Tag Archives: LinkedIn group discussions

Blogging, Journalism, LinkedIn

Does our Constitution protect bloggers? Should it?

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My journalism students studied social media last semester, and I introduced the course with a blog post asking the question: “What’s one difference between a blogger and a journalist?”

One way I promote my articles is to post them on relevant LinkedIn groups, and this article is still generating discussions four months later:

The article was posted to more than a dozen groups and there were interesting discussions on several, especially MEDIA JOBS and ONLINE REPORTERS AND EDITORS.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating conversations evolved on the Media Jobs group where 30 comments have been posted and nine centered around whether bloggers have the same rights as journalists, especially in the area of libel::


One commenter, James Craig, wrote that he learned a lot from the discussion. Did you?

What do you think?

  • What’s the role in government and law when we post online?
  • Are you a blogger AND a journalist? If so, what do you think of bloggers who don’t “know journalism” and what rights do they deserve?
  • If you are a blogger AND NOT a journalist, where do you stand on these issues?

 

 

 

Blogging, Guest Post, Journalism

Blogs as Catharsis & More: here’s how one journalist started his

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There’s nothing like commenting on someone’s blog post to get the ball rolling, i.e. building online relationships. As part of re-strategizing my own blogging, I am revisiting my first posts to republish those with content that’s as relevant today as it was when I first began.

One of those blog articles answered a student’s question “How Do I Build a Blog Audience.” After two years, I’ve learned enough to streamline those posts AND promote them in ways to get more readers and comments. I reposted commenting on other blogs — and then promoted it through social media.

On one LinkedIn  Group Discussion,  “laid off” journalist Ted Schnell shared his process of building blog readership via social media. Read all about it in his Guest Post —

Using social media sites to build a blog audience

Guest Post by Ted Schnell

I started my blog, Laid off at 51: Seeking joy in change two weeks after my notice. Initially, I promoted it by email blasts to friends, family and former colleagues. The first entry took on a life of its own, generating hundreds of page views in the first couple of weeks.

The three posts I wrote in the last two weeks of December garnered 869 page views, but my traffic dropped to 453 for all of January. I had been following Steve Buttry’s blog, The Buttry Diary which offered some very useful suggestions.

So I started promoting it on Twitter, then added Facebook and LinkedIn — now I use Hootsuite to set up all three at once, although I still send out the email blasts. I’ve seen four months of progressive growth in page views, hitting a high of more than 1,000 for the month of May.

My metrics have shown a shift — initially, most traffic came, unsurprisingly, from email accounts and, as the month of December wound toward an end, from Google. I think as far as Google was concerned, “Laid off at 51” was branded by mid-January.

By February and March, much of my traffic was coming from links via Twitter and from Google searches. Since adding Facebook and LinkedIn to my promotional effort, my metrics show a fluctuation between Facebook and LinkedIn as my top sources, although Twitter sometimes surges high as well. Google searches still draw traffic, but not as much as the early months.

In terms of measuring the success of my blog, I have no basis of comparison. I did not start it with the intent of making money off it, but to work through some of the issues I’ve faced as a middle-age guy who got the boot in an industry that is languishing. Besides the catharsis, I was hoping perhaps to use it to encourage others in similar straights. I hope the increasing readership reflects that.

In terms of comments, they have been few and far between, although the first post was an exception. Typically, if I comment on a blog — or for that matter, on a discussion board like this, I like to approach it with a well thought-out comment that either offers encouragement or adds to the discussion. I personally feel it serves no useful purpose to jump in with a snide remark or a comment that berates the author for expressing an opinion.

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Here’s the discussion where Ted and I connected:

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So here are some questions:

1 – Why do people blog, especially if there is no financial payoff?

2 – Do you have some advice for Ted to get more comments on http://tedschnell.blogspot.com/

3 – Do you have a comment strategy for other people’s articles?

 

Guest Post, LinkedIn, Sharisax Is Out There

8 Tips to Get Astounding Results from LinkedIn

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Social Media Marketing Mavens is one of my favorite LinkedIn groups because the discussion topics always seem to provide opportunities for me to learn new tactics, tools, and techniques for Social Media Marketing.

. . . just one more reason why LinkedIn is such a phenomenal place to “live” and learn. So when I read Victoria Ipri’s advice on helping LinkedIn members maximize their participation and increase their bottom lines, I knew I needed to share her suggestions with my readers.

Confident Copywriter Victoria Ipri “is the epitome of the type of professional you hope to connect with on LinkedIn and in all of your business dealings. She is generous, helpful, and a dynamic writer. She gives freely of her time and expertise and asks little in return.” — from her first LinkedIn recommendation

No Business from LinkedIn? Here’s What May Be Wrong

by Victoria Ipri

So you’ve been on LI for months and you haven’t gotten one shred of business…except maybe a few inquiries here and there that didn’t pan out; a couple nibbles from companies that were wrong for you; and those endless MLM offers you won’t even consider.

That leaves you wondering what all the fuss is about. Who are all these people who claim they have gotten new, profitable business on LinkedIn?

Bad news: It’s not LinkedIn. It’s you.

To drive business on LinkedIn, you need an action plan and a system, just like any other business strategy. You’re only going to get back what you put in. Without a plan, you’ll waste a lot of time being sociable, with no real business to show for it.

This is the biggest complaint I hear about social media marketing…it takes a lot of time and results never seem to materialize.

I agree, it is time-consuming. But when done correctly (which means planning SMM into your day, maximizing that time, and maintaining a narrow focus), the results can be astounding.

It’s kind of like cleaning your house. You start out enthusiastically enough. Two hours later, though, you haven’t moved from the bedroom. You end up sidetracked, going through closets and drawers and…“ooohhh! What’s this? My high school love letters!”

Before you know it, you’ve walked so far down Memory Lane you’ll need to catch the bus back to the corner of Main & Reality.

8 Steps to Optimizing Your LI Connections

1. See the future: How much new business can you comfortably handle? Be realistic. One new client a month is 12 for the year. Not bad.


2. Choose a target market and do not stray from this focus.


3. Join groups for those markets and actively participate in a meaningful way.


4. Educate yourself on effective LI search…there are ways to search and find specific information about specific people.


5. Stand out: Be active! Be proactive! Be visible! Get out there and get involved. Create a highly compelling profile; not a resume rehash.


6. Answer questions to highlight your subject expertise.


7. Accept connections and request connections. People want to connect with you!


8. Talk to people. I mean, really talk. Show an interest, look for ways to help each other…seeking connections isn’t only about having lots of connections!


Remember…this is social media marketing. You wouldn’t walk into your neighbor’s BBQ, announce your arrival, then sit in your neighbor’s favorite chair and start dominating the conversation, would you? The beauty of social media marketing is the opportunity to use natural, social strategies of communicating, connecting and collaborating to build your online visibility and attract the attention of companies you really want to work with.

What LI strategies have worked well for you?

Check out my article on Tweaking Your LinkedIn Profile for Maximum ROI