As a business, there are two major strategies that are best suited for a blog format.
- Cultivating a voice for your business and consumers
- Establishing a broadcasting place to message and have a two-way conservation
Both must create a relationships that “gives value to the consumer, rather than push out” your own business agenda.(1) Due to the open format, ease of use, and low barriers to entry; a blog is a great way to open communication for a business in almost any industry.
Enterprise Blog:
Many companies use a blog within their own company to help inform their employees and partners. The company can “share knowledge freely…to explain company strategies, new products, and business processes.” This helps build “ a new, trust-based corporate culture.” Also, you can create “wealth of personal connections that now lie within the enterprise”
“Social Distance”, Orr, Bill ABA Banking Journal; Oct2004, Vol. 96 Issue 10, p106-110, 2p
“We’re very much a knowledge-based company. It’s really the expertise of the employee that we’re hitting on.”
Adam Christensen, social media communications at IBM Corporation
Large Scale Business Blogging:
- Google: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
- Disney parks: http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/
Disney Parks is a site designed to encourage more visitors to Disney’s parks. They do a fantastic job of making their site memorable and useful.
Targeting your Market:
- Citrix (Professionals): http://workshifting.com/
Citrix’s unique blogging strategy is all about adding value. Their blog, Work Shifting, is a work/lifestyle blog that focuses on the issues people in business experience when on the move. What’s interesting is that you have to really look hard to know which company is behind the blog because Citrix downplays their involvement. Instead, they’ve put their audience’s needs first and have created a space that resonates with their audience’s needs and interests.
- SilkRoad (HR): http://blog.silkroad.com/
Blogging as a Business (or as a major part of the model):
- Pioneer Woman: http://thepioneerwoman.com/
Pioneer Woman is an excellent example of a successful lifestyle blog. The blog’s creator, Ree Drummond, has used her blog as a platform for a variety of projects, including promoting her cookbook and showcasing her photography. Her “secret sauce” lies in her ability to connect personally with her readers while creating a welcoming, friendly and warm experience one blog post at a time
(1) Magazine: Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) Untangling the Web Of Social Media’s Second Generation?” Strugatz, Rachel, 6/8/11 Pg. 1 Vol. 201 No. 117 ISSN: 0149-5380
