Blog Marketing Guide

Marketing How-To Guide
Your Template for Creative Blog Marketing

CONTENTS

Introduction 3
Sources of Information 4
Special Thanks and Appreciation 5

What is a Blog? 6
What is the Blogosphere? 7
Getting Started 8

Should Your Company Consider Blogging? 10
What This Means to Marketing 11
Eight Reasons to Consider Blogging 13
Still Not Convinced Blogging Will Help Your Marketing Effort? 25

Who Should Blog, and What Should They Say? 27
Consider Your Strategic Direction 27
Five Important Things to Consider Before Starting to Blog 27
Five Characteristics of a Good Blogger 40

How do I Monitor the Blogosphere? 43

You Don’t Need a Blog to Get Value From Blogging 46
Bad Things Can Happen if You Don’t Monitor the Blogosphere
Just ask Kryptonite Locks 47
Good Things Can Happen if You Monitor the Blogosphere
Just ask IUpload 49

How Do I Promote My Blog? 50

What Does a Blog Look Like? 52

About the Author 60

About MarketingProfs 61

Appendix 62

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©2008 MarketingProfs LLC • All rights reserved.


INTRODUCTION

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard the words “blog” and
“blogging.” Blogs have been mentioned in publications as diverse as People
and The Economist. Since entering the mainstream five years ago, blogs
have become something of a cultural phenomenon.

In January 2005, Fortune listed blogs in its “10 Tech Trends to Watch” and
Harvard Business Review named blogs as one of the “Breakthrough Ideas
for 2005.” The May 2, 2005, cover story of Business Week was “Blogs Will
Change Your Business.” Time magazine named “You” as its Person of the
Year for 2006, giving a nod to the growing influence and popularity of blogs
and other forms of social media.

Businesses listened. Many companies have added blogs to their marketing
arsenals. Should you?

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Introduction … continued

This guide will help you delve beneath the hype and discover what blogging
can do for your company’s marketing efforts. It will demonstrate that
blogging is a tool you can add to your marketing arsenal rather than a
cure-all to fix all your marketing challenges.

Our goal is to demystify blogging and help you determine where the tool
might be appropriate.

Sources of Information

This guide would not have been possible without
the collective intelligence of the many people who
authored articles for our Web site, participated in
our online seminars, and wrote thought-provoking
books on the topic.

A complete list of reference materials appears
in the Appendix at the end of the guide.

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Introduction … continued

Special Thanks and Appreciation

We offer special thanks to the participants of MarketingProfs’ Thought
Leaders Summit, “Blogging for Marketing”:

Stephan Spencer, founder and president of Netconcepts

Toby Bloomberg, president of Bloomberg Marketing

Seth Godin, best-selling author, speaker, and founder
of Squidoo.com

Shel Israel, cofounder of Conferenza

B.L. Ochman, head of the creative team at whatsnextonline.com

Steve Rubel, formerly with CooperKatz & Co., now
with Me2Revolution (a division of Edelman)

Robert Scoble, formerly with Microsoft, now VP of
Media Development at PodTech.net

Doc Searls, highly respected technology writer, published
author, and blogger

Debbie Weil, an online marketing and corporate blogging
consultant; her web site is debbieweil.com

In addition, we thank Jeremy Wright whose seminar, “Truth of Blog
Marketing: Reaching Customer, Building Your Brand,” brought us up to date
with current thinking.

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WHAT IS A BLOG?

The word blog is short for Web log. Once considered online diaries, blogs
have morphed into an assembly of a person’s thoughts, opinions and ideas.
The focus can range from a single subject to daily musings. They often
include facts and references in addition to personal opinions.

The most recent entry (called a post) is listed at the top of the blog with
previous posts listed below or archived. Most blogs allow readers to comment
on individual posts. The conversations that ensue from these comments are
the power behind blogs.

Since blogs are updated frequently, people who are interested in the subject
matter or the author’s opinions return regularly. This distinguishes blogs
from traditional Web sites, which are fairly static, giving people little reason
to return once they have found the information they need.

The power of blogs is far greater than the number of people who read an
individual post. Since bloggers often link to other blogs, what is said about
your company or its products could potentially be read by an incredibly large
audience. Much like buzz or word-of-mouth marketing, blogging has the
potential to reach an audience you could never reach with traditional
marketing vehicles.

Technorati, the first search engine designed specifically for blogs, currently
tracks more than 112 million blogs.

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What is a Blog? … continued

What Is the Blogosphere?

The world of blogs is called the blogosphere. To locate a blog on a
specific topic, go to a blogging search engine such as Technorati
(www.technorati.com). You can then enter a company’s name, the name
of one of its specific products, a company URL, or a person’s name to
see what is being said about the company, product or person and who
is saying it.

When we entered “MarketingProfs,” we discovered the company was
mentioned in 1,398 blog posts.

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Getting Started

The beauty of blogging is that it doesn’t require knowledge of programming
or HTML. Of course, those talents might come in handy, but there is software
specifically designed to allow the complete novice to blog. Most packages
offer templates, and some allow you to customize.

Blogging software falls into two categories:

1. Hosted solutions, which remain on the service provider’s server

2. Independent solutions, where the software is loaded on to
your Web server

Here are five blogging software packages:

Blogger (www.blogger.com/start)

TypePad (www.typepad.com)

Blogware (http://home.blogware.com)

WordPress (http://wordpress.org)

Movable Type (www.movabletype.com)

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For a detailed comparison of these, check The Annenberg Center for
Communication at USC (www.ojr.org/ojr/images/blog_software_comparison.cfm).

There is no right answer as to which software solution is best. You may
want to begin with a relatively simple hosted solution and gradually move
to an independent solution as your comfort level increases. Blogger is
currently the most popular blogging platform, and its services are free.
But that doesn’t necessarily make it the best option, as many bloggers
switch to another service as they become more comfortable with blogging.
You should explore each
option and research
what other users have
to say about their
experiences.

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SHOULD YOUR COMPANY CONSIDER BLOGGING?

In the introduction to his book Blog Marketing, Jeremy Wright states, “Blogs
are not only here to stay, but they will have an effect on your business.” This
opinion was seconded at the MarketingProfs Thought Leaders Summit,
“Blogging for Marketing,” where Stephan Spencer
claimed, “The early birds—those companies that
got a head start—are likely to achieve celebrity
status, generate buzz, and garner attention in
mainstream media.”

