This chapter is appropriately worded, blogging is indeed “word of mouth on steroids”. The authors provide 3 examples of companies that have used blogging to spread adoption of their product. In fact, it is word of mouth and conversations that through social networks of friends that have catapulted software products like ICQ, Firefox and Skype to ubiquitous use by both techies and non-techies alike. I didn’t know that ICQ started out from Israel and was started by two youngsters and their dad who funded them with 10,000 and in less than 60 years they achieved global acceptance around the world. It’s interesting that they contrast that with other brands that have come from Israel, namely the Bible, and Christianity. The stats are mind boggling, it took 2700 years for the Bible to gain recognition and acceptance, it took 2000 years for Christianity, yet it took less than 10 years. And what about blogging? Blogging has shattered ICQ’s record, that’s for sure.
At first, I was skeptical about blogging, I was like so what? I write something and post, I can do that with a web site and display it publicly. But what I didn’t realize was not the blog itself, but the impact that a blog can have and how its structure and use can hugely influence opinions and become viral in nature, as the authors have mentioned. If you have something interesting to say, people will naturally be curious about it, and read, and comment. That’s all part of conversation, and all part of human nature. And what makes blogging even more powerful is how much it can reach others. This can’t even compare with direct marketing, where for TV ads they say, it reaches a lot of people, but only like less than 2% will respond positively to the ads, say for buying products. And the TV ads cost so much to make and produce. What about blogging? How much does it cost to make a blog post? Nothing, zilch, nada, zero! So you do the math, what would you use to reach your customers if you had an interesting product or idea??? Blogs have also the meme concept, which is viral, you say something, someone reads and then links to you, and then others link to that person, and so forth, and next you know, in less than say 1 day, you could make or break a company.
So, why is it then that still not many traditional companies don’t use blogs? All new companies especially those that are startups, use all the newest and Internet technologies to spread their word. Just like Firefox which has a web site called SpreadFirefox.com. And if you want to get recognition and credibility, the chapter explained an example where a GM vice president read a person’s blog, and even linked it! That is huge, you start having impact on the big-wigs! Isn’t that what you want for your idea or product? Blogs allow for one to many conversations, and the thing is that it’s not forced down your throat. The tone of blogs is natural like you would talk to someone, there’s no hidden agenda, like there is when you do traditional marketing or campaigning like for the recent Canadian election. You talk straight out, and most of the time you would be honest in doing so, because your credibility is on the line.
In fact, I am writing this blog entry on the train coming back from school, after reading Chapter 3 of the book, because if I don’t, I’ll forget. I want to jot my thoughts down and if I do have something interesting to say, I hope that others in the blogosphere will read this, comment, and spur conversation.
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