Angela Crocker

Write. Teach. Organize.

Why use iGoogle?

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When starting out in social networking, it’s important to listen to your online community and get a sense of what’s being said before you add to the conversation. I encourage everyone to gather a list of blogs that relate to their topic.

Some people still do this with the old school way with the “bookmark” feature in a web browser. This puts the onus on you to click to each site to see if anything’s new. You can waste a lot of time clicking on sites where nothing has changed while you hunt for new content.

Instead, it’s much more efficient to use an RSS reader. There are lots of options available but I find iGoogle to be one of the simplest and easiest to use. I also like that it’s web based so I can log into this reader from any computer or mobile device, not just my own desk.

You’ll use your hand picked list of blogs in several ways:

1) To observe what others in your field are saying online. You’ll get a sense of how they are communicating and how your shared target market is responding.

2) To assess what works and what doesn’t and then mimic the formats/frequency that suits your communication style and meets the needs of your community.

3) To increase your online visibility by commenting on other people’s posts. Every time you do this you have the opportunity to include a link back to your website which helps people find you and enhances your SEO (search engine optimization).

4) To fuel the “referenced” or “curated” content that you’ll share through social media. As I’ve said before, what you post on Twitter and Facebook shouldn’t be all about you and your company all the time.

5) Comments (#3) and sharing (#4) are also great ways to build relationships with the people behind the websites who are part of your community. They may be customers, prospects or peers .

All of this can be done much more efficiently with iGoogle or something equivalent. The time drain of social media is a huge concern for many people so I hope this strategy will allow you more time to do other things online.

One last thing … you’ll add blogs to your reader over time as you discover websites of interest. You may only find 3 or 4 a week and that’s fine. There may even be weeks where you add nothing new or delete some sites that are not longer of interest. It’s kind of like editing your perfect newspaper with only the sections you want.

I hope you’ll include my feed in your “must read” list. You’ll find the feed here.

Creating Original Content

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Success in social networking is all about content. You’ve got to consistently share information of interest to your community. What you share should be a blend of original content created by you and referenced or curated content created by others.

Photo Credit: Ch10 on Flickr
used under Creative Commons License.

Here are 9 ways you can create original content this week:

  1. Write about the product you worked on today. What will your customers love about it? What problem will it solve for them?
  2. Praise someone you work with – a colleague, a supplier, a support worker. Share who they are and why their contribution is so valuable.
  3. Share someplace interesting you’ve visited. It could be a retailer, a supplier, a restaurant or somewhere in nature. Tell your audience why you enjoyed it and include a photo if you can.
  4. Record a video. Show your product being made or your service in action.
  5. Take photos of people, places & things. Every photo has the potential to anchor a blog post or become a tweet.
  6. Write about related products that complement but don’t compete. For example, a dog food manufacturer might write about a line of dog toys.
  7. Remove the veil and share some little known facts about your organization.
  8. Create a contest. Include a “can’t be bought” experience related to what you do in the grand prize.
  9. Conduct interviews with executives, suppliers & customers. This can be done by email Q&A or as an audio or video recording.

Go create something right now.

Political Themes in My Facebook Feed

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Last week, you may have seen my post about how the federal political parties are using social media. Today, I’m thinking about three recurring themes amongst my Facebook friends. These are:

Get Out and VOTE

I whole heartedly support this sentiment. All Canadians need to get out and exercise their democratic right to vote. This is a privilege and we shouldn’t take it for granted. Although it was created for the 2008 American presidential election, this video is still pertinent and powerful:

Women Have Voting Power

Women haven’t always been able to vote and must never forget the suffrage moment of the 1910s when women like me – wives, mothers, aunts, daughters – sought equal opportunities at the polls. This is not an issue of a century past as I recently learned that women in Switzerland only gained the right to vote in 1971 and, of course, there are women who can’t vote in many countries even today. This compelling video really struck a chord for me:

 

 

And there’s Mom the Vote, a grassroots movement to engage mother’s in conversation about voting and to raise the issues most important to parents. If you’re a parent or if you support the concerns of parents, take a moment to like the Mom the Vote Facebook page now.

GLTB Vote

The allegedly homophobic comments of Prime Minister Stephen Harper sparked a firestorm of discussion in support of the Gay, Lesbian, Transexual and Bisexual community. For me, this Liz Feldman quote sums up the reaction beautifully:

So, now I’m curious:

  • What themes are popping up in your social newsfeeds?
  • What are people saying that will change your vote?
  • What issues are most important to your community?

Let me know and don’t forget to VOTE on Monday, May 2, 2011