My friends at Postrank unveiled yet another cool public tool this week. Postrank Labs now allows you to compare and contrast three separate websites based on their engagement scores. Consider it kind of a Compete.com view of a given blog or website’s engagement rather than traffic.

Something I noticed about Labs was that it also delineated out five subdomains within each website and scored their respective engagement score. This was the first I’d ever seen someone have the ability to determine differences between subdomains. Certainly, the information is there and accessible somehow (otherwise Postrank wouldn’t have it), but I’d not seen it yet.

I’m sure some techy is going to make fun of me for not tapping into publicly available API data and cross-grid hexing some morpheous node to flip on the sphincter, but I don’t know how to do that, so put a sock in it and get back to your World of Warcraft, dork.

The division and comparison of subdomains is interesting, even exciting, because it gives public relations professionals, marketers and anyone else trying to determine which blogs are more important, impactful or influential the ability to do so within Wordpress.com, Blogspot.com (Blogger.com) and Typepad.com blogs. If a blog is run from one of those services and is “hosted” or contained within the Wordpress.com servers, for example, it appears as blogname.wordpress.com. When you typically run traffic or engagement reports on the domain, you get results for everything on Wordpress.com which is essentially useless.

Being the general pain in the ass I can be, I asked Carol Leaman, Postrank’s lovely (and patient) CEO, if I might get my hands on the sub-domain data for the three services mentioned. She gave me that and then some. (So much so that I can’t possibly cover it in this post. Hint.)

Without further ado, here’s a listing of the top 10 blogs, based on cumulative Postrank engagement scores (look here to learn what that encompasses) for the last three months, of each of the three major blogging subdomains. To access more of the lists, you or your developer (provided they aren’t tied up with Lord of the Rings … heh) can apply for and access that data through Postrank’s API.

Rank	Blogger.com	Score	Author	Topic
1	althouse.blogspot.com	583664	Ann Althouse	Legal
2	stacievaughansblog.blogspot.com	462474	Stacie Vaughan	Product Reviews
3	globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com	371812	Mike Shedlock	Investments
4	press-gr.blogspot.com	329717	Tolis Voskopoulos	Greek Politics
5	shakespearessister.blogspot.com	298527	Melissa McEwan	Politics/Pop Culture
6	claycord.blogspot.com	288925	Mayor of Claycord	Contra Costa Co. News
7	googleblog.blogspot.com	285463	Google Staff	Official Google Blog
8	theimmoralminority.blogspot.com	284178	Gryphen	Politics
9	sbynews.blogspot.com	271342	Joe Albero	Salisbury (Md.) News
10	spoilerslost.blogspot.com	264054	Dark UFO	Lost/TV/Pop Culture
Rank	Wordpress.com	Score	Author	Topic
1	citizenwells.wordpress.com	206361	Citizen Wells	Legal/Current Events
2	riverdaughter.wordpress.com	171672	RD	Politics/Current Events
3	rebloggingns.wordpress.com	166652	Reblogging Staff	Pop Culture/Gay Issues
4	aculturedleftfoot.wordpress.com	166082	Yogi’s Warrior	Arsenal Football Club (Soccer)
5	educar.wordpress.com	137065	Paulo Guinote	Portuguese Education
6	ahestan.wordpress.com	111565	Omid Hosaini	Middle Eastern Issues
7	tennisplanet.wordpress.com	85610	Tennis Planet staff	Tennis
8	theophylepoliteia.wordpress.com	83526	Not Determined	Romanian Politics/Society
9	panosz.wordpress.com	80576	Panos	Greek Politics
10	pequenosdelitos.wordpress.com	77266	PD	Portuguese Adult/Pornography
Rank	Typepad.com	Score	Author	Topic
1	sethgodin.typepad.com	274481	Seth Godin	Marketing
2	economistsview.typepad.com	179591	Mark Thoma	Economics
3	justoneminute.typepad.com	140983	Tom MacQuire	Politics
4	daryllorettecafe.typepad.com	118310	Daryl Lorette	Personal Blog/Issues
5	failedmessiah.typepad.com	93754	Shmarya Rosenberg	Orthodox Judaism
6	timesonline.typepad.com	93562	Daniel Finkelstein	London Times Columnist
7	atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com	85972	Pamela Geller	Politics/Religion
8	delong.typepad.com	69298	Bradford DeLong	Economics
9	illinoisreview.typepad.com	61757	Dennis LaComb	Conservative Politics
10	wilwheaton.typepad.com	59339	Wil Wheaton	Celebrity Blog/Writing

I found the lists interesting and have some thoughts that might bubble up, but I’m more interested in hearing your reactions. What do you think of the top blogs in each platform. Any surprises? Any anomalies? The comments are yours.

