APC's body language, utterances promote insurgency, PDP Insists

APC's body language, utterances promote insurgency, PDP Insists
The Writer's Place: 7 Ways to Promote Your Book with a Blog ...
How to Promote Your Blog Posts Effectively - Business 2 Community
How To Promote Your Music - The Ultimate Guide - Music Think Tank

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 09:54 AM PDT

Press statement from the PDP, blaming APC for the terror in Nigeria. Find it below...

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reiterated calls on Nigerians to stand up and resist unpatriotic elements whose actions and utterances have continued to fuel insurgency in the country.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement on Tuesday said inflammatory utterances by certain key politicians against the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan, sparked off hatred against the administration by their followers, while attracting impudent insurgents, who started demanding the ouster of the President with threats to cripple the system through acts of terrorism.

"When the PDP, said that the All Progressive Party, (APC) is responsible for the spate of terror in Nigeria, many had an emotional response, but it is now time to dispassionately focus on the facts in order to stop the carnage on innocent Nigerians.

"Whilst we concede that insurgency existed in the nation before the advent of the current administration, we wish to point out that inflammatory utterances from leaders, many of whom by design or otherwise are now chieftains of the APC have succeeded in emboldening them to launch large scale attacks , maiming and killing our people, believing their actions enjoy the approval of such leaders", the statement said.

The party observed that such utterances would likely have prompted donations in support of insurgency from followers of such leaders, who thought they were sponsoring a worthy cause.

It noted that these key figures never condemned acts of terrorism and the killings until well-meaning Nigerians started pointing accusing fingers at them. "They rather blamed government for not reaching out to pacify the terrorists instead of helping to find solutions. They relished in comments which inspired violence and embolden insurgents against the system" the statement said.

The party insisted that it was not a coincidence that after General Muhammadu Buhari beckoned on his supporters to go on lynching spree should he lose the 2011 presidential election, an unprecedented violence broke out, claiming the lives of hundreds of innocent Nigeria.

"Not satisfied with the enormity of the mayhem and bloodletting of 2011, Buhari on the 14th of May 2012 said, "If what happened in 2011 (alleged rigging) should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood.''

"Nigerians have not forgotten that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, in a spirited bid to stop President Jonathan from contesting the 2011 election declared on the 14th of December 2010 that "those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable"

"Atiku's statement was collaborated by one his close associates, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, who in October 2010, while rejecting the emergence of a President from the South, also said, 'the North is determined, if it happens, to make the country ungovernable for President Jonathan or any
other Southerner who finds his way to the seat of power…...Even if he uses incumbency power to get his nomination on the platform of the PDP, he would be frustrated out.'

"On the 23rd of January 2014, APC Deputy National Secretary, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, said "The next election is likely to be violent and many people are likely going to die. And the only alternative left to get power is to take it by force; this is the reality on ground.

"Are we not now witnessing a foretaste of the bloodbath promised by Buhari and El-Rufai? Is this not the "violent change" promised by Atiku? How many people have to die before Nigerians call a spade a spade and not a farming implement?

"We were not surprised when Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi now a leader in the APC, in inciting his followers recently said, 'I came to Bori to prove to you that you don't need to run away from violence. If a man is chasing you with AK-47, you should carry machine gun and the man
will call for peace.'

"We also recall recent statement by the Borno state governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima wherein he posited that the insurgents were better armed and better motivated than our security forces. This was deliberately directed at weakening and undermining the security forces while emboldening insurgents. No wonder that after Shettima's statement, insurgents were encouraged to launch more deadly attacks on our security forces and staged a comeback to the Federal Capital Territory. This is
in addition to statements by Governor Nyako of Adamawa State who continually, ridicules the office and person of the President to portray the administration as weak in fighting terrorism", the statement said.

The party insisted that the reason the APC leaders were promoting insurgency was not only to distract the President and rubbish his score card but also to unleash unprecedented mayhem, divide the people and forcefully take over power when it loses the 2015 general election.

It said that its statement Monday which again linked the Nyanya bombing to the utterances of the opposition was a clear stand and a warning that the PDP would henceforth go beyond shedding tears at each carnage, to exposing the enemies of the nation, so as to limit all reckless statements which have been fueling insurgency.

