SCOUT Corporate Blogging Services

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How Blogging Can Get You Press Coverage

For anyone wondering how blogging can help your company's brand awareness and thought leadership profile via press coverage, here are a few real life examples of how blogging has helped generate press coverage for my business.

In August I posted some advice on the best way for a company to handle a bad Consumer Generated Media thread.  Last week I was contacted by Vawn Himmelsbach, a writer from ITBusiness.ca, an electronic news outlet owned by IT World Canada. The reporter, told me that she found my blog post using Google's regular search (not blog search). Last week Vawn published her story called "How do you stop a disgruntled employee blogger?" and if you read the piece you will see that I was quoted heavily throughout the story. 

Here's another example. In March 2007 I asked "Should corporate blogs use ghostwriters?". That lead to a call from a reporter Tony Kontze, a reporter for Investors Business Daily and this story called "Writing Blogs Can Be Hard, So Get ‘Help’". Unfortunately, you can't read this piece without setting up a trial subscription but if you do you will also see that the reporter cited me repeatedly and gave me the last word.

How did I do it? Very simple. In both cases I took questions that I was hearing over and over again from my target audience and tried to offer my own insight and perspective on the matter. I laid it out there and cited a few related posts that helped make my point. Days, months or years later a journalist does a search in Google, finds my post and says here's a person that will give me a good quote or two. I made their job very easy. How is this different from traditional PR and media relations? I'm not a PR expert but I think reporters like to dig things up on their own but they're not out there pounding the pavement, their using the instant and relevant gratification of your typical Google search or the more timely search power of blog search engines like Technorati.

Simple things you can do. Talk to your customers, and monitor the blogs. At conferences listen to the questions that people are asking the 'expert panel'. Talk to your sales people and people on the front lines with your customer. Figure out what the reporters in your industry are going to be looking for in the next 2 - 10 months, pounce on the issues surrounding the big hairy questions and make sure you post it on a blog that does a decent job at getting indexed by Google.

Now, it may seem like I'm taking this opportunity to toot my own horn, and I am, but here's my point. I'm a big advocate of blogging but I don't blog every day. In fact my average blog post is about one per month. However, my blog posts deliver relevant search traffic to my site, get me invited to speak at conferences, inlinks, and del.icio.us social media bookmarks and quoted in major and minor publications. Here are two clear cases of how blogging can help put your business (in this case a small company) in front of journalists at the critical moment when they are conducting their research and looking for relevant voice.

Tags: blogging strategy, IT World Canada, media relations tactics, Online PR, press coverage, reporters, Vawn Himmelsbach
Filed under: Blogging ROI, Blogging Strategy, Blogging Tips, New Communications, Viral Marketing

Signs of a Tipping Point for Corporate Participation in Social Media

According to the new PR wiki there are over 130 corporate and business blogs and more than 8% of the Fortune 500 is blogging. To borrow a line from Abram Sauer's recent post titled Connected?,

"If you’re not already one of them, you’ve probably thought about it. And it just gets more tempting."

I’m sure it’s tempting but I think most big companies would like to put consumer generated media back in the bottle. Why? Because it’s stripping down their control of the message and putting them in a position to act. In this new world, one consumer's opinion can outweigh anything the company can say about itself. Companies are now in the tough position of needing to act and risk getting it wrong, or ignore and seed the conversation to the consumer and possibly a more aggressive and agile competitor. The good news for people who want to see more corporate participation in social media is that it's definitely something that's on the radar now and I believe will see more investment in this area starting this fall and into 2008.

This is my anecdotal perception of what's going on; Social media awareness has reached a point where marketers know it's something they need to budget for. They are searching, gathering information, downloading white papers, going to conferences and talking to vendors about services offerings, options and of course, costs.

With four major clients (Spherion, True Jeans, Appistry and a TBA) I've been marketing and selling social media services since March, 06. However, I would say there has been a big up tic in interest since last spring. A lot more companies are calling me to investigate doing something with social media (either monitoring, blogging, commenting, or podcasting mostly). In July I participated in a Frost and Sullivan Marketing East Conference attended by hundreds of senior marketing executives from fortune 1000 companies. Many of them were asking questions that indicate to me that they are beyond the 'what is a blog?' stage and into the 'what should our strategy be?', 'how','how much' and 'when' phase. Here are some of the questions…

• What different tactics would an industry leader take vs. a new entrant in the consumer generated sites?
• Any advice on how marketers at big companies can convince corporate compliance that blogging is a good idea?
• What is the best way for a company to handle a bad Consumer Generated Media thread and how can you avoid this from happening in the first place?

