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Blogging is a highly beneficial marketing tool that can offer an organization a competitive edge. Here are 10 suggestions for building a successful blog.
Research – read blogs and search the blogosphere. Learn how to navigate the blogosphere and use blog search engines. Compare blogging and bookmarking sites.
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Start by listing favorite bloggers, take note of their styles and successful habits.
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Review blog titles and take note of key words searches that found blogs related to your organization – the information will help with naming your blog so that your blog will be grouped with other like blogs in search engines.
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List blogs that discuss your organization or cause and then develop a policy and strategy for monitoring this content. A monitoring plan could be as simple as subscribing to RSS feeds from certain bloggers and encouraging staff to read new blog posts.
Determine if the culture of your organization supports blogging. All organizations may not be well suited for blogging, but many are. First, consider if your staff and your constituents are familiar with blogs, if not you will need to start with training and education. Second, blogging can be time consuming, so determine what time commitment to a blog will fit your agency culture. Third, the best organizational culture for transparent and open blogging is one which operates under the element of trust, where employees are able to working autonomously.
Choose the right person(s) to write the blog. This person(s) should be able to write well in a conversational, authentic, and authoritative tone and be a credible source. Consider personalities – the author should be able express strong loyalty to the organization, mission, and purpose. Do not automatically assume the author should be your Executive Director. Most often, people like to hear from a person like them.
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For reactive blogging, communications and publicity staff can monitor media and then notify the appropriate staff within the company to ask for a response.
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Proactive blogging can be done by service level staff that can demonstrate enthusiasm for services due to direct, first-hand experience with programs
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Contributors to blogs can also be non-employees. An example would be a person who experienced a success story because of your organization’s services, or a donor or supporter who is very passionate about your organization.
Blogs must be authored. Do not make your blog anonymous or hidden behind a character or false name. When a blog is authored by a real person, this raises credibility and encourages the opportunity for building an online community of trust. Phony or “pseudo-blogs” that are created to look like unaffiliated user-generated content, but in fact are a carefully designed marketing ploys or schemes to criticize competitors or promote an organization have received heavy criticism and are easily spotted by passionate bloggers.
Know your audience. Much like traditional media, bloggers need to know who their intender readers are so that blog posts can be written to attract, retain, and engage the audience. The best target audiences are constituents who are interested in being updated regularly or evangelist-type supporters who would happily flock to and share blog posts.
Tell a story that demonstrates passion, authority, and expertise and encourages trust, awareness, and enthusiasm about the organization. Demonstrate understanding, knowledge, and dedication to the mission and cause, but do not remain cautious or indifferent. Be careful to include different perspectives to ensure the blog does not appear to be selfishly only about the organization. Examples for blog topics could include:
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Reach out to donors with success stories of provided services due to received donations.
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Recruit volunteers with blog posts about a fun and productive volunteer event or profile a valuable volunteer.
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Discuss policy changes or current issues in the media that affect the agency and encourage dialogue and re-posting of articles or links by readers.
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Use the blog to make constituents aware of a collection of links to information.
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Praise board members for their achievements or contributions to your agency.
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Recruit and retain great staff and leadership by discussing the good work that the organization accomplishes.
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Post information about new and upcoming projects to recruit volunteers or staff.
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Announce new services and inform the public how to access them.
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Post progress updates, targeted at current and potential grantors.
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If a crisis arises at your organization, included your blog as a part of your crisis management strategy. Your speed of response is imperative and your readers will expect up-to-date posts.
Be prolific! Post new content and links often. As your blog grows, this shows new visitors your dedication to providing new content, which can encourage return visits. A large collection of blog posts also gives your blog credibility as a good source of various information.
Engage your audience by replying to comments. A good blog is a conversation, not a one-way publicity platform. Encourage a feeling of trust and approachability. Do not try to control the dialogue, but do control comments by erasing spam and restricting overly negative or inappropriate comments. To civilly remove negative comments, offer that critics post their critique on their own blog, and then link to yours, to maintain that the critic is accountable for the comment.
Develop techniques to measure return on investment (ROI) for your blog. Organizations first need to formulate goals and then determine how blogs can assist the organization in strategically accomplishing these goals. For example, blogs can be involved in improving communication and outreach, acquiring new donors, or reducing the cost of service. Even if only a handful or a few hundred people read the blogs, this could still be very beneficial, as the blog could be influencing or targeting specific and valuable niche markets.
Evaluate security risks and distribute a security policy to staff. Information technology security professionals stress the importance of considering security precautions before implementing a new blogging program. Successful organization blogs have suggested that simple policies, based on common sense and good judgment, which avoid suppressing the natural, transparent voice of their employees are best. Risks associated with blogging include the possibility of an employee posting legally sensitive or internal business information. Also, because blogging opens communication channels and increases the number of employees who have contact with constituents, be aware that employee satisfaction – positive or negative - can be carried-over and expressed in blogs.
Article written by Elizabeth Marlow, Media Graduate Student & Volunteer
Additional Reading:
Scoble, Robert; Isreal, Shel; Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk With Customers, 2006, New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons Inc.
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