The Surprising Fact About Gaming Your Mom Doesn’t Want You to Know

Whether you’re a teenager or a man in his early 30s who grew up on classic video game consoles like Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis and PlayStation, there is something about gaming that you may not know – and that your mother may not want you to know! Namely, that adult women are now the largest single demographic of gamers. In fact, adult women significantly outnumber teenagers, and come second in total numbers only to ALL male gamers combined – adult and minors, alike. This change in gamer demographics is no small footnote; it has the capacity to fundamentally change the gaming industry, and is already being felt, both in console and mobile gaming markets. But how did this come about?

The Emergence of Mobile Gaming and Its Impact on the Industry

With the explosion of the iPhone onto the market in 2007, and subsequent launches from competitors far and wide, an entirely new industry was born: mobile games. Available through app stores, often for free, these relatively simple games gave up much in terms of performance and graphics to their computer and console counterparts, but more than made up for these shortcomings in playability, accessibility, and fun quotient. Put simply, because mobile games initially weren’t very good on a technical level, they had to be stripped down to their core elements – and in the process, they became really appealing.

This new gaming industry attracted a whole new demographic of gamers. Moms, grandmothers and adult women started flocking to these new mobile games (and, with the rise of Facebook around the same time as the smartphone, social games as well). By 2010, these women accounted for 40 percent of all game players; now, in 2015, that total is up to 48 percent. Teenage boys by comparison? They account for just 17 percent of video gamers. These numbers illustrate two things: 1. stereotypes aren’t always based in reality (in fact, they usually aren’t); and 2. the video game industry has changed radically, and perhaps for good. So what’s in store for the future?

Game Companies Everywhere are Starting to Make an About-face

We can expect two major developments in mobile (and console) gaming in the near future. The first will be the industry-wide adoption of these new female gamers.

In-game ads will become more egalitarian, if not outright female-centric, and games themselves will start to be tailored to female audiences. Though it may be some time before scantily clad female warriors are absent from games altogether (and in fact, may never be), we can expect more female protagonists, more titles developed with the casual gamer in mind, and a greater implementation of advertising and digital sales into mobile and console games. Post-transaction sales (that is, sales made after the game is purchased or downloaded) are now a staple of the video game industry, and with adult women (i.e., individuals with disposable income, unlike, say, teenagers) now the largest gaming demographic, this tactic is only going to become more pervasive.

The second development, and one that is already taking place, is the further encroachment on console gaming by mobile and social media titles. With Snapdragon’s advanced mobile technology capable of producing beautiful, real-life graphics on mobile hardware, gamers are no longer reliant on consoles for titles that are visually resplendent and rich in gameplay. In fact, many console titles, such as Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto, have already made the jump. In the very near future, the line between console and mobile gaming may be indistinguishable, even to the hardcore gamer.

It’s a New World Out There – Embrace It

Women gamers are here to stay and the gaming industry must and will change to reflect this new consumer demographic. So face it teenagers and young men – your moms are now hipper than you!

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Click on Improved Social Media Promotions

How would you rate your social media efforts and ultimately results as a business owner?

If you were to rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being awful and 10 being great), where would place your social media outreach over the last year? While many might say somewhere in the middle or a little higher up, others, unfortunately, would be near the low end.

When you stop and think about it, why is your social media dragging you and your business down?

Focus on Time and Effort

Like many tasks in life, it essentially all boils down to putting the maximum amount of time and effort into your social media strategy.

For those who choose to do just that, the rewards can be rather terrific. On the other hand, those choosing to do social media here and there will oftentimes find themselves a day late and a dollar short.

