Archive for December, 2009
The Makings of a Successful Blog
by Jessica Turner on December 22, 2009 | no comments
in Corporate Blogs, Marketing, Social Media
Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet for creating a popular blog. As someone who blogs professionally and personally, as well as counsels many clients on the process, here are a few tactics that are effective in helping build a successful blog.
Select a Theme: Lovell Links topics are all marketing and public relations based. What is the theme or “brand” of your blog? If you don’t know, sit down and create a mission statement for your blog. This will help create focus.
Engage Your Readers and Join in the Conversation: I usually do this by asking a question at the end of a post. It is a great way to encourage comments.
It is also important to be present in the comments. Some blogs have threaded comments where readers and the writers can respond directly to comments made.
Leverage Other Social Media Tools: Having a presence on Facebook, Twitter, etc. will help drive traffic to your site.
Include an Image: Blog posts with images are more likely to be read. If you don’t have an image of your own, use a stock photo.
Use a Clean Design: Blogs that are filled with many ads, blinkies, etc. are a turn-off for many people who come to the site. Be sure you blog design is clean and represents your brand well.
Proof Your Work: Sloppy writing and editing is not acceptable. Just because it is not printed does not lessen its value. You are promoting yourself and/or your company with each post you write. Check out Ashley’s great post of common writing errors.
Invest Time: Starting and maintaining a blog takes a large time commitment. If you are not ready to commit to blogging several times a week, you should not blog.
Read Other Blogs: One of the best ways to learn how to become a better blogger is to read a lot of blogs. Read blogs that have a similar topic to what you write about – as well as those that are popular. The combination will teach you a lot. (A great way to manage reading a lot of blogs is by using a reader like Netvibes or Google Reader.)
Track Your Traffic and Understand Your Audience: Where are your readers coming from? How long are they staying on your blog? How frequently do they visit? By understanding your readers habits, you can help build loyal followers.
What other tips do you have for growing a personal or professional blog?
Economic Survey Results
by Paula Lovell on December 11, 2009 | 1 comment
in Economy, Survey
Last week Lovell Communications Inc. conducted an email blast survey on opinions about the economy. Approximately 88 percent of 194 respondents (mostly business people and professionals) indicated they think the economy will either remain the same or improve over the next six months.
Last May 2009, when we conducted a survey with the same question, 89 percent of the 174 respondents indicated they felt the economy would remain essentially the same or improve between mid-May 2009 and mid-November 2009. Not a significant difference there.
Likewise, in the recent survey about 12 percent think the economy will get worse in the next six months compared to 11 percent asked the same question back in May. Also, not significant.
However, last May, 55 percent thought the economy was going to improve over the following six months compared to 48 percent in this month’s survey.
Last May, 34 percent thought the economy would stay the same for the subsequent six months compared to 40 percent of this month’s respondents who think the economy will remain the same for the next six months.
Asking Twitters and Facebook Users
In a separate survey sent out through Twitter and Facebook to a broader audience (not necessarily business people and professionals), only 74 percent of the 168 respondents think the economy will remain the same or improve over the next six months. Notably, 25 percent felt the economy would get worse. (compared to only 11 percent in the business and professionals survey.)
29 percent of the Tweeters and Facebook respondents feel the economy will remain about the same over the next six months. That compares to 48 percent of the business person and professionals survey.
I am wondering if this indicates that the business community is slightly more optimistic than the “average guy on the street.” Makes sense. What do you think?
State of Journalism: Following the Story
by Jan Morrison on December 8, 2009 | no comments
in Media Relations, The Media
I recently served as the communications manager for a local political campaign and experienced first-hand some of the media changes that I have read about for years. We have all heard about reduced revenues and staffing cuts in traditional media outlets (particularly newspapers). A direct result of this trend is that there are fewer reporters who each have to cover more topics and, as a whole, are creating less overall news content. You know these things are happening but you don’t always see the impact until you are deeply entrenched in an issue that deserves media attention. A local reporter is in a tough spot when he is assigned to cover a city council race while still keeping up with ongoing city business like city council meetings, council committees’ endeavors, and all council-related interactions with city officials and municipal services.
During our campaign, I made contact with the media on a regular basis to provide them updates on the process. I alerted the media each time the candidates filed fundraising reports, attended events and held community forums. But with the scope of everything else local reporters are expected to cover they simply don’t have the bandwidth to cover each element of a city council race. In fact, the campaign was relegated to one comprehensive story at the end of the campaign followed up with reporting of election results. As a result, voters may not have had a chance to get to know the candidates over time or make the most informed choice on Election Day.
One constituent became so frustrated with the lack of information available to voters that she started a blog specifically about the campaign and its candidates. She provided more investigative information than any of the traditional media outlets in town. However, not everyone trusted the blog because the author (fearful of retaliation and losing her job) wrote anonymously. So constituents were left with a conundrum. They can rely on traditional media — a source of information that should be trusted but is sometimes not able to provide the depth of information needed to make an informed decision. Or they could rely on detailed, timely information that has been thoroughly investigated but may not be entirely trustworthy because we don’t know anything about the author.
