Corporate Blog
Corporate Blog: Brief Summary
A corporate blog, otherwise known as a company blog, is a blog that is published and operated by a business or not-for-profit organisation, or by an individual or organisation acting on their behalf. As a concept, it shares many similarities with more conventional blogging, with content being published via multiple individual posts. In most cases, these posts are displayed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent blog posts shown first.
The key difference between a corporate blog and a conventional blog, aside from ownership, is the underlying objective. While personal blogs tend to be created for purposes of sharing information, entertaining others or providing commentary or insight on a topic of interest, most corporate blogs are primarily intended to serve a marketing function, whether it is helping to attract website hits, boosting SEO efforts, generating leads, or increasing brand awareness.
Corporate Blog: Detailed Summary
A blog, or weblog, is a website that is regularly updated with posts, which are usually shown in reverse chronological order, making it easy for the audience to read new entries. With this in mind, a corporate blog is effectively any blog that is published by or on behalf of a corporation, business or organisation. In the majority of cases, the blog will be intended to assist with the company’s strategic objectives and blogging is usually seen as a type of marketing.
The concept of blogging emerged in the 1990s and grew out of a trend for people to create and maintain personal websites. By the end of the decade, with the rise of dedicated blogging platforms and services, including LiveJournal and Blogger, the concept of blogging became mainstream. Although most blogs in the early years were personal blogs, or blogs covering special interests, the corporate blog soon emerged and became mainstream in the early 2000s.
Corporate blogs can generally be divided into two main types:
- Internal Corporate Blogs – Blogs which are only able to be accessed internally, usually via a company intranet. These are created to be read and engaged with by employees and others connected to the organisation. They are usually intended to improve communication, help corporate culture and facilitate collaboration.
- External Corporate Blogs – A blog that is available to be read by the public. It will usually be written by individuals within the organisation, or written by professional content creators adopting the voice of the organisation. These are usually intended to serve strategic goals, such as helping to attract website visitors, promoting products or services, generating leads or sales, or establishing company expertise within its own industry or niche.
While many external corporate blogs are aimed at customers, it is important to understand that this is not the only audience that corporations are interested in. For instance, they may also want to attract the attention of industry thought leaders, or they may also want to reach out to potential business partners or influencers.
Regardless of the precise target audience, one of the big advantages of having a corporate blog is having a channel through which to communicate with people beyond simple advertising and overt promotional content. This can allow the business to reach people who are cynical towards advertising. In addition, it also gives the organisation a platform to expand on complicated ideas, explain decisions and respond to customer concerns and feedback.
In terms of the types of content that can be posted on a corporate blog, some corporations prioritise company news and updates, helping to keep customers, clients and business partners up-to-date. However, it is worth noting that in many cases, social media channels may now be preferable for this type of content.
Often, the most effective blog content from a marketing perspective will have a broader appeal, potentially attracting readers who are unfamiliar with the organisation. Companies often use their blogs to post interesting or useful information, which can help to establish the business’ credibility. With this in mind, many corporate blog posts are outsourced to professional content creators, who write well-researched blog posts about industry topics.
How to Make an Effective Corporate Blog
While the precise topics to cover in a corporate blog will vary depending on the aims and objectives that inspired the blog, there are some basic tips that can be regarded as being effective across the board. Firstly, it is vital to have a clear audience in mind for the blog and to cater for that audience with content. Ultimately, the success or failure of a corporate blog is largely decided by whether or not the content is valuable to its target audience.
It is also important to take steps to drive traffic towards a corporate blog and, ultimately, towards the company as a whole. There are a number of techniques that can be used here, including keyword research and search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts, which can help to make the blog more visible on search engines like Google. Furthermore, individual blog posts can be promoted on social media channels and linked to from the main business website.
With regards to SEO, one of the best ways to improve rankings is to attract backlinks to a corporate blog. There are numerous ways to do this, including link exchange programmes, but the best method is to create valuable content, that is worth linking to. In order to make a blog post reliable and trustworthy, bloggers should provide evidence for what they are saying, when possible, and provide links to sources for facts and statistics used.
Generally, it is best to try to maintain a consistent posting schedule, or at least avoid a sudden influx of blog posts, followed by a lengthy period with no new content. Audiences like to know when they can expect to find new content.
Finally, bloggers should always give consideration to their strategic objectives. What is the corporate blog designed to achieve? If it is intended to establish credibility and expertise, the published content needs to be factual, reliable and professionally written. If it is intended to build rapport, a less formal tone may be adopted. If it is intended to generate sales or generate a particular response, links to relevant services could be included, as could a call to action.
Conclusion
Corporate blogs are blogs that are maintained by an organisation, either for internal use or for public consumption. While there are many fundamental similarities with personal blogging, the main difference is the fact that a corporate blog will typically serve a strategic business objective, and is treated primarily as a marketing tool. Other aims, like providing information or opening new channels of communication, often exist but are usually regarded as secondary.