Eesti ettevõtteblogide kirjutamise viisid, sihtrühmad ja põhjused
Date
2008
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Description
World’s most influential companies are starting to use blogs as communication channels
when communicating with their target groups. 12% companies in the Forbes 500 list own
blogs (Anderson & Cass 2007-2008). The present study researched the methods, target
groups and reasons for blogging of Estonian corporate blogs.
The main research areas were: How are Estonian corporate blogs written? Who are the
main target groups of Estonian corporate blogs? Why do Estonian businesses blog? What
do the bloggers recommend to businesses who are considering blogging? The aim of this
study was to find out why companies should blog and which aspects they would have to
take into account while adopting it.
Although the number of blogs in the blogosphere is growing and there are statements
about their importance, there are only a few empirical studies that would prove the
benefits of corporate blogging. The theoretical background of this study covered two
aspects – the role of blogs in internal and in external communication. Blog as an external
communications channel is based on marketing communication strategies, which I
divided into three categories – informing the consumer, motivating the consumer and the
consumer’s image of the company. Different authors claim, that blogs cover all
marketing communications strategies, except for that blogs should not be written for sales
(Merken 2006). Blogs are rather used to influence and educate the consumers and to
affirm the company’s image. Internally blogs work as information management tools
(Röll 2003), which enable to share the information and avoid the loss of it, when
employees leave the company.
Methodologically I used 11 semi-structured informant interviews with Estonian corporate
bloggers. The selection was based on whether the blog was active and had been opened for more than one year (by January 2008 when I started present research). Interviews
were conducted in March and April, 2008. Involved businesses were: Mobi Solutions
OÜ, Sevenline OÜ, OÜ Altex Marketing, OÜ Developers Team, OÜ Tr.ee (brand:
Blog.tr.ee), Nagi OÜ, Baltika AS (brand: Monton), OÜ Karukoske and OÜ Vanderlin
(brand: Soomaa.com), Eesti Ekspressi Kirjastuse AS, Presshouse OÜ ([digi] magazine)
and AS Elion.
The methods of corporate blogging in Estonia vary and there is no universal model for it.
Each company used the solution that was most suitable for them. The amount of bloggers
was from one to many, they worked internally in the company or were hired externally,
some blogs had posts five times per week, whereas sometimes only monthly posts
occurred. Themes covered a wide range of areas, but there were more blogs that
concentrated on one or two subject fields. There were blogs that confirmed dialogue with
their readers – there were several bloggers who said that thanks to the blog they have got
feedback and suggestions both through online and offline channels. Target groups were
mostly not specified, but there were also some exceptions as Monton, Elion and
Sevenline had defined their target groups. Based on subject fields target groups could be
defined, but often they were too general. Employees of the company were targeted only
by Altex Marketing.
The reasons for blogging fall into three categories: format based, beneficial for the
company and the bloggers’ personal interests. A blog is a simple channel, where it is
possible to write about everything the bloggers want, in the way they want it, depending
on how they can write it. By helping optimize the search engines, blogs make the
company more visible online, and the number of visitors to the company’s website can
thereby be increased. Estonian businesses used blogs as a marketing tool and a way to
enhance the brand image, which can be used to find new customers and to inform and
communicate with existing ones. Bloggers personal interests vary, but mostly bloggers
want to educate themselves, test the possibilities of Web 2.0 and document important
information. So there were many reasons, why business should start a blog. Nevertheless,
bloggers claimed that blogging does not suit to every business. They suggested to first
understand what a blog is, to determine reasons why the company should blog, who are the target groups and which topics would be covered, and then consider blogging. It was
also advised to practice blogging before going public, to make sure there is a person who
is responsible for maintaining the blog and decide on the blogging frequency.
Furthermore, corporate bloggers said that they can make many suggestions, but those
who want to start a blog should keep the planning period short and start right now.
Corporate blogs and their use as a marketing or public relations tool are subjects that
should definitely be researched further. In Estonia, and around the world in general, there
has been too little empirical research on corporate blogs to make elaborated conclusions.
It is possible to research the links between blogs and search engines. And it should also
be studied, what readers' interest in blogs depend on.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General)