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March 2, 2014

Best Practices For Blogging

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Photo Cred: http://www.dresswell.com

 

There are millions of blogs out there on every topic under the sun. What makes some blogs stand out? How do you get people to follow and engage with your blog? How do you make money off of your blog? You can start by following the best practices for blogging. 

Blogs come in a few forms. You could write your blog, post video blogs, or create podcasts. According to the book, Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, “Self-expression used to be either private, or difficult (Li & Bernoff, 2011, p.19)”. With the creation of blogs there are now ample ways to show off your self expression to other people. 

“Nearly one in three online Americans (Li & Bernoff, 2011, p.19)” read blogs. In order to promote your blog you should read and comment on other blogs that share similar interests as you. You can give credit to other blogs by referencing other bloggers content within your own blog. This helps build a relationship between you and the other blogger as well as promote the other blogger’s content. 

I work in the non-profit sector. According to Topnonprofits.com there are hundreds of non-profit blogs. You can view a list of the top 150 blogs here: http://topnonprofits.com/lists/nonprofit-blogs/.

The company that I work for uses a blog and twitter account to promote our advocacy efforts. The blog mixes stories of the company’s past with articles about current political topics that are relevant to the organization. The blog posts are tweets are consistent and there is new content every day to every few days. 

If you are interested in purchasing your own copy of Groundswell you can pick up a copy on Amazon.com. 

February 5, 2014 Aside

No Time, No Money, No Idea?

The non-profit industry is a challenging industry to work in. There is a lot of work and few resources. Social media is becoming a great tool for non-profit organizations because most platforms are free or inexpensive. The video above, 19 ways non-profits can use social media to connect with donors, explains how non-profits can use social media to connect with donors. Donors drive most of the funding for the company that I work in as well as for the majority of non-profits. Therefore, it is important to do all that you canto cultivate your relationships with donors.  According to 19 ways non-profits can use social media to connect with donors non-profits cite the following reasons for not utilizing social media tools:

  1. Don’t know how to use the technology

    Screen Shot from 19 ways non-profits can use social media to connect with donors

    Screen Shot from 19 ways non-profits can use social media to connect with donors

  2. Don’t know what kind of content to create
  3. Don’t have the time
  4. Don’t have the money

This is a problem because it is becoming more common for donors and volunteers alike to prefer to be contacted via social media rather than other outlets like telephone and email. Additionally, social media is an inexpensive way to create and grow relationships with donors, volunteers, and other people who want to interact with the organization.

To be more effective non-profits should start to use social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, etc. to connect with their donors. To solve the “don’t know how” problem many sites have extensive help sections. For instance, YouTube has a help section that helps users learn how to:

  • Create videos
  • Embed private videos
  • Set location
  • Write a description.

Additionally, non-profits can Google, “How to use [insert a social media site here]” to learn how to use sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

Another tool non-profits can use is content. Non-profits can create content like stories and thank you messages to volunteers and donors. Non-profits can post these stories on various sites to get their message across.

If time is an issue non-profits can use tools like Posterous, SocialOomph, AWeber, and Tube Mogul. All of these sites save time for users in various ways. For instance, Posterous is a free tool that helps you post to many sites with one click. Also, SocialOomph will help you schedule posts to auto-generate as needed. In addition, AWeber is a autoresponder service that can be used to mass message followers to create engagement. Lastly, Tube Mogul lets you upload videos and share them with multiple video sites with one click. All of these tools can help a busy non-profit save time.

When you realize the amount of tools out there to help establish a presence on social media your “don’t knows” do not seem as significant!

-Maria Barbagallo

January 29, 2014

What Tools Are In Your Toolbox?

In business Social Media is only as good as the tools you utilize to help make you more efficient. There are many tools out there that help you cross post, organize and upload pictures, track analytics, shorten URLS, group RSS feeds, and more. When you have a good amount of tools in your Social Media toolbox it can help you manage content across sites and bring important information to your attention.

A good way to help you stay aware of what is being said about you or your company is to use the Social Media tool Mention. “Mention was developed as a user-friendly replacement for Google Alerts. They’re a textbook example of how to build a platform by doing one thing better than anyone else (http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-tools-used-by-pros-today/)”. Mention uses a clean and organized dashboard to help you view the content that is posted about you or your company online. The site is also simple to use and easy to customize. An example of what a Mention page looks like is below:

Another tool any smart small business owner or marketer would have in their toolbox is Compfight. If you blog regularly or wish to update your website you can use Compfight to search Flickr (another wonderful Social Media tool!) for professional images. Why does this matter? Photographers or even camera equipment can be a big investment. For companies or individuals hoping to add quality content to their site they can use Compfight for free! All you have to do is give credit to the photographer who posted the image.

The list of worthwhile Social Media tools is pretty long. However, the tool I will leave you with is Hootsuite. In the past Hootsuite was a tool used to manage posts across multiple platforms. They had basic analytics tools which were just enhanced with the purchase of UberVU. Although I do not personally believe you should schedule out all of your posts – it takes away from the social aspect of Social Media – however, it is smart to have some sort of tool to help you manage content.