Building Your Brand – By Blogging.
As a writer, I find putting words on paper not too hard – but even I tend to put off Blogging, as much as I love to write. There is no end of ideas to share; experiences to validate with others; suggestions to share and questions to ask.
Part of the reluctance to blog is wondering whether what you have to say is valuable; will your words go unread or unregarded? Few people leave comments on blogs these days, when a Twitter retweet of your post or a Facebook comment is much easier in our time poor world.
So, how is Blogging relevant? Does Blogging build customer loyalty to your “brand” – whether it is your total retail presence or a specific product?
What cannot be overstated is that your blog is your PRIMARY opportunity to build your brand. [Read more...]
Would You Like Fries With That, Anyway?
“Would You Like Fries With That” is an article written about a year ago and the phrase itself is almost generic now. The post made the point that something the “experts” and the “gurus” would disregard works so well it is almost unbelievable.
In particular, this phrase is rated as failing the key tests for emotive marketing and engagement. Or does it?
What makes for engagement in this electronic age? Are the old traditional phrases, words and styles being superseded by the immediacy of e-media? With faster communications, do we now respond to stimulus which doesn’t need the permanency of older styles of marketing messages?
Look at what happened in Australia, during the last Federal Election, through Twitter.
Quote: Anthillonline.com
BuzzElection released an announcement earlier this week revealing the second most influential tweeter (user of Twitter) in the Australian 2010 Federal Election is Lesley Dewar, beaten only by ABC News. ….. what is most interesting is that Lesley is not a political reporter nor does she have a career background in politics……She said: “I’m a grandmother who writes children’s stories…. I think it’s a hoot!”[i]
Twitter is good for very fast, very short messaging, and using #hashtags allows you to focus on topics by tweeters, responses and retweets. While it was a somewhat amazing result announced by BuzzElection, it was the medium itself which allowed for a sudden (and very temporary) measure of influence.
In addressing the question of blogging vs Facebook, Adam Turner writes effectively about the way the mediums have changed our interactions and responses. In his blog post (SMH) Facebook Generation Changes The Face of Blogging[ii] he notes as follows:
Social networking sites were still finding their feet when blogging rose to prominence. The ability for readers to leave comments made blogs seem like the perfect medium for interacting with people, but these days social networking sites such as Facebook are much better suited to social interaction.
This is a view with which I agree – being active in all four medium: Twitter, Facebook, Blogging and LinkedIn.
Twitter is great. It is very easy to post a link to a blog post and those who read the post will very often will also retweet the link. To get a RT from, say, @chrisbrogan or@mikehaydon really kicks you into the Twitter stratosphere. Using hashtags allows you to find mutual interests without necessarily following those other tweeters on a personal basis and still allows for interaction with them.
Facebook is fun, because you can upload your photos and videos directly onto your page, leave a quick “Like”, a friendly comment on the page of a friend or a fan and create deeper interactions. Links are easily posted to blogs and other articles, to be shared around. Business pages allow for much more open communication on Facebook – given the old “fan” page has morphed into the “business page” – and with good privacy controls, you can enjoy Facebook at a deeper level than Twitter.
Blogging is where the real work is done and the real rewards are found. It is the art of blogging which brings the greatest depth of interaction, even though most readers will NOT leave a comment – unless they are very moved indeed by your message or perhaps using the backlink options to help bring you and your readers to their own blogs, by their comment being linked to yours. If is not spam, I have no problems with that strategy.
If a “Like” on Facebook is designed to open doors by notifying others I have Liked or posted there, anyone who genuinely comments on a blog post in the spirit of its content is both welcome and entitled to the backlink. Every blog post needs to have a “share” option for at least Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other Social Media sites so with a simple click of the Share button, your readers can make the most effective comment of all – sharing your content with their friends through their own networks.
Making a buying decision is traumatic.
Leaving a comment on a blog post is a very strong buying decision. Not all your readers want to promote you – even though they like what you say. So, how do you “upsell” them. How do you offer them “fries with that” at a price they are happy to pay and enjoy the experience? When they share or comment on your blog link elsewhere, they have bought “fries with that”
The top one third of your website is the most valuable real estate you own, online.
It is where you need to display your Blog link, your Facebook page, your Twitter link – so, when they or their friends come to your site, they see your menu.
Are you flaunting your Menu for all to see, with a clear call to action?
Every visitor is a potential customer. How, and how often, do you ask them “Would you like fries with that?” You can get my fries (and more) at http://storiesmynanatells.com
About this blog:
If you share your blog posts on Social Media platforms, the comments on the link from your blog are just as valid as those left on the blog post itself. We are very happy for comments and shares to be done through our Facebook page or by RT on Twitter at @nanastories
If you find good links to share, please do it! If you like our stories, please share us with your family and friends. We would love to hear from you, too. We love comments and we love to share!
(c) Lesley Dewar 2012 to current
What Kind Of Blogger Are You?
What Kind Of Blogger Are You?
Blogging, (writing in an online website log), springs from a range of motives. Yours may be to share information; to build your business profile as an expert in your field; to provide advice and support or simply to feel happy. People blog to feel connected and to express things in a way they cannot do, in spoken form.
Publishing a blog allows us to reach out to people we know and those we don’t, with ideas, views, comments and our reactions to circumstances and events. In reaching out, we invite contact by way of comments from those who read our writing. In Nana’s Blog we tend to write about things that are quirky and a bit off the beaten track – without having to be too serious or as in depth as we are when we write our premium stories. It’s pretty important to be able to engage parents and grandparents with the stories we write for free, to engage them as potential future subscribers for Stories My Nana Tells.
