Are you blogging?

If you answered “No,” read on.

If you answered “Yes,” read on.

Why? Because if you have your own business, you should have a blog. No excuses. (I’ve personally run out of them. Starting a blog is one of my 2011 business goals.) And, if you already have one—a blog, that is, not an excuse—you want it work as smartly as you do by drawing more readers, positioning you as a thought leader, improving search engine results, and generating new business.

Having a blog and doing it the right way is critical.

Consider the numbers:

• 51 percent of daily Internet users read a blog at least once per month and over 60 percent will do so by 2014 (Technorati)
• 62 percent of self-employed people say they have much greater visibility in their industry because of their business blog (Technorati)
• Companies with a business blog attract 55 percent more website visitors and have 434 percent more indexed pages, which leads to better search engine results (HubSpot).
• More than 43 percent of US companies will market via a blog by 2012, up from 34 percent in 2010 (eMarketer)

On March 1, the WIC workshop, “Business Blogging: From the Essentials to the Exceptional,” will have something for everyone, no matter whether you’re “blogless,” a newbie or a seasoned pro. This is a dual-track workshop, meaning you’ll choose either the novice track or the advanced track. In less than four hours, you’ll learn how to get your blog on the right path. That’s a wise investment of time and resources.

Presenter Jerry Bates of FittingSites.com will show new bloggers how to set up a visually compelling, SEO-friendly and “sticky” WordPress blog with all the right features. You’ll learn how to think like your visitors and get tips for creating clean page layouts. Jerry will show you how to tap into the hidden potential of WordPress, use your blog in novel ways and integrate external services such as YouTube and Google Apps.

Speaker Ann Evanston of Warrior-Preneur will work with experienced bloggers who want to take their blogs to the next level. She’ll cover the pros and cons of a blog versus a video blog versus a website. You’ll receive insights and tips for keeping content fresh, pumping up your profile as a thought leader, video blogging, and how your blog plays into social media. Ann will also focus on the all-important issue of how to drive more traffic to your blog, which was identified as the number one challenge in a recent ProBlogger survey.

Don’t let this great opportunity pass.

Register now for the workshop and take advantage of the early-bird discount, which ends on February 15.

By: Michelle Gouldsberry

A consultant can handle their “Keep In Touch” Marketing (where you keep in touch with past clients, interested prospects and people who have requested that you email them) in a few different ways. These solutions include:

• An e-zine (email newsletter)
• Having people subscribe to get emails from your blog through a solution like Feedburner
• RSS streams

Should you have an ezine list or have people subscribe to your blog?

The answer to this depends on the amount of work you want to do in your marketing.

Newsletter

A traditional newsletter mailing list is more work – you have to write the newsletters and send them out. You can customize this option more – from look and feel, to the frequency that the newsletters are sent out with, to other offers or promotions that you send out with your information. But, this also means that you have to do the work of sending out an email newsletter:

• signing up for a newsletter service

• setting the account up

• designing your email newsletter template

• setting up your newsletter each time it has to go out

• testing and sending it

And, that is the process you have to go through each time the newsletter has to go out (and I’m not even talking about putting together your articles and offers for the newsletter).

Blog Subscription

If you just have people subscribe to your blog (through a service such as Feedblitz, which integrates easily with Typepad or WordPress), then the work of sending out the newsletter is done for you. Your blog posts, if you have made any, get emailed to people who sign up once a day. You don’t have to do anything extra. If you don’t write a blog post, nothing gets sent out. And, if you want to communicate with your list, you just post on the blog – and take care of 2 marketing tasks at once, because your blog is refreshed and your customers have been updated.

Feedblitz also allows you to log in to your account on their site and view a list of your subscribers – to see exactly who’s subscribed. There are other features on their site that allow you to email your subscribers separately from your blog – for example, if you want to make a special discount offer to subscribers only.

RSS Feeds

The other option is to have people read your blog through RSS Streams, or RSS assistance programs like Feedburner. These are neat and easy for the client to do – they just grab your RSS address from your blog and then paste it into their email program or RSS aggregator. And, they increase the likelihood that people will keep up with your blog – instead of leaving it to them to remember to pull up your blog site every few days. But, the major disadvantage to you here is that they don’t have to give you their details in exchange. That means that you can only communicate with these contacts through the blog – which is better than nothing, but not ideal.

