Social Media Stuff

Corporate blogging: how to get more comments

In putting together a presentation on corporate blogging for the BizTimes #BizTech conference, I decided to do an audit and scorecard on the blogs of the top 50 private Milwaukee companies. I’ll be sharing thoughts on how to be a blogging “Do” instead of a blogging “Don’t” on Wednesday, May 11th at 9:45AM; and mid-way through the audit now, I’m feeling good about my ability to rant well on this topic ; ) Most of the blogs so far are scoring painfully “average”, with a few above and below that line. But one challenge that they almost all share? Very few to zero comments.

From what I’ve read, about 10% of Fortune 500 blogs don’t even accept comments…that shouldn’t even be allowed to be called a blog. Some corporate blogs make it evident that they don’t really want comments; one example I saw today buried a tiny little “feedback” button at the bottom of the post. So they can say they’re accepting comments, without actually having to deal with much pesky feedback. In a word: weaksauce (is that one word, or two?). But even those that appropriately welcome comments have a solid amount of difficulty drumming up actual conversation.

Much of this ties back to other factors in the blogging scorecard, which I’ll share during and after the presentation on Wednesday, measuring factors such as the bigger idea surrounding blog content, utility, personality, and honesty aka lack of corporate spin job. Obviously if no one cares about the topic, and its just a regurgitation of your press release, and its not useful at all or doesn’t share an insight or entertain, no one’s going to comment (or read).

For a second opinion, I turned to Mack Collier, founder and master of #blogchat, where I’ve learned a good chunk of what I know about blogging, and posed the question, “what is the key to getting more comments on a corporate blog?”. Mack responded that much of it is in your mindset and your approach to blogging…”we are sharing our story” (DO), versus “we are promoting ourselves” (DON’T). He shared an example of the HomeGoods OpenHouse blog which has great content and an unusual number of comments. They generate interaction through details like pictures of the bloggers everywhere, referring to commenters by their first name, and writing as though they are writing a LETTER to their readers. All great stuff. I would add, though, that you could do these things and still not get comments. Much of it comes down to the STRENGTH or MAGNITUDE of the personality your blog exudes. Blogs can have – or not have – magnetic personalities, just like people. In fact, Mack’s got a great, related post up today, “Your blog should be a passion project.” I definitely agree that if you approach your blog as a passion project, you have a much better chance of success.

I’m assuming for the purposes of this conversation that you care about comments. Because if you don’t, you should. Do you care, or do you blog corporately for other reasons, like SEO or to try to drive website traffic? (we’ll talk about that on Wednesday) Have you found it difficult to get conversation going? What have you found to be effective?

SXSWi 2011 begins!

4:59 AM. Definitely a bit earlier than I planned to be up on the first day of SXSW interactive in beautiful Austin, Texas. I *might* be a little excited I guess. I’ve been wanting to come the past several years, and this is the first time I’ve been able to make it down. I’ll be posting some personal thoughts/journals here and also blogging here on the Jigsaw blog, posting photos to the Jigsaw Flickr stream (and they WON’T be snow photos. Woot!) and posting some tweets to the Jigsaw Twitter feed although like many people this year I’m committed to not spending all of my time on Twitter, but rather being present, really soaking it in and engaging with the people around me instead of just my iPad.

So what am I so excited about that I’m up before the sun? Well, the first thing has to be the people. Tonight, seeing old friends like @TomMartin and @AugieRay at dinner and the Ignite Social Media bash. Meeting new friends IRL that I know only through Twitter. Beyond the people, the reason I am here is really to immerse myself more in mobile. Just as agencies a few years ago were just starting to think social, now we’ve got to think mobile, and not just as an afterthought.

