Can You Measure the ROI of Blogging?

By Mark Evans in Blogs, Main Page 5 Comments

Since joining b5media four months ago, I’ve spent a lot of time talking with corporate executives about the pros and cons of blogging. Many can get their heads around the idea that a blog can be yet another marketing/public relations tool but they remain extremely hesitant about actually launching a corporate blog. Some of the biggest questions are things such as: what’s in it for us?, what are we going to blog about?, and who within the company is going to write the blog.?

Some of the answers that executives need to embrace blogging may be answered by a new report by Forrester Research called “The ROI Of Blogging: The “Why” And “How” Of External Blogging Accountability” (15 pages, $379). Forrester attempts to apply metrics to corporate blogs such as whether the blog generates media coverage, and how many comments a blog generates. For example, Forrester estimates the 100 comments that GM’s Fast Lane blog generates a month is equal to holding a $15,000 focus group each month.

Forrester analyst Charlene Li concedes it’s difficult to accurately assess a blog’s ROI given there are no measurement standards in place. Still, give Forrester credit for taking a stab at ROI because it could give some companies a higher comfort level when it comes to launching a blog(s). For some companies, especially consumer-facing companies such as GM, blogging is a no-brainer because it provides an effective way to communicate with consumers. In Canada, companies that should definitely have blogs are Tim Horton’s, Canadian Tire and Loblaws, which could have a terrific blog based on its popular President’s Choice brand.

It is telling that one of the most common concerns I hear from executive involves negative comments from potential blog readers because they don’t want to wash their dirty launch in public. While I think there is nothing wrong about moderating comments that are profane, inappropriate or spam, it would be wrong to shy away from comments that offer constructive criticism. That’s what a conversation is all about.

My advice to many companies thinking about blogging is spend the $379 on the Forrester Report….or take me out for lunch and I’ll “evangelize” about blogging until the cows come home.

Update: In terms of why people blog, it was fascinating to see Robert Scoble have a temper tantrum over the weekend after Engadget declined to link to a long video story he did on new chips from Intel. Putting aside whether the video had news value, the disappointment over the lack of linkage puts the spotlight on why people blog. Some do it for glory, some do it for the pleasure of writing, some do it for ego, and some do it for the money. If you’re going to blog, it’s probably a good idea to figure out why you wan to do it in the first place.

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Web Celebs List: What a Stupid Idea

By Mark Evans in Main Page, Media 6 Comments

I’m all for lists. In fact, I like lists because they often highlight people, companies and Web sites that are worth checking out. But Forbes’ Web Celeb 25 list, which features “biggest, brightest and most influential people’ is stupid, ill-conceived idea. I mean, Jessica Lee Rose (aka Lonelygirl15) is ranked #1. What a load of crap! Amanda Congdon is #8. What has Amanda done since leaving Rocketboom, other than getting herself mired in a very public she-said/he-said cat fight, and being Tasar-ed at CES.

There are some legitimate names on the list (Michael Arrington, Om Malik, Jason Calacanis). But what about Rupert Murdoch given his M&A activity lately, Craig Newmark, YouTube’s Chad Hurley, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg or Richard Edelman? Nice try, Forbes but you dropped the ball. For more, check out Thomas Hawk, who calls out Forbes about their photo-credit policies, and the Guardian Online, which describes the list as “pedestrian”

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iPhone Coming to Canada

By Mark Evans in Apple/iPod 4 Comments

Gizmodo reports the iPhone is coming to Canada through Rogers, which is the cool kid on the wireless block who gets all the cool devices first.

Update: According to Telephia, 23.5 million wireless customers in the U.S. have phones with integrated music players – a 5-fold increase from a year ago. While many of these people have loaded music to their phones via a PC, only a small number of downloaded music using a wireless connection. Mobile data services revenue has climbed 88% year-over-year to $3.5-billion in the third-quarter.

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The Golden Goose of Broadband

By Mark Evans in Main Page 2 Comments

To most people, broadband Internet access has become a necessity/utility. How else are you going to download free music and movies..er, I mean quickly surf the Web without a big pipe going into your home? Of course, the carriers and cablecos have caught on to our need for speed so broadband is increasingly being marketed and sold as a premium service. Rogers, for example, charges $52.95 a month for broadband service after bumping up its prices by 16% last year.

