Just Another 24 Hours » Blogging

Should bloggers be more transparent about their traffic and engagement scores?

Daniel Young — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:27:21 +0000

There are encouraging signs that blogging is gaining more traction in Australia.

Take for example, the Telstra Social Review program, a competition whereby Australians with a social media presences could ‘compete’ (in loose terms) for the chance to be one of 25 social reviewers. The final 25 were each given a HTC handset and asked to review it for 2 weeks.

There is nothing new about this initiative in some respects – it is essentially a blogger relations program – but the public nature of the Telstra ‘experiment’ represents a very different approach. Good blogger relations practitioners will insist on full disclosure but its rare for an organisation to PR this kind of program in the way that Telstra did.

As a result, Telstra has telegraphed its respect for blogging (as well as other forms of social media) and I believe that other Australian corporations will sit up and take notice.

I believe that ‘commercial confidence’ in blogging is a requirement for blogging if it is to acheive genuine mainstream acceptance. This ‘commerial confidence’ could take many forms including advertising and sponsorship investment, collaboration, access, insights or simply advocacy.

The blogging community is challenged however by a fundamental lack of transparency.

Readership data underpins the traditional media sector, it provides the business justification for advertising spend and PR programs. In a section of the media where the glossy finish of the product (or lack of it ) bares little or no relationship to its reach and influence, its essential that proprietors become more open about their traffic and engagement scores.

Commercial (business) decisions are based on an assessment of risk over opportunity. The blogging community in Australia needs to help its potential partners understand the opportunity.

That might sound like a scary proposition for a young blog with low traffic scores today. But remember this. At some point, consumption of print media will be a small proportion of what is consumed online. Transparency can help you build trusted relationships with potential commerical supporters today, for the future.

What do you think? Do you agree? If not, why not?

Is it wrong to assume that all blogs have a commercial imperative?

Should bloggers be open and transparent about their number of readers, time spent, uniques?

If so, what data should they share?

Hack 100: Brian Solis – The Business of B2B Social Media

Daniel Young — Sun, 16 May 2010 00:07:22 +0000

Number three in the Hack100 series. from the Brian Solis blog again; on the topic of social media in B2B industries:

Social media has a role to play in B2B industries. It can help us understand how buyers behave. We then alter our processes and content accordingly. The information is there you just need to get it. Most B2B companies are spending more on interactive programs and social media. Programs often direct customers back to a corporate website, which are ill-equipped to provide a continuous interactive experience. Facebook and LinkedIn are the preferred networks for business engagement. Social media can deliver benefit to B2B organisations, so go plan and launch your strategy.

Yeah, I agree.

In my experience, B2B marketers tend to see social media as a nice, warm and fuzzy activity. They struggle to join the dots between this and lead generation, which is their primary performance metric. This is one area that we are working on with a third party in Australia and its why Social and CRM are converging.

Here is the original post on the Brian Solis blog.

Social Media is often misconstrued as a medium for business-to-consumer or B2C engagement and discounted as a viable communications network for those companies focused on business-to-business transactions. However, B2B, as in any other field impacted by online activity, is faced with a prime opportunity to not only cultivate communities in social networks and other social channels, but also amplify awareness, increase lead generation, reduce sales cycles, and perhaps most importantly, learn and adapt to market dynamics in real-time.

Ignorance is Bliss Until It’s Not…

Customers and those that influence them, regardless of industry, are migrating to the social Web at varying paces. While social or digital strategies do not replace proven means that are in play today, they do however, require augmentation and shifts in resources commensurate with the distribution of attention, where it’s focused and to what extent.

In my research, programs measured in hindsight are not the only views that offer 20/20 vision. Unobstructed foresight is now attainable and in some cases, predictable, based on our investment in time, energy and creativity in how we analyze online behavior, interaction, and ultimately influence. And, our ability to study and put research to work is only limited by our process for learning and adapting to earn and increase resonance within our target markets.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating aspects of listening to focused online interaction, is the ability to breakdown the decision making process and how customers and influencers impact behavior. To say it blatantly, social media makes it possible to identify and segment the specific stages of decision making online and how to in turn, respond in ways that steer interest in your favor. The results of these interactions also lend to the importance of adaptation. As we learn more about the challenges, considerations, and sentiment of our potential stakeholders, we can introduce those insights into future designs, processes, and communication.

If we are not part of the decision making process, we are then absent from the decision.

Opportunity Clicks

To help make the case, Outsell recently published its “Annual Advertising and Marketing Study” and in the report, Outsell states that B2B advertising and marketing spending will increase by only .8% to $129 billion. Interactive spending, on the other hand, will escalate by 9.2% to $51.5 billion this year.

