Written by Marie Page on Monday 24th May 2010 at 10:13 am
We’ve made quite a lot of the potential of social media for business on this forum, however, many organisations adopt a head in the sand approach and blanket ban internet access to any social media url. One college I taught at banned their music students from accessing MySpace in college, other organisations are paranoid about the effects of negative online chat or the amount of staff time that they perceive would be wasted Facebooking and Tweeting.
Thankfully not all organisations are so blinkered. Here is a helpful list of social media policies from a variety of companies. You might also find the book Naked Conversations by Scoble and Israel interesting if you’re trying to convince your boss of the benefits of blogging.
Written by Marie Page on Tuesday 18th May 2010 at 9:55 am
Here’s a handy guide to some terms you will come across in the blogosphere.
Avatar
The image that represents you online. Choose a photo, animal or object that you like.
Blog
Shortened form of weblog, essentially an online diary which has gone way beyond a simple description of what you may have eaten for breakfast.
Blogroll
Geddit? The blogroll is a list of links to other blogs you like. Ideally coded as a “no follow” for search engine robots so that you don’t lose all that lovely SEO juice to another site.
Category
Like folders in your inbox or on your shelf, categories can be used to organise your posts. As the number of posts increases, its really helpful so that readers can quickly find posts they may be interested in.
CMS – Content Management System
Software that enables you to add to, edit and organise your website. You don’t need to know HTML code and you don’t need to wait for a webmaster to make changes. Software such as WordPress use CMS. (Read more…)
Written by Marie Page on Monday 22nd March 2010 at 1:14 pm
First let’s get one thing straight. Neither I nor your customers want to hear about what you had for breakfast. Get your social media straight. Blogging is not Facebook and neither is it Twitter although of course you might use either of those tools to promote your blog. Neither is blogging generally a diary of your day-to-day activities and teenage angst – that’s LiveJournal.
If you’ve seen the 2009 Meryl Streep film Julie and Julia you’ll know the true story of an office worker and aspiring writer who loved to cook. Julie Powell blogged about her year of cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s epic French cook book. Julie chose her subject and blogged about her passion, attracted thousands of readers and ultimately a book and film deal.
All very well for an aspiring writer but you’re a marketer – why should you blog?
20 reasons to blog (rule number one of good blog writing – blog readers love lists!)
To engage with your audience and collect customer feedback (blogs allow comments and 2-way dialogue).
Because it makes SEO sense – search engines love websites with updated, unique, keyword dense copy. They reward it with a higher page rank. Blogging works for SEO. Seemples.
To enable you to sell more – a first visit to your website is like a first date – are you really expecting your customer to go all the way? Woo them. It takes time to develop trust and commitment.
To position yourself and your company as a thought leader in your market.
To create a place to think, plan and reflect.
To make a big impact with zero budget.
To showcase products and images and tell behind the scenes stories. You, rather than a journalist, are in charge of your content.
Because its a place to be more informal and risqué.
Because it humanises your company – people buy from people, not websites.
To improve your writing – good for your job and your career.
To create content for newsletters (I’ll blog about this in a future post).
To play with technology and ideas.
To force you to read and research about your market in order to gather the information you need for your posts.
To collaborate with others – guest posts are really effective and it gives you the chance to interview others in your industry, work with other departments, talk to customers, senior staff and even the odd celebrity.
Because there is no need to wait for the webmaster.
To express yourself and create a historical record of your content – in 18 months of blogging I now have hundreds of entries, a huge archive of brilliant marketing material that we ransack on a daily basis.
To podcast/videocast easily.
Because it is enjoyable, compulsive and rewarding.
Because it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Because interruption marketing doesn’t work any more.
But I’m not a journalist
You might not be the best writer in the world but I can guarantee that you know more about your specialist subject than most other people in the world. So you work for the most boring company in the world selling boring components in a boring industry (or at least that’s what everyone else outside your marketplace thinks). But inside your marketplace is a world of people actually quite interested in those components, in how they are made, who makes them, where you sell them, who else buys them, what they then do with them and what the stories are behind the brand.
I’ll create a detailed list of blog content ideas in a future post but try sitting down for 10 minutes and thinking about all the questions your customers (or the people you meet at networking events and tradeshows) ask. You’ll have yourself a list of topics to write about in no time that will be scratching where your potential readers are itching.
How to get started
The beauty of online publishing is that it doesn’t have to be perfect but it is very easy to get going. Copy shouldn’t need to be approved from everyone from the CEO through to the office cleaner. I’d recommend using software such as Wordpress and have the content added to your website hosting (www.yoururl.com/blog) rather than being hosted somewhere else (like blogger.com). Like that you get the SEO advantage and the right corporate association from the start. Wordpress is simple to use and there is even a magazine-like idiots guide to getting started (Bloggers Handbook – How to succeed in social media and blogging. ISBN 978-1-906078-38-6).
Now that’s assuming that you are writing the official blog for your company. If you are simply an employee and the blog is unofficial then by all means use hosted software such as blogger.com. Other platforms include Joomla, Typepad, Moveable Type, Vox, Drupal, Tumble, Silverstripe, Clear Content and Squarespace.
But I don’t know what I’m doing – I’ve barely even read a blog
Get introduced to the art of blogging by signing up for marketing guru Seth Godin’s blog. Apart from showcasing thought leadership, he’ll turn your brain inside out about marketing. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/
The Marketing Profs Daily Fix is also full of bite sized marketing tips and advice http://www.mpdailyfix.com/
Stuff White People Like is a fun site which will have you forwarding links and content in no time http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/
Innocent’s blog is a nice example of a corporate blog that nicely reflects all Innocent’s off the wall brand values http://innocentdrinks.typepad.com/
http://thexfactorfromapersonwhoknows.blogspot.com/ – topical blog written by a teenage friend of mine. She wants to be a journalist so has started blogging to hone her writing craft. It’s a nice example of how easy it is to get started and create a professional looking blog
And the one I write – very much for a niche market and the most effective marketing tool we have ever used. www.musciademy.com/blog
Marie Page runs an international e-business selling instructional DVDs teaching contemporary musical instruments. She blogs at http://musicademy.com/blog
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