Most businesses feel a bit overwhelmed when it comes to finding or creating content to use in regular updates on social media channels or on a company blog.

“What do I say?” they ask.

“Say something that your customer (or potential customer) will find useful and valuable,” I tell them.

“I don’t have time to blog…so where do I find something useful and valuable to share?” they ask.

“Google is your friend,” I tell them.

If you’ve never used Google Alerts before, you’re in for a real treat. My clients are always amazed at this tool when I show it to them. Google is everywhere. Google sees all. Google knows all. So if you need something good to share, just ask Google. Here’s how it works:

1. Go to www.google.com/alerts
2. Type in a keyword you want to search [and you'll automatically see recent posts that include your keyword appear on the page]
3. Determine the type of content you want to find. Maybe you only want “News” posts or you’re looking specifically for “Blogs” talking about your keyword. You might want to start out looking at “Everything” just to see what kind of alerts you get. You may find that it’s too broad, or it may be just right for what you need.
4. Decide how often you want to be alerted. I’d recommend starting out with once a week [or else you might get a little overwhelmed]. Remember, there are millions of pages of content on the Internet, and Google will happily point you to them all day long if you want. But, if you’re trying to run your business, you might not have time to read Google alerts all day!
5. Determine the volume you’d like to receive. I recommend selecting “Only the best results” so that you’re getting the most refined list possible.
6. Give Google the email address where you’d like these alerts sent
7. Click “Create Alert” and watch the magic of Google deliver happiness into your inbox!

A few things to keep in mind… You don’t want to send your customers to your competitor’s websites for great content. So make sure you pay attention to the sources of the content you find that you want to share. Ultimately, you might begin to see the value of creating your own content so you can constantly be pointing people back to your website instead of someone else’s! [Did you know VOD can help with blog or article writing?] Also, remember that Google is not necessarily all-powerful enough to determine what is fact and what is fiction…so check your facts. Make sure the content you’re sharing is credible and useful for people. You don’t want to be the one who sends them down the wrong path.

If you set up your alerts and you still don’t know how to make it all work into a social media strategy that actually engages people, give me a shout. We can help!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a storyteller at heart. It’s how I introduce myself and my business whenever I’m at a networking event or asked to give my “30-second commercial.” I believe in the power of story, whether it’s to teach a lesson, make a point, entertain, sell a product, or win people over. At least once a day, my daughters ask me to tell them a story [and usually they want to hear one from my own childhood]. They have figured out, like most people, that stories can engage us, make us feel something, and help us understand someone or something a little better than before we heard the story.

I came across an article on Forbes.com that talks about storytelling being the key to good leadership. In the post, the author states, “Storytelling has taken on greater prominence and is the new black for leadership and influence today.” I agree completely with that, and I think it spills over into marketing as well as leadership. If you think about it, good marketing is about leading and influencing people to recognize your product or service, as well as their need for what you have to offer, and to motivate them to take action.

I’m currently working on some case studies for a couple of businesses and organizations that will help demonstrate the power of story–both internally as a way to communicate and build a corporate identity, and externally as a form of marketing and branding. I’ll be excited to share these with you once they’re complete. In the meantime, if you have a good example of a brand or company that has done great things with their story, let me know. I’d love to hear about it!

Clear Vision by C.P. Storm

When is the last time you thought about where you want to take your business? Whether you need to think about marketing, financial goals, staffing issues, or even your mission/purpose, why not take a day this week and carve out a few hours to really stop and focus. Because unless we have a clear vision of where we’re headed, we have no idea where we’re going.

I personally love helping people strategize when it comes to their marketing. So if you find yourself stuck in a certain area, reach out to someone else who can come alongside you and help you along. Sometimes a person with an outside perspective can really help you turn your focus so you can get a clear vision. However you decide to pursue it, I encourage you to step aside at some point this week and make it happen.

Illustration borrowed from @tomjohnson

Nobody likes to only be spoken to. We all like to interact in a dialogue. We want to be invited into a conversation. We want to engage. So why is it that so many businesses just post statements or updates that don’t actually invite anyone to join in? Remember, you’re trying to keep people connected to you as long as possible so they can learn about your business, or product, or service. What reason do they have to stay and engage with you?

Here are a few ideas that you can use (specifically on Facebook) that will help get more people interacting with your page as opposed to merely viewing it:

