• Be who you are, be as transparent as possible.
• Don't play in your own playground, be active in communities that might find what you offer attractive.
• It is imperative to be involved in the social networks on the Internet and the real world
• We live in a world where every person's word of mouth reaches a lot more people.
  

Lets look at some examples of these at work.

Being Transparent , Diverse, and Active in Social Networks.

Companies that are talking back to their customers are becoming more transparent at it. They are the ones who openly acknowledge mistakes and quickly respond to complaints A lot of startups today are more and more engaged in the conversations of their customers. They are monitoring and answering questions on Twitter, getsatisfaction and responding to negative blog posts and comments. Craig Newmark posted a responce on our own very blog, and many other companies are aknowledging social networks.

While being transparent is a proven tool to get more attention and buzz, it is not a must have. There are a lot of successful companies out there that do not talk back. After all, the bigger the business, the harder it is for it to innovate. They talk in glamorous product announcements, commercials and press releases, they drink brand juice and spend millions covering up or downright denying their mistakes.

A World of Word of Mouth Marketing.

Word of Mouth is nothing new, NewEgg, Netflix, Apple, In-N-Out Burgers all had very strong growth partly due to word of mouth, but instead of talking back, they gained popularity through high quality of service, ease of use, competitive prices, elegance and tasty food - that's what makes good idea into a successful business. However, and this might sound crazy to some, talking back, fixing your mistakes and accepting your screw ups could be what brings quality of service up, makes product easier to use, lowers prices or create that absolutely amazing taste. Do not be afraid to try it.

Google Reader recently added ability to include a note with your shared items, and mentioned in their blog post that they monitor "Google Reader" on Twitter. Zappos has a special Twitter page set up and over 300 of their employees are encouraged to use Twitter, they host free parties, do contests and respond to peoples comments all through Twitter. John Fisher of Sticker Giant also tracks his and even his competitions name. All of those I have discovered through one of social networks, social events or at parties and gatherings, or simply put, due to word of mouth marketing.

While the question of "How do I talk back to my customers" is a subject for a whole different blog post, I would love to hear how you currently or plan to implement world of mouth into your business marketing plan? And if not, why not? Talk back and you can contribute to that post!

Uh, yeah! I'm not shocked at all by the recent report from Pollara that garnered data stating:

"Of more than 1,100 adults polled in December, nearly 80% said they were very or somewhat more likely to consider buying products recommended by real-world friends and family, while only 23% reported being very or somewhat likely to consider a product pushed by "well-known bloggers."

Marc Macalua, had a great post referencing this study and how prevalent WOMM initiatives laser focus on A-List bloggers, forum veterans and senior Diggers to spread the message.

It's a strategy that if done right and the content is compelling, the story had a differentiation edge, there's good emotional content and it's simple to understand - you've got something that can go viral. So that equates to about 1% of all the stories out there that WOMM agencies are trying to work with.

Litmus Test

The true litmus test for an organization is to see if it's employees believe in the product, service or program enough to tell their "real-world" friends - many of which by the way they are connected to, and communicate with via social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace.

This of course would require that your employees are maintaining social media profiles, but even more importantly, would require that your employees are proud enough of the company, their role in the company and its achievements to tell their friends and family.

Swallow Your Pride And Do The Following:

1. Ask your employees if they would be willing to discuss your company's product with their friends and family on their social networking sites.
2. Find out how many of them actually do it.
3. If people are not willing to do it, ask them why.

The answers might just be the solution to the problems that are plaguing your organization.

A few posts back, I did a video post on Social Media Starting Points, where I recommend that individuals start participating in social media via LinkedIn. The reason as I stated in that post:

"Because on LinkedIn you can quickly connect with individuals you have had personal relationships with through previous employers, universities, groups, etc. It's human nature to be more comfortable around the people we already know."

With the adoption of aggregation services like FriendFeed where in one place we can now see blog posts, family photos, articles they liked, restaurants they loved and music they are listening to - it's becoming easier for us to maintain communications and stay up to date with what our "real-world" friends are doing out there in the wild and wacky world.

More of a Reason to Encourage Social Media

So this report that states real world friends and family are more influential to purchasing decisions only strengthens the case for companies to actively support and encourage it's employees to participate in social media programs.

