So, without further ado I will explain how to use Twitter Search to increase
followers and potential customers.
How to Use Twitter Search to Increase Followers and Potential Customers
*You want to find people who are talking about or asking questions about
your Niche. For this example we will use DVD Players…. as if you run a DVD
Player Business.*
Go to Twitter Search and enter "DVD-Players" into the box (without
the quotes around it). Press enter. It will look something like:
Read through the Realtime results for dvd-players and see if there is anybody
asking questions that you can answer. Or, perhaps just have a conversation
with one of the tweople. Remember that Twitter is not about one side talks,
but instead it Twitter
should be a conversation.
Here are some examples of some of the tweets the tweople left and possible
replies you could leave in response to them. This will give you an idea of
how to have a conversation with them. And also how to use Twitter Search to
answer questions and as part of the customer service end of your business.
Examples of How to Use Twitter Search to Increase Followers
Below is a really cool tweet. Yes, there isn’t a question to answer, but
I bet you could come up with something cute that would make you stand out.
Something that will cause @ladybugbows
to follow you. How about this???
Reply with something cute to get their attention like, "A family
that has their own DVD Players Stays Together".
Here is a really great chance to make a person from Twitter into a customer….
Offer a Coupon Code:
Straight forward questions need straight forward answers.
Just as if you were handling customer service at your place of business, answer
questions via phone calls or emails… Twitter
can be a medium that you can handle customer service as well. Answer questions
where you can and become known as a Specialist in your field.
If you know something that others don’t know share your knowledge. This
tweeter’s DVD Player lost his power cord due to a hungry pet….. he needs
help. Can you help?
But, what if you knew something that could help? Offer the tip or suggestions….
you might even get a sale from it.
And that is pretty much it. See how easy that is and yet Twitter Search
can be super powerful way to not only increase your Twitter Followers, but to
increase your Customers.
Thursday, December 17th, 2009 |
Above Image by Valerie
Everett
If you are not joining in on the conversation you are missing out on tons of
Business. I’m not just saying this as a possibliltiy….. I am saying this as
total FACT!!
Whether you like it or not….. people, your potential customers, are talking.
They might be asking questions online even. And,if you aren’t
answering their questions…. you can count on someone else answering their
question.
How to Find New Customers on Twitter by Answering Questions
Imagine this…..
Someone on Twitter says, "HELP!! My printer won’t work. I’ve
tried everything… can anyone help me?!"
If your business is in the Printer niche maybe you could help. Tweeting an
answer not only can get you a sale, but maybe something even better…. a life
long customer that trusts and respects you.
So, you need to respond to this Twitter cry for help. Simply, @ this person
and say something to the effect of, "I work with printers all
day…. How can I help you and make your life easier?"
She will no doubtingly respond back to you and with the correct answer you
will have earned the respect and trust from a potential customer. And you have
also just experienced your first Customer Service Twitter Conversation.
And, had YOU not helped this potential customer…. some other printer person
most doubtingly would have.
Even if she doesn’t purchase anything right away from you I can almost
guarantee she will follow you back on Twitter because you were a huge
help. This is almost has good as an immediate sale. How? You have her
ears for anything you tweet on Twitter. Plus, you have already earned
her trust and respect. Now you most certainly have her attention.
Well, you are probably thinking, "Well, that is great and I will start
doing that!!But, how do I use Twitter Search to know if someone on Twitter is talking
about my area of expertise?"
Great question!!
How to find Questions Being Asked on Twitter
You should go to Twitter Search
and enter the word or words that you would like to know when people are talking
about them. In regards to the above example it was the word Printer.
Once you enter the word Printer and Press Enter all the recent conversations
mentioning the word Printer are there.
Reply to the ones with questions you can answer. And, even
if they are not asking a question maybe you can hold a conversation with them.
Create some relationships.
You can even subscribe to this feed on Twitter Search.
You can easily stay up to date on your topic by check your feeds how ever
often you would like.
***Note - Replying to Tweople about questions about your area of interest should
not be mistaken for a chance for you to pitch to them. Do not force a bunch
a links on them unless it is absolutely necessary to help them. A big Sales
Pitch is NOT what this is about here. What I am trying to show you how
to do is answer questions honestly and sincerely via Twitter. Gain
the person’s trust and respect. Make a relationship. If a sale comes from it….
great. Even if you don’t get one… if you are honest and sincere you will probably
at the very least have a new follower.
