The document outlines best practices for making a blog into a successful media property based on the case study of Sophos Naked Security blog. It recommends setting goals and securing resources, choosing an easy platform, developing an editorial calendar, using design and multimedia, focusing on engaging content, promoting through PR, social media and marketing, and continually measuring and optimizing performance. Sophos blog utilized global bloggers, guest contributors, audience polls, and trend coverage to achieve over 1.8 million monthly page views and 2,200 media mentions in 21 months.

1. How to Make Your Blog the Next
Hot Media Property
CRITICAL MENTION WEBINAR
January 9, 2013
Sandra Fathi
President, Affect
sfathi@affect.com
@sfathi
PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL

2. Affect Strategies PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL March 4, 2010

3. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
AGENDA
• Blog best practices
• Case study: Sophos Naked Security
• Q&A
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

4. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
BLOG BEST PRACTICES:
FOUNDATIONS FOR SUCCESS
Goals & Objectives
• Set clear goals and objectives for success
• Understand your agreed upon Key Performance Metrics (KPIs)
• Dedicate human, and financial resources
• Secure executive support
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

5. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
BLOG BEST PRACTICES:
FOUNDATIONS FOR SUCCESS
All the Right Stuff
• Choose a reliable, easy to use platform
• Create an editorial profile (topics of focus and topics to avoid)
• Assemble team of bloggers and/or third party contributors
• Develop a calendar to plan blog content and assign topics
accordingly
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

6. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
BLOG BEST PRACTICES:
FOUNDATIONS FOR SUCCESS
Looks Do Maer
• Professional design = credible on the web
• Images, video and other multimedia grab and retain aention
• Make it personal – if it’s an opinion, I want to know who’s talking
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

7. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
BLOG BEST PRACTICES:
FOUNDATIONS FOR SUCCESS
Content Really is King
• Make News
• Break News
• Aggregate News
• 20-80% Rule
• Trend Intervention
• Story Hijacking
• Analysis: What does this mean to me? What does this mean to
your business?
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

8. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
BLOG BEST PRACTICES:
FOUNDATIONS FOR SUCCESS
If You Build It, No One Will Come – You Must Promote the Hell Out of It!
• Public Relations/Media Relations
• Social Media
• Good ‘Old Fashioned Marketing
• Syndication
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

9. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
BLOG BEST PRACTICES:
FOUNDATIONS FOR SUCCESS
Share the Love
• Blog Roll
• Blog Commenting Campaign
• Linkbacks/Trackbacks
• Guest Bloggers
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

10. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
BLOG BEST PRACTICES:
FOUNDATIONS FOR SUCCESS
Engage Your Audience
• Create a community – don’t just sell subscriptions
• Ask questions, polls, surveys
• Accept user generated content (UGC)***
• Allow readers to steer content/suggest topics
• Invite others to weight in on your ideas/opinions/share experiences
• Give back to your audience (exclusive access, freebies, information
etc.)
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

11. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
BLOG BEST PRACTICES:
FOUNDATIONS FOR SUCCESS
• Measure
• Tweak
• Measure
• Tweak
• Measure
Is there a paern here?
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

12. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
CASE STUDY: SOPHOS NAKED
SECURITY
GOALS
• Make Naked Security the most influential and trusted security
resource available online
• Drive traffic to Naked Security through strategic media relations
• Position Naked Security bloggers as leading experts in the field
• Create ongoing opportunities for thought leadership through an
aggressive news reaction campaign
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

13. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
GLOBAL BLOGGERS
Naked Security bloggers were stationed across the globe to react to
breaking security news. Affect utilized these experts to establish a 24/7
news cycle.
Graham Cluley
Senior Technology Consultant
UK
Chester Wisniewski
Senior Security Advisor Paul Ducklin
Vancouver Head of Technology
Australia
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

14. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
GLOBAL BLOGGERS
Naked Security also tapped into notable industry experts to provide
guest commentary on the blog. These individuals regularly shared insight
on breaking security news in addition to the main bloggers.
Bob Burls
UK
Lisa Vaas
Boston
Paul Roberts
Boston
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

15. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
HOT FOR SCANDAL
Aside from bread and buer IT and consumer-related security issues,
Naked Security bloggers wrote stories that appealed to the masses.
Regular topics include:
Celebrities Social Network Fails Hacking Gangs
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

16. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
SPECIALIZED CONTENT
In addition to regular blog posts, Naked Security also offered its readers
a variety of custom content on all things B2B and consumer security.
Podcasts Instructional Videos Reports
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

17. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
Audience engagement was another critical success factor in driving
traffic to the blog and increasing repeat visits. Naked Security created a
“cult community” through:
Polls Giveaways Feedback/Ratings
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

18. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
MEDIA RELATIONS
Media relations was critical for establishing Naked Security as the
leading online source for security news and driving traffic to the blog.
Media coverage was achieved in three ways:
• Story Hijacking: Jumping on breaking news to provide expert
commentary, seing the stage for day two stories
• Trend Intervention: Using industry trends to create longer-term
thought leadership opportunities
• Branded Reports: Producing data or information unique to Sophos
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

19. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
MEDIA RELATIONS
Example: Story Hijacking Resulting Coverage (Sample)
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

20. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
MEDIA RELATIONS
Example: Trend Intervention Resulting Coverage (Sample)
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

21. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
MEDIA RELATIONS
Example: Branded Reports Resulting Coverage (Sample)
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

22. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
SOCIAL MEDIA
Naked Security also uses its popular social media presences to promote
content on the blog and drive traffic to the site.
203K+ likes
5,300K+ subscribers
10K+ followers
2,300K+ follows
1,600K+ members
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

23. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
TRAFFIC RESULTS
Today, Naked Security is by far the top go-to source for security news
and insights online.
Website UV/Month*
hp://nakedsecurity.sophos.com 800,000
hp://csoonline.com 531,000
hp://darkreading.com 312,000
hp://scmagazineus.com 92,000
*Average per month
1.8 Million Page
Views!
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

24. YOUR BLOG: THE NEXT HOT MEDIA PROPERTY
MEDIA RESULTS
Additionally, media coverage consistently surpassed 75 hits per month,
totaling more than 2,200 hits over a 21-month period.
Total Hits Hits in Target Pubs
250
200
150
100
50
0
Mar-11
Apr-11
May-11
Jun-11
Jul-11
Aug-11
Sep-11
Oct-11
Nov-11
Dec-11
Feb-12
Jul-12
Jun-12
Apr-12
Aug-12
Nov-12
Jan-12
Mar-12
May-12
Oct-12
Sep-12
© Affect PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL January 9, 2013

25. Q&A
PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL

26. How to Make Your Blog the Next
Hot Media Property
Slides Available on Slideshare.net/sfathi
Sandra Fathi
President, Affect
sfathi@affect.com
@sfathi
PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL