Can you learn to be 'social' when using social media?

When I started blogging in 2005, one of the first things I did was study how the so-called 'successful' bloggers blogged. One of the bloggers I began reading was Hugh MacLeod at Gaping Void.

I noticed as soon as I started reading Gaping Void that Hugh wasn't blogging the 'right' way. Specifically, he was constantly linking out to other sites and bloggers. This was obviously 'wrong', because all he was doing was sending traffic AWAY from his blog. And if a blogger with several days experience could see this, I'm sure everyone else could as well. Obviously.

But as I kept reading Hugh (even though I knew how he blogged was 'wrong'), I began to notice that people were commenting saying that they appreciated the link to Seth's recent post, or Tara's post on Pinko Marketing. Then I saw someone comment that they loved reading his blog because of 'all the great links you share'.

Hmmmmm.....could it be that by sharing links to other sites that Hugh wasn't actually driving people AWAY from his blog, but instead giving people a reason to become regular readers?

Then soon after, another blogging epiphany happened for me. As I was doing a crash-course of reading blogs in an effort to uncover the secrets of being a great blogger, I began to find a post here and there that caught my attention enough to leave a comment. Then a day or two later I noticed that traffic to my own blog started suddenly going up. And for the first time, COMMENTS were coming in! Awesome! But the problem was, I still had no idea what had caused the floodgates to open. Why all the traffic and comments suddenly? Then my friend Jordan Behan left a comment and when he did, he THANKED me for commenting on his blog. I went back and checked, and sure enough, almost all of the comments I had suddenly gotten, were coming from bloggers whose blog I had commented on first.

What these two examples did for helping me understand how and WHY people use social media, is immeasurable. Share something of value with others (such as a link to a great blog post), and they will be thankful. Create something of value for them (such as a comment on their blog), and they will not only be thankful, but they will want to return the favor.

But when I started blogging, my thought was that you become a good blogger by creating great content, and giving people a reason to come to your blog, and stay there. I had to LEARN how to be social with social media. I had to figure out how the tools work, and why people are using them. Not to silo content and information, but to SHARE it.

I was thinking about this learning process as I read Robbin's post today. I agree, I think companies have to train their employees on how to use social media as well. And in reality, the only way to do that is by making mistakes. Even if a company hires me to help them learn how to use social media effectively, there's still a time when the training wheels have to come off and the company takes ownership of their own efforts. No one learns how to ride a bicycle without earning a few scraped knees first. Social media is no different.

BTW as an introvert, I really think this applies. When I first started using social media, I didn't want to interact with strangers, because I am hesitant to do so offline. I had to learn how to become more social online, and now I think I'm an online extrovert, and an offline introvert. Have any other introverts noticed the same thing?

#blogchat 2-21 recap: Corp Blogging with Dell's Chief Blogger Lionel Menchaca!

Last nite was our biggest and most active #blogchat ever, with Dell's Chief Blogger Lionel Menchaca joining us to discuss corporate blogging, and more specifically, how Dell uses blogging to connect with its customers.

I do want to do a recap of some of the MANY takeaways from last nite's #blogchat, but first I wanted to touch on a big reason why Dell is using social media so effectively. As Shannon Paul would say, they show up. I asked Lionel to join #blogchat mostly because he's one of the best corporate bloggers on the planet, but also because I knew he would 'show up'. I told Lionel beforehand that if he needed to leave #blogchat after an hour or so to let me know, but he stayed for over 2 hours. And guys he was being absolutely HAMMERED with questions. Seriously when #blogchat first started he was getting 5-10 new questions a minute thrown at him. And there were even a few people taking swipes at Dell and how they use social media, and he handled it all with grace and ease. I'm sure it was a bit overwhelming at times, but he answered as many questions as possible, the funniest thing where people were asking him questions like 'Top 5 examples of...' or 'Your Ten Best reasons to blog', and other questions that were impossible to answer in one tweet, he would just peck out the answer in 3-4 tweets ;)

And this is a big reason why companies like Dell and Radian6 and Marketing Profs are using social media so well. Because they are connecting to us as PEOPLE. A big reason why my future laptop and desktop purchases will be Dells? Because I have connected with several Dell employees via social media. If I have an issue or concern, all I have to do is jump on Twitter and tweet them, and a personalized response is likely coming within 5 minutes. I can't get that from Apple or Compaq or any of Dell's direct or indirect competitors. The same thing goes for companies like Radian6 and Marketing Profs. They both have excellent products and services, but they are also using social media to put human faces to their companies.

That's a big advantage of using social media, and its one that very few companies have tapped into.

But that's another post for another day. Let's get back to my recap of last nite's #blogchat.

First, check out Lionel's tweets from #blogchat.

Here are some of my favorite takeaways:

• Initially, all comments on Dell's blogs were moderated. Now they go live, and are then screened.
  
• Making it easy for customers to comment on your blog is key to driving engagement there
• Dell got into social media in 2006 because customers were telling them they needed to improve their customer service, plus they realized that all these conversations were happening online that they had no say in.
• Social media won't help improve perception of a crappy product, it will amplify perceptions, good and bad.
• 3 bottom line goals for a corp blog: Know your scope and objective, know the audience you want to connect with, and be ready for criticism because it IS coming!
• Dell monitors blogs with tools such as Radian6 to discover support issues BEFORE customers come to them.
• It's great to have a strategy driving your social media efforts, but there's no substitute for action.
• Dell crafts its content to be product-specific, because they have learned from studying traffic to their blogs that this is the content Dell's customers want more of. But they also have content that's focused on the customers as well.
• Lionel sees Dell's blogs and forums being more integrated in the future

This is just some of the amazing nuggets from Lionel. Seriously I said on Twitter earlier that his #blogchat tweets alone last nite were like a corporate blogging encyclopedia! If you aren't already, make SURE you are following @lionelatdell! Thanks again for joining us Lionel, you are indeed The Man!

BTW remember that our next #blogchat is this Sunday nite the 28th at 8pm Central and is OPEN MIC! That means YOU pick the blogging topic you want to cover, and we all go from there! And you can also join #blogchat's Facebook fan page, which is now over 100 fans! Thanks guys, see you Sunday!

Flickr pic via @DavidAlston

The best way to connect via social media that you aren't using is....

Twitter chats. I am a huge proponent of Twitter chats, because they make it incredibly easy to find and connect with smart people, and have them discover you. There are now well over 100 regularly-scheduled chats on Twitter (most of them are weekly), and the topics are varied from social media to dog lovers to stay at home moms. So there should be at least 1 or 2 that appeal to almost everyone.

