seobridges.com

Last week, Avinash Kaushik tweeted that some people don’t think before they Tweet, and that can lead to adverse consequences. I Replied, “It makes one consider that the freedom of speech has given rise and justification to the freedom of criticism.” I thought I’d write out a Social Media Marketing Rights version of U.S. citizens’ Miranda Rights:

“You have the right not to post or tweet everything you’re thinking or doing all the time. Anything you post or tweet can be used against you by anyone, anytime, anywhere for any reason at all. You have the right to maintain a social media presence separate from your everyday social and personal life, now and during future interactions with your friends, followers, and fans. You have the right to hire or consult a social media marketing agency, before you engage in social media. If you cannot afford to hire or consult a social media marketing agency, you’re on your own. If you must let everyone on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and other social media sites know what you’re doing and thinking all the time, all those free social media tools you use may cost you your job, privacy, and dignity.”

Like your Miranda Rights (If you’re a U.S. citizen), which are meant to remind you that you don’t have to incriminate yourself under police interrogation or in a court of law, your Social Media Marketing Rights should remind you that when engaging with your friends, fans, and followers on social media sites, there are just some things better left unsaid because not leaving those things unsaid could spell trouble.

Stay social, my friends!

Erick

#Panera #brandidentity #socialmedia #businessmodel #marketing

Yesterday, I went to Panera Bread in Vista, CA. I’ve only been to about half a dozen of Panera’s 1300 US locations, but their Vista location is my favorite. I’ve also been to the original Panera in Boston, which is much more compact.

Every once in a while, I like to explore new places and find quaint coffee houses or cafés where I can sit and write, read, or just relax. For me, the quieter and roomier, allowing me to spread out my work, the better.

San Diegans are a laid back, casual group. When we go to Padres games, we don’t go expecting them to win the world series.  We go because Petco Park is one of the nicest baseball parks in the US, and it’s an enjoyable place to spend time with friends and family.  Likewise, when we go out to coffee, we go to relax.

I am not going to say Bostonians are not a laid back casual people, but Boston is a subways culture and San Diego is a beach culture.  That culture reflects well in the Panera Bread at Boston’s Coolidge Corner. That location, like many Boston cafés and coffee houses, is much more compact.

I prefer the more spacious Panera’s, cafés, and coffee houses of San Diego.  That’s probably because I’m a San Diegan. People who live in subway cultures, and are used to rubbing shoulders with other train riders, probably enjoy bumping elbows and getting into conversations with new friends at cafés and coffeehouses that cram as many tables and chairs into their establishment as possible.

When you’re writing content for your website or working on your company’s social media marketing plan, consider your audience. Sure, your clientele may consist of people from beach cultures, subway cultures, and various other subcultures, but they all have one thing in common—You.  And how you brand yourself and/or your business matters.

Stay social my friends,

Erick

When you present yourself and your company, your book, or services online, it’s important to be authentic. People do business with people, and blogs are a good way to let people know who you are. But your readers don’t need to know about all of your dirty laundry. Some may consider this “spin” without an authentic ring to it, but I think of it as putting your best foot forward. It’s the difference between what you would tell someone you just met, and a dear friend you would vent to over a glass of wine. Though you may have regular blog readers, more than likely they are not the same people you love and trust. And remember, things can spread quickly and you’ll be hard pressed to take it back once it’s out there on the internet.

So now I know you’re remembering that last week I said it’s okay to be human, to admit your mistakes, and I still stand by that. But how much you need to tell is where it gets tricky. Especially if you’re mad because someone other than you messed up big time. This happens a lot with vendors; but it could just as easily happen with editors, agents, publishers, and others.

A while back we made some pretty pointed comments on our company blog about a manufacturer with whom we no longer had a business relationship. The comments were not in any way flattering, and we promptly received a letter from their lawyer claiming libel. Now the comments were true, so more than likely a case could not be made for libel in court. We opted to edit the post, and not spend our time, energy and money with our lawyers, but rather on growing our business. We then used the experience as an opportunity to create guidelines for ourselves on what we would—and would not—post about in future editions. Ultimately you’ll have to decide for yourself, but here’s some questions to ask yourself:

Will telling the tale benefit you and your business in anyway? I’m not talking about will it make you feel better to get something off your chest, but will it cause a change in the relationship with your vendor– a change for the good? Will it bring you more business? Will it elevate your status or improve how others perceive you?

