Your goal with a blog is to get found by active prospects online that you don’t already know. This is different from engaging with your fans on a social network, as that group of fans and prospects has already identified you and is open to listen to what you have to say.

This eBook is designed specifically to help you understand the set-up process and executing with a blog.

What you’ll learn:

• Why Does A Business Need A Blog?
• What Goes Into Setting Up A Blog?
• How To Align Your Blog’s Goals With Your Business Goals
• Determining Your Target Audience
• Scheduling, Publishing, And More….

Check Out Our Case Study Here

Waterton Residential (www.watertonresidential.com), one of the leading multifamily companies in the nation, is focused on the acquisition and management of apartment communities in multiple markets. Since its inception in 1998, the Waterton Residential team has remained committed to outstanding customer service by providing a community our residents are proud to call home. With over 17,000 apartment homes in 42 communities in 11 states the Waterton Residential brand signifies exceptional living experiences, a sense of community, and home. 

Media titans including CNN and The Associated Press also laid off many experienced journalists, as did San Francisco’s Bay Area News Group and The San Francisco Examiner.

It may be assumed that a decrease in journalists results in fewer of the articles that educate the public. However, there is a silver lining to this industry storm. Online media sources are beginning to fill the void left by newsroom layoffs. In a Reuters column, Paul Smalera noted that new media companies posted a “staggering 24.3 percent gain” from 2007 to 2011. Some new media companies are affiliated with traditional media conglomerates, while others are independent.

The increasing quantity of news sites and blogs is often accompanied by high quality content. The former editor of The New Yorker, Tina Brown, left that venerated post to lead the dynamic website The Daily Beast. Newsweek saw such value in The Daily Beast that the two merged in 2011. In 2012, Pulitzer Prizes were awarded to David Wood of The Huffington Post in the national reporting category, and Matt Wuerker of Politico in the editorial cartooning category. One thing is for sure: websites looking for staff have a bounty of experienced journalists from which to select.

Image via sxc

For me it was a Philosophy professor I had at Oglethorpe University, Dr. Wirth. (Does yours go back further? Elementary school anyone?) I’d be willing to bet Dr. Wirth was my favorite for many of the same reasons you’ve chosen yours.

It’s because when he taught, it felt like someone was talking with me, and not at me. Chris Brogan writes about this in a years-old blog post where he’s clearly venting some frustration at the lack of humanity in business and company blogs.

Your favorite teacher is the one who knew when to make the small turns, and the big ones, as you struggled and thrived learning new material.

Your favorite teacher knew that engagement is a two-way street, that a teacher/student relationship works best when both sides are learning and communicating.

Your favorite teacher understood you had other classes, and the world didn’t revolve around that one classroom, and that time was precious.

Your favorite teacher asked about you and appreciated your work at times you most needed it.

What was it about your favorite teacher that set him/her apart from the rest?

Online content marketing, the practice of creating and sharing content in order to engage a target demographic, is a new frontier. And, like any new frontier, it requires a code to keep it from becoming the Wild West. As a guide, here are the Ten Commandments of Online Content Marketing:

1. Have accurate and original content. Credibility is priceless.
2. Avoid content that could be interpreted as negative, slanderous, or libelous.
3. Be timely and relevant. Always address the rhetorical question, “Who cares?”
4. Use keywords that reflect both your product/service and what your potential clients are searching.
5. Align your online identity with your brand identity. Consumers are confused by inconsistencies.
6. Track success using metrics and analytics.
7. Build and protect your reputation online as a business and a human being.
8. Credit your sources.
9. Be open to consumer feedback. Do not blame the consumer for pointing out a flaw—resolve the issue completely.
10. Adjust your online content strategy when your business plan changes or consumer behavior evolves.

These Ten Commandments are not engraved on stone tablets, so use your tablet or pc to let us know what you think!