NOTE: Some of the blogs contain content that might be offensive or unsuitable for your tastes. Click through at your own risk.

There’s always a crowd gathered outside the front door of the Louisville Free Public Library’s main branch in the morning. Doors open at 9 a.m. but the regulars show up long before. Some talk, some read, some listen to music. A few who have forged friendships laugh about the latest developments in professional wrestling or the NBA playoffs.

Most of the people waiting are anxious to grab a good seat in the computer lab available to anyone who walks through the door. Some want to get online and check their email, send resumes and search for jobs. Others are taking online courses to better themselves. A few are immigrants using the free access to apply for citizenship, learn English online or even navigate the State of Kentucky’s website to figure out how to start their own business.

I waited with the crowd recently just to take in the patron perspective. I recently accepted an invitation to serve on the Board of Directors of the Library Foundation and had a 9 a.m. meeting with the Foundation staff, so I waited outside like everyone else.

At precisely 9 a.m., James, a long-time security guard and library fixture, walked through the inner doors and began unlocking the series of exterior ones. Friendly, but firm, he asked everyone to wait until he got the full set of doors unlocked before coming in. Sometimes anxious computer users make mad dashes to get the right machine or their preferred station. James knows a more orderly entry will prevent folks from getting hurt … or mad.

As we began to filter in to the main lobby area between the doors and the front desk, James recited a welcome to the patrons. He said:

“Welcome to the Louisville Free Public Library. We’ve got books, periodicals, computers and more. And here, everybody’s welcome.”

He didn’t say it to anyone in particular, but to everyone in particular all at once. In many ways, James is all the community manager the library needs. He opens the door, welcomes everyone and hangs around in case you need something.

Who is your James?

Want to learn more about social media? Come join me noon-3 p.m. Saturday, June 5, at New Thought Unity Center in East Walnut Hills, near downtown Cincinnati.  Cost: A “love offering” to the center.

I plan give an overview of the basics of blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social networking sites. Then, I’ll help newbies get started and offer ways for experienced social media enthusiasts to enhance their online experience.

I plan to share what I’ve learned first-hand in my job, profession and personal life, as will my wife, Tami, who does the www.miraclesurvivors.com blog.

Social media has made a huge difference in our lives. We look forward to sharing what we’ve learned. Should be fun!

Within the past several months, I’ve gotten questions from people in related fields such as marketing, training and Web development about getting media coverage.

They want to draw attendees to an event, get people to buy their book, or generate more clients for their business.

I haven’t had to ask them questions about the newsworthiness of their event, book or business. When they describe them, I can tell there is a news hook — a unique angle that could get them some coverage. Something a media outlet’s readers or viewers would appreciate.

In some cases, I’ve given them suggestions about newspaper, Internet, TV or radio reporters who cover their area. I’ve suggested that they e-mail a brief pitch with a link to further information. Or maybe I’ve told them to look up e-mail addresses on websites of media outlets in their city – and follow-up with an e-mail.

They can’t believe it’s that simple!

Well, it isn’t.

The hard part comes in building positive working relationships the people at the end of those e-mail addresses.  They’re busy people who are bombarded with dozens of e-mails and calls (and snail mail) each day.

Each has particular needs and preferences. They have a specific time that’s best to reach them. Some want loads of pertinent stats; others compelling visual. Some would love to tour your place, or meet up at a trade show. Others like Webinars.

You need to read their articles and watch their broadcasts. You cultivate good relationships by providing good customer service. You build a track record over time.

But doesn’t have to take forever, especially if you’ve got a PR person or team to give you some tips.

In my first PR job after 12 years in journalism,we got lots of positive coverage for our software company in the computer trade press by getting editorial calendars from them — and striving to meet their needs.

