A few weeks ago I wrote about the Three C’s of Social Content - Creation, Curation and Cultivation, today I’m going to focus on content curation. A lot of people seem to be interested in the curation piece but don’t know how to do it consistently or feel that it is just too big a job, one that they don’t have time for.

I want to dispel that fear for you. Here is how you can achieve good content curation in just ten minutes a day.

Content Curation – Finding the Content

Of course the first component in a Content Curation strategy is deciding where the content is going. Are you curating for a blog, for Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest, Chime.In? Knowing where your content is going is part of the battle.  Twitter for example lends itself more to headlines than images. Pinterest is totally visual. Facebook and Google Plus work better with images but can cope without them.

How do you go about finding the content? There are several ways of doing this, but I am going to cut to the easiest and quickest, use a tool. There are so many different content tools available now that it seems ridiculous to me that more people aren’t using them.

• Pulse
• Taptu
• Google Currents
• Feedly
• Alltop

These are all great sources of content for your audience. I personally use all of these on a regular basis.

Content Curation – Get Organized

So now you have found some content how do you keep track of it and organize it for publishing? Again the simple answer is tools. You can use anything from the bookmarks button on your browser to online tools that allow you to access the content from anywhere you can access the web. The latter is my preference. Some of the tools that allow you to do this are:

• Instapaper
• Evernote
• Readitlater

Of course there are a lot more of these and other “Social” bookmarking sites.

Content Curation – The Workflow

Now we have our content, we have somewhere to save the content to for later, how does it all fit together in a ten minute activity?

The setup as with most activities is what will take the longest – this is a one off activity (though it is good to fine tune as you go along). Firstly decide on your favorite content sources, but avoid the big producers. For example if you are curating Social Media content don’t use Mashable – nothing against Mashable I read their content most days, however so does everyone else. Resharing their content just adds to the noise. Find more original sources. Also don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and use different sources.

Remember the content you are curating is not just for your consumption its for your audience. I have 22 boards on Pinterest that all need content if people are to keep following them, they are all on different topics so I am constantly refining the sources I use for them.

Use your content aggregation tool everyday, select your stories and save them to your bookmark tool. Then decide which platform the content pieces are best suited to and publish them.

With a little practice and persistance I promise you can achieve content curation that produces a steady flow of interesting content that will not only entertain your existing network but help you build a bigger one in just ten minutes a day.

Jason Falls is bringing his Explore experience to Dallas on Friday February 17th. The one day conference presents a dozen or more of the smartest people in Social Marketing all in one space. Whether you are a seasoned veteran or still trying to wrap your head around the priorities this is a conference you do not want to miss.

Explore Dallas- Fort Worth

Take a look at the topics -

• Developing an ROI framework for your business
• How to operationalize social media across the enterprise
• How research and data fuel more effective marketing campaigns
• Incorporating location-based marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing and video marketing into your strategies
• Content marketing to wow your audience
• How to turn mobile customers into passionate fans
• Digital marketing strategies for small and medium businesses
• Managing social content
• The one secret to driving action through social media

and many more.

So who is presenting? Here is the current list:

• Jason Falls – Social Media Explorer
• Brian Clark - Copyblogger.com
• Tom Webster of Edison Research
• Aaron Strout from WCG and co-author of Location-Based Marketing for Dummies
• Zena Weist of Edleman Digital
• Kevin Magee from Expion
• Arienne Holland from Raven Tools
• Tim Hayden of 44Doors
• Nichole Kelly from Full Frontal ROI
• Giovanni Gallucci – Live.Loud.Texas
• DJ Waldow from Waldow Social
• Mike Merrill from ReachLocal.com

Can you honestly tell me you don’t need this information? Exactly that is what I thought. So here is the deal. One lucky reader of this blog will win a pair of tickets to the conference worth a total of $800! You know what you get for that money, apart from all this magnificent content – you get breakfast, lunch, a cocktail reception, networking time and a one-month free trial of Social Media Explorer’s on-call consultancy and question-answer site, ExploringSocialMedia.com. All that for FREE!

How do you win that Pair of Tickets?

It’s really simple – leave a comment in the comments section below, make sure you leave your Full Name, Email  Address and simply tell me who you are going to bring and what the pair of you want to take away from the conference. I’ll select the winner on Monday Feb 13th.

