Blogs and Corporate Communications: Notes beyond the Hype
By Ralf Beuker, Strategy Coaching
 |
 |
| By Ralf Beuker |
According to recent AdAge.com research, approximately 35 million US workers (which is equivalent to 25% of the corporate US workforce) visit blogs for an average of 40 minutes a day! There is no doubt that blogs have become an accepted source of information and the trend will continue with rising user numbers worldwide. According to AdAge.com, Technorati, a blog search engine, now tracks 19.6 million blogs, a number that has doubled approximately every five months for the past three years.
Although there is clearly some concern in the office that blog surfing might not be always work-related, it shows the potential impact that blogs may have on employees, and by the same token, customers as well. So the question is evident: Why not leverage this interest and get your company and your people engaged in a corporate blog as well?
The reasons for doing so are many, but there are some issues worth considering before starting a blog. I will draw upon insights from the more than two years of experience with my blog “Vol. 2: design-management.de” (which has attracted over 25,000 unique visits per month) as well as from current projects in which I help clients make efficient use of blogs for their organizations. Accordingly, please consider this article as a “posting” rather than a classic magazine “article.”
Even though I assume that many of you are familiar with the general idea of a weblog, let me define the term in order to have a shared understanding of what we’re actually talking about. A weblog, or blog, in its basic format is quite simply a journal which consists of “articles” or “postings” in chronologically-sorted order. These postings can be easily viewed by any web browser, and the content of many blogs can be read by RSS-Newsreaders as well (RSS—Rich Site Summary—uses a generic file format which enables others to read your content across many platforms and software applications). Very often blogs and their postings are written in a “diary” style and bloggers share their views in a corresponding tone or style. On the other hand, companies use blogs internally for sharing information across teams, and externally for providing timely product support information or engaging in a dialogue with company stakeholders.
Let’s refer back to the diary metaphor. Just as you share personal insights with a diary, a blog is about your specific perspective or attitude which you want to share with the rest of your audience. And this is how it differs from a discussion board or forum in which the topic itself is the starting point. In a blog it’s your individual perspective. Accordingly, this perspective explains its rationale or arguments by referencing to other blogs or media sources and by doing this you create trust and demonstrate credibility towards your readers.
As I’ve already touched on some issues to be considered, let’s just break down the topic to a simple set of options which might help you to find a good starting point for the question: What is the purpose of my blog? On one hand, you have to think about the focus of topics you want to discuss. This can be either broad or narrow. By the same logic you have to consider whom you want to engage in this discussion. This focus can be either internally—say your company or department—or externally with your stakeholders. This framework offers good guidance for your first steps and it doesn’t stipulate that you can’t move from internal to external focus, as well as from a narrow to a broad set of topics you find worthwhile to discuss.
Internal blogs can be used to foster communication among team members or across departmental borders. The information contained in many emails and sent around to many recipients could be much better dispersed on a central platform. Progress of team efforts can be documented in blog postings very easily, as well as well by writing comments to update progress status. Linklists in a navigational area of your blog are a great source to leverage as well. Due to its informal and information sharing character a blog enables you to capture hidden knowledge which would have otherwise disappeared. All the information accumulated is searchable and therefore can be easily retrieved as well. Last but not least, information can also be pushed to readers by enabling RSS feeds in your blog. Accordingly the information appears instantly on your readers desktop.
By going external with your blog you should be aware that you do not send one way “messages” any longer, but rather initiate a conversation. This requires that you be willing to listen to your audience and actively engage in a dialogue. Although corporate messages are more related to the PR domain, blog postings require that you touch issues which challenge your audience to participate. This could be the sharing of ideas about new products or services, as well as a discussion about external issues from a broader context which might have an impact on your industry. However, once you’ve started the dialogue you should be aware that readers are continually demanding fresh and regular input. This is rewarding, but also challenging at the same time. I’ll make some recommendations below about how you might organize internally in order to keep the blog alive and fresh.
As with private blogs, the range of topics to discuss can be either broad or narrow. While a narrow focus of your blog demonstrates expertise in a certain domain, a broader focus enables you to get in touch with more people and discuss the broader impact of issues. This provides an authentic view of your company and the people working for you. However, you should carefully consider the question of how personal a blog should be and how much you want share about your company’s internal issues.
While this article should give you some general insights into the topic of corporate blogging, I want to share some insights from my own blogging experience, as well as from a current project with a corporate customer. These recommendations reflect issues I’ve identified as relevant when you start a blog. Considering them at an early stage might help prevent many common problems. So here’s my list:
Consider clearly your motivation when you start a blog -
Start small with messages you already have in your company, say FAQ’s or previously written papers or articles
Start with a small set of people who blog and include more stakeholders at a later stage Assign responsibilities among team members for a schedule of who will be submitting postings Develop a regular schedule for how often at a minimum you want to update your blog Blog regularly and keep in mind that blogging takes time Share personal stories, experiences, and lessons learned Allow comments on your postings and respond to comments Keep in mind that the Internet has no delete button: Google captures and stores everything! Be transparent and honest towards your readers Provide as many links as possible to other sources on the net Make it clear to your blogging team what is allowed to be posted and where the limits are
Visit the DMI Innovation blog
Since early 2003, Ralf Beuker has been writing columns for his Weblog: www.design-management.de, one of the first blogs worldwide dedicated to the field of “design, management and business issues around design management,” attracting an average of more than 20,000 visitors a month from all over the world. Ralf’s professional background is based on consulting in the areas of strategy, design management research as well as technological innovation. He is a lecturer at the leading post-graduate design management programs in the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Germany. In current projects Ralf advises companies on how to engage in blogging activities. You can contact him at: ralf@design-management.de.
This article appeared in the November
2005 eBulletin.
Feedback on DMI Viewpoints and article proposals
are always welcome! Please email jtobin@dmi.org.
|
