Blog module

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Re: Blog module

I don't want to hijack this thread, but I do have a question. Are comments used anymore on most blogs? I can see adding this as a core feature to MM, but likely without Commenting.

Thoughts?

If done correctly they do. IMO, if you don't write a Blog to SOLICIT participation and discussion, you are mostly wasting your time.

[Rick Wilson]

Re: Blog module

I was thinking about either Facebook Comments or Disqus as well.

[Scott McCollough]

Re: Blog module

The problem is that in the retail/services market, people will overtake the blog as a new avenue to reach customer service and get results.

A prime example that I see takes place on the Playstation blog. Every day there are 3-6 blog posts about upcoming features, new games, development, sales, etc. But there is a 65%/35% ratio of people actually talking about the subject matter vs using this as a place to rant. The rants usually take the form of, "Why haven't you done this thing I want?", "When are you finally releasing game x?", "XBox does it better.", "That's stupid. You should do this completely unrelated thing for a completely different topic.", and the ever popular one word posts like "First", "LOL", and "N00b".

Now that this negative energy is out there, the owner is forced to deal with it.

Participation works best if you have nothing to lose from the post or you can guarantee the audience. But if someone posts about widget x, it becomes the perfect place to talk about how I bought widget w, and it broke after one day and this site won't give a refund and they are rip off artists and you should never buy from them and here's a better store to buy from just click this link with my affiliate code built in and and and and...

So unless you want to hire a full time social community specialist, I recommend sticking with blogs with no replies.

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Re: Blog module

Scot, I agree that one needs to devote specific time to maintaining a blog, same is true with FaceBook or any other social media. If you can't afford to stay on top, you are better off doing without. However, MOST blogs in a merchant store wouldn't generate that level of involvement, perhaps at most, 15/30 minutes a day.

With respect to negative posts. Its reality, and they way you deal with an unsatisfied customer can turn a negative into a positive. Should your scenario happen, I'd jump right on the post and say, "sorry" and "we'd be happy to refund or replace". Now, your potential customers can see in real life that you stand behind your product.

[nottheusual1]

Re: Blog module

To gain the SEO goodness blogs can make there is no requirement for an interactive blog. My customers use them for everything from generic announcement tools to a place to keep press releases. None allow replies.

IMHO, unless you are selling products that are a community in themselves, where a community tool like forums work better, most Etailers are fooling themselves thinking blogging about the commodities they sell will generate intelligent responses (and "How nice! Good for You!" or "I like Jello, too" isn't an intelligent response). In the commodity world, customers just aren't that into you.

So - don't confuse blogging and forums, and don't forget how much work both are - for someone -and I charge by the hour and so do my copywriters.

Great blogging going on:

http://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/

Notice how few (if any) of the blog posts have comments, and this is real info, not marketing fluff. Of course, this opinion and a buck gets you a cup of coffee at the corner store, but time is important, and false starts eat time.

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Re: Blog module

I don't if its typical amongst Miva Merchant store owners, but almost ALL our clients sell unique products, where they need to sell themselves as much as their products. Having dialog with your customers, IMO, is one of the BEST ways to sell your business.

But it is true that every business needs to access "must have" features for themselves. If a business owner simply does something because "someone else (i.e., amazon) is doing it...its likely going to be a waste of time and money. Not only might the feature not make sense for their business, but if you don't know HOW its going to help, you might not present it correctly, nor will you actually be able to tell IF its working.

[alphabet]

Re: Blog module

@Rick
If a core feature was added to MM I would like merchants to be able to adapt it for their needs. I think a Social Answers 'blog' would be useful for my product line. PowerReviews offers the service in beta but you have to be a Platinum level customer ($$$). The simpler the module, the more diverse it could become.

[Rick Wilson]

Re: Blog module

Can you elaborate on your needs?

[lesliekirk]

Re: Blog module

For the instance that I started this thread for, the store owner is wanting to build more of a knowledge base, but be able easily add content. In this case be able to have "categories", be able to have a lead in paragraph on that page with links to "read more". Huge plus if the content can be searchable with the store search. Be able to have links to the categories appear in the store cat tree. Be able to insert images into the content.

I'm sure others may have more needs.

[alphabet]

Re: Blog module

This may be similar to Leslie's customer.

I would like to have a tab on the product page that lists user generated questions that a staff member would answer. User would have to login/connect to ask the question. The question would be reviewed and answered. No discussion.

I can never anticipate user generated content. It is so real, unique, and spoken in words that gives it credibility. If one user has a product question or doubt then there must be hundreds more that never ask. A Q&A tab would help overcome buyer objections and close the sale.

I saw this come out about a year ago.

PowerReviews:
http://www.powerreviews.com/products...social-answers

Staples example:
http://www.staples.com/Brother-LC51B...product_645317

(Not a great example but you get the idea.)

[kayakbabe]

Re: Blog module

wish i'd seen your original question last month... I"m using json and ray yates toolbelt json feature to pull in the wordpress posts. There is a plugin for wordpress that just adds a json template into the built-in rss feed system of wordpress. Works great. and was easy to integrate. In fact we use it to drive different content areas through out our store since you can also choose particular categories in wordpress to grab (just like you can select any catgory or post for an rss feed in wordpress) instead of feed=rss i use feed=json in those wordpress urls. (you could even just grab comments instead of posts if you want).

I don't want non coders in our merchant store admin. They could do a lot of damage quickly. But anyone who is a casual web browser user can post on wordpress... wordpress also has really easy admin levels built in. So we have someone post customer testimonials when we get them via email onto a category in wordpress. Then, we have our store suck in the json for our wordpress testimonials category... and we display the most recent 5 testimonials in our store. Its a really easy way to keep the store fresh and updated without risking the admin or look and feel of the store.

hope that helps..

regarding the proper use of a blog... blog software doesn't have to be used for a blog or for social interaction It can simply be used for a content management system. With templates it doesn't even have to look like a blog either. So really it depends on your purpose for using it. Wordpress works wonderfully well used both ways.

I do think social interaction with customers is very very beneficial and blogs can be great tools IF the merchant monitors them constantly to handle the crap wrongfully accusing customers and even competitors can post on them. sometimes a blog can even help a business owner get a feel for how his customer support staff is doing. Kind of a way to checkup on your own employees. In most cases I have found negative stuff postd by customr can be turned into good stuff either by making the customer happy or by changing internal policies and practices to make it better. Proactive customer support will always built a good reputation. But if a merchant isn't able to be proactive in a timely way--maybe this is a very small home business and they have a full time job--then they shouldn't have a blog open to public comments that are not moderated. By timely I mean able to address negativity in posted comments within minutes.

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

Re: Blog module

Agreed. To me, a Good Response to a Bad Customer experience means more to me than a hundred "kudo's" posts.