BAIAblog

Blogs Versus Wikis: a Matter of Balance (Part III)

At BAIA’s event on Blogs & Marketing Six Apart presented the case study of another fascinating application of blogs: one from Boeing’s Flight Test Journal. What an enticing, far-reaching perspective! A gift to many who may never be able to afford such a journey and a generous way of sharing observations and data.

So, if blogs can also make up a common knowledge base, how do they differ from Wikis, object of BAIA’s previous event? Peter Thoeny’s input, corroborated by the other presenters on “Blogs & Marketing”, was once again sharply insightful: Wikis are editable, constantly changing (“morphing”), dynamic through time, often summarize a compendium of entries from multiple contributors and follow an encyclopedia-style format, much like the popular Wikipedia. Whereas blogs bear a set time stamp, (so do Wikis, but behind the scenes), are static, individually-generated, sequential, written as diary notes.

The distinction between blogs and Wikis is important but it carries no bias for either tool, as each is suited to perform best in the proper setting.

This session on Blogs & Marketing was extremely rich in content, powered by speakers who are both experts in, and passionate about, their field and fueled by the participation of attendees eager to learn more about how to implement, improve and advance the use of blogs for their organizations. All for a topic which is not short of coverage, considering there were concomitant events on the same subject, on that very evening.

Need a proof of my words? See the flattering endorsement from Novell’s Bruce Lowry in his Novell’s PR blog.

At the end of the Q&A when attendees were prompted for “one last question” hands across the room shot to the ceiling, clearly betraying an overflow of thoughts and opportunity for further discussion. The swift upper-body movements were followed by an accomplice chorus of laughs and the obvious understanding that the story will continue. “Alla prossima puntata” as we say in Italian, or “’til the next episode”.

Don’t miss next BAIA event, it promises to be simply… electrifying!

Lucia Panini

The Case for Business Blogs: Beyond the Buzz and in the Beef (Part II)

The convincing arguments brought forward by the panelists at BAIA’s event on Blogs & Marketing, proved the case for the use of blogs in business because blogs – if properly groomed – impact directly the bottom line, by increasing revenues and lowering costs. How? By intelligently piecing together the tesserae of the marketing mosaic.

Blogs affect sales directly: they can produce revenue via ads, they help drive higher traffic to a web site, (translating into stronger eCommerce sales, heightened interest for products and services, more click troughs to distributors’ sites, cross selling and upselling opportunities); they enhance dramatically the positioning with a search engine, adding momentum to a well-conceived SEO strategy.

Indirectly, blogs help better understand the customer base; by “listening” to blogs, a company can quickly find out what users like or dislike, even how they “call” a product. Mauro Lupi of Ad Maiora hinted to this point, mentioning the lingo used by cell phone users to refer to their devices in Italy, varies (cellulare, telefonino, etc).

To match the nomenclature used in marketing literature with the terms which resonate with the target user base, yields an immediate competitive advantage. To speak the same language of existing and prospective customers allows crafting an advertising message which will instantly establish a direct association with a product or service.

Revenues of course also originate from the roll out of new products and blogs are a clever method of discovering what costumers may be seeking but is not yet available, or not with the desired package, flavor, or features. Mauro Lupi offered the case study of Mulino Bianco, (Barilla brand), whose team created a new product based on the input collected from its blog.

On the other side of the profit equation, blogs represent an immense source of market research data at a fraction of the cost of traditional market research instruments (such as focus groups and custom surveys).

Blogs can also prevent significant dilution of resources. Business misshapes happen to the best companies, and can be dangerously costly if not corrected proactively. It may take infinite efforts and time to dissolve the damaging effects of a harmful PR spill. Rather than learning from distant sources that customers are unhappy with a product, it is far more helpful to know from a business’ own blog, and within a limited time lapse, what caused a problem, so that immediate measures can be enacted to bring it under control.

Blogs however imply that time be devoted to them and that businesses care about what is posted, not to mention devising action plans in accordance with the feedback received (hence the need for grooming).

