Your blog can be a private detective before a roadshow

The road to an IPO can be an arduous one. You want to impress at every meeting, which requires knowing what the people across the table are thinking. But�the answers you need could be sitting on your monitor, assuming you know how to access them.

The endless discussions about using social media for business purposes tend to center on dialogue with�target markets and, for some who are enlightened, feeding the sales cycle. What you don?t hear about as much�is using these tools to gain intelligence about a specific constituency. Content is what�you use to get a message out and attract people to your environment. The analytics, though, are just as�important: this is how your target market talks to you.

When you are preparing for your roadshow, your corporate blog can be an incredibly valuable source of�information. Use it wisely, and you can prepare your executive team for specific questions likely to arise�during specific meetings.�Here are seven steps for getting pre-roadshow intelligence for your corporate blog:

1. Choose your posts wisely. You want specific information from the potential investors who visit your site, so write posts that�relate to key issues in your company or industry. Limit each post to exactly one topic. This means that a�click on that post indicates an interest in the one topic you covered. If you cover two or three issues, you�won?t be able to determine which one resonated with your reader.
2. Segment your audience. When you go into your web analytics platform, look for the companies with�which your executives will be meeting ? ignore everyone else. Focus not just on the amount of traffic�from these companies but on the specific posts they are reading.
3. Hunt for patterns. Is one of the companies you?ll be seeing consuming a lot of information about�a particular subject? Well, expect it to arise during conversations later. A lot of traffic to posts from a�particular topic clearly indicates a research effort. Identify these patterns, and you?ll be able to prepare.
4. Identify concentrations. Do you have 50 views of one blog post from the same company on a�particular day or week? It?s pretty safe to assume they aren?t all from the same person. Your post is�being circulated within the company ? and there are probably email exchanges and conversations�taking place around it. Expect specific questions.
5. Know the difference between pageviews and unique pageviews. Let?s say you have 100 views of�one post on your corporate blog from one company, but only 50 of them are unique. This means�that there are a few people from that company who felt the need to go back to your post and take a�second (or third, or fourth) look. Take #4 a step further ? people are really thinking and talking about the�information in that post. Get ready.
6. Keep an eye on your newsletter. Does your company have a newsletter to accompany its blog? If�so, start by looking for names that will become important to you on your roadshow. Watch for new�registrations from key players you?ll meet when you?re on the road. This is a clear sign of interest.�Then, start scouring the platform for newsletter opens and click-throughs from these folks. This is more�intelligence you can use in roadshow preparation.
7. Use what you learn. Bundle all this corporate blog intelligence and provide it to the executives who�will be involved in your roadshow. Point out the key trends, prominent issues and companies indicated�by the data, and develop an action plan. Brainstorm potential questions, and formulate answers to�them. Gather additional company or industry data, if necessary, to have on hand (or at least in mind) to�address these potential questions.

When you?re preparing to go on the road, you?ll be pulling together information from a variety of
sources, and you can use your corporate blog to add to this preparation. The value of blog intelligence is�that it?s self-revealed: visitors are speaking with their clicks. Just be sure to ignore the irrelevant traffic�and focus on your roadshow audience. Focus on the specific information that can affect the future of�your company and your exit strategy.

Tom Johansmeyer is the group marketing director at Cross Border, a niche financial media company�that publishes IR magazine and Corporate Secretary. He has written about social media and marketing for�SocialTimes, DailyFinance and other publications.

[Top image via shining.darkness/Flickr]

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