Blogs Hunger for Your Brand

By ANITA CAMPBELL

A great place to build your brand is through blogs.  Many bloggers actually want to talk about your brand.They gladly display advertising for your brand. They hunger for news about your brand.How do I know that?  It’s all profiled in the recent 2008 State of the Blogosphere Report by Technorati.com, the blog tracking service.

Each year Technorati writes a State of the Blogosphere Report. http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/   For the first time in 2008 the State of the Blogosphere Report addresses the subject of brands.   It’s a gold mine of information.  So let’s dive in and see what it tells us.

Bloggers Talk About Brands Frequently

Bloggers talk about companies’ brands all the time.  Brands now play a major part in bloggers’ online conversations, as several of the Report’s findings note:

·                       More than 80% of bloggers post product or brand reviews, and write about brands they love or hate. Even day-to-day experiences with customer care or in a retail store are fodder for blog posts.

·                       37% of bloggers post product reviews or brand reviews “frequently”

·                       Companies today are reaching out to bloggers: one-third of bloggers have been approached to be brand advocates.

·                       The majority of bloggers now accept and display advertising on their blogs.

Blogs Have Become Credible and Influential Sources

Perceptions about blogs have shifted since the early years of blogging.  If you had this picture in your mind of nut wings blogging in their pajamas in their parents’ basements repeating tinfoil-hat conspiracy theories, you are missing what’s happening with blogs.  Simply put, blogs have come to be seen as credible, influential sources – so much so that today, bloggers look primarily to other blogs for their information, instead of to the mainstream media:

·                       71% of bloggers believe that blogs are getting taken more seriously as sources of information. Blogs are getting accepted.

·                       49% believe blogs are just as valid media sources as traditional media!  Let that sink in a moment: almost half of bloggers believe that reading something on another blog is just as valid as reading it in, say, your local newspaper.

·                       61% say that blogs have advertising and content that entice them to learn more about products and services.  In fact, among bloggers, blogs are the #1 most influential source of information about brands – more so than mainstream media in print or on TV.

5 Take-Aways

I suggest there are 5 key take-aways from the State of the Blogosphere Report 2008 for small businesses when it comes to your brand-building efforts:

(1) Bloggers find it a natural thing to discuss brands on their blogs if those brands capture their attention in some way, good or bad (hopefully in your case all good).  So don’t hold back from reaching out to bloggers.  Blogs are now accepted places for reviewing a product, introducing a new product or service, or announcing a new marketing initiative.  Blogs also welcome advertising messages highlighting your products and services, with the majority of bloggers now displaying ads on their sites.

(2) Blogs are credible sources of news and information.  In other words, being seen on a blog can be as valid as being seen in mainstream media – more informal perhaps, but valid.  It’s no wonder that many large corporations today proudly recognize product-reviews by blogs among their press mentions on their websites.  Large corporations welcome – they seek out – mentions on blogs.  Why not take a page out of their book?

(3) Bloggers are most open to receiving marketing messages from other blogs.  If you want to reach the millions of bloggers (or just that segment of your market which blogs) the best place to do that is to be seen on blogs.  Blogs are the medium where most bloggers get their information today.  In fact, other blogs are the primary place where other bloggers look to get information about products and brands today.

(4) Bloggers as a group are educated and affluent.  Bloggers are a good target market.  The Report found that 75% of U.S. bloggers are college graduates, and 42% have attended graduate school. They skew male, and more than half have a household income over $75,000.  Hmmm, education and money to spend – sounds to me like a good combination for marketing purposes.

(5)  Your competitors are being seen on blogs.  With so many bloggers having been targeted by companies to become brand advocates, in all likelihood that means your competitors are already reaching out to, or advertising in, blogs.  Unless you too are there, you could be at a competitive disadvantage. 

* * * * *

So, definitely consider blogs a fertile ground for building brand awareness and visibility.  The blogosphere is ready for you — in some ways hungers to hear from you and your brand

 

Sam Basil and his mate

Bulolo MP Sam Basil and his pet tree kangaroo at Sam’s home at 14-Mile outside Lae.

