If you’ve ever heard of social media described as a party, you probably know it’s one you don’t want to miss out on. But what do you do when the party people aren’t inviting brands?

Companies face unique challenges in the social media realm for one simple reason: people are loyal to people. That human connection we all crave online tends to get lost and diluted when you’re a brand made up of countless faces.

So how do you harness the power of “one” to build a loyal following online? Check out my 5 basic tips for being more likeable over at The Brief, where I guest blogged last week.

And tell me, are there any tips you would add to the mix?

 photo credit: @NickyColman

This Wednesday, the 20th, I’ll be teaching a webinar through Sharp Skirts’ Get Sharp program on how to grow a blog the right way. Whether you’re blogging for business, personal reasons (or a little bit of both), the key to attracting loyal readers is in writing content that matters to them. I’ll be going over how to do this and more. Here’s a brief description of the course:

Ever feel like you blog ang blog, but nobody’s listening? Learn how to grow (and keep) the right audience by finding your focus, increasing your visibility, and delivering content that matters. When done right, a blog can be an amazing business tool, so join copywriter, blogger and editor Natalia Sylvester as she shares her tips on how to avoid having “Just another blog.”

To learn more or register, click here. Hope to see you Wednesday!

Yes, I know. For a lot of people, Twitter’s not that big of a deal. But for me, it is. It’s how I grew my business when I relaunched, rebranded, and relocated to a new state. It’s how I keep in touch with virtual colleagues and keep up-to-date on industry news and even make new friends. And for just a little over a year, it’s a place where I’ve been know as @InkyClean.

And here I am about to change that.

A lot of things have led up to this. For one, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want out of Twitter, and more than anything it’s a place where I connect with other people. The business relationships and the promotion of Inky Clean all come secondary to the real relationships I’ve made. I don’t log on every day to link to my latest blog post, but I do log on every day to check and see how my “tweeps” are doing. Twitter’s a place where I feel I can let my guard down a bit; it’s a place for honesty and genuineness, and for me, the next step in that sincerity is to just use my own name.

Secondly, as much work as I’ve put into Inky Clean, it’s not the only thing I do, nor is it the only thing that defines me. I’m not just a copywriter—I’m an aspiring novelist, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer addict, a nostalgic gamer who occassionally plays Donkey Kong Country on an old-school Super NES, a dog owner, an occasionally moody (but always lovable) wife, a little sister, a Miami transplant living in Austin…the list goes on and on. All of these things, including my company, fall into the very complex and often geeky umbrella that is me.

Third, I want people to know me for me. A year ago when I started this Twitter account, my goal was to develop Inky Clean as a strong, memorable brand. And I think I’ve done that maybe too well (on Twitter, at least) because sometimes, once the online networking goes offline, people will call me by company name and not my actual name. And I love that it sticks, I love that they remember it, but I want my company to be something people remember about me, not all they remember.

So maybe it’s time for me to develop my personal brand just like I developed my business brand. And it’s very possible to develop both at once. It doesn’t mean I’ll be neglecting my business brand (and—let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture here—a brand is much, much, much more than a Twitter handle). If anything, I’ll be working harder to make sure that my business is one of the great things people think of when they think of me. But just one of the things, among many.

Because we are all so very many things.

Do you keep your business and personal brand separate? Why or why not?

I’ve been noticing one word keeps popping up to describe how marketers should make their audience feel: charmed.

Charming someone is far more powerful than leaving a good impression. A person who’s charmed by you won’t stop thinking about you after you’ve met. They’ll smile when your name comes up, and want to gush to their friends about how great you are. They’ll hope that your initial encounter will turn into something much more long-term.

Sounds nice, doesn’t it? So how exactly do you go about doing this?

Think of it like a great first date

1. The first impression sets the tone: Get yourself dolled up, stand up straight, and speak with confidence. In other words, present yourself in the best possible light. You can’t fake a great web presence (just like you can’t fake a good suit) so make sure your web design is appealing to the eyes (cleanliness, please!), your web copy has strong headlines, and your site is easy enough to navigate that it makes for a pleasing experience. Also, get rid of anything that oozes cheesiness—flashy graphics, taglines that rhyme for no other reason than to sound “clever,” and auto-music are huge signs that you’re trying too hard.

