2 Important Things to Remember When Blogging
I am a new believer of Gary Vaynerchek. Gary is a self-made millionaire and web 2.0 genius! I stumbled across his site the past week and fell in love with his daily video blogs (vlogs anyone?). The energy Gary instills in the listener is unbelievable! Check out his site if you haven’t. You will not regret it!
My “social media circle” on FriendFeed, SmallerIndiana, and Twitter have been talking a lot about the secrets to blogging. What should be the reasons to blog? What kind of content do people want to read? Should you cater to an SEO type system?
Gary posted a great video about his opinion on How To Build a Great Show on the Internet. He relates building an online show to the likes of a blog or podcast. What I loved so much about the video is Gary completely destroying the glitz and glam aspect of social media
From Gary (semi-paraphrased by me):
“All that glitz and glamor is horse crap. It is not about the camera I use. It is not about the high-tech blogging software you use. It’s NOT! It’s not about the widgets. It’s not about the SEO
It is about Content and Community.
It is about giving from your heart on topics you understand.
Simply brilliant. Gary comes from the hardcore tactics of posting daily, responding to every reader email, and always being involved in the conversation. Content and Community should always be on the front burner of goals associated with business and personal blogs. If you start a blog strictly for SEO purposes, go ahead and join the ranks of lifeless posts.
If you care more about your bottom line than helping and joining the COMMUNITY behind your brand… Go ahead and send out an e-newsletter. Don’t waste your time with a blog.
Politicians Do Not Understand Social Media!
I say this with some exception. There are a few political hopefuls browsing around the Smaller Indiana site. I give them respect for keeping with it and igniting conversation. Now, on to the people who do not understand.
We had a political hopeful, Jill Long Thompson, browse through the site recently. She (we think) posted a couple of thoughts on her personal page, as well as starting a forum post about her Green Job’s Initiative. She was given front row promotion from our great co-founder, Pat Coyle. She also had up to 8 comments and 2-3 wall posts the day she joined. All that said, we haven’t heard from Jill since then. Maybe I have a problem with ignoring a website with up to 3,000 members and daily hits. Maybe I have a problem with posting content and never sharing your own opinion. Maybe, just maybe, I have a problem with politicians not understanding the POWER of social media. Anyone ever heard of Barak Obama?
I’m not talking about the power of viral marketing or word-of-mouth promotion. I am talking about the raw power of 3000 people (linked to an exponential amount of others in the State) sharing information and CARING. I was excited to see Jill Long Thompson joining the community. I was less excited when I read her profile. I was even less excited when she didn’t respond to ANYONE. I wouldn’t even care if I got a response from an intern!
When joining a social media platform do it with authenticity. Do it with some type of human interaction. I can at least give Mitch Daniels credit for not even joining the conversation. Jill joined and failed miserably. Don’t hire a 21 year old college student to repost information to your page. Take some time and do it yourself. If you love your job. If you love what you are doing, you can take 30 mins a day to promote yourself and collaborate with people who matter.
I love Smaller Indiana and I will not tolerate individuals using it as a promotional platform.
Here is my call out to political hopeful, Jill. Redeem yourself. Because in the end, without authenticity and utilizing tools like Smaller Indiana, you are just another cardboard sign on the side of I-69.
And.. I don’t … care.
Is Generation X the Blog Generation?
Most of us have a close group of friends in which we share time and energy. Being of the millennial generation (24 years old) most of my close friends are under the age of 30. I attended a going away party for a friend moving to Nashville, TN and we had the normal conversation centered around sports and daily life. Occasionally our conversation shifts to the Internet where we discuss Second Life, blogging, social media, and other topics of interest.
Being a Social Media Nerd, I am usually the individual who talks about certain topics and new things I learned on FriendFeed and through my Google Reader. The interesting thing about all of this is the face that my friends are complete novices when it comes to the idea of blogging and social media. I mean most of us are on Facebook but the majority of my millennial friends have no idea how to blog.
It was an interesting concept to consider. Many of the individuals I follow on FriendFreed, Twitter, and through Google Reader are over 30. Is micro-blogging/twitter/sms more of a communication medium rather than blogging for the millennial generation?
I know that I haven’t completed any type of research centered around this topic but it struck me as odd that I do not know of any millennial (in my social circle) that were blogging regularly. Other than Brad Ward of SquaredPeg. Does anyone have research catered to this subject?
Are we going to see a decrease in “true” blogging?
Twitter Beats FoxNews.com: Bayh for VP!
I am sitting here in Paradise Cafe and I get a TWEET alert from a friend, Brad Ward. His tweet process is below.
