Author Archives: Mary

About Mary

Marketing Strategist & Business Development Mary Lassiter knows how think outside the box and use her creative side to help build better business solutions for companies of all shapes and sizes. In addition to being the founder of McLassiter Consulting, she has over 12 years of professional experience from creating successful businesses to customer relations and strategic marketing. No matter what medium or format, Mary finds the most effective way to communicate to customers. She founded McLassiter Consulting as a way to bridge the gap between French and English speaking businesses,after realizing the difficulty for French business to effectively market their business in English and vice versa.

Selling Your Expertise on LinkedIn – 7 Makeover Tips for a LinkedIn Profile

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Image from Microsoft Office

After watching an episode of Pimp My Ride on MTV where an old and nearly broken down car was being renovated into a car with a new life and an extremely loud sound system, I recently wondered how I can do the same to my LinkedIn profile. I wanted to make selling myself not sound like a broken record and add a little life to a dull LinkedIn Profile. So I gave myself a homework assignment of fixing my LinkedIn profile and finding what works to become visible and stand out from the rest.

Have you ever wondered how to stand out from the crowd on LinkedIn? Recently, I gave my LinkedIn profile a makeover and have been surprised by the results. Even with a degree in marketing, I too, have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what message is going to connect with my clients or future audience.

Image from Microsoft Office

Here are 7 LinkedIn makeover tips I have learned:

1.) Headline

This is probably the most important part of LinkedIn. It is where someone can make his or her first impressions of you; it is your slogan. Or think of it as an elevator pitch in one line or less. To come up with the best headline for myself, I researched others in the industry to see what they are saying.

Mary Lassiter

If you are in transition or unemployed, here are some example you can use in your headline:

  • Experienced sales representative seeking new opportunities
  • Open to new opportunities and seeking a career in clothing design
  • Marketing professional in transition

Need more ideas for a headline? Look at this example.

To make your headline stand out here are some bullet points or characters you can use:

  • Traditional bullets: ●•◆■ ♦ ◊
  • Arrows: ☛ ☚ ☜ ☝ ☞ ☟ ⇨ ► ◄ ► »
  • Email: ✉ ✍ ✎ ✏ ✑ ⌨
  • Phone: ✆ ☎ ☏
  • Stars: ★☆ ✪✰✯
  • Ticks: ✘✔ ☐☒☑
  • Other fun symbols: ☃ ☂ ☁ ☀♥☺♪♫ ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ ▌↔ ☠ ♘ ♝

You can find more ideas at the Linkedin Makeover website. Also for using Wingdings symbols for social media click here.

2.) Photo

Image from Microsoft OfficeImage from Microsoft Office

Strike a pose! Uh Oh! You don’t have to be a model but you do need a good photo. A good photo is a balance between professionalism and approachability, making you look good but also real. Here are some suggestions from the professionals:

  • Pleasant smile – Make someone feel welcome, show those pearly whites.
  • An interesting angle – Try not to do a mug shot but rather a shot that shows confidence such as tilting your head slightly or looking over your shoulder at the camera.
  • Dress the part with professional attire – What would you wear to an interview or business meeting? Jeans and t-shirt or business suit?
  • Simple background – Colors can alter emotions; blue or green can convey trust and confidence.
  • A sign of your personality - Is it your pose? Is it a prop?Think about how to make your photo more memorable.

Here is another interesting observation: To wear glasses or not to wear glasses?

3.) Custom URL

Mary Lassiter

This is part of your branding. Try to have the same name across all social media platforms. If you don’t change the URL, it is just a really long bunch of meaningless words, numbers and slashes that will look really weird on a business card (plus who is going to want to type that long address anyways?). This will also help with search engine optimization when someone is looking for you.

Ready to change your URL on LinkedIn? Here is how to change it: click on “Edit profile,” then, “Public profile.” In the right-hand column, select “Your URL” and type in a URL that actually has something to do with your name or brand name that you have chosen for all the social media platforms.

4.) Summary

This is your advertisement and probably the hardest part of a LinkedIn Profile to create. This is your chance to write a cover letter before the resume, a chance to explain your experiences. Demonstrate your passion for your work and tell us what separates you from the world. You can explain what you do for clients and employers, why and how you do it, and your accomplishments. Remember, you are human and you need to make a connection with the human resources department or with a potential client and explain what you can do for them. Let your enthusiasm show with a call to action! Here are some excellent examples.

5.) Experience

Add a basic explanation of your roles and responsibilities by emphasizing your successes and by including quantitative results. This section does not need to include every experience. If you had jobs that do not support your present business goals, just put titles and date ranges for those jobs. For more relevant experience, add more detail in the form of bullet points or narratives about your many achievements.

Image from: http://careerservices.linkedin.com/profile/

6.) Skills

Keywords are important and create a way to help people find you. LinkedIn will suggest specific skills that are the most common based on your experience. If the keywords that LinkedIn picked are relevant to you, then use them. However, to really stand out from the other fish in the pond, use keywords that are used by your customers and clients. This could mean doing some searching on Google and LinkedIn to see what others in your industry are using.

Mary Lassiter

Get your colleagues to endorse your skills!

