I'm guest blogging at Naturally Yours

I'm currently guest (not ghost) blogging at my client's blog, Naturally Yours. Guest blogging means you, in your own name, contribute articles to a blog. Ghost blogging, which violates the core blogospheric value of transparency, is writing in the name of someone else, pretending to be that person. In other words, people think Mr. Caliber, Owner of Caliber Chocolates, is blogging, but the posts are being written by some other person.

Why is Ghost Blogging wrong? Because the whole point of corporate blogging is to put a warm, approachable, human face on a business. People want to read, and interact with, real communications from the representative of a company. They want to trust that what the blog says is coming directly from the CEO or Owner or whoever is chosen to do the blogging.

If you want to see a blog I designed, check it out. Be sure to notice the Recent Visitors map. People from all over the world are attracted to this blog, thanks to the former chief blogger Matt Kowal.

My first 3 posts are:

"Be Nice to Your Heart"

"People On Twitter Who Discuss Organic Foods"

"Have a Healthy Lunch at Naturally Yours".

The Naturally Yours blog is sponsored by a local organic grocery and health food store, where I buy all my herbal teas and natural remedies.

If you're interested in how a real Social Media Specialist can add content, in the form of sales-oriented and customer-centric posts, to a business blog, watch what I do on this one. You can apply the same basic principles to any commerce-oriented blog.

5 reasons why charging for online content is risky business

The New York Times Online is in the news for moving toward a paywall. That means they're considering going away from free content online. They want to start charging money for it.

"We're Going to Have to Pay to Read the NYT Online" by Althouse.

"Slim Times Option" at New York Post.

"After 3 Months, Only 35 Subscriptions to Newsday Paywalled Website"


5 Bad Things That Happen With Paywalls


What can you expect when you throw up a paywall on your web content?


(1) Decrease in readership, since only paid subscribers can view it.

(2) Decrease in linking, since blogs and websites can't link to paid content, it's blocked, entry is denied unless the reader is a paid subscriber.

(3) Decrease in search engine results, since nobody's linking to your content If people can't link to your content, reputable bloggers won't quote it because only paid subscribers will be able to verify that the quote is accurate. With fewer websites linking to your articles, your authority and popularity rankings with search engines will plummet. Say goodbye to blogospheric buzz, too.

(4) Decrease in ad revenue, because your readership, linking, and search engine results have sharply declined. Fewer readers of your content means fewer eyeballs seeing the ads surrounding it.

(5) Decrease in competitive advantage, because now everybody's going to the free online content of your competitors, rather than bother with getting a paid subscription to your content. Your competitors will end up providing information to people who used to read your free online content.


If you provide extremely rare, unique, exclusive, hard to find, unusual online content, and that special content is extremely valuable to a large number of people, you might be able to use a paywall.

If you provide online content that helps people make money, find a job, or succeed in their own business, and if that content is consistently superior, you might be able to charge for it.

But how do you become known, in all the noise and clutter of the internet?

You'd have to spend a ton of money advertising and promoting your paid online content. Good luck with that.

Does the New York Times, which has repeatedly suffered loss of credibility in recent years, due to various editorial scandals, have such super-valuable and super-exotic content? Time will tell.



Alternatives to Paid Online Content

One alternative business model is to charge for exclusive premium online content, targeted to a specific audience. Another idea is to charge for special tools associated with your content, that helps people use it or enjoy it more.

I've thought a lot about how YouTube could generate revenue, aside from charging users to view regular content, so let me use YouTube as an example.

YouTube could charge premium users for access to an exclusive video editor that would enable them to add titles and effects to their videos.

YouTube could also make special editions of content not available online, or hard to find in their website, and charge money for it. For example, high resolution DVDs of video compilations, in categories like music video, comedy, home-made craziness, documentaries, and science/technology.

Perhaps the New York Times could package some sort of valuable content, call it the premium edition, and charge money for that. But their regular content, the news and opinions, are basically more generic than specialized. You can get the same news story, and even similar opinions, all over the internet.

Paywalls are risky business. Before you start charging money for online content, consider less risky alternatives.




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ROI as resistance to social media altruism

In the debate on whether or not social media can be proven financially lucrative, I see a pattern emerging. It's not really Participation vs. Non-participation in Social Media. The real question is "Does our company really value customers and want to help them?"

