Marketing Roadmaps

Susan Getgood

Google’s Blog Search Engine

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Today Hugh over at gapingvoid posted about Google’s new blog search, with the headline: well, this changes everything. So I start to wonder, how does this change everything?

I did a couple of searches based on some of my posts, and found that I was coming in fairly highly when I did specific terms like "anonymous blogs" and "character blogs" — things I’ve written about recently and/or often. In fact on the term anonymous blogs I was number 1 (which will last for a  nanosecond I’m sure). So I did the same search on regular Google, and my post shows up nowhere, Or at least not in the first 21 results pages 🙂

Now, if you read the fine print on the About Google Blog Search, they clearly state that results should be pretty good for anything from June 2005, when they started building the database, and they are trying to add in older stuff. I have a Typepad hosted blog, and I’m sure they sucked up those blogs right away, which explains why my older stuff is in there.

Here’s my question — now that Google has a blog search, how are they going to treat blogs in regular search over time? Will they continue to have the same weight? No small number of search engine optimization plans rely on blogs lifting the relevance of the corporate website; it’s a benefit of a blog that is often mistakenly used as a reason for a blog.

If the regular Google algorithm still gives weight to blogs, shouldn’t a blog that ranks highly in the blog search for a term show up a bit sooner in the regular search? Or is the reason that my post is not in the top results for the term on regular search, is that my blog IS on Typepad, and therefore most definitely a blog, and not a "website with an RSS feed?"

If that’s the case, what will that mean for the hosted services? And will it marginalize blogs, and bloggers, that rely on the hosted services to participate in the conversation by creating a blog ghetto of sorts. You know what I mean: the regular search is where the validated information is, and the blog search is where you go for those "blog things." Will we then have a whole NEW industry spring up to help blogs get into both regular search and blog search?

I’m not a search engine expert by any means, and I have no idea how all of this is working "under the hood," I’m just curious…..

But it seems to me that Hugh is right — this will change everything. I’m just not sure we know how…..

UPDATE 15 Sept.: So, the good news is that people who really dig into all this search stuff seem to think that Google’s blog search is pretty good. I’ll believe that — heck it put some of my posts toward the top, and that’s bound to bring some readers my way. I’m still concerned/curious about how all this is going to play out for both businesses and the user experience. Bear with me as I think out loud.

Question one: Are these blog search engines or RSS search engines? They are not synonymous. Most, probably all blogs provide an RSS feed, but not all RSS feeds are blogs.

If they are blog search engines, I wonder how you (or an algorithm) can really tell whether the "thing" is a blog, since we have a fair amount of disagreement about what a blog is anyway. And as I commented yesterday (above) if we have some search engines for blogs and other search engines for other information, how does that change the nature of our research. Which will be deemed more credible and why?

If they are RSS search engines, how does that change the user experience of using web sites. Iam a big proponent of RSS feeds on company websites. Used appropriately. If the only way to show up in these new search engines is to deliver an RSS feed, will companies start junking up the net with RSS feeds of EVERYTHING on their site?

What I’d really like to see is an integrated search where the type of content is clearly marked, ie this seems to be a blog or this is likely to be a website. If you want to restrict a search to one form or another, you can, but the search engine will tell you if it finds more apparently relevant information in another category.

Seems to me that if anybody could pull this off, it would be Google. And, yeah, that really would change everything.

The power of the customer: Fans & Firefly

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As many of you know, especially if we’ve met, or you regularly read the blog, I am a huge proponent of customer marketing. And not just marketing TO your customers with promotions designed to increase the lifetime value of the customer. By all means, do that, but don’t stop there. Make products that your customers will love and then harness that passion in your marketing efforts. Market WITH your customers, because they love your products, respect your company and want to help you succeed.

There ain’t nothing like a passionate customer. Here’s a little story that proves the point.

Once upon a time there was a little television show called Firefly. Firefly was created by Joss Whedon, the talented writer/director who brought Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel to the little screen.