2. Sincerity works wonders: Don’t you hate it when people give dating advice like “just be yourself”? Well, it’s true. You won’t get matched up with your right audience if you’re not putting the real you out there. Be honest about your product or service and you’ll build an invaluable trust with your customers. That trust—in the quality of what you’re offering, the quality of your service, and the promises that you make—is the only thing that’ll stop them from leaving the second someone else claims to be #1.

3. Talking about yourself is still a turn-off: Nobody wants to sit through dinner with someone who won’t stop bragging about themselves. The same goes for your marketing copy: It can’t be all about you. If you’ve won awards or Mashable called your startup the next big thing, share it in places where it’s relevant. Your About page, Press Page, a sidebar or even (briefly) on your homepage are all good places as long as they’re not taking the focus away from the main point: What can you do for your customers? Which brings us to number four…

4. You gotta think about their needs: Be a good listener and be considerate of their needs. That’s usually enough to get you a second date. Before you write any marketing copy, listen to your target audience and its needs. Keep them in mind at all times: What are they looking for in a product like yours? What problem do they have that you might not be aware of? How can you make their life easier?

5. Nobody likes a bland date: You could have all of the above and still not charm anyone if you don’t show some personality. Step outside of the misleading safe zone formed by boring, “let’s please everyone” branding and make a real statement. It might not charm everyone, but it won’t matter as long as you’re charming the right people.

photo credit: chibi_m

Lately, I’ve been noticing how small the online world can be despite its vastness. We all have our favorite bloggers, websites, and Tweeters that we interact with. We even have a select few that we look up to and draw inspiration from. And even though this list is unique for everyone, we all have one thing in common:

We’re here to learn something.

Which also means that we feel we have a lot to learn. Which means we feel like someone out there is better than us at what we’re trying to do. Which means if we’re not careful, we can do some serious internal damage to our own confidence and aspirations if we spend too much time comparing ourselves to them.

And by “we” of course I mean “I”

Because that’s what I did this week. I’ve been thinking of offering new products and services through Inky Clean, so naturally I started doing some research. What’s already out there? What are other writers doing? How are they making it work and how can I approach it differently?

The deeper I got into my research the louder this little voice inside of me started saying, “What makes you think you can do this? What makes you so special?”

I got into quite the slump, and I realize it’s risky to share this online. Online, we’re supposed to showcase ourselves. We’re supposed to sell our expertise and know-how in a neatly-bundled package. Perhaps this is how we end up with online idols who, in our minds, never experience self-doubt, never question whether or not they’re getting everything right, never wonder how they’ll pull things off.

How I got out of this slump

I’ve been having a lot of great conversations with writers lately, and they are all in different stages of their career. One of them actually told me that they looked up to me, that they considered me an example of a successful writer. And I really had to step back, shift my perspective away from the impossible standards I’d set up for myself, and realize that they were right. Not in an arrogant, “You’re right, I’m wonderful” kind of way, but in a healthy, “You’re right, I should be proud with what I’ve accomplished” kind of way.

I should mention that the person who said this to me is a fantastic writer, and I also know for a fact that she experiences moments of self-doubt just like I do. And if that’s the case, then that’s probably the case for the people I look up to, and the people those people look up to, until it all becomes this crazy cycle of accomplished, but occasionally insecure, awesome people.

Only, we don’t often see that. We see beautifully-designed websites, prolific blogs and swarms of comments and we forget that the people we admire are more than their traffic numbers or client lists. And then we compare ourselves to them based on this incomplete ideal that we’ve created in our minds.

Maybe it’s time we broke that cycle. Maybe it’s time we stopped comparing ourselves—our real, living, breathing, thinking, selves—to the online brands and personalities we become attached to. If we stop idolizing them, an interesting thing could happen: we could learn a lot from them, without putting ourselves down like I did. We could get to know the real people behind the personas and realize that we’re not all that different.

What do you think? Have you ever been in a similar slump? Or is it just me?

photo credit: Mike Kanert

I know, I know. The whole “Lessons from [insert trending topic here]” thing can get kind of annoying. Just be thankful I didn’t make this a “Lessons from the Gap Logo Fiasco” post. I was thisclose to writing one.

