The Corporate Blog Heats Up!

I've mentioned in this blog on several occassions that I'm an admirer of GM and its Fastlane Blog. CNN reports that GM is just one of about 100 companies that now have their own blogs. Watch out, though, hundreds more are on the way. Why would a corporation decide to blog?

The Internet journal format, they find, lets businesses expand their reach, generate product buzz and encourage consumer loyalty while bypassing traditional media.

"When we feel that we need to get a direct response out there, we've certainly got this bully pulpit to some extent," said Michael Wiley, GM's director of new media. "It's a place where we can talk directly to people unfiltered." ...

... Done well, corporate blogs can create good word-of-mouth among consumers who aren't reading business pages or thumbing through trade magazines.

There are dangers, though.

But bad blogging can easily backfire. Readers will pick up insincerity instantly.

"Don't go toward fake blogs. Don't launch character blogs. Use a blog for what it's for, transparency," said Steve Rubel, vice president of client services at CooperKatz & Co., a New York PR firm.

Rubel follows blog news on his blog, Micro Persuasion, and runs his company's unit of the same name, advising clients on blogging and on podcasting, the suddenly fashionable creation of downloadable person-to-person broadcasts.

He and other PR professionals can rattle off blogs gone wrong -- usually "fake blogs" that stir up the ire of bloggers by hiding the fact that they are really ad campaigns, such as one McDonald's posted in advance of a Super Bowl campaign about a Lincoln-shaped french fry.

Blogs that smack of press releases won't do the job, Rubel said. He tells clients to see what's out there about their company or industry, then decide whether they want to engage bloggers or even start their own blogs.

The explosive growth of corporate blogs is just another example of competition in action in our economy. When one firm finds success at doing something new, others follow. Customers benefit from the competition. The next time, you're in the market for a new car, check out the GM Fastlane blog and ask yourself if GM is a company you'd like to do business with. Remember, if you do become a customer of GM and you're not satisfied, you can always create your own anti-GM blog. The GM Breakdown Blog, anyone?

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