Mike McGuff, Blogger and Social Media Power Influencer
By Cheval John
December 13th, 2017
Today’s episode of What’s The Word? features Mike McGuff.
Mr. McGuff is a blogger who covers breaking news in the Texas media.
He was named a Houston Social Media Power Influencer in 2014, 2016 and 2017.
Mr. McGuff’s work has been featured in media outlets like the Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, NBC News, The U.K. Daily Mail and CNN International.
He also been interviewed on media like ABC 13 Houston, The Roula and Ryan Show and Fox 26 Houston.
Mr. McGuff also served as a correspondent for ITV’s Good Morning Britain
In this episode, you will hear:
-How he started blogging
-Why Texas media outlets sends him press releases of changes happening within their organizations
-The importance of being patient in building a business
Snippet on Vallano Media TV
Full episode on BlogTalkRadio
Website: www.mikemcguff.com
Twitter: @mikemcguff
Quotes from Mike McGuff On
FACEBOOK LIVE
I think it’s important to remember that even if you do not have the audience immediately during the live broadcast, you will get more of an audience after the live broadcast in the replays in people’s feeds.
I think what businesses can do is show a more personal human side to the business and get the information out there that they want.
You do not want to sell or market to someone.
Video is a great opportunity to get in front of someone.
It seems one-on-one though it’s not.
But you kind of feel like you know the person when you are watching them on video and actually seeing them and hearing them talk.
I think that makes a stronger connection from the client or customer than just reading words.
So really you’re going to humanize yourself and get the person to like you or your brand more and you can be selling indirectly at that point.
BUSINESSES LEARNING FROM THE HOUSTON ASTROS
When the Astros were sold, they lost a lot of the heart and soul of the team.
What they smartly did was used analytics to look at what they needed and they drafted the players that could help them.
I think any business should say, “Nothing Is Immediate.”
You’ve got to take time to grow your business.
You got to use analytics and measurements to kind of figure out what works and what does not work.
You look for people with specific skills and have the smarts and talent that you can help nurture.
You want to eventually achieve your business goal.
So I think any business can learn a lesson from the Astros definitely in that sense.
Work hard and do it smartly though.
You really got to have an ultimate strategy.
Clearly they had a strategy laid out to win the World Series.
SOCIAL MEDIA
I think social media is a daily struggle.
You always have to have new content out there that’s relevant and interesting to your audience.
What can I do today that will get me more followers tomorrow.
It’s something you always have to be thinking about.
If I miss a day, it’s probably because I’m sick or extremely busy.
Even on vacation, I sometimes put out stuff on social media.
I learned that from working in television because you are putting content out there and I think having that training is perfect for social media.
TWITTER BEING AN UNDERUSED RESOURCE FOR ENTREPRENEURS
A large percentage of my audience are members of the media because that is where they are.
The reason they are on there is because Twitter is immediate.
It really is perfect for delivering news.
Twitter is a headline service.
Though Facebook is fun and has news too, it has a lot of extra distractions.
You can sort through twitter and make your own lists.
For journalists, that extremely important.
So it is a great way to get out in front of them because a lot of times, while going on assignment and their photographers driving, they are scanning their phones looking at twitter and facebook, largely twitter though to search for stories.
HOUSTON MEDIA PERSONALITIES WHO STAND OUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Some of the most popular, Dominique Sachse and Jennifer Reyna, those are two of the top people I think of.
Dominique has a YouTube channel where she is offering make up tips because as a television anchor, she has done make up for 20 years on herself and has learned a lot about makeup techniques.
The last time I looked, she had around 50,000 to 60,000 YouTube subscribers.
This is not just the channel to viewers in Houston, this is all over the world apparently.
She gotten this massive following by doing this.
That’s pretty smart to be able to have one successful career in television and then having a totally separate career in YouTube.
John McClain of the Houston Chronicle and Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston are excellent at using twitter to breaking news on the social platform.
You can leave a comment below if you agree or disagree with this post.
Dr. Karen Freberg, Associate Professor at University of Louisville
By Cheval John
November 15th, 2017
Today’s episode features Dr. Karen Freberg, associate professor at the University of Louisville.
She is one of the most innovative professors in higher education due to being a pioneer in the teaching of social media.
Dr. Freberg has spoken at conferences around the world.
She has build her online presence via social media which gave her insights into preparing her students for the real world.
Her #freberg17 class created and implemented a social media marketing plan for the Louisville Bats.
This episode was recorded on Facebook Live via Blue Jeans Network.
Snippet on Vallano Media TV
Full episode on BlogTalkRadio
Website: www.karenfreberg.com
Twitter: @kfreberg
Quotes from Dr. Karen Freberg on:
Being Active On Social Media
I feel like social media is a passion of mine and I absolutely love it.
