Successful Blog

The Mic Is On: We’re Talking About Fruitcakes!

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It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

Who doesn’t have a theory about where they came from?

The floor is open … but this fruitcakes is sold out.

And, whatever else comes up, including THE EVER POPULAR, Basil the code-writing donkey . . . and flamenco dancing (because we always get off topic, anyway.)

Oh, and bring example links.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
image: www.classic-fruitcake.com
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The 26th Trait and Maybe the Most Imporant …

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Yesterday I wrote about 25 Traits I Admire about Social Media Folks.
Today I realize I should have made it 26 …
This last trait isn’t complicated.
So hang with me as I lay it out.

26. The social media folks I admire …
don’t take their personal value from some list — not a list that anyone makes — certainly not a list made by me.

For those of you who might wonder . . . I admire far, far more than 25 people and NONE of the people I admire use back channels to talk down other people. They respect themselves too much for that.

Thank you to everyone who took what I said in the joyful way it was intended.

Remember this, to include people isn’t the same as leaving people out.

If you know me, you know my heart.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

A Metaphor: When a Brand New Blog Flowers

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Guest Post by Stefan Knapen

I hope that while so many people are out smelling the flowers, someone is taking the time to plant some. – Herbert Rappaport

I was thinking, is the opposite happening to blogging? So many blog planters, but are there enough people to smell the blog flowers?

The problem is that readers don’t know where the great flower beds are. In the great field of flowers, it is getting harder and harder to find the unique and thriving flowers, those that keep growing, and keep showing more and more unique and compelling content.

See your blog as a flower — a single forget me not. Give it water, new posts, frequently. Make sure it grows and grows. Don’t be shy to invite people see it. And after waiting, the one who finds it will tell other people to come smell that flower. And the scent of that flower will become known. Your blog is being read more.

The conversation is like seeds and spores on the wind. Given to each other, everywhere. But it isn’t the beginning of a new flower, but it can be the beginning of a new post. So it can be fruitful.

Are there enough people to smell the flowers? Maybe yes, maybe no.

But there are too many small flowers. So for flower to be found in the big field, you have to wait and make it noticeable. Make sure your flower will be seen.

Do something with every seed and spore of conversation you get. Use those words to inspire you to grow your blog even bigger, even better. And after that your blog will be the prettiest flower field of flowers because you used what you had.


Stefan writes as The Dutch SchoolKid

——————
Stefan,
Your comments on this blog have often inspired thoughts that are like flowers to me.
Thank you for this.

How do you keep your flowers growing, thriving, and blooming?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Images: sxc.hu
Work with Liz!!

25 Traits Of Twitter Folks I Admire and 25 Folks Who Have Them

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Conversation, Relationship, Then Transaction

Those of us who’ve read the Cluetrain Manifesto and experience community working together have no desire to go back to a transaction-based business model ever. We see the value of working with people we know, like, and trust. And as we learn how to use the tools, we don’t lack people to connect with to get our business done.

Certain signs and characteristics seem to show in the folks who live the social media culture. Certain value and actions make people who care about having relationships and conversation before transactions easy to spot. I’ve listed 25 traits of Twitter Folks I admire.

These social media folks …

  1. don’t seek to be the center of any universe.
  2. find great conversations and get to know the people there.
  3. realize that every venue has it’s own culture and rules.
  4. do their own talking and their own listening.
  5. talk mostly about the accomplishments of others.
  6. ask intriguing questions that invite others to join the conversation.
  7. don’t worry when folks don’t respond to something they say.
  8. have time for new friends, talk to them, listen to them, read their sites and bios, ask them questions — avoid assumptions.
  9. have a different conversation with every individual and every business.
  10. take embarrassing or private conversations offline.
  11. are inclusive and encourage folks who exclude people to exclude themselves.
  12. shout out good news, help in emergencies, and celebrate with everyone.
  13. say please, thank you, and you’re welcome, and mean them.
  14. are incredibly curious about what works, what doesn’t work, seek feedback often, and look to improve what they do.
  15. study the industry and trends, watch how things occur, share information about those freely, but never break a trust.
  16. offer advice when people ask. Help whenever they can.
  17. aren’t “shameless.” Ask for help in ways that folks are proud to pitch in.
  18. are constantly connecting people and ideas in business conversations that are helpful, not hypeful.
  19. get paid to strategize business, build tactical plans, but won’t “monetize” relationships.
  20. ignore the trolls.
  21. keep their promises.
  22. can be transparent without being naked … most of us look and behave best in public with our clothes ON.
  23. listen to the hive mind, but think their own thoughts.
  24. send back channel “hellos” to friends when there’s no time to talk.
  25. understand that the Internet is public and has no eraser.

