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Training corporate bloggers

July 9, 2009 By 1 Comment

We’re meeting with many companies who are having a tough time getting their people to write for the corporate blog.  The most common challenges: finding ideas to write about, finding a voice and style that is conversational, finding time to write, and overcoming fears about putting your own views and ideas into the public.

One way to add to “bloggers’ block” is to impose all kinds of “keywords-to-use-in-every-post” guidelines.  I recently heard a corporate blogging  manager talk about his top priority:  making sure bloggers use keywords to raise the brand’s search profile.  Of course, you want to increase search rankings.

But be careful about starting the blog this way. Instead, help your bloggers get comfortable with finding ideas and writing. Once they get in a good groove — which usually takes several months — then introduce the idea of how to incorporate certain keywords into their titles and posts.

Another thing to keep in mind is  that being interesting and providing value to readers is far more valuable than raising search rankings with boring, bland content.

Kudos to Rob Cottingham over at Social Signal for this illustrating the issue so well.

Filed Under: Communicating, Conversational Marketing, Language, Social media strategy Tagged With: , ,

U.S. Air Force: guidelines on responding to blogs

January 12, 2009 By 1 Comment

Kudos to the U.S. Air Force for developing some smart, easy-to-understand criteria and guidelines for how to engage with bloggers.  While you’d think a branch of the military would be especially rigid and controlling, the Air Force appears to be much more progressive than many companies, recognizing that the way to build and maintain reputation is to help your employees be your best word of mouth advocates.

Filed Under: Smart company stories, Social media strategy, Word of mouth Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Forrester: disappointment in corporate blogs

July 10, 2008 By 7 Comments

A recent Forrester survey of 189 companies found that 38% rated blogging marginal to marketing and 15 % said blogs were irrelevant. My experience is that many who get into blogs have unrealistic expectations, set irrelevant measures and “ROI” goals, and view blogs as a campaign tactic, which they most definitely are not. (Another observation: many quickly run out of things to blog about, often a sign that they’re not passionate or knowledgeable about their field.)

The bigger point is that people today expect a more social, casual style of business communications. In writing style. And in being able to post a comment or talk back.

The value of blogging done right is that it breaks the old corporate speak iceberg. Soon there will no longer be a corporate Web site and separate blogs. Good business Web sites will be blog-like in style and the ability for people to comment.

However, this means that businesses need to be more interesting, provide more valuable content and ideas to people who take the time to go to their site/blogs, have a point of view on trends in their industries, and thoughtfully respond to comments.

It also means that many, many communications and marketing people have to relearn communications skills.

But if all this change helps customers more quickly get to know your company — making it easier for them to make a decision and buy — it’s well worth the change. And that’s where the  real marketing payoff comes in.

PS – Thanks to my friend and Israeli management consultant Dov Gordon for the heads up on the Forrester study. Check out his new article, “Spitting in the Wind: A Single Obvious Insight to Sharpen and Focus Your Strategy.”

Filed Under: Communicating, Conversational Marketing Tagged With: , ,

Sun's Schwartz: not about blogging, but what you say

April 26, 2008 By Leave a Comment

[photopress:Schwartz_1_2.jpg,full,pp_image] The novelty of blogging is about to wear off, said Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz at this week’s Web 2.o Expo in San Francisco. It’s becoming just another way to communicate.

The bigger point, said Schwartz, is having something provocative to say.

“If you say undifferentiated things that are expected, then you shouldn’t expect anyone to care.”

Amen. So many businesses are obsessed about how to use blogs or social networks that they overlook the fact that you have to have something interesting to say. The point of my book Beyond Buzz is just this:

in today’s “talk” world — online and in person — having an interesting or provocative point of view is as essential, maybe more so, than traditional marketing and communications “messages,” elevator statements, value props, etc.

A provocative point of view gets attention, gets people involved, and speeds understanding. As Schwartz knows, if you want to get interest, be more interesting.

Filed Under: Communicating, Conversational Marketing, Language, Leadership, Point of View & Messaging Tagged With: , , , , ,

Blogger Stories

April 28, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Toby Bloomberg over at Diva Marketing has a special blog called Blogger Stories that shares the stories of “how people have been touched by blogs, podcasts, vlogs and other online interactions. The virtual library is almost at 90 “chapters” that have been contributed by bloggers from all over the world.”

The stories are fascinating and together show just how much blogging is changing the lives and worlds of people. They’re so much more just another marketing channel.

You can find my Blogger Story here.

Filed Under: Social media strategy Tagged With: ,

Blogs & Beyond: Digital Marketing Workshop Highlights

October 2, 2006 By Leave a Comment

Here are some highlights from The IT Services Marketing Association’s (ITSMA) recent “Blogs & Beyond” digital marketing workshop, held at Babson College. I had the pleasure to be a speaker along with Rob Leavitt, ITSMA’s vice president of marketing and member community; Paul Dunay, director of global financial services marketing for BearingPoint; Siobhan Dullea, vice president of community consulting for Communispace, and Cinny Little of the Digital Influence Group.

 

 

Workshop participants said their greatest digital marketing challenges are:

  • Understanding the optimal mix of digital tactics to accomplish goals

  • Reallocation of budgets: what traditional marketing approaches should be cut to fund digital marketing approaches

  • Overcoming pushback from legal, particularly around online communities and blogging

  • Figuring out how to measure new approaches

Listening to the digital conversation (Lois Kelly, Foghound)

If marketing is a conversation, half of the work is listening to customers and what’s being talked about in the market. Listening is as important – maybe more so – than talking (blogging, podcasts, etc.)

The value of listening to the digital conversation:

  • Making customers feel heard, key to building trust and relationships

  • Boarder understanding of relevant issues, players

  • Early warning on new ideas, concerns, competitors

  • Deeper insight into emerging influencers

  • Better tracking of “real conversations.

