Order your copy of David Meerman Scott's terrific "New Rules of Marketing & PR"

One of the things I like most about David Meerman Scott's just-released book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR, is the fresh, conversational voice it's written in. Yes, you can call it blog-like.

David is a friend and colleague so I'm lucky enough to be sitting here with my autographed copy in hand. He writes, wisely, in his introduction:

From the Introduction

"As the lines between marketing and PR on the Web have blurred so much as to be unrecognizable, the best media choice is often not as obvious as in the old days. But I had to organize the book somehow, and I chose to create chapters for the various online media, including blogs, podcasts, online forums, social networking, and so on.

But the truth is that all these tools and techniques intersect one another. Some things were difficult to place in a particular chapter, such as the discussion on RSS (Really Simple Syndication). I moved that section four times before settling on chapter 13."

And he continues...

"As I was writing, I was wishing I could link you (like in a blog) from one chapter to a part of another chapter. Alas, a printed book doesn't allow that, so instead I have included suggestions where you might skip ahead or go back for review on certain topics... You'll notice that I write in a familiar and casual tone, rather than the formal and stilted way of many business books, because I'm using my "blog voice" to share the new rules with you."

I suffered the same challenge in writing The Corporate Blogging Book (which David kindly mentions on page 202). It is indeed much easier to write "online" these days than to write a book so I like David's frank admission of how he handled it.

A super useful read

This is a super useful read for any business person wondering why the heck he or she needs to understand blogs or podcasting or social media press releases or viral marketing. The answer is tied up neatly in David's introduction. And then amply illustrated throughout with specific chapters on audio content, blogs, forums & wikis, going viral, etc.

There's a Foreword by uber-blogger Robert Scoble which is really more about Scoble (and what he did at Microsoft) than about David. But it's a good read too.

The book was officially published on June 4, 2007. Order your copy today on Amazon! It's ranked #112 in book sales as I write -- which is a fantastic achievement. Go David!

David's special offer - valid through Friday June 8th

Purchase your copy of New Rules of Marketing & PR on Amazon by Friday June 8, 2007 and David will send you a CD of his audio seminar on Online News Releases. Details here.

Take Melcrum's Social Media Survey

My friends over at Melcrum Publishing are running a Social Media Usage survey. Click here to take it (it's quick).

You get a nifty free download at the end: Melcrum's Quick Start Guide to Social Media for Internal Communicators (a 23-page PDF).

The survey is aimed at large corporations and asks about your use (or intended use) of blogs, wikis, podcasts, social bookmarking tools, RSS, Second Life, online video, etc.

Social Media for Internal Communicators in London - March 22, 2007

I'm speaking at Melcrum's social media conference in London in a couple of weeks. Topic: What's Your Story? Getting the Tone and Content of Blogs Right. Attendees will get a copy of my Content Strategy Workbook -- one of the things that will be included in... (drum roll)... The Corporate Blogging Toolkit.

I'm developing it now. It's an extension of The Corporate Blogging Book, designed to be a practical blueprint and manual to launch a corporate or CEO blog.

Consider this a below-the-radar announcement. More TK.

60% say the ROI of corporate blogging does NOT need to be quantified and/or tied to the bottom line

Forrester's Charlene Li and several colleagues have published a new best practices study on The ROI of Blogging. It's fascinating reading for those of us who've been wrestling with the question of how you can quantify the impact of a corporate blog. I'll make a few comments about Forrester's new report in a moment.

Does corporate blogging need to be tied to the bottom line? "No..."

But first I want to tell you about a rather surprising response I'm getting to the "ROI of blogging" question in an informal survey I'm running. Thus far over 250 respondents have responded to the corporate blogging and social media survey I posted on Feb. 2, 2007. (Respondents range from Fortune 1000 to small business and one-person shops. Majority are small business.) The answer to the question "Does corporate blogging need to be tied to the bottom line" is a pretty clear "No."