In order to boost your social media results in 2015 and beyond, keep in mind:

• Focus – First and foremost, where should your social media focus be in 2015? That starts with what kind of products and/or services you offer the public. If you offer http://ift.tt/1L5sG1d or another likewise company, your focus should be on families, individuals running businesses out of their homes etc. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t approach some senior citizens, but many older people are probably watching their dollars, not to mention many of them are not heavy Internet users. Focus on your demographics (make sure you know your demographics for starters) and know who you stand the best chance of reaching with your social promotions;


• Implementation – Once youknow where your focus should be, how will you go about implementing your social media pursuits? Some choose to do it in-house, others opt for outsourcing it. If you do the former, make sure you dedicate the time needed for a viable social media program. You can’t do occasional tweets, shares, and pins etc. and hope to strike gold. Set aside some dedicated time to really make it work. If you select the latter, make sure you choose a qualified social media company, individual etc. Do some background researches on them before you take them on board. Do they produce results? How is their customer service? Are they looking forward with their social media ideas instead of standing pat? These are all things you need to understand;


• Learn – Lastly, don’t hesitate to look around and see how others (including your competition) are doing social media. While you are not best served in emulating everything your competition does, you can learn some things from them. Also don’t be shy about surfing the Internet for blog posts on social media, especially from some of the better-know experts. All the information may seem a tad overwhelming at first, but you can ultimately benefit from such knowledge. Knowing which sites are best to use, the prime times to use social media, how to avoid negative customer interactions for the entire world to see etc. are all things you and/or your social media provider should understand.

If your social media program hasn’t been clicking in recent times, refocus your efforts and make it click this year and beyond.

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How to Get the Most Value out of Your LinkedIn Posts

Whether you are trying to appeal to other businesses or position yourself for finding a high-paying job, LinkedIn is a social network you can’t ignore. Posting on this social network, which has over 250 million active members, is a great way to grow your brand and generate income.

If you are still not convinced that LinkedIn is a channel worth leveraging, take a look at the infographic below. I created it to explain why you should be leveraging LinkedIn and how to get the most value out of your LinkedIn posts.

Click on the image below to see a larger view:

Click here to view an enlarged version of this infographic.

Conclusion

Although Facebook is my number one social network from a traffic standpoint, LinkedIn beats it from a revenue perspective.

Why? Because you can target specific individuals and businesses on LinkedIn with ease. One of the best ways to do this is by posting content that pertains to these individuals and companies on a regular basis. Just make sure you follow Rule #3.

Are you ready to post on LinkedIn now?

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Social Media Loans You Some Options

If you’re in search of a home, car, or small business loan, social media can help you during the financial hunt.

Many loan providers use social media to inform current and potential customers on the lending process, which makes it a valuable and informative resource.

Here are just a few ways you can use social media to lock down the right loan for your needs:

Finding a Mortgage Using Social Media

With all of the options available, it’s harder than you might think finding a mortgage provider.

Luckily, social media is a great place to start the mortgage loan process.

Many mortgage companies are using social media to post client testimonials as well as links to convenient mortgage calculators.

Likewise, mortgage lenders are also turning to sites like Facebook and Twitter to answer your questions about the mortgage lending process.

Although they can’t offer advice on financial decisions, they can suggest which options you can take when acquiring a mortgage.

You can also use social media to contact mortgage agents and further the conversation.

Social Car Loans

Social media can also steer you in the right direction when searching for a new car loan.

A large number of auto loan lenders and qualified dealerships have Facebook business pages and fan pages where they post the latest information on loans and promotional offers.

As the following article shows, because auto loans in a changing market are difficult to track, following lenders and dealerships on social media takes the headache out of the equation.

Social media is a one-stop shop when it comes to following dealerships and getting a better idea of the loan programs they offer.

Business Loans and Social Media

A greater number of smaller business loan providers are taking the social presence of entrepreneurs into consideration when choosing loan candidates.

By keeping up with your social accounts and building future business relationships, you can prove to lenders that you are serious about your business endeavors.

Whether your business is already in place and you just need a small loan to expand or you’re starting from scratch, you can begin building your presence now. By spreading the word about your new business and building your followers, you can prove to lenders that you already have a strong customer base.

With a healthy following and active social media profiles, you will also prove to lenders that you’re serious about the success of your business.

Social Outreach

Following lenders via social media is a great ways to gain a better understanding about the loans they have to offer. With that said, reaching out to your friends and family for loan advice is another effective way to make your way through the lending process.

Maybe you have a friend who just bought a new car or you have a social acquaintance that just went through the business loan process.

Simply seeking out and asking your social contacts about their loan experiences can better inform you about the lending process.

Finding a car, business, or mortgage loan is easier with a little help from social media.

