Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

Blog Before You Tweet: Lessons from Tweetstock 8

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Though blogging is a form of social media, many business owners jump onto Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn long before they even consider blogging. And while it seems as though it will be easier to write a 140-character tweet than a 500-word blog post, the most common concern I hear about social media is, “I never know what to say!”

I often use the expression that blogging is what turns social networking into business networking. Blog posts demonstrate your expertise and tell your story to the people in your social networks. You can accomplish this with various types of content, from “how to” articles, to industry observations, to behind-the-scenes tours of your business.

L-R: Mitch Joel, C.C. Chapman, Rebecca Harris, Dave Delaney, John Morgan - Tweetstock - May 29, 2013
L-R: Mitch Joel, C.C. Chapman, Rebecca Harris, Dave Delaney, John Morgan

At last week’s Tweetstock 8 conference in Brantford, Ontario, I heard many examples of blogging as a component of effective social media marketing.

Here are five reasons to blog before you tweet:

  1. Blogging helps you to be more useful. Mitch Joel spoke about the urgent need for “utility” and how businesses must put out content that’s useful, rather than purely promotional or biographical. When you blog about topics that interest your customers, you provide value. You can then share that value via social media with teasers and links back to your blog.
  2. Blogging helps you build a community of like-minded people. In his presentation about business networking strategies, Dave Delaney pointed out that when like-minded people meet, great things happen. Blogging expands on your social media profiles to help both customers and colleagues learn more about you – as a business and as the people behind the business. Just be sure to write authentically and express your unique views and opinions.
  3. Blogging helps you listen to your community. Rebecca Harris took us behind the scenes of the social media command centre at GM, where staff monitor all of GM’s social media channels as well as more than 90 car enthusiast forums. When you share your blog posts on social media, you’ll get an enormous amount of feedback about what was and wasn’t useful. You’ll also get plenty of ideas for your future blog posts.
  4. Blogging starts a discussion with your community. According to Mitch Joel, social media is there to help facilitate real interactions between human beings. Whether people have posted a comment at your blog, or shared or endorsed your post via social media, respond as quickly as possible to show your appreciation and build that relationship. When your company has made a mistake or received negative feedback, a prompt response is even more important. Rebecca Harris illustrated this with the example of a GM ad that was pulled after people voiced complaints on social media.
  5. Blogging can have a profound impact – both on your readers and yourself. Concerned that you’re repeating yourself on your blog, or convinced that your information is common knowledge? Remember that there is someone out there who has never heard your message. John Morgan reminded us that you never know whose lives you’ve changed – when you’ve said exactly what someone needs to hear. As for what blogging does for the blogger, Mitch Joel noted that it allows us to continually explore and develop new ideas, and to keep learning.

So if you’ve been struggling to add to the conversation on social media, consider starting a business blog!

Photos courtesy of Tae McIntosh of Tae Photography.

P.S. I was just as inspired by the other Tweestock 8 presenters (I was tweeting all day long!):

Linda Dessau tweeting from Tweetstock 8, May 29, 2013 in Brantford Ontario

 

Once You’ve Met, Then Connect – Taking Your Local Networking Contacts Online

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two hands with smartphonesThis is the third post in a three-part series about building online and offline relationships. In Part One we discussed how blogging can strengthen your credibility with colleagues in your local community.

In Part Two, I shared my story of building my local network by starting online and then continuing those relationships in person.

Now, let’s look at how to transform your network of clients, prospective clients, and referral sources into an online community that reads, shares and benefits from your content.

Step 1: Research

When you’ve met someone you want to stay connected with, see if they have accounts on the social media sites where you’re active. There are several ways to do this:

  • Ask the person directly
  • Type “[Name] Twitter” into a search engine, and repeat for the various sites
  • Visit the person’s website and look for social media icons – if they’re not front and center on the Home page, check the Contact or About page (that’s where Chris Brogan recommended I put mine)
  • Log into the social media sites and use their search function

Step 2: Make the connection

On Twitter, this means following the person. On LinkedIn, it means sending a personalized invitation. On LinkedIn and Facebook, it means finding and following/liking the person’s company page. On Google+, it means adding the person and/or their company to your circles.

You can also see which LinkedIn and Facebook groups and Google+ communities your connections have joined, and consider joining them yourself. This can provide a smaller, more focused environment to continue your interactions.

Step 3: Watch and respond

Keep an eye out for updates from the people you want to build or deepen relationships with, then respond with a Facebook/LinkedIn Like, Share or comment, or on Twitter post a reply or RT (don’t forget to add a comment before you RT). You can also mark someone’s tweet as a favorite, which will show up on their Connections page.