Specifically, 60 percent say that the success of a corporate blog does *not* need to be measured in dollars. 25 percent say it does. And another 15 percent have interesting comments to make. A sampling follows:

Q: Does corporate blogging need to be tied to the bottom line?

A: from Senior Consultant at a Fortune 500 company: "No"

A: from Marketing Director of a small company (under 100 employees):

"No" would be an irresponsible answer; of course it has to be tied to
the bottom line, but it doesn't have to be measured like e-mail or a
coupon campaign. It's more like event sponsorship or PR."

A: from Communications Director of a small company (under 50 employees):

"Yes, but it is not a direct investment to return measure. It is more
about here is the investment we made to change our culture (or the
perception of our culture) and here is how the new culture has
benefited the bottom line."

The survey is still open. Click here to take it. The survey is now closed.

Oh, and what do I make of the survey results? Well, I guess it's pretty obvious: many marketers, execs and business owners aren't as concerned with calculating the ROI of blogging as they are with more practical challenges: how much time will it take? Who will write the blog? What should the topic be??

More about Forrester study on ROI of Business Blogging

I've been as fascinated as anyone by the ROI of blogging question. I devote a chapter to it in my book where I call it ROB (Return on Blog).

I like Forrester's approach to quantifying the ROI. The model they've built is elegant, smart and tidy. Quantifying "risk" by 1) identifying uncertainty and 2) calculating probability (...that something will go terribly wrong; a PR disaster, etc.) is especially clever. 

I also like the way Forrester uses proxies to calculate some of the benefits. For example, a blog provides an on-demand focus group compared with the cost of running a traditional focus group once a month for a year (total cost: $180,000). See nifty diagram. That last number came out of the accompanying case study on GM's FastLane blog: Calculating the ROI of Blogging: A Case Study.

Trouble is, even Forrester admits that "calculating the ROI of blogging has limitations" and "the exact benefits of blogging are impossible to measure" (I'm quoting directly from the Jan. 24, 2007 Best Practices report.)

So where does that leave us?

Pretty much back where we started, wouldn't you say? Corporate blogging is valuable because:

- it creates a conversation with customers

- you can learn a lot from the conversation

- it can lead to mentions in mainstream press (so PR value)

- Word of mouth marketing

- it gives a company higher Google search results, etc.

What do you think?? Would leave to hear your thoughts on this. (Hint: use the Comments link below.)

Useful Links

New ROI of blogging report from Forrester (Charlene Li)

Corporate Blogging ROI - Now We're Talking (Mario Sundar on the MProfs blog; read the comments. Very interesting.)

Forrester creates a model to measure blogging ROI (Steve Rubel on Micro Persuasion)

Learn Mandarin Chinese with ChinesePod, one of Time's "Top Ten" podcasts for 2006

Just got an email from Ken Carroll, the brains behind an online podcasting and tutorial service that teaches you Mandarin Chinese. ChinesePod has been named one of the Top Ten Podcasts for 2006 by Time Magazine. Kudos to Ken, who is based in Shanghai, for such a clever and engaging idea.

Again, with the publication of The Corporate Blogging Book in Chinese, I am hoping to get to Shanghai in 2007. So Ken, count me in as a new customer.

New York Times columnist David Pogue misses his calling as stand-up comedian

I haven't laughed so hard in ages. David Pogue, The New York Times popular personal technology columnist, gave the keynote at today's Bulldog Reporter's conference on advanced PR technologies in New York.

He strode in - tall, lean, clean-cut, dark suit, very corporate looking. Within two minutes he was hopping up and down at the lecturn and screeching, making fun of everything related to "social" media ("I hate buzz words," he said). Think Robin Williams (except tall and lean, etc.) and you've got the picture.

I suspect some of his jokes went right by the earnestly intent audience of PR professionals gathered at the Yale Club to learn the latest and greatest about corporate blogging, online video, wikis, SEO and online measurement. All of his slick-looking PowerPoint charts were fake (I rode down in the elevator with him and he confirmed this.)