There’s More

That’s great for the winner but what if you don’t win – don’t despair because Jason Falls has very kindly extended a discount to my readers. Yes you lucky individuals are getting not 10% off, not 20% not even 30% off. No you are getting 50% off the normal price for a ticket. That’s right basically its a “twofer” (two for the price of one).

Register on the Explore Dallas-Fort Worth site and in the check out enter INCSLINGERS where it says Enter Promotional Code.

Do me a favor and spread the word about this competition. I’ll see you at the event.

This is a continuing series of posts by Speakers for speakers. If you are currently a speaker and looking to improve, if you are an aspiring speaker and worried about the mistakes that others make this is the series for you. Each Wednesday a speaker who I value will share their thoughts on how speakers can be better, their experiences as a speaker and generally tell you the insider secrets that make it look so easy when they take the stage.

This week the post is by Dayna Steele, I first met Dayna a few years ago at a dinner organized by a friend we had in common during SXSW. I’ve seen Dayna speak and if ever there was a speaker who can command an audience, who can entertain and inform at the same time, Dayna is it. She is dynamic, charismatic and at the same time extremely professional and polished. Her audiences love her and leave her sessions well informed. Dayna is a serial entrepreneur, author and business speaker, Dayna Steele travels the world to improve performance, create strong teams, increase company sales and grow businesses with her Rock Star Principles of Success.  Dayna is the author of Rock to the Top: What I Learned about Success from the World’s Greatest Rock Stars and her forthcoming book is 101 Ways to Rock Your World: Everyday Activities for Success Every Day.

Houston, We Have a Speaker

What do you do when the fourth person to walk on the Moon calls you and says, “Love your book, love your website, hate your video, call me and I’ll tell you why.”

Well, first you stare at the phone and then listen to the message a few more times.

Then, you work up the nerve to call Alan Bean back and hear what he has to say.

Captain Alan Bean (US Navy, Ret.) is a former NASA astronaut. He took his first flight into space aboard Apollo 12 and became the fourth human to walk on the surface of the Moon.  Long retired from NASA and the space race, Bean is now a highly regarded artist and a sought after speaker.

Come to find out, Bean actually liked my video and was impressed with my comfort level on a stage.  What he did want to see me change was so simple, yet so brilliant.  In fact, it was what I have always said made me a more successful radio personality than most of my peers. Simply put…..

Always speak as if you are speaking to one person, your best friend.  Never speak in plurals or locations – such as ‘all of you’ and ‘up here’.  Use the word ‘you’ much more than you use the word ‘I’. Create a personal bond with each and every person in your audience.

As Alan Bean put it, “As soon as I figured out how to make my Moon stories their Moon stories, the speech clicked and resonated with the audience.  And, in the end, they are the only ones who matter aren’t they?”

Yes sir Captain!

I can already hear you screaming at the screen, this had better be good, how can he say that Buyosphere is better than Pinterest? Pinterest is on the lips of everyone at the moment. Less than two years old and benefiting from a $27m funding round, it is the current darling of the social media world – well some of the social media world. There has been considerable conversation online lately about just how useful it really is, especially as a lot of people are convinced it is aimed solely at women. This assertion is unfounded but nonetheless widely believed – you can join in a discussion on Google plus on Wednesday 8th February at 2pm EST hosted by Lynette Young to learn more.

Buyosphere – Where the buyers are

A lesser known but arguably easier to grasp and more immediately usable platform for retailers especially is Buyosphere. Buyosphere is the brain child of Tara Hunt, who is well known to anyone in the digital space as MissRogue, author of the Whuffie Factor:Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business, along with co-founders Jerome Paradis and Cassandra Girard. Originally Buyosphere and Pinterest shared some commonality, however, Buyosphere recently pivoted slightly to become more of a Quora for shoppers.

This is a much easier concept for both users and marketers to grasp. As their tagline puts it Ask. Answer. Discover. What makes this site so attract to me and I would think other marketers is that the people using the site are in the funnel already. You know that they are looking to make a purchase, ok you don’t necessarily know their timeframe but you do at least know that they are looking and you know what they are looking for and how much they want to pay.

