There’s a Blog in Your Future (even if it’s not your own)

“Self-expression must pass into communication for its fulfillment.” --Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973)

If your organization is ready to step up to the blog plate, start reading blogs. Do it in your free time, or make it part of your daily schedule. But do it. And when a topic or trend emerges that you can’t stay quiet about, it’s probably time to jump in.

Start slowly. Read extensively. Post frequently. Link liberally. And if you determine that a corporate weblog isn’t part of your communications strategy, the blogosphere and bloggers as a whole should be. Blogging is another channel through which you can communicate with your key audiences. Dialogues are taking place online at the speed of links, many of which would be richer for your participation in them. If your organization truly has something of value to offer, then your people likely have something of value to add to the blogworld. Many are probably already there. (And so, by the way, are your competitors.) Recognizing and encouraging that participation is your company’s best next step.

Whether or not you agree with the authors (and blogging pioneers) of the often-quoted Cluetrain Manifesto (www.cluetrain.com), the evolution of the Internet over the last five years has proved the text’s most important thesis true: Markets are indeed conversations.

Your markets are already talking online. Blogging is your chance to join them.

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