Susan Getgood’s Marketing Roadmaps ranks 135 of the Advertising Age 150 index and 7,285 in the world according to Technorati. Marketing Roadmaps has defined Susan as an established, straight-shooting marketing mind who delivers pragmatic social media intelligence. Given Susan’s great blog and her experiences with companies like HP, we decided to throw her some tough questions and she delivered some great answers on topics like astroturfing and measuring a blog’s success. Read on for this leader’s insights.

BB: How was BlogHer in Chicago? What do conferences like BlogHER offer you and other attendees?

SG: BlogHer was great. As it always is. Quite frankly, I think BlogHer is a pretty unique conference, and not just because of the female to male ratio. Unlike many conferences, there is a really active community year round on blogher.org.

The organizers also strive to provide different voices and different sessions than you will get at a typical industry conference. And there are conference sponsored social events both nights of the conference so we avoid that hostility suite bingo that so often happens at trade shows. Although if you want a funny story about what really turned out to be a hostility suite the night before the conference, check out Suburban Turmoil.

Having been involved with the community and the conference since the beginning in 2005, I have enjoyed seeing its development. The first year, it really was a community effort, and succeeded in equal part I believe because of the blood sweat and tears of founders Lisa Stone, Jory Des Jardins and Elisa Camahort, and the commitment of the community to make it succeed. That spirit has continued as the conference, and the company, has blossomed into the world?s largest blogging conference. Ain?t that amazing.

I’ve also enjoyed the blooming of the momosphere. In the first year, the mommybloggers who attended felt somewhat marginalized by the techies — just ask any of them, they’ll admit it. In fact they did so publicly at the time. And then the world woke up to the power of moms who blog (DUH!) and year two, the conference definitely had a mom/personal blogger feel. So much so that bloggers like me, who primarily identified as business bloggers, felt like the conference had less value for them than before. (I blogged this last year BlogHer Business in March helped address this, focusing more on the business aspects of blogging than gender and identity issues.

At this summer’s conference, I personally went with different goals, so the focus on moms and personal bloggers like food and craft bloggers was inline with my interests. See my two blog posts for more on this. The unconference on Sunday provided a great outlet for the more geeky side of me. (Susan wrote two recaps of the conference on Marketing Roadmaps)

BB: The alli controversy has some interesting depth. Is a corporate blog’s success tied comments, readership or some other form of measurement?

SG: The measurement of success of any endeavor is whether it meets its objectives. Typically, for most business endeavors, it will come back to whether people bought it ?bought the product, bought the idea, changed their minds. Whatever the initial communications objective was. So, I don’t think comments or readership give you the answer, although they can be pointers. A far better measure for business blogging is sales, or in the case of nonprofits, donations.

And we shouldn’t abandon qualitative measures. What people say is just as important as how many speak. Think about it: would you rather have one or two thoughtful comments that perhaps spur other people to comment or at least think about your point. Or a bunch of people who parrot your point just to get the link. Or a bunch of naysayers. I know what I’d pick.

And some blogs are just about sharing information. Nothing wrong with that. In some cases, it may be the better route. Alli being one example.

BB: Much hub-bub about getting consulting on blogs (astroturfing, etc.). What’s the best way for a company to seek professional assistance?

SG: Wow. This is a hot potato if ever there was. As I commented on your blog on Monday, I think astroturfing implies an intent to deceive. John Mackey from Whole Foods anonymously posting negative comments about the competition. Astroturf. Wal-Mart, RV-ing across America. Astroturf.

Forget about whether you seek professional assistance, or try to do it in-house, the best way to go about this blog thing is to start from a genuine interest in engaging with, in talking with, your customers and potential customers. Be clear and upfront about your interests, expect the same from them, and start talking. And you don’t need your own blog to do this, although it helps.

Having your own blog helps you understand what blogging is all about, and gives you a platform for your outreach. But, if you have a good, well-thought out blogger relations program that has real value for the bloggers as well as your company, but no blog? Go for it. Ah, but how do you know if it has real value or if you are blinded by your own product love?

This is where an outside consultant can be extremely helpful. But you have to put your listening ears on. When the consultant tells you that there needs to be an emotional, personal value beyond the wonderful features of your product, listen.

BB: What’s your take on the participation is marketing meme?

SG: Uhmm. Not sure what you mean here, but I’m guessing it has something to do with participating in the community stands in for marketing. I agree, in part. I think companies, and marketers, need to participate in their communities.

However, I don’t think just showing up is enough. You have to give back, really contribute to the community. Whether that is by supporting the members with eval products and exclusive info, or by supporting a charity of interest to the community, or donating products for contests. Or whatever. And you have to do it over time. Showing up the day before the announcement, and going home the day after, WILL be seen for what it is.

And there’s nothing wrong with continuing your other marketing efforts — shows, direct mail, adverts — whatever. The blogosphere is important, but last I looked, the other channels were, in the immortal words of Monty Python, “Not dead yet.”

BB: In your mind, what’s the best thing Marketing Roadmaps has done for you, and for the community?

SG: You’d have to ask my readers, but people seem to appreciate my no-bullshit approach. Some have said that Marketing Roadmaps is a no-nonsense practical look at marketing, PR and social media issues that is understood and appreciated by newbies and experts alike.

For me, it has provided an outlet to explore marketing and communications issues and meet some really terrific folks. I also think I am a better writer than I was three years ago. As they say, if you want to write better, just write. A blog gives you both a place and an imperative to write.

BB: What’s the next big thing for Susan Getgood in the social media world?

I’m doing some interesting projects for clients this fall. And working on a few other things. :-) Stay tuned.