Collaborative Blogging: A Team Approach to Social Media
Bob McCarthy and Sally Vickers
Collaborative Blogging: A Team Approach to Social Media by Bob McCarthy and Sally Vickers
Published by McCarthyVickers, LLC Collaborative Blogging: A Team Approach to Social Media Copyright Š 2012 McCarthyVickers, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, write McCarthyVickers,LLC 4994 Pattock Place Pace, FL 32571 Printed in the United States of America. ISBN-13: 978-0-615-65315-0
Cover Design by Materurbium Š 2012
Introduction
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The Purpose of the Book
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Social Media
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Why Blogging?
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Why Start a Team Blog
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Become a Resource
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Create a Dialogue
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Develop new relationships
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Multiply Your Efforts
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Who Should Use This Book
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The Book’s Process
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Step 1: Team Mission Statement
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Sample Mission Statements
Step 2: Team Roles
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Administrator
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Editor
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Author
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Contributor
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Team Responsibilities
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Step 3: Sample Collaborative Team
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Step 4: Creating a Post Schedule
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Types of Calendars
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Industry / Professional Calendars
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Tickler File
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Step 5: What To Write About
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The Chiropractor’s Posts
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Other Members’ Posts
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The Readability of Your Writing
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The Look and Feel of Your Blog
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Pictures and Images
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Keeping Track
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Editing each other’s posts
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The Team as Editor
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The Editing Process
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Hints for Editing
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Step 6: Tips for Better Blogging
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Step 7: Promoting the Blog
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Outside Promotion
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A Basic Plan
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Growing Your Blog Audience
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End Thoughts
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Next Steps
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Checklist for Collaborating
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How to Use the Checklist
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Don’t Forget the Fun
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Resources
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About Us
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Introduction
Social media is big! Various platforms seem to promise numerous opportunities for people to create a “multi-channel experience.” Nevertheless, sifting through vendors’ constant promotions and promises can be overwhelming and cause an individual to feel they are swimming against the social media tide! We developed this handbook as a lifeline for those people. It offers a collaborative approach, a team approach, to creating and building a blog, the one social medium that gives people creativity and control. Everything can be more fun with friends or coworkers, and that’s true of blogging. The handbook focuses on the How To steps that will equip you and a few teammates to write, post, and promote a blog with little or no expense or experience. A blog welcomes creative content, the sharing of ideas, and invites dialog, especially when a team is active and involved. So use this handbook to get your team involved and learn how to swim with the social media tide!
THE PURPOSE OF THE HANDBOOK This handbook is designed to help like minded people collaborate as a team to write a blog. This handbook focuses on collaborative blogging as a low cost strategy for promoting a team, the members’ interests, and even their professions. We believe that a team of noncompeting people with similar interests can use collaborative blogging as a promotional strategy. We have learned that teamwork helps people reach goals. Teamwork empowers people. An effective team provides a forum within which individuals can employ their natural talents to reach their individual goals while helping others reach theirs. An effective team is egalitarian, not hierarchical. An effective team is supportive, not demanding. For a few years, we were involved with a network marketing company. These were mature and motivated men and women but had limited experience setting their own goals
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or mapping out strategies and even less success implementing them. We developed a prototype for helping these people form working teams. The prototype grew out of trials with virtual communities of entrepreneurs who wanted to increase the profitability of their businesses. We developed an on line forum wherein they could exchange ideas and garner support.
SOCIAL MEDIA More and more people are going virtual. World wide, there are more than one billion Internet users. And they are communicating. There are the social networks, such as Facebook and You Tube and the more business-oriented networks like LinkedIn. Small groups are no longer isolated –whether they are groups of employees, entrepreneurs, consultants or work-at-home-moms. Small groups can leverage their network to identify opportunities and resources to help one another meet their objectives.
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This easy-to-follow handbook guides your team through the process of creating and promoting an effective blog. In turn, the blog can help the team and its members position themselves as Subject Matter Experts -- and have fun doing it. Use this handbook and you’ll post like a pro! Get more essential tools for effective teams at:
www.teampoweredsuccess.com