Saturday, May 5, 2007

And They Blogged Happily Ever After...

We have both learned so much about blogging and e-marketing through the development of our e-market news blog. It was my first time creating or even commenting on a blog. I had learned about their applications to marketing in other classes, but the best way to learn is with hands-on experience which I definitely gained this semester.

Due to the maintenance of this blog Audra and I have stayed up-to-date on e-marketing news. This is one of the advantages of blogging, it is a way to learn about topics that you are interested in with little effort. It also builds a sense of community because you are interacting with other people who have the same intersts. This common interest enables you to make contacts that could be beneficial in the future and also provides an open forum for asking questions and getting feedback. In regards to business, blogging is an inexpensive yet effective marketing tool with great potential. One of the most significant challegnes that I found in regards to blogging was making the time to maintain it. Furthermore, you have little control over what others post and false information could undermine the initial purpose of the blog.

Commenting on other peoples blogs and receiving feedback on your own blog can be a fulfilling experience. I like to make sure others are aware that someone is paying attention and that they are not just posting for no reason. This is also true in the reverse and it's exciting to see what others think about my postings. Another benefit of blogging is the development of ideas that is possible with this new technology.

In a corporate setting, blogs can be used to spread information about new and existing products and provides an effective medium for a viral marketing campaign. If you can make people aware of your blog, building buzz around your product will be more easily attained. A company blog can also maintain a positive image and build brand loyalty to a company and its products. In addition, this is a great way to get insight into what your customers are really thinking. Internal blogs can also be useful to keep employees informed about things within the company. This is especially true with large companies in which face-to-face contact is less likely; blogging provides open two-way communication.

Managers who intend to blog in their professional capacities need to be aware of several issues. First, be sure to have some type of screen internally for who can post on the blog and what can be posted. The company will have very little control once the blog is open to the public so making sure that the company is portraying a consistent brand image internally is crucial. Internal posts should avoid controversial poliical and social issues and keep a positive tone. Furthermore, make sure that the blog is targeted to the appropriate audience and that it does not exploit that audience with deceptive practices. Avoid blogs that appear to be unaffiliated with the company because later, if the truth is revealed, customers will feel decieved and the company could lose business.

Overall, our experience with blogging was informative and fulfilling. I hope you enjoyed it as well.

2 comments:

Suraj Commuri said...

I agree. The sense of community can be rather rewarding and makes so many barriers (especially geographic) go away. Enjoyed your blog. Best wishes!

Unknown said...

There are many other Blogs which I have seen such as; hubpages, squidoo, wordpress, blogspot. Among these, squidoo has very nice features and you can do promote your website very quickly in less effort. It would be better if we build the connection with visitors through social network as you get votes as well as reviews of visitors on daily basis.