MackCollier.com

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Reminder: The Marketing Profs B2B Forum is just 10 days away!

We are just 10 days away from one of my favorite marketing conferences, the Marketing Profs B2B Forum in Boston! As you know, there will be a LIVE #Blogchat as part of this year’s B2B Forum, and it will be held on June the 14th, at the end of the 1st day of the event.

Also, Marketing Profs and I are pleased to announce that the Live #Blogchat will be sponsored by Sensei Marketing! You are probably familiar with Sam Fiorella and Brandie McCallum who are both part of the Sensei Marketing team, and both are very active on Twitter.  The topic of the Live #Blogchat will be Managing your blogging strategy, how to figure out how the pieces all fit together, and Sam will be co-hosting the discussion with me!  We are thrilled to have Sensei Marketing sponsoring the Live #Blogchat at the B2B Forum and if you’ll be attending you’ll love meeting and connecting with their team!

Also, I wanted to remind you that if you want to participate in the Live #Blogchat at the B2B Forum you can only do so by attending the B2B Forum!  And luckily, Marketing Profs has worked out a discount code for us, just register at this link and use code BLOGCHAT.  That will get you a $100 discount!

Now, if you can’t join us in-person, you can still view the event online.  You can register for the B2B Forum Online here, and use code BLOGCHAT to get a 30% discount! Now please understand that the Live #Blogchat will NOT be part of the B2B Forum Online.  It will give you online access to the sessions during the day, but not for the Live #Blogchat.  Again, the only way to participate in the Live #Blogchat is by attending the event on-site.

I do hope you can join us either online or at the event, as the Marketing Profs conferences truly are among the best you can attend, and you’ll get far more business value than the cost of attendance!  And if you will be attending, please leave a comment so we can start connecting now before the event!

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Are we headed toward a Social Media snapback?

Let’s say you are presented with a unique and unexpected opportunity.  One that would require a several-month commitment, that would mean significantly shaking your life up, but could ultimately be the best thing that ever happened to you.

You need to ask some friends for advice.  People that know you completely, your life situation, and that you trust to give you good and sound advice.

Now if you needed to make a list of 5 people from your Twitter network to email (not including friends you know outside of Twitter or before you used Twitter), how long would it take you?  I ask because I often find myself in such a situation.  And every time I struggle to find more than 2-3 people that I would really trust to reach out to.  And every time I hear this tiny voice in my head saying ‘why is it that you are following these people?’

Which is a silly question to ask, because I am following everyone on Twitter and Facebook and wherever because I value the connections.  But do we reach a point at which adding more connections stops adding value?  Or worse, can we reach a point where adding more connections lessens the value of our existing connections?

Which becomes an interesting question to ask, when you consider that most social media sites and tools are built around making it easier to connect with more people.  But lately when I am on Twitter, for example, I’m often in Twitter chats.  I’m finding that I’m getting more enjoyment from Twitter chats, because even if the chat is huge like #Blogchat, I can zero in on a small discussion with just a few people, and really connect with them.  It becomes more like having dinner at a conference versus being with 500 people in a session.  I am seeing far more value in these discussions with smaller groups, and I’m finding that I am then starting to connect with them more outside of the chat.

So I have a couple of questions for you:

1 – Do you think in the next couple of years that we will see people begin to become more aggressive about ‘pruning’ their social networks, so that they have a deeper connection with the people they friend/follow versus just following them based on who they are?

And this is the far more interesting question to me…..

2 – If #1 holds true, will we begin to see a shift in the functionality of social media tools so that they encourage and facilitate smaller networks with deeper connections?  And what would that look like?  Simply limiting the number of connections you can have?  Maybe the ability to expand your network has to go through your existing network via an introduction or something similar?  Not sure, but I think the possibilities are endless.

 

What do you think?  Are you facing social media burnout?  Would you rather be loosely connected to 5,000 people, or closely connected with 50?

