Tag Archives: Digg

“Write your own blog post everyday, but spend twice as much time reading other people’s blogs — and comment”

We had Sleepy Blogger, aka Robyn Tippins, come to PR class at San Francisco State, Tuesday, May 12, on the second last day of our exciting adventure into the World of All Things Social Media.

In addition to being a very popular and influential blogger and mother of four children, Robyn is Community Manager for Yahoo Developer Network. I read about her in a chapter of What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging by Ted Demopoulos.

Since she lives in the Bay Area AND a student group planned to tell the class about blogging, Sara Peterson (student in the group) and I Tweeted and Emailed. It worked for Jack Dorsey — and it worked for Robyn Tippins.

WOW, did it work!

The students loved her “down home” story — at 21, Robyn started a cloth diaper business from her home in Georgia, and the rest is history for another post. But what impressed Sara and so many of the students is how Robyn decided to make things happen, and she made them happen!

Here are some of the comments students wrote after her presentation:

“It was cool to learn how Robyn created a business on the Internet at such a young age, and now she works for Yahoo.” — Stephanie Mereau

* *

“Once you get out there, people start to refer to you and this is how you become influential.” — Mita Mahida

* *

“No job is Too Small!” — Alice Ng

* *

“It’s important for your blog to create a niche so that the right people can read the right blogs and leave the right comments for the benefit of the overall conversation.” — Stephen Giusti

* *

“Word of mouth has a lot to do with success in the blogging world as it is for business in general.” — Rafael Silla

* *

“Paid advertising on your blog can hurt you rather than help you because of all the clutter and distraction.” — Ann Marie Pawlicki

* *

“Research is essential — it makes you credible and relevant.” — Marie Belhomme

* *

“Key words and meta tags make it easier to find your blog.” — Gabriela Acevedo

* *

“Spend more time visiting other blog than writing your own.” — Theresa Rix

* *

“Moderate comments: know what your strategy will be.” — Brian McGuinn

* *

“Get your ideas out there and personalize some of your posts to keep yourself real.” — Orly Macabi

* *

“All in all: One of those classes that makes it all worthwhile.” — Shari Weiss

What works for your blog?

Next post: Personal Branding using Social Media

If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a comment or sharing it with your followers on Twitter! You can also subscribe by email for more cool interviews and articles from Sharisax is Out There.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Sharisax Is Out There

Wise up on social media: recommended reading

May 11, 2009 Shari Weiss 1 Comment

To Be or Not to Be . . . ahead of the social media curve

Sharing is the Name of the Game

. . . that’s a Big Reason why “we” blog AND why books get written and read.

Several people recently have asked What I’m reading, and I have to smile . . . laugh, in fact.

The answer is EVERYTHING! Everything I can find to help me “catch up.”

Sometimes it is hard to realize that MOST OF THE WORLD is still in the dark about the power and value of Social Media – especially when I see online, in traditional media, and from the speakers we’ve brought to class that there are so many Experts out there.

Answers:

#1: I check Twitter for blog and article suggestions, and I read them and copy for future reference. In fact, I plan to review some of the best ones for future posts.

#2: Every day my email box is filled with articles from the blogs I’ve subscribed to — as well as group discussions — and I read as many of them as I can.

#3: I go to my local library and look at all the books cataloged 006.7. To name a few of the memorable ones I’ve read: The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging, Blogging for Dummies, Corporate Blogging by John Cass, and What No One Ever Tells you about Blogging and Podcasting edited by Ted Demopoulos.

#4: Open books around me now that I’m taking turns with: (a) Putting the Public Back in Public Relations by Brian Solis, (b) Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, (c) The Google Story by David Vise, (d) WordPress for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson, and (e) Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff.

All of that is why I’ve been getting up at 5 a.m. and some of my SM friends/colleagues are getting up even earlier.

NOTE TO STUDENTS: We’re not even being tested on this . . . or are we?

[Update from Sept: I’ve finished Brian’s book PPBPR and have reviewed it in this blog AND on a Squidoo lens.

Read about Making News in the Digital Era and Twitterville.]

Next post: Blogging as a New World Path

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Sharisax Is Out There

Social Media Strategies Work in Everyday Life, too

May 10, 2009 Shari Weiss 7 Comments

Writer’s Block? Rather, so many things to say —

How do you pick one post for the day?

