Business blogging and social media can be effective in helping products or services find an audience to generate conversations. Business blogging is the hub of any social media campaign. Yet, how do you move large segments of the population to evangelize your product or service like a preacher can move a congregation?

Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society. 

This has played out recently with the events that have happened in Egypt, Syria, Libya and Tunisia. By accounts, small segments of the population were able to use Facebook and Twitter to steer their ideas into a majority which resulted in what has become known as the "Arab Spring".

Who says that can not be done for a product or service? To make it happen, you have to participate in social media first. If you are not even engaging in conversation online, then your brand or competitor could be eating your lunch. As one of our clients said, "If you are not tracking Twitter or Facebook, your brand could get destroyed. People can be really mean." So participation is key. Because the 10% rule can go both ways. It can be either for you or against you.

Why? Consider this, Generation Y has now surpassed Babyboomers as the largest population in the United States. They don't watch television like Baby Boomers still do. Generation Y is online, texting and watching Youtube. If you want to reach Generation Y, television and newspapers will not do it.

If you want to move them and become a majority product in their circles, you will have to participate in social media to make it happen. It's scientifically proven that it only takes 10% for a movement to move like fire.

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into business blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

Any blog services strategy today includes content distribution through Twitter. Using a blog writing service, can they help you grow your Twitter following?

Twitter isn’t in the Oxford English Dictionary yet, but more than 175 million people have added it to their vocabularies and use its 140 character posts to answer the question “What are you doing?”

Inventing new words may be part of the game with Twitter, as people have adopted a whole new language. Twitter people are Tweeple. A Twitter meetup is a Tweetup. And on and on.

InTwigued? To put Twitter’s 4 million users in perspective, when Facebook was getting similar attention, its ranks numbered 24 million. So is Twitter overrated or as valuable as its fans claim? And will it be around long enough to make it worth our time?

Time is one feature that Twitter boasts. It offers users real time connection, an instant, short glimpse into all the moments between emails and blog posts. Friends could find these momentary updates useful when we’re looking to join the party or running late for lunch, and businesses are beginning to employ Twitter marketing to announce short-term specials, like the deal of the day. Twitter even scooped more traditional media with first news and instant updates of recent earthquakes,rocket attacks, and plane crashes. We all hope catastrophes are few are far between. So do the many people or businesses who have news that’s noteworthy enough to fill the moments between blog posts and e-blasts.

For many, Twitter is truly like a micro-blog, like using only the status section of Facebook. Fans say this feature inspires conversation and connections. It can also provide the curious spark that drives “followers” to blog posts, Facebook pages, and more in-depth web presences. When Barack Obama used Twitter during his presidential campaign, some argued that his tweets got followers to visit more than just web sites. Either way, the voters visited the polls.

And while Twitter users may number just a fraction of other online social networks’ crowds, Facebook did float a $500 million stock offer to bring Twitter into its realm. That’s 500 million reasons that Facebook thinks Twitter will stay and grow.

Several Twitterers we know admit to feeling like they were in their own foggy Twitter bubble (Twubble?) when they first joined the network. John H. suggested new users should be warned with a disclaimer, something like, “Warning: During your first 30 days of using Twitter, you will have no idea what the heck is going on. Only after 30 days will you begin to understand its value.”

Several other users confessed to giving up within those first 30 days after tiring of the useless updates and the time wasted. It seems most of us are Twittering and following tweets to be part of the experiment, to learn to tailor the Twitterers we follow to accomplish our own information goals and to enjoy the simplicity of short, quick updates.

So is Twitter overrated? Our opinion is no, it’s got nowhere to go but up. But maybe you think differently. Is Twitter is an endangered species under the pressure of larger social networks? Leave your comments (even with more than 140 characters).

If you are trying to reach an audience that has an interest in what you do, business blogging is the way to go. Business blogging can be the hub of your social media campaign. Have a problem writing content? Hire a ghost blogging service. They can provide a steady stream of content to feed the search engines.

New corporate and small business bloggers have a steep learning curve. But it's not the technology that's the problem. It's the etiquette, best practices, and even what you write about that can cause your blog to fail. Here are 20 common blogging mistakes that most bloggers make. Avoid these, and you'll be ahead of most bloggers out in the blogosphere.

