Blogs and bloggers: How to not screw up, part 2
by Sean Nicholson
November 3, 2011
In part 1 of this series, we mentioned that there are some definite dos and don’ts to engaging with bloggers in your online community. By understanding the dynamics of your online community, building relationships with influential bloggers, and being transparent in your intent and expectations, you can build powerful brand advocates.
Building relationships with bloggers is only half the equation, though, if your goal is to fully leverage the power of blogs. The other key element is to plan, implement, and maintain an organizational blog of your own that contributes content to the community. Whether you use the blog as a thought leadership platform, a customer support channel, or a think tank to generate ideas for new products and services, your blog can open up new channels of communication with your customers that may not have previously existed.
Until now, the pharmaceutical industry has generally been cautious about engaging in social media marketing because of lack of guidance from the FDA. However, organizations like Eli Lilly, GSK and Sanofi have ventured forth with blogging initiatives and have been able to comply with DTC regulations.
Eli Lilly maintains LillyPad, which provides updates on the company’s community and social endeavors. Likewise, GSK’s blog More Than Medicine seeks to provide a human face to the often-intimidating field of healthcare. The blog’s About Us section states: “we're going to try and do our best to provide a GSK perspective that doesn't sound like it's written in "legalese."”
With Discuss Diabetes, Sanofi has taken on the more challenging approach of blogging about lifestyle topics impacting those living with Diabetes. Sanofi has been transparent about the fact that they moderate comments and posted brief information about their process for evaluating comments in the About Us section of their site.
Corporate blogs can also prove valuable during instances requiring crisis communications or mass communication to the public. For example, the Johnson & Johnson corporate blog, JNJ BTW, has been used to address coverage of the company in news outlets like the Financial Times and Pharmaceutical Business Review; respond to and update the public about their Animas insulin pump recall; and provide their point of view in the industry debate about the medicines patent pool. In each instance, J&J was able to contribute their side of the story in their own words, in a timely and effective manner. This type of communication, appearing in a conversational tone and delivered by an author, not a talking head, can be crucial in the realm of public image and media messaging.
Additionally, because blogs are usually updated more frequently than traditional websites, search engines are starting to rank well-written, keyword-rich blog articles highly in their listings … sometimes higher than traditional website content.
There are some rules to the road that you need to keep in mind and (as is important with all social media activities) planning is recommended before you charge forward and launch a blog. Below are five things to consider when planning your new blog that can help you on your way to success:
1. Know why you want to blog
Blogging just to have a blog isn’t a strong enough reason to spend the time and energy required, and it’s likely that your content will suffer if you don’t have a clear direction as to what you want to accomplish with your blog. As a result, poor content won’t see much traffic. Think through ways that your blog could fill a niche in your community that might not already be served. Are your customers looking for more information about your products? Are they seeking support? Can you share information about any upcoming products, services, or changes that will affect them? Find ideas for articles that provide value to your customers first and your marketing department second.
2. Understand the requirements
Blogging takes time, energy, and commitment. You’ll need to devote time to developing a content calendar, brainstorming content ideas, and then writing, editing, and publishing the content. You’ll also need to spend time developing a social sharing strategy that maximizes the reach of your articles through channels like Twitter, Facebook, and social bookmarking sites. These activities will require someone with a strong understanding of social media, and you’ll want to make sure that they have the availability to focus time on responding to user comments and managing the blog.
3. Pick the right platform
Before you jump in and start blogging, be sure that you understand the various platforms that are available. WordPress offers both a hosted and an open source option that allows you to choose whether the blog will be hosted on your servers or WordPress’ servers. When hosting on your servers, you have complete control over the look, feel, and functionality of your blog, but will be responsible for applying software and security updates. When hosting on a service providers’ platform setup is quick and easy, and they will provide ongoing updates but your functionality will be more limited than if you hosted it yourself. Platforms like Blogger and Tumblr are other options that provide quick, easy setup but are also more limited in their functionality. Keep in mind that most platforms have migration features, so if you start on Blogger, you can migrate to WordPress later if you choose.
4. Identify key contributors
When developing your content calendar, be sure to consider adding a broad range of voices. Look for a variety of contributors from across your organization and from your community who can offer unique perspectives and insights. If you’re going to leverage guest bloggers, be sure that you have at least one person in control of your content calendar that is responsible for deadlines and guiding articles through any editorial process you develop.
5. Publish, measure, adjust
Finally, get some content out there. The sooner you publish, the sooner you’ll be able to reap the rewards of sharing your content. Once you launch your blog, be sure to leverage measurement tools like Google Analytics to determine how your traffic is growing, how visitors found your content, and how they interacted with the content on your site during their visit. All of this information can help you better understand whether your content strategy is working or whether it requires adjustments.
If you take the time to think through each of these elements and develop a comprehensive blogging plan, you should be armed with some good ideas to consider when developing your strategy. Combine the tips in this article with the outreach recommendations in part 1 of this series and you should have a good start on putting together an organizational blogging strategy.
Good luck and happy blogging!