1. Pick a great hashtag – The hashtag ties your Twitter chat together. It should reflect the topic and be intuitive. Examples might be:  #poetry #crmchat or #seo411 – Here’s a list of over 150 chats, topics and the times they run at:  Twitter Chat Schedule.

2. Decide a format and schedule - Part of what makes a Twitter chat successful is that there is a consistent time that requires little reminder and also a format that’s easy to follow. There are a certain number of early adopters on Twitter that “get” how #chats work, but there are many, many more who don’t. They’ll see a sudden flurry of #chat handles in their friend’s Tweets and wonder what’s going on. Make it easy for the audience you’re after to join in and know when the next chat is happening. While there may be more, I’ve seen 2 formats standout.

• Free for all. This is where the chat is treated like a cocktail party and people start posting comments and questions and anyone that wants to, will reply. Its very much many to many and without the use of a tool like Tweetchat can be difficult to follow.

• Outside guests or experts.  If you start the chat, you’re the moderator. One of your duties if you choose the format of bringing in a guest is to find guests that your attendees respect and want to hear from. Prep the guest with how you run your chats in advance.  Use a template email or web page to communicate this. If your guest hasn’t participated in a chat before, they might need a little more guidance but once you’ve done one, the rest go pretty similarly.  Prep the guest with questions in advance so they have an idea of what the specific topic will be. This helps them provide better answers more efficiently.

Promote the guest and get the guest to promote the chat.  Tell the guest what your group responds well to and give examples if you can. This will provide some appreciated guidance for the guest and help give the group what they’re looking for.

3. Create a web page explaining your chat - While a Twitter @account for the chat is a good idea, it’s also a good idea to have a static web page somewhere that the Twitter account can link to. People should also be able to easily find the About #chat page through search engines, so get some other pages or chat members to link to it using the chat name. Explain what the purpose of the chat is, who the moderator(s) are, when the chat runs (including time zone), if the chats are archived and where, and make it easy for visitors to spread the good word about the chat by offering social sharing links/buttons.

This page can live on your blog, your web site or you can easily setup a page on posterous, wordpress or blogger.  If you want to explain more than what is reasonable on a Twitter page, a web page offers more room. A Blog, Facebook Fan page or LinkedIn group that explains the Twitter #chat can also be used and several #chats mentioned below do just that.

4. Recognize #chat participants -  Call out participants during the chat by retweeting interesting things they’ve posted. List all chat participants on the #chat web page. Offer a TweepML list of participants to make it easy for someone to follow everyone in one in a single click. You might also manage a Twitter list of past guests, another list for moderators and another list for most active participants. Possibly promote the Twitter list on services like Listorious. Besides ensuring quality questions, on-topic tweets and great guests, recognition is a powerful thing to do in order to grow a Twitter #chat group.

5. Archive the #chat - Saving the threads of discussion that occur during the chats can be very useful afterwards. This is especially true if you have a good guest and/or participants that come prepared. I like to have about 10-12 pre-written Tweets with links to useful resources prepared before the chat even starts. That way when people ask questions I can answer immediately. I’ve done this several times and it’s gone over pretty well. Look through the Twitter stream of the chat and archive the whole thing or just the most interesting threads into a web page. Archived Twitter chats are an excellent source of content for your blog. Over time, archived chats can be a very useful repository of information, attract links and create search traffic for your web site.

A few of my archived chats include:

• #socialmedia (SEO and Social Media)
• #blogchat (SEO for Blogs)
• AdWeekMedia Connect (Intersection of Search & Social Media)
• #twt20 (Search & Social Media)
• #MeasurePR (SEO and PR Measurement)

Now that I’ve shared a few tips that Twitter #chat editors or moderators should consider, here are some of the best marketing and PR #chats to check out:

