Blogging Tips: Media Training with Denmark Chamber of Commerce

Last week, we spent several days in Denmark in the remote south coast of Western Australia - one of the state's most beautiful spots. More than 20 came along to a Perth Media training session (facilitated by the Denmark Chamber of Commerce), and here are some of the tips we shared. Happy blogging!

1.     Go with your strengths: vlog, pics, individuals in the team strengths, photos, writing.

2.     The power of great writing is immense, to draw followers/customers.

3.     Positivity important.

4.     Sell your experiences.

5.     Promote events. Events generate news/customers/drives economic development.

6.     Design your blogs with your preferred social media in mind: instagram; twitter; facebook; linkedin..They all have different needs and different audiences, you can't tell/force your customers which social media to use.

7.     Work out how to share your content.

8.     Create content/blog calendar with deadline. Includes testimonials (3rd party endorsements); FAQs (frequency asked questions); video; long and short blogs. Blogs do not mean long columns. There maybe only one long blog each year, but make it a good well-written one.

9.     Content strategy has to be responsive; constantly changing; has to be flexible, and needs to respond to audience.

10.  Content strategy, needs to be seasonal. IE Christmas/Easter/Winter (bonfire themes; bushwalking); writers festival; Denmark Experience; Long table lunches; poetry/music festival, are examples. Festivals provide multiple ideas for content IE performer profiles; acts; reviews; insights of different skills for experiences, IE botanist walks; indigenous experts; cooks; films. Film tours/content on the back of Tim Winton’s Breath. Holiday packages around Breath tours.

11.  Look into possibility of outsourcing editing. Don't be delusional about your own copy/editing skills. It will impact on your brand.

12.  Quirky stories, are gold. ‘For outsiders everything is interesting,' says Creative and Digital consultant Andal Shreedaran at Perth Media. What is wonderful of Denmark and your own individual businesses?

13.  Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration. For blog distribution and sharing the load for events.

14.  Always check facts.

15.  Understand copyright.

16.  Build your own collection of images.

17.  Use press release/presspack stories as blogs.

18.  Read, read, read. Seek out good writing, understand the difference between good, mediocre and bad.

19.  Read your own writing aloud. Make every word count. Be strict cutting, and work on making writing clear. Be descriptive but not flowery and over the top.

20.  Volunteer for charity to get experience as a blogger. You can write the stories of those that need assistance, while you polish your craft.

21.  Identify your passions, your strengths, your interests.

22.  Tell only best stories, and start with the very best one first. Focus also on the opening para.

23.  Understand google rankings and the reason blogs impact on business sales.

24.  Develop relationships with other companies/bloggers/publications.

25.  Understand importance of themes in content creation and promotions.

26.  Do something every day, as part of your BD.

27.  Appeal to different target markets of your products. IE kid friendly; backpackers.

28.  Content strategy: incorporate key words, such as ‘Denmark’ ‘tourism’.

29.  The only thing stopping you writing and promoting your business is you.

Or too busy, call Perth Media now. We can help with a content package right now! cate@perthmedia.com.au

Perth Media Blogging with Denmark Chamber of Commerce Next Week

Perth Media blogging workshop next week is on track, organised by Denmark Chamber of Commerce, 22 have booked. Thanks to Liz Jack, Anna Boaden and Claudia Simpson at the Denmark Chamber of Commerce and Jody Ovenden at Celestine Retreat for her encouraging support.

Looking forward to assisting writing skills and developing grassroots expertise.

Perth Media creative and digital consultant, Andal Shreedaran, is also presenting her 'Future of Content' Research, remotely.

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Perth Media Content for Rainbow Fun: Screen-Free Fosters Creativity

Let kids go outside and play, discover the world around them and be creative.

Set Up Screen Free Zones in Your Home and Your Child’s Imagination Will Grow

Switch the screens off at set times, have screen-free rooms in your home and slow down, says UK parenting expert Carl Honoré.

Honoré, author of Under Pressure and star of TV show Frantic Family Rescue, spoke to a large Perth crowd this week.

He said parents should not schedule in every moment of the day. They should leave time for children to get bored as this allows them to use their imagination.

Let them go outside and play, discover the world around them and be creative.

He warned families should understand how a ‘roadrunner culture’ is not always good for emotional stability and development.

Honoré said, in Silicon Valley, recently he spent time speaking to executives of Google, Apple and Microsoft.

“And what are they doing with their children? I’ll tell you what they are not doing, they are not putting them in front of ipads and Baby Einstein videos,” Honoré said.

“They are switching off the screens and giving them wooden toys and sending them out to play in the garden and the woods.”

Honoré said former Apple executive Steve Jobs didn't let his kids have all the computer gadgets and he actually had a background in calligraphy.

He said Jobs knew everyone needs space to get away from technology to find their own narrative – away from algorithms that are handed down.

Kids also need strong relationships with parents and for them to be present in the moment, not half listening to children, he said.

He was frank about his own failings as a parent and shared some lessons learnt.

He described how he had perfected the art of reading Snow White to his son skipping pages. Then one day he had a lightbulb moment. Was he really that busy that he needed to skip pages of the fairytale? Personally he had learnt to slow down with his own family.

More stimulation, especially of the electronic variety, is not necessarily going to be better for children. Any electronic stimulation in the early years is coming under serious review.

He said, in the United States, the company behind Baby Einstein has been forced to offer refunds to the parents who bought it.

“Why? Because the claims in the packaging and marketing just don't stand up to scrutiny in the cold light of day,” he said. “Because the way you create a world-famous physicist is not to plonk them in front of a screen.”

Honoré said it was very hard to get teenagers to switch off and he was certainly not against technology. They are good for the classroom, socializing and learning but they all have a little red button.

“And when we don't use that button, it starts to backfire on us, and not just on us as grown ups but on our children,” he said.

Hewlett Packard published a study in 2005 claiming constant electronic interruption, with workers addicted to checking email and text messages, can cause IQ to fall 10 points. It dubbed the fall in intelligence ‘infomania’.

Cate Rocchi is a writer and lives in Perth, Western Australia. She has worked as a reporter for more than 20 years and has submitted articles to many publications including Playtimes in Hong Kong. Cate has three children and once operated an outdoor children’s activity group in the UK in the 1990s called Kangaroo Kids. The group featured stories, walks and crafts in themes for toddlers and small children and their parents. She writes fiction under Jasper Books and owns a media company, Perth Media.

http://www.rainbowfun.com.au/blog/set-up-screen-free-zones-in-your-home-and-your-chi/