Is is said that “the Social Media Guys are a talented trio of experienced social media enthusiasts” – I think we are!

Graham, Nigel and Ant will be bringing their expertise together to provide social media insight at the North Hants Business Expo – At their FREE breakfast seminar.

This seminar is aimed at giving the audience direction on how to make the best use of social media for your business, both now and in the future.

Book in here

A newspaper does not come out only when the writers can think of something, or “every now and then”. Newspapers come out every day, or every week, even if the writers get stuck. The space gets filled no matter what. The reason behind that is psychological. If your favourite newspaper changed its publication schedule willy-nilly or changed its format – two pages today, 22 pages tomorrow – you would soon give up because of the lack of consistency. And so it is with blogs; if your blog does not come out on schedule you will lose readers. So too will you lose readers if you don’t write enough.

New analysis of web site traffic suggests that the best sites are publishing around 25 posts per day. That might be too much for you to manage, but blogging multiple times each day is now essential if you wish to gain high traffic levels. Yet, this sound difficult if you are only using blogging as a promotional tool. However, it can be done. Here are several strategies you can use.

1. Set up a production schedule
Instead of blogging when you feel like it, blog to a schedule. Consider how many posts you want to make – say 10 a week. Set up a schedule that works with your other commitments. Perhaps one blog every day of the week and then five on Sunday, perhaps. It doesn’t matter too much exactly what you do, but by setting a schedule with deadlines you are more likely to achieve the multiple posts you need.

2. Develop theme ideas for your blog
In your planning for your blog, divide your subject into several themes. For instance, my blog, has seven themes, one for every day of the week. Monday it is about running a business online, Tuesday is blogging, Saturday is Internet shopping and so on. By establishing themes for your blog, you will find it easier to write. For instance, on Tuesdays I know it is “blogging” day, so I have to think about writing about that subject, rather than waiting for inspiration to write on any subject.

3. Set up Google Alerts for your themes
Go to Google Alerts and set up daily reports for your themes. By setting up these alerts, Google will send you an email, together with appropriate links for any new web sites, news items, or blog entries on your particular theme. That way you get notified each day about new information that could stimulate your blog writing. All you then do is look at your theme for the day, then go to your inbox and pick out the Google alerts on that theme and then see what you can write about.

4. Personalise your Google Home Page
Set Google as your home page but use the “personalise” option to add all sorts of relevant news services to it. In this way your browser will always show up to date information, blogs and other useful resources on your desired subjects. Blogger Personalised Home also allows you to set up “tabs”; you could have one for each of your themes, providing you with even more resources to trigger your writing.

5. Allow others to contribute to your blog
No matter which blogging software you use, it is possible to allow other people to contribute to your blog. By giving a trusted partner access to your blog you can get them to add content, thus increasing the value of your blog. Give your contributors themes, deadlines and word counts to achieve. That way you are sure your blog will not get repetitive, plus it will contain valuable content, rather than a one-liner and a link.

6. Invite “guest bloggers” to take part
Have a look around using Google Blogsearch for bloggers writing on the same subject as you. Then, invite them to write a “guest” entry for your blog. Give them a deadline, a topic and a word count. Tell them that all they need to do is email the text to you and that you’ll post it on your blog within a day or two. Also, let them have a link to their own blog. You could also suggest you write a guest posting for their blog too, to help promote your blog.

7. Use articles from directories
Go to Ezine Articles and search for articles on your themes and topics. Copy the articles and add them to your blog, crediting the author. Contact the author and let them know you have done this – they may become a regular guest blogger or commenter for your blog.

8. Edit material from “private label” sites
Private label sites provide you with text you can use that you call your own. It’s like having a permanent “ghost writer” on your team. Private label sites, such as Infogoround or Private Label Monthly allow you to take articles written by other people and include them in your blog and put your own name to them. Although this sounds great, the problem is that thousands of other web site owners do the same. This means if you use the private label content as it is, your blog will not be unique and this will help you lose ranking in search engines. However, if you take the private label material, edit it and adapt it to make it unique, your blog will benefit. Often editing material is quicker than generating it from scratch, so private label sites like these do have a place.

9. Hire a ghost writer
Get someone else to write some of your blog entries. Go to Elance and post a project for someone to write blog entries for you. You will get offers from all sorts of writers and you will be able to select the best one for your particular needs. Prices vary according to what you want, but someone who writes around 150 words a day, every day of the week for you should cost around $175 a month.

10. Pre-write your blogs
TV soap operas have their storylines set up for many months in advance. Indeed, TV schedulers will now what is happening two to three years ahead, otherwise the programmes could not be commissioned and prepared. Their way of working could be your way of working too. Devise a “schedule” of your blogs for the coming three months, say. Then spend a couple of days just writing all the blog entries you will need for that time span. All you will need to do in the coming months is copy and paste each blog entry as and when it is needed – you could even pay a junior assistant to do that for you.

So, as you can see there are several ways you can dramatically increase your blogging output. Follow these ideas and the content of your blog will rise dramatically and that will, in turn, have a significant impact on your traffic.

Book Now – Visit the booking page here

Social Media has come a long way in the last 2 years and Interactive Marketing is no longer revolutionary, it’s crucial. In 2011 those companies not doing Social Media, will see a decline in sales, whilst those embracing it will see an increase in sales.

This one day conference offers you an insight and understanding of social media and brings together some of the best experts from across the Thames Valley, consisting of keynote speakers, interactive workshop sessions and invaluable panel discussions is the starting point.

We will get right to point of video, mobile apps, blogging and give delegates a way to learn, engage, debate and understand facebook, Linked-in and Twitter, specifically for the SME marketplace

The price includes refreshments and lunch and book before 31st January and save £50.00 just £99.00. Thereafter it is £149.00 so book early to avoid disappointment as spaces will fill up fast.

Book Now – Visit the booking page here

Here is the new look website for The Social Media Guys.

What do you think?

It follows the tweet earlier today from someone posting out a link to my blog post Schedule and Automate Social Media from back in September 2010 that seemed to get loads of comments.

Getting a balance in your work / social media life is key to success in both. On the one hand, if you spend all day in social media (easily done), you get no work done. The other, if you spend no time in social media, it becomes ineffective.

But one twitter account that I look at recently shocked me a little. Let me ask you a question : Is 35,000 tweets in 500 days too much?

That is averaging 70 tweets a day, everyday. How much automation has gone into that? Well looking at it there is a lot or repetition, granted a lot of interaction, but is 70 tweets in a day just noise?

Are any followers interested in someone that much?

It is almost verging on the celebrity. But actually… even @WOSSY has only 12.5k tweets in 700 days – that’s an average of 17 in a day; a lot less.

I guess my plea’s for those that I follow and those that I advise in social media marketing are:

• Don’t do it for just numbers sake
• Tweet relevant content
• Minimise or bin out the repetitive auto tweets
• Do not treat social media as your only marketing tool
• Build relationships first
• Sell last!

What are your thoughts?