Write a Corporate Blog That Matters

Perhaps your company is considering a blog as part of their marketing strategy for customer acquisition or retention or maybe it’s as simple as your management thinks it’s the “in” thing to have one. Or, perhaps your existing corporate blog has stalled due to the time-demand of generating content.

Today at the Online Media Bootcamp, I will talk about how to get started with a corporate blog and how to keep it from stalling.

The key take aways from the workshop will be

• Why start a blog and who the best corporate bloggers are
• Best practices for blogging
• 3-easy steps to set up a corporate blog and optimize it
• How to make sure your content pipeline is always filled with reader-centric material

A corporate blog can be a challenge to write. In order to write something that matters, you need to have editorial freedom over what you write. That means no lengthy approval processes, no committees looking over your shoulder, no competing agendas. 

We're used to thinking about corporate as bad - the home office, the brand police, the people making and enforcing the rules. Vs. the field, which is where we think things really get done - more entrepreneurial.

When passion for and knowledge of what you write are easier to find in the field, a technical or specialized blog may work better than a general corporate blog. They may work better also for search. There's a higher likelihood that you might refresh a blog than a Web page.

The challenge with writing a blog that matters at work is also that you need to write for the inspiration, benefit, and interest of your readers. Say what you will, but rarely a corporate brochure is written with a point of view and the reader square in the middle. And so is a Web page.

Is writing a corporate blog that matters also a decision? We do know that there are many advantages to a blog vs. a Web page. It allows you to have:

• many more keywords - because you will write more
• older content that stays with the site - the reverse chronological format and the fact that you don't replace content with a blog but you keep adding
• new content added frequently
• inbound links, potentially from high-ranking sites
• potential value from specific content

The greater consideration for writing a corporate blog that matters is engagement. When I talk to customers, I hear that the three main reasons why they read something are - (1) education; (2) engagement; (3) entertainment. Bottom line, people like people.

Blogs are places for social interaction. When it comes to understanding and utilizing the online media for building relationships, we're still in the infancy. Many marketers look at the online medium as a new channel for the off line tactics. That's primarily what is preventing organizations from having a blog that matters.

What if you provided a space for people to interact and connect with other people? What if you went out there with the intention to be helpful and provide useful information, connections, and ideas? As Zig Ziglar said, "If you go looking for a friend, you're going to find they're very scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you'll find them everywhere."

[Image hat tip Pavel Senko]

Comments

[Christa M. Miller]

I was thrilled when my client took my advice on his blog -- stopped talking about how everything related to his product and instead started just to blog about the issues in his industry.

That said, as CEO, he is struggling to find time to blog. I have suggested group blogging but he doesn't seem to be ready for that yet. At that point is it enough to commit to once a week or even two?

Also, what are your thoughts on good grammar/spelling in blogs? Do you think as long as the thoughts are clear, a few typos lend authenticity? Or should a blog be as polished as possible?

[Ryan Scharfer]

Thanks for the post. I am trying to get a corporate blog going at my place of work, so I am Google Alerts sending me everything regarding the topic. In regards to your question: I think correct grammar and spelling are must. I personally know of an excellent blog that I almost discontinued reading because the spelling and grammar mistakes were so disappointing. They ABSOLUTELY substracted from the author's credibility. Later, he brought up this issue and said he hired an editor to catch the mistakes before they are published. I once again enjoy reading his blog.

[Ryan Scharfer]

Ironically, I did't proof-read the previous post before I sent it out. Let's try that again..

Thanks for the post. I am trying to get a corporate blog going at my place of work, so I am using Google Alerts to have as much of this topic sent to me. Regarding Christa's question: I think correct grammar and spelling are a must. I personally know of an excellent blog that I almost discontinued reading because the spelling and grammar mistakes were so disappointing. They ABSOLUTELY subtracted from the author's credibility. Later, he broached this issue and said he hired an editor to catch the misakes before they were published, thankfully. I can now safely say I enjoy reading his blog again..

[Stuart Foster]

Corporate blogs are useful as long as they provide some value beyond being just a place to announce trade shows, product launches and other corporate announcements.

It's not a corporate announcement page...it's a blog. If you show humanity, humility and a genuine interest in exploring and interacting with your community: you are ridiculously ahead of the game.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Christa - thank you so much for leaving these questions for they were inspiration for our conversation about blogging this morning. It's quite alright to set expectations on posting. Regular does not mean every day, it means periodical. I find that making a regular habit or schedule helps with discipline. It's a promise we make ourselves and our readers. Please do spell check and use correct or proper grammar. They will hep convey clarity of thought. Extemporaneous does not mean the reader should struggle to figure out what it means. Thank you for asking.

@Ryan - we're in agreement on spelling and grammar. Our brain actually grows by use and changes, even physically, as we learn. So we'd like the input to be correct and, as you point out, not distracting.

@Stuart - indeed, if you just did what you suggest, you would be "ridiculously ahead of the game." Good expression.

[Deb Kolaras]

What a great, useful post. Many companies are lost in the purpose and use of a blog - this illustrates really the ease and functionality with which it can be done, plus, it emphasizes what a blog really should do: connect, support, help, spur ideas.