Interesting! Blogger Niel Robertson, CTO at Newmerix, was invited by SAP to report about their Sapphire ‘06 event in Orlando.

Apparently, it was the first time a company (SAP) officially sponsors a group of bloggers as part of their media outreach at a conference. They were treated in the same fashion as press with press-like unlimited access, to the show floor, evening dinners, even to set up meetings with key SAP executives. The people invited were independent bloggers, with no special affiliation to SAP (for example Newmerix is an Oracle partner, not an SAP partner). They usually write about Oracle, Microsoft, SF.com and other enterprise software companies.

“I think this is possibly going to set an interesting precedent in the industry. It should serve as a case study for other large companies interested in bringing thought leaders into their fold to have them report what’s going on at their conferences. And to do it with a balanced group of people who know the industry well.”

A wiki was set up to collect all the posts from the different blogs and to improve visibility of the event’s coverage. The pictures have been flickred.

Robertson describes some of the priceless moments of the event as a blogger.

• First, at the official SAP press conference, the announcer officially welcomed the bloggers to the conference in front of the whole press corps and the industry analysts.
• Second, he had the chance to go to the SAP Executive Press and Analysts (and Blogger) dinner; he even enjoyed a private discussion with SAP CEO, Henning Kagermann!

His experience ended up with about 20 pages of notes from talking to SAP executives! Read more of his reporting on Sapphire Themes and The New Corporate World Order.

Here are three things that marketers ought to know about web syndication, either through RSS, Google’s Atom or some other standard.

• RSS is Incorruptibly Opt-In
• It Saves Users Time (Yours Too)
• RSS is Measurable

Read more…

Mack Collier at the Viral Garden published the list of the top 25 marketing blogs (with the highest ranking according to Alexa) that he could find. He’s planning to post the new rankings every Monday.

Via Business Blog Consulting.

Melcrum Publishing has just published a research report entitled ‘Transforming Your Intranet.’ According to Neville Hobson, it is the first report of its type which includes a significant focus on social media such as blogs and delivery mechansims like RSS.

The report costs £255/$395/€370 but you can download the PDF synopsis.

There are clear signs that blogging and online collaboration have more and more influence on CRM (Customer Relationship Management); it may even catch up on traditional CRM tools in the future.

Seth Godin writes that CRM is dead, via the example of Disney Destinations Marketing and its new department: Customer Managed Relationships.

“CMR is our version of CRM - just a slight nuance regarding our philosophy that our guests invite us into their lives and ultimately manage our presence/relationship with them.”

David Goldes predicts that CRM is to be replaced by KCRM, Knowledge-enabled CRM.

“… there are myriad ways in which KCRM can deliver value by increasing productivity, lowering costs, and improving customer response. Here are a few areas where KCRM shines: Expanded Knowledge about Customers, Increased Customer Satisfaction, Upsellling and Cross-selling Opportunities, Improved Response Time. These are just a few of the many possibilities for KCRM in the enterprise.”

Blogging is good for your career. A well-executed blog sets you apart as an expert in your field.

“It’s the new public relations and it’s the new home page. Instead of a static home page, you have your blog. It’s a way to let people know what you are thinking about the field that interests you.

[...]

People who are more visible and have a reputation and stand for something do better than people who are invisible.”

Read more…

Southwest Airlines’ blog took off last week. Nuts about Southwest is a moderated blog hosted by about 20 employees who write about their jobs at the airline, but also about the travel industry. So you’ll find posts from managers and mechanics as well as captains or flying attendants. The airline says it will welcome comments from customers.

Our goal with this blog is to give our readers the opportunity to take a look inside Southwest Airlines and to interact with us. This is as much your blog as it is ours. We have lined up a crew of bloggers representing a diverse cross-section of our Company. The most current postings will be found on the home page, and we have organized the archives by category. We want to build a personal relationship between our bloggers and you, and we need your participation. You are the “other half” of this blog, and our bloggers can’t wait to communicate with you, so get busy posting.

Via Blogs for Companies.