Blog and blogosphere management
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Romain Biard
@biskuit
Founder & General Manager Digital Lift Launched Uber in Paris Worked for TypePad (Six Apart) for 2 years 1/2
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Agenda
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. What do you know about blogs? The big picture Lets talk about strategy One thing about SEO and SMO A bit of technic Key success factors and how to measure success?
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
What do you know about blogs?
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
What is a blog for you? Whats the difference between a blog and a website? Who had a blog prior to being a student here? What were you talking about ? Who reads blogs?
A blog is
Interactive
Easy to manage
Updated frequently => A publishing tool
Blogosphere, the big picture
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
A non-stop growing ecosystem
+164 M
# of public blogs
+1 M
# of new posts per day
Source : BlogPulse, BlogHerald
Photo : Girl Talk Crowd, kjten22 / Flickr
A non-stop growing ecosystem
Source : BlogPulse, Technorati, BlogAndRetire
Photo : Girl Talk Crowd, kjten22 / Flickr
Who are the bloggers?
Bloggers
13% 8% Hobbyist 18% 60%
Part-timers & Full-timers
Corporate Entrepreneurs
Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011
Why do corporate bloggers blog?
To share experiences and expertise with others To speak their mind on areas of interest To gain professional recognition To attract new clients
Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011
Why do corporate bloggers blog?
Recognition
Sales
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
The impact of blogs
Information sources
41.5%
Blogs
42.5%
Newspapers
Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011
The impact of blogs
Why do people visit blogs?
52%
News
50%
Product reviews
29%
Product recommandations
Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011
The impact of blogs
# of people trusting the information they find on
40%
36% 30.5% 17%
Facebook (published by a friend)
Brands website Blogs Facebook (brands page)
16%
12%
Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011
Twitter (someone they follow)
Twitter (a brand they follow)
The impact of blogs
# of people sharing information coming from
34%
29% 24% 21%
Facebook (published by a friend)
Blogs Facebook (brands page) Brands website
19%
7%
Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011
Twitter (someone they follow)
Twitter (a brand they follow)
The impact of blogs
Where do people share the content they find on blogs?
63%
62% 29% 21%
Email
Facebook Twitter Their own blog
15%
8%
Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011
Comment section of other blogs
LinkedIn
The impact of blogs
If brand product or service information is found on a source, which one tends to make people want to learn more about it?
36%
33% 28% 12%
Blogs
Facebook (information posted by a friend) Brands website Facebook (brands page)
10%
5%
Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011
Twitter (someone they follow)
Twitter (brand they follow)
The impact of blogs
People likelihood to recommend based on
44%
42% 37% 22%
Brands website
Facebook (content posted by a friend) Blogs Facebook (brands page)
15%
14%
Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011
Twitter (someone they follow)
Twitter (brand they follow)
The impact of blogs
People likelihood to purchase based on
37%
33% 31% 21%
Brands website
Facebook (content posted by a friend) Blogs Facebook (brands page)
13%
12%
Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011
Twitter (someone they follow)
Twitter (brand they follow)
Lets talk about strategy
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
What can we use a blog for?
Manage a community
News
Engage customers
Selling products
Brand management
Crisis communication
Share content Websites with clients Loyalty
Share expertise
Events
HR
Brand management - humanize
Why?
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Brand management - humanize
You are the voice of the company. You give it a face.
People can identify themselves to you and what you talk about.
You are on the same level than your readers: a blog is made for discussions, not for top-down information.
Brand management - humanize
Brand: The North Face Blogs name: Never Stop Exploring URL: http://www.neverstopexploring.com Major goal: work on empathy
Brand management - humanize
How? They allow their sporters to talk on behalf of the brand.
Brand management - humanize
How? They allow their sporters to talk on behalf of the brand. They can talk on almost whatever they want, if its more or less related to their activity: passions, family,
Brand management - humanize
How? They allow their sporters to talk on behalf of the brand. They can talk on almost whatever they want, if its more or less related to their activity: passions, family, They created a dedicated brand: Never Stop Exploring
Brand management - humanize
Of course, they also talk about the results of their sporters or the other actions of TNF like charity.
