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Saturday, January 24, 2015

Ghos-e-Azam: 12th century Muslim scholar, Abdul Qadir Gilani, has joined the league of banned publications in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: A famous book of a noted 12th century Muslim scholar, Abdul Qadir Gilani, has joined the league of banned publications in Pakistan.

In a recent crackdown against hate literature across the country, Pakistani authorities have asked publishers not to print, distribute or sell Gilani’s book, Ghuniya-tut-Talibeen.
Investigations by Daily Capital revealed that officials in Punjab and the federal capital have already arrested a few publishers and booksellers for keeping controversial books.
This is probably the first time a book by one of the most influential Muslim scholars has been banned in the country.
Maulana Amir, a Lal Masjid cleric, told Daily Capital that the police raided his publishing house, Maktaba-e-Islam, recently and searched it for hate literature.
He said the police and intelligence personnel asked him to remove a number of books, saying they contained hate literature.
“I was asked not to keep Ghuniya-tut-Talibeen. They did not give us the details why we should not keep these books. However, they simply claimed that they spread hatred among sects and religions,” he said.
The decision to take stern action against the disseminators of hate literature was taken after the Peshawar school massacre. The National Action Plan (NAP), approved by all political parties and the military establishment, specifically called for measures to curb all sorts of hate literature.
However, students in Pakistan have been taught about the life and teachings of the 12th century Muslim scholar for many years in public and private schools. So, what exactly is wrong with his book?
Allama Tahir Ashrafi, chairman of Pakistan Ulema Council, explained that the book contained several controversial passages about the Shia sect.
“This book (Ghuniya-tut-Talibeen) is not an easy read. It is primarily written for scholars, researchers and for those who want to study Islam in depth. An ordinary reader may not comprehend what is written in the book,” he elaborated.
He added that since Abdul Qadir Gillani was a jurist belonging to the Hanbali school of thought, he sometimes criticised the Shia history and jurisprudence.
Interestingly, Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Yusuf had no idea whether and why the book was being banned. He said the Punjab Ulema Board had the mandate to review all controversial books and recommend what should be done with them.
Several other books, allegedly containing hate literature, have also been banned. For instance, a work of historic fiction,Shamsheer-e-Bayneyam (Unsheathed Sword), has also been added to the list of proscribed literature. Written by Inayatullah, the novel is based on the epic stories of Khalid bin Walid, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
A widely circulated booklet, Shirq-o-Bidat, by an Indian scholar, Riffat Kafeel, is also among the list of banned books. The booklet deals with sensitive topic of different practices of various Muslim sects.
Similarly, a research publication by Mufti Taqi Usmani has also been banned. The book called Hazrat Ameer Muawiyah Aur Tarikhi Haqaiq (Hazrat Ameer Muawiyah and Historical Facts) describes the life and times of the fifth caliph of Islam.
Recently, the police also arrested a publisher in Rawalpindi for selling a book, Millad Ki Sharai Hesiyat.
Daily Capital has got a list containing names of hundreds of books, lectures, journals and newspapers which have been banned over the last three years by the Punjab Ulema Board. However, the authorities are adding more books to the list without telling the publishers or booksellers in advance.
“This is total harassment. They should tell us first which books are now banned and then give us some time to get rid of them,” Arshad Malik, a publisher in Rawalpindi, told Daily Capital.
He said it was very unfortunate that the police had started a crackdown on Islamic publications without taking their publishers into confidence. He said that Islamic books are sold more than other publications, adding that established publishers were always very careful and refrained from publishing controversial material.
“The problem is with the publishing houses affiliated with different sects-based seminaries,” he explained. “They publish controversial books that can easily fall under the category of hate literature.”
Other known books which have been banned include: Deeni Madaris: Kher Kay Marakiz Ya Dehshatgardi Kay Aday by Anwar Ghazi; Dajjal by Abu Lababa; Gustakh Kaun: Ikhtilaf-e-Ummat Aur Sirat-e-Mustaqeem by Maulana Yusuf Ludhyanvi; and Kia Pakistan Toot Jaye Ga? by Haq Nawaz Jilani.
Sources told Daily Capital that Ahle-Sunnat Wal Jamat, formerly Sipah Sahaba Pakistan, has also approached the Ulema Board with a list of about 60 books which, according to them, were spreading hatred and twisting historical facts.
The following slider contains the list of banned books, literature, journals, newspapers and sermons:
 courtesy: http://dailycapital.pk/

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

The Secret Process to Increasing Facebook Likes


I’ve written about growing your Facebook Likes many times before. I wrote about it here and here and here and here and here and here.
That’s a lot!
So I considered not writing this post and adding to the noise. But I had to do it because what I am going to provide you today is unique and valuable. And — hey — everyone wants to know how to get more Facebook Likes!
The posts I’ve written before about getting Facebook Likes are certainly helpful. Those posts provide a list of ads and strategies you can use. But never before have I offered a process.
It’s taken some time, but I have adopted a process that I now use for myself and for clients to quickly and efficiently build a highly relevant Fan base without breaking the bank.
No, this is not about cheap Likes in strange countries. It’s not about shady services. It’s about implementing a process to strategically target people who will flock to your Facebook Page.
It’s a seven step process. Let’s go…

1. Use Graph Search to Isolate Precise Interests

I’ve spoken before about how to use Graph Search to learn more about your Facebook Fans. But I’ve been amazed by how well this works.
First, run a Graph Search like this:
Pages liked by people who like Jon Loomer Digital and Mari Smith.
facebook graph search pages liked by people who like The Secret Process to Increasing Facebook Likes
I picked the biggest name I could think of to pair my Page with. I want to know the overlap.
I write down all of the Pages that appear on the first page of results. And then I run the process over and over again.
Then I run a Graph Search like this:
Favorite Interests of people who like Jon Loomer Digital and Mari Smith.
facebook graph search favorite interests The Secret Process to Increasing Facebook Likes
I again run this process repeatedly. This time, though, I make sure to filter out anything that is too broad and clearly not relevant (like Traveling).

