Lists have their use and place but are too often used to cement the author’s self-serving belief that they are an expert. No more lists to show off please.
One – the whole “how social media is changing…” advertising, communications, business, human resources, shopping, friendships, family etc etc meme. Social media is a disruptive, transformative force rooted in a base human need for connection. We understand it is changing everything and nothing at the same time.
Two – “27 questions you must ask in social media” type list posts which don’t actually give you things to do or questions ask but which are there to simply prove the author is an unquestionable expert on whatever it is they recommend you ask questions about.
Three – hypocrisy. I am sure I’ve just written I hate lists of questions in a list form.
Leo Laporte’s declaration that he’s killing his use of Twitter and other extraneous social media is confirmation that while these sites/networks are fun to use, we should always consider our blogs as our social media hubs. I’ve been guilty of neglecting Blogging Me Blogging You (now simply edlee.ca) in favour of Twitter purely because it (Twitter) fits into my life slightly easier and takes less time to share thoughts/links.
It makes me feel like everything I’ve posted over the past four years on Twitter, Jaiku, Friendfeed, Plurk, Pownce, and, yes, Google Buzz, has been an immense waste of time. I was shouting into a vast echo chamber where no one could hear me because they were too busy shouting themselves. All this time I’ve been pumping content into the void like some chatterbox Onan. How humiliating. How demoralizing.
I’m not saying I’ll be posting here more often but I am saying I’m going to try!
And herein lies the big issue with blogging. It’s not just about having the skill to blog (yes, you need to know how to write well) but you need a firm commitment to the practice of blogging. Time is such a precious commodity (more than oil) and for me there are days when I just can’t find that 20 minutes to write. I have a ton of thought-ware, but it’s about dedicating time to write it down.
John Dodds, from the excellently titled “Make Marketing History”, brings us news from The Times that seven of the ten companies with blogging CEOs have seen their share values rise.
It makes sense – after all, if I were investing, I’d be more likely to invest in a CEO whose blog I read and, by extension, trusted. The same applies for a company I was about to buy something from – human nature means you stick with what you know, and a blog is a way for everyone and anyone to get to know you.
Cult of the CEO
This, naturally, assumes that the cult of the CEO still drives our society or, at least, our investors. If the superstar CEO is still pervasive, and there’s no reason to suggest otherwise, then blogging would be a natural outlet for them. After all, which section of society has a larger ego than bloggers, apart from the CEOs, and which section of society has more to say than CEOs, apart from the bloggers?
…and CEO’s certainly personify their company – Chrysler’s former Chairman Lee Iacocca’s surname stood for I Am Chairman of Chrysler Corporation. Always. Just imagine if he had had a blog…
Blogging Works on the Margins
Now, I’m not saying that you can read this, recommend to your CEO they should start blogging and that their company’s share price will sky rocket or orders will start flooding in.
What I think is that, on the margins, a company that embraces the openness and transparency blogging brings, will enjoy a competitive advantage over a company that doesn’t. Just as a blogging PR would have a competitive advantage over one that doesn’t when competing for a job.
Investment/Research Idea
NB – I didn’t see if the companies mentioned in the study outperformed their respective indexes (indices?) or just experienced growth. I wonder if Bernhard (who wrote the article) could answer that? I guess it’d be a pretty major thing. Essential if you were thinking about starting a Blogging CEOs 100 index.
When I started writing BMBY, just over a year ago, it was intended to be a sandbox for me to practice what I was trying to preach to my clients.
Fast forward twelve months and BMBY is an integral part of my life, from both a personal and professional standpoint. I have a great new job, exciting new career path and some great friends.
I’m away for two weeks and definitely won’t be writing anything next week, but there are some draft posts saved that should pop-up intermittently throughout the week.
Finally, a huge thanks to all and sundry who take the time to read, comment, subscribe, criticise and link to the posts on this blog.
It’s been a great year, and, I hope, many more to come.
I finally got around to exploring Feedburner a little more and, as part of my ongoing determination to make as many mistakes as possible on this blog (so my clients don’t have to), have burnt an additional feed.
If you so desire, you can sign up to this feed which will not make any improvements to your reading experience but it will provide a much needed distraction at work as I religiously check my stats!
It was pretty easy to tell the truth and I’ve even included some nice extras such as “Digg this” and “Save to del.icio.us” that will appear in the feed; once you subscribe.
If you do take the plunge and subscribe to BMBY, can I ask to use my feedreader of choice, Bloglines. Not only is it easier and quicker to use than Google Reader, but you’ll help me climb the Power 150 chart which depends on Bloglines readers for one of its scoring categories. I’m currently languishing at 108 so your assistance is very much appreciated.
I’m no baseball aficionado, in fact my experience of baseball amounts to watching four live games, three in Toronto and one in Houston but I am starting to get the nuances of the game.
The focal point of the game is pitching (not unlike PR – you know where I’m going with this) but there is a subtle difference between chucking and pitching.
Pitching and Chucking
Chucking is about power, about getting the ball into the catcher’s mitt as quickly and as often as possible.
Pitching on the other hand is more cerebral. It’s about knowing the batter, their strengths and weaknesses. It’s about subtlety and a deeper understanding of the game.
A pitch and a chuck can be the same delivery at the same speed but what differentiates the pitch from the chuck is what came before it, not the delivery itself.
Chucking when you should be Pitching
It seems as if one of my colleagues in the Fleishman-Hillard family has gotten into a little bit of hot water for chucking when she should’ve been pitching.
The FH youth marketing and trend spotting group “Next Great Thing” (NGT) had launched their new blog and were reaching out to people they read in the same “ecosystem” to announce themselves.
[Dave has the pitch they sent out over on PR Works along with a good conversation.]
The end result is that a few bloggers got themselves mighty annoyed about the generic, and to be honest, rather condescending tone and have posted their feelings about it here, here, here and here.
My thoughts? Juuuuust a little outside.
Is it the worst pitch I’ve ever seen? No.
Is it the best pitch they could’ve sent out? No.
Is it the sort of pitch that could rile up a blogger who had just received six or seven unpersonalised and untargeted emails? Yes.
Does the email deserve to be called out? It depends. Personally, I don’t call out bad pitches publicly.
If the same email came from a “social media marketing consultant” promoting their own blog, and not from A Big PR Agency, would it have gotten the same response? Who knows.
Lessons Learnt
Don’t try to be clever. While the pitch itself is topical it is a little cute. Too cute. So, while it may work with traditional media where breaking through the clutter is the hard part, there’s the chance that a blogger will be less than amused.
Be clear as to what you want (and what you can offer). I had to read the pitch a couple of times to work out what was going on and it feels as if that was half the problem. Want someone to check out your new blog/post? Tell them. Asking for a link? Tell them. Trying to provoke a comment? Tell them.
Personalization is key. As others have said, and as I’ve alluded to, the pitch was generic and sent pretty much unchanged to a number of high profile bloggers. Personalization is key.
Final Sporting Metaphor
Speaking as a blogger who gets his fair share of bad pitches, bloggers have much larger egos to go with much tinier readership compared with the mainstream media. So tread carefully when you finally decide to engage with one. The game of blogger relations may look like media relations, but in truth the two are as different as rugby league and rugby union.
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Who’s this?
I'm Ed Lee, a consultant who focuses on brand planning, digital infrastructure and social media across strategy, creative and propagation. I've been working in and around digital since 2005.
In 2009, I was named one of Marketing Mag's "Ones to Watch" in its annual survey of top marketers under 30. Now I'm just over 30.
An Englishman living and working in Canada, this is my continued exploration into the world of social media.
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