While you can get results just by blogging useful content to your viewers, by marketing your content on the web in places where your viewers live you can supercharge your content marketing program.  The Internet is full lurkers, with 90% of all viewers on the web falling into the “Lurker” category.  The trick is how to draw them out to become your advocates.  And one answer could be Pinterest, where viewing, pinning and re-pinning is so effortless, rewarding and essential to the experience of Pinterest, that lurking behavior seems to be minimized.

We have a client who has been engaging in content marketing, blogging and utilizing other social networks such as Facebook and Twitter since summer of 2010.  Their program results showed improvement month over month with a slow and steady climb.  By the end of their first year, they had the expected growth patterns and rates for the main KPI’s we watch.

Then 18 months into their program they had some photos from a handful of their blog posts go viral on Pinterest.  Their referral traffic went through the roof, increasing by over 4,500% in just a few months before dropping to a more consistent level.  So far, referral traffic in year 2 is on average more than 2,600% higher than in the first year of the program, based mostly on the affects of sharing their blog content in Pinterest.

But more interesting is the lasting impact the increases in referral traffic had on organic search.  While the viral content has spiked and now moderated, the organic traffic continues to grow.   The organic traffic is currently more than double what we saw before the Pinterest traffic spike began and averaging more than 700% higher in year 2 vs. year 1.

Above is just one example, we’ve seen this pattern in several clients who have experienced spikes in organic traffic in the months following a spike in referral traffic from Pinterest.

It’s early yet, just as the popularity of Pinterest is still fairly new, but I’m interested to continue watching this trend and how popularity in Pinterest impacts your content marketing initiatives over the coming months.

Putting Twitter User Community In Perspective

According to Highbeam Resarch, Twitter received 55% of total media attention in Q1 2012, while Facebook trailed, and actually declined, to 41%. Twitter had over 140 million active users in March of 2012.  Those numbers can be deceiving to anyone trying to understand the power of Twitter’s registered user community.  A year ago Nicholas Carson pointed out that not all registered Twitter users are active players on the site. Using the Twitter API, here is a real picture of the divide between “frequent”, “never”, and “infrequent” users:

Recognizing that users now total 140 million, 20 million more than reported in this year old analysis, at least half of registered Twitter users most likely never use the site.  With only two or less follows, there are not any legitimate reasons to believe that these registered users find much value logging on.  About 1.5 million Twitter accounts follow more than 500 people.  They are certainly more active users with established conversational communities. The main point here is not to think about Twitter as 140 million possible prospects for a business to broadcast messages to, but instead to think of Twitter as a bunch of small groups of connected users that are engaged because of common interests. So even discounting the number of Twitter accounts that never use the site, and recognizing that business tweeting is not like running Super Bowl ads, there is serious potential against a reasonable volume of prospects who can be engaged if a business processes the platform’s community as a series of interconnected special interest groups.

Twitter Fundamentals for Participating Businesses

Who and How to Follow?

This is the starting point.  If this is not done systematically and well, all of the activity you invest in Twitter going forward will be less valuable.  First step is getting a tool that will allow you to follow specific special interest groups or conversational communities simultaneously and with ease.  Hootsuite or Tweetdeck are free and easy solutions. Here is a look at a few of the dozen special interest private groups I have set up on Hootsuite:

So if I was a florist, I would set up a few categories like #proms, #weddings, valentine’s day, etc.  If I were a kitchen remodeler I might have search streams set up as remodeling, real estate, chefs, cooking, food, etc.  A great way to think about this is to imagine what local groups of people or organizations have more than an average or casual interest in your business or industry’s topical area.  If there were in-person conversation groups or organizations that met regularly in your market, which ones would you want to participate in and network with?

