A presentation on blogging and social media that I gave to the monthly lunch meeting of "Club Entrepreneur" at the Minneapolis Club on February 4, 2010. (This 64-slide deck was created in Keynote on a Mac.) A shout-out to David Meerman Scott, Debbie Weil, Brian Solis, Ann Handley, and Tara Hunt, whose work I cited in parts of this presentation.
When you click play on this slide presentation, you'll also hear an MP3 recording of me delivering this talk. I haven't yet set it up to synch to the slides.
You can also listen to the MP3 on this blog post of mine: http://bit.ly/9Mv1oh. (The MP3 link is towards the end.)
Keppel Ltd. 1Q 2024 Business Update Presentation Slides
Why Launch a Company Blog and Use Social Media
1. Why Launch a Company Blog
and Use Social Media:
An Overview and Open Discussion
by Graeme Thickins
Blogger, Brand Journalist, Content Marketer, Startup Advisor
Monday, February 8, 2010 1
5. Some Places Where I Blog
And more, such as guest posts on other blogs...sometimes
on clients’ blogs...and sites that syndicate my main blog.
Monday, February 8, 2010 5
6. Oh, Wait - A Clarification
I should have said my main one is my “macro” blog...
But I also have this “micro” blog thingie...
And, lately, one that sorta fits in between...
Monday, February 8, 2010 6
9. What We Can Talk About Today
• Corporate blogging: huh?
• Why blog
• What's required
• Types of blogs
• What to blog about
• Deciding who blogs
• Ways to use a blog
• And the bigger picture:
Social Media
• Ask questions....
what do you want to talk about?
Monday, February 8, 2010 9
10. What Is Corporate Blogging?
"The use of blogs to furtherText
organizational goals. Think
of a blog as an e-newsletter, a viral marketing campaign,
an open channel for your customers to talk to you....
a low-cost, easy-to-use, always-free web site."
- Debbie Weil, The Corporate Blogging Book
Monday, February 8, 2010 10
11. Why Blog?
• Tell your story, advance your passion
Text
• Connect/engage with customers
• Get attention, build buzz
• Be (or become) a thought leader
• Best of all: search engines love blogs...
• Fresh content = GOOGLE JUICE!
Monday, February 8, 2010 11
12. Why Blog? ... some hard data:
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 12
16. Let’s Get Something Cleared Up:
Blogging Is Not Hard
• It’s like writing an email to a colleague.
• Except it’s out there for everyone....
• Blogging = cc: world
Monday, February 8, 2010 16
17. Ten Tips for Writing a
Successful Corporate Blog
by Debbie Weil, author, “The Corporate Blogging Book”
1. Choose the right topic for your blog (specific)
2. Find your voice (easy for her to say!)
3. Invite a conversation
4. Package what you write (ten Tips, five Rules, seven Ways)
5. Always, always link
6. Write for web readers
7. Write for Google searchers
8. Publish frequently and consistently
9. Take risks
10. Have fun (“dance like nobody’s watching”)
Monday, February 8, 2010 17
18. Is Your Company Ready for a Blog?
• Can you regularly update it?
Text of writers?
• Do you have a writer or group
(Don’t forget, you can have guest bloggers, too.)
• Do you have something to say? Do you read
other blogs to know what’s going on?
• Do you have existing content you could link to
that’s already online?
Monday, February 8, 2010 18
19. Mommy, Where Does Content Come From?
11 Easy Ways to Create Great Stuff
by Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer,
MarketingProfs.com
1. Think small: Creating a white paper or ebook is a huge task. Instead, create smaller
chunks of content. Series of smaller blog posts easier to produce.
2. Think really small: Ask your Twitter followers for their take on a specific theme
or topic related to your business, and create a blog post from it.
3. Bundle: gather existing blog posts around a central theme into an ebook or white
paper. Give it away freely (not requiring users to register), or maybe even charge for it.
4. Video record your talks: the ones you or your team do at industry events, and
post them on YouTube. Repurpose as needed to your blog, on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
5. Post presentations on SlideShare: upload your PowerPoints, and also share
freely on Twitter, your blog, etc.
Monday, February 8, 2010 19
20. 6. Interview customers: arm yourself or a colleague with a Flip camera or iPhone to
record video of chats at events. Try asking a single question to unify their answers, then string
together for a compelling video. Something like: What's your biggest marketing challenge?
7. Interview luminaries: do quick Q&A interviews with thought-leaders, strategic
partners, or just interesting thinkers -- via email, Skype chat, or audio record them. They
make for compelling text (blog posts) or podcasts.
8. Share real-time photos: post your pix of industry events, meetups, or gatherings pix
to Flickr, as soon after as possible. Snap photos with your smart phone to share on Twitter
via Twitpic or yFrog.
9. Ask customer service: a great source for content. Ask what customers are contacting
us about, what problems do they have? Great for regular content with a recurring "Questions
from our customers" theme.
10. Go behind-the-scenes: give readers or followers an insider's view of your company.
Twitpic a shot from a podcast or video in progress, share on Twitter what content you're
working on producing, etc.
11. Don't silo your content: If you have a print newsletter, run articles occasionally on
your blog, upload the best headlines to Facebook, post transcripts of your podcast online,
and chat everything up on Twitter. Sprinkle content freely across all your platforms.
Monday, February 8, 2010 20
21. Blogging and Social Media
• Think of your blog is the hub of your social media
universe, the center of your marketing and content
strategy.
• It's the main link you want to drive people to, by
putting it in your Twitter bio, your LinkedIn page, your
company Facebook page, etc. And that in turn will
drive people to your main web site.
• Social media is affecting and being incorporated into
every aspect of business: marketing, communications,
customer service, sales, HR, IT, product development,
and more.
Monday, February 8, 2010 21
22. The Most Important Skill Required?
Listening, baby!
Monday, February 8, 2010 22
23. What Is Social Media? (well, a lot)
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 23
24. Call It What You Will....
• CONVERSATIONAL MARKETING
Text
• THE PARTICIPATIVE WEB
• CONSUMER-GENERATED MEDIA
• USER-GENERATED CONTENT (UGC)
• SELF-PUBLISHING
• CITIZEN MARKETING
It’s created.....
“THE REAL-TIME WEB”
Monday, February 8, 2010 24
41. Measuring Social Media...
"The most meaningful metric is the
rate at which people invite their
friends to participate. How many
of your customers want to tell the
world about how great you are?"
- Tara Hunt, Online Community
Expert and Author
Monday, February 8, 2010 41
42. Social Media Marketing in 61 Words
Text
• You can buy attention (advertising)
• You can beg the media for attention (PR)
• You can bug people one at a time to get
attention (sales)
• Or you can earn attention by creating
something interesting and valuable and
then publishing it online for free: a
YouTube video, a blog, a research report,
photos, a Twitter stream, an ebook, a
Facebook page.
- David Meerman Scott
Monday, February 8, 2010 42
43. Where to Find Me....
Email: graeme@gtamarketing.com
Phone: 952-944-9748 Text
Web: www.gtamarketing.com
Blog: www.tech-surf-blog.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/graemethickins
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/graemethickins
Facebook: www.facebook.com/graemethickins
Friendfeed: www.friendfeed.com/graemethickins
Posterous: graemethickins.posterous.com
Internet Business Card: graemethickins.businesscard2.com
Monday, February 8, 2010 43
44. One of the Best Examples
of a Startup Company Blog
(even pre-launch) was
Mint.com, based in S.F. ....
Monday, February 8, 2010 44