Corporate blogging part 2

The other day I started a look at corporate blogging. And, as I think about it, the phrase itself is an oxymoron. Blogs are the creations of individuals (or small groups of individuals). The individual voice of the poster is as integral to the success of a blog as the content itself is.

Nothing could be less individual than a corporation. The most successful blogs about corporations (Scobleizer or Mini-Microsoft) are singular voices from within companies giving their perspective on the company. The Johnson King blog (discussed in the earlier corporate blogging post) works for me because the entries are personal and witty, and aren't selling me something. Now, the JK people are communications professionals, so I'd expect a good blog. If you're Silliman's Hardware, it won't come so easily.

I haven't talked you out of doing a corporate blog yet? Some don'ts, then:

1. No posting by committee.
2. No sales pitches in blog posts. Leave that for your website. Blog entries should be interesting, informative and provocative. Period.
3. No PR department ghostwriting for busy executives. If they want to do a blog post, let 'em write it themselves.
4. Don't try to stay on message. It'll sound false.

And some do's:

1. Do discuss issues that are important to your customers.
2. Do have a firm point of view.
3. Be humorous from time to time, if possible.
4. Post regularly.

The blogging white paper that Johnson King PR offers (you can request it here) is a pretty good introduction and is worth a read.

marketing, blogs, corporate blogs