7.) Recommendations

Although most recommendations are solicited, most of us can’t help reading testimonials. Recommendations make you look like a real human with experience and knowledge and with customers, clients and co-workers willing to tell their experience working with you. Besides just having you doing all the talking on LinkedIn, it allows others to leave comments about you and therefore adds a sense of depth to you. Recommendations are like good karma; be the first to write one and chances are good that someone will write one for you.

Need help creating a recommendation? Try this recommendation generator. 

Start writing those recommendations … Pass on the good karma!

…

Did you find this post helpful? Do you have any tips for LinkedIn Profiles? Let us know your thoughts.

5 Reasons to Use LinkedIn

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Image from: http://nowsourcing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/linkedin-motivation.jpg

This week, we will be getting into the niche social media platform of LinkedIn. Some topics we will explore are: reasons to be on LinkedIn, making a profile stand out, groups and ways to grow a business on LinkedIn.

To better define LinkedIn, it is a social networking website for professional occupations and used mainly for professional networking. As of June 2012, LinkedIn has 175 million registered users. Using the site Quantcast to profile the demographics of LinkedIn users we find that: 51% are male and 49 % are female with the dominant age range being 25 to 64 years old but with a growing number of 18 to 24 year olds. Most users have a college education or a graduate degree.

Quantcast.com – Gender Profile on LinkedIn

Quantcast.com – Age Profile on LinkedIn

Quantcast.com – Education Profile on LinkedIn

Is LinkedIn right for me? It all depends on your profession and your goal. For me, LinkedIn is a great tool for developing business and establishing contacts a world away.

When making a move from France to the United States this year, LinkedIn was a lifesaver of sorts. It was not easy to make connections and network with the Atlantic Ocean in the way and I can’t even imagine trying to make a complete life-changing jump across the pond without the use of the internet and social media platforms. When I knew I was getting on the airplane to come back to the States this past June, I used LinkedIn to join groups in the Philadelphia area that were marketing specific and then slowly started to build a network of contacts. Once I joined a group, I would individually reach out and connect to members by asking if they knew of networking opportunities or would be willing to just go out for coffee to help me better understand the lay of the land and opportunities that were available. Eventually I established a network of resources that made it easier to hit the ground running when I got off the plane this past August.

Uh Oh! LinkedIn may not be for everyone. For instance, someone in certain technical fields where people don’t normally do a lot of networking may have a harder time finding other colleagues actively using LinkedIn to connect with others in potential companies. Nonetheless, there is no harm in trying and the basic profile on LinkedIn is free.

5 Reasons to use LinkedIn:

1.) Build connections on a social CRM

Image from: http://4.bp.blogspot.com

This is a good way to connect with past colleagues and connect with businesses, clients or new contacts and group them all in one place. I call LinkedIn a Social CRM (customer relationship management platform) because it enables you to manage all your contacts and keep up to date in real time with the latest job titles and companies.

2.) Increase Your Credibility

By building a profile on LinkedIn with all of your past jobs, project experience, and qualifications, and then getting recommendations from colleagues, you can build credibility. For authors of blogs, journalists, or marketers like myself, by posting on group pages and responding to questions or debates we can position ourselves as an expert in our field and it is just one more way to build our online footprint for seeking opportunities.

3.) Keep up to date with the latest trends

LinkedIn focuses on professional niches and it is a great way to see what competitors are doing and are achieving. With the LinkedIn user groups, it can also be a forums for sharing news or best practices specific to your industry.

4.) Integrate into a new job

Image From: http://www.euroscience.org/

Find a new job from your contacts and connect with decision makers. Thousands of potential clients are accessible through LinkedIn. Also there are jobs being posted by companies and recruiters and LinkedIn can be a useful way to connect and apply for a new job.

5.) Drive traffic to your website

Image from: http://www.seotrafficsearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/social-media.jpg

Building a group page a or company page is a great way to build contacts or bring followers to your brand or blog and then ultimately get more traffic to your website. Check out Two Point Uh Oh’s Page.

To conclude we finish with an infographic of what users do on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Infographic: What LinkedIn Users Do on LinkedIn – http://www.linkedstrategies.com/linkedin-infographic-what-linkedin-users-do-on-linkedin/

 

Frequency and Measuring Success on Facebook

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Is Your Facebook Campaign Working? Are you building an Audience?

We save the best for last by covering the frequency of posting and analyzing the results.

Ever feel like no one is looking at your posts? Why aren’t people commenting? No one ‘likes’ your posts?

UH OH!

DON’T WORRY, YOU ARE NOT ALONE! When building a community online, it does not happen overnight. It takes lots of patience and going back to the drawing board. It is like what I was taught in business development, that there are usually more times someone says ‘no,’ before one client is ever made (or in this case a ‘fan’ or ‘like’ is made). With a Facebook page, we now have the tools to determine if our message is really working with our audience and change it for success. With Facebook Insights, we can analyze what our audience likes best and run with it.

Frequency of Posting on Facebook

To be annoying or not to be annoying that is the question? If Shakespeare would have only written about Facebook posts … Let’s look a little closer into building an audience on Facebook by the frequency and timing per day.

