5 Key Myths of Corporate Blogging

The Conference Board May 21, 2010

Debbie Weil Author | Corporate Social Media Consultant www.debbieweil.com debbie.weil@gmail.com mobile: 202.255.1467

Myth #1

Corporate blogs are out. Twitter and Facebook are in.

Fact

No! A corporate blog is your home base. You own and control the content.

Aside

Jason Calacanis, founder of Weblogs, Inc., is deleting his Facebook account because of privacy concerns.

or  Start  With  Social  Media  Mindset   Southwest Airlines’ blog lives on a social media hub

www.blogsouthwest.com

Over 1M followers on Twitter @SouthwestAir

Blog

Southwest Air CEO Gary Kelly on LinkedIn

Myth #2

You shouldn’t sell on a corporate blog.

Fact

Nonsense. Your blog should be designed so it’s easy to click back to your main site and buy.

Bill Marriott’s blog drives millions of dollars in

bookings via click thrus to Marriott.com

Myth #3

You have to produce brilliant, provocative content for your corporate blog.

Fact

Up to 80% of the traffic to corporate blogs is first-time visitors.*

*Compendium study http://yhoo.it/9NMiPP

Your blog may NOT be building a loyal community of readers

Fact

No one reads all the words online. Be brief. Be useful to first-time and repeat visitors.

Were you fooled?

It’s  (Always)  the  Content  7 secrets of effective blogging

1.  Choose a topic that relates to what your stakeholders are interested in

2.  Find a conversational voice you’re comfortable with 3.  Use self-deprecating humor 4.  Embed videos 5.  Package your content - 10 Tips, 5 Rules, 7 Mistakes 6.  Always, always link 7.  Publish consistently

From Chapter 7 of The Corporate Blogging Book

Myth #4

Measure success by the number of RSS or email subscribers to your blog.

Fact

Those are the wrong metrics. Set measurable communications and business objectives.

Business objectives for a corporate blog

•  Increase awareness of your brand or agency •  Increase positive / decrease negative mentions •  Improve customer service •  Drive traffic to a specific site for sales or downloads •  Create platform for 24X7 crisis communications •  Collect feedback from stakeholders •  Internally: improve knowledge management •  Innovate through collaboration and crowdsourcing •  Platform for thought leadership by senior managers

Proof Point: Dell’s social media efforts resulted in negative online sentiment declining from 48% to 23% from August

2006 to mid-2008, according to Dell’s

Richard Binhammer (Senior Mgr, Corporate

Comms)

http://bit.ly/c8KMgM

Aside

Include a clear CTA (Call to Action) on your blog.

Calls to Action

- Download our white paper

- Join us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube

- Ask us a question

- Download our e-book

- Sign up for our free Webinar

- Request our toolkit

- Sign up for our e-newsletter

- Request a demo

Myth #5

Your blog will turn your company into a thought leader.

Fact

Probably not. But it doesn’t matter if your blog is the pivot point for conversations about your brand.

Cont.

Forget the word “blog.” The best corporate blogs are next-generation social Websites.

Required Reading

Blogs / Sites

AllTop to find best blogs on every topic www.alltop.com

Web Strategist blog by Jeremiah Owyang www.web-strategist.com/blog/

Subscribe to SmartBrief on Social Media (free e-newsletter) www.smartbrief.com/news/socialmedia

Books

FREE by Chris Anderson

Linchpin by Seth Godin

Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

The Corporate Blogging Book 2010 Updated e-book edition with new preface, new section on Twitter and updated resources throughout

Required Reading

Contact

Debbie Weil Author | Speaker | Corporate Social Media Consultant

Buy The Corporate Blogging Book 2010 Updated E-book Edition on Amazon

Twitter: @debbieweil www.debbieweil.com mobile: 202.255.1467

debbie.weil@gmail.com