Mike’s Points

Okay, I’ve only once directly posted about Strumpette. Yeah, I’ve included the Strumpette site a few times, but have really stayed away from Strumpette on my blog.

Before I go on, let me say for the record that, early on, the strumpette blog focused on attacks and I think offered very little value. However, of late, the author(s) is(are) bringing up some good points and posts worth reading. And, if I had to commit, I’d say there is more than one author. Now, back to my post . . . .

However, after a few e-mail exchanges with “Amanda Chapel” in the past couple or so weeks, I got to thinking: I haven’t really heard of or read many Brian Connolly comments on any blogs lately? Have there been any??

I checked, and found none since early March.

What I did find was further evidence from Ron May that Brian Connolly is much more behind the Strumpette blog than either AC or BC wants to tell us.

“I think it is time we stop being fooled and step back. Connolly is coming out. Connolly is stepping out from behind the curtain because he has had his fun, he has successfully fooled everyone, and now, he is tired of it since there is nothing left to prove.

So, as far as I am concerned, Connolly is Amanda or at least a significant part of the Amanda project.”

May makes several good points and comparisons in his post — too many for me to repeat here.

In case you are new to the blogosphere and wondering who is Amanda Chapel? What is strumpette.com? Who is Brian Connolly? Why should I care? (Actually, no. You shouldn’t care, and I don’t really. But, its can fun.). For some history, see:

> Strumpette’s very first post.

> Scott Baradell’s Media Orchard: Here and here. (That last here also includes reference to Ron May and The May Report.)

> Robert French’s InfOpinions, and a comment I posted.

> Mike Krempasky of Krempasky.com.

At the end of it all, it doesn’t really matter who author(s) strumpette.com. What matters more — or at least as much as who the author(s) is(are) — is the content: Is it worth reading?

That’s for you to decide. (And, as AC/BC has said in the past, the site does get plenty of traffic.)

– Mike

Technorati tags: Strumpette, Brian Connolly, Ron May,

I’m a big list guy. If I’m not rushed at the end of the day or don’t have to leave early for a t-ball, I take some time to regroup and jot down a list of things for me to do the next day at work. For some time now, I’ve had an things to do list swirling around in my head for this blog.

Some I’ve done lately, like adding links and that PR pitch button.

Not that you really care what I want to do with my blog, but here goes my current Mike’s Points things to do list. Of course, if you have any suggestions of your own, e-mail me or leave a comment. I’m always looking to get better.

Change the order around of stuff there on the left. Maybe move the about me up higher (for any new surfers that might visit and wonder who the heck is Mike). Look at moving down the monthly archives list.

Add some design elements. I’m much more of a writer than I am a designer. I’m pretty good with newspaper layout (Any remember using wax machines and using an Exacto/X-Actor knife to physically cut and paste?), but not great with other, more graphic design.

Double-check the links I do have, and look to add some (for both PR and related ones, and non-PR ones).

Figure out how to better list the buttons there towards the bottom on the left. I can’t get any consistency or for them even to nicely line up.

Check out the updated Cocomments and see about adding that again. It is a great idea. (Does it now work with Haloscan comments?)

That’s enough for now.
– Mike

Thanks to Ed Lee at BloggingMeBloggingYou, I’m in my first game of online or blogging tag. YIPPEE. (BTW Ed, your blog name reminds me of a song by ABBA. Or, is it Air Supply?)

My five favorite (note the proper American English spelling ) social media technologies . . . . hhhmmmmm? Let me think. Social media . . . what really is social media? Guess I’ve never really been into jargon and the like, but let me take a stab at it:

My first is del.icio.us. Or, as I lazily type it in www.delicious.com. Guess I’m a relative newcomer to delicious, but have found it very helpful for links I use in my blog posts. My main problem is being consistent in my tags. And, of course, as Ed noted, using notes.

For my blog reading, I use Bloglines. There’s no particular reason, other than that’s what I started with. It works for me. I also have an account at NewsGator via its Web site, but don’t really use it. Other than the occassional errors with feeds, Bloglines has been pretty good with keeping up with the blogs I read. Just have to be sure it’s consistent with what I list over there to the left.

If you are interested in military blogs, then Milblogging.com is your best choice. It has a good list of the most popular milbloggers (voted on by members), plus other ways to find milblogs. (It helped me find some excellent milblogs for a client project, and many of the blogs I found and read — and still read — opened my eyes to what active military personnel go through.)

For search, while Technorati is okay, guess I’ve found my best success with Google’s Blogsearch. Have used it a few times for work, and came away satisfied. No search engine is perfect, but Google’s Blogsearch is pretty good. Blogpulse also is pretty good.

