Social media, online marketing hints, tips and advice - Liz Hover's Diary of a Web Gal (Winnipeg) » Web Gal top pick

Guest post: Kyla Roma on maintaining a successful blog

Liz Hover — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:50:08 +0000

This post comes from fellow Winnipeg blogger Kyla Roma.

Oddly, we’ve never met in person but continue to connect online.

I adore Kyla’s blog and admire her committment to great content and connecting with her readers.

For this guest post, I asked Kyla to share some of her blogging secrets with us. Here’s what she had to say.

Starting a blog is easy enough, but after the honeymoon period of finding a look and a voice that’s just right, maintaining a blog and drawing in new readers can be a daunting task.

I’ve been blogging about my life, photography, and DIY for two years and my blog has always been a project that I love, but keeping it fresh and new while keeping it from taking over my time has been a challenge.

Liz kindly asked if I could share some of the things that have worked for me, and these are a few of my favourite strategies:

1. Put high value, unique content first

No one is an island and being in touch with your community is vital, but the only thing that will get people coming back to your blog is excellent content.

Stay on top of trends and news in your community and find a way to speak to them that demonstrates your strengths. From an ability to build a strong narrative to unique presentation, finding a strength and an angle that gives you a unique position inside your community is a great way to get noticed and have people looking forward to what you bring to the table.

2. All blogs are personal

Personal blogging has a funny reputation but with huge companies changing gears from having One Consistent Impersonal Corporate Message to having a number of distinct, trusted individual voices, all of our social media is at least a little personal.

This can be scary territory for small business owners, especially because so many seem to equate a blog with an avenue to vent about bad days, but pulling back the curtain (even just slightly) gives clients someone to connect to, and that feeling of being an “insider” can go a long way toward building an invested client base.

Even just showing a collection of your favourite things, or linking to your favourite inspiration sources gives people a sense of who you are – no dredging up family drama or venting about bad days required.

3. Choose your weapons

I get hit with inspiration at odd times, and I found out quickly that feeling like I have to blog every day is more of a stress than anything.

Now that I blog five to six times a week, I’ve started exploring more tools that let me take back my time and ramp down my stress.

Some of my favourites for WordPress are Twitter Tools, which tweets your posts when they publish, Dashboard: Scheduled Posts, so I can see my next set of scheduled posts at a glance when I log in, and Editorial Calendar for a monthly at a glance view of my posts and the ability to drag and drop them in any order I like.

My favourite offline tool is simple and probably my most useful: a notebook that I keep with me for when I have ideas for posts.

4. Jump into the conversation

If something is going on in your community that you have opinions on, speak to it. If you’re on Twitter but aren’t starting conversations, start talking to people!

No one is involved in blogging or social media because they’re looking to build walls- everyone wants to feel noticed, valued, and part of something. Simple acts of inclusion can go a very long way.

5. Try making a plan

This one isn’t right for everyone, but I love having a rough idea of what my blog content will look like in a week or two.

I find it takes a lot of (self inflicted) pressure off me, and it helps make sure everything flows nicely from one post to another. A plan could be as simple as starting a series that you post on once a month, but planning in advance can help you to pull together beautiful, insightful posts that you might not feel up to if you only blog after a long day of work.

Kyla Roma is a 20something lady living in the Canadian Prairies under the biggest sky she’s ever seen.

She’s a life-long vegetarian, blogger, black tea aficionado, photography nut, knitter, puppy mama and wife. Her beautiful blog is a collection of stories from her life and things that make her swoon.

Is your blog kinda crap? This might be why …

Liz Hover — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:38:37 +0000

Upkeeping a good blog is bloody hard work.

I’m no saint. My blog might look pretty but I don’t put in as much time as I should writing regularly or with great purpose.

A couple of days ago I was reading a post on Adam Singer’s blog. In it he talks about how most agency blogs are crap. That’s right. The folks that you pay to develop and implement your marketing and PR campaigns can’t walk the walk.

In fact it’s not just agencies that are to blame.

I see plenty of folks who call themselves ‘experts’ in marketing / communications / PR / ALL THAT STUFF who clearly aren’t practiced at what they preach. Now, that doesn’t mean to say they aren’t to be trusted but, come on, faced with two ‘experts’ one with an up to date blog and an active Twitter account with a healthy following versus a blogless, Twitterless dude – which one are you more likely to trust?