I went to fox news to verify the TWEET. Fox didn’t have anything listed at all. Twitter beat Fox News. AWESOME! Talk about the power of social media.
This should be a lesson to everyone about the merits of checking sources. Apparently we had a prank pulled on us. Well, so much for that.
Duct Tape Marketing Missed: Part 2
Okay. So.
Blogging can sometimes be a humbling experience. I wrote a post yesterday about John Janstch post, If You’re Not Participating in Social Media. I am not going to link to my post.. just scroll down. Long story short, I went off on John for throwing out numbers instead of talking about writing authenticity and using a corporate blog as a communication tool rather than a social tool. John commented on the post:
A couple points of clarification – selling to “older” employees are your words, not mine – I simply said to folks who were not convinced social media made sense for an organization. Second, I agree with your point completely and have written about it often – so, in that context what I was saying was use the data to convince people that it’s worth developing a strategy around.
Okay, I will be honest. I felt a little bad. I decided to go back and research the Duct Tape Marketing Blog,to find examples of where John talks about being authentic in the social media/blogging world.
He has many posts talking about authenticity, “humanness”, and the importance of strategy/clear objectives in blogging.
Here are the excerpts:
Engagement Without Volume Is A Lot of Work
John: What matters always, always is the completion of meaningful long term strategic objectives. So, the discussion of who’s blog readers are more engaged or if 500 hyper engaged readers is better than 50,000 kinda engaged readers somehow starts sounding a bit like the discussion of the best college football team every year. Until there’s a playoff, and everyone has the same goal, the discussion is silly.
The Ultimate Social Marketing Question
John: When planning your social marketing strategies, tools and tactics the ultimate question you must ask is this – “What do I want the relationship with my customer to look and feel like?”
7 Ways To Get More Blog Comments
John: Show some humanness – No matter what your blog topic is readers like to know that the author is a human being. It’s okay to let that show and to add personal thoughts. Only you can determine how far to go with this, but I know that your readers will connect the more they know your story.
John caters more toward the small business market when it comes to blogging and online marketing ideas but his ideas can still resonate at the corporate level. Believe me, they resonate.
Duct Tape Marketing Misses On Corporate Blogging
I read the Duct Tape Marketing blog every once in awhile. It resides in my Google Reader, updating ever so often, giving me small tidbits of information. I usually get some good pointers from John Jantsch. Today he wrote about a new Universal McCann Wave3 research into social media citing it as a great example to help employees sell social media to their “older” (John did not say that. It was me) employers.
Here are the points of reference:
- 73% of online users read a blog
- 57% join a social network
- 45% have started a blog
- 83% have viewed a video online
- 39% subscribe to RSS Feeds
- 36% think more positively about companies that have blog
John uses the research to give advocates of social media key points to throw out at corporate board meetings. “I don’t think we should be doing the whole blogging thing.” “Well, check out these stats from Universal McCann Wave3! We should do it.”
In my humble opinion this is completely the wrong approach. There is a reason why 73% of people read blogs. They want authentic information from individuals and companies. Can you truly create authentic communication when the only reason a corporate culture decides to blog is because of a stat?
“OMG. People are reading blogs and joining social media? We should be a part of that social media stuff! Wait. Bright shiny object. Where?”
Strategy. Strategy. Strategy. Don’t do something because it is the new best thing! Do it because you have a planned approach. Do it because you want to communicate in a REAL way with your clients. Do it because it is a part of a communication PLAN.
If you jump into social media with a fractured plan, you will get a fractured response. Everyone needs to be on board, from top to bottom. It need to be from the mail room student to the CEO.
Socially Creative Corporate? When is the Right Time?
(major hat tip to my blogging mentor Douglas Karr for his post: When Should a Company Dive into Social Media?)
There is a massive argumentative and substantially humorous conversation circling the steel and glass of corporate culture.
1. When should we jump into social media? Loaded question.
2. Should the CEO have a blog? Should upper management have a blog? Maybe even the peons? Yes. Yes. Yes.
3. Should the blog be Internal or External or BOTH!? This is all dependent on your strategy.
4. How do we combine a work tool with a social tool? I would read up on Best Buy’s Blue Shirt Nation.
5. Should Sharepoint be used as a social media tool? HELL NO. Do you have a paper towel? I just threw up on myself.
6. How do we manage and protect proprietary information on social media platforms? You can’t. Unless you control the social media platform (refer to question 4).
There are, of course, hundreds of questions that follow the simple ones listed above. The biggest problem corporate America has with Social Media is not necessarily managing and building of the platform (up for debate if IT gets a hold of it) it is the beginning. How do we get into Social Media? What is the best way to enter the information flow? should it be a corporate strategy or a marketing strategy?
