Company Blog – Not Yet!

Blogging is a fun and exciting medium – a way to express your voice and share with people all over the world. Well-established blogs can reach millions of people and raise a groundswell of support or opposition on popular issues. But what is the real value of blogging to a company?

I work at a company where most of our systems and products cannot be publicly discussed so on the surface; a blog would be a tough sell. However, I see great benefits to our business development managers, field reps, marketing managers and proposal staff if they were to participate in military and technology blogs. This would be a great way to gauge direction and feedback from actual users of our products (Davidson & Vaast 2009). I have monitored several discussions regarding our systems and products (http://www.engadget.com/). These posts quickly pointed out a misunderstanding regarding the capabilities and expectations of our products. Active, continuous participation, immersion in specific blogging communities would allow us to be aware and responsive to user concerns and misconceptions. Company exposure to this blog-chatter can help to shape the strategic direction of the company and future products (Droge, Stanko & Pollitte 2010).

There are obvious benefits to Public Affairs, HR, and Recruitment that can only be achieved through a company-affiliated blog. But, along with the benefits also comes added risk – risk that someone will post a comment that negatively reflects on the Company. There are strategies that can defend against this – but that we will take up in a later post.

If blogs were to be used at our company, I would think that the respective manager of each of the above areas would be responsible for monitoring and responding to bloggers. However, there would need to be a delay in posting responses, as a thorough review and approval would need to be completed to protect the company. An over arching governance, policy of terms and use, and formal corporate training would be required before a manager could participate. The entire blogging function would be centrally controlled by a high-level position that fully understands branding, security, marketing, and communications and should answer directly to the company’s top management.

It is understandable that there is a good deal of excitement and promise with utilizing social media and blogs for company web sites – reaching out and speaking directly to customers. The value is obvious and the exchange is immediate. But these same qualities also require a company and its officers to take special care to protect the name, reputation and brand of the company.

Blogs, personal and professional, need to follow different sets of rules and are an extension of the company for which you work. Like it or not your social responsibility may become the business of your employer.

Davidson, E., & Vaast, E.. (2009). Tech Talk: An Investigation of Blogging in Technology Innovation Discourse. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 52(1), 40. Retrieved May 13, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1653792871).