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How One Blogger Has $20,000 a Month In Sales on Her EBook

A few weeks ago on a Sunday I was scrambling for topic ideas for that night’s #Blogchat when @SarahMaeWrites suggested we cover How to Create and Sell an EBook that night.  That sounded interesting, and then she DMed me to add that she had just created and sold one, so I thought ‘Perfect!’ and asked her to co-host.

Now what I didn’t realize is that this pretty young lady had unleashed a social media marketing dynamo to promote and create interest in her ebook.  She had a clear strategy, and was leveraging social media and her existing online network to promote the book.  And her strategy was working incredibly well, so well that she has now sold over 8,000 copies of the ebook in less than two months.  At $4.99 a pop.  Do the math kids, she’s making $20K a month JUST off this ebook.

And the reason why is because she created a valuable product and did a fantasmic job of promoting it and building interest in it by not only leveraging her community, but involving them in the entire process.  When I heard Sarah’s story I just knew this would be such a wonderful case study to help show others what really smart social media marketing looks like, so I asked Sarah if I could interview her, and she was gracious enough to accept:

Mack: What made you decide to write an ebook?

Sarah:   A few things…

First of all, I read this: Indie Author is Making Millions by Selling the App Store Way (I have no idea how I came across this article, I wasn’t searching for ebook info or anything like it.) I found the article fascinating and tucked it away in my mind.

The second thing that influenced my decision to write an ebook has to do with my serious procrastination skills (and lack of the ability to write on cue). I had an article due for a site I write for monthly and I had nothin’. I finally decided to go through my archives and I landed on a post from a series I did two years ago on cleaning (which was more about the heart than on the actual mechanics of cleaning). I posted it.

The response was significant; women were relating with what I wrote. I knew the content was something that could help and encourage women, and I wanted to get it out there.

The best part was that I knew I had enough posts to go ahead with the ebook on my time table (I have very limited time being a SAHM to little ones). My cleaning series was 31 days long – I had 30 articles to work with. Timing was also perfect – it was March and spring cleaning was just about in full swing. I knew I needed to put my series into a book and release it in April (time is crucial!).

 

Mack: What goes into the actual creation of an ebook?  And once you create it, how do you distribute it?  Do you put it on your servers and let people download it?

Sarah: For me, it’s mainly the writing I focus on. I hire a designer to do everything else, from turning my document into a PDF (anyone can do this, but I always seem to mess it up!) to having her format it on Kindle and Nook. I use (and highly recommend) Erin from insightblogdesign.com. She is professional, efficient, affordable, has an eye for design, and is an easy personality.

As for distributing it as a PDF download, I heard good things about E-Junkie, so I went with them (this I do myself-they take you step-by-step through the process). So far, so good. They also have an affiliate set-up, the ability to create discounts, video branding, and more.

 

Mack: When did you start promoting, before or after the ebook was released?

Sarah: I started promoting pretty much the minute I decided to put my series into an ebook. I deleted the posts from my site, began to re-work and update them, and let my readers in on the ride. I used social media because it is my platform – I have an audience on it. I had built up my personal blog, started another blog, and was hosting a conference. I am in the social media sphere because that is where my community is (one I am so thankful for, especially as a SAHM).

 

Mack: How did you use social media to promote the book?

Sarah: Here’s what I did: I held two launch day giveaways on my own two blogs to get things started with a bang (I contacted companies and asked them if they wanted to participate). I then asked many bloggers to review and/or have a giveaway of the book (reviews on blogs are key-the more the better). I did pay a few blogs for advertising. I used Twitter and Facebook to create a community around the book – a hashtag for Twitter and a fan page on FB (both of which I regularly interact with). I created a youtube video where I talk about the book (over 10,000 views) and I started a website for everything related to the book (including freebies). I also used the power of free to get the word spread. For one day only I offered the book for free to anyone who spread the word via social media channels. It was a wonderful success. I gave away over 2000 books, but the reach was just what I was looking for – I wanted to break through my own sphere of influence and reach beyond, and the free day did just that. It even got my book mentioned on two different radio stations in different states. The goal? Be everywhere.

