27
Apr
by Jen
What: Blog Competition
Who: Central Virginia residents who own and operate a weblog!
Deadline for Submissions: May 15th, 2009
Blog-Off Date: Friday, May 22nd @ 9 a.m.
Where: The Muse coffee shop in Wyndhurst
Why: To evaluate the effectiveness of local bloggers!
What is Friday 2.0?
Friday 2.0 is a local Virginia networking group who meets on Friday mornings at 9 a.m. at The Muse coffee shop in Wyndhurst. Friday 2.0’s goal is to get educated about social media tools and opportunities. The most passionate and curious professionals attend this un-meeting as a way to connect with like-minded individuals and discuss the topics and trends relevant to technology, social media and the future of social media. Everyone from the freshly-minted twitter-er, to the tech-advanced executive managing 500 people are encouraged to attend and participate. All voices are equal and welcome at Friday 2.0! Join our Facebook Friday 2.0 Group.
Battle of the Blogs!
Friday 2.0 meets every week to talk about the effectiveness of blogging. Each week leading up to our ‘Blog-Off’ our panel of judges will be presenting the criteria by which they will be judging!
By submitting your blog to our panel of four judges, you will be entered into our first ever ‘Blog-Off’. Your blog will be evaluated for:
- Sexiness (Look and Feel), evaluated by Andrew Potter
- Usability, evaluated by Jennifer Bailey
- Search Engine Optimization, evaluated by Phil Tucker
- Community Engagement and Social Media, evaluated by Nannette Saunders
Instructions on Submitting Your Blog to the ‘Blog-Off’:
To submit your blog you need to…
- Write a blog about the ‘Blog-Off’. Make sure we know 1) your name, and 2) why you are entering the contest
- Post a link to your blog below in the comments section of this article!
- Submission deadline is May 15th, and the ‘Blog-Off’ event will take place on May 22nd!
The Grand Prize:
Winner of the ‘Blog-Off’ will receive something so incredible, so amazing, that we can’t tell you what it is just yet.
21
Apr
by Jen
What if you started getting calls from the media about your specific niche field? Wouldn’t that be cool? It would mean that you are a valuable resource within a specific target marketing!
Blogging is proven to build reputation because it builds credibility and gets you in “front” of more people. It creates visibility. This will help you become the center of influence within your industry.
1. Create a Good Impression
- Use a high quality blog template. Not a free one!
- Use a personalized URL (domain name) so people know you are serious
- Use a high resolution photo
- Use a mission statement on your site
2. Position Yourself Above the Competition
- What can you offer that nobody else can?
- Become a ‘though leader’ in your niche industry: someone who knows their niche market and becomes an expert in relevant topics for that target, which remain useful, but also looking into the future, helping their target prepare for change
- Write “pillar” articles: tutorial style articles aimed to teach something to your target. These are longer than 500 words and have lots of practical tips or advice. It needs to be delivered with solid information that remains relevant and useful in the future.
3. Market Your Blog
- Put the URL on everything (print and electronic)
- Do Search Engine Research. SEO is a key component to understanding people’s interests in the online world. Using the right key phrases will draw users to your blog. First you need to identify what key phrases people are using, which ones people are competing for, and then learn how to use them on your blog.
- Publish blogs at least once a week. These don’t have to be too in-depth, but need to be relevant to the same topics as your pillar articles. They can be brief, newsy items. The point is for visitors to bookmark your site and subscribe to your blog feed.
- Use a convergence method and capture peoples info online
- Encourage blog comments and create a team of respondents. You can prompt discussion by posing questions in your posts, and responding to comments so the conversation maintains momentum.
- Use twitter and facebook to promote your blog articles
You will probably need to test your readers/ audiences to see what works best for them – see what kind of topics are popular and track the results.
10
Apr
by Jen
Women are social beings made for relationships! And with social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, women are in a unique position. Whether its for your job, your cause, your church or your family, join us for an inspiring lunch event discussing the critical position women are in and how social media tools can give us influence we cannot ignore.
WHAT A Luncheon for Women Only
WHEN April 29 @ 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
WHERE Hilton Garden Inn, Lynchburg
SPEAKERS Internet Marketing specialist Jennifer Bailey (formerly Mills) of Marketing-Helper.com, and Cheryl Smith, business coach at CultureSmithConsulting.com.
LUNCH The cost of lunch is $18
Download your ticket here >
06
Apr
by Jen
I was asked to speak on “The Etiquette of Social Media” for a group of realtors at John Stewart Walker tomorrow morning.
After agreeing I couldn’t help but laugh. Etiquette…?
Social media is an experiment. There are no rules… the sky is the limit. (Via @appomattox_news)
So instead of etiquette lets talk about what social media is and how you can use it to your advantage.
1. Social Media is a way for people to DO IT THEMSELVES.
Ahh! This is scary. If people can do it themselves… then why do they need us?
Social media is bringing people away from looking to the experts (CEOs of companies) and moving towards groups of people coming together regardless of title to share ideas, information, perspectives and to drive positive change. (via @joegerstandt).
But wait a second… this actually presents us with an opportunity. If people are listening to other people… then its our perfect chance to step in and show people why they need us.
2. Social Media is a Result of Companies Not Listening
We have two ears and one mouth, we need to use them proportionately. Social media is a result of the company not listening to the customer. via @joshjq
People are talking. If you hurt your own reputation… people are talking. If you create positive feedback… people are still talking.
3. Social media takes 6 degrees of separation and gives us closer access to people we are further away from
Social media is a way for us to expand our relationships. It brings networking and collaboration to a whole new level.
