More than 60 Fortune 500 companies run a company blog, ranging from Marriott to Southwest Airlines. Some are maintained by a professional blogging guru, others are outsourced to freelancers, and still more are managed by teams of communications professionals.
Corporate blogging is a new trend that isn’t fading; in fact, it’s growing each day by leaps and bounds. The company blog can serve many purposes, such as boosting employee morale or communicating important messages to employees, customers or stakeholders. However, regardless of how you look at the corporate blogging fad, there are many pros and cons that come along with it.
The Cons
- A company blog is time-consuming to maintain. It takes a great deal of creative energy and regular updating to keep the content fresh. The time it takes to maintain a good company blog might actually end up costing more than the benefits that it generates.
- Corporate blogging requires strong written communication skills, and you might not have the right people in positions to produce good posts. For example, if you want to include a CEO blog on your company website, then the CEO needs to possess the right combination of writing skills and wit to pull it off. While a CEO blog is an interesting enhancement to your website, your CEO might not want to take on the responsibilities associated with the task.
- Blogs are so popular that their credibility as a source of information is declining. Anyone can compose and post information in the internet these days. Visitors to your website might not view a company blog as a credible source. Likewise, stakeholders and employees may respond more effectively to more traditional mediums like email communication, memos and announcements in meetings.
The Pros
- It’s very easy to set up a company blog. The technologies available today are so user-friendly that the average employee will quickly learn how to update the company blog. Therefore, this task can be delegated to trusted staff members with solid writing skills, and they can be empowered to make updates as necessary. For a CEO blog, this means the CEO could partner with another staff member to assist in maintaining online content.
- Corporate blogging appeals to younger consumer groups and employees. If you want to capitalize on the energy, enthusiasm and buying power of this demographic group, then corporate blogging is an excellent resource.
- In the face of a crisis or emergency, a company blog is a good way to spread information. Blogs have quickly become a powerful tool for combating public relations fires and responding to catastrophic situations. They can be modified quickly to post critical information for employees, consumers and stakeholders.
Corporate blogging is here to stay. If your company is ready to jump on the corporate blogging bandwagon, then you need to weigh these pros and cons carefully to develop a strategic plan of action. It might not be necessary to start off right away with a full scale CEO blog, a blog geared toward employees, and yet another for consumers. Start your company blog small and build upon it slowly over time.