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LinkedIn: Advanced Profile Features

Last week’s CareerGlider post discussed three ways your LinkedIn profile is used: as an online resume, as a filtering mechanism, and as a way of being headhunted by recruiters. We talked about how to set out the essentials of your resume while avoiding basic mistakes.

This week, we talk about how to help people find you on LinkedIn—and how to impress them when they do.

First: Stop Changes Being Shared to Network

By default, LinkedIn shares with your network every change you make to your profile. So you don’t spam your network with small changes, move the slider on the right-hand side of your profile headed, “Notify Your Network?” to ‘No’. When you’re ready for people to see your changes, you can always switch it back.

Custom URL

Also by default, LinkedIn gives your profile page a random-looking string of letters and numbers as the URL for your profile page. A custom URL looks better, on screen and on a business card.

In the drop-down menu at the top of the page, select Profile > Edit Profile. Your current URL is underneath your photo. Click on it. On the panel on the right, you’ll see a heading: “Your Public Profile URL.” Click on the pencil beside it and change the URL to whatever you like—preferably a variant on your name that’s available.

Custom Headline

Your headline defaults to your current job title and employer, but you can change it. And there are good reasons to do so.

One is to impress people: if they like what they read, they’ll read on. Another is to impress search engines. Recruiters often use Boolean keyword queries—search terms connected by ‘and’s, ‘or’s, ‘not’s, etc. You want to show up on those searches. While LinkedIn’s search algorithm is a secret, headlines are said to rank second only to your name in importance.

There needs to be a balance, of course: LinkedIn’s search engine may like your profile, but a human is not going to be impressed if your headline is an unreadable sludge of keywords

What ‘keywords’ should you use? Job descriptions in your field will help you. Let’s say you’re looking for work in social media. Here’s a sample posting in that field from a recruiter:

The full posting is available here.

Let’s assume you are just the right fit for this kind of job, and this job is representative of what’s out there. (In reality, you might well apply despite not being a 100% perfect fit, and you’d check many, many more of these postings.) How do you ensure you’re found by recruiters looking for similar candidates?

The words ‘Social Media’ should be the first thing in your headline. The posting also focuses on content skills, so that should be in your headline too. Skills in community management are also being sought, and the idea of an online community might be a nice way to hang your headline together. Finally, the problem the employer is really trying to solve—what all these skills are required to do—is promoting and managing a brand online.

Let’s put all of that together within 120 characters (the limit for the headline). One way of writing a headline is more minimalist, just using a few descriptive phrases:

Social Media Associate | Content Writer | Brand Manager | Online Engagement Specialist

Alternatively, you might choose something that’s more of a personal branding statement, for instance:

Social Media specialist and content writer passionate about helping brands connect with online communities.

Neither of these is flashy, and you might feel something a bit more exuberant better expresses who you are—in which case, go for it! But buzzwords like ‘Ninja,’ ‘Guru,’ and ‘Maven,’ are best avoided—no one is searching LinkedIn for ninjas, and some of these buzzwords are making most-despised lists.

Remember that we’re assuming in this example that you have all these skills: don’t forget your obligation is always to be completely honest.

Keywords in your Experience section

In your Experience section, make sure to include other keywords you think might be searched, or secondary skills employers may want to you to have.

In our social media example, for instance, if you had prior experience with any or all of the social networks listed, you would want to make sure those networks were listed in your Experience section. And if you had PowerPoint or Photoshop skills, you would want to get those words into your profile, and into your Skills list too.

This post doesn’t cover everything, but these tips are some of the simplest and most effective ways of making your profile more visible. The other important thing you can do is reach out to others—which is what we’ll cover next week.

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New Research Shows 95% Use Customer Reviews

PowerReviews set out to look deeper at how ratings and reviews are impacting decision making. They surveyed 800 Americans to find out what they thought about ratings and reviews. Check out the interesting stats they found in the infographic below.

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4 Surprising Reasons Why Your Time Management Sucks

Do any of these statements sounds familiar?

“I don’t find peace when my to-do list is all checked off. I have a moment of panic, because, clearly, I’m forgetting something.”

“I always get my tasks done at the very last minute even though I feel like I gave myself plenty of time.”

“I could probably take on more work if I managed my time better.”

