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How to Blog That Will Help You Get Authority in Your Market

July 25, 2019 By Carol Stephen 4 Comments

Everyone wants to be an authority in their field, and some people say that you have to put in 10,000 hours to blog and be an authority in your market. Seriously? Blogging, you might ask? Haven’t most business owners moved to YouTube or to podcasts? You can create videos or podcasts, but blogging is still critical to your success. Here are a few reasons why, and some ideas on how to blog (and what to blog about).

Answer Frequently Asked Questions

There are those questions people ask over and over. With a blog, you can answer the questions people always ask. And then send people to your blog! So much easier than answering the same questions over and over. And answering those questions naturally helps you gain authority in your niche market. The answers to those Frequently Asked Questions can become evergreen content. For more about evergreen content, you might like: Sick and Tired of the Same Old Content? Create Evergreen Content.

Clarify Your Thoughts

Your ideas may not be fleshed out, but while writing your blog post, your thoughts become much more clear. I often think I learn more writing my posts than those who read my posts. Of couse, carving out the time to write can be an issue, but it’s always a priority. Brian Tracy wrote an excellent article (with video) for Entrepreneur: Why Time Management is an indispensable element of success. Check it out.

Introverts Rule

You may be introverted, shy, or uncomfortable around people. But when you’re blogging to be an authority in your market, you can edit your own thoughts and present them exactly as you’d like them to be seen. So if you’re a perfectionist in addition to being an introvert, that’s a win-win. If you haven’t read this article about introverts and writing headlines, you might like it, too. How to Write Headlines That Will Help You Reach Introverts.

Add Value to Your Community

Many of us have an online community, even if we’re not completely aware of it. Blogging lets you add value to your community and voice your opinion. If you think about your audience, or community, and write about what they’d like to learn about, you’ll always be an authority. By the way, I really like this Huffington Post Life article about the Importance of Community.

And of Course, SEO

When we blog for authority, we’re also blogging for the little bots that roam around on Google. So they like us to be writing and updating our blogs and websites constantly. Blogging helps with SEO.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blogging for authority

What Happens When a Twitter Zero Becomes a Twitter Hero?

July 18, 2019 By Carol Stephen Leave a Comment

What Happens When a Twitter Zero Becomes a Twitter Hero?

It’s amazing to me that so many people still find Twitter so mysterious. Twitter might have a slightly longer learning curve than other social media platforms, but it’s still the friendliest social media platform, in my opinion. Are you ready to go from Twitter Zero to Twitter Hero? Here are some ideas for you.

Photo by DVIDSHUB

Stop Sending DMs

Unless you’re just saying hello (and not in an automated way), just stop it. Don’t tell us how we’re “free to follow you on LinkedIn.” Don’t tell us about the thingamabob you’re selling. And please, please, please don’t send a video of your product. Because if you do, you’re surely a zero. Instead, read some of our tweets. See what we’re talking about and what interests us. Then jump into the conversation. You know: engage with us. This will help you become more of a Twitter Hero. By the way, if you’re completely lost on the topic of social media engagement, you might the book I co-wrote with Eric Lofholm: 21 Ways to Total Social Media Engagement: That Will Make You Look Like a Pro.

Don’t Blast Us with Your Content

We literally just met you. And if we have thousands of followers, we really won’t see your stuff above all the noise. If you want to get our attention, you could retweet something of ours, and add a comment, too! Now that would take you from zero to hero quickly. Blasting someone with and telling us to buy something is beyond rude. It doesn’t work, and makes people angry. And it’s a good way to get unfollowed. You don’t want to come off as spammy–that’s one of the reasons you’re not gaining followers, according to 10 Reasons Why You’re Not Gaining Social Media Followers and how to Fix it.

