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For someone who’s written about guest posting a few times, as well as recommended the benefits of it to clients when talking about Blog 101, I haven’t really done a lot of guest posting myself.

I’ve had brilliant guest authors here, but not really written too many myself. Maybe I should revisit my own post…

Having said that, I have been fortunate enough to appear on three blogs recently. Each one offers something different, while still within the realms of business, marketing and good old PR (which seems to have also taken a bit of a backseat here).

Anyhoo… The three posts can be found below, and I’d love for you to jump over and share your thoughts in the comments of the post.

A Message to PR – Don’t Be Restricted, Be Positive and Influence Change. Paul Sutton is a PR pro with more than 14 years knowledge and experience. He recently interviewed me for his Flock Friday Thought Leader series, and we spoke about PR and social media; restrictive agencies; old and new mindsets and why ethics need to start from the top. You can find the whole shebang here.

Stop Killing Your Business. Frank Dickinson is someone who I have a lot of time for. A marketer by trade, he’s also one of the kindest folks I know. Always supportive, always ready to lend a hand. For this post, I look at five things you can implement now to stop your business being another “Remember Brand X?” statistic. You can find out what these are here.

What I’d Like to See from Geo-Location Marketing. Gini Dietrich – what can you say about Gini? Smart, savvy, witty and very driven – everything a business owner should be. Gini’s a seasoned communications professional who runs her own PR/comms agency. Here, I talk about geo-location services like Foursquare, and why marketers need to up their game when it comes to creativity on offers and promotions. The juicy stuff starts here.

So there you go – a little diversity from the usual stuff, and as I say, I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments there.

The blogs also belong to three folks I admire immensely, and their blogs are always worth reading, so make sure you check the rest of their blogs out while there, and subscribe to them if you like what you see.

Have a great Friday!

Image: PaulWB

Social Media Roadmaps

This is a guest post by Kapil Apshankar, an innovative social media strategist. He writes about tips, tricks and techniques that help his readers score higher in social media at Social Media Notebook.

Kapil also maintains a personal blog, Spring Rainbow, which captures his life away from social media.

He can be reached via Twitter @KapilApshankar – or by email from his blogs’ contact pages.

Social media is one of the most misunderstood – and underused/abused – concepts of our times.

To borrow a term from Michael Stelzner’s lexicon, social media is indeed a jungle – where it’s very easy to get lost or get (b)eaten! We all need a roadmap for success here.

Chris Brogan had a wonderful post a few days ago – Sharpen Your Pencil – that talked about making success happen. The original post is a worthy read by itself – but one of the comments (by SocialSteve) really rocked:

This sounds similar to what Emmet Smith said at the induction of the Football Hall of Fame. He said something like he had dreams. And the next step after a dream was writing it down on paper. And then turning that into a plan. Maybe there will be a social media hall of fame some day. 🙂

Social media success strategies need to be customized and tailor fit. A one size fits all approach just doesn’t work.

Here are four key steps to build a custom social media roadmap – one that works for you.

Establish Your Base Camp

Your base camp isn’t Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Your base camp has to be your blog. Take it anywhere else, and you’re at the mercy of external forces to keep your camp alive. It just doesn’t work that way.

There is also the About Me page – the center piece of any base camp – that needs attention. To recap the wisdom of Darren Rowse,

Setting up an about page is really important ? it?s one of those pages that a new reader will head to in order to help them work out what your blog is about, who is behind it and to decide whether they?ll keep reading it.

Fortify (And Diversify) Your Primary Social Media Channels

The next step is to focus on your primary social media channels. In all likelihood, they will be Twitter, Facebook and/or LinkedIn.

One rule to remember here is something I learned from Tamar Weinberg. Every baby is different, so also every social media channel is different.

Play to the strengths of each channel. Danny had written a wonderful post right here on the topic, How to Use Blog Lists for Your Social Media Strategy. And then, take them to the next level. For starters, answer questions on LinkedIn and get on Twitter chats. You want to get more from your primary channels.

Establish Secondary and Tertiary Channels

Social media without interactions is a monologue at best. Think about ways to make your social media interactions rich – both in content and semantics. Encourage comments, cross-comments and discussions. Healthy debates are good for everyone involved.

Also to think about are mechanisms for your audience to share more than just text – how about images, audio and video?

That’s also what I would refer to as your secondary and tertiary channels of the social web.

Think beyond the conventional channels – think YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, UStream, Vokle et al.

Keep The Big Picture Perspective

Social media is all about real connections that thrive on the foundation of trust, empathy and authenticity. Anytime we violate the Golden Rule, we dent our reputation and credibility. Everything that we do with social media should fit into our big picture perspectives.

It might help to define your big picture using the framework I laid down at Social Media Success – One Day At A Time!

What do you think? What other strategies are helping you build your own successful social media roadmaps?