To make sure you don’t miss content from your important contacts, set up ways to track them or quickly scan for their new updates. Hootsuite’s list streams help you watch people on Twitter, while “interest lists” help you follow company pages on Facebook. You can categorize contacts on LinkedIn via tags (this will get easier with LinkedIn Contacts), or on Google+ via circles.

Step 4: Be helpful

As you’re browsing the web, you may come across something that you know would be helpful or interesting to a particular contact. Send it along! Sure you could send it privately via email or LinkedIn (see below), but why not send it publicly in case others in your network find the content useful. It also helps you promote your colleague, since their profile will now be visible to all of your contacts.

To get the person’s attention, add their profile name to your message. On Twitter, that’s a specific phrase with no spaces, e.g., @lindadessau. For a LinkedIn contact/company or a Facebook company, you can type the @ sign and then start typing the name (for Facebook personal contacts, just start typing the name). Once the name you want appears, click on it to add it to your message and notify your contact.

To share a link privately with one or more of your LinkedIn contacts, download the sharing bookmarklet from the Tools page. This is similar to the Hootlet from Hootsuite, but it has extended functionality for your LinkedIn account.

Click on Tools from the very bottom of any page on LinkedIn (Hint: Get there from your Groups page, since if you try to scroll to the bottom of your Home screen it will keep refreshing to show you more content and the bottom navigation will disappear). The sharing bookmarklet is on the right-hand side of the page (see photo below).

LinkedIn Tools page

Once you’ve downloaded the tool, it will appear in your web browser (see photo below) and you can click on it when you want to share a blog post or webpage that you’re reading. Once you do, you’ll see options to add your comment, share an update, post as a group discussion, and/or share with specific individuals (just start typing the name(s).

Sharing bookmarklet in browser

Step 5: Post great content

When you’ve written your own new blog post, share it with your social networks. Whether they’re potential customers, referrals sources, or colleagues, you’ll be demonstrating your expertise and reminding them of how you can help.

Ideally, you’ll be blogging on a regular basis so your credibility is reinforced and you’ll be the first one people think of in your particular industry.

Step 6: Bring your online conversation offline

Though it can sometimes feel awkward to continue an online conversation when you’re standing face-to-face, it just takes one comment to get the ball rolling, e.g., “I saw your post about x, y or z,” or, “How did you enjoy that event you tweeted about?”

Whether you’re an introvert who prefers to think before you type, or an extrovert who loves the energy in a room full of people, you can combine online and offline networking strategies to build and deepen more meaningful connections.

Read Part One of this series, “How Business Blogging Can Build Your Credibility Offline”

Read Part Two of this series, “Don’t I Know You From Twitter? Taking Your Online Relationships Offline”

How to Find the Permalink of a Social Media Post

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FootprintsPeople are busy. If you want them to look at your content, you must get their attention, tell them why the information will be relevant, entertaining or valuable, and then make it easy to get there. Otherwise they will grow weary of clicking on your links in the future.

While it’s great to promote each new blog post by sharing a “teaser” with your social media networks, you need to be sure to provide the right link.

In a previous post about how to find the permalink of a blog post, I explained that the problem with just posting a link to your main blog page (called the “archives” page) is that this page changes every time you add new content.

If a new post has displaced the one you're talking about, it can leave people feeling frustrated, confused or annoyed. These probably aren’t feelings you want associated with you and your business!

The same is true for sharing a link from your social media page, which probably changes much more quickly than your blog. You would never say, “Go watch my latest video at youtube.com,” – instead you would link to your specific video. You need to be just as specific with Facebook and Twitter.

Whether you’re sending the link in email, on social media, or in a blog post, you need to use the permanent link (permalink) for the specific update, conversation or event that you’re referencing.

The easiest way to find the permalink for a social media post is to look for a day, date or time, move your mouse over that text, and click. A new page should open up where you see just that one status update or conversation.

Social-media-time-links

Next, highlight and copy what you see in your web browser’s address bar – that is your permalink.

FB-post-link2

Finally, paste that link into your email, blog post or social media message.

If something you’ve posted on social media is important enough to link to, consider turning it into a blog post. Ultimately, your blog is the best place for people to read your content, because they are just one step away from taking the next step to doing business with you.

P.S. Here are some tips for how to turn your LinkedIn and Facebook activity into blog posts.

Photo Credit: CarbonNYC via photopin cc

How to Turn LinkedIn Activity into Blog Posts

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Pen-for-writing-blog-posts-from-linked-inThe other day I was using Google to search for guidance on a difficult client situation, when I came across Ilise Benun’s post on the Creative Freelancer blog, “Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Client.”

