Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research gives a roadmap on how one can leverage blogs within the enterprise:
Instead of going for the full corporate monty from the start, first launch an internal IT blog. Start slowly, as you would with any IT project. Create a beta blog that can be viewed only by IT managers, then open it to IT staffers before you roll it out to the entire company. Get a group of folks to volunteer to create your first series of weblogs and use the beta process to weed out the ones who don’t post often enough. Nothing is worse than a stale blog.
Use your blog as a vehicle for communication. Explain what’s going on inside IT operations, link to interesting articles and create forums for internal discussions. While everyone is comfortable using PCs and most software, they still appreciate getting timely advice and opinions from experts in the field. Why shouldn’t they get it from you and your team?
During the beta process, post at least three times a week, keeping your comments pithy and focused on a single point. Don’t make it available to the entire firm until you have at least one month’s worth of content.
Once your blog is established and you begin to find your voice, you might want to advocate an external site. Explore how blog-based external communications can create more business initiatives. Lead by example, and champion the cause.
He points to Jupiter’s Research Analyst Weblogs as an example.
