Enlightenment is defined as education that results in understanding and the spread of knowledge. In Buddhism, enlightenment (orthodoxy Bodhi in Sanskrit) refers to a unique experience which wholly transforms the individual from their previous state in samsara.
Let’s now look at the term bloglightenment, whichI define in this way – using your blog to enrich understanding and the spread of knowledge about your expertise, your book, your product or your market.
What it doesn’t mean is using your blog as a one way marketing conversation. I think it’s incredibly important to start defining why we’re all using the social media tools we’re using and how WE truly want to use them.
As the hype for social media usage continues to rise, so does the misuse and misapplication of these tools.
I believe you should blog the change you want to see in the world. This is the harder path to take, but ultimately it’s the more valuable one to your community and to the world.
This is not as hard as you might think it is. What bloglightenment requires is your commitment to blogging with the full intention of sharing your insight freely and openly so others can benefit from it.
Stop thinking of your blog as strictly a marketing or lead generation tool. Start using your blog to affect change in the way people relate, do business together and lift one another up.
Having been on the Web since 1996, this is the most exciting time I’ve seen because of all these tools and the very real power they bring to communicating truly on a worldwide scale.
Don’t waste one more day of your blogging content on insignificant or bait and switch marketing information. Don’t waste your community’s time by snarky blog posts. Elevate your writing and you will elevate the lives of all those who read your blog.
Take a look at your blog today and see how you can apply blog-ightenment to the content mix. Make your blog personal, meaningful and actionable.
Here are some great examples for you to look at: (Note, some include past or current client blogs that I think are extraordinary!)
Let these bloggers inspire you to bloglightenment! I can’t wait to read your insight!
Promote Your Book With Social Media
Teleclass :: September 28, 2010
Teleclass Guest: Nettie Hartsock, The Hartsock Agency
As an author, you know you could be using social media to promote your book. But which tools do you use? How often do you use them? What exactly is the best way to get noticed? Join us as we chat with PR strategist Nettie Hartsock about using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogging to attract media attention.
Register now! The first 10 people to register will receive a free hard copy edition of Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman.
Format
1-hour teleclass
Sep 28, 2010 :: 1 – 2pm ET
Price
FREE
Yep, it’s Latin. I’ll tell you at the end what it means, but here’s a clue: If you can’t wait for me to tell you and you’re already busy Googling the words, then you’re definitely not following the phrase’s direction!
So wait till the end and I’ll let you know.
I’m listening this morning to K.C. and the Sunshine Band on my iTunes and I just finished walking a mile around our neighborhood. In the mornings, where I live, there are deer, snakes, frogs and rabbits meandering about. Often when I go out in my front yard I see the same sleeping beautiful doe with two brand new baby deer sleeping beside her.
At about the same time, my over- abundantly gorgeous pug Willie starts barking and wakes up the poor doe as we make our way out the door.
She wakes up her babies and off they run.
I don’t think about email, blogging, tweeting, or linked-ing-ing while I’m walking. I think about BEING. I think about how more of us need to think about BEING, and less about DOING.
While all these tools in social media: blogging, tweeting, facebooking give us incredible new ways to communicate, it doesn’t mean we have to DO it all the time. Spending too much time on social media or doing TOO much on social media does not guarantee that you’ll have that time returned to you in dollars, customers, or new speaking gigs.
Don’t be caught in the hype cycle of these tools and give up your BEING to them.
Use your time efficiently – don’t panic, don’t sweat it if you aren’t able to blog more than twice a week and for gosh sakes stop comparing Ashton Kutcher’s number of followers to yours.
Just BE.
Find the best narrative for your social media content and tell your story one post, one tweet and one facebook update at a time. Don’t overload folks with inane chatter just to show you’re on the platforms. Don’t let social media folks talk you into spreading yourself too thin over all these channels so that all you really have is watered down messaging and communities that are fragmented over the different tools.
