Here is another good article on blogs and marketing, Making Blogs Pay by Louis Columbus in Tech News World. Louis starts with the comment, For any company looking to create direct, honest and open communications with their customers, blogs are a great tool…” He goes on to cover the pros and cautions of blogging, including the need for publically traded companies to be sure not to violate Sarbanes-Oxley legislation and the many Securities and Exchange Commission rules about forward-looking statements.
Louis links to the SAP site where Executive board members keep their blogs - including Shai Agassi, Leo Apotheker, Claus E. Heinrich, Peter Zencke and Peter J. Kirschbaue. The title of the web page, “SAP Executives Share Their Vision and Strategy with the SAP Community” and the site invites customers to post comments to the executive board members. You have to be a SAP.com member to read the blogs but that is free and quick to sign up for. I assume this requirement both lets them know who comes and keeps out spammers. There are a number of long posts on SAP market positions with comments.
Louis looks at some other company blogs and concludes with this ending, which I certainly agree with:
“Bottom line: blogs give every customer a seat at the table as long as a software company wants to extend the invitation. If you start an executive blog, stay away from press release fodder. Get into the heart of your products and your customers' needs, and use this as a tool for staying connected.”
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