the corporate bloggerverse

the way i see it, corporate blogs have two choices: they blog about their expertise spouting out advice and industry secrets or they can opt to have a "personality" blogging about things that parlay into their corporate culture giving potential and existing customers an inside peek into *who* is behind the brand.

i looked at a few corporate blogs this weekend to get a feel for which i might tap into as a fan or customer and which i would leave behind.


i fell hard for the sharpie blog. it's witty and engaging, speaks 100% to the sharpie personality. my favorite feature highlights celebs with their sharpies but i also loved the use of video and the super playful sense you get from browsing through posts. their funny banter and comfortable writing style encourages readers to leave comments which the sharpie writer then responds to. sharpie obviously understands the commitment posting really well thought out and hilarious bits two times a week on average. score: 10-for-10 in obeying the 10 harsh truths about corporate blogging and an add to my google reader (clearly the highest compliment i can offer!).


next i looked at everyone's fave online shoe retailer, zappos. their blog runs the gamut, showcasing everything from open positions at headquarters to an inside peek at how luxe boots are made. so cool! as a customer, i adored the information on their philanthropic efforts sprinkled among interviews with designers from their most popular brands. it's a really interesting take on a corporate blog and i found them to be a bit self indulgent without being obnoxious. score: 9 for 10 and an add to my google reader on a trial basis. i would like to watch this one go by for awhile...


"nuts about southwest" is another really clever corporate blog. they've been doing it for four years and it shows. their posts are a cool balance between exciting updates, new offers, and something called flashback fridays which shows how far they've come. as a southwest customer, i appreciate the opportunity to find a wealth of corporate information in one place. there wasn't one post in five pages that i skipped over because each had its purpose. score: 10 for 10 but no add. i will pop in on occasion to see what's new, though.

i felt all three were excellent examples of rising above the fear and just being yourself.

service in times of social networking

social networking continues to change the game of customer service. gone are the days of writing a complaint letter to higher ups with little hope of receiving a response. today, good experiences are touted on twitter (i myself have complimented the staff at the papersource in tyson's and sephora in chevy chase with an "@" mention to their corporate twitter accounts.) and bad ones are blasted out to the universe through blogs and facebook.

my first job was renting and washing cars in a suit for enterprise rent-a-car. it was there that i learned that even great companies that ingrain service in their culture come under fire for mistakes, both internal and external. i quickly found that a completely satisfied customer might tell one friend but a frustrated one will tell 200.

well, things have evolved since 2004 when i was in my management trainee days, and twitter has facilitated the ability for customers to praise or crucify companies in the service industry. continuing with enterprise as a test case, i ran a quick search on everyone's favorite micro-blogging site and found the following:

@matthewpardon Enterprise rent-a-car is amazing, y'all. Best customer service experience.

@carmiepqfc Never rent a car from Enterprise. Horrible customer service. And they don't really care that they suck so much!

@macpbr98 Had an great customer service experience @ Enterprise Rent A Car. Now that's how it should be done! They'll be doing business w/ me again!

@Shelly1125 Enterprise Rental Car's customer service, especially the Baton Rouge location on Florida Blvd has been impeccable!

@angelaglenn Horrid experience with Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Customer Service has no knowledge of online reservation system. Having a Seinfeld moment.

@lyonshare Enterprise car rental has some of the most pleasant customer service peeps...and I got a free upgrade. Much better than Dollar!

whichever side of the fence they're on, these customers were compelled to communicate their experiences and twitter is where they turned. so while the power may have always belonged to the people in terms of service, do you think the emergence of micro-blogging may force companies to return to the times of "the customer is always right"?

a tale of two networks

it's pretty difficult to start a discussion surrounding social networking without mentioning facebook. the site was opened to college students outside of harvard the year after i completed undergrad at mary washington, so i've been an active user for nearly six years. i've tried to remain abreast of changes made to the network as well as the controversial conversation on privacy issues. march 2009 brought about a big layout change to the 'book and over 2000 comments on a post by co-founder, mark zuckerberg. i personally feel the update was the best way to showcase the increasingly massive amount of information flowing around facebook.

now, while i'm a big facebook fan, i've had difficulty navigating the connection between the social beast and my professional world. i'm "friends" with my coworkers but i sometimes cringe at what they could be reading on my wall. i found it interesting to learn that (as i figured) an MIT social scientist had actually proven that networks flowing within a firm in the real world differ greatly from those in the virtual world. in the virtual world, i'm carefree to comment on photos, share articles from the fashion industry or entertainment on my profile. be who i am. i'm less inclined to do so in the workplace. i appreciated waber's suggestion that internal professional networks would flow more freely and effectively if people would share more openly their interests and expertise.

i'm eager to watch in the coming years to see as more coworkers become "friends" if waber's theory holds true. what are your predictions?

blogs away

this little place in the inter webs was created as an assignment for itec 656 (social networking in business) as part of my mba program at american university's school of business. you can look forward to reading my musings and reviewsings on various articles as they are assigned. on my honor, all posts on this blog are my own.