Are you still dragging your heals on getting into the Social Media world?  Have you started a Blog yet?

As you know I have been on this blogging kick of late.  No, I have not made my goal of blogging every day, but I have definitely written more than I ever have.  Today, I write this blog because I had a really awesome experience that I wanted to share.

One of our clients called me today to tell me what a great job he thought I was doing on blogging.  He said that he felt that they really hit the point for someone struggling or just getting started.  He said he didn't comment on them because he felt there was nothing to add and that instead he wanted to call and tell me this. He said "Kim, I know many people read your blog and I too read everyone, I just wanted to let you know that I think they are great and that although I don't comment on them, know that I really liked them."  He said that he was in the "silent majority" of people who often read blogs and really feel impacted but that don't leave a comment.

I did explain to him that once his blog is up that he will indeed want to leave the "Silent Majority" and start leaving comments on the blogs he reads and feels impacted by, as this leaves inbound links back to his site. He was way excited about this new discovery that I am sure he will be leaving his comments behind from now on.

I just want to "Thank Joe" for sharing his thoughts with me.  You really made my day.  Like I said, most people will probably not receive a call thanking them for their posts, but I am sure you will receive an email or a comment left by someone that let's you know that you are indeed doing a great job!

So, what is the take away from this...BLOG! BLOG! BLOG!  People are waiting to hear what you have to say. For the skeptics out there, here is quote from one of my favorite authors (Avinash Kaushik) who says, "If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do succeed.”  Because if you never suck at something, then how do you ever improve it?

Has anyone else had any really cool kudos they want to share?  I would love to hear them.

Blogging, why is this such a scary concept to a lot of people? If you can write an email, you can blog! Remember that Life Cereal Commercial, where the two boys don't want to try the cereal, so they get Mikey to try it? That was one of my favorite commercials growing up. It was catchy and you remembered it. Just in case you are too young to remember the commercial, I have included it in this post. Mikey wasn't afraid to try the cereal because it was good for him and you shouldn't be afraid to try blogging, because it is REALLY good for you. Blogging is one of the greatest ways to increase your search results by Google. When you blog, because you are talking about a specific topic, you tend to use all the keywords you need to have google index your site for relevance. Most times your blog will be found before your website will be. The reason is because the content on a blog is always changing. By people commenting on your blog causes the content to change. Commenting on blogs you read that provide you with remarkable content is another way to increase traffic to your site. By commenting on a blog you leave behind, your name, email, an the option to enter a web address. Don't pass up this free opportunity to link back to your site. So, how do you get started Blogging?

• Find a blogging platform. Wordpress.org is a self hosted solution that many bloggers use and are very happy with. Wordpress has zillions of templates to choose from so you could be up and running in minutes. It also has a CMS built in so you can actually create pages. We call this a Blog First website.
• Go out and find other blogs that you find interesting and start subscribing to their feeds through RSS. As you comment on other blogs and your leave behind remarkable content, you build a reputation of being a "Thought Leader".
• START BLOGGING and COMMENTING.
• Submit your RSS feed to Technorati. Technorati is also a great blogging repository that indexes tons of different blogs. Go search and find some to subscribe too.
• It is recommended that you try to blog at least 3 times a week. Do what you can, once you get into it, it will become habit.
• Don't make your blog posts too long. Try to do about 400 words. Blogs that are too lengthly can lose the reader and they will abandon your post. Or break it up into multi blog posts over time.

I hope this helps those that haven't quite bought into the whole Blogging thing. Please let me know if you have questions or if you want to leave some of your wisdom for others to read. Enjoy this video (thanks panbiscuit for sharing)

Are you a Digital Native or Immigrant?

Digital Native according to Wikipedia is a person for whom digital technologies already existed when they were born, and hence has grown up with digital technology such as computers, the Internet, mobile phones and MP3s.  This can refer to people born from the late 1970s and beyond, as the Digital Age did begin at this time, but generally, the term focuses on those who grew up with 21st Century technology.

Digital Immigrant is a person who grew up before the digital age and is fairly new to the internet. Basically anyone over the age of 28.

I was born in the late 60's, and although I am technically a Digital Immigrant, I am a wanna be Digital Native ONLY because I can't live without my technology.  I grew up with manual typewriters, no cell phones, and no computers.  I don't think I was introduced to a computer until my Junior Year in High School (DOS prompts, oh yuck!).  I got my first cell phone when I was 25 years old, only because my boyfriend, now my husband..Smart guy, thought I needed one.  Now, I have 2 computers, 1 cell phone and all that I do is online.  I can't imagine my life without technology.  I moved into the age of technology willingly. I think about my kids 20, 17, and 7 who have never known anything else but computers, cell phones, and MP3 players.  The only place they will know that typewriters existed is in antique shops and history books, until they replace all that info with computers.  

In today's technology if you are not on a computer or cell phone, I think you are alienating yourself from the world.  There will come a time when the only way you can manage life is with technology.  

