A curious penguin's guide to social media (video)

Two hundred and sixty-eight penguins lived in the colony of beautiful emporor penguins in Antartica. Only Fred was curious and observant enough to discover a potentially devastating problem threatening their home - and pretty much no one listens to him. Its a problem shared by marketers and communicators today, whether we have realised it yet or not.
This 6-minute video - marking the first anniversary of Internet Branding Strategy - shows the three easy steps that I took, and showing in which direction you should start swimming (if you are not already doing so!)

I was thrilled to hear this morning that this, my first video, won a prize in a For Immediate Release contest designed to encourage business communicators like myself to experiment with video. My prize is tickets to attend Web 2.0 Expo Europe in Berlin, Germany, on October 21-23, 2009. Many thanks to FIR hosts Shel Holz and Neville Hobson for selecting my video to win the European prize. Its also quite a relief as, due to the short timeframe, I've already signed up for a few side-events and let clients know I'll be in town - could have been embarassing!

Three cheers for Dell Inc.’s new IR blog

YOU know it’s a real investor relations department blog when the first thing that greets you is a long disclaimer!

But what the heck, it’s the first* — and it’s about time someone in the reluctant investor relations community had the gumption to start talking to their shareholders openly on the Web.
Dell Shares, the new investor relations blog from Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), launched today — Thursday November 1, 2007 — about 8 years after the first modern blogs made their appearance on the Web.

Dell Shares is the first blog by an investor relations department of a public company.
True to form in the IR field, where legal constraints are both little understood and ever present, the blog is protected by a click-thru disclaimer that people must acknowledge before they can access the posts. How this will work when posts are distributed via RSS and aggregated on external sites beats me, but lets not quibble on such a big day.

As Lynn A. Tyson, Dell’s VP of Investor Relations, says in her inaugural post, this is new territory for investor relations departments. And like any good IRO she is also sure to lower investors’ expectations for how actively Dell’s investor-facing staff will be blogging and responding.

Sometimes, however, we may be quiet, as there are periods of the quarter and various topics we can’t talk about, such as forward looking statements or non-publicly disclosed information (see RegFD). We hope you will understand some of the constraints and legal obligations that may, from time to time, limit our commentary. Also, have a little patience with us, because some of these limitations may also slow us down as we learn and sort our way through this new field.
Tyson, who is a member of the board of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), says investors can “expect timely posts from the IR team (and sometimes company executives) on business performance and strategy.”

Investors will be able to post comments and questions, to which IR staff will respond where appropriate in a timely manner, she says.

In a 23-minute podcast interview for the The Hobson & Holtz Report, Tyson says her department faced few internal hurdles in getting the blog going.
“The ability for an investor relations organization to execute this and do it well quite frankly is predicated on how well they do their jobs every day. And if there’s confidence in their ability to exercise sound situational judgment over the phone or over emails or in one-on-one meetings with investors or group meetings with investors or drafting press releases, then there should be that same level of confidence by the company in their ability to have a dialog over the Internet,” she says in the interview.

She quickly adds that this is a good argument for other IR departments to make to their legal counsel and executives when seeking permission for their own investor relations blogs.
* We watch this space closely, so we are comfortable declaring Dell Shares the first real English-language blog by an investor relations department of a public company.

Hat tip to Neville Hobson

By Dominic Jones, IR Web Report

The golden keys of E-commerce

Domain management strategies have in fact become ultra-sophisticated. Domain names are no longer small issues to be handled by the logo-centric, slogan-happy agencies or Web-tech teams. They now demand powerful strategic, boardroom-level discussions and a commanding knowledge of global domain registration laws and search engine visibility rules.

Today, in order to have a commanding e-commerce presence with universal access, domain names must be treated like very special golden keys. Without an effective domain name, the entire exercise of Internet-centric commerce becomes almost useless.

Super success in cyber-branding lies in the sophisticated creation, development and ownership of these powerful and magical keys, so that they may open the door to an undiscovered universe of billions of unknown customers around the world. Without this power and access, what's the point of being in the race for leadership and image positioning?

It only takes a minute to establish if one is holding that magical key or just toying with a rusty screwdriver.

