Blogs. Who knows best?

I was in a meeting with a client and their web designers this afternoon. The client and I had discussed setting up a blog before. The organisaton is in a niche area and is currently undergoing a great deal of organisational change - hence the web re-design meeting.

I suggested to the client a blog would be a good way of keeping interested parties informed of all the changes happening and allow the organisation to help get their voice heard.

Anyway, the client uttered the 'B' word and the web designers looked a little hesitant. Following a short discussion it turns out the designers have just built their own blogging platform which they would happily set-up for the client.

Naturally, understanding a bit about blogging I asked some basic questions such as, does the platform have RSS feeds and does it support trackback links? At this point the main designer looked blank, turned to his colleague and said: "Do you know what he's talking about?".

Luckily he did. But neither of them seemed to understand the importance of the feature. He suggested trackbacks weren't that important as the site can automatically export content to other websites (via XML??).

This preamble leads me to ask: who knows best about setting-up corporate blogs? Usually the client would defer to their web company or in-house team as their are traditionally the techies who can set it all up. But this experience has shown me web firms / IT people dont always 'get' blogs.

Another recent example I've come across is a web design and marketing consultancy who run a 'blog'. Only, the 'blog' is a static webpage with no feeds, no comments, no trackbacks, posts are archievd one-by-one and the content is purely about online marketing.

Conversely I'm not a web expert. I could set up a blog for a client but I couldn't integrate it into their corporate site. I probably wouldn't know how to add an RSS feed to a site or build in trackbacks, but I certainly understand the key role these tools play from a communications perspective.

Can a PR person convince a client they know enough about technology without compromising their PR credentials?

How do you politely tell a client that although their web-team has set up a blog... it actually ain't a blog and won't work as such.

Answers on a postcard please...

Comments

[David Phillips FCIPR]

Simon. You topped my story but there is a lot of this crazy stuff about.

Monitoring is where I have problems.

Agencies spending 5 hours a day, monitoring in one case and onece a week in another and worse still an evaluation company reporting six weeks after the event.

Aghhh!!

[Philip Young]

Who knows best? You do! A blog is a communications tool and should be designed to meet communication needs to a communications brief.

[Simon Collister]

Good points.

But isn't there the risk that blogs fall neatly between the stools of technology and communications?

A blog as a comms tool with a comms brief... but what happens when the web guys take on the design and build as they know best!

Maybe that's a case for the change management people!

[Ed Lee]

ahh, the classic battle between technology and the users.

clearly the web team knows all about html, AJAX and all that good stuff. They may even be able incorporate some search engine optimisation into the new app and can certainly "tick the boxes" of features you want (trackbacks; comments; feeds etc).

However - it's the PR who can tell the client (internal or external) the social part of social media. who to link to. which memes to address. how to deal with a troll. and more importantly, why you should include the comment and trackback functionality.

i think it's the difference between having an active voice where you trackback and comment on other blogs; and a passive, self contained blog.

for me, it's a no-brainer as to who are the most successful blogs.

Ed

[Simon Wakeman]

I think the key is understanding the strategy behind the communications, and the tools a practictioner needs to know to deliver it.

PR professionals should be able to own this space, but they do need to know how the dynamics of social media change the delivery of communications.

They also need to be able to work with other people involved in this space and understand respective roles (such as designer, coder).

However the tools need to be fit for purpose - and the responsibility for ensuring this lies with PR professionals. This is the case now with social media, and always has been with other new tools in the past.

sw

[Simon Collister]

All good, all good.

@Ed, you've hit on the idea that within the spectrum of 'corporate blogging' there are all sorts of sites. The designer today make a clear distinction between their blog platform that simply provided content and what he called 'a personal wordpress blog' - my point was that I envisaged my client having a 'personal wordpress blog'!

@ Simon, you're right... as a PR person I am expected to know a bit about the media, a bit about print and design etc... it is only right that I will now need to know about coding, SEO etc in order to advise clients fully and brief suppliers ie. web designers etc

[David Brain]

Great piece Simon and I know many of us have been in very similar meetings. The other thought I'd add is that in many PR agencies (my own included) blogging and social media experts have sometimes been seen as different and separate to the main staff. I think this is probably one of those milestone things and certainly we are trying to get everyone up to speed with social media in all its forms as well as to have specialists on staff (like Stephen Davies) who can keep the rest of us current on the "shiny new things" as he puts it. In a very short time though PR people or agencies that have not included an understanding of social media into their DNA will be a danger to their clients. I am sure that the learning of new technologies is here to stay and we will all have to find our own personal blend of geek consultancy and communications consultancy depending on the client and the situation they face. I'd be interested in hearing other agency people's views or experiences on this.

[Ian Green]

Simon

Yes, I've been in those meetings too! But if you think back long enough - and I am old enough to remember this back in the old days just as the interweb was emerging when you asked a company chairman or CEO when they planned to launch their website - they would just look at you blankly.
Things have moved on significantly since then and we all think we are web savvy now (or so we think). When I suggested to Wensleydale Creamery that we launch a blog to support their campaign for Protected Designation of Origin for Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese I was genuinely shocked when the CEO said yes! This was a traditional company based in a sleepy town in the middle of North Yorkshire. BUT, crucially, they had been one of the first companies in Yorkshire to be an early adoptor of the internet and the first to launch an early website. Perhaps because they were so remote.
I think what is emerging in the corporate blog will be something closer to the much mooted Web 2.0 application - which will be a mash-up of several media streams to deliver key communications. A push and pull of commentary between company and CEO and end users whether they are customers, staff, suppliers and activists.
As to who should manage the blog and advise on its use - that domain belongs to the professional communicator. The Designer - with no disrespect builds the engine and paints the body work - the PR people drive the car.
The Wensleydaleblog.co.uk rests on a platform created by our design team at Lime Brand Design which is called Juice. To be honest I didn't give a damn about the technology - I wanted it to look nice, be easy to use - in the back office and in the front end - and still do all the things that other blogs have like Feedburner, RSS and trackbacks - which are coming soon.
The other thing about those client meetings is that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

[Ian Green]

By the way check out Ian Green on the Media at this terapad website at http://iangreenmediablog.terapad.com/

Cheers

[Linda]

Interesting discussion. We switched from a supposed 'blog'which was part of a company website for the very reasons you describe - to become part of a wider conversation.

When we told the designers we wanted to do this, they were concerned this was a criticism of their work on the original site. It wasn't. But how much better could it have been from the start if the designers had worked with us to learn more about blogging?

We knew we had done the right thing when a new client bounded into our office, smiling from ear to ear, saying how much he had enjoyed our blog and please could he have one too?

[Teresa Valdez Klein]

Good professionals in both the IT and communications arenas will have to pay attention to the way that technology and communications are impacting one another and respond accordingly.

Those that don't risk obsolescence, because long-term I see the fields merging. You will have to know technology to be an effective communications professional and you will have to understand communications to be an effective technology professional.

[Amy Gahran]

Excellent post, Simon. I've seen similar problems with organizations here in the US.

From my perspective, it amazes me that any organization would try to use a custom-built blogging tool, rather than simply going with a popular third-party or open-source option. People who use custom-built blogging tools inevitably end up frustrated and behind the curve of current blogging features.

Yoru post inspired me to write more about this at the Capture the Conversation blog.

See: Blogging Tools: Don't Build Your Own
- http://www.capturetheconversation.com/marketing-communications-business-blog/2006/09/blogging_tools_dont_build_your.php
Thanks,

- Amy Gahran