Join the Conversation, or Get Moving Turtle!

I've been experimenting with social media and gathering analytics.  In all my research, I've found that the best way (so far) to garner more activity, attention, views to your site, blog, etc. is to be active in the social media community.  Commenting on other blogs increases traffic.

Take this example...a few weeks ago, I noticed that one of my favorite authors, Jennifer Niven ("Velva Jean Learns to Drive"), whom I follow on twitter, tweeted a link to L.A. Magazine's review of her new book ("Velva Jean Learns to Fly").  Several months ago, I had recommended her book in my blog, so I replied to her tweet, saying that while I was no L.A. Mag, I, too, highly recommended her...and included a link to my old blog post.  Not only did she reply to my tweet, but she went to my blog, and left a comment.  Her 100+ twitter followers saw her comment to me, as well as my link.  In one day, views on my blog spiked 25%.

There is another lesson in this example.  Don't assume that just because you posted a blog, everyone saw it already.  Older posts can and should be recycled.  Think about your blog posts having a longer shelf life, and write on topics that will still be relevant six months from now.  You can repost them on your blog, but also tweet links to older posts when it makes sense to do so.  Case in Point:

By day, I work for a marketing agency.  One of my tasks is managing our social media presence.  One of the people we follow on Twitter has 40,000+ followers. He tweeted a comment about how to find the right Social Media Manager.  I had written a post several months ago about how to train your new Social Media Manager.  So...I replied to his tweet, agreeing about how important finding the right person is, and then added "...and when you do find the right fit, here's how to get him started on the right track" with a link to my old blog post.  Activity on our agency blog spiked 20% in one day.

Stay tuned to what your followers (and those you follow) are posting, tweeting and talking about.  And look for opportunities to join the conversation.  If you are dipping a toe into the vast social media pool and are not sure where to start, remember that it's a slow moving snow ball, but each post, comment, tweet makes a ripple, and those ripples will begin to add up.  Keep a slow and steady pace, and you'll slowly add followers, and learn much along the way.

Do you hear that racket?

There is as cacophony in my head. Drums pounding to the rhythm of my heart, stress pumping through my veins to the beat of the blinking cursor on my blank page. With each thuh-thump, a new series of words courses: tuition payments, gas prices, career success, summer schedules, editors' deadlines, essay topics, tweets, blog posts...the list goes on and on. I am feeling a sense of overload. How can I feel so...busy...when it seems as though nothing's getting done?

I was driving between my office and the park for boot camp yesterday when suddenly the racket got so loud it distracted me from my own thoughts. What the...? Then a fat, brown, winged bug hit my windshield and bounced off. Half a dozen more were zooming past the row of traffic ahead of me.

Then I realized that buzzing cadence in my head had gone external - the cicadas in the county are louder than my own humming stress.

I was cutting the lawn last weekend when I felt a hundred pairs of eyes on me. Bug eyes. They were all over my cedar fence. I don't know if they are always this brown color, or if they camouflage themselves, but I couldn't see them at all until I was pushing the lawn mower right up against the fence. It was like a cheap horror flick!

But I digress, at least those damn bugs'll be gone in another two weeks. Then I'll be left with the pulsing rhythm of my own deadlines. And maybe that's a good thing. It drives me to get things done, and to sit up and take notice when things aren't getting accomplished.

Time to focus on finishing up those three essays in my "WIP" (work in progress) folder...