Using Print For Online Reputation Management
There’s a lot to be said for online reputation management. I mean, using articles, blog posts, social media, etc. to management your reputation online. But can you use off line material? Can print publications be used for online reputation management?
Absolutely. But I’m not talking about replacement here. I’m talking about enhancement.
You still want to use traditional online marketing resources to manage your reputation online, but writing articles for print publications, networking at physical events, and writing and publishing a book in print can do wonders for your online reputation as well.
The big thing to keep in mind is using online and off line resources for an integrative approach to marketing. That’s where print comes into play with online reputation management.
When you write articles for print publications, do you add your web address to your bio? Do you let people know where to find you online? You should. And that’s a part of your overall reputation management plan, or should be.
You can do this simple thing every time you engage with an audience off line. Direct them back to where they can find you online. Every time you do that, it helps your online reputation. And that will replicate the more you do it.
Paper.li, Twitter, And All The Buzz
I have no doubt you’ve likely heard of Twitter, but have you heard Paper.li?
Paper.li allows anyone to become an instant publisher by creating a daily newspaper that republishes tweets based on the publisher’s preference. When you establish a newspaper on Paper.li, you choose a set of keywords and triggers that Paper.li uses to find information to publish in your daily newspaper. Then, when each issue is published, it tweets your newspaper with @mentions of all the news spotters who have contributed to your edition. It’s an awesome social curation tool.
Social curation is something new. It essentially means that you “curate,” or compile, content from the Internet inside of a social media platform. Paper.li is the perfect example.
You can benefit from Paper.li without being a publisher. All you have to do is continue tweeting interesting links and Paper.li publishers will pick those up and run them in their newspapers. How does that benefit you? A lot.
As a news spotter, you get an instant profile on Paper.li. No need to even sign up for an account. Your profile lists all the stories that you find and tweet which get picked up by Paper.li publishers. Through that, you can gain new Twitter followers and even more readers to your blog. From that, you hope more business.
With Paper.li and Twitter you have the potential to create all the social buzz you can handle.
Why Self-Publishing Is The Shiznit
If you plan to do any Internet marketing at all, then the most important thing to keep in mind about your business is that you are first and foremost a publisher. A self-publisher, but a publisher nonetheless.
Why is it so important to consider yourself a self-publisher? Because when you think about it, publishers own and control the flow of information and information is the key to your business.
It doesn’t matter if you run a brick and mortar busines or an online-only business, if you are marketing online, then you are publishing information. Articles, blogs, Twitter feeds, Facebook status updates, Facebook pages, social bookmarks with content summaries, answers to questions on the Q&A sites, the list goes on and on. It’s all content that you publish – whether on your own site or someone else’s.
While this is marketing and the intent is to drive traffic back to your website so that you can close sales, it’s also publishing. You’re in the information publishing business no matter what other business you consider yourself in.
When you think of yourself as a publisher, then you gain a lot more clout. You gain instant credibility. You can suddenly own and control the flow of content and information. If you aren’t doing that, then it’s controlling you.
Would You Pay Twitter For Its Data Streams?
Twitter has changed its policies to let publishers and developers know that if they make money from advertising by publishing Twitter data as a primary function of their website then they could be paying Twitter for the privilege of using that data. Do you think that’s a fair deal?
Of course, Twitter is talking about charging only the large publishers at this time, but whose to say that wouldn’t eventually trickle down to the small fellow? After all, data licensure is data licensure.
If I understand this correctly, this would be akin to buying the rights to use movies in your business presentations. That happens all the time. If the licensure fee is worth it to you and you can profit from it then it’s a good thing, right? Well, many online publishers are already making money off of Twitter data and it seems that Twitter is getting tired of not getting any of it.
What do you think? Should Twitter get a piece of the action?