I went to see The Social Network this weekend. Parts of it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside even though they weren’t meant to. I have this thing for seeing old screenshots of popular websites, and seeing shots of Facebook as “TheFacebook.com” took me back to my sophomore year of college at the University of Miami.

Is it weird that I still remember where I was when I first heard of the site that would change the way we experience each others’ lives? I was standing in the school’s breezeway interviewing a source for an article for the student paper. Somehow it came up as a “site that lets you see what other students’ schedules are.” Weird, but okay. I created a profile. I got friend requests from students whom I’d never even spoken to in class before. You know the rest of the story.

The World Got Onboard for the Ride

But that little cusp, that time when people were jumping on the Facebook bandwagon with no clear idea of where it was headed, is beautifully depicted in the movie. There’s a scene where Zuckerburg’s CFO is anxious to find a way to monetize the site now that it’s reached 100,000 users. He wants to set up meetings with advertisers.

In the movie (because who knows what happened in real life), Zuckerburg tells him that they can’t do that yet. They can’t start making it a business because they don’t know what Facebook is going to be yet. Users don’t know what it’s going to be yet. All everyone knows is that it’s cool, and that’s why they’re joining. The site’s “cool” is the greatest thing they’ve got going for them.

What’s your Cool?

We don’t all have the luxury of waiting like Zuckerburg did to become a billionaire. But we all have to keep our cool. That thing that drives people to your business, that makes them be loyal to you and keeps them coming back. The thing that makes them feel like they’re getting something out of the experience, instead of the other way around.

Movie Zuckerburg didn’t want people coming to Facebook and being bombarded with ads because this would change their message from “Facebook is about you” to “Facebook is about how we can profit from you.” Before the company could start making money, they needed to define what their users would get out of it, and how to keep giving them that.

It’s Not that Making Money’s Not Cool…

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t advertise on your website. I’m not saying that trying to make money from your business is bad. I’m not even saying you have to be cool. Maybe that’s not your brand’s style (maybe it’s more of a friendly smarty-pants or a nurturing mother type).

I’m just saying to guard your cool above all else. The cool is hard to define because it’s an essence. It’s that feeling people get when they realize that a product or a service is going to change their lives in a way they’ve been waiting for. It’s the satisfaction they get when this promise is delivered.

It’s the only thing that will keep them coming back to you. The only thing that will keep money in your pocket and you in business.

And it’s not at all about you.

So, what’s your cool? And, more importantly, is it showing?

So many wonderful things happen when you let yourself take a vacation, like I did last week. You might find that the world actually does not come crumbling down if you deactivate the email accounts on your Blackberry (I didn’t believe it at first, but it’s true!). You might experience moments that leave you speechless or on the brink of tears, like when I saw the Grand Canyon or heard the first opening notes of The Phantom of the Opera.

Or, after having carefully planned your wardrobe for the entire week but choosing your bummiest outfit for a 5:30 a.m. flight home, you might run into Tim Gunn at a Las Vegas hotel. You can’t take a picture with Tim Gunn in a wrinkled sweater, white/beige T-shirt, baggy jeans and crazy hair. At least I can’t, but I’ll pretend that the real reason I didn’t walk up to him was because he was talking to someone.

Anywho…Here’s where this is going:

Some bad things can happen upon your return from said vacation. Like forgetting how to use your fingers to push those pretty buttons on your computer and make words with them (oh yes, it’s called typing!) or forgetting the right words for things. Or, after spending a long period of time trying to take a break from what it is you do for a living, you suddenly forget how to eloquently describe your job.

The simple question with the Not-so-simple Answer

The night after I got back from vacation, I went to an art gallery for the opening reception of my husband’s photography teacher’s exhibit. As we made small talk with some of his classmates, one of them turned to me and said:

So what do you do for a living?

This is one of those questions that’s always tough for me to answer in social, non-business settings. Do I say, “I’m a writer” or that I own my own copywriting business? Or do I simply say I’m a copywriter, which usually gets followed by the “Yes, but who do you work for” question.

But online—on my website, my Twitter stream, Facebook page, blog—what I do should be pretty clear to anyone that visits, right? I was pretty sure of this until I started catching up on my Google Reader feed and came across this post by IttyBiz. She asks an important question:

How many of YOUR readers don’t really understand your business?

