What inspires or motivates you to start a business blog? One of the key questions we have to consider when starting a business blog is what benefit it will be to the business be that in your marketing, communications or PR plan.

We have seen a number of situations lately where organisations in Ireland and the UK have come under criticism for being ineffective in the communication to the public or their customers about critical information at times of crisis or emergencies. Often one of the challenges organisations face is the inability to update their corporate website promptly with information. That is where a status update on your Facebook Page, Twitter profile of using a business blog can be of value as part of your communications plan in times of crisis.

With that in mind I thought it would be interesting to explore how one organisation is using a business blog as part of their online communications plan particularly in relation to emergencies.

So I am delighted to bring you an interview with Torry Schellhorn of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Communications Office about their use of their ‘dlr Emergency Updates blog’. It’s a blog my family refer to and one I feature in my social media marketing training programmes.

Torry has nearly 10 years experience working in local government in Dublin, Ireland. Her primary responsibility is overseeing the Council’s Press Office and working across the organisation to enhance lines of communication between the Council and its various audiences, including residents and businesses.

Krishna: Tell us a little about the region and size of population that you support for DLRCOCO

Torry: Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County, situated adjacent to Dublin City, serves a population of over 194,000 residents and is divided into six electoral areas including Dundrum, Glencullen, Stillorgan, Blackrock, Dún Laoghaire and Ballybrack.

The Council crest includes the phrase, “Ó Chuan go Sliabh” (translates to “from the mountains to the sea”), which reflects the County’s positioning between the Irish Sea on the eastern border, and the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains on the western and southern borders respectively.

Krishna: What gave you the initial inspiration to set up your business blog and when did you start

Torry: We were aware that a number of local authorities had begun using different social media platforms as a way of keeping in touch with residents and the value of these were demonstrated during the water supply crisis in early January 2010.

We wanted to increase the ways in which we could communicate with customers and our ITC staff proposed a number of different web-based tools to do so, including the DLR Emergency Updates blog which was set-up in early 2010. This enabled Communications Office staff to update customers outside of office hours with crucial information that impacted upon County residents.

Krishna: What were your goals for the blog and how are you delivering against those goals?

Torry: We wanted to keep residents and other interested parties up to date with information that affects them, particularly in times of crisis.

During the water supply crisis in early 2010, the volume of calls to our water services section was overwhelming and we simply didn’t have the staff in place to answer calls in a timely fashion.

Setting up the blog and Aertel page 630 (established at the same time) was a ‘win – win situation’. Customers could access the up to the minute information about water supply restrictions and staff are able to move through the lower volume of calls more quickly and spend more time assisting customers with the more complex queries.

Feedback from the public has been very positive since the blog was introduced, but we also welcome further suggestions on how we can enhance communications with our customers, particularly in emergency situations.

Krishna: What was the reaction of your senior team when you told them you were starting to blog – did they have any concerns and if so how did you overcome them?

Torry: The reaction was generally positive. The blog is limited in scope, in that it serves primarily as a one-way information flow about specific Council services.

Krishna: What considerations did you have to take into account when deciding which blogging platform to use? Is there a reason that you decided to use Blogger rather than integrating it and hosting it on your website?

Torry: We were in the middle of a major website overhaul last year (our new site was launched in late October 2010) and rather than integrate a blog into a site that was to be changed in a matter of months, we opted for a stand alone service, which has served us very well thus far.

Krishna: What resources did you need to get started for example training of staff?

Torry: The great thing about Blogger is it is free to use, and incredibly easy to set-up and keep updated. We couldn’t recommend this more highly for organisations or businesses that are considering trying out blogging.

Initially only staff in the IT and Communications Offices were trained in using the site, but we’ve since given access to staff in Water Services, a section within the Council that would have need to communicate quickly and frequently with residents.

Krishna: Why did you decide not to allow comments on the blog

Torry: Good question – the blog was set-up to as a crisis management tool, and our priority was providing residents with regular information updates (i.e. on water supply and/or road conditions during poor weather).

While we acknowledge communication is a two way process, and enabling comments can be useful in terms of creating a greater connection between readers and our team, it was felt that the customer comment and complaint procedure we already operate through our website should be retained, at least initially.

We couldn’t commit to responding to each and every comment, especially as the nature of the blog is to update people during times of major service disruption or crisis, when staff are trying to keep multiple communication channels updated.

To facilitate those blog readers who wished to make a comment, we provided a dedicated email address for customers to report burst water mains and leaks, and we had a team of staff responding to these messages.

As you point out in a recent blog post (19 January 2011 “42 percent of UK consumers expect a response in 60 minutes to complaints they make on Twitter or Facebook”), customers expect to receive feedback within a relatively short time-frame, therefore if and when we begin to use other forms of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, we’ll need to have systems in place to respond to questions and comments that we receive via these platforms.

Krishna: Who is responsible for keeping the blog up to date – especially when you are posting content at the weekend and after hours? What sign off process do you have in place if any about what gets posted to the blog?

Torry: The blog is updated on an as-needed basis by either the Communications Office, IT, or Water Services, who have need to communicate frequently and on short notice with local residents. Updates outside of office hours are done only by two senior staff in the Communications Office who have discretion in terms of messaging.

That said, there is a robust process in place whereby the key information provided to the blog-updaters has been screened by senior engineers within our Water Services team or Transportation Department.

This is an essential part of the process – the priority for us is posting the correct information, even if it means waiting another few minutes for a detail to be confirmed.

Krishna: How did you go about building awareness of the blog?

Torry: We include the blog address in our contact details on press releases and when dealing with members of the media; we promote it via our website, and staff in key service Departments advise customers when they ring in of this service.

Our Councillors are also very supportive of this initiative, and promote it to their constituents.

Krishna: What benefit has the blog been to the public especially in the recent bad weather and the problems with water shortages – did you experience an increase in traffic to the blog?

Torry: Based on feedback via our comment form and directly to Departments, customers have found the blog very useful.

Traffic to our blog and website increased dramatically in recent months: between 7 December – 5 January 2011, the Council’s DLR Emergency Updates Blog received 51,700 page views, or an average of 1,723 views per day.

Krishna: What plans do you have for integrating other social media into your communications plans in the year ahead?

Torry: We are considering introducing Twitter to our overall communication plans, though some sections within the organisation are already using this platform.

Krishna: What have been your biggest learnings about using a blog as part of your communications plan?

Torry: I think that the timeframe in which people expect to receive information and updates on matters that affect them has shortened as we engage more closely with social media and news outlets, which operate on a 24/7 basis.

The blog has enabled us to more effectively work within that shortened timeframe and more often than not, meet the public’s needs in terms of information.

(Interview ends).

I do hope that you find this very open interview with Torry about the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council of value in considering blogging as part of your crisis communication plans. What other examples of blogs do you see being used in this way?

Business blogging at times of crisis: case study of dlr Emergency Updates Blog is an article post from: Biz Growth News. Remember to join our Facebook Page to access 5 marketing tutorials.