Q&A with a Corporate Blogger: Ken Kaplan, Intel

Have you ever wondered about the real people who run the biggest corporate blogs? This week, we’re sitting down with them to get their thoughts about the broader issues and landscape of social media at the corporate level.

Ken Kaplan, Broadcast and New Media Manager for Intel

Describe your role in the social media efforts at Intel?
Intel is a big company with over 80,000 employees in hundreds of countries around the world.  It may not be able to turn on a dime, but its culture of innovation mixed with a dose of paranoia has empowered its employees to walk, run and leap ahead into the world of social media.  Four phases have moved Intel to a stronger role of participating online from blogging to communities to advertising.  These phases may be guide rails for progress as other companies get more into social media because that’s where their audiences are spending more time.

The four phases:

1. Pioneers — A small group of individuals from the IT department

2. Settlers — A wave of enthusiast stormed in and helped form guidelines, implement tools such as blogs, new online communities and grow our a new culture of collaboration

3. Shift to Online – Significant advertising $ and marketing resources shift to online

4. Global Scale — Aggregate best practices and current guidelines to build a new Digital IQ education program

Describe your role at Intel.
I work as the Broadcast and new media manager for the Global Communication Group, where I help with storytelling strategy, production and online participation.

What do you love most about your job?
Getting to work with talented people from across the company who are passionate and believe in Intel’s spirit of innovation.

What is the biggest challenge you face with social media?
There are so many things we could do…..

What advice do you have for marketers just beginning to utilize social media?
Value sharing and authenticity.  Find mentors or role models.  Dive in and participate.  Ask for help, never stop learning and keep sharing your experiences.

What are your three favorite blogs?
Well….Twitter!

Jeremiah Owyang — Understanding the present and understanding the future of social computing’s impact on business

Seth Godin — Keeping the mind sharp and on the razor’s edge

UMPCPortal.com — Building a community by focusing on interest in the evolution of small, mobile Internet devices

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Meet Ken at BlogWell on October 28 in San Jose, where he will be presenting a case study on the four phases of "Intel Inside Social Media."

Get practical, how-to advice, a lesson in disclosure and corporate social media responsibility, and loads of ideas and examples – all for $200.

BlogWell is presented by GasPedal and the Blog Council.