Yeah, right! There may be a few bloggers that do that (and perhaps they need to get a life!), but most use technology. One of the great things about WordPress is that posts can be scheduled in advance. In other words, you write them before going on holiday and then input the date on which you want each post to be published. If you click on the date section under ‘Publish’, at the top right of the page, you can change the date and time of publication. Hit ‘OK’ and you will see that the line then reads “Scheduled for…”.

Now, be careful. Since around WordPress 2.8, scheduled posts have often missed their date and/or time. There’s a bug in the package. The safest thing to do is to install a plugin called, appropriately enough, “Missed Schedule”.

So, that takes care of the posts but what about announcing them to the world? Many bloggers Tweet their Twitter followers about new articles. Again, you can schedule these, if you use HootSuite. Write a Tweet in the “Compose Message” box and you will find that at the bottom of the box, reading from left to right, are first the “Shrink” box, (I’ll avoid poor jokes about psychiatrists), to use shorter URLs, then the “attachments” button, and then the “Schedule Message” button.

Don’t go mad and schedule your posts hourly – 3 times a day will be sufficient. And bearing in mind that others will be logging on spasmodically, you can schedule the posts to be Tweeted on several days.

Happy holidays and happy blogging!

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The Media is Different, the Message Stays the Same.

Facebook, LinkedIn, ecademy, Social Media Tribes are all new. Even if you look at their ancestors, the Compuserve Groups, it’s all a phenomenon that has emerged only in the last 20 years.

As ever when something new arrives and survives long enough to be more than a 5 minute wonder, some of the early adopters become perceived as, or actively seek the role of, experts. But experts of what?

I can happily accept that there are experts in the installation, customisation and integration of the various applications and platforms. This blog and its comments are not addressed at them.

Social Media is Nothing New!

What I am confused about are the many people who describe themselves as “Social Media Experts” in their Twitter profiles and elsewhere, offering advice on how to use Social Media or on how to succeed in Social Networking. The reason for my confusion? I just don’t get what the expertise is based on or on what they offer that is new.

Let me explain. My main sport is hockey. Let’s say I move to a new area and join a new club. I’d connect with people, engage with them share with them and build relationships. We’d have a common interest, the sport, and I’d establish by my actions what I can offer my new club. Perhaps my reputation would precede me but I’d still take it slowly, easing my way in, doing a lot of listening and asking of questions.

When I wrote on a well known business networking site about the keywords Connect-Engage-Share, to describe the stages we go though when building Social Networks, this was seen by many as something new and exciting. I don’t get it. They are second nature to most of us, why do we need “experts” to explain how to do it, just because the context has changed from “off-line” to “on-line”.

Emperor’s New Clothes

The idea that there are separate rules for communicating and building relationships on-line as opposed to offline is a modern day version of the emperor’s new clothes. The context may have changed, but the core skills have not. In fact I’d go a stage further and say that any distinction between our on-line and off-line lives is at best arbitrary and at worst an illusion peddled by those wanting to make money!

Just because I am using different tools doesn’t mean it’s a different “life” or “world”. For example, I may go out into the garden and use a spade, fork or lawnmower. My gardening is not a different life or world, it’s just me doing my thing. How is it any different when I use a PC to access the internet?

Well, Maybe One Thing Is New

There is one way in which social media offers something new: businesses are used to communicating with customers, with staff and with suppliers. Social Meida opens up a very important new channel: customer to customer. Organisations need to find ways to monitor and respond to the information in this new channel without coming over as being “big brother” or defensive.

Have I Missed Something?

Perhaps I’ve missed something and someone will help me to dispel my confusion… anyone?

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This has worked for me, hope it does for you.

1. Download wp-includes/cron.php from your site into an editor
2. Find the line that includes “wp_remote_post( $cron_url, array(‘timeout’ => 0.01, ‘blocking’ => false, …”
3. Edit the line to read “wp_remote_post( $cron_url, array(‘timeout’ => 20, ‘blocking’ => false, … ”
4. Save the change
5. Upload the file, overwriting the old cron.php file

In WordPress 3.0, reading the file in Dreamweaver, the line in question is 234

There are other ways around the problem; if this does not work for you, let me know.