So the question arises: “How can a business with limited resources capitalize on the wealth of information that pours in from a blog and put it to use before it becomes obsolete? Is it possible to mine/text-mine the entirety of entries for a given time period, to capture the most salient keywords and messages?”

Lucia Panini

Blogs Beyond Business: Life-critical Applications (Part I)

BAIA is continuing to deliver a vibrant series of business events, where eloquent speakers and stimulating attendees gather enthusiastically, providing a fertile ground for ongoing discussions, partnerships and in-depth development of the featured topics.

The panel, at “Blogs & Marketing” was composed of four experts: Mauro Lupi, of Ad Maiora, Marissa Levinson of Six Apart (also sponsor), Mary Trigiani of Spada, Inc, and Peter Thoeny, of StructuredWikis. Each of them engaged the audience from different angles, offering a synergic, harmonious all-around presentation.

In a nutshell, blogs (Web logs), are on-line journals. They can be used whenever individuals wish to contribute their thoughts to a forum about a matter relevant to their community.
I see blogs as a natural evolution of Internet communication, and an even deeper “democratization” of the Internet, already a platform which – despite the yet unfilled gaps of the digital divide and occasional political censorships – has opened the reign of knowledge and access to information to masses of people around the planet.

In the business world, blogs demystify the top-down, formal approach from corporate to consumer; as Mary Trigiani of Spada emphasized, the target is perceived no longer as a passive “audience” but rather as active “stakeholders”.

As Six Apart pointed out, blogs also ensure inclusiveness, overcoming glitches such as accidentally dropping an e-mail address from a large distribution list.
Blogs leverage on current technology, (visit Six Apart website for a comprehensive suite of tools), to satisfy the ancestral human need to voice one’s opinions, bringing along the corollary right to freedom of expression. We once drew signs on the walls of a cave, now we post via a mouse click; the urge to communicate hasn’t changed. Blogs enable members of a society to discuss, interactively, topics of interest, whether from a personal or business standpoint.

But beyond the confines of a balance sheet, there are compelling reasons to embrace blogs and to understand their scope. Often in Silicon Valley we have a thirst for innovation which resembles pure play! However, many innovations are born of, or will serve, the broader, higher, longer-range goal of improving human life and of providing solutions to impending needs.

This was the poignant case in the immediate aftermath of hurricane Katrina, when – as Six Apart highlighted – blogging was often the only way for reporters to post information on the status of areas hit by the catastrophe, and to relay vital updates to dispersed families, friends and rescuers.
A critical need for first responders after major disasters strike is to maintain real-time communication across rescue teams and with the “outside” world, so that relief efforts can be optimized to save as many lives as possible.

So blogs can play a vital role, just like wireless mesh networks and other tools that prevent or mitigate isolation of the afflicted population. There exist not-just-mundane reasons to welcome the explosive growth of blogs (doubling each month every six months as quoted by Mauro Lupi), also because of how they can serve our communities.

Lucia Panini

Reminder: Blogs and Marketing Event

I would like to remind everybody of the next interesting BAIA event: Blogs and Marketing. The event will take place here in San Francisco Thursday February 8, 6:00 pm, at Cooley Godward Kronish LLP on 101 California Street, 5th Floor.

The event sponsors are Cooley Godward Kronish, and Six Apart, the most popular blog platform. As described in a previous post on this blog and on a more recent post on Novedge blog, the event panel will feature four very interesting experts (alphabetical order):

Marissa Levinson, Six Apart (blog)

Marissa is the Director of Business Development & Sales at Six Apart. She works with Six Apart’s enterprise and business clients, coordinating partnership agreements and sales strategy. Prior to Six Apart, she worked for Bloomberg, L.P.

Mauro Lupi, Ad Maiora (blog)

One of the most influential Italian bloggers, Internet marketing and SEO expert. Mauro is the president of Ad Maiora, an international company.

Peter Thoeny, StructuredWikis, LLC (blog)

Wiki guru, and blogger. Peter is the founder and major author of tWiki, a open-source wiki for the corporate world. He is also one of the founder of StructuredWikis, LLC. Peter is now working on a new book, "Wiki for Dummies".

