TIPS ON BLOGGING

"Ever since her grand son taught her to blog,
she never pampers us"

Everybody and his uncle is into blogging.. 

which just shows how dormant creativity is waiting to be unleashed inside everyone of us.

Here are some tips to make your blogs more engaging.. 

Imperative if you are blogging with a commercial agenda …
just useful if you are blogging to make the world know your viewpoint.

MAKE YOUR BLOG POSTS SHORT

• Ideally the posts should be between 300 to 500 words.
• Don't demand people's attention for more than a few minutes.

TREAT BLOGS LIKE A SHORT STORY

• One Post = One Idea
• Take one idea and stick to it. No need for extensive elaboration.
  
  in other words...

 ENTER LATE. EXIT EARLY

• This is a rule in constructing a scene in movies - Without getting embroiled in what happened before this scene, the narration starts with some minimum cues to make sense for the viewer..and, once the purpose of the scene in the story is served, narration moves on to next scene.
• Similarly, edit your preamble and summing ups.

ATLEAST BE HUMOUROUS, IF YOU CANNOT BE FUNNY

• Everybody likes to smile..so avoid being morose and monotonous.

IF YOU CAN’T BE HUMOUROUS, ATLEAST BE PASSIONATE

• Bare your heart and be provocative
• Remember, you can be either loved or hated, but never ignored.

IF YOUR SUBJECT IS SERIOUS OR ELABORATE, MAKE IT AN EXTERNAL LINK

• If your subject is serious and cannot brook any dilution, make the blog post short and indicate what the reader can expect if he wants to dig down further, by clicking that link.

BE CONSISTENT IN TONE & CONTENT

• Branding is a long term exercise and it’s all about taking up a Character & Attitude.
• So your language and presentation should be consistent enough to reinforce the mental image you want to portray.

BE REGULAR

• ..unlike me.

     SreeRam, Communications Consultant,
Chennai, India.

     9340006600, nathansmedia@gmail.com
FACEBOOK - http://bit.ly/nmg_fb
LINKED IN -  http://in.linkedin.com/in/ksr96
TWEET - @kravMagaSreeRam

Is it PR? When courier boys become power brokers!

When courier boys become power brokers

"...in any ministry, if there is no vested interest in a proposal, nobody is interested to push it forward and upward. It gets a silent burial."

Last month, just a few days before the Nira Radia tapes kicked up dirt, I was in a radio debate on the "future of PR", which was moderated by Sanjay Pinto, of NDTV.
Sanjay Pinto, at one point, strongly made a statement that the PR fraternity were mostly doing a 'courier' job. Oh yeah! I smugly smirk now since Nira Radia just proved what heights a proactive 'courier' girl can reach!

Lobbying - is the second oldest profession
Lobbying to get the attention of powers-that-be towards an issue did not start with Nira Radia. All the industrial bodies were formed to collectively conduit the aspirations of an industry. What do CII, NASSCOM or any industrial body do in the months before the March budget presentation? Go to Tirupathi and pray?
Come on now, grow up, please. Accept the reality in any system where there is concentration of power, influencers will thrive like amoeba. In the corridors of power at Delhi or any nation's capital, every file in every ministry has the tag of a lobbyist.
In fact, in any ministry, if there is no vested interest in a proposal, nobody is interested to push it forward and upward. It gets a silent burial.

Have’t YOU lobbied?
Everybody who snort self-righteously and bemoan the state-of-the-nation should ask themselves whether they have patiently waited for the school's decision in giving admission to their son or daughter. How many contacts they would have tapped into to reach the correspondent or the Head mistress?!

Don’t equate PR with lobbying
PR is much more than mere Lobbying. Content marketing or collaborative marketing using social media apart from traditional channels will become the mainstay of the PR industry.
Unfortunately, since PR industry has no entry criteria, the influencers who have no other apparent skills, cloak their murky services under the euphemism of PR. That provides them a formal front.

What the PR industry should do
Like the advertising industry which has unified to provide diploma courses, the PR industry should come together and make a curriculum. At least a short course will set the path for giving a semblance of professionalism and be a step in regaining respectability. 

SreeRam, Communications Consultant, Chennai, India.
9340006600, nathansmedia@gmail.com

MARCOM BLOG -  http://marketing-communications-ksr.blogspot.com/
FACEBOOK - http://bit.ly/nmg_fb
LINKED IN -  http://in.linkedin.com/in/ksr960
TWEET - @kravMagaSreeRam

The Stress of Social Media "Presence Management"

The "nowness" of social media presents a 3 fold challenge -
* Over-whelming - too many streams of activity
* Expertise - constantly evolving technology
* No control - Anxiety extrapolates when one is not able to contain the response from the audience. 

Add to this the traditional factors like -
The worried management - since negative feedback is in public domain, and one can’t wish it away 

Social media is a twin-edged sword. To avoid self-inflicted injuries the company has to -
* Have a well planned response strategy, with an inbuilt escalation mechanism
* Maintain a participative tone in all communication
* Provide perceived or real transparency
* Retreat without ego to minimize damage 

The responsibility of "Presence management" should be with a person who
* understands Web 2.0 nitty gritty
* possesses marketing acumen
* relates to visual and text components of creative inputs
* and an aptitude for Public Relations.


SreeRam is a Chennai based marcom professional.
Connect on FACEBOOK
View profile in LINKED IN