For my fifth, I might plead the Fifth. There are plenty of other choices, but nothing really comes to mind enough that I should include it. CoComments started out as a great idea, and could be. Though I’ve not checked out its new stuff yet, I’ll hold off for now.

Let’s see, who can I tag? How about this assorted collection of bloggers: Kami at Communication Overtones (she’s always good for blogging and other tools), AC/BC at Strumpette (with they play our game?), Colin at CanuckFlack (have to have at least one Canadian blogger, right?), and finally, Philippe at ConversationBlog, who always has good posts to read.

So, since this was my first online tag game, how’d I do?
– Mike

Technorati tag: social media

When you give first thoughts about blogging and branding, and what each typically entails and means, I don’t think they can co-exist within a corporation.

Blogging: Entrepreneurial. Individualistic. The “wild, wild Web.” Independent. Uncensored. Opinionated. On the fly.

Branding: Projecting a coordinated communicated effort. Consistent messaging. Trying to project across the company what that company means. Its values. Its perception. Its image.

But, the two can co-exist — with some ground rules for blogging.

As I posted before, all companies should include blogging as part of its HR policy. It should be clearly spelled out what the guidelines are and boundaries for employees anytime they communicate about work (and their customers/clients, too) outside of their official role as employee.

What about these for some of the guidelines:
> It’s okay to be critical of the company, but make it constructive (vs. name calling), and offer suggestions. (If you were part of the project of that you are critical, be sure you didn’t have these suggestions before but didn’t speak up.)
> Don’t disclose experimental or proprietary company information, or other details that is confidential — particularly if the company is publically-held. (This is a no-brainer.)
> As with all employees, any and all media inquiries — and maybe serious customer ones, too — should be directed to corporate communications/PR or other appropriate department.
> If you are blogging about the company, be aware of the brand the company is seeking to project (and the onus for this awareness is on the company more so than it is on the employee).
> Do not rush to blog on a topic, event, company news, etc., until you know all details.

I’m a firm believer that, for the right company with the right people, blogging can give a cold, impersonal corporation a personality, a face, and a level of familiarity and even intimacy with customers and prospects that very few other forms of communication offer. However, the goals and objectives of the entity that is the company still take precedent.

– Mike

Technorati tags: blogging, corporate blogging, branding, public relations, PR

For your browsing, reading and thinking pleasure, I give offer the following . . . .

Columnists are people, too, Jon Friedman/MarketWatch

How will we look in 125 years? News-Sentinel’s future won’t include paper, Marty Weybret/Lodi News-Sentinel (Courtesy of CyberJournalist.net)

Former Santa Barbara News-Press Columnist Speaks Out; N-P Publisher Becomes (Lou) Cannon Fodder, Gary Goldhammer/Below the Fold

Pentagon’s PR Machine and Baseball Game Text Messages, B.L. Ochman/What’sNextBlog

– Mike

UPDATED: Approx. 11 p.m., July 29, 2008: Looks like the Adrian Insider blog pulled the posts about James Koren (some time ago), and the issue was resolved with Koren’s apology (in case you weren’t following it). Koren recently asked me to remove the link, like the Adrian Insider did. Though I don’t have a policy about it, I see no reason to remove posts, but will provide this update. I also changed the headline and post slug. And, in no way did I mean to imply that Koren is stupid. Just what he did was stupid — and he’s a big enough man to apologize for his judgement in error, as noted in the original post below. We’ve all made mistakes. Heck, even I make mistakes (gotta stop linking to that post!).

Courtesy of ToledoTalk and The Adrian (MI) Insider, there’s another example of someone — James Rufus Koren — making comments about work — this time a co-worker — and thinking only his friends would read it.

“This morning, I found out that people outside of my close circle of friends have been reading this blog.

Of course, it was never intended for readers outside of that group, and so there have been some posts - most notable “Delayed Talker” - that I never should have posted.”

Koren is a reporter for the Adrian Daily Telegram (which serves the city of my alma mater).

Of course, Koren has apologized, but will it be enough to save his job?

Guess J. Rufus will have to figure it out!

– Mike

UPDATED approx. 12:30: Below with more posts about the new Dell blog, and a point to ponder.

My youngest son (5yoa) can easily become frustrated when he tries something new. He’ll give up quickly and be reluctant to try again. Everytime that happens, my wife and I explain to him that he will get better, that people don’t usually do things perfectly or even right the first few times they try something new, and point to past activities where he had trouble early on but then became better and had fun.

Though it is frustrating, I’m glad that we don’t do things right or perfectly the first time around. If we did, how unrewarding life would be! We work, we learn, we get better and better each time we do an activity.

Blogging is the same way. While I like some of my early posts, I also cringe at some of them (and am glad no one was reading them).