This suggests to me that 2008 will be a major year for corporate social media strategies and initiatives. I think that the adopters that come on in 2008 will drive force even reluctant companies (possibly kicking and screaming) to budget for it and then finally participate in 2009.

Why are companies reluctant? Large companies want to see statistics, but social media participation is hard to measure and ROI is difficult to predict. In my experience this is also a catch twenty two because even when a company has bought into social media services, there are no guarantees the company will allow a vendor to implement a tracking system that will properly measure ROI. From personal experience I've had trouble getting IT to dedicate the minimal required effort to implement the tracking.

Another part of the reluctance on the company's side is concurrently, online marketing departments are hitting a stride and comfort level with more predictable, measurable and systematic online marketing tools such as search engine marketing and online ad sponsorship.  Now marketers are being prodded to use their marketing brains to crack consumer generated media, which, at its core, is a culture that is the opposite of PR and marketing spin. It’s a new job for marketing and communications managers. This post Google world makes me wonder if marketers will ever have a 'cushy' job. I can imagine them thinking thoughts like: 

• 'Oh great, now I've got to monitor bloggers because what they say can impact my business.
  
• 'My CEO needs to be blogging if we want to maintain our thought leadership position.'
  
• 'My product developers should be encouraged and empowered to blog too.'
  
• 'Let me go home at 5pm and spend some time with family for goodness sake.'

Don't get me wrong. I'll be the first person to tell you that some companies should not blog or engage in social media. A lot of companies are simply not ready to take the leap. My advice is to take baby steps. Social media monitoring is something that should be within reach of any company. Here's what every company should be monitoring.

Unfortunately for the companies with deep pockets, the reality is that participation in social media is more than just doing a little homework and then spending like you’re Vonage on a pre-IPO market grab. Once you understand blogging culture and what social media participation for your company really means, you realize that (in many cases) making it work requires a grasp of blogging best practices, goals, strategic thinking and a cultural shift that stretches beyond the boundaries of a marketing and communications department.

Take it for what it's worth but I think that starting in late 2007 and by the end 2008 we will see a surge in the number of companies either dipping their toes in by increasing their blog monitoring efforts, or getting up to their waists by combining some sort of monitoring and participation effort (with either textual blogging, podcasting, video blogging, social network participation, a combination of all). I'm not saying all of them will be successful but I think it will be the critical mass or tipping point that will make corporate social media strategies a standard part of business by the end 2009.

I think that 2007 and 2008 will produce a wide range of brand name companies participating in social media. This will produce a few high profile case study reports that garner widespread business media coverage beyond the blogs into mainstream business media. Mainstream media is already providing a steady drum beat about how the customer is in charge.

If you want some signs of the tipping point, check out this passage from Perry Evans at Evans INC’s blog post titled Against the Gain. It summarizes s The Sunday NY Times article on how AOL is struggling to shift along with online consumer behavior.

"To simplify, searching isn’t so obviously the center of the future universe. The old adage of browsing is rapidly taking on a new life form - call it social, call it exploring, call it stumbling - consumers are rapidly adopting new forms of information navigation that do not follow the paradigm of Search. Media is in a fundamental shift beyond search into personal and community exploration and interaction, and it feels (to me) to be approaching a tipping point.

Perhaps the future no longer belongs solely to the Search Box?"

I also have a theory that for every company that enters the blogosphere there will be three more competitors saying ‘Oh shoot, now we’ve got to get in there too’. What would that create? Ideally it would be a collection of consumers and company personalities maintaining a dialog that is mutually beneficial. The reality will be more of a mix between (to borrow a phrase) clued in socially responsible companies (participating, adding value to the conversation and helping consumers) and clueless (companies that are not aware of social media culture, benefits and best practices) companies trying to inauthentically game the system.

