By Michael Sebastian
michaels@ragan.com
Ranging from who should write your blog to the value of images, here are 10 lessons from business blogs that have flourished
Why reinvent the wheel, or in this case, the blog?
Countless companies have launched blogs, and while many have failed, others have flourished. You can learn from the best blogs. Here are 10 lessons and related tips for blogging from 10 top business blogs.
Lesson #1: Never underestimate your audience
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the people who make you remove your shoes at the airport, write a blog called Evolution of Security. Individual posts have attracted hundreds of comments—many of them critical of the TSA.
No one would take this site seriously enough to leave even a blistering comment if Evolution of Security didn’t respect its readers.
For instance, one post begins: “Throughout the ages, there have been many unanswered questions that continue to baffle the human race. Who built Stonehenge? Is there life on other planets? Why does the TSA make me place my liquids in a clear sealable baggie?”
What? TSA knows it’s annoying? It has a sense of humor? Audiences appreciate that wink and nod—the knowledge that everyone is in on the joke. It makes the message more palatable.
Tip: Think about something your company does that might irk customers and employees and write about it—or at least mention it. Your audience will appreciate it.
Lesson #2: Your blog should ooze voice
The award-winning blog written by Southwest Airlines employees, Nuts About Southwest, is as irreverent and humorous as the airline’s frontline employees.
How does Southwest do it? They pick bloggers from across the company.
Paula Berg, the director of emerging media at Southwest, told SearchEngineWorld the airline began the blog with a team of 20 people, “who represented a mix of all Southwest employees, frontline and behind-the-scenes.”
She continued, “We selected people that just oozed Southwest; that just know our company and love it and have been here for a while.”
Like Nuts About Southwest, your blog should ooze voice.
Tip: Think your company is too dull to create a blog that oozes voice? Nonsense. Tell your bloggers to get their creative juices pumping by tying the theme or plot from one of their favorite movies or TV shows into a business objective. For instance, the déjà vu-themed movie Groundhog Day could provide material for a blog post about spicing up meetings.
Lesson #3: Feature passionate employees
Chipmaker Intel has a niche blog about one topic, corporate social responsibility efforts at the company. It is titled CSR@Intel. Like Southwest, the blog features numerous authors from across the company. Most, if not all, of these bloggers are passionate about the topic.
Take, for example, this post from Intel blogger Raju Doshi about a science project by Portland, Ore., teenager Michael Loy that could increase the life of concrete and steel. The outcome would be both lower infrastructure costs for companies and fewer waste materials.
“Michael’s work is to be published in two international journals and he is only 18—how amazing is that!” Doshi blogged excitedly
Whether or not that topic intrigues you, the blogger’s enthusiasm is palpable. Intel selected employees passionate about CSR. Readers can see that.
Tip: Reach out to every department to find your passionate employees.
Lesson #4: Tackle the tough stuff
If bad news descends on your company and the blog ignores it, then that blog will lose credibility among readers.
Randy’s Journal, a blog by Boeing’s vice president of marketing, Randy Tinther, has confronted tough times at the company. In January, Boeing announced layoffs and Randy discussed them in a February blog post.
“I started at Boeing in 1981—just before what turned out to be one of the biggest downturns we’ve seen in this industry,” he blogged. “I’ll never forget going through the process of watching many friends and colleagues—some who’d just started working at Boeing, and many with whom I’d developed strong relationships in the work environment—having to change jobs or go on to other things outside the company. It makes a strong impression on you.”
If your blog avoids these tough topics the employees will find it gutless, boring and not trustworthy—more company propaganda.
Tip: If your company has had layoffs, blog about them once everyone inside the company has learned about the news. The blog should provide more information on the layoffs than the initial company message.
Lesson #5: Join the community
Unbreakable Bonds, the blog from Kryptonite Locks, understands its niche audience of cyclists. In 2004, that audience burned Kryptonite after word spread among bloggers that someone could pick these locks with only a pen cap.
In Unbreakable Bonds, Kryptonite employees reach out to cycling enthusiasts and engage them with posts that tackle issues specific to their communities. For instance, one post discussed bike sharing programs at the Rhode Island School of Design. It was a targeted, and timely (given the recession), topic.
Identify your blog’s online community. Then, if you want to feel your community’s embrace, tailor content for the audience.
Tip: Find 10 blogs that are part of your industry or community and make sure you link to them and comment on their posts.
Lesson #6: Your blog should have a method
Ever wonder what happens behind-the-scenes at a blog? For instance, how do posts from the internal blog at Dow Chemical, Access Andrew, by CEO Andrew Liveris, go from his head to the screen?
Liveris writes the posts and then sends them to his communications team. The communicators run the content past the legal department; attorneys do not copyedit the material. Communicators then copyedit the post and publish it to Access Andrew.
