Gerry McGovern says fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and foodstuff businesses, for example, are less likely to benefit from having a blog. “If you’re chicken-farming in Monaghan, I don’t think there’s much point in having a blog, because your customers probably won’t be interested in what you have to say.”
Nobody would ever read a bog about a tailor. Nobody would ever read a blog about vineyards.
Blog = Niche
Don’t necessarily agree with Gerry, but neither suits or wine are FMCGs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_moving_consumer_goods
Wispa Facebook campaign might be a better example
Gerry is just tripping over terms he doesn’t understand. How unusual!
If I was buying chickens from the guy’s farm, I’d take a look at his blog.
Er, the Long Tail doesn’t apply to chicken farmers?
I’d probably read a chicken farming blog.
Isn’t it crude to think that corporate blogs are written simply for your customers? Haven’t all the indirect benefits including internal disruption long been established?
In the case of chicken farmers (why ARE they all in Monaghan and Cavan, anyway?), he’s probably more or less right; except for some very specialist markets, chicken and eggs are basically commodities. No-one goes out of their way to buy Farmer Smith’s eggs, and I’m pretty certain, the way the distribution network works, that it wouldn’t make a difference to him if they did.
Do chicken farmers have broadband and if they don’t should they hire a ghost blogger?
Farming in Ireland is all about traceability and at least one Irish supermarket chain displays photographs of their farm suppliers in the shops, in an effort to show that their produce is traceable back to individual farms and farmers (and to assure their customers that their suppliers are not faceless conglomerates but nice salt-of-the-earth types who really love their animals – it is advertising, after all). So if supermarkets are trying to personalise their suppliers, why not the suppliers themselves?
Your average chicken supplier in Ireland has already diversifed into organic and free-range, and they are premium products (e.g. more expensive) that would benefit from the personal touch that a blog might give. Ditto sheep and beef farmers.