#blogchat Recap and Transcript – 08/15/10 – Chris Brogan talks social outposts
Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan) joined #blogchat on 8/15/10 as a special guest host to talk about social media outposts and how they can help promote your blogging. You can check out the mostly RT-free transcript to get all of what he said.
Some first-time #blogchat-ters
- JessAriasCooper
- PattiB66
- devacoach
- torbenb
- robbirgfeld
- courtenayrogers
- hangingwitmrsc
- _DaleODonnell_
- fabuliss
- fianxu
Some top tips from Chris:
- chrisbrogan: Great Q, @MackCollier. It depends on what you want from your blogging. Is it business or just attention? If A, targeting helps. #blogchat
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat – So, stick your list of prospects/customers email addresses in, figure out where most folks spend their time.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat If you’re looking to find would be buyers, blogging and then just picking *any* social site isn’t helpful.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat One tool to use to find where your customers are? Flowtown - http://www.flowtown.com/ .
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat – one thing #NOT to do is use LinkedIn only for Business, FB only for fun, etc.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat Need to develop a list and have no one yet? Maybe start with alltop.com and find which topics align, and start commenting.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat Ultimately, once you find WHERE your marketplace is, spend some time understanding how that environment acts.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat (@MackCollier ) – if you’re blogging for business, PERIOD, it’s about knowing where your buyers hang out.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat Another thing: never shove your updates all over the social networks. Make each environment its own beast. Be selective.
- chrisbrogan: @JimmySW – I just use FeedBurner. Old habits, etc. #blogchat #blogchat
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @ElFury – I use multiple networks at once. But it depends. I use 2-3 all the way.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat (@MackCollier) – it’s not a number of networks we need, but how many is too many. I’m finding Twitter & FB & LinkedIN good.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat – 3-4 networks is usually a lot to manage. Add in a private community and you’re loaded down.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat Remember this: the goal of using networks to enhance your blog is to thread your ideas into other like-minded streams.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @GrandConsulting – StumbleUpon is my #4 traffic source.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @KRCraft @edytazach – for the most part, I think we should be one person for as much as we can. Splitting out dilutes.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat The #1 social network you’re neglecting: email marketing. 93% of people opt into a daily brand relationship via email.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat 93% of people opt into msgs via email, versus 19% in FB and 5% in Twitter (I might be wrong on the FB stat, but less than 30%).
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat By email marketing, I mean a newsletter subscription, but not necessarily just a blurty old newsspamming.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @LorneDaniel – treat them like gold. Don’t always ask them for things. Try to be as personal as possible. Be brief.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @longhaulproject – that’s trackable. Open rate. Clickthrough rate. Etc.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @sue_anne – I loathe popups as a conversion tool on blogs, even if they’re effective.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat If you don’t treat your community like the most valuable asset you have, why should they treat YOU well?
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @kmullett – right. I don’t mind using one device to send things out. I just don’t want to see the same THINGS go out.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @maricrisg – I quite agree. Content that someone wants will always trump random junk.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @JoeSorge – encourage, sure. But email is gold. If you get them to follow you, fine, but those are the outposts.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @jaredroy – I’m using Blue Sky Factory as my email provider and BatchBook as my CRM.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat Adding my blog to LinkedIn via the WordPress app inside LinkedIn really added value to my profile there. Try it.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @alizasherman – it’s so rare as to be the exception. BECAUSE lots of us follow multiple threads of people, so we just see overlap.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat: @fianxu – interesting question. Blogs can be more freeform. Books should stick to one thesis. Blogs-to-magazines, more true.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat (@MackCollier) – outposts are off-main-site places, like Twitter, like FB, like LinkedIn, like forums.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat I recommend spending 50% of your social time on outposts, making relationships, prospecting, building connections.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat Then, because those places are the outpost and not the home base, put the occasional “conversion” fork in there, to invite them
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @resultsrev – I’ve never tried using FB or Twitter to test email messages. I don’t get enough stats to use as metrics.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat by “conversion fork,” I mean a gentle invitation to your home base. Nothing too spammy. Certainly nothing overly repetitive.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @CoachKarenG – no. Frequency certainly doesn’t improve open rates. #RELEVANCEimproves open rates.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @nemock – Im’ not a fan of repurposing content across sites. That feels too much like phoning it in.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat – @MackCollier – outposts is about meeting with people on neutral ground, where THEY are, vs always trying to make them come in.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat Promoting your own stuff over and over again is lame. Promote others 12x to ever 1x of your own stuff.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat Referrals are a great way to get more blog traffic. Read @ducttape ‘s book, The Referral Engine - http://amzn.to/b682iO (afflink)
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @fianxu – I’m advocating promoting other’s great content at the Outposts like Twitter, etc.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat When I say promote others 12/1 over your own stuff, I mean on Twitter. Like, when @JasonFalls has a killer post, promote IT, not u
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat If your blog isn’t in your email signature, your Twitter bio, your LinkedIn profile, etc, try harder.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat If you’re looking to build from outposts, do good things for others on those outposts. Write referrals in LinkedIn, …
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat Do good things elsewhere. Promote great causes on Facebook. Do TONS of not-promoting-you stuff with no hope or ask of reciprocity.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat My business card right now is blank besides my name and logo. Put the MOST RELEVANT contact on it at the time of handing it over.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat Want more readers? Stop writing about yourself, except as a way to relate to others. Give THEM new tools to succeed.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @RLMadMan – promote the thing you most want traffic to. Your email or your blog or your twitter handle.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @hammerspeaks – better tires on your car? .. same kind of question. (I prefer wordpress)
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat Then ask yourself the same about your email signature. What’s the GOAL of your email signature?
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @cubs2win – to promote others, just point out the articles you like (with a teaser as to why) and link to them.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @KevinFawley – update your networks when you have updates. Blogs? Daily or more. Twitter,etc? more than daily.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat Your email signature should promote the thing you most want people to do after emailing yourself.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @prosperitygal – I’ve written 184 recommendations so far in LinkedIn.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @cpechayco – @Zappos has several HUNDRED brand ambassadors, and they sold for $1.2 billion. I’d say it helps.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat A good part of the sale (in all senses of the word) is showing others you understand them. Write about them.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat @joesorge – I love hamburger and i love soup, but not hamburger soup. Video *in* email. Not much. Link *to* it? Gold.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat Be wary of mental traps. How do you THINK you’re measuring yourself? Your blog? What do you THINK the goals are?
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat – Question was: Is SEO still relevant? I say yes. But I say it’s a blend.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat – So, between the two, I think SEO does matter, but not in that weird, inhuman, keystuffing stuff.
- chrisbrogan: #blogchat I use ScribeSEO on my blog - http://bit.ly/aRUeJW (aff link), but also believe that “human search” is important.
Check out the transcript to check out the rest of the conversation.
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