I wish I could use a less pompous term than clueless. However, I've spoken to some companies that are paying people to find blog posts that relate to their products, and then drop in a comment that says nice things about their products as if it were a real consumer. This kind of tactic is a threat to social media because it will drown out the real consumer generated dialog. The good news is that this particular company was willing to listen to me when I told them there was a more authentic way to go that would probably result in better results (But I digress). Ignorance is bliss but this tells me that education is very important to the future success of corporate social media strategies.

Here's Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson reading a chapter from their new book called How to Do Everything with Podcasting. Download the 22-minute conversation here or listen below (MP3, 10Mb). There is a section around minute 4 that i will paraphrase

'Exactly what can podcasting do for a business? To be frank that's the wrong question. Podcasting should be applied as should any communications tool as a solution not a goal in and of itself. No business should ever begin the process of creating and launching a podcast with a statement that sounds like this... By God, we aught to be podcasting. Instead it ought to come up in discussions about ways to reach audiences to convey particular messages or to address specific situations and problems'.

Listen to this podcast now:

To me, this 22 minute listen is a great way to start the education process. Burn it on a CD and give it to your CEO to play on her ride home from work. Maybe when she's done she will subscribe to the For Immediate Release Podcast - which is another great first step. Is it possible to have two first steps? Hmm, let me think about that :)

If I’m right then social media is an opportunity for some companies to take some risks and gain ground with consumers while the other guys are contemplating their navels. The companies that do it right will prescribe to this philosophy that I lifted from a March 2000 interview with David Weinberger about 'Cluetrain Manifesto'.

"Companies that erect a fortress storefront on the Net and send goods out for sale, but immediately hoist the drawbridge at the first sight of a peasant rebellion, will fail. Only those businesses that "decloak" and engage with consumers online will have a fighting chance of succeeding."

That's all I've got for now. I know there's a lot here to digest but I really want some feedback. I'm sure there is someone out there who can pick on some of my thoughts. I know at least one person.

Tags: cluetrain+manifesto, corporate+blogging, markeitng predictions, online+PR, social+media, tipping point
Filed under: Blogging ROI, Blogging Strategy, Blogging Tips, New Communications, Social Media

Negative Blog Comments: How to prepare for and handle a bad Consumer Generated Media Thread

What is the best way for a company to handle a bad Consumer Generated Media thread and how can you avoid this from happening in the first place? A senior marketing executive recently asked me this question during a panel discussion at the Frost and Sullivan Sales and Marketing conference in Alexandra, Virgina. The best way to handle a bad consumer generated media thread is to first be prepared to act quickly. If a response is warranted, be transparent, and address the person from a sincerely helpful and curious point of view.

The way I would define a bad Consumer Generated Media thread is one person negatively comments, blogs or forum posts about a company or product and that entry generates a string of follow-on comments within the initial thread that are generally skewed in a negative way against the company. In more severe cases the thread will spread via pickup from outside blogs and ultimately make its way to more traditional forms of media, and social consciousness. Negative threads are inevitable for large companies and are a threat to any company concerned about its public image.

Usually this question comes up after the negative thread has started. What can you do then? The best advice is to evaluate who started the thread, how it started and who’s participating in it now. Is it someone anonymously trolling for a fight or was it an influential blogger trying to be constructive and engaging?

As Mack Collier writes, you can either Ignore them, Antagonize them, Attempt to pacify them, or Address them. I agree with Mack when he says "Address them, This is always the best course of action. You can't please all your customers all the time, but you CAN listen to them. Let them speak their peace, and see if they are trying to bring to your attention problems in your business processes that can be addressed and corrected." Read carefully what the blogger is saying and ask questions.

Sometimes it is best not to feed the animals. However, I believe that a negative thread handled well can take a potentially negative situation and turn it into something really positive. This is because avid bloggers are the ones who influence the discussions in social media. They tend to appreciate when a company is transparent, listens, asks questions, comes clean in some way or at least shows a little social media savvy in their approach. When a company addresses a blogger’s concern it says to that blogger and to the lurkers in that community something about your company. It says we’re human, we’re listening, we’re concerned because you’re concerned and we’re trying to make things better.

