Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/56539
bring problems to light, so adminis- trators can know about them and fix them more quickly. Set the Stage for Successful Blogging For a business school, successful blogging rests on the fundamentals of any marketing effort: Identify objectives, create a plan, and enlist talented people to carry that plan out. Six keys to success: Create an open forum. At the Univer- sity of Virginia's Darden School of Business in Charlottesville, Dean to the school's ideal candidates—a New Yorker interested in a financial career or a Californian focused on tech operations. Prospective students identify with bloggers who are most like them or whom they aspire to be. Let authors know how many posts Robert Bruner has his own blog at www.darden.edu/html/deansblog. aspx. Before the blog was launched, the school's marketing department did have concerns. "At the time, the dean had just started," says Ken White, vice president of communications and marketing. "I didn't know how he might react to a critical response on the blog." But when White mentioned to his student advisors that he planned to police the blog for negative content, they respond- ed adamantly. 3 they'll need to write per week, month, or quarter. Authors should also be identified on an "About Us" page or with a short bio and photo at the end of each post. Set Parameters. Like a Web site, a blog is an opportunity to tell a school's story; therefore, authors must know well the school's core values. They also must know what topics are off limits. You may want to consult with the school's legal team to create a blog policy and have authors agree to its terms. But once authors know the parameters of the blog, let them go. Don't editorialize or control con- tent. A blog's audience appreciates real people, so blog posts should be written in the same voices that authors would use in their face-to- face interactions. 4 5 Pick a Platform. Blogging is made possible by user-friendly platforms that work much like course management systems. Among the most popular are WordPress, Typepad, Moveable Type, and Vox. Emerging platforms like Twitter and Tumblr, which allow for very brief messages, represent where blogging might be headed. Different packages offer hosted service, which means you don't have to maintain the software or servers where the blog lives. Others offer downloadable software packages that your IT group can deploy on your own servers. Or, if you have the right staff, you can develop your own blog software in-house. Be Creative. Make sure your blog is attractive, professional, and engaging at first glance. Choose a memorable name for your blog and a Web site address that's easy to spell— and even witty and fun, if appropriate. That's what Columbia Business School had in mind when it branded its blog "Public Offering." An effective name ties in well with your school's brand. "They said, 'You can't. That's not how it works,'" says White. "They were good about teaching us that a comment that doesn't agree with the dean is actually an oppor- tunity for him to facilitate a whole new conversation." White forecasts upcoming topics of importance and suggests them to the dean as possible subjects for the blog. The posts themselves, how- ever, come directly from the dean. "The dean writes on planes, in the car," says White. "Wherever he is, he'll do a post." Blog with purpose. To create a blog that means something, first know what you want to accomplish by starting one. Don't let technology alone drive the decision, White emphasizes. "I get a call about once a month from a school whose dean or presi- dent wants a blog. My first question is, 'Why?' Most of the time, the answer is, 'I don't know.'" That's not the right answer, he empha- sizes. A blog should do more than simply increase event sign-ups or applications. It should add value to the world—or at least to the con- versation about topics important to the school. For instance, Darden's student advisors suggested that Dean Bruner use his blog as a forum to share his speeches and presentations. "They said that when they heard the dean speak, they walked away feeling that they had heard something meaning- ful," says White. "That indicated that the blog format could offer a power- ful differentiator." The students pointed to examples, offered tips, and explained that the dean should treat the blog just like a classroom, with the intent to facilitate reader questions and feedback. BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2009 57