Conscious Strategies LLC

Tag: social media

  • Functional Writing: Interviewing @Josepf

    Functional Writing: An Interview With @Josepf

    Functional writing is a phrase I am using to describe the intersection between content generation and purposeful presence online.

    functional writing: an interview with @Josepf about #SocialSEO & #contentmarketing
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     I believe as writers, we need to have integrity in what we express; this comes across in our writing style or voice. The other component is the idea of practical and functional expression, if what we are doing is to be relevant in digital marketing.

    Functional Writing for SEO and SOCIAL
    Brainstorming: functional writing/SEO/SOCIAL with @Josepf @Emmalish @Yoginiqueen

    Interviewing Josepf Haslam

    This is an interview with @Josepf, well known for SocialSEO, strategy and his Udemy courses among other things.

    ME: I was teaching a workshop the other day, and one of the participants mentioned that he had been advised not to write for keywords. As an SEO expert, I thought I would ask you what you thought of this.

    J: It’s more accurate to say ‘search phrases’. If you’re not writing to be found then you can completely ignore key words and search phrases, but if you do want to be found for either a key word or a search phrase, you damn well better write for it.

    ME: I understand you are presenting at the Intelligent Content Conference (ICC) in March. I look forward to hearing you speak. Would you give us a snippet of what your seminar will be about?

    Looking forward to your 10 #tips for #SEO @Josepf at ICC in March ~ @CMIContent
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    J: My approach is that most people have learned how to use toilet paper and clean up after themselves. I’m giving away 10 expanded pro tips on how to optimize your content for SEO and Social before you publish. Each of these tips is as easy and necessary as using toilet paper. If you’ve mastered the first part, I’m sure you can master these tips. 

    ME: What is the number one misconception about SEO out there?

    J: Unfortunately SEO has been likened to a snake oil salesman and there is a lot of truth to that stereotype. The best way to think about SEO is that you are actually writing for 2 audiences; the search engine spiders and people. You need to understand how to write for the spiders of you’re never going to be found by the people.

    ME: What do you feel makes a good blog stand out?

    J: A good blog is one that understands the 4 “S’s” of content marketing 

    what makes a good #blog? 4 #tips to make your #content stand out
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    1. Segmented: who is the micro-segmented audience you are writing for?
    2. Searchable: people are actually looking for the content and you know how to make the engines find it
    3. Snackable: Like a great snack, people are always reaching for it; you want your audience to consume your content
    4. Shareable: the #1 KPI for content is “was it shared”

    ME: How did the nickname Godfather of Social Media come about?

    Functional Writing : an Interview with Josepf Haslam
    “The GodFather of Social Media”

    A twitter friend of mine @optioneerJM interviewed me about the future of digital marketing and she coined the phrase in that interview 

    what is the future of #digitalmarketing? @optioneerJM @Josepf
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    ME: What is your favorite social media platform and why?

    J: My favorite platforms have changed over time, and each serves a different purpose. Today my top 3 are Instagram, Linkedin and WeChat, all for different reasons.

  • Optimized penmanship

    Optimized Penmanship For Contemporary Readers

    Today was training day as I headed to downtown NYC to speak with a team of writers who are looking to optimize their penmanship to become relevant in google searches. As with many companies and organizations, they have a fairly meaty website with lots of content. Nonetheless, despite the abundance of blog posts, they are not showing up in searches as much as they hope to.

    optimized penmanship
    NYC in the rain

    What is Optimized Penmanship?

    When we think of penmanship, classic authors like Shakespeare come to mind; those writers whose prose is a work of art, a piece of architecture that has been well thought out and utterly creative at the same time.

    “Most entrepreneurs fail at developing ideas for their content because they fail to plan” ~ Joe Pulizzi

    Penmanship Optimization Workshop NYC
    Penmanship Optimization Workshop NYC

    “Thank you for coming in, Rana! We all learned a lot”

    What I conveyed yesterday in my workshop was that content creation takes some work and planning, but that does not need to over-ride innovation and creativity. An author’s voice, I believe, is what distinguishes him or her from other writers. That being said, when you are generating content for your website, you are engaging in marketing practices. Bringing these two sides together is what I mean by ‘optimized’. Functional key word use, a content strategy, originality and using social media to help disseminate your information, build engagement, monetize or educate. Ah!

    what is optimized penmanship? #contentmarketing #SEO #workshop #freelance #writing
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     Bridging SEO and Creativity

    Part of the misconception is that if you have a visually stunning website with weekly blogs this will be enough. The outward component is probably the most fun part of the job. Using the architecture analogy, this is like building without a foundation. The less visible aspects of writing are key components of optimizing your resources.

    The technical aspect of writing out a content strategy, using meta descriptions, H1, H2 and alt tags on your images, categories for your blogs, may take time, but they set you up for potential success. And, of course, purposeful presence online.

    Need help to optimize your content? Click here to contact me

  • Keeping the Social in Social Media

    Keeping the Social in Social Media

    No doubt you have at least one social media profile, whether it be Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, or Twitter. We have become a society who probably picks up the phone less than past generations, relying on texting and IM chats. We document our travels, food preferences, shout out birthday greetings, and curate coats on a variety of different platforms.  This can be a way to have online (social) relationships with people we know but live far from. Personal social media is pretty social. We engage.

    Business Use of Social Media

    So many awesome people working in digital marketing to inspire new campaigns. The most successful ones are cultivating a purposeful presence online by building engagement and getting people to be excited about their products. While you may think that getting likes gets you noticed, getting your content shared, and sharing your own content, has marketing potential.

    Once you’ve chosen the right social media technology and created a great participant experience around a compelling purpose, only one question remains. Will they come? Maybe not. ~ Anthony J Bradley/Mark P McDonald.

    My friend Ty made me into a meme:

    social media for online presence
    Sharing on social media trumps likes

    Here are a couple of reasons I like to use social media channels:

    a couple of reasons to use #socialmedia for #contentmarketing
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    • To get my blog out there
    • To create conversations around something I might be doing, such as writing a new post, or advertising an event
    • To build engagement with audiences. Maybe we can share each other’s wisdom, or learn new things
    • To network. You can meet interesting people who share your interests, or want to hire you.
    • Good for organic SEO.

    Social listening

    Often overlooked, some pages get a lot of comments but don’t seem home. It’s like not answering your phone. I try to answer questions, or at least thank people for their comments. I would recommend, if you are trying to build a faithful network, or audience, that you check your page and at least “like” the fact that someone left a remark. Think long term fan base. Think engagement.

    My personal preference is to keep my posts short and sweet, use a link to drive traffic to my site or a particular blog post. Long winded commentaries do not necessarily feel like conscious content.

    If you are looking for a few tips to make your Facebook business page more fantastic check out this paid piece I wrote here. You can also contact me for social media management!