• Ask questions. It’s so easy, in fact, because Facebook added a feature that lets you set up a poll or question where you can provide options for people to click their choice. You can ask questions that have the button options, or ask open-ended questions. But don’t just ask “What are you doing this weekend?” Ask something that’s somehow connected to you, your product, your company, or your target audience. For example, if you run an accounting firm, you might ask, “What’s the biggest frustration you have with filing your taxes?” [I'm sure you'd get a LOT of people with opinions on that one!] Check out a recent question we’ve asked on our FB page here.
• Do “fill-in-the-blank” posts. It’s like Madlibs [you remember those, right?!]. People love to get creative with things like that. In fact, I used a fill-in-the-blank post on my personal page last night because I just didn’t know how to describe the kind of day I had…instead I let people fill it in for me. I said “You know it’s been a _____ day when you wrap it up at 8:30pm with a tropical adult beverage.” The responses I got cracked me up, and got people talking to each other. Imagine how much fun you could have with some of those posts that fit into your company’s personality?
• Ask people’s opinions. We all have them. And we all like to share them–even when unsolicited! So when you’re rolling out a new product, or you have a debate brewing in the offices, invite your “fans” to contribute their $.02 to the matter. Granted, their opinion might not actually sway you one way or another when it comes to product development, and they may be a little disappointed if you don’t use their idea, but the fact that you ask them means a lot…

So next time you’re going to post something to your business page, stop and think: How will this invite people to engage with us?

It’s not very often that we brag about work we’ve done here at VOD, but we recently helped create a promo video for a new cleaning product, and we’re pretty excited about it. Not only is the product itself intriguing to me, personally, but I loved every part of the process of writing the script, working with the designers/developers on storyboards and art direction, and providing the voiceover work for the video [me as the narrator, and our intern Shawn, who makes a cameo as "Annie" in the video].

Check out the video and let us know what you think. In case you’re interested, we work with a number of very talented filmmakers and motion graphic video geniuses, so if you have a need for any kind of video to promote your business, your product, or just give your customers something fun to watch, let us know and we’ll see what kind of magic we can create for you!

It’s always exciting for a business when they start adding more people to the team. VOD Communications is thrilled to have Shawn Lamb joining us for the summer as our intern. Shawn recently graduated from the University of Dayton in Ohio with a degree in communications and marketing. She’s ready to jump in here and will soon be contributing to the VOD blog on a regular basis, in addition to helping us develop social media marketing strategies for a few clients, and collaborating on whatever else she can. Shawn has a great marketing mind, and we’re looking forward to a fun summer with her!

So make sure you say “hi” to Shawn either here or on one of her upcoming blog posts.

In my former life, I was a marketing manager for a publishing house in Colorado. Several of our clients over the years have been in the publishing world, and with the onslaught of ebooks and digital content, I love staying connected with that world. Now is perhaps one of the most exciting times to be in the business of publishing…

I recently spoke at the ECPA Executive Leadership Summit, where Christian publishers from all over the world gathered to learn about the future of publishing. In the session I co-led with my friend and colleague, Bob Carlton, we proposed that there are 5 threads pushing us towards the threshold in 2015, when it’s estimated that digital will represent 50% of total sales in “book” publishing. Those threads are: social, local, mobile, personal, and experiential. (If you want to know more about what those mean and how they play out in publishing, check out our presentation slides here.)

The reality is that unless all the companies that now consider themselves “book publishers” figure out how to embrace and exploit the current and future technologies, they will not survive the coming changes. The biggest shift in the future of book publishing is that the medium of a print book (or even an ebook) will not be sufficient for the next generations of readers–people who have been raised on technology and expect to be able to touch screens to make things happen and to share those experiences with their friends online. Book publishers need to view themselves as (and act as) storytellers or experience creators. Content will need to be presented in a myriad of platforms/formats/experiences for readers–and those experiences have to tie into those threads (social, local, mobile, personal, experiential). Content will take form in words, videos, apps, online communities, etc.

Because content won’t exist as just words anymore, a role beyond the traditional editor will need to be considered. That’s where the content architect comes in to play. This person works with editorial, product development, sales, and marketing. She is someone who can look at a manuscript or proposal and envision how the message can be represented across various channels and experiences. She can envision how a topic might be brought to life in video, as an app, in a social network, on mobile platforms, etc. The content architect doesn’t need to know how all those things work or get implemented, but she needs to be able to come up with all kinds of ideas to creatively and experientially communicate the content.

When I think about what the future of publishing might look like, I try to imagine how my own children [who are now 6 and 4] will experience content far differently than I ever did as a kid! The idea of an architect orchestrating the content in a way that creates an interactive experience for a reader makes me think that there is no end to the possibilities for the publishing industry…as long as those leading the publishing houses can also envision a future that doesn’t merely live on pages in a print or ebook, but stretches beyond our own imagination.

Last week my husband overheard a guy in the coffee shop telling someone else that he sold shoes for 42 years. This got us talking about “the old days” when people like our parents or grandparents shopped at local stores where they were known personally by the staff. Imagine walking into the shoe store where this guy worked, and having him call you by name, know your shoe size, and your favorite color. Ok, so maybe Al Bundy isn’t the best example of a shoe salesman, but he is the only iconic shoe salesman I could think of, and he seemed like a great contrast to Gary Vaynerchuk. As the world has grown, we moved far from that kind of reality. The Walmarts took over and we all became unknown. But, my hubby and I also talked about how social media is shifting us back to that “old days” kind of interaction between businesses and customers.