 Sam is currently one of the youngest and most proactive members of the current Papua New Guinea Parliament and has won widespread admiration for what he has achieved for his Bulolo Electorate in little over a year.

 

 

Iruupi villagers suffer from 'poisoned' river

The plight of Iruupi villagers in Western province, regarding their Kura River, continues to worsen by the day as government officers in Daru continue to turn them a blind eye.

They now see their Governor Bob Danaya and South Fly MP Sali Subam as having neglected them in the face of something that now threatens their whole livelihood.

Mr Subam declined to comment yesterday (Thursday) when contacted until he had received a detailed report from his officers in Daru about dead aquatic and plant life along the Kura River.

He travelled to Daru yesterday and said he would be in a better position to comment on the matter after he was briefed by his officers.

“I have assisted the officers with logistical support to travel into the area,” Mr Subam said.

“However, I have not received the report from the testing team as yet.

“No comment until I get the report from them.”

However, Iruupi villager Thomas Ame, who travelled with government officers Frank Paliuous (health) and Stanley Jogo (fisheries) to Iruupi on Tuesday this week, said they merely skimmed the surface before returning to Daru instead of spending more time with the villagers.

He said they only interviewed two women who were returning from their garden and a man who had fallen sick after eating taro boiled with water from the Kura.

“The water is going from bad to worse and starting to affect all the people,” Mr Ame said from Daru.

“When you put your legs in the river, they start to itch and swell.

“All the food in the gardens beside the river is affected and there is no goodness in the food.

“The villagers are moving their gardens closer to the village.

“The villagers don’t have any food now and are only eating coconuts and sago.

“Children are hungry

“Those who can afford to, take fresh meat to Daru, sell it, and use the money to buy food from the shops and take back to Iruupi to feed their children.

“Villagers are also complaining about feeling sick after drinking water from the smaller creeks and are now only drinking rain water

Last month, the villagers raised concerns in a letter to Dr Danaya, Mr Subam, and the Departments of Petroleum and Energy and Environment and Conservation about the increasing number of dead fish being found in the Kura.

At the beginning of this month, after no response from relevant government authorities, the villagers again complained about dead fish and crocodiles, as well as birds, pigs, deer and wallaby.

Iruupi, south of Daru near the Torres Strait, is closer to Australia than the Western province capital.

Just in time for Christmas

Captions: 1. Bulolo MP Sam Basil checking out the progress of work along the Gabensis-Muniau Road. 2. Bulldozer working on the Gabensis-Muniau Road. 3.  A section of the Gabensis-Muniau road under construction.

The Buang people of Morobe province will have a timely present for Christmas.

They will be able to use the new-look Gabensis-Muniau (Buang) Road after suffering for many years because of its neglected state.

They have had to travel all the way to Mumeng and then turn off to Buang instead of having the luxury of this shortcut.

Gabensis is a typical Markham village along the Wau-Bulolo Highway while Muniau is in the Buang LLG of Mr Basil’s Bulolo Electorate.

Reconstruction of the road comes under the Bulolo District Road Maintenance Programme (BDRMP) initiated by Bulolo MP Sam Basil.

“We plan to have this short cut road reconstructed before Christmas so that Buang people from all over the country can go home and spend time with their families,” he says.

Team B of the BDRMP is doing the shortcut from Gabensis to Buang, working on gravelling and culverting at the same time.

It has been working on the road for the last three works and expects to complete the task in another three weeks,

“If a private contractor was doing the job of Team B, it would cost us K180, 000 a month, however, we’re doing this at K45, 000 a month,” Mr Basil said.

“I’m talking about working eight hours a day, seven days a week.”

He said the area also had huge untapped potential for tourism.

There is a breathtaking view of the Markham Valley, Nadzab Airport and Lake Wanam stretching all the way to Lae along the Gabensis-Muniau Road.

White cockatoos, hornbills and other birds abound in this forest area surrounded by picturesque hills, rivers and creeks,

“I plan to set up a lookout at this point, together with a barbeque area, where families from Lae can come and relax and have a good time at the weekend,” Mr Basil says.

