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Live Tweeting at Conferences

June 6, 2014 By 4 Comments

 

Live Tweeting at Conferences

Live Tweeting at Conferences

You may have been to a conference lately and wondered about people who live tweet. This post is how to make your experience easier. With just a little bit of planning, your live tweeting can add to your conference experience. For other tips on conferences, read Entrepreneur’s The Art of Hacking a Conferences.

Why Live Tweet?

Aaron Hockley Recommends This "Friend Maker"

Aaron Hockley Recommends This “Friend Maker”

Live tweeting lets you connect to other Twitter users, and amplifies what’s happening at the conference or live event. Live tweeting lets the speakers know that you’re listening to them, since you can interact with them. Often, a conference such as WordCamp San Francisco (#WCSF) will have a live Twitter feed. The #SFGiants interact with their audience through live tweeting. You may have read my post about the San Francisco Giants and how they can improve your game.

Before the Event

  • Search for the Hashtag. If your conference has a hashtag, search for it. For instance, I’ll be attending WordCamp Orange County (#WCOC), and have been following the hashtag. You may find out about extra parties or discover more about your favorite speakers. For instance, there is a pre-event golf game for #WCOC.
  • Follow speakers whose talks you’d like to attend.
  • Follow fellow attendees.
  • Create a list in Twitter for the event. When you add someone to a list, they’re alerted on Twitter. Once people are on a list, you can more easily hear what they’re saying and cut down the noise of Twitter.
  • Create a Pinterest place board for bonus points! My pal, Bridget Willard, created this Orange County WordCamp board that’s both a place board and a group board (so I can pin to it, too!).
  • Make a list with the participants, their handles, and the hashtag on your smart phone.
  • Print a list using Post-it notes. Yep. I found it on Pinterest.

Stuff to Bring

Extra chargers, fully charged phones, an extra extension cord (aka Friend Maker), and your already-made lists.

Follow the Conference Hashtag

Follow the Conference Hashtag

During the Event

  • Use the hashtag at the end of every tweet. You could use tweetchat.com for this (adds the hashtag automagically!). People who are watching remotely use the hashtag as well as those at the conference.
  • Follow the conference hashtag (you can create a column in Tweetdeck or HootSuite to make this easier).
  • Listen for Interesting Quotes. Add value to the conversation by cherry picking the best quotes.
  • Tweet your own questions or comments.
  • Use abbreviations. Here are some common ones: OH (Overhead), h/t (hat tip), MT (modified tweet).
  • Meet New Friends. Since you’ve already been following people (and hopefully engaging with them), they will probably be more open to meeting. So don’t be shy!

Do You Enjoy Live Tweeting?

What would you add to my lists? Please leave me a comment. Thanks!

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Dr. Beth Halbert

June 4, 2014 By 2 Comments

 

Run! Don’t walk!! Time with Carol has been amazing. I learned so much about Social Media & Pinterest. I have an account, boards and I’ve even pinned. If you have no idea what this means call Carol fast she is so kind and patient.

Dr.Beth Halbert
510.507.9198
Drbeth.com
@DrBethCP

 

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LinkedIn: Top Ten Tasks (and Power Tips)

June 2, 2014 By 7 Comments
LinkedIn: Top Ten Tasks (and Power Tips)

LinkedIn: Top Ten Tasks (and Power Tips)

 

LinkedIn now has over 225 million users, with 100 million of those in the United States. Execs from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn users. Although LinkedIn has been the sleeping giant of the social media world, it has recently taken steps to be more interactive, giving users the ability to post rich media like videos and images.

Once the shy guest at the social media party, LinkedIn has blossomed, with 40% of LinkedIn users now checking in daily. LinkedIn is not the place for breaking news like Twitter, groovy pictures like Instagram, or delightful how-to images like Pinterest. But LinkedIn has quietly bloomed—by spending a little time on LinkedIn, you will be richly rewarded. Here are Top Ten Tasks and Power Tips for Pinterest and Twitter, by the way.

