When commenting on blogs, always:

1. make sure that the comment is relevant to the post
2. look to add value and enhance the information contained in the post
3. include your email address so that you can establish a connection and build a relationship with the blogger
4. make sure the URL you link back to is correct
5. comment on blogs with a page rank of 4 or higher as those links are more valuable then links from lower ranking sites
6. don’t simply post “great post” or ” thanks for this” – this has no value whatsoever and simply makes your company look unprofessional
7. use your real name or an appropriate nickname when posting (I often use “Outsmarts) to make it more authentic
8. don’t include links in the comment body that simply link back to your site.  If you do include links make sure, again, that they link to a page that is appropriate to the post
9. check spelling before posting – it looks more professional.  I’ve noticed that many spam comments contain poor spelling – its a tell tale sign that a firm is outsourcing their link building to cowboy SEO firms.
10. don’t comment on numerous posts on the same site at once, again this is something spammers do and will increase the likelihood that the blogger will simply delete your comments.

Here’s an example of some blog spam that appeared on our site recenty: someone called Elva Cohoon recently posted a comment on an old post  on this site called Sex and Babies for Sale on Craigslist.  Her comment was about real estate, the post had nothing to do with real estate.

Normally I would simply delete comments like this but I decided post a comment in response: hopefully Elva will get the message and avoid posting spammy comments on our blog in future.  The point here is that if you decide on a  spam link approach, your comments can backfire.  Bloggers are a fickle bunch and don’t like spam, if you don’t follow comment etiquette like the 10 tips outlined above your tactics will trip you up, your company will look unprofessional in these forums and you risk being called out in the public forum.

In the first few days this blog was inundated with comments and posts that were downright disgusting and definitely not something I wanted our brand to be associated with.  Christine from Bluelime Media, one of our partners and our go to expert on all things web design and Wordpress, suggested the Akismet plug in.  It was the very first plug in we installed and, quite frankly, the best so far.

Why, because to date our blog has been protected us from over 15,000 spammy comments.  If you haven’t already installed it, do it now.

In Wordpress, go to plug ins, click on add new and find and install the akismet plug in.   To complete the process you will need a Wordpress API number.  To get this you need to sign up for an account at Wordpress.com or click here – you don’t need to get a blog, just click on the “just a username” option.  Once you have done this, your API appears at the top of the screen when you click on profile.  Copy and paste the API into the akismet plugin details on your blog and you are done.  Akismet will filter out all obvious spam and alert you to those comments that require approval.

Its a good idea to keep an eye on the comments and delete any that are irrelevant.

Sound familiar? If  it is simply inspiration that you need then read this blog post about banishing blog writer’s fatigue. But if the thought of adding a blog to your corporate marketing arsenal makes your blood run cold, don’t despair: there are other ways that you can take advantage of the blogosphere with out having to.

Blog Learning

Blogs are a great way to keep abreast of what is going on in your industry, to learn from luminaries, peers and prospective clients as well as to keep ahead of your competitors.  Use tools like Technorati to find and follow blogs that pertain to your market.  If you are using blogs for this purpose, it is a good idea to bookmark or use and RSS feed reader (like Google reader) to keep track of the ones you like and to share them with others in your company.

Blog Comments

Links are like gold on the Internet, the more your site has leading back to it, the better and this is even more the case if links come from high ranking blogs.   When posting comments on blogs, always make sure they are relevant and add value in relation to the post.  In addition to the link love, posting comments on blogs can help you establish a relationship with the blogger or company whose post you comment on (particularly handy if you would like to do business with this company) and can spread brand awareness from the blog’s readers.

Blog PR

Blog PR or as it is sometimes called, blog outreach, is another way you can use blogs without having to have one.   Popular blogs often get many thousands of visitors every day.  Imagine the traffic that would bring to your site if the blog were to mention and link back to your page.  Blog PR is all about enticing the rock star bloggers in your industry to blog about you, your product, service or unique story.  Bloggers, like journalists with traditional PR, are on the receiving end of many attempts to get publicity every day so your message has to stand out from the crowd in order to get any attention.  To be successful with blog PR you have to be highly targeted and creative.

Internal Blog

Blog technology is very versatile.  Just because you don’t want the exposure an external blog might bring doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take advantage of blogs in house to disseminate information.  By doing so you might discover that you do indeed have the talent or resources within the organisation to make an external blog possible.  Read our post from last September to learn more about internal blog uses.

Conclusion

Blogging is often the backbone of a social media strategy but, to be successful, you don’t need to have your own blog.  In fact, if blogging isn’t right for your company then embarking on a blog and then abandoning it can be really damaging.  Instead, consider the options above in order to take advantage of blogs to build your online presence.

Foursquare Growth

Playing Foursquare

Foursquare allows users to check in from their mobile phones when they are out and about at dinner, sports venues, tourist venues and even at the hairdresser.  As a user, each time you check in to a location you are awarded points.

