#and maybe i should set my queue to more than 1 post per day

[nowheregeneration]

"oh hey maybe i should just fill my queue with old posts like on my other sideblogs, im scrolling through old blogs when i'm bored anyway"

oops?

#i thought there wasn't a limit to queued posts anymore #there is #its 1000 now #and maybe i should set my queue to more than 1 post per day

[cinnamonest]

bestie i had to do a double take when i saw Itto asks

Weren't you saying a day ago your inbox was flooded you answered like 5 asks and opened it again

I should have explained before posting - I was experimenting with a schedule, because 1) I don't want to keep my inbox closed for weeks on end and 2) I have a bit of an annoying anxiety compulsion about having the box closed as it cuts off communication, but I'm trying to work through/get over that. Anyway, I am going to try to find at least one or two days per week where I can keep it open for a few hours just so I can get some form of feedback/exchange. I was not expecting to make that one itto post, go back to work from my break, come back in 45 minutes to 38 new asks 😅 so I had to close it a bit earlier than anticipated. But I am thinking maybe ~10 hours at a time, maybe twice a week after the bulk of the queue is out while I finish the last things. Likely won't roll that out immediately though as yes, I am still working on it. It was a bad idea to test that on Tuesday. I'll probably test again once I am closer to when the bulk are nearly out.

This was midterm exam week for me, so I have been a bit slow and will be able to focus on it more now. Thankfully I was able to get out ~20ish, most of the most recent.

I realize I've posted less than usual lately, sorry - without getting into personal details, I am now in a situation where I need to work 2 jobs on top of going to university, whereas last semester/summer I worked only one job. Unfortunately this does leave me with significantly less time than I had before, and hence posting less/my inbox filling up a lot since August. The vast majority of the build up of asks are since I started the job. I will try my best to still get as much as I can done and make more time!

There's a lot of answered things I now have drafted or set to finish (yay), so hopefully that will answer a lot of people's asks who haven't been answered yet. I should have managed it better before now, and I do realize a lot will be answered very late comparatively to when they were sent. That's my fault, and I'll start managing it better here on out.

#lena's asks

[inky-thoughts]

How to Organize a Zine 101 #3

Hello~

I already talked about figuring out your zine and the zine’s schedule as well as what you should bring with you to successfully manage a zine.

I think the next step should be building up

Web Presence

I already talked a wee lil bit about it in Part 1 but I think I should elaborate a bit more on it as it’s basically the backbone of almost every fanzine nowadays.

A small disclaimer: Please take everything with a certain grain of salt as I am not a professional when it comes to social media managment. These are just some pointers I consider useful/helpful as they worked for me or other zines I had a brief overview of.

Where to post?

First of all, think about what platforms you want to use, and get familiar with them if you aren’t already. Learn “the way” of it to know which rules/guidelines to follow, because not every platform is the same in tonality or which kind of content spreads fastest.

The most common platforms that I’ve found to work with zines pretty well are Twitter and Tumblr. As both are available as apps for practically almost every phone, it’s also easy to check and keep updated with when you’re on your way.

Tumblr is quite interesting because it’s bascially like a website (and yes, you should keep in mind that the mobile version doesn’t support tumblr sites) and you can conveniently store all info to your zine, answer questions in public, and reblog post e.g. previews of zine entries. It’s easy to spread information quickly if you use the correct tags and post them in the best time frames for your audience.

Twitter is kind of like a news ticker, or gets used by many like this. It’s easier to engage with people and “spread the word” by tagging people who might be interested in the zine.

Also, think about where you as a manager have the bigger following so you can forward e.g. tweets or posts or make your own announcements about the zine to your following and potential customers.

What to post?

Obvious things are announcements like schedules, FAQ, details on the zine, application progress, previews, contributor lists, links to online shops, etc. This is kind of basic together with updates like if important e-mails to the contributors went out etc.

However, this isn’t everything at all. What I found great in other zines (which we completely ignored for our zine and I think that’s a very sad thing actually) was having specific dates (in fandoms stuff like characters’ birthdays, anniversaries etc.) or more general things like widespread holidays, or “event dates” (? - like world women’s day, labour day, you get the twist) that somehow correlate to your zine. For example, one zine I participated in was about the girls of a certain fandom, so they chose the Day of the Girl to start previews to kickstart the preorder phase - and I really loved that! It brings everything in another perspective because it’s not just a zine for a few little nerds to enjoy, but it conveys a much more pronounced message that way. Including those kind of dates, whether it’s just a small post like “Happy New Year” with a small update on the zine progress, or a special sale because it’s xy character’s birthday and it happens to also fall perfectly into your schedule, it just makes your zine feel more honest and considerate of their passion for the zine’s content. It isn’t mendatory, but it definitely has a more lasting impression.

Also, you might want to think about what medium you want to choose - photos/pictures generally get more attention as it is highly visual (plus it’s easier to find on a twitter accound for example) and can be a nice addition to your text. This is where you definitely should think about some kind of corporate design for your zine that is eye-catching enough to get attention from a lot of people and still matches tone and intention of the zine. Gifs may give a post a bit more animated, funny, or simply emotional expression, so having a few sets of gifs/images (perhaps from the source material if it’s a fan zine) handy isn’t such a bad idea. It’s something we didn’t have and I basically have only regret about it.

How?

You also might think about the tonality of how you appear on the zine’s social media. Generally, fandoms are a rather friendly and casual place to be, so you can slip a small joke or something like that into your posts, however, you shouldn’t go all “LOLZ dat boi xDDDDDD” because you still want people to take you seriously and (if it’s a for-buy zine) pay real money for your zine. Keep a certain level of professionalism but don’t have a complete stick up your butt is all I’m saying as you don’t want to alienate people because of one thing or the other.

If you’re modding the zine with several mods (which I highly recommend!), also add signatures at the end of each post (we did it with -Mod [our name]) so it’s easier to clear up misunderstandings etc. as people know who they’re talking to and maybe one mod just didn’t read the memo or something. With tweets it’s just wasting precious characters but on tumblr you aren’t limited at all.

Also remember tagging: It feels like a science itself, and partly it is. First, tag what it’s about. You need to reach the fans, so if it’s about a certain ship or characters, tag those. Tag the fandom, and, very important, tag that it’s a zine. having those covered at first makes you pop up in e.g. tumblr search more as tumblr had changed that only the first 5 tags will be where you’ll appear. Some blogs which collect zine posts have a specific tag they’re tracking, so including some of these comes in quite handy. The rest is mainly to maintain a system on your blog, which everyone needs to figure out themselves. Tagging on twitter is kind of different as you have a limit, I would always go with ships/content first, then perhaps fandom, and zine only if you’ve got some characters to kill. Also please don’t use completely unrelated tags only because they’re currently trending - this is just plain annoying and it’s more likely that people will ignore you instead of gaining some interest in your project.

When?

Do your research on what times are the best to post your content to get your target audience, especially as shipping can be very expensive so you want to have national interest in first place. Every social media has their own specific timeframes where content goes viral the fastest. There is no 100% correct formular, but some tendencies at least, so you can help your luck out a little bit.

Grooming Your Media

To most social media, the key to success is consistency, so you definitely shouldn’t sleep on this. Luckily, social media are (except for most forums but then again your phone usually also has a web browser) usually available as app version, meaning you’re quick to responst or check in. - That’s what you usually think but truth be told, apps also don’t always work perfectly, and especially the tumblr app is known to be rather wonky. I also (this is a personal preference, though) find it easier to compose posts and pick the right pictures on my computer, so if you’re the same way as I, I would advise you to calculate half an hour up to maybe 3 per day/every two days to check in on all your zine’s accounts. It depends a bit on how active the current phase is and how many questions/inquiries people are sending your way.

Tumblr luckily has the queue option, and it definitely saves you a lot of time when you need to bring up an important post regularly. Through the queue, the blog also stays more active, thus has likely more traffic or is simply more noticible as it stays fresh in mind.

Twitter, however, doesn’t have this function (or I’m definitely not aware of it), and, truth be told, also isn’t concipated for this kind of thing. There aren’t really many updates you can post during certain phases of the zine, but there might help the above mentioned dates you might want to keep in mind. Tweeting about the occassion and connecting it with your zine might raise interest and more traffic on your account. And yes, then there are the really busy phases where you simply can’t keep up with social media as the zine demands all your attention. However, sometimes people just want to know how busy you are, so tweet it! A sentence or two are probably enough, and then you’re basically good to go for the day. Just remember to retweet your tweet during your breaks.

And, again, checking on your media should be a regular thing because waiting for an answer for 1-2 days is a different thing than a month or so later (this accidentally happened to us because we didn’t get a notification), so don’t just check “does the system signal me that there are new messages” but actually go into all possible messaging systems directly to check because sometimes tech is a bit wonky. (Also check the message requests!!!)

To maintain a certain level of activity can be a pretty tough job and by now I’m actually inclined to believe that one of the mods should be responsible solely for the social media management while the others work on the actual zine. However, I can’t say I’ve had experience with handling stuff like this that way. It definitely would have gotten a lot of pressure off my shoulders (I mean there’s a reason why companies have a special department handling all this stuff.)