The consensus with bloggers and other social media gurus are that posting once a day is the right amount to keep the audience engaged. Looking across the board of top brands that have actively posted on Facebook, the average comes out to once a day. As seen by this graphic below by Social Bakers:

Social Bakers – brand comparison per posts per day

Posting more than once a day as demonstrated by the chart below by Track Social shows a lack of response after the first post:

Track Social – Response Post Frequency

UH OH! For us at Two Point Uh Oh!, We have our day jobs and posting once a week is all we can do right now. That is ok too, because we are a smaller blog with a smaller audience that is growing. As we grow our posts, our frequency will grow as well. Right now, we are still seeing a our audience grow and what they like on Facebook with only posting once a week.

Timing is Key

What is the best time of the day to post? Think about the times when you are most likely to read the news or check Facebook. Would it be in the morning? Weekday or Weekend?

For Facebook: Weekends and evenings are the time when people are most likely to share or like posts.

Science Office Book – When to Post on Facebook

 

Uh Oh! Typically when we post for Two Point Uh Oh, we have been on French time and not on USA time. So we have to be careful when we post to reach our audience. Do you have a geographic area where your customers are located?

Analyzing Results: Facebook Insights

So we can now look and see if we are posting the right content and what time and days of the week we are getting the best response rate. We can also see the demographics and build a more tailored message.

From the insights we can track the following:

User Insights: This is the number of fans or ‘likes’ and daily active users. It also includes demographics, page views.

Interactions Insights: This is the amount of activity (wall posts, the post’s likes, posts on the comments or post impressions). It also includes mentions, discussions, reviews, wall posts and video posts.

The next question is: what do you want to measure?

By determining what you want to measure, we can track for success. These are a few of the typical measurements used to determine success rates on Facebook: if the fan size is growing, the average number of comments or likes, and the amount of page views, etc. For more detailed information of Facebook Insights, click here.

What is working for you? Have you found a trick to posting on Facebook? We would like to hear from you.

7 Posts to Engage Your Audience on Facebook

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Last week we covered building a Facebook Page with the goal of building the Facebook Page as a platform for interaction of fans. The best way to grow the audience on Facebook is to start posting on the Facebook Page Wall and finding what content creates engagement. This week we continue the series on Facebook Pages where we will look at the types of common posts. Finally next week, we will cover frequency of posts and then how to analyze the results to determine if the posts are engaging the audience.

Engagement is connecting with the customer or audience. Here are some common posts on Facebook Pages that get the audience talking:

1.)    Pictures

We have all heard the phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Then think of it in Facebook terms, “a picture on Facebook is worth a thousand fans.” So what pictures get the most attention on Facebook? Simple, high quality and clear to understand photos or images that are relevant to your company or blog. Try to keep text descriptions short and always remember to link back to your website or Facebook Page. Use photo albums to showcase your product or service.

Here is an example of an eye catching bicycle from High Road Velo Tours. It is relevant because it deals with a cycling company. Look at how many people either ‘liked’ it or shared it? Uh oh - apparently this one did not connect to as many fans as our following examples, but I think it is a great eye catching photo.

2.)    Videos

These posts tend to be the most compelling and popular formats for Facebook posts. These are great for driving awareness to your product for promotion or branding purposes. Try to use compelling content and keep the videos short, between 60 to 90 seconds. Some interesting alternatives for videos can be customer experiences with a product or service.

One example is Trust and Travel’s videos on Facebook of their Italian vacation villas. They invite you to come inside and experience the villa with an authentic story for each of their vacation rentals:

3.)    Questions

This could be a musical question, brand trivia, polls, open ended, fill in the blank, either / or questions, click “like” if … Ask a question to gather input from your audience. Try to avoid specifics and ask general questions that most people can answer.

A creative way to ask a question is to get your audience to fill in the blank and make it into a fun dialogue. Here is an example from Fancy Feast cat food:

http://mashable.com/2012/07/05/facebook-build-engagement/

4.)    Promotions

Another great way to engage the audience is through offering a reward to become a fan on Facebook. Is it a chance to win an iPhone? Or a coupon for 10% off their next purchase?

Some examples can be giveaways, coupons, contests, first to comment wins …

Here is a creative example used by Ikea in their Tag Yourself Contest, where they uploaded photos of their products and asked their fans to tag themselves in the photos. The first person to tag themselves in the photo won the product. Here is a picture and video of the Facebook page:

5.)    Links

Links are probably one of the most common posts on Facebook. It can be a link to a news article, a blog post, a sale, etc. State in one line or less the relevance to your company or blog. Here is an example of Trader Joe’s Halloween Cookies and it links back to a description of the product.

6.)    Tips

These can be helpful reminders to fans that relate to timely topics and helpful resources such as remembering to start filing your taxes before April 15 (at least for the USA).

Or here is a great example tip for Facebook, about remembering to change your password so your account does not get compromised.

7.)    Quotes

This is also a classic and probably one or the more common posts. Here is an example of a quote:

“Do not wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it.” – Unknown.

Now if I were using this for Two Point Uh Oh, I would comment after it and say, ‘Jump in the water and get your Facebook pages going.’

Next week we are back with our last post on Facebook discussing frequency of posts and tracking feedback for success. Tell us what you think, are these posts working well for you? What is your favorite type post on Facebook?