We Don’t Care That You’re Three Followers Short of 2,000

We really don’t. You’re the only one that does. Keep that kind of stuff on the down low. Have your fancy cupcake and champagne offline, at home, and share it with someone who cares. That is, unless you’re giving away a brand new car (the new Tesla, for instance) when you reach your 2,000th follower. In that case, we really do care! Don’t know how to engage? Read this: How to Engage Social Media: Twitter .

Change up the Stuff You Tweet

Don’t tweet the same tweet 10,000 times in a row. Nobody likes that. Instead, give us some variety. And make sure your images are good quality, too. There are tons of places to find free images if you’re not artistic. Personally, I really like Pixabay. Just make sure the images you choose are ok for commercial use.

Ask Questions of the Seasoned Professionals

If you’re really, really new on Twitter. just ask others what to do. We’re really a pretty friendly crowd. Find the people who are engaging and do some of what they do. You’ll see how awesome Twitter is.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Social Media, Twitter, Twitter hero, Twitter zero

5 Best Reasons You Should Outsource Your Social Media

July 11, 2019 By Carol Stephen Leave a Comment

5 Best Reasons You Should Outsource Your Social Media

There are lots of reasons that you should outsource your social media. From the “just don’t wanna” to the “could, but it takes too much time,” there’s a range of reasons you might not want to do your own social media. After nine years doing social media for a living, here are my five best ones.

It’s Not Your Strength

You’re really great at coming up with ideas. You have patents on all sorts of devices, and have numerous start-ups to your name. Why would you want to begin something that doesn’t interest you and isn’t your strength? You probably wouldn’t want to! Why not focus on your strengths? Don’t take my word for it, though. Check out these Ten Reasons to Focus on Your Strengths by Michelle McQuaid in Psychology Today.

But it is Someone Else’s Strength

There’s someone else out there who has social media as a strength. Someone who enjoys doing the research, wording the captions, and acting on your behalf. There are all sorts of little tricks that you’d have to learn by being online every day. Someone has already put in the time so you don’t have to, and that someone would be me!

You’re Already Over-Stressed

The idea of being on Twitter or Facebook gives you the shivers, and not in a good way. Sleep is already a tough concept for you, and you’re just beginning to understand the rest of your business. Besides, you simply don’t have time to learn something new. And your brain is full enough already! The Pew Research Center has a plethora of statistics on the cost of caring. See Psychological Stress and Social Media Usage.

Photo by val_girl

A Professional Knows How to Engage on Your Behalf

Engagement is really important. In fact, everyone says engagement is the most important thing if you have social media accounts. You know that vanity metrics definitely don’t cut it. If you haven’t read my book on social media engagement, you might like it: 21 Ways to Total Social Media Engagement That Will Make You Look Like a Pro.

So You Can Have a Life

Remember back in the day when you promised yourself that you’d keep your life in balance? And then five years went by and you haven’t seen your family during that time? Yep. Having a life is pretty important. You might like this article: See Why Work-Life Balance is the Unicorn of the Working World.

Maybe You Have Other Reasons

Maybe you have your own reasons for outsourcing your social media. What are they? Leave me a comment (or contact me if you need social media management)! And thank you.

Photo by be creator

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: outsourcing social media

This is What Happens When You Use Video on Social Media

July 4, 2019 By Carol Stephen 2 Comments

By now, you’ve noticed that there are lots and lots more videos on social media. Video is all over the place, and there’s plenty of bad video. Out-of-focus, way too long, disorganized videos, too. There’s definitely an up side to using video on social media, and there’s a down side, too.

You Can Get Lots of Attention

You’ll get attention–whether positive or negative is up to you. If you post all the time and share every moment, you may get unfollowed or muted. Not everyone is into cats, or cats wearing pajamas, or wants to see how you make a sandwich. By the way, if you want to be less annoying, you might like How to Be Less Annoying on Social Media. For starters, nobody wants your video sale pitch as a private message on Instagram.