I was fortunate enough to attend the Information Architecture Session at IM
Spring Break and I’m so glad I did. This session was another brilliant one
as the panel consisted of Steve
Plunkett, Todd
Malicoat and Carolyn Shelby.
For those of you who don’t already know…. Information Architecture is the
way a website is organized to make it user-friendly as well as search-friendly. You want users
to not only easily discover the site, but be able to follow the information
on the site so they can easily get to their ultimate destination. Without the
proper information architecture you might be bringing the wrong kind of viewers
to the website. Or, you might be getting the right type of viewers, but they
can’t locate what they need once they get there. Could you imagine a viewers
frustration if this happened? Trust me…. they would never come back once they
have those kind of struggles on your site.
A bad information architecture outcome can be virtual suicide for any website,
but with the help of this amazing panel they have brought us all one step closer
to Information Architecture Nirvana. So, without further ado…. here
is what went down at the Information Architecture Session at IM Spring Break.
First up was Steve Plunkett
Steve spoke about Information Architecture and how it affected Search.
The three categories that he went into detail about was…
Collected Data Structure
Search Evolved: File Management – DAO ( Digital Asset Optimization )
Conversions and Forms
Collected Data Structure
Domain authority
Directories, flash and filenames (see Digital Asset Optimization)
Activity within record, references, file changes, relocations.
Bounce rate (www/email/groups)
Segmentation
Search Evolved: File Management & Digital Asset Optimization
Steve when into great detail talking about the fact that Search has changed.
No longer is it just about optimizing a website, but also other digital assets
such as….
PDFs - There are 25 fields in .pdf that you can optimize for Google.
Spreadsheets
Feeds - RSS Segmentation
Social profiles
employee cost
personality research
Video/flash
Podcasts
Whitepapers
Games/widgets
Images
Analytical challenges
** Steve pointed out that EVERYTHING you do points back to domain
name. Name all of your files, images, PDF’s with keywords and domain name.
Conversions and Forms
Conversion paths - users answer questions in a form and then they land
on a page that delivers tailored content to their specific answers.
Conversion reporting
Email database
Things to Remember
Help search engines find your site by building your website in a search
friendly data structure
Leverage content by optimizing digital assets
All search results are not created equal. Always keep the end in mind (conversions)
to provide value for SER
Next up is Todd Malicoat
As far as Information architecture goes Todd Malicoat gave us some awesome
tips for two different types of websites: The Blog and the eCommerce site….
Blog
Use snippets - Instead of having the entire post on the
front page Todd suggests using just snippets. This way there is no duplicate
content on the site.
link to your best posts - Put a section on your blog that
lists your "best of" posts.
funnel pagerank and anchor text
automated internal linking - Automated internal linking
keeps pages themed and helps older posts. Related Posts plugin for WP helps
to automate the improvement of building an internal link structure
Tag clouds - Not always great to use - dupe content and
dilutes link pop
eCommerce
Link to top selling products - home page, every page, body
Use another word other than "Home" for the Home page….
such as the name of your product.
French Fry Pages - These type of pages offer little value
and dilute link population (such as the privacy policy page)
sitemaps- These work great for very large sites work well.
They help funnel the juice.
Todd explains that search engines aren’t as smart as some might think….
"Search engines are smart…but not that smart. You really want to spoon
feed them the information you want them to have."
Next up was Carolyn shelby
Carolyn talks about how to determine the best architecture model for
our needs….
All in One - everything on the homepage
Flat - all pages peers, every one accessible from each
Hub and Spoke (Daisy) - useful for multiple, distinct linear
workflows
Strict Hierarchy - lower-level pages can only be accessed
via its parent
Multi-Dimensional Hierarchy - many way of browsing to the
same content
Content Creation - Create an outline (Yes, a real outline)
- She mentions if you don’t know how to do an outline you really
need to go back to school to learn. It is just that important.
define the site topic
Do keyword research - pay attention to the phraseology
that your audience uses; pay attention to most common search phrases; explore
your niche to get ideas for additional topics.
