« June 2005 | Main | August 2005 »
July 28, 2005
A podcast and a blog walk into a bar . . .
A recent study by the Pew Internet Project notes that a majority of American Internet users don’t know what a podcast is. Twenty-three percent of them hadn’t even heard the term. It’s likely more of them have learned since the survey was taken in May and early June, however, because last month, Apple released its 4.9 version of iTunes, which offers thousands of podcast subscriptions for free in an easy-to-use format. Meanwhile, the mainstream media have seized on podcasting as the latest hot new thing:
- New York Times: July 22: "The Podcast as a New Podium"
- Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg, July 6, "Podcasting Is Still Not Quite Ready For the Masses" (subscription required)
- Washington Post July 23: "Apple Plants a Seed to Help Raise Podcasting"
- Newsweek Aug.1: “Podcasting: Talking Dirty on your iPod”
Podcasting is a method of publishing via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed of new files (usually MP3s). It became popular in late 2004, largely to automate downloading of audio onto portable players or personal computers.The word "podcasting" is a portmanteau that combines the words "broadcasting" and "iPod." The term can be misleading since neither podcasting nor listening to podcasts requires an iPod or any portable music player.
A podcast is more than an MP3 file; it also has an XML file wrapped around it. (See TUAW blog for a silly argument on the topic.)
Corporations are experimenting with podcasts, as they can be very cheaply produced. GM was one of the first, followed by ABC News, Disney, Unilever, and with broadcast programs such as NPR’s All Things Considered and Bravo’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which are pretty obvious fits. Wired magazine gets snarky about corporate podcasts in its most recent print issue ("Podcasting for The Man: It was only a matter of time before big business co-opted the podcast, but someone must have missed a crucial memo. Their attempts to turn the gurrilla format into just another channel for corporate speak are hobbily ill-conceived."), but surely the corporate experimenters deserve major props for trying a new medium.
So, whether you think podcasting is a soil enhancer, an answer to the wasteland of commercial radio, or this year’s blogging phenomenon, you’ll certainly be hearing more about it in 2005.
Posted by Laurie Mayers at 08:59 AM
Comments (0)
| TrackBack | Permalink
July 20, 2005
More about Boss Blogs
Christine Larson of U.S. News & World Report examines executive bloggers this week. While she revisits the best-known executive bloggers, Bob Lutz of General Motors, Jonathan Schwartz of Sun Microsystems, Randy Baseler of Boeing, and Rich Marcello of HP, she also adds Carole Brown of the Chicago Transit Board, who is attempting to fill the crying need for local government blogs we talked about recently.
Mark Hass, MS&L’s CEO, notes in the article that even though only a minority of Internet users actually know what a blog is (but that survey is 8 months old by now), “Blog readers are a small but very influential group of people.”
Larson gives the last word to Bob Lutz, who has an astute observation about which executives are cut out for blogging: “Most senior executives rise to the top by being very analytical and buttoned-up and left-brained. That very careful executive is probably not going to be a good blogger.”
PR practitioner John Wagner writes about the U.S. News piece:
“I think most PR folks would be tickled pink to have a CEO who actually wanted to communicate.Yes, we've all cringed when the big boss gets away from his scripted remarks and wanders into never-never land.
But blogs or no blogs, it's always easier to work with a CEO who believes in communication and who at least attempts to be human and engaging.”
P.S. I’ll be part of a panel at the Blog Business Summit next month in San Francisco exploring the topic “When Worlds Collide: Traditional Public Relations and the Blogosphere.” I attended the January BBS in Seattle, which was great, but this conference promises to focus more on business issues and less on the basics of blogging. Get a discount if you register for the conference through this web page before Saturday.
Posted by Laurie Mayers at 07:04 PM
Comments (0)
| TrackBack | Permalink
July 14, 2005
Special registration for the Blog Business Summit
The Blog Business Summit is a three-day conference in San Francisco, Aug. 17-19 covering blogging techniques, tools and platforms. Here's a special registration rate for Blogworks readers.
