Low budget gov’t blog wins over C-suite

How the deputy PR director at the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority successfully pitched an employee blog to fearful execs.

Shultz, the deputy PR director, presented his bosses with all the Web 2.0 tools communicator might use—blogs, podcasts, videos, even Second Life—and they responded mostly with fear and skepticism. The idea got shelved.

Sound familiar? It can be disheartening to learn about Web 2.0 tools only to have fearful execs squash the idea. In Shultz’s case, his bosses wondered why they should consider social media as a business application. What was its purpose?

They also presumed these online tools were expensive, feared they would hurt productivity and, of course, bristled at the thought of negative comments.

But Shultz didn’t give up and, in January, launched the Airport Authority’s Goodwill Ambassablog, an employee blog written for internal and external audiences.  

“My job’s never been more fun because I’m doing something I’ve done for years in my free time and now I’m able to marry it with my job … I’m loving that,” said Shultz, who blogged and podcasted on his own for 10 years.

Here’s how he created the blog and calmed his boss’s fears at the same time.

The right blog at the right time

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