<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>HowTo.ComMetrics</title>
	<atom:link href="http://howto.commetrics.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://howto.commetrics.com</link>
	<description>Benchmark smarter. Perform better.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:18:06 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6</generator>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<xhtml:meta xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" name="robots" content="noindex" />
		<item>
		<title>Webinar: Wie messen Sie den Erfolg &#8211; 5 wichtige Schritte f&#252;r Weblogs</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/messen-des-erfolges-fuer-unternehmens-weblogs/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=messen-des-erfolges-fuer-unternehmens-weblogs</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/messen-des-erfolges-fuer-unternehmens-weblogs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Urs E. Gattiker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[training]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmark blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmark data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmarking blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog benchmarking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blogging effectiveness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ComMetrics Footprint]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ComMetricsWebinar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FT ComMetrics Blog Index]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[KPIs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sensible metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media measurement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Urs E. Gattiker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com:80/?p=146</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Dieses Webinar fue Unternehmensblogger findet am 18. Maerz 2010 statt.
Corporate Blogs sind das Herzst&#252;ck erfolgreicher Unternehmens-Websites und ein effizientes Mittel im Online-Marketing. Lernen Sie die neuesten Techniken um LeserInnen und Kunden mit dem Weblog zu gewinnen.
Mit Fallbeispielen aus der Praxis ermoeglicht das Webinar Teilnehmern neue Erkenntnisse auf dem Gebiete des Benchmarking. Es zeigt auf, wie [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p>Dieses Webinar fue Unternehmensblogger findet am <strong>18. Maerz 2010</strong> statt.</p>
<p>Corporate Blogs sind das Herzst&#252;ck erfolgreicher Unternehmens-Websites und ein effizientes Mittel im Online-Marketing. Lernen Sie die neuesten Techniken um LeserInnen und Kunden mit dem Weblog zu gewinnen.</p>
<p>Mit Fallbeispielen aus der Praxis ermoeglicht das Webinar Teilnehmern neue Erkenntnisse auf dem Gebiete des Benchmarking. Es zeigt auf, wie man mit Hilfe von strategischen Kennzahlen zur groesseren Effektivitaet des Online Investments kommt.</p>
<p><strong>Bitte registrieren Sie sich gleich hier</strong>:</p>
<p>==&gt; <strong><a title="Registrierung - einfach eMail Adresse eintragen" href="http://cli.gs/rs16eY" target="_blank">kostenloses Webinar: Benchmarking und Erfolg  von Corporate-Blogs messbar machen</a></strong></p>
<p><span id="more-146"></span> In diesem Webinar lernen Sie, wie man Blogs konsequent f&#252;r seine gesch&#228;ftlichen Ziele einsetzen kann. Nach diesem Webinar wissen Sie, wie man die Anziehungskraft von Blogs zur Neukundengewinnung noch effektiver nutzt. Das spezielle Augenmerk ist dabei auf die Messung des Erfolges von Unternehmens-Blogs gerichtet.<br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/ComMetrics/status/5233668637" target="_blank"><img style="font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;background-color: transparent;float: right;padding: 0px;margin: 10px;border: 0px initial initial" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2010/image/02/2010-02-05-everything-that-counts-can-not-necessarily-be-counted.png" border="1" alt="Image - ComMetrics tweet -via @dkasrel Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count.Everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted. #Einstein #SM" width="250" height="175" /></a></p>
<p><strong>18. Maerz 2010 um 10:30 MEZ</strong> (07:30 Rio de Janeiro / 09:30 London / 11:30 Kairo / 12:30 Moskau / 17:30 Singapor). Wir laden Sie herzlich zu unserem Webinar ein, an welchem wir anhand von Fallstudien aufzeigen, wie erfolgreiche Corporate Blogs in Industrie, Food-Branche oder Einzelhandel neue Leser gewinnen und deren Bindung an das Unternehmen foerdern.</p>
<p>Professor Dr. Urs E. Gattiker, Spezialist f&#252;r Benchmark—Optimierung von und f&#252;r soziale Medien, zeigt Ihnen, wie Sie die Wertschoepfung f&#252;r den Corporate Blog steigern koennen und stellt Ihnen eine Vielfalt an sehr effektiven Techniken vor.</p>
<p>Ob ein Unternehmen gross oder klein ist, ob es aus der Industrie- oder der Dienstleistungsbranche kommt kann Ihnen dieses Webinar die effektivsten Straegien fuer Blogging und Marketing mit Hilfe sozialer Medien aufzeigen. Es wird Ihnen dabei helfen, eine Anzahl neuer Strategien besseren Nutzung von sozialen Medien im Unternehmen umzusetzen.<br />
Wenn ueber  Facebook, Twitter und Corporate-Blogs die richtigen Daten gewonnen werden, koennen sie effektiver genutzt werden. Dieses Webinar zeigt die neuesten Trends und wie sie eingesetzt werden koennen.</p>
<p><strong>Aus dem Webinarinhalt:</strong><a href="http://twitter.com/ComMetrics/status/8536317172" target="_blank"><img style="font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;background-color: transparent;float: right;padding: 0px;margin: 10px;border: 0px initial initial" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2010/image/02/2010-02-05-useless-measuring-efficiently-what-should-not-be-measured.png" border="1" alt="Image - tweet by ComMetrics - There is nothing so useless as measuring efficiently that which should not be measured at all" width="250" height="175" /></a><br />
- Benchmarking und Erfolg  von Corporate-Blogs messbar machen<br />
- Lernen aus Fehlern anderer<br />
- Einsetzung von ‘push’ und ‘pull’Marketing mit dem Weblog<br />
- Messung der 5 wichtigsten Kennzahlen zur besseren Leistung des Firmen-Blogs<br />
- Fallstudien von Weblogs analysieren unter anderem auch solche welche im FT ComMetrics Blog Index aufgefuehrt sind<br />
- Verstaendnis foerdern f&#252;r soziale Medien<br />
- Nutzung von Corporate-Blogs als effektive und wichtige Instrumente der Unternehmenskommunikation<br />
- Vermeidung der klassischen Fehler im Weblog Benchmarking</p>
<p><strong>Referent:</strong><br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/ComMetrics/status/8499511342" target="_blank"><img style="font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;background-color: transparent;float: right;padding: 0px;margin: 10px;border: 0px initial initial" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2010/image/02/2010-02-05-efficiency-measuring-things-right-effectiveness-using-the-right-best-metrics-those-most-critical-to-firms-success.png" border="1" alt="Image - ComMetrics tweet - Efficiency = #measuring things right; effectiveness = using the right, best #metrics: those most critical to firm’s success #SMM" width="250" height="175" /></a><a href="http://info.cytrap.eu/?page_id=114">Urs E. Gattiker</a>, Ph.D., Ph.D., ist ein Enthusiast der sozialen Medien, erfolgreicher Buchautor und Blogger. Er ist der Gr&#252;nder und Chief Executive Officer von <a title="CyTRAP Labs GmbH - entry in the commercial register" href="http://info.cytrap.eu/?page_id=4" target="_blank">CyTRAP Labs GmbH</a>. CyTRAP Labs bietet seinen Kunden Dienstleistungen auf dem Gebiete ‘Corporate Governance’ und  <a href="http://commetrics.com/?p=1">social media</a> an.  Die Abteilung <a title="the blog that keeps social media insiders ahead of the competition" href="http://commetrics.com/" target="_blank">ComMetrics</a> spezialisiert sich auf Analyse und Messung des Erfolges von sozialen Medien (e.g., Entwicklung des <a title="Financial Times ComMetrics Blog Index or FTCBI - the benchmark to watch" href="http://ftindex.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">FT ComMetrics Blog Index</a> – – der Industriestandard zum Ranking von  <a title="3 criteria a blog must meet to be considered a corporate blog" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=114" target="_blank">Corporate Weblogs</a> der <a title="the largest global companies at a glance" href="http://www.ft.com/reports/ft5002008" target="_blank">FT Global 500</a> und <a title="the largest US companies" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/leaders-by-metric/ftcommetrics-corporate-blog-index/social-media-monitoring-a-systematic-approach/fortune-500" target="_blank">Fortune 500</a> Unternehmen).</p>
<ul>Um an diesem kostenlosen Webinar teilnehmen zu koennen muessen Sie sich bitte hier registrieren (eMail Adresse genuegt):<br />
<strong> ==&gt;  <a title="Register for the seminar right now" href="http://cli.gs/17EPP8" target="_blank"></a></strong><a title="Register for the seminar right now" href="http://cli.gs/rs16eY" target="_blank">Jetzt Teilnahmeplatz sichern – Corporate-Blogs: Effektives Benchmarking</a> 11. Maerz, 10:30 Uhr MEZ</ul>
<p>Download this document: <a href="http://commetrics.com/download/19/">http://commetrics.com/download/20/</a></p>
<p><strong>Ihr Vorteil</strong><br />
Sie erhalten einen <strong>praxisrelevanten Leitfaden</strong> aus der ComMetrics eBook Serie, um Benchmarking von Weblogs sofort und erfolgreich in Ihrem Unternehmen einzusetzen.</p>
<p><strong>Ihr Bonus</strong><br />
Freien Zugang zum <a title="Benchmark your blog - improve performance" href="http://My.ComMetrics.com" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com</a> Benchmarking Tool – Messen und Tracking der Performance zur Leistungssteigerung von Firmenblogs.</p>
<p>Um sich f&#252;r dieses Webinar zu registrieren, besuchen Sie die unten angegebene Seite – tragen Sie eine eMail Adresse ein, um somit den Zugangscode zu erhalten</p>
<p>Bitte <a title="Register for the seminar right now" href="http://cli.gs/rs16eY" target="_blank">registrieren Sie sich jetzt da die <strong>Teilnehmerzahl limitiert </strong>ist</a> (eMail Adresse genuegt)</p>
<p>Auf Englisch gibt es das Webinar hier: <strong><a title="Register for the seminar right now" href="http://cli.gs/17EPP8" target="_blank">FREE webinar: Know which analytics to measure and which to ignore</a></strong></p>
<p>P.S. &#8211; Besuchen Sie <a title="Benchmarking blogs: One focus, every facet." href="http://my.commetrics.com/amember/signup.php" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics (register yourself – benchmark your blog(s) =&gt; improve performance)</a>. You can get updates for this blog on Twitter by following <a title="follow us on Twitter" href="http://twitter.gattiker.name/" target="_blank">@ComMetrics</a> or get a <a title="subscribe to the RSS feed for free." href="http://howto.commetrics.com/feed/" target="_blank">free subscription by RSS</a>, or get new posts via email:<form method="post" action=""><input type="hidden" name="ip" value="38.107.191.94" /><p>Your email:<br /><input type="text" name="email" value="Enter email address..." size="20" onfocus="if (this.value == 'Enter email address...') {this.value = '';}" onblur="if (this.value == '') {this.value = 'Enter email address...';}" /></p><p><input type="submit" name="subscribe" value="Subscribe" />&nbsp;<input type="submit" name="unsubscribe" value="Unsubscribe" /></p></form>
<br />
Article source:<br />
Webinar: Wie messen Sie den Erfolg &#8211; 5 wichtige Schritte f&#252;r Weblogs</p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/messen-des-erfolges-fuer-unternehmens-weblogs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Free webinar: Benchmarking with the right metrics</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/effective-measuring-means-using-5-key-metrics/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=effective-measuring-means-using-5-key-metrics</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/effective-measuring-means-using-5-key-metrics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:00:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Urs E. Gattiker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[training]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmarking blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmarking social media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmarking tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmnark data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best in class]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ComMetrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ComMetricsWebinar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sensible metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media measurement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media monitoring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Urs E. Gattiker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[webinar]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com/?p=2420</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Blogging, Facebook, and Twitter are about capturing metrics and interpreting them wisely in context. This webinar reveals the latest trends to gain valuable insight.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p>A free webinar for corporate bloggers on <strong>March 11</strong>, <strong>2010</strong>.</p>
<p>Learn the newest techniques to attract and engage your readers, customers and leads. Get ideas, see examples and gain valuable insights on how social media benchmarking and actionable metrics can deliver highly qualified leads to your sales department.</p>
<p><strong><a title="Register for the seminar right now" href="http://cli.gs/17EPP8" target="_blank"></a></strong><span id="more-2420"></span></p>
<p>In this webinar you will learn the newest techniques for effective blogging and nurturing engagement with both clients and casual readers. You will hear ideas, see examples and get valuable insight into how a benchmarking program can deliver highly qualified content to increase your customer engagement levels.</p>
<p><a href="http://twitter.com/ComMetrics/status/5233668637" target="_blank"><img style="font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;background-color: transparent;float: right;padding: 0px;margin: 10px;border: 0px initial initial" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2010/image/02/2010-02-05-everything-that-counts-can-not-necessarily-be-counted.png" border="1" alt="Image - ComMetrics tweet -via @dkasrel Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count.Everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted. #Einstein #SM" width="250" height="175" /></a><strong>On March 11, 2010 at 10:30 CET</strong> (07:30 Rio de Janeiro / 09:30 London / 11:30 Cairo / 12:30 Moscow / 17:30 Singapore) ends 12:00 CET, you are invited to see how successful corporate bloggers attract, nurture and foster better engagement. Social media expert and speaker Urs E. Gattiker will show you how easy it is to improve your blogging and communication strategies, processes and practices by using the newest blogging and benchmarking techniques to increase your company’s impact on the web.</p>
<p>No matter what size your company, or your industry, this webinar will teach you important and highly effective blogging and social media marketing techniques and will inspire you to create a number of new social media strategies.</p>
<p>Blogging, Facebook, and Twitter are about capturing social media analytics and interpreting them wisely and in context. This webinar reveals the latest trends to gain valuable insight.</p>
<p><strong>Attend this webinar to:</strong><a href="http://twitter.com/ComMetrics/status/8536317172" target="_blank"><img style="font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;background-color: transparent;float: right;padding: 0px;margin: 10px;border: 0px initial initial" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2010/image/02/2010-02-05-useless-measuring-efficiently-what-should-not-be-measured.png" border="1" alt="Image - tweet by ComMetrics - There is nothing so useless as measuring efficiently that which should not be measured at all" width="250" height="175" /></a><br />
- understand benchmarking and why actionable metrics are important to improving performance<br />
- learn how to develop an analytics program that delivers insight, not hindsight<br />
- learn what you should effectively measure to make strategic decisions<br />
- see how you can effectively leverage ‘push’ and ‘pull’ marketing with your blog<br />
- know which analytics to measure and which ones to put aside<br />
- learn from mini cases of blogs included in the <a title="Financial Times ComMetrics Blog Index (FTCBI) - the benchmark to watch" href="http://ftindex.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">FT ComMetrics Blog Index</a><br />
- understand why social media and corporate blogging are effective and necessary<br />
- learn how to get started and avoid common beginner’s mistakes</p>
<p><strong>Speaker:</strong><br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/ComMetrics/status/8499511342" target="_blank"><img style="font-size: 16px;vertical-align: baseline;background-color: transparent;float: right;padding: 0px;margin: 10px;border: 0px initial initial" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2010/image/02/2010-02-05-efficiency-measuring-things-right-effectiveness-using-the-right-best-metrics-those-most-critical-to-firms-success.png" border="1" alt="Image - ComMetrics tweet - Efficiency = #measuring things right; effectiveness = using the right, best #metrics: those most critical to firm’s success #SMM" width="250" height="175" /></a><a href="http://info.cytrap.eu/?page_id=114">Urs E. Gattiker</a>, Ph.D., is a highly experienced social media enthusiast, author and blogger. He is both a founder and Chief Executive Officer of <a title="CyTRAP Labs GmbH - entry in the commercial register" href="http://info.cytrap.eu/?page_id=4" target="_blank">CyTRAP Labs GmbH</a>. CyTRAP Labs provides corporate governance and <a href="http://commetrics.com/?p=1">social media</a> services to organizations worldwide and its <a title="the blog that keeps social media insiders ahead of the competition" href="http://commetrics.com/" target="_blank">ComMetrics</a> division is a trail blazer in <strong>social media analytics</strong> (e.g., developing the <a title="Financial Times ComMetrics Blog Index or FTCBI - the benchmark to watch" href="http://ftindex.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">FT ComMetrics Blog Index</a> – the industry standard for ranking <a title="3 criteria a blog must meet to be considered a corporate blog" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=114" target="_blank">corporate blogs</a> of <a title="the largest global companies at a glance" href="http://www.ft.com/reports/ft5002008" target="_blank">FT Global 500</a> and <a title="the largest US companies" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/leaders-by-metric/ftcommetrics-corporate-blog-index/social-media-monitoring-a-systematic-approach/fortune-500" target="_blank">Fortune 500</a> companies).</p>
