Grab the RSS feed orStaff meetings – we all go to them, but do we ever stop to think about them? The team at Eastwick took a moment to do just that, and to visualize the data lurking in that weekly staff meeting. Check it out. Maybe you’ll see that information – as well as staff meetings – can actually be fun. Take a look and contact us to see how Eastwick can help your data tell the right visual story.
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Last week I chanced upon this article when I signed in to Twitter:
RWW covers the University of Mass study
See the full article here. You might also want to view the entire study.
I read the study behind the article and walked away more convinced than ever of the power of a blog – the RIGHT blog, that is. The shakeout explored in the UMass study reflects a range of issues – social growth above all. But the fact that all blogs are not created equal, and my belief that most business blogs stumble for a preventable reason, sparked me to write. Read on, and you may take away some ideas that differentiate your brand from the pack through the power of the right business blog.
But before we begin, let’s go to a party. It’s a relaxed, comfortable gathering in a good friend’s home. All of your favorite people have shown up and you can’t wait to catch up with them. How do you make the most of this opportunity to tune in to friends and make sure they hear your latest?
Imagine the options: you could find one person to talk to and go 1:1 for the evening. You could circulate the room and have short conversations with lots of different people. You could stay quiet and just observe, sip your drink, head home early. Or you could mingle with groups of people sharing relevant conversations and really talk with them. Share some thoughts. Ask some questions. Go home with them – and even you – understanding each other more deeply.
I made that pretty easy. Clearly, the one who monotones or rants or the one who doesn’t talk aren’t going to be the life of the party. The one who chats around the room, short bursts with big crowds, may end up making some good connections. But the one who aligns with peoples’ interests and adds relevance – THAT’s the guest who gets my vote.
Let’s take that thinking to the UMass study. The law of averages suggests that the sample set included some blowhards (those who effectively publish ads on their blogs, or drone stiff corporatespeak) and some non-talkers (those who start, but don’t refresh, their blog). It cites the impact of social media, which is analogous to the party chat mentioned above. But it doesn’t probe the value of blogging that’s tuned in to the right audiences, open and generous, and receptive – even inviting of – input.
THAT, to me, is the RIGHT way to blog…and I’m willing to bet that the outliers on this longitudinal study are gaining real value from the open dialogs they’re creating with their blogs.
A few years back, at Google, I managed a highly followed blog. This forum helped us directly deliver important information to customers…attract and identify our most active users…even learn from the real-world insights of customers who cared as much about our products as we did ourselves. We planned our blog as carefully as we did any other sort of communication, but left room for on-the-fly updates, news from key customers, and other information that enriched the natural, open conversation we were trying to build.
It worked. We were able to share “primary source” facts with audiences that loved to speculate about us – critical when communicating about tech. We could provide real depth on products or features in ways that prepared targets – media, partners, even sales leads – for our follow-ups. And we had the confidence that if we ever needed to get information to key audiences fast, that we had a built-in platform for doing just that.
I wouldn’t wish anything less for any of our clients. At Eastwick, we ask clients to blog for all of the reasons implied above. We believe that a company should be the primary source of data-backed information – facts and future vision, not opinions – on their business and products. That conversation is an ideal way to create access and get “permission,” in the Seth Godin sense, to ask for favors (like “help us share this”) or feedback. That tech innovators deserve to be recognized for their vision and leadership, and that a blog provides one of the best vehicles for communicating that.
If you read the UMass study and thought that maybe you really should throw in the towel on that not-so-active blog, read the following suggestions and ask yourself what might happen if you did, say, 5 of them. I propose that you might buck the longitudinal trend and find yourself, digitally speaking, a bit more like the life of the party.
Yes, I may be talking about more effort than some companies are willing to contribute. But that might be a key insight. I believe that those who are willing to create an active, strategic, “right” blog might be the ones who increase momentum – and claim their turf – as the other guys dial back.
How do you weigh in? Is your business blog working for you? We’d love your answers – or your questions – as a comment below.
* re that title: see “The King is dead! Long live the King!”…with thanks to Wikipedia.
Charlie White over at Mashable wrote a great post in December about branding in the era of social media. In it he included an infographic from a market research study conducted by AYTM Market Research about how internet consumers prefer to get information from brands via social media. In short, it’s all about participation and strategic engagement.
So why is it that these concepts can’t be used to generate interest and excitement around live “social” events like conferences?
