Measuring a blog’s overall performance is like saying that you only need WOM to advertise, simply because it’s the first thing people cite as reference when people consciously think of why they purchase a good or service. It’s all interrelated: purchased advertising, natural media placements, and word-of-mouth (I feel that blogging falls into this category, otherwise it’s not a blog, and just more paid advertising, and will fail in generating anything).

The fact that relationships *are* intangible is what’s driving Alan’s question in this post. In a world of measuring everything, where does a blog fit in? How does it help meet sales/production goals? Does it? Does it even have to?

The only way to see the benefit of corporate blogging is to look beyond the numbers.

You are right on with your comments!

I tend to want to disagree with the constant need for metrics. It’s the bottom line mentality, one that I believe will get in the way of genuine corporate blogging, that trust and authencity that companies are after? I don’t think it’s going to come from measuring stuff like the number of minutes spent commenting or creating posts or what have you as tangible cost. Blogs are a conversation, a dialogue, a form of viral marketing of ideas, if you will, all interconnected. It’s early days yet, just as the internet is only now showing it’s true potential for revenue generation, I believe that firms should focus on building the blogs first, and later, once established, revenue streams will be discovered. Indeed, you are building a brand, first, i.e. establishing a bond between you and your reader, engaging their interest and building a long term relationship. Business will happen. But by measuring and wanting immediate profits you are hampering the true potential of a blog to build your reputation or establish your credentials.

Relationships are intangible. Using a metaphor here, ROI in the tangible terms you mention are the equivalent of costing the gifts and the price of dinners on a date, no? My blog has generated no revenue that I know of, but it has led to tangible opportunities for enhancing my personal brand that I can directly point to and say, that, that could not have happened were I not writing a blog.

I like your last graph, though, because so many companies miss the boat on building relationships. People (not simply, “customers”) don’t like to be spoken to in marketspeak. They want a human conversation, even with a company that is trying to sell them something. The company that makes the person the most comfortable will win the business. Some industries are much more high stakes in this arena than others, but it’s still a good goal.

How do blogs accomplish this? By stretching that “seven seconds” into minutes. We’ve accepted in online advertising that we have less than a second to cause someone to click. With a blog, we have a chance to capture an audience that won’t click an ad, even if you paid them. Talk to them, tell them what’s really behind your sales pitch, why you think you’re better, and how much you care about their business. Only then will that additional segment buy.

By the way, does anyone have any numbers on how many people actuallyl click? For example, of the x-million surfers who visit sites with ads, how many click? I can track my stuff once it’s clicked, but have heard all kinds of opinion of eyeballs that wander away.

The “meatspace” analog would be a booth at a trade show. You use games, giveaways, live presenters and stand up comedy, what have you, to compete for attention. People enter booth, enjoy, win prizes, hang about and listen to your presentation, some may turn out to be business, most won’t. Companies consider ROI for booths in terms of numbers of business cards, “leads”, survey forms filled out, a chance to “press the flesh”. But trade show professionals ‘know’ that the real ROI is in the presence, it’s noted if a big player doesn’t show. I’d say it’s all part of brand building.

At this early stage, you’re looking at a direct ROI, such as number of bottles of wine sold or suits measured. Eventually, a blog will as much be a “must” presence, as booths are in Comdex. Of course, trade show participation itself has gone down over the past 7 years, in terms of marketing dollars spent, but can you imagine CES without the presence of the biggest players? Similarly, Motorola launching it’s latest phones at CES wouldn’t count ROI on number of phones sold through the booth.

But to come back to your original question, is blogging worth it? Conversations take time. Life is short. Here I’d say, off the cuff, do you count the ROI when you sit down and have a conversation with a friend ? Or as a business owner, engage your client and find that rapport in solving a business problem together? It builds a relationship. Aren’t they worth it?

And, there is your R.O.I. Is it a bad thing to portray your company as knowing a bit about its own business? Authenticity and building trust are the intangibles that this type of effort can add to a brand. It helps reinforce all that advertising that we spend billions of dollars on each year.

Is it worth it? The only way to know is to draw up a plan and investigate. How much time will be spent creating content? How much time monitoring comments? Responding to those comments? It’s all the tangible time-spenders that everyone thinks of.

But what about learning curve? Learning how to manage the softward is more tangible. The intangible is managing that balance between blasting out the same talking points and actually saying something new. Without saying too much. Teaching corporate speakers to remove the jargon and talk like human beings again is always a good thing.