What Do Small Businesses Do on Social Media?

Every Thursday, I will republish my best articles from Technorati.com. Since Technorati redesigned its website and is under new managements, tens of thousands of articles that were previously published on the site are no longer available. I have been given explicit permission to republish my work on my own website. A new survey from email marketing software firm VerticalResponse found that 43% of small businesses (100 employees or less) spend at least six hours a week on social media, with seven percent spending over 21 hours a week on Facebook, Twitter, and such. The survey also found that two-thirds of small businesses are spending more time on social media than they did a year ago, suggesting that more small businesses are either realizing or actually seeing the benefits of social media marketing.

Facebook and Twitter are still the most popular networks that small businesses are using, coming in at 90% and 70% respectively. Although LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest are touted as must-use networks in social media marketing, a majority of small businesses, according to the survey, don't use these sites at all. Of all the things small businesses could do on social media, it turns out that finding and posting content takes the most time, followed by learning and education (presumably this means learning how to use the social network, the survey isn't clear) and analyzing efforts. The least time consuming task was responding to questions.

Six hours a week is a lot, and many small businesses are struggling with the work load and the time it takes to manage multiple networks. The survey doesn't say a whole lot on how small businesses spend these six, eight, 12 hours a week, but there are good ways to spend that time. If you're spending this much time on social media, and want to be assured that you time is well spend, then here are the things that small businesses ought to be doing:

1. Responding to Questions - This is a must, especially since there are much larger companies who ignore, and even delete, questions and responses from fans on Facebook and other networks. It's a little worrisome that small businesses spend the least amount of time on this, as it means that either there aren't questions to respond too, or questions are going unanswered for too long. If there's any engagement from fans or potential customers on social media, then always make them a top priority.
2. Building Relationships - Surprised this wasn't on there, which means it either wasn't asked, or small businesses are treating social media too much like another avenue to push a marketing message. Think of the 50/50 rule when it comes to sharing content: 50% your content, and 50% other people's content. Yes, other people's. Retweeting, repinning, and resharing other people's stuff helps them as well as you. You provide more value to your own followers while making a connection with the person who's content you are sharing. Make sure social media is used to participate in a conversation, not just to take one over or to start one. It shows that you are listening.
3. Analyzing Efforts - This is also a must, but analyzing your social media marketing efforts is much more than counting fans and mentions and comments. Actually, those numbers don't mean all that much. What really counts, when analyzing your social media marketing, is how much traffic social media drives to your site, how many leads are coming from social media, and how many of those leads you're turning into customers. After all, those are the things that keep businesses going. If anything, small businesses need to be measuring their success on social media. If not, there's no way to know if you're wasting your time.
4. Defining Goals - Small businesses need to spend time figuring out what they want out of social media in the first place. These goals need to line up with the core needs of the business, and need to be more specific than "increased brand awareness" or "increased customer engagement." What's a good goal for social media? Something specific, and targeted toward the needs of the business, like "have 10% of our leads come from social media" or "have 100 people sign up for our webinar" or "get 50 more subscribers for our blog by the end of the month."

As of Today, 10 Percent of Social Media Reviews Will be Fake

Every Thursday, I will republish my best articles from Technorati.com. Since Technorati redesigned its website and is under new managements, tens of thousands of articles that were previously published on the site are no longer available. I have been given explicit permission to republish my work on my own website. According to a recent study by tech research firm Gartner, 10 to 15 percent of social media reviews will be fake by 2014. With growing emphasis and credibility on social media as the "new word-of-mouth", its crucial that we be able to trust the opinions we find on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.

"With over half of the Internet's population on social networks, organizations are scrambling for new ways to build bigger follower bases, generate more hits on videos, garner more positive reviews than their competitors and solicit 'likes on their Facebook pages," said Jenny Sussin, senior research analys at Gartner, in a news release.

Gartner found in this study that the nearly all of the fake reviews are coming from people who were paid to provide that positive review, whether that payment in cash, coupons, or other promotions. In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission determined that paying for positive reviews without disclosing that the reviewer had been compensated equates to deceptive advertising and would be prosecuted as such. Even so, many companies are seeking out fake reviews in the hopes of making a few more sales or getting a few more hits on the website.

