A few people have asked about #DigiBlogChat, a chat that Larry Mount and I started on Twitter a number of years ago. So here goes.

In the Beginning…

Once upon a time, there was a startup in San Francisco, which like a number of other startups, no longer exists. At that startup, I began a Twitter chat called #BigDataChat. That was the end of 2013.

The Before Time

#BigDataChat became very popular. We had a number of big players tweeting along with us on #BigDataChat. We had giveaways and prizes. Sometimes we gave away books, other times there were tickets to startup events. O’Reilly Media was one of the big participants in the chat.

Larry Mount Was a Participant

Larry would regularly participate in #BigDataChat. Each week he would log into #BigDataChat and contribute his thoughts.

When #BigDataChat ended, Larry became sad and lonely. Not really. I made that part up, to give this story more dramatic oomph. But he did notice that #BigDataChat had ended.

The Biggest Giveaway

The company I worked with decided to give away the chat to O’Reilly Media. The chat didn’t last too long after that, for reasons I’m not clear about. At any rate, I was no longer involved with the startup or the chat.

Friendship and Brainstorming

Over the course of the months that #BigDataChat occurred, Larry and Carol (that’s me!) became online friends. After that chat ended, we wondered how to continue the chat experience, and brainstormed ways. We decided upon a day of the week and a time.

©Andy Mangold 2010

#DigiBlogChat Was Born

We all missed #BigDataChat. It was a good time to exchange ideas, over the course of an hour. Once we decided upon Tuesdays at 1:00 pm Pacific Time, we started to collect ideas. And we reached out to people we knew. We sometimes have had prizes and giveaways, too.

The Chat Grew…and Grew

Now #Digiblogchat has a regular bunch of contributors who log in every week. We’ve become friends online and offline, too, in some cases.

The People

Since we crowdsource the topics for our chats, we have an extremely engaged audience. There’s Tripp Braden, Randy Clark, and the enthusiastic Beth Staub. John Lewis, who also runs #Innochat is a regular. Finola, Maricar, and Mitch Mitchell regularly weigh in. My friend @MistressPrime occasionally visits. @CharlesMcCool and @jpretorious are there, too. Then there are @nina_wag and @htindesigner. We couldn’t forget our friends at @interprosepr! Sandy of @CreativeWoodVT has been a friend for a long time. Loni of @JorgensonLocker is also a regular on the chat! And @JKatzaman is always making us laugh!

There are probably others that I’m forgetting and for that I apologize. 

Join Us!

Come join us on Twitter. It’s every Tuesday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time. For more info about how to join, read How to Join #DigiBlogChat Twitter Chat.

Quick and Easy Ways to Content Creation

Maybe you’ve been blogging for awhile, but writing doesn’t come easily to you. Everyone says how easy writing and blogging are, though. There must be some easier ways to do this, you might be thinking. After all, people are creating content every day without so much trouble, right? Right! Read on for some easy tweaks to make to your content creation.

Decide to Begin

Now that might sound silly, but getting started is usually the hardest part for anyone. So get yourself into the right mindset, sit down at your desk (or kitchen table), and get started! Or, if you’d rather do a video blog (vlog), get set up for that. Give yourself permission to quit after 15 minutes. That often helps.

UNclimatechange ©2014

Spend the Most Time on Your Headline

If you only have an hour to write, spend about half that time on your headline. Seriously. Some people won’t even read your article before sharing it, but you want them to click through, right? For more info, you might like this article: What Happens When You Write 25 Headlines Before Choosing One? Lately I’ve been using Google to help me find topics for blogging about. Just type in your keyword and see what Google comes up with.

Write Every Day

Now writing every day might not sound easy, but could you write two sentences a day? Or a paragraph or two? That will definitely help you get started. And those little changes add up. I like this article from Tiny Buddha: Things Change When You Do (and Small Changes Add up). One of those changes is to take care of yourself first, by the way. (Writing can help with taking care of yourself.)

Andrew Bowden ©2010

Write Out Loud

Talk to yourself and then write down what you say. Or call a friend and write down what you say to them. You may want to use the talk-to-text feature on your phone. Here are the 8 Best Voice-to-Text Apps of 2020. You’ll still have to edit your text, but voice-to-text apps are getting better all the time. You can certainly talk about your business, even if you think that you can’t write about it.

Completion, Not Perfection

If you’re a perfectionist, you might have a hard time with this one. Yes, you can write something that’s good. But it probably won’t be perfect. Aim for getting it done and it’ll be much easier.

Herry Lawford ©2011

Reward Yourself

This is another quick and easy hint. You’re not supposed to reward yourself with food, but come on. This is 2020! Have the cookie. Or go for a walk, if that makes you feel less guilty. I vote for the cookie.

What If You Have a Time Crunch?

And if you only have an hour to create a blog post? You might like this article: How to Write a Perfectly Fine Blog Post in One Hour. Yes, you really can do it! At least you’ll have a great deal of it done in one hour, and the momentum to move forward.