<ul>To get your free access to this webinar, <strong>please register now</strong>:<br />
<strong> ==&gt;  <a title="Register for the seminar right now" href="http://cli.gs/17EPP8" target="_blank">FREE webinar registration</a></strong><a title="Register for the seminar right now" href="http://cli.gs/17EPP8" target="_blank">: Benchmark your blog &#8211; improve performance =&gt; March 11, 2010 at 10:30 CET</a></ul>
<p>Download this document: <a href="http://commetrics.com/download/19/">http://commetrics.com/download/19/</a></p>
<p><strong>Your advantage</strong><br />
You will receive a benchmarking guide (out of the ComMetrics eBook Series) that will help you develop <strong>actionable metrics</strong> for your corporate blog and, as importantly, empower you to successfully communicate results based on five Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your blog.</p>
<p><strong>Your bonus</strong><br />
Free subscription to the <a title="Benchmark your blog - improve performance" href="http://My.ComMetrics.com" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com</a> Benchmarking Tool &#8211; measure and compare blog performance against competitors.</p>
<p>P.S. - Visit <a title="Benchmarking blogs: One focus, every facet." href="http://my.commetrics.com/amember/signup.php" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics (register yourself – benchmark your blog(s) =&gt; improve performance)</a>. You can get updates for this blog on Twitter by following <a title="follow us on Twitter" href="http://twitter.gattiker.name/" target="_blank">@ComMetrics</a> or get a <a title="subscribe to the RSS feed for free." href="http://howto.commetrics.com/feed/" target="_blank">free subscription by RSS</a>, or get new posts via email:</p>
<form method="post" action=""><input type="hidden" name="ip" value="38.107.191.94" /><p>Your email:<br /><input type="text" name="email" value="Enter email address..." size="20" onfocus="if (this.value == 'Enter email address...') {this.value = '';}" onblur="if (this.value == '') {this.value = 'Enter email address...';}" /></p><p><input type="submit" name="subscribe" value="Subscribe" />&nbsp;<input type="submit" name="unsubscribe" value="Unsubscribe" /></p></form>
<br />
Get the webinar slides here: 2010-03-11 &#8211; Corporate Blogging : <a title="Webinar slides - Metrics in a measure, is a treasure" href="http://commetrics.com/download/24" target="_blank"><strong>How benchmarking can help improve performanc</strong>e</a></p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/effective-measuring-means-using-5-key-metrics/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>ComMetrics Footprint: Technorati nixes blog rankings</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/use-of-technorati-authority-suspended-for-now/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=use-of-technorati-authority-suspended-for-now</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/use-of-technorati-authority-suspended-for-now/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:00:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Urs E. Gattiker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[competitive benchmarking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmark data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ComMetrics Footprint]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sensible metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media measurement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technorati]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technorati Authority changed]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com/?p=2470</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Technorati Authority is now measuring within the last 30 days socring blogs from 0 to 1000. This changes the ComMetrics Footprint and is explained]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p>Late on October 14, blogging directory and rankings site Technorati discontinued its <a title="the smaller the number the higher you rank with Technorati - 1 is best" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=72" target="_blank">Technorati Rankings</a> and related data. ComMetrics used <a title="the smaller the number the higher you rank with Technorati - 1 is best" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=72" target="_blank">Technorati Ranking</a> as part of its <a title="do people talk about your content on the web - in-links, PageRank, Technorati, etc." href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=10" target="_blank">ComMetrics Footprint</a> calculations.</p>
<p>Due to Technorati&#8217;s decision, we had to remove this measure from our <a title="do people talk about your content on the web - InLinks, PageRank, Technorati, etc." href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=10" target="_blank">ComMetrics Footprint</a>.</p>
<p><strong><a title="counts the blogs that link to some post on your blog within the last 180 days - the higher this number the better" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=73" target="_blank">Technorati Authority</a></strong> still exists, but now focuses much more on data from the last 30 days. The given Authority rank is somewhere between 1 &#8211; 1,000.</p>
<p><span id="more-2470"></span></p>
<ul>Scoring factors that are considered in this metric are:<br />
- posting frequency,<br />
- context,<br />
- linking behavior, and<br />
- &#8216;other inputs&#8217;.</ul>
<p>This results in more volatile score, since blogs can frequently move up or down on the 1 &#8211; 1,000 scale.</p>
<p><a title="Technorati explains - but it is unclear how the authority score is generated" href="http://blog.technorati.com/2009/10/a-totally-new-technoraticom-technorati-media-rising.html" target="_blank">Technorati explained the decision in a recent blog post</a>:</p>
<ul>&#8220;With the new algorithm, the resulting Authority will better reflect the fast-changing nature of the blogosphere.  Its new inherent volatility will also show which blogs are rising and falling in authority, rewarding authors on posting frequency, context and linking behavior, as well as other data inputs.&#8221;</ul>
<p>Currently, Technorati provides little, if any, information about how it calculates its Technorati Authority score for the blogs in the ranks. Furthermore, the Application Programming Interface (API) is still unavailable (<a title="widgets vs API and why in the long-term an API might be better for an application" href="http://commetrics.com/articles/how-to-accelerate-diffusion-of-applications-and-content/" target="_blank">difference between a widget and an API explained in plain English</a>).</p>
<p>We have therefore removed Technorati rankings from our calculations, at least for now. We will consider re-introducing them as soon as Technorati again makes this feasible.</p>
<p><a title="step-by-step help for making an API that works correctly for users" href="http://wonderfullyflawed.com/2009/07/02/get-your-api-right/" target="_blank">Get Your API Right &#8211; ropes to skip</a>, API 101 #things2read#tips2follow</p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/use-of-technorati-authority-suspended-for-now/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>3 golden rules for social media marketing</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/blog-metrics-1/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=blog-metrics-1</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/blog-metrics-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:38:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Urs E. Gattiker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[actionable metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[checklists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[competitive benchmarking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[actionable analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmarking blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[desirable outcomes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[KPIs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[measurement framework]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[measurement strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tracking blog effectiveness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[why benchmark]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com:80/?p=103</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tough economic times means spending resources smartly. We present 3 rules that help you get a bigger bang for your buck on your corporate blog.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p><a title="ComMetrics Footprint Index - logo " href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=10"><img style="float: left;padding: 0px;margin: 10px;border: 0px initial initial" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/08/footprint-LOGO.png" border="0" alt="image - ComMetrics Blog Footprint" width="50" height="50" /></a></p>
<p>Recently a gung ho client wanted to benchmark his social media efforts right away, but there were some crucial questions we posed that he needed to address before embarking on a benchmarking exercise. Below we share the first set with you.<span id="more-103"></span></p>
<p><strong>1. Size of firm really does matter</strong><br />
If you run a micro-business you have to focus your limited resources on a few activities that will make a difference to your bottom line.</p>
<p>We advised our client that posting to the corporate blog once every two weeks might work in terms of time required and costs. Unfortunately, <strong>having two staff members monitor the Twitter account and respond to customer inquiries seven days a week may be too much to ask</strong>.</p>
<p>The client took our hint and decided to <strong>save costs</strong> by focusing on the corporate blog for the first year, and not putting too much effort into the Twitter account for now.</p>
<p><!--more--></p>
<p><strong>2. B2B vs. B2C &#8211; Different social media marketing channels&#8230;right?</strong><br />
<a title="an example about how social media can work... for you" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzFRV1LwIo" target="_blank">Cadbury&#8217;s 2007 Gorilla marketing campaign</a> was a YouTube hit, in spite of breaking most golden rules for effective chocolate advertising. For starters, there were no images of people eating or making chocolate in the ads. Instead, a gorilla was seen hanging on a drum.</p>
<p>The above example and many <strong>others focus on B2C (Business to Consumer) cases by global brands</strong>. But selling toothpaste (e.g., Crest) for a global brand (P&amp;G) requires different skills than selling printing or graphic design services to a professional clientele, such as media buyers from large advertising firms. Plus, the social media challenge is different for a company with a staff of five than for ABB, GE or inContact.</p>
<p>In short, getting a consumer to purchase chocolate is quite different than an industrial buyer trying to find a chocolate supplier or even computer software for an airline catering firm.</p>
<p>Being in B2B, our client understood that 1,000 readers might be all she needed, as long as they included some of her most important clients. As well, <a title=" users grab the content and surf on to the next item" href="http://commetrics.com/articles/google-diggcom-and-twitter-why-such-drive-by-traffic-is-of-little-value/" target="_blank">Digg or StumbleUpon traffic would be of limited value</a>, since it was unlikely to bring industrial buyers to her company&#8217;s blog.</p>
<p><strong>3. Social media means quick success &#8211; or not</strong><br />
We all know that prosciutto ham and great wines take time to ripen and develop their full-bodied flavor before going to market. Similarly, some of the most innovative products took years until they became a success, such as:</p>
<ul>- the <a title="&quot;With the help of two friends, he put the keys into three lines so that letters were no longer in an intuitive order, and commonly used keys were distant from each other. This slowed the typing speed and enabled the machine to keep moving without getting stuck.&quot;" href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/10835c60-eb67-11dd-8838-0000779fd2ac.html" target="_blank"><strong>Qwerty keyboard</strong></a>: known for the first six letters from left to right on the English keyboard, it was created in 1868 by newspaper editor Christopher Sholes. He called it “<strong><a title="Qwerty to WEF, Facebook, OECD, Microsoft" href="../articles/articles/2009-week-28/" target="_blank">Type Writer</a></strong>” and it is still used today, even on computers.<br />
<a title="Erno Rubik applied for his Hungarian patent in January 1975, he got approval in early 1977 and the first Cubes appeared at the end of 1977. " href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2008/image/2008-05-10-RubiksCubeEnterprise-1979ChildToy.gif"><img style="margin: 10px;float: right" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2008/image/2008-05-10-RubiksCubeEnterprise-1979ChildToy.gif" border="0" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>- <strong>Erno Rubik invented the Rubik&#8217;s Cube in 1974</strong>. He applied for his Hungarian patent in January 1975, got approval in early 1977 and the first Cubes appeared at the end of 1977. These days <strong>Rubik&#8217;s Cube</strong> is widely considered to be one of the world&#8217;s best selling toys (see image at right).</ul>
<p>While we all know about cases of <strong>companies that did great within a relatively short time such as Google, Facebook and FriendFeed there are many more that are still working hard to achieve success</strong>.</p>
<p>As a wine connoisseur, our client understood the concept of aging something to perfection and agreed to give her blog venture at least twelve months. Most importantly, she committed herself to creating one blog post every month to provide value for her clients, her main target audience.</p>
<p><strong>Take-aways</strong><br />
The above post would suggest the following:</p>
<ul><strong>Social media is not scalable</strong>: Focusing on a corporate blog should be the core activity of any social media strategy to begin with &#8211; here you can build a responsive audience over large distances for building your firm&#8217;s social network. Thereafter you may have the know-how and resources required to join and succeed with other social media channels, such as Facebook or Twitter, Naijapulse or Identi.ca.<br />
<strong>Building success takes time &#8211; better start today</strong>: Finding your voice and generating feedback or conversation does not happen in three months, so perseverance and quality content are key.<br />
<strong>B2B is a different ballgame than B2C </strong>: Things that might work for B2C global brands such as Starbucks may fail miserably for a mid-size firm in the B2B domain.</ul>
<p>P.S. &#8211; To help you devise the right strategy that will help you get a bigger return on your blogging efforts, we prepared a list of 20 lessons one should follow, or the <strong>20 mistakes you definitely do not want to make with your corporate blog</strong>:</p>
<ul><a title="address these issues BEFORE starting to blog - after one year - review if you are still on track ELSE adjust the earlier the better" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?p=111" target="_blank">1) Lessons 1 – 4: Starting your blogging off on the right foot</a><br />
<a title="if these questions are not discussed and decided upon properly - much time will be wasted the first six months " href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2090" target="_blank">2) Lessons 5 – 7: Setting the stage – ready – go</a><br />
<a title="some operational issues - whatever you decide you will have to live it down - so please be careful" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?p=79" target="_blank">3) Lessons 8 – 11: Whatever domain, home you choose – beware</a><br />
<a title="don't make these mistakes before you start your blog - it would be such a waste" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2062" target="_blank">4) Lessons 12 – 13: Getting the basic SEO issues right</a><br />
<a title="why the &quot;CEO&quot; or &quot;politician&quot; blog using staff- or ghost-writers fails miserably every time we benchmark it on My.ComMetrics.com" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?p=326" target="_blank">5) Lessons 14 – 17: Authenticity and quality are key</a><br />
<a title="some small things that add a lot of info to help search engines guide relevant traffic to your blog posts" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2068" target="_blank">6) Lessons 18 – 20: Improving blogging effectiveness</a></ul>
<p>What is your take? What needs to be done differently when using social media in a B2B context? <strong>Please share; we love to dialogue more in the comments</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>By the way</strong>: HowTo.ComMetrics.com provides the straightforward answers you need to use your social media tools more effectively, while saving time and <strong>improving your social media tracking and brand monitoring</strong>.</p>
<p><a title="sign-up is free - start benchmarking your blog - no installation needed just do it within your favorite browser Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and so forth" href="http://My.ComMetrics.com" target="_blank">Why not <strong>register yourself right now</strong> &#8211; it&#8217;s FREE</a>!</p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/blog-metrics-1/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>24</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The importance of competitive benchmarking</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/best-blogs/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=best-blogs</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/best-blogs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:45:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Urs E. Gattiker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[actionable metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[competitive benchmarking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[improving the trend]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[measuring effectively]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trend watching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[KPIs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media benchmark]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media measurement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media monitoring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media tracking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com:80/?p=167</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This post outlines why benchmarking is needed for assessing the bottom line effects of corporate blogging.

