This is one of the very first pieces I wrote in relation to my thoughts on business blogging over two and a half years ago. There’s a bit more room for debate as it’s evolved, but I firmly believe the basic premise of the post holds as true, if not truer, now as it did then.
Is the concept of building company foundations slightly antediluvian? Since the birth of the internet it seems as though companies don’t so much lay foundations as allow them to float in cyberspace. Bricks and mortar is so last century, it’s now all about your web presence.
Yeah, right. Your web presence lies. Everybody does it. You aren’t the only one who’s built an all singing, all dancing website with more bells and whistles than a school-full of referees whilst your actual workspace resembles a bombed-out Anderson shelter.
Initially, the ability to be able to present your business as you’ve always dreamed of is intoxicating. But it’ll come back to haunt you in the long run – mark my words. You need to present your business as it is now otherwise you’ll find yourself deluged with inquiries for work you can’t do, or worse still, no inquiries at all.
Let a blog make you honest.
Blogging is the logical solution. By all means have your static website which lays claim to your products, services, testimonials and all the other usual stuff. A business blog allows you to expand on all of these aspects of your site and build a more complete picture. It dots all the i’s and crosses the t’s. Not only that, but your customers can get a feel for you as a person/company which, in turn, builds trust and relationships.
Many moons ago, before I reincarnated The Tinbasher, the whole web presence (main site and blog) had been bookmarked twice (and that could very well have been by me). The week of its relaunch saw it bookmarked fourteen times (these days both sites combined have something around a 30% bookmarking rate every month). We also received as many hits in this week (10/20/04) as the whole of August and September combined. I appreciate arguments can be made about of all this, but that’s not my point. More people are visiting the site since the reincarnation of this blog and more people want to return to the site too.
I read a lot about metrics and ROI (return on investment) and I agree you can’t measure it scientifically. But let’s be perfectly frank, you don’t need to. I see hits going up, stickiness going up and, most importantly, inquiries going up. It’s out of your hands once your salesperson or sales department gets hold. But at least they’ve got something to get hold of! And don’t claim you can’t write or don’t have the time. You can look at your blog in the same way as you’d look at a business meeting with a potential client. A blog can even help you focus your thought processes that whirl about your head on a daily basis.
Business blogging is the new bricks and mortar for your web presence. You have the opportunity to re-identify yourself on the web and to make that vital connection with your customers in the same way as if they’d popped into your office for a brew.
Loved the post and learned a lot from your POV but would have to argue that any communication can be measured if a company can operationalize the metrics and effect to be tested. A lot of scientific work is being done using sociological, anthropological research methodologies applied specifically to organizational communications that are valid and scientifically robust. I think we need to dispel that the myth that ROI of PR as measured by seemingly esoteric constructs like trust, brand cachet, strength of relationships can’t be measured scientifically. The fact is all of it can be measured, but most companies don’t access all the resources available to them. See http://www.instituteforpr.org/ for some of the latest research and methodologies used specifically for PR.
I think you’re absolutely right.
I don’t come from a metrics background as such but am fascinated by the prospect of taking what you describe as esoteric constructs and formulating some form of synthesis via measuring it all.
From a personal point of view I’m extremely interested in sinking my teeth into some decent study, so I thank you for the link.
I’ve always known that if you’re going to apply business uses to blogging and other forms of social media that you might just have to provide a more reasonable statement relating to ROI other than ‘turnover has nearly doubled since implementing a blog’.
If you want a primer on research approaches and methodologies check out the book “Using Research in Public Relations” (http://www.amazon.com/Using-Research-Public-Relations-Applications/dp/0139391665). It will provide some insight into how to set goals and objectives around PR strategy that can then be measured. From recollection, there’s a bunch of statistical analysis stuff. If you can grin and bear it through that, it’s a good resource. It also addresses, one of the biggest errors I’ve seen even the most seasoned PR people do — that is is setting really broad objectives like “drive awareness” or “create buzz.” Now those are near impossible to measure. Now if you want to set an objective like “to drive awareness of the risks for heart disease among male Asian Americans in the San Jose area” that is more specific and therefore more measurable.
Now that’s a very good point regarding broad objectives.
General buzz is just noise as far as I’m concerned.
And I promise I’ll get round to taking a look at that book when time allows.
Thanks.