All you need to know about social media, marketing, leadership, management, success and love can be found from the words of American legend, Clint Eastwood. In honor of Clint Eastwood’s 82nd birthday today, I’m compiling a collection of life lessons. Giddy up boys and let your Clint free.

Last week I had far more conversations than normal about buying Twitter followers. I don’t know what it was, maybe the stars were out of alignment, but everyone wanted to talk about whether or not you should buy Twitter followers, how you can buy them, and what it means if you do buy them.

Examples: One friend has a client who worked with some hacker to get thousands of new followers. I read a blog post about a PR pro who bought followers, and then had them taken away by Twitter when he admitted it publicly. And then, while I was researching a potential client, I realized that one of their executives had bought most, if not all, of their 37,000 followers.

As these and other examples popped up throughout the week, I thought, “Whoa. This seems to be getting out of hand. Whatever happened to the good old-fashioned way of building up your Twitter followers?”

But as I ruminated on it more, I realized that’s a silly question. I mean, when was there ever a “good old-fashioned way?” Yeah, you can reach out and mention people and put good content out there … but it’s a slow process to build quality followers on Twitter.

There’s a huge paradox here. Social media is about credibility and trust, and you have only a couple of seconds to prove to someone that your Twitter account is worthy of following. So what do you need to do to prove credibility? Show that you already have followers (who presumably follow you because you’re follow-worthy). But how do you get those followers in the first place?

What some people do is: they buy followers. Often just enough to get their account jump-started – a couple hundred, a thousand maybe.

And I’m wondering why that’s such a big deal.

You’d have to be really naive to have missed the fact that Facebook has just made an IPO out of selling Likes. Well, not always Likes, sometimes ads for other things, but primarily they are selling engagement with brands on Facebook, including signing people up to brand Pages as Fans/Likes. This is so important to the credibility of brand-new Facebook pages that I budget $1,000-$1,500 into every client’s plan to get them Likes when they first setup their Facebook account. And no one seems to have a problem with that.

Facebook makes the Like-buying process easy through their Ads interface, and their targeting makes you feel like you’re almost not buying them – you’re just telling the right people that your page exists, and what’s the harm in that?

So why is buying Twitter followers any different from buying Facebook Likes?

Over the last year one of my clients has been buying Twitter ads (through Twitter’s account-managed system – they were an early adopter when Twitter opened it up) and has seen a dramatic rise in their Twitter following – some 700% lift. They have spent a fair amount of money doing it, and I’ll admit that at times we were not targeted enough and had some unwanted follows, mainly from non-US countries (we initially targeted all countries where they had a business presence). Over time we’ve honed in on how to use Twitter’s system to generate quality followers in their very niche B2B marketplace. For this client, buying followers has been successful and valuable: they’ve seen traffic to their website and blog increase, they’re far more active and visible on Twitter than their competitors, and their board likes seeing the increased activity when we deliver buzz monitoring reports monthly.

Twitter is soon opening up their platform for self-serve ads, in much the same way Facebook does. (I’m already testing this through their small business program with American Express – screenshot below.) There’s no question that this will change the debate about whether buying Twitter followers is appropriate or not. Once Twitter allows more people/brands to Promote Accounts and Promote Tweets, they will be doing the exact same thing that Facebook encourages with Promote My Page or Promote My Post.

Now I’m not saying that using one of the thousands (or millions – there are 326,000,000 results in Google for “buy twitter followers”) of shady outfits which promise 1,000 Twitter followers for $29.99 is the right way to go. There’s really no need to have thousands of inappropriate or untargeted Twitter followers. In fact, it can really hurt you; consider the executive at my potential client who totally went overboard. It’s a huge red flag to have 37,000 followers but under 1,000 tweets. Once I saw that ratio, it took me only about a second to see that all their followers are either non-English speakers or have egg icons for their profile pics – they’re clearly not “real” and certainly not valuable to that person. So the credibility of that person is way, way down – at least to those of us who know how to assess these things. (To many people, 37,000 followers might look very impressive, which is, I assume, exactly why they did it.)

