Introducing Blog Technology

Introducing Blog Technology To Enhancing Communication R E P O R T Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 25TH March 2008 “JABIT“ Digital Designs and Ideas Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas Introducing Blog Technology Executive Summary How our company will introduce blog technology to enhance communications between our staff and clients by creating a blog for our business. A business blog will drive our business to a new beginning a change is needed for our company to continue to grow with the changes in technology. Blogging is about changing the way we communicate with our clients. Staying abreast of interactive marketing changes and competitive campaigns can be daunting for our company but having a business blog is a simple and highly effective way to enhance communicates with our current and potential clients. This is especially true today due to the media and advertising consumption changes that have occurred with the advent of the internet and other new media technologies, like podcasts, videos, instant messaging these changes are impossible to ignore every person that uses the internet are doing more and more with interactive technologies. A business blog also give our company and those who work for it, a place to collect and share ideas and relevant information with our current and potential customers I recommend that we implement the strategies outlined at section 5 “Strategy for introducing the blog technology” and start to enhance communications between our staff and clients with our business blog as soon as possible. Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 2 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas Table of Content E x e c u t i v e S u m m a r y ....................................................................................................... 2 1.0 2.0 2.1 I n t r o d u c t i o n ........................................................................................................... 5 P r o p o s a l .................................................................................................................... 6 P u r p o s e ............................................................................................................................ 6 3.0 4.0 4.1 4.2 W h a t i s a B l o g ? ................................................................................................... 7 E v i d e n c e T h a t B l o g s C a n E n h a n c e C o m m u n i c a t i o n s .................. 8 E l e m e n t s o f a B l o g ................................................................................................... 8 E x a m p l e s o f b u s i n e s s e s u s i n g b l o g s t o c o m m u n i c a t e ...................... 9 P l a y S t a t i o n B l o g ..................................................................................................... 9 D e l l C o m p u t e r s ....................................................................................................... 10 4.2.1 4.2.2 5.0 5.1 5.2 S t r a t e g i e s f o r I n t r o d u c i n g B l o g T e c h n o l o g y .................................. 12 S t r a t e g i c O v e r v i e w ................................................................................................. 12 S t r a t e g i c O b j e c t i v e s .............................................................................................. 12 I m p l e m e n t i n g B l o g T e c h n o l o g y ..................................................................... 13 W h a t t y p e s o f C o n t e n t ......................................................................................... 13 5.2.1 5.2.2 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 C o n c l u s i o n ............................................................................................................ 16 R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s ............................................................................................. 17 R e f e r e n c e s ............................................................................................................. 18 A p p e n d i x e s ............................................................................................................ 19 P l a y S t a t i o n B l o g I m a g e .................................................................................... 19 D e l l B l o g : I m a g e ..................................................................................................... 19 B l o g l i n k t o v i d e o s t u d i o w e b s i t e : I m a g e ............................................... 20 B l o g l i n k t o I d e a s t o r m w e b s i t e : I m a g e .................................................... 20 B l o g l i n k t o f o r u m w e b s i t e : I m a g e ............................................................. 21 Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 3 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas List of Figures Figure 1: Play station blog banner........................................................................................................................ 9 Figure 2: Dell‟s Blog banner .............................................................................................................................. 10 Figure 3: Banner Menu links to Dell website ...................................................................................................... 11 Figure 4: Blog Host ............................................................................................................................................. 13 Figure 5: Content example .................................................................................................................................. 13 Figure 6: Ipod...................................................................................................................................................... 14 Figure 7: Video .................................................................................................................................................... 