There are well over 100 million blogs in the world.
With so many conversations taking place, the
reality is that some of these conversations
probably include discussions about your company,
your products or services, and issues that are
important in your industry. Your customers are
talking among themselves. Wouldn’t you like to
eavesdrop on these conversations? Blogging
allows you to do just that.

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Should Your Company Consider Blogging? … continued

What This Means to Marketing

Blogging provides a mechanism for an organization to communicate directly
with its customers. It can be used to extend your brand and get feedback on
both your company and its products. It can be far more effective than focus
groups for gathering opinions about products, since it can provide feedback
throughout the life cycle of a product.

Once upon a time, marketing was primarily one-way communication from
companies to customers. Marketing messages were broadcast via print,
radio, television, billboards, public relations and direct marketing channels.
The goal was to reach customers through one or more of these vehicles.

The Internet has radically changed the marketing experience by removing
geography as a limiting factor. The Internet has increased the number of
potential customers a company can reach through its marketing efforts.
Potential customers can search for just about anything on the Internet.

Blogging takes marketing advances one step further by transforming
marketing into a two-way conversation. Blogging allows organizations to
initiate conversations with their audience. Blogging conversations can also
occur between customers and potential customers and your competition and
existing or potential customers. A wonderful byproduct of this conversation
between your company and its customers via your blog is that you and your
customers begin to better understand one another. Gaining a better
understanding of your customers allows you to more effectively and
efficiently market to them. This, of course, lowers your marketing costs!

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As Doc Searls pointed out in the MarketingProfs Thought Leaders Summit,
“Markets are conversations, and conversation is fire. And you only need one
match to start a fire. That’s a lot of what blogging is about. It’s not putting
out fires; it’s, in fact, starting fires. But fires in the positive sense—fires in
the sense of an idea that can spread quickly.”

This opinion was seconded by Stephan Spencer. “There’s a great example in
the Fortune article [January 10, 2005, “Why There’s No Escaping the Blog”]
about the solar-powered backpack that the guy sent through to the
TreeHugger blog, who blogged about it, which was then
picked up by another blogger. And, the next thing you knew,
it’s being talked about in Gizmondo and sales shot through
the roof.”

B.L. Ochman believes marketers should be interested in
blogging because of the demographics of blog readers.
“A recent survey taken by Blogads showed that blog
users tend to be young; they’re affluent, white, male
and broadband-connected. Those are really good people
to reach with marketing messages.”
(MarketingProfs Seminar: “What Every Marketer
Needs to Know Now”)

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Eight Reasons to Consider Blogging

There are as many reasons for an organization to consider blogging as there
are organizations. However, most of the reasons will fit into one of the
following eight categories. Quite often a blog may combine several of these
elements, as you will see in the examples provided.

1. Be viewed as an expert.

Many companies actively participate in thought-leadership activities such
as writing for industry newsletters, participating in or hosting professional
conferences, and producing white papers on subjects of interest in their
respective industries. Blogging provides another vehicle your organization
can use to position itself as a thought leader.

At the MarketingProfs Thought Leaders Summit, Stephan Spencer
suggested, “Saying nice things about your competitors (and providing links
to them) will place you as an authority above those companies because
they may not be prepared to take the risk to link out themselves.” Your
organization does not exist in a vacuum. If you point to a competitor’s
success, you demonstrate to your customers that you are aware of what is
happening elsewhere and are willing to admit when another organization
does something well.

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Wells Fargo (http://blog.wellsfargo.com/StudentLoanDown) started a new
blog in September 2006 to provide information on student loans. As the first
financial institution to tackle this subject, it has positioned itself to be a
thought leader on the topic.

Google (http://googleblog.blogspot.com) provides insights into product and
technology news, albeit mostly its own products and technology.

Starwood Hotels (www.thelobby.com) reports on worldwide travel to help
keep Starwood Preferred Guests on top of the latest trends. It has assembled
a team of travel writers to contribute to its blog.

ING (www.ingblogs.com/mycupofcha) covers general, marketing, branding,
e-business, and strategy and organization for the Asia-Pacific region.

Cox Communications (www.digitalstraighttalk.com) provides an inside
guide to news, views and issues in broadband communications and the
rapidly changing digital world.

General Mills (www.realbakingwithrose.com) shares its baking
knowledge and expertise.

Skype (http://skypejournal.com) writes about the next generation of
conversation tools, starting with Skype.

Texas Instruments (http://blogs.ti.com) offers technical support and
information about its products.

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2. Develop better customer relationships.

The nature of customers keeps changing and becoming more distant. We
have evolved into a one-size-fits-all society where products are designed
to meet the needs of a broad spectrum of customers rather than each
customer individually. Whereas customers once dealt directly with a
product’s maker, today they make their purchases at “big box” stores
or using another medium that does not afford them the opportunity to
discuss their personal needs or wants with the designer. The customer
may choose the color of the product, as long as it fits within the colors
available. Unless the customer is purchasing from a custom tailor, the
customer has no say in the design of what he or she buys.

Since customers can no longer influence the products and services they
purchase, many think that organizations are not interested in what they
want. Blogging can change this perception because it provides a channel
for and fosters communication. It allows you to “reach out and touch”
your customers in a way that other mediums do not afford.

Microsoft is an example of a company that has successfully used blogs
in this manner. Product developers look at blog feedback prior to making
significant changes to applications. In fact, many of Microsoft’s product
developers have daily contact with customers via blogs.

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General Motors is another company that has used blogs to improve its
customer relationships. Its FastLane blog (http://fastlane.gmblogs.com)
creates a vehicle for customers to discuss what is important to them.

A third company that uses blogs to foster customer relationships is Wells
Fargo (http://blog.wellsfargo.com). Its first foray into blogging, Guided by
History, puts events and responses to natural disasters into a context that
helps readers prepare for the future. By historically analyzing natural
disasters, Wells Fargo demonstrates its long history in California as well
as its sincere desire to provide assistance to its customers.

Dell recently announced that since the inception of its blog Direct2Dell
(www.direct2dell.com), negative blog postings about the company have
fallen from 49% to 22%. This means that before the company started
blogging, half of all blog posts about
Dell were negative. Now, because
of the communication and community
that the company has created
with its customers, less than one-fourth
of blog posts about the company
are negative.

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Intuit QuickBooks (http://quickbooks.blogs.com) has restarted its blogging
efforts by providing information about QuickBooks, stories about the
customers who use it and tips from the people who work on it every day.