I also put the book on Amazon Kindle. You’ve got to have your book on Kindle (and Nook).

(Mack’s note – Pay attention to where Sarah said she gave away 2,000 copies of the book in one day.  That might seem like she was losing sales, but note how she said that by doing that it greatly EXPANDED the reach of the ebook and pushed it past her network.  Allowing her to get MORE sales!)

 

Mack: What has been the biggest surprise from doing this ebook?

Sarah: The biggest surprise was the amount of ebooks I sold. I honestly was hoping to sell about 50…maybe 100 if I was “lucky.” I had no idea I would sell over 8000 copies in less than two months. Shocking, actually, comes to mind.

 

Mack: Are you thinking about doing additional ebooks now that your first has been so successful?

Sarah: Yes. Although now I’m in this interesting place of deciding if I want to continue with ebooks or go traditional publishing. If your ebook takes off, a publisher may want it. However, just last week Amazon announced that Kindle E-Book sales surpassed printed books for the first times. A sign of the times.

 

Isn’t that just the coolest story ever?  BTW here is another great post recapping Sarah’s process.  And of course, the ebook!  You can go here to learn more about it (and isn’t that site just amazing? ).  And please do check out her blog, Like a Warm Cup of Coffee.

Thanks Sarah!

UPDATE: Here’s some more information on some of the fees associated with selling the ebook, according to Sarah:

Addendum to the interview: I have been extremely blessed with the sales of my ebook, but please remember that I do factor in taxes and tithe, which takes 40% off my gross. On Amazon, I receive 70% royalties (for U.S. sales, 30% for abroad), and then take 40% off of that. Paypal charges about .44/book, and E-Junkie (where I distribute the PDF) charges $5/month.

And here’s the link to the post on Sarah’s site.

BTW some people seem to be a bit upset about the $20,000 figure being mentioned.  That was actually *my* idea, Sarah didn’t really even want to mention it, but I did because it would help get attention to the post because I wanted people to hear the strategy Sarah used as I think that’s the key.  Also, I changed the title as it technically wasn’t correct to say she was ‘making’ $20,000 a month, but again, that was my idea, not Sarah’s.

 

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A huge social media money-making opportunity in Twitter chat transcripts

We just wrapped up another amazing #Blogchat on Twitter.  If you aren’t familiar with #Blogchat, it’s the largest chat on Twitter, and when it gets rolling starting at 8pm Central, there will be over a tweet left every second.  So while there is a TON of great info, it’s impossible to keep up with everything.

And a lot of people won’t even try, and up till a few weeks ago, they would wait till 9pm Central when I would post a transcript for #Blogchat that I had created with a free site called WTHashtag.  But there were some changes to Twitter’s Terms of Service, and apparently WTHashtag.com is down now.

But, I know there are some services that can still create transcripts of Twitter chats, although most of them have difficulty catching all the tweets, and if they do, there’s no organization other than to show them in a stream as they happened.

So there is a HUGE demand for transcripts and transcripts that can easily be organized and searchable.  Because let’s face it, if you are trying to sort through 5,000 #Blogchat tweets, you need a way to organize the information and track the conversations as they happened.

I think if a company came up with a way to create a killer Twitter chat transcript tool, that they could totally sell transcripts.  I sent the tweet out tonight asking if people would pay say $3 for a great transcripts, and dozens of people said they would.  I didn’t see anyone say they wouldn’t.  When you think that in #Blogchat alone there are 1,000 or so active participants in a good week, and likely at least that many lurkers, you are looking at least a couple of thousand potential customers.  And I could even see where a company could sign an agreement with chats to become the ‘official’ transcript for that chat.  If a great product/transcript was available, it could quickly corner the market and easily generate several thousand dollars a week in sales.

