Choose an industry from one of the following:
? Airlines
? Music
? Games
? Dating
All of these have been covered in the lectures. All of these industries have been disrupted by digital

technologies. Some companies have responded better than others to the challenges.
Then from this sector, choose one company or brand to write about. You will find it much easier to do this
assignment if you choose a company that is already active online.
Get to know them intimately. Follow them on Twitter, ‘friend’ them on Facebook, explore them on

Linkedin. Check for blogs, Youtube pages, Flickr photos, etc. Research online how they have been
reported in the news. Is anyone blogging about them? Check their own webpages. Link all this back to
your lecture notes.

Registering your blog
We recommend that you use one of the following blog hosts:
? Google’s Blogger: http://blogger.com
? WordPress: http://wordpress.com/
You will need to register yourself as a blogger and a name for your blog.
If you are already using another blogging platform, or have another preference, please check this with your
seminar tutor first.

Writing your blog
Indicative topics for your blog(sthese are suggestions only):
? history – when did this company start going digital, and how?
? old and new how
has business changed for this company since digital came along?
? disintermediation – how does the company reach its customers?
? product development – what’s new, how is it done?
? income sources – how is the company funded? Who is paying the bills?

? how does the company use digital sources to promote itself?
? how does it gain customer feedback? Does it engage in conversations?
? how does it compare to its competitors in the digital environment?
? what are the main trends in this industry, and how is the company responding?

Restrict yourself to the reported facts give
supporting links and references. If you are giving your opinion
or speculating about the future, say so. Your blog is in the public domain, so don’t say anything that could
be seen as libellous.

Aim to get most of your blog posts done in April and early May, to give you chance to keep improving
them before the deadline, and to start building traffic (readers).
As a guide, you should have written 10 blogs on this topic, each 300500
words. Or maybe fewer blogs if
each one is longer. This sort of decision is something to discuss in your self reflection.
Getting your blog noticed

If you are on Facebook, then link each blog post so that your friends can find it. Tell a little story about
how interesting it might be. Sign into Twitter (http://twitter.com) to follow your chosen company and its
competitors, and promote new blog posts through this medium. Promote your blog on LinkedIn.
Encourage your friends to comment on your blog and to link to it on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Do the same
for them. Monitor traffic on your blog for
example using Google’s Dashboard.
Exemplars

Here are some examples of successful blogs produced by your tutors.

http://ostensibledemarketing.

blogspot.co.uk/ (Robin Croft)
http://www.brandjacknews.com/ (Quentin Langley)
http://altermark.blogspot.co.uk/ (Ioannis Kostopoulos)
See how these blogs are put together: they also contain some good case studies which you can learn from.
Why not add some comments?
Special sessions
We will be putting on some special sessions on these topics to help you link theory and practice.

These
are optional and will be extra to the normal lectures.
? 24 April, 13:00, J211 airlines
? 24 April, 14:00, J211 online
dating
? 1 May, 13:00, JM10 games
? 1 May, 14:00, JM10 music
If you can’t make the relevant session, try and find someone who can and then share notes.

Reflective log
To be uploaded to BREO, Turnitin link.
Firstly, please give the address of your blog: eg http://ostensibledemarketing.
blogspot.co.uk/
Then comment on how you found the process (“I thought this was going to be easy, but…”)

Tell us what you learned from doing the company blog new
skills such as making it visible in a crowded
online space).
The reflective log should be 12
pages, around 500 words.
Assessment Criteria
Your overall portfolio of blogs will be marked against the following criteria
? completeness (did you produce a detailed picture of the company’s digital business?, 20%)

? topicality (did you identify what’s new in the industry?, 20%)
? presentation (was it clear and concise, easy to read, attractively set out? 30%)
? originality (did you provide your own analysis?, 10%)
? Selfreflection
(Did you analyze how much impact the blog had viewers,
traffic? 20%)
Editing
? Keep adding and editing, remembering to save the blog as a draft.
? Add references: where did you get your information?

These references can be at the end of the
blog – but better still, embed them in the text as a hyperlink. If you don’t know how to do this, ask
in class.
? Add pictures where they help to explain the story to to make your blog look more interesting.
? Similarly for other links – video, pictures, other blogs, news sources, etc.
? When you are happy with it press the ‘publish’ button. You will still be able to make corrections
and improvements.