“Have your photo’s enlarged for just $1.99!”
Those were the flashing red words on a huge drug-store marquee when I drove by last week. And as I type this in Word, it doesn’t understand the problem.
The problem is: That sentence — the word “photos” — does not need an apostrophe.
Apostrophes serve several purposes, the two most common are to show possession and contraction. (As a refresher, a contraction is a shortened form of a word or group of words where the missing letters are replaced by an apostrophe. Example: we+will=we’ll, should+not=shouldn’t.)
The word “photos” as it should be above is simply plural, not possessive. And it’s certainly not a contraction.
Example: We’ll take John’s car to the meeting.
Example: Don’t let Julia’s daughter leave before giving her a hug.
Other not-so-common uses of the apostrophe
An apostrophe is used when one or more letters or numbers have been left out of a word.
Example: I am part of the graduating class of ’90.
Example: Top o’ the mornin’ to you!
Another rule, one that looks funny and is hard to remember because it does: When a word calls for two apostrophes, simply eliminate the second one.
Example: Patrick is learning the do’s and don’ts of driving in Nashville traffic.
Which brings up the final common use of apostrophes: Use an apostrophe when creating the plural form of a letter, number, sign or word discussed as a word, not as its form of speech.
Example: He knows the do’s, now he just needs to work on the don’ts.
Example: Please remove all B’s and 9’s from this page.
If you’re just bustin’ at the seams to learn more, Grammar Girl takes the apostrophe discussion a step further in a recent post. Enjoy! We sure do.
Those of us on the awesome editorial team at Hammock love words. We also enjoy the little rules that make words work. We’re always being called names like “grammar police” and “grammar queen.”
It hurts coming from your own mother sometimes…
We’re always reading and listening to the ways people use words. Listen carefully and you’ll notice it too. For some reason lately, and more often it seems, people are using reflexive pronouns incorrectly.
“If you need more information, please call myself or Megan.”
Well, you can’t call myself, only I can call myself. It’s just that simple.
Even presidential candidates are using the words incorrectly as the Wall Street Journal pointed out just last week in an article titled Me, Myself and I.
So, here’s a quick reminder list of reflexive pronouns: myself, yourself (singular), yourselves (plural), himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves.
A reflexive pronoun is used for three primary reasons:
(1) Example: Laura cut herself while slicing onions for dinner. (Laura is the subject and the what/who that was cut.)
(2) Example: I took this picture by myself.
(3) Example: The boss himself set our deadline. (A reflexive pronoun used this way is also called an “intensive pronoun.”)
Simply put in my Basic English Revisited handbook: A personal pronoun is called a “reflexive pronoun” when it reflects back on the subject or refers to it.
I, myself, already knew that.
Our CEO, Rex Hammock, has been blogging regularly since 2001. And he’s made a bit of a name for himself out there in the blogosphere. [He kills us for saying stuff like this. No, not “blogosphere.” Well, he doesn’t like that either. But he doesn’t like us bragging on him.]
Back to the bragging: Well recognized for his magazine and digital media savvy, Rex runs in some heady circles, at least via the Rexblog. So we weren’t surprised to see that Junta42’s Top Content Marketing Blogs list ranks the Rexblog as #13. Lucky 13, I say.
Rex wrote an interesting post today on the term content marketing. He takes a little issue with the semantics, but don’t be alarmed. If Hammock Inc. can help you tell your story, the rest of us don’t care what you call it.
> 8 mediacasting ideas for 2008
The goal of most corporate and association marketers is to use digital and online content to generate actions, not to attract eyeballs. The content doesn’t need to be on your website — the content needs to be in the hands, and ears, and eyes, and heads of your members or customers.
Unless your business model is advertising, page views are not the correct metric to measure your online strategy. Action, engagement, sales, enrollment, loyalty, retention, increased contributions, advocacy and education are business goals that require you to get content in your audience’s hands, eyes and heads — in any way they want to receive it. In 2008, let your content extend beyond your website. Cast it out in any way you can.
It’s no secret that Hammock founder/CEO Rex Hammock is quick to volunteer as a lab rat when it comes to experimenting with any shiny new digital media.
So it surprised no one around here yesterday when the Nashville Tennessean ran a story about his use of Twitter.com during Tuesday night’s New Hampshire election returns. The story was based on his post about the topic that appeared on his shiny new People page — as well as on his vintage weblog, Rexblog.com, which he started nearly eight years ago.
