I’m pleased to have my 14th article on Social Media Examiner (SME) today!  If you’ve found your way here as a result of seeing the post on SME, welcome and thank you for visiting.

By Way of Background:
My first post was published on SME back on October 27, 2010 and since that time I’ve written a series of 26 tips, A-Z guides about Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,blogs, lead generation, video, customer service, images, mobile apps, google+, pinterest, gamification, and now, location-based marketing.

I’ve been writing about social media for the past five years and have seen tremendous advances in that time. It’s always a challenge to keep up, but there’s something incredibly gratifying about continuing to learn something that feels very much like a moving target.

I also write regularly for GigCoin and you can check-out my latest post, How To: Extend Your Blogging Reach.

Other News:
This past week, I’ve also had the honor of being selected as a finalist in a short memoir contest on Biographile for my essay, Who Among Us. The contest is still going on and if you’re so inclined you can read the piece and vote for me by selecting the Facebook “like” widget on the page.

Non-fiction writing and memoir in particular has had a special place in my heart the past number of years, and I’m thrilled to have received recognition for this piece which is in memory of and a tribute to the ten women of the Tuesday, Writing for Wellness Group at Facing Cancer Together, who I had the distinct pleasure to know and write with.

I remember them.

A little over a year ago, after yet another friend in my writing for wellness group at Facing Cancer Together passed away, I wrote this short essay. I shared the piece with many friends at the time and a few months later, I put it away. That is until last week, when I came across the short memoir contest about “Overcoming Loss’ on Biographile’s website and on a whim, I decided to enter my piece.

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be a finalist in the contest, to share my memories of the many friends I’ve lost along the way, and the challenges that come with overcoming loss.

Please feel free to check out my essay, “Who Among Us,” and read all the superb finalist’s essays. And if you’re so inclined, you can even vote for me by clicking on the Facebook like widget on the left-hand side of my story’s page.

I’m having a nice day today on the blogosphere with two new posts published, one on Social Media Examiner (SME) and the other on The Content Marketeer. 

The 26 tips post is an A-Z guide providing assorted tips for writing great blog posts. The second post is an article about Dr. Patsi Krakoff and her experiences with content marketing. I enjoyed working on these posts immensely!

You can read the posts on their respective sites.

Happy New Year! I hope your new year is off to a good start.

I’m thrilled to be part of the writing community at Social Media Examiner and to have my social media prediction profiled there today as part of the “30 Social Media Predictions for 2012 from the Pros” post.

If you’ve found your way over to my blog as a result of that post, welcome, and I hope you will continue to follow my writing here and via social networking: Google+, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

If you would like to contact me about my writing services, please use the contact form. I’d be happy to discuss your writing needs with you.

Best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Every month for the past 4+ years I’ve been writing blog posts about social media. My early posts were about the emergence of the new phenomenon and of course, over the years the networks have multiplied and the needs for strategies have grown.

This past month, I published four new posts on GigCoin’s blog about privacy, social media trends for 2012, content strategy and how to track your social media results.

I had a post on WebDesigner Depot, with web design predictions for 2012 from well-known designers in the field.

I also had two posts on The Content Marketeer, interviews with content marketers, Bill Heggie and Andrew Boer.

It’s been another great year of writing and I look forward to emerging trends and topics in the new year ahead and sharing resources here, on Google+, Facebook and Twitter.

The Marketer’s Field Guide to Google+ Business Pages

Google+ business pages have been a hot topic these past few weeks since their launch on November 7, 2011.
In the days and weeks ahead we’ll be hearing more about how brands and small businesses are doing as they become acclimated to Google+. In the meantime, we think you’ll find some helpful hints here about what is essential for getting a good start on Google+ business pages and how to best engage with your community.

In this post, we offer: a number of how-to resources, helpful Google+ tips, important reminders about promoting your Google+ page, advice for small businesses regarding Google+, and best practices for marketing on Google+.

How-to Resources

In the past couple of weeks there’s been a plethora of how-to posts for getting started on Google+ for businesses. Below are links to six resources which should be helpful to get you up and running in no time:

• How to set up a google page for your business
• How to set up and use a google page for business
• How to set up google for your business or brand
• How to google plus brand page
• How to create a google business page in 5 simple steps

And, one of the best resources I’ve come across yet is HubSpot’s free eBook, How to Use Google+ for Business  which goes into a lot of detail including: marketing best practices with your Google+ page, the benefits of Google+ in search, the value of segmentation with Google+ Circles and how to incorporate the +1 button on your blog.

If you’re looking for one resource, the eBook will be a highly comprehensive choice.

Helpful Google+ Business Tips

John Haydon has some helpful tips in his recent post, where he suggests amongst other things:

• create an awesome “about” tab
• use an attractive main image
• turn your avatar into a gallery
• seek to help your clients/customers/donors instead of only promoting your organization
• search for conversations around your cause
• hangout with fans, volunteers and donors in a video conference (up to 10 people at a time) to collaborate on shared documents or just have a casual chat.

If You Build It, Will They Come?


