Blogging for Business:
Better than cupcakes?
Katie Laird
klaird@schipul.com
www.schipul.com // www.happykatie.com
Katie Laird
klaird@schipul.com
www.schipul.com // www.happykatie.com
http://flickr.com/photos/kjellander/305301902/

What we’ll talk about...
• Business Blogs in action
• What the heck is micro-Blogging?
• The power of Visualization
• Blog fodder, tips and tricks
Blogging for Business, Blogging for the People

Are Bloggers the Internet’s
party people?

Sure, it’s a feel-good, online conversation...

... but is Business Blogging actually profitable?

NOT Blogging F500
Blogging F500 (61 total)
12%
88%
http://www.socialtext.net/bizblogs/index.cgi
These guys say yes (everything in moderation)

Humanizing
the brand!
http://www.socialtext.net/bizblogs/index.cgi?traits_of_the_fortune_500_blogs

Let’s look at some
Real Live Business Blogs

Company Blogs

Boeing B2B Flight Test Journal
www.boeing.com/commercial/777family

37 Signals Blog(s)
http://productblog.37signals.com/
www.37signals.com/svn/

Thought Leader Blog

Audrey Kawasaki blog (freelance artist blog)
http://baibai-matane.livejournal.com

Event marketing company shares the love
www.eventmarketing.zvents.com

‘By the people’ Company Blogs
(surprise!!!)

The Apple Blog (totally not official)
www.theappleblog.com

My Starbucks Idea - Post based on Visitor Content
http://blogs.starbucks.com/blogs/customer

5 great ways YOU (yes, you)
can use a Blog for your business

1. Establish an online presence on the cheap
Caroline Collective
www.carolinecollective.cc

2. Look brilliant, be adored by many
Crowdspring - crowd source graphic design Blog
http://blog.crowdspring.com

3. Support, give back and build your Community
Houston Artist Relief Blog -- HAA artist outreach
www.haahelps.com

4. Promote and extend conferences and event life
Mom 2.0 Summit
www.mom2summit.com

5. Run a viral marketing multimedia campaign
www.arttheheartofhouston.com
www.haablog.com

All a-Twitter
www.twitter.com

In 140 characters or less...
What are you doing right now?
www.twitter.com

The (new) Art of Community Building
A chance to connect and be generous
• Share your brain candy and link love
• Promote community and friends’ events and news
• (secondarily) Promote your events, content and news
• Give live outline of events or presentations
• Tell Katie where the speed traps are :)
• Say thank you!

Want to know who is talking about you on Twitter?
Follow the Micro-Blogging buzz
www.tweetscan.com
www.summize.com
www.twitscoop.com

Do more with less...
Feed your Tweets into other sites

Let’s take a quick breather!

The Road to Blogging:
Filling your brain to the max

They are already
talking about you...
but what are they saying?

Track the conversation and find out!
www,technorati.com/watchlist
Powerful Social Media search
engine watches for your terms and
updates you
www.google.com/alerts
Email updates for your
company name and keywords
http://alerts.yahoo.com
Yahoo! alerts you of any
occurrences of defined terms
and names

Tracking the online conversation...
Further online Reputation Management
Google Trends search:
www.google.com/trends
Technorati search:
www.technorati.com

Tracking the online conversation...
How do you compare to your competition?
www.blogpulse.com
Great visuals to track you and
your competition’s online
activity and Buzz

Find something less-than-great
about your business online?

Deal with it! NOW!

Tracking the online conversation...
Timeliness and sincerity mean everything
• Draft response strategy beforehand
• If you need to say you’re sorry:
mean it and back it up with visible action!
• A crisis is NOT the time to start a Blog
• Respond personally and publicly

Discover the Influencers
(and folks you just plain like)

Find awesome Blogs to read and learn from
www.technorati.com // www.blogsearch.google.com

IceRocket - Prolific vs. Influential = 2 different things
www.icerocket.com

Love thy feed reader!
www.google.com/reader

Pageflakes - personalized online data center
www.pageflakes.com

http://flickr.com/photos/geekette/212455285/
Let’s get personal.

Create your Personal Brand
• Keep it consistent EVERYWHERE
• Create an Avatar
• Add important links / personal
brands to your email footers
• Promote your employee Personal
Brands (www.schipul.com/
happykatie)
Happykatie!

