Rubbermaid: Communications Bloggers
A successful example of a corporate blog maintained by a communications department is Rubbermaid. Rubbermaid is a brand that represents durable products made to simplify life, mostly to help organize consumer’s homes. Rubbermaid started their blog about a year ago and the blog is managed by seven employees. The seven bloggers represent different areas in the communications department at Rubbermaid. Jim Deitzel, the Senior E-Marketing Manager, found the blogging platform to be a chance to communicate with consumers and professional organizers in a less formal tone than the main corporate website. Deitzel monitors posts before they are submitted, but because of the no controversy organizational content, he doesn’t really have to edit or adjust the posts.
A few months ago, John Cass interviewed Jim Deitzel from Newell Rubbermaid for a case study on his blog. Deitzel explained to Cass that they experimented with who would blog. Now only employees write for Rubbermaid, but in the beginning an outside writer was used for a few posts. Deitzel informed Cass that Rubbermaid chose people within the communications department to write for the blog even if they did not offer to help. Fortunately, he found that they ended up enjoying writing in this new medium. He did notice that even though there are many employees at Rubbermaid signed up to blog, not all of them post regularly.
I value the posts at this blog because they incorporate the Rubbermaid products in a way that shows how they help organize in real life situations rather than just saying how great they are and that you, the consumer or organizer, should own them. The communications writers have found a good conversational tone with their audience leading to interesting and varied responses.
In my first post, I discussed how consumers are wary of corporate blogs. With this is mind, do you agree with Rubbermaid’s practice of choosing people within the communications department to write for the blog? Could other Rubbermaid employee bloggers increase the trustworthiness of the blog?
Sarah,
To answer the closing questions in your post, I don’t see a whole lot of trustworthiness in “employing” people to write for the corporate blog. Though communications professionals should have a hand in editing a bit of the content on a corporate blog, they shouldn’t be forced into blogging as part of their job.
Opinion plays a large part in blogs–they’re online journals after all. In order for a blog to be a success, opinions must be voluntary. In David Wyld’s “Management 2.0: A Primer on Blogging for Executives” he notes that content is useless on a blog if it’s not “good content.” I believe the best content stems from bloggers who actually enjoy blogging, whether out of creativity, therapy, or in hopes to make a connection with others.
Wyld also provides graphs on how many people a corporation typically employs to run the blog. Sixty percent of corporate blogs are maintained by only one person. I don’t think Rubbermaid necessarily needs to employ more people to run the blog.
Thanks Lindsey! Rubbermaid’s blog has a lot of good content. I think their communications department has successfully connected with organizing professionals and their other audiences to create real life situations and advice. While this worked here, I agree with you that forcing people to blog may not create trustworthiness in other companies because they are not voluntary giving their opinions.
Sarah,
I agree with Lindsey’s response to your questions. Rubbermaid doesn’t necessarily need to hire an employee for blogging purposes. Perhaps there is someone already in the company that has the time, personality, and desire to blog. However, it is crucial that the blogger has something unique and interesting to say in the conversation process. Joel Postman elaborates more on this topic on page 63 of his book, “SocialCorp.”
Perhaps it would be interesting to note guidelines that bloggers should follow. What are some examples of bloggers who use good guidelines compared to bloggers who follow bad guidelines? Do the results affect the corporation?
Dawn Foster’s blog, http://fastwonderblog.com/2008/02/23/corporate-blogging-tips/, may provide you with some helpful pointers in getting started.
Thanks Mandy. You bring up an valid point that the blogger needs to remain relevant and have interesting things to say. I will definitely investigate your questions regarding blogging guidelines. Thank you for the feedback!