Blogging Best Practices - Colin Roper

Blogging 101

Colin Roper

Some useful information on Blogging

Today’s objective

Provide you with the

tools, knowledge, and confidence

to engage our Suite users in a new

and meaningful way

Today’s agenda

• The case for blogs

• Achieving success

• Examples

• Best practices

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

Check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3qltEtl7H8

Nothing

Listen

Respond

Initiate

Engage

How can we engage?

We want to build trust with our users and getthem more engaged towards our Products

Open communicationbreeds confidence

Thanks LEWIS PR!http://www.lewispr.com/blog_seminar_2005/

Blogs can do this

• It’s a way to have a conversation

• We can benefit in many ways:

– Humanizing a corporation

– Enabling conversations

– Creating happier customers

– Gaining Rich feedback

– Pulse checks

– Recruiting users

– Testing ideas

– Engaging the team

– Providing current information

But blogs can’t be

• “Sales-y”

• Long, formal posts

• Trash talking our competitors

• Big commitment

• Unrewarding

• All falls on one person

• Can’t say anything meaningful

Blogging best 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

Blogging best 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

Blogging best 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/

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