Video Views Are Up

The time of video is here now. We’re all competing for attention from our viewers, and there’s only so much of it to go around. And people get tired of reading. Don’t you? I do sometimes. And I admit sometimes watching videos that are way, way off-topic. According to Lilach Bullock, 82% of Twitter users view video content on the app. See her excellent article Why You Need to Start Creating More Videos on Social Media. And you really need to create videos, particularly if you want to attract millennials, who are the most avid consumers of video.

Don’t Panic Yet

If you think you need a professional set-up to create good video, here’s the good news. You can create a good video on your phone, upload it to the social media platform of your choice, and share it there. Video, in my opinion, doesn’t have to be created by a videographer to get views. In fact, sometimes people prefer amateur videos (that would be me).

Goodnight, Dragons!

Every week, on our Twitter chat, #DigiBlogChat, I tweet out Goodnight, Dragons at the end of the chat! This week, since we were talking about video on social media for business, I created a little snippet, because after all, we needed a real example. It was created in about 15 minutes using an iPhone. The hardest part, truthfully, was clearing off my desk and getting the cats not to attack the card. So if that’s not proof that you can create a video, too, I don’t know what is.

Are You Using Video Yet? Why or Why Not?

Leave me a comment, and let me know your experience with video. Do you like video? Hate video?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: video on social media

How you can engage with people different from yourself?

June 27, 2019 By Carol Stephen 2 Comments

How you can engage with people different from yourself?

For this post, I actually took my own advice. Stuck for topics, I went back and read my post how to come up with a year’s worth of blog content. And buried in that blog post, was the title for this blog post!

Start with the Generic

When you’re talking to someone with a different background, start with the generic. You might try the weather. These days, the weather can be more than a litle exciting. In fact, sometimes I’d rather have the weather be a lot more boring! Often, friends in different parts of the country or the world are struggling with flooding or drought. And sometimes they appreciate your asking how they are. Speaking of boredom, have you read Can the Simple Pursuit of of Total Boredom Make You Smarter?

Our Workforce is Diverse

You may need to work with someone with a different background since our work force is now spread all over the globe. People with different racial backgrounds, of different ages, and different viewpoints all need to get along. Many of my friends get to work with people from India or China, for instance, as a result of their work. And on social media it’s easy to connect with people in different countries.

Keep Talking

Don’t for an instant assume that you have nothing in common with that ultra-liberal tree hugging kook you just met online (oh, wait! That would be me!). Keep talking to them, and you’ll see that they’re not that different from you. They love their family, enjoy good food, want security, and so on. They’re probably thinking the same thing about you that you are about them. But there’s still common ground. I like this article by Aysha Bagshi, Sense and Nonsense: Diversity and Friendship. In it, she says “In a diverse environment, the truest of friendships require trusting and sharing to be implicit and perennial.”

Don’t Give up

Even if that person voted for someone you’d never vote for in a million years, chances are you may have hobbies in common. Or you’ve lived or visited the same place. Or, as Aysha Bagshi shares in her article, you feel a closeness despite being advantaged or disadvantaged. And even if their personality is quirky, you never know. You could end up being very good friends.

Are Your Friends Similar to You or Different?

Some friends can be challenging to maintain. Others always have an interesting perspective. Do you like to hang out with people who are similar to yourself? Let me know in the comments. And thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: how to engage with different people

Email Marketing: How to Dive Deeper 10 Ways and Why

June 20, 2019 By Carol Stephen Leave a Comment

Email Marketing: How to Dive Deeper 10 Ways and Why

Last week’s #DigiBlogChat: “a deeper dive into email marketing” with Brandon Olson of aWeber was so informative that I’ve decided to create a blog post summarizing some of the high points. By the way, if you’d like to join #DigiBlogChat, we’re on Twitter Tuesdays at 1:00 pm Pacific Time, and we’d be happy to have you!

Q1. Why Should You Use Email Marketing?

There are lots of reasons to use email marketing.

Nearly Everyone Has an Email Address

Email Marketing Still Very Personal

Because Even Cats Like it?

Email puts us in charge, not algorithms.

