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Archive for the ‘blogging’ Category

Why Ghost Blogging Is Wrong

09.02.24

A few months ago, following a presentation I gave on ethics at Centennial College, I wrote a post on the ethics of ghost-writing in social media.

This past Sunday I decided, on a whim, to present a very similar session at PodCamp Toronto. At that session, Leesa Barnes, a fairly well-known person in the Canadian social media scene, started a heated conversation when she revealed that her blog is ghost-written. She gave a couple of reasons (I’m paraphrasing here; hopefully I’m doing them justice):

She “hates” writing, so outsources that which she hates;
As her business grows, she needs to free-up time for other tasks;
Writing blog posts isn’t a part of the relationship-building process – that comes from replying to the comments (note: Leesa says she does this)
She uses other tactics, such as video and audio, herself.

First-up, I want to thank Leesa for saying what she did. It sparked a dynamic conversation that continued throughout Sunday and into Monday, and I want to acknowledge that. It would have been a much less interesting session without her contribution.

I had a very interesting conversation with Leesa, Danny Brown and Lindsey Patten (and others along the way) about this on Sunday night (viewable here – taken from this search - the posts I saw; read from bottom to top).

Writing is part of blog relationship building

With that said, I think that having someone ghost-blog for you is misleading and wrong. I do think that writing the posts is a part of the relationship building process and, to quote a recent post from Leesa (entitled Why You Should Never Outsource Your Social Media Tasks & What You Should Delegate Instead):

Huh? When did outsourcing your relationships become okay?

Now, there’s a nuance here. I have no problem with multi-authored blogs where different authors are listed. I’m fine with guest posts (though I suggest not over-doing it). I have no ethical problems with delegating the writing when that is clearly and plainly disclosed (though I would argue the blog’s effectiveness would drop so it’s not a good approach). My problem is with undisclosed ghost-blogging.

Why undisclosed ghost blogging is wrong

Here are the reasons I think ghost blogging is a very, very bad idea. From my perspective:

People reading a blog expect the person listed as the author to be the one writing the post. This expectation is critical, and is a key difference between new and old media (where, for many people, this kind of practice long ago eroded the credibility of many tactics);
The danger of damage to your credibility and reputation if you get found out easily outweighs the benefits you get from hiding the true author;
The CEO doesn’t need to be the face of a company online. If your company has grown and the CEO needs to focus elsewhere, someone else could write, or you could set up a group blog;
There are plenty of other social media (and other online) tools out there. If authentic, transparent blogging doesn’t work for you, use a different tool;
Social media is built on trust. By misleading people as to the author, you lose the trust when that deception is revealed, especially if you’re an “expert” in this area. In another quote from the aforementioned post:

“Well, you know the old adage which is people do business with those they like and trust, right?”

Alternatives

So, what options do you have if you really don’t want to write but realize that you shouldn’t have a blog ghost-written?

Multi-author: Have multiple people in your organization (or a group of friends, if it’s a personal site) write – under their own names. This way you can reduce the workload
Different blogger: Do you have to be the face of your company online, or is this an ego issue? If you don’t have to be that face, perhaps someone else could write it under their own name.
Disclosure: Include a note on each blog page that someone else writes the post, e.g. ”I don’t write these posts, but I do read them and I stand behind them.” I think it’s sub-optimal as some authenticity is lost, but it’s feasible.
Use different media: Do you really have to have a blog? How about using video, or micro-blogging, or any other social or “traditional” digital tactics? Blogs are just one tool.

If you’re thinking of having your blog ghost-written, reconsider. The risks outweigh the benefits.

Your take

I’m well aware that there’s plenty of debate on this issue, so I posted a quick poll online for people to take. At time of writing, with 78 responses only 19 per cent (15 people) thought undisclosed ghost blogging was ok.

What do you think? Take the poll, leave a comment and let’s debate this.

Posted in: 301, blogging, ethics, social media

Tags: authenticity, disclosure, ethics, ghost blogging, snake oil

110Comments

Blogging vs. Twitter – Commitment and Effort – Another Perspective

09.02.04

I recently received an excellent comment on my recent post Blogging vs. Twitter: A Different Kind of Commitment from Doc Kane (@dockane on Twitter), principal of Chicago-based Roscommon – a ~~marketing, communications and PR~~ professional writing services agency. Thoughtful and insightful, I thought it really drove the discussion forward.

