These days, lots of companies want to blog, but can’t figure out how to get started. I’m going to try to make it easy.
Business Blog Strategy 1 – The SEO Blog
Three business blogging activities take time – writing, traditional marketing, and social media engagement. Of the three, social media engagement often takes the most time of all. An SEO blog takes social media engagement out of the equation. The overriding purpose of an SEO blog is content optimization – lifting pages of the corporate website higher on Google.
An SEO blog may not allow comments. It’s aim is to provide useful information rather than facilitate discussion. It’s a valid approach and makes sense for companies that are unfamiliar with social media and/or have limited time. Remember – writing and traditional marketing can be outsourced, but social media engagement is best done internally.
Business Blog Strategy 2 – The Social Media Blog
A social media blog takes the most time and effort, and delivers the greatest benefit. Social media engagement – facilitating conversations with customers and prospects – yields qualified sales opportunities, strengthens customer relationships, extends brand awareness, and delivers a litany of other direct and indirect revenue enhancements. A social media blog works best when the organization has -
- An internal champion who believes in social media and understands how to leverage it
- Leadership with the courage to try new ideas, accept constructive criticism, and stick with programs
Business Blog Strategy 3 – The Internal Blog
Some organizations are technologically challenged, publicity shy or just not willing to experiment in public. For them, an internal blog is a spectacular way to test the blogging waters and at the same time, provide real and immediate benefit to the firm. An internal blog is visible only to employees. Content and comments can be tightly controlled, wide open, or somewhere in between. Internal blogs allow employees to learn how to use blogging tools in a safe environment. Internal business blogs can be used in a variety of ways.
- Project Management – When rolling out a new software system, a building expansion, etc.
- Human Resources – Answering general questions about insurance, company policy, etc.
- Team Building – Use a blog as a virtual forum for connecting employees in different locations
- Leadership Communication and Interaction – Leaders can share their vision with employees, and if desired, get feedback and field questions
- Operational Communication – On a tactical level, blogs are excellent for sharing success stories and ideas for improvement
Can you think of other ways to use internal blogs? I’m sure I’ve missed many.
Bottom line – Business blogging is not an either-or proposition. You can dive in head first, feet first, or slowly tiptoe in. Considering the power of blogs, one thing that doesn’t make sense is to bury your head in the sand!
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_b.png?x-id=a1a057e1-52e4-4a6d-98f6-e91e1d5668c6)
Great article. I think it is important for anyone (but especially businesses) to understand that there is not just one way to put together a blog. So many people just dive right in without really examining what will work for them.
That said, I am a big fan of #2. It shows you are invested in the online community, not just adding more content for consumers.
Word Mercenarys last blog post..Resume Vs. Cover Letter
I think the team building aspect could be expanded into several categories. You have ‘defined teams’ that need to communicate, but I think the blogging platform could encourage ‘ad hoc’ team building around subjects of interest. Top of mind would be discussions around customer service issues – letting the information flow may pull people into the solution loop that aren’t currently exposed to the information.
Fred H Schlegels last blog post..Texting Innovation For Rural Medicine
Hi WM, Yes, I think you’re right – “ready, fire, aim” is not the best strategic approach to business blogging. #2 will deliver the biggest return, but may consume more resources than a firm is willing to invest in an untried marketing project. For such a firm, starting with #1 or #3, with the idea of moving into #2 if successful, is a reasonable option.
Hi Fred – I would love to hear more of your thoughts on this topic. Maybe a post or a guest post at Word Sell?
Brad Shorrs last blog post..The 3 Business Blog Strategies
This brings to mind a great comment from last night’s #journchat:
RT @andreaitis @kmskala blog is the platform; responsibility lies with blogger how platform’s used #journchat
Right on!
Meryl K. Evanss last blog post..10 Tasks to Prepare for Time off
Interesting!
I feel like there is a scarcity of good marketing today. Good marketing means which can convert the leads into sales. The only marketing that has moved me in the last couple of years is Social Media Optimization.
Talking about blog marketing, i think one successful way to get your blog to the top is in social media optimization. Another way to get a business blog to the top is by keeping your blog updated with appealing content .
Hey there! Your post was really helpful. I was just searching for this, and here it is. I am new to Jeff Paul’s Internet Marketing but quite amazed find you people around him. Felt really good reading your post
Really interesting post, blogs can be used for many different purposes by many different companies. I agree that they can be very useful in an SEO sense, as companies can relay important information that includes keywords to build upon their online marketing campaign.
I’m so glad you found the time to write this post, because so many b2b firms still need to be “sold” on the concept of social media. Since we social media marketers are knee deep in social media, it is sometimes hard for us to articulate a rationale. I think your post is tremendously helpful in helping us see things from the client’s point of view.