In particular, how to achieve effective social media analytics that lead to best metrics is discussed and illustrated with examples.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p><a title="ComMetrics Footprint Index - logo " href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/08/footprint-LOGO.png"><img style="float: left;padding: 0px;margin: 10px;border: 0px initial initial" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/08/footprint-LOGO.png" border="0" alt="" width="125" height="125" /></a> <a title="the blog that keeps social media insiders ahead of the competition" href="http://commetrics.com/" target="_blank">ComMetrics</a>, a division of <a title="our entry in the commercial register" href="http://info.cytrap.eu/?page_id=4" target="_blank">CyTRAP Labs GmbH</a>, focuses on competitive benchmarking and <strong>social media analytics</strong> (e.g., developing the <a title="Financial Times ComMetrics Blog Index or FTCBI - the benchmark to watch" href="http://ftindex.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">FT ComMetrics Blog Index</a> – the industry standard for ranking <a title="3 criteria a blog must meet to be considered a corporate blog" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=114" target="_blank">corporate blogs</a> of <a title="the largest global companies at a glance" href="http://www.ft.com/reports/ft5002008" target="_blank">FT Global 500</a> and <a title="the largest US companies" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/leaders-by-metric/ftcommetrics-corporate-blog-index/social-media-monitoring-a-systematic-approach/fortune-500" target="_blank">Fortune 500</a> companies).</p>
<p>Through <strong><a title="how does your blog rank against the competition" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com</a></strong>, <a title="the blog that keeps social media insiders ahead of the competition" href="http://commetrics.com/" target="_blank">ComMetrics</a> offers its clients the use of <a title="you don't need to install any software on your computer - we do it all for you while you focus on telling us what you need to drive more effectively - faster, saver and more economically" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=12" target="_blank">web-based software</a> for social media monitoring, including Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).<span id="more-167"></span></p>
<p><strong>Key Performance Indicators</strong> (KPIs) are valuable in enabling teams and companies to quickly evaluate the progress made against measurable goals, such as the <a title="measure your blog's footprint" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/getting-pay-back/dashboard/?page_id=10" target="_blank">ComMetrics Footprint</a>. Effective KPIs for social media monitoring and tracking are:</p>
<ul>specific, measurable, achievable, result-oriented &amp; relevant, as well as time-sensitive.</ul>
<p>By using My.ComMetrics.com you can easily visualize answers to your KPIs for social media tracking and analytics:</p>
<p><a title="ComMetrics Footprint Index - logo " href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/08/footprint-LOGO.png"><img style="float: right;padding: 0px;margin: 10px;border: 0px initial initial" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/08/footprint-LOGO.png" border="0" alt="" width="125" height="125" /></a></p>
<ul>What <strong>social media measurements</strong> and <strong>metrics</strong> am I ahead or behind on?<br />
How far ahead or behind am I in reaching the <strong>competitive benchmarks</strong>?<br />
How do my competitors perform against these <strong>KPIs</strong>?</ul>
<p><strong>Actionable metrics</strong> help with data collection through My.ComMetrics.com to answer these questions and, most importantly, take necessary actions while tracking improvement.</p>
<p>Without key performance indicators, such as a 110 percent increase in your <a title="measure your blog's footprint" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/getting-pay-back/dashboard/?page_id=10" target="_blank">ComMetrics Footprint</a> or other distinct objectives, your <strong>social media optimization will not reach its full potential</strong>.</p>
<p>HowTo.ComMetrics.com provides straightforward answers you need to use our tools more effectively, while saving time and <strong>improving your social media tracking and brand monitoring</strong>.</p>
<p><a title="sign-up is free - start benchmarking your blog - no installation needed just do it within your favorite browser Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and so forth" href="http://My.ComMetrics.com" target="_blank">Why not <strong>register yourself right now</strong> &#8211; it&#8217;s FREE</a>!</p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/best-blogs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Increasing blogging effectiveness: Step 5</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/authentic-voice-is-key/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=authentic-voice-is-key</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/authentic-voice-is-key/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Aug 2009 05:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Urs E. Gattiker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[checklists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmarking blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best in class]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blogging effectiveness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[buzz marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[checklist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FT ComMetrics Blog Index]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FTCBI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ranking blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ropes to skip]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rules to follow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media measurement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the winners are]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com/?p=326</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Blogging effectiveness is an ongoing multi-step process that must be tailored to your blog's specific audience. Check out the fifth in a series of steps learned through the creation of FT ComMetrics Blog Index, which ranks only the best in corporate blogging.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p><a title="how high does your blog rank? find out" href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/05/2009-05-20-winnersRankingsFTCBI.jpg"><img style="margin: 10px;float: left" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/05/2009-05-20-winnersRankingsFTCBI.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="200" height="450" /></a>Previously in this series we published:<br />
<a title="address these issues BEFORE starting to blog - after one year - review if you are still on track ELSE adjust the earlier the better" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?p=111" target="_blank">1) Lessons 1 &#8211; 4: Starting your blogging off on the right foot (2009-06-03)</a><br />
<a title="if these questions are not discussed and decided upon properly - much time will be wasted the first six months " href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2090" target="_blank">2) Lessons 5 &#8211; 7: Setting the stage &#8211; ready &#8211; go (2009-06-03)</a><br />
<a title="some operational issues - whatever you decide you will have to live it down - so please be careful" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?p=79" target="_blank">3) Lessons 8 &#8211; 11: Whatever domain, home you choose &#8211; beware (2009-07-08)</a><br />
<a title="don't make these mistakes before you start your blog - it would be such a waste" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2062" target="_blank">4) Lessons 12 &#8211; 13: Getting the basic SEO issues right (2009-07-08)</a></p>
<p><strong>Today we release the last two installments of these tips and lessons</strong>. The sixth, and last, post can be read here:<br />
<a title="some small things that add a lot of info to help search engines guide relevant traffic to your blog posts" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2068" target="_blank">6) Lessons 18 &#8211; 20: Improving blogging effectiveness</a></p>
<p>In this <strong>fifth post</strong>, the focus is on <strong>commitment, authenticity and managing cultural differences</strong> carefully.<span id="more-326"></span></p>
<p><strong>Lesson 14: Commit to regularly posting during mid-week</strong><br />
Having <strong>several writers</strong> makes it easier, but a politician is better off writing their own posts to assure an authentic voice (see Lesson 16 below).</p>
<p><a href="../articles/case-study-2-blogging-politicians-how-do-they-measure-up/">Case study 2: Blogging politicians &#8211; how do they measure up?</a></p>
<p>The saying &#8220;out of sight, out of mind,&#8221; applies here. Hence, irregular posting makes it more difficult for your readers to remember that a blog provides good information. In the fast-changing blogosphere, <a title="no post since February 09 - better to have several people blog instead of just one person" href="http://www.aviva.com/about-us/heritage/archivist-blogs/anna-stone/" target="_blank">an irregular posting schedule like Aviva&#8217;s</a> does not seem a good strategy.</p>
<p>Finally, more people are on the Internet during the week than on weekends, so <strong>posting regularly during the week (e.g., Tue &#8211; Th)</strong> is most effective for reaching business and potential subscribers.</p>
<p><strong>Lesson 15: Depth and breadth vs. crowdsourcing</strong><br />
<strong>Outsourcing is en vogue</strong> &#8211; some say it helps bring down the head count, looks good on the books and saves money. To succeed with outsourcing blogging means that you must secure the services of  &#8216;experts&#8217; and &#8216;volunteers&#8217; that understand your business, as this example illustrates:</p>
<p><a href="http://commetrics.com/articles/case-study-ebookersch-or-how-to-skip-the-ropes/">Case study: eBookers or how to skip the ropes</a></p>
<p>But will these experts be as motivated as your staff, providing value for money to your current and potential customers? Can one assure consistent quality as well as making the company more personable? Will you trust others to be your voice on the web and if you do, is this a viable strategy?</p>
<p>Surely <strong>outsourcing blogging content fails to give the company an authentic voice</strong> (see Lesson 16 below). As importantly, to assure depth and breadth means checking up and making sure that those posts not meeting these criteria are either improved or simply not published &#8211; a time-consuming and, therefore, costly option. In today&#8217;s competitive environment, learning from and relating to customers is an opportunity that cannot be missed.<img style="margin: 10px;float: right" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/ComMetrics/2009/image/05/2009-05-23-HowTo-Login.png" border="0" alt="" width="100" height="125" /></p>
<p>To <strong>see how well your blog strategy works</strong> register your blog here:<br />
<a title="why it makes sense to watch the trends and check how much you are improving with your blogging efforts" rel="external" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com &#8211; <strong>benchmark your blog &#8211; improve your score</strong> &#8211; sign-up for FREE</a></p>
<p><strong>Lesson 16: Authentic voice makes a big difference</strong><br />
An <strong>effective blog represents corporate policy, strategy and viewpoints</strong>. Hence, people need to be authentic.</p>
<p>Therefore, while having text vetted by the legal crew as well as the PR folks makes it all a bit more sanitized, it also removes much of what may raise interest readers. This does not mean that legal issues do not matter but it needs to be personable to get and keep people interested.</p>
<p>Of course, unless your CEO has the passion, desire, time and dedication to commit to frequently blogging and curate the comments, this should be avoided at all costs. That being said, there are countless examples of brilliant CEO blogs from people who love to write and share their insights. A great example is <a title="in April 09 he was too busy to post - willing to take a stand - provides strategic insights on where Sun is heading" href="http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/" target="_blank">Jonathan Schwartz&#8217;s &#8211; CEO of Sun, now Oracle &#8211; blog</a>. But either do it right or don&#8217;t go there.</p>
<p><strong>Lesson 17: Culture, language and medium &#8211; editors should apply</strong><br />
Whatever the language of a blog, many of its readers will  have a different first language. In turn, one should consider this when writing for a <a title="humor, abbreviation and slang may not be understood by your non-native English speaker audience - beware and take care" rel="bookmark" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=35" target="_blank">global social media audience</a>.</p>
<p>P.S. &#8211; Not every CEO will come across successfully on video =&gt; <a title="not every CEO will be a good chatroom host or feel comfortable doing a video" href="http://commetrics.com/articles/ceo-webcasts-on-youtube-will-it-turn-them-into-megalomaniacs/" target="_blank">CEO webcasts on YouTube &#8211; will it turn them into megalomaniacs?</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Takeaways</strong></p>
<ul><strong>Authentic voice is key</strong> &#8211; outsourcing blog posting is not an option.<br />
<strong>Commitment matters</strong> &#8211; regular AND relevant posts and response to comments keeps your readers interested.<br />
<strong>Slang or humor are out</strong> &#8211; people whose first language is not the one used on a corporate blog will otherwise be lost.<br />
<strong>Act locally, think globally</strong> &#8211; while you are on vacation many of your faraway readers are working, so assure posting during holidays. It is worth the effort.</ul>
<p>I will keep it brief, love to dialogue more in the comments. What is your take? Please share.</p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/authentic-voice-is-key/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Increasing blogging effectiveness: Step 3</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/checklist-for-best-practices/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=checklist-for-best-practices</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/checklist-for-best-practices/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:57:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Urs E. Gattiker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FTCBI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[checklists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[improving the trend]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trend watching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usability]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmarking blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best in class]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blogging effectiveness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[buzz marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[checklist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FT ComMetrics Blog Index]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ranking blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ropes to skip]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rules to follow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media measurement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the winners are]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com:80/?p=79</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Blogging effectiveness is an ongoing multi-step process that must be tailored to your blog's specific audience. Check out the third in a series of steps learned through the creation of FT ComMetrics Blog Index, which ranks only the best in corporate blogging.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p><a title="how high does your blog rank? find out" href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/05/2009-05-20-winnersRankingsFTCBI.jpg"><img style="margin: 10px;float: left" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/05/2009-05-20-winnersRankingsFTCBI.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="200" height="325" /></a>Previously in this series we published:<br />
<a title="address these issues BEFORE starting to blog - after one year - review if you are still on track ELSE adjust the earlier the better" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?p=111" target="_blank">1) Lessons 1 &#8211; 4: Starting your blogging off on the right foot (2009-06-03) </a><br />
<a title="if these questions are not discussed and decided upon properly - much time will be wasted the first six months " href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2090" target="_blank">2) Lessons 5 &#8211; 7: Setting the stage &#8211; ready &#8211; go (2009-06-03) </a></p>
<p><strong>Today we release the next two installments of these tips and lessons</strong>, the fourth of which can be read here:<br />
<a title="don't make these mistakes before you start your blog - it would be such a waste" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2062" target="_blank">4) Lessons 12 &#8211; 13: Getting the basic SEO issues right</a></p>
<p>The final set will come your way <strong>August 12</strong>:<br />
<a title="some CEOs and politicians 'blog' using staff or ghostwriters: fails miserably every time we benchmark it on My.ComMetrics.com" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?p=326" target="_blank">5) Lessons 14 &#8211; 17: Authenticity and quality are key</a><br />
<a title="some small things that add a lot of info that helps the search engine to guide relevant traffic to your blog posts" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2068" target="_blank">6) Lessons 18 &#8211; 20: Improving blogging effectiveness</a></p>
<p>Corporate bloggers should follow these lessons to save on resources, money and <strong>improve blogging effectiveness</strong>. It actually takes little effort but the results are astonishing if you correct r completely avoid these mistakes.</p>
<p>To make sure that you don&#8217;t miss any of these upcoming posts, just leave your e-mail here:</p>
<form method="post" action=""><input type="hidden" name="ip" value="38.107.191.94" /><p>Your email:<br /><input type="text" name="email" value="Enter email address..." size="20" onfocus="if (this.value == 'Enter email address...') {this.value = '';}" onblur="if (this.value == '') {this.value = 'Enter email address...';}" /></p><p><input type="submit" name="subscribe" value="Subscribe" />&nbsp;<input type="submit" name="unsubscribe" value="Unsubscribe" /></p></form>
<span id="more-79"></span></p>
<p><strong>Lesson 8: Host blog on corporate domain</strong><br />
Most corporations&#8217; main pages have a relatively high <strong><a title=" 1 to 10 - the higher the better" href="http://howto.ComMetrics.com/?page_id=71" target="_blank">Google PageRank</a></strong> (ranking range from 0 to 10, the higher the better). Besides brand recognition and reputation management purposes, this is one more reason why the blog should be hosted under the corporate domain. Advantages include:</p>
<ul>a) benefiting from the main page&#8217;s Google PageRank,<br />
b) being easier to find for stakeholders, and<br />
c) contributing to and receiving traffic from the main page.</ul>
