Straight Talk PR .com

Cousin Heather Kirk-Davidoff on Churches and Blogging

The Rev. Heather Kirk-Davidoff, who is married to my cousin Daniel, is the author of an article in Congregations magazine this fall about successful blogging at her church. She is the enabling minister of Kittamaqundi Community, an independent church in Columbia, Maryland, USA. She is also the founder of her church's blog, Grounded and Rooted in Love. The title of Heather's article, which is available only to members of the Alban Institute (a not-for-profit think tank for congregational development), is "Entering the Blogosphere: One Church's Journey from 'Heaven Forbid!' to 'Why Not?'" I've been reading Kittamaqundi's blog occasionally since it was started, and I've been impressed by the number of authors who have become involved. I like this statement by Heather concerning the blog's success:

Our church's blog has enabled us to both open up our communication and also streamline it. Within six months of starting our blog, we stopped publishing our newsletter, which had been limping along for years. Between the blog, a once-a-week e-mail of announcements, and printed announcements in our Sunday bulletin, the newsletter had become completely redundant and no longer worth the administrative time spent on developing it or the cost of printing and mailing it. ... When our blog had been up for about nine months, I began my report to our Church Council by saying, "Guess what? One hundred and twenty-seven people stopped by our church yesterday!" Everyone was stunned and when I explained that was how many people had read our blog, they all started to smile. They knew people had begun to use the Web to find information about churches in the community, but since our website is largely static, once a person has read what is on it there is not much of an incentive to return. But our blog is so dynamic and so engaging that people come back to it again and again.

Why Not Talk About It? This Economy Is A Reality Check, Even For Alfred E. Neuman

What, me worry? Given the developing economic slump in the United States, if not throughout the world, corporate blogging expert Paul Gillin thinks that even the best corporate blogs are keeping their pens -- if not their heads -- in the sand and just try to ignore our festering troubles. As Debbie Weil points out, Gillin's headline says it all: "Corporate Blogs Blather While Markets Tumble." After reviewing blogs for 15 blue-chip corporations, Gillin writes:

Between checking Marketwatch.com and commiserating with colleagues, it’s safe to say there wasn’t a lot of work getting done this week. Nervous investors flocked to the Web for some sign that the turmoil in the financial markets would soon die down. With so much attention riveted on the future of the economy, this seems an ideal time for corporations to use their blogs to provide guidance and reassurance, or at least perspective, on the Wall Street meltdown. However, a quick tour of 15 prominent sites demonstrated that they were doing anything but that.

Three companies from Gillin's research are worth calling out because they bucked the trend set by the rest.

1. General Motors, which is famously synonymous with the U.S. economy, has a recent post on its highly regarded FastLane Blog containing a YouTube clip from CEO Rick Wagoner favoring federal financial intervention in the form of loans to automakers to meet fuel economy mandates. Give GM lots of credit for currency and realpolitik on this one.
2. The BenettonTalk blog has had two entries on the crisis. On Sept. 30, Benetton's blog addressed the economy's disintegration. And the next day, the economy was back with a blog review of Americatown, an HBO serial that looks at a near-term future in which U.S. economic dominance has waned.
3. PriceWaterhouseCoopers addresses the crisis from the standpoint of corporate directors.

On the other hand, Southwest Airlines, whose Nuts about Southwest blog just won the best blog award for the second year from PR News, has said little about the financial markets crisis. I agree with Gillin's conclusion about the need for straight talk and clarity about the economy and our roles in it. Here's how Gillin concludes his review:

My point isn’t to ridicule these companies as much as it is to demonstrate how far we still have to go in achieving the culture of openness that new media enables. Here was an opportunity for some of America’s most respected corporations to offer guidance and thought leadership to frightened consumers. Instead, most have chosen to serve up the same old happy-talk mush they’ve delivered for years. That’s their right, but that isn’t leadership. These are historic times that offer businesses the chance to break through the noise and do something daring and different. So far, corporate America has fumbled the opportunity. Perhaps, as the economic picture becomes clearer, some will start talking with their customers instead of marketing at them. That would be a welcome development.

Gary Vaynerchuck ... An Inspiration to Get Back Into Work

I just watched Gary Vaynerchuck's speech to the recent Web 2.0 conference at the Javits Center in New York City. What a kick in the pants! Thanks to Darren Rowse at ProBlogger and Jason Preston, who posted the video at Blog Business Summit. (I should warn that that there's a lot of mild profanity in this video.)

How to Make Microsite and Blog Domain Names Attractive and Snappy

I've noticed something about great domain names for microsites, including custom URLs for blogs.

1. They have a call to action, or
2. They say something about the user.

Those seem to be two tricks to devising a snappy and compelling URL.

Two articles from a recent issue of PRWeek illustrate this.

Strategy: Why 50 Characters Max in Blog Headlines?

Suddenly, there's a method to the madness of writing blog headlines. Wired PR Works explains why I carefully counted to make certain there are 50 characters in the headline just above. And why I'll keep counting.