Corporate blogging is an emerging internet marketing trend, which is gaining popularity due to its usefulness for businesses. It is now an integral part of many companies’ marketing strategy because a corporate blog gives established companies and brands the ability to communicate with their customers directly and personally, get feedback, build strong relationships with them and in return enjoy press coverage, increased sales and business growth. Corporate blogging is surely a great business move!

A corporate blog is a weblog, managed by a company to keep its customers up-to-date about its new products and services, get their feedback and suggestions, get press coverage and to strengthen their relationship with interested customers. There are two types of corporate blogs - internal blogs and external blogs.

Internal corporate blogs are mainly used to announce and discuss company activities, such as company meetings, and are managed only for employees. Internal blogs are very handy for companies whose employees are geographically distributed or having conflicting schedules. External corporate blogs are for everybody: customers, employees, teams and any other visitors can share their views. Companies maintain these blogs mainly for marketing purposes. The top 10 corporate blogs are following.

10 Most Popular Corporate Blogs ((Technocratic ranked) - May 2008):

Source: http://mariosundar.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/top-15-corporate-blogs-ranked-may-2008/

Corporate blogging has many advantages both for companies and customers. Don Reisinger describes one of the major advantages of having a corporate blog in his post, Why I love Corporate Blogs (And You Should Too) as:

“I love corporate blogs because they’re the easiest way to file a complaint and tell more than a recording or a customer service agent that something is wrong. In a matter of seconds, you can file a complaint in the comments and if people agree, they’ll jump on the bandwagon and in one fell swoop, your singular issue becomes a major problem and someone will be forced to listen.”

Is corporate blogging worth it?

Yes! Corporate blogging is very important for a business. It is a quick and valuable way to introduce products and services to people, get press coverage and of course maintain good PR and a superior ranking. Through blogging, you get direct feedback about your products and services, which is vital for the steady performance of your company. According to Corporate Blogging Survey 2005, companies prefer to have corporate blogs because they help companies to establish direct communication with their customers.

“We have built a community of people who are interested in our products and what we have to say about them.”

“A blog allows us to have an open dialog with customers. This open dialog allows us to align ourselves with our customers (ex: whatever they are passionate about, we are passionate about).”

Corporate Blogging is quickly becoming an important way to build strong and trusty relationships with customers. All major companies including Google, Dell and Adobe are maintaining their blogs to increase their business success and growth.

How do I manage a successful corporate blog?

If you want to improve your online presence then having a corporate blog is necessary! An effective blogging strategy does everything you can imagine – publicity, increased press coverage, high search engine ranking and better lead generation. Here are the key elements of an effective blogging strategy, which you should consider for your blog

1. Content Strategy

Content is crucial for the success of a blog. Develop a content strategy for your blog wisely. According to Corporate Blogging Survey 2005: “Companies when developing a blogging content strategy should encourage their product builders to blog and that they write about their products. Any thought leadership presented on the blog, should focus on the development of a company’s product, and new ideas should come from both the blogger and from customers.”

2. Comments, Trackback, Tags

Comments, trackbacks and tags play a vital role in the success of corporate blogs. By leaving comments, visitors get involved in the discussion and become a part of the online community. Comments also help you to get feedback from customers about your products and services. Trackback is another great feature, which shows you related posts. Tags help to arrange your blog categorically so readers can pick posts related to a certain topic or date.

3. Add RSS feed and Google Analytics to your blog

Really Simple Syndicate (RSS) feed is very important for a blog. This feature helps readers gain access to your blog posts without actually visiting the blog. A large number of people, particularly regular readers, read posts through RSS feed. Google Analytics can help you track the record of your blog visitors. Corporate Blogging Tips says, “This will tell you where your visitors came from and which posts they are reading. You can use this information to determine what people are most interested in.”

4.Update your blog on regular basis

Add fresh and interesting posts to your blog on regular basis. It will attract the readers, increase the popularity of your blog and improve your ranking in search engines. Also update your blog with your contact details. It should list all of your updated contact numbers and e-mail addresses.

References:

1. http://www.backbonemedia.com/blogsurvey/7-corporate-blogging-strategy.htm
2. http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3556606
3. http://fastwonderblog.com/2008/02/23/corporate-blogging-tips/
4. http://mashable.com/2008/07/25/why-i-love-corporate-blogs/

Bookmark It

Related posts:

1. How Blogging can help a business
2. Inbound Marketing: Combine SEO, SMM and Blogging
3. Viral Blogging: Tips and Tricks