Blogging is a sort of weird animal. You either get it or you don’t. New blogs on new subjects and topics are being added to a growing list of blogs every single day. With so much information to share in each individual blog, it can be hard for the average reader to decide which blog to visit, why and what is it that is valuable to him or her. A blog’s purpose is to share, entertain, inform or educate. A blogger has about 20 seconds to convince the reader to stay, read the entire article through and perhaps even visit again. If the blog writer loses them, he may have to work two to three times as hard next time to win them back. Add corporate blogging to the equation and the likelihood of visitor’s returning decreases dramatically. That’s because corporate blogs usually don’t give readers a good enough reason to come back.
Corporate blogging is often thought of to be “dry” or “boring” and its readers somewhat staunch with no sense of humor. Corporate blogs often share information of course, about its own self, what the corporation’s accomplishments are, what direction the corporation is going and how the corporation is going to achieve those goals. They may on occasion throw in a few humor lines or a story or two to lighten things up, but they stay on the side of caution and keep things narrowly focused on the business at hand, not giving in too often to personalities, politics or current events. In doing this, they can often be pegged as boring and dry. Is that really fair or accurate of all corporate blogs? Does your corporate blog fall into that trap?
There are some corporate blogs that get it and there are some, unfortunately, that do not. Those that get it are the ones who go beyond what their actual purpose is and provide more enlightenment, more information and more entertainment that what is called for. In other words, they are not boxed in to whatever the general thinking of them should be. Just because a corporate blog is spouting news about developments, technical issues and company information is no reason that the blog should lack luster, life and brightness. Every corporation that employs the use of blogs to act as a media relations source should consider using a myriad of bloggers to act as their voice. In other words, let the corporation’s personality shine through, illuminating their message through those that know the company best and can articulate it in their own words and personality. It’s like having company evangelists that can share your branding message in multiple ways.
Corporations should also not be afraid to let their company bloggers speak and blog on the company’s developments. Sure, corporations don’t want their employees loosely blogging and sharing private information, but corporations do want to get their message out in as many ways as possible and blogging is that way. When bloggers are allowed expression of speech and freedom of that expression, they can work wonders for your company. The only time to give pause to allowing bloggers freedom is when there are stifling management practices (that gives disgruntled bloggers fodder) and if there are any inexperienced employees who may not have the seasoned ability to write succinctly and accurately to your reader base. In this case, offsetting it with further training can prove to be the remedy.
Identify employees within your corporation that can blog professionally about what it is that your company does. Allow them the freedom to express themselves, your company and their developments openly, in a fun manner and on a routine basis. Don’t be afraid to let go of the reigns and relax a little. Your corporate blog will be better for as will your company’s blog for having a medium and an outlet to do so.
Later This Week: Part 2 On Getting On “The List” in Corporate Blogging
I am a freelance writer, blogger and professional motivational speaker. I primarily focus on business content, offering my clients strategic marketing strategies for their businesses. I have been an entrepreneur for over 13 years, after having worked extensively in corporate America.
I recently compiled a list of 67+ Big Brand corporate blogs. Maybe useful for your readers – ?
Nice article, you’re right “Blogging is a sort of weird animal”