How do you ensure that none of your reviews are fakes (and can be 100% trusted as a true reflection of what your customers think about you)? Here are a few tips:

1. Don't pay for reviews - Earn those reviews, especially since the FTC is cracking down on fake reviews and even pursuing litigation with two Fortune 500 companies caught paying for fake reviews. However, it is okay to ask your customers to take the time to write a review, as long as you don't compensate them for taking a positive stance, or control what the reviewer says in anyway.
2. Respond appropriately to the bad reviews - It's tempting to counter or to cover up those bad reviews by encouraging or paying for an onslaught of good reviews, but that course of action only shows that you're unable to improve and to take criticism as a business. Instead, note those bad reviews and make changes, perhaps even responding by saying you're going to do something about whatever was wrong. Also consider that you can't please everyone. If a reviewer just says the food was terrible, simply accept that not everyone will like the food you serve.
3. Encourage honest reviews - There are many ways to get your current customers to write great reviews for your business without paying for them. For example, create case studies and blog posts highlighting your best customers. This way, the reviewer not only gets attention for being a reviewer and a great customer, but potential customers can honestly see and hear what your business can do. You can also let your customers know where they can write a review for you by taking control of your Yelp or Google Places page. By keeping your information on those pages up-to-date and telling your customers about them, they are more likely to go to those pages to write a review.
4. Delete Fake Reviews - If you've paid for reviews in the past, then remove those reviews from your pages at once, or at least disclose that these reviews were paid for. Fake reviews only ruin the credibility of your business, and if you're caught with fake reviews that lack the disclosure, you could lose a lot more than your customers.

There is a Plan B for Birth Control and Health Care Plans

Every Thursday, I will republish my best articles from Technorati.com. Since Technorati redesigned its website and is under new managements, tens of thousands of articles that were previously published on the site are no longer available. I have been given explicit permission to republish my work on my own website.

Last Friday, the White House announced that there will be no wider exemption for religious groups regarding the Affordable Care Act, which requires that “preventative care” be fully covered, with no co-pay, under new insurance plans, and the Department of Health and Human Services accepted recommendations that put all forms of contraception in that category. Beginning August 2012, new insurance plans must fully cover women's preventive care, which now will include yearly wellness visits, breastfeeding counseling and equipment, and screening for gestational diabetes, domestic abuse, HPV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and HIV, in addition to the birth control and sterilization. This latest announcement grants only a one-year waiver they can apply for while figuring out how to comply with the law. Naturally, the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops is against the new regulation, particularly the clause on birth control, as it conflicts with Catholic tenets.

As Reverend Peter Laird presents in his counterpoint, “The position of the Catholic Church on artificial birth control is well-known, though not always well-understood. Our teaching is founded in a conviction that every human act is meant to witness to the truth about God and man…The church does not consider birth control a right of health care, much less a good for human flourishing, because pregnancy is not a disease.

The new regulation does come with a “conscience” clause, an exemption that applies to non-profit employers that have the “inculcation of religious values as its purpose, that primarily employ fellow believers, and that primarily serve people who share its religious tenets.” This defined exemption would not include Catholic hospitals and probably won’t include Catholic Charities and Catholic institutions of higher learning. Thus, the new regulation has not been well-received by the Catholic community.

However, research from the Guttmacher Institute shows that 98 percent of Catholic women have used contraceptive methods banned by the church, compared with 99 percent of American women who have used these same methods at one point in time. The statistics aren’t much different. It’s fine that Catholic doctrine is against birth control, but with so many Catholic women violating this part of the doctrine, the church really ought to expend its energy on reaching out to its members instead of retaliating against the federal government. The study does not specify how many of these women are aware that using birth control is against church doctrine, so it’s impossible to determine how many are using birth control in spite of church doctrine, or because they don’t know that it’s against church teachings. It’s also possible that Catholic women are choosing to violate this part of the doctrine in order to avoid an unwanted pregnancy, and the confronting the choice of violating the church’s stance on abortion.