Why are Twitter chats so important? Here's 5 reasons:

1 - They let you connect with people that are on Twitter to interact. One of the biggest complaints about Twitter is that you can follow people, but its sometimes hard to really connect with the people on Twitter. Twitter chats are perfect for this, because if you are participating in a Twitter chat, the odds are that you are wanting to...well....chat. Sure there are lurkers to every chat, but there's a much higher chance of actually having a conversation with people, during a chat.

2 - They give you the chance to get noticed. This is one many of us struggle with when we first join Twitter. You have no followers, and no one knows who you are. So your tweets go out to....no one. But if you join a Twitter chat, then your tweets go out to the participants in THAT CHAT, if you add the appropriate hashtag to your tweets. So if you tweet every day about social media and it goes out to your 5 followers, that might not help you get noticed very much. But if you join #blogchat and talk social media with us there, your tweets will be going out to several hundred people. So your exposure level skyrockets. Which means you gain more followers during #blogchat, that you can reach afterwards.

3 - Joining new chats means new connections. I typically gain about 15-20 new followers during each week's #blogchat. But last nite I participated briefly in #IMCchat. I checked afterwards and found I had gained about 30 followers in the 45 mins or so that I participated in #IMCchat. Why? Because the network that follows #IMCchat is different from the one that follows #blogchat. So by joining #IMCchat, I was getting exposure to a new group of people. And likewise, I found some new people to follow!

4 - They give you access to industry experts you might not have otherwise. One of the big reasons why I wanted to join #IMCchat last nite was because @SouthwestAir's @ChristiDay joined the chat to give us some insight into how Southwest internally handled the recent Kevin Smith bruhawhaw. This coming Sunday nite, #blogchat will be co-hosted by Dell's Chief Blogger, Lionel Menchaca. So as certain chats become more popular, they can attract participants and hosts to a very interactive environment.

5 - They give you the chance to start your OWN chat! Simply pick a topic that you are passionate about, or that ties into your business, and create a chat to discuss it! And it doesn't have to be a weekly chat, start off with a monthly format and see if demand warrants bumping it up to bi-weekly or weekly. And doing so is an EXCELLENT way to draw attention to yourself! Let's say one of my hobbies was collecting Victorian antique furniture (it isn't, but bear with me). If you were to start a chat about finding and appraising Victorian antique furniture (or maybe just antique furniture), you better believe I would LOVE to join that chat!

And this is something I have seen for months firsthand from #blogchat. When people join your chat and get value from it, they will go out of their way to promote it to others. Every single day on Twitter now I see people helping others get more information about #blogchat. They are answering questions about what it is, when it is, and how to join. Every single day. When I first started #blogchat I had to promote it almost every day for the first couple of weeks, now I only send out 1 or 2 tweets a week reminding everyone of when/what it is.


So if you are looking to build your network on Twitter, and get noticed, I really think you should investigate Twitter chats. They are a terribly underutilized way to meet smart people, and have these smart people meet YOU. And we'd LOVE to have you join our next #blogchat on Sunday nite at 8pm CT, which will be co-hosted by Dell's Chief Blogger Lionel Menchaca! Here's the Facebook fan page for #blogchat which has some more information!

Kevin Smith vs Southwest: Did anyone win?

If you are like me, you missed the latest Twitter soap opera over the weekend, this one between Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines. I've gone back and read blog posts and tweets from both parties, and from what I can tell, Smith was on standby for a SW flight earlier than his scheduled one. SW let him board that plane, then asked him to leave, citing that he was causing discomfort to the passengers around him, or that as he claims, he was 'too fat to fly'.

Now, as usually is the case with a social media firestorm, what actually happened isn't nearly as significant as how the involved parties RESPOND to what actually happened.

First, there was this blog post from Southwest, entitled "Not So Silent Bob Speaks", which is a terrible title. One thing companies need to realize when they are in a situation like this is that many people are going to take swipes at you no matter WHAT you do or HOW you respond. So why give them any ammo by choosing a title that SOME could see as a swipe against Smith? Bad move, Southwest.

Now as for the post itself, it's apparently been edited since it was first published, but after an initial apology to Smith (which is what you want to see), the tone of the rest of the post seems to be explaining why Southwest was not at fault here. Additionally, the post should have closed again apologizing to Smith, and offering readers to leave their feedback (which they were going to do anyway). And Southwest should have stressed that they handled the situation poorly, and were listening to Smith, and their customers.

While Southwest was leaving this post, @ThatKevinSmith was on Twitter leaving a steady stream of f-bombs and other profanity-laced tweets aimed at Southwest. Now somewhat in Smith's defense, he was obviously upset and felt he had been told by Southwest that he was 'too fat to fly'. He was embarrassed, and had been the victim of a very bad customer service experience. So him being upset is understandable, but after 100 or so profanity-laced tweets, I think he crossed the line from being justifiably upset, to making himself look bad. I won't share the tweets, and honestly the one I included in this post was one of the few that didn't have the f-bomb in it.

Southwest then followed the next day with another post on the subject, which led to a post from Smith on his blog (NSFW). BTW after reading these posts I noticed something very significant: Southwest allowed comments on their posts, Smith did not. And yes, many of the (anonymous) comments on the Southwest blog were slamming the company, while many others defended their actions. But again, it rings a bit hollow to me that Smith wants to use social media to complain about the situation, but won't let us give our thoughts.

In the end, I think both Southwest and Smith handled this poorly. Southwest clearly didn't handle Smith's situation very well at all, and probably never should have let him on the plane, and then weren't completely honest about why he had to leave the plane. At least that's what it seems like to me. Then their apologies didn't seem completely sincere, and Smith went from being justifiably outraged to all but whining on Twitter. And constant f-bombs did nothing to help his cause.

But for companies, I think this is a reminder of how to properly handle a 'crisis' situation like this:

1 - Admit you were wrong, and MEAN IT. Even if you really don't THINK you were wrong, admit that you could have been, and probably were. Because many people will automatically believe you ARE wrong. So address those people in your response. Again, firestorms like this are pushed by the people that are the most vocal, and that doesn't necessarily mean they are right or even interested in being right. But it DOES mean that your response needs to go above and beyond in admitting error, and apologizing.

2 - Tell us how you will keep the same thing from happening to me. How will you FIX the problem? What did you learn from this, and what will be changed as a result?

3 - Invite feedback and let customers know that you WANT to hear from them. I never saw this in Southwest's replies. And you might as well ask for feedback because you WILL get it. Say you're wrong, tell us how the problem will be fixed, then invite us to give you feedback on what you are doing.

4 - Apologize, and remind us that you will do everything you can to ensure that this doesn't happen again. Thank your customers for caring enough to voice their concerns about this issue, and invite them to keep responding.


What do you guys think? Did Southwest handle this correctly? If not, what could they have changed? Was Smith justified in his tweets, or did he go too far?

BTW Sonny has a great post on this episode, check it out.

#blogchat 2-8 recap: Music Marketing via social media!