What the transcript would need is:

  • Be searchable.  By keyword, Twitter user, etc.
  • Be portable so I could use it on my iPad, or Kindle, whatever.  Maybe PDF form or something else.
  • Have a ‘conversation view’ or something similar where I could chose to have the tweets organized by conversations.  It is almost impossible to track conversations when tweets are spaced out in a convo every 5 mins, and there’s 300 new tweets a minute.

Those are some ideas.  If someone was going to charge you say $5 for the PERFECT #Blogchat transcript, what would it have to have in order for you to buy it?  What’s missing?

And to clarify, I am NOT looking to sell #Blogchat transcripts.  I have no idea how to even create them.  I am trying to get a discussion started to show companies that there is potential to this idea.  Do you think there is?

 

UPDATE: Great discussion in the comments, but I think Fred may have come up with the perfect solution – “Hey Mack. I think your idea is in the right direction, but as several (like Shannon Whitley @swhitley, Rick Stilwell @RickCaffeinated and Debra Ellis @Debra_Ellis) pointed out, there are some potential legal and “do I want to contribute to a discussion that somebody else monetizes” issues that need to be overcome (ironically, you don’t own your own tweets – twitter does).

Personally, I’d look to solve this problem from a slightly different angle – rather than sell chat transcripts, I’d look to develop an independent app for “personal use only, running on my own personal device” that provided the type of functions you listed for any chat/search/etc.

Think of it as a “twitter-mining” tool. That, to me, would have significant value and possibly avoid the personal and legal pitfalls of an entity trying to sell Twitter content.”

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Congrats to the Four Blogs That Will Be Reviewed at #Blogchat!

Thanks to EVERYONE that submitted their blog to be reviewed Sunday night during #Blogchat!  Since there were so many submissions, I decided that we’d review 4 blogs instead of 3.  Now if your blog was not chosen, please submit it again next month, and I’ll try to give priority to the ones that weren’t selected this time.  Also, if you do submit again, please try to add who you are writing the blog for.  This really helps us, especially if you are asking questions about the type of content you should be creating.

So without further adieu, here are the 4 blogs we’ll be reviewing tomorrow during #Blogchat!

Dave Cutler’s Blog at 8:00PM Central!

Here is Dave’s feedback for us:

I’m relatively new to blogging and also hoping the blog can help with my job search so feedback from the experienced pros could benefit me greatly. I’d love to hear people’s thoughts on any or all of the following:

Design/layout: is it clean and visually appealing? Anything specific I should change?

Content: I’m a traditional marketer transitioning more and more into the social media space. I’m trying to demonstrate knowledge and understanding but also cater to the fairly large percentage of my readers who are still quite unfamiliar with most aspects of social media. Am I accomplishing that balance?

Comments: What can I do differently to elicit more comments?

Feels Like Home at 8:15PM Central!

Here’s what Tara want us to look at:

1. Set up – My primary concern is whether I should change things around to make it more like a magazine with channels than a plain old blog. There are a few things I dislike about the design – things don’t always line up just so, the links are either all underlined or all not underlined, and the theme disables threaded comments.

2. Overall design – Is it appealing? Again, thinking about switching themes to Thesis (or something all together different) but a little intimidated by the work it would require.

3. Advertisements – It’s necessary for me to monetize, but I worry that I have too many ads on the page.

4. A landing page – I’m thinking about adding a static landing page. Good idea? Bad idea? I used to have a landing page with snippets of articles, but some readers complained. They wanted a full post on the landing page.

5. What’s missing? I worry that there’s something I’m not doing that I should be doing. I don’t know what it is. Is there something important missing?

New Day New Lesson at 8:30PM Central!

Here is Susie’s areas of concern:

1) Tagline. Right now it is too long. Have some ideas but nothing that I have said wow about.

2) Getting more subscribers. I have been blogging for over a year now. i have about 100 or so subscribers. I would like to up that.

