Who Needs Facebook?

According to Pew’s 2015 report on social media, 72% of US internet users – that's 62% of adults in the US - are on Facebook. The majority of Facebook users use it daily. According to PR firm Burson-Marsteller, 87% of United Nation member countries are on Facebook. So is the POTUS.

Yet, I still get “the look” when I tell some small-medium sized business owners, “you should be on Facebook.”

 “Yeah. I know,” the principle often says, sometimes shrugging and adding almost apologetically, “my wife says that.”

(Yes, I'm serious. I really have heard that. But I digress.)

“I Don’t Need a Facebook Page; I Have a Website”

Years ago, when I first encouraged some friends and business owners to create a business page, they weren’t all sold on the idea. 

“People get their news from Facebook,” I’d say.

“I know, but they’re not looking to me for news,” they’d say.

“That’s true, but you need to be in the room," I’d reply. 

“It just seems like a waste of time,” they’d say.

“It certainly can be,”I’d agree. “But the effort will pay off.”

 “I don’t think it’s worth it,” they’d say, nearing exasperation. “Especially since _(I don’t have anything to sell/I’m not a celebrity/I have a website/insert other reason here)_.”

That's when I’d nod agreement and repeat, “you need to be in the room.”

Very Comfortable Virtual Gathering Space 

Facebook is a room where the conversation is always in full swing, where users visit day and night, ask their friends whether they'd recommend certain plumbers, find out a favorite former teacher recently passed on, and catch up with far-flung family members. It’s very social and in that atmosphere, our guard is just a little bit relaxed. 

We’re looking for advice. 

We’re asking for recommendations.

In that room, the conversation is flowing and we’re receptive. 

So, sure - you don't need to be on Facebook. I mean, what business needs a friendly, receptive forum in which to share its message? 

Just How Nice is Your Website? 

Of course, when Facebook users search for your business and don’t find your Facebook Page, they may look for your website.  Or they may not, if a similar business pops up in their feed, and that page appeals to them…I think the business term for that is "lost opportunity."

Now, assuming said user goes off to find your website, well – when they find it, it better be good. 

Because for Facebook users (remember, that's 62% of adults in the US) the medium shapes their expectations. Facebook is a friendly, engaging, comfortable place.

Newsflash: most websites aren’t.

So, when Facebook users encounter clunky, less-than-responsive websites, “yuck” is a pretty common response. And “yuck” dramatically increases bounce rates.

So yes, Virgil/Virginia, your business really does need a Facebook page. Even in 2016, when Facebook is reportedly “over.” (Just ask Fox News if there’s any value in it.) 

Facebook Maturing, Young Audience Returning

Some of the more adamant “I don’t think I need Facebook” folks will toss out the “common knowledge” that Facebook is no longer popular, and cite a stat about the droves of young people who no longer use it.

Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat and other forums have each taken a turn as the rising star of social media. It's not Facebook's turn. Been there, done that. Snapchat is the undeniable winner right now for reaching young (tween, even more so than teen) audiences. But there is plenty of anecdotal evidence and empirical data suggesting that Facebook has serious staying power.

 Remember those rascally teens who jumped onto Facebook, then departed when their parents showed up en masse? They’re back.

Facebook Group pages are one reason. Colleges and universities are among the many organizations using group pages to reach young adults – whether it’s professors posting that classes have been cancelled or clubs sharing internship opportunities; as kids get older, there are new attractions to the original social network. Many professional organizations use Facebook groups to share news - a la LinkedIn, but with a more interactive nature (and much better photo sharing capabilities). And let's not forget, Facebook is fun. A Facebook group page is an almost-perfect collaborative tool grads can use to plan a High School reunion. (So, if you’re a banquet hall or bar owner, and you don't have a page, you might want to get started it. Now.) 

The return of older teens/young adults has inspired several new apps designed to clean up some of those teenage indiscretions on Facebook. Because the kids who signed up in ‘04 and ’05 are now …drumroll please… entering the workforce. And as Mark Zuckerberg’s sister has said, “even the most incompetent HR manager can find and judge you based on your Facebook profile.”

