Who Should Blog?
Blogging Means Writing
Even well-educated people can’t necessarily write well.
It’s been a long time since creative writing has been a sustained part of the curriculum at most schools, even for the best students, and unfortunately that hasn't been much of an issue for most parents and employers.
The fact is for most people, having to write anything is anxiety-inducing. But having to write several times a week knowing that you are expected to be interesting — that can be just plain terrifying.
Not only that, writing an effective blog of any kind involves something else that can be really scary: self-revelation. (That’s why Scoble and Israel call their book Naked Conversations; by the way, it’s the one book to read if you’re only reading one).
But here we are: it’s the 21st century, and the ability to write for the company blog is a newly-desirable job skill which happens to be in short supply. So what to do?
Who Should Write for Your Company Blog?
Try to identify a few of the best-and-brightest in your organization — people who have a broad range of interests, people who read books and are inquisitive, people who express themselves and are capable of spontaneity, people who are interested and interesting — and see if two or three of them happen to enjoy writing. There’s so much more to it than that, but if corporate culture permits, you can start there.
Your company bloggers should be:
- people who enjoy writing and would welcome the opportunity to be part of the company’s blogging team.
- people who can tell stories — stories about the process involved in what they do; case studies; interesting and instructive anecdotes about colleagues or clients [who of course should only be identified when it’s a positive story which won’t embarass].
- people who can speak authoritatively and passionately AND who can listen respectfully to questions and criticism. A person who is hypersensitive will just have to get over it.
- people who can resist the temptation to control the conversation, nice people who can establish relationships with people, who can respond to people who are annoying or idiotic without being negative. Hint: assume that the person you’re responding to is in a position to spend a lot of money on your products or services.
- people who will speak truthfully because they perceive their primary responsibility as being to their readers.
- discerning people who will not embarass their company or colleagues or themselves.
- people who are not suffering from depression or debilitating cynicism. Even happy people will be temporarily down sometimes; they should not write during those times.
- people who will, when a situation calls for it, deal unflinchingly with controversial matters. It’s o.k. to be controversial, and even provocative, because being neutral and bland will hurt your chances of building an audience.
- people who understand the critical distinction between being intelligently provocative and being irresponsible. If you ask for management's permission to write about a particular matter, you’ll probably just have to live with the answer you get. Just be aware of the line, and approach it but don't cross it.
- people whose professional and personal commitments are not already too burdensome. Scoble and Israel warn that “busy professionals who had full plates before a company higher-up told them to blog often compose in a style that feels hurried and forced. Such blogs come through often as joyless and rushed — even when the author’s expertise on a particular subject is apparent.”
Where are we supposed to find people like that, you ask!
Trust us — you probably already have people can blog for your company, and Allied Internet can help you and them get started.
Call us at 303-935-1820 and we'll discuss starting a blog for your organization.
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