Then she asks us to answer the following questions in a blog post. The point is to make sure you’re clearly communicating what you do to your readers. Seeing as how my brain is still getting reacquainted with work (seriously, it just took me like five tries to write reacquainted) I’m more than happy to let someone else think of a blog topic for me.

So I’ll play. Here goes.

What I Do:

What’s your game? What do you do?

I help businesses get their message across with the written word. This sounds simple but rarely is. Anyone who’s ever started a business knows there is an endless amount of material that needs to be written—from the web copy that needs to capture your brand perfectly, to the ad you’re spending a small fortune on, to the words that will ultimately end up on your product’s packaging. All of these communications need to be consistent with the company’s brand and messaging, so I find the right words and write copy that will speak to the intended audience. Copywriting isn’t just about getting something written. It’s about getting the right message across with those words. I make sure we’re doing that.

Why do you do it? Do you love it, or do you just have one of those creepy knacks?

I love it. I surprise myself with how much I love it. Back when I was mainly writing for magazines I thought writing marketing copy would stifle my creativity. But there’s nothing more creative than having to find the perfect combination of three to five words (out of what? Millions?) for a company’s tagline or slipping into a voice that lets you say something in a completely new way.

Who are your customers? What kind of people would need or want what you offer?

My customers are business owners who aren’t afraid to get creative with their messaging (or who are at least willing to let me do it for them). They don’t want boring, overused, corporatese and they don’t want to say things in the same way that a thousand other companies are saying them. They embrace the idea of showing some personality in their branding because they understand that this is what will make them stand out.

One thing I’ve noticed a lot of my customers say to me is “I’m not good with words.” That’s perfectly fine. They’re great at what they do, at whatever skill makes up their business, and they understand the importance of hiring someone who IS great with words so that they can keep working their kind of magic.

What’s your marketing USP? Why should I buy from you instead of the other losers?

Because I don’t just focus on the words, I focus on a company’s brand. The words should give that brand a voice and help it come alive and be memorable. So I make sure that the copy I write is full of personality and says more than the words do. There are multiple messages being sent in a company’s copy. There’s the actual statement that’s being made, and there’s the impression that those words will leave long after a person’s forgotten what they read.

I make sure that impression is consistent with a company’s brand; that’s it’s the impression they’re hoping to make. All companies should seize the opportunity to let their personality show in big or small ways. Maybe they’re charming, or witty, or smart-asses, or wholesome goody-goodies—but they have to be something that will stick in their target audiences’ minds.

What’s next for you? What’s the big plan?

My main focus right now is growing my business according to my definition of growth. So it’s not just about bringing in tons of clients, but rather finding the clients I totally click with, and working with them long-term. I’m lucky that I have several regular clients who I’m able to grow and adapt with as their business develops, and I’m hoping to make that kind of connection with a few more.

And, I know this is random, but you know what I would absolutely love to write? The copy for a museum exhibit, preferably a children’s museum. Have you ever thought about how much information has to get reduced and simplified so that it can fit on those small plastic plaques that people walk by? That’s a challenge I’d totally be up for: getting the important stuff across in a way that’s fun and concise so that people read it and actually learn something they won’t forget.

So there you have it. What I do. Sound like something you need? Contact me and we’ll start up a brainstorm. I promise my brain’s working now. It better be after this 1200-word post.

And if reading these questions has made you give another think to whether your readers know what you do, why not blog about it like I did? Or better yet, leave a little something in the comments below!

It’s here! The new blog design! About time, right? After going through several templates in the few months I’ve had this blog, I finally decided it was time for a makeover that was more my style.

And, being a bit of a control freak, I actually considered trying to do it myself for a while. How I’d do it, I had no idea, but I figured since I did the design for my website (once I had the logo done professionally), how hard could a blog design be, right?

So not right. Because unlike several months ago when I was redoing my site, this time I was missing two key resources: time and expertise. I’m a writer, not a coder. And even though I dabbled in graphic design for a bit before switching majors into English and journalism in college, sometimes passion alone is not enough to get the job done.