• #blogchat – Run by @mackcollier, #blogchat is a long running chat that covers all aspects of blogging on Sunday nights from 8-9pm Central.  View transcripts and other info here.
• #journchat – Run by @prsaraevans,  #journchat is another long running weekly conversation (Mon 7-10pm Central) between journalists, bloggers and PR people.
• #pr20chat – Moderated by @PRtini and @JGoldsborough, #pr20chat is a weekly conversation (Tues 8PM EST) that focuses on public relations 2.0 topics.
• #socialmedia – @Marc_Meyer & @JasonBreed moderate the #socialmedia chat, which of course, is all about social media and occurs Tuesdays at 12 pm Noon EST. Each episode is also tagged with a number, such as #sm1 #sm2 etc. View the live stream here.
• #commschat – @AdamVincenzini & @EmilyCagle run this UK-based Twitter ‘communications’ chat #commschat Monday nights, 8pm (UK time) on traditional / social media, PR, journalism, blogging. See the Blog and FB page.
• #measurepr – Run by @shonali, #measurepr covers measurement topics within the public relations and social media industries that kicked off on February 2, 2010, and is held bi-weekly on Tuesdays from that date, from 12-1 pm ET.
• #prstudchat – Run by @dbreakenridge & @valeriesimon, the monthly #PRStudChat (I thought “stud” meant “manly” not “student” the first time I saw it) provides a platform for conversation between Public Relations Students, Educators and Professionals. See more on WTH.
• #imcchat – Moderated by @bethharte & @abarcelos, #IMCChat is a chat for all of those interested in Integrated Marketing Communications and runs every Wednesday night at 8pm ET.

What are your favorite Twitter chats for Marketing and Public Relations topics? What advice do you have for running or participating in a successful Twitter chat?

Besides the tips above, there are great posts on how to run and participate in Twitter chats on Mashable, from Mack Collier and here.

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TopRank]]> There are many tactics companies can implement as part of a smart Twitter Marketing strategy. Growing the initial following is important as is providing the budding community you’re building with something of value to keep coming back and to spread the good word to their networks. One such tactic that offers value and brings people together is the Twitter chat.  I’ve been involved with about 5 or 6 different Twitter chats as a guest and they are a unique experience. In this post I’ll share my observations about what seems to work, some logistics and a few examples of some well-run Twitter chats for the marketing and PR verticals.

1. Pick a great hashtag – The hashtag ties your Twitter chat together. It should reflect the topic and be intuitive. Examples might be:  #poetry #crmchat or #seo411 – Here’s a list of over 150 chats, topics and the times they run at:  Twitter Chat Schedule.

2. Decide a format and schedule - Part of what makes a Twitter chat successful is that there is a consistent time that requires little reminder and also a format that’s easy to follow. There are a certain number of early adopters on Twitter that “get” how #chats work, but there are many, many more who don’t. They’ll see a sudden flurry of #chat handles in their friend’s Tweets and wonder what’s going on. Make it easy for the audience you’re after to join in and know when the next chat is happening. While there may be more, I’ve seen 2 formats standout.

• Free for all. This is where the chat is treated like a cocktail party and people start posting comments and questions and anyone that wants to, will reply. Its very much many to many and without the use of a tool like Tweetchat can be difficult to follow.

• Outside guests or experts.  If you start the chat, you’re the moderator. One of your duties if you choose the format of bringing in a guest is to find guests that your attendees respect and want to hear from. Prep the guest with how you run your chats in advance.  Use a template email or web page to communicate this. If your guest hasn’t participated in a chat before, they might need a little more guidance but once you’ve done one, the rest go pretty similarly.  Prep the guest with questions in advance so they have an idea of what the specific topic will be. This helps them provide better answers more efficiently.

Promote the guest and get the guest to promote the chat.  Tell the guest what your group responds well to and give examples if you can. This will provide some appreciated guidance for the guest and help give the group what they’re looking for.

3. Create a web page explaining your chat - While a Twitter @account for the chat is a good idea, it’s also a good idea to have a static web page somewhere that the Twitter account can link to. People should also be able to easily find the About #chat page through search engines, so get some other pages or chat members to link to it using the chat name. Explain what the purpose of the chat is, who the moderator(s) are, when the chat runs (including time zone), if the chats are archived and where, and make it easy for visitors to spread the good word about the chat by offering social sharing links/buttons.

This page can live on your blog, your web site or you can easily setup a page on posterous, wordpress or blogger.  If you want to explain more than what is reasonable on a Twitter page, a web page offers more room. A Blog, Facebook Fan page or LinkedIn group that explains the Twitter #chat can also be used and several #chats mentioned below do just that.

