What’s less clear is how you’re supposed to actually go out and show people your appreciation. Some methods are well worn: Follow Friday is such an institution on Twitter it’s barely worth doing anymore.

Here are a few less common ways to show your fans that you care and take your social media bonds to another level.

• On Twitter: I’m not a fan of Follow Friday (the #FF hashtag) because it’s simply too successful. If I tweet your name as one of 40 people I’m recommending this week, it loses some of the specialness it once had. Also, #FF is a relic from Twitter’s early days, when it was tougher to find out who was on Twitter and who you should be following. Now we’ve got lists and recommended users and other tools for finding must-follow accounts. As a result, #FF has lost its punch — when was the last time you followed someone because they were on a #FF list? So instead of just listing your fans, why not highlight them in more personal ways? Instead of just thanking someone when they say something nice about you, try retweeting the complement. When you respond to someone, put a period in front of the @ symbol in the handle, so that others can see you engage with them. (Note: Only do this with lighthearted discussions. Serious talks should be had via DM if possible.) Mention authors by Twitter handle when you tweet their blog posts. Try playing matchmaker and introduce two followers of yours that you think would enjoy reading each other’s tweets. And if you simply must do follower recommendations, give it an updated twist: create smallish lists of followers around a given topic and then promote those lists your followers … on any day but Friday.
• On Facebook: You’re tagging people in notes and photos on Facebook — why not take it a step further and actually mention users by name in your notes? Facebook has a more intimate feel than many other social media platforms (remember, it’s all relative) and mentioning someone in a FB note can carry a more personal touch than giving them a shout out in a blog post. Also, note that while #FF is a lost cause on Twitter, the new subscribe feature on FB gives you another way to tout your most interesting and engaging fans. A Facebook note listing the coolest people to subscribe to for a given field could be a nice way to show the folks on your list that you care.
• On blogs: Any business-related blog should have a “what we’re reading feature.” Curation is a great way to add value for your readers and to let bloggers know you’re following their work. A trackback is a great attention getter and everyone loves the guy who’s willing to promote others — trust me, I’d know. Don’t just link to the other blogger, however: Introduce them by name and say something nice about them. Even if you’re not a famous name brand, you’re suddenly on that blogger’s radar. Now you’ve created an opportunity to follow up with them on other platforms and deepen the relationship.

How are you saying “thank you” today?

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In his 2004 memoir, “The Know-It-All,” A.J. Jacobs decides to read the Encyclopedia Britannica — and quickly finds himself so brimming with information that he starts peppering all his conversations with little known factoids. Desperate for a respite from his prattling, his wife begins to fine him $1 every time he tells her something she doesn’t need to know. Not surprisingly, he learns to control himself a little better — at least around her.

Of course, no one’s actually going to fine you for an off-topic status update — but too many tangents can have a cost.

Relevance is essential to any successful social media campaign. Consistency of tone, purpose and content is how you let people know who you are and why they should follow you. Whenever you post something online, you’re adding to a body of work that becomes your brand.

But what about authenticity? Aren’t we all  supposed to be authentic now that we’re on social networks? Sure, but it’s important to consider what that term really means in this context. All brands (personal and organizational) have purposes. There are reasons why we do what we do — even if we’re not always aware of our motivations. Authenticity, simply put, is having a constant commitment to your purpose. It’s your ability to follow your “why” without pause that lets people know who you really are (as a person or as an organization) and why they should connect with you. Because people don’t care about what you’re doing, they care about why you do it.

Too often we use authenticity as a cover for talking about whatever we’re excited by at the moment — whether that’s what we had for dinner or the retirement of an important board member. We think that because we care about something, it’s authentic to talk about it. It becomes a cover for passing along dime-store aphorisms, off-topic gripes and ego-stoking humblebrags, to name just a few kinds of violations.

But before you hit send on that update, think about how it looks to someone who doesn’t know you, doesn’t know your brand. Does that update convey you are? If that communication was your one shot at connecting with someone, would they look at what you’re about to send and want to know more?

Now think about the people who already follow you. What made them connect? Is what you’re about to say going to enhance your dialogue with those people who came to this relationship with certain expectations, or is it going to confuse them? Is your update really a thoughtful extension of the conversation you’ve established with your followers, or is it self-indulgent.