Clip-n-Seal (www.clip-n-seal.com/blog.htm) offers product and company
news for its product that makes it easy to close and reseal bags.

Their informal nature makes blogs an extremely effective communication
tool. They are generally free of corporate doublespeak and are written
by individuals who are passionate about the subject matter. By listening
to customers and engaging them, not only is customer satisfaction
increased, but customers can be transformed into company champions
or evangelists.
Once these readers
become evangelists
for your company
and your blog, they
will do their best to
promote both when
they encounter other
people both online
and offline.

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3. Attract new customers.

“You may not have millions, or even thousands, of customers, but in the
world of blogging, everyone has an equal voice. No matter how big or
small your business, or how many people are interested in your products,
blogging provides a unique opportunity for you to talk to your potential
customers—at least those who happen to be online and reading—and for
them to talk to you.” (Blog Marketing, page 25)

“When you give customers the power to embrace your brand, they will
take your brand’s message with them wherever they go, telling others
about their experiences with your company and thereby extending your
brand in a positive way that would not have otherwise been possible.”
(Blog Marketing, page 27)

Viacom (http://realworldroadrules.blogspot.com) provides information
about reality-TV shows.

Consider also how customers are now using the Internet to research
companies and products they buy. If you run a well-maintained blog that
focuses on your products and industry, you will likely rank very well in
search results for your product and industry. (We mention how this
happens in more detail in reason 7.) This means that people who are
searching for information about your industry might come across your
blog, where they otherwise might never have heard of you.

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4. Make your company more “human” to your customers.

“We live in a time when most people don’t trust big companies. Headlines
gush with tales of malfeasance, abuse and old-fashioned plunder, but
that’s just part of it. There is a general perception that large companies
are run by slick lawyers and book-fixing accountants who oversee armies
of obedient, drone-like employees.” (Naked Conversations, page 9)

At a time when everything seems to move at breakneck speed and
customers often feel like a number, imagine the impact you could make if
your organization were viewed as more communicative, more transparent
and more open. Customers want to feel connected, and a blog can help
establish that connection with your organization.

“Blogs are a great way to build trust, because they allow you—a real
person, and not some corporate marketing brochure—to communicate
with your customers, users, and community more regularly than any other
medium allows.” (Blog Marketing, page 28)

This sentiment was echoed by Shel Israel at the MarketingProfs Thought
Leaders Summit when he called blogs conversational marketing. "It’s
getting closer to your customers by showing them the real people doing
real jobs inside a company and listening closely to what company or other
customers and constituencies are thinking about you.”

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When Dell introduced its blog (www.direct2dell.com/default.aspx), it included
videos “inside” Dell with posts from regular employees. This is similar to
the approach Robert Scoble took when interviewing product designers for
Microsoft. By showing real employees doing their jobs, both computer
giants were able to demonstrate that their companies comprised people
just like their customers.

McDonald’s (http://csr.blogs.mcdonalds.com/default.asp) demonstrates
corporate social responsibility through the eyes of Vice President Bob
Langert and the others at McDonald’s who work on corporate responsibility
issues that matter. Get personal perspectives on the issues, meet the
people behind the programs, and hear open assessments of the challenges
they face.

Southwest Airlines (www.blogsouthwest.com) provides information about
its employees, customers, airplanes and airports.

Wal-Mart (http://walmartfacts.com/lifeatwalmart) provides insights about
the company from the employees’ perspective.

Kodak’s blog, (http://1000words.kodak.com) A Thousand Words, is home to
stories from Kodak employees who love what they do and want to share
their enthusiasm with others.

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5. Provide a forum to test new product ideas.

When planning a new product, blogging provides an excellent tool to
gather firsthand knowledge from potential users. Microsoft is a classic
example of a company that uses blogs to drive product development.
Developers and product managers use blogs to learn how customers
respond to their products and what enhancements they would like to see
in future versions.

Once the product is launched, bloggers will enumerate the faults of your
product. Blogging allows you to collaborate with users before a product is
launched so that you can avoid negative press in the blogosphere.

At the MarketingProfs Thought Leaders Summit, Robert Scoble, blogger
extraordinaire, stated, “Here at Microsoft, I think there was actually a
principle involved at the executive level where they wanted better
customer relationships. They wanted better quality, and they knew that
the product quality would go up if there was a tighter conversation.”

Boeing (http://boeingblogs.com/randy) expands the conversations between
Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for Boeing Commercial
Airplanes in Seattle, and consumers about Boeing and its place in
commercial aviation.

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6. Know what is being said about your company.

Whether you’re listening or not, people are talking about your organization
and your products. In the days before blogs, such conversations were
simply word of mouth. Blogging has geometrically
increased the number of people a customer can “tell”
about their positive and negative experiences. Think of
the blog as the old Wella Balsam commercial where “I
told two friends and they told two friends and so on and
so on and so on. … ”

Monitoring the blogosphere provides an organization
with valuable information about what its customers,
industry experts and even its competitors are saying
about the organization and its products or services.

At the MarketingProfs Thought Leaders Summit, Robert
Scoble claimed, “If you are a corporation and you are
not listening to the blogosphere now, you are going to
get in trouble because people are talking about you
anyway.” This sentiment was echoed by B.L. Ochman: “I don’t think every
company should blog, but I definitely do agree that every company better
be paying attention to what’s being said about them in blogs. It’s a very
reactive space, and you can put out fires just by responding.”

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7. Improve the ranking of your company’s Web site
with search engines.

Search engines constantly monitor the World Wide Web for changes to
determine how to rank Web sites. Blog posts, as well as comments to
blog posts, are picked up by search engine spiders as new information
and thereby can increase the ranking of your organization’s Web site.
Inbound links can also improve your ranking in search engines.

How do you get inbound links? At the MarketingProfs Thought Leaders
Summit, Robert Scoble explained, “Well, you have to change your page
often. … I’m not going to link to something that’s static and hasn’t
changed since 1998. I’m going to link to something that gets updated
often … with new information, with interesting information.” Therefore,
bloggers are more likely to link to blogs within a Web site than to the
same Web site without a blog.

Another consideration is that since blogs rank much better with search
engines, you have a big advantage over competitors that are not blogging.
If you blog about hygiene products for the restaurant industry, and your
competitors don’t have a blog, your thoughts and writings on the industry
in your blog will do much better in search engine results. This will greatly
help establish your company as an expert in this area, as opposed to your
competitors that have only a Web site that they never update. Search
engines favor sites that update frequently, which is why active blogs have
an inherent advantage over static Web sites.

