Oct
25
2005
So what could your organization do with a blog?
Posted in the Category of The Corporate Blogging Book
In writing the chapter called "What Your Organization Could Do With a Blog" I've rounded up all the usual suspects. A partial list:
- Blogging as a complement to (or replacement for) traditional PR
- Blogs as the new corporate Web site
- Blogs and microbrands (thanks to Hugh Macleod)
I queried some blogging colleagues on their ideas for "categories" of business blogging. True to bloggy form, the conversation immediately veered off into a spirited discussion of why putting blogs into categories is a bad idea because a blog is just a publishing tool or content management system, etc. Dave Taylor sums it up here.
Despite the detour into "just content management," I'm packaging up the chapter as "ways you could use a blog." Being specific and showing examples of the kinds of things other companies are doing is awfully helpful to most folks. (Of course the book also explains how a blog IS in fact a simple content management system.)
Oh, and a new (or new twist) category of blogs emerged this week: blogging to create a viral marketing campaign. Budget Rent A Car has launched Up Your Budget. It's an entirely blog-based, four-week, 16-city campaign with $160,000 in prizes...
Hugh Macleod of Gaping Void provided the cool, animated cartoons that illustrate the blog.
You have to dig around in Up Your Budget to figure it out. It's really quite involved. You register to play the game. Then follow video clues to figure out which cities are being featured. The goal is to find an actual sticker in a public place, call the number on it AND submit a video or photo as proof. To win $10K!
The Budget logo appears discretely only in the lower right-hand corner of the blog. Will be interesting to see how this one plays out. Oh and Komra Moriko of Design4Results designed the blog. She also designed debbieweil.com.
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Comments
Dave Taylor said on October 26, 2005 at 05:31 PM
Veering off into uncharted territory is what us bloggers do best, Debbie. You should know that (cough cough). 
Debbie Weil said on October 26, 2005 at 05:35 PM
Hey it was a fun ride. And a good reminder of what blogging is all about. Loss of control and all that. (cough cough)
B.L. Ochman said on October 27, 2005 at 10:13 AM
Hi Debbie: This campaign is my concept and I got to put together the best creative team on the planet for a truly wonderful client who really “gets” viral marketing.
We’ve got one confirmed winner after three days, another being confirmed right now...shhhhh!...and we are accelerating nicely.
Buzz is gorgeous worldwide and we have three more weeks and 15 more $10K prizes to go.
This is the first totally blog-based viral campaign and it has begun to form its own community of players, which is, so far, my favorite part.
Thanks for writing about us,
B.L.
Debbie Weil said on October 27, 2005 at 10:22 AM
B.L.,
Thanks for writing. This one’ll be in the book!
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