1. Assuming Blogging is a Technology Problem
Despite your IT guy and hosted service vendor's assurance, blogging is not a technology problem. It's a human problem that requires time, talent and experience. All the amazing software and automation in the world will not fix the fact that your staff may not have the time, ability or motivation to keep the blog going.

2. Arrogant Personal Stories
People really don't want to read about how great your new Ferarri is. If you want to get something online about how cool you are, remember it's not cool to do it yourself. Here's what the internet does to people that like to brag too much.

3. Starching blog posts
Most corporate communications are written in the third person using passive voice. Most of the time these blogs are written avoiding the words "you", "we", and "I". It's boring, dry and impersonal and people have a hard time understanding these posts. Blog articles are supposed to be less formal, and much more engaging. Don't starch and press blog posts, unless you want another boring business blog.

4. Hiring a cheap ghostwriter for $10 per post
If you haven't figured it out, $10 turns into $5 for overhead and $5 for the writer. Not many American English writers can survive on $2.50 per hour. So, the options are badly written articles, plagiarism or copyright infringement.

5. Not Promoting Your Blog
You really want hit a grand slam in front of empty stands, don't you? Probably not. If you don't promote your blog, even the search engines will ignore it.

6. Silencing Your Critics
If you have never heard of the Streisand Effect, click here. When you silence your critics by removing their comments, thousands of people will be told about it. And those people in turn will tell thousands more that you are a bully and censor. And that might even make the news.

7. Launching Lawyers at Bloggers
I know, you really don't like the article that accused your company of willfully poisoning the water. It really got under your skin when someone pointed out you could buy your product on the grey market for half-price. Your lawyer says he can make it stop. The problem is, when you attack a blogger legally you risk getting drug through the mud even worse than you did before. Here is what happens when lawyers try to attack bloggers. And here. It's the Streisand Effect, but now with 67% more sharks!

8. Don't Tell Anyone You Have a LinkedIn Profile
If a blog is your portfolio, LinkedIn is your résumé. Make sure people know how to find you, whether it's a potential employer, client, or former colleague. Tie your blog to your LinkedIn profile, and vice versa. Use a widget like Lijit to put on your blog sidebar to point to your different profiles.

9. Don't Put Your Photo on Your Blog and Social Media Profile
If you want to be a credible source and the face of your field or industry, put your photo on your blog and other social networks. This lets people know what you look like, you'll be easily recognizable, and it's a chance to develop your personal brand. If you want to be a boring, anonymous writer who fails to capture interest, don't.

10. Don't Tell Twitter You Have a New Blog Post
If you build it, they'll come. (No they won't.) If you tell one person, they'll tell two people and they'll tell two people (No, they won't.) Because everyone will instantly recognize your genius, and they'll call you the next blogging genius. (No. They. Won't.). It's really simple: 1) Get a Twitter profile. 2) Follow people who share your interests or are local. 3) Automatically feed your blog to Twitter.

11. Don't Allow/Have Comments, or Just Ignore Them
Here's a great way to kill your blog: Don't allow comments on a controversial blog post, don't have them in the first place, or ignore them completely. Comments are a big source of link juice for the search engines, so if you don't have them, your blog is nothing more than a flier on a rarely-used elevator.

12. Failing to Link to Other Blogs
More links = more link juice = higher search engine rankings. No links = no link juice = Google relegating you to the 10th page (hint: nobody visits the 10th page). Your blog is there to help you communicate with your customers, but to help with your search engine rankings too.

13. Ignoring Your Blog
You can't just set it up and forget about it. You need to post at least once a week, but 2 - 3 times a week is better, and daily is best. If you can't get to it more than once a week, you're better off not having one.

14. Assuming Blogging is a Marketing Problem
Marketing should be in charge of the blog, but they shouldn't have sole control the content, otherwise it just gets boring and turns into nothing but product promotion. Plus they say things like "we cultivate out-of-the-box infomediaries", and we don't want that. If your blog is about technical issues, work with the subject matter experts. If it's about the inner workings of the company, talk to operations. The marketing people can turn the jargon into everyday language, but don't let them communicate impactful synergies turn it into marketing-speak either.