I don’t fault the church and other Catholic organizations for not supporting the federal regulation, but I don’t’ see how it jeopardizes the overall mission of these organizations, or the essence of being Catholic. I’m sure being Catholic is much more than avoiding birth control, like being a person for others and living simply. Plus, the new federal regulation says that all health plans much cover sterilization and contraception. That doesn’t mean that a woman will, or must, access that free contraception. As Laird says,

“Absent sufficient regard for rights of conscience, the birth control mandate will force all men and women -- and all employers -- to carry health "benefits" that violate the sincerely held religious convictions of many.”

I don’t deny that these benefits violate the religious convictions of many, but doesn’t it only count if those who believe such participate in this violation? Does mere availability automatically equal a violation all its own, even if no one took advantage of this availability? This regulation presents an opportunity for the church and Catholic employers to make its community aware that the use of sterilization and contraception is against church teaching.  Of course, another option is to revoke health insurance for all employees, but no one needs to be that drastic here. If anything, the regulation allows for the accommodation of non-Catholics at Catholic employers while encouraging Catholics to follow church teachings. As Laird puts it:

“Organizations such as Catholic universities and hospitals, social-services agencies and Catholic Charities, because they serve people without regard to religious affiliation, would be forced to provide contraceptive and sterilization services. In other words, we would have to stop being Catholic if we wanted to serve all men and women, as Jesus did. It would also require Catholic organizations to employ only Catholics, which may be at variance with both federal and state discrimination laws.”

After all, Catholic employers cannot legally exclude non-Catholics from its workforce, and Catholic Charities certainly wouldn’t exclude non-Catholics from its services. Therefore, there’s no imposition or forced adoption of Catholic teaching. Also, the regulation only stipulates the provision of them in health care plans, not necessarily by the institutions themselves. This means a Catholic hospital or clinic can refrain from carrying birth control and providing sterilization services to the people they serve. This would also mean that any non-Catholic that works in these places, that wishes to use birth control, would have the choice to do so. This regulation doesn’t infringe on the Catholic identity of institutions in anyway.

Why must this issue of birth control be treated as such a black and white issue? This issue of sterilization and contraception seems like an opportunity for religious education and tolerance instead of the religious intolerance that it’s perceived to be. Overall, this federal regulation doesn’t say that Catholic teaching is wrong, or that Catholic institutions cannot be Catholic institutions. It doesn’t stipulate that birth control must be offered to all who walk through those doors. It just needs to be part of the health care plan. Good Catholics can still be good Catholics by not using that part of the plan. Non-Catholics can still have this choice available to them if they wish. Just because the choice is there to choose birth control doesn’t mean that one must, should, or will choose birth control.

Social Marketing Tactics Balance Customer Attraction, Retention

Every Thursday, I will republish my best articles from Technorati.com. Since Technorati redesigned its website and is under new managements, tens of thousands of articles that were previously published on the site are no longer available. I have been given explicit permission to republish my work on my own website. Websites, blogs, and social media marketing strike the best balance between customer attraction and retention, according to an October 2012 survey from Constant Contact. In its survey of over 1,000 small businesses, the small business marketing firm also found that the tactics least effective at striking the balance were daily deals and online ads. This balance is critical as small businesses need to use their marketing dollars wisely, and if certain tactics can do both, then that's better for the business.

So, just how can small businesses better use websites, blogs, and social media better? What can be done so that customer attraction and retention rates improve by using these tactics, and using them more effectively? Here's how to master these tactics to do just that:

Blog and Post Regularly

Obviously, if you're only blogging and tweeting once a month, you can't expect these tactics to attract and retain customers. You're not doing it enough for anyone to notice. With social media, you should be posting/tweeting/updating at least once a day. With blogging, you should be publishing at least one post per week. With your website, you should work on adding more pages to it at least once a month. When you are employing your tactics often enough (but not so often that you overwhelm people or that your quality suffers), people will take notice of what you are doing and what you have to say. Only then, will you be able to attract and to retain customers.

