Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

Blogs can be incredible relationships - with colleagues, customers, and vendors. However, like all relationships, they’re messy. I routinely have to talk clients in off the ledge. (”But, but, what if they don’t like me?”) Sure, you’re going to be vulnerable, but if you don’t give, you don’t get.

Here are the Top Four Fear Points with which I have to deal in seminars and client discussions:

1. But what if somebody posts a negative comment?

So? A negative comment can generate some great conversation. If you step up and respond. You can even pull up the comment and write another post around it. This is what I did with a response to one of my Comcast posts. Tom Peters (Technorati blog rank: 859, of 55 million; links for 1,339 blogs) did it once with one of my comments on his blog.

In any event, that commenter will very likely be posting about you on their own site and/or other blogs. So, it’s your choice. Participate or hide and hope it goes away. Yep, that worked real well for Dell with Jeff Jarvis (2,489 blogs link to his Buzz Machine.) To Dell’s credit, they did gird their loins and eventually respond, and apparently are making changes to their customer service. But, I seriously doubt they were happy about having to do so.

Read More: Dell in the Bloghouse (from Business Week); Jarvis Puts Dell In Hell (Steve Rubel, Edelman, 3,842 blogs link to him, according to Technorati.)

2. We could get sued!

Well, duh and yeah. We live in a society where a woman sued Mickey D’s because her coffee was hot. (I’m embarrassed to say she lived in Albuquerque). And, big company attorneys are ever-vigilant. Cisco once sent a “cease and desist” letter to Cisco McSorley, a New Mexico legislator. Seems he could be “causing confusion in the marketplace.” Right. Firstly, Cisco is the man’s birth name. Secondly, Cisco, if people are that stupid, they’re not allowed out of the house, let alone have the ability to buy your products.

3. But what if somebody on our blogroll says something with which we don’t agree?

You can’t control others and you shouldn’t want to. Diversity and debate makes us all better. I have people on my blogroll with whom I (gasp) don’t always agree. And, I’ll sometimes post my points on their blog. (Example: Tom Peters) I also don’t have the exact same world or business view as others on my list - but I do respect them and encourage my readers to check them out.

4. We can’t have just any of our people posting; it should go through an approval committee.

If you’re thinking this, you’ve totally missed the point and you’ve got a bigger issue than fear of blogging. It’s likely that not all of your people should post - some won’t be interested or qualified. (You do need some writing ability and a bit of chutzpah). As for the committee, bloggers will soon spot the “corporate control speak” and kill you. Or, they’ll simply ignore you. Even if your committee manages to (finally) produce a good post (remember that old joke about the giraffe, a horse designed by committee) - frequency is critical to blog success. You’ve got to post often (at the very least weekly) to get and keep people’s attention.

P.S. If everyone “likes” you - you’re doing something wrong.

P.P.S. Is it just me or did the WSJ miss something here? (When my clients read such things, they get right back out on that ledge.)

Read More:
A Metaphor for Blogging Etiquette
Perceptions of Bloggers
A Business Blog is Still Personal (Business Blogs Now)
(And a tip of the blog bowler to Mike Sansone at ConverStations for pointing me to the above three, as well other great blogs.)

Examples of Fearless Bloggers
The Lightening Labels Blog - Custom labels company (Hmmm, one of my clients needs a whole bunch of labels, maybe we should call these guys.)
Two Maids Blog - The owner of Two Maids and a Mop posts about both happy and unhappy customers. He’s right out there, human fraility and all.

Related Posts:
Connections or Chatter?
Blog Business 101
Gloggers Unite!

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Tags: blogging, blogging, marketing, marketing troubleshooting