• For those of you tracking corporate blogging among the Fortune 500, Emerson Process Management, a subsidiary of Emerson (NYSE:EMR), is now blogging both internally and externally at EmersonProcessXperts.com.

This is exactly what a corporate blogging initiative should look like. The blog features posts on:

How Emerson is addressing industry challenges:

- Building Operator Experience

- Complying with International Safety Standard IEC 61511

Customer service success stories:

- Identifying Sugar Mill Turbine Instability Causes

- Stabilization Expertise Needed ASAP

Summaries of discussions in other venues:

- Single Bus vs. Multi-bus Installations

- Managing Hot Cutovers in Refineries

What I'm particularly impressed by with this blog are:

• How well they are telling stories. I don't know or care a thing about their industry, and yet I still found the stories engaging.


• The signs that their employees (not just the lead blogger) are engaging in other venues. One of the points we make in the book is that you can't just start your own conversation and expect everyone else to join -- you have to join the conversation where it is already taking place.

The blog has been live less than a month and they're already getting supportive comments from readers:

Great start. I just found the blog and will tell my readers. It looks just like what I've been asking the industry to do. Keep it up.

They've also gotten great executive support -- the new blog is featured prominently on the Emerson Process home page.

About the author: Scott Allen is the About.com Entrepreneurs Guide and coauthor of The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online.