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saabs united

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





29
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Freelance writing for business blogs 5

November 1st 2010 10:54
corporate blogging

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."


79
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Freelance writing for business blogs 4

October 28th 2010 12:17
bloggercises corporate blogs


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 fourth post on the world of corporate blogging, we look at the selling corporate blogs to small business.


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

Small business, big voice

Corporate blogs can be many things to many businesses, but arguably the smaller the enterprise, the more impact a blog can have on its industry credibility and branding presence.

A small business blog reaches out to a big business community. The potential audience is not just your workforce and existing customers, it is the entire industry within which you operate.

The creation of a community of common business interests is the single most important function of a small company blog, and blogs may be able to do this better than any other marketing or networking strategy.

Small business is moving into the information age surprisingly slowly. A US survey in September 2008 by small business advisory service Warrillow & Co showed only about 41 percent of small American enterprises had their own interactive websites.

Which means there are still plenty of Positions Vacant signs for industry voices. No application is necessary – just get in quick before someone else becomes the centre of attention.


105
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bloggercises corporate blogs

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.

[ Click here to read more ]
108
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The exhausted blogger

June 5th 2009 05:58
busy worker

My huge following of fans, and I'd like to thank both of you, constantly asks me to write more in the way of advice for people in small business.

[ Click here to read more ]
68
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the history of writing

A few weeks ago I wrote a post here entitled "Will blogging rule the world?" It evoked a lot of discussion, and I have found myself thinking about the question ever since. This opinion piece is the result, looking at changes that the digital age and, in particular, blogging, may bring to many things that we now take for granted. It is the first of a two-part series, with the second instalment to cover media, publishing and opinion leadership.

[ Click here to read more ]
64
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Will blogging rule the world?

April 15th 2009 04:34
the future of journalism - big call! although maybe thats what people are crying out for, more conversational, interactive news . . . something that a telecaster in a box cant provide maybe thats what people are crying out for, more conversational, interactive news. something that a telecaster in a box cant provide

Morgan Bell wrote the above comment in response to a quote on an earlier Bloggercises post by Mary Jo Foley, the widely known and read author of the All About Microsoft blog. Foley said, "For me, the future of journalism is blogging


[ Click here to read more ]
177
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Dear Mr Google, please explain

March 23rd 2009 23:02
one cent

Just when I thought I was coming to terms with the slippery slope of AdSense methodology, I uncover evidence that everything I thought I knew may have to be discarded.

[ Click here to read more ]
123
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AdSense and other questions

March 21st 2009 07:48
blog ranking

AdSense can be confusing, and after a reasonable amount of research there is still much I don't know. However, I can offer the following. It's not the full story, but I'll aim to answer some common questions.

[ Click here to read more ]
152
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This article will propose that blogging can generate a moderate or better income for any qualified person - no secrets, no luck, no scams, no magic potions required.

The key word, however, is "qualified". Success takes patience, talent and hard work. The hard work is especially important for the first two years or so when the blog will generate little income


[ Click here to read more ]
52
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Can blogs make serious money?

January 31st 2009 01:56
heather armstrong dooce blog
Heather Armstrong, author of the Dooce blog

Blogs can make serious money, and many already do. There are now serious blog tracking and ranking services which show that many people are writing blogs which attract tens of thousands of individual readers a day.

[ Click here to read more ]
155
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The dark days of building blog traffic

January 27th 2009 00:43
adsense logo

I know the frustration of waiting for blog stats to grow. Unless you're Hugh Jackman announcing a new personal blog featuring daily shots of your underwear collection, there is no escaping a slow build-up of blog traffic. That is because it is all about search engine visibility, and that takes time.

[ Click here to read more ]
155
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