Brand management - humanize
Brand: Baba Blogs name: Bablog URL: http://www.beablog.fr/ Major goal: mothers talk to mothers
Brand management - humanize
How? The blog is managed by young mothers.
Brand management - humanize
How? The blog is managed by young mothers. They have a defined agenda based on readers expectations.
Brand management - humanize
How? The blog is managed by young mothers. They have a defined agenda based on readers expectations. They talk about things they like, in an honest way.
Brand management - humanize
How? The blog is managed by young mothers. They have a defined agenda based on readers expectations. They talk about things they like, in an honest way. The brand is mentionned but is not too intrusive.
Brand management - humanize
How? The blog is managed by young mothers. They have a defined agenda based on readers expectations. They talk about things they like, in an honest way. The brand is mentionned but is not too intrusive. They listen to their community and involve their readers.
Manage a community
Why?
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Manage a community
Be accepted by this community and become the obvious partner of this community. Be considered as a reference on a specific topic. Blogs are an easy way to share a publishing tool between many authors. Use this strength.
Manage a community
Brand: Roche Blogs name: Femmes avant tout URL: does not exist anymore Major goal: make the people talk about how they live with their cancer, how they react to the treatments, what can be improved
Manage a community
How? Content was focusing on woman-like qualities. Personality of the journalist was really important. She was concerned by the topic and the way she wrote was part of the success of the community. Discussions much more than top-down information. Readers interviews, contributions Brand was only in the background.
Manage a community
Brand: Coca-Cola Zero Blogs name: Bamar en Live URL: http://www.bamarenlive.com/ Major goal: Help Coca-Cola Zero be a reference in the world of video games. Context: this is one element of a more global strategy
Manage a community
Context Coca-Cola Zero wants to penetrate and be accepted in the world of gamers. They have created many tools related to gaming. Bamar en Live is one piece of this strategy.
Manage a community
How? The blog is managed by a journalist, specialized on this topic, known by the community.
Manage a community
How? The blog is managed by a journalist, specialized on this topic, known by the community. They provide readers with exclusive content.
Manage a community
How? The blog is managed by a journalist, specialized on this topic, known by the community. They provide readers with exclusive content. He says what he thinks and talks in a way that make readers comfortable. The brand is never mentionned in posts.
Manage a community
Results From a brand perspective, its mainly positive: we talk about Coca Zero in this community even though the brand is not too pushy. From a community management standpoint, people are interested in what Bertrand says, but they are not really involved. Its a journalists blog.
Share content with clients
Why?
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Share content with clients
Give your clients an exclusive access to you.
Give them the specific content they expect, on a people per people basis. A blog platform offers you the ability to easily create and manage many blogs, and to make them private. Use this strength.
Share content with clients
Brand: Homelike Home Blogs name: Homelike Home Espace Client URL: http://www.homelikehome.com/ Major goal: Give their clients access to specific content from anywhere, at any time.
Share content with clients
How? They create a private blog for every new client, with a first post.
Share content with clients
How? They create a private blog for every new client, with a first post. For each appartment they visit, they publish a description, pictures and a map. The client can post comments and get information about his flat search when he wants and not when the hunters can answer.
Share content with clients
Why?
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Share expertise
To show that you are an expert in your activity field.
To get recognition from your clients and peers.
To be invited to talk at events
Share expertise
Brand: Homelike Home Blogs name: Denicher URL: http://www.de-nicher.com/ Major goal: Make themselves be recognized as specialists of the flat hunt.
Share expertise
How? They talk about their daily activity, but also about correlated topics.
Share expertise
How? They talk about their daily activity, but also about correlated topics. They write frequently and dont hesitate to express their point of view.
Share expertise
How? They talk about their daily activity, but also about correlated topics. They write frequently and dont hesitate to express their point of view. Write out-of-the-box : talk about things your competitors generally dont talk about.
