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Media

Tangible Effects of Corporate Blogging

Media relations or any public relations efforts by corporations play an important marketing aspect in most any business. Whether the business is a a brick-and-mortar business, or whether it’s a home-based business, corporations want to make as significant an impact as possible with potential customers. They want to establish a long-term business relationship with customers and create a working relationship that will last for quite a while. Establishing this long-term working relationship does not have to be lengthy or complicated to be successful. The tenets of blogging will do just fine – – with the basic elements of journalistic style and quality in every post.

Although there are many, many avenues with which to market a business, blogging by far has grown to be one of the most popular and most widely used way to gain and retain customers. Corporate blogs have shown that not only are they widely read, but the information given in the blog is highly beneficial to business owners.

Blogopreneur made a post on their website about some of the benefits of corporate blogging and the multi-level benefits of blogging. While the list itself is not all encompassing, it does give great information on how corporate blogs can thrive on the internet. Very often, the main complaint from blog producers is that they cannot “see” the blogging benefits. However, blogging is not an instant gratification sport. It must be properly cultivated, strategically marketed and the content continually refreshed in order for it to be successful.

What Does Blogging Do For Your Business?

Aside from the immediate and instant exposure that blogging provides, corporations stand to gain an immense amount of media relations from their corporate blogs. For instance, in the case of GoDaddy.com, founder Bob Parsons has found success and a little fame even. Many readers, including myself, follow his blog and glean business and site development tips from his journal. His business has become of the elite few blogs that has garnered success as an information-presenting blog. Why is his blog so well-read? Mainly, I think, is because he provides timely, technology-relevant, up-to-date information from a CEO’s voice. Just how many corporate blogs do you know of where the CEO addresses the reading audience on a regular basis?

The kind of exposure that a well-written blog produces is invaluable. However, with good, solid and timely information, a corporate blog that is well-presented makes it even more valuable to its readers and to the corporation. This can create links from other websites and blogs and mentions of your blog on other blogs and websites. This can also create an internet buzz about your product or company.

Is Sales Tied to Your Blogging Efforts?

There was a very interesting post by Pilsa on their blog about blogging and the relationship that it has to sales. This question certainly asks whether or not there is a tangible factor in blogging, and the short answer is “yes.” Successful blogging is directly related to profitable sales. If your corporation is blogging and strategizing their media relations efforts towards being information producers, it would be almost inevitable that they would success in their profits as well.

Sales is the final result that is desired after a marketing campaign to get the customer to buy. In blogging, making succinct and crafty blog posts is akin to the “marketing” aspect of the business. The courting period between a potential customer and the company is the time where they get to know each other. The customer gets to see how the corporation views certain issues, how they are involved in their community and how serious they are about doing business with them. Blogging is that platform where this happens. Blogging doesn’t necessarily ask for the sale nor does it even hint towards one. But what blogging does do is provide enough information and slight motivation to make considerations towards a sale.

What strategies does your company utilize to campaign? How do they ‘ask for the sale?’

Should Corporate Sites Air Their Business? American International Group (AIG) did, and it Worked!

Are the websites the appropriate place to be casual or direct with customers? Or, should that be done in a direct letter to the customer?

Just how much information should corporations release about their financial dealings (and otherwise) to customers?

The Function of Corporate Communications

A corporate web presence is usually created to keep a line of communication open between the company’s customers or investors and the company’s executives. This can be as lengthy as several paragraphs or as short as one-liners (as in Tweets) or emails. In many cases, a company’s blog or website is the first place people will turn to in order to get a better idea about the company and their practices. Corporations can also use blogs to really gain strength in the marketplace and develop a strong presence in the minds of consumers.

Corporate blogs also serve to keep the public informed and abreast of what’s going on in a particular area of the company, or, about news developments and/or discoveries. Although blogs are generally positive in nature, there are instances where the blog may discuss issues that are uneasy or embarrassing to deal with. When, and if this happens, there must be some type of mechanism in place to deal with the situation and create the best possible outcome for the company, no matter what.

That Will Be $1 Please

American International Group (AIG) has been under heavy, heavy fire in recent months about their financial activity and their dire need to be bailed out of a particularly unpleasant and unpopular financial crisis. The mega-large U.S.-based insurance brokerage group was bailed out by the government to the tune of $150 billion not too terribly long ago. They have also been under heavy scrutiny for their various financial actions and activities and have tried to offer explanations for their activities via their website. Taking a look at the press release where AIG discuss the company’s finances, I noticed that AIG seems to try to answer the accusations and scrutiny by explaining (in detail) why they’ve decided to take action and what they expect to have happen as a result. This is ultimate corporate responsibility and excellent media relations because it shows that the company is not ignoring the pink elephant in the room, nor are they offering a myriad of excuses. They have responsibly faced what has happened and have addressed it directly. Whether using the website to discuss certain issues was a (opinion) mistake or not, AIG did quite well in facing the issues and answering to the public about their actions. 