But people who are serious about building up and then using their Twitter account for brand (or personal) engagement must have some way to get over the threshold of credibility with at least a reasonable number of followers. Ideally they’ll be targeted followers who are relevant to the person or brand in question. Buying a small cadre of followers early on might be the way to go; somehow I’m quite sure that if you pay Twitter for them, they won’t remove them.

Disclosure: I was given $100 in Twitter ads credit through the American Express Small Business Twitter partnership – as I’m sure thousands or more of other small businesses were. My decision to write about Twitter ads was in no way influenced by this credit.

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Jill Carlson, the Inbound Marketing Manager at Argyle Social.

Colleges and universities are using social media more than ever before to connect with alumni, students, prospective students, and their communities. But there’s a big difference between who’s doing it well and who’s just doing it to, well, just keep up in a US News and World Report kind of way. And the universities that are dominating social media seem to have a few things in common.

1) Serve “cake” and “broccoli”

Schools will always have campus points of pride to report, such as Higher Education accolades, professors’ published research, students’ awards, and campus updates. But as schools craft their social media strategies, it’s important to balance the “broccoli” (content that is important and good for the school) and the “cake” (content that is fun and delicious). If you share enough cake, your audience will consume the occasional broccoli.

2) Show the big picture

It’s not unusual for schools to have hundreds of social properties across Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, all managed by different teams, staff members and even students (think clubs). Socially savvy universities ensure students, faculty, prospective students, and alumni can find and access all social properties by listing them in an index, like UNC and University of Oregon, or by creating lists within Twitter, like Harvard.

3) Coordinate cross-channel messages

Just as schools synch direct mail, phone-a-thons, email campaigns, and newsletters, it’s important to integrate social media into these campaigns. UNC’s “The Carolina Way” campaign included ways to participate via email, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. The best social universities meet their audience where they are and invite collaboration and participation.

4) Define the why and what

Some schools use Twitter to inform current students of on-campus happenings, from building closures to theater auditions. Others use it as a way to connect the college to the world, so real-time on-campus news that may not be relevant to an alumnus 1,000 km away isn’t shared via Twitter. The best schools can define why they post and what they post and segment audiences accordingly. UNC’s Office of Development has a mission statement that defines the why and what to avoid mission creep. Since social media is opt-in, it’s more important than ever to target content to the right audience.

5) Defend your social properties

Both internal and external pressures can challenge the integrity of a school’s social properties. Whether it’s boring content passed along to you by a coworker –“Can you link to my monthly newsletter on Facebook?”– or misinformation posted on your school’s Facebook page –”See you at the game at [wrong time]!” — have an actionable plan for dealing with threats. Social properties have become the new homepage. It’s time to defend them as such.

What best practices have you seen from universities and colleges? Share any tips or advice you might have in the comments!

Jill Carlson is the Inbound Marketing Manager at Argyle Social. Argyle helps businesses drive results through social media and Jill’s job is to find more happy customers. When she’s not pushing candy on coworkers she can be found walking her dog, Rosie Bojangles. You can reach her @carlsonjill on Twitter.

Dr. Albert Mohler is one of the leading intellectual and inspirational leaders in the modern evangelical movement. He is a frequent commentor on the American and global political scene, is often a guest on shows like Larry King Live, Meet The Press and more. From his position at the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, his job is to both educate and inspire a generation of spiritual leaders and followers. Dr. Mohler and the Seminary happen to also be a client of Social Media Explorer.

Less because of us and more because of Dr. Mohler’s ingenuity and energy, he has become a shining example of how an executive can and should use social media to help spread the message of his organization and welcome others into a greater conversation that grows its audience and helps drive business (students to the seminary). He personally Tweets, authors an outstanding blog and also reaches followers with a stimulating podcast — regardless of your political or spiritual agreement with his perspective.