So, after getting some serious coffee, and breakfast since I missed dinner last night, and getting down the convention center to wait in line for my badge, and renting my bike at Mellow Johnny’s to be my primary form of transport, I’ll be starting to check out the trade show and hitting some sessions which mostly start at 2:00 today. Some tough choices to make, and it can be hard to get in. But some things on the agenda today might include:

Micromarketing: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small
Your Meetings Suck, and It’s Your Fault
Do Agencies Need to Think Like Software Companies?
App, Schmapp, Tell Me What Works Across Platforms
Focusing In On the Future of Social Photography

Then, of course, it’s also a matter of seeing “what’s hot” this year. There is of course lots of talk about Hashable, which is, more or less, a personal CRM tool through which you can exchange contact information, track your connections with people, see who they are connecting with and earn “hashcred” if you’re into that sort of thing (which I personally am not.) The Hashable CEO, Mike Yavonditte, was kind enough to indulge me in some Twitter chat on the subject of “why use Hashable” the other day. He says, “As Foursquare is to location, Hashable is to people.” Hashable and Foursquare just formed a partnership, so soon you’ll be able to check into Foursquare and log your connection with a person, all through the Hashable app, which could make it more interesting for people (like me) who just aren’t that concerned with logging it every time they #meet or have #coffee or #drinks with someone. The Hashable team blog describes it this way: “It’s kind of like seeing your second degree network develop before your eyes; you feel a little like God.” Umm….no. I’ll also be checking out contxts which lets you gather contacts and turn your phone into an interactive badge.

Well kids it’s time for a stretch on the yoga mat, a hot shower and a ginormous latte before the long day ahead. A little more sleep would have been helpful but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one down here who didn’t get much sleep. ; )  More to come.

Spaight

Blogchat : Blogs vs. Facebook for business – buy the right house for the right reasons

Last night’s blogchat, a Twitter-based chat hosted by the always-charming Southern gentleman Mack Collier and co-moderated by AdFreak’s David Griner , was about Blogs vs. Facebook for business. And, while there is no one “right” answer to the question at hand, the mere act of seriously considering the question forces a business to know why they are doing what they are doing, so it’s a win from the start.

Ultimately, the answer to Blogs vs. Facebook, or anything vs. anything, is going to be different for every business depending on goals, audiences, available resources and passions. A good portion of last night’s talk was around the resource issue – the fact that blogging requires a huge commitment. If a business isn’t set up for that kind of commitment, Facebook may be a better choice, according to Griner. (Not that Facebook isn’t also a significant commitment. It is, but it can be quicker than blogging.) I agree with this post from Allison Boyer on how blogging is hard and not every business needs a blog. Likewise, IMHO not every business needs a Facebook page. More on that later.

At some point, I shared something in the discussion about how, since 60-80% of visitors to a “typical” corporate blog are first-time visitors, blogging may, for some companies, belong as part of SEO strategy. And, while I do believe that to sometimes be valid, a comment about blogging-as-SEO later in the discussion smacked me upside the head: “Blogging for SEO is like buying a house for the storage.” Ding ding ding. Does blogging positively impact SEO? Hell yes. Should businesses be aware that, depending on what type of business they are, it may or may not be realistic to expect a ton of comments? Hell yes. But blogging for the less functional, higher-level, more participation-driven reasons is going to be inherently more successful. Mind you, I do know this, and I do actively preach this; personally, I blog for fun and comments with total reckless disregard for SEO ; )  But David’s thought crystallized it just beautifully; thanks, David. I promise to credit you every time I steal your line.

Regarding Facebook for business, this is an area where, at least from my vantage point, so many businesses struggle to get engagement going. Does every oil change shop on the planet really need a Facebook page? Every dentist? Does anyone care? How many businesses built fan pages just because everyone else was doing it, with absolutely zero understanding of why they were doing it or how they would interact with their audience once it was built? Gazillions, that’s how many (scientific fact).

Before you start stressing because not enough people are engaging with you on Facebook, and begging or bribing people to be your friends, consider the fact that maybe, just maybe, people just don’t WANT to engage with your type of business on Facebook. No one wants to hear that, but, a lot of companies need to hear it. Sure, sure, If you’re a passion brand – a Harley-Davidson, a Ben & Jerry’s, a local favorite restaurant – be on Facebook. If you’re not, you’re going to have a much tougher time. That doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t try, it just means you should be realistic about what to expect from it, and, always, ALWAYS, have a strategy for how you think you’re going to do something that people will care about, interact with, and share. And how you’re going to sustain that over time. Let’s face it. The more irrelevant BS that businesses pump out onto Facebook, the more apathetic users become. So, stop it. And if you do try, try again to engage people on Facebook and still no one cares…well, consider that you may need a different house. With more storage.