Think about why you care about that update. Is there a way to align what you’re going to say with what you stand for? Maybe you can talk about what the board member meant for your organization’s mission. Maybe you can talk about dinner in relationship to your brand’s underlying purpose. And if you can’t, maybe you need to rethink sending that update at all.

Don’t bore people. Be bigger than that. Be the brand you’ve worked so hard to build.

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But are those constant mini evaluations doing more harm than good? Are they prompting you to be reactionary instead of strategic? Are they making it harder to spot trends over time?

Ask yourself: If your boss evaluated your job performance the way you evaluate your company’s blog, would you be happy with that system? If your company’s human resource evaluation strategy looked like its social media evaluation strategy, what would the resulting company culture look like? Would the company make good decisions about who to promote and who to the fire? Would it be an effective, strategic organization — or would the whole thing just fall apart?

Your blog, your Facebook page, your Twitter account — they’re all members of your corporate team. They have personalities, strengths and weaknesses. They need guidance to thrive. They deserve the same kind of evaluation your company gives all its employees.

Some quick caveats:

• Evaluating a social media presence is not the same as evaluating the person who maintains it. First, it’s important to be able to evaluate what’s working and what’s not without making anyone defensive. Second, chances are that your social presence is the product of more than one mind, even if it doesn’t immediately seem that way. Third, your blogger already has a regular performance review, there’s no need to put them in double jeopardy.
• Evaluating your social media performance isn’t necessarily the same as having the return-on-investment conversation regarding your social media efforts. The ROI conversation is more akin to your annual budget meeting where every department makes the case for the resources they’ll need for the coming year. These performance evaluations are done more frequently and are more about goals and expectations than dollars and cents.

So how should you get started with evaluating your social media presence? Start by taking a look are your company’s regular employee evaluation form. Chances are the form has some variation on the following questions:

1. What are three things the employee does well?
2. What are three things the employee needs to improve?
3. What are the employee’s goals for the coming period?
4. What progress has the employee made on their goals from the previous period?
5. How is the employee supporting the company’s mission statement?

They’re not sexy questions. They’re not easy to answer. But they’ll get you to think strategically about the role that social media plays in your organization and they’ll get you to make to make meaningful comparisons over time, which empowers better decision-making. Treat your social media presence like a member of the team and start to see its performance improve.

How are you evaluating your social media efforts?

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently turned to the undead to make it more approachable, and more effective at one of its core missions.

When CDC staff from the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response asked Twitter users what types of emergencies they were prepared for, answers citing tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes were numerous. Some people also submitted humorous answers, asking the CDC about zombie preparedness. With this in mind, the team decided to increase awareness of its 2011 hurricane-preparedness campaign by adding some deadpan content to attract readership. The result? A blog post titled “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse.”

“We realized this wasn’t the typically health message a federal agency like CDC might put out, but we really wanted to grab people’s attention because disaster preparedness is an important and simple way to save lives and property,” said Maggie Silver, a health communication specialist for the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. “To make sure people realized we were being tongue in cheek, we continually referred to ‘real’ emergencies like floods, hurricanes and earthquakes throughout the course of our blog and social media outreach.”

The public response was overwhelming. The CDC estimated that the post cost $89 to produce, yet it generated more than 3.6 billion impressions and more than 450 comments. The CDC trended worldwide on Twitter and was later recognized by the 2011 Platinum PR Awards. The CDC won in the Blog and Wow categories and honorable mentions in the PR on a Shoestring, Social Media Campaign and Word of Mouth categories.

The irony of going viral isn’t lost on CDC staff. “It’s been really fun reading all the comments left on Twitter, Facebook and the blog,” said Kristin Banks, a health communication specialist on the CDC’s Emergency Web & Social Media Team. “People are really into zombies and have seriously considered what they would do if there was a zombie apocalypse. It’s just funny to read through what they write. We also have enjoyed the comments from people who let us know that they are going to make an emergency kit and are going to learn what disasters they need to be prepared for in their area.”

The spontaneous campaign became part of a long-term strategy to fulfill the CDC’s mission to ensure the public’s emergency preparedness and response capability. Since its success, the CDC added a permanent Zombie Preparedness page to its website. It includes a graphic novella, “Zombie Pandemic,” that uses the idea of a zombie apocalypse to demonstrate the importance of being prepared and what might happen in a real emergency. Included is a personal-preparedness checklist so readers can take action once they’re done reading. The page also allows the public to print, share and order a series of Zombie Preparedness posters and to enter a video contest. The top disaster-preparedness video submitted by the public will be featured on the CDC home page to thousands of visitors.

