In short, our updated software – release 0.4 - allows for more variables in the chart builder, trendwatches (e.g., 2010 with 2011) and more clearly illuminates where to improve what.

My.ComMetrics.com is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application, which means you do not need to install anything on your end. We host and operate the application over the Internet for your use. This allows you to access our software virtually as and when you need it to track your blog’s performance.

This is the tool that prominent bloggers have made the talk of the town.

Article source – My.ComMetrics.com update: Release 0.4

We have been diligently working on improving our blog benchmarking software, so we can now provide you with additional useful features, such as:

- trends (now also across years),
- language, paragraphs, writing style, and
- resonance (links, conversation, etc.).

Before we continue, enter your email below and join our 2,300 subscribers who get updates about ComMetrics software direct to their inbox.

Below is one of the many charts that our updated program offers - as soon as you are logged in you are shown the impact page.

If you have not yet signed up, do so now to compare your competitors’ blog performance, watch the trends and improve performance with My.ComMetrics.com. We at CyTRAP Labs can help you improve your social media efforts.

Signing up for My.ComMetrics.com is the safe choice, because it’s free to try as a freemium user. Why not take us for a test drive?

- 3 minutes to sign up with My.ComMetrics,
- 4 minutes to claim and track your blog,
- 5 minutes to track your competition, and
- Read our free article, Corporate blog definition: 4 essentials

We created a short (1:45) video to show you how the new features can help you in the minimum amount of your valuable time (German version further below) (you can watch and share the video on Facebook).

Click here to view the embedded video.

German version - watch and share the video on Facebook

Click here to view the embedded video.

The above illustrates what makes My.ComMetrics.com invaluable, because it tells you where to start looking, allowing you to decide what to change first to improve performance the quickest.

Not only do you get your scores for each metric reported (Page Weight – 21, and Page Proximity – 84, above), but you also get a comparative score for the Fortune 100. This is perfect because it enables you to get your executives to take action. No one wants to look bad in comparison!

You can view and share the slides on LinkedIn or view them right here and click on the additional resources links within the presentation:

The My.ComMetrics 2011 trend briefing series, consisting of 25 blog posts and 7 webinars about trends to watch and social media monitoring DOs and DON’Ts, has addressed some of the pitfalls we need to watch out for in 2011, including:

- 2011 trends: Mobile communication and ROI (return on investment),
- 2011 trends: Web lovers and privacy
- 2011 trends: Social networking and ROI, and
- 2011 trends: Risk management and social media ROI

One school of thought is to measure everything. While this may work in direct marketing, we have previously addressed why this may fail when it comes to mastering social media measurement challenges.

When you start putting together your social media activities, you have to take a realistic look at your costs and the benefits that will be forthcoming if you do it right. We present the social media cost-benefit pyramid that helps you show the ROI your bosses want to see.

Article source – 2011 trends: The social media cost-benefit pyramid

Sign up with your email to get our next post first; you’ll be glad you did.

1. You have to find your own way to success

Many companies are still experimenting with social media, but their experiences may not be very useful for you. Accordingly, just because Industrial Marketing thinks it is the coolest thing does not mean that Texas Instruments’ approach to client communities makes sense for your firm.

Tip 1: Becoming social media savvy and leveraging it effectively for the company requires a lot of practice. Many small and frequent steps are a great beginning.

2. Navel-gazing metrics are useless

Often we conclude that if you cannot measure it, do not try to do it. This is the direct marketer method and there’s no doubt it can work. But often, it fails:

- On buying unmeasurable media
- Why FeedBurner statistics cannot tell you much

Another silly way to measure the value of your webpage or blog is by using some idiosyncratic things to determine its value:

- ComMetrics.com has been valued at US$4087 per customer
- ComMetrics.com is getting 3522 pageviews per day and making US$12.57 daily
- ComMetrics.com Estimated Worth US$9176.10 by website outlook

Since the above fails to help me figure out how I could improve things, it is of little use to me. What is your take?

Tip 2: All things being equal, more traffic is a good thing since it means more exposure for your brand. It also helps fighting off the out of sight out of mind syndrome. Nevertheless, if all this new traffic does not result in more sales or help improve key metrics top management cares about, what is it good for?

Alert – Our 2011 trendwatch webinar: More useless social media measures on Thursday 2011-01-26 further addresses these issues.

If you missed it, click on the link to watch the videos, listen to the podcast and view the slides – you will be surprised.

3. Strategic versus social media analytics and engagement metrics

This social media cost-benefit pyramid shows how following through from operational to strategic parameters ensures top management’s buy-in.