By: Erin Ferree

I was answering a question posted on LinkedIn, when I decided it would make a good blog post. The original question related to whether the person should use first person or third person for team bios. However, the advice I offered applies to any customer-facing communication, be it your website, marketing collateral, or social media tool. Just substitute your particular activity for “bios” and what I wrote still applies.

There are three factors that you should consider in making your decision: your audience, your company’s personality, and best practices, with audience being the absolute most important one. That may seem obvious and most people would nod their heads in agreement, however, it’s often not what companies do.

Your Audience

Whenever you make a decision on what to include or exclude on your site, it should first and foremost be based on what will resonate with your audience. While what you write and how you write it needs to be an authentic reflection of your company and what it’s like to work with you, what matters most is whether what you’re writing is what your audience wants and expects to see–and will, again, resonate with them.

Ask yourself will first or third person be best for my audience. Better yet, ask your audience, if possible. Asking them may not be necessary or make sense in relation to bios, but it’s something to keep in mind for your website overall. But whether or not you do user testing or surveys or similar activities, you should always look at things from your audience’s perspective first.

Your Company’s Personality

Whatever voice you choose, it needs to be an authentic reflection of your company and its people. Your audience will eventually realize if your voice isn’t a true reflection and respond accordingly.

If first person makes sense for your audience and is truly what you and your company is about, then write the bios in first person. Having each one sound different, as long as they follow a similar format (you can set up parameters to ensure this), isn’t a bad thing. The bios will reflect the personality of each individual. Chances are that’s a good thing if first person is right for your audience and your company. If there’s still a worry about them sounding the same and following the same format, but you still really want first person, you can have a professional editor/writer go over the bios to ensure consistency yet retain each authentic voice.

Best Practices

Being aware of best practices is a good thing. It makes decision making easier and saves time–why reinvent the wheel. However, I am a big proponent of knowing what the best practices are and why they are best practices, and then evaluating them to make sure they make sense for 1) your audience (first), and 2) your company.

I have a strong bias against using best practices as cookie cutters for how to a create website (or anything else for that matter). I don’t advocate breaking a best practice just for the sake of doing so. After all, providing an experience that users expect makes it easier for them to find things on your site. But don’t follow them just because they are best practices either.

Know them, evaluate them against your audience and your company, and then decide what to do and not do based on those factors–and be clear why you aren’t following them.

As for best practices on bios, most business-to-business companies use third person. However, many use first names after the first callout vs. last names to make the bios more personable and the people appear more approachable.

Your business is business to consumer. Following the recommendations I made above, I would guess that your audience would gravitate towards a bio that’s professional (I want to trust that you know what you’re doing) and personal (I don’t like cold, unfeeling healthcare providers). I would also guess that you’d like to come across the same way. If these guesses are accurate, I’d recommend third person, using first names after the first callout (vs. Dr. Gerstin) and infusing the bios with a little personal component–not the “married with two kids king of thing,” but rather why you became a chiropractor or community work that you do, etc.

By: Avery Horzewski

I just read a great little article on Social Media Explorer by David Finch, “The Social Media Trap: What’s the Next Big Thing?” It’s great, because it reminds us to focus on what’s currently there and how we can maximize what we’re doing versus looking to the “next big thing.” And as consultants wearing many hats, a little guidance on where to spend our time is always a good thing.

I also like the mantra “people first, tools second.” After all, any communication is about reaching out to people and conveying a message. So much so, that I’d put that as # 1 vs. # 5. If you keep that tip in mind, the others naturally follow. Here are David’s other tips for avoiding the social media trap:

• Engage in conversations within the communities you are currently a part of.
• Revisit social networks that you already have a profile in and see if the community has evolved or grown since you last visited.
• Don’t run after the “next thing.” If it’s big you’ll find out about it, believe me.
• Think execution before activation.
• Simplify and go back to the basics of social media: people first, tools second.
• See if you can unplug and connect with others face-to-face.
• Add to your social media toolbox not what everyone has, but only what you will use

On a side note: I found this article via SmartBrief on Social Media. You can receive daily news briefs on a wide range of topics; and thus far, I’ve been very happy with the one on social media.

By: Avery Horzewski

Here’s another great little article on Twitter by Aliza Sherman on Web Worker Daily. I like that it gives equal time to both the productivity benefits of Twitter as well as the time drains. It provides some useful tips (like Twilert) and confirms some of the things I find annoying about some social media tools (the mindless chatter, the compulsion, and the hate).

A bit about “the hate”: it’s not the “thrust into the nonproductive realm of crisis communications” that I find annoying. Heck, I’d rather no sooner rather than later before it’s out of control. Nor is it even the fact that there is negative feedback. It’s better to know, so you can fix it. It’s just the manner in which the negativity is presented that annoys me.

