Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

Over at the SplashCast blog, CEO Mike Berkley has a nugget in one of his comments that I’m going to lift and use in every presentation on “why to blog?” for business:

“Content is the currency used to acquire audience. Companies can print their own. Most don’t. Why do I, the CEO, make time in my very demanding schedule to blog?“

Brilliantly put, Mike. Brilliantly put.

Nothing has given me more pleasure in my career than to have the ability to share nuggets like this with friends, colleagues and passers by… every time I “meet” someone like Mike, I feel blessed to share in, and participate in, the richness of this blogosphere.

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Sometimes it’s just hard to be creative. It really is. I consult with many technology and start-up organizations, and I work with dreamers who love to drain the right side of my brain. By the end of a work week, my creativity is often tapped out.

And as a part of my business, and as a way of giving back, I blog. And (I often liken it to caring for a dog) just because you’re tired doesn’t mean you can neglect your blog.

This past week I’ve been talking a lot about blogging as I’ve been networking around town. And one of my basic tenets of blogging for business is this:

Never tie a corporate blog to just one person.

It’s precisely because we get tired (or go on vacation… or get sick… or are out walking the dog…) that we sometimes just need a break from blogging.

If you don’t have the luxury of relying on others to keep the blog dynamic and scintillating, you can still rely on others for good blog fodder when you’re out of ideas yourself. Here’s a brief synopsis of where I get great content ideas for my blog:

1. Newsletters to which I subscribe and are delivered into my email - my personal favorites (on the topics of marketing, technology and social media) are those from the ClickZ network and the IAB Smartbrief.
2. Blog posts from the blogs to whom I subscribe and read via my Attensa RSS reader. RSS readership, by the way, is growing this year - 34% percent of global respondents to a March social media survey from Universal McCann said they had “ever” subscribed to an RSS feed, up from 15% in 2007 (via ClickZ).
3. Research in the marketplace. Just this week I got a link from my friend Bryce to a fantastic piece of research from the California Health Care Association called “The Wisdom of Patients: Health Care Meets Online Media.” A woman named Jean Sarason-Kahn of THINK-Health (who blogs at Health Populi) wrote it, and it’s a must read for anyone looking into health care or social media.
4. Invite guest bloggers to post for you. I got such an invitation a few weeks ago from my friend Meryl over at Meryl.net. Her blog turns 8 years old tomorrow - 8 years! - and in celebration, she’s taking some time off. So she invited friends to provide her with some guest posts so she can take time off. I wrote one that will run sometime next week - talk about a little extra pressure, writing for someone else’s blog! But it was great fun, and I look forward to seeing it run.

If you’re going to post using other’s ideas, add some value: sprinkle a little of your own opinion and make sure your examples add to the conversation. That way, even though you’re not being overly taxed to be creative, at least you’re collaborating with- and contributing to- their work in some way.

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Even though there are only about 12% of the Fortune 500 businesses who are currently blogging publicly according to Socialtext, I believe we’ve finally hit the Year of the Business Blog. I’ve been waiting for it to hit since 2005, the Year of the Media Blog. Release the doves!

Over on ReadWrite Web, Marshall Kirkpatrick has published a short list of good business blogs to read, and says:

“An interesting company blog can be a great way to draw in new people through relevant content of general interest - and some of them will stay to check out the service you provide.”

I’m happy because one of my clients, Scott Niesen over at Attensa got a nod from Marshall in his list.

A good business blog will do many things for a company, including:

Establish thought leadership - if you have an interesting view of your market, a blog can help you illuminate your genius (or expose your audacity…).

Humanize your organization - sometimes it’s good to get out behind the walls of your brand and let the people of the organization have a voice. Robert Scoble humanized Microsoft to thousands of developers during his tenure as evangelist, and he did it simply by blogging his thoughts and reactions to conversations out in the open.

Building community - community is the buzzword du jour, and there’s no simpler way to build community around your product or service than to enable conversations on your site using blog software.

So what’s holding your organization back? We’ve got seven months to go in the Year of the Business Blog… the time to explore it for your business is now, and it doesn’t take long.

(I’ve got a client who contacted me on May 9 to help them decide how to build community for their organization, and we’re launching their blog - with the company fully trained and prepped with strategy, objectives and tactics defined - on June 2.)

