2012.12.blogs vf

Blog and blogospheremanagement

Master internet Strategy & Web Management

Romain Biard@biskuit

Founder & General Manager – Digital Lift

Launched Uber in ParisWorked for TypePad (Six Apart) for 2 years 1/2


Agenda

1. What do you know about blogs?2. The big picture3. Lets talk about strategy4. One thing about SEO and SMO5. A bit of technic6. Key success factors and how to measure

success?


What do you know about blogs??


What is a blog for you?

What’s 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 picture2


A non-stop growing ecosystem

+164 M# of public blogs

+1 M# of new posts per day

Source : BlogPulse, BlogHeraldPhoto : Girl Talk Crowd, kjten22 / Flickr

A non-stop growing ecosystem

Source : BlogPulse, Technorati, BlogAndRetirePhoto : Girl Talk Crowd, kjten22 / Flickr

Who are the bloggers?

60%

18%

8%13%

Bloggers

HobbyistPart-timers & Full-timersCorporateEntrepreneurs

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

26%

22%


Why do corporate bloggers blog?

Recognition

Sales


The impact of blogs

Information sources

41.5% 42.5%Blogs Newspapers


The impact of blogs

Why do people visit blogs?

52%News

50%Productreviews

29%Product

recommandations


The impact of blogs

# of people trusting the information they find on

40% Facebook (published by a friend)

36% Brand’s website

30.5% Blogs

17% Facebook (brand’s page)

16% Twitter (someone they follow)

12% Twitter (a brand they follow)Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011

The impact of blogs

# of people sharing information coming from

34% Facebook (published by a friend)


29% Blogs



7% Twitter (a brand they follow)Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011

The impact of blogs

Where do people share the content they find on blogs?

63% Email

29% Twitter

62% Facebook

21% Their own blog

15% Comment section of other blogs

8% LinkedInSource : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011

The impact of blogsIf brand product or service information is found

on a source, which one tends to make people want to learn more about it?


33% Facebook (information posted by a friend)

36% Blogs



5% Twitter (brand they follow)Source : Technorati, State of the blogosphere 2011

The impact of blogs


42% Facebook (content posted by a friend)

37% Blogs




People likelihood to recommend based on

The impact of blogs


33% Facebook (content posted by a friend)

31% Blogs




People likelihood to purchase based on

Lets talk aboutstrategy->


What can we use a blog for?

News Brandmanagement

Engage customers

HRShareexpertise

Share contentwith clients

Managea community

Selling products Crisis

communication

EventsWebsites

Loyalty

Brand management - humanize

Why?



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: The North FaceBlog’s name: Never Stop ExploringURL: http://www.neverstopexploring.comMajor goal: work on empathy


How?They allow their sporters to talk on behalf of the brand.


How?They allow their sporters to talk on behalf of the brand.They can talk on almost whatever they want, if it’s more or less related to their activity: passions, family, …


How?They allow their sporters to talk on behalf of the brand.They can talk on almost whatever they want, if it’s more or less related to their activity: passions, family, …They created a dedicated brand: Never Stop Exploring


Of course, they also talk about the results of their sporters or the other actions of TNF like charity.


Brand: BéabaBlog’s name: BéablogURL: http://www.beablog.fr/Major goal: mothers talk to mothers


How?The blog is managed by young mothers.


How?The blog is managed by young mothers.They have a defined agenda based on readers expectations.


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.


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.


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?


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: RocheBlog’s name: Femmes avant toutURL: does not exist anymoreMajor 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 ZeroBlog’s name: Bamar en LiveURL: 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

ContextCoca-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

ResultsFrom a brand perspective, it’s 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. It’s a journalist’s blog.

Share content with clients

Why?



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.


Brand: Homelike HomeBlog’s name: Homelike Home – Espace ClientURL: http://www.homelikehome.com/Major goal: Give their clients access to specific content from anywhere, at any time.


How?They create a private blog for every new client, with a first post.


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.


Why?


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 HomeBlog’s name: DenicherURL: 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 don’t 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 don’t hesitate to express their point of view.Write « out-of-the-box » : talk about things your competitors generally don’t talk about.

Share expertise

Brand: SageBlog’s name: New CFOURL: 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 you’re 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?


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: LegoBlog’s name: Lego CuusooURL: http://lego.cuusoo.com/Major goal: Increase the engagement of Lego’s 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?



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.


Brand: LeclercBlog’s name: De quoi je me M.E.L.URL: does not exist anymoreMajor 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.


How?Be reactive.Be honest and transparent.


How?Be reactive.Be honest and transparent.Interact with your clients and answer to their questions (that’s what they expect from you).


How?Be reactive.Be honest and transparent.Interact with your clients and answer to their questions (that’s what they expect from you).Publish frequently.


Brand: SquarespaceBlog’s name: The Official Squarespace BlogURL: 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.


How?Be reactive.Be honest and transparent.Interact with your clients and answer to their questions (that’s what they expect from you).Publish frequently.

Source : http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/01/squarespace-fog-creek-peer1-kept-ny-data-center-alive-by-carrying-fuel-buckets-to-the-17th-floor-in-the-dark/

Internal communication

Why?



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.


Brand: Arcelor MittalBlog’s name: Creating HistoryURL: privateMajor 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.


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?


How?The presented the different activities of the group.


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.


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.


• 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?


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 BullBlog’s name: Red Bull StratosURL: 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?


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: ArchiduchesseBlog’s name: ArchiduchesseURL: 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: Carré de BoeufBlog’s name: Carré de BlogURL: xxxMajor goal: Promote the products sold on the e-shop.Context: Carré de Bœuf 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: it’s likely they’ll come frequently to get new ones, and give their opinion on the recipes they’ve tested.Contests are also a good way to involve them in the life of your company / blog / shop.

Selling products

Brand: Madeleine MarketBlog’s name: Le carnet des fines gueulesURL: xxxMajor goal: Provide the client with content related to your activityContext: 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?


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

Website

HR News

One thing aboutSEO & SMOG


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

40% trust the content posted by friends on Facebook

34% share the content posted by friendson Facebook

Do you remember that

29% share the content posted on blogs

What’s your conclusion

?

SMO facts

Offer the ability to your readers to share your

content!

SMO facts

SMO facts


SMO facts

88% of corporate bloggers use Twitter

85% to promote their blog

67% to bring interesting links to light

33% follow readers of their blog


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.

What about aFacebook Page

?

SMO facts

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

What’s 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 factorsand 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 managementIt’s 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 don’t want to publish a review about your product

or don’t 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, let’s play!Master internet Strategy & Web Management

Let’s 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

doesn’t know how to communicate with the rest of the company on what’s happening.

What would be your strategy on the internal blog to facilitate the communication and the information flow?

Let’s play

You are working for Gîtes 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 », Loïc Le Meur & Laurence Beauvais, Dunod, 2005

• « Réussir son blog professionnel : image, communication et influence à la portée de tous », Thomas Parisot, Eyrolles, 2010

• « Bien rédiger pour le web : stratégie de contenu pour améliorer son référencement naturel », Isabelle Canivet, Eyrolles, 2011

Contact

[email protected]://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/.


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