A presentation on blogging and social media that I gave to the monthly lunch meeting of "Club Entrepreneur" at the Minneapolis Club on February 4, 2010. (This 64-slide deck was created in Keynote on a Mac.) A shout-out to David Meerman Scott, Debbie Weil, Brian Solis, Ann Handley, and Tara Hunt, whose work I cited in parts of this presentation. When you click play on this slide presentation, you'll also hear an MP3 recording of me delivering this talk. I haven't yet set it up to synch to the slides. You can also listen to the MP3 on this blog post of mine: http://bit.ly/9Mv1oh. (The MP3 link is towards the end.)

1. Why Launch a Company Blog
and Use Social Media:
An Overview and Open Discussion
by Graeme Thickins
Blogger, Brand Journalist, Content Marketer, Startup Advisor
Monday, February 8, 2010 1

2. Monday, February 8, 2010 2

3. Monday, February 8, 2010 3

4. Blogs Are Everywhere...
They’ve Gone Mainstream
Monday, February 8, 2010 4

5. Some Places Where I Blog
And more, such as guest posts on other blogs...sometimes
on clients’ blogs...and sites that syndicate my main blog.
Monday, February 8, 2010 5

6. Oh, Wait - A Clarification
I should have said my main one is my “macro” blog...
But I also have this “micro” blog thingie...
And, lately, one that sorta fits in between...
Monday, February 8, 2010 6

7. Monday, February 8, 2010 7

8. Monday, February 8, 2010 8

9. What We Can Talk About Today
• Corporate blogging: huh?
• Why blog
• What's required
• Types of blogs
• What to blog about
• Deciding who blogs
• Ways to use a blog
• And the bigger picture:
Social Media
• Ask questions....
what do you want to talk about?
Monday, February 8, 2010 9

10. What Is Corporate Blogging?
"The use of blogs to furtherText
organizational goals. Think
of a blog as an e-newsletter, a viral marketing campaign,
an open channel for your customers to talk to you....
a low-cost, easy-to-use, always-free web site."
- Debbie Weil, The Corporate Blogging Book
Monday, February 8, 2010 10

11. Why Blog?
• Tell your story, advance your passion
Text
• Connect/engage with customers
• Get attention, build buzz
• Be (or become) a thought leader
• Best of all: search engines love blogs...
• Fresh content = GOOGLE JUICE!
Monday, February 8, 2010 11

12. Why Blog? ... some hard data:
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 12

13. Monday, February 8, 2010 13

14. Monday, February 8, 2010 14

15. Monday, February 8, 2010 15

16. Let’s Get Something Cleared Up:
Blogging Is Not Hard
• It’s like writing an email to a colleague.
• Except it’s out there for everyone....
• Blogging = cc: world
Monday, February 8, 2010 16

17. Ten Tips for Writing a
Successful Corporate Blog
by Debbie Weil, author, “The Corporate Blogging Book”
1. Choose the right topic for your blog (specific)
2. Find your voice (easy for her to say!)
3. Invite a conversation
4. Package what you write (ten Tips, five Rules, seven Ways)
5. Always, always link
6. Write for web readers
7. Write for Google searchers
8. Publish frequently and consistently
9. Take risks
10. Have fun (“dance like nobody’s watching”)
Monday, February 8, 2010 17

18. Is Your Company Ready for a Blog?
• Can you regularly update it?
Text of writers?
• Do you have a writer or group
(Don’t forget, you can have guest bloggers, too.)
• Do you have something to say? Do you read
other blogs to know what’s going on?
• Do you have existing content you could link to
that’s already online?
Monday, February 8, 2010 18

19. Mommy, Where Does Content Come From?
11 Easy Ways to Create Great Stuff
by Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer,
MarketingProfs.com
1. Think small: Creating a white paper or ebook is a huge task. Instead, create smaller
chunks of content. Series of smaller blog posts easier to produce.
2. Think really small: Ask your Twitter followers for their take on a specific theme
or topic related to your business, and create a blog post from it.
3. Bundle: gather existing blog posts around a central theme into an ebook or white
paper. Give it away freely (not requiring users to register), or maybe even charge for it.
4. Video record your talks: the ones you or your team do at industry events, and
post them on YouTube. Repurpose as needed to your blog, on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
5. Post presentations on SlideShare: upload your PowerPoints, and also share
freely on Twitter, your blog, etc.
Monday, February 8, 2010 19