Also, when I say “post regularly,” you can determine what is regular. This can be 24/7, every other day, or once a week, maybe also every two weeks but I suppose no less than that or people might forget you even exist. It’s just important to keep that schedule up so people can build a habit of expecting and getting to see a new post at a certain time.

It feels a bit hypocritic for me to talk about this topic because I think I’m not doing a very great job at it myseld simply because I easily neglect stuff like this, but again this small series is about learning from our/my mistakes so you don’t have to make them with your zines.

Thank you for reading, I hope I’ll find the time to write the next installment soon!

<< last | next >>

Masterpost

#inky rambles #zines #fanzines #fandom zines #how to organize a zine 101 #fan zines #long post #advice #art advice

[twopassportsandamap-blog]

We are Calum and Lucy, and we want to share our experience travelling through Europe across 9 days. 

Take from this guide what you want, as I know there will be slight tweaks if you want to have a spontaneous adventure and wing it as you go. Our Europe trip was planned from start to finish, and we have built this guide based on travelling to destinations and having everything pre-booked. If you are unsure of where you want to go from destination A, or if you want to wait and see when to move on, there will still be some tips you can take from this.

Together we travelled 5 countries in 9 days. One thing we have always had a desire to do is travel, and interrailing was an option we explored last year. However this wasn’t practical as we both work full time and have limited annual leave. Interrailing is still an adventure I would love to go on in the future, but for now we decided to change it up a bit, and go interflying, meaning we could see all the places we wanted to, in a shorter period of time to fit in with work. This method was still within budget and I personally felt more secure knowing I would get to see everything I wanted to in the time we had available. This guide will help others in the same situation, and I’ll be sharing some tips and tricks I learned along the way to ensure you plan the most perfect trip and make the most of your time and money.

Budget and booking

The first step towards planning a trip is budgeting. Know your budget and also have a safety buffer incase you go over. The first place I went was websites like Skyscanner & Kayak, putting in my departure airport (Glasgow) and date, and selected anywhere. This brings up the cheapest flight from that airport on that date. For us this was Amsterdam. Then I decide how long I want to spend in Amsterdam, and this can be determined by researching what activities and sights are available, and how much of it you want to explore.  Once you’ve decided that, do the same again and see where the cheapest place to fly to is from Amsterdam* and price the flights. Adjust your search by a day ahead and a day behind, as this can have a difference in price especially if it is a weekend.

Once you’ve built a skeleton plan of where you want to visit (A to B, B to C, C to D etc) you can then start to add the body around it. I focused on sorting out my flights in chronological order first. This means you know exactly where you’re visiting and what dates you’re going on. If you were to book path C to D first, and then flight B to C was full, this would make the plan out of sync, so always stick to chronological order for the flights just incase of change.

Our last destination should have been Copenhagen, however the flights there doubled in price during planning so we decided to bank that thought for another time. Then I built in accommodation afterwards, and finally activities and routes to and from the airport.  

*Country of your choice. Used for example only

Itinerary

Start to build an itinerary and have the time set out with each activity or movement you make. Perhaps I over-prepare, but I like to know that I will have enough time in the day to do what I want, and I can also identify what free time I will have each day, for food and rest. A detailed Itinerary is helpful to give to friends and family members who want to follow you from home, and you can include accommodation addresses and flight numbers for extra safety if you wish. This is beneficial to make the most of spending a short time in a country. We spent less than 24 hours in Amsterdam and Milan, but having a detailed itinerary meant we knew what we were going to do at each time, and stuck to this schedule to make the most out of our visit.

Managing currency and spending money

The countries we visited used various currencies. I took a set amount of each currency in cash, and then put the rest of my money on a travel card. I was worried about taking too much of one currency in cash, incase I left the country and the leftover currency was essentially useless unless I took it to be converted. My card of choice was a Monzo card, due to good reviews and no fees abroad. I could load this with my home currency GBP and when using it abroad, it will convert into the local currency automatically with no charges. If you are a frequent flyer I do recommend Monzo as it was so simple and manageable. Upon arrival in a new country, Monzo will notify you of the exchange rate. Monzo also provides a daily tally of how much you have spent (again this will show in your home currency and then the local currency) and breaks it down into category – food, drink, leisure, activity etc. You receive a monthly tally on there as well which again is so beneficial when keeping on top of your finances.

Keeping track of costs and bookings

Create a spreadsheet to keep track of costings, dates and times. It’s easy to go over budget, or lose sight of what you have and haven’t already paid for, or booked.  Use the contact section of our blog to request a free download of the spreadsheet I made up when planning my Europe interflying trip. (Please leave your email address) It paid off to be as organised as possible as if it benefits even one other person have the trip of a lifetime then I’ll be happy. I have 2 versions available, one for a solo traveller and one for a party of 2.The only difference is the spreadsheet for multiple travellers will break down the cost per person as well as a total. If your party is more than 2, feel free to let me know and I can send a custom sheet to you.

I will also mention the currency used in my spreadsheet is GBP however if you would like this to be modified, I can do so. It’s handy to note this spreadsheet can also be accessed on your smartphone/device using Google Sheets which is handy for on the go adjustments.

Within the spreadsheet is a to-do list, I like to categorise my to-do list by priority and deadlines. This might seem extreme but it’s so easy to forget something especially with the excitement of an upcoming trip! Organisation is key for a successful trip, and takes away the stress and worry of something going wrong due to bad planning.

Research

Research is essential regardless of whereabouts you are going; it is most beneficial if you plan on sightseeing and making the most of the culture change. Here are some of my top tips when it comes to researching

1) Find out average temperatures in the area at the time of year you plan on going. Of course, the weather can be unpredictable but it’s useful to understand if it’s normally scorching or torrential rain to help you plan activities and also clothing.

2) Best locations to stay – look into the town/city in depth to ensure you are staying somewhere suited to the party you are travelling with. For example, if you love making the most of nightlife, staying in a remote country town would not be the best option for you, and you may be best suited to a busier town with more nightlife, pubs and clubs.  

3) Look into popular local scams so you remain vigilant and aware of what tourist traps are about in the area – this will help identify typical trends for scams in the area, and you can be alert and avoid any offers made to you (eg currency conversion in the street promising better rates)  

4) Read travel blogs – I spend a lot of time doing this once my flights are booked, before arranging anything else on the trip. I take tips from travel blogs to help me mind map different areas to stay, things to do, local currency, things to be wary of, weather, the list is endless. Read as much as possible, not just from guide books. Travel blogs are real life experiences from the perspective of a fellow traveller, and you’ll find some hidden treasures that you might not see on a “Top 10 things to do in…” list.

5) Check the distance from your point of arrival (airport/train/bus station) to the city/area you are hoping to stay. Work out if it is worth your time and build this into an itinerary so you know how much time to allow yourself to travel upon arrival and departure.

6) Find out if it’s suitable to buy tickets for activities in advance. It may be cost effective to book in advance compared to arriving on the day and buying then. There is also the risk that the excursion could be fully booked when you arrive, and you miss out. A good example of this is Anne Franks House in Amsterdam. Through research on travel blogs, I learned it is best to book your tickets in advance, as these sell out a couple of months before the date of the visit. I managed to obtain the tickets exactly 2 months before our trip, and selected these for a time that suited my itinerary. Upon arrival at the museum, there were many disappointment travellers who turned up on the day hoping to buy them on the door, with no luck. Booking tickets in advance also helps with organisation and budgeting, meaning your spending money can be used for extras. Most attractions have a separate, much shorter queue for pre-booked tickets as well, which is always a bonus. Perhaps it’s just me, but sometimes I get carried away and it’s easy to go off track with your plans and maybe change last minute or run out of time. If you pre-book tickets for something you know you definitely want to do, it means you will 100% go and not fall victim to the spur of the moment side track idea. Although a spontaneous change of mind isn’t always a bad thing, you might never get the opportunity to visit that country again.  

7) Check Instagram tagged places for inspiration and hidden gems. For example, in Amsterdam I searched through posts tagged in Amsterdam to see where other travellers have visited and pictures of their time in the city, this gave me loads of inspiration on what to do when I got there, places to eat, and I’ve discovered so many unique hidden gems thanks to both travellers and locals on social media.

8) Be cost effective – before booking anything, check various sites and dig deep to make sure you’re getting the best possible price. I always spend a few weeks gathering a list of providers and prices, to help me stay organised and easily identify which one works out cheapest for me to then book. It’s worth noting that booking through sites like Expedia earns you points which can then be redeemed for credits on a future booking.

I hope this has helped you if you plan on interflying, or going on a multi-country trip. Please use the contact form if you have any further questions or need any assistance with any points I’ve mentioned. Happy flying ☺

[emilysn2019-blog]

The IT Experience Chapter Two: the Derry Canal Days Festival is a free haunted house that will run August 15 to September 8, 2019, with free tickets that can be booked here. In this post, we preview this new interactive experience with a review & photos of IT Experience: Neibolt House, which we toured prior to the last IT movie two years ago.