Share expertise
Brand: Sage Blogs name: New CFO URL: http://new-cfo.fr/ Major goal: Help Sage be a reference in the community of CFOs. Context: Help Sage make the CFOs look more modern and become a reference for them.
Share expertise
How? They talk about CFOs day-to-day life. They focus on specific markets to provide more relevant information depending on topics of interest of the readers.
Share expertise
How? They talk about CFOs day-to-day life. They focus on specific markets to provide more relevant information depending on topics of interest of the readers. They help to make these jobs better accepted by companies and people (we usually think that CFOs are not funny) and give tools to the CFO to better communicate on their job.
Share expertise
How? They talk about CFOs day-to-day life. They focus on specific markets to provide more relevant information depending on topics of interest of the readers. They help to make these jobs better accepted by companies and people (we usually think that CFOs are not funny) and give tools to the CFO to better communicate on their job. They use derision.
Share expertise
How?
If youre a CFO, you will be eager to promote a blog that describres you as someone funny, not a blog which is too serious.
Share expertise
And also Comment on other blogs talking about the same things, on the blogs of your peers. Answer to comments on your blogs, to the questions your readers ask you. Give your references (other blogs, books, ) => publish links.
Engage customers
Why?
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Engage customers
Promote your customers. Involve them in the life of the company and in the development of products they love. Blogs are an easy way to get in touch with people and get feedbacks.
Engage customers
Brand: Lego Blogs name: Lego Cuusoo URL: http://lego.cuusoo.com/ Major goal: Increase the engagement of Legos fans with the brand. Context: Lego probably expects to grow its community of users toward adults and long-time fans.
Engage customers
How? Invite your customers to create content for you.
Engage customers
How? Invite your customers to create content for you. Customers creations are promoted on a blog / website were other people can comment and vote. Reward your customers (creations with +10,000 votes are created if approved by a commitee).
Engage customers
How?
Key success factors: -be honest and transparent with your customers otherwise you will create frustration. -use this to discuss with your clients and get information from them.
Crisis communication
Why?
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Crisis communication
Be reactive in your communication if something wrong happens. Answer to your customers questions. Blogs are an easy way to post content on the web, quickly and frequently, and (once again) to get feedbacks.
Crisis communication
Brand: Leclerc Blogs name: De quoi je me M.E.L. URL: does not exist anymore Major goal: M.E.L. directly talks about the life of his company to customers and get feedbacks from them. Context: There was a major sanity crisis.
Crisis communication
How? Be reactive. Be honest and transparent.
Crisis communication
How? Be reactive. Be honest and transparent. Interact with your clients and answer to their questions (thats what they expect from you).
Crisis communication
How? Be reactive. Be honest and transparent. Interact with your clients and answer to their questions (thats what they expect from you). Publish frequently.
Crisis communication
Brand: Squarespace Blogs name: The Official Squarespace Blog URL: http://blog.squarespace.com/ Major goal: Communicate about the day-to-day life of Squarespace and the evolution of their products. Context: Maintaining websites activity during the storm Sandy.
Crisis communication
How? Be reactive. Be honest and transparent. Interact with your clients and answer to their questions (thats what they expect from you). Source : http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/01/squarespace-fog-creekpeer1-kept-ny-data-center-alive-by-carrying-fuel-buckets-to-the-17thPublish frequently. floor-in-the-dark/
Internal communication
Why?
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Internal communication
Broadcast content easily to a lot of people. Give a way to your colleagues to express themselves. Knowing that everybody can read them, they will moderate themselves.
Internal communication
Brand: Arcelor Mittal Blogs name: Creating History URL: private Major goal: Help the people working in the company accept the acquisition and better know their fellow colleagues. Context: The acquisition happened in a tough context in France.
Internal communication
220 000 employees + 110 000 new ones in 60 countries Major issue for the company in 2007: how to integrate all these new people
Strong reluctancies at Arcelor
How to create a common culture? Should they keep this communication internal to the company?
Internal communication
How? The presented the different activities of the group.
