Post on 12-Sep-2014
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thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Blogging for businessSam Mutimer
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
What is a Blog?
- An online journal, your business personality
- A website
- Home base - connects the social networking sites and your website
together.
- A place to create quality content that your target market will enjoy
and hopefully share
- A place to engage and build up trust
- A place to share and connect
- Niches works best
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
What are the benefits?
- Powerful marketing tool to attract leads and new customers.
- Increase visibility in your marketplace.
- Put a personality to your business/organisation
- Great for the search engines, fresh content-key words/search terms
- Direct Communications.
- Brand Building.
- Gain an insight into your customers
- Relationship Building
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Benefits
- Reduce calls and emails
- Competitive differentiation.
- Exploit the niches.
- Position you as an expert.
- Reputation management.
- Low cost.
Delegates blogging and tweeting at the back of the room
during the AWG-LCA informal plenary on Saturday morning.
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
How to blog
- Tell stories
- Give away your knowledge (yet not all of it) ;;-)
- Lists and “how to’s” are great grabbers
- Debate a popular member of your community, or take the opposing
- point of view on a current topic.
Interview people in your industry/clients
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Write great headlines
- Follow through on the promise of your headline
- Tell your audience what’s in it for them
- Link with other blogs to share your view
- Include quality images
- Leave last sentence with an opening question
- Add video when necessary
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Blog Design
- Clean, simple, professional, sticks in the readers mind – catchy!
- Easy to navigate
- Informs the viewer the purpose of the blog - tagline
- Don’t install every plugin under the sun!!!
- Make it easy for your readers to subscribe
- Feedburner
Make it Easy to read, use good fonts
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Identify Goals - Step 1
- What is the purpose of your blog?
- What will it focus on?
- How many posts will you commit to a week?
- Who do you want to attract?
- Do you want to build a list?
- Do you want advertising space on your blog?
- Will you softly sell your products from this space?
- Will it be used as lead generation?
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Build posts based on listening - what is
trending/what is community talking about?Listen - Step 2
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
What is the #1 reason people buy?
TRUSTBuild this on your blog by comments/linking/conversation/value add
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Prepare – Step 3
- Forums/Twitter/Facebook pages
- Notice what is getting attention
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Know your audience - key to what you prepare.
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Search the trends
- Bullet point a list to search and begin by researching if any top
bloggers are talking about this.
- Great places to search – technorati, del.icio.us, Google Blogsearch,
social mention.
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Content
- Always write with your readers in mind
- Listen and then deliver
- Niche your content
- Educate - Entertain - Engage
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Remember to use video at times to entertain and
highlight your personality. To give a richer experience.
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Build a community - Step 4
bloggers/blogs where target market hang out – see http://www.
socialmediaexaminer.com/
- Be transparent, authentic, REAL!
- Be niched
- Have an opt in on your blog
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Contribute – Quality information
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Your blog bio
- Firstly consider why you are blogging - what are your goals?
- What will your readers expect to gain from this blog?
- Who are you?
- Be unique and catchy/different
- Be yourself
- How can they get the best from you?
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Compose your first blog post
- Refresh yourself and look back at your goals
- What will your target market want to read? How do you know this?
- Research via forums/popular blogs.
- Incorporate video
- Catchy heading
- End with an open question
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Calls to action
- Subscribe to the blog
- Connect on your social networks
- Sign up for an event/webinar
- Ask for feedback
- Posting comments
- Download an ebook/content/report
- Polls
- Competition
- Link to website and ask question about this
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Ask for them to share this twitter/
facebook etc “sharethis” plugin
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Participation
- On your blog
- On other peoples - related to your industry/audience
- Connecting with other bloggers - Makes you more visible and known
- On social networks - where your target market hang out
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Gravatar
post your picture will come up
- More recognised
Your BLOG.
- http://en.gravatar.com/
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Blogging platforms
- Wordpress - www.wordpress.com
- Blogger - www.blogger.com
- Smaller blogging sites (great for quick posts)
- Larger than a status update, shorter than a blog post – check these
two out!
- Posterous - www.posterous.com
- Tumblr - www.tumblr.com
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Wordpress is one of the biggest blogging platform at the moment.
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Some outstanding blogs
- Darren Rowse:
- http://www.problogger.net/
- Gary Vaynerchuk : http://garyvaynerchuk.com/
- Mari Smith
- http://www.marismith.com/
- Social Media Examiner
- http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Connect with us! www.thinktankmedia.com.au/blog
thinktank mediasocial media | digital | website design
Thanks a million for attending!
- Sam Mutimer- Senior Social Media Strategist
- Thinktank Media
- Twitter: @sammutimer
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/thinktankmedia.au
- Mail: info@thinktankmedia.com.au
- Tel: Thinktank Media on 1300 660 651
- Google me – Sam Mutimer