Once you start accumulating points or visiting locations frequently you are awarded badges and titles (I am the Mayor of Stock Up, one of my favorite places to have lunch in Kerrisdale).   Foursquare apps are available for download to most major smart phones (iPhone,  Blackberry, Android and Palm Pre.).

If you think it sounds like more of a game than a serious business network, you are right but if your business is location based, it is a game you really should be taking seriously.   A little friendly competition can do wonders to bring people back to your location again and again and so businesses are beginning to clue in to the loyalty potentially and Foursquare as a tool to spread awareness: many businesses are offering incentives to those who become mayor and to visitors who offer tips about the location.

Foursquare Tips for Business

1. Make sure you are listed on Foursquare.  The best way to do this is by joining the community, downloading the phone app and adding a venue from there (read this post from Dave Tailor for more detail on how to do so).

2. Consider offering incentives for those who visit frequently and sign up with Foursquare to promote these.  Every time someone signs in to your location, their followers see this, so the more Foursquare visitors you have the better – its like free advertising!

3. Monitor Foursquare to see who is visiting and especially to track tips.  Foursquare users can provide tips about your location and since this is user driven you may want to reward positive tips and be prepared to go to bat if someone posts something negative.  Most of the tips I have seen to date are positive.

My Perspective

I have been playing around with Foursquare for a few months and it is fun but so far I haven’t been rewarded for my patronage – here’s hoping this post changes that!

Frustrated at the longer anticipated wait for sushi the other week, I posted this warning others to factor in time but there has been no response to that either.

Since Out-Smarts is virtual and not location based, we’re not on there but we do encourage all businesses to be aware of what Foursquare is, to make sure they are listed and to keep an eye on what is being said about their business.  If Foursquare does take off, as it is predicted to, then more and more of your clients will be using this tool to share their nights out, business meetings and fun.

A consortium of Vancouver social media trailblazers have been trying, since Beijing, to encourage the Olympic committee to embrace social media journalism but their open letters to VANOC have all but been ignored.  Not to be deterred, this group has gone about setting up and supporting media houses like True North Media house and Vancouver Access 2010: forums designed to bring together people who want to contribute and share content on and about the Olympics.

True North Media House is a media collaboration campaign to encourage social coverage of major events, highlight emerging media and provide a venue for discussing the increasing use of social media in society, particularly at events of global importance like the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver Canada.  Anyone can take part, you just need to get accredited.  Contributors include photographers, videographers, bloggers – there’s even a 5 year old self accredited reporter!

Vancouver Access 2010 is a collection of multi-media content; blog posts, pictures and videos covering the various winter/summer sports and cultural events during the past several games include Torino, Italy in 2006 and Beijing, China in 2008.  They are currently busy creating content for Vancouver 2010.

I talked with Kris Krug who is one of founders the of these projects.  He said that despite the lack of support from the Olympic committee, everyone else has welcomed their initiatives with open arms.  As a result social media houses have proliferated across the city.

So, these Olympics are indeed going to be different.  We will be able to follow and support the athletes on social media, we will, no doubt, all be tuned to our TV’s  as usual but this time we have another source of content and that will be live from the people on the ground here in Vancouver bringing their experiences and view points.

Related Articles:

The Olympics and Social Media

Social Media and the Vancouver Winter Olympics

According to a Wired Magazine blog post, there is some confusion among athletes as to whether or not they are actually allowed to post during the games.  Here’s an excerpt from the article:

But there is no Olympic rule that sets up a blackout period for athletes according to Bob Condron, the Director of Media Services for the United States Olympic Committee.

“Athletes are free to blog during the Games,” says Condron. “And Twitter is just a blog that’s written 140 characters at a time.”

There are some restrictions on what athletes can do online during the Olympics. According to the IOC Blogging Guidelines for the 2010 Games, athletes and other accredited people must keep their posts confined to their personal experiences.

Despite this confusion many athletes are using social media right now.  Lets look at which social media tools they are using, how they are using them as well as how you can find, follow and lend your support.

Twitter

Lots of athletes are using Twitter to share their Olympic experiences.  One of the best ways to find them is to follow Olympic lists like these ones.

Canadian Athletes on Twitter

US Olympic Athletes on Twitter

Olympic Winter Sports

True North Media House

Huffington Post Athletes List

Olympians

Athletes are using Twitter in different ways.  Some are simply sharing their experiences in getting to BC and settling in to their new diggs at this point.  Many are posting their experiences in their final practices leading up to their events and all are  building their fan base. By finding and following our athletes on Twitter we have the chance to share in their Olympic experiences first hand as well as to give them our support.

