One of the best ways to raise morale is through an internal newspaper that keeps employees appraised on what is going on with the company. They foster a sense of belonging, especially if you cover employee birthdays, events and special happenings within the office. However, if your resources are a bit strapped, you may not have the time to put together a special publication. Print costs are not cheap, and it can be quite time intensive to publish a newspaper each month.
In order to get the benefits that a company newspaper can bring, without the downsides, you can begin to use your corporate blog to fill this position. By including your employees in your blog’s news, they will feel more a part of the company and they will want to share the posts with their friends. Everyone likes feeling like a star, and a blog is a great way to share news, promote friendly competition among employees and keep everyone updated.
Before you jump in and start making your corporate blog into an internal newspaper, there are a few things that you should remember:
1. Ask before using last names.
A lot of people prefer not to have their full names splashed all over the internet. You may not realize it, but if other sites are including your RSS feed, your posts are appearing all over the internet. Always ask permission to use an employee’s last name, or err on the side of caution and use first names only, or their first name and last initial. They will know who you are talking about, but your readers won’t. In today’s environment of identity theft and cyber stalking, last names should be avoided.
2. Always remain professional.
Sure, it’s a fun company newspaper, but the general public will have access to it. Unless you are going to password protect the posts for your internal news, you will need to keep that veneer of professionalism up at all times. It’s one thing to be lighthearted and fun, it’s quite another to veer towards being unprofessional. If something has the potential to be spun in a way that is negative towards your company, don’t publish it.
3. Be wary of posting photographs.
A lot of companies like to use photographs on their blogs to let the public know that there are real people working for the company. This is terrific, but you should always remember point one above. Never use last names to identify people in a photo. The public doesn’t really need full disclosure, they’ll be able to see the real people – they don’t need their names. Again, with the threats to people’s safety, it is best to err on the side of caution.
These are just a few things to remember before adding this option to your corporate blog. Remember, if you don’t want the public to know something about your company – don’t write it! Always keep the fact that news can be twisted in front of you while you are writing your blog.
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While it would be great if all companies had no internal problems and everything ran smoothly, this does not always happen. There will be times that your corporate blog can turn into a mess if you do not get control of internal fighting and issues that can get out of hand. If you are letting several employees run their own blogs, there is a big temptation out there for them to use this as a forum to vent their frustration. Here’s how to handle that if it happens.