In two of my previous posts on corporate blogging, I discussed the CEO blog. There are many opinions about who should manage the blogging function in an organization. Some experts think the CEO should blog, and others think they should not. Whether it’s the CEO, the corporate communications department, or a hired individual or group, it would be wise to designate one of them the “chief blogger.”
The Advertising Age article “Does Your Company Need a Chief Blogger?” shared that companies such as Coca-Cola, Marriott, and Kodak all now have a chief blogger. It is their job to tell the companies’ stories and engage consumers. The chief blogger shares the brand voice. Companies that have a chief blogger are more focused and effective. This makes sense because there is only one person trying to post an idea. One blogger also ensures that all the posts have the same brand voice.
In the video below, Shel Israel expanded on the importance of chief bloggers telling company stories. I think he was on point when he said, “When you’re blogging, you need to be giving something to your reader that compels them.” I think that readers will only continue visiting a blog if they are getting something interesting from it. I also thought he was right on target when he mentioned that people don’t want to hear lists of “corporate pearls.” His blunt thoughts on boring blogs from corporations, PR people, and legal teams warned bloggers to keep their posts focused on stories.
A story is important to keep the reader’s interest. I agreed with Israel when he suggested that companies should tell stories about their struggles and times when they failed. I feel that blogs are successful when they share company interests and tell what the organization is really like, because the audience will feel like they can trust the company.
More and more companies are encouraging employees to blog on behalf of the organization. Here’s an example of The Coca-Cola Company incorporating employee blogging to make changes to its corporate culture and work environment:
In 2005, The Coca-Cola Company realized they were falling behind their competitors. Their market share was decreasing, sales were declining, and competition was increasing in the beverage industry. They needed to do something about its declining success and wanted to reinvent the company. In order to do this, Coca-Cola created a plan.
Coca-Cola needed to make big changes to its corporate culture and work environment in order to achieve its goal of long term growth. To start off these changes, Coca-Cola designed a global campaign to transform into an innovative company. All employees were invited to participate in a blog. The employees were asked to participate in order for Coca-Cola to be able to better define their values, how employees get things done, and ways to create a better business.
Many employees had never blogged before and this could have been a problem. But, before the blog started, tutorials were used to demonstrate how to post and view comments. Employees were encouraged to post group comments, this way, individuals who did not want to submit their own ideas were not left out of the blog.
The “Blog Blast” event was created to last for seven days. After the event ended, Coca-Cola had a total count of how much participation the event had received. There were 2,409 employee posts from more than forty-five countries and 136,862 employee page views over the seven-day period.
The “Blog Blast” was a huge success. The company entered into the Web 2.0 age and achieved its goals. I think that this example should be followed by other companies who want to get employees’ help in the restructuring of a company. After all, employees are the foundation of a company.
