Tag

blogging for business

Sep 26
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Five Simple Ways to Manage a Reputation

By Communications, Crisis Communications, Public Relations

How do you manage the reputation of your company? It’s difficult, and there are many moving parts. That’s why so many hire help from a firm or solo practitioner. Not a week goes by when I don’t hear about a business owner fretting over a bad Yelp review or an article damaging to their business or industry.

There are a few basic elements to managing a reputation, such as:

  1. Publishing content that tells the story of your organization in an authentic way
  2. Monitoring what’s being said and written online, to react to opportunities to respond
  3. Proactively pitch media with real news about your business
  4. Position the leaders of your organization as thought leaders and experts; offer them to media members as interview subjects or authors of whitepapers and editorial pieces
  5. Generate conversation among fans of the business

Of course, if a company’s reputation is bad because its product, service or customer relationships are bad, you may do all of the above and the company will still earn the reputation it deserves. Consider carefully your clients, PR and marketing people. And companies? Don’t expect miracles when you’re unwilling to improve the way you do business.

And now, a little Joan Jett and the Blackhearts . . .

 

Sep 21
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Publish or Perish: 5 Ways to Resurrect Your Blogging Efforts

By Communications, Social Media

Your business may have already taken up blogging efforts, but they’ve flagged, as many do, and you need a shot in the keister to get your online presence revived. 

As a reminder, small businesses that blog get 55% more traffic to their websites than businesses that do not blog.

No, silly — don’t just take my word for it — read the study for yourself.

I’m here to help, so here are five ways to get back to blogging and down to business:

  1. Feature your fans! The Charlottesville Albemarle Airport has begun a spotlight series featuring different members of the CHO family. See the spotlight on airport photographer Jack Looney!
  2. Invite a vendor or business partner to contribute a guest blog post. I was fortunate to have a great piece by Chester Hull of ProSound recently and my co-conspirator (we’re writing a book together) Ken Mueller is a regular guest on the Change the Conversation blog.
  3. Use video — seriously — videos that are a couple of minutes long, homespun (read: not professionally produced) and tell the story of your business are a fantastic way to connect with your audience.
  4. Read, read, read. Read other blogs — outside your industry. Read a newspaper (online or in print! I don’t judge!). Read a magazine. Read a book. Read with an eye for inspiration and you will find it.
  5. Brainstorm a bunch of lists. How many can you develop in an hour? 6 Ways to Bake a Potato! 3 Rules for Getting a Great Haircut! 5 Questions to Ask When Choosing  a Dentist! You can do it.
Now, get to blogging and down to business.

 

Sep 09
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Jaggers Communications Offers LinkedIn for Business Growth, Job Opportunities

By Jaggers Communications News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

WHAT: Public relations firm Jaggers Communications and nationally-recognized social media educator Marijean Jaggers offer a LinkedIn lunch time session. The workshop offers information for businesses to help increase social networks, enhance careers and find new and better opportunities.

WHEN: Monday, Sept. 12, Noon to 1p.m. Fee: $49. Register online: http://linkedinlunchandlearn.eventbrite.com/

WHERE: OpenSpace, 455 Second Street SE, Ste. 100, Charlottesville, VA 22902

WHO: This session is $49 to attend and is open to the public. Business owners, employees, job seekers, recent graduates and marketers should attend.

NOTE: Participants should bring a brown bag lunch. Drinks and dessert will be provided.

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About Jaggers Communications

Jaggers Communications is a strategic communications firm that provides organizations in the health care, education, manufacturing, travel and tourism industries with social media consulting, public relations support and reputation management strategy. The firm was founded in 2011 to serve businesses and nonprofits with a need for cost-effective, strategic communications with effective reach. www.jaggerscommunications.com

 

Aug 31
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Why You Won’t See “Target Audience” or “Drive Traffic” on this Blog

By Communications, Media, Social Media

I am an impassioned believer in the culture of social media. I believe that social strategy works because of the culture and those that sidestep, shortcut or throw money at it to make it work will be sorely disappointed.

What is the culture of social media?

The culture is founded on shared information, transparency (before it became a buzzword), authenticity, real, personal experiences, (yes, Virginia, even in business experiences). The culture eschews the idea of TARGETING prospects and audiences. The beauty of blogging and subscribing to content via RSS feeds changed the way the world consumes information. We were given the power to choose what we take in; what we absorb. The onus was put, at last, on us, to opt in to the information we want and conversely, block that which we don’t.

The Currency of the Digital Age

Instead of TARGETING people (and that is an unfriendly, militaristic concept, isn’t it? Are they targets because we are shooting at them?) we, instead, create content that is genuine and interesting and in doing so attract those who are interested in the topic, the service, the product, etc. We pull in people who want to read, watch or listen to what we have to say. If it’s five or 500,000, it doesn’t matter, as long as the people who arrive feel rewarded, and honor us by paying for what we offer with their attention, the currency of the digital age.

Herding Cattle, Leading Lemmings

Look: I’m a small business person. I am an entrepreneur. I want eyes on my website and know that when those numbers increase, the warm leads I have grow and turn into new business opportunities. But there’s no cattle prod here. There’s no workaround that is consistent with the practice of developing authentic, solid business relationships. Any quick fix  that promises to “drive traffic to your site!” is not consistent with the values of those doing business today. It’s not a long term, big picture view of building a business that values people, their opinions and their dollars.

Decide what kind of business you want to be in, and engage accordingly.

Aug 23
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Jim Duncan’s Blogging Philosophy

By Social Media
Jim Duncan, Nest Realty

Jim Duncan, Nest Realty

My friend Jim Duncan is a blogger. He’s also a REALTOR® and an entrepreneur.  Jim has been firmly in the lead, using social media and blogging, specifically to help build his business and maintain relationships with referral sources and future customers. Jim offers a nice balance when he blogs, spanning the personal and the professional, including musings about being a dad alongside thoughts about local policies and the real estate market.

Jim’s not selling on his blog — he’s blogging — which I appreciate. His posts are always informative, sometimes controversial but always interesting to read. Because it’s what he most wants to write, Jim gives the reader a great sense of what it’s like to live and work in Charlottesville, Va.

A couple of days ago, Jim shared a link to a post written by Hugh MacLeod which, as Jim said, perfectly summed up his blogging philosophy in one sentence.

People should come to your blog, not because somebody drove them there, but because it was important for them to come there.

We DO spend a lot of time talking about goals, evaluation, measurement and yes, “driving traffic,” but ultimately that’s not it at all. It’s about sharing valuable content, engaging in a way that’s authentic and thereby drawing those who are interested in what it is you have to offer. I’m FAR more interested in only having five visitors to my site if they are commenting, interacting and doing business with me, than 10,000 visitors who stop by and don’t contribute to the conversation at all.

I admire Jim’s philosophy, and subscribe to it myself. Do you agree?

How do you describe your blogging philosophy?