Well, you’d think blogging was definitely on the way out for companies, based on a new study, 2012 Inc. 500 Social Media Update.

Although USA Today pretty much wrote off blogging in its coverage of the results, it did quote Scott Monty, head of social media at Ford Motor, as saying that engaging blogs can serve crucial marketing goals — especially executives out to establish expertise in their industry.

CMOs Interviewed

The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts surveyed the chief marketing officers of Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest growing companies to learn how their adoption of social media has changed since 2011.

The big news, according to the study, is that CMOs are turning to new platforms and tools including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, texting, downloadable mobile apps and Foursquare.

If you study the chart below, you will see that blogging has been increasingly successful as a social media strategy over the past three years, reaching 92% in usage even as its adoption as a social media tool drops. Blogging is still widely used by advertising and communications companies, less so by government agencies. Oddly, this was the first study including LinkedIn, which showed up at 73% usage, just behind Facebook’s 74%, which topped the list.

Companies are reducing their use of message boards, video blogging, podcasting and MySpace. Blogging reached a high of 50% of companies using it in 2009 to 37% in 2011. Companies responded overwhelmingly that the use of social media has been successful for their business.

Of course, social networks have grown in importance. If you’re a consumer company, Facebook is a formidable channel for reaching retail consumers. LinkedIn is corralling the business community.

So why is blogging losing ground? I believe a big reason that companies are blogging less is that it requires a commitment of time. Yet there is no better vehicle for a company to tell its story and for brand building.

Blogging is Here to Stay

Companies, both large and small, need to factor in blogging as an essential tool in their social media arsenal. As I’ve written before, I believe a blog should be the centerpiece of a company’s social media strategy.

Here’s why:

1. Own your content. When you rely on a third-party social network, you are at the mercy of their rules. What a pain in the neck it was when Facebook started company pages. Now you had two information streams to worry about. Recently, they changed their format again with timeline and have just changed the size of the insert in the large image. With your own blog, you can create the content, insert and delete copy, add videos, images and podcasts that promote your company and your products and services – according to your rules. And your content won’t disappear if a social network disappears.
2. Feed social networks. From your home base, you can distribute important information directly to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many other social media networks where your customers are forming communities. Post an article, and it is immediately “pinged” to sites of your choice with a link back to your blog. The viral impact of blog post is enormous.
3. Build credibility. A 140-character tweet has its place. But your customers want to know there is a full-service company behind the tweet. A blog will burnish your brand.
4. Collect market intelligence. Readers can leave comments on your blog posts giving you valuable market intelligence and endorsement of your ideas.
5. Attract followers. Visitors can subscribe to your blog. Just think, a built-in audience for your articles, newsletters and surveys on important topics. As your list of subscribers grows, you can begin to sell them products and services directly, bypassing social media networks.
6. Impress Google. Blogs can rank highly in search, unlike static websites, because the content is changing all the time.
7. Engage Employees. Employees can get the complete story from the company about new developments and not third parties.
   

By the way, the most highly ranked blog on the Technorati 100 is The Huffington Post, one of the most influential newspapers, either online or offline.  Most people think it is a website when it’s actually built on a blog platform.

At last count, The Huffington Post’s monthly circulation was 37 million with 1 billion page views, and is must reading for business executives, politicians, entertainers – and other news media who regularly quote from it.

Not bad for a blog.

* with apologies to Mark Twain

The blogosphere is by its very nature a truly global phenomenon. Anyone with an Internet connection can, in theory, access your blog, no matter where they are in the world. But that doesn’t mean they will. To blog for an international audience, you need to make sure your content is appealing and accessible across cultural and linguistic divides.

Target your blog

Christian Arno

On the day The Huffington Post launched its French edition, founder Arianna Huffington said, “While we will be importing the platform, technology, and tools from across the pond, Le Huffington Post will be rooted in French culture and will reflect France’s own unique personality, rich culture, and diversity of voices.”

As with the preceding Canadian and UK versions, the news giant has tailored its French content to appeal to a specific international audience. We can’t all have the resources of Technorati’s current top-rated blog, but we can focus our efforts on markets that are likely to pay dividends.

The exact nature of your blog will help determine where you should start. A blog about soccer will have a wide potential appeal throughout much of the world but may have a more select, niche appeal within the USA. Concentrating on the Major Soccer League (MSL) could help reach that niche audience while in-depth coverage of leagues based in South America or Europe could give you inroads into those markets.

