![\"Jim](\"https:\/\/www.emersonprocessxperts.com\/images\/JimCahill.jpg\" "\\"Jim")
<\/a>It took two years for Jim Cahill and\u00a0 Deb Franke to convince the management at Emerson Process Management that a blog was a good idea. Their reticence was understandable. It was 2005, and blogs were widely perceived to be the domain of teenage diarists and scandal-mongers. Why would anyone want to get mixed up with that? And why would they want to read about equipment that manages large industrial plants?<\/p>\nThey persevered. Some technology copies were creeping into the blogosphere at the time and clearly enjoying good results. Cahill and Franke eventually overcame objections by arguing that, as communications people, they understood the pitfalls and how to manage them. Emerson Process Experts<\/a> was born.<\/p>\n Four years and a more than 500 entries later, Cahill is enjoying a new job as head of social media at Emerson Process Management. Process Experts was named Best Corporate Blog by BtoB magazine in 2010<\/a> and Cahill is now leading the company\u2019s charge into Twitter and Facebook while institutionalizing best practices among all the Emerson Process Management divisions.<\/p>\n The blog has brought numerous business opportunities into Emerson, including an invitation to bid on a large, new plant that could total hundreds of millions of dollars. \u201cI have the e-mail from that company on my wall next to a sign that asks \u2018Is there any value in blogging?\u2019\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n Even after four years, Emerson Process Experts remains an enigma in a heavy industry that has done little with social media. Topics like \u201cSensing Liquid Levels with Vibrating Fork Technology\u201d may cause the average visitor\u2019s eyes to cross, but the elite engineers who run giant process control systems can\u2019t get enough of this kind of technical wisdom.<\/p>\n And for a blog this specialized, the traffic is pretty impressive. About 2,000 visitors stop by on an average business day and 15 to 20 messages land in Cahill\u2019s inbox every week. While most are routine, a few gems inquire about business opportunities. After replying with a thank you message, Cahill forwards them on to the sales team.<\/p>\n One reason is the search engine magic that blogs deliver. Search on \u201cprocess control\u201d or \u201cprocess management\u201d and Emerson ranks in the top five results. Even rarely used terms like \u201ccompressor surge control\u201d deliver Emerson on Google\u2019s first page. The secret is the lack of competition. As an established presence in a community with few other bloggers, Cahill is a big fish in a small pond. And as we know, Google loves blogs.<\/p>\n Cahill approaches his job with a reporter\u2019s eye. He isn\u2019t an engineer, but with more than 20 years at the company, he understands the lingo and is able to write in the customer\u2019s language. \u201cWhen I pass people in the hall, I\u2019ll ask if they had any recent customer interactions that were interesting,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ll dig into those stories and use the language that the experts used to solve the problem. Those stories are rich in the keywords that customers use.\u201d<\/p>\n His advice to prospective b-to-b bloggers: \u201cBe prepared to stick with it for a while; it takes a couple of years to build up your presence. Listening is a key skill. Blogging isn\u2019t just pushing out information, it\u2019s responding to the interests of your market.\u201d<\/p>\n Thanks, also, to my other panelists: Kirsten Watson of\u00a0Kinaxis<\/a>, Mary Ann\u00a0Fitzmaurice Reilly of\u00a0American Express OPEN<\/a> and Petra Neiger, whose team at\u00a0Cisco Systems created the wonderful My PlanNet<\/a> simulation game for network managers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was privileged to moderate the BtoB magazine Social Media Awards Breakfast in New York this week. There I got a chance to meet some remarkable people who took chances on social marketing before it was fashionable and won. I … Continue reading Search Engine Magic<\/h3>\n
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