Blogs"R"Us

The Yankee Chapter of IABC offers lots of great programs for people to interact and network. One of the traditional get-togethers is the MetroWest Luncheon series which is organized by Susan Ethier. Usually a small group of corporate and independent practitioners meet for lunch and a lively discussion in a Natick restaurant.

Last week's topic was called "blogging" and sure enough we needed to add on another table. Anything related to social media draws a crowd these days.

Three of the attendees - including me - have a blog. One runs an internal blog for her company and the other blogger had just recently relocated to this area and hosts his neighborhood blog on the Worcester Telegram & Gazette platform.

The reservations about starting a blog - be it for a corporation or by a communications consultant to promote his or her expertise - were loud and clear: "I've got no time!"; "Who would read our/my blog anyway?"; "It takes a lot of time and resources to maintain a blog." Of course - all of these are legitimate considerations. This is why setting up a blog - especially an external corporate blog - requires preparation. One attendee wondered whether there's a Blogs"R"Us where you can get everything you need to start a blog. It sounds like a great idea but the major blog platforms and their (and other) tools are about all we get in terms of help. Everything else corporations or independent practitioners need to figure out for themselves.

A blog is a brand-building tool that can greatly enhance your reputation. It's not the right tool to promote a product as one attendee suggested.  Use it to show your company's expertise and blog about topics that are relevant to your business. A blog also presents another valuable vehicle when you need to communicate. Overall the recent JetBlue crisis was handled well but the company failed to its blog to apologize, explain and move forward.

While the blogosphere is almost saturated, there's still room for corporate blogs as many Fortune 1000 companies have been slow in warming up to blogs. Many of course have severe regulatory and legal issues to deal with. There's also still room for certain expert blogs as some areas are not represented very well in the blogosphere.

Blogs are almost mainstream. However, as the IABC MetroWest Luncheon shows, there are still a lot of questions and misconceptions - and room for education.