It’s Official, blogs are like asses. Everyone has one.
According to Technorati, 70,000 new blogs are launched every day (I wonder how many of those are Facebook, MySpace and random social networking sites). But, according to the same survey, only 5% of corporations have dipped into the blogging pool.
Now, Dave Sifry, the CEO of Technorati, seems to think that this is because corporations are afraid to break the great marketing tenant “Control The Message”.
I can’t buy that. How does blogging prevent you from controlling the message? You are the one writing the message!
If your credit union is thinking of joining the “blogosphere,” please understand that some of your employees are already there, dishing on your credit union and workplace environment alongside posts about their spouse, coworkers, boss (Yeah You!) and anything else that tickles their minds.
Here are a few examples for your viewing pleasure. Please tread carefully - there is some swearing to be read.
- JobVent (Do a search for the term “Credit Union” on this one to really get the effect)
- Boss Bitching
- Fearless Blogging
- WorkRant
- I Hate My Boss
- Yahoo Answers
- Pammy’s Personal Blog about how she hated her boss.
- I Work With Fools
- and my favorite - the Boss Widget - it isnt really a blog or forum, it is just fun!
I know what you are thinking – turn it over to legal right? Yeah, don’t do that. First, it could make for some really bad press and could create a “Hostile Work Environment” that could find you on the wrong side of a judgment. Instead, you can either ignore their blog (assuming that they are saying something negative) hoping that it will get no coverage in the big scheme of things or you can address their concerns on your blog or post theirs with answers to their grievances. (Wow that was a long sentence)Just do not get into a confrontation with the blogger. Like they say, when you wrestle with a pig, you both get dirty – but the pig likes it.
If they ARE negative, you might have a larger morale issue that needs to be addressed.
If they are positive about the company, Steve Rubel suggests turning these evangelists into a voluntary sales force. You might also ask then to include a banner on their site to either promote the credit union or promote employment at the credit union. It never hurts to ask.
Your employees have opinions. If you try to stifle those opinions privately or publicly, the employee will retaliate. They may try to blog anonymously. Either way, you lose. Trust your employees to tell you what is happening in the credit union. Have a “No Consequence” meeting where people can type out their grievances or concerns on regular paper and submit them anonymously. Then discuss those problems internally in a group meeting. My dad used to always tell us, “You don’t put family business in the street.” Most of the time that meant don’t go around telling people that my brother was grounded for breaking a lamp or whatever. It is no one else’s business. It’s family business.
Now if you want to blog (and it really wouldn’t hurt to look into it) and your corporate culture supports blogging, then determine who’s best to write your blog. Choose someone who writes well, with a conversational, authentic, yet authoritative tone. Most likely, this person is not your CEO. CEOs have a tendency to over think and (take my word for it) overwrite. ?
From CNN
According to a survey of 2,000 “opinion leaders” by PR firm Edelman, the most credible source of information about a company is not the CEO, but “a person like me.” (Trust in “a person like me” has increased from 20 percent in 2003 to 68 percent this year.)
Take Microsoft employee Robert Scoble, or Jonathan Schwartz, COO at Sun (Research), for example. “They feel like friends,” says Steve Rubel, a senior VP at Edelman and the author of popular marketing industry blog Micropersuasion. “I started writing my blog [for] one or two people and writing how I talked,” says Scoble. “I still do that today.”
Then, remember our credit union blogging “Rules for the Road” and our “How-To Start A Credit Union Blog” checklist if you decide to jump in and get shaking.
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Comments
I took a look at JobVent. I’d never heard of the site - what an eye opener! I was glad to see that UFirst wasn’t there but, as you say Tony, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t “out there” somewhere. Thanks for the reminder that part of the responsibility of blogging for a CU is knowing what’s being said about that CU on other blogs.
Ginny, you are right, it is hard to know who is saying what about your credit union. I mentioned this before in a post titled “Protecting your credit union’s reputation - A User’s Guide” where I explain a few things you can do to mitigate damage caused by “Renegade Bloggers”. I hope it helps 
Right on target here Tony.
I was reading a post elsewhere on the same subject that said:
“Many [companies] are desperately afflicted with ‘analysis paralysis’ (too much information so they do nothing) or they’re immobilized by the fear that someone is going to say horrible things about them - or their company - on their blog.”
I always say, even in the teeny tiny chance that someone is going to leave a bad comment, wouldn’t you rather have that on your own blog where you can delete it (if it’s reallly bad) or reply on your terms rather than somewhere else?
Chris,
I had the same concern with this blog. Here, I will lay it out on the table - several other agencies read our blog. We knew this would happen but we didnt know if any of them would say anything negative about us. We couldn’t think of anything that anyone would say, but still - you hold yourself out to scrutiny and you might get scrutinized to death.
Luckily we have received nothing but support. Every now and again a CU professional will challenge a position that I take on a subject. Sometimes it even makes it sound like I am a dumbass. But, at least I have a forum to defend myself and why I think the things that I do.
Also, this blog allows me to put my finger on the pulse of the CU community. When I post on a topic and I get 15 responses and excellent dialog, I know what people are interested in talking and learning about. Isn’t that important to other businesses? If I put up a blog for my coffee shop and all people wanted to talk about was free-trade or organic coffee… and I don’t sell either… wouldnt that be good information to have? I know it would motivate me to buy free-trade and organic coffee.
I would take the risk of exposure (because I don’t really have anything to hide) for the opportunity to serve my clients better AND create a open dialog with them as well.
Agreed. Why can’t we just do PR for credit unions everywhere?
BTW - You should really sell fair trade coffee. Small farmers in cooperatives getting a living wage for what they do? That’s all I drink because it’s the right thing to do and it tastes soooooo good.
Why don’t more corporations blog?
The party line: We want to control the message.
The truth: We have nothing useful or relevant to say.