Firefly was a bit different though. It didn’t follow the Buffy/Angel formula of supernatural beings and monsters among us in contemporary society. Instead, Firefly was a “space opera,” described by some as a cross between Battlestar Galactica and The Outlaw Josey Wales. The setting was far in the future, 500 years from Earth as we know it, but the people in the Firefly verse were “normal” people. At least to the extent that the context didn’t include magic, vampires and otherwordly beings. Everyone is pretty gorram**   human, with a fair dose of the “cowboy” ethos, and maybe just a little bit Chinese.

Firefly was on the Fox network and Firefly never had a chance. I won’t rehash all the details, but suffice it to say, Fox didn’t get it, and the series was cancelled before all the original 13 episodes were aired.

But Whedon’s fans are a devoted bunch. In the first pass, many came to Firefly from Buffy and Angel, and realized that this new show was even better. When it was cancelled, they started to mobilize – letters, fan sites, conventions, etc. etc.

Some, like me, never got a chance to watch it the first time around because Fox jerked it around so much, but bought the DVD as soon as it was released. Because we just knew it had to be good (perhaps in part because Fox didn’t get it). In fact A LOT of people bought it as a pre-order on Amazon before it was released. A whole lot.

And a funny thing happened. Another studio, Universal, saw all this fan activity, watched the show, and decided that this Firefly thing was pretty good. Good enough for a feature film. And so we have Serenity… a feature film due in US cinemas on September 30th.

Lesson One: the fans were in large part responsible for Firefly’s second chance. Joss Whedon and the rest of the cast have more than once given them the credit. Smart man, that Joss Whedon. He creates brilliant television (and now movies), which creates loyal loyal fans, and he has the grace and smarts to give the fans their share of the credit.

But that’s not the end of the story. The Firefly fans are so devoted that they have mobilized to ensure the film’s success with guerilla marketing efforts in support of the planned campaigns by Universal. I couldn’t even tell you everything the fans have created in support of this movie, but it includes a podcast called the Signal that is in iTunes top 100, artwork, music, video and fan fiction, a campaign to get the DVDs rated highly on NetFlix, fan websites, blogs and forums, not to mention an extraordinarily active fan base on the official website for the movie. 

All this fan activity geared to ensuring a boffo box office for Serenity in its first few weeks. Because that’s what ensures the second film. And these fans want more. Trust me, I know this personally.

And Whedon, his cast and Universal are encouraging and enabling all this fan activity with viral marketing efforts and their active participation in the fan activity – not just the Universal sponsored sites.

Because they get it, and that’s Lesson Two: when you have passionate fans, DO NOT get in their way. They will do as good, or better, job converting new customers than you could ever do. Support them as much as you can, but don’t try to co-opt them. Let your product continue to speak for itself. That’s what Whedon does – he’s said it in interviews: he’s not trying to make shows that people will like, he wants to create stories and characters that people will love.

Now in the spirit of full disclosure, this article is, of course, guerrilla marketing for Serenity as much as it is an analysis of the value of the customer in your marketing efforts. Think of it as a two-fer.

I’ll see you at the movies. On September 30th.

** god-damn for those of you who aren’t … yet … addicted to Firefly.

Links:
Browncoats (official fan site)
Serenity (official movie site)
Session 416 (viral marketing site)
The Signal podcast
Whedonesque 
Firefly DVD at Amazon.com

Blogher takeaway: Blogs need a Code of Ethics

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One of the sessions I attended at Blogher was a birds of a feather discussion of citizen journalism. As I sat there, listening to all the various points of view on whether bloggers are journalists (and full disclosure, I believe the answer is sometimes but not always, some but not all), I had one of those “aha” moments.

One of the things that distinguishes professional journalists from bloggers – “citizen reporters” – is the journalism code of ethics. For an example, check out the LA Times code of ethics (pdf).  Bloggers typically don’t have a published code of ethics on their blogs.

When I started this post, I expected to find that professional journalists and other communications professionals would have something like a code of ethics on their blogs. But for the most part, you won’t find an explicit code of ethics on a typical weblog, no matter who writes it….

Yet, it occurs to me that such a code of ethics on a blog would go a very long way to establishing the sort of credibility that bloggers need and crave.

