USA Today has a big story asking why CEOs aren’t blogging in droves. I think they are making a bigger deal out of this than is warranted.
Often the most interesting corporate blogs are the ones that are written by the rank and file. They come from the passionate “gut” of the company, not necessarily from the top.
PR instinct tells us to have the executives – and only the execs – speak for the firm. But blogs break down these walls. We can now hear from everyone inside the heart of a corporation – if the company is willing to let them speak. I trust companies that are willing to do this. Sometimes it’s the CEO, often times it isn’t. Heck, customers could be the gut of your company.
When we buy we’re not just buying from a bunch of executives. We’re buying products and services produced by people at the gut. Let the people – the gut of your company – speak and convince us why we should buy. I am more likely to buy from Dell because of what Sam Decker writes on his blog than I did if Michael Dell wrote one. The reason is, I know Sam’s blogging from the gut. With CEOs you can never tell. Entrepreneurs usually make good bloggers because they blog from the gut. Would Michael be a gut-blogger? One hopes.
The maverick CEOs – Mark Cuban, Bob Liodice, Alan Meckler and Bob Lutz – they all blog from the gut. They’re naturals. Not every exec is a natural, but there’s always someone in the rank in file who is. The moral of the story is, find someone who will blog from the gut whether they are at the top of the corporate food chain or the bottom.
Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.
He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.
