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SaabsUnited – a voice for Saab, and blogging

March 21st 2011 04:33

Six years ago, somewhere in Melbourne, Australia, a man had an idea which would reverberate in the United States, Sweden and around the global automotive industry.

Steven Wade didn’t exactly save carmaker Saab from extinction, but he became a focus point for global support for the Swedish marque at a time when its future was very uncertain.

His efforts had sufficient effect, and Saab was sufficiently thankful, that the company contacted Wade and offered him a job.

All this was achieved by a blog.

Wade started his SaabsUnited blog six years ago and slowly attracted the interest of Saab aficionados around the world.

Then the world of Saab was thrown into turmoil when its owner, American automotive monolith General Motors, filed for bankruptcy.

Saab lovers are a passionate and committed lot, and in the SaabsUnited blog they found a rallying point to voice their opinions, fears and hopes.

Saab survived and so did the blog, so much so that just recently it featured a post which may be unique in the history of the bloggosphere.

The post was written by the chairman of Saab, Victor Mueller. It was a letter to Steven Wade, offering him a job with the Saab social media marketing team.

Come to Sweden, the offer said, and bring the blog with you – basically, keep doing what you have been doing, and we’ll give you a wage to do so.

Wade accepted. Last Friday he closed down the blog for a few two days while he, and SaabsUnited, moved to the other side of the world to continue proving the power of a good blog.

news.com.au

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Blogging, Corporate blogs, Freelance writing, Making money by blogging

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Freelance writing for business blogs 5

November 1st 2010 10:54

Blogging is amongst the fastest-growing areas of the interactive digital world, and the business world is embracing this powerful promotional tool quickly. New corporate blogs are appearing every day, and as a result Craig's List and other web hangouts for freelance writers are teeming with opportunities.

To win business blogging contracts, however, writers must be able to show that they understand the corporate blogging environment. You must show a potential client not only what you can write for them, but why and how that will benefit them.

In this, our fifth post on the world of corporate blogging, we look at the selling the idea of a powerful employee engagement tool: internal blogs.

----- .oOo. -----

Inside story: the radically changing face of internal communications

"Internal communication is a means to an end, not an end in itself and part of its rationale is to help turn strategy into action by engaging, informing and directing employees." So says Bill Quirke, a former director of Burson-Marstellar and now managing director of Synopsis, a leading voice in the field of internal communication and the management of change.

The value of engaging employees in the aims of a company, and in the strategies chosen to achieve those aims, has long been known. The tools have developed over time, from bulletins pinned on notice boards through newsletters to emails to interactive web-based information pages.

And then came the internal blog, which is "radically changing the face of communications within enterprises", according to an academic paper prepared jointly by IBM and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

The paper was presented to the second annual International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, held in Boulder, Colorado, in March 2007.

The "radical" change offered by internal blogs is that they allow communication between management and workforce to flow both ways.

"While at the minimum blogs empower employees to publicly voice opinion and share expertise, collectively they improve collaboration and enable internal business intelligence," the paper said.

Blogs offer a "more open medium of communication, enabling authors (bloggers) to reach out beyond their social networks, make new connections, and form communities. Collectively, this makes the community of bloggers highly influential.

"Tapping into this new channel to listen to and interact with their customers requires new initiatives from corporations. Businesses, both large and small, now recognise the power of blogs for engaging with customers, developing trust around their products and services, and improving media visibility. Most corporations are now blogging publicly.

"However, this covers only one side of the story. A second key aspect of blogs for business is their use within the organisation.

"Internal corporate (enterprise or business) blogs encompass all non-public blogs hosted within the organisation on their intranets. Employees use such blogs during the course of their daily responsibilities, to share expertise on products and services, to voice opinions, and to initiate discussions on issues of interest to other employees.

"Blogs protect the ownership of employee ideas. Overall, blogs are viewed as a collaboration tool enhancing productivity, and as an enabler for business and competitive intelligence. They are also considered as a tool for workforce journalism, an activity that can influence an organisation’s external presentation through public facing blogs or other communication channels."

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Blogging, Corporate blogs, Freelance writing, Making money by blogging

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Freelance writing for business blogs 2

October 9th 2010 06:09

Blogging is amongst the fastest-growing areas of the interactive digital world, and the business world is embracing this powerful promotional tool quickly. New corporate blogs are appearing every day, and as a result Craig's List and other web hangouts for freelance writers are teeming with opportunities.

To win business blogging contracts, however, writers must be able to show that they understand the corporate blogging environment. You must show a potential client not only what you can write for them, but why and how that will benefit them.

In this, our second post on the world of corporate blogging, we discuss the different types of corporate blog platforms.

----- .oOo. -----

There are three types of business blogs, and you need to lead a potential client through the potential benefits of each. Obviously, the more homework you have done on the client's business, the better you will be able to identify which, and to what extent, each type of blog will benefit them.

Internal blogs
An internal blog aims to involve the company's workforce, creating a positive sense of community and team unity. Accessed through the company's intranet, it is both a forum for management announcements and workforce comment.

The key is informality, which encourages employee participation, discussion of issues and collective intelligence.

Such a blog can save time in that it can host discussions which would otherwise have required meetings or long email trails. The internal blog can overcome the problem of getting together busy people with conflicting schedules or in different locations, and can result in valuable input from people who may not have been otherwise aware of a meeting or discussion on the issue.

External blogs
An external blog aims to connect a business to the world. It will, through content which informs, explains and educates, establish a company and the people who work there as approachable experts in their field. It will build trust and respect with and from existing customers and potential customers.

A well-managed external blog can become a focal point for industry discussion, establishing the company as a leading voice in that industry and creating a level of credibility that can take years to establish by traditional newsletter and press release strategies.

External blogs are about transparency and accessibility in the corporate image, interacting with a target market on a personal level.

CEO blogs
There has been plenty of debate on whether CEOs should blog or not, and there are some strident voices on both sides of the argument. The issue, however, can be made simple by looking at the pros and cons.

The good news is that there are significant positives: it is an easy way for a CEO to keep in touch with a wider business community; properly done it promotes trust and credibility; it positions the CEO as an industry voice; and it boosts search engine visibility for the CEO's company and, therefore, its products or services.

The bad news is that it is a long-term commitment. A CEO blog will, like all good blogs, build a community. The trust and credibility which accrue can be lost with negative consequences if the blog is abandoned.

CEO blogs are ideal for leaders who want to write them - or, of course, put in the time with a contracted professional writer to discuss issues and generate unique content. Otherwise, most of the benefits can be attained through well-prepared internal or external blogs, on which the CEO can post as and when appropriate.

See also:
Freelance writing for business blogs 1

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