“We feel like we’ve really connected to the public,” Silver said. “We didn’t just reach audiences that were already interested in disaster preparedness, we reached people who had never before thought about what they would do if their town flooded or was struck by a devastating earthquake. This is really important because this is the hard to reach population that we are always trying to get.”

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If you’re a marketer saddled with promoting a dull brand using social media, how do you compete with sexy brands such as Lady Gaga and Coca-Cola? Give your brand the rock-star treatment. Even if you’re not in a sexy industry, you can treat it as such.

I wrote an award-winning book on quilting, but you’re never going to see me on “American Idol” or “America’s Got Talent.” No one wants to watch me at my sewing machine creating quilts, no matter how amazing they are.

Unless you’re a quilter, too. Quilters are interested, and they will watch. But how did I make my content sexier? I produced a music video of 12 quilted table runners I designed over a year and set it to music my son arranged on GarageBand.

I gave the audience a behind-the-scenes glimpse of my creative process, from original drawings, color palettes and design journals to a tour of finished quilts. How can you do something similar for your industry?

Give it the rock-star treatment. Think music video, VIP pass, backstage access, T-shirt and memorabilia. Make your brand fun, place it on stage and rock on. Even if your product isn’t as glamorous as rock music, television or the big screen, treat it as such. Give your audience special treatment, and you’ll see traffic and sales increase.

Be memorable. Let your personality and that of your staff shine through, so your brand is approachable and personable. Southwest Airlines flight attendant David Holmes raps the normal snoozer of the flight-safety speech. Passengers not only pay attention but also are all smiles, offer applause and have recorded him and uploaded the video to YouTube. This was no publicity stunt but Southwest allowing its employees to be their best selves.

Be useful. If you’re providing a valuable solution to someone’s real-life problem, the person won’t care whether your brand is sexy. You helped at a time when it was needed most. You’ve provided value and established credibility, and your audience trusts you. You’ve gone far beyond rock-star sexy. Value doesn’t need to be expensive. infographics, checklists and video are all great ways of educating fans. YouTube is an excellent platform for how-to videos, and organizations such as the Smithsonian, PBS and Discovery Channel are using it to educate viewers.

Be yourself. How do you promote topics no one wants to talk about? A colleague in my women’s networking group handles waste management for large events, and while portable toilets aren’t anything people look forward to using, let alone discussing, she promotes her business with humor and is clear on the benefit her company provides: It handles the stuff you don’t want to.

Your challenge is to elevate an uninteresting brand to one that grabs attention and won’t let go.

What is the secret sauce that makes your organization stand out, and how can you promote that in your social media efforts?

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Of course, none of the options I’m about to give you are a complete replacement for being on top of the news and ready to respond when a major event hits your industry. But getting into the game a little late is better than standing on the sidelines forever.

The trick is to get involved in the conversation in such as way that it doesn’t a) look like you were caught napping or b) look like you’re being opportunistic. The key here is finding organic, relevant connections to your industry and your readers.

• Remind people why it matters.

Everyone has a friend or a relative who likes to loudly opine that they “just don’t get” why people care about politics — until an issue that affects them is on the table. Everyone knows someone who will proclaim that they “can’t see the appeal” of the latest gadget — until they’ve got it in their hands. Chances are, your audience isn’t so different. Some of them may need you to help them totally understand why an event is important — to their families, their jobs, their community. You have to be careful not to adopt a patronizing tone here. You’re not lecturing anybody, just pointing out a connection your readers may have missed. The goal isn’t to sound knowledgeable — it’s to leave your readers feeling like they’re more knowledgeable.

• Offer a second opinion.

Sometimes the prevailing wisdom on a news event is just wrong. And you know it — so why not share that unique perspective? The shelf life for unorthodox takes on current events is longer than straight reporting on the topic, as people start to move from amazement to critical thinking. If you time it right, you can catch your fans at their most skeptical and give them a well-reasoned, insightful look at another side of an issue. Again, you don’t want to lecture, so much as give your readers a clever response to conventional wisdom the next time they’re at a cocktail party.

• Give readers a gentle nudge.

