I try to blog every day but got busy working with clients and blew it off on Monday. The next day almost ended up the same way. I realized that utilizing Social Media is a discipline, even for me. I was at a Brian Tracy seminar and heard him say this:
SUCCESS-a few simple disciplines practiced every day
FAILURE- a few simple errors in judgment repeated every day
I dare say that ‘not blogging’ is a massive ‘error in judgment; however, inconsistency is easy to see and hard to watch. If I don’t care about what I am doing why should you? So, how do you know if you are making your Blogging work for your brand? Define your goals and you manage your own expectations!
Goal Setting: Put Social Media goals in writing – written goals equal success! Mom always said, “Start as you intend to continue.” “We have got to get on Twitter, Facebook and Blog” is not a goal or strategy, it is just a statement. Define what you want to accomplish. Do you want to increase awareness to a cause, build better relationship with listeners, generate leads, overcome objections, humanize someone or something….sky is the limit and completely dependent on what you want to accomplish.
Presentation: What does your blog look like and how does it reflect your overall image or Socialality? Use your best judgment on how to set up a blog. I like Blogger but have been experimenting with WordPress. I really like WordPress for the way it looks and the additional functions/tools they provide. MySpace also does the job and I have personally used this platform for a few clients.
Be Creative: This stuff is fun! Social media is supposed to be ‘social,’ last time I checked, being social and socialized, is a good thing! You can do great things and create a platform to shine. You can look at what celebrities, webrities and friends are blogging about. You can always post links and photos from them.
Time Management: Dedicate 20 minutes a day to Social Media efforts. You may need more, it depends on the results you want to get. Here is a FREE time saving/multi-use idea: The RSS feed for your blog should be connected to your Twitter, Facebook/Facebook Fan Page, Myspace or ANY social media network you are on. This gives you great content for these platforms! With the RSS feed title posting to these microblog sites you would be creating traffic and promotion for yourself as well. You can also get more into a blog than you can with microblogging.
Education: Read books, take webinars, download whitepapers, buy books or e-books etc. There are so many great ideas out there. And again, there is not a one-size-fits-all answer to blogging. You can read my blog… or follow me on Twitter. I constantly share great articles and ideas. HINT I get paid to teach what I often provide for free on my blog.
Build Following: Telling is not selling! You don’t pitch people, you attract people. Another FREE idea: Hold a mirror up to your potential audience and think about the things they want to know about and provide that kind of content. Build Interest=Build Repoire=Build Trust=Build Relationship. And when you build it, they WILL come!
Jessica is the Social Media Editor for Full Throttle Country-Country Radio’s newest full-service and free interactive idea sharing and new media on-line service. She has over 19 years experience including Radio, Television, Internet and Print Sales as well as an On-Air Radio personality. She is an Entrepreneur who owns MediaJess.com servicing all website needs including domain names, hosting, SSL Certificates etc. She specializes in big ideas and is known for the ability to create complete marketing campaigns and bridge marketing partnerships. Her company Finger Candy provides social and new media optimization planning for businesses, brands and individuals.
