Turning the Writing Switch On
Guest post by Ron Miller my trusty sidekick, partner at SocMedia101, virtual office mate and all around terrific dude. Oh and he’s a phenomenal, award winning tech journalist to boot. (You know how you can tell that I didn’t write this? Because I haven’t been on a vacation in three and half years. So there.)
I just returned from vacation and there was a little part of me that was afraid I would forget how to write. Absurd I know, especially after more than 20 years in the business, but I was writing so much before I left, and I was in a groove. I was also seriously burning out and needed a break, but part of me worried that when I stopped writing that maybe I wouldn’t be able to find my groove again.
Shedding the Brain Fuzz
When I first got back on Wednesday, I wasn’t really ready to write, so I did all of the post-vacation chores. I went through the pile of email, listened to the collection of voice mail and sifted through the 2500 emails that were waiting for me. On Thursday, I needed to get serious. I sat down at my computer, and I didn’t feel like writing. My brain was fuzzy. The ideas weren’t there, then something caught my eye in Twitter as it always does. Mmm…Microsoft made a deal with Nokia. It got me thinking about how active Microsoft has been and I sat down and very quickly wrote a post for my DaniWeb TechTreasures blog called Microsoft Strategy Report Card. Slowly getting back into it.
Next, I owed a post to somedia101.com, the blog Julie and I started together earlier this year. I had been kicking around an idea about how Facebook was a great way to stay in touch on the road. I opened up a blank document in Google Reader and very quickly wrote Facebook Replaces Post Cards from the Road.
And just like that the Writing Switch had been turned back to the On position.
Like Riding a Bike
Today I posted two more posts: one for DaniWeb and one for Socmedia101.com. As I monitored Twitter and slogged my way through Google Reader I was once again flooded with ideas. It was as though I had never left. It’s so cliche, but it was like riding a bike. It was a silly fear, I know. It’s not likely I would forget how to write.
It’s part of the core of who I am and what I do, but it felt so good when I heard that click and I knew I was back.
Image credit: The Giant Vermin
Filed under Critical Copywriting, How To, The Business, Writing | Tags: creative writing, freelancing, Ron Miller, travel, vacations, Writing | Comment (0)Free eBook – Finding Your Voice in a Crowded World: Personal Branding, Social Media and You
So excited about my new ebook that I wrote with Ron Miller for our Soc Media 101 site (tips & how-to’s for beginners). Actually, the idea for the book came first and the blog formed around it…
Finding Your Voice in a Crowded World: Personal Branding, Social Media and You takes a look at how you can make yourself stand out when everyone’s hopping on the social media train. And you get two perspectives: my marketing/creative writing perspective and Ron’s technology/journalism perspective.
Read it, Enjoy it, Pass it on…(and thanks for being such wonderful blog readers and commenters!)
Click the book, get your free download!
Social Media Tips and How-To’s for Beginners
Social Media Quadrupled My Business Last Year
When people talk smack about social media – calling it a waste of time or a fake world – I just smile. “Go ahead with your bad self and your bad attitude,” I say. “Social media helped me quadruple my business last year.”
The relationships are real. Most of the people are genuine and kind. Because the social media world is growing so fast, there’s room for us all to learn, thrive, fall down, get back up…and everything in between.
Social media has increased my exposure * given me opportunities to write in some awesome venues * provided new jobs * helped me grow as a networker, writer & business woman * offered new speaking opportunities…and introduced me to Ron Miller.
Click and Clack
Do you have anyone in your life that you share a brain with? I met one of those people on Twitter. Ron and I can’t remember our first tweets or how we connected so instantly – but we did. Complementing each other perfectly with all of our opposites:
- He’s a guy/I’m a girl
- He’s a tech geek/I just like that things work when I plug them in
- He’s a journalist/I’m a marketing writer
- He’s old/I’m not
And, before long, we became trusted colleagues, attached at the Skype-hip, editors & thesauruses for each other, confidants, sentence finishers, virtual office mates…and now partners. I’ve lost count of the number of times that we’ve IM’d each other the exact same thought at the exact same time.
Why Am I Telling You All Of This?
The ‘social media is good’ part is because some people still haven’t engaged. Why? Because they’re scared and intimidated by the LinkBooks and the FaceINs, not to mention the Tweetering. And I think that’s a crying shame. It’s all doable if someone helps you do it.