Management and shareholders are most concerned about operators from social media, such as using Twitter, and do strategic monitoring to find out how they affect key drivers that impact sales and more revenue.

Mid-level managers focus on getting social media analytics, such as how many regulars act on a tweet we publish about today’s special and a discount coupon for lunch (e.g., number using the coupon, number of re-tweets).

Community managers and agencies focus on analyzing engagement data to learn how social media might influence the information that interests management. This group of managers wants to find out if sending a tweet at 10:45 gets a better response than sending at 10:15 and so forth.

Other examples include how well a 10 percent discount with a deadline works versus just offering a free soft drink, or how using Twitter or a Facebook fanpage compared to other social media efforts drives customer traffic to a brick-and-mortar store.

By contrast, top management focuses on strategic issues: one or two key operating metrics and how these relate to ROI. This means tweeting must be linked to how it alters measures that your executive care about. An example might be how participating in a community like Quora helps reduce calls to the customer hotline.

We also discuss this in an upcoming blog post:
Why the boss thinks 125,000 monthly pageviews mean failure – 2011-01-27

Bottom line and take-aways

Addressing the above issues using the KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid) enables management to get a better handle on social media activities and how they can help reach strategic targets.

More Resources

– ComMetrics social media cost classification model

I would love to hear how you have used this framework in your measurement efforts. I hope you will join the discussion in the comments below. Please share this with your organization, partners and staff!

My.ComMetrics is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application, which means you do not need to install anything on your end. We host and operate the application over the Internet for your use, so you can access our software virtually as and when you need it to track your blog’s performance.

It’s a blog-eat-blog world; start using the same benchmarking tool several prominent blogging websites do to generate targeted traffic that helps customer relationship management.

Thanks for signing up and preparing to benchmark your blog against the competition.

This short video will have you tracking your competitors’ blog(s)’ performance in no time.

Article source: Take 5 minutes to track your competition

Signing up for My.ComMetrics is the safe choice, because it’s free to try as a freemium user and see how much you’ll love it. Why not take us for a test drive?

Benefit from our tool as some of your competitors have already done.

1. A short instructional video on tracking your competitors’ blog(s) is available here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you prefer, you can read more about tracing competing blogs here.

And just to make sure you get the next blog post first in your inbox, enter your email address below; you’ll be glad you did:

2. View the slides with the links to guide you through the registration process step-by-step, and visit resources mentioned in the video:

There is no perfect method for ranking social media except trial and error, along with an understanding that perfection is impossible and ‘good enough’ is the best we can possibly expect in the real world.

You might also be interested in:

- Video – 4 minutes to claim your blog – 2010-12-30
- Video – 5 minutes to sign up with My.ComMetrics
- More information about the sign-up process
- What our clients think
- Step 3: Begin benchmarking and improvements
- Step 4: Customise to attain better insights

What is your take, how is it working for you? Please share your thoughts with a comment below!

My.ComMetrics is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application, which means you do not need to install anything on your end. We host and operate the application over the Internet for your use, so you can access our software virtually as and when you need it to track your blog’s performance.

It’s a blog-eat-blog world; start using the same benchmarking tool several prominent blogging websites do to generate targeted traffic that helps customer relationship management.

Thanks for signing up and preparing to benchmark your blog against the competition.

This short video will have you claiming your and measuring the baseline to start benchmarking in no time.

Article source: 4 minutes to claim and track your blog

Signing up for My.ComMetrics is the safe choice, because it’s free to try as a freemium user and see how much you’ll love it. Why not take us for a test drive?

Benefit from our tool as some of your competitors have already done.

1. A short instructional video on how claiming your blog works on our site here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you prefer, you can read more about claiming your blog here.

And just to make sure you get the next blog post first in your inbox, enter your email address below; you’ll be glad you did:

2. View the slides with the links to guide you through the blog-claiming process step-by-step, and visit resources mentioned in the video:

You might also be interested in:

- 3 minutes to sign up with My.ComMetrics
- Video – take 5  minutes for tracking your competition – 2011-01-07
- More information about the sign-up process
- What our clients think
- Step 3: Begin benchmarking and improvements
- Step 4: Customise to attain better insights

What is your take, how is it working for you? Please share your thoughts with a comment below!

You may also download a short eBook explaining this process further.

Our My.ComMetrics application is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application, which means you do not need to install anything on your end. We host and operate the application over the Internet for your use, so you can access our software virtually as and when you need it to track your blog’s performance.

It’s a blog-eat-blog world; start using the same benchmarking tool several prominent blogging websites do to generate targeted traffic that helps customer relationship management. Sign up now and start benchmarking your blog against the competition.