4. Recognize #chat participants -  Call out participants during the chat by retweeting interesting things they’ve posted. List all chat participants on the #chat web page. Offer a TweepML list of participants to make it easy for someone to follow everyone in one in a single click. You might also manage a Twitter list of past guests, another list for moderators and another list for most active participants. Possibly promote the Twitter list on services like Listorious. Besides ensuring quality questions, on-topic tweets and great guests, recognition is a powerful thing to do in order to grow a Twitter #chat group.

5. Archive the #chat - Saving the threads of discussion that occur during the chats can be very useful afterwards. This is especially true if you have a good guest and/or participants that come prepared. I like to have about 10-12 pre-written Tweets with links to useful resources prepared before the chat even starts. That way when people ask questions I can answer immediately. I’ve done this several times and it’s gone over pretty well. Look through the Twitter stream of the chat and archive the whole thing or just the most interesting threads into a web page. Archived Twitter chats are an excellent source of content for your blog. Over time, archived chats can be a very useful repository of information, attract links and create search traffic for your web site.

A few of my archived chats include:

• #socialmedia (SEO and Social Media)
• #blogchat (SEO for Blogs)
• AdWeekMedia Connect (Intersection of Search & Social Media)
• #twt20 (Search & Social Media)
• #MeasurePR (SEO and PR Measurement)

Now that I’ve shared a few tips that Twitter #chat editors or moderators should consider, here are some of the best marketing and PR #chats to check out:

• #blogchat – Run by @mackcollier, #blogchat is a long running chat that covers all aspects of blogging on Sunday nights from 8-9pm Central.  View transcripts and other info here.
• #journchat – Run by @prsaraevans,  #journchat is another long running weekly conversation (Mon 7-10pm Central) between journalists, bloggers and PR people.
• #pr20chat – Moderated by @PRtini and @JGoldsborough, #pr20chat is a weekly conversation (Tues 8PM EST) that focuses on public relations 2.0 topics.
• #socialmedia – @Marc_Meyer & @JasonBreed moderate the #socialmedia chat, which of course, is all about social media and occurs Tuesdays at 12 pm Noon EST. Each episode is also tagged with a number, such as #sm1 #sm2 etc. View the live stream here.
• #commschat – @AdamVincenzini & @EmilyCagle run this UK-based Twitter ‘communications’ chat #commschat Monday nights, 8pm (UK time) on traditional / social media, PR, journalism, blogging. See the Blog and FB page.
• #measurepr – Run by @shonali, #measurepr covers measurement topics within the public relations and social media industries that kicked off on February 2, 2010, and is held bi-weekly on Tuesdays from that date, from 12-1 pm ET.
• #prstudchat – Run by @dbreakenridge & @valeriesimon, the monthly #PRStudChat (I thought “stud” meant “manly” not “student” the first time I saw it) provides a platform for conversation between Public Relations Students, Educators and Professionals. See more on WTH.
• #imcchat – Moderated by @bethharte & @abarcelos, #IMCChat is a chat for all of those interested in Integrated Marketing Communications and runs every Wednesday night at 8pm ET.

What are your favorite Twitter chats for Marketing and Public Relations topics? What advice do you have for running or participating in a successful Twitter chat?

Besides the tips above, there are great posts on how to run and participate in Twitter chats on Mashable, from Mack Collier and here.

nClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('Outgoing http://www.toprankmarketing.com/tips-new...ibe.php'); "> Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank]]> http://www.forum.chotoan.com/Thread-15-excellent-corporate-blogs-to-learn-from4617 Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:56:07 -0400 http://www.forum.chotoan.com/Thread-15-excellent-corporate-blogs-to-learn-from4617

What are the best Search Engine Marketing blogs to follow? Which are the most popular? The chart above from Feed Compare shows a comparison of the RSS feed subscriber counts published by Feedburner for: Google Webmaster Central (red), Search Engine Land (blue), Search Engine Watch (green) and our very own Online Marketing Blog (purple).