The ‘Ron Miller’ part because our first partner venture is the creation and launch of Soc Media 101: a blog about social media for the beginner. Full of how-to’s and tips from Ron & I and an exciting gang of guest posters.
So…check it out:
- Digestible info if you’re a newbie.
- Great place to point the unfamiliar, the scared and the unconvinced
- Guest possibilities for the well-traveled.
And stay tuned for everything else we’ve got cookin’!
Image by our fantastic designer, Shauna Callghan.
Filed under Blogging, News, Social Media | Tags: blog, Blogging, copywriter, Facebook, Julie Roads, LinkedIn, marketing writer, Ron Miller, soc media 101, social media, social networking, socmedia101.com, Twitter, Writing Roads | Comments (7)Blitz or Burn: Branding, Selling and Being Human
I’m about to launch a new blog venture with my virtual office mate (because we decided that’s the best way to describe us – though he’s much older than me, so sometimes I call him Grandpa just to piss him off), Ron Miller. It’s a blog with social media tips and how-to’s for the beginner and it’ll be launched in concert with our co-written ebook about finding your voice in a crowded online world. Very excited – but more details on that in the next week or so.
As things are getting set up, I decided it was time to walk away from Feedburner – my current feed client, the one that I use for the Writing Roads blog (where you are at this moment – in case you got lost).
Feedburner sends email alerts out up to 24 hours late. And it seems to have no earthly idea what my actual subscriber rates are. I’m so over it. I know that two folks that I really like (and who have been awfully successful), Guy Kawasaki and David Meerman Scott, use Feedblitz.
I have to say that I don’t love the way Feedblitz looks – in fact, I find the email alert layout to be a little, um, how do you say, ‘kinda boring’ as opposed to the polished look of Feedburner. Though they do list recent posts – the brand and look of the blog itself is lost. Check them out for yourself.
Feedblitz:
Feedburner:
So, I’m going back and forth…and then I turned to Twitter. And what happened was a perfect display of how you can manage, market and communicate your brand effectively with Twitter. (and I made my decision)
I simply asked the question – Feedburner or Feedblitz? I got a number of replies, including one from a man named @phollows (Phil Hollows). We started a conversation where he asked me why I continued to use Feedburner (um, I don’t have any spare time to make the switch.) And then, when I said that the new blog presented the perfect opportunity for me to try Feedblitz, he said,
“@writingroads That’s cool; start w/us on a new project and compare what we do vs burner side by side. I couldn’t ask for more :-)”
Come again? ‘We, Us, I’ At which point I went to his Twitter page to discover that Phil is the owner of Feedblitz. Nice.
Here’s what he did right:
- He’s monitoring his brand.
- He showed up to talk to a potential customer.
- He answered some questions (like, is Feedblitz going anywhere anytime soon – and the answer is ‘no’).
- He acted like a person, not a company.
- His Twitter handle is his name, not his company’s.
- He remained approachable and helpful.
For the record, I’ve heard nothing from Feedburner (hey, did I mention it’s owned by Google?)
If only there weren’t fees associated with Feedblitz. But, hey, to their credit, Feedburner, which is free, has done one thing well – they’ve proved the old adage: you pay for what you get.
Filed under Blogging, How To, Social Media | Tags: blog subscribers, copywriter, copywriting, feedblitz, feedburner, freelance copywriter, Google, Julie Roads, Ron Miller, rss, rss feeds, social media, Twitter, Writing Roads | Comments (10)Oh, just helping out the Gov’nor
On Tuesday, Ron Miller was tweeting away – meeting new people, offering pertinent information – perhaps a little humor, when this tweet came across his screen:
Ron swiftly tweeted that the Governor should hire him to be his Secretary of Social Media because that was the most boring post he’d ever read.
Almost instantly, someone from Governor Patrick’s office emailed Ron and asked him for his phone number. The next day he received a phone call from Brad Blake, the man in charge of the Gov’s new media & online strategy.
Schooling the Governor’s office
They talked about how to use Twitter effectively to show the whole person. With Ron making the point that the great thing about Twitter is that you get to know people in a way you couldn’t otherwise. Obviously, with the Governor, you need to be careful about how you do this, but there are ways to let people see his day and what he does without exposing too much information.
