Corporate Blogging Best Practice

Corporate Blogging Best Practice Hayden Sutherland Ideal Interface

What’s the Business Reason?
Join the conversation
Find out what is being said
Provide an opinion
Tell your story, Tackle an issue, Feed a Frenzy
Promote (sell) product
‘Return of Investment’ is hard to prove
Especially in the short-term
Its not just a ‘Me Too’

It benefits….
Branding
SEO
Marketing
Recruitment
Market research
Innovation
Community building
Access to customers

The 4 C’s of Blogging
Content
Community
Consistency
Clarity
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/darmano/conversation-by-design

The 4 C’s - Content
Create a service to your readers
Be an original source of information
News is not called news because it is old
Share your knowledge
Speak from experience
Provide opinion
Don’t be afraid of a little passion
Add value

The 4 C’s - Community
Understand your different audiences
Customer Relations
Media Relations
Get involved
Listen
Cultivate by asking
Seek opinions, don’t just give them
Invest time to learn what works

The 4 C’s - Consistency
Post regularly
One/two/seven/twenty postings a week?
Stick to it (your audience will expect it)
Be true - others care
Find your correct voice(s)
“ A blog is easy to start, but it’s hard to maintain”

The 4 C’s - Clarity
Communicate it clearly
Make postings simple & compelling
One topic, one posting
Explain difficult / niche terms
Industry, trends, slang - can alienate some
Link to definitions if you have them
Relate different topics to each other
Multiple posters - is it clear who it is?

It needs….
Transparency
Authenticity
Original content
Commitment (from Senior-level down)
Patience
Humility & humanity
Thick skin

Transparency isn’t always cultural Source: http://www.blaugh.com

It may mean…
Losing control
Did you really have it before?
Your market has changed, you should too!
Receiving negative comments
Are they truthful though?
But: be prepared to stop comments that breach your policies on decency, libel, etc.
Continuing a conversation until it finishes

Understand
Identify & know your target audience
Align subject with company aims & targets
Position blog to focus on key aspects
Agree content do’s and don’t
Agree if comments are allowed (why not?)
Have pre-prepared statements / responses to potential issue areas
Agree who will blog (and who won’t)

Your Liability
Confidentiality - Don’t say too much
Coordinate all announcements centrally
Competitors will read your postings
Misinformation is worse than none
Be aware of
Defamation (but fair comparison is fine)
Plagiarism & Intellectual Property Theft
Maintain a blogging policy
Peer checking can eliminate most issues
Companies are responsible for the statements made by their employees

Implementation
Define blog style
approach, attitude, voice
Agree posting schedule (and stick to it)
Allow enough time to respond to comments - if you allow them
Measure, measure & measure
Monitor links to your blog from Technorati

… and have fun!

Hayden Sutherland hayden@idealinterface.co.uk find me at: http://press20.blogspot.com

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Corporate Blogging Best Practice

by Hayden Sutherland on May 12, 2008

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Corporate Blogging Best Practice — Presentation Transcript