The Roundpeg blog is four years old. In that time, the blog has evolved and expanded, partially because my writing style has changed (although Allison will argue my use of commas hasn’t) and partially because I have added other voices to the mix.

This was not my first blog. Indy-Biz.com and LorraineBall.com both preceded it. With Indy-Biz for local news and LorraineBall as an outlet for my humor and occasional rant, Business Notes from Roundpeg was a “serious” business blog.  It was filled with checklists and links to informative articles. The tone was formal and the content was solid. Unfortunately, it was a little dry and kind of dull, like reading a textbook.

I started reading lots of blogs on marketing, social media, web and graphic design and  technology. The ones I returned to over and over again blended information and personality. While they often included formulaic  lists (10 ways to do anything) they did it in an engaging way, which held my interest. I started to copy that style as I worked on my voice.

It took me a while to get comfortable letting my personality come through my writing. Once I did, I no longer needed to maintain a separate blog for my rants. If something  is wrong, I share it here, always looking for the lesson to make it relevant to my readers. The posts were easier and more fun to write. And the more of “me” I let come through the blog, the more popular it became.

Adding guest posts and features from the entire Roundpeg crew expands our voice, allowing us to offer something for everyone. It also  means I don’t have to write as often. While I miss the challenge of creating something new every day, it is nice to take a few days on a post if I really want it to be memorable.

The informal voice may not be right for everyone. Lawyers and accountants may struggle more to find the balance.  The key is to find a style which is natural for you.

The Roundpeg crew enjoyed a team building trip to the Super Bowl festivities last Friday. Have you had a chance to check out the fun?

Although it’s easy to get distracted this week we continue to publish at least one blog post daily. If you’ve been visiting Super Bowl Village on a daily basis you may have missed out. Now’s your chance to catch up.

Saturday - Faces of Roundpeg: New Characters – Jenna and Peter
We are a bit more polished, more professional and more grown up thanks to our newest cast members.

Sunday – What’s In a Theme?
Peter explains (to Romeo?) the basics behind WordPress themes.

Monday - Knowing When to Walk Away: Dealing with Anger Online
Always good to think before you respond whether in person or online.

Tuesday – Sometimes What’s Old is New Again
Sharing the love for WordPress plug in Tweet Old Post.

MTFW: Unfunded with Nick Carter
Listen to our talk with Nick Carter about his experiences growing his firm, AddressTwo as an “unfunded” venture.

Wednesday – Your New Truck is a Website
The inspiration for a client’s rebranding came from their original truck sign.

Thursday – Use FAQs as Blog Post Starters
FAQs and answers to questions make great content for blog posts.

Friday – Why Playing Hooky Can Help Your Business

Reflecting on our Adventure in the SuperBowl Village, Allison talks about why these types of outing are good for your business

At Roundpeg, we love to play hooky. It’s not that we don’t love our jobs or aren’t passionate about marketing and web design and all that other good stuff. But sometimes, you have to take a step back from your work and take a day for other things. That’s why last Friday we cancelled work. Oh, sure, a few of us did a couple of hours of work in the morning or a smidgen in the afternoon, but most of our day was focused purely on having fun and enjoying the crazy carnival atmosphere that is the Super Bowl in Indianapolis. We even got paid for our time.

It’s a pretty radical thing to do, for an employer to pay their employees for not working. But we’ve found that taking time away from work as a team can be just as valuable as anything we do from 9-5 in our office. First, it refreshes us. Because all of us are creatives of one stripe of another, it can be critical to avoid burnout by becoming inspired by the work of others. That’s why the TURF art exhibit presented by the Indianapolis Downtown Artists and Dealers Association was such a godsend. It’s like a giant playground for grownups (okay, some kids too) where you can interact with art, view it from all different angles, crawl around on the ground and manipulate lights with your body. It’s important to step away from our own art sometimes and to look at what others are doing, how their viewpoints and perspectives differ radically from ours, and to see how we can incorporate that inspiration into our work in fresh, new ways.