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8. Provide company announcements in a new medium.

As blogs grow in number and popularity, news is often reported in blogs
before it is reported in mainstream media. In fact, for smaller companies for
which traditional media may not be willing to devote space, blogs offer a
unique place to make announcements that would not be available elsewhere.

“Posts in your blog can often lead to coverage in mainstream and traditional
media,” claims B.L. Ochman. She states that “reporters read blogs … that’s
where reporters are getting a lot of their information and leads these days.
You have more access to reporters
through blogs than you do through
traditional means, simply because
reporters are blogging.”
(MarketingProfs Seminar:
“What Every Marketer Needs
to Know Now”)

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Still Not Convinced Blogging Will Help Your Marketing Efforts?

The story of Thomas Mahon’s rise to fame as a Savile Row tailor is the stuff
of which legends are made. One of the youngest Savile Row tailors, Mahon
set out to develop his clientele—people who are willing and able to spend
more than $5,000 for a custom-tailored suit.

A former advertising executive turned cartoonist and blogger, Hugh McLeod
explained the benefits of blogging to Mahon, and they formed a partnership.
McLeod helped Mahon set up a blog and directed traffic to Mahon’s blog from
his own blog.

Realizing that people would not want to buy his suits over the Internet,
Mahon used his blog to demonstrate his knowledge and passion for the craft.
He explained the cost of a Savile Row suit in terms of quality, hand-tailoring
and individual attention.

His blog (www.englishcut.com) generated a great deal of interest, thus
boosting his reputation and, concurrently, his sales. Within 10 weeks of
launching his blog, sales of his suits rose 300%, and he widened his clientele
from London to the world.

Although a wonderful tale, Mahon’s success is not easily replicated. It was
an aberration, but an aberration that demonstrates the marketing potential
of blogs.

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For the vast majority of companies, blogs may enhance existing marketing
efforts over the long term. They are not a silver bullet that will magically
improve market share or sales figures. Instead, coupled with other marketing
efforts, they can enhance your brand, bring you closer to your customer and
improve your organization’s public image.

Business blogging has not yet reached its “tipping point.” Many organizations
are not convinced that blogs offer an effective ROI. One reason may be the
difficulty of calculating the ROI for blogging. In traditional marketing,
companies measure ROI by seeing how many products they sell after an ad
campaign launches. How do you measure mind share that can result from a
blog? You can’t, which may make companies leery of pursuing blogging. You
could measure the traffic a blog receives, but traffic does not necessarily
equal increased sales.

Since the beginning of 2006, the number of Fortune 500 companies that blog
has increased by 50%. Granted, the number that has blogs is only around
40, but the trend is definitely moving upward. In fact, the subject of Fortune
500 companies and blogs is so hot that it has its own Wiki
(www.socialtext.net/bizblogs/index.cgi).

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WHO SHOULD BLOG AND WHAT SHOULD THEY SAY?

Consider Your Strategic Direction

Before starting a company blog, pause, take a deep breath and consider
what it is that you want to achieve. For example, a blog written by a subject-
matter expert may reinforce your company as a thought leader, while one
written by a technical-support expert might prevent a customer from
contacting the company with a technical-support issue.

How do you determine the focus of your blog? Decide what issue it is that
you want to engage in a conversation with your customers about and then
decide how to go about it.

Five Important Things to Consider
Before Starting to Blog

There are five important things to consider
carefully before starting to blog:

1. Type of blog

2. Whether you will allow comments

3. How you will handle feedback

4. Selecting a blogger

5. Pitfalls to avoid

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Who Should Blog, and What Should They Say? … continued

1. Type of Blog

Blogs come in all shapes and sizes; however, they generally fall into one
of the following categories:

CEO blog. Despite its name, the CEO blog can be authored by any
senior-level executive. By virtue of his or her position, the author is
considered a thought leader who can provide an unfiltered view of the
company. When done well, a CEO blog can build rapport and trust, and
tell customers what is happening within the company.

“An open and honest public blog, written by an authoritative voice from
within your company, allows your business to create a different type of
experience between you and your customers: it allows you to create
legitimate conversations that simply weren’t possible before online
blogging.” (Blog Marketing, page 4)

General Motors’ FastLane Blog (http://fastlane.gmblogs.com) is a
wonderful example of the CEO blog. GM uses this blog to announce new
products, provide information for car enthusiasts and offer a channel
where customers can communicate with company executives.

CEO blogs can foster communication with existing and potential customers
if the author is able to write in a welcoming manner. Readers will be
turned off if the author preaches or sermonizes to them. Likewise, they
will probably not return if the blog is rife with corporate-speak.

Most CEO blogs fall into the category of thought leadership.

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Who Should Blog, and What Should They Say? ... continued

One of the reasons blogs have caught the interest of so many people is
that they are fun to read. The author is generally passionate about the
topic as well as an expert.

Aggregate blog. Aggregate blogs are authored by several people. By
using different voices and perspectives, they can position a company as a
thought leader. General Motors’ FastLane Blog has become an aggregate
blog, where different senior-level executives speak about their area of
expertise within the company.

This type of blog is increasing in popularity. By allowing several voices to
represent the company, it removes the burden of frequent posting from
one person. It also allows the company to develop conversations on a
broader range of subjects than might be possible if a single person
authored the blog.

Aggregate blogs can also be used to gather information from the media
and other blogs and to engage several different voices to create a
message. MarketingProfs’ Daily Fix (www.mpdailyfix.com) is a classic
example of gathering thought leaders from various companies to
communicate their marketing perspective.

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Staff blog. Staff blogs allow companies to show their human side by
letting employees speak honestly about their daily challenges and
successes. Staff blogs empower employees to communicate directly with
customers. According to Jeremy Wright, “Good staff blogs can influence
your industry, improve your customers’ experiences, and empower your
staff to help people.” (Blog Marketing, page 118)

Specialist blog. Much like the CEO blog, specialist blogs, which include
marketing blogs, tend to provide a bigger picture than is typically found
in staff blogs. Specialist blogs provide a venue for a company to develop
conversations with customers about specific subjects. They create a
space where customers can discuss what is important to them.

