PARTICIPATING IN YOUR BLOG

The blog had been up for a month before the trouble began. Every day, Arnold had posted a different idea about how companies could use effective signage to improve business. Writing the blog had been surprisingly easy he just followed the conversational format that June had recommended. He usually blogged about whatever came up during the day. Late in the week he had blogged about a sign he had made for Zylon Industries. It was a beautiful piece of work, an enormous banner that stretched across the front of the Zylon building downtown. The sign had been printed in pieces and then assembled on the site. It featured a multicultural assemblage of people and the tag line, “Employees Our Greatest Asset.” On Monday morning, he saw a very nasty response to his post: u suck! zylon crooks defraud investors and laid off lots of their “assets” last yr! i hope they don’t pay u like they don’t pay us. signs stupid. u stupid. Friday 11:12 PM by anonymous

The comment had been up all weekend! And several more comments of the same vein were all undoubtedly from past Zylon employees and all displayed some rather colorful profanity. Any of his customers who had visited his blog would’ve seen this not to mention Zylon bigwigs, who were probably wondering why he would allow such defamation on his blog. And they were a $100,000-plus account. “June!” he yelled. “We have to delete this immediately.” June read the post over his shoulder. Her hair was now fluorescent green. “Not so fast, boss.”

Part 3 of “Blog,” a short story by Joe Flood T he key to succeeding in this new blog-enabled world is to go beyond simple awareness into monitoring what’s going on, respecting the people involved, and participating in the conversation. It simply isn’t good enough to know that a massive community of people who are important to your business are all blogging, reading blogs, and being influenced by bloggers. You need to begin creating meaningful and memorable experiences and conversations with your customers.

DON’T TREAT PEOPLE AS CONSUMERS

Your customers are not just consumers. They are your marketing department, your product development specialists, and the secret to your success an untapped resource waiting to be invited to the table.

The concept of involving your customers in your business isn’t a new one; blogging just takes it to a new level, largely because you often aren’t inviting just one or two people to become involved, you’re inviting the whole world. By inviting the whole world, you open yourself and you business to a great opportunity to create positive and memorable experiences with your customers and to establish long-term relationships, thanks to those experiences. As long as you can remember that people are people, and not just customers or consumers, you will be able to meet them where they’re at whether they are having a bad day and just need a little help and understanding or they are so happy they’re floating on air. Successful blogging means that you treat people as people and not just customers.

MEETING CUSTOMERS WHERE THEY’RE AT

My friend Paul loves to bike. He claims that he spends roughly $2000 a year on his mountain bikes, adjustments, parts, and gear and based on the looks he gets when he’s riding in the street I believe him. Until recently, Paul was a typical consumer: he shopped all over town looking for minor savings here and there, grilled salespeople on the minutiae of mountain biking, and generally was a pain in everyone’s behind. That is, until a fateful day in late 2004 when his front tire blew out on a country road in the middle of nowhere. Paul stood around for nearly an hour debating whether he should hide the bike, walk home, and pick it up later, or stick around a wait for someone to help, but he felt paralyzed by the fear his bike would be stolen. While he was agonizing over the decision, a friendly samaritan came along. He offered to put the bike in the back of his truck and take it to the nearest bike shop; Paul gratefully accepted.

It wasn’t until they arrived at the bike shop and the kind citizen went to the back of the shop to find Paul the right tire and tube that Paul realized the samaritan was actually the shop’s owner. This small businessman not only went out of his way to help Paul, but he serviced Paul’s bike free of charge. Since that time, Paul shops at only one store with no grilling, no bartering, and no hassling. He trusts that the business owner won’t rip him off, will keep him informed, and will be a partner in his passion. This business owner is an example of some of the best relationshipbased, customer-centric marketing possible the quintessential example of a business owner who respects his customer. First and foremost, he respected Paul, his situation, and his passion. He also went above and beyond the call of duty to meet Paul where he was at. If he hadn’t seen Paul standing on the side of the road stranded, he would never have earned Paul’s trust and, ultimately, would have lost a lifelong ally.

When approaching blogging, bloggers, and your customers who are participating in or reading the conversation, respect is the most important component. Once you’ve learned to respect your customers, their experiences, and their input, you will be able to contribute effectively to the conversation in a real and meaningful way. Thanks to blogs, you can find customers who are stranded on the side of the road, and you can offer them a lifelong relationship. The challenge for you is in realizing that customers are people, too, and they deserve respect.

DIRECT FEEDBACK

When you blog, you’ll receive customer feedback in three ways:

• E-mail or comments posted on your blogs

• Comments posted on other blogs

• Posts on their own blogs

You succeed in respecting these people in the same three ways. Each of these presents unique challenges but also unique opportunities for success and for creating positive experiences. Generally, comments on a blog are short and succinct. Some comments may be long, but the vast majority will be simple feedback that comes in at under 100 words. Some people simply aren’t comfortable leaving comments or aren’t aware that comments are even possible, which is one of the reasons having a clear way to email your company from every page is essential. These e-mails will often be longer than a blog comment would have been, purely because e-mail is the type of medium for which a 100-word response isn’t enough; that’s because in e-mail, people provide context, while in blog comments they mainly provide reaction. In a blog comment, someone is reacting directly to your post, sometimes viscerally, often without providing context. This is one of the reasons it’s important for you to respond to the comments you receive regarding your blog.