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16
Oct 2010

50 Sources of Inspiration for Blog Content

October 16, 2010 By 1 Comment

REMEMBER: Write about something you are passionate about; it will show in your writing. Write to the needs of your readers; they’ll establish you as an expert and look forward to what you have to say.

STUREK-100210-063
1. You are welcome to think of and write the content yourself, especially if you enjoy writing.

2. Don’t forget to ask staff if they’d be interested in writing articles.

3. Check with Receptionist/Customer Service Department for commonly asked questions, and address those questions with answers in your next article.

4. Use all or part of case studies for articles. If none have been written yet, use client projects or service scenarios to demonstrate problem/solution oriented articles. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging
07
Oct 2010

3 Tips for Marketing with Social Media as a Rural Small Business

October 7, 2010 By 2 Comments

When you have a rural small business, your clientele and target customers are clients are likely spread out and difficult to categorize in any one specific group. Marketing with social media to such a wide variety of people can be a challenge, as knowing how to appeal to a diverse group of people is never an easy task. Here are three basic tips to keep in mind when marketing with social media. As you get more familiar with your target market’s presence on social media sites, you will get a better idea of how to tailor these tips for your specific needs. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging, Inspiration, Marketing, Rural Small Businesses
05
Oct 2010

Rural Businesses Can Harness the Power of Social Media in One Hour a Day

October 5, 2010 By 6 Comments

The Clay Coyote GalleryUsing social media is not limited to big cities, big brands or big budgets. In fact, taking time to engage in social media marketing an hour a day is all you need to establish your small business as a social media player, engaging with the community and potential clients and customers.

Why make things more complicated when you start?

One hour a day. It doesn’t even have to be a continuous hour. [Read more...]

Filed Under: 30 Days of Social Marketing, Blogging, Inspiration, Rural Small Businesses, Tweet
05
Jan 2010

A Gift for the Social Media Enthusiast in Your Life

January 5, 2010 By 1 Comment

Christmas Treats 5Belated holiday gifts, Birthday, or early Valentine’s Day ideas…

Need a great gift idea for that special someone in your life whose own life is encompassed by social media efforts? While an ergonomic computer chair is a great idea, I guarantee you that the best thing you can give them is the gift that keeps on giving.

I’m talking about writing an article on your blog or a guest article for someone else; no strings attached. Take your passion and writing skills, and donate a little time toward something that really matters. We’ve all had requests from others to write an article about this or that.  Think of your friends, clients, and colleagues; then go back through your notes or emails and follow through with a few requests.

If you haven’t had any recent requests for guest articles, then choose a few topics that you LOVE and write from the heart. Give a shout out or a link to someone who you care about who also has a common interest or expertise in that area. There is no better way of expressing your gratitude and best wishes for 2010 than to create positive, helpful, and inspiring content for others.

photo credit: smajee

Filed Under: Blogging, Inspiration, Marketing
19
Nov 2009

Google Friend Connect as a Marketing Strategy

November 19, 2009 By 1 Comment

Google Friend ConnectIf you frequent blogs, you’ve maybe noticed a box like this (pictured left) in the sidebar titled “Google Friend Connect”, asking you to “Join this Site”. If you are like me, you skipped over it for months, hurrying on to articles and other business at hand.

Luckily, one day I took the time to explore Google Friend Connect and learned that it is much more than a friendly application. I’ve discovered a few great ways to use Google Friend Connect for business that I’d like to share with you.

  1. Social marketing is all about meeting people where they like to be, adapting to the tools they prefer. Many people love this tool and choose to follow blogs by joining via Google Friend Connect. In fact, I’ve been asked hundreds of times to follow someone using this tool. As soon as I added it to my site, people started to join. While my preference is still via email/feedburner, I make the extra effort to join using Google Friend Connect. It is just one more option in building community, and hey, that’s what makes social media so great.
  2. Google Friend Connect makes a great tracking mechanism. I frequent hundreds of blogs, some of which I bookmark. However, when I’m out visiting blogs and investing time in my blogging relationships, I like to stay focused. Each time I see a Google Friend Connect option, I click on the “Join this site” button. I am quickly added and my picture displays. It acts as a visual cue for me if I come across this site again. I know I’ve been there before, as I’ve left a bread crumb trail-of sorts.
  3. When I’m looking for other blogs to follow or people in niche areas, I use “Google Friend Connect” to view profiles and blogs that others are following. This tool provides a nice one page of info on each blogger, and I can quickly see what blogs they follow.
  4. It keeps emails organized so I don’t have to. I don’t want to keep track of people’s emails whom I may or may not want to contact in the future. However, on many occassions I have wanted to personally email a fellow blogger. Google Friend Connect has their email on file, which I can quickly access.
  5. This tool also relies on gravatar pictures, which I love. I often see people I recognize who’ve joined a blog before I arrive. Seeing their picture and recognizing them plays into my trust factor and influences my decision to join too.

Take a minute or two to check out Google Friend Connect and see if it’s right for you. If you use it in other ways, please share with me. I’d love to hear your strategies.

Filed Under: Blogging, Google Tagged With: , , ,
11
Nov 2009

The Mystery Business

November 11, 2009 By 4 Comments

Wild CardEvery town has one; a mysterious business that nobody seems to know what they do. No one seems to know another person who works there, and the mysterious business seems to elude social events and sponsorships that other area businesses use to thrive. I wonder if these businesses know they are so mysterious. I wonder if it’s intentional or a horrific series of decisions that have led them down a path that has accidentally ostracized them from the rest of the community. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , ,
22
Sep 2009

Social Media for Non-Profits – The Game

September 22, 2009 By 6 Comments

Below are the materials that we used to play the Social Media Game at the “Resilient Leaders – Resilient Organizations: A Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation Convening.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging, Del.icio.us, Facebook, Flickr, Google, Inspiration, LinkedIn, Marketing, Rural Small Businesses, Social Network, Twitter
09
Sep 2009

5 Tips to Writing Regular Blog Posts

September 9, 2009 By 3 Comments

One of the most common concerns small businesses have about starting a blog for their business is the task of writing regular blog posts. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging, Inspiration Tagged With: , , , , ,
18
Aug 2009

Importance of Social Media Explained in 4 Minutes

August 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I have received this video from a few friend in the last week and thought I should post it for everyone.

