At a cookout last weekend, I found myself defending blogs and instead stating the benefit they provide to a company. Some of our own clients like Reston Limo were used as an example, as well as Southwest Airlines recently considering changing its seating to assigned and the flurry of responses it got by putting it out there on the blogosphere.
As one friend was considering a blog for his company, another said what a “waste of time� he thought it was and who in the world has time to blog. He said with his normal workload and family life, there is not time to maintain a blog and there’s certainly not enough time to read one.
I begged to differ. Your company is missing a distinct opportunity to interact with its community through a more personal medium if it doesn’t. I was almost passionate about it. Â
The point is, two months ago, what a blog could or couldn’t do for a company escaped me. Moreover, I didn’t care. I didn’t read them and I certainly hadn’t written any.
Today, I write on a few blogs. And I read them to know what is being said out there. Yesterday, talking to my old editor from Pittsburgh, an old school newspaper editor, he flipped through some entries on the Buzz Bin. He doesn’t blog, he doesn’t read them and he’s a bit surprised that I’m writing them.
Truthfully, me too. But I seem to be locked into this genre now. And I kinda like it.
To Blog or Not to Blog, that was the discussion at a recent webnar by Network Solutions. They were also explaining the difference between blogs and websites. We have decided to keep blogging and have it linked at our website … why? because our clients and associates read us regularly, comment, and like the little bits of information we impart, or just LAUGH at my view of the world, my health, and life in general. Anything to keep them connected. Wait till you see the comments on our new website. We are seen as “touchy feely” and our blogging only helps keep that perception alive. Thanks Geoff for all you help in getting us started and keeping us blogging.
Hi Michele,
Thanks for the mention of Southwest’s corporate blog, Nuts About Southwest. Far from being a “waste of time,” we find that our blog has become an essential communications device between our Customers and Employees, and it has also allowed us to forge personal relationships with our readers. We are lucky to work for a Company that feels it is impossible to “overcommunicate,” and the blog is a valuable tool for that communications process.
Brian
Thanks for your comments. I couldn’t agree more. As a comminications professional, the blog is crucial to success. Done correctly, it can serve in all the capacities you mention. I will continue to defend it among friends and business acquaintences who can’t see what all the fuss is about. They are truly missing out.