Designing a Blog Strategy for a Company
After a month or so of softening up the boss on the merits of a company blog, I finally got a bite. He emailed me to say that he is sold on the merits of a company blog and now wants to know HOW to impliment it. So, it is now on my shoulders to deliver a blogging strategy that will make sense for a 30-employee-strong marketing agency in the Twin Cities. I am still in the brainstorming phase of this project and would love some feedback.
Things we need to figure out:
- Who will write?
- How often will people write?
- What will the content be?
- Terms & Expectations
Who will write?
EVERY employee shall be required to post one blog every two weeks.
How often will the blog be updated?
Twice per day. We need to keep to that schedule. If 30 people are blogging once every two weeks, that’s 60 blog entries per month. Shouldn’t be too tough, right?
What will the content be?
Every employee will be required to share expertise on a topic of interest to her. This could be an exploration of a topic or more of a teach-in-style blog entry. Any blog entries, so long as it is at least tangentially-related to the business will be accepted.
Terms & Expectations
The blog will share the same expectations as other company-branded communication. That is, all blog entries shall be respectful of differences as well as support the mission of the company. Basically, that means that the blog will receive the same treatment as face-to-face, email, and phone conversations with colleagues and clients.
Summary
Obviously, I have a lot more hashing out to do in terms of this blog strategy. I am sure that I left out all sorts of important things. Please feel free to offer tips and suggestions via comment below as we move forward with this project. In turn, I will keep you updated! 
Thanks!
When I’ve been involved in crafting blogging policies, it’s usually stipulated that some social capital will be used to invite guest writers (current bloggers) to get the blog going. Then, enthusiastic people in or connected to the organization will be identified as key blog maintainers. And someone at or near the top of the organization, someone who carries the vision of the company, should be highly involved in writing and identifying key community members as guest bloggers.
A great venue for discovering guest bloggers is a base of satisfied customers!
Thanks for the insight, Karl! I hadn’t even thought of bringing in guest bloggers, but that is a brilliant idea! There are six partners in charge of the organization, and I am certain that they have a wealth of social capital between them…hopefully I can convince them to spend some of it on this venture.
Are there any snags or issues that come up regularly in your experience? For example, are there questions that will surely get asked when I present my strategy?
Thanks again!
Here are some tips (if you haven’t got these already)
- blog articles should follow any corporate content standards with some leniency for the more casual nature of the blog post. If your company doesn’t have corporate content standards (style guide), you may want to start there.
- you may want to create an editorial calendar and have employees submit their blog ideas ahead of time. Although it may not seem like a big deal to write two articles a month but after 6 or 12 months, creativity may start to run out. Establishing an editorial calendar can help generate ideas and help non-writers think about writing.
- are the blog articles going to be copy edited? I would suggest that a corporate blog should be copy edited. If articles are going to be copy edited, then you will have to create a work-flow for when articles are due for review, copy edit, posting to the site and who is going to do what, when.
- will individual article ideas be approved ahead of time or will articles be approved after they are written or will no approval process be established.
- if a approval process is required, who will approve the articles and when does the approval process occur in the work-flow?
- what is the purpose of the corporate blog? Defining the specific business drivers for the blog (which I’m sure you have already done) can help drive the editorial calendar.
Good luck!
Thank you for your excellent suggestions and advice, Barb! Pretty much all we have done thus far is talk about the business objectives of the blog, and we are well on our way to figuring that piece out. But the rest of this is just getting rolling, in terms of our thought process.
Here are some business objectives we have brainstormed:
- In-house idea generation and development
- Develop employee (read company) expertise
- Higher level of employee job satisfaction (their talents are more appreciated)
- Display our company’s expertise areas publicly (i.e. find clients via The Google)
Any thoughts on those business objectives?
Thanks!
You might have one week be of the employees choosing and the other week be within the realm of a corporate strategy for the blog. The first one (of the employee’s choice) would allow the employee to feel the freedom of blogging and getting their ideas out there and the would help the company see the employee in a different light and/or find great ideas. The other would help the employee see the world from corporate eye and help them move the corporate strategy forward from many different points of view (well, at least 30 POVs).
