Corporate Blogging

The blog is one of the most well known elements of social media. It is estimated that one in every eighty four websites visited is a blog, and with blogs growing in popularity at a faster rate than news sites, most people will be well aware of what a blog is. For those that don't know, in this brave new media world, bloggers have a similar role to the columnists and diarists of newspapers or magazines.

Initially the blog introduced us to the concept of citizen journalism. No training needed, just ideas and opinions. This has had the effect of creating an enormous pool of shared knowledge and debate on all manner of subjects, it has also led to the internet being littered with millions of blogs that are unreadable - too offensive, random, poorly written, uninspired and almost definitely ignored. Nonetheless successful blogs attract avid readers and can be very influential. It is also a sign of the times that many journalists and companies also write blogs too. One such blog that has been in the spotlight recently is that of Robert Peston, business correspondent at the BBC. Supplementing his appearances on BBC news and the Today programme, his blog regularly updated throughout the day during the height of the Credit Crunch crisis, its influence caused several newspapers to question whether he had too much power and even whether he was reporting the news or creating it.

So why do it?

A corporate blog is a fantastic way for a company to speak to its audience and get its message out to the big wide world. A brand can interact with customers and peers in their industry, update people with news and become an opinion former. It can also give a firm a human face and in times of trouble it can be an excellent tool in dealing with adverse publicity or PR disasters. If you host the site on your website it can be a great way to drive traffic to the website.

What to blog about?

You can find blogs that are simply about the humdrum of daily life. These are brilliant if you happen to be an engaging and talented writer with an eye for spotting the absurdities and anomalies of the everyday routine. But they aren't particularly relevant to your customers, peers, products or services and so assuming you can't make the boring interesting with deft movement of your virtual pen, a good starting point is to talk about things that are going to be interesting to your audience. So the first thing to establish is who are you talking to?

Who's your audience?

Trade - talk about your industry in general, including trends, developments, problems and successes
Your customers - Talk about your company news including products in development and new releases. General industry news may also interest this group.
General public - Company and product news particularly as it relates to current events and trends, or how it impacts on life generally.

Current

If your blog seems to completely ignore current events, particularly major ones, you will give the impression that you are out of touch and your opinions irrelevant. Of course, the corollary is also true. A blog that reacts to current events, and can analyse the subsequent effects is more likely to be seen as a source of useful and up to date information. It is also an excellent route to being recognised as an opinion former.

Have an opinion

It keeps things interesting! Not only that but people will respond to an opinion, and if they respond then a conversation starts, and if the conversation continues you start creating a community. Do be aware that extreme or offensive opinions are likely to generate interest of the wrong kind, as will lying.

What do you need to think about?

If a blog is going to be successful then it should be regularly updated, otherwise you will work hard to build a following, and then see your audience start to dwindle if you're not keeping them regularly updated.

Know your blogging community - take a look at other blogs from your particular sector, what are the topics and the viewpoints, and who is getting involved? They might give you some ideas that will help you to formulate your own blog ideas.

Develop your messaging and your tone -is it fun or serious, witty or dry, observational or technical...

Monitor the blogosphere - comments to your own blog will come straight back to you. But what about comments about your blog or brand that appear elsewhere.

Monitor your entire sector - stay up to date with developments relating to your own brand or the sector, comment on them on your blog in a timely fashion. This will also makes it easier to seed your blog as you are more likely to find other sites or commentators picking up and publishing your comments and search engines like new content.

Make sure that the blog is fully optimised. If you are going to the effort of writing a blog and sharing your thoughts and ideas, then you want to ensure that your intended audience has a good chance to get to see it. This means tags, links, up to date content etc.

Who is going to write it? Some companies like to have a single author / spokesperson, others use a variety of people from within the company and others still use ghost writers or guest authors, it will all depend upon your own resources and your company branding. There is no single right or wrong answer, the only thing is that everyone knows the rules, their responsibilities and understands the branding and messaging.