It's said if you want to be an expert go write a book. Even if the book is self published, as long as you walk in and hand someone a physical book - you're a perceived authority on the topic.

Playing off my public relations days, getting visibility and driving book sales is a huge, huge effort. There are publicists and PR agencies focused on planning, strategy, distribution deals, executing book tours, media tours, radio tours, author events, etc. The cost can be astronomical if you really want to hit it big.

Blogging and Amazon Changes the Landscape

Blogging has created a new entry point for expert positioning, and Amazon has created the simple and fast book distribution platform. The two combined provide a powerful, inexpensive and authentic approach to expert leadership.

Case and Point: Direct Response Radio

Our Room 214 client Brett Astor of Strategic Media has been blogging for close to two years now at Direct Response Radio Advertising Blog. After many posts and immersion into the direct response radio world, Brett realized that he had created enough content and more importantly knew the hot button issues people faced with radio advertising.

Using his unique perspective from his personal experience Brett was able to put forth a book that is now the definitive guide on radio advertising.

That book is now available on Amazon - for you or anyone in the world to buy.

Was it easy? Heck no. It took a commitment on Brett's end to keep the blog fresh, to look for ways to connect and integrate radio advertising in the overall marketing mix.

But he did it, and now he can just throw those business cards into the circular file.

This bit of news may seem a bit arbitrary, but I hope you will agree after some consideration that this should be a subject near and dear to your heart as well. Although we do live in an age where immediacy has become the norm, I don't believe this means that proper grammar has to fall by the wayside. In some cases, an improper spelling or use of punctuation can completely change your meaning or cause other types of confusion. In professional settings--those involving business signage and other official documentation--having typos or other grammatical errors can compromise the image of your company. Sure, typos happen to the best of us, but I would expect that a serious business owner would double or triple check spelling and punctuation before sending anything important to print.

Although TEAL is just dealing with signage and other public venues, typos occur in many other places. In my previous job, one of my duties was to hire people to complete some ongoing freelance writing. I cannot tell you how many initial emails, résumés, and cover letters I received with typographical or grammatical errors. To me, this does not make for a great first impression. I had not met these people, so I didn't know whether they might actually be a terrific worker or possess other wonderful attributes that made them perfect for the position. All I saw was that they could not be bothered to run a spell-check or have someone proofread their résumé--that all-important document that can determine your fate before you even get your foot in the door. They also did not feel it was necessary to read over their initial correspondence before hitting the send button (or so I was led to assume, judging by the errors). Having so little to go by, and having dozens of applications to review, I could not help but have a prejudice against those who committed such errors--especially if coming from individuals who listed "superb editing abilities" among their qualifications.

Improper use of apostrophes, they're, there, their, whose, who's, its, it's, and so on may indeed be a quirky pet peeve of mine to the point of almost obsession, and so I applaud the members of TEAL for going out and setting a good grammatical example in such a tongue in cheek manner. In a time of instant and text messaging, where young people are abandoning proper structure in favor of immediacy, I feel it is more important than ever that there be an awareness of proper usage. The ability to communicate accurately in print form still plays a role in how you are perceived by others--especially in venues such as the Internet, where your words will be viewed by more people than ever before.

I came across another blog entry on SEO-Scoop coincidentally(?) written on same day as Jason's in which the author weighs the pros and cons of blogging daily versus blogging when one has something worthwhile to say.

I suppose my lack of consistent posting can be attributed to the latter school of thought. I haven't posted regularly, but I like to think that when I have, that it has been of interest to my readers. At the very least, they are topics which caught my attention enough to stop what I was doing and share my thoughts. Blogging daily is a hard task--after awhile it is simply inevitable that you will feel as though you have run out of things to say. As Jason points out, however, it is indeed easier to join an existing conversation than to start a new one.

With RSS, a blog's audience does not have to check back several times a day, only to be disappointed when there is no new content. Therefore, the blog might not suffer from a drop in readership when you're less than disciplined about publishing an entry. However, blogging consistently can make sure that your site stays in the forefront of your audience's minds, as they start to feel that they can reasonably expect to be alerted to new posts on a regular basis. There is of course an additional bonus to frequent posting--that of the increased search engine visibility and ranking.

