“Sony, No Baloney.”

The title of Sony Electronics first blog post, by Rick Clancy, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, identifies the blog as a transparent and authentic medium for communication and conversation. Clancy reveals his blogging strategy right off the bat.

The majority of blog posts will be written by Clancy. With the help of moderators, he will respond to relevant comments. Like a good blogger, Clancy plans to write at least weekly. He acknowledges not everyone will appreciate the blog, but he is going to use this medium to inform consumers about Sony initiatives as well as to address controversial issues and any misunderstandings about Sony.

Writing a blog is time consuming and revealing, but Clancy is prepared to take the time to  provide meaningful personal experiences relevant to Sony. The content of the blog will deal with topics ranging from product issues and events to affiliated Sony companies. Clancy established guidelines for commenting and indicated comments will be moderated before posting. Clancy’s first post provided readers with a framework of the blog to establish expectations for participants.

Engaged in a competitive market, Sony needed to establish a way to interact with their consumers directly. With an audience invested in social media, Sony had to meet their audience online and establish a blogging strategy that would be effective. Sony worked with Nielsen Buzz Metrics and Forrester Research and together decided a blog would be their next step for building relationships. Sony realized early on that all feedback is good feedback because it provides an opportunity for Sony to be a part of the conversation.

Why would a corporate communicator be in charge of a company’s external blog? In the following video, Rick Clancy answers this question by arguing corporate communicators are strong writers, communicators and are willing to take the time to listen to their audience. Content is important in the blog, but reading and listening to comments before deciding on the best response can positively impact the relationships the blog helps to foster.

Clancy takes a book, I mean blog tour around the United States to different Sony Style stores to talk to consumers, employees and other stakeholders. The goal is to form dialogues to determine how the blog can be more relevant to the audience to increase traffic on the blog and consequently, Sony’s websites.

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