This reminds me of one of the greatest pieces of advice I have ever received . . . decades ago, and I am still often sharing it with stressed-out students and friends:

Whenever Life bombards you with more challenges than a human being should have to handle, you pick ONE to focus on, and all the rest will magically and mysteriously fall into place.

Eeeeny meeny miny mo. I picked this topic:

Do’s and Don’ts I learned through my social media “research” this week:

DO’S

1. LISTEN very, very, very carefully. You never will learn if you don’t. And you will learn so much more than you ever thought if you do.

2. ENGAGE with an open mind. If you are going “out there” — whether on the Web, in the classroom, at a meeting, or in a gym — expect to give and take, which means you may actually change your mind about something.

3. THINK things through. Knee Jerk reactions are for “jerks” — be deliberate and responsible and know that if someone is really listening to you, he or she will appreciate words that are carefully considered.

4. SINCERITY can never be overrated. Genuine passion wins friends and influences all sorts of people.

5. LOVE what you do and do what you love, and as my mom always said: “The money will come” =D

DON’TS

1. This one is easier than I thought it would be: Do NOT do unto others as you would not have them do unto you.

PS Now I’m thinking of dozens and dozens more DO’s [and maybe a few DON’TS] but I’d rather share the stage: What social media strategies work in your day-to-day lives?

Next post: Social Media Reading List

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Twitter

Facebook is a Waste of Time

May 3, 2009 Shari Weiss 10 Comments

. . . and Twitter is for Dummies, and Friendfeed, well, that’s way over the top!

Just how is one supposed to counter . . . and even live with . . . people who just don’t “get it” i.e., that the world has changed dramatically?

“Everything never changes. Something has changed and it impacts everything else.” [Quoting John Naisbitt in Robert Scoble’s Naked Conversation]

SOCIAL MEDIA impacts everything . . . now and in our future. So back to my original question, What do we say to anyone — particularly from my BabyBoomer generation and older? How do we share our enormous excitement about the possibilities for the world, for our friends and family, and for ourselves as individuals?

Personally, I believe I have a distinct advantage when it comes to answering the question, mainly because just three months ago, I was telling a friend that his use of Facebook three hours a day was a huge waste of his life.

What has happened to me?

First off, I have remembered that Open Minded-ness is key to Critical Thinking and as such I needed to check out the BUZZ before categorically dismissing a phenomenon that has captured the attention of millions in one way or another: MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, YouTube, and countless numbers of blogs.

What helped me most was Twitter, which surprisingly still is a mystery to so many people I talk with — but, of course, not to the vast majority of people who will read this blog post.

I’m not a cellphone texter, so that particular use of Twitter didn’t seem relevant. Initially I wondered if this great new technology could be molded into a teaching tool, i.e., to force my students to write something of substance in only 140 characters. The essence of good writing is clarity and conciseness.

Playing with Twitter

While I liked developing that “writing with Twitter” idea, however, I began playing with Twitter, i.e., following people, reading their updates, posting some of my own — especially “retweeting,” re-posting a particularly good update. Most of all, though, I was reading on a daily basis just what all this social media was about and the great benefits it has to offer.

And now I’m hooked.

In a nutshell, social media is allowing us all to share our research and our thoughts and, yes, our products/services with a community of like-minded individuals whose lives can be enriched by being connected to us through the Internet.

Like most knowledge, the more you learn, the more you realize there is so much more “out there” and that’s the primary reason for this blog — to help me learn more and to answer the question, “Why Social Media is NOT a waste of our time.”

Please let me know about any conversations you’ve had when people have told you that blogging, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are all “a waste of time.”

Next post: Facebook for Business

Sharisax Is Out There

When Communication Adds Up to a Big Fat Zero

April 27, 2009 Shari Weiss 16 Comments

All the latest and greatest tools mean nothing — if you aren’t listening

I read several great blogs today — and would still be reading — if I didn’t want to share my own understanding of one important topic:

Effective social media marketing — aka REAL CONVERSATION — cannot happen without someone to LISTEN.

Let’s get personal for a moment.

Stop and think about the last time you thought you were having a conversation with a friend or significant other . . . and words later, the other person said something that clearly showed you she wasn’t really listening – no how, no way.

Frustrating, maddening, really.

Want to listen?
Stop Talking . . . both aloud

. . . and in your head

So now step ahead to someone in a business setting who says he or she wants to be of service, and you say, “Great, here’s what I want” and then that person just keeps on talking — and keeps on ignoring you.