The other important thing that our hooky day did was to help us form a stronger team. In our office, there are very few projects that we complete solo. Sure, I might do most of the work on a social media account, Peter shepherds website projects from start to finish and Jenna rules the roost with logos, but there are very few projects any of us complete alone. Whether we’re coordinating work together or just turning to the others for advice and moral support, we’re a team. So when we can get a chance to bond about things other than difficult customers or tricky WordPress themes, it adds a different dimension to our office relationships. It helps us learn to trust each other, and to view each other as whole people instead of just coworkers.

And finally, it’s fun. Fun is a critical part of our culture–an aspect of business that experts are agreeing is becoming more and more important. Culture is the motivation, cohesion, connection, spirit and focus that drive all great businesses. It’s about what makes you go to work besides money and why you deliver the best service day after day. And a little fun never hurt anyone.

Just take a look at some of the fun we had:

Stumped for blog content? Think about the questions your customers ask you again and again. These FAQs are a great source of blog content. Typically, companies create a page of FAQs. While this is helpful, you are missing out on the SEO benefit of this content.

According to Michael Gray putting one question on a page or post works much better. He says:

Unless your questions and answers are very short, ideally you want to create a single page optimized for each question, this gives you the ability to create narrowly focused posts around specific keyword phrases that will rank better and drive more traffic.

Some of these posts may be very short or not as popular as other.  That is fine you can create a summary post like we did for Randall Beans, with links to each question.  Another strategy is to create a custom search. This will work if you are using a custom menu which allows you to link the search to the navigation bar.

How to get started? The next time you find yourself answering a question in an email, stop. Is this something other people will find valuable? If so, you have the makings of a blog post.

Dr. Greg of Leo’s Pet Care used this strategy recently. We were talking about treatment alternatives for our office kitty, Maybee. He researched and wrote a post about her condition. I read the article before I went to see him, so I was more prepared for the conversation. And the next time he is asked about this issue, Dr. Greg can simply send the link.

Do you have FAQs?  Do you have the answers written down? If so, you have great content for your next few blog posts.

Roundpeg, an Indianapolis social media firm, helps our clients construct blog calendars, brainstorm content to keep their readers coming back.

We write one or two posts a day for our blog. Some of them attract lots of traffic comments and interaction, others come and go, mostly unnoticed. Why? Sometimes a title is particularly catchy, other times it is the topic itself that generates a response.

But many times, our content is lost in the overwhelming sea of information. There are too many posts by too many interesting writers, too much noise on social channels or we didn’t work hard enough that day to break through.

It is frustrating, because some of my favorite posts are overlooked. That is why I really like Tweet Old Post , a WordPress Plugin. This tool  randomly picks your older post based and shares them on Twitter. Here is what I really like about the tool:

Features:

You can specify the interval. I have it set so the interval between posts is at least 8 hours, but may be as much as 10. So we typically share 2 – 3 old posts each day. Since the time is random, I hit a wide range of followers with the content.

Post Age:

You can specify the age of the post. Since I use this to re-engage people with older content, I have it set for posts older then 90 days.  This takes visitors deeper into our website. Often, they leave comments which refreshes the page for search engines. I also set the time limit for no posts older then two years, because much of that content is no longer relevant.

Categories:

Certain posts about events and time-sensitive comments  can be omitted, so the reader doesn’t feel like they have wasted their time following the link.

We have used this plug in for about six months and have been really pleased with the results. We have seen many of our old posts get a second chance to shine, with comments and retweets. I would strongly recommend installing this WordPress plugin on any blog with more than one year’s worth of content.

Fact: The Internet is filled with jerks. The anonymity and the faceless nature of the Internet seems to unleash something deep inside people. They’ll spew venom and hate about everything from the most trivial (your favorite TV show, for example) to the most important (politics and religion) to the most personal (you, your business, your profession). They’ll post things that are flagrantly untrue, hurtful or just foul and full of profanity and lies. And just as it’s easy for them to pound out a scathing attack on something you hold dear, it’s incredibly tempting to sit down and immediately pound out a devestating counter attack.

