When I talk to people about creating great content for their blogs I almost always run them through the Old McDonald method. The biggest question always seems to come from the "O" or Outrage part. This is probably the most misunderstood and underused of the five ideas. The idea behind considering outrage as a valuable option for your content simply means you're not afraid to step into controversy. It's not about making people mad, it's about having the guts to say the thing someone else won't say.
Now, let's be honest. You probably don't like controversy. It's risky and can be a little lonely feeling. It's also one of the boldest things you can do if you want to show who you (or your organization) are. One of the most refreshing things about blogs is a new level of candid and honest discussion they create. It's one of the big cultural changes we can credit to bloggers and blogging. It's also one of the scariest things about blogs for businesses.
If you want to know whether you have the guts to be an outrageous blogger, think about addressing some (or all) of these five things in your future posts:
- Customer Dissatisfiers: If you work for a company and want to really make an impression on your customers, why not address the things you know they don't like? Use your blog to answer, respond, or explain anything you know they have a problem with. They may not like your answer, but at least you have given them some rationale or perspective for why you do what you do.
- Respond to Criticism: Most organizations know what their critics think. That criticism may come from competitors, vendors, interest groups, customers, or former employees. Why wouldn't you want to address the issues directly? Your silence gives them credit and authority over the issue whether they're correct or not.
- Apologize: If your organization made a mistake in the past but never really dealt with it publicly, consider bringing it back up to say you're sorry. Some people within your company will say there's no need to dredge up the past, but on the other hand you can use the apology to show you're not the same old organization anymore. Besides, you may be surprised to find how many people remember that incident from years ago and will be delighted to know you finally decided to address it. Nothing says you're ready for a fresh start like a genuine apology.
- Accept Responsibility: Some organizations mess up and are quick to apologize but never really accept responsibility. If this applies to you then you should know that your apology wasn't worth too much to begin with. Why not accept responsibility and apologize again (for real this time) to show that you've changed? If you haven't changed, nevermind.
- Talk about IT: Whether it's skeletons in the closet or elephants on the table, virtually every organization has something they would rather forget about. It is the big IT. It's like it has it's own personality. IT is the thing you don't talk about publicly. IT is what people only talk about in whispered tones. IT may be the first thing you need to talk about openly on your blog. Just because you don't want to talk about IT, doesn't mean IT's not there. More people know about IT than you think. Perhaps it's time to get over IT.