Posts tagged corporate blog

THE Corporate Blog

April 5, 2009 · Filed under Corporate blogs · Tagged , , , ,

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!)

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GM: The Leader in PR Innovation

April 5, 2009 · Filed under Corporate blogs · Tagged , , ,

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. 

gm1GM 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.

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