Time management is a funny thing. Thousands of self-help books have been written about it, yet many of us find perfecting this skill a challenge – especially in social media. It’s challenging, because social is always changing, so we are forced to constantly evolve with it. You know the usual tips. You should write your to-do list by priority and avoid time sucks, like watching hours of Jimmy Fallon clips on YouTube. However, there may be some surprising reasons why you can’t seem to effectively manage your time.

Before we dive in, let’s get a few things straight. Everyone views time differently. It’s ok if your concept of time is different from others. You have to find what works for you. It’s also important to note that time management is a constant evolution. You’ll have to reevaluate as your workload changes. Finally, managing your time efficiently doesn’t mean you have to throw on noise-canceling headphones on all day and keep yourself isolated from the rest of the world.

Are we all on the same page? Good! Now let’s talk about four not-so-common reasons why you’re struggling with time management….

1. You listen to respond.

This is a nasty little habit that busy folks are often guilty of doing. You stop listening to form a response in your head. Or worse, you start playing with your phone in the middle of a meeting. Even though you may be looking at important emails, you just stop listening and those few seconds could cost you important details. Missing information causes you and every one of your team precious time. In those few seconds, you could have just missed the fact that a deadline has changed or a new hashtag is being used for an upcoming program.

Bottom Line: The biggest communication problem is that we listen to reply, not to understand.

The Fix: Practice active listening. Recite what the speaker is saying in your head as they go. Recap and paraphrase after they are done speaking to ensure you understand and ask clarifying questions to help flush out the little details.

2. You use cookie cutter time management skills.

The most common time management tips tell you to stay away from emails for long blocks of time and avoid social media like the plague during office hours. Working in social media requires us to have constant access to email and stay on top of all trending news on social. Isolating yourself from the internet isn’t an option, but what you can do is anticipate that you will get pulled into a last minute brainstorm or be asked to write an impromptu tweet for a hashtag that is trending.

Bottom Line: Working in social media and marketing means that standard rules do not apply.

The Fix: Back in a realistic duration of time into your tasks. For example, if it typically takes you eight hours to write a content calendar, then don’t expect to start that content the day that it is due. Cushion your deadlines with an appropriate duration period.

3. You manage deadlines versus managing up

.This means that you complete your tasks in the allocated time. Maybe you even stretch those tasks out right up until the deadline. This is the most detrimental habit to your career. Managing your time to deadlines leaves little room for challenging yourself and proving to your manager that you can be a rock star. Managing up means completing your tasks in the most time effective way to leave yourself open for new responsibilities.

Bottom Line: Managing your time according to deadlines closes the door to new opportunities.

The Fix: Manage up and prove to yourself, your manager, and your team that you can take on more, which will provide you priceless learnings and take your career to new levels.

4. You ignore project management

A to-do list is project management in its simplest form, but it shouldn’t simply be a list. It’s great if you keep a running list of things you need to tackle on a daily basis, but the list should break down each part of your task by a milestone and each milestone should have its own deadline. For example, going back to the content calendar, there are multiple steps that need to be done before the task is complete. Use those steps to create a timeline. Perhaps three days are needed to write the content, two days to submit to a proofreader and two days to be approved by your manager.

Bottom Line: Generic high-level tasks on a to-do list is not only ineffective, but provides no real timeline to ensure you’re making the most of your day.

The Fix: Write your to-do list at the end of each day and break each task down by a milestone with a realistic deadline (manage up!). Whether you use Outlook, a good old paper list or a project management tool, make the most of it.

Finally, a few not so surprising reminders, but important to note…

• Try working on one task in shifts (i.e., 90 min shifts with 15 min breaks). It’s important to remember to walk away from your desk during the day. Take a walk or break down last week’s episode of The Blacklist with a co-worker. It’s important to avoid burnout.


• Write and update your to-do list at the end of each day. Take the next day’s meetings and other events into account. Start each day with a plan of attack.


• Communicate with your manager and team. Are you overworked? Underworked? Are you unclear of your responsibilities for a certain task? Miscommunications cost you and everyone involved time.

Alright. Reading this blog post was a great use of your time! Now before you get back to it, tell us what time management tips work for you.

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