Our company would like to start a blog; however, we have limited internal time/resources to develop it ourselves.  Is it ethical to hire an agency to manage and write our blog?

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By Jennifer Manocchio

Unlike other marketing and public relations strategies, social media (blogging, microblogging, social networks, communities, etc.) is all about transparency.

At Sweeney, we feel strongly that in order to be transparent with your audience, you or someone in your organization needs to be writing the blog posts.  It is however, completely acceptable to have an agency help manage your blog.  The agency can provide an editorial calendar of blog topics, design the blog, determine who will be writing it, provide you with keywords for SEO purposes, drive traffic to your blog and get your blog listed on blog rolls and blog directories.  But in order to participate transparently, someone within your organization needs to be blogging.

It can be acceptable to have someone else other than the designated blogger write a post if it makes sense – a vendor, client or partner for example.  However, be sure this is clearly identified in the “by line” or signature of the blog post.

While it may seem like a quick and easy answer to have an agency write your blog posts, it will go against the grain of social media and in the end, will not help your organization speak openly and transparently with your target audiences.

Need support developing your social media strategy?  Contact me at jennifer at sweeneypr.com or 910-772-1688.