"It is easier to stop at shedding tears after each carnage. This, the PDP has severally done. The difficult part however, lies in attempting to limit reckless statements which fuel violence. We believe this will go a long way to stopping those who instigate violence through utterances and shed crocodile tears thereafter" it said.

The party vowed to continue to protect the welfare and interest of Nigerians adding that the citizens and the Federal Government will not succumb to the designs of unpatriotic elements.

"Indeed, the peace, unity and stability of this country remain non-negotiable. They can bomb and attack, but one thing is sure; they cannot kill the Nigerian spirit in our people and our collective resolve to live together as one nation under God.

"The leadership of the PDP and the government we formed shall not be cowed, intimidated, harassed or tele-guided by acts of terrorism. The PDP is willing, able and ready to sustain the unity and stability of this country. We therefore call on all Nigerians to stand up and collectively defend our common destiny by openly condemning acts of terrorism and exposing those behind them", the statement said.

Signed:
Chief Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary

The Writer's Place: 7 Ways to Promote Your Book with a Blog ...

Posted: 11 Apr 2014 07:30 AM PDT

So you've written a book. You've even had it published: in print, e-book format or both. Now comes the hard part: figuring out how to promote it.

You could take out an ad, send out press releases, schedule real or virtual book tours. But as you're developing your promotion strategy, don't overlook blogging.

Not sure how to make it work for you? In today's guest post, Nina Amir will share seven strategies for using a blog to promote your book.

But first, a little about Nina: Known as the Inspiration to Creation Coach, Nina moves her clients from ideas to finished books as well as to careers as authors by helping them combine their passion and purpose so they create products that positively and meaningfully impact the world.

Nina writes four blogs—Write Nonfiction Now, How To Blog A Book, As The Spirit Moves Me and My Son Can Dance, and is the founder of National Nonfiction Writing Month, aka the Write Nonfiction in November Challenge.

7 Ways to Promote Your Book with a Blog

A blog provides an essential tool for an aspiring or published author. Whether you want to build author platform, which constitutes pre-promotion of your book, or promote your book upon or after release, your blog offers a variety of ways for you to do so.

Here are seven ways you can use your blog to promote your book. You'll definitely want to implement more than one of them.

Blog a book. If you map out the content for a book, and then write and publish it from scratch in post-sized bits (250-500 word pieces) on your blog, you promote it at the same time. By posting often and consistently—2-7 days per week, you organically provide search engine optimization for your blog. This increases your blogged book's discoverability in the search engines, like Google. This means when a potential reader, journalist, agent, or publisher searches for a topic related to you or your book, your blog will come up on that coveted first Google search engine results page. It will later help sales of your published book as well.
Blog about your book. This is a more traditional use of an "author's blog." Simply find many topics related to your book and use these as the foundation for blog posts. For nonfiction writers, this can seem simple; blog about your topic and everything related to that topic. Also tie into the news as it pertains to your topic. For fiction writers, consider every subject, theme, character, place, etc., in your story, and blog about that. This is a great way to drive your blog up in the search engine results pages and to help readers interested in your topics find you and your book.
Schedule expert guests to blog for your site. One of the best strategies you can employ to gain readers involves guest blog posts. Asking other expert bloggers to blog for your site will bring their readership to you. It also increases your expert status by virtue of association with people who are well known in your subject area.
Write guest blog posts for other successful blog sites: Find other successful blogs where you can guest blog, such as the ones you read regularly or those written by your guest bloggers. By creating relationships with other bloggers who write about the same or similar topics, you can help promote each other. No matter where you guest blog, it's common practice to include a guest blogger's bio with at least one or two links. That means you can link back to your blog. This introduces you to another blogger's audience, and they may follow you "home."
Read other blogs related to the content in your book and comment on them. Your comments allow you to show your expertise and to express your voice in another blogger's community. If that blogger's readers like what you have to say, they may choose to click through the link in your profile and check out your blog—and stick around as subscribers. (Don't spam the blogger by leaving links to your blog in your comment.)
Share your posts on social networks. This is basic but essential. Every time you publish a blog post, share it on all your social networks: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Pinterest. You can also share a quote from it or push it to such sites as StumbleUpon and Delicious. This is how you let potential readers of your book know you've published a blog post. When they show up on your blog, they should find out about your book as well.
Prominently display information about your book on your blog. This seems obvious, but don't forget to advertise your book, as well as where to purchase it, clearly on your blog. This ensures that when readers show up, they will know about your book and how to buy it.

