Blogopoly

What's a blogaholic? Is it a blogger that needs a stint in alcohol rehab centers? Or is it a person who reads, writes and breaths blogs? Not sure? Take this quiz:

http://wannabe.catharsis.org/bin/quiz.cgi?quiz=one

Following on from my post about how blogs can be used to get great feedback from customers, Chrysler marketing executive recently remarked that he monitors blogs as well as chatrooms and forums to get frank customer feedback.

Recognising that excitement for a new model can begin at grass roots level through blogs and web forums is similar to the way sites such as the Internet Movie Database have changed the plans of Hollywood marketers.

Wired reports that Hollywood is finding that moviegoers are easier to reach on the web than TV. Even more interesting is that Producers of political thriller The Manchurian Candidate chose political blogs such as Instapundit.com and The Truth Laid Bear to place advertising for the new film.
Data from Jupiter shows that one-third of all adults now prefer to get movie reviews and listings online over newspapers, television, magazines and radio. Furthermore 47% of 18- to 24-year-olds prefer new media to old for information on movies.

I was recently directed to a blog that has a detailed report on Mr Clean Magic Erasers. The author is ecstatic about the effects of the eraser: "Overall, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser more than lives up to the claims. It is an outstanding product that works exceedingly well."
First glance and you may think "dude, get a life" - but really this is a great piece of free advertising for the Mr Clean product. A totally independent Joe Public gives your product a rave write up. This is a great example of how blogs can be benefit businesses - instead of writing your own blog, you can instead harness the speaker's corner mentality to have bloggers report on your products in the same way that movie makers have been using the independent critics on the web. Scroll down the posting and you will see many comments from readers who agree, they are further building the brand's reputation. Over time this praise will spread around the internet like a virus.

We all have a brand that we manage - and this brand is one that we have been managing since we were born: our personal brand. When we apply make up or style our hair in the morning we are thinking about how we appear to the rest of the world - our brand image. All of us have a brand but we are not all in the habit of increasing awareness of our personal brand, with the exception of job-hunting.
When someone is looking for a new job, that person is marketing themselves to prospective employers. Many people use portfolios and/or resumes to showcase their talents. However these advertisements are normally sent to specific targets - akin to direct marketing. We rarely expose our resumes to the masses. Even when one has a resume on the web, it is likely only read by those searching specifically for information contained within.
Job interviews can be pretty frustrating as you have limited time to express yourself and demonstrate worthiness. What if you could walk into an interview with an employer and command the same respect as an established journalist whose reputation precedes them and has already had their talents exposed to the employer through their public work? I bet they never get asked questions that aim to prove knowledge of their chosen sector.
Weblogs can provide a means to not only advertise yourself to potential employers but also to provide extra info that the interview missed. Even if you are not trying to get a job in journalism, you could use a blog to demonstrate knowledge of your field of expertise. Once other bloggers see how good your writing is, your blog will be referenced in many places in the web, thus increasing the exposure of your personal brand. There is even a specialist blog hosting provider, jobsearchblogs.com that will help job-seekers create blogs to achieve this.
Hiring managers expect to understand the applicant within 10 seconds of reading each resume. A blog gives you extra staying power and builds the strength of your own personal brand.