gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

I have the responses of, as of now, 73 top bloggers on what makes a blog successful, via an email survey I conducted.

What is funny to me is how dumb many CEOs and business people are.

To even ask "how can I make a blog work for me?" shows a rather inexperienced and illogical attitude.

I'm afraid corporate bozos will only want to blog if it increases sales or helps PR for the company.

They will not be interested in forming candid conversations with a target audience, just for the sake of sharing wisdom, getting feedback from customers and prospects, expresssing a warm human side of the organization, etc.

Comments from blog readers, if enabled, will be ignored or dismissed, if even read at all. We all know a business blog, I won't name here, that outsources the reading of comments. Sheesh.

Lots of CEOs and business people have only one thing to say: "Buy my product."

And only one thing they want to hear from customers: "Love your product."

Idiots.

Steven: Man, I feel your pain! We've come across that attitude so often. In keeping with the idea of "What makes a successful blog" when discussing business blogs, we've found it easier to sell CEO's/businesses our enterprise blogging system (interconnected, scalable) for use INTERNALLY. When we show them that what they are writing will not be published outside the company - at least at first, and possibly not at all until they're comfortable with it - they relax a little. We stress the idea that blogging within the company has a real purpose - to share knowledge. To break down silos. To create discussion. Now, for us, a successful blog does all of those things but it doesn't necessarily have to have a catchy post title at all. And that makes it all much easier for a CEO to digest. Once they get that idea, they are less stressed about writing to the public. We're still waiting for them to open up to public blogging, but a few businesses are nearing that level, I think. Of course we hear this kind of story once in a while too: http://www.advancinginsights.com/mybiz/?q=fear_greed_ignorance_liars_blogit

My part in all of this is documented here: http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2005/05/29.html#a10240

Hm. I was just thinking: if they have to ask how to make them working for them, I am farely sure they will not get them working for them at all. ;(

This is like being able to paint. You either can or you can't.

Not sure if I agree, Nicole. I've done plenty asking over the years ;-)

I feel like I'm too harsh and impatient, but a blog is so obviously about candid conversations with a target audience.

Why would a CEO have trouble grasping this, and how it can benefit his organization?

Something is fishy here. Smell it?

Wait. Are we sure they really want to get down and dirty on the shop floor and customer service center and meet face to face (figuratively) with customers via blogs?

Are we often optimistically assuming too much?

Are some business leaders loving their ivory towers too much to climb down?

Do they seriously have nothing to say to customers...thus an exciting, easy, interactive connection is shunned coldly?

Hey Hugh thanks again for asking me to join your super panel ! Hopefully this time we can have dinner together unlike in Paris...

Looks like my trackbacks failed:

http://www.loiclemeur.com/english/2005/06/reboot_70_this_.html
and
http://www.loiclemeur.com/france/2005/06/rendezvous_224_.html

My question: Is successful blogging about avoiding landmines? Or is it about stepping on them?