You can make the same strides without the frenzy and you’ll enjoy it a lot more. Don’t blog without a reason, don’t tweet endlessly and don’t Facebook your 8th grade history teacher to death with updates of how smart you turned out to be. (Sorry, Mr. Wilbanks! I’ll try to work on this.)
Aim for a good meditative balance for all you’re doing online and offline and aim for your work to benefit others first and your bottom line second.
What’s the translation for the title of this post?
BE HERE NOW.
First day’s recap of Erma Bombeck Conference, and what a day it was! Tomorrow I’ll be presenting my “Overwebbed: Help I’m Having A Social Media Breakdown and I Can’t Tweet Up” and I’m very humbled to be here.
Wonderfully funny and incredibly talented people abound and the dinner this evening could not have been more hilarious. If you’ve not read anything by Laretta LaRoche, please change that and get her books.
She was the keynote speaker this evening and really delivered! Also Tim Bete (past director of Erma Conference) spoke and he was truly funny as well.
The room tonight was packed full and what a great honor to be among so many talented people.
I’m nervous about presenting tomorrow but I’m wearing my tweet-proof vest so all should be well, plus I’ve got to say the spirit here feels incredibly kind and generous. I’m going to try very hard to have the audience at my first “Hello, Ya’ll.”
I also got to hang out with Sam Horn, who I really count as one of my mentors and just think it is incredible gift to know. You should also check out Sam’s books!
1. Spend most of my time researching blogs and online websites instead of kvetching that my traditional publicity firm is just not trying.
2. Understand that I don’t need a publicist, mygrandma or even my publisher to work on my behalf to get coverage for my books! I can compile a list of blogs and start participating way before my book is out!
3. Take to heart that it is an author’s job to help publicize their book.
4. Get on Twitter and start tweeting.
5. Remember that if I’m going to build a FACEBOOK fan page I’m not done working with it just because I built it. I have to post to it at least three times a week and make those messages lively, dynamic and not marketing blabbity-blah.
6. Do a search for book awards and submit my book to every single one of them that I’m eligible for.
7. Take my book and page by page I would highlight short tweets I could repurpose on Twitter, and identify what ideas I can use for blog posts to help drive more interest about my books.
8. Stop believing that by getting a ton of “friends” to compile a bunch of empty bonuses together that those are going to take my book to #1 on Amazon.
9. Commit that I’ll be conversant on the news as it relates to ideas in my book and commit that I won’t try to get my book to fit every news angle.
10. Commit to not growing hits, but reaching new communities with valuable insight and the goal of long-lasting relationships.
11. Have an active profile on Linkedin.com, participate, offer good insight and join the groups that care most about my book content.
12. Stop spreading myself too thin across 8 billion social media profiles.
13. Use Google. Use Google. Use Google. To search for new opportunities for my book.
14. Pro-actively write a reading group guide and save that as a downloadable PDF that I offer for free on my site.
15. Thank every single reporter, blogger etc. that notes my book each time they do it.
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MYTH: You’re only going to find out the real deal on how to use social media off a long-copy sales page and a series of bonuses and webinars which you have to purchase.
REALITY: There are tons of absolutely free and in-depth social media help sites. If you spend just one hour a week on them, you can learn everything you need to do.
REALITY EXTRA: You cannot possibly learn any of this stuff by just reading – you have to start doing!
5 Sites That Give You LOTS of GOOD FREE Social Media MOJO:
1. For Facebook turn to Allfacebook.com – superb, updated daily and tons of tips to instantly use.
2. Mashable.com - one of my faves on all things social media. Fantastic resource.
3. Twittip.com - Twitter tips you can instantly use.
4. Linkedin.com – read their blog! You get the insider scoop on the latest, like today they’re showing folks how to reorder your profile information. Tons of guest articles too. Cool beans!
5. SocialMediaToday.com – another daily must read.
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OPA think “lobster, beer, big belly”- meet author, Dave Simons, Boston Sox fan – a real man’s “eat, pray, love.” Perfect for diet show.
O: her husband left her, her dog ran away, she sold all her pageant trophies to a gold exchange and now she’s going to climb Mt. Everest.