“Your blog needs to communicate more than
just a standard marketing message. It needs to
communicate something authentic, passionate,
and authoritative—the exact types of things that
come through if you are talking face-to-face with
a customer.” (Blog Marketing, page 58)

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Customer evangelist blog. These are blogs written by your
customers about your products. A classic example includes Starbucks
(http://starbucksgossip.typepad.com). Many such blogs are driven by
the consumer rather than the company they support. If your company
discovers that some of your evangelists are blogging, you should do
everything you can to reach out to these special customers, including
linking to their blog, and reading them and regularly commenting on
their blogs. These customers are making your life much
easier, as they are promoting you to others. And like it
or not, the word of a friend or even a third party about
a company will almost always be more influential than
information that comes directly from the company,
which is automatically viewed as advertising.

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2. Whether You Will Allow Comments

“Comments create communities and trust and spread knowledge even
more feely than blog posts,” claims Jeremy Wright in Blog Marketing. Not
everyone agrees with Wright. In fact, Dave Winer, often called the father
of blogging, does not believe in comments. While that might work for him,
if you want to reach out to your customers, you will probably want to allow
them to leave comments on your blog. After all, if you don’t, they will
leave their comments elsewhere. And it is highly likely that not allowing
comments on your blog will lead to visitors writing negative posts and
comments about this on other blogs.

If your goal is to establish a dialogue with your customers, and it definitely
should be, you will probably want to include comments.

In an ideal world, your customers would never have anything negative
to say about your company or its products. The reality, however, is quite
different. Before starting a blog, it is important to decide how you will
handle comments.

Due to the increasing rise of spambots, many blogs require commenters
to type an illustrated word before submitting a comment. This prevents
comment spam.

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Will comments be moderated?

If comments are moderated, that means that they are reviewed before
they are posted to the blog. If you choose this route, you will need a
process (and a person or persons) to review the comments in a timely
manner. What does this mean? To the person who has a problem or a
concern, 24 hours may be too long to wait for a response.

This leads to the question of how you will handle weekend coverage.
Someone who has left a comment and does not see a response promptly
will think that your company is not committed to having an open dialogue.
It’s guaranteed that this person will let others in the blogosphere know
this. Most people will wait no more than two hours to see a post before
being turned off. For some, the time frame will be even less.

Many companies such as General Motors monitor blogs for obscenities and
sexist or racist comments only. This can be done relatively quickly, and
the comment is then added to the blog.

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3. How You Will Handle Feedback

Respond to both positive and negative feedback.

Although tempting, to make the most out of positive feedback, it is
important to do more than say “Thank you.” This is an opportunity to turn
a happy customer into an evangelist for your company, product or brand.
This customer is already on your side and can tell his or her friends and
colleagues with just a little help on your part. Responding to the comment
helps foster a positive customer experience and further solidify the
customer relationship.

Negative comments should always be addressed. Someone who is
unhappy about the way he or she has been treated by your company is
more likely to tell his or her friends and colleagues about the experience.
This is your opportunity to change the person’s attitude by building on the
relationship. The fact that the person has taken the time to write a
negative comment means that he or she wants a dialogue. This person
wants to feel that his or her position has been heard and validated.

Negative comments should be handled very quickly. If getting all the
details will take time, make sure to post something within 24 hours so that
the person knows that someone at the company is taking his or her
complaint seriously. If handled promptly and correctly, a negative
comment can turn into a positive endorsement if the commenter feels that
you are taking the complaint seriously and making an honest attempt to
solve the problem. This can also make a positive impression on other
readers as well.

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Decide if you want rules for comments. For example, many companies
frown on the use of obscene language and do not allow such language in
comments. If this is a guideline, be certain that it is prominently displayed,
rather than hidden in FAQs.

Don’t forget that your company and its products are being discussed on
other blogs as well as your own. Monitor the blogosphere, and respond to
those comments as well. Linking to the response on your own blog can
greatly enhance communication. Plus, it is a visible sign to those who read
the blog that your company takes all comments seriously.

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Three Rules for Responding to Comments

I. Respond quickly.

How quickly? Immediately would be wonderful, although it is also
unrealistic. A good rule of thumb is the sooner the better. Think of a
person who has posted a comment on your blog as a customer who has
telephoned customer service with a problem. What type of turnaround
would you offer? Do the same in your blog.

II. Be human.

Customers want to think that your company comprises real people, not
automatons. This is not the time to respond with corporate-speak.
Avoiding jargon can go a long way to defusing customer dissatisfaction.

You may discover that similar questions appear frequently. In that case,
Jeremy Wright recommends posting a well-crafted response in your blog
and pointing the person to that post. This can be far more successful than
cutting and pasting a response.

III. Follow up to ensure resolution.

Even with all the will in the world, things do fall through the cracks.
By following up on problems, you enhance the customer relationship.

If there is a problem, own up to it. It’s never easy to admit when
we’re wrong, but if a company does this, it will grow in the eyes of
its customers.

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4. Selecting a Blogger

The first decision to make is whether you want one voice representing
your company or several. This may depend on the type of blog you have
or the number of people who are willing to devote the time and energy
into creating blog posts on a regular basis.

Some companies hire professional bloggers to write for them. Although not
recommended by most experts, if there is no one on your staff who can
assume the role of corporate blogger, it is an avenue to consider.

According to Doc Searls at the MarketingProfs Thought Leaders Summit: “I
would say to senior management that what you need are born bloggers on
your staff here and there. They don’t have to be in marketing—in fact, it’s
better if they’re not.”

In her MarketingProfs’ seminar, “What Every Marketer Needs to Know
Now,” B.L. Ochman states, “Don’t let anyone blog who you wouldn’t trust
to represent the company in the media.” In addition, she claims it is
important that the blogger not come from PR as “this is not suitable in the
blogosphere, and you will have negative feedback.”

Also, if you choose to use existing employees as blog writers, make sure
to pick people who have good writing skills. This seems obvious, but keep
in mind that these people and the language they use will be representing
your company. Also, choose writers who have a passion for your company.
Readers are drawn to bloggers who are passionate about the topic they
are writing about. If your bloggers view writing for your blog as a chore, it
will come across to your readers, but passion is infectious.

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5. Pitfalls to Avoid

Pitching products. Blogs should be used to relay information, not
to make sales pitches. Although you may announce a new product,
readers will not read a blog that they see as nothing more than a
glorified sales piece.

