So you want me to read your blog…

You’ve decided to blog, that’s great news! Stop harassing your friends to read it and make a plan to get legitimate readers that are interested in what you have to say. No lies here, blogs are hard work. Having a plan and sticking to it doesn’t really make it easier, but it does grow your audience, which makes it all worthwhile. To start, answer these questions: 

Who is your audience?

If you haven’t figured this out, you don’t have a blog, you have an online diary.

What do you blog about?

Wait, you just blog about anything? This might be why you haven’t found your audience yet. The best place to start is to either blog about something you are passionate about, or something you are learning. You can explain, teach and explore your passion, or keep track of your progress while learning something. Both are an easy to understand format for people coming to your blog to read.

What is your goal for the blog?

Your goal should be directly tied to what you blog about. There are many different reasons to have a blog, but you need to know why you have yours. Otherwise, it’s to easy to not update it on a regular basis. Reasons can range from chronicling adventures, becoming a thought-leader, finding friends, helping customers or even just becoming a better writer.

How often do you post?

If you’ve figured out the above, sooner or later, you will have a loyal following of people looking forward to your next post. If you update your blog ‘whenever you feel like it” you risk upsetting the people that love you. Blogging on a schedule might seem a little type-A, but it helps build fans. If people know you post every Tuesday/once a day/the end of the month, they know when to expect something. Perhaps, they’ll even look forward to it. Don’t disappoint them!

Are you expecting feedback?

Don’t fret if people aren’t commenting on your blog. Think of how many blog posts you read without writing a response. If you are really looking for feedback, ditch the complete post with the “what do you think?” tacked on to the end. This is the online equivalent of delivering a soliloquy at a dinner party and then expecting people to jump in. Instead, write a shorter post on something you are thinking about, but haven’t fully figured out yet. This encourages conversation – just like in real life.

Note: One of my favorite things about the Internet is that the community around you isn’t based on location. Keep in mind that not all of your friends will find your blog interesting and that’s just fine. There are plenty of people that you don’t know that will find it interesting. 

 

How to win friends and influence people through your social network

- or - How to meet people through your social network that you wouldn’t mind hanging out with…

I’ve embarked on a year of travel around North America, one month at a time. I’m lucky enough to be able to work from any where, so I’m not in need of employment, but as these cities are what might be my future home, I am looking to get a feel for each. As a fan of social media, I took it upon myself to figure out how to meet people in each city, through the Internet (Internet friend dating never really took off, despite my million dollar idea from a few years back, bestfriendfinder.com).

Have you ever looked at the top users for a city on any social network? Whether you sort by volume or by perceived influence, the list doesn’t often yield good sources for connecting with like-minded people.* The trouble is the most active user, even the most popular user isn’t necessarily the person you want to go for lunch with. How do you find people that matter to you?

3 ways to connect with people that matter in your area:

  1. Follow people that check into places you enjoy. Some of you like Foursquare, some of you aren’t sold yet. Regardless, when you go somewhere interesting, it is a great way to meet people like you. Check-in somewhere you like, find out who else checks-in there. Follow them. You’ll quickly learn about other places to enjoy, without having to do so much trial-and-error. If you’re comfortable with a little Internet stalking (and what social media fan isn’t?), you can investigate what other social networks your new Foursquare pals are on and follow them there as well. Note: This goes from helpful to creepy fast, so I recommend not showing up like a crazed Justin Bieber fan everywhere this person goes.
  2. Look for event organizers in the area, see who they interact with, follow them. If you enjoy events like DemoCamp or TEDx, look up event dates to see what is happening while you are in town. If the timing is off and you miss everything, try to find out more information on the event organizers. The people putting these events together tend to engage with other smart people. A quick scan of an event organizer’s Twitter feed should yield great suggestions for who the influencers are in town.
  3. Ask. Tell your network ahead of time where you are going and ask them if they know anyone you should connect with. It’s like word of mouth marketing with you as the product. Going the old fashioned way is good, but networking a crowd of strangers is difficult. It’s also a fine line to walk – you want to meet new people, but you don’t want to come across as the aggressive salesman. You’ll have better luck if someone you know introduces you as someone people should know. It adds a layer of credibility to your claim that you are a worthwhile connection.

I’ve just started this trip, in fact, I’m only one month in but so far, it’s been working out for me. How do you put your social network to work for you?

* Unless you’re really into weather, traffic information or porn.

 

 

 

Social Media isn't about Selling... Wait, what?

I’m a fan of social media. I spend too much time on the Internet and because my job requires it, I get paid to hang out on social networking sites. However, I often hear things about it that don’t sit very well with me. I don’t believe them to be true. Here are 3 statements on social media I just can’t get behind:

 

"Social media isn’t about selling, it is about being a part of the conversation."

 I really don’t like when people say this. If I am a business, why would I waste money on something that isn’t generating sales?

If you are having difficulty getting your boss or clients to agree to a social media strategy, I’m confident this is why. Nobody concerned with numbers wants to talk about social karma, the number of retweets you can get or how many fans you can get on Facebook. They want to talk about what they can do to get more dollars in the bank.

I am not suggesting that anyone striving to be a part of the conversation is wrong. Savvy social media users know that to do a good job, you need to strive for trust, influence, loyalty, goodwill, advocacy and a long list of other terms we’ve all come to know and love. You also need to quantify how you are doing by measuring feedback, comments, mentions and external reach.

However, being a part of the conversation is what helps you get to the end goal, which is selling something. Whether it’s signing more clients, book sales, more traffic to your blog or even making friends, you are still selling. Keeping this in mind makes it easier to measure your social media efforts and get approval from your skeptical boss.

Instead of saying, "People are talking about our brand on Twitter and we need to be a part of that conversation." Try saying, "My 3 goals for being on Twitter are to establish our organization as thought leaders, provide proactive customer service and drive more traffic to the website. I will measure the success of my efforts by measuring the increase in the number of speaking engagements our organization gets, the feedback we receive from our customers and the increase in traffic we get to the website.

"You need a social media expert to manage your product’s social media efforts."

No, you need an expert on your product to manage your product’s social media efforts. Social media is a communication tool that people use across different spaces on the Internet. Consider each of these spaces and platforms to be a physical location. Would you hire a talking expert to work the room for your organization? It’s pretty much the same thing. Instead, think of who would best represent your company or brand. This is who you need to hire.

Once you’ve hired the right person, it is easy to teach them how to use the tools. However, it isn’t easy to manage all of a company’s social media efforts. The Internet never sleeps, so who you hire has a big job ahead of them, every day.

This is the point where the experts come in. Interactive agencies, word-of-mouth marketers and social media strategists can help your new hire with high-level campaign ideas, ongoing strategies and yearly planning.

"It’s free."

Smart people don’t say this. You know why? BECAUSE SMART PEOPLE DON’T VALUE THEIR TIME AT ZERO. I Internet yelled that to you so you would know how important it is.

It’s true, social media is different - most of the platforms are free to use and you don’t have to blow your budget on one campaign, as with more traditional marketing campaigns. This does not make it free. People and organizations that succeed using social media tools spend countless hours working at it. Don’t discount what those hours cost and don’t discount how valuable the person putting in all of those hours is.

This was originally posted on the #likeminds blog which is an amazing set of conferences/events. You MUST check it out.