flokkaEtc

If you’re exploring social media for your business, it’s a good idea to be aware of good practices and the not so good practices.

Do create a plan

While there’s something to be said for diving right into social media - make sure you’re not doing it lemming-style for the wrong reasons; ‘because everyone else is’ or ‘because there’s so much cool stuff out there’.

Have a plan. Listen to what’s happening on the social web. Find out where your customers are. Then ask what do you want to achieve? Is it brand awareness, generate sales leads, engage with your customer, monitor your brand and the competition, educate your customers, get feedback and insights or leverage SEO? And how will you measure your effectiveness?

Do commit time and resources

While social media tools are free -the real cost associated with it is mainly time - and that means employees’ salaries.

Listening, engaging and offering value through social media is time intensive, so factor in the time element to your plans in order for your social media tactics to have a fighting chance of gaining traction.

Do welcome participation and feedback

Social media is about conversations, connections and sharing.

Invite customers to have their say (good or bad) and make it easy for them to do so.

Do be transparent with identity and intentions

Social media is also about transparency. Your audience will expect it of you - and if you violate this rule, you will undoubtedly be exposed.

For example, most professional bloggers now alert their readers to the fact that they are an affiliate when they promote a particular product or service on their blogs.

Do give to get

Building customer relationships online is just like building relationships and trust off-line.

Offer value to your audience; in content, free reports, rewards, assistance. Be helpful, interesting and friendly…. it goes a long way.

Do listen

Take the time to listen to the conversations on the social web. Identify who the influencers are; find out what your competitors are doing, monitor what your customers are saying (about your brand, your company, your industry, your people).

Identify the culture of each social network and be aware of and abide by the mores of behaviour within each network. Don’t be the guy wearing Speedos when everyone else is wearing a suit and tie.

Don’t be pushy, spammy or salesy

It’s a no-brainer. Social media users - and consumers today - are savvy and won’t tolerate being spammed or sold to. Would you walk up to someone and just say ‘Hi, want to buy my product?’ before making eye contact, introducing yourself and finding a connection first?

Use social media to offer value and nurture relationships - listen and engage first, sell second.

Don’t be fake

Social media is about being authentic. Find your voice and just be… you. Be real. Be human and use social media tools to build human to human connections.

Don’t publish traditional ads

Social media requires a different approach; it’s not about ‘pushing’ your product/service to consumers, it’s about ‘pulling’ them to you. How can you get their attention, build a connection and invite them over to your place?

Want to know more about social media for your business? Fiona Powell, founder of flokka, a blog network for women in business and chiefette of SocialMediaThink and Business Blog School is holding an “Introduction to Social media for Business Course” on Dec 8th in Auckland. For more info: www.businessblogschool.com/courses or email fiona@socialmediathink.com for info or to reserve a place.

Are you wondering what all the fuss is about Facebook, Twitter and blogging? Still not blogging or twittering? Watch this and join the revolution - social media isn’t a fad!!

(thanks to Linda at blue banana!)

Every morning I turn on my computer (coffee in one hand) and open my Pageflakes Internet browser home page. There on my screen is the latest news and articles from all the various blogs and news sites I subscribe to. For free. Yep; this is my very own customised newspaper slash magazine. I’ve chosen the content I’m interested in reading. I can add or delete content streams as I wish. I can include any type of feed content, from local news stories, to blogs, to photos, my twitter feed and even the latest Dilbert cartoon.

In my Her Business magazine days we often wondered how we could customise our content to suit different readers. Some readers were just starting-up in business while others were growing or selling their business. Back then the publishing costs made this customisation option prohibitive - but today, thanks to the fantastic range of content available on the internet through RSS feeds and a feed reader that streams the content you’ve chosen to read, means now you can easily create your very own customised newspaper / magazine.

If I’m browsing an awesome site, and I see the orange RSS box icon, then I can subscribe to the site’s latest content. I simply go back to my Pageflakes page and ‘add’ the feed. Some sites have one feed, while others, like flokka, will have specific feeds for individual topics. I can enter the URL address or feed address and Pageflakes automatically ‘finds’ the feed and embeds the content stream into my home page. An instant ’subscription’ with no fuss! Then whenever the site is updated with, say, a new blog post my Pageflakes page updates to show the new post title and first post paragraph for that particular blog. If I want to read more, I simply click through to the site to read the entire post.

So every morning I scan article headlines and intros from all the blogs and sites I subscribe to… in the space of a few minutes I can scan the latest content from 50 or so blogs and websites - without actually having to visit the sites.

I LOVE RSS feed readers; they save me time from re-visiting my favourite sites and blogs to find new content and the feed is streamed through my internet browser homepage so doesn’t come via email (which means less email inbox clutter to trawl through).