Here are some top tasks for you to tackle on your LinkedIn profile. For the more advanced, skip to the “Power Tips.”

Add a Professional Photo to Your Profile

Did you know that profiles with photos get seven times as many views as profiles without them? Make sure the photo is of you—not a cartoon avatar, not a photo of the cute new puppy, and not one standing next to your new car. A photo of you, smiling, looking professional is the best image for you on LinkedIn.

Power Tip: Add logos of major media outlets that have mentioned or published you below your photo. Brian Horn suggests “As seen on” with the logos right underneath your picture.

LinkedIn: Top Ten Tasks (and Power Tips)

LinkedIn: Top Ten Tasks (and Power Tips

Update Your Status

Your LinkedIn status is the place to show that you’re engaged and up to date. Here’s where you can brag a little about a recent post you authored, a book that mentions you, or an upgrade in your job skills.  Have an upcoming event? You can post it here!

Power Tip: Engage people by mentioning them. Type in the @ symbol followed by the name of the person. LinkedIn will auto-populate the name of the person. Often, those mentioned will like, comment, or share. This is important because it extends your reach and your posts will be seen by others. Note: do not overdo the mentions.

Connect, Connect, Connect!

LinkedIn recommends that you have at least 50 people in your network. If you have your colleagues’ email addresses, you can send a connection request.

Power Tip: Don’t use the default connection request, especially if you’re sending a request to someone you barely know. Give that person a reason to connect! For instance, “we keep running into each other at networking events, and I thought it would be fab to connect here, too.”

Use Privacy Settings

When you’re looking for a new job (or happen to be in stealth mode for another reason), use the privacy settings to shield yourself from prying eyes. The privacy settings are on a drop-down menu 

Power Tip: Turn off “activity broadcast” so LinkedIn doesn’t send announcements to everyone each time you edit your profi

Fill out the Summary

On LinkedIn, you have more space than you would on a paper resume, and that includes the old-school summary section that everyone once had on their resumes. Don’t overlook this important piece of your profile.

Power Tip: Search for people in fields similar to you to see what keywords their profiles contain. When you do the search, notice who comes up first. Think of LinkedIn as a mini-Google, where you would like your profile to rise to the top in the search engines! The same thing is true in search on LinkedIn—you want to be listed at the top in a search for your keywords 

List Hobbies and Volunteer Work

List Your Hobbies on Your LinkedIn Profile

List Your Hobbies on Your LinkedIn Profile

Maybe you have a soft spot for rescuing cats. Maybe you enjoy working with kids or volunteering for a church. Whatever you like to do in your spare time is important to the person who wants to connect with you.

Power Tip: Make a particular effort to include volunteer work in your area of expertise. And even if it doesn’t seem relevant to you, include it anyway. You never know what people are looking for.

Join Groups

There are over 1.4 million groups on LinkedIn—that’s enough groups for just about anyone! If you want to be noticed, join groups. Listen to conversations or just lurk for a while if you want to know how people relate to one another. Every group has slightly different dynamics.

Power Tip: Once you’re familiar with how a group operates, you may want to start your own group.

Give Recommendations and Endorsements

On LinkedIn, Giving an Endorsement Just Takes a Click or Two

On LinkedIn, Giving an Endorsement Just Takes a Click or Two

Endorsements are very simple to give—just a couple of clicks and you’re done. Recommendations, on the other hand, take a little more work, and so will be more appreciated. If there’s a colleague who has really stood out for you, give them a recommendation.

Power Tip: It’s not necessary to thank people for simple endorsements, since they take so little time (in my opinion). But I would thank someone who gave you a recommendation because of the extra consideration that goes into them

Updating Your Profile

Occasionally, you may want to update your profile. When you do, turn off the “activity broadcast” feature so that all your followers don’t get inundated with each little change.

Power Tip: Customize your profile URL if you haven’t already by going to Settings > Edit Public Profile > Customize Your Public Profile URL.

LinkedIn Mobile

While the desktop version of LinkedIn has the most features, having the mobile app can let you connect with people on the fly at networking events. 

