Do these 5 things to mobilize your teams to blog/speak

Most organizations wake up (rather late) to the need for creating a brand presence for themselves. This goes beyond creating standard inbound marketing content. Organizations seek a brand recall that establishes them as a great place to work. Or to showcase their core technical prowess to the world. Or get them a foot in the door/ seat at the table in the larger community. This requires finding creative ways to showcase in-house talent for the world to see, experience and follow. 

Organizations are usually familiar with this construct. “We need to get our technical blogs” “We need to speak at more technical conferences”. But translating this into something actionable and sustainable is where the real struggle is. Most teams fail poorly at getting these initiatives off the ground. Typically there is a team or specific people tasked with coercing employees!!

So, if you’re that person tasked with kicking off such initiatives, this blog is for you.

Let’s explore what you can do to set your program up for success.

#1 Visualize your success

Most initiatives die before they begin, because you don’t know what success looks like. Just thinking you need everyone to write blogs isn’t going to help. If you have 1000 people in your organization, there are may be 20 people who are really kicked up about blogging, and 5 of them may be decent writers. So, you may get one decent blog written in 3 months. So, if that makes you super unhappy, then think about what you wanted in the first place, and how will you know if it’s working or not. Don’t go to your teams with an open ended mandate to churn out 10 blogs every week without having done your groundwork.

So, here’s what that groundwork looks like. I’m guessing the reason you want your teams to blog is because you want to attract a certain type of audience to engage with you (Impact). Start from there. Define who that audience is (Target group). Find out where they are today, what are they reading (your competitors/ existing alternatives). Think about how you will reach out to them (channels). Think about what your blogs will offer to them, that they can’t find elsewhere (unique value proposition). Identify what will tell you if a blog is working or not (Key Metrics). Now define what your teams should be writing about. Come up with a laundry list topic titles / themes / SEO keywords. Create guidelines for length, tone, imagery, references, confidential content etc. (Solution). Now find out people you need to recruit (cost). Chart out how many blogs need to be churned out and by when (roadmap)

Wait. Now that looks like a Lean Canvas!!

So, well, basically create your Lean Canvas for your blogging startup.

#2 Look beyond the usual suspects

Great coders don’t necessarily make great writers or speakers. So, if your best plan was to recruit your senior architects, lead product managers, delivery heads and that rock start developer kid you recently hired …well, good luck. The art of communication requires different mastery and passion. Invest time to dig into your organization and look beyond your usual suspects. Democratize your blogging needs! Send open invitations for people to sign up for writing blogs/ speaking. Set up/ encourage blogging groups/ clubs or speaking clubs. Explore who has already been writing. Even if they’re not writing on the topics you need them to write on, it’s ok. It’s the passion for writing / speaking that matters. But most importantly, don’t let this be a one-time activity. Find people who may be willing to review content.

Every few months, you need to infuse new ideas into your system.

#3 Plan for the long term

So, did you raise your eyebrows at that last statement? I guess, you thought “I just have to assemble a group of easily available talent, and make an impassioned speech about why blogging is so important. These awesome people will self-organize and then it will be a self-sustaining engine that churns out blogs day after day.”

Ok, you can wake up now.

You want a group of highly talented, passionate, diverse, opinionated individuals to do your bidding. That means that you need to be prepared to give this your full time attention. For a really long time you need to be patient, persuasive and persevere. This means doing your groundwork, and then executing this like a real startup. It should become your full time passion. In all likelihood, you’re doing this as a side gig along with your existing core responsibilities. So, well, if you can’t multitask, you’re going to fail. I know it sounds brutal, but that’s how it works.

Blogs may backfire or get lukewarm responses. You may miss a great timing. Your social media team hasn’t bought in. People go on vacations without telling you. People don’t co-operate. If you don’t have the inclination to step in and see this through end to end, well, don’t do it.

#4 Create the right incentives and support system

Most people don’t think you’re serious about this to begin with. They don’t care. They have no time. They may not like you. They feel it’s not worth their time/effort. So, don’t go after those people. Find your early adopters (yay, Lean Canvas again), and refer #2 above. Bloggers are passionate about sharing their stories. They’re looking to build a personal brand. They love writing.

But not everyone can translate that passion into action. They may be shy. They may be inexperienced. They may think that their ideas are too basic or too complicated. Either ways they may assume no one is interested in what they have to say/ write.

It's your job to support your early adopters. Educate them about your audience. Help them find mentors/ support groups. Create blogging clubs. Gamify this with some contests. Create internal communities for people to test our their ideas. Pair people up. Even hire folks who can develop a sketchy idea into a full-fledged blog. Ask for a budget. 

Also, cut your people some slack. They’re doing you a favor. So, don’t judge them, intimidate them, or pressurize them into writing/ speaking. Make it an enjoyable experience. Celebrate your bloggers and speakers. You will find more people jumping in, as soon as they know you're serious about this!

#5 Think big, but start small

Beginners fall into the trap of analysis paralysis. They fuss about being perfect. They fret over the smallest details. They get caught in analysis paralysis. Remind them that done is better than perfect.

Also, don’t get too caught up in the wrong metrics. Don’t go after fancy tools to write. Don’t jump into writing workshops and training programs yet. Start simple. The important thing is for you to run a show that you can sustain without burning yourself out.

I hope this was helpful to kick start your blogging / speaking initiatives with confidence! Getting people to achieve something, is no mean task. So, pat yourself on the back sometimes.