His view: the difference between blogging and Twitter isn’t commitment, it’s effort.

With Doc’s permission, I’m re-publishing his comment here, as a post, for your input. What do you think?

I think there are a few simple reasons why we’re seeing businesses jump into Twitter much more readily than they have blogging, and in my opinion, those reasons are mainly related to the effort required to create a blog; a lack of management’s awareness about how to create and maintain one; and the simplicity and effectiveness of Twitter as a communications tool. Unlike many other forms of new technology, one does not need to be a tech whiz to get up and running on Twitter – and this is a huge advantage over blogging.

Blogs are a lot of work. To really pull it off consistently one has to have a strategy, enough content to write consistently AND the desire to even do it. But before even starting with a blog, blogging itself needs to first be recognized as valuable by upper management (which I think is still not even close to being a reality), controllable by middle management (in terms of helping/guiding the company blogger) and executable by staff willing/able to do it. And this, I think is where everything stalls. . .before it ever even gets started. . .

In my opinion, the perceived TIME it takes to create a blog isn’t a factor…it’s the EFFORT.

A blog requires major planning and concept development on the part of the writer. So the immediate perception of blogging then, isn’t. . “Ugh, this is going to be time-consuming” (ALL work is time-consuming). . .it’s “Ugh, this is going to take a lot of EFFORT”. And effort here, is the key. This is particularly true of course, when the assignment to create a blog falls on an employee who could really care less about what they’re writing about. Trying to be passionate about a company or product that’s not your own, or that you’re not completely in love with, is not easy for any salaried writer/marketer/comms person. Where you see the difference is with blogs written by consultants and business owners. The reason is because they have a passion for, and a vested interest in, getting the word out. They have to blog even if it takes a lot of effort! The salaried writer hardly shares that same spirit or necessity.

So essentially, it becomes a big pain in the butt for everyone involved, making it easier to just shelve the idea until it becomes “necessary”. . .or something comes along that’s simpler: like Twitter.

When people ask me to explain to them what Twitter is, I tell them it’s like “public texting.” They get it right away. Okay, so now imagine you’re a manager, and you tell your colleague you want them to hang out on Twitter for a while and text people. Do you think they’ll be more open to that than all the work that comes with creating a blog post? You bet. One can sit down and rattle off Tweets to different people machine-gun style, one after another, without much thought. . .or at least until they really get strapped for characters, or are trying paste a link, etc. Not so with a blog: think, write, edit, give to boss, re-edit, post in CMS, catch typo, re-edit, etc.

Then factor in the time to train, and the software and IT costs, and you’re looking a behemoth of a project just to have an employee create what many still think is a series of ego pieces. Blogging’s early function as public diaries for quirky personalities still haunts the platform to this day. CEOs don’t dig public diaries. Especially when they’re public companies.

So, in my opinion. . .it’s the hassle-factor and a lack of knowledge, not the time-factor that keeps the blogging at bay. Video/Podcasting? Good luck. Ask someone to upload a video to any video sharing service and they’ll look at you like you’re nuts!

Isn’t that something IT does?????

Posted in: blogging, trends, Twitter

Tags: blog, commitment, effort, time, Twitter

21Comments

Rethinking Blogger Relations

09.02.03

ROI Is blogger relations worth it? Is the ROI sufficient to justify the investment?

I’ve written a few times in the past about blogger relations, from a range of angles – from the tactic in general to the practicalities of pitching bloggers to the results from a blogger’s perspective. However, I recently got to thinking about it in a different way.

I think it’s important to continually question what we’re doing – it’s the only way we’ll continue to improve over time. With that in mind, I got to thinking about whether blogger relations is really worth the investment in time and money necessary to do it well.

A little context

Here’s the issue: most people in the social media fishbowl, including me, will advocate a take-it-slow approach to engaging in social media. My preferred approach has three broad steps:

Listen
Engage
Develop

For this to work, you need to put in a substantial amount of time up-front. That time is spent monitoring what’s going on, identifying influencers, measuring and analyzing trends and getting to know peoples’ preferences.

