The Corporate Blog Study

Purpose - In our increasingly connected world few would deny the vast potential that the web holds for modern business. An increasingly powerful consensus is emerging with many describing the need for businesses to develop greater interaction with their consumers as a way forward for marketing communications. The explosion of interactive applications and the development of online communities have been the focus of various studies. Despite the fact that many researchers and industry experts believe that blogs are now an important part of sound marketing strategy most web based research has largely centered around the influence of online advertising, consumer reviews and word of mouth. While more and more businesses are incorporating weblogs into their market offering, there is yet to be any empirical research conducted on how these corporate blogs are perceived.

Research Question - Are the nine recommendations for corporate blogging identified by Cox et al (2008) a complete account of the important features that add value to a blog reader-company relationship?

Their nine (summarised) recommendations from their article "Blogs and the corporation: managing the risk, and reaping the benefits" are:

1. Using an Authentic Voice
2. Allow Comments but Monitor Them
3. Be Honest & Transparent,
4. Add Value/Offer Unique Opinions,
5. Referencing sources,
6. Welcome feedback
7. Don't Patronise
8. Protect Confidential info
9. Use an Appropriate Disclaimer

Design/Methodology/Approach - The purposed study will use:
* Snowball Sampling will be used to find participants.
* Semi-Structured Interviews will be used to gather data.
* The audio and visual data of these interviews will be recorded and Jing will be used to record any websites that participants decide to show me.
* I will then personally transcribe all the data...fun times!
* Two methods of Content Analysis will be used to analyze the data.
* Thematic Analysis will be used to pick up any themes of interest.
* Word frequency Analysis which is simply counting the number of times a word appears in a body of text - will also be used to triangulate the resulting themes from the Thematic Analysis and pick up any themes that may have been missed.

Findings - Currently the depth of academic research pertaining to the perception of corporate blogs is rather limited. The purposed study may aid in bridging this academic void by providing a source of empirical research on which scholars will be able to draw in order to substantiate their current theories, or create new, more substantial concepts.

Practical Applications - The results of the purposed study have the potential to aid in the development of a blog perception model or list of practical steps which marketing mangers may use as a guideline to ensure that their blogging efforts a interpreted favorably. Through understanding how people perceive corporate blogs businesses will be able to better tailor their blogs content and make more informed decisions about whether weblogs are an appropriate media vehicle for their corporate identity.

Originality/value - This study will be the first of it's kind as currently there have been no studies conducted on blog readers perceptions of corporate blogs and there is yet to be an exploration into how various styles of corporate blogs are perceived by their readers.