How to find and share great content

By Donna Papacosta

May 10, 2013

2 Comments

Whenever I post tips, insights or other links on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or even on my own blog, I hear from followers: “Thanks so much for sharing. This is really helpful!” This feedback is gratifying. After all, the reason I’m spending time finding and sharing this stuff is to cultivate relationships with colleagues, clients and prospects.

So how can you find great stuff as part of your content marketing efforts? Even better, how can you become a curator known for generously sharing the best of relevant content? Here are some tips for you. Of course this is not an exhaustive list, but instead shows simple steps you can start today.

First, you need to find great content.

Subscribe to blogs and newsletters in your field; use Feedly, now that Google Reader is fading away, to keep those subscriptions up to date and in order.
Check mainstream news sources daily (New York Times, Guardian, Mashable, etc.)
Read LinkedIn Today for ideas.
Sign up for updates from News.me, which gleans what it determines to be top stories from your Facebook and Twitter feeds, and delivers them to you as daily emails.
Set up persistent searches in Twitter for keywords you’re interested in (for me, it’s podcasting, storytelling, curation and so on).
Follow smart people on Twitter and subscribe to Twitter lists of “thought leaders” in your areas of interest.
Get involved in Google+ Communities, where you’ll find plenty of insights and news around the niche topics you care about.
Subscribe to “newspapers” on Paper.li; look for papers that focus on subject matter that’s meaningful to you. Here’s a quick video on Paper.li (slightly out of date but still apropos).
Flip through Flipboard on your mobile device to find interesting stuff. You can share items directly to your social media accounts via Flipboard too.
Sign up for Scoop.it, a publishing-by-curation platform, designed around your favorite keywords.

Next, you have to organize this wonderful content you’ve found.
My favorite tool for organizing my content is Delicious, a social bookmarking service. This slightly dated video shows you how it works. Some of my colleagues prefer Diigo or Pearltrees. Whichever social bookmarking tool you choose, be sure it allows you to add as many tags as you want, to make it easier to find content later. Do not rely on your browser bookmarks. Trust me on this!

Finally, you want to publish your great content.
Certainly there are a zillion ways to do this, but here are a few suggestions:

Write blog posts, using the information you’re found as a jumping off point, while adding your own experience, insights and opinions.
Tweet interesting blog posts, news items, etc., to your followers; share the content on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ too.
If the content is visual, consider sharing it on Pinterest.
Publish your own “newspapers” on Scoop.it or Paper.li and share them via social media.
Use Storify to gather up tweets around a particular hashtag (great for events!) and share them on social media or embed them in your blog.
For an organization, consider using such paid services as Curata or Curation Station to curate content.

You’ll become a true curator when you consistently find, organize, annotate and share the best of relevant content. As I’ve mentioned, the above is not a complete list, and I’m curious to learn about your favourite ways to find, organize and share content. Please comment below.

By the way, if you’re interested in the topic of curation, you might find these presentations helpful:
Best practices for content curation
Content curation

New to Twitter? Don’t fall for phishing scams!

By Donna Papacosta

May 6, 2013

1 Comment

If you’re on Twitter, it’s inevitable that you will receive a direct message (or five or six) saying something like: “Have you seen yourself in this video?” or “Look at this picture of you!” or similar, along with a link. Because the direct message (DM) comes from someone you know, you trust the link. After clicking on it, you see a screen that appears to be from Twitter, asking for your login credentials.

Those experienced with Twitter know to never click on these links. Newbies, however, will usually fall for this scam. I see it several times a week, as the DMs appear in my Twitter stream. Soon after these rogue DMs pop up, friends will warn the Twitter newcomers to change their passwords.

“I’ve been hacked!” the victims cry. Technically they haven’t been hacked. In fact, they’ve co-authored this sad story by being phished.

Phishing is the act of attempting to grab usernames, passwords or credit card information by pretending to be someone you trust.

Here’s a great tutorial on how to avoid phishing scams on Twitter as well as elsewhere on the Web. Scammers are likely to send messages that purport to be from PayPal or FedEx or even your bank. Always check the URL of the suspect link, and never share your passwords.

Happy, safe tweeting to you!

Sharing secrets of podcasting success

By Donna Papacosta

April 15, 2013

0 Comments

People who have been podcasting for a while often develop an efficient workflow for planning, producing and publicizing their podcasts. For those who have not yet created a podcast, the whole process might appear pretty intimidating. How do I record myself? What about guests? Is editing audio difficult? How do I create my finished product?