Frustrating, maddening, really.

Businesses today want employees with Great Communication Skills. But many times they don’t even consider Listening to be one of the most important communication skills. Too bad. Without these critical skills, “the best laid plans of mice and men . . .” are all for naught.

In my Business Communication class, we actually have a few lessons on Active Listening. In addition to a great videotape where participants engage in activities like (a) continuing dialogues with the last words spoken and (b) carrying on conversations without using the word I, we discuss some important tips for becoming an Active Listener.

Some of these include the following:

1. STOP TALKING: Forget about what you want to get across and focus on the person speaking to you.

2. KEEP AN OPEN MIND: One sign of a critical thinker is being able to remain objective so that you neither hear what you want to hear nor dismiss the remarks of someone because you don’t like him.

3. LISTEN BETWEEN THE LINES: I love this one. As a former reporter, I got used to hearing propaganda; you really need to dig deep sometimes. Additionally, in our global society, the words of one culture may have different meanings than we are used to.

4. HOLD YOUR FIRE: This is a particular problem in a classroom where some people are always feeling the need to take the stage. You can’t listen to someone else when you are preparing your next lines.

5. PROVIDE FEEDBACK: This is KEY in business communication. It shows your degree of understanding of a problem or situation. This is the stimulus for the back-and-forth conversations that build relationships and communities.

So your job now is to Provide Some Feedback.

I know I’ve left out dozens of other Good Listening Tips. Have at me. I’m listening.

Next post: Robert Scoble discusses social media tools with SFSU students

Archive, Blogging, Facebook, Sharisax Is Out There, Twitter

Follow Me Along Revolutionary Road

April 23, 2009 Shari Weiss

To: My friends in the Blogosphere

From: Shari Weiss @sharisax on Twitter

Date: Thursday Sharisax is Out There , April 23, 2009

Re: My First Ten Things Memo Blog Post

FOLLOW ME . . . ALONG REVOLUTIONARY ROAD: Ten of the 1000’s of things I’ve learned in two months studying the Social Media Revolution/Evolution

How does one tell a story from the middle of a raging river [i.e., in medias res]? You just jump in the boat, I suspect, and start paddling.

As a journalist for more than thirty years and a marketing instructor for more than a decade, I’ve had a variety of valuable experiences learning to write, to sell, and to teach. But nothing has so excited and energized me as what is happening TODAY in what I refer to as the Social Media Revolution/Evolution.

The following is merely a place to start:

1. Social Media: After two months of talking about this social media phenomenon in my classes, one student was brave enough to ask, “So what is this thing, Social Media, that we’ve been spending so much time discussing?” Of course, anyone can go look up the phrase on Wikipedia and learn the consumer-generated definitions that are shaping how many of us are understanding the world.

My simplistic, starting-place answer is to take the word “media,” i.e., the vehicles we use to send a message from a sender to a receiver AND combine it with “social,” i.e., the environment in which people are living and working together. This is a New phrase/label, so what I believe we are talking about includes the New Methods being used and developed to have enhanced conversations with one another via enhanced technology, most specifically the Internet. Examples would include Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, StumbledUpon, Flickr, Yelp, and a whole host of others. Check out Brian Solis’ Conversation Prism: http://www.briansolis.com/2008/08/introducing-conversation-prism.html

2. Web 2.0 vs. Web 1.0: The term Web 2.0 was coined to describe all those extensions and further uses we have found for our technological connections via our computers. Where Web 1.0 allowed us to search for information and begin communicating via email, Web 2.0 has become a platform for community building and business growth. Web 2.0 marks the start of Social Media. So what will Web 3.0 look like?

3. Blogging: According to recent statistics, Technorati [Internet search engine for blogs], tracks 133 million blogs, and more are being produced each second – just as I’m doing here. Blogging has flattened the communication landscape. No longer do a few publishers, editors, and journalists control the flow of information to the public. Any one with an Internet connection can post his or her thoughts, opinions, and activities “out there” for everyone to read and comment upon.

4. Bloggers: Bloggers are the new influencers . . . or they can be. Many online writers simply post diary narratives on the Web for a host of reasons, which likely include the human need to be acknowledged. But hundreds, if not thousands, of bloggers are posting online content that gets read and spread – and what they say matters. Business organizations, both profit and nonprofit, have recognized the power of bloggers to market messages about products and services.

