Acquiring Customers Through Blogs and Twitter Objectives
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Chapter 6 Acquiring customers through Blogs and Twitter Objectives • After going through this chapter, you will be able to understand: – How to use Blogs and Twitter for marketing – Advantages of using micro blogging – Discuss the process of leveraging Twitter to enhance business growth Introduction • A blog is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries typically displayed in reverse chronological order • The rise of Twitter and other "microblogging" systems helps integrate MABs and single-author blogs into societal new streams. • Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. Introduction • A majority of blogs are interactive; allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via GUI widgets on the blogs, and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites. • A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. Background and history • The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger on 17 December 1997. • The short form, "blog", was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May 1999. • Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams at Pyra Labs used "blog" as both a noun and verb and devised the term "blogger" in connection with Pyra Labs' Blogger product, leading to the popularization of the terms. Background and history • Origins – Before blogging became popular, digital communities took many forms, including Usenet, commercial online services such as GEnie, BiX and the early CompuServe, e- mail lists and Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). – The modern blog evolved from the online diary, where people would keep a running account of their personal lives. Background and history • Origins – Early blogs were simply manually updated components of common Web sites. – However, the evolution of tools to facilitate the production and maintenance of Web articles posted in reverse chronological order made the publishing process feasible to a much larger, less technical, population. – Ultimately, this resulted in the distinct class of online publishing that produces blogs we recognize today. Background and history • Types of Blogs – Personal blogs – Microblogging – Corporate and organizational blogs – By genre: • Some blogs focus on a particular subject, such as political blogs, health blogs, travel blogs, gardening blogs etc. – By media type: • A blog comprising videos is called a vlog, one comprising links is called a linklog, a site containing a portfolio of sketches is called a sketchblog or one comprising photos is called a photoblog. Background and history • Types of Blogs – By device • Blogs can also be defined by which type of device is used to compose it. A blog written by a mobile device like a mobile phone or PDA could be called a moblog. – Reverse blog • A Reverse Blog is composed by its users rather than a single blogger. This system has the characteristics of a blog, and the writing of several authors. Background and history • Community and cataloging – The Blogosphere: • The collective community of all blogs is known as the blogosphere. – Blog search engines: • Several blog search engines are used to search blog contents, such as Bloglines, BlogScope, and Technorati. – Blogging communities and directories: • Several online communities exist that connect people to blogs and bloggers to other bloggers, including BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog. Background and history • Community and cataloging – Blogging and advertising: • It is common for blogs to feature advertisements either to financially benefit the blogger or to promote the blogger's favorite causes. – Popularity: • Researchers have actively analyzed the dynamics of how blogs become popular. Inbound Marketing: Through Blogs • Instead of the old outbound marketing methods of buying ads, buying email lists, and praying for leads, inbound marketing focuses on creating quality content that pulls people toward your company and product, where they naturally want to be. • There are four essential actions (Attract, Convert, Close, Delight) inbound companies must take in order to obtain visitors, leads, and customers. Provided at the bottom are the tools companies use to accomplish these actions. Inbound Marketing: Through Blogs • The Basic Structure of a – Comments Blog – Pages – Dashboard – Sidebar – Theme – Widget – Theme layout – RSS • Single column • Two Column • Three Column • Four Column – Header – Posts Inbound Marketing: Through Blogs • The Basic Structure of a Blog – Dashboard: • This is the back-end area of your blog where you make changes and edits. This area is only accessible to logged in blog administrators, editors, authors, contributors or subscribers. – Theme: • Usually one of the first things bloggers do is pick out a theme. This is the template or look of the blog that people see when they visit your blog. This is what gives it your personal touch. Inbound Marketing: Through Blogs • The Basic Structure of a Blog – Theme layout: Blog themes normally include a header, a content area, sidebar area and come in several standard layouts: • Single column with no sidebar • Two Column – normally a wide column for content and narrower sidebar • Three Column – with sidebars side-by-side on one side of the blog or either side of the wider content column • Four Column – one content column and three sidebars Inbound Marketing: Through Blogs • The Basic Structure of a Blog – Header: • The header is the area at the top of a blog where the blog title, graphics, and possibly navigational links appear. – Posts: • Posts are where you normally publish the latest update or new article on a blog. • They are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order with the most recent post at the top of the page. • Most of the content published on a blog is normally written as Posts. Inbound Marketing: Through Blogs • The Basic Structure of a Blog – Comments: • Posts commonly allow readers to publish comments on the posts they read. This is where the reader can share their thoughts, connect with the blogger and interact with other readers. – Pages: • You normally use pages for information that you want to share with your readers but don’t expect to update frequently. Not all blogging software includes the ability to add Pages. The most common type of page you’ll find on a blog is an About Page. Inbound Marketing: Through Blogs • The Basic Structure of a Blog – Sidebar: • The location and even existence of sidebars depend on your theme. Some themes even have three or more sidebars. You can add and rearrange widgets in your sidebars using your blog dashboard. The most common theme layout is two columns with one sidebar and on content area. – Widget: • These are the blocks that make up sidebars. Popular widgets include the ability to subscribe to a blog, user statistics, and suggested links. Inbound Marketing: Through Blogs • The Basic Structure of a Blog – RSS: • RSS is an acronym which stands for Really Simple Syndication and it is a simple and effective way of keeping in touch when new information is added to a website without having to visit the website to check for new updates. • Whenever new information is added to the website it is automatically sent to your RSS feed reader where you can read it at your convenience. Corporate Blogging essentials • Many organizations have faced in recent years as they consider whether their own blog content will be of value to their bottom line. • While it depends on your organization and what specifically you focus on and hope to achieve, blogging can be a great opportunity for some organizations to enter the social media world, present their company as people rather than marketing or P.R. and create a unique opportunity to get their name out there. Corporate Blogging essentials • For those who have made bullets and numbered lists the decision to "blog full – Keywords matter speed ahead" here are just – Write about what you a few pointers to help your know organization create – Refer to other blog posts compelling and buzz and articles worthy content that's sure – What do you read to grab the reader's – Be controversial attention. – Ask questions – Grab the readers' – Sharing is caring attention immediately – Check back and often – Breakup your text with Steps to Blogging your way to business success • There is an exhaustive list – Personalize your content of issues that need to be – Promote your social addressed when it comes presence on your blog to improving corporate – Avoid PR and Marketing blogs, but here we've – Choose a Blogging Team narrowed down the key and Process elements that companies – Establish a Content should focus on. Theme and Editorial • Below provided are Guidelines important tips for corporate bloggers to generate business online: Introduction to Micro blogging through Twitter • What Is Micro-blogging? – Micro-blogging is defined in Wikipedia as “a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. – These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, MP3 or the Web”. – Popular examples of micro-blogging services include Twitter and FriendFeed. In additional the status feature of social networking services such as Facebook provides another example of micro-blogging. Introduction to Micro blogging through Twitter • What Benefits Can Micro- • A room of friends who Blogging Provide? can listen to your concerns. – As described at micro- • A room of strangers who blogging tools such as can sometimes surprise Twitter can be regarded you. as: • A digital watercooler, • The bar where everybody particular useful for knows your name. home workers to share • An interactive business office gossip. card. • A room of experts who can respond to your queries.