Successful Blog

Thanks to Week 152 SOBs

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Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

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They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. The award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

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Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB Business Cafe 09-19-08

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SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Seth’s Blog offers a thought on noisy people.
Should you listen to the loud ones, the ones who call the sports radio stations to complain about the pitching, the ones who post websites about your lousy service, the ones who organize nationwide boycotts?

Talking Story weaves a lesson about friendship and learning.
I find I am thinking about friendship, and what it has done for me over the course of my life.

Punctuality Rules gives journalism new meaning.
Did you ever really think about the fact that “Journalist” has two completely separate meanings?

Blogsessive rocks on blogging.
Have you ever wondered what was it that made blogging turn into such a mass phenomenon, with billions of bloggers and readers spread all over the world?

spatially Rrelevant is inviting community intelligence.
If you find it particularly useful, feel free to let some folks know about it. The concepts in the book are a continuing area of interest for both Sheryl and me, so feedback appreciated.

Pistachio sheds more light on listening.
Any brand looking to “get” social media must learn to listen, first. People are talking about your company, brands and products. They’re also discussing preferences and desires about the market your product serves.

Essential Keystrokes shows the gymnastic skills of WordPress.
The first decision I had to make was whether to code the new WordPress site from scratch or to use another theme as a base.

Related ala carte selections include

zefrank rejiggers his own memory game.
based on your advice here is an updated version of the Flickr Memory Game :: if you have the time i would love your advice on making it better ::

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Dear ANYONE, If You Want a Blogger’s Attention . . .

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Spam Ain’t the Way

Recently, I received the 4th unfortunate, attention-getting email from the same PR firm in NYC. I took the following screenshot of the subject line.

Expert Available Email Headline

To the first email in the series, which ran about 6 pages long, I responded,

“To a blogger, this is spam.”

The reply was stunning.

“We only want to help, not hurt

I will read you more often

Please give me your url”

What?

How could you have read me at all, if you didn’t have my url?

If You Want a Blogger’s Attention . . .

If you want to get someone’s undivided attention, here’s what you do.

  • Make it personal.
  • Make it valuable.
  • Make it relevant.
  • Make it clear that you’re not going to waste time while you say it.
  • Make it your message about them, not about you.
  • Make it short and say thank you.

In this case, here’s a message that might have worked.

Subject Line:
Social Media and Successful and Outstanding Boomer Businesses

Dear Liz,
I know you write about social media. I also know you’re passionate about small business. I’d like to offer an idea.

If you’re looking for a guest post written with wit and insight, we have a client who helps boomers use social media to save their small town businesses. She’d jump at a chance to tailor a blog post to your audience. I’d love to talk to you about it. Email me or call if you think this would bring value to your readers.

Thanks for what you do on Successful-Blog,
PR Person
Title: She who wants to write to 5 bloggers rather than blast 500

I’m sure I missed something. What would you add to the list?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

What Possible Benefit Could Anyone Get from a Blog?

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Starting a Conversation Offline

The Living Web

This spring I’ve made it a mission to reconnect with the people doing business outside the Internet. They represent most of the people on this blue planet. It only makes sense that to grow my business, most of my customers will come from that group. I want to understand how they view the Internet. So I started finding gatherings where I could have conversations and learn things. I went looking for patterns and what they seem to reveal.

What I see is a huge gap.

You’ve probably seen it too.

Many business people I met seem to see the Internet as interactive TV. They imagine it works something like a television news room. The virtual connectedness and the personal / business relationships don’t come through. What they describe is an endeavor separate, possibly equal, but unrelated to what they do.

They still hear the word blog and the look in their eyes gets a little glassy. So I’m off to BlogWorld to give a presentation. Sure hope to meet you there, but be prepared, I’m going to be asking . . .

How do you tell people of the benefits of blogging?

Sure am interested in your answer.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Patterns of Bad Social Media Behaviors

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In my email this week was a leadership statement from Vincent Wright, Social Media Consultant, man I admire. If you’re on MyBlogLog or Twitter, you may have met him. If you haven’t yet, look for him. You’ll know you’ve found the Wright guy when you see his Wright hand avatar over there.

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Bad Social Media Teachers
by Guest Writer Vincent Wright

In each social media environment, there are patterns of behavior.

There are good patterns of behavior.

There are bad patterns of behavior.

Social media owners, moderators, and group participants recognize both the good and bad patterns of behavior.

Those who seek to use social media platforms for their intended usage, enjoy witnessing those who use social media the right way.

Those who seek a more self-centered purpose — even to the detriment of the platforms they are on — use social media poorly, and jeopardize the platform for all users.

The first group could be called social media environmentalists.

The second group could be called a whole bunch of names — none worthy of sharing with a “PG 13” audience.

But, think about this: patterns of behavior don’t just come into existence without a cause, without a stimulus.

Someone must conceive, create, and cause the propagation of both the good and the bad behaviors we see.

If we see what I call “profile stamping” on Ning, where a member will go to dozens upon dozens of profiles and stamp the same banal message with the same graphic over and over and over, some bad social media teacher taught them to do that.

If we see what I call ” ‘hi’ stamping” on Yahoo Groups, where hundreds of members attempt to sign up for private, moderated groups just by saying, “Hi”, some bad social media teacher taught them to do that.

If we see what I call “toll boothing “ on Linkedin, where some “enterprising” Linkedin member wants to charge you a fee for a service that is free, some bad social media teacher taught them to do that.

If we see what I call “invitationitis” rampant on any number of social media platforms, where people without any modicum of self-control seem to indiscriminately invite just for the heck of inviting, some bad social media teacher taught them to do that.

There is no shortage of other bad social media behavior we could add to the above list – feel free to add yours – but, I love that the word “teach” literally means “to show”. So, if someone is showing you bad social media behavior then, they are bad social media teachers.

And this, too: since the word teach means to show, what are you teaching those who are watching what you’re showing them on these social media platforms?

Vincent Wright
Social Media Consultant
Twitter.com/VincentWright | Linkedin.com/in/VincentWright |
MyLinkingPowerForum.com | MyVirtualPowerForum.com | MyLinkedinPowerForum.com
My Virtual Power Forum on Li Groups | http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/732357 |
________________

Vincent,
This is going to run while I’m gone to BlogWorld. I agree with the heart and hope in this message. I bet that some are “self-taught” social media experts who are now teaching others to do these nasty things.

Bet the folks who read this have more bad social media practices.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

If You’re Going to Expect Things . . .

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Shining Star by NASA

My dad used to say said, “If you’re going to expect things, expect most things from yourself first. If you’re going to be a star, shine the brightest. If you’re going to be a teacher, own the school.”

When I was young I’d try to correct him, pointing out that teachers don’t usually own the school. He’d have none of my argument. He’d just repeat the entire thing again.

“If you’re going to expect things, expect most things from yourself first. If you’re going to be a star, shine the brightest. If you’re going to be a teacher, own the school.”

It’s taken me most of my life to get close to understanding what he meant or at least I’ve found my own meaning, which seems to be what he was after.

I have few expectations. What I have are much wrapped up in the words, “be nice.”

I don’t expect the world to change just to suit me. It hasn’t done so up to now. I don’t suppose it will.

Expectations frame the future with an illusion of control. No wonder his advice was to expect most things from me.

I’m still thinking on this one. I expect I will be for a while longer.

What did you expect this would be?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

image: NASA photo