Switching Sides

So I set out to find someone who’d design and code a template based on the original design of my site. Switching roles to become the client in the client-creative relationship is always an eye-opener. We all need a refresher every once in a while. A reminder that:

1. Prospective clients have a crazy, overwhelming amount of people to choose from, whether they’re looking for a designer or a writer or a plumber.

2. First impressions matter. What do you do when a Google search yields 200,000 results? Maybe give the first ten sites or so 2 seconds on their homepage. I didn’t stay on anyone’s website more than 2 seconds if I didn’t find their design appealing.

3. Don’t hold back. Once I’d decided I liked someone’s site, I quickly searched for the information I was looking for: Could they do what I needed? How long would it take? About how much might it cost? What are some examples of what they’d already done? If I didn’t find it there, I kept looking.

4. Be available. I ended up requesting quotes from three designers. One said they’d send me a quote on Monday and only got back to me Thursday after I’d sent a follow-up email. Another sent a quote that was over my budget, but seemed willing to work with me on what other options might be available. That was looking promising, until, as I waited, I stumbled upon a site that had a chat feature with a company representative. He was online, so we started chatting. I told him what I needed and within minutes I had a quote and a reasonable delivery date. I didn’t even have to pick up the phone.

So…what do you think about the new look?

In case I haven’t made this clear before, I’m a huge Twitter fan. Yes, I’m that annoying person who’s always suggesting that my job-seeking friends and entrepreneur friends get on Twitter. Right. Now.

Problem is, they’ll often come back after a few months and say it hasn’t really worked for them. It seemed too time consuming, and they weren’t getting any followers.

But this post isn’t about how to get followers (this one is). It’s about how to make Twitter work for you when you’re a newbie. It’s about how not to mess it up your first 20 Tweets in. Because while it’s true that Twitter doesn’t work for all types of businesses, more often than not it’s because a person isn’t using it right.

So if you’re new to Twitter, or thinking about creating an account, here are some tips to make sure you’re not doing it wrong.

1. Get a Twitter Client, like, yesterday. I know it sounds contradictory, but you won’t be using Twitter to its fullest potential if you’re using it on the website itself. A client like TweetDeck or HootSuite will keep you updated on your replies (so you don’t accidentally ignore  people trying to chat with you). You can create tabs where you can monitor certain keywords, like industry terms, or chats (as indicated by a # sign before a term, like in #brandchat). Because the whole point of Twitter is that there are several conversations being updated in real time—wouldn’t it be best if you sifted through the noise to get to what you want to hear?

2. Don’t make your followers do all the work. If you want to share a link to a blog post you wrote, or a product special on your site, please, please, PLEASE don’t just tweet the link. Give people a reason to click on it. Tell them what’s in it for them; if you ask them to figure it out on their own, they simply won’t. read more…

One of the most common mistakes I see on website copy is when the main headline says, “Welcome to our site!” I can definitely see the logic behind why someone would write this. After all, when someone visits your home in cyberspace it’s common to want to make them feel welcome there.

But here’s the thing. Welcome doesn’t cut it. Welcome is a lot like those mats that everyone has on their front door. Sure, visitors will read it, but then they’ll step right over it and wipe their feet on the word. So how do you really show someone they’re “welcome” when the word has lost its meaning?

Look beyond the word. Are you really trying to make someone feel welcome, or are you trying to make them feel like they’d want to stick around a bit? These are two very different things. You can tell guests staying at your home that they’re welcome to stay as long as they want and that you’re happy to have them any time. But if there’s no hot water, the beds are uncomfortable and they don’t have pillows, they probably won’t want to stay very long anyways.

So really, in your web copy, just as in a hotel or guesthouse, the best way to make visitors stick around is to show them what you have to offer. Switch that welcome mat out for a headline that tells them, right away, how your product or service can make their lives better. Show them the benefits of taking a look around. If visitors can’t quickly see the value of staying on your website, then that “welcome” might as well say “go away.”

For example, what would be more effective?

A veterinary website that says: Welcome to Our Clinic! or one that says: The city’s only 24-hour emergency clinic for small animal companions.

A restaurant site that says: Welcome to Tom’s! or one that says: Local organic food with an international flavor.

Of course, there’s always room for some creativity, too, but the message of what you’re offering should always come first. Show someone that you can make their lives a bit easier and the “welcome” will be implicit.