My appreciation for Dr. Mohler not only lies there, but in his practical approach to technology. He recognizes that it is not the end-all be-all to communications. The last question of my recent interview with him below gets to that point. “You can’t get your oil changed on the Internet,” he said.

Dr. Mohler and I sat and discussed how he uses social media, how he hopes others use it and it’s importance in the landscape of our communications tools.

If you are curious about the blog post I referenced in which Dr. Mohler said that YouTube was a terrible place to go to church, you can find that on his blog here. You can learn more about him there and find out more about the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on their site.

What takeaways did you glean from Dr. Mohler’s comments? What can you take back to your executives that help them better understand the opportunity social media presents? Please tell us your thoughts on what Dr. Mohler had to say in the comments.

A happy Memorial Day to you all, especially those who might be somber today because of a loved one lost in the service of his or her country. Know that they did not die in vain. Whether in combat or not, stateside or abroad, each person who has had the bravery and valor to serve their country deserves our gratitude.

And though this holiday is primarily celebrated by Americans, we’d like to extend the same gratitude and respect to anyone who has served, regardless of country. Sacrificing one’s safety to pursue principles larger than ones self is awesome. Paying the ultimate sacrifice is incredible to fathom.

On Saturday, I took my son Grant to Zachary Taylor National Cemetery here in Louisville. His Cub Scout Troop participates in the annual Memorial Day Weekend Planting of Flags there. On the way, we talked about Memorial Day and what it meant. We talked about people dying for their country, for ideas and ideals larger than themselves. While I’m certain my son (he’s 7) doesn’t quite grasp it all, I’m glad he understood enough about our conversation to be very respectful while planting flags near a couple dozen tombstones.

What he didn’t understand, I did. It was an opportunity for me to think about my Grandfather, a World War II veteran who lost 3/4 of his right leg, a percentage of his right arm and any chance of a normal life in a fox hole in France in 1943. He lived a long, but uncomfortable life until 1993. While I never asked him about the War, I did have a chance to tell him I loved him and say goodbye before he died.

Fortunately for me, I don’t just think about my Granddad on Memorial Day. I think about him every time any notion of the armed forces, patriotism or national pride arise. That’s why I love the National Anthem played at sporting events and other public ceremonies. It makes me think of my Grandfather.

Unfortunately, too many people reserve their respect for our armed forces for this day and maybe the Fourth of July. I’m lucky that I have that personal reminder more frequently. Here’s hoping we can all think about the sacrifices made for our freedoms by others — regardless of our nationality — and find a similar personal reminder for those other days on the calendar.

Then perhaps we’ll all be as thankful as we really should be.

The SoLoMo Show is a weekly podcast hosted by Adam Helweh and Cory OBrien. Each week they discuss topics, trends and tactics related to social, local and mobile marketing. Every weekend we will publish the latest episode, related show notes and links to all of the topics discussed on the show here on Social Media Explorer.

This episode Adam and Cory discuss BIG announcements about the SoLoMo Show, including an appearance at the Social-Loco conference, a weekly feature on Social Media Explorer, and the availability of the show live on Google+ Hangouts On Air, an infographic that compares marketing and advertising people to ‘normal’ people, a new tool for Pinterest called Pin My Info that lets you build an ‘about me’ board, an interview with Jay Baer, the MLB’s Fan Cave and their big bet on content production, Pitbull on the Today Show, and #CamryEffect, one of the biggest social media fails of 2012.

