A Weekly Series by Teresa Morrow
Iâm Teresa Morrow, Founder of Key Business Partners, LLC and I work with authors to help manage their social media marketing & promotion. As part of my job I read a lot of books (and I love to read anyway!). I am here to offer a weekly post about one book author I am working with and one book I have put on my reading list.
I am mixing things up (again! – you can read part 1 and part 2) for my weekly blog post . I thought I would ask a few of the authors I have highlighted to offer their strategies and tips regarding blogging and social media.
Panel Discussion about Blogging and Social Media
Here are the authors offering their own insights and strategies regarding blogging and social media:
Kimberly Wiefling – Executive Editor of the Scrappy About Series, is a proven expert in enabling people to achieve what seems impossible, but is merely difficult. She is the author of one of the top project management books in the US,”Scrappy Project Management: The 12 Predictable and Avoidable Pitfalls Every Project Faces, a book growing in popularity around the world, and recently published in Japanese by Nikkei Business Press. And the newest in the Scrappy About series, Scrappy Women in Business.
She founded Wiefling Consulting, LLC, a global leadership and business management consulting firm, in 2001. She currently spends about half of her time working with high-potential leaders in Japanese companies as the Executive Director for ALC Educationâs Global Management Consulting Group, an organization based in Tokyo, Japan. Her work includes facilitating leadership, communication, teamwork, innovation and execution excellence workshops to enable Japanese companies to solve global problems profitably.
Miranda Marquit is a blogger and freelance writer working from home. She has five years experience in the blogging and social media space, mainly providing content and support for corporate blogs. Miranda understands the importance of blogging and social media in online marketing and community building, and enjoys interacting and networking via the Internet.
In addition to professional blogging, Miranda is a freelance writer with a Journalism degree. Her work has appeared in national magazines and on news Web sites. She is also a columnist for her local newspaper. Miranda enjoys reading, music, travel, and the outdoors. Her favorite activities involve using her hobbies as a way to spend time with her husband and their six-year-old son. Miranda lives with her family in Logan, Utah. She is the co-author of Community 101: How to Grow an Online Community.
Karen Pierce Gonzalez
Since 2000, Karen Pierce Gonzalez Public Relations has provided public relations services for businesses, non-profits, art and culture organizations and individual professionals locally, regionally and nationally. Founder and president Karen Pierce Gonzalez has twenty-five years experience in the media having worked as a journalist for such media as the San Francisco Chronicle, Marin Independent Journal, and Point Reyes Light, newspapers as well a numerous local and national magazines, including North Bay Biz and Australian Trade Community Journal. She knows what makes the news and what does not.
Karen specializes in identifying newsworthy angles about her clientsâ events and activities and obtaining news coverage from appropriate media outlets. She also helps clients maximize their advertising budgets by developing media sponsorships. She works with clients to utilize these sponsorships to generate the community support of businesses and other groups.
She earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in anthropology linguistics and in creative writing from Sonoma State University. A published fiction and non-fiction writer with numerous awards to her credit including a 2006 Pushcart Prize nomination, 2006 Editorsâ Choice Farmhouse Magazine, 2005 National League of American Pen Women award for fiction, 2004 National League of American Pen Woman award for creative nonfiction, and 2002 California Writers award for nonfiction, she is also the author of âFamily Folktales: Write Your Own Family Storiesâ and is CEO/Publisher of FolkHeart Press.
Here is what they have to say about blogging and social media:
How long have you been blogging?
KW: I started blogging in Sept. 2006 when I helped co-found the first university-affiliated blog on project management: http://svprojectmanagement.com/author/kwiefling And I started my own blog in January 2008 when I had a new year’s resolution to expand my business using the internet. I now also write for several other blogs once every 2 – 3 months: Career Shorts, Whole Life Well Being and Project Connections
MM: 5 years
KPG: Five years.
What subjects do you cover with your blog?
KW: Business leadership
Global business leadership
Project management
Program management
Well being
Breakthrough thinking
Personal and professional development
MM: Mostly personal finance
KPG: Folkheart Press covers folklore-related topics (folk art, food lore, folktales, folk festivals, etc.)
Why do you blog?
KW: I love to write, and I learn when I write. And I believe it makes me more well known, which increases my value to my clients and my agents.
MM: I enjoy writing. Plus, it’s my job — I’m a professional blogger!
KPG: It is a way to introduce others to the world of folklore and to Folkheart Press. In todayâs cyberspace world, it is important to have a presence.
What is the one blogging tip you have to share with others?
KW: Write about topics about which you have personal knowledge and experience, and keep the tone conversational and authentic. Don’t write a newspaper article style blog!
MM: Write about something you enjoy.
KPG: Make the blogs fun and brief. No one expects to read a novel when they visit a blog.
How long have you been using social media (twitter, facebook, linkedin) for your business?
KW: About 3 years
MM: 4 years
KPG Five years.
When it comes to social media— do you prefer one platform over the others?( facebook, twitter or linked in)
KW: I use Twitter to update my personal and professional connections about my status. This pushes automatically to Facebook, Plaxo and LinkedIn.
I use Facebook Fan page for Scrappy Women in Business book, and updates push to a Twitter account that I have linked to that.
MM: I actually really like fwisp, a social media niche site devoted to finance. I do like using Facebook and Twitter, though.
KPG: Facebook
Why do you like one of the others?
KW: Twitter is quick and easy, and seems to be the micro-blogging platform of choice. I can also monitor mentions of my key words on Twitter using Social Oomph.
Facebook is “cool”. Linked In is more business serious, but that’s not my style. And Plaxo is not a player really.
MM: I like fwisp because it has good spam controls, and it offers a range of stories in the personal finance blogosphere. Finding good social media communities in your niche is, I think, important.
KPG: Facebook allows for website link images which adds value to the posting.
What is one social media tip you have to share with others?
KW: Keep in mind that your life isn’t nearly as interesting to other people as you might think. Choose what you share with that in mind lest you be one of the people we make fun of for tweeting “My cat rolled over.” or other trivia.
MM: Choose a few social media communities and focus on those. Don’t try to build a good account at every site or group ; you’ll never be able keep up with it all.
KPG: Be informative and donât sell, sell, sell. Itâs annoying.
Thanks ladies for these great, helpful tips and for sharing your strategies about blogging and social media.
And if you have tips and resources that help you, please add to the discussion.