3.8 billion email users in 2018

72% want to receive promos via email

Q2. How do you get started with email marketing?

Start with Your Offer, Hook, or Incentive

Email Templates and a Data Source

Q3. What makes a good email opt-in incentive?

Tie your offer to the action

A good email opt-in incentive

Depends on Audience

Ideas for Incentives

Q4. What content should you include in an email sign-up form?

Ask for as little as possible

Ask only for what’s necessary

Tell them why to subscribe

Include a clear benefit statement

Signup Form Best Practices

Q5. How do you drive traffic to your email opt-in incentive and signup form?

Make a Compelling Offer

Drive Traffic Just Like You Would to Social Media Posts

Recipe of the Week Club

Use one-to-one outreach

Q6. What should you write in your emails?

Bring Value

Templates for Non-Writers

Personalized Content, Storytelling

Q7. What makes a good subject line?

Subject Line Ideas

Include an ask or a deadline

Good Subject Line is Like a Good Headline

Don’t Use ALL CAPS in Your Headline!

Personalize the Subject Line

Q8. How often should you send emails to your subscribers?

Once a week or once a month

Q9. When should you send your emails? Is there an optimal time?

Top Day is Tuesday

Why Can’t We Choose?

Avoid Mondays and Fridays

Q10. What’s GDPR? How can you make sure you’re complying with it?

General Data Protection Regulations

GDPR and Online Privacy

Myths about GDPR

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: aweber and email marketing, email marketing, email subject line

This Is What Happens When Your Small Business is on Social Media

June 13, 2019 By Carol Stephen Leave a Comment

This is what happens when your small business is on social media

The best thing that can happen when your small business is on social media is that you look like a big business. And, of course, you can move faster without having a huge sit-down meeting with all the board members. When it’s just a few of you (or maybe just you), you have the authority to post whatever you’d like, whenever you’d like. That can also get you into trouble if you’re not careful. Here are some ideas to keep you on the straight and narrow.

Your Voice Is the Voice of the Business

You don’t have to have a million followers when your business is small. In fact, having fewer but more dedicated followers is often even better. The most important thing with social media and your small business is engagement. By the way, if you missed it, you might like This is What Happens When You Write a Book, which is about my book, 21 Ways to Total Social Media Engagement (That Will Make You Look Like a Pro).

Get Hyper-Local

With social media, your small business can focus on local clients and customers. That’s not to say that you won’t find others (or that others might not find you), but people in your immediate area are the most important people to connect with for those with a brick-and-mortar. And even if you don’t have a brick-and-mortar business, sometimes it’s good to connect in person. For instance, you can promote check-ins through Facebook, use lists of locals on Twitter, or find leads on LinkedIn, according to this article about How to Connect with Local Customers via Social Media.

Look Bigger Than You Are. Photo by Val Vesa on Unsplash

You Can Look Bigger Than You Are

Do you want to look like a big company? Often, startups want to look bigger. Or any ambitious business that wants to grow wants to appear like they have a huge staff. You may only have one or two people on staff, but you’d like to expand eventually. Don’t be like some startups, get started, and then have a sad, sad social media graveyard. If you’re that startup, then give me a call!

Get Your Name Out There

Social media is really good for name recognition. People might not remember how they found you. Was it on Instagram? Twitter? Or was it during a conversation at a party? Sprout Social has an excellent article on 12 Ways to Boost Brand Awareness on Social Media. And there are some good real-life examples. See the tweet from Moon Pie, for instance. Wonderful stuff! And as they point out, you only have a few seconds to grab someone’s attention.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: brand awareness for small business, local clients for small business, social media for small business

Content Creation Will Make You Insane If You Let it

June 6, 2019 By Carol Stephen 4 Comments

Content creation will make you insane if you let it.

So many people have been talking about content creation lately. But do they ever talk about the daily grind of what happens when you have to churn out content on a daily basis? Mostly, content creation is glorified as something easy and simple that anyone can do. How much work goes into the creation of content, though? Like so many things in life, the answer is: it depends.