It’s been mulling around in my head since we talked about it, and tonight I saw a clip of Gary Vaynerchuk on MSNBC talking about his new book, The Thank You Economy. Check it out here:

I’ve been a fan of @garyvee for a while now, and really dug his first book, Crush It. After seeing this interview, I know that I have to read his new book. Gary talks about the power of the social graph, and the data that businesses can have about their customers…the fact that he could track a customer on Twitter and know what he or she likes enough that they could reward that customer with a personalized gift. It really does take us back to “simpler” times in some ways, where connections are made between people [powered by amazing technology], and those connections lead to deeper interactions as people and as consumers.

It’s no surprise to anyone who knows me that I love social media. I am continually amazed by the things it allows us to do, and the opportunities it opens up for us personally and professionally. And I love it when people like Gary, who can totally relate to the local small business owner [since he started out in his dad's liquor store], talk about how social media really is revolutionizing the way we do business…the way we interact with people. Gary sort of reminds us that we could all be that shoe salesman [or woman] who knows our customers by name, knows what they like, and knows how to meet their needs. And for the record, I really don’t know what Gary and Al Bundy have in common, aside from the fact that they both make me laugh.

I’m considering a new series of blog posts that highlight some of the emails I get. Sometimes there’s one that really impresses me…then there’s the one [or several] that makes me wonder why someone bothered to take the time to send it. I got two emails from two social media channels recently, and both stood out to me, though for very different reasons. I’ll start with the one that really grabbed my attention. LinkedIn sent me this:

The email made me engage immediately, mostly because it’s almost entirely made up of photos of people I know. Even though I may see these faces in LinkedIn [or even in person], somehow seeing them in this form in my inbox really made me stop. And the questions/statements they connected to a few of my connections piqued my interest enough to look and see [if I didn't already remember what they had changed or updated recently]. In fact, I spent more time on LinkedIn in the last couple weeks than I usually do, and I think part of that is due to the fact that this email got me thinking, “I should see what so-and-so is up to these days.”

Then, just a day or so ago, I got this email from MySpace:

Not only is it completely unappealing visually [I still don't get the whole new logo with the blank space...I mean, I get it, but it just doesn't seem to be working for me], but the content and the timing are just not good. It was hard to not see or hear news about all the job cuts MySpace was doing in the last week or two, so I already knew “what’s new.” Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I went to MySpace, but I was holding out some hope that it might figure out a way to stay relevant in the social media world. I just don’t think it’s going to survive. And the complete lack of anything appealing in the email [both visually and in the copy] just left me sighing, wondering when they’ll just disappear entirely. I’m not a hater. I know tons of bands still use MySpace, and I suppose that if my goal was to find a place where I could “follow my favorite topics in  music, movies, celebs, and TV,” MySpace might be a good place for me to hang out. But, alas, I don’t think I’m their target market…and I just don’t think they’ve got what it takes to keep people engaged much longer.

So I think it’s obvious who wins this first Inbox Showdown. Congratulations LinkedIn!

I have the privilege of being part of an exciting event for mom entrepreneurs on March 16, 2011 in Chicago. Here’s the press release, and feel free to contact me if you’d like to know more.

CHICAGO (January 2011) – What is the fastest growing, most lucrative and under-the-radar demographic in the country?  Mom entrepreneurs.

Jill Salzman opened her first Momtrepreneur Exchange in Oak Park, IL, one year ago in the hopes that she would meet 4-5 fellow entrepreneurs who also had children.  In a mere 6 months, she had 215 members.  There are now 25 Momtrepreneur Exchanges around the globe (including Brisbane, Australia) with 1,400+ mom entrepreneurs meeting up each month.

On March 16, 2011, The Momtrepreneur Exchange will launch its first exclusive one-day conference, The Momtrepreneur Exchange LIVE: Getting Down To Business. The event offers women a day filled with practical and insightful bite-sized courses for their businesses, along with tips to help with the ever-present challenge of balancing work and family. They’ll partake in interactive seminars to help them put what they’re learning to good use and will have a chance to network with other mom entrepreneurs.

Starring in the affair will be experts on marketing (“Market Like a Rock Star”), legal issues (“Legal Is Not A Four-Letter Word) and work-life balance (“How To Handle That Chaos.”) The event will be held in the beautiful Zhou B. Art Center. In a unique, intimate setting, women will be pampered with breakfast, a luncheon, and a cocktail party in addition to all the learning and networking they’ll get throughout the day. The Momtrepreneur Exchange LIVE events will become a regular part of Salzman’s offerings for mom entrepreneurs, adding locations across the country in 2012. In conjunction with the event, The Momtrepreneur Exchange is holding a contest for mom entrepreneurs to find the Rising Star of 2011.  And in an effort to microfinance entrepreneurs across the globe, a portion of proceeds will be donated to the non-profit Kiva.org, an organization that has donated over $100 million in loans.

Sponsors of the event include Mad Mimi, Sonsi, and Contact Karma, along with mom entrepreneur companies Sittercity, VOD Communications, and Mom Corps.

#########