Robert Scoble and Shel Israel have written an excellent book – Naked Conversations -- on maneuvering through the blogosphere minefield. The subject is so “hot” that agencies have established new divisions to provide blog management services for clients. Public relations departments have hired new staff personnel to develop, manage and support corporate and business blogs.
More than a few well-respected public relations practitioners have proclaimed that web logs provide a fast track means for professionals to talk directly to their audiences and bypass the media all together. Some have been quoted as proclaiming that working with journalists and members of the press – radio, TV, print and the web – will soon become passe because they can get their messages out without the news media filters.
A few have asserted that PR plays much better in a world that lacks trust.
The questions we have to ask before either PR takes the plunge or insists that management undertake their own blog are:
• Do management and you understand the upside and downside of blogs?
• Is there an honest, long-term commitment to open communications with all parties?
• Do the blogs have sound business goals/guidelines?
• Does management understand that the direct communications can also lead to direct – and often harsh – confrontations?
Before we address the specifics we’d like to ask you a question. Do you recall when you got your first email address and went on the Inet?
Unless you had an email service that automatically notified you when you had mail, you would access your account and hope – and perhaps even pray – that there was mail in your box.
If you opened the inbox and there was mail you were elated !!!
You had validation as a human being and that someone honestly wanted to communicate with you.
Then email became an integral part of your day-to-day business and personal activities. You emailed rather than calling. You emailed rather than going down two offices to talk with someone.
It got to the point that you got so busy that even if you received a request for immediate information or assistance it would be 3-4 days before you bothered to acknowledge the request or provide information.
You got into online discussions. You had disagreements. Occasionally they became shouting matches. Some of the discussions were heated…very heated!
You encountered instances where people said things in an email they would never say out loud and certainly never face to face (we hope).
Welcome to the blogosphere !!!
What are the numbers/trends?
• Depending on whose numbers you use there are 30 or 50 million bloggers out there and one new blog is created every two seconds
• There is a 36x explosion of consumer generated video that is being incorporated into blogs
• Only 2.7 – 3 million blogs are updated at least weekly
• About half of the blogs are still being posted to three months after they are created
• There are an estimated 50,000 posts each hour
• According to Gallup only nine percent of Internet users say they frequently read blogs and 11 percent read them occasionally
Why do people blog?
Blogs have been promoted as a means for companies to have a direct 1:1 conversation with customers. Admittedly the numbers look pretty good. But why do people blog (Figure 1).
They do it because (and we’ll only highlight certain answers):
• it’s good therapy
• it improves writing skills
• “they” blog
• it’s the latest fad
• expose political injustice
• fame and notoriety
Many took – and take -- up blogging because it looked like an easy way to make money – some blogs do attract advertising. Most found it as a means to strike out at and correct the world’s injustices.
But for a few notable exceptions – including Messieurs Scoble and Israel – are the individuals who undertake the activity for the above reasons your target market(s)?
While the numbers of bloggers adding their words to the world for posterity to read appear to be an overwhelming endorsement of the subject, the truth is few understand what it is or what it does. The Pew Internet & American Life Project conducts exceptional research into the Internet-embedded world.
People know key words and key technologies to a greater or lesser degree (Figure 2). You will note that none of the responses included blogging. Not that this means the subject is unimportant to mainstream users but it does mean that it is not a vital subject to the connected world.
There are thousands; no millions of individuals who know feel blogging is their gateway to a rich future. While it is true that some bloggers make a living at their web log journalistic endeavors, the volumes of blogs are increasing but the number of eyeballs sticking is flat to down.
Gallup conducted an Internet research study and found that:
• only nine percent of the online users frequently read blogs
• Only 11 percent read blogs occasionally
• 13 percent rarely read blogs
• 66 percent never read blogs
While the blogging advocates will challenge the numbers, the fact is that the results have remained relatively constant for the past two years even though the number of blogs has risen rather dramatically.
What do people do on the Net? According to Gallup’s and other research firms study the leading activity is:
• email – 73 percent
• checking news
• checking weather
• shopping
• making travel plans
This does not dilute the importance of blogs. Organizations have to not only be aware of blogs – specifically as they relate to their industries, their product categories and especially their company – but also weigh the pros and cons of having management blogs.
