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February 5, 2006
Blogging 101 - Influencing Business
By Kathleen Vandervelde in Blogging 101
If your company still isn't sure about this blogging thing, it's time to take a look at just how influential corporate bloggers can be in the marketplace.
The first to come to mind is Microsoft's Robert Scoble, with his blog Scobelizer (just one of hundreds of Microsoft employee blogs). The "A-List" blogger, who consistently ranks among Technorati's Top 100 blogs for unique links, just might be the poster child for corporate blogging. In a recent post he writes about the influence blogging can have on product development:
So, in 2006, where is this going? Better products because now you know where to leave a comment and who is responsible ... Which, brings me to why this works. Social pressure. Nothing works better to get a company to change. Nothing. If there's a company you don't like, write about it. If they are listening, they'll respond. If not, well, at least you've warned everyone else not to do business with them.
Scoble's influence has gone beyond engaging consumers in the product development cycle, however. His openness and penchant for telling the (uncensored) truth -- even if it doesn't always reflect well on his employer -- have undoubtedly raised Microsoft's credibility score in the marketplace. Indeed, many credit the "technical evangelist" (his real job title) with turning public opinion around following Microsoft's "dark days" of the 90s.
So There's Scoble, and ... ?
Corporate bloggers with that kind of clout are hard to find, it's true. Don't mistake me, there are well-known CEOs and other company officers out there blogging, but they're a different breed (and fodder for a future post). In fact, Micro Persuasion's Steve Rubel cites a study stating that only about 4% of Fortune 500 companies are blogging. Studying the big guys is important, says Rubel, "but they're not the innovators in the blog world." Rather, he says, "most of the companies that have put points up on the blog scoreboard have been small to medium-sized firms."
My own research has turned up a few of the smaller companies whose blogs have garnered attention on the 'net.
Stormhoek: "freshness matters" is the mantra for this winemaker whose blog is devoted to not just the wine, but to their passion for winemaking. The blog was conceived by blogger, cartoonist and marketing consultant Hugh McLeod who insists that "The future of brands is interaction, not commodity. It's not something you buy, but something you paticipate in ... i.e. a brand is not a thing, but a place." An added twist to the blogging effort: Stormhoek offered free samples to bloggers, many of whom blogged about the wine (though it wasn't part of the freebie deal). Sales of the wine reportedly doubled over the year.
Stonyfield Farm is a good study in the participation/conversational nature of blogging. The New Hampshire-based maker of organic yogurt runs two blogs: The Bovine Bugle, written by one of their Vermont suppliers (a third generation dairy farm). The other is Baby Babble, where "Stonyfield Farm employees who have young children chat with each other here about balancing work and family, and knowing what's "right" for their children." Readers are invited to "Join the conversation!" Both blogs run through the company's information-rich website, taking the company's "healthy food, healthy people, healthy planet" philosophy directly to consumers in a friendly, unaffected style.
Michigan's Denali Flavors, purveyors of Moose Tracks and other ice cream creations, serves up a blogging success story that's right in my own backyard.
Last April the Wayland company launched a financial advice blog "sponsored" by Denali Flavors. The premise, according to a write up in the Grand Rapids Press, was that people might not visit an ice cream maker's website, but they do look for financial information online. The blog has increased visits to the website by 30% says the company.
Just. Join. In.
You see how blogging can have an influence, from getting name recognition out there to influencing product development, increasing sales and even molding public opinion. Companies can no longer question whether to blog, according to McLeod. Today's savvy consumers don't just want a product, he explains,
... They want "The Information." They want the substance. They want the gossip, and the insights, they want the insider's view ... They don't just want to understand the mystique, they also want to be part of it.
"Join. The. Conversation." McLeod exhorts companies who may still be waffling. "Start a blog."
A freelance writer living in West Michigan, Kathleen Vandervelde's past lives include both corporate and agency employment. She keeps several blogs, two of which you could definitely let your mother read: Coit Avenue and Things I've Seen.
Blogging 101 publishes every Sunday and provides blogging tips, advice and tutorials for blog newbies and veterans alike.
Comments
Why wouldn't companies want to get closer to their customers? It seems to me from my experience on this blog that the companies could glean a lot of information from their customers. Innovative new products, improvements to new products, input on the lives of their consumers, so that they can better design products to tailor them.
Thanks for the mention! Cool blog you have here. Keep up the great work.
Posted by: FMF | February 6, 2006 1:44 PM