Here are some other helpful resources: Free Ebook: How to Attract Customers with Facebook

We are back! The Facebook Page – The interactive business card

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It is la rentrée in France, when summer vacation is over and it is the return to the working day or back to school for kids. As a foreigner in France, I call it the ‘annual migration’ from the beach to the office. It is quite the sight to watch when most of the residential districts in Paris leave and head to the south of France. Bakeries and small businesses close up shop for a month long vacation and the crowded Metro becomes empty. Although for Alexis and I, it is a month to take a break from our normal routine and regroup our thoughts and figure out what are our next steps.

So with that being said, we apologize for the delay on posting, but both Alexis and I have been off throwing pitches and traveling for business this past summer. Now, we finally are trying to get back on track where we left off discussing Facebook.. In this post we will specifically look at the Facebook Page for businesses, blogs, causes, etc.

The Power of Facebook 

When I call my mom from France, she already knows what has happened in my week, thanks to Facebook. Facebook has seriously simplified my life. I only tell my story once. Also from a world away it is a great way to share photos of travels, and my life in France is no longer secret. When I come back to the States, most of my friends know what I have been up to and it is not a shock when I tell them I am ready for a new adventure such as ready to leave France and go back to the USA.

Why use Facebook to promote your business or blog?

  • Facebook pages are free!
  • Search Engine Optimization. They are open to search engines and help your website or blog get promoted.
  • Build an online community. Pages can have an unlimited number of ‘fans’. You can send updates to your ‘fans’ and keep them informed about your business or product launch, etc.
  • Create a discussion and get feedback. The Facebook page allows customers and clients to leave comments.
  • Get Analytics and track success. Pages offer weekly reports to track analytics and there are ‘like’ buttons you can add to your website to gage positive reactions and track campaigns and strategies.
  • Draw traffic back to your website using Facebook Connect and other Facebook application programs.

It is free and easy to make a page on Facebook and with a few simple clicks you have your very own page to share with friends. It is a great platform to use because it has the most frequent users. Your mom can even keep up with your business and promote it on her Facebook wall. With the growing popularity of Facebook among the baby boomer generation, there is bound to be a potential customer on Facebook.

Separating Personal and Business Posts …

Uh oh! Do you ever get a friend that posts about their business on their personal profile? Is it appropriate? Where is the boundary between personal and business posts? I get these questions often, and my solution is to create a Facebook Page. The beauty of a Facebook Page is that your friends and clients can choose to tune into your page on their own time and can opt to ‘like’ or become a fan of your business.

Facebook Personal Profile vs. Facebook Page

  Personal Profile Facebook Page
Purpose Personal content Business, Blog, Causes, Groups, etc.
Posts Personal updates, photos, geolocation, etc. Messages for a call to action with clients and customers, or interesting or related content that customers may find interesting / relevant to your business
Audience Family, personal friends and people you know that you would want to share your personal story or posts Personal friends, customers, and people you don’t know (potential customers)

Creating a Facebook Page:

Helpful Links to Creating Your Facebook Page:

More resources:

Taking Those First Steps Into Social Media

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Now that you’ve launched your blog and are posting regularly, it’s time to take the next step: getting your content out there.

It’s time to delve into social media.

If you’re thinking, “uh oh!” you’re not alone.

Overcoming The Initial Discomfort of Social Media

Even after all the time I’ve been participating in social media, the idea of actively sharing online still makes me nervous. I still worry about saying the wrong thing or what someone else might think. Thankfully, the reactions from our readers are much more positive than negative, and that gives me the motivation to continue. Knowing that something I’ve written has connected with readers gives me a sense of validation and positive energy and helps dissipate the fears that come along with sticking my neck out there and taking public risks.

I find the more I blog, the more I see comparisons to other aspects of my life. As a sales and marketing rep, meeting someone for the first time is always a source of discomfort. What if I forget an important point or fail to capture their interest? Did I introduce myself and my team properly? Did I make everyone in the room feel welcome? But just like blogging, if I dwell too much on my worries, I’ll never take the necessary risk of the first uncomfortable step. Without that risk, there can be no gain. I won’t make a connection, I won’t win over a customer, I won’t develop repeat business. So, like the athlete I am, I suck it up and I “Just Do It.” (Thank you, Nike, for providing my life’s motto!)

We aren’t going to lie and tell you social media isn’t a little scary. It is. But we’re going to approach the process slowly and thoroughly, just like we did the process of blogging. By helping you understand WHY and WHEN to use each of the key platforms and HOW they might fit into your strategy, social media will become a lot less intimidating than it looks right now.

What Is Social Media?

This is the question we’ll be exploring in this new series of posts on Two Point Uh Oh. The answer is both extremely simple and extremely complex, as you shall see.

The simple part to understand is this: social media is a modern form of communication. In the past, people gathered in town squares, at community events and back-yard fences, and around the water cooler. There, they exchanged information, opinions, insights, and all manner of things relevant to the fabric of their lives and their communities. While we still chit-chat with our neighbors and colleagues, today we also chit-chat online. What’s so powerful about social media is that it reaches well beyond our immediate circle of acquaintances. What we share online can spread further than anything we might share one-to-one in person. Yet the essence of social media is still authentic, human communication that arises naturally from the interaction happening here and now.