Mingle with the peasants - interview customer service,
talk to sales people who deal with the public, read consumer reviews (online,
offline, wherever), talk to non-your-industry people about your topic. This
where you can get some of the best and clear ideas.
Some tips that Carolyn mentions…
Remember we are not Normal - Carolyn mentions that due
to the industry we are in and the experience we have in search …. "We
are not normal…we do not search like regular people…we’ve been touched…"
So, in order to remedy this we need to think outside of the box when it comes
to Content Creation and Research.
Check your 404 logs to see what people are typing in as
a "guess". This can help identify the terms the site’s audience
uses.
Don’t forget the Logs - As far as Keyword Research goes
Carolyn says, "Keep track of internal site search logs. Look for clues
in access logs."
Keyword Research Tool - She also mentions a great site
to use to get keywords is SeedKeywords.
Don’t forget to Think outside of the Box - Carolyn even
mentions that she has even used a more nontraditional method to this that
really works. She has her daughter’s friends come over and then she asks
them, "If you were to search for "such & such"
how would you go about finding information on that?" And,
without offering them any help she watches what they enter into search to
find the information on that topic. She watches step by step how they go about
getting information on that topic. Here she gets a real clear
answer on how some people might search for a certain topic.
It was another awesome session at IM Spring Break. Steve, Todd and Carolyn
gave us a bunch of really terrific information to insure our success with Information
Architecture. Remember, it is your job to make sure that when readers or users
come to your website they can quickly find the information they are looking
for. One way to lose a user forever is to make finding what they want
difficult. Follow the suggestions and tips this amazing panel gave you… and
you will be on your way to information architecture bliss.
I have been a huge fan of Jonathan
Fields as a blogger for a while now…. his posts are motivating, inspirational
while still being informative. He speaks lovingly of his beautiful daughter
and his wonderful wife. Without having yet met Jonathan I know he is a great
person. When he asked me to review his book, Career
Renegade, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. And, I have to say… I
was not disappointed.
Jonathan’s first chapter blew me away. I knew he was a lawyer before he was
a blogger… and I knew he was into Yoga too. But, what I didn’t realize is
that all the adventures Jonathan had been on before he landed where he is today.
He begins his book explaining how he was once a very stressed out lawyer…
working way too many hours and missing his family. And, like many people who
work way too many hours and live a very stressed out life…. he got very sick.
This was Jonathan’s wake up call. This is when he began a quest for something
more. Not more money…. more life.
Jonathan did get there and he is loving life. And, in his book Career
Renegade he shows you the steps to take to get there too.
Some people don’t know what their passion is. They’ve worked so hard professionally
that they can’t even think about what it is they love doing. Jonathan understands
that and even has a section of questions to answer to help you determine what
it is you will love doing on a daily basis. For many, this part is simple….
for others it might be a little more difficult. But, he lays the questions out
beautifully….with a bit of thought this section should be no problem.
Throughout the book you will see motivating true life stories from some amazing
business professionals…. people who have left powerful full-time jobs to do
something they love. People like, Brian Clark of Copy
Blogger, John Jantsch of Duct
Tape Marketing, Liz Strauss of Succesful-Blog,
Anita Campbell of SmalBizTrends,
Leo Babauta of ZenHabits,
and many others. True stories of their travels…. each coming up successful.
I found the stories to be very motivating and an exciting part of the book.
I love Jonathan’s Gap theory. He shows you how to look for gaps or limitations
in things…. the gaps are where your niche should be. This is where there is
a need for something such as a product or service. Jonathan says,
"Sometimes those gaps are in the way gear is being provided; other times,
they revolve around limitations in selections; and sometimes, you’ll even
find a gap where either no product yet exists or what does exist can be greatly
improved upon. Exploiting these gaps and bundling them with service or community
often provides fertile ground for economic opportunity…."
He doesn’t stop there. He takes you right from discovering your niche to what
you should do next. From prototypes to business plans to market research all
the way to marketing your company and your product. He explains every process
from beginning to end… at no part did I feel that the reader was left to figure
it out themselves. He gives you the tools, the resources and the confidence
to do it. He motivates you to want to get started right away.