Who’s Your Audience?

Your audience is made up of at least two parts: those who actually visit your webiste and read your posts, and the little bots that roam around Google visiting your site. Having new content on a consistent basis helps your site rank higher so that both the people and the bots are satisfied. Of course, your human audience should come first. You don’t want your words to sound like they’re written for bots!

Photo by James Jordan

The Problem is Consistency

Coming up with one or two or even ten blog posts isn’t the problem. The problem is sustaining your content creation for months and maybe years. Will you ever get tired of writing? What if no one reads your writing, or you don’t just don’t feel like blogging any more? Will you be able to continue writing even if you don’t want to? If you’re feeling stuck, you might like this article: Content Creation: How to Make Your Writing More Fun! And, once you’ve read that and followed it, you could also share that blog post four (or more) different ways.

Content Creation: Be a Tortoise, Rather Than a Hare

Creating content for your readers puts you in the camp with the tortoises, not the hares. That is, you need to have steady progress and keep at it. Someone told me something a long time ago, and it stuck: Apply the seat of your pants to the seat of the chair for success. So sit down and write something–anything–even if it’s bad. Write one sentence. Then write another one. See where it takes you.

Photo by Colin Remas Brown

Wrangle Those Words

Keep at it, even if you don’t feel like it. Because sometimes you’ll change your mind as you start writing. It’s like going to the gym. Put on your gym shoes and get yourself there and fake it if you have to. One thing that helps me write more is to read my words out loud. Try it and let me know how it goes! And don’t go insane in the process.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blogging, blogging consistency, content creation, writing

Can Social Media Be Used for Social Good?

May 30, 2019 By Carol Stephen Leave a Comment

Can Social Media Be Used for Social Good?

Of course, you already know the answer to this one: social media can absolutely be used for social good. But here are some examples that are really positive. Because who doesn’t like good news? By the way, here is an article you might like: This Is What I Really Really Love about Social Media.

Animal Rights

Actor Ricky Gervais, while not a huge fan of social media, mentions how animal rights petitions can be signed online, changing things quite quickly. There are countless examples of reversals in policy due to people demanding animal rights. People can quickly collect money for a necessary operation for a beloved pet, and they can post about animals available for adoption online, too. The ASPCA recently showcased an article about the positive effect social media has had on animal shelters and rescues.

Human Rights

Like animal rights, human rights can be influenced by social media. Take this article from Amnesty International about how social media is transforming human rights monitoring. Since the emergence of social media, elections are being monitored more than ever. Journalists cannot be everywhere at the same time, so citizens tweeting and posting can fact check and witness what is happening around the globe at lightning speed.

Organ Donation Awareness

During the past ten years or so, organ donation awareness has been mentioned more often, with living donation increased. My good friend Amy Donohue donated her kidney as the result of a tweet she saw. She’s working on “Social Media Stole My Kidney.” And she took a trip across the U.S. to raise awareness. Follow Amy on Facebook.

Land Trusts

One of my favorite ways to use social media for social good is raising awareness. Land trusts can connect with donors, host events where citizen scientists are invited to participate, thank volunteers, and so on. Land trusts help to preserve the places that we love. There are many land trusts all over the country–simply type in land trust and your location to see some local to you. I really like Sempevirens Fund, which protects redwoods near where I live. Do you have a favorite?

Photo by elpinto007

Giving Campaigns

Giving campaigns, such as Giving Tuesday, allow nonprofits to establish channels for donations to favorite causes. Giving Tuesday allows nonprofits to discover new donors, as well as raising awareness. Giving Tuesday has been successful largely due to social media.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: social media and animal rights, social media and human rights, social media and organ donation, social media and social good

How to Share a Blog Post Four Different Ways

May 23, 2019 By Carol Stephen Leave a Comment

How to Share a Blog Post Four Different Ways

Everyone talks about working smarter, not harder, but what does that actually mean? If you’ve been wondering about what that looks like, stick around, and you’ll get some ideas.