Once you have established these search streams, start modifying and experimenting with search streams as you listen in on the conversation.  Maybe adjusting to Toledo or Ohio proms would offer more relevant users.  Then start joining conversations.  Do not promote, simply add to the conversation.  Start noting the people that are relevant to you from what they say, and add them to another list.  Eventually the lists you create will be the ones for you to follow, and who, if you participate and add value instead of promote, will follow you back.  For your most interested followers, check out the private lists they established. Start following those people as well if your follower has them listed in a relevant group.  So if I was a wine retailer, and a follower had a personal list called “wine tweeps”, it is a group I might start following and trying to establish followers through.

How to Engage:

If someone tweets “I loved the Miele stove top I saw yesterday at my friends house” don’t reply “We have Miele appliances in our showroom”.  Maybe ask them what they liked best. Or tell them why the customers that buy Miele from you like it most.  Give them some information about the line that they might not know or would find useful in their research.

Retweet things that make sense to you and add a bit of knowledge to the original tweet, or ask a question that the tweeter would find engaging.  Be curious. Be sincere.  But don’t advertise.  Think about it as coming to a networking group and trying to make friends through interesting conversation.  You would never stand around with five people you never met before over cocktails and inject yourself into a conversation about landscaping projects by telling everyone you have six trucks and three crews with 80 years of combined experience.  Twitter is no different.  Before you know it, if you act like an interested and friendly conversationalist, you will establish a network of prospects that will find you credible and allow you to suggest solutions that could benefit you and them.

Both of these tips on following and engaging are basic but fundamental starting points. Building the right segmented and relevant special interest groups and staying conversant as a knowledgeable and interested party is the foundation for real engagement and successful Twitter business outcomes.

For such fledging social media platforms, the names of Google+ and Pinterest are already reverberating in the online space. Google+ boasts of more than 100 million users, and Pinterest ranks as the third largest social media site in the U.S.  These kinds of numbers are staggering, so it’s no surprise that both have become major gambits for the techie and communication worlds. But why should you care? One major reason: both outlets can morph into successful performers for your online content marketing efforts.

But which one should you join for the continued marketing of your brand: Google+ or Pinterest? Both have advantages and disadvantages from a marketing standpoint. So let’s look at the good, the bad, and everything in between. And after we give you the breakdown, you’ll be much more equipped to make an informed decision about which is best for you: Google+, Pinterest, both, or perhaps neither at this point.

Google+

Google+ launched September 2011, and much like its predecessors, Google+ enables users to interact with their following by way of status updates, links, images and video. However, what makes Google+ different from its next door neighbor is segmentation. Google+ allows for someone to place people into ‘circles’ or groups, and that means people will see only what you want them to see and only interact with what you want them to interact with. So for example, with Twitter when you send out a message it will go into the feeds of everyone that follows you. The same goes for Facebook. If you update the status, everyone can read it.

That’s not the case with Google+. You decide who is in your circles and inevitability what people in those circles see. Think of it as choosing who is allowed in the V.I.P room. Some are. Most aren’t. And what goes on in that V.I.P area is for the eyes of a few select.

This selective feature has huge implications for the online marketer. It means you have control. It means you can give people want they want, based on specific behavior. And in marketing, that’s gold. As an online marketer, Google+ will allow for targeted content for specific groups, encourage higher click-through rates, and can manifest a more engaged following and audience.

Who’s Your Daddy?

Let’s not forget who is the parent company of Google+; it’s Google, the most used search engine and Web site in the entire world. That’s a very important detail. Think about it. If you update your status on Google+, those updates now become a part of the search results for Google, possibly increasing your Google rank and visibility. Increased visibility equates to more people becoming aware of your business or mission. This all means you’ve got to pay attention to your keyword tactics on this platform, as you would a blog or an online article. To make sure you show up in Google searches, update your Google+ page constantly using keywords that would draw people to your business.

On the Plus Side

Beyond more possibilities to appear in the search results of Google, Google+ enables people to endorse your page or even something as granular as endorsing your status updates, appearing as +1 in the organic search engine results on Google.com. In essence, the more you are active on Google+, the more likely your activity will dominate certain search results when people use Google. According to a recent HubSpot report, Web sites using the +1 button generate three and a half times more Google+ visits than sites without it.

