When you’re blogging for business, comments on that blog are highly coveted. Comments help a blog’s search engine ranking and help bring people back to your site to continue a conversation. Sure, there’s a lot of spam you have to sift through, but in the end, bloggers want readers to respond to what they’ve written. Bloggers are writers and writers are egomaniacs and they want people to react to what they’ve written. I can say all this because I’ll freely admit to my own egotism as quick as I’ll tell you I’m a professional writer. But what’s the secret to getting comments?

SEO gurus and self-proclaimed social media marketing know-it-alls would like you to believe there is a precise formula for getting comments. Don’t believe them for a second. Those of us who work in the blogging trenches day after day know that the secret to blog comments is good content and interaction. The easiest thing you can do to get more comments on your blog is go read similar blogs in your field and make comments. Sounds simple, I know… but finding the right blogs to comments on takes time and research. After you’ve located your blogging comrades, open your mouth and give them feedback. Again, easy — but the results are amazing. Bloggers, especially longtime bloggers, know that the platform is a social one and by commenting back on your blog, they’ll be increasing their chances for new readers, too.

The added bonus of reading blogs by folks in your same industry? You might actually learn something while you’re meeting people who have the same career as you. It’s like a non-stop networking event, all without having to get dressed up and choke down bad appetizers. Establishing a healthy and informed back and forth with other bloggers also lets your non-blogging readers know that your blog has an opinion and you’re not too high and mighty to talk to readers. Comments are also a great place to answer questions about your company and what you do.

Yet the greatest weapon you have to get more comments is you. Your bad self, that fountain of personality in the mirror who sprinkles his or her genius on every blog is what will make readers comment. So share the love — put “you” in your content and in your comments and just sit back and watch the readers weigh in!

Brandsplat Report-Lawblogs, Fruitcakes and Every Tweet_Ever. from Enzo Cesario on Vimeo.

Enzo F. Cesario, Brandsplat’s CCO talks about ABAJournal’s BLAWG100, Frank the Fruitcake and EveryTweet_Ever. Check it out! Or click here for more Brandsplat vids

No need to face the freezing cold to get the best in online marketing, digital engagement and social media marketing news. Get cozy and pour yourself a steaming cup of a little drink we like to call “Five Things You Might Have Missed.”

1.) Merry Chucksmas: Whether you call them Chucks, Cons or just good old Converse, we call the Converse YouTube campaign sheer holiday genius. The series of hilarious clips features — including, among other things, a bulldog in space, a ska-loving santa and an uncomfortable elevator moment — are funny, stylish and smart. These ads are the kind of viral gold every marketer wants in their stockings this year.

2.) Talk to Your Elf: Here’s a little North Pole Facebook fun from the folks at Build-A-Bear Workshops. “Get Your Wish On” is the company’s new Facebook app that allows kids to talk to “real” elves live from the North Pole in a video chat. It’s social media marketing mixed with holiday cheer and we’re sure kids and parents will eat it up.

3.) Ready for Take-Off: The end of 2011 has been piled so high with a plethora of Google products that surely one or two has slipped by you. Among the coolest is Google Flights, which officially went live last week. Great-looking, easy to use and super fast, Google Flights is a must use for business and holiday travelers alike.

4.) Big Apple Wilderness: REI, a brand mainly associated with rugged outdoor settings, is taking on New York City with a slick augmented reality app. In celebration of the opening of the company’s SoHo store, REI is asking New Yorkers to scan codes on the brand’s posters around the city. The app opens up virtual landscapes while sharing information about real-life nature adventure opportunities to be found right in the Big Apple.

5.) Gadget-induced Giving Back: We round out this week’s list with a campaign from eBay which hopes to inspire the child in all of us to give back this holiday season. Two teched-out window displays in San Francisco and New York City, respectively, feature moving trains and smiling teddy bears. The catch? It’s all digitally animated and by scanning a toy’s QR code with your smartphone, users can donate the toy to Toys for Tots while activating a dazzling animated and interactive display. Folks everywhere can get in on the action, too, by visiting the website.

Why, it’s the digital wallet, of course! I guess the better question is this: Why does a social media marketing and online branding blog care about a dumb wallet? The digital wallet, or mobile wallet, is the game-changing accessory that marketers, tech junkies and shoppers will all be talking about in 2012 and here’s why.

Read Write Web, PCWorld and Financial Times are just a few of the blogs and news sites that have been bugging out about mobile wallets lately, and the buzz is likely to grow to a deafening blast before the year is over. For newbies to the trend, mobile or digital wallets allow everyday consumers to use their smartphones as credit cards. Mobile wallets take smartphone and online shopping capabilities into real world practicality.

Google’s Wallet, which was slowly rolled out last year but continues to gain steam as it adds technology and partners, is in cahoots with MasterCard. Together Google and MasterCard give users a real-life, empty wallet for free to be filled with online coupons, loyalty cards and credit cards, all of which operate like the real thing without causing an additional bulge in the pocket. Visa hopped on board with Google, too, back in September while PayPal and LevelUp rushed to release wallets of their own. Sure, it’s cool technology and something we all saw coming, but why do mobile wallets matter to marketers?

