The sad truth about corporate blogging

The sad truth about corporate blogging

Many companies maintain corporate blogs, copying press releases there, delete comments or prohibit commenting altogether; and it seems to them that they are doing everything right, because visitors come and, probably, read. But in fact, not everything is so simple. It has long stumbled upon an interesting article by Paul Boag “ 10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Blogging ” - the article fully expresses my opinion on corporate blogs. I decided to translate, and just yesterday we translated it, and I hasten to share with you.

The sad truth about corporate blogging

I came to the conclusion that most organizations are blogging simply because they think they should do it. Many marketing departments are very poor in blogs and have low traffic and few comments. If their blog is not successful, they conclude that the blog is not an effective marketing tool and either completely remove it or go into oblivion.
Whatever it is, it should not be so. Corporate blogs that promote brand awareness and foster a sense of responsibility can be a powerful tool for conveying information. You only need to look at the famous 37signals company blog to understand that corporate blogging can work.
Why do most corporate blogs fail and only a few succeed? In order to understand this, we have to learn the hard truth about corporate blogging .

1. The blog does not generate traffic in a magical way.

When companies started to launch corporate websites, they perceived them as a marketing channel that would be the key to solving problems. They adhered to the “build and they will come” mentality. Over time, they realized that the website is more similar to the virtual store: passersby will enter, but you need to advertise to revive the trade.
Many marketing departments make the same mistake with corporate blogs. They perceive them as a way to generate new traffic, whereas this is by no means their primary purpose. I must admit that the heavy nature of the blog will help your organic growth, but this is a minor advantage.

In order to generate traffic, you must genuinely indulge in your blog, establish relationships between your readers and involve them in the conversation. And, as recommended by Renda Fishkin’s “21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic,” you must also develop a blogging strategy to increase blog traffic.

The real goal of a corporate blog is to generate periodic traffic , which will surely be a call to action. A successful blog has a regular reader who is regularly notified about your brand and products. And, of course, it takes time to find readers.

2. A good corporate blog takes time and a sense of responsibility.

Finding readers requires a sense of responsibility. It may take months for users to accept your blog as a regular source of useful information. Only then will they begin to regularly visit him and advise him to others.
This requires not only time, but also a sense of responsibility. This means entering information regularly and on schedule. If users know that you are entering information on a particular day every week, the likelihood that they will go to your blog will increase. Naturally, ultimately, you want them to subscribe to your blog, so that there is no need to endlessly check your blog for new content.
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3. Short messages with links to the site with a full description (teasers) - a lost opportunity

Nevertheless, it is surprising how many organizations failed to take advantage of this. Instead of providing content to users, they give only a message announcement with a link to the site / blog. This means that users are forced to visit the site to view the entire post.
This practice originated from the wrong belief that users should see your site. They should not. At least, if your income does not depend on advertising on the site, there is no need for users to go to the site to read your blog.

McDonald's blog is wrong: teasers do not benefit corporate blogs ..

The goal of most corporate blogs is to build and maintain brand awareness , thereby attracting users. None of the above should occur on the site. The blog post itself builds and maintains awareness, while the possibility of commenting or calling for action involves users. Users do not need to see the rest of your site to respond to a post on your blog. Of course, for everything to work, the posts must be attractive.

4. No need to lure anyone

The most successful blogs are more than a broadcast tool. They are a dialogue between your organization and your customers. It is important not only to speak, but also to listen. Unfortunately, most corporate blogs fail to interact.
Instead, they are fixated on what the reader is told about how beautiful their products and services are. They rarely ask for feedback or ask questions. In fact, companies are depriving users of the right to comment, fearing criticism.

Nokia is able to engage users in discussions, asking for their opinions and starting discussions that generate a lot of comments and collect a lot of opinions.

Instead, you should encourage users to contribute to your blog through comment and constructive criticism. This is a great opportunity to get free feedback from your customers, for which many organizations pay market researchers. Part of the problem is that most corporate blogs offer nothing more than a rehashed press message.

5. Press releases should not appear on the blog.

Let's postpone the debate about the role of press releases in the network. Played or not, you need to realize that a press release does not play a role in a corporate blog. As the name implies, a press release was created to help journalists write about your product and service. It is not designed for your customers.
A blog, on the other hand, is designed to be read by potential and existing customers. It should be attractive, informative and helpful. When writing a blog post, you should always think about the end reader. What will they learn? What understanding will it give them about who we are? How does this help build a relationship with the reader? You can never just copy and paste press releases or news.
Another problem with press releases is that they are a corporate statement. The blog should be more personal.