One slide was labeled "Movie Tickets Sold" and underneath "in gazillions." Another purported to show the explosion in social media between now and 2009. "These things are new and there's going to be a lot more of them," he dead panned. The legend explaining the hockey stick curves included "splogs" (OK they do exist),"klogs" and "phlogs."

"I love making these charts with PowerPoint," he said. "It's so easy."

Some useful tidbits...

On Social Media

Blogs are self-expression via text; podcasts are self-expression via audio; V-logs are self-expression via video. "These tools are NOT equivalent," he said. "Social media as one entity doesn't exist. Some people don't want to appear in front of a camera. Anyone can write a blog. The ability to speak well for a podcast is less common." (I'm paraphrasing.)

On Web 2.0

His slide showed a giant ugly brown spider clinging to a web. "This Web 2.0 thing," he called it, "is where the audience provides the content."

The New York Times on blogging

"It's like an elephant trying to put on ballet slippers - very tentative, very conservative."

Social media ideas for PR practitioners

Off the top of his head, he said, some ideas for PR folks. Use blogs, podcasts, online video for: 

- behind the scenes glimpses of corporate life

- focus groups at Microsoft showing users trying to click and navigate confusing user interfaces

- design prototypes

- videos of employee's cubicles (all the stuff they hang up)

- customer submissions (videos, fan sites, etc.)

Useful Links

Pogue's blog

Pogue's videos for The New York Times (he makes them himself - no staff, no special equipment, no studio)- can't find the link.

I'll add more later...

A few tips from SNCR's Inaugural Research Symposium

Having questioned whether live blogging is a good thing or not... I'm here this morning at The Colonnade in Boston to bring you a few tips from the Society for New Communications Research Inaugural Research Symposium.

First, a word of thanks to SNCR executive director Jennifer McClure who has worked incredibly hard to produce this event. (Thanks Jen!) Second, in the spirit of full disclosure, I am an SNCR Fellow (oops, looks like I need to add my bio).

You won't find anything, er, snarky in what I write today, given that I'm not a totally impartial observer.

The New Influencers

Tech jurnalist and consultant Paul Gillin offers a few highlights from his new book: The New Influencers: A Marketer's Guide to the New Social Media (to be published in spring 2007).

Tidbits from Paul:

- Used to be that a happy customer tells 3 people about your company; an unhappy customer tells 10 people. Now, via blogs, an unhappy customer tells 10,000 people. He shows as an example the by now iconic video clip of customer Vincent Ferrari trying to cancel his AOL account. (Yes, the AOL customer service rep was ultimately fired.)

- "Marketing has become a spread-sheet driven discipline."  But that's not working anymore, says Gillin. He's referring, presumably, to impressions, click-throughs and other Web metrics that online marketers live and die by.

- Refers to P&G CEO A.G. Lafley's keynote speech to the ANA's annual conference and his key point: marketers are most likely to succeed when they let customers be in control.

More later... maybe. I'm gonna just listen for a while.

Useful Links

AOL said, 'If you leave me, I'll do something crazy' - Randall Stross's Digital Domain column in The New York Times (requires subscription).

Backbone Media and Northeastern University's Blogging Success Study (published Nov. 2, 2006)

We're at the inflection point for corporate blogging

As I noodle around with a number of presentations** I've got coming up (I've finally figured out Keynote for the Mac), I want to take a stand.

It's the end of marketing, advertising and corporate communications "as usual"

It's not enough to say that blogging is important or that social media tools are going mainstream.

Here's my little manifesto

I'm still noodling with it. Feel free to jump in and add something, help me clarify my thoughts or tell me to stuff it:

The Inflection Point of Corporate Blogging

- Blogs and other social media tools are here to stay

- Blogs are just next-generation Web sites

- Social media tools (RSS, blogs, podcasts, video, wikis, etc.) can be used by any company, large or small, B2C or B2B

- They symbolize community, conversation, mutual respect between users and an ethos of sharing

- These tools are more powerful at informing/influencing/persuading than traditional forms of marketing, advertising and corporate communications

- They help you get found online

- If you can't be found, you don't exist

Conclusion: This isn't optional

You gotta start using blogs, podcasts, online video (social media) today!

