Corporate Blogging Case Studies

This is a compilation of corporate blogging success stories available online - there would be more:

1. Microsoft's Scobleizer blog - Since he set up his blog in 2000 he has been seen as the ultimate geek blogger, an accolade which has apparently helped give a more human face to the software giant. The blog, called Scobleizer, contained all sorts of informal and even highly personal information, such as family details and bereavements, information that his salary was 'less than $100,000', as well as what came to be closely-followed observations on Microsoft's products. Sometimes these were less than flattering, but Scoble's writings started attracting such high volumes of traffic that any attempts by the software company to shut him down were quickly abandoned. (Scoble has now quit Microsoft after many years to join a startup business in the area of video blogging.)

2. Microsoft's Operation Channel 9 - Lenn Pryor knew his little project was going to upset some of his colleagues at Microsoft. And sure enough, when the junior exec unveiled a Web site called Channel 9 in April 2004, the organization reacted like a dog whose tail had been stepped on. Executives in PR, marketing, and legal reacted with alarm. Today, Channel 9 is one of the few things at Microsoft that company image mavens love to talk about. Google is kicking Microsoft's butt in search; Vista, its new operating system, is getting tepid reviews. Zune, its iPod killer, can't kill a flea. And Nintendo's Wii, not the Xbox 360, is the hottest game console in town. Channel 9, on the other hand, makes Microsoft look downright visionary.The goal is clear: Reestablish Microsoft as a cool, progressive enterprise that appeals to customers, investors, and top job prospects.

3. IBM DeveloperWorks - According the IBM blogger Bill Higgins, IBM DeveloperWorks just does not have a lot of feedback from its blogs as companies such as Microsoft and Macromedia have in terms customer responses. IBM DeveloperWorks bloggers are not seeking feedback on product development and customer service issues. Bill Higgins' goals as a blogger are to build a community and achieve thought leadership in his space. He believes he is getting good results in this area.

4. General Motors' Fastlane blog - In 2006, the company's FastLane blog delivered an estimated US$410,470 worth of customer insight and marketing at an approximate cost of USD 255,675 - a return on investment of 67 percent - according to a newly released report from Forrester Research. Compare that to 2005, when GM's blog generated an estimated US$578,374 worth of information and publicity at an approximate cost of US$291,196. That's a 99 percent return on investment.

5. Southwest Airlines corporate blog - The Southwest Airlines blog was conceived a year ago and presented to the Airline's executives as "just another communications tool" and one that could be handled by the existing staff at no additional operational cost. According to Paula, there was little resistance, and three months after the idea was pitched the blog was live.The blog's audience was slow to build, but nine months after launch, the site has more than 200 posts and 4,000 public comments and is viewed within Southwest as a success.

6. Macromedia's blogs - Macromedia's blogs were started three years ago to build a better community and send information to customers more quickly than existing channels. Over time, Macromedia discovered that blogs could be used for the development of their products. This shift in product development thinking was gradual, and eventually a big change in thinking about the Macromedia product development happened. Blogging has completely changed the way in which Macromedia conducts its software development process. Before blogs, Macromedia would not release any product information until two to three weeks before the release day. (This was how most of the software industry worked.) Software development was a relatively closed process for Macromedia: some feedback was gathered from customers, but a lot of the work was completed inside the company. Now Macromedia is using blogs to query customers on product feedback.

7. Sun Microsystems - Sun is said to promote employee blogging more than any other technology firm and is the largest company with a CEO who blogs. Sun's slightly unconventional CEO Jonathan Schwartz, one of only a couple Fortune 500 CEOs with blogs, was an early advocate of executive blogging. Hundreds of thousands of visitors read Schwartz's blog each month and on a recent day it had received over 6,000 hits.

Sun's blog was created to improve both communications with the public and collaboration with outside developers and programmers who author third-party applications for Sun's systems. Today over 3,000 of Sun's 32,000 employees have corporate blogs, many receiving thousands of hits per day.

Some more great corporate blogging case studies and lists:

1.Northeaetern university and Backbone media - Blogging Success Study: Interviews of 20 corporate bloggers. The objective of this research was to determine the reasons, conditions and factors that make a blog successful, and to create a list of criteria to help companies assess whether and how they should engage in blogging.

2. Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki: Directory of Fortune 500 companies that have business blogs, defined as: active public blogs by company employees about the company and/or its products.

3. The New PR Wiki - Corporate blogs list.