Back to Adam’s post.

One of Adam’s readers challenged him to expand on the reasons that many agency blogs fall short.

In response Adam wrote a second post highlighting some key things that I think apply to all blogs. Not just those written by agencies.

If your blog is kinda crap, then this might be why.

I’ve taken Adam’s main points and sort of re-interpreted them for all bloggers.

1. Your posts are wishy-washy

2. Your writing lacks passion

3. Your blog has no personality

4. Your content fails the ‘so-what?’ test

5. You haven’t written a blog post since 2001

6. You’re. Trying. Too. Hard.

7. Your blog doesn’t stand out from the crowd

8. You’re scared of upsetting people

9. Oops. You have no focus so your posts are over the shop

10. You don’t make an effort to connect with other bloggers

There are lessons for us all in this list.

Now you’ve got no excuses for having a crap blog or no blog at all.

Need some help to get motivated? Watch the video I recently posted in which Seth Godin and Tom Peters tell why you should blog. Then study Adam’s article.

Your blog should be ship-shape in no time.

Prince: the internet is over

Liz Hover — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:30:08 +0000

As a web manager and internet fan it will come as no surprise to you, dear reader, that the recent comment from Prince – declaring the internet is over – made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

What is this dude on?

It doesn’t take a genius to see that the internet is well and truly not over. In fact, I would posit that the web has only just begun.

But like I said, it doesn’t take a genius to work this out which is why I’m so surprised at Prince.

Here is an artist so entirely out of touch with 21st century communication that I’m astounded he still has an active fan base – I guess we have Purple Rain to thank for that.

His comments left me wondering if dementia had set in.

Honestly.

No rational human could say things like: ‘I really believe in finding new ways to distribute my music,’ and in the next breath completely diss technology. What is he thinking? Carrier pigeons will fly copies of his CDs around the world?

Get with the times little man.

How to manage a Twitter crisis if you’re a major TV show

Liz Hover — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 13:46:30 +0000

I’m a huge fan of the Big Brother TV show set in the UK. I’ve been watching since the show started ten years ago.

Since moving to Canada seven years ago I’ve managed to keep up with it every year.

Clearly, Twitter has grown and more Big Brother fans use it than ever before.

2010 is a major year for Big Brother in the UK; this is the last series. Channel Four are cancelling it.

Last night was the first eviction – if you’re not familiar with the Big Brother format then all you need to know is that a bunch of strangers get put in a house for a couple of months and get to nominate each other for eviction every week. The whole thing is shown on TV and the general public vote to decide who leaves. In the end, the last housemate wins a major cash prize – like $100,000.

Channel Four broadcasts a highlights show every night of the week and Friday is always eviction night.

Eviction night is a major event for Big Brother fans.

So it was with nervous excitement that I ‘tuned in’ to the internet late yesterday afternoon to check on which of the three peeps up for eviction would leave.

I was on Twitter and also a Big Brother forum which I regularly check – obviously I can’t watch the eviction show live on TV because I’m in Canada so I’m relying totally on the internet to keep me up to date.

I’m scanning everything for clues about who will leave the house. That announcement is always made live on TV by presenter Davina McCall.

Until last night.

Someone at Channel Four messed up on Twitter by announcing the name of the person being evicted before it was announced live on TV.

In some cases this type of reveal is intentional – breaking exclusive news on Twitter. This was not one of those moments.

In addition to the main Big Brother show there are several supplementary TV shows which cover news, gossip and behind-the-scenes. Big Brother’s Big Mouth (presented at one time by Russell Brand) is one of them. They even have their own Twitter account.

Moments before the TV reveal Big Brother’s Big Mouth tweeted:

SHOCKER!!! Tell us what you think of Rachael getting evicted. Say what you really think!!!

Seconds later the tweet was deleted. I didn’t see it but what I did see were dozens of angry Big Brother fans on Twitter bemoaning the slip up.

But Big Brother’s Big Mouth did good.

Sure there were plenty of folks on Twitter proclaiming that the tweeter responsible would surely lose their job. I hope not because Big Brother’s Big Mouth did precisely what you should do in a crisis situation.

The listened. They acknowledged. They apologized.

The result?

