How can your brand become a blogging superstar? Here is my take on that question with the three things that make a real difference in blogging. Learn what your blog is all about, how to create it and how to make it really, really good.

1. Become a blogging superstar! Creating and nurturing your own media channel Vassilena Valchanova, 11 April 2011

2. Hello! Vassilena Valchanova (Bulgaria) Agency work for 3 years (PetrolVilla Group, BMW, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, LG Electronics) Marketing Co-ordinator for 1 year (Razer, Canyon, Prestigio) Blogger for 4 years (BG Top 20 overall, BG Top 3 in Marketing)

3. The 3 things that make a difference in blogging What your blog is all about – Conversation, understanding, insight How to do it? – The Who, the What and the When of blogging How to be really good at it? – The listen/talk balance, earning eyeballs, making sense of numbers

4. Introduction

5. What is a blog? A place where you can frequently and engagingly discuss chosen topics with your target audience.

6. Aren’t blogs passé? “I don’t use my blog anymore. All the people I’m trying to reach are on Facebook.” Pew Research: blogging falls 50% for 12-17 year-olds, 2% for 18-33 y.o. Users flocking to Facebook, Twitter Hybrid platforms (Tumblr, Posterous) emerging Data: New York Times, citing Pew Research

7. Aren’t blogs passé? Blogs generate leads at costs below average: 55% agree Customer acquisition through blogs: 55% B2B, 63% B2C Publishing a company blog: 48% to 65% in 2 years 36% of Fortune 100 companies blogging – few do it, you’ll stand out Data: The 2011 State of Inbound Marketing (HubSpot), Global Social Media Check-up 2011 (Burson-Marsteller) Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated.

8. What your blog is all about

9. Again! What is YOUR blog? A place for: Starting a conversation Building understanding and trust Gathering customer insight

10. Conversation

11. Understanding and Trust

12. Customer Insight

13. How to do it?

14. Creating your blog The technical part Leave it to the webteam Do it yourself Focus on the content http://www.squidoo.com/buildawebsite-blogplatform

16. SEARCH HEADER OTHER PLACES SIDEBAR WIDGETS NAVIGATION TITLES EXCERPTS VISUALS SOCIAL SHARING

17. The Who: Author(s) A corporate name for all posts – written by CorpComms Employee name for different posts – moderated by CorpComms Independent employee blogs Separate CEO blog

18. The What: Content Explain what you do and what you stand for Give some “behind the scenes” knowledge Share advice It’s not about you, it’s about your audience Why so serious?

19. The When: Planning Setting up goals and objectives Choosing KPIs Writing a blog development plan Creating an editorial calendar

20. How to be really good at it?

21. Listening and Talking “Hear” the comments on your blog on social media Reply often honestly quickly Talk on other blogs Do you have something to say?

22. Attracting traffic Don’t sell No PR BS Be interesting Make sharing AEAP* Analyze and optimize: Your readers’ habits Your choice of topics *AEAP – as easy as possible

23. ROB (Return on Blogging) Setting goals beforehand gives you good ROB indicators What do you want to measure: Reach (traffic, unique/new visitors, pageviews, time spent) Engagement (comments, Likes, shares, RTs) Site benefits (inbound traffic, SEO scores) Revenue (leads, goal completion)

24. THANK YOU! @vasvalch http://www.linkedin.com/in/vassilenavalchanova http://vasvalch.com

25. Photos Slide 1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49653271@N05/5295920252/ Slide 5: http://thenextweb.com/us/files/2010/08/blogging-requires-passion-and-authority-e1282142376774.jpg Slide 6: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gD-31MS_OMs/TMbeVhKFciI/AAAAAAAAAAM/hcO_PWXyauo/S748/(20)+Charlot+Charlie+Chaplin+0128.jpg Slide 7: http://www.zahradka-art.com/images/artwork/Mark%20Twain.jpg Slide 9: http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-10677420 Slide 19: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahnmyrrh/3634153932/ Slide 21: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rnphotos/4689893987/ Slide 22: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kengz/67187556/ Slide 23: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chortler/2280423748/ Slide 24: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brentdanley/159680360/