2. Create a Saved Audience in Power Editor

Then I go into Power Editor and create a Saved Audience. I add the Pages and interests that made the cut.
facebook power editor precise interests saved audience The Secret Process to Increasing Facebook Likes
Notice that I did not include any hashtag interests to make it broader. I don’t want to target people who like something related to these Pages and interests (which is what happens when you use the hashtag), I want these Pages and interests only.
I keep country, gender and age targeting very broad…
  • Age: 20 and Over
  • Gender: Men and Women
  • Country: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Portugal and Brazil
The countries I chose are reflective of what I see in my Facebook Insights. Focus on where your Fans are from, whom you reach and who engages with your content.
You could target only English speaking people at this point, too. I’ve chosen not to.
This Saved Audience is created. Hang onto it, we’ll use it later.

3. Create a Lookalike Audience

Normally I would list creating a Custom Audience first — I love Custom Audiences — but I’m going backwards here because I want to focus first on a completely different audience.
I fact, I’m not going to include Custom Audiences in this list at all because my intention is to find completely new people who were not previously exposed to your brand.
You’ve hopefully already created a Custom Audience. This involves uploading your email list (or other customer list) into Power Editor so that you can target ads at these people, regardless of whether they are Fans (powerful stuff!).
But I’d neglected Lookalike Audiences until recently. I wasn’t seeing great results. And I recently realized why.
Previously when I created Lookalike Audiences, I was adding targeting to make it far too fine. I wasn’t trusting Facebook’s algorithm that already determined that these users were similar to my customers. As a result, the audience was small and ineffective.
I learned from that, and you’ll learn from my mistakes.
To create a Lookalike Audience, highlight your Custom Audience in Power Editor and click the “Create Similar Audience” button.
facebook similar audiences The Secret Process to Increasing Facebook Likes
Then have Facebook create a Lookalike Audience based on similarity (the top 1% of users similar to your Custom Audience).
facebook create similar audience The Secret Process to Increasing Facebook Likes
Do this for every country that fits your broader audience. Again, I used my top six countries.
Once again, put this aside.

4. Create Page Like Sponsored Stories

Create two different campaigns in Power Editor:
  1. Page Like Sponsored Story – Similar Pages and Interests
  2. Page Like Sponsored Story – Lookalike Audiences
You need to keep these Sponsored Stories separate because Facebook may otherwise decide too soon to go with one over the other.
Create one ad within each with very broad settings. Here’s what I did…
  • Placement: All Facebook
  • Country: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Brazil
  • Age: 20+
  • Gender: All
  • Connections: Users who are not already connected to Jon Loomer Digital
For everything else, I went with defaults. For the Lookalike Audience ad, I included all six audiences that I created (one for each country).
Now run these Sponsored Stories at a budget high enough or a period long enough to learn from the results. We’ll get to that later.

5. Create a Like Gated Offer

Now create a standard Facebook ad that attracts the same audiences as in the previous step. This time, you’ll use something of value as bait.
This is the excruciatingly simple ad that I created:
ebook facebook ad The Secret Process to Increasing Facebook Likes
If they click on the ad instead of immediately liking, they are directed to my Facebook tab where they are instructed to like my Page to get free access to the eBook.
Feel free to do something similar. Think of something you can create of value that you can give away in exchange for liking your Page.
By the way, I use ShortStack (aff.) to create these like gated tabs.
Reminder: Create separate campaigns, one for your Lookalike Audiences and one for the similar Pages and Interests. And don’t forget to keep the targeting broad!

6. Use Facebook Ad Reports to Optimize

Now it’s time to optimize!
If you haven’t yet started using the new Facebook advertising reports, you need to start now. It’s an absolutely amazing tool that can make your advertising a whole lot easier (and save you money in the process!).
Now you should create three reports that help you quickly see what is working. All three reports should filter out the campaigns that you just created. The difference is what you select in the Data Breakdowns setting.
Since you can only select one of these options for each report, you’ll need to create three:
  • Age & Gender
  • Country
  • Placement
Then edit the following columns:
  • Data Aggregation: Campaign and Ad
  • Delivery & Spend: Frequency and Spend
  • Clicks: Nothing
  • Actions: Page Likes
  • Cost per Action: Cost per Page Like
Through this process, I recently discovered I was getting 14 cents per Like on my Similar Pages & Interests Sponsored Story among people in the United Kingdom. That same group was getting me 22 cents per like on my eBook giveaway.
But I also realized that I was spending too much for certain groups and in certain placements. These are things that are now very easy to determine within the new ad reports.
So, what do you do with this information? You stop the original ads and create new, optimized ads that focus on the areas that are working.

That’s It!

That’s the process I’m using that I’m finding incredibly effective. Anything else you’d add?

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