Internal communication
How? The presented the different activities of the group. Employees were able to ask questions directly to the top management: it reduced the distance between all the people in the company.
Internal communication
How? The presented the different activities of the group. Employees were able to ask questions directly to the top management: it reduced the distance between all the people in the company. They focused on presenting people through a web-show. 3 seasons were created.
Internal communication
Key success factors:
It was accessible to all the employees. People were able to ask whatever was important to them. The people responsible for the decisions (top management) were accessible to anybody within the company. They got 100 000 visits in 2 days. Budget: 340 k => ~1 per employee.
Events
Why?
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Events
Generate conversations before the event. Keep the conversation going after the event (until next one?). Provide real-time content with what happens during the event.
Give a place to the people to talk about your event (thus you know what they say).
Events
Brand: Red Bull Blogs name: Red Bull Stratos URL: http://www.redbullstratos.com/blog/ Major goal: Communicate on how this event was prepared and what happens next. Context: Red Bull sponsored the highest jump in the atmosphere.
Events
How? You do not talk about the brand, you talk about the event. Give details about it.
Events
How? You do not talk about the brand, you talk about the event. Give details about it. Present the people who are behind the event.
Events
How? You do not talk about the brand, you talk about the event. Give details about it. Present the people who are behind the event. The more you get closer to the event, the more you give information about what happens. Pictures are a good way to help people who are not attending the event to immerge themselves in it.
Events
How? You do not talk about the brand, you talk about the event. Give details about it. Present the people who are behind the event. The more you get closer to the event, the more you give information about what happens. Pictures are a good way to help people who are not attending the event to immerge themselves in it. Give the results and keep the event alive with what happens next until next time?
Selling products
Why?
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Selling products
Humanize your brand / shop / company. Show how to use your products. Provide information about the life of the company and answer to the questions of your customers. Involve your customers in the process of developing / choosing new products. Attract new customers talking about related topics.
Selling products
Brand: Archiduchesse Blogs name: Archiduchesse URL: http://www.archiduchesse.com/blog/ Major goal: Communicate on the day-to-day life of the company. Context: Archiduchesse sells beautiful socks in a funny way. The blog is here to humanize the company & promote the funny atmosphere.
Selling
How? Talk about the day-to-day life of the company.
Selling
How? Talk about the day-to-day life of the company. Humanize the brand (once again). A client will be more eager to buy products on a shop or of a brand he feels close to.
Selling
How? Talk about the day-to-day life of the company. Humanize the brand (once again). A client will be more eager to buy products on a shop or of a brand he feels close to. Get information on which products interest your clients.
Selling products
Brand: Carr de Boeuf Blogs name: Carr de Blog URL: xxx Major goal: Promote the products sold on the e-shop. Context: Carr de Buf sells quality meat online.
Selling
How? Show your customers how to use your products. In this case, recipes are the best way to go.
Selling
How? Show your customers how to use your products. In this case, recipes are the best way to go. Use your blog as a loyalty tool. Posting recipes helps you keeping the contact with your customers: its likely theyll come frequently to get new ones, and give their opinion on the recipes theyve tested. Contests are also a good way to involve them in the life of your company / blog / shop.
Selling products
Brand: Madeleine Market Blogs name: Le carnet des fines gueules URL: xxx Major goal: Provide the client with content related to your activity Context: Madeleine Market has been acquired recently and wants to develop a new identity around fine food.
Selling
How? Provide them with content that may interest them. You can talk about your products but you can also talk about related topics.
Selling products
Questions?
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Selling products
Would you use a blog as an e-shop? Is it possible to directly sell on it? If yes, in which situation?
Is it possible to drive trafic in a physical shop with a blog? How?
Others
HR
News
Website
One thing about SEO & SMO
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Best practices of SEO
1. Be patient 2. Publish frequently
3. Comment and answer to comments
4. Words, words, words 5. Broadcast your content
57%
1-3 times per week
25% publish more 18% publish less
SMO facts
Do you remember that
40% trust the content posted by friends on Facebook share the content posted by friends on Facebook share the content posted on blogs
34%
29%
SMO facts
Whats your conclusion
SMO facts
Offer the ability to your readers to share your content!