15. Making Your Blog Fully Personal or Commercial
If you have nothing but personal posts, you have a diary. While there are some successful diary bloggers, they don't sell anything. If you have nothing but commercial posts, you have a splog. There aren't any successful spam sites, because people hate them, and they really don't sell anything. If you're going to sell something, provide knowledge about the product. If you're a house painter, teach people how to paint a house. If you're a marketing agency, tell people how to do marketing. Your reader will see you know how to do your job and hire you.

16. Disrespecting Your Readers
Surprisingly, corporate or business bloggers are typically less web-savvy than their readers. They've usually been recruited to share their thoughts on the blog but don't really understand the various ways the posts will be read. The result? A painfully text heavy site, sparse or silly use of images and an RSS feed that is either truncated randomly or formatted incorrectly. Respect your readers by learning about online content structuring and management.

17. Letting Your Rear End Talk Too Much
Some bloggers seem to think every post must contain a big promise, hyperbolic phrasing, and earth shattering stats to engage the reader and get subscribers. With this premise, they can't help but create blathering posts that underwhelm. Readers want relevant information, not hype, not promises, not made-up-on-the-spot stats. Do your research and know what is relevant to your readers.

18. Turning Into a Professor
A professor stands in front of a class and lectures on and on. What's more, they like to use the buzzwords they found in their favorite academic journal. Blogging like this is the equivalent of showing up at a conference with a tuxedo or evening gown and addressing everyone from the stage, mic in hand. Blogging works best when you speak to one person at a time, in a conversational style, and use short, everyday words.

19. Being Too Keyword Obvious
Blogs should contain keywords. They should not be riddled with them. This post is about blogging mistakes, so we used the keywords "blogging" and "mistakes" in the headline, the first part of the text, and a few times throughout the post. We didn't say "Read this blogging mistakes report on blogging mistakes to learn to avoid blogging mistakes." (That one didn't count.)

20. Being an Idealistic Ida or a Negative Nancy
The venom you have for the world around you influences the words you write. If you're easily irritated by the masses who aren't in lock-step with your mantras, corporate blogging probably isn't for you (personal blogs, on the other hand, are wide open). If you think everyone could just get along if they all held a puppy and heard the laughter of a child, it's not for you either. It's okay to have ideals, and it's okay to be irritated once in a while. But if this is the entire point of your blog, you're either going to run out of steam or of readers. Or both.

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into business blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

Are You a sexy Social Media Expert?

Blow out the candle and turn off the Marvin Gaye. We’re not talking about that kind of sexy profile. Social media campaigns have gone far beyond e-dating. Now we’re e-networking: fishing (and casting) for jobs, getting (free) expert advice, and keeping track of who knows who we know (you know?). We’re all within six degrees of separation. These days, it’s more like six buddy lists. Business blogging can play an important part in your e-networking.

To make the most of this wide-spread web and the social network profiles that bind us, we have to represent our genuine selves attractively. The challenge is putting our best e-foot forward within the limitations of a social media profile with a tiny thumbnail of a profile pic.

First, take advantage of the old adage that a picture’s worth a thousand words. Company presidents, executives, and managers agree that profiles that include a picture lend more credibility to any words on the page. Yes, it’s tempting to use that hilarious lamp-shade-on-the-head photo from the last office party or maybe even Fido’s most adorable pose, but keep in mind that we’re looking to make a connection for ourselves, not our pet or our party skills. The folks who wield paychecks, contracts, and years of experience say a flattering head shot in a professional setting is more attractive than swiping a pic of our favorite celebrity.

Next, use your words. The completeness of a profile also gets the attention of big fish in this web pond. Fill in as many profile blanks as you can and keep the information accurate with regular updates. If you’re on multiple social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter, Digg, Facebook, etc.), make sure all your stats jive so that potential connections won’t get conflicting messages about your experience.

