Get Started Blogging: Presentation to the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce

Blog On! Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Jesse Greenberg publicaffairs2point0.wordpress.com twitter.com/jessegreenberg

Perfect Position to Blog Positioning/Visibility Expertise/Value Community

Perfect Time to Start Blogging

Blogging 101
What’s a blog?
A blog (a contraction of the term weblog ) is a type of website , usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. (source: Wikipedia)
Translation
A blog is a communication tool to tell a (hopefully) compelling story through self publishing and making that content available to everyone.

Blogging 101
Blog Data
58% U.S. internet users read blogs ( emarketer)
12% internet users are bloggers ( Pew Center)
77.7 million unique blog visitors vs. 41 million unique Facebook users ( comScore August index )
133 million blogs since 2002 ( Technorati)

Reasons to Blog
Increased Value for the Chamber
Provide business community with more robust voice
Humanize the institution
More opportunities to interact with members (community)
Attract prospective members/retain existing members
Campaign vs. Conversation
Reinforce Chamber Brand Attributes
Position/Visibility
Thought leadership
Community

Why Blogging is Effective

Website vs. Blog
Website
One way
Limited depth
“Official” speak
Surface level
Mainly informational
Blog
Multi-way
Transparency
Blogger personality
Depth to issues
Comments
Updates
Participation

Before You Start Blogging…
Always Be Strategic
Define desired outcomes
Research
Blogger relations
Commenting
Blog promotion
Be comfortable with your voice
Frequency/Scheduling
Link love and use audio/visual
Cultivate your audience
Must answer, “What’s in it for me?”
Have fun!

Blogging: Desired Outcomes

Blogging: Research
Who is writing/blogging about subjects that I am covering?

Blogging: Blogger Relations

Blogging: Blogger Relations
Be generous with your hyperlinks
Set goal of minimum 2 hyperlinks per post

Blogging: Link Like Crazy
Other bloggers/writers want recognition too
They’ll return the favor, helps drive traffic
Positions Chamber as thought leader

Blogging: Constructive Comments
Never leave comments alone
Be constructive
Try to stimulate follow up in comment section
Inspire a blog post from comments
Comment on other blogs (Blogger Relations)
Drive value for Chamber members

Blogging: Dealing with Negative Comments
“ Your blog is like your living room…”
Top 5 Ways to Handle Negative Comments
Ignore/don’t approve/delete the comment
Take time to cool off
Let your contacts defend you
Clarify comments OFF-BLOG (assume good intentions)
(Top 5 source: Jason Alba)

Blogging: Promotion
Use Aggregators (WindyCitizen, Huffington Post, BlogNet Illinois, etc.)
Consistent keywords
Email liberally
Increase member engagement
Drive blog and website traffic
Email is shareable

Blogging: Promotion
Outgoing hyperlinks
Goal is to get people to link to you
Chamber members who blog
Integrated marketing
Website
Newsletter
Direct mail
Facebook & LinkedIn

Blogging: Your Voice
Write with personality, stay away from “corporate speak”

Blogging: Your Voice

Blogging: Frequency/Schedule
Write short, publish in a series
Plan ahead, write ahead
Think “posts per week,” not on a given day

Blogging: Need ideas for stories?
Guest post
Ask a question
Re-work a press release
Promote an event
Top 10s and Top 5s
Report on news reports from your favorite sources
Read, read, read

Blogging: Use Multi-media
Video
Pictures
Creative commons
Attributions
Photo streams
Audio
Podcasts
Presentations

Blogging: Multi-Media Examples

Blogging: Audience
Objective:
Create community
Comments, responses
Insider info
Pre-release announcements
Polling
Calls to Action

Blogging: What’s in it for Me?
Constituent value
Member news
Studies
Awards/recognitions
Guest posts
Multimedia

Evaluate and Refine
Long term view
-3 months
-6 months
-1 year
Where do you come up in search?
Comments?
Traffic?
Links to your content?
Membership?
Event attendance?

Blog Data Resources

Thank You! [email_address] 312.912.9724 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

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Get Started Blogging: Presentation to the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce

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