The process of social media.

How Can Social Media Benefit You and Your Business?

Again, this is both a simple question and an extremely complex one. The simple answer is that it can help you build authentic connections and relationships with customers, potential customers, partners, and fans. Just how you can do that, however, takes a much longer explanation and a lot of trial and error. This is where it begins to get scary for most of us. While there are many best practices, there really is no concrete how-to. Each person must find his or her own way.

This is just one of the many aspects we’ll be exploring in this next series of posts.

We’ll look at the key platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Google+, and Pinterest, and identify their unique characteristics. We’ll also look at who uses each platform, why they use them, and how they might be useful to your overall strategy for building your online presence.

Finding the right fit.

The truth is, not every platform will be a good fit for you, your personality, and your business. Some platforms you might take to like a fish to water. Others won’t speak to you at all. That’s fine. We’re here to help you figure out what’s right for you.

What we won’t be covering are the basics of the technical aspects, such as how to create your accounts or navigate the platforms. But don’t worry, we’ll point you to places where you can get the guidance you need. And of course, we’re always available to answer your questions.

Ready to begin? Great! Join us next week as we tackle Facebook!

Blog Comments For Beginners

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So you’ve created your blog and you’ve written your first posts. All you have to do now is sit back and wait for the readers to come, right? Wrong! Despite having been made famous by the movie “Field of Dreams,” the idea that you can build it and they will come just doesn’t work. This is true about any endeavor, not just blogging. People need to find out about you, and they need to get involved.

Over the next few weeks, we’re shifting focus from creating blog content to engaging readers and growing a following. As we go through this process, you’ll begin to see the unique characteristics of Web 2.0 coming to life. We’ll begin with blog comments.

What Are Blog Comments?

As we pointed out in an earlier post, as technology has changed, so has the way we communicate. I remember my summer camp days way back when. I used to send letters to friends and family to let them know that I was at camp for 3 weeks and I’d ask them to write to me. Admittedly, it was a simple ploy to get some attention as a kid–but it worked. My friends and family always sent me letters in return. Excited, I would respond immediately with a post card of my own. Before I knew it, I had a  dialogue going. Every day at mail call there was either a letter or a package waiting for me. Of course, I would always share the candy, cookies, and other goodies I received, which helped me make instant friends, a side benefit I hadn’t anticipated but that I was grateful for.

My fellow campers wanted to know how I managed to always have so much mail waiting for me. My secret was simple. I wrote as many letters as possible, and I always included a request for a response. In fact, I asked my friends and family to respond with a letter or a postcard RIGHT AWAY, AS SOON AS THEY GOT THIS!!! I can only imagine that my family thought it was adorable and my friends thought it was exciting and fun, so everyone got into it.

If I were a camper today, I’d probably be exchanging emails instead of letters, and text messages instead of postcards. Or maybe I’d keep a blog of my time at camp and I’d be asking for comments in response.

You see, your blog is like the letters I wrote from camp. This is where you share your thoughts, experiences, and insights. And the comments section of the blog is where people have a chance to respond to what you’ve written—and even share a few goodies of their own.

Another way to think of comments is to compare them to letters to an editor at a newspaper. Most comments are conversational reactions, such as “Thanks for the post, great information,” or “That’s what I think too!,” or “I never thought of that, thanks!” or “I agree with most of  what you said, but you forgot to mention xyz.” You can respond to the comments, and before you know it  your blog has gone from a static (Web 1.0) to an interactive (Web 2.0) platform capable of sustaining a conversation and growing a community.

Comments let you know that someone out there is reading your blog and benefitting from it. This is not only great motivation on an emotional level, it also shows that your content is going in the right direction and can help you make editorial decisions.

How Can My Readers Leave Comments?

The mechanics of how to leave a comment will depend on your blogging platform, your template, and your settings. But generally, at the bottom of each post, there is usually an area for comments. On TwoPointUhOh, this area looks like this:

Our template doesn’t automatically display the comments area, but readers can always navigate to it. The options for accessing the comments area are either at the top or bottom of each post. In our case, you can access comments from both the top and bottom of our posts.

The access from the top of the post is via a visual icon of a speech bubble. A number in the speech bubble indicates how many comments have already been left. If the speech bubble is empty, that means no one has commented yet. From within our blog post, click on the bubble to access the comment area for that post.

The access from the bottom of the post is via a link in the footer. In our case, the link asks readers to “leave a reply” if there are no comments yet. Or it says “3 comments,” if people have already left comments. Again, by clicking here, readers will be taken to the comments area. Your blog may work differently, but generally the links to the comments area will be found in the post’s header or footer.

How Do I Handle Negative Comments or Spam?

As soon as you open the door to participation, you take the risk of dealing with negativity or spam. You do have the option of turning off all comments to your blog, but if you do that, you’ll be missing out on the opportunity to enter a conversation with engaged readers.

Uh oh!

Fortunately, there is a solution, comment moderation. With this option, you will be asked to approve a comment before it goes live on your blog. If you choose to moderate comments, be aware that your readers want to see their comments on your blog. Try to approve  them quickly. Also, make sure that you don’t censor comments. It’s one thing to not publish spam or racist, sexist, and vulgar comments; it’s another not to publish and address a legitimate disagreement or criticism. If you accept comments, you’ll also need to learn to allow all opinions to be voiced.