Domain Names Matter
Domain management strategies have in fact become ultra-sophisticated, and they are among the most valuable components of any ambitious corporation's strategy for building digital branding assets and intellectual property.

Domain names are no longer small issues to be handled by the logo-centric, slogan-happy agencies or Web-tech teams. They now demand powerful strategic, boardroom-level discussions and a commanding knowledge of global domain registration laws and search engine visibility rules.

But in order to be golden keys and not rusty screwdrivers, they also must serve the company's branding objectives.

During the dot-com boom, there must have been a million domain names registered each day. Even the most unusual, silly and dysfunctional names were sought-after icons of get-rich-quick dreamers, and 99 percent of them failed.

Dot-Com Graveyard
Exhausted or expired, these names have now disappeared, and along with them, the hundreds of millions of dollars on short-lived Web site campaigns.

Today, however, there are some very powerful, universal domain names that have carved powerful, highly lucrative positions. Their superior and exclusive fluidity on the net demonstrates the global power of e-commerce.

Smart businesses around the world are aggressively in search of such golden keys.

The best approach to universal domain naming starts with a serious audit to professionally measure the strengths or weaknesses of the proposed names. This process is best served by highly objective views.

The primary goal is to achieve power and access for maximum impact. Today, only the very best names will dominate the global marketplace. Weak, confusingly similar, or nearly identical names do not have a chance of surviving the power and ubiquity of e-commerce.

Be Original
The duplication factor alone will bury most names in complex global listings.
The most expensive Web sites are useless and the best campaigns will remain stuck unless there is a deeper understanding of this subject.

Then there are alpha-structures, which can kill great Web sites and become a liability to business itself. One must have the knowledge to determine the message, personality and length of the name, plus the choice of alpha characters, as each emits its own unique signals.

General branding exercises cannot be mistaken for these complex naming analyses. The strictest application of the Five Star Standard of Naming guards against such expensive busts.

The Google Test
The hyper-visibility of a universal cyber-name is the main issue. A quick search on Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is an instant test of any name's visibility. To appear on the top or on the first page is the most sought-after position, but only an extremely small percentage can achieve this as most names are poorly structured and remain buried by massive duplication.

With the high cost of promotion and intense global competition, it's a brand-new frontier. A lot of money can be wasted in creating an artificial bounce in traffic to an expensive Web site, but in reality it's only those uniquely designed domains that quickly rise to the top with little effort.

Only an in-depth, highly customized analysis will point to the deep problems and illuminate the latest methods to fix them.

Today, it's about global domainization, as multiple domain names create multiple problems in multiple markets. There are highly sophisticated rules to be followed. Be aware that there are too many fancy services offering sketchy global registration and translation services.

The World Is Your Domain
Domains are for the international audience and global customer base, and companies should avoid serious language issues, such as translations or foreign connotations that may be embarrassing to the company or confusing to customers. Cyber branding is an extremely global phenomenon.

Mind share is more important than market share. Customers need to allow a name brand to settle in their minds before they give out their cash. As such, market positioning is more critical than profit maximization.

The human mind gravitates toward good names; those that are user-friendly and trustworthy. When trying to process millions of silly and randomly structured names, the mind quickly becomes exhausted.

In conclusion, logo-driven branding has fallen into a deep sleep on these complex matters, and there's no need to wake it up. Currently, with 95 percent of the domain names stuck in traffic jams, a frank and very candid CEO-level discussion is required. Denials and refusal to face up to reality will simply keep a company's e-commerce presence mired in oblivion -- guaranteed.

Today, one needs a very special golden key to open the gates of e-commerce. Now, can we throw away that rusty screwdriver? Source: Nasseem Javed, E-Commerce Times

The many challenges of writing a CEO blog

Source: Jeremiah Owyang. So often do I meet clients that instantly want to check off the “CEO Blog” inventory for their marketing mix, little do they realize that the CEO blog may be the most difficult to create an maintain, and will likely be under the most scrutiny of any other employee. I’ve met and worked with many Fortune 5000 companies on the topic of social media, and think it’s time to release this list of reasons why CEO blogs are so difficult.

I know many CEOs that blog, and I hope they chime in and perhaps share what they’ve done to overcome these challenges.

