We’ve all experienced it: the blank stare at the screen, an idea in our head that we just can’t put into words, or an outright empty bucket of blog ideas. In fact, I just experienced it yesterday while coming up with two blog posts to write for today for my company’s blog. Thankfully, I came up with two solid posts here and here.

I always end up coming through with an idea or two, but have certainly been in that spot where you just have no clue what else to write or don’t know how to start or finish a post. I write 7 to 10 blog posts a week for Backupify, one for BostInnovation, and 2 to 3 on this site. That can lead up to 14 posts a week, or two a DAY! I’m sure I’m not the only one who does this either, especially those who blog for their job at places like Mashable and TechCrunch.

While you could choose to just wait out the block, there are ways to be proactive and search for fresh new ideas.

Here are 10 effective tips to overcome writer’s block:

1. Spin Offs. Skim through some of your favorite blogs and pick up an idea or two and do a unique spin off of them. This could be refuting their point, making it an opinion piece or taking a whole new perspective on the same topic.

2. Coorelation. Pick a very unique object laying around you and relate it to something that you like to write about. For example, I’m sitting at a desk right now and a pen is to the left of me. You could talk about how pens once were crucial to our productivity but now we hardly even use them for to-do lists anymore. Almost everything is computerized, etc, etc, etc. You get the point.

3. Read a book or watch a movie and do a review of it. I usually do this after I have read a great book. This past winter I read Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah of Hubspot and loved it so much that I decided to blog about it. You can take mental or written out notes while reading/watching and then come up with your review of it that many will enjoy reading before buying a new book or watching a new movie.

4. Write about your surroundings. Go for a walk and take in everything around you. If you live in a city, observe the hustle and bustle of people, the smells, clothing styles, ethnicities, houses, animals, noises, etc. If you live in a rural area, take in the vast amounts of land, big yards, serenity, open skies, cars passing by, and calm lifestyle. Wherever you live, give a new appreciation for your surroundings by writing about it; maybe others will feel inspired to do the same.

5. Write about something you are doing at work (as long as it is not confidential). A month ago our company had a major press release go out. Around the same time, I expressed to my boss that I was having writer’s block and felt terrible that I was ignoring my own blog (this one). He suggested that I take something I have learned while working here and write about it. I decided to write about how social media can help leverage a press release online.

6. Interview someone. Is there someone you admire in your industry? Do you look up to your parents or grandparents? Was there one teacher or professor that had a profound impact on your life? Do you love your little cousin’s quirky comments? Interview anyone you find interesting and write about your experience talking to them. Appreciating the viewpoints and personalities of those around us can be more valuable thank you think.

7. Event Recaps. Write about an event that you went to for work. I try to attend a few marketing events around Boston every month, and if I go to a good one or met a lot of great people, I’ll blog about it. Those that attended will appreciate the recap too. This February I went to an event in Fenway Park called #Soxup where social media marketing professionals all met up to network. I blogged about it here. I also went to a CRM Acceleration event sponsored by BrainSell and Sugar CRM and blogged about it here.

8. Create a content list and calendar. Some days I find myself flowing with great blog ideas but never write them down. When I go to write one, my mind goes blank. To combat that, I keep a Google Doc list of content ideas I have both for my personal site, Backupify and BostInnovation so that I never forget a good idea again. You can then make it very organized by noting when it needs to be published by.

9. Write about old posts. Maybe you have something new to add to an old posts, want to list your most popular blog posts, or want to summarize a few posts into one. Any of these are a great refresher and polisher both for you and your readers. A few months ago I blogged about my most popular blogs thus far based on retweets, Facebook shares, number of visits and comments.

10. Invite a guest blogger to write. If you are out of ideas and can think of a writer who could provide a really good and unique perspective on something related to your blog, invite them to guest blog for you! Most people love to do this as it gives them exposure and a link back to their site if you offer it. Usually if you give them a link back, they can do it for free since an inbound link has power in terms of Google’s ranking. I have had several guest bloggers on my site whom have all provided great content for my readers.

What do you do to combat writer’s block? Do you use any of these tips or have some of your own to add? Let me know in the comments section below!

Related articles by Zemanta

• 4 Amazing Tips for Overcoming a Writer’s Block (dailyblogtips.com)
• Beating Writer’s Block (advancedfictionwriting.com)
• Top 11 Free Resources To Improve Your Blog’s Content (socialmediatoday.com)

I am a huge proponent of using social networking to promote a business, but first it must be understood that each message channel has a specific audience; especially Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook is now a mainstream social network with 500 million users and counting. 50% of users access Facebook via the web every day. Twitter had 106 million users as of this April so it is growing but certainly not mainstream yet. 75% of Twitter users access it via a 3rd party client such as HootSuite or CoTweet instead of the website domain which suggests most Twitter users are more technical. The average social networker would not know how to download a third party app, nonetheless know which one to use, to access Twitter.

Due to the large disparity between the two social networks, different messages need to be created for each channel.

Since Twitter is largely a technical crowd, they are looking to receive news about new products/services, innovation, gadgets, and statistics.

Facebook users, on the other hand, are there to talk with friends about more mainstream topics including trends, gatherings, celebrities, and their daily lives.

If you are trying to reach customers and leads via social media, it is crucial to keep that in mind.

At Backupify, I manage both our Twitter and Facebook accounts. On Twitter, I am able to tweet about OAuth, Twitter trends, Google Apps, net neutrality, and the like. On Facebook, I have to alter the messaging and post items like Facebook developments, Google trends, privacy, etc. Since our service is high tech in the first place, most followers and fans get the general idea, but I still need to tweak the messages accordingly.

