Off to China!

In less than one week's time I will be on a plane headed to China; my first excursion outside the U.S.. For nearly 4 weeks, I will be traveling and study abroad on China's eastern coast for my Business and Economics in China class. I'm quite excited for this great opportunity and look forward to the many great experiences that are like to occur. While I've had the pleasure to be great friends with a Chinese international student during the past two years, I'm sure our conversations haven't even begun to cover all the cultural differences that exist. While I'm in China, the top three things I would like to learn are as follows: 1. I would like to learn about the differences that exist between marketing in the U.S. and marketing in China (and, if possible,  how the Chinese view their marketing when the target market is Americans), 2. I would like to learn how to speak better Chinese, and 3. Having lived in "white bread" communities all my life, I would like to learn how it feels to be the minority in order to gain a different perspective.

Please excuse the irregular blog posts while I'm away on this amazing adventure! :)

As part of my course work abroad, I will be keeping a mini daily blog on various cultural encounters. I will do my best to aggregate those posts here a couple times a week.

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Building a Network and Community Online

Social media is all about being social. "Well, of course it is" you're thinking...but a lot of people tend to forget that. They get so caught up in their own agenda and objectives (e.g. getting their message/product out there) that they turn the two-way communication platforms into one-way channels by pushing their content and feigning engagement and interaction. Take note now and don't become "one of them."

To truly get the most out of social media (any platform, whether that be LinkedIn, Twitter, or even Pinterest), you have to both give and take. Posting, pinning, sharing, and tweeting are all meaningless without discussion and conversation about what was shared. This interaction is what makes the media social. It's what furthers the shared knowledge and generates new ideas. Don't forget this!

I almost feel silly writing this post, but I see this more so everyday; particularly in LinkedIn groups. People are so willing to post links "to get their name out there," yet they're so unwilling to actually have a discussion with anyone. Frankly, I'm tired of the spam -quit it! :)  Instead, let's show our actual expertise and enthusiasm for the subject by commenting and discussing. In fact, let's go one step further; once we've had a great conversation, let's network with each other to grow our professional circles.

So....leave me a comment and let's get the conversation going!

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5 Tips for Writing a Blog (How to Attain and Retain Readers)

While I may have just started writing a blog myself in the past couple of months, I have learned a lot during this time both through personal experience as well as through research. Maintaining a blog properly definitely takes time, but it doesn’t have to be complicated if you follow a few generalities and are committed.

1. Know Your Target Audience
You may be writing for those who love to bake, or you may be writing for social media professionals. Whoever it is you're writing for, be aware of them –what are their behaviors, likes, and dislikes? Why would they be looking for your blog content in the 1st place? What’s going to get them interested and keep them coming back to read more? It’s important to cater to your audience and match your wants and needs with theirs.

2. Keep it Short but Sweet
In today’s busy world, no one has the time to sit and read your 2,000 word post. Aim to keep your posts between 300-600 words; with 500 being a great target. This length is short enough to keep your readers attention, but still long enough to share decent content. Note the last couple words of that sentence, decent content…no one’s going to care about your posts if the content is garbage. If you’re going to write, spend the time to write well and generate content that is useful, interesting, and relevant.



3. Pictures really are Worth 1,000 Words
Don’t be afraid to use images and videos in your posts. Not only do visuals attract readers, but they also make your blog posts even better for sharing, tweeting, and pinning. Please give credit where it’s due though; don’t run out to Google and post the 1st picture you see. Either purchase clipart or use images with creative commons licenses. I like to search photopin.com or use the advanced search on flickr.com (scroll down on the search page and check the creative commons license option).

4. Make it Easy for your Readers
Make your posts easy to read. Don’t write walls of text. Instead, break paragraphs up with spaces, use lists, or use bullets. Feel free to make text bold or italicized to emphasize it or drive a point home. Include popular social media share buttons to make it easy for readers to share your posts with their networks. All in all, make your blog simple, clean, attractive, and user-friendly!

5. Speak from the Heart
What should you write about you may ask? Well, that of course depends upon your ultimate goal for the blog as well as your target audience, but I would say write about what you love and/or know well. When you love something or are an expert in the subject, then the writing should flow smoothly and you should never be at a loss as to what to write. To get you started, some common post themes are lists (like this one), how-to’s, responses to other articles and blog posts you’ve read, authority posts, and reviews. In the end, find a voice that is unique to you and own it; don't be afraid to share your brand story!

