Who are your “alpha customers?”

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Chris Anderson (The Long Tail guy) looks at why big companies should have public blogs. Among other reasons, they serve as a peer-to-peer product support channel for “alpha customers”, whose opinion can sway others.

Does Learfield (the company I work for) have “alpha customers?” Who would that be? Our university partners? Our advertisers? Our affiliated radio stations? I would argue that the correct answer is: D) All of the above.

Those charged with knowing and influencing “alpha customers,” whomever they might be…might argue that we are already doing a fine job of this. No argument here. But “deep in my heart, I do belive” we could do it even more effectively with some savvy blogging.

RobotWhich brings us to a DWR moment: Pushing your company or organization to blog before they are psychologically ready or have the will and talent to pull it off, is like showing motion pictures to the indigenous tribes of Borneo. They might cheer and make you Tribal Witch Doctor, or they might stab you to death with tiny little spears.

Anytime you see this little robot, you know you’re reading something that could get me –and you– in a lot of trouble.

The Onion: Writers not fans of Sheryl Crow

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From the Onion: “Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong found his endurance stretched “almost to the breaking point” last Friday by a three-hour, 30-song concert presented by his fiancée, pop-folk singer Sheryl Crow.”

I’m posting this because a) I’m a fan and subscriber of the Onion and b) my friend/co-worker Bob took the time to forward. But it just isn’t up to the Onion’s high standards. Shit, I could have written that. Somebody must have been on deadline.

Sports play-by-play good for music stations?

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Mark Ramsey (Radio Marketing Nexus) doesn’t think so:

“I have never seen any perceptual research support the notion that adding play-by-play to a music station is good, on the whole, for that station’s non-sports listenership or image. If anything, I’ve seen cases where a music station ends up standing for one thing only: The sports franchise.”

The post above referenced pro football and I have no idea if Mark thinks the same thing about collegiate sports. But it seems like something our sports affiliate relations guys would know something about.

J-School head poo-poo’s political blogs

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Cub Reporter Bob Hague sends along this link to an interview with James Baughman, head of Journalism/Communications at UW Madison. Bob says what started as a discussion of celebrity journalism spread to political blogs. Baughman thinks they’re going to be great for political geeks, but is pretty pessimistic about new media’s impact on the electorate. [Thanks, Bobby.]

PR Technology Panel

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The big “PR technology” panel went off reasonably well today. Not my best showing but it’s been a while since I did one of these. [AUDIO: 5o min] I got a little distracted when my nano (which I was using for a timer) shut off. But it could have been worse. And the room was packed.

Tony Calandro did a nice overview of blogs, RSS, podcasting, etc. I added a few thoughts on podcasting. and Richard Callow (www.mayorslay.com) did convinced me that a smart politician with good people advising him/her can get a lot of mileage from blogging and podcasting. I was very impressed.

You can listen to the discussion if you care to download this 23 meg MP3 file. Questions from the audience were not mic’d so I left those off.

I came away with the sense that the PR community sort of knows what blogs and podcasts are… and want to know more. But they have miles to go. Controlling the message is hard-coded into their DNA and the idea of open, unfiltered, uncontrolled communication will make many of them –and their clients– uncomfortable for a long time.

You say you want a revolution

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A couple of weeks ago I mentioned I’d been invited to be on a panel titled, “Revolution in PR Technology,” at joint meeting of the Community Service Public Relations Council and the St. Louis chapters of both the International Association of Business Communicators and the Public Relations Society of America.

I think the idea is to explain “how blogs, podcasting, wikis, RSS, and audio streaming technologies are transforming the world of communications.” The luncheon/panel is tomorrow in St. Louis and my contact emailed they have 260 people attending. Last time I spoke before 260 people was our high school production of Music Man.

Should be fun although I’m not sure I can explain podcasting in 15 minutes. The technical aspects aren’t complicated, but explaining why this is such a (potentially) disruptive technology is like tryin’ to tell a stranger ’bout rock and roll.

David’s coming along and we’re gonna try to sneak Andy in, so maybe between the three of use we can triangulate the panel on our respective blogs.

Squirt Cheese and the Declaration of Independence

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I stand by my earlier assertion that my friend David is too funny for his job. Offered as Exhibit A, this excerpt from his recent post exposing the role of Squirt Cheese in the founding of this great country:

Jefferson was not only a deep thinker and philosopher, but also an inventor of the first order. Having developed a more effective plow, and the color now known as Yellow No. 5, Jefferson turned his attention to the culinary arts. During late nights at Monticello, discussing politics in his hemp laboratory with George Washington, Jefferson experienced what modern readers would call “the munchies.” Washington, unable to chew effectively with his wooden teeth, implored his friend to invent a softened snack. Jefferson turned his considerable talent toward solving that problem, and soon invented a whipped cheese product that he stored in wooden bottles. A pump mechanism forced the cheese out the top of the bottle, allowing it to be applied to breads, crackers, and pemmican.

If you need further evidence of David’s genius, I offer this: Of the nearly 25 million blogs crawled by Technorati, only 217 include a reference to pemmican. I rest my case.

Is your company ready to blog?

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In an interview for the Bacon’s Navigator, Sally Falkow writes that Jonathan Schwartz, President and COO of Sun Microsystems said that blogging had played a major role in the revitalization of Sun’s reputation. Sun has gone from the 99th to the 6th most popular server company, largely because it has embraced authenticity and transparency in its communication initiatives, according to the piece.

Among the benefits of corporate blogging (according to the Falkow piece):

  • Increases search engine visibility and thus brand awareness
  • Offers a direct communication channel to the public
  • Builds credibility and trust
  • Allows you to tell your story, uncensored by the media
  • Makes your organization more “real” to the public

Is your company ready to blog? Check the culture of your organization:

  • Can you let go of the controlled ‘messaging’?
  • Are you willing to be authentic and transparent?
  • Do you have the resources – writers, time, budget – to create the content for a blog that others will find compelling?

I remember (many years ago) pleading with our CEO to get computers for the newsroom. And lots of heated meetings on why we did (or did not) need to network our computers. The idea of email seemed silly at one time. I remember all of this like it was yesterday. I get the same blank, puzzled looks from some of our top folks when the subject of blogs comes up. What possible value could a corporate blog have?

Can we let go of controlled ‘messaging?’ Not entirely.
Are we willing to be transparent? Up to a point.
Will our company ever have a corporate blog? I expect we will, and it will probably happen like this:

Somebody in senior management will be at a meeting or conference and someone they know and trust will talk about their experience with blogging and ask if we are using this tool. Fortunately, when they return to the Mother Ship, they’ll find a cadre of experienced bloggers ready to help.

Postscript: (24 hours later) Not every company is ready to blog. I happen to think most companies should not attempt this. This only works if everybody (top to bottom) is jumping in with great enthusiasm. If there’s any doubt about whether this is a good thing for your organization… don’t do it.

Living Healthy (11) – Depression

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Approximately 1 in 5 people suffer from depression at some point in their life and it can often recur. When is it just “the blues” and when is it depression? There’s no blood test for depression. The majority of people suffering from depression are treated by their family physician. What is Beck Depression Inventory. Recorded January 7, 2006.