Beppe Grille has proved that a relatively narrow topic does not necessarily rule out an international audience. The Italian activist blogs largely about politics in his homeland but his blog – available in Italian, English and Japanese – has gained a huge international following.

Use simple words

Unless you’re writing a blog on the joys of circumlocution (that’s general wordiness for the non-enthusiasts) it’s a good rule of thumb to keep the language relatively simple and accessible. This is even more important if you’re aiming for an international audience. English is still the single most widely used language online according to Internet World Stats. An English-only blog may attract a limited number of foreign visitors. But if they speak English as a second language, simple words and structures will make things easier to follow.

While English is the most widely used language on the ‘net, it still represents only around a quarter of total usage. To successfully cross over to international audiences you will also need to translate your blog. Using simple language in your original posts will help make this easier.

Consider your translation options

Once you’ve decided which markets to target, you need to decide how to translate your blog There are many automatic translation programs available that offer a quick, free solution. The drawback is that even the best machine translation is prone to contextual errors. They don’t deal well with slang, abbreviations, acronyms and other cultural and linguistic variations. All this can leave parts of your blog looking stilted and amateurish or may even change the meaning entirely.

Enlisting the help of native speaking translators is a better option by far. This will help ensure an accurate translation, retain meaning and nuance and avoid any embarrassing cultural faux pas. Of course, it is more expensive, so you’ll want to choose your languages carefully. You could test the water by translating some of your best posts into a few selected languages. If you find you’re attracting interest, you can go ahead and translate more.

When to post a blog

The best time to update your content is in the morning. This can give your blog an up-to-date feel but can also present a problem when crossing international boundaries and time zones. It makes sense to stagger the times when you publish your international content. Make a schedule based on the relevant time zones and publish your content as the sun comes up all around the globe.

Make use of social media

Social media is an ideal platform for promoting your blog. All the big hitters like Facebook and Twitter have international audiences and settings but it’s worth remembering that local competitors can be every bit as important within their own spheres of influence.

The home-grown Mixi is a massively popular social network in Japan for example, while Russian-based Vkontakte (commonly known as VK) claims to be the largest European social network with more than 100 million active users. In addition, there may be local specialist sites, forums and social networks that are worth checking out depending on the theme of your blog.

Create separate (but linked) profiles on all the relevant social networks. Keep them up to date and be proactive. Don’t just put links to your blog and hope for the best; write guest posts, leave comments and join in the online conversation.

Taking your blog to an international audience can be a lot of time and forward planning. Given the huge potential audiences you can reach, it can be worth every bit of effort you put in in building new relationships and driving potential business.

Christian Arno is the founder of US translation agency Lingo24. Launched in 2001, Lingo24 now has over 170 employees spanning three continents and clients in over sixty countries. In the past twelve months, they have translated over forty million words for businesses in every industry sector, including the likes of MTV and World Bank. Follow Lingo24 on Twitter: @Lingo24.

LinkedIn has matured since I joined in 2005, two years after this social network for business professionals was launched. It’s added many new features – like company pages – and there are now 1.2 Groups, or communities of members with shared interests who can exchange ideas and join discussions.

Now LinkedIn is about to launch two new features for company pages — Targeted Updates and Follower Statistics. While these new features are not yet available to everyone, HubSpot got the inside scoop directly from LinkedIn.

Soon, companies will be able to target status updates on their company pages to specific followers with content relevant to them. Followers can also be segmented by company size, industry, job function, seniority and geography.

Follower Statistics provides insights about follower demographics, engagement levels, update impressions, total following, recent followers, and number of new followers month-to-month.

Here is a video from LinkedIn about Targeted Updates.

My LinkedIn Archive

I’ve written several “how-to”posts about LinkedIn. Assuming you may have missed a few, I’ve compiled a list of the titles and links to the posts. Obviously, there are many more features — and I’ll continue to provide you with updates.

LinkedIn also has a Learning Center where you can find out more about the site’s features. You might want to go take a look.

Here are 10 posts with tips about using LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Adds New Feature to Discover People You May Know

I Was Booted Out of a LinkedIn Group (Don’t Worry, I’m Back)

LinkedIn Enables Message Updates on Company Pages

Generate Live Leads Through LinkedIn

How LinkedIn Changed the Way I Do Business

Are you Guilty of Using Clichés on LinkedIn?

Should You Be a LinkedIn LION?

LinkedIn Sneaks Into Town With StumbleUpon

How to Insert the Name of Your Website into Your LinkedIn Profile

How to Write a LinkedIn Invitation

Please leave a comment below if you’d like to add other LinkedIn features you’ve found useful, or tips to make the LinkedIn experience more valuable to business professionals.

LinkedIn is making it easier for you to find potential connections with a new feature it calls Discover People You May Know. From your home page you can add a connection, click through to learn more about someone you may know, or view a full list of recommendations. You can learn more in this short video.

I didn’t even realize it until I went to post a discussion and I received the startling message that I had been “banned” from Linked: HR, the largest HR group on LinkedIn.

Yikes. What did I do wrong?  I wrote to one of the Group’s administrator to ask why and beg forgiveness. He was very nice and wrote back that it had happened a couple of months ago and no one knew why, so he was readmitting me.

Be Careful What You Post

I don’t know why either, but I lately I have received several detailed emails from administrators sent to all Group members. They are clamping down on spam, inappropriate discussions or Promotions that are mistakenly placed in Discussions and vice versa.

LinkedIn has expanded tremendously in the past couple of years and there are growing complaints about the amount of spam that people are posting. I’ve seen discussions where people have posted comments that had nothing to do with the topic – like how to make a quick buck with their get-rich-scheme. These are deleted  immediately but it angers members and creates more work for the group administrators.

Building Relationships

While many of us are using social networks to build our brands and business, it’s important to remember that first we need to build relationships. We do that by posting content that adds value to our  groups: how to do something, a list of resources, or solutions to problems. Sure, we can brag about an award we won — in our own updates.

I am very active in the Blog Zone’s subgroup, Bloggers Helping Bloggers. A small core of us regularly comment on each other’s posts and offer advice to each other on blogging. I’ve never met any of them, but they’ve become friends and I know there has been business referred by and to members.

One member, Dennis Salvatier, is a terrific designer and also a blogger. He and are collaborating on a post that will appear next week in this space.

What Not to Do

I’ve become very cautious about the content I post to LinkedIn Groups. I’ve also cut down on the number of groups I belong to so I can become more actively engaged with members. I’ve learned a lesson. If you don’t want to get the boot from a LinkedIn Group follow these simple rules:

• Post content that is appropriate to the Group. If it’s a technology group, don’t post your content about how to use a consumer product.
• Start discussions about real issues in an industry or a problem that you know others are facing. I was the Top Influencer of the Week for four straight weeks when I started a discussion in a human resources group about why companies treated laid off employee like criminals, escorting them from the premises. That got a ton of comments with people sharing ideas about how to do it better.
• Post your content in the right place. Most groups are very strict about not allowing promotional content in Discussions. It will be deleted. As the rules for Small Biz Nation state: “Discussions must be relevant to the thread. If it is obvious that the post is spam or self-promotion, the post will be removed.” Most groups use the Promotions tab for posts about events, webinars, and services.

It’s a simple formula, really. Follow the rules, make friends, and don’t annoy LinkedIn group administrators.

Adding to my argument in last week’s post 6 Steps to Empower Your Employees as Brand Ambassadors, David Pogue, technology columnist for The New York Times, explains the importance of allowing your employees access to social media while at work.

He is interviewed in this Ragan.com video entitled “Half of U.S. businesses block social media. What’s the point?”

I thought that local, state and federal agencies in the U.S. wanted to help put people back to work. As if it wasn’t difficult enough to gain employment, RedTape Chronicles of msnbc.com reported that government agencies and even colleges are now asking job seekers to provide a user name and password for facebook accounts.

The ACLU of Maryland has called on the Maryland Division of Corrections to rescind a blanket policy demanding personal social media passwords from corrections officers and applicants as part of the employment certification process.

If a password isn’t the request, it’s the requirement that you “friend” or “follow” a coach or some other authority.

I’m not a lawyer but I think it’s safe to say this is another egregious trampling of our constitutional rights. What is happening in our country when now we can’t even have freedom to assemble in social communities without intrusion?

Is this Big Brother of Orwell’s 1984?

We know that almost anyone can see anything you say online. Openness is part of the allure of networking online. But, let’s say this username and password demand is allowed – that an employer can require you to give up your social media username and password. Would you feel as safe speaking your thoughts? Have you posted a photo you are going to regret? Is there a quotation that you loved that you’re now sorry you do?

As an introvert, not to be confused with shy, I’ve usually thought out what I am going to say before I post. And photos? Those are minimal. Regardless of our population being 50/50 more extroverted and more introverted, every human being has some degree of holding back and not revealing everything. I’m not creating a running diary, that’s for certain.

Does it go both ways?

