers need to pay to access it. The consumers of the content (other users) decide if it is good content. Rewards are in the form of  DCT tokens, which is the designated cryptocurrency for Decent ecosystem. DCT can be traded on Exchanges.

11. Obsidian Secure Messenger

Obsidian Secure Messenger (OSM ) can be thought of as a more secure version of Whatsapp, based on the Stratis blockchain. To be precise, it is a Stratis fork. Users of the messenger system can send anonymous messages that are encrypted end to end. No private messages are permanently stored on the blockchain. As it is currently envisaged, the OSM is not a social network. I have included it on this list because additional features and a community may be built with the Messenger app at the core. On the Obsidian Platform website it is written,

‘The intended goal for the platform is to host a wide array of applications aimed at individual users – the masses, so to say. The Obsidian Secure Messenger is an insane proof-of-concept which shows the viability of such a project.’

ODN is the coin that drives the Obsidian Platform, users can pay other users via OSM using ODN. You can read more about OSM here. 

12. Social X

Social X describes itself as a community-driven decentralised Social Media platform based on the Ethereum blockchain. Similar to many of the platforms listed above, users can earn rewards for posting photos and videos. Users upvote content they like with ‘Superlikes’, these rewards are paid in the form of SOCX tokens. Alternatively, they can also choose to keep their uploads private if they want. Social X also incorporate a license management market, encrypted messenger and live stream functionality. You can read the Social X white paper here. 

13. Project V

I cannot really write very much about ‘Project V’ yet. It is at the Pre-ICO stage. Their website is not public and neither is their whitepaper. Fortunately for me, I was able to have a long conversation with the CEO at the recent Blockchain Expo Global in London. Here’s what I can confirm. It will be a Social Media platform powered by blockchain technology but it will not be restricted to one blockchain. This new platform has a robust user acquisition strategy and a network of multinational partners that will enable it scale quickly. When I am able to publish an update, I will update this paragraph, so be sure to bookmark this blog post.

Conclusions

Before I go any further, thank you for reading this far!  I am well aware that this is a much longer post than usual.

The desire for greater privacy and control of personal data are common themes across most of the new wave of Social Media platforms powered by Blockchain. As is the need to reward content creators for their content . It remains to be seen which of the platforms go onto to create real traction and appeal to the masses. Clearly, Social Media powered by Blockchain technology is already a crowded space.

In Europe, there is also a major challenge ahead. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which comes into effect on 25th May 2018 is at odds with the reality that what’s on the blockchain stays on the blockchain, usually as a permanent record. Those platforms that can demonstrate GDPR compliance and have a robust user acquisition strategy will more than likely prove to be the winners.

If you like this post you will also like, Conventional Social Media vs Steemit.

Also, you should read this post, Content Hacks: Learning From Your Most Popular Post. 

Don’t forget to share this article please…

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.

Best regards,

Mike Pitt

Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

Follow Mike on Pinterest

Subscribe to

Follow us on LinkedIn

Online courses:

How to TurboCharge Your Business with a Blog
Meet Edgar Social Media Management
TurboCharge Your Twitter Presence
Quora For Business

Follow Mike on Twitter

This is blog post post number 456.

…

Image credit: https://cryptonews.pl/

The post The New Wave: 13 Social Media Platforms Powered by Blockchain appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

Image Credit: Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

This video is called, Traffic Tips: The Power of Pinterest By Mike Pitt. This is video number 232 and blog post number 455. . Mike Pitt is the Founder of Marketing Fundamentals Ltd, which is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London.

In this video, Mike Pitt discusses how to use Pinterest to drive traffic to your website in 2018. He also discusses a tool called Tailwind.

This video will be of interest to business owners, B2B marketing managers and others who use Content Marketing and Social Media to promote their B2B business or organisation.

The Power of Pinterest

Pinterest is a visual search engine; towards the end of 2017, my opinion of of Pinterest was that it was an interesting platform but not relevant for B2B businesses. I even created a blog post about platforms that we no longer use and I mentioned Pinterest in this context.

In early 2018, I made a plan to revisit several platforms that I hadn’t evaluated for a few years. Pinterest fell into this category because I had scaled back my use of the platform in 2015. I am glad that I chose to revisit Pinterest because it is an amazing tool that increased Monthly Uniques to this website by 25% and Page Views by 21%, all within a couple of weeks of being active on the platform again. You can hear more details of my 2018 experience of using Pinterest in the video.  Are you currently active on Pinterest? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you like this post you will also like, Traffic Tips: Are you Using StumbleUpon?

