Social Media - Beginnings and Characteristics

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is still a very fresh, exciting and risky medium for marketers. It continues to be developed everyday by the internet audience, social media sites and the few brave marketers who have taken the plunge into this promising ocean. At Apollo Media, we thought we’d take a step back for a moment and look into the not-so-distant past, to the origins of Social Media.

Although it appears websites like MySpace and Facebook suddenly cropped up, the Social Media explosion didn’t happen overnight. You might be surprised to know that major networking sites as we know them have been evolving for over a decade.

It all started in 1997 with a social networking site by the name of Six Degrees. This innovative website sought to bring people together online and followed the general principles that have shaped social media:
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Spreading the word about your blog shouldn’t be exclusive to your closest friends or industry peers. Self-promotion can also be sought on numerous review sites that connect users with the products and services they are curious about. Proving readers of those sites with concise reviews or recommendations is not only good writing practice, but will also help you establish your authority on various subjects.

Sites like Amazon.com allow you to set up your own user profile where you can provide a link to your own blog. As visitors come to the site and read your well thought out and useful reviews, they may be curious enough to follow you in hopes of getting more information.

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Having an effective blog or website is much more than having a fancy design and clear navigation. It’s not just about building links and advertising. To really make your efforts online successful, you have to place content as a top priority. Because of content’s paramount importance in the World Wide Web, we thought we at Apollo would review the importance of good copywriting, discussing its elements and purpose. To get straight to the core of effective copywriting and why it matters, we sat down with Apollo’s own copywriter, viral marketer and blogger Stephanie Miller.

Damien: Thanks for taking the time to have this discussion, Stephanie. It’s always a pleasure to sit down with someone who has so much experience writing for the web.

Stephanie: It’s great to be here. It’s always fun to have these conversations.

Damien: How about we start with an overview. For those not familiar with PR or marketing, could you give us your definition of copywriting and why it’s important?

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There has been a lot of talk here lately at Apollo Media about focus. Streamlining your writing and discussions on your blog seems paramount when establishing a distinctive voice in your work and targeting a core readership that is going to stick around.

The problems with veering off your blog’s direction are clear and also apply to various forms of marketing. If a company strays too far from their tested image, or they try cultivating too many images at once, they can end up confusing potential customers. Is your company targeting young people or old? Do you want to appear authoritative and trustworthy or fresh and cutting-edge? Trying to do or say too many things at once leads to glaring contradictions and a perplexed audience.

Notice how McDonald’s doesn’t blatantly offer pizza or breadsticks on their regular menu? Sure, they could easily introduce them to some success, I think they even had pizza available a decade or so ago, but they are known for the Big Mac and their fries, so being eclectic with their menu just distracts people from what really made them so popular.

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While searching through Wikipedia for definitions of social media terms, I came across a long list of blog related words. While even the term blog (web + log) is far from inspiring, the wealth of ridiculousness within the word warping ‘blogosphere’ is overwhelming. For your enjoyment/disgust/confusion, here are the dumbest blog terms (blerms) ever made. Seriously, try saying any of these without cringing or bursting out in laughter.

Note: use the following terms with caution since we think someone on Wikipedia was just messing around when they added them. Still, several of these blog words (blords) may wind up on a blog near you, so knowing these definitions will not only make you appear more knowledgeable, you could potentially win some trivia with them one day! Also, if you happen to see any of these terms used on our blog, let us know and we’ll promptly shoot ourselves in the foot.

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It’s hard to be original these days when you consider the hundreds of thousands of blogs out there, covering every topic imaginable. Despite the crowded playing field, there are several strategies that bloggers can use to inject some personality into their work and be different.

If you truly want to create something that’s not just useful but remarkable as well, take a look at some of these suggestions:

1. Break your content down into sub-niches

If you see several other blogs covering your niche, you may want to break your content down to even small sub-niches, narrowing your focus to better establish your authority. If you are having difficulty writing substantial content on a regular basis, the scope of your blog may be too broad. You don’t want to spread yourself to thin when it comes to content development. Examine and analyze your niche and the blogs that currently cover it. How can you break it down further? Will it still have an audience after you streamline it?

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While I was browsing through my daily blog reads, I noticed a very peculiar feature on one of them every time I scrolled across their blogroll. I tiny preview window appeared next to my cursor as I went over a link, displaying the content of that site in a clear RSS feed. At the top left corner of this window, you could also toggle a different view that previewed the front page itself. You also had the ability to increase the size of the window without straining your eyes to read the tiny text.

What is this marvelous tool that shows where outbound links are headed without having you leave the original site?

A glance to the lower right hand side of the preview window had the name Snap Shots and a link to their page. This service, found at www.snap.com, is free and with sponsored keywords related to the links appearing in the window, presents an opportunity for bloggers to share ad revenue with the company. Along with the standard window, specialized window types, or shots, can be used for a variety of different links, making your site accessible for your readers.

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A friend of mine has confided that he is having trouble staying motivated when it comes to writing consistent posts and articles. After some careful analysis of his dilemma, I decided to write a post dedicated to anyone who wants some motivation and is willing to change their blog to get it. The following are some general tips to help those looking to revamp their efforts find some footing as they look to the future:

Consider a new layout and design. You may feel that you’re blog’s appearance is hindering your motivation to write for it. A new design theme or layout can help rekindle your desire to post. Incorporate greater accessibility, uniqueness and clarity into your design to maximize the presentation of your content. A fresh new look for your blog is a great way for you to take more pride in your work, especially if you take the time to design it yourself.

Define and narrow your blog’s focus. Your blog’s content may be too broad and varied, making it difficult for you to get down to business and develop consistent content. Write a list of things you are interested in and capable of writing about. Create a list of possible categories that Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most glaring things that comes up in the analytics for my blog (not this one) is its incredibly high bounce rate, which usually hovers between 65 – 75%. By professional web standards, this is not something to brag about. For those not in the know, your bounce rate is the statistic that tells you how many people are leaving your site from the page they land on.

Typically, a good website provides its intended visitors what they need or want. A low bounce rate, something under 50% for example, indicates that your website is doing what it’s supposed to be doing: inspiring the majority of your visitors to stick around and see what other useful information they can find.

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At Apollo Media, we strive to bring you the best advice on building your blog, optimizing your content and connecting with your audience and fellow bloggers. While we are confident that our work is beneficial to both seasoned and beginning bloggers, we owe a lot to our mentors online, namely the outstanding blogs featured here.

So to give credit where credit is due, in no particular order, we thought we would come up with a list of some of our favorite sources for blogging tips, SEO advice and writing skills:

Copyblogger – Copywriting Blog

The brainchild of Brian Clark, CopyBlogger is a prime source for tips on effective writing skills for marketing, advertising and blogging. Centered on content development, branding and maximizing creativity, CopyBlogger’s diverse collection of articles is always great food for thought that inspires critical thinking about your own work.
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