6. Your voice is faceless

People do not like to contact organizations, corporations or cars. People love to communicate with people .
One of the things that I learned from selling web design services is that after people discover that you offer a good service at an affordable price, the next thing that interests them is you. Do you like them? Do they trust you? Do they think they can work with you? People do not like, do not trust or do not want to work with corporations. We have these feelings associated with a person, not with companies. Therefore, it is important that the corporate blog contains information about people working for your organization, and not about the organization itself. Your blog should focus on different people and on the role they play in your organization. They should demonstrate their individuality and share their experiences.
A blog is a place where the reader looks behind the marketer’s back and can take a look at the real people in your organization.

7. Show without embellishment

If you are a marketer, this will sound a bit scary. It's hard to control the “message” when you blog. You have many bloggers throughout your organization who effectively become corporate representatives, and you allow users to publicly criticize you on your own blog. This is far from traditional marketing.
However, today's consumers are very savvy. They are suspicious of traditional marketing and feel when they impose something on them. We need a softer approach, more “real” and less controlled. That means you can be wrong.


Dell ignored criticism about bad service all the time. They did not pay attention to the voice that their customers received through the network, while one disgruntled user stirred up the main PR nightmare with one single post entitled “ Dell is lying. Dell sucks . ”

Contrast this with the approach “You must show all sides, and even unattractive”, which took the photo site Flickr. When they were faced with criticism of the public about the poverty of their website, they wrote a post on their blog entitled “ Sometimes we suck ”. They realized the problem and developed a plan to fix it. This is not a traditional approach to the image of their brand, allowed Flickr to quickly defuse a situation that could get out of control.

Probably, when it comes to maintaining a corporate blog, marketing is not always the best way to do it.

8. Often marketers make bad bloggers.

Clarify - not all marketers need to protect from blogging. I want to say that traditional marketing skills are not always suitable for blogging. Since blogging should be individual, transparent and not hide the flaws of the organization, this may seem to be an awkward communication tool for some marketers. As well as the traditional writing style of many marketers is not very suitable for the informal style of a successful blog.
If you are a marketer responsible for a corporate blog, look for ways to involve other members of your organization in blogging. Present yourself more like an editor than a writer . Bet on people, especially those who are prepared or are already acting as representatives in your organization. Encourage them to blog and act as a subtle editor, correcting the writing. And do not forget to encourage them from time to time, motivating them to write content at a higher level.

It may be difficult for you to motivate others to blog. If so, try interviewing them instead. Next, you can turn these interviews into blog posts and hopefully motivate them to respond to comments. But remember, when you publish an interview or article, do not expect much from your readers.

9. You expect too much from your readers.

Most of the corporate blogs I read are simply long, very long, heavy and tedious. They require considerable effort to read them. In short, they demand too much from the reader.
With so many blogs online, you need to design your posts so that they stand out from the crowd. Always take steps to ensure that the user can catch the essence of what you said, simply by viewing the post. This can be achieved using various methods:

• Make a correct intro and title. Do not force users to guess the content of the post.
• Be prepared for discussion to win the user's attention.
• Use the title to attract attention and description of the content.
• Use pictures to break text and indicate key points.

Do not think that all your posts should be in the form of an essay. Short posts that ask a question or with links to another site are also interesting. All that is valuable to the user is worth using.
In the end, remember that not all posts should be text. Consider buying a camera and recording several video interviews with people from the company. Record an audio interview or insert some photos from corporate events. Just do not expect that users will read all your texts. The only ones who will do this are your competitors.

10. Your competitors will read your blog - do not pay attention to it.

I am amazed how many organizations slow down the growth of their corporate blogs because they are worried that their competitors will read and take advantage of their experience and ideas. Nevertheless, it is true, your competitors will do just that, what about? One of the initial features that a blog gives is a chance to show your experience. People will be interested to buy from you, as they realize that you understand “What are you selling”. So, if you do not talk about your experience, how will they know about it? You can be the best of your business, but no one will know it, then what's the point?
I always write about my knowledge of web design. I know that many of my competitors read my posts and they draw knowledge from what I share. However, I also know that potential clients read me too. So should I be silent for fear of being copied, or should I prove to my clients that I am a professional who knows what he is talking about? I think the answer is clear.

Conclusion

Many organizations still simply broadcast to the network, the blog helps them in this. Not surprisingly, they still make mistakes. The secret to success is that you need to recognize that a blog is not a traditional marketing tool. From my point of view, it is more similar to customer service. As soon as you accept it and get rid of press releases and corporate news, he will begin to return to you what you have invested.

Paul Boag , founder of the English web agency Headscape, author of the “Website Owners Manual”.