Authentic Buzz

Blogging has been around long enough to be something, that i’m sure, most marketing directors are saying “we really should do one of those blog type things. Let’s get Marcy, she’s quite young, to write something about our products everyday, excellent!”

In reality, of course, the thing that attracts readers to many blogs is that they’re getting a personal insight into a person or process. In some ways bloggers aren’t that different to columnists. Columnists, for many newspapers, are a key reason why readers don’t defect to other titles. You want another fix, soap-opera style, about the person’s life, or just their viewpoint on something. You turn to the page thinking “ooooh, I wonder what X will have to say about that”.

The blog reading process is very similar but it has an additional benefit, that of two-way communication. You can post your views in the comments or just read the views of people like you - other readers. Some blogs will even reference the comment, especially if they’ve brought something new to the argument, or even just agreed with the writer!

That, I think, is where many corporate blogs go wrong. The writers get a bit obsessed about what the company should be saying rather than understanding that readers are actually after what a person from the company has to say about something. If i’m a fan of your company (and I must be if i’m reading your blog) I don’t want to hear that you have a new TV campaign, I want to hear why you created that ad for the TV campaign.

Anyway, what I really want to talk about is Chris Evans. For non-UKers he’s the drivetime presenter on the UK’s biggest radio station, BBC Radio 2. He’s emerged in the mid-90s as revolutionary tv/radio talent, was in the tabloids everyday, quit his job on the UK’s biggest radio breakfast show by not turning up one morning, he then bought a competitor radio station, put himself on-air and then sold the lot for £80m. He then had a rest. And now he’s back on the radio. He’s also writing a blog.

His blog is fascinating. He’s obviously writing it himself and the best thing about it is that he rarely mentions the radio show. He talks about his life, good and bad, what he’s up to and most importantly about what he thinks.  I don’t think the style was designed to do anything specifically, but what it does do is generate an excellent relationship with listeners. You hear him speaking between the records on-air and you find out more about what’s going on between his ears on-line. In radio terms, it’s a great way to connect (and make passionate) the audience without the need to plug the big guest or the big giveaway.

There’s a great post today about how you need to look good for the telly and how (and why) you do it. It’s a good subject because it tells you something new about something you already know quite a lot about (ie both Chris and Television). But what’s nice about the post is the p.s. at the bottom, where he refers to a previous comment that someone had made about their alcoholism.

It’s different for Chris to mention it as he rarely refers to people’s comments. The feeling I get is that he feels like he’s the leader of a community (of commenters), but he’s happy for them to talk amongst themselves and leave them to get on with it, rather than take an active part. The clever thing about that little p.s. is that he’s showing that (though he doesn’t take part) he does read the comments that are left and that he cares about his readers’ wellbeing. Which is comforting to see as a reader. It also increases the bond that Chris has with his audience benefiting both himself and the radio station. A true win win for everyone.