Where is this whole business blog thing headed? Four years from now, will every company have a blog? Will blogs be a memory, replaced by ten waves of hot new technological marketing tools? What do you think??
I asked my crackerjack WordPress developer and collaborator Lara Kulpa to join me in a co-authored post on the topic, and guess what? It turned into a debate! We don’t agree (but of course are still friends). Trot out your crystal ball and tell us what you see in the business blog future.
Brad Shorr Sees a Bright Business Blog Future
Blogs will be as common as e-newsletters are today.
Companies will have not one, not two, but many blogs as part of their Web presence, serving very specific purposes.
Each employee featured in a firm’s Bio/About Us section will have a blog, because the trend of people wanting to do business with people as opposed to faceless corporations is not going to recede.
Every product or product group will have a blog attached to it. The blog’s purpose might be to add customer service support, generate leads, generate conversation to advance branding, convert orders, or who knows what.
Blogs may not look like blogs. The meat and potatoes, posts and comments, will stay. Sidebar elements might go; perhaps the very term “blog” will melt away as blog functionality is used within “standard” page templates.
Most CEOs will either blog or contribute to a blog.
Private blogs will be used extensively with large clients as a way to consolidate communication and provide highly customized service.
Lara Kulpa Sees a Dark Business Blog Future
I think that by 2012 the world’s going to explode, so it doesn’t matter. Just kidding. 
Have you heard of the phrase “early adopters”? They’re people who run headfirst into the latest gadget or form of technology so they can be the first or most experienced with it. The problem is that upcoming generations of web-savvy people are by far NOT early adopters. They’re sitting there waiting for the technology to come to them. For things to present themselves. They don’t hunt out the latest greatest thing, they wait for it to get greater so that everyone on their MySpace friends list is talking about it. THEN, they may give it a go.
When it comes to business blogs, we’ve already seen a pattern of this “lagging” behavior, and I hate to say it but think it’ll only get worse from here. More and more young people are realizing that maybe college isn’t the way to go. They’re thinking that maybe they should start looking for ways to make money the lazy way by starting an online business (and those of us more “seasoned” online business people know better) so they’re going to do the quick and easy thing. Going to some free hosted blog service and setting up a blog, peppering it with ads, and thinking they’re going to “super size” their bank accounts that way. Or maybe the really “geeky” kids will come up with some new application or software, build a site around it, blog about it, and then come to find out that it’s already been done before.
I’d love to say that business blogs will become an integral part of any kind of business web site. It’s something I strive to convince my clients of as a necessity. But the truth is business people aren’t getting it, they’re worried about selling their product or service the fastest way they can, with the least amount of effort, and blogging (be it a business blog or a hobby blog) takes time, effort, and hard work. Do we really think that those graduating from high school or college now, and over the next 5 years, are up for it? Or will they run to the biggest corporation in town and beg for a job even if it’s in the company mailroom? We won’t know until we get there.
Lara,
The exact date is 12/21/2012. Inca, Mayan, Chinese and George Bush calendars point to the same day. George, though, thinks its a XBox 360 new-game release date.
As far as blogs go, I am in your camp. Not sure why but my intuitive sense is that blogs will wane away much the way that unfettered ‘openness’ is waning away with social networking. The influx of disinformation, loss of trust and of course my favorite, loss of privacy might cause blogs to go the way of ‘by invitation only.’
Interesting perspective on our youth…I guess you are seeing a lot of that?
Interesting. Much as I’d love your optimistic viewpoint to be the runaway winner Brad, my own personal experience meshes with Lara’s. Younger generations may be more “web-intuitive” when it comes to their how-to approach once becoming specific app users, but that is after they finally arrive at the party – and if they do at all. I am continually amazed with the difference in my web habits as compared to my kids, now 21 and 24. They may have more gadgets, but we’ve switched places in recent years as far as our “web-intelligence” and I’m the one teaching or pulling them in.
I think another challenge for many business people is also that what they want, what their employees/partners want, and what their customers want are often three different things. Thus they play it safe (and boring) or dwell in “generic land” versus that edgy world of innovative initiative. All that said, I personally will continue to champion the continued flourishing of the blog Brad, and I’m truly pulling for you on this, hoping I’m wrong!
Business blogs will look a lot slicker, with more ties to social networks and other services. Companies in some markets and industries may need a chief blogger or sosial media manager to supervise the company’s official presence online.