> See: 2008 Custom Media Preview:
The Year of Mediacasting
As we discussed in the accompanying post, The Year of Mediacasting, the goal of most corporate and association marketers should be to use digital and online content to generate actions and build loyalty. The goal is rarely about converting page views into advertising revenue. Your content doesn’t need to be on your website — it needs to be in the hands, and ears, and eyes, and heads of your members or customers. Here are ways to “cast” your content in the ways your customers and members already want to “catch” it.
1. Podcasting: Perhaps one of the best known of the new casting models, podcasting is simply the idea of distributing MP3 (audio) files in a way that listeners can subscribe to and “catch” them when you distribute a new one. There are lots of options on how to distribute such content, but iTunes, email or attaching a file to a blog post can provide most everyone in your audience a way to receive such content in the way they choose. Links: Our favorite Podcast tool, and What is Podcasting? by Make Magazine’s Phillip Torrone.
2. Videocasting: Sometimes, called video podcasting, the idea is the same. A video file can be distributed through various channels (email, iTunes, attaching to blog posts, posting on video hosting services or social networking sites) so that your audience can receive them when you release them, not just when they land on your website.
3. IMcasting: Do you have customers, members, students, fans, employees who communicate via instant messaging? A simple way to cast to these in your audience is through the microblogging service Twitter. Link: Twitter.com FAQ: How to Twitter via IM (scroll down).
4. SMScasting: What about those in your audience who communicate primarily via text messaging? Services like Twitter allow your customers and members to following you via text messaging as well as IM. Link: Twitter.com FAQ: How to Twitter via SMS (text-messaging) (scroll down).
5. PDFcasting: Did you know you could distribute a PDF or digital magazine via iTunes or RSS feed? Well, you do now. No longer do you have to limit your audience to subscribing to a digital publication via email or, worse, coming to your site to download it. The idea also works for PowerPoint presentations or Excel documents. Simply enclose (attach) a document with anything that generates an RSS feed (a blog post, for example) and you can start document-casting immediately.
6. Photocasting: Like with audio or video podcasting, you now have several ways to distribute photography in a way that fits into how your customers and members are experiencing photography online. And by photography, we mean any form of visual content that your customers or members may enjoy — or find important — to receive from you. Link: Share Business Images by Photocasting (Apple.com)
7. Screensaver-casting: While the idea has been around for a long time — some of the earliest forms of push media used the concept — we’re testing some early versions of such tools, including FlickrFan (now, Mac only) that distribute content in ways that will make it easy for members, customers or employees to view ever-changing content (headlines, photography, web links) while their computer monitor or Internet-connected HDTV is in a rest mode. Link: FlickrFan Turns Any Photostream Into a Mac Screen Saver
8. Linkcasting: One of those easy-to-overlook content ideas is the low-effort, high-reward service you provide when you share current links to content on the web that your audience will find engaging. In addition to emailing links, take advantage of the wide array of ways to feed links to your customer or member’s desktop. Link: Here’s a “feed” of links we maintain related to media industry news.
Okay, everyone knows about Wikipedia, the user-edited encyclopedia (actually, ecyclopedias as there are different versions around the world) with information on just about everything.
However, Wikipedia is not the only website — nor was it the first — to utilize the approach of allowing users to both read and edit the content of a web page. That style of website, nicknamed “wiki” after the Hawaiian word for fast (wikiwiki), was developed (and named) by Ward Cunningham in 1994. According to Wikipedia (we thought it only appropriate to cite the source), Cunningham was inspired by software we at Hammock loved back then, as well: Apple’s HyperCard.
At Hammock, we love wikis. That’s not surprising as we’ve been creating and managing wiki-like, online sharing communities for clients since the early 1990s. We were even forum sysops on CompuServe, for any of you who can recall that far back.
In 1999, we began the development of what turned into a massive knowledge-sharing user community called SmallBusiness.com. The site was way ahead of its time in what folks now call “social media.” While SmallBusiness.com was extremely popular with its nearly 100,000 registered users, the dot-com bust of 2001 nonetheless put our plans for SmallBusiness.com on hold. The overhead necessary to continue developing the proprietary platform on which the site ran proved too challenging during the early 2000s.
However, in 2005, we began to take note of what was happening at Wikipedia and determined that it employed the main principle on which we developed the first iteration of SmallBusiness.com: sharing knowledge at the grassroots level. Better yet, we observed that the site was running on open-source software using the kind of scrappy, low-overhead approach we were looking for to revive the popular service.
