Evolution of the Web

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Evolution of the Web

• From push Web 1.0
• marketers in control
• static web sites
• To share Web 2.0 and social media
• consumers in control
• relationships
• conversations
• user reviews
• consumer-generated content
• Markets are conversations.
• -- The Cluetrain Manifesto, 1999

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Basics of Blogging

• Reverse chronological order most recent post on
  top
• Written in first person, more casual voice
• Transparency is key being authentic
• Open to comments
• Posts tagged by category
• Link-promiscuous
• ? What could we do with a blog?

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A-ha moment! ? Customer engagement
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Blogging about bugs
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• The RESCUE! BugBlog
• http//rescuebugblog.typepad.com
• Started in March 2005
• Focus on end user rather than retail trade
• ?The blog allows us to continue our dialogue
  directly with the consumer on a more personal
  level than advertising could ever accomplish.

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• Why was this tool chosen?
• Ben McConnell Jackie Huba,
• Creating Customer Evangelists
• Blogs fan the flames of customer evangelism. They
  help humanize you and your organization.
• Blogs can function as an instant feedback machine
  about your company and its products or services.
• Continued

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• Why was this tool chosen?
• Blogs compel you to freely share more of your
  knowledge, which attracts prospects thanks to the
  search engines which index your ongoing knowledge
  automatically.
• Blogs facilitate the spread of buzz if youre
  honest, authentic and write your blog yourself.
• Continued

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• Why was this tool chosen?
• Blogs allow you to have more conversations with
  customers and prospects than you could ever do in
  person.
• Blogs help position you as a knowledgeable expert
  in your industry.
• Another reason Keeps a website fresh

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• Objectives/desired outcomes
• Create a sense of community
• Help readers see us as a company of real people
• Keep our web site fresh and dynamic
• Solidify our position as leaders in our field
• Achieve higher search engine rankings
• Stay out in front of any news about us
• Help create buzz around new products

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• How did we use it?

• Writing what we know
• Our products and the insects they catch
• Our company, our people, community service
  projects
• Link to news stories about insects (Google
  NewsAlerts)
• Safety tips, i.e. what to do if youre stung
• Tease new products
• Pest horror stories
• Video of the Week

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• How did we use it?

• Writing what we know
• Consumer testimonials
• Reports/photos/video from trade shows
• Consumer-generated content (photos and video)
• Press releases
• Personal experiences with insects
• Love from other bloggers

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• Blog audience
• Current customers and anyone who has a need for
  our products, who wants to make their backyard
  bug-free
• Secondary Consumers looking up information on
  search engines and the products we sell.

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• Measuring ROI
• Monetary investment minimal (Typepad 150/year)
• Time investment is larger
• Commit to posting 2-3 times a week.
• A half-hearted blog effort can be more damaging
  than none at all.
• Respond to all comments.
• See it as another opportunity to connect with
  your audience.

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• More on the investment
• Best person to write an organizations blog is
  the person who is the most excited to write it.
• Blog writer should be someone at a high enough
  level in the organization that they have
  credibility authority.

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• What were the results?
• Typepad keeps track of visits and how people got
  there.
• Lifetime page views 67,000
• Average daily page views (since 2005) 48
• High 320 on August 3,2008
• HUGE impact on search engine rankings.
• Hundreds of posts since 2005 all archived
• Mention keywords and phrases important to us

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• Lessons learned
• It is a monster and you must feed it.
• Any fear over negative comments was unfounded.
• It can be hard to switch over consumers from
  e-mail to comments on blog.
• Its about give take (dont just pimp your
  stuff).
• Bring something to the party besides what youre
  selling.

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• Ways for marketers to use blogs
• Write blog yourself
• Pitch bloggers as you would traditional media
• Example Mommy bloggers influential group
• Advertise on blogs (Google Adwords)
• Monitor blogs via Technorati or whostalkin.com
• Engage in conversation on other blogs

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• More about blogger relations
• Most bloggers are not journalists in the way we
  view our readership. We view them as communities
  who share a bond of trust. Liz Strauss,
  successful-blog.com
• Bloggers are free to have an opinion and a point
  of view.
• Woe to the marketer who makes a blogger mad,
  because he or she will turn their audience
  against you!

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Mom Bloggers the Mom 2.0 Summit
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Other tools were using
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Other tools were using
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Blog examples

• Corporations brands
• Johnson Johnson www.jnjbtw.com
• General Motors http//fastlane.gmblogs.com
• Stonyfield Farms www.stonyfield.com/weblog
• Philly Cream Cheese www.lovemyphilly.com
• Whole Foods Market The Whole Story
  http//blog.wholefoodsmarket.com
• Starbucks My Starbucks Idea
  http//mystarbucksidea.force.com

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Blog examples

• Non-profits
• L.A. Mission www.losangelesmission.org/blog.html
  
• March of Dimes www.shareyourstory.org
• Goodwill http//dcgoodwillfashions.blogspot.com
• Credit Unions
• Verity Credit Union http//blog.veritycu.com
• Tourism
• Philadelphia www.uwishunu.com
• Great Britain www.beabritdifferent.com

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Blog examples

• Higher education
• Lourdes College (OH) www.lourdesworld.com
• Wharton MBA Admissions http//adcomblog.wharton.
  upenn.edu
• Causes
• Pickens Plan The Daily Pickens
  www.pickensplan.com
• Foundations
• Austin Parks Foundation http//austinparks.wordp
  ress.com

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Blogging resources for marketers

• www.whatsnextblog.com
• www.chrisbrogan.com
• http//bloombergmarketing.blogs.com
• RESCUE! BugBlog was profiled http//bloombergmar
  keting.blogs.com/bloomberg_marketing/2005/03/biz_b
  log_profil.html
• http//beth.typepad.com (social media for
  nonprofits)
• http//customerevangelists.typepad.com
• http//causerelatedmarketing.blogspot.com
• www.theviralgarden.com
• www.successful-blog.com

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Blogging communities
BlogHer Network www.blogher.com Women on the
Web www.wowowow.com Metroblogging
www.metblogs.com Gawker Media www.gawker.com Webl
ogs, Inc. www.weblogsinc.com