This was originally posted on interactive media and marketing news site iMedia Connection.
Many corporate blogs fail because they forget two things:
- A blog is not a traditional news publication. It didn’t spring from the ether. It’s a conversation.
- A blogger is not a journalist. Journalists report facts. Bloggers connect and share.
So many corporate blogs make the mistake of trying to become a newsletter or an online news site. They are strict and regimented. Even worse, they are self-contained, only read and relevant to those within the company. No surprise, they don’t get a lot of traffic and no one links back.
Why? Cause they are talking to themselves. It’s like someone shut them in a room and they are just chatting away. Yes, some of what is said is good, but who’s gonna hear it?
You have to remember that conversations have two parts: listening and participating.
“We monitor what’s being said on other blogs. That’s how we figure out what to write in posts.”
BAD! To continue the room analogy even further, what you are doing is holding a glass to the wall, listening to the neighbor and then talking to yourself.
I’m not saying it’s bad to just lurk–what’s bad is to lurk and write. If you want to be a member of the blogosphere, however, you have to engage with it. That means that you should reply and respond to the posts you read. If you don’t want to write a comment everytime, that’s fine. Just link back to that post on your blog when you write something based on another idea you read.
You’ll start to become a member of the community. You start finding ideas out in the wild. You identify conversations, share them with your readers, and add your own idea to keep the conversation going. Then *you* will become a faciliator of conversation. You start to feel like a moderator–finding key points, asking relevant questions, and steering the conversation towards things you feel the audience will want to hear.
Eureka! You are a blogger, weaving the best of the web into something beautiful. You are a poet, telling stories of….data centers, micro-processors and networking solutions.
My name is Chris, and I will be your moderator.
[The above photo, "(40/365) Talking to myself..." by shootingstarr(is a blur) on Flickr, used under Creative Commons]
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I think all blogs are ghost towns now, but this is a great post.
This is a good point. I already know that this is a problem on our corporate blogs. It’s been tough to get the bloggers more engaged / to be better listeners. I’ll be starting up my own blog soon so I’ll try to make it more conversational : )
@ Andrew Mager – have to disagree with you there, Andrew. Look at the figures from State of the Blogosphere, or at people like Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Lee Odden, Seth Godin, etc – blogging is far from being “ghost towns”.
Perhaps some of the dry style blogs mentioned here, but look around the web and you’ll see millions of people that would disagree with you.
Social media is the way forward and interaction is the key word.
Definitely one of the misconceptions on blogs. Corporate heads are unaware of blogs being conversations rather than a megaphone. I posted about this recently: http://www.timjahn.com/blog/10/27/2008/are-you-having-conversation-with-yourself
I agree with you Danny Brown. The blogs with spectacular content are not “ghost towns”.
[...] if you are new to blogging, I would encourage you to read Christopher’s post – thinking of blogging as conversing is a great way to build reputation for your blog. Bookmark [...]
Tim, I both disagree and agree with you. *grin*
Why is the automatic assumption about corporate blogs that the heads of social media are unaware of blogs being conversations rather than a megaphone? It’s so not true.
Take a look at blogging communities like (to name a few) Microsoft, SAP, Intel, Dell, and Lenovo all host. There is an amazing amount of communication between customers, partners, and companies. Many are thriving villages of intense conversation, and are true — dare I say it? — communities.
Take a look at the blogs from the members of the Blog Council at http://blogcouncil.org/blog or http://blogcouncil.alltop.com. You’ll see plenty of examples of wonderful conversation and not the megaphone/monologue that you suggest.
And here’s where I agree with you — blogs with spectacular content are not ghost towns. Very well said.
Cheers,
Michael
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312-932-9000 / michael@blogcouncil.org / twitter: merubin
I am a Blog Council employee and this is my personal opinion.