<p>Following the above strategy will result in the blog starting with a higher Google PageRank than it would otherwise get. If one cannot follow the above approach, one has to pay the price as <a href="http://commetrics.com/articles/ft-commetrics-global-500-corporate-blog-case-study-volvo/" target="_blank">Volvo</a> (212.181.8.238/webbplatser/vbeb/default.aspx) and <a href="http://commetrics.com/articles/ft-commetrics-global-500-blogs-case-study-swisscom/" target="_blank">Swisscom</a> (swisscomnature.blueblog.ch) illustrate.</p>
<p><strong>Lesson 9: Make finding the blog on the corporate website easy</strong><br />
This seems obvious but often it fails to work properly. Nokia does this smartly and effectively (see below). Here, regardless of the visitor&#8217;s geographic location, the blog section features prominently on the main website and once one clicks on it, finding the blog one is interested in is simple.</p>
<p><a title="make sure I can find your blog - see how Nokia does it, quick and easy for you to navigate" href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/05/2009-05-20-FindingNokiaBlog.png"><img style="margin: 10px;float: right" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/05/2009-05-20-FindingNokiaBlog.png" border="0" alt="" width="300" height="100" /></a></p>
<p>Unfortunately, many corporate blogs use a different approach that is far less user-friendly. For instance, on a visit to the <a href="http://www.ge.com/" target="_blank">GE corporate website</a>, one will not find a quicklink to a list of all the company&#8217;s blogs. Instead, one must search and dig quite a bit to find what one came for. Why make it difficult when easy does it better?</p>
<p><strong>Lesson 10: Make sure variations of the blog&#8217;s URL work</strong><br />
Not always do links to the blog&#8217;s main page work properly, especially in cases where users type an alternate version of the link, such as:</p>
<ul>- <a href="http://www.HowTo.Commetrics.com/" target="_blank">www.HowTo.ComMetrics.com</a> instead of <a href="http://HowTo.ComMetrics.com" target="_blank">HowTo.ComMetrics.com</a>,<br />
- <a href="http://www.blog.Daimler.com" target="_blank">www.blog.Daimler.com</a> instead of <a href="http://blog.Daimler.de" target="_blank">blog.Daimler.de</a>, or<br />
- <a href="http://gereports.ge.com" target="_blank">gereports.ge.com</a> instead of <a href="http://gereports.com" target="_blank">gereports.com</a>.</ul>
<p>Check the above links for yourself to see which ones work &#8211; at least <strong>one will give you an error</strong>. This is an oversight that can easily be fixed and one wonders why any organization that maintains a <a title="3 criteria a blog must meet to be considered a corporate blog" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=114" target="_blank">corporate blog</a> would overlook this issue.</p>
<p><img style="margin: 10px;float: right" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/ComMetrics/2009/image/05/2009-05-23-HowTo-Login.png" border="0" alt="" width="100" height="90" /></p>
<p>To <strong>see how well your blog strategy works</strong> register your blog here:<br />
<a title="why it makes sense to watch the trends and check how much you are improving with your blogging efforts" rel="external" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com &#8211; <strong>benchmark your blog &#8211; improve your score</strong> &#8211; sign up for FREE</a></p>
<p><strong>Lesson 11: Once it is chosen, keep your blog&#8217;s URL</strong><br />
<a href="http://blog.toyota.com/" target="_blank">Toyota Open Road Blog</a>, a blog with a nice <strong><a title="do people talk about your content on the web - InLinks, PageRank, Technorati, etc." href="http://howto.ComMetrics.com/?page_id=10" target="_blank">ComMetrics footprint</a></strong> (the lower the score the better your blog ranks within <a title="classifying your blog properly means we are comparing apples with apples and not apples with oranges" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=98" target="_blank"><strong>the same category</strong></a> &#8211; apples vs. apples), lost a lot of ground when its advertising people decided to change its URL and move the blog to the <a title="Toyota Road Blog's new URL and home - more sterile than ever" href="http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/our-point-of-view.aspx" target="_blank">Toyota website</a>.</p>
<p>In this case, the Google PageRank immediately dropped to 0. Giving up a 6 Google PageRank (some weeks it was a 7) just to move a blog might fit the corporate strategy, but is this  <a title="the good, bad and ugly in blog real estate" href="http://commetrics.com/articles/ftcbi-just-do-it-right/" target="_blank">effective</a> in terms of corporate best-practice?</p>
<p>Once you choose a URL stick with it and don&#8217;t let any advertising expert or strategy guru tell you otherwise. This will save you time and effort in the long-term. And as Nokia and others demonstrate, any blog can be easily linked to and featured on the global website for people to find quickly and easily.</p>
<p><strong>Okay, now it’s your turn.</strong> What techniques you have used to improve your blogging effectiveness? What was your most successful “let’s do this and move on” tactic? If you have come close to resolving these challenges smartly, what did you do? Which of the above four strategies is your favorite? Which one do you think is just baloney? It’s okay &#8211; be honest. We can take it. <em>Thanks much.</em></p>
<p><strong>P.S.</strong> &#8211; You may find our next set of ropes to skip of interest as well: <strong><a title="don't make these mistakes before you start your blog it would be such a waste" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2062" target="_blank">4) Lessons 12 &#8211; 13: Getting the basic SEO issues right (2009-07-08)</a>.</strong></p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/checklist-for-best-practices/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>15</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Increasing blogging effectiveness: Step 1</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/blog-your-best-checklist/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=blog-your-best-checklist</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/blog-your-best-checklist/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:24:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Urs E. Gattiker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FTCBI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best in class]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[checklists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[improving the trend]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trend watching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmarking blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blogging effectiveness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[buzz marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[checklist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FT ComMetrics Blog Index]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ranking blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ropes to skip]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rules to follow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media measurement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the winners are]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com:80/?p=111</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Blogging effectiveness is an ongoing multi-step process that must be tailored to your blog's specific audience. Check out these first in a series of lessons learned through the creation of FT ComMetrics Blog Index, which ranks only the best in corporate blogging.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p><a title="how high does your blog rank? find out" href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/05/2009-05-20-winnersRankingsFTCBI.jpg"><img style="margin: 10px;float: left" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/05/2009-05-20-winnersRankingsFTCBI.jpg" border="0" alt="" width="200" height="400" /></a>Imagine your boss has just told you that budget cuts necessitate cutting social media expenses and you might lose your job shortly. In a semi-desperate move you suggest that she give you another three months to show what a difference you can make for the company by revamping the <a title="3 criteria a blog must meet to be considered a corporate blog" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=114" target="_blank">corporate blog</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Can we help? Absolutely!</strong> After publishing the <a title="where does your favorite company rank - how well does it blog" href="http://FTindex.ComMetrics.com" target="_blank"><strong>2009 FT ComMetrics Blog Index</strong></a>, which ranks <a title="At a glance: Largest global companies" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=38" target="_blank">FT Global 500</a> and <a title="At a glance: Largest US companies" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=126" target="_blank">Fortune 500</a> companies’ <a title="3 criteria a blog must meet to be considered a corporate blog" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=114" target="_blank">corporate blogs</a>, we came to the conclusion that it might be helpful to share some of the insights we have gained.</p>
<p>Today we release the first installments of these tips and lessons, the second of which can be read here:<br />
<a title="if these questions are not discussed and decided properly, much time will be wasted in the first six months" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2090" target="_blank">2) Lessons 5 &#8211; 7: Setting the stage &#8211; ready &#8211; go (2009-06-03)</a></p>
<p>The next set will be published July 8:<br />
<a title="some operational issues - whatever you decide you will have to live it down - so please be careful" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?p=79" target="_blank">3) Lessons 8 &#8211; 11: Whatever domain or home you choose &#8211; beware</a><br />
<a title="don't make these mistakes before you start your blog it would be such a waste" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2090" target="_blank">4) Lessons 12 &#8211; 13: Getting the basic SEO issues right</a></p>
<p>The final set will come your way August 12:<br />
<a title="while the &quot;CEO&quot; or &quot;politician&quot; blog using staff or ghost writers fails miserably every time we benchmark it on My.ComMetrics.com" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?p=326" target="_blank">5) Lessons 14 &#8211; 17: Authenticity and quality are key</a><br />
<a title="some small things that add a lot of info that helps the search engine to guide relevant traffic to your blog posts" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2068" target="_blank">6) Lessons 18 &#8211; 20: Improving blogging effectiveness</a></p>
<p>To make sure that you don&#8217;t miss any of these upcoming posts, just leave your e-mail here:<form method="post" action=""><input type="hidden" name="ip" value="38.107.191.94" /><p>Your email:<br /><input type="text" name="email" value="Enter email address..." size="20" onfocus="if (this.value == 'Enter email address...') {this.value = '';}" onblur="if (this.value == '') {this.value = 'Enter email address...';}" /></p><p><input type="submit" name="subscribe" value="Subscribe" />&nbsp;<input type="submit" name="unsubscribe" value="Unsubscribe" /></p></form>
<span id="more-111"></span></p>
<p><strong>Lesson 1: Ropes to skip &#8211; learn from others</strong><br />
There is no good reason to make the mistakes we discuss below and in subsequent posts. Just read these rules and decide carefully.</p>
<ul>ComMetrics &#8211; thanks to input and advice from others we have come up with the <a title="why these 20+ WordPress plugins will make you a more effective blogger" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2069" target="_blank">20+best WordPress plugins</a> to make our lives easier; and<br />
<strong><a title="Daimler" href="http://blog.daimler.de/2009/05/29/schweden-ein-paar-monate-spaeter/" target="_blank">Daimler &#8211; </a></strong><a title="talking to others in the industry can help you save a bundle - do it before it is too late" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=826" target="_blank">Why did Beck&#8217;s not ask Daimler before starting an expensive revamp of its blog</a>?</ul>
<p><strong>Lesson 2: Define the type of blog you want</strong><br />
Who or what is it supposed to provide information about? Delivering information to investors is different than blogging about a non-profit organization&#8217;s neighborhood initiative.</p>
<ul><a href="http://dellshares.dell.com/one2one/"><strong>Dell</strong>&#8217;s investor blog, DellShares, serves shareholders</a>, while <a href="http://direct2dell.com/one2one/"><strong>Direct2Dell</strong> offers customers a way to find out about new products and provide feedback</a>.</ul>
<p>Dell&#8217;s blogs deliver different fare and their success speaks volumes about the company&#8217;s smart blogging strategy.</p>
<p><strong>Lesson 3: Define the target audience</strong><br />
The question is, are those that read Renault&#8217;s Formula One racing team blog would be the kind of people you want to reach out to. Hence, <span class="previous"><a title="are these the people that will help your business?" href="http://commetrics.com/articles/getting-your-corporate-blog-noticed-pretending-not-to-care/" target="_blank">who is your target audience</a> &#8211; sports fans, customers, potential clients, regulators, donors or someone else?</span><span class="previous"> Some of your audience may fall into more than one category, such as sports fans who have and will continue to purchase Renault&#8217;s cars.<br />
</span></p>
<p>The challenge of finding your target audience is nicely illustrated by:</p>
<ul><a title="are these the people that will help your business?" href="http://www.gereports.com" target="_blank"><strong>General Electric</strong> &#8211; Blogging for shareholders, creditors and financial analysts</a></ul>
<p>General Electric&#8217;s blog is one example where institutional investors and shareholders can get information they might not be able to get elsewhere. But if you are interested to find out about its research and what future products it has in store, <a href="http://www.grcblog.com/" target="_blank">GE Global Research Blog</a> will serve you better.</p>
<p><img style="margin: 10px;float: right" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/ComMetrics/2009/image/05/2009-05-23-HowTo-Login.png" border="0" alt="" width="100" height="125" /></p>
<p>To <strong>see how well your blog strategy works</strong> register your blog here:<br />
<a title="why it makes sense to watch the trends and check how much you are improving with your blogging efforts" rel="external" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com &#8211; sign up for FREE</a> and compare your performance to the <a title="Get the blog in French or English - all about the F1 races" href="http://my.ing-renaultf1.com/en/" target="_blank">Renault F1 team</a> or <a title="talking to others in the industry can help you save a bundle - do it before it is too late" href="http://www.racing.ups.com/blogs/team/?srch_pos=4&amp;srch_phr=blog" target="_blank">UPS racing</a> blogs &#8211; we&#8217;ll help you gain the upper hand.</p>
<p><strong>Lesson 4: Determine what the focus of two-thirds of the content will be</strong><br />
People sign up to get a blog&#8217;s RSS feed because the content looks of interest to them on a first or second visit. Straying far from the topic is not always appreciated by one&#8217;s audience, considering their many other time commitments and options for news sources. So staying on target is key when it comes to delivering unique content.</p>
<ul><a title="talking to others in the industry can help you save a bundle - do it before it is too late" href="http://www.racing.ups.com/blogs/team/?srch_pos=4&amp;srch_phr=blog" target="_blank"><strong>UPS racing</strong> in the US &#8211; get the latest results and box news</a><br />
<a title="Get the blog in French or English - all about the F1 races" href="http://my.ing-renaultf1.com/en/" target="_blank"><strong>Renault F1 team</strong> &#8211; all about the races</a> &#8211; from news about the Red Bull team to McLaren Mercedes &#8211; this is what you get</ul>
<p>Both cases above show that these blogs provide racing news, so choose Renault for Formula One or UPS for NASCAR news. Somebody who is not a car racing fan is definitely not a targeted reader for these blogs, which is fine as long as it remains of interest to the target audience.</p>
<p><strong>Okay, now it&#8217;s your turn.</strong> Would you have addressed any of these challenges differently? Did I miss something in one of the three points addressed? Do you agree or disagree? Give us shout-out, whether for joy or frustration, but please share your thoughts. <em>Thank you.</em></p>
<p><strong>P.S. -</strong> Continue with our next set of ropes to skip: <strong><a title="if these questions are not discussed and decided upon properly - much time will be wasted the first six months " href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2090" target="_blank">2) Lessons  5 &#8211; 7: Setting the stage &#8211; ready &#8211; go (2009-06-03)</a>.</strong></p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/blog-your-best-checklist/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>25</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>My.ComMetrics.com real-time trace update</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/who-benchmarks-against-you/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=who-benchmarks-against-you</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/who-benchmarks-against-you/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 May 2009 23:45:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ComMetrics Team</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[new feature]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alert]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmarking blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmarking software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best in class]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FT ComMetrics Blog Index]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[real-time trace alert]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software release]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[user dashboard]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com:80/?p=131</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My.ComMetrics.com will notify you in real-time every time another blogger has decided to trace your blog and benchmark his or her blog against yours. These alerts enable one to compare and view the trends with the help of charts - view, learn, change and become more effective as corporate blogger.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p><img style="margin: 10px;float: left" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/05/2009-05-08-DilbertMetrics-1.png" border="0" alt="" width="175" height="200" />May has been a really busy month for us. As the cartoon to the left illustrates, we talked with Dogbert and convinced him to help us come up with some nice additional features for your dashboard.</p>
<p>Our work with the folks at the Financial Times has also yielded satisfying results. You can get more information on our collaboration in the following posts:</p>
<p>- <a title="Who are the winners and why - what are they doing better... learn from the champions" href="http://ComMetrics.com/articles/ftcbi-downloadrankings/" target="_blank">FT ComMetrics Blog Index published</a><br />