The news press release that announced that Mr. Liddy and other executives of AIG will not receive a salary (or a significantly reduced one) for the years of 2008 and 2009 shows not only an immense understanding of the company’s financial obligation, but also shows that the executive team understand and are sensitive to the company’s needs and the public’s perception of them as leaders. Did it work? Was that a good idea? Will it be effective and profitable for the company? No one has any way of really knowing how the entire situation will turn out. But, because the company’s top executive has decided to receive only a $1 salary for 2008 and 2009, and the company’s top managing executives are going to forego their annual bonuses, they are showing that the bailout will not be for naught. Discussing it affirms their intentions and shows everyone they’re serious.

But, On the Website?

Was AIG’s website the proper place to make such an announcement about the company’s decisions? Why wouldn’t it be? Actually, the site was the perfect place to make that type of announcement. Corporate media relations announcements are not meant only for journaling the company’s highs, profits, sales or growth. Well-presented corporate media relations announcements can help a company excel in the marketplace, whether things are favorable…or not. It is not the job, function or duty of a blog to only paint rosy pictures of the company. To do that could possibly backfire and cause other potential problems. And, in order to avoid said problems, companies should allow their communications to be transparent. However tact should be used in choosing the right words and tone for the media.

After reading about the salary decrease, you may perhaps find yourself thinking about just how serious a move that was for AIG and how serious they must be in getting the company back on track. So really, the website is the best place to make such an announcement. It is the best place to air the company’s “not-so-good” news. It is the best place to reach out to customers, outside media, investors and other interested parties. Hence, for AIG, discussing it on their website, in the open  and upfront is going to be the best place to get their message out and convey their seriousness in the process.

Is Your Corporate Blog of Value?

Today, I’m going to let you all in on a little secret that many of you may already know, and some of you may find surprising. This is for all of those corporate blog writers and content providers who maintain your company’s website:

No one is reading your blog!

You’re likely shocked, I’m sure, but that is just the plain truth. No one is interested in reading your blog and you may even find that it’s hard to drive traffic to your site. Why am I making this unveiling? You see, when readers scan, peruse, search and Google sites for information, they’re looking for relevant, concise and timely content. They’re looking for information that they can use to apply in their own businesses, practices that have been used over and over, and even case studies that have been shown to provide value. In other words, if your blog doesn’t provide anything of essence or value to your reader, they won’t be back and they will likely click away faster than the time it takes for your web page to load in their browser. Fast.

The Reader Doesn’t Know

What is it that your corporation does or what product do they specialize in? How does your corporate service or product affect the community? How can it make a difference in the life of the reader who’s scanning your post(s) right now? The whole reason that a reader would visit your blog would be to:

1.) find out new information

2.) confirm information they already knew

That’s it. Those are the only two reasons that a reader bothers to read the first few lines in your blog entry. They are skimming for value and want to see if you can enhance their knowledge base in any way. If you do manage to keep their attention, great. If not, well, clicking they will be. It’s unwise to confuse the reader with irrelevant or inapplicable material. While you may think that the television commercial that your corporation made was fantastic (and it may well be), you can enhance the spotlight on this by creating something of value to your reader and share your good news at the same time.

Create Value?

Yes, you can and should create intrinsic value in your blog or website that will make your company a potential household name. For instance, consider maximizing the coverage of that television commercial your company made by offering a free signed copy of the CEO’s book to the first 50 commenters on a blog post. Or, how about establishing a (small) grant as an incentive to a young, budding entrepreneur with an untapped idea. His motivation? Write an essay on how he thinks your company can help make him successful. Post this social activity on your blog or website and let the communities work their magic. Once the Tweets begin and your article appears on Digg or StumbleUpon, you’ll wonder why it has taken you so long to catch on to this idea! It is so advantageous to use the power of media to bring attention to a business.

Jeremy Woolf of the Public Relationships blog wrote this amazing post on how effective (and ineffective) the power of blogging can be if it is not properly strategized. He shed some valuable insight as to why blogs fail. The one that caught my eye almost immediately was because blogs aren’t being read. Bingo.

