The Acer Guy

Hello Acer Guy readers,

Over the past two months, this blog has started to develop a life of it’s own. What I mean by that is that rather than going down the usual path of engaging readers by soliciting comments on my personal view on life, the universe and all-things Acer, it’s beginning to behave in exactly the same way a corporate blog does, turning the direction of the communication the other way around. Scoble and Israel have never been so right.

A quick look at the comments section should give you an idea of what I mean.

This is absolutely fine by me - I’ve learned more about Acer’s customers through this means than any other I have taken part in, but now the time has come to move the experience up a gear.

So, taking a leaf out of Acer’s next target’s illustrious book, I’m going to turn the tables on you, in the hope that you help me build an important reference onto the world of Acer, and give me a far better insight into what your looking for when I do what I’m paid to do: write Acer’s marketing stuff.

Point number one: I have seen a growing demand for support yet I am not a support guy. Having said that, there have been some pretty good suggestions from readers and Acer support so the basics are there. Would a support forum section be of any help and how would you like it structured? Please remember this is not and cannot replace an official support centre but I do recognize the need.

Point number two: How about the reviews section? I cannot do my own (they would be biased) but are links to “reputable” sites OK? I’ve seen a good few site exits from these pages so I guess you like them.

Point number three: Let’s take it a step further. What about some kind of video section? I’m toying with the idea of starting some Camtasia “how-to” videos. Would you like to see this idea take off? How about I set up a YouTube-style section where readers send in their own how-to videos? The number of times I’m been asked “how to turn GridVista off means there’s a definite demand for something like this.

Point number four: Finally, the one thing I’ve always wanted to do is something along the lines of Dell’s frankly brilliant IdeaStorm. I’m not sure how to set this up yet but where there’s a will there a way. That Swicki over there on the right is a wonderful indicator of what you’re really looking for (4000 OrbiCam searches in the past 30 days…) but I’d like to make the results more transparent for the benefit of everyone. One way to do this is to start some kind of direct, open feedback section. Again, this is my own initiative and not Acer’s so don’t expect them to start selling directly, pre-install Apple’s OSX or make their notebooks green or anything

Joking aside, the number of visitors to this site is growing at a wonderfully steady rate and, even more significantly, the number of comments you guys are leaving is turning this project into a real conversation.

All I’m asking is a little advice on how to make it better.

PS If any of you know of a web/blog design agency that could set this all up, give me their number.

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I always wanted this blog to stay away from corporate issues but every now and then something blips on the radar that can’t be ignored. Bear with me for a minute.

If anyone has been watching, there have been some healthy (for want of a better word) exchanges of opinions going on between several key IT players over the past few weeks.

First HP used a favourable article on ZDNet to have a go at IBM and Dell on Eric Klintz’s Marketing Excellence blog. Lionel from Dell responds on the same thread but the argument dies.

Chris from MWW Group (PRs to Amazon.com among others) tracks back to this on their Open the Dialogue” blog and uses it as a healthy example of what blogging is all about – real people debating real issues head to head, without PR interference.

The thing is none of this “wanton sincerity” is true at all.

First of all, simply by debating on HP’s MARKETING EXCELLENCE blog, means that all sincerity flies straight out the window (remember, All Marketers are Liars, says Seth Godin).

Then I replied to Chris with a post just before Christmas about how difficult (artificial) it is to compare independent professional blogs to corporate ones. My post wasn’t published. True I’m a little guy, but the “Openness” of MWW Groups “Dialogue” is now in doubt.

Want to see a really open debate? One with real people arguing about real issues? Then read the vehemence over at Scoble’s blog following his dig at Apple after his son’s Mac Book Pro had problems, complaining that despite Apple’s poor service and Dell’s openness, the former gets good press while the latter suffers from the opposite.

The comments are what Scoble himself in his book Naked Conversations defined as “Tough Love”.

On corporate blogs it’s a different story and Klintz’s refusal to take the argument with Lionel any further is a clear demonstration of this.

True, a blog must by definition be open and personal, but surely not to the point where a company of the caliber of HP filters the replies it posts (read Lionel’s reply) and places a legal disclaimer at the foot of each page which reads:

“Opinions expressed here and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of the original authors, not of HP and may not have been reviewed in advance by HP.”

In this case, there is a certain inconsistency in what employees are saying about their companies, and how these same companies wish to be represented.

If you’re truly sincere, why not, as Dell has rightly done, stand by your comments and do without the disclaimer? At least that way you bind the underlying truth of your words to the principles, values and goals of the company you (directly or indirectly) represent.

And that’s where an intelligent marketing department enters the equation.

As I mentioned in my unpublished post, “I think that only the foolish would seriously believe that behind the apparent liberty with which Dell, HP and Lenovo people blog, marketing didn’t have a hand in establishing the general guidelines and best practices to be implemented.”

Look closely and you don’t find debate on corporate blogs. Discussion yes, and even some serious “link appreciation”, but not debate.

Investor relations, client loyalty and sheer common sense dictates that corporations of this scale will continue to foster brand awareness with the same care and attention they have devotedly applied since conception.

Blogging gives them another channel, it’s true. A more open channel for sure (with (unfiltered?) feedback to boot!), but a channel all the same.

And that’s how it should be.

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