Hmmm, how to celebrate. Well, I’m going to take a break… Hope you’ll indulge me. debbie’s blog is on hiatus while I write a book about corporate blogging for Penguin. Please take a minute to click on over to my book blog and also my blog about (what else) corporate blogging at BlogWriteForCEOs. It’s easier to leave comments on those blogs (both hosted by TypePad). Fire away as I’d love to hear from you!
While you’re here, you might want to troll some of the categories if you’re looking for information related to Blogging for business (a catch-all category); E-newsletters; Blogging events; and the always popular Free downloads. There’s lots of good stuff to re-discover. I’ve been reading past entries myself to find tidbits for the book. Oh, and as always, thanks for reading and for your comments. Have a great summer!
Thursday, June 30th, 2005Filed in Buzz
Hey, your copy of this 15-page guide is FREE when you subscribe to my e-newsletter, WordBiz Report. Here’s what online copywriting guru Nick Usborne says about the guide:
“It’s a brief and useful introduction for those who are about to start a business blog, and for those who have been blogging for a while, but have lost track of what they first set out to achieve, and why.”
Click here to download your copy (value $14.95) now!
Here’s my write up of the presentation at this week’s IABC conference on how McDonald’s communications strategy helped transform press coverage of the company between 2003 and 2005. Nothing to do with blogging but a great story nonetheless.
The 2005 IABC conference was terrific and I met lots of great folks. The International Association of Business Communicators has a deservedly great reputation. Interestingly, many of the members focus on internal employee communications… which is relevant to internal corporate blogs. I’ve just joined the D.C. chapter and am looking forward to getting more involved.
Had a blast this week moderating IABC’s blog panel here in D.C.
It was wonderful to meet several corporate bloggers face to face that I’ve been emailing and speaking with by phone: Paul Rosenfeld, Intuit’s blogging evangelist and the force behind the QuickBooks Online Edition blog; GM’s Bill Betts representing the Fastlane blog (Bill is Web Services Manager for GM’s global corporate communications office in Detroit); and Kevin Holland (VP in charge of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America’s ACCABuzz blog).
Paul flew in from Calif. for less than 24 hours (as did Bill) in order to participate. A huge thanks from me and from a filled-to-capacity and attentive audience. I’m sorry we couldn’t get to every one of your questions.
After offering a brief overview of corporate blogging, I posed some (vaguely) provocative questions and then let the three panelists do most of the talking. I framed our discussion around "fear of blogging" and asked each panelist in turn: "Why aren’t you afraid of blogging, why are you doing this and what results are you seeing?"
Interestingly, Steve Broback, creator of the Blog Business Summit, is thinking of using the same theme ("getting past the fear of blogging") for his Blog Business Summit Aug. 17 - 19, 2005 in San Francisco. (This is a great event if you’re looking for a useful business blogging conference. I’ll be there as a speaker.)
Some of my questions for the panelists:
Are blogs a viable tool for corporate communications given the fact that blogging, by definition (open and transparent), is the opposite of what defines most corporate culture?
If the majority of Americans don’t know what a blog is (40 - 60% are not familiar with blogs, according to eMarketer’s Business of Blogging report), then who is going to read corporate blogs?
What’s the first thing a company should do to start blogging? (This prompted an interesting point-counterpoint response from Intuit’s Rosenfeld and GM’s Betts. Said Betts, "Study, study, study the blogosphere first." Said Rosenfeld, "Just do it! Then go back and see what your results are."
Thanks to IABC conference blogger Jeremy Popper for his write up of our session.
This is my favorite New Yorker cartoon ever. Thanks to Steve Rubel for the link and for the entertaining riff about the fact that he’s now something of a blogging celebrity… but still unrecognizable to the man on the street.
Thursday, June 16th, 2005Filed in Buzz
It’s official! I’ve just closed a deal with Penguin Portfolio to write a book about corporate blogging. Pub date is 2006. Penguin is the publisher of Seth Godin’s books, including Purple Cow and his new All Marketers Are Liars. As well as some other nifty business books. Of course, there will be a "book blog" to accompany the creation (and, er, promotion) of the book. I can’t promise that I’ll post every chapter as I write it, as Robert Scoble and Shel Israel are doing over at The Red Couch. But I’ll be asking for input and hope you’ll speak your mind. Stay tuned…
Thursday, June 2nd, 2005Filed in Buzz
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