Blogging, especially that of a corporate nature, can seem a bit daunting when faced with the prospect of keeping the content updated. As opposed to stopping completely, it would seem preferable to post on topics that you feel passionate about--regardless of how frequent that might be. However, if you find yourself in the position where you MUST blog, do a little research first. Find sites that discuss topics which interest you and deal with your industry. Look at what they are discussing and see if there is a way in which you can continue the conversation with a post of your own.

Blogging regularly is a discipline, and one that comes easier with time and practice. At least, that is what I will be telling myself as I attempt to become a more regular contributor to this site.

Such is life in the blogosphere. If you only write but never read, the motivation can be lost. If nobody responds to what you have written (ever), the doubt perpetuates. If you don't respond to what anyone else has written, why would you expect others to respond to you? So the question becomes, who's stuff do I read and respond to? Who's conversation should I be listening to?

As I'm always saying to Stepan here (who sits next to Ben, the guy who makes stuff happen), you need to "use the tools." There are a few good ones out there, some of which should be used in conjunction with others. The obejective is to learn what the key influencers are saying about your focus, then consider how you will participate - or as Covey says, "seek first to understand, then to be understood."

At the end of our meeting, I think our new marketing friend was excited about getting her company's blog revived. I'm certain this is a common problem. Is it your problem too JennyU?

Fear likely plays a large factor in why these technologies are not being adopted as quickly as one might think, given all the hype and buzz that revolves around the technologies. Despite the fact that blogs have garnered much positive attention and are being used by many Fortune 500 companies and high-level execs, a sense of fear still pervades--a fear that the company will reveal too much or somehow garner more negative press with the use of this technology.

However, as the article points out, the adoption of new technologies is likely to increase as the age gap between executives in power and employees decreases. Right now, companies are run by individuals used to using primary communication methods such as the telephone, while the newest generation of employees are used to communicating via instant message, blogging, text message, and other forms of social media. For a generation so immersed in technology and so willing and able to embrace it in its newest forms, Web 2.0 is nothing to be afraid of, and its increased usage will only help companies evolve and become more powerful in their communication. The companies that can see the benefit and are early adopters are likely to stay a step (or two) ahead of their competition.

A noteworthy mention: My co-worker, Kris Smith, spoke earlier this week at the eLearning 2007 conference about using RSS and podcasting for distance education. Incidentally, he spoke with a company right after his talk that said they would have missed the mark with their new initiatives had they missed his presentation.

A company that most effectively embraces the concepts he revealed will take the lead. Eventually, however, a company that does not will simply be considered behind the times.

In fact, Google Reader is perhaps the easiest link blogging tool I've found. On any feed item you wish to share, just click the "share" link and it will automatically appear on your link blog. No configuration required.

Of course, there are pros and cons about using Google Reader to create your link blogs. Before you decide to do this, you should consider these questions:

1. Is driving traffic or improving your site ranking a key goal? If so, then realize that a link blog generated by Google Reader will not be part of your site. Rather, it will appear under a Google-related domain -- and with a long, ugly URL, to boot. For instance, the URL for my Google Reader link blog is: http://www.google.com/reader/shared/17484824062998564750 You could try declaring a subdomain (such as links.yourdomain.com) and map that to your Google reader blog. That way, it would superficially appear to be part of your site -- although it may not count that way in your site statistics or search engine rankings.
2. Do you want to tell people why you're sharing items? For many people, it's not enough to see which items of content you're recommending. They prefer to know why you thought each item was worth a look. If you think this is true of the people whom you wish to engage through your link blog, then Google Reader probably is not the right link blogging tool for you. At this point, it only allows you to share items -- not to make and share your comments about those items.

It seems to me that if your link blog is intended as part of your general search visibility and public content strategy, you'll probably need a more sophisticated tool that Google reader to generate it. I'll be covering such tools in future tutorials.

What is a Google Reader link blog good for?

If you currently don't have a blog at all, a Google Reader link blog is a very simple and fast way to get started. If you make sure to set your Google Account nickname to a term you want to be easily findable (such as your company's name), then that will show up in the title for your link blog and increase your findability somewhat. Be sure to subscribe your link blog's feed in feed aggregator services such as Technorati or Icerocket, for extra findability.