3) Monetization- I have recently thought about monetizing, and put up amazon-though it is not doing anything and am not sure I like the concept. What ideas do you have and would you hold off till I have more subscribers?

4) Design-would love a revamp-can’t afford it right now. Any suggestions? I like the fact that there is the most recent post on top, then favorites and popular and then summaries of other posts underneath.

5) Post titles. Generally I put the “lesson” I have learned as a title. Do you think it would affect the concept of the blog (lesson learned each day) to get creative in the titles?

6) General-what would improve the experience of reading the blog.

7) Length of posts. I do all different lengths. Is that good , bad…doesn’t matter.

Social Butterfly Guy at 8:45PM Central!

Here is DJ’s feedback for us and what areas he has concerns with:

1. Design. It’s a WordPress Thesis Theme. I loved it 2 years ago when my blog launched, but it needs a refresh. I just don’t have the skills to do it myself nor the cash to pay someone as this is a personal blog.

2. SEO Stuff. Again, I’m using WordPress and it has some built-in SEO stuff, but I need help!

3. Content: As my tagline says, “It’s all about people.” My content is – for the most part – about people, but I worry that it’s all over the place.

4. Frequency: I was in a rut awhile ago, but finally got on track again. My last few posts have been some of my most viewed/commented in the past 2 years. But, I’m still struggling with the right balance on frequency.

So there you have it!  Those are the four blogs we will be reviewing Sunday night.  Congrats to DJ, Dave, Tara and Susie, and thanks to ALL of you that submitted blogs, and remember that if your’s wasn’t chosen, please submit it again next month when we do this again!  And if you will be joining #Blogchat on Sunday night at 8pm Central, please do visit these four blogs and make some notes for each of the bloggers so you can share your suggestions.  And this will also be a great way for all of us to get some ideas on how to improve our own blogs in the process!

Now it looks like we all have some homework to do, and some interesting new blogs to discover!

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Live #Blogchat is Coming to the Marketing Profs B2B Forum!

In less than one month, we will have the second LIVE #Blogchat ever!  That’s right, LIVE #Blogchat is coming to the Marketing Profs B2B Forum in Boston next month!  We’ll be joining what is already a stellar agenda and speaker lineup including CK, Ann Handley, KD Paine, Chris Penn and dozens more.

This will be the second LIVE #Blogchat, following its highly-successful debut at South By SouthWest in March.  If you’re familiar with #Blogchat on Twitter, then this will be an offline version of what is the biggest Twitter chat on the planet.  We won’t be on laptops, just a room full of smart people chatting and learning from each other and having interesting discussions.  Following the same format as on Twitter, we will have a one-hour meetup, then the actual #Blogchat will follow immediately after that.  The LIVE #Blogchat will be on June the 14th from 7pm-9pm EST.  The paint is still wet on this announcement, so we make have a few more details and surprises to add and if so, I’ll be happy to update everyone!

Now, how do you participate in LIVE #Blogchat?  The LIVE #Blogchat is only open to B2B Forum attendees, and luckily, Marketing Profs has given us a special discount code we can use to save $100 on admission!  Register via this link and add in coupon code ‘Blogchat’ to get a $100 discount!

So I cannot wait to see everyone in Boston!  If you will be attending the LIVE #Blogchat, leave a comment and also let us know what topic you’d like to discuss!

PS: If you’d like to bring a LIVE #Blogchat to your event, here’s where you can learn more information.

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Get your blog reviewed during #Blogchat!

Ok I want to try something different with the next #Blogchat.  I seriously do appreciate all of you that make #Blogchat so amazing each week, so I’m constantly trying to figure out ways that we can leverage the power of #Blogchat so that its regular participants can benefit.

So what I want to try is this:  With the next #Blogchat, I want to have us all review and advise three different people on their blogs.  What we’ll do is each 20 mins we’ll all examine a different blog and give the blogger ideas and advice on how they can improve their efforts.  And ideally, I’d like to start doing this once a month, on the 3rd Sunday of every month.

