A Blogging carnival is a world web phenomena where bloggers that are doing interesting or exceptional blogging can get free publicity within their own work sphere. It is similar to a magazine, in that it is dedicated to a particular topic, and is published on a regular schedule, often weekly or monthly. Each edition of a blog carnival is in the form of a blog article that contains permalinks links to other blog articles on a particular topic. If you would like to participate in the next Work Connexions blog carnival or synchroblog then click to read more …

If you would like to participate in the next Work Connexions blog carnival or synchroblog (Synchronised Blogging, or synchroblog, where a group of bloggers agree to post on their own blogs on the same broad topic on the same day.) then drop us an email or leave a comment in the blog entry of this news.

Writing on your blog is not gossip. While you could get plenty of traffic from your industry by spreading juicy titbits about your competitors and colleagues you will more likely grab yourself a bad reputation rather than more work or industry profile. Language can be an issue. I am not talking about swearing and such, most business people would know better than to drop bad language into a marketing tool. What I mean is tone and sophistication. You have to fit the voice to the audience. Of course I am pretty laid back here on this blog, while there are quite a few CEOs reading they tend to not be the stuffy stiff necked types (I know, I get emails from them!). You have to tune the language you use appropriately.

The best type of posts you can make, particularly in a service industry, is successful case studies.

• What was their situation like before?
• What were their goals or problem?
• How did you work with them?
• How did everything work out?
• …

Most clients would be glad of the publicity, you just need to speak to them and get permission. Obviously some will not want specifics mentioning (particularly figures) or even to be named. That’s all fine. What matters is results and that you provide enough detail to be believable.

Talk to your clients about it and you won’t get into trouble. Going behind their backs is when you start getting into the sticky stuff.

The same is true when you want to write about exciting happenings in your own business. I imagine bloggers at Apple and Microsoft have a real hard time keeping mouths shut. There will be policies on what can and can not be talked about. If not, get some. Fast.

Many companies have footers on their emails

• NOT to be repeated or reproduced
• OK to email to company
• OK to email outside company to specified individuals
• Freely distribute

You can do the same and add a tick box for blogging if freely distribute doesn’t cover that.

Most business niches have news, tactics and events that are safe to blog about. This though is mostly filler. You can get that stuff anywhere. To make it more valuable you need to dig deep and find your hook or angle on it.

The best solution, if you haven’t already got a rich source of content to draw on, is to create some news. Could you run a competition? A survey? Interview some industry figures?

These don’t need to be massive ventures, scale to fit. While one past client of mine had a terrific success year on year with a global survey that was mentioned in television and newspapers around the world, another simply surveyed their own clients and as well as producing an excellent PR story also learned a great deal about what their customers look for and feel.

Bottom line you need to answer the question; “Could this have appeared on a competitors blog with no major changes?“. If the answer is yes you have a bland post and you need to work on it some more.

Just remember you can be interesting without being unprofessional. Focus on your reader. What is useful to them? How have you or your products helped people and businesses just like them?

Most of all, what makes you different to all the other businesses they could go to?

Visit Chris at http://www.chrisg.com/

Among the questions executives ask about social media is where should it be located? Who should launch, manage and publish the blog(s), vlog(s) and/or podcast(s)? The obvious choices are marketing, public relations, human resources or communications. However, making the right decision is both critical and complex.

To some extent, the answer lies within the internal structure of the business. Taking the org. chart into acount, to determine where social media should live, a business might ask questions such as these:

1. Who is most likely to understand the use of social media and then to use it in ways that benefit our customers, our employees and our business most?
2. Who has the time, budget and expertise to create engaging communications?
3. Who is least likely to use social media to market and sell products?
4. Who is most likely to use social media to draw customers into conversation with us; thereby, developing loyal customers, brand evangelists and new customers who appreciate our efforts to give them a voice?

These questions are the basis for the internal discussion. Whoever the business chooses to host social media, they must be excellent writers, they must be creative, they must have access to everyone within the business, they must be familiar with the customers and the communities in which the business has locations, and they must be trusted as open and honest communicators. Furthermore, they must have the courage and the ability to challenge managers and executives who want to turn social media into a bottom line tool.

Yes, social media, if done correctly, will result in return on investment in a variety of forms, including an increase in loyal customers who buy more and who talk positively about the company; an increase in the ability to produce more innovative and better products and services based on customer feedback; the ability to improve the company at every level, again based on customer feedback; and an increase in new customers as they learn about and come to trust the company.

That is the 10,000-foot view of where social media should reside and what to expect from social media. But like any strategy, before launching social media as part of your communications mix, every business should analyze the tools to understand what they do and how they may be used and how social media is and is not the right fit for your business. Using these communications tools is not to be done lightly.

My best advice is to study every detail and discuss all the pros and cons. And then if you decide social media is a good fit for your business, launch the tools internally first. Get employees from every functional area involved, and ask them to be your sounding boards. As in most things, employees know your customers best, and they will contribute incredibly good suggestions and recommendations, if you engage them and give them buy in.

For more information about Lewis Green visit him at http://lgbusinesssolutions.typepad.com/solutions_to_grow_your_bu/

Happy Christmas Connexions,

Read our lastest newsletter online.

www.workconnexions.com/newsletterarchive/christmasconnexions/connexions.htm

Issue 6 includes:

• Kathy Hamilton offers an interesting insight into what she thinks the seven laws of personal branding are!
• Work Connexions Christmas offer is £5 pounds to every person that you sign up to our community!
• Like it? Rate it!
• Business registration and setup
• Publish your Marketing online

Singing up for our newsletters here:

Work Connexions blogger Lewis Green’s fifth book was just released by HRD Press, Inc. Called Lead With Your Heart, the book calls for businesses to adopt a model that will result in business success as well as create a better world in which to do business, to work and to live. Lewis green a relative new blogger to the Work Connexions social networking platform. Had this to say “as Social Media grows in importance, especially blogs as used by businesses, sites such as Work Connexions are important to all of us wanting to communicate and to share with our community of readers.”

