An Expert and Aristotle Converse

This video outlined three key principles to keep in mind when creating a website:

1. User
2. Purpose
3. Simplicity

The following is a fictional conversation between the expert in this video and Aristotle.


 
        Expert       vs.     Aristotle

Expert: Keeping the USER in mind when designing the site is very important.  You should ask yourself, "Who will be using the website?" and gear it toward them.

Aristotle: Yes, it is important to be aware of your audience and make sure your website is attractive to them.  You can employ ethos (site credibility and relatability), pathos (appeal to the passion of the user) and logos (appeal to the logic of the user) in order to persuade the users to use the site. 

Expert: You should also remember your PURPOSE when creating a site. It's important to think about what your users are looking to experience on the site?

Aristotle: Very true. You need to select and fulfill the potentialities that will help you create the right character for your site.  Not all potentialities in a designers case are desirable, since there should be a set purpose or goal.

Expert: SIMPLICITY is vital when creating a website. You should never lose track of your users and purpose.

Aristotle: My theory of education can be applied here.  The first page should be on the level of child education, or simple and just feeding the user information.  The more interactive parts of the site should be available, but only after the user is clear on the concept of the site and therefore ready and excited to participate.  So in summary, the adult education (interactiveness of the site) should only come after the user has been through childhood education (the first page) and understands the concepts. 

6 best practices for B2B sites

1. Mix Gated and Non-Gated Content.

• Quality content is key to make visitors more sticky.
• By the visitor giving up something (maybe email, comments, etc.) they can have access to more information.
• Don't forget to still implement idea of "try before you buy" by tantalizing them with a taste of what could be if they just provide some information, comments, etc..

2. Track Everything.

• Know where your traffic comes, what visitors are doing on your website, and who they are.
• In our case, track who comments, how good their comments are, etc.

3. Make It Easy to Make a Sale.

• Make it easy for visitors to speak with someone, make comments, and share with others.

4. Be Bold in Visuals and Copy.

• Use "big, bold visuals that bring your brand to life."
• What are good visuals for our purposes?
• Also make sure to lead with your value (headlines for each page instead of descriptions).

5. Go Mobile.

• Work across all platforms and devices.
• Create an app for our project.

6. Let Your Clients Tell Your Story.

• Client testimonials and case studies.
• Show how website has helped others in the past (i.e. well-edited websites before and after).
• Make sure to highlight good testimonials by making them front and center.

6 More Best Practices for a Great B2B Website

Aristotle and Modern Experts Critique the Social Aspects of mormon.org

Here is my first attempt at a video!  I'm happy I did it, but anxious as well.  I've already seen some silly mistakes...Enjoy!

Aristotle and Social Media Experts

EXPERTS (SLANTEDLENS.COM) vs. PLATO

1.  Buyer Personas: Know who you're targeting 

Plaot drew his audience (the upper class who liked to have parties) in with creating dialogues that could be read at those parties.  How will you draw your audience in?

2.  Your Logo: Keep it clean and small

Plato tried to make his dialogues as neat.  Don't let your logo scare people away!  

3.  Navigation: Make it easy to navigate

Plato's dialogues flowed logically, just like your homepage should flow logically. 

4. Visual Representation: Show people what you do visually

Plato didn't use pictures, but make sure you do! :)

5. Be Helpful: Make it painless

Plato used dialogues so as to be as clear as possible as he made his arguments.  What will be your technique to make sure the process is painless?

6. Prove Your Credibility: Why they should care

Plato was well off and well known.  How will you come across as well off and well known?

7. Calls to Action: What do they do to become involved?

Plato made sure his dialogues would spark conversation when they were read out loud. How will your website get people involved?

Plato vs. current marketing gurus

I analyzed three articles describing important factors for a website through the lens of Plato's philosophy:

The Slanted Lens

An important point we did not initially touch on in class but that we did later was share ability. Point 7 in this article focuses on that. The articles and content on a site should have a button that the reader can quickly share with.

Forbes

This article touched on the idea of focusing efforts on SlideShare, which is a page that people are able to comment on businesses or business topics. The engagement between the expert and the user is an essential element as well as the interaction between users.

Smart Insights

The first point in this article was to make a good first impression. This is just like what Plato talked about when he explained that something should be easily understood by the user very quickly. The site visitor should be able to find out quickly what the site is about and whether they will trust it.

Plato and Other Experts

For a moment, we will compare the advice regarding social media from Plato and modern thinkers.

Plato says to have a unifying theme that is consistent.  These people agree by saying the same banner ought to be on every page, keep the same color scheme, and so on.  This also goes along with easily understanding the website, which is another thing Plato says to do.