Will telling the whole truth, names and all, benefit your customers (those folks reading your blog) in any way? If not, don’t do it. Turn the story into something beneficial for your customer base. Your tale of woe could become a post on Ten Tips for Working With A Vendor (or editor or publisher). In our case, once we made the edits, it was a pretty good post about quality and what our expectations are, which in turn let our customer base know how we do business.

So if your only reason to tell the story is to get something off your chest, I would recommend instead that you write a letter (but don’t send it), scrawl your anger in a journal, or share your frustration with a trusted friend.

Truth be told, we initially wrote our post in anger. And it backfired because you get back what you put out there world.

–
Jennifer Simpson, aka Je Sais (I know)
DID I BLOG YOU?
http://akajesais.com/

One of our core company beliefs is that People do business with People.  The blogs are where we can let our customers and potential customers know who we are, that we are not a monolithic inhuman corporation. We’re real people.  In managing online identity, authenticity is key.

Now last week I mentioned that I blog as “Carmen Electrode” and “Joe Welder.”  I’m sure you’re thinking, “how is THAT authentic?”

Good question.  I’ve thought about it myself.  First, I don’t think anyone really expects that Carmen Electrode is anything other than a construct of our company. Besides, she looks like this:

Joe Welder, on the other hand, is my boss’ nickname.  It’s what his buddies called him when he was active in motorsports and worked as chief mechanic for a racing team.  We have references to his nickname and his history throughout our company web properties.

When I post as Joe Welder, 99.9% of the time, the article originated with my boss.  Occasionally I’ll send him an industry article and solicit his opinion. In both these instances I edit for clarity, for typos and for geeky grammar things like cohesion, passive voice and continuity.  While maintaining his story, and his voice.

When I talk about being authentic, I mean that regardless of the handle you give yourself online, be real.  Don’t just be marketing fluff. And you don’t have to be perfect.  I think customers appreciate imperfections, as long as there is honesty and integrity, and as long as they feel valued as a customer.

In fact, sometimes you can turn those mistakes—and we all make them—into good stories.  Just the other day, a customer called us and complained that we did not send the SYLVANIA tungsten they ordered, but rather GTP tungsten.  What we had neglected to tell our customer, and all of our other customers, was that Sylvania Tungsten had become GTP back in 2008, and had only recently changed their packaging.  We used this as opportunity to educate our customers about the change, reinforce our position as industry experts, remind them of our awesome satisfaction guarantee, and say “hey, we’re human!”

It’s not the mistakes you make it’s how you handle them.  And really, it’s not a story if someone wants something and gets exactly what they…  and blogging is all about telling stories and making connections with our customers.

Next time I’ll talk about how much is too much authenticity…

–
Jennifer Simpson, aka Je Sais (I know)
DID I BLOG YOU?
http://akajesais.com/

As I mentioned in my introductory post, I blog utilizing several personas:  JeSais for my personal blog, Carmen Electrode is my work affiliated online persona, and Joe Welder for my boss.  It sounds more complicated than it is.

I won’t go into too many details about my personal blog–  mostly because it’s not really relevant to search engine optimization.  I started it learn more about blogging.  I would note, however, that if you do blog, keep in mind you are not necessarily as invisible as you think you are.  My own personal rule of thumb is to never post anything online that you would not want your mother or future employer to read.

The company I work for, Arc-Zone.com, sells welding accessories. Primarily an online business, we serve a variety of clients from independent fabricators to industrial manufacturers around the world. For work I manage the two company blogs:  CarmenElectrode.com and JoeWelder.com.

One way that I distinguish the voice of Carmen Electrode from Joe Welder is by selection of topic.  I use the CarmenElectrode.com blog to (hopefully) dispel some myths about the kind of work that welding is, and the kind of women who actually weld.  I also write about equality in the workplace, and other issues of importance to women welders.  And Rosie the Riveter–I blog about Rosies.  I repost articles profiling the original Rosies, stories about the Rosie the Riveter Parks, statues, and memorials, and I also write regular profiles of women in the industry for a section I call “The New Rosies.”

The Joe Welder blog is primarily my boss’ platform (who is the owner of Arc-Zone.com) so the posts are topics that reflect his history in the racing industry and as a master fabricator as well as his personal interests:  So Cal culture, cars, mountain biking and green manufacturing to name a few.  One regular feature is Ask Joe for write-ups of technical inquiries, and the solutions our company experts provide.  We also post about customer service, new products in our webstore, and how we differentiate ourselves from others in the industry.