Power Tip: Simply search for the person you’ve just met on the mobile app, connect, and you won’t have to worry about losing a business card ever again.

How Much Time Do You Spend on LinkedIn?

I’m curious if LinkedIn’s new changes have you spending more time there. Please leave a comment letting me know!

 

 

 

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Are You Pinterest Savvy?

May 29, 2014 By 4 Comments
Pinterest Savvy

Pinterest Savvy

Recently, I read Pinterest Savvy and participated in a Facebook group run by the author, Melissa Taylor. Check out Melissa’s fabulous Pinterest account and you’ll see why any marketer might be interested in seeing what she has to say about Pinterest. While I think that I’m good at Pinterest, I had no idea what I was getting into by following her advice. Here are a few reasons Melissa’s book should matter to you, and a high-level of her book.

Set Up Your Profile

Have you taken the time to really work on your profile, verify your website, and added some keywords? Melissa takes you through the process in her simple-to-understand guide. Here’s my own top ten tasks for beginning pinners.

Worksheets

One thing I really love is hands-on, and Melissa’s book has plenty of worksheets that you’ll be able to write all over, revise later, and use to improve your boards. Some of my favorites are about using keywords, scanning your home feed, and practicing your skills to make better pins.

Are You a Blogger?

Melissa suggests pinning your blog posts to a board. This is something that not everyone takes the time to do, and can have a huge impact on your website traffic. If you’re not doing this yet, you will definitely see an increase in traffic if you do! Not only that, but Pinterest offers you analytics so you can see which of your posts are performing the best. You might be surprised that some of the best-performing don’t have repins or even likes.

Making Money from Pinterest

Something that will really interest marketers is the part about making money from Pinterest. You can find a sponsor, especially if your Pinterest brand has become very popular.

Get Pinterest Savvy for Free!

Act quickly (really) because this offer won’t be available for long. Even if it’s not available, Melissa’s book is a very good investment.

 

 

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Pinterest: Top Ten Tasks (and Power Tips)

May 26, 2014 By 4 Comments
Top Ten Pinterest Tasks

Top Ten Pinterest Tasks

You may have seen my previous post on Top Ten Twitter Terms. Here are the first tasks you should tackle on Pinterest. If you’re more advanced, skip to the “Power Tips.”

Set Up Your Profile

Fill out your profile. Go to “Settings” on the top right, scroll to Profile, upload your picture or avatar and fill out the “About You.” Connect your Facebook, Twitter, etc. You can invite friends at the top left of your home page. If you plan to sell on Pinterest, you’ll need to set up a business account.

Power Tip: Use Location for a short descriptive sentence, if you prefer. Make sure to click “save settings.”

Create Boards

Boards are how you organize pins on Pinterest. Choose an easy name for your boards—nothing fancy. For instance, Blogs, not Words Words Words, will be found easier. Create a category and description for each board. And, since Pinterest is a visual medium, make sure your board covers are pretty!

Power Tip: Create at least 5 boards of 5 pins each before you start following anyone. People want to know what your pins are like, and what your interests are before they’ll follow you.

Add Pins

A pin contains an image and description. Upload an image from your computer using the red plus icon at the top right of your Pinterest account, or use the Pinterest browser button, available from Pinterest.

Power Tip: Fill out each pin’s description completely. If you’re repinning, change the description to make it yours. Think about how people would search for that pin. For instance, if you’re pinning a watercolor painting, you could use the words, water color, painting, and art. You might also add the dominant colors and the topic, since people sometimes search that way.

Find Others to Follow

Pinterest is visual, so make your boards pretty!

Pinterest is visual, so make your boards pretty!

Click on the icon–which turns red when you hover over it–in the top left corner and you’ll see all kinds of categories. Explore your interests and find boards and pinners to follow.

Power Tip: You can follow a single board or an account. If you don’t like one or two boards, follow all, then unfollow the boards you don’t enjoy.