As evidence of how successful a well executed business blog can be, TopRank’s Blog has about as many RSS subscribers as top industry publication Search Engine Watch (37,517/37,028). It’s a great position for an agency to have that kind of reach and also to be able to bring first hand, successful business blogging expertise to our consulting clients.

Blogs covering the search engine marketing industry, including our own Online Marketing Blog, started popping up around 2003 and we’ve been covering SEM blogs pretty well with our BIGLIST of SEO Blogs for the past 3 years or so. One of the dimensions worth considering when deciding which blogs to subscribe to is the social proof of how many others have subscribed to a particular blog. There are other factors at play obviously, like topic, writing style, frequency and level of engagement by other readers, but SEM blogs have been around long enough for the good ones to attract a noticeable following.

Below is a list of blogs that cover Search Engine Marketing topics ranked according to how many RSS subscribers they have as of August 6th, 2010. It’s important to note that not all blogs run their feeds through Feedburner, nor do all blogs that run their feeds through Feedbuner enable the Feedcount option which makes the chicklet counters below possible. That said, it’s a pretty good list. If you want a much larger list to pick from, be sure to visit the Online Marketing Blog BIGLIST of SEO Blogs.

1. Google Webmaster Central
The official blog from Google that supports the resource center for webmasters.

2. Matt Cutts Blog
Google Web Spam team leader Matt Cutts’ personal blog which includes a mix of personal and Google content posts which can affect search marketers. Recently there’s such a mix of content topics that I almost didn’t include this blog in our list.

3. SEOmoz Blog
A staple for popular SEO advice for years that has experienced substantial growth, especially the past 3 years since we’ve been tracking RSS subscriber counts on SEO blogs.

4. Search Engine Land
One of the most cited, read and trusted sources of information on search engine marketing.

5. Online Marketing Blog
Started in 2003, TopRank Marketing’s blog has posted over 2,000 tips, interviews, conference liveblogging, videos, polls, book reviews and many other forms of content covering Search Marketing.

6. Search Engine Watch
An industry original, this blog has been a source of essential Search Marketing news, articles and insight for many of the most respected internet marketing professionals in the business.

7. Search Engine Journal
One of the oldest and most popular Search Marketing blogs on the web, SEJ is a goldmine of tips, opinion and news.

8. Search Engine Roundtable (Normal feed)
No other Search Marketing blog provides the unique perspective that SER does by rounding up important threads from Search Marketing forums, tracking news on search engines and is a pioneer of liveblogging SEM conferences.

9. Marketing Pilgrim

A must read for Search Marketing industry news, Andy Beal and crew deliver perspective and smarts you can’t always get elsewhere.

10. HubSpot
Source of the popular phrase, “inbound marketing”, this blog has become a source of practical search & Internet marketing information for tens of thousands of marketers world-wide.

Obviously there are many other blogs writing about search marketing like SEOBook and some might even have over 22k RSS subscribers, but they’re not pushing their RSS through Feedburner and/or not enabling the Feedcount feature. Therefore, those blogs are not on this list. I will note that the Search Engine Roundtable blog publishes more than one feed as do a few other blogs, but we’re picking the most popular feed for the purpose of this list and that’s the only one being counted.

One of the interesting things about this mix of blogs is the variance in their designs. It’s obvious that some blogs are doing a great job of slimming down their pages of images to increase page speed, which we’ve obviously completely ignored with posts like the one above. The addition of certain social sharing buttons is also more explicit on most blogs.

When looking for great resources to learn more about Search Engine Marketing, should you always go with the most popular blogs? Of course not. There are plenty of newer blogs putting out useful information. A mix of tenured blogs plus an effort to discover a few new blogs always makes sense in my book. That’s how I started the BIGLIST of SEO blogs, by reviewing new blogs to see what else was out there.

Which 10 Search Marketing blogs would make up your top ten list?

nClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('Outgoing http://www.toprankmarketing.com/tips-new...ibe.php'); "> Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank]]>

What are the best Search Engine Marketing blogs to follow? Which are the most popular? The chart above from Feed Compare shows a comparison of the RSS feed subscriber counts published by Feedburner for: Google Webmaster Central (red), Search Engine Land (blue), Search Engine Watch (green) and our very own Online Marketing Blog (purple).

