Lisa Mason
Once upon a time, a group of researchers sat down and calculated that it takes roughly 10,000 hours to become an expert in something. We got a group of our interns to sit down and work out that it only takes 10 minutes to learn something from our expert interviews. Today we’re speaking with blogging and content marketing wiz, Lisa Mason.
Via her online magazine Copy, Content and Marketing, Lisa offers advice on copywriting, content marketing and social media. How often do you have to update a site to maintain an audience? Should guest authors always suit the style of your site? Is it annoying to see celebrities get thousands of re-tweets for doing nothing? We asked Lisa to find out.
Your site notes social media as one of the topics it covers. Has reading and writing about social media and its applications for so long affected how you market yourself and your site?
Absolutely! I learn new information often that helps me change or tweak things in my business to help myself as well as my clients. Social media is definitely a practice more than a science and it’s always evolving.
Considering your site is dedicated to noting and reporting on trends in a variety of subjects, including social media and branding, have you personally noted any trends or shifts in the media since first starting the site?
Yes, the industry is regularly changing. I often refer to social media as a living, breathing organism. A social media site is just the sum of all the parts of the people who use it so for many networks; the community will change it over time. Then of course there are also routine changes to the networks themselves, such as API changes, platform upgrades and more.
In regards to self promotion, you certainly have an impressive portfolio of work. How have you capitalized on this in the past? Has it ever opened any doors for you?
Thank you! I’m sure it has opened some doors. My biggest goal is to provide quality, useful information. I feel like if I can help at least one person with it, then I have done my job. Social media and content “experts” are a dime a dozen these days so it definitely helps to have a portfolio noting your experience in this industry.
Your site employs a number of guest authors, in what ways do you feel this benefits the site?
I like being able to give different voices and perspectives on the matter.
Following up on the previous question, how do you go about enticing and drawing in these guest authors? And how do you make sure they all fit the tone and voice of the site?
I have a set of contributor’s guidelines that I provide the guest authors with and I do all of the editing. I prefer seeking guest authors who are experts in their fields over unsolicited requests.
I noticed that you also run another, rather popular website called Social Media Satisfied. Can you briefly explain what it entails?
Social Media Satisfied is my main site, which is used to promote my social media services business and also just to provide quality information, news, and interviews of interest to those who use social media.
In relation to the previous question, have you utilized cross promotion between the sites at all? If so, how did it go?
I do sometimes cross promote, but I’m always cautious to remain true to the focus of each site. CCM is for my writing and content marketing services and SMS is for my social media services and industry information.
Magazines are normally a media that is consumed in a very one-sided fashion with little to no feedback from the creator. Do you feel that with the instant and always connected aspect of an online magazine you’re able to better interact with readers? Or do you try to maintain distance like with traditional print media?
I believe it allows me to be more one-on-one with the readers to that they are more of a friend and a community than a client or customer. This has always been my goal and this is something not easy to achieve with traditional print media.
As an online magazine, how often do you feel it is necessary to update to maintain a good online presence?
At minimum once per week. I want to provide quality info and not spam my community, but I also want to ensure I am fresh in their minds and giving them something on a regular basis.
Finally, as someone with many years of experience with social media and someone who has worked very hard to develop a reasonably sized social media following, how do you feel when celebrities get thousands of re-tweets for saying “good morning” while more awesome content goes ignored?
This is a fun question because I have seen it time and time again. It doesn’t’ bother me because that is the nature of social media but it does fascinate me. I find it like one giant social experiment sometimes and that is why I am so passionate about social media. I do love to see celebrities making positive use of that power that they hold to do social good. That’s always very refreshing.
You can see more work from Lisa by checking out her sites. If social media is your bag, check out Social Media Satisfied, if copy writing and marketing is more your thing, check out Copy, Content and Marketing.