Posted by at 11:45 AM
Comments (0)
| TrackBack | Permalink
July 13, 2005
This is a blog
Catalyst Group Design conducted a recent case study with the Well Spent blog on BusinessWeek. Catalyst used a focus group to see if they could navigate a blog and if they even knew they were viewing a blog. It's a negative on both accounts.
You can view the PDF here.
Of interest: Most readers didn't know they were on a blog because the word "blog" did not appear on the page. The group also didn't know how to use RSS; most looked for an email address box to subscribe.
It's important to understand that not everyone visiting your site will instinctively know that it's a blog. A company needs to have an "About Us" page that's different than its corporate Web site. It should explain the blog and its purpose.
It's also helpful to direct visitors to a FAQ page. Another good reference is a list of common blogging terms.
Companies should be talking to their consumers – and using a blog to do that when it makes sense. Here are a few of the newer ones joining in:
Backbone Media, started after their blogging survey.
and another IBM blog.
Posted by at 03:15 PM
Comments (0)
| TrackBack | Permalink
July 11, 2005
How Do Customers Feel About You (and your blog)?
By David Binkowski
This morning's sessions at Ad:Tech in Chicago offers more food for thought than a buffet. In Las Vegas.
Much like the buffet, you have to either go all-in for the crab legs and prime rib, or sample one of each offering. I'm going the crab legs and prime rib route.
The first session I attended was "Brand Humanity: How Social Technologies Are Changing The Way We Do Business", hosted by Jennifer Rice of What's Your Brand Mantra? She discussed the psychological and social trends that are changing the way we market and interact with consumers, and in particular message boards and blogs.
One of her messages that businesses need to understand (and I think most companies could stand to download her presentation) is that these technologies are being used to revive brands, create products, boost customer loyalty, close sales, break down internal silos and manage crises.
The second session today was The Power of Emotive Advertising by Bruce Hall, partner at Howard, Merrell & Partners and CEO of AnswerStream. Now you're probably thinking, "Why would an online marketing and PR guy attend that session?"
The answer is easy. Hall says advertising does three things: engage interest, stimulate employment, and bring meaning to the consumer's own perception of your brand and how it fits in the consumer's life. His presentation showed several commercials and the human response, e.g. physiological impact that ads have and the power of emotive ads.
For example, the Bud Light "Wazzzup" ads triggered a high response rate because people could relate to the concept of drinking beer and acting stupid, whereas the Miller Lite "Play Beer" commercial where a father and son are flagged in their fishing boat didn't get a response anywhere in the ballpark of its predecessor.
How does this tie into blogging? Your blog should invoke feelings to your readers. If you aren't honest, then you aren't connecting. If people are able to read your blog and not get excited, mad, happy or sad, then you're not connecting. I would like to see AnswerStream's technology applied to blogs to see how many actually connect with their readers.
Posted by staff at 03:31 PM
Comments (0)
| TrackBack | Permalink
July 06, 2005
Corporate Blogs: Consider This
PR Opinions takes a post from Morgan McLintic and expounds on it with a great list of what companies should consider when starting a blog.
- Corporate blogs are about communication
McLintic says it doesn't have to be "A-list" to be effective.
- It takes time
Promote it via your website, promote the content via your newsletters and e-mail signatures and reach out to other blogs, journalists etc. where relevant.
- Measure it
Measure visitors, RSS traffic, in-bound links, etc.
- Content
Provide an honest, first-person perspective.
- Regularity
PR Opinions and McLintic both say updating a blog doesn't need to be daily. I agree. It just needs to be regular. If readers expect a post every week and return to see no updates, they'll be disappointed.
- Make it interactive
Run competitions, propose new product functionality and ask for feedback.
Any PR agency worth its client list should consider these when talking to a prospective client about blogging. Blogging makes sense in many instances, but not everyone is ready for such open communication. A company might have too many regulatory issues to be transparent on a blog. You also need a great personality that comes through in writing – someone that champions the company and its goals.
Posted by at 11:33 AM
Comments (0)
| TrackBack | Permalink
