Measuring Success for Corporate Blogs
Measuring Success for Corporate Blogs
Making status and progress of corporate blogging activities visible and comparable Nils Koenig
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Measuring Success for Corporate Blogs
Basis
Corporate Blogs and Success Criteria: A model for explanation (German)
Matthias Schwenk www.bwlzweinull.de
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Measuring Success for Corporate Blogs
Summary
The model by Matthias Schwenk
•
defines three dimensions of corporate blogs and their extremes:
• • •
Message (central, peripheral) Opinion (critical, uncritical) Networking (high, low)
•
displays corporate blogs (in dimensions) using scroll bars.
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Measuring Success for Corporate Blogs
Goal
Enhancement of the model in order to display success of blogging in relation to the company‘s expectation (goals)
• •
make individual blogs comparable to other corporate blogs
Goals
Success
Status
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Measuring Success for Corporate Blogs
Approach
3 Steps
1. 2. 3.
Definition of expectation values Evaluation of the current status Weighting of dimensions
Calculation of the „Success Value“
Expectation
Status
Weighting
Success
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Measuring Success for Corporate Blogs
Expectation
The dimensions are displayed on scroll bars as set up by Schwenk. In addition a scale is introduced – here a scale from 0 to 10, where „0“ and „10“ display the both extremes (not a valuation).
Message
central
0 1 2
peripheral
3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10
Consequently, the expectation values for all three dimension are to be derived (estimated). External users may define an expectation value based on the blog type (marketing-blog, insider-blog, …). Message
central
0 8 10
peripheral
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Measuring Success for Corporate Blogs
Current Status
To make success visible, the current status needs to be evaluated. Transferred to the scroll bars, one receives the following picture for the Daimler-Blog: Message
central
0 8 9 10
peripheral
Opinion
critical
0 7 8 10
uncritical
Networking
high
0 5 9 10
low
Expectation
Current Status
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Measuring Success for Corporate Blogs
Weighting
Depending on the type of blog, the dimensions may have varying effects on the blog‘s success. Therefore, a weighting mechanism is introduced.
For an insider-blog, one could base the evaluation on the following weights:
• • •
Message 0,5 Opinion 0,25 Networking 0,25
For marketing-blogs the picture should look different, as e.g. the general opinion is more standardized while networking is the more important.
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Measuring Success for Corporate Blogs
Conclusion
If the derived values for expectation and current status are now set in relation and appropriately weighted, the picture for the Daimler-Blog looks as follows:
Dimension Message Expectation 8
Current Status
9
Success Factor
0.875
Weight Factor
0.5
Success 0.4375
Opinion
7
8
0.857
0.25
0.2143
Networking
5
9
0.2
0.25
0.05
The weighted success value is 70.2% Expectations have been met with 70.2%
Sum:
0.702
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Measuring Success for Corporate Blogs
Interpretation
Advantages
•
Because of the relative evaluation and the weighting all corporate blogs (or their relative success) become comparable.
Using defined standards for expectations and weighting (e.g. based on dimensions), the system may be used by outsiders.
•
Disadvantage
• •
Subjectivity: the value definition is based on personal valuation. User opinion as ultimate indicator is not included (in addition to the concept-based approach a user-oriented approach is needed).
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