Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

Plane talk on blogging and writing techniques: Part II

Saturday, February 9th, 2008

Good afternoon, this is DigiKev and I will be your captain today aboard this digiJet Boeing 737 from Turin to London. We will be cruising at 34,000 feet and expecting turbulence today as we look at ways to push your writing techniques to the limits and out of the comfort zone. We will be turning the seatbelt light off shortly which means you may release the clasp but we do recommend you leave it loosely fastened so you are not disturbed during the remainder of this flight. A Light refreshments trolley will be passing through which offers a choice of tea, coffee, water and soft drinks as well as a selection of hot and cold food which will be supplied by the cabin crew. Audio headsets are also available at a cost of £1 sterling or €1.75. We apologise for the delay today, this was due to a refuelling failure with one of the trucks at Turin. We are aiming to arrive into London Luton Airport at 5.15pm local time. I wish you all a pleasant and relaxing flight and am rest assured we will aim to keep turbulence to a minimum as we steer you through the possibilities available to you in keeping your blog writing techniques fresh and engaging. I will now pass you over to the cabin crew who will be performing pre-flight checks and taking you through the safety procedures.

Welcome to digiJet ladies and gentleman, my name is DigiBot and I am the big chief cabin crew drone. My fellow cabin crew and I will now take you through the safety procedures should we happen to make an emergency stop. In the event of an emergency, off site hyperlinks will be illuminated at floor level and can be found at the front, rear and centre of the plane. Linking to other websites that relate to your blog post will improve search engine rankings and credibility with readers as it shows you have researched thoroughly and are happy to provide links to third party websites where further information can be found.

During takeoff and landing we must insist that you remember that writing a blog post should be above all else a pleasurable experience for both you and your readership. Make sure that you are providing a quality service with good content. Making money or gaining fame and popularity from your blog are second to the enjoyment of writing and providing quality material. Above all else blog writing is the act of engaging in social media and conversing; making a quick bob or two is secondary. If it is seen that you are more driven by the money than by the passion for writing and providing good content, the blog may be too heavy for the overhead lockers and come crashing down, injuring you or a fellow passenger.

Should the oxygen masks be deployed during the flight please pull towards you and place over your mouth and nose, placing the elastic band over your head. This will ensure that when you write, it is in a style that is open and warm. Writing in your natural voice will come across to those that read your articles as welcoming and conversational. This is unlike the robotic drone voice you are hearing from me at this moment. Take note. Ensure you go to length in providing a full in-depth analysis of whatever the subject is you are talking about; gather and provide fully researched information before helping others with there masks.

If we must land on water, lifejackets are provided under your seat allowing you to create a joint blog post. Do not inflate your jacket until you are outside of the aircraft as it may impede your exit. Joint blogging is a technique that I have only seen before by Lee and Rhett. By inflating your lifejacket with a fellow blogger you could take it in turn to write alternate paragraphs or sign off your part of the blog and handover the next section to your fellow blogger. This is provided to attract attention. Should you need to top up with air or the jacket fails to inflate, blow through the tube at the top.

Thank you all for your full attention, we would like to leave you now on a final note that you can further make your writing interesting by using a characterised style or theme such as used in this particular demo. You may even use a dialogue conversation or interview. This list is far from exhausted and adding a personal touch or spice will keep visitors to your blog entertained, informed and returning readers. The captain has now turned off the seatbelt light, you are free to release your buckle and leave your seats.

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Tags: birminghamuk, Blogging, digital media, social media, writing techniques
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Plane talk on blogging and writing techniques: Part I

Friday, February 1st, 2008

Over at Epiblogger the guys Rhett and Lee have been writing a series of blog entries on how to get the most out of writing posts by trying different styles such as using a narrative or taking a first person view. This is a great way to liven up posts and not only makes it fun for the writer as well as a challenge, but hopefully will be appealing to the readership too. In my last two interlinking posts I used a dialogue between myself and a fictional client in the first instance and with Dr. Pete in the second. Now with this article I am writing it on an easy jet to Turin. Writing on a plane is a first for me and a rather strange experience, especially when you’re at the very back of the plane, yes that’s right, right next to the toilets. Lovely. Everyone seems to need to go one after another so every few minutes I can hear the flush of extraordinarily super suction force clearing the toilet bowl. That’s quite enough toilet talk— I just wanted to set the scene of why it is such a different experience to the comfort, solitude and peace of my regular blogging environment.

