Having just completed a comprehensive impact analysis of a client's blogsite which showed nearly 50% growth (fiscal year ending 2009 over 2008), I wanted to touch on a few points related to businesses (and individuals) going ga-ga over "social media".

All media is "social"; the people that come in contact with your content impacts each of them at a social level. They might learn something; they might share it; they might ask you for help, and they might even decide to do business with you. The bottom line - it's just content. This is the driving force of business on the web and at its core - it's simply people talking to each other. If you try to make it more complicated or allow it to define you or your business, you should think twice because you’re about to drive off the road and deep into into Social Media Technogeekery – a very dark place.

Your blogsite is a core marketing asset that serves as central location for developing new conversations that hopefully lead to new business. It should be no more complex than that. Strategically, the [MyST] platform is designed to continually increase the size and dominance of your social media foundation. Our platform also includes business rules and back-office intelligence and automation services that ensure findability in as many places as possible, thus allowing you to focus on the most important aspect of marketing communications, your writing.

Louis Gray recently wrote an excellent piece about the future of your business blog content. In it he says that your blog is what defines your business - "...it is the foundation and center of who you are".

Here are my top 7 tips to businesses that are serious about social media (i.e., "media")...

1. Social media is simply people talking to people.
2. Don't do social media because everyone else is doing it; instead, get involved to communicate your passion for your business.
3. If you're going to say something to your audience, make sure it's a message you truly care about.
4. Using social media (or any wizbang technology) is not a magic bullet, it's a lot of work and requires a passion for communicating.
5. The number of people following your social media is important only to the extent that the most passionate and persuasive thought leaders in your industry are listening.
6. There is no finish line in social media.
7. Just write about your business passion.

Take your time, go slow, and plan your strategy – there’s no rush.

MyST PR-Connect is an integrated service that is included in our MyST Platform offerings. It provides near-instant awareness about stories, articles, and even books that will soon be published relevant to your business or professional domain of interest. It also introduces our clients to the journalist working on the story as potential expert sources. MyST PR-Connect decides which stories are worthy of an alert based on a unique approach that uses content matching rules. MyST PR-Connect is available to all MyST Professional clients and externally to PR consultants and businesses that care about finding good press opportunities.

In Conflict There Is Opportunity

From time-to-time, our platform will match on keywords even when the polarity of the story-line is 180 degrees off a client's expert viewpoint. While this is unintended, PR-Connect is simply a recommendation engine much like Google (but far less complex). For example, if you search Google for the term "religion", you will likely encounter agnostic and atheist viewpoints. PR-Connect is no different - it will call out opportunities that are seemingly worthless to a client; but are they really worthless?

When PR-Connect alerts a less-than-ideal introduction to a journalist, the notification is considered an opportunity to gain additional business intelligence, which may also represent a good suggestion for new blog posts or other social media content contrary to the emerging story. It also serves as advanced warning that a competitive threat (or contrary viewpoint) is looming on the horizon. Conflicting perspectives represent an opportunity to suggest different viewpoints to writers who may also be open to presenting subjects with fair and balanced reporting. In some cases, the journalist may take such comments into account and may even transform the previously one-sided article into a series of articles that offer alternative perspectives.

PR-Connect is a Crystal Ball

From a content strategy perspective, PR-Connect messages can be regarded as "overheard" conversations - i.e., a means of eves dropping on the future of your industry. While there are many alerts that you might not respond to, each provide a glimpse of what the future holds; indeed, they represent an opportunity to get ahead of future stories with your own perspective. Being able to predict what will happen in media is a key competitive advantage that PR-Connect provides.

Shape Your Posts for the Future

For our vCSMO (virtual chief social media officer) clients we regularly advise and help them to pay close attention to the keywords and terms found in PR-Connect alerts because these words and content themes are probably trending up in the coming months across traditional and new media sites. If you can get content into search engines and into syndicated feeds well in advance of the trend, your content will be more likely a highly findable source as interest grows for these stories across media sites.

At the outset, advanced notification of emerging press should be regarded as opportunities that may be worthwhile to pursue, and at the very least, additional intelligence about the future of your market segment.

If you have any questions about PR-Connect or our vCSMO services, please feel free to contact me.