14 Figure 8: Client ................................................................................................................................................... 14 Figure 9: Login.................................................................................................................................................... 15 Figure 10: Staff.................................................................................................................................................... 15 Figure 11: It makes sense ..................................................................................................................................... 16 Figure 12: Appendixes: Play station‟s blog ........................................................................................................ 19 Figure 13: Appendixes: Dell‟s blog..................................................................................................................... 19 Figure 14: Appendixes: Dell‟s blog link to video studio website ........................................................................ 20 Figure 15: Appendixes: Dell‟s blog link to Ideastorm website ............................................................................ 21 Figure 16: Appendixes: Dell‟s blog link to Forum website ................................................................................. 21 Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 4 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas Introduction 1.0 Introduction “ J A B I T D i g i t a l D e s i g n s & I d e a s ” a graphic design business has been operating for over 10 years and in that time we have communicated with our clients through emails and via telephones or face to face meetings. Our current communication system is becoming inadequate and our clients and staffs are becoming frustrated. Assumptions made when our company was established may no longer hold true with web 2 technology available on the internet. We need to analyze changes in this new technology and explore the opportunities for our company‟s communications enhancement and revitalization between our staff and clients by commencing a business blog. A business blog can encompass everything from our client‟s perception and experience to quality, look and feel, customer care, retail and the tone and voice of communications, and more. The more interactivity the higher its success and visitation rates will be leaving our clients satisfied with the enhanced communication methods implemented on our blog. Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 5 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas Report 2.0 Proposal Introducing blog technology to our company to commence a business blog to enhance communications between our staff and clients. 2.1 Purpose A business blog will drive our business to a new beginning a change is needed for our company to continue to grow with the changes in web 2 technology. Creating a business blog for our company shows that we care about the way we communicate and view our business and we will stand out with a blog that's smart, professional and unforgettable. This report provides information on: What a blog is and how effective it is as a communications tool for our businesses to enhance communication between our staff and clients. Evidence that a business blog can enhance communications with two examples of successful business blogs. My conclusions and recommendations as to why our business should implement a business blog. Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 6 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas Blog 3.0 What is a Blog? The term blog [1] is a shortened form of weblog or web log it could also be considered as a special type of website where entries appear in chronological order, hence often giving the appearance of a journal type format it combines text, images and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called “blogging”. Individual articles on a blog are called “blog posts,” “posts” or “entries”. A person who posts these entries is called a “blogger”. Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 7 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas Blogs Can Enhance Communication 4.0 Evidence That Blogs Can Enhance Communications 4.1 Elements of a Blog As an effective communications tool [2] for our businesses the main elements of a blog that we should be aware of are: Multiple Authors Not only can one person add content but we can allow access to any number of staff members so that we have several authors contributing to a topic or a series of topics. No technical knowledge required We don‟t need technical expertise to write a blog. It‟s very easy to use anyone in our company with access to the internet (and permission, of course!) can update and add information as required. A blog also has the ability for our clients to leave comments in an interactive format. Automatically organised Categories‟ and „archives‟ are integral parts of a blog and each post will automatically be placed correctly according to the selection we make. This allows our clients to select their preferred topic of information. Permalinks Every post and every category has its own individual address, forever! This means that our staff can refer to them in articles, emails, newsletters etc safe in the knowledge that they will always be found by our clients. Instant distribution of information Using RSS and pinging, blogs allow us to widely distribute our latest news and information, both instantly and automatically to Search Engines, directories and our current and potential clients. Website links Links to our existing website for clients ease of access. Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 8 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas 4.2 Examples of businesses using b logs to communicate There is no better evidence than how competitors are using the above blog elements to enhance there communication with their clients, the following two blog sites are examples of businesses using blogs. 