A guide to survival if you are forced to participate.
We are not all born to write, so why are so many more of us born to blog? And why exactly are so many companies expecting their executives to be great writers? It's a good idea for companies to share their voice and perspective with the community. It is also advisable for companies to control that voice just as they would any other communication. With these goals in mind, here is my advice to keep the busy executive out of trouble while adding value to the many discussions happening in the blogosphere.
1. If You Don't Have Anything to Say...
If you don't have anything to say, don't say anything at all. Moreover, please take your mom's advice, if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all. Far too much gets said that shouldn't. Blogs and social networking communities are filled to overflowing with noise. A lot of the noise could be snuffed out if everyone followed this next bit of advice. If you don't have anything relevant to say, again, don't say anything at all. The real answer is, find something that matters to you or your company and focus on that.
Fires are being started out there every moment, but try to resist the temptation to fan the fires. You surely have more to offer than just fuel to the flames. Stay out of fire zones. We have many more effective techniques for fighting fires than having executives jumping into volatile discussions. The American Airlines Haiti hoax is a great example of how to fight a fire without getting burned. American Airlines used social network monitoring and rumor suppression techniques to get out in front of this problem and gain control. Let the professionals fight the fires, while you focus on delivering something more meaningful to your communities.
2. Always Have Something to Say
Have and work from an editorial calendar and stick to it. Creating a calendar can be a great way to tie what you blog about to your company's products and important events. It will also give you something to talk about without jumping on whatever the current bandwagon is. There are some blogging tools out there that make it easy to create and manage your calendar. WordPress has a very good editorial calendar plug-in.
3. Hire a Ghostwriter
We are not all born to write. Just because someone said you have to doesn't mean you will be any good at it. Further, just because you have something to say doesn't mean you know how to say it. If blogging is too painful for you or you just find it beyond your executive skill set, do as you would do in any other case - hire someone that can do it better than you. There is no shame in admitting your limitations; as a matter of fact, doing so in this case can save you and your company a great deal of heartache. Hiring a ghostwriter is well worth the money spent. Let's face it, you are not going to become a writer overnight and no one should expect you to. There are plenty of great writers out there that can take your notes and turn them into exactly what you want much more effectively. Your ghostwriter can speak in an appropriate voice for your company. Just think how cool you will be. When your brother-in-law starts talking about the new car he just bought, you can top him, "that's cool, I just hired a ghostwriter, to write my blog for me."
4. Watch Your Mouth!
Always, and I can't say this loudly enough, always watch what you say and who you say it to! You never know who's going to read your blog, but you should always expect that someone is going to let you know when you make a mistake. Choose your words carefully; especially, when you are responding to someone's comments. If you are not self-editing find someone to edit for you. If you naturally knee-jerk a response, do not hit send until you have someone look at it for you.
I can't stress how important this is, I have read a lot of blogs that simply went wrong. Whether you want to or not, you are speaking for your company. Professionalism is expected, no, mandated. You must think and act professionally at all times online! Please don't mess this up folks. It costs a lot of money and time to restore reputations and they are never the same after a serious miss-step. This is your reputation we are talking about so guard it with your words.
5. Stay Focused
Keep focused and speak in the appropriate voice. Adapt the correct writing voice for the type of message you want to convey. Consider your audience and messaging and determine the tone that will be most appropriate. Use the correct persona for the audience and if you have more than one persona, keep them separate. Work to keep your message clear and on point, don't wander off or get too deep in the woods. Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson coined the phrase "Keep it simple stupid," and the KISS principle that states simplicity should be the key goal in design. If you find that your blog seems a bit verbose, boil it down and keep boiling until your point can be made in as few words as is possible, while staying focused on your basic argument, keep it simple.
As you can guess there is a lot more to be concerned about in the arena of blogging. These are the top 5 and they should keep you out of significant trouble. There are many, many more pitfalls but there is far more to gain from putting your thoughts out there and listening to the responses you get. Oh, that reminds me of a couple of very important aspect of blogging, listening and responding. Blogging offers you an opportunity to speak to the community, but is also offers a great opportunity for the community to respond to your thoughts. If you are not prepared to listen, you should probably not talk. I think I learned that in kindergarten. Additionally, if you are not prepared to respond to what others say, well you know the answer to this. Don't talk!
Chuck Cantrell is a CRM, Social Media and Social Networking consultant living in Mountain View, California and raising two spectacular teenagers. He has spent more than 18 years in the consulting industry and has worked for some of the most recognizable brands in existence. Helping them expand and protect their relationships with their customers.