As Social Media becomes pervasive in workflow and influence, Outsell’s study shows that spending is following the trend. To that end, B2B marketers will increase spending in social networks by 43.3%. While it’s not necessarily as alluring as social, company websites are only receiving a boost of 7.5%.

When we study engagement in interactive media, we find that we captivate attention in a very dynamic environment, but we lose them with each click that we either intentionally or unintentionally introduce to lead their experience post engagement. Many times, the click path is aimed right at the company site, and if we were to analyze the design and effectiveness of B2B websites today, we might just find that a large number are stuck in time, representative of an era more aligned with Web 1.0 than Web 2.0. Opportunity clicks, and without defining a rich and rewarding click path as well as an enriching experience, which most likely requires the renovation of the corporate website, all online activity associated with increased social spending, will bear the brunt of defining and capitalizing on attention, within social networks, the moment it’s captured.

As part of the study, Outsell surfaced preferences for business engagement and activity in social networks. When asked to rate the effectiveness of particular networks, more than one-half of respondents claimed that Facebook was either “extremely” or “somewhat” effective. LinkedIn ranked second with 45% surprisingly (and not so surprisingly) ahead of Twitter at 35%, which of course, ranked higher than MySpace at 25%.

As eMarketer noted, when HubSpot ran its B2B North America survey, it found that businesses ranked LinkedIn on top at 45% ahead of Facebook at 33% as most effective in lead generation.

B2B, or any business or organization, must evaluate and implement interactive strategies in order to earn relevance and hopefully resonance in order to compete for the present and the future.

Hack 100: Brian Solis – 7 Scientific Ways to Promote Sharing on Facebook

Daniel Young — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:03:00 +0000

The second installment in the Hack100 series. My interpretation of the latest Brian Solis post in less than 100 words:

Content that is short, simple, yet emotive and compelling, works best in social media. Within Twitter shareability is determined by words used and timing. In Facebook simple language is more likely to be shared. Content performs better when it contains digits. Sharing is endorsing. Content relating to news, personal experiences and video is more likely to be shared. Certain words and negativity inhibit sharing. What and how you share says a lot about you. Use verbs, as these encourage others to share. Apply these rules and you will benefit.

(89 words) Main message underlined.

Some interesting stats and data in the full version of this post. I’m not sure that there is a specific single take-away from this post, as there are in fact seven.

Some good advice for individuals, businesses hoping to benefit from social sharing in new media. Many of the ’scientific ways’ are scientific because they are proven by the test of time and reinforced by recent studies in social media but these aren’t laws unto themselves for the social sphere, they apply equally in old media, all forms of communication and marketing.

Solis claims that negative updates are ‘among the least shared objects’ but that’s kinda subjective and doesn’t account for content relating to video of exploding laptop batteries (as an example), which could be construed as negative and is highly shareable.

For the original full version of this post, visit the Brian Solis blog here.

Hack 100: Brian Solis – With social media comes great responsibility

Daniel Young — Sun, 09 May 2010 07:33:22 +0000

Gosh, there’s a lot to read on the World Wide Web.

Trying to keep up with the rapidly changing world of new media is a full-time job. The long posts take even longer to read, and sometimes you wonder why you bothered. It’s increasingly hard for the ‘Social Media Experts’ (so called) and industry thought leaders, to find things that are genuinely new and different to say. That doesn’t always stop them posting though.

So I am launching a new series of posts (which may go nowhere) entitled ‘Hack 100′. I will condense recent and landmark blog posts down to less than 100 words. I will identify the point that I feel lays at the core of the posting by underlining it. I think this will usefully provide you, dear reader, with the gist of what is being said and give you the option to click through to the full-length post if you so wish. Hopefully, you’ll find the ‘Hack 100′ version sufficient and will be inspired or in agreement with my brief thought or question posed at the end of the hacked post.

The inaugural ‘Hack 100′ post looks at a recent contribution from the wordy Brian Solis. I regularly read the Brian Solis blog and find it useful from time to time. I have also spent time, which I’ll never get back, sorting through the flowery Brian Solis language to get the nub of the matter, sometimes without success (maybe it’s me).

So here goes (fanfare please)…

Hack 100’s intepretation of… Brian Solis: With Social Media Comes Great Responsibility

Social media is a revolution for business. With it, brands become media and form communities. External forces pique interest in social media. Like email, it has no single owner. Ultimately, social media should permeate core business, with each department maintaining a social presence. Looking ahead, companies will use social media in new ways. This is necessary as sound relationships are earned, not acquired. Aligning departments and conversations is good planning process. Social media can improve culture and competitiveness, when supported. Social media challenges us but those that rise to the challenge will benefit.

Thanks to Brian Solis for this contribution (original post).

