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A couple of weeks ago, the American Marketing Assn. Internet Marketing SIG invited Biz Stone, the Genius blogger, to moderate our discussions on blogging for a week. Biz was a super resource, and outside of having an already great book on blogging, he left us these additional bullet points to ponder. Thanks again to Toby Bloomberg for putting this together.
Following is a recap of key points:
-Incorporating a blogging strategy as a component of a marketing plan can support relationship building by "breaking down barriers between business and customers."
-While blogs are still on the peripheral for most organizations, some companies understand that blogs can provide a valuable "window on what people (customers) are thinking and talking about."
-Business blogs are used to publicize new products, demonstrate product features and answer customer questions.
-Blogging is useful as a knowledge management tool.
-Blogs are a natural to support branding strategies. Great for consultancies to reinforce expertise in targeted areas/sectors.
-Consider using blogs in qualitative brand or product research where respondents maintain a blog on a proprietary intranet
- Determining ROI is still difficult. Biz suggests defining "success" in terms of quantity and quality of comments, measuring page views, trackbacks (what people say about your posts).
-A successful blog requires dedication to daily postings. Post must be of perceived value for the target audience.
A few more resources:
- An example of B2B blogs. Jupiter Research - company analysts each have a blog. Provides an opportunity to connect with their audiences on a regular basis. Interesting idea for companies that have a model that includes segmentation by sectors or areas of expertise. http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/
-Mircrodoc News. News blog about blogs.
http://microdoc-news.info/home/BloggerNews/2003/04/03.html
Business blog
http://blogs4business.com/