Blogging is a way for a company or organization to enhance their image. Companies such as Microsoft and Nike have followed the trend and have set up company blogs. My previous post showed how GM used blogs to advertise automobiles and reach their audience online. Blogs are another form of communication with publics. Blogs create conversation in an open and casual way, which is one reason why the number of blogs increase by 100,000 every day.
The benefits of blogging apply to small companies, as well as, large corporations. Smaller companies can benefit from a blog because it saves money. Setting up a blog is cheaper than other traditional ways of advertising.
Tom Bradley, VP and Executive Director of PR for Cronin & Co., shares the “three Ps” of a thriving corporate blog: passion, persistence, and participation.
Bradley stated that the blogger should feel passionately about the subject. I completely agree that a blogger needs to be passionate. Whether it’s a company or its products, the blogger must enjoy the topic. If they don’t, it will be hard to find new topics for the blog. After reading a few blogs, I have seen how boring the blogs can become if there is no passion or enthusiasm in the posts.
The next quality is persistence. Developing a blog takes a lot of commitment until the right voice is found. If the blogger sticks with it and is consistently creating valuable posts, the blog will be a success.
The third key factor is participation. I think this is an important factor because having a presence online makes your blog credible to readers. Successful bloggers read other’s blogs, comment on them, and build a blogroll. These things drive awareness and traffic to a blog. After a blogroll is built, then the readers can see that the blog has many consistent followers.
After hearing about the benefits to having a corporate blog, I think most companies would agree that a blog would be an asset to their business. It’s easy and inexpensive. Tom Bradley’s tips also gave guidance to future bloggers to help them create a successful blog. (Just be sure to avoid the top five corporate blogging mistakes in one of my previous posts!)
Robert Lutz, Vice Chairman at General Motors, views his FastLane blog as a portal for two-way communication. He wants to hear from consumers, even if they are sharing negative comments. Lutz is the author of his blog, and he writes posts about GM’s products.
Lutz is a respected part of auto groups everywhere. He has a genuine passion for cars, and this is why is so well known. He was one of the first to start a corporate blog, and because of the way he used new media, GM is the leader in PR innovation.
GM is working with hundreds of bloggers so they will post about GM vehicles to targeted consumers. It is getting harder to reach an audience through print advertising, so GM has turned to reach people online. GM invites bloggers to auto shows and on press trips, in hopes of getting them to blog about the company. The bloggers test drive new GM cars and trucks, and are put into an experience they can positively blog about.
Kristen Hammond is an ordinary mother who writes about her sons on her blog Mommy Needs a Cocktail. GM invited Hammond to Memphis, Tennessee so she could test drive one of their cars. GM wanted to give her an experience that she would blog about, in hopes of reaching other mothers just like her.
This example shows how companies can reach out to people using a whole new medium. More and more people are online for the majority of the day. I think it would be wise if other companies followed GM’s example, and used blogs as a way to reach their publics. I think it was smart of GM to contact Kristen Hammond, because the majority of her followers are mothers, and if Hammond favors GM, the other mothers will too.
Many corporate blogs have trouble gaining followers. Their blogs can sometimes have an unclear focus, or the focus is to advertise products. David Meerman Scott, a successful author and blogger, came up with his top five corporate blogging mistakes. In this post, I will evaluate Scott’s advice and decide if these mistakes are things that really should be avoided.
Scott saw corporations starting blogs without first following other similar blogs. If a company is new at blogging, it is hard to create one without first reading and commenting on other blogs. This was good advice because after looking at many different blogs, a company can have an idea of what works and what does not. I feel that commenting on blogs first helps to “exercise your blog voice.” A post from Corporate Eye also listed this as a mistake among corporate blogs.
Companies sometimes write ONLY about their products and services. This is a huge mistake! I agree with Scott’s suggestion that instead, organizations should blog about a subject that would interest the target audience.
The mistake that I found the most important to avoid was when companies focus on one-way propaganda. Companies are engaging in one-way communication when they only have links that go to their own site. This lacks credibility. Readers want to see companies become part of the online community. A company can create interest by leaving comments on other blogs and joining in on a conversation.
Scott pointed out that corporate blogs are usually boring. These tend to use all of the default settings and do not look any different from any other company’s blog. I agree that a blog needs personality to stand out. I liked Scott’s suggestion that a creative custom header, designed just for a company is a great way to attract interest.
The last mistake that Scott mentioned is that companies fail to utilize the “About” page. I think it is important for people to get to know who a company is so the reader will be more likely to engage. I think that companies should spend time thinking about what they want they reader to know about the company, and then place that on the “About” page.
I found all five of these mistakes easy for corporations to avoid. Scott gave quick solutions to correct these problems. If these blogging mistakes are eliminated, then a company is bound to see more followers and success.
In two of my previous posts on corporate blogging, I discussed the CEO blog. There are many opinions about who should manage the blogging function in an organization. Some experts think the CEO should blog, and others think they should not. Whether it’s the CEO, the corporate communications department, or a hired individual or group, it would be wise to designate one of them the “chief blogger.”
The Advertising Age article “Does Your Company Need a Chief Blogger?” shared that companies such as Coca-Cola, Marriott, and Kodak all now have a chief blogger. It is their job to tell the companies’ stories and engage consumers. The chief blogger shares the brand voice. Companies that have a chief blogger are more focused and effective. This makes sense because there is only one person trying to post an idea. One blogger also ensures that all the posts have the same brand voice.
In the video below, Shel Israel expanded on the importance of chief bloggers telling company stories. I think he was on point when he said, “When you’re blogging, you need to be giving something to your reader that compels them.” I think that readers will only continue visiting a blog if they are getting something interesting from it. I also thought he was right on target when he mentioned that people don’t want to hear lists of “corporate pearls.” His blunt thoughts on boring blogs from corporations, PR people, and legal teams warned bloggers to keep their posts focused on stories.
A story is important to keep the reader’s interest. I agreed with Israel when he suggested that companies should tell stories about their struggles and times when they failed. I feel that blogs are successful when they share company interests and tell what the organization is really like, because the audience will feel like they can trust the company.