Matthias Ripp ©2015

Have Other Ideas?

Let me know with a comment! And thank you.

Time is precious, and yet we all tend to waste it (including myself here). Time management can be a tricky business, especially when you’re using social media. Here are some things I’ve learned from ten years managing social media for myself and others.

Use a Timer

A good timer, such as Noko (the one I use) helps you see in graphic format exactly where your time is going. If you don’t have the money for a professional timer or app, any timer will help. I used to use an egg timer, and that worked fine. Something about the ticking really did help. If you’re short on time, you might like: What if you only have 30 minutes for social media?

Plan Each Day

Before you start working, have a plan. Now, you may not follow the plan, but at least you have a structure to fall back onto when you think “now what was I supposed to be doing?” Because you will forget and become distracted without a plan. My planning takes roughly 5-7 minutes to do, either the night before or the day of. A social media content calendar is a very good idea, by the way. You can use Excel or you can use a social media content calendar, such as this one from Later.

Photo by jakuza

Prioritize

Once you’ve written down everything you have to do, prioritize. You probably have 5-7 things you must do each day. Decide which items are necessities. Then decide which you’ll do first, second, third, etc.

Have a Reason

Why are you on Twitter? What are you doing on Facebook? Stick to your reason, post, and have a definite period of time you plan to be there. Then get out before you get sucked in! Because you will get sucked in…there are a million billion videos of cute kittens just waiting for you.

Photo by Joi

Maintain Focus

Stay focused on your purpose for being on social media. Are you there to comment on others’ posts? Then do that? Are you there to check on your own posts? Do that and (again) get out!

Delegate

If you get distracted easily, you might want someone else to do your social media for you. Find someone who can post, or who can engage on your behalf. Need more time? You might want to Outsource Your Social Media.

Keep it Quiet

Most people thrive with a quiet environment, especially if you tend to get sensory overload from being online.

Photo by judy dean

Use White Noise

A white noise generator can also work if the sound of waves or wind help you. I like one that has birds (quietly) chirping, along with a few frogs.

Learn to Say No

Saying no is perhaps the most important tactic of all. Think of a few different ways to say no. In the article 7 Tips for Saying No Effectively, Joseph Albert suggests being assertive and courteous: “You might say, “I’m sorry I can’t right now but will let you know when and if I can.” This approach is polite, and puts you in a position of power by changing the dynamic.” Isn’t that wonderful? He also suggests standing firm when pushed, which leads me to the next suggestion…

Be Ruthless

Guard your time like a dragon guards its lair. It’s your life and your business, after all! Who else is going to guard it?

White Chocolate and Cheese Parfait by Warren Laine-Naida

Our topic for #Digiblogchat on Twitter for July 21, 2020 was Quarantine Cooking. We had so many interesting replies and recipes that I thought a summary might be nice. Join us on Twitter for #digiblogchat every Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time! Here are the questions, followed by some of the answers.

Q1. What’s the best dish or cocktail you’ve created during quarantine?

Q2. What were some strange ingredient substitutions you’ve made? 

Q3. What recipes or cooking ideas didn’t work out? 

Chinese Chicken Salad

Q4. Do you have any recipe that you’d like to share? 

Justine (@jpretorious) shared this recipe with NO stale fried noodles: A4) Chinese chicken salad https://nomnompaleo.com/chinese-chicken-salad… #DigiBlogChat

 

 

 

A4: @Omneya_Nabil shared her favourite 2-minute snack recipe.  

Q5. How often do you get take-out food (or do you only cook at home)? 

White Chocolate and Cheese Parfait by Warren Laine-Naida

Q6. What have you baked lately? 

Chef Warren Laine-Naida (@WarrenLNaida) shared his recipe for White Chocolate and Cheese Parfait. (This looks luscious!)

Beth (@AdventureGlass) said A6. no No baking when it’s so hot outside. 

And Justine Pretorious (@jpretorious) mentioned A6) Banana Bread with Blackberries and the rasberry oatmeal bars. My hubby loves his pastries! 

Poppyseed cake

Not to be outdone, @maricarjagger baked this poppyseed cake for a friend. It turned out very well, delicious especially with some raspberry coulis (another secret weapon in my cooking arsenal)

Q7. What’s the simplest meal you’ve made? 

Q8. Any tips for making fresh produce last longer? 

Larry (@LazBlazter) said A8. Grow your own if possible and pick it when you are about to eat. 

Roast Chicken with Lemon Butter and Garlic

Q9. What’s your laugh-out-loud go-to meal and why? 

Omneya @Omneya_Nabil  said A9: My specialty roast chicken with lemon butter and garlic. It’s the first dish I ever cooked with my roommates at my college dorms. We always take photos and send them to each other when we cook this dish.

Justine said A9) Frozen cauliflower pizza because it only takes 12 minutes :)

Pampered Chef Chopper

Q10. What’s your favorite, most-used kitchen appliance? 

Beth (@AdventureGlass) said A10. Pampered Chef Chopper – love that thing #digiblogchat

And several people mentioned that their coffee maker was their favorite! There was also a vote for a refrigerator.