And, as one final bonus tip –proofread! Don’t be afraid to let your post sit for an hour or even a night to let it rest and give you a fresher perspective when rereading it.

What other tips would you share with bloggers? Drop a comment below!

photo credit: Robbert van der Steeg via photopin cc        photo credit: RLHyde via photopin cc

Appendix to Discovering My Purpose -The Challenge

Last week in Part 2- The Journey to Discovering My Purpose, I wrote about how I discovered my purpose in life. Today I'm going to share an appendix to that post and elaborate on how I challenged my myself by becoming a tour guide.

A few years ago I was an undergrad in college looking for more out of daily life. I was tired of the same weekly schedule of attending class, going to work, and doing homework. Sure, I was happy with life, but I wasn’t quite satisfied; something was missing…an overall purpose and meaning to my life. That was when I started to search campus for something to be a part of. After browsing the University’s website for a short time, I stumbled across a group photo of the campus tour guides. I couldn’t say why, but I immediately knew that that is what I wanted to be involved in. I emailed the Admissions Office and the following week I was standing in the Solon Campus Center writing up a nametag and getting partnered with a guide for training. It was during this prep time, watching our guided group of 20 slowly gather, that I took pause and let the reality of what I had actually signed up for hit me. I had essentially signed up for public speaking…an activity that has been a life-long debilitation of mine. Being an introvert, I shied away from any situation while growing up that would place me in any sort of speaking spotlight. So naturally, staring at all those people filing into the Campus Center, my jitters started to kick in as usual. Thank goodness the only thing I was verbally committed to during that 1st tour was introducing myself with a name and major.

    Later that evening I did some self-reflection. I knew I was out of my comfort zone as a tour guide, but rather than let that hinder me as it may have in the past, I became determined to persevere through the discomfort. It was then that I decided I would not give up becoming a tour guide; I would instead
use the position to strengthen my speaking skills and overcome the weakness. And you know what? I did just that! Did I still get nervous and jittery during tours, even after a year of conducting them? Absolutely…but I now believe that is the secret to speaking well publicly. I believe one should harness that nervous energy to their advantage by transforming it into enthusiasm.

I now consider becoming a tour guide as one of the best decisions I made during my undergrad years. In addition to the personal growth, it was this experience that led me to discover a meaning for my life as explained in the Part 2 post. As a result of this whole experience, I became determined to always challenge myself. I've learned to turn my weaknesses and disabilities into opportunities. And I challenge you to do the same!

photo credit: ScoRDS via photopin cc           photo credit: quinn.anya via photopin cc

Part 3- Why Your Company Needs to Have a Purpose

This past week in Part 1 and Part 2, I shared with you what my purpose in life is and how I came to discover that purpose. Today I will talk about why your company, business, or client needs to have a purpose of his or her own too.

A few years ago I first viewed Simon Sinek's TED Talk, How Great Leaders Inspire Action. That video changed the way I view marketing (I would definitely recommend spending the 18 minutes to view it). Simon helped me realize that a company needs to be more than a business that sells products x, y, and z. A company needs to have a purpose...

Quotes from the TED Talk:
“What’s your purpose? What’s your cause? What’s your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care? ….People don’t by what you do; they buy why you do it…. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe… and what you do simply serves as the proof of what you believe… ”

Essentially, your company needs to have a reason as to why they do what they do. This will create a deeper and more loyal connection with your customer base. They will buy into your reasoning and spread that with others who also believe in the same thing.

So what you're saying? ...obviously you haven't watched the video yet... Use this to your company's advantage. When developing marketing strategies and content, start with the "why." This tactic is especially powerful in the realm of social media. The online world is all about engagement. Give followers and connections a reason to interact with your company. Be passionate to get them excited and get them to care about your company. 

This strategy is a great way to reach opinion leaders as well. When your company is authentic and ardent, others will pick up on your message and want to share the sentiment. If you can connect with opinion leaders online who believe what you believe, they'll have no issue spreading your message to all of their followers; thereby spreading your content even further and with 3rd party support to boot!

"People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it.." So what is your company's purpose? How do you share this message or incorporate it in your marketing content?

photo credit: Andrew Mason via photopin cc