“The New Employee Wellness and Social Connection Plan” (video)… via #140You
blogging
The Power of Community in Social Media ~via @GenFabulous
by Chloe Jeffreys on July 11, 2013 in Coffee with Chloe, GenFabTV, Social Media – VIDEO interview below
Last year at BlogHer I had the chance to meet Ted Rubin, co-author of Return on Relationship
Blogging Strategy as it Relates to Building Relationships
Your personal and/or company blog, to me, should be at the heart of your social presence and be a driver for valuable content that can be used in so many places.
Here are a few things to consider in addition to just posting articles and working the SEO angle… four places to concentrate to enhance engagement:
1. User-Friendly Navigation: Keeping your blog easy to navigate with intuitive category labels will help people find the information they seek much faster. Here again, doing your research on what your customers are looking for is essential. Also, make it easy for readers to leave comments and share your posts on various channels.
Why Syndicated Content is Bad for Your Business Blog
While working on a competitive analysis for a law firm client, I came across an alarming trend – many of the competitor’s blogs had strikingly similar content that riffed on local news stories.
When exploring this a little bit further, it seemed that many of the firm’s competitors used syndicated content from the same industry marketing company to fuel their blogging efforts. In other words, these firms are receiving content from the marketing company to publish on their blogs.
The marketing company is smart enough not to duplicate the content for each firm in the same location. However, the formula is nearly identical for each post:
- Paraphrase a recent study or news article;
- Overtly link to keywords throughout your site;
- Cite the source of the information (that way, you’re not plagiarizing); and
How Do You Handle Social Media While on Vacation?
I was going to talk to you today about goals. After all, we’re now in the second half of the year (can you believe it?!) and it’s a good time to see if you’re on track and consider any adjustments that need to be made.
But, I decided that no one wants to talk about goals when we’re headed into a long weekend. I know I don’t.So, instead we’re going to talk about something far more fun – VACATION!
Blogging Is Dead
It’s almost like a rite of spring. Every year, pundits proclaim the death of blogging.
As far back as 2007 ReadWriteWeb was asking the question. In 2008, it was Wired, wondering if the rise of Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and the like would be more en vogue for individuals, who were getting pushed aside as the conglomerate professional blogs were beginning to take prominence. In 2009, Copyblogger declared blogging dead (again) but noted that it would continue to live on. Just last year, Problogger debated the role that email played in all of this, and concluded that it’s not an either/or decision.
5 Simple Steps to Building an Awesome Blog Post
Your content is the most important aspect of your blog. But, how you deliver and present your blog posts often dictate whether a note a post will get read.
There are plenty of blogs out there just begging for attention, but they lose the reader with lengthy diatribes or perhaps they don’t even attract readers at all. Maybe that blogger is you.
Not to worry. We’ve pulled together five simple tips to help you take that killer content of yours and build an awesome blog post that’s more likely to be read and shared.
Let’s get started, shall we?
How to Overcome Blogging’s Fear Factor
Mark Schaefer is indeed one of our shining lights here @TheSocialCMO when it comes to blogging! Not only does he write individual posts that resonate and put the “social” into social media (see Spirituality) he also produces pieces with very practical guidance to help others follow along the path that he’s blazing! See his latest post below which will I think inspire many more to face and overcome blogging’s fear factor!
I talk to a lot of bloggers. In fact I speak to some blogger somewhere almost every day … supporting, encouraging, listening, and helping where I can.
And I think I’ve determined the biggest hurdle that keeps people from ever beginning a blog.
It’s not a lack of ideas.
It’s not time.
It’s not writing ability.
It’s CONFIDENCE.
Fear of failure and criticism seems to be the most overwhelming reason why people don’t blog. Having some trepidation about blogging is reasonable. After all, it’s kind of like public speaking in a way, isn’t it? I think it is a pretty rare person who can put themselves out there in a public way and not have at least a little insecurity.
So what do we do about it? Here are a few ideas that seem to be working …
We’ll Always Have Blogging
Corporate blogging has been with us for quite some time, with some major companies having forayed into the space in the early to mid 2000s. Yet there’s surprisingly little attention paid to it today. Why is that? Is it that the shiny object / GMOOT (“get me one of those!”) syndrome has worn off? Or is it that there’s a purpose that isn’t served by blogs?
“I was misinformed.”
If you look at the recent statistics shared by eMarketer (“Corporate Blogging Goes Mainstream“), you’ll see that only about a third of companies use blogs. But if you look at the growth over the last three years, the use of blogs has actually doubled (!).
The focus on Twitter and Facebook is understandable: they’re nearly universal, they’re easily accessible via mobile devices, and there’s the ability to instantly connect users’ thoughts, actions, and comings and goings via those platforms. But blogging is more than that – or at least has the ability to be more than that.
Why Chris Brogan is Invincible
I am fascinated with uber-blogger Chris Brogan as a cultural icon of the social media revolution. Whether it’s trying new business models or pioneering sponsored posts, he is our canary in the coal mine, exploring the leading edges of our field.
But a post this week established a new milestone even for Chris. For your edification and entertainment, I am re-printing the entire post. Under a hand-drawn picture of a stick figure at a podium, he wrote:
“Okay, don’t do this. If you’re going to speak to people, speak TO (or even better WITH) them. Don’t look at your slides, read your slides, and tell me what’s on your slides. I know how to read. Stop it. Okay?”
… That’s it — 41 words.