Another tool I use to distinguish voice is diction and word selection. For Carmen Electrode I tend to use more flowery, “feminine” language… a voice that is probably closer to my “real” voice (though maybe a bit more hip and fun!).  Jim (my boss, aka Joe Welder)  writes many of the posts himself, though I do edit them for him. I strive to maintain his diction and his use of words like “dialed in” or “check it out” or “bitchin” even when writing posts as “Editor.”

Whether I’m online as Carmen or Joe, because these are business blogs there is a level of professionalism that we always maintain.  It is one of our company’s core beliefs that in order to flourish, we must maintain a positive atmosphere.  The blogs are not places to dish dirt on the industry, on our competitors, or on vendors that let us down. Instead they are places to celebrate the industry that we contribute to and benefit from.  I’ll talk about this in more depth in my next post on maintaining integrity.

–
Jennifer Simpson, aka JeSais
DID I BLOG YOU?
http://akajesais.com/

When I offered to guest blog for Erick and SEO Bridges I hadn’t fully formulated my ideas about online identity, but it’s a topic that fascinates me.  For this initial post I wanted to introduce myself, and let you know what I’ll be blogging about.

My name is Jennifer Simpson, but you’ll also find me online as JeSais (my nickname), Carmen Electrode (my work online persona), or sometimes as Joe Welder (in my boss’ stead).  I’ve been online since the 1980s (I worked for a government affiliated agency with access to parts of ARPANET). It was the late 80s. I was very very young.  I’d like to say that I was a child computer genius.

I’ve been blogging personally since 2004 and contributed to the now defunct (for all intents and purposes) SanDiegoBlog, a community blog. More recently I started a blog for my graduate program, the Creative Writing /MFA Program at the University of New Mexico.  I also served as a panelist on the Performance and Electronic Media: from Spoken Word to Social Networks panel earlier this year at the Albuquerque Cultural Conference.

Since 2005 I’ve been blogging for Arc-Zone.com, Inc. In fact, the company blog that I started, www.CarmenElectrode.com, was the first in the welding industry!  I soon followed that blog with another industry blog, www.JoeWelder.com.  Each of these blogs has a distinct voice, and as the editor and creative writer behind-the-scenes, it is my job to ensure the integrity and unique quality of each site.  I’m proud to say that by starting these blogs I garnered an Image of Welding Award from the American Welding Society in 2009.

While blogs are one of the best tools out there for search engine optimization, providing fresh relevant, key-word-rich content for your website, for me they are a great way to communicate with customers and build relationships.  People do business with people and with a blog you can let your customers know who you are in a way they won’t get from your ecommerce site.

In future posts I will cover ways to articulate distinct voices, how to maintain authenticity, how to maintain integrity, and how much is too much information to share. And if there’s a question you have, leave a comment and I’ll try my best to address your question in an upcoming post!

Jenn

LINKS:
http://akajesais.com
http://joewelder.com
http://carmenelectrode.com
http://arc-zone.com
http://unmcreativewriting.wordpress.com/

It’s the last week of 2010, and that means it’s time to reflect.  Yesterday, I thought about why different people reflect at different times of the year.  I imagine most people think about how they can change themselves, their businesses, or anything else around this time of year.  When I went to school I looked at every September as a time of change.  Some business owners might look at each new fiscal year as a time of change.  Perhaps different religions look at significant holidays, such as Yom Kippur or Ramadan, as times for change.

Starting this week and going into the first weeks of 2011, you will see gradual changes to SEO Bridges.  First, you will see blogs from at least one regular guest blogger.  Jennifer Simpson (Jesais) is a friend of mine, and she will be blogging about managing your online identity.  Another change is affiliate marketing geared primarily to provide readers and writers with products in their area useful to them.  With that said, we will be integrating with Amazon.  Let us know whether you do or do not find the products advertise interesting in useful.  We want to make SEOBridges.com a place where you can come and find useful information.  We will also make minor changes to our page structure and content to make it easier for people to find the information they want to find.

I am sure you will enjoy these and other changes, as we enter a new year together.  For now, let’s make this last week of 2010 a week to remember.

Stay social my friends,

Erick