Marketing Talk

The Blog Library is Now Open to the Public!

Well, okay, it’s been open for awhile. Details details! But that was all soft launch 🙂

I know a fair amount of people have already heard about this here and there. Maybe you saw a link to a post of yours from the Blog Library site and scratched your head a bit, or maybe you saw the Twitter account or Facebook page. Maybe you’ve been to the site itself!

Whatever the case may be, I wanted to take a brief moment to explain a bit about this project of mine and let you know what some of my goals and objectives are.

Is Google Plus a Men’s Club?

by Margie Clayman

I have a question, and I once again really don’t have an answer, just some sneaking suspicions coupled with some mild and growing concerns. I’m looking for your insight.

See, the other day, as I was gathering posts on Google+ for the Blog Library, I came across a post by the well-known Robert Scoble. The post is called “Why yo momma won’t use Google Plus (and why that thrills me to no end). I read the post and it kind of rubbed me the wrong way, but I was tired and so I figured I was just feeling cranky.

However, I found that as time went on, the post kept kind of bugging me, like one of those darned fruit flies that pops up in July. There are a few things that are bothering me, and coming together with other posts I’ve read, I’m kind of feeling like Google+ is being constructed as a velvet rope, smoke-filled, dancing lady-filled men’s lounge. I don’t have an invite to Google+ so I’m not saying this is so, but I’d like to tell you why I’m feeling this way, and you can then let me know if I’m totally off track.

Deal?

25 ways to improve the world via your blog

by Margie Clayman

So, I’ve done a few posts over the last few months that have decried the negativity that has been building in the online world. Of course, I am entirely aware of the fact that if you merely lambaste people for acting in a negative fashion without offering some way out of the rat trap, you’re just adding to the negative vibe.

Well, I certainly don’t want to do THAT.

So, the next few posts in the Engagement Series are going to offer some ideas on how you can use online engagement in various places – like your blog – to help improve the world.

I hear some of you cynics whispering out there, getting ready to build your case that online engagement can’t really improve the world. Engaging via your blog site or via Twitter probably won’t help find a cure for Cancer. However, “improving the world” has different degrees of involvement. If you improve someone’s day, that’s improving the world, is it not? If you let people know that something bad is going on and that they can do something about it, that’s making the world a better place, isn’t it? It’s those kinds of positive vibes we’ll be talking about here.

So, with that said, here are 25 ways you can use engagement on your blog to help make the world a better place!

A Bit on Balance

by Margie Clayman

As some of you may have heard, I had a rather up close and personal encounter with vertigo this week. It is hard to describe that sensation if you’ve never had it – walking across a floor that you feel is slanting towards the side is only fun at an amusement park. However, at moments when my sinuses and inner ear are behaving themselves, I have a new and greater appreciation for something very simple – walking around without feeling dizzy.

Balance is something we take for granted in our everyday lives, but in the online world, balance is something we are always striving for. At a recent #tweetdiner chat about getting started on Twitter, the word balance came up a lot, not as something that is enjoyed but rather as something that is greatly desired. This is an important point for online engagement, so I thought we could talk today a bit about the different kinds of balance one can strive for on social media platforms. Ready?

[Read more…] about A Bit on Balance

Dear A-Listers: A Letter from a Little Guy

by Margie Clayman

Hi there,

Let me tell you what this post is not. This post is not an attempt to bash anyone. This is not a cry for controversial attention, nor is it a huge slimy piece of link bait. Rather, you could think of this as kind of a plea from someone who cares.

As for who I mean when I say “A-Lister,” if you think it’s you, then it applies. The plea I have to make would really work for anyone. It’s just a matter of degrees.

With all of the disclaimers out of the way, let me get to the meat and potatoes of the issue.

The 4 bits of advice people always give but seldom follow

by Margie Clayman

One thing you get a lot of in the online world is advice. Whether it’s rife with buzz words or filled to the brim with wisdom for the ages, advice seems to be everywhere. In every bloggy nook, in every Twitter cranny, there you will find more advice just waiting for you to uncover it and take it to heart.

There’s a little problem though. A lot of the people offering this advice don’t seem to follow their own advice very often. When you think about engagement, this is a significant problem. Not following your advice can make you look like a hypocrite. It can make people think “do as you say, not as you do” when you pop into a chat. None of these things are good.

There are four bits of advice in particular that are handed out again and again and yet repeatedly violated in the online world, at least from where I’m sitting.

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