Convincing others to Blog

by Kevin Jones on January 12, 2009

HHK Pro Keys

Creative Commons License photo credit: dh

Last week I had a meeting with a president of a company and four other directors/managers who had previously committed to blogging on their company’s blog.  They were to take weekly turns posting, only committing themselves to blog once every five weeks – rotating.  This wasn’t happening (obviously, or this would be a really pointless blog post!).

They walked in the meeting with comments that they were going to be in trouble, sent to the principles office, and get their hands slapped – all in fun, but with a touch of seriousness.  The inevitable had come: Time to face the fact that they committed and were not doing it.

In the meeting I reminded them of their commitment, reminded them of why they committed in the first place and left it up to them.  Why were they not doing as they had committed?  One person said he thought blogs were pointless and a huge time waster – a rambling of someone’s thoughts.  He didn’t have time nor the desire to blog.  He was the only one fully against it.

The others knew they should, but just didn’t know what to write about.  So, we started (again) going through different topics they could (and should) write about.  What would the customers be interested in? There is a new version of the software coming out.  Write about that.  There is an update all customers should have.  And that.  There is a contest they are promoting.  And that.  They went to an industry conference and learn some great information.  And that.  As we talked, they realized that up until this time there was not a way to get this kind of information out to the customer.  Not only have they totally missed communicating to their customers in the past, but that they really need to step up and do it now.  They suddenly realized how valuable it would be for their company.

Not that we had not talked about that before, but this time it sunk in deeper.  Let’s hope it sunk in deep enough to keep committments.  And then, from there, it will spread.  “Wow. If I have this information for our customers and it increases the communication with them, I wonder how much it would increase with my employees?!  And maybe even business partners?”

It will take some time (be patient) but it will get there.

For you – start evangelizing within your company now because it just doesn’t magically happen. It takes time.

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  • http://www.minutebio.com/blog Jeff Goldman

    To help evangelize “corporate” blogging, it would help to be able to provide success stories and/or any case studies. Do you have a quick list of some of the companies out there that have successfully implemented blogging. And even better any that have shown ROI, that would be great.

    Thanks

  • http://james.wanless.info James

    Jeff: Sometimes it has to be looked at beyond the issue of ROI. Adoption of social media takes more than ROI for it to happen because it’s as much about your target’s attitudes and feelings as it is about how much money it’s worth.

  • Kevin

    True, James. How do you put on ROI on the coffee your company gives out freely, or the email the president sends to all employees?

    I have found that stories – case examples help, but most of all actually doing it helps convince us that it is worth it. Once we actually do it and see the results, we understand.

    Not to say that ROI is not important and cannot be done, because to a degree it can. There are many things we can & should measure. But there is nothing like the social wind in your hair as you are cruising down the information super-highway.

  • http://Www.minutebio.com/blog Jeff Goldman

    Very good points, which I agree with, but I work for bankers and they are far more receptive to ROI.

    I do believe we can measure ROI when it comes to engaging customers like the example of giving away coffee, but it is very difficult. I know many customers are more likely to return and spend $ when given freebies. It is just tough to measure due to other variables. Oy, level 4!

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