Blogger BlogNet2671

My friend, Tom, a former catalog CEO, newspaper editor and publisher, recently started a blog. Called "The Catalog Chronicles," it's an on-going, "unfiltered" study of the changes taking place in the catalog and direct marketing industry.

Tom's blog takes no prisoners while voicing and exchanging ideas-providing fresh and sometimes blunt commentary on the state of his industry.

Blogging, and more recently social media will change your business, according to BusinessWeek magazine. "Your customers and competitors are figuring blogs out." Their advice: "Catch up, or catch you later."

Pop Quiz. What does the abbreviation CBO stand for? Answer: Chief Blogging Officer.

I believe lots of companies are going to go after these individuals, with or without the actual title.

To blog or not to blog?

Only 11 percent of Fortune 500 companies have corporate blogs and only a few have a designated chief blogger. That number has risen slowly but steadily since the end of 2005, when just 4 percent had any kind of blog. A recent article in Workforce Management online stated most businesses today are eager to connect with consumers in the blogosphere.

Corporate blogging-and the title of chief blogger-are beginning to hit their strides. Companies such as Coca-Cola, Marriott and Kodak have recently recruited chief bloggers to tell their stories and engage consumers.

According to a new study, 57% of women who read blogs say blogs influenced purchasing decisions. 29% decided to make a purchase based on information they've read on a blog, and 28% decided not to. The results speak to the growing influence of social media on consumers, say the authors of the "BlogHer/Compass Partners 2008 Social Media Study."

The role of chief blogger or "brand voice"

"It's a good idea to have a chief blogger," said Mack Collier, a social-media consultant and blogger at the Viral Garden, citing Dell's Lionel Menchaca and LinkedIn's Mario Sundar as examples of a personality positively affecting a brand.

"Now people are evaluating blogs as tools," said Paul Gillin, media consultant and author of The New Influencers. "It's going mainstream because companies are realizing this is a tool that has utility." He counts about 60 corporate blogs among the Fortune 500.

The title of chief blogger is seductive, but what's essential is the brand voice, whether it comes from one chief blogger (such as vice chairman Bob Lutz on General Motors' FastLane Blog or CEO Jonathan Schwartz on Sun Microsystems' Jonathan's Blog) or a group working together, such as those on Southwest and Wal-Mart's blogs.

Is blogging right for all brands? Perhaps not. Bloggers and analysts said companies that want to blog should identify a specific reason to do so, such as to humanize the company (like Microsoft), make the company more open (like Dell) or advance the fun-and-happy company image (like Southwest).

A good place to start

"Everybody right now wants to or is contemplating starting a blog, but it's the wrong place to start," said Sean Howard, director of strategy and innovation at Lift Communications and blogger at CrapHammer.com. "They really need to start with reading, following their customers, commenting on communities. Then think about creating something."

Blogging's downside

A single chief blogger could become a lightning rod for online communities' disdain. "The whole idea of having a chief blogger when social media is so grass roots still smacks of companies trying to control this," said Jim Nail, chief marketing officer of Cymfony.

Dave Armano, vice president of experience design at Critical Mass and blogger at Logic & Emotion, spoke out for another position: "Any thoughts about the whole 'chief blogger' thing?" Most responses fell into one of two camps: "No way; it's too formalized and a bad idea" or "Yes, it's a dream job I'd love to have."

Beyond blogging-using social media to benefit the brand

Armano-and many others interviewed in the Workforce Management article-argued that the focus should be less on the chief blogger title and more on how social media can be used to benefit the brand.

"Blogs are used today to lift our electronic voices and create our own media," according to BusinessWeek magazine. Social networks like Facebook and MySpace, video sites like YouTube, mini blog engines like Twitter-have emerged in the last three years, and are nourished by users.

Those users are your customers and your competitors.

A sample of business blogs & employee blogging policy

GM FastLane Blog (GM Vice Chairman Robert A. Lutz)

http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/

Ninetyninezeros (Life @ Google from the inside) A candid-but now severely edited-blog by Google employee Mark Jen.

http://99zeros.blogspot.com/2005/01/oops.html

Sun's employee blogging policy

http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2004/05/02/Policy

Information provided in this newsletter is attributed, in part, to Workforce Management online.

Les Gore is founder and managing partner of Executive Search International, a Boston-based, nationally recognized search firm and a 25-year veteran of the "recruiting wars." Contact Les at http://www.execsearchintl.com