We have been talking about blog monitoring for some time.  Last year we began offering it as a service.  Soon it became clear to us that monitoring served as a crutch for many companies allowing them to feel good, but ultimately not making much of a difference.  We would produce reports and client’s wouldn’t have the slightest understanding of what we were talking about.  They were not in the conversation, instead they were simply reading the translated trascripts we provided.

Today we still help companies monitor blogs, but instead of doing the monitoring we teach them the “how” and the “why” allowing them to join in the conversation.  Josh Hallett, our go-to-guy for design, wrote about his experience with Nikon in a post titled, “Big Thanks to Nikon.”  Josh details how Nikon’s team read his blog post about the D80 and his need for a new SLR before its release.

Nikon, to their credit, found Josh’s blog, recognized his interest in their product, understood his need and provided a solution.  I suspect they created a “fan for life” in Josh and it doesn’t hurt that he was already talking about Nikon.

If your organization needs to listen better.  Start by listening for problems - i.e. to avoid getting Dell’d - before they become nightmares.  Then begin listening to your fans, and think of ways you help your average-everyday fans become rabid sales machines for your company!