AMA questions on corporate blogging
What are the potential risks of starting a blog?
There are four main categories of risk:
1) There are significant negatives in your company’s reputation and you aren’t prepared to respond to them.
Some companies are targets for anti-company activists. If your company is in the spotlight, starting a blog about your company is not a good idea. Walmart, Halliburton, and anyone whose CEO is under indictment are bad candidates for blogs, because the issues surrounding the company are going to bring readers who are interested only in embarassing the company.
That said, there are few companies that are in that position. And even in those cases, solutions exist to use blogs to pitch a message without significant feedback. You do not have to open comments. You do not have to answer every question posed. A company blog is still under your control. To blunt or negate criticism, you need to pick topics that are related to your industry but not necessarily your company.
The goal is not to tell the world how wonderful your company is. No one will believe you. Instead, your goal is to educate the public about some facet of your industry in order to build credibility in your field. Blogs are educational tools that can help brand you; they are not marketing tools that regurgitate a carefully crafted message vetted by your marketing department.
2) You don’t have set guidelines in place that define what your blog, and is not.
If a company starts a blog, they should have a clear purpose and a clear statement of what they intend. Honesty is the most important factor here. Set expectations and meet them. That doesn’t mean that your blogger is responsible for answering every question. An employee blogger will know nothing about marketing, and shouldn’t feel obligated to discuss any issue but those they want to write about.
The blog is your communication vehicle. If you’re clear what you want to write, and it’s relevant to your audience, you get a pass. If you start a blog about a subject and refuse to answer tough questions directly related to that subject, that’s when you’re accused of falsehood and deception.
This issue will come up - but if you are prepared, you can answer the question with a simple, “that’s not my area,” and move on.
Having clear guidelines also protects the blogger. Firing a blogger for revealing company information is worse than never having a blog. Set clear guidelines that allow the blogger maximum freedom, and periodically review what can and cannot be discussed.
3) You‘re boring.
This is more important than it might first appear. A boring blog is a waste of time and money, and will bring a bigger backlash because it clearly is an attempt to tap into the power of blogging without adding to the conversation.
Outgoing links are important. No one likes a lecture, and outgoing links to new articles, studies, and other bloggers are good ways to avoid being boring. Most of all, treat the blog like you would your personal life. No one like the person at the party who talks only about their lives and their wants. If you’re going to start a blog, make it about something besides yourself.
I might sit and listen to someone discuss golf for an hour, but listening to someone tell me their golf scores for an hour isn’t worth my time. For companies, this is difficult because the natural impulse is to discuss the company. Your company should make up, at most 20% of the blog postings. Any more and you start sounding fake and full of yourself.
4) Comments left by readers leave the company liable to lawsuits.
One of the early concerns to corporate blogs was the threat of liability for reader comments. This danger can be entirely negated with comment moderation, which requires an approval before each comment is published. If a company prefers a more open approach, they can host the blog informally - maybe providing sponsorship to a local blogger instead of directly writing the blog. They can also list a comments policy that specifically denies liability for comments made by public commenters. Your legal department should be involved, and a corporate policy in place, but if set guidelines are in place, most legal risk can be averted (nothing’s perfect).
There are four main categories of risk:
1) There are significant negatives in your company’s reputation and you aren’t prepared to respond to them.
Some companies are targets for anti-company activists. If your company is in the spotlight, starting a blog about your company is not a good idea. Walmart, Halliburton, and anyone whose CEO is under indictment are bad candidates for blogs, because the issues surrounding the company are going to bring readers who are interested only in embarassing the company.
That said, there are few companies that are in that position. And even in those cases, solutions exist to use blogs to pitch a message without significant feedback. You do not have to open comments. You do not have to answer every question posed. A company blog is still under your control. To blunt or negate criticism, you need to pick topics that are related to your industry but not necessarily your company.
The goal is not to tell the world how wonderful your company is. No one will believe you. Instead, your goal is to educate the public about some facet of your industry in order to build credibility in your field. Blogs are educational tools that can help brand you; they are not marketing tools that regurgitate a carefully crafted message vetted by your marketing department.
2) You don’t have set guidelines in place that define what your blog, and is not.
If a company starts a blog, they should have a clear purpose and a clear statement of what they intend. Honesty is the most important factor here. Set expectations and meet them. That doesn’t mean that your blogger is responsible for answering every question. An employee blogger will know nothing about marketing, and shouldn’t feel obligated to discuss any issue but those they want to write about.
The blog is your communication vehicle. If you’re clear what you want to write, and it’s relevant to your audience, you get a pass. If you start a blog about a subject and refuse to answer tough questions directly related to that subject, that’s when you’re accused of falsehood and deception.
This issue will come up - but if you are prepared, you can answer the question with a simple, “that’s not my area,” and move on.
Having clear guidelines also protects the blogger. Firing a blogger for revealing company information is worse than never having a blog. Set clear guidelines that allow the blogger maximum freedom, and periodically review what can and cannot be discussed.
3) You‘re boring.
This is more important than it might first appear. A boring blog is a waste of time and money, and will bring a bigger backlash because it clearly is an attempt to tap into the power of blogging without adding to the conversation.
Outgoing links are important. No one likes a lecture, and outgoing links to new articles, studies, and other bloggers are good ways to avoid being boring. Most of all, treat the blog like you would your personal life. No one like the person at the party who talks only about their lives and their wants. If you’re going to start a blog, make it about something besides yourself.
I might sit and listen to someone discuss golf for an hour, but listening to someone tell me their golf scores for an hour isn’t worth my time. For companies, this is difficult because the natural impulse is to discuss the company. Your company should make up, at most 20% of the blog postings. Any more and you start sounding fake and full of yourself.
4) Comments left by readers leave the company liable to lawsuits.
One of the early concerns to corporate blogs was the threat of liability for reader comments. This danger can be entirely negated with comment moderation, which requires an approval before each comment is published. If a company prefers a more open approach, they can host the blog informally - maybe providing sponsorship to a local blogger instead of directly writing the blog. They can also list a comments policy that specifically denies liability for comments made by public commenters. Your legal department should be involved, and a corporate policy in place, but if set guidelines are in place, most legal risk can be averted (nothing’s perfect).
posted by franki durbin @ 10:51 AM PERMALINK
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