No matter which of these tips you choose to implement, be sure you have a blog plan. This will help you determine how to use your blog to promote your book from the first post and for many, many years to come.

Even more important, don't start writing your book without a business plan. And that plan should include a separate promotion plan, which includes blogging. This is how you successfully promote your book.

~~~~~

Thanks, Nina! Great tips that I will definitely implement! Thanks for sharing your knowledge with the rest of us at The Writer's Place!

How to Promote Your Blog Posts Effectively - Business 2 Community

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 07:15 AM PST

How to Promote Your Blog Posts Effectively image blogging 233 It is great that you are blogging for business. However, it is not enough to merely write your blogs. You need to promote your blog posts as well so that you get the most mileage out of them and so that you are able to leverage them effectively.

Building in the desert

Undoubtedly, it is critical that you write a top-quality blog. However, it is not enough if you don't share it with the appropriate target audience in the most effective ways possible. After all, you not only want your target audience to read your blog posts but you also want them to share it with other people they know and trust. Promoting your blog posts properly will require some time and effort on your part. However, it is definitely worth the effort.

Writing a great blog post without promoting it properly is like building a casino in the desert. It may be the most wonderful, exciting, fun casino on earth. However, you won't get any visitors because nobody goes there. In other words, you need to place your blog post where other (appropriate) people will be inclined to read it. Of course, there are several different ways in which you can go about promoting your blog posts. You will find that some are more effective than others and you will just have to experiment with them to determine which ones work best for you.

Promoting your blogs on the various social media channels

It is critical that you to understand how important it is to promote your blog posts on your chosen social media channels. The various social media channels will make or break your professional success online. You should consider the following:

Twitter: The first thing that you should do on Twitter is to post the actual blog article. After that, you will want to set up a schedule of tweets that are connected to the blog post throughout the course of the week. The next week, you will repeat the process. You should do that for as many blog posts (and at whichever frequency) you choose. A great way to hold your followers' interest is by either changing the title of your blog post or turning the title into a question. People love to answer questions.

Google+: First and foremost, Google+ is a wonderful social media channel for posting your blog articles. It is effective when it comes to search engine optimization and it will enable you to form relationships with new people online. The more you interact with other people, the more willing (and excited) they will be to share your blog posts with others.

Pinterest: Pinterest is really hot right now. The graphic aspect of content is so important and it generally attracts a large volume of people for the simple reason that many people are visual. They respond much better to content that at least has a graphic (visual) aspect to it. There are several tips that may work for you if you include Pinterest images in your blog posts.

Stay away from human faces.
Use images that have a plain white background.
Try to make sure that the color red is somewhere in the image.
Use "portrait" rather than "landscape."

It is very important that you carefully scrutinize your graphic images for maximum effect. You would be surprised to learn how and why your target audience members react to what they find in your graphic images.

Facebook: Facebook can be an extremely effective social media channel for your blog posts. It is a good idea for you to post your blog article and them inform all of your professional Facebook connections through a profile status update. This is also your opportunity to put in backlinks.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is at the top of the list of most effective professional social media channels. With that in mind, it is an excellent opportunity to share your professional knowledge through your articles. Of course, if you are going to post your articles in LinkedIn groups, make sure that you are well aware of the group rules first. That is very important.

YouTube: Videos are a great way to share your content (or videos embedded in your written content). You can do a "how to" video that is connected to your blog post. People generally love that. The video should be brief (15-30 seconds). You can then lead your viewers to your website so that you can get to know each other better.

Instagram: Instagram is a wonderfully effective way to promote your blog posts. You can post an image with some sort of caption, ask a question, leave a comment, or make a provocative statement that people are bound to respond to positively.

Conclusion