Don’t. Stop. Wait.

Why? Because if you let that flaming response fly, you might wind up looking just like the owner of Boner’s Barbeque, who posted a profanity-laced tirade against a customer who left a negative Yelp! review, complete with a photo of the customer in question. The company instantly became an Internet laughing stock, the poster child for how not to deal with customer service issues on social media. But the problem goes far beyond customer service: it goes to the heart of how we see people and interact with them in the digital world. Because we can’t hear their voice or look into their eyes, we suddenly give ourselves license to say and do things we would never, ever do in the physical world. So the next time you’re faced with a blog post or social media comment that makes your blood boil for any reason, follow these simple steps:

1. Remember, it’s just the Internet. I know this runs counter-intuitive to a digital marketing company that makes its living selling people on the importance of the Internet, but at the end of the day, one negative comment isn’t going to sink you. What might, however, is your response. Remember: it’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

2. Weigh the pros and cons of responding. If someone has written a negative review or comment about your business, you need to respond quickly and helpfully, without anger. However, the whole issue gets a lot more complicated when you just read a blog post that pisses you off something fierce and you just HAVE to show the other person how wrong they are.

Before you hit “reply,” stop and think about what leaving that comment will really accomplish. Is it going to reflect well on you? Is there actually any chance that it might persuade someone to change their view? Is it going to help you get new business? If the answer is “no” to all of these questions, ask yourself what you’d really be accomplishing by responding, besides making yourself feel better.

3. Give it a positive spin. If you must respond to a negative blog post, be better than your opposition. That is, don’t respond with a relentlessly negative attack from which no one walks away unscathed. Instead, look at the post for lessons, and respond to them in a positive way.

Recently, an Indianapolis business owner came to me for advice on dealing with a blog post about his industry that made him furious. I encouraged him to take what made him mad about that post and turn it into an educational, positive post for his clients. Transform someone else’s hatred into something useful, and you’ve truly won the day.

Remember: Breathe. Stay cool. Recognize that arguing on the Internet rarely ends well, and you’ll keep your online reputation on course.

Another week where if we waited an hour here in Indianapolis, the weather changed. We’ve had ice, snow and on the rare side for January, thunderstorms.

Our blogs this week seem to have followed the pattern of one of our favorite interview questions…so weather you favor words, pictures or numbers, we’ve covered it in at least one of our blogs during the past week. If you’ve missed one or several, here’s a quick recap:

Saturday – Faces of Roundpeg: The Boy Band
Lorraine’s ode to Taylor & Jay and the way things used to be.

Sunday – Make Pictures Part of Your Web Design Strategy
Pictures are cropping up more often on blog posts, this article explains why.

Monday – Taking Stock of Your Image
In the “old” days, designers cringed at the thought of using stock photos, Jenna explains how to modify those photos to have a bigger impact and save money.

Tuesday - I Don’t Like Football, But I Love the Super Bowl
Most of us don’t realize all that hosting a Super Bowl brings to a local community as part of the Super 46, Lorraine explains what makes the Super Bowl special for the hosting city.

Marketing in Handcuffs with Muhammad Yasin:  More than a Few Words
For this week’s podcast we’ll be joined by Muhammad Yasin, social media strategist for HCCMIS, a travel health insurance company. The topic is learning how you can make regulations work in your favor.

Wednesday - Indianapolis Social Media: Way More than 46
Allison shares her thoughts on how the Super 46 could have been handled more effectively. What are your thoughts?

Thursday - It’s In the Numbers: 4 Strategies for Blog Success
Lorraine explains why paying attention to numbers in blog posts makes a difference.

Friday – You Can’t Save Everyone
This is the marketing version of you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.

If you noticed that the weekly summary was published late this week, that is because the Roundpeg crew took the day off to head downtown to experience the pre Superbowl activities.  If you are in Indy, be sure to check it out before it is gone.

