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Tag: michael stelzner

  • Are You a Blogger Or a Content Creator?

    Are You a Blogger Or a Content Creator?

    Do you blog or do you create content? This was one of the main themes of today’s BlogWorld keynote speech, delivered by Mitch Joel, Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner, Lisa Stone of BlogHer.com, and Deanna Brown, the CEO of Federated Media. While discussing the concept of building new media empires — to which, Mitch Joel offers, “media empire? WTF?” — the concept of not limiting yourself with the blogger label is an important aspect of success.

    That is, don’t let the label define what you do, because more than a blogger, you are a content creator, and its this content that will separate you from the crowd. While the panel discussed their various successes, which is supposed to inspire the attendees, the idea of being more than a blogger, that is, escaping the limitations the label suggests is the goal.

    Yes, the idea of creating great content for you blog still applies, as well as all that goes along with that. Engage your audience, be an authority, be thoughtful, talk about what you’re thinking, and, as Stelzner points out, figure out what your customer wants by asking them, and then, give them what they want.

    Michael Stelzner

    If you take this approach, Stelzner believes you’ll never run out of ideas for content.

    There’s even a caveat to consider when blogging for a living, which was discussed by Mitch Joel. From Joel’s perspective, it’s hard to get ahead because of the sheer number of people who blog. Yes, the cream rises to the top, but with so much quality content out there, it’s that much harder to accomplish the desired ascent.

    All of that in mind, perhaps the most important piece of information concerns perception. If you perceive yourself as just a blogger, complete with all the “everybody’s doing it” limitations that may apply, you’re already starting at a disadvantage. However, Deanna Brown has another idea: Instead of blogger, think of yourself as a content creator. In fact, Brown avoids the term because of the limitations that come with the label. From her perspective, “I would avoid blog and anything that puts you in a box.”

    Deanna Brown

    Stelzner furthers the goodwill be referring to bloggers as publishers. In fact, he defines blogging as being publishers, so again, don’t let the title limit your outlook or your goals. Consider this, from Lisa Stone’s perspective, while TV is still king in terms of overall content, but bloggers/content creators have more pull than magazines or celebrities when it comes to recommending products.

    Unfortunately, she doesn’t offer any metrics to quantify her statement, but if you have strong audience that respects your work, it’s easy to conceive this audience taking your advice in relation to product recommendations. Of course, to get this point, you’ll need to create the kind of content that will attract the audience, and this is where the idea of being something more than a blogger — a publisher and a content creator — comes into play.

  • Non-Marketing Marketing Strategies That Can Rapidly Grow Your Business

    Marketing is a tricky beast, especially when it comes to Internet business. Overdo it and your potential customers will see right through it, but, if you ignore it, who’s going to know about the products you’re offering? Balance is the key, and this includes leveraging social media to promote products.

    Actually, social media could be fit into the “especially” category, in regards to being cautious because of the nature of it, that is, people talking about and sharing information via one of the many social media platforms. The discussion and the sharing works both ways, because if you turn your potential customers off with an overdone marketing approach, there’s little doubt it will be a point of discussion for the people the strategy offended. This makes social media marketing something of a razor’s edge approach, because good campaigns will be shared, as will the bad ones.

    With that in mind, WebProNews CEO, Rich Ord, discussed some social media marketing strategies with Michael Stelzner at the 2011 edition of BlogWorld. While Stelzner’s advise could be categorized as common sense, it’s also very helpful for those of you who aren’t sure who to address a social media marketing strategy. One of Stelzner’s key points of advise has to do with overdoing the marketing approach, because, from his perspective, with the deluge of marketing present in the world today, people are tuning advertising out.

    In fact, Stelzner suggests marketing can slow growth, because it acts as friction, especially once customers realize they are being marketed to. Instead of worrying about your marketing approach, try building quality content instead. From Stelzner’s perspective, quality content enables people, who, in turn, may become paying customers.

    “Create content that resonates with people at their core.”

    Stelzner’s suggestion in regards to quality content is something Google has harped on for some time. The basic approach towards good content is this, if you build/create it, they (the people) will come. As for the different types of content businesses should be focused on, Stelzner offers the following guidelines:

    “Tap other people’s mind that create great content for your audience and also creates strategic alliances that could benefit you greatly later on,” which basically says, find the experts in your field and foster a relationship with them with the goal of great content creation. Potential customers will notice, especially if someone they already trust is vouching for your company and/or the products being offered.

    “Create comprehensive howto articles. Pick topics your readers are interested in. Survey them. Include details. Make it readable with lots of images, video and bold key points. Also, make it printer friendly. Try printfriendly.com.” If you establish your site as an authority on the field your focusing on, people/potential customers will be more willing to trust the service being promoted.

    Other suggestions from Stelzner include the following:

    • Do expert interviews. Tap the knowledge of pros. Phone interviews or video. Transcribe them. Go after experts speaking at local events. This was key to our growth.
    • Create reviews. Help your readers make decision. Review books, producs, events. Screen capture review are popular. Give your opinion.
    • Do case studies on your blog. Share stories of businesses in your industry.
    • Do reports based on surveys. Survey your readers. Create a free report. These can be highly viral, [possess] SEO strength and long life. Bonus tip: Add a retweet button for Twitter in your PDF document.
    • Top ten contests are another content strategy. People love recognition. Ask for nominations. Recruit judges, announce finalists and give winners a badge. Do something that is fun in order to create a lot of buzz.
    • Photo contests. People love to win. Photos are fun and personal. Launch photo contest stats.

    Essentially, don’t allow your message to come across as a marketing strategy. Truly engage your audience, build relationships with them, and converting them into customers will be much easier than depending on some slick tagline that says your item is the best ever. From Stelzner’s perspective, the goal is to build your site/business into a great gathering place.

    If this is the focus instead of converting visitors, attracting these potential conversions will be a much easier task to accomplish.