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.

5. Use products/services list to choose one item to elaborate on, explaining in easy to understand terms what it is you offer. If you don’t have a list, brainstorm one and work off of it. This can be a source of articles for many months, depending on the length of your products/services options.

6. If you have clients complete feedback cards, address the issues in an article explaining either that it’s a great idea and what you’re working on to incorporate the idea, OR why it’s not feasible to accommodate that now; acknowledging the excellent ideas.

7. Feature a testimonial from a client.

8. Write about an upcoming industry related training or presentation that you/staff plan to attend. If appropriate to encourage your clients to attend as well, include necessary registration information.

9. Review an article or book related to your industry and readership interest.

10. Choose an ongoing topic for a series or mini-series that you add to each issue.

11. Create a Question and Answer format, and either ask your clients for questions or write your own. You could also draw from a FAQ page from your website, highlighting a different one each issue.

12. Ask your clients to submit stories and/or pictures using your products creatively, humorous stories, etc.

13. Re-use old articles, editing and updating for current use.

14. If you offer training or have materials already written to help clients with a specific topic, use portions of the materials to develop a new article.

15. Ask your staff for industry news that is timely and needs to be communicated. (new products, research studies, rebates, recalls, etc)

16. Ask your clients what they would like more information about or what topics would be helpful to them. Make sure to ask more than just your contact person. Issues that are pertinent to your contact person, may be very different from what the owner of the company, sales person, repair person, marketing person, customer service person wants/needs to know.

17. Identify a vertical industry (one that is relevant or complimentary to what you do, but not in direct competition) and ask others to write articles for your blogs. They may have plenty of pre-existing items they can submit for your blog. Most people will welcome opportunities for free marketing.

18. Check with your manufacturer, supplier, distributor, parent company, etc for published articles and materials you can re-publish in your blog. If your sales increase due to your to additional marketing efforts, there may be affiliate payouts, commissions, benefits, etc.

19. Advise readers of critical dates such as upcoming events, sales, or rebates. Be sure to walk them through any necessary procedures and provide all critical information.

20. Summarize all pertinent information you/your staff learned at a recent conference or seminar, passing along an abbreviated version of helpful insight to your readers regarding new products, new services, new uses or updates to older items, research findings, price reductions, benefits, etc.

21. Use an interview format for an article. Interview a client, vender, or industry expert with predetermined questions to make it simple for everyone.

22. Obtain author’s written permission to use an article written and published in a local newspaper or blog. Simply republish in your blog.

23. There are lots of articles online that are free to use and republish. Spend some time searching for some good sources and make a list. In most cases, all you need to do is give credit to the author and site the source.

24. Reiterate important business relationship topics, such as your payment terms, return policies, office hours, holiday hours, contact information, directions, website, etc.

25. Premier sales in your blog or develop specific sales offers only for blog subscribers. This is a great measurement tool, as you can have clients reference codes published in blogs, different from those published in newspaper ads, direct mail, etc.

26. Ask clients to submit ideas they’d like covered in future articles on your blog.

27. Ask pre-selected employees, clients, and/or vendors, if they’d like a regular column. You set the parameters for the content, and let them write and develop on an ongoing basis.

28. Feature an article to get to know your staff and/or departments. You can either set standard questions and have others write the article, or use an interview format.

29. Highlight your business in the news. If you’ve been recently featured for one reason or another, write an article to extend the PR a little longer.

30. Build personal relations with your clients by writing about internal news such as new hires, long time retirements, winning awards, promotions, title changes, ownership changes, restructuring, etc. Make sure your blog readers hear things first, from you, the most trusted source.

31. Review your company calendar, company meeting agendas/notes, or company emails for items that may need to be shared or of particular interests to your clients. This is a great way to stimulate ideas that may otherwise get forgotten.

32. If your product, service, staff, or manufacturer has been recognized for honors or extraordinary results, or awards make sure to cover in an article explaining the importance of the recognition.

33. If you donate to a charity, offer a scholarship, volunteer time and/or staff resources it can be very important to communicate your involvement to your readership, offering them opportunities to get involved if they’re interested and would like more information.

34. Publish the history of your company. Many people have the story of the business framed on the wall or in their marketing materials.

35. Don’t be afraid to “re-run” articles on critical topics. It is common to assume that clients understand and retain information provided them, and yet statistics show that reiteration of the same topics proves helpful and diminishes common frustrations.