As with IT Experience: Neibolt House, IT Experience Chapter Two – The Derry Canal Days Festival will be open daily from 2 pm until 11pm at Hollywood Blvd & Vine St. and will offer free advance ticketing with a standby queue for guests who don’t score tickets. Expect long lines for standby (as you can read below via our experience last time); we’d highly recommend trying to book reservations.

Per the IT Experience Chapter Two – The Derry Canal Days Festival official site, “your cherished memories of the old carnival days will be turned inside out during this 40-minute spine tingling experience. There will be over 10 immersive and terrifying interactive spaces, giving visitors a glimpse into the upcoming film.”

If this description is accurate, the duration of the IT Experience Chapter Two – The Derry Canal Days Festival is significantly longer than its predecessor, which lasted around 12-15 minutes, depending upon how quickly you walked through the IT house.

Aside from this description and the dates, not much else is know about the IT Experience Chapter Two – The Derry Canal Days Festival. We do have the promo poster below, and following that is our review of the original IT Experience from two years ago:

Normally, we wouldn’t cover something with such a short run, but we waited in line roughly two hours for this, so dammit, it’s getting a blog post. Note that after the jump, this IT Experience: Neibolt House Hollywood review is not spoiler-free, as there will be photos. If you want the short answer of whether you should do this, it’s yes.

The IT Experience: Neibolt House Hollywood is somewhat akin to a Halloween Horror Nights maze/house. The key distinction here is that the story isn’t a non-stop ‘flow’ of guests walking through a set path. Instead, small groups of seven guests (dubbed the “Losers Club”) are actively guided by Georgie, with prolonged stops in each room.

The reason for this approach is due to the more active nature of the storytelling here. Georgie interacts with effects that come to life in each room. Almost none of these effects are immediate or on an interval timer; they require Georgie to trigger, and then the show unfolds while guests are in a particular room, actively engaging with a particular scene.

This is really cool, and I definitely prefer this approach to the steady stream of guests that go through a Halloween Horror Nights maze. You get a chance to let things percolate, suspense builds, and the experience becomes more than just being about cheap scares and startling moments.

Not only does this make for a more suspenseful and satisfying experience as tension builds, but you also see more of the details in each room. It also takes more time to snake through the IT Experience, with an average tour duration likely to be around 12 minutes. (The hosts indicated it was 15 minutes, but our tour wasn’t quite that long.)

I would say that this makes it the ‘next generation’ of haunted houses, and that Universal should take note. However, there’s one glaring problem with this approach: capacity is abysmal. Seven guests enter the The IT Experience: Neibolt House every 5 minutes. That amounts to an hourly capacity of less than 100 guests per hour.

As mentioned, we were in line for roughly 2 hours. We had heard that the wait had been around 1-2 hours on weeknights, so we figured it we arrived at 12:30 p.m. on a Monday, we would wait under an hour. This belief was reinforced when we saw a short line in front of us. Unfortunately, due to capacity, that short line was still a two-hour wait.

When we exited the IT Experience: Neibolt House, the line was quite a bit longer than when we got into it. I’m guessing it was about three hours at that point. I cannot imagine what it will be on weekends or evenings, but then again, this is tourist season in Los Angeles, so maybe it’ll actually be shorter after Labor Day.

Circling back to the substance of the IT Experience: Neibolt House, there were a lot of cool details. I would say that, overall, the level of detail was about on par with an average (maybe even slightly below-average) Halloween Horror Nights house. In this regard, it probably hurts the IT Experience: Neibolt House a bit that you’re lingering in these rooms far longer than you’re in each HHN maze.

Where the IT Experience unquestionably trumps Universal’s mazes is in terms of special effects. There are animatronics, reasonably well-executed projections, and a lot happens on cue. Oh, and there are the aforementioned “holographic horrors.” (Something the world truly needs more of.)

Spoiler Alert: Hologram Tupac does not make an appearance, which is of course the biggest letdown of the entire thing. Now I don’t even care about this movie. What’s there in the IT Experience is pretty good, especially for something that only runs a month.

Where it falls short of Halloween Horror Nights is in terms of scares. There are only a handful of startling moments, and none were particularly effective on our tour.

This is a pretty big weakness of the IT Experience. In fact, some of the suspense that it builds ultimately just fizzles out. Those instances aside, the suspenseful execution here is pretty top-notch.

There are some great moments during the experience, and there is also a ton of excellent details and visual effects. As a geek for themed design, perhaps I put too much weight on this element of the IT Experience: Neibolt House. I also have to admit that I find the attempts at startling people as they walk through a haunted house somewhat lame and predictable, so this wasn’t a huge deal for me. To each their own, though.

From my perspective, a potentially bigger problem is that some of these details are going to be lost on literally everyone, since the movie is not out yet. There were things like magazines, toys, and other small touches that I assume feature in the plot of the film–or at least in the background.

I’m sort of used to this by now. Most of the films at Halloween Horror Nights I’ve never seen, so I’m usually oblivious to some of what’s going on and I need it explained to me by friends. I will say that I normally appreciate the houses for films I’ve actually seen (American Werewolf is my all-time favorite house), usually because I “get” some of these things, or the in-jokes that are scattered throughout the sets.

All things considered, I really enjoyed the IT Experience: Neibolt House and would highly recommend it if you’re a local, even with the long wait. In addition to the standby line, there are also tickets available–they’re “currently” sold out, but you can join the waitlist (we probably wouldn’t bank on that). If you’re visiting Southern California, I’m not sure the experience is “worth” several hours of valuable vacation time, but your mileage may vary on that. Be sure to pack sunscreen and a hat (the queue is all outdoors with very little shade), and your camera (photos are allowed!) for the IT Experience: Neibolt House. I’m hopeful that the IT Experience: Neibolt House Hollywood will have its run extended (at least through Halloween!), because this is too well-done to be only a month-long offering that ~1,000 people per day will have a chance to experience.

If you’re planning a trip, check out our Ultimate Guide to Los Angeles or our California category of posts. For even more things to do, The Best Things to Do in Los Angeles: 1001 Ideas is an exceptional resource, which is written by other locals. If you enjoyed this post, help spread the word by sharing it via social media. Thanks for reading!

Your Thoughts

Have you done the IT Experience: Neibolt House Hollywood? If so, what did you think of it? Too scary? Not scary enough? Worth the wait? Any additional tips to add that we didn’t cover? Any questions about the IT Experience? 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[algebraicant]

SO, since nobody asked,

I’m writing this just in case I want to source and have this information all in one place,

TANACON

just watched the series (1/31/2019) -- late, I know

comments I wanted to respond to but were posted 6+ months ago, so like, old news, who cares/ maybe they’ve since learned the answer and don't need my two cents,

Q: where did the money go???

A: Shane said: veep (the company which sold the tickets) told Good Times (Michael)  that if any problems occurred, they were keeping the ticket sales (MANY problems occurred) and that Good Times would be responsible for refunding ticket sales (325,000)

Q: (moreso a wrong assumption) Tana and Good Times knew the capacity was set to 1,200! they knew they were selling 4,000 extra tickets and that those people would never get inside!! scam scam scam!

A: Short answer? No.

Long answer? Buckle your seat belts:

No. The capacity was 1,200-- number one, that’s sort of a technicality. That number is for fire safety reasons, and buildings/rooms/etc have to have a capacity (that is determined by guidelines to which idc enough about the specifics to look up rn-- maybe there's a person per square foot ratio idfk it doesn’t matter) in case of a fire emergency,, it's a preventative measure to minimize the chance of a stampede resulting in injury/death. SO, that being said, you CAN fit more people into a room then the stated capacity of the room.

Now you might be thinking: even so, not 4,000 EXTRA PEOPLE. Yes, that is definitely true.

BUT, CONs are not like, say, a ballet/play theater, or movie theaters, etc, where there is a certain number of seats and there’s one person per seat, no more (and hopefully no less), you sit, you watch, you leave. Events like CONs account for foot traffic and the constant cycling of people. 

You come in, you walk around, you see X, Y, and Z, and you leave. If the event has expensive food/drink, you may leave to get cheaper options (if the event allows you to leave and re-enter, anyway). The point is, people are coming and going throughout the day, so that allows for others to replace them.

I assume the event creator(s) of TANACON believed there would be higher turn-around than there was.

Still, that being said, 4,000 people was WAY too many extra tickets sold. There was no possible way that there would be 1,000 people coming in for 40 minutes to an hour, and then leaving to allow for the next batch of people. Even accounting for the different arrival times-- some people coming at/before the CON started, people coming closer to noon after a late start-- it's utterly impossible.

In saying that, you might think: How could someone make such a careless mistake?

Keep in mind, THIS PROBLEM HAPPENED AT VIDCON IN 2014:

“VidCon 2014 was held at the Anaheim Convention Center, and 18,000 people showed up for the sold-out get-together for those who love online video.

But getting inside to see their favorite YouTubers has some people complaining about long lines.

One woman and her family say they waited two hours, only to have security cut them off in line before she could get an autograph with her favorite online creators.

On VidCon's Facebook page they do say they cannot guarantee that everyone will have one-on-one time with their favorite creators.

Hank Green, co-creator of VidCon, says they tried to make access as fair as possible, but the demand for signings was higher than expected, with fans camping out.

