‘I don’t agree with that’

If you’re going to be visible online, every single thing you post will influence how people perceive you.  You can’t decide who sees what; every word may have an impact.

It doesn’t matter if you’re posting on your business accounts or personally, particularly as a solopreneur or small business owner, you’re going to be judged.  And it all affects your reputation.

Does this mean that you need to be vanilla in all things?  No.  But it does mean that you need to engage brain, before fingers!

It’s all about values

Your business reflects your values.  People buy people, not organisations.  If a customer chooses your business as a supplier, it will be because of a personal experience either they or someone they trust has had with you or one of your team.

Good service is expected, but how it’s delivered makes a big difference.

Online it’s harder to portray your values consistently, we all have our off days and have to deal with people who have rubbed us up the wrong way.  But post when you’re not in the right headspace and those emotions can manifest in your words.

Unfortunately, regardless of your privacy settings, if someone wants to see what you’ve posted – they’ll find a way.  Most platforms these days are public and, other than Facebook, it’s difficult to post content without it being available to everyone.  Even on Facebook with an ‘only friends’ setting, you’d be surprised at who can see what you’ve posted.

Think first, post later

We all have opinions – and nobody expects that everyone will agree with ours, just because we think we’re right.  However, there are ways of presenting your opinions that will encourage reasonable debate, rather than vituperative rants.

And, when you see something that someone has posted and your first response is ‘you need your head examined, that’s a load of rubbish’.  STOP!

Even if you have evidence and can make a case, think about the impact a triggered response might have on people’s opinion about you. 

A good rule of thumb is to write your initial response – NOT on the platform, just in case you accidentally hit ‘post’.  Instead, write it in a text document, save it and do something else for an hour or two.  If you still feel strongly, re-read your response, considering how people who don’t know you might interpret it.  You may decide to make some edits, or that it’s not important enough to post about.  Or you may go ahead, but at least you know your post isn’t an emotional knee-jerk reaction – it’s been thought through.

You have a right to disagree with people, it is a free country.  But, put your case rationally and reasonably and you won’t muddy your reputation.  Also remember that sarcasm is just as bad as a rant!

Don’t let the idiots get to you!

There are some people whose main reason for posting online is to trigger a reaction.  Some of them are evangelical about their cause or issue, but there are some that post just to see what happens.

Yes, you can delete posts, but you can’t guarantee the someone hasn’t already taken a screenshot and shared it in their WhatsApp group!  Once it’s there, it’s almost impossible to get rid of it altogether.

‘But I posted that on my personal account’, is not an excuse for damaging your business reputation.

How long should a blog article be?

 

This is definitely a ‘how long is a piece of string?’ question!

Daily blogger Seth Godin has written blogs that are a single line – and others that are in excess of 1,000 words.

Not everyone is a natural writer and when someone says ‘you need to write 500 words’, that’s sometimes a good reason not to get started!  Of course, there is now AI that can help – but even the smartest AI tools are not able to read your mind and don’t have your insight into your area of specialism.

Yes, you can create your own GPT and train it with your material – but you need material to do that.  Chicken and egg!

My take on creating content is that:

1. It must have value
2. It should be as long as it needs to be to say what you want to say
3. It should be in your voice.

Today people are inclined to scan content rather than read it, so shorter can be good, if you just want to make a point.

HOT TIP:  To improve engagement highlight with bold or italic (or both) your key points.  Don’t use underline as a highlight as, if your article is published digitally, people expect underlined text to be a link.

Get the habit

Writing blog articles is a habit – like social media - it’s part of your marketing.

Have a notebook for ideas.  When something pops into your head and you think ‘that would make a good blog’, jot it down.  By the time it’s time to write your next blog you’ll probably have forgotten it.

Schedule time to write.

Write in batches – once you get started, it gets easier.

That’s it!

Has your book got the right postcode?

 

If you use a satnav, you know how important it is to have the right postcode.  How often have you found that your satnav has taken you near where you want to be, but you can’t actually see what you were looking for?  Or worse still, you can see it, but there’s a railway line between you and your destination – and no crossing!

Writing a book to share your expertise is a bit like this.  You know where you want to go – a published book in your hand bringing in new business and help other people – but your route to that isn’t entirely clear.

The reason is usually because you don’t know what you don’t know – and there are a lot of steps along the way that new authors often are completely unaware of.  These are the steps to a successful book.

Before writing

A good book starts with a purpose.  Why are you writing it and what is your big takeaway for your book?

The next thing to do is some market research.  What other books are out there that are in the same genre?  Who else writes on your specialist subject?  Which publishers publish this kind of book?  The more you know the better your book will be.

Who is your book for?  Who will it help?  The better you know your audience, the more focused your book will be – and it will also give your marketing focus.

Create your content plan.  What will each chapter cover?  What will your chapter recipe look like?  What stories, anecdotes, quotes, case studies, etc. will you include?  If you’re approaching a publisher or an agent, a synopsis of the book will be essential.

Decide how you’re going to publish your book.  This will influence what you do regarding the support you need or if you need to find an agent.  If you’re going down the traditional publishing route, you almost certainly will need an agent, unless you find a boutique publishing house that deals directly with authors. 

There are lots of pitfalls to avoid with self-publishing and independent publishing, as well as associated costs that will need to be budgeted for.

The writing process

It takes time to write a good book – and what makes it unique is your take on the subject.  That means that, even if you use AI to help, it has to have your voice, your commentary and your ideas in it.

Many first time authors are daunted by the task of producing 40-50,000 words – but it’s like eating the elephant – one chunk at a time! 

The secret is to schedule writing time in your diary when you have no distractions and can spend 90 minutes – 2 hours just developing that content plan.  Having the plan will make your writing process much easier.  No blank page syndrome or writer’s block – because you know what’s coming next!

When you have a first draft, review and edit it yourself, or get AI to help with this to create your first draft ready for editing.

You’re not finished yet!  Your book will go through at least one edit with a professional editor.  Mainstream publishers will do this; if you’re self-publishing or using an independent publisher, you’ll need to pay someone to do this. 

Your editor will shape and polish your book.  They look at it from the reader’s perspective and ensure that there are no points where you confuse, disengage or make them work too hard to get the point.

Once you and your editor are happy with the draft, it’s time to get some beta-readers involved.  They’ll read from a digital copy – usually a pdf file – and give you some feedback on what works and what they didn’t like or they’d like more of.

When your feedback has been integrated, it’s time for a final proof-reading to round up stray punctuation and typos.

Then you can ask your review list to read and provide a pre-publication review.  Some people include a page or two of these at the beginning of the book.

If you’re not publishing with one of the traditional publishing houses you’ll need to get your cover designed and the pages laid out ready for print.

Finally, it will go to the publisher.

Except, it’s not finally!  You need to start planning your launch campaign.

After writing

If you’re after an Amazon best seller badge, your launch day is critical.  Ideally, you need to sell as many copies as possible on day one – or on a chosen day soon after publication.

A good way to do this is to make a lower priced offer just for launch day and offer a bonus bundle that has real worth – only for launch day sales.  There are all kinds of things that can be included in this from another book, digital resources to meet the author events and draws for high value items.

Knowing your ideal reader will help you to get the news out that your book is being published.  That might include social media posts, adverts in relevant publications or online, guest appearances on podcasts or video interviews, webinars (yours or other peoples) and so much more.

Are you having an in-person launch event or a digital one?  Who is on the invitation list?

And the launch is only the beginning of your marketing – how will you continue to promote your book?  It’s a never-ending task!

This is just scratching the surface – but, with the right information, knowledge and application you’ll arrive at the destination you wanted.