I agree with the sentiment of the post but I don’t feel that its saying anything new. The emphasis on the impact of social media is over stated but I agree with the general point that social media becomes more powerful when the conversation is hosted by the relevant department or expert. I also agree that a flat comms structure within a business represents mature social media strategy but its not as easy and evolutionary as Mr. Solis might have us believe.

So what do you think, dear reader?

Social media Compliance is another complicating factor for marketers and PR

Daniel Young — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:33:22 +0000

BzzAgent is a WOM agency that manages a network of 600,000 highly engaged consumer volunteers located throughout the US, Canada and the UK. The WOM company has just announced a series of Compliance services to ensure that its clients in PR and marketing departments do not contravene the FTC’s Guides on endorsements in social media, which come into effect today.

I wrote an article in favour of these guidelines for Mumbrella.

BzzAgent refers to its network members as volunteers. I thought volunteers worked for not-for-profits. I think its inevitable that the WOM agencies will have to make full disclosure and transparency core to their service offering in order to stay on the right side of the FTC and similar enforcement agencies in other countries and for the reasons that I pointed out in the article for Mumbrella.

This graphic from BzzAgent provides a neat summary of the obligations under the FTC Guides and the steps that PR professionals and marketers can take to ensure compliance.

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Just home much air time does Twitter actually deserve?

Daniel Young — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:30:45 +0000

I’ve been watching the Brian Solis – Robert Scoble discussions here. Twitter continues to generate a huge amount of conversation, which is interesting considering:

Facebook has 250 million active users to Twitter’s 19 million (eMarketer research via Mashable)
A large number of users quite within the first month (Nielsen)
Twitter has no revenue stream

So, is Twitter the new attention dashboard? I have my doubts. I think that’s a very limited view of the conversations that are occurring online.

Will the real-time Web be a major influence on communication in the future? Absolutely.

The focus on the newness of things, the tool and its features and the immediacy of information (Twitter beat CNN to the Tiger Woods story this week by 45 mins) is compelling – but only to a point. Beyond that point, Twitter discussions tend to become rather sycophantic, repetitive, tactical and/or theoretical.

This stuff is important though; The immediacy of micro-blogs like Twitter influences the way that we value information and perceive it. It speeds up the news cycle and makes information even more of a commodity.

In a presentation at the recent Media140 event in Sydney Barry Saunders spoke about the danger of not considering context when we use the real-time Web as a primary source of information. This is among the most insightul and interesting things that I’ve heard said about this space. Its a very valid point, which is – along with others - being overlooked in a plethora of hype fuelled conversations about Twitter. Mr. Saunders make some additional points on related topics here.

The Twitter purists consider Twitter to be a conversational tool but many organisations are, in my experience, approaching it is a broadcast medium, as research that we are releasing tomorrow will show.

I will leave you with this analysis from BlogPulse, which shows comparative mentions of ‘Twitter’, ‘Unemployment’ and ‘Iraq’ in all forms of consumer generated media over the past six months:

Australian medi-hotel to offer cosmetic procedures and R&R

Daniel Young — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:35:09 +0000

This man, Geoffrey Edelsten, is about to open a medi-hotel complex in View" title="Caroline Springs" href="Caroline Spings, Victoria. According to this morning’s Sydney Morning Herald, the medi-hotel will provide a range of cosmetic surgery procedures with the idea being that clients can’t recuperate post-op in the Mercure hotel part of the medi-complex.

This conjures up some amusing / disturbing images of breakfast at the hotel with patrons munching away and imbibing (via straws) at various stages in their recovery with a multitude of bits and pieces bandaged, stitched and stretched.

The over 55s: A sizeable and wealthy segment of the Australian population with an increasing penchant for all things Internet.

I am not planning on cosmetic surgery.

Social media traffic catching search in Australia

Daniel Young — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:00:28 +0000

Great Tool: Forester Technographics Profiling

Daniel Young — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:00:16 +0000

Mumbrella article: Time to regulate paid Aussie blog comment

Daniel Young — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:13:41 +0000

My contributed article ran in Mumbrella - an online news and opinion site for the Australian media and marketing industry.

Time to regulate paid Aussie blog comment – and to penalise the offenders

In this guest post, Daniel Young of PR agency Burson-Marsteller Australia argues that marketers and bloggers who make undisclosed paid comments should be fined

From December 1, bloggers in North America will be required to disclose ‘important connections’ with advertisers as a result of new guidelines governing ‘endorsements’ and ‘testimonials’.

The Federal Trade Commission guidelines apply to ‘bloggers’, ‘consumers who join word of mouth marketing programs’ and ‘postings by participants in network marketing programs’.

This raises the question: Should bloggers and individuals active in social media in Australia be required to reveal their commercial relationships? Click here for the article

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