Let’s Get Blogging!
• Set up a fast template
Blog
• Start simple - match
branding graphics later
• 5 posts before ‘launch’
www.typepad.com
www.blogger.com
www.wordpress.com

Let’s get Blogging!
Wordpress Template Sites
http://topwpthemes.com/
http://www.nattywp.com/
http://www.wpthemespot.com/

Let’s get Blogging!
Tumblr - Art of the Uber-Simple
http://dallasmarketing.tumblr.com/

Let’s get Blogging!
Make your life easier: desktop Blog utilities
http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/

Let’s get Blogging!
Badges of honor - make your brand portable
• Let your visitors take your brand
http://www.librarything.com/extras.php
with them
http://www.flickr.com/badge.gne
• Easily embedded / shared
graphics that show interests or
affiliation
• Cooler than a boring logo and
much more interactive

Keep up the Blogging magic
• Write regularly (2x week optimal)
• Comment regularly
• LINK LOVE!!!! At least 1 link a post
• Reach out to other Social Networks
to grow community
• Use images as much as humanly
possible
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kt/120468504/

Keep up the Blogging magic...
Random Blog post ideas
• Invite guest Blogger to write on industry or event topics
• Interview clients, organization speakers, management team (podcast)
• Post photos from recent company event or outing
• Tips & Tricks for your business or industry
• Quote of the Day (with links)
• Community or industry organization events and info
• ‘Favorite Helpful Links’ series http://www.flickr.com/photos/gla/438729143/

Keep up the Blogging magic...
Blog post cheats (b/c life gets busy!!)
• Round up of news snippets and links to
other Blogs
• Social bookmarking links - automatically
updated!
• Liveblog a conference (you’re taking notes
anyway...) www.ma.gnolia.com
• Ask your Community to create content for
YOU - contests, giveaways

Qualified traffic is good – link regularly, link well
http://flickr.com/photos/poagao/367128550/

VISUALIZATION!! Tell a story with Blog visuals.

Visualization tools
Embed rich media for higher readership
• Use other free online social networks to
host or discover Rich Media:
• Video:
• www.youtube.com
• www.vimeo.com
• Photos:
• www.flickr.com
• Audio:
• www.seeqpod.com

Visualization tools
Create your own Rich content
• Jing (www.jingproject.com/) - free
desktop image and video recorder
• Picasa (www.picasa.google.com) - edit
images and video with easy uploads
• ComicLife (http://plasq.com/comiclife/)
- have fun with your images and graphics

Visualization tools
Buy a Flip video camera (seriously)
http://www.theflip.com/

Follow up with your Community
• Respond to comments and emails
fast and openly
• Get to know your visitors and their
sites (participate)
• Be generous with your links and
props - it comes back to you
• Set up a Blog Roll
• Keep up with those Google Alerts

Strategy, strategy, strategy

What is Success?
• Define your goals ahead of time:
www.intensedebate.com
• Hits to your Web site / special landing page
• Number of comments or link outs
• Links from Influencers
• Answers to online polls
www.polldaddy.com

How do you know it’s working?
• Define your goals ahead of time:
• Newsletter sign up
www.mailchimp.com
• Raised funds (www.chipin.com)
• Number of ‘favorites’ or ratings
• Trackbacks from other Blogs

Blogging power at work, donate to: www.brennanshouston.com

Stick with your strategy and tweak as needed
• High traffic time?
• Post topics particularly hot?
• Who are your top referrers?
• How are they consuming your info?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8136496@N05/2327243497/

Tracking your success....
Statistics are available, numbers work...
Google Analytics (free and track your PPC)
www.google.com/analytics

Tracking your success....
Stats just a click away...
Built-in Blog utility traffic meters
www.typepad.com // www.wordpress.com

Tracking your success....
Learn about your RSS subscribers
Feedburner (free)
www.feedburner.com

But it’s really all about the people

Tracking your success....
The Human Bottom Line
• Who are you connecting?
• What relationships are you building?
• Are you crossing online and offline
marketing to reach the masses?
• Are you having fun and getting
smarter?
www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/2561315154/
www.carolinecollective.cc

Quickie Social Media To-Do’s
1. Read blogs
(find them on www.technorati.com)
2. Set up an RSS Feed Reader
(www.google.com/reader)
3. Join Facebook (www.facebook.com)
4. Join Flickr (www.flickr.com)
5. Track the buzz about you
(www.google.com/alerts)

Social Media is a constant learning process

But a fun one!!! So enjoy :)

Thanks for participating today!
Katie Laird
Schipul – The Web Marketing Company
www.schipul.com / www.tendenci.com
(281) 497.6567, ext. 519
Email: klaird@schipul.com
Personal brand: www.schipul.com/happykatie
Blog: www.happykatie.com
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/happykatie
Twitter: www.twitter.com/happykatie
Find my slides at: www.slideshare.net/happykatie