The bottom line: For many businesses, a blog is the perfect home. Many businesses live and thrive on Facebook. For many businesses, the two go together like…chocolate and peanut butter. (OK, different, random metaphor, but work with me here. I like chocolate and peanut butter.) Just know what you’re trying to build and how you’re going to do it. If you don’t know how to figure that out, let’s talk.

If you’ve never checked out blogchat (Sunday nights, 8PM Central Time) I can’t recommend it highly enough. So many people participate now that sometimes it’s hard to follow threads. Don’t even bother trying to keep up with every tweet; just pick up what you can. (As a side note, I do wish that people participating would be a little more polite and listen to the moderators before we all jump on with myriad points of view, and sometimes, random tangents that are completely off topic). But, in spite of that, it remains a great group of people to chat with and a great place to mine nuggets of wisdom that might inspire you or give you the perspective of someone else’s very different experience. Which is (almost) always a good thing.

What’s your take on this question? Bring it.

Why I still don’t care what your Klout score is

This may be a spectacularly unpopular opinion. But it is just that, one opinion. I mean no offense to those of you who anxiously await your latest Klout score, I really don’t. That’s your personal choice, and I respect that. I just want to express why, for me personally, none of this is about increasing my Klout score. I’m not even signed up for Klout and unless someone can convince me that it’s essential to my further professional development, I intend to keep it that way.

The best, most candid article I have seen on the topic of Klout and other influence measurement tools lately is this: Twitalyzer and Klout. In it, Eric Peterson says:

“I personally think that any company or individual who is making a hiring or contracting decision based on our data, Klout scores, or any number is making a huge mistake! No disrespect to Klout, or any of the other measurement services out there, but there is no calculation that tells you nearly enough about an individual to allow you to make a buying, hiring, or any other kind of personal decision. At the point where we are making personal decisions based on a single number — one that even in a transparent system like ours people still don’t take the time to understand completely — our humanity has been lost and, in my humble opinion, we are better off turning the damn machines off and calling it a day.”

Amen, Eric.

I also really dig this post from my super-smart coworker, Addy Drencheva: When a Klout Score is Not Enough. She takes a very pragmatic, balanced approach to measurement. Addy says: “In all fairness, Klout does allow you to search for influencers within certain topics, but there are two problems with it. First, it still provides a single number to rank all users, not a number within an industry. Second, users have to sign up for Klout for others to see their score. Although it might seem ridiculously irrational to some of us, there are people who tweet and blog for reasons other than influence and sales.”

Amen, Addy.

I completely understand that Klout, Twitalyzer and other analytics may be useful in helping you find people who can help you meet your goals. Rock on. But can any algorithm REALLY capture a person? Really?

“Hi, I’m _______. My Klout score is _____.” This comes up so often in social media conversation, online and offline, that it makes me twitch. Is social media really just a giant pissing contest? Not for me. No thank you. And that is why I couldn’t care less if your Klout score is higher than mine.

Do you have strong values and ethics? What have you done to help lately? How good is your content? Do you have a personality?

I, personally, prefer to measure people by their behavior, to discern if they are influential or not by what they have accomplished online. More qualitative, more human, more social measures.

How about you?

Social media and the cult of personality

Participation in social media is about the community, not the cult of personality, the narcissism, the “look at me! I’m so great.” I think we all understand that, at least in our talk, if not in our actions. Yet, lately, I find myself bothered by the absolutely rampant self-promoters. I follow people on Twitter who tweet about almost nothing but themselves, their products, their accomplishments, their hotness.

Sure, you might argue, I could just unfollow them, unfriend them, block them, whatever. And I could. But I don’t, because I think they are really good people with a lot to offer who are just caught up in the shiny illusion that social media can create that everyone’s a celebrity. I have actually had people refer to me as a “local social media celebrity” and it makes me laugh and throw up a little in my mouth.

I’ve seen friends, so caught up in the moment of their “celebrity” status, completely disregard other friends, because they are not in “the group”. Welcome to social media high school. I’d like to graduate and move on now, please.