There’s lots of information on the internet I want to read, enjoy, learn from and keep up-to-date with - but time is short, so to me RSS feed readers offer the perfect solution to staying in the loop!

 Note: While I use PageFlakes; there are lots of other web-based feed readers available too. Here’s a list.

And here’s a link to a short video explanation of RSS and how it saves you time reading the web: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU

The vital element that sets blogging apart from your standard website - or other media in fact - is the ability to add your comments to the author’s post.

Commenting makes blogging more interactive - much more of a conversation.

 Blog comments themselves can be as lively, controversial and entertaining, if not more so, than the original post!

Whether you agree, disagree, want to add to the comment conversation or add extra information to the author’s post - you can simply add your comment to the end of the post and be published!

 Imagine after reading an inspiring magazine article by a global leader in your industry you were able to shake their hand, give them your business card and say, “I agree/ disagree and have you read this about the topic too?”

Well, that’s what adding your comment to a blog post is like.

You have the opportunity to gain the attention of the author, you can add your web address to your comment (so they can check out what you’re about), you supply your name and your email (so they can contact you) - and you give them feedback directly!

Needless to say, this means commenting on people’s blogs is as important an activity as writing on your own blog. Commenting gives you opportunities to;

•  build your own profile by show-casing your expertise and thought leadership, which in turn gains readers for your own blog
• include a link back to your own website or blog which again can drive traffic to your site if people are interested in what you’re saying
• support, reach, and interact with other bloggers
• build a connection with the author that could develop into a rewarding relationship.

But beware; commenting requires effort - I’ve noticed as I moderate all our flokka blogs that some genuine comments look much like the new breed of spam comments; ‘Nice post’ or ‘I like your site” or “Important info and thanks for posting” and so on.

So when leaving a comment make sure your comments don’t look spammy!

You can do this by being genuine and;

 - Mentioning the author’s name

- Keep your comment relevant to the post (so it’s obvious you’ve read it!)

- Be specific with your comment or question (not just a vague ‘nice post’)

- Add value in some way, by offering another viewpoint or more information or giving examples that weren’t included by the author.

Consider implementing a commenting strategy to your blog strategy (and time line!). Caroline Middlebrook wrote a comprehensive post awhile ago  about what to consider with your commenting strategy. Think about what blogs you want to focus on; the importance of commenting early and how to still add value with your comment when there’s nothing left to add except ‘nice post!’ (and not getting obsessive about it all!!).

So - reach out, be genuine and go comment!

Flokka joined the twitter-verse a little while ago (BO = before Oprah) after much dragging of the chain. We had a light bulb moment and discovered there was more to twitter than telling the world what we had for dinner and if we were soaking in the bath.

You can follow us here: www.twitter.com/flokka. Our goal is to keep you alerted to quality content about blogging, business, online tools and women in business (and yes, twitter). As well as links to worthy information on the internet, we’ll also direct you back to flokka with links to our members fab blog posts or brilliant flokka posts and articles.

I’m still learning, but I’ve enjoyed a crash course in using twitter and while there’s zillions of blog posts already dedicated to ‘how-to-twitter’, here are some of my own gems:

- If nothing else, join twitter and grab your name and/or your business name before they’re snapped up. I belong to a Facebook group of Fiona Powell’s (was on a whim) - and surprisingly there are a lot of us in the world. My sister shares her name with a famous porn star (true story) and her name has already been snapped up on twitter by said star.

- Find a couple of people you admire, and follow them and see what and how they’re tweeting.

- Decide on the purpose of your tweeting; is it to build followers, be an information conduit or attract people to your blog or something else? In saying this, twitter is still quite fluid as we all discover the possibilities and potential.

- Download tweetdeck or twhirl to manage your replies, direct messages, tweets from the people you’re following and also to tweet (they include applications to add pictures to your message, and the ability to shorten long URL addresses - as there’s only 140 characters to say your bit)

- Build your ‘following’ list slowly with quality twitterers. Consider building a ‘profile’ of the people that would most likely share the information or contacts you’re looking for. For example, if I discover a great woman in business blog , then I’ll follow the author on twitter. I don’t always follow my followers - I’m not after quantity. Remember, if you’re following anyone and everybody, the quality ‘tweets’ will be lost amongst the ‘noise’. The simplest way when you’re starting out is to find someone who is in the same industry or who you admire and check out their followers, and follow them too.

- As with any PR, networking or social networking don’t do the hard sell, it’s a real turn off; offer your followers something of value instead and they will follow you, get to know you and maybe visit your blog or website.

- Download a twitter widget (available on twitter, or on your wordpress blog and lots of other places) to include in the side bar of your blog or website, so your readers can view your updates and follow you on twitter.