Last nite was another killer #blogchat, as the fantasmically amazing @misskatiemo joined us to discuss how artists can use social media to connect with their fans! Music marketing is one of my favorite topics, so I was thrilled to participate last nite. If you missed it, here is the transcript.

Some of the main points, and I've linked to their Twitter names so you can follow these smart peeps:

• Musicians should connect with fans themselves, fans can tell if its the artist, or their publicist.
• Fans love it when artists give them a 'behind the scenes' look at how they make music, their performances, secret shows, etc. Social media lets them pull back the curtain. @misskatiemo @krisis
• Twitter is great for instant communication between artists and fans, blogs and Facebook allow for deeper connections and for the artists to share content in several forms. @grtaylor2 @kikilitalien
• The end goal of social media usage for artists is to 'sell something', but artists need to understand that its a goal that will likely take some time to attain via SM. @misskatiemo @zzramesses
• If artists acknowledge and engage fans, it means the fans will promote them to their friends, which creates more fans (Note: Companies can do this exact same thing by embracing their evangelists) @TMariePR
• Fans enjoy reading tweets from artists, it shows them the artists are 'just like them'. @ICT_GURU
• MySpace is now mostly used by labels, artists have moved on to other tools to interact with fans, for the most part @misskatiemo
• @amandapalmer was told by label reps that SM wouldn't work for her. She famously made $11,000 in merchandise sales via Twitter in 2 hours. @krisis

Then, after about an hour of great conversation, something really cool happened. Arlene Wszalek (@Wzzy), who manages Tears for Fears co-founder @CurtSmith was participating, and many people were asking for success stories of how social media has helped artists connect with fans. So Arlene got in touch with Curt, and he joined #blogchat and spent about 30 minutes answering our questions! Please go check out all of his responses as it was truly fascinating to hear how Curt is using social media to connect with his fans, and also WHY he wants to connect with them.

Thanks to @misskatiemo and @curtsmith and everyone that made last nite's #blogchat another amazing event! We will again be on Monday nite next week (Because of Valentine's Day being on Sunday), and if you haven't already, please join the Facebook fan page for #blogchat!

Attention big brands, we had a blast on Twitter last nite, but where were you?

If you were on Twitter last nite during the Super Bowl, you probably had a blast with the rest of us participating in all the chatter around the game, and the commercials. Many of us were using the #brandbowl hashtag to critique the ads in real-time, in fact I was seeing 100 new tweets coming in every couple of minutes. For reference, that's about FOUR times the volume of a busy #blogchat.

But one thing many of us noticed was that the companies buying these very expensive Super Bowl ads, weren't doing anything to engage with us. I didn't see a single ad with a reference to the company's social media presence (someone tweeted that Honda's ad had their Facebook URL, but I missed it). And the only activity I saw during #brandbowl were a couple of companies (Coke and eTrade) tweeting that their spot was coming up.

For all the hype that Twitter has gotten for being mainstream, and all the talk about how big brands are starting to leverage social media, tonite was a cruel reminder that many companies still have little idea of how to engage with potential customers via social media. Anyone that's used Twitter for ANY amount of time knows that its members love to use the site to discuss and connect over any type of event like this. Whether it's the Super Bowl or the Grammys or the season premiere of Lost, we are there and we are talking.

The water cooler is now online. Companies need to understand this, and start engaging with customers in a place where they are already chatting.

Oh well, maybe next year...

Twitter-sourced smartitude; Getting a community site off the ground

This morning I actually had a few minutes to spend on Twitter, so I decided to get a discussion going about community sites. More specifically, what's the first consideration when starting a site, how important is it to be involved in the site itself, and how to sell it to your boss. I got dozens of great answers, and here they are:

First consideration when launching a community site:

1. MattJMcD @MackCollier making sure people want to be part of your community in the first place.
2. jonnytee @MackCollier first question - Who's the audience and what's their common interest?
3. tamadear @MackCollier Whether or not a community already exists--and if they already have an online gathering
4. brandonacox @MackCollier Do we really want a community site? Or do we want to infiltrate a much larger already-existing community?
5. space.
6. cubanalaf @MackCollier Which brand ambassadors will serve as the foundation - community sites have to have a grass roots effect at start.
7. xybrewer @mackcollier What do "we" have to offer the community? Help? Support? Funding? Information? Access?
8. GreenSpotting RT @MackCollier: company wants to start a community site, top consideration should B......what value can it bring clients, &let grow organic
9. Griner MackCollier 1. What will offer that actually has value? 2. How will we drive people there?
10. turbobrown @MackCollier ease of use. great question, looking forward to seeing the answers!
11. MacSlam @MackCollier Whether is has a business purpose or not

How active should your company be in the community itself?

1. davidpaulw @MackCollier Very imp. Just like what Seth talks about in tribes. Communities need leaders. Ppl not companies
2. MattJMcD @MackCollier agreed. The next thing is what value do you bring to the equation. Communities are based on who adds what, comps no different.
3. cubanalaf @MackCollier Oh, agreed. I always tell brands that you can't control conversation, but the effect of it. A brand ambassador can be employee.
4. MacSlam @MackCollier re: participation - v. important - if you don't pay attention to it, why should anyone else?

How do you convince the 'skeptical boss' that you should launch a community site?

1. CKsays @MackCollier: gotta get data points showing how communities foster a source of trusted referrals for the company and how communities work..
2. MattJMcD @MackCollier Offer special deals/incentives to comm members. Unique items/pricing. You can track purchases, sales, interest directly.
3. CKsays @MackCollier: ... to create customers.Also show data points on how online mentions facilitate purchasing. Then take the co's competitors...
4. GreenSpotting @MackCollier "Skeptical Boss the value from a comm site?" -point him to one that works now, large or small.
5. griner @MackCollier I've always liked the potential of community sites, but it's so difficult to build audience without a heavy ad spend.
6. CKsays: and show the boss what competitors are doing (eek, you're behind!) or are not doing (first-mover advantage opportunity!)

Some great answers! BTW this shows that Twitter makes it very easy to crowdsource ideas and develop conversations (it is after all a communications tool). And it also shows that I have a damn hard time cutting and pasting tweets from the timeline to blogger! You can read all the replies here.

#blogchat update for Feb - Music Marketing and Corporate Blogging!

Big update for February as a couple of super smart co-hosts have agreed to join us for #blogchat.

First, if aren't sure what #blogchat is, it's a chat that happens every Sunday nite on Twitter at 8pm Central. We talk about topics related to personal, professional and business blogging. Occasionally we stray off and talk about broader issues relating to social media, but for the most part we are blog-centric in our discussions.

You can follow #blogchat on the web here or here, and you can get the background on how it came to be here.

Now for the real news; after getting feedback from you guys in the previous post, I've decided to move the first two #blogchats in February to Monday nite, to avoid conflicts with the Super Bowl, and Valentine's Day.