When clients want to overshare from their personal lives on something that has nothing to do with their target audience, I wonder if quality is an issue. Sometimes a cat photo is the perfect thing, sometimes not. And we don’t always want to hear the details of every surgery. Do we? I don’t. Maybe you don’t, either.

Who’s Your Audience?

The only way to really tell if what you’re doing works or not is by seeing how your audience responds. Sometimes sharing inappropriate stuff can be helpful. We’re all human, after all. But when every image is out of focus and of bad quality? When every other tweet is one where you’re asking people to buy sunglasses at a *super* discount? How is that anything other than noise? You might like this article about oversharing: What Happens to Your Audience When You Overshare. (Can you tell this isn’t my first rant on this topic?)

Social Media Can Be Noisy

Of course, the Interwebs is a noisy place. We’ve all seen it getting noisier and noisier. But do you turn away when there’s too much of it? I think a lot of people do. All the political screaming is getting worse. And with November around the corner, will the noise lessen? Probably not. I like this article about creating content that cuts through the noise, from Forbes. Yes, it’s more than two years old, and still relevant. Anyway, like others, I doubt that sharing on social media ever changes someone’s mind. Has it ever changed yours?

Pay to Play

If you really need to get your (high quality) content out to an audience, you might consider pay to play. It’s one way to ensure that people really do see your message. Of course, check that you are really targeting the correct audience, edit your article, and make sure it’s something your audience wants to see.

If Quality Isn’t An Issue?

If quality isn’t an issue, then posting any old thing is just perfect. A picture of an old rotten lemon? Perfect! Out-of-focus pix of the neighbor’s back fence? Why not? But it isn’t 2001 anymore, and there’s a lot more competition online to get it right. People really do want quality. And you might like this article: What Happened to Quality Versus Quantity on Social Media?

What if Quality IS An Issue?

You can stand out from the crowd by posting things of higher quality, rather than lots of posts of lower quality. Maybe consider posting less, but of higher quality. Some brands only post 2-3 tweets a week and maybe post only once on Facebook each week. Could that be you? Or do you feel obligated to keep up with the Jones?

Tweetchats, Part Two: How to Get Started

Want to know more about Tweetchats? I’ve been writing a longish guide, with part one below.

• Tweetchats, Part One

When Hosting Tweetchats, A Shorter Name is Better

Now you’re ready to pick a name for your tweetchat! Here’s where brainstorming comes in. Remember that every character you use takes away from the 280 characters that you have as your basic real estate. And don’t forget your user name also eats up some of those characters. And so does your hashtag!

Register Your Hashtag

Register Your Tweetchat’s Hashtag

Before you decide on a name for your tweetchat, do a search on Twitter.  Ensure that no one else is using the name, in particular for something unsavory. Once you’ve picked a name, you can register your hashtag on Twubs or hashtag.org. Here is a complete guide to creating a hashtag. As you can see, the hashtag for my tweetchat, #Digiblogchat, has already been registered (by me!). Although this doesn’t have any legal weight, it does add legitimacy to your hashtag.

Decide If You Want a Partner or Partners

It’s much easier to have a tweetchat if you have a partner or two. If you go on vacation they can fill in. If you have a holiday, they can help out. And if you’re sick, that’s another reason to have a partner to help out. My partner, Larry (@lazblazter on Twitter), is in the U.K., and his holiday schedule isn’t the same as ours in the U.S. So occasionally he’ll lead the chat while I’m on vacation and vice-versa. If you choose a partner, make sure they have the same interests as you. For instance, on #Digiblogchat, we talk about all things digital, blogging, plus a host of other topics that are crowdsourced. Does your partner have the same agenda as you? Also, your partner will probably have different followers on Twitter and can promote the chat in different timezones with varying people, too. I highly recommend having a partner.

Pick a Time and Day

This can be a little tricky if your partner is far away. You want a time that’s convenient but doesn’t interfere with work schedules. Mondays and Fridays are often rolled into holidays for three-day weekends, so for #Digiblogchat we chose Tuesday. Besides, Tuesday is the best day of the work week! It’s not Monday (Ugh! Monday!) and it’s not Friday (is work over yet?). That’s just me, though. You may have your own reasons for scheduling your chat on a Monday or a Friday.

Another tricky thing is the time change. Twice a year Pacific Time is out of sync with BST, and that can mean a headache. Our 1:00 pm Pacific Time slot is good because I can get a bunch of work done in the morning, and it’s after Larry’s job is done, since it’s after dinner in the U.K.

Social Media Examiner suggests that you “Use a tool like Followerwonk to figure out when your followers are most active, so you’ll know the best time to host your chat.” Here are their other suggestions: How to Create a Twitter Chat: 4 Suggestions.

More Parts Planned

If there’s something specific you’d like to see addressed, let me know! For now, though, I’m planning the following:

• Part Three: Promoting Your Tweetchat
• Part Four: Weekly Chores
• Part Five Measuring Your Success