A recent survey of senior technology executives – 12pc of whom were based in Ireland – was carried out by global PR network Eurocom Worldwide to ascertain the attitude of these high-level individuals towards blogging. The results were interesting.
According to the survey, which was carried out in January and February 2009 in association with Dublin-based Simpson Financial & Technology PR, 63pc of these 335 execs said their company did not have a corporate blog. Thirty three percent did, which left 3pc unaccounted for.
“Bloggers are increasingly seen as an important and influential audience, but many technology companies seem reluctant to blog themselves,” said Ronnie Simpson of Simpson Financial & Technology PR.
With such a small number of these companies maintaining a corporate blog, it was critical to find out what attitudes they held towards blogging and the blogosphere. As it turns out, 36pc just put up their hands and admitted that it was too time-consuming, while a further 33pc did not see any value in blogging whatsoever.
Interestingly, one in five executives had not even considering blogging, while a further 12pc had but were reluctant to do so for fear of a negative reaction.
So, leaving aside those that don’t, why do those that do blog do so? Apparently, 51pc of respondents said their reason for blogging was to improve their interaction with customers, while 23pc blog to take part in industry debates and issues.
A further 14pc of execs blog to raise corporate profile, while 11pc are all about the search engine optimisation (SEO) and blog to improve SEO for their brand and site.
“The interactive nature of Web 2.0 and social media is causing huge challenges for all organisations, including tech firms, as they adapt to the new environment for communicating with customers and prospects,” said Mads Christensen, network director for Eurocom Worldwide.
“This is providing major opportunities for the PR industry, which is best positioned to advise on the open and transparent conversation which the internet demands,” he added.
Interestingly, 76pc of the execs surveyed felt that search engines were the most important development in marketing in the last decade.
By Marie Boran