- <a title="Download white paper, detailed analysis, Financial Times report etc." href="http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/ftcbi-download-case-studies/" target="_blank">FT ComMetrics Blog Index released: KISS the blog-bride</a><br />
- <a title="it was a hard search - and if your company had several blogs, the highest performing was the one that made the list" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/ft-commetrics-find-your-blog/" target="_blank">FT ComMetrics Blog Index: How we found you</a><br />
- <a title="best practice - what the high performers do differently than others" href="http://ComMetrics.com/articles/best-in-class/" target="_blank">FT ComMetrics Blog Index: The winners are</a><br />
- <a title="what some corporate bloggers seem to be doing wrong" href="http://ComMetrics.com/articles/ftcbi-just-do-it-right/" target="_blank">FT ComMetrics Blog Index: Just do it &#8211; right</a></p>
<p>Incidentally, to be notified about new features, tricks and tools first, why not enter your e-mail here and get on our VIP list:</p>
<form method="post" action=""><input type="hidden" name="ip" value="38.107.191.94" /><p>Your email:<br /><input type="text" name="email" value="Enter email address..." size="20" onfocus="if (this.value == 'Enter email address...') {this.value = '';}" onblur="if (this.value == '') {this.value = 'Enter email address...';}" /></p><p><input type="submit" name="subscribe" value="Subscribe" />&nbsp;<input type="submit" name="unsubscribe" value="Unsubscribe" /></p></form>

<p>Here is what is coming your way: <a title="register and claim your blog for free - so we can track it for you and show you how it compares to others" href="http://My.ComMetrics.com" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com</a> real-time trace updates or, who is Googling you &#8211; creepy or useful?<span id="more-131"></span></p>
<p>Alerts can be a good thing. For instance <a title="one of our team's profile - Urs E. Gattiker, Ph.D." href="http://www.ziggs.com/apps/profile/Bio.aspx?uid=2371" target="_blank">Ziggs.com</a> alerts you when someone looks up your CV online.</p>
<p><img style="margin: 10px;float: right" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/05/2009-05-27-MyComMetrics-Real-Time-Trace-Alert.png" border="0" alt="" width="275" /></p>
<p>Real-time trace updates from My.ComMetrics.com are similar to Google Alerts or those from Ziggs. As the subscriber, you get informed when someone decides to add your blog to their dashboard. Hence, your blog&#8217;s performance is now being compared with that attained by another blog that covers a subject area similar to yours.</p>
<p>Additionally, the real-time trace alert provides the recipient with such information as:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://my.commetrics.com/blogdetails.php?id=550" target="_blank">View</a> the vital statistics for <a href="http://daniel.shortens.net/" target="_blank">http://daniel.shortens.net/</a> &#8211; by logging on you can see some of this &#8216;other&#8217; blog&#8217;s performance indicators (i.e. how well this corporate blog is performing)</li>
<li><a href="http://my.commetrics.com/addtraceblog.php?id=550" target="_blank">Trace</a> <a href="http://daniel.shortens.net/" target="_blank">http://daniel.shortens.net/</a> &#8211; logging on automatically adds this blog to those we trace on your behalf so you can find out who is doing better.</li>
</ul>
<p>Please let us know your reactions and comments about this; what do you think? Are there other features you would like? Thanks for sharing.</p>
<p><img style="margin: 10px;float: right" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/ComMetrics/2009/image/05/2009-05-23-HowTo-Login.png" border="0" alt="" width="100" height="125" /></p>
<p>To <strong>see how well your blog strategy works</strong> register your blog here:<br />
<a title="why it makes sense to watch the trends and check how much you are improving with your blogging efforts" rel="external" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com -<strong> benchmark your blog &#8211; improve your score</strong> &#8211; sign up for FREE</a>.</p>
<p>You can also follow us on Twitter <span class="vcard"><a class="url" title="MyComMetrics" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/67219969/2008-12-12-TwitterMyComMetrics_mini.png" alt="MyComMetrics" width="24" height="24" /></a> </span><a href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics" target="_blank">MyComMetrics</a>.</p>
<p>PS. Find out how <strong><a title="getting greater gas milage - customise the tools that make you a more effective blogger" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=112" target="_blank">My Tools</a></strong> can get you the vital blog statistics delivered the way that suits you the most &#8211; <strong>save time, money and blog more effectively</strong>.</p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/who-benchmarks-against-you/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>FT ComMetrics Blog Index released: KISS the blog-bride</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/ftcbi-download-case-studies/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=ftcbi-download-case-studies</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/ftcbi-download-case-studies/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2009 13:23:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Urs E. Gattiker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FTCBI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sensible metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmnark data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best in class]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[case study]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ComMetrics Footprint]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial times]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FT ComMetrics Blog Index]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FTindex results]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[press release]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ralph Waldo Emerson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com:80/?p=55</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The 2009 FT ComMetrics Blog Index helps you build your case for social media use and convince your boss of the benefits. Read about the cases, best practice and how the best corporate bloggers out-do the rest.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p><a title="Bldg a better mousetrap with metrics that trigger action" href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/04/2009-03-31-Mousetrap.png"><img style="margin: 10px;float: left" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/04/2009-03-31-Mousetrap.png" border="0" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a></p>
<p>According to Ralph Waldo Emerson&#8217;s wisdom, “<em>Build a better mousetrap and the world will make a beaten path to your door.</em>”</p>
<p>A good and insightful saying, to be sure, and the modern equivalent would have to be convincing the boss or a sceptic of the value of social media or blogging.</p>
<p>While blogging may be an effective way to reach many of the company&#8217;s customers and suppliers, and reduce customer calls if the help or FAQ section delivers, that may not be enough to convince a boss who neither reads nor writes a blog.<span id="more-55"></span></p>
<p>Hence, one needs to demonstrate that current and potential clients are making use of these technologies. Finding competitors or industry leaders that blog will also help convince a budget committee to assign a project manager and get started.</p>
<p>The  <a title="who won in 2009 - the winners are" href="../?page_id=992" target="_blank"><strong>2009 FT ComMetrics Blog Index rankings</strong></a> can help you build a case for using social media in your organization (see the statistics at a glance at <strong><a title="Financial Times and ComMetrics joined forces ➡  bringing you the 2009 FT ComMetrics Blog Index - ranking FT Global 500 companies' blogging effectiveness" href="http://ftindex.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">FTindex results</a></strong>). It illustrates how the largest companies are doing in comparison to their competitors and other large companies around the globe. It provides a tool for tracking success through hard numbers: how big is your company&#8217;s social media footprint? In particular, how does it stack up against your competitors&#8217; <strong><a title="do people talk about your blog - using five measures to arrive at this composite indicator - score ranges from 1 to 100 - the higher the greater a blog's footprint" href="http://HowTo.ComMetrics.com/?page_id=10" target="_blank">ComMetrics Footprint</a></strong> and so forth.</p>
<p>Accordingly, deriving value from non revenue-generating activities means demonstrating the sometimes hidden values of blogging and social media activities. This is what the <strong><a title="Financial Times and ComMetrics joined forces ➡  bringing you the 2009 FT ComMetrics Blog Index - ranking FT Global 500 companies' blogging effectiveness" href="http://ftindex.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">FTindex results</a> </strong>can help you with. Findings indicate how blogs are being used to improve consumer relations, recruiting efforts and handling a takeover without ruffling too many feathers.</p>
<ul><strong><a title="White paper - FT ComMetrics Blog Index - the winners or what makes them more effetive compared to other blogs - the facts - case studies" href="http://HowTo.ComMetrics.com/?dl_id=1//2009-05-14-FT-ComMetrics-Articles_in_FT_expandedFINAL.pdf" target="_blank">Download white paper (expanded version of 2004-05-14 FT article)</a></strong></ul>
<p><strong>You can also get a complete report with the results as a free download (just register, and voilà):<br />
</strong></p>
<ul><a title="Sign-up - log in and download free report - that easy" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=43" target="_blank">Log in <span class="bio">➡ </span><strong>Download the 2009 FT ComMetrics Blog Index report</strong></a></ul>
<p>Additional posts and download of additional materials provided as PDF files:</p>
<ul><strong><a title="what the media wanted to know - the winners and the losers - download PDF file" href="http://info.cytrap.eu/?p=155" target="_blank">Download press release</a><br />
<a title="bottom line - generating rankings that provide actionable metrics beyond the theoretical" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=139" target="_blank">Download Financial Times case study</a><br />
<a title="most companies that blog effectively have some characteristics when it comes to using social media as outlined here" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=2095" target="_blank">FT ComMetrics Blog Index published</a><br />
<a title="doing it better than the competition" href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/33df400c-3e8c-11de-9a6c-00144feabdc0.html" target="_blank"><strong>Financial Times May 14 &#8211; by Urs E. Gattiker &#8211; Corporate blogs: New way to engage with stakeholders</strong></a></strong></ul>
<hr /><img class="alignleft" style="margin: 2px;float: right" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/ComMetrics/2008/image/12/FTLogo.jpg" alt="Financial Times " width="62" height="85" />Find out more about the  <a title="benchmarking the world's 500 largest corporations' blogs" href="../?page_id=14" target="_blank">FT ComMetrics Blog Index</a> and the <strong><a title="Financial Times and ComMetrics joined forces ➡  bringing you the 2009 FT ComMetrics Blog Index - ranking FT Global 500 companies' blogging effectiveness" href="http://ftindex.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">FTindex results</a> </strong>using these links: <strong><a title="Where do the leaders outperform the rest ➡ how well the blog serves its target audience" href="../?page_id=124" target="_blank">Leaders by metric</a>, <a title=" blending community and commerce successfully ➡ attaining your long-term strategy objective(s) " href="../?page_id=51" target="_blank">What is top class</a>, <a title="how we calculate the indices and composite indicators at a glance" href="../?page_id=143" target="_blank">Methodology</a>, <a title=" Blogging standards and best practice with different target audiences ➡ what it takes for success." href="../?page_id=149" target="_blank">Good and best practice</a>, <a title=" Most recent lessons learned from the FT ComMetrics Blog Index ➡ good in-house blogger(s), foster and encourage the conversation." href="../?page_id=26" target="_blank">Lessons learned</a>, <a title="Watching the trends is critical to assess how effective your blogging performance has been." href="../?page_id=176" target="_blank">Trends to watch</a>, <a title=" Purchase the scores, commentary and analysis for your blog ➡ whether you are in the FT ComMetrics Blog Index or not." href="../?page_id=140" target="_blank">Your own index report</a>, <a title=" Register yourself and get the report ➡ bonus rank your blogging effectiveness as well" href="../?page_id=43" target="_blank">Free download: PDF report</a></strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Relevant blog metrics for diary, personal and business blogs</strong><br />
Please <a title="sign up during alpha-testing for free - track your blogs - see where and what can be improved - save time" href="http://my.commetrics.com/amember/signup.php?product_id=1" target="_blank">subscribe now</a> so you can <strong><a title="log in - enter the info about your blog - be as specific as you can - the more exact the info you give us the better we can serve you with accurate information - make your life easier by helping us" href="http://my.commetrics.com/claimblog.php" target="_blank">claim your personal and/or corporate blog</a></strong> AND <a title="just log in - add the URL and other pertinent information - the more exact you are the better we can help you" href="http://my.commetrics.com/addcompetitor.php" target="_blank">trace those that you want to compare yourself to</a>.<br />
For <strong>Twitter</strong>, please use <strong>#hashtag <span class="bio">➡</span> #<abbr title="FT ComMetrics Blog Index">FTCBI</abbr></strong></p>
<hr />

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/ftcbi-download-case-studies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Fine-tuning software: Defect, error or flaw?</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/fine-tuning-software/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=fine-tuning-software</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/fine-tuning-software/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:38:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Urs E. Gattiker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[measuring effectively]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bugzilla]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[defect software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FT ComMetrics Blog Index]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[metrics2watch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software engineering]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software release]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software reliability]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software with errors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software with flaws]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com:80/?p=85</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Mistakes in software coding can be dealt with during testing. Resolving defects after the fact is extremely costly and can affect user trust and confidence. Flaws and errors are less problematic but cannot be ignored.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p><a title="bugs happen but must be fixed quickly" href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/04/2009-04-12-MyComMetricsComBugFIXED.png"><img style="margin: 10px;float: left" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/04/2009-04-12-MyComMetricsComBugFIXED.png" border="0" alt="" width="152" height="192" /></a></p>
<p>Alpha testing is critical to find any errors and flaws you may have missed in a program&#8217;s development. This post explains how we went about testing <strong><a title="how does your blog rank against the competition" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com</a></strong> to ensure users&#8217; satisfaction with the final product.</p>
<p>There are three types of land mines in software engineering that must be dealt with when developing software of any kind:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px">1) <strong>Defects</strong>: these cause the software to behave in unpredictable ways. Examples could be code showing up when it should not be, failure to handle mistakes properly or incorrectly completed calculations that inadvertently provide the user with inaccurate results.<br />
2)<strong> Errors:</strong> these can be reduced by using quality assurance testing. The software might perform in a way contrary to what your customer expects. For example, the user enters a URL at <strong><a title="how does your blog rank against the competition" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com</a></strong>, clicks on View Trend and in response the software provides an empty results page or an error as shown in the image above.<br />
3) <strong>Flaws:</strong> these are generally viewed by the end-user as errors, without technically being an error within the developer&#8217;s code, such as presented data being correct but the visual leaves something to be desired (see image further below).<span id="more-85"></span></p>
<p><strong>How to manage software development</strong><br />
To resolve this apparent conflict we need to realize that only <strong>defects cause future headaches</strong>, and therefore they <strong>must not be deferred</strong>. Hence, if your software fails to process data correctly, the information provided to the user will be useless.  If the program freezes (remember the Windows XP blue screen of death) the defect must be fixed before it causes harmful damage. Of course, Microsoft proves that one can still be successful while releasing software with defects.</p>
<p>If the software reliably serves you an empty result page every time, this is <strong>not a defect, but an error</strong>. Nevertheless, it can and must be fixed. By contrast, a <a title="a flaw is a design issue, but still a problem from the user's point of view" href="http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?design.4.135467.15" target="_blank"><strong>flaw</strong> is more of a design issue</a> than an error but again, the client expects a fix.</p>
<p><strong>Defects</strong> are more critical and the risk of their presence should be minimized right from the start. Terence M. Colligan wrote <a title="most effective testing we use is fully automated or regression testing" href="http://www.tenberry.com/errfree/steps.htm" target="_blank">Nine Steps to Delivering Defect-Free Software</a>, all of which are still useful today, even though it is usually impossible to deliver perfect software right from the start.</p>
<p>Finally, some people call mistakes in software <strong>bugs</strong>, but we prefer to call them errors, because, for one thing, if they blow up they can do long-term damage. This often includes decreasing <strong>customer trust and confidence</strong> as discussed in the post <a title="bugs are errors and, in turn, land mines you have to watch out for in order to reach your final destination unharmed" href="http://www.sei.cmu.edu/news-at-sei/columns/watts_new/1999/March/watts-mar99.htm" target="_blank">Bugs versus defects &#8211; there are no bugs just land mines</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Where do alpha users come in?</strong><br />
