There’s a few of lessons to be learned here by any company intending to use blogging to further their marketing activities.

Be on the ball - always monitor the Internet and blogosphere for mentions of your company. Google alerts is a great way to do this. That way if someone has something to say, you are in a position to respond in a timely matter (unlike Tim Hortons which displayed “head firmly stuck in the sand” behaviour until the news of waywardly employees hit traditional media funnels). By doing so you have the opportunity to respond and state your side of the story in the public forum showing attention to customers service and proving integrity.

Be Ready - In the web 2.0 world any company and anything is fair game for commentary both positive and negative. You have to expect that not everything thats going to be said about you or your organisation is going to be positive and you must be ready to stand up and fight. The coffee shop in question did a great job (up to a point) by stating their policy (i.e. we don’t serve espresso over ice) and by substantiating that (because it ruins the taste of the coffee).

Be respectful - alas neither the blogger nor the coffee shop were as respectful as they could have been, using profanity and threats to slag each other off in a public forum. Not good - especially for the coffee shop (I would think twice about going there - I like great coffee but don’t need the abuse) but then I may just try it out out of interest… Which leads me to:

Its Great Publicity - when story like this hits, it provides great publicity, drives awareness to new audiences and creates a huge spike in traffic to your site and to your business itself. Be ready for it and the ensuing downtown as the wave moves on to the next news of the minute. If you feel like you’re in the eye of the storm, don’t worry - it will soon pass.

Take Advantage - build on the new contacts made through comments, blog mentions and forum comments to develop more links to your site and thus create a long term, quanitifable benefit. By following up and establishing rapport with those who comment on your site or post a blog on the issue you will serve to increase traffic to your site.

I wonder what the next great debacle to play out on the Internet will be.

1. Avoid posting nude or inapropriate photos or vids of you or others.

2. Check your profiles regularly to make sure others haven’t posted inappropriate images or other material. If they have then delete them.

3. Avoid profanity, swearing and rudeness. Its not professional.

4. Don’t tell lies or fabricate information or you’ll likely get caught out. There’s always someone out there who knows you and who could call you on it.

5. Ignore privacy controls - every social network has privacy settings, use them accordingly to manage who sees what.

6. Plagiarise - don’t do it, be original - it will be much more interesting for your audience.

7. Don’t be overly narcissistic. Who cares what colour your socks are or what you had for breakfast?

8. Don’t try to participate in every forum - you won’t get anything else done for social networking. Focus on those which offer the most benefit.

9. Don’t spam people. On Twitter I immediately delete anyone who tries to direct sell to me - thats not what the social network is for.

10. Don’t inundate people with unwanted guff: Facebook apps are the worst. I don’t add anything to my Facebook profile that takes me away from the site or worse, spams me.

1. Don’t try to network in every Internet networking hub out there. Choose those where you get the biggest impact (i.e. those that your existing contacts already use, those that reflect your target audience, or those most applicable to your niche). The most popular are LinkedIn (Professional Network), Facebook (fastest growing), MySpace but there are many networks that are industry or job specific too so take time to check them out.

2. Leverage existing on-line networks to grow new ones. I recently used my MySpace profile to promote my Twitter account and add more contacts in that forum

3. Promote your activity in your chosen forums by including it in business cards, profiles and on your website.

4. Use widgets. Most of the social networks allow you to widgetize a link to your profile. Add this to your site, blog etc and include widgets for other networks in your networking profiles.

5. Always remember to be professional in these forums - ask the Granny question and make sure your content is appropriate to your professional standing.

6. When you meet new contacts in the real world find then on-line and add them to your networks.

7. Trawl the friends of your friends and contacts and add those you know or those gurus in your business.

8. Don’t spread yourself over to many networks or allow them to suck up your time. Schedule it into your day.

9. Join groups. Facebook and LinkedIn both offer groups. Join applicable ones and gain access to more people in your field.

10. Participate in the right forums.

11. Ask questions and use your status to attract news contacts.

A blog and a newsletter are two distinct tools with different attributes, each suited to a different audience and useful for building awareness in distinct forums.

