Nora Barnes, Professor of Marketing at U.Mass. Dartmouth and Eric Mattson have just released the results of their second study of 80 business bloggers:
Thinking Like A Blogger: Is Blogging An Attitude That Can Be Taught?
I was happy to participate in the study, the focus of which was the communication style of bloggers, and what implications it has for corporate bloggers, and corporate communications in general.
A few of their key conclusions that resonated with me:
"An overwhelming majority of the bloggers believe the attitude and behavior associated with having an effective blog can be taught. The challenge, they say, is teaching a business to speak in an “authentic voice” regardless of what communications tools it chooses to employ. These bloggers believe that if businesses practice open and honest communications consistently in all their activities, they will be successful, regardless of whether they blog or not."
..."To the final and important question of whether your business needs a blog, our respondents primarily argue that blogs are not a silver bullet but instead are merely one of the best current communications tools for humanizing a business. They advocate for honesty, transparency, authenticity and two-way communication."
If you want to read the whole study, get the charts, etc. you will need to buy the Journal of the Society for New Communications Research here. The Society's website is here.
If you don't want to buy the journal, here's the big takeaway in my view:
The value to your customers of open, transparent and authentic voice, real listening and acknowledgement, has never been higher. The popularity of blogs and other emerging social media is testament to this. Ignore this trend at your peril.
