by Karen Rynes, Director of Marketing

I've been feeling very guilty about not posting to this blog in 3 weeks.  Early on in my blogging education and at the beginning of this series, I learned that one of the core rules of blogging is that to have a successful business blog, you should post frequently, i.e. daily, at least.  Realistically for me, however, daily posting can be a challenge given the other priorities and project deadlines that are inherent to my job.  With all this in mind, my goal for this series was to post weekly.

When I sat down this morning to catch up on some reading and to contemplate the subject matter for this post, I finally got around to reading last week's MarketingProfs Today e-newsletter.  'Lo and behold there was a case study (premium membership is required to view) by B.L. Ochman that poses the question "Can a corporate blog with a single writer build a large international audience without multiple daily postings?"  Wow!  This is perfect, I thought, and my guilt started fading immediately as I read further.

The gist of it is, that Eric Kintz, Hewlett-Packard's VP of Global Marketing Strategy & Excellence and author of HP's Marketing Excellence blog, was criticized by another blogger for not posting daily.  In his post, which appeared on June 5, 2006 (and is still being linked to worldwide), Kintz refuted that line of thought saying "...Daily posts are a legacy of a Web 1.0 mindset and early Web 2.0 days (meaning 12 months ago!). The pressure around posting frequency will ultimately become a significant barrier to the maturity of blogging."

Being a respected marketer, Kintz has taken some of the pressure off those of us who are not A-list bloggers by starting the discussion of quality vs. quantity when it comes to posts.  While there are still those that disagree, I, for one, agree with Kintz.  The main objective of my Social Media Series is to provide interesting and relevant content and food-for-thought for others who are interested in starting a company blog. 

Eric Kintz's post is evidence that it only takes a single post to generate a discussion that has legs.  So, instead of feeling guilty & pressured to post just for the sake of posting frequently, I now can relax with a clear conscience and spend my time researching topics that I feel are important to the quality of this series.

Thanks for waiting patiently for this post!  As always, your comments & opinions are welcome!

Read Kintz's original post here.

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.