Show Notes:

• Social-Loco Conference
• Social-Loco Conference Tickets
• Social Media Explorer
• Google+ Hangouts
• Google+ Hangouts On Air
• Record a Google+ Hangout with Garageband
• Infographic: Marketing People vs Normal People
• Pin My Info
• Jay Baer
• MLB Fan Cave
• Lost Remote: How The MLB Fan Cave Became The League’s Social Strategy (Interview)
• Pitbull on Today Show
• Social Media Campaigns: Case Studies of the Biggest Fails of 2012 (So Far)

Connect and Subscribe:

• SoLoMo Show on iTunes (For those that prefer their Podcasts straight up) – http://linkfrom.co/AvNgOH
• SoLoMo Show Blog (For show notes per episode and to subscribe to episodes via RSS or email) – http://linkfrom.co/zYlOrE
• SoLoMo Show on Facebook (LIKE us and join the discussion) – http://linkfrom.co/wRjP0x
• SoLoMo Show on Google+ (For the hardcore geeks and those who want to “Hang Out”) – http://linkfrom.co/wufUGF
• SoLoMo Show on Pinterest (Each video episode available for your repinning pleasure) – http://linkfrom.co/Hx219T
• SoLoMo Show on Twitter (Tweet us before, during and after the show to contribute) – http://linkfrom.co/wo5igw

Well if you didn’t consider all of the great social media and digital marketing goodness here on SME enough to wet your whistle, I’m happy to share some great news with you. A little backstory first. Since January 1st 2012, friend Cory OBrien and I have been hosting The SoLoMo Show a weekly podcast where we discuss the intersection of social, local and mobile marketing and advertising. Cory and I are both incredibly passionate about these topics and in late 2011 decided we wanted to share our thoughts with passionate professionals and practitioners. Where better to find said awesome crowd than here on SME?

So with the kind blessings of Mr. Jason H. Falls, we will be syndicating our episodes each week right here on this very blog (not really sure if his middle name starts with an “H”, but for those aware of his trademark “Heh” it was as good a guess as any). We will be what you might consider the “SME Weekend Edition” and which will be published here every Saturday starting tomorrow.

Now, I have to tell you… we are still quite rough around the edges. After all, this simply started as a spontaneous labor of love for Cory and I, but with 20 shows under our belt so far, already I have to say… we really enjoy producing the show each week and are always tweaking it in an effort to improve. That said, we still want your opinion. What good is any show, let alone one taking up space here on SME, if it doesn’t provide any value to its audience? So my request to you is that you take a listen to one or two of our past episodes (conveniently posted below) and tell us what you think. How could we better provide information you find interesting and valuable? What would make the SoLoMo Show a part of your weekly content consumption routine? You can let us know in the comments or preferably directly on one of our SoLoMo Show social channels listed below.

Lastly, as I said, we will post the latest fresh episode of the SoLoMo Show here tomorrow and you won’t want to miss it. We are giving away a ticket a week starting this week to the Social-Loco conference in San Francisco. Interested in Attending? Then listen to the show to find out how to get your free ticket.

Thanks in advance for listening to the show and a big thanks to Jason for allowing me to share our show with

Connect and Subscribe:

• SoLoMo Show on iTunes (For those that prefer their Podcasts straight up) - http://linkfrom.co/AvNgOH
• SoLoMo Show Blog (For show notes per episode and to subscribe to episodes via RSS or email)  - http://linkfrom.co/zYlOrE
• SoLoMo Show on Facebook (LIKE us and join the discussion) - http://linkfrom.co/wRjP0x
• SoLoMo Show on Google+ (For the hardcore geeks and those who want to “Hang Out”) - http://linkfrom.co/wufUGF
• SoLoMo Show on Pinterest (Each video episode available for your repinning pleasure) - http://linkfrom.co/Hx219T
• SoLoMo Show on Twitter (Tweet us before, during and after the show to contribute) - http://linkfrom.co/wo5igw

As social media becomes more widely accepted as a business tool, organizations embracing the medium are slowly becoming more adept at creating content and engaging with their audiences. The next step for organizations that are comfortable with the content side of things is the development of a strategy and tactics to measure the performance of their social media activity.