Judi,
I like that idea a lot! The corporation can learn from the employees AND the employees can learn from/about the corporation depending on the writers’ and readers’ perspectives. That could go a long way in terms of developing mutual understanding and respect between management and up-and-coming guys like myself. This opens up new avenues of value for a company blog!
Thanks!!!
I like Barb’s copy edit idea especially. It’s ok for Joe the Mechanic to make mistakes on his blog. Not so for most others. Mistakes happen even by English professors especially if he is in a hurry.
Remember, your blog is not about YOU. Is there anything more boring to read than someone who writes about his daily activities? Unless you are a circus clown, maybe, or a character on Boston Legal.
Will you have a Comments section? (recommended)
Will there be a moderator?
Oh, is this blog to be in-house only with no web visitors?
Agreed! I suppose there are some that like to read about the day-to-day operations of a life or company, but I find those blogs to be a snorefest!
Here are 200 ideas to inspire your next Corporate Blogging post:
(source) http://tinyurl.com/5j3h45
1. What is your company?
2. How large is your company?
3. What are you selling?
4. How are your products or services priced?
5. What is your ideal client?
6. How do people contact you?
7. What are you giving away?
8. How is the economy impacting your business?
9. How is recent news impacting your business?
10. How does the law impact your business?
11. How do taxes impact your business?
12. Who is your latest client?
13. Who was your first client?
14. Who is your most loyal client?
15. Who is your favorite vendor?
16. Where are you located?
17. What is your office space or building like?
18. Where do your employees live?
19. How does your company help the local economy?
20. Is your company green?
21. What is your company doing to conserve energy?
22. Who was the last employee you hired?
23. What was the latest unexpected thing your company did?
24. What was the last company outing you had?
25. What email did you send today that you should share?
26. What phone call did you get today that you should share?
27. How does your company help local universities?
28. How does your company impact your region?
29. What are your employees favorite eateries around town?
30. What are your employees favorite eateries around work?
31. What do your employees do in their spare time?
32. What are your employees hobbies?
33. What’s the last business book you read?
34. What’s your favorite book?
35. What are your employees’ favorite books?
36. What’s your favorite movie?
37. What’s the last movie you saw?
38. What’s the last play you saw?
39. What’s the last concert you went to?
40. What are your employees’ favorite movies?
41. What’s the last article you read?
42. What blogs do you follow?
43. What bloggers do you know?
44. What bloggers would you like to meet?
45. What’s the last blog post you read that you liked?
46. What’s the last blog post you read that you disagreed with?
47. What’s the last blog post you commented on?
48. Where do you get your industry news?
49. What’s the latest breakthrough in your industry?
50. What’s the hottest thing in your industry right now?
51. What’s the next big thing in your industry?
52. What’s the last event you went to?
53. What’s the last party you went to?
54. Who would you like to meet?
55. How long have you been in business?
56. What’s your latest client success?
57. What’s your largest client success?
58. What’s your favorite client success?
59. What’s the last dumb thing you did? What did you learn?
60. What’s the latest mistake your company made? How did you recover?
61. What’s the next upcoming event?
62. What’s the last prospect you lost and why should it have been avoided?
63. What do you hate doing every day?
64. What do you love doing every day?
65. How do you de-stress from work?
66. What’s your life/work balance?
67. What charities does your company support?
68. What charities do your employees support?
69. What’s happening in your company’s neighborhood?
70. How many miles do you put on your car to see clients?
71. How many flights have you taken this year?
72. What’s the biggest misconception about your company?
73. What’s the biggest misconception about your product?
74. What are the common misconceptions about your product?
75. What differentiates you from your competition?
76. Where was your last vacation?
77. Which employees just got married?
78. Which employees just had children?
79. What beer do your employees like?
80. What wine do your employees like?
81. What food do your employees like?
82. What music do your employees like?
83. What recipes can your employees share?
84. How are you celebrating the holidays?
85. Which employee stood out this week?
86. What’s the coolest gadget you love?
87. What’s the gadget you can’t live without?
88. What’s the latest gadget you bought?
89. What’s your favorite free tool that others can get?
90. What rules do you follow on how to treat customers?
91. What’s the latest tip you can share with your customers?
92. What humorous website can you share?
93. What’s the latest YouTube video you’d like to share?
94. What’s the latest YouTube video about your company?
95. What are your pet peeves in working with vendors?
