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Blog posts tagged blogs
Our favourite things - An election special II
April 28, 2010
The low-down on the blogs, tweets, books, podcasts, videos, websites and events that are keeping us inspired, entertained and informed during the election.
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Watching
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Doing
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Enjoying
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Sponsor offer
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WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
What inspires, educates or informs you? Send your recommendations to us: editor@marketingdonut.co.uk
Seven FREE ways to auto-monitor your online reputation
February 22, 2010
The beauty of the internet is that almost everything in the public domain is searchable. This means that when it comes to tracking your online reputation, all you have to do is head over to Google and tap in your name.
The problem is, you’ll probably also want to search for your company name(s), product name(s), URL(s), and the names of any key personnel. What’s more, different search engines pick up different results, so you’ll need to perform multiple searches to avoid missing mentions. Suddenly, this simple task becomes a bit of a drag.
Here are seven free tools to simplify the task of monitoring your online mentions.
Search engine alerts
Track mentions of keywords in news, websites, blogs, videos and groups with Google Alerts. Set alerts to be sent by email either daily or ‘as-it-happens’ (meaning it hits your inbox as soon as it’s indexed by Google). Alternatively, you can create RSS feed to track from inside your favourite reader.
Bing offers much the same functionality, but for news only. Head to Bing News and select ‘News alerts’ from the bottom of the left hand column. For the same service from Yahoo!, visit Yahoo! Alerts and choose ‘Keyword News’ from the box on the right.
Blog tracking
Blogpulse indexes blogs and helps pick up mentions you might not have spotted via the standard search engines. Just search for your key term and then hit the XML icon at the top of the search results to create an RSS feed. You can also search for all posts linking to your site by choosing ‘URL’ in the search options.
Blogpulse won’t pick up everything, so again it’s a matter of combining this with your other tracking efforts. Try Icerocket, which also offers an RSS feed.
Social media monitoring tools
There a dozens of free tools out there for monitoring social media mentions. My favourite at the moment is Social Media Alerts from Social Mention. It searches through over 100 social media platforms such Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, Digg, Google and delivers daily results by email. Searches via the main site will also give you a sense of sentiment and reach, and tell you which users are driving the conversation.
If you want to monitor the number of click throughs on a link you have tweeted, use the Bit.ly shortener service and from their site you can view analytics for clicks of links within your tweets.
Have I missed any great free tools? Let me know.
The world just got smaller (again!)
July 02, 2009
When I tell people I blog, I use Twitter and actively work on growing my online network they usually respond in one of two ways. The first is that they launch into a conversation with me about the social media revolution we're experiencing - usually ending with useful URLs being swapped - and a post-conversation tweet or two. The second reaction, and one usually reserved for the - well let's just say more mature generation - is that of shock and fear of things world-wide-webish.
Before the boom of social media started in late 2005, people held a much more reserved approach to where and how their name, picture, and email could be used online. As time went on and online networks grew out of sight, people (en masse) became a lot more likely to share their details to others online.
Nowadays, to not have your foot in a major online network is madness – the effect it can have on your business is phenomenal.
If you want to get involved in at least one network, choose Twitter. Get yourself an account, link to your website, do some tweets and experience the benefits of what it can bring. Mark Shaw has recently recorded his Twitter for Business TV series, a collection of the best twitter tips - just perfect for those starting out. If you haven’t already seen them or read his blogs, you should.
I'd also highly recomend his free ebook which you can download directly from his blog.
6 Top Tips on Writing 'Top Tips'
June 04, 2009
Businesses are now increasingly turning to blogging as part of their online strategy and one of the most common types of blog posts you see around is the 'Top tips' advice post. They can be a great way of engaging audiences and demonstrating knowledge in your specific business field.
With the multitude of ’Top tips’ advice around online it was only a matter of time before a post appeared about tips on how to write tips. So without further ado here it is:
Do Your Research – It is important that each tip is well researched and well written. If a Google search on your chosen topic area comes up with some conflicting information you might not end up looking very knowledgeable!
Don’t Repeat The Same Thing – Sounds obvious but sometimes people tend to repeat themselves in these sorts of posts and end not adding much value. Make sure each tip gives something new to the reader.
Have Punchy Clear Titles – People’s attention span on the net is very limited. If you don’t get their attention quickly and engage them then they will be off somewhere else very quickly.
If Possible Use An Illustration – ‘A picture paints a thousand words’ they say and it is true. An illustration of some kind can help convey your point and engage people to your post.
Proof Read Your Post – It sounds obvious but make sure you proof read your post and make sure grammar/ spelling is correct. There is nothing more off-putting than reading a post with loads of mistakes in it. ALSO WRITING IN CAPS LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE SHOUTING!
Be Original – There are some many ‘Top tips’ blog posts and articles out there so make sure the subject area you are choosing is an original one. If you are choosing a common subject area try and come from a different perspective.
PR - not the same as it used to be
March 16, 2009
This is my first time writing for the Marketing Donut, and truth be told, I was more than a little anxious as I approached this task. It’s not that I’m a stranger to writing, after all I was a journalist for something like 10 years before PR got its hooks into me in 2001. No, it wasn’t that.
The thing that weighed on my mind was the suggestion that I should write about the new rules of engagement for PR in this brave new 2.0 world. That’s a bigger topic than it might at first seem and many people have expounded opinions on it.
This isn’t the time or place to go into an exploration of how PR works – or has worked traditionally – nor am I entirely comfortable with dividing PR into old and new, using Twitter, blogging and Facebook as the yardstick for such distinctions. But it serves a purpose as far as this exercise is concerned.
Perhaps the greatest point of difference between the old and the new in PR terms is the way in which you communicate your message. It is still the case that media relations forms a hugely important part of PR – identify the journalists you need to win over and then work on giving them the materials they need to produce stories that present you in a favourable light.
While this is still important there’s now a lot more to it all. Blogs and forums in particular have become avenues for dialogue with audiences, as well as platforms from which your critics can berate you in public. Your customers, partners, and competitors will talk to you and about you online and will swap ideas and anecdotes about you. If you’re savvy you’ll join in.
To the novice, this is daunting stuff. And I have it on good authority that it causes sleepless nights to the heads of marketing at some of the world’s biggest brands.
Turning all of this to your advantage is not as hard as it might seem. Use your own blog to interact with others, set up an online forum, use Twitter to see what topics are of interest to the people you want to influence, track your competitors’ social media presence and see what you can learn from it.
In fact, learning from others’ experiences is one of the greatest and most immediate benefits of getting on the social media train – after all there are so many people out there willing (nay, desperate) to share their opinions with you.
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