And if that’s not proof that you and your business should find your way to (or back to) Facebook, what is?

# #

Two things I should tell you:  This post originally appeared on LinkedIn. And I manage Facebook pages for business clients. Get in touch with me here, on my website, or via Twitter.

Manipulated by Words? Only if You Don't Think

Words can manipulate. It's up to readers to think, harder than ever, about the written (or at least typed and disseminated) word. 

Two examples - quite worthy of consideration together, methinks - are Truth Goggles, another annotation tool for journalists, which Poynter breaks down nicely, and (yet) another little experiment by Facebook. 

Please writers, write well. Honestly, even. And people everywhere - please, read thoughtfully. 

In case you're not inclined to click on embedded links and read/decide for yourself, I'll offer my opinion here. For free, even. (#luckyyou)

That Facebook is attempting to make its product more popular using some of the principles psychology isn't surprising, nor is its rather manipulative "sharing" of the data. (Read the article and you'll see why I used quotation marks.)

As Poynter writes: 

The Truth Googles launching today is a tool to enable anyone to annotate an existing piece of online content to raise and answer questions about what's been reported/written. It can also offer a layer of personalized commentary.

Whether Truth Goggles is a tool or yet another shade of social media apps, I'm not sure.

I'll keep watching, reading, and thinking - and hoping you do, too.  

How Writers Procrastinate, part 1

How do writers procrastinate on deadline? Here's one: Spending hours ensuring they get the just-right message across in their Facebook posts.

Thanks, Scube! But frankly, I don't think Facebook honors this one © and I like this ♪ ♫ ♩ ♬ ♭but my audio isn't working!  Let me try to turn it up.
♪ ♫ ♬
Nope, still can't hear it.
Also, I really think this one needs an update:  ✆ 

Well, I think I've illustrated my point rather well, providing an excellent example re: how writers

ⓟⓡⓞⓒⓡⓐⓢⓣⓘⓝⓐⓣⓔ. 

Whew. Good thing I'm not a gamer. If I wasted time on Candy Crush or Minecraft, I'd never get important stuff like this done. 

~Diane Stresing

Do you find you're most creative when you procrastinate, and is that good for productivity? Discuss. 

We're all writers so read this before sharing on Facebook (or anywhere else)

This is something of a public service announcement. If you use Facebook, please invest a little bit of time into understanding the basic functionality of its privacy settings. Also set aside a few minutes every couple of weeks to review them, as they change frequently and frankly, you may not fully understand that by clicking on something, you can change your own settings quite unintentionally.

For example, I have changed my own posting/privacy settings multiple times and for various reasons (some I understand, others not so much) they have changed back, or changed again.

Here's an example: it's extremely easy to set your status-posting setting to "private" - which means, of course, it's not private at all, but shared with all your friends.  It's also very easy to change your status setting to "public," which means it's really public, out there for anyone to see, like, forever, or until you delete it.

Ok. Those of you who are Facebook gurus know exactly how these things work. And you can still make mistakes.

What's worse, a disturbing lot of you are thinking, well, I don't use Facebook enough to worry about all that or I don't have time to mess around with all those settings and to you I say, yes you do.

If you use Facebook at all then you should learn how to use the privacy settings to your advantage, and be vigilant about understanding the changes. And there are always changes!

It doesn't take that long to learn the ropes, and Facebook has helpful "help" pages that explain things well. Use them. Don't take the advice of post-of-a-repost on one of your friend's friends' walls. Go directly to the current Facebook help page and learn how to do it.

I manage Facebook pages for nearly a dozen businesses and organizations (and my own book!! < that's a plug) and I assure you that if I can screw up a "simple" privacy setting, you can too. Shame on all of us who don't take the time to learn how to use them properly.

Lecture over! Class dismissed! Thanks for reading!

Writing off Facebook

Ever hit enter and say, "whoops?" Or felt hoodwinked by one of Facebook's oft-changing rules?