Your blog posts are a very important part of your social media marketing strategy and you should make sure that you use them to your fullest potential. There are many effective ways that you can do that. It is a good idea to do your homework so that you have a clear understanding of what is available and what works best for you and your business. The bottom line is that you need to do whatever it takes to get people to notice that your blog posts are valuable and enticing. Remember to share your blog posts with your social media communities at every possible opportunity (whenever appropriate).

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a complimentary assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee .

How To Promote Your Music - The Ultimate Guide - Music Think Tank

Posted: 25 Nov 2013 04:00 AM PST

Hello again, my Music Think Tankers. Today I'm going to look at 6 HUGE things you can do to better promote your music.

Now before you roll your eyes and think I'm going to tell you to "create a Facebook account and promote through social media" or to "get your music in as many places as possible," listen up. This guide is going to be full of actionable content and advice that won't be found in every post on the subject that simply rehashes information the writer has heard and not tried out themselves.

By the end of this post I want you to walk away with at least a few things you may not have thought about before, and can start implementing in your music career. So with that in mind, read on, take notes, and share this guide if you find it useful. And be sure to check out my free music marketing ebook afterward to get extra advice and tips for getting your music out there.

Top ways to promote your music from @musicthinktank and @imusicadvice!! - Tweet This

1. Climb the Ladder with Your Collaboration Efforts

OK, so the first thing you can do to promote your music better isn't actually something many musicians associate with actually being a form of promotion. Collaborating with other musicians can actually be a great way to get out there. Making songs with a well known act can actually mean you can get in front of their fans. It may also mean that you gain a higher perceived value for working with that act, and it can be a good note on your CV when looking for other music related work and opportunities.

The thing is though, it's very unlikely you'll get collaborations with big names in your genre (unless you already know them). You see, their time is precious, and they're not just going to collaborate with every up and coming act out there. The solution? Using the 'ladder' method.

What you want to do is categorize any talented musicians in your genre into different levels based on how big they are. Usually, while the biggest acts won't be willing to work with you at this stage, some of the lower level acts will be - with enough incentive. So what you do is approach those acts which are slightly bigger then you, and do collaborations with a few of them. Not only does this get you in front of their audiences, but it also gets you associated with being at their level.

Once this is done, start looking to the next step of musicians who are that bit more popular then the last group you approached (and are now in yourself). Do the same; collaborate with them, get in front of their audience, and become thought of as being on their level.

Rinse and repeat, each time working with bigger acts and getting a bigger reputation yourself. The good thing is, once people start seeing you're working with lots of people in your genre, they will want to start working with you too. You'll be the hip new people on the block that everyone wants to be associated with.

2. Climb the Ladder with Media Outlets You Try to Get On

OK, this method of promotion is pretty similar to the last one, only with platforms to get yourself out there.

If you've ever tried to get covered by a big website, TV channel or radio station, chances are you didn't hear back from them, or got rejected. Again, these places aren't looking to work with just anyone; you need to prove you're noteworthy and worthwhile for them using one of their exposure slots. As you may have guessed, the above ladder method works here too.

Start out by getting on smaller platforms and websites, and build your way up. Get all of these previous places you've appeared on your music CV. Include their logos on your website. Make it clear people are talking about you.

Gradually build things up, networking with new people along the way. You will find more and bigger opportunities become available to you, as the music industry is full of people who don't care until you say you've worked with 'x' amount of their competitors. So keep climbing that ladder.

3. Master Your Gigging Game

So I could say to you, "Gig because it's good exposure and you can make money from it." I want to give you more, though. The thing is, anyone can gig. That said, what are you doing to set your gigs apart from 95% of other musicians in your genre?!

Practicing your lyrics is one thing, but mastering your show is something else altogether. Remember, as a musician you are an entertainer! It's your job to entertain. Yes, that might just be in the form of your voice in rare cases, but in the majority of cases your whole stage presence also factors into things.

When people leave your show, are they going to remember you as that person with good lyrics and a good voice? Or will they remember you as that person who stood out and outshone all the other performing acts that night? I hope you aim to achieve the second one.

So what can you do to achieve that? Well first of all, find out what works in terms of stage presence. Load up YouTube and search for the best live acts in your genre. See how they command the stage, see how they move, and see how they interact with the audience. Does it work? Is it something you can do and build on? Most of the time it will be, so be sure to build yourself as a overall great performer, rather then just someone who has good vocal ability.

