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The online world is saturated with content. There are more expert opinions, user-generated content, and brand messages than one could ever consume in a lifetime of internet surfing. Why then, in an overloaded world, should brands still consider blogging (or micro-blogging) a worthy investment?
Three simple reasons...
1. It Humanizes
2. It's Fast
3. It's Two-Way
Humanizing Your Brand
Good corporate blogs can be seen as the face of the brand without makeup. In a time where consumers trust each other far more than they trust brand communication, blogs offer the opportunity to make brand communication more personal. Some brands will elect an internal evangelist with a passion for the brand to become an author for the blog. Others will make sure that all posts are written in a conversational tone. Blogs are a place where brands can talk without much filtering, and help regain consumer trust through transparency.
Getting Your Message Out FAST
Not bogged down with the time intensive needs of media buys, production schedules, creative concepting, etc, blogs offer one of the quickest ways to get a message out to consumers. This increases the relevance of messaging, which hits subscribers RSS readers and Google Blog Search in a time where consumers are actively searching for information. Because of this, blogs are often used as one of the first tools during a brand crisis to get the corporate side of the story out to the masses and clear up any misinformation.
Joining The Conversation
Finally, blogs are a place for brands to have two-way conversations with their enthusiasts, skeptics, and consumers looking to actively reach out. Many poorly executed corporate blogs are used merely as another PR platform, a one-way channel to push messaging. Consumers flock to corporate blogs in the hopes of a humanized, relevant message, and are open to engaging in conversation if given the opportunity. Great corporate blogs use this channel as a way to gather influencers and help change consumer opinion by making it not just a place to talk, but a place to listen.
Marta Strickland (editor at ThreeMinds)
Mike Hudson (editor at AllHands)
Strategists & Planners
Comments (2)
Nice clear & concise! Gone are the days of push media and lets hope the big media brands either begin to adopt a two-way conversation style or continue to fade into the darkness. The dooce's, Silicon Alley Insiders and Yardbarkers of the world are coming off the bench with a ton of momentum.
Posted on December 3, 2008 13:29
Businesses don't respect intangible benefits, though. Businesses only recognize profitable or not profitable. These are all residual benefits to the primary ones:
1. Providing your company with organic search placement (being where consumers are looking).
2. Providing relevant content (providing what consumers are looking for).
These 2 benefits lead to conversions, aka: revenue. I'm not knocking your benefits, but business is business and unless leaders see credible evidence that a blog will generate revenue, they're just not going to do it.
Posted on December 8, 2008 07:34