Per Jeremy:

It appears that in many cases, we’ve simply brought with us the tactics that failed to win the hearts and minds of “old” media to the blogging “new” media. We’re not reading their posts. We’re failing to develop relationships. We’re spamming them with marketing gobbledegook. We’re also assuming they work the same way as journalists.

Good call Jeremy. We’re so busy trying to sell our product, we’re not focusing on relationship building and nurturing. How true is that! So essentially, you get a mix of people, all trying to move their product and not listening to the pitch of the other. They are so consumed with meeting quotas and making sales, they’ve lost the art of good old-fashioned networking. Corporations are especially prone to this type of environment because of the very nature of the way they deal with individuals – usually at arm’s length. Corporate environments have to work even harder to build and gain relationships and often have to go to greater extents to nurture them. Although a challenge it may be, it can be done.

Is your corporate blog connected or in just in existence? What do you do to bring your reader in, share solid, relevant information, provide a foundation to encite learning and community?

Or do you exist just to exist?

__________

Corporate Identities Grapple With Disclosing Financial Information

Talk Money…Don’t

One of the things that our parents taught us when we were young was to never discuss the family’s business with anybody. Especially the family’s finances. No one needed to know how much money Dad made a year or how much Mom’s bonus check was from her employer. It just wasn’t anybody’s business.

Corporate living taught us that it was taboo to discuss pay, raises, bonuses and anything financially related to our jobs. It was just something that you did not do. And, in certain corporate clients, discussing financial matters could get you severely reprimanded, or worse, terminated – – and rightfully so. Considering that if employees #A and #B were hired at both the same time, for the same job and had the same skill set, but employee #A made $15,000 more than employee #B, it would stand to figure that one of these employees may be highly disgruntled and make his employer’s life miserable. Which is why you just do not discuss money.

Given the current economic state of parts of the country and of corporate entities, companies are starting to rethink the posture of not talking about their financial picture. Layoffs are in abundance, companies are shutting down, filing bankrupt and losing revenue at rapid paces. All of these activities greatly upset consumer confidence and is a big contributing factor when they are deciding to spend or not to spend.

Companies ideally want consumers to have a healthy, robust image of their company or product and want them to feel good when they consider spending their money with them. The bottom line is that businesses and consumers are hesitant about spending money if they don’t think the company is secure or stable. With issues like the Enron situation and the plight of the auto manufacturer’s, people think twice before writing out their checks…or even trusting someone else.

Your Company’s Disclosure

Sharing your corporate’s financial picture may be something you want to consider in an effort to appeal to your customer base. A good idea? Sure it is given that it could quite possibly work in your favor rather than against. In a news article, Fidelity decided to disclose their financial information to their readers and consumer’s, hoping to dissuade any negative feelings or misinformation about the company’s financial health. A bold move on their part, Fidelity hopes to alleviate some of the angst that consumers may be feeling and try to instil in them a sense of calm and assurance in Fidelity’s financial matters. Here is a blurb taken from their mission statement that pointedly outlines what they do:

Fidelity Investments is an international provider of financial services and investment resources. In addition to more than 300 Fidelity mutual funds, the Company also offers discount brokerage services, retirement services, estate planning, wealth management, securities execution and clearance and life insurance, among others. Fidelity Management & Research Company (FMR Co.) is the investment advisor to Fidelity’s family of mutual funds. In May 2007, the Company sold 91% of its American Depositary Receipts (ADR) in PetroChina.

With a company like Fidelity with many diversified interests and investment areas, they are aware as any other corporate entity that any of their areas of interest can take a turn quickly and cause consumer concern. What Fidelity has done to assuage this is to be proactive in assuring their customers that they are fiscally sound and operating efficiently. A plus for Fidelity Investments and a plus for corporate entities who follow the same path. Fidelity has stated that they will post publicly the company’s financial state and offer links and information on their actual company’s figures.

Can you do what Fidelity has done with your corporate site? Should you do that with your corporate site? How would you handle tough financial questions about your company’s financial health, especially those that prod and insinuate?

The Secret to Success for Social Media Sites

What is it that can make a social site like FaceBook or MySpace unquenchable to other heavy Internet competitors? What keeps these sites from going under when a new, more fun and exciting site is launched and (seemingly) everyone goes over to the new kid’s playground to play? How can social media sites make themselves unstoppable? What is the key?