Defining an inflection point

Google's acquisition of YouTube yesterday for $1.65 billion is extremely significant. (Watch the CNN video with the announcement.)

Yes, it's a lot of money. Yes it's eerily like the dot com boom days when companies with no revenue were perceived to be hugely valuable.

But I see it as more than that. It's a tipping point (thanks to Malcolm Gladwell). Or an inflection point.

Intel's Andy Grove popularized "inflection point" as a business term. It's really a mathematical expression meaning a point on a curve at which the tangent crosses the curve itself. I don't pretend to understand calculus so don't ask me to explain.

Translated into business, it means something new is happening and there's no going back. No more "business as usual."

Read Andy's explanation here. It's an excerpt from his 1996 book, Only the Paranoid Survive:

"Strategic inflection points can be caused by technological change but they are more than technological change... They are full-scale changes in the way business is conducted, so that simply adopting new technology or fighting the competition as you used to may be insufficient. They build up force so insidiously that you may have a hard time even putting a finger on what has changed, yet you know that something has. Let's not mince words: A strategic inflection point can be deadly when unattended to." - Andy Grove, founder of Intel

** I'm speaking at a bunch of different venues over the next two weeks - both here in the U.S. and also in London (Oct. 18th and Oct. 25th) and at a private event in Paris! (Que j'adore Paris!)

Good overview of social media: The Economist's New Media Survey

Looks like the first two sections of The Economist's New Media survey (April 22, 2006 issue of the print magazine) is accessible online, at least for now. I highly recommend it. It's got some nice tidbits and turns of phrase related to blogging, wikis, podcasting, interactive journalism and the definition of a media company.

And quotes a good selection of social media insiders, including Mena Trott, Chris Anderson, David Weinberger, David Winer, Adam Curry, Jeremy Zawodny, Dan Gillmor and others.

The survey, written by Andreas Kluth, poses the big question: So what kind of revolution is this? And comes up with a (to me, at least) interesting answer. Namely, that:

"... nobody knows whether the era of participatory media will, on balance, be good or bad. As with most revolutions, it is a question of emphasis. Generally speaking, people who have faith in democracy welcome participatory media, whereas people who have reservations will be nostalgic for the top-down certainties of the mass media."

Useful Links

Survey intro
It's the Links, Stupid (about blogging)

CBP #02: Interview with Edelman's Phil Gomes about "self-regulation" of the blogosphere

The second edition of the Corporate Blogging Podcast (my companion podcast to The Corporate Blogging Book) has been posted. You can download it here (MP3, 12.9 MG, 14 min.) or subscribe via RSS.

I interviewed Phil Gomes (Senior Counsel for Edelman) a few weeks back about "self-regulation" of the blogosphere. Robert Scoble and DL Byron stopped by to say hi while Phil and I were chatting. You can hear all their voices on the podcast.

Podcasting: I interviewed Elizabeth Albrycht and was a guest on The Podcast Roundtable

It was a podcasting kind of weekend. Also unseasonably warm and delightful here in Washington DC. I finally got the first edition of the Corporate Blogging Podcast up! It features a face-to-face interview in Palo Alto with the articulate Elizabeth Albrycht, founder of the Society for New Communications Research and co-producer, with Jen McClure, of the NewComm Forum.

Download the show here (MP3, 12.9 MB, 14 mins) or sign up for the RSS feed to get it (and future editions of the Corporate Blogging Podcast) automatically.

In addition, I was interviewed on Saturday by the crew of The Podcast Roundtable about The Corporate Blogging Book, my thoughts on CEO and senior executive bloggers, etc. Download or listen to the podcast episode here.

The Podcast Roundtable consists of Jeremiah Owyang (a global Web strategist for Hitachi Data Systems and one of my panelists at NewComm Forum on March 2, 2006), Martin McKeay, Dennis McDonald (who turns out to be my neighbor across the river in Virginia) and Robbin Tippins.