Of late I have been meeting a few MARCOM managers…primarily to gauge the impact of recession on budgets and communication strategies ….for my article. During these ‘Starbucks’ sessions (that’s where we end up, eventually), following were the noteworthy comments: ‘Social media marketing is like an open sea…our communication teams are full of ideas but these appear as ‘one size fits all’ type of stuff. Everybody wants to do everything in a hurry not to be left out and more often than not are all over the place!… we came up with a blog but now we are stuck- it takes so much resources to maintain and promote…how can we make the best use of what we have without investing a penny more…’ . Well then, maybe this post is for you -creating winners with blogs…. in 5 simple steps. Of course, there are not just 5 steps, but these are the building blocks- I’ll be adding more in future posts, but will be looking for your additions in comments

How could companies gain leverage and traction through blogs:

Brand monitoring: Just like you practice what publications write about your company and competition everyday, monitor closely what people are talking about you. (Yes- there is someone out there that ought to talk about your brand) Determine brand sentiment and its triggers.

Employees are enthusiastic spokespeople. Leverage: Social networking unlike traditional media is more complex and its huge. You need all the help you can to effectively track what’s happening. While all employees are not spokespeople, encourage them to communicate what they see and hear about the company. Determine what needs action and decide the next steps.

Engage your audience and communicate – have a dialogue: Be open and use this as a platform to discuss the latest in the company. Structured and consistent messages are the key.

Leverage influential bloggers: There are millions of blogs out there. And probably a sizeable proportion exercise good influence. Learn about like-minded bloggers and make them your brand ambassadors. Engage with them regularly.

Measure and optimise: For accurate audience metrics, relevance of content, effectiveness metrics.