Mary Trigiani, Spada Inc. (blog)

Mary is a marketing expert, a writer, and a blogger. She works with senior executives to articulate their business strategies and speak and write about them in their own voices.

Program
The event will start at 6:00 pm. We will have about 30 minutes for registration, then Mauro Lupi will open the discussion with a 15 minutes presentation. Following Mauro presentation the panelist and all people attending the event will be involved in a discussion and exchange of experiences about blogs and marketing. At 7:30 pm we will close the discussion to leave some space for networking and to give everybody an opportunity to speak directly with our panelists and guests.

If you are in San Francisco or in the Bay Area, please join us! For registration please visit the BAIA registration page: the registration is $20 for guests and only $5 for BAIA members, just one more good reason to consider to become a BAIA member.

Franco Folini

Business Blogging in San Francisco

It was a rainy day, yesterday in San Francisco. I walked just a few blocks from the Embarcadero BART station to “Le Meridien” hotel and I was soaked with water like a sponge. But the little discomfort was fully rewarded by the speakers of the “Business Blogging” seminar organized by Six Apart, the company the provides one of the most popular platforms for blogs and also hosts the BAIAblog.

The opening session was run by Anil Dash, the Chief Evangelist of Six Apart. Anis has two blogs, his personal blog and the business blog. Yesterday he did a really great job explaining the benefits and the features of a blog. Brilliant speaker, Anil is one of those few people that can describe a well known concept, like a permalink, with such a fresh and intelligent twist that makes you look at blogging with new eyes, new excitement, new energy, and deeper understanding. I guess this is the reason his title is “chief evangelist”.

He didn’t try to convince the attendee why starting business blog is a good idea, in a subtle way he shooted for a bigger goal: he explained why a blog is a powerful tool, and why blogging is here to stay. Smart and successful approach! As an avid reader of Chris Anderson’s Long Tail blog I learn from Anil that 61% of Long Tail blog visitors are attracted by the most recent posts, while 27% are coming from permalinks to older posts; the remaining 12% are visitors reaching the site by searches and similar tools. This means that overtime the archives of a blog become a sort of magnet that keep attracting visitors from search engines and other blogs.

Another aspect of Anil brilliant presentation I enjoyed is the way he looks at the basic parts of a blog like, for example, the date displayed at the bottom of each post in a blog. Anil calls the date a “social contract” between the author and the reader. I agree, this is a very important aspect of business blogging: every post comes with the name of the author and the posted date attached to it. From the business point of view, this really qualifies the blog as a better communication tool, when compared to a standard web site!

I would like to share more of what I learn and more of my thoughts, but I have to stop here. If you are interested in Business Blogging, I recommend looking at the slides of another great speaker of the seminar, Rohit Bhargava Vice President of Interactive Marketing for Ogilvy Public Relations. The slides are available on his blog.

Franco Folini

Wiki event in Fremont

Yesterday I attended a technical event in Fremont organized by SIG web. The event was about wiki, the technology that is behind the popular wikipedia and that is becoming an important collaboration tool for the small to large companies. The invitation came from Peter Thoeny, the founder of Twiki.org, co-founder of StructuredWikis LLC, and also the moderator of the event. I met Peter on August 2006 at an event at Swissnex co-sponsored by BAIA.
Peter is one of the few people that can talk about a topic apparently trivial as the wiki without being trivial. Having Peter as moderator was great, but we miss the opportunity to have him sharing his opinions and vision about the wiki technology. The event combined an impressive group of wiki experts, including Ben Elowitz (Wetpaint), Jon Silvers (Atlassian Software Systems), Jonas M Luster (SocialText) and Scott Johnston (JotSpot). Almost hidden among the public was Jeremiah Owyang blogging the event live.

I’m considering organizing a similar event with BAIA sometime in the next months. Do you think wiki as topic is too vertical to attract non-technical people or the concept of wiki is becoming mainstream and more people would like to know more about it?

Franco Folini