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It’s pretty easy to find discussions online in which the participants mull over what brands look for when they are searching for bloggers to review their products. Metrics aside, one of the biggest attention-getters for a brand is…YOU. (Yes, you.)

The style in which a blog is written is one of the first things to be considered by a brand (or representative thereof). Is the brand looking for someone who writes in an approachable, friendly style? Is the brand looking for someone who can write with humor? Of course it varies from company to company. What one brand might love, another might overlook in favor of another writer.

The important thing is, being approached by a brand who wants to develop a relationship via product reviews, sponsored posts, or even Ambassadorships means that you have caught their eye (with the exception of those pitches that were obviously blind copied to many people at once, with no regard for the blog content itself). The posts you write for them should be extremely consistent with your regular writing style, so as not to turn the brand—or your readers—off. Just slapping the product information up on your site—especially if you’re just copying from a press release—may not get you a second chance to work with that brand.

Here are four great examples of product reviews written in the last couple of months “with (their unique) style”:

Liz, This Full House – LEGO Games Giveaway: Reliving My Childhood, One New Year’s Eve At a Time!

BusyDad, The BusyDad Blog – BusyDad’s #Movember ‘stache 11/1/11 – 11/30/11 RIP #NorelcoDads

Michelle, Honest and Truly - http://honestandtrulyreviews.blogspot.com/2011/12/pillsbury-appetizer-potluck-yum.html

Vanessa, ChefDruck Musings – Cookbook Giveaway: Taste This! Gina Von Esmarch’s Delicious Sequel

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Barbara Rozgonyi

Panel Moderator & Speaker: Session I – Building Brand & Blogger Relationships

A mother of three, a published author, an accomplished marketing strategist and a PR pro for almost two decades, Barbara Rozgonyi knows what it takes to bring brands, PR agencies, and bloggers together as digital marketing partners. Founder of CoryWest Media, Barbara is a sought-after consultant to PR agencies whose mission is to convey clients’ messages to bloggers and targeted communities in way that makes the message relevant, personable and worth sharing. As the founder of Social Media Club Chicago and publisher of the popular blog Wired PR Works, Barbara is a renowned personality in the digital media world – locally and internationally. In 2010, Barbara contributed the LinkedIn chapter to “Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars.” Barbara’s W.I.R.E.D. social media marketing system engineers social media plans in higher education, luxury markets, small businesses, syndicated blogs, publishing houses and at global PR firms. Follow Barbara @wiredprworks on twitter or check out what’s new right now with the Wired PR Works iPhone app.

BLOGGERS PANEL:

Stephanie Precourt, Duong Sheahan, Wendy Piersall, Dwana DeLaCerna, Meagan Francis, & Beth Rosen

BRANDS PANEL:

Diana Plazas of Double Tree , and more to be announced shortly…

Sarah Evans

Speaker: Session II -FTC Guidelines Overview and How it Impacted the PR and Blogger World

@PRsarahevans is the Creator of #journchat , the weekly live chat for PR professionals, journalists and bloggers on Twitter. She is the owner of Sevans Strategy, a public relations and new media consultancy. It’s her personal mission to engage and employ the use of emerging technologies in all communication that connects her with a rapidly growing base of more than 45,000 people.

Sarah was in the February 2010 edition of Vanity Fair’s America’s Tweethearts, Forbes’ 14 Power Women to Follow on Twitter and Entrepreneur’s Top 10 Hot Startups of 2010.

Nancy Loo

Panel Moderator & Speaker:  Session III - Catching the Traditional Media’s Airwaves: Beyond the Press Releases

Nancy Loo is an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist who’s the newest member of the WGN-TV news team, working mainly on WGN Morning News and WGN Midday News.  Prior to joining “Chicago’s Very Own” as a Reporter/Fill-in Anchor in June of 2010, Nancy was an Anchor/Reporter at Fox Chicago after working previously in New York City, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Oregon.

