Conversational Media Marketing

I rarely ever write personal posts on this site. That's what Twitter and Facebook are for these days. However, you may (or may not) have noticed there was little activity here last week. That's because I took a few days off to visit family.

My father, Clarence Ray, turned 80 last Wednesday and I spent a few days with he and mom. Internet access where they live is non-existent.

I then spent the weekend in Nashville with my son Alan, who turned 26 on the 26th (I read somewhere that's called the "golden" birthday). Needless to say, I didn't worry too much about getting online.

Now, I'm back at work trying to catch up. Hopefully, that includes more posts as well.

The other day I talked about the value in using link posts as a way to tide you over and keep traffic coming on days you don't blog. I've been giving that some more thought and have come to an alternate, though not completely opposite conclusion.

The thing is, if you don't blog at least three times a week, there's a chance you're going to be written off. I mean, who wants to check their feed reader and see nothing more than a series of link posts. There was one blogger with whom I had that experience and, as a result, removed him from my list of feeds.

So, I guess it's a matter of keeping everything in balance. A few link posts are good, but visitors and subscribers want to hear what you have to say.

People like BL Ochman and Steve Rubel are good examples of this practice.

Marketing Pilgrim's Andy Beal recently talked about using a new Twitter-related app, Tweet Scan, as a tool for managing your online reputation. (Tweet Scan is a real-time search engine for Twitter posts.) I've got another spin on the use of the app, one that's not very pleasant.

Lately, I've received notifications that I'm being followed by those who've set up Twitter accounts strictly for marketing purposes. For example, I've tweeted that I was about to go on a diet. Within a day or two of mentioning that, I received notices that , and were following me.  It could be merely coincidental, but, then again, given Tweet Scan's ability to search by keyword, perhaps not.

Are we facing a trend where marketers/advertisers will use apps like Tweet Scan to search for prospects (suspects)? I'm thinking so. And I'm concerned about the consequences.

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I'm fortunate to write a monthly article for Practical Ecommerce magazine. This month I chose as the topic, Online Reputation Management.

Like it or not, people are talking about you online. They're talking about your brand, your products, industry and competition. Do you know what they are saying? If not, why not? Can you afford not to listen?

I mentioned the other day that it's better to opt for "quality over quantity" when blogging. But, what can you do to keep traffic coming on those days when you have nothing to say?

One way is through the use of link posts, which are one of seven posting styles as defined by veteran blogger Amy Gahran. If the links are ones worth reading, it's not just filler content and will benefit your community.

The best way I've found to make the process of link posts painless is to use . Here are some explanations of how to set up link posts that I've found as it pertains to various blog platforms:

• Movable Type
• WordPress
• Typepad

So, if you're like me and either don't have the time to post daily or feel you don't have anything of substance to say, try link posts.

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Back in what I now refer to as the "good old days" of business blogging (2003-2005... and I know, nobody cares about the past...I seem to revel in it), there was a proliferation of blog networks, Weblogs Inc, b5media, Creative Weblogging, Gawker, Shiny Media and others.

Many of these mimicked each other in terms of topics covered. I mean, what's a respectable blog network without a gadget blog, right?

Though I'm fond of taking backward glances, I also look forward (maybe one has to do with the other) and here's what I see: Networks similar in scope to those just mentioned consisting not of topical blogs, but of niche-specific social networks. A gadget social network, weight loss social network, reality television social network, etc.

Take the Weblogs Inc or b5 model and lay it over a social networking platform and there you have it. A "network" of social network sites. Get the idea?