Launching a blog with limited resources

Welcome to Melcrum's Social Media Newsletter.

In a small department of an organization I was working with recently, the first internal blog has just seen the light of day. It didn't take huge effort, expensive software or lauding by any one person or team, but in a short time it has become a small hit with department staff.

The blog champion
The blog's owner and writer is a senior department head who, to use a description from an employee, is "tech savvy". He uses the blog to share department information, keep staff informed with news, organizational changes and for facilitating discussion around certain topics – even asking employees for topics they want to bring out into the open. As default champion, his example is setting the bar for his department and others within the organization.

No additional software
I've highlighted some blog software platforms before, including Wordpress, Movable Type and Apache Roller. They're all good platforms, but in this example, there was no specific platform used. The design template was actually done in Dreamweaver and supported by a simple database, hosted on one of the department's own servers and created in little time by a willing IT worker.

Complementing other communication
While the blog is new and has been well-received, it's not replacing other forms of existing communication. The department's regular e-newsletter is still published and runs in tandem with the blog.

The softly softly approach
Last but not least, this blog wasn't unveiled in a large-scale song and dance. Quite often this isn't advisable because you simply don't know for certain if the project or initiative will succeed. The bigger you make it, the harder it can fall. Yet with the above example considered, the chances of "success" are strong.

This blog now receives an average of 10 comments per article, which only 2 months since the launch, isn't not bad at all, and well above the "1 comment in 10 readers" average that so often perpetuates online discussion statistics.

Best regards,

Alex Manchester
Senior Consultant
Step Two Designs
alex@steptwo.com.au

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