Corporate blogging - What is it really?
Need some help boys and girls… I wrote a post a few days ago with a list of different corporations across Canada that I’ve come across who are blogging. What is the general consensus on how to define “corporate blogging“?
Call me crazy but if it is a corporate blog, then shouldn’t it be part of the overall corporate url? (blog.abccompany.com or abccompany.com/blog or something like that). Or is that just semantics and really shows how far they are truly embracing blogging versus testing the waters.
What kind of content should be part of the blog? Should it be about the company (products/ services), employees, or thought leadership for that particular vertical, or can they blog about their vacation to Kazakhstan or new MacBook Pro they picked up on the weekend?
Shel & Robert I know the two of you did a ton of research on this area which helped you write Naked Conversations, but perhaps over the course of the last year your thought or how you define corporate blogging has changed?
Debbie Weil, who wrote a book called “The Corporate Blogging Book has a list of Fortune 500 corporations who are blogging which supports some of my personal thoughts on what a corporate blog is.
Does anyone have any additional thoughts or their personal opinion on what makes a “corporate blog“?
Tags: Naked Conversations, The Corporate Blogging Book, blogging
brian makse wrote:
If we’re calling it “corporate blogging”, then 1) yes, it must be on the on the corporate URL and 2) the author(s) need to stay on topic, that topic being the corporation and it’s products, services, whatever. Otherwise, it’s just a personal soapbox.
I read “corporate blogs” because I want to understand what’s going on within a company. A great example is–yeah, yeah, I know Scoble and Israel have already cited it–GM’s Fast Lane Blog, particularly when Lutz posts.
Posted 05 Nov 2006 at 3:45 pm ¶
maggie fox wrote:
I think the URL thing is probably a branding issue rather than a blogging one - where a blog lives matters less than the content when it comes to defining it as corporate or not.
My definition of a corporate blog, for what it’s worth, is “A blog that has been created to achieve corporate objectives,” whatever they might be (including raising the profile of the CEO, if that’s a corporate goal).
Posted 05 Nov 2006 at 11:28 pm ¶
Kelly wrote:
I started a company blog for three of us who are into the strategy/thought leadership on email marketing (our company focus)
Basically it’s a place for us to post articles and resources about the industry and best practices, but it’s also a place for us to let our personalities shine through. Since we are very online-based sometimes we don’t get to see clients as often as we would like to (it’s just to easy to do it by email!) So the blog is a good place for our silly e-marketing chit chat. I find it’s almost like a fun little break from work - even though (I believe at least) it does help us from a business point of view.
Posted 06 Nov 2006 at 3:57 pm ¶
/pd wrote:
To me a “corporate blog” is two way communications channel, that either promotes a brand or a service/product. The blog acts as a spring board as well as a listening post !! :)-
The authors refrain from “corporatese / Speech” , and post with a the intentions of fostering community and good will towards themselves, the community, products and competetion !!
Posted 06 Nov 2006 at 4:23 pm ¶
Dave Forde wrote:
Kelly - that is one of the key’s to success that you keep hearing again, be passionate & write what you are excited about!
/pd - you are right, with the right tone a blog can be a great spring board.
Posted 06 Nov 2006 at 4:41 pm ¶
Kian Ann wrote:
I think to me, “Corporate blogging” doesn’t necessarily mean dedicating part of the website or URL for the blog.. but more of an idea of talking to customers direct through a frequently updated blog. The blog can even be a CEO’s personal blog, but if the people who visit his blog and comment on his blog are his customers, does that constitute corporate blogging?
Posted 08 Nov 2006 at 4:36 pm ¶
Mike Sansone wrote:
I don’t think the URL is important in the definition of a coprorate blog. It depends on the goal of the company.
Similarly, the goal will guide the topics (is it an FAQ, or a community service, or a tour guide of how the company operates?
I believe there is only one immutable law in business blogging (and it’s a list of none).
Developing relationships and being engaged in a conversation is key. If readers don’t engage - time to revisit the goals, no?
I would think that http://propr.ca is a corporate blog.
Posted 05 Dec 2006 at 9:09 pm ¶
Dave Forde wrote:
Mike - that makes sense. Thanks for adding your point of view!
“If readers don’t engage - time to revisit the goals, no?” great question that you’ve asked and I guess that also depends on the goals they set for the blog as you said.
Posted 05 Dec 2006 at 10:03 pm ¶
Lee wrote:
My concept of what makes a corporate blog is a blog that is attached to a business or company - often these blogs have a designated purpose, be it creating better customer service, selling a product, creating awareness or just plain trying to gather higher search engine rankings and hits!
I don’t see that it matters what the URL is - ultimately it’s a public relations decision - do you put it under the umbrella of your business URL giving it more weight from the business itself or do you place it as a separate brand/product and give it a new URL.
To me it’s like having an airline called Virgin Blue then a rewards program called Velocity and giving Velocity it’s own domain. Clearly identified with links back to the mother site but still separate.
Posted 21 Dec 2006 at 3:40 pm ¶