He even takes you through the steps of gaining knowledge, building a following
and gaining authority. In great detail Jonathan explains many methods of Social
Media activities that will create the buzz needed to get the word out about
your product. He shows you that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to do
this… through certain social media activities you will be able to spread the
word without spending a ton of money. He talks about social media activities
such as:
Blogging
Guest posts on popular blogs
microblogging
social networking
social bookmarking
Jonathan goes into quite a bit of detail on each and offers tons of websites,
books and other resources so that you can get all the information you need to
have great success.
He also understands how difficult it can be sometimes to get your inner circle
to understand why you are doing this. Because Jonathan has gone through this
himself he knows that sometimes people will question your reasoning behind making
a major change like this. Changing careers can be scary for all involved and
Jonathan gets that. In this book he goes through 4 steps to help this process
be easier for you. He calls it "Prepare Your Pitch"
and he helps you do just that. He goes into great detail with the following
steps…
Identifying the problem
Point to research and examples
Present your Solution
Anticipate and respond to objections
Career Renegade is a must read. It is chock full of amazing
information for anyone unhappy in their career. If you are looking for the steps
needed to make the change to something you love then this book is for you!!
His detail to everything is perfect and he writes it in such a way that is easy
to read even for someone that doesn’t have much business and computer experience.
This is what a good book looks like after I read it. Not too pretty, huh?! But, proof that I loved it!!
Buy a copy of Career Renegade
today…. you won’t be disappointed!!
Christmas Season is about ready to come to a close. You have already missed
the cut-off to purchase items online and to receive them at your door before
Christmas. In a couple of days you will be cleaning up wrapping paper, returning
unwanted items and planning your New Years Resolutions.
But, I wanted to talk about things I learned from shopping at Twitter.
You get honest opinions. No need for reviews…. just ask
your followers any kind of product questions and they will respond honestly.
I asked about Moon
Sand. My daughter was bugging me about it and I had no idea what is was
and whether it was something I should get her. So, I asked my Tweeps:
And, my Tweeps told me honestly how they felt.
Who needs to search for reviews and testimonials on websites when you have
pure Word of Mouth or I suppose I should say “Word of Tweets”.
Find Awesome Deals - I previously wrote a post about using
Twitter as a Sales Channel. And, it totally is!! You can subscribe to
@Woot and @AmazonDeals
and get notified of their daily deals. eCommerce sites and businesses are
beginning to realize the importance of using Twitter as a Sales Channel. You
can follow these businesses on Twitter and cash in on the sweet deals.
Retweets - The Power of Retweets!! You can find some truly
amazing deals just by listening to the retweets of the items that your tweeps
thought were hot deals. That is exactly how I found my father’s Holiday Gift.
Mark Hayward, who
ironically wrote about the value of retweets, had posted a retweet about
The Flip that Andy
Beal had originally sent out. Even though I follow Andy
Beal I had missed his original Tweet, so I am very thankful that Mark
sent out this retweet….
I own a Flip Ultra Series and love my Flip. It is what I use to create my
video posts. My father was so impressed with my videos that he asked to
borrow my Flip. Well, thanks to Mark’s retweet I purchased my father a Flip
for the Holidays. Check it out…
And, then I announced my purchase….
… and then the power of Twitter began. Check it out!!
I told Carolyn Shelby
that I loved my Flip and she landed up purchasing one too. Wowzer!!
Using Twitter Search to Find Amazing Deals - I’m not sure
many people are aware of the power of Twitter Search yet. It is a fantastic
tool when used correctly. Here is a super quick tutorial. Let’s say you wanted
to see if you can find a Nintendo DS for your son on Sale. Go to Twitter
Advanced Search and enter the following information. Enter the word "Nintendo
DS" (without quotes) into the "exact phrase" box.
And, enter "sale" (without quotes) into the "Any
of these Words" box.
Click on Search. The results you should get should point you to sites and
information on how to get the Nintendo DS on Sale in Real Time.
And there ya go. Twitter helped me big time this year with Holiday Shopping.
I know it is too late to use my fabulous methods to pick up sales this Holiday
Season. But, use these tips all year long to pick up Rock’n deals for you and
your loved ones.