Some wanted to talk to a techie. Most wanted customers who had used the product to solve a problem. We worked hard — sometimes pulling executives out of important meetings so a writer could meet a deadline — and sweet talking customers to take time to do phone interviews. We kept track of every media pitch (call, e-mail, mail, meeting at trade show) in a database to show how hard we were working — and give us leverage when an executive wouldn’t want to leave a meeting to talk with a reporter. We also used this to show how the executive’s time was well-spent, resulting in a front-page cover or placement in a national publication that reached a new target audience.

I made a point of connecting face-to-face at trade shows in San Francisco, Boston and Dallas. Some went to lunch with a marketing manager and me. They saw me as a person, a former journalist, instead of one of the pack of PR folks filling their e-mail boxes.

That’s how you get media coverage.

Hope this was helpful! I’d be interested in your thoughts, experiences…

Note: In another of our periodic visits to various public relations firms and agencies, I asked Don Bartholomew, vice president, digital research at Fleishman Hillard, to share some of his thoughts, and his firm’s approach to measuring social media and public relations. Fleishman has a different way of looking at metrics for communications and makes a pretty interesting argument for their points. This post is a look behind the Fleishman curtain and how they are approaching measuring and metrics in the digital age. By the way, Don also authors MetricsMan, a popular PR/social media measurement blog.

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The field of public relations has undergone two major revolutions in the past 15 years or so. The advent of the Internet represents the first revolution. This revolution primarily impacted the way content was created, distributed and consumed. It also fundamentally changed the nature of communication – remember email became the first killer app of the Internet revolution. The second revolution is social networks. Again content creation was impacted, led by consumer generated content in multiple forms. Perhaps more importantly, peer-to-peer communication between consumers, and two-way communication between consumers and brands/companies, have been enabled and are having a profound impact on the way companies are organized and behave. The worlds of marketing and public relations have made an analog to digital conversion. And with it, we are in the midst of the digitization research and measurement.

New Models, New Metrics

Communication models are a linear representation of how a communication process works and are important in providing a framework for evaluation and measurement.   The Outputs – Outtakes – Outcomes communication model often used in public relations today has two primary deficiencies in the era of digitization and social networks – clarity and relevance.

Clarity
The model is difficult for many to understand and apply. Public relations practitioners regularly get Outputs confused with Outtakes or Outcomes. Outtakes are not often used in the U.S. – they seem much more prevalent in Europe. The overall taxonomy can be confusing and is defined in different ways by different practitioners or organizations. Further compounding the confusion is the fact audiences we present our results to rarely understand the terms and have trouble relating to them. In short, the terms are too much ‘inside baseball’.

Relevance
The model was developed when communication was media-centric. Digitization, consumer-generated content and social networks have shifted communication from a media-centric world to a content-centric world. How receivers of communication engage and are influenced by content has fundamentally changed.

What is needed is a metrics taxonomy that is easier to explain, understand and apply. Ideally one that is applicable for traditional and social media. Here is the model we apply at Fleishman Hillard.

With the new model comes new metrics primarily driven by social media/networks. Exposure includes traditional metrics like Impressions and Message Delivery, and digital metrics like Search Rank, Twitter Reach and Average Daily Visitors. Engagement includes traditional metrics like Readership, but adds new metrics like Subscriptions, Repeat Visitors and Follower Mention %. Influence in the model refers to influence of the target audience, not who has influence in social networks. Influence metrics range from increases in Brand Consideration to changes in attitudes and opinions to changes in online click behavior. Action metrics can range from event attendance to voting for/against legislation to buying a product.

New Data, New Places

Public relations research and measurement has historically been driven by content analysis. As content increasingly became available in digital form, the techniques of research and measurement didn’t change so much as the way content was aggregated and delivered for analysis. Then web-based platforms became available from a variety of vendors to digitize and automate content analysis while the metrics being measured – article counts, impressions, message uptake and sentiment for example – basically remained constant with previous, more manual, methods. Today, the digitization of research and measurement has broadened from this predominately singular focus to include data and interactions from three distinct regions or zones of research and measurement as shown in the figure below.

As company websites, e-Commerce sites and other forms of ‘owned’ media proliferated, web analytics software provided an explosion of data and new metrics like unique visitors, page views, click through rates, duration, referring sites and conversions become widely used and reported. We became over-served with data and underserved with insight.

