Recently, the question has come up about who is the best person in an organisation to blog? Should it be the CEO? The Product Manager? Perhaps it should be left to the grass roots - the guys in the post room perhaps? There is a lot of debate about whether it is appropriate for any of these people to blog. But I would argue that it should be open to anyone as long as they adhere to some simple business blogging guidelines.
The CEO
There is nothing wrong with a CEO who blogs. Seth Godin outlined five things that the CEO should ensure they do - namely adhere to the rules of timeliness, urgency, candour, controversy and pithiness. This list has been created because of assumption that all CEOs are wrapped up in regulatory restrictions and security considerations and that they all resort to fluffy marketing hyperbole whenever they express anything to the public. I think this is a fair warning, but as Ken King retorts, CEOs are human beings as well, who may have just as much passion about their company and their product as anyone else. Who better to give a company a human face, and to encourage the customer to believe that they are genuine, trustworthy and open than the CEO? If he or she refuses to speak, what kind of impression does that give across?
CEOs who blog successfully include Bob Lutz from GM, Jonathan Schwartz from Sun Microsystems (he is a little drier in his language, but nevertheless accessible) and Bob Parsons, CEO of GoDaddy. All of them have different styles. Some have other people within the organisation contribute to their blog (something which is always made quite clear) but all of them provide a human face to their organisations which helps build trust no end.
Product Managers
Logic has it that the Product Manager is one of the best people within the company to blog. I have mentioned Darren Strange's blog before, but he is worth revisiting as an example of a great Product Manager blog. He is clearly passionate about his product. That passion comes out in everything he writes. But he is also not tied to the product, allowing his blog to cover all sorts of topics, ideas and thoughts. If you are a product manager, the secret is to not get trapped by the thought that you are your product and that is all you can talk about. A blog needs to be interesting, not evangelical. We know you love your product, but let us see who you are as well.
Support Staff
If you are fortunate enough to work in a company with an open blogging policy, then just because you work in a support role, doesn't mean you don't have anything interesting to say. Of course, in order to keep your job, you still need to adhere to the rules of "blog smart" - don't give away company secrets, don't say things about your boss that you wouldn't say to their face, don't say anything which could potentially embarrass your company or yourself. But even if you see yourself as on the lower branches of the company's organisational tree, doesn't mean you can't provide another human face for your customers.
I keep coming back to my mantra - the thing that makes me, and the blogging world tick. Authenticity. If your company is really serious about forming a solid relationship with its customers, based on trust, then allowing various people in the organisation to blog is a good way to go about it.
Thanks to star5112 for the image