And remember, get creative but don’t brag. Social media profiles shouldn’t be e-resumes. Make your profile as interesting and dynamic as you are, but don’t oversell your talents. No one wants to sit next the guy who can’t stop talking about himself, and it’s just as much a turn off to visit a profile page that screams “It’s all about me, wonderful ME!” Let your personality shine through—maybe with a quote or tagline about an experience in your life—and think about representing more than just your professional career.

Social media networks are a relatively new aspect of how we communicate. But their influence is growing, and businesses are becoming more aware of the benefits social network profiles can bring. Posting our most compelling profiles now and developing them as these social media outlets grow is sure to keep our message the most attractive news we’ve heard on the grapevine. (And…cue the Marvin Gaye once more.)

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into business blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

Paul Lorinczi at Marketing, Sales and the Art of Persuasion takes a stab at the Anthony Weiner affair with the help of Jason Falls from Social Media Explorer. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="220" caption="Image via CrunchBase"][/caption]

Paul writes:

Jason Falls provides some common sense thinking on the Anthony Wiener scandal. The cause of his problems started on Twitter. Which is fast becoming a dangerous place, if you are writing inflammatory commentary - a la the Indiana Department of Justice employee Jeffrey Cox who made headlines earlier this year for his bad use of online brand management.

In a nutshell, if you are going to participate on any social media platform that you don't own yourself or host on your own server, it will end badly for you. It's a risk of participating. Common Sense says you have to be careful.  Jason Falls walks through how readers should approach social media.  My favorite line:

"if you don’t understand that anything you post on social media platforms has the potential to be seen by anyone, well, you’ll soon be left holding your wiener."

If you are managing your own online brand and want to stay clean, consider the following:

1. Little or no foul language

2. No uncompromising pictures

3. Don't speak badly about your employer

4. Don't speak smack about your competitor

5. Stay away from politics

If you are posting naked pictures of yourself, it's probably not a good idea - Breitbart could be just around the corner.

 Business blogging takes time and energy, hire a ghostblogger!

Did you know that ghost writing has been around since the time of the Bible?  Passages in the New Testament had to be written by ghost writers because the Disciples were illiterate. Scribes are the ancient version of what a ghost blog writer is to today.

I am not here to argue with biblical scholars.

There's a bit of debate about whether or not to hire ghost writers for a business blog or, as I like to call them, "phost writers". And while I understand the arguments against it, especially those focusing on transparency and sincerity, I think the people making them don't have a firm understanding of the amount of time that goes into writing a good blog post.

They also don't have a firm grasp on a simple economic concept: Some people's time is worth lots of money. If you or your potential blogger bills or earns over about $50 per hour, you are probably not making a wise decision to strictly blog in house.

Here's another important point. Ghost writing is an accepted practice.

Take a look at speech writers. President Obama's speeches are crafted by Jon Favreau, a 27-year-old whiz kid from Massachusetts. McCain's were written by long-time friend and adviser Mark Salter. It's an accepted (and expected) practice in both the political and corporate world.

I would not expect Bob Crandall, the former CEO of American Airlines to always sit down and type out his own blog posts, but I would like to hear what he has to say. In his New England fashion, he really tells it like it is. If it takes someone else to get those thoughts into a post then please, Mr. Crandall, have them do it.

The way I see it, ghost writing for a blog is no different than a speech writer save one thing. A speech writer writes the words that a person will say. A professional "phost writer" writes the words a person has said.

How do we do it?

Simple, we interview the would-be post author, take their spoken words and turn them into written words. However, we don't transcribe. We cull the best points from each recorded interview and craft posts using their expressions, their "way of speaking".

Just like speech writers, we provide a personalized service to those who may not have the time, resources or blogging skills needed to do it themselves.

So, tell me, what's all this ghost writing fuss really about?

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into business blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

photo credit: jdebner

Answer: If you want to see B2B Social Media in action, make sure you get online every Sunday after 5:00 PM. 

Every Sunday, your business blogging investment supports your participation in B2B social media and B2C Social media activity. Facebook participation is at the highest. Users are on Twitter getting caught up on the latest trends. Or, users are getting caught up on their favorite forum or interest.

