Top Internet Marketing, Strategy & Technology Links – Feb 25, 2010

fleur120

I read a lot of blogs and I am growing tired of the mutual admiration society. I think a lot of my fellow bloggers are becoming complacent. We are too concerned with how we will be perceived rather than speaking our minds. We are too concerned that the popular blog owner will be offended if we offer up criticism that comes straight from the heart. We’re afraid of being ostracized from the masses of commenters who have nothing more worthwhile to say than “Great Post!”, “You hit the nail on the head with this post”, or “You are a true inspiration to me and my life!” – 5 Reasons to be Critical of Other Bloggers (DailyBlogTips)

There’s something to be said for thinking critically and having an opinion when someone else posts their own. The most interesting comments are always ones that add to the conversation. Many sites, including my own, will remove comments that don’t really add to the conversation if they’re just “great post!” (which I assume are just linkbait). Posting an opinion means being respectful and backing up what you say with some reasons, but it’s a great way to get your own point of view out.

Occasionally, firms, especially larger brands, choose to build forums into their websites as part of their marketing strategy. The idea is that the social network or forum will attract new and repeat visitors, build brand loyalty and recognition, boost your organic SEO and increase trust in your website. Without a doubt, a successful forum can do that, but it can also be a huge amount of work and a gamble, since most forum attempts fail. – Ten golden rules for building social networks & forums (Econsultancy)

Building a separate online community is difficult and often requires the right type of audience to already be in place (if your brand has a loyal following, for instance). For those who may not have a loyal following yet, tagging on to an exisiting social network system like Ning may be a good way to get started, but you’ll still need to follow these ten golden rules.

We’ve decided that the last thing we need to do with Buzz is use it to promote the same stream of blog content – we’re not that desperate, and we know you get that news elsewhere. Here’s how we’re using Google Buzz instead. For conversations! Actual, honest-to-god, open discussions between the RWW team and you, our wonderful readers. – How We’ve Decided to Use Buzz (ReadWriteWeb)

If there is one thing that Buzz does better than Facebook or Twitter, it’s allow multiple people to have a conversation on one topic (although it would be nice if you could collapse posts because ones with lots of comments take up a lot of space). Twitter is ok for conversations, but people have to be following a hashtag or multiple people to see all the replies. Facebook at least collects comments in one place, but you may have to be a fan of the person or company in order to participate – although they are fairly close to Buzz in the interface.

We post links to stories about how to use the web for business throughout the day on Twitter, Google Reader Shared or Delicious. Also, if you have a post or link you think is worth sharing, please let us know!

Liked this post? Consider subscribing to our RSS feed or our free email updates or following us on Twitter.

Technorati tags: internet strategy, web strategy, online strategy, internet, web strategy

Reader Interactions