So what is the point of this article? Well mainly just to try out a touch of blogging outside of the comfort zone, try new techniques, inspire you, my readers to try different writing styles for your own musings and with any luck produce an interesting article in it’s own right. The idea that popped into my head when I began this was to try and produce a post which takes on the feel of being on an aeroplane, perhaps using the run-down of safety procedures that we receive on flights from the cabin crew/flight attendants. Alternatively maybe the captain’s tannoy announcement. So far you and I both know this hasn’t happened!

I felt it worthy to set the scene beforehand. This surprisingly now has developed into a two-part article. In the next there will be none of this faffing; straight into the style. And it will be written on my return journey so I can detail another snapshot of the cabin crew and captain doing what they do best. Until then, Ciao! In the meantime I am off to slide down some snow covered mountains with on a laminated board that my feet are strapped bound to.

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Tags: birminghamuk, Blogging, digital media, social media
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Socialites prosper as the aloof fail

Saturday, January 26th, 2008

Client:
“We are happy to embrace social media but if we are going to enter a forum and help our public with there questions and issues we would like to pose as a ‘valued customer’ of the company who has had a high-quality service and wishes to scream and shout about it rather than having a representative of the company.”

DigiKev:
“This is not a very sound thing to do, in doing so and repeatedly being the ‘valued customer’ you will be rumbled. It hardly takes a lot to know that the so called valued customer is a representative of your company. The community you are trying to embrace will ignore you, or worse you will be flamed and spammed and bad-mouthed until you are so buried you won’t be able to see above ground. The press will likely catch on and your good name will be dragged through the dirt.”

Client:
“…Okay, granted but this is the only way that we are prepared to communicate with our public as we do not want to lose control of the company pr. Having an individual or individuals representing our company and taking our stand point on our behalf could go badly in our favour. What if they get it wrong? What if they get bombarded with off topic questions? What if? What if?”

DigiKev:
“There is a great opportunity here to get down to the grassroots. Yes you will have to let go of the control. Social media is all about human communication. You don’t need to get sucked into off topic questions; if they are irrelevant say so, if the information is contained in your site then direct them to that information. Don’t be worried about losing control and if someone makes a mistake they just tell the community, look sorry I am human, I made a mistake and this is what it should have been. Finding out where your company is lacking from those that you are selling to is golden information; giving that up is just business suicide and your competitors (who are or will be employing a public figure to the company) will succeed. If you can’t trust whoever you have employed to be the voice of your company to speak to your public then I am afraid you have employed the wrong people.”

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Plenty of businesses are yet to jump on what the web can offer at the detriment of sales and popularity. Hiding behind thickly built walls of pr and controlling every element of how the company is seen and portrayed isn’t going to cut the mustard. The trends section of Marketing Week 17.01.08 notes “two thirds of social networkers are likely to buy a product as a result of a referral by a friend or online acquaintance – equating to £750m in online sales”. I am not saying that the only method is to deploy public speaking figures of the company in forum websites. Embracing social networking and the new age of digital media by conversing, allowing comments and feedback on a blog or by whatever other means you feel fit is key to business survival online. Non-communicative businesses that turn there back on social media, or worse try to control and fake in the social playground as described in the opening dialogue, in my opinion will begin to lose out to competitors that fully embrace and get social media.

What experiences have you had with clients and there perception of social media? How have you dealt with and explained the subject to them? Do you agree that businesses embracing social media and engaging conversations with the public will prosper?

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Tags: birminghamuk, Blogging, digital media, social media
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