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Category: Blog Marketing

Would You Rather Be Influential or Popular – Pick One

Posted on July 9, 2008

Are you influential or popular?

For Galinda, a Wicked witch it’s all about being popular . . .

When I see depressing creatures
With unprepossessing features
I remind them on their own behalf
To think of celebrated heads of state
Or specially great communicators
Did they have brains or knowledge?
Don’t make me laugh!
They were popular! Please –
It’s all about popular!
It’s not about aptitude
It’s the way you’re viewed
So it’s very shrewd to be
Very very popular like me!

Artist: Kristin Chenoweth
Song: Popular

 

What does “popular” mean?

1490, “public,” from L. popularis “belonging to the people,” from populus “people.” Meaning “well-liked, admired by the people” is attested from 1608. Popularity “fact or condition of being beloved by the people” is first recorded 1601; popularity contest is from 1941. Popular Front “coalition of Communists, Socialists, and radicals” is from 1936. Popularize “to make a complex topic intelligible to the people” is from 1833.

Source: Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/popular (accessed: July 09, 2008).

How about “influence?”

c.1374, an astrological term, “streaming ethereal power from the stars acting upon character or destiny of men,” from O.Fr. influence “emanation from the stars that acts upon one’s character and destiny” (13c.), also “a flow of water,” from M.L. influentia “a flowing in” (also used in the astrological sense), from L. influentem (nom. influens), prp. of influere “to flow into,” from in- “in” + fluere “to flow” (see fluent). Meaning “exercise of personal power by human beings” is from 1439; meaning “exertion of unseen influence by persons” is from 1588 (a sense already in M.L., e.g. Aquinas). Under the influence “drunk” first attested 1866. Influential “powerful” is from 1734

Source: Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/influence (accessed: July 09, 2008).

Compare and Contrast: popular and influential

Orange: a popular marketing color

“Popular marketing” gets 70,600 Google results

“Influential Marketing” gets 37,300 Google results with two names mentioned most often at the top: Seth Godin and Rohit Bhargava, social media star and Digital Strategist for Ogilvy 360 – could Seth and Rohit also be popular?

How to get to be popular

Set up a popular social media profile

Learn how to hang out with popular people

Share the spotlight with celebrities

How to be influential

Read Influential Marketing Blog

Time lists their version of the 100 most influential people. 

Top 10 Emerging influential blogs project

Social Medial Influence

Measurement

Tracking Blog Popularity

See how Onalytica measures PR blog influence

Thanks to Brendan Cooper for the inspiration for this post – and for clarifying what the Friendly PR Index is and and is not.

Your Turn: Would you rather be popular or influential?

4 Comments - Posted in Blog Marketing, Blog Publicity

Blog PR: Promoting Posts – Where, When and How Much?

Posted on July 2, 2008

Do you Digg your own stuff? Stumble over your posts? Tweet your latest?

How far can and do you go to let people know what’s hot where you are?

Because my company specializes in promoting our clients and their work, promoting blog posts is on my mind. How can bloggers maximize their efforts?

Here’s how my own promotions stack up . . .

Twitter: post a link and a headline for almost every post

LinkedIn: thinking of adding a link to major posts on my status, mention posts when answering questions or write a post to answer the question and then link back there

Digg: don’t do now, have 5/over 400 posts in my profile

Facebook: blog updates in profile

Stumbleupon: rarely

Blog Comments: when I see twitter mentioned, I check in with an answer and a link to www.thetwitterguide.com

Groups: reply to a question or start a thread with a topic and link to post, sometimes with a follow up like this message I left today:

By the way, this post pops up on Google for the search term: writing
Amazon reviews. Yesterday it was number 2, today it’s number 4 out of
4,020,000 results. I posted the replay on my site to drive traffic
there as well.

Here’s the direct link:
http://corywestmedia.com/BarbaraRozgonyi-BradShorr-AmazonReviews.htm
and the blog post:
http://tinyurl.com/5l6l7g

How do you promote your blog posts?

2 Comments - Posted in Blog Marketing, Blog Publicity, Publicity

July Events: BlogHer ’08 Reach! in San Francisco

Posted on July 1, 2008

blogher08-banner

Welcome to July! Where will your adventures take you this month?

Going on vacation, to the fireworks, to a parade, to the beach, to a conference?

Will I see you at BlogHer ’08 in San Francisco? Check out the list of BlogHer ’08 attendees.

I had so much fun volunteering as live blogger and microphone wrangler at BlogHer ’07 here in Chicago, I decided to take the trip to San Francisco to be part of BlogHer ’08.

Can’t make it to San Francisco? Attend BlogHer ’08 in Second Life.

This morning, I was thrilled to discover my BlogHer ’07 experience mentioned in this article about how the power users of the Internet are forging a new women’s movement online. Written by Elisa Camahort, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone, the article appeared in the O’Reilly Networks’ Women in Technology series.

Here’s a clip . . .

We women use technology, and our beloved computers and mobile devices, to improve all aspects of our lives. That’s why even savvy non-technical companies (such as BlogHer advertisers Kraft, Dove, Gerber, and Uncle Ben’s) are reaching out to bloggers across topics as varied as food, health, politics and business. Even those of us who are moms do more than parent. This isn’t news but, according to our community, it is a novel approach:

“For the first time in my life, it was okay to be completely me at a conference: a woman, a mother of three, an entrepreneur, a writer, and a blogger,” said Barbara Rozgonyi, BlogHer ’07 attendee

While I knew the article was coming, I didn’t find it until today. Are you a mom or a dad? How does technology fit into your parenting life?

0 Comments - Posted in Blog Marketing, Marketing Blog Tagged with: , ,

Popular Posts: Readers Rank June’s Best

Posted on June 30, 2008

How about you? Do you like to keep this kind of information secret?

In 24 months of publishing posts, I didn’t think to let you in on something you might want to know: my most popular posts and my top recommendations. So, here’s my first report.

In 30 days, I published 20 posts. Only two of my June posts made it into my reader’s top five most popular list. So, I’m tossing in an additional five posts, all published this month, that I thought you might enjoy.

Reader’s Top Five Posts

Picture Perfect PR: Are You Camera Ready?

Three measurement tools give three different measurements on number of page views for this top-read post. Could it be the spiders? Blue Host, my blog host, says 956. My Blog Log is the lowest at 699. Google Analytics comes in at 749. Read this one to find out to look fabulous and take smashing images.

Measuring Blog Influence: PR Friendly Index Ranking System

Hundreds of readers came by to take a look at how Brendan Cooper scores his PR Friendly Index. Wired PR Works came in at 46 – can we say this is a top 50 PR blog?

Wired PR Works

Puzzling how so many people stop at the front door before going in. Now that there’s a welcome mat, people tend to stay longer and look around more. Do you think adding an image would help?

LinkedIn PR: Top 10 Ways to Become a Subject Matter Expert

Looking for this blog’s “best seller?” This is it. Published as a contest entry over a year ago, this post continues to attract daily traffic.

The Twitter Guide: How to Tweet in 140 Characters or Less

Visit www.thetwitterguide.com and you’ll see it redirects to this post. That’s why you’ll see this URL in your welcome message from me when you follow me @wiredprworks on twitter.com.

My Top Five Recommended Posts

Social-izing PR: 33 Ways to Promote You and Your Network

Looking back at this post, I realized this is a checklist for social media success. See what you think and let me know what you would add.

Youth Media’s New Storytellers: Making Media Connections Notes

Sitting in the presentation, I knew this post would be one of my favorites. I’m still moved every time I watched the videos.

Ska-Doosh! Kung Fu Panda Mastermind-ing Moves

Speaking of movies, did you see Kung Fu Panda yet? Here, I borrowed the master approach and applied it to findings from my own mastermind group.

Get Top-Ranked on Amazon in Reviews Guest Podcast Brad Shorr

So . . . I got too close to my headset. That’s the only hitch in this interview with Brad Shorr who graciously agreed to let me dust off my teleseminar skills and interview him about his success with Amazon reviews. Have you tried this traffic-building tactic?

System Seminar 2008 Takeaways Include Aim Low Get High

Another round of conference notes . . .  but wait! Don’t hit the snooze button or you’ll miss some quirky, off-beat AND relevant business and marketing advice from a music promoter. Come on, you want to be a rock star, don’t you?

What Do You Think?

Which post would you rank number one – based on the title or description alone?

2 Comments - Posted in Blog Marketing, Marketing Tagged with: ,

Blog Reader Survey: Did You Find Everything You Were Looking For?

Posted on June 27, 2008

blogreaderquestion

Did you find everything you were looking for?

That’s the question every customer gets asked every time they check out at our Trader Joe’s, “your neighborhood grocery store.”

Unless I’m in my friend Dan’s line where we quickly take the next few minutes to exchange news [they're going to Indiana this weekend to pick up a rescue puppy they picked out online and W's signing at The Symphony Center tomorrow night], I usually stop and think . . .

Hmmm . . Did I find everything I was looking for when I came in?

Because I know I’ll be asked that question going out, I also have to think about it going in, which makes me a smarter shopper and Trader Joe’s a smart marketer.

Up until Tuesday, when you clicked into this blog, it was difficult, if not impossible to navigate the 400+ posts.

What’s different?

  • Added in archives – they go back to June 2006
  • Listed the categories – displays all special interests
  • Took off Google AdWords – more competition than income
  • Linked to most popular posts – coming next week

So, tell me: When you came here did you find everything you were looking for?

And, just like Trader Joe’s if you don’t see it, I’ll consider stocking the information you want so you can find it next time you come in . . .

0 Comments - Posted in Blog Marketing Tagged with: