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When Kings Get Stuck Their Own Kingly Story . . . MSM, Blogging, and Social Media

Filed Under Marketing, Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 3 Comments

Step Away from Your Thinking

The Living Web

In a conversation yesterday about the decline of print newspapers, my husband asked a simple question . . .

My Husband: They report the news. It’s their business. Why didn’t they see it?

ME: Some did. But mainstream media kings believed in the power of the monarchy.

When kings reign over a silent audience, they might believe they have the only voice. The sound of other voices could become unconceivable. It’s easy to see how they might get stuck in their own story.

Another Kingdom that Wasn’t Listening

Two hundred years ago, a king thought he had the only voice that mattered . . .

In 1775 relations were souring between England and the American colonies. Colonists felt overtaxed and treated unfairly. Still looking to save the union, the colonists extended an Olive Branch Petition to King George III.

We your Majesty’s faithful subjects of the colonies of New-hampshire, Massachusetts-bay, . . . in behalf of ourselves and the inhabitants of these colonies, who have deputed us to represent them in general Congress, entreat your Majesty’s gracious attention to this our humble petition.

The union between our Mother Country and these colonies, and the energy of mild and just government, produced benefits so remarkably important, and afforded such an assurance of their permanency and increase, that the wonder and envy of other Nations were excited, while they beheld Great Britain riseing to a power the most extraordinary the world had ever known.

George III refused it. He issued a Proclamation of Rebellion. He called them traitors

Whereas many of our subjects in divers parts of our Colonies and Plantations in North America, misled by dangerous and ill designing men, and forgetting the allegiance which they owe to the power that has protected and supported them; after various disorderly acts committed in disturbance of the publick peace, to the obstruction of lawful commerce, and to the oppression of our loyal subjects carrying on the same; have at length proceeded to open and avowed rebellion, by arraying themselves in a hostile manner, to withstand the execution of the law, and traitorously preparing, ordering and levying war against us: . . .

A year later the colonies signed, The Declaration of Independence.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Each year on July 4, the United States of America celebrates the independence won in the war this document declared. Suppose George III had listened?

When Kings Get Stuck in Their Own Kingly Story

Kings, contrarians, politicians . . . celebrities, bloggers, CEOs . . . preachers, teachers, all of us . . . when we start believing our own kingly stories, we stop listening to the people around us.

We start sorting their voices as we would have them. We stop thinking. We stop remembering that we don’t get to pick how other folks will be.

When the MSM media might have listened, they were selling their own story. Citizen journalist became less than a compliment — it was term to spin their story. What if they’d put down their kingly story?

Now the MSM castle is undergoing expensive renovation.
No kingly group is immune from narrow vision.
Even the most wonderful story can’t control the conversation.

What sort of listening strategy will keep us from getting stuck in our own story?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Buy the ebook and get your best voice in the conversation.

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7 Ways to a Remarkably Powerful, Personal Network of Bloggers

Filed Under Basics, Business Life, Successful Blog | 14 Comments

How to Make Friends with a Blogger

relationships button

Just this week someone was saying to me how surprised they were to find that bloggers are such helpful people. That got me thinking about how much all of you have been for me.

So much of what blogging has been for me is been the relationships that have started in comment box, A network of blogger friends is the hugest benefit of this hobby of communicating with everyone who stumbles upon our url. The folks we meet on our blogs are now the people with whom we’re doing business and sharing our goals.

People say that I’m a connector, here’s how those connections came about.

7 Ways to a Remarkably Powerful, Personal Network of Bloggers

If you want to meet and connect with bloggers, you have to go where bloggers hang out — blogs, blog meet ups, and social networking groups that are blogger haunts. When you get there, know a few things about what we bloggers have in common so that you’ll feel comfortable having something to talk about. Here are seven ways to connect with bloggers.

  1. Use blogrolls. Bloggers are always clicking and connecting. We know the most efficient ways to get from place or person to another. Bloggers recognize like minds quickly and value the connections when we find one. Use the blogrolls on the blogs you read to find new blogs to widen your circle.

  2. Promote bloggers who have great thoughts. The best form of connecting is to show folks what we value about them by sharing it publicly with our friends. We live on the web — a connected set of linked up urls. Link to bloggers who talk about what you’re interest in and you’ll find they’ll be interested in you. Don’t just concentrate on A-Listers. Great thinkers are writing on blogs that just started yesterday. You can help them get going.

  3. Ask for help with a problem. Bloggers are flexible and agile. We’ve picked up the latest and adapt them to our needs — sometimes in ways that the developers hadn’t imagined. When you visit new blogs check the structure as well as the content, when you have a problem connect, connect, connect with bloggers. A blogger will know how to help. A simple question in a contact box with the words “Can you point me in the direction of the answer . . .” will often start a new relationship.

  4. Do something to change the world. Bloggers love to make things better. One of the quickest ways to connect with bloggers is to design and announce a realistic, altruistic plan to improve or support a cause for someone else.

  5. Avoid the wrong side of the links. Some bloggers aren’t the sort to connect up with. Keeping an eye on our zeal to connect is always a good idea. Spam and advertorial content is all some slimy bloggers ever offer. Those connections make a network weaker.

  6. Value every second someone shares with you. Bloggers guard their time. We spend time writing great content, tweaking our blogs and talking to each other. Be authentic, be thoughtful, and be generous when you say hello that very first time. . . . and every time after.

