Conversational Media Marketing

Face it, this blog started out with a clearly defined purpose, but has morphed into more of a "whatever strikes my fancy at the moment," and that's no way to run a blog, not for the long-term at least.

That's why it dawned on me to use the blog as fodder for the new book I'm writing...not exclusively, but largely. Taking that tack brings with it a couple of benefits at least.

1. You get to see the core of the book develop right before your eyes.
2. You get something other than screeds and rants. The blog becomes what I've always wanted it to be, an informative, helpful piece of online real estate. That's not to say you won't still get the occasional rant or knee-jerk reaction to some news breaking in the blogosphere, but I hope that becomes less frequent.

So, when does this start? As soon as I can get to it, but within the next week or two at the most. Stay tuned!

I saw this job posting earlier today from Andy Sernovitz at word of mouth marketing agency GasPedal for a full-time blogger/writer/editor to work with them. Don't tell my boss at Bizzuka, but I started salivating when I read it. (No, really, I did.)

Aside from the fact it's located in the often frozen mid-western city of Chicago, it's a dream job to be sure...for someone. Since I won't be applying, maybe it's the one you've been waiting for. And maybe it's waiting for you.

I've been chomping at the bit to make this announcement. I've decided to write a second book and, would you believe it, two publishers are interested.

Talking points:

• I'm not ready to get too specific about the topic, except to say that it's on social media marketing and that it's targeted to small business and marketing professionals.
• Two publishers have expressed interest in accepting proposals; the two shall remain nameless for now, but are names you'd recognize.
• If neither accepts the proposal (which, btw, I've targeted to finish on my birthday, Oct. 13) I will either look for another publisher or self-publish; either way, the book gets written.

I was asked to help spread a little WOM and link love about an event and Blog Council are sponsoring called BlogWell: How Big Companies Use Social Media.  It's an event where eight well-known corporations present case studies about how they're using blogs and social media. (Hence the title. Heh.)

The companies in question are...

• Cisco Systems
• Graco
• The Home Depot
• Intel
• Kaiser Permanente
• UPS   
• Walmart
• Wells Fargo

"Their goal is to demystify corporate blogging and provide tangible examples for all those companies who haven't gotten started yet," said Blog Council's Michael Rubin.

The even is being held October 28, San Jose Convention Center.

Now, continue reading to hear my thoughts and an idea for an SMB version of this.

A question was asked in the LinkedIn bloggers group, "Do you have a system for creating blog post titles? If so, what is it?"

I responded with this...

My philosophy is that we speak to two audiences with our blog, one human and one machine (i.e., search engines). As such, the post titles have to make sense to both. Creating titles that do the job well is both art and science. And, of course, it depends on whether we really care about reaching either audience, or both as the case may be.

My procedure is normally to incorporate a keyword or keyword phrase into the post title and to frontload it if at all possible. I then repeat those keywords in the post itself a couple of times, depending on the length of the post. Obviously, that's in an effort to appeal to Google. As you are aware, the post title is turned into an HTML title tag, at least in the most popularly used blog platforms. That's important from an SEO perspective.

The art then is to wrap a sentence or phrase around those keywords that make sense to the human reader. I've almost completely abandoned writing "catchy" titles in favor of ones that are more descriptive of the topic at hand. I'll leave the catchy titles to the likes of Seth Godin. He already has plenty of traffic. Me, I need pagerank.

Now, let's suppose one of my posts returns well for someone searching a particular keyword. It increases the likelyhood that one they're looking for and what I'm talking about are going to be a better match. What I don't need is a majority of my traffic hitting the site, then quickly leaving. Not only that, but using a more descriptive title will help the reader vet whether the post is worth their time to begin with.

For example, in this post, , I opted for descriptive and use of frontloaded keywords. I'd like to think the last phrase is descriptive enough for human readers to see where I'm going with it.

Conversely, in this post, A list of things to do before I die , I went for catchy. The former was intended to be more polemic and informative. The latter was a bit more personal.

Anyway, long answer, which I hope made sense.

