Jeremiah Owyang is compiling a list of business blogging best practices (70 to date). We’d like to highlight 25 of our favorites.
2. Understand and be able to articulate that “consumers trust other consumer opinions over all others.”
3. Understand that a conversation about your market will occur regardless if you participate or not.
8. Figure out in advance your blog purpose, audience and strategy. Have a plan.
9. Pick a topic and stick to that topic strategy. Some blogs are good for product evanglism, customer feedback, corporate image, fire control, developer code, etc.
11. A blog is not a press release, it’s an informal converastion.
14. An ideal blogger is someone who is already online all the time, consumes mass info, and exports mass info.
20. Read other blogs in your conversation and marketplace, link to them to your feedreader such as myYahoo or google personalized, or google feedreader.
23. Leave comments on your advocates, align yourselves with them. Reward your advocates (doesn’t need to be monatarily). Strengthen your relationship so you both prosper.
27. Respond to comments on your site, keep the conversation going.
28. Your blogging strategy doesn’t mean that you need to have the whole world linking and reading your blog, it’s about connecting with your small audience.
34. Discuss topics that are relevant to your audience, real business or user needs. Pumping your company on every post is not what blogging is about.
37. Allow user comments, seriously. One of the biggest benefits of a blog is to have a conversation with your audience. You can figure out a process or a way to filter or review comments before they hit your blog. I feel strongly that comments are native to the tool and communication medium, strongly consider keeping it on.
44. If you have multiple strategies, consider having multiple bloggers that focus in on each of those areas.
45. Alert the analysts in your industry that you’re blogging, either give them a call or link to their blog (if they have one)
49. Don’t hire any firms to help you with a blog strategy that are not blogging themselves.
51. Use language that your audience uses, avoid using terms that your marketing and corporate communications teams have created.
52. Have a kickoff ‘best practices’ and ‘strategy’ meeting with your corporate bloggers. Have updated meetings and training later.
54. Inform other business units of the plan and involve them. This is very important for Corp Comm, Communications, Execs, Legal and Marketing groups.
56. In addition to your regular guru, find industry blog leaders, read their work, talk to them, hire them.
58. Ask outsiders to provide honest and open feedback about your blog. Let them know that negative feedback as well as positive feedback will be helpful.
59. Obtain high level approval and sponsorship.
66. Don’t disappear for weeks on end between posts. Otherwise, your readers will disappear. Try to post on a regular-enough basis such that it gets readers into the groove of constantly wondering whether there’s a new post to check out. (Submitted by Ken)
67. Develop “thick skin” as people will slam your company, your products, your ideas, and maybe even you. This is called playing in the blogosphere, and for some, it’s tough lesson to swallow. Don’t worry, many of us are doing it, and there is some netiquette. More importantly, since your customers are already thinking these things and telling others, isn’t it better to get it out in the open and resolve it for all to see? (Idea from Scott Anderson of HP during his address at the syndicaiton conference)
68. Blog about timely events. Yup, releveny is important, this is a conversation so old news isnt’ relevent. (Idea from Scott Anderson of HP during his address at the syndicaiton conference)
70. Be very cautious when starting a blogging program at your company. It makes sense to obtain strategy and advice from someone who is succesful blogger, not someone who’s willing to dive in without proper experience.
To see all the tips, read the entire article.
If your getting read to jump into blogging, let ContentRobot help you with your strategy, planning design, writing, and measuring your success. Contact us today.