Tag: syndication

The Next Big Story…How You Can Be In On It
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I watch several news programs during the day. It’s my way of keeping up with the latest news and venturing into the minds of the public relations pros as they help shape the news. I may switch from NBC or CBS to CNN in the morning as I am preparing for work. I always check back to the national news during the day.

Two of the hot stories right now are the Martin/Zimmerman story and the “big wait” for the birth of the royal baby. All of the major media outlets are on both of these stories. Many have sent reporters and their media crews to London to await the royal birth. As of this writing, there is no word from the Palace that the Duchess is even in labor. However, media outlets have scurried over to get “the next big story.”

You are a business owner, and depending on what you sell or what services you provide – there has to be “the next big story” in your field. So, how do you get your next big story? How do you stay up on the cutting edge of new things? What measures do you have in place to hear the little whispers out there that “the next big story” will pop out at any given time?

A few ways you can get out the gate with “the next big story” is to use an RSS feed from all the blogs and news outlets that you regularly visit. Why get the news second hand from someone on social media hours after it has been published? Most Internet browsers have RSS built in.

All you have to do is look for “RSS” on the various websites, click it and grab the link – or click “sign up.” If you opt for grabbing the link, you can manually input that in the RSS in your browser or – if you use Microsoft Outlook 2010 or higher, you can add the RSS into your email system. The great part about having it in your email is that as soon as it is published – it is immediately delivered into your email.

You can take action immediately on that “next big story.” Whether it’s writing a blog about it and sharing it on your own social media accounts, or writing an email and sending it to your clients.

Staying abreast of “the next big story” in your field and getting that information out immediately – will make you and your business very important to your clients.

If you have never used the RSS feed, try it out. You will find that you can’t live without it.

Double for Your Trouble – 5 Easy Steps To Get More from Your Blogs
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There’s so much more to the Internet than even five or six years ago. Many new businesses, websites, bloggers, news feeds…not to mention the popularity of social networking like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

There is a lot to absorb. Many people are not reading everything they receive in their email. They aren’t visiting all the great websites and blogs. It’s too overwhelming.

Think of your newsletter as mini websites. Businesses created hard copy versions and mailed them. Then came the electronic versions via email (e-newsletters). People are now blogging the information – writing and sharing via social media tools.

If you are a blogger try these five easy steps for getting two for one…:

  1. Why do the work twice? Create an e-newsletter out of the blogs you’ve written the previous month.
  2. If you have upcoming events, add in a calendar.
  3. Include an RSS feed to your blogs.
  4. Include links to your social media pages and links to past newsletters.
  5. Include photos from the previous month, and a list of upcoming topics on this month’s blog.

Get double for your trouble. The information shared is always valuable. Just because the blog was written, doesn’t mean it was read. Create an e-newsletter and get it back out there in a different way.