Create Content with Your Customers in Mind

If all you're talking about is your company's products/services, this award you won, this event you attended, and how great your company is, then these tactics won't retain and attract as many customers as you want. The reason is that your customers don't care about any of those things. They really don't. They care about whatever problem they have and how to solve it. They care about working with a brand that knows what it's doing. They care about spending their money on a solution that will work. Since that's what they care about, that's what you need to talk about in your website, blog, or social media update. Talk about their problems and pain points, and how to solve them. Talk about your industry, where its going, and offer best practices for doing X and Y in your industry. Talk about solutions that work, and what customers ought to spend on such solutions (Yes, be the brand that reveals the number). These people will thank you for it by becoming a customer and encouraging others to become customers.

Connect the Three

Do not operate your website, blog, and social media in three separate silos! Connect the three of them with links as well as a comprehensive strategy. For example, your blog should be easily accessibly through your website, preferably through its own link in the header navigation bar. This is a mistake many small businesses make, as they either aren't connected at all or the only link is in the footer navigation bar. An extra step you can take is to include your blog feed right on the home page, so visitors can also peruse specific articles. Social media should be as accessible from your website, and your blog should include social sharing buttons with each post. On the flip side, use social media to promote your blog posts and your webpages.

As for a comprehensive strategy, think about the strengths of each tactic individually and consider how to use them in a marketing campaign, for example. If you have a new fill-in-the-blank that you want to generate buzz about, use all three to their strengths to generate that buzz. With your blog, do a post that reveals just a piece of the fill-in-the-blank, including a call to action to download, or to register, or to buy, or whatever the proper action is. Your website should have a new page dedicated to the fill-in-the-blank, which can easily be shared on social media or promoted on the home page. Your blog post should also include a link to this page. Social media should be used to drive traffic to both pages, with an even smaller piece revealed to entice clicks.

Keep in mind that, "we have a new fill-in-the-blank! Click here to check it out," is neither enticing, nor revealing. It doesn't give any reason to check it out. This is an example of the talking about yourself problem that we discussed. It emphasizes you and the new thing too much without showcasing what's in it for the visitor or customers.

Differences Between Blogging in 2008 and Blogging in 2014

As Well as a Few Critiques

I admit I wasn't blogging in 2008. I considered the idea as a junior in college, and a friend even recommended that I call the blog, "Frog Blog." I didn't start blogging (for myself and for other sites) until 2010 and I've been blogging just about every day ever since.. Even with nearly four years of blogging experience, I learned a few great tips from "Blogging Heroes." But, there are a few changes between then and now, changes that weren't applicable even between 2008 and 2010. Here are X of the major differences between 2008 and 2014, as analyzed from "Blogging Heroes."

Monetization Through Advertising is On Its Way Out

Many of the blogs featured in the book made money through advertising, using programs such as Google Adsense. In 2008, advertising using Google Adsense was the primary and profitable way to make money with your blog. In 2014, it's simply not the case anymore. Adsense and other advertising networks pay by the click, and quite frankly, people don't click on advertising anymore. Readers find display advertising intrusive and distracting, and often don't find any benefit in the advertising. Today, to generate the number of clicks that you need to make your Adsense revenue worthwhile, you either have to publish tons and tons of posts each day (essentially becoming a slave to your blog) or write about things that salacious and juicy (or slap on such a headline for click bait). Neither tactic makes a blogger great or profitable in blogging.

Adsense and other advertising networks can still bring in some money, yes, but many bloggers today are monetizing their blogs by using a variety of methods. These methods include affiliate marketing programs like Amazon Associates, selling products directly on the site, creating a membership program, hosting paid online and in-person events, offering consulting services, and many more. Bloggers today often use more than one method since using only one method (like advertising} makes it incredibly difficult for a blogger to make enough money to live solely through blogging.

Networking Through the Blog Comments is Also Out

The spammers ruined this one. In 2008, the comment section was still a great place to start conversations, to add to conversations, and to share a link back to your blog. However, spammers have ruined the comment section by using it as a way to stuff keywords and to place links to sites that are irrelevant to the website. In 2014, major blogs and publications like Popular Science and Six Pixels of Separation are shutting down their comment sections because of the spam and the trolls. Also consider that when sites like Huffington Post and Salon post something controversial, it's nearly impossible to get your comment noticed because everyone has a comment to make. Besides, a comment section that's devolved into ad hominem and vitriolic nonsense isn't the place you want to be to network your blog.