Operations Director Leo Cussons says “this really proves what a lot of research is showing at the moment that blogging can significantly increase your business. Not only does it provide opportunities in Advertising, Website presence, Marketing, and Recruitment. It also means that you can build relationships across continents. Lewis Green has been significant in introducing the work connexions platform to his own business network as a place to do business. Unlike other social networking sites where the focus is on your free time activities. Work Connexions focuses on career advancement, improving ones skills and getting new business.”

“This book is about changing the way we do business. It is written to inspire business executives, managers and entrepreneurs to invest in a new business model that can be a first step to changing the world we live in,” Green says.

Green was inspired to write this book by Mahatma Gandhi’s quote, We must be the change we wish to see in the world, and what he has experienced in his three decades as a corporate manager, executive and entrepreneur.

Lead With Your Heart is about creating a business environment where business leaders lead with the heart, take a hard look at their values, implement and live by those values, and then build value-driven businesses in which people are more important than overzealousness to earn money. In this book, Green talks about creating happiness, and by doing so, he argues we change the world in good and right ways as well as reap large profits.

“I often wonder why businesses don’t spend more time strategizing around happiness, Green adds. Happiness is the driving force behind everything people do. It is the key to determining their wants, needs and desires. It is the essence of the American Dream and is as important as the air you breathe. It is true that many companies are customer-focused and invest lots of energy in meeting customer needs.

Responding to those needs should result in happy customers, happy employees, and a healthy bottom line. Unfortunately, the efforts being made by too many businesses to create happy and loyal customers fall far short of what is necessary.”

Note to the Media and Bloggers: Review copies of Lead With Your Heart are available for media and business bloggers. The author is available for interviews, TV and radio guest spots, and speaking engagements. Call 860.673.7543. The book may be purchased at Amazon.com or online directly from HRD Press or by calling 1-800-822-2801.

Twitter the social net working company based in California. Is now using a number sourced in the Isle of Man for it customer services to the UK. Why are they doing this? because of the Isle of Man tax status. Under the present arrangements they will make more money. This opportunity could exist for a lot companies.

Excerpt from Article: http://uk.techcrunch.com/2007/11/19/twitter-starts-to-limit-outbound-sms-in-uk/

Twitter is using an SMS number sourced in the Isle of Man, rather than in the UK, so they do get some money (1p or 1.5p) per incoming text. However, they still need to pay at least 4 pence outbound, which in technical terms means they are… losing money hand over fist. Note also that the 07624 in Twitter’s number (+44 762 4801423) means it is actually billed as “international” by 3 and T-Mobile, making it a pricey service for those who like to tweet via SMS.

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

Check out my twitter profile here: http://twitter.com/LeoC

Promote your marketing and business ideas, explore your personnel needs on line before making a major investment. Do your research. Work connexions is also offering £5 pounds to every person that you sign up to our community! With a premium account of 10 pounds. What better place to promote your business than with the Work Connexions community. “We are a one stop shop for all your business development needs”. Advertising, PR, Web, Recruitment and Blogging. Online and offline.

Sign up today: http://www.workconnexions.com/Register.aspx use the refer a friend link in the profile center.

Monday night the Chartered Management Institute in the Isle of Man held its first internet issues forum, which was very well attended. We sponsored the event and introduced it with the following:

Good evening ladies and gentleman. I am so glad to see so many of you here. To that effect we must thank the CMI for organising such a thoughtful topic. Web 2.0 as you will find out this evening covers a broad range of issues. There is still much discussion on the internet as to what Web 2.0 really is. I am sure that there are many of you here this evening that are not using web 2.0. I would estimate that only 20 percent of internet users are making any significant use of this technology. But as with the growth of the internet this is probably the next most important development. I shall not comment further as that is the purpose of tonight’s discussion. I will only add that the only silly question tonight is the one not asked.

 
I do consider it to be a very important event tonight In the context of the Isle of man. We have a government that is actively committed to embracing all forms of E-commerce. In a world that is changing very quickly almost all of us have to compete in a global market. Increasing efficiency most be a number one priority when we look at the developing economies of the China, India, etc. As Chris Corlett from the DTI commented at a recent chamber of commerce breakfast “that unless we are moving forwards we are effectively going backwards” The opportunities that presants itself here tonight and in the next 18 months allow us the chance to make our mark in this communication field. Need we remind ourselves it is not for the first time that we have lead the world. As the oldest democracy, and the first democracy to give women the right to vote we have much to be proud of. I do believe the resources available in the private and public sector and the engagement of people in this discussion will put us ahead of our competitors. What does this mean to you and me? It means that we can protect our way of life and independence. We do lay down the gauntlet and say that a 4 percent increase in company revenue is achievable within 18 months based upon this form of internet technology.
What is Work Connexions? It is built upon the very ideas of web 2.0. We believe that sales marketing and personnel can be done cheaper and better for every company that uses this kind of communication. Even relative monopolies on the Isle of man for example the Steam Packet, recognise the need to provide transparency to their customers. This same kind transparency we must have all thought about the last week when we made withdrawals from the bank. Is our money safe…. How do we know?
As was the headline on our September issue of the Work Connexions magazine. The future is in your hands! and as any resident on the Isle of Man will tell you that is exactly where it should be. Without further ado, we present  the internet issues forum.

Discuss this in our Forums

Work Connexions works with you sales, Marketing, and personnel departments to increase your business. Our site is designed to drive traffic to your website in a ethical and simple way. To help you in this process we have redesigned our homepage. Let us know what you think by commenting in this blog.

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