It was a couple of days ago now, but Nat Torkington of O’Reilly had a great post about the kerfuffle (or was it a schlemozzle — or a brouhaha?) over Google’s Health blog and how the blogger in charge there took a run at Michael Moore’s movie Sicko in an attempt to sell the virtues of Google’s AdWords. If you’re interested in all of the back story, there’s a post at Search Engine Watch with details, and the blogger’s mea culpa is here.
Nat’s post (which I found via Media Influencer) does a great job of dissecting what went wrong with the Google post — and why that kind of thing is an endemic risk with corporate blogs:
“I feel sorry for Ms Turner, whose post has a painful logic to its existence. Blogs let you communicate directly with your audience. Of course, we’re too busy building product to communicate with our audience, so let’s hire a marketer to do it for us.”
What happens then, Nat says, is that the marketer tries to assume the voice of a blogger — that is, an authentic personal voice — but because what they are really trying to do is push an agenda, it all comes out pear-shaped:
“When inexperienced marketers get a blog, they all blog the same way. Their voice is as authentic as a Twinkie is organic.The time-honored marketing blog post formula is simple:
1. Find something topical. In Ms Turner’s case, it was the release of Michael Moore’s new film.
2. Identify the shiznit you wish to pimp. In Ms Turner’s case, it was Google’s Health Advertising services.
3. Find a line (however tenuous) between the two and the post just writes itself!”
Sadly, I have seen too many posts that fit that exact same formula. And it has the exact opposite effect as the one intended. Instead of making the company or the blogger in question look smart and clued-in, it makes the company and blogger in question look ridiculous and lame.
“So, to recap, the recipe for a disaster is easy: hire marketers with no authentic voice, ask them to pimp offal, and when they’re busted for it make them force out an apology in which they blame it on their authentic voice.
You too can make the front page of TechMeme for two days running with three easy steps, though you might get wet sleeves fishing your career prospects out of the toilet when you’re done. You’re welcome!”
Brilliant.