How to Make the Most of your Blog
NMC Account Assistant, Erika Bush
Erika here, and I have a question for you. How many times have you visited a company’s website and thought: I want to know more? I know I feel this way a lot. Press and News pages are great, but if you are claiming to be an expert or giving advice as if you’re the best out there, then I want to know why. Why should I buy from you versus a competitor?
An easy answer: you have a killer blog. The entire team at NMC believes that the key to success is being someone your consumers “know, like and trust.” A blog lets people get to know you and like you, and as a result they trust you.
For me, writing about social media sites is fun and easy. I grew up in a generation that experienced the evolution of social media platforms firsthand. AOL, yeah, I had that and I had an AIM profile page complete with hearts and smiley faces that would later evolve into a customized MySpace page. Then, as soon as I was old enough to get a college email address, I was on Facebook and witnessed it become more public, to the point that the nine-year-old kid next door could have an account if he wanted.
Blogs are one thing that has stayed constant in this frenzy of change. They have existed in some way since the internet began, and while their role is changing, they aren’t going anywhere.
So how can you make the most of your blog? Let me share five best practices when it comes to influential blogging.
- Create weekly features. If you want regular readers, then you must provide regular content.
- Keep advertising to a minimum. Most people don’t mind ads down the sides of the content, in fact, we might not even notice it, but we do mind when we can’t scroll until we’ve watched a 30-second ad about something we don’t care about.
- Engage your readers. Create contests, or link your posts to your social media pages or your business website. Your readers should feel like they are getting something out of reading your blog.
- Link to previous posts. Not many readers are going to scroll back or search to find a previous post mentioned in a current article, so link to it for them. Keep your readership growing by making it easy for readers to find more relevant information.
- Acknowledge other bloggers. Blogging is networking, and it isn’t necessarily a competition. Comment on other blogger’s posts and join the conversation. You will be surprised by who may reciprocate.
The key to a great blog is to develop a rapport with your readers and to offer them information that is relevant to what you can do for them. Now, I’m not saying that you should make it entirely about sales and the services you offer, but it should be about establishing yourself as a reputable source of information when it comes to the services you offer.
Finally, always remember that no matter what your topics include, blogging can be utilized as a fun way to enhance your brand.
Hula Hooping, Singing and All Things Nikki Hunt
Nikki Hunt, lead singer and hula hooper of The Nikki Hunt Band
Anyone who lives in Hallowell or frequents the Hallowell scene has heard of this week’s Monday Maine Maven, Nikki Hunt. They know that not only does she sing, she also hula hoops. In fact, her name and hula hoop are almost synonymous—almost as if she invented the thing.
Ironically, the idea was originally brought up as a joke. Her band mate, Sonny True, suggested she bring it on as a floor show since he knew how much she enjoyed hooping for fun. Nikki says she was terrified the first time, so terrified that the hoop never even left the van, but now she says, “The hooping has picked up at shows and if I don’t bring it people ask where it is—it’s been such a hit.”
So how did her passion for performing begin? Nikki Hunt credits her Mom, who got her enrolled in dance lessons very young, and in fifth grade she started voice lessons. Hunt says, “I was frustrated with sports and found myself leaning toward the performing arts.” It was during this time she became heavily involved in the Hallowell and Waterville theater programs.
After high school, Hunt moved to New York City for college. She says that she loved it there, but she felt like she was spending too much time working on everything but her voice. She eventually left the city and made her way back to Maine. Nikki says it was through this experience that she learned a very important thing about the entertainment industry: “You don’t have to live in New York City, Boston or Los Angeles to write original music and you don’t have to kill yourself, juggling multiple jobs and hundreds of bookings, to pay rent.”
Hunt says that in Maine, she has been able to start her career the way she wants to—in small steps and says, “I’d rather take my time and build a solid foundation than constantly be skating on thin ice.” A part of her plan has been to find ways to build and network with her fan base. “Social media is a phenomenon,” says Hunt. She credits the use of her original MySpace page as a way to branch out to her fans so they could hear her live recordings. This evolved to Facebook where she currently has more than 2,500 friends and fans.
