Be a Thought Leader

1. Blogging

2. Culture

3. Blogosphere

Class Questions

• 4 Broadcast

• 3 Digital

• 6 PR

• 6 Print

What is a blog?

Perceptions of Bloggers?

State of the Blogosphere 09• 75% U.S. bloggers are college graduates

• 40% have attended graduate school

• One in three have a household income over $75,000

• Most are male, married, and are parents

Motivated to Connect,but not Create

• Nielsen 09– Social networking/Blogging 4th most

popular online activity

• Pew 08– 33% of internet users read blogs

• 10% of adults maintain a blog

"The future is the individual communicator, not big media.” Greg Hadfield,

Telegraph Media Group's head of digital development

Fact vs. Opinion

Motivated Bloggers• Hobbyist – creativity, therapy, passion

• Self-employed – attracting new clients and sharing expertise

• Part-timers – sharing expertise and opinion

• Corporate - published and used by the organization to reach organizational goals

• Community – to fill an informational void

Video or Photo Blog

• http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/

Other Successful Blogs• Stuff White People Like

• Mint blog

• Got2BeGreen

• Synthesis

• The Pioneer Woman

• Fatcyclist

• 1001 Rules for My Unborn Son

• Passionate, desire to entertainment or educate, and learn how to engage by knowing your community

Why?• Build community• Drive loyal traffic • Become an influential by helping others

learn• Access thought leaders• Monitor and connect

to sources and ideas

• Make money– Google

• Display ads

• Paid to share expertise

• Paid to show up to events

• Link to reputable companies

How journalists blog

• Not credible, but perceive they will have an impact

• Rarely link to outside content• Blog corral• Serve your reader more than your

employer

Cison survey

• 89% of reporters and editors use blogs for story research,

• 65% to social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn,

• and 52% to microblogging services such as Twitter.

PR Hire Must Do Social Media

• 80% social networking

• 77% blogging

• 72% microblogging

• 52% CMS– (iPressroom 09)

Blogging Policies

• Multiple social media policies based on position within company– Can, rather than can’t

• Provide context to your argument by including research or support that helps people understand your argument

• Identify any conflict of interest if you mention a company or product.

– http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php

What is the Blogosphere?

Blogosphere• Social network or public sphere

representing a community that exists in space

• Links = Quality Blog– Attribution– Link to one another to build social

capital– Outbound vs. within links

• Increase traffic

– Increase transparency– Increase diversity of viewpoints on

topics

Identify Online Influentials

• Find, Follow, and Listen

• Culture

• Helping, fun and/or engaging

What is a Blogroll?

Comments

• Build relationships

• Extend conversation

• Share links, ideas and resources

• Traffic driving

Comments

• Wordy

• How? Why?

• One paragraph

• Link to articles

• Names

• Too short

Content• Provide

recommendations• Include sharable visuals• Short posts

– 250 words– Break into block

paragraphs• Post once a day (M-F)

– Most often 2 – 3

• At least one link– Must be meaningful– Detail via links

• Never delete anything• Provide credentials• Purpose• React quickly• Check grammar• Biography including

email• Encourage comments

Writing Titles/Headlines

• Straightforward• Communicate a benefit• Keep it short• Use keywords

– Power words (easy, discover)

• Don’t use periods.• Full names

Elements of a Blog

• Post– Video, picture, url

• Blogroll– Collection of links

• Comments (allow)• Categories (Labels) vs. Tags• Archives

Copyright

• Use stock photos– U.S. Copyright Office bluntly says:

“Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.”

• Embed videos from news orgs. and YouTube• Link to content, not take content from other sites

• Creative Commons– http://mashable.com/2009/08/04/free-blog-media/

Blogs• Content Management System (CMS)• Blogger - owned by Google

– Easy to use and get started– Easy to embed multimedia– Blogger mobile (send photos and text to your blog)

• WordPress– Robust

• Resembles a Web site with pages

– Good comments spam filter– Customize CSS themes only if you pay

• Both free

What is RSS?

Get Known Now

• What is your area of expertise or passion?– Credibility of site is attached to the individual.

• Will you be able to build a relationship with your niche community?

• Will your information be useful?

Identify Fellow Bloggers• http://alltop.com/• http://listorious.com/• http://www.postrank.com/all_topics• http://technorati.com/• http://blogsearch.google.com/

• http://www.foodblogs.com/• http://edublogs.org/

Pick a theme

• http://beyondrandom.com/design/wordpress-design/29-free-wordpress-themes-that-kick-ass/

• http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2010/01/great-websites-dedicated-to-help-you-find-wordpress-themes.html

Next Class

• Facebook Fan Page – Online Media

• Learn how to set up a blog using free WordPress– Topic – Title and Tagline– Blogroll– Pick Theme

Class Questions

• 12 Broadcast

• 2 Digital

• 5 PR

• 2 Print