This presentation was give to the MN Women in Communication organization on April 19, 2007. The presentation is focused for an audience that is not yet familiar with all of the context around blogging and podcasting and the presentation sets the context and then goes into explaining considerations and how to get started.

1. RSS, Blogging and
Podcasting
Opportunities to connect
people in new ways.
1

2. The Big Idea: Communicating with Your Customers
• Engage in the conversation:
There is no substitute for a genuine focus on customers. Give them a chance to hear about your business or
aspects of it and allow them and even invite them to respond. If they are engaged with you in a human to human
manner, they will want to support your business.
• Indirect Marketing:
Provide value to listeners, readers or watchers. Let them experience the value you can bring as an individual or
business through the content. You can market yourself and build a community around your business. Your
customers are already a community, reaching out in this way allows you to have more interaction with them and
potential new customers.
• A Silent Sales Force:
Adds tools with a global reach to your sales toolkit. If customers like the content, they will refer friends. It’s word
of mouth with a global reach.
2

3. What I’m Going To Talk About Today
•Stepping Back •Let’s Talk
Blogging
A Bigger Context
How the social media explosion has enabled people to use tools
like blogs and podcasts to connect with people and share
information in new ways.
Who, Why, How
A breakdown of who blogs, why you should join the conversation
and how to get started.
•But What If
•Step It Up With
Something Bad
Podcasting
Happens The Podcast
Risks Things to consider before getting started and resources to get you
It’s good to look at all angles of this before jumping in with both
there.
feet.....
•Publishing •Resources
A Bigger Context More on all of this
I’ve heard the term, but I don’t know what the relevance of RSS is Books and links to help you get more information and get started
to me. with your blog or podcast.
3

4. Stepping Back
A Bigger Context
How the social media
explosion has enabled
people to use tools like
blogs and podcasts to
connect with people and
share information in new
ways.
4

5. A Bigger Context
• Social Media Explosion
• YouTube (video sharing) Flickr (photo sharing) LinkedIn (my space for adults, etc.)
• Sharing specific sets of information with chosen groups of people or the public in general is easy
• Simple distribution, lots of reasons to ‘connect’
5

6. A Bigger Context
Web 2.0
Companies
• Companies popping up all over the
place in this new market.
• Having a presence is important.
• A perfect storm
• Technology
• Culture
• Shared Values
• Sharing
• Open
• Networked
6

7. A Bigger Context-How It’s Affecting Business
• Books that help to frame the emergence of connecting.
• ClueTrain Manifesto came out with radical ideas about how
companies needed to engage in conversation with
customers.
• Technology enabled conversations
• Markets are conversations
• What Blogs and Podcasts do enable
• Blogs are easy to set up.
• Blogs allow conversations (when comments are on)
• Conversations happen with or without the blog
• Be part of the conversation
• Naked Conversations
• started as a blog and became a book.
• builds on ClueTrain and shows through a series of interviews how blogs can
change the way you talk to your customers.
7

8. Convergence
• Technology Enables New Opportunities to Engage With
Customers
• Business Must Evolve to Meet Customer Expectations
• Sounds great, what’s the downside?
?
8

9. But What If
Something Bad
Happens
Risks
It’s good to look at all
angles of this before
jumping in with both
feet.....
9

10. Before I Start...What about the FUD Factor?
• What if people are negative? Won’t I give away my biggest secrets? How will
we pay for this, is it worth it? Won’t I give my competitors an advantage? What
about disgruntled employees saying bad things in public?
• Here’s what the CEO of Sun Microsystems says:
Blog Post on March 28, 2007:
I Don't Believe in Walled Gardens
from Jonathan Schwartz's Weblog by Jonathan Schwartz
(For those interested in Sun's organization charts (which are, in effect, an expression of my priorities), what's below is the message I sent to all of Sun
earlier today. Keeping everyone up to speed on where we're headed is a big part of my job (I'd argue, one of my biggest) - so if you're interested in
such things, read on. (And yes, I thought about simply posting this on my blog this morning - but I didn't want folks inside Sun finding out about an
organizational change via an external source - thus, the courtesy of an internal email first.)
______________________________________
To: All of Sun
From: Jonathan Schwartz
Subject: Announcing a new business, and a new leader (or two)
I announced a few organizational changes this morning, and I want to be sure everyone hears directly from me about my motivations and
expectations.
As you know, we've opened a world of opportunity by ensuring Solaris is available on Dell, HP and IBM hardware. We can now talk to what were
traditionally non-Sun customers. Similarly, our moves to build an x64 systems business, and bring Linux to the SPARC platform, have made us
relevant to non-Solaris customers. As of today, I'm seeking to repeat that effect with our Microelectronics, or silicon investments. I'd like to see our
chip business grow beyond Sun's own systems, and more broadly in the marketplace..................................
10