I wish you and your loved ones the Happiest of Holidays and a Wonderful
2009!!
Right now SES
Chicago is going on….. the only major Search Marketing Conference and
Expo in the Midwest. I had the good fortune of being able to interview Amanda
Watlington of Searching
for Profit…. She was on the panel of the Podcast & Audio Search Optimization
session. Here is my interview with Amanda.
Q. Why Podcast? Who Should be Podcasting….. And who shouldn’t
be?
A. Podcasting allows the brand
owner/entrepreneur to extend the brand’s reach with the powerful medium
of sound. The entire media landscape is very fragmented, and interrupt advertising
is increasingly ineffective. A podcast lets the medium bring the message without
interruptions or noise. Because of the portability of podcasts, there is a unique
opportunity to develop deep brand engagement and loyalty from time-shifting
listeners downloading the podcast for at their convenience listening. We are
preconditioned to tune in our radio dials to favorite shows. Now we can essentially
tune in to our favorite podcasts, download them and listen at any time.
Almost any business can podcast, but this does not mean that everyone should.
Podcasting has been embraced by indie musicians as a means of getting a wider
audience for their music, technologists eager to stay in touch with the changes
to occur almost daily in fast-moving technology fields and by those who provide
spiritual counsel, advice and prayer. These types of podcasts dominate the directories.
There are also a wide range of podshows that feature business advice, quirky
humorists or political pundits of every type.
The most important point in deciding whether to podcast or not is to decide
whether the user will find your audio content valuable and interesting. Another
key decision point is to decide whether the podcast will be a one-off or part
of a longer series. It takes a lot of effort and preparation to develop a series
that has a broad following. Sustaining the effort at the same level of interest
is very hard. If, for a moment, you question whether you can sustain the effort,
step back and reconsider.
Q. Why is Podcast & Audio Search Optimization so important?
A. Search is the single best
tool on line for capturing potential interested listeners. In looking at search
and podcasting, I try to look across the continuum of interested parties. The
media site, an aggregator of audio content, search can be a powerful tool for
bringing in those looking for “mp3 download.” A site with a number
of features on “techno music” would want to target keywords that
included “techno music” and “download techno music.”
An artist’s site would want to expand its reach by using search keywords
that included the band’s name and the genre. Search connects the audio
and the user.
Audio search optimization is really multi-part. The site page describing the
audio will be found on search engines so it is important to do SEO on the page
to ensure its relevance for the keywords that describe the podcast content.
An RSS feed is a vital distribution mechanism for the podcast content, so this
must be optimized. Finally, the audio file itself must be optimized since the
ID3 information is useful to listeners who might want the information contained
to relocate you or to learn more about the podcast – information that
you can encode in the ID3 tags. Whether you are optimizing the podcast episode’s
landing page, the feed or the ID3 tags the goal is the same – to make
the podcast findable to users of the various types of search technologies that
provide information on audio.
Q. Is search optimization for Podcasts and Audio much different than
the search optimization one would do to a Web Page?
A. It is only different in that
you must essentially optimize three different entities, each of which has its
own tactical requirements. It is not difficult to optimize the landing page.
It is basic SEO. Optimization of the RSS feed is very slightly different in
that it requires astute attention to how the TITLE and DESCRIPTION are written.
It is also a technical implementation – not a difficult one I might note.
Optimizing the audio file similarly requires doing a few easy steps meticulously
and carefully.
Q. I noticed that most Podcasts on blogs that they also had the content
written out in readable form…. Is this a must for SEO?
A. The discussion of whether
to include a full or partial transcript is a topic often debated among audio
content optimizers. One school of thought is to put entire transcript on the
landing page and in the ID3 tags of the audio file. Another school contends
that a keyword-rich summary should suffice. In my opinion there is no really
right answer since it is often impractical to create a transcript both in terms
of time and cost, so it becomes beyond the resources available. In those cases,
a keyword-rich summary would suffice. The summary and transcript are for the
user and for search engines. The summary is the minimum level. The ideal for
both user and search engine is to include a full transcript in the page content
and in audio file. Is a full transcript a must for SEO? Not really. For a long
rambling podcast, it is possible to create a rich summary that may perform better
in search than a diffuse transcript. There is no hard fast rule.
