Blogging and KPI’s Just Don’t Mix

For a number of reasons that I won’t bore you all with this is going to be a very quick Whiteboard blog post today.  Oh yeah, I can hear those sighs of relief down the back there.  Look I know I can be a bit verbose sometimes but come on, this is way more fun than typing up candidate reports and reference checks, I can barely contain myself by the time Friday morning comes around.

And that is what I wanted to look at today.  The fact that blog writing is fun.  Which is as it should be, in my opinion.  But more than that, to actually engage with an audience and develop some sort of following, it needs to be something you feel compelled to do, something that is purely an outlet for the words you want to say, like a super-sized Twitter account, because I reckon it comes through in your words and writing style.  You lot reading this right now aren’t mugs, and choose to read this instead of a million other things trying to grab your attention on the web right now.  And thank you for that.

But something about blog writing is irrevocably lost when companies, seeking to elevate their social media presence, push employees towards blog writing or contributing to the company blog when that employee isn’t really inclined to do so.  Check out this message I received recently:

“Hope you and your team are doing well. One of my team at Optimation has a KPI associated with writing on our Optimation Blog. She’s a very bright Project Manager, but do you have any hints and tips on successful blogging for beginners perhaps?”

Now don’t get me wrong here.  I applaud that company’s willingness to push out into the blogosphere and play around in the social media space.  I also applaud my contact using social media to reach out to me for advice.  Sharing information is really what social media is all about.  But turning blog contributions into a KPI?  Hmmm….that doesn’t seem quite in the spirit of things.

There’s actually some good posts on the blog and if you’re into IT solutions you should check it out here, but the lack of comments on the blog posts and no evidence of social sharing tells its own story really.

I know Ross Clennett bemoans the lack of recruitment bloggers across Australasia (stating that there are currently about 20), but I’m not convinced turning blog writing into a KPI is the way forward.

What do you reckon?