Update. This worked for me but only spasmodically. I’ve downloaded a plugin called “Missed Schedule” which seems to deal with the problem.

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Talking With or Talking To?

First of all, it’s interesting to watch different approaches to using the media. Some people broadcast their message, talking to their intended audience. Others try to engage people in a two-way communication, talking with people. To a certain extent, it depends upon your objectives. A company that is announcing a product launch, update or recall may be able to get away with talking to their customers. Even then, a better strategy is to allow customers to respond, to feel that they are being listened to.

I’m confused at the number of people, some eminent “Social Media Experts” who post a blog and don’t reply to comments – that makes no sense to em and undermines the whole philosophy of Connect-Engage-Share (CES) which I believe underpins social networking.

Cults

Secondly, some Social Networks and many blogs have become cults, with a key player or players at the centre whose opinion is considered to be sacrosanct. Criticise them and you are quickly ostracised. This has nothing to do with networking or CES but is merely an exercise in ego masturbation.

Social Media Expert?

Thirdly, contrary to the claims made in many on-line profiles, can anybody really be a social media expert? What does it even mean? To repeat what I’ve written above, Social Media is a tool for communication. I’d be very suspicious of anyone who described themselves as a communication expert – the field is so wide, there’s too much to learn to be able to qualify as an “expert”. “Specialist” I’d be prepared to accept but even then I’d be more comfortable if they were more specific about their field of specialism; networking, corporate strategy, or a specific platform, for example.

Personal Branding

Finally, for now anyway, an issue that has become closely connected with Social Media and Social Networking – the concept of personal branding. I used to be confident that I understood what this means, now I’m not so sure. Or more specifically, I’m not certain where the boundaries are. A couple of questions to clarify the reasons for my uncertainty. Firstly, what if you are your brand? For a sole trader SME, is there any distinction to be made between the person’s brand and their business’s brand?

Secondly, a bigger SME, with for example 3 founder directors. Where is the dividing line between their individual brand images and their business’s? No matter how ell suited they are to working together, their personal brands will inevitably show some differences. How should that be accommodated within their combined brand? How do you decide where compromises and concessions should be made?

I really don’t believe that it’s appropriate to call yourself a “social media expert”, for all of the reasons I’ve written about above, plus one more. Even if it is possible to be an expert, this should be a title others give us, not one we assume for ourselves.

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Whether there is truth in that view or not I’ve become increasingly uncomfortable about putting all of my eggs in just these two baskets and have been looking at alternatives. Whilst change for change sake is silly, it’s sensible to at least look and see what’s available.

The problem is, services like Google Search, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Reader and applications such as Microsoft Office are perceived to be best of breed and in many cases, have become the default of choice. In addition, many people use Internet Explorer and, whether we like it or not, there are still websites that only work with Internet Explorer.

Criteria

The challenge is to find alternatives that work as well as their Google or Microsoft counterparts, are free of advertising, are free to use and, preferably, are based upon open source platforms.

Problem.

And there’s the problem – in some areas, such as search engines, whilst there are a number of alternatives, none of them is as good or as easy to use as Google. The possible exception is Scroogle (www.scroogle.org) which is a bit of a cheat as it sits between the end user and Google, making sure no cookies are on your machine and deleting all adverts. It’s ugly to look at but is fast, and advert free. The same problem arises for readers – Google Reader is just so far ahead of anything else I can find.

Webmail

I long ago gave up on Yahoo mail for most things and use Gmail and again, it’s tough to find something that meets the criteria above. Someone posted me a link to Fastmail. Although it looks promising, I haven’t given it a thorough test drive yet.

