Blog Proposal and Analysis Project

Intro to Business Blogging

Summary:

This typed report will be due at the beginning of the last class of the semester. Your project will be to choose an entity, be it a company, partnership, non-profit, professional society, etc. and create a proposal around how the entity can take advantage of blogging. Your proposal will include details on suggestions for overall strategy, logistics of implementation, risks and potential rewards, as well as a competitive analysis for the blog.

Your report should address as many of the issues below as possible. I’m estimating that will take about 8 pages, but if you can do that in less words, or if you need more words, do whatever you feel is necessary.

It is expected that you will engage the company itself in some way to get some of these questions answered. You might offer to submit your findings to the company in exchange for some access to key decision makers who can comment on blogging.

To Be Answered/Addressed:

1. Analyze the current forms of online communication the entity uses. Are they effective? Are they relevant and applicable to the services or products the company is offering? How do they fit with the company’s overall brand, marketing messages, etc? What kinds of content gets disseminated through these means and are there types of content that are conspicuously absent from online distribution?
1. Website?
2. Chat rooms?
3. E-mail newsletters?
2. Do you think the culture at this entity will accept opening up their message to scrutiny, getting feedback, etc? Can you show evidence to support your conclusion? Are there any potential “blog evangelists” at the company who have proven to come up with innovative ideas and take risks before?
3. What kind of a blog is most appropriate?
1. Corporate blog about the company
2. Product or event specific blog
3. Corporate sponsored blog about the industry or a larger topic
4. What kind of content would this blog feature? Who would write it? Would there be any reader generated content?
5. What would the audience be and why would they be interested in this content? Would there be different segments to this audience or is it relatively homogeneous? Are there ways to engage active readers? What is your goal for those customers?
6. Competitive analysis: Where else could readers get this kind of content? Is there any kind of content that people couldn’t get from other sides? (Is there such a thing as proprietary content?) Does your entity’s brand lend any legitimacy to content?
7. Are there any blogs out there that currently “cover” the company? (Provide links and examples) How should a blog strategy include those sites? Create Technorati and Pubsub feeds to track this over the last few weeks of the class.
1. Industry blogs that refer to the company
2. “Fan” blogs or individuals
8. What are the benefits that the company could gain from a blog?
1. Improved consumer feedback
2. Opportunity creation
3. Publicity
4. Loyalty
9. Are there parts of the company that could gain more than other parts? Where would be a good place to create a “starter” blog (a la The Smallblock Engine Blog before Fastlane)? Is the company large enough to sustain more than one?
10. What are the potential risks of a blog? Does the company fall under any kind of regulatory scrutiny? What kind of measures could be put in place to alleviate those risks?
11. What will be the “support” structure behind your blog? Will there be an approval structure for posting? Who needs to signoff? Will someone be in charge of reading and following up on comments? What kind of comment policy is appropriate for your blog? Is this the same structure that currently exists for other forms of feedback?