Marketing Pilgrim

Corporate blogs (and blogging in general) get run through the ringer of “Is it a dead art?” to “It’s essential for online success!” and all stops in between. Many fear blogging due to concerns about time, risk / reward, exposure and the list goes on.

eMarketer brings us a corporate some insights from a survey done by Blog2Print (an interesting idea, btw). Here are the reasons why big companies blog according to CMO’s.

The most prominent reason might well have been named “If you can’t beat’em, join’em”. When you say that you are essentially “giving in” to do this then you wonder just how sincere or genuine the effort will be moving forward. I think it is safe to say that if there is passion behind a blog the chances of success through reaching the other goals desired goes up exponentially. But hey, it’s not often we confuse Fortune 1000 companies with passionate companies is it?

You may have noticed a trend over the past few months.

While I’ve personally been blogging less and less, Frank Reed and Cynthia Boris have been hitting it out of the park! Case in point, Frank’s excellent interview yesterday with Mike Blumenthal.

So, why have I been slacking?

Honestly, Trackur is growing so fast it’s time to turn my attention 100% on building the world’s best social media monitoring tool. (Yes, the SEO in me couldn’t pass up that anchor text opportunity).

However, Marketing Pilgrim is still my baby! It’s become the leading place for marketers to get the lowdown on the latest internet marketing news. As we’ve always said, “We don’t always break the news, but we do always break it down for you!”

Privacy is a concern for everyone online. How we treat online privacy is always at the center of arguments about how far the Internet can truly go in delivering most everything to consumers. Privacy is looked at differently in different pars of the world. In fact, it’s the reason why Facebook can’t get a foothold in Japan.

So the recent discussion around a government issued Internet ID is getting some attention and it will certainly be of interest to Internet marketers. The possibility was first reported by Cnet. CBS News followed with

President Obama is putting plans in motion to give the Commerce Department authority to create an Internet ID for all Americans, a White House official told CNET.com.

It’s hard to not turn around in the Internet marketing space these days without bumping into something about the local space. Whether it’s the ins and outs of Google local search in general and Place search specifically or the importance of blending your site SEO with your total online presence there is plenty to discuss.

One of the true experts in the local search space is Mike Blumenthal. Mike works with other local search luminaries like Matt McGee and David Mihm on their Local University. He is most well known though for his tireless tracking of Google Maps and Google Places over the years. In other words, Mike has been working the local angle of search for much longer than since the time local became the new black. His blog is evidence of that and it is required reading for any SEO worth his or her salt.

Some of you know that I grew up and currently live on the coast of South Carolina. The ocean has always been a part of my life and has taught me a lot of lessons. Probably, one of the most interesting lessons that I have learned and thought about over the last few years, is the difference between boats and octopuses. (And yes, I just said octopuses not octopi, look it up, like I did.)

Both boats and octopuses generally do the same thing, navigate the sea. They both are vulnerable to the ocean’s currents and tides. They both can fall victim to mother nature’s wrath, and at times they both are equally blessed by her grace.

But what makes this pair interesting, isn’t what they have in common, but, rather what makes them different.

One of today’s trending Twitter topics is the hashtag #tiredofthat. It’s spurred people to list the multitudinous things they’re tired of such as “being alone on Valentine’s Day,” “the Twilight Saga” and the ever encompassing “Monday through Friday.”

One thing people are #nottiredof, are hashtags. According to What the Trend, hashtags have taken over the top spot as the category that gets the most Tweets.

In 2009, entertainment was the most Tweeted about topic with 39% of the pie. The next closest category was sports with only 11%. In 2010, entertainment dropped to 28% and hashtags took 40% of the pie.