Sometimes a news event can be a powerful reminder of why your business or organization exists. Don’t be afraid to capitalize on those moments and encourage readers to get involved with your organization or take another look at the products and services you offer. People are emotional creatures and they’re more likely to be receptive your arguments when you’re piggybacking on their happiness, interest or worry. The trick to doing this well is to position it as helping people, instead of selling them something. You’re not making a sales pitch; you’re sharing your values.

• Don’t take it literally.

Sometimes a news event doesn’t directly relate to your industry, but it can be a fun and easy way to explain an issue you care about — using an art theft to explain social media planning, for example. A few rules of thumb: 1) Don’t take the analogy too literally; 2) Don’t make an analogy out a sad story; 3) Know when an analogy is too much of a stretch and just leave it be.

• Play the aggregation game.

When you fall behind on current events, it can feel like you’re hopelessly out of touch with the world — like you’re literally the only person who didn’t know. I’ll tell you a secret: No matter how big the issue is, chances are you’re not the only one who’s this late to the party. In fact, the bigger the issue is, the more likely it is that people will need help keeping abreast of all the important updates and perspectives. Don’t acknowledge that you weren’t tracking the issue from Day 1 — just pick up the conversation as you find it and provide regular updates via your blog or other social media accounts. If you can provide people with a digest of important information while an event is ongoing or a summary of interesting analysis after the fact, you’re providing a valuable service. I might be a little biased on this one, given who I work for, but I can promise you that quality aggregation is something people deeply appreciate.

• Keep the conversation going.

Sometimes you won’t have much to say about an event — but your audience will. Instead of lecturing them, try to get them talking about what they care about. Ask how they’re responding to an event, where they stand on an issue, how they feel about the future. Who knows, maybe you’re be the one who learns something.

Current events are a double-edged sword. It can make your brand more relevant, but it can also open you up to controversy and criticism. If you decide to weigh-in on current events, do so knowing full well that at least one person will not like what you say. Then say it anyway. The truth is that opinions are something that only people have. Sharing a viewpoint makes your brand more human and it gives your brand a reputation and a character. Whether you’re looking to be an information source for your fans, a thought leader on a particular issue or just facilitator of interesting conversation, your fans will thank you for getting involved — even if you were a little late.

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This blog series, featuring interviews with speakers from the SES Conference & Expo, scheduled Aug. 15 to 19 in San Francisco,  is brought to you by Incisive Media.

The following Q-and-A is with Technorati Media President and Chief Strategy Officer Charles Black. 

Is automation (in whole or in part) a reasonable solution to the problem of social media scalability?

Absolutely — automation, and more importantly, distribution. One of the biggest challenges in social media is that it can require a tremendous amount of resources to start these conversations, engage, and react or effect change when needed. So you have all of this incredible value happening, but many times it’s happening in some small corner of the Web.

Are there apps, clients or other Web tools you’d recommend to users looking to make their social networking more efficient and effective?

There’s a wealth of tools out there: Seesmic, TweetDeck, HootSuite, that are fantastic in terms of bringing efficiency to social media efforts.

We’re most interested in bringing scale.

We are working with a number of clients on Social Rich Media ads. We’re putting everything from blogosphere feeds; clients’ own social media streams from their own blogs, Facebook and Twitter; and apps to video and image galleries — you get the idea — and we’re serving them to their target audiences all over the Internet. They’re performing very well, anywhere from 2 times to 10 times our clients’ standard media, whether our client’s goals are to gain a wider audience for their conversations, or to bring more people to their conversations. Interestingly, we’re finding that harnessing social media efforts in this way can drive other goals such as direct response.

What’s the best strategy for identifying and targeting influencers? How do you get the attention of figures who can increase the reach of your message?

There are as many approaches and methodologies to influencing and targeting as there are definitions of “influencer.” Semantics notwithstanding, at Technorati, we have massive reach in the blogosphere — where the influencers (by anyone’s definition) are most concentrated.

Reach at scale into pools of influence is great, but alone it is not enough. How do you ascertain quality and depth of influence? Our approach is to assess the blog landscape overall and in key verticals and then allow the influencer ecosystem to illuminate influence categories and depth of influence.

The Technorati Authority is driven primarily by the opinions of other influencers. In other words, we utilize peer review heavily — after all, who better to know whose authority is real and respected? This creates a vital and constantly evolving mass of highly engaged thought leaders and also creates gravity for other influencers into our universe. Finally, we have a team that keeps their eyes open and ears to the ground so we can, and do, reach out to taste makers on a regular basis.