Just watch this short video and you will have yourself signed up in no time.

Article source: 3 minutes to sign up with My.ComMetrics

Signing up for My.ComMetrics is the safe choice, because it’s free to try as a freemium user and see how you like it. So, take us for a test drive.

Benefit from our tool as some of your competitors have already done.

1. A short instructional video on the sign-up process is available here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you prefer, you can read about the sign-up process here.

And just to make sure you get the next blog post first in your inbox, enter your email address below; you’ll be glad you did:

2. View the slides with the links to guide you through the registration process step-by-step, and to visit resources mentioned in the video above:

You might also be interested in:

- video – 4 minutes to claim your blog – 2010-12-30
- video – 5 minutes for tracking your competition – 2011-01-09
- more information about the sign-up process
- what our clients think
- Step 3: Begin benchmarking and improvements
- Step 4: Customise to attain better insights

What is your take, how is it working for you? Please share your thoughts with a comment below!

Almost three weeks ago we launched our ComMetrics blog checklist from CyTRAP Labs GmbH with

1. Social media definition: 3 essentials

You can still look forward to

9. 8 guidelines for fostering social media engagement (2010-10-27)
10. 5 corporate blogging trends for 2011 (2010-11-03)

A while back I wrote, Launching a blog – ropes to skip #1: Reputation management, which contained the following five tips:

1. Know your target group.
2. Long haul – it is all about serving a need.
3. Long or short-haul – it is all about branding.
4. Usability is the key – keep it simple, stupid (KISS).
5. Post whenever you want.

But since then, I have learned a few things, so here comes an update.

1. Reputation is key to managing image and brand

In short, reputation is how people talk about you when you are not in the room. No matter what a brand campaign tries to bring across, it will not succeed if your reputation is bad.

More specifically, reputation is often a consequence of a triggering event. Examples include someone’s experience with your customer service, and other visible actions and mistakes regarding environmental damage (e.g., Nestlé – KitKat vs. Greenpeace fiasco or BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster) or human rights violations.

Reputation is based on judgments made by the company’s clients, sharholders and bystanders (see also Barnett, M. L., Jermier, J. M., & Lafferty, B. A. (2006). Corporate reputation: The definitional landscape. Corporate Reputation Review, Vol. 9(1), p. 26-38).

2. People don’t know what they want until they see it

If you manage to make the experience feel different, customers do not use prices at Ryanair or Swiss as a comparison to Virgin’s offerings. Instead, we are open to the new anchor that Virgin Atlantic prepared for us – being cool and cheeky (see commercial below).

Based on the image an airline has, consumers may be willing to pay more for being cool – a better experience. To illustrate this further, a customer may go to Starbucks for an overpriced Latte because of the experience, thereby failing to rationally compare this offering to another store’s cheaper and better coffee.

Starbucks’ or Apple’s respective reputations have little if anything to do with the price of the product, but primarily with ‘the different user experience’ these companies have managed to communicate to consumers.

3. Be clear that image can influence reputation

Image is what comes to mind when one hears the name or sees the logo of a particular company (e.g., Coca-Cola: Real thing or myth). These are the impressions one has about the company and the firm may play on this image, as illustrated by Virgin Atlantic’s latest advertisement.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The commercial plays on the catchphrase, ”Your airline’s either got it or it hasn’t.”  With the help of Virgin’s long-legged flight attendants, the commercial sells Virgin as a cheeky airline, more glamorous than EasyJet and more fun than Lufthansa. There is no plot and the sign-off gag is cute, if not hilarious.

However, the image of being cool can change and be replaced by something less positive the next time customers experience lost luggage thanks to Virgin Atlantic.

4. Failure-elimination helps improve reputation

I have a coffee machine from a company that uses Roger Federer as its brand ambassador, playing on Federer’s image as a sports star and family man with two kids.

But my opinion of the Jura brand has been formed primarily through its customer relationship management, not its image or the brand it promotes with the help of Roger Federer. To illustrate, I recently had trouble with our machine and sent a request for help via email. By the next morning somebody from the company’s customer service help line had called to walk me through some procedures, step-by-step. And yes, that fixed the problem.

I have had this experience with Jura’s customer service more than once. It always saves me time and hassle – a simple 10-minute phone call with a knowledgeable and friendly customer service representative does much good for a company’s reputation with a client. But if we have a bad experience with a product, the supplier’s reputation suffers, and we are unlikely to purchase again from the same supplier.

5. It takes years to build a reputation, but only a few weeks to destroy it

Starbucks can define and communicate its corporate brand and image. Nevertheless, its image and even more its reputation are the result of how clients and shareholders perceive them based on experience, so the company painstakingly builds its quality image over the years.