Whether you’re the sole author of the blog or part of an enormous corporate hierarchy, you should determine exactly what the process is for getting the content posted.
Tip: If your CEO thinks blogging will eat up too much time, volunteer to type it and post it.
Lesson #7: It doesn’t have to be your blog
Sometimes your company doesn’t need a blog to join the blogosphere.
Ford Motor Company doesn’t have a blog, but its director of new media, Scott Monty, has one—The Social Media Marketing Blog. It precedes Monty’s tenure at Ford, which means it has an audience and a solid reputation.
On occasion, The Social Media Marketing Blog addresses issues at Ford. It spreads news about the company and the CEO, and provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse of life in Ford’s communications department.
Consider finding a trusted employee at your organization to dedicate posts about your company to his or her personal blog.
Tip: Make sure any blogger who writes for your company indicates clearly, somewhere on the blog, that his opinion is his or her own and not that of the company.
Lesson #8: Embrace photography
As you might imagine, Kodak’s blog, A Thousand Words, is all about photographs. Each post features pictures from employees and customers that are based around various themes.
Like Kodak, your blog should embrace photography: post pictures of employees, your workspace — you name it. Pictures will help break up text and beautify a blog’s layout.
Remember, the rules of good photography apply to photos posted on the Web.
Tip: Start a weekly or monthly photo contest or photo caption contest on your blog for employees or customers.
Lesson #9: Provide readers with useful and relevant news
LinkedIn, the professional networking service, has an employee-penned blog that offers readers practical advice on how to best use LinkedIn.
For instance, one post explained how someone can display his or her professional network on other Web sites, while another post offered three ways to leverage a professional network while job hunting.
Your blog should provide relevant and useful information for it readers.
Tip: Pay attention to which topics attract the most views. You can track your blog’s page views, and other stats, through Google Analytics.
Lesson #10: Start a Twitter feed instead
If you want Web 2.0, but don’t want to commit to a blog, consider Twitter. This service allows you to write messages 140 characters long that people who elect to follow them can read. Twitter is like “Blogging Lite.”
Countless companies already use Twitter. For instance, Home Depot and Bank of America each have Twitter accounts for customer service issues.
Tip: Even if you don’t want to use a Twitter feed, go to the site to check if your company’s name is available. If it is available, grab it—even if you’re not going to use it. The last thing you need is for someone to hijack your company’s name and send erroneous updates attached to it.
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Friday, March 6, 2009
Thursday, October 2, 2008
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Why Southwest communicators don't fear Southworst.com
Experts say buying domain names for potential “gripe sites,” like YourCompanySucks.com, is due diligence for communicators
So someone doesn’t like your company. Twenty years ago, disgruntled consumers like this had letters to the editor and bullhorns to communicate their dissatisfaction; today they have the Internet.
Don’t like Starbucks Coffee? Head over to Ihatestarbucks.com to vent. Bank of America ever rubbed you the wrong way? Visit BankofAmericaSucks.com and join numerous other griping customers.
Maybe Southwest Airlines’ open-boarding policy placed you next to the toilet? Type in SouthWORST.com and … Wait a second, Southworst.com directs me to a page on Southwest.com, the company’s official site. OK, try the classic—southwestsucks.com—and … Southwest.com again. How about Ihatesouthwest.com? You guessed it, Southwest.com.
This is no accident. Southwest Airlines bought an undisclosed number of potentially toxic domain names, or Web addresses, in an effort to prevent disgruntled customers from creating “gripe sites” like BankofAmericaSucks.com and IHateStarbucks.com.
“[Web addresses] are really inexpensive, for the most part, so there’s no harm in buying the usual suspects” like SouthWorst.com, Southwestsucks.com and, recently, domain names of company executives, explained Paula Berg, Southwest’s head of emerging media. “What’s the harm when it can help prevent some PR crises down the line?”
A recent study by FairWinds Partners (reported on byThe Wall Street Journal) showed that among Global 500 and Fortune 500 companies there are 20,000 domain names that end in “sucks.com” and 2,000 “stinks.com.” FairWinds found that 35 percent of those companies owned these nasty domain names; 45 percent remain unregistered.
So what are you doing to protect your company’s online image?
Talk with your disgruntled customers
As Berg noted, Web addresses are cheap—about $10 or less—so the cost for companies to buy several domain names is minimal. Simply visit any number of online vendors to purchase a domain name.
NetworkSolutions, GoDaddy and Register.com are among many places to buy domain names. A WHOIS search, part of NetworkSolutions, will quickly and easily show which domain names are available.
Once you purchase the domain names, the next step is to create landing pages for Web surfers looking for “YourCompanySucks.com.”