  7. Remember the people; forget the press. A blogger’s life changes quickly over time. In a few months, we can go from being a “newbie” to being someone folks want to know. The first notice by a big search engine, the first time we show up on a top ten list, the first page ranking at Google — these are our academy awards. When it happens to you, don’t let it change who you are. People don’t change their algorithms nearly as often as Google does.

So there they are 7 ways to connect with bloggers to form a remarkably powerful personal network. What they really say is Be real and be about the folks you want to connect with. Show up as who you are from the first moment and you’ll find folks will start wanting to connect to you.

Know any other hints I should add to the list?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Would you like to work with Liz to build your network?

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B.A.D. Bloggers, Leah Jones and Jeremiah Owyang on the Strategy of Listening to the Web

Filed Under Interviews, Successful Blog | 10 Comments

Bloggers About Dialogue

BAD Blogger Button

Ask a blogger why he or she started blogging and it’s likely you’ll hear that it had to do with sharing a wealth of knowledge and finding an audience to teach. I enjoyed a conversation last night with a blogger who had been blogging for 5 years and she told me that she started for every same reasons. It’s information sharing that gets us here. But it’s the conversation with real people that keeps us engaged and building communities — for our businesses and as part of our lives.

Though we participate in the conversations on our blogs and others, two of our own Successful and Outstanding Bloggers were extending the conversation to the folks who don’t necessarily do that.

Have you met Leah Jones and Jeremiah Owyang?

Leah Jones in the Chicago Tribune November 23, 2007

Look there’s Leah Jones, above the fold on the front page of the Business Section of the Chicago Tribune!

Leah Jones, Conversation Analyst for Edelman in Chicago and Jeremiah Owyang, Senior Analyst for Social Computing at Forrester Research were featured in a piece called, “You talk, they hear on web.” by Tribune staff reporter, Eric Benderoff.

Here’s a virtual article base on what these two prominent bloggers had to say. The questions are mine. The answers are from the article text. [Please note: These quotes are presented dynamically with an eye to maintaining the speakers’ original intent, despite this new context. My hope is to offer a closer glimpse of the blogger behind the words. The original, must-read article carries the full story.]

Leah, what does a conversation analyst really do?

“I pay attention to what people say online,” said Leah Jones. . . “My job is research and education,” Jones said. “I do a lot of small group training on social media.”

So, do you talk as well as listen?

“To get a true sense of what people are saying on blogs or in forums, we don’t get involved in the conversations,” Jones said. . . . “If I e-mail a blogger, I tell them ‘I’m Leah, I work at Edelman and I’m writing you because … ,’ ” she said.

So what are you looking to do with and for your clients?

“When we look at 2008, we’re asking, ‘What’s our news? What’s our online strategy? What are our conversation strategies?’” Jones said.

Jeremiah spoke on social media strategies as well.

Jeremiah, what’s the key to social media strategy?

“If you have a social media strategy, you need the right people,” said Jeremiah Owyang.

Why did you say 2008 will be an important year for social media?

“For the first time, you will start to see budgets set aside for social media strategies and processes,” he said. . . . Later he added that “As customers get more involved, expect their feedback to shape new products.”

Both of these bloggers are genuine and engaging conversationalists, who set aside their own thoughts to listen in to what we are saying, to learn where the conversation will go.

Leah and Jeremiah, you are B.A.D. Bloggers! Thanks for taking the conversation to the world of print.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. blogger page

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The Secret to a Successful and Outstanding Blog

Filed Under Motivation/Inspiration, SOB Business, Successful Blog | 22 Comments

Once upon a time in the real world, I started a blog. . . .

I thought it was going to be a writer’s project. I’ve been wrong before, plenty of times, but I don’t think I was ever quite so spectacularly off. I thought a blog would offer me a place to practice my writing and maybe allow me a chance to offer a thought. I thought a blog was a flat surface for communication. That’s not what I found.

I found the secret to a successful blog is more, and more touching than that.

calculator for head

Readers come for the information in a blog post. There’s no question of that. Readers read what writers write and writers write to teach, inform, entertain, mystify, motivate, and inspire. Every word we write, every idea we construct to share, moves from our minds to others on a fine silver thread of digital thought.

Still the thoughts alone would be sad and lonely without a heart to back them up.

heart box for heart

It’s the heart and the passion that fuel the words, make the magnetic. It’s the heart that plays the beat that resonates to bring readers back. Even when our hearts find themselves in distant places, we still recognize our humanity and our relatedness. When we write with our heads and hearts together, people notice.

Heads engaged, hearts beating, a blog has power.

collage for meaning of life

A truly successful and outstanding blog also has meaning. Somehow, in some way to each individual, a successful and outstanding blog makes a difference by adding something of value to being one who visits. You might call that spirit. You might call that direction or focus. I call that soul.

The soul of a blog is carried by the person who writes it and the folks who come to read it too.

That’s what I found, a successful and outstanding blog is head, heart, and soul. It’s all of what makes us human and worth paying attention to. Bring it who you are and the folks you meet will help you become more.

I know. It happened to me. It happens again every day.

Thank you to everyone who has made this our successful blog.

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Reality Check from Kent Newsome

Filed Under Business Life, Customer Think, Guest Writer | 12 Comments

Pass It On

Sometimes a sentence jumps out and grabs me by the ears. It’s always something easily forgotten so simply and elegantly said that I must pass it on.

Those who promote blogging for one thing or another always pretend that corporate non-tech America has or is about to embrace blogging, when the reality is that other than email, corporate non-tech America hasn’t even embraced the internet. –Kent Newsome

How many ways do we only see ourselves?

Thank you, Kent!

–ME ‘Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

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