Repin

When you find a pin, either through search, or through discovery in your own stream, you can repin it. When you repin it, change the comment.

Power Tip: Click all the way through a pin to discover where the pin leads. If a pin leads nowhere or to spam, don’t repin. You can report spam and Pinterest is pretty good at removing it.

Like

A “like” is not as strong as a repin. You might “like” a pin rather than comment, if it’s outside your niche.

Comment

People rarely comment on Pinterest. It’s a very powerful way to be noticed by influencers.

Power Tip: If you want to be noticed, comment. You can ask questions or tag others in a comment, too.

Give Credit

Pinterest usually gives credit to the destination of the original pin. Authors and artists also appreciate getting credit.

Power Tip: If you don’t know whose image you’re repinning, you could ask your followers right in the comment of the pin, such as “Does anyone know whose image this is or have any more information?”

Know Your Audience

As with all other social media platforms, know what people are looking for. For instance, if you’re a spa owner you might also pin tips on relaxation, how to get good sleep, smoothie recipes, etc.

Power Tip:After awhile, you’ll get a feel for what your audience likes by what gets repinned. Repin more of the popular content.

Clean Up Boards

Occasionally, you can delete pins that don’t get much traffic.

Power Tip: At first, none of your pins may get much traffic. If you believe something will get traffic (but wasn’t seen the first time you pinned it), you can repin it to the top of the same board, and delete the one further down.

Did I Forget Anything?

Please let me know in the comments! Thanks!

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Twitter: Top Ten Terms (and Power Tips)

May 19, 2014 By 8 Comments

 

Twitter: Top Ten Terms

Twitter: Top Ten Terms

I’m teaching a class this week on Twitter to an audience with some people who are unfamiliar with Twitter. Every social media manager also has favorite power tips to go along with these terms. Here are my top ten “must-know” definitions, along with some “power tips.”

Tweet

Every update you post to your followers on Twitter is called a tweet. Every tweet has a 140-character limit (including your handle). Remember: Your tweets are public and searchable by anyone on Twitter, even if they don’t follow you, so be careful about what you say. Deciding what you don’t want to tweet about is as important as deciding what you will tweet about.

Engagement

Engagement means responding to and conversing with your followers and others on Twitter. Most successful accounts engage on Twitter daily.

Power Tip: Monitor who follows you, who @mentions you, and engage with those people daily. These are the things I do when I first log into Twitter.

Retweet

Twitter is for sharing things that your followers might find useful, interesting, or entertaining. The “retweet” is a manifestation of this. When you see a tweet that you think your followers would be interested in, hit reply, copy and paste the tweet, then send.

Power Tip: If you just hit the “retweet” button, often people will not “see” the tweet, especially if they’re using a third-party Twitter application.  If there’s space, you can add a comment, such as “Great Idea!” Here is how to send a perfect retweet.  

MT

This means “modified tweet,” which is a retweet that you edited to save space.

Power Tip: To really boost a tweet’s power, add an image.

@mention

When you want to “tag” someone in a tweet, use an @ before their Twitter username (for instance, @Carol_Stephen). Add this mention and they’ll get a notification in their “Mentions.” This serves a dual purpose: they’ll know you are reading their tweets, and you’re giving them credit for finding great content.

Power Tip:

This is a newbie mistake. If you tweet @username without a period in front, only your mutual followers (in other words, people who follow both you and @username) and the person you’re tweeting to will see it in their streams. Add a period or other character before @username so that all of your followers will see your tweet in their streams. 

DM

A “DM,” or “direct message,” is a private message between two Twitter users. It’s different than a public @mention because in order to send a DM, the recipient must follow you. Select companies can send DMs without following.

Power Tip: Do not automate direct messages. Asking someone to “like you on Facebook” after they just followed you on Twitter is antisocial and may cause you to be unfollowed. Many people consider DMs to be spam.

Hashtag (#)

This innocent-looking symbol is a hashtag. Use it in front of other words in a tweet to provide context or to organize a search for specific topics on Twitter. Be careful not to overuse hashtags. More than one or two will turn off your followers. Here are more details about hashtags.

