[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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- Image via Wikipedia
Newton’s Law of Inertia: Every object persists in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it.
Today is the 367th birthday of Sir Isaac Newton and let it be the first day you move out of inertia about Web 2.0 and into the Law of Acceleration with Web 2.0.
Here are Six Ways to Stave Off Social Media Inertia:
1. Stop lying under someone else’s apple tree passively waiting for the Web to drop on you, instead start planting your own seeds on the Web.
2. Stop thinking your web presence will grow without you being a part of it. If you’re not digging your own soil, planting your own seeds and watering your own online thought-garden, then you are not participating!
3. Stop kvetching about how everyone else’s orchards are bigger and it’s too late for you to grow your own platform. As everything continues to move online, you need to do so as well.
4. Start tweeting so you can ensure lots of good “traffic” rain to your site or blog through meaningful engagement.
5. Stop wasting time on the Web. Set up a growing plan and stick to it. Keep moving, growing and seeding new ideas and opportunities.
6. Don’t let the force of fear paralyze keep you from finding new ways to build community online.
7. Stop being defined by your age or place in career, and start becoming ageless on the Web through your unique insight and wisdom.
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1. Use Google Blog Search and search on the title for a very successful book in your genre. What the search returns will be blogs that have mentioned, reviewed or featured the book. Make your own pitch list from this as well. In your own email pitch to the blogger, say something like, “I know that you recently reviewed “Freakonomics” and was hoping you might review my book as well. My book is similar to this one in terms of “FILL IN BLANK HERE.”
2. Don’t forget to look for book discussion groups on the Web as well. Don’t just think blogs. Think forums and book groups online. Read about this group that just formed in the UK.
3. Or look at these groups – Booktalk.org and Bookbrowse.com
4. Check out the ALA information to find more book clubs and book groups at libraries.
5. You absolutely must join Shelfari.com and Goodreads.com and for good karma release at least one copy of your book on Bookcrossing.com.
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No storyteller has ever been able to dream up anything as fantastically unlikely as what really does happen in this mad Universe. (Robert Heinlein)
1. A storyteller knows the stories that make the most impact are the ones that come from the heart.
2. A storyseller thinks that you have to bedazzle folks with little bits of exaggeration and insipid calls to action based on fear and anxiety.
3. A storyteller is adept at knowing their audience and keeping them engaged.
4. A storyseller is always at the back of the room contemplating how stupid everyone else’s stories are compared to his/her big story.
5. A storyteller encourages people to move the story forward and relate it to others in their own way without trying to control the messaging.
6. A storyseller is constantly afraid his/her story will not be passed along with the correct “brand” respect so they spend most of their time correcting people’s impression of the story.
7. A storyteller is thrilled beyond belief if the story goes viral and doesn’t immediately need to equate it with how many click thru’s or sales leads the story will create.
8. A storyseller wants you to fill out online registration forms to get the good stories, and loves to use scarcity as a fear tactic for pushing you to listen.
9. A storyteller believes in the power of magic, abundance and the Web to push the story in the direction it can be most appreciated.
10. A storyseller is the guy at the hula party that never takes off his tie.
11. A storyteller is the person who cares nothing about superficial impressions but rather how a story can empower one’s life in a positive way.
12. A storyseller thinks “commercials.”
13. A storyteller thinks “movies.’
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Interesting article as tweeted by Richard Laermer, which is on Poynter Online in regard to NYTimes policy on Facebook and other social networking sites.
Some excerpts from the article to keep in mind in regard to your online visibility and how journalists can use that information:
1. “What people write on Facebook is publicly available information, like anything posted on a site that is not encrypted.”
2. “Be careful not to write anything on a blog or a personal Web page that you could not write in the Times –don’t editorialize, for instance, if you work for the News Department.”
3. “Should we avoid consenting to be a Facebook “friends” of people in the news we cover? Mostly no, but the answer can depend on the situation.”
If you look at just the top 3 of the article that you should definitely read in full, the key thing for you to understand is how journalists are sourcing material for coverage. Every single time you’re on a social media site, or your blog, or Facebook etc. keep in mind that journalists are also finding stories and experts from those places. So be your best, brightest and non-snarkiest in your social media presence.
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