Alpha users are required because the number of potential errors and flaws in most programs is too great to be able to test for all of them in advance. Instead, alpha users discover the land mines by making use of the software in infinite ways, putting the program through its paces and (hopefully) informing the developer of any eventual problems. They are also the ones who usually point out possible flaws or limitations a software tool may have.</p>
<p>The challenge for the developer is to prioritize the feedback provided and fix the most critical issues first, without forgetting all of the rest of the information provided by the alpha users. This makes alpha users the helpful individuals who enable the developer to refine and adjust the software before releasing it to the public for the first time.</p>
<p><a title="screen-shots help illustrate exactly what needs fixing" href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/04/2009-04-12-CSS-fix-Illustration.png"><img style="margin: 10px;float: right" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2009/image/04/2009-04-12-CSS-fix-Illustration.png" border="0" alt="" width="125" height="150" /></a><strong>Bottom line</strong><br />
Most projects come with costs that are impossible to quantify at the beginning, including defects. However, the danger with defects is that they can cause so many problems as to bring a project to a screeching halt. On the other hand, software errors are not that bad and can be fixed as needed. Eric Ries discusses this very nicely in his post <a title="why you have to watch your costs and users can help you get rid of bugs but not defaults in your programs" href="http://startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com/2008/10/lean-startups-vs-lean-companies.html" target="_blank">Lean start-ups vs. lean companies</a>.</p>
<p>In most cases, exhaustive testing is impossible because there are too many possibilities to test them all. For <strong><a title="how does your blog rank against the competition" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com</a></strong>, we focused on <strong>minimizing the risk of software errors</strong> and finding the unexpected ones with the help of alpha users. In this way, we continue to refine and improve the software as you read, this thanks to your and other alpha users&#8217; help!</p>
<p>Our question to readers and <strong><a title="how does your blog rank against the competition" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com</a></strong> users is, <strong>what are your experiences with bugs versus defects &#8211; does how they are handled make a difference to you?</strong> Please share your thoughts and insights on this important issue by leaving a comment. Thank you.</p>
<hr /><img class="alignleft" style="margin: 2px;float: right" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/ComMetrics/2008/image/12/FTLogo.jpg" alt="Financial Times " width="62" height="85" />Welcome to the home of the <a title="FT ComMetrics Blog Index" href="../?page_id=14">FT ComMetrics Blog Index</a> that ranks <a title="the largest global companies at a glance" href="http://www.ft.com/reports/ft5002008" target="_blank">FT Global 500</a> and <a title="the largest US companies" href="../leaders-by-metric/ftcommetrics-corporate-blog-index/social-media-monitoring-a-systematic-approach/fortune-500" target="_blank">Fortune 500</a> — <a title="3 criteria a blog must meet to be considered a corporate blog" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=114" target="_blank">corporate blogs</a><br />
<strong>Relevant blog metrics for diary, personal and business blogs</strong><br />
Please <a title="sign up during alpha-testing for free - track your blogs - see where and what can be improved - save time" href="http://my.commetrics.com/amember/signup.php?product_id=1" target="_blank">subscribe now</a> so you can <strong><a title="log in - enter the info about your blog - be as specific as you can - the more exact the info you give us the better we can serve you with accurate information - make your life easier by helping us" href="http://my.commetrics.com/claimblog.php" target="_blank">claim your personal and/or corporate blog</a></strong> AND <a title="just log in - add the URL and other pertinent information - the more exact you are the better we can help you" href="http://my.commetrics.com/addcompetitor.php" target="_blank">trace those that you want to compare yourself to</a>.<br />
For <strong>Twitter</strong>, please use <strong>#hashtag <span class="bio">➡</span> #<abbr title="FT ComMetrics Blog Index">FTCBI</abbr></strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<hr />

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/fine-tuning-software/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>FT ComMetrics Blog Index: How we found you</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/ft-commetrics-find-your-blog/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=ft-commetrics-find-your-blog</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/ft-commetrics-find-your-blog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2009 01:52:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Urs E. Gattiker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FTCBI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[measuring effectively]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sensible metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[are big companies moving towards best practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmnark data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog benchmarking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ComMetrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate blog index]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Digital Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial times]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fortune 500]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FT]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FT ComMetrics Blog Index]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FT Global 500]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[good practice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[key performance indicator]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[weblog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com:80/?p=142</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We searched near and far to find these corporate blogs all over the web. Sometimes they were not even linked to from the corporate website. ]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p><img class="alignleft" style="float: left;margin: 10px" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/ComMetrics/2008/image/12/FTLogo.jpg" alt="Financial Times " width="62" height="85" /></p>
<p><a title="using social media to launch a product - small business can excel if combined with traditional media" rel="bookmark" href="http://ComMetrics.com/articles/five-steps-to-turn-buzz-into-sales/" target="_blank">Five steps to turn buzz into sales</a><br />
<a title="which of your company's blogs made it onto the list of FT ComMetrics Blog Index" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=1673" target="_blank">Which FT Global 500 and Fortune 500 blogs made the FT ComMetrics Blog Index</a><br />
<a title="why CEOs and corporates should use blogging - how it affects your bottom line" href="http://commetrics.com/articles/financial-times-is-blogging-good-value/" target="_blank">Financial Times &#8211; is blogging good value?</a></p>
<p><strong>What is the FT ComMetrics Index?</strong><br />
ComMetrics has developed a detailed methodology to benchmark corporate blogs. The <a title="View all posts in FT/ComMetrics Blog Index" rel="category tag" href="http://commetrics.com/articles/category/ft500/ftcommetrics-corporate-blog-index/">FT ComMetrics Blog Index</a> uses the same methodology, but a less-detailed version.</p>
<p><strong>Why create such an index?</strong><br />
We thought creating this index this would help promote good practice as far as corporate blogging is concerned.</p>
<p>If you want to find actionable insights, you need to segment your benchmarking data: pinpoint the various sources, user behavior and outcomes. The <a title="View all posts in FT/ComMetrics Blog Index" rel="category tag" href="http://commetrics.com/articles/category/ft500/ftcommetrics-corporate-blog-index/">FT ComMetrics Blog Index</a> helps corporate bloggers achieve this objective.<br />
More issues below.<br />
<span id="more-142"></span><strong>Who is included?</strong><br />
Companies included in the Index are taken from the <a title="The greater the stock market value of a company, the higher its ranking." href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=38" target="_blank">FT Global 500 2008</a>, ranked by market capitalisation. Where possible we have indexed the top 25 from the following categories: the US, Europe and the rest of the world. In some cases we were unable to find a <a title="a business blog is not a corporate blog - what it takes to qualify" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=21" target="_blank">corporate blog</a>. In other instances, the blog may be owned by a subsidiary.</p>
<p>This is the case with Berkshire Hathaway: its subsidiary <a title="all the public relations you need - wire service going online " href="http://businesswired.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Business Wired</a> has a successful blog that we included in the list. A similar case is EON: its UK division has a blog, but we found no active <a title="a business blog is not a corporate blog - what it takes to qualify" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=21" target="_blank">corporate blog</a> published by its German headquarters (see also <a title="more in Germany but only a few FT Global 500 members" rel="bookmark" href="http://blog.metaroll.de/2008/11/28/social-media-marketing-in-deutschland/">Social Media Marketing in Deutschland</a>).</p>
<hr /><img class="alignleft" style="margin: 2px;float: left" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/ComMetrics/2008/image/12/FTLogo.jpg" alt="Financial Times " width="62" height="85" />The  <a title="FT ComMetrics Blog Index" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=14">FT ComMetrics Blog Index</a> ranks <a title="At a glance: Largest global companies" href="http://www.ft.com/reports/ft5002008" target="_blank">FT Global 500</a> and <a title="At a glance: Largest US companies" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/leaders-by-metric/ftcommetrics-corporate-blog-index/social-media-monitoring-a-systematic-approach/fortune-500" target="_blank">Fortune 500</a> companies&#8217; <a title="3 criteria a blog must meet to be considered a corporate blog" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=114" target="_blank">corporate blogs</a>.</p>
<p>The 2009 <a title="FT ComMetrics Blog Index" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=14">FT ComMetrics Blog Index</a> will appear in the <a title="Business news and world affairs at your fingertips" href="http://www.ft.com/" target="_blank"><em>Financial Times</em></a> newspaper&#8217;s regular <a title="what are the trends and what implications might these have upon your business' bottom line - find out " href="http://www.ft.com/digitalbusiness/" target="_blank">Digital Business</a> supplement and its webpage (<a class="bodystrong" href="http://news.ft.com/reports/digitalbusiness">www.ft.com/digitalbusiness</a>) on <strong>Wednesday, May 13</strong>.<br />
Please <a title="sign up during alpha for free - track your blogs - see where and what can be improved - save time" href="http://my.commetrics.com/amember/signup.php?product_id=1" target="_blank">subscribe now</a> so you can <strong><a title="log in - enter the info about your blog - be as specific as you can - the more exact the info you give us the better we can serve you with accurate information - make your life easier by helping us" href="http://my.commetrics.com/claimblog.php" target="_blank">claim your corporate and/or personal blog</a></strong> AND <a title="just log in - add the URL and other pertinent information - the more exact you are the better we can help you" href="http://my.commetrics.com/addcompetitor.php" target="_blank">trace those that you want to compare yourself to</a>.<br />
For <strong>Twitter, please use </strong><strong>#hashtag <span class="bio">➡</span> #<abbr title="FT ComMetrics Blog Index">FTCBI</abbr></strong></p>
<hr /><strong>Where or how did we find these corporate blogs?</strong><br />
Our starting point was Debbie Weil&#8217;s <a href="http://www.debbieweil.com/blog/list-of-67-big-brand-corporate-blogs/">The Big List of Big Brand Corporate Blogs</a>, which lists over 80 different blogs from brands or corporations all over the world. She is probably the one who convinced us to build this index in the first place. Debbie has a great <a href="http://www.debbieweil.com/blog/">blog</a>; anyone interested in social media should check it out.</p>
<p>Our next stop was the <a title="some are possibly business blogs quite a few qualify as corporate blogs" href="http://www.socialtext.net/bizblogs/index.cgi">Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki</a>. It has a few blogs that qualify using the criteria we developed for identifying <a title="a business blog is not a corporate blog - what it takes to qualify" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=21" target="_blank">corporate blogs</a>. Really great job these people did in collecting all this important information, have a look.</p>
<p>Another big help was Peter Kim, who put together <a title="a list of social media applications by various types of organizations" href="http://www.beingpeterkim.com/2008/09/ive-been-thinki.html" target="_blank">A List of Social Media Marketing Examples</a>, (<a title="Social Media Influence 2009 - London UK - a must be there conference" href="http://socialmediainfluence.com/" target="_blank">Bernhard Warner</a> also recommended this list). Kim has an impressive list of a vast number of social media marketing examples. Sometimes it mentions brands (not necessarily the corporate owner of the brand) and other times, as in the case of IKEA, customer blogs are listed. This is no obstacle, however, and the list is just plain impressive. By the way, another blog that you have to read, his other stuff is impressive too.</p>
<p>The next step was a tweet to Twitter followers, which garnered a nice response from<a title="Blog Council VP Community" href="http://blogcouncil.org/" target="_blank"> <span class="fn">Michael E. Rubin</span></a>. He suggested <a title="the list of corporate blogs" href="http://corporate.alltop.com/">Alltop &#8211; all the corporate blogs</a> and <a title="a smaller list - same as the one on Alltop under corporate blogs, just fewer ones" href="http://blogcouncil.alltop.com/">Feeds of the Blog Council</a>. Of course, this should have been done earlier, since we ourselves are a member of the <a title="ComMetrics listed in Alltop" href="http://commetrics.com/?page_id=239" target="_blank">Alltop Social Media blog crowd</a>.</p>
<p>We also found a &#8216;white paper&#8217; (five pages but not much detail) and some presentation slides of a survey that included 132 Nordic companies, all with a market capitalization of more than 1 billion euro. There were a few only that had blogs, most we had included already. Check out <a title="Telia iPod blog and Telenor training blog added thanks to this info" href="http://www.kullin.net/2008/11/corporate-blogging-among-listed-nordic.html" target="_blank">Corporate blogging amongst listed Nordic companies</a>, it is interesting reading.</p>
<p><strong>Are we still looking for more blogs?</strong><br />
<strong>Yes</strong>, we are. Please tell us about yours. Companies often have several blogs listed in our database. For instance, all of Hewlett Packard&#8217;s numerous blogs are being tracked; naturally, the best one will be included in the <a title="the largest global companies at a glance" href="http://www.ft.com/reports/ft5002008" target="_blank">Index</a>.</p>
<p>If you want to check out who is already included, visit the<br />
<a title="whose blog will be part of the FT ComMetrics Blog Index - see FT May 13, 2009" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=1673" target="_blank">FT ComMetrics Blog Index</a></p>
<p>If you have a blog that we should track for the <a title="the largest global companies at a glance" href="http://www.ft.com/reports/ft5002008" target="_blank">Index</a>, tell us about it by leaving a comment below with the blog URL(s).</p>
<p>If you want to see how you compare to others, check out <a title="this is a draft only, see final version May 13 in the Financial Times - Digital Business, online as well as at FTindex.ComMetrics.com" href="http://FTindex.ComMetrics.com" target="_blank">FTindex.ComMetrics.com</a> (you must be <strong><a title="alpha users get free access and once we launch, a 1-YEAR FREE SUBSCRIPTION - what are you waiting for, nothing to lose - take us for a test-drive" href="http://my.commetrics.com/amember/signup.php" target="_blank">registered</a> to view data/statistics</strong>).</p>
<p><strong>When will it be published?</strong><br />
The 2009 index will appear in the <a title="Business news and world affairs at your fingertips" href="http://www.ft.com/" target="_blank"><em>Financial Times</em></a> newspaper&#8217;s regular supplement on <a title="what are the trends and what implications might these have upon your business' bottom line - find out " href="http://www.ft.com/digitalbusiness/" target="_blank">Digital Business</a> and its webpage (<a class="bodystrong" href="http://news.ft.com/reports/digitalbusiness">www.ft.com/digitalbusiness</a>) on Wednesday, May 13.</p>
<p>=========&gt;<br />
<strong>More resources:</strong><br />
<a title="View all posts in FT/ComMetrics Blog Index" rel="category tag" href="http://commetrics.com/articles/category/ft500/ftcommetrics-corporate-blog-index/">FT/ComMetrics Blog Index</a></p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/ft-commetrics-find-your-blog/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Get a FREE subscription NOW</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/get-a-free-subscription-now/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=get-a-free-subscription-now</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/get-a-free-subscription-now/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Feb 2009 03:05:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>biohelixx</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[best in class]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sensible metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alpha users]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benchmarking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beta version]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freebies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[offers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software release]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web-based software]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com:80/?p=87</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
We have tried to keep our Alpha users and the other readers of this blog posted on our progress toward releasing a Beta version of our My.ComMetrics.com blog benchmarking tool.