For instance, Toyota’s image for quality cars positively affected the resale value of used Toyotas for several decades in some markets like the US. Using maintenance and repair costs from thousands of users, Consumer Reports (an independent US publication) has published annual cost of car ownership figures in which Toyotas have done remarkably well for more than a decade. This and its stellar quality record helped Toyota build its ‘quality’ image and the value of its brand.

But that all changed drastically when in November 2009, Toyota acknowledged potential dangers from out-of-position floor mats on some models. In February 2010, Toyota recalled another 1.5 million vehicles in the US, Asia and Europe – including some of its priciest models (e.g., Lexus IS and GS) after discovering flaws in their brakes and fuel injection systems.

The way Toyota handled this recall crisis illustrates that one can manage a brand, but once customer experiences negatively affect the company’s reputation, including a large recall as in Toyota’s case, the damage to the company’s bottom line is substantial.

It will take Toyota and BP years to rebuild their respective brands and fully regain customer trust.

What is your take, what reputation strategies work for you? Please share your thoughts with a comment below!

Article source: 5 critical steps for reputation management

While co-moderating the Xing Social Media Measurement group, I discovered that our members’ definitions of social media and social media marketing differ quite a bit. After some extensive discussions in the forum, I tried to summarize the findings.

1. Social media definition: 3 essentials
2. Social media marketing definition: 2 essentials
3. Why PR fails with social media marketing

Still to come in this series:

5. 4 ways to foster dialogue with corporate blogs (2010-10-06)
6. 4 strategies to leverage usability tests (2010-10-17)
7. 4 tips for crisis management through social media (2010-10-20)
8. 5 critical steps for reputation management (2010-10-26)
9. 8 guidelines for fostering social media engagement (2010-10-27)
10. 5 corporate blogging trends for 2011 (2010-11-03)

In this post we focus on issues such as whether weblogs are corporate tools that can help with client relationship management or just confused personal ramblings.

What is a blog or weblog?

In short, a blog is a website where a person or a team of employees write and share content that is relevant to their target audience (e.g., friends, customers, suppliers, shareholders).

More specifically, some time ago people defined a weblog as a personal journal. This could take many forms, including but not limited to an online scrapbook for pictures, ideas, musings and stories.

=> How the urban dictionary defined a blog in 2003 – what a difference!

Today, a weblog can be much more – or less. Put differently, blogging software such as WordPress is simply a content management system (CMS), meaning a company could use it to manage its webpage or a different CMS that also allows for blogging (e.g., Drupal).

A blog also allows an individual with limited technical skills to post content on the blog/webpage with hyperlinks, allowing readers to download white papers or view videos.

Weblogs have become accepted sources for information, however, an effective corporate blog requires that management address these four issues:

a) Assess whether your blog meets the criteria to be classified as an organizational blog (includes any not-for-profit, self-employed or charity blog); make changes accordingly to transform it into a corporate blog.
b) Spell out your reasons and objectives for having a corporate blog - entertainment or professional value.
c) Identify and spell out the blog’s target audience and what constitutes valuable content for your desired readers.
d) Develop a set of performance targets using the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) principle.

Please ensure you don’t miss any post in this series by registering your email with us to get the latest updates first in your inbox – you’ll be glad you did.

Bottom line – usability is fine but usefulness is critical

Based on our definition of social media marketing it is obvious that a weblog does not really sell a product or services. Instead, it helps build the blogger’s and/or company’s credibility and reputation, while gaining the trust of your audience.

To illustrate, if your company is organized according to business lines such as green energy (e.g., renewable resources), the blog might focus on a topic such as solar energy.
However, as a solar cell manufacturer, you may want to reach out to two vastly different groups, namely:

- direct clients (e.g., solar panel manufacturers or electric utilities owning wind ’farms’) and
- indirect clients (e.g., architects, home-owners and regulators)

In fact, it could be that the weblog serves its purpose best by providing targeted content for indirect clients or ultimate users such as home-owners and investors (e.g., government programs supporting the use of solar energy, energy savings, pay-back periods, etc.).

Another alternative is to have a separate blog for each group. This will make it easier to provide each with useful content.

Take away: An effective Internet presence is the ability to communicate and demonstrate expertise. It is what causes people to talk about you and your brand online. A weblog is an effective tool to help this process along if useful content is provided to targeted readers.

Previously we also published a series of posts about the ropes to skip when launching a blog, to help you avoid making the mistakes that most hamper your efforts.