"We ended up in a situation this year which we should have anticipated, but didn't, that basically we had to queue people up before the queues," said Green.”

etc etc

https://abc7.com/news/fans-wait-in-long-lines-for-hours-at-vidcon/145838/

NOTE: wiki says 12,000 people bought tickets in 2013, and the attendance was increasing every year, but there is no official count on wiki for 2014-- probably because they FUCKED UP and oversold by way too many.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VidCon

The Anaheim Convention Center, where VIDCON was held, has a capacity of 7,000-7,500 people inside. The outside area fits 5,500 people.

Together, the convention center fits 13,000 people inside and out.

VIDCON oversold by 5,000 (18,000-13,000).

ALSO

KEEP IN MIND, that means 10,500 people were outside of the actual convention center (18,000-7,500). These 10,500 people were, instead, either in the outside area (5,500) or in the parking lot waiting to get in (5000).

NOTE: I’m not taking into account the fact that, as I previously stated, the capacity number is just an approximate, and that more people might have actually been let inside, despite the capacity limit. That is because I simply can’t calculate the number extra people that security allowed in past the capacity number (as far as I can tell, that information isn’t public knowledge, IF they even kept count). But for our purposes, even if I speculate, and allow for, maybe 1,000 extra people, that’s still 9,500 people NOT in the venue.

SO THE SAME THING HAPPENED

So, what’s the difference (if any)?

1. VIDCON was already established. VIDCON had existed since 2010 (3 successful years prior to the 2014 VIDCON)

2. VIDCON had already been held at the Anaheim Convention Center the year prior.

Is that good for VIDCON?

yes?

Because VIDCON had been established for 3 years, with 1 year at that particular venue, people, presumably, knew they’d be waiting in line for at least 30 minutes, and maybe several hours. People knew to check the weather, bring sunscreen, water, snacks, a board game, pool noodles, WHATEVER they needed while waiting. (I’m sure some people didn’t plan, but you can’t account for every stupid person in the world, otherwise, you’d work/worry yourself to death. If they didn’t bring water, they could leave, or die of dehydration at that point. Sometimes Darwinism works itself out, what can I say-- I’M KIDDING. Sort of.)

no?

Since they went from 12,000 (which presumably worked) to 18,000 in one year’s time without changing venues/ adding venues, or changing visitor passes (limiting access/time spent at the venue) they royally fucked up. If 12,000 people works for you, you don’t just add 5,000 extra people to the list. Especially knowing only 7,500 people fit inside the center, and 13,000 people fit total. If you want to push it to 13,000... fine. Don’t go 4,000 over (COUGH COUGH, TANACON 2K18).

but, yes?

Because the Green Brother’s apologized (sort of-- they did the “i’m sorry you feel that way” non-apology, apology type shit) and took responsibility and came out with public statements explaining what the issues were and set a fixed limit of people the next year, 2015, (”Next year I think is going to be significantly different in how we handle [things]”)  they were able to calm some of the ruffled feathers.

Also, because they had 3 successful years under their belt, they already had a following/ people who trusted them. They also had 3 years of success as proof that their trust was earned, so it was easier for them to say “sorry! this was a blip! a mistake! we promise it will never happen again, just remember the good times, we'll be back to that level of success next year,” and have people believe them.

NOW, compare that to TANACON

1. TANACON was suggested, then created, over the course of a few months.

This doesn’t need further explanation, right? Like, a convention that’s supposed to have food/drink/security/merch/meet-and-greets etc. and FIVE THOUSAND PEOPLE can’t be planned in a few months.

2. Expectations were set too high.

VIDCON already existed, so there was a bar in place. If TANACON wasn’t as good as (or at least close to) VIDCON standards, people were going to bitch. But, instead, it just failed completely, so...

3. Tana wanted revenge on VIDCON. TANACON was a byproduct of that.

So, wrong motives-- already a bad start. She is young, unlike the Green brothers, inexperienced, naive, impulsive, and often, in the past, not held accountable for her mistakes, so she’s got a slight god-complex? possibly? or at the very least, she’s cocky and irresponsible. But, I mean, she was 19/20 at the time, right? Who isn’t a bit cocky and irresponsible at that age (maybe not Tana-level, but still).

I honestly partly blame the ticket buyers (and their parents) for, not one moment, pausing to think: I WATCH Tana’s videos-- part of her appeal (?) is that she’s a fucking mess. That’s what her “Story Time” videos ARE. HER CONSTANTLY GETTING INTO PRECARIOUS SITUATIONS. HAVE SOME FORSIGHT PEOPLE. Also, you saw the video where the TANACON idea was conceived right? You KNEW AHEAD OF TIME this was the result of revenge. When do revenge schemes ever go to plan? Again, HAVE SOME FORESIGHT PEOPLE.

4. Tana and Michael are both early 20′s. And I mean EARLY 20′s.

Tana was 20, so even if this wasn’t made out of revenge, and she wasn’t as much of a mess as she IS, you still should be considering the PROS and CONS of relying on a child.

(For reference, I’m 22. I would never trust myself, or another person my age-- Tana 20, Michael 21-- to be able to successfully plan and execute something of this size. A fan meet-and-greet at Starbucks? MAAAYBE.)

When people go into business with young people/ people who have no experience in the field because they “believe in them” or “trusted them,” is it partly their fault? If you ASSUME that because VIDCON is an established convention that, besides 2014 when they learned their lesson, has been extremely successful, that TANACON will be? That’s your oversight. If you’re pouring your faith and money into a business just because they seem trustful, with nothing to back it up? No past experience? No proof of responsibility in the past? I’m sorry, but that’s your bad. Or worse, you don’t even consider whether it should be trusted at all? You have just always dreamed of meeting youtubers X, Y, Z, and so you jumped without actually considering the consequences, the risk vs reward? Again, that’s your fault. 

While your ticket money might eventually get refunded, you still wasted the time (missing work/school/etc) standing in a hot parking lot or a mess of a venue, as well as travel costs you’ll never get back (unless someone pays you back out of guilt-provoked charity), and, I’m sure, a bunch of other shitty experiences. HAVE SOME FORESIGHT.

The only good thing to come out of TANACON is, maybe, you’ll know not to blindly trust some teenaged stranger from the internet (and hopefully be able to apply your new-found caution to other situations as well) in the future.

Tana could have easily found the same information as I did about the VIDCON fuck up of 2k14 and

1. Pointed fingers. “IT’S NOT JUST ME, NOBODY’S PERFECT.”

2. Learned from their mistakes and not repeat them.

I’m aware that: Shoulda, coulda, woulda.

Pointing fingers probably would’ve made the situation more polarized, aka, 1/2 her viewers (the vast majority being people who did not go to TANACON and live through the disappointment) would say “she’s right. VIDCON fucked up too in the past. Sure, she fucked up, but nobody’s perfect. Accidents happen” and 1/2 her viewers (the vast majority being people who did go to TANACON and lived through the disappointment) would say “Tana’s a cunt trying to divert the attention of her huge fuck up onto VIDCON again by making excuses!”

So, the situation really wouldn’t have gotten any better as a result.

and

There’s no point in going down that rabbit hole. She didn’t do the research. She was fueled by revenge and was naive enough to believe Michael, a boy one year older than her, could handle everything simply because he said he could (spoiler: he couldn’t).

It happened. It's over. Nobody died. Nobody got seriously injured.

I feel sorry for the people who wasted their money and time at TANACON (especially those who flew from overseas).

I feel sorry for Tana because she didn’t want TANACON to be a disaster. Now she has to live with the guilt for ruining a lot of people’s day and the repercussions.

I feel sorry for Michael because he bit off more than he could chew and has to live with the repercussions of his actions.

I feel sorry for all the youtube personalities that agreed to go and the guilt of having their fans be let down.

All you can hope for is that the people learn from this disaster and not repeat it again (although, like I said, this happened at VIDCON four years prior, so who knows-- fingers crossed that, because it was such a huge controversy and people love bringing up how controversial people fucked up in the past, people will actually remember, and it’ll take more than 4 years before something like this happens again??).

#boycottthemarriott #? #stillnotsurewheretheylandedinallthis #scapegoat #?

#tanacon #ranting #i love ranting about shit that has never and will never effect my life #this is not demonizing anyone #also i know i say i partially blame the fans but i am well aware that you cant see into the future and you shouldnt stop trusting people #just... think before you act #and if you end up getting let down know that you took the risk #that doesnt diminish the disappointment and pain you went through AT ALL #but just like tana didnt mean for it to go wrong every party took a risk and when it failed everybody suffered #shane dawson #also shane is amazing but that wasn't the rant i was going off on #tana mongeau #old news

[kuuxkat]

Kuuxkat’s guide to survive a LV

I know Wikia did one, Reddit probably did one, but now that I didn’t survive 1L, I thought I might as well throw in some pointers for those who are going to the dekayed 1LV, NA fans, this is for you~

Pre-event

1) Get your goods first, I know it’s 100% too late, but based on Rex you still have a shot at getting some 1L goods. Get your goods first because you wouldn’t want to be queuing for the entire duration before the live and the most desired goods go fast! Like super fast! We all know we want KB and T-shirts, and those will fly off their shelves.

