SETTING UP GOALS WITH YOUR BLOG
By opening up this new blog, you’re agreeing to lay bare processes, motives, and knowledge that companies have traditionally kept closed off from the public. In exchange, you’re going to reap the benefit of customers who feel they understand your company and who therefore trust what you tell them. Think of a blog as a way of advertising your company’s attitude and values by demonstrating them. Can your company’s television spots, magazine ads, or product packaging do the same thing for you? Most of those techniques reinforce a brand they don’t induce loyalty. Companies that create blogs to market their businesses accomplish the six following goals:
� Inform or educate the public and your current customers.
This is the most common purpose of a business blog. Some companies are using blogs to let people know about changes in the company, new projects, and other events. Other companies have created blogs to help their readers gain knowledge — tracking news, problems, encouraging idea exchanges. These blogs serve the immediate purpose of being a useful, practical service and of demonstrating expertise to the public.
� Provide customer service or help using a product or service.
Blogs can be a great way to deal with customer service issues. Dealing with customers’ problems in the open is scary, but everyone benefits from the availability of the information. As well, you’ve just sent a message that your company cares about helping people resolve problems in a very public way. Be prepared to monitor a blog serving this purpose constantly, and respond quickly when people leave comments.
� Convey a sense of company personality and culture.
The basic idea is that your blog demonstrates just how cool and fun and, well, human your company is. The blog begins to evoke emotional responses from its readers, and the final result is that your readers may actually start to like your company. I don’t mean that they like your
products. I mean that they like you like they like their friends and their pets. Think about the fanatical loyalty in many Apple users: Their feelings about the products Apple makes have often pushed them into becoming fans of the company itself. Every company can use this kind of goodwill, even if it can’t be measured in revenue growth or new customer numbers.
� Entertain readers and customers.
As with the previous item, a blog devised to entertain the public pays off by building an ongoing, positive relationship with readers and customers. You don’t need to find a comic to write your blog, but the addition of a joke here and there, and a generally humorous writing style, can keep readers coming back for more. A little bit of self-mockery can go a long way in this format. If the company seems to have a sense of humor about itself, its customers are more forgiving of mistakes later.
This is the most common purpose of a business blog. Some companies are using blogs to let people know about changes in the company, new projects, and other events. Other companies have created blogs to help their readers gain knowledge — tracking news, problems, encouraging idea exchanges. These blogs serve the immediate purpose of being a useful, practical service and of demonstrating expertise to the public.
� Provide customer service or help using a product or service.
Blogs can be a great way to deal with customer service issues. Dealing with customers’ problems in the open is scary, but everyone benefits from the availability of the information. As well, you’ve just sent a message that your company cares about helping people resolve problems in a very public way. Be prepared to monitor a blog serving this purpose constantly, and respond quickly when people leave comments.
� Convey a sense of company personality and culture.
The basic idea is that your blog demonstrates just how cool and fun and, well, human your company is. The blog begins to evoke emotional responses from its readers, and the final result is that your readers may actually start to like your company. I don’t mean that they like your
products. I mean that they like you like they like their friends and their pets. Think about the fanatical loyalty in many Apple users: Their feelings about the products Apple makes have often pushed them into becoming fans of the company itself. Every company can use this kind of goodwill, even if it can’t be measured in revenue growth or new customer numbers.
� Entertain readers and customers.
As with the previous item, a blog devised to entertain the public pays off by building an ongoing, positive relationship with readers and customers. You don’t need to find a comic to write your blog, but the addition of a joke here and there, and a generally humorous writing style, can keep readers coming back for more. A little bit of self-mockery can go a long way in this format. If the company seems to have a sense of humor about itself, its customers are more forgiving of mistakes later.