A newsletter is best used to keep in touch with those you’re already have an established relationship with such as clients, prospects, partners and so on. Its a great way to keep your company fresh in their mindset and remind them of what you do.

A blog on the other hand is better for getting the word out to an untapped audience. Blogging allows you to introduce your core services or products to a wider audience whilst reaching your customer and contacts if they so choose. A blog has the added bonus of building links and increasing traffic.

There’s another key difference between the two and that is that one is push the other pull. A newsletter pushes out your announcements and news to the audience whether they like it or not (which is why its best for existing relationships otherwise it risks being spammy). A blog on the other hand is a source of information that people choose to go to to read or subscribe. Its less intrusive and has more buy in (and therefore is more likely to be read).

If you are asking this question because of limited funds and have to make a choice, first consider where you’ll get the most bang for your buck. Existing customers are far easier to build business with (assuming you did a good job first time round) than folks you don’t know so if you have a lot of those go the newsletter way. But if you are starting from scratch trying to grow a new business and establish your website a blog is the way to go.

Getting up and running with a blog is relatively simple: it doesn’t need to cost that much and anyone can do it (given a little time and effort). With blogging software and a server you can be off to the races in no time at all but before you start, consider what your goals are and what you are trying to achieve in order to be effective.

1. Get good equipment - make sure its all compatible and easy to use. You’ll need podcast editing software, a recording device and a place to post.
2. Record in a quiet place - there’s nothing like a baby crying in the background to put your audience off.
3. Be prepared - a podcast should be natural and in the moment but it doesn’t harm to be prepared upfront with a list of topics to discuss.
4. Streamline the process as much as possible - avoids having to have too much time editing and manipulating.
5. Keep it short - that way you avoid having a colossal file to upload to your server.
6. Promote your Pod in all the right places. Do it separately from your blog or site to build links and remember to submit it to iTunes.
7. Interview industry experts and vary the topic but try to keep within your chosen theme.
8. Don’t get cocky. Don’t assume everything is going to go right just because it did last time. Be prepared for curved balls. Do a sound check to make sure your equipment is recording and the sound is good.

1. Add a blog to your site - you can start blogging today using WordPress or Typepad.  Blog to establish your expertise and increase traffic.  Be sure to include a comments section for readers to give feedback.

2. Use a photo site like Flickr  to show case your talents - especially if your focus is visual arts.  Link these back to your web site and include in other forums - the more people who see your work the more interest you will get.

3. Add a Skype link so that people can contact you by phone and over the Internet making it easier for them to do business with you. 

4. Use widgets to get your audience interacting.  Participation increases return visits and makes your site more sticky.  Examples include easy to use poll widgets (PollDaddy) and traffic counters (Alexa).

5. Use video clips to enhance customer service and post them via YouTube to reach more people.

6. Consider Podcasting your expertise but read our New Experiences in Podcasting blog posts first to learn from our mistakes.

7. Use wiki technology like PBWiki to facilitate collaboration both within and out with the organisation.

8. Sign up and start using a professional or social network like LinkedIn or Naymz but choose wisely by considering where your prospects are most likely to hang out on-line.

9. Consider using a book marking site like Ma.gnolia to share your web discoveries and favorites, to further establish your niche and to network with like minded counterparts.  

10. Provide links to all of the above on your site to make your company even more accessible in these forums.

Techvibes

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My Name is Kate

Get Elastic

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Canadian Marketing Blog

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Miss604

Blog Explosion - blasts to numerous blogs at once: a great way to get your blog heard.

I’ve been looking for a contractor for a while now and I think my search is over thanks to MyTradefinder a web 2.0 site that refers and classifies contractors.

I found the last 2 thanks to Fiona at FMWalsh:  Salesconx is an online place to buy and sell decision maker introductions. Interesting concept but whether it will be effective remains to be seen.  BillingBoss is another online billing system for me to try out in my never ending search for the perfect package.

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