When I speak about podcasting, I like to demystify the topic. Last week I did a short talk for Social Media Breakfast Waterloo Region on “Secrets to Podcast Success.” On May 14 I’ll be sharing an expanded version of this presentation for Silicon Halton, including information on how you might use a podcast to establish thought leadership, to expand your content marketing efforts, and to build community.

Here’s a sneak peek at just a few of the ideas we’ll be discussing.

Secrets to podcast success from Trafalgar Communications

If you live or work in Halton Region, I hope you’ll come out to this meeting, not just to learn about podcasting, but to meet the members of the vibrant Silicon Halton network.

Why I switched my newsletters from Constant Contact to Aweber

By Donna Papacosta

April 8, 2013

0 Comments

I’ve been in business long enough to have published a print newsletter. That’s right: Back in the day I used to write newsletter copy, get a designer to lay it out, have it printed on nice stock, folded, and placed into envelopes with <gasp> postage stamps. I did get decent results from my print newsletter, but grew tired of the hassle and expense.

Eventually I moved from print to Constant Contact, which has a good user interface and also enabled me to easily add people to my database. A couple of years ago I wanted to add specific signup forms on my websites for additional lists, but this seemed cumbersome with Constant Contact, so I opened an account with Aweber. However, I hesitated to abandon Constant Contact altogether because I liked the look of the newsletters it allowed me to create. At the time, Constant Contact let me insert photos directly into my newsletter, whereas Aweber required that photos be hosted online.

Recently, Aweber upped its game. You can now insert graphics more easily, and their newsletter templates have become more attractive. I’ve also found that my Aweber newsletters always get through, whereas some email providers were blocking the Constant Contact newsletters.

This month, to streamline my newsletter operation (and save a few dollars per month), I decided to switch from Constant Contact altogether and use Aweber exclusively.

Of course Aweber requires a double opt-in, to prevent spam, so I couldn’t just pop hundreds of names into it. Instead, I had to get people to take action in order to move them.

I wondered if I would lose subscribers during the move. Here’s the answer: Yes, I’ve lost some subscribers. But you know what? Those were mostly people who weren’t reading my newsletter anyway. I’d rather have X number of dedicated readers than X times 2 who don’t care.

Every now and then, independent professionals or other small business owners ask me: “Is a newsletter worthwhile as a marketing vehicle?” For me, it has been – for sure. And now when someone asks me to recommend an email newsletter provider, I can recommend Aweber wholeheartedly. You can try Aweber here. (This is an affiliate link. The first time I’ve ever used it!)

Nancy Duarte on how to tell a story

By Donna Papacosta

April 8, 2013

2 Comments

If you follow this blog, you probably know I believe storytelling can play an important role in both internal and external communications.

So I’m pleased to share this short video with you of one of my favourite storytelling experts, Nancy Duarte. I saw her speak at an IABC world conference a few years ago, and she was wonderful, even better than I anticipated. I can still remember how I felt when she shared a touching story and photographs from her childhood.

In this clip, Duarte talks about why story is important, why emotional connection matters, and how stories can help spread ideas. She makes the point that great stories resonate, make us feel, and can even change us.

Why attend a social media workshop?

By Donna Papacosta

April 8, 2013

0 Comments

I always enjoy getting to know the people who come to my Hands-on Social Media workshops. Some are colleagues and members of associations to which I belong. But often they’re people I’ve never encountered before, who’ve discovered the workshop through a friend or a tweet or Facebook update.

Each has a unique reason for taking the time to attend a workshop. Here’s what some have told me:

I started using Twitter but don’t feel confident at all with it and I know I’m “missing” something.
My manager says we’d better find out what this social media stuff is all about.
I’m using Facebook to socialize but have no idea how to make it work for business.
I am a consultant, and I want to teach my own clients how to make better use of social media, so I need to get up to speed myself.
I’ve found myself in the job market, and employers seem to expect me to know about social media. Help!
I’ve tried to ignore social media for a couple of years, but I can’t any longer.

If someone you know needs to learn more about LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram and more, please tell them about the Hands-on Social Media Workshop in Oakville on April 13. Detailed information and registration here. Thanks!

5 reasons to take Donna Papacosta’s social media workshop from Trafalgar Communications

Talking about enterprise social video with Paolo Tosolini

By Donna Papacosta

April 2, 2013

0 Comments

Paolo Tosolini

One of the benefits of speaking at conferences is meeting and socializing with the other presenters. In the case of the IntraTeam Event Copenhagen, I was able to catch up with Paolo Tosolini, whom I’d met years ago at a new media convention in Las Vegas.

It was a pleasure to see him again in Denmark. And rather than do a rushed interview there, we scheduled a conversation for a few weeks later.

In the latest edition of the Trafcom News Podcast, I’m happy to share this chat with Paolo, in which we discuss the value of internal video for sharing knowledge. Oh, and he talks about some really cool mobile video tools too.

You can read the show notes and listen on the Trafcom News Podcast page. I hope you enjoy this episode.

Slideshare: the best content marketing platform you’ve never heard of

By Donna Papacosta

March 28, 2013

3 Comments

Are you using Slideshare for content marketing?

If not, why not? Slideshare is the secret weapon in many marketers’ arsenals, especially in the B2B world. Yes, it’s the world’s most popular platform for sharing your PowerPoint or Keynote slide decks, but it’s also much more. Slideshare is a social network, too, and a way to enrich your content marketing efforts, because search engines will serve up your presentations.

A case in point: A presentation that I posted almost two years ago comes up on the first page of Google search results for “content curation best practices.” At the time I posted it, I wasn’t using Slideshare much, since I thought of it as merely a convenient place to upload slides when people wanted to refer to them after one of my presentations.

And then a funny thing happened.

Within a couple of months, my slide deck was viewed more than 10,000 times. Now the number is north of 13,000. After the sudden and unexpected popularity of that presentation, I started to think of Slideshare differently.

I should add this note, in case you look at the content curation presentation shown below: It was very well received at the conference where I presented it, but I don’t think the deck works well as a standalone piece of content. Most presentations don’t. At the time, I used a template suggested by the conference organizer. Soon after, I totally redesigned the master template for all of my presentations, with the help of a graphic designer, and purchased a proprietary font too.

Here are some suggestions for using Slideshare successfully as part of your content marketing efforts:

If you, like me, don’t use wordy slides when you do live presentations, consider creating a second deck for use on Slideshare, so that your presentation makes sense without your narration. Avoid boring bullet points!
Or, consider adding an audio track on Slideshare. Be sure to use a decent microphone to record your audio, something like the Blue Yeti. If you use your built-internal microphone or a cheap headset, lousy audio quality will degrade the image you’re trying to project.
Be sure to give your Slideshare presentation a name that uses keywords people would use in search. If your title is too clever, no one will find it.
Do be aware that the content of your slides is automatically transcribed, which will also boost your SEO.
Upload your presentation as a PDF, not as PPT or PPTx, especially if you use a proprietary font as I do.
Embed your Slideshare content in your blog, link to it on Twitter, and so on. In other words, be sure your followers know your content exists.

Are you having success with Slideshare? Please share your experience in the comments.

Content curation: Best practices from Trafalgar Communications

Secrets of successful podcasting in Waterloo Region

By Donna Papacosta

March 22, 2013

0 Comments

Well, they won’t be secrets after I talk about them.

I’m delighted to be traveling to Waterloo Region to speak about podcasting at the Social Media Breakfast on April 5. If you’re in this neck of the woods and you’re curious about podcasting, please come out.

Thanks to James Howe for the invitation.

Alternatives to Google Reader

By Donna Papacosta

March 14, 2013

0 Comments

Months ago I was dismayed to see that Google was killing off iGoogle, which I’ve used for years as my portal to the Web. Now, worse, we’re hearing of the imminent demise of Google Reader (July 1, 2013, to be exact), which many people rely on to aggregate RSS feeds. For news hounds, bloggers, curators and others, the end of this service is bad news.

Of course helpful folks have immediately offered alternatives to Google Reader. In this post I’ll list the information I’ve found so far, and will likely update it in the days to come.

Check out these lists of alternatives to Google Reader:

Five worthy Google Reader alternatives from Cnet
Google Reader alternatives from Lifehacker
Transitioning from Google Reader to Feedly
Google Reader alternatives from Venturebeat
Google Reader alternatives: A crowdsourced list [added March 16; I had shared this on G+ but missed it in this post]

Not to be a downer, but podcasters are also concerned about the future of Feedburner, which I have loved as a way to keep my podcast feeds portable. Soon we may have to seek alternatives for it as well. But let’s focus on Google Reader for now.

If you want to voice your disapproval, there’s a Change.org petition going around. Will Google listen? I don’t know. But there’s no harm in signing.

What are YOUR plans for the transition?

Tips for pitching your services

By Donna Papacosta

March 13, 2013

8 Comments

Last night 12 brave souls stood in front of the crowd at the Silicon Halton Pitch Night and told us about their businesses. This friendly, supportive forum represented a potentially profitable opportunity for the pitchers, whose services would now be known to a wider audience.

To add interest to the event, we all received scoring sheets to rate the speakers. Congratulations to the top three: Robert Duvall, Brett Johnson and Reema Duggal, and to all who shared their stories.

During the networking time after the pitches, a couple of the speakers asked me for candid feedback. I don’t want to name names, but I thought it might be constructive to share a few impressions of the pitches in general. Perhaps this advice will be helpful to you when you have to stand in front of a group and convince them you’re worth listening to.

Share a story; describe the problem you solve for your clients
It’s tempting – and easy – to recite a laundry list of what your company does. But it’s more effective to share a story about how you solved a client’s problem. Help us picture us as your client.

Don’t read; do rehearse
Sure, you might be nervous, but do spend the time to know your talk inside out so you don’t have to read it. After all, we’re talking about a maximum of two minutes. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Be sure to try out your talk in front of a mirror so you can be aware of your body language. Making of a video of yourself can be helpful too. Or ask a friend to evaluate you.

Avoid uptalk
Uptalk happens when your voice rises at the end of a sentence, making it sound like a question instead of a statement. You sometimes hear it when telemarketers call: “Hello, my name is Stacey? I’m calling from the XYZ Bank?” Ask your colleagues if you do this. If you do, stop, because uptalk damages your credibility.

Use humour where appropriate
If you inject a little humour into your talk, you help us to relax and like you more.

Watch your words
Don’t overuse the word “solutions” and clichés like “Your success is our success.” Instead, clearly emphasize the benefits of working with you. Why would we choose your business over your competitors?

Be wary of busy visuals
Rethink the idea of showing a cluttered slide. We should be looking at you, not PowerPoint.

Kudos to the Silicon Halton team for organizing the Pitch Night, especially Raj Phalpher, Reema Duggal, Chris Herbert and Rick Stomphorst.

Silicon Halton is a grass-roots high-tech group of people who make a living, make meaning, and make things happen in technology in Halton Region, with a focus on technology, community and growth. Read more about Silicon Halton here.

If you were there, what would you add to my points? Do you disagree with any of my observations?

Related content
How to share your story in a demo

Interview with Shel Israel about his book Stellar Presentations, or why you should not try to present like Steve Jobs

Interview with Eric Bergman: Conquering death by PowerPoint

IntraTeam Event Copenhagen: A first-rate conference

By Donna Papacosta

March 12, 2013

2 Comments

Last summer when I was presenting at the IABC world conference in Chicago, I met Kurt Kragh Sørensen. Little did I know that this would lead to traveling all the way to Denmark almost a year later to speak at the conference Kurt and his team organize: IntraTeam Event Copenhagen.

As you know, returning from a week away from the office after an eight-and-a-half hour flight leaves the calendar jammed and the brain slightly fuzzy. But I do want to share some thoughts with you.

Kurt and his team should be proud of gathering together a group of speakers and attendees who are all passionate about communications, particularly internal communications.

Highlights for me include:

Seeing Paolo Tosolini again and attending his workshop and breakout sessions on mobile video. I was also able to catch up with fellow podcaster Karin Hoegh, who is based in Copenhagen.
Meeting Jane Nunnikhoven of VanCity and hearing her speak about the launch of VanCity’s intranet, which won an IABC Gold Quill award last year. Jane and I also had the opportunity to be tourists in Copenhagen, and to enjoy two relaxing post-conference dinners together.
Learning more about gamification in internal communications, in an engaging presentation by David Cotterill, and about archetypes and personas in intranet design in an interactive workshop by Gordon Ross (I’m sorry I couldn’t stay for the whole thing, but my workshop overlapped).
Discovering Jane McConnell and her work on the digital workplace, and Jarrod Gingras, an expert in enterprise communications.
Meeting so many people from Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe and learning about their lives and their work. Their beautifully spoken English is impressive, by the way.
The outstanding food at this conference, including the breakfast buffet, the lunches and the networking dinners.