Many national teams have dedicated Twitter feeds too, to keep fans updated:

Team Canada

Team Great Britain

Facebook

Whilst Twitter gives athletes a quick and easy way to communicate with fans, many also have fan pages on Facebook to build awareness of their endeavors, to post video content and share their Olympic aspirations.  Canadian gold medal contender in figure skating, Patrick Chan’s page links to video clips, fan photos and updates about the skater.

One of the best ways to find and follow athletes on Facebook is through the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Page.  Theyrecently asked the question “Hey any Olympic athletes out there? What is your Facebook page?”, here is the response.  Another way is to find the national team pages and check out who they are fans of – athletes are usually listed.  Here are a few – to find the rest search Facebook for “Olympic Team”.

Canadian Olympic Team

US Olympic Team

Swiss Olympic Team

Australian Olympic Team

Blogs

How these athletes find time to train and blog is beyond me – I guess that is why they are Olympians and I am not!  Here are links to athletes using these forums too:

Dustin Cook – Official blog of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team Member

Speed skater – Denny Morrison.

Good Luck To All Athletes

Good luck to all athletes competing at the games – thanks for keeping us posted on social media.  Welcome to BC and enjoy your time here: may it be golden!

1. Use the privacy settings (in Facebook click on settings at the top right hand side of your screen then privacy) to make sure that your personal information such as date of birth, home address, email etc are not there for all the world to see – don’t want to encourage identity thieves or spammers do we?

2. Off the Wall – don’t use people’s wall to communicate personal information or communications. If it is longer than a couple of sentences take it to Facebook email.

3. Remember that the first thing recruiters do these days is to check out candidates on Facebook. If you intend on ever applying for another job you should be cogniscent of this. If you plan on getting your boobs out or boasting about your drinking prowess to the world give it some consideration first. Always do the granny test, be careful of what you post and again use the privacy settings accordingly.

4. Be authentic – upload a profile picture so that people can see that its really you – or what you look like after all these years, as the case may be.

5. Be selective about who you add. Don’t add every TD&H who invites you and remember what mother said about strangers! Seriously though, being selective about who you connect with gives you more control if safety is a concern.

6. Be respectful and don’t use profanities too much – you never know when someone’s kid is watching over there shoulder (take it from me – this happens a lot!).

7. Be true to who you are. Transeparency is key to effective social media participation. Don’t try to present yourself as something or someone you are not. Imagine how embarassing it will be when someone crawls out of the woodwork and points out the truth – to everyone.

8. My friend Marc at Amuse Consulting says if its not worth saying out loud, its not worth saying on line. This is a good mantra to bear in mind when considering your status updates.

9. Block Em – If someone is rude to you in comments or on your wall, you can block them. Again go to settings, privacy and scroll down to Block List to do so.

10. Applications – you should be aware that most of the games and applications on Facebook are from third party companies you know nothing about and are often set up for the simple purpose of collecting you marketing info. Once you add the application, they have access to your information. Be wary of which applications you add and again use the privacy settings to control this.

With only 11 days to go before the Vancouver Olympics begin, the excitement is building here and I thought this would be a good time to update on our last post about the Olympics and Social Media.

Since posting over a year ago, it would appear that the Olympic organisation has embraced social media somewhat and had some hick-ups on the way.

The Olympics on Twitter

In November VANOC was chastised for their poor response on Twitter when thousands were left waiting and eventually dissed because of a glitch in their ticket ordering system: rather than using Twitter as a customer service tool to let customers know exactly what was going on, their Tweets were ambiguous and erratic.

You can enjoy “timely Tweets from the VANOC communications team” at 2010 Tweets, where the organisation continues to push out information about itself with little interaction or true community building. The same can be said for their other feeds: @followthe flame, @code2010.

The Olympics on Facebook

They do rather better on Facebook, it has to be said. Both Vancouver 2010 and The Cultural Olympics are well represented there.

Again, fans cannot contribute to posts on the site but they can and do comment – most of them being positive.

The less publicised Canada Code page though is centred around community and collaboration. The Canada Code website encourages everyone to upload photos and text sharing their Olympic experiences. If you do, you could win a pair of those red mittens everyone is trying to get their hands on (or on their hands as the case may be!)  and if you are really lucky your content may be shared on public screens across Vancouver during the event. Now that is more like it VANOC! From their Facebook page:

The Olympics and Citizen Journalism

As for the Olympics embracing social media journalism, according to VANCOUVER ACCESS 2010, a collection of multi-media content; blog posts, pictures and videos covering the various winter/summer sports and cultural events, despite numerous attempts by prominent social media commentators VANOC seems to still be ignoring this vehicle:

“Over the past few years, as a group, we have spoken at various conferences and events about the impact of citizen journalism, social media and the internet on the various Olympics, IOC and “ANY”OC brands. We sent VANOC several letters over the past 18 months requesting to meet with them, and have a discussion about this change in culture… Without any replies.”

Seems a shame to ignore such valuable contributions.

Watch out for more on social media and the Olympics over the next month.