No matter what business you’re in, from dentistry to landscaping to marketing, there’s one fact you have to confront: you can’t save everyone from making their own mistakes. No matter how much you want people to succeed, some people will insist on ignoring your good, well-intentioned advice, and they will fail as a result. Hopefully it’s only a minor stumbling block in their path, but sometimes the consequences can be catastrophic: a patient who didn’t heed doctor’s orders and died, or a company that wouldn’t listen to sound marketing advice and had to shut its doors.

Accepting the idea that a certain percentage of the population will ignore your advice is one of the hardest things about being in marketing. We can beg our clients and propsects to blog, implore them to use social media responsibly, steer them in the right direction on event promotion and pour our  hearts and souls into giving them the best advice we can based on years of experience and blood and sweat and mistakes, and some will always smile, nod and ignore every word we’ve just said.

Watching people fail is hard. There is never any joy in seeing a client who walked away fall on their faces, when a simple shift in strategy could have made all the difference. It all falls back to the fact not everyone is  your customer. Some people may look like your customer and sound like your customer, but at the end of the day, if they don’t put action behind their words, it’s all for nothing. Ultimately, as small business owners or employees, we all have to accept the reality that people have to be free to fail. Even if seeing their failure, breaks our hearts.

Help people whenever you can. Offer them the advice you’ve learned from making your own mistakes. And then ultimately,  stand back, wish them well and offer them a hand up when they stumble. It’s something I’m still working on every day.

How do you deal with people who just won’t listen?

If you’re a member of the Indianapolis social media community, you’ve probably heard of the Social 46. Commonly seen in conjunction with the #SB46 hashtag, these 46 locals were selected by the Super Bowl Host Committee in conjunction with Klout to help spread the word about Indianapolis’ first ever Super Bowl. These individuals were given swag, including merchandise and tickets to local Super Bowl-related experiences and events, and asked in exchange to tweet about all of the exciting happenings in Indy.

Great idea, right? Engage influencers, get buy-in from locals, get the Internet humming with news of Indy’s awesomeness, position Indy as a tech-savvy city. Everything’s peachy keen, right? Well…not quite.

Since the 46 were chosen, the issue has become divisive: people were begging to be one of the Chosen. Others were scoffing at the entire idea, disparaging those who were selected. Others were confused about the selection criteria. And almost any criticism of the program got a response of “you’re just jealous you weren’t picked. It’s really no big deal.”

At its heart, Social 46 is a great idea.  But there are very real problems with its execution that leave me concerned about its overall success:

Lack of Transparency

 From the beginning, there was mass misinformation about how the 46 were chosen. Because the perk was administered via Klout, some people thought Klout score was the only criterion for selection. Not so. Based on what I was told by those who attended to event (including Roundpeg’s own Lorraine Ball), it was a combination of Klout and a list created by the Host Committee of people who are influential in a variety of areas in Indianapolis. That’s fine, but the misinformation made its way even to the mainstream media and was misreported, which creates a problem and a lot of sore egos.

Solution: Explain more clearly how and why people were chosen. It doesn’t need to be exhaustive, but the committee failed to communicate with those who weren’t chosen, and so ignored a huge audience of potential brand advocates.

Messaging

Again, per Social 46′s official communication, those chosen were identified as “one of the most socially savvy people in Indiana.” This construct meant that anyone who wasn’t chosen was left to feel that they weren’t savvy, they weren’t influential, they didn’t matter. I know this isn’t what the Host Committee wanted, but that’s the effect it had. It made it an us vs. them battle, the haves vs. the have nots.

Solution: The Committee could have gone with a much more inclusive message: “The Indianapolis social media community is so large and varied, we couldn’t even fit you all in one room! So we’ve selected a cross-section of our vibrant, diverse community. But we want all of you to be involved, too! Look to these 46 influencers for the inside scoop, but we want your unique perspective. Please send your own tweets and blogs with the #SB46 hashtag and join the conversation.” That way, you can do the outreach and the perk to 46 people and make them your most dedicated brand advocates, but you make the rest of the community feel loved and valued, and not like the uncool kids.