Based on the comments on GV Cinemas, they couldn’t bring in more due to the JP side so don’t fault the Cinema’s for being unable to get more stuff.

So get your things early, during the pre-order period if it’s possible!

Else, if you’re going to queue for merch anyway, go EARLY! Queue management is really a self-policing role just like how leaks should be self-policing.

Nothing hurts more then being in the queue and being the first 20 person and get shoved to the back cause someone else is reserving seats for someone else and what you want is sold out just in front of you.

Don’t be inconsiderate to others!

Currently the cinema restricts one merch type per person to avoid the scenario where the first individual buy 20 KB in one shot for example, but rule enforcement for cutting queue varies from place to place (or it is an asian thing?) so please take note!

Be considerate! If your friends want to reserve seats, please ask them to join you in the queue. I was in the queue for second day 3 hours before sales even start and there were many people who arrived 2 hours after I did trying to cut in, only to be reported and sent to the back.

So please be considerate to everyone who arrived for the goods thirst, you wouldn’t want that to happen to you, right?

2) Get your necessities done before the LV starts, and by that I mean visit the washroom, take off all your accessories (Watch/Necklace etc), unseal all your KB and plop in new batteriesi, open up the spare batteries and keep a coin in your pocket to open the KB more efficiently, get your water filled and prepare your tickets to enter! It’s embarrassing to hold up the queue

3) Prepare medication for the LV, of course this is the assumption that you will be cheering them on like crazy (which you should) with or without wota, screaming their names or maybe singing them on.

Personally I went with two varieties, the apparently Mimorin approved Nin Jiom Herbal Candy, it’s great on the throat and I always use it before the live to soothe my throat from all the socialising you’ll do pre-event.

Second and a new discovery on my part was Euphon Menthol Lozenges. I picked this up to try it out and it works wonder. My throat was dead after chanting Rikyako Rikyako during Day 2 but I popped two of these and it helped tremendously.

What you want are those that you can pop more of without it drying your throat up and is convenient.

Apparently Ricola helps too so it’s really personal preference.

4) Keep yourself healthy and eat before the LV. The last thing you need is for your personal health to affect your performance at the live. I was half down with flu during Day 1 and it almost killed me at the end of Day 1 as I sang along at the end. So sleep early the previous day and make sure you are at top condition! Due to the nature of Wota you’ll be sweating buckets and that might worsen your condition. You should eat because you’ll burn lots of energy too so don’t starve yourself!

5) Practise Wota before the Live. I mean this seriously and with a KB in hand so that your body can adapt to the movements and the weight of it.

It matters cause Wota takes alot of stamina and even if it‘s generally 3 songs before an intermission that allows you to take a break, wota-ing will be taxing, especially if you want to do it for the whole concert.

Romeo Furi is particularly tough as compared to Normal Furi and as you’ll be doing other chants like PPPH and etc, you don’t want to be caught off guard.

You wouldn’t want to stop half way during a song would you? My left arm is still covered with all sorts of patches as it went numb after Day 2 when I woke up this morning. I’m totally out of shape... but at least I lasted the entire concert, I did wota-practise every day for a week before 1L with the KB standing up. It really helped me lots.

I suffered during day 2 cause I wasn’t used to holding 2 KB in each hand... but I eventually got the hang of it.

6) Mores the company, and tickets should be bought before the LV.

Seriously if you haven’t bought tickets before the event, you’ll be disappointed as there might not be seats, the seats might not be as good and you might not be with the best company.

Preferred seats are at the back and in the middle as that provides the best view and allows you to Wota to the max as all the hardcore fans would be there.

If you can get a friend with you, that’s even better as LV is a team effort. I was with Lary and another friend of mine and we helped each other for the entire LV before, during and after.

You have no idea how reassuring it is to have people that can help you and of course coordinate their wota with.

If you are able to meet with people before the event, that’s even better as the hype train will continue and get you all pumped for LV.

Lastly, even if you are alone, the person beside you will be your best friend during the LV so be friendly and try to engage them too as it makes it more fun. I made a few new friends during the LV before the event and even during the event, so mores the company and the more fun!

During the Event

1) Try to be on time or at least a little earlier. It might not apply for the NA crowd as they have a fixed timing, but for LV (in the future), you wouldn’t want to miss a single moment of it and you need to unpack too.

We stepped into the cinema slightly early, found our sets and unpacked by preparing our KB, setting our water bottles at the side and for me personally, slinging my towel over my shoulders so I can wipe myself better.

Being early also lets you see how the people live in Yokohama arean were already hyping up with some wota- going on.

This also allows you to do some final check of your equipment, is your KB color code installed properly and etc. Stick your KB tuner with your phone so you can reinstall it ASAP if it gets reset.

IMO: If KB dies, you’ll need to re install the color codes, but if you start losing colors or flickering, turn it off and change batteries it’ll be fine.

2) Make friends! Greet the other guy beside you and apologize for possibly hitting them. I always do that cause it’s a foregone conclusion XD I always hit someone’s kb during cheers when I get too hyped, and who knows you might even make new friends out of them.

3) If there are WOTA Gods - guys who can lead, take note of where they are, probably in front as they’ll be the ones doing the calls first so follow them as appropriate. If they aren’t, don’t lead unless you are super confident with it. The LV might not project the call chants from the audiences at the live.

4) One KB or Two KB? Or UO or KB in the first place?

It all depends on what you’re comfortable with. UOs are acceptable, and I saw a guy who broke 9 different colors and switch it all the time so it’s possible to use UOs for the concert but it’s very dim compared to KB.

There are also smaller KBs with widths that are like literally 1/4 of that of a normal Aqours KB, those are probably for those guys who want 9 on both hands.

I finished Day 1 with 2 KBs, one in each hand and I must say I enjoyed myself much more than I did with only one KB. I can’t explain it, but it just feels better XD

Another example of why 2 KB is better than 1 is during transitions, I joked that I would switch colors by dropping one KB and raising another, but somehow it worked XDDD

So decide early whether you’re going for broke with 1 KB in each hand or just gonna do it with one hand.

5) Hydrate yourself. Like seriously, drink during intermissions and if you can, drink between songs and pop your lozenges no matter what. I did that like crazy in Day 2 and I survived better, so remember to keep your throat dry.

6) Stand up? I mean seriously. You can sit during MC/Intermissions, but when the song starts, stand up and wota or just cheer them on. Sitters probably will get intimidated, but that’s how LVs are. I saw a mother bring a kid in and bail half way, at least she lasted half way? XD

As seats are at back are preferred, if you are blocked even while standing, ask if the guys in front of you are willing to trade seats cause while... you want to see it right? That’s another reason to be there early =D

After the Live

1) Thank everyone, the people behind, in front and beside you and of course the VAs even if they can’t hear you, it’s important!

2) Make sure you continue to keep yourself healthy as day 2 is ahead!

Well actually just rest well for Day 2~

This turned out to be such a huge post but I ran out steam at the end as I’m going to cry to Rikyako again...

I hope this helps those who read till this part~

#kuuxkatspeaks #first live hype #live viewing #long post

[contentcreationstrategy]

Content Marketing Planning: How to Build Your Editorial Calendar

I can’t believe I got fired from the calendar factory. All I did was take a day off!

Opening today’s post up with a bit of levity felt fitting, because calendars can cause much anxiety. They bring to mind deadlines, meticulous organization, and time crunches, which are often oppressive realities for marketers with a million things on their plates.

But the truth is that you’re likely to encounter much more dread if you don’t house your content planning within a documented and strategic editorial calendar for blogging. Building out a set schedule (with a bit of flexibility) ultimately makes your life easier because it provides a guiding light, and ensures your content strategy remains cohesive and oriented around your objectives.

In other words, editorial calendars are no joke. Here’s how you can construct one that seriously drives your company’s blog (or any other content initiative) forward. 

Fortify Your Editorial Calendar in Five Steps

Whether you’ve already got a content calendar, which you hope to refine and improve, or you’re starting from scratch, these five steps will put you on track.

Step 1: Crystallize Your Objectives

The biggest issue with many content plans is that they’re aimless and wayward. When you’re figuring things out on the fly, it can be difficult to tie everything back to the same goals and desired outcomes. So the first step is to zoom out and nail down what you’re trying to achieve with the content in question. For instance, if your blog is designed to generate leads with specific audiences, are you tethering each piece on your calendar back to this outcome in some way? 

Placing objectives front-and-center is a key benefit of documenting your content strategy, and making them the underpinning of your planning will help ensure everything you publish has a purpose. 

via GIPHY

Step 2: Chart Your Pillars and Timely Focuses

With objectives clearly defined, you can formulate content pillars that will serve as the cornerstones of your editorial calendar. Also known as topic clusters, these are the general categories that all of your content will nest under. Pillars are determined by the intersection of what you want to be known for, and where demand exists. They should be informed by SEO research around keywords and queries, hitting the sweet spot between search volume, expertise, and buying intent.

