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Online Community Building as Natural Promotional Tool
Tips on how to better present your blog. This session focused on marketing your blog. The key is to use Online Community Building as a marketing and communications tool. A key focus really is to use social media, of which there are many available tools.
Featuring (detailed bios in the end)
Elisa Camahort Page
Angela Benton-Conyer
Jocelyn Harmon
Alexandra Rampy (aka Social Butterfly)
Rachel Rappaport
SESSION: LIVE BLOGGING BY LAURA of www.rebelliousthoughtsofawoman.com
Many here need to use promotional and marketing tools for advocacy and political organizations where you are marketing a cause—which is the product.
Q: FIVE ASPECTS OF MARKETING AND PROMOTION.
1. Targeting: know your audience
2. The Ask
3. Blogger relations
4. Right tools for right job
5. Measurement: how do you measure your success
1. TARGETING: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
How to figure out your audience?
Food blogger: has recipes and then talks about the recipes. Many of her readers are older and not familiar with blogging. Thousands of daily visitors and subscribers; makes it very easy for people to access from many access tools. Very general level of content.
DATA
Boomer and older people: blog (30-40%), read, comment, but do not blog themselves.
This is different than the younger generation.
GenY (younger group): blog (80%) or just read (20%).
Survey available at www.blogher.com under Press.
African American Bloggers:
Her blog is a tech blog, specifically African American interactive industry. Has many blogs for African-Americans, covering a gamut of interests. Information is presented differently depending on the audience the blog is geared to.
How do you know your audience? Google Analytics to see type of connection. Screen resolution as well. Small niche, so communicate with readers to really know them. On her more general blog, it is trial and error to figure out who is coming.
ANALYTICS: can’t tell you their screen resolution, browser, geography, computer using—all of this can help figure out who your readers are, especially on a tech savvy level.
Nielsen’s Site Census: blogher uses this to assess its readership.
If you can monetize your blog, even non-profits, do it. Survey your readers, see who they are: then you can charge more for your ads (after discerning who your readers are)
Survey your readers: can help optimize your blog and tailor it better to the readers you have.
But, be careful about asking for demographic information, and let people decline. Ranges are better than asking for specifics.
Site surveys: Many skip the own surveys, so a speaker suggests using Quantcast.
SURVEY SOFTWARE: Some suggestions: zoomerang, whitelabel, micropoll, survey monkey. Google survey tools for some free tools or are very inexpensive. Also, Google Forms can do this for free and correlates the data for you (“stupid, easy, lazy and free way to do it”)
For a non-profit blog: be careful about monetizing your blog, it might be taxable.
2. THE ASK
Social media can raise expectations regarding The Ask. People can be asked to DO stuff in the non-profit and advocacy world.
Three key marketing questions: WHO TO REACH, WHAT DO THEY NEED, HOW YOU CAN HELP
Direct mail and emails are still great tools.
Non-profits: really benefit from social media. But note, time is not free but tools relatively free to put in place.
Don’t have a “blast” mindset when using these tools. Don’t have an advertising mindset. They work best when you establish relationships.
Marketing Guru: SETH GOODIN: “Flipping the Funnel.” Key article by this marketing guru. Trying to motivate people who love you most, do not try to get the most “eyeballs.” Giving the fans megaphones! Don’t spray and pray. Engage people in your cause: ask them to sign a petition and send along, or put a widget on your site. Getting back to Tupperware party concept.
Companies getting smarter about contacting Bloggers, but still difficult for non-profits. Everyone needs effective blogger relations.
The PITCH: Aaron Rossel (sp?)—called for a 140-character twitter pitch.
Return on Invest is morphing to RETURN ON INFLUENCE. Set benchmarks depending on your organizations.
Benchmarks (i.e. credibility, authority, frequency of posting and comments), way to measure, tools used to measure. Key to have face to face contact. In DC there are many social media events. Do more things, such as being at Blogher conferences. NetSquare is an organization. Figure out your niche and find the right meet-ups, and ask people how they want to be reached, how you can work with people. Face to face, not just computer to computer.
Key networking question: How can you see us working together?
Never assume who is the powerful blogger. Never assume who has the influence online.
