This might sound like an unorganized way to approach your marketing efforts but for people like Scott Wise, Scotty’s Brewhouse owner and social media guru, it’s a common practice. Obviously, it’s not going to be as easy and simple as it sounds.

Recently at the Indiana Innovation Awards kick-off event, I was privileged to be able to sit and listen to one of Indiana’s own discuss innovation and how it doesn’t necessarily pertain to new gadgets and gizmos. Wise showed how he transformed a locally-owned restaurant/bar into a “must visit” in Indiana using social media platforms. Innovation can be defined as taking something that currently exists and simplifying it. It’s great to see how someone can take a basic concept like customer service and flip it upside down with innovative marketing efforts.

Utilizing Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and QR Codes, Scotty’s provides every visitor an opportunity to share their experience and receive coupons in real-time. This isn’t a new concept, but Wise takes it a step further by personally handling any issues. This innovative way of utilizing social media for customer service and advertising shows how throwing it against the wall can be worthwhile.

How many have heard the statement, “social media is the free platform for advertising?” Anyone who knows anything about social media knows that it takes time and effort to create anything of substantial significance. Wise may have started his social media empire using Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter, but have you heard of a thing called MySpace? This was Scott’s original platform that was the inspiration for his efforts today. The reason that he has been successful is the fact that he’s transparent to the end-users of his product. That is the invaluable advantage of using social media. The key is to realize that this is a conversation platform, and people aren’t going to want to interact to someone that doesn’t hold a conversation.

Who’s to say what’s next? Pinterest? Flickr? Google+? Wise believes you need to put yourself out there and listen. It’s not about how loud you say something, but more about, what you say.  So, you’re not ready for social media? I think getting out there and listening is the key to know where to throw your message.

I am a voracious consumer of the written word. I frequent many news outlets, keep a keen eye on my twitter feed and enjoy a robust discussion on current events. After talking with a peer, he suggested I checkout www.netvibes.com and boy was I impressed. I’m trying to step-up my blog reading (and writing, but that’s for another post) and this website will definitely help my cause. Netvibes provides a basic (free) or premium service for professional monitoring and analytics. You create a personal dashboard and load up on the content you want to monitor. It could be friends, an RSS feed or your favorite websites. The customization is really endless. I currently use Netvibes to organize the many different industry websites and blogs I like to keep up on in addition to my personal interests. I think this falls somewhere between Twitter and Pinterest, and because I enjoy both of these social media tools, why not add a third?

What digital tools do you use to help access and organize the content you want to read? Is Google Reader #1 on your depth chart? How about Zite, your personal magazine?

Blogging can sometimes be seen as hard work, especially if you are new at it or just contribute sporadically to a company or general interest blog. It doesn’t, however, need to be a lengthy or painful process. There are plenty of devices you can employ to write a concise, thought-provoking blog post in a matter of minutes. Trust me, I have to remind myself to use these every once and awhile.

Here are five tips to help you write you next (or first) “Ten-Minute Blog Post.”

Answer a Question
Did a colleague, client or industry partner respond to a recent blog post with a follow-up question? Have you repeatedly been asked, or overheard others asking, the same question? If so, consider writing a blog post to answer that question and address any concerns your audience may have about that particular topic. Keep your response high level to avoid going over your self-imposed timeline.

Ask a Question
Question posts are very popular and well received by most audiences. An upcoming blog post can be as simple as asking a question about a recent news article, new social media platform you discovered or even a marketing challenge you’re experiencing.

These types of posts help start conversations with readers and can often provide authors helpful insights about their interests and opinions. What you learn from one reader’s response may inspire your next post.

Respond to Industry News & Current Events
If you’re skimming through a newspaper or website and find an article that is relevant to your blog audience, write about it. The post should include a brief synopsis of the article, your initial reaction or feedback and a link to the original article. In most cases, you should write these posts the same day the article is published to make sure your commentary is relevant and timely.

Share Your Favorite Resource(s)
Professionals are always searching for new online tools and resources to use in their personal and professional lives. Blog posts can be a great venue to share your favorite tool or a new website you discovered yesterday.

A post highlighting one resource should include an overview of the tool, why you like it and how it will benefit others. Another option would be to make a short list of your favorite resources within a certain category (e.g., Top Five Social Media Monitoring Tools, Top Three [INSERT INDUSTRY] Online Publications).

Conduct a Brief Interview
Incorporate a colleague or industry partner’s thoughts and opinions on a hot industry topic into your blog by conducting an interview. Send him or her three to five questions then format the questions and answers into a blog entry.  t’s recommended that you also include a brief introduction of the topic and interview participants to help set the stage for the conversation that follows.

If the interviewee provides “too much good information,” consider dividing the Q&A into two separate posts or a series of posts.  It’s a great way to attract repeat blog traffic and avoid wasting good content.

There you have it. Five ideas to help write your next blog post in mere minutes. I can’t promise it will cure blogging procrastination, but at least it’s a start in the right direction.

Here at Willow we challenge each other to do better and meet our goals. For our 20th Anniversary, we’ve tasked ourselves to push our social media presence and adhere to the advice we often give our clients on a consistent social media presence.

As ironic as it may be, we are using our chalk board wall to physically track our accomplishments in Facebook, Twitter, From the Roots: The Willow Blog and Pinterest. We’ve set goals for each month and keep track with tally marks.

How do you maintain your momentum to keep your social media presence a priority?

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Missed any of our posts this week? Be sure to check out the Weekly Wrap Up below for our industry insight and brain power.

Tech Corner: Secure Search and SEO
Let’s Chat: Requesting More Privacy Online
Marketing 101: Four Clicks or Less, Don’t Rest On Your Laurels: What Member-based Organizations Can Learn from K-Mart’s Marketing Mistakes
In Marketing News: Facebook Fans: How Millennials are Interacting with Organizations on Facebook
Creative Inspiration: Defining and Finding Inspiration

A recent survey including 414 participants between the ages of 18-29 from three university campuses, asked participants about their interaction with organizations on Facebook.

Photo credit: The Measurement Standard

The results showed that while 86 percent are visiting Facebook every day, they are not on there to learn about brands. Their reasoning for not connecting with brands on the social site includes being annoyed by repetitive posts, sales pitches and the fact that a lot of brands don’t interact with fans via comments or posts.  (Which we realize can easily turn into a PR nightmare, but that’s an entirely separate post.)

The goal is to get millennials to like your brand on Facebook, ultimately to drive traffic and increase brand awareness with a pretty influential demographic. To do so, you have to keep them interested. Luckily the survey tells you what that demographic seems to be looking for, Millennials say they are more likely to like an organization/brand/company if their Facebook page:

• offers discounts
• offers product samples
• sends event invitations
• sends personal invitations
• incorporates games or “fun” applications

Some good news for a large sector of Willow’s clients however, 75 percent of those surveyed are continuing to “Like” organizations on Facebook, while only 45 percent “Like” brands. The types of organizations most “Liked” are:

• sororities and fraternities
• non-profits
• sport teams
• local organizations
• college organizations
• bands

The take-away message from this research is ultimately a brand or organization’s Facebook page needs to be interactive and informative to have a good following. Having a happy balance between not enough and too much contact is key. If a brand is not keeping an active presence online then it is easy for followers to see no reason to stay connected to them.

Check out The Measurement Standards full four-part infographic on the research for more information.