Reactions like this one.

Honestly it didn’t bother me one bit but what it did do was underscore an important issue about handling yourself publicly when you mess up.

In the ‘olden days’ the PR approach was to act as if it didn’t happen, cover it up, not comment or comment with an excuse. I’ve lived through that – back in England as a press officer.

And that’s why I love the social web in 2010.

It forces you to be open, honest and genuine. I hope!

People will love you all the more if you can be those things. Even when you mess up.

Social media and old school PR approaches don’t mix.

This is something we can all learn from.

A taste of Liz Hover presenting

Liz Hover — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 02:23:32 +0000

I’ve kept this low-key for a while but I feel it’s time to share it with you.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to attend one of my presentations, check out my most recent which was filmed by the wonderous James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot of Blink Works - a Winnipeg boutique production studio.

This video was shot during my presention for PechaKucha Winnipeg.

Note: some strong language.

Girl Geek Dinners: Wanna know more about blogging?

Liz Hover — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 01:06:00 +0000

This month’s Winnipeg Girl Geek Dinner is all about blogging and I’m the presenter along with my pal Polly Washburn.

We’ll be sharing our experiences, from the techie bits to the creative stuff of choosing a theme, deciding what to write about, how to format a blog post, and why it’s important to post regular content.

Join us on Tuesday, June 8 (at 6 p.m. if you want to nosh on the delicious food at EAT! Bistro in Aqua Books or 7 p.m. if you just want to feed your mind.)

While the title of the event might be a bit girl-biased – boys are totally welcome.

Everyone is invited; if you plan on attending, please RSVP via Facebook or Eventbrite.

Really hope to see you there.

About us (the gals doing the talking)

I moved to Winnipeg from London, UK seven years ago and work as the digital media manager for the National Screen Institute – a film and TV training school. I author two blogs: Diary of a Web Gal and Hi, I’m Sadie Shih Tzu (nominated for a Canadian Weblog Award). I’ve presented workshops about the social web for the National Screen Institute, On Screen Manitoba, Canadian Women in Communications, the National Film Board and more. I also do web consulting to help develop and improve websites. My passion is the internet and how to best use it as a communications professional. Catch me on Twitter @lizhover @nsicanada @sadieshihtzu

My pal Polly moved to Winnipeg from New York over 10 years ago. She’s a film and digital media producer, owner of the production and consulting company Positron Media. She provides consulting and training in production and web marketing. She’s currently producing three feature films, a couple of shorts, a collaborative online digital media project, an iPhone app and an augmented reality game. Oh and if that wasn’t enough, she’s just launched a new blog ScreenLiving to examine content creation and distribution in a world where screens are both converging and proliferating. Catch Polly on Twitter: @pollywashburn

Guest post: Facebook Foto Friday – how a Winnipeg photographer used social media as a gift

Liz Hover — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 03:29:54 +0000

This post was written by Ian McCausland.

He’s a super talented Canadian photographer who I’ve know for a few years now. I’ve always admired his craft but was totally impressed when a message about ‘Foto Friday’ landed in my inbox a while back.

Ian decided to host Facebook Foto Friday. He would essentially be giving away a photo to anyone that turned up at his studio on the given date.

The catch?

The photo had to be used on all social networks.

Genius!

Of course I turned up with my husband and – obviously – I asked Ian to write about the whole thing. Why? Because Ian runs one of the first Winnipeg businesses I’ve seen using social media to effectively market his business. More than that. Ian absolutely embraced and understood the value in doing this. Golden rule of marketing: give before you take.

______________________________________________________

For years before any of this social media stuff – before the internet even – I’ve enjoyed gifting my work, usually to clients.

Clients who have kids get free baby portraits, for example. Or if clients wanted to enter their own design work in competitions, I’d shoot it for them. With the move to digital, it’s been even easier to gift my work.

Since Facebook, it’s been great to watch people respond to my work.

Whenever a portrait I’ve done is used on profile shots, people ask “who did this?” Clients who stand in for me while I set up the lighting, before the impatient CEO arrives, ask for the shot to be sent to them only for it to appear the next day as their profile shot!

Meanwhile a good portion of my 700+ friends on Facebook continue to use the worst photos imaginable as their profile shots.

