The New Marketing Glossary

Today I'll briefly go over some definitions of terms a lot of you have been asking about. Then I'll go over what to expect from next week. Remember, this newsletter is here to help you, so communicate your concerns or questions. Email me at bruce@intouchmediagroup.com with questions or suggestions.

I have been getting a lot of questions from consultants and publicists about blogging and RSS. Next week we will delve more deeply into these technologies. But first, I think we need to define them. Bloggers are quickly developing their own language and I hope to clear it up for you here.

BLOG
Short for "web log". A blog is more like a journal than a website. What makes a blog a blog is continuous updates, casual writing style, easy archiving and organization of posts, and the ability to syndicate content via RSS (Really Simple Syndication). Some blogs also enable COMMENTS and TRACKBACKS (which we will get to in a moment).

RSS
RSS stand for Really Simple Syndication. It is built on top of a technology called XML. Basically blogs are formatted to have design and content separated. Meaning that while you see a blog rendered much like a website with graphics, text, and other goodies, in the background the CONTENT and DESIGN elements are being pulled from two different places. That way, they can be easily separated without hassle. RSS takes just the content and puts it in a standard simple format. There are tools called RSS Readers or Feed Readers that can take RSS from a site and display it. The power of this is simple: instead of visiting my favorite blogs to check if there is new content, I simply subscribe to the RSS Feed in my reader. Now when I open up my reader (I use netvibes) all the new content from my favorite blogs is syndicated to me automatically.

CORPORATE BLOGGER
There are blogs covering all sorts of topics from all sorts of people from all over the world. But 2005 was the rise of the "corporate blogger". These are professionals that cover, much like journalists or editors, their industry. They are very well versed in their field and usually pretty tech savvy as well. The reason the corporate blogger has become so popular is because it raises trust in the public for their brand or company. They are real people, with real ideas, that have blogs with real typos and real opinions. You can think of these blogs as clear windows into the company. The refreshing honesty, and insight, of the corporate blogger is the main reason for the buzz behind blogs right now. Plus blogs are an excellent, and usually free, marketing and PR tool.

COMMENTS
One of the most powerful things that occur when blogging is "the conversation". Blogging not only allows easy publishing for the bloggers, but easy interaction with their audience through commenting. Most bloggers allow comments on their page. As a reader, you can read a blog and comment on certain posts. Sometime you can have many comments under one post and now there is a "conversation" going on the topic. There are many instances where the blogger interacts with the commenters in the comment section as well.

TRACKBACKS
Trackbacks are similar to comments in that they help encourage and track the "conversation". Trackbacks are for other bloggers who are putting in their two cents, but not through comments...through their own blogs instead! Most bloggging software allows you ping, or trackback, to other posts on someone else's blog. If I read a post on Bob's blog there are two ways I can join the conversation. First, if I only have a quick blurb or suggestion or comments I can leave a comment on his post within his blog. But if I had a lot to say, or if I myself was already covering this topic on my blog, I could send a trackback to his post from mine and connect them. You can view trackbacks to a post and see what other bloggers are saying on their blogs about this same subject. Think of it as a "remote comment".

Next week we will talk more about blogging and how to start engaging the blogoshpere, your customers, potential prospects, and how to join the conversation.

Also, don't forget about MarketingPULSE, our new marketing news site. You can submit news, articles, and advice from anywhere and have the community vote on the best news. MarketingPULSE is the easy way to find the hottest news on SEO, SEM, PR, and Marketing.

Comments

[Ellie]

I've been trying to UNsubscribe and it keeps saying "thank you for subscribing..."
Take me OUT of MAILING list, I DO NOT want to receive your ads in my mail box.

[Blair Kaski]

PLEASE UNSUBSCRIBE ME!
THANKS

[Gord]

I don't want to subscribe I want to UNSCRIBE. Can you understand that?????

[Annerose]

I thank you for your comment.

[Advertise]

I think it's good info...

[bmyxhkw ryfinpxla]

xadspyho misbakrg gcltdm jmyditezg bowexjq eslkqv reyqhcs