As you can see from this header image, the site is very easy to use. Simply type in what it is you are looking for. Doing so pops up a more detailed form for you to complete so that the community can help you find what it is you are looking for. As you can see from the image below it’s not hard to complete. Tell the community what you are looking for, add details about the thing you are looking for, e.g. sizes, colors etc. categorize the item, how much you want to pay and where it needs to be shipped to, add some meta tags to make it easy to search on and you are done.

Ok so if you are a marketer or retailer why on earth would you not be on this site? Here you are being handed a community of people looking to buy stuff and if you are someone who can provide that item or items why would you not recommend your stuff?

You can opt into categories and Buyosphere will send you a daily email of the questions and answers from that day – just how easy do you want this to get? So if you are finding it hard to wrap your head around Pinterest and how your retail organization could best use it might I suggest you are on the wrong site and that the site you are looking for is Buyosphere.

What has the Fall of The Roman Empire got to do with Social Media? Is this another of those weird analogies that “guru’s” like to throw around? Possibly, though I hope you will see the connection in the way I do. Over the past few years those of us who advise others on how to get the most from marketing through social media channels have agreed that the model which works best for all size businesses is the outpost model. I referred to it as the hub and spoke model others use different terms but we all mean the same thing.

The Collapse of The Social Media Outpost

One of the major contributing factors to the fall of the Roman Empire was its size. It became too big to be sustainable. The Roman’s had outposts at every point of the known world. Communication became harder and harder, supply become harder and the trade that was supposed to flow back to Rome started to diminish. So focused on their outposts were they that they ignored what was going on in their own Capital. In the end the model collapsed. Roman was over-run by hoardes that didn’t rely on developing large empires but instead existed in small groups that were more sustainable.

So how does this affect Social Media? The truth is that the model that so many of us have been promoting is about to collapse. There are just too many outposts. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Google Plus, Pinterest, Tumblr, WordPress, Forums, Email, and endless other places to establish an outpost, all with the same end to drive traffic back to our Capital.

Retreating From Your Social Media Outpost

Look at your own statistics, how many of the various sites that you have established as an outpost is actually generating significant traffic? Why are you still there? The low numbers tell you that the people interested in you aren’t there, you are either doing a poor job of maintaining your outpost or you just aren’t providing the locals with what they want. Either way you need to get out before it becomes obvious that you can’t sustain that outpost.   In a recent post Chris Brogan says:

2012 is the year where social media oversaturation hits hard. We will scale back on our participation in social networks, and we will most certainly scale back who we choose to follow as sources.

He is right (he usually is), and if that is the case then that scaling back by users means that your content is going to get even less eyeballs at your outposts. Your empire is about to be over-run by hit and run hoardes who are better able to leverage those particular outposts than you are. So why wait for that to happen?

Deciding Which Social Media Outpost To Keep

I am not suggesting you abandon all your outposts, but take a good long hard look at all those outposts you have established and see how often you are posting – not automatically cross-posting from other places, but actually generating original content targeted at that particular audience. If the answer is “not much” then that outpost probably needs to be abandoned.

Just because new sites appear doesn’t mean you should immediately establish an outpost – try instead to see if there is a real fit for your business. Currently lots of people are trying to shoe-horn Pinterest into their marketing mix – for some this will become another cross-posting, under-supplied outpost that will die off in a few months. For others it will become a major driver of traffic, allowing them to remove other outposts that are not performing as well. But simply building an outpost for the sake of it is not a strategy for success.

Which Social Media Outposts can you let go of?

This is a continuing series of posts by Speakers for speakers. If you are currently a speaker and looking to improve, if you are an aspiring speaker and worried about the mistakes that others make this is the series for you. Each Wednesday a speaker who I value will share their thoughts on how speakers can be better, their experiences as a speaker and generally tell you the insider secrets that make it look so easy when they take the stage.

This weeks post is by Lynette Young. Lynette is CEO of Purple Stripe Productions, Lynette Young is one of the first podcasters to have received a six-figure sponsorship just to chat (and that was her first year).  Since then, she has been helping others put their dreams into action as a social media coach, social technology specialist, and a strategist for businesses regarding implementation services.  Her love (besides her family) is Google+.  Ms. Young believes that Google+ is the future for business and, as such, is the founder and curator of The Women of Google+.

