Blog 6. A Blog about a Blog

A Blog about a Blog. An interesting concept to say the least. I honestly have not got caught up in the whole “Blog phenomenon” until I started writing this one for class.
Blogs are completely different than journals because they are not only for the eyes of the author. I think that when we write things that we know others are going to read, we use a subconscious filter. Although blogs allow us to express our ideas, thoughts, and opinions, they also give us an opportunity to show ourselves in a light that we’d like to be seen in. Blogging allows authors to become someone they are not when authors create a persona for their blog.
This makes blogs both a good and a bad source for gaining insights into the customers mind. From one point of view you think you can learn a lot about the superficial ideas and thoughts of consumers.
The topic I researched on “blogsearch” was the Mercedes Smart Car. I have recently taken my name off the waiting list for the Smart Car after going back and forth on the purchase decision for several months. I want to see what other consumers thought about the car to help in my post non-purchasing process.
J-Bigg had some interesting things to say about the smart car in his blog called “The Starving Artist Speaks”. Other than wanting to “shoot [the car owner] squarely in the teeth,” he mentioned how much he hates the car by explaining that “the few dollars [he’d] save on gas [isn’t] worth [him] looking like a b!@$# in an Urkel car.” Immediately, I begin making my assumptions about this “J-Bigg” character. I see that he is concerned with his image because he doesn’t want to be seen in a funny looking car, and this conclusion leads me to believe that he is also creating an image for himself in his blog.
He has so many bad things to say about the car, but a lot of it is more of the reflection of how is own views clash with the cars purpose. He understands that it gets great mileage and helps save the environment, but to him, he doesn’t care about things that will happen after he dies.
This blog shows a perfect example of why it is important to know your target market. If you can classify bloggers like J-Bigg into different segments, you can hypothesis about what you’d hope they would say about your product and then compare to what they actually say about your product. You can use this as a test to see if you are meeting there needs and wants like you planned. In this case, we can guess that a non-environmentalist, very self-image obsessed consumer would not be interested in the Smart Car. And the blog confirms that assumption.
The other blog I read concerning Smart Cars was Chuck Doud, writer for the Madera Tribune. He explained his experience driving past a smart car on the highway. He noted its incredible speed capabilities, but also how unsafe it looked. He explained having a discussion with his adult kids about smart cars. They seem more interested in the Smart Car because it is eco-friendly and saves oil.
It is interesting how many consumers have opinions about a product they don’t own and maybe have never even used. Both reviewers of the Smart Car had so much to say about something that that they hadn’t given a chance themselves.
Marketers can look at these insights and see possible fears or issues their potential customers have with their product. That way, companies can design marketing plans that address those fears.
Marketers should also look for common themes and trends in blogs about their products. They should address the negative themes and reinforce the positive feedback because it has obviously already created a buzz of its own.