The page where consumers land after they type SouthWorst.com, or any number of Southwest-related gripe URLs, makes it clear the page is part of Southwest’s official Web site. It also displays a short message that says:
“Southwest Airlines strives to maintain a high level of customer service and is proud of its corporate reputation and responsiveness to its customers. As part of that effort, Southwest wants to control the release of inaccurate and irresponsible information about the company via the Internet. If you would like more information on Southwest, please go to http://www.southwest.com/.”
This message lacks one important element—an easy place to vent.
Ragan.com asked Berg about that, and it seems Southwest certainly provides outlets for customers. “Between our blog, our customer relations departments and our 24-hour reservations line … we provide plenty of channels for people to contact us to vent or to share their concerns with us,” Berg said.
But the problem is the landing pages don’t directly link to those sites.
Citing “Internet consultants,” The Wall Street Journal said companies should use these landing pages as vehicles to solicit feedback from customers. “Otherwise, angry customers … will find another site on which to complain about the company.”
Shel Holtz, a social media expert and consultant, agrees. Registering these sites is a good strategy, he said. It is part of due diligence as a communicator. He suggested building a landing page that tells consumers where they can air complaints.
A landing page should say something to the effect of, “You entered a domain that clearly, if someone owned it other than us, would be used for complaints and possibly misinformation,” Holtz explained. “We have a variety of resources on our site that invite you to join a conversation and address the issues that we know are out there.” List those resources on that page, he added.
Better yet, he explained, redirect customers to a site where they can complain, read facts about the company (not rumors) and generally start a dialogue with the company.
For instance, General Motors maintains a Web site called, GM Facts and Fiction, on which the company “tells it like it is.” The site lists a variety of rumors and gives an official response. Visitors can also submit a question for the company to answer.
Keep in mind: Sites that allow venting and encourage dialogue also capture priceless information consumers about consumers’ likes and dislikes concerning your product or service.
Protect the C-suite
There are countless ways someone could construe your company name into something nasty. Don’t beat yourself up trying to find and purchase every negative URL possible.
“You could spend many days coming up with [Web addresses],” Holtz explained. “You have to think about what people are going to type in, people aren’t going to spend a lot of time thinking it out. Go for the obvious ones and get those.”
For Southwest, the obvious site names included SouthwestSucks.com, SouthWorst.com, and IHateSouthwest.com. The company also moved beyond the obvious. “Recently, in light of some of the news affecting others companies, we’ve bought the URLs of our executive names,” explained Berg.
The news she is referring to is that of the creation of GlennTilton.com, a Web site operated by United Airlines pilots locked in negotiations with the company. The site calls for Tilton’s resignation.
http://www.ragan.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=MultiPublishing&mod=PublishingTitles&mid=5AA50C55146B4C8C98F903986BC02C56&tier=4&id=E1E279A81D8F4D708969B1667075C7D9&AudID=3FF14703FD8C4AE98B9B4365B978201A
So someone doesn’t like your company. Twenty years ago, disgruntled consumers like this had letters to the editor and bullhorns to communicate their dissatisfaction; today they have the Internet.
Don’t like Starbucks Coffee? Head over to Ihatestarbucks.com to vent. Bank of America ever rubbed you the wrong way? Visit BankofAmericaSucks.com and join numerous other griping customers.
Maybe Southwest Airlines’ open-boarding policy placed you next to the toilet? Type in SouthWORST.com and … Wait a second, Southworst.com directs me to a page on Southwest.com, the company’s official site. OK, try the classic—southwestsucks.com—and … Southwest.com again. How about Ihatesouthwest.com? You guessed it, Southwest.com.
This is no accident. Southwest Airlines bought an undisclosed number of potentially toxic domain names, or Web addresses, in an effort to prevent disgruntled customers from creating “gripe sites” like BankofAmericaSucks.com and IHateStarbucks.com.
“[Web addresses] are really inexpensive, for the most part, so there’s no harm in buying the usual suspects” like SouthWorst.com, Southwestsucks.com and, recently, domain names of company executives, explained Paula Berg, Southwest’s head of emerging media. “What’s the harm when it can help prevent some PR crises down the line?”
A recent study by FairWinds Partners (reported on byThe Wall Street Journal) showed that among Global 500 and Fortune 500 companies there are 20,000 domain names that end in “sucks.com” and 2,000 “stinks.com.” FairWinds found that 35 percent of those companies owned these nasty domain names; 45 percent remain unregistered.
So what are you doing to protect your company’s online image?
Talk with your disgruntled customers
As Berg noted, Web addresses are cheap—about $10 or less—so the cost for companies to buy several domain names is minimal. Simply visit any number of online vendors to purchase a domain name.
NetworkSolutions, GoDaddy and Register.com are among many places to buy domain names. A WHOIS search, part of NetworkSolutions, will quickly and easily show which domain names are available.
Once you purchase the domain names, the next step is to create landing pages for Web surfers looking for “YourCompanySucks.com.”