Personally, I think the best use of a Google Reader link blog is to share items with people you already know, rather than trying to engage newcomers. If someone already knows you or your company, that familiarity provides context so they can probably guess why you recommended certain links -- which partially makes up for the fact that you can't post comments about items you share via Google Reader.

Therefore, if you do create a Google Reader link blog, consider publicizing it mainly to people with whom you already have an established relationship. View it as a relationship maintenance strategy, not a general publicity tool.

Tag Blogs

As covered in my video tutorial, Google Reader also allows you to create separate link blogs where you share specific tags. These "Tag blogs" are link blogs, but they tend to be more specialized.

An excellent use for a Google Reader tag blog is to share links of interest to a smaller, defined community -- such as a project team, or users of a specific product or service.

For instance, the head of a professional association's conference committee might create a link blog that shares only conference-related links, such as potential speakers, issues to address in the program, or news about the conference venue or location. Committee members could subscribe to that tag blog's feed to keep abreast of that stream of project-related content.

...Regardless of which tool you use to create them, link blogs and tag blogs should only be part of your online content strategy. Engaging effectively with customers, colleagues, and communities generally requires original content, not just pointers to what's available elsewhere. If you're trying to engage people, they expect you to have something worthwhile to say.

We get into the link building conversation quite frequently as it is still a major factor in how Google ranks a website, BUT and it's a big BUT, we don't like anything that has to do with a link exchange, buying links or any auto-generated link building programs.

Our advice is simple: get active in publishing great content (blogging, podcasting, syndicating press rooms), syndicate your content through RSS, track the conversation online, post comments on other's blogs and actively participate in discussion groups.

I found him through a PodTech podcast, "How to Implement a Corporate Social Media Strategy". With a title like thatI was expecting a so so, "You should be creating social spaces, wiki-fi your company and watch your employees bust out of silos," snake oil pitch. But instead, Jeremiah shared his past real world corporate experience with moving a social media agenda forward sans sale pitch.

What has been even more interesting in watching his blog is the that it appears as though he is writing a book through his blog. It has been done before but this is really great stuff. It is a timely, disciplined approach to teaching the rest of the world how to develop a social media strategy for the enterprise and implement it without a need for binding or killing your grandmother's Willow.

You would be hard pressed to get advice this good from a consultant that you're paying enough money to get a new Bimmer lease every year.

Recommendation: Read all of it and subscribe.

I will admit, when I first came across this post, I was a bit skeptical. The first items listed were ones that I've seen ad nauseum on many other sites such as "write well" and "be an expert". While those are indeed important things to have in order to create and maintain a successful site, I wonder how many people out there think "I'll just write really poorly about things on which I have little interest and even less expert knowledge"? But then, in a stroke of refreshing originality when it comes to such lists, author Tony Hung goes above and beyond the other lists I've seen. He starts with the obvious, which are indeed important and a good foundation for success, and builds upon it with many, many (40 total!) other suggestions--a good number of which I haven't seen on other such lists.

Among his many suggestions, some of them require a bit of work on your part--such as doing research to be the first to break those big news stories. The payoff for accomplishing this task is huge, however; if you are the first, you have a good chance of being linked to by those coveted A-list bloggers. I also like his suggestions to interview other bloggers, invite guest bloggers, participate in contests, create your own giveaways, and make social networking work for you.

Mr. Hung goes into greater depth than I will here, so if the above sounds interesting (and it should--there is ALWAYS something more you can do to increase blog quality and traffic), I urge you to check out his post and take advantage of as many of his suggestions as are applicable/feasible. I think the biggest thing to take away from how-to articles of this sort is that persistence pays off. If you take the time and make the effort to better your blog, it will show. It's easy to say and not as simple to do, but success must be earned, and your readers will know if you take pride in maintaining a great site.

This list will undoubtedly prove useful for anyone looking to start tracking the latest online marketing buzz or simply to augment their own lists with a few hidden gems. I'm not telling you to download the OPML simply because our Capture the Conversation blog made the list (although it did), but because by providing this list, Lee has made a great contribution to the online community.