When she isn’t blogging for Chicago Now, Nancy also posts for the TheChicagoMoms.com and serves as Managing Editor of YoungChicagonista.com – a website that encourages an appreciation for writing and technology among young girls.  She was also among the first broadcast journalists to launch her own blog site, NancyLoo.net.

Nancy was nicknamed “Big Tiny” by a Chicago cameraman.  Her first ChicagoNow blog explains why.  Many have come to know her as Big Tiny or even, B.T.  Check her out at Big Tiny World!

Miss Lori

Speaker: Session IV - Taking the Stage

@MissLori burst onto the National scene when she was chosen, out of a pool of 1500 candidates Nationwide, to be the first ever live host for the PBS Kids Preschool Block. From there she has continued to rise releasing a CD, a DVD, producing live shows, tours and television interstitials, and launching her blogsite, MissLori.TV. However, Miss Lori didn’t just start on PBS, she has enjoyed a 30 year career in the performing arts, including work on stage, radio, television and in print. Classically trained in dance, music and theatre, Miss Lori holds a BFA from the Boston Conservatory, but has also studied at Carnegie Mellon, and The University of Milwaukee’s Professional Theatre Training Program. Throughout her illustrious career Miss Lori has had the pleasure of working with such talents as Barry Manilow, Bea Arthur, Liz Calloway, Debra Byrd, Harry Lennix, Mark Harmon, Michael Beach, and Dick Van Patten, to name a few. Off stage Miss Lori has worked with women and children at risk, using role play to examine alternative choices for prior acts, also as a coping mechanism to deal with issues such as violence, sexual and drug abuse, and bullying, Through her company, Miss Lori’s CAMPUS, Miss Lori uniquely applies her theatre skills to promote life skills, helping her students young and old to “Take the Stage of Life.” Whether on stage, screen, recording, computer or live in person Miss Lori is adept at drawing an audience in, communicating her intent, and inspiring action.

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***This is the presentation I used to speak at a Moms In Business #Twittorial event with @npnparents organized by @toyshopkeeper.
While big companies/brands have the budget to hire marketing professionals to run their Social Networks, small businesses are depending only on themselves to paddle as fast as they can to get on board and not be swallowed by the next big wave of more networks to come. Being that I run SocialRevUp – a company that connect brands and bloggers together, I’ve been lucky enough to listen and have conversations with Social Media pros on the best ways to use our social networks. And after years of being a user (ok, addict) I have grasped enough experience and understanding about how people use Twitter effectively.

Below are the 4Cs on using Twitter for your small business: Building Credibility, Building Community, Building Conversation, Being Consistent

I – Build Credibility

A) Create the best 1st impression with your profile picture – Put one in if you haven’t. Without an uploaded picture It shouts spammer and when you choose one, remember that it would be the first thing people will check out about you. Here are my suggestions:

• If it’s a twitter account under your company name, then it should have your company logo or a picture that best represent your company. Your profile description should say the name of the person tweeting to make it more personalized.

• If you’re using your personal account to tweet for your company, then the picture should be of yourself. Really try to stay away from cute cat, or anything funny that has nothing to do with your business or you. Unless of course you’re a veterinarian, then the cute cat best represents who you are.

B) Your profile should have a link to your website – So many businesses forget to do this. A big loss of opportunity.

C) Your business website and business card should show you are on Twitter – Remember when everyone was just starting to have websites pop up. Now-a-days, if you don’t have a website, people will not consider you as a legitimate business. Well, the time has come for your Social Networks. Showing that you have a Twitter and Facebook invite your customers to contact you and stay in touch with what your company is doing.

II – Build Community

Find leads and build a relationship

• Follow Twitter conversations with the hashtag. Try searching #Obama on the Twitter page and you’ll see hundreds. If you’re interested in Obama then you will more than likely know who to follow by reading who’s tweeting. So try searching your industry with a hashtag like #bakery #chicago if you have a bakeshop in Chicago. (What is a hashtag?)

