Uncategorized 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
on 30 Apr 2008 at 10:12 am 3.Irene said …
Hello Melvin
I just wanted to add one more ‘P’ to your brilliant list, and that is ‘Power’.
I believe that when corporations decide to create a blog, they should take into consideration the shift in the balance of power between them and their publics. Blogs and other ICTs decentralize power between and among stakeholders, which at some point is beneficial, but this power of ‘online discussions’ can also provide the same opportunities for those intending to distribute negative public relations messages.
That means that organizations should develop monitoring and controling strategies to deal with this rising power of online stakeholders. A rather time and money consuming component…
Thank you for your space!