Tag: social media

Top 3 Blogging Tips

The top 3 blogging tips?

Top 3 blogging tips

1. Planning,

2. Planning, and

3. Planning.

A recent study by Digital Brand Expressions (DBE) found that 78% of corporate users have a presence on Social Media. Only 41% have a plan or a strategy. SO the message is:

PLAN,

PLAN,

PLAN

 if you expect good results with your social media tools. You can get a copy of the planning sheet we use at Council Blogs by sending an email request to Chief Blogger. To read the report from DBE you can click here. If you want to integrate a calendar into your post planning, a real neat tool for wordpress.org users is the WordPress Editorial Calendar. Zack Grossbart has a neat video on using the WordPress Editorial Calendar that can get you up and planning really fast. The bloggers at our blogging club find that having a plan makes it ten times easier when it comes to writing your posts. I cannot say it better than Mark Twain, “Plan for the future because that’s where you are going to spend the rest of your life.”

Social Media – Circus or Captivating?

“There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute”

– Hannum or Barnum?*

Even though historians debate about the origin of this well known quote, everyone has a sense for its reality. When we think of what drove the circus era, it was human curiosity fueled by promotion. Did the circus just locate on the edge of town, set up shop, and expect customers to come streaming in? Of course not, they did a lot of promotion. Before the circus came to town they had posters announcing their magic. Once set up, they teased their potential customers with a circus parade through the heart of town, giving glimpses of what great experiences lurked under the big top on the edge of town.

As we think about social media and marketing, we’re reminded of the public nature of social media. Most beginners to social media marketing have an apprehension to “broadcasting” their news to sites like Twitter and Facebook. The college frat stigma of Facebook still scares users. Horror stories of privacy breaches adds to their paranoia. At the cyber wigwam we have coined this phenomenon as “Blog-xiety.”  That’s another post. Yes, we do not want to be careless about our posts. Remember though, that you can reach roughly 1/3 of all internet users on Facebook. In our face paced world we are far outpacing the world of P.T. Barnum. Currently, there are 243 users born every SECOND on Facebook. So our advice is to think of the circus train when developing your blog posts. Broadcast them to Facebook. Remember this is your chance to promote your product or service to those 14, 580 customers born every minute.

* those wishing to read about the great giant fake lawsuit, click here.

Leaping Lizards! Another blog class

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Leaping Blogs, Sandy!

The posts will come out tomorrow, tomorrow…bet your bottom dollar on tomorrow…

Looking to add Social Media to your marketing campaign? Lept Like A Blog is returning with their popular, back by demand, class on Social Media Marketing. Annie may have never found Daddy Warbucks if she had Facebook or other social media tools of today. She may have single-handedly changed texting parlance for ever. Instead of lol, we’d have ll (leaping lizards) or  instead of OMG, we’d have GW (Gee Whiskers). In four short sessions you too can be a social media bloggerfly and launch your 21st century marketing campaign. Learn how to easily reach those potential clients out of the 1.8 billion users on the Internet. See how your social media tools can get people to know, like, and trust you while you sleep!

Our next class starts Wednesday, September 8, 6-8 pm. The remaining classes meet September 15, 22, and 29. Sign up today or request more information by email here. Or call Tom at 815-985-7075 and get registered.

Authenticity – The 12 new letters of Social Media Marketing

An advertising technique has emerged that pushes the needle from “fleeting trend” to “Here to stay” for social media. You can see for yourself how popular the “Haul video” is becoming. Just Google it. YouTube has a plethora of listings. Many are ready to offer a definition, everywhere from Yahoo Answers to Wisegeek.com. In simple terms it is a video that explains the shopping “haul”. Some have termed it an “unboxing for girls” technique. Unboxing is the video form of product reviews where a product is unboxed and the details of the product are reviewed as it is unwrapped. In the case of the “haul”, the video reviews the latest take from a shopping spree. Brand marketeers have quickly picked up on the viral capabilities and have made it easier for the “haulers” by providing promotional goodies to make the video more appealing. The claim is that this type of viral marketing purveys AUTHENTICITY. Friends telling friends. It is an interesting trend that pins a significant value on social media marketing. At the moment the teenage girls are the largest demographic of the “haul video” but other variants are bound to emerge. National Public Radio has a nice article. You can even listen to a broadcast sound bite.  Of course you can always Google it and find out as much as you want. My latest search produced over 12,ooo,ooo hits!

5,900,000 video views- Old Spice puts advertising on its ear (or pulled by the nose?)