I also feel like for college students, if I am asking them to do certain strategies on social media, I have to do them as well just to kind of show them like, “okay, here’s kind of the strategies that I have been able to learn through the process.
I feel like instead of being like a top-down model for my classes, I am more of a participant too.
So there is definitely strategies I can definitely articulate, share and teach my students.
I am constantly learning each and everyday new things, new trends, new ways of approaching certain softwares for social media.
ON CREATING THE SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNITY PROFESSORS FACEBOOK GROUP
I would say it actually came from a research project I was working on this past year.
I was talking to one professor who was teaching social media at a university in Utah.
He was talking about how he really wish there was a place where professors who were teaching social media could come together and share some ideas.
He said, “I go to these other conferences, but they are really just advertising conferences or public relations conferences.”
“There was really no central place where we could all share our thoughts on certain trends in social or what are things that we are facing in terms of expectations from employers about our students skills and books we were using to teach social media.”
So I got the idea of creating a group where we just came together and share our ideas.
The group started last year in October and we have over 360 members (my update: the group is now over 450 members) from around the world.
We are all struggling with some of the same questions and same concepts.
We talked earlier before the show about this perception of professors who teach social media.
We get criticized all the time with “We don’t know what we are talking about, higher education is a waste of time. We are not ahead of the trends or we don’t know what we are doing.”
So it is nice to come together as a group and say, “Okay, here’s what we are doing. Here’s how we are going to show future employers our students are getting the necessary skills and education.”
It is a very great community and I have been really happy to see everyone sharing their ideas.
I also wanted to create a place I wish I had when I started out as a professor.
ON COVERING THE BEHIND THE SCENES OF COLLEGE GAMEDAY IN LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
I got approached from Front Office Sports about taking over their instagram account for college gameday.
I’m like, “Great, this is so exciting”
I realized, “Oh, I have to do what I have been preaching to my students and making sure I was basically following the same guidelines and best practices.
It was a lot of fun.
It was a different mindset where you have to think about what would the audience for front office sports want to see.
I had a lot of people that were really excited to see the clemson social media team.
So I made sure I got some coverage there and then the behind the scenes of college gameday.
Always make sure you have extra battery backs for your phone.
You can leave your comments below if you like or disliked this post
Go Where The Customers Are Located
By Cheval John
The companies or organizations who are more successful have this one thing in common.
They always innovate.
They look at ways to make the customer experience more rewarding.
We see that with small businesses because they do not have the resources like the larger companies to advertise their products or services.
The larger companies will buy space at major events like the super bowl and this year’s major league baseball playoffs to advertise to a large audience.
The small businesses will be more creative with content marketing because of a much smaller marketing budget.
They also know that if you can build an audience slowly through content marketing strategies (blogs, podcasts, live streaming, etc.), they will win all the time because they have earned their trust.
An example of innovation comes from mid-sized college sports conferences like the Southland Conference (SLC).
They basically formed their own television network, the Southland Conference Television Network, in 2008 and have brought many sporting matchups to their member colleges fan base.
Two of the fan bases within the SLC are Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) and Sam Houston State University (SHSU).
Their annual rivalry, “The Battle of The Piney Woods” moved to NRG Stadium in 2010 and has become a fixture in the Houston sports scene.
This year’s event drew an attendance of 26,792, who saw SHSU defeated SFA 27-16 for their seventh consecutive win against their rivals.
Post game press conference from #botpw from @NRGParkFan #VallanoMedia #smsports https://t.co/7LPC9o4QP0
— Cheval John (@chevd80) October 7, 2017
The rivalry has continued to draw crowds since they moved to NRG Stadium in 2010 with no signs of slowing down.
And the SLC dissolved their network in 2015 due to television deals with ESPN3 and other regional networks while at the same time focus their resources on their digital network.
Another example of innovation comes from the company, Paper.Li.
Under then community manager of Kelly Hungerford, who is now the owner of Community Works, Paper.Li built their company through their twitter chat #bizheroes and have increased their customer base.
The lessons here are as follows:
1. You must create your own media company.
Brands can’t rely on press releases anymore because they are considered spam.
They also can not depend on ads because people do not want to be interrupted with commercials that will take them out of rhythm in consuming content.
The brands must have a place where they can put out quality content that will help the consumer make smart decisions which can make their lives better.
And when the consumers believe they are being helped by the brand through their content, they will tell their friends about the brand.
Soon enough, the press will find out about them.
Look at examples from organizations and sports teams like the Houston Texans who created their own networks to provide content to media outlets.
2. You have to go where the audience are at.
If your ideal customers are located on a particular social platform, you have to be there as well.
When you meet them where they are at, you show them you care.