4. How to Promote Your Music Online: Schedule Your Social Updates

All right, let's move on to how to promote your music online. While you all know you should be taking part in social networking, there's one thing you can do to make things a lot easier in that area: Scheduling your social updates! While this isn't possible when you're replying to people who interact with you (which you should be doing), you can schedule updates for your fans with new content and conversation starters.

For example, let's say you have a gig tonight. You may be very busy just before it, and you know you won't have any time to communicate with your fans on social sites around that time. In this case, what you could do is schedule two updates for Facebook and Twitter. The first could go something like this:

"Not long ago arrived at * venue name * and can't wait to perform. Any of you here? If so come and say hi and wish me luck!"

You can also schedule another update for later, such as:

"The show tonight went well, I can't wait to share the pictures with you. Give me time to go home and sleep & I'll get them up tomorrow ;)"

These kind of updates are of course based on things you know are going to happen, yet they will mean you can encourage communication with your fans at a time which is easier for you.

So how do you schedule your social updates? Well my favorite method is via the free tool Hootsuite. Have a look, if you ask me it's a must use tool for all musicians.

5. Take Advantage of Email Marketing

Email marketing is something I'm surprised I don't see more musicians taking advantage of. My guess is this is either due to the lack of understanding of how to use it, or because of the cost involved. Or both. That said, bear in mind it could end up being one of your most effective ways to communicate with fans, so once you start building up a fan base you should give it a go.

The advantage with email marketing over Facebook and Twitter is your message gets to more people then it would on alternative platforms. As you probably know, Facebook makes it so only a small percentage of your fans see any message you post. With Twitter, if your followers aren't online around the time you send your Tweets out, chances are they won't see them.

With email though, once it's sent, it sits there until your email subscribers see the message. It doesn't go anywhere, and it's not as time sensitive.

There are a lot of other reasons why emails are also effective, but I won't list them all here. Instead you can check out this guide on list building for musicians, and see for yourself why you need it. I also let you know how to get started with this form of promotion, so give it a try.

6. Don't Just Update on Twitter, Seek Conversations

My last music marketing tip for the day: Be proactive with your approach to Twitter marketing. I see people get this wrong all the time. They think that all they need to do to promote their music on Twitter is to add a load of random people, then keep Tweeting about things related to themselves. In reality, this is a huge waste of your time.

Real Twitter promotion is all about building connections. You want to seek out conversations relevant to you and get involved.

For example, let's say you make music and are similar to Coldplay. What you'll want to do is search for conversations based around Coldplay, and see the results. Be sure to click 'all' under the section 'Results for coldplay.' This will bring up all people recently talking about them. Next, literally start talking to these people. Let them know you're into Coldplay too, and for those that respond and seem interested, mention that you make similar music which they may want to check out. So people will end up doing that.

I don't advise you mention your music the first time around, because people usually put up barriers against you once they feel you're trying to promote to them on initial contact. But after swapping a Tweet or three, they'll be much more likely to give you a try if they think you're a cool person.

You will also want to give them a follow after their first reply, too, as this will increase the chances they'll follow you back and see your music related updates.

And That's THE BEGINNING of How to Promote Your Music

And that's it, six big (and often not talked about) tips for promoting your music. That said, this isn't everything you need to know in terms of getting your music out there. There are a lot more music marketing tips you can and should learn, and I aim to give you those here today. If you haven't already, you'll want to check out my free ebook on the subject (download it here). Inside I start to look at the finer details of music promotion, such as how much you should be doing it, when, and why. I also look at some additional things you need to think about to start getting your music marketing mentality right. Furthermore, you can check this guide for 6 additional music marketing tips.

I hope you found this guide useful and have some things you can start implementing ASAP. If so, please give it a share, and let your fellow musicians check it out too. I'm sure we'll speak again soon. :)

Shaun Letang,
Music Industry How To.
Music Think Tank.

How To Promote Your Music - The Ultimate Guide

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Tuesday, 15 April 2014