Earlier this week I talked about how corporations are beginning to experiment more with social media. But a couple of recent studies suggest that companies are still not utilizing blogs very effectively.
First, a study released earlier this month by Forrester Research showed that B2B blogging growth slowed dramatically in 2007. After tracking 36 new B2B blogging companies in 2006, the research firm noted only 19 new ones in 2007.
Then earlier this week, a study by Burson-Marsteller found that 15% of the current Fortune 500 companies are blogging. The study claims this is 270% increase since late 2005, which is really a red herring, as three years in the corporate blogging landscape is a lifetime.
But I think a couple of takeaways from these two studies shed a bit of light into why many companies are cautious about blogging, and why many of the ones that are blogging, aren’t doing a very good job.
First, from the Forrester study:
B2B marketers should embrace strategies prominently used by mainstream bloggers to attract readers, build conversations, and engage community members in sharing their experiences with their online peers, the report’s author advises…As a result, 74% of B2B blogs receive a minimum of commentary or trackbacks because readers fail to find conversations worthy of their involvement.
Successful blogging, Forrester insists, is not a one-way street, but most corporate bloggers yak away about their companies and products, seemingly oblivious to whether their audience is listening or not.
Similar to last year, 56% of blogs we examined simply regurgitate company news or executive views
And this one from the Burson-Marsteller study:
“[The surveyed blogs] are primarily for external communications, but there may be internal blogs that wouldn’t show up within this report because this only [represents] blogs that we can find with relative ease,” said Erin Byrne, Burson chief digital strategist. “When I thought about it, I thought that the number would have been higher, and I think the reason–why it still isn’t higher is that companies are still grappling with how they participate in the conversation when they don’t have control over the message.”
I think the problem is that many companies are still trying to position their blogs as vehicles to directly promote themselves, instead of as vehicles to create valuable content for their readers. The end result is that many blogs end up being little more than websites with comments. I am constantly spending time on business blogs, and there are two qualities that most have in common:
1 – The content is very heavy on self-promotion
2 – The posts get little or no comments
Basically, these companies are sitting back and waiting for readers to flock to their blogs so they can promote themselves to them. I think we all know how well this works.
On the flipside, the truly great blogging companies position their blogs a bit differently:
1 – The content is very heavy on promoting topics that are important to their customers. Patagonia’s The Cleanest Line blog has almost no direct promotion of the company’s products. Instead, the blog focuses on stories and news items that would appeal to its environmentally-conscious customers.
2 – They interact with readers that leave comments. On Mahindra’s Life of a Farm blog, Joel does a great job of responding to readers, which not only helps conversations build, but encourages readers to comment again in the future.
3 – Many of them are active on other social sites and blogs. Dell’s blog is often held up as an example of a solid company blog. But many people don’t consider all the time that many Dell employees spend interacting with customers on other sites such as Twitter and Friendfeed, and of course, responding to other bloggers on their blogs. This only enhances the value of the company’s blog, and the value that Dell receives from having a social media strategy, as opposed to just a blogging strategy.
My guess is that moving forward, more companies will become more open with their blogs and their efforts will improve. But at this point I don’t think studies such as these are an indictment of business blogging, but rather BAD business blogging.
Mack,
For us b2b consultancies, a blog makes great sense. But to date, I haven’t recommended social media to any of my clients. Their customers aren’t there and neither are their influencers. I have recommended a stronger, more active focus on social networking, where their customers and influencers are parked.
On the other hand, I recommend both SM and SN to my b2c clients. It just makes good sense.
Mack,
What needs to change is the fundamental assumption of corporate executives (whether involved directly in marketing or not) regarding blogging and what kind of TOOL blogs are for the company. Too often execs position blogs as a tactical tool when blogs by nature are a strategic tool. The vesting terms are very different!
Based on the way companies are using blogs in general, we can easily guess what type of tool blogs are seen in the business world. This may change, but time will tell.
Mack, great insights as always. Corporate blogging is still often being thought of as “marketing” when it really belongs in communications and customer outreach. As with any good blog, the only way to get people visiting, interacting, and coming back is by giving them something that’s of interest to *them*. It seems like a simple concept, but it’s proving difficult for many companies to execute.
Thanks for remaining a staunch advocate for the smart way for corporations to approach social media, and for providing great examples for others to learn from.
“I have recommended a stronger, more active focus on social networking, where their customers and influencers are parked.”
Lewis this is IMO the biggest reason why most blogs fail, the bloggers stay on their blog and don’t go meet their readers in their space. And it’s no coincidence that the bloggers that have thriving readerships, are usually the ones that are actively engaging with their readers on other blogs and social sites.
I’m afraid far too many blogging companies are subscribing to the ‘if you build it, they will come’ mentality. That just doesn’t work with blogging.
“As with any good blog, the only way to get people visiting, interacting, and coming back is by giving them something that’s of interest to *them*.”
This I agree with, but still think that companies need to focus on interacting with their current and potential customers in THEIR space, in order to let them know about their blog.
Two things that companies need to focus on with their blogging; first, creating customer-centric content and information, and second, interacting with their current and potential customers OFF their blog. Which leads to more interaction ON the blog.
Great feedback guys, thanks for the comments!
Mr. Collier, you’ve read my mind.
I recently started blogging for a marketing recruiter. We struggle with created good content for our readers vs. talking about our day to day. In a perfect world, we’d like to incorporate both.
I think I’ll spend more time thinking about our customers and the kind of content they want to read.
Thank you for sharing your insights!
Just wondering – is the reason behind that companies don’t want blogging, that they don’t actually understand that their customers should be changing them?
Going back to the basics of marketing – you will survive on long-term if your product meets the needs of consumer. To do this, you need to learn their needs. Then you need to change yourself to satisfy these needs.
Blogging (or any other kind of online intereaction; I even miss some forums that were popular in past) is a great tool to do so. You get first-hand experience and your employees can see how good/bad they do on the product.
So is it just me feeling that companies actually don’t like to hear that? I think it the debate can easily switch to the question of position of marketing within companies (the debate that is often started here:-)).
Dusan I think the key is, many companies that don’t have successful blogs, don’t interact with their readers as successful non-corporate bloggers do. They aren’t on other social sites interacting with their customers so they can better understand them and respond to them. Doing so not only increases the visibility of their blog, but gives them a better idea of the type of content that their readers are looking for.
When a company stays on their blog and doesn’t branch out, they are doomed from the start.
I agree with Jane aobut what I detect as the main fault in companies: blogging is strategic and it’s part of the strategic communication plan.
Mack,
In the “real world” relationships are hatched in lots of unexpected ways and places. Corporate blogging is just another place to form them. I agree with the comments above that call it more communication and outreach than tactical marketing. And IMO B2B belongs in blogging. Customers and influencers may not be “parked there” but certainly can come across related posts when they search, especially for industry-related subjects. You can’t let it dominate, but I also think you ignore it at your own risk.