Yeh, me either.

But seriously, folks, there's a stunningly simple way to avoid those online blunders. Pick up a pen and put it to paper. Good old-fashioned journals are cheap and far more private. 

Here's something else to think about: you might have to learn to live without Facebook as your emotional outlet in 2013. At least one industry pundit says it's toast. 

Look, you can do whatever you want - but journals are cheap and I could use some practice in the handwriting department.

More reasons to revive old-fashioned journals in 2013

Ever been tempted to lie on Facebook? 
When you twist the truth in your journal, we call it "creative writing."

Embarrassing misspellings won't be shared with the world.

If you want to share, you can. This falls under the purview of the 24-hour rule, one of my favorite aunt's best pieces of advice. As in, if you still want to post it on your Facebook wall 24 hours after you've written it in your journal, you can.

Feel like you just have to share? Then by all means, do. Please, start with a link to this blog ;D

~Diane Stresing

 Peter Walsh you.organized College-Ruled Leather Journal, Gray w/Gray (Google Affiliate Ad)


 Geek journal (Google Affiliate Ad)

"I'm sorry this is so long. I'd have written a shorter blog post but I didn't have time."

Or so I paraphrase what many have said before (some in fewer words) - and what is one of the most telling bits on writing ever written, IMHO.

Which brings me to Twitter, Reddit, and the all-too-human tendency to search for a more complicated answer when a perfectly good - if unbelievably simple - answer is sitting right there, in plain sight. SMH.

In a weak moment, I waded in to the silly media stories of the day to find out if Twitter has The Magic Formula for social media success and What Newspapers Can Learn from Reddit and was disappointed in both. The Twitter article disappointed me more, because it points out how myopic many (most?) advertising industry pundits are. It's possible people read/like Twitter because it's short and easy to read, right? No, that's too easy. Let's search instead for a new, improved, 2012 answer because it's no longer fashionable to use the 2010 answer. It's also possible people respond to Twitter's ads because there's a higher proportion of good ads and/or they're targeted and/or timed better and/or they're not lost among quite so many distractions as Facebook, where you can plan your family reunion, have a virtual high school reunion, lose your job, and run your own business? Augh. Sometimes a cigar is a cigar. And when it's not a cigar, it shouldn't take a semester's worth of discussion to figure out what it really is.

The second article, about newspapers and their impending doom (not) ticked me off because the headline is a sell-out for an article that's quite worth a read.

Here's my crazy, all-too-simple answer for the industry watchers: news outlets that offer news - aka important information that has nothing to do with what Snooki named her baby or how Nicki Minaj will vote - will have an audience. Advertising that's good, and seen, will work. In the newspaper, on the evidently nearly dead Facebook, or on today's SM darling.

If your ads are good, in front of the right people, when they're not too terribly distracted, they'll work.

I repeated it because that ups the odds that you'll get the message.

Which is something that was once taught in advertising 101, before distractions were born, right after Al Gore invented the internet.

Hey I read it online. It's gotta be true. Source? I don't need no stinkin' source. It was on ABC News, and they got it straight from Twitter.

So back to ads on Twitter, or anywhere.  Here's a tip: No matter how good your ads are, they won't return well this month/quarter for folks interested in the DNA ENCODE reports or cool photos of Mars. Those are called distractions. Both of which are undoubtedly better and probably more important than one election on a planet that supports more than one country.

Thanks for reading and by all means keep thinking out there. I'll edit this down to 140 characters when I get a round tuit.