“There is so much potential for tourism in this area.”

 

Solving the Kumalu River problem

The notorious Kumalu River which terrorises travelers along the Wau-Bulolo Highway could soon be a thing of the past.

Its fast flowing torrents are infamous for claiming lives, burying the one-thriving Mumeng government station under tonnes of rubble as well as sweeping away motor vehicles.

This is becoming a major concern, especially with the boom in mining and prospecting in the area, as well as to the livelihood of the thousands of people of the Bulolo and Menyamya electorates.

The solution is a bypass road through Buang, on to the gold fields of Bulolo and Wau, and further on to Menyamya,

Bulolo MP Sam Basil asked the National Government for funding in the recent Supplementary Budget for this bypass road and K9m of an estimated total cost of K27m has been earmarked for this purpose.

“I’m under a lot of pressure from Hidden Valley and PNG Forest Products to do something about this ongoing problem,” he said.

Landowners from five villages – Kumalu 1 and 2, Mumengtain, Bangalum and Pamelambus – have formed a company called Kumubapa Holdings to tender for the building of the road in a joint venture with Filipino company Benje.

They have met with regional works manager Brian Alois and provincial works manager Nickson Laime in Lae, to push for the release of the funds so that they could start work.

“The landowners from five villages have joined together and formed a company called Kumubapa Holdings,” Mr Basil said.

“Benje will inject the professional component and the landowners will provide the rest.

“I want active landowner participation in all projects in my electorate.

“Apart from this, there are other opportunities in Bulolo for such work, which I want the landowners to participate in.”

Mr Basil said the proposed road would run up to and cross the Buang Bridge on to Bulolo and would be rescoped from single lane to double lane to cater for the increased traffic because of the boom in mining and exploration.

 

InterOil begins latest exploration phase

PORT MORESBY: InterOil has begun the latest phase of its Gulf Province exploration program.

Drilling at a new site called Antelope-1 commenced Wednesday this week.

The rig, support equipment and buildings have been air lifted into the area during the past month.

The site is now fully operational as a drilling project to appraise the Antelope Field. .

A team of about a hundred personnel including drilling specialists and geologists will carry out the complex drilling operation in the weeks ahead.

It is intended the drill bore will penetrate more than two thousand metres beneath the earth’s surface.

Antelope-1 is located just two-and-a-half kilometres from the successful Elk-4 discovery well where a major gas strike was made three months ago.

During tests, Elk-4 returned a gas flow rate of 105-million cubic feet per day, the largest gas flow rate of all time in Papua New Guinea.

InterOil President Bill Jasper says the company also has high hopes for Antelope-1.

“We believe the Elk and the Antelope structures form part of the same subterranean gas reservoir”. 

“Based on recent testing we believe the overall structure to be 15 kilometres long, five kilometres wide and more than 600 metres in thickness”, he said.

“So far the test results on Elk-4 have been in line with our high expectations.”

“We believe our discovery is one of significant potential”, Mr. Jasper said.

Mr. Jasper said recent appraisals provided “a strong positive” for InterOil’s planned Liquid Niugini Gas Project.

The proposed multi billion Kina construction project would be one of the largest investments ever made in Papua New Guinea.

The plans involve the construction of a new LNG processing plant on land adjacent InterOil’s Port Moresby refinery and a pipeline to transport the gas from the Gulf Province.

For further in formation please contact

Susuve Laumaea

Senior Manager Media Relations InterOil Corporation

Ph: 321 7040

Mobile: + (675) 684 5168

Email: susuve.laumaea@interoil.com  

 

 

Wonderful Mumeng in Bulolo District, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea

Above are pictures of beautiful and scenic Mumeng Local Level Government (LLG) area in Bulololo District, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.

The pictures were taken during my visit there last week.

It certainly is one of the scenic and picturesque areas of Papua New Guinea which is currently a hive of activity with all the mining projects there.

Bulolo MP Sam Basil is doing a lot to bring about development to his electorate and you can see the difference everywhere you go.