For the past few months I have concluded my blog seminars with the following slide. I hate to say 'slide' since I only use a few Keynote frames, everything else is browser based. There is nothing more boring than a blog presentation via PowerPoint.
When I show this slide here are the general comments I give:
Four Choices
People will talk, they always do. More and more this ‘talk’ is taking place on blogs. When determining a blog strategy you have four choices: Ignore, Listen, Participate or Lead.
Ignore:
You’re smarter than this, but surprisingly many companies aren’t paying attention to what’s being said about them on blogs. For most it’s not a conscious decision, it’s out of ignorance.
Even if your firm/product is not being discussed there are conversations taking place about trends and issues within your industry. The tools to monitor blogs are simple to use and free. If you’re ignoring blogs, journalists are not. A recent study stated that 51% of journalists are searching blogs for stories/leads.
Listen:
Listening to the blogosphere is easy. Tools like RSS and keyword watchlists allow you to monitor every mention of your brand on blogs. Being aware and ahead of the curve of any potential issues or good news is always good.
The blogosphere can be the world’s largest focus group. Visit Technorati and search for keywords within your industry. You may find thousands of posts or just a few. Either way, those posts represent people talking about your product/issue. What are their opinions, what are they talking about?
Your blog strategy could stop here. For some companies, just listening to their customers would be a huge step. But not being part of the discussion can also be detrimental. It's like going to a conference and spending the entire time in the corner not talking to anybody.
Participate:
What’s great about most blogs is that anyone can comment, even you. Does a blogger have the facts wrong about your company/product? You can leave a comment and set the record straight. It doesn’t always have to be about your company though. Many times a comment on a non-work related blog can lead to the right connection.
Companies are hesitant to comment on blogs since they don't know how to approach blogs and bloggers. The fear is that saying the wrong thing can be worse than saying nothing at all. You only learn by doing though, so come talk to us.
Commenting will only take you so far. Many companies are realizing that they want to take the next step.
Lead:
Running your own blog allows you to lead the discussion about your company. You set the topic and tone of discussion. If successful, your blog can become ‘the place’ to discuss issues related to your organization. One PR professional called it, “Home court advantage.”
Why start your own blog? There are plenty of reasons out there. Blogging needs to fit your corporate culture though, otherwise it might look forced (imagine a Halliburton blog). Blogging is not right for every company, do your homework first.
If your organization chooses not to blog them somebody might fill the void (McDonald's, Starbucks). People are looking for corporate blogs everyday, many are using Google. If you don't have a blog, what is coming up in the results? Try searching on Google for coke blog, oh wait that's me :-)