~Diane Stresing

~ the links, in case you want them ~

http://dangerousintersection.org/2006/04/12/more-time-shorter-letter/


http://pandodaily.com/2012/09/04/will-twitters-uncanny-luck-ever-run-out/?utm_source=readme&utm_medium=rightrail&utm_content=2&utm_campaign=recirc

http://gigaom.com/2012/09/04/what-newspapers-and-other-media-could-learn-from-reddit/?utm_source=readme&utm_medium=rightrail&utm_content=3&utm_campaign=recirc

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=junk-dna-encode

http://www.space.com/17474-mars-rover-curiosity-longest-drive.html

The short of the DNA ENCODE story:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/05/dna-database-unlocks-map-to-genetic-disease/

The long of it:
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001046

And the medium but digestible for the liberal arts crowd version:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=junk-dna-encode

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMG5fkiY_-ZH9wjRm8UgfS07Kb-kN5iKUPLdKnOdWer4QhOah491nTehm2q8O_nIgiB3awvWX_Vo6fVAQJ2wLAJZRAwuP1JBBKy1EgVXOoRH7VzG3747fr9LqJ39qEJo6ToN9RXTK941sp/s1600/A_Round_Tuit_Picture.jpg&imgrefurl=http://mouthmotions.blogspot.com/2011/03/round-tuit.html&h=1104&w=1144&sz=216&tbnid=ExrYxeZ4N6wbCM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=94&zoom=1&usg=__lLJ-I0XH6GTQkylPD1kTXVdHtgY=&sa=X&ei=WsJIUL6tL6rO2AW_sIHQDQ&ved=0CCUQ9QEwAQ&dur=1265

Local Gets Social: It's about time

When it comes to media, messaging, social media, branding and business communications in general, I think there are several distinct, parallel universes. (Corporate giants may qualify as a couple of different animals in their own right.)

I also think most of us will agree - by us, this time I mean consumers - that the question isn't IF a small business should use social media, the question is HOW?

>>> Why I'm convinced small businesses need social media
>>> ...and yet another convincing argument

The short answer is, just (about) like anyone else. If everyone on the 'net is all a-twitter about Mother's Day, you probably should be too. But your comments don't need to trend worldwide. They need to reach your local audience, your followers, and entice them to share. (In case you're so busy running your business you haven't noticed, in 2012 "share" means "recommend." And "recommend" still means "new business.") 

If you're a worldwide brand, maybe your Mother's Day comments should ride the coattails of a celebrity story, a la "Do you admire Angelina Jolie's maternal style?". If your business focuses on a 25-mile radius, though, leave Angelina alone. You can focus on something much more personal, much more real.  A bring-a-friend offer is the ideal engagement tool for you and your customers. For example, "Bring a friend who's like a mom to you" or "tell us what your mom did that drove you crazy, that you do now and both of you get 20% off your next service."

See? It's easy. And it's important, because no matter how small your business, you don't want it to get any smaller! The hard part about any form of marketing is finding the time to do it. The next Local Gets Social Tip will focus on finding the time to reach your market and attract new customers.

~Diane Stresing

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _
Don't let the Pepsis and Cokes of the world define your marketing plan. Yours is probably better, anyway. Need a little help getting on the right social media track? Find out what a professional copywriter can do for you.
  << it's a safe! Isn't that cool?!

If Your Business is Local, Why Go Social?

Does your small business need a social media presence? Yep. If you don't have one, you've already lost more than a handful of sales. Don't waste any more time asking this question.

Phone books are dying (faster than newspapers; at least something is) and if a quick search doesn't result in a nice, clean page or full-blown site about your business, your prospect moves on to a business that does. Click, click is the opposite of clink, clink - the money drops in someone else's jar.

The good news is you don't need much. A Facebook page will do. So will Twitter, or another free/low cost option. But it's gotta be all YOU. Your business, that is.  If 'everybody' in town knows John Doe has the best cheese biscuits, that's great. But your personal Facebook page isn't going to introduce others to your talents, snag the catering order, or be top-of-mind when the gang's going to lunch. (Unless the gang's office is next door to your biscuit bistro.)

Case in point: a friend of mine was looking for a craniosacral massage therapist. She'd heard of one in town. A quick online search didn't reveal the local practitioner's name, but it listed several others. My friend called a therapist across town - 35 MILES across town - and has been there several times. That's called a lost opportunity, and it shouldn't have happened.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 
New to Fan Pages, need help managing yours, or determining how to use the right keywords in the right places? want to establish a free website or establish your business presence on Twitter? It's time - get started now.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 
If your business is local, HOW should you use Social Media? < next Local Gets Social tip.

