Attention, whether we are seeking, giving or observing others, lurks around us. It is present from the minute we rise to the time we shut down for the night. The kids, pets, commercials and grabbing that cup of coffee, we start our day being bombarded with varying degrees of attention. In areas that we seek, we have an expectation those we are seeking attention from will be responsive. When we go to the local coffee shop or convenience store, we expect that we will be greeted by an employee who is focused on us and who is not chewing gum vigorously, talking on the phone or picking their nails immediately before they reach out to grab money from our hands. While we are focused on the attention we expect, there is another scenario being played out with other people who are seeking our attention or are a part of our attention seeking though watching and being aware of their surroundings. Attention is everywhere at all times. Our attention moves around us, independent of our gaze direction keeping us constantly stimulated but yet allows us to select what we hone in on.
Social media marketing is no stranger to attention. We engage to build relationships with people to get to know them before we sell them. As we first start to familiarize ourselves with the community around us, we focus our attention on how to use the tools, how the community interacts with one another to determine where we will fit in. In face to face gatherings, it is no secret that we can be across a room but yet we hear our name despite the perception our attention is focused to our immediate surroundings, we allow ourselves to wander around the room. This phenomenon called cocktail party effect has certainly caused some hurt feelings when were were believed to be paying attention to another. In social media, instead of having immediate recognition of hearing our name, we utilize tools to monitor mentions to find where we are being mentioned. Read the rest
Relevant, Consistently Updated Content + Flawless Technical Functionality & User Experience = Perfect Blog Launch
What’s missing from the equation above? You guessed it: blog promotion.
Creating a glitch-free blog with informative content means next to nothing without attracting readers.
Start promoting your blog today with these five effective tips:
1. Involve influential industry bloggers.
By linking to popular blogs, you can gain the attention of both the influential blogger and his or her readers.
But your blog won’t be the only one to benefit. You’ll be giving the other blog a little link juice – and be paying them a compliment at the same time.
Try out a few of these ideas for leveraging other blogs:
- Create a post around an interesting concept published by an influential blogger: Be sure to attribute the information to the blogger and link to his or her post. And don’t forget to offer additional unique insight to make the post your own.
- Interview an influential blogger and turn it into a Q&A post: That blogger is sure to link to your post, and his or her readers are likely to visit your blog as a result. Side benefit: Including the insight of a thought leader will help position you as a thought leader as well.
- Create a list of influential blogs: Include popular blogs from your industry, and include a link, short description and even a screenshot. Online Marketing Blog has successfully done this with its BIGLIST of online marketing blogs. Publish a blog post each week highlighting one or two new blogs to promote the list and acquire another link to the list. Read the rest
Previously, I explored the intersection of social media and PR and explained why it is so important communications professionals leverage digital channels. In that post I touched on the following key points:
- Authenticity/personality – the world and web crave it
- It scales – popular brands just get more popular
- Long-term storytelling – build a permission asset
- Leverage – digital PR is your social proofing
- Intersection with SEO – links are by-product
- PR has changed – pull is now more effective
Next I’d like to explore a brief outline of how you can effectively use social media to accomplish your PR objectives. I’ll run through 3 key steps as a primer, however I challenge you to consider a unique entry point for your own brand. The social web is as flexible as you want it to be, and there is no single “right answer”. The following are learnings for how you could potentially approach a social media PR strategy.
1. Go platform agnostic
Social media is more than just Twitter
Everyone is buzzing about Twitter and it is without question the network du jour among PR and marketing professionals. And while we’re fond of Twitter as well, (follow us @TopRank) social media is far more than just Twitter. If Twitter is the extent of your participation you’re missing out with a myopic approach. Besides, you don’t get analytics with Twitter, no (direct) SEO benefit, and ultimately, you don’t control the network. To truly be effective at using social media for PR, treat Twitter as a feeder to something larger – as one piece to a much larger and elegant puzzle. Read the rest