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Forrester today is releasing new research that offers a roadmap for measuring the risks vs. the potential return for starting a corporate weblog. I was given an exclusive first look. The report was written by Charlene Li and Chloe Stromberg.

Late last year I was interviewed for the report as was my colleague, Michael Wiley, who was formerly with GM. While he was there Michael pioneered their popular Fastlane blog. Forrester also spoke to nine Fortune 500 companies that have blogs: Microsoft (an Edelman client), BMC, Dell, HP, Southwest Airlines, Sun Microsystems, Starwood Hotels, Verizon and Wells Fargo.

In Forrester’s interviews, the most frequently mentioned benefits of corporate blogging were: greater brand visibility in mainstream media on the Web, word of mouth, improved brand perception, instantaneous consumer feedback, increased sales efficiency and fewer "customer service-driven PR blowups."

When measuring impact they advise using metrics that everyone is familiar with and then to associate each with a dollar value that quantifies the benefit. One idea that they outline, which I like a lot, is to estimate how much the company would have to pay to achieve a similar outcome. So, for example, they suggest benchmarking a blog against services like Buzz Agent. (See chart below)

Forrester also published supplemental material where they take a closer look at GM's Fastlane blog. Forrester estimates that GM saw 99% return for 2005 for its investment in blogging. In other words, the GM Fastlane blog generated $578,000 in value on an investment of $291,000.

FInally, the research firm also put together a terrific model for assessing blog risk: a) identify the three things that could happen, b) model the scenario and c) estimate its probability. This is very similar to preparing for a crisis in PR and good advice when venturing into a blog program.