What to Write? What to Right? - part 2

Here I am with enough on my mind to barely fill an update, much less create a whole post.  Where do I  go for ideas?

My favorite place is LinkedIn Groups.   Second come newspapers and blogs.    And now I state why, with no class or holding back: " There is always someone out there saying something stupid that I have an innate need to refute! (and also the expertise)"   The controversy generates ideas and arguments and brings out the best of my writing abilities, as limited as they are.  A well formed argument becomes a stand alone post for my LinkedIn Profile.  Well written and complete, it can become a stand-alone post in the LinkedIN Group from where the idea came.  Posted as a response to the original article, a well formed argument can generate views, reviews and a hearty discussion, bringing up the volume of views garnered by your profile and  Social Media sites. 

Why post in LinkedIN Groups?  The articles are far reaching.   Every group member, whether connected or not can see the post.   -- and the posts are of natural interest to the group as you are of course, choosing a topic about your professional life that you are an expert on.   Groups attract a diligent readership since the group filters topics for you and give you a starting point.    They allow for comments and an exchange of ideas.   Group discussions are by default, interesting to your connections since they are posts are about your working professional life and areas of expertise.  

.....   and a good post is no more than 300 words long -   so how hard can this be?

#SocialMedia is about useful information exchange.  #LinkedInGroups

What to Write? What to Right?

One of the biggest issues people have with #socialmedia is: What to write?  If this stumps you, not to worry, you’re not alone – at one time or another, everyone gets stumped with that!  But you don’t have to look as far as you might think to come up with some great ideas for social media and blog posts.   

Mark Twain said, “Write what you know.” Great advice! You’re an expert in your industry. But not everyone else is. Position yourself as the ‘go-to’ person in your field. And write what you know.

Let’s look at some examples of sources for inspiration:

1.     What are the 2 (or 3 or 4 or 5) key misconceptions about your industry? What are some of the most common myths surrounding what you do? Be the mythbuster! Social media is a great way to disseminate the information that will set people straight.

2.   What about your industry has changed within the past 5 years? What’s new? You’re the professional. Let people know that. Since you’re the one with your finger on the pulse, use that. Change within your industry is the important stuff that people need to know. Share it on social media.

3.   Think for a moment. What are the questions that you are most asked about your industry; about what you do; about your products and services? Elaborating on the responses to these questions can provide you with plenty of inspiration for social media and blog posts.

4.     Finally, and this is really important: What is the call to action? Make sure you include something. Once you have people’s attention, what is it that you want them to do after they absorb all of the useful information you’ve provided via social media? Well, ultimately you want them to buy your products; you want them to use your services. And how do you leverage social media to entice them to do that?  That’s your call to action. And you want the call to action to be an immediate response. It might be to call or email you to request further information about your services, or even better, to set up an appointment (don’t forget to provide contact information where it will be easily seen - and in the case of an email, link to your email address right there). Or it might be to come into your store/offices/workshop to purchase what you sell (again, a very visible address and a map to your location should be included on your social media sites – not to mention a link to your website). Or you might want people to subscribe to your newsletter or blog (and yes, you can write those, too! Piece of cake!). If that’s the case, ensure that you include a “Subscribe” button that people can click on right then and there. Easy!

Posting to social media sites isn’t rocket science, but it does take some time and thought. It’s also a necessity in business these days if you’re going to be competitive. I defy you to find one big business that doesn’t have a social media presence. I’ll bet you can’t! And there’s a very good reason for that. In today’s climate, if you don’t have a social media presence, you pretty much don’t exist. Just some food for thought…

Want more help with your foray into the realm of the social? We’ve got just the course for you! Join one of our Social Networking for Business workshops today! (See the call to action??)

6 SUREFIRE WAYS TO GENERATE INFINITE BLOG CONTENT

So, you’ve got your blog up and running and everything’s moving along swimmingly until one day you hit a dreaded patch of writer’s block.  Think you’ve run out of ideas for great blog content?  Well, think again.  I’m going to share some ideas with you that will ensure you never run out of ideas for your posts!     

1.  Take a Break – As counter-productive as that might sound, it’s actually not a bad idea if you’re stumped for something to write.  Sure, you can sit there and bang your head against you monitor hoping to jar some brilliance within your tired mind, but chances are, you need to take a break from thinking so hard.  Give it a rest for a few hours or until tomorrow.  You’d be amazed at how many bright ideas can come to you when you’re rested, de-stressed and looking at your monitor with ‘fresh eyes’.

2. Scour News Sources – Great blog content can always be generated out of news items you’ll find online, in your morning paper or in your favorite monthly publications.  Put your own spin on an interesting story; share your opinion (especially if it’s opposing – who doesn’t like to read someone’s scathing contradiction of a popular topic?).

3. Read Other Blogs – If you read blog posts written by other people that are within the same vein as your own, you will no doubt be inundated with inspiration and will in no time be typing away.  Again, put your own spin on what you’ve read and make it work for your audience.

4. Write Drafts/Partial Posts Even if You Think they’re Going Nowhere – It happens to me quite often.  I’ll have a brilliant idea for a post and start researching and writing it, then think to myself that maybe the idea isn’t so brilliant after all.  This might simply be because I’m not in the mood to write at that very moment, or it might be because I run out of steam with my idea.  But, rather than scrap it, I always leave partial work on my desktop because more often than not, I revisit what I’ve written and when I look at it with fresh eyes, I’m able to work some magic and turn it into an interesting post – even if it’s not the same post as it originally started out to be.  The idea is to always have ideas!!

5.  Always Have a Pen & Notebook Handy – You never know when brilliance is going to strike – and when it does, you want to remember what was so brilliant.  Like lightening, bright ideas don’t often strike twice in the same place.  There’s nothing more frustrating than knowing that you had a great idea, but not remembering what it was.  I even keep a pen and notepad handy on my bedside table, because as weird as it sounds, I have awoken in the middle of the night countless times with ideas churning – and good luck remembering those after falling back asleep and awakening five hours later!

6.  Hit Your Local Library – Check out a few books related to your niche and voila!:  an instant plethora of fresh ideas.  Libraries are still a great place to source information and to even do some writing (remember the days before the internet when we did our research at the library?)!! 

Ideas can be sparked anytime, anyplace.  You can be inspired by so many different, ordinary things.  Just use your imagination, do some good, old-fashioned research and give your mind some time to decompress and come back with fresh thought.

Remember, blogging can be a very enjoyable undertaking as opposed to a daunting task - have some fun with it and the ideas will come pouring in!

For more on blogging and how to get your ideas for infinite content rolling – why not join one of our Social Networking for Business workshops, where we’ll offer you a multitude of tips and tricks for optimizing your blog.  Check out our schedule at:  http://www.escomputertraining.com/courses/details/industry/2/course/20

If you have any tips you’d like to share about how you come up with ideas for you blog posts, I encourage you to share in our comments section.

And, keep checking back here for more on blogging – my favorite topic!