On a personal and professional level, one of the best ways to learn is actually to blog. The dynamic of having to generate a lot of content requires that you conduct research to develop the most thought leadership.

Nicole,

I think its useful to have a number of different voices from a company, but what’s critical in deciding who should blog is that individual have the expertise and ideas to demonstrate leadership in a community. Anyone can demonstrate that leadership by conducting research and through careful thinking. However, I would like to think that people with more experience will do a better job of presenting thought leadership than someone with less experience.

John

You suggested that one reason why these smaller companies don’t blog is because they “don’t have the workforce or the infrastructure to explore this new world”. One solution to this problem is to have their intern (if they have one) or their young professionals be in charge of maintaining the blog.

The younger generation of practictioners will be able to control a positive and responsive image with a fresh persepctive. As a student myself, we are learning how to produce blogs and comments, and many graduates are entering the workforce with this skill.

Thanks for the great post!

I was looking for a way for our staff to communicate better and to facilitate a learning culture. After 7 months I can I still am skeptical about the PR value, but the blog has been a good focal point, and motivator for active research.

IMO the PR value of a blog for most small business is questionable and will diminish in the future as more business blogs come online. However, a blogs ability to foster learning and knowledge sharing makes it worth the work.

We are beginning to talk to several clients who have significant knowledge assets to share about starting a blog.

I agree it is definetely easier for larger companies to blog, but that it is why a small company can reap huge benefits by blogging.

Also, I wrote back in June that I felt many PR people were saying that blogs are the solution for everyone.

http://mnpr.blogspot.com/2005/06/missing-message.html

This is simply not true. As you said it is critical to make sure it fits within your company’s marketing strategy! Good thoughts.

I think you provide an excellent argument for why a small company had better blog. This discussion is interesting to me, as I’ve been chatting with the President of my company as to whether blogging is better or easier for a big company vs. a small company. I think its easier for a bigger company to blog, based on recent research conducted by my company.

http://blogsurvey.backbonemedia.com/archives/2005/08/more_on_big_vs.html

However, I really think, “it’s a company’s strategy that counts more than its size,” so a small company also has a lot to gain from blogging.

You wrote about some of the pros vs. cons of blogging, I had a few more examples.

Cons
http://www.backbonemedia.com/blogsurvey/15-Risks-of-corporate-blog.htm

Pros
http://www.backbonemedia.com/blogsurvey/22-impactcorporateblog.htm

However, I do think you should only blog if blogging fits within your marketing strategy and plan. I’ve seen a number of companies stop their blogging efforts recently because they determined they would receive a higher return elsewhere.

http://blogsurvey.backbonemedia.com/archives/2005/08/does_blogging_w.html

John Cass