Where do blogs fit into your web strategy?

The web has grown up very quickly. From using blogs as a marketing communication tool, SEO to boost awareness to now, social media as your reach to the masses. But among all this talk now, I wonder where  and how does the blog fit into your online strategy?

Let’s have a look at some popular platforms online and how they’re used right now.

Telling it in 140 characters with Twitter

As much as some still question its feasibility, it’s here to stay – for now. It’s addictive because no long grandmother stories but simple, shortened personal thoughts. In addition, it gets the word out very quickly and this is important for live reporting or public announcements. Many Twitter applications have made retweeting easier and faster.

And Twitter is a micro-blogging platform. Similar to Plurk and others.

Facebook isn’t only about friends anymore

What the bunch of college kids thought as a communication platform, has grown into a fan worship and brand evangelist platform. My friends on Facebook are demanding more than friendship today. They invite me to like their fan pages. Some of which are blogs, businesses, brands and well, attractive ladies.

Similarly but more viral than Twitter, this platform uses your 6-degrees of separation. You’re more likely to support a friend whom you know than an avatar on Twitter.

In short, Facebook is a social networking site.

Check-in to Foursquare for your reward

Though relatively new, it’s growing quickly from friend to friend. Plus, it was thought with a commercial offer in mind. A platform to help physical businesses boost their traffic and sales. Simply checking into a venue is but an introduction to this tool.

Its benefit lie inside its reward system from mayorships to other promotional specials. At the same time, it builds community and team effort between users. For example, you need the help of 50 people to achieve a Swarm badge.

By the way, what’s great about Foursquare, Twitter and Facebook is they can be interlinked.

• Updates on Foursquare can be channeled to Twitter and Facebook.
• Updates on Twitter can be published to your Facebook wall, not your status anymore.
• And Facebook, well, it becomes the platform to consolidate all your personal activity.

So, are blogs still a marketing communication tool?

When the wave came, it was regarded as nothing but an online journal to now, a platform for advertising and self-fulfillment. Besides the SEO benefit, what objectives can businesses achieve by publishing a blog now? How does it fit into their web strategy?

Service oriented companies who write blogs may still use it as a marketing communication tool. Like this blog is used for me to share my insight in relation to my industry and services offered under Simpleet.

But what is to become of product related companies who publish blogs? Will it be used more as a feedback tool than a marketing communications tool?

This was a thought I’ve been pondering past few days.

Intel: What’s New Inside

Intel’s got a new toy to introduce to the geek market. And they’re right now teasing all of us; geeks, at their new What’s Inside website.

And on YouTube.

Seems to me Intel is really going all out on their ‘Inside Matters’. Though I won a Dell Mini thanks to Intel previously, I remembered another campaign. Participants were asked to write about an article or story about what matter’s inside. See, it’s like a disease.

Anyway, Intel is offering prizes worth RM2599 at their new campaign website. Initially, I thought there was 1 prize worth RM2599 but after reading it again, it’s prizes (plural; more than 1). But hey, more than 1 prize is a good thing too!

So, how do I win 1 of the prizes?

Easy. Submit 3 guesses of what you think is inside that funky rainbow box.

Bonus tip for you

It’s easy to say, we could be looking at a Wimax-enabled netbook or laptop from Intel. At least that’s what others are saying. LOL!

If you’re in the market for a notebook or a netbook, here’s a tip: Get the one with WiMAX-Inside! | http://whatisinside.com.my/

Source: @P1Media

By the way, dear Intel campaign team. Please link the Twitter logo to your account and not the main Twitter website.

D’you think there’s magic cookies inside the box?

I’ll let you know what I find when I look into the box at their launch event.