Of course, Brad is having a hard time convincing everyone of Twitter’s importance, and Ron responded, “It’s just another communications method like email, snail mail or the bulletin board at the community center.”
But everyone that’s on Twitter, Ron included, knows that it’s faster – much, much faster. And, of course, Ron pointed out that Twitter would allow the Gov’s office to listen back to the people from a customer/constituent service kind of viewpoint.
For instance, a while back there was a conversation about the proposed doubling of tolls on the bridges north of Boston, that generated a lot of chatter. If Governor Patrick had been listening, he would have heard that some people weren’t happy about it – and why. He may not have changed his decision, but his public outreach – even his personal outreach! – could have included information that would have directly addressed the naysayers’ concerns.
If you think about it, this helps both sides: the people are heard and the Governor gets to show that he’s listening and, lo and behold, a real person himself.
I’ll be back.
Apparently, Governor Schwarzenegger has been on Twitter for about a year, but only just started following people. Originally, they had a policy not to follow back because they were worried people would think it was big brotherish – but, no so on Twitter. Since they started really participating and giving back on Twitter, the California Governor has increased his followers from 1500 to 8000 in a very short time – as in ‘about one week.’
But, let’s not forget that following people isn’t all there is. You must tweet interesting things, people – or you will be forgotten, unfollowed, and un-impactful, to say the least. Which is why Ron recommended Governor Patrick tweet more than the latest policy papers.
Luckily, the Massachusetts Governor has someone who really gets it on his team. Brad told Ron a story about a group he works with – they all friended each other on FaceBook, and he felt a stronger connection to them because he got to know them a bit more outside of the work they were doing together.
The humanizing of people
And isn’t this the point? To humanize people, to make them more than just their professional roles, more than someone just looking for a sale…and, in the case of these politicians, more than just census numbers? And, in the eyes of the people, more than just suits looking for votes and power?
Talk to the people, play with the people, listen to the people…then make a real difference.
why we are so important: The Groundswell
One of my favorite bloggers, Ron Miller, who I unabashedly write about from time to time, has written another stunning post that happens to align directly with my current goings-on. His post illustrates one of the things that I love about Web 2.0: you just never know where the day or your interactions will take you. Ron was interviewing Brent Leary, a partner at CRM Essentials, about something completely different, and Brent mentioned that if your vendors aren’t supporting you the way they should be, you can just go to Twitter for help…help from the people, all of us regular Joes and Jolenes.
I just so happen to be reading a fantastic book by the likes of Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff called Groundswell: Winning in a World Tranformed by Social Technologies. It’s a bestseller, a must-read and a must-understand kind of book. And, it speaks to Brent’s comment above precisely.
The ‘groundswell’ is us – you and me, the people who are on social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube and MySpace; the people who use digg, de.licio.us and hugg; people talking on forums, in chatgroups, and on listserves; bloggers; blog readers; websurfers….people on Twitter who are ready to provide guidance.
We are beyond powerful. Through our online communication, our listening, our sharing, our reading, our participation, we have figured out ways to work around big companies. Not only do we not need them so much (are they here for us anyway?), but we can tell them about how to improve their product, services, company. Companies/people can be smacked down by the groundswell, ie. when they try to fight it by trying to get something taken off-line which creates an instant fervor to spread the item far and wide, or they can find incredible success by listening to the groundswell and participating themselves – ultimately by respecting the groundswell, ie. all of us.
I could talk about Groundswell all day long, but I won’t! Go read it…especially if:
- You think this Web 2.0 stuff is going to kill you, meanwhile, you have no idea what it is or even if it’s a good idea.
- You know this Web2.0 stuff is critical for your business, but you have no idea how to do it or you think you know exactly how to do it.
- You are a writer, designer, marketer, etc…and want to serve your clients in the best way possible.
drupal, open source CMS, community publishing: THE VINEYARD VOICE
I’m giving a shout out to my friend Patrick Phillips at The Vineyard Voice today. I strongly encourage you all to check out this incredible platform for sharing information and activating change in your community. In his own words, “As a community publisher, The Vineyard Voice is an advocate for individuals, businesses and local nonprofit organizations. Through its issue-based investigations and stories written by and for islanders, the Voice builds conversations about how we can strengthen human, economic and environmental resources on the island.”
