Newsjacking - 3 Critical Questions

A blog post led to this!

I have written previously about using news stories to insert yourself into the story. There are a three critical questions you must consider if you wish to use this method to get your blog/post or site more widely know,

They are:

1. What do you believe in? What do you stand for? In some cases this is difficult to work out. Do you have a  mission statement that might help you? If your goal is to provide reliable and secure mobile payments, for instance, you might insert yourself in stories about mobile or internet security breeches.

2. Do you have an opinion? Having an opinion helps on social media. If you pull your hair out that people aren't upgrading their Windows software or anti-virus protection, allowing hackers easy access to their passwords for instance, I think you are allowed to show frustration. The corporate mode of operation, in which everything is cool, lacks passion these days. Think about injecting some.

3. Do you know when to stop? You can get thousands of visitors to your site in a day if you create a powerful post, but you should also know when to shut up. Newsjacking isn't just about getting hits. It's about injecting what you want to say into the conversation, then stepping back.

Do you have any successful experiences of newsjacking you want to share, any observations on how to get this technique to work properly? Please use the comments below.

Zuckerberg's Law - 6 ways it could affect you

Mark Zuckerberg stated in 2008 that every two years or so (like Moore's Law for computing power) double the amount of information will be shared on social media as the year before.

While that may seem impossible I'm not the only one to think that something like this will happen. But what will that mean for most businesses?

Here's the reality of how this could affect you in the next few years:

* SEO and old style websites are likely be less and less relevant. Social sharing will drive site visits and the social sites will become the place more time is spent on. Social is already more popular on the web than pornography.

* TV, radio and newspapers will also be less relevant, as people spend more and more time on these social sites.

* Advertisers will take up real estate on your social feeds. And they will get cleverer. Ads will become engagement snares.

* Out bound selling will transition into content creation for inbound prospect attraction sites.

* Organisations of all types will evolve to adopt social media in HR. induction, training, on the job help, staff management, customer servicing, social activities, product development, sales and alumni networks.

* Your social life from finding a partner to creating an event will become a truly social media supported activity.

Not everyone of us or every organisation will be affected in the same way. Some will resist. A digital-less underclass will find themselves cut off from society.

How will you cope? If you need advice on anything in this post email me now: lob@yourasms.com

A plan for managing social media

I have created a seven slide online presentation on how to plan for social media.

The slideshow is here.

It proposes a six monthly cycle for all organisations based on an audit - plan - implement - audit cycle.

I suggest a six monthly cycle, as the social media world is changing so rapidly.

If you have any comments on the plan let me know. 

Blogging for business - 7 ways to get it right

Creating blog posts, whether it be for your own blog, a group blog, a LinkedIn post, a Facebook post or a community blog, is one of the key social tasks in the new online world most businesses now live in.

But what do we need to do to get it right? 

The first thing to consider is your audience. Are they consumers? Are they business owners? Are they IT specialists? Below are seven types of post you can use for clients and stakeholders of all types:

1. The first type of post, or series of posts, is to provide something useful. This is the basis for many blogs. Something useful can include: guides, FAQs lists, teach-what-you-do posts, illustrations of your product/service in action, case studies and product manual excerpts.

2. A second type of post, or series of posts, is anything to do with corporate social responsibility. Do you sponsor a charity, help a sports club, run an event for ex-employees? All of these can be featured in posts.

3. A third type of post is a free to enter contest. The prize may be small, but everyone likes to win and if you don't charge for entry it's not a lottery. You can use something like www.random.org to pick a winner from everyone who comments and shares your post, for instance. Most blogs number each comment you get.

4. A fourth type of post is brand news. News about new products, launches and updates can all be posts.

5. A fifth is about job opportunities.

6. A sixth is about special promotional offers exclusive for the readers or not.

7. And finally, a seventh are simply ads for your business. I suggest keeping these to 10-20% of your posts at a maximum.

If you mix these post types and establish a cycle of posts, new product news every month, job postings every two months, a guide to an aspect of your service every two weeks, you will build an easy to manage schedule. 

I hope this helps with your blog and general content planning. If you need any advice on making this work please email me: lob@yourasms.com

Whitepaper: Social media in the Irish financial services industry 2013

The Financial Services community in Ireland has been taking its first real steps into social media in the last year.

Bank of Ireland has a Facebook page offering information on Bank of Ireland products and services, the ability to share experiences, get tips for managing money and to ask questions about day to day banking. It has 3,500+ followers and features competitions for tickets to events and exhibitions the bank is involved in.

AIB has an AIB GAA Club page with 10,000+ followers and announcements about sporting events and match reports.

Irish Life has a blog offering occasional posts and a Twitter account with 700+ followers and a Google+ account as well.

In the US the financial services community has taken social media to its heart, indicating the most likely direction of social media in the industry worldwide.

While many Irish financial sector firms are proceeding slowly and cautiously into social media, US based licensed financial professionals and their customers are adopting social media with haste.

In fact, an Accenture report notes that so many financial advisors are using social media that many are "likely flouting their firms’ current policies against this type of activity."

Our recommendations for financial services use of social media in Ireland are:

1. To develop a training program for key staff segments

2. To develop a social media audit & planning process

3. To develop social media guidelines

4. To focus social media on achieving organisational objectives

To read the remainder of the whitepaper this post is extracted from please email lob@yourasms.com and it will be forwarded to you.

Guest post marketing, Gangnam style

I have just posted my 28th guest post on my writing blog www.lpobryan.com.

The post was from a romance writer in San Diego. I only accept posts from writers, to ensure that my followers on that site don't get a lot of spammy ads for things they didn't sign up for.

But they will get a bit of Gangnam style.

How? I plan to ask all guest posters, when my new novel comes out in October, will they put a guest post of mine up on their sites.

I hope to have at least 50 guest posters by then and I hope that about half will be able to host my guest post.

That means there should be 25 guest posts be me across the internet in October. Possibly more.

I was inspired to do this by a post I read about how PSY, the Gangnam style creator, had a series of blogs posted on friend's blogs - dance teachers, musicians and music industry people all around the world, on the day his famous YouTube video came out.

I don't expect to reach a billion views, like he did, but I hope the support of my guest posters will give my October social media campaign a lift.

If you would like to be a guest poster here - on social media - or on my writing blog and take part in this let me know.

OBryan Style!

5 real ways to build contacts through Twitter

Twitter is a great way to make contacts. Whether you are selling services, products or you're helping people in some way, Twitter allows you to reach people and develop real relationships.

Here are 5 real ways to build those contacts:

1. Follow them, retweet them and/or forward their tweets to people who might benefit from what they are saying.

2. Compliment or agree with a tweet or post they have put up.

3. Ask for an opinion in their area of expertise. Make the questions authentic and you will have a better chance of getting a response.

4. Share a content link with them, if it's appropriate, non spam, but useful content, either your own or another's.

5. Offer help of some kind. Make it genuine and appropriate to their possible needs and you will have a greater chance of getting a response.

These are the five main ways of building contacts through Twitter. If you can think of others please share them with us in the comments below.