The use of blogs for promotion of the association to the public is a generally accepted tool. In our organization newsletters these blogs were often called “A Word from the President”, or perhaps “From the AE's Desk” (the subtle distinction here being that the President got to talk about the 'big stuff' (state of the economy or association legislative initiatives) and the AE got to talk about more clerical matters like dues deadlines and general membership meeting registrations. Of course, back then nobody talked about interaction to these messages: most newsletters didn't even have a Letters to the Editor section, and anyway, who wanted to wait a week or a month before seeing some response from a reader?
Enter the age of social communication. If your online association newsletter doesn't have a 'click here to post a response' to almost every article, you are still in the dark ages. Even large real world newspapers and magazines don't let their articles stand alone without reader response. For an association which has as its main reason for being the building of community, there's no room for the old “we've told 'em, so they'd better listen up” mode of behavior. Technology has made communication a two-way street in real time.
Blogs, then are now the preferred way to speak to your public and to the members of your organization. They are more timely and informal, and they allow for direct reader involvement. Savvy organizations are also finding blogs a management tool for building staff cooperation and teamwork.
“Well,” you say, I don't need a tool like that. I only have a staff of two. I can just talk about what I'm thinking by shouting across the room.”
As a manager of a small staff, I had the same conundrm. When was 'small' too small to hold a staff meeting? And when I was at the meeting or seminar, how was I going to share what I learned, or what inspired me, with my staff? Or how was I going to share things with key elected leaders, keeping them in the mainstream in a timely and efficient fashion?
More than that, the internal blog can be free of the constraints of more traditional communications, such as corporate memos or whitepapers: blogs can explore more original issues and encourage examination of ideas among a staff audience which otherwise might tune out more formal messages.
Developing an internal blog is a way of keeping your voice in the staff conversation, no matter where you are or what you are doing.
Here's how you do it. Go to any one of a number of free blogging sites. I use www.wordpress.com for one of my blogs and Internet Crusade, and I like them both very much. But whatever your decision, select a blog vendor which will let you limit your internal blog to those you name: your staff, or your advisory team (could include your executive committee, for instance). That way, only invitees can read and post to your blog, keeping it secure from the public at large. You may also set up an edit function for reviewing all posts before they are seen by others, but in a private blog, that may be just a tad over-controlling. Encourage interactions from those you've invited—that's the point!
Internal blogs are in many cases good alternatives to meetings. You may not have frequent meetings, even on many important matters, for several reasons:
*you feel your staff is too small to have many meetings
*you just don't have time to interrupt the work day with a meeting
*some staff is part time, or subcontracted special labor and not on premises for meetings
*you're on the road, at state conventions, seminars, NAR meetings, or visiting member offices
However the way all staff members communicate and share information in a blog environment creates practically any number of small or large virtual meetings in which they can participate at any time of the day (or night), and you can share ideas and information with them while it is fresh in your mind.
You will find that the old 'you never told me' or 'I was on vacation for that meeting' excuse disappears. Also, fewer people will feel that they excluded from the decision making process. Since every post is open to the designated community, anyone can take part in the decision making process, simply by adding comments. For instance, you post: “I think the office needs a policy on using computers for personal communication. Please feel free to contribute suggestions about what it should contain,” or “I am sitting in a social networking seminar. Do you think we could use Twitter in our association? How?” A talking community creates the healthiest environment in the decision making process with its collective intelligence—that that statement is indeed the theme of social networking.
“Well, sure,” you say. “But why create a blog for this stuff? I just send emails!”
Here's the rub. I get over 300 emails a day. Sometimes I just archive them until I can get back to them...which could be never. And sometimes I respond to the emails, but I don't create an archive: later I simply can't find them. People will say “I told you” and I either don't remember or can't find the exact wording (which I may have skimmed over in the first place). But blogs don't go away. They are archived and searchable. Comments are not lost, but stay with the subject in a handy filing system, too!
Blogs are easy to find and follow. Following blogs is painless: Most blog providers have RSS technology (Real Simple Syndication). The person reading the blog sets up a feed from that blog to his/her browser (and all the new browsers support RSS technology). Using RSS, readers can then be informed if there are new posts or not, and click on a link to visit the blog. They don't have to visit the site every day to see if there's anything new posted there.
Finding past subject matter is equally simple: Blogs make use of tag words. The person writing the blog assigns tag words to the article, like 'social media policy' or 'customer service'. The reader may then search tag words to find the archived material. This makes finding the needed information much quicker than searching through the tree of directories that most email programs use. (“Let's see...I remember that email from Albert the AE. Do I search under the date? Emails from Albert? The topic? How the heck would I have filed it anyway? Or did I send his stuff to the trash bin?”) Key word searches blog site are much quicker and more convenient!
Again, think of using the internal blog as a management tool. It will improve teamwork and collaboration with your staff, and is a good source for team learning. It promotes dialogue, and allows you to have conversations where there is a shared vision. For instance, your blog group may be all staff and the vision you share is one of better member service. The internal blog can reinforce this vision, no matter what your specific topic.
Internal blogs also allow you as manager to solicit differing points of view in an environment which is much 'safer' for many participants. Staff members who are unwilling to speak up in a face to face meeting may feel much more comfortable in making contributions to a blog. The conversation can also be more timely (how can we deal with this immediate issue?) and translate words more quickly into action. No waiting until a week from Monday to bring it up at the staff meeting and asking everybody to think on demand, because it's 9 AM and we're on schedule.
And finally, the internal blog management tool becomes the written memory of your staff organization.That, in turn, promotes consistent institutional development based on written word (usually more stable than the ephemeral bright idea or heated arguments found in a face-to-face meeting). That written word becomes a part of the group history.
Here are some sources for you:
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