In some cases, this job may be farmed out to PR and advertising agencies.
There may several organizations that certify business blogs, to help these web sites differentiate themselves from fake and astroturf blogs.
Blogs sponsored by large and medium-sized companies may need their own ombudsmen to manage discussions and resolve conflicts.
Business blogs will also rely on RSS to distribute content. Gen Xers tend to rely on the Web, but as more consumers become familiar with RSS, companies will have to offer blog content that can be viewed in a newsreader.
Thanks for all your thoughtful comments! Maybe I’m out of touch with these generational differences. On the other hand, if anyone told me I’d be blogging five years ago, let alone 25 years ago, I’d have thought they were crazy. Could be that as folks get older, blogging fits them.
I think blogs will evolve to embrace a broader model. Blog elements (such as fresh content and discussion) may weave their way into a changing business website. We are already seeing this evolution with business sites incorporating elements such as video and voice to “personalize” their site. There are already millions of blogs but a high percentage of the population still does not understand what they are or read them.
Hi Brad
Thanks for directing me to your post here. This is an interesting conversation. I wonder if the early adopters 5 or more years ago, envisaged the changes that have already happened in blogging.
I’m with you, Brad on seeing a positive future for business blogging, but also take Lara’s points on board.
Lara mentioned business owners’ resistance to blogging because it’s not the fastest way to sell a product and takes commitment.
What is your experience with selling the concept of a blog to a client, Brad? And how do you counter the time/commitment factor in small business when they are short staffed and strapped for time?
Interested to hear your thoughts. Thanks again.
Yvonne, Glad to hear you’re optimistic. As far as selling the concept of blogs to small business, if the company does not value marketing or engage in any meaningful traditional marketing, I don’t consider them a prospect. If they don’t grasp the importance of traditional marketing, there’s little chance they’ll buy into blogs. However, if a company does value marketing and have an active program no matter how modest, then I think the “no time” response is code for “We don’t see any ROI.” Small companies don’t like to be pioneers, so my best response to “no time” is to show the prospect examples of how blogs produce results. Fortunately, I have my own experiences to draw on, and there are tons of eye-opening case studies in the many books I read on the topic. When a small business sees other companies having success, they are eager to learn more. I also try to sell the blog concept by not over selling it. I tell the client straightaway blogging may not be for them — it depends on your customers, your goals, and your resources. If we go through the discovery process and see the right things are indeed in place, limited time and money won’t stand in the way. Any business has time and money to invest in something they think will produce a return. Is there anything you might add or subtract from this approach, Yvonne?
Thanks for such a comprehensive answer Brad. The ROI issue is a big one, and a bit hard to quantify, especially as the payoff for blogging is not usually immediate. Your case studies from books sound like a good idea though. I must explore that further.
I agree that business blogging might not be for everyone. Mindset from the outset is also a big part of it.
As well as those businesses that value marketing, likely prospects could also include businesses who already have a web presence and a modicum of success with that. Also – those who’ve tried blogging but have let it lapse, and are willing to give it another go with some blog coaching or support.
Thanks for opening up this topic Brad. I also like the idea of the point and counterpoint post… yet more inspiration and challenges to try!
Yvonne, you are right that ROI can be a difficult calculation. But then again, how do you calculate the ROI of a sales brochure or for that matter, even a static corporate Web site? But I think there are always metrics, and in the case of blogs, they do need to be tracked over a long period of time for the reason you give. (My “Age of Conversation” article gets into this a little.) Anyway, thank you for your thoughtful comments and bringing all these difficult issues to the surface.
@Yvonne and @Brad, I enjoyed your discussion on the ROI. I believe that one of the things we will begin to see our more sophisticated metrics for measuring the ROI of social media. At present we have various analytical methods for different forms of marketing which makes it difficult for companies to make smart decisions about how they parse their marketing dollar. In my conversations with clients I try to take a holistic approach that aligns with “who do they want to be to their customers” There’s a good article on brandchannel.com that addresses this issue. http://www.brandchannel.com/brand_speak.asp?bs_id=192. When you have a keen insight as to how your brand will interact with consumers you can consider the methodologies in light of your overall objective.
karen, Thanks for the article link — it is excellent. You are right about the power of brand interaction, which is another reason why small businesses need to think of themselves as a brand. Have you seen or used any new analytics tools? They sure would be helpful.