Okay, so my future employer wants to learn about who I am – what kind of language I use, what my interests and goals are. Then, Mr. University, or Ms. Government agency, can I have your user name and password so I can go beyond your public comments to learn about your real values, your real culture, not just the ones you put out to the public?

Out of curiosity, I Googled some sites about the legality of this trend. At myFoxPhoenix.com I found that there is not a law against it. But, to use a cliché, “There oughta be a law!”

What would that law be? There oughta be a law against government agencies and employers with policies that trample on individual rights and liberties. “Mr. Potential Employer, I’ve already opened the kimono by being online. I’m not going to take it off!”

Are there creative ways around it?

Thankfully many people are resourceful and I believe if such a requirement is allowed we’ll find ways around it. One possibility I read about is to create a second account, presuming the online social venue allows it. Then you decide what you say for real and what you say just to show you are active online.

A second possibility is to take this demand seriously and surrender to it and just clean up your profile and postings the best you can.

Still a third is to consider this: would you really want to work for any government agency or employer who acts as if they own you and your life? I sure as heck wouldn’t so I would be one to say, “No I will not,” and just take my chances.

Pass a law

Every state could pass a law against this intrusion into our personal lives. The federal government could step in and trump the states with a ban against these kinds of demands.

We the people could have a Boston Tea Party-like uprising. Or even social networks like facebook could say, “But wait, it’s in our Terms of Service that you not share your password or give access to your account to anyone else.”

Let’s say this demand for IDs and passwords is upheld. How do we know that employees of the organizations who collect our information have themselves been subjected to screening and careful scrutiny? Consider the possible “identity theft” incidents by the organization’s official representative empowered to enforce the policy.

If government agencies, colleges and companies can demand our username and password, what’s to stop them from going further and asking for our most private information? Let your mind start to wander and you’ll scare that kimono right off you.

Patricia Weber, a courage coach for the reluctant networker and marketer, offers eBooks, Kindle books, teleclasses, and workshops to lead and inspire the sales reluctant, to discover their personal breakthrough for ultimate success. She blogs at http://www.patricia-weber.

I was just browsing through the McKinsey Quarterly, and stumbled upon an interview with the authors of The Dragonfly Effect, Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith, in which they discuss the secret to telling a successful story.

Create Tension

Jennifer Aaker

As a blogger, I am always telling stories. It’s at the heart of what bloggers do. So, let me lift a quote from Jennifer Aaker:

Good stories have three components: a strong beginning, a strong end, and a point of tension. Most people confuse stories with situations. They’ll tell about a situation: X happened, Y happened, Z happened. But a good story takes Y, the middle part of the story, and creates tension or conflict where the reader or the audience is drawn into the story, what’s going to happen next.

A Compelling Story

In their book, they describe a case study of 28-year-old Scott Harrison, a nightclub and fashion promoter, earning lots of money. But he felt spiritually bankrupt and gave it all up to volunteer on a floating hospital while he figured out what to do with the rest of his life.

He came back with a renewed sense of passion, and formed a foundation charity: water to help bring clean water to millions of underserved populations around the world who don’t have any.

In the McKinsey piece, they describe his story – about asking friends to donate $31 to his charity instead of buying him a gift for his 31^st birthday. To date, the charity has raised $20 million and provided clean water to more than 1.4 million people spanning 17 countries.

Read the Middle

I just gave you the beginning and end of the story. If you want to find out the point of tension in the middle, go to the interview on the McKinsey Quarterly

Employees are actively engaging on social networks such as twitter, facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, tumblr, Pinterest and others that seem to pop up every day. With the encouragement and trust of senior management, employees can become your company’s most important and loyal brand ambassadors.

Engage Your Employees

Below is a presentation (slightly revised) that I presented at a recent HR.com webinar on Social Media and Employee Communications. My presentation entitled “Empowering Employees as Brand Ambassadors” included:

• The steps your company can take to develop a corps of brand advocates – from identifying ambassadors, training them, developing a pilot program, and then launching your advocates on social media.
• How companies like IBM, Zappos, and Comcast are engaging their employees to burnish their brands and sell more products and services.
• How to develop a social media policy that works for your company.

If you would like a larger view, you can see the presentation on SlideShare.

There is still time to register for the free Social Media webinar being sponsored by HR.com. My talk, “Empower Employees as Brand Ambassadors on Social Media to Promote Your Products, Services and Brand” will take place on Friday, March 2, from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. ET. Here is my “booth” at the webinar. So clever (that is not me in the photo).  HR.com is a free membership site. Once you’re in you can also download my slides. Hope you can join the conversation.

Write Speak Sell booth