Tuesday 15 July 2008

Corporates in the blogosphere

What do you think about companies that have blogs? I think it's pretty cool, becuase it's a live way of interacting with them, but I know that a lot of people reckon it's a bad thing for a company to start a blog because it's like advertising.

I pitched the idea of a blog to a company we're working with, and they bit, so I had to start the bloody thing and load up tons of content all in one day. Coupled with the five meetings I had from 9 to 4 yesterday, it's made for a trying two days. But it's all done, and I think the blog is cool. Of course, I can't tell you what it is, but if any of you know how to get people to read corporate blogs, let me know!

12 comments:

phillygirl said...

i think corporate blogs are a fine idea ... but i have no ideas how you'd market them :(

c'mon, not even a little clue as to who??

Cam said...

Eskom would have the most popular blog in the country!

Good idea though...although coporates are getting flack about having facebook networks and monitoring their employees. How would a corporate blog, exactly?

AngelConradie said...

i've seen more and more of them but i haven't gone into any of them... what do you put in a corporate blog?

leez said...

THere are a couple od corporates that do have blogs but they're not all that interesting. If your company has a website thats sufficient.

Who would contribute to such a blog?

Also it probably depends on what type of compnay. then maybe it could be something market related.

Sweets said...

good idea i think!!! well done, pity we can't see what you came up with :)

AlasMyDear said...

i think corporate blogs can work, especially if they're well done, regularly updated, and have content other than perpetual advertisements. and great photography helps a good deal, too.

i know many little indie companies that market their blogs to their customers via mailing lists or on their tags, and they have large followings. it's sure to be lots of work, though!

such a pity we don't get to see what you made :(

Briget said...

You have our curiosity peaked..

spill the beans already .. lol ;-P

Promise we will behave, hey guys?

Tamara said...

Philly: Ok... three clues, that's all you're getting. It's a company in the marketing industry, about an industry event that's coming up, and there are two other companies contributing to the blog. Not much help, but it's the best I can do.

Ches: Most infamous, more likely!

Angel: I guess I'll find out soon enough! This particular blog is mainly about an upcoming event and generating debate within the industry, so we're putting up press releases and controversial topics.

Leez: You've hit the nail on the head - it has to be market-related! Also, this is sort of a collaboration, so all three partners will contribute.

Sweets: Yay! Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Alas: Good point on the photos - will remind all parties to post visual stuff too.

BIC: Behave? You?! MwahaHAHAHAHA!

Kit said...

Hey T,

First off, congrats on the new job... sounds like it's going well, and you're already making an impact there.

Second - corporate blogs. I think they're great. It's so hard to comment though without knowing the company, but the obvious rule is CONTENT is king.

For example (and here comes the looooong story), I just got a new cellphone. It's an LG - never had an LG before - so I went looking for info, hoping the company would have something like a corporate blog where they post info about their new phone models and hints and tips and fun things like 'free wallpaper Monday' or 'ringtone day' or whatever, but of course, they have no such thing.

Other people have put together 'fan sites/blogs' where they post their own stuff, but LG cannot OWN that conversation, so those customers.

Good idea - do something consistent on a certain day (like the example of 'wallpaper Monday' where you post a new free wallpaper for the phone EVERY monday) That way, people will keep coming back. Don't make it too info intensive, make sure you let people have their say.

The Jackson Files said...

I don't think I've ever read a corporate blog before, but the CEO of the company I worked in in the UK wrote his own diary/blog thing and it was very popular (but that was only internal).

I'm going to go and google comapny blogs now.

leez said...

Why does Loerie Awards come to mind?

Globus said...

globus has seen most of these fail. they only work if the corporation is fun or online enough to be contemporary and engaging to the social networker type. anything outside of that field comes across as staid and doesn't gain traction.