For Love or Money?
Blogging has also become a recognised way of earning money, by writing product reviews and articles for which the blogger is paid or given product for payment in kind. Money is also earned by either income generated by advertising, like Google Adwords on the blogger’s site or the owner being paid to place banner advertisements on their blog.
Since that kind of blogging is done purely for money, having a good network is critical to being able [Read more...]
Octopus’s Garden
“I’d like to be under the sea in an octopus’s garden in the shade.
We would shout and swim about the coral that lies beneath the waves.”
Ringo Starr wrote this song for The Beatles in 1969. He says “I wrote Octopus’s Garden in Sardinia. Peter Sellers had lent us his yacht and we went out for the day… I stayed out on deck with [the captain] and we talked about octopuses. He told me that they hang out in their caves and they go around the seabed finding shiny stones and tin cans and bottles to put in front of their cave like a garden.”
This inspired him to write the song which was featured in the Beatle’s movie “Yellow Submarine”.
Octopuses really are amazing creatures. They are very intelligent and live in cave-like dens in the rocks. They often close up the front of the cave with rocks and shells, leaving only a small entry hole through which they virtually ooze, coming and going from their homes. When they catch their prey, especially crabs, they return to their dens to dine. Their garden is the collection of bones, spines, and shells left over from previous meals along with any shiny things [Read more...]
Dancing With Fred Astaire
I could feel the muscles in my eyelids. When I blinked very slowly, I could feel them connecting to my face under the skin. And in my neck, when I lifted my chin, I could feel the fine muscles all through my neck. It was an amazing sensation.
After nine weeks of dancing lessons, learning Jive, Rock & Roll, Cha Cha and some line dancing – I thought I knew every muscle in my body. I wondered – how come all that exercise hadn’t dealt with every single muscle I owned?
Every Wednesday and Friday night – regardless of the 42° heat – we had stepped, swung and sweated our way through over two hours of lessons in the Baskerville Hall. In the following week we would start Jive again, but this night, this [Read more...]
Dining Out
One night while we were living in Stoneville, I decided to take my Dad out to dinner at a very upmarket Chinese restaurant in our neighbourhood.
We had been there before with friends and I was quite happy to spend $120 – 150 for us to have a lovely dinner with wine, beer, desert, coffee, whatever we wanted. I booked a table for two, for 8:00pm. When we arrived, the restaurant was very busy doing takeaways and a number of tables were set but not occupied. We were on time.
We were shown to a table for two, just inside the entrance to the dining area. My father was seated first, with his back to the room of diners. I was seated opposite him, with a first class view of the staff entrance into the kitchen/ serving area, the rubbish bins into which all plates are scraped before they hit the dishwasher and the repository for all empty bottles.
Suffice to say, I politely and quietly told the young waiter that the table was not suitable; we would not sit [Read more...]
Do You Play An Open, Generous Game When Networking?
For the past couple of months, I have had about eight games of Words With Friends (electronic Scrabble ®) on the go at any one time on my iPhone. Thinking about playing Words With Friends (WWF) has led me to thinking about networking, because networking needs strategic planning, as does this game. You need to network with people with whom you are comfortable; can trust and with whom you can work to each other’s mutual benefit.
When you request an “ad hoc” opponent with whom to play WWF, it will probably be a stranger and may well be someone quite experienced in the strategies of the game. As you play with different opponents, you begin to see individuals have their own ways of approaching the game of word building.
One strategy is to make lots of very small, very tight moves; words of only two or three letters at a time which make it [Read more...]
Waterless Garden
The idea of having a waterless garden has appealed to me for a long time. I have tried lots of different ways to grow my garden with little or almost no water and, more importantly for me, no watering. It’s getting away from being tethered to the end of the hose that I want.
Let’s forget for the moment about past experiments and look at what we are trying now. This weekend, the last weekend of March 2012, we started round two of the new waterless garden scheme.
Around Christmas time, I discovered a potentially new way of watering the garden. The product comes in a plastic sausage shape and comprises a jelly substance that is said to be 97% distilled water and 3% cellulose. The jelly is cut and placed raw surface down onto the soil, where a microbe action will begin and their activity causes the water to gradually be released from the jelly into the soil. [Read more...]
Is Social Media Helping Or Hindering Your Productivity?
The major complaint about “Social Media” is that it either wastes your time or it is not effective for business. Like all activities within your business, the use of Social Media needs to be structured and focussed. You would not spend thousands of dollars on advertising without carefully deciding on your target market; the actions you want them to take and the words you use to attract their attention. Using Social Media for business is exactly the same, but with much less cost.
We have a wide range of Social Media resources for business at our fingertips – and these are my favourites (although [Read more...]
What Kind Of Grandparents Do You Have In Your Family?
Nana and Pop Beaton – Grandparents on my mother’s side.
Family life is a bit different now to what it was when I was growing up. People are living longer; families are often “blended” families – having been through changes due to death, divorce or separation of the children’s parents, and families are often spread across the country or even the world. This can make it harder for Grandparents to provide the traditional role of days past.
If both parents are working, often Grandparents are needed to help with primary childcare or the support of a child who has special needs. With the rise of the Fly In Fly Out (FIFO) workforce, Grandparents can be invaluable in supporting the individual parent at home.
The African proverb is that “it takes a village to raise a child.” So, the [Read more...]