Do you favor targeting a few of biggest names in your field? A huge number of mildly influential people? What approach gets the best results?

Both. The top bloggers have huge followings, but the middle segment (often called the mid-tail, or the magic middle — for good reason) will typically have a closer relationship with their audiences, so while the reach is smaller the influence is greater. The biggest names are on everyone’s list, some of our bloggers tell us they receive 500 to 1000 pitches a day, so it can be challenging for a brand to break through amidst all of the noise. Some of the most successful approaches we see are from brands that build relationships with up-and-coming bloggers, and amplify that content via social networks and media distribution.

How do you approach the question of measuring social media success? What tools and processes can companies use to make that process a little easier?

We might be the only partner on a particular campaign, or we might be one of several. For this reason, as standard practice, we track everything. Every single interaction and share that happens in our Social Rich Media ads is captured. On the blogger outreach side, we track both blogosphere coverage and social sharing.

On the tools side, there are a lot of services out there, both free and paid (qualitative measurement on a large scale is a tougher challenge), and the most important thing is what happens after the measurement. For example, we worked with a client on reviews of a technology product. Generally, our bloggers will send a product back rather than publish a negative review. In this case, several very well known technology bloggers sent back the product with very detailed feedback. So does a client view that campaign as a failure, or as valuable strategic feedback they can take back to their product designers?

On the process side, many of our campaigns involve custom social rich media, blogger outreach and display media. So we may start with the media agency, but the creative agency and the PR agency will be heavily involved. The most successful campaigns we see are those with the most cohesion among all of the different teams working with a brand.

Image Credit: Kativ, via iStock Photo

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The mommy and female blogging subculture amazes and perplexes many at the same time. Blogging and building your brand is big business for bloggers, especially when it comes to women. According to eMarketer, blog advertising will reach $746 million by 2012. This doesn’t include sponsorships and product reviews, which fuel many relationships among public relations firms and bloggers.

Product reviews are pushed at conferences such as BlogHer, held in San Diego this week, with nearly 3,500 female and mom bloggers in attendance. These bloggers are bombarded by choice by brands offering product samples, promotional materials and contests in hopes that they’ll blog, tweet and Facebook their product testimonials and endorsements. Such testimonials happen to be big business for brands, many of them represented at mommy and blogger conferences such as BlogHer and BlogWorld. Fifty-five percent of social media moms said they made a purchase because of a recommendation from a personal review blog or website.

The opportunity for bloggers to gain sponsorship and advertising dollars is big business, but it’s swag that drives the mommy-blogger madness. Much like the Black Friday shopping frenzy, women rush the expo floor and attend invite-only brand parties, leaving with bags of swag. “My swag from conferences like BlogHer makes for really great Christmas gifts for my nieces and nephews,” said Tamara Walker, who blogs at MomRN.com. I met up with Walker right before dinner, as she walked to drop off three bags of swag in her hotel room before heading out again to three or four more events in the evening.

The race for swag is part of what makes conferences aimed at bloggers special. Wendy Piersall, author of “Mom Blogging for Dummies,” said, “Brands at conferences like [BlogHer] know not every blogger is going to write about them. Brands have a formula in place. That’s the nature of this kind of conference. Hoarding swag is in poor taste, yes, but it’s not unethical.”

Swag hoarding and the unethical nature that Piersall mentioned came under fire two years ago when an exchange between a brand and a blogger went viral at BlogHer. Crocs was handing out shoes to bloggers and ran out, making one female blogger unhappy. She threatened to ruin the company if she didn’t receive her swag.

“This makes all mommy bloggers look bad when you do this,” Piersall said. “It garners the wrong kind of attention. You can’t just take, take, take and not offer any value back.”

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There is no longer any that doubt that blogging is big business, said branding expert Sandra Miley, who spoke at BlogHer Pathfinder Day on Thursday. There are almost 165 million active blogs in the world, as of February 2011, and mommy bloggers are the largest group of bloggers in the world, she notes. BlogHer, a blogging community of women, boasts 25 million unique visitors to their website each month.

But how can aspiring bloggers get started with finding a voice and an audience? Miley, who has worked with companies such as Adobe, Nokia and Rackspace,  gave BlogHer attendees insights into building and growing a blog into a brand and business.