Audio optimization is really a matter of simply remembering how the optimization
elements will be used. The key elements are the audio file, the landing page,
and the RSS feed. Attention must be paid the unique requirements of each of
these constituencies; otherwise it neither complex nor difficult.
Thank you so much for your wonderful interview, Amanda. It totally was a pleasure to interview you. Podcasting is an area I would love to try and this interview just makes me want it even more.
For the rest of you Marketers, SEO professionals, Webmasters, Business Owners
or anyone interested in Search… if you are in the Chicago area the rest of
this week SES Chicago is still going on. And, it is definitely a must attend.
But, in order to connect with these business owners and consumers they need
to be following you on Twitter….. following your conversations. If a member
of the Twitter community is not following you they can not hear you. So, in
order for Twitter to work effectively you need to get members to follow you.
One sure fire way of NOT getting any followers is to use the
Twitter default avatar. And, using the default Twitter profile page isn’t that
much better. For many people when they see the default avatar they think its
one of a few things….
A computer bot - not a real person
A member that doesn’t take the community seriously
A brand new member that just hasn’t had a chance to add the avatar
To put the importance of an avatar in perspective think of it this way… an
avatar is a visual symbol of you or your company.
Some people are very visual. In order for these visual thinking people to remember
you or your business they will probably have an easier time remembering your
avatar. So, having an avatar that is something other than the default avatar
is extremely important.
As a continuation of my "Basic Tips of Adding Social Media to
your Business" here is a tutorial for how-to set up a Professional
Twitter Profile in Minutes….
How to set up a Professional Twitter Profile in Minutes
My good friend Ruud
Hein over at Search
Engine People asked me earlier this month if I would like to write a guest
post on the Search
Engine People Blog. I was thrilled of course…. I am a huge fan of SEP.
I have been a loyal reader of that blog since I met Jeff
Quipp on Sphinn about 16 months ago.
The truth is I feel that the majority of the Search Engine People staff have
got Social Media right. Social Media is all about conversations and collaborating
with others online. But, these interactions need to be genuine… they need
to be sincere. Jeff Quipp and the rest of the staff at Search Engine People
understand that.
So, to me it made perfect sense for my Guest Post on Search Engine People to
be about the values
I follow when I participate in Social Media activities. These are the same
values my mother taught me growing up and I believe have helped me to become
successful in Social Media.
Go check out my guest post over at Search Engine People and let me know what
you think. Oh, and don’t forget to subscribe
to their RSS feed. Trust me…. you won’t be disappointed.
I am very excited about this…… I have created my very first Video Post.
Please keep in my that the video quality is not perfect. I recorded it using
my Laptop’s Webcam. My new Flip arrives next week which will make my future
video posts much more clear. At any rate, I am extremely excited to present
to you a video post.
This will be a first in a continuing series of video posts on Basic
Tips of Adding Social Media to your Business.
Adding Conversation Back into your Business with Social Media
I wrote a post on Blissfully Domestic just yesterday regarding The
Power of the Consumer using Social Media. In it I discuss how the real
power has moved from the companies to the consumers. Both the video and that
post go hand-in-hand together.
Normally, if any man would declare me "Emotional" I would become
raving
mad and scream and cry and give him all the reasons that I was not
"Emotional"…. Of course, with doing that I would prove, in fact,
that I was Emotional after all.
But, with listening to this awesome interview of David I wasn’t in the least
bit upset at all…. in fact I was more than thrilled to have that title. And,
do you know why? Because he is right!! And, I’m proud to be Emotional…..
in my writing, that is.
I’m an Emotional Blogger
Yes, it’s true….. I’m emotional. I’m emotional in reality and it carries
over into my writing. But, you know what??It’s okay. Because I want you to
enjoy reading what I write. I want my readers to stay for the whole conversation.
And, if being me…. if being emotional keeps you here reading. Then I’m a happy
blogger.
People Love Being Entertained by Emotions
What gets people hooked on Talk Shows like Jerry Springer or Jenny Jones? It’s
the emotions, the embarrassment, the anger, the craziness. The viewers heart
pounds and their excitement builds. The viewers keep watching to see what is
going to happen next… to see what is the next thing they will say.
