I’m being asked more questions about the value of blogs and how they can help to engage customers, suppliers and employees. Via Dina is this story by Stuart Henshall on what happens when a dedicated blogger is engaged by a corporation:
Blog Rules:
- For blogs to work there must be trust. Let it be a warning to you when an employer is critical of your blog, or implies that they must approve every post you make first.
- Blogs are strategic, but the messages must be personal. Planning out a blog strategy and topics in advance fails to account for the immediacy of the daily events and the need for responsiveness.
- Make sure the company is large enough to have "personalities" blogging — otherwise own the company. The blogger is likely to become an important public face.
- Think through where the blog should be on what URL. Is it better at blogperson.com or under the corporate banner? What is best to harness the blogger and readers?
Warnings to other Bloggers:
- Your blog may be perceived as a personal asset and not a corporate one. You personal blog can become a corporate asset but only if the conditions above apply.
- Corporate positioning is a must. If the company isn’t mature enough or is afraid to enable the blogger to talk about "category" developments then blogging will be difficult.
- If topics and content are limited then you may lose your friends, lose access to thought leadership and potential partnerships and associates for the company – or even simply good press.
- If the company fears balanced perspective on other products then you will find life difficult.
- Blogs require a time commitment, if you are not getting it or there is no time left over for it then it is not valued. My target has always been in the ten hours a week category. That includes the use of my newsreader. Make sure your employer signs off on the time commitment to the blog.
- If the company asks you when you will transfer your blog URL to the company then they really don’t get it.
As the value of blogging as a medium to connect producers with markets becomes more evident, corporate blogging may move into the mainstream, just as telecommuting (which means less control over workers) is accepted in some areas but not in others.
