Diva Marketing Talks  

Tips From the Diva Bag From Jeneane Sessum and Wayne Hurlbert

Jeneane Sessum, Allied

• Be Yourself - Figure out who you are and carry that across all social platforms.
• If you can't figure out who you are, at least be FUNNY.
• Admit when you're wrong, unless the other party/blogger/company is wronger.
• Don’t Quit. Take breaks, but don’t quit because longevity counts.

Wayne Hurlbert, Blog Business World and BlogTalk Radio Show - Blog Business Success

• Respect other people's work. Incorporate attribution if you are including parts of a post in your blog post. Credit should include the name of the blogger, the blog title and a link to the blog and/or post. (more)
  
• All concepts used from other blogs should be linked and credited to the source.
• It’s okay to modify posts with details such as event dates, times or typos. However, it’s not a good idea to delete and then change major concepts on a published post. If you need to update the information indicate and date the change. Or write a new post and link back to the original post.
• Admit to mistakes. It increases your credibility if you offer a correction and an apology.

Tips From The Diva Bag: Blog Analytics A Step Towards Credibility?? From  Marianne Richmond and Peter Kim

Complements of Marianne Richmond, Resonance Partnership

• Forget trying to find the Holy Grail definition or measurement and focus on what you want the end result to be...what you want your customer to do, believe, experience or think OR what role you want a specific media channel to play to achieve the end result.  Once you know the desired outcome, then what it takes to get there... the metrics should fall out from there.

• Accurate targeting is critical success factor. Bad targeting=false metrics.

• All or nothing statements like "the page view is dead" will kill you....there never was and never will be one single one size fits all measurement except for sales and profits.

Complements of  Peter Kim, Forrester Research

• Be free.  There are many good packages available for no cost that provide excellent metrics.

• Think simple.  Social media analytics work differently - focus on a few key indicators to start.

• Don't obsess.  Metrics should help fine tune your communication strategy, not drive it.

Tips From The Diva Bag From Christine B. (CB) Whittemore and Paul Chaney

From Christine B. (CB) Whittemore, Director, In-Store Innovation for Carpet Fiber Solutia Inc.

• It's a slow build.  Be steady, consistent and don't lose your focus.
• Connect the new with the old to help demonstrate the value of the medium and the information available there.
• Be contagious when you blog and when you explain what social media is/how to use it.
  
• It's about sharing your passion!

From Paul Chaney, Bizzuka   ( at time of taping Paul was VP, Business Development for Blogging Systems, partner in Nacht & Chaney Social Media Consulting) and co-author of the book Realty Blogging, published by McGraw-Hill.

• 1. Blog about what you know relative to the industry. There will come a point in time when you will reach the limit of your own knowledge. When that happens, reference tip #2. 
• 2. Read other industry-relevant blogs. The easiest way to do this is to subscribe to RSS feeds.
• 3. Keyword-optimized posts written on a regular basis (minimum 3-5 times per week) will give you your best chance of increasing your presence in SERPs as well as establishing your credibility within the industry.

Tips From The Diva Bag From Elana Centor and Julie Keyser-Squires

Complements of Elana Centor

Record a conversation that you have with someone telling the story you want to blog about.  Then do a written version of the story.

Transcribe the conversation version of the story and compare your written version to the conversation version. Your voice is somewhere in between.

Talk out loud as you write – it helps create a rhythm.

Decide ahead of time whether you will use profanity in your posts and in your comments

Complements of  Julie Keyser-Squires

Give yourself a year to find your voice.  Use Authenticity and Transparency as your guiding principles (“Whoever you are, be a good one.”  Abraham Lincoln)

Be true to yourself.  This is how you will attract friends in the blogosphere (“Every light attracts its own bugs.”)

Why are you blogging?  Decide your strategic objectives and make every post move you towards Mount Olympus.

Pick a focus/topic that interests you (in my case), or is tied to your revenue generation (in the case of our clients).  That way regular postings are easier to sustain.

Engineer time into your day or week to blog and read blogs.  Get in the habit.  A habit forms in 21 days.

If you are not technical, engage a friend who is to help you set up, negotiate and evolve your blog from the technical end. 

Spend time with someone you care about.

Tips From The Diva Bag:  

Complements of Donna Lynes-Miller

• Don't be afraid to be an innovator & take a risk.

• If any marketing program is strategically sound & executed well, it can be different (very different) & that includes blogs.

• Don't be shy about using social media to generate sales & profits. Social media does not need to be altruistic - we all need sales & profits. [Note: click on comments for more]
  

• If your initial strategy is not working, don't be afraid to switch horses midstream & try another alternative. Most importantly, if you believe in what you're doing, don't give up. Don't be affected by what others say about you. Dr. Wayne Dryer says it so well, "what other people think of me is none of my business."

Complements of Tim Jackson

• Get out there! Don't be afraid. Sure, things can go wrong, but if you don't get out into the conversation, then others will do it for you and take away your customers/ clients.

• Reach out to other bloggers/ social media practitioners- if somebody takes the time to comment on your blog, go say thanks. That's how you build a community around your own work.

• Be honest and transparent. It's scary at first, but you'll find it is easier than trying to "hide" something. Besides, credibility is built more on warts than it is on artifice or heavy make up.

Say thank you from time to time. For me, I have found that the simple act of saying thanks to the folks who read my blog and leave comments brings in more participation- it shows that I appreciate them taking the time to visit (and I honestly do).

Donna Lyons-Miller, GourmetStation and Tim Jackson, Masi Guy join Toby to talk about how consumer brands can leverage social spaces as a marketing strategy.