Power Tip: Use hashtags in your own profile to attract followers in a particular niche. For instance, I have #Startups in mine.

Feed

Your home page has a feed of tweets from the people you follow (click on “home” to see them), while your profile page has a feed of your own tweets (click on “tweets” to see your own tweets). 

URL Shortener

Since tweets are limited to 140 characters, services have popped up that shorten website addresses so you don’t use up too many characters in your tweet. These services are called “URL shorteners” because “URL” (Universal Resource Locator) is the technical term for a web address. URL shorteners create short addresses that work just like a longer URL.

Power Tip: Third-party apps, such as Hootsuite, have URL shorteners built into them.

Follower

Check What Your New Follower is Tweeting Before Following Back

Check What Your New Follower is Tweeting Before Following Back

A “follower” is someone who follows you on Twitter and sees your updates on their home feed. Just because someone follows you doesn’t mean you have to follow them back!

Power Tip: Check someone’s top ten tweets to see if they are interesting. You can also add people to a list even if you’re not following them.

Bonus Terms

FF or #FF

#FollowFriday was started by Twitter users as a way to recommend other Twitter users. It happens on Fridays; you can search Twitter for the hashtag on Fridays. Many followers also use #FollowThursday (or any other day) to recommend people.

Power Tip: Recommend one favorite account per tweet, and tell us why to follow that person. For instance, are they funny? Are they super-engaged? Do they have beautiful images? Give us a reason to follow. Otherwise, #FFs can become spammy.

Trends or Trending Topics

Any person, place, thing, or idea that a lot of people are tweeting about all at once is a trend. Find trends on the left side of your Twitter homepage.

Power Tip: Tailor trends by choosing your city or country. If your tweet relates to something that’s trending, use a trending hashtag to identify it and boost your tweet. For instance, if you’re at a San Francisco Giants game, you could tweet a photo and the #SFGiants hashtag–the Giants’ official hashtag. In San Francisco, The SF Giants trend often.

 

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Being Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

May 13, 2014 By 10 Comments
Being Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

Being Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

 

Recently, on our Women in Business Today Google Plus hangout on air, we talked with Chris Brogan about falling in love with not knowing. That in turn, led me to think about being comfortable with being uncomfortable. Working with startups is always an experiment with content, with new technology, with being an early adopter, and with making educated guesses. Apps and social media platforms come and go. And being uncomfortable means doing what others aren’t doing, or not fitting in sometimes.

Engagement

People are always asking me how to get new followers, how to get ROI, how to make money using social media. Here’s the big secret: focus on the SOCIAL, not the media. This goes for anybody. You already have the tools (especially if you’re a baby boomer). So talk to people. Be friendly. That’s the key to everything. As the old saying goes, “it’s simple, but not easy.” So if you’re on Pinterest, comment on pins. On Twitter, retweet and talk to people. On Facebook, chat with people. Rinse and repeat.

On Introversion

Being an introvert seems to be trendy these days. Susan Cain did a really neat TED Talk, The Power of Introverts and Women in Business Today, which I’m part of, talked about it on our Google Plus Hangout. A couple of things I really enjoyed about Susan Cain’s TED talk. Go to the wilderness. And this: Solitude matters. That really resonates for me. For an introvert, however, it’s talking with people–especially in large groups–that’s especially uncomfortable. And for an extrovert, hanging out alone or with just one or two people could be uncomfortable.

Eating the Frog

Eating the Frog

Eating the Frog

How many times have you heard that old adage to “eat the frog”? Some days you have to eat a lot of them before breakfast.  And being in a startup, you might be eating frogs all day long. Just when you’re the tiniest bit comfortable, along comes another frog.

Maintaining Focus Amidst Chaos

How do you maintain your focus every day? For me, the answer is writing. Lists and blogging help me clear my mind. The more I write, the more focused and calm I feel. This might go back to being an introvert. Maybe extroverts feel more balanced when they’re able to be around others and talk through their issues. What about you? How do you feel comfortable?