So if you’ve just launched your blog, and maybe you want some feedback on the visual look of it, we could help you!  Or if you want some advice on the type of content you are creating, etc, let us know!  If you want your blog to be considered for one of the THREE review slots at the next #Blogchat then leave a comment to this post giving us the URL of your blog, and exactly what you are concerned with and the areas you want feedback on.  If you want to know what everyone thinks of the information on your sidebars, let us know that.  If you want to know what you should be writing about, tell us who you are trying to connect with.  If you want feedback on your post titles, let us know.

What I’ll do is pick 5 or so finalists, and set it up so everyone can vote on them this weekend, and the Top 3 will be selected for our #Blogchat review blogs!  How does that sound?  And I’ll have a blog post up on Sunday announcing the winners and reminding everyone of what their blogs are, and how we can help them in our reviews.  Then at next Sunday’s #Blogchat, we’ll review a new blog every 20 mins!

How does that sound to everyone?  I see this as a way for us to harness the power of the #Blogchat community to improve our blogs and make them better 😉

PS: Remember if you want to have your blog be considered, you have to leave a comment to this post telling us the URL for your blog, and what area(s) you need and want advice on!

 

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone that has submitted a blog and since so many of you have, I am going to pick FOUR blogs to review tomorrow, instead of three.  And to address the ‘we need more time to review the chosen blogs’ point, I am going to pick four later today, then announce which ones were picked, so everyone will have a day to review them.  So please make sure you leave a comment if you want to get your blog in the mix!

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Live #Blogchat Sponsorship Packages

 

Amy and Victor Canada talking with @Zaneology as C.C. Chapman and Julien Smith look on during meet and greet prior to start of Live #Blogchat at SXSWi

If you would like to learn more about sponsoring a Live #Blogchat, including what’s offered and pricing, please email me.

If you are active on Twitter, then you’ve probably heard of, if not participated in #Blogchat.  #Blogchat is the largest weekly chat on Twitter, happening every Sunday night at 8pm Central.  Every week we discuss a different blogging topic, and #Blogchat attracts as many as 1,000 participants and up to 5,000 tweets in a 60 minute period.

As the popularity of #Blogchat on Twitter grew, it seemed a natural fit to test the waters and try to take #Blogchat offline and do it ‘Live’.  The first Live #Blogchat happened in March at South By Southwest.  You can read my review of the event here, but let me say the response blew me away.  The power of the Live #Blogchat was that it brought people together and let them connect with each other.  This is the one thing that most event organizers miss when they plan events: Attendees usually learn the most when you let them connect with the speakers, and each other.  #Blogchat creates a vehicle that naturally facilitates discussion and interaction, and that what fosters learning.  It’s a huge reason why #Blogchat on Twitter is so popular, and it was also a big reason why the first Live #Blogchat event at SXSW was so successful.

So why should you want to sponsor a Live #Blogchat?  Here’s a few reasons why:

  • Minimum of 2 hours exposure with some of the true leaders in the social media space.  For example, over 60 social media influencers and thought leaders attended the 1st Live #Blogchat at SXSW, including C.C. Chapman, Shannon Paul, Becky McCray,  Jason Falls, Julien Smith, Chris Heuer, Richard Binhammer, Lionel Menchaca, Valeria Maltoni, Connie Reece and many more.
  • I will be promoting the event and your sponsorship on Twitter and my blog leading up to the event.
  • You’ll get a TON of useful advice from some of the smartest minds in social media.  This alone would pay for the sponsorship.
  • Sponsoring the event would bring a good deal of positive exposure to the sponsor.
  • Will work with the sponsor(s) to help them facilitate any blogger/influencer outreach programs with #Blogchat attendees and/or product giveaways or discounts.

A Live #Blogchat will be a 2-hour event.  The first hour is a ‘meet and greet’ where attendees and sponsors can connect with each other.  The hour will conclude with a brief introduction by the sponsors, and then the official #Blogchat will begin in the 2nd hour.

