Zappos even runs employee worshops on using Twitter. No doubt, part of that would be reinforcing consistency with the brand while embracing a level of individuality.

It may seem like a bold move to allow employees to blog pubicly. It’s a big step for many companies as there’s a level of trust involved.

But as someone said, every time an employee sends an email or communicates with a client, they’re representing the company, so maybe it’s just a new more proactive way of thinking.

Great topic.

Absolutely. It can happen to any company of any size. Being large doesn’t necessary mean that a business is well run. (e.g. Enron)

Companies with multiple product lines and sales avenues are probably the most vulnerable, as is are any companies which do not have robust management and control systems in place.

When new mediums for promotion arise, companies sometimes lose sight of the fact that standard business disciplines should be applied to new mediums as well as old mediums. Blogging is no exception.

You raise the point that corporate bloggers should be given as much freedom as possible. I agree. What companies need is a strong, robust control environment which ensures that corporate messages remain consistent without limiting the flexibility and creativity of sales reps or other corporate bloggers.

To ensure that consistency in communication through blogging, companies should set a broad framework of control for blogging as a means of communication. Sales reps and other bloggers should then be given unlimited freedom of expression, provided it sits within the broad corporate framework.

This, of course, is much easier to manage if space is made available on the corporate site for sales blogs, as per your suggestion.

Cheers

Andrew

No doubt I’ve mentioned this already in prior comments on this blog, but I think the example of Hewlett Packard in the 1990s provides a particularly relevant example of the lesson to be learned here.

Back in the 1990s, Hewlett Packard had eighty six business units, most of which (I think all of which, I’m not certain) had there own sales and marketing teams.

As a result, purchasing managers received calls from many different HP representatives, trying to sell many different things to their company. Often, the sales reps would contradict one another in their sales pitches.

This helped to destroy the reputation of the company, and helped Dell and IBM to gain the ascendancy over HP.

No matter what the promotional medium, companies must ensure that they provide consistent messages and to the general public.

When blogging is the medium, it is no exception. As you say, companies must manage their blogging strategy effectively to ensure that prospective customers or clients receive a consistent message.

Cheers

Andrew