Learnign from the Panelist of Blogging While Brown

I won't make you wait any longer.  Today, I am finishing up my recap of Blogging While Brown.  I knew I was learning a lot but I did not think it was cover three separate posts.  The first post, Conferences, Conferences, Conferences I told you about the topic I have the most interest in, going from blog to book.  The second post, More Blogging Tips, I continued to tell you about other day one topics, blogs and brands, blogging and TV, and going from blog to business.  Today's post will cover day two of the conference.
Day two was actually my favorite day of the conference.  On day two there were panels with about 3 people same as day one.  The difference was on day two the panelist told a bit more of there personal stories and experiences before they dove into Q & A.  I felt this gave me a better idea of why they were successful.  Here is what I learned from the panelist on Day two:

• You want your brand to generate an instant reaction.  Decide what you want that reaction to be.  What is your voice?  Make sure the  character/persona, tone, language, and purpose all work together to support that voice or instant reaction you want.
•  For example I hope the reaction I want to this Chasing Joy is calming, inspiring, and non-judgemental.  Therefore the Character/Persona needs to be friendly and warm; the tone needs to be honest , personal, and humble; the language  used needs to be simple and fun; and the purpose of Chasing Joy needs to be to entertain, to encourage, and to educate.
• To see what your voice's instant reaction is you can ask your readers for 3 words to describe your site. 
<>



Cool light up glasses from sponsor Rhapsody

• Be conscious of your voice so you can be purposeful with your content.
• Make sure you are giving your readers the same consistent experience
• Your personal brand should be conscious, consistent, and cohesive.
• Make sure your target market follows your best social medium.  If your target market is mostly on twitter but you are a pro on FB then it's time to learn twitter.
• Notice where you get most of your feed back to find your best social medium.
• Make sure you can ensure metrics on you preferred social network
• Know what your role is in your social medium. (ex: connector, encourager, educator)
• Go to where your audience is and leave comments.
• Rebranding
• It is OK to change.
• Do it slowly.
• Rebranding is more than changing your background it is revising character, tone, language, and or purpose.
• Understand Brand vs. Content Metrics
• Examples of metrics to measure your content include views, likes, and comments.
• Examples of metrics to measure your brand include subscribers, emails, inbox, and direct metrics, and interactions with companies.
• Inbox, emails, and direct message questions are a signal that you are doing something right.
• Pay attention to the design of your site.  Have a consistent visual presence.
• Look at your site from your mobile.  Make sure it resizes properly to mobile devices.
• Make what you care about be the most visual thing on your site.
• Make sure your business cards web design, facebeook, and twitter are consistent.
• Build Relationships.
• Don't underestimate the power of face to face meetings. Get out and meet people
• Don't underestimate the loyalty of your group.  Let people help you.
• Create a save environment
• Monitor your comments a discussion of differing views is fine.  Personal attracts and insults are not.
• People should know what to expect if they come to one of your events.
• Mentors
• A bloggy mentor can help you figure out which opportunities to take and which are not really opportunities at all.
• A bloggy mentor can help you figure out appropriate compensation.
• A bloggy mentor can help you figure out how to get to your end goal.
• Compensation
• Move away from pricing by hour. (Why penalize yourself for being fast?)
• Don't price by cost.  (Why penalize yourself for controlling your costs?
• Price by the value of the service.  (a mentor can help)
• If you are asked to speak at a conference ask up front if speakers are paid upfront. (After you say thank you)
• Legal protection may be something to look into if you cover controversial topics and you fear being sued.
• Media insurance is something that may be worth paying for.  (I'd never heard of this before the conference)
• You can set your blog up as a LLC to protect your personal assets.
• The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will defend bloggers. 
• General Tips:
• Be Patient If you believe and feel this is your calling don't give up. 
• Do FB and Twitter polls to ask your audiences opinion when making decisions
• Remember to bring skills from your everyday 9 to 5 job to make you a better blogger.
• Make sure any brands you work with are relevant to your audience and a good fit.
• Be able to articulate your value.
• Social Flow is a pay site that schedules your tweets and posts them at the appropriate time based on what is happening in social media. 

Whoa! So much info!!!  Where other than a conference can you get so much info and personal examples about blogging?  What do you think of these tips?  Which ones do you like? 
*PS if you missed the first two post in the series check them out:
   Post 1 Conferences, Conferences, Conferences
   Post 2 More Blogging Tips