2. Today’s objective Provide you with thetools, knowledge, and confidenceto engage our Suite users in a new and meaningful way
3. Today’s agenda The case for blogs Achieving success Examples Best practices
4. We’re facing a new challenge The conversation is happening with or without you Users will form their own opinions of your product, and they will talk Word-of-mount (WOM) is more important than ever 78% rank consumer recommendations as the most credible form of advertising” – Nielson
5. Check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3qltEtl7H8
6. Open communicationbreeds confidence Engage Initiate Conversation Respond Trust Listen Nothing How can we engage? We want to build trust with our users and getthem more engaged towards our Products Thanks LEWIS PR! http://www.lewispr.com/blog_seminar_2005/
16. Bloggingbest practices (part 1) Make it fun Be authentic Keep it informal - a blog is not a press release Talk about what’s on your mind & tell current stories If you’re in a bad mood (upset, angry, stressed), don’t write Consider the reader Keep it short (include links, pics, bullets, etc.) Use terminology that users understand Answer “What’s in it for the user?” Be relevant Post regularly Post fast on good or bad news
17. Bloggingbest practices (part 2) Stimulate conversation Respond to (some) comments Ask questions Involve the team (harness their passion) Be an evangelist Create other evangelists Consider implications Under promise, over deliver (manage expectations through entire message) Apply the “Wall Street Journal” test Don’t talk smack about competitors Don’t contradict other Intuit employees
18. Bloggingbest practices (part 3) Use your resources: Find Internal blogging “Coaches” Does anyone at your company blog (personally or professionally?) Reach out to bloggers you like, ask for advice Use your resources: read great blogs TechCrunch: http://www.techcrunch.com/ ReadWriteWeb: http://www.readwriteweb.com/ Freshbooks: http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/ 37 Signals: http://productblog.37signals.com/ Wesabe: http://blog.wesabe.com/ Salesforce.com: http://blogs.salesforce.com/ Technorati Blog Rankings: http://technorati.com/ More examples of good corporate Blogs: http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/08/08/15-companies-that-really-get-corporate-blogging/
19. If you can send an email, you can publish a blog post… it doesn’t have to be perfect!
20. Activity: Draft a blog post Instructions: Draft a blog post Use your brainstorm list or think of a new topic Time limit: 5 minutes Remember our best practices: Make it fun Consider the reader Be relevant Stimulate conversation Consider implications Involve the team Use your resources