Lance Whitney’s post based on BrightEdge’s study is an eye-opener and one that reminds of us the importance to promote your presence on Google+. The study found that a startling 61 of the world’s top 100 brands (from BrandZ’s 100 Most Valuable Brands ) had not displayed a link from their website to their new Google+ page which BrightEdge sees a a key way to round up followers. BrightEdge CEO Jim Yu stated, “Brands have been quick to embrace a presence on Google+ but clearly there is a long way to go in establishing social networks that really have scale and deep user engagement.”

Whitney suggests that brands need to do more than just set up their Google+ pages. “They also have to promote them from their own Web sites and other electronic media. They also need to tap into features such as Google Badges, which let them link their Web sites with their Google+ pages to cross-promote them.”

Note: To get Google badges, users need to sign up at the Google+ Platform Preview and then create and customize your badge at the Google+ configuration tool page. The page will generate a script that you’ll code into your Web site to enable and display the badge.

Small Business and Google+ Pages



Stephanie Christensen offers advice for small-business owners. She says, “Small business owners can use two other Google+ features to gain visibility. First, add the +1 button to your company’s website, which allows visitors to recommend it with a single click…add a Google+ badge to your website, which will lead users to your Google+ business page and allow them to follow your business’ updates, media, and other content you share.”

Stephanie says there are three reasons why you should create a Google+ business page:

• search visibility
• targeted messaging
• online brand control

Interesting to note: HubSpot reported websites that use Google’s +1 button generated 3.5 times more traffic from Google+ that websites that don’t have the button installed.

Marketing Best Practices


HubSpot recommends that to get the most from your Google+ business page in terms of traffic and leads that businesses should follow these practices:

• share lots of photos
• add recommended links in the “about” tab of your Google+ page, add links to important blog articles and lead generation offers to drive more traffic and leads for your business
• promote your Google+ page on your blog and website
• encourage people to share your posts e.g. ask your subscribers to share your content with the people in their circles
• analyze traffic and leads from Google+–look at referral traffic from plus.Google.com to your website
• use circles to segment your messages

Does your business have a Google+ business page? What lessons have you learned? Share your comments in the space below.

** This post was first published under my name on GigCoin  on 11/29/11.

Other posts published in November:
Read the rest of this entry »

In recent weeks, I’ve published two new posts on GigCoin’s blog:

• Social Media Marketing and Book Publishing: Lessons to Help Generate Book Buzz
• 11 Tips to Keep Your Email Marketing Alive and Well

About the posts:
The post about book publishing was very interesting to me. I had reached out to authors on HARO, Help a Reporter Out, and had a great response. I could only choose 5-6 authors to profile and ended up selecting authors from a number of different genres and ones too who used social media in a unique way. They were a great group of contributors to work with, very enthusiastic about social media and the processes they undertook.

The post about email marketing was really informative for me too since I learned some statistics showing that email marketing is still very much alive and well, and when used well can be very beneficial for businesses.  I’ve been involved in writing email newsletters, and it’s always interesting to see what catches people’s attention, what articles they click on, and what’s not as successful. I found that you have to have to study that information regularly as you write for email and for any of these online media, for that matter.

I’ve been blogging for a number of years now but have to say that the post, “Tips for Designing a Successful Facebook Content Strategy” from a research standpoint, had to be one of the most enjoyable and interesting processes I’ve had as a blogger.

As you’ll read in the full post on GigCoin’s blog, I had started out with an intention of researching third party APIs for auto-posting to your Facebook fan page. But after reading a post by Josh Constine on Inside Facebook, the post took a very different turn.

I felt a little like Woodward & Bernstein (okay, I said “a little”) as they uncovered Watergate. This had an odd feeling of a Facegate kind of conspiracy to it.

Then, I had the great fortune of being in contact with some excellent Facebook experts and receiving their tips, including Mari Smith, social media thought leader and author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day. Mari pushed out the post to her “peeps” yesterday and the post is being read even more widely now.

The viral nature of posts is something that intrigues me a lot!

I’ve had several new posts since my last update here on All the News–on Affiliate Marketing, Tips for Creating a Great Blog Post, and 20 iPhone Apps to Help You Create Amazing Photographs.

As I’ve often said on these pages and elsewhere, one of the things I love most about blogging is the research that is required for blog posts.  In particular, I had a great time trying out various photography iPhone apps.  It’s become a bit of a passion lately, taking photos and sharing them on Instagram.

Is Affiliate Marketing Right For You?

10 Tips for Creating a Great Blog Post

20 iPhone Apps to Help You Create Amazing Photographs

What have you been working on for your work or hobby?

Over the past several weeks I’ve written a few new posts on GigCoin’s blog about how video matters for social media marketing, the use of social buttons on websites and which sites work best for SEO.

As the use of social media becomes more widespread and commonplace, we’re starting to see a change in post topics. For awhile there was a need to write convincingly about why social media was a valid choice for businesses of all sizes. Now the posts assume higher involvement and the issues are more about standards and good practices.

Check out the full posts on GigCoin’s blog. You can click the image to be taken directly to the page.

What have you been reading or writing about?