Did you know that you can search LinkedIn from your web browser without having to actually login to Linkedin?
With the Linkedin Firefox Toolbar or Linkedin Internet Explorer Toolbar you can!
With the Linkedin Toolbar you can:
- Bookmark Linkedin profiles, searches and jobs
- Search using built-in LinkedIn Search Engines
- Remember Linkedin Pages and easily go back to them
- Find connections with the JobsInsider
- See LinkedIn profile information for every email you receive via Yahoo!, Hotmail, Gmail and AOL
Pretty cool huh? By the way…are we connected on Linkedin?
If you find yourself not getting the response or engagement you would like from your current social media efforts then maybe you should take a look at the ‘story’ you are telling. The stories we often come up with ourselves are very ego driven and less than memorable.
If we’d stop and take a look at what’s being said about you, then you might be able to tap into a very entertaining and engaging world of stories to share. Take a look at the conversations to see:
- How are you described or recommended by friends and customers?
- What words do others use to describe you when recommending your products or services?
- What stories do others tell their friends about your talents and skills?
- What do others brag about you on your behalf?
Looking at what others find memorable enough to remember and repeat can help you identify your most powerful strengths and the stories you should be sharing with your social network to further speed your social media marketing success.
Would you like the good news or the bad news first? Feel free to read the next two statements in whichever order you choose 
- Bad News: I don’t have any quick and easy tips for you today. I’m afraid I’m going to ask you to really think about your social media marketing today.
- GoodNews: Taking this time to really think about this post and analyze your own social media marketing strategy just might be the key to speeding up your social media marketing success.
So let’s get started…
In the marketing/psychology classic, Influence: Science and Practice 
by Dr. Robert Cialdini there are 6 powerful influence elements identified. They are:
- Reciprocity
- Social Proof
- Liking
- Authority
- Scarcity
- Commitment and Consistency
In your social media efforts, how are you including these 6 elements of influence? You get points here if you have a squeeze page or pink spoon. Give yourself 1 point for each. You can give yourself more points if you figure out a way you could provide MORE value in each of those giveaways?
What if you could make the content so valuable that people just had to share with others how awesome it was? Spending a little more time adding value to your free content just might give more points for #2.
In the case of liking, this influence element is why niche marketing works so well. When you are speaking specifically to a targeted group of people you can easily create a sense of similarity, association and familiarity.
By having a blog and regularly posting you are giving yourself points for #4 and #6.
In what ways can you think of to influence by use of scarcity? I’d love to hear your comments below.
It’s very easy to lose track of time on social networking sites like Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It’s easy to feel as if sometimes you’re doing all this ‘work’ for nothing. How do you properly measure return from your social networking activities?
Here are 4 metrics you should keep on your dashboard to help you measure return from your social media marketing:
- Web Traffic-Make sure Google Analytics is installed on your blog or landing page so that you can easily see if any of the traffic to your site is coming from the social networks you participate in. For me and my clients, I can easily see that Facebook and Twitter are in the top 5 traffic sources.
- New Links-One of the main benefits of social media marketing is its effects on organic search engine optimization. Check out sites like BackLinkWatcher.com to see how many sites link to your and watch the quality of those links.
- Opt-in List Growth-Are you getting new subscribers to your Pink Spoon or Squeeze Page? In addition to content status updates and notifications you should be including some catchy updates that promote your latest freebie offering.
- Google Alerts-I use Google Alerts for my Twitter username, my name, my company and product names to just keep an eye out on what’s been said and watch for spikes in activity.
Keep an eye regularly on these 4 and you’ll start feeling a lot better about the time you spend on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
Ask…Ask Often…Make it easy to say YES!
So now you’re thinking but where do I ask? How do I ask?
First, on every page of your blog make sure you have an area where someone can subscribe via RSS or email. Give them the option to subscribe to updates. I also include the ability to subscribe via Networked Blogs because I use that application on my Facebook Fan Page to tie my blog posts automatically into my Facebook Status updates.
Second, bribe people. We’re talking about an ethical bribe here, like a Pink Spoon or a free report or audio.
Third, create a dedicated subscription landing page that you drive paid traffic to.
Next, post a link to your blog in your digital signature like you use at the bottom of your emails, when you engage on forums, and your social network profiles.
Finally, get listed in the major blog directories.
250-450 words.
So what do I do now with the other 240-440 words of this post?
How about if I tell you why I believe 250-450 words is the ideal length for a blog post?
- Information Overload- Today’s reader is overwhelmed with the amount of available content, the ability to receive that content anywhere and anytime. You’ve probably got less than a minute to get their attention before they are distracted by the next B.S.O. (bright-shiny object).