Related to this, I was also recently taken off the speakers list at one national social marketing conference because I was not pimping – I mean, promoting – the conference aggressively enough. Well, sorry, but constantly promoting where I am speaking is not really my style, nor is it something that I believe my followers find of value. I think speakers should be chosen based on their substance and speaking, not their willingness to constantly self-promote. Everyone of course is entitled to their own opinion, and I respect that. It’s just something on which I’ve recently become more clear than ever where I stand and what I personally value.

We all, perhaps, fall into the trap at some point. It’s hard not to, when you’re posting on the fly with a hair trigger finger. Last week I retweeted something someone said about “the lovely Sue Spaight” and then immediately realized that was idiotic. But hopefully self-promoting is not an overall pattern.

On the flip side, you sometimes meet someone like @SusanKim4 who actually IS a personality, a local celebrity, but so genuine and focused on community that it restores your faith. And others who wear their popularity so well, so humbly, so genuinely.

C’mon people. It’s just social media. It’s not all that. It’s not what’s real, and important, and lasting, like friendship and family and community and basic kindness. Let’s not get so caught up in our fine selves that we lose sight of the bigger picture.

Go beyond “engagement” to actual involvement

In my previous post I wrote about what activation is, and The House That Twitter Built activation example. Now, let’s talk more about HOW to do it (strategy). It’s one thing to activate a truly grass roots movement, like the example in The House That Twitter Built. It’s another challenge entirely to activate around a brand or even a non-profit organization, right?

In his helpful post How To Integrate Social Media With Traditional Media, my wise friend Tom Martin (@tommartin on Twitter) says, “ask yourself – from a creative, offer or conversation perspective – how can you best connect with your audience?” and that is a great starting place. There are stories you can tell, utilities you can create, and people you can connect. We’ve talked about those things here before, and they are often where I start translating “traditional” features and benefits into online relevance.

Today, though, a few weeks after the experience that was #saveteecycle, I’m going to offer up a new overriding thought that I am carrying around with me. The single most important, effective social strategy that you should be considering – beyond telling stories, beyond being useful, beyond even connecting people is this simple:

INVOLVEMENT. Involvement trumps the overused “engagement” every time, IMHO. Engagement is great, but more passive. Involvement is you or your brand, ALL IN.

Creating ways for people to get involved with your brand is part of it, as I discussed in that previous post. For more on that, read this foundational post from Edward Boches, Four Criteria for Your Next Creative Idea (sharable, participatory, interactive and continuous).

Beyond that, if you are serious about social marketing, it is equally important that you get involved back. Make something happen. Get off the sidelines, where you are watching, possibly responding, which is all great, but not really enough for real activation purposes, and dive in head first. “Like what?” you may be thinking, if you’re jumping ahead to tactics which is just human nature. Well, you can make a lot of things happen. Here are a few thought starters for you.

You can make an event or a series of events happen, or a full-blown cause marketing program. Just make sure it’s something that your audience actually cares about. Putting events in the middle of your strategy feeds both digital content and PR content and sets up a cycle-of-messaging-awesomeness (registered trademark).

Or, try this approach. At any given time, there are myriad social events movements happening online already, large and small. Rather than create your own events, especially if you’re a small-to-medium business with limited marketing and human resources, find an existing event or movement that fits with what you stand for and ask how you can get involved with it. This can create social momentum for you with relatively little monetary investment; you will, however, generally have to invest some sweat equity. If you’re not willing to do that, this approach is not for you.

Another possibility: Surprise people. Show up. Be Johnny Depp showing up at an elementary school in your Captain Jack Sparrow costume. Metaphorically speaking, of course. How can you, as a brand, “show up” for your customers and fans in a new and surprising way? An example of this could be unexpected celebrity appearances, or it could be as “simple” as Nokia being at rock concerts with soundproof booths so people can talk on their cell phones (which also creates an off-the-charts amount of utility).

These are just some thought starters. The intention to get actively involved leads to different ways of thinking about tactics. Think way beyond “the conversation”. Think beyond “engagement”. Think about how you can get more actively involved with your audience and the things they care about. You still have to wrap it in engaging, sharable, participatory, interactive and continuous communication.

What do you think? Do you see getting more involved as a potential strategy for your brand? I’d love to hear what challenges you have with this and help talk them through. Or, if a higher level of involvement has worked for you, tell us about it so we can learn from it, too. Thanks.

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