Timing

We’ve known for several years that we’d be hosting the biggest game in America, yet these folks were brought together only three weeks before the event. With such a compressed time frame, you lose some of the excitement of the buildup. You lose the opportunity to slowly build local support. Instead, you have it all shoved into the last two weeks in a flurry of activity.

Solution: Plan ahead. This could have started at any time in the past few years, allowing for greater group cohesion and brand awareness to form. Instead, it feels rushed and hurried.

Crisis Planning

 Having civilian brand advocates is absolutely critical to the success of such a large event. But because these people were brought together by the Super Bowl Host Committee, they’re seen as being representatives of the event and of Indianapolis. From what I have been told, there was no training given about what to or not to tweet and how to represent the city. While some might argue that this makes the content more “authentic,” as a communications professional, I worry about what happens if, God forbid, there’s a disaster: a freak tornado or a tent collapse. These people will be looked to as a source of information–are they prepared for that? What happens if one of them tweets something offensive or ignorant or just wrong in the heat of the moment? They’re a representative of the Host Committee, and what they say carries weight.

Solution: Include some basic information on what to–and what not–to tweet. Clarify exactly what role the Social 46 play and whether or not their tweets should be construed as communications from the Committee at large.

I know some people will say I’m just bitter because I wasn’t chosen. And I’ll be honest: I would have loved to have been chosen. But this isn’t about me. This is about helping our city come together to show the world what we have. However, this program is causing divisions, cliques and confusion. I hope this program is a smashing success and Indy becomes a social media darling. Social 46? Prove me wrong.

My husband loves football. He is from Texas, a die hard Cowboy’s fan, he has also learned to love the Colts.  Great, twice as much football on Sunday afternoons.

For him, Super Bowl Sunday is a national holiday.  For me, it’s an advertising event, time to watch the best Madison Avenue has to offer.  It is also a day to test my creative cooking skills.  Can I match the food to the teams competing?

So when Super Bowl fever began to catch hold in Indy, I didn’t get it.  I thought, it’s just a game.  But I was wrong.

Hosting a Super Bowl is about economic and community development, legacy projects and community spirit.   Here is just a small sample of what the Superbowl has done for Indy and the surrounding communities.

• The Super Bowl has provided a deadline for much needed infrastructure projects ranging from road work and neighborhood improvement projects, to the new Airport terminal, expanded convention center and Lucas Oil Stadium.  Each of which will improve the quality of life for Indy residents for years to come.
•  The Super Bowl host committee has been working on this project for years involving football fans and non fans like me to be part of the event.  From students to grandmothers,  people have come from all corners of the community, and around the world to be a part of Super Bowl 2012.  You can find just a few of their stories here http://www.xlvifaces.com/  This is truly a community event.
• More than $1 million dollars was raised for the Super Cure project, the nation’s only breast cancer tissue bank. More important then the money, the events and connection to the Super Bowl has facilitated the collection of more than 1,865 tissue samples.  These samples are distributed to labs  throughout the world working on a cure for breast cancer.
• One goal was to  plant 2,012 trees in the Indianapolis area.  To date, more than 2,876 trees have actually been planted.
• Our guests will be welcomed as they check into their hotel room, with a handwritten note or drawing by an Indiana student.  More than 18,000 students from every county in Indiana contributed these welcome greetings.
• With ten days of concerts and art exhibits this event is for the community as much as it is for the fans and visitors.
• You will be able to identify the thousands of  community volunteers by their blue and white scarves which were hand knitted by volunteers from around the world. More than  13,000 blue and white scarves have been created to be worn during the event.  ( And yes I have one too).
• The impact will reach well beyond our community.  On game day, 7,000 gift baskets will be delivered to hospitalized children in each of the 32 NFL cities .  This was a collaborative project between the Riley’s Children Foundation, The Basket of Hope Program and former Colt’s coach Tony Dungy
• With our Super Bowl smart phone application, social media command center and Social 46 volunteers ( I am excited to be one)  we have a shot at claiming the title of the most tech-connected Super Bowl ever.