Do’s and Dont’s of corporate blogging

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My was presenting on April 23rd an event on corporate blogging. and were leading the presentation which quickly turned into a discussion about the best practices of corporate blogging. Here’s my notes, thoughts and other infos that I’ve added to their presentation:

Few corporate blogging cases worthed to study

blogging business case: Wal-Marting Across America
the story: Fake blog about two people RVing across the States ()
behind the blog: Wal-Mart and its PR firm Edelman.
main mistake: about the identity of the two bloggers from the outset.”

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blogging business case: The Zero Movement website
the story: Not only a fake blog, but a fake community supporting Coke’s new product ()
main mistake: no mention of Coke’s involvement
more on the topic: and

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blogging business case: GM FYI blog
the story: NY Times’s columnist, Thomas L. Friedman, wrote that GM is “more dangerous to America’s future” than any other company, is “like a crack dealer” addicting helpless Americans to SUVs…
the right reply: While failing to publish their response in the paper, GM used their blog to push their version of the story
behind the blog: staff and friends of GM, including Brian Akre who wrote
more on the topic: and

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blogging business case:
the story: Sun is said to promote employee blogging more than any other technology firm and is the largest company with a CEO who blogs.
the question answered: Q:”Why does Sun’s CEO waste time writing that blog?” A: Because I believe in providing clarity surrounding our strategy and operations - not just once a year in the Annual Report. I believe clarity behind our direction is useful for our shareholders, customers, partners and employees (taken from ).
more on the topic:

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blogging business case: Dell Hell
the story: uses his weblog to expose his own personal problems dealing with Dell. The company ignored the writer until the story became a phenomenon over the net.
More on the story: (Guardian)and on Business Week
the results: Dell has now an important place for blogging on their site for products and services + for investors but more important, the company has opened the discussion with their customers.

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As seen, corporate blogging brings a lot a opportunities but surely a lot of questions. If you read spanish I will strongly suggest you to take a look at . Here’s few of these questions that you will face when business blogging: Do I need a corporate blog?, Who should blog?, Is transparency possible when blogging?, Is ghostwritting acceptable? and more. Have a nice post !

One Response to “Do’s and Dont’s of corporate blogging”

  1. Says:

    Very interesting about what not to do in corporate blogging, especially for Wal Mart and Coke.
    And weel done for Dell and Sun.
    That show us that big companies are really late, we are now in… 2008 !

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