What is a Business Blog? Well, it's not a diary!
Posted 14 May 2007 at 10:17AM by Mark White in Business blogging
Judging by people I talk to and what I see on TV and in the papers, it is clear to me that the word "blog" is passing quickly into everyday speech. People seem comfortable with the idea of what a blog is. They know that it comes from a contraction of "Web Log", that it has posts or articles which are dated and that it's a sort of online diary.
Great! Now forget all that and let's start again!
Firstly, since we are looking at blogs in a business context here, we need to forget about a blog being a diary. It's not. I agree that people do use them as online diaries when they write their own personal blogs but that's like saying that a PC is a Word Processor. It can be used as one, but that's not even scraping the surface of what you can do with it. The same is true with blogs.
So, just what are blogs? Well, from a business perspective, I like to look at them as online business and marketing tools. At a basic level, they allow you to update and distribute information quickly and easily. They help to develop business relationships by initiating conversations with people you want to be talking to. They differentiate you and your company and help to build both trust and your reputation within your business' target audience.
However, while blogs and the technology they use can help you to achieve all this (and more), we should remember that the real power of blogs is not in the technology - it's in what you do with it! While this technology has real potential for businesses and provides a wide range of possible uses, they will only do so if you start with what your business goals are and then plan your blog to deliver against them.
You may be looking for ways to carry out market research and help your new product development, to support your recruitment drive, to increase your brand awareness or simply to improve your Search Engine rankings. Great, all areas where a business blog is ideally suited to help, so now plan and develop yours with a clear focus on these goals and how it can complement what you are doing elsewhere in your company.
So, next time someone tells you a blog is an online diary, will you do me a favour? Tell them that you know better and that as a business person you are looking to use blogs in a number of ways and that none of them involve telling the world what you (or your cat) had for breakfast today.
Tags: business blogging, corporate blogging, what is a blog
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