And on the 8th, the fantabulous @MissKatieMo has agreed to join us to discuss music marketing, and how musicians can connect with their fans via social media (especially blogging). Katie is the current Marketing Manager for Ripple6 in NYC, and also handles marketing and promotions for the music label Pressing Issues, dubbed 'The World's First Democratic Dubstep Label'. Plus she has an excellent blog, Candid Katie. Anyone that's read this blog for any amount of time knows that music marketing is one of my absolute favorite topics, so I am seriously looking forward to Katie joining us on the 8th.

The topic for the 15th is still to be determined, but on the 21st we go back to Sunday nites, AND will be joined by none other than Dell's Chief Blogger Lionel Menchaca! Lionel is widely recognized as one of the very best corporate bloggers on the planet, and he'll be joining us to discuss how corporate bloggers craft their content. Thanks to @kseniacoffman for suggesting this topic!

As you can guess, I am seriously pumped about both of these chats, as these are two of my favorite topics and Katie and Lionel are two of my favorite people! BTW a reminder, this Sunday's #blogchat is Open Mic, meaning YOU decide what we talk about!

Oh and to get you in the mood for Katie's #blogchat on the 8th, here's my favorite presentation ever, What Rockstars Can Teach You About Kicking Ass With Social Media!

What Rockstars Can Teach You About Kicking Ass With Social Media

View more presentations from Mack Collier.

#blogchat 1-24 recap; Dealing with and avoiding blogger burnout!

First, if you missed #blogchat, here is the transcript.

Second, if you have no idea what #blogchat is, it's a chat on Twitter that happens every Sunday nite at 8pm Central. We discuss a different topic every week that relates to blogging. EVERYONE is welcome to participate, and here's a good way to keep up with the chat on the web. If you have a Twitter account, you can join by adding the #blogchat hashtag to your tweets.

Our topic this week was dealing with and avoiding blogger burnout. This is something that I've been dealing with from time to time, and from the #blogchat crowd, here are some tips to coping with burnout:

1 - Shift gears and use Twitter more as inspiration for posts - @armano
2 - Set realistic goals and focus on fewer topics on your blog - @mackcollier
3 - Draw inspiration for topics from other blogs and books - @wayneliew
4 - Avoid potential burnout for the reader AND blogger with fewer, higher quality posts - @verilliance
5 - Switch things up and try doing a podcast or video post - @mtlb
6 - Bring in new bloggers or have others do Guest posts - @eric_urbane
7 - Try using an editorial calendar for your blog - @jdebberly
8 - Keep a notebook with you to jot down post ideas - @lorieahuston
9 - Write about topics you are passionate about, not to get traffic - @sarahmaeblogs
10 - Tag posts in Google Reader that can be inspiration for future posts - @tamcdonald
11 - Check out your blog's archives to see if you can find a new take - @amanda_pants
12 - Find connections between two unusual topics - @pcaveney
13 - See what others are talking about, which topics are popular - @eljadaae

Those are some ideas, there are definitely a ton more here in the transcript.

Now, I wanted to talk to you guys about the short-term and long-term future of #blogchat. First, #blogchat is growing like a weed in the Southern summertime. Sunday's #blogchat was our more active yet, with over 1,600 tweets, which I think makes #blogchat the most active chat on Twitter right now. Thanks again to ALL of you that make that possible!

For the next few weeks, the topics and schedule is in a bit of flux. Next Sunday (Jan 31st) is the final Sunday of the month, so it will be Open Mic, meaning there is NO set topic, and everyone can talk about whatever they want. It will be semi-organized chaos and a total blast.

After the 31st is when we run into some problems. Because the Sunday after that is Super Bowl Sunday, and I don't think we want to have a #blogchat opposite the Super Bowl. And the Sunday after that is Valentine's Day, which will also be tough for a lot of people to make.

So here's our options for these two weeks, let me know which one is your favorite:

1 - Cancel #blogchat for both weeks and pick up #blogchat on Feb 21st (definitely NOT my choice)

2 - Cancel #blogchat on Super Bowl Sunday, and pick it back up on Valentine's Day

3 - Move #blogchat from Sunday, Feb 7th, to Monday, Feb 8th, and cancel the #blogchat on Valentine's Day.

4 - Move #blogchat to Monday on Feb 8th and 15th, then back to Sundays starting on the 21st.


Let me know which option is your favorite! BTW we will have a major co-host on the 21st, and possibly one the week before if we can get the schedule worked out.

Now, another question is the long-term schedule for #blogchat. As I said, #blogchat is really starting to take off. But one complaint I consistently hear about the chat is that a lot of people say they have trouble making #blogchat on Sunday nite. So I wanted to throw this out there; How many of you would like to see #blogchat moved to another nite, and if so, which nite? If we do move #blogchat, my choice would be Thursday, since that nite seems to have fewer chats. But let me know what you guys think.

So please let me know what you guys think for the schedule for next month, and long-term which nite you'd like to see #blogchat from now on. If you're gold with it being on Sunday, let me know that as well.

And finally, thank you guys SO much for making #blogchat the success it has become. This REALLY is due to you guys. If I had used #blogchat as my soapbox and had tried to dominate the conversation each week, I promise you that #blogchat wouldn't be nearly as popular as it is. YOU guys are why #blogchat is so popular, and never forget it! Thank you thank you thank you!


UPDATE: Dell's Chief Blogger Lionel Menchaca has been confirmed as co-host for #blogchat on February 21st ;)

Case Study: How MarketingProfs uses Twitter

Over on MackCollier.com this week we've had a fabulous discussion about what happens if your company has 1 person that's handling your social media strategy, and then they leave. In the post, I referenced how MarketingProfs does a great job leveraging Twitter to connect with its users.

And then I got to thinking that other companies could definitely learn from what MP is doing with Twitter. So I fired off an email to Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs (and all-round superheroine in the true 70s SuperFriends sense of the word), and she quickly agreed to share with us the following interview. Now I think most of my readers know this, but here are the disclaimers for this post:

1 - I frequently write articles for MarketingProfs, and posts for the company's blog, Daily Fix.

2 - I think Ann Handley is the bee's knees and she's one of my favorite people on the planet.

And I also think that companies, especially startups and virtual companies, can REALLY learn from how MarketingProfs uses Twitter. Here's my interview with Ann:


Mack Collier - Why Twitter? What did you see in the site that made you think that maybe it could work for MarketingProfs?

Ann Handley - Actually, at first... I didn't see anything worthwhile. Twitter makes a terrible first impression: All that senseless chatter about what someone ate for lunch, and what movie someone just saw, and stupid video links, and other inaneness....

And it is persistent! A bunch of people broadcasting their thoughts and feelings all day? Where's the value in that? I created an account for MarketingProfs, then abandoned it promptly.

