By Karen Rynes, Director of Marketing

Happy New Year!  My resolutions this year include the usual suspects...lose a few pounds, exercise more, spend more time with friends, read more -- which is no easy feat with a 12-month old baby who is on the verge of walking & is getting into EVERYTHING!

My resolutions also include a pledge to listen more & learn from what I hear.

As I've said before, blogging is conversational -- it's about people & relationships.  One of the important aspects of business blogging is not only posting to your company blog and sharing your own knowledge or observations, but to listen & respond to what others are saying about you & your industry.

Mike Sansone, on his Converstations blog, posted a great list of tools back in September to help you "eavesdrop" on the conversations happening in the blogosphere.  A couple of items to note from his list are:

1. Use a Feed Aggregator, such as GreatNews or NewsGator, to monitor RSS feeds
2. Set up free Technorati blog searches using your own keywords & tags
3. For the full list go here

Thanks for coming back to check out my Social Media Series this year!  In case you missed it during the holiday craziness, my Dec. 18th post touched on a really thought-provoking subject:  Should companies control what you blog about and/or require confidentiality agreements...even for personal blogging?  What do you think?  I'd love to hear (see...I'm listening!) and learn from your thoughts & opinions on this sure-to-be-controversial topic.

Also, you can review ALL the segments in my ongoing series here.  You'll find that while some of these posts are a couple of months old, they're still current as they communicate best practices.  And, if you haven't read them yet...they're new to you!

By Karen Rynes, Director of Marketing

Blogging is about people and relationships.  The biggest thing to remember about the blogosphere is that many conversations are happening among many people.  Writing on your own blog lets you voice a view.  And, if you allow comments on your blog, you can get a two-way conversation going there.  But that is not enough.

The key to successful blogging is to join in the conversation by not only posting to your own blog but posting comments at and participating in other blogs.  You'll evolve from being a blogger who posts to being a blogger who participates in bringing both sides together...and become an active member of the community.

Doesn't this sound like relationships in real life?  That's why I said that blogs are about people!

As Liz "ME" Strauss at Successful (& Outstanding) Blog(gers) puts it, "Visiting a blog is much like stopping by a neighbor's house.  It's a cordial way to let the owner know that you stopped by.  If you've stayed long enough to read something, leaving a comment is a nice gesture and a relationship-building act.  It's like leaving your calling card on a business call or leaving a note at the house of a friend."

Reading and commenting on other blogs provides many benefits.  You can:

• Get to know new colleagues
• Stay relevant on industry news
• Learn new tips
• Increase traffic at your blog
• Enlist new customers
• Find content to post on your blog
• And much more!

Additionally, you also need to respond to comments that appear on your own blog even if it is a simple "thanks for the comment."  This will show your readers that you are listening and value their comments, which will make them come back again...and again.  And with that, you have started a relationship!

This week, I encourage you to take the time to visit, read & comment on at least 3 new blogs.  You'll get the satisfaction of sharing a few of your own opinions and you'll also probably gain a few new readers!

Thanks again for tuning in to this ongoing series on Social Media that I post every Monday.  In case you missed it, here's last week's post on honesty & full disclosure.

P.S.

• For more about commenting on blogs, check out what else Liz "ME" Strauss has to say about Comments & Comment Policies.
• Back in October, Mack Collier of The Viral Garden decided to "walk the walk" and lead by example to fellow bloggers by posting "100 Comments" in under a week!  He runs a very popular marketing blog centered on the community...and commenting is definitely a community-building tactic.  Here's the post.