Oprah – My mom just read my book, “My Mom is Happy, and That’s all that Matters,” and said you would LOVE it for your show.
I paid $435 for six webinar series on Oprah. They promised you would have me on your show if I pitched you just once. When is show date?
I know Gayle is reading this for you. Gayle, if Oprah won’t have me on her show, what about your radio show instead? I like your hair.
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWEo4M8nZQQ[/youtube]
One of the most important things to ask in the new year is, “What movie is my website playing to visitors?”
What that means is to really identify the changes that are driving this new social media technology usage and ensure you are doing the very best you can to employ those tools as well.
No matter what you are doing in terms of your site, if you’re not incorporating some form of social media with it, then you really are just starring in a silent movie at this point.
I picked the Buster Keaton clip because in watching it I realized that in many ways the tumbles and turns he takes are similar to how many of the authors and thought leaders I work with feel when faced with the task of social media.
Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint. And as many posts over these five years on my blog have noted, this is a long-term investment you’re making. You’re at an incredible place in the Internet. Having been on the Web since 1996, I can tell you that what we are witnessing is a communication revolution and there is still plenty of time to find your place and your community on the Web.
Information for how to start your own social media mojo can be found freely on the Web by reading key blogs that help you understand how Web 2.0 works and how to tap into its power.
Read David Meerman Scott, Mashable.com, DailyBlogTips, Problogger.net, SocialMediaToday.com and others that empower how you market your messages and how to use online tools transparently.
Keep thinking, “From Book to Brand to Beyond!”
The key is to start somewhere and move forward one step at a time. You can do it!
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I’m a giant reader of Jung and one of the things I’ve been studying is his insight on synchronicity. I also had the opportunity to read “There Are No Accidents: Synchronicity and the Stories of Our Lives” by Robert Hopcke. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. (Not a client book!)
In his book, Hopcke (a therapist) says people ask him, “How do you work with synchronicity?” and he answers, “Be open to the meaning in what you did not want to happen.”
How does this apply to social media? I think it does beautifully because if there is one thing I know about social media it is that you never know what might happen and you can not underestimate the power of being online and finding new synchronistic communities and readers.
I might say, “”Be open to the meaning in what you do not yet know will happen in social media.” Stop being afraid of what might or might not happen and just start conversing online.
If you come from a place of reticence, fear and “i’m not enough-ness” online then synchronicity will be hard fought. If you choose to be open to all that CAN and will surely happen if you are participating on the Web, then BELIEVE me you will be constantly amazed at how the Web really works to connect people to their tribe.
It’s not about marketing your ideas, it’s about empowering your community and finding synchronicity between them and you and what can be done to change the world.
It’s not about celebrity. It’s about celebrating how uniquely gifted all of us are and how we can lift up one another.
It’s not about bait and switch and selling something you know is not the real deal. It’s about waking up and typing your heart out because you know in doing that you are doing good.
Every single person on the Web counts toward something greater and at the end of the day, why not be counted?
You matter to the Web. I hope to see you there in the new year.
1. Social media is all about quantity not quality.
2. Social media happens overnight and you just need a couple clever tweets to get the masses.
3. There are gurus (like Social Media Santa) that really exist and we need to be like lemmings and just do everything they say.
4. If I only post on my blog at least once a month, I know that my Google page rank will get to #10 effortlessly.
5. There is only one way to Oprah and it is only through a PR or marketing guru who wants me to listen to a ton of webinars and give them money to do so.
6. Social media can make me a celebrity – because it’s all about being a celebrity. (Hint: It’s not.)
7. I don’t have to generate useful content for my community. I only need to generate bait and switch content to get them in the door and make them buy something.
8. Social media is easy. (Hint: it’s not.)
9. Social media can cure every possible marketing pain I have.
10. Just using social media is enough, I don’t have to do any offline marketing or any other outreach.
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Twas the Night Before Social Media….
Twas the night before social media, when all through the Web
Not a Facebooker was statusing, no new updates in sight.
The tweets all tweeted on the Twitter with care,
In hopes that St. Click soon would be there.
