The Benefits of Corporate Blogging
Blogging has come a long way during the past few years. The blogosphere no longer is considered “fringe” journalism. Instead, bloggers helped drive the news cycle during the 2008 Presidential election. They can – and in many cases will – scoop beat writers at major metro newspapers.
The result is that blogs have gained a great deal of readership and respect. It is a medium that is constantly leveling the playing field and creating powerful publishing opportunities for everyone from big-time CEOs to the college students with something to say. (Gutenberg would be proud.)
This paper will focus more on the CEOs than the students. The corporate blog is a fickle friend – it can be brilliant and damaging with one blog post. But while companies should tread carefully in going forward with a blog, they should note the positive results that come with maintaining one.
There are five key benefits to starting a corporate blog. These are the motivating factors that frequently shed light on the validity of a corporate blog’s worth – the caveats that separate the journals that merely take up server space versus a legitimate and useful extension of a company’s public outreach efforts.
1) A corporate blog promotes transparency.
If the corporate structure is a building, then blogs serve as the windows – they allow customers to peer inside and see what is happening internally with greater precision than ever before.
A potential customer who can better gauge how your business model proves successful is much more informed – and now might feel stronger about buying your product. Blog posts that reveal a company’s internal mechanisms (to an appropriate degree, of course) can clear up much of your target market’s hesitancy to try a product or service.
Believe it or not, the companies who run the most successful blogs don’t use them strictly in a PR sense to tout themselves; rather, a blog that offers both good and bad news draws a readership through establishing a degree of trust with potential customers. Think of your company’s blog as you would your local newspaper or other media outlet. People hold blogs in higher esteem when they deliver unbiased reporting – especially on a company blog.
2) A corporate blog puts a human voice to your company’s name.
Society increasingly thrives on interaction – we are an interwoven web of a variety of networks. Such an environment can leave your Web 1.0 sales pitch sounding cold and devoid of personality. If executed properly, a blog can forgo the stiff press release feeling in favor of a human approach. Treat your blog posts much as you would a letter to a familiar acquaintance and you will see great results.
Personalize your blog as much as possible. Determine who should author the posts – if your CEO is a visionary type, maybe he or she should get the byline, and likewise retain a stable of bloggers if your company’s strength comes from its team effort. From there, sprinkle in photos, anecdotal references and maybe even the occasional one-liner.
Your blog readership will be a savvy bunch, and they will see through a thinly-veiled marketing ploy. Take the time to facilitate discussion that doesn’t directly promote the work you are doing. Provide insight into current events and ongoing industry trends so that readers can get a better sense of how your company fits into the equation. A strategy such as this ends up helping you out, as potential customers become more acquainted with how you operate within your field.
3) A corporate blog starts a conversation with your industry, clients and potential customers.
A blog is a two-way street. Don’t fall into the habit of treating your blog simply as a vehicle to fire off the latest musings on a subject, with no desire to engage readers in a conversation. That’s what blogs are for – facilitating specific dialogues between all parties. Web 1.0, which was heavy on the “brochure” Web site and light on interactivity, has been replaced – and the blog’s success is a referendum on the value of the give and take between the blogger and readers.
This can create reservations for some, but don’t fear the wide open blogosphere. One benefit of maintaining a blog is that you now can directly answer questions or concerns related to your company in an avenue that didn’t exist before. Let your blog post serve as a starting point, and keep track of what kind of comments people leave in response. It is an effective and easy way to gauge varying opinions of the work you are producing.
Don’t fret too much over negative responses or comments on your blog. The conversation about your products or services must take place somewhere; it is much better to know what is being said and being able to respond to it in a timely manner than to let it simmer on the Internet without engaging those who disagree or have had a bad experience. Facilitating that conversation is a proactive approach that will help you when you need to respond.
4) A corporate blog will drive traffic to your Web site.
This might be the most pertinent reason for blogging. A blog simply is the best way to bring traffic to your Web site. This is especially the case if you are rolling out a new Web site that needs to establish its presence.
Blog administrators who consistently add valuable content over time will find their stock rising (and their Google PageRank heading north). Search engines like Google consider three major factors when returning search results:
Authority: Do other people consider your Web site to be important?
Longevity: How long has your Web site been around?
Relevance: How relevant is your Web site to the search terms entered?
Once you have a general understanding of the process that goes into search results, you can more efficiently dissect each point. Authority is primarily based on links, creating links to other important sites and having important sites link to you. For example, the higher the PageRank, the more valuable the link will prove. (Domain names ending in .edu and .gov typically provide stronger results.) Unfortunately, you can’t do anything about longevity, unless you’re buying a blog that has been around for a while – this element requires patience and a consistent effort. Relevance is based on the keywords and links used in your blog. Researching and implementing a keyword strategy is an essential step in beginning any blog. The average blogger can positively increase both their authority and relevance, thereby increasing his or her organic search ranking on certain keywords.
A good blog post, rich in relevant content, makes for strong “link bait” – that is, people from other sites striving for relevancy will want to link to your post (increasing the value of your post).
5) A corporate blog’s results are measurable.
For all the potential doors that a blog can open, don’t forget that there’s a paperless trail that describes the intricate details of how your blog is stacking up. Measurable results can give you a good sense of what is working (and what needs work).
For a quick example, check out Google Analytics, one of Google’s free tools. It is a customizable site analysis resource that can handle just about any breakdown of information you need. Goals, goal conversion, and return on investment – it’s all there, and it’s free.
Online measurement tools are increasingly important – like any other avenue of business, the blog food chain derives from results. The proliferation of these tools will spell a compatible evolution in fields like online advertising and public relations, as each adapts to new techniques and capabilities for refining data about who is viewing your blog and why they are viewing it.
Blogs aren’t for everyone
It’s true – while the blog is an excellent business tool, it can be a double-edged sword. A blog can fall on deaf ears depending on your audience and can actually damage your company if done incorrectly. Keep these points in mind when deciding whether your company should have a blog presence.
Don’t blog because everyone else is: Your blog needs a concrete, evident purpose. What’s more, that purpose needs to be marketable and based on a strategy.
Don’t blog because you want a place to post your press releases online: The proliferation of the blogosphere has created, for most blog readers, a sense of what a blog should consist of – and a press release repository, it isn’t.
Don’t blog because you think you will make money advertising on your blog: Generating substantive advertising revenues from a blog is almost impossible. If making money from ad revenue is your only aim, put the keyboard away. A blog should complement your company’s business in ways that create more revenue opportunities in your “day job.”
To blog or not to blog?
Companies interested in dipping their toes into the world of blogging should take this information into consideration. Blogging requires upkeep, constant maintenance and significant manpower, but the product – a solid company blog – can go to bat for you in a lot of ways. You might spark a valuable dialogue, or create content that yields a large stable of regular readers. And having a bank of statistics detailing that readership can’t hurt, either.
Ultimately, if you have a company that is doing something exciting, you probably have something of substance to write about. Give it a go, be sure to follow these guidelines and see what happens – you will find that the dialogue generated between company and customer opens up some new opportunities and ideas.
The time is right to jump into a blogosphere that has been redefining itself. The corporate blog has become quite the asset.
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Additional Reading
Is Your Corporate Blog Trustworthy?
Practical Guide To Starting A Corporate Blog