From an agency perspective, that can be a considerable investment up-front before you even begin to engage.

When you do begin to engage, blogger relations best practices (take Todd Defren’s blogger relations bookmark for example) require continued time-intensive work in both pitching and engagement.

Is that investment worth it?

Sure there are the TechCrunches, the Mashables and the ReadWriteWebs. However, most bloggers don’t have those audiences. Most bloggers don’t have a tenth or even a hundredth of that audience.

Given those low audience numbers, does the investment in time required for good blogger relations give the necessary pay-off?

A few arguments

Even setting aside the impact of corporate culture, there are a few factors to consider:

Initial time: If you add up the time you need to invest to get to know a blogger, engage with them before pitching, then tailor a pitch to that blogger, you’re probably looking at least an hour or two per blogger, if not more.
Future time: Of course, once you’ve done the groundwork, the incremental time investment will be lower for future pitches.
Relationships: Established relationships have greater value than immediate outreach – future issues management, for example.
Search engines: Online content with a positive tone can help build companies’ reputations through Google search results.
Long tail: Audience size can be much bigger than stated reader numbers – the long tail of online content can be large over time.
Research: If you offer a product or service where purchase is research-based and you’re not engaging, then people are making decisions on purchases based on everyone’s voice but your own.
More than pitching: Blogger relations encompases more than just proactive pitching – it can also include both reactive engagement with people who talk about your product, company or industry. I’ve argued before that customer service is public relations; nowhere is this more true than online.

Conclusion

My conclusion, perhaps unsurprisingly, is that it is worth the investment.

One thing to remember is that traditional media relations takes time, too, if done right. Researching reporters, tailoring your pitch, etc takes time while reporters for mainstream outlets are, in my experience, less likely to write about the story than relevant bloggers may be. What’s more, the long-term effects of building relationships with relevant people (both online and offline) can be substantial.

So, yes – the time investment is substantial, but so are the benefits – better relationships, more coverage, better coverage, SEO, customer service improvements and more. Still, the required investment makes measurement and analysis of results all the more important, which is why we’re putting a lot of effort into that right now.

What do you think? Is the ROI on blogger relations worth it?

Posted in: blogger relations, blogging, media relations, public relations

Tags: bloggerrelations, customerservice, ROI

19Comments

Blogging vs. Twitter: A Different Kind of Commitment

09.02.02

Talking with Michael O’Connor Clarke the other day, we both commented on a trend we’ve both observed recently:

Corporations seem to be much more willing to sign-up for Twitter than they are to set up blogs.

We’re seeing companies big and small signing up for Twitter; from Ford, General Motors, Southwest Airlines and Dell to smaller companies like Natura Mattresses and Freshbooks (check out this list of organizations on Twitter).

This isn’t always intuitive. While some companies see the inherent value and potential in communicating directly with their customers, many others are are afraid of it. It’s unpredictable, it’s often not on the topics that you want to talk about and, well, it’s something new for many organizations. So, something must be making the difference.

Of course, we have to remember that social media as a genre of tools is much more advanced, high-profile and, to an extent, accepted than it was a few years ago when blogging first broke. However, that hasn’t helped podcasting become mainstream news the way that Twitter has over the last few months.

Is something else making the difference?

Commitment

Is Twitter less of a time commitment than blogging?

As with so many things, it depends.

If you, or your organization, uses Twitter extensively, it may not be less of a time commitment than blogging. However, it certainly is a different type of commitment.

Writing a blog post takes a solid block of time – you need to set aside anywhere from 20 minutes to a couple of hours for the process, depending on the kind of post you’re writing. Many of my posts here take upwards of 90 minutes to pull together. That can turn blogging into a big black hole for your time.

Twitter is a different kind of commitment. Each post takes just little time. That can give Twitter the appearance of requiring much less of a commitment than writing a “traditional” blog.

In reality that’s not necessarily the case. Many people post multiple times per day. What’s more, as a company representative on Twitter, you need to put a little more thought into what you write. That can make it just as time consuming over the course of a day as blogging.