Being prepared for these questions requires research and monitoring of RSS feeds and forums. The way to be prepared is to research the blogosphere and develop a landscape of the blogosphere that matters to your business most. Think about your target audiences and segments. Use social media search tools like Technorati.com and IceRocket.com and blogsearch.google.com that index RSS feeds and profile the important blogging communities, social media networks that attract these audiences and bloggers that influence the discussions around your brand, products or services. Within these communities you will find key influencers and a number of active blogs. Create a dossier of profiles of the individual blogs and their bloggers, and the blogs that they read. A profile could contain what they write about, who reads it, a rating of their relative popularity and influence within a given community. This is research your marketing and communications and PR teams should have anyway. If they do not, it’s a good way to broaden everyone’s sphere of market intelligence and influence.

Start monitoring all your important sites and keywords with a feed reader tool. Adding a feed into a tool is simple. We like Google Reader. A good RSS feed reader will allow you to efficiently scan content for conversations (or threads) that may have a potential impact your business. This research is the foundation for a number of benefits. Here’s an abbreviated list…

• It will prepare you with a starting point for who should be on your radar.

• In a crisis situation this will save you time. Time is the difference between watching helplessly from the sidelines and having an opportunity to steer or influence the discussion in a positive direction.

• Share the information with internal communications. Monitoring and paying attention to social media will give your team and your company a better sense of the community, what they like to talk about, who’s talking, and (most important for later when disaster strikes) how to communicate with them. The value of listening goes beyond marketing and communications. Product developers will be better informed about the customers needs.

• This process will enable you to stay on top of the major discussions so you can be informed about the hot topics. More immortality, it will also improve your sensitivity to potential minefields that are unique to consumer generated media best practices and the particular social media community.

• Part of the question is how to avoid negative threads. Since you are actively monitoring you will often see an opportunity to add value by commenting on a recent blog post or its ensuing thread. Go ahead and make your comment but don’t come off as a huckster by making a smart comment or giving advice then writing something self promotional at the end. Take the Good Samaritan approach. Offer advice and look for nothing in return. Your name and link are usually included with your comment and that’s all you really need. If you can participate and establish some connections with bloggers and communities before the next bomb drops it may give a boost in goodwill points with that community. They will be more receptive to see your side.

• Goodwill from participation will also position you to divert negative threads from happening in the first place.

Maybe your company is considering a social media strategy of its own someday. This process is the logical first step into educating your team in how consumer generated media really works and how to participate in it.

Tags: Consumer Generated Media, crisis communications, how to handle a negative blog comment or post about your company
Filed under: Blogging Strategy, Blogging Tips, New Communications, Product Development

Want to See How Viral Marketing and Social Media Works?

I just came across The Break Up viral video ad skit, by way of Doug Karr at The Marketing Technology Blog. I think this video, the story it tells, and how it is now being told, and distribued is a brilliant living example of the power of viral marketing and social media.

The Break Up
Uploaded by Geert Desager - Trade Manager Marketing Manager at Microsoft

The film is called The Break Up and it was produced in a collaboration between Geert Desager's team at Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions and Openhere, a Belgium based ad agency. Bravo Geert, what's great about this little spot it that it puts all the buzz words like 'conversation marketing' and 'social media' and my favorite 'the customer is in control' into context. Thanks to you and Microsoft for moving the conversation miles forward.

According Geert, the "film" was inspired by a Business Week article by David Armano titled, It's the Conversation Economy, Stupid. The article is another credible mainstream source that puts the shift in consumer behavior into context.

Filed under: Blogging Strategy, CEO Bloggers, New Communications, Viral Marketing

Don't Miss the New Communications Forum 07 In Las Vegas

No Limit Texas holdem poker and optimizing blogs for search engines are two of my most favorite subjects. That’s why I’m very excited to announce that I’ve been invited to speak on the later at The New Communications Forum Conference and Expo 07 being held at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, Las Vegas next month (March 7 – 9th). Here’s a link to see a list of the companies that will be in attendance at this year's event. If you want to go, here's a promo code ( 612SHN ) that will get you a $200. discount!

Just in case you have not heard about it, the NewComm forum is the premiere conference for exploring the revolutionary impact of participatory communication, such as blogs, podcasts, wikis and other forms of social media. The organizers are The Society for New Communications Research and Lawrence Ragan Communications. They have teamed up to bring 28 interactive sessions in four conference tracks focusing on: Internal Communications, Public Relations, Advertising & Marketing and New Media & Journalism.