Individuals are like that.

Companies are too — and more so because multiple people are typically involved in the process, and there are a lot more considerations than with individuals (legal, compromises among the people involved, jittery stockholders, etc.)

Dell has started blogging. Great. Good for them. They are late compared to some. But early compared to most other large corporations.

More so than individuals, it’s easy to criticize and blast faceless corporations like Dell. Edelman/Micro Persuasion’s Steve Rubel has done it. And, of course, so has BuzzMachine’s Jeff Jarvis. (Of course, Jarvis has a sour past history with Dell, so anything Dell does, Jarvis likely will criticize.)

But, look at the first and early posts by Rubel and Jarvis. Were they perfect? Knowing what we know now, could we have criticized them then? Was it their best work? Have they become better since then?

Now, I’m not saying people cannot be critical of Dell’s blog, but give ‘em a break. Like any newcomer, welcome them, offer praise for what’s right so far and advice on how to improve.

Blogging is new. Like any individual and company that blogs, it takes awhile to find your voice, to get into the flow or rhythm of blogging, to get your focus, to really determine what you want your blog to be.

It seems like some bloggers have forgotten that.

– Mike
(who did buy a Dell Dimension E510 earlier this year and, so far, has had no problems)

Other posts related to Dell’s new blog launch (in no particular order):

Andy Lark
Shel Holtz
Robert Scoble
Jeremy Pepper
John Wagner
Rubel’s 2nd post
Kevin Dugan
Scoble’s 2nd post

Point to Ponder: With the negative feedback — seemingly mostly from Rubel and Dell-hater Jarvis — it seems there are far more blogs defending Dell, or at least criticizing Jarvis and Rubel then there are criticizing Dell. Nothing like an unprovoked attack to bring about some corporate sympathy. Looks like common sense is prevailing, John.

Technorati tags: Dell, corporate blogging, business blogs

Kyle MacDonald finally has his house. And, it all started with one red paperclip.

And, kudos to Corbin Bernsen, and Bert Roach of Kipling, Saskatchewan.

– Mike

This post is personal, but it’s still a good branding-communications brainstorming exercise.

Assignment: Need a name for a new event organizing/planning/implementing business. The business can handle an array of events — from wedding and baby showers, to kids’ birthday parties, reunions, weddings, business meetings, etc.

For starters, here are some early possibilities:
> Attention to Detail
> Perfect Party Planners
> Worry-Free Events

If you like any of the above or have suggestions of your own, you can e-mail me or leave a comment.

Thank you for any suggestion you can offer.
– Mike

P.S.
And, no, I’m not thinking of starting my own business. This is for a family member.

A company in business to make a profit will only do something if it somehow contributes to the bottomline. Decrease costs. Increase revenue. Raise profits.

Making “green” products; making a monetary or in-kind contribution to a local charity; appealing to or being open to people of all cultures, races, orientations, etc.

These are all nice touchy-feely qualities for a company to have. In other words, CSR or corporate social responsibility.

But, for the most part, if there is no contribution or positive impact on company’s brand, image and, ultimately its profitability, then CSR won’t be a primary business practice.

Fleishman-Hillard launched a CSR blog earlier this year, and recenty had a post that presented a “business case for doing good.”

“A study of 2,100 MBA students conducted by Net Impact even found that slightly more than half said they would accept a lower salary to work for a socially responsible company.

Managed strategically across the business, the CSR movement is a great opportunity to build a relationship between business and society based on trust and shared values.”

So, does that mean that a company can decrease its payroll costs for new hires if it practices CSR? (That’s the hard, cold business cynic in me coming out.)

Also recently, MarketingVox reported Alloy Media + Marketing’s findings of a similar CSR survey of U.S. college students (age 18-30).

“The study found that, while humor is good and big names still sell, students prefer an honest and effective social responsibility campaign to celebrity endorsements when it comes to spending.”

Note that the Alloy Media + Marketing survey talked about an “honest and effective social responsibility campaign.” In deciding where to spend my hard-earned money, honesty means more than social responsibility.

Besides, how do you rate and “effective” social responsibility campaign — versus an ineffective SR campaign? (Guess it depends how much impact the campaign had on sales?)

These two studies are a start. They help build the case for companies to look more closely at making CSR a sincere part of their corporate culture.

While we all will benefit from companies being more socially responsible, being a socially responsible corporate citizen won’t be a high-priority if they aren’t making a buck off it somehow.

Point to ponder: In case you are wondering where to find CSR companies, check out the CSR Wire. This helps prove my point that companies are not being good “corporate citizens” just to feel good about themselves. Promoting their good deeds is part of their branding.

– Mike

Technorati tags: corporate social responsibility, CSR, branding