In her MarketingProfs seminar, “What Every Marketer Needs to Know
Now,” B.L. Ochman says that “any blog that is an obvious attempt at
self-promotion or that looks like it’s an advertising medium will not only
be ignored, it will also be mocked by bloggers.” She then cites the classic
example of the Dr. Pepper Raging Cow campaign. Dr. Pepper paid young
bloggers to blog about the product. The blogosphere reacted negatively
and started a boycott of all Dr. Pepper products. Why? Bloggers saw
paying bloggers as a form of advertisement.

Does this mean you can never pat yourself or
your company on the back in a post?

Blatant self-promotion is a turnoff. Who wants to read a company blog
that repeatedly tells you how wonderful its products are? Would you
believe the blogger? How long would you continue to read the blog? If
done carefully, however, it’s fine to toot your own horn once in a while,
as long as you do so with care.

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Posting without reviewing what you wrote. Although blogs involve
frequent postings, this does not obfuscate the need to think before
hitting enter. Remember, what you have posted will be picked up by other
bloggers. Post in haste and you may live to regret it. A cautionary phrase
you may hear is that “Google never forgets.”

Breaking news that is not yours to announce. Do not break news
that should be coming from a different place within your organization.
Do not leak financial results before they are posted or talk about product
developments of which you are not involved. But as a news story is
developing in the media, your blog’s readers will, in most cases, expect
a quick reply on your blog. If you
respond quickly and appropriately, a
potential crisis situation can be defused,
and your company can reap the praise
of your customers in the blogosphere.

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Five Characteristics of a Good Blogger

1. Is passionate.

First and foremost, it is crucial that whoever is chosen to author the blog
is passionate about the subject matter. Blogging takes time and energy.
While someone might be able to write a few posts about a subject they
are not interested in, this would be impossible to do on a regular basis.

Readers can tell when someone feels deeply about what he or she is
writing, and they will respond in kind. Boring blogs are not going to be
read, so why invest the time and money if you don’t plan to do it properly?

Readers want to be engaged. They are eager to feel part of something
larger than themselves. They are more likely to return to a blog where
the author is enthusiastic about the subject matter. Blogs are not the
place to recycle old press releases. Readers expect new information on a
regular basis, and they expect it to be provided in an easy-to-read and
enjoyable style. GM’s FastLane blog is rated among the Top 500 blogs
because it is written by people who are as enthusiastic about cars as
the readers themselves.

2. Writes in a natural, authentic and human voice.

At the MarketingProfs Thought Leaders Summit, Shel Israel stated,
“Bloggers should use their heads and their hearts, and speak in a clear
language that makes sense and avoid corporate-speak.”

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Since blogs should be conversational, it is critical that the person
authoring the blog does not sound like a talking head for the company.
Blogging is not a PR venture; it is not the time to tell the world how
wonderful your products are, although you can do so in moderation.

Many experts claim that it is a beneficial to write with a specific person in
mind. This allows the writer’s authentic voice to come through.

3. Has sufficient time to devote to the process.

Running and growing a successful blog is a serious time commitment. Not
only must you take the time to research and write multiple posts each
week, but you also must approve and reply to comments. Readers will not
return to blogs that are not updated frequently. So it is imperative that the
blogger understand the amount of time that blogging will take and is
willing to make that commitment.

The author must not only post to the company blog, he or she also should
monitor the blogosphere for comments about your company and monitor
competitor and industry blogs to generate intelligence about future trends.

Business is often fraught with competing deadlines. If something happens
that makes it necessary to stop blogging for any length of time, it is a
good idea to tell your readers that you will be taking a break and when
you plan to return. This prevents them from returning to your blog and
being disappointed that there are no new postings.

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4. Has the ability to develop conversations with readers.

Blogging is more than putting an opinion out there for all to read. A good
blogger reads the comments left to posts and responds accordingly. This
may involve email contact with someone who has left a comment,
responding to the comment on the blog or even crafting a new post
addressing the comment. As a general rule, half of all time spent
associated with blogging should be spent off your blog, reading other blogs
and leaving comments. This is often overlooked by many companies as it
seems counterintuitive, but spending time on your readers’ blogs is an
excellent way to build community for your own blogging effort.

5. Is willing to stick with the blog once it launches.

Before you start blogging, make sure that you can commit to writing the
blog from now on. What starts out sounding like fun can quickly turn into
tedium if the blogger is not prepared for the road ahead. At first it might
seem as if your efforts aren’t being rewarded since you may have few, if
any visitors, but it takes time to build a community of engaged readers.
Even the most dedicated and successful bloggers took several months,
sometimes years, to build a respectable readership.

Communication is about trust. If you want your customers readers to read
your blog regularly, they must believe that there will be something new to
read. This is another reason why it is imperative to spend time on other
blogs because it also helps promote your own blog.

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HOW DO I MONITOR THE BLOGOSPHERE

Before starting a business blog, it is important to familiarize yourself with the
blogosphere. Read competitors’ blogs, industry analysts’ blogs and blogs by
companies in similar industries.

While reading, pay attention to:

The subjects raised by bloggers and the readers who leave comments.

The writing style, which tends to be conversational and free from
corporate-speak.

How conversations flow from one blog to another. Blogs are interrelated
and feed off one another. You will be playing with fire, so it is important
to understand how quickly word spreads.

What is written about your company and its products and services.

How corporate bloggers handle customer complaints and
negative comments.

Want to find out what your customers, clients, or competition is saying
about you? Monitor the blogosphere.

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How Do I Monitor the Blogosphere? ... continued

There are several tools available. Just as Web sites have search engines,
there are search engines specifically designed to locate blogs, rate them and
tell you how popular they are. You can even do a search of your company’s
name to see how often and where it is mentioned.

Popular blog search engines include:

Technorati (www.technorati.com)

Google Blog Search (http://blogsearch.google.com/?ui=blg)

IceRocket (www.IceRocket.com)

BlogPulse (www.blogpulse.com)

PubSub (www.pubsub.com)

There are others, but these are the most popular.

It’s important to read blogs and develop a thorough understanding of the
medium. Monitoring the blogosphere allows you to become part of the
conversation, even if your company does not have a blog.

Your competitors and customers can monitor what you say in your
company’s blog because blogs are generally public. Internal blogs that are
protected by a firewall do not fall into this category.

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How Do I Monitor the Blogosphere? ... continued

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) allows readers to add your blog to a news
feed so that they can quickly scan new post titles and decide if they want to
read your blog. It can be a wonderful way to entice readers to your blog. For
example, if someone has signed up for a feed on a specific topic and your
blog is linked to RSS, he or she may discover your blog and become a
frequent reader.

