Southwest Airlines and RD2, the marketing organization behind Southwest's corporate blogging initiative, issued a press release this past week regarding some improvements to the airline's blog site, Nuts about Southwest.
Among some of the new features are podcasts, video, polling, and personalization. To me the new features weren't as interesting as some of the statements that Southwest and RD2 made about the benefits that Southwest has derived since the original blogging initiative went live a couple year ago. Quoting from the release:
The blog has cemented its role as a direct channel of communication with it's customers. Moreover, the communication goes in both directions, providing the company with a richer portrait of customer satisfaction than could ever be accomplished with sterile multiple-choice surveys.Nuts About Southwest was originally launched as a means of giving Customers a look inside the Culture and operations of Southwest Airlines and allowing them to interact and build personal relationships with the airline's Employees. Over the last two years, the blog's function has evolved to also serve as a virtual focus group, assisting the Company through crisis and new product launches.
"From the debate over assigned seating to the timeframe in which we release our flight schedules, the passionate comments and opinions shared on our blog have unquestionably influenced several business decisions," says Rutherford. "But the primary focus of the blog remains our Employees and their personal interaction with our Customers."
Another takeaway message is the importance of content. Further on down in the release we read:
The airline estimates that it has reached more than 500,000 Customers through Nuts About Southwest alone, and they expect that number to exceed one million in 2008.
"It's not all about numbers, though," says Rutherford. "It's about the quality of the content, the conversations, and the engagement between Employees and Customers."The enhanced organic search visibility from blogging is sustainable when you have a place that's worth visiting and using. A blog of press releases won't do this, but letting your employees take the lead will.
Wells Fargo -- Opening up the Archives
Brands with historical significance are rare indeed. Corporations with longevity oftentimes get merged or rebranded to the point that little of the original identity survives.
The railroad industry, which is a hobby of interest for me, is full of examples. A wave of mergers in the late 60s and early 70s brought together the Chicago, Burlington & Qunicy, the Great Northern Railway, Northern Pacific Railway, and the Spokane, Portland & Seattle to create Burlington Northern. In the mid 90s, that company merged with the Atchison, Topkea & Santa Fe to form the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. A couple of years ago, they decided to rebrand, dropping all of the names to the initials -- BNSF.
As a child, I remember seeing references to Wells Fargo stage coaches in westerns. Not until my adult years, as banks expanded to have a national presence, did I realize that Wells Fargo continued to exist as a bank out on the west coast.
Recognizing the significance of its heritage, Wells Fargo created a blog where historians and archivists write about the company's history. Titled Guided by History, the blog profiles prominent figures and discusses how things were at the company in days gone by. Some of the posts are remarkably candid, like a post that discusses the company's role in working with an nineteenth century immigration policy that was prejudiced against the Chinese.
Both Southwest and Wells Fargo provide compelling examples of how companies can find a voice and benefit through blogging. While there are certainly things to avoid in executing a corporate blogging strategy, there is no one right way to blog. In the case of these two companies, they leveraged their uniqueness. It takes creativity, but it's certainly worth the long-term investment.