Twitter: Productivity Tool or Time Waster?

By: Avery Horzewski

Suzanne Skyvara, a WIC member, sent a great email to the WIC Community list, sharing two articles about Twitter that she found interesting and thought other consultants might as well. Thanks Suzanne!

I thought I’d share her post here for three reasons: 1) it’s a timely topic that would make for a good conversation on the WIC blog (hint: please share your thoughts on and tips for using Twitter for business); 2) it’s an area that I’m interested in learning more about for both my business and WIC (I’m responsible for getting the word out about WIC); and 3) it’s a great way to show the value of the WIC Community list as an information resource and how open affiliates and members are to helping one another.

Suzanne’s Original Twitter Post

“In case some of you have time this Sunday, these two articles give a great intro to why it’s worth spending time on Twitter for professional reasons and how you can get started.

• Twitter: The How-To Get Started Guide For Business People by C.G. Lynch
• Socially Benefitting >From My Twitter Habits by Michael Gass

The key advice for new people comes from Jeremiah Owyang, a Forrester analyst and a great person to follow on Twitter:

‘The best way to make the most use of it is not just answer what are you doing now,” says Owyang. “Instead, answer: ‘What’s important to me?’ That changes the conversation and makes value. It takes away some of the minutia and shows you want to talk about something that’s more useful and interesting.’

I promise I’m not the PR person for Twitter!  I just enjoy using it and think it provides value in a business context.”

Another Key Twitter Nugget: The Web Has Big Ears So Be Mindful

I agree with Suzanne that the above is a key piece of advice. There are a couple of other nuggets that I found equally compelling. The first is found in Lynch’s article, and I gravitate towards it because how people communicate and communicating effectively are near and dear to my heart:

“‘What you say can affect your blog or business. Your boss, competitors, wife or future wife,’ Owyang says. ‘You need to remember, it’s publishing.’

Another caution: Because a Tweet is so short, it’s even harder than with say e-mail for people to pick up context or tell when you’re being sarcastic versus serious, [Laura] Fitton says.

‘You need to think carefully about how you put it and how it sounds,’ she says. ‘Think about not only your immediate followers but your potential audience, which is the whole Web. Tweets get googled pretty prominently.’”

I found this sage advice, because people often forget that social media is a very public conversation, one that search engines tend to follow closely. However, I recommend that we follow the advice Fitton offers in all of our electronic communication: email, blogging, twittering, etc.

As someone who has studied communication extensively, I’m intrigued by how the lack of nonverbal cues impacts how messages are received. People appear to interpret messages negatively in the absence of anything to the contrary. This makes character-limited conversations like Twitter all the more challenging, hence Fitton’s recommendation. But given our tendency to be brief whenever typing and the lack of context around e-messages, we need to imagine how audiences will receive our messages no matter the vehicle we’re using.

Conversely, I’m always amazed at what people will say electronically that they wouldn’t dream of saying in a more personal communication situation. You only need read one or two flame wars to understand what I mean. For some reason people seem to think it’s acceptable. However, the Web has big ears, and as Owyang states, what we say in the social media realm can have great impact on our reputation.

Another Key Twitter Nugget: Effective Twitter Habits

The last key piece of advice I’d like to highlight is the section in Gass’s post called “The Twitter habits that I have developed save me time,” which highlights several tools/programs/ideas that he uses to manage his tweets (found at the end of the article).

Happy Tweeting!

By: Avery Horzewski

As you can tell from the series of posts that I’m making today, I was a bit behind on my reading. But many of these articles were definitely worth my time, like this one on the Silicon Valley WebGuild that shows a survey from the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) 2008 annual “Masters of Marketing” conference (October 2008).

The survey polled attendees via handheld devices about their marketing mix, budgets, plans, and tactics.

One of the questions asked attendees how much they plan to spend on marketing in 2009 vs. 2008: 20 percent expect to increase spending, 28% expect to hold stable, and 20% to decrease spending. I thought this bright news for marketing consultants given all the fear surrounding the current economy.

