Corporate blogs explained

Blogs can help create a dialogue between an organisation and its customers. But what risks are involved?

Individual bloggers may be running the risk of damaging their career prospects, thanks to some overly investigative HR departments – but what are the pros and cons of setting up a corporate blog?

To explore this, it would be good to understand what a corporate blog is, and what it’s not.

There are two different types of corporate blog; an internal blog, often hosted on a staff intranet for the purposes of knowledge sharing, and an external-facing one, which anyone with web access can see, including your organisation’s customers, partners and clients.

Contrary to popular belief, corporate blogs aren’t just another receptacle for press releases.

Blogs by their very nature are a relatively informal diary, so any sales copy should be introduced in a manner that promotes discussion around a certain issue by those who choose to respond.

To be effective, why not try to embrace the recognised style, tone and language of established blogs already active in your field?

As the ‘voice’ of a company, customers will make judgments about a company’s culture and quality simply by the tone of your blog.

Understanding what you want to achieve by a blog is key. If no real benefits can be identified, don’t feel tempted to add a blog because it seems the right thing to do.

So what can corporate blogs do?

There are many benefits to setting up a blog:

• They can be informative, relevant and entertaining, encouraging repeat visitors to your organisation’s website
• Blogs can help emphasise how up to date your organisation is with industry developments, technology and terminology (but be sparing!). They can give prospective customers the push they need to contact you about possible work
• It’s an effective means of two-way communication with your customer base. As well as the blog entry itself, the comments and responses posted can give you an idea of how your product is being received, or can help you identify gaps in the market
• A blog can make a large corporation seem more human for the customer, especially if users feel their posted comments and questions to the CEO are being considered and responded to

Are there any risks to be aware of?

Very much so. These include:

• Employees can be tempted to rant about your competitors and companies that make your working life harder.
• Be sure that staff who post on a corporate external blog know they are speaking on behalf of the company at all times – and that the company is usually liable for any comments made
• Assign long term bloggers who are keen to create a community of readers. If your blog isn’t updated regularly, it’ll reflect badly on your organisation. A lack of feedback and comments no posts may also suggest that no one ever reads your blog. That’s space that could be put to better use

The list above is in no way exhaustive, but we hope we’ve at least given you an insight into the benefits and pitfalls of corporate blogs.

For more information on how Cimex can help improve your online communications, contact us.

Published: 27 Jul 2007

Tags: Digital marketing, Seo sem & content