|
Opportunities
WORKING TRENDZ
Blogs widen corporate communication
Much has been spoken and written about how the Internet has revolutionised lives, not only in the communication sector, but in business as well. Today, e-commerce is a growing ‘virtual reality’ and this is certainly the newfound mode to make business, better and faster. Riding high on the popularity of the Internet is the ‘blog’ or the ‘web log’ that is an individual’s ‘personal’ diary, available for the world to see and read!
Blogs not only enable individuals to publish their experiences and emotions, beliefs and questions on their blog page, but also strengthens their views and abilities. It has been estimated that an average employee at work spends about an hour blogging his views on his blog-page. Consequently, workplace blogging is catching up as the latest fad.
Corporate business houses have started encouraging employees to create blogs and take active part in workplace blogging. In fact, many have established what is known as, internal blogging. Here, akin to Intranet facilities, the employees of the company can post blogs on their approved site.
This has helped reduce rigidity in organisations and has increased multi-tasking, since an employee can participate in a ‘virtual meeting’ on the blog-site and continue with his routine workload.
While internal communication is a mode of providing a platform for putting forth employee opinions, suggestions and voice polls, public corporate communication through blogs is a great way to attract public attention to your products and services. For instance, when a company website has the provision enabling consumers and the general public to post opinions and common feedback, it becomes clear as to what the public expects from the company.
It is a great way of measuring the market penetration of the company. It can also be made two-way, with the company representatives interacting with the public to publicise products or new offers and the like.
Another important aspect of corporate blogging is the role it plays in corporate recruiting. The first thing an interviewee does before attending an interview, is checking the website of the company to know more about it. Blogs published in the site can act as a stimulus or deterrent, depending upon the kind of blogs posted.
Companies can publicise and even help employees put forth their innovative ideas, without placing the hierarchal barrier that one often encounters while meeting the boss. The advantages of corporate blogging are numerous, but one cannot deny the flip side to this. For instance, while employees certainly can put forth views and opinions, negative experiences in the company can also become a part of it and if the ‘big boss’ happens to see this, it can create quite a ruckus! Remember Mark Jen? He is that famous search company employee who was infamously fired for talking about his workplace experiences on his personal blog, which portrayed a not-so-pleasant-picture about the organisation!
While blogs do increase transparency, they can get extremely personal and touchy, increase gossip sessions and unimportant small talk at workplaces, which can carry a negative feel if it goes public or if the person targeted happens to read it. Companies that indulge in self-marketing through blogs can also make it a damp squib, by going overboard and making the marketing come across as very aggressive or very intruding.
It is best to strike a balance, by accentuating the positives and minimising the downside of corporate blogging to extract the best results. A company can, for example, come up with a blogging policy for its employees, in order to monitor the content of blogs. It can also follow a more customer-friendly approach, without coming across as trying too hard to impress.
With such innovative strategies, corporate blogging can surely be made to expand its dimensions and revolutionise corporate communication.
PREETI RAGHUNATH
faqs@cnkonline.com
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Opportunities
|
