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According to a research report released by scholars at the Society for New Communications Research, the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and Financial Insite Inc., Fortune 500 companies are further along in their adoption of public-facing corporate blogs than previous data suggested.
The study, entitled “The Fortune 500 and Blogging: Slow and Study,” examines the 2008 list of Fortune 500 companies in relation to their adoption of social media, and found that:
• 81 of the Fortune 500 companies, or 16%, currently have public-facing blogs;
• 28% of those blogs link to Twitter accounts;
• 10% link to podcasts;
• 21% incorporate Web video; and;
• 90% of the blogs have the comments feature enabled.
Perhaps the last statistic is the most surprising, considering senior management’s long-held fear of embracing social media because of the inherent loss of control over messaging. The most common question they ask when faced with engaging bloggers—be it hosting their own blogs or participating in others’—is, “What do I do when someone posts a negative comment?”
True, the hardest part of corporate blogging, and blogger relations in general, is knowing when to let negative sentiments run their course and when to nip them in the bud. Sometimes, going to the mat over a fleeting criticism in the blogosphere only fans the flames; in other situations, not responding presents greater reputational risks.
To survive and prosper in the world of corporate blogging, communications executives must establish their own assessment tool for evaluating and responding to comments or external posts. Along those lines, the United States Air Force, for example, created a “Web Posting Response Assessment”—a simple flow chart to help executives decide the best course of action in the event of a negative post (see graphic).
The assessment has three basic steps for arriving at a response recommendation:
1. Discovery: If the post is “positive or balanced,” executives are advised to either let it stand or share the success. If it isn’t either of those things, they proceed to the next step to characterize the commentator.
2. Evaluate: The commentator can be one of four types: troll, rager, misguided or unhappy customer. Evaluating which type is essential to determining the best response.
3. Respond: Based on the nature of the commentator, execs are urged to “monitor only,” “fix the facts” or pursue restoration.
This flow chart can be adapted to any organization’s needs and, in turn, ease the anxiety surrounding the blogging experience. PRN