Biz bloggers as "alpha" product support

Why should the Fortune 500 have public blogs? Among other reasons, to serve as a peer-to-peer product support channel for "alpha customers", whose opinion can sway many others.

My experience in sorting out my Xbox 360/Media Center problem with the help of a Microsoft blogger appears to be a pretty good example. It's now become a case study in marketing best practice, according to this article on iMedia Connection.

Comments

[BWJones]

I've long held that this is in fact the case. The companies that "get it" are those that are going to be moving faster and will be better able to respond and predict what their customers want. In fact, I have been stunned at the efforts put into some of the contacts made by a certain Fortune 500 company that is blogging, including sending engineers and members of their product teams out for site visits based upon comments I've made on their corporate blogs.

It has been said before, but the biggest mistake companies can make is assuming that bloggers are simply consumers. The reality is that this medium allows for so much more....

[Larry Irons]

Chris,

The "alpha" customers you refer to are important for their role in innovation, and companies endorsing "open innovation" are beginning to notice them as a rsource to use in improving products and services.

In his book, Democratizing Innovation, Von Hippel calls them "lead users" and argues they can drive innovation for products and services, whether for physical products or information services. They are often boundary spanners who bridge the customer community with the providing company. In that sense, corporate bloggers are boundary spanners serving as connectors between their companies and the customer community and, especially, lead users.

[Christian]

Hey this so informative nice blog.