Lately, I’ve been reading a lot about companies that ghost blog. Some are against it, while others see nothing wrong with it.
If you’re not sure what ghost blogging is, it’s exactly the same as ghost writing, with the difference being it’s blogs instead of articles or novels that are being written.
The term ghost writing simply means that the person recognized as the author didn’t actually write it. Instead, another writer does the work, usually receives a flat rate for his or her time, and the person they wrote for takes the credit.
As far as a book or instruction article goes, this is a pretty normal situation (I’ve done quite a bit of business ghost writing myself).
After all, a book (unless it’s an autobiography) or an instructional article is fairly impersonal – so does it really matter who wrote the piece in question?
With a blog, however, the rules change. A blog is the personal view of someone. Where they can release themselves from the shackles of a company, or what people expect them to say, and be honest and open with their opinions.
Additionally, a blog is about trust. People come to your blog initially through either curiosity or recommendation. If they like what you say, they may even stay around and read some more, whether by email subscription or RSS feed. And perhaps they’ll recommend you to their friends as well.
As I say, this comes from trust. Trust that you’ll be honest with your views, whether they agree with them or not. Trust that your views are yours and yours alone. Trust that if they’re listening to your advice or opinions, it’s because you believe them yourself.
Without that trust, a blog is virtually worthless. Which, by association, makes the blogger virtually worthless (and I don’t mean that in any derogatory or harsh way).
Which brings us back to ghost blogging. And, more specifically, corporate ghost blogging.
I own my own company and as someone who always encourages my clients to start a company blog if they don’t have one, it’d be fairly contradictory if I didn’t have my own. And it is my own – everything on here is written by me. After all, if it’s going to be a pointer of any kind about my business, I want to make sure it’s me that’s coming across in the message.
So what about businesses that use ghost bloggers? Do you look at them any differently than you would if one of the directors was the company blogger? Is there any difference between a director blogging or simply offering guidelines for a ghost blogger to follow? It is still the same message, after all.
Isn’t it?
