Categories
- Awards
- Blogging ROI
- Blogging Strategy
- Blogging Tips
- Blogging Tools
- Blogs Developed By Scout
- CEO Bloggers
- FAQ
- Fighting Spam
- New Communications
- PR Tips
- Podcasts
- Product Development
- Search Engine Optimization
- Search Engine Strategies
- Social Media
- Viral Marketing
Blog Roll
- Blogging For Business
- For Immediate Release
- DM News Blog
- Will McInnes' Weblog
- Backbone Corporate Blogging Survey
- Spherion Career Blog - The Big Time
- ConverStations
- MarkSu's .NET Blog
- Thoughts on Computing
- True Jeans - True Life
- Not Just Java
- The Marketing Technology Blog
Archive
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- October 2007
- August 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
Community
Books
Search
Subscribe to this Blog
Recent Blog Posts
- Scout Blogging and SEO Client Destined for Mega-Millions According to Donny Deutch
- Scout Launches New Corporate blog for Carlisle Wide Plank Floors
- Reflections on our Second Year as a Strategic Blogging Service
- Announcing a New Blog for Living Greener and Cleaner
- How Blogging Can Get You Press Coverage
- How can I drive more traffic to my blog?
- Signs of a Tipping Point for Corporate Participation in Social Media
- One Way to Explain a Corporate Social Media Strategy
- Negative Blog Comments: How to prepare for and handle a bad Consumer Generated Media Thread
- Want to See How Viral Marketing and Social Media Works?
Recent Comments
- Douglas Karr on Ghost Blogging Covered by Investor's Business Daily
- Lillie Ammann on Should corporate blogs use ghostwriters?
- Brian Edwards on Why aren't more companies blogging by now?
- Dee Rambeau on Why aren't more companies blogging by now?
- Stephen Turcotte on Why aren't more companies blogging by now?
- Ted Demopoulod on Can Viral Marketing Succeed Without Luck?
- Jim Durbin on SCOUT Launches First Client Blog - The Big Time a Spherion career blog
Too Ga Ga Over Blogs or not To Ga Ga over Blogs?
In a post today Cyrus Afzali of Astoria Communications asks Is the PR Industry Too Ga Ga Over Blogs?. Afzali brings up two very logical objections to enacting a corporate blog, but I think that there are two counter points. Cyrus made his first point this way..
“I think more PR pros, especially considering many are in NY, should go to the middle of 42nd/Broadway and ask people passing by how many of them actively read blogs. I would posit the number would be quite low.”
And in his second point he cites a new survey by Manhattan PR shop Makovsky & Co , a “tiny percentage of Fortune 1000 leaders are using blogs to either communicate to their customers or build brands.”
Let me go back to the first point: Just because the man on the street does not read blogs, that does not mean he / or she is not being influenced by them. Most of those people on the street get their news some how, and I think there is plenty of evidence that journalists monitor blogs and use respected bloggers as primary sources for niche stories. Another tidbit that the man on the street may not realize is that when he / or she is online doing a search, blog posts are being returned in the Google listings. Here’s some data to back that one up… According to a Converseon’s study that was cited in Business Week in July 2005, 39% of the top search listings were derived from consumer-generated media such as blogs.
To the second point was designed to demonstrate that not many “big” corporations are blogging YET. That’s all it means. Some of us that have been in online marketing for a while may remember that for many years search engine optimization was considered to be this arcane technique practiced by computer geeks. Today Search engine marketing is a $7 Billion industry and the largetst segment of online marketing. Google is one of the most successful companies in the world. Search Engine Optimization did not become mainstream until after 2001. According to a 2005 survey by OneUpWeb, only a small percent of the Fortune 100 are conducting “Effective SEO”.
Of the FORTUNE 100, 13 sites (13 percent) showed clear and effective optimization campaigns (see methodology for definitions). Ten of the 13 sites (77 percent) positioned in Google’s top ten for searches of their respective core products and services (e.g. “health insurance”, “retirement planning”, “phone service”, supply chain management”, etc).”
Incidentally, my collogue, John Cass recently wrote some posts about the Fortune 500 companies that are blogging…
Business Blogging Dominated By Technology Companies In The Fortune 500
Fortune 500 Take Lead In Corporate Blogging: Only 0.73% Of Employers Blog - While 4.6% Of Fortune 500 Blog
My counter points are, (1) if your looking to be an innovative company and beat your competitors to the punch, don’t sit around waiting for validation from Fortune Companies or the man on the street. (2) If you are interested in blogging for your business than you need to do your own assessment and make the call for your company.
Tags:
Filed under:
Posted by Stephen Turcotte on May 18, 2006 4:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.scoutblogging.com/trackback/606