It's Corporate Greed vs. Corporate Altruism.

Or frame it: Exploiting People vs. Helping People.

Some will resent this portrayal and say the demand for ROI is not greed, just smart business. "Why waste time Twittering or blogging, when the time could be better spent?" they'll whine. Meanwhile, smart competitors are establishing warm, human connections with customers and inspiring them to be enthusiastic and loyal.

People use social media, not to buy things, but to interact with other people. They're sharing insights, jokes, links, warnings, favorite songs, satire, scorn, confessions, questions, answers, political opinions, a wide variety of personal concerns.

Social media is your opportunity to establish things hard to define in dollars and cents. Things like Credibility. Friendliness. Expertise. Caring.

Social media is not an advertising or sales platform to exploit, though it can generate new customers and increased sales, if done correctly. Your company must be customer-centric, on social media to provide service, expertise, and occasional news about products and company activities.

Give tons of advice, handle complaints, listen to feedback, take note of suggestions, explain your side of a story -- and people will like you and will tolerate a few sales messages from you -- that's the magic of social media.

Social media is sometimes seen as a Get Rich Quick scheme, but more realistically, social media is Get Human Quick. Your company can face customers more intimately via social media, far more than via a typical corporate website, most of which are still boring fluffy We -oriented sludge.

The bottom line is this: many are called, but few are chosen.

All companies can benefit with social media, but few are willing to really help people.

Only businesses that truly value enhanced customer relations, and want to reach people where THEY are at, which is social media increasingly, will bother with implementing social media programs.

Altruism, what I call "unproductive interaction" (meaning non-commercial messaging) is the only way to succeed in social networks. What is social media altruism? It's being a regular guy or gal. Sharing the wisdom you have about your industry, the needs and problems of customers, and how they can solve them, without promoting your products all the time. Just general principles or how-to tips.

Why spend time on (mostly) non-commercial messaging in social media?

Because you want to differentiate your company as the company who cares. Most of your competitors provide lousy customer service, and rarely share their expertise without charging for it, as in a book or seminar.

Nobody joins an online community to receive spam, sales hype, or egocentric PR messages. But if your company provides tons of advice to people on Twitter or Facebook or in a corporate blog, people will think kindly and highly of you. You open their hearts to respect and like your company. They'll be more likely to listen to your sales messages because you use social media to help, not exploit, them.

If a company really cares about people, you won't have to twist their arm and present an ROI analysis to them to get them to provide their insights, service, answers, and solutions to interested parties.

I suspect that companies who "don't get" social media are merely old fashioned, stubborn, resistant to change and intelligent risk-taking.

The ROI HYPOCRISY and PARADOX:

It costs so little to engage in social media, it's pathetic to demand that it "pay its way", when Blackberries, country club memberships, new carpet, golden parachutes (hush money), business cards, conference attendance, corporate jets, and many other things are not subjected to ROI analysis.

Don't argue with stupid selfish companies.

Find those whose hearts are already prepared, companies that don't just say they care, but are willing and eager to prove it. Evangelize them with the good news of social media and what it can do for competitive advantage, PR, and positive word of mouth.

The resistant companies will eventually jump in, when it's too late.




FURTHER READING:


If You Do Your Job Right, Nobody Will Ask About Social Media ROI by Shel Holtz

The ROI Label and the Credibility of Communications by Shel Holtz

my post How To Understand Social Media ROI

How to Understand Social Media ROI

Can participation in social media be justified by ROI (Return On Investment) analysis? Should you be able to show revenue gain or time savings with social media engagement? What goals are attainable via social networking?

This is a controversial and inflammatory topic. Here are just some preliminary remarks on Social Media ROI.

Business managers often want to know "how much bang for the buck" they get from a new piece of equipment or set of procedures. Social media participation may require an investment in money for such things as branded blog design and paying employees to spend time representing you online.

Expenses for social media participation are meager compared to many other things you do. The main investment is time. Your Twitter person or corporate blogger can spend a lot of time, and they can even get sucked into wasting time on trivial matters, just like with telephones and email.

You need to establish guidelines for how your social media participants conduct themselves, how they represent your company, and how they interact with social network members. Blogocombat, online debate, and the handling of trolls, abusers, and spammers must also be dealt with prior to engaging in social media.