“This year’s Forum will be the biggest and best ever,” said Jen McClure, executive director, Society for New Communications Research. “We’ll be addressing topics such as how to really listen to and create lasting relationships with your customers, how to use Web 2.0 tools in your communications strategy, best practices for corporate blogging, bridging new media with traditional media, the social media press release, managing brand reputation and crisis communications in the blogosphere, citizen-generated video, Second Life, measuring social media programs and more. In addition, there will be plenty of opportunities to network, learn and discuss in a relaxed and fun setting.”

Along with the four tracks the NewComm forum will also include

• Four hands-on pre-conference boot camps, including -- Blogging 101, Podcasting 101, Wikis 101, Videocasting 101. 

• One in-depth post-conference master class: What's next: How to map your social media strategy

Who is the conference for? Whether you are new to social media or looking to improve an existing program, NewComm Forum 07 will address every level of expertise and all channels of communication. It’s for…

• Internal Communications to connect with employees

• PR & External Communications to enhance your reputation

• Advertising & Marketing to stay ahead of the competition

• New Media & Journalism to find new ways to communicate

Who’s Speaking? The keynote speakers are David Weinberger, co-author of the Cluetrain Manifesto, and Shel Holtz, of For Immediate Release Podcast and VP of New Marketing for crayon.

The conference also boasts a world renowned conference faculty of instructors, speakers & panelists --- Tom Abate, John Bell, Elisa Camahort, John Cass, Jamie Chabra, Jeff De Cagna, Todd Defren, Andrea Eckerle, Kimberly A. Fabrizio, Tom Foremski, Paul Gillin, Eileen Gittins, Josh Hallett, Chris Heuer, Neville Hobson, Shel Israel, Dan Karleen, Rob Key, Kathy Klotz-Guest, David Kligman, JD Lasica, Benjamin Levy, Dr. Bernard Luskin, Albert Maruggi, Jim Nail, Brian Oberkirch, Katie Delahaye Paine, David Parmet, Shoba Purushothaman, Giovanni Rodriguez, Joel Richman, Gordon Rudow, Zane Safrit, Eric Schwartzman, Ted Shelton, Brian Solis, Lisa Stone, David Strom, Laura Sturaitis, Carol Thomas, Jeffrey Treem, Stephen Turcotte, Kami Watson Huyse, Jeremy Wright and Linda Zimmer.

Here’s the official promo for my session in the Advertising and marketing Track at the end of Day Two.

How Your Blog can Achieve Top Search Engine Rankings

Want to position your company or organization as an industry resource? Get to the top of search-engine rankings with two-way communication? Learn how to incorporate organic search engine marketing into your blog strategy. During this practical session, Stephen Turcotte will show you the tools and techniques experts use to pick the best keywords. You’ll leave with:

• A checklist of technical tips and strategies that can be applied to optimize your blog’s organic search engine rankings

• Methods to establish which keywords are the biggest searches for your audience

I’m also looking forward to attending all the great sessions in the Advertising and Marketing track and making a personal connection with as many of the speakers and attendees as I can. Maybe I’ll even get in a few rounds of no limit holdem in the Venetian’s exquisite poker room. Hopefully I’ll see you there too. Viva Las Vegas~

Tags: blogging, Las Vegas, NewComm+Forum, optimizing+blogs, search+engine+optimization, SNCR, social+media, speaking, The+New+Communications+Forum+Conference+and+Expo+07, thought+leaders, workshops
Filed under: New Communications

SCOUT Launches First Client Blog - The Big Time a Spherion career blog

SCOUT Blogging is very proud to announce the launch of our first client blog -- The Big Time, a Spherion career blog. It officially launched today with this press release titled Spherion Hits The Big Time with First-of-its-Kind Career Blog; Leading Staffing Firm's CEO to be Among Regular Contributors and this post by Spherion's CEO, Roy Krause.

I want to thank the leadership at Spherion for keeping with its tradition of being an innovator by recognizing and being the first corporation to engage SCOUT's full package of corporate blogging services. For anyone that's interested, the SCOUT service starts with a comprehensive Assessment of the blogging community and a suggested Strategy that's tied with company marketing, PR, thought leadership and SEO goals. Then SCOUT provides Creative, Messaging, Design, Development Blog Hosting and most importantly, ongoing Blog Monitoring, Blogger Relations Consulting and daily SCOUT Reports that highlight blog posting and commenting opportunities. The clients are required to write their own blog posts and comments.