36. If your business is seasonal or products/services vary with seasons/holidays, make sure you write articles several months in advance to help prepare for increased business and customer needs. Address issues such as advanced appointments, shipping, deadlines, inventory, etc.

37. Develop a customer of the month, highlighting their trust and years of patronage. Tell about your business relationship, products/services purchased over the years, how they use your business to solve their problems, and give them a free plug for their business/organization/ or cause they are passionate about.

38. Provide a list of resources for your readers that is related to your industry or that may stimulate additional inquiries. It may be a local list or an online list. For example, a professional organizer should provide updated information on where to donate unwanted items. A real estate agent should provide the same information to a client preparing a home to sell. An accountant would want to provide updated information on how to track (tax) donations for all the items these industries are assisting their clients with. It is amazing how important shared resources are and how helpful it can be to your clients.

39. Offer an incentive to your readers to forward the blog to others they think may be interested in subscribing.

40. Review a different section of your website, guiding your blog readers to your website, through the services you offer, and highlighting specific benefits or areas of interest. Choose a different area of the website to feature each issue.

41. Create a Did You Know section that simply relates facts or statistics about your company, products, service, industry, etc. For example, “Did you know that our company achieved 100% on-time shipping of all our products in 2007?”

42. Pictures can provide insight into your organization. Consider a pictorial tour by departments, or by process of product development or service delivery. Example: Outside view of building, reception area, offices, production, testing, delivery trucks, etc. You could also show history of the business through the years.

43. Articles aren’t the only content in a blog. Consider a quiz, contest, game, or other interactive idea to get your customers involve. Interesting ideas make it more likely that readers will retain information about your business.

44. Watch the news for related stories you will need to address for your readers, either to reiterate, explain, ease fears, or translate locally. An example may be food or toy recalls. Do you sell something that is getting national coverage? Would your readership wonder if you do? Address the issue.

45. Do you have a PR story to pitch? There are tons of writers who look for interesting stories to write that will get them their own good PR. Some will write about you for free, submit your story online, and give you permission to use the story in your own blog. Subscribe to newsletters and other blogs, get familiar with some authors, and email them directly. Most will post their email address or websites after the article.

46. If you have a web blog or feedback forum on your site and a great topic was recently discussed, re-use the content! This is probably going to be a great representation of what all most of your other readers want discussed as well.

47. Don’t underestimate the power of a brainstorming session with lots of people from your company. Ask for ideas for upcoming articles and let the ideas flow freely for a while. Then take notes. Chances are you’ll have more content ideas than you have time to address right away. Don’t forget to ask for volunteers to write, especially if someone is very passionate about something.

48. Are there tips and tricks you could provide to your customers that would make their use of your product or service easier, faster, cheaper, less stressful? This section would not need to be long, but would provide something new each issue such as: replacement parts, cleaning tips, preparations before service, dates to remember (changing filters), maintenance, record keeping, what to keep/throw, storage instructions, safety tips, other uses, etc. You could also use simple diagrams with your tips if appropriate.

49. It’s ok to hire a content writer. This option isn’t for everyone, but it can be very appropriate to hire help, especially with larger PR initiatives. If you do spend the money to have content written for your website, PR campaign, or marketing kit, make sure you use it (or excerpts) in your blog. Get the most mileage you can out of pieces you’re paying an author to write!

50. Carry a notebook or journal to take notes of ideas that inspire you at inopportune times. You may be at a business meeting, out for supper, or at a child’s concert when a great idea crosses your mind. If you don’t write it down, you may not recall it later. Some of your best ideas will come when you’re least expecting it, so when all else fails, take a break. Don’t stress over creating content. Some blog articles will be longer than others.

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.

What ideas do you have that helped inspire what you write about?

photo credit: Julie Sturek

Marketing with Social Media Tip 1:

Keep in mind that you should not be focused solely on selling yourself. Social media networks are largely about building relationships. In a rural area, it is likely that most of your targeted market knows of you, so take advantage of social media to let them know who you really are.

Marketing with Social Media Tip 2:

Find your angle. Some people use social media to link useful tools, apps or stories to their followers. Others use social book marking sites to promote niche topics. Some use social media mainly as a conversational tool. Once you choose your angle or style, be sure to stick with it. It is essential to your brand to have not only a consistent message, but a consistent presentation as well.