Rather than waste time on creating a “fan” page for my work, I wanted to find a way for people to value my friendship on Facebook. Some of those friends were mere connections I had yet to meet face to face.

What better way than to give them amazing looking profile shots?

So an invite to the first “Facebook Foto Friday” event was sent. This is what I wrote:

My first ever Facebook Foto Friday

What is it?
It’s a opportunity for you to get a new Facebook profile photo. For Free. It’s only open to my Facebook friends as of now.

Why?
I dunno, thought it would be a fun opportunity to meet with some friends, and ensure everyone looks good on Facebook.

Whats the catch?
Simple stuff, really:
- Only use the image for profiles on social networks, Facebook, Twitter,Flickr, etc.
- Please don’t crop out my logo, and a credit would be nice.

How’s it gonna go down?
Drop by the studio between the times listed. Feel free to bring a few different changes of clothing or props. Please no guests, animals, children,etc. Keep it simple! We’ll take a few snaps, and one image will be selected and sent to you big enough to use as your profile image.

What if I want more than one?
Hmmm, well we’ll have to talk about that if that’s the case.

What if I can’t make it?
Don’t worry, I might do this again, if it turns out to be fun!

I have no idea why, but I cringed when I sent the invite. I felt nervous and scared to do this.

To give away what you do, the basis of your business for free, in any form is a scary thing. This was new territory for me and I had no clue what would happen.

Would all 700 friends show up? Would no one show up?

Fortunately right away my fears were dashed with the overwhelming response.

People seemed impressed that I felt strongly about their profile images that I would do it for free. Even people who weren’t able to make it still expressed their gratitude. The power in the gift doesn’t even rely on anyone taking you up on the offer. Over the next few weeks I reminded people with my status updates of the event. People who weren’t my friends on Facebook, but were on Twitter were asking if they could come anyway.

The day of the event, we had approximately 40 people show up.

It became not only a photo shoot but a networking event. Rather than mingle in the waiting area as I intended, everyone hung out in the studio to encourage each other, egg each on, and enjoy the antics.

Some people brought props, some sat for a photo when they hadn’t planned on it, some just hung out and chatted. Jamie and Lisanne of BlinkWorks shot a behind the scenes video which in turn, had people interested in their business.

Facebook Friday – Ian McCausland from BlinkWorks -James Swirsky on Vimeo.

For me the real pay off was watching the reactions and all over Facebook as everyone changed their profile pictures. For the last few days, the comments have been constant, the new friends adds about three to four a day, and the amount of goodwill generated is priceless. I will probably do another one down the road, Twitter Tuesday anyone?

Ian McCausland is a commercial photographer in Winnipeg Manitoba. He’s embraced the social aspect of the internet since 1992, before the web! (Check his URL. This man bought up the ian.ca domain before folks even knew what domains were). Find Ian on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.

Blogging – write what you don’t know

Liz Hover — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:53:47 +0000

This weekend I whipped up a post for One Degree about blogging.

And I’d love you to read it if you’ve even remotely considered blogging and quickly swept the idea away.

What’s One Degree? It’s a website for Canadian marketers like me. I tweet for One Degree.

Thanks to Peter Mosely (the boss at One Degree) for asking me to write the post.

(BTW: I’m cool with punctuation but my headline font isn’t. It doesn’t have any apostrophes).

Why a passion for learning is vital to success

Liz Hover — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:43:58 +0000

Today I mastered the art of Facebook markup language.

What on earth is Facebook markup language? It’s the web coding used by Facebook that allows fan page administrators to add fun stuff to their pages such as images, additional tabs and more.

I’ve battled with it for several years. It’s only after getting a better grasp of HTML that I was able to do this.

I think it’s fair to say that there isn’t a week that goes by when I don’t achieve some kind of personal goal like this.

I read all the time.

I wake up most mornings excited to go to work.

I don’t have a degree.

At school my favourite subjects were history and communications studies. I excelled at them.

I did go to university but I was a little older than most in my year because I had to re-take courses and exams.

I left after six months. I was bored rigid. My major was women’s studies with communications and sociology.

I’m 35 and until three years ago I regretted not completing my degree.

At that time I got very lucky. I found my passion – a passion that I was able to experience in my day job at the National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI) where I’m the digital media manager.

