Disruptive Innovation

Social media and blogs are becoming acceptable communications platforms in the same way as websites - that’s what 89% of the respondents to the Euroblog 2007 Survey confirmed. The survey was published last month to investigate the use of blogs in professional communications. It was co-ordinated by the European Public Relation Education and Research Association (Euprera) and involved the Universities of Sunderland and Leipzig.

The key findings I’d like to highlight are:

• Readership of blogs has doubled since 2006

• Running of blogs has also doubled

• Blogs “offer three clearly marked opportunities: Organisations engage in
  environmental scanning, receive feedback from their audience and have the chance to
  create authentic, personal communicative relationships with their stakeholders,
  which in turn can lead to faster reaction time to issues in crisis.”

• Many PR professionals now regard blogs as part of their daily routine as acceptance and usage rises

The Edelman Trust Barometer 2007, a survey on who and what the public trust, found that “A person like me is the most trusted spokesperson across the European Union, North America, and Latin America. In Asia, it is second to physicians.” In this light, it makes sense that bloggers have become increasingly influential. The hallmark of blogs is that the authentic, personal voice of their authors, speaking directly to their audience, not as a powerful and distant authority figure but as your peer or friend.

This is revolutionising the way that messages are perceived and delivered and what it says to me is that the form and medium of the message is as important as the message itself.

Blogs and social media are identified as “disruptive communication innovation” in the Euroblog survey in that they disrupt the established order of communications. They break down barriers to communication by bypassing journalists and the informaton channels controlled by the powerful and those in authority eg TV, radio, newspapers, magazines. Anyone can create a blog and discuss the hot topics of the day. Anyone can make an audio programme and post it up as a podcast without needing to persuade BBC Radio 4 to broadcast it. Anyone can make a movie and put it on YouTube. And anyone from anywhere in the world can access that information. How unnerving is that for governments and those who traditionally have had control of the media!

I think that these two surveys taken together point to an opportunity for businesses, associations, professionals and organisations to actually get in touch with their clients and stakeholders in an authentic, meaningful way. Incorporting blogging or social media into your marketing strategy can strengthen your business or organisational objectives through constructive conversation with the people who matter and by delivering your message in a direct and transparent way. In my work with a client last week, we looked at how their blog could showcase the mission statement of their business - that mission statement would the foundation of every thing they talked about in their blog. It was as if a light went on for them - they realised that not only could they showcase their expertise around the core value of their mission statement in the blog, they could also re-invigorate their business strategy through engagement with wider networks than their current stakeholder circle.

The Euroblog survey also reveals that there are issues for PR and marketing professionals and businesses around the lack of highly-skilled personnel to work with them in developing and implementing blog and social media strategies. These strategies need to be given the same time and commitment as you would your traditional marketing strategy especially because they require transparency and authenticity. There have been some blogs that have been roundly ridiculed and criticised in the blogosphere for being condescending, false, even racist, and in some cases not really blogs at all.

The blogosphere is a whole new frontier that is exciting and full of opportunities but also can be fraught with difficulties for the unwary and dotted with pitfalls. To help you navigate through this landscape akin to the Wild West, I’ll be exploring over the next little while on ZenGuide some of the do’s and don’ts of blogging and social media and highlighting the good, the bad and yes, the sometimes ugly. If you have any particular queries you’d like me to explore, do add a comment or email me.

Photo: thanks to doctormacro.com