Creating a successful corporate blog

April 22, 10:19 PMPublic Relations ExaminerValerie Simon

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Public Relations Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

AP Photo/ Eric Risberg

The successful corporate blog is about building deeper relationships with both clients and the community. In order to identify some best practices of successful corporate blogs, I turned to a company that has pioneered the practice of corporate blogging and has since emerged as a leader in social media-- Wells Fargo-Wachovia.

In 2006, Wells Fargo became the first US bank to launch a corporate blog.  Ed Terpening, VP/Manager, Social Media Marketing,  and Gina Fung, VP/Manager, Experiential Marketing – Activation, explain that social media is simply another way to start conversations with customers and help meet their needs.

The Wells Fargo- Wachovia approach to blogging allows direct participation in the community but also the ability to take any personal or account-specific conversations offline, to protect the customer’s privacy and security.  Terpening and Fung emphasize that it is important to be transparent, authentic and add unique value to online conversations and caution not to enter social media with a top-down, selfish agenda. Focus on the customer, and be prepared to have a real dialog.

 The company uses four blogs to connect to customers: The Wells Fargo-Wachovia Blog , The StudentLoan Down , Guided by History  and Stagecoach Island Community  Each of the Wells Fargo- Wachovia blogs has a unique focus; the history blog connects with people differently than The Student LoanDown blog, which focuses on helping customers finance their education.  Stagecoach Island is a virtual world in the tradition of Second Life. Terpening and Fung point out that a blog or social media effort that has specific focus plays to the strength of social media, which is the ability for people to connect and express around a topic of common passion.

With any successful social media strategy, flexibility is essential. Creating a true dialog and committing to listening to your customers is just the beginning. Wells Fargo-Wachovia, has taken next steps and evolved to meet customers’ needs.  Guided by History, the first blog, was started to support the City of San Francisco’s efforts (with the American Red Cross) to remember the 100 year anniversary of the 1906 earthquake and fire, and prepare for the next quake.  The original plan was to decommission the blog after the anniversary events, but as the readership continued to grow rapidly, month-to-month, Wells-Fargo realized that they had found a topic relevant to both the brand and customers. 3 years later, the blog remains a popular means of engaging customers.

Like any blog, corporate blogs must be updated frequently in order to keep readers interested and maintain relevancy. The Wells Fargo-Wachovia blogs are updated an average of 3 days a week, based on what they learn the customer needs.  They develop series to tie together related stories and content.  As part of the Leadership Series, for example, interviews with top leaders of Wells Fargo were published.

Since social media is all about engaging in conversations, success is measured not simply by the number of readers, but the interaction through email feedback, comments and reader posts on their own blogs. Terpening and Fung desire a reaction for everything written, They analyze the sentiment expressed by readers in their comments, whether they are positive, negative, neutral or mixed. They find that sentiment provides a great indication of whether they are achieving their goal to have productive conversations that help their customers succeed financially.

Wells Fargo Wachovia’s focus on the customer and emphasis on creating a real dialog with customers has allowed their blogs to forge a real avenue of communication with clients. There are 4 rules clearly outlined for those who wish to comment:

1. Stay on-topic: Only comments that are related to the subject of the blog entry will be posted.
2. Be respectful: It's okay if you disagree with a post, but please, no personal attacks or offensive language.
3. Maintain your privacy and confidentiality: Please do not provide any of your specific account details or other personal information. If you have immediate service needs, please contact your bank representative or Customer Service.
4. Wells Fargo and Wachovia Employees: In the interest of full disclosure, if you are a current employee of or are associated with either Wells Fargo or Wachovia, please make note of your affiliation.

The blogs also provide a link to “Community Guidelines” which provide additional details. These rules help to create an environment that encourages productive discourse and has resulted in regular comments by visitors. While not all feedback is positive, Wells Fargo-Wachovia posts all remarks that meet the basic rules. By refraining from censoring comments that may not be favorable, the blog has earned trust and helped to create a strong social media foundation

Having a strong social media foundation in place is a tremendous asset in times of change or crisis. Most readers are skeptical about corporate blogs. According to a recent study by Forrester, people just don’t trust  company blogs  “Not only do blogs rank below newspapers and portals, they rank below wikis, direct mail, company email, and message board posts. Only 16% of online consumers who read corporate blogs say they trust them.”

In order to gain trust, and develop real relationships with your clients and community, consider some of the lessons learned from the Wells Fargo-Wachovia model:

• Work to build relationships with customers, rather than sales.
• Keep your focus specific, and always with the customer in mind.
• Be consistant.
• Be transparent.
• Engage readers. Write content that will cause a reaction and initiate a conversation.
• Listen to feedback. Strive to understand what it really means.
• Be flexible. Respond to what your visitors are saying.

Do you have a corporate blog? Leave a comment and share your thoughts on the Wachovia model or the best practices derived from your own experience .

Read more on attracting and engaging readers here