The Many Challenges of Writing a CEO blog:
While not every CEO blog will be afflicted with the following, here are of the common diseases I’ve seen.

Time
Probally the biggest challenges that all CEOs have are the limited amount of cycles they can spend on communicating. As we know blogs are conversational tools, they are not press releases or memos, they often require dialog, reading responses, even if you don’t have comments enabled. Blogs that don’t abide by rules simply become irrelevant.

Legal Scrutiny
John Schwartz, CEO blogger of Sun has his legal team read and watch his blog, he often is recommended to add safe-harbor provision, boilerplate statements to prevent from lawsuits. With increased legal eagle monitoring and the potential of saying something that could backfire, the CEO blogger has to be very careful in what they say, and may not be able to give strong opinion.

Not Authentic
Large companies (and some small ones) are afraid to make mistakes, I’ve heard of a few cases where the CEO blog was started by the CEO then handed over to the communications group to write. Although these things are absolutely traceable and timing can be watched, we’ve got to wonder what’s the point of maintaining this blog, perhaps the team should pour the efforts into another tool.

Abandonment
Clare Hart was Factiva’s former CEO and active blogger. She reached out to me when I talked about her product (I was a customer) and has since moved on to a bigger position at Dow Jones. Sadly, her blog is now a ghostly figure, I’ve been up close for this too as there are Hitachi blogs that have been left unattended too.

See, I’m cool too
Far too often, I hear tacticians (not strategists) suggest they want a tool without realizing the business reason to use it, it’s possible they saw this list of CEO blogs, saw a competitor doing it, or just decided to jump on the bandwagon. Coupled with the need for image freshening; for some CEOs, they may want to shed the yacht club reputation and have realized a great way to tap into the latest trend is to join the conversations of customers. Deploying these tools to join the ‘cool’ revolution is never a great idea, people see through it way too quickly.

The Party Line/Rogue Blogger
This has to be one of the worst diseases of CEO blogs, when you see a CEO announce his own product, shout out the marketing line, in an attempt to boost the latest release. While we love enthusiasm for one’s passion, when it comes from the chief, deep down, we filter out some of the hype. On the flip side, a rogue CEO blogger who speaks his mind and shares his beliefs that the corporation may not agree with could potentially damage deals and client relationships, a true PR nightmare.

Should be doing other things?
Shareholders and disgruntled employees may not understand the benefits of communication tools and may be asking themselves and others; “Shouldn’t the CEO be doing something else besides blogging? Like running the company?” While the strategic CEO blogger incorporates these tools for internal and shareholder communications, when things go south, criticism will go up.
Long term commitmentMany bloggers, CEO or not, fail to realize there is only one exit strategy from blogging, and that is you stop. Unless the return on investment is clear, if blogging becomes a task and not a passion, the dreariness will also cascade into the writing.

Boring
Last and worst, many CEO blogs are carefully written, sometimes reviewed, edited or polished, thus removing the humanness that we know. Often, CEOs are media trained not to say things that will be used against them in public or private. The world, as I know it, is not polished, but rough, bumpy, and I’m ok with that. Often, the job of Corporate Communications is to remove any jagged edges, thus removing the humanity of a natural human blog.

Keeping it Real
Please don’t think I’m down on blogging, in fact, I’m one of the biggest advocates of joining the conversation. I really want you to think about the ramifications of CEO blogs before you start, this post is intended to help you. If you’re wanting to think about other tools, I’ve often though video is great for executives.

Talk Back
If you’re still inclined, be sure to respond to me from your own blog or in the comments on 1) the benefits of CEO blogs and 2) how to overcome these challenges.

For more info on business blogs, read Shel Israel Co-author of Naked Conversations, Debbie Weil author of Corporate Blogging, and the Business Blogging Summit. Alternatively, I give advice to clients, my contact info is public.

How companies are marketing online: A McKinsey Global Survey

A global survey shows that marketers already regard digital tools as
very important for advertising and for managing sales and service--but
frequently don't use them. Why? Although respondents are applying
both established and Web 2.0 technologies to reach customers at every
stage of decision making, they complain about a shortage of skilled
people to run online vehicles and about a lack of metrics to assess
them.