I manage the NSI Online Short Film Festival. I commission content for the NSI Online Industry Centre. I also produce content myself.

I manage NSI’s online spaces – I’m the voice of Twitter, Facebook and all the other online places you’ll find NSI. I deliver social media workshops in Winnipeg.

Why does this excite me more than getting a degree or propell me into the office every day?

Because I live my life on an ‘acclerated learning curve’ to coin the phrase from Adam Singer’s recent post on Future Buzz.

I’m entirely self-taught.

I’m hungry for information like you wouldn’t believe.

I spend a large part of my spare time learning. Learning about the internet. Learning about anything I can get my hands on that interests me.

Nobody made me do this. And nobody told me to do this. It’s just the way I choose to live.

In his post, Adam says, ‘You know nothing.’

I think that’s my motivator. I have a perpetual appetite for knowing as much as I can. And as soon as I do, more comes along.

If you aren’t happy in your job or feeling unfufiled I urge you to read Adam’s post – one of the most important posts I’ve read in a very long time.

Yes, it’s true, most people don’t live like this. But they should.

I feel extremely lucky to be one of them.

With that self-recognition I’ve been able to pay it forward.

My learning doesn’t start and stop with me. I’ve travelled to Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary to deliver workshops on social media. For me, that is the ultimate fulfilment.

Not only am I learning like crazy but I’m trying my hardest to teach others.

What purpose does knowledge serve if it sits inside one person’s head?

So if you’re scratching your own head wondering why your life seems incomplete, please remember that a passion for learning can be vital to your success.

Photo courtesy of ittybittiesforyou via a Creative Commons Licence

Liz Hover — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:07:23 +0000

There’s no piece of paper that says you’re a marketer.

Well, a Bachelor of Commerce, but let’s not be so literal.

We come from all kinds of backgrounds. Some come up through the creative side, writing or designing ads. Some are business school grads.

Because of this diversity and lack of oversight, you also get your layer of pretenders without much practical experience.

Social media marketing and the self-branding smokescreen of virtual life are bringing such self-styled gurus out of the woodwork, with thousands of “social experts” clamouring for attention.

This is really annoying to some people, though I think personal hubris is a quality of stars and that people with real ideas deserve a chance, however “proletarian” their roots. And anyway, the lack of official permission makes for an exciting Wild West meritocracy, in all stripes of marketing.

Though there are no hard and fast qualifications to be a marketer, there are many knowledge and skill sets that are darn useful when it comes to social media marketing.

Let’s take a look at the qualities that shine in the online persuasion space. All definitions from Dictionary.com.

Marketing (mar’ki-ting)

The act or process of buying and selling in a market.

Well that’s pretty interesting right there. Selling is a component of marketing, but so is buying. Marketers are consumers too. Put your customer hat on and see how your social media efforts look.

Communication (kuh-myoo-ni-key-shuhn)

The imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.

Hey, there’s a pretty broad spectrum there. Are you a great talker with a big smile? Make a video! Is visual language your thing? Design it without words. Use your strengths to convey your message.

Strategic thinking (struh-tee-jik thing-king)

A plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result.

Believe it or not, goals were not big in early social media. Everyone just set out to make friends without setting up metrics. How do you know you’re there if you don’t know where you’re going?

Psychology (sahy-kol-uh-jee)

The science of human behaviour.

Social media is about interacting with … people! People have a host of very easy to recognize (and manipulate, not that marketers ever do that) motivations. Know when to stroke egos, suggest inclusion, and foster tribalism.

Sociology (soh-see-ol-uh-jee)

The science of the fundamental laws of social relations.

Gee, what could be more useful to a community builder? Understand the interaction of content producers, joiners, lurkers, the people who comment and the people who brandvocate for you. Give them what they need to do what they want to do.

It comes down to understanding people.

Marketers are people who venture into the market – and let that conjure up a big ole’ funky flea market, rife with vintage delights, quirky gems and stuff you’ve never seen before, all fitting together in unexpected ways – and fulfill people’s needs.

If you’re useful, friendy, and facilitate people’s goals in the online space, hey … you’re a social media marketer!

Contributed by the wonderful Erica Glasier.

Erica makes things (including the illustration with this post) and writes things.

She also tweets for Tactica Interactive Communications, a Winnipeg-based interactive agency.