Blogs can be many different things. They can serve as the mouthpiece for a company/brand, a place for people to think out loud or a place to engage in a dialogue of your choosing.
One thing is a constant: A blog must effectively convey your or a company's thoughts about a certain subject. What does this mean? Each post should elicit an emotional or thoughtful reaction from the reader.
Blogs aren't about static statements or announcements. If you are maintaining a corporate blog, announcements and press releases should always be included as supplementary material. The major announcements should even live in between your posts. They should not be the primary focus though. The reactions to announcements are far more fun to read anyhow and usually lead to a more interesting dialogue in the comments section.
This does not give you license to write a rant on a corporate blog. (Despite the traffic that it will likely bring.) The writing needs to be crisp, clairvoyant and most of all accurate.
The key to a great blog is using and understanding how to play on people's emotions and get them thinking about something in a new light. For this reason, bloggers aren't usually suited to be the primary voice for your company. They should be seen as thought leaders or disruptors to the status quot. (Michael Arrington isn't head of Corporate Communications at TechCrunch for a reason.)
I tend to look at my posts and rate them on a comment basis. If no one comments? I rethink my strategy and try to bring more to the table next time. Dialogue is a better metric for blogging then anything else that I have found. If it makes me think and pushes me to join the conversation? That's a fantastic blog post.
This leads to a particularly treacherous crossroads: most companies are using and maintaining blogs as their primary platforms for communication with their clients and customers. But very few corporate blogs have a distinct and layered voice that can be seen as disruptive or thoughtful.
How can we fix this? By injecting dialogue and a little bit of disruption into corporate blogging. Blogging needs to maintain a balance between informative, thoughtful and emotional. There should always be a discussion whenever a post goes up (preferably one with occasional disagreement).
Should you still announce product launches, business news and relevant information that the corporate communications office? Absolutely. A blog allows a client into the inner workings of your organization. The trick is being able to insert provocative dialogue into the mix and keep the audience/customer on their toes.
That's right agencies, you need to let creatives into this discussion.
The first major agency to do so will reap huge rewards.
Photo Credit: mojodenbowsphotostudio
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tagged as blog announcements, blog news, blogging best practices, corporate communications best practices, creative dialogue, creative services, moutpiece for a company, personal brands
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