Social networking sites have generated a lot of buzz over the past couple of years. What once was considered the domain of teens and young adults has made has gained popularity among professionals. Corporate blogging can help realize some of these benefits for businesses big and small, but it's important to see how business networking differs from mainstream social networking.
Earlier this month, business computing trade publication eWeek ran a story about businesses fostering growth through social networks. Leading first with some anecdotal succes stories, reporter Karen Schwarz then uses some research statistics to shed light on the trend (emphasis mine).
According to a March 2007 study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity, a Seattle-based research firm, 65 percent of business professionals use personal and professional social networking Web sites. Forty-seven percent use networks to connect with potential clients and market their skills, while 55 percent use them to share best practices with colleagues.
This statistic is significant because it shows that the majority of business professionals are using internet-based resources to do their networking. If the net isn't part of your networking strategy, you're excluding yourself from a growing pool of opportunities.
Schwartz continues with another quotation from Burton Group principal analyst Mike Gotta (emphasis mine):
"Social network sites are growing in popularity across the board, so it’s really no surprise that the SMB market would also see social networking as a means to improve customer relationships, build community and create feedback loops regarding their products and services."
Gotta's remark drives home the point that no business is too small to harness this kind of potential.
While this article focuses primarily on social networking communities, it's important to realize some very important points:
- The networking described in this article is very different from the kind of networking that initially drove the growth of these sites.
- Corporate blogs can be an effective tool in helping to build good social networks from both the business-to-business and business-to-consumer perspectives.
With respect to point (1), let's consider how personal social networks function. The growth of these networks are driven mostly by people who have a similar interest, like a sport, a hobby, or a political cause. If you're into an esoteric hobby, say artistic railroad photography, an online social network can help you to connect with people whom you otherwise would have never known existed.
Professional networks are driven by completely different dynamics. If you're running a business, similarity isn't the supreme motivating factor to network. Chances are, businesses similar to yours are your competition. A pure similarity-based relationship is about as cozy as that of a cat and a mouse.
Nonetheless, there are situations where competitors have common interests, and some degree of cooperation makes sense. One example is keeping track of regulatory issues, like HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley. Another is the promotion of industry standards that help new markets grow. Some have referred to this balancing act as co-opetition.
An IBM Global Services report talks about the role that the internet is playing in this space. Report author Julie Bowser writes (emphasis mine):
A new paradigm has evolved where information, connectivity and time define how business is conducted. Information is richer in quality and quantity, promoting collaboration among players. Connectivity, in particular via the Internet, has also lowered barriers to entry and bred hyper-competition on a global scale. Furthermore, time is increasingly a critical, and scarce, resource. As instant access to data reduces information asymmetries, there is the heightened need for businesses to be able to detect changes in the market and respond quickly to address them.
The phrase "lowered barriers to entry" means that smaller businesses can (and do) take advantage of the net to capitalize on new opportunities that otherwise might not have been possible.
Let's think about those reduced "information asymmetries". What is the most common form of instant data access? Search engines are. Not only do they help you find information for yourself, they are also one of the ways that others find out about you.
This brings us to point (2): Blogs are becoming the way that co-opetitive issues get hashed out in between the conferences and keynotes. A timely, well written, and relevant blog can help you raise your profile in search engine results and help your ideas get noticed in a co-opetitve conversation.
Beyond the competition lies a whole other realm of relationships which, dating aside, mainstream social networks aren't really set up to promote: complimentary relationships. They could be business-to-business or business-to-consumer.
A corporate blog's posts could help bring about both, although it's probably safe to say that B2C relationships are intentional and B2B relationships are incidental. For example, if you're in need of a better source of parts, equipment, or raw materials, you're probably not going to be writing about that explicitly in a post, but someone might be able to infer that need from your posts on increased sales and future growth.
In a column posted this past Friday at AzBiz.com, a regional business website published by Inside Tucson Business, public relations professional William Whitaker writes about blogging's potential in both varieties of networking (emphasis mine).
Many community and business leaders regard the blog as a self-congratulatory forum for individuals who wish to make their personal lives public. This is unfortunate, for if that stigma could be ignored, a responsible, active community of bloggers could go a long way toward unifying neighborhoods and business circles. And unification leads to action.
Whitaker quotes an English professor at the University of Arizona named Charlie Bertsch to help make his case. In regards to overcoming the the credibility question of blogs, he says:
"Indeed, the wealth of information available at a moment’s notice these days ensures that blog readers won’t have to struggle too hard to separate the wheat from the chaff."
This is a reminder that it's not only important to have a blog, but to do the job well. Quoting Kent State University English professor Matthew Stewart, he writes:
"... many writers think blogging is an open door to irresponsible writing. Lots of people make poor, tasteless movies, but thinking people don’t use that to condemn filmmaking in general. The same is true for blogs."
Compendium not only gives you the tools to create a corporate blog, we also will provide the guidance you need to keep your blog from being a B-movie.
