This is my 100th post on this blog, so I thought it would be fitting to review my daily process.  Let’s start with my goals.

My blogging and social media goals:

1. Stay informed of the latest news, trends and topics within my niche
2. Connect with other marketers, customers, and folks I find interesting
3. Share my thoughts and those of others with my network
4. Deliver valuable content to build my network, engage my market and grow my business online

Daily blogging, social media, and market engagement process:

1. I use Google Reader to find the latest news and keep my finger on the pulse of what happening within my niche.  I subscribe to dozens of news sources, popular blogs and Google searches to find relevant articles, with which I can share, comment on, or use as inspiration for my next blog post. I usually check Google Reader 2-3 times a day for 5 minutes each and complete 1-2 actions as a result.
2. I use this blog as the main source for content creation and distribution.  Creating content on my own domain allows me to maintain full control.  Sure I post information on Facebook and Twitter, but anything with substantial content resides on my blog.  I publish new posts every 1-2 days.
3. I use the Wordpress ping.fm plugin to automatically share my blog RSS feed with Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, and a few other popular social media and bookmarking sites.  Again, this allows me to maintain control rather than setting up 3rd party sites to receive my RSS feed.  If I ever want to turn off my stream, I can control this from one central dashboard in ping.fm.  Not everything flows through ping.fm – only content that I want to share with my entire network.
4. My iPhone is my Internet Marketing Remote Control.  I can manage Twitter, check Google Reader, update Wordpress posts, reply to comments on my blog, check in with Facebook friends and fans, snap images and record & publish podcast episodes from my iPhone with the click of a button.  Of course, I can also use email and talk on the phone.
5. At night, I like to use Google Reader to answer questions on Twitter from people looking for help.  I have several dozen search queries set up and RSS feeds organized in Google Reader to make this simple.  Answering people’s questions on Twitter allows my to meet new people, learn something new, and share content I find helpful.

Keys to Success with Blogging and Social Media

The keys to successfull blogging and social media vary, depending on your particular situation.  Here are a few things I find helpful:

1. Write original content.  It’s OK to quote others, but the majority of your content should be original.
2. Find a frequency of engagement that suits you and be consistent.
3. Reply to comments, messages, and mentions quickly.
4. Write as if you were talking with your reader, but keep search engine optimization in mind.
5. Proactively promote your content by leveraging your RSS feed and providing links for people to find you.
6. Have a content creation strategy to help define what you will talk about and how that unfolds over time.

I hope you find this helpful as you continue to define or improve your process for blogging and engaging your market online through social media.

Any thoughts?  What tools and process do you follow to increase your efficiency and effectiveness?

So, in my discussions there are three main lessons I reinforced with my clients:

1) Start small. It’s not necessary to write every day and your posts don’t need to be very long. Find your voice over time and see blogging as a journey.

2) Get over your fear. People may agree or disagree with what you have to say, but if you’re honest it’s unlikely that people will criticize you. Of course, depending on the subject and tone of your post this may vary. The point is, if you’re new to blogging don’t be afraid to get started and put your ideas out there. You may learn something in the process and meet new people as well.

3) Be optimistic and keep a postive mental attitude. I hear so many excuses why people don’t want to blog. For me it’s about helping others and reinforcing the learning I’ve had in my journey. No one likes a complainer so, look on the bright side and people are more likely to continue reading your blog and engage with you along the way.

That’s it – something to chew on for a couple days.

What do you think? Are these lessons you can relate to?

You may already have a good collection of content on your blog and it may just be a matter of repurposing that content and creating an ebook, an audio recording or a series of videos to package together into a cohesive product that readers can download for a fee.

… the biggest monetizing problem people face if they have a great relationship with their readers is they don’t know how to sell them something without turning them off.

via Lesson #10: Have Something to Sell (without losing your readers) | Copyblogger.

My goal this week is to brainstorm a few ideas for a product, identify content that I can repurpose, research my website visitor statistics for clues and put together a product I can have available for sale by Sunday night.  I expect it will be a good mix of text, audio and video.

Have you created a product for sale on your site?  How is that going?  Any advice for folks just getting started with there first product?

Listen or Download

Four advantages of Google Reader

1. Ability to track your industry by subscribing to popular blogs or RSS feeds that contain the latest news, trends and product information
2. Ability to share information with your social network via share button, shared custom Google Reader RSS feed or email link
3. Ability to save searches from Twitter to easily identify opportunity to engage with people asking for help on topics you understand
4. Ability to track mentions of you, your company, your brand or your products and service so you can jump in the conversation early and often.

How do you use Google Reader?  What other online tools do you use to accomplish these or similar tasks?

In other words, if you don’t have a blog, you’re missing out on perhaps the most powerful online marketing tool we have available today, regardless of whether you are focused on dominating one particular niche, or entering multiple small niches, or helping clients with their online marketing, or all of these things.

via My Notes From The Ed Dale Internet Marketing Seminar – Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak.

Yaro is correct, blogs provide serious marketing power.  They equal the playing field in many respects and provide a platform for individuals to compete with the big boys.  What’s more, search engines love blogs and if optimized, blogs can deliver website traffic much more readily than other forms of non-paid traffic.

What’s remarkable is that so many business owners still do not have a blog or if they have one they don’t post anything.  This blows my mind.  Some would rather pay for traffic I suppose – and don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with that.  Paid traffic makes sense in some cases, but blogging almost always makes sense for a business.

Blogging really helps accomplish several things.