MC - Was there one 'it' moment that made you realize that Twitter was going to help MarketingProfs? If so, what was it?

AH - But still, people I like and respect were crazy about Twitter. I started to wonder if I wasn't missing out on something.

Then one day, when I popped in to Twitter per chance, I happened to see a New York Times (@nytimes) news tweet. It was a tweet generated automatically from a simple news feed, and it wasn't a particularly big news story, even. But nonetheless, as I was watching, a few other people on Twitter started commenting on it. And some retweeted it. Meanwhile, the story wasn't even yet on the NY Times home page.

That was the a-ha moment for me: when I saw that with Twitter came tremendous opportunity to report, filter, and engage. Later, a plane would land in the Hudson, and there would be wildfires in California, and demonstrating in Iran, and so much more (Obama, Susan Boyle, Motrin Moms, and a thousand moments in between).

Later, we'd really see the power of Twitter first-hand, and Steven Berlin Johnson (@stevenbjohnson) in his Time magazine cover story (June, 2009) would describe it in a way I would immediately grok: "Twitter matters because it's about what matters."

Soon after, I would realize that the potential for business is huge: a platform that allows you to engage, directly, with prospects and customers. A platform that affords a way to humanize your brand. A way to service. A way to deepen and develop relationships (and the art of doing that, which is an interview all to itself....)

But that moment with the forgotten NY Times story was a glimpse.


MC - You are now one of many MP employees on Twitter, but I believe you were the first one, right?

AH - Yes. I was.

MC - Did you have to twist any arms internally to get others from MP on board, or did they see the value as well? How did you sell them on the value of Twitter?

AH - It was an evolution.

One of the great things about working for a small company is that you can often have a lot of autonomy, and an ability to experiment. There's an element of fearlessness in a start-up that I love: A sense of that it's okay to give things a shot, even with the understanding that it might not work out, and you might be wrong. So it was in that spirit that I launched @MarketingProfs on Twitter.

Like a lot of people who thrive in that kind of atmosphere, I have a touch of what my friend Peter Shankman (@skydiver) calls ADOS -- "Attention Deficit... Oooh! Shiny!" Twitter specifically, and social media generally, appealed to me much the way that the Internet itself appealed to me a decade ago: It was a new frontier, and WOW. Wait a sec: Let's see how far we can go....

So I embraced Twitter first, with encouragement from Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang), who was then still with Podtech (before he went to Forrester). I operated under the radar for a while, both within MarketingProfs and externally. Which was good, as it turns out, because I made plenty of mistakes. I didn't embrace Twitter wholeheartedly. I wasn't transparent and didn't identify that it was me behind the account. I spent some time as a broadcaster: All I did was tweet out MarketingProfs headlines. I didn't discuss (I didn't "at" people). I didn't follow back.

I'm embarrassed by all that now, but at the same time, it was a necessary step in the process.

Gradually, others within MarketingProfs started to embrace Twitter, too. CEO Allen Weiss (@allenweiss) and our seminar den mother, Shelley Ryan (@shelleyryan), were among the first to embrace Twitter as a way to further our brand and connect with customers. Since then, many more have joined -- including our Customer Service "head ninja" Penny Fiederlein (@pennosh), Director of Advertising Sharon Hudson (@sharihudson), President Roy Young (@royprofs), Community Manager Beth Harte (@bethharte), Director of Publications Vahe Habeshian (@habesh) and more.... You can follow the whole MarketingProfs crew (all 21 of us!) here on the "Profs People" list: http://twitter.com/MarketingProfs/profspeople

I've never pushed the social agenda within MarketingProfs. In a way, MarketingProfs is like any other company: There are those who are suited to social media and those who are not. We encourage those who are suited to it and have a love and passion for it... but we don't mandate participation or even encourage those who do not.

To what end?


MC - In the framework of Marketing Profs' social media strategy, where does Twitter fit in? Is it the centerpiece? Or is Daily Fix? How do you rank the tools in terms of importance for MP?

AH - I see Twitter as key to our social strategy. There isn't anything we find as useful in terms of immediacy for connecting with potential subscribers and readers, or talking to our members, or listening to what marketers care about, or learning what resonates with them, or fixing complaints, or getting feedback, or joking around, or even simply informing those about what we're working on -- about our new Affiliate Program, for example, or new research, or whatever the case.

That said, our blog is key, too. You were a founding contributor to that, so you know how much I value it. But Twitter allows us a breadth and immediacy that's unique. Do I hope that my 50,000+ followers will become subscribers? Absolutely. Do I hope that, even better, that they'll become paid members, and pay us to access our research and seminar and case study collections? Absolutely. But regardless, I'm resolute in my belief that the connections I build there pay off, one way or another, for the business, for me, and for the group of followers themselves.

Maybe not right away. But I'm nothing if not patient.


Thanks Ann! Ok, two things that really stuck out to me from reading Ann's answers:

1 - Love this quote from Ann on why she started using Twitter: "But still, people I like and respect were crazy about Twitter. I started to wonder if I wasn't missing out on something." That is the EXACT reason why I started using Twitter. I couldn't see the value, but I kept seeing smart people like @Armano and @KatieChatfield using Twitter, so I figured if they are using Twitter, there must be something there.

2 - She started out using Twitter as a broadcast tool. Yes that's right, most of the people that NOW use social media very well, got to that point through trial and error. And honestly, I used Twitter in the same way at first (*blush*).

Thanks again Ann, oh and MarketingProfs is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Congrats!

Is social media growing up?

There's been some big news in the past few weeks concerning some of the top names in the social media and new media space. First, David Armano signed on to join Edelman PR in Chicago. Then Geoff Livingston, Beth Kanter and Kami Huyse pooled their collective genius to start Zoetica Media. Next was Powered acquiring Crayon, and today, BL Ochman announced she was joining Proof Digital Media. In addition, Susan alerted me to the fact that some big names such as McDonalds and IBM are hiring key social media positions.

I think this signals two trends that we'll see more of in 2010;

1 - People that have demonstrated value in the social media space will either have opportunities for advancement, or to strike out in new enterprises.

2 - Companies are getting serious about investing in these people.

But notice too that these aren't people that are well-versed in social media, they are smart marketers that ALSO get social media. This is the key, and it's what companies and clients are looking for. The days of the standalone consultant that only deals with social media tools are all but over. Companies are looking for ways to INTEGRATE social media with other areas of marketing and communications. Beth Harte had a great tweet the other nite during #blogchat, where she said she didn't want to hire a social media consultant, she wanted to hire a marketing consultant that understands social media.

