Dave Forde is conducting a survey of Canadian corporate bloggers perceptions of blogging and how it fits into their communication and marketing strategies. He’ll be publishing the results on his blog.
The survey should take less than five minutes to complete. So, if you are a Canadian corporate blogger, please go to the survey link in Dave’s post and then watch his blog for the results.
Shel Israel reminded us yesterday that Naked Conversations left the printers one year ago.
This caused me to pull my well-used copy off my book shelf and scan it again. Yes, social media has evolved rapidly in the past year. I’m sure that if the book were written today, Shel and Robert would give substantial treatment to podcasting and video blogging. (Heck, Robert’s now living la vida vlogging!) However, the book has held up remarkably well and I’m keeping it on my “must read first” list for clients and friends who want to be introduced to social media.
Now Shel is on to his next project, Global Neighborhoods (or Neighbourhoods for those of us in Canada and the U.K.). And to recognize this new project, he’s rebranded the Naked Conversations blog as the Global Neighborhoods blog and a new domain name.
Shel has already begun the process of asking readers of the blog for comments on the new book’s publisher’s overview and table of contents. If you haven’t taken a look at this, have a read and offer Shel your comments. Naked Conversations incorporated a great deal of reader-generated content and I’m sure that Shel will incorporate reader comments and suggestions into his new book.
Great advice from Ted Demopoulos. Draw attention to your most popular posts. They have lasting value.
Over time, I’ve found that Ted offers practical advice that I find myself acting upon. But don’t take my word for it. Subscribe to his blog and read along with me.
Several months back I attended a blogger dinner in Chicago with Robert Scoble. During the discussion, Robert mentioned that he had just switched to a new blog aggregator, Google Reader. He talked about how it had helped him to manage and read the large volume of blogs to which he subscribed. He also mentioned a great feature that enables users to share items from blogs they’ve read so that others can also find these posts.
I’ve set up My Link Blog to share items through Google Reader that I find particularly interesting and think others might also find interesting. Please feel free to subscribe to it. I hope that you find useful information in the posts that I share.
The New Year is a fitting time to take the wraps off two new members of our social media community, Capital PR and The Talking Shop.
Capital PR has been started by the PR consultants in our Ottawa office. The Talking Shop is the personal blog of John Sobol of our 76design shop. I hope you’ll subscribe to both blogs and participate in their conversations.
On the other side of the ledger, we’ve also seen one of Our Community move into Our Alumni.
John Wiseman has decided to return to school in Halifax to complete his degree. John’s a smart guy and we benefited daily from his determination to explore the full potential of social media. We wanted to keep John with us. But it’s hard to argue with the long term benefit of completing university. So, we’ve moved John into our Alumnae. And the door’s always open. Maybe he’ll decide to rejoin us after he’s completed his degree.
So, here’s to 2007. Beginning with change. Sure to bring more.
So, there I was, delivering a presentation on “Sustaining a Successful Blog: If You Build, Will they Come?” The crowd of approximately 30 attendees had each paid $2,000 to attend a two day conference on new media.
As I began my presentation, I asked a few questions to gauge the knowledge and engagement level of the audience. And of these thirty people who had paid a lot of money to hear my presentation on sustaining a successful blog – how many actually had a blog? None. Zero. Nada.
Note to self: Don’t overestimate the rate of adoption of social media. There’s a lot of curiosity. But it’s still early days.
What do you think? Is social media breaking into the mainstream? What is holding back broader adoption?
My colleagues at 76design have launched their new Website. I think it rocks! And I hope you like it as well.
The 76design site is a companion to the Thornley Fallis site. Both sites are built around the blog and podcast content of the employees who work at the companies. This “social media design” enables visitors to learn about the companies through the blog postings of the people who work here. People like Michael O’Connor Clarke, Chris Clarke, Terry Fallis, the PR Girlz, the 76design team and me.
We designed our Websites this way because we understand that companies are in essence the people who work for them. And we want visitors to come to know us through the eyes of our people. If we are successful in creating an environment that attracts and supports creative, thoughtful people who are passionate about their work, this will show through. And we will be successful.
At least that’s our belief. And as time passes, we’ll test this belief through experience.
Please let me know what you think of our sites. Do you like the approach? Does it work? How can it be improved?
Mesh 06 was a seminal event for Canada’s social media community. Happily, Mark, Mathew, Mike, Rob and Stuart, have decided that one good event deserves another. And that means there will be a Mesh 2007.
Here’s one session I hope the organizers include in this year’s program: “Social media, Corporate Brand and Personal Brand: The Employer’s Dilemma.”
In the past year, we have seen several prominent bloggers and podcasters leave their old companies for newer pastures. Some examples: PR uber blogger Steve Rubel left CooperKatz to join Edelman. Podtech made Microsoft’s prize blogger Robert Scoble an offer he didn’t want to refuse. Blogging reporter Mark Evans decamped the National Post for the excitement of new media startup, b5media. And close to (my) home, Fleishman Hillard recruited David Jones from my company, Thornley Fallis.
In each case, these bloggers had been encouraged (or permitted, in Mark’s case) to blog by their original employers. In each case, they built up their own personal brand. And in each case, their personal brand and their employer’s brand were closely linked.
Then they left. And their now former employers were challenged by this departure. What did it say about the company that they had chosen to leave? What did it do to the company’s brand? Did it diminish it? How did each company react?
I think a discussion on this topic could yield some valuable insight into how employers should approach the challenge of encouraging blogging employees while recognizing that their success makes it more likely that they will be more mobile than other employees. What attitude should they take to employee bloggers? Can companies develop enduring brand equity through the activities of these bloggers or will their equity and good will depart with them? Do traditional approaches to Intellectual Property apply or do we need a new set of rules?
I hear these questions from many of the business executives who discuss blogging with me. I think that a good panel of employers and bloggers who have already experienced this social media effect would provide insight that others can apply in future.
What do you think? Would you attend a session like this? How about panelists? Who would you like to hear discussing this topic?
Well, it seems that every few months, I get very busy at work and fail to post for a few days. And when I do, I find it hard to get started again. Just nothing to say.
So, I’d like your help. If you’re still subscribed to my feed after the past week of silence, I’d really appreciate your suggestions about what is interesting in the PR blogosphere right now. Please point me to the best posts from other PR/marketing blogs during the last week.
I’ll get started by commenting on other people’s posts. Then, I hope I’ll again develop the itch to write about things on my own blog.
I need inspiration. Help me, please!
*Thank you to Hugh MacLeod for the “cartoon on the back of a business card.” I think it’s pretty appropriate to my current predicament.
Eric Hagborg is a man with a mission. He wants companies to make their websites work for them. And he told Ottawa CaseCamp how he does this.
What makes a strong corporate Website?
How can you support these things?
How can you do this?
Eric illustrated the effectiveness of this approach by citing the experience of his client, ipMonitor to dramatically increase visitor retention and conversions on its website. Following a reworking of their corporate Website, they increased visitor retention by 59% and increased conversions by 128%
Pretty good results. And a pretty good presentation from a guy who knows his business.