How to Encourage Comments

  • Ask for Comments It worked for me in my letters from camp, and it will work for you. Throw the ball back in your readers’ court by asking: “What do you think?”, “Has this approach work for you?”, “Have you had a real life experience with this topic?”, or “Is there anything I forgot to add?”
  • Respond to Comments Just as you want proof that someone is reading your posts and responding to them, your readers want proof that you’ve seen their comments and appreciate them. Make an effort to respond to every comment in a timely fashion—preferably within hours, but certainly within the same day. This keeps your blog post active and dynamic and builds community. Set up your notifications to receive an email each time someone posts so you can respond quickly.
  • Be Grateful and Gracious In your response, thank the reader and let them know you appreciate their comment. Be sure to address something specific in their comment so they know you’ve actually read it. When people feel valued and heard, they will be more likely to want to keep interacting with you.
  • Handle Negative Comments Like A Pro If someone voices a complaint, don’t take it personally, and in this case, don’t answer right away. Take time to think about your response, and then answer in a positive and professional manner. It’s up to you to set the tone of the conversation. Remember, it’s hard to read all the nuances in written communications, so always assume the best of the person. Treat their comment as a sincere desire to communicate with you and answer respectfully and in a cool-headed manner. Of course, if readers get out of hand and the conversation devolves into a nasty argument, this is unacceptable. This kind of behavior is known as a “flame war,” and it’s your responsibility to resist fanning the flames and find a way to put them out. One option is to publish a comments policy, clearly stating what you will and will not accept on your blog.
  • Comment On Other Blogs If you want comments on your blog, then it’s only fair that you comment on the blogs you read! It will help you understand what readers feel and expect when they comment on your blog, and it’s another way to build community. We’ll talk more about this aspect next week, but for now  just keep in mind that the effects of blog commenting can go further than you imagine.

Now, Practice!

You’ve come to the end of this blog post. Here’s your opportunity to become more familiar with comments! Go ahead, leave us your thoughts. Are you excited by the conversational aspect of blog comments? Or does the whole thing leave you feeling overwhelmed and uneasy? Let us know!

3 Posts to Get Readers Talking

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To me, engaging an audience in a give-and-take exchange is much like the game of Tug of War. For those who have never played the game, Tug of War involves two opposing teams in a test of strength. Using a rope, each team tries to pull the other over a center line marked on the ground in chalk.

I know what you’re probably thinking: conversations aren’t meant to be competitive. Nobody’s trying to take the other side down. And you’re right. But I’m a competitive athlete. I’m actually editing this post on a plane as I head to Lisbon to take part in a half marathon. I enjoy competition, even if it’s only against my own best time. Competition gets my creative juices flowing and helps me set goals. And I like my analogies to have a little muscle on them, so hang in there with me as I try to find commonality between civilized conversation and dragging each other through the mud.

In Tug of War, once you get into the game, the momentum becomes so powerful that you find yourself doing your all to help the cause. Everyone is focused on the task at hand, ready to pull and to give every ounce of their energy. The rope is the common bond among all players. Everyone is in physical contact with the rope, taking information from it and responding to that information in real time. Each change of pressure on the rope elicits a response from each and every player. They react by digging in their heels, leaning back, refreshing their grip on the rope, or by groaning or laughing. It’s a conversation of sorts, even though no words are being used. Or at least no words longer than four letters. Nevertheless, the teams are “talking” to each other, engaging through the common bond of the rope.

This brings us to our discussion of unconventional posts. Much like the rope in a game of Tug-of-War, an unconventional post coaxes interaction. So far all the posts we’ve looked at generated information for readers. But the three posts we’re looking at today exist to create immediate engagement and conversation. Key to using these posts successfully is to wait until you’ve grown a small following and you feel confident moderating.

The Questions Post

If you’re having a hard time coming up with ideas, or if you have so many ideas but don’t know which ones would interest your readers most, consider a questions post. Select a subject in your niche that you’d like to explore further and ask your readers to post their most burning questions about it. It’s a great way to find out what your readers need, and it guarantees that you’ll be spending your time writing something your readers care about! You can also use questions to involve your readers in a live event that you’re attending but they’re not, such as a conference or a seminar. As an expert in your field, you have access to other professionals, and you can help open up that access to your readers by gathering their questions and asking on their behalf. Here’s a great example from the U-T San Diego that gathered reader questions for a mayoral candidate debate on education. They chose to collect questions by email, but you can ask readers to leave their questions in the comment section. (We’ll talk more about comments and how to manage them soon.)

The Survey, Poll, or Quiz Post

Surveys, polls, and quizzes are a fun and easy way to get to know your audience. Unlike a questions post that requires your taking time to answer, surveys, polls, and quizzes can give you and your readers quick insight on a certain topic. Do a survey or a poll if you want to gather information on a topic from many people and then publish or comment on the results. Opt for a quiz to help your readers learn something about themselves or test their understanding of a particular topic. Check out this useful quiz designed to help readers decide if they should start a blog.