• A McKinsey global survey of marketers shows that companies are using digital tools—from Web sites to wikis—most extensively for customer service, least in pricing. Two-thirds are using digital tools for product development, almost as many as are advertising online.
• Respondents consider online ads to be as useful for brand building as for direct response. Spending is expected to increase on all types of online advertising vehicles over the next three years.
• In 2010 just over half of all respondents expect their companies to be getting 10 percent or more of their sales from online channels—twice as many companies as have hit that mark today. And 11 percent expect to be spending a majority of their advertising budgets online by then.
• Most companies today don’t integrate their online and offline marketing efforts; companies that use online tools across the full spectrum of marketing activities are much more likely to do so.

Register free online to The McKinsey Quaterly to discover respondents’ views on digital-marketing tools and techniques.

Top ten tips on managing your brand online

Although this only covers website design basics, it's a good list from web standards compliance specialist Simon Lande of Magnus, posting on e-consultancy.com. According to Simon:
"Effective management of your web standards yields tangible results: it builds the brand, cuts costs, and optimises web operations. Yet, most companies struggle to retain order online, and the penalties for poor management are high: damage to brand and reputation, loss of revenue, operating inefficiencies and risk of litigation."

Here are 10 tips for managing your brand online, with the effective application of standards:

1. Brand standards online are more than just fonts and colour. A website is an immersive experience of your brand, and your standards should cover everything which contributes to that experience. Online brand standards should also incorporate code standards, content presentation, usability, SEO, and legal issues such as accessibility and data protection.
   
2. Establish governance procedures. It is important to establish responsibilities, and there needs to be a central body, which will monitor, support, and if necessary, enforce standards.
   
3. Communicate with your web editors. Ensure you have effective mechanisms for communicating with your editors. It can also be helpful to encourage them to communicate more amongst themselves to share ideas and discuss common issues.
   
4. Define your standards clearly. Try to avoid ambiguity when you document your standards. It is much better to give people clear rules which are easy to follow than vague principles and preferences. This way, standards compliance can be measured and quantified. Ensure your standards are defined and documented by someone who understands the web environment.
   
5. Explain the benefits of following standards. Used effectively, your standards can also act as a coaching tool for your web editors.
   
6. Standardise code wherever possible. This will give you more control over your website quality, and save time and money by preventing similar code being developed over and over again. If you use a global ECMS this will be done automatically, but even if you don’t you can still provide templates and code snippets.
   
7. Keep your standards guidelines resources up to date. Any change in your web standards needs to be reflected in all the places your editors look to for guidance. Sounds obvious, but frequently overlooked.
   
8. Measure web standards compliance regularly. You need to establish some mechanism for monitoring whether standards are being followed, and communicating issues with the web editors. Given the sheer scale of this task it is advisable to automate the process.
   
9. Make sure the main “.com” site accurately follows your web guidelines. There’s nothing more confusing for your web editors than your flagship website not following standards.
   
10. Take standards contraventions seriously wherever they are. Your web editors will find it easier to copy peer websites than read guidelines; so unchecked standards contraventions have a nasty habit of propagating themselves right across your web presence.

Does the internet really change everything?

Light Within: Corporate Internet branding: "Corporate Internet Branding is certainly different than traditional branding in more than one ways. Power of the web has changed the marketing methods and branding strategies. Though the fundamentals remain the same but ways to achieve desired effects have changed. Now Corporate Internet branding is not just about creating a great look – it is about knowing who your target customers are, understanding what they want and conveying the right message. And the advent of the Internet has made it global marketing function."

I definately agree with this concept from Light Within. My background has been in the mainstream, though arguably for the most fast-moving and complex industries of information technology and mobile communications. Getting the fundamentals right is key!

That said, there are specifics to branding online that you will need to become expert at to harness the internet to create a memorable brand.

This blog is about all those specifics.

Are you creating critical business advantage through differentiated internet branding?

Internet Branding Strategy is a new blog that will discuss how to build brand awareness, create a memorable and engaging corporate identity, and harness measurable online brand equity, to drive real-world success for you and your business.

Welcome to the conversation!