Blogger Illustrated

Did you know the world’s largest retailer, Walmart has a blog? Chances are you didn’t and that’s because it has to be the most beautiful example of a great corporate project that has failed miserably… and it is quite sad. The Checkout Blog, as it is named, started somewhere around December 2007 and is currently being severely neglected by a large team of Walmart management types who pose as the “writers.” As of today, there has been one post in all of 2010 and it is nothing more than a boring laundry list of sales links. No passion, no real human feel, nothing. And this on the official blog of a ginormous company with enough resources to conquer any niche anywhere on the web. So what gives? Why does the Walmart blog suck it so badly? Here’s what I think (in brief)…

3 Points About The Walmart Blog

(1) The Walmart blog FAILS! because big companies won’t devote the right resources to social media projects, if they devote any at all. Keep in mind that I work for a very large company and have for the past 12 years. I am a middle manager.

I am also the guy who has been quite outspoken when it comes to bending the ears of all the top execs at every chance I get, urging them to jump head long into social media and blogging. So far, my big mouth has really not made much of a difference because the lawyers have warned the c-level execs about the “dangers of social media.” But one good thing happend recently: the head of sales for our entire company took a pop shot at me at a high level meeting by snidly remarking, “well, if you need to get ahold of Allyn Hane, just go to his blog… har har ha ha…”

My company is stuck in the dark ages, so I applaud Walmart for at least giving it a go, but to be honest, the failure of the Checkout Blog actually speaks volumes more. It shows me that the giant Walmart does not see the value in blogging and web 2.0 style interactions. If they did, they’d hire 4 or 5 people who did nothing more than just blog, full time. But instead, the large team of writers for the Checkout Blog are middle and senior managers who are already very busy and stretched in their other responsibilities –meaning the blogging takes a back seat when things get busy. They also have no direct incentive to make the blog profitable, so they don’t.

Can you imagine the great things that could be done on a Walmart blog that was alive and full of passion and human interaction and cared for by a full time staff of fully invested employees? Let’s talk more about that in the next point ok?

(2) Without a doubt, blogs are the ULTIMATE social media tools for business and personal uses. Any so-called social media professional who does not value blogging for business is a fake and a liar, straight up! In the case of Walmart, their blog was started for the wrong reasons: this is obvious as it has been left to die a terrible death on a well-designed page.

Here Is What WALMART Should Do With Their BLOG

So what could the Walmart blog be? Let me run with it… after all, I am just a blogger myself…

Right now, it is spring time, and the Walmart near my house is loading the parking lot with all kinds of great landscaping supplies, trees, shrubs, flowers, fertilizers, top soil, garden statues and other cool outdoor decor. If Walmart had a full time lawn and garden blogger, that person could hold a small workshop teaching people how to build a beautiful flower pot bouquet with annuals. The entire workshop could be conducted in the local Walmart garden center and could be filmed, edited and posted on the blog. Cool right… and guess how many flower pots you would sell across the country? Probably more than a few, but you wouldn’t come off as pushy of overly marketing! You’d offer value locally at the store, and nationally on the blog… coolio!

Let’s go a step further: what if that lawn and garden Walmart blogger got together a group of Walmart employees and they went to a local nursery school in an economically depressed area and re-landscaped the front of the school using eco-friendly landscaping principles and native plantings that require little water? What if they also set up a compost bin and taught the kids some of the principles and uses behind composting? Video tape it and blog it boys and girls!!!!

How many compost bins could you sell at the local stores? But more than that, what great public relations feelings would this spread about the Walmart brand? How good would those volunteer employees feel about the good they did? How cool would it be for them to be on video or in pictures on the blog that is viewed by hundreds of thousands of people?What if the local TV news picked up the story? What if you tweeted about it? The possibilities are freeeeking endless!!!!!

Are you getting the point here guys? More than that, why is Walmart NOT getting the point?

(3) Big companies dumb down their employees and outsource creativity to people who are not personally invested in the business, thus harming their message and killing the passion dead! (I’m guessing a little here, but I bet many jobs that were performed by actual Walmart employees 20 years ago are now outsourced… not necessarily overseas, but they are outsourced to companies that are not directly related to Walmart) …So when mid-level employees are afforded a chance to be creative, like on the Walmart blog, they have forgotten how to be real, fun and passionate about their subject. They instead are used to following rules and staying inside a safe box of cold corporate guidelines. These Walmart employees are not in creative positions like marketing and design as those functions are now outsourced. They have also forgotten how to interact with humans who also happen to be customers. It’s become all about numbers, counts and profits, not relationships and meaningful interaction.

You guys tell me what you think. I am very interested in your opinions. By the way, this is EXACTLY why I am teaming up with Steve, Josh and Brian on a new project, Echelon Social Media Consulting. It’s about time.