Marketing with Social Media Tip 3:

Remember how big the Internet is. No matter how small your local community is, remember that any social media messages you post or sites you promote, targeted customers in your small local area are not the only ones that will be able to see them. It is important to not get too casual or veer into unprofessional, which can be tricky with the free flowing, instantaneous nature of marketing with social media.

Marketing with social media is constantly growing in popularity. With no sign of waning, it is safe to assume that sooner or later, your small business is going to have to get involved with social media. Keeping in mind these three tips for marketing with social media is a good start, with many more resources available for your perusal as you get more comfortable with your social media presence.

Why make things more complicated when you start?

One hour a day. It doesn’t even have to be a continuous hour.
Ten minutes here, twenty minutes there – whenever you can find the time to spare, all you need to do is engage in social media marketing an hour a day. So, what can you do in that hour? Here are seven things you can do, all in under an hour.

1. Do a Twitter search on your company name to see what people are saying. Respond to a couple.
2. Add a picture or two of new products to your company Facebook page.
3. Film a quick 5 minute video about recent news relating to your industry or company.
4. Write a blog post about your top 5 best selling products or services.
5. Create a quick coupon and link to it from your Twitter account.
6. Do a quick Twitter search for your town and add ten new friends from the local area.
7. Spend a couple of minutes personally responding to blog comments and visiting the blogs of commenters.

Give it a try

Not only can each of those social media marketing techniques be done in under an hour, all seven tips can be accomplished in under an hour. Participating in social media marketing an hour a day may not seem like enough to be effective. However, pick one, two or even all of the tips listed above and try them out for a couple of weeks. Don’t spend more than an hour a day on social media marketing, and see what kind of connections and results you come up with. After your initial two weeks, take what you’ve learned about what works and what doesn’t and tailor the tips to your business’s needs. Don’t wait for the big budget and big staff of a big city business to start your social media marketing efforts. If you can spare an hour a day, your small business can have a legitimate presence on social media as well.

Your thoughts?

Can you spare one hour to focus on building relationships online, enhancing communiation, learning what your customers are really thinking? I would love to hear your thoughts.

BTW – the photo above is from one of my favorite local potters.  You can learn more at www.claycoyoteblog.com.

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

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.

Are you now self-conscious and wondering if your business is “one of THOSE businesses”? You are in luck because there is a guaranteed protective shield especially for you to protect your company from ever being called a Mystery Business. It’s called a blog, and it’s used to educate people about what it is that you do better than anyone else in the world. It’s uniquely designed to include everything you need to answer questions you never knew were even being asked about your business and communicate with those who want to know what it is that you do.

Stop the whispering. Combat small town gossip- get a blog today!

PRESENTER’S DIRECTIONS

Amount of time needed:  20 – 30 minutes

Divide participants into 3-5 small groups.

Give each small group a scenario page and a pack of “tool/activity” cards. Each card has an amount of points labeled at the bottom; this signifies how much needs to be invested (time, money, etc.) in the tool/activity (the maximum amount of points they can use is 10).

Each small group should complete the scenario page and be prepared to report back to the large group. Give them 5 minutes to discuss, fill out the scenario page and prepare to report back.

Have each group report back.   Set a 2-minute time limit for each group.

Once all the groups have reported back ask a number of the following discussion questions to the entire group – as time permits.

1. How did your small group discussions go?
2. How hard or easy was it to decide on which tools/activities to use? Why?
3. What did you think of the choices or rational of any of the groups?
4. What did you learn from this activity?

Various Scenarios

• Raising Awareness
• Fundraising
• Event Promotion
• Advocacy
• Thought Leadership

Social Media Card Deck

• Social Media Card Deck

Additional material from the Convening can be found on the Resilient Organizations Fund website.

• Home Page:  http://www.resilientnonprofits.org/
• Materials:  http://www.resilientnonprofits.org/materials/
• About the Convening:  http://www.resilientnonprofits.org/convenings/

• Where will the ideas come from?
• When will I have time?
• What will I write about?

Ideas are all around you each and every day. If you write about common everyday things such as a question from a customer, an experience on a project, an observation from your desk or an email you receive, the ideas will turn into great articles. Your customers DO want to read about these things, because they often address questions they are afraid to ask, observations they have made as well, and insight into doing business with you. You are an expert in your specific industry, and your customers trust what you have to say!