Know The Lingo

As a professional speaker, I present within my own industries of social media, women entrepreneurs and technology, but most of the time I speak at events in other industries. While I know the lingo we throw around, I am not always privy to the terminology of other industries. It is imperative that to be a professional speaker you do some research to find out about the people warming the seats. If you don’t what matters in their industry or day to day jobs, you will never connect with them with your content from the podium.

I have witnessed probably a hundred spectacular train wreck talks over my twenty years as a speaker (yes, a few were mine). I will give an example to show a point, and to hopefully learn a lesson. I attended a conference for the insurance industry and was waiting in the wings as the speaker before me was on stage. The speaker was from the real estate world, which was a good fit for the content presented that day. Problem? It was obvious that the speaker assumed everyone in the audience understood what he was talking about when he threw around industry-specific terms like CRV (certificate of reasonable value) and PITI (principal, interest, tax, and insurance). Do you know what a cricket sounds like in a room of five hundred people? I do now.

It was obvious to me the speaker had not taken the time to know that the people filling the seats. The attendees had no real understanding of the inner workings of the real estate world. Had the speaker thought to rework his talk a bit to be more ‘plain English’ the audience could understand and not use his talk as a sleeping aid. The audience wasn’t only lost, but made to feel stupid and uninformed. Not one person left their seats when he was finished to get his business card. (Truth be told, he may have just walked straight to the exit door when he was done, but that’s an entirely different article.) By taking a glance at the conference agenda and sales sheet it would have been very easy to know that these were not attendees that understood real estate financing. Lesson? Talk to your audience as if they were actual people, and do a bit of research to find out who they are and where they come from.

“Lingo-vomit” is probably the most common screw-up I see along with assuming the audience knows all the things you do, or talking to them like they are idiots. There are the rare gems where I get to see a speaker set themselves on fire by jumping into a talk written for authors when the are really in a crowd of nurses. The location slip-up is the all time personal favorite of mine. A battle cry of ’Go Pats!’ when they are really in New York Giants territory is always fun to watch. How a speaker recovers from that is a good judge of their abilities outside the slip up. The correct comeback for that faux pas is “just keeping you on your toes – GO GIANTS!”

“GO EAGLES!” is not.

See last weeks post – Speaking Is About More Than Speaking by Thom Singer

Micro-Investing is providing those of us without the funds to become Venture Capitalists or Angel investors the opportunity to experience the thrill of investing without the risks. The model is somewhat similar to that employed by charities for years. A small amount multiplied many times equals a much larger amount. So instead of seeking thousands of dollars, asking for only a few, but asking thousands of people can equal the same amount.

Micro-Investing: What’s In It For You?

While the rewards of micro-investing are never going to match that of being a VC or an Angel, the amount invested and the risk associated with that amount is much lower as well. What you mainly get from micro-investing is the sense of helping someone get to a goal and a thrill of having backed the right horse.

Sites like KickStarter, Appbackr and newly launched Apptopia provide platforms for would be investors to find ideas that they like and make small investments in them. Kickstarter focuses more on arts based projects, Appbackr and Apptopia are focused on providing funds for mobile app development and the sale of the rights to apps respectively.

Micro-Investing:What’s In It For Them?

In a word, money. Depending on which platform you are using what they have to provide you, the investor with, varies greatly. Kickstarter projects might involve a product, a picture, a song or something similar, but it might just be a thank you card – depending on your level of investment. Appbackr investors get a small revenue share based on the sale of apps and the amount of their investment. Apptopia is a wholesale clearing house for the rights to an app – you are basically taking over the ownership of that app, code, IP the whole package.

For “starving artists” Kickstarter can mean the launch of a project that would otherwise wither in the wasteland of “good ideas”. Appbackr means that app developers can realize some money early on so that they can continue development and marketing of their app and go on to realize a full revenue stream.

Micro-Investing: My Experience

I’ve been playing with these platforms for about 9 months now and have invested in several projects.

