A Blog is Like a Baby

A Blog is like a baby - very easy to conceive but very hard to manage. And yet - people have them ( I mean blogs, not babies). Everytime someone is swelling up with the deep desire to educate or entertain the world, a blog is a great place to start. A blog is not just about self expression, but it is also about throwing your ideas up for scrutiny. You will get appreciative responses and they are easy to deal with. Blush and be coy. But are you also prepared to deal with a swift hurt on the anatomy (figuratively speaking) and ego (literally, not figuratively)?

A blog needs readers. I know... I know ... you will say - if a tree crashes in the forest and no one is there to listen, would it make a sound? For starters you ought to be glad that you were not around when that tree crashed? Medical Insurance is not the world's first oxymoron. Of course you need readers. Or else you would have scribbled in your office notebook during meetings (see sample thought process on left).

One little challenge of going solo on blogging is to keep the blog contents updated regularly. If you get frequent bouts of the writers block (I do), you will hear that little voice in your head that will pressurize you into spewing out the next opinion for the world to read. "Not that anyone is reading the stuff I write..." I console myself. If you are part of that department in the hospital, I suggest you start a group blog. The group of writers will all have their share of cramps and pauses, but there is a greater chance that someone will not be having a bad hair day and will update the blog frequently enough to sustain and build the reader base. Moral of the story: So if you do not write regularly, restrict your writing to commenting on others blogs. But don't start one.

The bigger question is what kind of readers do you want? That depends who will find it worthwhile to read your piece. I find it useful to think of a blog as a magazine. Which one would you want to be? That also seals the question about the number of readers you will get. Blogs are read when they are (a) Unique (b) Regularly Updated (c) Edgy. People read blogs because they want YOUR point of view. If you are afraid of taking a stance - don't blog. You will never please everyone. So decide who is one you will serve and blog away. Corporates who get into blogging have the luxury of hiring bloggers who write regularly and can write about stuff that is unique. I believe that it is great forum to build your corporate brand.

Corporations rarely get the chemistry right. Their blogs have a tinge of fakeness. You will rarely see them being human. They rarely admit their errors or take well to criticism. Corporations discover that a blog is a powerful platform to communicate stuff. But they do not like the challenge that comes with it. If you are embarrased about your beer belly, do not go to the beach in your swimwear is what I believe. (You will never see me there). One reason why Corporate Blogs are always treated with a little contempt is because readers can very quickly see the "product placement" in the movie no matter how subtle you think you are being. Corporates find it difficult to admit their flaws in public and certainly do not want to write stuff that is breaking news and stuff that their Legal department has not stamped off as safe and OK to be in the public domain. Ergo: Corporate blogs = Boring Corporatespeak ... usually.

Here is an article from The Economic Times on Corporate Blogs. Even though it was written a while back, actually almost a year back by Shreya Biswas, the observations are still valid. Here is the article

 Madhu loves the responses she gets on her blog posts, writing about HR initiatives, the fun things on employee outings and behind-the-scenes activities on product campaigns. It has just been a month since she moved to FritoLay’s snacks division as assistant manager on employee communication. “I really love the interesting comments I get for my posts. People lead you to so many new ideas through this,” says Madhu.

For Madhu, it’s one of her core deliverables on the job front. And there are many like Madhu who are taking to blogs in a big way.To the various innovative options thrown up as a career in the knowledge economy every other day, add this one - blogging as a profession. Surely, social media is catching up and blogging, being among the strongest, is something companies are looking to leverage. Hence, some like GlobalLogic, Infovision and FritoLay are all planning to hire bloggers. In fact, Communicate2, a Mumbai-based search engine marketing firm, has already hired bloggers to provide content for two of its blogs, internal as well external.“These companies want to reach out to their customers, their potential employees, trying to create that unique identity as a employer brand. Besides, it helps to get feedback on their products and services through this route,” says Abhijit Bhaduri, Director HR, FritoLay. (AB: I have since moved to another Company)Sample the action. IT firm GlobalLogic plans to hire bloggers on the rolls for a blog they are coming up with in the next 2-3 months. This, as the company tries to increasingly position itself as ‘a firm focused on high-tech work’. It believes the blog being an interactive medium would be the best platform to talk about the company’s initiatives.The search for professional bloggers are on. “We are looking at journalistic profiles and techies who have a flair for writing. Anyone who understands the business and draws in readers through good posts are welcome. We are already in the process of launching a blog that will talk about company initiatives and review latest gadgets talk about industry trends. Hence, we are looking for people who could get readers interested,” says Rajul Garg, co-founder & VP, corporate development and human resources, GlobalLogic.IT services company Infovision has similar plans. It is coming up with three blogs in the next one month and plans to hire some professional bloggers. As for the sources for hiring bloggers, it plans to tap into advertising, marketing and communication professionals. Those having a good marketing background will help the cause of the company, thinks Infovision CEO Aditya Gupta.Employers feel that a good understanding of the business is important before getting down to writing for the blogs. Blogger hiring, though quite common in western countries and among MNCs, has yet to catch up in India in a big way. In fact, as of now there are only a handful in India which are hiring bloggers on their rolls. This is because blogging is yet to reach a stage in this country where people would be hired to manage an entire blog and provide content.Nonetheless, some have realised the impact of the medium as a cost-effective medium. As a result, some of the smaller companies like Communicate2 are even trying this out as an option. It has hired three people a month back who are being trained to become pro-bloggers. They will be writing for the two blogs the company has, both internal and external.Vivek Bhargava, MD, Communicate2, says; “There are regular brainstorming sessions on what could be the topic of posts. Coming up with new ideas would be a challenge for them and the frequency has to be maintained too. Besides, we are also training them on the businesses they would be writing on. This is essential.”But to begin with, corporate blogging would require people with a good business background. Besides, bloggers need to first get a hang of the subjects they are writing on.