New Rules for Communicators? Um, yeah . . .
Everyone communicates. We type. We talk. We always have.
Blogs are a way to communicate. Whether bloggers are journalists or not doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the walls of our organizations are glass and the lights are on. Highly empowered people comment on and seek to influence what we do - and they have keyboards. In some cases, they have an amazing ability to get internal company information. (Or an incomprehensible amount of spare time. Or both.) Whether sycophantic, benign or malicious, these communicators are being heard and sought out by reporters, customers, competitors – the very stakeholders PR people are paid to reach and influence.
Blogs are chipping away at the control of things corporate communicators hold dear - our right to define the message, to provide or withhold access, our conceit that we can shape the news flow that surrounds us. In short, our little fantasy that we set the agenda. Oh dear!
All of these changes are part of the natural maturation of the world’s most interesting industry (ours). It means some adjusting, but an industry full of companies that shift product strategy every three months ought to be able to shift communications strategy, right? Of course! How can we be effective communicators in this new world? A few suggested rules:
Rule One: There are no rules. Why are we so eager to determine whether bloggers are journalists? If we can categorize them, maybe then we’ll know how to treat them. There are as many types of bloggers as there are mammals. The only absolute is that bloggers want to communicate. Everything else we learn on a case-by-case basis.
Rule Two: Use your orienteering skills. Figure out which blogs matter to you, your company, your clients. Get yourself a good RSS reader and start tracking these blogs every day. If you need help, try Intelliseek, Technorati, or Feedster.
Rule Three: Learn the meaning of “conversation.” “Traditional media send messages, blogs start discussions,” says Loic Le Meur at Six Apart. A conversation requires respect, trust and ongoing participation. A conversation is about individuals. According to Chris Shipley, “It’s easy to hate a big monolithic company; it’s hard to hate individuals, especially when they tell the truth.”
A word on mutual respect: Despite what start-up CEOs tend to think, journalists are not a marcom tool. Neither are bloggers. They examine skeptically and then perhaps disapprove of a company’s actions or executives. Sometimes we’ll agree, sometimes we won’t, sometimes we’ll just bore each other.
Rule Four: Embrace transparency. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature! If you’re afraid of the truth getting out, your company has bigger problems than PR. Let’s assume you have a good story to tell. Tell it! At the same time, public companies live with particular responsibilities about what they communicate and when. Stay close to your legal team as you enter the blogosphere. The issues are complex and evolving. Get someone in your legal department assigned to work with you to create a blogging policy for your company immediately.
Rule Five: It’s a meritocracy - so say something interesting! Real people write readable, credible blogs; corporations don’t. In this industry we’re philosophers, artists, hucksters, and evangelists. Bring out your personalities and create meaningful dialogues.
And while you’re at it, make sure that what you say is accurate and truthful. When you err, be the first to acknowledge and correct your mistakes. Building credibility is a serious, incremental process. If you lose your credibility in the blogosphere, you’re losing it very publicly indeed.
Rule Six: Feed the blogosphere. Invite your watchers and commentators in, and give them interesting things to think about and do. Whatever you may think of their message and motivations, the PR people behind the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth cleverly invited bloggers to attend the taping of their ads during campaign season and got tremendous play on blogs as a result.
In addition, as my colleague Idil Cakim points out, bloggers build a substantial portion of their content by linking to official sources. Keep them in the loop by providing easy-to-find, current information on your company Web site. Include transcripts of important offline news coverage about your business.
Change is good. Embrace it! Guide your organization to embrace it, too. After all, you’re already in the blogosphere – your customers, employees, partners and competitors are bloggers. Join the party!
By Lisa Poulson
Managing Director, Technology Practice
Burson-Marsteller San Francisco
Posted by Lisa Poulson at April 14, 2005 06:58 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.guidewiregroup.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/40
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference New Rules for Communicators? Um, yeah . . .:
» tiny tits nude from tiny tits nude
tiny tits nude [Read More]
Tracked on May 11, 2007 05:10 PM