Those blogging today shouldn't emphasize comments as a sign of popularity or as a way to build backlinks either. Only one percent of blog readers take the time to comment on posts, while many sites mark comment links as "no follow", so they don't add any SEO benefit.

Instead, bloggers today are networking through social media and in-person events. Conferences like New Media Expo and The Blog Workshop are two of the biggest national events, but smaller events such as local meetups or professional networking events can also be great ways to promote the blog. Only a few well established blogs such as Problogger and Inbound Hub manage to keep their comment sections accessible without getting overwhelmed by the spammers and trolls.

Is Technorati As Powerful as It Once Was?

I used to write for Technorati, and still can if I really want to. I started writing for Technorati in 2010, and back then writing for the site was a great thing to do. There were plenty of good writers contributing good content, and the section editors would work with you personally to ensure that you made edits to the articles when requested and to give you article ideas. Technorati's listings were used several times throughout the book as a way to demonstrate how popular or well-known a blog is, such as the Top 100 Favorited Blogs and the Top 100 Linked To Blogs (do either of those lists still exist, and if so, who is one them?)

Technorati may have been great several years ago, but is it still great now? I wonder if bloggers today care about their Technorati rankings or authority numbers. It could be that bloggers don't care anymore, as those listings have been saturated by the same 150 or 200 blogs that just switch spots among themselves. It's unlikely any of the blogs currently listed on the Top 100 are going to fall of the wagon so horribly that they won't be able to recover, making room for someone new to make the list.

Plenty of Emphasis on Tech Blogs

I understand that the 30 bloggers interviewed in the book weren't the author's first 30 choices, or were necessarily the bloggers that reflected the 30 most popular bloggers of the time. But, I would have liked to see a little more variety in the blogs that were featured. Over one-third of the blogs featured had something to do with business or tech. There weren't any political, fashion, green, celebrity, entertainment, sports, or current events blogs featured. Only one parenting blog (ParentDish) made the list and only one DIY blog (DIY Life) made the list. It would have been great to see one more blog from both of those categories since they are crowded categories like tech and business.

Granted, I don't know if there were many people blogging in those categories in 2008. Since blogging was still very new in 2008, it could easily have been that many bloggers were technology and business experts since they are the most likely people to be an early adopter of a new technology platform like blogging. It's possible that great bloggers in those other categories got a later start because they needed to get acclimated with the technology first before they would have felt comfortable in using it to communicate their hobby or passion.

LOVED Seeing the Pics of the Blogs in 2007

While reading the book, it was actually pretty awesome to go through each chapter and see a screenshot of the blog in 2007. It's baby Lifehacker and baby Gizmodo! How cute! It was also pretty swell to see what qualified as slick web design and cutting edge fonts back in 2007 too. If some of these designs and layouts existed as they were in 2014, then many of them would be too busy and not very user-friendly.

Does Anyone Else Follow 200+ Blogs?

Many of the bloggers featured in the book kept up with other blogs through RSS feed. Although Google Reader doesn't exist anymore, keeping up with other great blogs is an excellent thing to do as a blogger. But, to keep up with more than 200 blogs? How is that possible, whether or not you use an RSS feed? If you don't use an RSS feed, then what do you use to keep up without everything, since all those updates would clog your email or take too much time to do manually? I would be surprised if anyone follows this many blogs. I think most bloggers only follow fewer than 100 blogs, or only keep up with their subject areas through tools like Google Alerts.

Well, that's all I have to say about Blogging Heroes: Interview with 30 of the World's Top Bloggers. Overall, the book is an excellent read for any blogger, whether you do it professionally or as a hobby. I wouldn't classify it as a must-read since some of the information is outdated and that a few of the blogs featured don't even exist anymore. But, blogging has changed quite a bit since 2008 as well as the top players in the field. It would be neat to try to to find today's top 30 bloggers (or even the 30 bloggers in each category). It would be pretty cool to hear their stories.