The exponential rise in popularity of social networks in the last five years raised the bar again and presented new challenges in digital research and measurement. Now we were faced with measuring conversations and not just clicks. Measuring engagement became more important than measuring eyeballs. The frontier in social media measurement is evolving toward measuring both the conversations and behavior patterns occurring within social networks, and understanding and connecting the underlying influences and motivations for the online behavior.

The third area of interest is in all the real-world, offline interactions and transactions. Scan and other digital sales data is important to understanding, tracking and connecting online and offline behavior and actions.   Connecting mobile transactions, online and offline behavior and WOM is a significant challenge.

Although we have attempted to define three distinct ‘zones’ of digital research and measurement necessary to address the full spectrum of social media and marketing impact, a robust measurement strategy should take a holistic, integrated approach using methodologies, tools, data and metrics from all three zones. The goal is to be able to track the behavior, interactions and transactions of individuals across all three zones, across multiple platforms and physical locations, understanding how online behavior impacts offline behavior and vice-versa.

New Scope, New Integration

Today at Fleishman Hillard, we recognize the very definition of public relations is rapidly evolving to encompass a much broader and more integrated view of communications and how we connect, engage and build relationships with consumers and other stakeholders on behalf of our clients. Digitization in all its forms has driven and accelerated this important change. While public relations has traditionally been oriented toward ‘earned media’ – gaining placements of client stories in print and broadcast media based on the strength of the story and quality of the pitch – today’s content-driven world demands much more. The scope now must include all the consumer touch points available in our increasingly digital world. We capture this new scope and integration in a model we refer to as PESO – Paid/Earned/Shared/Owned. Our PESO model predates the similar Forrester model (Paid/Earned/Owned) and is different in an important way. We created two categories, Earned and Shared, where the other model has one – Earned. We believe this better comprehends strategies like blogger outreach and other proactive efforts undertaken by practitioners as ’Earned’,  distinct from efforts that may be passive or reactive. Here is how we define the elements of our model:

Paid – refers to all forms of paid content that exists on third-party channels or venues. This includes banner or display advertisements, pay-per-click programs, sponsorships and advertorials.

Earned – includes traditional media outreach as well as blogger relations/outreach where we attempt to influence and encourage third-party content providers to write about our clients and their products and services.

Shared – refers to social networks and technologies controlled by consumers along with online and offline WOM

Owned – includes all websites and web properties controlled by a company or brand including company or product websites, micro-sites, blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter channels.

The enhanced scope and integration represented by the PESO model drives a corresponding broadening and need for integration in digital research and measurement. One can easily find themselves attempting to measure a highly integrated program that includes the awareness created with paid media, the relevance and information delivered via owned, the credibility delivered by earned media and measuring the conversations and interactions occurring in shared media. Just from a metrics perspective, the PESO model requires a significant broadening in thinking as shown in the matrix below.

Digitization has changed what we need to research and measure, where we find data and how we perform analysis. The future will bring more data, better tools and improved methodologies. Sifting insights from the mounds of data will remain a major challenge. The intersection of marketing, privacy concerns and research must be navigated. The constant in all the change brought by digitization is who – human analysts and research. Discovery and insight, like it was 15 years ago, remains fundamentally a human process. It remains the analog constant in a world of digitization.

This year I have been trying to pay a little more attention to my health.  I now find myself exercising much more, trying to get a little more sleep, and paying more attention to the things that I eat and drink every day.  As part of this effort to live better, I have been trying to incorporate flax seed into my diet because of it’s reported ability to lower cholesterol, stabilize blood pressure, fight off cancer, and other assorted wonders.

Something I discovered is that wanting to eat more flax is not as easy as actually eating more flax.  First, it is not something you normally think of as an ingredient, so it takes some intentional effort to include it.  Perhaps the biggest barrier for me was simply that it came in a box, which was stored in my pantry – out of sight, out of mind.  I needed to make it more accessible to use and more convenient to incorporate into my diet.  I needed to make Flax easier.

