There is a problem and opportunity with corporate blogging

Posted on 01. Jul, 2008 by Michael Brito in Corporate Blogs, Social Media

A big thank you to Kelly Feller who emailed me and several others at Intel this article from the Wall Street Journal, “Most Corporate Blogs Are Unimaginative Failures”. This is perfect timing as I am planning to launch a new consumer blog for Intel in the coming months. The following is a tidbit from the article:

Many businesses have launched corporate blogs in an effort to better communicate with customers and capture a little Web-2.0 mojo. But Huffington Post they ain’t: Not only are these corporate blogs boring as paint, but the businesses behind admit they don’t have much value.

The article also cites a Forrester case study which I believe to be the core problem with corporate blogging in general:

Forrester found that most B2B blogs are “dull, drab, and don’t stimulate discussion.” Seventy percent stuck to business or technical topics, 74% rarely get comments, and 56% simply regurgitated press releases or other already-public news. Not surprisingly, 53% of B2B marketers say that blogging has marginal significance or is irrelevant to their strategies—the rest call it somewhat or highly significant–and the number of new corporate blogs among the companies Forrester tracks has dropped from 36 in 2006 to just three in 2008.

I see two problems here. First is that many of these corporate blogs are using a blog as a one-way communication channel. That is, they are repurposing press releases and white papers as blog content. They are also restating the exact same technical specs that can most likely be found on the product pages of the corporate web site. They simply have a blog just because their competitors do. Nothing new, nothing real, nothing cool, nothing engaging, nothing personal.

The second problem is that many of these marketers don’t see (53% according to Forrester) the significant relevance or strategic importance of corporate blogging; and one of life’s lessons is that if you neglect something long enough it will eventually shrivel up and die.

I would argue that a corporate blog might not be the best tool to engage and converse with customers. It really depends on the level of usage and participation that your audience is engaged in with social media. See Forrester’s Social Technographics Ladder of Participation for some really helpful information.

The opportunity is clear. Josh Bancroft who also works at Intel summed it up quite well in his reply to Kelly’s email:

Blogs are at their best and most interesting when they’re conversations, and you can’t have a conversation with a corporation – only with the people in that corporation. And it’s hard for us as members of a corporation to come across as real people. That, I think, is the big problem that all corporate blogs face.

To reiterate … people cannot — I repeat — cannot relate to corporations. They can relate to people. It’s in our DNA to be social and have conversations, and love/not-so-love/dislike certain things and people; and then talk about out why they feel the way they do. It’s human nature.

So here lies the opportunity. In a recent study conducted by ExpoTV, it was found that, yes, consumers do want to “have a conversation” with a brand. The study found that:

  • Consumers not only want to talk to brands, they want to establish a conversation: 55% of consumers want an ongoing dialogue with brands

In this case, an ongoing dialogue is not a press release, product specs, white papers or marketing fluff. It is a real conversation between real people. The struggle, which is something I am working on, is finding the right people internally that are passionate about the product(s) they support, passionate about “sharing their story” and that have the bandwith to contribute, even though it’s not in their job description.

Oh, and big ups to Josh for sending this resource to the Intel crew. It’s a blog post written by Dawn Foster; and she gives some great tips on corporate blogging and how to make it a success.

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8 Comments

Posted in Corporate Blogs, Social Media

8 Responses to “There is a problem and opportunity with corporate blogging”

  1. Tom Diederich

    01. Jul, 2008

    Hey Michael,

    Spot on with your post … and I also feel your pain. I joined Cadence in late March and we’re launching blogs July 14 (along with a version 2.0 of our user community).

    Since joining the company three months ago, I’ve been working hard at convincing folks that blogging is actually worth their time. A very good percentage of my potential recruits see it as another “to-do.” It’s been (and continues to be) a “challenge” (a nice way of putting it) convincing them otherwise.

    I started with product marketing and product management and used those converts to help me recruit engineers, architects and other technical folks. I have around 55 people so far. Will expand to trusted members of the community as soon as possible (non-Cadence employees). Wish me luck (and good luck to you)!