So if you would like to sponsor at Live #Blogchat, here are the available sponsorship packages and what’s included:

Platinum Sponsorship:

  • Naming rights for the Live #Blogchat.  For example: “Live #Blogchat Presented By Your Company”
  • Sponsor will be promoted on Twitter as the Live #Blogchat Platinum sponsor. The sponsor will be promoted on Twitter a minimum of 3 times a week prior to the week of the Live #Blogchat.  The week of the Live #Blogchat the sponsor will be promoted once a day, then twice the day before the Live #Blogchat, followed by three tweets on the day of the sponsor’s #Blogchat.  The Platinum sponsor will receive a minimum of 10 tweets promoting its Platinum sponsorship #Blogchat from the @MackCollier Twitter account, with total impressions from these tweets topping 250,000.
  • A blog post promoting the Live #Blogchat and mentioning all sponsors will appear on MackCollier.com the week of the Live #Blogchat.  MackCollier.com’s current monthly readership is over 100,000.
  • A banner (up to 200X200 pixels) will be placed at the TOP of the further right sidebar on MackCollier.com.  This banner will link to the Platinum sponsor’s website or blog (sponsor’s choice), and will appear from Sunday 12am-Saturday midnight the week of the sponsor’s Live #Blogchat.
  • Sponsor will be given a follow-up 30 minute phone call to discuss that sponsored Live #Blogchat, and/or any social media issues the sponsor would like to address.  This could include advice on social media strategy, implementation, etc.
  • Platinum sponsor will be given a chance to introduce themselves immediately prior to the start of the Live #Blogchat, at approximately 5 mins before it starts.

Gold Sponsorship:

  • Will be identified as the sponsor for the Live #Blogchat Meet and Greet to be held one hour prior to the actual Live #Blogchat.
  • Sponsor will be promoted on Twitter as the Live #Blogchat Gold sponsor. The sponsor will be promoted on Twitter a minimum of 4 times in the week of the Live #Blogchat, and at least once the day of the Live #Blogchat, with total impressions from these tweets topping 100,000.
  • A blog post promoting the Live #Blogchat and mentioning all sponsors will appear on MackCollier.com the week of the Live #Blogchat.  MackCollier.com’s current monthly readership is over 100,000.
  • Sponsor will be given a follow-up 30 minute phone call to discuss that sponsored Live #Blogchat, and/or any social media issues the sponsor would like to address.  This could include advice on social media strategy, implementation, etc.

 

A word to event planners and conference organizers:

If you already have a conference or event planned, adding a Live #Blogchat is a wonderful addition to your agenda.  The format of the Live #Blogchat is a roomwide discussion and interaction for one hour on a chosen blog topic.  This is NOT like your standard conference session where one person speaks and then answers 2-3 questions at the end.  The discussion is led by the ENTIRE room.  Which means everyone is learning and engaged.  What I’ve learned from attending social media and marketing conferences over the past few years is that attendees learn more when they are engaged, and they are more likely to be engaged when they are active.  That’s why sessions billed as ‘Core Conversations’ have become so popular, because the attendees are engaged and interacting from the moment the session starts.  Live #Blogchat is formatted in this exact same way, which is why it’s so popular with those that attend.

If you have an event that you’d like to bring a Live #Blogchat to, please email me so we can discuss how to make that happen.

Also, I am happy to talk to you about creating a custom sponsorship package for a Live #Blogchat event.  Or maybe you are interested in one of the above packages, but want to know if it would be possible to edit or alter some of the parameters of that package.  Please email me and we’ll discuss your options!

PS: Here’s where you can see more pictures from the first Live #Blogchat at SXSW.

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6 Reasons Why Your ‘Online Community’ Stinks

community building, building an online communityIn the past couple of years a lot of companies have tried to create an ‘online community’ of and for its customers.  A lot of these efforts are really bad, and a most of the time they are scrapped within a few months, if not sooner.

