A lot of companies still don’t understand the power of blogs to build awareness and understanding. I participated in the Edelman/Technorati study of study of influential bloggers’ attitudes on communicating with corporations. Among the results that Richard Edelman calls out in his blog are that "Senior company executives who blog are only half as believable (19%) as company employees who blog (35%)" . Edelman asks "What does this mean for PR? I believe that the way we communicate with bloggers will increasingly be central to our success."
Companies need to spend time making sure their employees know what the key important messages are. PR people train executives before they are interviewed. They also need to train regular employees. There is a dual benefit to having employees who are able to clearly articulate the companies message and goals. Not only do those employees spread the word through vehicles like blogs but there can be no doubt that an informed employee who can articulate what the company is doing and why will be a better, more motivated employee. I guess in a word it creates alignment.
