Tips for Marketers

What is a blog anyway?

The Wikipedia definition of a blog can be found here.

Here are some other helpful links:

• Darren Rowse has many explainatory posts on ProBlogger.
• Rebecca Blood has written a helpful history of blogging for those who are interested in learning more about the blogging evolution over the past few years.
• Trudy Schuett writes a good article titled "What is a blog and why do we need one?"

As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million blogs and the numbers continue to grow. No matter what your industry, specialty or niche, chances are that there is already a blog community “out there”, with its own conversation.

Bloggers are journalists with their own voice & style. They are self identified experts or aficionados in their chosen fields. They have built up readership to their blog and carefully maintain quality content that appeals to both themselves and their readers’ interests.

Blogging is about relationships. While quality content will initially invite a readers’ attention, the conversations that emerge through blog commentary allow the readers and authors to know each other on a deeper, more personal level. It is this continual exchange of ideas that makes blogging such an influential force.

An established blog can have thousands of subscribers that receive new blog posts either directly to their email address or that are delivered through an RSS feed.  In addition, blogs are linked to other blogs with similar interests, subsequently providing a real opportunity for content to be spread though trackbacks as other Bloggers expand on a posts’ theme. Bloggers also tend to be well versed with other forms of Social Media, so a blogged idea can easily be transferred to sites such as Digg, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, etc. allowing for even more exposure.

Blogio’s positive relationship with Bloggers gives a company an ideal introduction to the Blogosphere.  Due to the free and independent nature of the Blogosphere, it is up to the Blogger, of course, how and whether to use your information

While the traditional Press Release or a more contemporary Social Media Release is appropriate to send through the Blogio pipeline to Bloggers, here are several ides to improve your chances that a blogger will make a post that’s about your organization:

• Send a story: Rather than a standard press release, send a story.  Send something that is likely to spark the imagination & interest of the blogger.
• Converse / chat: Blogs tend to be conversational in nature, so write something that encourages conversation.  Conversation can be between you and the blogger or conversation with the readers of the blogger.
• Provide more information: Pictures, video links, graphic files, supporting evidence can all be sent though Blogio allowing a Blogger to easily find their own personal style to spin your story and attract their readers.

Working with blogs and conversing on blogs is about building and maintaining relationships.  Fifty percent of bloggers write about companies once per week with only 21% report regular contact from companies they write about.   It is strongly suggested that after completion of a Blogio Communiqué, marketers conduct searches to see where their company is being talked about and join in those conversations.

Just Googling your specified key words will give you a window into the Blogosphere. Then individual posts and commentary pertaining to a specific company can be subscribed to on most blogs allowing one to follow a conversation and take part with ease.

Once a Blogger has chosen to write about your information the following is recommended:

• Read:  Don’t narrow your interests to only what a Blogger has written about you, your company or your communiqué, but take some time and read other blog posts that they have written. Read the “About” pages and know their background and affiliations. Get to know their particular style and their personality as well as the nature of their comment interactions. This can especially help mitigate a situation where a post is perceived as somewhat negative or snarky, where in reality, that’s just the personality of the specific Blogger.
  
• Introduce Yourself:  Let the Blogger and their readers know who you are, what your connection is to the information and why you are there. Don’t use an anonymous user ID as many of them are not allowed and therefore a waste of typing time. Also, most Bloggers have methods of tracing comments, so pretending you are not affiliated in a professional capacity is asking for trouble as they will call you out for behaving badly.
  
• Keep it Brief if possible: It can be tempting to go into long explanations and expand on your company’s take, but it’s not really a place for “company speak”. Ask questions and answer what is asked of you, but remember it’s a conversation, not a lecture.
• Keep it Simple: While you might easily lapse into PR jargon when writing about your product, an obvious pitch will seem like just that…an obvious pitch. Likewise, not all Bloggers have come from journalistic or marketing backgrounds, so use basic English.
  
• Don’t get Obsessive, but don’t Lose Interest: While you defiantly want to take part in the conversations, you don’t have to personally reply to every single comment made about your subject to every single commenter. Subscribe to the Feed for comments so you can track them once every day or so.
  
• Be Accountable: Make sure you follow up in your actions. If you need to get back to them with more information, then do it in the time allotted. Likewise, having a company VP or marketing head to address issues should they come up is going to denote positive public relations.
• Keep on Topic: The Blogger might have decided to go off in a direction that if away from what your desired. Don’t try to derail the conversation or control it, but follow their lead. It is their blog, so it is their rules.
  
• Be Polite and Courteous: This is where it helps to “Know thy Blogger” and their “voice”. Sometimes being overly familiar is a put off, but too much canned speech can also seem sterile. Be yourself, but wear the face you use when you are meeting new friends. You want to be personable, casual, but professional.
• Link Up: Links and networking like currency to the Blogosphere, so if a blog does talk about your product, then offer to link to their blog or post to your corporate site or blog. Create a “Blog Mentions” page if necessary. This shows that you know who they are, might send them some traffic and is a show of good will.
  
• Don’t Ignore the Negative: Even a bad review is an opportunity to have positive wording. You can demonstrate that your company still cares about the product and the reviewer. Ask for feedback for improvement and then take those ideas back with you for future improvement. Negative press is still press, so thank a Blogger anyway for taking the time.
  
• Keep it Going: While it makes sense to participate while they are talking you up, stay in the loop. You don’t want to seem like you are just taking what you can get from the Blogosphere and you might even make some new friends.