1) Lessons 1 – 4: Starting your blogging off on the right foot
2) Lessons 5 – 7: Setting the stage – ready – go
3) Lessons 8 – 11: Whatever domain, home you choose – beware
4) Lessons 12 – 13: Getting the basic SEO issues right
5) Lessons 14 – 17: Authenticity and quality are key
6) Lessons 18 – 20: Improving blogging effectiveness

What is your take, what worked for you? Please share your thoughts with a comment below!

Article source: Corporate blog definition: 4 essentials

Watch the video for this post:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dieses Webinar fue Unternehmensblogger findet am 18. Maerz 2010 statt.

Corporate Blogs sind das Herzstück 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 man mit Hilfe von strategischen Kennzahlen zur groesseren Effektivitaet des Online Investments kommt.

Bitte registrieren Sie sich gleich hier:

==> kostenloses Webinar: Benchmarking und Erfolg von Corporate-Blogs messbar machen

In diesem Webinar lernen Sie, wie man Blogs konsequent für seine geschäftlichen 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.

18. Maerz 2010 um 10:30 MEZ (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.

Professor Dr. Urs E. Gattiker, Spezialist für Benchmark—Optimierung von und für soziale Medien, zeigt Ihnen, wie Sie die Wertschoepfung für den Corporate Blog steigern koennen und stellt Ihnen eine Vielfalt an sehr effektiven Techniken vor.

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.
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.

Aus dem Webinarinhalt:
- Benchmarking und Erfolg von Corporate-Blogs messbar machen
- Lernen aus Fehlern anderer
- Einsetzung von ‘push’ und ‘pull’Marketing mit dem Weblog
- Messung der 5 wichtigsten Kennzahlen zur besseren Leistung des Firmen-Blogs
- Fallstudien von Weblogs analysieren unter anderem auch solche welche im FT ComMetrics Blog Index aufgefuehrt sind
- Verstaendnis foerdern für soziale Medien
- Nutzung von Corporate-Blogs als effektive und wichtige Instrumente der Unternehmenskommunikation
- Vermeidung der klassischen Fehler im Weblog Benchmarking

Referent:
Urs E. Gattiker, Ph.D., Ph.D., ist ein Enthusiast der sozialen Medien, erfolgreicher Buchautor und Blogger. Er ist der Gründer und Chief Executive Officer von CyTRAP Labs GmbH. CyTRAP Labs bietet seinen Kunden Dienstleistungen auf dem Gebiete ‘Corporate Governance’ und  social media an. Die Abteilung ComMetrics spezialisiert sich auf Analyse und Messung des Erfolges von sozialen Medien (e.g., Entwicklung des FT ComMetrics Blog Index – – der Industriestandard zum Ranking von  Corporate Weblogs der FT Global 500 und Fortune 500 Unternehmen).

Um an diesem kostenlosen Webinar teilnehmen zu koennen muessen Sie sich bitte hier registrieren (eMail Adresse genuegt):
==>  Jetzt Teilnahmeplatz sichern – Corporate-Blogs: Effektives Benchmarking 11. Maerz, 10:30 Uhr MEZ

Download this document: http://commetrics.com/download/20/

Ihr Vorteil
Sie erhalten einen praxisrelevanten Leitfaden aus der ComMetrics eBook Serie, um Benchmarking von Weblogs sofort und erfolgreich in Ihrem Unternehmen einzusetzen.

Ihr Bonus
Freien Zugang zum My.ComMetrics.com Benchmarking Tool – Messen und Tracking der Performance zur Leistungssteigerung von Firmenblogs.

Um sich für dieses Webinar zu registrieren, besuchen Sie die unten angegebene Seite – tragen Sie eine eMail Adresse ein, um somit den Zugangscode zu erhalten

Bitte registrieren Sie sich jetzt da die Teilnehmerzahl limitiert ist (eMail Adresse genuegt)

Auf Englisch gibt es das Webinar hier: FREE webinar: Know which analytics to measure and which to ignore

P.S. – Besuchen Sie My.ComMetrics (register yourself – benchmark your blog(s) => improve performance). You can get updates for this blog on Twitter by following @ComMetrics or get a free subscription by RSS, or get new posts via email:

A free webinar for corporate bloggers on March 11, 2010.

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.

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.

On March 11, 2010 at 10:30 CET (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.

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.

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.