Digg, Stumble and Twitter, Oh My!
There are only a handful of social media sites that are so common, you don’t even have to offer an explanation of who or what they are when used in a sentence. Sites like Digg, StumbleUpon and Twitter have become so entrenched in the mental landscape of Internet users, that to even think of using a different site can be almost offensive to people. Users find what works best for them, use it to its maximum and passes the word along to others. There are very, very few sites that can tout this user-loyalty, and, never will they say that it was an easy task to win the hearts and admiration of their readers.

The one notable factor that these social media sites can say resonates, among other factors, is their dedication to consistency. Users can be very serious, and rightly so, about their technology and their expectations of it. In other words, they want it to work when they need it and want it to work. Outages are understandable, periods of down time are also understandable, but users can be unforgiving when a site promises one thing and fails to deliver. Or worse, they deliver something altogether different.

Gauging Consistency

The secret to success for social media sites is not a mystery. Consistency is key and the ability to fully deliver the product is desirable and demanded. Sites like Twitter have enjoyed immeasureable success because they have harnessed the ability to remain consistent yet flexible in a fast changing social media world. How can that be? Twitter boasts the 140-character micro-blogging interface where users can make snappy, quick posts multiple times in a day or at one sitting. They have never veered from that platform. They have not implemented any other tool that would take them from the premise that they are “quick and easy.” They have not included the ability to upload videos, display photos or images or even the option to upload a podcast. They have not tried to market themselves as a full-service blog, and therein lies the beauty of their micro-blogging platform. They keep it simple. Of course, if users desire more, they are welcome to find other programs and platforms that fit their needs. However, part of the success that I’m speaking of is utilizing a particular platform for what it is specifically intended for to its maximum use.

How can your social media presence be successful? Deliver your goods promptly and as accurately as possible without veering away from your purpose. Simple as that. Users want what they want and expect you to deliver just what you say you will. Give them anything different, and they will seek consistency in other areas.

Slow Blogging: How the Concept Affects Good News

Recently, the New York Times profiled a story about bloggers who embrace the idea of slow blogging. In this type of blogging or information delivery, concepts and ideas are delivered at a more slower, deliberate pace that allow both the blogger and the blogger’s audience to completely absorb the elements of a story and be able to remember what the story is really about. Slow blogging can be likened to the idea of reading a long book, watching the story unfold and develop, anticipating the end while taking your time to let it all happen…slowly.

A Slow Blog Manifesto, written in 2006 by Todd Sieling, a technology consultant from Vancouver, British Columbia, laid out the movement’s tenets. “Slow Blogging is a rejection of immediacy,” he wrote. “It is an affirmation that not all things worth reading are written quickly.”

The concept of slow blogging is spawned by the idea that good, solid blog stories are those that are well-thought, well-formed and that take a little extra time to publish just in case elements of the story changes. The idea is not so vastly different from that of well thought journalism stories. Good, solid stories that appear in reputable outlets also require that they are well-thought out and well-formed as well. And, just like in the case of journalism stories, elements of the blog story can change too, which is why slow blogging is a conducive form of news delivery in some cases. But the process of slow blogging allows the blogger to formulate a story and deliver when it is completely ready for publishing. Or, as in the case with the New York Times featured blogger Barbara Ganley, allows the reader to go on the journey with the blogger step by step, and participate through their entries as if they were there with her. 

In corporate environments, slow blogging may actually add value to a concept that is relatively new. The idea has been around since 2006, but companies and bloggers alike are starting to analyze the process of slow blogging to see if there are any benefits that companies can gain from the idea. Most media outlets and media relations departments of large corporations act on a time basis – – that is, working to see if deadlines can be met quickly, information uploaded to their sites immediately and if they can be the first publishers of the coveted information. Although blogging has the nature of being “quick”, “fast” and “right now”, corporate environments can use the benefits of slow blogging to deliver concepts and ideas to their investors and to their buying audiences. If there is a new product or service that is being developed, corporations can use the slow blogging concept to deliver non time-sensitive information on a more relaxed basis to their blogging audience. The information of course is not going to be front page news, but will be pertinent, thorough, succinct and able to capture and hold the reader’s attention.

What makes slow blogging so intriguing is not the speed at which the blogging is done, but more of how less it is done. In other words, the old adage that says, “good things are worth waiting for”, may in fact be a valuable lesson in this respect. Bloggers who take the time to grow and develop their stories in an interesting, informative fashion are more likely to be successful. Because we live in a news and information vacuum, society almost hurriedly dictates that we deliver information right away. A good idea? Not necessarily, but delivering the right information, at the right time, to the right audience is a good idea. One that perhaps the client would prefer over anything that is hurried along.