As editor of ChangingAging.org, I’ve been helping Bill harness the power of social media and the web to spread the message that there are positive alternatives to the declinist, anti-aging paradigms that dominate our society.
Starting today, I’d like to share some of our social media techniques and strategies in a regular weekly blog post. And I’m going to try to target this advice particularly for those ChangingAging.org readers engaged in the front lines of the culture change movement to reshape eldercare and aging services, here in the U.S. and around the globe, because I know they are the largest part of our audience.
I think we’ve built an amazing community through ChangingAging.org and it’s been great to see friends, colleagues, students and strangers interact through the blog, Bill’s Facebook page, video channels and on Twitter.
What I’d like to do is get feedback from our community on what kinds of questions you have regarding social media. And to help generate that feedback, I’m going to offer a three-step plan on the best way to write a blog post that generates lots of comments!
Step one: Express a strong opinion! A good blog post is similar to a good newspaper editorial: it expresses a clear opinion or argument that inspires people to react based on their own personal feelings.
My opinion: Social media is proving to be a powerful driver of positive social change.
Step two: Make a claim and/or challenge — If you want to get people’s attention (and REACTION), don’t be afraid to tell them what you think about something, and challenge those who might disagree with you. It’s not about picking fights, but about expressing your best ideas and being open to hearing the best ideas of others.
My claim: It’s ESSENTIAL for organizations or people interested in engaging people through social media to use a blog as their central platform of communication.
Step three: Invite a response — Finish your blog post by inviting your readers to answer specific questions or share specific ideas.
I’ll wrap up with my invitation for a response: How are you or your organizations using social media tools? Which social media tools have worked well for you, and which ones baffle you? Feel free so share your own blogs, videos or other social media content.
Thanks for your response. Look forward to the blog you mention too. Joan
Question: What are best ways to upload videos to blogs and websites.
Joan — There are some instances when a business may want to host a video directly on their site. But when it comes to social networking, the best way to share your video content is to post it to a video social network site like YouTube and use the provided “embed” code to upload the video to your blog. YouTube has the advantage of being the Web’s second-most-used search engine behind Google, with its own social networking system setup through user-generated “Channels”, so I highly recommend making it your first step for uploading video content. But there are numerous free video upload sites (Vimeo.com is a favorite of mine) that will also allow you to post your video, embed it on your blog, and easily track how many hits you get.
I’m sure many of our readers have never uploaded a video to the internet before, so I will plan on writing a blog post detailing how to upload a video to YouTube in a step-by-step fashion.
And for our social media power readers who are looking to maximize their web video presence, I recommend checking out TubeMogul.com (http://www.tubemogul.com/) a new service that lets you automatically upload a single video to dozens of video sites — not just YouTube. One advantage you get is a customized dashboard that lets you easily track your video hits across multiple uploading sites. This is a powerful new tool for advanced users ready to move beyond video uploads to strategic viral video optimization.
Thanks for tips.
You Tube is favorite way to get direct contact with leading edge thinkers. Love Bill’s. These are more impactful than written words.
Question: What are best ways to upload videos to blogs and websites.