SMO facts
Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011
SMO facts
88% 85%
67% 33%
of corporate bloggers use Twitter to promote their blog
to bring interesting links to light follow readers of their blog
Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011
SMO facts
Twitter is a good way to broadcast your content. You can use it to see what your readers say to their audience about this content and if they share it.
You can use it to keep the conversation going.
SMO facts
What about a Facebook Page
SMO facts
You have to be able to manage the discussion everywhere. You have to offer an exclusive content in addition to the links pointing to your blog.
It needs to integrate in a global strategy with a clear goal for this specific tool.
A bit of technic
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Whats the difference between a hosted and non-hosted platform
Hosted VS non-hosted
Hosted Easy to create May include a support team May be free Less customizable Non-hosted Technical skills needed to setup and maintain the blog Will never be free More customizable
What are the main blog platforms
Main blog platforms
Main blog platforms
Wordpress.com Hosted Need to pay to access to professional features Wordpress.org Non-hosted Highly customizable
Main blog platforms
TypePad Hosted ~15$/month Support team to help you Movable Type Non-hosted Highly customizable
Main blog platforms
Overblog Hosted Recently evolved to aggregate content coming from your different social profiles Tumblr / Posterous Hosted Poorly customizable Created around the community and sharing features
Main blog platforms
Blogger Hosted Free How to choose the good one?
In a professional context
Ability to setup and maintain the blog Ability to customize it like you want Multi-authors
What is a RSS feed
What is a pingback
What is a blogroll
Key success factors and how to measure success
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Key success factors
Which content?
Life of your company (new markets, recruitments, events) Life of your products (prototypes, advices) Life of your employees (experts analysis, in situ reports Ex: Archiduchesse)
Which interactions?
Clients feedbacks (feedbacks on products, suggestions, critiques) Attract new prospects (know-how, transparency) Get attention from the media (market analysis, trends publication)
Who will write?
Managers Employees Outside people
Key success factors
Who will be your readers and what are their preferences?
Videos, texts, images How familiar with the internet are they?
Can they express themself?
Comments User Generated Content (UGC) Profiles
What is my ecosystem?
Other blogs and websites in the same field
Key success factors
What are the rules?
Content published Editorial responsibility
Which dialog?
Comments moderation Answering to the comments
Which goals?
Audience Participation (employees, users, )
What about blogosphere management?
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Blogosphere management
Its mainly about good sense. If you want bloggers to talk about a new product of your company, you can send it to them in order for them to try it, but: - You will want to make sure that the bloggers you selected are relevant regarding to your product, have an audience, and are eager to publish product reviews - You will accept that the reviews they publish are not necessarily positive - You will accept that they dont want to publish a review about your product or dont have time for it. - You will consider including their comments into your strategy. - You will consider including the comments of their readers into your strategy, and may also want to answer in a humble way to the comments (this will make the blogger and commenters feel valuable).
Now, lets play!
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Lets play
You are working at Arcelor Mittal. You are part of the team which created this great blog when Arcelor was acquired by Mittal. You are facing an issue: the top management doesnt know how to communicate with the rest of the company on whats happening. What would be your strategy on the internal blog to facilitate the communication and the information flow?
Lets play
You are working for Gtes de France. You need to animate a network of accomodation owners. You also want to become a reference for outdoors activities amateurs.
Which strategy would you develop?
Bibliography
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
Bibliography
Blogs pour les pros , Loc Le Meur & Laurence Beauvais, Dunod, 2005 Russir son blog professionnel : image, communication et influence la porte de tous , Thomas Parisot, Eyrolles, 2010 Bien rdiger pour le web : stratgie de contenu pour amliorer son rfrencement naturel , Isabelle Canivet, Eyrolles, 2011
Contact
[email protected] http://digitallift.fr @biskuit
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/.
Master internet Strategy & Web Management