Blogs are powerful because of the massive community in the blogosphere.

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YOU DON’T NEED A BLOG TO GET VALUE
FROM BLOGGING

Your organization can benefit from blogging even without a blog because you
can listen to your customers and engage with them on other blogs. As we’ve
already pointed out, at least some of your customers are talking about your
company and its products and services. Comments about your company on a
blog are an invitation to join the conversation. It provides an opportunity for
your company to fix problems and entice bloggers to try your product again.

Monitoring what is happening in the blogosphere helps a company know
when it should contact someone directly. If you read a negative post or
comment on a blog, you can respond on the blog
using a comment or you can respond to the
person directly.

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You Don’t need a Blog to Get Value From Blogging ... continued

Bad Things Can Happen if You Don’t Monitor the
Blogosphere … Just Ask Kryptonite Locks

Blog swarms are intense negative material posted on blogs that feed off one
another’s energy, commenting on one another’s opinions. They can lead to a
death knell if not responded to swiftly. Kryptonite Locks is a case in point.

In 2004, a blogger discovered he could pick a Kryptonite lock with a Bic pen
and posted the information, which was quickly picked up by Engadget, a blog
that is read daily by more than 250,000 gadget aficionados and techies.

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Engadget’s post (www.engadget.com/2004/09/14/kryptonite-evolution-2000-u-
lock-hacked-by-a-bic-pen) was picked up by the Associated Press, and the rest,

as they say, is history. Over the course of the next 10 months, Kryptonite
would exchange 380,000 locks at a cost of well over $10 million.

What’s really frightening is that Kryptonite was aware of what was happening
in the blogosphere and chose to ignore it. The company claims that it would
do the same again; however, it is paying dearly for that decision.

Imagine what Kryptonite could have accomplished by immediately
responding to the first post and then to Engadget’s post. If it had simply
apologized for the problem and advised the steps it was taking to correct
the defect, the situation might have been defused before it made the New
York Times.

Good Things Can Happen if You Monitor the
Blogosphere … Just Ask iUpload

In 2005, blogger Mark Vernermass approached iUpload, a company that
makes content management and blogging software, seeking information on
services, pricing, and other features. When the requested information was
not forthcoming, Vernermass posted information about his experiences in his
blog (http://voiceoflondon.iuplog.com/default.asp?item=99350).

Within days of Vernermass’s post, Robin Hopper, iUpload’s CEO, responded.
Hopper apologized, explained why things went wrong and promised to make
things better. He publicly responded to the question on pricing and promised
to take several concrete steps to avoid this type of situation in the future.

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The net result? Vernermass updated his blog post and averted what could
have been a publicly embarrassing situation for iUpload.

As you can see, two companies were faced with negative press in the
blogosphere. Their differing patterns of response greatly affected the way
they the public viewed them.

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HOW DO I PROMOTE MY BLOG?

You’ve done it! After reviewing the blogosphere, deciding upon the strategic
goals and finding an authentic voice, your company has launched a blog.
How do you let the world know?

Put a link to your company’s blog on your home page. You want the link
to be clearly visible to anyone who visits your site. As you can see, at
MarketingProfs, we list our blog on the top navigation bar where it
has prominence.

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How Do I Promote My Blog? ... continued

Here are five simple ways to promote your blog:

1. Add the URL to business cards.

2. Include the URL as part of your email signature if you are the author.

3. List the URL in company advertising.

4. Incorporate the URL in trade show materials.

5. Include the URL in your contact information in presentation materials.

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WHAT DOES A BLOG LOOK LIKE?

Now, let’s take a look at a few blogs and understand the elements that
are consistent throughout.

There is not a standard blog format, although there are some generally
accepted conventions.

Example 1: Rohit Bhargava’s Influential Marketing Blog
(http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog)

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What Does a Blog Look Like? ... continued

Example 2: Diva Marketing Blog (www.bloombergmarketing.blogs.com)

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Example 3: MarketingProfs DailyFix Blog (www.mpdailyfix.com)

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1. Title

Blogs have a descriptive title, which can be the subject matter (e.g.,
Influential Marketing Blog and Diva Marketing Blog) or the name of
the author, the name of the company or the name of the product (e.g.,
MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog).

There are no rules; however, unless your name is really well known,
it might be wise to choose a name that has something to do with the
subject matter of the blog. The goal should be to have a name that
entices readers and is easily remembered. If you have to pick between
a clever title and one that is easily remembered, go for the latter as you
want your readers to be able to find your blog. Remember, the title is
what will appear in RSS feeds, so you want it to be one that will garner
reader attention.

Many blogs also include a descriptive subtitle or tagline after the title. Diva
Marketing Blog does this extremely well with the phrase, “An approach to
marketing that’s fun, bold and savvy … but always strategically aligned
with your brand’s objective.”

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2. Posts

Blog content or articles are called posts. They are date and time-stamped,
and appear in reverse chronological order so that the most recent posting
is on top. Each post has its own distinct title.

Posts are conversations or conversation starters. As such, they contain
fact or personal commentary, or a combination of the two. They are
informative, relatively short and to the point. Like email, they are written
in the first person. In fact, the best blogs are written as if the author is
speaking to a friend.

Posts often contain links to other blogs or Web sites that offer further
information about the subject. This demonstrates the power of the
blogosphere—interconnection.

3. Comments

Although some do not, the majority of blogs allow readers to leave
comments. This feedback differentiates a blog from a Web site. It forms
the conversation between the blogger and the readers. Without them, a
blog is merely a Web site of posts.

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4. Trackbacks

What happens if a blogger reads something in a blog and wants to expand
on the subject in his or her own blog? Most blog posts have URLs so that
the blogger can put that URL in his or her new post, thereby allowing
readers to click and view the original material.

Some blogging software does this automatically. If yours does not, add a
comment to the original blog post stating that you have more information
on this topic in your blog and include the URL for your blog. If the original
blog does not allow comments, email the blogger with the information,
and, in most cases, the blogger will add the link to his or her blog.

In essence, trackbacks are comments left on another blog and then linked
back to your blog.

5. Permalinks

Permalinks are permanent links (URLs) to a blog post. Since most blogs
contain only the most recent posts, permalinks allow you to find blog posts
that no longer appear on the blog but are archived. Links are the currency
of the blogosphere, and they are what Technorati uses to determine a
blog’s popularity. They allow connections to a larger conversation.