Read Full Article on Silicon Valley WebGuild

How will you adjust your current marketing and media plans to account for the recent downturn in the financial markets?
- Spending will be reduced (33%)
- Spending will be constant / marketing mix will be reallocated (33%)
- Surprisingly, we will spend more (27%)
- No changes, we will keep everything status quo (8%)

How does your CEO view your marketing efforts with respect to growth?
- As a brand-building investment (56%)
- As an unaccountable but necessary expense (21%)
- Not sure (15%)
- As an unnecessary expense (8%)

What is your preferred social media site for driving brand growth?
- None (32%)
- YouTube (20%)
- Facebook (18%)
- All (12%)
- LinkedIn (10%)
- MySpace (6%)
- Twitter (3%)

As you look toward 2009, how much do you plan to spend on marketing vs. 2008?
- Increase spending more than 10% (26%)
- Increase spending less than 10% (13%)
- Hold stable (28%)
- Decrease spending less than 10% (14%)
- Decrease spending more than 10% (19%)

Which discipline will offer your brand the largest opportunity for growth?
- Traditional 30-second spots (17%)
- One page advertisements in a newspaper/magazine (7%)
- Web advertising (16%)
- Social media integration (28%)
- Direct Marketing (7%)
- Grassroots, viral public relations (19%)
- Radio (5%)

How does your company currently measure brand growth?
- Sales and net income (70%)
- Third party brand equity valuations (15%)
- Shareholder value (9%)
- Household penetration (4%)
- Company culture (3%

By: Avery Horzewski

On smallbusinessnewz, Lisa Braziel posted an article back in February on social media campaign budgets. She concluded with a nice set of questions to ask when determining your budget.

“1) What are your overall objectives and campaign timeframe? If the whole objective is to achieve a drastic spike in sales or promote a limited time offer, we believe more of your budget should be allocated to advertising. Social media is a slower burn, and you will just be disappointed.

2) How much is your overall marketing budget? To put things into perspective. the average cost of TV production for a 30-second spot is around $303,000 just to make it: not to mention media costs to run it. With this in mind, you may want to produce one less spot for a campaign, and re-allocate these funds towards a very decent social media campaign with a longer life-span.

3) What tactics are you using already and how are they working? How your current efforts are working should determine how much you can reallocate to social media. Is your direct mail initiative working? What is your ROI on your current advertising model? What is the result of your interactive budget? Take a hard look at what results you are getting with traditional methods.

4) What are your internal resources? To put it simply, your internal resources will determine your social media budget amount. If you have appropriate staff that can devote time to social media, you may find that you only need the set-up and development of a social media strategy or tools to get the campaign going. If you don’t, a social media budget will likely be higher to include the actual execution.

Again, as we say over and over: a social media budget is developed on a per company basis. Beware of any agency that has set-pricing, as it likely indicates that they will also have canned social media efforts that don’t take into account objectives and target audience.”

Read the full article

By: Avery Horzewski

There was an interesting little article on Webguild that looked at the role of social media in an economic downturn.

Social Media in the Economic Downturn

By Reshma Kumar, November 2, 2008

“Social Media, in light if our current depressed economic climate was a topic of discussion and on the minds of many in attendance at the Social Media Strategies Conference last week. Paraphrasing roughly Keynote, David Carter of Awareness’ take on this, he noted that with the current economic situation, there are more eyes on where the money goes. Therefore, social media strategies have to be spot on the first time around. So, how can we execute better? Identify and leverage on points of enthusiasm (e.g. press releases, conferences, events, etc.) and make them a part of your community. Identify watering holes for customers and pick the project that has the most obvious ROI. It doesn’t have to be about money, it can be about trust scores, community stocks, and to gather the required information needed to measure and analyze this event.

“Shel Israel, Social Media Strategist of Global Neighbourhoods, had this to say: What can we scale back and cut back on in the downturn? We really need to talk to our customers. Traditional advertising and PR have remained expensive in the last decade or so. Social Media is an answer to the problem of lean marketing and addressing the problem of how to stay close to the customers. Mark Yolton, SVP, Community Network of SAP said social media is being used at SAP for about 5 years now. It’s core to what SAP does today. Given today’s economy, there is a need to focus on cost efficiency. Reducing cost, agility, and reaching out to customers are the focus points of community network at SAP.

“What do you have to cut that you now can’t live without? According to Mark, as budgets get cut, be it training budget, marketing budget, traveling budget, etc., social media is the thing to turn to — the same way PR is being done by providing daily news summaries which includes blogger comments. There are serious discussions going on on blogs and inviting bloggers to product launches, company events, etc. is the thing to do — giving them the privilege because they’re the ones who are asking the best questions.

http://www.webguild.org/2008/11/social-media-in-the-economic-downturn.php

By: Avery Horzewski