5. Micro-blogging and Twitter: Twitter has changed my life. Two months ago, a business acquaintance asked me to follow him on Twitter. Initially I didn’t get it. What did I care about what someone had for breakfast or what the traffic was like on the freeway. Then I discovered that “there are no rules” and that Twitter can be a host of different experiences, depending on how one chooses to use the technology.

During my first fumblings, I decided to use Twitter as a platform for my English students to send me substantive messages in only 140 characters – to teach lessons of clarity and conciseness. I was soon pleased to see a link to 100 Tips, Apps, and Resources for Teachers on Twitter: http://onlinecollegedegree.org/2009/03/19/100-tips-apps-and-resources-for-teachers-on-twitter/

Where did I find that link? On Twitter, of course, after I learned to use Twitter in a way that works well for me: I follow “Tweeple” [i.e. people with Twitter accounts] who are interested in topics of interest to me, e.g., future of marketing, future of PR, future of journalism, future of advertising, etc. My husband now calls me Tweetie Bird, since I’m so often online reading the blogs that offer more indepth facts, observations, and opinions on these subjects and more.

6. The New Rules of Marketing: It was on Twitter, of course, that I first learned of David Meerman Scott’s book The New Rules of Marketing & PR. As a marketing lecturer at San Francisco State University, I have felt compelled to address, acknowledge, and learn about Why? there need to be New Rules and Why? The Old Ones do not work any more.

One quote from DMS’s book: “Marketers must shift their thinking from the short head of mainstream marketing to the masses to a strategy targeting vast numbers of underserved audiences via the Web.” Brian Solis and Deidre Breakenridge expand on this in their recent book Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: “PR has begun to look less like a typical broadcast machine and more like a living, breathing entity capable of also participating in conversations with publics.”

7. The Future of Advertising: The death knell for newspapers has been sounded; young people don’t read them, and advertisers are pulling away. And that is only one medium suffering. Selling radio spots is not getting easier although radio listenership may be expanding because of Internet and satellite radio. The biggest changes are likely to be on Network TV. There is no longer a need for “mass marketing” on a “mass medium.” Large advertisers like Pepsi have admitted to misspending hundreds of millions of marketing dollars, and that probably indicates too much expense for TV commercials that are zapped via channel changing or TIVO fast-forwarding. Traditional forms of advertising will still be necessary to reach the large numbers of people who aren’t yet online [or not online very often], but figuring out how to successfully advertise online is where future strategies must be aimed.

8. Reverse-Engineering: This is a fascinating process to contemplate. Think about your goal and work backwards to make it happen. I’m reminded of the Silicon Valley slogan of the ‘90s: “You imagine it and we will build it.” I read a recent post by noted blogger Seth Godin whose paragraph for the day was titled “Imminent” and he began with this quote: “The one thing that will allow your business to get funded, or to get a business to business buyer to buy from you or a college to admit you is the sense that your success is imminent.” This is my understanding of the theory of “intention” in which you focus on the result you want – and it will come about.

9. Creativity: Amidst sea tides of change, the need for creative thinking remains constant. That requires recognizing that new ideas are healthy and need to be encouraged and embraced, not feared and dismissed. What has worked in the past can be twisted and turned and looked at in new ways, while brainstormers stay open to totally different thoughts that emerge and can provide exciting new solutions. Picasso said, “I am always doing that which I do not know how to do in order to learn how to do it.”

10. We do not go out to find ourselves; rather, we go out creating ourselves: Why am I starting this blog? Let me count the ways. First of all, I have learned so much in the last few months that I am compelled to share that knowledge and hear what others have to say. Second, I believe in the power of the individual to make significant contributions to the betterment of society. And third, as I’ve told some of my students and my new blogging buddies, my “intention” is to join the A-list bloggers.

Next post: Future of marketing

Sharisax Is Out There

Tag Archives: Digg

Blogging is New World Pathway

“Write your own blog post everyday, but spend twice as much time reading other people’s blogs — and comment”

WOW, did it work!

Facebook is a Waste of Time

What has happened to me?

Playing with Twitter

In a nutshell, social media is allowing us all to share our research and our thoughts and, yes, our products/services with a community of like-minded individuals whose lives can be enriched by being connected to us through the Internet.

Going BEYOND the Social Media Revolution