Among the many things we've discussed in class, most are in the article provided above.  It should be original, simple, designed well, updated frequently, conscientious of the target audience, include visual media, and many others.

This particular article didn't mention anything specifically about the open discussion needed to facilitate a good website.  Plato encourages this, and it looks like Greg Wurm found a article that does support Plato's thoughts.

Plato vs. The "Experts"

How does Plato compare with what the experts today would say makes a good social media website? 

    On first thought, it would seem that Plato would have nothing to say, since social media as we think of it today, was not around during 3rd and 4th century BC. But, much of what he said is still relevant and related to what many experts would recommend on what makes a good social media website.
     The experts we are going to reference in this comparison are from The Slanted Lens and their video on "How to use a Blog to get Sales." http://theslantedlens.com/2014/how-to-use-blog-to-get-sales/

Here are points from from Plato and what the experts at Slanted Lens would say (Plato in bold and italicized):

• A unified theme: Many experts caution small businesses to not mix personal and business posts.
• Inclusion of everyone: Make posts universally sharable. (Instead of posting a picture of a wedding photo shoot of a particular couple that you did, post a video of "7 Ways to Take Wedding Photo's".
• An enticing opportunity for open discussion: Posts should be interactive and "elicit a response from the viewer."
• Easy to understand: Content that converts to sells must be interesting to the audience and to be interesting, it must be intelligible.

Today I found an interesting article written by Forbes - Measuring The Impact Of Social Media On Your Business

"The CMO Survey asked marketers how they show the impact of social media on their business, only 15% cited they have been able to prove the impact quantitatively."

They give eleven guiding principles to create a more effective social media campaign for companies.

Youtuber - Jeff Harmon

Today I had a very interesting opportunity.

I'm in a entrepreneur networking class and today our guest speaker was Jeff Harmon who is a marketing expert in YouTube.

Here is a quick overview of what he has done (written by my professor.)

Jeff Harmon and his brothers are the pioneers of YouTube marketing; it is safe to say that they invented it. In fact, many of the advertising features that you encounter every day are the inventions and concepts of Jeff Harmon.

Back when most were uploading family videos to YouTube, he launched a successful company through this platform generating millions in sales for his company, OraBrush.com. 

Jeff started his career launching OraBrush while he was a student at BYU. His first YouTube video has now generated more than 19.5+ million views for that video alone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFeb6YBftHE 

Another phenomenal campaign that Jeff and his team launched for the company, PooPourri.com now has than 31+ million views. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKLnhuzh9uY 

And most recently, he created a phenomenal Christmas video for the LDS Church that has produced more than 6.8+ million views. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrLoWt2tfqg 

Currently, he and his brothers are launching VidAngel.com which cleans sex, profanity, and nudity out of online videos.

What I learned from him is that research is key onto discovering "virality." You can create videos, test them, make new versions, etc. Details are very important to if they are marketable. The content has to be very compelling - you cannot push virality onto people.

He also said that campaigns need to make more money than they consume. This sounds obvious, but many companies forget it. If you make $2 for every $1 you put into it, you can keep pushing the advertisement. 

Sometimes this can only be sustained for a certain amount of time. The second video also has to address the changes of users perception of your brand.

He also had interesting insights on yoking 'Content' with 'Distribution'. You have to have great campaigns of both of them.

Fascinating Article - Teens Perspective on Social Media

Hello!

I found an interesting article written by a teen who analyzes each social media platform. Great insights into why different features attract/discourage use from different people.

https://medium.com/backchannel/a-teenagers-view-on-social-media-1df945c09ac6

- Riley

Elder Bednar's Talks on Media Use

August 19, 2014
To Sweep the Earth As with a Flood


May 3, 2009
Things As They Really Are

Purpose Statement

Welcome to our blog!  We hope you find something here that you are interested in.

This blog is a collection of research by students at Brigham Young University.  We are studying together to determine the best ways to foster community in an online setting.  What are the underlying principles or elements that help or hinder conversation and being together (in some sense) online?

This blog is a record of our progress in developing this new knowledge.  It includes analysis of various websites and social media platforms, as well as suggestions as to what elements are essential to an online community.  Ultimately we hope to build a model for a website that effectively fosters a sense community.  This blog may be adapted in layout to better achieve those goals.

We welcome you to join with us; be a part of the conversation; submit ideas for us to consider; invite others to participate.  Comments and criticisms are welcome.  We just ask that you be polite.  After all, we're developing a nice community. :)