20. 6. Interview customers: arm yourself or a colleague with a Flip camera or iPhone to
record video of chats at events. Try asking a single question to unify their answers, then string
together for a compelling video. Something like: What's your biggest marketing challenge?
7. Interview luminaries: do quick Q&A interviews with thought-leaders, strategic
partners, or just interesting thinkers -- via email, Skype chat, or audio record them. They
make for compelling text (blog posts) or podcasts.
8. Share real-time photos: post your pix of industry events, meetups, or gatherings pix
to Flickr, as soon after as possible. Snap photos with your smart phone to share on Twitter
via Twitpic or yFrog.
9. Ask customer service: a great source for content. Ask what customers are contacting
us about, what problems do they have? Great for regular content with a recurring "Questions
from our customers" theme.
10. Go behind-the-scenes: give readers or followers an insider's view of your company.
Twitpic a shot from a podcast or video in progress, share on Twitter what content you're
working on producing, etc.
11. Don't silo your content: If you have a print newsletter, run articles occasionally on
your blog, upload the best headlines to Facebook, post transcripts of your podcast online,
and chat everything up on Twitter. Sprinkle content freely across all your platforms.
Monday, February 8, 2010 20

21. Blogging and Social Media
• Think of your blog is the hub of your social media
universe, the center of your marketing and content
strategy.
• It's the main link you want to drive people to, by
putting it in your Twitter bio, your LinkedIn page, your
company Facebook page, etc. And that in turn will
drive people to your main web site.
• Social media is affecting and being incorporated into
every aspect of business: marketing, communications,
customer service, sales, HR, IT, product development,
and more.
Monday, February 8, 2010 21

22. The Most Important Skill Required?
Listening, baby!
Monday, February 8, 2010 22

23. What Is Social Media? (well, a lot)
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 23

24. Call It What You Will....
• CONVERSATIONAL MARKETING
Text
• THE PARTICIPATIVE WEB
• CONSUMER-GENERATED MEDIA
• USER-GENERATED CONTENT (UGC)
• SELF-PUBLISHING
• CITIZEN MARKETING
It’s created.....
“THE REAL-TIME WEB”
Monday, February 8, 2010 24

25. It’s Everywhere
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 25

26. Democratizing Media, Bigtime
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 26

27. Monday, February 8, 2010 27

28. Monday, February 8, 2010 28

29. The Social Media “Ladder”
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 29

30. Why Should a Company
Do Social Media?
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 30

31. It’s Where the People Are
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 31

32. Is This Big Enough for Ya?
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 32

33. Maybe You’ve Heard of....
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 33

34. Then There’s a Little Site Called....
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 34

35. And Driving It All, Bigtime, Is...
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 35

36. How Millions Have
Come to Tweet...
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 36

37. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 37

38. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 38

39. The Listening Part of the
Real-Time Web...
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 39

40. Social Media Objectives....
Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 40

41. Measuring Social Media...
"The most meaningful metric is the
rate at which people invite their
friends to participate. How many
of your customers want to tell the
world about how great you are?"
- Tara Hunt, Online Community
Expert and Author
Monday, February 8, 2010 41

42. Social Media Marketing in 61 Words
Text
• You can buy attention (advertising)
• You can beg the media for attention (PR)
• You can bug people one at a time to get
attention (sales)
• Or you can earn attention by creating
something interesting and valuable and
then publishing it online for free: a
YouTube video, a blog, a research report,
photos, a Twitter stream, an ebook, a
Facebook page.
- David Meerman Scott
Monday, February 8, 2010 42

43. Where to Find Me....
Email: graeme@gtamarketing.com
Phone: 952-944-9748 Text
Web: www.gtamarketing.com
Blog: www.tech-surf-blog.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/graemethickins
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/graemethickins
Facebook: www.facebook.com/graemethickins
Friendfeed: www.friendfeed.com/graemethickins
Posterous: graemethickins.posterous.com
Internet Business Card: graemethickins.businesscard2.com
Monday, February 8, 2010 43

44. One of the Best Examples
of a Startup Company Blog
(even pre-launch) was
Mint.com, based in S.F. ....
Monday, February 8, 2010 44

45. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 45

46. Screenshots of Some Local Blogs
I’ve Been Involved With or Know....
Monday, February 8, 2010 46

47. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 47

48. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 48

49. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 49

50. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 50

51. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 51

52. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 52

53. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 53

54. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 54

55. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 55

56. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 56

57. Screenshots of Some
of My Clients’ Blogs....
Monday, February 8, 2010 57

58. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 58

59. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 59

60. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 60

61. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 61

62. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 62

63. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 63

64. Text
Monday, February 8, 2010 64