More and more corporate blogs are being set up. If your companies are also doing great work, why not yet share with others?

The corporate blog has great potential to be an efficient channel for brands to start conversations with their consumers. The communication is direct, transparent and most importantly, it is humanized. The company is no longer just a “company”. The emotional bond between brands and consumers can be established/enhanced through this close engagement.

Corporate Blog Types

1. Executive blogging – senior thoughts on the core value

One top PR firm Edelman lists many of its senior executives’ blogs to represent the company’s voice

Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz’s blog is the voice and the values of the company. He is even lobbying the SEC to allow his blog to become an “official” voice for to company to communicate with its investors.

2. Blogging your product – getting people knowledgeable and excited about your product

For instance, GE, Lenovo and QQ are proudly blogging about their latest product ideas.

3. Blogging your values – talking “frankly” about the issues and values that your company represents or cares about.

McDonalds Open for discussion
Wal-Mart Handshake with Sam
Dell One-2-One communication with Dell

What makes up a corporate blog?

Generosity – Provide your own, unique take on the issues that matter to your industry. This is not a place to post press releases; make it personal and real.

Relevance – Stick to the topic of your blog. (I.e. your product/service, value, culture, etc)

Good writing – You don’t have to be Shakespeare (insert Chinese author name here), but do take time to do spell checking and read through the post to make sure it makes sense

Interesting Content – The great thing about a blog is that your audience is reading because they are interested in you and/or your company or product/service. Providing unique content or unique perspectives about these is what they want.

Transparency – No company is perfect. Communicate what you can about any negative situation that comes up. If you can’t talk about it, acknowledge that you are cannot talk about it and suggest when you might be able to (if ever).

Professional Design – Your template doesn’t have to be fancy, but a simple design with some thought can make the a greater impact than using standard Blog Service Provider (BSP) templates.

Openness – Blogging your company publicly means you are conversing, which includes listening. Your blog should not only be a propaganda channel.

Humanized Voice – Your company becomes one of the “participants” of the conversation.