Also, you should read this post, Content Hacks: Learning From Your Most Popular Post.

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.

Best regards,

Mike Pitt

Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

Follow Mike on Pinterest

Subscribe to

Follow us on LinkedIn

Online courses:

How to TurboCharge Your Business with a Blog
Meet Edgar Social Media Management
TurboCharge Your Twitter Presence
Quora For Business

Follow Mike on Twitter

Click here to start your free trial of Tailwind

This is blog post post number 455.

The post Traffic Tips: The Power of Pinterest appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

At the start of 2018, I decided to revisit some of the non mainstream platforms that I had reviewed in the past. StumbleUpon was one of those platforms. My objective was to discover if StumbleUpon is still effective in driving traffic to your website in 2018.

What is StumbleUpon?

In March 2015, I made this video entitled What is StumbleUpon?  If you haven’t watched it yet you should because in the video I gave a good overview of the platform. A the time, I gave the following description of of the platform.

‘StumbleUpon is a discovery engine that sends interesting content to you once you have set up your areas of interests. You can like or dislike each piece of content that the StumbleUpon algorithm sends to you and in doing so your preferences are further refined on the platform. You can also select people to follow from the 25 million other regular users (stumblers). It is possible to follow a maximum of 600 people at time of recording. StumbleUpon is another non mainstream Social Network that it is worth you investigating.’

StumbleUpon 2018: Has Anything Changed?

This year I have posted more content on the platform and it has generated more of a response from Stumblers . I have received emails (see pic below) from StumbleUpon to say that content that I have shared is being re-shared by others on the platform.

I have also got a few more followers than last time.  The content that I have shared has been a mix of original content from myself and other content covering a range of topics.

Are you Using StumbleUpon?

Why go to the trouble of creating a profile on StumbleUpon? The answer is simple. If your content gets found and shared on StumbleUpon you could experience a big spike in traffic to your website. When this happens you will see it on your Google Analytics report as I mentioned in the video. My recommendation is that you create a profile and start  posting content there.

If you like this post you will also like:

StumbleUpon is Dead

How to Drive Traffic from Pinterest to Your Services Business Website 

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.

Best regards,

Mike Pitt

Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

Follow Mike on Pinterest

Subscribe to

Follow us on LinkedIn

Online courses:

How to TurboCharge Your Business with a Blog
Meet Edgar Social Media Management
TurboCharge Your Twitter Presence
Quora For Business

Follow Mike on Twitter

Web Hosting Special Offer

This is blog post post number 454.

The post Traffic Tips: Are you Using StumbleUpon? appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

We have recently established an exciting new partnership that will help you with one of the major challenges for any growing business. For many companies, accessing funding can be a very difficult task. We are now able to offer businesses a solution via our financial partner. Please read the information below.

Do you Need Funding to Help Your Business Grow?

You can raise between £3500 – £500,000.00 via our financial partner if you qualify.

To qualify you must:

* Have been trading for over 1 year.

* Be regularly processing over £7,500 per month.

* Be based in the United Kingdom.

If you meet these conditions, fill out the short form below and click ‘Apply’.

A member of our team will be in touch with you soon.

[pum_sub_form provider=”none” name_field_type=”first_last” label_name=”Name” label_fname=”First Name” label_lname=”Last Name” label_email=”Email” label_submit=”Apply” placeholder_name=”Name” placeholder_fname=”First Name” placeholder_lname=”Last Name” placeholder_email=”Email” form_layout=”block” form_alignment=”center” form_style=”default” closedelay=”0″ openpopup_id=”0″]

We respect your privacy. Your information is secure with us.

If you have liked this post you will also like, B2B How Proactive Are you With Existing Clients?

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.

Best regards,

Mike Pitt

Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

Follow Mike on Pinterest

Subscribe to

Follow us on LinkedIn

Online courses:

How to TurboCharge Your Business with a Blog
Meet Edgar Social Media Management
TurboCharge Your Twitter Presence
Quora For Business

Follow Mike on Twitter

This is blog post post number 453.

The post Need Business Funding? appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.