I recently asked Richard Becker, a consultant for Bloggers Unite, to share some insights on how he and the BU team have used social media to recruit members and encourage participation in their efforts. Here’s what he had to say.

What was your strategy for spreading the word online about Bloggers Unite when you first launched it?

The initial Bloggers Unite challenge was distributed in the discussion section of BlogCatalog, which is how my company was first introduced to Antony Berkman’s idea.

Since I was managing an experimental nonprofit blog, which highlighted business giving, I thought the initial BlogCatalog challenge — for bloggers to all post about the same social awareness issue on the same day and raise money for DonorsChoose.org — fit in well as a best practice. (The purpose of the blog is to stimulate business giving by providing examples from companies of different sizes.)

I contacted Tony to see if he had a news release about the event, but he didn’t.

Facebook, the world’s most popular social networking website, can combine with your blog to produce powerful results. I’ve been able to help clients such as Kapalua Resort to mix their blog and Facebook worlds. Here are 25 ways to help your Facebook presence and your blog work together to help your business or organization be more successful.

1. Import your blog into Facebook.
2. Start or join a Facebook group that is about the same topic as your blog (but that is not necessarily about your blog).
3. Create or become a fan of a Facebook page that is relevant to your blog.
4. Make sure your Facebook profile includes a link to your blog.
5. On your Facebook Wall, make an update that mentions an article at your blog and invites people to discuss and share it via Facebook and other media.

Barack Obama.

Quick! Say the first word that comes to mind.

…

Was it “change?”

“The change we need.”

“Change we can believe in.”

Obama owned that word in 2008. His masterful social media campaign gets a lot of the credit for that.

Do you love the power of words? Do you relish them?

Most blogs consist entirely, or almost entirely, of words.

Words can create. Words can destroy.

Words wield scary power for businesses.

Your blog is going to help or hurt your business in 2009.

How careful are you about the words you use or avoid on your business blog?

What are you going to do this week to become more so?

Welcome to Week 3 of the Visionary Blogging Links series!

Every Friday at Visionary Blogging, I share the best URLs I’ve discovered over the past week that have to do with business blogging or professional blogging in general and blogging/social media strategy in particular (for non-profit organizations, for-profit corporations, entrepreneurs, etc.).

Over time, I’ll add some of the very best links from my Links series to the Resources page (still a bit messy, but I’m working on it!). Bookmark that page and my ever-growing Blog Improvement Tips page for future reference.

You’re welcome to suggest links for this series. Just leave a comment here or contact me directly.

I hope this list saves you some grief in your professional blogging.

10. Publish sporadically.

9. Spend too much time consuming content.

8. Spend too little time creating content.

7. Fail to plan effectively or not at all.

6. Expect the world to adore your blog without any marketing effort on your part.

5. Fail to pay close attention to numbers that indicate blog growth rate.

4. Fail to produce content that serves your intended audience.

3. Fail to serve the right audience.

2. Fail to love your audience to bits.

Yesterday I answered the question, “Where is your blog community?”

It’s in the mind.

But minds scatter online attention across vast fields of URLs.

Which is why, for example, it’s not uncommon for your Twitter account to sparkle while your blog gathers dust or vice versa.

It’s not enough to just get more “friends” or “followers” or commenters in a dozen different places.

You’ve gotta unify the fragments and make each community member aware of each of them. You’ve gotta bring together the logs so your bonfire can be much bigger and brighter and hotter than any smaller fire could be.

With that in mind, here are 8 ways to unify your blog community so that your blog and social media profiles work together (not just apart) for your business.

Welcome to Part 5 of a 5-part series on the elements of visionary blogging. This article will help you become a more diligent blogger so you can increase your blogging success.

• Part 1: Increase Your Awareness (the ability to see)
• Part 2: Sharpen Your Focus (the ability to look)
• Part 3: Hone Your Discernment (the ability to evaluate)
• Part 4: Excite Your Imagination (the ability to create)
• Part 5: Strengthen Your Diligence (the ability to endure)

Recognize this mountain?

Look closely at the colossal peak in the photo above. Can you name it?

• Hint: It’s bigger and taller than Mount Everest.
• Hint: It can be seen from two cities that are more than 350 miles (560 kilometers) apart by car.
• Hint: Its name in Athabaskan means “the Great One.”

I don’t matter.

Those are the three most despicable words you could ever say as a blogger. Or as a professional.

Or as a human being.

On this fine Blogtipping Day, I’d like to blogtip the whole world of business blogs for a minute.

If I had 60 seconds left before my blogging voice was silenced forever, I would leave you with these three classic business blogging tips.

They are near and dear to me above all others.

And they are crucial to visionary blogging.

1. Listen.

Stop talking.

Be still. Observe. Pay attention. Seek awareness before anything else.

Listening enables deep conversation – the kind that builds relationships of trust.

And trust is the single most valuable thing you can cultivate through your professional blog.

A business blog works best when it listens more than it talks.

Welcome to Part 5 of a 24-part series on how to use the Visionary Blogging method to overcome business blog problems and develop good business blogging habits.

Now let’s talk about how to overcome despair, one of the worst enemies of visionary business blogging.

What is despair?