And so, in late 2005, we began work on launching a new wiki-powered SmallBusiness.com. We discovered that many of the lessons learned in our earlier experiences with online communities — or, as we like to call it, “conversational media” — worked well in the context of a wiki. The dynamics of community-building (motivations, identity, networking) seemed to translate well.
SmallBusiness.com — in addition to once more becoming the leading online sharing community of content contributed by small business owners and managers — is an incredible laboratory for the Hammock Team to experiment with ways that wikis can be used in the marketing, customer-care and membership-building efforts of our clients.
For example, in 2007, we created a wiki for the American Watercraft Association that serves as the hub of a wide range of information sharing among their members, owners of personal watercrafts. There’s even a part of that wiki that allows their members to share maps of their favorite places to use their PWCs.
While we still love publishing magazines and helping clients build traditional websites, our experience in creating and growing wikis and in helping clients develop engaging, valuable conversational media programs and platforms are also a part of our legacy — and future.
The new issue of American Spirit, the member magazine of the Daughters of the American Revolution, celebrates Baker’s Chocolate and its revolutionary history. The article even includes a couple of recipes for hot chocolate, perfect this time of year.
Other historical features in the January/February issue include David Bushnell, who created the first submersible warship — in 1776! — and Colonial businesswoman and indigo farmer Eliza Lucas Pinckney of South Carolina.
OORAH! Always up for a challenge, we were psyched when we learned in spring 2006 that the Marine Corps League had chosen Hammock Inc. as the new publisher of its bimonthly magazine, sent to the organization’s nearly 70,000 members. The publication had been around more than 26 years and needed a fresh look, so Hammock designers and editors drafted a battle plan on how to ramp up from a quarterly to a bimonthly publication and revamp the magazine so it appealed to members and trumpeted the organization’s purpose.
The major challenge to us, as explained by the admittedly skeptical executive director, was whether a group of non-Marine and non-veteran writers and designers could successfully capture the deeply ingrained bond, camaraderie and warrior ethos among Marines.
Defining a rhythm and pace was the first step. The old version lacked organization—it was hard to distinguish a feature from a department. By establishing a clear framework, Hammock helps readers navigate through the magazine. Adding full-page photography in the front and back of the book (an industry term for “magazine”) and sticking with audience-appropriate fonts and colors gave the publication more visual interest.
We spent considerable time talking with the director as well as other Marines and reading widely about America’s premier fighting force. We proposed a bold strategic move: The publication had been called The Marine Corps League magazine—we suggested changing the name to Semper Fi, the Magazine of the Marine Corps League to tie into the Corps’ motto, Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful).
We found ways to hold onto sentimental favorites (such as illustrations used in every issue of the older magazine that were provided by a Marine vet who was a WWII combat artist), while adding fresh aspects that give the magazine a strength it lacked before.
The new design referenced Marine colors and imagery, including its eagle, globe and anchor symbol. It also tapped into Marine Corps terms, such as “Attention on Deck,” “Roll Call,” “Once a Marine” and “Recon” to identify sections and departments. Strong, masculine fonts and an orderly, “squared-away” format gave it a clean, straightforward and contemporary appearance.
Editorially, we included not only a roundup of League activities, but also selected articles about today’s Corps—written by Marines who work for the Corps’ excellent news service—and features on a variety of topics, from personality profiles of Marine veterans to articles on Corps history, to personal recollections of members.
The results have been outstanding—the Marine Corps League reports that its members love the new look and feel, and members continue to send in compliments and rave reviews. We’re satisfied that our work is appreciated by a group of the bravest men and women we know.
Each issue expands our knowledge and increases our already great admiration for the men and women who comprise the U.S. Marines, who are Marines forever. We look at it as our small contribution to thanking all of them for defending this country and the cause of freedom since 1775.
When Hammock Inc. launched MyBusiness magazine in 2000, we created a website for the magazine, even though the National Federation of Independent Business already had its own site. From the beginning, MyBusinessMag.com has served as a magazine archive, a repository of information for advertisers and freelance writers and a place to offer additional value to print advertisers, with an online package.
Opportunities grew online over the years, and in 2006, we decided it was time to re-launch MyBusinessMag.com, in a fashion that more fully supported the magazine’s editorial mission and continued to offer full archives and advertising information and opportunities.
The new MyBusinessMag.com launched in April 2006, with a daily blog from the MyBusiness editors featuring news, stories and tips for small-business owners. The blog covers politics, business management and unusual stories, and it injects the same personality onto the website that we feature in the magazine.
Traffic to the site has increased 400 percent since the redesigned site launched, a stat we attribute to the new format’s ability to link out to other content and attract significantly more incoming links.