Write on Track through to finals of 2012 Social Media Awards

We are thrilled to have made it through the shortlist to be in the finals of this year’s Social Media Awards, which takes place on 17th May, at the Mansion House, Dublin. 

As Lorna wrote recently:

When you work hard at something and take pride in it, it is wonderful to have it recognised.

If you haven’t already done so, take some time to read Lorna’s post on the benefits of applying for awards in terms of press coverage.

As I spoke about at our recent launch, aiming for an award is a great way to up your blogging game and gives you a goal to focus on. This is a good time to remind you of the upcoming Blog Awards Ireland, nominations for which will be starting next month. Check out this slideshare of my talk which guides you through the process of doing a SWOT analysis of your blog and steps you can take to ensure your blog is nominee ready for any upcoming awards.

Gaining Press Coverage & Entering Awards

I posted some time ago about some of the additional benefits of applying for awards and doing well in them. Even if you don’t win the final prize, you can receive significant free press coverage from even just being nominated.

I was delighted that this blog and my Garrendenny Lane blog are both on the shortlist for the ‘Best Blog of a Business’ for this year’s social media awards. It was a nice surprise to hear my business name and blog mentioned last week on the local radio KCLR 96FM‘s business show and within clips during the week – both for the nomination status and then again this morning for the shortlisted status.  Not only are people in the locality hearing the business name but they are hearing it in relation to awards. My aunt even rang my mum this morning, thinking I had won the award!

Entering awards isn’t just about the added press coverage though, it’s also about the buzz you receive when you know that somebody out there has judged your work, had judged your company and given it merit. When you work hard at something and take pride in it, it is wonderful to have it recognised.

What is wonderful too is that 5 members of the KLCK Bloggers Network have been shortlisted, they include the 2 blogs mentioned above, Sage Ireland by Beatrice Whelan, Spiderworking by Amanda Webb and Greenside Up by Dee Sewell who we featured in last week’s ‘Blogging for Success’ series here.  There are 13 blogs shortlisted and there will probably be 4 or 5 in the finals. Fingers crossed, we’ll have a KLCK blogger in the final and we’ll all be buzzing! 🙂

Can you think of any other benefits besides the buzz and the free press coverage?