One quick poll I recently ran on another blog was to help me select the logo for that business. Why not let your readers or clients participate in some of the more fun decisions that go into running your business? They’ll be happy to help and it will make them feel more invested in what you’re doing.

Surveys can go deeper than the simple poll described above. They might include more questions and use a variety of tools, such as ratings on a scale of one to ten, drop-down menus, or text fields where people can respond in their own words. A great tool for running surveys is Surveymonkey.com. The basic survey is free, but is limited to 10 questions and 100 responses.

The Contest Post

Just like a game of Tug of War, contests provide a playful way to connect with your audience. The key to running a good contest is to offer a good prize. The prize doesn’t have to be expensive, but it does need to provide value to your audience. For example, you might want to offer the winner a copy of your book if you’ve written one, or a free consultation or other equally valuable perk. Be sure to spell out the details, deadline, and entry rules of your contest. Make it as simple as possible for people to enter. Entries can be via a comment on your blog, or through an email, or the social networks. Here’s an excellent contest post by Darren Rowse of ProBlogger. The prize? A five-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Australia!

Next week we’ll finish our roundup of blog post types by taking a look at how you can use audio, video, presentations, and slideshares to enhance your blog.

6 Unconventional Posts to Liven Up Your Blog

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Last week, we talked about beating writer’s block and laying the groundwork for your blog using standard posts that resemble articles. For the following weeks, we’ll look at some more unconventional posts.

Today we’re covering posts that are only somewhat different to the standard article mode. They are still posts imparting information from you to your readers, but they may take a different structure or approach. You may not use these types of posts as often as standard posts, but they can certainly help liven up your blog.

1. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Post

Whatever your business is, your clients have questions about it. I bet you hear them asking the same ones over and over again. These are the Frequently Asked Questions, or the FAQs. An FAQ page has become a standard feature on many websites, but you can include one in your blog. Or you might opt to turn each question in your FAQ list into a post of its own. Here’s a good example of how to use FAQs from the Paris-based Horton Tax Services.

2. The Should Ask Questions (SAQ) Post

Almost as often as Frequently Asked Questions, however, there are questions your clients don’t ask but you wish they would. They may not know to ask these questions. But you, as the expert, can take the opportunity to educate them. These types of questions are the Should Ask Questions, or the SAQs. If you offer a product or service that requires your first-timer client to consider a lot of different aspects, you may want to help them out with an SAQ. For example, anyone launching a business, buying a home, or designing a website for the first time doesn’t know what they don’t know. But you do! So help them out with an SAQ post. Here are some examples:

3. The Review Post

A useful review can help readers make quick decisions, saving them time and sparing them frustration. Consider including some in your post mix. For example, if you teach yoga, review some yoga props, a line of clothes, or a new book. If you’re a business coach, review time-saving business apps for the smartphone. If you travel a lot to cities your clients also frequent, review the restaurants and hotels you visit from a business traveler’s point of view. Your clients will appreciate your tips!

Here’s an example of a review from OM Yoga: Product Review: Lululemon’s “The Mat”

4. The Interview Post 

Let’s say you want to find out what other experts in your niche think about a particular topic. Why not interview them for your blog? Not only will interviewing an established expert introduce your audience to new ideas, it will also reach that expert’s fan base, increasing your blog’s exposure. Interviews don’t need to be complicated or time-consuming. Face-to-face is great, but you can also send a set of written questions to your subject, who can answer at his or her leisure. A follow-up phone or Skype call should help answer any lingering questions. That’s how Alexis conducted her interview with social media strategist Mina Zaher. Paris-based author Janet Skeslien Charles frequently interviews anglophone writers who are either living in Paris or passing through, giving readers a nice little window into the contemporary literary scene.

5. The Guest Blogger  Post

If you ever begin feeling overwhelmed by your blog and want to take a break, consider inviting  a guest blogger. This can be another expert or someone with an experience to share that would be interesting to your readers. Inviting guest bloggers is a win-win for all sides. Your guest reaches a new audience, your audience hears another perspective, and you get a break! Check out these guest posts from Elements, a web marketing and design agency.

6. The Checklist Post

Do your clients need to prepare before they come see you? For example, if we’re going to help someone with their website, we need them to provide us their website copy, their logo, the photos they want to use, and a host of other things. A checklist is a great way to help your clients prepare for working with you. You can get creative here. If you’re a yoga teacher, use a checklist to help students troubleshoot a posture. If you’re a tour guide, include a checklist of what to wear and bring on the tour. I love checklists of what to pack for a triathlon. With three sports to think about, swimming, biking, and running, there is a lot of gear to remember. If you forget the wrong thing, such as goggles for the swim portion, it can slow down your time and diminish your experience. Take it from me, checklists can be extremely handy. Even handier would be a PDF version that your readers can download.

So there you have it. Six new kinds of posts to play with for your blog. Which of these posts have you already tried? How have they worked for you?

Check back next week for even more post types!

7 Standard Blog Posts To Get Past Writer’s Block

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If you’re considering starting a blog, you’re probably wondering how you’ll ever be able to think of something interesting to write about each time you need to post. Athletes call this mental block “hitting a brick wall.” Writers call it writer’s block.