If you find the list to be overwhelming in terms of information overload, you can take Lee's suggestion and import the file and then weed out blogs that aren't as relevant for you. It's a whole lot easier to filter out what you don't want than it is to search for some of the lesser-known blogs on these topics.

This list talks primarily about mistakes made while trying to publish online for money, but the tips are also excellent for anyone wanting to build a successful blog with high readership. Many of the common complaints addressed in the article can be traced to a newness and unfamiliarity with the blogosphere. There are few ways to "get rich quick" or see fast results with blogs.

As the article states, you must *be* an expert in your field. To build a reputation takes time, and the best way to do it is to post quality articles and activiely engage and incorporate your readers. Those who look to your site as a resource will likely also have knowledge of their own to share, and it is the community spirit that often draws the large crowds. With the popularity though, it is important to retain a sense of humility--looking down on your audience is one way to cause your audience to seek similar content elsewhere.

I've pointed out similar articles in the past, but Robert's is another good one to check out. It's short and brings up many good points for any blogger looking to be successful. The key is to write well, be aware of your audience, and to avoid using hype methods such as creating a buzz before your blog is live and established or spending unneccessary money to promote the site without having the means to back up the image. Content is king is the online world--if you have great content and are active in discussions with other bloggers you will do far better in the long-run than anything a large budget could buy you. If your readers don't feel you live up to the hype, they are gone, and you never even stood a chance.

I advise you all to take a look at the aforementioned article, and any other ones like it, if you are seeking tips on how to publish successfully online. With a little knowledge and planning, you can avoid many of the pitfalls that await the unseasoned blogger.

In addition to having great content, a directory site called Aviva has created a list of 21 Surefire Tips for a Successful Blog Launch. You may not feel that all of the tips are relevant for your site, but using them as a guide can provide a great starting point for making sure your blog has some visibility.

One great tip is to make sure you don't launch before you have at least 5 blog posts. This may mean that the launch is delayed a bit while you find enough content, but the result will be worth it. One initial post isn't enough to give readers a sense of what your blog is about--having more posts will also increase the chances that you will get linked, as your voice will already be more established.

Making it easy for people to read your great content is another way to help ensure success. You should provide several ways to syndicate your content, including easy to find links to RSS feeds, an opportunity to receive posts via email, and even those trendy social bookmarking icons to make it easy to submit great posts to those sites.

You shouldn't rely on your readers to submit your best posts. If you feel you've provided something that is helpful and informative, you should submit to all the major sites, such as Digg, Del.icio.us, etc.

The article also mentions a topic we've delved into in the past: strategic commenting. The motto here is that you get what you give. If you participate in other conversations and leave a link to your site, the chances are that people interested in that other site might pay you a visit to see what you have to say. Getting traffic that is already like-minded can help boost your readership. However, you should still include a link in places such as your email signature or your Myspace profile--every little bit helps.

I encourage everyone thinking about creating a new blog to check out the article. For those of you with existing blogs, the list provides an opportunity to see if you are taking full advantage of all social and syndicating tools available. If you're not making it easy for people to find you, link to you, or subscribe to you, then you are most likely losing out on reaching a larger audience and your blog is not reaching its full potential.

Why is this significant? In our experience talking with organizations about online reputation management, they often respond saying they monitor online conversations using Google Alerts. The previous version of Google Alerts failed in capturing the online conversation due to the lack of blog tracking. Now when anyone signs up for Google Alerts they will have the option of tracking blogs in addition to Google News, groups and the web. Even better, the default is set to the Comprehensive Alert to track all, giving communications professionals the ability to track a deeper thread in the online conversation.

My issue with Google Alerts is that its still an email-based deliver system. Why not put an RSS feed directly on the Google Alerts sign up page?

As Google is rolling out advanced features in many areas of its business, we can only assume there will be a RSS tie in with Google Reader.

Our biggest concern from a usability standpoint is blog spam. We'll be testing this out to see if the quality of the results from blog posts are good or not. There are companies out there like Collective Intellect and Umbria that have entire systems to track the blogosphere and in our opinion their greatest value is eliminating blog spam. Try doing a Technorati search on a specific topic, 90% of the results are irrelevant, maybe popular, but irrelevant. Google Alerts is no way a substitute for a brand monitoring systems like Collective Intellect and Umbria, but it is a first step into understanding the impact.

