BLOGGING POLICY FOR CORPORATE AND EMPLOYEES

FEATURES OF BLOGS

High search ranking and easily customizable Easy to add photos, videos Low Cost, with Little maintenance User generated content Easy to add Links Comments Section RSS Syndication Reverse Chronology

COMPONENTS OF BLOGGING ( THE 4 C’S) - CONTENT

Provide service to your readers

Access original source of information

Share knowledge and information

Add value and create engagement

Provide opinions

COMPONENTS OF BLOGGING ( THE 4 C’S) - COMMUNITY

Get involved Listen to your audience Understand your different

audiences Seek opinion rather than

just giving Don’t overreact

COMPONENTS OF BLOGGING ( THE 4 C’S) - CONSISTENCY

Post regularly Be genuine and authentic Stay focused on the subject Be active on other networks Don’t indulge in promotions

COMPONENTS OF BLOGGING ( THE 4 C’S) - CLARITY

Communicate clearly Make simple and

compelling promotions Interrelate different topics Explain difficult/niche terms Add citations and links

WHAT ARE CORPORATE BLOGS?

Used internally to enhance communications to reinforce the culture inside the organization

Used externally for branding/marketing/public relations

Facilitates an open channel for two-way communication

Enhance electronic word of mouth/viral marketing

Tells readers the inside-story of the company

REASONS FOR CORPORATE BLOGGING

Dealing with Expectations Dealing with problems Online Reputation Management Networking- Make valuable business contact Improve Search Engine visibility Creating a new touch-point for your

customers Providing a creative outlet Global reach and worldwide audience Market Research and Access to information Brand building and community development

REASONS FOR INDIVIDUAL BLOGGING

Become an active conversationalist in your field Offers Expertise and sharing Develop personal branding Employees as brand ambassadors Display your creative abilities Explore hidden talents Build trust and transparency Networking and engagement Boost your career Interactions and knowledge transfer

KINDS OF BLOGGING POLICY – CORPORATE

Identify and know your target audience

Align subject with company’s goals and objectives

Respect copyrights and safeguard confidential information

Ensure that Posts are verified and approved before posting

Be aware of Defamation, IP theft and Plagiarism

CORPORATE BLOGGING POLICY

Be transparent and authentic Be respectful to employees, competitors Blogging is about conversation not PR and Advertisements Not a substitute for customer service, rather a supporting

tool to it. Do not use unethical slurs or abusive language.

KINDS OF BLOGGING POLICY - INDIVIDUAL

Get the posts and topic verified from your manager

Respect company’s business conduct policies and guidelines

Respect copyrights, fair use and financial disclosure laws

Respect the company’s confidential and proprietary information.

Be respectful to colleagues, customers and competitors.

Add value by providing worthwhile information and perspective

Find out who else is blogging on the same topic and cite them

Ensure it does not interfere with your work commitments.

Don’t get offensive while replying to the negative comments

Use disclaimer while writing on a specific issue. Be yourself

KINDS OF BLOGGING POLICY - INDIVIDUAL

BLOGGER CODE OF ETHICS

Tell the truth.Write intelligently and with accuracy.Acknowledge and correct mistakes

promptly.Preserve the original post, use notations

to show the changes and maintain integrity

Never delete a post.Don’t ever delete comments unless they

are spam or off-topic.Reply to emails and comments when

appropriate, and do so promptly.

BLOGGER CODE OF ETHICS

Strive for high quality posts – including basic spell-check, typos etc.

Stay on topic.Respect other’s opinions, even when you

disagree Link to online references and original source

materials directly.Disclose conflicts of interest.Keep private issues and topics, private; don’t

mix the private & the professional.

LEGAL RIGHTS TO BLOGGER

Intellectual property rights Defamation and freedom of

speech Privacy and Confidentiality Labour law issues and

employee blogs Bloggers’ rights as journalists

BLOGGING PLATFORM

Blogger- Blogging platform of Google

BLOGGING PLATFORM

Wordpress - very popular platform that offers wide range of plug-ins

BLOGGING PLATFORM

Typepad- paid blogging tools, good for professional bloggers

BLOGGING PLATFORM

Blogs at Myspace, Friendster, LiveJournal etc.

BLOG HOSTING OPTIONS

You can host your blog at blogging platforms like blogger, wordpress etc. The web address would be something like www.yoursitename.wordpress.com

BLOG HOSTING OPTIONS

You can use your own web hosting account to host your blog. For example, if you already have a website online, make your blog an extension of that site by publishing it to a sub-directory on your site. Thus, the web address would be something like www.yoursitename.com/blog

GETTING STARTED WITH BLOGS

GETTING STARTED WITH BLOGS

1. Log into company’s blog site/editor2. Look for the “dashboard” and click on “write”

GETTING STARTED WITH BLOGS

3. Enter a suitable title for your post under “Title” box

4. Type your message under “post” section

GETTING STARTED WITH BLOGS

5. Select the appropriate “category” from drop down menu

6. Don’t forget to add tags to your post

GETTING STARTED WITH BLOGS

7. Enter a summary(a few lines) to your post under the “excerpt” column

8. Check the grammar and spellings before publishing

WHAT TO BLOG

New products or services

Summaries or reviews of books or articles

Live Blogging of an event or conference

Research findings, tools, reports or surveys

Office culture and occasions

Product demonstration

OUTSOURCING YOUR BLOG

You can hire someone else to blog for you, instead of adding any additional workload to your employees.

ADVANTAGES OF OUTSOURCING

Time-saving exercise for employees

Fresh eye on the company

Writing expertise and quality content

Demonstrate openness

Writers already have a good network

DISADVANTAGES OF OUTSOURCING

Bloggers won’t know your company from inside

Difficulty in understanding corporate culture

Require more supervision

Lack personal interest and organizational touch

Less networking and engagement

RISKS AND CHALLENGES

Analytics and Metrics

IP Disclosure

Implied warranty and copyright

PR Issue: Confidentiality and Negative posts

Blogs after employees’ exit

THANK YOU