Here on the TopRank Marketing Blog, our pillars are aligned with our agency’s core services — content marketing, SEO, influencer marketing — and so pretty much everything we create for the blog approaches these topics from various angles for people who are interested in learning about them and looking for insight.

Don’t view content pillars as restricting; there are a wide range of ways you can address almost any topic, either directly or tangentially. Organizing your calendar around them will help ensure you stay focused, and relevant to your target audience. In addition to identifying a topical mix, you can start to define your content types — how-tos, thought leadership, influencer collaborations, conversion-driven pieces, etc. These can be aligned with various stages of the buying cycle, and mapped back to the key objectives established in Step 1.

At this point, it’s also smart to map out industry events or seasonal milestones that you’ll want to create content around. 

Don’t view content pillars as restricting; there are a wide range of ways you can address almost any topic, either directly or tangentially. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #ContentPlanning Click To Tweet

Step 3: Coordinate with Your Broader Strategy

This is a vital consideration that is all too frequently overlooked. Whatever channel you’re scheduling content for — be it a blog, email, social, etc. — think about ways you can coordinate with other departments or disciplines in the organization. For example, does your sales team experience higher volumes of inquiries at certain times of year? Or are they attending a trade show next month that you could support with content? Maybe one of your executives will be speaking at a conference, and you want to queue up some thought leadership around the subject of their talk in the days leading up.

A strong editorial calendar should reflect the company holistically. In this sense, it can be helpful to make your calendar visible to everyone and not just the folks on your team. 

A strong editorial calendar should reflect the company holistically. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #ContentPlanning Click To Tweet

Step 4: Plot Your Cadence and Schedule Out Your Content

How often will you create content? And why? We all know it’s valuable to publish regularly, because this is how you build an invested and trusting audience, but “regularly” can mean different things under different circumstances. Is it daily? Three times a week? Multiple times per day? This decision shouldn’t driven by guesswork, but by data. 

Although it’s a little older now, HubSpot has a helpful post on determining how often companies should blog based on variables like company size and B2B vs. B2C. But you’ll also want to dig into your own visitor behavior analytics and draw conclusions on what your audience wants. Test different cadences and compare the impacts. As a general rule, more publishing equals more traffic, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be worth your while to create new content each day. 

As Alfred Lua of Buffer writes: “I would recommend experimenting and finding a suitable editorial cadence based on your content goals and the amount of time you have. There is no one right editorial cadence. HubSpot publishes several articles a day while Backlinko publishes less than once a month.” (As a side note, we highlighted Backlinko’s quality-over-quantity approach here earlier this year.)

Having made this decision, you can start filling out the calendar appropriately, using your content pillars and organizational directives as guides. Plan as far out as you’re comfortable (at least one month, but forecasting three or more months is even better). Make sure you’re building in enough topical variety to keep things fresh and diverse. Once you get your schedule documented, it becomes easy to spot gaps or overloads. 

Step 5: Leave Room for Change

Note that you don’t want to completely fill out your editorial calendar. As we mentioned earlier, it’s important to leave some flexibility so you can nimbly address timely matters as they arise and account for the (expected) unexpected. Contently editor-in-chief Jordan Teicher proposes a 75/25 rule, wherein one out of every four slots in your calendar is left blank. 

“In my years managing the site, I’m certain of one thing: s*** happens,” Teicher writes. “People miss deadlines. Sources don’t respond in time. The design team can’t find the right image. My day gets stuffed with meetings, which prevents me from editing a draft. A flexible content calendar is about more than just coming up with ideas for the current news cycle. It’s also about realistic expectations.”

Smart Practices for Getting the Most Out of Your Editorial Calendar

The five steps above will help you solidify your calendar. Here are a few additional tips to help make the process smoother and more effective.

Hold group brainstorming sessions. Usually, the toughest thing about building out a content calendar is coming up with enough concepts to fill it in. I recommend setting up a time where a bunch of your creatives come together to load up the pipeline with ideas (run these ideas past your content pillars and SEO research to assess strategic viability). Make sure to incorporate voices from various departments. 

Slice up and repurpose. It’s always valuable to get the most mileage possible out of your content. If you’ve got a big, meaty blog post planned on a certain subject, why not divvy it up into three parts and run it as a series? If you’re looking for a reliable performer next month, why not take your most successful piece from last month and flip it into an infographic, or conceive a follow-up post that expands on it? Repurposing is a great way to get the most out of your content leftovers.

Lean on the right tools. For some content teams, a spreadsheet or even a Word doc can be sufficient for organizing your editorial calendar. In other cases, this initiative can be run through your project management software. But for high-volume teams with many elements to track and account for, it might be helpful to go with a dedicated content-centric solution. There are plenty of them out there, including Contently, DivvyHQ, Kapost, CoSchedule, and more.

Create comprehensive coverage. What this looks like can vary in different scenarios. It might mean approaching your topical pillars with best-answer content that addresses every subtopic your customers are interested in learning about (especially those queries carrying any level of purchase intent). If you’re in a crowded niche, it might mean gobbling up every bit of white space your competitors are missing. If your content is oriented toward B2B buyers, it might mean creating content for every role on distributed buying committees, and speaking to each stage of a lengthy purchase cycle. 

Right on Schedule

If you feel apprehensive about building an editorial calendar from scratch, you’re not alone. It can feel intimidating to schedule out so far in advance, and to consistently manage and maintain this resource. But I assure you, once you get into the groove, your life will be much easier and your results will improve. 

Following the steps and recommendations above will help you stay on target and derive maximum value from your efforts.

Want to add further efficiency and foresight to your strategy? Learn more about getting ahead with your content planning. 

The post Content Marketing Planning: How to Build Your Editorial Calendar appeared first on Blog Launch.

from Blog Launch https://ift.tt/2Zlm1gl

#Blog Launch

[samuelpboswell]

Content Marketing Planning: How to Build Your Editorial Calendar

I can’t believe I got fired from the calendar factory. All I did was take a day off! Opening today’s post up with a bit of levity felt fitting, because calendars can cause much anxiety. They bring to mind deadlines, meticulous organization, and time crunches, which are often oppressive realities for marketers with a million things on their plates. But the truth is that you’re likely to encounter much more dread if you don’t house your content planning within a documented and strategic editorial calendar for blogging. Building out a set schedule (with a bit of flexibility) ultimately makes your life easier because it provides a guiding light, and ensures your content strategy remains cohesive and oriented around your objectives. In other words, editorial calendars are no joke. Here’s how you can construct one that seriously drives your company’s blog (or any other content initiative) forward. 

Fortify Your Editorial Calendar in Five Steps

Whether you’ve already got a content calendar, which you hope to refine and improve, or you’re starting from scratch, these five steps will put you on track.

Step 1: Crystallize Your Objectives

The biggest issue with many content plans is that they’re aimless and wayward. When you’re figuring things out on the fly, it can be difficult to tie everything back to the same goals and desired outcomes. So the first step is to zoom out and nail down what you’re trying to achieve with the content in question. For instance, if your blog is designed to generate leads with specific audiences, are you tethering each piece on your calendar back to this outcome in some way?  Placing objectives front-and-center is a key benefit of documenting your content strategy, and making them the underpinning of your planning will help ensure everything you publish has a purpose. 

via GIPHY

Step 2: Chart Your Pillars and Timely Focuses

With objectives clearly defined, you can formulate content pillars that will serve as the cornerstones of your editorial calendar. Also known as topic clusters, these are the general categories that all of your content will nest under. Pillars are determined by the intersection of what you want to be known for, and where demand exists. They should be informed by SEO research around keywords and queries, hitting the sweet spot between search volume, expertise, and buying intent. Here on the TopRank Marketing Blog, our pillars are aligned with our agency’s core services — content marketing, SEO, influencer marketing — and so pretty much everything we create for the blog approaches these topics from various angles for people who are interested in learning about them and looking for insight. Don’t view content pillars as restricting; there are a wide range of ways you can address almost any topic, either directly or tangentially. Organizing your calendar around them will help ensure you stay focused, and relevant to your target audience. In addition to identifying a topical mix, you can start to define your content types — how-tos, thought leadership, influencer collaborations, conversion-driven pieces, etc. These can be aligned with various stages of the buying cycle, and mapped back to the key objectives established in Step 1. At this point, it’s also smart to map out industry events or seasonal milestones that you’ll want to create content around.  [bctt tweet="Don’t view content pillars as restricting; there are a wide range of ways you can address almost any topic, either directly or tangentially. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #ContentPlanning" username="toprank"]

Step 3: Coordinate with Your Broader Strategy

This is a vital consideration that is all too frequently overlooked. Whatever channel you’re scheduling content for — be it a blog, email, social, etc. — think about ways you can coordinate with other departments or disciplines in the organization. For example, does your sales team experience higher volumes of inquiries at certain times of year? Or are they attending a trade show next month that you could support with content? Maybe one of your executives will be speaking at a conference, and you want to queue up some thought leadership around the subject of their talk in the days leading up. A strong editorial calendar should reflect the company holistically. In this sense, it can be helpful to make your calendar visible to everyone and not just the folks on your team.  [bctt tweet="A strong editorial calendar should reflect the company holistically. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #ContentPlanning " username="toprank"]

Step 4: Plot Your Cadence and Schedule Out Your Content

How often will you create content? And why? We all know it’s valuable to publish regularly, because this is how you build an invested and trusting audience, but “regularly” can mean different things under different circumstances. Is it daily? Three times a week? Multiple times per day? This decision shouldn’t driven by guesswork, but by data.  Although it’s a little older now, HubSpot has a helpful post on determining how often companies should blog based on variables like company size and B2B vs. B2C. But you’ll also want to dig into your own visitor behavior analytics and draw conclusions on what your audience wants. Test different cadences and compare the impacts. As a general rule, more publishing equals more traffic, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be worth your while to create new content each day.  As Alfred Lua of Buffer writes: “I would recommend experimenting and finding a suitable editorial cadence based on your content goals and the amount of time you have. There is no one right editorial cadence. HubSpot publishes several articles a day while Backlinko publishes less than once a month.” (As a side note, we highlighted Backlinko’s quality-over-quantity approach here earlier this year.) Having made this decision, you can start filling out the calendar appropriately, using your content pillars and organizational directives as guides. Plan as far out as you’re comfortable (at least one month, but forecasting three or more months is even better). Make sure you’re building in enough topical variety to keep things fresh and diverse. Once you get your schedule documented, it becomes easy to spot gaps or overloads. 