Basically they matter because it’s a faster route to connect consumers to brands they follow on social media with instant commerce. The bridge between seeing it and buying it later gets tinier and tinier and mobile wallets are helping chip away at that. The technology is also important to marketers because it can put the frequent flyer miles, gift cards and club cards in a never-before-utilized mobile format that any business can create. Expect mobile wallet versions of services to be the accessory within the accessory and a major part of mobile marketing next year.

After taking a week off to shovel pie into our faces, Brandsplat’s Five Things You Might Have Missed is back! We’ve got the latest in Mitt media news, cool Euro viral ads — even some chocolately goodness. So without any further delay, let’s do this thang!

1.) You’ve got your website in my peanut butter: What’s the perfect accompaniment to chocolate beer? A chocolate website, of course! Portugal’s No. 1 beer brand Sagras called upon some world-class chocolatiers to make the world’s first 100 percent chocolate-designed website! And we thought our custom content was tasty.

2.)Tumbl’ing out of fashion: Here’s another high-profile example of “what not to do” as a digital director. Tumblr’s notoriously snooty fashion director, Rich Tong, was given the heave-ho after brands and agencies complained about his alleged penchant to play favorites, ignoring the emails of longtime Tumblr supporters and downright rudeness. Tong learned the hard way that even in the digital world, a stank attitude is never in fashion.

3.) Lucky Martini: We had to put this “Luck is an Attitude” video from Smirnoff Martini on this week’s list for several reasons. First, the split screen of the same guy choosing different paths with wildly different results is brilliant. Second, the message — and the Andrews Sisters’ song — are both genius. And lastly, the video features casting contest winner Yuri Buzzi, whose rise to Internet fame is something of a fairy tale itself. Lucky us!

4.) Marketing Mitt: Love or hate Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, you can’t fault the guy for having the digital gravitas and smarts to take on the seemingly unstoppable Obama campaign. Team Romney made headlines this week for a television ad that critics called deceitful. And yet, compared to Gingrich and Cain, Romney still manages to be a more marketable candidate. That’s a true testament to the power of his brand — even if the man himself is less than amazing.

5.) Squishy Robots: Amid political sniping and corporate misbehaving, it’s nice to stumble on a story that champions innovation. With that being said, please enjoy the wonder of squishy starfish-like robots.

Let’s go back to Christmas Past. In 1983, the country was consumed with an obsession for chubby-faced little dolls known as The Cabbage Patch Kids. Legends of frenzied parents inciting riots in hopes of getting their hands on the toys spread across the land. While we’ve seen some Tickle Me Elmo-type of mania in the years since the Cabbage Patch reigned supreme, no gift item has been as hotly-sought-after and clamored for. But iPads, eReaders and tablets of all shapes and sizes are certainly inching in on the Cabbage Patch Kids’ territory.

The brand new Kindle Fire has proven to be the leader of the tablet pack with staggering holiday weekend sales that have already made it Amazon’s top-selling product — and the season has just started. This holiday tablet explosion made us wonder: Are mobile marketers and blog creation wizards ready for the demand of tablet-friendly content?

According to AdWeekly, the answer would be no. AW notes that many publishers and brands were quick to hop on the iPad publishing bandwagon, releasing all kinds of fancy custom apps which served as exclusive iPad magazines. The only problem is that the same publishing companies had to worry about how they were going to get readers on other tablets like Droids and Kindles. Now expensive and zippy interactive content is being dumped by publishers in favor of solid content. Steve Sachs, an executive vice president of consumer marketing and sales at Time Inc., tells AdWeekly, “The No. 1 benefit is to have a great reading experience reading the tablet. Interactive elements are valuable to (readers,) but they’re a secondary benefit.”

For those of us who blog for business, this shift away from snazzy tablet gadgets is great news. The tablet generation is in essence a new generation of readers. Sure, there’s the game and shopping elements, but at the end of the day, the folks who buy tablets are people who enjoy reading. Blog readership on Kindle and iPad is through the roof, so this could be one fad that helps put our content in front of new audiences.

Hmm… We wonder if a tablet-inspired dance can’t be far behind.

When the going gets tough, the tough, apparently, go shopping. Thanks in large part to social media marketing and online branding (mixed with insane store hours), Thanksgiving weekend racked up an estimated $52.4 billion in retail sales according to CNN and a survey from the National Retail Federation. This number is up 61 percent from last year’s $45 billion. Despite an national income that behaves more like a stalled-out car than a skyward-bound rocket, retail is back — and this is great news for online retailers, who hope to cash in big for today’s Cyber Monday madness.