If your Sunday evenings starts with “www,” you may have had more company than you think.

Last Sunday evening, I was online learning about how many other people were online. Nope, it wasn’t because my favorite team was out of the playoffs or because a bad storm was keeping me in doors…or even because I’m the CEO of a professional blog service company. Whether I’m clicking my way through business or catching up with friends on LinkedIn, internet use has become a regular part of my life. And I’m not alone.

That’s what I learned last Sunday evening while I was online. The UK’s Ofcom—or Office of Communication—just announced that more people are surfing the web on Sundays from 5-6pm than at any other time. According to Ofcom’s research, the weekdays’ greatest web traffic comes between 9pm and 10pm, but there’s even a surge of internet use after 3pm, when most kids get out of school.

When I stopped to think about it, this online traffic report isn’t really that surprising. Thinking about my daily “to do list,” it’s impressive how many tasks I accomplish through the Internet. Many of us go online to quickly check off those necessary items, like managing bank accounts, renewing library books, and checking the weather forecast. But we also open a web browser to read the news, share photos, update profiles on social networks, and even watch television and listen to music. And the list of tasks keeps expanding...

Reading about all my fellow web users doesn't make me feel crowded, rather, I feel like part of an audience. With so many of us online—and so many of us online so often—businesses that want to spread the word about their services need to be where the people are. These days, the people are online…everyday…usually multiple times.

The most successful businesses have their ears tuned in to the sound of all those mice clicks and fingers strokes. They’re using the internet to meet that wide audience using the internet…and not just on Sunday evenings.

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into business blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

Social media campaigns have gotten interesting.

Companies can now be charitable with their social media campaigns using services like SocialVibe.

A couple of years ago, SocialVibe secured $8 million in financing. They are still around today. Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking? Who’s SocialVibe? It’s okay, I didn’t know either.

According to their market speak…

“SocialVibe is a social media monetization platform that mobilizes millions of social media consumers to simply promote, distribute and support brands and charities.”

Basically, social networking users can post sponsored badges (read: ads) for their favorite charities or causes on their profiles and then earn points for those charities along with a few perks for themselves.

They have over 500,000 members and have clocked over 100 million impressions for the likes of Coca Cola, Kraft, Sprint, Sony Pictures and even Colgate-Palmolive. All of these impressions add up to benefit 30 non-profit organizations (think World Wildlife Fund or PETA) and, of course, Social Vibe.

You see, SocialVibe takes a certain percentage to cover their costs and a small profit and then allocates, according to their website, “a sizable majority” of their monthly income to charitable donations. They don’t say what “a sizable majority” is, but as of December 2008, they’ve donated $200,000 to partner charities.

It’s an interesting concept that seems to combine viral interest with advertising revenue and all to benefit a good cause. But, I’d be hesitant to get behind anything so closely connected to charitable causes and donations? Why? Because they’re going to be held to a much higher level of scrutiny.

If Coca-Cola asks MySpace users to install an application that happens to advertise Coca Cola, we all know that’s advertising and accept it. But, if that advertising starts cloaking itself with charitable donations and just causes, people are going to put the whole process under a microscope.

I’m also curious to see if SocialVibe ends up getting in trouble for violating any terms of service. According to their site, they abide by the TOS’s of Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and MyYearbook, but there are hundreds of other social networking sites out there who may not take too kindly to someone else advertising on their space.

Wolves in Sheep's Clothing?

How do you feel about big brands using charities to push ads into social networks? Imagine, you are browsing & you see a chance to support your favorite charity, and are then treated to advertising by a big brand.

Is that a problem?

Well, my guess is that unless the social networks are financially cut in on this little plan, they will come down hard on the application publisher. Because, when you look past the veneer of charity, these brands are simply using their application to front run someone else's ads onto Facebook without paying for the ad.

What do you think?

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into business blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

LInkedin and B2B Social Media

Linkedin is a great place to participate for effective B2B Social Media, You can manage your online reputation management on Linkedin to help build your personal and corporate brand. B2b social media is tricky and mistakes are often made.

We love LinkedIn for both personal and corporate networking & promotion. However, we see a basket full of blunders that any informed networker would be ashamed to own up to.