• Follow your competitors – follow their followers and who they’re following, read their tweets and what works for them. It’s not stalking – it’s research!

• Be the leader of the pack – Acknowledge competitors on great stuff they’re doing. Start building a community within your industry. This sets you up as the expert in that field. Customers are more likely to look for the leader of the pack first!

• Be the one to break and bring the new news in your industry. Because, that’s what leaders do!

• Attend (IRL) In Real Life events like local Tweet-ups. Better yet, host one! I’m a big believer that  face to face networking is very important in building your online followers. Join your local Social Media Clubs. Chicago has one of the most robust Social Media Club network and attending their events open you up to lots of contact to keep in mind.

“You’ll gain more followers if you show that you’re interested in them and not trying to get them interested in you.”—– Erik Qualman – author of Socialnomics and his recent book, Digital Leader

III – Build Conversation

• Less selling and more conversation Biggest mistake on some businesses starting is that they just focus on marketing their blog posts, sales, etc. on Twitter. Not much conversation there. Not to say that you shouldn’t, but there should be less selling and more conversation.

• Be relevant. What could a dentist tweet about? You can only talk so much about teeth, right? How about “Whoa, Jessica Simpson just said she only brushes her teeth once a week! So many health concerns can come up!” That simple tweet can bring conversation and questions from the dental expert who tweeted.

• Example Twitterers to check out: @Refrigeration who runs a refrigeration and cooling business in Chicagoland is on Twitter just bringing normal friendly conversations just like @el_chorizo who owns a computer tech help company and @ChicagoCabbie who obviously drives a cab and find ways to engage conversation on Twitter (definitely not tweeting while driving according to @melisalw – a SocialRevUp partner). I see them in a lot of IRL events and they are very active on Twitter. Guess who I’ll be recommending if someone ever need experts like them? Exactly.

I V- Be Consistent

Respond quickly – People are impatient and one big reason social media works is because it’s fast. Email can be answered after a day or two but tweets and Facebook statuses for business should be almost instant. Set your smart phones to notify you. If people don’t get an answer right away, they will find another one that will.

Tweet Regularly – Once a day doesn’t work. Everything goes so fast so the possibility of your tweet being read is almost impossible. They can certainly go to your Twitter front page to see your last tweet, but that is if they visit.

Overall, don’t give up easily - It’s A LOT OF WORK, but it works! Not to mention that it’s a FREE SERVICE. Remember that no one else can better present your brand other than yourself, so take control on what is being said about your brand and your industry by actively engaging in Social Media.

Good Luck!

—– SocialRevUp will be offering Hands-On Social Media Classes for Beginners focusing on Small Businesses very soon in Chicagoland. If you are interested in learning when these are coming up, please email info(at)socialrevup.com to let us know and don’t forget to follow me at @mjtam and @socialrevup

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On December 19, 2011, holiday fun were had by the SocialRevUp team along with our 3 blogger hostesses (MommaCuisine, Food Just Sayin‘, and Wisconsin Mom Squad) on the  #CadillacRock event at Reza’s Restaurant, a beautiful (and with delicious food!) Mediterranean Restaurant in the River North area. The goal was to connect GM with new Social Media Influencers that has never worked with the brand before and we were excited to see that about 70 bloggers were there to join the festivities.

All attendees participated in a Social Media game using their smart phones / laptops to post on twitter with the hashtag #CadillacRock. As a result, the event twitter-trended in Chicago that evening. We gave out top-notch prizes like gift cards from the Four Seasons Hotel, Tiffany, Ticket shows to Blue Man Group, Mrs. Prindable baskets, and many more.

In light of the season of giving, attendees were also asked to bring and donate sellable in good condition books to Open Books. Our attendees filled up boxes and boxes and we couldn’t be more excited. Open Books is a nonprofit social venture that operates an extraordinary bookstore, provides community programs, and mobilizes passionate volunteers to promote literacy in Chicago and beyond.

