Corporate Blogging: The Art of Simplicity
Simplicity.
“Think simple” as my old master used to say - meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles” Frank Lloyd Wright
The simple answer regarding the corporate world’s concerns about the possibility of nasty remarks appearing on their blogs about their product or service is that those remarks are being spoken or written about the product anyway. The conversation of complaint already exists .
The simple architecture of clear communication. Question. Answer. A straight forward explanation. Why should we buy from you? What makes your product desirable? What reasons do you give us to trust?
No convoluted theories or exhaustive, tedious rambling explanations. Simple, clear cool thoughts in a slender line of words, succinctly responding to a consumer’s query or complaint.
“This seems to be the biggest fear among those considering blogging. Well, get used to it. Thing is, people are making these negative comments about you already—to their neighbors, at the grocery store, in their networking groups and on their own blogs. Now you have a chance to participate in the conversation; you can respect their experiences and points of view while humbly presenting your own.
Truth is, this is valuable stuff. Chances are you’d never hear about these customers and how they are representing your brand to others—now you can not only listen but learn and participate. If you join in the conversation and address or even resolve their issues with an honest, “Um… yeah, we messed that up, and we’re sorry. It’ll be fixed by next Tuesday,” you’ll gain the value of an authentic human interaction that no static website, press release or newsletter could EVER accomplish. Facing a challenge about your company or products is the best chance you have to engage in the conversation and come out… divinely human.”
The appearance of a blog at a corporation’s website brings the conversations of complaint to the corporate doorstep and that is a service. Because, simply, if your claims about a product are tenuous at best, then that fact will eventually show up in your bottom line or in a lawsuit. If a corporation had no awareness of a flaw inherent in their product or service, then the complaining commentor has performed a marvelous service for that corporation. For free. The consumer/commentor has given the corporation an opportunity to self-correct, to make amends, to alter the product in response to the consumer whose loyalty they seek. It presents an opportunity to show that the corporation is acting in good faith and integrity. And if that is a complicated proposition, the corporation has problems far beyond the bad PR a blog can potentially showcase.
A negative turned positive.
Lemon into lemonade.
Simplicity.
Tags: blog-comments, business-blogs, business-communications, business-practices, frank_lloyd_wright