This headline, sent to me by a colleague, appeared in a recent issue of the Wall Street Journal: “Should You Outsource Your Company Blog?” Like most questions addressed in communications, marketing and other similar fields, the answer is — Maybe. It depends.
1. If the company doesn’t have a communications or a marketing department, maybe you should.
2. If the company doesn’t have an executive spokesperson with the time, maybe you should.
3. If the company’s Legal and/or HR departments need to approve outgoing comments, maybe you should, but only if those departments get out of the way. Otherwise, don’t do a blog.
Or maybe not. And here are the arguments, as I understand them, against outsourcing the company blog. The point of blogging is:
1. Having an authentic voice.
2. Giving customers a personal connection to the company.
3. Ghostwriters do neither.
Well, pardon me, but who do you think writes executive speeches, letters from the CEO, and all those personal words to shareholders one finds in the Annual Report, and web site content, and most of the pithy executive quotes found in newspapers? Guys and gals such as me. I also write and manage several company blogs, who are my clients. As the period on the sentence, none of those things are done without interviewing executives and employees, studying the company and its customers, and, finally, getting approval from the company spokesperson for everything I write.
Would it be better if someone from the company wrote the blog? Maybe, maybe not. When work is outsourced, the consultants often have more influence over the executives and more freedom from message management. And if we’re fired, we haven’t lost our jobs, just a job. We don’t have the pressure of saying what we think the company wants to hear, at least many of us don’t. More important, key inhouse staff are focusing on their other jobs and responsibilities, while gaining the outsider points of view and expertise, which are then translated into blog posts.
So, there you have it. One consultant’s take on outsourcing blogging. Not right. Not wrong. It just depends.
Great read! My company does outsource its blog; however we still do have people at the office who contribute. We outsource because most of us only have time about once every week to 2 weeks to write. This way we get fresh content as its necessary, and we still have the authentic voice.
Lewis, I enjoyed your even handed approach to this post. I’m with Lieca, either do it right – meaning dedicate time and resources (insourced or outsourced) or spend the time on other value-add activities…
I’m with you Lewis…and Lieca and Paul. I see nothing wrong with outsourcing a company blog as long as clear objective and parameters are established in advance. If it’s done right, it can remain an authentic representation of the company’s voice and brand.
I think that if you don’t have the “time or resources” to maintain your own blog, then you should seriously reconsider if you need one or should even have one.
Not every company needs to have a blog. So maybe it’s not a bandwagon that you need to jump on.
If I found out that some of the blogs I read regularly weren’t written by someone inside the company, I’d be upset.
Leica, Paul, Spike & David,
Perhaps the most important thing to understand is what the reaction to readers will be when they find out the blog is ghostwritten. Since many work in businesses and understand that most executive and public statements are written by others, they won’t be surprised.
However, Spike is an example of the other side of the aisle. So when we advise clients about outsourcing their blog, we need to include both the upsides and potential downsides.
My guess, is that if the reader receives value, they won’t much care who is doing the writing, as long as their is no effort to deceive them.
As with all “right-sourcing” decisions, it boils down to where the talent and resources are. Given that a company has good strategic reasons and a message/service that can be enhanced by blogging, by all means outsource it if there are insufficient internal resources to do it right.
Right now, we have a carpenter fixing some stuff around our house/yard. Could I sorta do it well enough to botch it myself? Sure. But right-sourcing here means letting someone with more expertise handle it.
Blogging is a time-consuming, resource-draining endeavor. So outsourcing does make sense from that standpoint. But authenticity and the right degree of transparency are paramount however you decide to execute. Otherwise, what’s the point of blogging?
Blogging is like a recipe. You need the right amount of blogging from the employees but also enough blogging to keep the content fresh. The best way to get both in some cases maybe to outsource some of the content. I think Lewis had it right, as long as the blog is well written and informative would the customer care if it didn’t come from a direct employee? Just because you don’t have the resources to dedicate to blogging doesn’t mean you shouldn’t–in some cases I think smaller companies should focus on blogging more to keep their “little guy, I’m with you” appeal
Hi Lewis, interesting post.
Working for a small company, I understand the resource constraints. But the difference between blogging and speeches, web copy, annual report copy, etc. is that they are one-way communications, while blogging is two-way (if done properly, of course).
So, if a corporate blog is outsourced who responds to the comments? The consultant or the company? And what if it’s a negative comment or a comment about a new product/service? If it’s the consultant, does every response to a comment need to be reviewed then too?
That would seem to take up a lot more internal resources than just doing it internally. But, that’s just me.
Personally, I think if a company (small or large) starts blogging they need to make sure to have some in-house resources dedicated to it.
BTW, how do we know Lewis Green and not Lewis Green’s consultant wrote this post on MarketingProfs?!
Thanks,
Beth
Lewis-I’m a huge fan of yours (not a frequent commenter), but the purist in me begs to differ with you on this one. Drawing a parallel between a blog and a 10k or a PR release isn’t fair. Besides, aren’t we trying to move away from that model of nameless/faceless organizations with their sanitized messaging?
I don’t know if it’s accurate or not, but I heard a stat recently that says there are 80 million blogs, but only 600k daily posts, which means a big blog graveyard…my point is, you don’t have to blog, as the other commenter said. Plus, I agree w/the above, if it’s some consultant and not the CEO blogging, it loses its credibility, its voice, and its opportunity for relationship.
Bro, you are right very often, but I am not sure about this one.