Click here to view all official #CadillacRock photos: http://lahleyoo.zenfolio.com/p497478562

SocialRevUp Team Dwana, MJ, Melisa, with Connie Burke of GM

Continue reading »]]> We asked our members to share their Blogging Resolutions for this year and here they are:

I have lots of blog resolutions for the new year but the most important one is to take at least one day off each week. I will always have new things to add to my blogging to-do list but my kids will only be young for a short time. — Alicia – @aliciamarie112 – Making Time For Mommy

I must stop getting in the way of my writing and just do it. I have tons of story ideas floating around in my head and instead of doing a brain dump, I overwhelm myself, shut down and don’t write for weeks. The more time that goes by, the harder it is to get back in the saddle. To give myself a kick in the pants, I am going outside my comfort zone and attending the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop this spring! I’m also thinking of featuring guest bloggers so I can come up for air and not feel that my blog is a burden. Happy New Year! — Karen King – @KarenKingM3 – mom-mom-mom.com

New Years Resolution for my blog is to dedicate a certain amount of time each day to blogging at least 4-hours a day. I feel for the type of blog that I run (frugal/deals) that consistency is really key so that will mean re-shuffling my schedule to make more time for blogging and then “sticking with it” and making sure I have fun with it as well! — Rita – @chitowncheap - Chitown Cheapskate

Starting January 1st, I am embarking on a Photo365 – a photo a day for one lap around the sun. Of course, it will be in addition to the normal post I do every day – so I guess most posts will be two parts – one of them being the day’s photo. — @lceel - Louceel

What about you?
Please share your Blogging Resolution in the comment below and we’ll be happy share it in our FB page and maybe tweet it too.

Continue reading »]]> Happy New Year from Social RevUp!

Many of you attended our #CadillacRock party in December (thanks!), and we hope you had a great time. If you missed it, no worries–we’ve got a big year ahead, and there will be plenty of other opportunities to connect, including BBSummit ’12.

If you attended the first-ever Brands and Bloggers Summit (also known as #BBSummit11!) this past July, you got to experience educational, informative, and fun sessions focusing on how brands and bloggers can work together using best practices, not to mention plentiful opportunities for networking, both with the sponsors and your fellow bloggers. Plans for BBSummit12 are rolling; here’s the latest…

#BBSummit12 will take place on July 21, 2012 at the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago. Registration is open now, and Early Bird tickets can be purchased through February 14 for $99.

EVEN BETTER, we are offering a limited number of exclusive discount tickets to our Social RevUp Network members (that’s you!). You can get $20 off a Summit ticket (which includes breakfast, lunch, snack and coffee breaks, BB Networking Sessions, and the After-Summit Mixer) by using the discount code CONNECT. That makes your Early Bird ticket only $79! We want to emphasize that if you’re interested, you must act soon: there are a limited number of these discounts, and the discount window ends when they sell out or on January 31, whichever happens sooner.

Please note three very important things:

• We are ONLY offering this discount code to current Social RevUp Network members. We will be checking over registrations as they come in to make sure that only those eligible for the discount are getting it.
• In our effort to keep the Summit just the right size for networking, we are once again limiting total attendance to 150. The Summit was a sell-out last year and we expect the same this year. Please register early to ensure that you get a spot!
• For those who already purchased a ticket, THANK YOU, and we will be refunding $20 to you via Paypal.

As a part of BBSummit12, we will once again offer BrandsBloggersRadio every Wednesday night at 9 p.m. Central, hosted by Beth Rosen of 4Keys Media. The 45-minute show features successful bloggers who have built relationships with brands and services. If you’d like to be a guest on BBradio, please tweet us @SocialRevUp to be added to our list. We’ll contact you to schedule your appearance!

We’re ramping up for a very exciting year, and hope you’ll join us! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Best,

MJ Tam, Dwana De LaCerna, and Melisa Wells
Partners, Social RevUp