The following model is a work in progress that aims to build on a social media measurement framework developed by John Lovett and Jeremiah Owyang. Here are some notes about the model components:

• Business Goals – In order for data extracted from a measurement initiative to be useful or effective it needs to connect back to the business objectives of your organization.  These will vary by company and situation – but there are a handful of goals that are universal to most businesses or non profits. These include optimizing marketing programs, generating revenue , cutting costs, building brand equity and developing new ideas, products or services. For more information about the goals that I’ve included in this model check out the Social Media Measurement Compass in a report about social media analytics by the Altimeter Group.
• Metrics – These are the general measurement categories for each objective. For example, under marketing optimization, one common metric would be  Awareness.
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – For each metric, list relevant performance indicators. For example, for the Awareness metric above one KPI could be Reach.
• Channel KPIs – Because each social media channel uses different analytics to measure performance it’s important to identify which unique KPIs will be measured for each platform. Continuing with the example above, channel KPIs for Awareness >> Reach could be as follows:
• Facebook – Total reach.
• Twitter – Potential reach, effective reach.
• Blog – Page views
• Youtube – Views

I’m super excited to be testing a new blogging platform that will be unveiled publicly at BlogWorld & New Media Expo in New York next month. Overblog (client) is one of the top blogging platforms in Europe. Until now, they haven’t had a U.S.-focused product. That all changes with not just an English version of the France-based company’s platform, but a whole new platform.

No, I’m not testing Overblog here on Social Media Explorer. I’m running my personal blog, Falls, Off The Rocker, with it. In fact, Overblog’s new platform is actually focused on the personal blogger. The appeal for me was the fact they’ve built the new platform with life streaming in mind. I’ve connected my Instagram and Facebook accounts so that my blog is updated with the pictures and original Facebook posts I share. You can connect Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare and more (Google+ and LinkedIn are in the works), but I found those connections to make the blog rather noisy, so I’ve chosen not to use them.

The concept of life streaming isn’t new. FriendFeed and similar platforms like Louisville-based Profilactic popularized the idea in the 2007-2008 time frame. As Twitter and Facebook grew more popular and most services build pass-through functionality to the larger social networks, the life streaming concept faded a bit. But those concepts weren’t centric around someone’s blog. They were focused on their social activity. Overblog’s new platform gives you that blog-centric focus where the platform that you use to share your stories and ideas can also share your chosen social activity in a compelling way.

I’m also excited about the concept of pulling your social content on to your own blog so that you can archive and own it more confidently. Yes, I still advocate for use of services like Backupify (I’m a stakeholder there), but this is a nice way to own your content, or at least a version of it.

The theme I’m currently using on Falls, Off The Rocker mirrors the Facebook timeline design a bit. For what I’m doing with the blog — sharing personal stories and observations as well as social updates and pictures with my personal friends and family members — it works very well.

You can read more about what I’m doing with Overblog, including some of the observations I’ve made to the team on improving it, on my latest post at Falls, off the Rocker.

But what I’m betting you’d really like is a chance to kick the tires yourself, right? Okay! I have 50 private BETA invite codes to give away. What I need you to do to get them is be one of the first 100 individuals (you can manage more than one blog with your account, so no need to fight for more than one invite) to comment below and ask for an invite. But you’d better ask for an invite in a kick-ass, cool way. Like, “Bring The Heat, Clemmons!” or “Daddy Wants a New Blog, Fat Man!” Have fun, but keep it clean.

And then I’d like you to share this post on LinkedIn (you’re welcome to share it elsewhere, too, but there’s a reason for the LinkedIn thing … I’m testing something). Share it on LinkedIn with a note like this: “Jason Falls is giving away BETA invites to Overblog’s new platform. If you’re a blogger, you should check this out!” Be sure to link back here. No need to do it with any specific URL shortener. In fact, I’d appreciate it if you just used the LinkedIn button here or copy-pasted the URL directly. I’ll fill you in on the LinkedIn test later.

That’s it! Fun comment and a LinkedIn share!

Be sure to drop your email (won’t be shared) in the comment field requiring it below, too. I need to email you the code, right?

And please – Once you start testing Overblog, use their feedback and support links at the bottom corner of your browser window. They want this platform to sing. It only will if you help them with feedback!