Have you have every wondered:  “why bother with social media?”  Great stats  – some very surprising.   Welcome to the revolution.

Filed Under: Blogging, Del.icio.us, enewsletter, Facebook, Flickr, Google, Inspiration, RSS, Search Engines, Social Network, Twitter, Video
28
Jun 2009

Dead in the Water: 5 Common Mistakes People Make Networking Online

June 28, 2009 By 3 Comments

I spend an average of three hours per day networking with people online. Granted some of this time is answering emails and reading blog posts, but much of my time is spent networking with people to learn valuable information, techniques, and new tools to pass along to other small business owners and people interested in learning social media. Therefore, it should come to no surprise that I have accumulated a list of things that make it difficult to quickly and effectively communicate with people. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging, Facebook, Twitter Tagged With: , ,
20
May 2009

Your Personal Guide to 30 Days of Social Media – a Special Summary for You

May 20, 2009 By 1 Comment

I have had several requests to summarize all of the articles in my 30 Day series.  Here you go! [Read more...]

Filed Under: 30 Days of Social Marketing, Blogging, Del.icio.us, Ecommerce, enewsletter, Facebook, Flickr, Google, Inspiration, LinkedIn, RSS, Search Engines, Social Network, Twitter, Video
16
Apr 2009

How Much Time Should You Spend on Social Media Each Week

April 16, 2009 By 3 Comments

(4756) Tempus fugitI am often asked how many hours I spend on my social media sites every day.  On average, I spend about 3 hours a day creating educational content for my clients and building stronger relationships with current and potential clients.

Something happens when you get involved with social media.  You change.  You realize that the more you give – the better you feel – and the more you get back.  I am motivated to be even more active!

By the end of the week, I have created some terrific marketing materials that are customer focused.  I have also created a bunch of ineffective materials that will not work, but here’s the thing – my social community helps me determine what is good or bad based on the comments I receive, the number of times an article is retweeted, or the emails that I receive with questions on the articles or tweets.

So – 15 hours per week [Read more...]

Filed Under: 30 Days of Social Marketing, Blogging, Del.icio.us, enewsletter, Facebook, LinkedIn, RSS, Search Engines, Social Network, Twitter, Video Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
05
Apr 2009

Social Marketing Results in Less than 60 Minutes: One Great Example

April 5, 2009 By 2 Comments

Rachel Ray can whip up a great meal in less than thirty minutes, so why can’t you create some fantastic social marketing results in a half hour too? You can. The following is a great example of the power of social networking tools; put to use this week by Beth Gasser, owner of Confessions of a Mom website.

coamlogo [Read more...]

Filed Under: 30 Days of Social Marketing, Blogging, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
30
Mar 2009

Give Me 15 Minutes and I Will Give You The Formula To Blogging Success

March 30, 2009 By 2 Comments

Do you want to know the secret to creating a consistently great blog content?  Thousands of businesses and individuals start blogging each year.  The sad fact is that many of them never get their blog beyond the first post – or fail to continue after a couple of posts.  So here is the secret to creating a successful blog:  Outline all of your blog posts for the next 90 days.  That is it.  Take the time to outline all of your blog posts for the next 90 days.  Start small.  Plan on writing two blog posts per week.  That is 26 new pages of new website content in 90 days.

Writers Block (8)

What makes a post

As a rule of thumb, [Read more...]

Filed Under: 30 Days of Social Marketing, Blogging Tagged With: , , , , , ,
29
Mar 2009

Don’t Be Too Quick To Decide a Blog Isn’t Right For Your Business

March 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

fingernailsBlogs are regularly updated Web sites, usually featuring comments and links.  One of the reasons blogs are so popular is because of the ease in updating.  If you can type an email, you can update a blog.  In fact, you can update your blog with only a web browser, an email program, OR a cell phone.   That is impressive!

Did you know:

  • 77 million+ Americans visit blogs
  • 346 million blog readers worldwide.

Why blogs were a big deal

  • Blogs changed the way people saw the Web
  • You can create, react, communicate
  • For the first time ever, anyone can make content for a global audience

Blogs can help you achieve your business goals

  1. Do you need to ‘humanize’ your company and brand?  Blogs tend to break through the corporate rhetoric and create a more personal voice.  [Read more...]
Filed Under: 30 Days of Social Marketing, Blogging Tagged With: , , , ,
02
Mar 2009

Putting a Face on Social Media – Gravatars: Day 2

March 2, 2009 By 2 Comments
googly eyes

Ever visit a blog or forum and wonder how the other people have their picture showing up along side their post?  Today’s suggestion is one of the fastest social networking tools you can use, called Gravatars, and it’s FREE. This is a simple tool designed to automatically combine your picture with your email on any site, world-wide, that has Gravatar enabled. It is becoming common practice on blogs, forums, or any place that you use your email to post comments. Yahoo groups have been using Avatar for a long time, and Gravatar is a Globally Recognized version!

Why is this important? Anyone in business knows it’s important to [Read more...]

Filed Under: 30 Days of Social Marketing, Blogging, Facebook, Google Tagged With: , , , , ,