• Two audiences, humans and machines
• Have to appeal to both
• Use fron-tloaded keywords in combination with descriptive titles
• Leave the catchy stuff to bloggers who can afford the luxury

Email Insider just done with several demographic groups age 34 and under regarding their channel preferences for receiving and/or being influenced by promotional messages.

The four groups were:

• Teens: 15-17 years old, still in high school
• College students: 18-24 year olds still in school
• Wired: young males, post-college between the ages of 18 and 34 years old, without kids. They are employed full-time or self-employed, have a good income — an annual household income of at least $35K
• Young homemakers: females, between the ages of 18 and 34 years old, who consider “homemaker” to be their primary occupation

To say that I'm excited about BlogWorld and New Media Expo this coming weekend would be an understatement of the grandest proportions. It has nothing to do with the fact that I'm speaking, or that I'm getting to go, along with my wife Amie, to Vegas (which is actually more of a treat for her than me as she used to live there a number of years ago).

Instead, it has everything to do with the fact that I'll finally get to meet so many of you, my virtual family and friends. People I've grown to know, admire and deeply respect.

For some, it will be a time of reconnecting. For others, including many I've known via online channels for years, this will be a first opportunity to meet face-to-face. I intend to get very little sleep and wear myself out shaking hands, hugging necks and otherwise meeting and greeting.

There are two very special cadres of people I want to meet and/or see again. One is my Realtor friends, most especially those that purchased Realty Blogging. The other are members of the IBNMA, the blogging and new media organization I have the privilege of serving as president. We're going to have a big ole time together!

Of course, there is always the fear of not making a good impression. Sometimes relationships are best kept virtual. Still, I'm hopeful that I can overcome my social ineptitude, remember when to keep my mouth shut, and make at least a semblance of a good impression.

Regardless, I plan to make the most of the time as I know the weekend will whirl by. And if you're interested in hooking up, just look for the short, bald guy with the silly grin and hint of a southern accent. That'll most likely be me.

• 50 Ways to Take Your Blog to the Next Level | chrisbrogan.com
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• You Can Do Your Job Without Twitter | chrisbrogan.com
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• B.L. Ochman's weblog: Internet marketing strategy, social media trends, news and commentary.: Study: Companies Say Social Media Has Transformative Results
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• Andy Sernovitz's Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That!: Best Practices in Social Media
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• Goodness Gracious, Great Blogs of Fire! » The Buzz Bin
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• Servant of Chaos: The Ryder Cup of Word of Mouth, Buzz and Viral
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• Blog World Expo Las Vegas | WebProNews
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• Diva Marketing Blog - Marketing blogs and corporate social media strategies for innovative companies
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Actually, that title is a little melodramatic. While there are a number of things I'd like to do before my time is up, most of which have nothing to do with work or business, here's a short list of things that are:

Write another book, or two, or three - I'm working on a proposal right now in fact.

Find ways to monetize around the book - Seminars, speaking engagements, teleclasses, online courses; I want to take a lesson from people like Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff who understand how to do this and do it well.

Provide marketing services to the home stagers - This is an burgeoning cottage industry that is underserved so far as marketing services are concerned. I think in the next three to five years we'll see an outbreak of growth. It doesn't hurt that my wife is a home stager.

Start a online marketing agency which emphasizes social media - I keep pitching my CEO at Bizzuka that we should branch out and start a new division to provide such services. Like the constant drip of Chinese water torture, I'm determined to wear him down.

Bring my company Bizzuka to a place of national prominence and use social media marketing to do it - Right now, we're a small, regionally-focused business, but one with a large vision. That is to become an industry-recognized Web content management provider used by small business and creative professionals alike. If I can use social media as the catalyst, that's all the better.

Become known as the "social media handyman" - I let that domain get bought out from under me, but think it's still a useful moniker and fits well with my tactical approach to social media marketing. The high-level strategy stuff I can leave to others. I'll teach you how to do it and help you along the way.

Lay a strong foundation for IBNMA and see it reach maturity - I'm deeply committed to seeing IBNMA reach its potential and unwilling to entertain any thoughts or notions to the contrary.

That's it. At least that's all I'm willing to commit to for the moment. It's enough to fill most every waking hour for the next few years, don't you think?