In the same way, both SFA and SHSU decided to move their rivalry to NRG Stadium after being approached by Lone Star Sports and Entertainment because the majority of their fan base lives in the Houston area.
Plus, they get exposure from the 8th largest media market in the nation.
More press leads to more recruitment for future Bearkats and Lumberjacks.
In conclusion, you have to be where your audience are at and you have to create your very own opportunities because the right people will always notice.
Rebekah Radice: The Master of Preparation
By Cheval John
Those who are great at their skill have one thing in common.
They are masters at preparation.
Peyton Manning, who won two Super Bowls, was very meticulous at preparing for each football matchup.
Another one who I believe is very great in this particular skill set is Rebekah Radice.
Rebekah recently made an appearance on my show, What’s The Word? to share about her newly launch book, “Social Media Mastery”
What I can say about Rebekah is that she is really great at social media because of her dedication to preparation.
Her attention to detail in everything, whether it is creating a blog post, preparing for a speaking engagement, or even recording her new podcast, allows her to stand out from her peers in the social media world.
Rebekah was part of the reason why a few twitter chats which she co-hosted became extremely popular during it’s time because she planned each of those chats for months before they were launched.
Another thing is Rebekah did not look for the quick success when she launched her blog in 2004 at the time when blogs was still a niche medium.
She basically stayed focused on growing her blog during the early years and the results started to occur.
Rebekah’s blog was named a “Top Ten Blog” in 2015 and 2016 by Social Media Examiner and she has spoken at their conference on many occasions.
Rebekah’s attention to detail and hard work allows her to achieve all of the success with her business.
Many should follow Rebekah Radice on all of her social media platforms.
Also, they should take a look at her blog because it is filled with rich information on growing a good business from scratch.
You can leave a comment below if you agree or disagree with this post.
Learning How To Build A Business Blog From The Houston Astros
By Cheval John
November 3rd, 2017
On a normal day, going to downtown houston from the northline train station would be a breeze.
Today was not one of those days because the city of houston hosted a parade for their hometown team, Astros, who won their first World Series (WS) championship on Wednesday night.
The people of houston were very excited to celebrate with their team.
By all accounts, an estimated one million people lined up along the parade route leading to city hall.
Half of those traveled by train into downtown to be a part of history.
The Astros brought hope to those who were still recovering from hurricane harvey.
The road to victory began in 2011 when Jim Crane bought the team from Drayton McClane.
The condition to get the sale approved by Major League Baseball (MLB) was moving the team to the American League from the National League the following year.
At the time of the sale, the Astros were on the decline after their previous appearance in the 2005 World Series.
Crane knew they had to rebuild the team from scratch.
The first step in the master plan was hiring Jeff Luhnow, who was the architect behind the St.Louis Cardinals 2006 and 2011 championship teams, as the Astros general manager.
Luhnow used sports analytics to figure out who would be the right fit for the Astros.
In the early stages of the rebuild, the Astros lost 100 games in three straight seasons.
Fans were wondering what was going on with the team.
Many sports pundits thought the whole system of analytics were a joke because they believed Luhnow did not play the sport of baseball.
The criticism intensified in 2014 when Sports Illustrated (SI) declared on their cover the Astros as the 2017 World Series Champions.
Many thought it was a marketing ploy to get more readers.
The folks from S.I. knew they were heading in the right direction.
Signs of the rebuild began to show when they made the 2015 playoffs, where they lost to the eventual World Series champion, Kansas City Royals in the American League Divisional Round.
Though the 2016 season was a failure, the Astros fans were very optimistic for 2017.
The team did not disappoint as they clinched their very first regular season championship in the American League West, went through the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees to win the American League pennant.
Then they went on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games to complete their dream season.
You might be wondering how the Astros winning the World Series got to do with growing your business or personal blog?
Glad you ask.
Growing a blog takes a whole lot of time and patience.
In the same manner of how the Astros’ general manager had a long term goal to make the team a success, you must look at the long game in building a tribe for your blog and not go after the home run.
No one can build a blog to 500,000 views in six months unless they had learned lessons from their first blog or if they are a celebrity.
You also must stay the course and ignore the outside noise from those who might be telling you to give up.
If you think you do not have the time to put together the words from scratch, here are some business blogs who uses twitter chats to put together weekly posts.
Note: This is not a quick fix at all because it takes a lot of work to host a twitter chat and even more work to put together the recap for the blog.
#ContentWritingChat, hosted by Express Writers
#TwitterSmarter, hosted by Madalyn Sklar
#SproutChat, hosted by Sprout Social
#VCBuzz, hosted by Viral Content Bee
#ContentChat, hosted by Erika Heald
What are more ways you can build your blog from scratch?
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