One of the early successes was Cliff Roth‘s “Google Plus Speedpaint Hangout Project” – Cliff was looking to raise $2000. I noticed this project just before it’s deadline, he was $33 short of his goal. If a goal isn’t met then none of the investors are required to part with their money, also the project goes unfunded – in other words there is no “part funding” it is all or nothing. I chipped in the $33 and his project was funded. For that investment I was added to a Special Google Plus Circle and invited to Backers-Only Speedpaint Hangout Sessions, in addition I will also receive a pencil drawing of myself signed by Cliff. I felt that was a very fair exchange.

Another huge success was Creatures. This  is a card game and I actually invested in this to get the game as a gift for the holidays. I’ve had a lot of fun playing the game. But the real story here is that they were seeking $2,500 they actually raised over $56,000 in funding. People like me invested anywhere between $1 and $750 to receive various rewards from the creators of Creatures. This game is now available on Amazon.

My latest investment appealed to the geek in me. Twine is a device that allows you to interact with other devices and platforms like Text, Email, Web etc based on certain conditions. The interesting part about it is that it requires no coding. The interactions are all controlled by a very simple web interface. Again this project really appealed to the Kickstarter community. The Twine project was seeking $35,000 in funding, they raised over $500,000.

I have also backed a couple of apps on Appbackr but to date those have not made it into production and therefore I have not actually been charged any money. I’m hopeful that I will pick a winner soon.

If you haven’t tried micro-investing yet I definitely recommend it. Don’t expect to retire on the returns but you will have a lot of fun being part of the micro-investing community.

This week sees the kick off of this new series of posts about speaking written by speakers that I know do a great job. I intend this series to be of interest to those who are already speakers, those looking to get better at speaking and to those who aspire to speak in public.

This week the post is written by Thom Singer.

Thom  is a professional speaker, sales trainer and the author of nine books on the power of business relationships, networking, and presentation skills.  He has spent over 20 years in sales, marketing, and business development roles with major corporations. He regularly consults with corporations and individuals on how to cultivate their personal brands and establish professional connections that will lead to more referral business. His speaking includes impactful keynotes, break-outs sessions, training programs and the “Conference Networking Catalyst” program, which sets the tone for better meetings.

Speaking Is About More Than Speaking

Simon Salt recently made a profound statement on Google+ when he said “Speaking is the new blogging”. It was only a few short years ago that seemingly everyone you met was a self proclaimed “blogger”. But what the classification meant was as varied as the number of people holding claim to the title. Now in 2012 it seems that the label of “speaker” or “conference speaker” has been added to countless LinkedIn profiles, resumes, and bios.
PR professionals work hard to get their clients onto agendas as speakers or panelists at all sorts of industry events, and open calls for presentations for meetings are often bombarded with proposals (some that fit the needs of the conference organizers, others that are just fishing expeditions). But is calling yourself a speaker and submitting proposals enough?
Speaking in public is a great way to promote your business, your cause or yourself. But just because someone is smart or has done something cool, it does not mean they belong on the stage. Presenting a blah presentation (or worse… being awful )can bring no results or even harm a reputation.

Presenting Can’t Be Faked

Presenting is a skill. Like playing golf, it is evident to all who watch if someone has experience. You cannot fake it or wing it if you wish to make a meaningful connection with the audience. A bad presentation can suck the energy out of the whole conference, which is why it is important that people who call themselves speakers and pursue the opportunity to present are dedicated to bettering their skills and serving the audience.
There is often an argument about content vs. style when selecting speakers. However, there is no reason this should be debated. I am not advocating for “fluffy” speakers who are good performers but have nothing to add to the audience. I am stating that it is not too much to want both style and content.

I am passionate about presentation skills. Every time I watch anyone give a talk I call it “Speaker’s College”. The person on stage, be it at a conference, in classroom, in church, etc…, is the professor and I am the student. It is exciting to see a person educate, inspire and connect with an audience. It is also painful to see someone bomb on the platform. In every case it is the mix of their information and their abilities to communicate that make them memorable or forgettable. Relying only on the data can be very stale, and thus it is important to work on your public speaking skills.

I have watched thousands of speakers, from the famous industry professionals to regular people in a variety of settings. I have learned from every one of them. I have also delivered over 300 “professional level” speeches over the last decade. To be a “speaker” is more than a line on your bio. I believe a “speaker” must be excited by the opportunity to present to an audience and be dedicated to serving the greater good of the conference or meeting. The necessary preparation that the audience deserves is more than just showing up to promote your business.
It is an honor to be asked to speak, and those who can cultivate an experience that advances all aspects of the meeting will be asked to speak again, and again, and again.