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I tell people who write blogs (business blogs too) that the blog is your living room. In visiting old acquaintances in the blogosphere, I ran across Susan Getgood’s Marketing Roadmaps blog again.

Susan and I were are both speakers at early Blog Business Summit events, and I’ve been remiss about staying in touch with those from the earlier days… but I digress.

I was thrilled to find one of the best examples of blog etiquette posted in her /about section:

“Marketing Roadmaps Code of Ethics:
Marketing Roadmaps is my opinion, based on my experience. Your mileage may vary. I will be respectful of my readers’ views, and expect the same courtesy.

1. When I have an opinion, I will be completely clear about it. You won’t have to guess.
2. I won’t delete posts unless the content proves to be completely off base, in which case I will leave a placeholder that explains what happened so search engines won’t perpetuate any mistakes I have made. Typically I will annotate the original post with new material rather than delete the post.
3. I will not blog information learned offline or in private conversations unless I am absolutely certain that it is public information or I have obtained permission from the person who shared the information. When in doubt I will err on the side of caution.
4. I will not delete comments unless they are spam or off-topic. Ditto trackbacks.
5. I will link and trackback to other blogs appropriately, and always endeavor to add to the conversation.
6. I will say thank you, replying to emails and comments promptly and pleasantly, even when I disagree with you.
7. I will be honest about my clients and relationships so my readers will understand my loyalties.”

I don’t think you can do any better than that as an example of excellent blog ethics.

Good on you, Susan.

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I’ve been doing a bit of networking lately, and have received some fascinating feedback as a result:

“I occasionally read your blog to catch up, and rarely understand a word you say; but you sound very, very smart.”

<ouch>

“I’ve seen your blog, and it’s quite a collection of ‘bright and shiny things’ you talk about.”

<guilty as charged>

“I went through your paper, and it’s very, very technical. Who’s your audience?”

<great question!>

These comments have given me pause, and they couldn’t have come at a better time, as I am personally trying to define my own use of social media tools in my business, in order to better clarify their uses for others.

In an effort to do so in public, here’s a stake in the ground:

RSS: Every time I get a new client, I set up a new RSS feed in my Attensa RSS reader to gather news and information about them. (I posted screen shots on SlideShare, in case you like pictures to walk you through how it works.) I also subscribe to a few blogs that I find interesting - and read them within Attensa because it’s more convenient to have one place to go to read and comment on them all.

RSS is like the nervous system of social media - it grabs news from the entire universe and routes it to the brain.

RSS readers are the brains of social media - we train them to understand what we pay attention to, and the smart readers anticipate how to prioritize the information to feed our attention properly.

Blog: I use my blog to personally comment upon things that move me. Whether it be a new tool, a personal experience, or software to help marketers. I agree with Ken, though, that it seems a collection of bright and shiny objects. I’m okay with that, although I think it might be time to mix it up a little more. The danger in blogging is that I seem to be obsessed with, and harp on similar themes; so my posts might become boring for those who subscribe or visit often. But this is my space, so I get to be the medium of “me.”

Blogs are the hearts of social media to me - if I care enough to write about something at length, I’ll blog it. My readers know how I feel about pretty much everything I choose to share. For businesses, blogs can create a glimpse inside your organization and get right to the people who make it work, connecting with their obsessions, thoughts and (yes, even) emotions.

Twitter and other “micro-blogging” tools: I use Twitter to connect with what people are thinking/doing “in the moment.” It fits my “bright and shiny object” proclivity to a tee. Through it, I can check out breaking news, get to know people I work with in a much more casual, personal way, and share thoughts/jump into conversations and engage quickly and directly - right now.

Twitter is like the eyes and ears (maybe all the senses) of social media to me. Blink, turn your head, sneeze and you’ve missed something. But it adds color, depth, taste, and texture to the people, problems and knowledge of those I follow. I tell people in business that teams who are working together should follow each other on Twitter. Especially virtual or geographically diverse teams… they’ll learn more from each other, be more accessible, and get more done with each other as a result.

I ‘d love to hear what others think… as I’ve found this week, it’s most enlightening and helpful to get feedback. It helps focus my thoughts and further define my messages and how I relate them to others.

Which is the true beauty of social media and marketing to me.

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