What I’ve learned from blogging & other social media forays

nameless lunch & learn

n

Agenda• Forget the 4P’s. In social media it’s the 4A’s.

• Some tips

• My experience blogging

• My Twitter thoughts

n

If you build it, they will come.“ ”(Maybe in Hollywood)

n

n

Make love, not war

…but rip-off some of thestrategies of war, if you want results. [for results read audience]

n

topics & authors

listen & involve

metrics

plan

The 4A’s

agenda achieveaudienc

eassociat

e

n

What’s your agenda?• Probably one of three:

– I want to be famous– I want to further my career (or business)– I just want to share

• Each one requires a different plan and level of effort, so be careful what you wish for…

n

Planning considerations#1 - time

I want to be famousHave you got all day?

I want to further my career (or business)

Your going to have to plan and

stick to it.I just want to share

Your only pressure is what you put

on yourself.

Blog timeLife time

n

n

Planning checklist• What’s your brand?– your proposition : what people can expect

– your tone of voice : how you say what you say

– your look : a blog can be pictorial, but even a written blog needs to be presented in a considered way

• Where’s your inspiration?– can you keep it going after the first week?

n

• What’s you style?– sound bites– stories– interactive– audio / visual– commentary– all of the above?

Planning checklist

– quick to write, long to think– a large undertaking– reliant on others, risky– hosting?– what are you adding?– It depends what your brand

ethos is, consistency is important

n

Achieve• How do you measure your success?

– visitor numbers – are you willing to compromise your content to succeed here?

– comments (positive & negative)

– warm fuzzy feeling for sharing

• What will drive you to continue?– when you can’t be bothered– when nobody cares about your blog

n

n

# of updates

Achieve

No matter your objective, the old adage: you get out what you put in is true here.

n

n

• There are a lot of dormant blogs – first achievement is creating one and keeping it going

• Anything else is a bonus

Achieve

n

Audience

How much do they matter?n

n

Audience• Are you aiming at a particular audience or

anyone?– technical or mass-market?

• Do you want interaction / feedback?– polls– start debate– be contentious

• Do you owe your audience anything?

n

Associate• Why?

– no blogger is an island (unless they want to be)

• What do you want to be associated with?– back to your blogging brand

• Who do you want to be associated with?– link up with others with similar views– guest blogging

n

some things to remember

n

You watch your language!“ ”

n

n

don’t copy

n

n

credit & share

n

Research your platform

n

n

my experience blogging

nn

n

Vital statistics• My platform – Wordpress– no regrets here, hate Blogger, hear good things

about Tumblr and have started playing with it.

• 52 posts (and slowly counting)• Most used search keyword terms –

“cognitive dissonance” and “BANKSY”

n

Vital statisticsMost popular pages Views Reason for “popularity”

Home page 1,584 It’s the home page

Is there a lesson to be learned from BANKSY?

762 Google images results

Top Tips to Reduce Cognitive Dissonance 744I’m page #1 Google when you search reduce cognitive dissonance

In absence of a plan 229It talked about Bernard Matthews and he died a few days after my post

What George Michael needs to do now 162 Posted when he was sent to jail

Death of a Milkman 146No idea, but it mentions “Zippy” so I am waiting for an influx of views this week.

Announcing the Apple iApple 129 People search for Apple iApple and I’m page #1

It's an epidemic, we're never academic at work!

127 Posted during my busiest period

What if the church re-branded? 120 A bit out-there and contentious

Sleepwalking in a social media nanny state 104 Linked back from a popular blog

n

• Wanted to be associated with marketing, but using a “real world” tone

• Wanted people to associate it with a “fun few minutes read”

• Anyone

• I decided keep things irreverent

My 4A’s when I started

agenda achieveaudienc

eassociat

e

• I was told I wasn’t “digital” enough

• Lost out to someone on a job because they had thousands of Twitter followers

• Decided, can’t beat them – join them (& further my career)

• I wanted to be perceived as being more “digital”

• I wanted to learn about social media

• Was “obsessed” by visitor numbers

n

My 4A’s now

agenda achieveaudienc

eassociat

e

• Build upon the “marketing moaner” persona

• Experiment with ideas and topics

• Want to talk about specialised topics in a way which makes sense to anyone

• Keep the blog going

• Improve my writing and creativity

• Not fussed by visitor numbers – but look at them as a feedback tool

• People that are fed up with the mainstream ideology that because the platform is social media the discussion has to be about social media

• Anyone

• With similar writers

• Still want people to associate it with a “fun few minutes read”

n

My highlights of blogging• Discovered a lot of techniques that work and don’t

– for another lunch & learn session maybe?

• Discovered that a few people liked what I said

• Discovered that a few people didn’t like what I said

• Discovered I enjoyed writing – wish I’d known that at school

• Was offered a nice little job on the back of my blog

n

My lowlights of blogging• It is a thankless task

• Writer’s block

• Being the “marketing moaner” – means I have set an expectation and can’t just write about anything that takes my fancy.

• The period of time when the number of visitors and comments on my blog really mattered to me.

n

Biggest learning• For me it is not about numbers

– It was for a bit, but that ruined the fun

• I’ve learned good SEO techniques– how to get page #1 on Google even when you are

just a blog

• I’ve learned what doesn’t interest me

n

# of updates

I’ve learned it is an effort, but effort also equals rewards

n

My recommended daily blog

http://sethgodin.typepad.com

a master of meaningful sound bites

n

n

twitter

n

Twitter in 140 characters• Full of people talking about social media

and their careers– I didn’t get it

• Decided to follow funny famous types– adds some diversionary fun to the day– my aim was to get a reply from a famous person

n

Result! Okay, you might not have heard of

him, but he co-wrote Father Ted, Black Books

and wrote and directed The IT Crowd …and he’s got 106,345 followers on Twitter.

So, I am one digital handshake from

Osama Bin Laden, sort of. (he was a fan of the

IT Crowd, or so the rumour goes)

n

Do you have Klout?

You know where to come if you need info on any of these topics

n

marketingmoaner.com @neilawatson

questions?