The three levels of active listening to be successful in the “marketing as a conversation” world:

  • Recognition: recognize the person’s view. Practically, this means providing easy ways for customers to share ideas or even complain.

  • Acknowledgement: acknowledging what a person feels or thinks. Providing a personalized, relevant response shows that your company hears and appreciates the idea.

  • Endorsement: accepting another person’s thoughts or point of view as valid and legitimate: this is where real dialogue kicks in.

Tools for passively listening to the marketing conversation, helping us to see where we can add to the conversation or glean insights.

  • Technorati: see who is blogging about a topic or a company; view by “authority of blogger, by language, how recent

  • Del.icio.us: easy way to see most saved Web page links on a topic, highlighting influence, value

  • Blogpulse: free way to analyst trends and monitor a conversation string among bloggers

  • Google Trends: see search volume on a topic comparing it to news volume. Also get search volume by article

  • Flickr: shows photos tagged by keywords, photos associated with your company name; hints at sentiment, metaphors

  • Touchgraph mapping: shows relationships among and between topics or companies and what issues are closely connected

  • Netrocity: Situational Awareness Mapping tool identifies conversation volume and relationship between topics and d companies

  • Consumer generated media analysis services: thorough way to identify and track online consumers, opinion leaders, key issues, trends, competitive threats and opportunities. Leading service providers include Nielsen/Buzz Metrics, Cymfony, Biz 360, and Umbria.

Microsites and Podcasts (Paul Dunay, BearingPoint)

Why microsites are useful:

  • Isolates content you want to showcase to a particular audience

  • Don’t have to crawl though your website to find content

  • Direct traffic there using a Vanity URL (ex:www.bearingpoint.com/risk)

  • Easy to direct search engines there (using keyword or SEO)

How microsites fit into marketing mix

  • Promotion of thought leadership

  • Interactive self-assessment

  • New product launches

  • Resource centers

Tips on using microsites

  • Don’t clutter up the page

  • Use a strong call to action

  • You don’t have to go it alone – use a media partner

  • Aim for highly-interactive content

  • Decide on what actions you want to track before hand

  • Optimize microsites for search engines

Tips on podcasting

  • No shovelware

  • No direct selling

  • Transparency is the key

  • Formats: multiple article format, blog-like rant, radio show with guest interviews

  • Use strong call to action

  • Commit to a series – you can’t “eat” just one podcast

  • Frequency: weekly

  • Keep it short: 5 to 7 minutes

  • Copywrite the title carefully

  • Costs: $0-$1,000 – quality varies

Private Online Communities (Siobhan Dullea, Communispace)

What Customers Do in Online Communities

  • Talk about competitors

  • Brainstorm ideas for revamping customer website

  • React to marketing campaigns

  • Give advice (solicited and unsolicited) about positioning

  • Chat about work challenges and suggest how the sponsoring company could address unmet needs

  • Give testimonials

  • Review white paper drafts and give feedback

  • Generate hypotheses that serve as basis for other research

Private online community best practices

  • Narrow the focus

  • Invite the right people

  • View members as advisors

  • Work at building the community

  • Be genuine, encourage candor

  • Just plain ask

  • Pay more attention to what members initiate

  • Don’t squelch the negative

  • Don’t ask too much too often

  • Use the right mix of methodologies and technologies

Blogs (Lois Kelly, Foghound)

Blog marketing strategies

  • Gather market intelligence

  • Comment on the conversation

  • Sponsor the conversation

  • Start your own conversation

  • Manage crises and misperceptions

Commenting on blogs and responding to TalkBacks

  • Be genuine and real

  • Someone from company vs. agency

  • Acknowledge, respect others’ views

  • Share facts and ideas that contribute to conversations vs. just opinions or rants

Publishing your own blog

  • Who is it for?

  • Theme? Do the posts add up to a grater whole? Connect to your business?

  • Your points of view, advice, expertise, personality, “humanness”

  • Commitment and skill: ideas, writing, responding thoughtfully to comments

  • Use a linking strategy

  • Add visuals to help convey views

  • Use RSS syndication, tag your posts,

  • Measure and learn

  • Frequency doesn’t rule; quality does

Organizational Challenges (Lois Kelly, Foghound)

Common organizational obstacles and tips for overcoming

  • Fraidy cat syndrome: use data to show why digital channels are popular, valuable to your audiences; show data and studies on the value of allowing and correctly responding to negative comments; show how you can convey points of view and advice that are not material to company; make friends with legal to create a plan on what can and can’t be talked about.

  • Oops, we forget the communications experts: Write to be said vs. read; learn broadcast-like interviewing skills; be prescriptive vs. descriptive; ideas should be valuable and interesting to the audience; be causal and conversational.

  • How do you measure?: Some ideas:

  • Track and show value of consumer insights from online market listening (to product development, customer communications, sales intelligence and communications, positioning, etc.)

  • Use awareness measures for digital

  • Viral marketing effect: use data to demonstrate speed efficiency

  • Search engine lift: show stats on how company brands, are more “findable”

  • Session quality: use increases in content viewed

  • Opt-in activity: track online registrations, requests for information

Ideas for getting started organizationally

  • Make passive and active listening someone’s job

  • Earn customer and prospect trust by giving away valuable advice

  • Start with an internal blog by an influential exec to show pent up interest and value of blogging

  • Start with tactics that fit your corporate culture. Podcasts better for “talking” cultures, blogs for cultures where written communications rule, communities for CRM-focused companies

  • Change your style: conversational communications based on providing value to others in language of people vs. pushing one-way messages. Use throughout ALL communications, digital and traditional

Filed Under: Social media strategy Tagged With: , ,