1. Blogging is a way to express your knowledge, demonstrate your skills and share information with your market
2. Blogging is a great way to grow your network
3. Blogging forces you to stay ahead of the curve within your industry
4. Blogging is a great strategy to drive search engine optimization
5. Blogging is a great way to control your content rather than posting independent thoughts across 3rd party sites

And yet, blogging is not “easy.”  It takes time, thought, and planning to do it well.  But once you map out a your content distribution strategy and even fill out a blogging editorial calendar it can be quite rewarding, both personally and for your business.

Corporate Facebook Pages

Customers who became a fan of DG on Facebook ended up being more loyal. Although they spent the same amount of money per visit, the frequency of their visits to DG increased. On an empirical scale, fans visited DG 20% more often then non-fans.

Fans were more likely to recommend DG to friends and had an average Net Promoter Score of 75, as compared to 53% for Facebook users who were not fans, and 66% for customers not on Facebook.

Fans had a higher emotional attachment to DG, 3.4 on a scale of 4, as compared to 3.0 for other customers.

via Report: Facebook Pages Create More Loyal Customers.

Personally, I have found Facebook Pages to be a great source for attracting prospects and engaging current customers.  My Page has under 100 fans, yet in two months this has translated into 4 new customers.

In my experience, the best Pages have a consistent flow of content ~ maybe one new post a day.  With so much activity flying by on Facebook these days, anything less frequent will be completely missed and could potentially hurt the brand.  Customers like consistency and if the sign up as a fan they are relying on your brand to deliver.

How’s your company Facebook Page doing?  Are fans engaging with your company on Facebook?

Publishing online video has vastly improved over the years and for a minimal investment you can easily shoot, upload and share video on the fly.  The two biggest barriers I most often see are 1) fear of criticism and 2) assumption that video takes a long time to produce.

I’ll admit, shooting video takes some nerve.  My advice is to practice.  If you need to, shoot a video everyday for 30 days and then start publishing.  This will give you the chance to become familiar with the tools and find your voice or individual level of comfort.

In terms of time required – true video can take longer than simply typing out a new blog post.  However, that doesn’t need to be the case if you’re willing to sacrifice perfection for efficiency.  You can easily shoot and post video right within Youtube or use a tool such as Seesmic.

So, what’s your experience been shooting video and what’s the reaction you’re getting from others?

Long-tail keywords refer to the combination of terms into a phrase that represents your site, your products and services, etc.  Think of them as the words that people might use when searching for your website, company or products on Google.  Much like any marketing strategy in general, choosing the right long-tail keywords has strategic implications much like choosing the right target market, niche, or micro niche.  The more focused you are, the more relevant you are to that audience.

On-page optimization refers to the activities to incorporate on your website to drive search performance.  This may include proper coding, the content itself, a site index, the frequency with with new content is published, etc.

Off-page optimization is the collection of activities you execute outside the scope of your site to improve indexing and drive traffic.  This may include submitting your site to search engines and other directories, submitting your RSS feed to 3rd party sites for syndication, commenting on other blog posts with high PageRank to drive inbound links.  The list goes on.

What do you think?  Are your SEO tactics driving more, higher targeted visitors to your site?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

So, here’s a summary of where we are in the series and what’s next.

• Part I – How to Podcast from Your Mac (equipment and software)
• Part II – How to Podcast from Your Mac (GarageBand)
• Part III – How to Podcast from Your Mac (Recording Skype Conversations and Interviews)
• Part IV – How to Podcast from Your Mac (iWeb & iTunes)

You can also watch these on my YouTube Playlist: How to Podcast from Your Mac.

In upcoming episodes, I’ll cover:

• How to host your podcast on Wordpress and publish to iTunes
• How to publish a video podcast from your Mac
• How to include video, audio and pdf’s in your podcast
• How to publicize your podcast on other podcasting networks beyond iTunes

Any other topics you would like me to explain on this subject?

Also, please subscribe to my RSS feed and newsletter to stay informed when these new episodes release.

Nowadays, buzz around brands on the news, blogs, tweets and other social media that spreads through product launches, PR campaigns, earnings reports are as valuable as traditional ad campaigns. But buzz and social dialogue on the web is tough to quantify. General Sentiment has released a report that calculates the dollar value of the buzz, content, and conversation taking place online.

via The Value Of Online Buzz For The Top 20 Brands

My guess is that measuring social media marketing performance will become more sophisticated over 2010 as companies make significant investment in this channel.  Either in-house or through 3rd party tools, measurement systems will evolve so that tracking ROI will become more streamlined.

The bottom line is if you’re not leading the discussion in your industry online, then someone else is, so take this opportunity while the iron is hot to get involved in creating your own buzz.  This doesn’t need to be an elaborate or expensive endeavor.

For starters, I suggest you use your industry knowledge and passion for your market to create new and compelling content.  This could be a series of videos, an ebook, or a new podcast that engages your audience.  Put yourself in your customers shoes – what message or communication would excite them and create a little buzz?

This is the approach I’ve taken with my latest video tutorial series on How to Podcast from your Mac.  The response has been terrific and my videos have been picked up by a few influential leaders in the podcasting market.  I’m getting new traffic to my blog, comments on Twitter and Facebook, and requests for help.  It’s a simple, yet highly effective method of getting your company’s face out there and generating interest.

What do you think?  How is your company building online buzz and what’s working well?  Are you measuring ROI vs. traditional ad campaigns?