Blogging is a great way to keep connected with your customers and to let others know who you are and the level of expertise they can expect from you and your company. A blog is what you’re reading now – a journal of sorts where you share virtually anything you want from serious matters such as your views on changes in government policy to helpful items like a new service, tool or way of accomplishing something you discovered. In order to get the most mileage out of blogging, and to keep your personal views separate from your company’s, you can have a personal blog where you express your own views and a corporate blog that officially represents your company.
Personal Blog: Share your own personal views, experiences, likes, dislikes, concerns, ideas and information you think may be interesting and useful to your readers. Invite readers to comment or share their similar experiences.
Corporate Blog: Share company news such as hires, promotions, new products, expansions, new clients, or anything you feel helps to keep your customers in touch with your company apart from direct sales. Invite customers to tune in and participate with thought-provoking or fun activities. Coca-Cola, for example, introduced their corporate blog www.coca-colaconversations.com about ten months ago. It offers drink and food recipes, interesting historical facts, and a variety of ways that invite the reader to participate such as the weekly Friday Fun Contest, which successfully associates “weekend” and “fun” with having Coca-Cola.
If your company is large, or diverse, you may choose to manage a variety of blogs representing the varying facets of your organization like Accenture does. You just have to make sure you have someone to manage each one, adding interesting and engaging content on a regular basis.
There are many very fine blogging services out there. Check out WordPress.com, Typepad.com, and Blogger.com, to name but a few. Look at the available templates, features and plug-ins (extra tools that allow you to do special things like add sound or images, for instance), and select the one that suits you best.