At this point, the SCOUT Corporate Blogging service has been in development for over 18 Months. It's very satisfying to launch a blog so we can FINALLY get to the REAL VALUE of SCOUT, which is helping our clients become great bloggers. Without getting too sentimental here, I have to deeply thank all the members of Backbone and the SCOUT team for rising to the challenge of launching this blogging services company while maintaining a successful and busy SEO and website development agency. David Neuman, Kristine Monroe, Dave Naggar, Eben Bathalon, Steve Abramowitz, Ryan Mulloy, Olga Krivchenko, and especially John Cass and Magen Dickinson. Thank you for making the launch of our inaugural corporate blog something we can all be proud of.

So far the site has been received well by career industry bloggers. Here are a few links to related blog posts as of 8/15/06

1. Jim Durbin from StlRecruiting wrote a nice post listing the things we did right and this after the column titled "Things they did wrong : Um, so far, nothing is wrong...." You can't pay for that kind of blogging. Thanks Jim :)

2. Jim Durbiin also posted this on an other blogRecruiting.com Check out Jim's post. He wrote some some more nice things about Spherion's new blog and continued with "Spherion is not the first staffing firm to have a blog (Volt was first), but they certainly seem to be the first to take it seriously enough to promote it and pitch it is as part of their long-term marketing strategy. " Thanks Jim, We'll take that as our second thumbs up in a row. Ok, Ok, enough with the mushy stuff and the self-congratulations. We thank Jim for his early recognition and kindness, but we also welcome critical or constructive suggestions from anyone in the blogosphere who has any ideas or suggestions for making The Big Time even better.

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Filed under: Blogging Strategy, Blogs Developed By Scout, New Communications, Product Development

CNN: Teens can't name major TV networks

Just noticed this story on CNNMoney.com titled Teens can't name major TV networks. According to the poll "Almost 80 percent of 16- to 18-year-olds were unable to name the big 4 broadcasters."

Major marketers that are targeting teens with ad spending in 2006 and 2007 should be looking at Search Engine Marketing & Optimization, strategic blogging, and places like MySpace and SecondLife.

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Filed under: New Communications, Search Engine Optimization

The new media metamorphosis is well underway

Shel and Neville from the For Immediate Release (FIR) Podcast conducted an outstanding interview with Tom Foremski, founder and chief of the widely read blog, Silicon Valley Watcher. For me, the content, timing and even the facilitation of this podcast is very interesting because it illustrates, from several perspectives (*see perspectives below) how old media is evolving into new media. PR blogger Chuck Tanowitz calls this phenomenon Media Metamorphosis.

In the FIR interview Tom Foremski, talked about how he transitioned from being a full time journalist with The Financial Times to a full time journalist and media entrepreneur using a blog platform as his primary publishing medium and source of personal income. The point here is that Tom is still a journalist; the only difference is the primary medium he utilizes to reach his audience. Tom also talked about the future of the press release and why he thinks a traditional press release is a waste of energy. He also had some advice for PR people who want to know how they should deal with bloggers -- "Public Relations should use the same principles they use on journalists, you identify the influencers in your market and you reach out to them". Listen to the interview.

What's ironic is this interview coincides with recent (and re-occuring) story in the Boston Globe titled "Newspaper circulation drops in Hub". The story reports "Circulation at the nation's daily newspapers declined an average of 2.5 percent in the latest six-month reporting period as readers continued to migrate to the Internet, with losses hitting Boston papers especially hard." The reports also stated that local papers, "The MetroWest Daily News posted a 12.7 percent decline in Sunday circulation in the latest six-month reporting period". Boston and San Francisco seem to be hit the hardest. I expect that is because these are two of the most wired cities in the country.

Tom made so many great points in the FIR interview and the newspaper circulation story reinforces this main point.. the media metamorphosis is well underway.

*The perspectives referenced in the first paragraph are...

• Old fashioned publishing and the expense of local distribution vs. digital global distribution and RSS.
• Old fashioned expensive broadcast media vs. the efficiency of podcasting and interview conducted on two continents.
• Access that the general public has to tools that can enable them to become a global media enterprise.
• Consumers ability to consume where and when we want.
• Please add your own in the comments area...

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Filed under: New Communications