The following video from The Vineyard Voice documents a collaboration between UMass Amherst, Martha’s Vineyard’s Island Grown Initiative and the island’s Brazilian community as they work to bring Brazilian crops to local island farms.
Patrick is a seasoned and celebrated journalist, who happens to be a Drupal and design expert; he created The Vineyard Voice as a platform for our phenomenal Martha’s Vineyard community to share, document and feature the life that happens here. Blogs, written content, images, photography, audio, video and syndication pair with Drupal’s user-friendly, module abundant and search engine loving platform to construct a total win-win for the community.
The Voice has been and continues to be recognized for this achievement in bringing stories of the people and by the people together, forward and in the direction of a stronger community. One of Patrick’s many goals is to share this model, and to that end he offers consulting to communities looking to create a cohesive, utilitarian online presence – Drupal is an open source content management system (CMS) and available to all. He’s even consulting with the Knight Foundation in an effort to support local, community news sites.
I’m proud to work with and know Patrick. Combining my writing, web 2.0 passion, blogging and marketing expertise with his branding, design, open source technology savvy and his progressive mind, we are taking web and social marketing to a different level – content specifically created for the social web in a framework that not only supports, but invites community interaction and growth.
Check out The Vineyard Voice, contact patrick@vineyardvoice.org and tell him I sent you.
Update: A great interview with Patrick by Ron Miller was just posted to DaniWeb – check it out.
Filed under News | Tags: Blogging, blogs, brazillian agriculture, buy local, CMS, community publishing, copywriter, copywriting, Daniweb, documentaries, Drupal, IGI, Island Grown Initiative, Julie Roads, martha's vineyard, open source software, Patrick Phillips, Ron Miller, Social Media, The Vineyard Voice, UMass, video, Writing Roads | Comment (0)viral marketing: giving it away for free
A frequent topic on this blog, and with my clients, revolves around the conundrum of giving ideas, content, video, tools, etc. away for free online all in the name of branding, publicity and increased sales. And here it is coming up again – this time in the form of a story about JC Penney, viral marketing and how they just don’t get it.
A colleague of mine, Ron Miller, has written an amusing and very smart article about the situation for Daniweb.com. Apparently, JC Penney recently aired an ad that was a bit cheeky and insinuated that teenage sex was good, fun, okay and something, perhaps, to aim for when dressing in your JC Penney garb…and now the company is totally freaked out and trying to cover their tucasses (sp? what is the plural of tucas?) They’re busy trying to say that they never authorized the ad and certainly don’t condone teen sex. According to Miller:
What JC Penney failed to understand is that this ad did them far more good than harm. The people they want to reach saw it and were talking about JC Penney. When was the last time this 20th century company had any buzz on the internet. How about never? As for the people who think the video condones teen sex, chances are those people aren’t watching YouTube.
And this concept of intensive brand protecting vs. viral marketing can be found on Facebook as well. One of Ron’s friends recently made a FB gift of a Nerf toy…and joked that she could possibly get in trouble for using the name without legal permission, that Hasbro might insist that she and others stop using their name and product. Ron wrote:
…they would be stupid if they do. Can’t beat the free publicity of Facebook. I realize you can’t let just anyone mess with your carefully crafted brand, but companies have to realize that there is a bright line between protecting your brand beyond reason and letting a fan champion your brand for free. Fact is, my friend is making a tribute to Nerf toys.
Last night I watched the Oprah about YouTube – featuring a handfull of people who are now bazillionaires, or somehow infamous, because of their YouTube videos. Does it matter that Esmee’s YouTube videos have been downloaded millions of times for free? No, because Justin Timberlake found her and signed her to his record label (and she got to sing with him and touch him). Does it matter that 2 million people watched a ridiculous couple do a rather lame version of the final dance from Dirty Dancing via YouTube? No, because they got to do it again on Oprah, and Patrick Swayze showed up and (and they got to dance with him and touch him).
Bottom line: free can be good, viral is queen…do not underestimate the power of putting yourself out there and seeing what happens.
Read Ron Miller’s entire article here.
Filed under Marketing | Tags: copywriter, copywriting, Daniweb, Dirty Dancing, Esmee, Facebook, JC Penney, Julie Roads, Justin Timberlake, Marketing, Oprah, Patrick Swayze, Ron Miller, viral marketing, Writing Roads, YouTube | Comments (2)