Hold Up, Wait a Minute

Like anything, there are pros and there are cons. Despite so many positives for online content marketing, the disadvantages of Google+ for marketing do exist. One of the largest cons is that since it’s so new, lots of people still don’t understand it. Internet users feel a bit confused by the platform, and furthermore many are not using this platform on a regular basis. It hasn’t become a utility yet in the same way people feel about Facebook. For a clear example, let’s draw a comparison. eMarketer reports that the average user spends a little more than three minutes on Google+ per month. Place that next to Facebook’s numbers, where the average user stays nearly eight hours on Facebook, and even newcomer Pinterest draws its users to spend nearly 100 minutes.

Pinterest

Have you heard of this phenomenon called Pinterest? It seems every morning talk show, interior designer, and fashion blogger is mesmerized by the virtual billboard. The concept is simple. As you surf the Web, you find pictures of anything you like: clothes, food, scenery, signs. Pretty much any picture you can find and enjoy. If you like it, you pin it. The social network enables you to set up as many pinning boards as you like, and you can place whatever pictures you’d like on those virtual boards. Each board usually has a common theme. So, one board may be all desserts. The next board may have pictures of the covers of your favorite e-books. Basically, you pin what interests you, hence the name, Pinterest. Simple enough, right?

This online pinning action has become the hot talk of 2012, with Pinterest reportedly having more than 11 million users to date.

Invite-Only Party

Of course in social media, the fun part of the concept is you can engage with many different types of people, anyone that’s willing to engage with you. But an interesting element of Pinterest – and an advantageous element — is that the social media platform is still accessible only through an invite. It’s the party of the year, and you have to be invited to get in.  Sure you can play with Pinterest, look at the pictures and enjoy the view from the outside. But to do your own pinning and to create your own board for others to swoon over, you have to be a member — an invited member. That approach makes it something people want to be a part of, creating an “I’ve got to get in there” type of vibe, attracting people to you if you have managed to become part of the group.  As an online content marketer, you look as if you are ahead of the curve, forward thinking, and in-the-know if you are on Pinterest now. That’s great for the image of your brand.

It Can’t Be This Easy, Can It?

As intuitive as some people feel social media is, Pinterest seems to be even easier.  There’s not a prolific use of special language like Twitter. There’s no copy-pasting links like Facebook. It’s just posting a simple picture. If you’re feeling adventurous, add a caption. But it’s certainly not a must. This makes it a whole lot easier for you to share content with your followers, thus making online content marketing an easier process when it comes to technology, and allows for you to be more of a curator than technical support.

Pictures Worth 11 Million Words

Because you are posting pictures and pictures only, this social media platform is highly visual. Studies show that people love browsing pictures with pizzazz and images that pique our interests. (The most content shared on Facebook are images and videos, by the way.) So if your business yields to visual demonstrations, this could be a great match for you. Show off your finished products, new inventory or latest creations and designs. Pinterest is known for its high-quality pictures, so with the right photography, it can all be displayed impeccably on Pinterest.

Not All Good

Like Google+, there are cons. For example when it comes to your online content marketing strategies, Pinterest can be a bit lackluster if you don’t have something to show off that’s aesthetically appealing. Let’s say you own your own accounting firm. That’s an important service to offer, however it’s not exactly the most visually stunning business. So filling up your boards on Pinterest can seem difficult and maybe even a little futile.

MEN ARE FROM GOOGLE+, WOMEN ARE FROM PINTEREST

It’s also vital to point out a major difference between Google+ and Pinterest. Honestly on paper, it can resemble the battle of the sexes. Men tend to flock to Google+, and they comprise 63 percent of all of its users. These men post about technology and are software developers or college students. Conversely, Pinterest draws women between ages 18-34. And an astounding 83 percent of Pinterest users are young women who often pin items that focus on design, fashion and home décor.