96. How do you provide customers return on investment?
97. What does your company invest in?
98. Where do you see your company in a year?
99. Where do you see your company in 5 years?
100. Where do you see your company in 10 years?
101. How is the industry evolving?
102. What’s your largest concern with your industry?
103. What’s your least concern with your industry?
104. How does technology impact your business?
105. What’s the latest news and how does it impact your business?
106. Introduce your customer of the week.
107. Introduce your employee of the week or month.
108. Who does your company partner with strategically?
109. How has your business grown in the last year?
110. What budgets are you increasing or reducing and why?
111. List of the biggest benefits of your product or service to share?
112. List of the tips you’d like to share about your product to share?
113. What’s the latest tip you heard that you’d like to share?
114. What’s the last press release that went out?
115. What’s in the latest newsletter?
116. When’s the last time you made the news?
117. What’s the last chart you saw that surprised you?
118. What’s the last whitepaper you released?
119. What’s the last case study you released?
120. What other publications haven’t you shared in your blog?
121. What’s the latest customer testimonial you received?
122. What are the latest customer survey results?
123. What’s the most unique customer you have?
124. How are you working with local education?
125. What universities did your employees attend?
126. What’s the next big event to happen in your company?
127. What are the events you want to attend in the next 12 months?
128. Who would you want to meet if given the opportunity?
129. What’s the last major investment your company made?
130. What’s your largest expense as a company?
131. If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be?
132. What mistakes do you see made over and over in your industry?
133. What are the legalities of your business or industry?
134. Have any of your employees had a moment of fame?
135. How can someone get in touch with you or your company?
136. What’s your disaster recovery plan?
137. Who’s invested in your business?
138. How has your business evolved over the last year?
139. How has your business evolved over the last 5 years?
140. How has your business evolved over the last decade?
141. What did you learn in high school that still matters?
142. What did you learn in college that still matters?
143. Which of your employees served in the military?
144. What are your employees’ pets?
145. Where did you attend college?
146. What sports do your employees play?
147. What’s the last presentation you gave?
148. What’s the last speech you gave?
149. What business associations do you belong to?
150. What certifications do your employees hold?
151. What certifications does your company hold?
152. Is your company compliant?
153. What training does your company offer?
154. What training are your employees attending?
155. Who got promoted last in your company?
156. What’s the funniest business story you have?
157. Who had the biggest impact on you as a person?
158. Who had the biggest impact on you as a leader?
159. What company would you want to be like and why?
160. What do you do to treat your employees over and above?
161. What do you do to treat your customers over and above?
162. What’s a typical day like in your office?
163. What’s a typical day like for you?
164. Who are the employees that keep your business moving that people don’t know?
165. How do you acquire your customers?
166. How do you acquire your employees?
167. What’s the last employee anniversary?
168. What’s great about the city your business is located in?
169. What was the last award an employee of yours received?
170. Have any employees that have had a ‘moment of fame’?
171. Any rumors with respect to your industry?
172. What clients recently made the news that you can share?
173. How is the Internet changing your business?
174. How is social media changinge your business?
175. What social networks do you belong to?
176. Where can folks find you online?
177. Where can folks find you after work?
178. Where can folks find your employees after work?
179. Who did your logo and how does it represent you?
180. Who named your company and how does the name represent you?
181. Does your company have a slogan?
182. Does your company have a jingle?
183. What’s your next customer giveaway?
184. What’s your next promotion?
185. How can a customer leverage your product or service for best results?
186. What kind of referral or affiliate programs do you offer?
187. What third party applications do you utilize?
188. What tools does your company utilize?
189. What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
190. What’s the lastest advice you’ve received that was good?
191. How is your company changing the world?
192. Who wrote about your blog last?
193. How do you listen to your customers?
194. What do your customers expect from you that you deliver?
195. What’s in your product roadmap?
196. Who do you want to thank today?
197. How do you get ideas?
198. What inspires you?
199. What did you learn today?
200. How has Compendium Blogware improved your business results?
Great topic ideas! Thanks!