Surely you see how major players in business have leveraged social media to gain substantial advantages. Many new products have been launched successfully with social media playing a large role. When you have a blog and a Twitter presence, that are genuine and transparent, you have a great venue in which to promote your values, offerings, and what differentiates you from competitors.

But how do you measure good will, customer satisfaction, and the ability to present your side of a controversy?

Social media, primarily blogs and Twitter, enable a business to enter the realm where potential and current customers are swarming. You don't jump into social media to hype products or make sales pitches necessarily -- you optimize customer relations and customer service.

You participate in social media to position your company as customer-friendly.

You interact with members of online communities to prove that your company can solve their problems. Customer service, letting people contact you quickly and easily, with complaints, questions, suggestions, and praise -- this is the Main Idea of Social Media.

Thus, you can't necessarily measure the impact of your social media involvement. Social media participation is similar to other hard-to-measure efforts, like advertising. ROI on radio and television advertising is notoriously fraught with difficulties. ROI on public relations is also not easy.

How about doing an ROI analysis on your mission statement? Or positive attitudes in the workplace?

Have you run an ROI analysis on smiling? New carpet? Golden parachutes (hush money)? Executive parking spots? Promotions? Raises? Bonuses? Titles? Conference attendance? Artwork adorning the halls? Email?

Have you banned frivolous Forward Emails?

Business does certain things, simply because (1) they make sense, (2) they're right, and (3) your competitors are doing it. You sometimes have to bite the bullet and invest some time and money in something, even when it's not entirely clear what the FINANCIAL payback will prove to be.

Social media is a company's opportunity to put a human face on their business, to make it easy for customers and the public to contact you...in a manner that THEY want to do it.

Competitive advantage can't always be nailed down to numbers and cash flow.

I'm sure when the telephone was invented, most business thought it was a time waste and trivial.

"Who wants to be interrupted by phone calls? I don't want customers yakking at me on a telephone. I want them to jump on their horse and visit the store. Time spent on the phone is time away from physically present shoppers. No thanks!"

How about an ROI on ROI?

It's hard to do ROI on training, for example, because it may take a long time for the training to pay off in increased productivity. Often training is bad short term, but good long term.

Social media is simply mandatory, not subject to ROI as final arbiter.

To measure everything according to Profit and Loss or Revenue Generated or Time Saved or Complaints Decreased is an accountant mentality, which is good where applicable but can be a bit ridiculous where irrelevant.

Customer perception. How do you measure that in revenue flow? You can't.

If your competitors are engaging in social media, and maybe even getting mainstream media buzz from it, from some popular innovation or startling application, where does that leave you? Playing catch-up in a mad panic?

Remember the telephone and email.

At first, these seemed trivial, bizarre, distracting, prone to abuse and misuse.

It's going to be a Darwinian Economic Recovery: only the strongest and smartest companies and employees will survive. Mediocres, slackers, lazies, and late adaptors are doomed. If you're not a pioneer, willing to take risks, bold enough to strike out on your own and try new things, you don't have a very bright future.

Master the new technology and the new media.

Come to social media with a positive attitude and an altruistic strategy. Enrich social networks with your expertise, insights, and solutions.

Social media can be a secret weapon in your arsenal for success, whether or not you can do an ROI analysis on it.

It can be stress-relieving and reassuring when you know you're doing everything possible to promote and protect your business. Social media is a mandatory element in the mix. Now figure out how to use it in an economical, customer-centric, and productive manner.

Let me conclude these preliminary remarks with a quote from the remarkable uber-blogger and social media specialist Shel Holtz, from "If You Do Your Job Right, Nobody Will Ask About Social Media ROI."

You can’t point to the value of that improvement on a balance sheet. But nobody will ask for ROI if your plan goes like this:

1. We’re being hammered in online discussions. It’s surely affecting purchase decisions. Right now, nearly half of all comments about us are negative.
2. We plan to initiate a variety of social media efforts designed to turn the situation around.
3. We’ll monitor the space to assess whether our effort is having an impact. Our goal is to reduce negative commentary to 20% within two years.

Measurement of communication—any communication—is all about the degree to which you achieved the measurable objective that drove the communication in the first place.

Also see: David Meerman Scott's "Epic ROI Rant".



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