I’m often asked whether companies should let employees blog either for the company or personally. My answer to both questions is always the same — absolutely! Your employees are your most powerful brand advocates. Let them spread the word about your business and brand freely!
However, that doesn’t mean you should let them blog without providing some guidelines. Whether an employee is writing your business blog or writing his own blog but references himself as an employee of your company, you should give him some guidelines to follow so he can blog without fear of getting fired. Employee blogging should be a positive form of word-of-mouth marketing for your business, not a ticket to the unemployment line.
With that in mind, what should your employee blogging and social media policies include? Fortunately, there are some directories available online that gather links to blogging and social media policies that have been published online. One of my favorites is the Online Database of Social Media Policies. Take some time to read through some of those policies (I particularly like the simple policies of Razorfish and Headset Brothers) and create your own employee blogging and social media policy from those examples.
Most importantly, be sure to include the following in your employee blogging policy: [Read more…] about Employee Blogging Policies – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
One of the topics I often discuss in my books, to my clients, and at speaking engagements is the value of a business blog not just as a tool to create conversations, build relationships, and develop brands, but also to increase search engine rankings and visitors to a business Web site.
A business blog can be an amazing tool to both directly and indirectly market your business. Not convinced? Take a look at the 5 ways a blog can help your business listed below to see what you’re missing!
Why does your business need a blog? I could go on and on about why businesses can benefit from publishing a blog, but I’m going to narrow it down to the top 10 benefits listed below.
Anyone can start a business blog, but not everyone can be successful as a business blogger. That’s because writing for a business blog is different from any form of traditional marketing or business development. Instead of self-promoting and selling on your business blog, you need to focus on dialogue and relationships in order to find success.