~Diane Stresing

What's your newsletter done for you lately?

How many newsletters did you read this week? One from your local winery? bike shop? Did your corporate wellness program send you one? And did you read them?

I'm guessing you received more than you think; you read (at least the headline and possibly first graph of) almost every one. And even if you "just" touched delete on your slick phone screen, you thought - for a brief and shining moment - about the sender.

That's called mindshare. Get enough and you've got a brand. Do it right and you've got a valuable brand. 

But newsletters can do so much more than occupy an atom of your prospect's mind for a moment.

What else can newsletters do? 

Glad you asked.

Well-crafted newsletters can help train and develop employees, get new customers, retain your current clients, and improve your employee satisfaction rates - for a song.

Now I sound crazy, right? Well, give a crazy idea a chance. Done right, newsletters can help you reach your goals.

Regardless of their intended audience, the most effective and cost-effective newsletters are both timely and evergreen. Sound like a tall order? Well, I invite you to stretch with me.

Your newsletter can (and should)...

Be practical and just a tad inspirational. Employee newsletters reinforce (and sometimes replace!) training initiatives and remind everyone on the team that they are part of something bigger than themselves.

Increase sales. Newsletters directed at customers can increase sales, encourage referrals, and deliver coupons. Beyond that, they educate your clients, reduce unnecessary calls, and remind customers why they chose to shop with you in the first place – why they, too, are part of the team. But customer newsletters aren't the only newsletters that should add to your bottom line.  Employee newsletters can also increase sales. How? Have you ever been convinced (or just plain pressured) into buying an extended warranty for a new product, because the salesperson simply wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Maybe that contest was in his company's newsletter. Maybe he wants his name in the next newsletter under the "winners" column. And maybe, just maybe, an underperforming salesperson (or two) will read the list of winners and think, hurumph. I can do better than that.

Newsletters can tell stories, and stories build relationships. Remember newspapers? I bet you read the features, didn't you? The ones with a photo and a headline like, "The Reason I Became a Bottle Washer." Good stories - ones that ooze good news about your brand and have a human interest factor, to boot - are likely to get shared. Go viral, in other words. Another word to say viral advertising is "free" advertising. I bet you see where I'm going with this. Maybe you'll even share it :D

Do you have a newsletter? If you do, is it current? Is it working for you?
If you don't have a newsletter - does your competition?

~Diane Stresing

Related & really interesting
Does anyone read that long copy? Marcia Yudkin settles the long v. short debate.
Do you need a newsletter or a discussion list? One author vs. many contributors - it's your call.
Want a newsletter, but it's just too much work? Get help, get it done.

Quit sensationalizing news. Especially tragedies.

Of course we're all saddened and sick with grief and confusion over Monday's horrible tragedy in Chardon. Parents and teens probably feel it a little differently, but we all feel it. It's a human tragedy and a horrible thing. And I suppose, if I had a really magnanimous personality, I could excuse as "human nature" the news media's coverage of the event and its aftermath.

But I'm not that big-hearted or understanding. Even as I reeled from the shock of the initial reports, I was disgusted by my fellow journalists (?!) and their complete lack of respect for the victims' families, for the accused shooter(s), and for the privacy of witnesses who were certainly in a fragile state.

It's not how I was taught that professional journalists behave, and I wouldn't feel like one myself if I didn't state my objections publicly, somehow. There. This is it.

Shaking off my righteous indignation at the sorry state of my local news media (I have plenty left over for the national media) I have to say in this case, the platforms of Facebook and Twitter have been less sensational, and more humane and helpful, in their "coverage."

