Dell's John Pope just gave me a heads-up about the creation of the "Blog Council Organization", a body that features 12 major brands, committed to promoting 'best practices' in corporate blogging. Founding members will be representatives from the following companies: AccuQuote, Cisco Systems, The Coca-Cola Company, Dell, Gemstar-TV Guide, General Motors, Kaiser Permanente, Microsoft, Nokia, SAP, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and Wells Fargo.The Blog Council's CEO is Andy Sernovitz, and he adds:
"Major corporations use blogs differently while abiding by the same rules and etiquette," said Blog Council CEO Andy Sernovitz. "Individual and small-business bloggers don't face the same issues. For example, we still need to deliver a responsible and effective corporate message, but we need to do it in the complicated environment of the blogosphere. We have to speak for a corporation, but never sound 'corporate.' And we have to learn to do it live, and in real-time."
The council states its mission as:
The Blog Council's mission is to help corporate blogging efforts become more successful.Of course I think this is a great move, and am pleased to see so many major corporations stepping up to the plate to be founding members. If the council can deliver on its promises, this will be an invaluable resource for any company that is considering blogging, and will lead much credibility to corporate blogging as a marketing communications tool.
Up to now, there hasn't been a community solely dedicated to serving the needs of corporate blogging. The Blog Council is here to help create:
1. Best Practices: Promoting corporate blogging excellence through best practices, standards, and training.
2. Community: Providing networking and partnering opportunities for leaders of the corporate blogging movement.
3. ROI: Developing metrics programs that help deliver measurable ROI from blog activities.
4. Advocacy: Blog Council has a united voice to provide the corporate perspective in the blogosphere.
John added that the official announcement of this group will be tomorrow morning, so I thank him for letting us know about it in advance!
Tags:The Viral Garden, Marketing, Blog Council
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4 comments:
This is one of those things that sounds great on paper (or on a Kindle), but I have a sinking feeling that every one of these companies is going to want to put their stamp on the outcome, and the result will become too hopelessly complex to be of any use.
But I've been wrong before.
Mack
Thanks for pointing this out. If they play it right, and involve corporate bloggers first (and lawyers and sales last) and then open it up to other firms, it should be a success. If not, Cam may be right.
Jonathan
I think it's a good idea, but for what sake is this a closed community for something that forces them to be open?
This really feels like being lost in contradiction?
Cam and Jonathan, I think that by involving bloggers such as 'the Dell guys', IOW people that GET the potential of this space, that this will be used as a way to spread best practices and grow corporate blogging as a whole. At least I hope so.
Everjean, I think they are positioning it as 'by corporate bloggers for corporate bloggers' in order to raise the comfort level among their peers that still have a high level of distrust about blogging in general. I think they want to use the council as a way to debunk a lot of the myths that companies might have about blogging, and 'ease' those companies into this space.
As everyone is saying, it's a great idea on paper, now let's see if the execution matches the potential.
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