So it's still up to the Communications Analysts to take the data from search that is relevant, the data from blogs that are popular and craft a strategy to identify and converse with the influencers.

Note to PR Firms: Google Alerts just upped itself a notch to becoming your clipping service - and it's Free.

Others in the Google Alerts conversation:
TechCrunch
Google Blog

Remember those essays you tried to write as a High School Senior, desperately trying to convince a committee that YOU deserved the scholarship money? Well, those essays still exist, but at least one of those contests has moved away from your typical Word Document submitted via email or snail mail. On a website titled Scholarships Around the US, collegiate hopefuls have the opportunity to apply for several scholarships, including one for blogging.

For someone who has a passion for blogging and also has the ability to write well, this sort of scholarship highlights how effective and pervasive the blogging medium has become. This scholarship isn't asking for something so obscure that only the geekiest kids will have a clue as to what's going on. Instead, the scholarship is tapping into a rapidly growing subsection of the teenage population--teens who blog.

With the prevalence of social sites such as LiveJournal and MySpace, most young people with access to the internet are either already blogging or know someone who does. By having a contest for bloggers, the scholarship immediately has a large pool of passionate individuals who actively write new content on a regular basis. The trick for those students is to take their passion and turn it into something coherent and free of the shortcuts and slang that tend to pervade the digital writings of the young.

With several topics asking why blogging is important to the student, how they've used it to help themselves or others, and other such introspective questions of a blogging nature, the responses should be interesting. I would be curious to read some of the submissions and see how blogging affects the younger generation and how they might incorporate it into higher learning.

Almost a month ago we posted "Syndicating Press Room - The 9th Free Thing Every Site Should Do" in response to Seth Godin's post about 8 things every site should do.

It continues to be our strong belief that if you are responsible for visibility, public relations or expert positioning one of the first items that should be addressed is getting your press room syndicating RSS feeds for the masses.

The residual benefits are tremendous and the impact can be immediate.

Others in the conversation:
Steve Rubel
Marshall Kirkpatick

Earlier in the week, Anil Dash, of Six Apart (best known for Movable Type, the platform on which this blog runs), posted an interesting article on starting a corporate blog.

Anil starts off his article with an example which will no doubt be familiar to you if you've ever tried to pitch blogging to a company unaware of its potential: "Why would I want a blog?" It is a topic we discuss in length with our clients, outlining the many benefits of having a blog and an RSS feed. Not only are blogs extremely easy to update, but they can also allow for feedback from your audience.

As for the 6 steps Anil mentions? They are all pretty solid rules that any blog-wary company should follow--especially if they are not completely familiar or comfortable with the media. For the uninitiated, it's important to take time and explore the blogging concept, both in the administration of it and the actual blog viewable by the public.

It's also extremely important to have goals set beforehand--to find out the expectations of your team members as well as to develop a focused direction for your blog. The article also stresses the importance of setting policies BEFORE you encounter problems, such as setting a draft blogging policy.

As someone who is an active blogger and also someone who works for a company devoted to helping business blog, Anil offers great insight for companies wondering why and how they should blog.

Have you ever noticed just how many social bookmarking icons some sites seem to have? While many still have only a select few (us included), there are an increasing number of sites that have taken to including every bookmarking link under the sun. I am not the only person to notice this--it has been a source of much discussion between me and a friend of mine, as well as appearing as a topic of note over on David Shea's Mezzoblue.

While it is nice to have convenient links with which to bookmark items, is it REALLY necessary to have 43 different icons? In all honesty, how many of your readers are using more than a select half dozen or so? At what point do you say enough is enough? What started as a way to help people easily bookmark your site (and perhaps help you get to the top of those coveted Digg or Slashdot pages) has now turned into a veritable one-upmanship of who can have the most tiny icons at the bottom of their entries.

Only time will tell as to whether this latest trend will disappear, leaving us to manage to social bookmark sites on our own without the aid of icons, or whether only the most important few will remain, making it easier and more effiicent to bookmark, not having to skim a sea of icons in order to find the one that you have even heard of and actually want to use. Regardless, when perceived convenience comes at the price of usability, something has got to change!

