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Blog Blog Blog
July 5, 2007

Although often thought of as something new, the idea of the “Weblog” dates from the earliest days of the Internet, when users would keep diaries of their personal lives on message boards or bulletin board systems for others to read. A tad self-indulgent, to be sure, but this ersatz blogging became popular among the technocognoscenti. As such, blogs formed the basis of online communities (another important trend for today’s media purveyors). Blogging in more or less its current form began circa. 1994. One of the most popular (for better or worse) early bloggers was Matt Drudge, author of the earliest purportedly “news”-based blogs, “The Drudge Report.” (The term “Weblog” itself was coined in 1997, although the abbreviated term “blog” didn’t appear until 1999.)  Blogging began in earnest after 2001. Videoblog (vlog) capabilities emerged as early as 1999, but didn’t become seriously implemented until 2004, but still have yet to take off dramatically.

Blogs are becoming important media in and of themselves. Trade shows and seminars now credential bloggers just like “traditional” (some would say “real”) reporters or media analysts. Political bloggers have quickly become influential in shaping national events, and if you go to just about any large magazine or newspaper’s site these days, you’ll find regular bloggers. Here is just a not-so-random sample: The New York Times, Business Week, Newsweek, Scientific American, and Publishers Weekly. Most significantly (which we will explain in a moment), Amazon.com has a daily blog. And, of course, what you are reading now is a blog. We’re everywhere!

Still, blogs have taken a while to appear on peoples’ radars—a year ago, 10% of all magazine publishers (according to The Industry Measure’s annual Publishing survey) found blogs to be a sales opportunity—it will be interesting to see if this increased when we get our Summer 2007 Publishing survey results back. More recently, in The Industry Measure’s Summer 2007 Design & Production survey, 11% of ad agencies found “implementing/developing blogs for clients” as a sales opportunity. Blogging is gradually filtering down to the average marketer.

While it may seem natural for publications to feature a blog—after all, written content is their stock in trade—the fact that retailers like Amazon are blogging is not insignificant. Blogs serve a dual purpose in today’s multichannel media environment: they provide news (albeit in an informal way, which is part of their appeal) and they help foster a sense of community via comments. Even if no one actually does comment, the fact that it is possible to provide feedback on what is written is a powerful draw. It’s not always flattering, to be sure, and writers who are used to the one-way dissemination of content aren't always happy with this idea. But it’s quickly becoming the way things are done. Will it last? Who knows. But for now, blogging is a force to be reckoned with.

What is the role of blogging for the average marketer? Obviously it’s not for everyone, but it’s a great way to keep customers (or potential customers) coming back to your Web site. The secret, of course, is to provide regular, compelling content. That may sound like a tall order, but it doesn’t have to be. News and announcements from around one’s industry, new products you want to announce, customer reviews (good ones, natch), and even the occasional “frivolous” fun post can be easy to pull together with a minimum of expense and effort. And a blog post can be as simple as just providing a link to another post, blog, news story, or what have you—with or without a wry comment. Of course, welcoming comments from visitors can help build what sense of community that today’s Internet users have come to expect.

It is best to have a rotating “cast” of bloggers, as “blog fatigue” can easily set in, usually after a couple of weeks or months. And nothing will raze the community you have worked to build faster than an un-updated blog.

Posted by Richard Romano on July 5, 2007 | Comments (0)