Anyone expecting competition to keep broadband prices from climbing even further will be disappointed. In fact, you can look for prices to climb even higher as carriers and cablecos introduce even faster download and upload speeds. The lack of competition based on price has much to do with the lack of competition. The carriers and cablecos realize they have a sweet thing going on so why upset the apple cart by offering discounts to attract customers. That would just be so anti-Canadian and be an affront to the “disciplined pricing” approach.

The question is whether anything can be done to introduce more competition into the marketplace. In Ontario and Quebec, there are broadband players such as Magma that are offering service by re-selling Bell’s network. Rogers, however, has been resisting the idea of allowing rivals to use its system despite being told by the CRTC it needs to offer wholesale access. In an ideal world, wireless/WiMax would have been a competitive element but Rogers and Bell killed that possibility when they acquired Inukshuk last year – something the CRTC shouldn’t have allowed if it really believed in competition.

Note: One of the more intriguing broadband plans come from Acanac Inc., which has a promotion going in which you can get a one-year plan for $227.40, or $18.95 a month – compared with its regular rate of $33.95. I’ve never heard of Acanac but it might be worth checking out if you’re looking for a deal, although it sounds too good to be true. Magma, which is owned by Primus Canada, sells broadband service for $42.95 a month.

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VOIP: Time to Sell on Features Rather than Price?

By Mark Evans in Main Page, VOIP Services, Competition 4 Comments

If you push past the increasingly annoying Vonage ads that never fail to remind you how lower prices are such a good thing, VoIP’s real power is the features such as voice mail to e-mail, conference calls, call logs and call-forwarding. Yet, the industry is still fixated on selling on price despite the obvious need to improve subscriber numbers and ARPU.

So, it’s interesting that VoipReview.org has come out with a study showing the average number of calling features for VoIP service is increasing while monthly prices remain steady at about $25 a month. This is good new for consumers who are obviously getting more bang for the buck. It should also be good news for VoIP service providers such as Vonage, AT&T 8×8 and SunRocket because it could let them maintain or even boost prices as they offer additional services – akin to what the broadband Internet service providers are doing as they maintain or raises price while offering higher download and upload speeds.

This is the kind of news Vonage needs to improve its financial results and the performance of its stock, which is trading close to the record low ($5.65) today. Vonage will post its fourth-quarter and year-end results on Feb. 15.

Update: Om Malik has a good post on Adobe’s VoIP strategy.

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Are you Amped About Amp’d Canada?

By Mark Evans in Main Page, Wireless 5 Comments

Ampdd
Canada’s low/no competition wireless market is poised to get another competitor next month…sorta. Amp’d Mobile will open its doors for business on March 14 with hopes of somehow luring young consumers with lots of disposable income away from Rogers, Bell, Telus and Virgin Canada. “We’re going to be the only people in the market with nothing to lose,” Chris Houston, president of Amp’d Mobile Canada, told the Globe & Mail, who might get an argument from Virgin’s Andrew Black.

Amp’d may have nothing to lose but how much will they gain in Canada? The company, which is trying to carve out a niche with super-cool, multi-media phones, only has 100,000 customers in the U.S., so you have to question how it will be received in Canada where consumers have quite parsimonious despite aggressive efforts by the carriers to boost ARPU.

Amp’d, which will use Telus’ network, is hoping the introduction of wireless local number portability next month will provide it with an opportunity to gain a foothold with consumers looking for a new wireless carrier but not willing to lose their telephone number. The funny thing about WLNP in Canada is there wasn’t much of a hue and cry from consumers for it. But the CRTC decided to institute WLNP as a way to encourage more competition in market where every carrier is committed to “disciplined pricing”, which translates into not using price as a competitive or marketing weapon. Of course, if the CRTC was really committed to encouraging wireless competition in Canada, it would have never approved Rogers’ acquisition of Microcell but that’s another story for another time.

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