 

 

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Pinterest Influencers: Curating Pins

May 6, 2014 By 2 Comments

 

Pinterest Influencers: Curating Pins

Pinterest Influencers: Curating Pins

Pinterest, like other forms of social media, is somewhat like high school. Looks only get you so far; it’s the nature of your content, either good or bad, that will draw attention. But you may not always know what you should pin or not pin. And Pinterest, like Twitter, seems to reward those who post often, since it is through discovery that most people find others. But what should you pin? Here, then, are some ideas on pins that you could curate for your own brand.

Pin Your Own Content

For this example, let’s say that you are a garden shop. Your shop sells roses, fruit trees, and decorative plants of all kinds. Some boards you might want are: edible gardens, mulch, indoor plants, and flowers. You can pin your own pictures, you can post special garden events, and you can engage with those who comment on your pins. You probably want to keep your important boards near the top of your account, “above the fold” in website terms. Also, pay attention to making your board covers beautiful.

Do you have to keep all your pins limited to your own content, though? No!

Curate Pins from Strategic Partners

You can also pin from strategic partners. For a garden shop, that could mean a board about garden art, protecting honey bees, lotion for gardeners, and fancy-pants items such as special gloves. You want your followers to follow you because you curate the best pins–and those pins don’t have to be strictly about gardens or plants.

Amplify Your Message with Group Boards

Tulips One of Your Pinterest Boards Could be About Tulips

Tulips One of Your Pinterest Boards Could be About Tulips

You might want a group board shared by all your garden specialists, where everyone can add photos of successful gardens. Your clients can look at boards for ideas on which garden styles could work for them, too. Rather than looking at magazines, they can look at actual pictures from your own clients’ gardens. You can send pins or board locations to clients looking for a garden remodel. You might also want to join big gardening boards with lots of pinners, so long as they are active.

Sell from Your Website

Do you sell gloves, lotion, or greeting cards? You can pin right from your website or Etsy account. Be sure to fill out the pins’ descriptions completely, so that you can be found in search.

Secret Boards

Pinterest now allows you an unlimited number of secret boards, so why not use them to stage your pins? You may want to hold content back for pinning at optimal times or create boards for off-topic pins (rather than creating a personal account). And, if you’re pinning on a team, you can share secret boards with clients or team members.

Make it Pretty!

This might sound obvious, but make sure that your pins are beautiful. A beautiful image will make others want to follow you, repin from you, and want to engage with you more often. Curating the best content will keep people wanting to see more. And that’s good for you and your brand.

How Do You Curate?

Do you curate pins? How do you decide what to pin? I’d love to hear from you!

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Twitter Influencers: Deciding Who to Follow

May 1, 2014 By 8 Comments
Twitter Influencers: Deciding Who to Follow

Twitter Influencers: Deciding Who to Follow

So you’ve decided to become influential, eh? Your latest mission statement proclaims that you will be the King of Twitter, with a Klout score of 75 bajillion, and Starbucks will name a new drink after you. You’re deconstructing each tweet and how it affects your target audience, testing it, agonizing over each word, and tracking who retweets it based on complex algorithms and spreadsheets in order to attract the “appropriate” audience with the perfect hashtags. Is that the best route to take to become an influencer, though? Here’s my take. If you want to learn how to get more followers, that’s a whole other blog post.

Don’t Be That Guy

Have you ever been talking to someone at a party and had them look over your shoulder scanning the room to see if someone “better” had just entered?  How did that make you feel? Then, when they realized that you were the the best friend of the mayor, they suddenly became your best friend? Gary Vaynerchuk says it really well in his video! Everybody is relevant.

You Don’t Know Who They Know

So here’s a for instance. Let’s take me as an example. Because I’ve done lots of work for people in the trades, I know a million people in construction. Well, maybe a billion, actually. There’s a construction company, who will remain nameless, who refuses to follow me back because he believes I’m not part of his target audience. And yet, I live within 10 miles of his company, have many connections to people in construction, and ghost tweet for three companies in the trades. But none of my social media profiles says that I’m in construction. If he made the least effort to reach out, he could make connections to many more people. But since he won’t follow or engage with me, I’m not inclined to retweet his material or lift a finger to help him.

