In order to maintain a competitive edge, corporations are increasingly looking for opportunities to make them stand out. A corporate blog is a blog published by organization to reach the organization's goals. Internally blogs are generally referred to as tools for collaboration and knowledge management. In external communications the potential benefits include strengthened relationships with important target groups and the positioning of the publishing organization as well as the individuals within it as industry experts.The purposes of blog usage can be grouped in three fields - brand building, customer service and promotion. There are five types of corporate blogs that can be catogorized based on the characteristics of authors and contents.
- Employee blog - a typical personal blog that is maintained by a single rank-and-file employee. When organizations took a hands-off approach, employee blogs are hosted on commercial sites. Although a majority of employee blogs are still hosted independently of the company web site, employee blogs are increasingly being hosted on ocmpany-owned domains as more and more companies are officially sponsoring employee blogging.
- Group blog - also called a collaborative blog, is written by several people. Most group blogs focus on a specific topic, often a technical one with autors who are experts on the topic. Some group blogs are started under emplyee's own volition and self-hosted. On the other hand, others are driven by strategic plans crafted by management and hosted in companies' official web sites.
- Executive blog - People have become more interested in top executives who run companies than in individual companies. When top executives appear in blogsphere, their blogs generate instant traffic and can be an effective tool to establish a direct connection with stakeholders.
- Promotional blog - The purpose of the promotional blog is to generate buzz about products and events. This type of blog is somewhat controversial among bloggers at large, primarily due to the lack of an authentic human voice.
- Newsletter blog - Aside from typical personal blogs, some organizations have launched a newsletter type of blog that officially represents their positions. Thus, this type of blog tends to filled with well-polished messages. Examples are Yahoo! Search Blog, Google Blog and Red Hat Magazine. They cover a variety of topics auch as company news and product information.
Related links:
1. Beginners' Guide to Corporate Blogging - http://www.corporateblogging.info/basics/corporatebloggingprimer.pdf
2. The many challenges of corporate blogging - http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/05/29/the-many-challenges-of-corporate-blogging/
3. A guide to corporate blogging - http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/10/15/a-guide-to-corporate-blogging/
4. Top 25 blog posts on corporate blogging (2008/2009) - http://www.spotlightideas.co.uk/?p=1252
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