Importance of Content Marketing: The 2013 Digital Influencer Report

Technorati Media recently came out with its 2013 Digital Influencer Report, covering the latest insights of brand marketers, influencers, and consumers when its comes to social media and digital marketing. Sixty percent of brand marketers predict an average increase of 40 percent in social spending this year, but that spending isn't aligned with how consumers view social media and how their purchasing decisions are influenced. Blogs aren't getting much attention despite they rank high with consumers for trust, popularity and influence. Here are the most interesting things I found in the 2013 Digital Influencer Report:

Blogs are the Third-Most Influential Digital Resource

Right behind retail sites and brand sites, blogs are considered the most influential digital resource when making a purchase. They are actually more influential than social media sites! On top of that, blogs are also the fifth-most trustworthy source overall for information, behind news sites, Facebook, retail sites, and Google+ (in that order). What's particularly neat about this is that only two of the top five sources are places that you own (the retail site and the blog), and that the three most influential are all owned media. This means that businesses are missing out on a huge opportunity to influence purchases when they aren't blogging or when they aren't blogging enough. It also means that by emphasizing social media, they aren't fully capitalizing on the media they own and the flexibility and power that comes with owned media.

19% of Influencers Make Money from Posting Brand Content

This is a really interesting statistic because search engines penalize content and businesses that pay for links, and if you're paying someone to publish your post and to include a few links back to your site, you could end up in some trouble. Since almost one in five influencers are making some money this way, there are a lot of brands that could be in trouble because they are willing to pay.

What bothers me most about this situation is that influencers don't get punished for charging for these links. It's always the brand who paid for the link that gets punished. Sometimes, the influencer doesn't reveal there is a charge until the post is finished an ready to go, which is something that I ran into about a year ago. The influencer wanted $150 at the last minute to publish a post because it had a link in it. The link wasn't even a backlink, but a link to a cite a statistic we mentioned, but that didn't matter to the influencer.

Therefore, I advise that brands avoid paying to get your post published at all costs. Work around it by trying to forge some sort of partnership instead, or even by removing the links from the sponsored content. I've asked Matt Cutts about this situation, and hopefully he takes the time to answer in an upcoming video.

19% of Influencers Also Get Paid to Produce Brand-Sponsored Product Reviews

This one isn't a no-no yet, but brand-sponsored product reviews (especially positive ones about their own product or service) are receiving increased skepticism and discredit. This is partly because more and more brands are paying for positive reviews, so its getting harder to tell which reviews have been paid for and which are genuine reviews from happy customers. It's already predicted that 10% of social media reviews will be fake and paid for by 2014, and blogs might not be much different. Distinguishing the two is also getting difficult because brand-sponsored product reviews aren't being disclosed as such, as the Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on fake reviews and reviews that aren't disclosed as paid for.

If you are practicing this, or did practice this, then make sure these reviews are disclosed or are deleted. If not, then it's best that you don't start. Get reviews the right way by writing a case study to highlight a successful customer, or by taking ownership or your Yelp or Angie's List or fill-in-the-blank review page. That way, you can then encourage customers to visit these sites and to write reviews. Also, with ownership, you can appropriately respond to any negative reviews.

Related Links:

Trends in Business Blogging from the GM of Typepad

Business Blogging Trends from the Product Manager of Blogger

Trends in Business Blogging from the GM of Typepad (Part 2)

In Content Marketing, Please Respond and Engage When Customers Do So

Article first published as Why Aren't Companies Responding to Questions on Facebook? on Technorati.

A new survey of 20 top online retailers on Facebook that suggests their level of responsiveness to customers is uneven, at best. Conducted by STELLAService, a company that rates customer service among online businesses, found that one out of four companies failed to respond to a customer-service question posted on their Facebook wall, and even fewer replied to questions asked as comments on their posts. Appalling in a world where connectivity and social media has become second nature to so many consumers.

While 25 percent of retailers didn’t respond to wall posts, that number rocketed to 65 percent for comments on other posts. Eight companies deleted the questions that were posted on their walls, whether they answered the question or not. Of those that did respond to these posts, the average time was one hour (not bad). However, these numbers are shocking. Isn't this what companies want from social media: engagements, comments and questions? Why wouldn't a company respond? So many small businesses will kill for that kind of action, and these top online retailers are just ignoring it and throwing their social media success away.