4.2.1 Play Station Blog Ozymandias a community blog (June 2007) which assists gamers with Playstation questions has announced [3] that Sony has finally created a Playstation blog [4] to allow the gaming communities to more directly communicate with the company. This is a positive development for the entire community. The fact that Sony is willing to have a dialog with gamers directly is a great step forward. The feedback they get helps improve the PS3. Since its development the play station blog seems to have everything required to communicate with their gaming clients from: Subscriptions via RSS feeds or email Capabilities to Search the blog Different section categories: Developer Corner, Find Us, Hardware, Industry Outlook, PlayStation Network, Statements, Title Spotlight with regular updated postings. What‟s Hot Contests to enter Reader‟s comments Downloads Playstation conversations Quick polls Archives Contact us Recent announcements For some great ideas view the Playstation blog site image: appendixes 9.1 Figure 1: Play station blog banner Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 9 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas 4.2.2 Dell Computers Dell's direct2dell blog was a year old as of July 2007[5], and they've learned a lot about their customers and the blog's keeper, Lionel Menchaca, has acknowledged the challenges of maintaining a corporate blog here is an outline what they have learned last year: There is power in the voice of customers and their feedback It's not a good idea to ignore tough issues that come up from customers Blogging can be tough and requires patience, balance and responsiveness. Essentially, it's important to listen and respond to your customers. Otherwise, as Lionel said, "things get out of whack really quickly." It takes time to build your blog and it helps to have "a thick skin" Lionel notes that when they kicked off the blog, they saw 50% of the comments they received were negative, and now a year later they've seen that number decrease to fewer than 25% negative. Over the past two years, [6} they have built some listening posts that open up lines of communication between Dell and their customers. They get feedback from customers via monitoring conversations in the blogosphere, on Direct2Dell, the Dell Community Forum or IdeaStorm. Internal staff collaboration is vital to their long-term success. Without it, they would not be able to keep up with the volume of feedback they receive through social media every day. For some great ideas View the Dell blog site image: appendixes 9.2 Figure 2: Dell‟s Blog banner Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 10 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas Blog links to business website Dell‟s blog have menu links to sections of their website which communicates vital information to its clients with out having to go searching. For some great ideas View the Dell website links site images: appendixes 9.3, 9.4, 9.5 Figure 3: Banner Menu links to Dell website Introducing Blog Technology Strategy Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 11 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas 5.0 Strategies for Introducing Blog Technology “ J A B I T ” needs to enhance communications between our staff and clients the aim is to introduce a blog that will enable staff to communicate more effectively with our clients. 5.1 Strategic Overview First of all we need to encourage our clients to engage with us and our blog [6]: R e a d : We need to create subject matter which will encourage our clients to visit our blog and then read what we have writing about. R e t u r n : once they have visited for the first time, we have the opportunity to give our readers something they‟ll wish to read more of, hence encouraging then to return to our blog. R e p l y : We are looking to encourage dialogue and communication so we must find subjects and a style which encourages them to express an opinion about it and reply to the post. R e f e r : provide our readers with enough compelling, relevant and interesting content and they‟ll want to recommend it to everyone. R S S : encourage them to sign up and receive what we are writing as and when it appears using RSS either directly or via email. By using a blog our staff will be able to keep our clients aware, informed and up to date with all aspects of our business: Develop our position and our reputation as an expert Demonstrate our knowledge, expertise and experience on matters relating to graphic designs and give our self the chance to show our expert position in our specialism. Creating a real dialogue with those who matter We have the opportunity and the ideal tool to start to open up new and very real communications channels with our clients. Brand Awareness An ideal channel through which to put our brand in front of the client and communicate what it stands for either way we are strengthening our online position and enhancing communications. 5.2 Strategic Objectives Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 12 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas 5.2.1 Implementing Blog Technology Getting Ready Choose a blog hosting service to use and set up our business blog site Meet with staff discuss content options keep all staff in the loop Introduce policies and procedures for the blog Assign blogging jobs blog managers to overseer content from different departments Organise blog content – which staff and how it is to prepared for publishing Recommend staff training with an e-course in blogging or in house training Email all current and past clients with our new business blog address Figure 4: Blog Host 5.2.2 What types of Content Informative Information Text content on information and the services we have available. With clients permission completed projects can be viewed by potential clients. Different section categories: Project Development, e-learning, Services Provided, Title Spotlight with regular updated postings, recent announcements. Figure 5: Content example Podcasts Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 13 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas Informative podcasts [7] can present our company with a novel way to build relationships with our client‟s e.g. provide weekly podcasts of interviews with current clients as to the out come and completion of there projects. When done well, podcasts provide an amazing opportunity that gets customers to opt-in to receiving relevant information that keeps them engaged with us. These also can be downloaded in mp3 format and listened to at our client‟s leisure on their ipod. Figure 6: Ipod Video-On-Demand Video-On-Demand (VOD) [8] is a term used to describe video that users can view at their leisure or – on demand. Use of VOD advertising by placing informative videos on our business blog for clients to view. We could have an assortment of videos for clients to view about the different services we have to offer. Figure 7: Video Communications Comments and Forum Section Our clients can respond to our posts so that we can open a conversation with them this also applies to our potential clients, suppliers or partners. Instant Email To requests our monthly newsletters or for project requests Instant Messaging Clients can converse through instant messaging to our staff. Figure 8: Client Client Project Section Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 14 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas A blog project development section could be used for each individual client‟s project. This blog section can keep all clients involved and informed on the development of their project. Login access to this section only for that client project. Figure 9: Login Improves staff communication with clients in the development stages of a project. Improves client contact with staff in regards to questions or queries with direct emailing from the blog to staff. Emails recorded and staff then can act on these emails as required. Staff to send memo reports to keep clients up to date with latest developments regarding project status and inform client to view the development blog section for progressive changes. Figure 10: Staff Conclusion Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 15 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas 6.0 Conclusion A Business Blog is a flexible and yet a powerful communications tool for any businesses and offer a surprisingly large range of options and benefits it makes sense for our business to commence a blog. In fact, once we have all the questions answered about blogs and understand what they can offer, the focus of the questions tend to change from “Why have a blog?” to “What sort of a blog will be best for us?”. Figure 11: It makes sense Recommendations Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 16 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas 7.0 Recommendations Blogging is about changing the way we communicate with our clients. Staying abreast of interactive marketing changes and competitive campaigns can be daunting for our company but having a business blog is a simple and highly effective way to enhance communicates with our current and potential clients. This is especially true today due to the media and advertising consumption changes that have occurred with the advent of the internet and other new media technologies, like podcasts, videos, instant messaging these changes are impossible to ignore every person that uses the internet are doing more and more with interactive technologies. A business blog also give our company and those who work for it, a place to collect and share ideas and relevant information with our current and potential customers I recommend that we implement the strategies outlined at section 5 “Strategy for introducing the blog technology” and start to enhance communications between our staff and clients with our business blog as soon as possible. References Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 17 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas 8.0 1. References Website: Wikipaedis What is a blog(2008): Accessed 19th March 2008 Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog Journal Article: Better Business blogging (2006): Accessed 19th March 2008 Web site: http://www.betterbusinessblogging.com Journal Article: Ozymandias blog archives - Official Playstation Blog Arrives (2007 June) : Accessed 24tht March 2008 Web site:http://ozymandias.com/archive/2007/06/13/Official-Playstation-BlogArrives_2100_.aspx Website: Play Station Blog site (2008) : Accessed 24tht March 2008 Web site: http://blog.us.playstation.com/ Journal Article: Lionel Menchaca (2007 July) : Accessed 21st March 2008 Web site: http://blogs.msdn.com/mthree/archive/2007/07/14/direct2dell-blog-071407.aspx Website: Dell Blog site (2008) : Accessed 21st March 2008 Web site: http://direct2dell.com/one2one/default.aspx Journal Article: Mark White-Blog Consultant Key Blogging Questions(2007 March): Accessed 15th March 2008 Web site: http://www.betterbusinessblogging.com/category/glossary-of-blogging/ Journal Article: Interactive Media content Podcasts (2007): Accessed 15th March 2008 Web site: http://www.houckassociates.com/wd-dat-p.asp Journal Article: Interactive Media content VOD (2007): Accessed 15th March 2008 Web site: http://www.media.com/wd-dat-p.asp 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Appendixes Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 18 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas 9.0 Appendixes 9.1 Play Station Blog Image Figure 12: Appendixes: Play station‟s blog 9.2 Dell Blog: Image Figure 13: Appendixes: Dell‟s blog Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 19 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas 9.3 Blog link to video studio website: Image Figure 14: Appendixes: Dell‟s blog link to video studio website 9.4 Blog link to Ideastorm website: Image Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 20 Introducing Blog Technology to Enhance Communications ‘JABIT” Digital Designs and Ideas Figure 15: Appendixes: Dell‟s blog link to Ideastorm website 9.5 Blog link to forum website: Image Figure 16: Appendixes: Dell‟s blog link to Forum website Author: Judy Beddoni Date: 24 March 2008 th 21