Doulgas Karr does a great job at answering this question in his post:
I advise that social media and blogging are not a marketing strategy, they’re a corporate strategy. It’s not simply putting yourself out on the market to jump on the latest band wagon and consumers will flock to you. Social media takes time, a strategy and the right resources (both tools and people).
As one of the leading GENIUSES behind Corporate Social Media, Douglas knows what he is talking about. Both Douglas and I have written extensively about being Authentic when writing a blog or getting involved in a social media community.
From Doug: You must involve all the leaders in your company – those who own the strategy of the corporation.
Strategy and Marketing should go hand-in-hand when debating whether to enter the social media world. This message is not only catered to corporations it should also be the focus for small businesses. Do not throw yourself into social media (whether blogging or networking) if you do not have a sound strategy. Without a social media plan/goals your productivity will plummet! You will be inundated with thousands of pieces of information and overwhelmed.
Strategy. Content. Participation. Authenticity.
Social media can be a fragile world, an extremely narrow path, proceed with care.
Most of all, HAVE FUN! This isn’t a corporate board meeting with Fiji water bottles. This is the information highway BABY! Take your time, hit it hard, and reap the benefits of open-communication!
I HATE BLOGGER Comment Functions.
Maybe I am just a complete moron but I HATE HATE HATE trying to post a comment to a Blogger account. What happened to the days of just posting a comment? Why do I need to have a Google/Blogger account or an OpenID account.
I wanted to give some love to someone who linked to my post about outsourcing your Blog writing. It posted my comment with a really old Blogger account I haven’t used in 2 years! When trying to change my ID it asked for a google or blogger account. What if I don’t have a Blogger or Google Account? What if I don’t want to use damn OPENID (refer to this post about my thoughts on OpenID).
I did get to post my comment on the blog but it links to a blog that has ONE post from two years ago.
WHEW. That is what I needed. A little “airing” out.
Hey Sergey Brin! Could we get a better comment function on blogger? Maybe? You would think Google could invest a couple of hours in figuring this out.
Anyway. Have a great day!
Session 2: Blog Indiana: Erik Deckers
My thoughts are italicized.
Second session of the blogINDIANA conference is a writing class with fellow Smoosier and blogger, Erik Deckers.
His Simple Rules for Writing Well
1. Use small words.
2. Use short words.
3. Do not overwrite. “You do not have to put for more information click here.”
4. Omit needless words:
Utilize=Use
5. Revise and Rewrite
Write in stream of through and then edit and repost. Make sure you edit your blog post at least once. If you are a blogger, you are a writer. If you want to be a writer you need to edit.
In the spirit of being a prick, I am not going to edit this post. 
6. Get rid of adjectives and adverbs.
7. Know your audience.
Other Tips to Improve Your Writing:
1. Start with the end first.
2. Open with a short, clear sentence.
3. Put the recommendation/conclusion next. (Interesting thought)
4. Active voice should be used; avoid passive voice.
Good session with Erik! It is always difficult for me as a blogger to remember the proper prose? Is that the right term? I guess not.
It can be extremely hard to remember proper English when you write in a stream of thought. Is it unique to write straight from the head? Are we focusing to much on aesthetics and getting away from interesting content?
It is always pleasure to listen to Erik.
BlogIndiana: Session 1: Blogging/One Night Stand
The first session at blogIndiana that I attend was Corporate Blogging by Krista Neher of photrade. She definitely touched on the importance of authentic communication when you are writing an external or internal corporate blog. She had a few choice comments towards the concept of ghost writing which I agree with to an extent.
I can accept the concept of ghost writing when you have a great writer. You will still get a better response from the public/community when you are the one personally writing the session.
Good point from Erik Deckers via Twitter:
Don’t ghostwrite CEO blogs? Doesn’t always work. Fortune 500 CEOs don’t write their own speeches, annual reports, or press release quotes
Krista: Objectives are extremely important when you are thinking about outsourcing a blog. Content plan and objectives are extremely important when debating on outsourcing.
Krista: Content will make or break your blog. Build a plan. When it is important for people to feel like you are a real human being. Having a blog all about you is possibly not the best thing. Many people do not care about your life.
Krista, I do not agree. People love me. Isn’t personal blogging suppose to be catered around the ego?
Writing Great Content: Short, to the point, blog “style”, ask questions (create open endings), and numbers.
Figure out who your audience is and what they want to learn about
RULE OF THUMB ON WORD COUNT OF BLOGGING: What is your audience going to want to read? People read content blogs to get a lot of information in a precise way.
The best comment of the session:
“Blogging is a relationship not a one night stand.”