MediaJoltz

Sometimes we aren’t sure what to write or podcast about.  That isn’t a problem for Chris Brogan who gives us a list of things he hopes you talk about in your next post or episode.

Here is a short version of the list:

1 How I Use Facebook
2 Ways I Embrace My Audience
3 Should My Town Use Social Media?
4 A Community I Love
5 Technology That Empowers Me
6 How Flickr Did it Right
7 How Best to Comment on a Corporate Blog
8 Ways to Save a Bad Time at a Conference
9 How I Find Blogging Ideas
10 Somebody Has to Say It
11 My Children Will Do it Differently
12 How Schools Could Use Social Media
13 The Best Parts of Marketing
14 Presentation Skills for a New Conversation
15 How I Find Time to Make Media
16 Empower Your Best Customers
17 After the Event- Carrying the Conversation Forward
18 Just Jump Into Podcasting- Heres How
19 My Community and How You Can Engage It
20 Twitter Jaiku Pownce Facebook- And Then What
21 Making a Miniseries
22 If I Were an Advertiser Today
23 My Mother is On Facebook
24 Does a Big Brand Need You
25 Books I Want to Write

check out Brogan’s site for the rest of the topics!

Here is a video on how to add elements like video and pictures to your post on your Blogger account. This will help to make your posts a little more exciting and break up the monotony of plain text.

Okay guys, here is the post you’ve all been waiting for. You’ve got your team of friends, you know what formating you like and you know what you’re going to write about.

So?

Lets do it! This week I want you to start blogging. I want you to be passionate in your writing. I want you to tell your friends and supporters and co-workers and family about your blog. I want you to put your blog URL into your signature in all your emails…

But first, we have to set it up:

Let me know how it goes. Let me know the URL-I’d love to visit!!!

I know by now you’re probably saying, alright alright, lets get to blogging, I want to write my post!! Let me ask you this question first, why do YOU want to blog?

Is it because you’ve heard you should? Is it because you want to advertise your product and services? According to Technorati, there are over 72 million blogs-what are you going to do to help contribute? What do you have to say that’s different than what others have said?

Chris Brogan has some ideas for business owners in his post: Local Social Media-Applications for ways that you can use your social media-including blogging in your local community. Then you can read the 15 comments his readers give on ways they suggest using social media in their local communities.

Here are two ideas that I just discussed today with a group:

-I think Realtors can blog about the communities they are selling homes in. Or they can blog about tips and tricks for maintaining a home. When my husband and I were new homeowners, we knew we had to clean out the gutters and the basics of taking care of the home, but there were lots of things that we didn’t realize we ought to do. With a blog, a Realtor can brand themselves (apart from their company) and then by submitting that to all the directories, their name will be all over the place.

- The second one is actually something that a friend of mine is doing. We talked a little bit about the blog she had for her company For Every Body. She wanted to know how to get more awareness about her company. I told her that a blog needed to have passion in it and she went and did an amazing job with a new blog they started called Think Pink. Their company has a campaign going on for Breast Cancer Awareness Month where they are collecting stories and then choosing one woman to provide support to her.

What you are passionate about? Look at what people are already saying about it and think about your view, your twist to what is being said. People don’t want to read advertisement after advertisement, they want substance that they can learn from and enjoy. They can tell if you are fake and impersonal, so let your passion shine through.

Tomorrow is a post on using social media in your personal life, so take this weekend to figure out what you are passionate about. What do you want to blog about and WHY?

So in thinking today about blogging and the series of Simple Things we are doing, I realized that other than mentioning Technorati I haven’t talked much about finding blogs. So here is a way to find those blogs that interest you most:

I’ve already mentioned Technorati, but there are also other places to search:

• IceRocket

• Google Blogsearch

• Syndic8

• Blog-Search

• Yahoo Blog Search

• BlogCatalog

• BlogHub

and many others. You can go to Google and type in blog search/blog directory.

You can also type into Google search the topic and then blog and it will pull up a few thousand urls with those words in there such as “small business blog”

You can also do a search for bloggers in your area. They might be writing on things you enjoy, but more importantly, they are local so if you need some help and would like to get some information from them, contact them and see if they have time to meet-invite one or several to a lunch. I don’t know of many bloggers who would turn down a free lunch!

You can also find blogs from the Blogroll of the blogs you like. A lot of times a blog author will list the blogs they like most and read and if you like what they have to say, then you should check out the blogs they like too.

Did you comment on two blogs? Did they respond back? Now I don’t want to put too much on you in a week, but I do want you to continue to comment on a blog everyday.

Today’s assignment is something that will strengthen relationships with those who write the blogs that catch your interest. Start examining the website a little deeper to learn more about the author. Do they have an “about me” page? How about a “contact me” page?

What do you know about this author? What would you like to know? Most blog authors have a way to contact them. Find this information and whichever form of contact is most comfortable to you, contact them. Let them know you are trying a New Media Assignment-they’ll be excited for you! Ask them why they started blogging, what inspired them? Ask them why they chose to write on the topic they are covering and what are the toughest things about blogging?

The best way to learn anything is to glean information from those already involved in it. Be sincere, maybe tell a little about what you are thinking of doing and see if they have any suggestions for you. Ask more than one person to get an overall feel about what blogging is all about. This is how I started writing. I talked to a few people like CC Chapman, Janet, Bryce, Cord and Mitch. They all have different reasons for blogging but each one gave me ideas for my own blog.

The people you talk to will have different answers than you, but by asking them questions and listening to advice they might have, you start to form a relationship and advocate for your blog, and its a lot more fun when you’ve got friends supporting you!

So today’s assignment: Continue to comment on blogs and take that further step to contact an author to start building a relationship that can become a resource of help, advice and motivation later on down the road.

Now we have a little bit more information about what a blog is. The next thing we are going to do is something that I believe is very important when you are beginning, and even if you are a veteran at blogging. We are going to comment on a blog.

When someone writes a blog, while it is THEIR opinion and ideas, they are writing for YOU. Let them know what you think-further the conversation. The magic of blogs is that they are a two way street. They allow for someone to post, the reader can comment and the author to then return a reply. I have many people I feel I can call friends whom I’ve never met, and it started as a comment I made on their blog or they made on my blog.

But be careful about your comment. Truly provide a constructive response. Here is a Comment Ethics website that goes over some things that will help you. Be courteous, and intelligent, there are some topics that we don’t agree with, but you want to be professional in everything you do online-remember it won’t be deleted!

So your assignment: to comment on two different blogs. By doing that, not only are you going to contribute to the conversation, but begin to forge a relationship online. These relationships can help you in this new media process too. Believe it or not, but most bloggers are actually friendly!

Till tomorrow, thanks for stickin’ with me!