Personally, I'm excited to see my friends doing so well, and I am excited for this space because I think these moves and this shift in focus helps legitimize the entire space. This is also why I've never worried about the so-called 'flood of social media consultants' or the 'scammers'. The market will bear out the people that are doing quality work, from the ones that are not. I don't have time to focus on whether or not someone has the expertise to be a quality social media consultant, I'm too busy building my OWN expertise. The market always corrects itself.

What do you think? Are these moves only the start and will we see more in the coming months? Or are we in for a quiet 2010?

UPDATE: Jake reminded me that two of the smartest people in the space (and two of my heroes), Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba, joined Ant's Eye View about 2 months ago. Another example of smart people coming together in this space.

Pepsi dumps buying Super Bowl ads, will give away money instead

A major story hit the advertising industry over the Christmas holidays as Pepsi announced for the first time since the mid 80s, the soft drink maker will NOT buy advertising during the Super Bowl. Instead, Pepsi will invest $20M in a social media campaign called The Pepsi Refresh Project. This campaign looks to fund community-based projects based on several themes such as Health, Arts and Culture, The Planet, and Education.

Needless to say, this is a pretty big marketing shift for one of the world's biggest brands. And it will be interesting to see if other big brands follow suit. Connie Bensen says this move is a sign of three trends converging:

• Social media marketing becoming mainstream
• Community-building taking priority over the 30-second ad
• Brands leveraging multiple channels rather than just television

But the question remains; Will this campaign ultimately build Pepsi's brand and sell more product?

First, there's the execution. Starting on Wednesday, you can submit your ideas for a project that you want Pepsi to fund. We can then vote on our favorites, and the winners will be selected based on number of votes. You can learn more about the selection process here. It sounds like the process will be similar to how Dell utilizes IdeaStorm to crowdsource ideas.

So the thinking is that people that submit ideas and have them approved for voting, will then utilize social sites and channels to promote their idea, and by extension, the Refresh Project, and Pepsi itself. That will likely happen. So the buzz-building element is there, the question becomes, will the buzz be sustainable and beneficial to Pepsi, or more for the project itself?

I think the best chance for this buzz to grow into sustainable passion for the Pepsi brand will come at the local level, in the communities where these projects will be completed. As a result, I think it would be a very wise move for Pepsi to reach out to its evangelists to help with the selection of the projects, and ultimately, their execution.

Think about it, what better way to promote your brand in a positive light than to invest money in projects that benefit communities AND have your most passionate fans be the people that work to complete these projects? THAT would make this project a huge home run for Pepsi, and it will be interesting to see if Pepsi plans on bring their evangelists into the mix to help them with this campaign.

What do you think of The Pepsi Refresh Project? If you had a $20M budget, would you spend it on this project, or buy about 6 Super Bowl ads?

How should bloggers attempt to monetize their content?

Last nite we had another fabulous #blogchat discussion on how bloggers should attempt to monetize their blogs, and which options would work best for the blogger, and their readers. If you want to catch up, here's where you can read the transcript from last nite's chat.

And the big issue/problem is that the overwhelming majority of blogs are written by an individual, and likely have very low readership numbers. So that means that any monetization effort that hinges on traffic/pageviews probably isn't going to work for these bloggers.

So does that mean that most individual bloggers are left out in the cold when it comes to making money off their blogs? I don't think so, and neither did many of the participants in last nite's #blogchat. Because while many individual bloggers might have low readership numbers, they often seem to have more INFLUENCE over that smaller readership. I know from my own experience both as a blogger and reader that many smaller blogs have more interaction and community on their blogs than blogs with 100X the traffic.

And this is where I think sponsorships could be a better alternative for many of these bloggers, and companies as well. For example, what makes more sense for Jones Soda, to buy ads on a blog devoted to sodas that gets 15,000 visitors a day, or to sponsor Katie's blog for a month, who only gets 150 visitors a day (mostly her friends and family), but who constantly blogs about her love of her favorite soft drink; Jones Soda. The ads on the first blog would probably more expensive, and for Katie's blog, since she loves Jones Soda, it's completely possible that she would be ok with being paid in soda, instead of cash. Or a combination of the two.

By going with Katie, Jones Soda gets a sponsorship on a blog that's already evangelizing their product, versus one that covers the larger industry. And they likely get that sponsorship for less. And for Katie's readers, the sponsorship would like be less intrusive than an ad from a company that Katie doesn't love like she loves Jones Soda.

Sounds like a win-win for both the blogger and the company. So why aren't these sponsorships happening more often? We talked about this as well during #blogchat, and the consensus seems that there's a real opportunity for a company/agency to serve as a facilitator of such sponsorships, especially ones where companies are connected to their blogging evangelists.

But until that go-between presents itself, perhaps both bloggers and companies should be more proactive in seeking out blog sponsorships. As a blogger, if you're interested in having sponsorships on your blog, why not create a page that states this? I have never accepted ads on this blog (I've had affiliate links a couple of times), and have never really wanted to. But I would be interested in a sponsorship if it was with a company I was passionate about. I think many bloggers would as well.

And for companies, it would be a great way to reach out to and embrace your blogging evangelists. But you could also use blog sponsorships as a way to promote your OWN blog. Let's be honest, many company blogs have little to no readership simply because the company's bloggers often don't/can't invest the time and effort necessary to drive interest back to the blog and grow its readership.

But blog sponsorships could be a great way to get a company blog off the ground. Let's say a company that sells a unique environmentally-friendly clothing line launches a company blog. Buying sponsorships on select blogs devoted to the environment and targeting environmental activists could be a great way for this company to reach the exact readership it's looking for its blog (and clothing line) to resonate with. This could be a much better use of the company's time, at least at first.

What do you think? Are blog sponsorships holding great potential that hasn't yet been tapped? Or are there better alternatives for bloggers that want to monetize their content?

BTW if you want to get in on the next #blogchat, it happens every Sunday nite at 8pm CT on Twitter. And if you're new to #blogchat, next week is the perfect time to join in, as next week will be co-hosted by a social media smartie a *few* of you have probably heard of, the amazing Beth Harte! Beth and I will be discussing how social media consultants should use social media themselves. If you want to join us, stop by at 8pm CT next Sunday!

Google and Facebook reach deal to include content into live search

Similar to the Twitter deal I blogged about on Tuesday, Google has reached a deal with Facebook to include some content created by its members into search results, effectively creating 'live' search. It appears that content will only be added that relates to 'hot topics' (again, similar to the Twitter deal), but that could easily change over time.

Now on the surface, this seems like a very big plus for businesses, especially ones that have a limited social media effort, or any that are only on Facebook. If the deal eventually branches out to incorporate ALL content created by Facebook members, then the SEO ramifications alone are huge.

But I think it's wise to consider one very big issue: You will be letting Facebook have control over your content. You already do, but as more money becomes involved, there could be more changes to how that content can be changed or controlled.