Image Credit: nullalux

Austria and Social Media – A Digital Native’s Perspective

This is a guest post by Antonia Harler, an Austrian and soon-to-be graduate who wrote her diploma thesis about Twitter as a tool for Relationship Marketing. She?s awesomely quirky as well as open-minded and she?s also kind of a big deal ;). For more information check out her blog Social Glitz or follow her on Twitter @antwizzel.

When Danny asked me to write this guest post about how social Austria is, my reaction was ?hell yes?.

One of the reasons for that was that it?s a question that I?ve been thinking about a lot myself. I was lucky enough to experience the social media hype that?s been going on in the US and to some extent in Canada.

Many wouldn?t believe it but I am actually a late bloomer when it comes to social media. Not only because I?m Austrian but also because I had serious doubts in the beginning.

Social Media is What?

I created my Facebook account in 2007 whilst I was on vacation in Toronto, didn?t have a cell phone and was basically cut off from the outside world in the sense of not being reachable.

I?m a free and open-minded spirit and met a ton of people in no time and after being asked for my cell number, which obviously I didn?t have, I was asked if I was on Facebook. My reaction to that was ?WTF is Facebook??!

I signed up, though, and for a long while I didn?t see why on earth our society would need such a platform. However, I was sold once I was back on Austrian soil because really it makes many things so much easier.

Soon after I started to realize the immense potential social media had for businesses, no matter the industry or size.

In 2009 I went on to study in New York for a semester and, oh boy, the US is social media crazy. I was blown away and soon enough the word Twitter entered my vocabulary. Again, I obviously had no clue.

By then however, I was sick of not knowing what was going on in that industry so I started to read and learn. Businesses all over the world popped up on Facebook and Twitter. But where on earth were all the Austrian businesses? They remained invisible for a long time. I guess we are all late bloomers.

Recently however, we have started to catch up. We are finally on the way to ?austrianize? social media (though it?s still mainly the big names such as Red Bull that are taking the plunge).

Austrianizing Social

In my opinion, the company that is doing extremely well with their social media strategy is Swarovski .

They managed to build an extremely successful Facebook fan page with 454,000 fans worldwide. Recently they also started to embrace Twitter. And whilst they are off to a ?slower? start on Twitter they are doing it right, in my opinion. It?s one of those companies you want to engage with, simply because they will engage with you. Not something that you see very often, no matter the nationality of a business.

When it comes to small and medium sized businesses however, I don?t see social media being embraced the way it should be.

To many, ?social? is still extremely intangible and, unfortunately, it?s often approached with the wrong mentality. For them it?s important to realize that a social media strategy is not a quick fix and that it needs planning, strategizing and continuous execution just like any other business strategy. Austrian businesses need to learn how to embrace social media and not dismiss it as a fad or even fear the unknown.

In other words, we need to stop being late bloomers.

How about you? Is your country embracing social media, or are you the exception to the rule? The comments are yours.

Hungover Radio ? A Social Media Success Story by Marcus Edwardes

January 16th? 2010, I?m at a party with a few friends.

We were bragging to each other about the usual things. Girls, sport, gadgets, movies. I make a remark that would change my life.

?I?m gonna launch my own Radio Show!?

The idea has been swirling around in my head for years but I?ve never vocalized it. Not even to my wife ? she just knows that I am a big Talk Radio fan. By the way, I own a Video Games recruitment company. I?m British.

?Right, of course you are Marcus. Want another beer?? Sure. Get me shot too.

Over the next week I dedicate myself to the task of setting up the show. It?s not easy.

Sunday Jan 24th. I broadcast my first internet radio show. Hungover Radio is born. People love it. Raw, full of potential. I?m loving every minute of it.

I hire a sound engineer and turn my garage into a Radio studio over the next week. A proper studio. Mics, mixing desks, computers, cables.? The show is real.

The next few weeks fly by ? largely to good reviews by my small but growing audience.

I invent a game called The Domain Name Game and pretend that it?s sponsored by GoDaddy. I send them the tape.

A week later GoDaddy call me back. ?We want to sponsor you.? What?

GoDaddy want to sponsor Hungover Radio after 6 shows. We are off to the races.

I?m on a roll. I send a tape to Rick Dees Entertainment. I?m looking for some constructive feedback. They call back. ?We want to meet you?.

I go to the Rick Dees studios in Burbank. Rick Dees extends his hand to shake mine. ?Marcus ? consider this your second home?. What?

I go to lunch with Producer Dave Lipson from Rick Dees Entertainment. ?We?d like to develop a daily radio show with you as the host?.? Get the fuck out of here.

Week 8. Hasn?t happened yet. But I?m feeling lucky. Bring it on.

About the author: Marcus Edwardes has spent his career in technology and video game recruiting. Earlier this year he started Hungover Radio, which he describes as “roast lamb for the ears”. You can listen to Hungover Radio at HungoverRadio.com, or follow Marcus on Twitter @hungoverradio.