Continued from “Blogging for Business pt 1″

So why is there so much fervor surrounding business blogs and corporate blogs? Unlike corporate websites, business blogs are extremely cost effective to launch and quite surprisingly easy to maintain, because there are so many powerful and easy to use tools out there. Unlike spam, junk e-mail and other forms of mass communication, corporate blogs are not intrusive, because they require visitors to get to them. When a corporate blog is done right, it provides a fast and informal way for information to be shared with a variety of different target audiences including partners within the company, customers and clients, and even other competing companies. The information that can be shared includes project updates, test results, research, product releases, news, industry headlines and so much more, and this information can be shared both inside the company and outside of the company as well.

However, it is important to know that blogs can be deceptively tricky when it comes to management. If you do not manage your business blog correctly, you could end up embarrassing yourself, boring your customers, or even alienating them. You may also accidentally contribute to the information overload, or may end up on the wrong side of a lawsuit if you do not exercise care and caution. Worse yet, you could potentially alienate the entire blogging community if you are not careful. Take for example what happened when Dr. Pepper/Seven Up Inc. tried to enlist young volunteers to plug the Raging Cow beverage on their blogs, but the effort backfired when other bloggers called for a product boycott because they were upset over the word of mouth campaign which was clearly orchestrated.

Successful business blogging, just like any other marketing campaign or initiative, is going to require that you put together and follow a strategy.

You absolutely need to be able to answer the 5 W’s regarding your corporate blog, meaning:

- Who is going to blog? Who is the target audience?
- What are we blogging for? What benefits are expected? What needs to be said? Restricted?
- Where will the blogs appear?
- When will the blogs appear? When will results be seen?
- Why are we doing this?

The last question here is possibly the most vital, because it will help you determine exactly what your blog is intended to accomplish. Are you looking to demonstrate the expertise of your company, or perhaps your own expertise? Are you looking to promote services or products, or provide customers with news, updates and announcements? Are you looking to facilitate communication or build a community? Answer these and other questions will help keep you out of trouble because you will have a clear cut idea of what needs to be said and done, and how to accomplish it. When these questions are answered, it will keep all of the blog writers in line, preventing the wrong steps from being taken to elevate your blog to popular status.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2009-01-14 05:13:07. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Projecting the Right Image of Your Company Through Your Corporate Blog Few people realize how powerful a blog can be when it comes to projecting an image to the public. Words have a power all their own and the wrong ones may sink your company’s reputation. Before you even start your own corporate blog it is very important to first come......
• How to Avoid Corporate Blogging Disasters For those thinking about starting a corporate blog, there are a few caveats that should be considered before you ever throw your hat in the arena. The blogosphere can be a scary place if you are not prepared and it is easy to have a disaster of epic proportions on......
• Blogging for Business By Shel Holz and Ted Demopoulos When looking for a book on corporate blogging, it is always helpful to find one that is written by two of the most respected authorities on the subject. Holz and Demopoulos are internet superstars in their own regard and quite honestly, you couldn’t ask for two better people to get......
• Why Do You Need a Blog For Your Company? If you’ve been hearing a lot about the corporate blogging trend and wondering how you can make it work for your company, there are specific reasons that having a blog is very important. It really is worth the extra effort that goes into the creation and management of the blog,......
• Positive Qualities for a Corporate Blog Do you know what qualities your corporate blog should incorporate in order to get the most out of it? Do you know what people are looking at when they determine whether or not they want to keep reading a specific business blog? The following is a look at some of......

• Business PBX Phone System The technology that is evolving nowadays is never ending. There seems to be something new on the market all the time. The business PBX phone system is one of these things. It is proving to be something that owners of companies are looking into as a viable option more......
• Facebook's Zuckerberg Says The Age of Privacy is Over [/caption] Written by Marshall Kirkpatrick Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told a live audience yesterday that if he were to create Facebook again today, user information would by default be public, not private as it was for years until the company changed dramatically in December. In a six-minute interview on stage......
• Business Continuity for Small Businesses - Don't Forget Your Phone System A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is critical for every company, whether it's a small business or a national enterprise. Without a BCP, many companies have a much lower probability of recovering fully from a catastrophic disaster, such as the destruction of their premises. You may think you will never......
• Why Big Companies Are Blogging? There are still some old school business people out there that consider the whole idea of blogging for their business rather ridiculous. Unfortunately for these people, they will never understand that the world is changing and blogging is a whole lot more than just a bunch of people in their......
• ZULTYS RECEIVES INTERNET TELEHONY MAGAZINE'S® TWELTH ANNUAL PRODUCT OF THE YEAR AWAR - Zultys Unified Communications Solution Recognized for Outstanding Innovation- SUNNYVALE, California, February 17, 2010 – Zultys Inc., a leading provider of Unified Communications and VoIP Business Phone Systems since 2001, announced today that Technology Marketing Corporation’s (TMC®) INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine has named the Zultys end-to-end Unified Communications solution for SMBs......