Building on the buzz of blogging
Brand owners are now recognising the influence of blogs, but apprehension and a lack of understanding mean they are failing to harness the power effectively. By Rufus Jay
Brands are starting to grasp the power that blogs wield and have been tracking them to monitor their reputations. However, very few brands are actually using this valuable insight to design and plan their marketing campaigns.
Blogs offer brands unprecedented interaction with consumers. Nielsen Online tracks around 77 million blogs globally, with tens of thousands set up every day. ComScore say the top 20 UK blogging sites had 33.2 million visitors in February, while the world’s top 20 blogging sites had 822.9 million visitors.
A blog’s power depends entirely on the influence it exercises. Alex Miller, head of i-Level’s social media unit Jam, says brands must identify which blogs are powerful and relevant.
Some brands interact over blogs, while some track reputation and gauge how many bloggers are talking about their brand versus their competitors. However, Miller points out that most brands are still either ignoring blogs completely or are scared of them.
“Most brands don’t know how to use blogs and they’re worried they can’t control the conversation or dialogue,” says Miller. “They don’t quite know where to start in order to harness the power of blogs.”
But brands do have to be cautious, according to Miller. “In some cases, if your audience talks positively about your brand, it’s probably detrimental to dive in and join the conversation,” he says.
Will McInnes, managing director of social media consultancy Nixon McInnes, says that blogs are only for organisations that want to improve their reputation online by being open, honest and helpful to their market. “However, this is tongue in cheek,” he says. “Far fewer organisations than you’d think are really up for and able to do that.”
The majority of brands who currently use blogs feel they should have a presence in this space, but tend to use them as an extension of their website, according to Profero digital strategist Jamie Coomber.
“Many brands are using blogs as another means to talk about products and services, while offering little insight into the company,” she says. “A blog should offer a glimpse into the author’s thoughts and sources of inspiration, and sadly many brands feel uncomfortable allowing the author that freedom.”
RMG Connect head of digital Nima Yassini says brands are using blogs “on a defensive or reactive basis. It’s used for crisis management purposes, as an early warning system for PR purposes and search marketing. This has been going on for some time and I wouldn’t say it’s innovative.”
Fear and misunderstanding
Fear of blogs and a lack of understanding appear to be holding brands back, as brand innovation in the space is left wanting. Yassini says the planning potential offered by blogs is being overlooked. “Why only use them reactively when they could be viewed early on in campaign planning stages, using customer insight to shape the undertaking of the campaign?”
Yassini says blogs can be used to gauge market temperature and to track what tones people use when discussing products. He says this can provide insight into what tone the copy of a campaign should be in. Yassini adds that negative product opinion in the blogosphere can be identified and used in determining when to launch campaigns.
“Financial services companies can use blogs to explore public opinion about current creditcard rates and offers,” says Yassini. “This can then help them to package their own card launches in an appealing tone to their target audience, taking into consideration concerns that they know are out there.”
Coomber thinks that few brands even monitor blogs, and that only a “handful” of those who do are actually commenting and entering into a two-way conversation with the author.
Last year, Chanel decided to engage with bloggers and contacted the top ten global fashion bloggers, offering them the opportunity to visit their Paris head office, experience a tour of the building and a fashion show to provide an insight into the company.
“This is such a great example of engaging in a two-way conversation with your audience,” says Coomber. “Offering experiences to bloggers that money can’t buy is of huge value, as this in turn offers a credible and compelling story for their readers.”
In August 2006, i-Level helped Gillette use the blogosphere to launch its Fusion razor. After the press launch, it was assumed journalists would investigate Fusion online. The problem was no there were no existing product reviews, just spoofs.
The underground nature of blogs make them fertile ground to mock companies, and big corporations are easy targets. Gillette wanted to create positive feedback in the blogosphere so that when journalists searched the product, they found good reviews. Influential male-grooming bloggers were chosen and 450 were sent the product. They were invited to review Fusion, but it was made clear they were under no obligation to write anything, or be positive. Within two weeks over 1 million bloggers had seen comments about Fusion, at a cost per unique user of £0.03. There were 4,000 blog postings and 82% of feedback was positive.
Limited tools
Brands use a number of different buzz-monitoring tools and technology, such as Bloppy and Co.mments, among others, to monitor blogs. Yassini says many brands use Google’s alerts system, but adds that this is limited.
“It can’t probe into the conversation and look at details such as how far the influence of the dialogue is stretching, who the originator is and how many conversations have influenced other conversations,” says Yassini.
He adds that there is a “major” issue with tracking blogs, in that technology cannot detect sarcasm. “So what may sound positive could be very negative,” he points out. “It is important to couple technology with detailed ‘human’ analysis to ensure all factors are picked up.”
Miller agrees that the information returned by blog tracking needs human scrutiny. “Knowing what to ignore is as important as what is included,” he says. “It’s about leading you to something interesting, about and for the brand.”
Digital Outlook director of buzz Katie Barber says each tool has its merits, but there isn’t one that meets all needs. “Before applying a monitoring tool,” she says. “It’s important that you really understand what you are tracking and what you want to use the information for.”
Blog tracking has, arguably, exceeded brand owners’ current ability to use the information it delivers, according to Barber: “The challenge lies less in improving the quality of tracking, and more in marketing teams adjusting their processes to incorporate the insight it delivers.”
McInnes believes the promises being made by technology companies and the buzz-monitoring firms are “overblown” in light of the industry’s relative immaturity and lack of any coherent industry-agreed standards. “Any promise which starts by saying, ‘Our computers can tell you everything that people are saying about you online’ doesn’t wash with me,” he says.
Coherent view
Nonetheless, McInnes says many of the simple, free tools can be used in conjunction with one another by an experienced digital marketer to put together a coherent view of who is influential, what issues are popular and what the “news” agenda of the given period is.
The potential is there for brands to utilise this information, but as the practise of feeding blog tracking into the campaign planning process is in its infancy, this means it could take a few years to become a mainstream activity.
However, some brands are starting to use the information blogs can provide to plan campaigns. For Chorion’s future TV release of Olivia The Piglet, Digital Outlook studied specific topics in US and UK blogs to help shape the tone and direction of the campaign.
“Using the analogy of driving a car, if the initial campaign plan is your road map, blog tracking is like adding satellite navigation,” Barber points out. “It can tell you where you are mid journey, so you can determine if you’re on the right route or if you need to revise your strategy. By tracking other blogs, it even tells you what route competitive cars are taking.”
Observers agree that there is no reason why brands shouldn’t use blog tracking information to plan marketing activity.
“From good online tracking flows a clearer understanding of consumers’ needs and wants, particularly of unmet needs that can be addressed”, says McInnes. “There are also opportunities to harvest information that is tracked from the blogosphere, aggregate it and wrap it up in new ways that help consumers, with the follow-on benefits of increased brand profile and consumer engagement.”
Prepare for a challenge
But Barber says it is important not to underestimate the challenges in changing well-planned marketing campaigns mid journey. “Especially in large organisations when strategies are agreed and signed off by a committee,” she says. “Plus it’s still fair to say that a busy marketing professional works across so many different mediums that this is another specialist area they need to add to their expertise, and this can be a real challenge.”
The use of blog monitoring information in the formation of campaigns is small now, but beginning to grow. The future challenge lies in changing the working practices of marketers in order to incorporate blog-tracking information into the campaign planning stage.
