Get Blogging

By Simon van Wyk

In case you haven’t heard, blogs (short for web logs which are personal online journals constructed using one of the many free, easy-to-use webtools such as blogger.com) are fast becoming a key part of online culture. Anyone and everyone is writing and commenting on just about everything. But many Australian marketers have still to tune into the power of the blog and have yet to consider this new medium as a valuable tool in the online marketing communications arsenal.

Leading business and marketing publications in the US are hailing the emergence of blogs into the mainstream. Fortune Magazine is tipping the medium as one of the Tech Trends to watch in 2005. Whilst eMarketer.com recognised corporate blogs as a major factor in the online landscape of 2004.

Pew Internet & American Life Project conducted surveys in February and November last year establishing “new contours for the blogosphere and its popularity”. Their research reported that seven percent of the 120 million US adults who use the Internet say they have created a blog (representing more than 8 million people), and 27 percent of them say they read blogs, (up 58% on the February numbers that year). This represents some 32 million Americans.

Whilst those numbers are exciting, it’s also sobering to see that 62% of internet users indicated that they are not sure what the term ‘blog’ means.

So why the frenzy? It’s what we know about bloggers coupled with today’s marketing climate. Those 8 million blog creators are exponents of truth and honesty in a market that is increasingly cynical and circumspect about glossy advertising campaigns.

Fifty-seven percent are male; 48 percent are young (under age 30); 70 percent are broadband users; 82 percent are Internet veterans (online for six years or more), 42 percent are relatively well off financially (live in households earning over US$50,000) and 39 percent have college or graduate degrees.

As HotHouse’s technology research partner Forrester Research Inc noted in its November 2004 study Blogging: Bubble or Big Deal?1 that as these young bloggers age, they’ll take their blogging habits with them into the mainstream. Also of note from the Forrester study was that bloggers were more likely to view themselves as leaders.

In their report “What’s in store for Marketing in 2005″ Forrester reported “Marketing will become more omnipresent and less interruptive. Although the marketing mix may be shifting away from glitzy ad campaigns on network TV, marketers will be busier than ever, figuring out new ways to reach desired audiences. Guerilla marketing through new media forms like social networks and blogs will continue to grow.”

Forrester indicated that “Marketers will use adverblogs in much the same way as they use microsites“ drawing in a targeted audience, but in such a way that the interaction is based on comments from the community rather than Flash animations.

The power of the blog is its inherent truth and honesty and as such bloggers are considered to be highly influential. In Blogging: Bubble or Big Deal? Forrester lays out a Blogger’s Code of Ethics:

  1. I will tell the truth.
  2. I will write deliberately and with accuracy.
  3. I will acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly.
  4. I will preserve the original post, using notations to show where I have made changes so as to maintain the integrity of my publishing.
  5. I will never delete a post.
  6. I will not delete comments unless they are spam or off-topic.
  7. I will reply to emails and comments when appropriate and will do so promptly.
  8. I will strive for high quality with every post - including basic spell-checking.
  9. I will stay on topic.
  10. I will disagree with other opinions respectfully.
  11. I will link to online references and original source materials directly.
  12. I will disclose conflicts of interest.
  13. I will keep private issues and topics private because discussing private issues would jeopardise my personal and work relationships.

Getting on the blog wagon

For the corporate world, getting on the blog wagon now is starting to look like a good idea and sound business practice. Corporate America has embraced blogging with high-ranking executives providing insights into the companies and industries in which they work. The frankness and candour of the opinions presented has been quite breathtaking and serves to remind consumers that real live human beings are running the corporations.

But when is a blog not a blog?

In October last year Mazda found itself in all sorts of strife when it was alleged that a blog, HalloweenM3, posted on Google’s blog-hosting service Blogger.com was nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to advertise the new Mazda M3 to a supposedly unsuspecting blogging community. The blog which featured links to a number of online ads for Mazda’s new M3 generated such widespread criticism and condemnation from bloggers and whilst Mazda maintains no collusion, the posting was removed.

Bloggers are certainly not gullible and a blog is not the forum to covertly push marketing propaganda. Rather blogs are an ideal medium to transparently seek out how the world out there sees your products and services. By all means provide links to your ads, but tell them that they are links to your ads and ask for comments on them - if that’s what you want.

Chock full of ideas

Marketers can use blogs to track what consumers have to say about your company and its products. What bloggers say, given their status as thought leaders with unquestionable integrity can have a strong bearing on what others are thinking and saying about your brand. Blogs are a fertile ground for product reviews and evaluations.

For instance, by tapping into a dog lover’s blog, pet food manufacturers can reach a highly influential audience. What the bloggers say can be used to direct other marketing decisions. Many smart companies are checking blogs every day, as part of their media monitoring activities.

Blogs also provide a mechanism for disgruntled or disappointed customers to air their grievances and for you to respond to them. This tactic worked well for Microsoft following the launch of its MSN Spaces and the widespread criticism the product received in the blogging community. A Microsoft executive responded to the criticism by way of his personal blog, acknowledging that the product was not his personal choice. This openness and raw honesty shows the company is listening and is not above criticism.

At the very least, if your business isn’t quite ready to make its first foray into the blogging world, then you should be tracking blogs with RSS feeds to see what the blogging community is saying about your products and services. Commonly referred to as ‘Really Simple Syndication’ RSS content can be accessed with an RSS-enabled Web browser or other programs designed for retrieving RSS feeds. You can set up your tracking with blog search engines like blogsearchengine.com and Feedster.com to name but two. There are dozens of them out there.

Be brave

With blogs though, it’s important to remember that since anyone can write just about anything about everything, you’re vulnerable to being savaged by those people out there who derive great pleasure in vitriolic ramblings. To paraphrase Mark Twain - “those who express opinions don’t necessarily confine themselves to facts”. Thankfully it’s usually pretty simple to tell the difference between a soapbox rant and an informed comment.

Blogging with images

Blogs are fast developing into richer forms of communication. Instead of using text and a graphic image or two, video blogging, or vlogging uses video to share information. Vlogging came into its own during the Asian tsunami when amateur video footage shot by tourists in the tsunami ravaged areas generated a huge amount of interest online with much of it turning up on network television reports.

And with video search services freely available and Yahoo integrating Media RSS into its video search, vlogging should be mainstream real soon.

A magnet for unfair dismissals?

Whilst larger organisations have been quick to publish blogging-friendly policies or at the very least, set down standards for their employees, many smaller organisations have yet to articulate any such blogging guidelines.

Indeed there is much cause for concern in the ever expanding blogosphere about conflicts of interest, employment law and free speech.

Numerous stories are being circulated in the mainstream media of employees being fired for blogging. Eyebrows were raised last year when hip and happening, dot com Friendster, the company that is recognised for redefining social networking online (of which blogging is a major part), fired an employee for her blog.

It’s clear that blogging is just going to get bigger and bigger and companies need to address this in their employment policies or face costly legal challenges.

Want to jump on the blog wagon?

HotHouse, in conjunction with leading technology and business commentators will be conducting an exclusive blogging forum later this year. The forum is designed for company executives, marketing and public relations professionals and will demonstrate the power of the blog as a valuable tool in marketing communications.

To register your interest in being invited to this blogging event of 2005, please visit: www.hothouse.com.au/events/events.asp

1Blogging: Bubble or Big Deal? Forrester Research Inc, November 5, 2004
2Trends: What’s in Store for Marketing in 2005? Forrester Research Inc, December 27, 2004