Here's Our List

1. End your title with the word “Expert,” or “Guru.” Exception: if your name actually is “Guru” or you are wearing a Karnac the Magnificent Hat in your profile pic, you are welcome to use the term Guru.

2. Toss the word “foremost” or “leading” in front of your title. Everyone loves someone who is humble enough to know what they think you should think of them.

3. Combine #1 and #2 - and become the “Leading Organic Fertilizer Guru”

4. Don't recommend people. Unless, of course, you wouldn't like it if someone recommended you...

5. Use your logo as your profile picture. Unless, of course, you actually look just like your logo.

6. Don't connect with anyone. LinkedIn becomes more useful with more connections. Why? Because you only see LinkedIn members you have a connection to. More connections means more search results and more potential connections.

7. Join groups and post “I am growing my linked in network please connect with me” spams in discussions. No one joins LinkedIn to shrink their networks.

8. Decorate your name with funky characters. People really want your to see ___**>>> Beth Badass <<<***___ in their Outlook. Oh, and funky character break features that people use to find you in Outlook, like say SEARCH. If your name is Beth, it starts with the letter “B” not the “_” character!

9. Ask spammy questions like, “Did you know you can make millions with my secret process revealed in my latest ebook!?” That “report spam” link is really easy to click.

10. Begin your title with “Professional,” “Competent,” or “Qualified.” You wouldn't have a job if you were an amateur, would you? Why would an adult be less than qualified?

11. Refusing all connection requests by clicking “I Don't Know This Person.” While it may be true you don't know that person, LinkedIn actually punishes people when you click “I don't know.” And worse, LinkedIn tells the other side that you hate their guts and wanted them gibbeted. Hit the "archive" button instead of the I Don't Know button. It has better karma.

12. Log in once a quarter. Unless you like calling people and finding out that deal they sent over back in September, it closed three weeks ago.

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into business blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

Lead generation is a critical part of marketing, in fact – it’s why we market in the first place.

In the past, you might have bought a few radio spots, sent out some direct mail cards, held a contest or even made a few phone calls. And yes, a few people might have responded. You’d then send them some more information or an email hoping to keep that spark of interest alive along with your potential sale.

Take a jewelry store in my area for example. I recently made an inquiry there about having a custom piece of jewelry made for my wife. Over the last three weeks, I received three small catalogs, a pamphlet in the mail, and three emails all trying to sell me mass-market jewelry. Where does it end up? The trash.

Why? What’s changed?

The New Way - Social Media For Business

What that jewelry store doesn’t know is that the world has moved on to a new method of lead generation – one that focuses on empowering the customers to make their own decisions and building relationships. Basically, being there and communicating with your potential or existing customers before the sales process ever begins.

Seth Godin calls it Permission Marketing. Hubspot calls it Inbound Marketing. Others call it Pre-Relationship Marketing (taking on the concept of building the relationship before you market). You can call it whatever you want.

The old ways involved beating your potential customers over the head with information, sales drives and an aggressive sales force. Now, it’s about letting your customers find you and empowering them to make their own decisions.

How Do You Do It?

Use the web. It’s the easiest way to start conversations with your potential customers, build those relationships and be there before a sale ever happens.

A blog lets you inform, Twitter keeps you in contact, social networks like Facebook or LinkedIn let you connect with people and niche message boards give you fast access to your target group – it’s beautiful.

So, let’s go back to that jewelry store example. While researching custom-designed jewelry, I also came across an independent artist working in my area. She had an Etsy site, a Facebook profile and a regularly updated blog with pictures of her past custom work and tips on planning a custom design. Not only was it informative and easily found, it was approachable. Who do you think I hired?

Converting the Lead to a Sale

Of course, converting those online relationships (or “leads”) into a sale is a whole other ball game. Just because someone comments on your blog, that doesn’t mean they’re going to buy your product.

So, how do you take those wide-funnel sales opportunities and turn them into hard, concrete sales? Do you focus on one-on-one communication? Or do you think it’s all a waste of time?

What are your thoughts on the new style of online lead generation?