Corporate Blogging

As the competition among corporations becomes more intense, not only do the companies need to survive, they also need to look for opportunities to be conspicuous.

Even though traditional media has been a solid medium that communicates the company messaging to the world for a long time, the trends of information consumption are evolving.

After some initial doubtfulness, companies are starting to realise the importance of blogging.

According to a research, 61 companies out of the Fortune 500 companies or 12.2% of the Fortune 500 are blogging as of 17 April 2009.


Corporate blog refers to blog that is published and used by organisation to attain its organisational goals.

The main advantage of blogs is that readers can reach and follow the posts and comments easily since the hosting is centralised and conversation threads are generally structured.

At present, all major browsers such as Firefox, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer 8 support RSS technology, which allows readers to read new posts easily without having to visit the blog. This is particularly useful for small-volume blogs.

Generally, there are six types of corporate blogs, which are sales blog, relationship blogs, branding blogs, knowledge blogs, collaboration blogs and culture blogs. These blogs can then be classified into either external or internal.


Internal blogs

Internal blogs are blogs that can be viewed by any employee and are usually accessed through the corporation’s Intranet. Internal blogs include knowledge blogs, collaboration blogs and culture blogs.

External blogs
External blogs refers to blogs that are made public where company employees, teams and spokespersons share their views. Sales blogs, relationship blogs and branding blogs fall under this category.

For more information about these six types of blogs, please visit http://www.corporateblogging.info/2004/08/six-types-of-business-blogs.asp.

Benefits of corporate blogging

I) Build rapport with customers

II) Provide two-way conversation

III) Increase website traffic from higher search engine rankings

IV) Position business as thought leader

V) Lead generation

For more information, please visit http://buzzmedia.com.my/blog/corporate-blogging-breakdown-what-is-it-and-why-does-my-organisation-need-it

Tips for corporate blogger

1) Know yourself

2) Know your audience

3) Engage your audience

4) Stay current

5) Cover your rear

For more details on tips for corporate blogger, please click here.

Followings are some of the more popular corporate blogs:

Google Blog

Adobe

Direct2Dell

GM Fast Lane

The number of corporate bloggers is increasing and it is expected that it will continue to increase in the future.

In order to compete with other corporations and keep up with the trends, corporations should start blogging if they have not done so.

In conclusion, corporate blog is a new, powerful marketing communication tool for every organisation.

Regardless of whether the organisation is small or large, small medium enterprises or corporations, for-profit or non profit organisations, as long as it is done correctly, corporate blogging can yield a huge Return on Blog.

References:

Corporate blog - Wikipedia

Do's and don'ts of corporate blogging

Top 15 corporate blogs

Review a local, transactional e-commerce site

Want to go for a movie on the coming weekend and you feel irritating to queue for the purchase of movie tickets? It is the time for you to purchase your movie tickets online!!

Golden Screen Cinema (GSC) offers the customer with the e-ticketing service named GSC E-Payment Ticketing on the GSC main website. All you need to do is sign up to become the member and you can enjoy the service.

In my opinion, there is a user friendly feature provided by the GSC to the new users which is the “e-payment ticketing tutorial”. This tutorial could be easily found in the website and it provides a clear step-by-step tutorial on how to purchase the movie tickets online.

Other than that, right after the step of selecting movie, there will be a pop up box to remind the consumers about the age restriction of the movie. For me, it is important as consumers might not be aware of the restriction and a pop up box brings the consumers' attention to the age restriction.





The service allows the consumers to pay via Maybank2u and credit card. Furthermore, there is “status page” at the end of the transaction which allows us to print out the hard copy as evidence of payment. The status page provides clear instruction about the collection of the ticket (such as remember the confirmation ID and the place to collect the ticket) which I think is very useful to avoid the consumers’ confusion during the collection of purchased ticket.


I am satisfied with the e-ticketing service provided by GSC as it provides a user friendly and easy environment for the consumer to purchase movie ticket online.



Reference:

Golden Screen Cinema Online

Pre-paid cash card for consumers

What is a prepaid cash card?

Basically, pre-paid cash card is an alternative way to make payment. It works by loading money into the card and you can use the card for various or specific paying purposes. It does not require deposit account and there is no credit or overdraft allowed. The limit of the card depends on how much electronic cash you have loaded in.

The application of prepaid cash card could be broken into a few categories:

1. Substitution of cash

- Prepaid cash card can be used as a paying or purchasing mechanism. We can pay by using this card rather than cash. It is convenient for the consumers because they do not need to carry much money when shopping. Other than that, it is safer than cash because we can recover the money loaded inside the card if the card gets stolen but stolen cash is usually not recoverable.

2. Purchase online

- Pre-paid cash card acts similarly with credit card which allows us to purchase items online. Online purchasing will be the future trend and it is usually not convenient for those people who are unable to register for a credit card. Pre-paid cash card can solve this problem as there is no requirement for salary or credit check during the application.

3. Accepted worldwide

- Usually, currency like Ringgit Malaysia can only be used to trade in Malaysia. However, present pre-paid cash card with Visa service allows us to pay for goods or services all over the world. A very popular example will be the Rush Visa Card in America.

4. Withdraw cash

- Most of the pre-paid cash card allows us to withdraw the balance in the card at ATM machine. However, it does not apply to all pre-paid cash card. The example of non-refundable pre-paid cash card will be the Touch and Go card of Malaysia.


Reference:

No Checking Or Savings Account? Use Prepaid Cash Card

Master Prepaid Card

Electronic Currency

Money has existed for thousands of years.
It has taken many forms, ranging from precious metals, conch shell etc. to paper notes and coins.

As Internet and computer become more common, money has evolved into a newer form, which is electronic currency.

Electronic currency, which is also known as electronic money, digital money etc., refers to money or scrip that is exchanged only electronically with the use of computer networks, Internet and digital stored value systems.


Followings are some of the examples of electronic currency:

PayPal

In today’s world, many companies are providing electronic currency services.
One of them is PayPal.
PayPal is a well-known leading online account-based e-payment service provider.
Users need to create a PayPal account before they are able to purchase online or transfer money to anyone who has PayPal account.
Payment can be made in any currency and may later be converted into any desired currency.




There are some characteristics which define “Electronic Currency”.

i) Real time & irreversible

ii) Private & anonymous

To know more on the characteristics of e-currency, please click here.




Advantages of electronic currency:

I) Privacy & confidentiality

Since the transfer of electronic currency is done privately and anonymously, no personal details are transferred to the merchant.

II) Security

The adoption of encryption method can enhance the security of electronic currency.

III) Convenience

Customers do not need to bring large amount of cash with them. Users can make online payment wherever they are and whenever they want using credit card size smart card.



Disadvantages of electronic currency:

I) Fraud

Hackers may hack into the user’s bank account and illegally retrieve his or her records.

II) Peer-to-peer double spending risk

Double spending is a problem where a piece of electronic currency is duplicated and both copies are spent.


Requirements of electronic currency system:

a) Security

b) Anonymity

c) Scalability

d) Acceptability

e) Interoperability

For a detailed explanation on these requirements, please click here.




In this digitalised century, electronic currency is becoming more common and popular as it makes our life much easier.
Even though there are some risks associated with electronic currency, consumers can actually choose to avoid it.
For instance, they can opt to include intermediary in their transactions to avoid peer-to-peer double spending risk.
Once the electronic currency industry is able to guarantee the safety and trustworthiness of the transactions, it will definitely benefit us.






References:

Electronic money - advantages and disadvantages

Electronic money - Wikipedia

What is digital currency: digital money & real cash