Browsers

This is a little easier. For a long time I’ve given up on Internet Explorer and have been using Firefox. However, Firefox is beginning to become bloated and seems to lock up a lot with Windows 7. Chrome is OK on Windows but falls over on my Mac and is a Google product. In fact, I have yet to find a decent browser for the Mac; Firefox comes closest but it still has problems. And the built in Browser, Safari, is IMHO, the one thing about the Mac OS that Apple should feel ashamed of!

I’m going to investigate Chromium which meets the criteria although again, it feels like cheating as it is a Chrome clone!

Office

OpenOffice.org is the best alternative to MS Office. The Open Office suite is great value for money – it’s free! It features the Writer word processor, Calc spreadsheet, Impress presentations program, Base database program, Math equation editor, and Draw graphics program. And it reads all MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel files. (I’ve never bought Access, the MS database, so can’t say if it reads those files too). Although it lacks a few of the top end features in the MS Office suite, it’s solid, reliable and, for a free suite, very impressive. It’s already become my suite of choice on the Mac and I use it and MS Office on the PC.

Conclusion

It is possible to use a computer and avoid Google and Microsoft but at the moment, the former in particular are so far ahead of anything else that changing to other applications often means compromising on quality. What have you found that might just be a suitable alternative to Google’s and Micosoft’s products?

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I have to say that I missed Twitter, which was a surprise to me. I missed the engaging and sharing with existing followers and those I follow and missed making contact with new people.

I have mixed feelings about blogging; I realised that forcing myself to post 3 times a week was becoming a burden – I have a day job and a marriage that are important to me. I discovered that I was doing it to conform to the expectation of others, rather than because I really wanted to. So I’ve thought and meditated about it and decided to post “at least once a week”. When the mood takes me, and I have the time, it may be more.

This will also allow me to focus on quality rather than just feeling that I have to churn out words. So, beginning next week, I will post once a week and see how it goes.

As to the two networks of which I’m a member – I missed ecademy but not LinkedIn, but that’s not really a surprise to me.

Have a great weekend folks

Nic

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I am seriously thinking about taking a week off from all internet interaction except to answer emails to clients (I have little choice, being self-employed). I’m intrigued about the possibilities; I could spend the time I use on-line on reading, writing, meditation and personal development.

The internet and social networking take up a fair amount of my time, time I could use productively elsewhere. I know it sounds crazy, having worked hard to build this blog but I’m curious to revert, albeit temporarily, to an existence that is free of social media and non-client e-mail.

Has anyone else tried it recently, and if so, with what results?

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1. Think about your audience – Many years ago I was given a great bit of advice: don’t think about what you want to write, think about what the audience needs to read in order for you to meet your objective.
2. Plan – It’s so tempting to just open up the word processor and start writing but even with short pieces, it’s better to spend a few minutes planning. Decide on your objective and list the points you must cover in order to meet that objective. In a longer piece, you can expand the list to include those things you should cover (less important than the musts), and those you could (the anecdotes etc that give colour to the piece).
3. Use short sentences and everyday words– Expertise is not demonstrated by using long, complicated sentences. Rather, short sentences using everday words to decribe complex issues in simple ways is the hallmark of a true expert.
4. Avoid the passive – Keep to the structure subject, verb, object unless you are using the passive to create surprise. If I write “At the end of the conference the President was interviewed by a  school girl”, this creates surprise because of the unusual end to the sentence. Writing “A school girl interviewed the President at the end of the conference” loses the surprise element.
5. Write from your heart – people often tell me that they’d love to write a blog but aren’t good at writing. If you write from your heart, with honesty, sincerity and passion, people will forgive you the occasional grammatical error.
6. Be careful with superlatives – they are overused and often unnecessary. An occasional superlative is acceptable, peppering your piece with them is not.
7. Make impact at the start – this will entice people into wanting to read more. If you can’t think of a way to do it, beginning by asking the readers a question is often a good tactic as it draws them into your piece.
8. Be Direct – People often write as if they are trying to emulate Sir Humphrey in “Yes Minister”. Don’t pad out your sentences, it casts doubt in the readers’ minds. Being direct also adds impact to your work.
9. Check your Spelling – readers know that writing software comes with spellchecking, so use it or you will lose credibility.
10. Use examples the readers can relate to – it’s usually more elegant to use examples than to attempt to write something that is theoretical.
11. Edit your work – when editing, keep the ABC of effective writing in mind; accuracy, brevity and clarity. Cut out unnecessary words, go though the piece again, and cut again!