11. Before I Start...What about the FUD Factor?
• What if people are negative? Won’t I give away my biggest secrets? How will
we pay for this, is it worth it? Won’t I give my competitors an advantage? What
about disgruntled employees saying bad things in public?
• If an organization is open, addressing these things publicly might not be such a
negative thing.
• Negative feedback: This is good. You can identify the problem and
fix it.
Giving away biggest secrets: Be smart and tell your employees to
be smart in their communication too.
Paying for this? Don’t force the activity, some people will want to
do it and it will fee natural, others will not be interested.
Competitors and advantage: Starting the conversation is better. Be
active and engage with your competition.
Disgruntled employees: What you put on the Internet stays around.
If an employee is negative, they may have relevant feedback. To
date, occurrences of this have been so minimal that the numbers of
those incidences are considered insignificant.
11

12. Before I Start...How Sun has faced the FUD
• What if people are negative? Won’t I give away my biggest secrets? How will
we pay for this, is it worth it? Won’t I give my competitors an advantage? What
about disgruntled employees saying bad things in public?
• Trust, Common Sense, Freedom
• Here’s how Sun Microsystems has dealt with
some of these situations:
• People were negative but they were respectful: Jonathan apologized to a startup.
• Giving away biggest secrets: Shared official Sun internal email with the world
• Paying for this? 10% of the workforce blogs at Sun. They blog because they enjoy it. Some of it is very useful to the business but it
is also a great opportunity for an employee.
• Competitors and advantage: Sun may have an advantage as they started this several years ago. The competition has been getting
involved in this space but does not have the same level of participation. That many more conversations are happening with Sun
employees and who knows what that could bring to the business over time.
• What about disgruntled employees: This hasn’t really happened. In fact, when there were some layoffs last year, the invitation was
extended to them to continue blogging on a Sun blog property. A site was created just for that at community.sun.com
12

13. Before I Start...How Open?
• April Edition of Wired Magazine
calls it ‘Radical Transparency’.
• “Google is not a search
Engine. It’s a reputation
management system. By
enhancing transparency
companies can manage their
images as never before.”
• You can’t hide anything
anymore anyway.
• You can’t go ‘open’ halfway.
13

14. Before I Start...Can’t Keep A Secret Anyway...
• Recent Examples of Secrets
being exposed
• Sony embedding spyware
rootkit on CDs that made
computer’s that played the
CDs vulunerable
• Microsoft paying people to
buff up their wikipedia entry
• Diebold voting machine
being shown to be vulnerable
by a college professor
(300,000 YouTube views)
14

15. Transparency - A Proactive Response
• Examples of Transparency
Conversations are happening. It is better as a business to be involved in that conversation than to be
separate from it.
• Amazon product ratings.
The customers participate in telling the story about the product. This is a much more trusted network of
writers than any marketing material could ever be. It is authentic and that is what people want to know
before they buy.
Ebay
Value comes from the transparency of the community. If someone sold something and didn’t deliver, you
can see it on the site.
JetBlue and YouTube
Microsoft’s Channel9
Sun Microsystems CEO and almost 10% of Sun’s workforce voluntarily blog at blogs.sun.com/jonathan
and blogs.sun.com
15

16. Considerations
•How Open Am I/How Open
is My Business?
•What am I comfortable
sharing? Where are the
lines?
•I’m ready for this, let’s get
started....
16

17. Publishing
What is RSS?
I’ve heard the term, but I
don’t know what the
relevance of RSS is to me.
17

18. What is RSS?
• RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication
• RSS is a delivery mechanism
• RSS can be received in different ways
applications
browsers
email
phones (SMS)
network devices
more......
18