Miley recommends that bloggers start by conducting a gap analysis to design and develop their brand and then  target the right audience to monetize their blog. A gap analysis is a common planning and strategy tactic used by businesses to determine ways a brand can adapt to market conditions to reach their goals.  For a blogger, these goals could be to increase Web traffic, e-mail subscribers and blog comments, or to lower a blog’s bounce rate. 

Performing a gap analysis involves a simple five-step process:

1. Start with a list known gaps — holes in the market where a need is not being served by the products and services currently available.
2. List potential gaps — areas of opportunity that could arise later.
3. Make a list of triggers that may lead to gaps — what could you do to turn a potential gap into a real opportunity?
4. List market trends related to your industry or blog specialization. Where do you fit in?
5. Assign actions you can take in these areas.

An analysis like this can be as involved or as simple as you wish.  The goal is to benefit the end user and its complexity depends on the complexity of your own brand, blog and business.

This analysis should be repeated once every two years for maximum effectiveness.  The strategy you devise won’t be so different from the ones large corporations use — you’re just working on a smaller scale.  But even though the scale may be smaller, these kinds of insights are every bit as important to bloggers large and small.

Miley says it’s important to work with someone who isn’t closely involved with your blog, because that distance will  allow them to see the big picture.  But that doesn’t mean you have to hire a professional to get the job done, she argues.

A gap analysis will provide bloggers who are building a brand presence with an understanding of where the market opportunities lie, allowing a clear strategy and brand vision to be established.  When it comes to the process of growing and facilitating your community, good content wins out every time. “Be yourself and the flock will find you,” says Miley when discussing brand authenticity. “There is power in being your authentic self.”

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Fix a problem. All businesses are in the business of problem solving. No matter what your good or service is, you solve a problem for your customers every day. Your social media presence can be an extension of that role. Think about what your customers are worried about or interested in and then share your expertise on that subject. That might mean doing unusual product demos, answering user questions, providing advice or sharing a white paper. These kinds of posts don’t require a lot of preparation or research because they’re ideally the same questions your company is answering for customers every day — it’s stuff you already know! Some people like to call this thought leadership, but I like to think of it as proving that you know what you’re talking about. When you can show people that your company can help them solve little problems, they’re more likely to come to you for the big ones.

Share a secret. Secrets have a bad rap. The word conjures up images of secret formulas in vaults and baby-daddy reveals on daytime talk shows. But they don’t have to be big, they don’t have to be important and they certainly don’t have to be damaging. A secret is just a piece of information that’s in short supply. If you treat information as special, it becomes special. And when you share special information with people, they feel special too. By sharing a look behind the scenes at your organization, giving early access to a new product or putting old information in an interesting context, you can make your fans feel like they’re part of something bigger than themselves.

Ask the audacious question. Questions are a fun and easy way to knock out a blog post or a Facebook update. But unless you’re asking a bold one, you may be let down by the response. Ask big questions — preferably ones without easy answers. Give people a chance to get fired up about something and they’ll not only post, but they’ll come back to see what other people are saying. Knowing what to ask (and what to avoid) is something that comes from knowing your audience. What are they passionate about? What are their sacred cows? What are their big fears? For some people, asking about the best brand of luxury sunglasses is a non sequitur and for others it’s a street fight.

Tell a story. If you’re always relatable, you’ll always be relevant. Telling your fans a funny, strange or engaging story is one of the most powerful tools you have. The topic doesn’t have to be strongly related to your company — one of the most popular things I’ve written for this blog was about my favorite pickup line — it just needs to connect with the audience your company is trying to reach. Stories are a gateway drug: Once you’ve roped people in, you can work on solidifying that connection and sharing more information about your business.

Bring in another voice. No one says you have to do this all on your own. Interviews with experts, customers sharing their stories and even the occasional guest post are all great ways to keep your blog fresh. Getting people to give you a little bit of their time is easier than you might think, particularly if you’re willing to lend them a little bit of cross-promotion as part of the bargain. The trick is asking focused questions that will resonate with your audience — vague post topics and wishy-washy questions are stressful for your guest voice and tend not to perform well with audiences either.

Hit them with the remix. Did you shoot a video? Turn a summary of that video into a blog post. If you took a poll, turn the results into an infographic and share it on Facebook. Make a popular series of blog posts into an e-book. Never discard a piece of content after one use.

How are you creating content that speaks to your fans?

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