Last week I attended the GreenBiz Forum San Francisco and was shocked by the lack of social engagement at the event. Greenbiz is a great media property and has been a go-to source for breaking information and insights into the cleantech industry for years. But beyond an oddly worded Twitter hashtag, #grnbiz, that according to TweetReach was only used by twelve people all day long (three from Eastwick!), little was done to encourage online social engagement at the event.
As a media organization, I expected event organizers to harness the collective mindshare, and social channels, of conference attendees to promote the event. Given that many of the speakers came from business that sell products via the web, like eBay, Adobe and newcomer Nest, I expected that they too would have pushed social engagement intensely to drive company and brand awareness. But it didn’t happen. Why? It wasn’t like event attendees didn’t have the tools or web access—most people were tapping away on their computers and iPad’s and Wi-Fi access was free.
It could be that event organizers wanted conference attendees to engage, socially, with other people at the event—a novel idea. More likely it was just a missed opportunity to put in action a few of the tips that Charlie White highlighted in his post about branding in the social era.
History shows that social networking works at conferences. AlwaysOn, which holds two venture fests in Silicon Valley every year, was one of the first organizations to project comments from selected bloggers on a screen about a presentation while the presentation was taking place. It was live commentary. AlwaysOn was doing this before Twitter was invented.
Social engagement can also help overcome that familiar problem at conferences: everyone has questions but is too shy or afraid to ask them. Social media tools allow attendees to anonymously raise uncomfortable questions or criticisms they might not otherwise air if they have to stand up.
So what could have been done, socially, to better promote the event? Here are nine quick ideas:
This is an extract. Read the original article in Digital Trends.
The race to uncover the next big thing in journalism is firmly underway. As consumers turn to the web for their daily news fix, an emerging breed of entrepreneurs are finding innovative ways to manage and capitalize on the flood of online content.
While reporting a story for Digital Trends, I had the enviable opportunity of meeting with the founders of this year’s most promising media ventures. They are a young, fearless and uniquely passionate bunch. Often less concerned with making a quick buck, these entrepreneurs are hell bent on creating a bright future for journalism. Read on for a list of the “ones to watch,” and to discover how the major news institutions like CNN, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have enlisted their help.
The content curators
This group is more concerned with content curation, rather than ownership. Information is disseminated to audiences on a variety of platforms including mobile, web and tablet in a personalized way – often with a focus on a specific vertical.
1. Pulse partners with top-tier news organizations to drive cross-platform news consumption.
What’s cool about it? What isn’t? Pulse is the brainchild of Ankit Gupta and Akshay Kothari, and was launched during a class at the Stanford School of Design. Gupta, then 22, and Kothari, then 23, saw Pulse shoot to the top of the most downloaded list in the App Store. After a rocky start (the founders’ successfully fended off a lawsuit from The New York Times), Pulse is currently partnered with virtually every major media institution in the world.
2. Zite: A personalized magazine for iPad and iPhone that gets smarter as you use it.
What’s cool about it? Zite was acquired by CNN for a reported $20 million (in 2011?). And this year, it was named the best iPad App of the year by The New York Times.
3. Flipboard is a social magazine app that aggregates web links from your social circle.
What’s cool about it? Steve Jobs was said to be a fan of Flipboard’s superior design aesthetic.
Honorable Mention: Skygrid, News.me, techmeme.com, Storify, Paper.li, scoop.it, Percolate
The content creators
The most successful platforms in this category welcome citizen contributions – an unfailing cheap source of content. Nonprofit organizations and hyper-local blogs have also made significant gains in this space.
1. PandoDaily: The site of record for tech startups.
What’s cool about it? Founder Sarah Lacy, a former TechCrunch blogger, raised 2.5 million from a veritable “who’s-who” of Silicon Valley investors.
2. The Phenomlist: Showcasing phenomenal people you don’t know.
What’s cool about it? Amanda Schwab and Laura Yao, co-founders, met at a Digital Media Entrepreneurship class at Stanford University. In their first months, they scored video interviews with entrepreneurs from hot startups like Birchbox, Zaarly and Instagr.am.
3. Spot.us: An open-source project to pioneer community-powered reporting.
What’s cool about it? It’s the “kickstarter” for environmental and political journalism, pouring much-needed funds into investigative work.
Honorable Mention: Digital Journal, Allvoices, California Watch, Patch, The Verge, Propublica, Examiner, The Bay Citizen
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