Social Media Ninjas Unite! {Part 2}

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I’ll continue on with my take on the Social Media Ninja session at Relevant 2011. In case you missed it you can find part 1 here.

Courtney from Women Living Well picked up where Lisa-Jo left off.  Courtney shared that vlogging became her purple cow.  Purple cow is a reference to Seth Godin’s idea that a purple cow stands out from all the rest of the black and white cows.

Purple Cow
Courtney’s challenge to us was to be remarkable.  Boring is risky.
Content is king when it comes to vlogging and here are her tips on making great videos:
  • Smile
  • Plan what you are going to say and say it outloud before recording.
  • Just go with it.
  • Be interesting. Be remarkable.
  • Be you (God made you unique)

Oh and don’t forget to make sure you watch your video before you post it.  Make sure the lighting looks good and you can hear yourself well.

“Good is the enemy of great.”

Milk that (purple) cow for all it’s worth.
  • Be unique
  • It takes hard work (don’t think it will be easy)
  • Give it time to grow
  • Do research

Such great tips from a woman who really knows vlogging.  Be sure to check out some of her vlogs on her site.  You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

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Social Media Ninjas Unite! {a.k.a what I learned at #Relevant11 about social media}

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Ninja Sword Training on the Beach at Rick Tew's NinjaGym™ Martial Arts Training and Fitness Camp in Thailand

Last week at this time I was at Relevant soaking in all I could about blogging and social media.  Really what I got out of it all was far more about the heart of blogging than the steps to take to become a super star social media expert.

My heart behind this blog is to be a source for moms to learn and have their questions answered {yes, I’ve had a baby smear poop on the crib… that was your question right?}.  I also love to share the latest and greatest finds that make life easier and more fun for moms, babies and kids (in other words giving “mommy kudos” to great products. Clever eh?).  So in order to serve moms well I need to know how to utilize social media to get the word out and I need to be able to do it well.

Enter {drum roll please} the Social Media Ninja session at Relevant.  We all dressed up in black and learned how to sneak attack you with our stealth ninja twitter skills.  Not really, but I did learn an awful lot and I thought I would share what I took away from it.

Lisa-Jo from The Gypsy Mama {seriously love her blog!} shared some great insight into the why and hows behind social media skills.  I love these quotes and bits of encouragement from her:

Beware the social media itch; scratching can feed the itch of “me” like nothing else.

Social Media is neither good nor bad.  It’s how we use it.

Everything we write can honor this scripture:

Phillipians 4:8
whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.

Social Media is:

  1. A conversation
  2. Circle of friends
  3. business opportunity
  4. mission field
  5. new to live out the commandment to love one another as Christ loves

Proverbs 16:24
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

It takes a long time to build up your online reputation; but moments to ruin it.

What makes a compelling social media conversation?   When it is about:

Relationship not solicitation
Conversation not pitch
Community not individuals
Giving not selling

“The only currency that matters in social media is relationship.  People are people are people.”

Conversation:

Find your online voice
Understand your gifts
Be generous
Watch your motivation
Be a friend
Be spontaneous
beware the “inside” voice

Like all rules of great conversation, be sure to listen as much, if not more, than you speak.

Think about this: When you add up all of your tweets what does it sound like?

She {hearts} Twitter #Bigtime {So do I}.  Ways to use Twitter:

  • twitter parties
  • tweet chat
  • #hashtags for real and for fun
  • networking
  • listening in
  • easy retweets
  • friends don’t let friends tweet mad
  • know when to quit

An individual platform is never as powerful as a mobilized, energized, inspired community.

What you give, sell or pitch online should never be more important than what you give

 Stop worrying about the people who aren’t at your table (following you, reading).  Feed the people who are.

So good right?!  My take away from Lisa-Jo’s part was that we really need to be genuine and care far more about the people we are communicating with than what we are trying to get them to do for us.  It’s all about relationship!!  For more of Lisa-Jo’s awesomeness follow her on twitter @thegypsymama or find her on Facebook.

Check out part 2 here.