The relationships with people — social in social media — is what is changing things. It makes a business experience worth looking forward to and turns a transaction into a relationship. It’s different online because I can’t see you. When I meet folks who make that distance and darkness disappear, I respect and admire them.

Updated slightly for to replace those who’ve gone.

Of course, I admire @@chrisbrogan, @guykawasaki, @problogger and the others you already have read on every other list. I’d like to add some great social stars that you might not know yet. Here are 25 more great conversationalists I admire and learn from every day.
@LucretiaPruitt
@BethHarte
@MackCollier
@AmberCadabra
@ShannonPaul
@mark_hayward
@zaneology
@Tojosan
@AaronStrout
@nanpalmero
@hdbbstephen
@rainesmaker
@SheilaS
@DanielleSmithTV
@caroljsroth
@remarkablogger
@melissapierce
@BeckyMcCray
@jnswanson
@BawldGuy
@inspiremetoday
@jasonfalls
@northernchick
@ernohannink
@jonathanfields
@joannapaterson

I suspect you’ll enjoy their conversation as much as I do.
Feel free to add your own 25 to the list or make a list of your and link it back to here.
Great folks are worth celebrating.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

If You Remove the Social from Social Media Tools …

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Hammersmith or Nail Banger?

This weekend on Twitter, I passed along Beth Harte and Geoff Livingston’s fabulous post, Top 25 Ways to Tell if Your Social Media Expert is a Carpetbagger. I encourage you to read it.

Not everyone who does things differently than we might have them do it is a carpetbagger. I’m sure Beth, Goeff, Jason, Chris, Amber, Mack, or any other well-respected social media adviser would agree with that statement. Individuals and individual companies need to find their own voice and their own path.

Yet in this fast growing context and culture of experiments and experiences, the chance is high that folks may not have found the information they need for every decision. The world is full of “Swiss cheese knowledge.” Some folks get taught by bad teachers. Some things get past all of us.

Add to that the creativity factor, the drive for innovation, and the necessity that is the mother of invention. Experimentation is a good thing, especially as we test new tools. No one gets to pick who’s qualified to experiment and who’s not.

I’ve used a wooden-heeled shoe to pound a nail when I didn’t have a hammer.

What happens when the experiments change the nature of the tools?

If You Remove the Social … What’ve You Got?

Social media tools — blogs, social networks, Twitter, Facebook, Ning — what happens when you take out the social and just use the tool? What happens when messages and conversations become automated and future dated? What have you got if you don’t know whether you’re responding to a person or a bot?

It’s a fair question.

Some folks see the world with a different filter. They find uses for books and hammers that I’d never imagine. Some folks find uses for social media tools that, in my mind bypass the social. Allow me three extreme — of course no one actually does these things — metaphors to explain what I mean. Here are three people who would surely not see the social in social media tools.

  1. The person who sends a singing telegram rather than meet for coffee. That person probably won’t understand why socially inclined social media advisers don’t take to auto responders.
  2. The person who enters into a new neighbor’s house, saying “Cool boxes! Glad you picked my neighborhood! Check out my roller skate store.” That person probably won’t see the problem folks have with a “Just found you. Will you review my blog?” requests that come before “hello” has been mentioned.
  3. The person who interrupts people at parties to hand out business cards might not put together why a Twitter profile page filled with his / her website links and no @ signs would be considered unsocial.

Don’t get me wrong. Tools are meant to solve problems and experiementing is how we learn. Guy Kawasaki says there’s no wrong way to use tools such as Twitter. Within reason I have to agree.

I’m just sayin’ … when I use a wooden-heeled shoe to pound a nail, I’ve not become a hammersmith or a journeyman carpenter. I’m a nail banger who reconfigured a shoe.

For a hammer to be hammer, its design, function, and use involves setting nails. When I use a hammer as leg on a artfully made table, it’s no longer a hammer. It becomes a table leg.

The primary design, function, and uses of social media tools involve community, conversation, and relationships. A social media advisor brings social skills, relationships, and conversation into the mix. Without using the tools as they were designed, the tools change into something else.

If you remove the social from social media tools, what have you got? More Internet Marketing tools. Spammers and bots figured that out.

Scary thought.

How do we keep the social in social media tools?

If you disagree with what I’m saying, please set me straight. If you agree, please help me explain.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!