8 Steps to Starting an HR Blog (and 3 Reasons Why You Should)

Quick Summary: Blogging about HR topics—including information about employee benefits, health care plans, and wellness programs—is one way to reach employees more frequently and effectively. Why should you start a blog?

The idea of starting a blog is usually met with a simple question: “Why?” The benefits presented along the right column of the table are good responses to that question. So is this simple statement: Employees are bombarded with messages, and it’s necessary to start a conversation with them, not just send them information and hope they read and understand it.

HR departments often face 3 challenges when communicating benefits and health-related information to their workforces:

CHALLENGE	SPECIFIC PROBLEM	HOW A BLOG HELPS
Voice	It’s stuffy. Messages about benefits and health-related issues are often viewed as directions in business-speak, not as helpful insight.	It’s conversational. Messages in plain-speak are more likely to be read and applied. Advice seems to come from a trusted friend rather than from the firm.
Frequency	It’s few and far between. Messages (especially about benefits) often come in the form of annual meetings or occasional newsletters.	It’s recurrent. Frequent messages keep topics at the top of employees’ minds. Employees can anticipate communication, making messages more active and less passive.
Interaction	It’s one-sided. Messages are often one-sided—information flows from the company to employees and doesn’t include ways employees can respond with comments and questions.	It’s dynamic. Employees are given a forum to respond, react, and ask questions. They can communicate with the company and each other.

Mario Sundar, a community evangelist at social media network LinkedIn and a board member of the American Marketing Association, says companies that start blogs are more likely to have their workplace messages read and discussed by employees.

Sundar says HR departments should first analyze their strategy before considering how to post blog entries and what to post.

Here are 8 steps to follow:

1. Define your vision. You could use a blog as an educational tool, a feedback generator, a conversation starter, an informal focus group, or any combination of those.

2. Designate a chief blogger. Whoever is responsible for creating or sending benefits and health-related messages is a prime candidate.

3. Define your categories. Once your vision is clear, consider what content you’ll add to the blog. If your vision is to encourage participation in your wellness program, then categories (also called “tags”) could include “program benefits,” “exercise insight,” and so on.

4. Enlist contributors. Before you start blogging, get a list of possible blog contributors from within your organization. The more people chiming in, the better. Encourage employees to “talk back” by commenting on the blog. (Caution: It’s wise to include an administrative function that necessitates company approval prior to blog comments appearing.)

5. Create a calendar. “Unlike a personal blog, where you could craft any random post depending on the day’s zeitgeist, a corporate blog is built for a specific purpose and so a calendar of posts is essential,” Sundar says. “The calendar can also be built around the different categories/tags you’ve envisioned, and that way you’ll have a steady flow of posts.” A good rule of thumb: 2 or 3 entries per week.

6. Define your template/layout. A blog template should complement your company brand. When in doubt, choose simple backgrounds and an easy-to-read format.

7. Veer toward content that provides value. If your blog is an educational tool, focus on posts that encompass outline tutorials, links to concise information, and useful multimedia.

8. Measure progress. Most blog software includes analytics features that enable users to track, plan, and measure the growth of the blog, including who’s seeing it, what links they’re following, and how long they’re staying.

Next Steps:

• Type “free blog software” into a search engine to learn more about how to set up a blog. Popular ones include Blogger.com and WordPress.org.

• Who’s in the loop? Some employees simply will not read blogs or cannot (no computer access). Brainstorm ways to reach these employees who are out of the loop. A possible solution would be to summarize blog information in other communication vehicles such as your company newsletter or intranet site.

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