Ilise runs a LinkedIn group called Creative Freelancer Conference, built as an extension of the annual HOW Design Live and Creative Freelancer Conference. In the blog post, she repeated a question from one of her LinkedIn group members – with permission, of course, and with a link to the member’s website.

At the end of the post, Ilise wrote, “This question has gotten a number of helpful responses from other creatives. Any advice for Stacey? Join the CFC LinkedIn Group to take part in the conversation.”

I was very impressed by this clever combination of LinkedIn and blogging, and I asked Ilise how the blogging strategy is working for her. She replied:

“The LinkedIn Group I moderate for creative freelancers is a place where members engage in very rich discussions. But that group is restricted to members so it’s not accessible to those outside the group or to the search engines. By reposting on my blog, I’m trying to make the material available to a wider audience and grow the LinkedIn Group as well. And it works!”

It certainly worked on me – I joined the group! It also helped when I saw that several people from my network were already members.

By the way, if you’re thinking about starting your own group, check out these tips for effectively managing a LinkedIn group.

As a perfect follow up to my previous post about how to turn your Facebook activity into blog posts, here are a few other ideas for doing the same thing on LinkedIn:

Browse LinkedIn’s Questions and Answers

Whether you answer on LinkedIn or not (note: doing so would be great for attracting new connections and showcasing your expertise), browsing the questions about your industry is a great way of making sure your blog content is relevant. If one person asked, many are wondering!

[Update January 22, 2013 – LinkedIn is closing its Answers section at the end of January 2013. Instead, look for relevant questions within your LinkedIn groups.]

Follow LinkedIn’s Thought Leaders

LinkedIn now features regular posts from some fascinating and inspiring business leaders. Write a response to one of these articles on your blog, or just see how they inspire your own ideas.

Review Your Endorsements

Is there a skill you’d like more recognition for? Write a blog post that demonstrates that skill. You could tell the story of how you used that skill to help a client, or write a “how to” article that highlights your knowledge and expertise.

When you’re active on LinkedIn and other social networking sites, you’re creating valuable content that can benefit both your business and your website visitors. Be sure to take that extra step and convert your social networking activity into blog posts.

Photo credit: The Seafarer via photopin cc

How to Turn Facebook Activity into Blog Posts

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FacebookSometimes when I describe the basics of business blogging, someone will say to me, “I already do that on Facebook – why do I need to blog?”

Matt McGee wrote an excellent post that explains why you shouldn’t use social media as a replacement for your own website or blog. The ultimate reason is that your site is your property – your name is on the door, you decide how things are displayed and you own 100% of your content. You simply cannot say that about any social media site.

The good news is that if your business’s Facebook page is active, blogging will be a lot easier for you. Here are five ways to turn your Facebook activity into blog posts.

1. Turn FAQs into “How to…” articles. Do you get questions on your Facebook page about how to use your products or services? Or how people can solve particular problems in their business or life? Respond on Facebook, then expand your answer into a blog post. Hint: Look beyond your own Facebook page to see what people are asking on other pages from your industry, or that are related to your industry.

2. Turn positive praise into case studies. Whether it’s a formal recommendation or a comment on your wall, when people share good feedback you can contact them privately and ask for an interview. Find out more about their experience and the problem your business helped solve. Case studies make great blog posts and can also be highlighted in a separate section of your site.

3. Turn to your network. Ask the people who visit your page what topics they’d like to read about on your blog. You could share a few ideas and do a poll, or just see what they come up with. Also be sure to notice if you get a lot of “likes” (and also if they appear quickly) when you post links to your blog – those are popular topics you should keep writing about!

4. Turn impromptu fun into a backstage tour. One of the things a blog can provide is a more casual glimpse behind the scenes of your business (though a business blog needs to be more than just a diary). If you or your staff have posted Facebook photos or stories from your day-to-day travels, round them up and post them to the blog. Hint: Use a specific category such as “Facebook Fun,” “Around the Office” or “What We’re Up To” so it’s clear these are separate from your informational articles.

5. Turn your shares into entertainment. Look over the photos, videos, quotes and links that you found yourself passing along on Facebook or other social media sites in the last week/month. Choose a few favourites and post the links to your blog, along with a brief introduction about why you like them. Similar to the last point, put these in a separate category such as “Fun Links,” “Things We Like” or “From Our Network.”

If you’re already in the habit of posting regularly to Facebook, build on that momentum to keep your blog fresh as well.