- And include your twitter address on your business cards, email signature, website (with an icon), blog, and flokka profile, so we can follow you!

- Spread your ‘tweets’ throughout the day to allow for followers in different time zones, so they don’t miss them.

- Have fun! Twitter seems to bring the world closer. For me, it’s a huge buzz to be connected with people, and to be in front of people, I admire from all over the world; from my office downunder in New Zealand.

There are lots of great blog posts about twitter online. I found these ones in particular helpful for twittering for business (I’m obviously a list kind of girl), so if you want to know more, check these out:

Top 10 Twitter Tips for Beginners 

Six ways to make Twitter useful

50 ideas on using twitter for business

How to get people to follow your business on twitter  

Top 10 reasons why your company shouldn’t tweet  

And a whole blog of twitter tips from problogger

Blogs (from the original term ‘web log’ which jokingly morphed to ‘we blog’ and then finally blog) evolved from the online diary. Student Justin Hall, who began personal blogging in 1994, is generally recognized as one of the earliest bloggers, and then in the late nineties blog platforms like Live Journal and Blogger.com saw blog popularity explode and by 2004 blogs were considered mainstream.

In the early days critics dismissed blogging as a ‘fad’. Then the cynics themselves (in some cases quite famously) began blogging and today there are over 112 million blogs in cyberspace and still more being created every day.

The main objections, that I hear, to reading all these amazing blogs are… ‘I don’t have enough time to read them’ or ‘I hate reading off my computer screen.’

Whereas books, magazines and newspapers can be taken and read anywhere and anytime.

But thanks to the Kindle2 by Amazon - and other electronic readers destined to follow - now you can download your favourite blogs (and books) and read them in bed, in the bath, on the beach or on the bus.

The Kindle2 allows you to download and read blogs and books anywhere, anytime; it’s slim and lightweight with long battery power; it’s wireless; the screen reads like real paper; it holds over 1,500 books… it can even read your blog out loud to you. How cool is that?

The Kindle2 is not only good news for blog readers but also importantly for bloggers. Your blog audience could soon get a whole lot bigger; or at least more engaged, if your blog is more accessible. The Kindle2 has essentially guaranteed the permanence of blogs in our lives.

So for those not blogging yet; now’s a good time to start!

I love discovering new blogs. And I love pointing people new to blogging in the direction of some quality blogs, so they too can understand what blogging is all about.

Blog directories are a great ‘one stop shop’ where you can find thousands of blogs on a variety of topics all in one place.

Not only are blog directories a great place to find inspiring content, they’re a way to research what other bloggers in your industry are doing. (What are they talking about? How is their blog designed and so on)

And once your blog has built up a few posts and you’re ready to increase your traffic it’s worth submitting your blog to these directories to build quality inward bound links. Here’s a great list here.

There are lots of blog directories on the internet - and here are our favourites (with a skew towards business and women, and all featuring actual blogs not posts):

Blog catalog - this is one of my favourite directories because it’s clean and easy to use. Blog listings include a screenshot and description.

Blogs by women - this is a directory of women’s blogs that is heavily moderated so there are lots of quality blogs to discover. Blog lists include descriptions, screenshots, page ranks and ratings.

Flokka - (of course!) flokka is not only a blog directory for women in business, it’s also a community for women in business. The blog list includes blog description and links to the author profile.

Alltop - a directory of some of the best blogs around covering lots of topics. Listings include latest post titles only. You can also build your own page of your favourite blogs (see ours here ).

Blogs.com Top ten lists- includes a list of the top ten blogs in a huge variety of topics; from shoes to knitting to leadership and everything in between.

Blogher - a popular site with comprehensive categories and large blogroll of women’s blogs. Only the blog title is included in the directory though.

Bloggapedia -Easy to search and find blogs here. Listings include description and latest post title.

Blogarama -Again, easy to search under categories for your favourite topic.

What are your favourite blog directories?

Natalie MacNeil is the founder of She Takes On The World, the award winning lifestyle and business blog for ambitious women around the world.

Natalie has two businesses. The first is a start-up, GarageEntrepreneurs.com, that connects young entrepreneurs to the people they need to get their business off the ground. The second is a media business where she works with companies on developing digital media projects on a contractual basis.    

We asked Natalie about her blogging journey so far:

When did you start blogging?
 I started blogging a few years ago when I was travelling the world. It was a good way to stay connected to the people I was meeting. In March 2008 I started She Takes On The World as a resource for ambitious women and it’s been growing every since.