I have to admit when I first started this blog with Alexis, I thought I’d have writer’s block almost every week. I was sure I’d run out of topics or that I wouldn’t be creative enough to keep the reader’s attention.

Applying the Athlete’s Attitude to Writer’s Block

When Alexis and I met in a Parisian café last September to plan Two Point Uh Oh!, I was thinking, “What am I getting into? I coach athletes to reach their goals, not bloggers! How will I ever engage readers?”

Uh oh!

But then I remembered that I knew how to keep my own interest as an athlete. People ask me all the time how I can be such a dedicated triathlete. “Don’t you ever get bored?” they want to know. No, I don’t, because I have a strategy to stay engaged. I plan a variety of workouts, and I make sure never to do the same workout too many times in a row. I alternate between short sprints, longer workout at a steady pace, cross training, core workouts, and fun runs. The types of workouts I can do to stay interested and to keep myself from hitting the brick wall are endless.

The same strategy of alternation applies to blogs. To beat writer’s block, maintain momentum, and keep your readers engaged, you can alternate between different types of posts. Just like working out, if you mix it up, you’ll keep it more interesting for you and for your readers.

3 Categories of Posts

Over the next three weeks, we’ll be looking at 3 categories of posts:

  1. The Standard Posts In this category, you’ll find the most basic types of blog posts. You can consider these types of posts as your go-to posts. They will make up the bulk of your blog. We’ll be covering standard posts today.
  2. The Unconventional Posts This category covers types of blog posts that you might use from time to time to spice things up for your readers. We’ll cover unconventional posts next week. 
  3. Audio and Video Posts This category takes a look at how you can integrate technology to create a more immediate and personal connection with your audience. We’ll cover this in two weeks’ time.

7 Types of Standard Posts

Standard posts can be likened to what you might see in a newspaper or magazine. Taking the form of articles written from the author’s point of view, standard posts present information or ideas to the reader. While in many or even most cases, such broadcasting posts are the ideal choice, at other times they may seem somewhat limited. That’s where the unconventional posts we’ll discuss next week come in. But for now, here are 7 types of standard posts:

1. How-To or Tutorial Posts This type of post is by far the most common. Information imparted in a how-to format is the “bread and butter” of most blogs. Two Point Uh Oh! relies heavily on tutorial posts, and most businesses or blogs can probably add tutorial or how-to to their mix. This past summer, the fig tree in the back yard of my new home produced a bumper crop of figs. The only solution I could think of was to make fig jam, so I looked up a tutorial blog post on the subject and voilà… soon I had 90 jars of fig and lavender jam.

2. Definition Posts If you think your readers might have a question that begins with “what is” followed by a blank to be filled in, then you might want to consider a basic definition post. Defining your terms is a great way to ensure your readers will get the most out of your posts. We created a definition post with this post on Web 2.0.

3. Personal Story or Experience Posts People love to hear stories, especially of someone’s personal experience. A good, well-structured story with a clear point can make your post come alive for your reader. This can be especially true if you traveled the path that they are now on. For example, a yoga teacher who works with injured people might want to include some stories about her own healing journey with yoga. Other examples of great stories to share can include a from-failure-to-success story, your personal reflections and how you came to them, the lessons you’ve learned, or a story about an inspirational moment or person who changed your life. Key to this kind of post is to make sure the story is relevant to your reader. On this blog, we like to mix in a little storytelling with our tutorials, like I did in the introduction to this post.

4. Personal Opinion or Op-Ed Posts Just as many newspapers carry op-ed columns, your blog can include op-ed in its posts. Use opinion pieces to discuss something you feel strongly about, establish your expertise, and help you stand out from the crowd. Depending on your style and personality, your opinion might be presented in a way that’s balanced or bold. You may even opt to put forth an opinion that goes against the grain of your industry. The key to a personal opinion post is to make sure you know whereof you speak. If you disagree with the mainstream thinking on a particular topic, make sure to present your arguments in a logical and cohesive way. Be passionate–but don’t be all over the place. Personal opinion is not the same as a personal rant. A great example of a successful personal opinion approach is the blog Altucher Confidential by author and entrepreneur James Altucher.

5. Problem-and-Solution Posts This is another type of post that fits nicely into many small business blogs. Identify a problem your readers might have and then offer a solution. RealSimple does problem and solution articles and posts very well. Here’s a great example: How to Deal With Nuisance Neighbors

6. List Posts List posts have several advantages. First, they are a great way to get you over writer’s block. If you’re really stuck, sit down and brainstorm a top 10 tips (or top 3 or top 5) list having to do with your niche. Second, list posts organize information in a way that’s easy to skim and read. Finally, they provide catchy titles to attract readers: “The Top 3 Reasons To Visit Paris,” “The 5 Best Job Interview Tips,” “16 Ways You Can Make a Difference.” This post is an example of a list post. Here is another list post on one of my favorite topics: the best chocolate shops in Paris.

7. News, Predictions, and Trends Posts  Does your business depend on your staying on top of the latest happenings and trends? Then consider including these in your post mix. Make sure to credit original sources and include your own point of view. A good example is this post on Digital Publishing Predictions.

That should keep you busy for a while. Next week, we’ll take a look at unconventional posts for those moments when you want to give your readers something new!