Attend this webinar to:
- understand benchmarking and why actionable metrics are important to improving performance
- learn how to develop an analytics program that delivers insight, not hindsight
- learn what you should effectively measure to make strategic decisions
- see how you can effectively leverage ‘push’ and ‘pull’ marketing with your blog
- know which analytics to measure and which ones to put aside
- learn from mini cases of blogs included in the FT ComMetrics Blog Index
- understand why social media and corporate blogging are effective and necessary
- learn how to get started and avoid common beginner’s mistakes

Speaker:
Urs E. Gattiker, Ph.D., is a highly experienced social media enthusiast, author and blogger. He is both a founder and Chief Executive Officer of CyTRAP Labs GmbH. CyTRAP Labs provides corporate governance and social media services to organizations worldwide and its ComMetrics division is a trail blazer in social media analytics (e.g., developing the FT ComMetrics Blog Index – the industry standard for ranking corporate blogs of FT Global 500 and Fortune 500 companies).

To get your free access to this webinar, please register now:
==>  FREE webinar registration: Benchmark your blog – improve performance => March 11, 2010 at 10:30 CET

Download this document: http://commetrics.com/download/19/

Your advantage
You will receive a benchmarking guide (out of the ComMetrics eBook Series) that will help you develop actionable metrics for your corporate blog and, as importantly, empower you to successfully communicate results based on five Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your blog.

Your bonus
Free subscription to the My.ComMetrics.com Benchmarking Tool – measure and compare blog performance against competitors.

P.S. - Visit My.ComMetrics (register yourself – benchmark your blog(s) => improve performance). You can get updates for this blog on Twitter by following @ComMetrics or get a free subscription by RSS, or get new posts via email:

Late on October 14, blogging directory and rankings site Technorati discontinued its Technorati Rankings and related data. ComMetrics used Technorati Ranking as part of its ComMetrics Footprint calculations.

Due to Technorati’s decision, we had to remove this measure from our ComMetrics Footprint.

Technorati Authority still exists, but now focuses much more on data from the last 30 days. The given Authority rank is somewhere between 1 – 1,000.

Scoring factors that are considered in this metric are:
- posting frequency,
- context,
- linking behavior, and
- ‘other inputs’.

This results in more volatile score, since blogs can frequently move up or down on the 1 – 1,000 scale.

Technorati explained the decision in a recent blog post:

“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.”

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 (difference between a widget and an API explained in plain English).

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.

Get Your API Right – ropes to skip, API 101 #things2read#tips2follow

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.

1. Size of firm really does matter
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.

We advised our client that posting to the corporate blog once every two weeks might work in terms of time required and costs. Unfortunately, having two staff members monitor the Twitter account and respond to customer inquiries seven days a week may be too much to ask.

The client took our hint and decided to save costs by focusing on the corporate blog for the first year, and not putting too much effort into the Twitter account for now.

2. B2B vs. B2C – Different social media marketing channels…right?
Cadbury’s 2007 Gorilla marketing campaign 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.

The above example and many others focus on B2C (Business to Consumer) cases by global brands. But selling toothpaste (e.g., Crest) for a global brand (P&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.

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.

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, Digg or StumbleUpon traffic would be of limited value, since it was unlikely to bring industrial buyers to her company’s blog.

3. Social media means quick success – or not
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:

- the Qwerty keyboard: 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 “Type Writer” and it is still used today, even on computers.
- Erno Rubik invented the Rubik’s Cube in 1974. 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 Rubik’s Cube is widely considered to be one of the world’s best selling toys (see image at right).

While we all know about cases of 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.

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.

Take-aways
The above post would suggest the following:

Social media is not scalable: Focusing on a corporate blog should be the core activity of any social media strategy to begin with – here you can build a responsive audience over large distances for building your firm’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.
Building success takes time – better start today: Finding your voice and generating feedback or conversation does not happen in three months, so perseverance and quality content are key.
B2B is a different ballgame than B2C : Things that might work for B2C global brands such as Starbucks may fail miserably for a mid-size firm in the B2B domain.

P.S. – 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 20 mistakes you definitely do not want to make with your corporate blog:

1) Lessons 1 – 4: Starting your blogging off on the right foot
2) Lessons 5 – 7: Setting the stage – ready – go
3) Lessons 8 – 11: Whatever domain, home you choose – beware
4) Lessons 12 – 13: Getting the basic SEO issues right
5) Lessons 14 – 17: Authenticity and quality are key
6) Lessons 18 – 20: Improving blogging effectiveness

What is your take? What needs to be done differently when using social media in a B2B context? Please share; we love to dialogue more in the comments.

By the way: HowTo.ComMetrics.com provides the straightforward answers you need to use your social media tools more effectively, while saving time and improving your social media tracking and brand monitoring.

Why not register yourself right now – it’s FREE!

