New dynamics of corporate interactions

New dynamics of corporate interactions
Corporate blogging is now used as a tool to give organizations a personal and humane touch, rather than being a sales and marketing medium

Debojyoti Ghosh & Swati Anand | TNN

Arif and Ali Vakil don’t run the best known real estate business in India’s Silicon Valley. But the Vakil brothers believe that they enjoy an enviably positive reputation among their peers in the business and it’s all through their blog. “Be it an excellent green building by Biodiversity Conservation India (BCIL) or innovative practices like Prestige giving its customers a welcome gift, we’ve always been open to praise steps taken by our competitors in our blog,” says Arif Vakil.

The duo began blogging like most others — as a hobby. But slowly word spread among clients, peers and friends about their blog, which discussed issues or simply bounced off thoughts on universal emotions like nostalgia. Inspired by the response, they started an official blog as well as an internal one. They use the official blog, like most other corporate blogs — to connect to their clients, banks and other stakeholders. And their internal blog keeps all employees in the loop of the activities and encourage suggestions. And they’re clear that none of their blogs is a marketing tool: “We blog because we like to. Our blogs are not advertisements,” says Ali. However, he concedes: “I think the blogs present the company as more personal and human. And unlike company sites, blogs are more frequently updated.”

Corporate blogs aren’t a new phenomenon, with companies across verticals sporting one on their official sites. What’s interesting is the ways in which these companies use blogging as a tool. If small and medium companies use it to make some noise about their work, large companies use it to showcase their diversity. “Whether you’re a small company or a big, the principles are the same. Everyone needs to have closer engagements with their stakeholders. All companies have similar challenges — attracting talent, improving investor confidence, addressing customer issues,” says author and seasoned blogger Ajay Jain. Blogs can also be used for crisis management. “For instance, the pharmaceutical industry can use blogs to counter incorrect media coverage and negative comments with facts. Besides, blogs can enable an environment of trust where regulatory and other authorities take a more practical view of things and customers realize the rationale and benefits of pricing and patents,” says Jain.

Blogs are ideal platforms to build community goodwill. Online businesses can use the medium to start conversations and build communities of their users. Since blogs are interactive and collaborative, they’re more exciting than newsletters or emails and less intrusive than instant messaging for internal communication.

“Blogging is an informal way of communication,” says an Infosys spokesperson. “It offers a good way to engage customers and employees and to keep the conversation fresh with new ideas and discuss industry news.”

The company launched its external corporate blog in July 2006 along with their flat world campaign. The blog is focussed on discussing business and technology. “We have a very active internal blog that was started over a year ago, that covers a range of topics and receives high level of participation from employees,” says the spokesperson.

At IBM, blogging is used as a platform for engagement and learning. “We believe in open exchange of ideas and collaborative learning between IBM, its clients and employees too. Also the blogs are not monitored, except that all employees must follow the IBM blogging guidelines,” says Pari Sadasivan, VP (HR), IBM India. IBM’s BlogCentral site hosts more than 4,000 active blogs, which spark lively dialogue on innovation, open source, security, social networking and latest technologies. Interestingly, their India office has the fifth largest blogger base (close to 700 blogs with over 2,300 blog entries).

Wal-Mart’s site Check Out, turns the traditional model around and instead of relying on high-level executives, it’s written by little-known buyers. Posts on a corporate blog, experts say, should be from top management, and not from a company spokesperson and all messages should convey a sense of passion and a willingness to talk.

“There may be moderation to ensure irrelevant messages and spam are kept out, but all comments should be allowed including negative ones since comments are invaluable. Respond and address points being raised. Only when there is a response, will people come back,” says Jain, who suggests corporate honchos write regularly and honestly.

To make the most of blogging, businesses have to integrate the medium for the principles it stands for — being open, receptive to communication and tolerant — not merely as a sales and marketing tool and a dumping ground of rehashed press releases.

Surprisingly, not all companies have harnessed this medium effectively. On businessandblogging.com, company blog reviewer Liz Fuller writes, “Very soon we’re going to start reviewing the business blogs of the Fortune 500 and the Global Fortune 500. That may seem like a daunting task, but fewer than 10% of the F500 corporations have an external blog.”

In fact, Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems, is said to be the only active member of the Fortune 500 CEO bloggers. It’s a territory that the high and mighty — from Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer and its chairman Bill Gates to Apple CEO Steve Jobs — have chosen not to tread. However, given the benefits of the medium, corporate blogging is no longer a question of choice.

Md Arif and Md Ali of Vakil Housing, have thrown their internal blog open to employees - even to complain about immediate bosses. Just one rule: nothing offensive, obscene or rude