Now, thinking back to the spring, I recall some discussion that we try to establish a blogging code of ethics. A single code of ethics to which all subscribe. Nice idea, but it isn’t going to fly. We don’t live in a utopia or a single worldwide dictatorship. We won’t ever be able to reach that level of agreement among ALL bloggers. And such centrality is in direct opposition to the spirit of the Internet and blogging —  a decentralized place that smashes barriers to participation.

But an individual code of ethics on a blog… A description of the blogger’s values and the “rules” by which she writes her blog… That would be a VERY good thing for all blogs.

Yet, I really haven’t seen too many codes of ethics published on blogs – even on the blogs of people who are deep into the discussion of citizen journalism.

Here are a few “code of ethics”–like things I’ve found (and this list is by no means exhaustive – please send me any other examples you find!):

In his about page, Steve Rubel of Micropersuasion offers the following disclosure:

Disclosure:
I work for CooperKatz & Company. Everything here, though, is my own personal opinion and is not read or approved before it is posted. Occasionally, since this is a personal blog, my company and its clients will be referenced. However, these postings are in no way any part of any PR program nor an attempt to influence reader opinions. Currently, I am working with the following organizations: The Association of National Advertisers, simplehuman, Vespa, the Kauffman Foundation, NYU and Topix.net.

Jeremy Pepper offers a Comments Policy on his main blog page:

This is not a public forum, this is My Blog.

This is very much my personal place. Please act as if you were a guest in my home, and I will treat you as one.

Opposing views are welcomed.
I will, however, delete your comment if you descend into personal attacks, excessive profanity, mouth-foaming hatred, or other such immature behavior that I deem unacceptable in my home.

Please craft your contribution accordingly.

Jay Rosen, PressThink has a pretty extensive Q&A on his blog which functions to some degree like a code of ethics, but it isn’t labeled as such.

The closest things I’ve found to an explicit code of ethics:

The Citizen Journalist pledge at Bayosphere, the new venture of journalist Dan Gillmor:

Citizen Journalist Pledge
By submitting this form, I agree to be accurate, complete, fair and transparent in my postings on Bayosphere. My work will be my own, created by me and/or in collaboration with others. I will operate with integrity.
I work in the community interest.
As a citizen journalist, I report and produce news explaining the facts as fairly, thoroughly, accurately and openly as I can.
* Fair: I’m always listening to and taking account of other viewpoints;
* Thorough: I learn as much as I can in the time I have, and point to original sources when possible;
* Accurate: I get it right, checking my facts, correcting errors promptly and incorporating new information I learn from the community;
* Open: I explain my biases and conflicts, where appropriate.
I may also provide reviews (such as a critique of a movie or book) and commentary with a point of view based on facts, but I will have no significant financial or otherwise direct connection (membership, affiliation, close relationship, etc.) with an interested party.
If I do have such connections, I’ll disclose them prominently, and my work may be labeled and/or categorized appropriately.
I agree, as an active member of this community, to help uphold the integrity of this pledge by challenging and reporting inappropriate postings or abuse.

And Hill & Knowlton, the PR agency, has an explicit code of practice on its blogging community :

* I will acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly
* I will preserve the original post, using notations to show where I have made changes
* I will never delete a post
* I will not delete comments unless they are spam or off-topic
* I will disclose conflicts of interest (including client relationships) where I am able to do so
* I will not publish anything that breaches my existing employment contract
* I will distinguish between factual information/commentary and advertising
* I will never publish information I know to be inaccurate
* I will disagree with other opinions respectfully
* I will link to online references and original source materials directly
* I will strive for high quality with every post – including basic spellchecking
* I will write deliberately and with accuracy
* I will reply to emails and comments when appropriate, and do so promptly
* I will restrict my posting to professional topics
* I will write on a regular basis, at least once each week

Well, here’s my code of ethics for Marketing Roadmaps:

Marketing Roadmaps is my opinion, based on my experience.  Your mileage may vary. I will be respectful of my readers’ views, and expect the same courtesy.