Still, is the perception that Twitter takes less of a time commitment leading to companies engaging more readily through it?

What’s your take?

Posted in: blogging, trends, Twitter

Tags: blog, commitment, time, Twitter

47Comments

Live-Blogging Breaking News – A Good Idea?

09.01.23

Shooting suspect in Toronto subway shooting Yesterday morning, at roughly 10:45am, a gunman opened fire in a subway station in downtown Toronto.

That incident alone was guaranteed to generate news interest; however one newspaper’s coverage caught my interest.

The Globe and Mail newspaper used Cover It Live (which I’ve used in the past) to live-blog its coverage following the shooting, complete with (moderated) user comments. I’ve embedded the coverage below.

This is a short post, as I want to hear your feedback.

My take: this is a great experiment. I tuned-in after a couple of hours, but found it very helpful to see real-time updates as developments broke and more information came to life.

One important point to remember: this coverage is after the fact; note that when this started they’d already updated their breaking news story. In my view, this is simply a different medium for reporting the news, albeit a very modern one.

So, what do you think about this experiment? Take a look at the coverage below.

What’s your take on the way the Globe covered the shooting? Is this kind of reporting effective? What would improve it? Is it, as one person suggested, a privacy issue in your eyes? Does this means of reporting news work for you?

(Thanks to Mathew Ingram for helping me to embed the coverage)

Update: CTV employee and former globeandmail.com staffer Bill Doskoch gives his take here, and Mathew Ingram has also given his thoughts on live-blogging news.

Posted in: blogging, media

Tags: CoverItLive, Globe and Mail, live-blogging

6Comments

Blogs Aren’t Inherently Trustworthy

09.01.22

Back in December, Forrester set off a bit of a blog storm when Josh Bernoff reported that consumers trust company blogs less than any channel.

I paid attention to it at the time, but decided not to weigh-in at the time. Today, however, I listened to the latest episode of the Shill podcast where, amidst the tomfoolery, Dave Jones and Doug Walker made the excellent point that blogs by themselves aren’t inherently trustworthy.

I agree.

Blogs are a tool. From a communicator’s perspective, blogs sit alongside news releases, pitches, events, media advisories and all other sorts of communications products. Is a speech inherently trustworthy? No, but the person behind it might be.

It’s the people that are behind the blogs that build trust – not the blogs themselves.

Why is trust in corporate blogs low? Because people don’t trust corporations (as a whole – yes, I know there are some companies that some people do trust).

Who do people trust? People like them. How do you build trust in your blog? You show the people behind the page.

Blogs don’t build trust. Genuine people, writing like themselves rather than machines, writing useful, authentic content rather than just messages, build trust.

Oh, and while I’m at it I should point out that this stuff won’t work in a vacuum, either. You can have the best people in the world on your blog but if your company’s actions don’t match the words, the words are hollow. Social media outreach won’t work for everyone.

What do you think? How can corporate blogs build trust?

Posted in: blogging, social media

Tags: blog, Dave Jones, Doug Walker, Forrester, Josh Bernoff, Shill podcast, trust

9Comments

My Top Twelve Posts Of 2008

08.12.27

My life, and my career in particular, is drastically different now compared to this time last year. If numerous comments from other people are anything to go by, this site and the posts I write are very different now too.

Looking back over all 220+ posts I’ve written this year, you really can see my life reflected my posts.

So, here’s a quick look back at my 2008 via my favourite davefleet.com posts from each month in the year. These aren’t necessarily the most commented-on posts (I’ve listed those too); these are the ones that I like and which reflect what was going-on at each time.

January – How to use Twitter Packs – and Twitter – Successfully

Twitter played a huge role in my social media activity in 2008. In January, Chris Brogan created a new site to help new users find their feet on the service.

“The idea behind Twitter Packs is simple – create lists of people with shared interests, geography, etc, so that new users can find a few good people to follow and help them get up to speed on Twitter. Chris decided to use a wiki to let the community contribute to the lists.

Great idea in my book.”

