Last week I attended the Search Engine Strategies Conference in Toronto. While many of the presentations were interesting and useful, the session that stuck with me most was the very lively and somewhat controversial panel on Social Media Success. At issue, the value and need for authentic communications and conversations and the detriment, or lack therof, of social media ‘tricks’ or ‘hacks’. Rahaf Harfoush and Mitch Joel have each had incredibly insightful comments on the subject in their respective posts (SES & Social Media Strategy: what happened to ethics?! – A rant) and podcasts (SPOS #109 – Fair Trade Search Engine Strategies) and I feel the need to weigh in.

The value of authentic, 2-way conversations is clear. Smart consumers and clients know when they’re being talked to and when they’re being talked at. However, there seems to be a constant tug-of-war between two camps. Camp #1 are those who are willing to have those all important conversations first and let the happy byproducts like links and stronger keyword performance come naturally afterwards. Camp #2 is looking for strong results quickly, because it’s an awful lot easier to have a conversation once you have a big group of people listening to you.

While I understand the allure of both sides, I think Rahaf hit it right on when she said, “The internet has a short attention span and a long memory.” When your brand puts something out on the Internet that is inauthentic, you tarnish not only your own reputation, but the reputation of social media as a channel for dialogue. The linkbait scandal that hit Money.co.uk, and other instances like it make the jobs of all social media marketers more difficult.

Scamming the system doesn’t just hurt the scammer, it hurts the system itself. So while Mitch said in his podcast, “I don’t think it’s that it’s evil or bad or negative. I just think it doesn’t have the long term effect that the true value can have in building all of these channels.” I think he understated the impact slightly. Evil? No, probably not. Bad? Closer perhaps. Negative? Absolutely. I would argue that anything that impedes quality messages from reaching interested parties is negative.

My philosophy in social media marketing is that if you can’t answer all of these questions “Yes”, then you probably shouldn’t be doing what you’re doing:

• Am I speaking with my own voice, sharing my own opinions?
• Am I adding to my brand rather than detracting from it?
• Would I do or say the same things if this were in person instead of online?
• Am I comfortable knowing that this will be permanently recorded and archived in some format or another?

One item I agree on with everyone involved, is that this is a topic that we should all continue to discuss. What are your thoughts on inauthenticity in social media marketing?

Lisa recently posted about the strategic considerations of starting a blog – what she didn’t have the space to get into were all the steps that came after we pulled the trigger. As the person responsible for making sure the blog is up, functioning, and full of great content, I get the opportunity to chat a little about the process Mezzanine went through. I’ve broken it out into 4 steps:

Step 1: Plan, Plan, Plan
Step 2: Choose a Blog Platform and Customize
Step 3: Soft Launch and Test
Step 4: Hard Launch… and Continue to Test

“Let’s begin again, begin the begin”
Step 1: Plan, Plan, Plan

Jumping straight into action without a plan is clearly not the smartest nor the most efficient way of doing things, so the first step was our plan.

Questions we asked ranged from the strategic: ‘What type of content do we want to focus on?’, ‘How will we ensure that every post adds value for our readers?’, ‘How will we ensure that every post is adding to our brand instead of detracting from it?’, to the practical: ‘Who will post?’, ‘How often will we post?’, ‘Do we want to host onsite or off?’

Only once we had answered those questions and many more, could we begin the process of building the physical (if not physical, then at least not theoretical) blog.

“She opened a book and a box of tools.”
Step 2: Choose a Blog Platform and Customize

Choosing a blogging platform was a fairly fast process for me, but only because of the following. 1) Answers to many of the questions asked in the planning phase eliminated several choices immediately and 2) I have past experience with a number of the major options out there.

Having personally used Blogger, Greymatter, Movable Type, Livejournal (which I consider more of a social networking tool than a blog platform) and even the now-defunct Diary-X, I had a pretty good idea of what would work for us and what wouldn’t. Ultimately it became a choice between TypePad and WordPress.org. WordPress was the best choice for Mezzanine, though it may not be for other companies starting up blogs.

After installation, we needed to do a bit of graphic work, a little bit of coding, and some integration with our existing site. Customizing is one of the best ways to ensure brand consistency.

“Testing, One, Two, Sibilance, Sibilance”
Step 3: Soft Launch and Test

A soft (internal) launch was a big part of the setup process. It gave other team members the opportunity to critique the setup, allowed me the opportunity to iron out the bugs, and gave us all the chance to understand the posting process before gaffes would be posted for everyone to see.

This was also a great chance to check that all components were working well together. ‘Is Google Analytics catching traffic properly?’, ‘Is FeedBurner working?’.

“Ground control to Major Tom, commencing countdown engine’s on.”
Step 4: Hard Launch… and Continue to Test

Moved a few files, changed a few settings and the blog was live. That was the easy part. Now comes the updating, tweaking, tracking and learning. Like any project, this is a cyclical process. We will continue to refine our strategy and plan, continue to customize the code, continue to run internal tests and most certainly continue to track external results. Without continuous improvement, we run the risk of ending up like poor Major Tom, disconnected from the rest of the world.

So how does this translate for companies other than Mezzanine? Well, many of the principles are the same whether you’re a multinational giant or a start-up. In fact, even if you choose to outsource the coding and creation, you’re really only able to skip one of the four steps. My big takeaway from the process is this: if your plan is sound and you have strong internal champions, anyone can build a blog.

As Web 2.0 quickly becomes Web 3.0 and beyond, it’s clear to me that blogging will begin to play a major role in our online strategy. The question is where to start. Here’s a quick summary of some of the things we mulled over at Mezzanine before making the leap into the blogosphere.

Considerations:

1. We’re a marketing company – While many industries can benefit from blogging (provided it’s done well and consistently), having an active online presence is even more important for marketers. We need to understand emerging technologies and trends rather than just reading about them. Beyond being trendy, blogging also speaks to one of our major strengths – our people.

1. We now have the resources – My major concern with launching a blog was the upkeep. I would rather have nothing than be saddled with a poorly thought out and executed blog – luckily, with strong internal drivers, and talented contributors, I don’t have to choose. This blog is about the whole organization, created by the whole organization. And without the burden of dealing with a heavy corporate communications process, we have the ability to produce more relevant content at the pace our visitors demand.

Goals:

1. Enable people to get to know us – As mere mortals, everyone at Mezz can only be in one place at a time. That means limited time to have meaningful conversations with our clients, our industry peers, and our prospects. Our best relationships all revolve around open dialogue, mutual understanding, and consistent and frequent interaction. Moving some of that conversation online will allow us to reach more people more frequently.

1. Give the whole team a platform – I’m often invited to share expertise as President and Founder of Mezzanine. Launching a blog will allow all Mezz team members the opportunity to speak on marketing issues in which they have particular interest or expertise. We have so many bright and creative people at Mezzanine, that it’s sometimes difficult to translate all of that internally held knowledge into thought leadership pieces – a blog gives our people a podium to share their insights freely.

1. Measure engagement – From a tangible perspective, a blog is a great way to gauge interest and engagement on particular topics. As a professional services firm, we take our cues from client interests. What are our customers thinking about? Even moreso, what are they worrying about, and how do we fit in to their businesses to help ease their minds? With website analytics, feed analytics, and commenting functionality, we’re increasing the quality of our data.

So there you have it, a quick summary of the Mezzanine thought process in starting a blog. What about you? Why has your company started blogging? Or even more importantly, what has held you back?