To Blog Or Not To Blog

To blog or not to blog is a common question of late.  Many of my clients, whether already enthralled in the world of social media, or just getting started, seem to have as the last item on their agenda, launching a blog.

To many, a blog seems like a daunting proposition, a terribly time consuming and threatening venture.  Well to be honest, it is in fact all those things (sorry to scare you).  The reality does exist that a blog requires your love, your attention, and your upkeep - similar to a fickle houseplant.

The bottom line is this, if you're going to launch a blog, or anything else online for that matter, rule number one is that it must be kept up to date.  Always.  Forever.  Blog authors should commit to posting at least one post per week.  Many successful bloggers post as many as 3-4 posts per day.  At minimum, one post per week will keep readers interested.

So you still want to do it?  Great.  Do you even know what a blog really is?  It's okay if you don't.  You're not alone.  Technically, the word is a mashup of "web" and "log"... thus blog.  It's an online, chronological log of your thoughts, your ideas, your information.  Posts have a header just like a media release or article as well as a main body of content.  You can include links, photos, and pretty much any other information that you see appropriate.  Blog posts or entries as they are sometimes called, can be a short and concise message or a longer, more detailed piece of information.

In summary, the rules of the blogging world are that there aren't any rules.  That being said, once you've made the commitment to give your blog the time and attention it deserves, go ahead... blog away.  To get started, Google "starting a blog".  Hundreds of articles will be right there at your fingertips, assisting you in starting the process.

Publicize your thoughts, promote your products and services, offer instructional advice, and drive traffic to your website.  These are just a few of the objectives you can achieve with a blog.  Now of you go.  Blogs away.

Effectively Responding To A PR Disaster

What happens at times is beyond your control. How you respond, is within your control. The following are key strategies according to the experts, on how to effectively respond to a PR disaster. Words to live by.

• Monitor social media. Big companies must actively watch Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social sites to track conversations that involve them. That will help uncover potential crises-in-the-making, says Brian Solis, a new-media specialist and blogger at PR2.0.

• Respond quickly. Domino's responded within hours. "They responded as soon as they heard about it, not after the media asked, 'What are you going to do?' " says Lynne Doll, president of The Rogers Group, a crisis-management specialist.

• Respond at the flashpoint. Domino's first responded on consumer affairs blog The Consumerist, whose activist readers helped track down the store and employees who made the video. Then it responded on the Twitter site where talk was mounting. "Domino's did the right thing by reinstituting the trust where it was lost," Solis says.

• Educate workers. It's important that all employees have some media and social-media training, says Ross Mayfield, co-founder of Socialtext, which advises companies on new media.

• Foster a positive culture. Workers who are content and customers who like your product are far less likely to tear down a company online, PR guru Katie Delahaye Paine says. "This would be a lot less likely to happen at places like Whole Foods."

• Set clear guidelines. Companies must have clear policies about what is allowed during working hours — and what isn't, Doll says. "It won't prevent everyone from breaking the rules, but at least they'll know what the rules are."