Step 5: Leave Room for Change

Note that you don’t want to completely fill out your editorial calendar. As we mentioned earlier, it’s important to leave some flexibility so you can nimbly address timely matters as they arise and account for the (expected) unexpected. Contently editor-in-chief Jordan Teicher proposes a 75/25 rule, wherein one out of every four slots in your calendar is left blank.  “In my years managing the site, I’m certain of one thing: s*** happens,” Teicher writes. “People miss deadlines. Sources don’t respond in time. The design team can’t find the right image. My day gets stuffed with meetings, which prevents me from editing a draft. A flexible content calendar is about more than just coming up with ideas for the current news cycle. It’s also about realistic expectations.”

Smart Practices for Getting the Most Out of Your Editorial Calendar

The five steps above will help you solidify your calendar. Here are a few additional tips to help make the process smoother and more effective.

Hold group brainstorming sessions. Usually, the toughest thing about building out a content calendar is coming up with enough concepts to fill it in. I recommend setting up a time where a bunch of your creatives come together to load up the pipeline with ideas (run these ideas past your content pillars and SEO research to assess strategic viability). Make sure to incorporate voices from various departments. 

Slice up and repurpose. It’s always valuable to get the most mileage possible out of your content. If you’ve got a big, meaty blog post planned on a certain subject, why not divvy it up into three parts and run it as a series? If you’re looking for a reliable performer next month, why not take your most successful piece from last month and flip it into an infographic, or conceive a follow-up post that expands on it? Repurposing is a great way to get the most out of your content leftovers.

Lean on the right tools. For some content teams, a spreadsheet or even a Word doc can be sufficient for organizing your editorial calendar. In other cases, this initiative can be run through your project management software. But for high-volume teams with many elements to track and account for, it might be helpful to go with a dedicated content-centric solution. There are plenty of them out there, including Contently, DivvyHQ, Kapost, CoSchedule, and more.

Create comprehensive coverage. What this looks like can vary in different scenarios. It might mean approaching your topical pillars with best-answer content that addresses every subtopic your customers are interested in learning about (especially those queries carrying any level of purchase intent). If you’re in a crowded niche, it might mean gobbling up every bit of white space your competitors are missing. If your content is oriented toward B2B buyers, it might mean creating content for every role on distributed buying committees, and speaking to each stage of a lengthy purchase cycle. 

Right on Schedule

If you feel apprehensive about building an editorial calendar from scratch, you’re not alone. It can feel intimidating to schedule out so far in advance, and to consistently manage and maintain this resource. But I assure you, once you get into the groove, your life will be much easier and your results will improve.  Following the steps and recommendations above will help you stay on target and derive maximum value from your efforts. Want to add further efficiency and foresight to your strategy? Learn more about getting ahead with your content planning. 

The post Content Marketing Planning: How to Build Your Editorial Calendar appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages https://www.toprankblog.com/2019/07/editorial-calendar-content-marketing/

[ralphlayton]

Content Marketing Planning: How to Build Your Editorial Calendar

I can’t believe I got fired from the calendar factory. All I did was take a day off! Opening today’s post up with a bit of levity felt fitting, because calendars can cause much anxiety. They bring to mind deadlines, meticulous organization, and time crunches, which are often oppressive realities for marketers with a million things on their plates. But the truth is that you’re likely to encounter much more dread if you don’t house your content planning within a documented and strategic editorial calendar for blogging. Building out a set schedule (with a bit of flexibility) ultimately makes your life easier because it provides a guiding light, and ensures your content strategy remains cohesive and oriented around your objectives. In other words, editorial calendars are no joke. Here’s how you can construct one that seriously drives your company’s blog (or any other content initiative) forward. 

Fortify Your Editorial Calendar in Five Steps

Whether you’ve already got a content calendar, which you hope to refine and improve, or you’re starting from scratch, these five steps will put you on track.

Step 1: Crystallize Your Objectives

The biggest issue with many content plans is that they’re aimless and wayward. When you’re figuring things out on the fly, it can be difficult to tie everything back to the same goals and desired outcomes. So the first step is to zoom out and nail down what you’re trying to achieve with the content in question. For instance, if your blog is designed to generate leads with specific audiences, are you tethering each piece on your calendar back to this outcome in some way?  Placing objectives front-and-center is a key benefit of documenting your content strategy, and making them the underpinning of your planning will help ensure everything you publish has a purpose. 

via GIPHY

Step 2: Chart Your Pillars and Timely Focuses

With objectives clearly defined, you can formulate content pillars that will serve as the cornerstones of your editorial calendar. Also known as topic clusters, these are the general categories that all of your content will nest under. Pillars are determined by the intersection of what you want to be known for, and where demand exists. They should be informed by SEO research around keywords and queries, hitting the sweet spot between search volume, expertise, and buying intent. Here on the TopRank Marketing Blog, our pillars are aligned with our agency’s core services — content marketing, SEO, influencer marketing — and so pretty much everything we create for the blog approaches these topics from various angles for people who are interested in learning about them and looking for insight. Don’t view content pillars as restricting; there are a wide range of ways you can address almost any topic, either directly or tangentially. Organizing your calendar around them will help ensure you stay focused, and relevant to your target audience. In addition to identifying a topical mix, you can start to define your content types — how-tos, thought leadership, influencer collaborations, conversion-driven pieces, etc. These can be aligned with various stages of the buying cycle, and mapped back to the key objectives established in Step 1. At this point, it’s also smart to map out industry events or seasonal milestones that you’ll want to create content around.  [bctt tweet="Don’t view content pillars as restricting; there are a wide range of ways you can address almost any topic, either directly or tangentially. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #ContentPlanning" username="toprank"]

Step 3: Coordinate with Your Broader Strategy

This is a vital consideration that is all too frequently overlooked. Whatever channel you’re scheduling content for — be it a blog, email, social, etc. — think about ways you can coordinate with other departments or disciplines in the organization. For example, does your sales team experience higher volumes of inquiries at certain times of year? Or are they attending a trade show next month that you could support with content? Maybe one of your executives will be speaking at a conference, and you want to queue up some thought leadership around the subject of their talk in the days leading up. A strong editorial calendar should reflect the company holistically. In this sense, it can be helpful to make your calendar visible to everyone and not just the folks on your team.  [bctt tweet="A strong editorial calendar should reflect the company holistically. @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing #ContentPlanning " username="toprank"]

Step 4: Plot Your Cadence and Schedule Out Your Content

How often will you create content? And why? We all know it’s valuable to publish regularly, because this is how you build an invested and trusting audience, but “regularly” can mean different things under different circumstances. Is it daily? Three times a week? Multiple times per day? This decision shouldn’t driven by guesswork, but by data.  Although it’s a little older now, HubSpot has a helpful post on determining how often companies should blog based on variables like company size and B2B vs. B2C. But you’ll also want to dig into your own visitor behavior analytics and draw conclusions on what your audience wants. Test different cadences and compare the impacts. As a general rule, more publishing equals more traffic, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be worth your while to create new content each day.  As Alfred Lua of Buffer writes: “I would recommend experimenting and finding a suitable editorial cadence based on your content goals and the amount of time you have. There is no one right editorial cadence. HubSpot publishes several articles a day while Backlinko publishes less than once a month.” (As a side note, we highlighted Backlinko’s quality-over-quantity approach here earlier this year.) Having made this decision, you can start filling out the calendar appropriately, using your content pillars and organizational directives as guides. Plan as far out as you’re comfortable (at least one month, but forecasting three or more months is even better). Make sure you’re building in enough topical variety to keep things fresh and diverse. Once you get your schedule documented, it becomes easy to spot gaps or overloads. 

