Blogging: The business challenge

EllisDon’s blog, written by CEO Geoff Smith, is a great example of the strengths and limitations of blogging for larger companies.  His blog, rightfully entered in the Best Construction Blog competition, is not updated as frequently as others, but his postings are relevant, useful, and insightful (his most recent posting invites colleagues and employees to contribute to Haitian relief efforts).

The challenge with blogging for larger businesses is control.  Obviously, the CEO can say and do what he wants.  But can you allow subordinates the same sort of freedom (and do they want it?)

Blogs need to be independent and reflect the blogger’s own personality and values to be successful.  Corporate or “group” blogs rarely work, especially when the messages are tightly controlled by media relations experts. For example I have yet to see a successful SMPS Chapter blog.  Even though the members are capable — and often passionate — about their group and the issues of marketing for the AEC industry, they find they must moderate or avoid contentious discussions and, in any case, quickly run out of time and interest to write the required frequent postings.

In EllisDon’s case, Smith’s blog is helpful in communicating corporate values to staff, clients, and suppliers (and, I suppose, competitors).  EllisDon watchers can set their Internet alerts to the blog for updates, and I suppose the company has internal broadcast communications capacities.  (We received a flurry of votes for Smith’s blog over two days last week, suggesting someone within the company sent a “get out the vote” message.  Alas, if people were voting from their office computers, only one vote per office would count.  They should use their home or an outside computer if they want the number to increase.)

Could EllisDon go the route of allowing individual employees their own blog?  This is another issue, and one which can be debated.  Although EllisDon’s culture is largely autonomous and employees are given freedom and latitude, I’m sure a business its size has a few loose cannons and problematic situations; and a single inappropriate posting could create all kinds of problems.  On the other hand, other large companies such as Microsoft and even Google give their employees lots of room to express their thoughts and the business isn’t crumbling.  Of course, we must also realize the business characteristic — a contracting business is not a writing business, and the skills and focus of blogging are with words (and perhaps video).

In our own much smaller business, two of our employees have their own blogs.  You can see Chase’s (Ontario) blog and Bob Kruhm’s North Carolina entries.  They don’t operate on a standardized platform — I suppose if we grow larger and have a dedicated social networking/media/communications department someone will come up and say “you need a consistent design and rules to protect and enhance your brand/image.”  I want our employees to be able to speak freely and independently, but I can see who they are and even though they are some distance geographically from me, I know them personally.  Although I’m sure Geoff Smith knows many more people than I do, he cannot obviously know and connect with all of his company’s employees with the same level of closeness.

Probably, if I were running a larger corporation, I would establish a blogging policy consistent with the overall company communication style.  If it is open and free, I would open the blogging up.  Bloggers can be given simple rules and guidelines to follow, which might include, a “contract” to write an entry at least once a week for a year, to respect legal confidentialities, and not violate human rights or other legislation.  In return, the company might give the blogger a small financial contribution or simply let everyone know about the blog.  I suppose in very large companies, the possibility exists for a hidden or private blog that can only be read by other employees, but I think the strength of blogging is its open nature and outreach potential.