Book Summary Preview : The Corporate Blogging Book

The Big Idea

Imagine a focus group, a viral marketing campaign, and your own news station all rolled into one. Now combine that with a low-cost, easy-to-use, always-on Web site. That’s what effective corporate blogging is all about.

Business blogging used to be ideal for free agents and entrepreneurs who needed a cheap way to get their message out. But now, even the big guys are tapping its amazing powers too.

The world is entering a new age of corporate communications, and blogs are a very effective and budget-friendly way of communicating with customers, employees, the media, and other key constituencies.

Why You Need This Book

This indispensable guide will provide you with a clear overview of what blogging is and how it can help you run your business more effectively. It provides tools, ideas, and a plan for understanding and getting involved with blogging.

Author Debbie Weil explains how to create a blog that's engaging, smart, and likely to grow an audience. She strips always the technical jargon and shows you exactly what your customer needs from your blog, and urges you to confront any fear of blogging that might be holding you back from exploiting it.

This book will teach you what works and what doesn't – as well as why creating and maintaining a good blog is worth the effort.

The Top Twenty Questions About Corporate Blogging

Let’s begin with the facts and the FAQs. Here are some of the top twenty questions and answers regarding blogs and blogging:

WHAT IS CORPORATE BLOGGING?

A blog, short for “Web log”, is an easy-to-publish web site that’s written in an informal, conversational style. However, it can be pushed further than that and can be used as a marketing communications channel. Corporate blogging is the application of such a blog; it’s a communications and marketing channel that connects its owner to a noisy, ragged, global conversation – the blogosphere.

Corporate blogs can be sanctioned, even encouraged, by bosses and contributed to by individual employees, or formally managed by the corporate communications department.

THE BLOGO-WHAT??

The blogosphere. It’s a big, loud place that’s the universe of blogs. It’s “the virtual realm of blogdom as a whole,” as the New York Times calls it. It’s often called a collective conversation. Think of it as a community where information, links, opinions, videos, audio files, photos, and other forms of media are easily and frequently shared, where elaboration can be offered, disagreements aired, and comments posted.

WHY HAS BLOGGING ATTRACTED SO MUCH ATTENTION?

The media blitz is one reason. But the buzz is built around three things: scale, speed and impact.

SCALE. The explosion in the number of blogs is mind-boggling. When Technorati launched in November 2002, it counted just under 13,000 blogs. Exactly three years later, in November 2005, the online service was tracking over 20 million blogs.

SPEED. Blogs are instant and always-on, and are accessible anytime, anyplace, through any Internet-connected device. Someone is always ‘listening’.

IMPACT. Blogging began a decade ago as an online outlet for personal musings. Now, everyone can be a journalist or a reporter. Citizen journalism, an emerging concept, has become a reality thanks to blogs.

HOW IS A BLOG DIFFERENT FROM A WEB SITE?

A blog is different from a conventional Web site because it’s:

• Interactive.
• Written in a conversational voice.
• Created using instant publishing software; usually no tech expertise and no techies or IT staff are required.
• An efficient way to alert interested readers every time something new is added – without using email.
• Frequently updated, so that it almost always gets higher rankings in search engine results than a static site.
• A form of viral marketing.

QUICK! WHAT ARE THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BLOGGING IN ORDER TO GET STARTED?

1. Companies don’t blog; individuals do. That means a corporate blog needs to be written in a human voice.
2. Savvy bloggers read other blogs. Whether or not you choose to launch a blog, you need to be reading blogs. Track what’s being said about your company in the blogosphere and you’ve just discovered next-generation focus groups.
3. Blogging is not a replacement. A blog doesn’t replace other forms of on- or offline marketing.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD CORPORATE BLOG?

It’s updated frequently (preferably a couple of times a week). The writing voice is authentic, friendly and conversational. You hear passion and authority.

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