Business Blogging At Critical Crossroads

I was responding to a friend asking me why I was going to Blog Business Summit (he needed convincing); btw, he already knew why I was going to New Communications Forum (it's in my neck of the woods, my friends are organizing a really great interactive, educational event and I'm speaking).

Here's a snippet from my email:

I'm thinking we're at a critical juncture with business blogs. Companies are now hearing so much about them - but will they launch and maintain the blogs with the ethos of the blogosphere or adopt blogs to the way corporate communications have always been done? This is the time to make sure that corporate blogs are as participatory, open-sourcey, transparent, human and conversational as we'd dream of them to be.

So I just thought I needed to be there I guess.

A few minutes later I'm reading Diva Marketing's post Blogs: Corner Grocery Store Relationships and Toby beautifully nails my thinking (read the whole thing):

In a world that spins too fast, to even know your next door neighbor, blogs help recreate the corner grocery store relationship.....

When I was a little girl growing up in Boston, I use to love going grocery shopping with my grandma. We would visit the green-grocer, the butcher, the fishmonger and my favorite, the baker..... 

If Grandma didn't think the chicken was up to her standard...she was not shy about letting the butcher know it was not acceptable. And then advising him what to do about it. "Next time don't get one so old."

When we went to the bakery the lady behind the high counter would reach over and give me a cookie. Always. My did I feel special! And I was special in her eyes. I was the granddaughter of one of her customers. She knew that if I was happy then Grandma was happy. Even if Grandma's favorites weren't readily available she wasn't going to the baker down the street. She was "brand loyal."

And Grandma knew them too. She knew their simches (joys) and their tsoris (sorrows). If I were to say to Grandma, "You must have a pretty good relationship with the butcher to know about his daughter's operation." She would have said to me, "What relationship? They talk and I listen."

So it was. Customers and grocers both talked and listened. Customers and grocers both learned from each other what was important. Customers and grocers both cared.

Blogging helps recreate some of that corner grocery store relationship. How? By letting your customers and prospects in on the humanism of the people who are your company.  By allowing customers and prospects to participate in the process of doing business. By encouraging conversations.

However, blogging is not always safe or easy. When you open comments you allow people the ability to tell you that your chicken may be too old. Unlike a letter or email or a phone call the next customer in line hears. You have to be on your toes to listen and to respond. That takes time and resources.....

A group of smart guys who wrote the cluetrain manifesto say the markets are conversations. I like to remember markets are people. With blogs we can begin to do that again.

Yes, yes! Markets are P-E-O-P-L-E.

Related post: One Unknowable, Unquantifiable Reason We Buy

Comments

[jbr]

Great and thoughtful post. As a denizen of corporate America and a person who is pushing very hard to instill the use of blogs in a corporation, I have a viewpoint to this.

1)Without a doubt, the use of blogs could absolutely benefit a corporation, both internally and externally. Internally, blogs could replace and enhance the use of email as a tool for mass communications. Externally, it could open communications avenues that are currently closed between a corporation and the public they serve.

2)Other than the handful of companies that are currently using blogs, there is a fear of using blogs. I can only attribute this to the fear of the unknown/new. My impression is that blogs are too open, candid, raw, etc and corporations are not ready for that level of honesty.

3) Only companies willing to be on the cutting edge of something will adopt blogs relatively soon. Why? I suppose with anything new, it's a matter of seeing value in something regardless of risk. If the value outweighs the risk, then a company will act.

4) It appears that those companies with a CEO/key decision maker who believes in blog value are the companies adopting a blog culture. Believe me, pushing a corporate blog implementation from the grass roots level is not trivial. Having it pushed from above solves many issues.

So, Evelyn while at your conference, you may want to validate my opinions. Mine are based upon 6 months of attempting a corp blog implmenetation. I have been successful and will launch this quarter, but for all of the reasons above, it's gone quite slowly.

Fortunately, the blogdom's openess has helped me during all of this and that is an ace in the hole for those attempting a corporate blog. If anyone wants more info, I am around.

[hugh macleod]

I agree with JBR, mostly.

I wonder if we're getting to the point, when listening to the corporatations' reservations about blogs and whatnot, our reply soon will just be, "Too bad".

"I'm sorry if your calcified little fear culture doesn't like blogs. Dinosaurs didn't like meteors, either."

Seems like a lot of people are waiting around for the corporations to "get it". Does it matter if they get it or not? Does it matter if they go out of business? No. Whatever commodity they make, some other faceless giant will happily step in to fill the void.

Hmmm... I may have to blog this ;-)

[david parmet]

"I'm sorry if your calcified little fear culture doesn't like blogs. Dinosaurs didn't like meteors, either."

Hugh- that's it in a nutshell. I'm going to carve that into the wall behind my desk if you don't mind....

[Josh Kaufman]

Nice insights, ma'am.

Markets aren't just conversations.
Markets are *people* having conversations.

It's a simple, hugely profound difference. It means we all have to learn how to speak to each other again, instead of focusing on speaking at each other.

Evelyn and Hugh - you two have a head start. Thanks for shining a light on the path.

[Mindwalker]

Huge wrote: "It appears that those companies with a CEO/key decision maker who believes in blog value are the companies adopting a blog culture. Believe me, pushing a corporate blog implementation from the grass roots level is not trivial. Having it pushed from above solves many issues."

BING! I truly believe that blogs can open up communication inside the workplace in ways that we're only beginning to fathom. But it's extremely difficult, if not impossible, to even BEGIN if you do not tacit support from the top.

Maybe it's just the Big Company I work for, but most people are afraid of losing their jobs. They will not do anything to rock the boat. You're asking people to give up a lot of power (mostly illusory). I truly believe in much of what Evelyn says (you have to give to get), but I've seen time and time again that 99% of the people in a corporation don't share that view. When the CEO of the company is constantly talking in pithy sloganspeak and how the almighty bottom line must be met, you can bet that any glimmer of innovation will be stifled and snuffed out before it can blossom.

I'm not being pessimistic. I'm just reporting what the situation is from a toxic workplace that could sorely use a good group blog to improve productivity and morale.

[e-grunt]

Guess nobody saw the retarded Captain Morgan blog. This is what happens when people who aren't part of making the core product of a company (marketing dorks, HR people, payroll processors) try to pitch in.

Corporate blogs are for retards. Nobody is going to visit them. The most you marketing dopes can hope to do is convince people to pay you money to install them.

By the way, i reached this site by searching the term "shitty corporate blog."