It was an eventful Sunday, and JWB was going to mentor a Blogger’s Meet put together by Wired Hub. Wired Hub is a Co-working cum Startup Club in Jaipur. Okay, when I stepped in, I fell in love with the place. The walls were doodled with one thing or the other.

The “Power Breakfast” was prepared to begin, as everyone surrounded Ana before she began talking about Blogging.

It reminded me of something really cute. When I was a little girl, I would read the book that had stories of Pinocchio, Puss In The Boots, Jack and the Beanstalk and more. On the front page of the storybook sat a woman with a scarf around her head reading to attentive & curious cats.

We all looked like curious kitties, while Ana, the Lady Boss, taught us the basic concepts of Blogging. Different people from different backgrounds were present there.

A lawyer, a commercial blogger who manages 300 (WHOA) blogs, a tech blogger, some aspiring bloggers and HEY, Abhishek & Mihika, what are you doin’ here?

I met Mihika the first time at Jaipur Rugs, remember the chirpy girl?

Ana began by asking them all to define their lives in one blog headline.

There were some pretty cool answers: A Book of Happiness, Digital Wizard Apparating Into The Digital World (I like the reference to Harry Potter), Mind of a 23-year-old: The Unstoppable (that came from the organizer Himanshi Goyal)

“Managing Dead Bodies,” said a Disaster Management expert.

Ana’s life’s title was beautiful, too: “Ana, The Girl Who Traveled To India On A Unicorn.”

After the fun activity, Ana handed an envelope each to the audience.

“On the envelope, write the name of one person you love the most in your lives. Don’t worry, we won’t see the names. So, it can be your lover, a parent, a friend, a sibling, anyone.”

Everyone silently wrote down a name on the back of their envelopes and were then asked to open it.

“Now, remember. When you write, you’re writing the blog post for THAT person, so put in as much heart as you can. Think that you’re writing it for just ONE reader. Don’t think about your audience as a faceless group.”

She then went on to share some tips for creating Great Blogging Content.

• Content is a voice, not an echo. Authenticity is the key.
• Develop the Audience-centric vision. Ask questions beyond demographics about your audience.
• Popularizing, sexualizing and glamorizing are the three evils of blogging.
• Copy information, tactics, ideas, but don’t forget to create in the process. So Copy + Create = CoCreate
• Content is unique. Opinion and creativity make ‘Unique’ cheaper & content variation plays a major role.
• Want to enrich your content? Well, you must create a network! Look for contributors.
• Create a feeling of community and belonging on your blog.
• Show real emotions. (Here we all pretended to be emoticons for a fun activity)
• Localize your content. Use regional languages.
• Make your content visual. Use metaphoric language, good quality pictures, and videos. 

The tips followed a short activity about Guerrilla Content Marketing. The Lady Boss asked the participants to write words that had “sell” hidden in them.

They were given a minute and a half, and the bunch came up with pretty interesting words:

Brussels, Carousel, Seldom, Selfish, Selfless and more.

“This is what you need to do with your CONTENT! The marketing part of your content should be invisible!”

• 86% businesses use content marketing. Content marketing is not a peace meal. It is the future. Believe in it.
• Put the audience first! Advertise – second. Ask yourself, who is the content for?
• Channelize your content and segment your audience through social media. Create few facebook pages on relevant topics that will increase flow to your blog. Social media is your everything! And, it also costs you less than other promotional tools.
• Customize the content of your advertisers to engage your audience.
• Base it on the experiential strategy. For example, you can write about your favorite “food” experience in a sponsor’s restaurant.
• Make brands Social Change Makers. Take up a social cause as a campaign for your advertiser.
• Turn yourself into a brand ambassador! Wear their clothing, show off their gadgets!
• Share your content on bigger websites, and be visible. It’s not your dress that makes you visible at a party; it’s the way you mingle with the guests!
• Hook your readers to your content using email marketing.
• Measure everything and experiment with the technology.
• Also, don’t sell everything, especially your readers.

 

Wow. That was… something. First of all, our Lady boss knows how to keep her audience engaged, I gotta say. *wink*

The session concluded with a short Q&A session, followed by a group photograph at the Wired Hub office. Thank you, Himanshi, for inviting JWB to deliver a mentoring session for some really cool and fired up bloggers.

Photo Courtesy: Rishab Lodha