DISQUS

Keep up the good work, Ken!

Mike -

This is such an awesome idea. I may have to steal it.

Even better, can I dump my old books at your house?

Andy

Thanks, Andy. I guess I have to buy a case for my friends! And one for my mom.

Really, really good advice, John.

Here where it gets interesting: In the next few weeks, Salesforce.com will be offering a plug-and-play idea exchange platform to all customers. Could be a game-changed, taking crowdsourcing to a new scale.

http://www.salesforce.com/products/ideas/

Dell's Ideastorm (http://www.dellideastorm.com) has really been an eye-opener for me. It's amazingly minimal: post an idea, comment on an idea, vote on an idea. They put it up for almost $0. And hundreds of thousands of people show up every month.

My take: It doesn't matter how you engage or listen - just open the door and people will come rushing in. Show that you want feedback and you'll get it. No one ever expected so much to happen on such a simple site.

(and read your google alert so you know when someone blogs about you)

So many companies thing that "satisfaction" is the goal. In the classic words of Geoffrey Moore ... you are expected to brush your teeth every day -- you don't get extra credit.

Satisfaction --> Loyalty --> Affinity --> LOVE

Love is where word of mouth happens.

Love starts with trust.

Who loves you, baby?

Good thoughts these are.

Don't know why speaking like Yoda I am.

Welcome to the life of the entrepreneur. The hardest part isn't the work. it's staying focused and pumped up.

Lean on your friends, ignore those who haven't done it themselves. If you're not working for your self, you just don't understand.

Read:
Rules for Revolutionaries
Swim With the Sharks
Dilbert (to remind you why you don't work for anyone)

And take time to relax and regroup at least once per quarter.

Hey there Janet!

Great to meet you in lovely SLC - thanks for the great writeup.

Cheers,

Andy

Jake -

To be honest with you, this conversation has been difficult for us to have because there are 200 bloggers picking apart every word we say for hidden meaning.

By "in charge of blogging" just refers to wherever blogging has landed in a company. Sometimes totally decentralized, sometimes deep in the PR department, sometimes with the CEO. There isn't any one right answer. Letting companies compare notes and learn from each other about concepts just like this why we created our group.

We're not blogging because (despite rumors to the contrary) the Blog Council isn't an industry organization out to push an official position. As a group, we have no positions or opinions. On the other hand, our members have hundreds of blogs and should be the voices who participate and share. What they have to say is important, we're the back office support.

Hi Lisa -

We are very big on sharing and outside input. Check out our "activities" page. In just a few weeks, we've lined up dozens of outside experts (most not on the site yet) for free open discussions and education, live on the phone. Face to face sharing starts next month.

We don't have a blog, but every one of our members do, and some have hundreds of blogs.

Andy Sernovitz
Blog Council

Hi Jake -

As you can imagine, we've been a wee bit flooded with good thoughts and questions, responding as fast as we can. Thanks for your patience.

These are all great questions, and I'm happy to answer:

* Basically, the entire blog team (however it is loosely defined at each company) is welcome. They can come from anywhere throughout the company and are not limited to any particular department or office. The question of who at a company should blog is one of those big questions we are exploring.

* The people who have been joining the Blog Council are the departments or teams in charge of blogging at the company. We use "executives" as a generic term for "employees". We should probably just say "whoever is involved in your blog projects" at any level.

We've actually learned something about the makeup of corporate blog teams during the course of our outreach efforts. Most companies (even the large ones who have been doing this a while) don't have full teams of people in charge of blogging. Notable exceptions exist, but it's not the norm. Part of our mission is to help build internal support for increased budgets and more resources so that extensive blog teams *can* become the norm.

* The purpose of the Council is pretty simple -- to provide a forum for the people involved with corporate blogs at large companies to meet, share tactics and advice, and develop best practices together. It's the modern incarnation of what we all used to call SIGs and User Groups.

* This is a pretty good value considering that you get weekly teleconferences, research, live events, etc, for an entire year for an entire company. You could spend $10K just sending one team to one trade show. A lot more long term value here.

Feel free to e-mail/call/etc me if you or anyone else has more questions. (312-932-9000) We're always happy to answer more questions.

Thanks,

Andy Sernovitz
Blog Council

We'd love to welcome Sun and Oracle as members. We reached out early, it's still working it's way through the approval process. Give us a call - 312-932-9000.

Cheers,

Andy Sernovitz
Blog Council

Great discussion all around ... thanks for pushing us.

This is about AND, not OR. Our members are already actively involved in the many blogosphere discussions, conferences, etc. AND we want a place to address issues that are unique to huge companies.

How do you manage blogs in more than one language? What do you do when 2000 employees have personal blogs? How to train thousand of employees on blog etiquette?

Conversation is important. That's why were adding a new conversation.

Call me, anyone. Glad to talk: 312-932-9000

Andy Sernovitz
("Disaster" is my pro wrestling name)

Thanks, Sean!

Whoa!

Just got back from vacation and saw all this talk about me. Fantastic!

The lesson to everyone: Have fun.

Cheers,

Andy

Thanks, Jake!

I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Cheers,

Andy

Douglas -

Thanks for helping spread the word.

Andy Sernovitz
Author
Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking

My all-time favorite books for entrepreneurs (other than my own, "Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, "which I shamelessly and tactlessly mention here) are:

Rules for Revolutionaries, Guy Kawasaki

Permission Marketing, Seth Godin

Swim With The Sharks, Harvey Mackay

Read these all - they will open your eyes.

(And then, when the startup life seems overwhelming, read "The eMyth Revisited" by Michael Gerber)

Chris --

Thanks for taking the time to write this amazing article and for your kind words.

Cheers,

Andy

John --

Thanks for the kind post!

Your guess is right -- I wanted to send the book to people, like you, who are likely to tell their friends. I didn't want to pay for postage (or spend a weekend packing boxes). So I called my friend Paul Goodman at Dale & Thomas and offered a trade -- he mails the books (at his expense), reaching my friends. My friends get some really amazing popcorn (and tell their friends). We all win. Best of all, it's a great example of simple word of mouth marketing in action.

Cheers,

Andy