And the most important rule:

12. Never, Never, Never be boring!

What tips would you add to this list?

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For example, from my observation of those who are successful at building on-line relationships, I’ve distilled the following list.

Connected and accessible

Successful relationship-builders make themselves easy to find and to communicate with and happily engage in two-way communication. They are often very good at asking the right question at therigh ttime to move things on. They believe that it is important to understand a situation or a person before stating their own needs. Gary V, for example, still tries to answer every e-mail he gets!

Generous

Successful relationship-builders are givers first, takers second.  They understand that the key to success is helping others to meet their needs. In the words of BNI, “Givers Gain”.

Positive

Successful relationship-builders know that they will get criticised, that sometimes others just wont accept the truth in what they are saying. They refuse to let other people’s negativity become their own. They know that what they post on the internet is pretty much there for all time and choose most of the time to accentuate the positive.

Inspired

Successful relationship-builders have something important to say, believe in their message and can back it up. Their inspiration is contagious, leaving other people highly-inspired and motivated.

Focused

Successful relationship-builders know where they are heading and what it takes to get there – they don’t allow themselves to be distracted from their purpose. They know that building relationships is a process that takes a while, as Gary V is forever saying, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Hard-working

Successful relationship-builders are not afraid of hard work; they refuse to buy into the concept of a fast fix or a quick buck.

Resourceful

Successful relationship-builders are highly-skilled reframers, capable of looking at challenges from a number of different angles until they find the solution. they will accept responsibility for their actions and will work hard to make something work whilst at the same time refusing to engage in games of blaming others.

Connector

Successful relationship-builders are happy to connect someone with just the right person in their network who has the knowledge, skills or experience to be able to help.

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Do you want to be an overnight success? It’s easy – all you have to do is put in a lot of time, effort, persistence and possibly money and the chances are you’ll succeed!  I read somewhere, and I’m sure he’ll correct me if I’m wrong, that Chris Brogan took 6 years to  be an “overnight success” and a social media rockstar!

You think I’m joking? You’ve read about those celebrities that have become an overnight success and you think there’s a short cut?

I bet that those celebrities did small roles for years in movies that you loved, but you never knew it. The problem is that once they’ve “arrived”, the press often forget that that worked so hard for years before the success came. The truth is that you are extremely unlikely to become an overnight success.

Even these “reality” talent contests that are meant to throw up new talent rarely do so. The UK’s X Factor’s 2 biggest finds,  Leona Lewis and Alex both had backgrounds in the performing arts; they’d paid their dues. And those who won without such a background soon sunk without a trace.

The first thing that you need to do is some self-examination. Ask yourself the following:

Who are you?

What do you want from life?

How do you define success?

What’s important to you?

What are you good at?

Are you prepared to pay the price?

We all have weaknesses that may jeopardize our chances of success, do you know what yours are?

Are you prepared to put in the effort to improve on your areas of weakness?

Once you have the answers to those questions and have defined your goals you will then need to develop a plan. You will find that if you write a plan, you will know where you are heading, you will be able to see how far you have come and have far you have to go to achieve your goals. You will also need to keep in mind that every milestone that you pass is some sort of success and you should reward yourself. If your goal is to lose weight, then for every ten pounds you should always yourself to indulge in one (small) thing that you love. This will keep you motivated and on your path.

As to becoming an overnight success or feeling like an overnight success, it is a change of mind. It is where you finally realize that you have worked so hard, come so far, and that you have noticed a definite change.  It’s an overnight understanding rather than an overnight success. Others may call you an overnight success, but in your heart you know otherwise!

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