What’s been the most challenging for you when it comes to blogging? 
I find the most challenging thing to be continually writing quality posts that can benefit my readers. Writing a blog on top of running a business, volunteering with many organizations, and having a social life is a challenge but I love it. I set aside a few hours a week in my schedule to write posts and I talk to my readers through comments, twitter, and email on a regular basis. 

What’s your best blogging tip for others?
I’ve talked to many people who think starting a blog is an easy way to make passive income. This is not a good assumption to make. Write a blog because you have a passion for the topic, want to share your knowledge with others and start a conversation with your readers. It’s important that you always respond to comments and emails you receive about your blog. I love being able to answer readers’ business and money questions and help them where I can. Ultimately you want to build a trusting relationship with your readers.

How has blogging helped your business?
Blogging has helped me make a lot of connections for my business that I otherwise would not have made. The value in blogging is not in making money from your blog (although making money is nice) but rather the exposure it brings to you and your business. I’ve been offered quite a few consulting and media projects through my blog.

What’s your own favourite/ most popular post you’ve written?
One of my favourite posts is a step-by-step guide to starting a business, The Ready, Set, Go Business Start-Up Guide:

One of my posts with the most traffic is Women of the Year 2008 that were selected by my readers.

Thanks Natalie!

Back in early 2007 we launched entrepreneurette.com - an online community for women in business. We started off more focused around mastermind groups and online learning programmes and then we kept on evolving the networking element of the community. At the end of 2008 we launched flokka.com - to focus on the business blogging aspect and earlier we’d started entrepreneur-ette.com the ‘magazine’ side of things (where you can submit your own articles). Now we’ve moved entrepreneurette.com to a new platform, focussing solely on networking.

At entrepreneurette.com you can set up your own ‘page’ to tell the world about you and your business (and you can arrange the page layout however you like!).

You can add ‘widgets’ to your page too… your twitter updates, and lots more.

There’s lots of smart web tools available to you as well; you can upload photos (maybe of your product or your team?), videos (maybe an introductory video about your business?), events (got a product launch?), you can update the community about happenings in your own blog, you can ask questions or start discussions in the forum. You can also join or start your own online group. Your group can be public or invite only - which means you could start a group for clients, or a group around a specific interest you have… then you can invite people to join your group.

There’s lots of ways to network as well; read profiles of other members and leave public messages on their ‘comment wall’; or send private messages to their inbox. Or even chat in ‘real time’ using the online chat (public or private) on the bottom toolbar. In fact you could even ‘meet’ with your network group in the chat room, for real time discussions (from wherever in the world you are!)

Entrepreneurette is easy to use and navigate around - and ranks highly in google searches for your name. All members are approved and content is moderated to ensure the quality and integrity of the site - making it the perfect professional online networking forum to be seen and get known online!

See you there - www.entrepreneurette.com

Cornelia Luethi’s business is FX Marketing  where Cornelia helps small and medium service businesses with their marketing planning, marketing management and copywriting. Cornelia says: “It’s all about helping you get MORE clients, spending MORE money, MORE often!”

Cornelia’s marketing blog is packed with marketing tips and hints. We asked Cornelia to share her business blog journey so far:

When did you start blogging?
January 2008 - but I didn’t get serious about it till December.

A YouTube video converted me to the benefits of blogging!

What’s been the most challenging for you when it comes to blogging?
At first I struggled with the purpose and content of my blog: seeing the aforementioned YouTube video helped enormously.

The technology has some quirks too. I’m quite computer-savvy and it still wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

Why are you business blogging? 
My blog has a number of purposes:

1. Adds value to clients: my blog provides invaluable information and resources for my clients. I often send them links to relevant blog articles, and it saves re-writing the same information over and over.
2. Saves time: even though I email monthly newsletters to my database, I can’t fit in every single hint and tip so blogging saves time. I also draw on the blog for newsletter content.
3. Personalising my business. People do business with other people, not businesses so this way prospective clients can get to check out what I do before they make contact. So by the time I meet them, they’ll know a bit about me and how I can help them. And it does weed out people who I might have a personality clash with too!

What’s your best blogging tip for others?
Enjoy your blogging! If you enjoy your blog, then so will other people.

I read a great tip a while ago where the author suggested relating everyday occurrences into your blog, and linking it to your blog topic. That’s a great way of coming up with fresh content that people can relate to.

How has blogging helped your business?
My blog demonstrates to clients and prospects that I’m passionate about my business and consistently go the extra mile. Blogging is a great way to add value to what I do, in a way that’s quite systematic and routine.

What’s been the best comment you’ve received so far?
From Karen: Thanks for an inspiring blog (found through Flokka). Full of top tips - now I just have to act on them (starting with coffee at a new cafe?!)

What’s your own favourite/ most popular post you’ve written?
The most popular post to date is this one.

Thanks Cornelia!