Most commented post this month: 42 Top Social Media Tips and Tools

February – Using Social Media To Support Cancer Research

On February 21, the day before PodCamp Toronto 2008, I announced an effort to use social media tools to raise money for cancer research as I ran the 2008 Boston Marathon. In two months, we raised $2,400. This was one of my proudest – and most satisfying – achievements for 2008.

Most commented post this month: I’m Done with Social Media

March – Enough with Blogger Strategies!

“Social media is about more than blogging or blogger relations. These are two great tactics, but just as with any other communications project you should take a look at the situation and pick the appropriate tools.”

My frustration with social media buzz-words led me to flesh-out and articulate my ideas around a sound ‘baby steps’ approach to the area.

Most commented post this month: Scoble’s Dead Wrong about Twitter

April – Five Tools To Base Your Online Life Around

Throughout 2008 I struggled with finding a social media/life balance. Later in the year I started to find a comfortable middle ground; these five tools largely continue to form the foundation of my online presence:

Google Reader
Twitter
Delicious
iGoogle (this has largely dropped off my radar)
Blog search engines

Most commented post this month: 6 Ways to Make Your Life Easier With Delicious

May – How To Write A Good Communications Plan – Part 1 – An Overview

My first post in May 2008 kicked-off a series of posts on how to write a good communications plan. Later in the summer, I edited and compiled these into a free ebook on strategic communications planning.

This post is still consistently among the most-viewed pages on this site.

Most commented post this month: Same as above. Next-most commented: Why Apple Doesn’t Need Social Media

June – It’s Time to Grow

June marked a turning point in my year, as I made the decision to accept a position at Thornley Fallis and end my time working for the Ontario government. In hindsight, I still have no regrets – I greatly enjoyed my time in the public service but the last few months have been among the most satisfying, rewarding and fun of my career so far.

Most commented post this month: Same as above. Next-most commented: How To Set Up A Simple Online Monitoring System

July – Molson Gives A Crash Course In Relationship-Building

In the summer of 2008 I attended a (award-winning) blogger relations event held by Molson, which started a chain of events leading to a bit of an online storm around blogger relations. I was always amused that no-one who was actually involved in the event (as an attendee or an organizer) had anything bad to say about it; all of the criticism was based on second or third-hand accounts of events. The controversy continues to this day.

This continues to be a useful reminder that it’s all to easy to jump to conclusions when you don’t have the full picture.

Most commented post this month: Same as above. Next-most commented: 13 Tips From My First Year of Blogging

August – PR Does Not Equal Publicity

PR-bashing was a popular theme throughout 2008. All too often, the bashing revealed a complete lack of understanding of what public relations entails. Many people seem to view public relations professionals as little more than publicists. As I wrote in this response to yet another anti-PR rant:

“What about issues management and crisis communications? What about event planning? What about internal communications? What about building relationships between an organization and its publics?

…

Perhaps part of this common misperception is due to the fact that a lot of public relations happens behind the scenes. You never (or rarely) see the planning behind the issues management process. You don’t see the detailed logistical work needed to pull off a good conference or media event. You rarely see internal communications materials.”

Most commented post this month: Strategic Communications Planning – A Free eBook

September – Anatomy of a Bad Pitch

Towards the end of the year, I found myself thinking more and more about blogger relations. As my blog became more popular, I found myself on the receiving end of increasing numbers of pitches. Meanwhile, I found myself being asked to give input on a number of blogger relations efforts as part of my day job.

In September I received a particularly bad pitch. Rather than just deleting it, I decided to dissect it and offer my feedback on a better approach in the above post.

Most commented post this month: Are Twitter Conversations Dying?

October – Social Media Outreach Won’t Work for Everyone

As my thinking around social media applications for businesses continued to evolve throughout the year, I began to realize more and more that these tools really don’t apply to everyone in the same way.

Some businesses just aren’t yet ready to reach out to their customers online. Some need to take it slower, and begin by listening rather than talking.

Most commented post this month: Twitter As A Hyper-Local Emergency Information Tool?

November – What If People Say Bad Things About You?

Short and simple, this post captures something that can be difficult to communicate to organizations that are wary of involvement in social media, and which I had to explain several times towards the end of 2008.

“”What’s your response to the people who say, “you’re telling us we should get involved in social media, but what if people start to say bad things about us?”