There are several methods that work great for capturing your ideas that pop into your head at inopportune times, and turning your ideas into great articles.

1. Remember those small spiral-bound Mead Memo Pads? They are cheap and fit into your pocket, purse, or the cup holder of your car. Keep a memo pad with you at all times and scribble your ideas down to refer to later.  One blogger I know uses her memo pad religiously and NEVER forgets an article idea.
2. Another option is using sticky notes. Choose a specific color for your blog post ideas and keep a pad at work, home, and in the car. Jot down quick ideas and stick them where they won’t get lost. When you sit down to write, look for your color-coded sticky notes with ample ideas. If you need to, stick them to the computer, TV, your brief case, or where ever you know you’ll find them.
3. Feeling particularly full of ideas? Write them down in a brainstorm list. I have certain times when I get tons of ideas floating into my head, so I write them in a brainstorm list. For me, key times are during business meetings when important, interesting, and inspiring topics come up. Another time I get inspired with blog post ideas is when I am reading books or magazines. I’ve been known to rip a page from a magazine I’m reading to serve as a reminder of what I want to write about. I simply set it on my desk.
4. Keep a clearly labeled folder of ideas near your computer. Slot ideas in the folder. I get ideas from junk mail, advertisements, newspaper articles, magazines, and even things my kids have written, said, or drawn.  It’s great to flip through your file for article ideas when you are ready to write.
5. WordPress offers the option of draft blog posts. Feeling particularly inspired or have some time on your hands right now? Write a few blog posts and save them for later.

Anyone can write great articles for blog posts, and every business should consider adding a blog to your marketing mix. The information, relationships, and business growth that result from blogs are priceless.

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

The following is a list of common mistakes I see people make while networking online. If you see yourself or business in ANY of the mistakes below, make an immediate effort to rectify the issue. Your business and social marketing efforts depend on it.

5 Common Mistakes People Make Networking Online

1. Missing Gravatar Picture: More often than not, I see missing gravatar pictures next to insightful blog comments. If you take the time to write insightful comments and engage in conversations with other people, you are wasting valuable opportunities to connect yourself and/or company with a network of people. It takes less than a minute to establish your gravatar picture, and in doing so, you show the world that their potential relationship with you is worth 60 seconds of your time.
2. Non-Human Gravatar Picture: While on the Gravatar subject, let me suggest that you use a photograph of yourself. A professional, personal, up-close, creative, HUMAN, recent photograph of YOU. Yeah, your hilarious high school photo might be funny to you, but guess what? Social networking isn’t about you. It’s about all the thousands of people you want to engage in conversation. So unless you have a very niche business where a goofy picture of you or your dog is appropriate, don’t make the mistake of missing a great opportunity with your Gravatar picture.
3. Missing Twitter Bio: Why bother joining Twitter if you don’t want people to follow you? If you don’t take a few minutes to write something in your bio that tells people who you are, what’s important to you, or why you are on Twitter, don’t expect them to follow you. If you think this isn’t hurting you, guess again. I make it a policy not to follow anyone with a missing bio, and I’m not the only one. It’s fast becoming an online example of being socially inept.
4. Contact Info: When I visit blogs and Facebook fan pages, I like to know where the person or business is. It is how I personally connect with people. I remember many of my social network contacts by their city or state. If the information is missing, I have a hard time remembering and connecting with them on a personal level. Why? Concrete information makes it REAL for me. Last week I was tweeting with someone from California, who was on her way to Minnesota with a college friend in MY CITY. Do you think I remember this contact on Twitter? You Bet! So add your business information or at least city/state location to your various sites. (plus, it’ll help with Google results)
5. Missing Persons Report: The biggest mistake I see is when people go missing. I tend to gravitate toward the people I’ve gotten to know online, so when it occurs to me that I haven’t seen or heard from them in a long time, it makes the whole process disjointed and inconsistent. Make sure that you make a plan make your social networking “rounds” wherever you get involved. If you have a fan page on Facebook, update it. If you are on Twitter, consistently tweet and follow-up with people. If you join communities such as Ning or industry specific site, go back on a regular basis. If you need to make a plan or write it on the calendar or set aside a specific day/time, do it. It is a mistake to go missing from your social networking contacts.