Corporate Blogging Melvin Yuan on 20 Dec 2007 10:08 am
The 8 P’s of Corporate Blogging
I do confess. This post borders a little on being gimmicky (with the 8 P’s and all…).
And why this topic? Considering there isn’t a lack of insights online.
It all started when I was thinking about the Processes and Principles that most businesses seem to overlook when planning to launch a corporate blog. And after the first two, it was hard to resist putting together a string of other P’s. After all, increasing transferability is the best way to share insights.
So here are the 8 P’s to consider when blogging for business (I’ve tried to keep the sequence logical and the description brief):
- Purpose – the objective; the end-in-mind
- Plan – the proactive and scheduled content strategy
- Processes – to obtain insights from within the organisation and without; to measure results; to respond in various situations; to manage online crises; etc.
- Personality – the unique characteristics of the company/product brand, and how compatible the blogger’s personality (and writing style) is; or how the blogger himself embodies the values of the organisation
- Pace – the frequency of blog posts
- Principles – corporate values and guidelines that guide participation in online (blog) conversations
- Policy – legal guidelines
- PR – the strategy to reach out to target communities and encourage participation
Update: Debbie Weil has posted her Top 8 Tips for Corporate Blogging in 2008, in which she talks about building an approval process, citing the Southwest example. This is part of the “processes-thinking” I mentioned above.
on 22 Dec 2007 at 12:00 pm 1.Walter said …
Nice one there and welcome to the world of the Ps, Cs and Rs! Haha….
I think another useful P would be Persistence. I see so many organisational blogs which start off in a big way but fizzles out and loses steam along the way.
The other P that I would imagine is People. Without a community of believers (or at least followers), corporate blogs would just become websites with RSS and comments features.
on 22 Dec 2007 at 2:46 pm 2.Melvin Yuan said …
Thanks Walter.
I agree with the need for Persistence and People; and they do fit into the original 8 P’s.
Here’s how:
Persistence - is an inherent part of Corporate Anything (not just blogging). The Plan and Processes - along with the other 8 P’s - help corporate bloggers to stay in for the long haul.
People - that’s why the 8th P I mentioned - PR - is important. Building (relationships with) a community