In our experience working with companies trying to improve their web site experience, we find that only about 10 percent of their website gets updated on a frequent basis, and a majority of the time those updates are made in the press room area.

So one of the first recommendations we make is to get that press room working for them. Crank up the RSS feed and start syndicating. You can't expect people to remember to periodically come to your website and scan through the pages to see if there's any new information. And it would be naive if you think your press contacts are habitually combing your press room for new info.

Since a syndicating press room is built on a blog platform, every time new information is posted into the press room, it syndicates through an RSS feed which pings the search engines and notifying feed subscribers of new content. So it serves a dual purpose of driving search visibility and notifying your followers of new content.

There have been instances of "pure bliss response" when our clients have let their press contacts know that they now have an RSS feed and will take them off the email distribution list. Making your press contacts happy and keeping them current goes a long way.

Now, to say that this is free, is assuming that you have the skill sets internally to design and develop the syndicating press room on a blog platform. If you're seeking a do-it-yourself approach we recommend MovableType and WordPress as blog platforms.

What does a syndicating press room look like? Here are some samples of news rooms we have customized on blog platforms:
http://www.quistfinancial.com/press-room/
http://www.organicnewsroom.com/
http://www.tensorcomm.com/press-room/
http://www.smartsearchmarketing.com/news/

Yesterday on one of my other blogs, The Right Conversation, I wrote about why most CEOs shouldn't blog. And I mean it -- generally it's not the best use of a blog or of a CEO's time and abilities.

Coincidentally, yesterday on the weblog of the International Association of Online Communicators, my colleague Debbie Weil pondered "Is it OK to ghostwrite a CEO blog?" -- followed up today with "Should a ghostblogger for a CEO reveal him or herself?"

My answer to Debbie's first question: Nope, I think ghostwritten blogs are almost always a bad idea -- possibly a worse idea than starting a CEO blog in the first place, at most companies.

And to her second question: If you try to ghostwrite a blog, I doubt you'll have to worry about whether you should reveal that fact. Instead, you'd better believe someone will "out" you about it, and that probably won't be fun.

Here's why I think ghostwritten blogs are a bad idea...

Well, as often happens when I don't get around to writing something down, some smart blogger beats me to it. That's just what Beth Kanter did. See her Aug. 25 post, Collaborative Models for Capturing and Sharing Conference Notes at Nonprofit Gatherings.

As a matter of fact, go read her post first. What I'm about to say will make more sense after you read her excellent overview of tools and techniques.

(Really, go read it. I'll wait. It's cool.)

...OK, now that you've read Beth's overview of collaboration tools and strategies that can help capture the value of conferences (and hopefully followed her links to some examples), here's my bigger-picture thought for today:

Conference planners should consider how to capture and extend the value of the conference during the planning process. Because for many people and organizations, what gets captured from a conference is more valuable than the event itself.

So here's a quick checklist of what I think conference planners should start taking into account...

This indicates a shift in the way the business travel industry is doing business. They are catching on to the fact that if they don't disclose surcharges in a transparent manner, change policies, or provide other instances of inadequate or frustrating service, the bloggers will quickly relay the information. This viral spread of information can of course have quite a negative impact, especially among the tech-savvy business traveler demographic.

The article goes on to state that some business, such as Mariott International, have embraced the blogosphere and reach out to the bloggers in a consistent, not just reactionary, manner. Marriot asks bloggers to speak to their teams, attend press meetings, and offers them advance press info.

In addition, the company is doing something that we've stressed the importance of in several of our previous blog posts--they follow the buzz. There is an employee in the company whose job it is to monitor the blogophere and report back on the buzz. Marriot has also utilized bloggers as a way to quickly disseminate new plans. As one might imagine, the word spread within minutes.

Business travel bloggers have still not reached their potential in terms of influence, but it seems only a matter of time. As of yet, many have simply not had the time to blog, or else have not seen the immediate benefit. As more and more companies make it apparent that they are heeding the words of the business travel blogger, I think we will see an increasing number of bloggers.

I think that's great news. I am one of those people who often consults the opinions of the blogosphere regarding companies and products, and with the increasing power of business travel blogs, the industry will most likely have to stay honest and at least a little transparent in order to continue to flourish.