Promoting Your Blog: Socialize It
There are a few simple ways to promote your blog through the social networks that you probably already use. I’m talking about LinkedIn, Plaxo and Facebook. Here’s a few things that I do to promote this blog to my network.
LinkedIn allows you to display up to three website links in your profile. To add a link to your blog,
1. Click on your profile page, choose the "Edit My Profile" tab, scroll part way down the page and click on "+ Add Websites".
2. At the top of the Additional Information page add the URL for your blog. If you choose "My Blog" from the pull-down menu, the words "My Blog" will appear on your profile page. But, if you choose "Other" from the pull-down menu, you can display the name of your blog on your profile page.
The result on your profile page looks like this:
Additionally, for each new blog entry, I enter the name of the entry in the "What are you working on?" window on the right. You have three visibility options for WRUWO: my connections, my network and everyone. I have this set on "everyone" to get the widest visibility for my blog.
When you’re done it will look like this:
Plaxo
By the number of connection requests that I have received recently, it seems that Plaxo is experiencing a rebirth. And it has a nice feature that allows you to share a variety of feeds with your network. I have it set up so that when there is a new blog entry, Plaxo automatically displays it. To do this:
1. On your Plaxo page, click the "My Profile" tab at the top, click on the "Edit Profile" tab and then "Shared Feeds" tab under "Edit Profile".
2. Click on "Blog" next to the orange RSS icon and enter the URL in the pop up. As with LinkedIn, you choose how widely you want to share your blog. Again, I cast the widest net by choosing "Public".
After completing these steps, each time you post a new entry to your blog, your network will see this:
Not all business people are on Facebook or, if they are, they don’t use it for business. But, what the heck, I’m connected to colleagues on Facebook as well as the other sites, so I want to promote The Science of Marketing there, too. Facebook allows you to import a blog through the Notes applications. To do this:
1. Download the Notes application.
2. Click on "Applications" on the left, scroll down and click on "Notes".
3. On the right side of the Notes page, click on "Import a blog" under "Notes Settings".
4. Enter a web site, or better yet, an RSS feed URL into the box next to "Web URL:". For example, the RSS feed for this blog is http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/feed/. Then click the box next to "By entering a URL…" legal stuff.
Now each person in your network that has"All Friends" chosen for his Notes application will see this:
But, just to make sure everyone know that I have just posted a new blog entry, write the name of the entry into my Status Update like this:
So, what do you do to promote your blog on social networks?
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May 8th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Hi Jeff,
Bravo, bravo to the most prolific web-based marketing guru out there! I’m not online too often lately, though when so, your extensive and comprehensive blog entries catch my attention and educate me. How are you?
By the way; recently while cleaning out a drawer, I discovered an interesting flyer. The flyer is a menu marketing a business in your area that impressed me when I discovered it originally after taking a detour off 495 on my way to Cranes Beach one fine summer day over fifteen years ago.
Now mind you, this flyer is practically antique in today’s terms, of a vintage long before the advent of the internet. Yet, as a consumer this little business’s marketing tool impressed me to the extent that I took the time to save their flyer and to tuck it away safely (so safely for that matter that I forgot about it!)
Nevertheless, as regular visits to the area are rare I decided to place a call, imagining the worse case scenario that they would no longer be in business and some mysterious unknown entity would answer. Instead, it was gratifying to hear a friendly woman cheerfully answer the phone and greet me with, “Good Afternoon, Nason’s Stone Farm…”
Upon striking up a conversation, I asked how things were going for her business and why she isn’t marketing and selling online. She responded that like many things right now, things were slow and resources are stretched yet they were hanging in there with steady loyal customers.
You probably know this already; their brown bread has a rich, succulent, flavorful texture when warmed and slathered with creamy butter is guaranteed to please the palate and sure to complement most any entree.
Now, the moral of this little diatribe of mine is that if you have the right product, an appropriate niche and you provide consistent quality and service, your brand with all it’s associated warmth and old-fashioned goodness will take on a life all it’s own.
Remember when you introduced me to MONSTER thirteen or so years ago? Now MONSTER has powered the renaissance of Maynard’s economic engine and is in large part responsible for improving and diversifying the quality of life in that community.
Branding evolves naturally to some extent from delivering basic results. It is the outgrowth of simply and unequivocally fulfilling needs. Both Nason’s and MONSTER are examples of businesses that combine and deliver successful ingredients that achieve results. And results of course, are the most essential ingredient for successful branding.
What do you think about this?
Thanks for listening, Jeffrey. I hope all is well with you, Diane and the family.
Sincerely,
Andrew
May 8th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Andrew-
No need to thank me. I’m the one who would like to thank you for reading and commenting.
Certainly, as you point out, consistently delivering something of value is the essence of brand. But you still may need to get the word out to raise awareness. Then the important thing here is that the claim (your articulation of brand) can’t contradict the customer experience (the value your products or services deliver). My partner, Todd, discusses this here:
http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/messaging/getting-the-brand-back-together-consistency/