To blog, or not to blog
Web logs provide good marketing exposure, but beware of legal pitfalls

by Christina Couch
for Virginia Business
April 2006

It’s a public relations nightmare — every employee, every competitor, every client becomes a voice in the global media. That’s the wide-open potential of blogging, though not the reality — yet. Instantaneous and difficult to track, web logs — the wired generation’s communication method of choice — are going mainstream, drawing readers from around the world. With more than 34 million out there, blogs provide a powerful, marketing medium, and businesses are getting in on the action.

“It’s an easy, easy way to communicate quickly with the customers,” says Edward Cossette, director of visual design for ExploreLearning, a Charlottesville-based firm that creates online educational modules for students. Cossette is the mastermind behind the company’s blog, The Buzz. A distinct departure from ExploreLearning’s main Web site (which gives a general overview of the company and its products), The Buzz is more casual, updated more frequently, and provides timely information on new products and consumer feedback. “Our blog is intended to break down the distance between the customer and the people who are behind the product,” says Cossette. “It gives us a chance to show how quick we are at responding to customer needs and to show that ‘Hey, we make mistakes, too.’”

Establishing connections is what business blogs are all about. Part advertising ploy, part customer service tool, effective “b-blogs” can solve problems and provide a human face for the company all in one cheap package. Most important, b-blogs like Cossette’s allow companies to engage in an ongoing dialogue with an infinite number of current and potential clients. “This is an immediately accessible tool where there are no barriers,” says Sara Begley, an employment attorney for the Reed Smith law firm in Philadelphia. “There is an exponential opportunity for growth.”

The potential for growth is being eyed by big business. Socialtext.net, a site that tracks large-scale corporate blogging, states that 23 Fortune 500 firms, or 4.6 percent, operate public blogs. Although Virginia-based Fortune 500s have been slow to embrace the technology, b-blogs are quickly becoming routine for many smaller businesses. Imagineworks Studio, a Chantilly-based graphic design firm and The Virginia Stage Co. in Norfolk have blogs.

Larger companies such as Hewlett-Packard have learned that blogs serve as an antenna to spot early trends. For instance, the computer company learned through blog postings that consumers prefer to have computers repaired in their homes as opposed to leaving them at a repair shop.
With the blogosphere doubling in size every six months, more b-blogs are sure to follow, so how can companies prepare?

Begley says the first step is to develop a blogging policy. It should identify a blog’s purpose; spell out rules for updating material — including which employees are authorized to post to the blog — and detail exactly what will be published. “[Companies] have to be mindful of privacy issues. They have to be very careful about copyright and trademark infringement issues, and on the most basic level, miscommunication,” she says. “They should be prepared to hire, train or retain qualified technicians to man the blogging post.”

Step two? Begley recommends having a lawyer evaluate potential company-specific legal issues and outline what trade secrets are off limits, what qualifies as a defamatory comment, how consumer questions and comments will be addressed, and what person or department will be responsible for monitoring the blog and its tone. To help achieve this latter goal, major companies such as Microsoft and Dell use tracking software to monitor not only what message company employees send, but also how well (or poorly) cyberspace users receive it.

The corporate blogging legal code is, as of yet, unwritten. Nonetheless, for companies that do venture into the realm of cyberspace, blogs can help drive business. “Corporations need to be aware of the pitfalls, but there’s an enormous upside to corporate blogging,” adds Begley. “With this, you can engage in two-way conversation with your audience…that’s something PR and marketing people simply cannot do.”