The page where consumers land after they type SouthWorst.com, or any number of Southwest-related gripe URLs, makes it clear the page is part of Southwest’s official Web site. It also displays a short message that says:
“Southwest Airlines strives to maintain a high level of customer service and is proud of its corporate reputation and responsiveness to its customers. As part of that effort, Southwest wants to control the release of inaccurate and irresponsible information about the company via the Internet. If you would like more information on Southwest, please go to http://www.southwest.com/.”
This message lacks one important element—an easy place to vent.
Ragan.com asked Berg about that, and it seems Southwest certainly provides outlets for customers. “Between our blog, our customer relations departments and our 24-hour reservations line … we provide plenty of channels for people to contact us to vent or to share their concerns with us,” Berg said.
But the problem is the landing pages don’t directly link to those sites.
Citing “Internet consultants,” The Wall Street Journal said companies should use these landing pages as vehicles to solicit feedback from customers. “Otherwise, angry customers … will find another site on which to complain about the company.”
Shel Holtz, a social media expert and consultant, agrees. Registering these sites is a good strategy, he said. It is part of due diligence as a communicator. He suggested building a landing page that tells consumers where they can air complaints.
A landing page should say something to the effect of, “You entered a domain that clearly, if someone owned it other than us, would be used for complaints and possibly misinformation,” Holtz explained. “We have a variety of resources on our site that invite you to join a conversation and address the issues that we know are out there.” List those resources on that page, he added.
Better yet, he explained, redirect customers to a site where they can complain, read facts about the company (not rumors) and generally start a dialogue with the company.
For instance, General Motors maintains a Web site called, GM Facts and Fiction, on which the company “tells it like it is.” The site lists a variety of rumors and gives an official response. Visitors can also submit a question for the company to answer.
Keep in mind: Sites that allow venting and encourage dialogue also capture priceless information consumers about consumers’ likes and dislikes concerning your product or service.
Protect the C-suite
There are countless ways someone could construe your company name into something nasty. Don’t beat yourself up trying to find and purchase every negative URL possible.
“You could spend many days coming up with [Web addresses],” Holtz explained. “You have to think about what people are going to type in, people aren’t going to spend a lot of time thinking it out. Go for the obvious ones and get those.”
For Southwest, the obvious site names included SouthwestSucks.com, SouthWorst.com, and IHateSouthwest.com. The company also moved beyond the obvious. “Recently, in light of some of the news affecting others companies, we’ve bought the URLs of our executive names,” explained Berg.
The news she is referring to is that of the creation of GlennTilton.com, a Web site operated by United Airlines pilots locked in negotiations with the company. The site calls for Tilton’s resignation.
http://www.ragan.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=MultiPublishing&mod=PublishingTitles&mid=5AA50C55146B4C8C98F903986BC02C56&tier=4&id=E1E279A81D8F4D708969B1667075C7D9&AudID=3FF14703FD8C4AE98B9B4365B978201A
Friday, September 26, 2008
Nonprofit site maximizes social media
Nonprofit site maximizes social media
By Gabe McDonough
Breast Cancer Foundation creates many ways for Web visitors to interact with each other.
ragan communications
By Gabe McDonough
Breast Cancer Foundation creates many ways for Web visitors to interact with each other.
ragan communications
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Sour tweets get sweet results
BrandWeek, September 24, 2008
More and more companies are monitoring social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and blogs for negative customer feedback and then responding directly—sometimes publicly—to the comments within minutes. Southwest Airlines, Boingo wireless, and Edmunds.com are among the companies that are forming informal response teams to deal with unhappy and verbose customers.
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/crm/e3ie41d3cb71a4f0067e94f9435ad58fd8c
More and more companies are monitoring social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and blogs for negative customer feedback and then responding directly—sometimes publicly—to the comments within minutes. Southwest Airlines, Boingo wireless, and Edmunds.com are among the companies that are forming informal response teams to deal with unhappy and verbose customers.
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/crm/e3ie41d3cb71a4f0067e94f9435ad58fd8c
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
The fear of feedback
The fear of feedback
Although Internet blogs and social networking Web sites have totally restructured the way people communicate, the customer feedback form has remained the same. Yes, most companies have "contact us" buttons, but they are one-dimensional and unfriendly, according to this AdAge blogger. He goes on to point out that a patient would be hard-pressed to find any sort of feedback option on a hospital Web site. You have to trust in your brand-loyal patients and be willing to listen if you want to convert those who are not. [Read More]
Although Internet blogs and social networking Web sites have totally restructured the way people communicate, the customer feedback form has remained the same. Yes, most companies have "contact us" buttons, but they are one-dimensional and unfriendly, according to this AdAge blogger. He goes on to point out that a patient would be hard-pressed to find any sort of feedback option on a hospital Web site. You have to trust in your brand-loyal patients and be willing to listen if you want to convert those who are not. [Read More]
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