Hello and thanks for being here at the SME Tech Summit. I’m Suzi Dafnis of the Australian Businesswomen’s Network. I’d like to thank the team at Insight Exchange for their invitation to be here. Over the last year we have been using Social Media to grow our business. Background: ABN - what we do Me -Pow Wow Events, Publishing, US and AU businesses. Early adopter of technology. Most excited about what has evolved in the last 3 years than I have been in a long time. Great opportunity.
• Why Blog? • What to blog about? • Should you blog? • Examples • Successful blogging • Resources
The Internet is your biggest opportunity. - it’s where eyeballs are - it gives you the most leverage - it’s ideal for small business So many uses - promote - operations - manage - outsource Social Media within that. - blogging, podcasts, social networks, webinars, bookmarking sites, youtube, flickr Then today, we’ll look at blogging specifically.
• Should I use blogger or Wordpress, typepad • Should I host • How do I add a photo • Other techn issues ASSUMPTIONS: • Blog to improve business NOT To be afulltime blogger Blog is an asset • $ or complements your other activity.
Why blog? Top blogs Technorati - look at what is working. Example: Shirley Smith - 3000 books sold - self published - what should I do? o give it away.... Example: as a website
• Establish yourself as a leader in your industry. • Share ideas and resources. (Example of an author and a book - 3,000 copies vs giving them away.) Teach what you need to learn. A THANK YOU ECONOMY. • Community Engagement - for customer service, to get input, to cfreate new products and services • Generate Traffic, leads - traffic to your blog (sell advertising or link to your site), Leads e.g. optin boxes • Make money - advertising, selling products - HOW WILL BLOGGING MAKE ME MONEY? HOW WILL TWITTER MAKE ME MONEY? - EYEBALLS • Integrate social media activity - BIGGEST OPPORTUNITY
Wordpress themes... great flexibility Integrated media - Twitter - Video - Flickr - Audio boo - Newsletters and webinars
Assumption that you are going to blog for business. Your passion - what are you passionate about? - what would not feel like a hassle to write about? EXAMPLE: Garyvee - WINE LIBRARY TV http://garyvaynerchuk.com/ daily wine video blog - more about his passion for life and his philosophy - Your niche - industry go-to person - what is on message? Tone/language/look/feel
• Blog sites - for specific projects. Ideal for a website for any small business. - WORDPRESS TEMPLATES • eCourses - sharing information - community collaboration, create a product (eBook) • MentorNet - each person gets a blog, they journal their progress though the program and answer task-related quesitons • Webinar/marketing promotion of upcoming events and memberships • Polls - herVoice - finger on the pulse • Integrate, with other marketing --- newsletter content ---- webinar activity --- member profiles ---- podcasts add content to other sites e.g. Facebook
Wordpress themes... great flexibility Integrated media - capture forms - Twitter - Video - Flickr - Audio boo - Newsletters and webinars - Recommended resources
Goals - INCREASE TRAFFIC, ENGAGE, SHARE KNOWLEDGE. HOW DOES THIS FIT INTO MY BUSINESS OR MARKETING PLAN? • Write - how often? As often as you can. (Integrate with Twitter/LInkedIn/Facebook) • Record - audioboo.fm, YouTube. • Respond - to comments - all comments • Engage - tasks, polls, questions. • Measure - What ? - subscribers e.g. we wanted 100 new leads from the 30 Days of Social media campaign, unique visitors, comments, links to your blog, rating on TEchnorati It's a commitment. Most people stop after a few. Get a routine going - set up a plan Mondays - on xyz Tuesdays - on abc Forced blogging - e.g. a series like we did for 30Days.
• Don’t blog cause ‘everyone’s doing it’ It may not be the best medium for you. • Business speak and putting out media releases using blogs is not going to work long-term. It’s a social medium. • If you can’t write - don’t use it. Nobody wants to see a page of typos and errors. Far more forgiving with camera or spoken word. • To make a million - if your goal is to see if you can make money blogging. Not a lot of people have a full time occupation blogging.