People Have Multiple Profiles

That “little account” that you refuse to take seriously may be responsible for an account with a million followers. They could know someone who works at the exact place where you’d like to apply for a job. They could be best friends with your mom, for all you know. So why not be respectful to everyone?

The Second Chess Move in Life

The Second Chess Move in Life

The Second Chess Move in Life

As Gary Vee says, if you open yourself up to people who are not your exact target audience, if you reach out and say hello to people and stop “strategizing” and act like a human being, you’ll find your exact right audience.

Gratitude

Instead of following someone based on their Klout score, how many followers they have, or whether they have the best hashtag, how about this? Follow based on conversations with others, whether they have interesting opinions, or if you have something in common. And then how about feeling grateful for the followers you do have? And by the way, here is my very favorite TedxSF talk: Louis Schwartzberg on gratitude.

How Do You Decide Who to Follow?

Is engaging with the “right” people important to you? How has that helped your cause?

 

 

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Content Creation: Like Hosting Out-of-Town Guests

April 29, 2014 By 8 Comments
Content Creation: Like Hosting Out-of-Town Guests

Content Creation: Like Hosting Out-of-Town Guests

One of my friends on Twitter, Tracy Blevins (@TracyBlevins), put content creation this way: “It’s like hosting out-of-town guests–it never ends.” Is that how you feel about content creation? On many days, I feel that way, too. What will I talk about? Will people be interested? Also, what will you cook that they’ll like and haven’t had before? I don’t want to keep serving up grilled cheese every day, after all! Here, then, are some ideas for content creation.

Curated Versus Original Content

Probably the toughest part of my job is discovering content that not everyone in the world hasn’t already seen one billion times before. Word spreads fast on the internet. How can I possibly post something new? Putting my own spin on curated content is possible, but the best thing is to create my own content and images. For instance, recently all my friends were griping about Facebook’s new algorhythm changes, so I decided to write about that.

Search Differently

Try looking for your search terms on both Google and Bing–the results will be different. You can also search for the most recent articles. Another trick is to search for your search term from within. By that I mean that if you want to know about Twitter, search from within Twitter. For Pinterest, search from within Pinterest. You’ll be surprised at what you might find. Pinterest has beefed up its search lately, too. Facebook’s search? Eh, not so much.

Non-Human Guests

Your guests aren't always human.

Your guests aren’t always human.

Another part of creating content is that your guests aren’t always human. Sometimes your guests are the little bots that roam around Google, looking for new content. So if you’re publishing twice a week, the bots will come back like little puppies waiting to be fed on those two days.

Writing for SEO and Ranking Well

Another one of your “guests” is the person who will be searching for your keywords. For instance, if someone did a Google search on quitting Facebook, my post asking if it’s time to quit Facebook might come up. Here’s a terrific article about writing for SEO, by the way.

Ideas through Random Discovery

Sometimes you can discover a good writing topic by looking online or listening to people around you at the grocery store or hearing what your friends are griping about. Is everyone ranting about Google Plus? Well, what else is new? Is there something they’re talking about that you disagree with? Sometimes I’ve started backwards with an image and written a post that way. Here’s one that I wrote after I saw the image. I loved the image so much that I had to write a post around the image.

Creating Content on a Team

If you work on a team, having a process, even if it’s simple, is very important. Who will edit? Will you have a style guide? How many cycles of editing will you go through? Where will you find images? What will your publishing schedule be like? Whenever I’ve tried to work on a team the schedule has been the trickiest part. People at startups are busy and they have other jobs. You’ll have the most success when you’re only responsible for your own schedule.

Do You Need Help with Content Creation?

Have you tried to create your own content? What obstacles have you faced? Please leave me a comment below!

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