Steve,
I can’t imagine you botching something up! LOL
Floyd,
Transparency is key.
Leica,
Agree!
Beth,
You get the blue ribbon for the best question. The consultant and their in-house support person must have already agreed that all questions must be answered within 24 hours are less.
In my experience, when something is oursourced in companies, one of the first things we do is create a lengthy Q&A in-house, with anticipated questions and the company’s answers.
Nothing is perfect. With my clients, I try to send them a batch of questions at one time, for those that we haven’t already addressed.
Whatever the process, there must be one and answers must be true to the company’s beliefs. Without honest answers, the blog is doomed.
This is timely question especially when you consider that some companies outsource their customer loyalty programmes – it makes you wonder what kind of qaulity of relationship a business wants with its customers. The raw facts are that 80% of margin is always produced by 20% of the clients so I’d have hoped that a business that really cares about understanding he needs of the 20% would take the time to make sure that authentic dialogue – at least with the MVC (most valuable customer group) would be dealt with in house because of it’s huge value in staying engaged with the market – losing MVCs today is business suicide and a waste of great market intelligence. Keep the MVC close to home let the agency deal with the tyre kickers and pass the MVCs back to the heart of the business for a tender touch.
Jeremy,
It’s a tough one, I agree. I suspect with most business blogs, the posts are not written nor answered by an executive. So that probably isn’t a huge issue.
However, if the blog is outsourced, I think they should be bylined by the writer, with a bio, and an explanation that all posts represent company views and all questions are answered by a company spokesperson. And that spokesperson’s name should appear after the answer.
Peter,
That works. As I tried to say but fumbled with it perhaps, if the blog is outsourced, it still must be overseen by an in-house person and all questions ideally should be answered by that question.
With a blog, I wouldn’t launch one aimed at my MVC. It isn’t the best tool for them. Instead, I would create a password-entry communications tool for my VIP clients/customers and insist that an in-house person by assigned as its spokesperson. If necessary, hire one. Scott Monty comes to mind.
Peter–should read: all questions ideally should be answered by that question
Damnit. Too fast on the return. Should read: …all questions ideally should be answered by that person.
Makes sense to me. Ideas and suggestion are more liberated when writing is outsourced and the “kiss your boss’ ass” thinking is removed.
Thanks RC. There is something to be said for that.
Lewis … for the companies that have outsourced blogging about them/for them to you, how forthright are you about your identity to the readers?
Is your byline “Lewis Green” or do you ghostwrite blog entries and the writing credit goes to someone else?
Would you ever consider outsourcing your MP Daily Fix posts?
Lewis – echoing all .. great post. I agree it depends on the goals as well as the resources. If all an enterprise wants is a means of distributing content on a topic (and the benefits that come with that including search lift) than an out sourced blog might be a solution. I would assume that it would be transparent, etc.
However, if the organization wants to build stronger relations with customers and stake holders a blog written by a member of the company is critical. For me if blogs do have a silver bullet it is in fostering relations. Which does take time .. online or off. It’s just the nature of the beast.
Responding to the idea that speech writing is the same as a ghost writing a blog. I disagree. Even if every single word and thought is ghost written at the end of the speech the “person” has the opportunity for Q&A responding with her/his own thoughts. If I am commenting on a blog that is ghost written I feel cheated and duped that the “person” I chose to “Talk” with is a guise. For me, that’s where honesty and transparency come into play.
John,
I am named as the contributing editor on my client’s blogs. As for outsourcing my posts here, no, I wouldn’t outsource them but that wouldn’t be my decision. That would be Ann’s. To a great extent, we can say that nearly all of the posts here are outsourced, as very few are written by MP.
Toby,
On my client’s blogs, the Q&A is not outsourced. I might edit my client’s answers for brevity and ease of reading, but they answer the questions.
Having a ghostwriter write is OK, but you really have to feed them ideas and outlines to make sure their writing is effective.
Imagine,
You are exactly right.
I manage (write, edit, reply to comments) for two client blogs. In both cases, we set up the objectives ahead of time and clearly identified the blogs’ purpose.
And, probably most importantly, in both cases, I insisted that we do this completely transparently. On the “about” page of each, we say that blog is maintained by the marketing team (internal and external team), with my name listed as the editor with my email address.
In these cases, it works. I can imagine different scenarios in which it would be inappropriate for me to blog on the company’s behalf.
For me, the bottom line is “it depends,” just as you say.
An interesting post. I would really want to have a review of any blog that is written by a consultant in my name (or) my organization’s name. One does not have the time to write on his own but definitely should find time to review the same written by someone else on behalf of you. You do not want a wrong message to spread isn’t it?
As long as the ‘doer’ does the ‘deed’ as needed, why not!
where can i go to outsource my blog? any suggestions are welcome ( do not have to say: looking for cheap options)
Blogs may cause to spread and collect new ideas
Regards
SBL – BPO Services
Hey I read your post about the outsourcing and I found it interesting. Do you know that Infosys BPO has revealed on Tuesday that the company has signed a five-year contract with T-Mobile UK. Infosys BPO is a business process outsourcing arm of Infosys Technologies.
Blogging helps every writer or agents to promote the ideas that they have and could we shred it to others. In my case it doesn’t matter who wrtie the article for the blog as long as it was related and could hepls the readers it fine:d..
Small companies routinely outsource their payroll processing, accounting, distribution, and many other important functions – often because they have no other choice. Many large companies turn to outsourcing to cut costs.