Or, how about romance novels? Its the emotions….. The feelings the author
portrays to you. This style of emotional writing that gets the reader imagining
what that would be like… remembering what you felt like when you were that
happy.
And, let’s not forget those "made for TV movies"
that draw us in with those horrific story lines. I’m sure you know the movies
I’m talking about, but let me give you an example of a "made for TV movies"
plot…The kind of story line where the husband seems to have drowned while
on a boating trip with friends…. the Mom then has to raise three children
with barely making ends meat only to find out that he never died in the first
place, but instead pretending to die so that he can start a new life 3,000 miles
away.
What is it that these 3 different story examples have in common?
All three examples pull at your emotions.
Whether it’s anger, horror, happiness, love, lust, fear, disgust, or embarrassment
it gets you interested because for the most part you can relate at some level.
Even if you can’t relate to the situation you can relate to the way the characters
in the story feel…. and it keeps you watching/reading just to get to the end.
To find out where the feeling takes you.
Sometimes, its the fact that I can’t relate that
gets me. I love watching/reading stories that remind me that even at my saddest
times that there are people and situations that are so much worse than my own.
It reminds me how lucky I am….. it makes me feel good.
What is the point? What does this have to do with Web 2.0 or Social
Media?
Everything. It is the type of Online Conversation I like to hold with you.
This is how I relate to my readers. It is how I get their attention and keep
a hold of it. Because unless you are holding people’s attention with your blog
posts they will leave. Lose their attention too many times & you might lose
a reader forever.
Grab your readers with your emotions.
Blogging is your way of holding a conversation with your readers. However,
if you lose your readers half-way through your post it is no longer a conversation….
it is more just boring babbling. "Blah, blah, blah, blah".
Have you ever got stuck in a conversation with someone that had a lot to say,
but lost your attention because they were soooooo….. boring? I’m sure you
have…. we all have. And, it’s not as if they didn’t know what they were talking
about. As a matter of fact, the person could be brilliant and be making an excellent
point, but if your attention is lost… the entire conversation is lost. There
are many different styles
of blogging. It’s not as if I don’t ever write in any other styles. But,
I believe I am at my best when I’m using my emotions to make my point. Even
when I am being more technical or writing a "how-to" post…. my emotions
seem to come into it at one point or another.
Ways to add Emotion to a Post
With a face-to-face Conversation there are a couple way of adding emotion to
a conversation:
Vocal Words
Body Language
Touch
With a written conversation adding emotion that a reader can feel may be a
bit of a challenge, but can be done. There are a few things you can use to help
reiterate the feelings you are trying to perceive.
Pictures - Adding pictures of things can help you express
your feeling. After all, have you ever heard the saying, "A picture is
worth a thousand words"? It really is. Photo by Victor
Bezrukov
Videos - Another way to easily get your feelings across
to your readers would be through video. It’s a way for your viewers to be
able to see you as well as hear you while you tell your story.
Podcast - Express your emotions through sound.
Written Words - The most obvious method, but not always
as easy at it sounds.
In order to get your feelings across to someone with written words you will
need to be quite descriptive. Use descriptive words to get your point across.
And, to do this you need to change it up a bit. You will need to use Emotional
Words.
Emotional Words are what I call words that help you get your feelings
across to your readers. These words let the readers know exactly how
you feel or were feeling. You need to think of yourself as a storyteller…..
you are telling a story.
Emotional Words are more than Happy, Sad, and Angry.
Happy, Sad and Angry are great emotional words & there is nothing wrong
with using them. However, you need to open your mind a bit. This is where this
area might get a bit difficult for some. There are a bunch of words that portray
sad. Another words, were you a bit sad? Or, were you really, really sad? How
intense is your sadness? With some help from Ms.
West, a Science Fiction Author, here is a chart of Emotional Words and different
levels of intensity.
Emotional Words for Blogging
You have readers, but are they listening? Are they staying around to read your
entire post?
Make sure you are being
a good storyteller…. speak to them with emotions and let them know exactly
how you feel. Keep your readers intrigued, keep them focused, keep them wanting
more.
I’m an Emotional Blogger. What Style Blogger are you? Check out this Slide
Show on Blogging Styles
