The blogosphere has seen its fair share of imposter bloggers whose stated identity or affiliation is far from the truth. Sony indulged in such identity concealment in 2006 when its marketing agency launched and maintained a blog to build buzz around the soon-to-be-released PSP gaming unit—only, the blog was purported to be the homemade effort of a fan. When the scam was uncovered, the company endured a maelstrom of blowback, especially in digital media.
But instead of riding out the storm, Sony executives took the crisis as an opportunity to launch their own blog to regain some control over messaging. The resulting experience led the team to develop the following list of lessons learned:
1. Don’t fake it.
2. Get everyone invested.
3. Create an editorial calendar.
4. Watch what the industry’s saying.
5. Ask people for their input.
6. Simplify the approval process.
7. Remember that a blog name doesn’t matter.
8. Pick a platform that can scale in size.
9. Learn lightweight HTML.
10. Listen as best you can.
11. Communicate expectations.
12. Innovate.
13. Provide options for participation.
14. Weigh hard and soft metrics.
15. Track against your goals.