For example, a few weeks ago I was working with a client to do a promotion via the company's Facebook fan page. Right as we were in the final planning stages, Facebook changes their rules on promotion and giveaways, and instantly our idea had to be nixed. What about Rupert Murdoch's public spat with Google and his desire to pull all MySpace content from Google's search engine? What if your only social media presence and your network as a business was completely on MySpace, then that happened?

So this move has some very big potential advantages for companies that are active on Facebook, but I think the potential downsides must also be considered. I also think this solidifies that for the average business, the hub of their social media efforts should be on a platform where they have control of the content, such as a blog.

What do you think? Are the risks worth the reward for companies with this new deal?

Google - Twitter strike live search deal; what it means for your company

If you do a Google search for Tiger Woods (as I did in the image above), you'll notice something has changed. At the top you have a news story, then a few results from the web, and under that is a frame with constantly updating new stories about Tiger, including tweets from Twitter.

Yes, Twitter. Live Search is now here, as Twitter and Google recently struck a deal to have tweets about popular topics included into Google's search results. Google struck a similar deal with Facebook as well, and I'll cover that in another post.

If you are a company, you have to understand the ramifications of this. Potentially, YOUR tweets as well as the tweets from Twitter users ABOUT your company, could be integrated into Google search results. As with most areas of social media, this can either be a great thing for your company, or a nightmare.

Consider this; Let's say your company suddenly has a major product recall. Speculation in mainstream media is running wild that this could just be the tip of the iceberg, and that other more popular product lines could be affected as well.

When people run to Google to do searches to see what is happening, tweets from Twitter will very likely be served up highly in the results. This is where your company can either benefit, or be in big trouble.

If your company has been proactive and is engaging with Twitter's users about this issue, then not only will your responses show up in search results, but so will the responses of Twitter's users, that have likely been influenced by your responses.

On the flip side, if people are discussing this on Twitter and your company has no presence there, there's likely to be wild rumors and speculation thrown about, and if your company isn't there to address these rumors, they will only get worse.

So what can you do about this?

1 - Start monitoring Twitter immediately. Go to Twitter Search and do a search for your company. Here's a link to a search I did for 'Heinz'. Notice up in the top right there is an RSS icon and it says Feed for this query. Click there, and you can subscribe to these results in your favorite feed reader.

2 - If you haven't already, reserve your company's name on Twitter. If the exact combination that you want isn't available, pick a name that's to your liking, and edit your profile to explain who you are, what you do, and include a link back to your website or blog (if you have one).

Now in all honesty, as the deal currently stands, this likely won't affect most companies. For example, I did a search for Jones Soda, and no tweets were served up in the search results. So if you are a small business or even a mid-sized company, this likely won't change much if anything for you. But if any news-worthy event happens that attracts MSM attention, it could very easily have tweets inserted into search results.

So it might be best to remember that Noah built the Ark before the rain started.

What 'The U' can teach you about building communities

I'm a sucker for documentaries that show the 'rise and fall' of military empires, businesses and the like. I love seeing the plan that made these giants possible, then what changed that led to the inevitable decline.

So when I saw that ESPN was going to have a special titled 'The U' on how Miami Hurricanes football became a juggernaut in the 1980s, I had to watch. Now let me have a disclaimer here; the Canes in the 80s were brash, cocky, arrogant, and much of what their players did was a complete embarrassment to college football, in my opinion. I wasn't interested in the special from that angle, I wanted to see what happened to take a football program from all but being closed in the late 70s, to being the dominant program in the country just a few years later.

To give this story a baseline and some perspective, in the late 70s, support for Miami's football program was so low that the school ran promotions with local Burger Kings to give away a free football ticket if you bought a Whopper! The school was about ready to drop the football program when it hired Howard Schnellenberger in 1979. Schnellenberger had tutored under two of the greatest football coaches of all-time, Bear Bryant at Alabama and Don Shula at the Miami Dolphins.

When Schnellenberger arrived in Miami, he immediately started putting his fingerprints over the entire program. His first goal was to 'win back' the city of Miami. Racial and economic tensions had divided the city in the early 80s, and left the entire area looking for an identify to unify it.

And Schnellenberger saw that potential identity as being the Miami Hurricanes football team. He purposely focused almost all of his recruiting efforts on getting football players from inner-city Miami, and the surrounding areas. He did that because as he explained, he wanted to recruit kids from South Florida that wanted to play in front of their friends and family, so they would be in the stands cheering on these players.

Schnellenberger's staff called South Florida 'The State of Miami', and told his staff to saturate that area of the state with their recruiting efforts. What happened was that kids from Miami started committing to play football at Miami, and then started calling their friends at other local schools and told them to come to Miami as well.

And the Miami community noticed that Schnellenberger was going into rough, inner city areas of Miami, and recruiting kids that other schools wouldn't touch. That began to resonate with the Miami community, and they began to respect Schnellenberger and in the process, the community began to adopt the Miami team as their own. Because it was.

"By the mid 80s, the Hurricanes were Miami's team" - Billy Corben, Director of The U

In 1983, the Miami Hurricanes won the school's first football National Championship. And the key was, that title was won with LOCAL players. An area that had been engulfed in strife and division, now had a reason to come together, and Schnellenberger instilled a sense of pride, of local pride, in the Miami program.

What does all of this have to do with your company's efforts to build an on or offline community? The lesson learned here is to give the people you are trying to reach, a sense of ownership in something larger than themselves. Schnellenberger did NOT recruit the best players in the country, he recruited the best players in Miami, specifically because he wanted LOCAL players. He wanted the mamas and daddies of these players to be in the stands cheering their sons on. He wanted the Miami community to identify with this team.

And they did. Remember that lesson when you are trying to create your community-building efforts.

Pic via ESPN

More comments doesn't always equal more conversation

How many times have you heard that when it comes to social media, that 'it's all about the conversation?' We all have, and 'the conversation' is terribly important.

But I think the misconception many of us have is that all you need to have a conversation, is comments. Check out this post by Olivier. Notice it has 266 comments (currently). But look closer and you'll see that almost all of those comments are coming from one side of the issue.

That's not a conversation, that's a buncha comments. And I think this is a problem that many bloggers have, in that we don't always effectively manage comments so that people that come down on both sides of the issue feel like they can be heard.

I'm not picking on Olivier here, notice this post I wrote last week on Mashable. Almost all of the commenters agreed with me, but Mike offered a differing viewpoint that I really didn't touch on. That was my fault, and I should have done a better job of addressing what Mike said. Doing so might have opened up the comments to more viewpoints.

So if you're a blogger that's wanting to get conversations started on your blog, remember that you need more than just comments. You need interaction, if all you have are a buncha 'Amen!' comments, well that might make YOU feel good, but it's not the best way to get a conversation started.

