Blogging and Storytelling

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Blogging and Storytelling Britt Bravo
WeAreMedia Webinar September 23, 2009
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Big Vision ConsultingRealize your big visionBe
a powerful force for good

• Strategic Consulting
• Social Web Empowerment
• Blogging
• Podcasting
• Career Coaching
• www.brittbravo.com

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Blogging Storytelling

• 11 ways nonprofits can use blogs to tell their
  story
• What should we write about?
• How do we find readers?
• How do we track impact?
• Most important tip . . .

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11 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Blogs to Tell Their
Story
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1. Share Your Expertise
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2. Share breaking news in your field
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3. Share the story behind your brand
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4. Share your readers' opinions content
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5. Share notes, photos presentations from
events
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6. Share notes photos from the field
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7. Interview Experts
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8. Share Organizational News as It Happens
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9. Share Your Press
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10. Ask for Feedback
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11. Call Your Readers to Action
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What should we write about?
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Questions to ask when choosing topics

• What goal are we trying to achieve?
• What audience are we trying to reach?
• Who else is writing about these topics?
• What is our niche?
• What tone will we use?
• Who will write the posts?
• How much time do we have to blog?
• What are we excited to write about?

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How do we find readers?
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Find Blogs

• Google Blog Search
• http//blogsearch.google.com/
• Technorati
• http//technorati.com/
• Alltop
• http//alltop.com/
• Blogrolls
• (i.e. http//philanthropy.com/giveandtake/)
• Twitter Search
• http//search.twitter.com/

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Read Comment

• Read Blogs
• Google Reader
• http//www.google.com/reader
• Bloglines
• http//www.bloglines.com
• Comment
• Buy an egg timer

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Make it Easy to Share Subscribe

• Place a subscribe prompt in the top right
  corner
• Allow subscription via rss and email using
  Feedburner
• Put the blogs URL in your email signature
• Place AddThis or ShareThis buttons on each post
• Share posts on Twitter with bit.ly
• Add to your Facebook feed with the Notes
  application
• Add to your Facebook feed with the Twitter
  application

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Participate Engage

• Link to other bloggers in your posts
• Have a blogroll
• Ask questions
• Ask for feedback
• Ask for content (i.e. ideas, photos, video)
• Be opinionated
• Make it easy to comment
• Hold contests and giveaways
• Participate in memes and blog carnivals

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Write Useful Content

• How to
• Lists (10 Ways to . . .)
• Roundups of blogs posts about your topic
• Title posts with words people are searching for
• Write short posts (200-300 words)
• Include images with every post
• Use white space, bolding and bulleted lists
• Mix personal and professional tone

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How do we track impact?
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Impact Metrics

• ____Subscribers
• ____Visits
• ____Page views
• ____Links and referrals
• ____Comments
• ____Content contributed by the community (i.e.
  videos)
• ____New donors, or members
• ____Donations
• ____Press
• ____Relationships

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Tools to Measure Impact

• Google Analytics
• http//www.google.com/analytics/
• Site Meter
• http//www.sitemeter.com/
• Twitter Search
• http//search.twitter.com/
• PostRank
• http//www.postrank.com/
• WhosTalkin
• http//www.whostalkin.com/
• Social Mention
• http//www.socialmention.com/
• Technorati
• http//technorati.com/

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Most important tip . . .
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Have Fun! Its not called social media for
nothin
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Questions?

• Britt Bravo
• www.brittbravo.com
• britt_at_brittbravo.com
• [phone]
• Twitter _at_bbravo
• Skype bebravo
• http//www.facebook.com/britt.bravo
• http//www.slideshare.net/Bbravo