Content Creation: How to Make Your Writing More Fun: https://t.co/TwQsHzybeQ #marketing #contentcreation pic.twitter.com/16oKU7KMtu

— Carol Stephen (@Carol_Stephen) May 16, 2019

Your Time is Valuable

Do you really want to sit down and create an entirely new blog post from scratch? No! How, then, can you take the same post and share it all over the place and make it look entirely different? Ah, that’s the secret. For this exercise, I’ll use my own blog post, Content Creation: How to Make Your Writing More Fun. Take a look at the original blog post so you can see what that looks like–that is, with the top image shared. Remember, not everyone is going to read your excellent writing, no matter how great it is. So the original is the first one shared.

If you're trying to make your blog post more fun, the Images may be even more important than the writing itself (but don't tell your writer friend that!). https://t.co/ND1SbXRpvZ #ContentCreation #Writing pic.twitter.com/rDibfdpXuN

— Carol Stephen (@Carol_Stephen) May 20, 2019

Use a Different Image

The image is probably the most important part of your article, even above the title of your blog post. So make it beautiful! Or make it something that will make your audience say “hmm…I wonder what the heck that is!” Maybe that happens when I use my own pictures. I imagine people squinting with puzzled looks on their faces. So rather than rewrite that blog post, I could change the image. Take a look.

"To fully appreciate bad writing, you need to pick up something at the airport before you get on a plane." Content Creation: How to Make Your Writing More Fun: https://t.co/ND1SbXzO7p #ContentCreation #Writing pic.twitter.com/tmyLm7x8Pz

— Carol Stephen (@Carol_Stephen) May 21, 2019

Change the Quote When You Reshare

No doubt, you’ll have a few different quotes that you can pluck from your blog post. So choose one or two, put those into quotes, add the title, the link, and a hashtag or two, if needed. Of course, you don’t have to change the hashtag or the shortened link, but you could reach a different audience (at least with different hashtags). And using a customized link does look fancier.

One Post Four Different Ways

Customize for Social Media Platforms

The post above was shared on Facebook. It looks similar, but with a different quote, different image, and no hashtags. You could do something similar on LinkedIn. You might want to share the same post but on a different day.

Bonus Idea

Another way to change up a blog post is to write a completely original quote–it’s kind of “meta,” but why not add something about what was happening the day you wrote it? Or some sort of context about the article itself?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: blogging, how to share blog post, recycling content, writing

Answer Frequently Asked Questions

Clarify Your Thoughts

Introverts Rule

Add Value to Your Community

And of Course, SEO

Stop Sending DMs

Don’t Blast Us with Your Content

We Don’t Care That You’re Three Followers Short of 2,000

Change up the Stuff You Tweet

Ask Questions of the Seasoned Professionals

It’s Not Your Strength

But it is Someone Else’s Strength

You’re Already Over-Stressed

A Professional Knows How to Engage on Your Behalf

So You Can Have a Life

Maybe You Have Other Reasons

You Can Get Lots of Attention

Video Views Are Up

Don’t Panic Yet

Goodnight, Dragons!

Are You Using Video Yet? Why or Why Not?

Start with the Generic

Our Workforce is Diverse

Keep Talking

Don’t Give up

Are Your Friends Similar to You or Different?

Your Voice Is the Voice of the Business

Get Hyper-Local

You Can Look Bigger Than You Are

Get Your Name Out There

Who’s Your Audience?

The Problem is Consistency

Content Creation: Be a Tortoise, Rather Than a Hare

Wrangle Those Words

Animal Rights

Human Rights

Organ Donation Awareness

Land Trusts

Giving Campaigns

Your Time is Valuable

Use a Different Image

Change the Quote When You Reshare

Customize for Social Media Platforms

Bonus Idea

Follow Carol!

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