As an evangelist of the business benefits of blogging, I’ve been interested by the wave of posts around the blogosphere on Charlene Li’s new Forrester reports on the ROI of Blogging. When one of the major technology research companies adds it’s name to these kind of findings, it will add credibility for the topic as a whole. There are actually two reports:
“The ROI Of Blogging: The “Why” And “How” Of External Blog Accountability”.
and
“Calculating The ROI Of Blogging: A Case Study, A Look At The ROI of General Motor’s FastLane Blog”
and
“Calculating The ROI Of Blogging: A Case Study, A Look At The ROI of General Motor’s FastLane Blog”
These reports are available to Forrester clients, or anybody prepared to shell out $379 and $279. However, some of the key findings are quoted by Charlene, and some of the others who have had access to the reports. In her blog post she says:
“We developed a framework that allows companies to track and measure the benefits of external blogs. From the companies and individuals we spoke with, the most common benefits are; increased brand visibility, savings from customer insights, reduced impact from negative user-generated content, and increased sales efficiency. The hard part is coming up with metrics that reflect these benefits, and more importantly, how to value those metrics.”
Here’s the key table from the report:
These are good indicators, although in his analysis, Dennis is sceptical about the value of the PR angle. For me, and for any small business trying to get some press exposure and build their brand, this is one of the easiest components to justify. As an example, a year ago one of my blog posts, reporting on a Salesforce.com event, got picked up and reported by AccountingWEB one of my target publications for advertising and getting noticed. The journalist in question rang me up to apologise, as he had lifted most of my words. Since he had mentioned me in the first sentence, and my company in the second, I didn’t care what he did with my text! Now to get a name check like this in the traditional way I would need to spend £2-3000 a month for 6 months with a decent PR firm to get my name and brand picked up by the mainstream media. For me it was a few pounds a month hosting this blog, and the time and effort required to write it.
Earlier in the first report Charlene comments:
“Many large companies stand on the brink of blogging, yet they are unwilling to take the plunge. Others, having dove in early, now face the challenge of managing existing blogs without the ability to show that they effectively support business goals. While blogging’s value can’t be measured precisely, marketers will find that calculating the ROI is easier than it looks. Following a three-step process, marketers can create a concrete picture of the key benefits, costs, and risks that blogging presents and understand how they are likely to impact business goals. This, in turn, enables marketers to answer the key questions, such as whether to blog or not to blog, or to make smart choices about an existing blog.”
The report and the metrics above will help make more businesses realise that they need to incorporate blogging in to their marketing mix, and that has to be good news.
Here are some other views on Charlene’s report from around the blogs:
Dennis Howlett’s analysis from the accounting profession’s point of view: AccMan Pro
Dan Farber’s view: Between the Lines
Drew B’s take: Drew B’s take on Tech PR
Renee Blodgett’s take from a corporate communication’s point of view: down the avenue
Minic Rivera’s take: The Blogging Times
Todd Tweedy’s take from an online marketer’s point of view: WordSpreadsQuickly.com
Tris Hussey’s view on: Business Blog Consulting
Steve Rubel’s take: Micropersausion
Kevin O’Keefe’s take from a Law firm’s point of view: Real Lawyers Have Blogs
Dan Farber’s view: Between the Lines
Drew B’s take: Drew B’s take on Tech PR
Renee Blodgett’s take from a corporate communication’s point of view: down the avenue
Minic Rivera’s take: The Blogging Times
Todd Tweedy’s take from an online marketer’s point of view: WordSpreadsQuickly.com
Tris Hussey’s view on: Business Blog Consulting
Steve Rubel’s take: Micropersausion
Kevin O’Keefe’s take from a Law firm’s point of view: Real Lawyers Have Blogs
Matt Dickman’s view, as a Technology Strategist at an interactive marketer: Techno//Marketer
Mark Evans writing in the online, European, citizen media newspaper: AGORAVAX
Carolyn Elefant’s view from: LAW.COM Blog Network
Darren Barefoot’s take on: DarrenBarefoot.com
Mark Evans‘ Canadian view at: markevanstech.com
Nate Anderson from: ars technica
John Cass‘ PR and web 2.0 view: PR Communications
Ron Shelvin’s view: Marketing ROI: Whims from Ron Shevlin
Sunil Shibad’s marketing view from Mumbai: Advertising & marketing made easy
Joe Katzman from: Winds of Change.net
David Phillips public relations practitioner’s view: LeverWealth
Gil Revgi from: Nano-Marketing
Daniel Scocco’s take at: Innovation Zen
Tommi Vilkamo of Nokia’s: Tommi’s S60 applications blog
Greg Balanko-Dickson: Business Performance Coaching
Jeremiah Owyang’s view on: Web Strategy by Jeremiah
Wayne Smallman of Barnsley, Yorkshire’s take (I only mention his location, because it’s great to find another Brit blogging about this stuff): Blah, Blah! Technology
Cynthia Trevino at: Small Company, Big Image!
Mario Sundar’s view on: Marketing Nirvana
Mario Sundar expands his thoughts with some great links on: MarketingProfs: DailyFix
Debbie Weil adds her analysis, more great links, and undertakes a survey at: BlogWrite for CEOs
Update: In my own story above on the ROI of blogging, I couldn’t find the link to the AccountinWEB reinterpretation of my SfDC blog post a year ago. Thanks to John Stokdyk for helping me out - so now it’s added above.
Technorati Tags : Enterprise+Iregulars, blogging, Charlene+Li, Forrester, ROI
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