Things are coming along nicely and the Beta release is just around the corner. In the meantime, we have opened a Twitter account to keep our [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p>We have tried to keep our Alpha users and the other readers of this blog posted on our progress toward releasing a Beta version of our <a title="Assess your performance, rank yourself against the best and then, most important, start improving to CLIMB the rankings - working smarter with social media" href="http://My.ComMetrics.com" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com blog benchmarking tool</a>.</p>
<p>Things are coming along nicely and the Beta release is just around the corner. In the meantime, we have opened a Twitter account to keep our users informed about:</p>
<ul>- new features, and<br />
- progress</ul>
<p>So far we have succeeded in keeping the number of tweets down to one or two each week, as promised in one of our early tweets:</p>
<p><span id="more-87"></span></p>
<ul><span class="vcard"><a class="url" title="MyComMetrics" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/67219969/2008-12-12-TwitterMyComMetrics_mini.png" alt="MyComMetrics" width="24" height="24" /></a> </span><a href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics" target="_blank">MyComMetrics</a>: <span class="msgtxt en">Dear, reminder, this account keeps you POSTED about software releases/changes on <a href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">http://My.ComMetrics.com</a> 1or 2 tweets each week <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23tools2watch">#tools2watch</a></span></ul>
<p>Almost two months have passed since that message was posted and the account is enjoying a steady growth of followers.</p>
<ul><strong><a title="we ♥ metrics - web-based software for benchmarking your blog(s) ➡ work smarter with actionable metrics ➡ give our 60-day free trial a go! http://ad.vu/4824" href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com bio on Twitter</a></strong></ul>
<p>Usually the messages we send out look something like the examples listed below. They focus on the web-based software, including providing links to new features or showing screen-shots of the results:</p>
<ul><span class="vcard"> <a class="url" title="MyComMetrics" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/67219969/2008-12-12-TwitterMyComMetrics_mini.png" alt="MyComMetrics" width="24" height="24" /></a> </span><a href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics" target="_blank">MyComMetrics</a>: <span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Simplified our offerings, 3 service levels is what we offer,still FREE for testers <a rel="nofollow" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=45" target="_blank">http://howto.commetrics.com&#8230;</a> #tools2watch</span></span><br />
<span class="vcard"><a class="url" title="MyComMetrics" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/67219969/2008-12-12-TwitterMyComMetrics_mini.png" alt="MyComMetrics" width="24" height="24" /></a> </span><a href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics" target="_blank">MyComMetrics</a>: <span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Fixed the descriptions and the sign up procedure so people have an easier time to understand <a rel="nofollow" href="http://short.to/ke2" target="_blank">http://short.to/ke2</a> #tools2watch #smMetrics</span></span><br />
<span class="vcard"><a class="url" title="MyComMetrics" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/67219969/2008-12-12-TwitterMyComMetrics_mini.png" alt="MyComMetrics" width="24" height="24" /></a> </span><a href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics" target="_blank">MyComMetrics</a>: <span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">NOW change profile,get alerts when stats change &amp; start benchmarking against YOUR blog =&gt; view image =&gt; <a rel="nofollow" href="http://snipr.com/abycz" target="_blank">http://snipr.com/abycz</a> #tools2watch</span></span><br />
<span class="vcard"><a class="url" title="MyComMetrics" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/67219969/2008-12-12-TwitterMyComMetrics_mini.png" alt="MyComMetrics" width="24" height="24" /></a> </span><a href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics" target="_blank">MyComMetrics</a>: UPDATE | login | <a class="tweetlink" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="nofollow">http://My.ComMetrics.com</a> | click Profile <a class="tweetlink" href="http://ad.vu/9x4t" target="nofollow">http://ad.vu/9&#215;4t</a> | change info &amp; customise ALERTS <a class="tweetlink" href="http://ad.vu/9x4t" target="nofollow">http://ad.vu/9&#215;4t</a> #tools2watch<br />
<span class="vcard"><a class="url" title="MyComMetrics" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/67219969/2008-12-12-TwitterMyComMetrics_mini.png" alt="MyComMetrics" width="24" height="24" /></a> </span><a href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics" target="_blank">MyComMetrics</a>: UPDATE | login | <a class="tweetlink" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="nofollow">http://My.ComMetrics.com</a> | click Profile| blog rankings &amp; key metrics change | get ALERT <a class="tweetlink" href="http://ad.vu/rd73" target="nofollow">http://ad.vu/rd73</a> | #tools2watch</ul>
<p><strong>Exclusive Newsletter for Subscribers</strong><br />
Our monthly newsletter appears every four to six weeks, something which associates and Alpha testers are automatically subscribed to receive. It keeps people informed about the most important stuff and alerts them to developments in the blogosphere that might make a splash.</p>
<ul><strong>The first issue was</strong>: This Month in Blogging Effectiveness &#8211; <em>January 20, 2009</em></ul>
<ul><strong>The next one will be coming your way soon</strong>: This Month in Blogging Effectiveness &#8211; <em>February 26 2009</em> (watch your inbox for it!)</ul>
<p><strong>Why we love our Alpha users</strong><br />
We believe that Alpha users are special people; they test our tools and provide us with extremely valuable feedback about how it works.</p>
<p>In return, our Alpha users deserve special treatment, which means that they get the full experience without paying a cent. <strong>Even better, people who are Alpha users, AND actively use the tool get a free subscription when we release Beta version 1.0 sometime this Spring</strong>. In order to qualify for the freebie, you need to <a title="Take us for a free test drive, we value your feedback - Free subscription for Alpha testers once we release the Beta - Please mark Alpha version at the top" href="http://my.commetrics.com/amember/signup.php" target="_blank">complete a free Alpha-user registration</a> and start testing our tool as much as possible. Why? Because it will help you increase the bang you get for your buck when you blog. We are in the process of packing more <em>oomph</em> into our tool. In turn, this will allow you to track various blogs and see what works and what fails. And that’s just the start.</p>
<p><a title="the various features - how to SAVE and become a more effective user - TOOLS FOR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=45" target="_blank">Various subscription plans on offer &#8211; See how they work</a><br />
=========&gt;<br />
<strong>Here’s what I’m suggesting for today.</strong> Please <a title="Take us for a free test drive, we value your feedback - Free subscription for Alpha testers once we release the Beta - Please mark Alpha version at the top" href="http://my.commetrics.com/amember/signup.php" target="_blank">register yourself for free or pass on this link</a> to some of your friends so they can benchmark themselves &#8211; to get better. Once we release Beta things will change, except for Alpha users: they get a free ride. <em>C&#8217;est la vie.</em></p>
<p>Enough about what I think and feel, what is your take? Share your thoughts below; they are what matter most.<br />
=========&gt;</p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/get-a-free-subscription-now/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Corporate microblogging or Twitter-squatting?</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/corporate-microblogging-or-twitter-squatting/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=corporate-microblogging-or-twitter-squatting</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/corporate-microblogging-or-twitter-squatting/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:59:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Urs E. Gattiker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[checklists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brand highjacking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brand logo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brand name]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Comcast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Davos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[defining corporate micro-blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ikea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Red Cross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tweet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter spam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter squatting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WEF]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WEFdavos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World Economic Forum]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com:80/?p=166</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This post provides 6 criteria that, all things being equal, can be used to define an organizational microblog or identify a possible Twitter squatter account, if need be.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<ul><em>Twitter squatters are people who register an account on Twitter with the name of a company, brand or town. For better or worse, these people become the public face of that corportation or town on that social network. With the upcoming  <a title="Davos is calling the corporate elites to come and discuss - naval gazing at its best" href="http://www.weforum.org/en/events/AnnualMeeting2009/index.htm" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a> (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, social media features prominently, so we thought we should, among other things, outline the criteria one can use to identify the official WEF versus the non-official WEF feed(s). Read on.</em></ul>
<p>We provide <strong>six criteria that, all things being equal, can be used to define an organizational microblog</strong> or identify a <strong>possible Twitter squatter account,</strong> if need be. These are:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px"><span id="more-166"></span>1) Registered entity &#8211; for profit or non-profit organizations.<br />
2) Corporate logo is used or shown prominently.<br />
3) Twitter account uses corporate name.<br />
4) If applicable, brand logo is shown prominently.<br />
5) Twitter account links to corporate webpage.<br />
6) The organization has copyright.</p>
<p>Below we explain this in more detail using examples to illustrate the above criteria.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px">1) In this context the term organization includes corporations, government agencies, crown or state corporations, non-profits, charities (a registered entity of a group of people who share a common set of goals).</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px">2) It is expected that the microblog uses the <strong>organization’s logo</strong> on the Twitter account as illustrated by the American <a href="http://twitter.com/RedCross" target="_blank"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/63023006/Logo_normal.jpg" alt="Logo_normal" /></a> <a href="http://twitter.com/RedCross" target="_blank">RedCross</a>.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px">3) The Twitter footprint uses a <strong>corporate name</strong>, such as <span style="text-decoration: underline">twitter.com/companyname/</span> (or a slightly modified version such as  <a href="http://twitter.com/DellShares" target="_blank"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/54797037/D2D_logo_normal.jpg" alt="D2d_logo_normal" /></a> <a href="http://twitter.com/DellShares" target="_blank">DellShares</a> or <a href="http://twitter.com/comcastcares" target="_blank"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/57719376/_DSF1802c_normal.jpg" alt="_dsf1802c_normal" /></a> <a href="http://twitter.com/comcastcares" target="_blank">ComcastCares</a> (though an individual is identified, there is clearly a corporate Twitter footprint) or the name of the government agency, such as <a href="http://twitter.com/whereelsebutqld" target="_blank"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/65922288/logo5_normal.jpg" alt="Logo5_normal" /></a> <a href="http://twitter.com/whereelsebutqld" target="_blank">whereelsebutqld</a> (Tourism Queensland &#8211; Australia) or <a rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/sydney_holidays"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/65600544/kang-logo-100x100_normal.jpg" alt="Sydney Australia" width="48" height="48" /></a> <a class="url uid" title="Tourism NSW - Official tourism site for Sydney &amp; New South Wales, Australia. Follow us for latest deals on accommodation, attractions, tours and events" href="http://twitter.com/sydney_holidays"><span class="nickname">sydney_holidays</span></a> (Tourism New South Wales).</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px">4) The microblog uses a <strong>brand name or brand logo, </strong>such as<a href="http://twitter.com/dunkindonuts" target="_blank"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/46694862/logo_main_copy_normal.gif" alt="Logo_main_copy_normal" /></a>dunkindonuts.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px">5) The Twitter account links to the <strong>organization’s webpage,</strong> like <a href="http://twitter.com/SamsungMobileUS" target="_blank"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/53967385/2330729489_13a77e135c_s_normal.jpg" alt="2330729489_13a77e135c_s_normal" /></a><a href="http://twitter.com/SamsungMobileUS" target="_blank">SamsungMobileUS</a> or the appropriate <strong>blog</strong> (as illustrated by <a href="http://twitter.com/DellShares" target="_blank"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/54797037/D2D_logo_normal.jpg" alt="D2d_logo_normal" /></a> <a href="http://twitter.com/DellShares" target="_blank">DellShares</a>).</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px">6) The <strong>organization owns the copyright </strong>to all the content associated with the site or account.</p>
<p>Even with this information, it is not always easy to identify the corporate Twitter footprint.  For instance, we think <a href="http://twitter.com/kodakCB" target="_blank"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/69676630/twitterPicture_normal.jpg" alt="Kodakcb_normal" /></a> <a href="http://twitter.com/kodakCB" target="_blank">kodakCB</a> seems to be a corporate Twitter feed since it links to the chief blogger’s corporate blog. A bit different is the case with the Twitter account called<a href="http://twitter.com/ikeafans" target="_blank"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/67276831/IKEAFANS_twitter_large_normal.jpg" alt="Ikeafans_twitter_large_normal" /></a><a href="http://twitter.com/ikeafans" target="_blank">ikeafans</a>. While it supports <span class="msgtxt en">IKEA, the associated webpage makes clear that it is not owned by the corporation. </span></p>
<p><span class="msgtxt en">Sometimes, the microblogger is an employee and the company logo features prominently on the blog. However, Twitter&#8217;s account disclaimer makes it clear to the casual reader that that does not mean the corporation owns the Twitter footprint. In these cases, the microblog also usually does not link to the corporate webpage or blog. An example is </span><a href="http://twitter.com/ScottMonty" target="_blank"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/60401607/ScottMonty_twitter_normal.jpg" alt="Scottmonty_twitter_normal" /></a> <a href="http://twitter.com/ScottMonty" target="_blank">ScottMonty</a>, who prominently features the Ford logo, but still makes clear using the above criteria that this microblog &#8211; while very interesting &#8211; does not qualify as an organizational or corporate one.<br />
In contrast, <a href="http://twitter.com/FordCustService" target="_blank"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/64742380/CustServ-logo_normal.PNG" alt="Custserv-logo_normal" /></a><a href="http://twitter.com/FordCustService" target="_blank">FordCustService</a> is a corporate Twitter footprint and it connects to the Ford Motor Company’s webpage.</p>
<p>In some instances, it is rather easy to figure out that a Twitter footprint has been hijacked or is being squatted on. Such is the case with<a href="http://twitter.com/evian" target="_blank"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/65716784/twitter08winter_normal.jpg" alt="Twitter08winter_normal" /></a><a href="http://twitter.com/evian" target="_blank">evian</a>: besides the mineral water by that name there is also a French city  of the same name on the shores of Lac Leman. Nevertheless, this Twitter footprint is not owned by either entity.</p>
<p>More sinister consequences are possible in the case of a brand being hijacked or squatted on. <a href="http://twitter.com/mc_donalds" target="_blank"><img src="http://static.twitter.com/images/default_profile_normal.png" alt="Default_profile_normal" /></a> <a href="http://twitter.com/mc_donalds" target="_blank">mc_donalds</a><span class="msgtxt en">, an account registered by someone using their email address, is outright damaging to the brand. Twitter-squatting could become the new domain name squatting. With this example it appears necessary for McDonald&#8217;s to contact Twitter and take action. Have you secured your Twitter name yet?<br />
</span></p>
<p>However, brands are apparently still allowed to use names or brands from others, and it is not always a competitor who does so. For instance, the <a title="Davos is calling the corporate elites to come and discuss - navel gazing at its best" href="http://www.weforum.org/en/events/AnnualMeeting2009/index.htm" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a> uses its host city&#8217;s brand, trademark or name to report about the meeting. It decided to call its Twitter feed  <a rel="contact" href="https://twitter.com/davos"><img class="photo fn" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/36881722/Davos_Annual_Meeting_normal.jpg" alt="World Economic Forum" width="48" height="48" /></a><a id="davos_profile_link" class="url uid" title="The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world" rel="contact" href="https://twitter.com/davos"><span class="nickname">davos</span></a>. We grabbed a similar Twitter footprint just for fun and called it <a class="url" href="http://twitter.com/WEFdavos"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/71411143/2009-01-16-MerkleinDavos_normal.png" alt="WEFdavos" width="48" height="48" /></a><a title="WEFdavos" href="http://twitter.com/WEFdavos">WEFdavos</a>. I discussed this with Matthias L&#252;fkens, the WEF&#8217;s own social media expert. After some fine-tuning it should now be clear for all to see that <a class="url" href="http://twitter.com/WEFdavos"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/71411143/2009-01-16-MerkleinDavos_normal.png" alt="WEFdavos" width="48" height="48" /></a><a title="WEFdavos" href="http://twitter.com/WEFdavos">WEFdavos</a> is <strong>not</strong> the World Economic Forum&#8217;s microblogging footprint. As well, <strong>WEF&#8217;s</strong> <a id="davos_profile_link" class="url uid" title="The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world" rel="contact" href="https://twitter.com/davos"></a><a rel="contact" href="https://twitter.com/davos"><img class="photo fn" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/36881722/Davos_Annual_Meeting_normal.jpg" alt="World Economic Forum" width="48" height="48" /></a><a id="davos_profile_link" class="url uid" title="The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world" rel="contact" href="https://twitter.com/davos"><span class="nickname">davos</span></a> Twitter account now clearly states that it is not affiliated with the city or the Davos-Klosters region. In both cases you can find this information in the account profile.</p>
<p>Test the aforementioned criteria with <a class="url" href="http://twitter.com/WEFdavos"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/71411143/2009-01-16-MerkleinDavos_normal.png" alt="WEFdavos" width="48" height="48" /></a><a title="WEFdavos" href="http://twitter.com/WEFdavos">WEFdavos</a> and you will immediately see that it does not meet rules 2, 3, 5 &amp; 6. Incidentally, somebody has taken the <a rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/wef"><img class="photo fn" src="http://static.twitter.com/images/default_profile_normal.png" alt="wef" width="48" height="48" /></a> <a id="wef_profile_link" class="url uid" href="http://twitter.com/wef">wef</a> Twitter footprint, but does not appear to be using it. Maybe now is the time for the <a title="Davos is calling the corporate elites to come and discuss - naval gazing at its best" href="http://www.weforum.org/en/events/AnnualMeeting2009/index.htm" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a> to re-claim this Twitter footprint for the future, whether to use it or to prevent damage to its brand. As a legitimate holder of the brand it can just ask Twitter to turn over the Twitter acount.</p>
<p><strong>Bottom Line</strong><br />
Given the above information we can now define a corporate or organizational Twitter account or micro-blog by using the following description:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px"><em><strong>Organizational microblogs exist under the company’s or non-profit organization’s name and/or brand, whereby the organization’s logos are featured prominently if they exist and a link to the relevant organizational webpage or blog is provided. Content copyright belongs to the organization.</strong></em></p>
