ChatterJet surfaces relevant content for small businesses

You have probably been advised more than once that small businesses have a lot to gain by becoming expert commentators in topics relevant to their company. The biggest hurdle to this is time, of course, but a new service called ChatterJet aims to get around this.

The company has developed a service that searches for and surfaces articles and content that could become the subject matter for your social media commentary, either as subjects for your own corporate blog, the foundation for an emailed customer newsletter or a comment via Twitter or on Facebook.

Matt Russo, the cofounder of ChatterJet, said he decided to automate a richer ice he had been providing to small business owners in Ohio. "These are the most popular articles within your industry," he said. "It's another way to keep people engaged with content that is not necessarily yours."

ChatterJet allows your team to choose search terms related to your business. So, for example, if you own a dryer cleaner, it might be a blog about fabric care or the use of green chemicals in the cleaning process. The service also seeks stories of local interest, Russo said. So, if an influential blogger or newspaper columnist or other customer nfluencer is talking about something, you will see it.

Links to the stories are delivered via email. Those links could be sent out as Tweets or wrapped with a personal commentary and used in your company's blog. Sites are vetted for relevance and credibility. So, for example, if a story shows up in more than one place it is likely that will get the link for the original, most credible source. (And not some site that scrapes and steals content.)

The service starts at $29 per month, including industry headlines, customer chatter from your local community, and what ChatterJet calls conversation starters.