The 24/7 social media gurus nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of new DIGGs danced through their heads.
And Mamma-Web in her Bing-chief and I, computer in lap.
Had just settled down for a long tweet free nightcap.
When out on the Web there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my Lazy Boy, to see what was the Web-chatter.
So close to the screen, I stuck like a flash.
Logged into my blog account and posted a blog post fast..
With a little old blog post, so lively and quick.
I knew in a moment it was definitely St. Click.
More rapid than BING, his Google-bots came,
And he whistled, and shouted and called them by name.
Now HubSpot, Now Mashable, Now Kayser, Now Guy!
On BING, on DIGG, on Alltop and FiledBy, oh my!
To the top of the search! To the top of the LinkedIn!
Now blog away! Blog away! Blog away all!
end
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Because I come from an Internet journalist background, I felt compelled to post this comment below that I received on the post I did “I’m not Your Social Media Expert, and That Should Make You Happy” .
I very rarely do not approve a comment to my blog because it’s very important to keep the communication gates open both ways and we’re all here to learn together. With that in mind, please take this lesson to heart. It is not good marketing to post a short blurb about your book in someone’s comment section of their blog. I know there are some book “marketers” and book “social media experts” who for years have touted this as a good idea. Heck, they’ve even published this suggestion in some of their own books!
However, this is never a good idea. Ever, ever, ever.
Think of it like this. What if you decided, in an effort to get more buzz out about your book, that the best possible thing you could do is spray paint the front of someone’s home with your book title and short description?
This would actually make the homeowner feel great rancor toward you and the neighborhood (her community) wouldn’t much cotten to seeing this either. They trust the homeowner to keep her home spiffy, smart and valuable!
A blog is someone’s home. People come to it and the blog author opens his/her doors to a knowledge base that will hopefully be very educational and actionable. And FREE of marketing blather including in the comment section.
With that in mind, here is the aforementioned comment I received (I’ve edited it a bit so not to expose the commenter, so anywhere you see BOLD I’ve changed it from what it actually was.)
“Shoved to the curb and left to fend on her own at the age of 14; AUTHOR NAME eventually went on to receive a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work.
But God was not welcome nor allowed to be spoken on the job… Not able to do so, AUTHOR NAME went on to work for the Archdiocese of St. Paul/ Minneapolis for 8 years.
NAME OF BOOK is a true story of AUTHOR NAME strength & perseverance. That, combined with her strong faith is what makes this story unique and a must read!
This is AUTHOR NAME first book and is currently working on her sequel… NAME OF NEW SEQUEL.”
So here’s the thing, this comment not only violates the good mojo in terms of respecting one’s home blog turf, but also it shows these three things:
1. The author has not ever read the blog she just posted a comment to.
2. The author did not actually read the blog post she posted the comment to.
3. The author is unaware of how one should post comments to a blog.
Lessons Learned:
1. Read the blog you’re going to post a comment to.
2. If you want your book reviewed or want to drive traffic to your book site – research the sites that talk about books, book reviewing and reach out to those blog editors in person through an email pitch, not through an email pitch.
Here are some good ones to check out -
a. BergersBookReviews.com – Alice Berger’s fantastic site.
b. Bookpleasures.com - Norm Goldman’s superb site. Note, on Norm’s link that he has a quick review service, but also offers a free review service.
*I posted the two examples above without the direct contact information (emails etc.) because I’m mean and I don’t want to share. Ok…that’s not really true. I posted them like that so you could learn how easy it is to use this little free tool called the Internet, hit those sites and get the contact information on how to pitch them books very easily from their site!
To sum up: Be your own best advocate, keep pitching and swerving and building strong lists for your book, and don’t listen to everything social media book gurus advise you to do.
And in the words of one of my favorite Monty Python songs, “Always look on the bright side of life, always look on the bright side of life.” How does that apply to marketing your book? There are thousands of blogs you can find to feature your book if you’ll just stay positive, focused and in it for the long haul.
Now go and get your book out there!
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