Waiting to write makes you a waiter not a writer, the sage advice from Somerset Maugham. It is advice I give myself regularly and have shared with many others, both privately and publicly. There exists a strange new beast in the creative world, the content scientist. These people can tell you how many times a word needs to exist in a post to count as a “keyword”, they can tell you with accuracy akin to the Swiss railroad when you should post to maximize your audience. They can tell you all this and more. In doing so they scare the writer clean out of you.

Writing isn’t a science, it is an art. Writing doesn’t run like a railroad, if it is any kind of transport it is more likely a rickshaw. Driven by sweat, a heaving mass dragged through the streets by a struggling human engine striving to get to its destination. Of course the content scientists will show you charts and graphs, they will talk about increased readership, click through rates and other impressive statistics. All of which are fairly meaningless. Like murder, good writing will out.

Waiting to Write: Art vs Science

I’m not dismissing the content scientist. In the same way as we need those who write code to enable us to publish our writing online, we need content scientists to show us how we might improve what we do. Just as painters need the scientists to create new shades of paint to enable them to express themselves. The trouble starts when the writer focuses on the numbers instead of the letters. Is Monday at 10am the best time for my audience to see my post? Should I be posting three times a week or five?

I try to write regularly here, if for no other reason than the discipline. I even try to think about what you, the reader might enjoy reading. For the most part, and given the responses I receive, it seems that this blog after existing for the past few years has found an audience that, at least some of the time, enjoys what it reads. There is definitely no science behind what I do. For the most part I post twice a week, but that depends on what else I am doing. Sometimes I write in advance, and other times it is on the same day. I have read many many posts and books that refer to timing, SEO, and all many of other numbers and devices that could increase my readership. I have, to date, ignored them all. At the end of the day, I would rather write for a handful of people who enjoy my writing than try and outsmart the scientists at Google.

Waiting to Write: Enjoyment vs Business

This is not a business blog, or is it? I suppose that depends on how the reader reads it. I think of it as more akin to an advice column, a Dear Prudence of Marketing if you will. I understand that the content scientists aren’t really writing for me, they are writing for people looking to make money from their blogs through advertising and various other means. I understand that, but that isn’t writing, not in the sense I am talking about here. That’s promotion, advertising, content marketing. Its about page views, and uniques, and click through rates.

I’m not being a purist here. Everyone is entitled to create for whatever purpose they deem fit. But those who agonize over when to write, when to post, who to write for and spend their time on reading all that the content scientist have to say are missing an important event – the writing.

Waiting to Write: Waiter or Writer?

So what are you, a waiter or a writer? Will you allow the excuses and the content scientists to distract you or will you take a breath, open the page and make a mark on it? Whether it is poetry, prose, a hobby subject or a business subject, at some point you will have to decide whether those thoughts exist only in your head or if you will give them life outside your head and put them on a page.

Your decision, waiter or writer?

Check Your Hair, Make Sure Your Mic Is On is the title of a  post I wrote a few weeks ago in which I talk about the importance of appearance for speakers. In talking with new, aspiring and even existing speakers it seems people would like to read more of the same.

Rather than simply share my thoughts on speaking  I thought you would find it more interesting to hear from other speakers. To this end I have extended the invitation to some of the speakers that I enjoy a lot to share their stories of being a speaker. What works and what doesn’t, how to handle technology, the good stories and the nightmare stories.

Watch the video below and you can see why I wanted to put this series together:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rHFNJnDPYY

Each wednesday there will be a new post from a speaker who will share their experience. Who are these speakers? Well to name drop a few – Ann Handley – Chief Content Officer for Marketing Profs, Hank Wasiak – 14 time Emmy Nominated TV Host, Lynette Young, Podcaster and Founder of Women of G+ and many others.

The best way to make sure you don’t miss this great content?  Subscribe by email in the top right of this page and get it delivered to your inbox.  Of course I’d love you to just keep coming back to the site because, well that helps my stats and makes me feel good about myself – but I’d rather you got the content the way you want it.

image used under CC License by Ford Buchanan