If your company is wanting to launch a community site for your customers, here’s some pitfalls to avoid:

1 – You can create a site, but you can’t create a community.  The ‘community’ half of ‘community site’ has to form organically, and from your efforts.  Those efforts have to resonate with the people you want to connect with.  Otherwise, all you’ll ever have is a lonely site, waiting for its community.

2 – Focus first on building a community, not on monetizing a community.  There are few absolutes in the world of online marketing and social media, but this is pretty ironclad: Communities do not form around the idea of being monetized.  There is no group of your customers that are biding their time and waiting for the day that you will create a community site that they can group and give you money.  If you want to monetize a community site, then the monetization has to be a byproduct of the experience you create for the community members.  Give the community an incentive to form, then the money will come.

3 – Value creation must be baked into the site from the get-go.  Why are people going to come to your community site?  What value are you creating for them?  That will play a huge role in whether or not your community forms, and it will also play a huge role in your ability to monetize that community site.

4 – You need to give your members the ability to connect and have fun with each other.  Also known as ‘Where do we account for the ability to throw sheep in this plan?‘  If you want a community to form on your site, you need to think about ways to give members to connect with each other.  To learn more about each other, to have fun with each other.  You want your members to instantly recognize other members when they see their names each time they return to your site.  So much of the success of your community site won’t have anything to do with the functionality you offer members, but rather the connections that members make with each other.  You want to think about adding ways to make the connection process easier for members.

5 – If your community starts to form, you MUST spotlight your advocates.  As your community begins to form, some of your members will take on a leadership role, and will try to accelerate that growth.  They will be the ones that are explaining to newbies what the site is for, what the rules are.  They will be the ones trying to make sure that everyone finds the right information. They are the ones that have ‘bought into’ the community here, and want to see it succeed.  These are your rockstars, and you should treat them with the respect they deserve (all your members deserve respect, but you must spotlight your advocates).

This is all about rewarding the type of behavior that you want to encourage.  You want to see your members take on an active role in growing your community, and you want to communicate to the entire community that you appreciate the efforts of your advocates in doing this.

6 – Building a community is HARD work.  Were you expecting a turn-key solution to your online community-building efforts?  Bless your heart.  You’re going to have to love the people in the community, and the ones you want in the community.  You’re going to have to love the idea of creating something valuable for these special people.  Because it really will be a labor of love, and that’s what will give you the incentive to stick with it.

 

So those are some pitfalls to avoid if you want your Online Community efforts to be a success.  It won’t be easy, but then again you didn’t really believe that social media was all rainbows and unicorns, did you? 😉

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#Blogchat 4-3 Schedule, co-hosted by Liz Strauss!

I’m excited to announce that tonite’s (4-3) #Blogchat will be co-hosted by Liz Strauss!  Liz will be joining us to discuss How to Write for Multiple Blogs!  I know this is a topic that a lot of you are interested in if you are writing for multiple blogs currently, or if you are thinking about starting a new blog in addition to your existing one.

Here’s how the discussion will be organized:
1 – At 8:00 we will discuss Liz’s best tips for writing for multiple blogs.  Including how to come up with enough post ideas, etc.

2 – At 8:30 we can discuss How to Decide If You Should Have More Than One Blog.  I know a lot of #Blogchat participants have blogs where they write about their life, but that they also want to talk professional topics, and want to know if they should split it into two blogs.  If this is your situation, we’ll be happy to talk about it here!

To prepare for #Blogchat, first make SURE you are following Liz on Twitter.  And please subscribe to Liz’s blog, as it WILL make you a better blogger!

If you’ve never joined #Blogchat, here’s what it’s all about!  #Blogchat is tonite and every Sunday nite starting at 8pm Central.

And if you have some questions or topics that you want to discuss with Liz tonite, go ahead and leave a comment and we’ll make sure to talk with you about it during #Blogchat!