I just started using a tool called Argyle Social, which is still in beta, that helps me measure which posts do best on each channel. You have the option to post any article on Twitter, Facebook or both and then track that URL using their web interface. The more clicks a post gets, the better it does. This helps me measure and tweak my posts according to what Argyle Social reports. If I post something too technical or non-conversational on Facebook and I see that it did poorly, I’ll know that it was the wrong post to put up and will avoid doing that in the future. If I post a really popular topic on Twitter and it gets, say, 200 clicks, I’ll know followers want more of that since they are highly interested.

When managing your Facebook and Twitter accounts for your company, always keep in mind who your audience is. The more you post about irrelevant information to them, the less people will follow, interact and engage with you. If done right, though, you can gain very passionate and smart followers who will become brand evangelists for your company.

Do you consider yourself technologically savvy or very socially connected? Make sure you are using the below social media sites, and using them correctly!

1. Facebook: If you are a business, create an informative but not overwhelming Fan Page. Connect with others in your demographic market and geographic location, interact with them, and post valuable and meaningful information for fans to read. If you are an individual marketing yourself online, ensure to clean up your profile, i.e. no bad pictures, create appropriate status updates, and watch what pages you become fans of and what groups you join. Then, start networking with professionals and professional groups through Facebook.

2. Twitter: If you are a business, develop an original background that conveys the image and look and feel of your company. Interact with others in your industry, thought leaders, key consumers, and proponents of your brand. This will help you disseminate your information in the most direct way, and those people will be more receptive to it. Make sure you do not over-promote yourself, or followers will be turned off. Post valuable information about your industry in general, and make sure to interact with people! If you are an individual, create an original background that conveys your personal brand online, connect with friends, co-workers, favorite brands, and even those in your industry that you want to network with. Search for topics or industries in the search box to get involved with people doing involved with that on Twitter.

3. LinkedIn: If you are a business, create a strong description of your company and join all relevant groups to your industry/product/brand, etc. Post your blogs to those groups and ask others for their feedback. In the same way, respond to others and interact to be seen as a thought-leader and a ‘socialite’ on LinkedIn. If you are an individual, create a strong description of what you do or what you hope to achieve by networking with others. Get involved with groups that are relevant to your area of interest or speciality, post your blogs, and respond to others as well. The more active you are on here, the more recognized you will be, and you may even land a job offer!

4: Blog: Today, blogging is more important than ever for everyone to be doing. Blogging allows you to be seen as a thought leader or expert in your field. For blogging success, read Chris Brogan’s blog titled 40 Ways to Deliver Killer Blog Content.” Tell Facebook friends about your posts, Tweet it out to the Twitterverse, post it to your groups on LinkedIn, and even make them into video blogs to post them on YouTube for additional exposure!

5. Commenting on Blogs: You know it feels good to see that someone has commented on your blog, so as common courtesy, comment on other blogs as well. They appreciate it as much as you do. By reading other blogs, you can learn more, learn about different perspectives on issues, interact with new people, share that information with others, and get your name out there.

6. Pictures/Videos: Giving a visual representation of your daily activities or thoughts is a great way for a reader/viewer to interact with you and learn more about you. For example, if you are traveling into Boston for the day and want to take a video of you recapping the conference, people will want to see your video blog review if they were not able to attend. Also, if you are at a really cool restaurant, saw a neat car, etc. you can take a picture and upload it to TwitPic or Flickr to share with all! Visual representation of what you are doing is more powerful than you may think!

For those of you starting off in social media engagement, take these steps slow and carefully so you develop your content in a planned out and effective manner. It does take time, so don’t rush it. To monitor your online presence, occasionally search Google for your own name to see how much content is on the web about you. If you are getting involved with Internet technologies for a career, future employers may be Googling you more than looking into your resume.

For those social media gurus reading this, any other suggestions to add?

Facebook
Originally started for college students, but now anyone can join. A great place to keep in touch with both old and current friends. I visit this several times a day.

Twitter

A newer site that allows you to connect with others in a more public way than Facebook. You can ‘follow’ companies, music artists, co-workers, friends, and more. This is a great information sharing site as well. I read many blog posts that are ‘tweeted’ about on Twitter daily.

LinkedIn

This site originally started off for business professionals but now college students and businesses have joined. Great networking opportunities abound here and you can join groups to connect with others in the same industry or with your same interests.

Flickr

A site that allows you to post, save, and share pictures and make albums.

RSS

I store all my RSS feed articles on Google Reader. This makes the process of sorting through articles and blogs I like much easier since they are all stored on one site.

WordPress

A great blogging device that has many more capabilities than any other blogging sites out there. It is also able to be hosted on a personal domain name, as I have done.

Foursquare

An application that allows you to ‘check in’ at a place (i.e. restaurant, bar, hotel, movie theatre, etc.) and post where you are right from your phone. Foursquare has most places in major areas in its directory and recognizes nearby locations for you to select from.

Bookmarks, Site Integrations, Etc.

Delicious

Awesome social bookmarking site. Most sites have an option for you to save the URL to delicious. Delicious can be added right into your toolbar for ease of use.

Tumblr

Links to your Twitter account, blogs, etc. all in one site. The results are searchable through Google.

Bluebird

An application that you download right to your desktop allows you to keep track of your Twitter activity in real time on your desktop.

iPhone Applications:

I love my iPhone because it allows me to put all of my online social media sites on my phone as well if I ever need to check up on statues or update my own. I currently have the following iPhone applications:

Facebook
TweetDeck
TwitPic
LinkedIn
WordPress
AIM
Broadcaster (lets you take and upload videos right from your phone to the internet with ease)
Bing
Foursquare

Web 2.0 Must-Read Articles:

In order to keep up with the newest trends in Web 2.0 technologies, I visit the following sites for all my up-to-date information:

Mashable

TechCrunch

ReadWriteWeb

Netvibes

American Marketing Association