Why and where we blog

I stumbled across a new Forrester blog recently and thought you might be interested in hearing about where other Forrester analysts are blogging:

• New media and marketing: Charlene Li
• Social computing:  Groundswell - Charlene and Josh Bernoff
• Devices and media: Ted Schadler, Charlie Golvin, and Paul Jackson
• Retail
• Security and Risk Management

The marketing team also had a conversation about why we blog.  Our feed subscription and site traffic have grown at a pretty decent pace and I thought it was a good point for a status check.  Some of our reasons:

• A great way to have a broad, public conversation and engage with new voices that surface via comments and trackbacks
• Less formal and faster than writing an "official" research piece - an easier way to air out thoughts on a topic and get feedback (which often leads to a syndicated research piece)
• To gauge the heat level on topics that lie on the fringe of a research agenda
• Building awareness in niche marketing topics
• The audience has so much to teach us - making us better analysts
• Although none of us are compensated for blogging, the blog certainly generates visibility and activity that indirectly helps our business (i.e. the ROI of blogging)

Last time we did a process check, you left great feedback on how to improve - one piece of advice that everyone took to heart was the need to use a more personal voice in posts.  (Hopefully you've noticed!)

So have at it once again - what value do you get out of this blog?  Any suggestions for improvement?

Comments

[Kevin Hillstrom]

Your blogs are, in my opinion, the best way to follow along with your analysts. Not everybody is going to purchase a research report. However, you can see the thought process of your analysts. You can easily judge what each analyst brings to the table. Maybe most important, you put a human face on your analysts.

Tell the marketing folks this is good stuff, keep doing it!!

[Amy Cham]

I discovered the Forrester blogs over the summer. As an MBA student and part-time web consultant working with very small organizations, I don't yet have the budget to buy reports. These blogs provide valuable bites of information that I can use to give my clients better advice and keep tabs on what's going on out there, and they set a great example for me to show them how a blog can help them connect with customers.

Great job, Forresties. Keep it up!!