Unfortunately, these were the options for voters during the campaign. Fortunately, our information reached enough voters that I was able to attend a victory party on election night. But when the next election comes around I’ll be prepared for a likely lack of campaign coverage. I also hope that our local anonymous blogger comes out of the closet and provides a legitimate source for residents to get the information they need to cast the next round of ballots.
No Mammograms? Just Blame It On The Communicators.
by Paula Lovell on December 3, 2009 | 2 comments
in Healthcare, Organizational Behavior, The Media, public relations
Now the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) says it never really MEANT to recommend that women between the ages of 40 and 49 not get mammograms, despite its very clearly articulated press release on the subject. The task force claims it was a poorly written communication. What, they didn’t read it in the first place? They didn’t happen to notice that it very clearly stated they were “RECOMMENDING” a change in when women get their first mammograms?
As a breast cancer survivor, along with my sister, I am outraged that the Task Force denies its recommendations aren’t cost-driven. How absurd. Of course, they are. I don’t actually mind that the recommendations are cost-driven…but they should “fess up.” Let’s call it what it is…an insensitive re-analysis of old data with an eye toward saving money, not lives.
I support evidence-based medicine, and if there is research proving that certain slow-growing malignant tumors won’t kill you so you don’t need to treat them, I’m all for that. The problem is, the science doesn’t yet exist to inform women (before they know they have a tumor), whether the tumor (that they don’t know they have) is fast-growing or slow-growing! That’s a rather important detail.
Don’t even get me started on the Task Force’s recommendation that physicians no longer teach women to do breast exams. I guess the intention is that an undetected tumor won’t drive a woman into her physician for a diagnostic test…because that might be a waste of money. And then there were the Task Force’s patronizing comments about the angst and anxiety caused by false positives. Let me just say that the idea that young women I know and love who might NOT get their annual mammograms concerns me much more, not to mention what it will do to their families if they have cancer and it goes undetected for up to ten years. The appalling thing is that the Task Force admits that women between the ages of 40 and 49 die from breast cancer…just not enough women to warrant the test.
It seems logical that the intent of the study was to take a new look at data, make some kind of determination and then communicate with women and healthcare professionals (I didn’t say health plans) about the findings. Since it was a new look at existing information and not a new clinical study, the entire point was to communicate new conclusions. I find it mildly amusing that only after the media and the public put up such a fuss, they want to change their song and blame it on a mis-communication.
I’m not sure I buy it. You?
Eight Common Errors in Writing
by Ashley Webb on December 1, 2009 | 3 comments
in Copywriting, Corporate Communications
Writing is a large part of my job, and as a communications professional it is my job to make sure my writing is accurate and error-free. Thank goodness I have grammatical gurus as colleagues because making a few common errors in writing can hinder a great communications message!
Here are eight common errors that I hear, read and struggle with most often:
1. Confusing affect with effect. This is one the most common errors people struggle with, including myself. Remember that affect is usually a verb meaning to influence and effect is almost always a noun meaning result (usually preceded by the word the).
Examples:
- Your attitude affects the way you look at your work.
- The effect was overwhelming.
- (Effect as a verb) He will effect many changes in the company.
2. Using could of, would of, should of. These phrases are born from sloppy speech patterns using would’ve, could’ve and should’ve. The correct usage is could have, would have or should have.
3. Confusing that with which. If you can drop the clause and not lose the meaning of the sentence, use which; otherwise use that. A which clause is surrounded by commas.
Examples:
- I remember the day that we met.
- The team, which finished last a year ago, is in first place.
4. Treating singular nouns as plurals. I see this mistake all the time! There are a handful of nouns that seem to be plural in form but are actually singular and, thus, take a singular verb.
Examples:
- The staff gets bonuses at the end of each year.
- The couple gives donations to the local shelter.
5. Confusing complimentary and complementary. Complimentary refers to a compliment or in reference to something that is free. Complementary refers to someone or something that completes someone or something else.
Tip: A simple way to distinguish complimentary from complementary is to remember that complementary means to complete and both begin with comple-.
Examples:
- They received complimentary tickets to the show.
- The husband and wife have complementary careers.
6. Repeating yourself. This is a mindless mistake I see and make on a regular basis. PIN stands for personal information number; therefore, you cannot say PIN number without being redundant. Similarly, it is redundant to say CD or DVD disc.
7. Using over when you mean more than. If you’re referring to numerals or if the amount is countable use more than. Over refers to spatial relationships.
Examples:
- The employee worked more than 40 hours last week.
- The dog jumped over the fence.
8. Confusing lie and lay. Even the grammar gurus have trouble with this one! The action word is lay. It takes a direct object. Lie does not take a direct object and indicates a state of reclining. So you lie down on the sofa (no direct object), but you lay the book on the table (direct object). So the present tense seems pretty easy, but then everything goes haywire because lay is the past tense of lie. Here’s a chart that may help you decipher the difference in the present, past and past participle.
|
Present Tense |
Past Tense |
Past Participle |
|
Lie |
Lay |
Lain |
|
Lay* |
Laid |
Laid |
* Requires an object
When I need a quick refresher I visit Grammar Girl. Her site has some “Quick & Dirty Tips” that’ll do just the trick!
What writing errors do you see or struggle with most often?