And to delete the questions from the wall? I could understand doing that if they are profane or irrelevant, but besides that, deleting questions of fans and customers only indicates that you don't care. Especially since deleting them means that the company saw the post and still chose to ignore it. I don't see any benefit to deleting questions, whether they've been answered or not. Even if the company has no intention of answering them, leaving them up could at least give other fans a chance to answer the question. Deleting questions that have been answered also poses problems, as it means that a company could get a question asked multiple times, when leaving it up could be just as helpful for future visitors.

Jordy Leiser, STELLAService’s co-founder, said that the purpose of this quick study was to start setting expectations to marketing and customer service on social media, since there's still uncertainty about a time frame that's reasonable for these posts. It's common knowledge that both businesses and individuals shouldn't be ignoring and deleting comments and questions, unless they are offensive and profane. I also think that it's common knowledge that a day, at most, is the longest is should take a business to respond. Consumers expect businesses large and small to be monitoring their social media, and paying attention to what fans and customers are doing. It's too easy for them to find a competitor who will pay attention.

Social media is about being a part of a community. It shouldn't be considered one more avenue to push a marketing message and to generate sales. It's not another form of outbound or interruptive marketing that's to distract people. It's about pulling people in, listening to what's going on, and offering something that they are interested in. If people are interested, and you're not doing anything about it, then you're doing social media wrong.

How to Blog: Why Business Blogging is Great for SEO

I just had a client tell me that blogging "won't provide much SEO." That statement is so misguided, that I had to stop my playing Words with Friends and write a response pronto. There's no way I could have a content marketing client who is so misinformed. Blogging and SEO go hand in hand. In fact, I'd say that business blogging is SEO, because what SEO do you have without business blogging? Meta descriptions? Backlinks? Business blogging gives you both of those and much more. Here's the response that I've given to said client. I've replaced the actual client with "Company X" for confidentiality:

blogging is *GREAT* for SEO. Think about it, every blog post is one more chance for you to get found online. Every blog post is a chance to rank for a keyword or phrase. Every blog post puts Company X as a thought leader in online security and privacy. Every blog post is an opportunity for someone to link to it, giving you that backlink. Getting published on other sites is also great for getting backlinks, but it's not the only way to do it, and it's certainly not the most effective way to do it.

Companies who blog have 55% more website visitors, 97% more inbound links, and have a 62% cheaper cost per lead than those that done. Of those companies that do blog, 57% of them have acquired a customer through their company blog. That sounds like what you're after, so how can you say blogging won't do anything for SEO? Blogging *IS* SEO.

Blog posts give you both rank and traffic, and are better than the articles on Technorati because if someone finds the Technorati article, they find Technorati, not necessarily Company X. Sure, they may see the link, but they might not click on it and go to your page. However, if they click on a blog post, they're finding Company X. They are clicking on your link and giving you traffic. They are connecting with your brand and are learning about Product X from Company X. Not Technorati. Not Blogcritics. Not Allison. Not your competitor. You. After all, you're going to sell them the Product X, not me or Technorati, and certainly not your competitor. Be the one to show them why they need Product X and why they need to get it from you.

What do you think of this argument? Do you think this would change your mind, or your client's mind? Would there be anything that you have added?

Trends in Business Blogging from the GM of Typepad (Part 2)

Business blogging is hard work. Plain and simple. Shani Higgins, CEO of Technorati, continues her interview with Jeff Reine, general manager of Typepad. In this interview about the trends in business blogging, they discuss the tools that can propel a blog forward and help to reward that hard work. Key takeaways from this interview, which can be watched below, include:

- Blogs can be used as a marketing tool and a relationship tool, by both businesses small and large

- The blog is the blog, sure. But, it's also important to streamline the blog with social media outlets, the rest of the website, and even the offline experience. It's all part of the same pie.

- Find your niche, and cover it well. Going too broad can actually make your blog a little meaningless, but going narrow and not doing it well is just as bad.