<p>See also <a title="what are the characterstics of a corporate Twitter account" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?p=96" target="_blank">corporate microblogging on Twitter</a>, <a title="short definition - in German" href="http://kingnils.de/wordpress/2008/12/16/corporate-twitter/" target="_blank">Corporate Twitter</a>, <a title="Daimler employees are discussing what the firm's corporate Twitter feed should broadcast" href="http://blog.daimler.de/2008/12/10/wenn-unternehmen-zwitschern/" target="_blank">Wenn Unternehmen zwitschern &#8211; Daimler and Twitter</a>,  <a title="included corporate blogs" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=21">adding corporate blogs from FT Global 500 or Fortune 500 firms</a> and <a title="adding corporate microblog" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=168">adding corporate microblogs from FT Global 500 or Fortune 500 firms</a> AND <a title="ropes to skip with Twitter" href="http://commetrics.com/?cat=427" target="_blank">Twitter tricks, tips and FAQs</a></p>
<p>Even if you are not planning on using Twitter or another microblogging service, we urge you to <strong>register your brand so no one else can</strong>.</p>
<p>=========&gt;<br />
<strong>Here’s what I’m suggesting for today: </strong>Are there other factors one should use to identify corporate space on Twitter? What is your experience with Twitter squatting? Please provide your comments. And if you are already here, tell us about your organization’s Twitter feed in 140 characters or less. Inquiring minds want to know.</p>
<p><a title="ComMetrics - trends, scoops, insights but irreverent for sure - Twitter account to watch" href="http://twitter.com/ComMetrics" target="_blank">follow us on <strong>Twitter</strong></a>. <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://www.findableblogs.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" /></p>
<ul><strong><a title="how does your blog rank against the competition" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com</a></strong>, type in your blog’s URL and start tracking your performance &#8211; straight dashboard for straight answers.</ul>
<ul><strong><a title="register yourself and get an account" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">1st step &#8211; sign-up</a></strong> and get the <strong><a title="60 days free-trial - no risks but more to gain from checking it out - you'll be surprised" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=42" target="_blank">60 days free-trial</a></strong></ul>
<p>Get the latest about benchmarking tools and new features we offer by signing up for the Twitterfeed <a class="url" title="MyComMetrics" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/67219969/2008-12-12-TwitterMyComMetrics_mini.png" alt="MyComMetrics" width="24" height="24" /></a> <strong><a title="MyComMetrics" href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics"><span style="color: blue">MyComMetrics</span></a></strong><br />
=========&gt;</p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/corporate-microblogging-or-twitter-squatting/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>corporate microblogging on Twitter</title>
		<link>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/corporate-microblogging-on-twitter/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=corporate-microblogging-on-twitter</link>
		<comments>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/corporate-microblogging-on-twitter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:31:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Urs E. Gattiker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[checklists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FT ComMetrics Blog Index]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sensible metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter effectiveness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter usefulness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://howto.commetrics.com:80/?p=96</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This post defines the criteria needed for distinguishes a corporate Twitter account from a business or personal type of account.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<ul>Why should people follow a corporate blog or what is tweeting for companies 101? It is like the old saying about wheat and chaff: with a lot of followers come a lot of hecklers. In turn, having specific standards and understanding better what works well helps weed out the worst.<br />
This post addresses some characteristics of corporate Twitter account from Dell, ComcastCares, Tyson Foods and so forth.</ul>
<p>Microblogging &#8211; also called <a title="return on microblogging - ROM" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=160">microsharing</a> has become ever more popular thanks to <a title="everybody uses twitter" href="http://Twitter.com/ComMetrics" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and the many <a title="all the tools and more that you need for your Twitter toolbox" href="http://commetrics.com/?p=740" target="_blank">Twitter tools</a> that help one make better use of this communication tool. We have addressed this elsewhere like:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px"><a title="ropes to skip with Twitter" href="http://commetrics.com/?cat=427" target="_blank">Twitter &#8211; what works what fails</a></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px"><a title="benchmark your Twitter activities - Return on engagement" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=160" target="_blank">Return on engagement &#8211; Twitter for social media experts &#8211; benchmarking with My.ComMetrics.com</a></p>
<p>Here we are particularly interested in finding a better on what distinguishes a corporate Twitter account from a business or personal type of account.</p>
<p><span id="more-96"></span><a title="Twitter is about social relationships - YES - but also loose ties - not close ties between associates, network members and so forth" href="http://www.louisgray.com/live/2008/12/survey-says-twitter-is-about.html">Louis Gray did a survey amongst Twitter users (about 50 respondent online to one question &#8211; select your primary reason for using Twitter)</a>. Findings revealed that half of the respondents answered for social network or communicating with friends. However, interesting to us is that just about half used it as part of their job, monitor what others are doing and collecting information.</p>
<p>And while only 1 respondent admitted to use it for a brand, the survey did not address the self-branding issue (i.e. many use it to self-brand, of course) or getting brandchecked for that matter.</p>
<p><strong>what is a corporate Twitter account?</strong><br />
Like we have done for <a title="why is a business blog not a corporate blog" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=127" target="_blank">corporate blogs</a>, a definition must be given for a <a title="what are the criteria for a being included as a corporate microblog in the FT ComMetrics blog index" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=168" target="_blank">corporate Twitter or microblogging</a> account. We list a few (<strong>do you know of a few more for </strong><a title="FT Global 500" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=38">FT Global 500</a> or <a title="Fortune 500" href="http://howto.commetrics.com/?page_id=126">Fortune 500</a> companies, <strong>please leave a comment</strong>) below:</p>
<p><a title="what is happening at Dell these days" href="http://twitter.com/direct2dell" target="_blank">Direct2Dell</a> &#8211; pendent to blog &#8211; about Dell services, customers, etc.<br />
<a title="investor relations, corporate social responsbilities, dividends, investor relations" href="http://twitter.com/DellShares" target="_blank">DellShares</a> &#8211; pendent to blog &#8211; investor relations, etc.<br />
<a title="get the latest limited time offers from Dell including purchase codes, rebates, etc." href="http://twitter.com/DellHomeOffers" target="_blank">DellHomeOffers</a> &#8211; get the latest deals, offers, rebates for a limited time only<br />
<span class="entry-content"><a href="http://twitter.com/TysonFoods">TysonFoods</a></span> &#8211; pendent to blog &#8211; corporate social responsibility &#8211; foodbank, etc.</p>
<p><strong>Twitter account uses corporate name</strong><br />
<span class="vcard"> <a class="url" title="Direct2Dell.com" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/Direct2Dell"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/52116209/D2D_logo_mini.jpg" alt="Direct2Dell.com" width="24" height="24" /></a> </span><span class="vcard"> </span><span class="vcard"> </span>Direct2Dell (about products, happenings, feedback) or <span class="vcard"> <a class="url" title="MyComMetrics" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/67219969/2008-12-12-TwitterMyComMetrics_mini.png" alt="MyComMetrics" width="24" height="24" /></a></span> MyComMetrics (users, get feedback, ideas) are corporate Twitter accounts that provide information.</p>
<p><span class="vcard"><a class="url" title="Tyson Foods" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/TysonFoods"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/60774364/Tysontweet_mini.JPG" alt="Tyson Foods" width="24" height="24" /></a>Tyson Foods is an example that illustrates a corporate Twitter account whereby the company is supporting its hunger relief campaign with its microblogging efforts. </span></p>
<p>While the focus is quite different for each of these examples, the corporate name features prominently. Similar to a CEO blog, Twitter accounts can also be used by top management to tweet on behalf of the organization.</p>
<p>For instance, <span class="vcard"><a class="url" title="ComMetrics" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/ComMetrics"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/51587724/2008-03-07_130223_mini.gif" alt="ComMetrics" width="24" height="24" /></a> </span><span class="vcard">Commetics or </span><span class="vcard"> <a class="url" title="Frank Eliason" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/comcastcares"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/57719376/_DSF1802c_mini.jpg" alt="Frank Eliason" width="24" height="24" /></a> ComcastCares</span><span class="vcard"> &#8211; the face behind the Twitterfeed (see images to the left) -both tweet on behalf of their employers. </span></p>
<p>In short, <strong>using the corporate name and keeping copyright with the company </strong>seems standard for corporate Twitter accounts.</p>
<p><span class="vcard">However, there are many people using Twitter for professional or business purposes. Their tweets may mention the employer and the corporate brand. Nonetheless, the Twitter account is her or his own, as these examples illustrate. These business Twitterers provide great tweets for many people on business related matters:<br />
</span></p>
<p><span class="vcard"><a class="url" title="Jean Russell/Nurture" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/NurtureGirl"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/63398990/183408958_8b939f6171_m_mini.jpg" alt="Jean Russell/Nurture" width="24" height="24" /></a> <a class="url" title="Jeremiah" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/jowyang"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/51776798/thumbnail_mini.jpg" alt="Jeremiah" width="24" height="24" /></a> </span><span class="vcard"> </span> <span class="vcard"> <a class="url" title="Robert Scoble" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/Scobleizer"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/50819312/newscoblecamsmallcrop_mini.jpg" alt="Robert Scoble" width="24" height="24" /></a> </span><span class="vcard"> <a class="url" title="Tamar Weinberg" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/tamar"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/58401296/tamar_headshot-NEW_mini.jpg" alt="Tamar Weinberg" width="24" height="24" /></a> </span></p>
<p><span class="vcard"> </span></p>
<p><strong>Twitter profile &#8211; bio links to corporate website</strong>.<br />
Besides using the corporate name/brand for the Twitter account and the copyright being owned by the organization, a corporate Twitterfeed is usually <strong>linked to a corporate website</strong>. <a title="Dell Norway - microblogging for customers" href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2008/image/12/2008-12-15-DellDirekte-Norway.png"><img style="margin: 10px;float: right" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2008/image/12/2008-12-15-DellDirekte-Norway.png" border="0" alt="" width="175" /></a></p>
<p>For all the many Dell examples one can find on Twitter, each Twitter account links to its corporate weblog.</p>
<p>Hence, the microblog extends the blog&#8217;s voice or vice versa if you wish.</p>
<p><strong>Consistency and volume</strong><br />
Usually, corporate Twitter acounts do not send out tweets during weekends. Below shows you three Dell Twitter accounts and Tyson Foods&#8217; Twitter efforts.</p>
<p><a title="DellHomeOffers - 1 tweet every workday of the week = Mo - Fri" href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2008/image/12/2008-12-15-DellHomeOffers.png"><img style="margin: 10px;float: left" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2008/image/12/2008-12-15-DellHomeOffers.png" border="0" alt="" width="215" /></a></p>
<p>To the left you have DellHomeOffers that provides clients in the U.S. only with special offers. Most times, a tweet gives one a link to a special offer valid for a limited period only.</p>
<p>As the graphic shows for the period of August through November, few tweets are sent to followers each month. However, tweets are limited to sales information nothing else. Hence, very focused and narrow type of tweet content. Accordingly, unless you are in the market for a new product from Dell, this feed might not interest you very much. If you are in the market, however, this tweet can help you save you a few dollars for sure.<a title="Dell investor relations - microblogging for shareholders - 1 tweet per week or less" href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2008/image/12/2008-12-15-DellShares.png"><img style="margin: 10px;float: right" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2008/image/12/2008-12-15-DellShares.png" border="0" alt="" width="215" /></a></p>
<p>The feed to the right &#8211; DellShares &#8211; is for people interested in the firm&#8217;s share price. Of course this means investors and analysts.</p>
<p>All tweets and their content focus on issues of relevance to investors, analysts and shareholders.</p>
<p>DellShare provides maybe one tweet or less each week throughout the month as the graph to the upper right shows.   <a title="one tweet each work day will do" href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2008/image/12/2008-12-15-Direct2Dell.png"><img style="margin: 10px;float: left" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2008/image/12/2008-12-15-Direct2Dell.png" border="0" alt="" width="215" /></a></p>
<p>To the lower left you have another Dell Twitter account. Dell2Dell has about 1 tweet every work day. It is usually quiet on weekends as are the other two Twitter accounts shown above.</p>
<p>So in comparison to Dell, Tyson Foods (see lower right side) has a few more tweets throughout the month. It also supplies its followers with tweets during weekends. <a title="one tweet each work day will do" href="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2008/image/12/2008-12-15-TysonFoods.png"><img style="margin: 10px;float: right" src="http://www.cytrap.eu/files/HowToComMetrics/2008/image/12/2008-12-15-TysonFoods.png" border="0" alt="" width="215" /></a></p>
<p>There are other things that make the Tyson Foods Twitterfeed a bit different from those offered by Dell.  The Tyson Foods Twitter account focuses on an issue that is not directly linked to the company itself &#8211; namely, fighting hunger.</p>
<p>Twittertweets focus on THE corporate social responsibility issue Tyson Foods has chosen to pursue and be associated with. This is an engaging matter. Helping people not go hungry during an economic crisis and, as importantly, is of interest to many more people than just those looking for the next best bargain available in Tyson Foods stores.</p>
<p><strong>Corporate Twitter accounts &#8211; social relationships versus broadcasting</strong><br />
Following the above reasoning, the engagement level with the Tyson Food blog seems quite high. It has quite a few messages starting or containing somewhere an @username. These are replies to tweets followers have sent in.</p>
<p>Accordingly, all other things being equal  &#8211; corporate Twitter accounts tend to send out fewer @username replies than other accounts. Except for the case of Tyson Foods mentioned above, all Dell Twitter accounts rarely if ever send out replies. So Dell uses its Twitter accounts to provide followers with information about its products or the corporation. Some would label this <strong>classical broadcasting </strong>- one way communication. Nothing wrong with that since this is what subscribers expected and got. Nevertheless, building social relationships is something different but can be done nicely as Tyson Foods illustrates.</p>
<p><strong>Followers versus Follwing</strong><br />
As illustrated by Dell Twitter accounts, corporate Twitterers tend to follow fewer people than follow them. In some cases this may be extreme (see Dell Norway following 0 &#8211; screenshot earlier to the right). Again, Tyson Foods is a bit different in that it follows more people than follow Tyson Foods. Nevertheless, this is more of an exception than the rule with corporate Twitter accounts it seems.</p>
<p><a title="Sara Lewis - bookchik on Twitter - How I follow people on Twitter" href="http://www.findableblogs.com/how-i-follow-people-on-twitter/" target="_blank">Some Twitter users even state</a> that they choose not to follow those that:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px">&#8220;&#8230; Follow <em>way</em> more people than follow them (this seems spammy, or at the least, desperate)&#8230;&#8221;</p>
<p>There seems to be no fast and simple rule with corporate Twitterers. Some may follow few people (see Dell) and others follow many (e.g., Tyson Foods) but rarely if ever more than follow them.</p>
<p>Many corporate Twitter accounts &#8211; not Dell for sure &#8211; have automatic follow in place, whereby anybody who follows the brand will be followed back. With a lot of followers comes a lot of cruft. How these companies stay on top of it is hard to say but time-consuming for sure.</p>
<p>Besides the above characteristics of corporate Twitter accounts and challenges, quite a few do a very good job indeed as illustrated above. Nevertheless, each brand needs to find AND define what the purpose is for using Twitter. Only then can it deliver.</p>
<p><strong>Got other reasons why it’s a challenge? Or have solutions, ideas what makes up a good corporate blog? Leave a comment…</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong>And if you care &#8211; <a title="MyComMetrics - the benchmarking software for social media experts like yourself - on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics" target="_blank">follow me on <strong>Twitter</strong></a>. <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://www.findableblogs.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" /><br />
======&gt; Addendum 2008-12-17<br />
<strong>Self-employed workers already account for nearly a third of the US workforce</strong>- up more than 25 percent in the past two years.</p>
<p>This means ever more often the single-practice doctor, lawyer, accountant use their corporate or family name for Twitter. However, tweeting serves work efforts and not private interests. This type of small business/self-employed entrepreneur type of Twitter accounts are on the increase.<br />
=========&gt;<strong></strong><br />
<strong>Here’s what I’m suggesting for today</strong>. Add your comment to this post. Keeping in the spirit of Twitter, please tell us about your corporate Twitter feed in 140 characters or so.<br />
Please provide people with your corporate Twitter ID so they can follow you. Only corporate microblogging accounts should be added (for definition see above of course). Thanks.</p>
<p><a title="ComMetrics - trends, scoops, insights but irreverent for sure - Twitter account to watch" href="http://twitter.com/ComMetrics" target="_blank">follow us on <strong>Twitter</strong></a>. <img class="wp-smiley" src="http://www.findableblogs.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" /></p>
<ul><strong><a title="how does your blog rank against the competition" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">My.ComMetrics.com</a></strong>, type in your blog’s URL and start tracking your performance &#8211; straight dashboard for straight answers.</ul>
<ul><strong><a title="register yourself and get an account" href="http://my.commetrics.com/" target="_blank">1st step &#8211; sign-up</a></strong> and get the <strong><a title="60 days free-trial - no risks but more to gain from checking it out - you'll be surprised" href="../?page_id=42" target="_blank">60 days free-trial</a></strong></ul>
<p>Get the latest about benchmarking tools and new features we offer by signing up for the Twitterfeed <a class="url" title="MyComMetrics" rel="contact" href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics"><img class="photo fn" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/67219969/2008-12-12-TwitterMyComMetrics_mini.png" alt="MyComMetrics" width="24" height="24" /></a> <strong><a title="MyComMetrics" href="http://twitter.com/MyComMetrics"><span style="color: blue">MyComMetrics</span></a></strong><br />
=========&gt;</p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://howto.commetrics.com/articles/corporate-microblogging-on-twitter/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>13</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