  2. Kip Silverman

    02. Jul, 2008

    Crafted messages don’t work well when blogging and corporate messaging is the hallmark of “craft”. I think the key here is that just having the ability to blog doesn’t mean you should- nor does every company need to. If you are not prepared to have a conversation with your customers or employees, don’t.

    Press releases in a blog = fail and ignoring or not even allowing responses = epic fail.

    I respect executives that don’t blog as much as I do those that do blog. The value of a conversation is in the content, not the act of having the conversation. As the techscape matures along with the old guard retiring, we’ll see a shift in the value proposition and companies that will know how to do it correctly.

    -Kip

  3. LaSandra Brill

    02. Jul, 2008

    Great post Michael. I do think that blogging continues to be a challenge with most corporations. I agree with the general direction that Tom is going in with the planning of his blog and by going to the product marketing and engineering teams. The only thing I don’t agree with is having to ‘talk them into’ blogging. My experience is that if they feel like it’s another ‘to-do’ it will never be successful and will always lack the personality and passion needed to take off. But like I said, he’s starting at the right level. I think a lot of corporations see blogging as a way to get their executives out there but most of the time they aren’t dedicated to post frequently enough and they lack the personality and passion that customers are looking for. When it comes to building a corporate blog team we shouldn’t be targeting titles but instead looking for the the people who are most passionate about their areas of interest and getting them on board.

    I still think Sun is the best example of corporate blogging - http://blogs.sun.com/ - with over 4000 blogs their open strategy welcomes everyone in their company to participate and it’s become part of their culture. Although we often think of Jonathan Swartz as the #1 blogger at Sun you can see the number of hits and see that his blog is actually the 6th most popular. The number one blogger is Jim Grisanzio, a Senior Program Manager who’s obviously passionate about his job and has created a community of followers and readers with over 18K hits to his blog according to the Sun blog site.

  4. hemlock

    02. Jul, 2008

    Forrester’s report is refreshingly blunt and will hopefully cause sponsors of corporate blogs to re-examine the objectives they’re trying to achieve with their programs. Blogs by their nature require a higher-than average amount of commitment from the audience and to succeed, would have to provide some sort of pay-off. A filtered, on-message blog by some mid-level manager looking to make a name for themselves by taking on an extracurricular activity isnt likely going to spawn any really interesting conversations. The web and blogging in particular has leveled the playing field for content distribution. You’re not going to entice readers with your glossy print job anymore. Corporate blogs have to compete on content. Corporations shouldn’t encourage worker bees without an interesting perspective and little training in the way of composition to put pen to paper. It’s no realistic to think that everybody is going to be interesting.

    Of the thousands of blogs customers have access to, why wouldn’t we expect people to skip over the crap for the good stuff? Where’s the insight that will let my customer get a new perspective? The subversive ideas? The relevant facts that could lead to a competitive advantage?

    In tech, so much of what we do and sell exists in the context of lifecycles of adoption and customer education. We now have the perfect medium for leading those conversations and we’re wasting it on filtered message distribution. No wonder people aren’t engaging.

  5. Michael Brito

    02. Jul, 2008

    Thanks LaSandra - I was actually going to mention Sun; and I agree with you 100 percent. Sun has created a “social media culture” for lack of a better word; within their organization which allows them to be successful externally.

    “When it comes to building a corporate blog team we shouldn’t be targeting titles but instead looking for the the people who are most passionate about their areas of interest and getting them on board.”

    I echo this sentiment. It’s definitely tough to do in an organization with almost 100K employees….

    ; )

  6. Patrick Mason

    07. Jul, 2008

    Right On. The Cluetrain guys had it right from the beginning. People are wired for people, not companies.

  7. Naomimimi

    22. Jul, 2008

    I’m curious how many people really understand the culture and purpose behind blogs. To me, it’s intuitive that you cannot converse with a brick and mortar, website, hide in PR company.

    Social Media is soft skills, diplomacy, personality, and knowing how to create conversation. How much is a systematic plan and how much is the same as walking into a social event and “working the room”?

  8. Michael Brito

    22. Jul, 2008

    @Naomimimi

    “you cannot converse with a brick and mortar, website, hide in PR company.”

    You are right. It’s about connecting with real people. Consumers can relate to real people … they can’t relate to a corporation.

    Thank you for your comment.

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