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Are You All Blogged Out?

March 17, 2010 in Communications, Google, blogging, twitter by gtaylor | 6 comments

All bloggers have been a victim of writer’s block at one point or another. Keeping up with a blog is hard work. Giving your readers fresh, interesting and unique content can be a struggle at times even for the most dedicated writer.

But, what do you do when you are all blogged out?

Sure, you can skip a day or two, but as attention spans grow shorter each day, you run the risk of your blog eventually being forgotten. Each day, the pressure increases to either create, or find, the most interesting topic and broadcast it to your audience.

Here’s a few tips on how to overcome your writer’s block.  If you’re new to blogging, bookmark the links below, you’re going to find them extremely helpful in the near future.

Make use of Google Reader

Reader allows you to subscribe to a RSS feed for a particular blog, or website.  You can search for blogs by keywords, or subscribe to a couple of your favorites.  Reader also allows you to keep up with the most popular news stories and also keeps track of what you’ve read so you are always looking at fresh content.  The more you subscribe to, the more ideas you’ll have.

Set up Google Alerts

Alerts are email updates of topics you choose to follow. You can set up an alerts to monitor a developing story, keep an eye on the competition, keep up with your favorite celebrity, etc.  You don’t have to wait on an email to check your alerts. Alerts can be checked, modified, or deleted at any time.

Browse your LinkedIn Groups

You joined the group for a reason, now is the time to use participate.  Whether it’s the discussions or the submitted news articles, LinkedIn Groups are filled with content.  Make sure you are a member of active groups.  No one benefits from the group if there’s no activity.

Look to  Twitter Search for guidance

People talk about everything from needing a 9V battery to their favorite type of jelly on Twitter.  It’s a given that you’ll find something interesting to blog about relative to your audience.

Search for a guest blogger

Don’t let your blog ego get the best of you. Ironically, a blogger enjoys writing for other blogs more than writing for their own.  All you have to do is ask.  It’s amazing how quick a guest blogger will send you a post.


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Social Media Webinars and Workshops – Which One(s) Should I Attend?

March 9, 2010 in Communications, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Technology, emarketing, social media, twitter by gtaylor | 1 comment

Regardless if you are just beginning your social media journey or have been blazing trails of your own, by now, you should have had the opportunity to participate in a webinar, or workshop, focusing on social media.  There are companies that present the basics to you, while others provide a more in depth explanation of specific ways social media can change the way you market to your customers.  For newbie’s, the information presented may be helpful, but how do you ensure you don’t waste your time?

As a social media strategist, I have attended my fair share of webinars and workshops, and have found only a few of them helpful and interesting.

Half of them are about the social media basics, defining social media, or using the big five (blogging, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube) for your business.  The other half may have a speaker that has been successful in using social media and want to share their success stories with everyone.

Here’s a few tips on choosing a webinar or workshop that will benefit you or your company:

Research the organizing company

You don’t buy a TV without shopping around.  If you’re going to invest your time into attending a ‘How to Use Social Media’ workshop, look to see how the presenting company uses social media.  It’s easy to find out how long a company has been using Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and creating blog content.  As Google continues to integrate social media into their search results, a company’s social media presence will be more noticeable.

Search for hashtags

Most organizer’s promote their event with a hashtag (#).  The hashtag makes it easy for not only the organizing company to see what people may be saying about their event, but also makes it easy for people to see what others may have thought about the webinar/workshop.

Crowdsource

If you don’t ask questions, you’ll always be in the dark. Maybe some of your followers on Twitter or connections on Facebook attended a previous webinar/workshop given by the same company.  Ask them what they though or if the information was useful. Usually, you’ll get an unbiased answer.  If you really know your followers, you’ll value their information.

Review previous transcripts or presentations

Most webinars are archived for viewing at a later time.  Quickly skim through the podcast or slideshow.  Skimming through podcast make take a little more time than looking at slides but spending ten minutes of your time to avoid wasting 90 minutes is understandable.

Follow your instinct

If you’ve researched the company’s social media efforts, crowdsourced information, searched for hashtags, listened to the podcast or reviewed slides and you’re still unsure, rely on your gut feeling. Your time is valuable.  Besides, you know your social media skill level better than anyone else.

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Will Google Buzz Change the Social Media Landscape?

February 10, 2010 in Business, Communications, Facebook, Google, Marketing, Yahoo, emarketing, social media, twitter by gtaylor | No comments

It seems like just yesterday, the top trending topic on Twitter was Google Wave.  Google Wave was supposed to change social media and connect people in a new, innovative way.  Although Waving to your friends was new and innovative, by the time you received an invite to test drive Google Wave, the hype was gone.  Now, Google wants social media users to believe that Google buzz will be the new “thing”.

Google Buzz blends with your Gmail account, weeds out the noisy posts (ex. I ate a bagel, now I’m headed to work off the calories), recommends outside conversations you should join based on your interests and posted content, allows you to view tweets from Twitter and content from Flickr, Picasa and YouTube.  Unfortunately, you are not able to post to Twitter or view others Facebook updates from Google Buzz.

Google Buzz will also allow you to make status updates by voice and even geotag your posts, allowing you to read location based updates when viewing search results on Google Maps.

Although these features are nice, three valid questions are going to be asked:

  1. Will people who don’t use Gmail and don’t want to have another email account use Google Buzz?
  2. Are Twitter and Facebook loyalists going to stray from their social media home(s)?
  3. Will Google Buzz become another social media marketing channel?

You can filter relevant information so Google Buzz can learn and better understand your interests, while retail locations and restaurants can offer local promos to Google Buzz users by location, and journalists can break news stories and reach people located near the news event.

Google Buzz is the new “thing”.  Although Yahoo claims to have been the pioneers of Buzz, Google’s Buzz is being released during social media’s prime.  Will Google Buzz change the social media landscape?  Possibly, but not right away.

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