Corporations have been implementing internal blogs, RSS publishing and there is even some experimentation with micro-blogging, ala Twitter. Yet many still are hesitating at the gate as to whether they will make an entry into corporate blogging.

Marriott Corporate Blog

There can be no predicting how each corporate voice will be judged, outside of the standard litmus tests of authenticity and transparency.

Bill Marriott seems to be faring well with his foray into the blogosphere and a great deal can be credited to his voice, his demeanor translates as sincere. Having kept an eye on it since it debuted, it has been interesting to observe their willingness to experiment, e.g., online employee contests, the addition of podcast marketing, and uploading video to YouTube.

And that touches on why some corporations still hesitate inside the gate. Along with Marriott videos is a news video over a “bedbug” lawsuit. (click image)

But the preponderance of online evidence weighs in Marriott’s favor. Their blog gets good comments from appreciative guests and any bedbug issues are reduced to the slight hiccup that they represent.

Blogging Through the Criticism

Medical blogging is also on the rise, with Johnson and Johnson leaving the gate in July with their JNJ BTW, blogged by J&J PR exec Marc Monseau.

A recent review leans towards critical, ending by saying J&J’s new blog is the “Pravda of J&J”. Monseau responds in a post a few days later:

“This debate has a particular relevance to me…For instance, last week Jim Edwards at BrandWeek NrX compared JNJ BTW to Pravda…To support his premise, Jim cited my attempts to define what I would talk about on the blog through some posts that I’ve made.

In fact, I wrote the posts Jim mentioned to be more transparent. I wanted to help readers understand my limits and to provide some insight into why I don’t elaborate on lawsuits or on speculation about acquisitions….”
(Source)

And that is how it goes. The conversation goes back and forth and the brands are further defined by the dialog. I think both Marriott and J&J are both going in the right direction.

Those corporations still hesitating at the gate need to move on out. It isn’t all that scary a world out here.

Sphere: Related Content

Tags: blogging, corporate-blogging, corporations, jnj-btw, marriott, podcast-marketing, RSS-publishing, twitter, YouTube

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007 at 11:26 am and is filed under Business Blogging, Corporate RSS Communications. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.