Corporate Bloggers: Look Outside the Walls, not Inside for Content Ideas

Feel uninspired? Need more time to think about a post? Dreading the moment when you will sit down to write?

It's probably because you're literally drawing inspiration and ideas only from one pool of experience - your company's. Don't get me wrong, it's important to ground what you say in your organization's bread and butter, it's what makes the business unique, different, a contribution.

What makes a blog approachable, lively, and... a blog is its contact with the rest of the world - all those people who do not live your reality day in day out. Some of them are customers, partners, potential employees and colleagues. How can you possibly see your own world through their eyes?

It's like the ebb and tide isn't it? An ocean of content out there, and you in there working diligently to extract and prop up every last crystal of sand while all sorts of fun things are happening on the waves outside. Dive in, jump over the walls, and play outside.

There are many sources of great content you can take back and mold into interesting posts. A few ideas on where to turn for inspiration:

•  industry news as selected by your peers and connections on LinkedIn, in trade magazine blogs (look in the comments section, too), and forums - I found Toolbox for IT as a case study in a book and met Dennis Stevenson when he linked to this blog.

• conversations with customers and partners - I might be the chatty kind, but I find reason to ask what customers are thinking about and reading whenever I can. Many of the posts I've been writing recently are a result of questions I receive during presentations and feedback I received in the survey I ran a couple of weeks ago.

• comments in competitors' and industry analysts blogs - why not? You could have the answers or make a go at an interesting exploration. It might give you an opportunity to invite guests for interviews at your blog as well. Consultants or independents might make for an interesting opinion piece.

• participation in the comments to the posts of others - I hear you, there are so many hours in a day. Same hours I have at my disposal, in case you wondered. It really is important to become a member of a community, and to do that you want to show good manners. Pick one or two blogs per day, make it a habit and it won't seem so daunting. You'll be surprised at how quickly you can get attention when you give yours.

• bookmarks by customers or people you'd consider part of your community of practice - look into Delicious, FriendFeed, and Bloglines, for example. We'll do a deeper dive on the tools. For now, just remember to check them out.

• presentations at events that would be a fit with your subject matter - virtual events are also a possibility. Another option is to search for tags or topics in SlideShare. It did pass the one million mark members last December, so there is quite a bit of inventory in there. What are people resonating with? Conversely, what knowledge whole exists that you could fill?

• public conversations about a subject matter of interest to others - you probably saw those thematic hashtags on Twitter. Some example are #blogchat hosted by Mack Collier, #journchat hosted by PR Sarah Evans, #pr2.0chat hosted by Beth Harte. You can find those trending topics on the right hand side. FriendFeed doesn't have the reach of Twitter, but it could be good if the people you're connecting with are there. There's a bloggers discussion room, for example.

• colleagues in other kinds of jobs at your company - people in customer facing positions will see the world differently than you or someone who may not be delivering a service or product directly. In that sense, they do work and operate outside the confines of your walls. I bet you that those associates Disney casts as characters in the parks know how to tell a family is having fun in the rides.

Your job as communicator, writer, editor is to understand what you can say and how you can say it. You'll have good streaks and dry spells. What I find most useful during those leaner times is a nice walk on the beach to see who's out there.

What about you? Where do you find inspiration? What's the hardest part of balancing the company's message and the community's needs and wants? Who helps you the most?

__________

Related posts:

Top Ten Reasons Why Your Company Should not Have a Blog

3 Things You Should Know Before Starting a Blog

Corporate Blogs

© 2006-2009 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Stuart Foster]

The random aspect of just reading an RSS feed every day and searching for potential ideas to expound upon is often all I need to create a fantastic post. I'm currently blogging at Mullen.com and thelostjacket.com. I usually find something cool every hour. You just need to know where to look.

[David Spinks]

Interesting post. I've definitely had trouble consistently keeping useful content updated on the blogs that I write for. Much of the time, the issue isn't necessarily what to write, but which blog to write it for. When it comes down to it you just have to think about who you're writing to and what they're looking to learn. Write for your audience.

David
Scribnia Community Manager

[Matthew Ray]

Solid post. Jumping out to LinkedIn Group Discussion boards are key. Corporations should set them up and ask customers/partners to join in the conversation. Q&A on LinkedIn can and should also be heavily leveraged. A blogger's next post could come from the insight of a question and answer on a particular topic. Twitter is big too, information gets pushed out to you unlike using an RSS feed where you have to actively look. There has been a lot of talk lately that RSS feeds are being taken over by twitter. I agree; never liked RSS feeds to begin with - I'd rather do a google search (if twitter was around that is). Then to help spread the word, give kudos to where the initial thought came from; the conversation spreads and your network spreads.

