- Scott Beale / Laughing Squid
Why have so many corporations entered the blogosphere? They’re just joining everyone else.
A corporate blog can enhance a company’s reputation—if the company follows the blogger code of ethics. Corporations shouldn’t participate in “blog-spin” or create a fake blog, which Angelo Fernando terms a “flog,” in his article about unethical blogging practices: “Transparency Under Attack.”
Wal-mart’s corporate blog back in 2006 was an example of a “flog.” Two PR agents wrote the blog from the comfort of their offices, while acting as a couple inside their RV, as they stayed overnight in Wal-mart parking lots on their nationwide road trip. Readers discovered the fraudulent postings and were outraged. Bottom line: corporations cannot fake transparency.
Jeanette Weisschuh, who runs Hewlitt-Packard’s social responsibility blog, stresses the importance of openness to reader feedback on a corporate blog. Why have a blog if there’s no room for dialogue between the company and its key publics? A blog without feedback is just an online newsroom where corporate communicators post press releases.
Vincent Potier, of Vonage, however, doesn’t see the point in corporate blogging. He argues that corporate blogs are boring because lower level employees won’t share their honest opinions about the company in fear of losing their jobs. He believes company blogs naturally have a corporate, authoritative voice.
Corporate communicators need to draw the lines on corporate openness through blogs by asking questions such as, “Why are the legal implications of this post/comment?” “How will I react to negative reader comments?” or “Does this post share too many transparent details, making it a dull read?”
Jeff Jarvis lays out rules for his blogging practices. He will not accept money for his opinions, no ads can appear in his posting space, all information will have proper sources, and he will open up to readers about his business relationships as long as details aren’t libelous or confidential.
Corporate blogs can build trusting relationships between companies and their publics as long as boundaries for openness are drawn prior to the first post and bloggers are actual corporate stakeholders.
For more information on corporate blogs see: “Corporate Blogging” featured in New Media Age.
4 comments
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March 5, 2009 at 12:21 am
Heather Thoreson
For corporate blogging, it is important to know the strategies your company wants to take. I agree with you Lindsey when you say that corporate blogs can build trust as long as the boundaries are open. Christine Halvorson, from Halvorson New Media with Stonyfield Farm, has started at least five corporate blogs and has developed strategies for effective corporate blogging. On her blog, which you can find at http://chrishalvorson.typepad.com/, she says that corporate blogging is important because it establishes a two-way communication dialogue with their customer. Talking with your customers is an important aspect for any company. You mentioned Jeff Jarvis, and you can just see why in the example of Dell, that you should never just ignore your customers. You need to engage them and begin the conversation, starting with the corporation.
March 18, 2009 at 12:43 am
Lindsey Monroe
Heather,
You got it. Corporate blogging isn’t just a nice idea for companies to take part in, but some companies, such as Dell, have literally been forced into social media usage to stay afloat. Without that customer relationship, a company’s market share will disappear. Not only has Stonyfield Farm embraced social media to reach its customers, it makes sure to uphold the highest of standards to maintain its online relationship with customers.
March 6, 2009 at 5:05 am
Sarah Lokitis
Lindsey, you presented very clear points about guidelines for establishing transparent corporate blogs. Microvision, a small technology driven company, has implemented these guidelines in their corporate blog. Yesterday, Shel Holtz wrote on his blog about how Microvision’s official blog launched a new effort in investor relations. Like you stated in your post, corporate blogs normally have to stay away from revealing too much because of legal and regulatory issues. The investor-focused blogging effort has been laid out to improve transparency for Microvision. The group blog was launched at the end of 2008 and is continuing its efforts to improve authenticity and transparency for investor relations. The company allows investors to post questions that will be answered on the company’s earnings conference call. The investors have responded by posting several questions. Microvision’s risk taking has appeared to pay off and will set the stage for future investor relations efforts in other companies. Microvision has shown that corporate blogging does not have to be so authoritative and can really create a dialogue between all audiences.
Here is the link to Shel Holt’z post:
http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/weblog/ir_blog_makes_ir_history/
Here is the link to Microvision’s Investor Relations post:
http://www.microvision.com/displayground/?cat=13
March 18, 2009 at 12:45 am
Lindsey Monroe
Sarah,
Thanks for the resources. I’ve been busy brainstorming for future posts. I think investor relations will make a great topic for a post because laws have even been changed in order for organizations to share financial information with shareholders online. Look for an upcoming post on this subject.