I have both types of clients.  Ones that embrace technology and then those who think they can't do it.  I say to those who think they can't or don't want to do it, you will want to get over that and start practicing now. If you are a business owner and are not embracing technology, you are missing out on Inbound Marketing and getting to your customers.

• What do you consider yourself, Native or Immigrant?
• If you are an Immigrant, what do you remember about coming into technology?
• If you are a native and have a burning question about what the "Old Days" were like, ask away?

Super Bowl XLIV brought Tweeters from all over to talk about the Super Bowl ads that were aired.

Mullen, and Radian6, a leader in social media measurement, created BrandBowl2010, a Twitter/Super Bowl experience that combined tweeting, ad reviews and a host of metrics to let viewers generate and view real time ratings of the TV commercials that ran on the big game.

It was determined that there were a total of 98,656 Tweets collected at BrandBowl2010.

This is a perfect example of being part of the conversation and listening to what consumers are saying about your Brand.  I wonder if any of the companies actually were on this Tweetfest last night?  The feedback on all ads had positive and negative results.  

It was amazing to see the amount of tweets.. At times there were over a 1000 updates as once.  It was hard to keep up with them all, but the experience was a great one.

In light of Inbound Marketing being such a great focus right now, last night we experienced OutBound Marketing at its fullest.  How many of us watch the Super Bowl for the Ads?  I am guilty of this since I am not a huge Football fan.  Why do we watch the Commercials if we are so about Inbound Marketing?  For me, knowing what I know about Outbound and Inbound Marketing I do it just to see who spends the most.  Budweiser, from the amount of commercials I think spent the most.  My question is Why?

Pepsi decided this year not to use their money on commercials, instead they decided to use their money on Social Media by starting the Pepsi Refresh Project where they are looking for people, businesses, and non-profits with ideas that will have a positive impact. They have hundreds of people fighting for their cause.  What an impact this is having.

What are your thoughts on the Super Bowl Ads?  Did it persuade you to go out and act on any of the ads?

Better yet, are you going to continue using your marketing dollars on Outbound Marketing or are you going to give Inbound Marketing a try?

When a company doesn't take advantage of Inbound Marketing and Blogging, I just want to scream.  I think I would be rich if I got paid a $1 for every time I heard "I am working on it".  Really, how long does it take?

What is your goal for your Twitter account?  Do you follow everyone that follows you?

Blogging... can be an unwanted task, although we have been conditioned to blog, it can seem a bit overwhelming and tiresome at times.  After all, in order to make an impact in the blogging world, you have to blog at least once a day if not more.

In my last post, I was concerned about restating what was already said.  Not have anything new or valuable to offer to the readers.  How does one get "That Lovin Feelin" back into their blog?

10 things to get that lovin feelin back:

• Take a new approach to writing - tell a story, be a commentator
• Be humorous, if you laugh most likely others will too
• Tell the story like you are talking to a friend
• Write about things that you would like to know
• Get someone to post on your blog as a guest
• Do an interview with someone who has no idea about the topic (kinda like Leno's "Jay Walking" segment)
• Take a poll and write a blog on the results
• Take the first 5 blogs you read and make snippets and comment about them on your blog.
• Make your blog about others that are doing well or that you feel are up and coming.  Nothing like giving kudos to someone who isn't expecting it.
• BE YOURSELF!  FIND YOUR VOICE! AMPLIFY IT!

This is my new approach this year.  I hope to entertain, educate and have fun blogging.  If I do, then I  am sure I will be blogging for a long while to come.

I would love to hear how you keep the "Lovin Feelin" in your blogs.

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How many of you reading this blog post actually write your own blog?  How many of you only comment on other blogs?  How many of you are really Awesome and both write your own blog and comment on other blogs?

In my effort to help those new at Social Media or who are still trying to get their footing, I am posting just some tips on a couple of tools that I think Rock!

Ever wonder what to use to track ALL the Social Media channels out there?  When I first started with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Blogging, I really was overwhelmed by having to log into each of them as I needed to post something.  It was very time consuming to log in to each system, copy & paste, each post. Sometimes you had to shorten or lengthen the post because there are different character limits for all the channels.

When Facebook came out with the ability to link to LinkedIn and Twitter by putting in a hashtag, I was way excited!  I used that for a short while and then I found HootSuite.  Hootsuite allows you to track Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and your WordPress, in one location.  You can also add to the mix any clients you are also monitoring.  You could literally be tracking a 100+ Social Media channels.  There is even a little owl that will pop up if you have been inactive for awhile that says "Wake Up".

The next tool I like to use is Klout.  It is not a monitoring tool like HootSuite, but rather a tracking tool.  It gives you an idea of your Reach, Demand, Engagement, Velocity and Activity for Twitter.  I use this to guage how active I have been on Twitter.  You can tell when you have contributed because every 48 hours you can update your score.  Klout also shows what people you may be influenced by and who may be influenced by you.  Really cool when you see that others may be influenced by you.

Best part about these tools, they are FREE!

I am sure there are a ton of tools that people use.  It is all about feeling comfortable with them.  If you have an awesome tool that you would like to share, I would love to know about it.  I am always looking for ways to simplify things.