So how do you make something like flax seed easier to consume.  Well, it occurred to me that the spices and seasonings I use most often are salt, pepper, and sugar.  Is it because these are my favorites?  Nope, they are just the most readily accessible.  All 3 of these things have their own special containers, ensuring they are always within arms reach of any meal.  So why not create a Flax shaker?  That is what I did.

I bought a simple sugar pourer and loaded it up with ground brown flax seed.  As a result I find it much easier to incorporate flax into my diet.  An example of this is at breakfast, where I typically start the day with some yogurt.  Now it just takes 2 seconds to sprinkle a little flax right on top and make my healthy breakfast just a little more healthy.  By using the sugar pourer for flax, I have very quickly converted this into a habitual part of my routine.  In addition to being highly caffeinated, I am also fully flaxinated.  Hopefully, this little switch will make a big difference in my health.  Time will tell.

What little tricks and tips do you have to improve your diet?

Share and Enjoy:

On Sunday, I picked up a tweet from MeetUp CEO Scott Heiferman, who took notice about one of the subjects I tend to write / tweet about:

Conveniently on that same day, Mitch Joel wrote a post about the fact people had been asking him similar questions such as: “why do you Blog about journalism so much?” and “why do you even care what’s going on in the newspaper industry?“.

I loved Mitch’s response on why he pays so much attention to the media industry:

… for me to be a better Digital Marketing professional, I have to know what all of the media channels are, what they can do, the trouble they’re facing, how they’re surviving, where the opportunities are, and who the recognized and experienced voices are within the channel. The media landscape is changing in such a rapid and dramatic way, that the only way to stay on top of what the potential outcome for Marketing will be in the coming years is to be tracking what they uber-smart media pundits are thinking, pushing and collectively hoping for.

I feel the same way about the world of start-ups and Venture Capital. It’s the reason that last week I took the time to attend the General Catalyst Entrepreneur Forum and this week I’ll be attending Landmark’s Media Technology Showcase in NYC. I have written before about the importance Brand Marketers to start acting like Marketing Technopologists. For me, staying close to the world of start-ups and Venture Capital is an important way to do so.

If you look back 20 years ago, Brand Marketers only had to be concerned with a handful of forces in their day to day business. Most of their day was spent working with their company colleagues, advertising agencies and occasionally media partners from TV and print. Start-ups and Venture Capital frankly did not matter because few of those companies would make a material impact on their business. But today is different. We all know the facts about how fast change is happening.

• In just over a decade, Google has gone from being a thesis project to a company with a market cap over $120 billion.
• In just over 5 years, Facebook has gone from a dorm room in Harvard to a service reaching over 400 million users.
• And in just 18 months of existence, GroupOn is rumored to be on track for $350 million in revenue in 2010.

Personally I think one of the single biggest issues facing the Marketing industry right now is that not enough Brand Marketers are paying attention to the speed of change taking place under foot. Not enough marketers are taking the time to personally use tools like Foursquare, Aardvark, or uStream. And not enough Brand Managers are taking the time to form relationships with (or even return the phone calls of) entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists.

For me, the start-up world is my canary in the marketing coal mine.

Not every company I meet with is going to be one that I end up working with. In fact, I probably only end up doing work with 5 to 10 percent of the start-ups that I meet with. But I learn something from each and every meeting. And if I am doing my job right, hopefully they learn something from me that helps as they build their business.

Just like many VC’s, these meetings help my pattern recognition so I can have a feel for the trends that will impact my brands and my business. And most importantly, I have a chance to build a strategy around these trends well before competition that only pays attention to companies they read about in the Wall Street Journal or Advertising Age.

If a Brand Marketer wants to be a Marketing Technopologist, I cannot think of a better place to start than having a foot in the world of entrepreneurs.

Social media marketing, if performed strategically, can do a lot of things. It can effectively engage an audience around your brand. It can empower a group of fans to spread word of you virally through social networks. It can do this with less money than you would spend on advertising to reach a similar audience.

And despite what the social media purists try and tell you, social media marketing can drive sales.

Case in point: Justin Boots wanted to break out of a somewhat conservative rut and become hip and trendy to the 18-to-24-year-old audience. Keep in mind Justin Boots are kind of the workhorse of the boot category. Cowboys, country music lovers, ranch hands and hillbillies buy them because they’re dependable and affordable, not flashy and hip.

