Corporate Wikis as thought leadership

Wikis are started by an organization as thought leadership content because it wants to be seen as an important player in a distinct marketplace.

"You can use Wikis to reach the people you want to reach and help them to organize content," says Ramit Sethi, cofounder and vice president of marketing for PBwiki, a company that provides Wiki software tools. "So if you’re in a company, you can use a Wiki to allow your users to add their own Frequently Asked Questions, and other people can supply answers, which helps everyone. People love being a part of the community, and they really like that a Wiki gives them a way to discuss their interests." Sethi says that the personality and culture of an organization play an important role in the decision to start a company-sponsored Wiki. "Companies that are a little bit fearless about letting people write their opinions make the best candidates for a Wiki," he says. "But the most important thing is that you need to build something that is worth talking about and you need to make it really easy. People don't want to install all kinds of software, they just want to get typing."

In September 2005, Alacra and its CEO, Steve Goldstein, unveiled AlacraWiki an open and collaborative resource for producers and consumers of business information. AlacraWiki brings together in-depth profiles of information sources, companies, and important people in the industry, and much more. The front page, which populates via RSS feeds, is filled with information industry news from the premier analysts and trade publications.

To embrace the power of the Web and the blogosphere requires a different kind of thinking on the part of marketers. We need to learn to give up our command-and-control mentality. It isn’t about "the message." It's about being insightful. The New Rules of Marketing and PR tell us to stop advertising and instead get our ideas out there by understanding buyers and telling them the stories they want to hear. Done well, Web content that delivers authentic thought leadership also brands an organization as one to do business with.

Comments

[Tina Lang-Stuart]

Excellent point David on new media being able to support a company's brand.

This bring me to the point of company-sponsored wikis. Being able to allow employees to share their thoughts freely (without repercussions) and contribute their opinions to solve a company problem can also help tremendously with internal branding.

A brand can only be effective if the internal brand matches the external brand. In both cases, social media can help!

[David Meerman Scott]

Tina, you are right. When employees can add their ideas in a public forum such as a Wiki (or blog) they tend to have much more buy-in and ownership in the company. Thanks for the comment