Article source: 3 golden rules for social media marketing

ComMetrics, a division of CyTRAP Labs GmbH, focuses on competitive benchmarking and social media analytics (e.g., developing the FT ComMetrics Blog Index – the industry standard for ranking corporate blogs of FT Global 500 and Fortune 500 companies).

Through My.ComMetrics.com, ComMetrics offers its clients the use of web-based software for social media monitoring, including Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are valuable in enabling teams and companies to quickly evaluate the progress made against measurable goals, such as the ComMetrics Footprint. Effective KPIs for social media monitoring and tracking are:

specific, measurable, achievable, result-oriented & relevant, as well as time-sensitive.

By using My.ComMetrics.com you can easily visualize answers to your KPIs for social media tracking and analytics:

What social media measurements and metrics am I ahead or behind on?
How far ahead or behind am I in reaching the competitive benchmarks?
How do my competitors perform against these KPIs?

Actionable metrics help with data collection through My.ComMetrics.com to answer these questions and, most importantly, take necessary actions while tracking improvement.

Without key performance indicators, such as a 110 percent increase in your ComMetrics Footprint or other distinct objectives, your social media optimization will not reach its full potential.

HowTo.ComMetrics.com provides straightforward answers you need to use our tools more effectively, while saving time and improving your social media tracking and brand monitoring.

Why not register yourself right now – it’s FREE!

Previously in this series we published:
1) Lessons 1 – 4: Starting your blogging off on the right foot (2009-06-03)
2) Lessons 5 – 7: Setting the stage – ready – go (2009-06-03)
3) Lessons 8 – 11: Whatever domain, home you choose – beware (2009-07-08)
4) Lessons 12 – 13: Getting the basic SEO issues right (2009-07-08)

Today we release the last two installments of these tips and lessons. The sixth, and last, post can be read here:
6) Lessons 18 – 20: Improving blogging effectiveness

In this fifth post, the focus is on commitment, authenticity and managing cultural differences carefully.

Lesson 14: Commit to regularly posting during mid-week
Having several writers makes it easier, but a politician is better off writing their own posts to assure an authentic voice (see Lesson 16 below).

Case study 2: Blogging politicians – how do they measure up?

The saying “out of sight, out of mind,” 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, an irregular posting schedule like Aviva’s does not seem a good strategy.

Finally, more people are on the Internet during the week than on weekends, so posting regularly during the week (e.g., Tue – Th) is most effective for reaching business and potential subscribers.

Lesson 15: Depth and breadth vs. crowdsourcing
Outsourcing is en vogue – 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  ‘experts’ and ‘volunteers’ that understand your business, as this example illustrates:

Case study: eBookers or how to skip the ropes

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?

Surely outsourcing blogging content fails to give the company an authentic voice (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 – a time-consuming and, therefore, costly option. In today’s competitive environment, learning from and relating to customers is an opportunity that cannot be missed.

To see how well your blog strategy works register your blog here:
My.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve your score – sign-up for FREE

Lesson 16: Authentic voice makes a big difference
An effective blog represents corporate policy, strategy and viewpoints. Hence, people need to be authentic.

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.

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 Jonathan Schwartz’s – CEO of Sun, now Oracle – blog. But either do it right or don’t go there.

Lesson 17: Culture, language and medium – editors should apply
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 global social media audience.

P.S. – Not every CEO will come across successfully on video => CEO webcasts on YouTube – will it turn them into megalomaniacs?.

Takeaways

Authentic voice is key – outsourcing blog posting is not an option.
Commitment matters – regular AND relevant posts and response to comments keeps your readers interested.
Slang or humor are out – people whose first language is not the one used on a corporate blog will otherwise be lost.
Act locally, think globally – while you are on vacation many of your faraway readers are working, so assure posting during holidays. It is worth the effort.

I will keep it brief, love to dialogue more in the comments. What is your take? Please share.

Previously in this series we published:
1) Lessons 1 – 4: Starting your blogging off on the right foot (2009-06-03)
2) Lessons 5 – 7: Setting the stage – ready – go (2009-06-03)

Today we release the next two installments of these tips and lessons, the fourth of which can be read here:
4) Lessons 12 – 13: Getting the basic SEO issues right

The final set will come your way August 12:
5) Lessons 14 – 17: Authenticity and quality are key
6) Lessons 18 – 20: Improving blogging effectiveness

Corporate bloggers should follow these lessons to save on resources, money and improve blogging effectiveness. It actually takes little effort but the results are astonishing if you correct r completely avoid these mistakes.

