Leadership

Blogging is Not for Every Company

By Travis Van

Updated on: September 27, 2007 / 3:08 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

There are a number of impassioned blog advocates out there trying to slap some sense into the organizations aren't blogging (or better participating in "conversational" marketing approaches). Brian Solis (author of PR 2.0) -- for example -- mixes no words when pointing out the missed opportunities of not participating.

In his "Get a F#ck!ng Blog Already" posting earlier this week, Solis says:

While some are just now getting hot on it, there are also many who still completely underestimate it. It's still viewed by many as merely an online journal, when in fact, it can be the most powerful, consistent voice for a company, the brand, and its personality ever available to them. Unlike other forms of traditional marketing, blogging requires new or additional resources to not only create the blog template and platform, but also actively write compelling content using a new voice and also actively participate in the blogosphere to help promote an active and genuine presence.

He goes on to say:

It is our job and our responsibility to guide them through the uncharted paths of transparency, reminding them that letting go of controlled messages and communications can actually stimulate more conversations and ultimately escalate brand resonance and loyalty.
We've all heard that content is king and with blogging, I have to say that simply generating content doesn't cut it. This is about people talking to people. Sharing expertise, offering advice, offering compassion, defining the landscape, and more importantly, listening to the conversations taking place in and around your brand, and that of competitors, are the necessary ingredients to effectively participate in the blogosphere.

I think the gap in the "why corporations should blog" conversation that concerns me (among these fatal flaws common in the majority of corporate blogs that do exist) is the lack of discussion around the fact that most organizations aren't even in control of their own *internal* conversations -- let alone capable of leading external conversations.

What percentage of organizations out there have clear lines of communication / good synchronization between sales, marketing and engineering? What percentage of organizations out there really and truly listen to their customers (and can clearly answer the two questions (1) who is our typical customer; and (2) what problem do we solve for them)? What percentage are even capable of telling their story in an interesting (and not directly self-serving) manner? I would say the percentage is relatively low on all of these ...

When done well, corporate blogs can be great marketing assets, sure. But for most organizations, jumping into a content-producing (evangelist / thought leader / whatever you want to call it) role immediately exposes serious deficiencies they have in their internal communications (or lack thereof).

Does that mean the communicatively-challenged organizations should just throw in the towel on participating in blogs and other conversational marketing? Of course not.

But is kicking off a corporate blog a good way for companies (that are failing at some of the most basic marketing / communications skills) to work through the growth pains? Or does it make more sense to get your house in order before you go outside the firewalls? I respect the evangelism that's out there around the value of the corporate blog. At the same time, I think it would be healthy to see more conversation out there about basic minimum communications / marketing requirements for embarking on corporate blogs.