May New Media Breakfast - Blogging and Sharing Content

    

  

Blogging and Sharing Content

Venue: 29 Member's Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow

Date: Friday 31st May 2013

Time: 7.30 for 8am

It was August 2010 when we last looked at Blogging at the New Media Breakfast so we thought it would be worth revisiting the topic to bring you up to date with the whole area of creating content via blogs.

We often describe a blog as the hub of your social media activity, it's a place you own and control and, a place from where you can share content to your other social media channels.  Moreover, it's a place form where interested readers can share your content with their communities and help to build your audience.

At the May breakfast we will demonstrate the power of blogging and try to show you why you should consider this very important activity as part of your social media activity.  We will also look at ways to encourage people to share your content.  Here are some of the things we will look at during the presentation:

• What platform to choose for your blog?
• The design and layout of your blog
• What should you talk about and what tone should you use?
• How to attract readers to your blog
• How to encourage people to share your content
• Syndicating content to other platforms
• Adding images, video and audio content
• What length your blog posts should be?
• How often should you post?

The New Media Breakfast in May will explore how to using blogging to raise awareness and tell your story.  Used properly, a blog will build trust and encourage engagement with your target audience, we hope the New Media Breakfast will clearly demonstrate how it can become a key activity and an invaluable tool to help build your brand.  We will also look at examples of popular blogs and suggest why they are successful.

We hope you can join us for what should be a fun, but informative breakfast. If you have a specific question you would like to ask, please post it as a comment on the New Media Breakfast blog post. Alternatively you can post it on Twitter as a direct message @fatbuzz or you can email us at hello@fatbuzz.com

THE SPEAKER
Gordon White, Managing director of fatBuzz Ltd will present the May New Media Breakfast.

HOW TO BOOK
Venue: 29 Member's Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow
Date: Friday 31st May 2013
Time: 7.35 for 8am

BOOK FOR NEW MEDIA BREAKFAST GLASGOW HERE:

No.29 MEMBERS GO FREE 

If you are a 29 Member you can attend the breakfast free of charge. Please email fiona@fatbuzz.com with you membership number and she will add you to the attendance list.

We hope you can make it along to this event. If so, I look forward to seeing you on the day.

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Sir Trevor McDonald wont be doing my tax return

I came across two businesses last week both of which claim to "do social media" in fact, both claim to be very active.  Both businesses share links to lots of online news stories via Twitter and Facebook; the stories are mainly to do with the industry within which they operate but, occasionally they share items that appear to be completely irrelevant and random. Both share the links without any comments or supporting information.

I have news for both; you are not “doing social media” or, to be more accurate, neither of you has become social nor are your efforts likely to succeed.

For the avoidance of any doubt let me say at the outset; sharing relevant articles and news stories is generally a good practice in fact, we share content almost every day and we encourage our clients to share relevant content with their communities, and occasionally we will share them without comment. The problem with these two businesses is sharing links is the only thing they do.

Have you ever consider contacting Sir Trevor McDonald to do your tax return just because he delivered the news about tax changes in the Chancellor’s Budget?  Why not?  After all, he shared the news with you.  Of course, you wouldn’t because you understand he only delivers the news.  Sharing content online doesn't project you as an expert and, whilst some people may find your links helpful, it is unlikely to yield great results if done in isolation.

I like the practice of sharing relevant articles and news items but, whenever possible, add your comments or, your opinion on the subject – this is what will separate you from the crowd and let your community know a bit more about you.  Better still, write your own piece from scratch based on a relevant event in your industry, invite comments, and opinions from your community, and, encourage conversation about the topic.

If a taxation specialist writes a good blog post immediately after the Budget about the impact of the taxation changes you may consider contacting them about your financial affairs; at the very least you will find it credible and it may prompt you to contact your own accountant.  An informed article written by a taxation specialist highlights their expertise in tax matters. If the article also uses phrases like; “this will affect many of our clients” or, “we advised on a similar situation last month”, this will endorse their experience as well as their expertise.

After you’ve written and published the blog, consider recording it as a podcast or a video and publish it on different platforms to accommodate the fact that people have a choice and a preference about how they receive information – this will make you truly social.

If you have an opinion on how and when to share content or, how sharing is used as part of your overall marketing strategy please use the comment box below to share it with the fatBuzz community.

For now, I’m off to find out if Murray Walker is free to give my daughter some driving lessons!

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Facebook has biggest privacy overhaul in the company’s history

You may already be aware of the Facebook changes that have been rolled out  over the past couple of days. fatBuzz want to give you a brief overview of the main points and how the changes should affect you as a Facebook user.

As Mashable point out, the recent changes made by Facebook is one of the biggest privacy overhauls in the company’s history. So let us take you through the main changes.

On your profile
Before the changes most of the settings for content on your profile were a good few clicks away on a series of settings pages. Now, content on your profile, from where you are to your latest photo album, will appear next to an icon and a drop-down menu. This menu lets you know who can see this part of your profile, and you can change it with one click.

Other changes include the tagging system, in that you can now approve what photos are tagged of you before they go public. So if a friend tags you, you will be notified and you have the option of whether you want to allow it or not. Take a moment to read this blog post for a quick run through the changes and what they mean by clicking here.

Making it easier to share with who you want
The video below illustrates the changes to sharing your content and the enhanced choices that you have so you know who you are sharing with right next to what you are sharing.

Places Check-In Feed will be scraped 
Although this has not been rolled out yet, Facebook have confirmed that they will remove the 'Places check-in' feed from its mobile apps and interface. According to Insidefacebook.com a Facebook spokesman has confirmed that rather than check-in, users will be able to add their city-level location or tag a specific Place in any post. So in other words, you wont actually have to be physically in a place to tag yourself there. This change will mean that it's likely to make it difficult to find exactly where friends currently are and meet up with them. Furthermore, those who currently enjoy checking in will probably just post status updates, tag their current location and friends who are with them, and add a description such as “Here at…”. However, some say that it seems unnecessary to remove the check-in feed and the ability to populate that feed by explicitly informing Facebook of one’s current location.

So there you have it folks, there are a whole lot of changes going on in the world of Facebook. But what we would like to know is how the changes have/will affect you? What are your thoughts on the changes? Do you think this is Facebook's way to try and keep ahead of Google+ or do you think these changes have been planned before the launch of Google+? Do you think this is a way for Facebook to remind everyone that they are at the forefront of social networking? Please let us know, we would love to hear your views, visit our facebook page to tell us your thoughts.

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