Participants told me they enjoyed my two sessions: a three-hour podcasting workshop and a 50-minute breakout session on organizational storytelling. Like any speaker, I’ll wait for the results of the evaluations before feeling too confident about my talks.

Of course the sights, sounds and tastes of Copenhagen were an added bonus. To me, the view of the canals and the colourful buildings will remain etched in memory always. And the bicycles! So many bicycles.

This week I’ve been arranging podcast interviews with some of the speakers I met at the conference; I’m eager to share their ideas with you.

If you work in internal communications and are based in Europe, do look into IntraTeam and their work, and think about attending their 2014 event.

Oh, and check out this Storify, which captures many images and tweets about the conference.

Redefining etiquette?

By Donna Papacosta

March 11, 2013

0 Comments

Have you seen this column in the New York Times about redefining etiquette in the digital age?

Yes, communication is changing. One of my daughters doesn’t even have voicemail on her mobile phone, and both of my kids pretty much ignore emails, especially ones from their parents. They like texting instead.

But would you consider a thank-you email a waste of time? Sure, routine thank-you messages can seem annoying. And yet, sometimes when a client does not acknowledge receiving a report I’ve sent them, I discover a few days later that they haven’t seen it. Perhaps it’s caught in a filter. If I get a thank-you email, I know the report is in the client’s hands.

What about voicemail? I abhor long-winded voicemails chock full of details that would work better in written form. But phone calls are relatively rare these days, compared to emails, so sometimes the human touch of voice can cut through the e-clutter.

In his NY Times column, Nick Bilton states that his father left him a dozen voicemails, but Bilton never listens to voicemails.

Ah, there’s the rub.

Why not communicate with people in the way they prefer? I know my kids are not enthusiastic about replying to emails, so I rarely send this kind of message to them. In my business, certain clients prefer phone calls over emails; others like the brevity of instant messaging. So that’s how I communicate with them. It’s not about me; it’s about the people I communicate with.

What do you think?

Social media workshop early-bird price ends soon

By Donna Papacosta

March 11, 2013

0 Comments

Each time I run my Hands-on Social Media Workshop, I’m gratified by the feedback I get from participants. They often tell me that their fear about social media is gone, and that the whole subject is no longer mysterious. By the end of the day we have covered:

The importance of having a communications/marketing strategy before getting deeply into social media
The difference between “doing” social and “being” social
Blogging for business: Why and how to blog; advantages of the WordPress platform
Becoming a Twitter power user: Shortcuts; using a dashboard like Hootsuite or TweetDeck; setting up lists; joining chats; persistent searches; following influencers; gaining valuable followers
Making the most of LinkedIn: Optimizing your profile; joining groups, participating in discussions
Using Facebook for business: Setting up a business page; winning likes; engaging with your community; pitfalls of Facebook
Advantages of GooglePlus: Search, Circles, Hangouts, Communities and more
Pinning with Pinterest: How brands are using Pinterest; setting up boards; building a following
How to integrate social media into your daily activities
How to keep learning

The next workshop takes place April 13 in Oakville, Ontario. More info and registration here. The early-bird price expires March 15, by the way.

If you’re in the Greater Toronto area, I hope you can join us. And please feel free to spread the word among your friends and colleagues. Thanks!

5 reasons to take Donna Papacosta’s social media workshop from Trafalgar Communications

Soon: reports from IntraTeam Event Copenhagen

By Donna Papacosta

March 8, 2013

1 Comment

What is it about jet lag that makes writing so difficult? While this mystery remains unsolved, my posts about the wonderful IntraTeam Event Copenhagen will have to wait.

Kudos to Kurt Kragh Sørensen and his team for organizing such a terrific gathering of internal communicators. After I return to Toronto I plan to interview several of the people I’ve met here, and share some podcasts with you. For today, I’m playing the role of tourist.

Photo: Panorama from my storytelling session by Paolo Tosolini

Learning more about intranets

By Donna Papacosta

March 4, 2013

5 Comments

I’m looking forward to expanding my knowledge of intranets, and learning more best practices about internal communications at the IntraTeam event, which starts tomorrow. I’ll be attending sessions on mobile and video, too.