Let’s dive in gang!

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Molly Niendorf, content and social media manager for Emma email marketing software.

If you work in content, you know that your job involves a lot more than the content you produce. If you write a blog post or publish a webinar or post a YouTube video without a coordinated content strategy in place, your content is no more than the sum of its parts. In fact, it’s probably less.

Author of Content Strategy for the Web, Kristina Halvorson defines content strategy as the practice of planning for the creation, delivery and governance of useful, usable content. It’s a helpful definition, and it’s worth exploring. Useful: does your content support a business objective? Usable: does it actually help a user complete a task or solve a problem? Even just focusing on those two goals goes a long way toward effective content. (By the way, If you haven’t read Content Strategy for the Web, get your hands on it. The second edition just came out. Yay!)

You may have a pitch-perfect content strategy in place and a well-oiled content machine (with dutiful content worker bees who deliver the content honey on call) and no competing departmental needs to navigate. (If you do, please call me from utopia.) If your company is on earth, you probably have a working strategy, lots of contingencies to manage and a changing product schedule — and the need to reassess and reformulate your plans often.

photo by Matthew Hauck

That’s where children’s books come in. Believe me when I tell you that, while Halvorson’s book is a veritable tome in the CS world, you might just find some of the best lessons in the children’s books you read and loved in Kindergarten. If you think this sounds silly, give me a moment to convince you.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

You know how this one goes. If you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to get thirsty. So he’ll ask for a glass of milk. And then he’ll want a straw for his milk. Pretty soon you’ll be running around trying to suit lovable, needy Mr. Mouse’s every whim (gimme a napkin! scissors! a broom!). You’ll find yourself frantic and exhausted — and, in the end, you won’t have a lot to show for it.

The lesson: We all know what it’s like to be super busy, but is the state of busyness just a seductive farce? Oftentimes, yes. A successful content strategy doesn’t mean doing more; it often means doing less very well. Just because you have pages and pages of content doesn’t mean you’re supporting your customers any better. But if you’ve been smart about creating that one resource that helps users answer a burning question, that they want to share with others, that even makes them smile? You’re onto something.

Your work is also for naught if you’re simply listing everything that needs to get done and moving one-by-one through that list. If all of your content to-do’s start to look like they’re carrying the same weight, chances are you’re entering fat-and-happy-Mr.-Mouse territory. That is, you’re answering to others — or to the situation at hand — without really setting priorities. If you know the content landscape at your company — if you’ve listened to your customers, analyzed how they use your product and site, and strategized a plan for creating, producing and maintaining content — then you should be well-suited to figure out what’s most relevant and needed now. You’re also well-positioned to say no to those things that sound fun but will direct your energies away from what’s needed (and those things can be fun, too).

Corduroy

Remember sweet Corduroy and his quest for a missing button? While he searches throughout the department store at night, he imagines that the elevator might be a mountain, the furniture section of the store is surely a castle. His curiosity infuses ordinary things with whimsy and adventure.

The lesson: You know how I said content priorities can be fun? It’s true. But it’s easy to get caught up in the details: Have we done enough user research? Are these articles labeled with the right meta keywords? Is this page template easy to navigate? Is that author going to finish their article on time?

Step back for a moment. Realize what happens when the details come together. You’re not just working on a bunch of disparate projects; you’re telling your company’s story. And you’re instilling your brand’s values in everything that you say and do. And those users? Hey, look at them: they’re people. They’ve got their own stories and values and backgrounds that affect how you interact with them.

When you start to see the situation as more than a bunch of ordinary moving pieces, something sort of spectacular starts to happen. It’s a content castle, folks.

Bread and Jam for Frances

Just saying this title makes me want some toast. Dear, picky Frances only likes bread and jam. She won’t eat a hard-boiled egg. She turns away a chicken salad sandwich. She’s loathe to try a veal cutlet. (How much do you love that veal cutlets are a meal de rigueur in this storybook from the 1970s?)