  • When I have an opinion, I will be completely clear about it. You won’t have to guess.
  • I won’t delete posts unless the content proves to be completely off base, in which case I will leave a placeholder that explains what happened so search engines won’t perpetuate any mistakes I have made. Typically I will annotate the original post with new material rather than delete the post.
  • I will not blog information learned offline or in private conversations unless I am absolutely certain that it is public information or I have obtained permission from the person who shared the information. When in doubt I will err on the side of caution.
  • I will not delete comments unless they are spam or off-topic. Ditto trackbacks.
  • I will link and trackback to other blogs appropriately, and always endeavor  to add to the conversation.
  • I will say thank you, replying to emails and comments promptly and pleasantly, even when I disagree with you.
  • I will be honest about my clients and relationships so my readers will understand my loyalties.

This code of ethics will be posted on my About page.

Where’s yours?

Blogging workshop & Anonymous Blogging

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Yesterday I did my first "To Blog or Not to Blog" workshop for a PR agency in NYC. It went quite well from all reports (whew!). The workshop is about 3-3.5 hours long, and basically covers Blogging 101 and how blogs and new media fit into the marketing communications plan.

What I’d like to do is convert this into an ongoing product, and the idea I have is a full day workshop, with the first half of the day devoted to Blogging 101, for up to 15 students, and the second part of the day  (one or two) two-hour hands-on workshop(s) for no more than 5-6 students to actually go through the exercise of evaluating a blog as part of the specific MarCom plan for a company, and then developing the mission and plan for the blog. In effect, teaching my students how to fish.

I think this would be very useful for mid-size companies and PR/marketing agencies who want to get into blogging, but just don’t know where to start. I would love your feedback on the idea, and referrals of interested companies would be even better 🙂

Okay. Shameless self promotion period is now over.

My next topic is anonymous blogs. During yesterday’s workshop, one of the students asked about the credibility of anonymous blogs. Basically, she asked, how can an anonymous blog be a credible source of information?

The answer to this truly has multiple layers. It is of course the reader who makes a determination about credibilty, and that’s true whether the blog is anonymous or not.

Am I going to trust the content of the blog?

We make this determination based in part on "how right" the blogger we are reading has been in the past. We also factor in the nature of the information — how critical is it that our information be 100 percent correct. Finally, we look for endorsements — other bloggers we know and trust, trusting this blogger. These things ALL factor into our trust equation whether the blog writer is identified or not.

But is there a difference with anonymous blogs? I think the answer is a resounding YES! If a blog is anonymous, we need additional validation that it is okay to trust this blog. The more critical the issue, the more validation we need. In fact, for some really high stakes issues like our health, there may never be enough validation to trust an anonymous blog. When someone is giving you health advice, you need some solid indices that it is okay to trust them.

Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson have been discussing the issue of anonymous blogs on the last few issues of For Immediate Release — their comments are well worth listening to.

My take? The nature of the content really dictates whether you will trust an anonymous blogger. If the issue is fairly trivial, like what shoes should I buy for the fall, the fact that Manolo the Shoe Blogger is both anonymous and a character doesn’t matter. I just like that Zappos usually gives you expedited shipping even when you order ground.

If the issue at hand is critical, and you are looking for validation, assistance, data to inform your decision, I truly do not believe an anonymous blog can generate adequate trust. You need to know WHO, and I’m not sure if even the sponsorship of a valued, trusted organization is enough to extend that trust to an anonymous blogger for a high stakes decision.

By all means, blog anonymously if you want to share your life and experiences. There are many valid and important reasons why people might want to blog anonymously

But, if you want you opinion to really matter — if you believe that your opinion on an issue mght make a difference, you really need to step up to the plate and stand for your opinion.

People will want to know who you are.

First Day of School

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Well, real life and work have certainly interfered with blogging. Tomorrow I present my new Blogging Workshop for the first time, which has been part of why I haven’t had too much time to… blog.

Today was my son’s first day of kindergarten and since my most loyal reader is also my mum, here’s a picture of Douglas before he went off to school, just for her.

Back to our usual marketing topics next week!

Dach_1stday