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Loving The New Design!

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If you were a Kristin’s Review follower you know that there have been BIG changes around here.  For one thing the name is completely different and is now more appropriate for what goes on here.  Secondly, the design of the site has completely changed.  That is thanks to Danielle a.k.a The Design Girl.

I hired her to design my blog and she did a fabulous job!  I shared with her my vision and she took it to the next level with her ideas.  I absolutely LOVE it and I hope you do too!

If you are in the market for a new blog design or redesign be sure to consider Danielle!  I think you will be very happy if you do.

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For Blogging Newbies: How to Get Traffic and Followers

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I haven’t been at this blogging thing for very long but I have been successful at getting followers and have been asked by several people how I did it so quickly.  So I thought I would share how it can be done. I did a LOT of reading initially to find out the best ways to get followers.  Hopefully all the work I put into figuring it out myself can help you too.

You may have an amazing blog that has great advice or information that others would love to have but if you do not have followers then no one knows all of the great things you have to offer.  You need to do some work to bring people to your site so that they can see what your site is all about.  If you have a new blog and you are wanting to build a following here is what I have found that worked for me.

1. Blog Hops
Blog Hops are a great way to get some exposure for your blog.  You can add your blog to the list and then start “hopping” to other blogs.  Make sure that when you visit and follow someone else from the Hop that you leave a comment on their blog telling them you came from the Hop and that you are following them.  That way they know to come check out your blog and follow you if they like what they see.  The Fugal Free Gal has a great Master List of Blog Hops in the right sidebar at the top of her blog.  There are different Hops for every day of the week so join the ones that interest you and start hopping.

There is a lot of talk amongst bloggers these days about whether or not it is appropriate or desired to build followers by following other people and getting them to follow you.  Sometimes you can build up followers but not actually have those people read your blog on a regular basis.  Everyone definitely wants regular readers but often times, in order to have regular readers, you need people to discover your blog. I suggest joining the blog hops that are closely related to your type of blog, following people who’s blogs you really like and leaving them a comment that is not just a request for them to follow you.  Actually read a bit of their blog and comment on their material genuinely.  You can include a link to your blog and they can check it out and follow you if they would like.  Do it with the intent of being friendly and helping them build their blog as well as wanting that same thing for your blog.

2. Twitter
If you haven’t already then I suggest you sign up for a Twitter account using your blog name. Be sure to put a short description and a link to your blog in your profile on Twitter. I get lots of traffic with every blog post because I share my links on Twitter. 

Making friends on Twitter is pretty easy to do.  You can search Twitter for subjects that you blog about (say baking, for instance) and then follow the people who have interesting things to say about that subject.  I have found that most people like to follow you back on twitter and once you have a following they will see whenever you “tweet” that you have a new post on your blog. Be generous with your follows and you will get others to follow you too.  Twitter also suggests people for you to follow once you start following others. Also, if you read something great from one of your followers retweet it.  The more you tweet the more exposure you will get and the more people will see your name and be interested in checking out your blog too. 

3. Social Networks for Bloggers
There are quite a few Social Networks that are a great place to meet other bloggers and get some exposure for your own blog. You can sign up and create a profile with information about yourself and your blog.  Then you can visit forums and make friends.  There is lots of great information on these sites to help you with blogging.  You can ask questions and start discussions.  The more active you are on these sites the more exposure you and your blog get.  Some of them even have groups you can join where everyone helps each other increase their followers. Here are a few of the Social Networks I recommend (in no particular order): Blog Frog, Mom Bloggers Club, Blog Her

4. Voting Sites
If you look on my blog on the lower right side of the page I have links to sites like Picket Fence Blogs and Top Baby Blogs.  I recommend that you sign up at these sites to list your blog and then place their buttons on your site.  The button will give you a vote every time someone clicks on it from your blog.  You can ask your friends to vote for you by clicking on your button.  Other people who go to these sites can come across your blog and read what it is about and the more votes you get the higher up on the list you get.

I hope this information helps!  Happy Blogging!

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