Jeremiah has talked a lot about what community marketing is, since it is a rather hot topic. With all the community marketing talk, I've been wondering how does a company reach out to bloggers? Or should they?
There's really been an overwhelming response that blogging is in fact not a fad and it does impact businesses. This is our foundation, but now we need to figure out HOW we (as a company) reach out to bloggers and embrace this change.
Kevin Briody, community marketing manager at Windows Live has some interesting thoughts as he tries to break down the five ways to communicate with bloggers:
- Listen and Learn
- Support, energize, get involved in and help build the community
- Connect bloggers and the community back to the product teams
- Help the community connect with each other
- Get the hell out of the way
I believe Kevin is really on the right track and he will do a great job at Windows Live. I especially like his first tip to "Listen and Learn." I previously talked a little about this in how to become a successful blogger but I believe it deserves more attention. That's really where it should start!
I look forward to learning more about Kevin and his works at Microsoft Live. Wow, him and Scoble are really doing their thing!
Take a look here at Robert Scoble's dinner with the Microsoft Live folks