The Ten (not quite) Commandments of Marketing With Business Blogs and New Media - Part 4 » Advanced Business Blogging… A New Media Marketing Expose’

In part three of this New Media Marketing series we looked at three more ‘not quite’ Commandments of marketing with business blogs, podcasts, social networks, and any other type of participatory media.

They were:

In this article we’ll wrap up the series with the final two guiding principles for successfully marketing with “new media.” Where most of the commandments are focused on people, participation, and persuasion (the Genesis to the Secrets of Online Persuasion,) these final two Commandments are more “practical” in nature similar to Commandment #8.

#9. Thou shalt encourage participation on individual pages

Some of this is already built into blogging software, through commenting and trackbacks that encourage participation. Commenting and trackbacks should be prominent at the bottom of all of your posts or articles.

You can even add plug-ins such as a convenient button to click that will send your article as an e-mail to the participant’s friends.

Not everyone is up to speed on RSS, nor understands how a blog works, so you don’t want to make it difficult for people who are new to the New Media. Make it easy to generate a printer-friendly page or send an article to a friend via e-mail. Having an email subscription option is also critical since most people are already familiar with that delivery channel. Regular email contact can allow you to slowly encourage participation and dialog.

#10. Thou shalt test and track often

Testing: Don’t assume that what you are writing about is what people are interested in – at least not in the words you are using.

You’ve done all your research correctly with your target audience; you’re talking about the right topics – but, if the keywords you’re using are not triggering anyone’s interest or being used in open Internet searches, you’ll catch fewer people’s attention than you could if you scientifically test your results.

You can maximize buzz when you use words that your target audience uses in everyday conversation. Once again, we’re right back to the importance of communicating and connecting with your audience and clients.

To get feedback, you can post popularity surveys and use different words to describe the same topic and see what people choose.

It doesn’t matter if only several dozen people respond to such a survey. That’s better than assuming that you know what words are good trigger words for your audience. You may know your target audience’s wants, needs, and desires, but you might not be using the right trigger words.

You can test different headlines on a similar topic and then track your server logs. Which headline is drawing the most traffic in terms of your posts?

Tracking: Tracking is another way to see what words and topics are generating the most interest related to your product.

You want to monitor and track through your server logs and/or traffic analysis software. You also want to track your links when you’re linking out, whether it’s in a post or it’s in a sidebar or a special promotion. You need to be tracking those links out of your blog, back to your sales page or to your Web site, to make sure you know what’s working.

Wrapping it all up

As we close out this four part series, remember that the goal in applying these 10 ‘not quite’ Commandments of New-Media Marketing is to make sales. All but the final two are focused on people, participation, and persuasion. These three P’s are the core for all Secrets of Online Persuasion.

Each of these Commandments we’ve shared are pivotal to your online marketing and sales success. In this marketplace of the New Millennium, your ultimate business success is determined by your ability to influence and persuade. Take steps now to learn your natural communication style so your can manage and optimize your own performance. Then with that understanding, adjust to balance your style in your marketing, and adapt to adapt to connect and build rapport for nearly effortless sales.

Copyright © RPM Success Group Inc. 2002-2006. All full copyright rights are reserved by RPM Success Group inc. Other bloggers and journalists are allowed to excerpt and link to posts (as is common with bloggers,) as full credit/attribution is given to AdvancedBusinessBlogging.com and RPM Success Group Inc.

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John-Paul is a published author (Secrets of Online Persuasion, Morgan James Publishing/Ingram, Fall 2006) and weekly columnist for the Honolulu Star Bulletin. He is a New Media Marketing Consultant working with business owners and politicians to leverage online influence and persuasion for more clients, more profits, and more votes. He and his partner have developed a simple scientific code for maximizing personal performance and influence online and off-line. You can reach J.P. directly via [communicationcommando@gmail.com].