Internet retailers wisely offered deals and discounts in hopes of taking a chunk out of Black Friday sales figures, and that plan that paid off. Online sales on Thanksgiving Day jumped up 39.3 percent and were up 24.3 percent on Black Friday compared to sales on the same days in 2010. Early buzz built around online shopping deals will turn help out Cyber Monday, too. Online tracking firm ComScore says it projects Cyber Monday sales to hit $1.2 billion, up from $1 billion last year. Online giants like Amazon and iTunes are, of course, throwing their hats into the discount ring, but the real Cyber Monday story is how hip shopping websites like Fab.com and OpenSky are really using the day to lure in new customers with huge savings.

And other online businesses, including travel sites, are utilizing Cyber Monday to offer bargains in arenas that might not usually be thought of as gift ideas. Social media marketing is working overtime to alert folks of the latest shopping specials. Specialized and strategic content can be created to ignite social and online channels with news of your online business genius. There’s a sense of empowerment and can-do spirit behind Cyber Monday this year, as online companies of all sizes are marching forward to be part of our collective renewed shopping interest — and we love it!

So, readers, what is your Cyber Monday game plan? Any personal success stories you’d like to share? And what site has the best deals going on today? Sound off below!

Are we feeling a little bloated, tired and stressed out — and not because of the holidays? Many of us who live and breathe online marketing have a tendency to try to eat everything at the daily digital buffet and walk away feeling exhausted. We’ve talked about the digital diet trend here at Brandsplat before, but we think the holidays are a perfect time to revisit and revise our digital marketing diets.

Diets, by their very nature, are the act of cutting out stuff that isn’t good for us. So our digital marketing diets should eliminate the efforts that aren’t working. If, for example, like one of my clients, you have better luck on LinkedIn than with Facebook, by all means play to your strengths. This doesn’t mean you have dump Facebook altogether, but budget your time and effort so it makes sense.

Next on our diet and exercise list is make your blog start working out. If your blog is just sitting there eating Fritos and doing nothing, make it get up and get busy. In other words, if you have a blog that features all of your excellent advice and industry expertise, spread the word! Tweet links to your blog. Post it on LinkedIn and Facebook. Your custom content may be brilliant, but if nobody sees it, then what’s the point?

Once you’ve dumped the digital junk food, it’s time to introduce some healthy habits into your diet. The holidays are a fabulous time to get on the email marketing bandwagon. Why? Well, it’s inexpensive to implement and it’s a great tool to help keep your clients in the know during the season. Brands like Barnes & Noble and The Home Depot use it to tell folks about specials and new merchandise — and, thanks to smartphones, emails are read and received anywhere.

Lastly, get in the habit of saying “no” and saying “I need help.” Say no to marketing techniques that you don’t have time for or you instinctively know aren’t right for your company. And say “I need help” to blogging, social media and digital marketing experts who can help you with the areas that are mysterious or difficult.

Happy dieting and healthy marketing!

The countdown to the caloric meltdown known as Thanksgiving has begun, so we at Brandsplat are serving up a cornucopia of online marketing tidbits, social media casseroles and deep dish viral delights just for you! It’s a little meal we like to call “Five Things You Might Have Missed.” Gobble, gobble it up!

1.) Deep Fried Shatner: If you have been too consumed by how you were going to cook your own turkey, you might have missed this stellar turkey frying video courtesy of William Shatner and State Farm Insurance. Is it a PSA? Is it a parody? Is Shatner rocking a new toupee? The answer is a resounding “yes” all around, and it’s the best turkey frying video you’ll see this year.

2.) PiePad: The often mocked but seriously beloved foodie and radio personality Evan Kleiman can now be your personal pie tutor this holiday season on your smartphone and tablet. A new app, Appetite’s Easy as Pie, features the unshakable Kleiman making 20 different types of pies! We’ve been saying for months that pies are the new cupcakes; hopefully this app will make our trend prediction a reality.

3.) Off-Target: The big red bulls-eye took a branding beating this week when its employees started an online protest against the company’s Thanksgiving Day hours. Opening on Turkey Day is a first for the company, and its employees (as well as some customers) have taken to Facebook and Twitter to voice their disdain for the move. Coupled with Nordstrom’s decision to keep Christmas decorations out of its stores until December, this public outrage could signal a change in old school Black Friday excess — and we think that’s a good thing.

4.) Pass the Pepto: Pepto is hopping on the sponsored tweet trend for a good cause this Thanksgiving. #HelpPeptoFeedAmerica will be launched on Twitter this Wednesday and for every RT, the company will donate 8 meals (up to 100,000) to the hunger-fighting superstar nonprofit Feed America. It’s the cool Twitter marketing and the holiday spirit behind the giving that gets this brand on the list.

5.) We’re Thankful for Cat Videos: Okay, if you haven’t enjoyed this Catvertising video, please do so right away. Hilarious viral goodness that makes fun of the marketing and advertising worlds with cat-like precision.

Brandsplat Report-iPhone4S, Sears Zombies and Groupon Truthiness from Enzo Cesario on Vimeo.

Check it out! Or click here for more Brandsplat vids