19. RSS stands for really simple syndication
• But what does that mean?
• Blogging-delivered via RSS (Feeds)
• Podcasting-delivered via RSS (Feeds)
• Enables ‘Come to Me Web’
http://www.personalinfocloud.com/2006/01/the_come_to_me_.html
• The content comes to the person instead of the person visiting the web site.
It’s much more focused on the person. In the future, RSS feeds could be
targeted based on location of the individual.
• Delivering an RSS feed essentially means you are becoming a publisher.
19

20. RSS: Message sent, but how is it received?
• RSS Readers
• Desktop Applications
Netnewswire
Feedreader:
http://www.feedreader.com/
Feedreader
20

21. RSS: Message sent, but how is it received?
• RSS Readers
• Online
Applications
Google Reader
Bloglines.com
my.yahoo.com
Google
Reader
21

22. RSS: Message sent, but how is it received?
• RSS Readers
• Browsers
Flock
Firefox plugin: Sage
http://sage.mozdev.org/
Flock
22

23. RSS: Message sent, but how is it received?
• RSS Readers
• Network Devices
23

24. Let’s Talk Blogging
Who, Why, How
A breakdown of who blogs,
why you should join the
conversation and how to get
started.
24

25. Who?---141 Million Americans Online
• Internet Activities:
• http://www.pewinternet.org/trends/Internet_Activities_1.11.07.htm
•39 % Read someone else!s online journal,
web log or blog (January 2006)
•8 % Create or work on your own online
journal or weblog (February-April 2006)
•12 % Download a podcast so you can listen
to it or view it at a later time (August 2006)
• Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Tracking Surveys, November – December 2005 and February –
April 2006. For sample based on bloggers, N=308. Margin of error is ±7%. For sample based on internet
users, n=4,753, margin of error is ±2%.
25

26. Who Are The Bloggers
• Bloggers: Summary of Findings at a Glance
• New voices to the online world.
• Only 11% of bloggers say they focus mainly on government
or politics.
• Young, evenly split between women and men, and racially
diverse.
• Relatively small groups of bloggers view blogging as a public
endeavor.
• Creative expression and sharing personal experiences two
main reasons to blog.
• Only one-third of bloggers see blogging as a form of
journalism. Yet many check facts and cite original sources.
• Bloggers are avid consumers and creators of online content.
• Bloggers are heavy users of the internet in general.
• Bloggers are major consumers of political news.
• About half of the bloggers that consume political news prefer
sources without a particular political viewpoint.
• Bloggers often utilize community and readership-enhancing
features available on their blogs.
• Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Tracking Surveys, November – December 2005 and February – April 2006. For sample based on
bloggers, N=308. Margin of error is ±7%. For sample based on internet users, n=4,753, margin of error is ±2%.
26

27. Blogs
• Starting A Blog
• What is the Focus?
• What Should I Consider
Ahead of Time?
• how much to say, when
to say it, what i will and
won’t reveal, where are
my lines, etc.
• Who is my Audience?
27

28. Blogs
• Where to Get Started
TypePad: http://www.sixapart.com/typepad/index
WordPress: http://wordpress.com/
Blogger: http://www.blogger.com/start
• It’s about Conversations-leave
comments on
• Write regularly. You might not need
a tight publishing schedule (every
morning at 9:30 am CST) but you
should not write so infrequently
that the conversation becomes
anemic.
28

29. Blogging Success Stories
• Using Delivery Vehicles for
Business Success
Conversations are happening. It is
better as a business to be involved in
that conversation than to be separate
from it.
• Microsoft Changed Perceptions -
Moved the Compass
• Thomas Mahon, Saville Row Tailor
Blogging about his love of his craft
brought him success
29

30. Step It Up With
Podcasting
The Podcast
Things to
consider before
getting started
and resources to
get you there.
30

31. Podcasts
• Any audio recording can become a
podcast.
A note of consideration as to why a blog might be
more successful than a podcast:
Usability
Text is scannable
Text is faster and easier to consumer
Searchability
Text based content
• Ways to help
Make the podcast scannable. Break the podcast into chapters to easily locate information. (Think DVD
chapters in a movie)
Let people read the transcript if they don’t want to listen. Someone can get the information they require either
way. You should enable either method.
Add text to your podcast. Include the actual text of the transcript if possible but at a minimum include keyword
meta data.
31

