Many companies think of blogging as adding a bolt onto an existing machine. In reality, the companies that are successful at blogging inspire a blogging culture throughout the organization. To do this, your business needs to become a blogging machine.
3 Ways to Turn Your Company Into a Blogging Machine
Method 1: Share Experiences Using Your Product
Let the whole company use your product. It can turn them into great evangelists for your brand. People will see that you love your product, which gives them more reason to love it.
The Kodak 1000 words blog is not about cameras - it is about the power of photography. Kodak employees blog about all that they can do with a camera. Through sharing their photographs and the stories behind them, they show their true emotional connection to Kodak's product.
Even if your employees are not your target market, crowdsourcing content from your actual customers is a great idea. At HubSpot, even though we use our own software and we also showcase case studies from customers.
Method 2: Share Your Expertise
If people are in an industry, they should be knowledgeable about it, and might even be passionate about it. People love talking about something they're good at and passionate about.
Consulting company Accenture allows employees to blog about delivering high business performance. By doing so, Accenture has inspired a collection of some of the most prominent business blogs today. They show that they know their industry, and gain trust from potential customers.
Method 3: Share Your Company Culture
Southwest Airlines created an unconventional yet successful blog around corporate culture. While sprinkled with company news, the blog draws mostly from employee stories.
While your company doesn't need to have a left-field culture like Southwest, you can still let people know how you get things done. This can help you gain a reputation as a thought-leader in your industry, and improve your image for potential customers.
Marketing Takeaway
It's hard to get employees interested in blogging. Adding a marketing bolt on to your organization can only help you distribute news about your company more aggressively.
Turning your company into a blogging machine is a great way to produce useful content that is relevant and interesting to your customers. It enables your employees to advocate for their work and interact directly with customers.
What can you do to make your organization a blogging machine?
Photo Credit: rumpleteaser
Asshu 2:02 PM on June 11, 2010
Another great article to remember and implement.
Andy Cook 2:16 PM on June 11, 2010
A big step into turning your company into a blogging machine is to give power to your employees. If an employee has to run through a strict approval process and have all blogs read and edited, it's going to really cut down on his excitement ten-fold.
Every company should hire great, passionate employs and trust them.
Adam Willis 2:58 PM on June 11, 2010
Yeah... I agree with Andy. I am setting up a company blog and the company wants me to run every single blog post by legal. It's a nightmare! There's no way I am going to be able to get quality, timely content out on time. Bah!
Great tips though!
Diane Conklin 3:44 PM on June 11, 2010
Another great blog arrow to add to my quiver of reasons to get it started for crying out loud!
Thanks for the help!
Shannon Golladay 3:44 PM on June 11, 2010
Excellent tips! These ideas really help a blog come to life. I enjoy reading blogs with this type of content much better than a blog that talks about how great the company is the whole time!
Jenny Stradling 3:50 PM on June 11, 2010
I think you're right on point with the Method 3: Share Your Company Culture. I love blogs, love blogging, but have found myself disenchanted with a lot of what's out there - so many boring blog posts.... it's time to find the interesting side of your business and let that come out! Bravo to Southwest for being less conventional, we need more of that!
Carrie Krishnek 6:13 PM on June 13, 2010
Great post! This is the same concept I try to teach on my site. People love it when you share your expertise and experiences. Not only does it attract them to your blog but it also keeps them coming back for more.
Stephanie Lynch 9:47 AM on June 14, 2010
Great ideas to share across my company with other employees! I work in tourism and would love to get more of my colleagues as well as our tourists involved in our "new" blog. !!Please note that your case studies link does not work!!
Pamela Seiple 10:04 AM on June 14, 2010
Thanks for the heads up, Stephanie. The 'case studies' link is all fixed. Good luck with your new blog!
Exequiel 6:04 AM on June 17, 2010
I would agree that blogging is really helpful in marketing your product. However, you may also search the web for free software that would automate all your manual work to promote your product online. I am an internet marketer and I know how it was effective in my projects.