The lesson: We all have our bread and jam, that piece of the content process that we really like, that we’re probably pretty good at. And that we may get a little hung up on, because it’s where we want to spend most of our time.

But if you’re always paying attention to your bread and jam, you may be overlooking, or even outright ignoring, another piece of the puzzle. And if you find yourself answering the same sorts of questions with the same sorts of answers (every single time) — This button worked before! Let’s use it again! Let’s always use it! — you might be rushing to the finish line without finding the right answer.

It’s terrific when you’ve discovered tried-and-true practices that work, but don’t let yourself fall into a rut. See each challenge with a fresh perspective, and find the best solution — even if it’s veal cutlets — for the situation at hand.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

The first line of this book says it all: “I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on my skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”

The lesson: The Alexander affliction is certainly not unique to folks who work in content, but you’ll know it when you see it. That point in the project where you begin doubting everything that’s led you here and questioning everything that must happen next. It’s usually accompanied by a lot of self-defeating talk and derisive snorting. You’ll ask, have we identified the right business goal? You’ll answer, no. You’ll ask, are users getting what they need from this content? Um, no. Are we adequately measuring the success of this content? Again, no. You’ll throw up your hands and say everything’s awful.

Okay, hang on a sec. It might be true that you need to re-assess your objectives and workflow, but it’s not likely that you need to start from scratch. Abandoning ship does one (or both) of two things: 1) It denies all of the work, research and preparation you’ve done up to this point and 2) If you don’t address the roadblocks that you’re coming upon right now, you’re going to come upon them all over again when you get back here.

To use another expression from childhood: Stop, look and listen. Identify what’s really going on. Call in some backup — a coworker who works more closely with customers, a UX designer who’s an expert in IA, a sales member who’s up-to-speed on what competitors are doing.

And give yourself a reality check. If content strategy were easy, it’d be called Eating Cookies. The reasons you’re feeling stuck are some of the same reasons why you do this work: it’s challenging, multifarious and it’s never done. Stick with it. When you arm yourself with the right resources, tools and teams, and when you push for the right answers, not just the easy ones, you end up in a lovely place: where useful, usable content becomes the rule, not the exception.

Molly Niendorf is Emma’s content and social media manager, working from the company’s Portland office. She dislikes rainy weather (go figure), loves color-coordinated office supplies and is an Honorary Member of the World’s Biggest Cheese Eaters Club (well, she would be, if that were a thing). Read more from Molly on the Emma blog, and try Emma for free at myemma.com.

Calling all bloggers! I’m excited to let you know that Overblog, BlogWorld & New Media Expo and Social Media Explorer are partnering to collect and then present new research on blogging at this year’s BlogWorld New York, June 4-7. But in order to have great insights to share, we need more bloggers to participate in our survey.

If you blog, whether personally or professionally, please take about 10 minutes to participate in this survey which asks some interesting questions not yet posed by other similar efforts. I’ll co-present the results with the Overblog team at BlogWorld & New Media Expo on June 7. You can have the results emailed to you if you choose to share your email address with us. (We won’t abuse that privilege.)

Start Your Survey Here

Image via CrunchBase

I just finished taking the survey myself. It’s not necessarily “short” by most survey estimations, but shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes. Get a fresh cup of coffee and spare us a few moments, please? The more people who participate the better the data is and the more relevant insights we can share with you at BlogWorld!

And do share with your fellow bloggers! We want the information to be represent all industries, niches and levels of blogging.

And while you’re thinking about it, please enjoy Overblog’s 10% off discount to BlogWorld & New Media Expo in New York! I’ll be speaking along with dozens of other smart folks. We’d love to have you there. Just register for BlogWorld and use the discount code OVBVIP.

For the record, Overblog is a client. I’ll be helping them introduce a new blogging platform to the U.S. market at BlogWorld and beyond. To get in on the early peek beta, register at their invite site.