What can we do? I don't know. I'm sad and confused, like everyone else. I'm not giving up on the news media, and on journalists in general. I still believe it is a profession, and many will stand up to prove it, even now. More importantly, I have faith in our collective humanity, and believe that each of us will offer to others - friends, strangers, and even, especially, people we don't like or understand - an extra measure of kindness going forward. If that's through Facebook, OK. If it's a photo of a flower on a textbook on Pinterest, so be it. I won't be looking at local "reporting" vehicles for perspective on this tragedy, however.

______________________________________________ 
Live and let live

Is everything dead, except communication?

Yes.

Can you tell I'm fed up with doomsday headlines? For heaven's sake folks, newspapers are dead, Google+ is dead, e-mail marketing is dead, Facebook's barely breathing or maybe it's just sold its soul in anticipation of a going-out-with-style IPO. Oh, and today's teens are never going to learn how to talk to each other, thanks to that damn texting fad.

Communication isn't dead, folks. A hundred years ago (or so) when I was in J-school (when we still called it J-school, and OSU's J-school was still accredited) I was taught that breaking through "the clutter" and making sure your message was carefully targeted and repeated (nine times - seriously, that's what my notes say) was the only way to communicate because we suffered from such ungodly information overload.

That was before Al Gore invented the internet. When, if you said something off-mic, but the mic was really on, it probably took, like, three days for the story to make the rounds.

Journalism is changing, like everything else, and communication isn't dead. Those who give up on communicating, however, will die. To be clear, please know that I'm talking about businesses, not people.

Decide what your message is. Figure out who needs to hear it. And share your news. Then repeat it. Nine times.

The tools have changed, but good communication really hasn't gone up in smoke.

Five Book Marketing Mistakes I've Made (So Far)

Here are a few of the mistakes I've made while marketing my book, 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Cleveland. These are, of course, only the mistakes I KNOW I've made. I'm still learning. (I have a funny feeling this could become a multi-part series.)

1. Did too much homework
I spent hours (hours!) learning about bookplates, their uses, where they're printed, who might print them locally, how authors have used various designs, and recommended tech specs for printing. I think bookplates are a nice-to-have item, but frankly, I over-did the research. (Translation: wasted time.)


2. Didn't do enough homework
My first set of bookplates were very pretty, and generic. In fact, they were from the first vendor I found online when I searched for "bookplates." Like, duh. After all that research to find a nearby vendor and secure a reasonable price, ultimately, the best option for me was to order from BookplateInk. Sheesh.

3. Gave too freely, gave too little, or gave the wrong thing
When the first edition of my book was published, I followed the oft-heard advice to "give a copy to all of your friends." Well, there are some problems with that. First, which friends? No matter how excited I am about my book, it's financially unwise to hand a $17 book to each of my friends (even with my author discount). So I redefined "friend," this time looking critically at my contact list to select those who appeared to be most likely to tout the book to others, or (in a few cases) buy a bunch of books for other people. In other words, I learned to give to the friends of my book, but sadly, not to all of my friends.

I haven't mastered this yet. I try to be well-organized and yes, over-prepared, for book signings and other appearances, but still I find I'm loading the car in a rush at the last minute. A couple of times I have forgotten to bring along an extra copy of the book, which would have been a nice thank-you gift for the event host. That's more time-management (and Checklist Manifesto-type stuff) than book marketing know-how. The other side of the coin is book-marketing savvy. As in, what's the right thank-you gift for a book-signing host anyway? Perhaps it's not a book (many event hosts already have one) but a photo or notecards featuring one of the trails, instead. (Any book promotion experts out there?? Speak up - just, please, go beyond 'bookmark,' ok?)

4. Spent too much time on Facebook.
I'm still struggling with this one, too. Check out my Facebook page, where I waste a lot of time I could be spending on the trail. Or not.

5. Failed to maximize my face time 
As friend (and award-winning author) Debbie Alferio points out,* word of mouth is the best form of advertising. I've been too cautious about mentioning that I'm an author in the past, a habit I vow to correct before it's time to make New Year's resolutions.