My response to this (any real-time screw-ups aside):

“They already are; you just can’t hear them.”"

Most commented post this month: Top 10 Most Irritating Phrases in PR

December – Social Media Isn’t Anti-Social

The more I become embedded in the social media community around Toronto (and wider), the more I find that social media is adding to my social like, not detracting from it. This post was my response to someone who suggested to me that social media is anti-social. Let’s just say I didn’t agree.

Most commented post this month: 5 Lessons About Self-Promotion In Social Media

Posted in: blogging, miscellaneous, personal, social media

Tags: 2008, blogger relations, communications, Molson, pr, social media, strategy, Twitter

11Comments

Criticism Is Good

08.12.22

Over the last few days I’ve seen several “social media” figureheads take a distinctly anti-social approach to feedback they’ve received online. I take a pretty dim view of that response to criticism:

If you’re someone who experiments on the leading edge of something, be prepared for criticism. What’s more, remember that criticism isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Criticism does not equal attack

Criticism can be constructive. The fact that someone disagrees with you or suggests a different approach doesn’t mean they’re attacking you. Instead of reacting negatively, which is easy to do, try thinking about what you can take away from the criticism. Yes, there are trolls out there who go out of their way to disagree in a destructive way. However, most people don’t do that.

Every time you dismiss feedback, you lower yourself in the eyes of not only the person who gave that feedback but also in the eyes of anyone else who is considering giving more feedback.

One of the big problems in the social media “fishbowl” is that people spend way too much time agreeing with each other, without thinking objectively about what they’re agreeing with.

There’s nothing wrong with agreeing with someone if they’ve made a good point. If you think they’re off-base, however, you do them and yourself a disservice by failing to air your views.

I’ll occasionally pop up on sites like PR Squared, PR Works, Social Media Explorer or Jennifer Leggio’s ZDNet blog. If you read over time, you’ll see I occasionally disagree with them. I don’t do it because they’re always wrong, or because I’m out to attack them. I do it because:

I have immense respect for Todd, Dave, Jason and Jennifer (and other people, too);
They put themselves out there and give their own views on controversial topics;
They react appropriately to constructive feedback;
This is meant to be a conversation.

Reacting badly to criticism has another effect besides just lowering your credibility: it discourages future feedback. I read a lot of blogs, and I rarely nod wholeheartedly at everything I read. However, I simply won’t comment on numerous sites because I know that my feedback will be met with “well then go read someone else’s site.” I may like the person; I may know even know them but I still won’t comment if I know the reaction will be inappropriate.

The bottom line

If you don’t want to hear dissenting opinions, turn your comments off. Quit using social media tools in an anti-social way.

Alternatively, acknowledge that people will sometimes disagree with you and that that’s ok. Be a grown-up.

Posted in: blogging

Tags: criticism

13Comments

Bring Twitter Onto Your Blog With Chat Catcher

08.12.08

If you’re anything like me, and you’re sometimes frustrated by trying to track conversations about you all over the web, you may just love Chat Catcher.

What’s Chat Catcher?

Chat Catcher, as it turns out, is a service developed by Shannon (of course) that uses Twitter Search to scan Twitter for people linking to your blog posts, and posts links to those tweets in your blog comments. Unlike Chirrup, which places Twitter comments separately to the rest of your comments, Chat Catcher places them in the regular comment stream.

I found Chat Catcher while I was browsing Shannon Whitley‘s blog the other day (which I recommend you do too). Several comments caught my eye:

Chat Catcher should work with any blogging platform that supports trackbacks. I’ve just installed it on this site, which runs on WordPress – we’ll see over the next few days how it goes.

How it works

It’s very easy to install Chat Catcher – there are just three simple steps:

Enter your URL on the Chat Catcher registration page
The site will give you a code script; save that into a .php file and upload that to your web server
Let Chat Catcher know where on your server that script is.

Note: Shannon tells me he’s still fine-tuning Chat Catcher. I’ll let you know how it goes.

What do you think about the idea of Chat Catcher? Does it appeal to you?

Posted in: blogging, tools, Twitter

Tags: blogging, Chat Catcher, Shannon Whitley, Twitter

8Comments