7 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Blog

7 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Blog

Many non-profit staffers and small business owners start blogging because they “know” they “need” to do it or because someone suggested it would help their cause. These are innocent nudges in the right direction, often doled out by a board member with marketing experience or a CEO who wants to write or by a consultant who is ready to set you up with a blog, whether it’s right or wrong for your needs.

I’ve personally cautioned more people out of blogging than into blogging because a blog wouldn’t best serve their goals or because they just wouldn’t be able to devote the appropriate time to it. Blogging can be a huge undertaking and first one needs to ask if a blog is right for your cause or your business.

Here are some questions to ask before starting a blog:

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Managing social media in 10 minutes a day (non-profit and small business edition)

Managing social media in 10 minutes a day (non-profit and small business edition)

There’s no denying that social media can be a huge responsibility to take on within your work. For those who use it personally, it becomes real obvious real quick how much of a timesuck Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and other channels can be. So it corresponds that managing social media professionally can be intimidating.

But how much time does it really take to have a professional presence on any given channel on behalf of your organization?

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Hootsuite: Social Media Management Lifesaver

Hootsuite: Social Media Management Lifesaver

For non-profit and small business staff juggling multiple social networks, Hootsuite is a lifesaver.

If you’re not familiar with the social media management tool, here’s the run-down: Hootsuite allows you to manage most of your social networks in one place.

Like a web browser, you can set up one tab per network, so you can toggle between, say, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

Within each tab/network, you can monitor a home screen (feed, wall, etc.), your own sent and scheduled messages, and searches and mentions of your brand or specific keywords.

Furthermore, you can create and schedule messages, on one or many networks, with features like shortened links, images, location tagging, and more.

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3 Steps to Creating a Social Media Will

3 Steps to Creating a Social Media Will

Several friends have passed away over the last few years. For months after their passing, Facebook still told me whether or not they were online. Google+ suggested I add them to my circles. And Twitter suggested I invite them to join.

Most disturbing of all were the Facebook reminders. Birthdays were the most shocking: being asked to wish someone a happy birthday, months after their passing, with their smiling face or familiar profile picture popping up in my feed all day.

This got me to thinking about what was happening with their account and started my research social media wills. Yes, it’s that kind of will: a way to protect and even pass on your (digital) property after your passing.

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Why LinkedIn “Skills” Are Useless – and What LinkedIn Can Do About It

Why LinkedIn “Skills” Are Useless – and What LinkedIn Can Do About It

LinkedIn makes it very easy to add new skills to your professional profile – and this is what makes this section of the site irrelevant.

As of today, I have 11 skills for which colleagues have endorsed me. By clicking “Add to Profile,” these words will quickly appear on my profile and position me as an expert in Facebook, WordPress, Teaching, Research and more.

Facebook? Yes, I’m a pro. WordPress? Yes, I’m very good at that too. Teaching?  Well, I’ve run some good workshops and I enjoy mentoring, but I dislike most forms of “teaching” and wouldn’t use that word to describe my skills. Research?  Hmm, I like to learn and I Google a heck of a lot of stuff every day. Does that make me skilled at research?

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Social Media Image Sizing Cheat Sheet

Social Media Image Sizing Cheat Sheet

Properly sizing a social media image, whether a Facebook cover, Twitter profile photo, or custom YouTube thumbnail, can be the bane of any marketers existence.

Just looking at this infographic and all of the details that go into properly imaging social media accounts makes my head hurt.

But thanks to this cheat sheet from LunaMetrics, I’ve got a quick and handy reference:

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