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BLOGS MEANS BUSINESS
Posted Date: 21 Mar 2008
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Posted By: arunkumar Member Level: Gold
Rating:  Points: 5
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Blog, one of the fastest growing applications
on the Internet, is increasingly making its
presence felt in the corporate world. Generally
viewed as an online journal that records anything
and everything that people think—be it
about their new car or someone else’s, blogs have
moved on to become one of the most potent marketing,
PR and CRM tools a company can have.
It is easy to customise a blog and companies
worldwide are quickly picking up the trend.
Besides using the blog to promote themselves, corporate
offices use it to maintain a certain level of
transparency within their ranks. Companies can
also exploit blogs to engender strong relationships
with their customers and the media.
Here, we attempt to answer some basic questions:
What are the uses of a blog? Why is it smart
business to have a corporate blog? Who in the company
must be allowed to blog? What are the rules
that must be followed while maintaining a corporate
blog? What sort of companies would gain the
most if they set up a blog?
Let’s Get Started!
A blog is very similar to a Web page that can be
updated using a simple WYSIWYG (what you
see/what you get) interface. Most major Internet
companies and portals host a blog service such as
Google’s Blogspot and MSN’s MSN Spaces, that
have tens of millions of registered users.
Various methods can be applied if you want to
set up a corporate blog. Blogging tools can be
found on the Internet, and a few can be downloaded
for free.
All wikis come loaded with a blogging application,
so you don’t need to set up a separate blog
if you’ve already have a wiki installed. Most content
management systems today come with a
blogging application that can be installed. So don’t
bother downloading a blogging application if your
company’s Web site has a one installed.
A few firms also opt to let their employees and
management post their blogs on independent
service providers such as Xanga and Blogspot. However,
if the corporate blog you plan to set up aims
to improve the branding of your company or advertise
its products, then it would be ideal to have a
blogging application installed on your Web site.
Put Blogging To Good Use
Ideally, blogs should be more than just an extension
of the marketing and advertising arm of the
company. It’s unreasonable to expect people to
repeatedly visit your blog if it’s used to promote
the company or its services. Corporate offices can
use blogs to regularly post company news. Macromedia
(radio.webblogs.com) used blogging to their
advantage when business slackened.
Macromedia’s blog acted as a forum for managers
to discuss new product launches, to place
products before developers and users and obtain
feedback. It enabled a one-to-one correspondence
between consumers and project leaders. The blog
also gave links to the best Flash examples, interesting
tips on using the software, and instances of
the most irritating bugs in the software.
The result of the interaction on blogs is that it
reduces the feeling of an “Us vs Them” that most
consumers have towards any corporate entity.
Additionally, a blog builds up a certain level of
communication within the company. IBM, for
instance, has an internal podcasting system, which
puts up audio files on the Web that can be downloaded
and played as a radio broadcast. Employees
use these podcasts to air their views on an open
platform, and IBM claims to have acquired a few
good product ideas through this service.
While company Web sites provide detailed
technical specifications about their products, a
blog might offer new information due to its interactive
nature. A blog can cover smaller issues that
people are eager to discuss, possibly creating a
loyal fan base in the process.
Another good example is Apple, which set up
a blog (appleblog.com) to explain the intricacies
of their new photo-editing suite, Aperture. The
blog was a personal interaction between the
project lead, Joe Smith, and users who were eager
to know what Apple offered and how the software
differed from that of its competitors.
Corporate blogging could also act as a recruitment
tool. For instance, a blog that details the
work lives of employees or projects the company is
undertaking may attract individuals who are considering
working with the company. A company
could put up details of its management style, focus
and future prospects. This could aid prospective
employees make a decision.
What Do I Post Online?
So how does one determine whether a corporate
business blog is well-written? The best blogs are
lively, relevant, straightforward, informal yet pre
cise. The content should be well presented. Moreover,
people who are in a position to answer
queries posted by viewers must update the corpo-
Corporate
blogging can be
an effective
recruitment tool
as blogs detailing
work lives of
employees may
attract candidates
1. Be authentic
2. Be an unmatched resource
3. Once you start, don’t stop
4. Keep it relevant
5. Measure your effectiveness
6. Monitor other blogs
7. Trust your employees
8. Use blogs for knowledge
management
9. Use wikis for employee and
customer collaboration
10.Develop an organisational
content strategy
(Source: MarketingProfs.com)
Ten Cardinal Rules of Corporate Blogging
rate blog. Regular updates prevent boredom and
complaints. It helps if the blog also gives readers
insight into the interest areas of the author.
However, the author must bear in mind that
information given on the blog should be consistent
with the official line of the company. Of
course, sensitive company details are not to be
divulged. Some companies such as Microsoft and
HP let employees blog without too many restrictions.
Others, such as Macromedia and Apple have
blogs maintained by project leaders and business
heads. Microsoft now has a blog (blogs.msdn.com)
that’s updated regularly by a senior level manager
in the consumer relations department. This blog
aims to keep a dialogue on between the company
and the consumer.
Nowadays, it has becomes rather necessary for
the CEO to maintain a blog if he is unable to have
a one-to-one interaction with all employees of the
company on a weekly basis. CEOs such as Mark
Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks, an NBA team, use
blogs to expand on the news stories published in
the papers about his company. Others like Rajesh
Jain of Netcore Solutions use them (emergic.org) to
focus on trends in the Indian IT industry.
All The Bare Facts
With all that a blog can do, it’s easy to overlook the
constraints that a corporate blog might face. Blogs,
by their very definition, bring publishing power
down to an individual. A blog is supposed to be a
freewheeling discussion between the blogger and
the reader. However, official policies of the company
may be otherwise.
Few companies would relax their stringent
media policies and allow open dialogue between
employees and outsiders. No company can be comfortable
with the idea of sensitive information
being given to the public for ready consumption.
This, in turn, makes the whole idea of a blog ineffective.
Despite there being blog tools which have
embedded levels of permission and accessibility,
corporate offices are apprehensive of the security
these offer.
Software companies, media firms and other
organisations would do well to set up their own
blog. It’s in such a scenario that enterprises can
benefit as they can formulate their code of conduct
and media policies keeping in mind the
emerging trend of blogging. After all, blogs are an
open forum to discuss the company’s ideas with
the consumers. As long as technical rigours are
worked out, corporate blogs can prove to be a very
effective means of communication to the advantage of the company
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