Don't Let Your Advertising Agency Write Your Blog

I have spent a fair bit of time in recent months talking with companies about how to embrace blogging as part of their marketing strategy. I've certainly spent time with my own portfolio companies on the question, but have also spent time with folks in Fortune 500 companies. Marketing executives are trying hard to figure out how to step into the blogsphere without getting burned. And rightfully so. I firmly believe that any company that has not embraced blogging in some form or other is missing an important channel.

Over a year ago, Chris Shipley put on the inaugural BlogOn conference which included some of the first organized discussions about business blogging. There were panels on Business Transparency and The Dark Side of Social Media. I suspect at that time no one predicted the degree to which corporations would embrace blogging. But embrace them they have. So I'm excited to be leading a panel at this year's BlogOn conference on Understanding Social Media's ROI. I imagine that one of the most significant issues I'll be discussing with the panel is not about the positive ROI from a well-executed blogging strategy but rather the negative ROI from a poorly thought out approach. There have been numerous horror stories about companies creating fake blogs and managing to undermine their credibility in the process. I read about a fantastically moronic example of so-called blogging on TechCrunch the other day -- the Juicy Fruit Blog.

Wrigley's gum has started the Juicy Fruit Blog. The advertising geniuses at Juicy Fruit devised an add campaign the essence of which is 2 people simultaneously grab hold of the last pack of Juicy Fruit and both refuse to let go of said pack of gum; as a result, the two people must do everything together including shaving, singing in the choir, wrestling, etc. In keeping with this campaign, the Juicy Fruit blog chronicles the comings and goings of the two attached Juicy Fruit fanatics. Here's a typical post:

I didn't really think the prom would be all that great, those things never are. But man, it stank! Right up there with getting all 4 wisdom teeth pulled. Because, of course, I've got HER by my side all night hanging on to the Juicy Fruit (which should be mine, by the way.) Have you ever tried slow dancing with 3 people? Take my advice. Don't try it. But I'm not backing down. If [sic] lived through this night, I can live through anything.

This bad advertising copy is labeled "BLOG" on the Juicy Fruit website and is, in theory, posted in chronological order (although the posts aren't dated). But beyond that, there is nothing bloglike about it. I'm sure it was devised by some advertising executive who wanted to capture the buzz around blogs. But it does just the opposite. Such is the danger of bad blogging.

I look forward to getting into the perils of blogging at the BlogOn conference in New York in October. If anyone is interested in attending the event, email me ([email protected]) and I'll send you a discount code for your registration. It should be a good conversation.

Comments

[Wil Schroter]

The beauty of blogging is the authenticity of the material. It comes through quickly when you "fake it", especially in a narrative environment.

[Eric Olson]

BlogOn sounds like it will be a great conference. It will be interesting to see how blogging is used in different companies going forward. My current employer, for example, has a lot of proprietary technology/database material so I could see them being quite touchy when it comes to setting up a company blog for security reasons. However, I do think that it would benefit the company in the recruiting area if nothing else.

What do you suggest such a company, or internal blogging evangelist at such a company, do to get blogging implemented?

[Mable Yee]

It would be great for corporations to accelerate their adoption of blogs and new media as channels of communication with their customers. They will need help and guidance to ensure that they use these channels appropriately and understand the unique opportunities and challenges that these rich new media channels will offer. Let's hope that they truly understand the empowerment of blogs, wikis, blikis, etc. that enable two way interactive relationships between the consumer and the companies. I'd appreciate the discount code for Blogon. It's an important emerging conference.

[Nick]

Just wanted to say how awesome this site is. More information on Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur can be found at http://successful-entrepreneur.blogspot.com

[Scribes_Unlimited_LLC]

We can't begin to explain what happened when we added a blog. At first, it was going to be a sort of daily "diary" of a writing/research and investment facilitation firm -- but then we realized how dreadfully boring that could be. :-) So we really didn't know WHAT to write in there.

Then we figured, "Do we REALLY need a theme, some weird motif, a tres chic style, etc.?" Of course not. The whole idea for a blog is to write whatever you want to write (within the law, of course) Be it a political firestorm, or the latest gadgets, or the weird story of the day. We've been writers for a combined 50 years or so, and we have the most fun blogging when we're talking about what's on our minds and in our hearts.

Perfect example; the harrowing details at St. Rita's nursing home in New Orleans, where 34 people lost their lives needlessly. Before CNN could report the crime of negligent homicide, our blog already had an entire list of St. Rita's many deficiency reports all spread out for the world to see. Paul had done a huge search for the nursing home and found all sorts of relevant information that could have explained why the home was so unkempt and ill-prepared.

We personally think the blog has also brought us a great new list of clients too. Before we had our blog up, our number of email contacts numbered less than 40. Since then, about three months now, it's gone up to close to 150, and people sign up to receive information about our site on an ongoing basis and reply to our posts.

Adding a blog was the best thing we could have done, and we humbly thank Google's Blogger.com for the opportunity. :-)

See you soon!

Paula and Paul
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