Blogging for branding.

Ref: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2006/02/23/stories/2006022300100100.htm
This Blog covers about my company-eDesigntree (Now part of ID8LABS). It represents early days experimentation of blogs back in Feb. 2006.


Some companies have realised how blogs can make or break a brand and they have tried to reach out to online groups through corporate blogs. "Skillful blogging can boost your company's credibility and help it connect with customers," says Preeti Desai, President, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

PR agency Good Relations has designed blogs for clients in the HR, knowledge management and manufacturing sectors. "A growing number of brand strategists see blogs as a primary source of consumer feedback, research and communication," says its MD, Meenakshi Sachdev Varma.

Customers too can interact directly with the company and get an immediate response to their feedback through blogs. "Instead of spamming with so-called product news and consumer updates, companies and executives can use blogs as a platform to talk informally to customers, vendors and employers," says MSN's Rajnish.

Analysts believe a company can also establish itself as a "thought leader" in its sector by sharing insights on products and services through corporate blogs. Inspired by the `Participation Age' motto, Sun Microsystems' Chief Operating Officer, Jonathan Schwartz, was one of the first Fortune 500 executives to begin a public blog, in June 2004.

Schwartz's blog currently gets 400,00 hits a month. In addition, over 1,000 other Sun employees have jumped on to the blogging bandwagon without eulogising their company or belittling their competitors. As K. P. Unnikrishnan, Marketing Director, Sun Microsystems India, puts it, "In the Participation Age, the right way to tell people about how great your company is to get the people who are making your company great to tell how they are doing it."

Ganesh Ramamoorthy, Head of netmarking at Netscribes, says corporate blogs can make employees feel more involved in the company's projects and marketing initiatives. "More interaction has led to better awareness for the employees across various project teams, leading to the creation of stronger brand image - the thought process being that employees are the most important brand ambassadors for a company."

Google, Macromedia, HP, Microsoft, IBM and Harley Davidson have roped in employees to contribute to their corporate blogs in a big way. In the Indian blogosphere, Sun's employees frequently discuss technology-related issues with Java user groups. (Java was developed by the IT major, which is also promoting open source software.)

Over 20 such groups have been formed in the country. Sun factors in the market inputs from the user groups to ensure that its products meet the software industry's expectations.

eDesignTree, a digital services company providing Web-based marketing solutions, has unveiled its corporate blog "digicopter." Its promoter, Amit Srivastava, likens the blog to "a digital marketing helicopter" which can popularise the company among browsers. eDesignTree's clients in the US and India will also be sharing their feedback on the blog.

To make Digicopter more interactive, RSS feed (a format for syndicating Web content) has been incorporated to share the latest entries' headlines and attached multimedia files. The promoters will keep tabs on the response to their blog. Says Srivastava, "If there isn't a well planned strategy behind any blog and it is left unmonitored, it has the potential of either not going anywhere or just getting bad publicity."

Blogs are useful for measuring the response to online ads and site traffic, points out IAMAI's Preeti Desai. The return on investment can be monitored effectively too. Companies conduct surveys to gauge how blogs are influencing consumers' perception about their brands. Blogs can help increase the search rankings of products as they are linked to search engines. In addition, they can be incorporated into guerrilla and viral marketing campaigns.

Meanwhile, product reviews and corporate branding have proliferated in the Indian cyberspace due to higher Internet penetration (IAMAI estimates that there are currently 38.5 million Internet uses in the country).

Though corporate blogging is still nascent, battles of wits are bound to intensify, as more reviewers and executives virtually lock horns across blogspots.