As evidence of how successful a well executed business blog can be, TopRank’s Blog has about as many RSS subscribers as top industry publication Search Engine Watch (37,517/37,028). It’s a great position for an agency to have that kind of reach and also to be able to bring first hand, successful business blogging expertise to our consulting clients.

Blogs covering the search engine marketing industry, including our own Online Marketing Blog, started popping up around 2003 and we’ve been covering SEM blogs pretty well with our BIGLIST of SEO Blogs for the past 3 years or so. One of the dimensions worth considering when deciding which blogs to subscribe to is the social proof of how many others have subscribed to a particular blog. There are other factors at play obviously, like topic, writing style, frequency and level of engagement by other readers, but SEM blogs have been around long enough for the good ones to attract a noticeable following.

Below is a list of blogs that cover Search Engine Marketing topics ranked according to how many RSS subscribers they have as of August 6th, 2010. It’s important to note that not all blogs run their feeds through Feedburner, nor do all blogs that run their feeds through Feedbuner enable the Feedcount option which makes the chicklet counters below possible. That said, it’s a pretty good list. If you want a much larger list to pick from, be sure to visit the Online Marketing Blog BIGLIST of SEO Blogs.

1. Google Webmaster Central
The official blog from Google that supports the resource center for webmasters.

2. Matt Cutts Blog
Google Web Spam team leader Matt Cutts’ personal blog which includes a mix of personal and Google content posts which can affect search marketers. Recently there’s such a mix of content topics that I almost didn’t include this blog in our list.

3. SEOmoz Blog
A staple for popular SEO advice for years that has experienced substantial growth, especially the past 3 years since we’ve been tracking RSS subscriber counts on SEO blogs.

4. Search Engine Land
One of the most cited, read and trusted sources of information on search engine marketing.

5. Online Marketing Blog
Started in 2003, TopRank Marketing’s blog has posted over 2,000 tips, interviews, conference liveblogging, videos, polls, book reviews and many other forms of content covering Search Marketing.

6. Search Engine Watch
An industry original, this blog has been a source of essential Search Marketing news, articles and insight for many of the most respected internet marketing professionals in the business.

7. Search Engine Journal
One of the oldest and most popular Search Marketing blogs on the web, SEJ is a goldmine of tips, opinion and news.

8. Search Engine Roundtable (Normal feed)
No other Search Marketing blog provides the unique perspective that SER does by rounding up important threads from Search Marketing forums, tracking news on search engines and is a pioneer of liveblogging SEM conferences.

9. Marketing Pilgrim

A must read for Search Marketing industry news, Andy Beal and crew deliver perspective and smarts you can’t always get elsewhere.

10. HubSpot
Source of the popular phrase, “inbound marketing”, this blog has become a source of practical search & Internet marketing information for tens of thousands of marketers world-wide.

Obviously there are many other blogs writing about search marketing like SEOBook and some might even have over 22k RSS subscribers, but they’re not pushing their RSS through Feedburner and/or not enabling the Feedcount feature. Therefore, those blogs are not on this list. I will note that the Search Engine Roundtable blog publishes more than one feed as do a few other blogs, but we’re picking the most popular feed for the purpose of this list and that’s the only one being counted.

One of the interesting things about this mix of blogs is the variance in their designs. It’s obvious that some blogs are doing a great job of slimming down their pages of images to increase page speed, which we’ve obviously completely ignored with posts like the one above. The addition of certain social sharing buttons is also more explicit on most blogs.

When looking for great resources to learn more about Search Engine Marketing, should you always go with the most popular blogs? Of course not. There are plenty of newer blogs putting out useful information. A mix of tenured blogs plus an effort to discover a few new blogs always makes sense in my book. That’s how I started the BIGLIST of SEO blogs, by reviewing new blogs to see what else was out there.

Which 10 Search Marketing blogs would make up your top ten list?

nClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('Outgoing http://www.toprankmarketing.com/tips-new...ibe.php'); "> Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank]]> http://www.forum.chotoan.com/Thread-10-free-and-fun-twitter-bird-icons-for-your-website4425 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:28:28 -0400 http://www.forum.chotoan.com/Thread-10-free-and-fun-twitter-bird-icons-for-your-website4425