Thanks for quoting and linking to my post.

Sometimes being sarcastic is a good way to get a point across, and wake people up.

I am a big fan of Marketing Profs and feel honored to be referenced here.

:^)

Nice post, Mack. And I'm a fan of Vaspers... so I guess the love is mutual. ; )

Interesting that the difference between Wal-mart and Target is reflected as much online as in their physical stores. Whenever I got to Wal-mart (which isn't often), I feel assaulted -- it's the narrow aisles, the chaos, the fatty and salty smell of popcorn from the snack bar. It's an overwhelming experience.. and not in a good way. Shopping at Target, on the other hand, is a whole lot more relaxing and fun.

I should mention that just since writing this post, Target's group has added another 2,000 users, while WalMart still has the same 1,200.

BTW, Mack -- did you notice that "Today's Gift" on Facebook is a Wal-mart branded ghost cookie? (At least it LOOKS like a cookie...) Gifts usually cost $1, but this one is free for the giving.

I'm guessing Wal-mart paid for that? And to what end?

Mack:

I'm not sure I get the point of all this.

Companies like WalMart need to do a lot more than start a blog to change the public's perception of them. As I pointed out in "Your Brand Is Not My Friend" there are only about a dozen or so "Prom King" brands who've managed to invent the better mousetrap and who people really want to be associated with.

Target is one of those brands. They've done everything right, from store experience to quality of merchandise to advertising. So their success on Facebook is not the least bit surprising.

Whereas Wal-Mart's done just about everything wrong.

Corporate blogging assumes that people give a flying f**k what you have to say. Which is a grave error. Look at Kohl's or some other mid-range department store (to keep your Wal-Mart/Target example going.) What's in it for them to blog if the rest of their business doesn't live up to what they are portraying on the blog? Do consumers really give more than a passing thought to Kohl's?

Now I admit I don't know enough about Kohl's to say they shouldn't blog definitively. But without a sharper focus as to what they stand for, a blog would likely be a band-aid. It's part of a broader solution, not the solution.

"Unfortunately, too many companies view their customers with an almost 'us versus them' mentality."

Navel gazing anyone? Forgetting why we're in business? And they say that of bloggers.

I'm a fan of Vaspers as well. He's posting a lot of good content on Twitter too.

Tangerine Toad: amen. Very well put.

"I'm not sure I get the point of all this.

Companies like WalMart need to do a lot more than start a blog to change the public's perception of them."

Exactly. They need to change their culture from one of being closed and with an 'us versus them' mentality toward their customers, to being open and embracing toward customers.

In a social-media context, Dell is a great example of how to be good community members. The company went from having a stated company policy of refusing to respond to bloggers, to now they are extremely proactive about reaching out to bloggers.

Obviously the product and service still has to be there, but the more communication a company has with its customers, the better.

"Corporate blogging assumes that people give a flying f**k what you have to say. Which is a grave error."

I think the grave error that companies that start blogging make is to assume that they simply have to blog. That's half the battle. The other half comes when the company goes out in the blogosphere and on social sites and engages with customers in THEIR space. I'll go back to Dell again, as Richard Binhammer, John Pope and Lionel Menchaca are all active out in the blogosphere, on Facebook, on Twitter, etc. That's part of being a good community member, and any good corporate blogging initiative involves spending at least HALF of your time OFF your blog. Getting the word out about your company isn't the goal, being a good community member is.

And this is truly the power of social media. Blogs and social sites have the incredible ability to bring company and customers together, if the company is smart enough to build that bridge.

I used a Dilbert cartoon that hits the nail right on the head in a post about corporate blogs that I wrote in 2006. http://tinyurl.com/yrjnfs

Many companies want to say only one thing: "Buy my product."

And they want to hear only one thing from customers: "Love your product. How can I buy more?"

Blog content should be primarily a sharing of the expertise of the company, teaching consumers how the products solve their problems, and how customers can choose the product model that best meets their needs.

To jabber on about "quality, service, and competitive prices" is Old Skool drivel that nobody believes anymore.

"We" and "our" copy is hated and irrelevant.

Love the comments posted here, and they expand and deepen the ideas I tried to sarcastically express in my little list.

On a related note, here's some challenges that CEO blogs have, much more of a challenge than the average blogger
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/10/12/challenges-of-writing-a-ceo-blog-checklist/

Here are the challenges of writing a "Career" blog

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/09/06/the-difficult-balance-in-writing-a-career-blog/

I'm always a fan of sarcasm. Blogging can be a great outlet for using it and keeping readers interested. Of course it helps that this was also full of good info. Thanks.

I think you could say that a lot of companies have an "us vs. them" mentality towards their employees too. WalMart epitomizes that in everything they do: country, customers, suppliers, employees.

Very good article, i would like to put it into my page, can I ??