To make sure that you don’t miss any of these upcoming posts, just leave your e-mail here:

Lesson 8: Host blog on corporate domain
Most corporations’ main pages have a relatively high Google PageRank (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:

a) benefiting from the main page’s Google PageRank,
b) being easier to find for stakeholders, and
c) contributing to and receiving traffic from the main page.

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 Volvo (212.181.8.238/webbplatser/vbeb/default.aspx) and Swisscom (swisscomnature.blueblog.ch) illustrate.

Lesson 9: Make finding the blog on the corporate website easy
This seems obvious but often it fails to work properly. Nokia does this smartly and effectively (see below). Here, regardless of the visitor’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.

Unfortunately, many corporate blogs use a different approach that is far less user-friendly. For instance, on a visit to the GE corporate website, one will not find a quicklink to a list of all the company’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?

Lesson 10: Make sure variations of the blog’s URL work
Not always do links to the blog’s main page work properly, especially in cases where users type an alternate version of the link, such as:

- www.HowTo.ComMetrics.com instead of HowTo.ComMetrics.com,
- www.blog.Daimler.com instead of blog.Daimler.de, or
- gereports.ge.com instead of gereports.com.

Check the above links for yourself to see which ones work – at least one will give you an error. This is an oversight that can easily be fixed and one wonders why any organization that maintains a corporate blog would overlook this issue.

To see how well your blog strategy works register your blog here:
My.ComMetrics.com – benchmark your blog – improve your score – sign up for FREE

Lesson 11: Once it is chosen, keep your blog’s URL
Toyota Open Road Blog, a blog with a nice ComMetrics footprint (the lower the score the better your blog ranks within the same category – apples vs. apples), lost a lot of ground when its advertising people decided to change its URL and move the blog to the Toyota website.

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  effective in terms of corporate best-practice?

Once you choose a URL stick with it and don’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.

Okay, now it’s your turn. 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 – be honest. We can take it. Thanks much.

P.S. – You may find our next set of ropes to skip of interest as well: 4) Lessons 12 – 13: Getting the basic SEO issues right (2009-07-08).

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 corporate blog.

Can we help? Absolutely! After publishing the 2009 FT ComMetrics Blog Index, which ranks FT Global 500 and Fortune 500 companies’ corporate blogs, we came to the conclusion that it might be helpful to share some of the insights we have gained.

Today we release the first installments of these tips and lessons, the second of which can be read here:
2) Lessons 5 – 7: Setting the stage – ready – go (2009-06-03)

The next set will be published July 8:
3) Lessons 8 – 11: Whatever domain or home you choose – beware
4) Lessons 12 – 13: Getting the basic SEO issues right

The final set will come your way August 12:
5) Lessons 14 – 17: Authenticity and quality are key
6) Lessons 18 – 20: Improving blogging effectiveness

To make sure that you don’t miss any of these upcoming posts, just leave your e-mail here:

Lesson 1: Ropes to skip – learn from others
There is no good reason to make the mistakes we discuss below and in subsequent posts. Just read these rules and decide carefully.

ComMetrics – thanks to input and advice from others we have come up with the 20+best WordPress plugins to make our lives easier; and
Daimler – Why did Beck’s not ask Daimler before starting an expensive revamp of its blog?

Lesson 2: Define the type of blog you want
Who or what is it supposed to provide information about? Delivering information to investors is different than blogging about a non-profit organization’s neighborhood initiative.

Dell‘s investor blog, DellShares, serves shareholders, while Direct2Dell offers customers a way to find out about new products and provide feedback.

Dell’s blogs deliver different fare and their success speaks volumes about the company’s smart blogging strategy.

Lesson 3: Define the target audience
The question is, are those that read Renault’s Formula One racing team blog would be the kind of people you want to reach out to. Hence, who is your target audience – sports fans, customers, potential clients, regulators, donors or someone else? Some of your audience may fall into more than one category, such as sports fans who have and will continue to purchase Renault’s cars.

The challenge of finding your target audience is nicely illustrated by:

General Electric – Blogging for shareholders, creditors and financial analysts

General Electric’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, GE Global Research Blog will serve you better.

To see how well your blog strategy works register your blog here:
My.ComMetrics.com – sign up for FREE and compare your performance to the Renault F1 team or UPS racing blogs – we’ll help you gain the upper hand.

Lesson 4: Determine what the focus of two-thirds of the content will be
People sign up to get a blog’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’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.

UPS racing in the US – get the latest results and box news
Renault F1 team – all about the races – from news about the Red Bull team to McLaren Mercedes – this is what you get

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.

Okay, now it’s your turn. 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. Thank you.

P.S. - Continue with our next set of ropes to skip: 2) Lessons  5 – 7: Setting the stage – ready – go (2009-06-03).