And if you do get a differing viewpoint (or someone that flatly says you are full of it), EMBRACE that, because they are giving an opening to anyone that has another viewpoint to chime in. More viewpoints means a better chance of turning a few comments into a vibrant conversation that we can ALL learn from.

That's how your blog gets traction and respect. Not by having comments, but by having conversations.

Pic via Flickr user db*photography

When it comes to online content, more niche usually trumps more masses

I've been paying closer attention to Mashable lately. If you aren't familiar with the site, it prides itself on covering all aspects of social media, and even has the tagline "The Social Media Guide". The site has been growing like a weed for months, and every new post gets hundreds of RTs on Twitter.

But what's caught my attention recently is the content of the posts. As the site continues to grow, it seems to be moving away from just covering social media, to more broader 'news' stories.

For example, here are some of the titles of posts that have appeared on the site just in the last week:

Tiger Woods Injured in Car Accident
This is Why You're Fat: Thanksgiving Meals Average 2,200 Calories Per Serving
Black Friday Deals Online: 5 of the Best Tech Bargains
Want to Buy a Dual-Screen Laptop? Now You Can
Blackberry Deals and More: Carriers Celebrate Black Friday
Black Friday: Best Buy's Deals Include $200 HP Laptop

There are many other posts where the social media connection is a bit hard to see, to put it kindly. Now I understand why Mashable is writing and posting about Tiger Woods and Black Friday Deals; because it will get the site a flood of traffic.

But in the process, Mashable is losing its focus as being 'The Social Media Guide'. And it's an easy mistake for content creators to make. Hell the first time I had one of my posts picked up by TechMeme and saw a sudden crush of traffic, I was tempted to change my writing to get listed there again.

I think this is an important lesson for all of us to keep in mind; to not get intoxicated by the rush of tweets and traffic that might come from writing a post that's not the focus of your blog/site. Sure, it's great when the traffic starts shooting up, but if you aren't staying with the content that GOT you to where you are now, then you're leaving the door cracked open for the competition. In fact now would be a great time for a competitor to launch a site that's super-focused on social media, that can crank out several posts a day. If the posts are high-quality, and if Mashable keep veering away from covering just social media stories, then the opportunity would be there for the new site to establish itself as the 'new' Guide to Social Media, and occupy the area that Mashable is moving away from.

We have a sayin' down South that you 'Dance with the one that brung ya'. This applies to your online content as well, don't lose focus of what got your blog/site its readership in the first place. And don't confuse traffic with readership. The former is often fleeting, while the latter are the people that stick around.

Three ways a company blog can LOWER costs for your business

Let's be clear; most businesses want its blog to generate sales for the company. Either directly or indirectly. But some of the biggest benefits that can be achieved via a blog is to use it as a tool to reduce the cost of running your business. Here are three ways this can be done:

1 - Your blog as a customer service/support tool. Think about how much time and money and energy is spent on handling customer service issues. With a blog, you can handle most of these issues, giving customers the ability to find the answers for themselves, saving them time and energy as well. A win-win for everyone, as this always improves the customer's impression of your company, and makes them feel cool as well since they could solve the problem themselves! In the book Groundswell, the authors calculated this benefit alone as being worth $69K a year to a large blogging corporation.

2 - Organic SEO benefits. Everyone knows that blogging has big SEO advantages. But the organic SEO benefits from your company blog could be enough that you could scale back on the money you're paying that SEO firm, or even stop outsourcing your SEO efforts! That means you can take that portion of your marketing budget and move it to other areas!

3 - Free market research! One of the first things you'll hear about social media is that 'it's all about the conversation!!!' Ok I agree, there's so much more to it than that, and it's often hard to directly monetize 'the conversation'. But here's one area where customer feedback can pay off on your blog, and that's in the form of free research! Think about it, if you have a vibrant and active readership on your blog, then you can use your customers to get insights into new products you are developing, existing or possible marketing campaigns, or really anything! Click here for an example of this in action with the recent social media survey I conducted on MackCollier.com.


So keep these ways in mind when you are considering launching a company blog, or are trying to sell your boss on doing so. Don't just consider the potential revenue generated, but also the potential to lower the costs of running your business!

Use December's blogging lull to your advantage

If you've been blogging for more than a year, you know that we are heading into the 'dead' season for blogging. As we get into next month, everyone's attention moves to other, frankly more important areas, and blog readership across the board goes downhill from around mid-December till the New Year. Traffic will come to a crawl and for this blog, Christmas Day and New Year's Day are probably the two lowest days of the year for traffic.

So since most people will be taking a bit of a vacation from blog reading, it might be tempting for you as a blogger to take a mini-Holiday as well. But I think that would be a mistake, and that you should use this time wisely to improve your blogging efforts. Here's five ways to make the most of December's blogging lull:

1 - Re-evaluate everything. Go back and look at what your blogging results have been for 2009. How did traffic do? Subscribers? Comments? And how did these metrics tie back to your blogging goals? Put your blogging strategy for 2009 on trial, and then tweak it for 2010. Set goals for your blog. But make sure that those goals tie back into your larger focus for your blog.

2 - Ramp up content. David Armano advises doing this, using the Holiday vacation to push out as much if not more content than usual, with the thinking being that since many other bloggers are slacking off, your content can more easily be seen. We are going to keep looking for content to share with our networks, and if you keep creating great content while everyone else slacks off, guess whose posts will be shared with my network? Use December to increase your blogging visibility.

3 - Use December to get a blogging jumpstart on 2010. Hey we all want to spend time with friends and family during the Holidays. Work in all forms seems to take a backseat, and that's a good thing in many cases. But if nothing else, use that last week of December to get your content in order to hit the ground running in January. Most people won't begin to get back into reading blogs regularly until Jan. 4th (a Monday), and this is when many bloggers will begin to get back to writing. Use December to have at least one week's worth of posts already written for January, so that way first thing on Monday the 4th, you've already got fresh content waiting on readers, while many other bloggers are thinking about getting back to writing.

4 - Experiment. Every year I spend the final week of the year spending time with social sites/tools that I've been meaning to try out, but just haven't had the chance. I started doing this 2 years ago when I decided to see if I could finally figure out what the hell was the big deal with this Twitter site that everyone was buzzing about. December is a great time to examine different tools and see if they work for you to complement your blogging efforts.

5 - Become a commenting superhero. Remember, traffic is going to come to a crawl on many blogs. Virtual tumbleweeds will be bouncing into the blogger's legs and they will probably just resign themselves to the fact that it will simply be a few weeks before the traffic comes back. So just as you can use this lull to ramp up your content and get noticed, do the same thing with comments. If many people aren't commenting, this is your chance to get noticed. And not just with other readers, but by the bloggers themselves.

So there's some ideas for being proactive in December, and taking advantage of the blogging lull. And by the way, I'll be utilizing all of these steps, what about you?

Pic via Flickr user Katmere