HOW TO RUN YOUR BLOG
A blog can also gather responses over time and provide a way to see changes in attitude and perception. If you are doing things right with your blog, your customers will jump at the chance to tell you what they and what they hate about your company, products, and services. These people know what they are talking about; they may even know individual products better than you do. As a Macromedia software developer told me once, although he may be developing the software, he’s not a user of it.
So why not use your blog to tap into this rich vein of knowledge? Your organization can benefit at almost every level from knowing whether it’s giving customers what they want. A blog is a nonthreatening, nonintrusive, and interactive way to get that information from your customers. Even better, they’ll appreciate the opportunity to give it to you!
Of course, you must consider the technical aspects of setting up, maintaining, and running a blog. The good news is that blogging doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg in hardware and software! And finally, where go people, go legal concerns.
Extending corporate culture
Blogging is a great format and can be a dramatically effective tool for many businesses — but not all. The internal culture of some companies simply doesn’t lend itself to the openness and honesty the blogging format requires. Does your company maintain rigid walls of secrecy between development groups? Is there a “need-to-know” attitude from upper management? Is your company equipped to handle the additional feedback from customers a blog can produce?
For some companies the answers to these questions is yes. If that’s the case for your company, rethink creating a business blog. Be realistic about whether your company is one that suits the blogging format before you jump in, because if you try to hide from customers, even just by spinning information, they won’t react well. You’re likely to get negative attention and criticism from the blogosphere that can turn into something ugly. Many bloggers are muckrakers who are looking for scandals to expose, especially in business and politics. They pay attention to other blogs because they are fans of the format and they don’t take kindly to manipulation of it.