We mentioned in our previous previous post, American Dream in Portland Maine that sending too many event invites via Facebook can be perceived as spamming fans. Nikki started her website for just this reason, “I try not to barrage Facebook friends with event invites,” she says. She adds, “I have a great advantage to communicate clearly with my fans using an email or simply by posting pictures, or a video from YouTube.” She adds that social networking sites can be addicting, so she tries to use them in moderation.
Hunt’s growing success has lead to more interest in who she is, which is why she decided to start an official blog which is set to launch in February. She believes it is important to reach out to fans and to relate to them on a more personal level than Facebook. Nikki hopes that the blog will do just that and help to inspire new material for her and her band mates.
To connect with Nikki, check her out on Facebook or on her website: www.nikkihunt.com
Going Mobile: No Longer Optional
Erik Goranson, senior associate consultant at Bain & Company
The world is going mobile!
If you’re as dependent on your smart phone as I am, you know that sense of panic and dread when you misplace your phone. Every day, people are becoming more dependent on their phones for everything from emails to Facebook updates to gaming and news. People are factoring in that a mobile presence is no longer optional and this week’s Monday Maven Erik Goranson, a senior associate consultant for Bain & Company, an international consulting firm, discusses this trend and the importance of mobile access for businesses.
In our post on PR Disasters, we discussed the evolving media landscape and how fast a single post or idea can go viral. Erik agrees saying, “customers today consume more media and information than ever before and they share that information even faster.” Even though there is risk in social media and sharing, he adds that if businesses fail to connect socially today they may never be able to reach those consumers again.
His work at Bain includes running the Atlanta office’s Technology Mentorship Program (TMP) with his colleague Just Major. The focus of TMP follows a reverse-mentorship model, allowing the associate consultants to mentor their senior leadership on the latest trends in technology. Goranson says, “when we surveyed the leadership group we found they were most interested in learning more about social media, mobile apps, and search engine optimization (SEO).”
ExpApp allows you to get better seats at your favorite sports events.
This shift to mobile devices and apps is being recognized by Fortune 500 companies and they understand that as this occurs, they are going to need to determine how to incorporate social media into the core of their business models. This is where Bain comes into play. Goranson says, “we live and breathe in a world of data, but we also focus on the qualitative side of the business and social media straddles both realms.” He gives the example that a financial service company shouldn’t be concerned with Facebook likes alone, but in how they can leverage Facebook to better interact with their current and potential customers.
A self-proclaimed fan of social media, Goranson even dabbled in blogging (currently discontinued), but ultimately ended up putting that passion to use with his work at Experience. The company focuses on sports fans and how to improve their experience. Goranson’s role is focused on the start-up’s revenue management and optimization through the development of software, data analytics and strategic price planning.
Screenshot of Experience App on your mobile device.
Since Experience is a mobile-first company, they thrive on page real estate. Erik says that since mobile pages are so much smaller, the key to mobile success is learning to create simple, yet rich Web pages. He believes that a company must have a well-developed mobile page, but should consider an app, too. Goranson says, “apps are perfect, self-contained environments that can handle a lot of back-end processing and offer your customers a better experience.”
So what does Erik say to businesses that are wary of mobile and social media sites? He says, “Bain taught me that data doesn’t lie. My mantra is ABT—always be testing. Data proves that if a current or potential customer cannot find your business online today then you are in serious trouble,” he says. He adds that consumers are proving to be less brand loyal than ever before. They are quick to bounce to a competitor’s site if they find it more easily accessible. He adds, “you don’t necessarily need to conduct commerce via mobile devices and social media sites, but some sort of Web app or site with strong SEO is no longer optional.”
Erik Goranson is originally from Maine, but currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information or to reach out to Erik feel free to email him at erik.goranson@gmail.com or you can also connect with him on LinkedIn.
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New Year’s Resolutions for PR People
OK. I confess. I have the same New Year’s resolutions for my personal life as I have over the past….well…..maybe 10, 15, or even 20 years! Exercise more, spend more quality time with my family, listen more and better, stop rushing all the time, get organized, and lose weight! No problem, right? Hopefully I won’t have the same resolutions again in 2011!
But Ragan.com, on its Daily PR Newsfeed today, had some realistic New Year’s Resolutions. I decided to share them with you here. Many of them apply to what I’m working on with my business, such as updating our Web site and revising our branding. How about you? Do you have New Year’s PR Resolutions? I’d love to know what they are! Continue reading
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