For those who do not know what Macromedia is, they are a graphic and web development software house. They are responsible for Flash, and are now controlled by Adobe systems.
In an Emerald article it explains that Micromedia’s blogs are good examples of how a corporation uses a blog successfully. They were one of the first companies to start a corporate blog. They have knowledgeable bloggers who are encouraged, to post product information to help customers, and to personalize their blogs to me more “humanized.”
In the Wiley InterScience journal there is a study of 4 of Macromedia’s blogs. The blogs that were product specific and focused on Macromedia technology, quickly racked up comments. Customers like to give opinions, and Macromedia understands this because they post questions on how to better their Flash programs, and other ways to improve. On posts, found in the study, comments ranged from 107 to 430. This meant that the customers spent the time to read posts and leave comments because they felt valued by the company because bloggers were genuinely asking for ideas.
The researcher in the study mentioned that Macromedia had four types of interaction: socialization, information sharing, help seeking, and teaching and learning. All this interaction help the corporate blog. Bloggers along with being a helping hand to customers, would ask for opinions and feedback. Macromedia actually listened and implemented some of the ideas. Macromedia’s blogs are publicly open and actively updated.
Effective Strategies:
- Macromedia had focused posts that were easy for users to follow, which increased participation
- Macromedia acted on the information that was given to them, they would have weekly meetings where they would discuss comments on the blogs, and implement some.
- They trusted their followers opinions and built solid relationships
- They had multiple employee bloggers