- Focus- 250 to 450 words helps you as a writer stick to the point and not ramble on. Bottom line – no one wants to read your rambling thoughts and it’s a complete waste of your entrepreneurial time to do it.
- Search Engine Optimization- 250 to 450 words is a good length to saturate (I didn’t say stuff or over-saturate) your content with keywords.
When should blogs posts be longer?
- Blow-by-Blow- Ever feel like you really need to account for every detail about a situation or experience? Then this would be a good time for a longer blog post.
- Inspirational- If you are looking to convey a story with lots of vivid details and psychological triggers then by all means write until you run out of words. But this style should only be tried by an advanced copywriter.
Leave your comments below and let me know what you think about the length of blog posts?
Do you feel like you should be blogging but just don’t know what to start writing about? Do you already have a blog but make posts occasionally because you haven’t figured out a real ‘method to the madness?’
Here’s an idea to help you quickly and painlessly get 10 blogs (possibly more). Are you interested?
Imagine you are having a conversation with a prospect, what are the questions you get asked over and over again by almost every prospect you talk to? Can you write down the 10 most frequently asked questions (FAQs) that prospects would ask you about your business, product or service.
I just went through this process myself to come up with the next 10 blog posts I’m writing for you on blogging. Here are the FAQs that I used to write my future posts from:
- What is a blog?
- What is the difference between a blog post and an article?
- What is the best blogging software to use?
- Why should I blog?
- How often should I blog?
- What if I’m not a good writer? Should I still blog?
- How much should I write in a blog post?
- How does blogging help with search engine optimization?
- Can I use the content from my blog for other things?
- How do I get people to read my blog?
I hope this helps get you started with at least 10 blog posts to start with. As you read through this series I’ll help you out a bit more. Remember from my previous post, it’s just a muscle that you have to develop.
I’m afraid there isn’t a one-size fits all answer for “How often should I blog?” Unfortunately it depends.
- For someone completely new to writing and blogging I’d say 1-2 times per week is a good benchmark to strive for. Just getting into the habit of writing blogs is a big adjustment for some people and that’s ok.
- For others who are more prolific writers or who have advanced past the beginner blogger stage I’d recommend 3-4 times per week. At this point you are not only writing content to feed the search engines love of fresh new content but you are able to stay top of mind with prospects, customers and influencers.
- For professional bloggers or someone who is aggressively looking to utilize their blog to catapult them to online marketing success, I’d recommend 5-7 times per week.
I’m not a big fan of “should-ing” on anyone but I’d like to take a minute here and give you 10 reasons why blogging is an essential component of a successful online marketing plan.
- Blogging allows you to share your thoughts and opinions with the world which is the linchpin to establishing you/your brand as an expert.
- Creating a blog is a great way to establish a written history. I know if feels a little weird at first but when you look back after a year or two you’ll be amazed at how far things have come for you.
- If you have even the tiniest interest in writing a book a blog can be a great way to prepare.
- Blogs are search engine candy.
- Blogs are an easy, effective publishing tool that allow you to share information with customers and prospects.
- Blogs are the foundation for a successful social media marketing strategy AND search engine optimization strategy.
- Blogs can serve as the content hub for your enewsletter or print newsletter.
- They are a great way to start a conversation with customers, prospects and influencers.
- Blogs force you to keep abreast of industry news and trends.
- Bottom line…blogs are a creditability machine. Journalists love to interview bloggers and authors. If you don’t have a book published already – get yourself a blog and instantly establish creditability.
Hands down-100%-there is no other option in my opinion….
Self-Hosted Installation of WordPress
Why?
First of all when you take on the responsibility of blogging (note I did say responsibility) you now become a publisher and you want to own the content that you produce. You give up a number of rights to your content when you use a blogging service (see post about blogging service vs. blogging software if you need clarification as to what the two are)
Second, wordpress is used by the majority of professional bloggers yet it is easy enough to use for a beginner.
Third, there are thousands if not hundreds of thousands of custom/commercial themes you can use to instantly change the look of your blog. When you use a self-hosted installation of WordPress you have access to Full Theme Support. This means that you can modify, customize or do anything you like with your site. That opens up a world of possibilities.
Fourth, all plugins are allowed. Do you want to add a podcasting feature to your blog? Control the amount of spam comments? Add a calendar of events? Integrate YouTube? All of these features are just a click away when using a self-hosted installation of WordPress.
Last, there is an entire community of more than a billion users of wordpress that will provide whatever level of support you need for your site. Often for free. Sometimes it just takes a bit of ‘googling your problem.’
As an additional bonus, most hosting companies like GoDaddy or Hostmonster have 1-click installation of WordPress so you can literally have your new blog up and running in less than 5 minutes. We like speedy implementation around here… don’t we?