Step 5: Leave Room for Change

Note that you don’t want to completely fill out your editorial calendar. As we mentioned earlier, it’s important to leave some flexibility so you can nimbly address timely matters as they arise and account for the (expected) unexpected. Contently editor-in-chief Jordan Teicher proposes a 75/25 rule, wherein one out of every four slots in your calendar is left blank.  “In my years managing the site, I’m certain of one thing: s*** happens,” Teicher writes. “People miss deadlines. Sources don’t respond in time. The design team can’t find the right image. My day gets stuffed with meetings, which prevents me from editing a draft. A flexible content calendar is about more than just coming up with ideas for the current news cycle. It’s also about realistic expectations.”

Smart Practices for Getting the Most Out of Your Editorial Calendar

The five steps above will help you solidify your calendar. Here are a few additional tips to help make the process smoother and more effective.

Hold group brainstorming sessions. Usually, the toughest thing about building out a content calendar is coming up with enough concepts to fill it in. I recommend setting up a time where a bunch of your creatives come together to load up the pipeline with ideas (run these ideas past your content pillars and SEO research to assess strategic viability). Make sure to incorporate voices from various departments. 

Slice up and repurpose. It’s always valuable to get the most mileage possible out of your content. If you’ve got a big, meaty blog post planned on a certain subject, why not divvy it up into three parts and run it as a series? If you’re looking for a reliable performer next month, why not take your most successful piece from last month and flip it into an infographic, or conceive a follow-up post that expands on it? Repurposing is a great way to get the most out of your content leftovers.

Lean on the right tools. For some content teams, a spreadsheet or even a Word doc can be sufficient for organizing your editorial calendar. In other cases, this initiative can be run through your project management software. But for high-volume teams with many elements to track and account for, it might be helpful to go with a dedicated content-centric solution. There are plenty of them out there, including Contently, DivvyHQ, Kapost, CoSchedule, and more.

Create comprehensive coverage. What this looks like can vary in different scenarios. It might mean approaching your topical pillars with best-answer content that addresses every subtopic your customers are interested in learning about (especially those queries carrying any level of purchase intent). If you’re in a crowded niche, it might mean gobbling up every bit of white space your competitors are missing. If your content is oriented toward B2B buyers, it might mean creating content for every role on distributed buying committees, and speaking to each stage of a lengthy purchase cycle. 

Right on Schedule

If you feel apprehensive about building an editorial calendar from scratch, you’re not alone. It can feel intimidating to schedule out so far in advance, and to consistently manage and maintain this resource. But I assure you, once you get into the groove, your life will be much easier and your results will improve.  Following the steps and recommendations above will help you stay on target and derive maximum value from your efforts. Want to add further efficiency and foresight to your strategy? Learn more about getting ahead with your content planning. 

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Content Marketing Planning: How to Build Your Editorial Calendar published first on yhttps://improfitninja.blogspot.com/

[tyloremore]

How to disable feedback in WordPress

How to deactivate feedback in WordPress

Although it’s not probably the most traditional, There are individuals who wish to know learn how to flip off feedback in WordPress. In the pages, sure. Its regular. But feedback on a weblog are a part of your engaging, as a result of they generate debate. But if you wish to deactivate the feedback, In this publish I clarify learn how to do it.

Comments in a weblog rework a monologue right into a dialog and assist construct communities of individuals keen on the identical points. Further, are one of many lots of of things that may enhance (a bit) the positioning natural of the publish itself and the net.

So, why would somebody wish to disable the feedback in WordPress?

Well, for dozens of causes that we aren’t going to debate now. A higher not have time to reply and like to not give the choice. For these WordPress customers preferring to “layer” the feedback, is that this publish.

We have two choices, deactivate the feedback utilizing your individual WordPress settings and settings, or accomplish that by putting in a selected plugin for it.

How to disable feedback utilizing WordPress settings

You can activate and deactivate feedback for all weblog posts or do it individually, should you're keen on deactivating the feedback just for some particular posts and never for your entire weblog.

When put in, by default, WordPress prompts feedback for all posts and deactivates them for all pages. This is probably the most logic. Nobody needs feedback on a static web page and sure on articles. As we mentioned earlier than, they’re thought partly to generate dialogue, debate or dialogue.

If you wish to disable the feedback in WordPress, you’ll have to suppose if you wish to do it from the start of time or from as we speak solely. The form of finishing up is completely different in every possibility.

#one. Disable feedback on all new posts

In the choice It permits feedback are posted on new articles, take away the test You can too Remove it from the earlier possibility. This will deactivate all feedback in posts to any extent further (within the pages are already disabled by default, as I mentioned earlier than).

How to disable feedback in WordPress

If you wish to disable feedback on particular posts, You can do it from the identical publish. More on that later.

#two. Disable feedback in all posts

Disable feedback with the above methodology, solely will keep away from them from the second you make that adjustment in WordPress. That is, no will forestall them from coming into feedback on beforehand printed articles. If you wish to take away the choice additionally out of your outdated posts, and in addition take away those who exist already, it’s important to go to

Desktop> Comments

Here you’ll be able to choose the feedback you need take away. If you wish to delete all, test the field subsequent to Author to pick all after which select Delete completely from the drop-down menu of Batch actions. Click on Apply.

Note: it will depend on how you have got configured the web page of feedback, a listing of 20 per web page will seem. You can, nicely go turning pages, nicely modify the settings of this web page in Display Options (indicated in blue within the picture) in order that they seem extra parts per web page.

#three. Disable feedback on particular person WordPress posts

Select the publish for which you wish to publish feedback and go to the version.

If you haven’t but put in the Gutenberg model of WordPress

Under the writing space, you will notice a piece known as Comments (duh!) If it doesn’t seem this part, go to Options of display screen, in the identical place that I’ve proven you earlier than, high proper. Active the choice of Comments so that you just seem under.

Remove the test of each choices.

If you have got already put in Gutenberg

To the proper of the writing space you have got the identical possibility. Yes you don’t see it, click on on the Options.

How to disable wordpress feedback on particular person posts

You may also do it by Quick Edition, from the record of all of your entries.

#four. Remove the feedback possibility in multimedia recordsdata

It is similar to the earlier ones.

Go to your Library of Media and click on on the choice Edit of the merchandise from which you wish to take away the feedback (picture, pdf, and so on.).

Below you will notice the choice to deactivate them. If not, It's the identical as all the time. You do not need it enabled within the Page Options. Already you recognize what to do

#5. In addition to disabling feedback, in WordPress you’ll be able to management them finest

Maybe what you really want is to not deactivate feedback in WordPress, however have extra management over them. In the settings of WordPress feedback you have got superb management choices.

Go to Settings> Comments and let's see some choices.

Go right down to So remark seem.

If you choose the primary possibility, it will likely be harder to publish the feedback of spam and in addition keep away from that the feedback are proven in your posts with out have checked them first. If you test the second, you’ll permit the one who feedback to return to do it sooner or later with out going via your handbook authorization.

In Moderation of Comments, you’ll be able to inform WordPress to not approve something robotically when you’ve got a couple of N variety of hyperlinks. I’ve it in 1. I don’t wish to publish Comments on my weblog that comprise a couple of hyperlink.

You may also add banned phrases, addresses of mail, URLs, or IPs and WordPress will put them in your moderation queue.

You could make blacklists for WordPress to ship to the junk feedback that comprise sure phrases, emails, URLs or IPs.

You may additionally, as you see within the possibility of Other Comments Settings, require that who will remark register and entry your web site. This is a type of deterrence that may work, nevertheless it has the drawback that you’ll have to add a particular clause for it in your Legal Notice and Privacy Policy. This is a really severe situation, by the best way, I like to recommend you learn my publish about adaptation of web sites to the RGPD and LOPDGDD.

You can shut feedback on outdated articles or those who now not have relevance within the possibility Automatically shut feedback on entries with greater than XXX days.

Check the notification field by e mail. In this fashion WordPress will notify you every time you have got a brand new remark and so you’ll be able to reply them or Approve them recurrently, as an alternative of letting them accumulate.

How to disable WordPress feedback utilizing a plugin

There are additionally plugins that make it simpler to disable the WordPress feedback. My recommendation is that you just do it instantly within the changes, as I simply confirmed you. The purpose is that our record of WordPress plugins It must be as quick as attainable. The much less we’ve put in and energetic, our internet will likely be quicker and safer.

If even in any case this, you favor to make use of a plugin to Disable WordPress feedback, you should utilize the Disable Comments of Samir Shah. It's the one which I discover handiest.

Plugin for the deactivation of feedback in wordpress

(If you need to check out different plugins that do the identical perform, use that key phrase in English, not in Spanish, when looking out Plugins in your repository: disable feedback).

Finally, I like to recommend you employ an antispam plugin for feedback. I used to advocate Akismet among the many elementary plugins on your weblog, however now there’s a higher one.

I all the time belief my recommendation internet hosting, which is the better of Spain (Not solely I say it). One day I obtained a publish about him the finest antispam plugins and I listened to them. I put in the decision Anti-Spam.

Conclusions

In abstract, the selection to disable feedback in WordPress or it’s not completely private and will depend on every one. We must weigh the benefits and drawbacks that every possibility brings us and decide. You are of those that wish to deactivate WordPress feedback or favor to have them enabled? Do you wish to inform us your causes? Do it … within the feedback.

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