[Lewis Green]

Valeria,

You are so right! Unfortunately, especially in busy corporate departments or for growing business, time is a factor. In my life, if it weren't for Twitter I would not have the time to look outside our walls. In fact, I am here because Mark retweeted your post, and I depend on others to filter what I should be reading.

I have a business to run and consultants to direct and work with so our clients receive both great experiences and ROI. That takes 7 days a week to accomplish, and my family deserves the remainder of my time. Therefore, reading happens only when a trusted peer refers something. I don't believe I am unusual in that regard, unless it's in my commitment to my family.

[Ricardo Bueno]

I'm not in corporate america. I work at a small consultancy (~10 employees). We manage hundreds of clients. Personally, I host webinars for ~40 clients a week. It can be quite the undertaking between this, managing events, and managing other projects.

As you can see, I feel the pinch of time constraints like anyone else. After all, there are only so many hours in the day. But if I don't read industry news, connect with colleagues via the web and read content in- and around the web, I feel like I'm not improving. And if I'm not improving I can't be as helpful as I can be to my clients and team.

Every morning I sift through my feedreader for at least 30 minutes; it doesn't sound like a lot but it's plenty. Well, that and I've learned to read fast (or skim). If not for my feedreader, I wouldn't be able to consume a lot of content.

The other content that I read is, like Lewis, that which is referred to me by my colleagues. We have a business Gmail account so it's easy to stay connected via chat. In fact, being connected like this helps us ensure that we're connected with the company's message and the community's needs and wants.

[Karen Hegmann]

Valeria

Great tips on how to get through a dry spell. I love the photo of the sand castle and felt inspired looking at it already! (nature helps too...I often take a walk and stare at the trees to calm my mind).

For content ideas, I often surf the major marketing sites (BrandWeek, AdAge, etc.) They also feature key bloggers and it gives you an idea as to what other people are talking about.

I find too that if you tell your friends what you are doing, they'll often come up with ideas that might be interesting for your blog. Most people would really love to help! (my husband is great at this and is always sending me links of potential interest for a story).

There's an endless list of resources out there and often it's just a matter of sitting down to do the work!

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Stuart - the other thought is that all you need often is just a little spark and you're off onto a fantastic idea and post. Isn't that the case?

@David - Looking at your about page and recent post, I'm thinking that we never communicated as humans. Yet, we did. Before the industrial age, in the agriculture age and even before then, we even spread stories and transmitted them from one generation to the next. It's part of being human. We always write for ourselves, without exception. It's what helps us process information and grow our brain from birth to maturity. Occasionally, others are in the room with us and we think together. So while we change our brains, only on rare occasions, we're ready to change our minds. Thank you for the thought-provoking comment.

@Matthew - several people in my network who do not have blogs have used LinkedIn successfully, as if it were their blog. Small businesses might do the same, launch great discussions with questions and be very thoughtful in answering questions by others. Not every company needs a blog.

@Lewis - you don't need to convince me I'm sold on being busy and not having enough hours in a day. Referrals from peers in our network are becoming very important indeed in our time starved days - and so are engaging discussions and interactions where the content plays back to our needs, hopes and even loves.

@Ricardo - we're all interconnected in addition to being interdependent. News and stories matter to our decisions as much as charts and projections. Improving means also being aware of the changing and evolving context in which we operate. Good to hear you check in with each other at work.

@Karen - changing scenery does help. I have two posters of the main square in Modena hanging from my office - they're my happy place. I see that trend on Twitter. People asking their network for ideas and examples even before they've written the post. It really does help jump start your thinking when you do it out loud with others and, as you said, people are good with helping each other. Doing the work, now that requires a whole different set of skills :)

[Fran Melmed]

before starting my own firm, i was at a consulting org for many years and worked with talented, smart people. it was all too easy to assume we knew lots about what was going on in our area of expertise. this post is a great reminder about complacency and learning and the need to seek out information, ideas, and exchanges with those near and far, like and unlike us.

[Muhammad Yaqoob]

If you are blogging as a company representative or authoritative figure, keep the ranting and sarcasm to a minimum. No one likes a whiner. And yes, it’s good to post on other blogs to get visibility. Just don’t look needy or be obnoxious about it!