32. Didn’t Starbucks try this and Fail?
• Why It Didn’t Work
• Too corporate
• Too boring
• Too much like an infomercial
• Why It Could Work
• Real Stories
• Baristas, (employees) tell stories about the store, the customers, the regulars
• Customers, what have they seen happen there and on the street outside while
people watching, what has happened to them while being there
• Talk to coffee conisseurs. Coffee has as much history and variety as wine, people
like to learn about these things from experts.
32

33. Podcast-Getting Started
• Know your audience & let them interact with you and your content
• Guest spots
• Allow comments
• Stay Engaged over time
• Be Prepared
• Use a script-flow, tell a good story, tell them what you are going to talk about, be
passionate, be personal (don't sound canned or artificial), if you are interviewing-ask
leading questions, etc.
• Do an intro: include who you are, what is the podcast, pre-announce, thank the
audience, tell them what's up for the next podcast
• Casting-bring in interesting and relevant people, theme songs are a good idea-it
warms people up, they are used to receiving content that way, be careful of
copyright, podsafe music, myspace pages-usually just ask, use an outro as well
• Good Equipment
• Pre-amplify (mic signals are low, they need amplification)
• Edit Well
33

34. Resources
More on all of this
Books and links to
help you get more
information and get
started with your blog
or podcast.
34

35. Resources
• Marketing & Measurement & Research
If you get customers talking to each other and to you, that’s an opportunity filled first
step.
• Word Of Mouth
Link to other blogs, comment on other blogs, participate in the blogosphere and get your blog known
• Technorati
Currently tracking 75.2 million blogs
Where’s the Fire
• Feedburner
Media distribution and audience engagement services
Helps bloggers promote, delivery and learn how to monetize content
• BlogPulse
Automated trend discovery system for blogs.
• Pew Internet & American Life Project
http://www.pewinternet.org/index.asp
35

36. Resources
• Books
• The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki
• The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual by Christopher Locke, Rick
Levine, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger
• Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with
Customers by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel
• The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom
36

37. Resources
• RSS
• Wikipedia Entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format)
• What is a Feed?
http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/feed101
• More on Feeds
http://www.sixapart.com/about/feeds
• Yahoo’s RSS publisher guide:
http://publisher.yahoo.com/rssguide
• Nitty Gritty Techie Details:
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2175271
37

38. Resources
• Blogs
• Wikipedia Entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogs
• Sun Microsystem’s online blogging policy
http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/media/blogs/policy.html
• Starting A Blog
How To Start A Blog from Phil Windley of ITConversations:
http://www.windley.com/essays/2004/how_to_start_a_blog
• Online Blogging Policy from Working Smart:
http://michaelhyatt.blogs.com/workingsmart/2005/03/corporate_blogg.html
• How To Start a Blog from Michael Hyatt of Working Smart:
http://michaelhyatt.blogs.com/workingsmart/2005/04/how_to_start_a_.html
38

39. Resources-Podcasts, Business
Resources
• Wikipedia Entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting
• Podcasts for entrepeneurs from Wall Street Journal
http://startup.wsj.com
• Podonomics
http://podonomics.com/ from Leesa Barnes, Business Podcasting Expert and
President, Caprica Interactive Marketing
• Blogburst
Brings publishers and media companies together to provide relevant content for blog
reading audience.
http://www.pluck.com/products/blogburst.html
• Article: David Armano: It!s The Conversation Economy, Stupid
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/apr2007/id20070409_372598.htm
39

40. Resources-Podcasts, Directories
• Directories
• PodcastingNews.com
• PodcastAlley.com
• PodShow.com
• Podtech.net
• ITConversations.com
• ITunes
40

41. Questions & Thank You
• Jennifer Bohmbach
Contact Info
http://www.theimagelab.com
Reference Web Sites & Blogs
http://www.sun.com
http://blogs.sun.com/evoljennifer
http://blogs.sun.com/c2
Slides
http://www.theimagelab.com/presentations.html
41