Can You Be A Corporate Blogger Without Losing Yourself?

“Obviously there’s a line to be drawn. If you’re Bruce Clay, Inc., you don’t want a blogger advocating black hat search engine optimization because that violates the core of what you do. But I don’t see the harm in talking about different tactics.”

you dont see the harm in talking about differnt tactics” yet you got all mad because there were some blackhat tactics at smx advanced. pretty hipocritical

In my little piece of the world, I don’t know if I would label you as a corporate blogger.
When I think of corporate, I think of (probably) a public company, with at least a thousand employees, etc. I think you’re a great blogger for a business, but corporate blogging (again, IMO) is much different.
Some of my corporate friends say that posts need to go through Marketing, PR, etc., before they even go online. That’s very different than what you do. In some of those cases (probably most of them), I think it’s almost impossible NOT to lose yourself.

“Maybe I want to write a post about using Twitter for your social media campaign, something Bruce may not be totally sold on just yet”.

That’s my problem with individual first, company second blogging. From a customer’s perspective, what kind of SEO would Bruce Clay do for my site? If I’m a fan of the blog, I want whatever Lisa would do, but is that the same thing Bruce would do? Or is Bruce Clay really a black hat? I don’t know, because I’m talking to an individual vs a company voice.

Personally, I don’t like reading, and subscribe to very few company first individual second blogs – but when I’m looking for solid information I can trust about a product or service, I want to know what the company has to say, officially.

Lisa,
Well said. But there’s one thing that struck me as I read your post. You wrote:
“I’ve learned that the only way I can be successful blogging for a company is if (a) I believe in the company I work for and (b) the company believes in me.”
I would respectfully add:
C) My customers/clients believe in me.
Craig:
Legal doesn’t have to be an adversary. It’s been a wonderful process talking with Blog Council members and seeing how they’ve dealt with that situation. To be successful, almost all mention that they got Legal on board from the beginning with education, training, and a lot of communication.
Let’s be frank — the issues involved aren’t trivial to a billion dollar corporation. But they also aren’t extraordinarily difficult to resolve, either. Disclosure, for example, seems difficult at first, but it is actually easy to do well.
Cheers,
Michael
—-
michael@blogcouncil.org
312-932-9000
I am a Blog Council employee and this is my personal opinion.

Interesting subject. I’ve always felt you make it look very easy Lisa, much easier than it really is to represent a company while at the same time expressing your opinions.

I suspect the company culture and size has a great deal to do with a writer’s ability as a blogger to express herself or himself. In my last company, a major corporation in the mortgage industry, I launched a blog on a microsite in which the goal was to share helpful information for home loan shoppers and people interested in credit.

Our blog writer unfortunately had little (ok, no) ability to express herself, because the Corporate policy was to only allow our Public Relations area to represent the voice of our corporation, including any written communications (such as our little blog) that were made available to the public at large. The concern was there was a whole slew of Federal, State and local legislation our company had to comply with, and thus the sensitivity over public information. All of our material for the blog had to be written in advance, pre-approved by several legal areas as well as our PR department, prior to being posted. Helpful information? Hopefully! Free expression? No!

Clearly, a corporate culture will impact a writer’s ability for free expression and opinions. I’m just glad that Bruce Clay Inc. allows your personality to have a place with Bruce’s, shall we say um, Large personality.

Blogs are a conversational medium. The question is, then, when I read your corporate blog, do I want to talk to a person or a corporation?
It’s a complex question, and I think the answer isn’t entirely one or the other. As a blogger, people value communicating with you because of your personal voice. The fact of the matter, though, is that they may only be approaching you in the first place because you’re a spokesperson for a company.
In your case, Lisa, your audience is probably a mix. I know I respond because I like the content here; I’m not responding out of an interest in Bruce Clay, Inc. For other corporate bloggers, however, the fact that they’re tied to their companies may have a lot to do with their readership.
I’d say, then, that breaking from company voice is a matter of what kind of readers your blog attracts. If they’re reading because you’re the voice of your company, it may pay to understand and reinforce the company doctrine. If, on the other hand, they read because of your content without regard to your company, dissention isn’t as damaging.
Are your readers customers? Are your customers readers? The clearer the split between the two, I think, the more company doctrine can take a back seat.

“For me, it’s really important that I’m able to represent Bruce Clay, Inc. while still holding on to who I am.”

Lisa, I believe you are of the few that have successfully shared your voice and personality online while maintaining representation of the company you work for.

In fact, when I speak to health care audiences on the importance of blogging and being active online, I often refer to you as an example.

While a personality like yours could potentially ruffle a corporate feather or two, my mind says Bruce Clay Inc. is a progressive company because they not only allow you your voice, it appears they have your back as well.

There is no denying the passion you express for the industry you work in and that’s an exceptional quality to have.