In the summer of 2009, however, Justin had a new product to launch. It was a new product line focused on 18-to-24-year-old boot lovers called Justin Bent Rail Boots. They were a new boot for a new (or young) audience. They were trendy and hip in the boot world. To get these new kickers on people’s feet, Justin put aside a $120,000 advertising budget that would have been eaten up with just a couple of print ads in a typical Western magazine.

Justin turned to its ad agency, Balcom, in Fort Worth, Texas, and said, “Do it cheaper.”

The strategy was to talk to the the target audience where they were: online. Bent Rail launched branded pages on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Blip.fm and invited fans to follow the music of Justin’s hip, young country music endorsees (namely Randy Rogers Band, Casey Donahew Band and Wade Bowen). But it wasn’t just following the music. It was following the people.

Balcom armed the three bands with smart phones and asked them to capture behind the scenes video, interviews and snapshots of their lives as burgeoning country music stars. The bands uploaded the videos in real-time to JustinBentRail.com, where they were then promoted and used as content on the social outposts. The promotion was called, “I’m With The Band,” and gave that sweet-spot target audience exclusive access to the hip, new country music stars whose music they were discovering.

As an aside, having soon-to-be, or already celebrities on your marketing roster isn’t something everyone can grab. The Justin folks assured me there isn’t a huge financial piece that goes into these endorsements, but the truth is there was no more money spent to get these guys to provide the content. Consider content costs when thinking through your strategies.

What resulted for Justin Bent Rail was enough to send the social media purists running for their communes … and in Birkenstocks, no less.

While Justin Boots, a Berkshire Hathaway company, could not immediately divulge actual sales numbers (but I’ve been told they will provide them soon), they did exceed their sales goal for the new product line by 30 percent. They attribute 95 percent of their sales to social media marketing because that’s where they elected to spend their dollars, rather than the previous go-to tactic of expensive print ads.

Justin Bent Rail saw 181 band-uploaded videos in five months, over 360,000 impressions of those videos and 10,000 embeds on blogs and social sites. While fan page (525 by December 2009) and Twitter followers (700 in the same time frame) aren’t eye-popping, the strategy focused on driving website traffic and Justin Boots’ most valuable metric, clicks on the “Find a Retailer” tab on its website. Those numbers? A 116 percent increase in website traffic over five months and a 213 percent increase on “Find a Retailer” clicks.

And, oh by the way, the results were produced for approximately half of the original advertising budget of $120,000.

Yeah … half.

None of this would have worked had the brand and its agency not approached social media marketing with strategy in mind. They identified a target audience; narrowed where that audience was consuming content online; developed exclusive, value-adding content especially for them; made the content compelling enough for people to share; and drove people to specific calls to action to see, try or learn more about the new line of boots they were selling.

The somewhat staid, old boot company kicked off the dust a bit and got hip; got cool; got social. And now they’re planning even more. The success of the “Band” social media effort has them thinking of doing more with Bent Rail, but also adding specific strategies for Justin’s overall products, including several other brands within the family. I’m told the company also wants to learn more about its customers using social media including their preferences and pain points.

But ultimately their goal with social media marketing is to increase sales. And they’re doing it. Because they approached social media strategically, not as a “we gotta have some” tactical time killer.

Social media marketing does five general things for your business:

• Enhances Branding and Awareness
• Builds Community/Engagement Around Your Brand
• Provides Customer Service Channels
• Facilitates Direct Research and Development
• Drives Sales or Sales Leads

Figure out which one (or more) you’d like it to do for you, identify a target audience for that activity, find them online, then deliver content, programming or activity that will compel them to do what you’d like them to.

It may just take you from staid … to social.

What if you asked folks like Tim Berners-Lee, Chris Dixon, David Weinberger, and Nova Spivack to explain the future of the Internet?  Or had them explain concepts such as the Semantic Web or Linked Data?   Or gave Clay Shirky the chance to talk about what he considers to be “one of the deepest questions in all of Western Philosophy?

Well Kate Ray, a student at NYU, did just that as she worked to produce a short documentary entitled Web 3.0.  Only 14 minutes in length, this is a must watch video for any marketer trying to wrap their mind around where things are headed in this digital world we are living.  Very cool stuff.

Credit to Mitch Joel for pointing me to this video.