ImpactWatch

Robert Scoble wrote a short little blog post on his Microsoft Geek Blog in February 2003, and people are still talking about it.  Walmart’s Check Out blog recently made a reference to it when it spoke on how the corporation was improving their blog.  Whether or not most corporate blogs realize it, they are probably following Scoble’s suggestions, and if they are not…well, they are probably in trouble.As part of an on-going weekly series, I am going to identify and discuss several of the points.  I will try to identify an example site for each that does a good job of whatever was Scoble’s suggestion.  Are the tips still as valuable today as they were in 2003?  More so?

Tip #1 - Tell the truth

One of the reasons that Walmart was trying so vehemently to change their blogging image was the uproar online after two of their supposed independent bloggers were found to be frauds.  They were not complete frauds (they were real fans of Walmart), but they did not fully disclose how much money they were receiving from Walmart for their journey, and made it seem completely independent.  Readers did not respond well.  You can read the full story here.

Be transparent in your blog.  If you make a mistake, tell the readers.  If you change you mind about a topic, tell the readers.  Readers like to respond to a human being, not a corporate robot (‘Corbot’?)

Tip #2 - Post fast on good news or bad

It may sound counter-intuitive to some readers, but being the first to respond when your company is negatively accused is the only way to lose less trust from your clients.  Admit your mistakes, and hold firm to your integrity at the same time.  In this age of Twitter and Blackberries, it’s hard to justify not responding as quickly as possible.

As for good news, why not help the search engines find out about that good news by posting about it?  After all, a product or service is only good if people know of its existence.  Otherwise, it’s just a marketing failure.

Tip #3 - Use a human voice

There’s a fine line between professionalism and personalization, but readers want to read something that sounds like a novel, not a textbook.  There’s a reason why the fiction section at Border’s has more people milling around.

Another reason why a human voice is more pleasing is that it lends itself to opinionated writing, which lends itself to the start of a discussion.  A new discussion is every corporate blogger’s dream!  I always thought that Kuro5hin had an awesome ‘human voice’ style, personally.

The other 17 tips will be reviewed and updated eventually.  If you can’t wait, click on the PDF file below for the complete published paper by Scoble.

Corporate Weblog Manifesto PDF

As the Olympic games have kicked off over in Beijing, I thought it was time to update the topics and issues portion of the demo to reflect current events. We’ve removed some of the topics and issues that are no longer in the news (such as the torch run) and added some others that have come to light since the 8th. So far the new additions are medal race, journalistic freedom, and security. Have any ideas for other issues or topics we should be tracking for the report on the games’ duration? Let us know in the comments.

You’ve heard it before, and you’ll hear it again. Monitoring the jumble of user-driven media is essential for the health of any brand. A few days ago, Jeremiah Owyang highlighted the importance of this on his blog entry about a recent brand-jacking involving Exxon Mobil. Apparently, a user account “ExxonMobilCorp” was created on Twitter, and a user known only as “Janet” posed as an Exxon Mobil spokesperson. This is not the first time that brand-jacking has been been identified as a problem within social media.

Analytics aside, it boils down to a matter of tipping points. Most organizations spend countless resources building their brands, and the reality is that these intellectual positions can fall at a moment’s notice. Trying to calculate ROI, tracing overall trends, semantic analysis — all of these take a back burner to public relations emergencies within the realm of new media.

Being aware of attacks on your image, misrepresentations of fact, and negative opinion from top influencers is simply necessary when positioning your brand.

With only three days left before things kick off in Beijing, our ImpactWatch demo has made itself clear: within the media, China is being portrayed at a far less favorable rate than that of the actual Olympic Games. Even with widespread buzz addressing athletic performance enhancers, coverage of China’s human rights record, air pollution, algae blooms, and authoritarian domestic policies have been pushed to the forefront of western media. While glittering articles about athletes’ preparations boost the favorability of the Olympics, China is struggling to find its own crutch topic under the strain of relentless criticism and unfavorable press.

The graph below illustrates what I’m talking about:

 Even from this raw graph of daily average favorability, the difference is quite noticeable. When I visualize by month to show overall trends, things get interesting:

These trend lines highlight the discrepancy between the two topics. While the Olympic Games’ average favorability has had its ups and downs, its average favorability has both remained positive and increased in positivity from May to August.

China has not fared as well in its coverage; while enjoying two relatively neutral months (May and June), its favorability rating began to falter in July (-.13) and August (-.29). Quite the opposite of the Games’ coverage, China’s trend line indicates both a negative rating and an increase in negativity from May to August.

As the Games’ opening ceremony nears, a new chapter in our ImpactWatch demo begins. With Beijing as a stage, the world — and our demo — is all eyes…anything could happen.