One of the mantras in social media circles these days is: "This is not just about blogging."
So true. I couldn't agree more. Whether it's microblogging with Twitter (see marriottpr) or idea generation with evangelistic customers' input (see MyStarbucksIdea), there are many ways that companies can deploy social media to listen and to learn.
Yet the fact remains that many (most? it's most if more than 50%, right?) companies are just waking up to what they could do with a blog -- internally or externally.
An article by Rich Karpinski this week in BtoB Magazine reminds us that only about 12% of Fortune 500 companies are blogging (11.6% according to the Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki).
But that companies like Dell, IBM, Kodak, Intel and SAP "are now deep into blogging programs with multiple weblogs, dozens of bloggers and a wealth of expertise and best practices to share."
So while blogs and blogging may be "old news" to organizations and marketers immersed in social media, they are still decidedly a new new thing for many corporate folks.
As intriguing, fun and real-time as many of the social networking tools are, blogs are here to stay. Bottom line, blogs are next-generation websites. They're not going anywhere.
Useful Link
Beyond Blogs: What Business Needs to Know - BusinessWeek cover story, June 2, 2008
Businesses embrace blogging: Early adopters embrace strategies, new titles for corporate social media marketing efforts by Rich Karpinski in BtoBOnline, June 9, 2008
Absolutely! A corporate blog, in my mind, always equates to the "home base" for an organization's activity in social media.
Blogging (and monitoring) are two elements of corporate social media that don't make headlines--they make an impact.
Many folks chase after the "next big thing" looking for a magic bullet. Until you've learned the basics of communicating in a human voice online, anything else you do in social media is sort of irrelevant. JMO.
Posted by: KatFrench | June 11, 2008 at 01:37 PM
Very good point Debbie. I comment from the Internet Retailer conference in Chicago where my client Graco Baby just presented a session on their blog and overall social media strategy (which hinges, most importantly, on listening).
I've spoken with a lot of big brands here, and they see Graco as a very 'out there' case study.
Blogs are a great tool, and still under used by big business.
If you'd like to check out the Graco blog head to blog.gracobaby.com or just Google 'Graco Blog' to get the full story!
Cheers!
Posted by: Paull Young | June 11, 2008 at 01:51 PM
I very much like the "impact over headlines" take. Right on.
To that point, there is still a strange amount of confusion over the presence and potential of blogs in the corporate world. There seems to be a disconnect between the intent behind marketing to industry/media bloggers and the intent behind keeping a corporate blog (and eventually expanding to other social tools). To sum it up in simple terms, just the other day a senior level public relations colleague asked me, "Aren't corporate blogs dead?"
Posted by: EZ | June 11, 2008 at 01:55 PM
Thanks to Graeme Thickins who "re-tweeted" this post on Twitter. I immediately got 3 comments. So yes... social media creates ripples and results. Follow Graeme at http://twitter.com/GraemeThickins
Posted by: Debbie Weil | June 11, 2008 at 02:20 PM
You did a great job of explaining the benefits of blogging in your book, but the noise about other social media appears to be swamping the value of blogs.
Maybe the question should be today, why are blogs still important for companies?
Also, thanks for mentioning the wiki.
Posted by: john Cass | June 11, 2008 at 11:23 PM