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6. Sidebar

Most blogs contain narrow areas to the right and/or the left of the posts
that contain other information. These areas may be used for anything the
blogger wants to include. Some bloggers post a photo of themselves.
Many bloggers include something about themselves or the blog itself.
There may even be a link to a Web site if the blog is separate from the
author’s Web site. Some blogs use this space for an archive of previous
blog posts. Many list their products, books, seminars or other forms of
intellectual property.

7. Blogrolls

A blogroll is a list of links to other blogs that the blogger enjoys or
reads frequently. If a blog is about a particular subject, readers may
be interested in other blogs about the same subject and will look at
the blogroll.

8. Archives

Blogs would quickly become unreadable if every post were listed.
Therefore, most blogs include only the most recent posts, generally
the last 10 or so, and put the remainder in archives. These archives
are often prominently displayed in the sidebar.

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9. Categories

Since archives are usually date-oriented, they can be somewhat unwieldy
to search, especially if the blogger is prolific. By categorizing each post,
bloggers make it easier for each post to be located. The blogger chooses
the categories based on the subject matter he or she covers. For example,
a marketing blog might categorize posts by search marketing, branding,
customer retention, etc.

10. Feeds

Most blogs have an orange button labeled XML or RSS that link you to the
blog’s feeds. Feeds allow readers to subscribe and receive information
when the blog is updated and allow recipients to
receive blog updates in a spam-free channel that
usually bypasses their overburdened email inbox.
RSS or XML feeds may be read using a feed reader.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carrie Shearer is a writer and researcher who has been published in the
Wall Street Journal Europe and other global publications. She is also a
published novelist. Before embarking on her second career, Shearer spent
25 years in the international petroleum industry, most of it overseas.

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ABOUT MARKETINGPROFS

Founded in January 2001, MarketingProfs is a publishing company that
specializes in providing both strategic and tactical marketing know-how for
marketing and business professionals in organizations worldwide through a
full range of online media.

With more than 310,000 members and 300 contributors, MarketingProfs
provides marketers with practical tools and information in many forms,
including articles, online seminars, templates, benchmark survey reports,
buyer’s guides, a discussion forum and a blog. Updated weekly,
MarketingProfs content helps professionals stay current and effective.

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APPENDIX

Marketing Profs Articles

Mack Collier
“Eight Easy Ways to Grow Your Blog,” July 10, 2007
“Eight Ideas for Revitalizing Your Blog,” April 17, 2007
“How to Make the Community Your Marketing Partner,” June 13, 2006
“Ten Steps to Starting a Company Blog,” November 28, 2006

Bill Comcowich
“How to Create a Successful Blog: 8 Planning Tips,” April 4, 2006
“How to Create a Successful Business Blog: 9 Steps to Implementing,”
April 11, 2006

Anil Dash
“Blogging and the Boardroom: Six Steps to Starting a Corporate Blog,”
October 10, 2006

Meryl Evans and Hank Stroll
“Marketing Challenge: When It’s Best NOT to Blog,” January 17, 2006

David Felfoldi,
“Seven Ways Your Company Can Harness the Power of Blogs,”
August 21, 2007

Ann Handley
“Seven Lessons from a Blogging Year,” January 2, 2007

Eric Kintz
“Why Small Businesses Should Care About Web 2.0 Marketing: A
Discussion with the Creator of Duct Tape Marketing,” May 9, 2006

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Appendix ... continued

Jonathan Krantz
“Five Surefire Content Ideas (When Your Blog Is Drawing Blanks),”
January 3, 2006

G.A. “Andy” Marken
“Charting the Waters of the Blogosphere,” May 29, 2007

Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba
“Seven Reasons Why Businesses Should Blog Now,”
September 28, 2004

TJ McCue
“Blogging Baby Steps: How to Join the Conversation Without
Starting Your Own,” July 31, 2007
“Seven Ways to Monitor Blog Conversations,” November 13, 2007

B.L. Ochman
“Blogs: A Good (If Scary) Buy for Advertisers,” October 26, 2004
“How to Write Compelling Blog Posts,” March 21, 2005
“The PR Lessons of a Clueless Pitch,” October 7, 2003
“Straight Talk About Blogs: Do You Really Need One?”
September 14, 2004
“Ten Companies That Missed Great Blog Opportunities,”
August 17, 2004
“The Value of Blog Advertising,” August 1, 2006
“What Could Your Company Do With a Blog?” June 29, 2004

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Catherine Parker
“The Power of the Industry Blog,” October 12, 2004

Barbara Payne
“Blog for Business: Is It Right for Your Company?” October 14, 2003

Susan Solomon
“Attention, CEOs: It’s Time to Blog,” February 1, 2005
“Don’t Bore Me with Your Blog,” July 12, 2005
“Whose Blog Is It Anyway?” April 19, 2005

Stephan Spencer
“A Business Case for Blogging: Thought Leaders on Blog Marketing
(Part 1),” May 17, 2005
“A Business Case for Blogging: Thought Leaders on Blog Marketing
(Part 2),” May 24, 2005
“Ten Tips to Help Your Blog Soar in the Search Engines
(Part 1 of 2),” May 29, 2006
“Ten Tips to Help Your Blog Soar in the Search Engines
(Part 2 of 2),” May 9, 2006

Michael A. Stelzner
“The Dark Side of Blogging: Warnings from Leading Bloggers,”
May 1, 2007

Matthew Syrett
“Exploring Blogs for Brand Insights,” April 26, 2005

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Debbie Weil
“5 Key Questions (You’ve Been Dying) To Ask About Business
Blogs,” July 8, 2003
"Top 20 Definitions of Blogging," December 9, 2003

C.B. Whittemore
“Which Comes First: The Policy or the Blog?” October 9, 2007
Nick Wreden, “10 Rules for Corporate Blogs and Wikis,” April 13, 2004

MarketingProfs Seminars

“Truths of Blog Marketing: Reaching Customers, Building Your Brand”
“QuickBooks Makes Blogs Part of the Marketing Mix”
“Blogs: What Every Marketer Needs to Know Now”
MarketingProfs Thought Leaders Summit: “Blogging for Marketing”

Books

Blog Marketing, Jeremy Wright
The Corporate Blogging Book, Debbie Weil
Naked Conversations, Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

65

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