I've also stumbled when promoting events. Once I lost a sale because I didn't show up early (aim to arrive at any signing at least 30 minutes in advance) and another time, I planned a GRAND event with another author... and turnout was abysmal because I didn't chat it up enough. I Facebooked** the heck out of it, though; yet another reminder the original social networking tools - your face! and your mouth! - are often more effective than newer ones.

I'm sure I'll discover many more mistakes I've made... but until I'm willing to admit them, what about you? Got any mistakes to share?


*OK, she wasn't the first to say so, but she makes the point eloquently in an upcoming guest post.

**I know it's not a verb. But you knew what I meant, didn't you?

You wrote what? Dream writing jobs and diaper duty

I've written catalog copy, Facebook status updates for clients, a mission statement, a tag line, captions to create a photo essay, and a few other things. But I've never written anything intended to appear on a diaper.

Yes, some people get paid to do such things. Check out Marcia Yudkin's Marketing Minute post today to find out more about diaper captions and other unusual writing opportunities.

If I could pick my dream job right now, I'd have to say penning all the data on those interesting little Pokemon character cards or developing names for Bakugan Brawlers. When I took my first copywriting course in college, I thought my dream job would be creating descriptions for Proctor & Gamble products. Instead, these days I'm writing stuff that's a lot closer to legal disclaimers for websites. Which I have not written, but I've edited. And you know what? As jobs go, it isn't that bad.

How about you?  

What's your dream writing job? 

Please leave a comment below or send a note via Twitter or Facebook. Oh, come on! I'm pretty sure you're sitting in front of a keyboard right now, and you probably like to write. Right? So... what do you dream of writing?

200+ Reasons Content Matters

There are a lot of experts willing to give advice about how to legitimately get your site higher in search engine rankings. When you boil it down, what they're all saying is that the most important thing to do is to build a good site. --SEO: Beware of the Dark Side. Lamont Wood, in ComputerWorld, May 31, 2011.

For an interesting and not-too-technical article posted earlier this week, CW's Lamont Wood interviewed folks who got in trouble for trying to cheat Google's page-ranking program, as well as Google execs, who shared as much info as the search gorilla is willing to provide about its page-ranking algorithms. Hint: they're based on about 200 factors, and counter to the commonly-held misconception, links aren't all that matter.

Content, if not quite king, is still the key element people want to find when they're searching.  Far better and considerably easier than trying to outsmart Google's algorithms: Nurture and grow a real audience by posting smart, interesting stuff on your Facebook pages, create (and manage) worthwhile Tweets, and invest in data-rich blogs that drive interested readers to your site.

Marketing (still) means reaching and cultivating your audience. Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter, are just some of the new tools you need to do it.

- - - - - - -

You don't have to spend time spinning your message on the web - I can do it for you.

Corporate blog posts, Twitter/Facebook account management +more

Think Social Media Isn't Worth the Time?

Is customer service a fad? I don't think so.

Is social media? Doubt it.

Business owners who don't "get" social media need to get a grip: customer service (translation, staying in business) and social media are inseparable.

If you don't show your customers some social media love, someone else will. And there's a very good chance, no matter how much they love you, you will be drowned out by the tsunami of other voices in the increasingly (digitally) social world.

Watch this, and you'll get it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8&feature=youtu.be

Show your customers some social media love, build relationships online, just don't go AWOL.

Need some help crafting your online message? It's probably easier and less expensive than you think.

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Watch Your Words, and Not Just on Facebook

What's in a word? Maybe clues to your personality, how many friends you have, and the future of your business.

Sure, this is partly to remind you of the value good writing ;)  but wait, there's more - in this great article about marketing and your approach to Facebook.

The Entreprenuer.com article will sound familiar to those who have really read How to Win Friends and Influence People, however, this article is based on analytic data, most of which was complied by folks at Facebook to analyze that site's business marketing opportunities. (Ad revenue makes the world go 'round, you know.)

The lesson in a nutshell? The words you choose matter, so choose carefully - and think before you share.
(Want to share this on Facebook? Click here - and thanks!)