Scoble, Israel and other business blogging proponents will make a good case for management to reach out and communicate directly with customers, partners, proponents, advocates and detractors. Before a manager should inject him or herself into this situation they should know both sides of the situation.
Open to “Discussion”
A number of years ago (pre-Internet) the VP of sales and we went on a week’s business trip to the client’s customer sites and the president was asked to attend. He was excited about the prospects because the publicity that was being generated was very positive for the company, the management and the products.
During the first day of meetings we met with three different customers. Managers proceeded to tell the CEO what they liked about the products and how the products were being used. In addition, they each laid out a list of items that were wrong and problems that needed to be handled immediately…if not sooner.
At dinner the president said he was flying back to corporate headquarters the next day and wouldn’t be in any of the other customer meetings that had been scheduled.
When he was quizzed on the change of plans he finally blurted out, “They are mad at me. They don’t like me!”
He talked to the press at every opportunity that was arranged. Seldom were the interviews confrontational. But he never attended another customer meeting. Confrontation -- especially as it related to products he had designed, developed and nurtured – was not something he was comfortable with.
Lest you think otherwise, he sold the company several years later for a high nine-figure amount.
On the company’s internal Web site, H. Lee Scott Jr., president of Wal-Mart, was asked by a store manager why ''the largest company on the planet cannot offer some type of medical retirement benefits?'' After he went through his arguments, Mr. Scott suggested that the store manager was disloyal and should consider quitting.
Deborah Howell, ombudsman for the Washington Post, posted a clarification on her company blog responding to a tidal wave of complaints. Rather than clarify the situation and provide a professional response the newspaper was forced to shut down the blog after a hailstorm of angry responses. Many of them foul and personal in nature.
Last year the LA Times experimented with open-source editorials. It quickly deteriorated into slurs and pornography.
The New York Times and in truth almost every publication – left and right wing -- have been hit with what one journalist calls drive-bys.
Many managers view blogs as an outstanding means of getting the company’s or manager’s message out to the community. But today’s blogs are really two-way communications. Managers can present their message, their vision, their reasons for the company’s success. He or she can also address queries, questions and issues quickly and sometimes effectively.
At the same time, people can say anything they want. And they frequently do.
As we noted, there are millions of blogs out there today and more coming online every day. If you want to get an idea of the activity visit technorati.com. Go to pewinternet.org and learn more about the depth and breadth of blogs, the demographics and subject areas. Skulk in the blogosphere to see what is going on in your areas of interest. Evaluate the pros and cons.
Remember business management blogs are not one-way communications. Understand that the credibility of the management blog will always be suspect (Figure 3).
Management – and public relations people – have to understand that we no longer live in a one-way communications society. Increasingly we are seeing conversational marketing between management/customers, between customers/prospects, between employees and others.
The successful manager who weighs all of the factors before initiating a blog is usually very intelligent and sure of his or her company, product, position. They are the passionate about their blog subject. They can speak with authority.
But as Electronic Arts, Wal-Mart and other internal/external blogging managers have seen the blogger needs to keep in mind one of the basic precepts of email etiquette – don’t write anything you wouldn’t want to read in tomorrow’s newspaper.
Blogs are far from dead. They have gone beyond the hype and hoopla and are now reaching their own level in personal and business activity.
Good news has to struggle to be seen and heard. Bad news has a way of rising to the top all by itself. Or in this instance with the assistance of bloggers who want to establish themselves as an authority. Or one who is out to right the wrongs…of others.
Can the corporate blog be good for the company and its business?
Certainly!
But before management enters the blogosphere, he or she needs to know the strengths and weaknesses of the communications opportunities.
They have to have a strong reason for the open communications that blogs provide and have to be willing – and able – to discuss their position, their direction and all of the facts.
They also have to understand that when the discussions don’t all go their way they should simply abandon the blog as a bad idea that went really bad!
The blogosphere is not a vacuum. It is a vocal community. Perhaps the best use of management’s time, efforts and ideas should be put forth in select blogs being run by others.
Or they may decide to start slowly and build their activity as they grow in confidence knowing that the tough questions will arise…at some point.
At the very least they should know the true condition and health of the horse before they saddle up and begin their ride…
There may be something to Mark Twain’s advice; “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
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Business Blogs - To learn more about this author, visit Andy Marken's Website.
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