Old Spice has everyone in the advertising industry a buzz with its latest social media centered advertising blitz. The salty dogs pirated the top viral video viewing sensation with their latest campaign. A series of YouTube videos starring manly man Isiah Mustafa featured responses to requests submitted through social media. The way this caught on has everyone thinking about new possibilities. In 24 hours, video views nearly reached 6 million. That’s double the viral views attributed to Susan Boyle. Just in! Sales for Old Spice have jumped 107% in the last month! Double, how’s that for ROI for social media? It goes to show that social media is just another tool and used effectively it can bring you more business. See Mashable’s report on the latest sales stats or watch some of the videos that enticed customers to dip into their treasure chests. You can see how to smell like a man, man! If you want to add social media as par tof your marketing campaign, visit Getting your start.

Top 5 takeaways for lept Like a Blog clients

What are 5 takeaways for clients of lept Like A Blog? Clients receive many benefits and the elders could not agree on a simple list. They gathered the tribal members of  the cyber wigwam and took a poll, then reduced a consensus to 5 favorites. The process wasn’t easy and caused a lot of discussion in the tribe. They found that the whole community enjoyed the discussion. You may want to go through the exercise at your business and see what surfaces. After buffalo skins around the council fire were rolled up and put away here’s what they came up with:

1. Sense of accomplishment  The vastness and newness of social media applications can be overwhelming. We guide our clients one step at a time through this confusing maze. Like tracking deer in the dense woods, we carefully establish each footprint. Clients are amazed at how we find a path through the thick jungle of social media terminology, jargon and acronyms.

2. Sense of astonishment  Clients are usually surprised at how much they accomplish. Individually, each application is relatively straight forward but when you add it all together is is easily overwhelming. When we guide people through this maze they are astonished how much there is and how fast technology is moving. They also are astonished that they can learn it very easily when we guide them!

3. Social Media Marketing Framework  The social media marketing framework includes your favorite social media tools all tied together to make your marketing campaign as effortless as possible. It includes:

 A. A WordPress blog

B. A Twitter account

C. A Facebook Personal and Fan page

D. A LinkedIn account

E. A Tweetdeck setup

In case they forget their passwords from memory, they carry their password book so they can access their social media tools on the trail. New warriors are armed with their password book.

4. Courage to tell the world your story Clients develop a marketing plan to guide the way they will describe themselves, their business and their product. Once they have the plan in place (we usually find that no one is at a loss of topic ideas when it relates to their business or their personal interests) we go out to the blog drum range and practice beating their tome. After that we head to the bluffs and practice smoke signals broadcasting their message across the great plains.

5. Sense of Social Media Savvy  Once the young braves experience the treacherous walk through the acronym forest and practice their drum and smoke signals we give them the right of passage  through the gauntlet of social media perils. They leave the camp with fresh knowledge and the ability to navigate the complexities of a new and exciting skill. Before they leave we celebrate with a dance around the campfire, sort of like a rain dance but instead calling on the cyber gods to guide them in their posting pursuits. To give them the courage and wisdom to speak the truth, to be polite, and respect the responsibility of their newly acquired skill.

ABOUT – an excellent opportunity

The About page of your website or blog can be a very effective tool for allowing clients to get to know you.

At Council Blog Sessions we discuss the about page a lot. We discuss effective interview questions too. Not surprisingly, questions help to make the content more interesting. Thomas Clifford, Fast Company’s “Expert Blogger” offered his advice and points out great examples in his recent post. Click here to read it.

COUNCIL Blogs – Being Social about Social Media Marketing

copyright 2010The chiefs and elders around the cyber wigwam have organized a special series of get togethers or councils for those in the blogging nation that need the extra social stimulus to populate their blogs with meaningful, interesting, attractive and timely content. The council meets for seven weeks, once per week starting Tuesday, June 15. For more details email Chief Blogger today and reserve your spot at the wigwam. We will be passing the blog pipe and becoming blog brothers. If your blog is in need of some attention, come and join the Council.

Social Media – Did you know?

A new video highlights in a visually stunning way the impact of Social Media. This is similar to the “Did you know?” video series but is focussed on Social Media. Watch it to see some neat graphics and stimulating thoughts.

Do you want to be a Social Media Blogger Fly?

Are you wondering what Social Media is all about? Are you wondering if Social Media could be part of your marketing campaign?

Chief Blogger and the rest of the techs at the cyber wigwam have put together another class for yearning learners to set up their Social Media Marketing Framework. These are classes of four sessions, each one highlighting a different element of Social Media. You too can develop your Social Media Marketing Framework. Why not widen your lead generation to a wider audience? The latest stats on internet usage continue to challenge comprehension. Last count there were 1.8 billion (and counting) users of the internet worldwide. Roughly 1/3 or 600 million plus are subscribing to Facebook. Come and  learn how to leverage these potential customers with tools that cost you nothing. We have a fun class with a great group of people starting this week. If you are interested in this simple and easy way to leap into Social Media, send your smoke signals to the Chief here.