Social media marketing | Liz Hover's Diary of a Web Gal

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.

I recently came across two great resources that I wanted to share with you.

Both are insightful and practical and will help you with your social media strategy and your website content.

Adam Singer has crafted a great content marketing primer: How (and why) to create remarkable digital content, which I’ve embeded below. If you haven’t heard of Adam and don’t read his blog The Future Buzz, you should.

I’ve followed Adam’s blog for the last year or two and am constantly impressed by his perspectives. He’s put together a smart presentation here. If you’re even thinking about online marketing or social media you need to check it out.

The second resource comes via Scott Monty’s Social Media Marketing Blog in the form of a brilliant social media guide. I’ll let Scott tell you how he got it and why he recommends it in this post: The Social Media Playbook.

You can download the PDF file by clicking on the image below.

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

I’m a huge fan of Adam Singer who runs a wonderful blog called The Future Buzz.

He recently put together a useful post about the future marketer’s skill set. I really love what he includes and wanted to share this with you.

Below I have only abbreviated Adam’s post. Please read the full post here: Tomorrow’s marketing skill set

1.  Writing skills are critical

2.  Meaningful insight into analytics/interpretation of data

3.  Nexus of marketing specializations

4.  Digital strategy development

5.  Leadership

6.  Not afraid to fail

7.  Always experimenting

8.  Understanding of tools/technologies/applications/programming languages

9.  Fresh thinking with content

10.  An understanding of how to orchestrate buzz

11.  They’ll be members of the media

12.  Content marketing will be second nature

13.  They will champion niche media over mass

14.  Understanding of the rules that govern groups

15.  Ability to tap power users and influencers