Our CFO was kind enough to forward me an article from the Wall Street Journal, "Most Corporate Blogs Are Unimaginative Failures." Once I recovered from his passive-aggressive attack, I actually read the article and was relieved to discover that, for all its faults, at least this corporate blog doesn't commit the sins Forrester enumerated in the study on which the article was based.
Forrester faults most B2B corporate blogs with: lack of personality; infrequent posting; and the mere recycling of press releases. As far as the first two go, I think we're good. Personality is my only real asset, so if ain't coming through in this here blog then, gosh darn it, I'm doing something wrong.
On the frequency front, I've maintained a fairly steady "3 posts a week" pace, but I'm trying to bump that up to 5 per. And as far as press releases are concerned, if you want to read them, you can find them here on our corporate website.
Finally, Forrester points to the dearth of comments as an indicator of failure. To that I'll quote Van Morrison, who once sang, "And if you fail to hear from me/It only means I didn't call," or something like that. In other words, the only definite conclusion you can draw from an absence of comments is that no one commented. It doesn't mean they didn't read, think about, or even react to a particular post (or so I tell myself....)
In any event, I do, get comments. So back off, CFO-man!
Image Courtesy of salimfadhley.
Hahaha - You're good my man :)
The article is right though. As an applicant, I feel that a company's blog is a real opportunity to get to know the people there and get a glimpse at the inside. Interact, network, etc.
One thing that you do that I particularly appreciate (and no I'm not kissing ass, I'm being sincere) is that you actually respond to my posts. If I know that someone is actually going to READ my responses, I'm far more likely to interact with a blog. If I'm more likely to interact with it, I'm more likely to pay attention to it in my reader too.
Woot.
Thanks, Alex.
I'm glad you mention that, as an applicant, you turn to the blog to learn more about the company and the people there. I'm working on ways to enable more local blogging by Aquent offices as well as getting more voices on this blog.
Just as you say that getting a response encourages you to interact with a blog, getting comments encourages the blog author to write more, I think. While you have to be able to compose for the anonymous as a blogger, it also helps when you can write, at least in part, for specific, nameable humans.
I would definitely not call this blog a failure. The reasons above are why corporate blogs fail I agree on that front 100% however that is because their intentions are wrong. I constantly consult clients that want a blog to gain more search engine traffic and think managing a corporate blog in the manner listed above will do that. This sadly is not true, however by time they realize this the blog ends up going completely stagnant. I am ranting, but having a personality is such a success in and of itself for a corporate blog that you should be proud.