Week 3 Reading Response: Corporate Blogging

I started reading “Bloging Strategy 101: a Primer”, and became frazzled with excitement!  In fact, I immediately sent it to my collogues, who have been considering a bogging tool for both our internal and external websites.  I also sent them another resource found on Scout: “Corporate Guidelines for using Blogs and Forums”.  This weeks readings and this article couldn’t have come at a better time, as it lends itself well to a number of budding initiatives at work.  The article “had me at hello”, when it brought to light the misconception of corporate blogging as synonymous with PR and advertising.  As the article states it can be very useful in assisting with public relations but this can be done without blatant self-promotion.  I recently had a conversation with a few individuals on Friday afternoon about the potential of using a blogging tool to assist in increasing the visibility of our department through our internal and external websites.  Many people wanted to jump on the bandwagon and begin using it as one of our key advertising features.  I expressed my uneasiness but didn’t have much more than my opinion to back me up at that time, however, once I emailed the 2 article from Scout, I received feedback requesting further investigation of these tools in a corporate environment and we’ll be meeting later this week to discuss the blog’s potential in greater detail (hopefully with a new way of thinking about the uses of blogs). Further, the second article noted above “Corporate Guidelines for using Blogs and Forums” and it’s discussion about selecting a blogging policy and guidelines to set the level of interaction between a company blog and its readers was an excellent spring board for us to begin planning our proposal.  As the article states having such guidelines can help avoid bad publicity and diminished credibility, while at the same time keeping your blog on its intended path.  If you have a chance and you work in a corporate environment or are simply interested in them I do recommend this second article, it was quite useful in practice.  It’s kinda neat when both your worlds (school & work) come together so nicely J  I’d love to hear feedback from anyone who has any thoughts, comments, words of warning etc. about the corporate uses of blogs in general or in relation to an internal or external website.  Also, I’d be interested to hear thoughts about using an internal resources (current staff), versus contracting an experienced external blogger (my instincts persuade me to think an experienced blogger would be key)? And I’m also interested in getting some feedback about blogging policy and guideline constructing if anyone has done these or simply has ideas about them.  I’m going to scan and see if I can find posted blog policies and guidelines that are relevant, if anyone knows a link please do send it J