TIME TO DECIDE

Now you’ve come to the digital crossroads. It’s time to decide which makes sense for your online content marketing plans. Google+ or Pinterest? Both offer great marketing perks, and each also can have some drawbacks.

When do you choose Google+? Consider this platform if you don’t have much time, you need to buffer your organic search results or your target demographic is mostly men.

How about Pinterest? When do you take the plunge with this virtual pinning board? If you have time to pick out and curate your content, let Pinterest be your BFF. Also, if you are looking to gain the attention of women, then you’ll find lots of young females on this platform.

Does it all make sense? Are you ready to go? We certainly urge you to include social media as part of your marketing strategy, perhaps including these new platforms — Google+ and Pinterest. But, you don’t just have to take our word for it. Give it a go. To have a complete, comprehensive SEO and online content marketing plan, contact Digital Sherpa to help you get started. We’re here to help you make that big digital jump.

At this moment, I have just “checked in” in at the office. As I scan through the list of nearby businesses, I can’t help but notice that nearly every small business listing has been added by a customer and only the large corporations are utilizing Location Based Services as a means of driving actual foot traffic.

As you check-in on FourSquare or Facebook, try to imagine that you’re a small business owner in the year 2000. Next, an ’85 Delorian pulls up next to you and a white haired web marketer from the future asks for a minute of your time.

As would any being of sound logic, you oblige the visitor and provide him with your undivided attention- after telling him that you’re actually a bit disturbed by the encounter as well as how this is eerily similar to “Back to the Future”.

All weirdness fades as the next words that come out of his mouth will not only change your life, but will also drastically affect the way small businesses target, engage, and convert local customers.

“We have mobile web based applications that you can use to target, locate, market to, and generally communicate directly with your target consumers…while they’re IN or NEAR your place of business!”

Next he explains that you will also be simultaneously marketing to their entire network of social contacts via an unspoken brand evangelization that is announced via the customer’s action at your business. Somebody get the smelling salts…

Enter Location Based Services: Geo-targeted, social-web services that allow anyone with a LBS capable mobile device to share there exact location, and what they are doing there, via various forms of “check-ins”.

As a small business owner in 2000, you have just been given a few pages of the ”Marty McFly Sports Almanac” of web marketing for small business, specifically if you own a businesses with actual brick & mortar locations. Small cafe’? Offer customers a free latte’ between the hours of 11-1 (presumably hours with less sales volume). Do you own a small salon or barber shop? Offer discounts for service, or cross promote a line of products. This news comes with one rule, be engaging. Get to know your customers (or potential customers) on a more personal level by utilizing the social web to gather valuable data as to their behaviors.

It seems to good to be true, right? It’s not. Here’s the best part of the story: it’s not 80′s sci-fi, its reality.

Probably more interesting than the technology itself is the fact that small businesses are only now beginning to unlock the full potential of Location Based Services and the array of benefits of utilizing these revolutionary applications to their full potential. Available since 2002, LBS enabled mobile devices are growing  in a parallel withh the growth of smart mobile devices and are rapidly becoming the consumers first choice for web interactions.

That’s right small business owner, you can let the world know why they should visit your business while they are nearby. Common sense dictates that the close proximity of the customer greatly increases the chance of a lead or sale if your strategies and content are highly engaging. Take for example the man dressed as a hot dog who is directing you to a hot dog shop; you’re nearby anyway, he gives you a call-to-action, you take the bait because the sign he’s holding says “buy 1 get 1″.

The same basic principle is true at the purest form of location based marketing. The customer is there already, get more of them & their network, through the door with an exclusive check-in promo or incentive for sharing. After all, the social web is all about sharing (See Facebook’s open-graph sharing for social sharing to the max).

The best part: You can utilize geo-location sharing services to grow your business and reach more local customers with limited resources. Simply be certain that creativity isn’t one of your limited resources.