It’s an exciting week for Foller, the Finnish startup formed in order to enter the Elisa iOT Innovation Challenge in April this year. The results of the competition are out in Slush on Thursday November 12th, and we here at Ink Tank Media are certainly rooting for them. Why? Because Foller is tackling an issue that’s been troubling us for… well, forever. Food waste.
What attracts big names in high tech business, engineering and investment communities around the globe to Helsinki? In November?
Well, they’re not here for the weather or to see the daylight start to fade at 3 PM. Rather, the gravitating forces behind this pilgrimage is Slush Helsinki, a growing and exciting technology conference, which takes place on November 11th to 12th this year.
For some people, the term “gamification” is nothing but a trendy buzzword, yet another fleeting fad taking the business world by storm and destined to fade into obscurity the moment a shinier new trend appears on the scene. But the truth is, gamification has not only been around for ages (think frequent flyer rewards programmes), but has proved to be hands-down one of the most successful ways for a business to engage with its users.
Every company dreams of creating content and stories that go viral. At Ink Tank Media, we live that dream week after week. This is how we’ve created Finland’s most popular viral English-language Facebook page, Very Finnish Problems, which has an average organic reach of over 15 million per month. It’s also how we created Inktank.fi, Finland’s most read English-language blog, with an average of 500 thousand readers a month. Ten of our stories on inktank.fi have reached well over half a million people or even more. In fact, our top four stories combined have been read 8.1 million times worldwide, nearly double the population of Finland. Simply put, nobody else who practices content marketing in the Nordics can do what we do.
At Ink Tank, in the last five years, we’ve launched, edited and written for over twenty blogs. Combined, our stories have reached millions of people worldwide. Needless to say, in this time we’ve have tried literally dozens of different content marketing tools and now we can share our best with you.
When it comes to getting your startup or small business up on its feet, both time and money are precious commodities. While it makes sense to hire professionals to handle tasks like content creation and distribution, it can often be a good idea to handle the smaller but equally important tasks yourself.
Building a social media presence, tracking traffic data to see what works and what doesn’t, and throwing in a few on-site tools to make your website as user-friendly (and share-friendly) as possible are a few examples of simple things that you can do to get the word out there and track how well the process is going. There’s no shortage of time-saving tools to be found online, and choosing which tools are best for you and your team can be quite the headache. So let’s make this easy by showcasing our best content marketing tools.
Finland has many things to celebrate. In 2014, it was ranked the best place in the world to be a mother and according to “The World Press Freedom Index” took first place for freedom of the press. It has the second lowest gender gap and was ranked the third least corrupt country. The World Economic Forum also considers it the 4th most competitive nation on earth, while, according to education and publishing firm Pearson, it has the 5th best education system. However, just like every other country is has its downsides too. This mixed bag of pros and cons is particularly apparent when it comes to startups.
I’ve done business in countries around the world and lived close to eight years abroad, including four years in Russia. Now that I am running Apped here in Finland, it’s easier than ever to spot the country-specific pros and cons that often crop up when running a company. So what sets Finland apart from other countries, in both good and bad ways?
At Ink Tank Media, we’ve created half a dozen viral Twitter accounts with over half a million followers. It’s this Twitter expertise that helped our co-founder, Joel Willans publish Finland’s most popular ever viral tweet with an incredible 135 000 retweets. Consequently, we know first hand how Twitter can revolutionize how brands connect with fans and consumers, helping them add a more personal touch, spread news quicker and hit it big with viral campaigns. Unfortunately for some brands, Twitter has also opened the door for more mistakes and bigger blunders that can make their way around the internet in a matter of minutes.
The old adage of “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” is changing thanks to Twitter and other social media channels. Things can quickly turn sour for brands that aren’t meticulous about how and what they post online, resulting in negative attention and loss of followers and sales. One errant click, typo, or user account mix-up can damage reputations. Check out these 10 examples of PR and marketing mistakes that happened on Twitter — remember, the internet never forgets.
Finland is undeniably one of the hottest spots in the world for startups. From Linux to Supercell’s Clash of the Clans, Finland has given us tons of amazing innovations that got their start from a startup.
And happily, Finland’s startup culture is still in full swing. New startups are popping up all the time, offering fresh, unique products ranging from mobile games to environmentally-conscious life changers. So which Finnish startups should you be watching in 2015? Read on to find out.